Chapter 13



2002

"Phoebe?" Cole opened the door to their bedroom. Phoebe was sat on the bed, her back to him, looking at a picture. A picture of Pyralis. He went to stand behind her. "We can still get her back you know," he said, the sound of his voice making her jump.

"Cole..." Phoebe sighed and looked up at him. "We've been through this. Pyralis is staying at the manor with my sisters."

"But why?" said Cole, raising his voice. "I miss her, Phoebe, and it's obvious you do, too. I don't understand how you can just leave her there when you're so unhappy! Why are you doing this to yourself? To us?!"

"Because I'm not fit to be a mother!" Phoebe shouted as she stood up. She stared at him, fiercely blinking back the tears starting to form in her eyes.

Cole opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Yes?" he said irritably.

His secretary, a small, red-haired woman called Elania, poked her head in. "Sorry to bother you sir, but there's a warlock here who wants to speak with you. He says it's urgent."

Cole looked back at Phoebe for a second. Then he sighed and followed Elania out, closing the door behind him.

Left alone, Phoebe sat back down and picked the picture up again. Cole was right, she did miss Pyralis, missed her terribly in fact. But every time she thought about her she got a horrible feeling inside, like her stomach was on the verge of imploding. She didn't know why. Maybe it was guilt, like she'd lead Cole to believe. Maybe it was something else entirely. But she did know that it would only get worse if they brought Pyralis here, perhaps unbearably so.

So Phoebe put all thoughts of her daughter out of her mind and concentrated on her quite extensive duties as Queen of the Underworld. It had worked for the past week, after all, why shouldn't it keep working?

And, across town, Paige walked Pyralis up and down the hall as she cried for her mother.

2005

"So we use him as bait, and voila, a dozen witches in one go."

"Impressive." Cole leaned back in his chair and grinned at the various demons assembled around the table. "How soon can we implement this plan?"

"Whenever we want," said Jackson, the demon making the presentation.

"Excellent. Any thoughts on the location?"

"We shouldn't do it in San Francisco," Phoebe said quickly.

Cole looked at her.

"There's been a lot of supernatural activity around here lately," she explained, smiling at her husband before glancing at the other demons. "We don't want people to find out about us. It would make everything much more difficult."

"Agreed." Cole nodded. "Any suggestions?" he asked Jackson.

Jackson shrugged. "A small European country maybe? Wales, or Switzerland."

"Sounds good." There were various nods and sounds of agreement from around the table. "Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Cole waited a second before standing up. "Meeting adjourned."

Phoebe looked at him as the room started to empty. "You wanna get lunch?"

Cole made a face. "Sorry, I have to go see the Grimlocks. But here," he pressed some money into her hand, "Why don't you go buy yourself something?"

She smiled. "Okay. But promise you'll be back for dinner."

He grinned at her. "I promise."

Then they kissed and went their separate ways.

* * *

Phoebe admired herself in the mirror. Especially her feet, which were currently encased in the most expensive shoes in the store.

"Hmm," she said, smiling at the shop assistant lady as she went to sit down. "They're certainly... nice." She took one shoe off to examine it more closely.

"Prue, get back here this instant!"

Phoebe's head snapped up. That had been Piper's voice. Putting one shoe down next to her and still wearing the other, Phoebe went over to the corner and stuck her head around it to peer into the children's section of the store.

And there was Piper, sat next to a little girl of about 2 who looked like she was about to kick the shop assistant in the face. Standing next to them was another little girl, a year or two older, looking at some fluffy pink slippers.

"Pyralis," Piper looked at the older girl, "Please go get Prue and tell her she's in big trouble."

Pyralis? Phoebe made a few calculations in her head. Yes, she would be about 4 by now...

She watched as Pyralis went over to another, blonde little girl, Prue presumably, who was taking shoes off the shelves left right and center, and whispered something to her. Prue held out her hands in an all-too-familiar way, and froze the store. Then Pyralis waved her hands in a different, but just as familiar manner, and all the shoes went flying back to their places on the shelves and tables. Once everything was back in order Prue unfroze things and she and Pyralis made their way back to Piper, who did not look happy with them.

