Author's Note: The reaction that I've been getting for this story is amazing, and you guys rock.
One second she'd been staring at Theresa, and the next, she'd been blinded by a brilliant, white light. When the light faded and she could see again, Paige was no longer standing in Theresa's shop, but in a rocky cavern. It kind of reminded her of the time when she was a kid, and she and her parents had gone on vacation to Carlsbad Caverns.
'If Carlsbad had blood on the walls,' she thought, grimacing as she touched a dark spot on a rock and her fingers came away sticky with dark blood.
"Focus," she told herself sternly, softly. "You're here to find Prue, and get the hell out of Hell."
The problem was, she didn't have the first clue how she was going to do that. She still couldn't get herself to orb in one spot on command, let alone orb herself and a passenger out of the Underworld. Not to mention, she had no idea how she was going to find said passenger in the first place.
"Think," she muttered under her breath, as she paced in a small path. "Think, damn it. What would Piper and Phoebe do?"
A second later, she realized that what Piper or Phoebe would do in her current situation wasn't really relevant. They had years of experience with the whole witch thing, where she had less than a month, and they knew more magic than she felt like she ever would. She didn't even know any spells, unless she counted the one to vanquish Shax, and since he was no longer among the living, she didn't think that it would be of much help.
'Use what I have,' Paige thought, staring anxiously at the entrance to the cavern, in case a demon decided to come bursting in. 'What do I have?'
She didn't have a whole hell of a lot. She had had exactly one spell in her arsenal, along with the ability to orb objects to herself, and the (sometimes) ability to make herself orb in one spot. And a really big sword, she reminded herself, glancing down at the weapon that Theresa had entrusted to her. Why, she had no idea, but it was probably the best shot she had, right then, and she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Unfortunately, that was it.
'Why couldn't I have Piper's powers?' she thought, despairingly. 'Why'd I have to be half Whitelighter-'
And that was when it hit her. She was half Whitelighter. That was the key.
Last week, she'd been talking with Leo, and she'd asked him how he always seemed to know when her sisters were in danger, how he would know if she was in danger. He'd mentioned an ability he had as a Whitelighter, the ability to psychically sense and find his charges. He'd also mentioned how he thought she might, one day, manifest that and other Whitelighter powers.
'Well, I guess one day is going to be today,' Paige thought, wryly.
She leaned against the wall behind her, ignoring the rocks poking her in the back, and slowly closed her eyes. She didn't want to, hating how vulnerable she was making herself, but she didn't think that she could concentrate, otherwise.
Eyes closed, slowing her breathing down, Paige tried to reach out with her mind. She felt ridiculous, standing there and furrowing her brow, but she wasn't going to give up. Her only other option was to wander aimlessly around the Underworld until she either found Prue (unlikely) or got herself killed (very, very likely), so it wasn't like she had much of a choice. So, she leaned against the wall, and she furrowed her brow, and she concentrated on Prue, nothing but Prue, until she had a headache, but she didn't give up.
And finally she thought that she could feel something happening. It started small, like an itch between her shoulder blades, and then the feeling grew in intensity. The itch grew stronger, and stronger, until it felt like she was being physically pulled out of the cavern.
"Gotcha," she whispered, feeling a surge of triumph run through her. "Hang on, Prue. I'm coming to get you."
She followed the pull down the dark corridors of the Underworld. She moved slowly, ducking into nooks and around corners whenever she heard someone coming. The last thing she needed was to get caught down here. She kept the sword clutched in sweaty palms as she moved, her grip tight on the hilt. She hadn't had to use the weapon, yet, and she wanted to keep it that way.
After what felt like hours, but was probably more like fifteen or twenty minutes, the insistent pull finally stopped. There was an entrance to a cavern up ahead, and she wasn't being compelled to move on, so she guessed that she'd just found what she was looking for. She'd found Prue.
