"Tell me everything," said Piper giving Leo a cold look.
"Everything?" the man said, still shifting. He'd been shifting ever since being called back by Piper.
"Everything," Piper repeated. "About how the magical world works. About Demons, Whitelighters, the Elders and all other magical beings out there."
"Right," said Leo. "I suppose I'll start with the broad strokes. The world is made up of good and evil beings, constantly fighting towards their own agendas. Mostly it's just one side wanting to be the dominant force on earth."
"No one neutral?" asked Piper. Leo frowned at that. "How does that even work? No one is just good or evil. They can do things which are good or evil but they aren't entirely so."
"It's different with magical beings," said Leo.
"Different how?" Before the man could answer Piper shook her head. "I need to understand something before that happens. Where do demons come from?"
"From the Source of All Evil," said Leo.
"So he creates demons?" said Piper.
"Yes…and no. Some demons are created by the Source, though that hasn't been done in centuries, but others are born through…relations between demons and demons, demons and humans, there are even myths that a whitelighter and a demon once had a child."
"Myths," said Piper. "Which means it might very well not be true."
"Humans can also be turned into demons," Leo continued. "It's one of the main reasons Whitelighters exists. The process to turn a person into a demon requires they commit more evil than good in their life, when they die their souls are sent to the underworld where the Source gives them a portion of his power. It's how low-level demons come to be."
"So there are so demons with human souls," said Piper. "Isn't it possible, then, that demons aren't entirely evil?"
"Possible, sure," said Leo. "But very unlikely. The Source's power is tainted with his evil, making it so that anyone who uses it is more likely than not going to be, and if they aren't become, evil."
"What's the antithesis to the Source?"
"The Elders," said Leo.
"And I assume that they're the source of all good?"
Leo shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. The Elder work indirectly," he said. "They're forces of good, sure, but they're not heavy handed. They don't interfere directly with anyone."
"They work events so that they can achieve their outcome?" said Piper. "Along with the Angel of Destiny?"
"Angels," Leo corrected. "The Angels od Destiny are good, sure, but they don't interfere, only making sure that the Grand Design is kept."
"Grand Design?"
"How the future is supposed to flow. What it's supposed to look like," said Leo.
"And who decides what the Grand Design?" asked Piper.
"I don't know," said Leo. "That's something the Elders or the Angels themselves may know."
"So this means that free will doesn't exist?" said Piper. "That no matter how we try to do things in the end the Angels of Destiny are the ones who decide what our future is going to be?"
Leo shook his head. "I don't know. It's not something I've ever thought about…Matter of fact, are you going to let me explain or are you going to keep asking questions?"
"Don't get testy," said Piper. "Go on."
"There a myriad of other magical being beyond the major powers: Vampires, Unicorn, Leprechauns, Dwarves, Fairies, Pixies, Gnomes, Dragons, Wizards, Witches and Warlocks." Leo took a breath and continued, "Trolls, Golems, Mermaids—"
"I get it, there are a lot," said Piper. "And where do they scale in the whole good versus evil thing?"
"Some are good and others are evil," said Leo. "It depends on the individual. There are some that aren't exactly evil per say but they don't play by human rules which makes them evil in our eyes."
Piper nodded, that made sense. They were a different species after all, it didn't make sense that they would act the same way.
"All these different beings, how do they hide one earth. Surveillance has been getting better the last few years," she said. "Someone should have seen something and all of this should have ended up in the news."
"Two layers of protections," said Leo. "One is the fact that there are different layers of reality, dimensions existing parallel to our own that are accessible either through teleportation or portals scattered all over the world. The second layer of protection are the Cleaners. They're a cooperative between Good and Evil, protecting magic as a whole."
"I don't get that. Why would demons want this? Why would they want the status quo to continue. If normal people found out about this, about us, then they would most likely panic, they'd think all of us were evil and unknowingly cause more evil in the world," said Piper.
"It took me a few seconds to think of this, demon kind should have been able to think of this before," Piper continued. "This entire world just doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe demons aren't as smart as you," said Leo.
"I doubt that," said Piper. "So the status quo is kept by both demons and whitelighters, got it. Anything else I need to know?"
"Witches can become evil too," said Leo. "If you use your power to for evil or forsake your duty towards protecting innocents then you're also considered evil and you're termed a warlock."
"So either I protect people, putting my own life in danger, or I'm termed evil? So again, my choice isn't factored into all of this?"
