Charmed
Season 4, Episode 11
War of the Witches
By P3Nathan
Leo Wyatt woke up. He was perplexed as to why he had. His alarm hadn't gone off by mistake and it was still dark. He turned over and found that his wife wasn't led beside him. He saw that the mattress was wet with sweat where she had been. The bathroom light was on. Leo got out of bed and walked over to the door, which had been left ajar.
"Piper?" he said softly, as to not wake Prue. He could hear heavy breathing from within the room. "Say something or I'm coming in."
There was no response. He opened the door and found Piper on the floor holding her upper body up against the toilet. She was soaked in sweat. Leo rushed to her side.
"What happened? He asked as he wiped the sweat from her brow with a piece of tissue.
"I just started throwing up" Piper said weakly. "God, I have no energy…" she hunched over the toilet again, but it was a false alarm.
"It's getting worse; we need to tell the doctor" Leo insisted.
Piper shook her head. "It's just a rough night, it happens."
"Piper, we're not ignoring this."
Piper sighed. "Okay fine, on one condition; don't tell Prue. She's stressed enough with everything going on with Phoebe and Dad and The Source."
"Yeah well, that's probably what's making you so much worse" Leo pointed out.
"I'll be fine; we just need to get our family back" Piper wheezed.
Leo nodded, unable to muster an expression of hope that would convince his wife.
Sinead Griffith sat on a chair in Victor Bennet's apartment. Her hands were strapped to the arms with duct tape just as Victor's had been. A look of terror was etched on her face as she tried to pull her arms from the restraints.
Phoebe flipped through the Book of Shadows and several pieces of paper she had been taking notes on. She looked increasingly frantic.
"She's mortal sweetheart" Victor said beside her.
"I know that, but Cole didn't kill you, so his heart won't work… but she held you at gunpoint." Phoebe told him.
"You can't kill her, she's an innocent." He said.
"I don't intend to kill her… not immediately anyway" Phoebe corrected.
Sinead whimpered as she watched Phoebe talk to herself.
"Shut up" Phoebe hissed.
Sinead continued to whimper and pull at her restraints.
"Go ahead, keep whimpering, get loose… I'll nail your arms to the chair and sew your damn mouth shut!" Phoebe screamed.
Sinead silenced and stilled herself, the look of terror still present.
Phoebe turned around; Victor had gone. "Dad?" Phoebe's eyes began to tear up, but she pushed her emotions down deeper within her being. She looked at Sinead again. "Let's get this over with."
(Opening credits)
Prue and Piper sat in the attic, either side of the table they usually used to cast their spells. They were surrounded by open books and pieces of paper. Both sisters looked exhausted.
"We need to get The Book back; this is ridiculous" Piper looked around at the mess.
"I feel like the solution is right under our noses and I just can't quite touch it" Prue told her, frustrated. She looked at Piper. "Are you okay? I can carry on if you want to go and lie down, it's not as if we're getting very far anyway."
Piper shook her head. "No, I want to be here for you and for Phoebe." Piper picked up one of the books beside her. It was a beginner's guide to witchcraft. "Maybe we need to get back to basics. Read 'Witchcraft for Dummies' cover to cover" Piper joked.
Prue's eyes widened in response.
"Idea brewing?" Piper asked.
"Maybe. What you just said, it reminded me of when we went back in time and learned all about the roots of our magic." Prue explained.
"Okay…" Piper listened.
"We're dealing with The Source of All Evil. Key word- source. He is evil magic! So maybe we need to think back to our roots and remember our own source."
Piper wasn't entirely sure what her sister was getting at, but Prue's sudden burst of enthusiasm gave her hope.
Leo orbed in near them.
"Hey, what did the Elders have to say?" Piper enquired.
"Nothing good. Phoebe has Sinead." Leo told them.
"Sinead? Why?" Prue looked perplexed.
"They think she wants to resurrect your father and she was there for his last moments and had a gun, so they think Phoebe might want her for whatever spell she's crafting."
Prue stood. "But the gun was empty; she just took it to scare him."
Leo sighed. "Well we'd better tell Phoebe that, because she's dangerously close to the line right now."
Piper interjected. "If she kills Sinead…"
"Her soul will be lost" Leo completed. "There may not be a way to get her back from that."
"Well even if there is, how could she live with herself?" Prue rubbed her temple. "Okay, so we need to save Sinead before Phoebe does anything stupid."
Piper slowly began to rise; Prue gave her a hand. "I'll see about some protection magic; the stuff we learned back in Virginia."
In the offices of The Brotherhood, The Source sat behind a desk in an office. Klea stood before him.
