Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed (or there would be no talk of a reboot whatsoever)
Timeless Mistakes
Piper sat at the coffee table, a pot of coffee sitting beside her as she savoured the sight of the detritus from the night before, sunlight streaming into the window. It had to be one of the best nights of her life, the entire family together, enjoying themselves, laughing, just being a normal family, all of them reunited. There was only one small fly in the ointment last night, she hadn't been able to drink like everyone else, but she figured since she was carrying the person who had put all this in motion, she could live with that.
Especially now everyone else was waking up with hangovers and she was fresh as a daisy.
"Good morning sunshine!" Piper cooed happily as Phoebe stumbled into the kitchen, one hand supporting her as she walked, the other covering her eyes from the sunshine streaming through the window.
"Shh…too much noise." Phoebe groaned, sitting down at the table and resting her head on her arms, Piper grinning as she did so.
"Come on sis, last night was a great night!" Piper called in as a perky and loud voice as she could muster.
Chris then entered, and deciding torturing her sister could wait a little, she smiled at her son, who groaned and gave a haphazard flick towards the window, the blind slamming down and stopping the sunshine a little.
"Knew you were my favourite nephew." Phoebe moaned into the table, as Piper laughed.
"Morning peanut." She cooed in a chipper voice and he groaned.
"You know, the only reason I'm not vanquishing you is because it'll take me out too." He snarled and she sniggered in amusement.
There was then more ambling from the living room as Paige entered, supporting Prue, who looked like death again.
"You know, I felt better when Shax killed me." She complained, and Paige gently eased her into a chair at the table before flopping down beside her, leaning her head on her shoulder.
"Aww come on last night was great!" Piper exclaimed loudly, making her sisters and son flinch loudly, and then her sisters flinched all the more because Chris started banging around with a large potion pot.
"Sure. This morning…not so much." Paige whimpered, and Prue patted her head weakly as Piper passed her a coffee.
"Leo!" Piper called merrily, and Prue hissed in pained fury.
"You bitch." She ground out, her green eyes glinting through narrow slits, and Piper sent her a winning smile, thoroughly enjoying herself.
Leo then orbed, and all three sisters exclaimed in pain as the orbs blinded them, all of them raising their hands in protest as Leo appeared looking like death warmed up.
"Hey honey!" Piper chirped, and he glared at her weakly before sinking into the last chair.
"You know, struggling to remember why I married you right now." He told her, and she laughed as Chris started cooking something, unheeded by the other drunks at the table and his sadistic mother.
To their surprise the laundry room door then opened behind them, and Piper turned around in a panic, hand raising to blast the intruder, but was surprised to see it was Grams, lying on the floor, clothes and hair dishevelled, and looking particularly grim and nauseous.
"Grams? Why are you in the laundry room?" Piper asked in confusion, and Grams fixed her with a pitying glance.
"I often found when you were kids when I woke up in strange places in the house that it was better to just got with it. Now excuse me, I'm going back to dying with indignity." She shuddered and shut the door, leaving Piper looking at the door, completely perplexed.
"Wait, how does a ghost even get drunk?" she mused, but her sisters weren't up for such philosophical discussions, in fact Prue looked to be considering drowning herself in her coffee cup which was now empty.
"One of the great mysteries that permeate the universe darling." Patty moaned as she entered from her position beneath the dining room table, as there was a small bang as Chris added something to the pot.
"But you shouldn't even eat or drink, I mean…Chris I don't know if I should be impressed or alarmed that your reaction when hungover is to brew a potion, you might blow up the house." Piper chided, as a smell of frying eggs reached the other side of the room, and her sisters, husband and mother promptly groaned, the very smell making them nauseous.
But Piper however was more concerned with her son, who then took the dropper to the pot, and dropped a vialful of bright, cheery yellow potion into a vial, which he then downed. He then grinned.
"That's better!" he said cheerfully, filling another vial and happily trotted out of the kitchen, leaving the others to look at his retreating back in confusion until the penny dropped.
"Wait, did he just-" Paige asked in disbelief, and Phoebe nodded, looking suspicious.
"Cure his hangover with a potion?" she finished, and with a surge, the three hungover sisters, Leo, Patty and a resurgent Grams all blazed across the room, determined to get their hands on the nectar.
"Wait, even if that is a hangover cure potion, drinking it is personal gain." Piper objected, and Leo shook his head, massaging his temples.
"Trust me, I'm an Elder, it isn't, it's for the greater good." He assured her, and Piper harrumphed as she got to her feet and headed through to see her father up and looking perky from where he had passed out in the conservatory, Chris leaning against the doorframe with a grin on his face.
"Spoilsport. How did you make that?" she demanded of him, and he shrugged.
