Seeing is Believing
Victor started to walk towards his oldest daughter. She just glared at him but said nothing. Instead she turned her gaze to her sisters. She could see the faint black aura about them. They hadn't said anything about her sisters glowing.
"Prue, you should have called me to pick you up from school," Victor said, stopping a foot or so away from Prue.
"You hurt them," Prue accused him, squinting her eyes at him. He stumbled back a few feet, looking shocked.
"What are you talking about, Prue? I didn't hurt anyone," Victor replied, trying to catch his balance.
"Yes you did. You left us. You hurt my sisters. You won't hurt them anymore," Prue spat, concentrating, sending him flying back into the wall.
"Prue…stop," Leo begged, putting himself in the way of Prue's line of fire.
"No. They said he was hurting them. He can't hurt them anymore. He can't hurt them if he's dead," the ten-year-old retorted and tried to push past the whitelighter. Leo grabbed her and held her firmly by the wrists.
"Who told you that?" Leo wanted to know.
"I don't have to tell you that," Prue answered, struggling against his grip.
"Were they demons?" he demanded.
"No…I don't know. Let me go!" she protested. Just then Piper took a step towards her older sister.
"Let her go," she said, raising her hands.
"Piper…" Leo trailed off. This was a disaster. He couldn't even keep his charges safe for forty eight lousy hours to make sure they traveled the right path. Reluctantly he released Prue's wrists. Phoebe just looked on as her sisters looked at Leo. She was scared. She had no idea what was happening. She looked over at Victor as he lie motionless on the ground.
"Prue," Phoebe rasped.
"What?" Prue asked, her voice gentle.
"Is…is Daddy dead?" the five-year-old whimpered.
"I hope so," Prue answered. Phoebe's entire body began to quiver. Her Daddy couldn't be dead too. It wasn't fair. She bolted as fast as her small legs could carry her up the stairs to the first landing. She turned down the hall and tossed herself onto her bed. This wasn't right. She couldn't tell why but she just knew something was very wrong. Prue watched her baby sister run up the stairs. She had a momentary lapse of anger at her father. Hurting him had made Phoebe upset. It was probably because he hurt her first.
"Prue…why are you trying to hurt Dad?" Piper asked, hands now down at her sides.
"Because he hurt you and Phoebe. And no one hurts you," Prue answered just as Victor started to wake up. He sat up and rubbed the knot that was forming at the base of his skull. He caught Prue's eye. There was a glint in her glare that made him very nervous. This was not his little girl anymore. This was someone hell bent on causing pain.
"Prue I swear I didn't mean to hurt you. Your grandmother made me leave," Victor begged.
"You're a liar," Prue shouted and sent him tumbling against a chair in the next room. Leo looked at Piper and tried to convince her that she didn't want to hurt him or Victor.
"Piper, what Prue is doing…isn't right. You should never use your powers to hurt people," he said, bending down to her eye level.
"Why not? What if someone hurts you, like Prue said?" Piper asked.
"Well what would you do if you didn't have powers?" Leo asked, hoping he was getting through to her. As long as he could keep her and Phoebe from using their powers to hurt innocents, then maybe there was a chance he could save them. She thought for a moment.
"Tell a grown up," Piper answered.
"Ok…well you can still do that even though you have powers. Your Mom and Grams wouldn't be very happy if you hurt people. That's not who they raised you to be," he told her.
In the next room Prue was advancing on Victor, knocking him into various pieces of furniture. He was breathing hard and presently had his hands out in front him..
"Prue…please stop," he begged, out of breath.
Down in the Underworld, Ravus and Janice were pacing, waiting anxiously for the darklighter to show up. Janice had stopped pacing and was starting to grow irritated.
"I thought you said we had the damn darklighter," she snapped.
"We do…he's just…" Ravus started to answer when black orbs filled the cavern, depositing a darklighter, crossbow and quiver of arrows at the ready.
"Finally. You're lucky we're going to let you live," Janice hissed.
"Don't get your demonic panties in a bunch. I showed up. So where's the whitelighter?" he shot back.
"Halliwell Manor. He should be an easy target. His charges are distracted. They won't be worrying about saving their whitelighter, even if they knew how to," Ravus answered.
"Didn't the old witch die?" the darklighter muttered.
"Just go before I decide to let my temper get the best of me," Janice ordered. With a nod the darklighter disappeared. He reappeared in the middle of the living room. He surveyed the action in progress. Prue was continuing to throw Victor into all manner of furniture. He was bleeding in several places now. In the hallway, Leo was still conversing hastily with Piper. He looked up just in time to see the darklighter flash him an evil smile.
