Author's note: Thanks for the positive reviews. And I agree with the third reviewer, I prefer this version of the story much better as well.
Prue sat down next to Phoebe on Piper's bed. "What do you mean? Was there a demon?" As much as the thought of Piper's death chilled her, Prue needed to get the details of what Phoebe had seen.
"No. I didn't see anything like that at all." Phoebe looked at Prue as her eyes brimmed with worry. "I saw Piper, but she looked so strange, like she was anorexic. She had made this huge meal and you and I were there yelling at her. Prue, she was so scared and upset." Phoebe struggled with her emotions, pushing aside her tears for another time when she would be able to cry on Piper's shoulder.
"We were mad? Do you know why?"
"No." Phoebe shook her head mournfully. "I couldn't hear what they… we were saying. I don't think Piper really heard either. She was… I don't know, it almost seemed like she was just fading away. She was there but she wasn't." Phoebe thought for a moment, trying to delve into the painful memory of her premonition. "There was a calendar on the wall with tomorrow's date." Phoebe's tone turned curious at the admission.
"Okay." Prue turned to look at Leo who had joined them. "Is it possible that Piper got pulled into some kind of waking nightmare?"
"I don't know for sure but there are rumors of a demon who can cross between alternate realities."
Phoebe looked less than convinced. "So she could be stuck in some kind of 'what if' world? How in the hell are we supposed to get to her then? I'm kind of missing the whole 'being attacked in our own home by demons and warlocks who want to kill us and steal the Book of Shadows' routine, this trans-reality hide and seek stuff is not working. This is getting way too 'Star Trek' for me."
Leo nodded. "If she were put into a skewed version of this lifeline, one in which the three of you never came into your powers… It's possible that the demon behind the change could ultimately destroy you all."
"No Piper means no Power of Three and no Charmed Ones," Prue agreed. "Leo, go and see if they know anything that could help us find this guy. We'll check the Book of Shadows."
They watched Leo orb out of the room and Phoebe climbed out of Piper's bed. "So much for our relaxing day off."
~~~
Piper awoke with a start. He sleep had been riddled with disjointed images of Prue, Phoebe, and Leo trying to find her. She didn't know if the dreams were wishful thinking or if they were glimpses of the life from which she had been wrenched but she hoped for the latter while she prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Heavy shadows slanted across the room and she realized she must have been asleep for hours. A note stood propped against an empty vase on the table and she rose and read the short message. Matthew would be back on the following afternoon and he expected her to drink at least some of the juice in the refrigerator. Silently, Piper expected to be long gone before Matthew ever returned.
The Matthew she remembered was every bit as sweet as the one who was so very worried about her. Piper could recall several nights the two of them had sat together in commiseration over their respective boyfriends, mixed drinks and cheesecake their only other companions. They had lost touch with one another eventually, each moving forward with their lives. At least they had until that morning when she woke to find him solidly entrenched in her life again. She shook her head to clear it of the cobwebs; her lightheadedness was making concentration difficult at best and she had trouble conjuring up any solid thoughts at all.
Deciding to worry with something a little closer to the present time, she thought back to her attempt to freeze Matthew when he had been on the phone with Prue. She couldn't be certain if it hadn't worked because she was so weak or if she had somehow lost her powers altogether. When she had first woken up that morning, she hadn't felt any different, but as time progressed, she found herself fading quickly, not only her physical state but also psychologically. Her wandering mind led her to Leo. Maybe, if she could call him, he could straighten everything out.
"Leo!" Her voice trembled but she was still able to shout so she took it as a good sign. "Leo, get down here! I need you." She waited a few moments, unsure what to expect. If Prue was acting oddly, the chances were good that Leo would too. "Leo!" She squeezed her eyes shut against the sound of her voice echoing back at her in the empty house. She couldn't handle being ostracized from Leo too, not when she was already so heartbroken.
~~~
Phoebe shut the Book of Shadows in utter disgust. She had been reading through the entries for so long that her eyes wanted to cross and she was no closer to finding their elusive demon. She rubbed a hand across her face and looked up Justin time to witness Leo's arrival.
"I hope you got more out of the Elders than I did from this book," she said in a strained attempt at humor.
