Chapter 26: Morality Bites
September 29, 1997 - Monday
Buffy stomped carrying a bag of groceries in one hand and one of her shoes in the other. Piper wasn't far behind her carrying another bag of groceries. Prue and Phoebe were gathered around the coffee pot when Buffy dropped her bag of groceries unceremoniously on the island.
"Whoa, what did you two buy?" Phoebe exclaimed, referring to the smell that followed Piper and Buffy inside.
"You don't want to know," Buffy replied.
"Doodie," Piper replied as Buffy glared at her. After setting her bag of groceries on the island, she took Buffy's shoe from her cousin and held it up shoe for them to see.
"We weren't out of that," Prue quipped.
"Shoe!" Buffy said as she waved her hand at her offending shoe and it flamed out of Piper's hand and into the sink. She walked over and turned the water on. "I stepped in it, again," she ranted. "You'd think being the Charmed Slayer with super-reflexes given to me by the Slayer side of me that I would be able to avoid stuff like that."
"That man has turned our front walk into a puppy minefield," Piper said.
Phoebe shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe that guy let's his dog do its business right in front of our house."
"Yeah, well, we've left notes…" Prue pointed out with a resigned sigh.
Piper grabbed the empty milk carton on the table in front of them and threw it roughly into the trash.
"And gotten nowhere." Buffy countered. "I'm just about ready to knock him about with full Slayer strength."
Phoebe suddenly slammed her hand down on the table with a loud 'thump.' "Yeah, well, I've had it. The next time I catch him in the act, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind," she decided. "Or better yet let Buffy knock some sense into him."
All four of them froze at the sound of a dog barking outside their house. "No…" Buffy started, narrowing her eyes in the direction of the window.
"It can't be…" Piper agreed with Buffy, her voice showing her disbelief.
"Oh, I hope it is," Phoebe announced, stomping toward the living room window as if she was off to battle. Prue, Piper, and Buffy were quick to follow.
Buffy yanked the curtain back so they all could see. "That's them. That's the guy and his dog. I can't believe it," she stammered in her anger.
Prue's hands rested on her hips as her eyes narrowed. "That is so rude. And he's just going to walk away."
Phoebe smirked mischievously. "Then don't let him. Use your magic," she suggested eagerly. Well, if you can't teach the dog new tricks, why not the owner? Just think of the money we would save on carpet cleaning alone."
Prue shook her head immediately. "Phoebe, we can't use our magic to teach him or anybody else a lesson," Prue lectured. "Just as Buffy can't hurt a mortal with the strength she gets from her Slayer side."
"But it would be oh so fun," Buffy countered.
"Why not?" Phoebe said agreeing with her cousin. "It's for the greater good, I mean, I mean that's our job, right?" she pressed, focusing mostly on Prue. "Think of it as community service. We'd be doing our whole block a favor," she continued. "Come on." Phoebe waved for Buffy to open the window.
Buffy pushed the window up. "Alright, Piper." She moved out of the way.
"Oh, I hope he's not out of my range," Piper wished. She leaned out the window and flicked her wrists so that the street outside froze, including the man and his dog.
"Prue…" Phoebe prompted. Prue sighed and flicked a finger so that the dog's poop smashed against the man's shoe. "Nice shot," she complimented just as the street unfroze. "An eye for an eye, a shoe for a shoe," she commented in satisfaction earning a high five from Buffy.
The man looked down at his shoe and attempted to wipe the stuff off onto the ground. He turned and looked around as if trying to figure out how it had happened. "Ooh!" They whispered when he looked at their window. Prue dropped to the ground, Buffy grabbed Piper and pulled them back against the wall out of sight while Phoebe let the curtain go so that it closed them from view.
"Did he see you?" Prue asked Phoebe from the ground as she was easily the last person to get out of sight.
Phoebe shrugged nonchalantly. "So what if he did? What's he gonna do? Cry witch?" she joked.
Piper peeked out around the curtain and saw the man and his dog leave. "Well, he's gone now," she pointed out.
Phoebe nodded, much happier than she had been earlier. "So we've done our good deed for the day. I think I deserve fifteen minutes of channel surfing," she decided, sprawling across the couch and flipping the television on with the remote.
"Who wants coffee?" Piper asked, receiving raised a hand from Phoebe. Prue and Buffy were givens.
"I'll grind." Prue offered, following Piper into the kitchen.
"Bring me a Diet Coke," Buffy called after them as she dropped down into an armchair next to Phoebe for some TV. "Maybe Looney Tunes are on," she lightly hit Phoebe on the arm for her to see.
"Okay, Buffy," Phoebe agreed with a laugh. She flipped the channel several times when she landed on the news. Before she flipped to the next channel a picture of baseball player Cal Greene covered the screen as the reporter talked about his grand slam record. Buffy made to grab the remote as she and Phoebe were hit by a premonition.
Phoebe was tied up to a stake and surrounded by several people. One of the men pointed her out, declaring something, and flames lit up around her, engulfing her while Prue, Piper, Buffy and another woman stood to the side watching and crying.
Phoebe screamed as she and Buffy came out of the premonition.
"Did you see…" Buffy asked as soon as she and Phoebe came out of the premonition.
"…me being burned at the stake," Phoebe finished. "Yeah," she said as Prue and Piper came running from the kitchen.
"What happened?" Prue demanded.
"We both had a premonition… a bad one," Buffy explained. "Though I have to say Phoebe may have gotten the full brunt of the premonition where I was more to the side."
Prue took Phoebe's hand. "Phoebe, are you okay?" she questioned gently.
"Take a deep breath, honey, it's alright," Piper soothed, helping Phoebe into a sitting position.
Phoebe just shook her head, looking stunned and in pain at the same time. "No, it's not. Buffy and I saw my future…" she met both of her sister's eyes before continuing. "I was being executed. Burned alive," she whispered.
"We were watching a report on a baseball player when it happened," Buffy added. "And me, you, Prue, and you, Piper, were just standing there along with a woman I didn't recognize." She looked at Phoebe. "Did you recognize her?"
"No," answered Phoebe. "But she did look familiar."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Why would a report about a baseball player trigger a premonition like that?" Piper wondered aloud as she came back from the kitchen with a cold glass of water for Phoebe and Buffy's Diet Coke. She passed the drinks to Phoebe and Buffy.
Phoebe shrugged as she took a sip of water, "I don't know."
"I don't know either," Buffy said. "And I am wondering if the reason I saw it to begin with was because Phoebe and I were both holding the remote at the same time."
Phoebe shook her head slightly. "All I remember is that I could feel it. I could feel the fire," she admitted.
"That's why I said I thought Phoebe got the full brunt of the premonition and I was more on the side," Buffy said looking at Prue and Piper. "That's where we were standing as we watched Phoebe get burned at the stake."
"So we were just standing there? That can't be right," Piper denied, sounding confused.
"That's what Buffy and I saw…" Phoebe replied, taking another sip of her water.
Prue shook her head. "There's no way that we would let that happen. Not in the past, present, or future," she insisted.
Phoebe groaned and fell back into the couch. "What did I do? Or what is it I'm going to do?" she asked as the doorbell rang.
"That's Leo. I'll get that," Piper said as she went to the door and opened it to reveal Leo. "Hey, stranger," she greeted.
"Is that what I am now?" Leo joked.
"Playing hooky?" Piper wondered. .
Leo shook his head, "No, they're making me work tonight so I've got the afternoon off," he said as he pulled Piper into his arms.
"The old I gotta save the world excuse again?" Piper said as she chuckled.
"Like you've never had to use it," Leo replied as he too chuckled. "You're about to use it."
Piper sighed. "Well, there's just something I have to do. Maybe you could..." she said as Leo looked toward the heavens.
"Now?" he asked.
"Uh..." Piper said clearly confused at the one-sided conversation. "Leo?"
Leo sighed as he turned his attention back to Piper. "It's okay, uh, you go. There's actually something I have to take care of."
Piper sighed. "Well, we really need to talk about things, you know, where we stand."
