Leo orbed reluctantly out. Perhaps Piper was right, and the elders would understand how important Phoebe was. The Charmed Ones would be destroyed yet again if they allowed the events of the day to remain.

The Scoobies were finishing up with the rest of the vampire army outside. Buffy ran outside to help them finish and keep them from entering the mansion and disturbing the grieving witches. She was especially worried about Willow. She didn't want her to see another woman dead with a hole in her chest.

Paige was still crying, her hands stained with Phoebe's blood. Piper went to her youngest sister and put her arms around her.

"It'll be okay Paige. Leo will find a way. They owe us, and they need us. They need the Charmed Ones. They can't let her stay dead." But she too started crying, betraying her fears that those words were not true.

The sisters stayed there for what seemed like an eternity, holding each other and crying. Finally, Leo returned.

"Leo! What did they say?" Piper asked frantically.

Leo had an odd look on his face. He stared at his wife as if he did not understand what she had asked.

"They said…You were right. They gave me a spell…" he held it uncomfortably in his hands.

The witches jumped up.

"They did! See, I told you! Wait, a spell? I didn't know there was a spell to turn back time." Piper looked confused, but it didn't disguise the happiness on her face.

"No…it's not to turn back time. It's…to raise the dead. Piper, I've heard of this spell. It's very dangerous. I argued with the elders. Even if there was no other way to get Phoebe back…I don't know if we should do the spell."
"But they said we should, right? They wouldn't have given it to you if they didn't think we should do it." Paige pointed out.

"There's a spell to raise the dead? I thought you said no one could bring back someone once they were dead, Leo." Piper asked in confusion.

"No, I said that white-lighters could not. There are spells. Most are dark magic. But there does seem to be this one. It can be used to bring back someone no matter how they died, but it only seems to work on witches. This is because it destroys the old body of the object before creating a new one, instead of simply fixing the old body. But it's very dangerous and the outcome is highly unpredictable."

"Why is it so dangerous?" Paige asked.

"Before we talk too much, I think we should include the others."

"Why? If it's a spell it will be our responsibility, Leo." Piper pointed out.

"Well, not completely. You see, it takes three witches to perform the spell. You will need Willow, at least."

"What! We've never cast with another witch! How do you know it will work? Talk about unpredictability!"

Leo winced at Piper's outburst.

"I know that, honey. That was part of my opposition to the spell. But the elders insist it is the only way to get Phoebe back, and they seem to be confident that it has a chance of working."

"Well, it can't hurt to talk about it, can it?" Paige tried to be accomodating. "I mean, there isn't a time limit or anything, is there?"

"No. Technically, the person could have been dead for millenia, though the requirements of the spell make that unlikely, since the casters must have a solid image in their mind of the person."

"Well, I don't think we are going to forget what Phoebe looks like Leo. Let's go talk." Paige strode out of the room, leaving the white-lighter and her sister to follow. She walked out of the doorway and turned to the right.

"Ack!" she jumped back as she nearly ran into the entire crowd of Scoobies, who were looking guilty. "Were you listening to us?"

"Well…um, we didn't want to interrupt…we were listening to see when it would be okay to come in…" Buffy tried to come up with a suitable excuse.

"So you know we need to talk to you." Piper stated matter-of-factly.

"Er…yes." Willow said nervously. She had heard the part about her having to cast with the powerful sisters. Even after the slayer spell she still didn't think she could live up to their expectations.

"Can we talk not in there?" Buffy asked.

"Of course. How about our home?" Leo suggested. "Paige and I can orb you." He added as an afterthought.

"What about Phoebe?" Piper asked indignantly. "We can't just leave her here!"

"If we are going to do the spell we can. I told you, it will destroy her old body. And if we're not…" he left the results of that plan of action hanging in the air.

Piper still looked unconvinced, but she grudgingly agreed, and soon the group was seated haphazardly around the Halliwell living room.

"So, if you were listening, you already know that the elders gave Leo a spell that will bring Phoebe back to life and they told him that we should perform it. That we would be Paige, myself, and you, Willow. I'm a little concerned about casting with you because we have never cast with anyone outside our family, but Leo says the spell requires three. It won't be the Power of Three, of course, and we'll have to talk about what major spells you have cast in the past, but you must be very powerful if they are even suggesting it." Willow blushed a little and tried to remind herself that she was a powerful GOOD witch.

"Now, Leo, you were saying that the spell is dangerous and unpredictable. You need to explain before we go any further."

Leo took a deep breath. "My main concern is that it is irreversible. That means that if it goes wrong, we can't simply reverse the spell. Aside from that, it has only been used a few times successfully, though it has been attempted many times."

"What goes wrong?" Paige inquired.

"Usually, the person is not who has been summoned or is very different from their former self. Another problem is that the person cannot deal with their reanimation and kill themselves shortly afterward. He or she may come back horribly disfigured. The list goes on. And frequently the problems are combined. The elders have hope that the three of you are powerful enough for the spell, and it is true that as with most spells the liklihood of disaster is increased when a witch is not powerful enough for the spell."

