Phoebe

"What are you thinking we should do for dinner?" I ask David, my husband. "Piper and the boys are coming over for supper."

Sitting next to me on the living room couch, he frowns as if deep in thought even though I can tell he's mocking my food obsession. "Gee, I don't know. Maybe just not poison this time, hm?"

"Oh, c'mon, my cooking isn't that bad!" I protest for probably the fifteenth millionth time in my life, slapping him playfully on the arm.

We met after my break-up with Les, my ghost-writer, after he interviewed me for his news channel. David works in the media as well, only on television. It ties him up sometimes but he's done wonders in handling his career and our children, Mel, Les' daughter, and Bran and Bree, our twin son and daughter. I'm amazed that a mortal like himself can so easily cope with magic.

"Whatever you say, honey." He grins, kicking up his feet and resting them on the coffee table. We moved into his parent's home years ago, after we got married, since his parents were dead and the house was rightfully his. Luckily, the manor is a mere three miles away. "So," he continues. "Looks like we've got a lull in the newsroom till the evening news begins…it seems as if Chris is watching the kids again…what do you want to do?" he asks.

I roll my eyes at his suggestive glance. "I dunno. Are the dishes done? Kitchen cleaned? Laundry folded…?"

"No, no and…no," he responds. "Do we care?"

"No!" We're leaning in to kiss each other when his cell phone rings, causing us both to jump.

"That's my emergency line," he says with a frown. "I'd better take this—sorry." He clicks open the cell phone. "Hello? Yeah, it's—what? Huh? Slow down, Carrie. All right. Okay. Shit, are you kidding me? No way! The bridge? That can't be…sure, I'll be right over."

"What was that all about?" I demand as soon as he's hung up.

He turns to face me, his face as pale as a sheet. "Honey, where are the kids?"

I stare at him incredulously. "Why? What's happened?"

He gulps. "The Golden Gate Bridge just collapsed."

There's a moment of sickening realization that pulses through the room. "You don't think…?"

"We haven't heard from them since the beginning of the day. I think they were up there, Pheebs. Oh my god. Call Leo, do something…there's not much I can do anyway, I need to get to the station or I'll lose my job."

"Right," I say numbly, nodding. "LEO!" I scream out. "LEO!"

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Leo

Piper and I are busy waiting on edge in the kitchen for Wyatt to orb in so we can give him a short lecture on his potion mess from this morning when I hear Phoebe's scream. It's coming from her house—and it sounds pretty desperate. I grab Piper's hand.

"That's Phoebe," I explain. "Something's up, and it sounds bad."

"What?"

In an instant we're swirling through the cosmos and planted on the carpet of Phoebe's living room. I can see right away through her widened, fearful eyes and strained voice that it must be big—I brace myself for the news, hoping that it's not going to affect our family.

"The Golden Gate Bridge," she says breathlessly. "It collapsed! The bridge!"

"Oh my god," Piper gasps. "That's horrible. Wow. My god…What happened to it?"

"No, no, no!" Phoebe cries. "That's not it! Mel and the twins and Chris—they must be up there, Piper! We haven't heard from them. They trained up there sometimes with the other lighters. The bridge collapsed while they were on it!"

I feel as if my heart's been squeezed. My brain turns perpetually numb and the words coming from my mouth feel like sand on my tongue. "Other lighters? The bridge? I—what are you talking about? Chris didn't tell us anything about…"

"There's no time! You've got to do something, Leo. Orb over there, make sure that they weren't—that they're not—"

I nod, my instincts finally catching up with me. "Wyatt!" I call.

He orbs into the room, looking a little paler than usual. "Yeah, Dad?"

"Orb to the bay by the Golden Gate Bridge. Don't ask questions," I say hurriedly, too distracted by the weight of this incident to realize that there wasn't any distortion on his face in the first place. "Save as many of the kids as you can."

I orb out, leaving my distressed wife and sister-in-law in my wake.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Chris

I've got the twins hands in mine and I'm kicking furiously to get to the surface. Finally, that rush of air…we gulp it greedily for a moment while our heads bob up, only to be sucked back under by a wave caused by the bridge's crumbling. A pillar smacked my head on the way down; I vaguely feel the warmth of the blood, but nothing else in my state of panic. I know that the other kids got out through their spells and potions—they could will themselves onto dry land. All of them, that is, except for me.

