A/N: I'm sorry about the very long delay. So there is no confusion, the italics is when Haley is dreaming. I have a poll in my profile to vote for the next Naley story that I should update. Thanks for the awesome reviews. And thanks to my beta: Leeese.

Chapter Twenty Four

Witch Way Now?

Haley tried all the usual places that Brooke would go in Tree Hill. However, she couldn't find her anywhere. She then thought of another place that she would go to, one that Haley hadn't been to in about four years. She snapped her fingers once more and reappeared in front of the abandoned sorority house. As she walked up onto the front porch, memories instantly started to come back of that fateful night.

She then snapped back into reality. She tried the door handle and found that it was unlocked. The door creaked as she pushed it open. She quickly grabbed a flashlight and slowly walked in. She knew that she had to be careful. Brooke was still pissed at her. So it wouldn't be surprising if she had set a trap for Haley to fall into.

Haley made her way to the basement door. As she walked down the stairs, she could hear noises. She reached the bottom step and walked down onto the floor. She then noticed that it suddenly became quiet. She then knew that she had to be more cautious than before. "Brooke, I know that you are down here. Can we just try and talk this out first before we start this magical battle?" she asked hopefully. She waited for an answer and wasn't surprised when she didn't get one. She knew that Brooke was too stubborn to admit that she still loved Lucas. "Look, nothing good will come out of us battling each other. It will just get both of us killed."

She then jumped as she heard a voice. "Do you really think that you are more powerful than me?" Brooke demanded. She scoffed at her. "You haven't even gotten all of your powers yet. So just try and defeat me."

Haley immediately stopped her before she could use her powers on her. "Do you really think that I care about having powers? I lived for over twenty years without knowing that I even had powers. And I have done just fine without them. Besides, there are some things that your powers can't help you with like pain and loss."

Brooke glared at her. "Don't talk to me about pain and loss. You know nothing about it." Haley knew that she had upset her and Brooke then used her telekinetic powers to move sharp objects and hurl them towards Haley's way.

Haley used her own telekinetic powers to push them back towards her. Brooke was caught by surprise and ducked as they hit the wall behind her. Haley used that distraction to make her getaway. She quickly snapped her fingers and disappeared from Brooke's sight. She reappeared near the cauldron where Brooke was working. She turned around and prepared to use her powers again.

Haley knew that she had to act quickly. "Brooke, I know why you became evil. And I can't say that I blame you. I would be devastated too if Nathan cheated on me. But Lucas didn't cheat on you. It was just made to look that way so you two would be apart."

"You're lying," Brooke exclaimed.

Haley knew that she had to keep talking. "Just listen to your heart, Brooke. You know that Lucas would never cheat on you. He never did. The coven just made you believe that so you would join them."

Brooke was quiet for a few moments. Haley could tell that she was getting to her and knew that it was safe for her to continue. However, before she could, she felt someone grab her from behind. She gasped in surprise as she heard her uncle's voice. "Your aunt and I talked it over. We thought that it wasn't worth the hassle of having you two battle each other," he hissed in her ear as he held a knife to her throat. "We decided to save you the trouble and kill Brooke first." Haley tried to get out of his grip, but he held her tight.

"There really was no prophecy of a battle between me and Brooke, was there?" Haley asked.

"Actually, Charlene used her magic to make it look like you two would have to battle," Cooper admitted. "But it was really of a picture of your magical baby who is going to ruin our family reputation. You know how we can't have that."

Brooke suddenly spoke up as everything became clear to her. "So Haley was right," she exclaimed angrily. "I was just a pawn in your evil plan to get your niece back into your coven, not to mention take over the magical world. I can't believe that I was so stupid."

"The plan would have worked too," Charlene said as she appeared in the basement. She walked over to the three. "But Haley had to fall in love with the enemy. Like mother, like daughter. Speaking of your mother, we won't have to worry about her interfering anymore. Cooper took care of her."

"What the hell did you do to her?" Haley demanded.

"Don't worry about her, Haley," Charlene said as she used her powers to have Brooke's feet stick to the floor. Brooke tried to move, but it was to no avail. "You have more important things to worry about like keeping warm in that cold dungeon. And this time, I'll make sure that you will stay there until you finally cooperate."

