Chapter Six: Moving On
Days had turned into weeks and weeks into months and months into years. The Book of Shadows had failed them. Every crystal in the house had failed them. They had failed themselves. There was nothing more that they could do and it was the hardest thing of all, giving up hope that those whom they searched for were really gone.
Each night, Piper cried herself to sleep. She could never forgive herself for not getting to Leo and Chris sooner, for not getting to Wyatt sooner. As far as she was concerned, it was all her fault. Leo could not forgive himself either and decided that it might just be better that he left. He talked to Piper and she did not question him, she seemed to know why he wanted to leave, but now that he was not an Elder there really was no place for him for him to got to.
The club.
It had been decided that Leo would call P3 his home, and that he would work there alongside Piper. There was nothing else left for them and they felt that this way they could each have time and space to help them get over their loss and yet still be there for each other if needed.
Phoebe moved out of the Manor a year after the kidnapping. Jason had finally returned from his stay in Hong Kong and had finally accepted the fact that the love of his life was a witch and was ready to let her back into his life. Happiness was Phoebe's then, and it was needed badly, for being with Jason might finally help her get over the pain of not being able to save her nephews.
To make sure that she was not far away from her sisters, Phoebe and Jason moved into a luxurious apartment at the end of town. Paige never left the Manor, though Magic School was her second home. She had attained a teaching position there and when she wanted to escape the pains of real life, she locked herself in her classroom and buried herself in class work that needed correcting.
The sisters still fought demons and still referred to themselves as the Charmed Ones, but it just wasn't the same anymore. Paige was the only one out of the three that practiced magic on a daily basis, that being because of her school life. Piper was always preoccupied with the club and Phoebe was busy raising an infant daughter who had been born two years after what the sisters called, "The Event".
It wasn't that they no longer wanted to be witches, it was just that they felt as if magic had let them down. They felt that they had been there as the Charmed Ones for so long, fighting every evil and defeating the Source and this is how they were repaid? Magic refused to help and let two innocent children be taken from their homes?
"We still are the Charmed Ones," Phoebe had said, one night when they were all together. "We always will be. It's our destiny, but that doesn't mean that we can't give ourselves some time. We deserve that much."
Both Paige and Piper nodded, knowing what she meant. They would always be there to help the innocent, but magic was never going to be treated the same again. Not unless Wyatt and Chris ever returned. Each night, Piper wondered what would happen to them if they were still out there and their powers began to develop. Wyatt, she knew, had come into his powers at an early age, and she could only assume that Chris would be the same. Her mind would be full of doubt until she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Leo. He was always there to tell her that no matter what that they would be okay and that one-day they would come home. That one-day, they would be found.
"Until then," Piper said, solemnly, "we have to move on and keep going. For them."