And then Pyralis looked at Phoebe.

Phoebe drew back around the corner in shock, suddenly having to gasp for breath. She shook her head. Why was she reacting like this? It didn't make sense.

She was tempted to sneak another look at her. At her daughter. No, that wouldn't be wise. But still...

And then she realized. She wanted her back.

She briefly contemplated grabbing her here in the store, but soon decided against it. It would be stupid with all these people around, especially considering what she had said earlier about being exposed. No, she'd have to go to the manor...

"Um, excuse me ma'am, but will you be wanting these shoes?"

"Yes!" Phoebe snapped, kicking the other one off in the direction of the assistant.

She was a witch with a mission, but though shoes were not top of her list of priorities right now, these particular ones were very nice...

Politeness, however, was a lot farther down.

She turned to the woman. "Well? Hurry up!"

* * *

The door was open.

This shouldn't really have surprised Phoebe, after all, it had always been open when she was living there... but still, for some reason she hadn't expected it.

Shrugging, she stepped into the sun-lit hall. She couldn't see anyone, but the sound of the TV was coming from the living room. Cautiously she tiptoed to the doorway and looked inside, hoping not to find Piper in attack mode. And she didn't. And at first it looked like she hadn't found anyone there at all, just a TV showing cartoons, but then she heard a noise. Someone had giggled at something one of the cartoon characters had done to the other. Phoebe took a few more steps forward and saw that it had been Pyralis, her little body obscured by the huge couch cushions.

Smiling in anticipation, she started to walk around the side of the couch. She suddenly wondered why she had ever left Pyralis here in the first place. Surely her daughter would be much better off with Cole and her anyway? After all, they had so much more to offer. Wealth, power, anything anyone could possibly want... What did Piper and Paige have to compete with that?

And then Phoebe stepped on a toy, and it cracked, and Pyralis looked around and saw her.

"Paige!" the little girl screamed.

"Sweetie..." Phoebe came forward and smiled. "You don't need Paige. Come on, come here and give me a hug."

"No," Pyralis said fiercely, scrambling to the far end of the couch. "Paige said you're dangerous."

"Oh, sweetie... I'm not dangerous! I'm your mommy!"

"Go away!"

The sound of someone orbing in made Phoebe look up. It was Paige.

"Pyralis, honey, what's-" She stopped short in mid-sentence. "Phoebe."

"Paige!" Pyralis rushed over to Paige and she picked her up, looking at Phoebe warily.

"What do you want?" Paige asked her sister, holding Pyralis tightly.

"I want my daughter!" Phoebe shouted angrily.

"No!" Pyralis screamed, starting to cry.

Paige looked from her niece to her sister and raised an eyebrow. "Well, she obviously doesn't want you."

"I'm her mother!" Phoebe was fast becoming impatient.

"Phoebe, you stopped being Pyralis' mother the moment you chose Cole over her."

"It wasn't like that!"

Paige snorted. Phoebe lunged forward, intending to snatch Pyralis from her.

Calmly, Paige held out her free hand as if to push her away. And much to her own surprise Phoebe stopped.

"Go home, Phoebe," Paige told her sister. "You're not wanted here, not as long as you're evil. And don't even try to tell me you're not, because I can feel it, trying to pull me in too, the same as it's been doing every day since you left."

Phoebe didn't move.

Paige looked at her niece. "Pyralis, why don't you give Phoebe a hand getting out?"

Pyralis didn't need telling twice. She raised her hand and the next thing Phoebe knew she was lying on the grass outside, the door slamming behind her.

She stood up and dusted herself off. So, Paige wanted to turn Phoebe's own daughter against her, did she? Well, let her. But someday, somehow she would pay for this.

And Pyralis? If she wanted to stay with her bitches of aunts, fine. Phoebe didn't need her, not when she had Cole.

She smiled as she was engulfed by flames. Yes. She had Cole, and that was all that mattered.

But she didn't tell him what had happened that day.

2009

"Well, at least you didn't use your powers on him."

Pyralis glared at Piper angrily. "I'm not stupid, you know!"

