Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. Here it is folks, the one you've all been waiting for. The Final Showdown. I hope it lives up to expectations. Next is the epilogue/finale! :-)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Laurel Crown: Victory

The Manor: November 28th, 2003

The Charmed Ones had never been good at being cautious. Unlike Kate, who had always held back, researched everything she could about her enemy, and carefully planned out every little detail along with making back-up plans, and back-up plans for her back-up plans. Niko and Cole both favoured caution and being prepared as well, whilst Wyatt was so powerful he rarely needed a plan beyond 'rush in headfirst and blow every enemy into a million tiny atoms'. Any time that he did need a plan, or something particular, Katie/Kate took care of it for him, making snarky remarks in the process. Leo simply stood back, letting his strong-willed wife and her ever-confident sisters take the lead.

That was why, after much 'debating' (a.k.a arguing and blowing things up with their powers in fits of frustration) the family decided on a compromise. Instead of waiting for months, as Kate had intended to do, or simply going straight after him, as soon as she had finished taking care of her daughter, which was Piper's preference, they had decided to wait a week. One week, before they would ambush Gideon in Magic School, and eliminate the threat he posed to their family, and by default, to the world, forever.

The afternoon after Kate's breakdown, Victor arrived for a visit on Piper's request. Wyatt had made an off-hand mention of how close her father and daughter were, and Kate had yet to fully forgive Leo, though she had relaxed enough to acknowledge Piper as her mother. Never did the title of 'Mom' sound sweeter to Piper's ears than when Kate had first let it slip.

"So," Victor said, carefully observing his granddaughter. After her initial, delighted greeting, Kate had withdrawn into herself, and was now intent on twisting her charm bracelet around her wrist repeatedly. "We're close, in your time?"

"We were," Kate nodded, not noticing her tense, though Victor did. "In my timeline, I got shoved to the background a lot. You were always there for me, whenever I needed to talk to someone, or just needed to get away from magic."

"Hearing that means a lot," Victor said sincerely. Kate looked up, meeting his gaze. "It's no secret that I wasn't the best father. That I make up for it with my grandkids is a huge relief."

"You were always amazing," she assured him. She glanced at his cigar case, resting on the table, took a deep breath, and added a careful. "You might wanna quit smoking that stuff. To avoid any future problems, you know?"

Victor's eyes widened in alarm. "Thanks for the tip," he said hastily, tossing the case in the trash immediately. Then he turned back to his granddaughter. "So, what's wrong with you and Leo?" he asked bluntly, guessing (correctly) that Kate was not one to beat around the bush with this type of thing. Her jaw tightened, a scowl forming automatically at Leo's name.

"Nothing's wrong," she insisted stubbornly. "He spent my childhood thinking I wasn't good enough, that is, if he remembered that I existed at all. And, he didn't believe me when I said that something wrong with Wyatt, right up until his precious Golden Boy killed him. And then, he stalked the two of us once we arrived, attacking us verbally and physically. Now, he finds out we're his kids and he feels all bad about it. Hypocritical much? I mean, it was fine to harass and follow us when we were 'intruders', but once we share blood, it's a cardinal sin? Goddess, he's so full of double standards!"

Her chest was heaving when she finished her rant, and Victor suspected that she had been holding her feelings about Leo inside for a long time.

"Maybe he'll do better this time," he suggested quietly. He didn't push Kate to forgive her father, because she simply couldn't. She wasn't ready for that. Not yet, at any rate, and he wasn't going to try and guilt her into it, for Leo's sake. Leo was a father, so he ought to understand why Victor was putting Kate's mental health first.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Kate replied, a bitter look in her eyes. Victor decided to leave it at that, and turned his attention to the far more agreeable pastime of learning about his new granddaughter's personality. She was so like Paige in wit, and Prue in personality, that he nearly split himself laughing at her snarky and lightning-fast retorts.

Magic School: December 2nd, 2003

Finally, the day arrived. Leo, knowing the protocol of Magic School, had somehow managed to arrange for all the students and faculty, save Gideon, to be evacuated from the school for a drill. They had agreed that Sigmund, Gideon's fellow conspirator/minion, was of no real consequence, and they could deal with him later.

