Timeless Mistakes

by lordtrayus

After the awful events of the future, Chris and the Charmed Ones are focused on finding the threat against Wyatt before its too late. However, Neena, the First Witch, had taken bold action in order to try and save the future herself, starting a chain reaction of events that will decide the fate of existence itself and result in the Charmed Ones lives being changed forever...

14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed

Timeless Mistakes

"Chris?"

The room was still as everyone looked on in horror at all that had happened. Phoebe was sobbing, the loss of Cole affecting her more than she could have thought possible, and now Chris was dead too, his body being cradled by his parents as she watched on, her heart breaking for the loss of her nephew. Paige had helped a weak Henry to his feet, and she had started forward when she had seen what had happened to Chris, but Prue had gently stopped her, shaking her head, tears streaming down her face as the two of them mourned the loss of Chris and of Cole, Prue wrapping her baby sister in a hug as the two of them sobbed onto each other's shoulder. Victor had struggled to his feet, and was shaking his head adamantly, tears pouring down his face, while Elise, her hands covering her mouth in horror, looked on, her whole body shaking. Darryl had Sheila in his arms, crying himself while a horrified Sheila looked on at the scene before them, and Andy had bowed his head, shaking it in futility.

"Chris?" Piper asked again, her whole body shaking, and she exchanged a last, broken look with Leo, whose own eyes were streaming with tears, his body deflated, covered in the blood of their son…and he slowly shook his head.

Piper then screamed, an inhuman, terrible, screech and the entire room shook as her agony, her pain, exploded outwards, and various things blew apart in a massive shockwave that spread out from her body as she screamed over her dead boy. The couches blew into smithereens, the windows smashed and the walls had massive chunks gouged out of them before her rage, her exquisite pain was all but spent and she let loose, her body bent over Chris', crying desperately as a defeated Leo sagged back, pulling at his hair impotently as the two of them laid in Chris pool of blood, and Piper could feel her son going cold in her grip and was barely aware of him starting to disappear, which just made her sob all the more.

Everyone looked around, reeling from the loss, but wondering who could suppress what they were feeling to help Piper and Leo, to help Phoebe. Prue sniffed, her nose red and she dabbed at her green eyes before crossing to her younger sister, squatting down in front of her and taking Piper's face in her hands, sniffing.

"Piper…we are going to stop this. We are going to find that evil bastard and we are going to kill him for everything he's done, we will save Wyatt, we will save Chris. I promise!" she growled fiercely as Piper cried, and she cradled her sister who cried into her embrace, and Prue gently managed to extract Chris' fading hand from his mothers grip and laid it softly beside her fallen nephew.

"I mean it, we will get him for this. Phoebe, you hear me? We will make them pay!" she spat, turning to look at Leo, and then to Phoebe, who nodded, and managed to pull herself to her feet, shaking her head at the futility of it all, at how easily they had all been outwitted, at the losses they had suffered.

"We-we need to leave, we can't stay here, we don't know where Gideon…" she began, then a sound turned her attention to the wall behind the board, which had miraculously survived Piper's explosion of grief.

"We need to find him, stop him." Leo managed, his voice raw, as the others all edged in hesitantly from the outskirts of the room, none of them saying a word, but Phoebe however acted differently, and moved the board out of the way of the wall and to her great surprise found a shining portal erupting into life in front of her.

Having learned the hard way after what happened when Prue had returned, she hastily got out of the way as everyone started to back away, clearly fearing whatever was about to come through the portal wasn't friendly. And to her great surprise, her other nephew from the future stumbled through, urgently turning back to the portal and with a gesture, sealed it shut before he took stock and looked around at the room he had landed in.

The sisters and Leo looked at him in astonishment, while the others all looked at him warily, clearly feeling he was more friend than foe. Wyatt then spotted the body of his dead little brother, fading into nothingness, and he gave a strangled cry, rushing over and skidding to his knees, lying in the pool of his brother's blood as he lifted his brother's lifeless, fading form.

"Chris, come on little brother, wake up! Don't do this to me, I didn't come here just so you could die on me!" he begged, his own voice tearing up as the others backed away from him a little, still extremely wary of his presence.

"Wyatt?" Piper breathed in shock, the last she had seen on her son from the future, they had buried him in Golden Gate Park following that terrible, climactic final battle, he couldn't be here, he was gone, he was dead, just like…just like Chris.

"Come on Chris!" Wyatt begged, trying valiantly to wake his brother while the astounded others all looked on, "come on squirt, not now, don't you dare die on me now!"

However, it was too late, Chris was fading into nothing, but Wyatt was determined, and started pushing on Chris' chest, in a vain effort to restart his heart.

"Son, he's gone…" Leo whispered, but Wyatt shook his head stubbornly, still focused on restarting his brother's heart.

"NO! Not after everything he's done to save me, he is not gone!" he yelled determinedly, still performing CPR and then, he was sure he felt the faintest twitch of a beat.

However, Chris was almost gone, faded from the world.

"Chris, don't you dare die on me kiddo!" he screamed, and golden light poured from his hands, but a shaking Leo laid a hand on Wyatt's shoulder grimly, giving it a squeeze.

"Wyatt, he was stabbed with a Twice-Blessed blade, you can't heal him." He told him regretfully while everyone else looked on, Prue still holding Piper to her, and Wyatt glared at his father.

"You can't heal him, but I'm the Twice Blessed, and have Charmed power, whitelighter power and have had the Source in me for years, so back off and let me bring back my brother!" he screamed, and Paige perked up, he was right, he was the Twice Blessed, he might be right, it might be just enough to…

And Wyatt's healing glow ended as Chris became solid once again, gave a shuddering gasp, coughing and spitting up blood, and Piper let out a strangled cry and elbowed her sister off her, who plonked down on the floor looking a trifle miffed, and wrapped her youngest in a desperate hug as his father joined in.

"Oh thank god!" Victor cried, laughing in relief as everyone else surged in, and had to virtually fight Piper off for the chance to hug him.

"Mom…" Chris whispered in shock as she rocked him, feeling him, knowing that he was finally back, that he was safe again.

Everyone disentangled themselves from him, and Chris finally looked at his rescuer, and his mouth fell open in shock as he beheld his big brother, who gave him a nervous, awkward smile. Everyone was silent as they watched the two brothers, Chris surrounded by their family while Wyatt lingered nervously at the periphery. He was different from what he had looked like when they had last saw him in the future, he looked more at peace with himself, kinder, more full of love and life, not ravaged by years of being the Source. He was clad in a red long sleeved tshirt, with a white jacket and blue jeans, looking like he was just going about his business for a normal day, and his hair was gone, no longer the long unkempt hair of the Source, but shorter, spiked up at the front and natural blond once more, and even better, he had no beard or anything.

"Hi Chris." He muttered softly, and Chris leapt to his feet and threw himself at his brother, wrapping him in a hug which Wyatt gratefully returned, rocking his little brother slightly.

"Wyatt! You're here, but how?" Chris gasped in shock, pulling away from his brother, and he looked around the room nervously, and it was clear that the four Charmed Ones and his father weren't quite so reticent about trusting him as Chris was.

"It's a long story." Wyatt admitted, and he was immediately drilled with looks from the Charmed Ones.

"Wyatt, we need more than that, last time we saw you…we had to vanquish you, and now suddenly you're here, in the past and alive, we need a better explanation than that." Phoebe told him, and Wyatt nodded, realising they were right.

"I know, and I want to give it to you guys, but, well…ok. Neena brought me back, I don't know why, I didn't get much of a chance to find out how. The future, it's…it's fucked quite honestly." He told them, and Prue looked at him sceptically.

"Wyatt, you fucked it up before Chris even came back here, that's hardly news." She pointed out, and he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know aunt Prue. But it's worse, I could hardly sense anything when I came back, like there was no magic. Regina told me that we'd lost, that magic had lost. Pratt had won. I don't see how anyone called Pratt could win, the only Pratt I can think of is some minor low level pen pushing bureaucrat. But basically, whatever he's done, the world is doomed." He explained, and Chris exchanged a panicked look with Prue, the full weight of what Wyatt had told them setting in.

A ruined future was bad enough, but if the future was now in such a state that it had become an apocalyptic future, that meant that things were worse than even they had feared.

"What, how?" Chris demanded, backing away from Wyatt, his hand raising, fearing it was something to do with him, and Wyatt held up his hands defensively.

"Chris, wait! I am me! You guys vanquished me, the Source is gone, I'm good!" he insisted, and Leo looked over at Phoebe, who nodded.

"Yeah, I can't sense any evil from, he's good." She confirmed, and Chris lowered his hands, looking worried.

"What happened though?" he demanded worriedly, and Wyatt shook his head, at a loss.

"I'm sorry bro, but whatever was happening, I didn't get any time to find out. Wherever I came back, I think it was the Nexus of the All since I could still feel some magic there, it was under attack. Regina sacrificed herself to let me escape, but that's all I know guys, I'm sorry I don't know any more." He explained, and Piper nodded, still looking in concern at her eldest, as though not sure whether to lower her guard with him.

"Ok, we can deal with that later, Wyatt, why are you here?" she asked, and Elise leaned towards Victor in confusion.

"Ok, help me out, how's Wyatt been kidnapped but also vanquished and is now in his twenties?" she asked, and Victor smiled a little.

"That one's from the future." He explained, and she nodded, as though feeling it should have been obvious.

"I'm not sure really, Neena brought me back, and I got a spell to bring me here, to you guys, maybe to help Chris?" he asked, and Chris frowned in thought, it would be like Neena to do something like that after all, but what had she guessed would happen that he would need Wyatt for, unless she actually did know the identity of their big bad, but if she had known she'd have told him before he'd come back here.

"Thanks bro." Chris said softly, and Wyatt smiled at his little brother hesitantly before Chris looked to his mother, looking desperate.

"Mom, I'm sorry I didn't…" he began, but she shook her head, her usually brown eyes murderous.

"No peanut, this isn't your fault, he deceived us all. Where did he take little Wyatt to?" she asked, her voice a deadly whisper, as the room went deathly silent, as the others all realised exactly what was at stake here, and he looked helplessly at her.

"I'm sorry mom, I don't know, he," he said, sounding upset, and she crossed to him, taking his face in her hands gently and forced him to look down into her eyes.

"Chris, this isn't your fault ok? He deceived all of us, there was no way you could have known, any of us could have known. Ok, Gideon and Barbas have my son and are doing god only knows what to him," she breathed, her fists clenching in anger, her heart pounding a mile a minute as terrifying images of what they could do to her baby occurred to her, "and we don't have a lot of time. We need to find him, now." She insisted, and Leo, his face a turbulent storm of conflicting emotions, nodded, standing beside her.

"We have to move fast, Gideon's one of the most powerful Elders, and if he knows how to get to Wyatt then…" he began, feeling quite sick with where that line of thought was taking him, and Piper closed her eyes and breathed deeply, before they flew open, and both Chris and Wyatt exchanged a frightened glance.

That was her murderous mom face, the last thing demons that had dared hurt her babies ever saw.

Looks like the war wasn't over yet.

"Home, now!" she barked, and broaching no argument, the various orbers of the family bore everyone home, landing them in the kitchen where Piper gripped the worktop, her whole world spinning.

Gideon, someone they had thought of as a friend, a wise mentor, was actually a traitor. It was him that they had all been looking for, for months, and he had manipulated them, endangered them, and now he had struck, murdering Cole, nearly murdering Chris and planned to murder Wyatt, and what was worse, he was conspiring with Barbas, the Triad and Rennek all to boot. This needed to end, now, and she needed her son back with her where he belonged.

"Leo, how do we find him?" Paige asked, as the entire group started prattling, the noise driving into Piper, and she saw the worried look Chris gave her, and after silently mulling it over for a second, she had decided on her game plan, and gave a shrill whistle to silence everyone instantly, as they all looked at her, their faces filled with terror for baby Wyatt, and all of them eager to help.

She turned to Prue, her warm brown eyes atomic in their fire, and her sister met her gaze with a silent, cool nod. Blood was going to be spilled, and if they had their way, it wouldn't be Wyatt's.

"We have work to do! Prue, I need Darklighter arrows, get them for me, I need them for my potion." She hissed, her voice near silent, but dripping with barely restrained, apocalyptic rage, and her sister gave a smart nod and turned on her heel, sweeping from the kitchen, Andy right behind her.

Phoebe steeled herself and looked at her older sister, feeling the rage and hatred, the sting of betrayal, and the ardent desire to kill those who threatened her radiating off her despite the empath blocking potion.

"Phoebe, I need a spell to vanquish an Elder…make sure it's painful." She spat, and Phoebe allowed herself a dark smile.

"With fucking pleasure!" she proclaimed, storming from the room to start work, and a nervous Elise, clearly wanting to help, followed in her wake.

Paige looked at her sister, seeing the broiling tempest she was becoming. She had been betrayed, her son almost murdered, a friend actually murdered, and her baby kidnapped and planned to be murdered, while also undergoing attacks by the demonic assassin that murdered her sister and dealing with their archenemies, she was surprised she still had any gas left to give.

"Paige, we need to where baby Wyatt is, so work with future Wyatt, use your projection power, summon him, find some way to find my son!" she barked, her voice rising in pitch as her temper raged within her, and Paige nodded grimly, took future Wyatt by the hand, who still looked very apprehensive to be here, and led him away, and a very confused Henry then followed suit.

"We want to help too Piper, whatever you need us to do, we will." Sheila insisted, and Darryl nodded darkly, his face stormy, kidnapping of a child was bad enough but kidnapping him with the intention of murdering him, that crossed the line, hell he'd shoot the pompous bastard himself given the chance.

"Thank you. I could actually use some more potion ingredients, I used a lot this morning, could you go and get me some please, you can use my car" she asked, her tone civil but the Morrris' could tell the pain, the all consuming terror she was feeling, and they nodded.

"Consider it done." Darryl said stoutly, and she passed him the list from the fridge, and with that, he and his wife departed, their faces set, righteous, indignant anger for their friend, for Wyatt, blazing off them.

"Leo…" she began, and saw the crushed, devastated expression on her husband's face, but knew that his feelings had to wait for now, they had a son to save, "Leo, could you please protect the house? We don't know if Gideon acted alone, or if there's other conspirators, so if you could make sure we don't get any uninvited guests please." She commanded, and he nodded resolutely and left the room, Victor sending a concerned look at him and following behind him.