"Pyralis, come on." Piper sighed and looked across to Paige, who was sat on the couch on Pyralis' other side. "You've been acting up all week. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Pyralis said, returning to gazing at her feet.

"I don't believe you," Paige told her. "It's not like you to beat people up."

"He was making fun of me! Anyway, I beat up demons all the time."

"That's not the same and you know it."

Pyralis crossed her arms and stubbornly remained silent.

Her aunts waited.

"Last week..." Pyralis said after a minute.

"Go on," Piper told her.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got out of bed, but before I could get to the door I was already in the bathroom." She looked up, the fear evident in her eyes. "I think I shimmered."

"But that's good!" Paige said. "You got a new power!"

"But it's an evil power!" cried Pyralis. "I don't want to be evil!"

"Oh, Pyralis, sweetie..." Piper put an arm around her niece. "Just because you have a demonic power doesn't mean you're evil! I mean, just because Paige can orb doesn't mean she's a whitelighter."

"That's different."

"No it's not. Paige's dad was a whitelighter but she's not, and your dad's a demon but you're not."

Pyralis still looked unconvinced.

"Look, Pyralis, as long as you don't want to be evil you won't be. It's as simple as that."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now come on," Piper said, patting Pyralis' knee. "You and I have some cookies to bake."

"Chocolate chip?" Pyralis asked excitedly, jumping up off the couch.

Piper laughed and followed her into the kitchen. "Whatever you want."

Paige stood up and gazed after them thoughtfully. Then her husband came up behind her.

"I wish it were true," she said.

"What?" he asked, putting his arms around her waist.

"That you won't become evil if you don't want to." She turned to look at him. "Phoebe didn't want to be evil, Michael, I know she didn't. She was such a great person." Paige took a deep breath and put a hand on her pregnant stomach. "Which is why I think we should name our kid after her."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "You're kidding, right? Naming our daughter after the Queen of the Underworld?"

Paige shrugged, looking hopeful.

Michael sighed. "Oh, all right, you crazy person, you..."

And they smiled, kissed and were happy.

2013

"Interesting..." Cole removed his hand from the Grimlock's arm. "You're dismissed," he told him. He turned to Phoebe. "What do you think?"

She shrugged, smiling. "What are premonitions for if not to take advantage of? If they're going to be there... We should be too."

"You want to kill them?" he asked, reaching out to stroke her cheek.

"No... Not all of them. Not yet." She shook her head. "Paige killed one of my children and turned the other against me... let her suffer. Let them all suffer." She smiled as she put her arms around him. "And I have the perfect plan."

* * *

"...so I got roped into taking him to the dentist." Leo ruffled Phillip's hair fondly.

"Well, beats going to work," Michael told him. They were walking home together after having met a few streets back.

"Yeah, though I do love my work too."

Michael laughed. "You would."

"Phillip, wait for us!" Leo called to his son, who had just rounded a corner in front of them.

"Ah, they're all like that, aren't they? Can't wait for their frail old parents," Michael said, grinning.

Leo grinned too and went round the corner, just in time to see Phillip be snatched by a Grimlock.

"Phillip!" he cried, running to the spot where he had disappeared. He looked back at Michael, panicked.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Michael said, rushing up to him. "Can you still sense him?"

Leo nodded.

Michael grabbed Leo's arm. "Then let's go."

* * *

"Dad!" Phillip held out his arms as Leo whacked the Grimlock in front of him on the head with plank.

"You okay?" Leo asked, concerned, lifting him up.

"Yeah, they didn't do anything to me yet."

"Good..." Leo looked over his shoulder at Michael, who was battling the other two Grimlocks. He wondered if he should try to help or get Phillip to safety.

"Get him home," Michael said in-between dodging punches.

Relieved to have the decision made for him, Leo nodded and orbed out.

Michael turned back to the Grimlocks. "You're gonna regret taking that little boy." He aimed a punch at the taller one's head.

The Grimlock caught his fist and grinned. "I don't think so." And then he morphed into the Source.

His eyes widening in surprise, Michael looked to his right and saw that the other Grimlock had turned into the Queen. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything the Source was pinning his arms behind his back and the Queen ws pouring something down his throat. Then she stepped back and smiled at him.

