wyatt333 – Don't worry! There is going to be a sequel called 'United As Three' and I will update 'What If' soon! I'm just having a bit of writer's block with it! And I saw your story and it didn't even occur to me that you might have copied me lol! Andy is a whitelighter in my story anyway so I have no problem ;)
Princess Pinky – LOL! Thanks for the compliments! I thought Prue's return would be a great twist! And the "You're just like me, aren't you?" part IS a secret! What is Emma hiding from the girls? If you think about it long enough, you'll realise what it is! And yes, there will be a short merge between the two stories eventually; I have another twist for that when the time comes!
Making The EffortPiper and Paige were in GAP kids, shopping for new clothes for the boys. This wasn't an activity that Piper enjoyed, as Wyatt usually didn't want to try things on and would orb around the store, forcing Piper to freezeeveryone and chase him down. Wyatt had now started at Magic School and was doing well; he was free to use his powers and had finally stopped orbing home before lunchtime, which was when school for his age group ended.
Today was a good day though, Piper had taken him shopping after school and for some reason, he had made the minimum fuss so far, but Piper suspected that his Auntie Paige had secretly promised him ice cream if he behaved.
'What about this one, you two?' Piper pulled a sweater of the rack and showed it to Paige and Wyatt.
'Fine by me, kids fashion looks all the same in my eyes,' Paige replied.
'I don't like it!' Wyatt said simply.
Piper knelt down to look at her son 'Now, do you really not like it? Or are you just being difficult because you want to go home?' she got no answer, 'Okay, I'll get it since you have no objections,' she slung the sweater over her arm and continued walking down the isle, looking on the shelves.
'Why didn't you bring Chris today?' Paige asked.
'Didn't have to. Prue's looking after him,' Piper replied, not looking up from the clothes on the table.
'Oh… Shouldn't she be out job hunting?' she asked innocently.
Piper sighed and looked at her 'Paige,' she said in a warning tone.
Paige put up her hands 'What? I'm just saying!'
Since Prue was alive again, it had been necessary for her to not leave the house as she might be recognised and arrested for 'faking' her death! The sisters had found a way to fix this by casting a Power of Three 'Plus One' spell and altering the people of the world, all Prue had to do now was get her old job back!
'I seem to remember someone being unemployed and hopping from temp job to temp job,' Piper smirked at Paige.
'That was different. I was… trying to find myself,' Paige defended.
'Speaking of work, didn't your lunch break end, like,' Piper looked at her watch '15 minutes ago?'
Paige made a noise and waved her hand 'I blew the rest of the day off, it's a beautiful day and I didn't want to waste it by sitting at a desk!'
Piper laughed and continued of sift through the clothes 'So how's Aidan? I haven't seen him in a while,'
'Neither have I, he's working double shifts at the firehouse these days, so I only see him at aboutnine o'clock at night since he works fromsix in the morning,'
'He worksfifteen hour days!?'
'Yeah, but he says it'll lighten up soon, so all I can do is treasure the time we have with each other,'
'You mean booty calls in the Magic School library?' Piper smirked.
Paige glared at her 'No, we just rest with each other at night, just lie there,' Paige had a distant look in her eyes and she smiled 'It's nice,'
'Do I hear wedding bells and the 'pitter-patter' of tiny feet?' Piper joked.
'Not yet, but if Chris keeps on calling him uncle, he might as well be part of the family!'
Piper chuckled and made her way to the cash register to payfor her purchases.
'Alright little man! You want ice cream?' Paige knelt down and asked her oldest nephew. Wyatt nodded his head furiously 'We'd better bring some home for your little brother too! He'll be upset if knows he missed out in ice cream!' as they walked down the street, they enjoyed the spring time sunshine and their little piece of normality.
'Oops! Miss deLauro! I messed up again!' a pimple faced boy called from the corner of the classroom.
Emma groaned, she was teaching her Base Level freshman's class, not only were they new to the school and didn't have any idea on making potions, butthis class was full of delinquents who couldn't care less about their education, and the ones who did care were usually the clumsiest.
She watched as the spilled potion burned a hole into the floor and the misbehaving classmates ridiculed the boy.
'Settle down!' Emma said from the front of the class, she walked up the hole and cast a quick spell to get rid of it. Whispers of amazement came from the students, Emma groaned again; they were acting like they had never seen magic before in their life!
