Oni-Gil: Yep. Very sad. I know. I loved writing it. Alas, it only gets worse, but not in this chapter...
catreddick4: I have said it before, many times, and I shall say it again. It is quite sad...it gets worse. But for now, this chapter is only to prepare you...you know, read it, then get a box of tissues cause the next one is coming soon!
Kings Lioness: Sorry it took so long to update. I have been kept incredibly busy, what with Cross Country and homework and theatre and choir, and now being sick, but I updated at last and hopefully the next chapter will not take two weeks to get updated. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, because the next chapter, chapter 30 is the one I spent the most time on figuring everything out...
Patricia L. Bryans: Yep, and it's sad how everything happens. At least now they know. Too bad there was no other explanation for Greg and Laurel's death. It's horrible. Especially how Greg dies, cause he's mortal...
Aussie-Soccerfreak4: Thank you for reading this, Bethie! You rock my world!
-29-
As soon as they had arrived in the main hall of the Miller's mansion, the Halliwells released each other's hands and looked around, awkwardly. They had only heard stories and legends about the house that the Magicked Ones lived in, and even though they knew it was similar to theirs, they were not prepared for the actual sight. Picturing a beautiful, homey living space, the Halliwells had forgotten that the other witch family had gotten attacked at this house and were promptly kidnapped, leaving them no time to clean up.
The room that they arrived in was a mess, burned and singed from demons that had presided there briefly, and from the aftermath of the attack by Lynxe and her followers. Chairs were up-turned and charred, and broken glass littered the ground around empty window frames. Pieces of cotton and fabric were strewn across the carpet, blasted from within the furniture. Earth scattered the floor, adding to the crunch underfoot, a result of pots of flowers and plants being smashed to the floor. The beautiful interior design that the Halliwells had expected had been ruined by Evil, and they couldn't help looking around with dropped jaws.
"Hey guys! In here."
The Halliwells turned to see Heather beckoning them through a doorway. Crossing the room slowly, still glancing around, they did as they were told, not speaking to each other, nor keeping eye contact. As the Charmed Ones stepped into the Miller's kitchen, they saw Sam and Kate already cleaning, picking up bits of fallen jars from the floor, while Lucy was taking out a large cauldron from a cabinet whose door was swinging, broken, on its hinges. "This is where we'll make the potion," Heather told them all as the other family joined them. Turning to the Halliwells, she added, in an apologetic voice, "Sorry about the mess. It's never like this. Kate has it spic and span all the time."
"Don't worry about it," Piper told her, quickly, averting her eyes.
"Anyway, we should all split up jobs, I think," Heather continued, quickly, to stem the embarrassment. "Piper, Paige and Sam, you three can make the potion as soon as we can find one powerful enough. Kate, Prue, and I will check the Book of Shadows. It's still up there. Evil can't touch it," she added, answering Paige's confused look. "We'll have Phoebe and Lucy draw up a spell again since they seemed to work well together and they both do that for their powers anyway." She stopped then and looked around.
Lucy stood in the corner of the kitchen leaning snugly against Kate, whose arm was around her youngest sister. Kate's eyes were on the floor, as if they were searching for a dropped possession and her mouth was close, as it normally was. Sam had a hand resting on the counter as she was listening to Heather. Prue and Piper were standing together, listening intently to her instructions, but Phoebe, who stood opposite Heather, and Paige, who stood alone, looked slightly uncomfortable, awkward at being inside the house of the Magicked Ones. Heather saw their hesitation and smiled. "It's all right, you guys. We can help you find what you need. We're here to help each other, after all." She looked up and met Kate's eyes at last, and saw worry swimming in them. Quickly looking away, Heather tried hard to swallow her own doubts and said, "OK, let's go to work. The sooner we vanquish the demon, the sooner we can get back to our lives."
Slowly, the women went their separate ways. Before she went upstairs, Kate stayed behind, watching Lucy go into the other room with Phoebe. As soon as the youngest Miller was around the corner and out of earshot, Kate looked over at Heather. "What are we going to do?" She asked suddenly, struggling with an emotion that threatened to overpower her. She was shaking, and her hands were clenched on the edge of the counter to steady herself.
Heather was slightly startled. "What do you mean?" She asked, taking a small step forward, but Kate stepped back.
Kate's eyes continued to fill with tears. "I mean, look at us," she continued, spreading her arms slightly. "We barely escaped that demon alive. We almost lost you, and we almost lost Lucy. We just found out that you are related to Piper Halliwell, literally, and that our mother and father were murdered by a demon who was supposed to kill someone else, like us. Now our house is destroyed and my sisters are in a danger that I can't fight." She buried her face in her hands and began to cry.
