AN: Hey, guys. Sorry it's been so long, I've just had school, then summer school (voluntarily), then vacation, then summer work (grr...) I've been really busy, with barely any time to even review the stories I read. Seriously, I've been doing much less of that. Anyway, I also wanted to say that I'm not going to be posting the responses to reviews anymore, but I'll review my own story with my responses. So, if you want to see the response to your review, just look at the reviews for the chapter you reviewed. Okay, that's all.

Enjoy!

Chapter 20:

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"What was that?" Leo asked, shooting up from his lying position. His quick motion startled Piper awake, as she had been sleeping in his arms.

"What was what?" She quickly asked her boyfriend. Piper could feel her heart speed up in her chest.

"That scream," replied Leo with fear in his voice. Piper's eyes widened. She began shaking all over. He's back, he's back, he's back, Piper kept repeating in her mind.

Leo glanced down at his girlfriend's trembling figure, and quickly took her into his arms. He wanted to just sit there and hold her until she wasn't scared anymore, but he knew that he couldn't ignore his charges. Still torn, he made himself and Piper disappear in a flurry of blue and white orbs.

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Meanwhile, Prue and Paige were lifting themselves off of the floor in the hallway. Prue was rubbing her head, and Paige was furiously rubbing her hand along her right side.

"Did you have to run into me, literally?" Prue asked her youngest sister. Paige glared at her older sister.

"Come on," she said, and grabbed Prue's hand. The two unknowingly disappeared in the same magical lights as the couple in the next room over, at the exact same time.

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Phoebe was silently crying, rocking back and forth on the couch. She was so scared by that dream. What does it mean? She asked herself. Why did my premonition come to me that way? Why did it use my dead sister?

Phoebe was distracted from her thoughts when she heard the tell-tale chimes of orbing. Two sets of the glowing light balls appeared in front of her. When they disappeared, four people were revealed. They were the four people that she desperately needed at that moment.

"Phoebe," Prue whispered softly and quickly placed herself next to her sister's shaking form. The younger teenager just leaned into her older sister's body, trying to find comfort in the warm embrace. Paige sat by her sister's other side, and began reassuringly rubbing Phoebe's back. She threw a quick glance at Piper before looking back at her crying sister.

Piper took that as her cue to join the bonding moment. She eased herself out of Leo's arms and walked over to where the couch. She grasped Phoebe's right hand between her own two and brushed it comfortingly. The four stayed in that position until a few minutes later, when Phoebe's tears subsided.

"Thanks," Phoebe whispered. She reached up with her left hand and wiped the tear streaks from her cheeks.

"No problem," Paige responded, and helped her sister wipe the moisture off of her face.

"Honey," Prue began uneasily, not wanting to upset her sister further. "Why were you crying?" Phoebe sniffed and looked up at her sisters and best friend.

"I... I had a premonition." She said vaguely. She didn't want to remember her dream. Leo walked over and sat by his girlfriend's side.

"Phoebe," he said gently, "what did you see?" Phoebe gulped. She didn't want to repeat it, but she knew that she had to in order to do something about it.

"I walked through our house, and I heard something in the living room. There was a little girl, and she was drawing. She began singing... this really creepy version of Miss Mary Mack. And she was drawing with crayons, but her picture was anything but preschool. It was a black and red sketch of this girl... she was stabbed in the back. I couldn't believe it; I thought I was dreaming. But... the little girl said 'it's not a dream, it's a premonition'. Then she fell forward and she... she had a knife in her back!" Phoebe screamed the last part, and droplets of water poured down from her brown eyes again.

"Oh, sweetie..." Piper said, and cupped Phoebe's face in her hands.

"Phoebe," Leo began, "I know how hard this is for you, but I think that we need to get a handle on this and save the innocent." Piper nodded.

"He's right," she said, "We need to put my problem on hold, and work with your premonition. From the sound of it, this girl doesn't have a lot of time."

"Okay," Prue said, standing up and clapping her hands. She had transferred immediately from mother mode to commander mode. "Phoebe, describe the picture of the girl to Paige, and she'll try and copy it. You know how well she draws. Leo, you orb up and check with the Elders about this, and I'll look through the BoS to see if I can find anything about this. Alexa, you uh..."

"Make coffee," Piper finished for Prue. "You guys know how to deal with all of this much better than I do, and it's a little way I can help." After getting her point across, Piper turned and headed into the kitchen.