"No," Leo gasped just as the arrow went flying through the air. Piper watched as the object hurtled towards Leo but she didn't stop it. She didn't know how. Before she knew it, the arrow had hit Leo in the stomach and he had collapsed to the ground. The darklighter looked surprised but black orbed out of the Manor. That had been too easy.
Piper knelt down by Leo's side. He was bleeding profusely around the arrow. She didn't know what to do. She was fighting back tears and she couldn't look at him.
"Piper….it's ok," Leo gasped, trying to reassure her.
"No it's not. I'm eight not five," she sniffled back.
"You can help me, Piper. I know you can," Leo whispered, giving her small hand a squeeze. The touch gave her an idea. She concentrated and with all her might she sent her hands out, freezing Leo. Pain was clearly etched on his face.
Just as Leo had stopped moving, Prue walked away from Victor. He had several deep gashes on his arms and his was breathing in very shallow breaths. She took Piper by the hand and started to lead her upstairs.
"Prue what are we doing?" Piper asked, trying to dry her eyes.
"We need to find a spell. To get rid of him. So he can't hurt us ever again," Prue answered. Just as she finished her sentence, Piper got a slight shock and pulled her hand away from her sister.
"Go upstairs. I'm getting Phoebe," Prue ordered. Reluctantly Piper headed for the attic while Prue retrieved Phoebe. The five-year-old had stopped crying and had fallen asleep.
"What happened?" Phoebe asked, uncurling herself and sitting up.
"We have to find a spell," Prue said, dragging her baby sister out of the room.
"For what?" Phoebe wanted to know.
"To get rid of Victor," Prue answered and pushed open the attic door. She found Piper staring at the Book of Shadows. Fear was plastered on the eight-year-old's face. Prue tapped Piper on the shoulder
"What's wrong?" Prue inquired.
"I…I tried to touch the book but it wouldn't let me," Piper answered, sounding really uneasy.
"That's stupid. It is our book," Prue grumbled and went to retrieve it. But like with Piper, the book glowed and jumped several feet away from her.
"Dumb book," the ten-year-old growled.
Back downstairs, Leo had unfrozen and was in severe pain. Victor had managed to make his way slowly over to where Leo lay.
"What…the hell happened to you?" Victor got out amid a volley of coughs.
"Darklighter…the girls….are in danger," Leo murmured.
"Well it didn't go after the girls. It went after you," Victor retorted. Suddenly Leo grimaced in pain, fighting to keep the scream of agony from coming out.
"The Book…it won't let them touch it…" he ground out.
Before Victor could respond a bright light appeared before them, depositing the ghostly form of Patty once more. She surveyed the two men in front of her. What she wouldn't give to be corporeal at that moment.
"Patty?" Victor asked in disbelief.
"Take it easy Victor. She did a hell of a number on you," Patty commented.
"Patty…I'm so sorry," Leo apologized.
"Shh. Save your strength. Are they up with the Book?" she responded. Leo nodded weakly. Without another word, Patty wisped upstairs. She found her three girls chasing after the Book. Phoebe was the first to spot her.
"Mommy?" Phoebe asked in awe.
"Hello my sweet girls," Patty greeted. She could sense the aura of evil around her children and it nearly broke her heart. It was darkest around Prue. She had expected nothing less.
"Mom…how?" Prue asked, stopping her search for the book. Patty moved towards her oldest daughter. She wanted to hug her baby so much. With all the energy she could muster she forced herself to become solid. Prue's eyes widened slightly and without a second thought, wrapped her arms around her mother's waist.
"I miss you," Prue sniffled.
"I miss you too, Prue," Patty sighed. She had to save her girls. The Charmed Ones couldn't become evil. It was not what they were meant to do.
"Prue you need to listen to me," Patty said, pulling away from her daughter.
"Piper, Phoebe, come here please," she addressed her younger girls. Phoebe and Piper joined their mother.
"What you did tonight. You need to make it right. You have to believe me, girls. Whatever problems your Dad and I had, it was between us. He loves you very much. He just wants to keep you safe," Patty explained, her eyes locked on Prue.
"But…they said he was hurting Piper and Phoebe," Prue tried to explain.
"Baby, those were demons. They were the ones who wanted to hurt you," Patty murmured, stroking her daughter's cheek.
"What did I do?" Prue gasped, suddenly feeling very strange. She felt as if she'd been hit with a ton of bricks but not the full force.
"We can still fix this sweetheart. The boy…Justin. You can save him. You can use your magic for good," Patty said.