"Well, when the world started going to hell, I tended to drink a lot…mom can you blame me?" he demanded, seeing the angry expression on her face, and she did retract her fangs, his world was rather messed up after all, "so I needed something to fix myself when I tried to drink myself into oblivion. Don't worry, I didn't make much, they'll have to fight over it." He assured her, and she grinned, quickly scuttling back through to observe the developing fight over the magic hangover cure.
XX
"I don't see how people who are dead need a hangover cure more than the living!" Phoebe wailed, her head between her knees, the smell of cooking bacon having made her even more queasy than before as Grams and Patty smiled.
"Well dear we can't go up there while drunk, how would that look? And besides, we can't go up there drunk, we could crash into anything, planes, UFOs, other spirits, whitelighters, all of which could cause all sorts of problems." Grams told her as she sipped a strong cup of coffee while Patty clinked her cup against her mother's in victory.
"And I can't believe my own sisters shafted me over Paige!" Phoebe wailed, and Paige and Prue, sitting on either side of her, patted her head affectionately.
"Aww don't take it personally honey." Paige soothed, and Phoebe peeked up at Prue weakly, looking at her with pleading puppy dog eyes.
"You've known me all your life, you only technically met Paige yesterday." She protested, and Prue raised an eyebrow, grinning.
"Um, I've known you all your life, not mine." She pointed out, and Phoebe muttered for Prue to do something under her breath, which Grams reached across and skelped her across the head for saying, which made her yelp in pain.
"I'm hungover ok, I'm not perfect!" she protested, and Prue rubbed her back soothingly.
"Think of it as your penance honey." She told her sister sweetly, and Phoebe, impressively, managed to sit upright, and looked at her sister, totally at a loss.
"Penance? For what?" she demanded, and Prue grinned.
"Um, marrying Cole, you know, Belthazor, Source of All Evil, you know that guy." She told her, and Phoebe's jaw opened in disbelief, as she spluttered in indignation.
"Go sis!" Paige cheered, giving Prue a high five and Phoebe let out a whimper.
"Really?" she complained, and Prue nodded, grinning cheerfully.
"Hell yeah, I was dead at the time, I missed all that fun, but now I'm back I'm going to make you repent." She told her sweetly, and Phoebe groaned and put her head back between her knees.
Piper smirked and she clapped her hands loudly as she decided it was time to take control of the situation (she also didn't like the mischievous looks her oldest and youngest sister were giving each other, so she felt that it might be wise to head that off at the pass before it got too fun and she was forced to join in to torture Phoebe).
"Alright people, we need to make plans now that the fun is over. While we're all thrilled that Prue is back for good," she said, and Patty reached across and stroked Prue's hair lovingly, while Victor and Grams offered a smattering of applause, "there is still the fact that there is someone out there who is determined to screw up my kid, which screws the planet, the future, and my other kid. So this is the plan." She said, and Prue looked at her in slight disbelief, and Chris exchanged a musing glance with his dad, it would be fun to see who would win the fight to be head witch of the coven now Prue was back, but not noticing, Piper powered on through.
"Right, first of all, Phoebe is going to babysit." Piper said and Phoebe groaned, and Prue leaned back, sipping her coffee in triumph.
"If this is her sort of plan, we don't have a problem." She said, and Piper shot her a bemused look but pushed on ahead.
"My head's killing me, why do I need to babysit?" Phoebe whined, and Piper sent her a winning smile.
"Because if not you're going to be hitting the book with Chris, and I'm fairly sure he's not going to be a lenient task master." She said proudly, and Phoebe groaned while Chris sniggered in the corner.
"Fine, I'll take your evil spawn." Phoebe grumbled, and the others all smiled, before Piper turned to Victor.
"Dad, I need you to nip to the shops for me, I've written you a list, one of the items is very important in regards to letting Prue move around again, so make sure you get that. Chris is going to stay and hit the book with me and if need be we will go back to the beginning of the book and flick through it till we find a possible culprit. Paige, you are going to call Darryl and bring him over, we're going to need his help in getting Prue out of being dead, we need help to think of something. Prue, you and Paige are then going to spend the day together for some quality time, but you'll need to wait for dad to come back with the shopping first, so you can clean this place up. And Leo, you are going to go up there and you are going to see exactly how much the Elders know about the change in the timeline. Questions? No? Let's go people!" she commanded, and the entire group dispersed with their new orders.
XX
Neena swore as she emerged from the portal, muttering under her breath as she leaned against a wall in the underworld, pouring liquid mud out of her shoes.
"Perfect…these were my best shoes!" she hissed as the roar of that wretched creature echoed behind her in the portal as it closed.