Everyone else was about to do that same when Phoebe spoke up.

"Wait..."" Prue, Paige, and Leo turned around.

"What?" Paige asked, confused.

"The little girl in my premonition she was... Piper." Phoebe whispered. Not that she didn't care about her best friend, but she had wanted to share this information with only her family, as almost no one outside of it knew about her lost older sister.

Prue, Paige, and Leo's jaws dropped.

"What?" Prue asked, a little loudly. She was always the most sensitive when it came to the topic of the fourth sister.

"It was little Piper. She was the one singing, she was the on drawing, and she was the one... with the knife in her back." Phoebe breathed, looking away from her family. After composing herself, she turned back towards them. "What do you think this means?"

"I don't know." Prue said truthfully.

"I might," said Paige, and the others turned towards her now. "Maybe... maybe the demons that will kill this girl are the same ones that killed our sister. Maybe this is our chance to finally find them, and get what we've always wanted... answers." Her family just stared at her for a moment. Finally, Leo nodded.

"I'll talk to the Elders about it, and hope that this isn't another one of the premonitions that they didn't send you." With that, Leo orbed out.

"I guess I better go, too." Prue said, and began quickly running up the stairs.

"Prue!" Phoebe called out to her older sister. Prue turned around in the middle of the staircase, tapping her foot impatiently. Phoebe gulped, fearing her older sister's reaction to what she was about to say. "Don't do anything rash. We want answers as much as you do, and we don't want to lose you to them too, okay?" Prue nodded curtly, and sprinted up the rest of the staircase and out of sight.

Paige turned to Phoebe, her expression downcast.

"I hope she heard you." she said, and opened the closet, revealing a variety of art supplies.

"Let's get this over with." Phoebe said, as Paige sat down. Phoebe slowly began describing the picture in her premonition to her younger sister, as the latter drew.

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Do something rash? Do something rash? How the hell am I supposed to NOT do something rash? Prue thought to herself, roughly flipping the pages in the Book of Shadows. Piper was my little sister, and it's MY FAULT she's dead! I want revenge, and I want revenge NOW!

With her last thought, books began flying off of a nearby bookshelf, crashing violently to the floor. Prue stared at the wreckage, taking in deep breaths. Okay, I have to calm myself down. My anger is getting out of control.

After a few meditating breaths, Prue returned to the book of Shadows. Staring at the page she realized that she did not recognize it. Great, now my emotions are getting in the way of my search. Prue had quickly gone from straight-on fuming to self-pity.

"I have to get control of myself," whispered Prue under her breath. She turned and gazed at the only item left on the ravaged bookshelf. It was a small picture, with three little girls, a brunette with pigtails and big brown eyes in the middle. "For you, Piper, for you."

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Paige glanced quizzically at the black and red picture in front of her. After a moment, she turned to Phoebe, who was looking over the former's shoulder.

"Are you sure this is it?" Paige asked, pointing her charcoal pencil's eraser at the graphic drawing. Phoebe nodded, her eyes watering again.

"It's exactly the same," she responded. She then stood up, and walked over to the nearby armchair, taking a seat there. Paige laid the drawing flat on her lap, and leaned over it, hiding the unsightly image from her sister's vision.

"How are you holding up?" Paige asked, her eyebrows furrowing at the sight of her sister. Phoebe smiled uneasily, and sunk further back into the comfortable chair.

"Not too well," she admitted, taking a deep breath. "It's just-" Phoebe was suddenly interrupted in her revelation by the entrance of her best friend.

"You guys doing okay?" Piper asked, setting two coffee cups on the wooden coffee table in front of both the armchair and the couch.

"Yeah," Phoebe and Paige answered in unison, making quick eye contact. Even though she was their best friend, the two still didn't feel like sharing the dark family secret with her.

"Okay," Piper said, not exactly believing them. "I guess I'll go and bring these up to Prue." Piper held up another coffee cup with two chocolate chip cookies on the side. "See ya." With that last comment, Piper trotted up the stairs. Without regard to their interruption, the two continued their conversation where they had just left off.

"I mean," Phoebe began again, "why am I the one chosen for all of this? Why do I have to be given the clues to figure out?" Paige leaned forward and put her hand comfortingly on her older sister's knee.

"Oh, Phoebe..." she trailed off, not really knowing what to say. "Um... I guess it's because of your power to see things that nobody else can see."

