Chapter 3
"Are you sure she orbed? Are you sure that it wasn't something else?" Leo asked Phoebe and Cole. They had returned to the manor and immediately relayed the news of their innocent's unknown abilities.
"Leo, she disappeared. Bright white, shiny thingies came and then she reappeared. What else could it be?" Phoebe asked.
"It just doesn't make any sense."
"Why not?" Cole jumped in.
"Because why would Shax want to kill a whitelighter?"
"Maybe he doesn't know she's a whitelighter."
"Right, the Source sends out his personal assassin, but doesn't know who he's after?" Behind them, the sound of plates being almost forcefully dropped in their places on the shelves made them remember of Prue's presence in the kitchen. She hadn't said a word yet, but they had an impression that when she did, it wouldn't be good. The three acknowledged her before continuing, their voices a bit lower.
"Is it possible that she didn't know that she was a whitelighter?" Phoebe asked her brother-in-law.
"No. Why?"
"Because she acted as if she didn't. She acted just as surprised as we were when she orbed out," Cole explained.
"Well that doesn't make any sense either."
"Okay, why don't you go up and ask the Elders what does make sense so we don't go risking our lives again?"
Leo had been a real trooper considering what he'd been through. Truth was focusing on this made getting through the days easier, so he didn't protest much. He looked at Prue, who he knew was having trouble with all this right now. "I'll be right back." He orbed out. Phoebe breathed deeply, trying to stay calm. Cole put a hand on her arm as he spoke.
"Maybe I should, uh, go to the other side and see what I can find out." Phoebe looked up.
"No."
"I'll be careful. Nobody'll see me. Besides, it could be good to me to go back down, confuse any bounty hunters that might be trying to track me. Don't worry. I won't disappear." The two kissed and Cole left, the two sisters now alone. Prue stood silent, facing the cabinets, holding carefully in her hands a coffee cup with a little chip missing on the handle. Phoebe approached her slowly.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked her. Prue laughed to herself.
"Yeah, sure... I'm just fine. It was a lovely day, we should be doing it soon again..." she spoke, sarcasm dripping from her every word.
"Prue..." She turned, putting the cup down on the counter.
"No, don't even go there. Phoebe, have you completely lost it? I would think that even you would have the sense not to tempt fate like that after what's happened."
"She's an innocent."
"And so was Piper." Both were quiet. Prue had the beginning of tears appearing in her eyes. "After seeing Mom get taken, then Grams, now Piper... I wonder if that'll keep happening, and here you are proving me that it probably will! Haven't we lost enough? Haven't... haven't we..." Phoebe hugged her sister, feeling herself breaking as well.
"Please forgive me..."
"I don't want to lose you too... I wouldn't survive it..."
*
Prue stood in the middle of a barren field, alone. She looked around, wondering how she'd gotten there. She turned and turned and nothing was there. But on one turn there was something... a door. She hesitated at first, but finally she reached for the handle and pushed the door open.
When she walked in, she was in the hall at the manor. There was no one there, until...
"Look, I know that this all sounds incredible, but it doesn't make it any less true. Alright, you're a healer, you do good, now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save." She became wide-eyed as she observed herself, and Dr. Griffiths, and... Piper. Apparently, they didn't seem to be able to see her. They continued to talk, and like the nightmares she'd been having, it happened.
Shax arrived. This Prue and Piper were knocked to the floor as Shax advanced on the doctor. This Prue tried to stop the demon and was thrown through the wall, then Piper. Shax killed the doctor, then he left. Prue approached, looking at the prone forms of herself and her sister.
Shortly after, Leo and Phoebe orbed in. "Oh my God..." Phoebe cried as Leo crouched down to heal them. He looked at both of them, a hard decision forming itself in his mind. He reached to Piper and began healing her. And she woke up. This was different, which made Prue shocked. This nightmare had always been the same.
Leo then went on to try and save this Prue. And he failed. This Prue was dead... All disappeared except the two Prues, one live, one dead. The live Prue approached her dead self, observing her like she was a foreign object.
She looked up as she sensed someone's presence. There was Piper, transparent, bleeding from several wounds. She looked at her live sister with a frightening anger on her face.
"Why did you do it Prue?" her voice echoed.
"Do what?" Prue asked. Piper disappeared, then reappeared before Prue, looking even more dead.
"You killed me..." She stared her big sister down deep and Prue felt pain build at the pit of her stomach, felt herself crumbling to the ground as her dead sister looked at her, devoid of emotions
That was when she finally awoke, in a sweat like none before, breathing heavily. This hadn't just been a dream, not even a nightmare... It had been a nap, then an almost prophetic revelation.