She had known changing the timeline would have consequences, and that by so doing, she would have a profound impact upon history as she knew it. What she hadn't counted on however was the massive beast that was now pursuing her relentlessly, determined to avenge the damage she had done to the timeline with her little bit of…editing.
It was hardly fair, Chris was trying to change the timeline and he wasn't being chased by a massive, ageless lethal beasty. Mind you, even the monster pursuing her probably figured it wasn't worth the effort of incurring the wrath of Chris' highly overprotective and defensive mother.
The problem was, she was stuck on the run from this creature, and she didn't even know what time she was in, let alone where she was. This monster, and it's masters, were never going to forgive her actions easily, she'd known that, but the thing was relentless, and she needed to get to what would be the sisters' new present so she could alert them and Chris as to what she had done to try and protect the future, and also to warn them of the future that would rise even if Wyatt was defeated in the future.
The death of magic, the death of love, the death of life.
The forces of the Twilight Legion could not be allowed to rise, and she was beginning to believe that even if they stopped the threat that was after Wyatt, she didn't know, but she just couldn't shake the feeling that Pratt would find a way to rise to power anyway and still manage to doom the planet.
The portal seared open behind her again, and she cursed in annoyance, this damn thing wasn't giving her a chance to stop and think. Creating a portal she leapt through it, just as the glowing crimson eyes of her pursuer reared into view as the portal slammed shut behind her.
XX
"Andras?" Piper asked, and Chris shook his head, as he read the book over her shoulder, while there was a loud crash and torrent of swearing from downstairs as Prue 'accidentally' dropped the tray she was carrying, the clanging making Phoebe's hangover worse.
"You vanquished him years ago, besides his affects can be reversed, whoever does it is subtle." He explained, then grinned as he looked at the small bottle sitting on the table opposite them.
"Um, when are you going to tell Phoebe I did make her a hangover cure and you kept it from her to prolong her torture?" he asked innocently, and she grinned.
"Much later, serves her right, making fun of the fact that I couldn't drink last night. The Seer? She was subtle, too subtle for her own good really." She mused, and he shook his head in annoyance.
"Can't be, she wasn't even Wyatt's foremost demon in the future, I reckon anyone who did have a hand in Wyatt becoming the Source would at least be one of his top advisers wouldn't you?" he asked, and she had to admit the kid had a point.
"Huh…alright I'm stumped but if like you say all this goes down before you're born, we're kind of running out of time to find the big bad, and it's seriously ticking me off." She snapped as Leo materialised before her, looking hesitant, after all, frustration combined with pregnancy didn't make for a happy Piper.
"Well?" Chris asked, and he shot a dirty look upstairs before continuing.
"Well they aren't happy, aren't happy at all." He told them, and both mother and son indulged in a smug, self-satisfied smile.
"Good, I'm never happy with them, now they know how I feel. What do they know, if anything?" Piper asked, stroking Chris' hair proudly, she was so proud that she'd raised someone who loved sticking the finger to the Elders as much as her.
"They know that they want you all to appear before the Tribunal, but I told them there wasn't a cat in hell's chance of that. But they can't tell just how much has changed, the change is still too new. Their main concern though is balancing out you four." He told Piper, who raised an eyebrow at him threateningly.
"Meaning what exactly?" she asked, and he patted the air to calm her down before she built up any steam.
"Nothing like that. The original prophecy, the one for you, Prue and Phoebe still exists, all three of you inheriting one of Melinda Warren's three powers. When Prue died and we found Paige, Prue's third of the prophecy transferred to her, so the power she had technically became hers."
"The thing is, Paige would be able to do what she can do anyway, it's part of the reason the second incarnation, now don't fly off the handle, isn't as powerful as the first, technically Paige only inherited Prue's share of the Power of Three, not the power that went along with it." Chris continued, and she sent a perplexed look at her husband and son.
"So, what, Paige isn't one of us?" she asked in disbelief, there was no way she was abandoning her baby sister, and Chris shook his head.
"No, not like that. Paige became part of the Power of Three, that part was fine, it was the active power part that didn't work because she would be able to do what Prue could do anyway, just differently because of her whitelighter side. So what they're wondering now is, now that you're the Power of Four, what will Paige's main power be, in order to fully create the new power." He told her, and Leo nodded in agreement.
"See their working theory is that now the timeline's been changed, Paige will discover a power that Melinda Warren either had in this new timeline or would have had had she not died when she did, the thing that worries the Elders is that they don't know what power Paige could inherit." He explained, and Piper grinned a little.
"Wait, so Paige will get a new power? Oh Phoebe's going to be pissed." She chuckled, and the other two laughed, before Leo went back to his serious face again.
"You guys also need to watch it, you and Prue in particular." He told her, and she cocked her head in incomprehension.
"Me, why me?" she demanded, and Chris looked at his dad before going ahead.
