A/N: VampirePrincess. oh i see. hehe im glad that you're still liking my story :) what did you think of Chapter 20? hope you enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed writing it :)

here's Chapter 21 for everyone!

Chapter 21

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige all sat facing one other in a circle, eyes searching the entire room for Regina. A blanket of silence eerily covered the entire room, save for the dull crackling of the leaping flames.

Suddenly, the sound of applause echoed throughout the entire room, seemingly coming from all sides. "Couldn't have said it better myself. And to think that I'm supposed to be the Head of the History Department," Regina's voice boomed from out of nowhere, followed by a high-pitched laugh.

In that same exact moment, before either Piper or Phoebe could react, Paige saw a fireball flying directly towards Phoebe. "No! Behind you!" As if everything were happening in slow motion, Paige leapt, ignoring the pain that shot through her entire body, and pushed Phoebe out of the way. She herself ducked just in time to dodge the fireball. She felt the heat of the burning ball of energy as it flew past her and her sisters, hitting a marble pillar and leaving a trail of black smoke.

"Meddling witches!" Regina screamed as her body materialized, appearing in a swirl of dull gray light. Gathering her strength, she summoned another fireball and sent it flying, aimed at Paige.

"Fireball!" Paige felt adrenaline pumping through her, giving her a temporary power boost. She saw the fireball turn into hundreds of tiny white and blue orbs and, gesturing with her right hand, sent the fireball back to its sender.

Regina leapt, and to Paige's surprise, levitated out of the way of the deflected fireball. "The hell?" She can't do that! That's not one of her powers! Before she could take one step forward, Paige felt Phoebe's hand on her shoulder.

"Great, she's in my element now," Phoebe said, gathering herself, and prepared to levitate herself. She was about to jump, when Paige stopped her.

"No, stay back. This is my fight. This bitch has been after me for as long as I can," she paused, orbing out of the way of an incoming fireball; and orbing back as soon as she had gone, returning in a swirl of white and blue orbs, "remember."

"All right. Be careful." Nodding, Phoebe backed down and somersaulted to her left, dodging yet another fireball. It flew past her harmlessly, but before it could hit anything, Paige called out for it.

"Fireball," she reached with her left hand, summoning the fireball, and sent it back to Regina, using it as a distraction. Gotcha, Paige smiled when Regina did an aerial back flip to dodge it. Then, simultaneously, with her right hand, she called for Arachne's Rope, turning the rope into a mass of orbs, and gestured again with her hands. Within moments, Arachne's Rope materialized around Regina's neck.

"No!" Regina screamed as she felt the rope tighten around her neck. She thrashed her arms wildly, as the rope neutralized her powers, and began to fall. A high-pitched scream once again filled the room, as she crashed to the ground with a loud thud. "No!" She began to claw at her neck violently, desperately trying to free herself and her powers. "NO!"

"How does it feel to be on the receiving end, Regina?" Paige asked, her voice harsh and critical. She couldn't control her anger any longer, the tension and anxiety of the previous days- of running, of always looking behind her back, of always being on guard- bubbled up to the surface. "How does it feel to be powerless and bound like that?"

"You!" Regina screamed. "You!" She stood up and, grabbing one of the nearby candleholders, rushed towards Paige in uncontrolled rage. "You've ruined everything!"

Alarmed, Piper poised her hands to freeze Regina; but, before she could freeze her, Paige held out a hand. "No. Please, Piper, this is my fight."

Focusing her attention on Regina, she instinctively sidestepped to her left as Regina neared her, catching the incoming professor off-guard. Then, as swiftly as she had moved, she brought her hand down on Regina's back, hard, knocking her off balance. She automatically assumed a defensive stance, preparing herself for whatever trick Regina had up her sleeve.

Regina lost her balance, and stumbled. Growling incoherently, she quickly rolled away and was soon up on her feet once again. "First blood goes to you, Paige." She glared at her, her blue eyes glinting like icy steel, and grabbed the candleholder once again. Muttering under her breath, Regina threw the huge brass candleholder at Paige, using it as a projectile. As it sailed through the air toward the youngest Charmed One, she hastily removed her long black robe; and, when Paige ducked to get out of harm's way, Regina hurled her robe across the room, using it as a net.