Amidst the chaos of everybody leaving the school, nobody noticed the group that discreetly orbed into an empty classroom. The family waited there, tension making them anxious and fluttery, until Leo signalled that all the students were gone. Then, they hastened to the Library, all grim and ready to destroy the threat to their family. Unsurprisingly, Piper and Kate, the people most affected by the events, were in the lead.

Gideon was in the Library, a worried look on his face. It quickly went cool, as he took in the people who had entered, and the murderous expressions that they all wore.

"So," he said quietly, an almost sorrowful look in his eyes. "Is this what is has come to, Leo? Seven decades of friendship, and now, here you are, intent on my death. Why, Leo, why have you betrayed me?"

"Because you want to kill my son!" Leo snarled back, a paternal urge to protect raging fiercely in his blue eyes. "And, I am not the traitor here, Gideon. That's you, for plotting to murder an infant! Have you no shame? How did you ever become a Whitelighter, let alone an Elder? I trusted you, and you plot to kill my son! Not to mention any other child the sisters have! Innocent babies!"

Gideon's expression darkened again. "I am doing what must be done!" he insisted adamantly. "I am protecting the Balance! The Grand Design never meant for such powerful beings to be born! I-"

"I am bored of this," another voice drawled. Kate and Niko both froze, horror dawning in their eyes as they spun in unison to stare, terrified, at the figure that had just emerged from the shadowy corner of the room. Emperor Wyatt looked contemptuously at the younger versions of his dead family, ignoring the shock and revulsion on their faces. He steadfastly pretended that the way his mother recoiled in disgust at the sight of her evil son didn't hurt.

"Katharine," he said plainly. "This ends now. You have gone too far."

Kate raised her hands and shifted into a fighting stance, her momentary shock replaced by the same grim determination that she always wore when facing down her evil brother.

"You've said that before," she scoffed. "And, yet. Here I am, still walking and talking and planning your downfall. My Lord," she added the last part mockingly, and he glared icily back at her.

"You see!" Gideon cried wildly, as it suddenly dawned on him who the 'Perrys' were. "You see the danger that they are!"

"Oh shut up," Emperor Wyatt snapped impatiently. He waved a hand, and the Elder was sent flying headfirst into the wall, unconscious.

The Halliwells all (save Kate and Niko, who didn't dare to move their gazes from the emperor) cast quick glances at him, before returning to the current, greater, threat.

"Get away from your sister!" Piper demanded, brown eyes blazing as she raised her hands. He sneered mockingly at her.

"What are you gonna do, Mom?" he asked. "Kill me in order to protect my sister? I always knew that Katharine was your favourite."

"It's a thought," Piper smirked. "And I don't have a favourite. It just so happens that Kate never turned against everything our family stands for, and has stood for since Melinda Warren's time, centuries ago. If I have to choose between protecting her and fighting with you, I'll choose her. I would do the same thing if she were the evil one."

"You always said spanking was barbaric," Emperor Wyatt drawled, ignoring the second part of her statement.

Piper threw out her hands and sent him flying across the room.

"Ouch," he complained, standing. "That hurt. Seriously never had you pegged as the type of mother who'd hit your kids."

"What's the matter, Brother Dear?" Kate asked scornfully. "Can't take what you dish out? Too fucking bad." She slammed her wrists together, sending a bolt of lightning at him.

His shield shot up, absorbing the blow and protecting him. It deflected back at her, and she jumped out of the way just in time to avoid it hitting her heart. He gave her a coldly superior look.

"Do you really think that you can beat me, Katharine?" he scoffed. "You're not so foolish. You've always been too wary of your own powers to actually use them to the extent you could, even after all those rituals you did to force their advancement. Face the facts, Katharine. You're weak, and you've always been weak."

"No," everyone turned, surprised at the interruption. Emperor Wyatt had taken no notice of his duplicate, too confident in himself to wonder about it, and since the Source's arrival, everybody had been too distracted to notice the Good Wyatt, standing in the background.

Now, however, he stepped forward, taking the centre and facing down his Evil Counterpart. By silent agreement, the rest stepped back to let the two Twice-Blesseds battle out their differing philosophies, though they remained ready to fight.