"Yeah, we do." Leo agreed. "Raincheck?"
"That's what we do best." Piper said as Leo kissed her before orbing out right in the middle of the kiss. "I hate when he does that." She closed the door and turned to see Buffy, Prue and Phoebe standing at the base of the stairs.
"So, what did he want?" Prue asked as she led her sisters and Buffy up the stairs, heading for the attic.
Piper let out a resigned sigh. "He cancelled our date. He's working again."
"You didn't ask him what we should do?" Buffy wondered.
"He had to fly... literally," Piper admitted. As they entered the attic they saw the pages of both books rustling slightly. "The pages were doing that flipping thing on their own again." She was apparently the only one other than Prue that saw the pages move a little.
The four of them crowded around to see what the books said.
"It's a spell to take us to the future," Buffy read with a thoughtful expression.
"Two actually," Piper corrected. "One to send us, one to bring us home, but apparently we only get one shot. Once we use it they disappear."
Phoebe suddenly shook her head. "Wait a minute, you guys. We almost died going back to the past. This is not something that you just do," she argued.
"We're talking about your life, Phoebe," Prue retorted.
"And I'm talking about yours, Prue," Phoebe returned. "I'm just saying I think we should think this over a little bit," she reasoned, her gaze shifting from Prue to Piper and then to Buffy.
"Look, we had that premonition today for a reason," Buffy countered.
"It must mean that we're supposed to do something about it," Prue added. "And going to the future might be the only way to find out what you did to put you on that pyre."
"How do you know it's something that I did? Maybe it's a demon or a warlock that puts me there," Phoebe suggested.
Prue paused before continuing. "Do you really want to wait to find out?" she asked. Everyone was silent and it became obvious that Phoebe didn't want to wait. "We go, try to figure out what happened and hopefully come back with enough information to stop it. We're gonna need a date."
Phoebe glanced at Buffy. "About two weeks?" Buffy suggested.
Phoebe nodded in agreement. "February 12, 2009," she said. "That's two weeks before the date Buffy and I saw in our premonition."
"That should give us more than enough time to figure everything out," Buffy said.
"I wonder how I look…" Piper suddenly thought aloud.
Phoebe cast Piper a funny look as she scribbled the date onto a piece of paper. "Piper, you look great but this is hardly the time…"
"Not now…" Piper interrupted, giving Phoebe an impatient look. "In the future. When we went back in the seventies we saw ourselves as kids and now we'll be seeing ourselves walking around ten years older. All that vanquishing… think of the wear and tear."
Prue picked up the paper that had 02/12/2009 written on it. She held it over the ritual bowl as she used a match to light the paper. She then dropped the flaming paper into the bowl and began the spell. "Hear these words, hear the rhyme…"
"We send to you this burning sign…" Piper followed.
Phoebe went next. "Then our future selves will find…"
"In another place and time." Buffy finished. She, Prue, Piper and Phoebe were surrounded with white orbs and disappeared.
February 26, 2009
Halliwell Castle
Buffy jerked awake to find herself in a large family area. She looked around seeing a large TV adorning one wall. A bookshelf stood against another. And on the third was pictures and a framed newspaper article that read: Payson's P4… Comes Alive Again. Below the headline was a picture of her herself with the unidentified woman from her premonition.
"Buffy! We're going to be late!"
Buffy spun around at the voice looking for it's owner. She saw the woman walk out of a hallway. "Who, who are you?" she asked.
"Buffy, have you conked your head?" the woman asked confused.
"No," Buffy answered as she stood up.
"You didn't cast a spell did you?" the woman said with a look of worry.
"Eleven and a half years ago I did," Buffy answered. "If I'm in February of 2009 that is."
The woman's eyes went wide in realization. "Your from 1997," she said. "You, Prue, Piper and Phoebe cast the spell to bring you to the future." She looked at Buffy wondering how much she should reveal. "My name is Dawn, I'm your sister."
Buffy looked at Dawn with complete confusion. She didn't have a sister. "I'm an only child," she said.
"From your perspective, for another four years you will be," Dawn answered. "It's kind of complicated, Buffy."
A girl of about four or five years old came running into the room barreling into Dawn. "Ma.." the girl started. Before she could complete what she was saying Dawn had clamped a hand over the girl's mouth. Dawn whispered in the girl's ear and the girl nodded. "Auntie Dawn," the girl said.
"Why don't you go say hello to your mom," Dawn said. She pushed the girl toward Buffy.
The girl ran over to Buffy and held out her arms. Buffy knelt down and wrapped her arms around apparently her daughter. She looked up at Dawn as if to say, explain."
"She's yours and Angel's daughter," Dawn said as she smiled at Buffy. "She was born the same year I arrived. Her name is Celia Prudence Halliwell."
Buffy looked at Dawn confused. "I thought vampires couldn't have children," she said.
"There is a day only you and Angel remember," Dawn said. "I don't know the details. But Celia was conceived during that day."
"So where is Angel?" Buffy asked.
"It didn't work out between the two of you," Dawn answered wishing she could tell Buffy the whole story. She looked toward Celia and smiled. "Celia, honey, would you like to go see Mel?"
"Yes!" Celia cried.
Halliwell Manor
Piper opened her eyes to find herself lying on the couch in the conservatory of the Manor. Before she had gotten off the couch a little girl came running in, her brown hair flying behind her. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," she called, sliding to a stop in front of Piper.
Piper's eyes widened as she pushed herself into a sitting position on the couch. "Uh, I think you have the wrong house. Certainly the wrong mommy," she explained, backing away just a little once she was on her feet again.
The girl just smiled. "Stop fooling," she laughed, wrapping her arms tightly around Piper's waist. Piper tensed but before she could say anything the doorbell rang. "Car pool!" she yelled, running to get the door.
Piper watched her run off but caught sight of herself in the mirror. "Ooh…" she mumbled, running a hand through her longer, wavy hair. She caught sight of the ring on her finger and smiled. Through the reflection of the mirror she saw the Execution of Phoebe Halliwell come up on the TV screen. Her faint smile fell as she spun on the TV. "Phoebe." She pointed frantically at it. "Where's the volume?" she hissed, looking around for the remote, but the volume suddenly increased on it's own.
"More news on the execution of Phoebe Halliwell coming up in just a moment. Now back to your regular scheduled programming MTV's Real World 18, on the moon…" The report trailed off into something uninteresting to Piper.
"Mom, I'm going to be late!" the little girl's yell sounded from the foyer.
Piper reluctantly looked away from the TV. "Okay, uh, TV, shut up. Mute. Or something," she ordered it, waving her hand at it as if that would do something. Piper then hurried over to the front door just as the door opened.
Dawn followed by Buffy and Celia walked into the Manor. Dawn smiled sympathetically at Piper. "Morning, Piper," she said. "And yes I know you don't know me. It's a little difficult to explain. And not much time to do it right now. I've got to get these two to school. I will be back a little later to explain. Okay, Melinda, Celia, let's hit the road."
Melinda grabbed her bag and started out the door after Dawn but hesitated and ran back to Piper. Piper leaned down as she started to whisper to her. "Don't worry, Mommy. I promise I'll do what you ask. I won't use my magic again, ever," she promised.
Celia opened her arms and Buffy hugged her. "I won't either, mommy," she said. When Melinda had released Piper she and the other girl switched places hugging the other woman. "Bye, Auntie Piper. Bye, mommy."
"Bye, Auntie Buffy. Bye, mommy," said Melinda.
Buffy and Piper watched them. Melinda and Celia waved back at them from the car and Buffy and Piper smiled, waving back. But then the door shut and the car drove off.
"So apparently we're both mothers," Buffy said.
"Apparently so," agreed Piper. "So who was that woman?"
"Apparently my sister," Buffy answered as Piper looked at her with confusion. "Yeah I don't understand that one either. She said something about not arriving from our perspective, meaning from when we are from for another four years."
It was at that moment a limousine stopped in front of the house. Prue stepped out with several assistants crowding around her and refusing to leave her alone.