"Phoebe is getting closer and closer to the edge my liege" Klea said in her usual ice cold tone.
"Good. We'll give her time to make her biggest mistake and then we shall enact phase two. Everything is going to plan. Well… I had hoped to keep my identity a secret from her, but that's no matter at this point." He smirked.
Klea recalled what she had seen of Phoebe and a look of slight concern crossed her usually indecipherable expression. "Forgive me, but I feel I'd be doing you a disservice as your loyal servant and confidant if I didn't voice my concern. The witch is unstable. If she became unpredictable and screwed this up for us, how would we deal with the witches then?"
"I admire your honesty Klea, but have faith; everything is going our way. Besides, don't worry, I've had enough time on earth to be back at full power. If plan B needs to be enacted, it can be. One way or another, The Charmed Ones will lose."
Prue and Piper walked into their father's apartment building. "Okay, we both drank the teleportation potion, so you can take Sinead back to the house and ready the protection." Prue instructed.
"And what are you going to do?" Piper asked.
"I'll try to talk Phoebe down from the ledge. I just hope I can get through to her."
Phoebe had set up an altar in front of Sinead. Several black candles were lit around an upside down pentagram in the centre. She cut her finger and allowed some of her black blood to drip onto the pentagram and it glowed with crimson energy. "Aporto Tenebrae Mortalis Anima." Her eyes blackened and an unsettling vibration ran through the room.
In his office, The Source clutched his chest. He looked distressed.
"My liege?" Klea attended.
"What the hell is she doing?" The Source hissed as his eyes blackened and a dark aura surrounded him.
Sinead screamed as a ring of fire surrounded the chair she was sat on. The heat was hard to bare and she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the brightness of the flames.
Prue and Piper heard the scream and ran towards the apartment door. Prue waved her arm and the door shimmered with an energy barrier.
"Damn it!" Prue exclaimed.
"Attack it together" Piper instructed, holding out her hands.
Prue did the same and the combination of telekinesis and explosive magic was enough to weaken the shield. It flickered like an old television. Prue gave one last hit of her power and it flew open.
Piper waved her hands again as soon as they entered, freezing Sinead and the flames.
"Phoebe stop!" Prue demanded.
Phoebe turned to them with a look of anger in her eyes.
The Source relaxed as the aura around him began to dissipate. He gave a sigh of relief.
"My liege. What was that?" Klea asked.
"That was me being reminded never to dismiss your concern Klea. But don't worry, it seems the trouble has passed."
"I think we need to talk sis" Piper understated.
"What on earth were you doing to her?" Prue asked, less gently than her younger sibling.
"I'm just doing what I have to, to save the people I love" she replied.
"How does killing Sinead achieve that?" Piper questioned.
"By funnelling The Source into her before I do."
Prue and Piper stood shocked for a moment. "You're talking about murdering an innocent."
Phoebe laughed, her eyes swelling with conflicting emotion. "Innocent? Who's innocent these days?"
Piper sighed. "Phoebe even if you managed to pull this off… then what? You defeat The Source of All Evil singlehandedly, this is insane."
"I have The Mordred Blade" Phoebe reminded her.
"You're in over your head, you need to come home before you cross the line" Prue told her.
Phoebe shook her head manically. "It's too late for me. I need to fix it. I can't go back." She turned away, unable to face them.
Prue poked Piper's arm and nodded at Sinead. Piper got the message and while Phoebe was weeping and scratching at her own face, Piper jumped over the frozen flames, touched Sinead's shoulder and teleported out in a swarm of white lights.
Phoebe realised what was happening. "No!" she screamed furiously.
"Phoebe this isn't you" Prue attempted.
"Don't give me that. We both know this isn't a possession, I'm making my own choices!"
Prue edged a little closer. "I know you're not possessed. But you were infected and you were already ill before that."
"What makes you so sure I'm the one who's ill?" Phoebe seethed. "Hm? Look around you Prue, look at the world we're in. Look at what's been happening in San Francisco. You think our family, any witch family, is safe when people like that are getting more powerful? They need to be stopped."
Prue rolled her eyes. "So we should become killers…and the ends justify the means?"
"Bring me back Sinead" Phoebe deflected.
"I'm not saying this will be easy, but it's not too late. Listen, Sinead's gun, it wasn't load…"
"Bring me back Sinead!" Phoebe's eyes blackened and she moved towards her sister.
Prue scoffed. "You want to fight me Pheebs?"
Phoebe's voice was suddenly void of emotion. "Oh come on Prue, we both knew deep down it'd come to this eventually. The moment I stepped back into your life you wanted to smack me down."