"What about us mom?" Chris asked, his own green eyes livid with angry fire, and she looked to her potion pot.

"You and I are going to make a potion," she whispered, her tone cold enough to freeze hell over, "and then, we're going to find a way to use it. If they want a war, I'll give them one!"

XX

The house was quiet, wired and tense as everyone carried out their assigned tasks, the anger at the sting of betrayal, the fear for what could happen to Wyatt, and the horror of what Gideon had done and still planned to do galvanising the inhabitants as the Halliwell extended family prepared for war.

In the attic, Prue had summoned a third Darklighter into a crystal circle, her green eyes ablaze with righteous, all-consuming fury, so angry at how easily they had been played and betrayed that she could scarcely speak. After she had the panicked Darklighter within the cage, she realised she had lost all patience for evil scum, and was no longer bothering with pleasantries, and vanquished him with a scream after divesting him of his black arrows, which she passed to an equally grim and angry Andy, adding them to the growing collection as she worked on summoning another Darklighter so she could acquire his arrows for Piper's potion.

In the living room, Phoebe was hard at work, the loss of Cole still feeling raw, the indignation for what had nearly happened to Chris, and the paralysing fear of what Gideon planned to do to Wyatt spurring her on as she wrote down various iterations of a spell that would be powerful enough to vanquish an Elder. Elise worked beside her, having quickly grasped the concepts of spell writing, and had even added edits to Phoebe's work so far, and strangely, Phoebe believed they would actually help make Gideon's vanquish all the more painful so tried to incorporate them.

In the conservatory, Paige sat with adult Wyatt, both of them combining their projection powers and having used several iterations of seeing eye spells, to call a lost witch, anything they could think of to try and locate his baby form, so far to no avail. Henry had been watching anxiously, lending his strength and encouragement to Paige as she melded her projection power with Wyatt's in order to try and locate his baby self, trying to force their way past whatever shields and wards Gideon may have erected upon his flight from Magic School.

Darryl and Sheila had soon returned, laden with the ingredients Piper needed, and then they took to pacing in the dining room, their sympathetic fear of what could happen to Piper's son driving them, offering whatever help they could.

And in the kitchen, Piper and Chris, their stocks refilled, were hard at work, both of them standing in silent, awful rage as they brewed the potion that had come to Piper's mind, Chris shaken by his latest death and the return of his brother, the revelation that Gideon was the real villain, and Piper, driven by her fury at such a personal betrayal that had cost them Cole, had nearly cost them Chris and could still cost them Wyatt if they didn't hurry up and find him.

Outside, Leo was laying down crystals, herb and hex bags in order to make sure the while house was protected, his head spinning. In the space of ten minutes he had discovered that his oldest friend, his mentor, the very same Whitelighter who had took him under his wing and taught him all he knew, who had petitioned the Elders to allow him the prestigious assignment of the Charmed Ones due to his work in dealing with Rennek, who had campaigned for Leo to be allowed to marry Piper…to discover that he was the evil that was after Wyatt, who had murdered Cole and sent him to whatever afterlife awaited him, who had actually murdered Chris who had only been saved by Wyatt's arrival from the future, and who now was working with Barbas to try and murder his son.

Gideon, it was Gideon they had been looking for all along, and they had been so blind as to not see it! How could he have not seen it, Gideon, he was the one, it was him, Leo should have known…

"Don't beat yourself up Leo." Victor advised cautiously from behind him, making Leo jump a little, he had known that Victor had followed him out of the house, but he didn't know he'd followed him while he defended the manor, and Leo turned desperately to his father in law.

"How can I not Victor? Gideon betrayed me! He got close to us, he killed Cole, he killed Chris hell he's only still alive because Wyatt appeared to save him, and he kidnapped my son! He's taken Wyatt, and he's convinced he needs to kill him, to kill my son, and I didn't have a clue! None of us did!" he stormed, and Victor nodded darkly.

"Exactly my point Leo, none of you did. From the looks of it, the sanctimonious bastard played the cards very close to the chest. He lured you in and stabbed you in the back. You can't blame yourself for not seeing something that wasn't there to see son." He told him, and Leo turned away, his head spinning.

"Wyatt's my son, I should have seen it, should have seen…" he insisted, and Victor laid a hand on his shoulder.

"And I should have seen that something was going to happen to Prue, and I didn't." he told him simply, and curious, Leo turned to face his father in law.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and Victor sighed.

"It wasn't long after Prue was born. I had her out for a walk, let Patty have some time to herself. I met this man, Clark his name was, and we hit it off. Became good friends, he was funny, smart, loved sport, he was someone I could use to get a break from Patty and Prue when she was a baby. We were great friends, we would go for a drink, watch the game, and he was great with Prue, met Patty and she loved him too, it was great. In a few months he had become my best friend. So one day, Patty has some errands to do, and he and I were going to watch the game, and I had Prue, so she was sound asleep and him and I were watching the game, everything was fine. I asked him to take Prue while I got us something to eat, and he did. I head through to make some popcorn," Victor continued his story, an ugly, furious look on his face as he recounted it, "and headed back through to find out if he wanted it made salted or sweet. And I found out that Clark wasn't a man at all. Clark was a demon, eight feet tall, red skin, long claws, and a monstrous head, with six glowing yellow eyes and massive jaws inside a sort of beak. Clarxion was his real name, a Velge demon, a corpse swallower he was known as. And I saw him, about to eat my daughter.

I saw red, threw myself at him, Prue was awake by now and screaming holy murder, he was going to rip her into pieces and then swallow what was left, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I tackled him, barely managing to catch Prue and was prepared to do something, anything, to save my daughter, I was about to run but Clarxion appeared in front of me, and I turned away to protect her before the end, but he suddenly stopped. Patty had forgotten her purse and had come back just in time, froze him. She vanquished him obviously, sent him screaming back to hell. Patty understood, telling me I'd been manipulated, deceived, that he had worked his way close to me for just that opportunity but that was all I could see, that my so called best friend was actually a demon, determined to murder my six month old daughter! I blamed myself for not seeing it, not figuring it out sooner, despite what Patty said, I held myself responsible, still do as a matter of fact. What I'm saying Leo is…in your line of work, betrayal is so much worse, because despite everything, despite how smart you are, how wise you are, how powerful you are, you still can't account for how foul people or things can be. Phoebe was betrayed by Cole, Piper by Jeremy and by Dan, me by Clark, even Penny by the Necromancer. But you can't punish yourself for not seeing something that wasn't there to see." He told him sagely, and Leo looked at his father in law in shock.

Victor had always been rather aloof with his son in law, it was the father in laws prerogative he supposed. However Victor had come out his way to make sure that Leo was alright, to give him some sage advice, in the hope that he could, perhaps, alleviate the pain Leo was feeling.

"I've never heard that story before." Leo said quietly, and Victor nodded grimly.

"There's a reason for that, well, you know what Penny was like, if she had discovered I'd been conned by a demon she would never have let me near the girls, much less have another one with Patty. All I'm saying Leo is sometimes, we can't see the real enemy until it's too late, but if I know you, and my girls, we're going to get Wyatt back." He told him confidently, and Leo nodded in agreement.

Inside, Prue swept down from the attic, Andy hot on her heels, the tension in the air palpable as she headed into the kitchen to see their two best potion makers stirring their concoction.

"I didn't know how many you wanted so I got you five Darklighters worth of arrows," she said by way of greeting, and looked at the furious, roiling expression on Piper's face, "what do you want me to do with them?" she asked, a tiny little bit of her concerned for her little sister's wellbeing but knowing her far too well to insult her by asking her how she was or how she was coping.

Chris gave the potion a touch more hemlock, wincing a little as it exploded when it was added, and he indicated the bubbling, blue potion.

"Add them in." he ordered, and both he and his mother stood well back to avoid any contamination as Prue and Andy dropped their spoils of war into the pot.

A black fire plumed from the top of the potion as the Darklighter arrows ignited within it, melting from the heat of the potion. Breaking down quickly, they dissolved into a black, tar like substance which melted into the potion, turning it pitch black with a faint, purple sheen coming off from it, dark spirals of red mist emitting from the shimmering brew.

"That looks nasty. Want me to bottle it for you?" Prue asked, and Piper nodded, and Prue took over, divvying up the potion into bottles, feeling the dark power of the potion.

It was clear that this was not their usual garden variety potion, it could very well be considered dark magic, however in times such as these, and to deal with a fallen Elder, this time it was absolutely necessary to cross a line they would never usually cross. Prue finished bottling up the potion, and she felt that she could feel the anger, the rage that had charged her sister and nephew while they had made it, a series of emotions she too was feeling and could certainly sympathise with them. But unless they found Gideon, it was going to be a futile endeavour.

"Ok people, I need my son back, and we need to send that evil, tof nosed bastard screaming straight to hell, and he can take Barbas with him! Phoebe?" Piper snapped, passing her a potion of her own as she stormed through into the living room, Darryl and Sheila hastily falling into step behind her.

Phoebe held up a piece of paper, furious fire burning in her eyes, her knuckles clenched on the spell she had written.

"With Elise's help, we now have a spell that should be able to vanquish an Elder. We just need to find him." She hissed, and Piper nodded, pleased with the progress as Leo and Victor came inside, fresh from ensuring the house was protected, there was no way they were going to leave their extended family exposed like that again, Gideon could have killed them.

"Paige, where are we with that?" Piper shot at her sister as she came through with Wyatt, however the devastated expression on her face indicated exactly how much luck she was having.

"I'm so sorry Piper, but we've tried everything, a witch to watch spell, to call a lost witch, even our joined projection powers to try and find where baby Wyatt might be, and we've got nothing, I'm so sorry!" she cried, and Piper had to take a deep breath, she knew it wasn't Paige's fault that they couldn't break through whatever defences that Gideon had erected, and Piper looked desperately at Leo.

"Can you do anything, sense him, offset Gideon's powers or something?" she asked, the room deathly quiet, and he shook his head worriedly.

"No, I've been trying, there's no sign of him anywhere. Wherever he is, he's well hidden, and he's smart, we know that, Gideon will have done everything he can to make sure we can't interrupt him." He growled, and Chris looked anxiously at his parents.

"How long do you think we have? He brought down Wyatt's shield when we fought him, he knows what he's doing and even if Wyatt brings it back up, he won't be able to constantly keep powering it back up after Gideon brings it down, not endlessly, he'll exhaust himself." He said worriedly, with a significant look at his older brother from the future, who nodded, his arms crossed thinking to himself.

"Exactly, my shield can be tired out, even now at my current age, but little me, he won't be able to constantly reactivate it for long. And since Gideon knows how to dismantle it, he can keep attacking me as long as he wants, and with Barbas working with him it'll be even easier to bring down my shield. If Barbas scares little me enough, or worse uses his powers to make him think one of you guys have come to rescue me, he might be tricked into lowering his shield all the quicker." He theorised, and Piper could feel her heart ripping in two, Gideon was trying to murder her son and she had no way of stopping it, no way of finding him.

"We need to find him!" she whispered, and Prue rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"And we will." She promised, though she had to admit, her promises were ringing more and more empty as the minutes passed without any progress on finding Wyatt.

"None of your spells have worked?" Sheila asked, squeezing Leo's wrist in sympathy as he paced like a caged animal, horrifying images of what could be happening to Wyatt at any given moment flashing through his mind's eye.

"He's blocked them, meaning he's gone to ground somewhere so he can…" Paige explained, shuddering at the thought at Henry wrapped his arm around her waist, looking grim.

"Our magic can't get in to wherever the hell he's keeping Wyatt, so every spell we cast, even if we can somehow find him in the underworld, we still wouldn't be able to get in to help him." Chris told them, his face pale, everything had led to this, they had to save his brother, otherwise Gideon would destroy the world through Wyatt all over again.

"I say we go down the underworld and look the old-fashioned way." Leo growled, watching Phoebe wrap an arm around Chris' shoulders, both looking grim and terrified.

"And what good would that do dad? The underworld's massive and there's still places far too dangerous for mom and the others to go! I just hate that I can't remember anything, I thought there might be something but I can't think of anything to help." Wyatt complained, and Phoebe fixed him with a pitying glance.

"It's trauma honey, you've probably suppressed all those memories, blocked them out." She told him kindly, but he still looked angry with himself.

Victor was pacing, feeling hopeless, impotent, he had always hated such scenarios when the girls were young, but even back then demons had rarely stooped to the level of attacking their kids when they were so young and vulnerable, and the girls, thankfully, didn't have nearly as much potentially destructive behaviour as Wyatt did.

"You say that your magic can't get in, could Wyatt's magic maybe get him out?" Henry asked hopefully, fairly certain it was a stupid idea, but Prue looked at him, a calculating expression on her face.

"You know, that isn't a bad idea Henry." She muttered, thinking to herself, but Piper looked desperately at her big sister.

"Yeah but Wyatt's still a child, and anything we could do to potentially help him involves our magic going in!" she cried, and Prue had to admit, that was a bit of a problem, but she was feeling that they were suddenly on the right track.

"The problem is, Wyatt is too young to be able to do much magic wise." Chris pointed out, and Victor looked at his grandson curiously.

"Couldn't he orb away?" he asked, and Chris shook his head.

"No, he's too young, he can't orb that far. Besides, there's no guarantee that Gideon hasn't blocked his ability to orb, which I bet he has." He spat acidly, and Paige looked dubious, and Elise was beginning to get the faintest stirrings of hope within her.

"Well maybe, but then again, he has to have an escape route, after all he was working with Rennek and he can't guarantee that he won't try and kill him." Paige reasoned, and that was a point, that was the perils of working with a maniac.

If only there were some way to get Wyatt to try to magic himself out, not necessarily orbing him out but perhaps if he had some other reason, after all, Wyatt's powers were so many and varied, there could be some way they could get through this, some way to get little Wyatt into a position to save himself, so they could save him, but what could that be?

"Even so though, he would still need to escape both Gideon and Barbas, along with getting rid of whatever else is down there, before he could get somewhere we could get to him, this is hell! We're running out of time, Gideon's doing god knows what and we don't know how to save our son!" Leo stormed, lightning erupting from his fingers and blasting the floor, and Piper took his hand to calm him as he seethed.