"Okay, okay, enough people! Stop touching me," Prue snapped while Piper and Buffy stepped down toward her with wide eyes. "Stay… stay… stay." Prue ordered her assistants, finally managing to turn around. She hurried up the steps, pulling Piper and Buffy along with her until they were safely in the house.
"Alright, Prue, what's going on?" Buffy questioned while pointing to the limo and assistants on the other side of the door.
Prue smirked and shrugged. "I don't know but I could really get used to it. I was listening to my assistants brag about me and I don't just work at Bucklands. I own it and three more in Paris, Tokyo, and London," she explained.
"And you're blonde." Piper said noticing the Prue's hair color.
"Welcome to the club," Buffy said as she laughed. "Wait, you had time to go to work already?"
"Well, actually, I woke up there but it was amazing," Prue admitted. "I had all these assistants and this huge office and I have a chauffeur and he's so totally hot. How'd you two do?" Buffy and Piper laughed. "Is that a good thing or...?"
"Well, if you ignore my apparently failed marriage and the fact I'm still living in the Manor." Piper replied, trailing off with a shrug.
"So you're married?" Buffy pressed eagerly.
"Was," Piper corrected.
Buffy shrugged as if that didn't matter. "Well apparently I'm not married either and things don't last with me and Angel. That's on the bad side. On the good side. The little girl you saw me and Dawn with, Piper, she's mine and Angel's."
"How?" Piper said shocked.
"No clue," Buffy answered.
"Wait a second, who's Dawn?" Prue questioned.
Buffy shrugged. "Apparently my sister. Don't ask me how that happened. I have no clue. She's kind of secretive. Though I think that's to protect us. She knows we cast the spell. I think she was hiding things to protect her past."
"So you have a daughter?" Prue asked as Buffy nodded.
"Yeah, Dawn just left with mine and Piper's daughters taking them to school," Buffy answered.
Prue smiled at Piper. "So you have a daughter too!"
"Yeah, and she's beautiful," Piper stammered, grabbing the nearest picture of her daughter and thrusting it at Prue.
Buffy rummaged in her purse and pulled out her wallet. She pulled out a picture and thrust it at Prue.
"Oh, of course they are is. What's their names?" Prue inquired, smiling down at the pictures.
"Dawn said Piper's was Melinda," Buffy answered.
"You named her after our ancestor?" Prue asked as Piper shrugged. She then looked at Buffy. "What about yours?"
"Celia Prudence Halliwell," Buffy said as she saw Piper and Prue's reactions to the middle name.
"You named her after me?" Prue said as smiled at Buffy.
"After two of my cousins, apparently," Buffy answered as Piper and Prue now had a look of confusion.
"I name my daughter after a cousin on my dad's side, whose name was Celia. She died when we were eight years old," Buffy explained. "We were close, so close that I was there the day she died in the hospital, I watched it as it happened."
Prue and Piper saw the sad expression on Buffy's face as she talked about her paternal cousin and they pulled Buffy into their arms and held her. When they released Buffy, Piper decided to change the subject. "Apparently both my daughter and Buffy's have powers. And for some reason we told them both not to use them," Piper said. "Why would we do that?"
"Speaking of why… Do either of you know why we're in our future bodies? I mean, I thought we were supposed to come here and see them." Prue admitted, looking from Piper to Buffy and back again.
Piper shrugged. "Well, apparently going to the past isn't the same as coming to the future. I just wish that since we're in our future bodies that we could have some memory of what's happened in the last ten years, like how I got a daughter," Piper ranted.
"Same here," Buffy agreed. "Add on top of that I would love to know how exactly I have a sister."
"Okay, wait a second," Prue said as she realized what Phoebe was, "if I'm in my future body and you guys are in your future bodies then that means that Phoebe..."
That was when Piper notice a reporter on the TV was talking about Phoebe's execution.. "TV... louder, louder," she ordered.
"… Execution. We're less than eight hours…" the reporter was saying.
"Eight hours?" Buffy cried. "We were supposed to be here two weeks before."
"Shh," Prue ordered.
Buffy nodded as she slowly moved to sit on the couch, her eyes never leaving the TV screen as Piper sat down on the arm rest next to her and Prue stood behind them.
"…away now until the burning of Phoebe Halliwell," the reporter continued. "The witch accused of murdering Cal Greene six months ago… Let's go there now live where Sierra Stone is standing by… Sierra."
The camera switched to show a new reporter, apparently Sierra.
"San Francisco District Attorney, Nathaniel Pratt, who's discovery of the witch last August, has made him an early favorite of the Governor's seat, just came out to make a statement. Let's listen in."
"August," Buffy said. "Two weeks wouldn't have been enough time anyways."
"Apparently not," Prue agreed.
The camera zoomed in on Nathaniel Pratt surrounded by dozens of reporters. "This is a reflection of our citizen's resolve to ferret out the hidden evil. To turn fear into fight, and band together as one. To cleanse our city of it's greatest threat. Tonight, Phoebe Halliwell, will burn for her crime. And when she does, let that be a warning to other witches out there. You're next," he warned. He grinned and pointed into the camera. Buffy, Prue and Piper stared in open-mouthed shock at the words.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Oh, surprise, here we go, up the stairs into the attic, grabbing the books. Please tell me we still aren't going to be doing this nearly twelve from now," Prue stated, crossing the attic.
Piper and Buffy stopped in front of the empty pedestals where the books usually stayed. "Apparently not…" Piper and Buffy remarked casually.
"What?" Prue asked as she joined them only to find them standing in front of the pedestals.
"The books are gone," Piper and Buffy announced.
Prue spun around and started opening up trunks and cabinets, searching for the books. "They got to be here. We need it to find the return spell," she stressed bordering on panic.
"Prue…" Piper started in a soothing voice.
Buffy ran forward and grabbed Prue wrists, pulling her around to face her. "Calm down, Prue. Just relax," she soothed, pushing a strand of Prue's hair out of her face.
"Yeah, we'll find them," Piper assured her elder sister.
Prue yanked her wrists out of Buffy's hands and spun on Piper. "You don't know that. I mean, what if their lost? What if we can't find them…?" she demanded but didn't wait for them to answer. "… Then we're stuck in our future bodies with no way of getting out of them and no way of saving Phoebe." She waved her hand for emphasis and everything in the attic flew against the wall and was crushed by the sheer force of her telekinesis. When the explosion settled a large hole, almost the entirety of the wall, had appeared and pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground.
It was at that moment they heard footsteps on the stairs. They turned and saw Dawn running into the attic. "Guys, you have to be careful," she said. "Let the Object of Objection become but a Dream. As I cause the Seen to be Unseen," she chanted as the crushed items vanished and the hole in the wall repaired itself. "Your powers have expanded in the decade since you cast that spell."
"So you're, Dawn," Prue said as she glared at the woman. "So you want to tell us how you are Buffy's sister?"
"I'm sorry, Prue, I can't say too much," Dawn answered. "If I reveal too much you could change things that could wind up worse than they are now. As it is, I will have to cast a spell erasing knowledge of me from your minds along with a few other small details. For example, Celia. Knowing you have a daughter is one thing. You can look forward to that. Knowing how said daughter is conceived…"
Prue nodded in understanding. "Could lead to performance anxiety and you could wind up not having the same child or even a child at all," she said.
"Exactly," Dawn said. "Now I assume the reason you are up here is that you're looking for the books?" Buffy, Prue and Piper nodded. She smiled and walked over to the pedestals, reaching underneath she pulled out a key and handed it to Prue. "They're both at Bucklands."
Prue nodded slightly. "Alright, we'll go there first and then to Phoebe to see if she's all right," she decided, leading the way to the door.
Folsom Women's Facility
"Hello? Hello?" Phoebe yelled, searching for someone that would talk to her. She paced her cell nervously as she continued to be ignored. "Could somebody please answer me? I really need to talk to someone!" There was still no answer and she crossed her arms with a loud huff. "Okay, how about a snack? Maybe some crackers, peanuts, or something?" she insisted.