Leo shifted again, his eyes shining with what Piper could only call disappointment. Surprisingly, she didn't feel any guilt or anger.
"What about this personal gain thing?" said Piper. "The book isn't too specific on that front."
"Good witches aren't supposed to use their abilities for their own benefit," said Leo. "If they do, their spells will backfire and with enough spells or magic used for their own benefit then they might lose access to their powers."
"More restrictions on my powers," said Piper. "Might make a girl want to turn 'evil.'"
"Piper it isn't—"
"Stop," said Piper. "Don't say unless you're answering my questions. I'm getting a lot of black and white from what you've been saying," said Piper. "Either evil or good. Where does neutrality exist in all this? Where does the fluidity of being human exist in this?
"The others I can get," she continued. "Demon have the Source's taint, the others don't abide by human morality so they're evil from our perspective, but why are there such strict rules where witches, which are human, are concerned?
"The whole thing with humans is that we can be whatever. We can do bad things but that doesn't make us bad people, it just makes us people. Why are witches held by this higher standard?"
"Because you have power normal people don't have," said Leo. "Because of that power you have to be held to a higher standard, to stricter rules or you might abuse it."
"Or you're making it harder to be good," said Piper. "People need a steady income to survive, which means jobs. All of this together means a greater amount of work we have to do between protecting innocents and keeping our own lives. Without the personal gain thing, we wouldn't need to work which means a greater protection of innocents. All these rules don't make any sense, if you ask me," she said. "They seem to be geared towards making things harder for us."
"That's the whole point of being good," said Leo. "Overcoming hardship."
"That's one of the most teeming load of crap I've ever heard," said Piper. "A police officer does good work, right?"
"Yes," said Leo, "and I see where you're going with this. But it's not the same thing. If you use your powers to get money you'll be actively working towards harming someone. It might not be a good person, but at the end of the day you'd still be causing them harm."
"So the grander rules don't care about whether a normal person is bad or not, just that I don't 'abuse' my powers, even if it's for the greater good in the long term."
"That's not what I meant," said Leo.
"But it's what you said. More and more, you're making me think that the way things are running is useless. We're protecting bad people through inaction in this way—" Piper was about to say more when Phoebe rushed into the room.
"Freeze him," she said and Piper didn't hesitate, but the same could be said for Leo. The man was in the process of teleporting out but Piper's power still caught hold of him, causing the freeze in his light state.
"What is it, what's going on?" Piper said, already in panic mode.
"We have six hours before they notice," said Phoebe. "Prue! Get down here!"
Not even a moment later and Prue was running into the room. "What it is, what's going on?"
"I just had a vision of the past," she said. "I know, shocker, but I like it because you two having been getting awesome powers but that's not the point. We have to work through a spell to ward this house from sound both magical and mundane."
"Why, what's going on?" asked Prue.
"It's better if I don't say anything yet," said Phoebe, "just in case one of them is listening."
"Let's get this done," said Prue.
888
Four hours spent nonstop working on the spell. Piper watched it grow and it was quite beautiful. Unlike the others she wasn't creatively inclined so most of the time she watched her sisters. Prue and Phoebe discussed before the latter of the two would have a far off look and then changing the thing based one future vision.
Four hours and the spell was done.
Four hours and the spell was said.
Four hours and Piper unfroze Leo.
"He shouldn't be able to hear us now," said Phoebe. "And it means less heat off of us. Which means I can tell you this before the walls come down: We have a fourth sister named Paige. Mom had to hide her because of the Elders."
In that moment Piper realised something, she didn't like the Elders nor the system they'd created for magical kind. Because if their rules had caused her not to know a sister, had forced her mother to make such a decision, then they couldn't be as good as they claimed to be.
"We have to overthrow the Elders," said Piper, surprised at herself. For the first time Phoebe looked scared, but Prue, she looked the most angry Piper had ever seen her before, angrier than she'd been at Phoebe.
Much though she didn't like the Elders, Phoebe couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
888
AN: Yeah. This. Don't know how I'll be able to move forward, but it's been an idea that's been in my mind since South Africa's Fox channel has been replaying Charmed. This is totally Elder bashing, but from what I've seen from the guys, they really are jackasses touting the greater good as shield.
That aside. Don't know when I'll continue this because I have other stories that I'm writing and others that I'm editing and this might go without being updated for a while—or at least until I love another episode and get inspired.