**************

Sara ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. She was tired of this silence, this calculating, untrusting, tension filled silence. So she broke it.

"Listen," she said, "Rachel-"

"My names Phoebe."

"Whatever. Can I just have the Ring? Please? It would mean so much."

Before Phoebe could respond, Dawn spoke.

"No. We just went over this, didn't we? No."

"Hey, Dawn, you know-" Sara stopped. "Is your name even Dawn?"

"Why do you care?"

"Humor me."

"No it's not. My name is Piper, okay? Piper."

*************

Ian's patients was wearing thin. It would be so easy just to take it. Why waste time with all this talk, talk, talk?

"All right then. Piper. Why do you care about this Ring so much? You can't use it, it rejects you."

Piper hissed at him. "How do you know that!"

Piper, laying on the ground, screaming. The Ring on her finger. The Ring screaming. Her screaming. The vision dissipated as quickly as it had come. Ian smiled.

*************

Blue light. Piper's eyes shot toward it. She relaxed. Leo....... But what was wrong? 'Yeah Piper,' she thought, 'What could possibly be wrong?'

The first thing he did was to charge at Phoebe and grab her hand. Cole let out a small protest as Leo yanked the Ring off of Phoebe's finger.

"Ow! What's that?"

Prue sighed and rolled her eyes. "Are we going to have to explain this to you every time?"

"Explain what? Hey, I have no clue-"

"As usual."

"To what's going on. I'm just following your lead."

"You can't wear this Phoebe. It's dangerous."



**************



Dangerous? But now she felt so empty......a huge void had opened in her when Leo had snatched the Ring from her finger.



***********



Ian saw the emotions flitting across the petite woman's face. So much like Dominique Boushay when Irons had taken the Witchblade from her and declared her a pretender. The....was there a word for that emotion? A combination of terror, longing, hope; of being utterly and completely lost. That's what driven Dominique. He had never liked her; she had been as cold as Irons. He allowed him self a small, humorless smile. They had been good match.



**********

Phoebe protested and tried to take the Ring back.

"No, how can it be dangerous? I need it. Give it back Leo!"

Leo was perfectly calm.

"Phoebe, it's dangerous. It could permanently damage you. Given enough power, it could kill you."

"He's telling the truth," Ian said. "Power in the wrong hands causes mass destruction. Always."



************

"Who are you to tell me that!" She spat.

"A wearer must be chosen carefully, for either the Witchblade or the Ring. If the Ring is not on the right finger, it will not only destroy the wearer, but the people around him."

"So be careful not to put it on your middle finger if it's supposed to be on the ring finger," Sara dead panned

"What do you mean, destroy?"

"Their mental and physical state will degrade over a matter of weeks to beyond repair. It will even tangle their spiritual state."

"Don't listen! Don't listen! It doesn't matter!" cried Phoebe.

"I'd say it does," said Cole, who had been strangely quiet. "I'd say it matters quite a lot."

She spun on him, words flying to her lips, but Piper beat her.

"He's right, Phoebe. Isn't he Prue."

"But-"

"Prue, for once-"

"All right, I'll admit it. For once in his life he's right, we can't risk a Charmed One being blown to smithereens."

" Okay, okay." Phoebe agreed verbally, but her eyes followed the Ring hungrily as Leo passed the Ring to Sara, who took it, surprised.