For several moments, Leo stood over Andy letting the light illuminate from his hands into the wound. There was a great resistance, the whitelighter sensed, a resistance that was too strong for his angelic power to heal. "There's nothing I can do" Slowly Leo pulled his hands away, letting his healing light dissipate.
"What do you mean there is nothing you can do?" A sense of urgency took over Prue's voice that hit a cord with Leo. Although it was her sister speaking, the tone of Piper's voice was just as shrill and venomous springing from Prue's lips.
Leo looked over the top of Prue's head to Andy.
"Don't look at him, look at me" Prue demanded, "what is it that you aren't telling me?"
"I'm dying" Andy answered flatly. The poison from the arrowhead was already assaulting his system. From the moment he felt it's tip enter his body, a little piece of his spirit began to fade away. A thin layer of perspiration had formed on his brow signaling the onset of massive demonic infection.
"No, no you aren't" Prue said stubbornly, using Piper's mock tone, "For that to happen that would mean that the arrow came from-"
"Mandela" Leo supplied bleakly. Mandela, the demonic Tracer was the only being with the power to take out her immortal counterpart.
"Mandela?" Paige's nose crinkled, "how is that possible? We vanquished her sorry ass years ago"
"You did, the demon that struck Andy must have picked up a relic left behind after her vanquish" Leo paused for a moment as Prue knelt on the floor next to Andy and held her hand over his wound. "This is going to hurt a bit"
Andy swallowed back a nod giving his consent.
Slowly, Prue flexed her fingers pulling the arrowhead from his flesh and inch at a time until it connected with her palm. The first time she'd faced Mandela was when she was pregnant with Amanda. It had been shortly after she and Andy were married, angering the Elders. So much in fact that Natalie had arranged to have Andy's memory of Prue erased in hopes of ending their forbidden union.
Paige entered the living room holding a large first aid kit, "But how could anyone call upon a relic arrow, it's not like Tracers just leave their weapons laying around" They called upon them using their minds.
"It's possible, that Mandela conjured it and left it for her son. She probably knew that one day he'd have to face you or Andy sooner or later," Leo reasoned recalling the first time that the Charmed Ones had faced the demonic tracer.
"Or Amanda" Prue thought silently.
Two sets of rippled shimmers appeared across the room, depositing Cole, Declan and Drake near the French doors.
"Speaking of which, here's the prodigal son and his demonic Daddy now" Paige sat on the couch, opened the first kit and handed a large gauze pad to Prue.
"Bad day hunting demons?" Cole quipped letting his hands rest upon Declan's shoulders. The small boy looked up at his newly found father and smiled knowingly, "Can I go play with Amanda?"
"No! You cant! " Prue answered sharply earning the attention of all the eyes in the room. An awkward silence fell upon her as she looked at Andy noting a feverish tint to his eyes. The spirit of Declan's mother was responsible for this and if she could somehow reach out from beyond the grave to mortal wound Andy then it was quite possible that Amanda could be in danger too.
"I mean Amanda's still at school"
"But this is Saturday" Drake commented none the wiser.
"Yes, it's Saturday and Amanda's at Saturday school…you know how she always wants to be the best and the brightest"
"Saturday school?" Cole repeated slowly eyeing Drake. "Who in the hell is she kidding?"
"It's a long story," Leo muttered under his breath. "Look maybe it would be best if Declan wasn't here right now, Prue's a little on edge about the latest demon attack"
Cole rolled his eyes in an irate fashion before looking down at Declan, "hey buddy what you say me and you go to the ball park and take in a game. I'll buy you some fresh roasted peanuts and some popcorn"
"Okay" The little boy nodded solemn before Cole lifted him into his arms and shimmered out.
"Uh that was a little rude don't ya think? Amanda is right up stairs." Paige held a pair of medical scissors in her hands snipping medical tape at Prue's command.
"Yeah well, Declan is Mandela's son"
"So?"
"So can we just concentrate on finding a way to save Andy right now?"
"Sure" Paige's lips formed into a frown. The only known way to save Andy was to kill Mandela with one of her own arrows "Well can't we just summon, Mandela and vanquish her spirit? She did come back and take over his body when Prue was pregnant with Aleyia"
"Alyeia" Prue smiled inwardly. That seemed like so long ago, almost as if giving birth to Andy's child from another woman had never happened.
Flashback
Prue paced anxiously beside her bed until she saw Andy's eyelids begin to flutter revealing small slits of blue. Despite the fact that both Natalie and Leo had laid their healing hands upon him, Andy had yet to awake. Dealing with Mandela had left him drained once before as it had before and like before her vanquish had made his powers weak.
"Prue?"
"Hey I was beginning to believe that I was married to Rumplestiltskin " Prue edged to the side of the bed and dropped her hand into his short spiky hair. Tenderly she tried to kiss his slack lips, receiving an electrical burst of energy from Alyeia.
"Hey ow!" Prue pressed two fingers to her lips and looked down at her bulging stomach. "I thought we were on the same side here!"
"She and Austin saved my life" Andy replied with a tired expression.
"Mmm…didn't I have something to do with it too?" Prue grinned impishly before turning her face serious, "Andy, I am so sorry I had no idea until you used Austin to call out to me"
"It's okay, Mandela's gone now" Andy reached up cradling Prue's cheek with his palm. "The Source destroyed her"
"That's what Natalie said"
"Natalie?" Andy dropped his hand back down to his side. He didn't remember her being around nor did he remember calling for her.
