"Bane!" Piper scoffed in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding" Quickly she adverted her gaze to Leo who simply gave her a nod.
"I'm afraid not" the Elder clasped his hands together ready to offer an explanation. "Bane has been assigned to look after Declan. He is his whitelighter…or rather he will be once he finishes his proper training"
"Since when do harden criminals become whitelighters?" Until now whitelighters had been outstanding mortals and the pillars of goodness towards their community. Not petty con men like Bane Jessup.
"Since he risked his life trying to save you and your sisters. We've been watching him ever since." Bane's death had been no accident. When the Source had called upon Declan's future self, the Elder's had become desperate, foreseeing that the boy would become an orphan. "Bane and Declan were both caught in the struggle of good vs evil. Naturally given Bane's history with your family. We felt he would be the perfect match to look after the boy until he is ready to face his future destiny. We have also deemed it fitting for Declan to raised by a former demon, one who lives in your house in fact"
"COLE?" The Cole who was now parading around San Francisco as the new Casanova? What was the magical world coming too? Piper just pursed her lips and started shaking her head. Great, but you know what? I don't have time for this. I've still got one sister to find and another who seems to be in weeping coma"
"Prue" Bane whispered flicking his gaze to the unconscious witch who lay on the couch. Is she?" Bane started forward only to have his path blocked by Andy.
"She'll be fine," Protective of Prue Andy stuck out his chest, shielding her body from Bane as the crafty con tried to sidestep him in order to get a glimpse of Prue.
"Yeah well who are you?"
"Her husband" Andy retorted unable to stop the feeling of jealously from rising in his chest. He needed no explanation from Bane. He'd been there at day at Mariner's Cove watching over Prue just as he'd promised. Though he'd been dead at the time, it was still difficult to watch the woman he loved sleep with another man.
"Well, what's wrong with her?"
"We don't know," Leo answer rising up next to Andy. He could sense the jealous tension rising up from Andy's emotions and felt he needed to intervene. "But as a future white lighter your only concern should be for your charge"
Bane's eyes followed Leo's as they landed upon Declan.
"Leo is right" the Elder added, "Your purpose here has nothing to do with Prue"
"No it doesn't" Piper hissed, "Now can we all get back to the real task of healing her and finding Paige?"
"Of Course" the Elder nodded flicking his gaze to Bane. "Leo will oversee your training and help you protect the boy until you are ready," The spiritual being then ascended towards the heavens.
Leo immediately went back to trying to heal Prue, while Piper formulated a plan.
"Andy can I borrow Amanda?"
"Sure" Andy looked down at Amanda who was holding tightly to his leg. Like Leo she too has sensed her father's embroiled emotion towards Bane but couldn't comprehend the reason behind it. "What can I do?"
"Stay here and love Prue like only you can do" Piper had meant her words not only as encouragement but as a subtle hint to Bane that there was no place in their lives for his infatuation with Prue.
"Actually I think it would be best if Andy went to find Ava" Again Leo pulled his hands away from Prue. "I'm not sure that there is a magical fix here, Prue's symptoms seem more than human than demonic."
"Francis, did say something about a stroke" Andy returned before dissolving into a bright set of orbs.
"Did he say Francis?" As in Francishis sister? Bane pointed to the spot where Andy had been standing but his words fell on deaf ears.
"A stroke, a demon made Prue have a stroke?" Piper looked to her husband "Leo how is that possible?"
"I'm not sure" Leo frowned "other than the fact that the sorceress somehow managed to find a way to weaken Prue when she aged her" Unfortunately sometimes with age there came reprisals that even whitelighters could not heal.
"So what you're saying that what happened to Prue could be irreversible?" Piper shook her head, not able to handle the thought that somehow her big sister was no longer invincible. "Leo I want you to fix this, I need for you to fix this"
"I know" Leo whispered trying not to imagine the unconceivable thought of Piper losing another sister, especially one who had thought to be have been partially immortal.
"C'mon, Sweetie. Let's go find Aunt Paige" Piper lifted Amanda into her arms and carried her downstairs where they'd been sitting at the computer. Deftly, she set the child down in the chair and picked up a picture of Paige and Glenn that had been sitting on the end table near the sofa.
"Do you think you can show me how to find them?"
