I awaken, although at first everything's blurry, as if I'm in a particularly bad dizzy spell. After a minute, my vision clears, and I realize I'm no longer in the attic. I'm downstairs, coming in through the front door. Behind me is a man - a doctor - wait, I've seen him before. That's Dr. Griffiths. He was killed, the same day Prue was, by the same demon. Before I can process this, someone else comes in behind him... Holy freaking crap, that's me! But how...?
My eyes fall on the hall mirror and - Oh my God. I'm Prue. At least, I'm in her body. I can't control it; everything is still playing out the same way it did then, every move, every word, every breath. The spell... it must have sent me here, back to the day she died, but why? I remember everything about that horrible day. I know exactly what's going to happen next. How can I possibly get any answers in the span of a few short seconds? Is this just magic's way of screwing with me, making me relive my sister's last moments from her perspective, so I can go through the same hell she did?
Or maybe there is a point to this. Once my mind stops racing, I realize I can hear Prue's thoughts. She's worried. Not surprising, considering the demon we're up against. An uncooperative innocent doesn't help, either. Prue's scared for him. She always did put other people's safety ahead of her own. But then, isn't that why I'm here?
I feel - Prue feels - a chill. I feel her heart start racing; she knows something's wrong. Her first emotion is fear. I'm not surprised to realize that it's fear for me, the doctor, and Phoebe first, and for herself as an afterthought. She's resisting the urge to push me somewhere out of the way, somewhere safe, and let herself take the full impact of whatever it is that she's sensing. It doesn't occur to her that she won't be okay. How like Prue to believe she's immortal. Before this day, it never even occured to me that she's not.
We're calling Phoebe's name, but she isn't there. It wasn't until later, after Prue was dead, that I found out she went to the Underworld to get Tempus to reset time. Sometimes, I used to wish that she hadn't. That way, I would have been the one to die. I used to think it should have been me instead of Prue, that Phoebe and Paige would have been better off with her than they are with me. Those feelings stopped for the most part after Wyatt was born, but ever since Leo left, I just haven't been completely sure...
Prue's fear is increasing, mainly for Phoebe, as there's still no answer from upstairs. She's wondering if the chill she'd felt meant that Shax had gotten to Pheebs already. She pushes that thought away, instead concentrating on Dr. Griffiths.
The doors fly open. Shax appears in a gust of wind, the bastard. Prue braces herself as best she can, but she barely has time to scream before he throws her through the wall. She hits the ground with violent force among all the debris, but the impact doesn't kill her right away as I'd believed. I can feel her fighting, trying to stay concious. Her body is almost completely numb. This should be reassuring; at least now I know she wasn't in pain, but instead I feel alarmed. If she were in pain, at least there might have been a chance. But she can't feel anything at all. That's not a good sign, obviously. She knows it, too, but she refuses to submit.
She hears a crash, and suddenly I land next to her. She tries to reach over and take my hand, but she can't move. Still, even though she knows she's fighting for her own life, she's got plenty of worry to spare for me. I want to tell her that I'm okay, that she should concentrate on herself, but I can't. I can't do anything but watch, feel, my sister die.
She's fighting like hell to stay alive, but to no avail. A second passes, and she blacks out completely. Another second. She's dying now. I feel her slipping away.
I feel myself slipping away, right along with her.
My eyes fall on the hall mirror and - Oh my God. I'm Prue. At least, I'm in her body. I can't control it; everything is still playing out the same way it did then, every move, every word, every breath. The spell... it must have sent me here, back to the day she died, but why? I remember everything about that horrible day. I know exactly what's going to happen next. How can I possibly get any answers in the span of a few short seconds? Is this just magic's way of screwing with me, making me relive my sister's last moments from her perspective, so I can go through the same hell she did?
Or maybe there is a point to this. Once my mind stops racing, I realize I can hear Prue's thoughts. She's worried. Not surprising, considering the demon we're up against. An uncooperative innocent doesn't help, either. Prue's scared for him. She always did put other people's safety ahead of her own. But then, isn't that why I'm here?
I feel - Prue feels - a chill. I feel her heart start racing; she knows something's wrong. Her first emotion is fear. I'm not surprised to realize that it's fear for me, the doctor, and Phoebe first, and for herself as an afterthought. She's resisting the urge to push me somewhere out of the way, somewhere safe, and let herself take the full impact of whatever it is that she's sensing. It doesn't occur to her that she won't be okay. How like Prue to believe she's immortal. Before this day, it never even occured to me that she's not.
We're calling Phoebe's name, but she isn't there. It wasn't until later, after Prue was dead, that I found out she went to the Underworld to get Tempus to reset time. Sometimes, I used to wish that she hadn't. That way, I would have been the one to die. I used to think it should have been me instead of Prue, that Phoebe and Paige would have been better off with her than they are with me. Those feelings stopped for the most part after Wyatt was born, but ever since Leo left, I just haven't been completely sure...
Prue's fear is increasing, mainly for Phoebe, as there's still no answer from upstairs. She's wondering if the chill she'd felt meant that Shax had gotten to Pheebs already. She pushes that thought away, instead concentrating on Dr. Griffiths.
The doors fly open. Shax appears in a gust of wind, the bastard. Prue braces herself as best she can, but she barely has time to scream before he throws her through the wall. She hits the ground with violent force among all the debris, but the impact doesn't kill her right away as I'd believed. I can feel her fighting, trying to stay concious. Her body is almost completely numb. This should be reassuring; at least now I know she wasn't in pain, but instead I feel alarmed. If she were in pain, at least there might have been a chance. But she can't feel anything at all. That's not a good sign, obviously. She knows it, too, but she refuses to submit.
She hears a crash, and suddenly I land next to her. She tries to reach over and take my hand, but she can't move. Still, even though she knows she's fighting for her own life, she's got plenty of worry to spare for me. I want to tell her that I'm okay, that she should concentrate on herself, but I can't. I can't do anything but watch, feel, my sister die.
She's fighting like hell to stay alive, but to no avail. A second passes, and she blacks out completely. Another second. She's dying now. I feel her slipping away.
I feel myself slipping away, right along with her.