Phoebe was baffled. She had been in a greyish whatever for some time. She had tried every spell she could remember to get out of it. But nothing had helped. She didn't know how long she had been there, because you couldn't tell. It was never night, never day, just this greyish surroundings expanding into infinity. She had thought it was a kind of limbo.
Now her eyes darted around. She was back in the Halliwell Manor. She recognized the attic in an instant and also the people standing there with open mouths. They didn't look much older than before.
"Do you see me?" she asked tentatively.
She wasn't sure they could see her, after all she was dead. Piper very slowly nodded her head. Wyatt smiled to himself and Phila just stared.
"Now is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked again.
"I'm not sure", Piper answered lamely. She could see right through Phoebe. That meant Phoebe was a ghost.
Leo orbed in discomposedly. He stood in front of Piper so he didn't see Phoebe at the attic.
"Piper", he addressed his wife, "I have to tell you something, but you have to promise me that you don't freak out".
He searched her face for an answer, because Piper's face looked rather blank. She looked at him.
"Every conversation you ever started with this sentence ends with some really bad news", she stated.
"I just was with the Elders", he motioned upwards with his head, "and they told me that Phoebe's soul didn't arrive in the heavens yet. They don't know where she is! If only I had gone up earlier" Leo chastised himself.
"Mmh", was Pipers only answer.
Leo was surprised that Piper's reaction was so not there at all. He grabbed her by her shoulders and said intensely "Her soul isn't up there that can only mean Cole has it."
Piper shook her head. She reached up to him and touched is jaw with her hands and softly turned his head over in the direction where Phoebe was.
"Hey", Phoebe waved a hand at Leo.
While Piper had been talking to Leo she had tried to go over to Phila but it didn't work. Hovering around was nothing like walking. She had tried to walk but was staying on the same spot. It was rather inconvenient. At least the waving part had worked.
"Phoebe?" Leo exclaimed with relief.
So his worst fears hadn't been fulfilled. If Cole had found a method to catch Phoebe's soul, he would have never forgiven himself for not looking out for her earlier.
"What did you do? I'm confused." Leo asked. He wasn't sure if he questioned Piper or Phoebe.
"I'm confused myself", Piper said, "ask your son. He did the spell."
Leo looked at Wyatt who squirmed under his father's glance.
"Wyatt, can you explain that?" Leo motioned towards Phoebe.
"I just did what aunt Phoebe sometimes did. I asked the book for some help. It opened at the lost-sister-spell. I chanted it once alone. Only minor reactions. Then we chanted it as a threesome and it worked." Wyatt was proud of his achievement.
"So you brought me back!" Phoebe exclaimed, "I wondered why it suddenly worked." So if she couldn't walk, so at least she could talk.
"I was in this greyish limbo whatever thing, trying to get out, but nothing worked so far. Then suddenly I was sucked out of it and appeared here in the attic." She said looking around scrutinizing everything.
"How long have I been gone already? It doesn't look much differently. You don't look older."
"You have only been gone some days", Wyatt informed her.
"Aha", Phoebe tried to process all the new information. "Did Cole try anything with you guys in the meantime?" she asked tentatively.
"You mean like trying to kill us?" Wyatt asked sourly.
Phoebe nodded, "Yes, something like that."
"Yeah he did. But we were lucky. It was by a hair's breadth."
"Shit." Phoebe cursed and crossed her arms over her chest, "something must have gone wrong."
"I agree to that", Leo said.
"Are ghosts allowed to curse?" Wyatt mocked Phoebe. She had always been his favourite aunt and he was happy that he had brought her back.
"I'm dying to know what exactly went wrong", Piper said pointedly looking at Phoebe, "what stunt did you pull this time?"
"Why do you always automatically assume that it is my fault?" Phoebe asked back. She wasn't the youngest sister anymore. Now it was Paige's job the endure Piper's wrath.
"It normally is", Piper said matter of factly.
"Piper we don't know what happened. You can't blame Phoebe in advance." Phoebe sent Leo a grateful smile for his intervention.
"Back from the blood bank", Paige cheered as she orbed in with Chris, "Sorry for taking so l…".