I had a potion to get back, and it was obviously destroyed as we plummeted downward. I clutch the hands of Bree and Bran tighter still, trying to work my way towards shore and trying with all my might to summon the orbs that have so long been out of my reach. Why can't I just be able to orb this once, to get us out of the danger? If only we'd stayed in the library…if only I'd stopped Wyatt this morning…

It's too late for that, I tell myself, kicking harder. Suddenly the twins turn a bright color of blue. My heart surges with relief and I realize that it's my own power that has rescued them…but isn't enough to take me out, too. Without their burden, though, I can swim much more freely.

Waves pound at me, lapping over my head once more. Finally I manage to doggie paddle my way towards the shore, finally collapsing on the rocks of the Bay.

After a few gulps of air I slowly stand, whipping my head around in desperate search. Wet and shivering a few feet ahead are Mel and the twins—apparently my orbs forced her out of the swell as well. I sigh, thanking everything good for the orbs that saved them.

"Everyone all right?" I manage to gasp, stumbling towards them.

Mel nods slightly, face pale with shock. "The bridge. How did it just…go boom like that?"

Bree clings to my leg with tears in her eyes. "Why?" she repeats quietly. "We didn't do anything, did we?"

"I don't know," I say gravely. "Maybe our combined weight…"

Mel shook her head. "That wouldn't be enough to send an entire bridge full of cars down into the Bay, Chris. But it was definitely magic. I could tell."

"Look, it doesn't matter. We're all okay," I say mostly to reassure myself. "The other lighters must have gotten out or they'd be sending out telepathic messages." I hold back tears when I think of the people driving out on the bridge that fell into the Bay, but I know it's not my place to save them. Magic can only help you so much before you risk exposure.

We can hear sirens in the distance as everyone responds to the tragedy, rushing onto the scene. I hang my head low in shame. "Let's go get dried off somewhere, guys."

"You're bleeding," Mel notices, concerned.

"I got hit by a piece of metal—I'm fine, though. We're lucky."

"I know," she says, her voice barely above a whisper. Her normally rebellious, get-out-and-take-risk nature seems to be suppressed by the strange, surreal impact of what's just happened.

"Chris? Mel, Bree, Bran!" I turn around and see my father rushing from behind us to catch up. "What the hell is wrong with you, being on that bridge?" he cries. "Thank god you're all okay! What happened? Where are the other lighters? Oh, you scared me to death…"

"We don't know what happened," I say truthfully. "One minute the bridge was there, and then…it just fell."

"We were protected up there by our magic, shielded from sight through a barrier," Mel adds, "so it couldn't have been anything we did, Uncle Leo."

My father turns to face me again, grave and disappointed. "I'd have thought you knew better, Chris, than to meet with your little friends up there."

I bite back a rush of anger. Anger—see, that's all new to me, too. Suddenly a harsh gust of wind pierces the air, practically sweeping Leo off his feet. I step back, knowing at once it was my doing.

The powers must be returning.

But he can't stand there and question my judgment as if I'm the messed up child in the family, he can't call the lighters my "little friends" like we were all a part of a dainty book club. He has no right.

Startled, Leo picks himself up off the ground. "What the…" His eyes flash over to me, but he visibly squashes the thought. "Aftershock," he mutters. "Meet me at the manor. Think about your irresponsibility," he says icily, pointedly orbing Mel and the twins away and leaving me alone.

I've never felt so distant from this world even with the chaos and wreckage, tragedy and destruction all around me. It couldn't have been our fault. We did nothing to cause such a disaster, did we?

This could have been my fault, a voice in my head whispers evilly, hissing like a snake. My ears perk. It seems so real…or is it my conscience? I did this. I made it happen. It's my fault.

I crouch down to my knees in the sand, burying my head in my hands and feeling the warmth of my own blood on my fingertips. "I didn't mean it," I choke, "I couldn't have…"

But I did.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Wyatt

I watch from a nearby bench as my father leaves Chris on the side of the shore to deal with everything by himself and suppress a grin. Don't want to look too suspicious. Because I know, no matter what the mortals will blame the catastrophe on and no matter how much blame Chris receives, I did it. My power, my rage caused for that bridge to go down.

I am powerful enough to kill him, I'm sure. Just not yet.

For the first time, though, I see Chris weaker than ever before. His feet seem to fall out from under him, as if he's sinking. His hands shield his face from his surroundings and I can hear his open gasps and sobs as blood trickles down his face and splatters onto the sand.

I look closer and see the faint outline of a man at his side, almost like a ghost. This time I can't help but grin—maybe I don't have to destroy him, after all.

Barbas can take care of that.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

A/N—I would like to clear up that yes, this is the original past, not the fixed one. Thank you for all your support, guys! Sorry it's been a long time since I've updated. Semester exam week of hell, if you catch my drift. It's all over now, though…phew! TBC.