"When Prue died, you were the one that was most affected except for Paige. Phoebe's power stayed the same much throughout all of it, her premonitions, her levitation and now her empathy. But your blasting power was there to compensate for the fact that you lost Prue's more powerful brand of telekinesis and her astral projection, and the fact that she was the oldest, so she was the strongest. Now you and Prue are together again, and Paige is going to develop a new power regardless, so until the magic between the four of you balances out, you and Prue in particular are going to need to watch you don't get too overzealous as there's no telling exactly how powerful the two of you will be now." He told her and she heaved a sigh of annoyance, trust Phoebe to be the only one who wouldn't be affected.
"Fine, I'll be careful. Alright you, you can help me and the kid try and figure out who's behind all this." She told him, and Leo assumed his position on Piper's other side just as the door rang.
XX
"Tell whoever that is that they're evil!" Phoebe yelled from where she was lying on the couch with a pillow over her face while Wyatt played with his building blocks, making Prue grin as she opened the door.
"Darryl, hi!" she cried in delight and his jaw dropped open as he looked at her in disbelief as she wrapped him in a hug, which he eventually remembered to respond to and hugged her fiercely in return.
"Prue, I-I don't believe it, you look good for a dead lady. I thought the girls couldn't summon you?" he asked as Paige entered from the bathroom, wearing a fetching pair of pink rubber gloves and she smiled.
"We can't, she's not just back for the day, she's back for good." She explained as Prue closed the door and led Darryl into the living room, and he looked at Phoebe lying prone on the couch.
"Did a demon get her?" he asked, and Prue grinned.
"No, the drink got her. How you doing sis?" she yelled loudly, and Phoebe swore into the pillow while giving her eldest sister the finger, making the others laugh.
Darryl then looked in disbelief as Prue sat down in the chair and made herself right at home, grinning as she did so, and he looked at her, hardly daring to believe that it was his dead friend who was sitting across from him.
"But, how?" he asked, and she smiled.
"Well that's a long story. Cliff notes version is, the First Witch went back in time to alter the past to make it so that Melinda Warren would foresee all four of us instead of three, and create the Power of Four as opposed to three. So she did her bit, and voila, I'm back, and back for good. Only thing is, because of how it was done, the world won't magically fix itself, so I need to remain officially legally dead which means I can't do anything for the moment. So, while I hope you're delighted to see me, I also kind of need your help." She explained as Paige joined them, sitting down at Phoebe's legs, lifting them up so she could sit down, ignoring Phoebe's groan as she did so.
Darryl sat there flabbergasted for a second then let out a small bark of laughter, shaking his head incredulously.
"You know, all the stuff I've seen, heard about, since meeting you guys, and now, time travelling to save you and make it so that all four of you can be together…well regardless, it's good to have you back Prue. But the sort of help you need, it's way beyond my pay grade, that's like FBI or NSA level stuff, not a normal cop. And besides on top of that I've got two new cops starting this week, a temporary partner who's on secondment and a new hardass by the looks of her, I can't even begin…hey, speaking of partners?" he asked hopefully, and Prue nodded reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Andy's fine, he dealt with being dead way better than I did. He watches over you and your family too." She told him kindly, and Darryl looked up with a smile before turning his attention back to the eldest Halliwell sister.
"So you're back, and back for good. That's good. Thing is, you've been dead for the last three years, which isn't quite so good. We need to think of a way to bring you back from the dead which isn't going to be easy, we need something that would justify you vanishing for three years, that's the issue. Like I said Prue, I mean I'm good, but even I can't make that happen." He told her gravely, and Paige cast him a forlorn look.
"So we can't do anything?" she asked sadly, and he shook his head, though he was chewing his lip in thought as he did so.
"I was just hoping you had some ideas, or even an inkling, I'm not like the drunk on the couch, I like to go and do stuff. I did wonder if we could just create an identity for me, but I don't think that would work, not long term." She mused, and Darryl gave a half hearted nod, and Phoebe peeked out from under her pillow, glaring at Prue first before turning her attention to Darryl.
"Do you have an inkling?" she asked hopefully, and Darryl slowly nodded.
"Maybe. This new inspector, Sheridan her name is, she has experience in dealing with organised crime. Now the Mercer family is the biggest bunch of crime lords in the city, have been since…"
"Since Bane went down for helping Litvack and Barbas try to kill us." Phoebe supplied, and Darryl nodded, and Paige looked at her two older sisters on confusion.
"Bane? The big dude from Batman was here?" she asked, sounding shocked and also slightly hopeful.
Prue fixed her with a pitying smile.
"No," she told her (agreeing whole heartedly that Paige babysitting Chris was a bad idea, no wonder the kid became such a little nerd in the future) "Bane Jessup, he was a crime boss. He helped us, and he was, well, rather hot." She admitted wistfully, and Paige's expression changed to one of delight before Darryl got his plan back on track.