*
After trying to recover from her nightmare, Prue went down into the living room, where she found Phoebe sitting next to the fireplace. Prue had been wondering when her youngest sister would break, and now it seemed that was imminent.
"Hey," she sat across from her.
"Doesn't seem real, does it?" Phoebe stared into the flames.
"No. I walk by her room and I keep thinking 'what are we going to do about that?', as much as I'd like to we can't just leave it there. What are we going to do with her car?"
"I don't know. Sell it, I guess."
"Unless you want it."
"No." Phoebe took Prue's hands in hers, and Prue could tell they were shaking. "We're gonna get through this, you know. We just have to stick together."
Leo orbed in and the sisters looked up at him. "Well?" Prue asked.
"Well, they don't know anything about her, so she's definitely not a whitelighter."
"Then why can she orb, Leo?" Phoebe asked.
"They can't explain it." The girls stood.
"Then how is it possible that they don't kn..." At this point, Cole returned, looking like he'd been in a fight or two... or three.
"Whew. Sorry I took so long. I had to dodge a couple of bounty hunters."
"Did you find anything out?" Leo asked.
"You have no idea what I found out. Turns out the Source doesn't think she's a whitelighter at all. In fact, he thinks she might be another... Charmed One. That's why he put Shax on it. He thought he ended the Power of Three. Now he's worried that this girl may somehow reconstitute it."
"No, but that's not possible. Is that possible?" Phoebe asked Leo, to which she got a shrug. However, Prue had a different reaction, as she started off toward the stairs. "Prue?"
"Prue?" Cole asked as well. The three followed as Prue arrived into the attic with a beeline made toward the book.
"What's going on?" Phoebe asked her sister.
"I don't know, why don't we ask Grams..." she began to flipping through the pages quickly and forcefully.
"Grams?" Phoebe asked, confused.
"Yeah, Grams. She's being all cryptic, going on about how our destiny still awaits, and how there's a reason for everything. Maybe she should get her ghostly self back here and explain to us just what that means," she finally found the page.
"Okay, but what should..." Phoebe started before Prue began reciting, her words well pronounced and pointed.
"Hear these words, hear my cry
Spirit from the other side
Come to me, I summon thee
Cross now the Great Divide.
Staring at the circle of candles intently, she waited as her grandmother took form.
"Prue? Why are you calling? P-Phoebe, wha-what's going on?" Penny Halliwell asked, feeling cornered by her granddaughters.
"Grams, why does the Source think that the Charmed Ones can be reconstituted?" Prue asked, putting emphasis on the last word.
"I do - I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sorry Grams, that's not gonna work, I've known you too long. No lies."
"If you know something, Grams, you have to tell us. We deserve to know," Phoebe stepped in.
"I can't. I'm sworn to secrecy."
"By who?"
"By me," came a voice out of nowhere, before Patty Halliwell appeared beside her mother, "By me."
"Mom?" Prue asked. Patty began to pace.
"We didn't tell anybody because we were afraid that there would be reprisals, afraid that, you girls would be denied your powers. Your birthright. It happened after your father and I were divorced, when Sam and I were together."
"Sam?" Leo asked Cole.
"Her whitelighter," he explained. Prue looked at Cole, expecting him to comment in some way, but he didn't, as though he didn't think it would be appropriate knowing what had happened to Piper.
"Go on," she told her mother.
"You were both toddlers. You just thought Mommy got a little fat," she smiled to herself, almost fondly, then, "You never knew I was pregnant."
"I was the only one who knew," Penny spoke up.
"And Sam, obviously."
"Right. Well, yes, of course."
"We wanted to keep the baby, of course. But mother-" The 'audience' could tell that part of the story was still attached to some pain for her, even years later.
"Well, I-I knew it would be disastrous. You know, before Leo and... and Piper, it wasn't just forbidden. It was unthinkable for witches to be with whitelighters. I mean, let alone have children with them."
"So, that's why we had to - why we decided... to give the baby up. Sam and I took her to a local church as soon as she was born. And we asked the nun there to find a home for her, and she found one. A very, very good home."
"Yes."
"Explains why the Elders didn't know about her," Leo looked at Prue and Phoebe, who were still taking things in, some more reluctantly than others.
"Alright, hold it. Wait just one minute. Are you telling me, that that girl, our innocent, is really... our sister?" Phoebe spoke almost despite herself.
"Your baby sister," Patty nodded.
"Their baby half-sister," Penny corrected.
"But by my half, which makes her a sister witch. Well, actually, not yet anyway. Not until all three of you are here together by the Book. Just like before."
"Charmed. Again," Penny smiled. The door burst open, interrupting all other conversations as they turned to find Darryl, accompanied by a gun-wielding Inspector Cortez. His attention right away goes to the ghosts.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"Are you sure she orbed? Are you sure that it wasn't something else?" Leo asked Phoebe and Cole. They had returned to the manor and immediately relayed the news of their innocent's unknown abilities.