A bit thrown off by her normally strong sister breaking down like this, Heather only hesitated a fraction of a second before crossing to her and pulling her into an embrace filled with all the love in her heart. "I would never, ever let anything happen to you, Katie. Never. I'll keep you safe. I love you so, so much," she whispered, her mouth close to Kate's ear. Then, she kissed Kate's forehead passionately, and again, and held her as tightly as she could, feeling each of Kate's sobs against her body.
"Oh! Sorry! S-sorry!"
Heather looked over Kate's head to see Prue stop abruptly in the doorway, her eyes widening at the sight of the two sisters hugging.
"Sorry!" Prue repeated, awkwardly trying to turn around. "I'll-I'll just leave you two alone," she murdered, starting to leave the room, but Heather, pulling out of the embrace but leaving an arm around Kate, said, "No, please, Prue. Stay."
The older woman obeyed, still looking flustered. "Well, I, uh, was waiting for you two . We're going to look in your Book..." she began.
"Yes, we were just coming," Heather assured her, trying to smile.
Prue, returning the smile, came into the room all the way then and said, slowly, "Look. We'll do all we can to help. He's our enemy too. Anything you need from us and we'll do it. We...we're bonded, after all. We'll help."
Heather and Kate crossed the kitchen slowly. Putting a hand on Prue's shoulder, Heather said, "We know you will. Thank you," and pulled Prue into a hug. The Halliwell was taken aback, but returned it. After some long seconds, the women pulled away from each other.
Shuffling uncomfortably, Kate spoke quickly. "Upstairs?"
Her sister nodded and Prue said, "Yeah," and the two Millers lead the way up to the attic, where the Book of Shadows lay ready to be examined and consulted.
Two hours later, Lucy sat up straight, arching her back painfully and massaging her stiff muscles, but she was waving a yellowed piece of paper in her hand victoriously. "We got it," she yawned. "It took us a while, but we've finally made a spell that should work."
Prue stood up and stretched too. "How can you be sure that it'll be strong enough?"
"Well, we've combined each family's strongest spell: the spell to vanquish the Source, as well as combined the Power of Three and Power of Four spells. It's strong enough," Phoebe said, finishing reassuringly and confidentially.
"And will holding crystals work?" Heather asked, looking up from the Book of Shadows.
"No evil can escape them," Piper responded. "I don't think Zoltof will, as powerful as he is. But we might only have seconds before he breaks through. that's barely enough time. We have to move quickly once we've found him."
"Well, we have our strongest set of potions, plus one that was just entered in the Book," Sam added in, looking at Prue with raised eyebrows.
Prue returned the look and smiled. "You probably get help from your ancestors as well." She turned to the page Sam had been looking at and said, "In this case, a 'R. Alena'." She looked at the Millers again. "Who is R. Alena?"
"Rachel Alena," said Kate's quiet voice after a moment. The others looked at her. She had barely spoken in front of the Halliwells at all and they were a bit astonished, but they didn't show it. The Miller's however, were used to Kate's silence, but valued her input when she gave it and listened carefully. Kate continued. "She's one of our ancestors. Quite a famous witch, actually."
Heather studied the entry in the Book as well. "That explains why the writing is difficult to read," she commented, running a hand over the yellowed page. "It was written by someone who lived a couple hundred years ago."
Silence floated around the room as they all thought of this until Paige said, shifting in her chair, "So, getting back to Zoltof. Do we have a plan?"
Phoebe finished copying the last word on her spell then put down her pencil, before looking up at her sister. "Well, you and Lucy will have to place the crystals around Zoltof, and-"
A gasp from Heather made them all look around at her, Phoebe stopping abruptly in mid-sentence. The eldest Miller had suddenly gone pale. "You want...Lucy to do that? It's too dangerous! He's too powerful!" she was breathing heavily and clutching a chair in shock as she stared incredulously at Phoebe.
"Heather," Lucy said, almost whining. "I can handle it. I'm older than I used to be. I can do this now."
The older girl shook her head. "No. It's too dangerous. I won't let you," Heather said sharply, shaking her head. A hand rested lightly on Heather's shoulder then, and she turned her head to see Piper at her side. A strange feeling overtook her, then a soft jolt of electric energy passed through the two. But though they both looked into each other's eyes, slightly frightened, no one else seemed to notice.
"You have to let her go," Piper said, softly, seemingly ignoring the jolt she had just felt in her heart. "She'll be orbing so she'll be too quick for Zoltof. You can't protect her forever."
At these words, Heather angrily shrugged off Piper's hand. "It's my job," she said, backing a few paces away from Piper and folding her arms. "I have to protect them."
"No, Heather, you don't," Lucy snapped to her sister, causing Kate and Sam to gape. They had never seen Lucy snap at Heather. Of course, being sisters, they had their rifts, but Lucy had never snapped, and they had never seen them fight as passionately as this. Heather, too, seemed to be taken aback. She opened her mouth quickly, as if to say something back, but closed it again, her face pale. "I'm not a child anymore!" Lucy continued, desperately. "I'm an adult! I can take care of myself."
