The light that burst from Leo's hands grew stronger and stronger, until he realised what it was. He placed a shaking hand over Piper's wound, and held his breath. At a painstakingly slow rate, the bullet hole began to close up. The blood melted away, and suddenly, it was all gone. Leo gave a relieved laugh, and turned his head to look at Piper's face. A pair of chocolate brown eyes gazed back at him. Piper sat up carefully, hand to head.
'Urgh, I feel…' she couldn't continue as she found Leo's lips pressed to hers. Then as suddenly as he had kissed her, he pulled away.
'Sorry,' he muttered. Piper stared at him in astonishment.
'You really do still love me?'
Leo hadn't known how much Piper had been able to hear when she was dying. Now he realised that she had heard everything he had said.
'I…Yes, yes I do,' he told her firmly. He was about to say something else, but before he could, Piper had stretched up to kiss him. The couple were wrapped in their own world, not noticing the chaos that encircled them.
Phoebe and Paige both fell to the ground, the floor shaking too much to stand.
'Prue?' Phoebe croaked. She stared up at her older sister with worriment in her eyes. Prue was becoming paler and paler. It was as if her actual life-force was being drawn from her body. Paige crawled over to Phoebe.
'What do we do?' she half-shouted over the deafening noise coming from the falling stones.
'I don't know! We could try and snap her out of whatever trance she seems to be in, but I'm worried that it might hurt her.'
'I'm new to all this,' Paige told Phoebe, panic in her eyes. 'You have to be the leader here.'
Phoebe felt an icy pit form inside her stomach. She had always been the youngest of the family. Prue was the leader, not her. Phoebe couldn't imagine losing a sister. It was her greatest fear, the one hidden so deep inside her heart that even she had trouble recognising it. Suddenly, Phoebe remembered her other sister.
'Piper?' she yelled, twisting her head around to the place where she last remembered the middle sister to be lying. To her relief, she saw Piper and Leo…kissing! Her wonderment was short lived, however, as she turned her attention back to her sister who was still in danger.
'Piper, Leo, get over here!' she called over the noise. Piper and Leo jumped apart, looking like guilty teenagers. Then the full danger of their situation hit them.
'Oh my…Prue!' Piper gasped, crawling over to join Phoebe and Paige. 'Leo, what should we do?'
'If you try anything physical to get her back, I think you could risk losing her completely. Her soul seems to be connected to her powers.'
'Prue, can you hear us?'
The hundreds of astral-Prues had disappeared, and Prue found herself back in her body. There was darkness inside her mind, and she couldn't think clearly. Fear threatened to take her over completely, as she felt herself slowly slipping away with her powers.
Prue, can you hear us?
She was sure that she could hear Piper's voice. But wasn't Piper dead? Didn't Pratt shoot her?
Prue, your powers don't control you. You control them. So fight it.
There was Phoebe's voice. Prue struggled to clear her mind of the darkness.
Prue, I haven't known you for long, but I do know that you are strong.
There was another voice there, one that Prue couldn't place. The more she tried to remember who it was, the clearer her mind became. Suddenly, she remembered everything. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked down to see Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo crowded around her feet.
'Hey,' she half-smiled at Piper, relieved to see her alive. And then she collapsed on the floor.
Paige relaxed as the ground ceased to shake. She stood up on wobbly legs and tried to stand firmly. Piper, Phoebe and Leo were still by Prue's side. Leo had his hands held just above Prue, and a glow was emanating off of them. Paige watched in astonishment as Prue groaned, and then opened her eyes.
He must be able to heal people Paige thought jealously. Being a witch will be better than I had hoped!
Piper and Phoebe flung their arms around Prue.
'Ooof!' she groaned, and then laughed at her two younger sisters, arms wrapped tightly around the pair.
'I can't believe we almost lost you!' the three said at once. And then they looked at one another.
'Whom exactly were you referring to?' Prue teased Phoebe. Phoebe smiled.
'Both of you!' she informed her sisters. 'We all almost lost each other.'
Paige moved back slowly, feeling as if she were intruding on some private moment.
They're your family now, too she thought to herself. You'll have to tell them the truth soon.
She opened her mouth to say something…anything, but the sisters were still talking.
'We have to sort this whole mess out for once and for all,' Prue was telling Piper and Phoebe as she struggled to her feet. 'If I really did cause this earthquake, who knows what damage might have resulted because of it. I have to fix this.'
'Well, we certainly aren't turning back time,' Piper retorted. 'Pheebs and I almost lost you today, and we don't want to have to go through all that for real.'
'I almost lost you two as well,' Prue snapped back. 'And it isn't just the question about my life. What about all of the innocents that will still be hunted, especially after what happened today? We three will be fugitives, running from Pratt and his men. And what if I killed innocents with the earthquake?'
'We'll think of something,' Phoebe broke in. 'We always do.'
'What if we can't, though? We need a solution now! Today, I felt what it would be like to lose you two. I mean, we only just got Pheebs back when Piper was shot… I don't want to risk something happening to either of you.'
'Prue, how do you think we felt when we risked losing you today?' Piper asked gently. She realised that her sister was being overprotective again.
'Yeah, Prue. I mean, if we reversed time, we would have to live through that,' Phoebe added. Prue bit her lip, realising the sense in what they were saying.
'Ok, fine.' She agreed, relieved that she wouldn't have to face dying again. At least not until the next demon attack.
'That still doesn't leave us with an answer.'
'Guys?' Paige said tentatively, but she was so quiet that no one heard.
'I suppose we could try erasing the memories of everyone,' Phoebe suggested.
'Come on, Pheebs. Not even we are that powerful!' Piper scoffed. 'It would take an enormous amount of energy- something I don't think any of us are fit to use right now, let alone whether or not we actually have enough power.'
'Guys?' Paige repeated, this time a bit louder.
'Well, I don't hear anyone else coming up with a better idea,' Phoebe retorted. 'And it is a good plan, if only we could do it.'
'Guys!' Paige raised her voice. She needed a lot of nerve to say what she was about to say. She had to do it now, before she was too scared.
'No offence, but who are you, exactly?' Phoebe asked Paige.
'I'm Paige Matthews,' Paige replied hurriedly.
'She's half witch, half whitelighter,' Prue explained.
'Just like Melinda,' Piper added.
'Actually, I'm something else as well,' Paige cut in. 'I'm also your half-sister.'
Well, another chapter done. I hope you all enjoyed this one. At least it wasn't as depressing as the last one! Only a few more chapters to go… I'm getting near to the end!
A question to all of you who have read my fic 'Brain Drain'- it was meant to be a oneshot, but I got a couple of reviews asking me to continue. Should I make it into a mini-story (4 chapters, or so) or is it best to leave it there?
Thanks to: Hotcutii, Charmed4eva112, Awf, Charmedfan90, SSL, Shawn-n-Bell and scme for the reviews!
Please review!!!!