Paige stepped into the entrance, and then she felt herself being abruptly stopped, like she'd just run into a wall. Blinking in surprise, Paige stepped back to see a glittering wall of energy about five inches in front of her nose.
"Because, of course this isn't going to be simple," she muttered, as she put her hand against the wall and gave an experimental push. Unsurprisingly, it didn't budge an inch.
"Okay," Paige went on, talking to herself, as she tried to keep her tone upbeat. "If I can't get in normally, I'll just magic it open." Laying her hand flat against the wall, feeling the energy tingle under her hand, she ventured, "Open Sesame?"
Yeah, she hadn't really expected that one to work. But, looking at where her hand was resting on the wall, seeing the way the crackling energy made the edges of her hand look blurry, she had an idea.
Orbing was energy, right? When she called things into the palm of her hand, they broke down into millions of photons of light. The same thing happened to Leo when he orbed, and presumably her, as well. And if something were energy, like, say, Prue inside the cavern, then it should be able to pass through the wall of energy in front of her. Theoretically.
'Not going to know until I try,' Paige thought, staring at the wall. "Prue," she whispered, determinedly. "Prue, Prue, Prue-"
The air in front of her suddenly lit up with a swirl of bright orbs, and Paige took a tiny moment to celebrate her success. Then, the lights solidified into the face that Paige had seen in countless pictures around the Manor. Her sister.
"Prue," she said, and the woman's head whipped around, staring at her in disbelief.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice coming out in a hoarse rasp.
Paige considered the truth for all of two seconds before discarding the idea. Prue was obviously scared, and she'd been down in the Underworld for nearly a month, and the whole "long lost sister" story wasn't likely to go over well. Not until they were on safer ground. So, she went with a partial truth.
"My name is Paige," she said, soothingly, projecting the same calm she used when she was dealing with scared kids. "I was sent to find you, and bring you home."
Prue shook her head, her eyes wide with terror. "Who are you?" she demanded, again, backing up until she was pressed against the far wall, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
"I'm a Whitelighter," Paige lied, quickly, but Prue didn't look convinced, her eyes flicking down to the sword that Paige was still holding. "Well, I couldn't come down here unarmed," she quipped, weakly, trying to dissolve some of the tension in the air. "Prue, I promise you, I am here to take you home."
"Prove it," Prue said, harshly, and Paige fought back the hysterical laugh that threatened to explode out of her.
Prove it? How the hell was she supposed to prove it? She'd known her sisters for less than a month, and she'd spent most of that cramming facts about magic, rather than their personal lives. What she knew about Piper and Phoebe, combined, could be counted on one hand, and Prue even less than that. How was she supposed to prove that she was what she was claiming to be?
"Your mom's name was Patricia," she started, slowly, desperately trying to think. "She died fighting a demon, died fighting to protect the Innocent."
She knew that wasn't good enough, could see the protest in Prue's eyes, but then she remembered something that she'd talked to Leo about, during their Whitelighter pow-wow. She only hoped that it would be enough.
"Her Whitelighter's name was Sam," she went on, gently, flashing back to the letters that Leo had shown her. "They were in love. It was against the rules, but they didn't care about the Elders' stupid rules; just like Leo and Piper didn't care. Your mom fell in love with her Whitelighter, and she wrote him letters when they couldn't be together. Letters that he kept after her death, that he kept until his death."
"How do you know about that?" Prue asked, some of the panic leaving her eyes.
"I told you, I'm a Whitelighter," Paige said, warming to her story. "I've been working with Piper and Phoebe since you – since you disappeared."
"My sisters," Prue demanded. "Are they okay? Shax didn't – he didn't hurt them, did he?"
"No," Paige reassured her, venturing closer, encouraged by the way Prue didn't flinch away from her. "Piper and Phoebe are fine, I swear. And I'm here to take you home to them, okay?"
"Okay," Prue finally agreed, and Paige sighed in relief as she dropped her arm around the other woman's shoulders.
"Come on," she told Prue. "Let's get out of here, huh?"