"See the thing is, Sheridan wants to bust Mercer. I do too, but with your help, we might actually be able to make it happen. The thing is, a lot of people heard about your death, it'll be a stretch to sell it as an elaborate cover up, especially when Dr Griffiths died at the same time." He pondered, but Prue, her eyes sparking with excitement, shook her head.
"No, we make it after that. We say you saved my life while Griffiths died and you hid me, even from my sisters, until we had a way to expose them for what they are. Now, I want to come in from the cold, and if I bring you what you need to bust Mercer…"
"Then everyone will be so busy taking down his organisation that no one will notice that you come back from the dead. We get him, I can persuade my captain after the fact that I covered up your death in order to bring the Mercer family down, and even if it takes a little help from you guys, which I'm not thrilled about,"
"The spell to stretch the imagination should do the trick." Paige supplied.
"Then we might just get away with it, bring down a powerful crime boss and get Prue her life back." He concluded and Prue leapt at him, wrapping him in a hug.
"You're amazing. You really think we can do this?" she asked, and he nodded, hesitantly.
"We have a chance, it's a longshot but it is a chance. I'll be back, don't worry. It's great to have you back Prue." He told her, wrapping her in a last fond hug before getting to his feet and leaving, just as Victor entered, dropping shopping bags at the door as he went back out for more.
"This could actually work." Prue muttered in faint excitement, and Phoebe smiled and shook her head.
"Prue, you just came back from the dead, it's a big adjustment, don't be in such a hurry. We'll have you back working again in no time. Wish we could say the same about me." She groaned, and her two sisters laughed as she covered her face with her pillow again.
"Honey I'm home! And I have the hair dye you wanted Piper, how does this help Prue?" Victor called, and Victor showed the three sisters in the living room the box, and with a flash, Prue understood.
XX
"Your kind isn't welcome down here Elder." A voice said and Gideon turned in slight alarm (not that the demon had snuck up on him) to see Barbas lounging in a chair, looking supremely bored with the intrusion.
"Barbas yes?" Gideon asked he asked, and the demon narrowed his eyes, waving his hand through the air, his eyes widening in malicious pleasure.
"Ah, so it all comes out, you're the one after the Charmed Ones baby." He purred, and Gideon scowled, he should have guarded himself better but obviously he had no way of knowing just how powerful Barbas truly was.
"Keep your voice down, the sister's youngest brat is always down here sniffing around." He hissed, and Barbas smiled, clearly enjoying Gideon's discomfort.
"And just why is someone like you visiting such lowly peasants as us?" Barbas asked, and Gideon frowned as he paced closer towards the demon, an unpleasant feeling in his stomach.
"I am in need of your help Barbas. I trust by now you know what has happened?" he asked, and Barbas' gaze did flicker with a surge of hatred as the particular incident crossed his mind.
"Yes, we're all aware that all four sisters are now together and one big happy family again. It's why the demons are so few hereabouts, they're all fleeing deeper into the underworld. You see, because the little brat knows that someone is after his sweet big brother, he and the three sisters have been on a tear for months. And now, all four of them are together and he has all these strange powers he didn't have before, and even his dear old daddy is lending a hand. Our losses haven't been this bad since they atomised the Seer and the whole Infernal Council. And now, the one truly responsible for our losses has strolled into my makeshift throne room, while the demons, who are meant to be doing what I want, flee further and further away from the sisters and their inevitable wrath. So, Elder, why not tell me why you're here? If I like the answer…" Barbas hissed, igniting a fireball in his hand, "I'll just terrorise you to death and not start throwing fire."
Gideon rankled about being talked to in such a manner, and he also highly doubted Barbas could defeat him, but his goal wasn't to fight with Barbas, his goal was to recruit him, and as the current head of the underworld, he actually needed Barbas onside if he was to ever succeed in his plan, which was going to become increasingly endangered now that the Power of Four existed as opposed to the Power of Three.
"Calm down Barbas. I know my presence here is less than ideal, and the fact that Piper's second son came back from the future to warn them of someone trying to hurt Wyatt, along with his own single minded pursuit of the problem, has caused you many problems, and for that I do apologise. But you must realise the danger the Twice Blessed Child poses, it is far too great a concentration of power, a power so great even the Charmed Ones themselves cannot stop it. He is a virtual god, and we cannot allow him to grow, if we do, everything will be undone. Surely you see the danger we're in here Barbas, the Charmed Ones have created such a concentration of power that it could be the undoing of us all!" he insisted, and Barbas cocked an eyebrow at him, and then snorted in derisive laughter.