Startled, Paige gave a muffled cry as Regina's robe caught her. No matter how she struggled to get free, the robe clung to her like glue; and, the more she struggled, the tighter its hold got. Argh, Paige thought, Must be spelled, too,as she squirmed about.

"You might have bound my powers, Paige," Regina hissed triumphantly, "But I am far from helpless; I still have more magic than you could ever imagine. They have blessed me."

"They?" Phoebe asked. "Who's 'they'?"

Regina turned to the two Charmed Ones and laughed at Phoebe's confusion, "You meddling fools have no idea who you're up against." With that, she reached down into her waistband, and hurled a dagger straight at Phoebe and Piper.

"Woah," Piper exclaimed as she thrust her hands out, freezing the dagger.

Time to end this, Paige thought, as a plan formed in her mind. Closing her eyes, she focused all her magic and willed her body to disappear into the familiar white and blue orbs, orbing out of the makeshift net. As the robe sagged into the ground, Paige orbed behind Regina, and outstretched her hand, calling for, "Arachne's Rope!" She summoned the rope, and confident that it was in her telekinetic grip, lifted her other hand, and pointed it at Regina. "Hands!"

At that exact instant, Regina howled in pain. Her hands had been bound telekinetically behind her with the rope. "NO!" She bellowed, a blood-curdling scream erupting from her.

Phoebe and Piper both covered their ears with their hands, but Paige walked directly in front of Regina and leveled her gaze with the bound warlock. Without taking her eyes off Regina, she outstretched her hand once more, and summoned another strand of Arachne's Rope, gesturing at Regina's mouth. Soon, a small piece of the rope appeared and wound itself around her mouth, causing her to stop screaming. Glaring, Paige balled her hand into a fist, and punched Regina in the nose, "I should have done that months ago."

Blood dripped down Regina's nose. "That was for threatening my life."

Phoebe was both surprised and impressed by Paige's outburst. "Nice one, Paige," she said as she took Piper's hand and led her to their youngest sister's side.

"Yeah, you actually beat me to it," Piper looked at Regina, her eyes filled with scorn and anger. Then, without hesitating, she balled her hand as well, and struck Regina in the stomach. "That was for kidnapping and hurting my sister and my husband." She felt her anger slowly draining away as Regina doubled over in pain.

Finally, Phoebe grabbed a handful of Regina's hair, and yanked her head upwards, so that she was face-to-face with Phoebe. Before Regina could focus, Phoebe's hands swiftly came up, slapping Regina's face with the force of a metal bar. "And that, that was for sending that Whitelighter-wanna-be from hell, and ruining our lives."

"Whiteligher-wanna-be?" Paige said, looking at her sister, "You mean, Melissa?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, she's the one who sent Melissa to the Manor, right? I saw it in my vision."

"No," Paige said, making Phoebe's and Piper's brows knit in confusion, "She and Melissa are actually one and the same. She's a shape-shifter, combine that power with this," she paused as she held the Amulet of Immodore, "she was able to send in those clones of Melissa to the Manor. She used her connection as a professor here in Magic School to make sure that her clone would get assigned as your new Whitelighter, to keep tabs on you while she schemed to get me out of the way."

"That's right," Regina said with a sneer, her lips red with her blood. "Took you long enough to figure it out."

Slap!

Paige's hand flew forward and hit Regina once mores.

"What did she want from you, Paige?" Piper asked, her hands gingerly stroking the small of Paige's back.

"Magic School," Paige said. "She wanted to get rid of me, so that she could take over."

"They promised me power- power beyond your wildest dreams. Don't think that this rope could bind me for so long, Paige. This school will be mine, and there is nothing you can do to stop me," Regina spat.

Paige closed her eyes and willed her tensed muscles to uncoil. "You want Magic School, Regina? You want it so badly?" Paige asked in a low, steady voice, opening her eyes and staring straight into Regina's eyes. "It's yours."

"What?" Phoebe and Piper asked in unison, disbelief and shock making their voice shrill.

Before any one of them could say or do anything else, Piper froze the entire room. "What? Paige! You can't be serious! We can't give Magic School to this… this warlock!"

A small smile tugged at the corners of Paige's mouth. "Relax, Piper, I've got a plan." She took both of her sisters' hands in hers, and led them to the middle of the room, and filled them in on what she had in mind.