"Leo, she disappeared. Bright white, shiny thingies came and then she reappeared. What else could it be?" Phoebe asked.
"It just doesn't make any sense."
"Why not?" Cole jumped in.
"Because why would Shax want to kill a whitelighter?"
"Maybe he doesn't know she's a whitelighter."
"Right, the Source sends out his personal assassin, but doesn't know who he's after?" Behind them, the sound of plates being almost forcefully dropped in their places on the shelves made them remember of Prue's presence in the kitchen. She hadn't said a word yet, but they had an impression that when she did, it wouldn't be good. The three acknowledged her before continuing, their voices a bit lower.
"Is it possible that she didn't know that she was a whitelighter?" Phoebe asked her brother-in-law.
"No. Why?"
"Because she acted as if she didn't. She acted just as surprised as we were when she orbed out," Cole explained.
"Well that doesn't make any sense either."
"Okay, why don't you go up and ask the Elders what does make sense so we don't go risking our lives again?"
Leo had been a real trooper considering what he'd been through. Truth was focusing on this made getting through the days easier, so he didn't protest much. He looked at Prue, who he knew was having trouble with all this right now. "I'll be right back." He orbed out. Phoebe breathed deeply, trying to stay calm. Cole put a hand on her arm as he spoke.
"Maybe I should, uh, go to the other side and see what I can find out." Phoebe looked up.
"No."
"I'll be careful. Nobody'll see me. Besides, it could be good to me to go back down, confuse any bounty hunters that might be trying to track me. Don't worry. I won't disappear." The two kissed and Cole left, the two sisters now alone. Prue stood silent, facing the cabinets, holding carefully in her hands a coffee cup with a little chip missing on the handle. Phoebe approached her slowly.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked her. Prue laughed to herself.
"Yeah, sure... I'm just fine. It was a lovely day, we should be doing it soon again..." she spoke, sarcasm dripping from her every word.
"Prue..." She turned, putting the cup down on the counter.
"No, don't even go there. Phoebe, have you completely lost it? I would think that even you would have the sense not to tempt fate like that after what's happened."
"She's an innocent."
"And so was Piper." Both were quiet. Prue had the beginning of tears appearing in her eyes. "After seeing Mom get taken, then Grams, now Piper... I wonder if that'll keep happening, and here you are proving me that it probably will! Haven't we lost enough? Haven't... haven't we..." Phoebe hugged her sister, feeling herself breaking as well.
"Please forgive me..."
"I don't want to lose you too... I wouldn't survive it..."
*
Prue stood in the middle of a barren field, alone. She looked around, wondering how she'd gotten there. She turned and turned and nothing was there. But on one turn there was something... a door. She hesitated at first, but finally she reached for the handle and pushed the door open.
When she walked in, she was in the hall at the manor. There was no one there, until...
"Look, I know that this all sounds incredible, but it doesn't make it any less true. Alright, you're a healer, you do good, now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save." She became wide-eyed as she observed herself, and Dr. Griffiths, and... Piper. Apparently, they didn't seem to be able to see her. They continued to talk, and like the nightmares she'd been having, it happened.
Shax arrived. This Prue and Piper were knocked to the floor as Shax advanced on the doctor. This Prue tried to stop the demon and was thrown through the wall, then Piper. Shax killed the doctor, then he left. Prue approached, looking at the prone forms of herself and her sister.
Shortly after, Leo and Phoebe orbed in. "Oh my God..." Phoebe cried as Leo crouched down to heal them. He looked at both of them, a hard decision forming itself in his mind. He reached to Piper and began healing her. And she woke up. This was different, which made Prue shocked. This nightmare had always been the same.
Leo then went on to try and save this Prue. And he failed. This Prue was dead... All disappeared except the two Prues, one live, one dead. The live Prue approached her dead self, observing her like she was a foreign object.
She looked up as she sensed someone's presence. There was Piper, transparent, bleeding from several wounds. She looked at her live sister with a frightening anger on her face.
"Why did you do it Prue?" her voice echoed.
"Do what?" Prue asked. Piper disappeared, then reappeared before Prue, looking even more dead.
"You killed me..." She stared her big sister down deep and Prue felt pain build at the pit of her stomach, felt herself crumbling to the ground as her dead sister looked at her, devoid of emotions
That was when she finally awoke, in a sweat like none before, breathing heavily. This hadn't just been a dream, not even a nightmare... It had been a nap, then an almost prophetic revelation.
