The old demon was seated near the wall, holding his side. He was very ill, especially from the second occasion in which he had to reset time. All because those damn mortals above had exposed both sides, good and evil. But on the plus side, at least one of those Charmed wenches were killed. "Yes.. my liege.."
"Well?" The ruler of all demons was not known for his patience. "Speak! Why have you called me?"
Tempus gasped from the exertion. Even simple conversation was difficult if he prolonged it. "Time.. has been reset. I can feel it.. I know it. All is not the same. I sense that.. time.. history, albeit a small portion of it.. has been altered."
"That is not possible." The Source snorted. "In your condition, you would not exist if that were the case."
"It was not me." Tempus slowly shook his head. "I never said that it was me. This was.. another being. I do not know from which side.. I don't know who exactly did this, either. I only know that.. someone has found a way to change what has been. In so doing.. he may have changed events.. and people."
"Is there more?" The ruler wasn't sure if this fool knew anything else. His information wasn't helpful at all. All he knew was that time had changed, but couldn't discern the identity of the person responsible!
"No. No, my liege.. there is not. I know that it has happened above.. somewhere. That is all I know."
The Source paused, thinking this over. "Very well. I shall question the Seer about this. After I consult her, I will bring her to you for further inquiries.." Then he waved his arm, vanishing in a torrent of flame..
Meanwhile, the next morning, Piper was at the manor. She was currently in the kitchen, talking on the phone with Paige. "What.. oh, don't tell me that. You have to be kidding!"
Paige was at work, sitting at her desk. "I'm afraid so.. I just heard Tommy got out a couple weeks ago. Darryl says the guy was a real trouble-maker growing up, from the police record. And speaking from personal experience, trust me when I say that Tom is a complete jerk."
Piper snorted. "Don't remind me.. I had to bar him from my club twice before. He's just one of those punks who likes to start a fight in public. I told his parole officer that Thomas Miller is not welcome at P3."
Paige sighed. "Well.. I just thought I should let you know, just in case he comes around to cause trouble. I mean, it's bad enough that we have to fight demons every day."
"Thanks.. I appreciate it, Paige. Well, I guess I'll see you later. Bye." She hung up.
Phoebe walked into the kitchen, eating an apple. "Club problems?" She had overheard a few tidbit's of Piper's phone conversation.
"Ohh.. good morning, Phoebe." Piper nodded. "You can say that. Actually.. it might not be a problem, if the police can keep a certain bad boy away from my club. I can't have him threatening any more patrons who look at him funny. It's obvious that the guy has problems with his emotions.. good thing he isn't a witch."
"Ooh, sounds bad. Anyone I might know?" Phoebe remembered running with a few 'bad boys' when she attended high school. It was her rebellious stage, a time she hoped to forget. She wasn't that person anymore.
"Not personally, unless you happened to date juvenile delinquents." Piper said. "Tommy Miller. Some guy who's been in and out of juvenile centers since he was thirteen. You should see the rap sheet that Darryl has on him."
"Miller.. Miller.." Phoebe tried to think. "I remember a Kayleigh Miller, from when I went to college. She was dating this guy in the fraternity group.. Evan Tre-something. I wonder if they still go there." She had the strange sense that she had met them before, like what she had dreamed about. "I need to talk to you about something. Something important, about yesterday."
"Sure." Piper walked into the living room, motioning for Phoebe to sit in one of the chairs. "What is it?"
Phoebe sat down, then took a deep breath. "Okay.. I had this preminition last night. But it wasn't about saving any innocents or anything like that. It was events that tiook place since two nights ago, when I went to pick up my car. Then.. when I slept, I saw the same stuff, more normally. It's like.. well, complicaticated." She sighed. "I know what we did, I know what happened. But what I saw.. it's like another version of what happened."
Piper frowned, trying to come up with a plausible explanation. "Do you think it's another power? What do you mean.. what did you see in your dreams?" She had dreams last night as well, but they mostly involved her and Leo on a deserted island.
Phoebe paused. "I know that when we went to get my car, it was an old guy named Dave. I just paid him and left. No talks or anything. But in my dream, Tommy worked at the place."
"Tommy?" Now, Piper was really confused. "But.. but that's not possible. With his record, he hasn't had any recent jobs. There's no way he could have been there."
"I know that," Phoebe replied, nodding her head. "I know he wasn't there. I remember that he wasn't there. I also saw us the next morning, going to a funeral. Kayleigh's funeral.. but that can't be true either. I remember going to breakfast with Cole at the diner, you went to check on P3.. Paige was working late until the evening. I remember Kayleigh from college and there's no way she could be suicidal, not with everything going so good for her. And yet, my dream showed otherwise. Later that night, we summoned her ghost and went to stop Tommy from killing Evan." She shook her head. "Please tell me I'm not going crazy.. I'm not even sure if I can't trust my own memories."