"Plus side dad, I'm still here, which means he hasn't killed me yet. I'm just sorry I'm not much more help." He lamented, wishing there was something he could do, so he could save his little self, he had been brought back by the First Witch in order to help his brother help himself, but other than healing Chris, he'd been fairly useless, it was clear that however this magic was working, it was working in such a way as to make Chris save him, but how could he help Chris save him? After all, baby Chris wasn't even born…yet…

"Bugger me!" he exclaimed happily, and Victor shook his head despairingly.

"He's no Jessica Fletcher." He lamented, and Chris snorted in amusement despite himself and turned to his big brother curiously.

"What is it?" he asked, sounding a bit worried about his brother's sudden outburst and Wyatt looked at him excitedly.

"It's you, you're the reason I was sent back by Neena right, and her instincts are usually annoyingly right, right?" he asked, and a bit confused, Chris then nodded, as did Prue, looking at her oldest nephew a bit at sea by his thinking.

"Yeah, where are you going with this?" she asked, her eyes narrowed in confusion, and Wyatt smiled.

"I'm here to help you help me, at least that's what I thought. But it turns out I'm here to help you to help me to help you!" he said brightly, and his family all looked at him, a little flummoxed.

"Ok champ, back up a little, what are you saying?" Andy asked, even more at sea than the magic users, and Wyatt turned to him, grinning.

"If something happens to mom or one of her sisters, they can always kind of tell right? It's a perk of the Power of Three, well I guess Power of Four now. Well, Chris and I have our own bond, which is actually more intense due to there only being two of us to share it between. What if we could tap into that? Make little Wyatt tap into the Power of Two, the power between us, and then bring him to us that way?" he asked, and Piper shook her head despairingly.

"Honey, that won't work, little you is all well and good but little Chris hasn't been born yet! There's no bond!" she cried, and Wyatt allowed himself a small smirk.

"So why did baby me hear the same cry that I did when I came for him?" he asked, and to her utter delight, Piper suddenly paused, realising her son was right.

It was clear that her baby loved his little brother from the future, and he had felt such a kinship with him that when he had cried out for his brother after Gregg's attack, it had accidentally brought Wyatt from the future yes, but it had also brought little Wyatt to him and enabled him to heal Chris. Could there bond already be forming on Wyatt's part, and if so, could that be tapped into to save her boy?

Phoebe also looked cautiously optimistic, if they could tap into the developing bond between baby Wyatt and adult Chris, a paradox in and of itself, then they could perhaps use it to save him.

"Ok, but if we do that, he'll need you to boost him, if you can use your projection power to speak through Chris to baby you, then it's worth a shot. Agreed?" she asked, and the sisters all nodded.

"It's worth a try aunt Phoebe. Let's go." Chris said, making sure he had his potion, and Piper exchanged a look with Leo.

This was their best option, their best and perhaps only chance to rescue baby Wyatt. This had to be done, and this time, they truly were going to end all of this. It was time to rescue their son, or die trying. And if that happened, they had to at least make sure that Gideon and Barbas went down too.

"So we're going to the underworld, and then using Wyatt's projection to amplify the bond Chris had with baby Wyatt, and hope that baby Wyatt can use that to escape so we can save him?" Prue asked, a little confused, and Wyatt nodded.

"That's the idea anyway." He replied, as his mother, father, brother and aunts readied themselves for battle once more.

"Bring our boy home Piper." Victor told her, hugging her tightly, and she hugged him back, nodding.

"I will dad. You lot, stay in the living room, inside the crystal cage Leo and dad set up, it'll keep you safe until we get back, don't leave it for any reason ok?" she asked, taking her place at Leo's side.

"Good luck Piper." Darryl said gruffly, leading the others towards the living room.

"Be careful!" Henry urged.

"Come back safe, all of you." Andy ordered, looking especially hard at Prue.

"And give that evil pompous bastard hell from us for what he did to us, did to you, is trying to do to Wyatt, and for what he did to Cole." Elise added fiercely, and Prue allowed herself a small smirk.

"That's the plan Elise. We won't be long." She promised, and as one, both boys from the future, their parents and aunts all orbed out to try and return baby Wyatt to where he belonged.

XX

Gideon and Barbas had orbed deep into the underworld, into a cave that Gideon had used as his base while searching the demonic realm for any demon strong enough to potentially help him achieve his goals. It was already shielded, and orbing forbidden to all who would try and do so except himself to get inside. And it would be here that Gideon would have to commit this great sacrifice for the Greater Good.

Barbas watched the Elder, flush with his victory. Belthazor was finally gone, and the brat from the future was dead at last, and once the Elder dealt with the brat he was trying to kill, then the sisters would be wide open and vulnerable to his attack. He had to admit, he had originally been very sceptical, and hadn't at all liked how the Triad had returned and essentially relegated him to a minion for their dirty work. But he had to admit, the Elder's plan had mostly worked out the way it was supposed to, they now had the boy, the Triad must be dead by now, and all that remained was to finish the job then Barbas could take out the grieving mother with ease and hopefully the rest of them too. But still, he couldn't deny that he was worried, the battle in the school had not been part of the plan, and Barbas was beginning to wonder if the Elder truly did have everything under control like he said he had, especially when he had spent the last ten minutes working up the nerve to actually kill the boy.

Admittedly, it wasn't entirely the Elder's fault, as when they had arrived, the annoying little brat had regenerated his shield. Once Gideon had broken through that again, he had spent five minutes chasing the boy around the cave as, while he was unable to orb out with the wards in place he could certainly orb around it, and had vexed Gideon into chasing him while Barbas had stood and watched, laughing to himself. However it seemed like the boy had finally run out of energy and was now cowering and crying against a wall while Barbas and Gideon advanced upon him, preparing to end this, once and for all.

"Took you long enough to run him down, maybe you're getting a little too old for this?" Barbas mocked, and Gideon glared at him, slipping the athame out from his robes so they could at last, do the deed.

"Don't be facetious Barbas. Now, if you would be so kind, help me end this great threat before we are all doomed." He said, advancing on the snivelling Wyatt, and Barbas allowed himself a sick, predatory smile as he too advanced towards the boy, gently walking round the back of him as Gideon approached from the front.

"For the Greater Good, to save the future you destroy, for the good of all things, this is what must happen my boy. Farewell." Gideon proclaimed, however the athame in his hand suddenly orbed out of it and was twirled in the air, hurtling it back to Gideon's heart.

Acting quickly, Gideon orbed out of the way of the attack and the athame came around, flying right for Barbas, who flamed out to avoid the attack. Returning to his previous position, Gideon angrily blasted a bolt of lightning at Wyatt who started screaming blue murder again but did drop the athame.

"Clever little runt isn't he?" Barbas asked irritably as he too returned, and Gideon nodded, picking up the blade.

"Yes, but he has forestalled the inevitable for the last time. Farewell, Wyatt Halliwell." Gideon said softly, the blade in his hands rising high above the boy's head, as the boy cried, though his snivelling stopped for a second as though something distracted him, and Gideon plunged the dagger down, right for Wyatt's throat...

Only for white, swirling orbs to eclipse the boy and he suddenly vanished, and the momentum of his strike tripped Gideon up and he fell to the floor, spluttering dust and ash from his mouth.

"What the-? You said you blocked him!" Barbas yelled angrily, his fear growing by the instant, the sisters had to be coming, they would be on the warpath and most likely slaughter all of demon kind if that's what it took to get him back.

"I did, think Barbas! That wasn't a normal orb, that was a magical orb, which means the boy somehow managed to find a hole in my defences, a spell or something similar. We must hurry, I can sense him, come!" he proclaimed, his hand tightening on the athame's handle, and Barbas nodded, but looked irritable.

"Fine…but we do things my way. The Scathers have failed again, the Triad's gone. So, let them earn their redemption, and if the witches are coming…they'll make good cannon fodder." He purred, and Gideon too allowed himself a small smirk as they chased after their quarry.

XX

Chris was sitting on the floor in the cavern of the underworld they had found, with both Wyatt and Paige using their projection power to amplify the bond between him and his baby big brother. Chris eyes were closed, trying desperately to sense Wyatt, wherever the hell he was, knowing that if he didn't act fast to save him, his brother would be lost, or lost to him permanently, and everything would be destroyed as it had already been in his timeline. Chris tried and strained, but could still not find any hint of his brother.

"Chris, sweetie, you're trying to hard. Don't think about this as thinking, think about it as feelings." Phoebe urged, and he growled inwardly, that was as clear as mud.

"What she means is, your power comes from your emotions. And your love for your brother is one of your most powerful emotions, use that, let it come to you." Leo urged, they were close, he just begged his son would be able to crack it in time, and taking a deep breath, Chris let memories of good times with his brother fill him, his love for his brother filling his entire being.

One of his earliest memories when Wyatt helped pick him up after he had fallen over and knocked over all his blocks; a time when Wyatt had willingly let himself get hit in the face by a cream pie to cheer him up after Leo had failed to show up to show time with Chris; the time his brother told him the first cake Chris baked solo was the best he ever tested to make him feel good and also to wind up their mother who had been supervising; the time he had finally beat his disbelieving brother in a Pokemon battle using his Eevee forms; his brother reluctantly going to a convention with him and Paige knowing that Chris enjoyed that nerdy stuff too and had even acquiesced to dressing up with him and Paige; his brother holding him and trying to repair the damage done by their mother's murder; the times during Chris' house arrest where they had been an almost normal family…these and other myriad memories flooded him, thoughts of his big brother flooding his entire being, and a call for him screaming out of him in whatever form he could manage, trying desperately to find his big brother.

And then…he felt it, a faint flicker, miles away, but enough for Chris to know it was him, to know he'd found his brother.

"Wy, it's Chris…I'm ok but I need your help big bro, come on, be strong, be clever for me one last time, I need you! Please Wyatt, I need you, but you can't orb ok? You need to get to me some other way, otherwise mommy, daddy and me will be sad. Can you do that for me big brother? Don't orb, but come to me, away from the scary men. Please Wyatt. I need you. WYATT!"

Chris used every fibre of his being to convey to his brother how much he needed him, how much he needed him to listen to him, to do what he needed to do to escape Gideon and Barbas. And then, with a surge of elated victory, he felt his brother move closer towards him, and away from his would-be killers.

"Got him!" he cried in excitement, and Leo smiled, he had sensed his son as well.

"Great job son, let's go!" he urged, and everyone gathered together.

"Orb, quickly, faster!" Piper ordered as the family orbed after their youngest member, the battle to come preying on their minds.

XX

Wyatt had transported himself into another cavern further away from the scary men trying to kill him. He was confused, why was that old man that daddy liked so much trying to kill him? He was meant to be on there side wasn't he? But that creepy man with him, he was scary, and he could tell he scared mommy and the aunties, even aunty Prue and it seemed like the only thing that scared her was the bad man who had killed her.

But now he had escaped, Kwis needed him, and he knew that the bad men wanted to hurt him. He couldn't let mommy, daddy and Kwis be sad, so he had managed to get himself away from the bad men, but now, he was lost. And those two demons, their black eyes fixed on him, faces covered in blood and teeth dripping hungrily, were now approaching him.

Wyatt blinked, and the two vulture demons were incinerated. However, he then felt even more scared as lots of demons shimmered in all around him, trapping him in the centre of their circle, all of them laughing, jeering and pointing. And then Wyatt started to cry again as Gideon and Barbas both appeared.

"Enough of this charade! It ends, now!" Gideon vowed, raising the blade, and Wyatt was too tried to raise his shield again, and with a tortured scream, Gideon plunged the blade down towards Wyatt's neck.

Only for the blade to blow to pieces in his hand, as the Scathers turned in terror, and even Gideon and Barbas' faces went pale.

The Charmed Ones had arrived, along with a seriously pissed off Elder and the Blessed Ones.

"Get the hell away from my son you arrogant backstabbing murderous son of a bitch!" Piper hissed, and her companions could feel their blood run cold, she hadn't yelled, no, this silky, deadly voice, that was a sure sign that evil blood was about to be spilled.

Gideon looked at them all in shock, raising his hand placatingly.

Barbas sneered at Chris as he and his brother prepared to attack.

"Still alive I see?" he taunted, and Wyatt snarled, his power building as he protectively stood in front of his little brother, glaring at the Demon of Fear.

"You don't understand! This must be done, you know what he does to the future, I am an Elder, just like you Leo!" he insisted, "I am trying to do what's best for the Greater Good!"

Leo's face morphed into a face of utter, dismissive hatred, his eyes hard as he raised his hands.

"The Greater Good? No good can come from killing a child Gideon…least of all mine!" he roared, and before Gideon could react, a bolt of lightning blasted from him, making him scream as it caught him in the chest and sent him spiralling over the cave and crashed him into the wall.

"Wyatt!" Paige cried, and to her immense relief, little Wyatt orbed to her, and even though they all wanted to smother him in love and kisses, it was time to fight, and it was clear from the looks of Piper and Leo that there was no way they were getting away with this.

The Power of Four, the Power of Two and Leo against over a hundred Scathers, a rogue Elder, and Barbas.

Easy.

"Get to Barbas and Gideon." Chris ordered as he and adult Wyatt stepped forward, big Wyatt casting his own shield around his baby form.

"What?" Phoebe asked in shock, and Chris grinned.

"We'll deal with the Scathers. Go!" he urged, and Piper turned back to little Wyatt.

"We won't be long sweetie." She promised, and with a gesture, Leo orbed him behind a cluster of rocks out of harm's way.

"After you baby brother." Adult Wyatt said, inclining his head with a gesture, and Chris smirked.

The Scathers gave panicked cries, fireballs appearing in their hands as it became clear that the two boys from the future were dead set on slaughtering them all. Wyatt simply raised a hand, calmly deflecting all their attacks back at them, and with that he and Chris moved. Disintegration waves erupted from Wyatt, cutting mercilessly through the Scathers, slaughtering them with a scream. Chris had conjured massive combustive orbs crashing through the ranks of the Triad's elite guard, their hands flailing in terrified agony as they were vanquished. Swirling balls combining his electrokinesis, combustive orbs and telekinesis ripped through them all, massive chunks being blown throughout their ranks as Wyatt blasted loads into the ceiling with a gesture, then crushed them, sending them howling into the wasteland. The boys were untouchable, the terrified Scathers throwing fireballs with reckless abandon, only to have them reflected into their owners, vanquishing them with a scream as well. The floor opened into a fiery chasm, dropping more demons down and closing the fissure up behind them as Wyatt and Chris decimated the guards of the Triad, now more than halved in number.