The Source tightened his grip and before Michael knew it they had appeared in the manor, where Paige and Piper were rushing over to the couch Leo had put Phillip down on. They froze half-way across the hallway when they saw them, both with their mouths open.

There was a noise at the top of the stairs and they all looked up to see Pyralis staring through the banisters. The Source looked back at Phoebe for a second, then back to Pyralis, and disappeared. Michael took a step towards Paige, but Phoebe grabbed his arm and he couldn't release himself from her grip.

"Are you okay?" Paige asked, obviously trying to decide if she should risk getting any closer.

"Yeah... I think so."

Phoebe was staring at Paige, and a smile slowly started to form on her face. "Not for long," she said, the satisfaction evident in her voice. She held up her hand and a dagger appeared in it. Still smiling at Paige, she pulled Michael towards her and thrust the knife into his back. Then she pulled it out and stepped back, letting him fall to the floor without ever taking her eyes off her sister.

"Michael!" Paige knelt down beside him and held her hands over him in an attempt to heal him, Leo joining her a second later.

"It won't work," Phoebe said, slowly walking around so she could see his face. "That potion I gave you made you immune to a whitelighter's powers, and to anything else they might try to use to heal you." She crouched down so her face was level with Paige's, looked first at him and then at her, not blinking. "You're going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Phoebe stood up and turned to look at Pyralis, who was still sat at the top of the stairs. She smiled at her daughter and then left, going up in flames.

Paige put Michael's head in her lap as Piper and Leo rushed off to find something, anything to help him.

The last thing he saw was her tears.

2016

"No, no! I don't deserve this, I didn't do anything!"

"Neither did I." Phoebe held out her red-hot hand again and squeezed the innocent's wrist, feeling his skin crackle and burn beneath her fingers. She grinned at him, making sure to show just how much she was enjoying this.

"Phoebe?"

Phoebe turned around and saw Cole standing at the entrance to the cavern. "What is it now?"

"We have a problem."

Sighing, Phoebe took another look at the innocent before following her husband into the conference chamber. Jackson was sat in a chair, looking very nervous. Cole gestured towards him. Phoebe raised her eyebrows and went over to touch his arm.

"We also want you to tell us everything you know about the security measures surrounding the Source and his Queen, and any potential weaknesses we could exploit."

"I don't think so."

"Fine, then I guess we'll just have to kill you and summon the next demon on our list."

"You do realize you're dealing with an upper-level demon here."

"I see, and that makes you immune to our powers, right? A fouteen-year-old just froze you, Jackson. Just think what us adults could do."

"Okay..."

"Ohh, that is not good," Phoebe said, taking her hand away.

Cole shook his head. "Not good at all, is it Jackson?"

"Please, sir, I can explain, I, I don't even remember..."

"If you don't remember then how do you expect to explain? Honestly, Jackson, I'm very disappointed that you could be so stupid!" Phoebe turned to one of guards by the door. "Put him in there with the other one," she said, pointing at the entrance to the torture chamber.

"No, please, no..." Whimpering, Jackson was dragged away.

"So what are we gonna do?" Cole asked when he was gone.

"Well, they're planning to kill us... Maybe it's about time we killed them."

"What about Pyralis?"

"Her too."

"Oh." Cole looked down.

Phoebe walked over to him. "Why, what were you thinking?"

"Well... if we could turn her..."

"I'm listening."

"The three of us would be practically invincible."

"Cole, we're already practically invincible."

"Not with her on their side. She's powerful, Phoebe, she vanquished the Seer. I wouldn't be surprised if her powers worked on us. But with her on our side..." He grinned. "Piper and Paige won't stand a chance against us."

Phoebe smiled. "I like the way you think," she told him, wrapping her arms around him. "Elkor!" she shouted.

Elkor appeared in the doorway and bowed. "Yes, my Queen?"

"Find our daughter. Bring her to us." She looked up at Cole again. "If she won't turn we can always kill her later."

Author's note: I promise I will never, ever make you wait that long for a new chapter ever again. That said, some reviews might be nice :D