There before him stood a woman in her twenties that he had never seen before. Her hair was a dark brownish-black color that was long and it flowed down her back. Her dark black eyes stared into his eyes as a familiarity he didn't understand overwhelmed the room between them. She smiled at him as she pressed down her white gown and she tilted her head to the side as her hair fell around her face to frame it. She had the face of a china doll.
"Who?" he asked in an unused voice of shock. "I.. Thanks. You?"
"I'm Prue. And, its nice to finally meet you, Chris. However, we don't have much time so you really should say that spell before Piper and Leo figure out where you are and more importantly what you're planning on doing."
"Prue. Wait. Do you mean Prue as in Prue Halliwel my oldest deceased aunt?" Chris asked as the pieces started to fit together.
Who else in the family was really named Prue? Besides that, who else would be on the war path to help him out? Who else would know how to cast a spell in order to save an innocents life and who barely cared about personal gain in the middle of it all?
None other then the dearly departed oldest sister Halliwell of the family. A Halliwell that he had never met in the first place, but now that he was here he couldn't believe it. His very own aunt, the one his mother doted on and could barely speak about because it was too painful for her to remember her sister dying young, was standing right there in front of him with a self confident grin spreading over her tanned face that he knew well from the pictures that he had seen of her.
"Deceased and loving it." Prue replied.
"Whoa, hold on a minute. Brain freeze. Alright, you of all people are here to help me? Mom would have a cow." Chris told her as he watched his deceased aunts eyes darken slightly in sadness at the mention of his mother.
"Well, me being here is only for the both of us to know. Kind of like a confidential agreement if you read the spell." Prue instantly informed him.
Ah, so it would seem that one Prue Halliwell was trying to cover her butt from being caught in this whole fiasco.
"So, why are you helping me?" he asked her as he took a few steps back in awe. In the process, he accidentally ended up walking right into the redwood table where a few potion bottles were lying on top of it.
The table jerked beneath him as he panicked and went for the bottles. Luckily, he grabbed every one of the brightly colored and labeled bottles before they could hit the floor. Of course, his clumsiness stepped in as one of the red bottles slipped around the other bottles already firmly planted in his hands and wrestled its way from his grasp to crash onto the floor. It hit hard as he bit his lip in reluctance.
He was caught. There was no way that his family hadn't heard a body fall to the floor in order to save itself the trouble of a few bottles breaking. They could have chalked it all up to the cat for being in the attic if it hadn't been for him and his poor reflexes sending him to hit the floor while trying to save the bottles from their inevitable breaking points.
"Oh no." he said. "Not good."
Prue quickly grabbed a hold of his elbow. "I knew something like this might happen. Look, the spell is there. I wrote it out for you and you don't need any potions to work it whatsoever. Just cast it already if you want to save her."
Chris looked over at the Book of Shadows that was resting on the stand. It was now or ever and he knew it. Downstairs he could hear his parents voices stop yelling at each other because of the noise. He had never expected to hear the end of one of their disagreements but here it was in the pale silky silence. Silence overwhelmed them as he heard the pounding of footsteps in the hallway replace words as they came after him.
It wouldn't take them long to get to the attic and open the door to get to him.
He looked at Jade. It was all he could do not to run over to her. If his parents came into the room they would take her from him. He knew that more than anything. He didn't want that. He didn't want to never see her again.
He looked back at his aunt in askance as he chewed on his lower lip. He was going to do what she had said. He just needed to know. He needed to know something about this. He needed to know why after all these years of silence for her in the family she chose this day to help him of all people.
"Prue, why are you helping me?" he asked
"Because we're family.." she told him.
"Why?" he asked again knowing as he watched her dark eyes gaze at the attic wistfully that that wasn't even the half of it.
"Because love is hard enough as it is, Chris. I saw you with her and I saw how you both were. You reminded me a lot of myself when I was young and alive." Prue said and then she faltered a moment as she looked around the room. The footsteps were coming closer. They had finally made it to the attic stairs and were coming now. "None of us Halliwell's have ever been able to keep love. From what I hear up there, you two had true love. That doesn't happen a lot if ever. So, I thought I would just come down here and fix something for once. Make at least one of us Halliwell's happy." Prue told him as she folded her arms over her chest in conclusion.
He knew the truth. He had faced it only minutes ago with Jade and he saw it everyday with one of his aunts or siblings. Love wasn't easy and it was even harder when you were a freak.
He had barely ever heard about Prue and Andy's romance. All he knew was that they had been in love since high school. After she had become a witch, he had reentered her life and then on they were together or separated. Right before he had died they had even confessed that they still loved each other, and then he had ended up dying. Again, evil had been sent to kill the Charmed Ones and Andy had ended up dying for it.
It wasn't too long after that that Prue had died.
Prue was a like a mystery to him besides that point. His family barely talked of her it hurt them so much. For them to even know that she was still watching over them was crazy. To know she was the one helping him out now was even crazier. His mother's childhood idol was her oldest sister and here she was helping him out to save Jade's life.
