A/N: Oh Goddess, this one is so short and you're all gonna kill me...

Change Happens

Chapter 10: Charmed One Minute Too Late

Paige! We have got to get out of here!

No! Not without Prue! Paige/Huldra placed her hands to her head. Her mind was swirling. She couldn't understand how Prue could die. Pandora and the baby currently in her womb, couldn't be raised without her. Not really, anyway. But she couldn't seem to make sense of the baby's premonition. What was she supposed to do? How could she save Prue?

"Answer me, insolent!"

"This!" Paige/Huldra roared, as she flung out her arm. A barrage of glowing blue lights engulfed the room and reformed in a long, orbing line directly towards The Source. The witchlighter struggled to stand to her full height, as she morphed back into her true form.

The Source slid across the floor with the weight of the boulders crashing into him, ending with the Demon King pinned against the rocky wall. He howled in anger and the room began to shake with telekinetic fury.

"Oh, oh!" Paige screamed, as rocks began to rumble from the ceiling. She quickly drove at the water dome, dissolving into orbs as she did so and taking Prue's dome with her. A fireball, hot from The Source's hand, cackled as it made it's way through her orbs.

That's my cue! And with that, the second youngest Charmed One was swept away in a rushing current of wind and water, leaving only a puddle and swirls of powdery rock in her wake.

----

"Auntie Paige!" Pandora squealed, just before the column of orbs deposited her aunt in the sunroom. She wriggled from her fathers arms and rushed towards the swirling bulbs of light, attaching herself to aunt's not quite materialized leg.

Andy stood up from the wicker chair, as the orbs cleared. His face blanched at the sight of his wife. She looks like she's sleeping.

"Hurry, Andy, get out of here!"

"You're not going anywhere!" A wave of orange-red sprouted from the floor, towering, then curving into the form of their black robed enemy. Clenched tightly withina flaky hand, was the same jeweled athame thatThe Source hadused for the Surrogation Ritual. Maliciously, the evil beingswung the athame towards the Inspector's back.

"Andy!"

The mortal felt the blade prick his skin, just as a cloud of hazy blue made him dissolve from the physical plain, barely missing his own impalement.

"You bastard!" The athame seemed to wiggle, and then fly from the cloaked figure's hands, before redirecting itself and embedding itself deep within the hidden cloak. Then the room began to rumble and its contents began to bounce around the floor.The cloakedbeingtook to the air, flinging backwards beforecrashing through one of the multi-colored glass windows.

Paige slowly turned around, to see her eldest sister with fury blazing in her cold blue eyes. "Prue."

"Mommy!" Pandora screeched, running into the arms of her dripping mother. "Mommy," she sobbed, "I missed you so much!" She wrapped her small arms tightly around Prue's wet neck and softly pawed at her dripping ebony hair.

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm not leaving again," the telekinetic promised. She turned slowly to Paige and knelt down, setting her eldest daughter on the ground. "Go with Aunt Paige. Mommy can take care of the bad guy."

"But Prue-"

"I'm fine," the eldest promised. "Besides, I've got Phoebe with me." She bobbed her head in the direction of a hydro ball which appeared to be bouncing itself across the room. "All I ask is that you look after my girls." She reached out slightly, holding her hand to Paige's swollen stomach.

Wordlessly, the youngest Charmed One looped her hand into her niece's and disappeared in a column of dancing lights, which traveled to the ceiling and disappeared.

Orbs culminated in the center of the room, swirling in a tornado-like fashion, until they materialized into Andy. He stood just where he'd been standing, before Paige had forced him into a holding orb. He looked around, confused at the fact that suddenly his wife was there, while his sister-in-law and child were not. "Prue?" He shook his head. "Oh my god, Prue!"

Prue, however, didn't respond. Her head had dropped soundlessly to her chest and it appeared as if she'd fallen asleep where she stood.

A human sized ruby flare appeared behind Andy, though. Astral Prue's arms were spread wide, blocking the path to her husband. "Leave us!" Her voice literally sent ripples of unaltered energy through the house, shaking its very foundations. The astral's dark blue eyes narrowed and the broken shards of colored glass began to levitate and whirl at a mind blowing speed, before impaling themselves into the black robed evil.

Phoebe swirled her clear palms together and a surge of high pressured water billowed from them. In an instant, it brought back the feeling of power that she'd experienced when she'd traveled to her past life, P. Russell, and released her power after Anton had tripled it. She mutely watched, as the cloaked figure seemed to wither under her and Prue's attacks.

"We've got tricks too."

Astral Prue gasped, her hands flying to her throat as she faded into red.

"Prue!" Phoebe spun, her clear eyes widening as The Source grabbed Prue's shoulder. She aimed to attack, but she was too late. Her eyes shifted back to the dark water soaked cloak, embedded with glass. She felt her heart tighten as she saw the clump of charcoal colored hair that was sticking out of it, and she knew that the warlock was dead. Mora had never stood a chance; no wonder their powers had been so effective.The bile in her throat rose, as she turned back to The Source and her sister.

The Source began to shake and small orange-red flames caught across the ebony of his cloak. Then his flaky yellow hand exploded, followed by a scream of anguish, before he too exploded into a swirling fury of particles and flexing flames. He was gone. The Source of All Evil was vanquished.

Unfortunately, however, the eldest of the Charmed sisters was also about to die. She'd fallen to her knees, her skin pale and clammy, with almost a lime green tinge. Her blue eyes were covered with a white glaze and beads of sweat were glistening from her forehead.

Andy could feel the salty tears brimming in his eyes. The world seemed to move in slow motion, as he wrapped his arms around his soul mate and gently brought her to the floor. His spell had worked its magic all too well. The Source had made physical contact with his wife, The Source had been vanquished, but not Prue would die because of the poison that raced through her skin. Gently, he traced his finger across her sweat soaked face and laced his other hand with her listless one. "Prue, I'm so sorry."

TO BE CONTINUED...