"Hey, you're afraid of the teeny baby, I get it. I don't get why it bothers me." He retorted, and Gideon sighed in slight annoyance.
"Barbas, you must see what is at stake. You complain about the losses. It took all four sisters at various times to defeat powerful demons of the past, Tempus, Litvack, the Seer, Belthazor, and of course, the Source. Now imagine the power this boy could bring to bear in the endless war between light and dark! One being, infused with all the strength of the Charmed Ones, he could decimate all of demon kind, perhaps drive them into extinction. And he wouldn't stop there! A being like he would crave power, a power that good alone would not be able to satiate. His presence on this earth is a threat to both sides. It is regrettable, but the boy must be destroyed, for the greater good." He told him, and he could tell that something he had said had jarred with Barbas, who frowned as he considered the implication.
"I have to admit, the boy eventually rising to power is dangerous. But see, because of you, the sisters assume a demon gets to him and does something to him, which might make him this big scary danger you're all so afraid of. That's why so many demons are now dead. So, what do we stand to gain? The boy poses a distant threat, but if we raise a hand against him now, the four sisters will move hell and earth to eradicate us." He warned, and Gideon nodded.
"Correct. Barbas, the boy presents a threat that could lead to the very end of the Grand Design, and the extinction of both demons and all practitioners of good, the damage he could do is colossal. The boy presents a threat to the very future of our world, a threat that we are honour bound to counter, we must act, however distasteful it may be, if we are to protect the greater good." He declared, and Barbas raised a finger to his lips, before pointing it at Gideon.
"You need to worry about the greater good, me, that's not really my style. The dear sweet departed Crone wrote a law for a reason, to stop demons dying. Now, I hate the Charmed Ones as much as the next demon, in fact I probably hate them more, but I'm not stupid. Going after their baby will result in me dying, and frankly, I'm not too fussy about getting myself blown up for your war."
Gideon smiled, which made Barbas look at him suspiciously.
"That's the beauty of it Barbas, I only need a little bit of help, and I can end the threat before it starts. No war, just one unsavoury act, and the whole future is saved. And all I need is a little help from you, and a few friends of yours." He told him, and Barbas looked at him sceptically.
"Friends?" he asked, as though the word was foreign to him, and Gideon nodded.
"Quite so. You see, as you are the current de facto head of the underworld, I came to you first. But there are others who I can talk to. But, if you are on board, I can promise you a trouble free shot at the Charmed Ones, after all, there are four of them now, and my colleagues and I aren't entirely thrilled with that particular turn of events either. What do you say Barbas, will you help me save the future?" he asked, and looking suspicious and reluctant in equal measure, Barbas hesitantly reached out a hand which Gideon shook, his plan finally coming to fruition at last.
XX
"I'm still not entirely sold on it." Prue complained as she looked in the mirror, and Paige appeared behind her, grinning.
"Hey at least yours was a proper dye job, mine turned red because I blew up a potion I was making." She said brightly, and Chris looked at her in disbelief.
"You blew up a potion that turned your hair red, how did that happen?" he asked, and she waved her hands carelessly.
"Well something swelled, made a big thick bubble and went boom, everything turned red." She explained, and Piper sent her a nasty look.
"No kidding, I was cleaning red out of the washing for weeks." She complained as she threw away the gloves that she had used to dye her sister's hair, while Prue stood in front of the mirror, considering her long hair which had now been dyed blonde.
"Well it should work from a distance I suppose, and since you've been dead the last three years, no one should be looking for you. But I still don't see why you can't just use a little hocus pocus and bring yourself back magically from the dead, there isn't much point coming back from the dead if getting involved with the Mercer crime family gets you put right back where you came from." Victor said worriedly as he stood with Chris at the book, looking at the various evils his daughters had vanquished with morbid interest.
"It would be easier Prue." Leo admitted, but she shook her head.
"No, too risky, like you said, your chums the Elders aren't thrilled with whatever happened to the timeline bringing me back, the last thing we need to do is give them, the Angels of Destiny and everyone else from coming after us, coming after me. I've died permanently once, and I'm in no hurry to do it again, so the new plan is to outlive all of you, even the kids!" she chirped cheerfully, and Chris smirked from his place at the book.
"Yeah that works in theory I suppose, Grams The Second." He teased, and Prue smirked and waved her finger at him the same way Grams did, and received an approving jingle in response from on high.
"So you're going to go undercover?" Phoebe asked, still rubbing her head weakly as Wyatt played in front of her, and Prue nodded.
"Yeah, and besides, taking a bad guy like that off the streets can't do anyone any harm, everyone wins and I get my life back. But that's for later, Darryl's sorting stuff out now, and then the two of us will play it by ear, hopefully it'll be over and done with before too long." She mused, and Piper nodded.