'Okay, after you've brought the potion to a simmer, bring it off the fire and add the crushed harpy talon. Now step away when adding it because it will make quite a large blast, so unless you want to burn your eyebrows off, I suggest you listen to me,'
Emma retreated back to her desk and realised the bell was going to ring soon.
'Okay guys, start to clean up! The bell's about to ring!' there was a dull sound of stools being dragged across the floor and a sloshing sound of students emptying their potion bowls into the sink.
Piper walked into the classroom, Prue had taken Chris to Magic School so that she could check out the place, she had left him in the nursery as she was wondering around the building and Piper had come to collect him.
'Hey, you busy?' Piper walked in with Chris at her side.
'Ugh, when aren't I?' Emma groaned.
'Well, I just stopped by to see if you had had a chance to talk to Paige yet,' Piper said
'Uh… You mean about getting to know Prue? Why don't you talk to her?'
'Because I'm her sister, I'm too close and I'm guessing by that answer that you haven't told her?'
'I'm sorry! I've just been so busy late…ly… No!' Emma shouted over Piper's shoulder. One of the students had accidentally knocked over around a dozen potions lined up on the counter. The mixture began to glow on the ground.
'Everyone get back!' Emma shouted, something told her this would domore than just burn a hole in the floor.
The students obeyed and backed away from the glowing and enlarging piece of the floor. The glow expanded extremely quickly all of a sudden and created a swirling vortex in the middle of the classroom. Emma, being the closest to the portal, became a mass of swirling particles and was sucked into the vortex.
'Emma!' Piper stepped forward out of concern. She could see that the portal was closing and she made the decision to jump in after her friend.
'Would you just give me a straight answer!?' Paige exclaimed, she had been trying to find out what had happened in Emma's class before she disappeared, Leo was comforting a crying Chris and Prue was telling Wyatt not to worry.
'I told you! 'Dweeb' over there knocked over a couple of potions and the teacher and some other chick got sucked in to a vortex!' one of the students piped up.
'Ugh! Alright, just go home,' Paige waved her hand and all the students orbed out, being sent to their respective homes.
She sighed and turned to Prue and Leo, 'What are we gonna do? Those kids were about as useful as talking to a brick wall!'
'Well, we can't give up! Piper and Emma aren't dead, they're just on a different plain, so you guys keep working and I'll drop the boys off at Sheila's and then I'llgo and check with the other Elders,' Leo brought Chris into his arms and took Wyatt's hand, then orbed out.
'Okay, I know one of your powers was telekinesis, but can any of your other tricks help us here?' Paige asked.
'Probably not, I don't see astral projection being too useful right now,' Prue bowed her head.
Paige sighed and examined the counter top where the student had knocked over the potions.
'What are you doing?'
'I thought Emma might have left some sort of label here to indicate what potions were sitting here,'
'I'll go check the supplies list and see if that'll help us,' Prue turned to leave.
'No, it's alright, I'll handle this, why don't you go back to job hunting?' Paige said innocently.
Prue sighed and put her hands on her hips 'Look Paige, I'm hating this arrangement just as much as you are, but if we want to get Piper and Emma back, then we have to work together!'
Paige looked up with a face like thunder, ready to retort, but she stopped, 'You're right. And who knows? This might help our relationship,'
Prue smiled, 'That's the spirit! Okay, let's put our heads together and think!' Prue frowned in thought. Paige knelt down and touched the floor.
'It's still wet,' she said.
'What does that mean?'
'It means that there's still residue of the vortex, which means that we still have the ability to open it,'
Prue caught on 'All we need is a spell that can tap into the residual energy and create another portal!'
Paige smiled triumphantly, 'Exactly!' but her smile faded, 'But what if we don't have enough power to open the portal with a spell?'
'We will. I don't mean to brag, but being the oldest, that makes me the strongest and you're half whitelighter so that makes you doubly magical! We pull this off!' Prue winked.
Paige chuckled, 'Alright, you stay here and work on the spell, I'll go home and get some ammo in case our powers don't work in where ever we're going,' Paige orbed out.
'I still don't think this is a good idea,' Leo voiced his concerns about their plan again, Aidan felt the same way.
'Leo, we're the Charmed Ones, when have we ever made a mistake?' Prue asked. Leo opened his mouth to answer the question, but was cut off 'It was a rhetorical question,' Prue snapped.