Prue shook her head. "You're wrong. But if I need to stop you, I will."
Phoebe threw a punch at Prue's face, but Prue blocked and struck her little sister in the chest. Phoebe round house kicked Prue in the shoulder and Prue retaliated by flipping Phoebe to the floor. The youngest Halliwell quickly rose. "You're holding back."
"I don't want to hurt you" Prue panted.
Phoebe head-butted Prue and she fell to the ground. "I want you to hurt me!" she screamed.
Prue recovered on the ground. "Fine." Prue kicked Phoebe off her feet and as soon as they both rose, Prue chopped her in the throat. Phoebe got in two powerful blows to Prue's face but the eldest witch managed to stop the onslaught by scissor kicking her in the chin and sending her flying to the other side of the room.
Phoebe looked up at her sister from the ground. Prue stood trying to catch her breath with tears in her eyes and blood on her face. Phoebe smirked at her as black fluid ran from her nose. "You're telling me you didn't enjoy that?"
Phoebe held out her hand at the puddle of black ooze forming in front of her and it hardened into three long black thorny branches. "I'm stronger than you." She gestured at Prue and the branches charged towards her. They pinned her against the wall and twisted around her body. Prue groaned in pain as the thorns ripped into her skin.
"Phoebe, please. I love you." Prue whimpered.
Phoebe walked right up to her sister. "I love you too."
Prue was disturbed by how genuine that statement seemed within the context of all the violence.
Phoebe disappeared leaving Prue alone.
Piper, Leo and Sinead were in the attic of Halliwell Manor. Leo had wrapped a blanket around a traumatised Sinead and given her a glass of water.
"She said I was infected." Sinead shivered.
"We're going to see if we can do something about that" Leo assured.
"Is she cleaning right now?" Sinead looked at Piper.
Piper was sweeping around the room with a broomstick. "Nope, believe it or not, we're banking on this for protection."
"I think I'm just going to stop questioning things" Sinead decided.
"Leo can you pass me the apples and laurel leaves?" Piper requested.
Leo did so and Piper clutched them in her hands. "Okay, what was it? Erm… knowledge and… oh, knowledge and reverence, knowledge and reverence, knowledge and reverence." Piper threw the apples and leaves to each corner of the room and a force field ignited. "I did it! Thank you Eva."
Phoebe suddenly appeared. She had marks on her face but they were closing up before their very eyes.
"Okay Phoebe, just listen for a minute." Piper insisted.
"I'm done talking" Phoebe moved forward and was bounced back by the force field. She laughed. "You can't seriously think this'll stop me?"
"Phoebe, I know how frustrating and crazy making our screwed up destiny can be, you know I get that. But this isn't the way" Piper said.
"Isn't it? Piper what does it matter what I do? They're already striking. They'll attack and they'll kill until there's nothing left to fight for anymore. Not just the demons. So why the hell shouldn't I take back what was taken from me?" Phoebe scowled.
"You mean Dad and Cole?" Piper confirmed.
"What else would I mean?" Phoebe shouted, growing impatient.
"Well it wasn't just them that were robbed from you, was it?" Piper felt anxious about where she was going with this, she knew that she risked making Phoebe even worse.
"Oh don't go all very special episode on me, this isn't Doctor Phil" Phoebe looked away.
"They took your security, your feeling of safety. Then The Source…"
"Shut up!" Phoebe pummelled her fist against the force field. Phoebe began to fit with rage and scratched furiously at her arms, drawing blood. "Shut up!" The blood hardened into a spike and Phoebe waved her hand so that it protruded through the force field, causing it to begin to falter.
Prue stood in her astral form looking at her unconscious body wrapped in thorns. She had attempted to teleport out using the potion she drank earlier, but it seemed she couldn't just disappear from whatever magic Phoebe had used to capture her. She pulled at the branches but couldn't shift them at all. She looked around the room and eventually discovered The Mordred Blade. She grabbed the weapon and attempted to free her body again. The sword slid through the branches like soft butter. Prue grabbed her own body to stop herself from falling and lowered it to the ground gently. Her astral-self dematerialised and she woke up on the floor. She saw that The Book of Shadows had been left on the table, she made sure to grab it before leaving.
The force field broke down.
"I can't support you in this. I won't help you destroy yourself" Piper spoke determined.
"God, I never thought you'd be the one up on your high horse. I mean I expect it from Prue, but you hate this life and this world more than I do! I'm not the one who almost got lost in an alternate reality dream. I mean most people in your situation would probably say 'well, at least I have my health'… but you can't even claim that much!"