It was into the mess of panicking, terrified demons that the sisters and Leo moved. Piper was in the lead, blasting chaotically running demons out of her way, vanquishing them with a single blast. Behind her, Prue was gesturing, telekinetic waves ripping asunder any demons on either side of the column that the boys and their mother had made. Leo was next, his lightning arcing around him like a comic book character, catching several in the chest as he followed the bloody swathe, they had cut through the Scathers. Phoebe was next, her empathy and psychic reflection channelling her hatred and anger at their foes, hating them into oblivion. And lastly was Paige, her projection power crashing rocks down on the Scathers as they advanced towards Gideon and Barbas.

And to the horror of both the demon and the Elder, they had done this in mere seconds, before Gideon had managed to even get back to his feet.

"See, I told you pissing off the witches was a bad idea!" Barbas yelled as more Scathers died, their screams filling the cave as Wyatt and Chris finished up and Piper was only four…make that three demons away.

No, this was all wrong, he had to kill Wyatt, it was his destiny, he had to stop Wyatt, kill him for the Greater Good, but he knew that if he didn't act quickly, he would lose everything, his soul would be recycled, Magic School shut down and worse, his mission, his destiny, would be a failure.

The sisters then blew apart the last of the scurrying demons out of their way, and Leo surged past them, firing lightning at Gideon who was blasted again before he could even react, Gideon screaming in pain while the girls closed in on Barbas, the terrified cries of the Scathers filling the cave and Barbas backing away desperately as the sisters converged on him.

Gideon crashed to the ground again, looking up at a furious Leo who had lost any semblance of control, and as he scrambled back to his feet, Leo punched him in the face, his augmented strength sending him flying across the cave, slamming into the wall with such force it dislodged some of the rubble that cascaded down around the rogue Elder.

Leo stormed towards Gideon, who was frantically trying to pick himself up.

"Leo, I'm only doing this for the Greater Good, I swear!" he cried in panic, before Leo pulled him up by the tie around his neck, Gideon gagging as he did so, and then punched him in the neck, crashing his mentor against the wall, leaving Gideon spluttering and gasping for breath.

"How could murdering my son be for the greater good huh? Murdering Chris? Murdering Cole? And who the hell are you to decide what the Greater Good is!?" he roared, grabbing Gideon's head and throwing him bodily towards Barbas and the girls, slamming and skidding to the ground in a heap.

"You evil, murdering bastard, did you really think you would get away with it?" Piper snarled, and blasted Barbas in the chest, the power of the emotion pumped blast cartwheeling him through the air into the cavern wall.

"Ladies, please…" he gasped, that had hurt, "it was nothing personal!" he proclaimed, and Prue narrowed her eyes in hatred.

"Yeah, well, we took it personally asshole." She snarled, and flung him into a pile of rocks, him crying out in pain as they did so.

"I'm an Elder, Leo, just like you! It's our job to protect the Greater Good, that's why I did all this!" Gideon proclaimed, terrified as Leo was so angry, fearing it was all crashing down around his ears, and Leo shot him a dangerous, murderous look as he hoisted him up into the air.

"I'm not one of you, not anymore." He spat, and it occurred to Gideon that unless something quickly changed, he wasn't leaving this cavern alive, as lightning flared at Leo's fingertips.

"Think about it though Leo, think of what Chris came here to stop! Think of what you saw in the future! That's what awaits us unless you let me sacrifice your son, it's the only way!" he yelled, terrified of Leo's all consuming fury, and Leo threw him back to the earth, stomping on his head from behind, breathing like a winded bull.

"The only way is to murder my son?" Leo thundered, and Gideon tried to crawl away from him.

"Yes, it's the only way to save the future, let me finish what I started, let me save us all!" he begged, looking for something, anything he could use to finish Wyatt, or at the very least defend himself better from Leo.

"Save us? You listen to me, you sanctimonious, cowardly, backstabbing murdering piece of shit, you're the reason the future's destroyed, it's you, because of what you did to Wyatt! Having someone close, and trusted like you were betray him, constantly attack him for weeks, months, trying to kill him, you broke him and he in turn broke the world! It's you who causes all this!" he stormed, and Gideon shook his head in denial, Leo didn't understand, he hadn't cut the ties that bind, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"And I'm going to make sure that you never get the chance to hurt my family again." Leo vowed in a quiet, venom dripping voice, and Gideon looked at his former protégé in genuine terror.

"What are you going to do?" he whimpered, and Leo's eyes glowed an electric white blue.

"A great evil!" he roared, and lightning blazed from his hands, electrocuting Gideon and lifting him off the ground, the older Elder screaming and writhing in pain as Leo turned his full power onto the man who caused so much damage.

Barbas struggled upright as the four sisters, fury and hatred marring all their features, closing in on him. He had tried to read their fears, to do something, anything, to give him a slight reprieve, but they were so angry and determined to kill him that nothing he tried worked, not even their old fears, they just bounced off.

But then, a cunning thought struck him, there was something that he could do to give himself a break, it had to be Piper's worst fear, that had become all too real today as it was, and he conjured an energy ball and threw it at the sisters, a dark smirk on his face.

The sisters dodged, just as he had intended, and the energy ball went right for Chris, who was finishing off one of the last few Scathers who hadn't shimmered off to safety. Future Wyatt roared in denial, throwing himself in the way of his little brother, his shield springing to life and absorbing the blast, but it was the split second Barbas needed. The sisters turned as one to make sure the boys from the future were alright, and Barbas used that split second to flame out. However, just as he did so, he threw one last energy ball at Leo, after all, the longer the sisters had to chase Gideon…the longer he himself could stay among the living.

Barbas was gone in a pillar of flame, and the energy ball hit Leo, his attack stopping and Gideon dropping to the ground, groaning in pain as Leo staggered away from him. The girls turned to face him, but he caused a flare of light to blind them all and orbed away to safety, leaving them standing in the deserted, smoke filled cavern.

"Damn it." Piper growled, but they could breathe a sigh of relief again, as Chris, having chased off one of the about four Scathers who had survived his and Wyatt's purge, came around the corner with a snivelling baby Wyatt, rocking him gently.

"He looks alright." He said in relief, and future Wyatt grinned, ruffling little him's hair.

"Course he does, we're very good looking." He said with a grin, and there was the faintest tugging of lips on his mother's face as she ran over to her son, taking him from Chris and holding him to her fiercely, determined to never let him go ever again, and Leo then joined her, both of them hugging their son, touching him, assuring themselves that he was alright.

The aunts were then on him too, hugging him and making sure he was all there, all safe.

"Thank god." Piper breathed, pressing a kiss on Wyatt's head, as did Leo, stroking his son's hair.

"We got him back, we saved him." Phoebe sighed exhaustedly, but Chris shook his head, as did Leo.

"Not yet, Barbas and Gideon are still out there." He warned, and his mother looked at him pleadingly.

"Can't we make sure he's safe first?" she asked, but it was Leo who shook his head grimly.

"We can't afford to Piper, if we leave them alive, they'll never stop until they get him." He concluded darkly, and she closed her eyes in dismay, but knew they were right, they had to finish this, and besides, there was still the Triad out there to finish off.

And it would be good to work out her anger.

"Wyatt, take little you home please, stay inside the crystal circle with the others, and protect them and little you. We're going after Gideon." She said in a force of determined calm, and Wyatt took little him from his mother, reflecting on how weird it was to be holding himself.

"Are you sure mom?" he asked, and she nodded, patting his cheek and kissing baby him goodbye.

"Yeah, we're going to end this, end all of it. Go." She ordered, as Leo too kissed his son, before the poor baby was then smothered by his three aunts.

Wyatt nodded and orbed away, taking little him away to safety, and Piper span to Leo, who looked as murderous as she felt.

"Where would he go? Magic School?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"No, he's wounded, he needs help, especially when he knows we'll be after him, there's only one place he can go." He said with a sort of dark triumph, and Piper allowed herself a grim, predatory smile.

And with that, the remaining members of the Halliwell family orbed up to the heavens, to begin the final showdown.

XX

The Heavens were a serene realm, housed in the blue skies and swirling white nimbuses of the atmosphere. White and gold temples adorned the room, with elegant ancient architecture sprawling across the realm, and the small yet elegantly simplistic temple with the white chromed roof that marked the Temple of the Elder Council.

However, the serenity was shattered as a weak and gasping Gideon orbed in, thrusting open the door to the temple and staggered into the council chamber, interrupting a meeting that was already going on, with the twenty something council all sitting at a long, crescent shaped table with a couple of empty seats at different points, and Odin leapt to his feet in alarm as he beheld his friend.

"Gideon, what's happened to you?" he asked in alarm, as Gideon slammed shut the massive golden gilded doors behind him, blocking the views of some very curious Whitelighters who were floating around outside the steps leading to the council's temple.

"I-I've been trying to assist the Charmed Ones in finding out who's after Wyatt…" he breathed, gasping in pain, "and now they believe that it's me who's after him! They attacked me, Leo attacked me! And I fear they're coming here!"

The other Elders looked at each other in alarm, and Sandra got to her feet, looking very unsettled.

"Gideon, what are you talking about? The Charmed Ones think you're the true villain they've been searching for, why would they think that?" she asked, and Gideon looked at her in frantic denial, avoiding the alarmed looks that Kheel and Roland were giving him.

"I don't know, they're possessed or warped or something, but come, we must seal the heavens, before they get in, and then if someone could heal me, I'm in immense pain, now please, let us lock down the heavens before they arrive!" he begged, and Kevin dashed over to help, as did Jonnah, and they sealed the door into the council's temple, into the main council chamber.

"Sound the alarm, if the Charmed Ones have been corrupted then heaven knows what chaos they could cause!" Odin yelled, and Rodney, an older looking, long greying haired, bearded Elder prepared to do so when there was a sound, and he froze, as did the others, all looking in fear at the door while Kheel, his face white with terror, healed a gasping and panting Gideon.

The sound repeated, and it sounded like a lot of people running, and perhaps a couple of cries or screams, and as one, the Elders raised their hands, preparing to defend themselves.

And then the door to their temple exploded into millions of deadly shards of wood that sprayed into the room, and they were instead forced to defend themselves instead of attack as a maelstrom of timber came flying in at them, and then, their hearts froze and their stomachs sank as their attackers waded through the smoke of the destroyed door.

It was the Charmed Ones, and their two Whitelighters who stepped through the burning cinders of their door, forming an arrowhead, with Chris the furthest back, Prue slightly in front of him, Piper and Leo side by side as the point, then Phoebe, then Paige. All of them looked beyond furious, their hands ready to strike at the slightest provocation and despite themselves the Elders all took a step back in fear, while the sisters, Leo and Chris looked around murderously.

Odin, rather bravely in the opinion of most of his colleagues admittedly, looked at them furiously, spluttering in rage.

"How dare you barge in to the Heavens, and into the Council of Elders? Who do you-?" he raged, but Piper then blew up the table he had been sitting at, and he wisely went quiet, though the entire rooms eyes were fixed on the war party warily.

"That's better. Now, for once in your lives, all of you are going to sit down and keep your mouths shut, because I am this close," Piper hissed in a wicked, malevolent voice, her face the definition of utmost maternal fury, her fingers held so close they were near enough touching, "to just blasting my way to what I want, but I think there's a better way to play this. So, Phoebe?" she asked, turning to her sister, and Phoebe scanned the room with her empathy, brow furrowed as she did so.

"Well, they're all intimidated that's for sure," she said with some degree of savage smugness, "a few are furious, a few curious, but there's also a good few who are scared."

"Good. You may wonder what the meaning of this is, why we've come here, why your little sanctum has now been invaded and brought the war that you're so keen for us to fight for you to your door. See, it's been a very long day, we finally found out that the person we've been looking for, the one who Chris came to the past to stop, is actually here in this room. Isn't he, Gideon?" Piper hissed, her voice barely above a whisper but every single Elder was riveted on her every word, hearing the cold, malevolent fury of it.

Gideon felt every other Elder look at him questioningly, aside from two sets of eyes which were avoiding looking at him, and he scoffed.

"Preposterous. Piper, there has been a misunderstanding! I've been trying to help you!" he insisted, and Leo took a step forward, sparks coalescing at his fingers and Gideon took an involuntary step backwards.

"No, you haven't. You've been conspiring for months to murder Wyatt. Tell them Gideon, tell the others who you've been working with." He growled, his voice low and noxious, and Gideon turned to their colleagues, scoffing.

"This is absurd! Whatever got to them all has clearly addled their brains! I haven't done…" he dismissed arrogantly, but it was then that Chris interceded.

"You haven't done anything? Really? Cause I seem to remember you stabbing me in the stomach with an athame, attacking every one of our extended family with lightning, and also killing Cole, or are you going to try and deny that too?" he spat, his green eyes burning with hatred, and Gideon shook his head.

"This is ridiculous, come my friends, what reason would I have to try and kill the boy, or to kill Belthazor?" he demanded, outraged at the slight on his character, and several Elders nodded, but he wasn't getting out of this that easily.

"The same reason you have to work with the Triad, with Rennek, with Barbas and with Shax…to get your hands on Wyatt, so you could kill him for the Greater Good, wasn't that what you said you were doing it all for?" Prue challenged, and Gideon shook his head, turning his back on the sisters, clearly thinking he had the upper hand here.

"I have never heard so much nonsense, my friends, we should send them home," he began, but Piper then blasted the floor right in front of where he was pacing, and he stopped talking, fear flickering across his face as the sisters looked at the rest of the Elders.

"Enough. Do you really all think we're possessed, or enchanted, or insane? Or are you going to listen to us?" she snarled, and while the likes of Odin, Kheel and Aramis looked prepared to dismiss them all out of hand, Odin did look slightly unsure, and Sandra, Kevin and Zola all leaned forward in their chairs, and Zola raised his hands to stop the oncoming tirade.

"Piper, you have to understand, this is highly irregular, but…you do seem to have some potential evidence. I would hear more of this." He said, with a nod towards Piper, and Jonnah, Kevin and Sandra all nodded in alarm, forcing Roland to his feet.