A guy finally walked up to her cell and slid a tray of slop under for her. "A tray full of goo?" she asked him only for him to walk away. "Hey, wait a minute!" she pressed up against the glass and was shocked backwards. She stared at the glass with a wary expression. "Don't I even get a phone call?" she sighed.
"Shut up, witch!" the man's voice carried from another room right before he slammed the door to block her voice.
Bucklands
Piper stepped out of the passenger side of her jeep, Buffy and Dawn out the back, and Prue out of the driver's seat into the Bucklands parking area. "I can't believe you get a limo and a driver and I've still got my same old car," Piper ranted good-naturedly.
Buffy rolled her eyes and laughed a little. "So, Prue, now that you're Ms. Rich, do you still support me financially?" she asked jokingly.
"Buffy, I will always support you," Prue assured her cousin.
"Actually, Buffy and I own, Payson's P4," Dawn said.
"What's that?" Piper wondered.
"P4, or it used to be named that," Dawn answered. "You eventually were able to open your own restaurant. You handed the club to Buffy and I. And we renamed it in honor of our family. It was a toss-up between Buffy and me whose name would highlight."
Piper smiled at the thought that she actually was able to open her own restaurant eventually.
"So you have a P name as well?" Buffy asked.
"I do," Dawn answered. "Mom wanted to name me Prudence Penelope."
"Must get confusing when the two of us are together," Prue said as she chuckled.
"It does," Dawn said as she smiled.
At that moment Piper saw a guy walk into someone just a few feet from them. The guy's coffee spilled everywhere and Piper flicked her wrists instinctively. The five of them stopped walking as the street froze around them.
Prue tilted her head to the side. "You just froze…"
"Everything," Piper finished for Prue. She stared around at everything with wide eyes. "What a difference a decade makes."
"Quickly," Dawn said hastily. "Unfreeze before someone sees!"
But her warning was too late as somone had seen as Leo stalked toward them, appearing none-too-happy. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.
"Leo, I'm so glad you're here. I have so many ques…" Piper reached out to hug him but he stepped away. She hesitated a moment. "Uh, what's wrong?" she asked with a glance at Prue, Buffy and Dawn.
"Leo," Dawn said. "Their from the past!"
Leo's eyes went wide in understanding as he remembered the day he had orbed into the attic and searched for the spell to send Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Buffy to the future. "Unfreeze everything, quick, before someone sees."
Piper was just about to do what she had been told when a woman walked around the corner and saw the frozen street. The woman easily caught sight of the six people not frozen in the middle of the crowd. "Witch!" the woman screamed, pointing frantically at them.
"Okay, what is going on here?" Prue questioned to Dawn and Leo as everything started to get bad.
"They don't like witches," Dawn answered.
Buffy felt a sharp prod in her side as Piper pointed at the posters on the billboards and really all over the place. They read: rid the evil, turn in witches with a picture of Nathaniel Pratt.
"Over there! Witch!" the woman continued to scream and suddenly the street was unfrozen.
Leo grabbed Piper's arm and pulled her after him. "Alright, hurry, we gotta get you outta here before they see you."
"They?" Piper asked between breaths.
"The witch hunters." Leo stated. "Dawn, follow after me," he ordered and then orbed out with Piper.
Dawn quickly followed, green shimmering Buffy and Prue along with her.
Folsom Women's Facility
Phoebe looked up eagerly from the plate of slop that sat on her bed as she heard a door open. "Prue, Piper, Buffy?" she called hopefully.
To her sincere disappointment, Nathaniel Pratt strutted up to her cell. "They haven't been to visit you before. Why would they come now? No… They're going to be as happy to get rid of you as I am," he laughed, smiling all the while he walked up and down on the other side of the glass.
Phoebe watched him cautiously, shifting positions on her bed. "Who are you?" she asked.
Pratt snorted at the question. "I'm sorry. It's been so long since our last visit," he apologized, though obviously not sorry in the slightest. "Executions are a bitch to plan. Logistics, alerting the media, gathering the kindling," he went on in a mocking voice.
"Uh, you know, I've had a lot of time to do some thinking about why I'm here…" Phoebe grasped at straws as she slowly approached the glass.
"No amount of thinking will affect the outcome. Justice will be served for your crime," Pratt interrupted.
Phoebe looked slightly hopeful. "But it wasn't really a big crime, was it?"
Nathaniel Pratt just smirked. "You are truly evil. What bigger crime is there than taking a man's life?" he retorted.
Phoebe's hopeful smile faded at his words and she backed away, dropping into a chair that was behind her. "I killed someone?" she gasped.
"Phoebe, what is this? An attempt to stay your execution? Plead insanity?" Pratt questioned, watching her with an exhasperated expression. "It won't work. You have five hours to live. Tick tock," he stated, turning to leave.
Phoebe jumped up from her seat and ran to the glass, only just managing to stop before running into it and being electrocuted. "What? Five hours? But that's not possible," she blurted out.
Pratt turned around and took steps back toward her. "Well, I'm happy to see the seriousness of your crime has finally hit you. See, you represent everything I abhor. You're a threat. A danger to everything that is good and pure in the world," he explained dramatically.
"You're talking out of fear. Just because you don't understand something, doesn't make it evil," Phoebe countered defensively.
"No, it's you who doesn't understand. You killed a man using your power and now you're gonna die because of it. I only wish I could burn all of your kind with you," he yelled. There was a knock on the door and Pratt glanced over at the clock before turning his attention back to Phoebe. "But don't worry, in time I will. This is only the beginning," he promised. With that, he turned and walked out.
The Underground
Leo and Piper appeared in a swirl of orbs followed almost immediately Dawn green shimmering in with Prue and Buffy. Leo immediately let Piper go and started walking through the underground where people lined the walls and attempted to survive in the world that had turned against them.
Leo took a step back as he looked at his former charges. "I remember you guys mentioning the future. It was when I was…" he stopped abruptly.
"What? When you were what?" Piper prompted impatiently.
"He can't tell you," Dawn interrupted before Leo had a chance to reply. "You'll find out soon enough."
Leo glanced at Prue and Buffy. "You guys don't remember anything from the past ten years? Any of it?" Buffy, Piper and Prue shook their heads and Leo sighed. "These people, they're here underground because they've been accused of practicing witchcraft."
Prue followed his gaze to the people around them. "They're witches?" she asked.
"Some of them. Most of them have been falsely accused. Dawn, our Buffy and I…" He glanced at Buffy and Dawn. "… have been bringing people here where they're safe. At least for now." Leo continued. He then looked directly at Buffy. "You and Dawn got a second mortgage on your home and poured the money into new marketing for Payson's P4 to drum up more business. What profits you make are going here to help these people. To feed and clothe the adults and children and to pay teachers sympathetic to their plight so the children can have an education. The ones that can't go to school because of the persecution. You and Dawn know more about all this than even I do."
"What about Phoebe…?" Buffy asked.
"Six months ago she killed a man. Cal Greene," Dawn answered.
"The baseball player?" Piper blurted out in surprise.
Prue shook her head in disbelief. "This is crazy. I mean, Phoebe would never hurt anyone," she insisted.
"She hurt him because he murdered someone. Someone Phoebe cared about very much. A dear friend who he brutalized but a technicality set him free. Phoebe was furious, outraged. And that's when she crossed the line from protecting the innocent to punishing the guilty. She used her power to kill Greene, got caught, and her magic exposed by Pratt," Leo summarized.
"And this is the result? Modern day witch trials with Pratt at the helm?" Piper questioned, a little confused.
"With Phoebe at the stake." Buffy added with a sigh.
Prue still looked disbelieving. "I don't buy it. Her power can't kill," she argued stubbornly.
Dawn glanced in Prue's direction. "Remember what I said in the attic?" she said. "It's been a decade. All of our powers have grown."
"I think Dawn's right," Buffy agreed. "Remember what you did to the attic, Prue," she reminded her eldest cousin before turning to Piper. "And look what you did outside, Piper."