Uncertain, Amanda looked at the computer screen and then back to Piper. "You's needed a spell from the book"
"Do you know which one?" Piper asked hoping that the twenty-four smart spell was still in tact. Amanda nodded and reached for a pencil and paper before carefully scrawling the words in her best third grade penmanship.
"You got to me kidding me?" Piper laminated reading over the words as Amanda shook her head. "Who wrote this spell?"
"Aunt Phoebe" Amanda replied. "She saw this day in the future before she went to live with angels"
"Phoebe, of course. Well cover your ears, you don't need to here this" Piper replied distantly before reciting the words. Take me to Paige's past so that I can kick her enchanted ass!" White swirls, then engulfed the witch taking her to the Kingdom of Glendrous.
1930
Capone stood in a cave holding a mason jar filled with ashes, eagerly awaiting for the avatars to arrive. Capone had been instructed by the avatars to collect a sampling left behind from Piper's explosive blast and to contain it until the avatars could arrive.
"Do have her remains?" Natalie and another female avatar appeared.
"Right here, sweetheart" Capone handed the jar over to Natalie, "just as you instructed safe and sound"
"Good, you will be rewarded handsomely in your effort to make the present world neutral" Natalie looked to the other avatar, "I believe it is time that Francis was reunited with her brother don't you think?"
The other avatar smiled, "together she and Bane will be able to destroy what is left the so called eternal love that presently exist between the High Priestess and her angelic husband"
"Oh God, I hope she's not as pissed as last time" Piper stood behind a tree gazing at the dark stone castle. There wasn't a sole in sight. The drawbridge was closed, bolting the place up tight. Cautiously she looked to her left and then to her right before sprinting towards a large green brush and diving head first into it.
"Welcome to the Kingdom of Glendrous?" A voice greeted.
"Who said that?" Piper shifted her eyes cautiously as she tried to recover from the fall.
"I did!" without the warning the branches of the bush expanded wrapping it's vines around Piper's hands and legs until had completely engulfed her, like a Venus fly trap devours unsuspecting insects. A muffled scream was heard before the bush sank into the ground disappearing from sight.
Enchantress Paige walked into the bedroom, disrobing. "Come here, my Enchantress" Glendrous smiled as she made her way to the bed where he was propped up on a set of fluffy pillows, and covered with a sheet.
"Glendrous my you haven't changed a bit" Sensually she pulled on his shoulders and assumed a straddled position, splaying her hands over his muscular chest. Together again Paige and Glenn in their past lives living as king and queen thanks to Amanda's reuniting spell to find true love.
"What could be more perfect than this?" Paige whispered nibbling at his chin.
"Our child" Glendrous grabbed her hand and kissed it tenderly, " I want the child you promised me"
"Poo" Paige sighed deadpanning the moment. Slowly she slid from the bed and reached for another robe that was lying on the bedside chair. "Children are such droll little creatures not to mention spoiled. She would need grooming, a proper education and full-time nanny" They were suppose to have had a son, not a daughter;
"All of things, I can provide, not to mention wealth, power " Glendrous tossed the back the covers, meeting her on the edge of the bed. Gently he gripped her face using his fingers to walk her attention onto him. "I promise you, Paige the world is ours. You only need to do one thing"
"Give you a son?"
"Bring me together with my magical daughter," he whispered capturing her mouth so that he could pull her back to the bed. "And I will give you the world."
Piper landed with a hard thud on the stone floor of the castle dungeon still wrestling with the plant. The plant had now grown to a mammoth size with vines the size of a docking rope. Smashing her wrist to the floor, the plant embedded itself in the ground. Before the witch could react the plant had her spread eagle and bound.
"Let me go!" Piper growled flicking her hand at the middle of the vine.
The plant hissed striking out again as the explosion severed the end of its vine. Quickly it regenerated itself binding her wrist once more.
"Don't fight it. It will only make things worse"
"Drake?" Piper turned her head to see a shadow of the demon bound in the same manner that she was with one exception: The plant had literally embedded itself into his body devouring what as left of his physical form. Drake's normally healthy looking skin was now a sickly shade of green.
"What in the hell happened to you?" Piper tugged severely at the vine that was holding her wrist causing the plant to hiss. "I wasn't talkin' to you!" she bellowed.
"In nut shell?" he replied. "Paige or rather Enchantress Paige and her precious Glendrous"