"You can't be serious! The witches are clearly unbalanced, let's send them home, now, while we have the chance!" he stormed, and Paige raised a hand, looking at him suspiciously.

"Why are you so keen to get rid of us?" she asked, her eyes glinting with suspicion, and Roland spluttered indignantly.

"I am an Elder you ungrateful little insect, I don't have to answer to you!" he spat, however her sister thought otherwise, as a quick flick from Prue sent him stumbling back into his chair, and he wisely went silent as he looked at her reproachfully.

"Mind who you're talking to." Prue snarled, and he nodded meekly before looking at his shoes.

"Everyone needs to just calm down. Now, what are the nature of these charges against Gideon?" Sandra asked, taking control of the situation, and Piper ploughed on.

"It was him we've been looking for all along, he's been trying to get his hands on Wyatt for months. To that end, he's worked with the Triad, Barbas, Rennek and Shax, along with whatever other demons they've thrown at us to try and force us to send Wyatt to Magic School. And once he lured us out of the way by getting us to go after the Triad, and sending Leo to get rid of Rennek, he launched an attack on our entire extended family who are all mortals I might add, attacking them with lightning. He fought with Chris and Cole, and fatally stabbed Chris, who would now be dead if Wyatt hadn't arrived from the future to save his brother," she said, and various faces on the Elder's council flashed in alarm, "and he did kill Cole, who was only trying to save my son. We then found him in the underworld, attempting to murder Wyatt, with Barbas help!"

The Elders sat in stony silence, until Kevin, the young former witch who had replaced Ramus, leaned forward.

"Piper, nothing against you, but your prejudice against the Elders is well known, a fact reinforced by your own son's lethargy to save us from the Titans," he said hesitantly, quivering as both Piper and Chris drilled him with furious looks, "b-but all you've done is give us the charges, not any actual…proof…" he trailed off into a frightened squeak and hastily avoided her gaze.

"Precisely, all that we know is, the sisters attacked me, believing that I am the one who targeted Wyatt, which I'm not. My friends, they are clearly disturbed in their minds, we shall wipe their memories, forget this whole unpleasant business and move on." Gideon concluded, smiling a little, he was in the clear, it was clear that the conservative half of the council were leaning to agreeing with him, and the liberal half, which may entertain the sisters, was outvoted.

Prue could also tell that they were losing the room, as more and more were looking at Gideon and apparently coming round to his way of thinking, they had to do something to turn the tide, but what?

"Gideon also resurrected Andy, freed Dan as a means of getting to Chris, and also conspired with the Triad to resurrect Shax and send him after us, he's been dealing with demons, his orbs are corrupted, and we also think he killed Sigmund!" Phoebe protested, while Prue was silent, her mind whirling as he tried frantically to think of a way to make Gideon confess, but the arrogant Elder was in the place where he was strongest, and supported by numerous other Elders, and even though they had the spell and the potion, if they attacked they would potentially all be killed.

Gideon turned to Phoebe in outrage, spluttering indignantly.

"I would never harm Sigmund!" he protested, and that much was true, it had been Barbas who had killed him, he had just tidied up the mess.

"Then where is he?" Paige shot at him waspishly.

"Enough! His orbs are corrupted…Gideon, would you be so kind as to orb for us please?" Zola asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, and the rest of the council looked at him as though he had grown an extra head.

"Even if he orbs, it's not enough to condemn him, just suspect him! We need to get him to confess, to tell the truth!" Leo hissed under his breath, and both Paige and Prue turned to each other at the same time, the lightbulb virtually shining above their heads as they were both struck by the same idea at the same time.

"I-I beg your pardon Zola?" Gideon breathed, the room totally silent as he looked at the heavyset Elder, and Zola made a dismissive gesture.

"Well, if you truly have nothing to hide, orb, that would quickly put to rest the Halliwells accusations against you wouldn't you say? Orb." He challenged, and Aramis scoffed from his end of the table.

"This is ridiculous Zola, don't encourage them! They have forgotten their place, they need to learn to keep their heads down, their mouths shut and their tempers under control!" he croaked, to various nods, and Rodney sent the ancient Elder a challenging look.

"While the Charmed Ones are a tad unorthodox, you can't deny their commitment to the greater good my friend. It's hardly fair to have a go at them when they are accusing one of our own of something so grievous, we owe them the chance to explain themselves and present their evidence. They say Gideon's orbs have become corrupted. Let him prove it, and we can lay the matter to rest." He said diplomatically, though his eyes were on Gideon, a hint of suspicion brewing behind his eyes.

"This is ridiculous, I have been a member of this council longer…" Gideon protested, but Sandra got to her feet, her face suspicious.

"Gideon, what's the problem? If these claims are as preposterous as you say, orb, prove them wrong and like Rodney says, we can then put the matter to bed. If however you have something to hide?" she challenged, and he faced a second of panic, before reluctantly acquiescing, and orbed.

And the entire council started whispering in shocked, scandalised tones as they realised that his orbs were indeed turning purple, and as orbs were blue, to be turning purple they had to be being influenced by something evil, as red was the colour of corruption, and red plus blue made…purple.

"This proves nothing!" Gideon spat, and Leo seethed, he couldn't let Gideon get away with this.

"Proves, no, but firmly puts the suspicion on you though doesn't it old friend?" he asked mockingly, and Gideon glowered at him, "especially with all the things we've accused you of."

"He stabbed me, he killed Cole, he tried to kill Wyatt and he's been working with demons, why aren't you lot acting already?" Chris demanded, and Adair glowered at him.

"This is ridiculous, whatever Gideon may have done, it is in the interest of the Greater Good, which is not for the likes of mere mortals to challenge! Now be silent!" he spat, and Piper reared up at once.

"Wait, aren't you at least a little suspicious as to why his orbs are changing?" she demanded, and Byron shrugged.

"Not really, we've all had to do things we don't agree with, it's how we ensure everything keeps spinning! Now, we've heard enough of this, really, you cannot entertain these tarradiddles of these mortals any longer. All those in favour of banishing the sisters back to the mortal realm?" he demanded bossily, and various members put up their hands, Kheel and Roland among them, though some did so hesitantly as they were looked at furiously by the Halliwells.

"We've brought at least enough suspicion on him to warrant an inquiry, you need to take this seriously, Gideon is the threat here! Listen to us!" Leo roared, and Kheel glared at him.

"This has gone on far enough, unless you want to be removed Leo you will calm down, all we see is a lot of false accusations and circumstantial half evidence. If you insist I will chair an inquiry myself." He purred, and Sandra glared at him, and even Odin looked angry.

"The Halliwells are right, this is serious, if Gideon has been charged with these crimes he must answer for them, an inquiry won't solve anything, we need to get to the bottom of this!" Odin yelled, slamming his fist down onto what was left of his table, and Leo shook his head, sickened by the corruption, ineffectualness and blind ignorance of the Elders.

They were determined to shut their eyes, and the ones most determined to ignore the sisters would listen to Gideon regardless of whatever else may have happened simply because he was an Elder, and they didn't like the sisters. What they needed to do was force him to reveal the truth in such a way that they would be unable to deny it, that they would have to take action…

"So you'll do nothing?" Piper screeched, and while the more liberal minded Elders looked at her in sympathy, the others gave her a stony look.

"You, a witch who has always rankled under our authority, our command, has come to us accusing one of oldest and most respected members of treason, murder and a host of other crimes. You, who have defied our will, our orders the most, you whose son from the future stood by and let our kind be decimated by the Titans, have the temerity to come barging into our realm and listen to you when you falsely accuse one of our esteemed members? Who do you think you are? You forget your place witch!" Roland stormed, and as the entire thing devolved into a shouting match, Gideon allowed himself a small smile.

He knew that the conservatives would take his side. While in the general scheme of things, he himself was one of the more enlightened Elders he knew the thorny nature of the Halliwells, combined with Chris presence (many Elders blamed him for so many deaths during the Titans crisis) would galvanise the conservatives in his support, and while the likes of Sandra and the others would be suspicious he knew they would be outvoted, and as Byron said, they had all done things they had rather not have over the years. Admittedly his transgressions were worse than most others, especially from the sister's point of view, but it didn't matter, he was in the clear, and no matter anyone else's suspicions it would go no further.

However, spurned on by the smug look on Gideon's sanctimonious face, Prue and Paige clasped hands, Paige channelling her projection power to amplify the power of Prue's spell so that it would affect beings as powerful as the Elders, and Prue, for the first time was actually glad that this spell had stuck out so much in her memory after the trouble it had caused her.

"For those who want the truth revealed,

Opened hearts and secrets unsealed,

Within these walls make the Elders speak,

The truth we all find so bleak!"

She then gave a loud whistle, confident that her whistle would only affect the Elders, and besides, it wasn't like any of them had any reason to hide anything.

"Ok, ok, we get it! We'll go," she conceded, and was met with the dirty looks of everyone else in their war party, other than Paige, "but, please, just one last question before we go please?" she begged, and Odin nodded, and it was clear that he too was having reservations about all of this.

Phoebe scanned the room with her empathy. Sandra, Zola, Kevin (who remained terrified), Jonnah, Rodney and a dark skinned woman called Mabel were all on the Charmed Ones side, she could feel that much, and they were highly suspicious of what was going on, but also feeling vaguely helpless, knowing that they were outnumbered and had their own procedures to follow.

Odin, strangely enough, was undecided, though he did look disturbed by the implications of everything.

However, Gideon himself, Aramis, Adair, Roland, Kheel, Byron and Lin were all firmly opposed to the sisters and their claims, and with Leo too furious to think straight, his vote no longer counted, and a couple of Elders had slipped away when the Charmed Ones had burst in, which meant the against party would carry the day.

"Very well, one last question." Odin granted, looking and feeling extremely unsettled.

"Gideon, did you attempt to kill Wyatt?" she asked, and her sisters looked at her, incredulous, but she winked, and Paige allowed herself a small, winning smile.

Gideon laughed, all it would take to end this was to refuse, the conservatives would support him and this would all be over. However, as he opened his mouth, and attempted to say 'no', he found he couldn't. He struggled, again, and the overriding impulse to agree, to admit his treason, his guilt, his soiled hands overwhelmed him. This was impossible, how…

The witches!

He had to act, he had to say no, it was simple, he was an Elder he should be able to refute this charge, and everything depended upon it, he had to deny it.

"Nnnnarrgh! Yes! Yes, it's me, I'm the one who tried to kill Wyatt!" he admitted, and felt sheer, utter all eclipsing horror as the other Elders stood as one, unified in their horror at his treason, his treachery.

"It was you, you've been behind it all along, trying to mislead us!" Kevin yelled, and Gideon, unable to stop himself, cheeks flushed with humiliation, nodded, internally cringing and knowing that with every syllable he further condemned himself.

"Yes, I've been misleading you for months! They're right, I've been working with Barbas, with the Triad, I had them bring back Shax to mess with the Charmed Ones' heads to better get a run at the boy, I even went along with them bringing back Rennek! I'm also the one who brought back Andy to distract Prue, and gave Sirk the list of innocents, and freed Dan! Oh my god, stop me already!" he yelled, and as one the sisters turned haughtily towards the more liberal minded Elders, and Piper raised an eyebrow.

"Need any more proof?" she hissed, and Sandra, who was looking aghast, was on her feet, and shook her head.

"No Piper, you've proved your point. I am sorry, on behalf of all the Elders, allow me to express my deepest regrets that this was allowed to happen. Gideon, how can you justify this?" she asked weakly, shocked at the betrayal of one of their own, and once more compelled, Gideon continued.

"We have no choice! Don't you see, we should never have allowed Wyatt to be born, look at the untold damage he inflicts on the world! We failed to act, and as a result, he destroyed everything we hold dear! I'm sorry, but Wyatt must be stopped, for the Greater Good, and I know I'm not the only one who thinks so! You all agreed, the boy needs to be watched, but look at the havoc he's already caused, he is too great a concentration of power. We must destroy him, for the good of us all, for the Greater Good!" he blurted out, and Phoebe felt a little more shock at those words from the other Elders, Piper's suspicions had been right, there were others in the room involved in Gideon's plot.

"For the Greater Good? Gideon, our bywords cannot be used as justification for such an egregious crime! You have attempted to murder a child, Leo's son! How can murdering a child ever be for the Greater Good?" Zola thundered, slamming his fists into the table so hard it broke as law and order collapsed down within the Elder's council.

"It must be done Zola! The boy is too great a force, he cannot be controlled, if we do not take action it will mean all of our ends! You must see it!" Gideon protested as the conservatives began to turn on him as well.

"Gideon, you attempted to kill a child, you must be dealt with, this transgression must be dealt with. Stand down!" Odin ordered as he and Sandra raised their hands, prepared to strike if need be, and Gideon shook his head, his own hands raising to defend himself.

"No Gideon. I don't like the Charmed Ones never have," Byron sneered, "but I cannot countenance this. Stand down, we will give you a trial."

Gideon couldn't believe it, it had all come down around his ears, but it was the suspicious look on Phoebe's face that worried him most, as she stepped forward.

"You didn't act alone though did you?" she whispered softly into the room, which all looked at Gideon, who was forced by his compulsion, and he shook his head.

"No, there were others, present in this room!" he cried, and Roland and Kheel suddenly both flared up red hot in her awareness as they turned their hands towards the Charmed One's party.

"I'm guessing it's you two?" she asked, and Leo staggered back in shock, the sense of betrayal radiating off him.

"You two as well?" he croaked weakly, and Kheel gestured irritably, though he looked terrified.

"Well of course Leo! The boy is dangerous, we all see it, we all agree on that at least!" he insisted, and Leo shook his head, a blinding, white hot fury flooding him.

"My son isn't dangerous. What he became in the future, it's because of all of you!" he roared, seconds way from losing control, and Chris stepped forward, his own eyes blazing with fury, shaking in anger.

"You lot, the Elders who are meant to protect and guide him are the ones who betray him! Today he watched Gideon attack his family, murder someone close to them, and kill his brother! And then he had an Elder working with one of the scariest demons there is to break down his shield and repeatedly try to murder him! Of course he breaks, it's because of you, because of all of you! You sit up here in your ivory tower dictating to us while none of you have a clue what it takes to fight your war that you're so keen for us to fight! And you think that something you can't control, because it's unique, and strong, has to be destroyed in case it upsets your ability to control the world the way you want it? You betrayed us, you betrayed my brother, no wonder he exterminated the lot of you!" he roared, and Byron glared at him.