She stopped suddenly as she saw Phoebe's ghost in the middle of the attic. She let the plastic bag filled with red liquid fall to the ground. Chris caught it in the last moment.
"Where did she come from?" Chris asked stunned. He took the unit of stored blood with him and leaned against the attic wall. This was going to be interesting.
"I cast a spell", Wyatt bragged.
"We", Phila corrected him, pushing him in the rips.
"We are still figuring out what really happened", Piper said, "Please just listen for the moment. Phoebe just wanted to explain it to us."
Paige threw a confused look at Leo who just shrugged. She sat down in a chair and looked expectantly at Phoebe.
"Don't be mad at me, Piper", Phoebe pleaded with her puppy eyes.
"I know that voice Phoebe and that face you pull. You screwed up big time, didn't you?" Piper said smugly.
"I tried to protect you all from Cole!" Phoebe defended herself heatedly.
"So we are back to Cole?" Paige smirked, "anything new here"
"Spill it sister", Piper commanded. Piper held onto the altar firmly. Her hands got white under her tight grip.
"Ok Piper, just relax, ok? I thought long and hard about a possibility to protect you all from Cole. I knew the truce was going to end with me. Therefore I bound my soul irrevocably to Cole's."
"Are you out of your mind!" Piper shouted. She slammed her hands down on the Book of Shadows with such violence, that the whole altar shuddered.
"Never in your whole life have you done anything nearly that stupid!"
Piper was seething. How could Phoebe risk her undying soul for that lousy bastard?
"Still trying to save him from his deserved faith? Phoebe when will you ever understand that he is evil." Piper barked.
"That's not true!" Phoebe shouted back, "I tried to protect YOU!"
The kids stayed quiet. They had already learned that when the emotions between the sisters were running high, you better not get between them.
"Girls, Piper, Phoebe would you please calm down", Leo tried his whitelighter approach.
"Shut up!" both replied in unison.
They glared at each other for some time. Normally Phoebe would have turned round and stormed out of the room, but as she wasn't able to move by herself she had to endure Piper's rage. Piper took some deep breaths deliberately before she addressed Leo.
"Leo, you talk with her, I can't".
She strode past Phoebe without looking at her, back to her position at the window and looked out of it.
"Phoebe, what exactly did you do to bind your soul? Why did you do it and why are you sure it is irrevocably?" Leo asked softly.
"I married him again", Phoebe said lightly.
"You what!" Now it was Paige's turn to have a fit. "Come on Phoebe that was a joke right?"
"I'm sure it is not", Piper said sarcastically from the window. She remembered the rings on Cole's and Phoebe's hands.
"I needed to marry him to bind our souls. You remember the evening I called for Leo to help me with a power of Three spell?" Phoebe asked Paige, since Piper wasn't looking at her.
"It was a wired spell" Paige said, "I found it rather kitschy."
She remembered that particular night. Leo had been called by Phoebe and had returned some time later with Phoebe's Mobil phone and a crinkled piece of paper with a spell on it. He had told them only that Phoebe needed help with a Power of Three spell and that the Mobil was enchanted to tell them at what time they should chant the spell.
They had watched the Mobil the whole evening, during the whole night till the early morning. Occasionally they had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room. The Mobil had awakened them. It rang and displayed "Phoebe".
They had rubbed their sleepy eyes and chanted the spell over and over again for some 10 minutes. There wasn't any indication afterwards that the spell had worked or what it was supposed to do.
"That was my marriage vow", Phoebe smiled proudly, "I formulated my marriage vow as a Power of Three spell that would bind me to Cole, if I touched him at that moment."
Piper was only shaking her head in denial.
"Did you have a priest or something?" Paige asked. She doubted that Cole had agreed to a white wedding.
"Not exactly. We were with a friend of mine, Inra. I think you know her. Her father is the chief medicine man of the tribe. He did the ritual for us. He is a powerful magician. I purposely choose this kind of ritual because literature said it was the best for binding souls."
"That's why you were buzzing around with all those books on witch craft lately", Phila noted.
"But something went wrong" Phoebe admitted, "Otherwise I wouldn't be here."
Finally Piper turned round. "So what did you expect to happen?" she asked. She was curious now.