'It's not the plan we're worried about, it's the fact that you could be left powerless in this other world and you won't be able to get back!' Aidan replied.
'Ah… That's why Prue and I drank this!' she held up a potion bottle 'This potion ensures that our powers stay with us through time and space! Big Chris gave me the recipe before he… you know…' Paige bowed her head, remembering her nephew from the future but she lightened up again, 'Anyway, this was how he kept his powers when he went back in time and hopefully it'll work where we're going! We brought some for Piper and Emma when we find them,'
Leo sighed and looked at Aidan, 'They're not gonna win, they'll go no matter what we say,'
Prue smiled at their victory 'Exactly, so let's get going! You guys better stand back in case you get sucked in!' she held out the spell so Paige could see it.
'Reaching out through time and space
Leading us, to the certain place
That we seek within this hour
Take us to our sisters power,'
There was a glow on the floor and the portal opened, Paige and Prue smiled at their work before blowing up into particles and entered the vortex.
The two sisters reappeared in Magic School, it looked the same except that the place hadbroken desks all over it, rusty potion pots, and spider webs were in every corner of the room, and it looked like hadn't been used for years!
'Well… it looks… sorta different!' Paige grimaced.
'Yeah, we'll deal with this later, we'd better test our powers, can you orb?' Prue questioned.
'Uh… I dunno…' Paige scrunched up her face and orbed out, then reappeared in the same spot.
She looked at Prue, 'Did I orb?'
Prue laughed 'Yes,' she waved her hand lightly at a chair in the corner, smashing it off the wall and making the old chair shatter into a pile of wood shards.
'Wow, your potion worked!'
'You sound surprised,' Paige commented.
'Yeah, well-,' she was cut off by a noise out in the corridor.
'Lets go,' Prue whispered.
The two of them cautiously made their way into the corridor; Prue turned the corner but immediately turned around and pulled Paige back.
'Darklighters! Lots of them!' Prue whispered, her little sister peered round the corner, seeing a about six darklighters huddled around a fire in the potion building main hall.
'I'll take care of them,' Paige orbed out, despite her sisters warnings.
She reappeared in between two of the beings 'Hi there!' they both grabbed their crossbows and fired at the same time. Paige orbed out, causing the two to vanquish each other. She orbed back in behind the other four, throwing out her arm forcefully and sending them sending them flying.
'Crossbow!' Paige called, orbing a crossbow that was sitting on the floor; she fired it at one of the darklighters, vanquishing him. The others conjured their crossbows and fired, Paige thought quickly and waved her hand at a nearby table to make it come up in front of her and shield her.
She walked around the table 'Arrows!' she orbed the arrows out from the surface of the table and sent them in three directions, making the remaining darklighters burst into flames.
Prue walked out 'Wow, I take back what Isaid about you being useless last week!' she exclaimed.
'Thanks…' Paige breathed 'C'mon, let's go to the Manor and figure out what's going on!' she hooked arms with her big sister and orbed out.
Prue and Paige appeared in the attic. Both of them grimaced at its current condition
'Ugh, it's worst than Magic School…' Paige stated.
'At least we agree on something…' Prue made a face as she closed the window that was rattling in the wind, 'It's so dark…' she was right, dark storm clouds hung over the city, there was no one to be seen on the streets, and the only sound was the eerie moan of the wind, it was a ghost town.
Paige joined her at the window, 'I know, I hope Piper and Emma didn't get the warm welcome we did,'
'Or worse…' Prue whispered, Paige put an arm around her shoulder.
'Do you think we're on the ghostly plain?' Paige asked
Prue shook her head vigorously 'No. The ghostly plain may be a plain shaped on our world, but there's no dirt,' Prue wiped the window ledge, showing all the dust, 'There's no wind, it's just… blank. And besides, what would darklighters be doing on the ghostly plain?'
Paige walked over to the table 'Well, here's one good sign,' she picked up something.
'What?' Prue turned from the window.
Paige showed her a picture of all of them, 'We exist… or we didexist,'
Prue walked up to her and examined the picture; it was of her, Piper and someone who was covered by the dust on the photo. She blew off the dust to reveal the person to the right in the photo, it was Paige!
'Do you remember taking this?' Prue asked her
'Hmm… no, but I do remember that red hair! I had that a couple years ago!' she exclaimed.
'And that would be after I died…' Prue whispered.
'What's your point?'