"You're barely an adult, Lucy!" Heather replied, her voice rising, sharply without her meaning to. "You're barely 22 years old, and-"
"What does age have to do with it?" Lucy retorted, closing the Book of Shadows with a loud snap and cutting Heather off. "I'm a witch," she spluttered. "I have powers that I can protect myself with. What do you want from me?"
"I can't lose you again!" Heather cried, slamming her fist down on the table next to her angrily, leaving an abrupt silence in the room. Lucy stared at her sister, her mouth half-open and quivering, shocked into silence. After a few seconds, Heather's fist relaxed and she exhaled, releasing a fresh set of tears. "I can't lose you again," she repeated in a quiet sob, and she put her hands to her face.
The Halliwells looked around, shocked and embarrassed, and Prue was wondering if they should leave to give the Millers privacy, but the sound of Heather's voice continuing to talk changed her mind.
"I thought those demons had...had killed you," Heather choked, not looking up at Lucy but staring instead at the table. "I thought they were screwing with our minds, trying to break us, asking us where you were simply to torture us before they killed us too. I thought...that they captured you and killed you in order...in order to get to us. I died inside when I woke up in that room with only Kate beside me. And...when..." she shut her eyes tightly against the memory, fighting to speak. "When I saw Kate and Sam tied up, side-by-side later, and didn't see you again, I thought...I knew that they had already..." She broke off and melted into sobs then, her head in her hands, shaking violently as she cried. She had been so sure that Lucy was dead that she had given up her will to live. She fought only to save Kate and Sam. And when she had been stabbed--Heather couldn't even think of what had happened, could barely remember, but what she could definatly terrified her. When she was lying on the floor, she felt her life slipping away, and she saw Lucy. And her will to live was already murdered by the demons who had tortured them, and then Lucy was there, shining in-Heather could not remember clearly-violet light...an angel...Lucy was an angel and greeting her into the next life. Then, Heather dimly saw Lucy next to her, and Sam, and Kate...
A hand touched her shoulder, but she did not look up. Through the corner of her eye, Heather saw Lucy beside her. Slowly, Heather raised her head to look at her youngest sister. Their eyes met. Then, Lucy leaned forward and pulled her sister into a tight hug and held her there. The seconds dragged by as Lucy held Heather, who's tears soaked the younger one's pale violet top as she continued to cry. Lucy rocked Heather back and forth, stroking her hair, then, planting a kiss on the top of Heather's head, she whispered, "I love you so much. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry. I love you. I love you, Heather. I'm sorry."
Heather returned the embrace then, fiercely and passionately. "I'm sorry," she whispered in turn.
"You're right," Lucy agreed in a whisper. "I'm too young. I'm too young to do this. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have said anything. I should be grateful that you've been here forever. I wasn't. I'm so sorry. You won't lose me. You never will." Lucy let Heather pull out of their hug as she spoke.
"No," Heather said, scrubbing a hand across her eyes. "No. You...you should do it, but only if you feel safe. I was wrong to hold you back all these years. I don't want you to carry this burden. I don't want you to end up...like Mom and Dad."
Lucy's eyes blinked out a tear. "I have to do it," she replied softly. "It's my destiny. My part of the destiny, just as yours is to read that spell with Piper. Just as Kate and Sam's is to cover us. It is my destiny. This is what I'm meant to do and I have to do it. I have to take that risk for all of the world. My life doesn't matter. It's everyone's lives that I'm worried about."
The eldest Miller nodded, trying to block out the last statements that made her heart burn, and trying to smile reassuringly as she brushed a tear from Lucy's cheek. "I know," she said, brokenly. "I know."
Waiting for a few seconds to make sure the sisters were finished, Paige stepped in again, clearing her throat. "Um, excuse me for interrupting, but we should really get going. The entire existence of the universe rests in our hands and I think it's time to kick some demon ass."
The others tried to laugh in spite of the situation and Prue took control at once. "OK. Gather up these potions, Pheebs. Piper? Make sure Heather has a copy of that spell. We think that since you two are related, you'll be the strongest power to read it. You each have a bit of us in you anyway, in your blood, so we'll all be included in it. All our powers. All our strengths. Kate, grab those crystals to your right. That's it, that bag."
The eight witches then gathered in the center of the room. Each looked into the others eyes. The day of reckoning was here. The prophesy was about to be fulfilled, or failed. Clasping the other's hands, the Millers and Halliwells each took a breath, trying to prepare themselves, or perhaps to calm themselves. None of them knew what they were to face. None of them knew the danger that they were orbing into. None of them knew if they were all going to survive the day.
At a quick nudge from Prue, Paige took another breath at the same time as Lucy did, and together, they orbed them all back to the Halliwell manor. The day of reckoning had come. It was kill or be killed now...