"I don't know how to get there," Prue mumbled. Patty bit her lip for a moment. If her children were indeed evil they could simply blink to the Underworld but she couldn't risk them using more dark magic.
"Take my hands," she told the girls. She took their hands and wisped them to the Underworld. They appeared in the cave where Prue had been. Justin was still lying slumped against the wall. Phoebe looked around and clutched her mother's leg.
"It's scary, Mommy. I don't like it," the five-year-old murmured. Prue slowly walked towards Justin. She kneeled down at his side and shook him slightly. His eyes opened and he tried to get away from her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," Prue apologized.
"I just don't' like people picking on my sisters," she added. She extended her hand and slowly pulled him up. No one had noticed Janice shimmer in.
"What's going on?" she demanded, making the entire group turn around abruptly.
"You lied to me. You tricked me! You made me hurt my dad," Prue shouted at the demon, sending her back a few inches.
"But he was hurting your sisters," Janice tried to lie.
"No he didn't. You just said he was so I would get mad and want to make him pay," Prue answered.
"You're mean," Phoebe shot from behind the protective barrier of her mother's thigh.
"You really think they can vanquish me?" Janice laughed, looking at Patty.
"Girls…I want you to listen very carefully. You remember the spirit board we had in the attic?" she said, turning to shield the girls. All three nodded.
"There was something inscribed on the bottom. Do you remember what it said?" she asked.
"Um…it had three in it," Prue recalled. She was trying to see the inscription in her mind's eye.
"It's useless. They can't vanquish me. They're evil now, Janice taunted.
"Good…what else?" Patty prompted. A light suddenly went off in Piper's head.
"The Power of Three will…something free," she recounted.
"Say it with me. The Power of Three wills et us free," Patty coached. She slid behind her daughters. Prue took her sisters by the hand and together they continued to chant.
"The Power of Three will set us free," the chanted repeatedly. Janice's eyes started to grow large as she felt her limbs and atoms being torn apart in hellfire.
"No!" she shrieked just as she exploded. Just then the girls glowed white. Patty couldn't help but smile.
"Good job my sweet girls. Come on. We need to get back to your Dad and Leo," she said. They gathered Justin with them and were soon back in the Manor. Prue rand as quickly as she could to Victor and unceremoniously flung herself at him.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," she apologized. Victor winced as she landed on a few bruised ribs but patter her on the back.
"It's ok, Prue. It will be ok," he murmured.
Next to him on the floor Leo was lying still. He was very pale and the blood had finally stopped flowing. Piper fell to the ground and tried to wake him up. Her efforts were not rewarded. She looked down at the young man, the tears from earlier spilling over now. Phoebe let go of her mother's hand and wrapped an arm around her big sister. Just then the room was filled with blue and white lights. A blond woman in a white robe appeared and bent down next to Leo. She pulled the arrow out and placed her hands over the wound. It knit back together and soon Leo was sitting up.
"Natalie," Leo remarked, looking at the blond.
"The Elders sent me to heal you. Although I must say you didn't do a very good job. You almost lost your charges," Natalie chided.
"Excuse me but he did everything he could to protect my girls. You have no right to criticize him for that," Patty interjected.
"The Elders are willing to give you another chance," Natalie muttered and disappeared. Just as she disappeared she fixed Leo with a look that clearly said, 'don't screw it up again'.
"Here, Victor let me heal you," Leo offered.
Fifteen minutes later, Leo had used memory dust on Justin and brought him safely home. They were now in the attic and all three girls were fighting over the Book. They all wanted to be sure they could touch it again.
"Girls. Here give it to me," Patty ordered, taking the book and setting it on the pedestal.
"Mommy, do you have to go?" Piper asked, looking up at her mother.
"I'm afraid so, baby. But I'll be with you, like I always have. Just remember, you girls are very special and meant to do special things. Your powers are a gift. Use them well. Listen to Leo," she answered, pulling all three of her girls into a forceful hug.
"But no magic for bad things," all three of them informed their mother in unison.
"Exactly. I'll be watching over you," she said, kissing their cheeks as she stood up. She became transparent again and disappeared in white lights.
"Dad…" Piper said after a long pause.
"Yeah, Piper?" he replied.
"Grams always said we had to have a grown up at home when we get home from school. Will you be home tomorrow when we get home," she explained.
"You get I will," he promised as they headed downstairs for a late dinner. Piper paused at the top of the stairs to look at Leo.
"I have to go. But I will be back. I promise," he said and disappeared in blue and white orbs.