"You're not crazy." Piper said, supporting her sister. She wasn't sure about this, either. "It might have been just a dream. I really don't know, Phoebe. When Leo comes back, maybe he can go check with the Elders, maybe see if they know what's going on."
"Yeah, that would be good." Phoebe smiled. "I've been wanting to ask Cole about this, too.. I wonder if he's heard of this before. Where is Leo, anyway?"
Piper answrered, "Oh, you know. He has to go talk to one of his charges. Apparently, it's one of the potential whitelighters. He won't say who it is. probably that strict rule about revealing confidential info about others. Even though we're his charges, too.. but I understand that there are others who need his help, not just us."
"Yeah.. is he doing the handyman gig?" Phoebe chuckled.
Piper laughed. "Yeah. He's doing that. In flannel, as usual."
Just then, Cole walked in from one of the other rooms. "Handyman? I'm good with my hands. Right, Phoebe?"
"Yes, Cole.." Phoebe blushed slightly. "So, umm.. did you just get here?"
"Yeah." Cole nodded, coming over to sit by Phoebe. "I just heard something weird down below. It seems like something in the world has changed, something about time.. anyway, the warlocks and demons are in opposition over which of them did it, each side is accusing the other. That's nothing new, though. They've always been at each other's throats over something."
"Did what? What do you mean, what's changed?" Phoebe asked. "What's going on in the Underworld, Cole?"
Cole shrugged. "I don't know the details, but something is definitely going on. All they know is that it happened in the mortal world."
Phoebe said, "Oh, okay. Well.. I need to tell you something. I had these wierd dreams last night about what happened with us and some other people. It's strange."
"How strange?" Cole asked. "Tell me about it.. what happened, what did you dream about?"
"Well, umm.." Phoebe sighed, shaking her head. "Ok, I'll give you the short version. I had this premonition about two days' events, then saw the same stuff in my dream. In the real world.. I picked up my car quickly, had breakfast with you in the morning, Piper and Paige were at work. The dream is very different. In my dream, this kid Tommy gave me my car. Kayleigh and her boyfriend are in a college fraternity, but my premonition showed us at the girl's funeral. We called her ghost, then went to stop Tommy from getting revenge.. that was in my dream. But in my real life.. well.. I know the dream could not have happened. But it felt so real. Very real."
Piper agreed, "Yeah, that's just what she told me a few minutes ago. I know that Tommy couldn't have been at the auto shop. Not with his criminal record. And I think I'd know if we all went to a funeral together. If we did, I certainly don't remember it. All I remember is being at the club, preparing for the new band that's scheduled to be there in a few weeks."
Cole said, "You're right.. that does sound strange." He paused for a minute. "But that does seem a bit familiar. I think it's possible that you might be experiencing a past life, since you did that once before.. no, wait. Nevermind. You said it was in the present day. It's possible that someone found a way to change an event. I mean, you and your sisters changed history before, right?"
"The future, actually." Piper commented. "Phoebe was executed in the future.. I had a daughter there, too. We did go to the past, back to Melinda Warren's time, when she was a baby.. but we had no control over going to that era."
"I remember that," Cole said. That was a bad memory for him. It was a time when he was planning to kill the Charmed Ones. "But from all the fuss I was hearing below, someone does have control over the times. It's small, though, so it's hard for them to track exactly who is responsible for it. Nothing big like Kennedy's assassination or trying to un-invent medicine. It's something very small.. I think it could be a personal thing."
Phoebe smiled slightly. "See, I knew I wasn't going crazy! I mean.. I considered it. I was starting to wonder if I was losing my mind."
Cole put his arm around Phoebe's shoulder, consoling her. "Don't worry, Pheebs. If you start floating or seeing pink elephants, I'll be the first to question your state of mind. Ohh.. wait a minute, I forgot. You can float."
Phoebe laughed. "Thanks, Cole.. that really means a lot to me." She smiled. "Hey, I just thought of something. I might be able to prove that the dream wasn't real. Cole, would you like to go back to the college with me? I'd like to check up on a couple friends."
Cole stood up, then reached for Phoebe's hand, helping her up as well. "Of course. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat afterwards."
"Great." Phoebe started for the front doors. She had a little hunch that Kayleigh wasn't dead. If it turned out that she was alive, and that she and Evan were now married.. well, maybe that would prove that it really was just a dream..