"Now see here…!" he interjected, only to be savagely cut off by Odin.

"Shut up you stupid old windbag!" he snapped, leading Byron to look at him in outrage, "now everyone needs to take a breath and calm down so that we can deal with this properly. Stand down." He ordered, and reluctantly, while the three guilty Elders did look terrified, they did all lower their hands, and the remaining Elders turned their attention to their treacherous members.

"You have broken our most sacred laws, and used our mission as justification for your crimes. How do you justify yourself?" Rodney demanded angrily, and Kheel sent a passing glance towards the Charmed Ones.

"You've all said it yourself, the Charmed Ones have become even more uncontrollable since Prue returned! And the boy, the boy is dangerous, the child of a whitelighter and a witch, something we should never have allowed to happen to begin with, has actually managed to eclipse all other beings and has become the greatest threat the world has ever seen! He might be a child, but Gideon is right, the boy presents a threat too great for us to control, and we must take action. We all know what Chris came back from the future to stop, he came back to stop his brother destroying the world, and ending our dominion! The Charmed Ones, even all together, would never be able to defeat the Twice Blessed, so action had to be taken!" he protested, and Roland agreed, looking furious that everything had turned back on them.

"Gideon came to us with the plan, he told us of how Leo confided in him, confirming his suspicions of what the future would become. Gideon is the one who convinced us, he's the one who decided to kill the boy, you can't blame us! We only did what we had to do, helped cover for Gideon as he attempted to find a way to kill the boy!" he protested, and Gideon shot him a filthy look as he turned to the rest of the Elders.

"I admit it, I was the one who originally decided to kill the boy. You have no idea of what we have unleashed, by allowing the boy to be born! His power is too great, he will destroy everything. We have to act, for the Greater Good, to protect the natural order, to protect the Grand Design, to protect the world from the damage that the boy can do! Surely you must all see the threat he poses? He wipes us out, he destroys the natural order, and upends the Grand Design, exposing magic and making himself the ruler of the whole planet which he proceeds to destroy! He is too great a concentration of power, he is a threat to all things, that is why we have done what we have done!" Gideon stormed, and silence filled the room as the Halliwells glared at the treacherous Elders.

"Leo, Piper, you can rest assured they will be dealt with. You have our apologies for all that has happened." Zola assured them, looking at the other Elders in disgust, and Chris looked at them sceptically.

"Wait a minute, you expect us to believe that you guys are just going to deal with them, and send us on our merry way? What are you going to do to them?" he demanded, and the other Elders looked hesitant, and Gideon allowed himself a small smile.

"Oh my dear boy, they won't do anything. They'll lecture us, perhaps demote us, maybe lock us away somewhere for quite some time. But in the end, we'll get away with it, because at the end of the day, far too many of them agree with us. Your brother is a threat, and despite them taking a less proactive stance, many of them actually agree with us. And as we've already proven our worth in this regard, and our long services, well, what do the trivial matters of a human life really matter? Should he matter more simply because he's a Halliwell?" he asked, and then went pale as he realised what he had just said, the fury building, and Leo turned to the other Elders, the ones who weren't on the block.

"Wait a minute, are you saying they'll get away with this? That they'll be allowed to strike at Wyatt again and again? That he'll never be safe?" he thundered, and Piper stepped forward, disgust at their ineptitude and corruption rolling off her.

"Not acceptable. Deal with them, vanquish them, recycle them or something at least, but you can't let them harm our son ever again, that's exactly what starts him off on that path to begin with! You need to do something!" she roared, and Byron looked at her dismissively.

"We have to do nothing witch, learn your place!" he spat, and the sisters flared.

"Our place is to vanquish evil, which your chums here have proven themselves to be! So how about you do something for a change, and vanquish them?" Prue demanded, and Sandra looked at her helplessly, though Phoebe could feel that she actually agreed with the sisters, however much it was torturing her to do so that a final punishment was needed.

"We cannot Prue, it doesn't work like that. Gideon led the charge, and Roland and Kheel followed in his wake. They must be tried, then an inquiry will have to be held, and only then a punishment dealt out. I'm sorry but that's the way that things work here." She admitted, and the sisters looked at them furiously.

"So eventually, they'll get away with it is what you're saying? Gideon murdered Cole, murdered Chris and tried to murder Wyatt, worked with demons to bring us down, and you're just going to let him off with it? And the other two, they helped, yet you still won't do anything? How dare you!" Piper shrieked furiously, and Odin did look sickened, but nodded regretfully.

"It's the way things are Piper, I'm sorry but these are the actions we must take. I know you don't want to hear this, but it's how things are done, though the uniqueness of the situation might mean that we can change proceedings, but…" he excused, though he too agreed that something more strenuous, more severe had to be done, but how to bring it about when Gideon was right and there were others on the council who actually agreed with what they had done, if not the methods?

"Wait a minute, are you saying that if they're tried…they might get away with it and be able to try again?" Paige demanded, and Zola nodded regretfully, shaking his head in sorrow.

"I am afraid so Paige. Well, we would take precautions to watch them, they would never be allowed to harm you or yours again, but that is the way of things, however sickening the fact may be. However I would vote to dispense with the usual pleasantries and sentence them." He admitted, however the looks on the face of Aramis, Adair and Byron made it quite clear that they at least would block that from happening, and would most likely try and get their chums off with the charges, despite everything that Gideon had done.

That was it then. The Elders, when faced with a genuine crisis, once again flailed helplessly, not knowing what to do. Three of their own had conspired to kill their son, but due to the distaste that some of the Elders held their family in, the fact that Prue had returned, and the fact that Wyatt was so powerful, they were reluctant, if not unwilling to act in this instance. They would have a trial, an inquiry, but in the end, Gideon was right. The three of them would be freed, as the others on the council, the ones who secretly agreed with the conspirators, would ensure it. And then they would be right back to square one, and they would be even more devious, more manipulative next time, trying again and again to break and kill Wyatt, which in turn breaks the future.

Rinse and repeat.

"He's too dangerous, surely even you lot must see it. The boy grows up to destroy the world, and while working with demons was an error, Gideon was right! The boy must die, it's the only way we can save the world, save the Grand Design and ensure the Greater Good is fulfilled! And I'm sorry, but you can't really blame us. And who do you all think you are, dictating to us? WE are the Elders, you are our tools. And you have burned us too many times. So take your little victory. Enjoy it. But know that if he winds up destroying the world, it's on you, as you failed to stop him from becoming what he becomes!" Roland spat, unable to believe that this mere rabble had outwitted them.

Silence reigned for a few seconds, as the other Elders gestured for the traitors to be removed. But as long as they lived, Wyatt, Chris, hell any of their progeny, were in danger. And as Piper had once said…there was no greater good than family.

With a furious roar, Leo stepped forward, and lightning blasted out from his hands. Gideon and Kheel lunged to the sides to avoid the attack, but a startled Roland was caught, the lightning ripping across his body, screaming as he did so. The other Elders looked on in horror, but as a couple moved forward, Sandra, Zola and Odin raised their hands, stopping them with a grimly satisfied look on their faces. Roland was writhing and convulsing in pain, Leo's attack ripping him to shreds, lifting him into the air as lightning scoured his body, Roland screaming in pain, the younger of the three Elders screeching as lightning burned across his body, the smell of melting flesh reaching all of their noses as Leo let out his hatred, the sting of betrayal, into the rogue Elder. And with a final convulsing scream, Roland dropped to the ground, his flesh melted, his white and gold robes burnt black, and with a final, sickening crackle of burned flesh, his body formed into a black, formless mass and turned into nothing.

Leo stood, panting furiously, and Piper laid a satisfied hand on his shoulder, glaring at the mess that had once been Roland.

"Leo! How, you dare, he was an Elder!" Aramis screamed furiously, and Leo snarled at him.

"So was I. But I never attempted to kill an innocent, or even turn a blind eye to it, especially a child. Especially MY child! And let's face it, you were never going to act for, what was it, the Greater Good, so someone had to." He growled, then turned to Kheel and Gideon, both of whom looked at him in terror.

"No, Leo, you have your pound of flesh, I swear to you, we'll never harm the boy again, I give you my word! My friends, help us!" Kheel demanded, terrorised, and Sandra shook her head, and Odin, Zola, Rodney, Kevin and even a few others then did the same thing, and he went white as he realised what it meant for them.

"No, no!" Kheel screamed in panic, as Gideon picked himself back up of the floor where he had dove to in order to avoid Leo's attack, and in a blind, furious rage, Kheel blasted lightning at Leo.

Chris then appeared from nowhere, his own lightning lancing out and intercepting the attack of the other Elder as the other Elders watched on grimly. Kheel was desperate, panicking, acting like so many more of their enemies over the years. Chris' power was intercepting Kheel's, keeping his power at bay as the others watched on, and it was then that Chris slipped the pitch black potion he and his mother had made out of his pocket, and threw it at Kheel.

The potion vial exploded, and the lightning dissipated at once as black flames erupted all over Kheel's body. Kheel was screaming in agonising pain, the looks of horror on the other Elders faces showing the gruesome nature of his demise as his veins and arteries suddenly were died black, the black flames consuming him, his body jarring unnaturally, and then, black shadow erupted from his eyes and mouth and with a last, shrill scream of pure torture, Kheel's body exploded in a flash of black fire.

The other Elders looked on, suddenly feeling extremely scared as Gideon struggled back to his feet, the four Charmed Ones advancing upon him. They had killed Roland and Kheel, and now he was next. His plans, his destiny, had come crashing down around his ears, and even his legacy of Magic School would be forever tainted by all he had done. They would never see that what he had done had had to be done, to preserve the Greater Good. And least of all, the Charmed Ones would never see it, would never tolerate his continuing existence, not while he had the capacity to threaten one of their own. The girls advanced upon him sinisterly, like four lionesses pinning a terrified antelope between them. He was trapped, it was over. And even if he ran, there was nowhere left to run to. The other Elders had abandoned him, he was on his own.

No way out.

"The sisters were right Gideon," Odin admitted bitterly, hating what had to be done, but realising the necessity of it, the conspirators would have gotten away with it, and that couldn't be allowed to happen, "killing Wyatt cannot be part of the greater Good. But allowing you to live, I'm afraid, isn't either."

Gideon looked at his old friend in horror. The Greater Good…impaled by his own sword.

And now, he was surrounded by four extremely pissed off Charmed Ones, and he felt terrified, knowing what was coming next, knowing he had failed, knowing it was over. This was the end.

"You should have realised Gideon, that if no one else killed you for trying to murder Wyatt…" Prue hissed as she and her sisters stood around him.

"We would. Goodbye Gideon." Piper spat, and the four sisters began to chant.

"Force of good, now gone rogue

Hark now hear the sister's brogue,

Body rend, mind shatter, dispel grace,

Obliterate this twisted Elder and leave no trace!"

Gideon could feel the spell consuming him. Unfathomable, the four sisters, united, were actually enough to vanquish an Elder. He screamed in pain as the spell took hold, massive fissures of light ripping through his entire body, making him convulse in agony as they burned through him. Screaming, his body continued to spasm and jolt as more cracks trickled across his body, burning him as purple and blue flames erupted out of each fissure, consuming him. Gideon screamed as his head exploded into glowing purple flames, shooting out of his mouth and eyes, the light from all over the cracks in his body overwhelmed him, he clawed at his brain frantically, which itself felt like it was being dipped in acid, and with a final agonised screech, a fireball of purple flames blew outwards from him, blowing the rogue Elder into ruined smithereens, and leaving him, like his colleagues, a foul memory.

Silence reigned in the council chamber. Three Elders were dead, destroyed by the very family they had conspired to murder. The remaining Elders faces were a mix between fury, revulsion and horror. However, on the faces of some, Zola, Sandra, Rodney, even Odin, there was a grim acceptance.

The Greater Good had been served.

"I hope you accept our apologies once again. We had no idea of what they were planning. And you were right, allowing them to make a mockery of proceedings, to survive to threaten your son again, that could never have served the Greater Good. We had three rogue Elders in our number. Now we have none. The Greater Good has been served. I only hope you will one day forgive us for allowing this to happen to begin with." Sandra told them regretfully, facing the stony faces of the Halliwells, and Piper turned to her sisters, who fell back.

Her sisters clustered together behind her as Piper turned to face the remaining Elders. She knew that some, Sandra, Kevin, Zola, Rodney had been on their side, realising that something had to be done. She also knew however that the likes of Aramis, Adair, Byron and others were just as arrogant, just as contemptuous of them, and could possibly one day threaten her children again. However, she didn't care about the distinctions between them all. She didn't care who would have voted what, who had taken their side. All she cared about was the fact that at the moment, she hated every single one of them with a passion she had never experienced before.

"I don't think so," she said in a soft, poisonous voice, which nonetheless captured the attention of everyone in the room, "not by a long shot. Three Elders just tried conspired to kill my son, and one of them did, killed someone dear to us and could have killed many more, all the while working with our sworn enemies. He didn't care if we were hurt or killed, all he cared about was his so called 'Greater Good' and getting the chance to murder my baby. And what was worse, as it wasn't procedure, as many of you might secretly agree with them, you were going to let them all get away with it scot free. So, let me take this opportunity to redefine our working relationship," she purred in a voice barely above a whisper, but as cold as the Antarctic in the height of winter, as she looked stonily at each Elder, some of whom looked at her in dismissal, in contempt, but others did look genuinely terrified of what she was about to say.

"We will continue to do what we always do, fight demons, protect the innocent. That won't change. We may even have a working relationship. But going forward, I want you all to understand one thing: that if any of you, any one of you, ever dare to hurt my family again, try to interfere with our lives in any way ever again, I…will…end…you."

The various Elders looked shocked, aghast at her ultimatum, and some of the more stupid ones (Byron, Aramis and Adair), looked outraged and opened their mouth, however the look Piper gave them forced them to back down, as she continued.

