Disclaimer; The characters of 'Charmed' are not mine, nor do I lay any type of claim on them.

Authors Notes; This is the first chapter of a story dealing with the death of one of the Charmed ones.....I will update if so desired. It isn't the long one that I promised at the end of my last story.....that one will be along in a bit. Please let me know what you think..........



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"Now Prue!" Phoebe screamed, ducking the latest fireball sent her way.

Hearing her sisters cry, Prue Halliwell swept her arm forward, narrowing her eyes as she sent the attacking demon flying backwards.

He crashed into the manor wall, knocking down a few pictures on impact.

"Quick, Phoebe, the spell."

Phoebe ran over to Prue, standing shoulder to shoulder with her big sister. "But it's a power of three spell, it won't work without Piper."

"Maybe....maybe we've weakened him enough," Prue said. "We have to try."

Phoebe nodded, reaching into her pocket just as the demon got up. She located the piece of paper the spell was written on, and held it out in front of them.

They started to chant, watching as the demon began to glow red, growling a little.

"You're not strong enough to defeat me....."

The two Charmed ones didn't reply, merely raising their voices. After a moment or two, the glow faded, and the demon stood whole.

"You see? You're powerless without the third witch."

"Oh yeah?" Prue asked, before gathering all of her mental strength and hitting the demon with as much force as she could muster. He went speeding backwards, screaming in rage as he flew out of the window, landing on the front lawn.

Prue then grabbed Phoebe's hand, pulling her along as she went running up the stairs.

"Prue, what are you doing?"

"We have to get to the Book Of shadows......see if there's anything else we can use."

"But what about the demon on our front lawn," Phoebe said breathlessly as they entered the attic. "Won't people notice, we *are* supposed to keep it a secret."

"Well," Prue said, thumbing through the book frantically. "That isn't going to matter much if we're dead."

Phoebe didn't reply as she went to stand at Prue's shoulder, lending her eyes to the effort.

"C'mon, c'mon," Prue whispered. She couldn't find anything.

"Prue....maybe we should get out of here......"

"Pheebs, where will we go, even if we can get past that son of a bitch down there."

"I don't know, but -- "

Phoebe was cut off as the demon flamed in. "Ahh," he said. "Two little witches, all on their own. How sad."

Prue threw him back again, but he merely got up.

"You know," he started, his tone conversational. "I've never been one to go for the easy route.....I prefer the more hands on approach. Don't you?" An Atheme appeared in his outstretched palm. "I mean, I could just throw a fireball at you, but where's the fun in that."

Prue and Phoebe didn't answer, both simply taking up a fighting stance. "Bring it on," Prue challenged.

But before he could, the sound of the front door slamming interrupted them. "Prue? Pheebs?"

"Well, would you look at that," Prue said smugly. "Looks like the power of three is back."

The demon sneered. " I wouldn't be so sure." And with that, he threw the Atheme at the sisters, then flamed out.

Prue watched as the knife seemed to head for her in slow motion. She knew she should move, should use her power, but she couldn't. Why couldn't she move? She waited for the slice of cold steel, confused when it didn't hit her. The confusion cleared when she heard her sisters scream.

Time sped up again as Phoebe dropped into Prue's arms. Her eyes were filled with pain, as her hand clutched at her stomach where the Atheme's handle protruded.

"Phoebe...Phoebe, no!" Prue cried.

She didn't notice when Piper entered the attic, only looking up when she cried Phoebe's name.

"Leo!" Prue screamed. "Leo!"

She looked down at the form of her sister as the blue light that signified a Whitelighters orb appeared.

"Pheebs," she whispered. But there was no answer. Phoebe lay still, her body limp in Prue's arms.

"My god," Leo muttered, rushing over and dropping to his knees beside the two sisters. But Prue didn't notice. All that she knew was that her sister wasn't there anymore........and nothing else penetrated her numbness........

~

Prue shot up, gasping for air.

The room seemed too small, too hot to her sweat soaked body. After a moment of frantic searching with her eyes, she realised where she was. She wasn't in the attic. She wasn't at the scene of her little sisters death........she was in her room, in her bed. Safe.

Only there was no being safe anywhere now.

Fighting back the tears she refused to let herself shed anymore, Prue got out of bed. She debated changing clothes, but decided not to. Opening her bedroom door, she began the short journey that she had started taking after Phoebe's death.....the journey to her sisters room. She knew that Piper had lost count of the amount of times that she had found Prue asleep in Phoebe's bed come morning. It happened less frequently now, as it had been almost a year since Phoebe was taken from them, but it was still enough to worry Piper when it did.

Prue opened the door to Phoebe's room, sighing as a wave of pain washed over her. It had lessened with time, but it was still there. Waiting to creep up on her, usually when she least expected it to.

She moved over to Phoebe's bed, climbing in. The room was exactly the same as it had been when Phoebe was alive......they hadn't changed a thing.

It was all here when Piper or Prue felt the need to be with their little sister. It wasn't the place where they had laid her body to rest that they went......no, it was here, where she had *lived.* The place that was still full of her energy. Her memories.

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Prue tried to relax enough to sleep. When that didn't work, she tried not to cry as she let the memories of that day......of her failure to protect Phoebe.....wash over her mind.



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