Note: Although this has absolutely no relevance on this story, I would like to say something:
"The good penguin understands that he cannot fly. But the great penguin uses a catapult…"
The Charmed Ones sat in the joyful, pleasant field, listening to the pan flutes, bagpipes, and light percussive instruments in the background. Leo stood leaning up against a nearby tree with a grim expression on his face, masking the unbelievablejoy he was feeling about being right.
Melody, Cole's daughter, was evil. After all, she was the Source of All Evil. How could she not be? The Charmed Ones had doubted his uncanny intuition,andthey had trusted their sworn enemy.
He stopped the smile that was about to spread across his face. Leo might have been enjoying his little victory, but he had not yet forgotten to be considerate of Phoebe, who had just discovered that her future family was just a bunch of evil demons.
A stout, short, leprechaun ambled over to the four, and tugged on Paige's shirt. She looked down, and wiped the tears of shame she had been silently shedding.
"Um…yes?" she sniffed.
"Miss," the leprechaun mumbled uncomfortably, "we were wondering if you would like to join the rest of the big fellas' down a ways."
The sisters nodded slowly, and made their way to the group of people. Melody, with a wave of her hand, had shimmered them to the Valley, where that had been greeted with excitement by the leprechauns. Leo, however, was given the cold shoulder.
Phoebe stared blankly ahead of her. The clear, blue sky, the sweet smelling honeysuckle, and the lovely background music had no effect on her. Her mind was simply white with confusion and distress beyond any level she had ever experienced. The only situation previously in her life that had even come close was when Prue died. But even then, she knew that her loved one was moving onto a peaceful rest, whereas in this instance those she cared for were to be damned to the demonic wastelands.
Her lively, smart, talented, and beautiful daughter was the Source of All Evil. Cole, whom she was just beginning to trust, had hid this from her, and her six year-old daughter had been around demons for what seemed like most of her young life. Her descendants were to become the disgrace of the Haliwell line.
"So, I guess that Wyatt isn't really evil then, is he?" Leo mentioned smugly to the sisters. He had been disgusted with the thought that Wyatt was evil. But, he had now come to the conclusion that Chris played him, as did Melody and Jonas. Chris may not even be his son… That image from his past may have all been an illusion to gain the sister's trust…
"We don't know that," Phoebe murmured. She was now looking at the grassy ground beneath her feet, trying to concentrate on the springy turf instead of reality.
"I would believe that Melody was evil," Paige started, "but not Jonas, and not Chris."
"You seem sure of yourself," Piper said enviously. Her mind was a black hole, howling through it, sucking up all she was learning and turning it into a stretched, distorted version of itself. Her ears were literally pounding.
"He's my son; I can feel it."
The group of people came into view, and the four people from the past could now clearly make out their figures.
A tall, black man began to run toward them.
"Hello?" Piper remarked, stepping back.
"Who are you?" Leo snapped. The Source had sent them here…could anyone be trusted in this place? He shuddered involuntarily as the thought ran through his head.
"Where's Melody? Is she here? Are her father and sister with her? Did…"
He trailed off as his eyes caught a glimpse of Phoebe in the midst of his interrogation.
"Oh…" he said, his eyes growing wide. "You look just like her."
"What do you mean?" Piper said. David shook his head a little and blinked.
"Melody," he said, "you look just like Melody."
"Actually, she looks a lot like Cole," Phoebe corrected.
"No, you don't understand," he said. "I can…"
"First of all, who are you?" Leo interrupted. Anyone who spoke well of Melody could be an enemy.
David looked around at the expectant faces.
"I'm David, Mel's fiancé."
"What?" Phoebe demanded. The hopeless romantic in her gave n for a moment, and she simply admired the complex beauty of love, as she picked up on the young man's emotions, whose heart burning like a torch for her daughter.
"Yes."
"The Source of All Evil is engaged?" Paige asked wondrously.
David glared at her.
"Don't call her that," he ordered, "she hates that name."
"Then why did she become it?" Leo retorted.
Phoebe stood by helplessly as the bickering increased. She almost feared for Leo as she studied David's muscular arms and shoulders. This man could do some serious damage.
"Are you a demon too?" Piper asked rudely.
"Demons are everywhere in this time," Paige said sadly.
David glared at him, and Phoebe's empathy picked up embers of an old rage. A gust of wind blew on them, and they lit aflame.
But he controlled himself, and answered quietly.
"Nothing is black and white anymore. Wyatt, the being who was supposedly all good, has turned on the world he should have protected. He is the evil of our time, not Melody. The Source's power has been channeled for good. Melody is good. I see it in her, when I read her aura. It's like yours, Phoebe. It's that flaming passion in living to help others. If only you all could see that beauty…"
He stopped, and Leo broke the thoughtful silence.
"The Source's power can't be used for good. It's evil power."
"Power is neither good or evil," David replied simply, but a powerful force stood behind his words, "only the goal for which we use power can be."
With those words, David led them away, toward the rest of the group where many faces, both smiling and scowling, awaited them.