"You've just seen what we can do. We can kill Elders now, be it spell or potion, we can kill you. So, let me put this in terms you will understand: we will fight for the Greater Good. But if you ever decide that hurting or meddling with my family, ever again, is in the interests of the Greater Good, I will destroy you all. I will slaughter every single one of you, if that's what it takes to protect my family. I will bring down every Whitelighter, every Elder, I will bring down the Heavens themselves if that's what it takes to protect my family! Do you understand? I will wipe out your entire backstabbing, arrogant, manipulative species if that's what it takes to defend my family. Do you understand?" she asked, her voice only having risen to a shout once during her whole diatribe, and as one, the Elders, terrified to the last man, all nodded, even the ones who did so reluctantly, shocked at being addressed in such a manner, but they did nod.

"W-we understand Piper. You have our apologies and our solemn vow, that this will never happen again." Sandra promised in a small voice, to the nods of numerous Elders, but Piper had had enough of them and had turned her back on them, turning to her son and fixing him with a little smile, as despite everything that had happened, she could see the little flicker of fierce approval at her words, how proud he was of her.

"Take your dad home please sweetie." She asked him gently, and he nodded, and taking his father's arm, (who was standing staring at the spot where Gideon had vanished, looking stunned), orbed them out, though not without one last, furious look at the Elders who remained.

"That was very impressive Piper. They're all terrified, though there are a few that are just, well, furious." Phoebe warned under her breath, and Piper nodded.

"I know. We'll keep an eye on them. Now, I want our lives to go back to normal, so we have one last trip to make. Paige, take us back to the Triad's throne room please. It's time we finish this, once and for all." She commented darkly, and the four sisters orbed out, leaving a humiliated, defeated and scared council of Elders behind in the council chamber among the evidence of the vanquish of their friends.

XX

The four sisters were knocked sprawling to the ground, bouncing off whatever wards had suddenly appeared on the Triad's throne room as they attempted to gain entry the way they did last time.

"What the…we got in before!" Phoebe stormed, stomping her foot in annoyance, and Piper hissed through her teeth, the Triad must be back if they had reinforced the protections around the cave where they had battled the sisters, they just needed to get into it so they could finish this.

"That was a fluke though, and if they're back, we're going to have a hell of a job getting in to deal with them." Prue complained, flicking her fingers at the wall, only for her attack to dissipate harmlessly, and Piper shook her head in denial, no, they needed to end this, they couldn't be thwarted now, not after so much had happened, not when they were so close.

"We need to get in! Come on!" Piper yelled, blasting the wall with as much strength as she could muster, to no avail.

"I can help you get in!" a voice called, and the four sisters turned to see a female demon emerge from the shadows and into the light, a slight smirk on her face.

She was tall with olive coloured skin and long, shoulder length caramel curls, and the four sisters raised their hands, ready to attack if need be, but she raised her hands placatingly.

"Hey, I won't attack if you won't. I'm here to help. I'm Katya" she revealed, and Paige looked at her sceptically.

"And why would you help us, Katya?" she challenged, and Katya allowed herself a small smile.

"I'll help you because it's the only way to end this. It also happens to be the only way to get what I want, before you ask me what that is. You see, in the last few months, your family has decimated hundreds of demons in your quest to find out who's after you son. I'm assuming the Elder behind all this has been sent to wherever the hell they go when they're dead," she purred, the thought pleasing her, allowing herself a full smile at Phoebe's confirming nod, "and quite frankly, I'm sick of the death toll. I don't blame you, it's what you do, and you were goaded into a war that we had no chance of winning, or if we did, you would make damn sure it wasn't worth it. I want the killing to stop. I don't want any more dead demons. And the way I see it, as long as Barbas and the Triad are around, that's never going to happen, am I right?" she asked playfully, and Piper glowered at her.

"Correct. Tell us what you want, or we pick up by vanquishing you." She snapped, not in the mood for any more games, and Katya sighed a little but continued.

"The Crone wrote the law that no demon should try and harm your kid for a reason. But the Triad believe themselves above that law, and they roped Barbas into their scheme, which was why they went along with the Elder's plan. But now, the Elder's dead, Rennek's dead, Shax is gone and the Scathers have been virtually wiped out. The Triad is about to make a break for it. And if they escape, they will come back, and we'll be right back to square one again. The Triad are incompetent, and power hungry, and sadly, they don't have the brain or the brawn to match you four in a direct fight. But every time they come back, they cause more and more chaos and leave the underworld in a bigger mess than they found it. I want it to end. I'm sick of demons getting killed because of the Triad's endless war, and Barbas is just as bad as they are. At first, he could have taken over, ruled alone, but he got sucked in to their plan too. It needs to end, and demons on the street are looking for a new ruler, one who won't enter into a direct war with the Charmed Ones, and certainly not someone who is part of the Old Guard. Which is where I come in. Here's the deal ladies: I bring down the wards, you go in, vanquish the Triad and Barbas once and for all. I'm then free to take over the underworld. You go your way, I go mine, we all live happily ever after. But I promise you: I will be making sure that no demon is stupid enough to risk your wrath by going after your son. We then have a truce, at least as far as your kids are concerned. Deal?" she asked with a cocky winning smile, and Piper gave her a dirty look as she turned away to consult with her sisters.

"Do we trust her?" Prue asked in an undertone, and Piper gave out a mocking laugh.

"Oohoo, no." she scoffed, but Phoebe did cast an appraising look at the demon, who was now painting her nails.

"Well, strange though it sounds, I think she's on the level about this at least. She wants the Triad gone as much as we do, and would a truce with whoever takes over the underworld once we've taken out Barbas and the Triad really be such a bad thing?" she asked, and Paige looked worriedly at her sister.

"That's true, but how do we know she isn't going to double cross us?" she pointed out, and Phoebe shrugged.

"If she stabs us in the back, we can't take out the Triad for her, which means she can't become queen of the underworld. I say we trust her, well, as much as we can." She decided, and with a last silent agreement, they nodded.

"Ok fine. We'll do it your way." Prue told her, and Katya grinned.

"Fabulous! Ok, just let me…" she said, waving her hand at the crevice they had used to enter the Triad's lair last time, and there was a little glow as the passageway cleared, "happy hunting ladies. Do all demon kind a favour…make sure it hurts." She advised with a grin, before disappearing in a swarm of particles.

"Here we go. Endgame time." Paige said, and orbed the four sisters into the Triad's lair for the second time again.

"See, this is where I'm having the issue! You four can't disappear into the ether and leave me to take the rap from the witches!" Barbas was saying as they orbed behind the outcropping they had used the first time.

The Triad were indeed there, all four of them, floating spectrally above Barbas atop the white circle in the centre of the room.

"That isn't our concern Barbas, you were quite content to usurp control of the underworld before all this happened, you can take over again now. You went along with the plan," Asmodeus sniffed dismissively, and Barbas looked at the leader of the Triad furiously.

"I was forced to! I admit, for a while, it seemed like it could work, but now, the Elder's dead, Shax and Rennek are gone, you're back to being spirits and me…well I'm the last one standing and I'm about to have four extremely upset witches coming after me with the express intention of using my cojones for target practice! See, I warned you, don't piss off the Charmed Ones! You set me up!" he yelled furiously, and Baliel raised an eyebrow.

"And we know when to retreat Barbas. You are on your own, we owe you nothing. It'll take us some time to regenerate, and we cannot do that here. Farewell Barbas." He sneered, and Barbas looked at him furiously.

"Hell no! You're not leaving me high and dry!" he declared, though wondering exactly what he could do the spectral Triad, when they could still vanquish him with ease, mind you that might be preferable to the witches doing it.

"Oh, yes we are. Are you coming with us Xar?" Candor asked, and the other addition to the Triad, sighed and nodded.

"I might as well, I have no desire to join Barbas in oblivion when the witches return for round two. They can take him as their pound of flesh, and we can diminish and go into hiding, until the time is right." He concluded, and Asmodeus nodded in satisfaction.

"Excellent, so we are agreed. We shall retreat, reconstitute and when the time is right, go ahead with the original plan that Dumain brought to us years ago, to use the Ultimate Power to defeat the Charmed Ones. Until then, farewell Barbas. Thank you for your assistance, but we made a run and failed. Give the witches a good chase won't you?" Asmodeus asked, earnestness turning into a sneer, and Barbas looked at them, considering his options, when the four sisters decided to make good their entrance and strolled from the back of their outcropping, the new potion that Piper had made in each of their hands, and he saw them, his face lighting up in sadistic delight as the Triad still had their backs turned and hadn't noticed them.

"I will if you will." He teased, and the four Triads looked at him curiously, before Piper cleared her throat.

"Leaving so soon? Without so much as a goodbye too." She lamented, and as one the spectral forms of the Triad span to face the witches, the dawning comprehension of being about to face oblivion turned their translucent faces pure white as they saw the sisters.

"The Charmed Ones, but how-?" Asmodeus gasped, and Phoebe grinned.

"Katya double crossed you." She explained, savouring the abject, uncomprehending terror on their faces.

"Wha-" Xar breathed, and it vaguely went through his head that it was stupid to still be here, now was the time to leave!

"Yeah, she wants you dead." Paige told them cheerfully.

"Though not nearly as much as we do." Prue concluded with a dark smile, and as one, the four sisters threw their potions before the Triad could even think, the vials smashing against them.

Multicoloured fireballs tinged with ruby flames sprang into existence as the potions hit the four Triads. They screamed in agony as a searing, crimson quadquetra ignited all around them, every orifice of their bodies shining as though they were exploding from the inside out. Asmodeus was writhing, Piper's potion making his eyes roll in pain as he clawed at himself, trying to shake the effects of the potion as orange lightning coursed across him, ripping massive fissures in him which erupted into green blazing flames. Baliel, the victim of Paige's potion, started spinning in mid-air, pink flames spiralling around him, clutching in futility for any sort of lifeline, and he clasped his hands towards his chest as a plume of grey fire burned out of him. Candor, struck by Phoebe's potion, bent in on himself, was struck by red lightning bolts flying from his body, punching holes inside him, which were then filled with plumes of yellow fire. Xar, entwined with searing purple fire, had bolts of blue lightning striking him from within and bursting out into their circle. Their skulls shone through their skin as they cried in exquisite agony, their faces warping and eyes bulging in the maelstrom the potions created, as a cloud of multi-coloured smoke spiralled around them, and with a last surge, all four of their bodies were blown into smithereens in a blast that shook the room, leaving behind four glowing ruby smoke quadquetras hanging in the air that generated from fading atomic explosions before they dissipated into nothing.

The Triad gone, they turned to face Barbas, who gave them a nervous smile as he started backing away.

"Ladies, please…it was nothing personal, like I said!" he protested, as the four sisters advanced upon him, and he tried desperately to read their fears as they stalked towards him, however he did have a horrible, growing feeling it wouldn't help him much.

"That's odd Barbas, because this is personal, deeply personal." Phoebe told him conversationally, and he prepared an energy ball, which Piper blew up in his hand as they forced him towards the wall, and for the first time, the Demon of Fear actually felt true, genuine terror, the sort of which he used to murder his victims.

He tried to read their fears again, but their anger and determination to defeat him was such that his powers weren't slowing them down. And now he was running out of places to edge back to, and there was no way he could get a shot off.

"You evil son of a bitch." Piper ground out and blasted him in the face, sending him cartwheeling back into the wall with a sickening crunch, and he staggered weakly back to his feet.

"Aww Piper, living your actual fear I see, that someone will try and murder your precious little babies," he gloated, not needing his powers to know what hers were, blowing a kiss at her while she glared at him in contempt, "after all, as we speak, someone could be killing your sons all over again."

"No, not this time Barbas." She sneered, and feeling slightly more worried than before, he turned to Prue.

"And my favourite to pick on, dear Prue, you're so scared of dying again, maybe I can help you recapture the old magic?" he asked, but nothing happened, and she gave him a humourless smile.

"Only one demon will ever truly scare me Barbas, and we vanquished him earlier, and he's actually easier to kill than you. It's over." She told him sweetly, and he looked frantically to Phoebe.

"And Phoebe, so scared of turning evil, of being corrupted by Cole again…"

"Who you helped kill, wherever Cole is Barbas, he can't hurt me anymore, and what's more he died good. You've failed your scariness." She mocked, and he turned, desperately, to Paige.

"And Paige, so scared of never being as good as Prue!" he tried, one last time, and she smiled as she folded her arms.

"Yeah, I settled that problem two days ago, your schticks getting old Barbas. We're so done fighting you. And, well Phoebe, is it working?" she asked, and she nodded, a mocking smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, he's terrified of us. I think we should break in the first Power of Four vanquishing spell I wrote, what do you say guys?" she asked chirpily, and he looked at them all in panic, knowing what was coming, and resigning himself to his fate, but not before getting one last shot in.

"You know I'll come back, fear always comes back!" he taunted, trapped, and Piper gave him a humourless smile.

"Not this time you evil bastard," she told him, as her sisters joined her in chanting the spell:

"Hear we four who speak as one

The Demon of Fear has had his fun

End the fright, end the scare,

Blast our nemesis into disrepair!"

Barbas knew it was the end as soon as they'd arrived, and he had to admit, this felt different from his other defeats at their hands. His limbs then twisted and jerked as did his neck and shoulders, folding him in on himself as all consuming pain overrode him. He began to twirl inside the circle they had formed, his disjointed and wrenched body parts clawing themselves apart as he screamed, as swirling particles of energy surrounded him, shredding him from the inside out. Screaming in terrified agony, Barbas felt a shining multicoloured fire erupt from him, blowing out of his eyes and mouth as he writhed, spiralling himself into oblivion, and with a final, high pitched, terrified scream, Barbas blew apart in a massive nuclear explosion that shook the room and with a final plume of dust, the Demon of Fear was gone.

It was over. Gideon and his conspirators were dead, Barbas was dead, the Triad was dead, Rennek was dead and Shax was dead. A pretty damn good day all told for killing bad guys.

"We did it." Piper breathed a sigh of relief, and Prue wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders and leaned her head on her shoulder.

"Yep. We finally did it." She responded, kissing Piper's head as Phoebe also hugged herself into her sister, leaning her head on Piper's other shoulder.

"They're all gone." She said happily, as Paige wrapped Piper in a hug from behind as well.

"And we saved Wyatt." She told her, savouring the sound, and Piper smiled.

It was all finally over. Wyatt was safe, Chris had helped save the future and he was alive, and at long last the long fight was over, their numerous enemies all sent screaming to hell where they belonged.

That didn't diminish everything they had had to do to get to this point either, the pain, the sting of betrayal, and the losses they had and had nearly suffered.

