Love's A Witch

Looking at the woman sitting opposite him, Milton understood for the first time what the others were feeling; seeing a face that you know on a mind that you don't. Sophie hadn't wanted to come. She was trying to move on but Chris was convinced it would help.

'You'll jog his memory,' he had urged. 'C'mon, Guinevere took your form. It must mean something.'

'Yes,' Sophie had replied, 'that they didn't know what the situation was until they found him and then it was too late to change.'

'Sophie. Give him a chance.'

Of course, the only memories Sophie did jog were ones of Guinevere. She felt it and looking at Milton, she wasn't sure that he held many memories for her. He was scrawny and pale. His back was hunched and he didn't smile. She was relieved to find that he was not the man she had loved.

The family sat around awkwardly. It felt like they were waiting for someone.

'I'm sorry,' Milton said, 'I don't remember.'

Paige and Phoebe had met for breakfast earlier that day.

'Y'know I hate to say it but…' Phoebe wouldn't dare say this to anybody but Paige. Not Leo or Chris. Definitely not Piper. 'D'you ever think maybe… Well, I just wonder what makes a person that person, y'know. What do I have to lose to stop being me? I mean, it's not physical, is it? Y'know, we've all been possessed at sometime or other and just because they had our bodies, didn't make them us. I just wonder if Wyatt can ever really be Wyatt again. If it isn't somebody else, a new person that was born somewhere in the jungle. That was raised by demons.' Phoebe stopped and breathed. She felt relieved to have said it.

Paige stared, long and hard, as all good stares are. After a while, she spoke, 'Wyatt never moved on. His soul remains in that body. We just have to keep looking for it.'

'That's okay, Wyatt. You don't have to remember.' Phoebe thought about her conversation with Paige. Phoebe wouldn't have minded if Wyatt never remembered a single birthday party or demon attack. She desperately hoped that somewhere in between the memory spells and the reunions he might start to remember what it was like to have family, what it was like to be a Halliwell.

Milton stared at the floor. He was bored of trying to remember things. The problem with not having memories is that you don't cherish them.

'TJ had started to teach me about demons.' He looked around the room challengingly. 'I fought one, on a train – that's how we met. I want to know more about that. I think I should know more.'

'Fine. I'll train you.' Chris was not the obvious candidate for teacher but he spoke up first.

'Maybe you should use magic school.' Leo offered.

'No, we'll do it at the club.'

'Well, I'll help you if you like.' Leo felt he should be the one to train his son.

'No. We'll do it alone.' Chris stared at Milton. 'Just you and me, brother.'

'Fireball. React!' It was an illusion. Milton managed nothing. The fireball flickered away. Chris sighed exasperated.

'I thought you fought a demon on the train.'

'Yeah, with an axe, not a spell.'

Chris raised an eyebrow, 'I wasn't expecting a spell. Just… I thought you might have frozen it or something.'

Milton felt a stab of inadequacy. 'Can't you just tell me how to do it.'

'No. It's down to you. Everybody's magic works differently. Paige and I, for example, have pretty much the same power but she uses words and kind of orbs things along. I use my hands and sweep them.'

'You move things? What about the illusions? Isn't that your power too?'

'That's a spell. Any witch can write or read a spell, make a potion. Their only limit is their power. I'm talking about active powers. Their the first things to come and they develop with you. They're personal to you and automatic – you don't have to learn them. You just have to control them.'

'Cool. You move things. So does Paige. What about everybody else?'

'Phoebe has premonitions and empathy. It's all about seeing and understanding. She's become very powerful. At the beginning it was mostly flashes, obscure and difficult to understand but now… she could pretty much see anything.'

'So how come she couldn't see me?'

'She would say it was down to your identity crisis. Not that she couldn't see you but that you weren't recognisable. Even then though, I think that Phoebe's powers could overcome those limits but she fights them.'

'Why?'

'Can you imagine what it would be like to only ever see the bigger picture? To experience the world's history all at once? Think how it is for Superman, when he hovers above the earth, hearing everything. Take that and times it by the infinite reaches of time and you will have a glimpse of what it is that Phoebe is fighting.'

'But I thought you guys were all about the greater good. Shouldn't Phoebe just suck it up and stick it out? There's got to be sacrifice if there's a war to be won.' Chris's voice shook with anger, 'you have no idea what you're talking about. Nobody understands sacrifice for the greater good better than this family. Christ, you gave your life for it.'

Milton double took. The jungle hadn't been spoken about. Now that it came up, he was no longer sure he wanted it to be. 'Memories you mean. I'm still alive.' He clenched his jaw, 'now what about my powers?'

'Freezing, telekinesis – you move things with your mind – illusions, energy bolts, orbing, force fields, healing, exploding, astral projection… You name it, you had it. Everything apart from seeing. You were the greatest witch that ever lived. The twice blessed child.' Milton couldn't be sure if Chris's tone was accusatory or regretful.