"She's the one who brought you back from the underworld".
Andy shook his head, dismayed. "I can't remember a thing, the Source hit me with some sort of energy bolt. I was surprised he didn't kill you"
"He must want you to live for Alyeia so that you can guide her powers"
"Well now I can't very well do that if we're going to give her up to the Elders for dissection now can I?" Andy looked at her with a you've been caught in the act expression. He and Mandela had overheard Prue talking about it with her sisters while Mandela had been moving him about the house in their invisible form.
Prue turned her head and tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. "Ewe, yeah about that" she began sheepishly. "Andy you know that I would never want to hurt you"
"You could have at least told me about it before you went off and made plans!" Andy pushed himself up onto his elbows as Prue rose from the bed. "It's not like we're talking about a used car Prue, this is my child!"
"Don't you think I know that"? Prue choked whirling around to reveal that her eyes were fill with tears. "This child is now growing inside of me and it isn't even mine! Don't you see, I feel her every moment, her every emotion, her hatred towards me! It is strong Andy that sometimes she won't even let me near Ally or Amanda" For some reason Austin seemed to be the exception. Tears started to dribble down her cheeks as Andy tossed back the covers and pulled himself from the bed.
"Oh Prue" Naturally he gathered her into his arms, dropping a kiss on her forehead. He let her cry for a few minutes and then gently cupped her face into his hands. "And you have to know that I would give anything for you not to have go through this but everything happens for a reason and Alyeia is an innocent" Like Melinda said, Prue was meant to bare the children of the mortal tracer. Andy released her face and pointed a finger into her chest. "An innocent you have to protect" He knew that although their intentions would be good. "The Elders can't offer Ayleia any more protection from the Source than we can. All the Elders can do would be to bind her powers and mask her identity. They would then give her to some unsuspecting chosen moral couple to raise as their own." This if they didn't vanquish her first.
"Would that be so bad?" Prue challenged mentally. It had all worked out fine for Paige in the long run so why not Ayleia too? "You love her don't you?"
"Of course, I do Prue she's my daughter!" It was his job to protect her. "We can make her good, Prue. I know we can but I need you on my side"
At the moment, that was all Prue needed to hear to know that they were going to fight for Alyeia. Sighing, Prue pushed a hand through hair and held in place for moment. "I'm always on your side, Andy. I just need to take this one day at a time". Prue then pressed to her tiptoes, kissing his cheek and headed for the door.
"Prue, I love you"
"One more time" Phoebe coaxed, with Paige cheering the oldest of the Charmed ones on encouragingly.
"You can do it Prue!"
Refusing to scream or even make a sound, Prue arched her back and pushed again, holding her breath.
"Breathe, Prue, you have to breathe" Andy reminded just as a swirl of black and blue magical flurries came floating up from the end of the table, followed by a shrill infant cry.
Phoebe carefully wrapped the baby in a blanket and popped up from the end of the table.
"Ayleia Hallie Trudeau is here"
"Hallie?" Piper's head jerked back in her best imitation of Paige.
"Hallie for Halliwell" Phoebe grinned handing the baby to Andy. "Meet your new daughter"
Leo shook his head, Mandela was vanquished by the Source. Bringing her back to physical form would require more than the power of three.
"All right then so what do we do?"
Realm of the Avatars
Gideon stood in the center of the room before a large smoldering cauldron with black steam seeping over the sides. Reaching into his cloak, Gideon pulled out a vial filled with purple liquid and tossed into the cauldron, causing flames to rise up in the shape of a woman's face; Mandela.
The flames flickered until an evil smile spread across the face, "I can feel the soul of the immortal tracer slipping away".
"That you do, the last remaining arrow has been fired" Gideon nodded, "The threat of the Tracer harming your son is no more"
"But his daughter still lives?" the flames hissed. In the spirit realm Mandela had learned of the prophecy where her son was to sire a child with the oldest Angelic one.
"She is merely a child and without her father to guide her powers she will not be a threat"
"But she is angelic and of Charmed decent" the flames grew higher signaling displeasure in Mandela's voice. How can you be certain that the demise of her father will put an end to the prophecy?"
"Because the demise of her father will also mean the end of her mother" Gideon sneered waving his hand to extinguish the flame.
"How can you be so certain that death of the immortal Tracer will also be the end of Prue?"
Gideon whirled about to see the Seer standing behind him with Ayleia at her side. Smiling he moved toward the clairvoyant and placed his hand his hand on Alyeia's head. "Because in order for Prue to save her beloved she will the power of your dark angel and the Source will never let her have it! She and her sisters will die trying!"
"Do not underestimate the power of the Halliwells" the Seer warned before shimmering into the darkness.
Gideon stared at the spot the See'r had vacated, "I may underestimate the power of the Halliwells but not of that of a broken heart" Perhaps he could not prevent the Charmed Ones from taking Alyeia's power and having the dark child cross over to the angelic side, but he could thwart their efforts to ensure that they did not receive the power in time to save the immortal Tracer, leaving Prue Halliwell forever heartbroken.
"You may not be around to see it Natalie" he sneered gazing at the pile of his deceased lover, "But I promise you that forbidden union will be destroyed once and for all."