But for now, they had won.

"Well, I for one am ready to go home and see to my son. But one last thing before we go. Give me a boost Paige?" Piper asked, and Paige grinned, giving her sister a power boost.

And with a final flick of her hands, she destroyed the ceiling of the Triad's throne room, and with a roar, boulders, dust and rubble started cascading into the floor, collapsing into the room, ensuring that the throne room would never be used again as the four Charmed Ones orbed home.

XX

They orbed back into the manor, into the hallway. Taking a deep breath, they then entered the room, and with great relief saw everyone standing there, whole, hearty and healthy.

Chris and Leo in particular looked up as they arrived, and with a small smile and a nod, Piper confirmed what they knew, and despite everything that had happened that day, they both smiled in victory. Leo then crossed to his wife, his baby son in his arms, and kissed Piper deeply, wrapping his hand in her hair. Breaking for air, she then took her baby and smothered him in kisses, feeling him, making sure he was alright. Reassuring herself that her son was safe, she then turned to adult Wyatt, who had appeared beside her and he wrapped her in a strong, fond hug. And then lastly, an extremely happy Chris rushed to his mother and she wrapped him in a tight hug, rocking him as he buried his face into her hair, both of them laughing.

Prue gave a delighted smile and rushed to Andy, jumping into his arms as he laughed, twirling her around and then dropping her back to her feet before pressing his lips against hers in triumph.

Paige took Henry by the hand, and with a grin, he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately, Paige snaking her arms around his neck as he did so.

Phoebe rushed to Victor and Elise, and they both laughed as they wrapped her in an embrace, exulting in their victory.

Many embraces were exchanged all round, happiness flooding the room, celebrating the fact that it was finally over. Each aunt assured themselves that their baby nephew was indeed alright, all in one piece, smothering him in hugs and kisses, and when he complained then doing the same to his future self. Victor took Chris proudly by the shoulders and gave him a proud nod, before hugging his grandson to him, Elise joining in on their embrace. Darryl and Sheila embraced each sister, relieved that their nightmare was over, holding baby Wyatt themselves, assuring themselves that he was safe. Henry and Andy wrapped Leo in a hug, which was joined by Darryl. Each aunt then cornered Chris, hugging him proudly, Prue holding on just that little bit longer as Victor embraced each of his daughters, all four of them really, in turn.

After everyone had assured themselves that baby Wyatt was safe, and had hugged each other, Chris then looked at his brother from the future and threw himself at his big brother, who wrapped him tightly in a fierce hug. Happiness and pride overwhelming them both, Piper and Leo then joined in with their future sons, then the aunts joined in, Prue carrying baby Wyatt. Not wanting to be left out, Victor joined in the hug as they all laughed, triumphant, safe and happy despite the losses, and Elise, after some encouragement from Phoebe then joined in. This prompted Andy and Henry to join in with Darryl and Sheila, the entire Halliwell extended family basking in their triumph in happiness and relief in the living room of the manor, having won the battle at last.

XX

A few hours later, the entire extended family was sitting within the booth that the original Power of Three had always inhabited at P3. Wyatt was in his carry chair beside Piper's seat, flanked by Phoebe on the other side, sound asleep, and after Darryl had assured some nosey punter that as the poor boy had just been subjected to a kidnapping attempt, Piper was more than welcome to have her son in here, and the punter had quickly disappeared to annoy someone else. They all sat in companionable silence for a while, Prue, who hadn't been to the club taking in the sights, savouring the feeling, but thinking it was slightly darker in here than it was before.

Victor then returned from the bar, with a trayful of drinks for everyone, distributing them so that everyone had one.

"Well, you can't deny it wasn't an interesting day." He said, mulling over his drink, and Phoebe leaned forward, raising her bottle of beer.

"To Cole…the demon with a soul. We've been through so much, and every time, he always tried so hard to be good. And in the end, he sacrificed himself to try and save Wyatt and Chris. So at last, he finally was, truly good." She mused, feeling herself tear up a little, and everyone raised their drinks.

"To Cole!" they echoed, all drinking.

Piper then turned a fond look onto her son from the future, who was sitting beside her.

"And to Chris," she said, raising her glass of orange juice (being pregnant stank, especially after the day she'd had), "without whom all of this would never have happened. You did it peanut, and we stopped it. We won." She said fondly, toasting him with her glass as he went bright red.

"To Chris!" everyone repeated, and Leo, who was putting a brave face on all of it, looked at future Wyatt, who was beside him while he sat on Chris' other side.

"Wyatt, is there anything you would like to say to your brother?" he asked leadingly, and grinning, future Wyatt rolled his eyes, and raised his glass to his little brother.

"Thank you Chris, you saved me, I'm proud of you little brother." He said, and Chris grinned happily, but Paige, who was sitting beside Phoebe with Henry beside her, raised an eyebrow as she looked at her older nephew from the future.

"I don't think that's all you should say to your brother really, there's something vitally important you should say to him, as his brother and all, he needs to hear it," she teased, and Wyatt gritted his teeth before looking back at Chris.

"Oh alright, fine I'll say it…you told me so, there, happy?" he asked begrudgingly, though he couldn't really begrudge the huge smile he put on Chris' face, he hadn't looked that happy in years.

"Yes actually, I am content yes." He conceded, sniggering as he drank his beer while future Wyatt stuck his tongue out at his brother.

"And lastly, I think there's one last toast to make, to the ones who brought us all here…to the Charmed Ones." Darryl saluted, and everyone raised their glasses and clinked once more.

"The Charmed Ones!" they all cried, and with the toasts done, they all fell into their own little conversations, and Piper just leaned back, surrounded by the people she loved most in the world, feeling content.

It had been a long day, but all of their enemies had been wiped out. Shax, the Triad, Rennek, Barbas and the rogue Elders were all finally gone. The thought of Gideon and his treachery threatened to overwhelm her, but she suppressed the thought brutally. Tonight was a night for celebration, and she wasn't going to let his treason sour her mood. She knew they would all still have to process his betrayal, and knew that Leo in particular would be in for a rough time, but she was confident they could get through it.

Prue was sitting talking to Wyatt, gloating about some time she had outsmarted him in the war in the future, while Andy listened in, riveted, the look in his eyes as he studied Prue making it clear that their love was as strong as ever. Chris and Leo were talking, a sure sign that this time round, Leo would be a good father to his soon to be born son. Victor was laughing and joking with Darryl, while Elise and Sheila chatted, reflecting on the day's events. Henry and Paige were getting cosy, and Phoebe was relaxing with Piper, when suddenly, her jaw dropped as she looked towards the bar.

"Um, am I seeing things?" she asked in shock, and they all looked to see a very strange sight.

Sandra was teetering towards them, wearing a light blue dress and heels. Piper turned to Leo, who was equally as flabbergasted as everyone else as the Elder came to a stop at their booth, having had a few staggers along the way.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, and I-hic-don't mean to spoil your evening," she said, sounding slightly tipsy, and despite the rage that she felt that after everything that had happened today, there was an Elder in her club, she was amused seeing that said Elder was slightly drunk, "but I've to say once again how sorry we are, for everything that's happened. You have our everlasting regrets for all that Gideon did to you, and I am terribly sorry that one of our own hurt you all in such a way. I am here with a message. I know that we can never repair the damage that Gideon has done, but I hope you'll permit us to make things right. After you left, we…discussed our next steps, and feel that at the very least we should begin clearing up his mess. As such, and due to how impressed we were with Prue's efforts to bring down the Mercer crime family in order to get her life back using as little magic as possible, we have interceded, and officially brought Andy back from the dead. Andy, what happened to you, as is what happened to the others, is heinous, and we felt that we should at least provide the aftercare for Gideon resurrecting you so unceremoniously. You are returned to full health, full life, your house and your job will be yours again." She told him, and he grinned.

"Wait, I'm officially back?" he asked excitedly, and she nodded, a slight smile on her face.

"Yes, you are. We have also tidied up Prue's resurrection as well, filling in the loose ends as it were, as a further apology for all that's been done to you by one of our own. I know that we can never truly repay what such treachery has done to you, but I hope you'll accept this in the manner it is intended, as an unreserved apology." She said, and bowed her head before turning.

"Sandra…" Piper called, and the Elder froze in fear and turned nervously back towards Piper, who smiled a little, "pull up a chair and join us." She ordered, and everyone else's jaws dropped as Sandra went a little pink, before nodding.

"I'd be honoured." She replied, and did so, and then slowly started to fit in with the rest, and Piper considered that she could maybe truly learn to tolerate this Elder in particular.

The night past amicably enough, Sandra chatting with Elise, with Andy about his plans, with Paige. Darryl and Sheila talked with Piper and Leo, while Chris and future Wyatt talked in a way they hadn't in years, and the various sisters all relaxed, enjoying the evening. It was a while later, after it was agreed that Leo would need to make sure Sandra got back to the Heavens lest she drunkenly crash to earth at the end of the night (she was a tad tipsy), that Prue voiced what was bothering her.

"Is it just a side effect from me being dead, or is it darker in here than before?" she asked Piper from the end of the couch, and Piper smiled.

"Funny you should mention that sis," she said, turning to Chris, "did you bring it?" she asked, and he nodded, revealing an envelope in his pocket.

"Yep." He replied, giving it to his mother, who then reached over and passed it to Paige.

"I've been remiss in my duties as big sister. Go on, open it." She encouraged, and everyone looked curiously at the exchange, while Paige looked at the letter, feeling slightly bewildered.

"What's this?" she asked, opening the envelope, and Piper smiled as she leaned back in her chair.

"Well, when I bought P3, I had both Prue and Phoebe as silent partners. When Prue died, her share just got split between me and Phoebe. I didn't think that was right, so I meant to do this ages ago and just never got round to it. But what with everything that's happened recently, I realised I had let you down by not doing this long before now honey." She told her sister sweetly, and Paige looked at her big sister curiously before she looked at the deed inside the envelope, and her mouth fell open in surprise.

"A share in the club?" she asked, and Piper nodded.

"Yep, like I said Paige, I should have done it years ago, and I'm so sorry I didn't. So I'll keep the controlling interest and still be in business with my three wonderful sisters, each of whom will now have twenty four percent of the club each." She explained, and Paige smiled and came across to hug her big sister.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed ecstatically, and Piper hugged her back.

"I'm sorry it's taken me this long to do it Paige, I should have done it ages ago. Now, read the deed properly, see what it says." She advised, and her curiosity piqued, she read the deed again, and muttered under her breath.

"You now have a twenty four percent share in the club hereby known as P…" she began, and Piper called over to Jack, who had been waiting for her signal.

"Jack, hit it!" she ordered, and with a grin, her barman flipped the switch, and the sign that she'd had made, a large triangle flanked by two smaller ones on each side, blazed to life.

"Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the management," Jack said into the microphone speaking over the din of the club, "welcome to the first official night of our rebranding, as P3 is now P4!" he exclaimed, and the customers all erupted into applause.

"The Power of Four." Piper concluded happily before she was swamped by her sisters hugging her, laughing.

The rest of the night passed in a happy haze, as people laughed, joked, relaxed and danced in celebration of their victory. Piper and Leo swayed in time to the music, Prue and Andy had a romantic dance, Paige and Henry spent their time together. Victor and Elise were having a deep conversation, joking and laughing. Sandra had sobered up slightly and was speaking with Darryl and Sheila, who interspaced their chats with her with dancing. Phoebe watched Wyatt and chatted to Elise, and to Sandra. And both Chris and Wyatt had disappeared, with both of them getting a warning from their mother to watch what they were doing as they both vanished into the recesses of the club, clearly set on relaxing and having some fun.

It was a night of triumph, tinged with bittersweet sorrow, but together, they relaxed, honoured Cole and celebrated their triumph over those who would hurt their family, and it was a night that made Piper think that they truly were Charmed.

XX

Chris and Wyatt had long since vanished, Sandra had been orbed home by Leo (she was going to regret doing shots in the morning), Victor had escorted Elise home, Darryl and Sheila had headed home to bed, and Paige had snuck away with Henry. Phoebe took baby Wyatt up to his room as they arrived back at the manor, the baby still out for the count. A tired Piper was then escorted to bed by Leo, who elected to stay where he belonged. Andy and Prue brought up the rear, kissing each other as they entered the manor, through the door that the others had left wide open.

"Go on up, I'll be there in a second." Prue promised and Andy gave her a cocky grin as he headed upstairs.

Prue allowed herself a happy smile, she was back, Andy was back, and they had won. She knew Neena was still out there, and Katya would undoubtedly need dealt with in the end, but for now, they were on a high. Now if only people would remember to shut the damn door.

Smiling to herself, she flicked the open door with her power, and it closed behind her with a gentle snap.

The End!...for now

Weve finally reached the end of the primary arc of the Mistakes series (six years later, but moving on), and its all over. Barbas, the Triad, Rennek, Gideon, Shax, all the big bads are gone at last, and Wyatt ha been saved

However, as Prue said, Neena is still out there, and there are still a few loose ends to tie up but that will have to wait for next time im afraid. I'm taking a break from writing for a little while, bu I have thoroiughly enjoyed writing the last few chapters. I'm also currently watching Charmed (proper one naturally) so when I come back after my little hiatus (I hope itll be little anyway) I may very well come back to this story, but I need more of an idea as to what happens chapter after next (I do know whats happening next chapter at least) before we go any further.

Before my closing remarks, Ill educate you on the various Elders I named in this chapter:

Rodney is the one who Wyatt orbs his cake into the face of in season eight, he seems a nice chap

Mabel is listed under unidentified Elder 2 on the Charmed wiki Elder page

Byron is the other Elder who appears in season eight, the one who appears when Piper summons him and an avatar

Lin is the other unidentified female Elder on the wiki

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the mini finale to the tale. So for now, as I'm quite tired and about to start my last three days at work before my holiday (i was meant to be going away but i just need the time off regardless) I will thank you all for reading, will ask you to keep following government advice (if you live in the UK that means the Scottish, Welsh and Irish advice, not Boris) (also not Trumps advice to inject bleach, dont do that either), to keep safe, be nice to shop workers, and please, read and review and I hope to see you all when I return to writing this story!

And lastly, a big thank you to Terra King, who I think should be credited with getting me enthused for writing my Charmed story again, so thank you my friend and ill answer you tomorrow

So until next time, please, read and review!