"I thought that I would die and go to heaven. Since Cole's soul is bound to mine, his soul would have been ripped from his body, which would cause his body to die. You know that a human body can't live without a soul. Without a body the Source can't hurt you. It would have to find a new host and regain power over the host and the Underworld again. That surly would take some time. Besides I thought that maybe without Cole's knowledge of us and without a body, you could be able to vanquish him without the Power of Three."
"Great plan", Chris praised, "but there has to be a flaw in it".
"I think it has to do with the going to heaven part", Leo said, "the Elders expected her, but Phoebe didn't show up. This means entrance to heaven was not the problem. Phoebe do you have unfinished business you are aware off?" Leo asked.
"No, I think not. I was ready to go on". Phoebe said thoughtfully.
"I tell you what happened", Chris said, "since Cole's soul couldn't be ripped from its body for whatever reason, maybe it has to do with him being the Source, Phoebe's soul has to stay down here, since they are connected. The one can't go where the other can't follow."
"So I'm a ghost forever?" Phoebe asked fearful. She hadn't calculated this outcome
"No, we just have to rip Cole's soul from his body, then you should be able to go on". Wyatt said determinedly, "together we surely can do it."
"Wait big brother", Chris slowed him down, "For Phoebe to go to heaven, the Elders have to allow Cole go up there too. I'm not sure they are willing to do this."
He glanced at his father. After all Leo had the most experience in what the Elders did and why they did it.
"That's going to be a challenge. I'm not sure they will allow Cole up there for the sake of Phoebe. He is the Source. And it was her decision to bind their souls. She will have to face the consequences of that." Leo answered thoughtfully.
Phoebe turned to Paige curiously. "What do you need that unit of stored blood for?
"We are working on vanquishing Cole", Paige answered soberly, "Did Piper tell you that he already attacked us?"
Phoebe just nodded sadly.
"We can't vanquish him now", Chris discovered, "We don't know what will happen to Aunt Phoebe if we do it." He frowned thinking hard.
Piper's glance zoomed at her younger son. "You are right Chris. We can't risk vanquishing Phoebe's soul in the process. Damn it. Phoebe, why did you have to do this reckless thing?" She complained once again.
Chris was pacing the attic, deep in thoughts, ruffling his hair with his hand. Wyatt watched his brother warily. When Chris was in this mood, he normally came up with a hazardous plan. Chris finally stopped and looked at Piper and then Wyatt. His face showed sheer self-satisfaction.
"Mum, the date and time of the funeral is fixed?" Chris asked.
Piper nodded. "Yes, the day after tomorrow at 3 p.m. at St. Clair's cemetery. Why?"
Chris had already ripped out a sheet of a random notebook and scribbled down on it hastily. "I have a plan" he announced still writing and not looking up.
"I knew it. You have a plan!" Wyatt clapped his hands and smiled proudly.
His little brother was the best. It seemed he had inherited Prue's capable mind. Chris straightened up and put the note in his pocket. His family looked at him expectantly and he threw a glance at Wyatt. He loved it when his big brother complimented him.
"Don't jump to conclusions Wy, my plan still needs to play out the way we need it. I'll fill you all in on the details later", he promised. "Now we have to move fast. Our preparations have to be ready before Phoebe's funeral. Wyatt please join me. We have to deliver this note to Phoebe's dear husband". He smirked in Phoebe's direction.
"Phoebe you have to work on your ability to move. We need you to able to move around. Maybe you", he looked at Piper, "could call great Grams to teach her." Piper gave him a sceptical look.
"I'm sure Grams wouldn't blow our cover", Phoebe said confidently, "and I sure need some help with this whole ghost thing. But Chris", she whined, "give us some hint what you are up to". She tried to tease out something of Chris. But he just shook his head and turned to his father.
"Dad, I need you to find 6 Whitelighters who won't sell us out to the Elders. They won't be in any danger. And please don't let the Elders know yet we have found Phoebe's soul."
Leo was intrigued what Chris' plan was but as Chris didn't want to share it right now so he just nodded.
"Aunt Page, please finish the crystals with Phoebe. We will need them."
He stepped next to Wyatt and the brothers orbed out together. They could hear Wyatt's voice fading away "Come on little bro, tell me.."
tbc