"We can make it better together. But not like this." Piper responded.
"She's right Phoebe" Prue's voice spoke from behind. She nodded to Leo, "Go!" Leo grabbed Piper's hand and he orbed out with his wife and Sinead. Piper didn't look happy to have been included in the orb.
Phoebe sighed and turned to her sister. "Always got to be the hero."
"You need help."
"All I need is for you to stop interfering" Phoebe spat.
"So you can lose your soul? You think if you could get Dad and Cole back that that's what they'd want for you?"
"They'd be here; I'd fix my mistake!"
"This isn't your fault. But what comes next will be"
Phoebe started shaking and screeched into the palms of her hands. She looked up and her eyes were blackened and red-rimmed. She looked furiously at Prue. "You know nothing!" Phoebe held up her arms and rose into the air. She looked down at Prue. "You know, for so many years you seemed so tall to me, indestructible. How does it feel to be looked down on?"
Prue saw the broom Piper had been using earlier on the floor. She held out her hand and the broom flew to her.
Phoebe laughed. "You're not serious?"
"What can I say sis? You're my inspiration."
Phoebe smirked. "Well then… ding dong."
Prue perched on the broom, waved her arm and telekinetically lifted it upwards to her sister's level.
Phoebe hurled a stream of darkness energy at Prue. Prue responded by raising her hand and unleashing a powerful telekinetic wave of energy to defend herself. The two sisters continuously fired their magic, the darkness and telekinetic energy meeting in the middle, equally matched. The expressions on both sisters' faces showed that they were clearly struggling to keep up with each other's power. Seeing that she was getting nowhere and that Phoebe wasn't going to stop, Prue waved her other hand and lifted a chair off the ground, throwing it in Phoebe's direction. Phoebe flipped out of the way, still airborne, to dodge the chair, causing her to stop blasting for a moment. Prue relaxed her arm for a second, giving Phoebe the chance to shoot a small blast of darkness at Prue's broom. Prue panicked and screamed as she lost her grip on the broom and fell to the ground.
Down in the basement Piper paced. Kit comically paced back and forth behind her. Leo and Sinead watched her as she thought.
"What are you thinking?" Leo asked.
"Phoebe mentioned when I was in that coma dreaming of a life without magic and demons…"
"Okay."
"Well, she helped me out of that by getting through to me. She reminded me of all the good we've done and showed me what was important. That's what brought me back." Piper explained.
"Even so, the choice ultimately still had to be yours" Leo pointed out.
"I know, but if I can just get through to her somehow. Her walls are up high and the Source's infection is clouding everything for her, but if I could just reach her." Piper's eyes widened. "That's it!"
"You can stop her?" Sinead asked.
"Well… if I pretend to be a 'glass half full' kind of person for a few minutes, yeah, I think we have a pretty good shot!" Piper smiled.
Prue groaned on the floor. Phoebe levitated down to her. She looked genuinely sad, even through her eyes as black as onyx.
"I'm sorry it came to this" she said.
Prue quickly gathered herself. Phoebe shot down another stream of darkness and Prue once again responded with a blast of energy that she thrown upwards. The energies were, again, equally matched, but this time, they refused to give in and they were much too close to each other. Phoebe scowled furiously, Prue whaled as she struggled against her sister's attacks. The centre where the two energies clashed against each other shimmered with a bright light and became unstable. The energy exploded. Prue was thrown to the other side of the room; Phoebe was thrown to the opposite side. The explosion blasted through the attic, destroying countless objects and blowing a huge hole through the roof.
Back down in the basement, the house rumbled and a huge crash was heard.
Piper looked up. She was sweating and not feeling her best. "Oh God. Orb me up there."
"You look terrible; I'll go" Leo insisted.
"No, trust me, I've been mediating between those two my whole life, if anyone's going to stop this it's me!" Piper argued, feeling breathless.
"I can't lose you. I'm sorry" Leo frowned.
"I'm sorry too."
Piper waved her hands causing Leo and Sinead to decelerate. She could see Leo was about to tell her not to freeze him, but he'd already started moving in slow motions. Piper took a deep breath, drained a little from using her power and ran up the basement steps. She didn't realise, but Kit followed her.
In the attic, the smoke had just begun to clear. The room was a mess and Prue led unconscious under a broken piece of the ceiling. Phoebe woke up and slowly stood. She was bruised and had several cuts on her face. She was about to leave just as Piper entered.
"Oh my God, what did you do?" Piper gasped as she watched Phoebe's cuts heal.