"Why can't you two get it through your thick heads? I'm not going to join the coven," Haley replied.

Cooper laughed. "What makes you think we're after you now?" he asked. Haley gave him a confused look. "We can't make you, but we'll certainly continue the tradition of keeping mother prisoner while we raise the baby evil."

Before Haley could say a word, Charlene spoke up. "You may not be pregnant now, but you will be soon. We just want to make sure that it is with the right person."

"She is with the right person," a familiar voice said. Haley let out a relieved sigh as Nathan appeared, along with Dan, Karen, Victoria and Lucas. Brooke stared at Lucas in shock. "Let them go."

Charlene chuckled. "You're clearly no match for us. Didn't we prove that earlier when you were fighting us, Karen? Or do you not remember how Cooper fatally wounded Deb?" Haley then knew that her mother was fighting for her life. "So I suggest you back off unless you want Haley to get hurt."

"Why don't you fight me then?" Haley suggested as Charlene turned to her. "After all, we're family. So we should be evenly matched, right?" she asked.

Nathan refused to let her go on. "Hales, you can't," he protested. "Deb couldn't even fight them off."

"Nathan, you're clearly underestimating your wife," Charlene replied. "She is definitely stronger than her mother. But she even has her weaknesses." Charlene gave the signal to Cooper. He let go of the knife and Charlene used her powers to fling the knife at Brooke.

The knife suddenly stopped in midair as Lucas pushed Brooke away from the oncoming knife. "Are you ok?" Lucas asked her. Brooke nodded as they got up from the ground. Everyone looked around to see who had stopped the knife from going any further.

Victoria suddenly spoke up as she glared at Charlene. "You will not harm my daughter."

Charlene grabbed the knife and turned to her brother. "Well, I guess that I have no choice but to pick the only one who is defenseless against me."

"Don't you dare hurt her," Nathan exclaimed as he ran towards them. However, Charlene used her power to throw him into the air and over to the other side of the room. He hit the wall and fell onto the ground. Haley was relieved to see that he opened his eyes.

As Lucas and Brooke rushed over to him, Dan, Victoria and Karen tried to stop Charlene from stabbing Haley. However, they too were stopped. "We can't do it. She's too strong," Dan told them as he helped his wife up.

Cooper thought for a moment. "You know, I think its better that we don't have an audience," he told his sister. Charlene nodded in agreement. They then snapped their fingers and they disappeared with Haley.

As soon as they reappeared, Cooper let go of Haley. She fell onto the ground as she looked around at her surroundings. She recognized the place and saw that they were outside of the castle in Scotland. She didn't have a chance to get up as she was pulled up from the ground by Julian and Owen. She then saw that the wounded coven was gathering wood and putting it around a stake that was in the middle of the courtyard. "I thought that witches couldn't be killed by being burning at the stake," Haley said confused.

Charlene just smirked at her. "Yeah, but this isn't a normal bonfire. It's being created by magic." Haley looked at her horrified. "It's too bad that you or your baby won't join us. But I guess it is better that it ends with you than rather than trying to raise the baby evil. I'm sure that your husband wouldn't have anything of it. I guess we'll just have to find another way to try and take over the magical world." She then gave the signal to the two men and they dragged Haley over to the stake. They then tied her hands behind the stake before tying her feet. Haley instantly started to try and loosen the ropes. "Don't bother trying to get out of the ropes, Haley. It won't work."

Haley then knew that she was in trouble. She helplessly watched as the coven finished gathering the wood around the stake. They then walked away to make sure that they were far enough from the fire so they wouldn't get burned, but were close enough to watch. Charlene then walked over to Haley. "This is your last chance. Join us or die."

"Nathan will save me," Haley assured her. "Then you and the rest of your little coven will die. And our family will reign in the source of good magic, not dark."

Charlene just glared at her as she backed away from the fire. She then snapped her fingers and fire appeared underneath Haley's feet. She watched helplessly as the fire came closer and closer to her. She coughed as she felt the smoke made it's into her lungs. Her eyes started to sting and she couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. She screamed as she felt the fire touch her body. She then passed out from the fumes.