"I know, it's just a really heavy burden sometimes." Phoebe admitted mournfully. Paige stood up, feeling she couldn't comfort her sister anymore. She put her pencil back in the box in the closet.

"At least we finally get answers about Piper's death." Paige said cheerfully. "I mean, why'd they have to kill her then? Why couldn't they have waited a year or two?" Phoebe stared at her younger sister, not knowing what the pale brunette was getting at. "Why couldn't they have waited until I could have a memory or two of her?" Paige spoke very softly, and Phoebe had to strain her ears to hear her. As soon as she comprehended what the younger girl was saying, Phoebe's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, Paige," she said, walking over and enveloping her sister in a hug. "This must be so hard on you." Paige nodded, and Phoebe knocked a hair out of the former's eyes. "I mean, Prue and I have been so lost in our own memories and need for revenge, we haven't taken time to consider our baby sister. I'm so sorry, sweetie." Paige looked up into her older sister's eyes.

"It's okay, Phoebe, I just... feel left out whenever you and Prue even hint about her. I wasn't in that part of your lives, and I feel like I should have somehow, that I should be experiencing the pain that you and she are. I wish I was, just to have known my sister." With that, everything Paige said afterwards became unintelligible as she buried her face in Phoebe's shoulder.

"Hush, honey, it's okay. It's all right." Phoebe said reassuringly, rubbing her sister's back and leading her back over to the couch. After a few moments, Paige wiped the glistening teardrops from her porcelain features.

"I'm okay now," Paige said, smiling up at Phoebe. "Now, let's get back to the demonic problem at hand. Well, one of them, at least." Paige said, and reached towards the drawing sitting on the coffee table.

"Good idea," Phoebe said, and glanced at the cups of coffee, yet untouched by the two sisters. "I hope Alexa made these with extra caffeine." Phoebe said, and Paige laughed, seeming to forget her tear fest just moments earlier. Her smile quickly turned into a puzzled frown, as when Phoebe had picked up the hot mug of coffee, she had gasped and closed her eyes. Phoebe was pulled into a premonition.

It was pitch black. All that could be heard were the sound of soft breathing and, occasionally, the sound of metal-on-metal. Suddenly, footsteps and a clatter of keys made it evident that someone was nearing. The breathing came faster. Now, the click of a turning lock, and footsteps on metal. A strangled breath. A deep, eerie voice rang against the confinement.

"My dear Piper, we meet again. It's been twelve long years."

Phoebe blinked her eyes a few times, and stared at the concerned face of her younger sister.

"What did you see?" Paige asked, after Phoebe hadn't spoken for a moment.

"Oh my God," whispered Phoebe, sounding shocked. "Piper, she-she's... alive."

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Prue was still concentrating on the picture when she heard someone softly open the creaking attic door. Prue swiftly turned her head around, briefly fanning out her raven hair. She sighed. It was only Alexa, with what looked to be coffee and cookies. Prue's mood immediately improved.

"Oh, yummy," she said happily, and quickly ran over to where Piper had set the cookies were set, on a trunk near the middle of the room.

"Thought you'd like it," Piper said, smiling. She was happy she could help, even if it meant being the sisters' cook.

"Thank you so much!" Prue said, and began sipping on the coffee.

"And," Piper held up the plate of cookies, "I have these for you. Chocolate chip. They're your favorite, right?" Piper inched the plate closer to Prue's nose. "You know you want some."

Prue was just staring at the plate. She hadn't had chocolate chip cookies since she was five, since the day her little sister disappeared. How could her friend have known that she had once upon a time liked the treats? And, come to think of it, how did she know where the kitchen was on the first day she was at the Manor? And how did Phoebe get the premonitions of her if she wasn't supposed to?

Prue stopped thinking, and looked at the cookies. The seventeen-year-old recalled her younger sister holding the cookies in front of her in much the same way. Recalling the memory, Prue smiled for a moment, and gazed up into her sister's best friend's now very confused eyes. Suddenly, Prue brought herself back to the present.

Her eyes widened. She was looking into the same chocolate brown eyes.

"Piper?"

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AN: Dun dun dun! Yes, the moment many of you have been waiting for! Haha! There will be lotsa angst next chappie... Also, this is probably the longest chapter that I have written for this story. It's over seven pages! And, trust me, that's quite long. Please review!