"We have to get to Phoebe and explain," Piper decided, interrupting them before a fight could break out.
"You can't." Leo snapped, causing Buffy, Piper and Prue to look back at him curiously.
"As it stands we're safe," Dawn explained. "Pratt checked us out and he doesn't suspect us, or your daughter, Piper, or yours, Buffy, are witches."
"To get to Phoebe you'd have to use your powers and they'll catch you then kill you… worse you risk making it known that it's hereditary and your children will die as well," Leo countered in all seriousness. "Especially yours, Buffy."
"Why especially, Celia?" Buffy questioned clearly confused.
"She's Dhamphir," Dawn answered. "One-third witch, one-third Slayer, one-third vampire. As you saw she can walk in daylight, that's not a problem. It's her diet, Celia can survive on regular food, but her body craves blood."
"If you were to draw attention to yourself," Leo explained. "Celia wouldn't even get a fake trial or anything before being burned at the stake. She would be instantly be put to death if it were found out what she is."
"So what about Angel, can't he help?" Buffy asked.
"Angel's dead," Dawn said. "There was a battle in L.A. You fought by his side. You survived, he didn't. Ever since you've buried yourself in this…" she waved her hand around them to indicate all the people. "You didn't want to let anyone else lose anyone."
A tense silence fell between them as they waited for some reaction from Buffy. Eventually she pushed her hair away from her face which was carefully stoic. "It doesn't change anything." She turned to Dawn. "Who's side are you on?"
"Yours, always," Dawn answered. "And Prue's, and Piper's and Phoebe's."
Buffy nodded as she glanced at Piper and Prue who nodded in agreement. "Dawn can take us to see Phoebe," Prue decided, changing the subject dramatically.
"You can't," Leo repeated forcefully.
Piper glared at him. "Leo, she is mine and Prue's sister and Buffy and Dawn's cousin. We're not gonna let her die," she snapped. She grabbed hold of one of Dawn's hands while Prue grabbed onto Piper's other hand and Buffy grabbed onto Dawn's other hand.
"No, wait! I'll go," Leo offered as he heard the Elder's jingle.
"Leo, they have to do this," Dawn countered.
Leo shook his head. "No, I'm still your guide. And for Celia and Mel's sake, let me orb in and keep you safe."
Piper reluctantly nodded. "Fine, then we'll go back to Bucklands and get the books and get the spell to take us home," she allowed, earning a nod from Prue and Buffy as well.
"We'll meet you at the Manor," Prue stated, hastily turning and walking away. She, Buffy and Dawn paused as Piper hesitated.
"Leo, um, we got married?" Piper finally asked. Leo smiled faintly but didn't reply as Buffy ran back and grabbed Piper's arm, dragging her after Prue and Dawn.
"He couldn't answer anyways," Dawn said with a sigh. "Think about it, Piper. If you knew how or why your marriage failed. What would you do?"
"I see what your saying," Piper said with a reluctant sigh. "If I knew I would do everything in my power to make sure it didn't happen. Even potentially at the risk of pushing Leo away before Melinda would be born."
"Knowing what's coming will be bad enough," Buffy said as Dawn nodded. "Knowing how it happened will be worse." She looked at Dawn. "Can you erase what you said about Angel?"
"I can," Dawn answered. "The spell is a simple one. We cast it once to actually restore someone's memory. If I rework it with the intention to erase and concentrate on exactly what I want to erase…"
Bucklands Auction House
The second Prue stepped out of the elevator with Piper, Buffy and Dawn in tow, she was swarmed by a group of people trying to speak with her.
"Ms. Halliwell, can you sign the P.O." One of the people asked as she followed Prue with a clipboard. Prue tried to wave her way through but there was little room to maneuver.
Anne, Prue's assistant, came up from behind them, pushing through Dawn, Piper and Buffy to get to Prue. "Give the woman some air. She will meet with all of you after lunch. Thank you," she spoke over the excited babble. The people reluctantly began to disperse and Anne pushed Prue in the direction of her office. Buffy and Piper exchanged a glance before they and Dawn followed after Prue. Of course, Anne didn't realize they were with Prue and closed the door to her office in their faces. "Alright, good news first. The acquisition paperwork was approved…" She trailed off when the office door opened behind her, admitting Buffy, Dawn and Piper. "Yes?" she pressed, looking annoyed at them.
"We're with her," Piper replied, pointing at Prue. Anne turned a look of confusion to Prue.
"It's Piper, Payson and Prudence," Prue stated as she barely remembered to call Dawn by her P name. Anne continued to look confused. "My sisters and cousins…" she prompted.
Realization finally lit up Anne's face. "Oh, right, I almost forgot you had any other family other than…" she trailed off, obviously thinking of Phoebe.
"That's okay, I forgot your name too," Piper admitted with a grin.
Anne looked up from her clipboard, smiling sweetly. "Anne. Ms. Halliwell's personal assistant," she answered, apparently proud of herself.
Buffy glanced over at Prue. "Show off," she joked, elbowing Prue in the side.
"And how do you know you don't have one," countered Prue as she gave Buffy a meaningful look.
"We actually do," Dawn said. "But we don't call Willow our personal assistant. She's the club's manager."
Anne ignored the exchange and passed Prue the clipboard. "Okay, I just need to get your final okay on the acquisition," she explained. She turned to Buffy, Dawn and Piper while Prue flipped through the papers. "She's amazing. I mean, at first the board was a little resistant, what with the layoffs it would entail, but Prue pushed it through," she announced cheerfully.
Prue looked a little horrorstruck. "I did?" she asked, her disappointment clearly shining through. Buffy and Piper inconspicuously patted her back comfortingly.
"I thought the 'to hell with the little people' part was particularly persuasive," Anne continued unknowingly. Dawn raised her eyebrows at that.
Prue suddenly slammed the clipboard down. "Okay, Anne, sweetie, I really need some private time with my sisters and my cousins so if you can just…" She pushed Anne out the door while Buffy, Dawn and Piper couldn't help but giggle at Prue's expense.
"Oh, no problem, just buzz me," Anne managed to get out just before Prue shut the door in her face.
"Look at me!" Prue exclaimed, spinning around and stomping back to her desk. "Alright, I am booked with work and I'm about to lay off countless people with a flick of my pen, I'm single and alone unlike my sister and cousin who both have children." She dropped down into her chair irritably.
"Oh, honey, come here," Piper soothed, pulling her big sister up out of the chair and hugging her.
Prue sighed and pulled away from Piper. "Okay, well, I could dwell on the nightmare my life could become but we have work to do," she pulled herself together. She grabbed the key off her desk and took the picture off that hid her wall safe. "At least some things around here haven't changed," she allowed. She sighed in relief as both Book of Shadows were in the safe which she pulled out and put onto the desk.
"Okay, it should be after the demon with the tusk and before the spell to discourage a lover." Piper reminded her sister. Prue flipped through the Charmed Ones' book but couldn't find it. She then turned to Buffy's book with same results.
"Oh please tell me it's not gone," Buffy pleaded.
Piper's eyes widened and she took over flipping the book frantically. "It was here in 1997," she mumbled.
"Yeah and now it's gone. So if the spell can only have been used once, that must mean that our future selves have already used it. Which means…" Prue trailed off.
"You have no way of getting home," Dawn finished for her, slamming both Book of Shadows closed.
"And it'll be significantly harder to save Phoebe," Buffy added with a sigh.
Folsom Women's Facility
Phoebe was sitting in the chair that resided in her cell when Leo orbed in behind her. Phoebe immediately jumped up from her seat and spun on Leo. "Leo, oh thank god. Look, I know what they think I did and if you just…" she exclaimed loudly.
"Shh…" Leo interrupted with a cautious look through the glass. "They'll hear you," he explained.
Phoebe nodded in understanding and then looked around him as if she expected to see her sisters and Buffy. "Where's the rest of the cavalry?" she asked in softer voice.