She opened her eyes again and was surprised to find that she was in front of the cabin. She was confused and wondered what she was doing there. "Hello Haley," an unfamiliar voice said. She turned around to see a man smiling at her. "I'm sure you didn't expect to be here so soon, didn't you?"

"Who are you?" Haley asked him. She then answered her own question. "You're my birth father, aren't you?"

Keith nodded. "Yes, I am," he admitted. Haley looked at him shocked. She then came to a horrible realization. Keith tried to set her mind at ease. "Don't worry. You're not dead yet. I'm here to guide you to try to understand your destiny with Nathan."

Haley was again confused. "What do you mean?"

Keith gave his daughter a look. "You are afraid that you are going to turn evil, aren't you?" he asked. Haley didn't answer him. "Haley, life is full of choices. We just have to believe that we're making the right ones. We can't predict the future. Why did you take off with Nathan and end up here?"

"I didn't want to be Brooke's slave anymore," Haley replied.

Keith nodded in agreement. "If you hadn't met Nathan, you would still be under Brooke's control." He then motioned for her to follow him. She did and was surprised when she saw that they were walking into the cabin. She noticed how quiet it was. She then heard noises coming from the backyard. She walked out and saw Nathan fishing with a young boy and girl. The girl looked just slightly older than the boy.

As she looked closer, she saw that it was an older Nathan. He was giving instructions to the children on how to fish. Haley gasped as she saw an older version of herself suddenly appearing in front of Nathan and the two children. She looked visibly pregnant. She gave her family a wide smile as she joined them on the deck. "Hey, have you guys caught anything?" she asked them as Nathan gave her a kiss.

Nathan shook his head. "No, there's nothing yet. But I'm sure we'll catch something soon."

"Why can't we use our powers?" the little boy asked.

Nathan gave his son a stern look. "Son, you know why. That would be cheating. I know that we're not mortals, but we shouldn't use our powers for every little thing."

Haley nodded in agreement as she noticed her younger self and Keith. "I'll be right back," she promised her family and walked over to the other two. The younger Haley looked at the little family in amazement. The mom smiled proudly. "Yes, those are certainly are our children."

"So we will be able to live our life happily without my family chasing us?" Haley asked her.

"Well, there will always be evil out there," the wise mom gently replied. "But as long as you fight the darkness, you will be able to raise our family just fine."

Haley then turned to Keith. "I think I understand now. I was able to fight for my freedom and I fought for Nathan. So I should be able to handle the fight against the temptation of becoming an evil witch. I just wish that I wasn't leaving you."

Keith gave her a comforting smile. "I'll be fine. I've accepted this as my destiny. Your destiny is to be with your husband and raise your family as good witches and warlocks. However, there is one last thing that I need you to do for me." Haley waited to hear what he had to say. "Tell your mother that she should move on. I'll be waiting for her when it's time for her to come. Help her to find the strength to love again."

"I will," Haley promised as fog started to roll in. Keith then disappeared as she heard Nathan calling her name.

Haley opened her eyes again and saw Nathan and his family standing over her. "Hales, are you alright?" he asked anxiously.

Haley nodded. "Yeah, what happened?" she asked as she looked at her surroundings. She noticed that she was lying on the living room couch in the Scott house. She tried to remember what had happened, but everything was fuzzy.

"We had another huge fight with your aunt, uncle and their coven," Lucas told her. "And we won the battle. None of us have to worry about your aunt and uncle coming after us anymore."

"It's over? It's really over?" Haley asked, unable to believe it.

Nathan gave her a wide smile. "Yeah, we can finally have our wedding night and honeymoon."

Haley smiled in return as everyone left the two alone. She couldn't help but notice the way that Brooke and Lucas were with each other, awkward and uncomfortable. "What do you think will happen with them?" she asked.

Nathan sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. "I want them to be together, but then again, Brooke did kill him."

"Yeah, I think I will have some trust issues with her too for awhile," Haley replied. She then remembered what Charlene had said. "How's Deb?" she asked.

Nathan gave her a comforting smile. "She's a fighter, just like her daughter." Haley just smiled at him in return.