Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.
Author's note: okay, this is the last chapter of this story. I finished it all months ago, but never got round to typing it all up (would you believe that I wrote the whole story, excluding the prologue and first chapter in a week? I know! Where the hell has that roll gone!)
Thank you: halli-halliwell, reneexoxtyler15, and ColePhoebe4eva, for reviewing chapter seven, and everyone who has reviewed any chapter (I know there's not many of you!) Well here it is: my first finished story. I'm so proud! ... You know this is actually quite emotional...
CHAPTER EIGHT
Prue looked angelic in Halliwell manor's attic. Watery moonbeams shone a weak light through the huge bay windows. It flattered the natural gleam of her raven hair, and highlighted the fact that she was corporeal.
It was so strange for Leo to see his sister in law in spirit form; looking radiant in a long white flowing robe. He guessed that the outfit wasn't Prue's personal choice. She could never be described as 'conservative.'
"Leo." She said waving her transparent hands at him.
"A little help? I can't turn the pages, and I haven't got that magical flipping thing quite worked out yet."
Leo obeyed, walking over to the lectern, and hurriedly turning the ancient, yellowing pages.
"Stop!" She commanded, her blue eyes widening when they fell on the page they were looking for. A summoning spell.
"Piper!"
"Piper?"
"Honey, can you hear us?"
"Piper wake up!"
Phoebe and Paige collapsed down next to their motionless sister. She was unconscious, and a rapidly spreading puddle of crimson blood emanated from her stomach.
"Oh god…" Phoebe whispered, tears clouding her eyes.
Paige could hear her own heart thundering. Red blood pounded around her body, in a sudden adrenalin rush.
-Piper cant die.- she thought. She wouldn't let her die.
"Athame!" she shouted, holding out a shaking hand. She watched the knife, dripping with her sister's blood; waiting for it to dissolve from Darryl's hand, and materialize into hers. Nothing happened.
"Athame!" she shouted again. It stayed in Darryl's firm grip.
-Damn…-
Darryl laughed again. It was unnerving. Inhuman. He smiled wickedly, lifting the athame.
"Ring o' ring of roses.
A pocket full of poses.
A tissue, a tissue.
We all fall down."
He swung it down towards her exposed neck. Paige closed her eyes…
Natasha appeared in the attic, in an angry tornado of restraining smoke. The expression on her face was just as angry, when she emitted an ear piercing, inhumanly loud scream.
"No!" She shouted at Prue.
"You stupid little bitch! He needs to be punished, send me back! Do it, whore!"
"Temper, temper." Prue mocked provokingly.
"Now say 'pretty please'."
Natasha screamed again.
Deafened, Prue took in her appearance. She was surprisingly small and thin, but she possessed an air of power, that contradicted her stature.
A head of long, tangled, liquorice black hair blew around her gaunt pale face, in a non-existent wind. The girl was crazy and it was terrifyingly obvious.
Seeing Leo, she wielded the athame.
"Leo, go." Prue ordered.
"No way." He said defiantly.
"Leo, my sisters need you. Go and heal Piper."
Immediately his face contorted in worry.
"She's hurt?"
"Go!"
He went. Prue was alone. If the reconstituted power of three couldn't stop this, then it was up to her. The power of one.
"What are you going to do?" Natasha sneered.
"You can't stop me. No one can."
-Beg to differ.- Prue thought.
"Ashes to ashes.
Spirit to spirit.
Take this soul.
Banish this evil."
Natasha's confidence started to waver. Prue smiled.
"Ashes to ashes.
Spirit to spirit.
Take this soul.
Banish this evil."
Natasha started to shake uncontrollably, raw burns tarnishing her flawless skin. Her bare arms began to bubble, an angry red, before bursting into flames. Her shocked face distorted in pain, and she began to scream.
"Ashes to ashes.
Spirit to spirit.
Take this soul.
Banish this evil."
The flames engulfed her. Taking her soul. Banishing the evil. Putting Natasha somewhere that she would pay for what she had done, for eternity.
Prue smiled, satisfied.
"Nobody hurts my sisters." She told the empty attic. Told the swirling smoke that Natasha had left behind. Yes, Prue Halliwell was smiling. But it was bittersweet…
Paige's eyes were welded shut. She was holding her breath, and every muscle in her body was tensed, as she waited for the athame to lacerate her neck. When it didn't happen, she warily opened one eye. The athame was nowhere to be seen, and Darryl was slumped in a breathless heap on the floor, in Sheila's understanding arms.
-How long where my eyes closed for?- She wondered, confused.
Had she missed the entire vanquish?
"W-what happened? Where's Natasha?"
Nobody answered. Paige looked at Phoebe, who was preoccupied with their badly bleeding sister.
"I don't know." She answered finally.
"And t be honest, I don't really care. Paige she's barely breathing. Where the hell is-"
Leo orbed into the hall, wearing a terrified expression. He took one look at his wife, lying in a pool of blood, and thought the worst.
"Leo!" Phoebe shouted, trying to discourage this.
It worked. He skidded across the bloodstained carpet, and held a pair of glowing hands over Pipers stomach, sighing with relief when the blood evaporated into nothingness.
She stirred, suddenly bolting awake.
"Darryl! Natasha! I-"
"Everything's fine." Leo assured her, stroking her hair soothingly.
Never one to be deterred easily, Piper frowned questioningly at him.
"Why? How? What happened?"
"Prue." Leo answered, simply.
Paige could tell that he was fully expecting another argument, and could see his complete surprise when Piper pulled him into a hug.
Their lives could be amazingly complicated, and her sisters could be amazingly unpredictable, but looking at all of those negative things, Paige felt incredibly positive. At least they were alive.
EPILOGUE
"I really am sorry." Darryl apologized, for the hundredth time the next morning.
"I know." Piper accepted.
It was so weird, how the light of day could make everything feel so different. Last night, she had almost died. Sheila had almost been stabbed to death by her possessed husband. Darryl had almost been sentenced to a lifetime in prison.
-Same old, same old.- she thought dismissively.
Piper had lost count of the number of times she had almost died. And all the times she actually had died.
"I'm sorry too." Leo said.
He still felt bad about enlisting Prue's help without telling the sisters. And he felt even worse about not being there when Piper was stabbed.
"You don't have to be." She promised, reassuringly taking his hand.
"Neither do you Darryl. You were possessed. It wasn't your fault. And you." She said, turning to Leo.
"You and Prue saved the day. Stop giving yourself such a hard time."
"Here, here!" Paige cheered, lifting her steaming mug of coffee, in a toast.
"You know, we really should drink more Champaign." She moaned.
"I mean, we saved the world. Again. We should celebrate in style."
" 'Again' being the operative word." Phoebe said.
"If we had Champaign every time we saved the world, we'd be a bunch of alcoholics."
Paige considered that.
"Okay, well how about Champaign every third time we avert an apocalypse. Or at least some expensive chocolates?"
"Paige, Paige, Paige." Piper said patronizingly.
"You know what they say: Greed is a terrible thing…"
(Its finished! Its finished! Its finished! YAY! My first fanfic! You guys still have to review it though! PLEASE!)