Leo frowned with a look of sympathy to Phoebe. "They're not coming," he answered.
"So what, you'll grab me and we'll just orb or whatever and we'll meet them back at the…" she started but trailed off when Leo shook his head.
"Phoebe, I'm so sorry," Leo apologized.
Phoebe stared at him in confusion. "For what? Did something happen to my sisters?" she demanded suddenly extremely worried for them now that she realized what kind of danger they would be in.
"Nobody's gonna rescue you," Leo clarified.
Phoebe laughed, pointing at him as if he was joking. "If that is some kind of whitelighter humor, let me be the first to tell you that you aren't a very funny race of people." She slowly sat down on the edge of her bed while Leo looked away.
"You know, I wish you remembered what you've done. It would make this so much easier," Leo admitted, walking toward her and sitting down beside her. "Your future self used witchcraft for vengeance, Phoebe. Pratt is using that as a platform," he tried to help her understand.
"Why does everyone think I killed someone?" Phoebe demanded, shaking her head. "I wouldn't. I mean, I couldn't. What did I do? Premonition the man to death? My power is passive."
"Not in the future. It's grown. It's changed. As have you. Which means that unfortunately you have to suffer the consequences," Leo returned as gently as he could.
Phoebe shook her head in disbelief. "No, I don't believe it."
Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out a newspaper clipping titled 'Baseball Player Greene Found Dead.' "Then believe what you see," he whispered, passing it to her.
Phoebe touched the paper and gasped as she was tugged into a premonition.
Phoebe was waiting under the stairs. When Cal Greene had passed her, she jumped up behind him and put her hands on either side of his head. Two electricity bolts flooded from them and allowed her to enter his mind where she threw every feeling, every memory related to her friend. In her concentration, she levitated into the air until Cal Greene dropped dead at her feet.
Phoebe remained in a stunned silence for several long minutes. "Oh my god. What have I done?" she breathed. Leo, realizing that she now understood, orbed out of the cell. Phoebe jumped up in horror. "Leo? Help me!" she screamed after him to no avail.
Halliwell Manor
"You wanna tell me again exactly how screwed we are?" Piper asked, pacing a circle around the conservatory of the Manor.
"Pretty screwed," Prue admitted. She and Buffy stared down at the books in front of them as if the future spell would suddenly appear.
Piper nodded slightly. "Thanks."
Dawn walked in, having been in the kitchen where she had grabbed four bottles of water for them. "Here we go, guys," she offered, passing one to each of them and keeping one for herself.
"I can think of a couple other drinks that could help us more," Piper mumbled, earning a glare from Prue for even thinking along those lines.
"Neither Buffy or I actually drink any of what your thinking about, Piper," Dawn said as Prue, Piper and Buffy looked at her confused. "It's a long story dating back to Buffy's first year in college."
"I wonder what's taking Leo so long," Piper immediately changed the subject.
"Some of these pages are marked," Prue announced as she continued to flip through pages in the Charmed Ones' book. "The top corners are turned down and all of them are new spells."
"There is a few in my book that are the same," Buffy said as she flipped through pages in her book.
Piper momentarily stopped pacing. "Such as?" she pressed curiously.
"Like, here's a spell to create a door, one to induce slumber, a glamour to change one's appearance," Prue threw out examples before picking up one of the little bags attached to some of the pages. "And some of them have these little baggies."
"Their potions," Dawn said.
"If they're all marked, they must be a plan, right?" Buffy suggested.
"There is," Dawn said as she smiled at Buffy.
"Okay," Prue said as she looked at Dawn. "You know what we were planning. Why are these here; one to create money, to bend someone's will, to erase a memory, a binding spell…" she listed.
Piper raised her eyebrows. "Binding? What are we thinking…?" Piper wondered aloud before Dawn could answer.
Dawn smiled as she picked up a prison map that was in Buffy's book and showed it to Buffy, Prue and Piper. "Our plan, and yes I say our plan. You see in the years since Buffy and I moved into the manor you guys came to see us as sisters… the Power of Five. Mine and Buffy's destiny was changed at the point when we became Charmed Ones. When I say our plan, I truly mean it was our plan. We were gonna use those pages that were marked to break Phoebe out."
Prue settled back into the couch. "Okay, something is bothering me. Clearly some of these spells are for personal gain."
"Which would break the most basic of Wiccan rules. We wouldn't do that," Piper stated.
"You three wouldn't," Dawn explained. "You three are from a time when you weren't this desperate. We are now. The plan was we were going to break Pheebs out."
Prue, Piper, Buffy and Dawn looked up from the books at the sound of the door closing as Leo walked in. Piper jumped up and approached him. "Perfect timing. We found the books but we can't…" she trailed off when she didn't see Phoebe. "Where's Phoebe?" she asked.
"Where is she?" Buffy repeated before he even had time to reply.
Leo hesitated a moment. "She's in prison where she belongs," he answered before looking at the youngest member of the family. "You didn't tel them Dawn?"
"No," Dawn said shaking her head. "For multiple reasons. For one I am going to have to cast a spell and erase their memories of certain things if they should return. Things their not supposed to know about. Such as the Power of Five, and myself. For another you know that I don't agree with this. Phoebe does not deserve to be in prison, especially this Phoebe who did nothing wrong because she's from a decade in the past."
"Leo, you were supposed to bring her back here," Prue snapped.
"No, I said I'd go to her. And I did. To explain to her why she has to pay for her crime," Leo countered.
Buffy narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Since when have you been so manipulative?" she demanded harshly.
Piper shook her head in disbelief. "You're our guide. You're supposed to protect us and you're just gonna let her die?" she ranted.
"You're signing her death warrant," Prue added, crossing her arms across her chest.
"I'm trying to protect the greater good. If Phoebe lives, if you use your magic to save her, then the persecutions will continue. Melinda and Celia will grow up in a world where their powers are punishable by death. Do you two want that, Piper? Buffy?" Leo retorted defensively.
"Of course not." Piper and Buffy hissed. They opened their mouths to continue but Leo interrupted them.
"Well then it has to end with Phoebe. She has to die," Leo insisted.
Prue's hand twitched subtly. "Like hell," she said as Piper hastily grabbed her hand before she destroyed the Manor.
"Leo, she is our sister!" Dawn yelled and they could all see her visibly beginning to glow green. "What do you not understand about that?"
Piper flicked her wrists, freezing Leo. "Relax, you two. Especially you, Prue, we've seen what your power can do when you're angry and I doubt our baby sister will be able to focus enough to clean it up again."
Prue took a deep breath. "He's gonna stay frozen, right?" she asked.
Piper glanced over at Leo. "If he knows what's good for him, he'll stay frozen," she assured her elder sister.
"Remind me to kick his ass when we find the time," Buffy grumbled.
"Alright, let's get these spells," Piper suggested, ignoring Buffy's comment.
Dawn smiled as she stood and held out her hands. "One shimmer express ready and waiting," she told them.
Halliwell Castle
Dawn green shimmered with Prue, Piper, and Buffy outside hers and Buffy's home.
"Wow," said Prue looking at the house in front of them. "Who's home is this?"
"Mine and Buffy's," Dawn answered. "Buffy got it from Dracula when he came to San Francisco, and yes Dracula is real." She noticed that Piper and Buffy were hestitating, uncertainty clouding their decision. "Melinda and Celia will be inside with the nanny."
"Piper, Buffy, if you two are going to do this, you'd better hurry. Leo can unfreeze and be here any second. Besides, Phoebe has less than an hour," Prue reminded them gently.
Piper nodded as she took out one of the spells from the Book of Shadows. She and Buffy walked to the front door. They paused again and looked through the window to see their daughters playing with a tea set inside the house. They both sighed and looked down at the Binding spell in Piper's hands. They opened their mouths to speak but no sound came out. Tears pricked at their eyes and Leo orbed in behind them.
"You two can't do it, can you?" Leo guessed.
Buffy and Piper didn't look away from the window. "No," they whispered.
"Our grandmother did it to us for protection," Piper sighed, wiping at her eyes.