"He's called Gallfrec," he said without preamble in response to her exasperation. "They believe he travels between alternate realities, that all he has to do is pull whoever his target is out of their reality and into one where they are weakened." Leo paced in agitation.
"So according to my premonition, Piper's been whisked away from us to some other place or reality or whatever where we obviously never rekindled our relationship." Phoebe sucked in a wavering breath. "My only question is, how do we get her back into this reality before it's too late? From what I saw, it better happen fast. If she doesn't die of starvation first, she'd way too easy of a target for anything that might decide to attack her."
"The Elders are looking for a way for us to get her back," Leo said absently.
"Yeah well, no offence, Leo, but we better start coming up with something on our own." Phoebe flipped the book open again. "If she's here, just not in our here, couldn't we open a portal or a window or something and drag her back? I mean, she's in a parallel plane or dimension or whatever it is you want to call it, but there's really only one manor, right? Our biggest problem would be that we wouldn't be able to use the Power of Three. Prue and I would have to rig a way for the two of us to make it work." She paused in her renewed search of the book to look at Leo.
"I'll be back."
She watched him orb out of the attic and bent her head again in search of a spell that might be able to help guide them to the right answer.
Phoebe bounded down the stairs an hour later with a sheet of paper in her hand in search of Prue. She found her in the kitchen and she stood silent while her big sister dumped their cache of potion ingredients on the counter top. "Um, Prue? What are you doing?"
Prue braced her hands against the counter. "I don't know," she admitted.
"Well, as much as it's amusing, trashing Piper's kitchen isn't going to bring her home any faster. It might give her a heart attack when she does come home though." Phoebe quirked an eyebrow and set a bottle of Henbane upright.
"Did you find anything in the book?"
Phoebe sighed in commiseration with her sister's unrest. "Not so much but Leo and I did come up with a partial plan. Wanna hear all the gory details? It might cheer up you."
Leo returned to the girls as Phoebe worked feverishly to whip up a potion she hoped would help open the trans-dimensional portal they required. His drawn features and distraught eyes relayed all she needed to know. The Elders were just as clueless as the rest of them were. She doubled her efforts with her potion.
"Damn it!"
Prue's sudden cry drew Phoebe's attention away from her brewing potion and pulled Leo from his stupor. They watched the doorway and waited for an explanation.
"Sweetie?" Phoebe called when it seemed Prue wouldn't appear without coercion. "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not." Prue entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter next to Phoebe. "I'm so tired of all of this. It isn't right."
Phoebe cut her eyes at her sister. "What isn't right? The spell? The potion?"
"The entire situation. All we wanted was one day. One day to be able to forget about being who we are." She sighed. "Was that really too much to ask?"
"I don't know," Phoebe said, fighting her own feeling of helplessness. "It'll all work out though. We'll get Piper back and then we can go back to normal."
Prue chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
"You, me… When did our roles get reversed, was that part of the spell that stole Piper? I'm the one who is supposed to hold it all together. I'm the one who says everything will be all right. I'm the big sister, not you." She grinned at Phoebe.
"This is a special case," Phoebe quipped before taking on a more serious tone. "You're worn out, Prue. You needed this day of peace every bit as much as Piper did. Of course it's going to hit you hard." She paused for a moment and added, "Don't worry, as soon as Piper comes home, I'll go back to being the annoying and irresponsible baby sister."
Prue nodded, grinning at the comment. "I even tried to astrally project to where Piper is."
Leo's head snapped up. "You did what? Prue, you can't do that, you might not be able to get back to your body even if you are able to get to Piper in the first place."
"I don't care, Leo," she announced bitterly. "All I care about right now is getting Piper back home where she belongs."
"Yeah, but she'd blame herself if something did happen to you while you were trying to save her," Phoebe said quietly. She double-checked her scrawled notes before she added a pinch of herbs to the saucepan. "Besides, even if you were able to project to her, you wouldn't be able to heal her. If she stays there, she's going to die, the only answer is for us to bring her back here and either hope that she's okay in this reality or let Leo heal her."
Prue stared at Phoebe. "Who are you and what did you do with my sister?" she teased. "When did you get so smart?"
Phoebe grinned broadly. "Piper must be rubbing off on me." She ducked Prue's playful swat at the slight and went back to worrying with the potion.
"How's it coming?"
She stepped back from the stove. "It's done. I just hope it works."
to be continued…