The Emperor eyed his doppelganger coldly as they circled each other. "Who are you?" he demanded, a hint of frustration leaking into his tone.

Wyatt gave a bleak smile. "I'm you," he admitted. "However much I want to deny it. One different decision and we'd be swapping positions. But right now, I'm putting an end to you and your tyranny. I hope you're ready to die."

Emperor Wyatt sneered, hiding his brief flash of uncertainty. "I am the most powerful witch of all time," he boasted. "Not even if the entire Warren Line united against me could I be defeated!"

"You're an arrogant son of a bitch," Wyatt snorted back.

"Wyatt! Language!" Piper reprimanded him automatically, despite the circumstances. No child of hers was going to be going around swearing like a sailor. She had been letting Kate's language slide because of everything that she had been through over the past few years, but once Gideon was dead, all bets were off. Wyatt got no passes for not acting like the gentleman she expected him to be.

"Sorry, Mom," he called over his shoulder. The Emperor took advantage of that brief moment of distraction to fling an energy ball at his opponent's unprotected back, but Wyatt's shield shot up to protect him.

"Don't take your eyes off of him!" Kate snapped. "Asshole fights dirty."

"Thanks for the tip!" Wyatt called back, as he returned with an Energy Wave. Emperor Wyatt brushed it aside, and squeezed his hand closed, attempting to crush Wyatt's throat.

Wyatt choked for a second, but Kate intervened. Filled with a sudden desperation, she used her molecular acceleration on the Emperor. It took him by surprise, and he staggered, yelling in surprise and clutching his shoulder, which was now bleeding. Kate scrambled over to Wyatt's side, standing beside him and keeping a careful eye on her evil brother.

Piper bit her nails as she watched the scene, Phoebe and Paige keeping her back for the moment. They all understood, instinctively, that this was Kate and Wyatt's battle to fight, not the Charmed Ones'. That didn't make it any easier for them to stand back.

Emperor Wyatt lowered his hand, shifting his burned shoulder. "Double-crossing bitch," he spat venomously. Kate stared coldly back.

"Like I said last time," she replied, going frighteningly calm. "You're the one who betrayed our family. Not me."

For whatever reason, this time it actually seemed to hit him. His face flickered, something that might have been regret flashing over it, before suddenly he flung a Lazer Bolt at his sister. She twisted, the bolt grazing her back as Wyatt returned with his own jet of fire.

On and on it went, the three opponents doing their level best to kill each other, while their family helplessly watched. At some point while the two Wyatts were duking it out, Kate managed to fling up a ward, preventing any stray attacks escaping the circle they fought in, and stopping any the family from giving any aid to their children.

Even with both Wyatt and Kate against him, Emperor Wyatt was powerful and ruthless. He used everything he could, took any slight advantage. But Kate was experienced in fighting against him, and Wyatt was his equal in strength, even if the power stealing rituals he'd done gave Emperor Wyatt a broader range of powers, and together, the good siblings prevailed.

Eventually, they stood over the Emperor, panting and injured. A distraction from Kate had allowed Wyatt to use Power Negation on the evil Halliwell before she grabbed him and held him in place with telekinesis. It wouldn't last long, but it gave them enough time to end him.

The emperor glared bitterly at them as Wyatt raised his hand, an Energy Wave forming.

"Wait!" Kate said abruptly, grabbing his wrist to stop him.

The Emperor sneered. "I knew that you could never let me die," he scoffed. "Weak."

She gave him an icy look, and raised her hand. "Excalibur!" she called, the sword appearing. The Emperor's eyes widened in shock. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kate was quicker.

"This," she declared. "Is for everything, and everyone, that has suffered at your hands." And, in a flash of silver, she lunged, stabbing him through the chest. She didn't pause, orbing his body over to the wall where Niko had drawn a triquetra.

"Hear these words, heed the rhyme,

Heed the hope within my mind,

Send him forth to where he'll find,

What I wish in place and time." The portal opened and Kate threw through the body of the worst Source of All Evil the world had ever seen. With his body sent back to the Dark Future before he could succumb to his wounds, his death wouldn't affect the good Wyatt and lead to yet another version of the siblings time travelling.

It was over at last.