"And before you try to get yourself killed. Not to mention that we could need all four of us to bring down whoever it is who's after Wyatt. But at least you can move around freely now, and I have to say, strange though it looks, you are kind of rocking the blonde look." She said, and Prue grinned, as Victor reached into his pocket.
"Here, since you have no money, go out and get yourself some things, consider it three years worth of birthday and Christmas presents from your dad." He told her, passing her his credit card and Prue grinned like the cat that got the cream while Piper and Phoebe looked on in outrage.
"Wait, you're giving her your entire card? What about our birthdays you missed!" Phoebe protested and Victor gave her an amused smile.
"You weren't dead for those though. Besides, she doesn't have any way to support herself till she comes back from the dead legally." He told her, and Prue grinned and hugged Victor.
"Aww thanks daddy. Come on sis!" she ordered brightly, taking Paige's hand and with that the two of them vanished from the room.
"Thanks Victor!" Paige called as the two of them headed down the stairs, and Piper grinned.
"Oh to be excited about something. Hey Pheebs, I've got something for you." She said and pulled the potion Chris had made that morning out of her pocket, Phoebe's eyes narrowed to slits as she saw it.
"Wait, you had this all along?" she demanded, and Piper smiled cockily.
"Yeah, that'll teach you to take the piss when I can't drink." She teased and Phoebe snarled and leapt with her sister, grabbing for the potion, yelling abuse at a laughing Piper.
"Have you had any more luck buddy?" Victor asked and Chris shook his head irritably as he flicked another page in the book.
"No, we've been going through this all day and we're still no further forward." He complained, turning the page that had the Crone on it in disgust.
Leo looked thoughtful as he considered the problem, ignoring Piper and Phoebe as they continued to battle for the potion, Piper now twisting Phoebe's nose while Phoebe tickled her sister, determined to get her hands on the hangover cure.
"Maybe we should try looking at it from a different angle." He mused, and Chris scowled as he turned another page in the book.
"I have been, ever since Neena said I was looking in the wrong direction I've came at it from every direction I can think of and I'm still no further, and we're running out of time." He told them, then noticed that the fight had stopped, Phoebe now pressed to the ground by Piper as the two remaining sisters and Leo looked at him.
"Running out of time how?" Piper asked suspiciously and he looked at his mother meekly.
"Um, whatever happens to Wyatt happens before I'm born." He admitted, scuffing his feet and avoiding all eye contact with everyone.
"Wait, what? And you're telling us this now?" Phoebe demanded angrily and Piper flared her nostrils in annoyance.
"Why didn't you tell us before?" she demanded, and Chris shrugged.
"Because it was never meant to take this long, any everything that's happened was never meant to happen!" he protested, and Victor gestured for the girls to simmer down before the two of them worked up any more steam.
"It's done, bitching about it won't help. So Chris, you said Neena told you to look in a different direction, does that mean she knows who is behind it?" he asked, and Chris shook his head.
"No, the mess the future became, she would have told me if she knew exactly what caused Wyatt to go off the rails like he did. More like she suspects something, and her suspicions are normally right, but I can't think what she means." He complained, and Leo frowned as he considered this new information.
"Hmm, how about we look at it from another way, top down. Who runs the underworld nowadays?" he asked, and Chris shrugged.
"Barbas." He replied, seemingly oblivious to the looks of horror on his mother and aunt's faces.
"Barbas? Are you kidding me, he's back?" Phoebe demanded incredulously, and Piper looked equally miffed with this information.
"And worse, he's running the underworld?" she stormed, and Chris nodded.
"Yeah, he is, but it's not him who gets to Wyatt." He said certainly, and Piper looked at her son in disbelief.
"And how can you know that, if Barbas is the Source in waiting, how do you know he isn't the one who gets Wyatt?" she asked, and he shook his head.
"Barbas is a lot of things mom, but above all else, he isn't stupid. He knows coming after Wyatt is a sure fire way to get him vanquished, and while he hates you and does want to take you out, he wouldn't go through Wyatt, it's too risky for him and he knows it." He explained, and Leo had to admit, there was some logic in that argument.
"Yeah but still," Piper said, finally relenting and giving the potion to Phoebe who downed it instantly, "that means Barbas is still out there somewhere and probably scheming some way to get at us, so I say we vanquish his sorry ass before he gets too far."
"I'll get to work on a vanquishing spell, ooh I can make it for the power of four!" Phoebe exclaimed excitedly and immediately began to scrawl down a rhyme.
"Just don't use it yet." Chris said, and Piper looked at him as though he'd grown an extra head.
"Wait, you want to wait from vanquishing one of the most dangerous demons we've ever faced?" she repeated, and he nodded.