"I didn't want it to be like this" Phoebe said, seeming like she was only just taking in the level of her destruction.
Leo orbed in and saw Prue. He ran to heal her. Prue regained consciousness and saw Piper looking unwell and facing Phoebe.
"I couldn't stop her" Leo defended.
Prue saw a box of crystals which had fallen out onto the floor. She squinted her eyes and subtly started to move the crystals around the room towards Phoebe while she was distracted by the middle sister.
"Sinead is in the basement; I can feel her" Phoebe smirked.
"I think I know how to help you. Please just let me" Piper begged.
"As soon as I've done what I need to do" Phoebe headed for the door. Piper stood in her way.
"Don't make me freeze you" Piper warned.
"Piper, you're sick…"
"I'm not the only one" Piper retorted.
Phoebe glared. She reached out to push Piper out of the way but was repelled by a cylinder of golden energy. Phoebe looked confused. So did Piper as the sparkling light shone around her body protecting her. Suddenly it faded. She heard purring. She looked down at her feet and saw that Kit was walking circles around her.
Leo realised what had just happened. "Familiars will guard their witch in times of great illness."
Piper laughed and smiled at the loving feline.
Phoebe smirked. "Congratulations Piper, you've officially been out-powered by our house cat."
Before Phoebe could make another move, Prue magically shifted the crystals into place. They glowed and erupted with a surge of electrical energy. Phoebe screamed as the electricity ran through her body and caused her clothes to steam. After a few seconds, Prue waved her hand and moved one of the crystals out of formation, ceasing the stun attack. Phoebe fell to her knees and then dropped all the way to the floor, unconscious.
"Sorry sis" Prue whispered.
In the basement, Sinead paced back and forth. Part of her was tempted to run like the wind as far away from the house as possible, but since three out of its four inhabitants had kept her alive up until now, she fought the urge and figured it was best to stay behind and wait for them to give her the all clear.
Suddenly the burn on her hand seared more than usual and she saw a burst of flame rise up out of nowhere. As the flames subsided, there stood The Source.
"You. You're the one I talked to out on the street" Sinead remembered.
"Indeed I am" he smirked.
She winced as the burn got hotter and harder to bear. "It's you, isn't it? You're the one who they say infected me!"
"Quite the amateur detective…" he moved towards her and held her arm. "I can fix that for you. The witches can't make this go away."
"Why should I believe you?" Sinead trembled.
"Because I'm not offering charity. I will do this for you, once you've done something for me" he tightened his grip on her and they both flamed out.
Piper picked up Kit and kissed her forehead.
"You have a plan?" Prue asked the middle child.
"I think so…" Piper shrugged.
"I'm all ears. Let's give it a shot, what is it?" Prue nodded.
"When you said the source of our power, we thought back to what we learned back in the 17th Century. Well that may be the root of our heritage and witchcraft, but I think we need to think closer to home. To the Power of Three. It might be a long shot, but I think I know what we have to do." Piper looked nervous, but Prue trusted her sister's judgement. Besides, all they had were long shots.
Sinead stood in the offices of The Brotherhood. Several cameras were pointed at her and behind them were countless employees sat at computers.
The Source stood beside her, pleased with what was about to take place. "Phase two will soon be executed. Rejoice my brotherhood. Let us begin."
The brotherhood employees began to bustle and set up machines. Sinead looked scared. "They will beat you." Her voice barely came out from under her fear.
"Speak the words you have been given. Speak the truth." The Source said emotionlessly.
The cameras began to roll.
One of the employees announced. "We're on every station in San Francisco my liege, working on national networks now."
The Source glared at Sinead. "Begin."
Sinead trembled and looked into the camera in front of her. "My name is Sinead Griffiths and I know the reason for the recent attacks in San Francisco. I know this because my brother and countless other innocent people were made victims long before these attacks happened. These massacres were orchestrated by witches. People who align themselves with the occult, with unnatural forces. We are in the midst of an epidemic. Witchcraft and occult practices have been quietly and insidiously taking over San Francisco. If you value the safety of your families; of your children, you will take this threat seriously."
Sinead hesitated and looked at The Source. He smirked at her.
She turned back to the camera. "This war has already begun. Will you stand by and let our values be jeopardised? Or will you stand your ground and say no to this infestation. Say no to their agenda. Take back our world."
The Brotherhood cheered around her and Sinead fought back tears. The Source smiled and gave her a nod.
(To be continued)
Next time on "Charmed"-
In the mid-season climax, Prue and Piper make their last ditch effort to get their little sister back. Meanwhile the war begins to rage and The Source's power over the world rises.