*
After trying to recover from her nightmare, Prue went down into the living room, where she found Phoebe sitting next to the fireplace. Prue had been wondering when her youngest sister would break, and now it seemed that was imminent.
"Hey," she sat across from her.
"Doesn't seem real, does it?" Phoebe stared into the flames.
"No. I walk by her room and I keep thinking 'what are we going to do about that?', as much as I'd like to we can't just leave it there. What are we going to do with her car?"
"I don't know. Sell it, I guess."
"Unless you want it."
"No." Phoebe took Prue's hands in hers, and Prue could tell they were shaking. "We're gonna get through this, you know. We just have to stick together."
Leo orbed in and the sisters looked up at him. "Well?" Prue asked.
"Well, they don't know anything about her, so she's definitely not a whitelighter."
"Then why can she orb, Leo?" Phoebe asked.
"They can't explain it." The girls stood.
"Then how is it possible that they don't kn..." At this point, Cole returned, looking like he'd been in a fight or two... or three.
"Whew. Sorry I took so long. I had to dodge a couple of bounty hunters."
"Did you find anything out?" Leo asked.
"You have no idea what I found out. Turns out the Source doesn't think she's a whitelighter at all. In fact, he thinks she might be another... Charmed One. That's why he put Shax on it. He thought he ended the Power of Three. Now he's worried that this girl may somehow reconstitute it."
"No, but that's not possible. Is that possible?" Phoebe asked Leo, to which she got a shrug. However, Prue had a different reaction, as she started off toward the stairs. "Prue?"
"Prue?" Cole asked as well. The three followed as Prue arrived into the attic with a beeline made toward the book.
"What's going on?" Phoebe asked her sister.
"I don't know, why don't we ask Grams..." she began to flipping through the pages quickly and forcefully.
"Grams?" Phoebe asked, confused.
"Yeah, Grams. She's being all cryptic, going on about how our destiny still awaits, and how there's a reason for everything. Maybe she should get her ghostly self back here and explain to us just what that means," she finally found the page.
"Okay, but what should..." Phoebe started before Prue began reciting, her words well pronounced and pointed.
"Hear these words, hear my cry
Spirit from the other side
Come to me, I summon thee
Cross now the Great Divide.
Staring at the circle of candles intently, she waited as her grandmother took form.
"Prue? Why are you calling? P-Phoebe, wha-what's going on?" Penny Halliwell asked, feeling cornered by her granddaughters.
"Grams, why does the Source think that the Charmed Ones can be reconstituted?" Prue asked, putting emphasis on the last word.
"I do - I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sorry Grams, that's not gonna work, I've known you too long. No lies."
"If you know something, Grams, you have to tell us. We deserve to know," Phoebe stepped in.
"I can't. I'm sworn to secrecy."
"By who?"
"By me," came a voice out of nowhere, before Patty Halliwell appeared beside her mother, "By me."
"Mom?" Prue asked. Patty began to pace.
"We didn't tell anybody because we were afraid that there would be reprisals, afraid that, you girls would be denied your powers. Your birthright. It happened after your father and I were divorced, when Sam and I were together."
"Sam?" Leo asked Cole.
"Her whitelighter," he explained. Prue looked at Cole, expecting him to comment in some way, but he didn't, as though he didn't think it would be appropriate knowing what had happened to Piper.
"Go on," she told her mother.
"You were both toddlers. You just thought Mommy got a little fat," she smiled to herself, almost fondly, then, "You never knew I was pregnant."
"I was the only one who knew," Penny spoke up.
"And Sam, obviously."
"Right. Well, yes, of course."
"We wanted to keep the baby, of course. But mother-" The 'audience' could tell that part of the story was still attached to some pain for her, even years later.
"Well, I-I knew it would be disastrous. You know, before Leo and... and Piper, it wasn't just forbidden. It was unthinkable for witches to be with whitelighters. I mean, let alone have children with them."
"So, that's why we had to - why we decided... to give the baby up. Sam and I took her to a local church as soon as she was born. And we asked the nun there to find a home for her, and she found one. A very, very good home."
"Yes."
"Explains why the Elders didn't know about her," Leo looked at Prue and Phoebe, who were still taking things in, some more reluctantly than others.
"Alright, hold it. Wait just one minute. Are you telling me, that that girl, our innocent, is really... our sister?" Phoebe spoke almost despite herself.
"Your baby sister," Patty nodded.
"Their baby half-sister," Penny corrected.
"But by my half, which makes her a sister witch. Well, actually, not yet anyway. Not until all three of you are here together by the Book. Just like before."
"Charmed. Again," Penny smiled. The door burst open, interrupting all other conversations as they turned to find Darryl, accompanied by a gun-wielding Inspector Cortez. His attention right away goes to the ghosts.
"Well, I'll be damned."