She turned to Paige, 'What if we're in some alternate reality? One where, somehow, I wasn't the Charmed One that died five years ago? What if it was someone else? A someone who is missing from this picture?'
'… Phoebe?'
'Exactly, c'mon, we need to find the other 'us',' Prue knelt down and pulled up a floorboard.
'What are you doing?'
Prue turned around to reveal that she had pulled a crystal and map from the floor
'I knew doing this would pay off someday!' she said triumphantly, she pulled a book out of the floor as well, 'Here,' she handed the scrying tools to Paige 'You find us, and I'll see what can help us in here,' she began to flip the pages of the little book.
'What's that?'
Prue smiled proudly 'My little book of spells and potions! All made by me!'
Paige sighed and began to spin the crystal over the map, it immediately landed on Prescott Street.
'I think this is just showing ourselves where we are,' Paige said.
'Keep trying,' Prue was still flipping the pages of the book.
Paige tried four more times, and got the same result each time. She suddenly realised something,
'I was thinking… what if the crystal is actually finding our other selves?'
'That would mean that…' Prue caught on, 'They're in the house with us!'
Paige nodded and stood up, putting the scrying tools under her arm, and slowly ventured down the stairs.
The two of them stood at the landing, seeing if there was anyone there, they heard voices.
'I was just informedthat someone took out the legion of darklighters at Magic School,' it was Leo's voice.
'What?' it was Paige's voice, 'Who has the kind ofpower to do that besides us?'
'Who cares?' it was Piper's voice, 'It's not as if they were annoying us,'
'Or maybe it was another gang of demons just wanting the turf…' Prue spoke that time.
'Can we worry about this later? We have bigger enemies than some petty darklighters,' Paige spoke again.
'You're right, I'll go get the book,' they heard Prue's footsteps coming towards the stairs. Unfortunately, Prue and Paige didn't react quickly and were spotted.
'Paige! Piper!' Prue shouted.
'Prue do something!' Paige hissed, Prue complied and sent her counterpart flying.
'I didn't mean that!' Paige scolded her as she ran down the stairs to reason with her counterpart and Piper, 'Listen, we just want to talk!' both sisters were stopped in their tracks by Piper stomping her foot, vines began to break through the floor and constrict Paige and Prue!
'If you wanted to talk, why did you attack us?' Piper asked, this reminded Paige of the time when she had ended up in a twisted reality made by Cole, because Piper was dressed in leather pants, a dark black top and combat boots.
'Wow, she really had a handle on her new power, doesn't she?' Prue said, fighting the vines.
Leo was helping Alt. Prue back on to feet, 'How do we know you're not just shape shifters?'
Paige sighed, 'Okay, first of all, if we were shape shifters, why would we disguise ourselves as you when you are here? And second of all, can I shape shifter do this?' Paige clenched her eyes shut and orbed out of the vines. She reappeared behind Prue and telekinetically freed her from the vines.
'Hold on, that isn't my power,' Alt. Paige said
'What?' her counterpart said, 'You can't orb?'
'No, I can, but I don't have telekinesis…' Alt. Paige glared at her oldest sister.
'Oh don't start this again…' Alt. Prue groaned
'You get to move things with your mind, Piper gets to mess about with molecules, and what do I get? I get premonitions and the power to play with peoples feelings!' Alt. Paige exclaimed.
'And you can orb…' Alt. Piper said weakly
'What you can't do this? Book of Shadows!' Paige randomly called for the book, she didn't know where it was, but she knew her orbs would find it. Sure enough, the book appeared in a flurry of orbs in her outstretched arms.
'Hey! How did you do that?' Alt. Paige whined.
'With my powers!' Paige beamed.
'Okay, I think I know why she doesn't have the same powers, but bare with me, this is gonna be a long explanation,' Prue took a deep breath, 'The prophecy of the Charmed Ones is one sister will move things with her mind, one will stop time, and one will see into the future. We're not the Charmed Ones unless these powers are spread among us. So, since Phoebe had the power of premonition and since she died in this world, Paige was given premonitions in order to make her a Charmed One! The only reason you got my power was because I died in our world, not Phoebe,'
'Hold on! You all need to explain this to us!' Alt. Prue exclaimed.
All five women and Leo sat down and explained everything, it took a while, but after all their questions had been answered, it was Prue and Paige's turn for questions.