"Yep. Mom you don't get it. Barbas runs the underworld right, we know he does. So, better the devil you know surely? If we vanquish Barbas there's no telling who we might get in place of him." He told her, and she had to admit, there was a certain logic in that.
Phoebe looked at him, crestfallen.
"What I can't write a vanquishing spell?" she whined, and he grinned.
"Course you can, we just need to wait to use it." He told her, and she happily went back to writing the spell, while Piper rubbed her forehead in dismay.
"Alright fine, but in the meantime, we look at every corner of the cosmos if it means finding out who's after Wyatt." She said, getting back to work with her son as her sister wrote down a spell that would vanquish Barbas once and for all.
XX
"Your new do is fabulous, Piper did a good job." Paige told Prue as she checked a dress against herself before wrinkling her nose and putting it back, and Prue nodded as she browsed some tops.
"Yeah she did. It's so weird being back." She admitted and Paige gave her a sympathetic glance.
"Stop worrying sis, of course it's weird, you've been gone for three years, there's bound to be a time for you to adjust. Hey what do you think?" she asked, indicating a pair of shoes, and Prue shook her head.
"Nah, not for either of us." She said as she picked out another pair of jeans.
"You just need to take it slowly. Your dad is right though, it's a bit risky, I've heard of these guys when I was in the social work, they're not to be screwed around with Prue." Paige said worriedly, and Prue grinned patting Paige's hair kindly.
"I just came back, I'm not going anywhere sweetie. Don't worry, you and I have years worth of catching up to do." She assured her sister, who smiled and picked up a red sleeveless top which made Prue smile and she put it into the pile that she was buying.
"Thing is, now that all four of us are together, god only knows what foul things are going to come out of the woodwork next, especially when they," Paige said, looking skywards, "aren't happy with the most recent development. They'll try and get some way to make our lives difficult again."
Prue scowled skywards as well.
"Let them try." She said dangerously, and Paige smirked, yeah now that the four of them were together, the Elders weren't going to push them around any longer.
"I still think it sucks that I'm the one who'll get a new power." She complained and Prue gave her a sceptical look.
"How does that suck?" she asked, and Paige frowned, scuffing her feet.
"Well you three have always had your powers, I just got yours when I came along, and my power's just the same as yours anyway. What will I get, I'll still be…" she complained and Prue took her baby sister's face and looked into her eyes.
"Hey, you listen to me missy Paige. You might be the newest one to your powers, but you are still one of us, one of the Charmed Ones. And I'm sure that whatever power you get will be awesome, which will be even better because that'll piss Phoebe off all the more!" she said brightly and Paige laughed and hugged her eldest sister.
"Thanks Prue." She said, and Prue looked towards the escalators, a twinkle in her eye.
"It seems to me that all these new outfits I'm buying will need some shoes to go with them, care to join me?" she asked, picking up her ever growing pile, and Paige grinned.
"Well naturally, all new outfits need new shoes." She said and the two of them hurried up to the next floor to begin shoe shopping.
XX
"So exactly how does an Elder come to come to the deepest parts of the underworld?" Barbas asked as he and Gideon slinked towards another cave system, the area virtually pitch black.
"I've been growing increasingly desperate Barbas. The sisters get more and more powerful all the time, and now that Prue has returned to them, their power is going to be even more of a force to be reckoned with than before. Over the last few months, ever since Chris was revealed to be Piper's future son, it's become even more difficult to get to the boy since he's put the sisters on high alert. As a result, I've had no way to get close to the boy, especially with their little trip to the future, they've isolated themselves to try and find who's trying to get to him. Hence, I've been down here, trying to find a demon powerful enough to help me distract the sisters and let me get to Wyatt." He told the demon, and Barbas looked at him curiously.
"And you found a demon powerful enough, other than me?" Barbas asked, and Gideon smirked.
"I found three." The Elder replied as they entered a final cave.
A large white circle was glowing on the floor, and three triangular pyramids were jutting from it, and with a flash of realisation, Barbas realised exactly who Gideon had allied with.
"I trust they need no introduction?" Gideon asked as three demons, wearing black robes embossed with a silver pentagram, and surrounded by hooded scarlet over robes, their black eyes shimmering like insects in the darkness.
Barbas breathed the name as they emerged, and began to think that just perhaps, this could be the end of the Charmed Ones.
"The Triad."
So Gideons plan is now afoot, and he has allied with both Barbas and the evil Triad. Meanwhile Prue and Paige are getting a chance to bond while Prue prepares to take down a powerful crime family to get her life back.
But the Triad is back early, and as I'm sure you know, they werent meant to be back for another two years, so just what else has been affected by the timeline shift?
And what is the thing chasing Neena?
Time will reveal all answers, but until next time please favourite, follow, read and review!