"How do we know that we are? I mean, none of us has ever done something as drastic as raise the dead, Leo! I mean, talk to them, sure, but raise them? And even that took the power of three when it wasn't a relative!" Paige complained.

"Um…actually I have done something that drastic." Willow said in a small voice, holding up her hand like a schoolgirl.

"What is that? What's as drastic as raising the dead?" Piper wanted to know.

"Er, raising the dead is what I did. Buffy. We raised Buffy. Three years ago."

The people who didn't know this information stared at her.

"You raised her from the dead? How?" Leo asked. "Wait, three years ago? Did you by any chance use the spell that uses the Urn of Osiris?"

"Yes, we did. How did you know? We can't use that spell though, it was the last urn, and it only worked because Buffy died supernaturally." She explained.

"I just put two and two together. The elders told me about that spell as well, and that the urn was last used three years ago and was destroyed. I'm surprised they didn't tell me it was you. That must be why they are so confident in the spell working. Though I must admit, it worries me somewhat, that spell is rather….dark." Leo mused.

"Um, is this spell going to be anything like that? Cause Will, I wasn't too into those snakes, and you just got better and everything…" Xander asked, concerned. That spell had been the catalyst for his best friend's slip into dark magic. He didn't want that happening again.

"No. This spell is pure white magic, unlike that one which is on the dark side. This one can only be used by good witches to raise good witches." Leo clarified. "And there will be no…snakes did you say? No, no snakes."

"Er, I don't have the best track record…are you sure it will work with me?" Willow asked.

"What do you mean by not the best track record?" Piper asked suspiciously.

"Just well, I was addicted to black magic for a while. I used it. And I-I tried to end the world." She admitted.

"You WHAT?" Paige blurted.

"End the world. When Tara died…Tara was my girlfriend…she was..shot, and I had just gotten off the magic for her, and I sort of went nuts. I k-killed the man who shot her, and I would have done much worse if they hadn't stopped me." She hung her head in shame. "But then I studied with a coven in England for a summer, and that helped a lot. I did lots of white magic to counteract the black. And since the slayer spell…well I actually haven't felt the black magic since the slayer spell."

"Slayer spell?" Leo asked.

"Geez, your elders either don't know much or don't tell you much." Buffy commented. "Willow did a spell a few months ago to help combat the First Evil. See there was always only one slayer in the whole world. Well and then there were two, when I died and Xander brought me back, so that's how we got Faith, but then there was still just us. But Will's spell, it gave every girl who was a potential the full powers. And from now on, any new potentials will automatically get their powers when they turn fourteen."
"It was really powerful." Willow added in. "I can still feel them, all of them all over the world. When a new one wakes I can feel it. It even turned my hair white while I did it. It um…used to turn black when I was on black magic."

Leo, Piper, and Paige looked at each other warily.

"Well, the elders seem to trust that you can do it. And it's not like none of you have ever slid to the dark side." Leo pointed out. "I'll pop up before we do anything and ensure that they know all of that, but for now let's say that it's fine."

"Wait a second!" Piper suddenly shouted. "There's a spell to bring back good witches, and you never TOLD US? They didn't feel like sharing when PRUE died?"

Leo was taken aback. "That is interesting. I wonder why they wouldn't let us use this for her."

"I think I know why." Paige said in a small voice. "It's because of me."

"What?" Piper was confused.

"It's because of me." She repeated. "The only reason they are letting us try this is because they have no other way of getting back the Power of Three, and they need that. But when Prue died…" she trailed off.

"There was another way. You." Piper realized.

"Um, also, you didn't have three powerful witches." Leo pointed out, trying to calm them down.

"We did after we met Paige!" Piper growled. "They could have told us then! But they only care about their precious Power of Three! Not about us!"

Leo winced. He knew all too well that in a way that was true.

"Hey, couldn't we still do it? You said it didn't matter how long they had been dead!" Paige realized.

"How long has she been dead?" Buffy interjected.

"Three years." Piper answered.

"No. You can't do it. It would be too cruel. I was only dead for what, three months? And look at how long it took me to recover." She looked at Willow, letting her know with her eyes that the same was true for Tara. The sad look on her friend's face let her know that she already understood.

"What happened?" Leo asked curiously.

"Earth felt like Hell, after being in…I guess Heaven. I nearly killed myself, like you said those other people did. It was torture. I finally got over it, but it was really hard. After three years…"

"Anyway, we don't even know that it is going to work for Phoebe." Dawn pointed out.

"Piper, we've gotten over Prue's death and she's gotten over it too I'm sure. We can't second-guess the past." Leo spoke softly to his wife.

"I'm still mad at the elders." She said stubbornly.

"Okay, you can be mad. But you need to not be mad long enough to get Phoebe back." He pointed out.

"I guess. Fine, I'm over it." She straightened her shoulders, swinging her hair back over her shoulders in a stubborn move.

"All right then, I'll go check with the elders about that Willow issue while you get the materials together, okay?"

"Fine. We'll see you soon." Piper kissed her husband on the cheek as he orbed up.

You didn't really think I'd leave Phoebe dead now, did you?