"You two don't have to bind their powers. We agreed that I'd take care of them and I will, I promise," Leo explained gently.
Buffy looked at Leo confused. "You would do that for my daughter?" she said. "I can understand Melinda, she's your daughter, right? But why Celia?"
"When Angel died," Leo said glancing at Dawn who nodded for him to continue. He looked back at Buffy. "I stepped up. I did for Celia what Victor did for you. I became for her, for all intents and purposes, her father."
"Thank you," Buffy said as she smiled. "Tell her I love her and that I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for her."
Leo nodded as he watched Buffy walk back to Dawn and Prue. He turned his attention back to Piper.
Piper finally turned away from the window to look at him. "So we were together. Does that mean you clipped your wings for me?" she asked.
Leo shook his head slightly. "No, you wouldn't let me. We tried to make it work with our powers but it didn't. And then this all happened…" he trailed off.
"Were we happy? Just for a little while were we happy?" Piper wondered, taking a shaky breath.
"Very. Much like Buffy and Angel." Leo laughed softly at some memory. "That should tell you something."
"Are you gonna try and stop us?" Piper questioned, changing the subject away from them.
"I can't do that," Leo admitted.
Piper hesitated leaving things the way they were. "I hope you understand why I have to do what I'm doing," she stated.
Leo nodded assurance. "Yeah."
"What are we gonna do?" Piper asked softly.
Leo looked away at the question, not sure there was an answer for them. "What we always do," he finally replied.
Piper smiled faintly. "Talk about it later," she finished for him. She slowly turned and was about to walk away when she said, "Would you tell Melinda the same for me that your telling Celia."
"I promise," he said.
Piper walked away from him toward where Prue, Dawn and Buffy were waiting for her. She took Buffy's free hand and Dawn green shimmered out with them.
Folsom Women's Facility
They green shimmered in outside the state prison, none of them willing to risk their magic getting caught with all the people getting ready to burn Phoebe. They ran along the base of the wall perimeter, Prue leading the way while armed guards paced along the top.
"So far so good," Prue allowed. She was now carrying her high heel shoes so that she moved much quicker.
"Don't people normally break out of prison?" Piper quipped to lighten the tense atmosphere.
"When you love someone you will do the stupidest of things," Dawn said Prue, Buffy and Piper looked at her.
Buffy smiled as she looked at Dawn and ruffled her sister's hair. "You're right their, Dawnie."
Dawn chuckled as they looked at her again. "It's the name, I just wondered how long one of you would take calling me Dawnie," she explained. "It's my nickname. Like Pheoebe is Pheebs, I'm Dawnie." She motioned toward a wall. "We're getting distracted here."
"So, Piper, what's our first spell?" Prue asked.
Piper looked down at the pages in her hands. "To create a door," she answered, hesitantly looking over her shoulder to make sure no guards were coming up behind them. "But where?" Her eyes flickered over the huge wall that they were now under.
"Anywhere is fine," Buffy replied with a shrug. She stepped up to the wall and drew an imaginary door with her finger.
Prue watched her and smiled slightly. "Kinda small for us, dontcha think?" she asked.
"Not for Buffy," Dawn joked.
"Hey!" Buffy said slightly offended.
"Sorry," Dawn said. "It was a running joke growing up. When I surpassed you in height, you always joked that you weren't done growing."
Buffy smiled at Dawn and then nodded for Piper to read the spell.
"When you find your path is blocked, all you have to do is knock," Piper chanted.
Buffy knocked on the concrete wall and it slid open, allowing them inside. Prue led the way with Buffy, Dawn and Piper right behind her. The door closed behind them.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Phoebe was waiting in her cell when several guards opened the door and advanced on her. They didn't say a word as they pulled out their handcuffs and closed them around Phoebe's wrists.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Prue, Piper, Buffy and Dawn skidded around a corner to be faced with an armed guard. They gasped and jumped back as the man pointed his gun at them. "Freeze!" he ordered.
"Good idea," Piper agreed, flicking her wrists, freezing him.
Dawn pulled out the prison map so they could locate Phoebe's cell. She carefully scanned over it. "Alright, um, her cell should be up those stairs, come on," she called, running past the frozen guard.
"She'll be guarded, are we ready for this?" Prue prompted following behind Dawn as they began to turn the last corner.
"Do we have a choice?" Buffy asked.
They stopped outside Phoebe's empty cell. "We're too late…" Prue realized.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Phoebe ignored the looks cast at her as she was led through the prison hallways. As she approached the pyre was lit with high flames that died down and she was forced up and bound to it.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Pratt personally slid the metal bolt in that would hold Phoebe's chains in place when the fire began to rage. He ordered the guards out to join the large crowd and circled Phoebe like a hawk. When they were alone he took a deep dramatic breath. "I love the smell of burnt witch in the morning," Pratt mocked her.
Phoebe shook slightly as the moment had come but refused to let Pratt have any additional feelings of victory. "At least I'm paying for my crime. There'll come a day where you have to pay for yours too," she promised him.
"Remorseless to the end, huh?" Pratt laughed softly before turning to face the crowd. "Let today be a lesson to all those who would seek to defy human nature with their way of life. Let today serve notice that black magic will not be tolerated in our society and let today be remembered as the day we burned the witch." He pointed for the man to flip the switch that would turn the fire on.
Prue, Piper, Buffy and Dawn opened the door at the last second. "Piper, freeze them," Prue ordered. Piper immediately froze the entire audience. Buffy was immediately on the stage and attempting to untie Phoebe without a second to spare.
"Prue, Piper, Buffy." Phoebe whispered. "And someone I don't know."
Dawn smiled. "Dawn," she said. "I'm Buffy's sister. Don't worry about it. If my suspicions are right you will be going home in a minute. So I will need to erase your memories of that knowledge for obvious reasons."
"Come on, we're getting you outta here," Buffy stated, freeing Phoebe. "We can shimmer out of here…" That was when she noticed Dawn was missing.
"No, wait, you can't," Phoebe argued, causing them to freeze. Prue looked at her in surprise but Phoebe could also recognize the determination in them. "Prue, I'm serious."
"What are you talking about?" Prue demanded.
Phoebe jumped down from the platform to stand in front of her sisters and her cousin. "You guys have to leave… I deserve to be here. Or my future self does," she explained.
Piper nodded. "You killed a killer. Don't be ridiculous," she retorted.
"Look, this is Pratt's personal crusade. This isn't about us, it's about him. Wherever we go, he will follow us. He will hunt us. He will hunt our families. If anybody should be punished, it should be him," Prue argued. She looked down at her hand, her eyes flickering from it and then to Pratt. Next to her a fireball formed in Buffy's hand.
Phoebe noticed what Buffy and Prue were thinking. "Prue, Buffy, what are you two doing?"
Buffy didn't cast her a glance. "Saving the future good witches and our future," she answered. She threw her hand back at the same time as Prue did the same thing. Phoebe jumped forward to grab them. "Prue, Buffy wait!" Phoebe screamed. Prue and Buffy hesitated and Phoebe spun them around to face her. "Don't become murderers too. It has to end with me," she pleaded.
Prue reluctantly let her hand drop to her side.
Buffy glanced down at her hand as the fireball fizzled out of existence.
"Phoebe, we can't just let you die. Not for this. He deserved…" Piper started.
"The wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing." Phoebe interrupted softly. She choked back a sob. "Our job is to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty. And I crossed that line. I know that. And now you guys have to know it too," she whispered so that her sisters and her cousin could only just hear her.
Tears fell down their cheeks. "We're not leaving here without you," Prue repeated, her voice strained and barely more than a whisper.
Phoebe gently took Prue and Buffy's hand in hers. "Prue, Buffy, we were sent here for a reason. Maybe not to stop this like we thought but maybe to understand why it has to happen. Why you two have to let this happen. I don't want to die, but I don't want you two to die because of me." She willed Prue and Buffy to understand. She knew they understood her when they and Piper pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you," Phoebe breathed.