'So, what happened to this world after Phoebe died?' Prue asked, regretting it instantly, this would obviously be a sore subject for the sisters of this world.
Piper took a deep breath, 'Um… well obviously, we found Paige, and we were happy! But when the Titans showed up…'
'We didn't have the power to defeat them, even after we became the goddesses of Time, Earth and War,' Prue finished.
'Time?' Paige asked, then realised that Phoebe hadn't been here to be the Goddess of Love, Prue as the Goddess of Time must have replaced her.
'I better go check with the other Elders and see what they know,' Leo walked out of the room.
'Why didn't he just orb out here?' Prue asked.
The sisters of this world looked at each other nervously, what were they hiding? 'Uh… I dunno you'll have to ask him,' Piper smiled nervously.
Paige eyed the three of them curiously, 'Um, Prue? Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?'
Prue gave her a strange look; 'Um… sure,' she followed Paige into the run down kitchen.
'Something's not right, I'm getting a shiver from them,' Paige whispered.
'Um… yeah! That's because it's freezing in here and you're dressed for spring,' Prue said, walking out the door, but Paige caught her arm.
'No! You don't understand, the only other time that I've had this kind of shiver is when I'm around the evil counterparts of our world!'
'Are you saying you think they're evil?' Prue hissed.
'It would explain why they're not hiding in this horrible world, and…' Paige stopped in mid sentence and looked over Prue's shoulder, 'What's that?' she pointed to something. Prue turned around and saw a small glowing light, it looked like an orb, but on closer inspection, it wasn't.
'Piper…' Prue whispered, the light began to move in the direction of the basement. The two sisters walked down the basement steps, where, in their world, they would be entering Prue's room, as there was nowhere else for her to sleep.
'Oh my God!' Prue gasped, there was an activated crystal cage in the basement, with Piper and Emma sitting in it.
'See?! I told you my spell would work!' the little glowing light went over to Piper and disappeared.
'Oh my God! What are you guys doing in here?' Paige asked.
'Oh, we were just seeing what demons feel like when they're trapped in this thing,' Emma said sarcastically, 'Why do you think we're in here?!'
'Okay, calm down!' Paige replied, she pulled up her hand preparing to orb the crystals away, but a voice echoed in the air.
'So you figured it out…' the counterpart's dark orbed into the basement.
'So that's why Leo went into another room, so we wouldn't see black orbs, he probably didn't even go to the Elders, did he?' Prue growled.
'Sorry,' Alt. Paige said, 'But we can't let leave…' she locked eyes with Prue and made her fall to the floor, gasping for breath.
'Paige! She's telempathic! Like me!' Emma squealed from the cage, so that was Alt. Paige's other power.
'Uh… Crystals! Circle!' Paige commanded, the crystals surrounding Piper and Emma disappeared and trapped the evil Charmed Ones.
'C'mon! Hurry!' Paige brought together everyone and orbed out and went to the classroom in Magic School.
'Paige! The reversal spell! If evil me is still telekinetic, then the cage won't hold them for long!' Prue said.
Paige nodded vigorously and held out a crumpled piece of paper
'Reaching out through time and space
Leading us, to the certain place
That we seek within this hour
Take us to our former power,'
All four of them chanted and the vortex opened up again, sucking them all in and sending them home.
It was quite late now, Piper and Emma had gone to bed, after the events of the day, they both needed rest. Paige walked into the kitchen and saw Prue sitting at the table, staring at the tea mug in her hands.
'Piper told me you were always the first up and last down…' Paige smiled, Prue chuckled hollowly 'What's wrong?'
Prue sighed, 'I'm just thinking… that world was plunged into darkness because Phoebe died… and when I look at this world, things are so much better, because I died…'
Paige sighed, 'You can't think like that, it's pointless to worry about a thing that you had absolutely no control over. And don't forget, you're alive again, so maybe you died so that you could… come back some day and make the world even better,'
Prue looked up, 'I never thought of it that way,' she smiled, 'Anyway, I'll see you in the morning!' she stood up and went over to the basement door.
'Good night… sis…' Paige quickly walked away after that. Prue smiled; maybe her baby sister wasn't so bad after all.
Okay! Did you like that? What a twist! And you all thought that the evil Charmed Ones were good! LOL!
I haven't decided on a plot for the next chapter, so I don't have a title! But I'll be thinking of one when I'm updating my 'What If' fic! Go check it out!