He wanted to tell his mother. He wanted to say 'hey, she cares more than you do'. He knew he couldn't though. If he did then he'd never get a chance to cast the spell and save her life. He needed to do that.
"Thanks," he said as he looked at his aunt.
She smiled dimpling. It was weird just to see her so young and alive. It was like he was already going back in time.
The attic started to glow a heavy golden color as he looked at his aunt. She nodded at him to do what he needed to do. They both knew at this moment that time was everything and he barely had any left. Prue smiled forlornly as she looked around as the area around her in the attic started to whiten announcing her leaving.
It was almost too soon. He didn't want her to go. Hell, it would be nice if she could go with him back in time and make sure he was doing it right.
Before he could say or do anything else he heard the loud running footsteps stop outside of the door. He instantly used his telekinesis to take the old cast iron key out of its lock so that it was locked to them. This was a cheap way to buy time and he knew it.
It was a very cheap way to buy time when all his mother needed to do was flick her wrists and the door would cease to exist in front of her.
He could hear his mother outside the door now as she yelled into it for him to be able to hear her. "What the hell is that?" she cried in reference to the light that was taking over the room that undoubtedly must beneficing into the hallway by now.
"Hurry!" Prue cried as she looked back at him from the doorway.
"No, wait." he cried out.
"Wait for what? You have a spell to cast, a life to save, and true love to experience. What are you waiting for?" she bickered as her dark brown eyes went from staring him down to looking over at the attics doorway to make sure it was still locked up.
"What's it like?' he asked her.
"What what's like?"
"To be.. You know. Dead." he asked curiously as his eyes wandered to Jade.
"It's different for everyone." Prue said as her eyes went to linger on Jade too. "You can see it. Life.. Going on without you in it. And it's best you don't watch so you can get over it and not be so..." her thought ended as she licked her lips indecisively. "You can see it but you can't touch. Like glass between you and the one you love." she ended in a harder voice.
"I'm sorry."
"Hey, it's hard. I'll give you that. I got over most of it though." she informed him with a quick smile that was gone before it even registered.
Chris nodded in reply. He didn't know what to say. He heard the doorknob rattle in the silence of his answer.
"Hurry. Before its too late." Prue told him as they both felt Piper's impatience to the whole situation fill the air.
The room was becoming a fuzzy white everywhere. It was almost unreal.
It was now or never.
Chris ran over to the Book of Shadows. He looked down at the page and reread the spell in a spilt second making sure he was ready. Nervous adrenaline sprang over his body like a live wire as he did and he looked back up at his aunt for some form of comfort as the whiteness of the room started to play on his eyes.
"Christopher Perry Halliwell, if you don't open this door right this moment I swear to you that I will blow it up!" Piper's hard voice scolded from behind the door.
"Oh, wow. She hasn't changed a bit," Prue laughed.
"You mean she's always been like this?" Chris asked half in a mock surprise and the rest in sarcasm.
"Oh, you." Prue said with her finger jabbed at him and a smile planted on her face. "No wonder, you're my favorite nephew."
"I am." he said proudly.
"Oh, don't go off and get a complex because of it. And don't tell Wyatt that either. Of course, even if you did he would never believe you." Prue told him as she realized it herself.
"Yeah, I know." he said sadly. "This is just so awesome. And it's so short and.."
His gaze fell to Jade where she was lying in the red velvet chair. Her face was now lit in the creepy white light that was filling the room around him. She looked like an angel sleeping.
"And so tragically connected. I know. It happened though. It's just between us now. Nothing can come of it." Prue told him
"Christopher, come on open the door before you get your mother anymore angry then she already is. We know how you feel. What you are going through. We just want to help." Leo called through the door to his son in a soft voice.
Chris rolled his eyes as he doubted the fact that his father knew how this felt.
He had lost his girl. He had finally found someone who he had been able to trust enough with his secret. She had even be okay with it after awhile and he had lost her. Then, in his rush to save her and finding out that he had no way to save her his own dead aunt had come back from the afterlife like his fairy godmother to help him to save Jade. They didn't know or understand was going on at all.
All they knew was that he was in the attic with a book of spells and all known herbs to man. They knew he could be a threat to himself or the world if he figured out a way to change this. They weren't on his side.
"Hear these words, hear the rhyme," he said loudly in the room as he decided he didn't want their so-called help.
He saw Prue smile out of the corner of his emerald green eyes and nodded to himself as he went on. "Heed the hope within my mind." he read out as he looked over at Jade.
The hope in the spell wasn't even a whole feeling hope or just a thought in his head. Saving her was like his whole being. It had taken over and he really needed to do it now. There was no other way.
He could only hope it would work out the way he wanted it to. He could only hope he would be able to go back in time enough for him to make it alright again.
"Send me back to where I'll find," he said.
"Good luck." Prue told him in her own form of goodbye.
"I'll need it." he said. And then he ended it. "What I wish in space and time."
The last word was uttered. The white golden world around him took a beating as his eyes flinched in the bright light. It was all there and then he felt time rip towards him like a wild animal. It was all he could do to keep his eyes open.
Then, the world bottom out.