From the shadows in the doorway Dawn watched the tearful goodbye as her own tears glistened on her cheeks. "I love you. I will always love you. " she whispered low enough they didn't hear her. "But this is the work I have to do. Take care of each other. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me." She then looked at Buffy. "Especially you, my wife." She let out a breath and then began to chant. "Powers and emotions tied, a witch's heart is where it hides. Help them to forget. Take away their memory."
Buffy, Prue, Piper and Phoebe stood there in the group embrace unmoving for a few moments as Dawn concentrated on the memories that were to be erased. Her family forgot about her, forgot about the Power of Five, forgot about Angel dying and as an unexpected side-effect they forgot about Celia.
"Goodbye, my family," Dawn said as she wiped a tear from her face before green shimmering out. Wherever she appeared next she hoped it would be a much better world than this one.
Phoebe returned to her place on the pyre as Prue, Piper, and Buffy clung to each other as the room unfroze and the pyre was engulfed in flames around Phoebe.
September 29, 1997 – Monday
Halliwell Manor
Prue, Piper, and Buffy opened their eyes to find themselves back in the Manor wearing the clothes they had worn in the present time. "Prue, Buffy…" Piper whispered, being the first to notice that they weren't watching an execution anymore.
"What are we doing here?" Prue asked, looking around the room.
"Phoebe?" Buffy screamed her cousin's name and took off into another room to search for her.
Piper turned terrified eyes to Prue. "You don't think she was… we saw…" She trailed off as Prue took her hand and they ran after Buffy.
"Oh, please god, don't let it be true. Phoebe!" Prue pleaded.
Buffy turned a corner into the foyer and nearly ran into Phoebe. "Oh my god, Phoebe," she threw her arms around her cousin's neck.
"We thought we lost you," Prue managed to get out.
"You did. I was burned. And I could, I could feel the flames on my skin. And then I was here. I don't know what happened," Phoebe admitted in between gasps of air.
Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Buffy stumbled over to the couch, none of them letting their hold on Phoebe weaken. "It's okay, you're safe now, you're home," Buffy soothed.
"Remote," Buffy called, earning curious glances from Prue, Piper, and Phoebe as the remote flamed into her hand. She turned the television on. The TV report on Cal Greene's homerun record flashed across the screen. "That's the baseball player," she pointed out. "That's what triggered our premonition."
"We're right back where we started," Phoebe added. "The day we cast a spell."
"Why?" Piper asked. "We didn't cast a spell to come back so why were we sent back?" she elaborated.
Prue shrugged slightly. "Maybe because it worked. We were sent into the future to find out what Phoebe did. We were sent back to stop it from happening," she suggested.
"Maybe they sent us back," Phoebe suggested.
"But who?" Piper wondered. "And why today? If we were sent back to keep the future from happening, shouldn't we be sent back to the day you killed Cal Greene instead, Pheebs?"
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a dog barking outside their house. Buffy narrowed her eyes and glared at the window. "Oh, you've got to be joking," she exclaimed, running to the window with Piper following her.
"This guy still hasn't learned his lesson," Piper groaned while Buffy irritably pushed the window up as Piper prepared to freeze.
"Apparently neither have we," Phoebe interrupted them. All eyes flickered to her. "I think this is why we were sent back here to this moment in time. This is where it all started," she explained. "The first time we used our magic for revenge."
"But it's just a little thing, it's harmless," Buffy stuttered, pointing back behind her.
"Yeah but once you break the small rules, it's just a matter of time before the big ones are next," Phoebe countered lightly.
Prue smiled slightly, looking at Phoebe with something akin to pride. "A very smart girl once told me we were supposed to protect the innocent. Not punish the guilty."
Phoebe rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "I haven't told you yet," she reminded her.
"Maybe you won't have to," Piper stated.
Buffy was still looking out the window when the man turned around. "You guys…" she called their attention.
Prue was the first to speak aloud what they saw. "Pratt."
"Do you think we should follow him?" Piper wondered as Pratt walked away with his dog.
Phoebe shook her head slightly. "No. Our little act of revenge might have been what sent Pratt on his path to seek his own," she remarked.
Prue nodded in agreement. "Which might have led him to start the future witch trials," she agreed.
"Well, maybe now we won't have to worry about it," Phoebe offered hopefully.
"I still think we should keep an eye on him just in case," Piper argued.
"I have to second that," Buffy agreed.
"Absolutely," Prue promised.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Phoebe tilted her head to the side. "Whatcha doing?" she asked curiously.
"Not work. I'm canceling everything I was going to do today," Prue answered, appearing very proud of herself. "We have a lot of changes to make if we want to avoid ending up where we came from today."
Piper smiled a little. "The future wasn't all bad. You were Miss Fortune 500 and I had my own beautiful little girl and Buffy owned P4 after I finally opened my restaurant," she pointed out casually.
"What?" Phoebe demanded, hands on hips.
"Details later," Piper laughed with a smirk at her younger sister.
"You know, we can still make the good things happen, Piper. We just have to make the right choices," Prue commented.
"And who knows, maybe Leo and I will end up together," Piper added.
Phoebe's dumbfounded look shifted to Piper. "Wait, you and Leo…?" she started but was interrupted by the door bell ringing.
"Speak of the angel. I'll get that," Piper said as she rushed to the door and opened it.. "Hey, stranger." She smile as she pulled him in for a passionate kiss.
"I would have settled for a nice hello," Leo said as he smiled at Piper.
"Didn't anyone tell you not to settle?" Piper asked.
"That's a good lesson," Leo agreed.
"I've been learning a lot of them lately," Piper said as she smiled.
"So I've heard," Leo said as Piper looked at him quizzically. "Look, honestly, I didn't know you were gonna be sent to the future. I don't even know what happened when you got there. All I was told was apparently you had something to learn."
"Nothing at all?"
Piper and Leo turned and saw Buffy standing in the doorway.
"Why?" he asked looking at Buffy.
"I have a feeling there is something I'm forgetting, something about the future," Buffy answered. "It's like its there but its just out of reach."
"I'm sorry, Buffy," Leo admitted. "I don't. They didn't tell me. I can try and find out if you want."
"That's alright, Leo. Probably wasn't important anyways," Buffy said with a shrug as she turned and rejoined Prue and Phoebe in the living room.
"Will you check anyways?" Piper asked as she looked in the direction Buffy had gone.
"I can try," Leo said. "But if there is something she isn't remembering. It is likely something that could be crucial to the future. Something you all aren't supposed to know about in advance."
Piper nodded in understanding as she looked back at her boyfriend. "They might not tell you then."
"No."
Piper nodded with a resigned sigh. "So, that's why you're here?" she asked bringing them back to the original topic of their conversation before Buffy's interruption.
Leo shook his head, "No. That's why you're here," he answered. "You four were given a glimpse of your future to learn a valuable lesson. And I'm glad you learned it too because I know they wouldn't have brought you back if you didn't. Speaking of which, they're making me work tonight, so I can't really..."
"This is always gonna be a problem for us isn't it?" Piper questioned with a sigh.
Leo smiled. "I'm willing to work on it," he told her.
"Good. Because I'll never forget you said that," Piper smiled as he pulled her in for another passionate kiss.
Author's Note (2022): With the rewrite of this chapter more cameo's were added. Halliwell Castle and Celia are things seen later in the story. Halliwell Castle is next seen in Chapter 111: Buffy Vs. Dracula (It's Dracula's Castle) and Celia is next seen in Chapter 124: The Day the Magic Died. Angel's death is a slight nod to the Angel series finale and the final battle cliffhanger (which will not be seen in this story). And there were hints or mentions of other things later seen in the story such as the Buffy/Dawn pairing, the Power of Five and so on. Now the spell Dawn cast will have erased some of that of course from Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Buffy's memories. On Dawn glowing green when confronting Leo, as I write this I don't know if I will ever revisit that. I know in my The Potters story when Dawn glows green it means she's losing control of her Key powers since they are tied to her emotions. I would say that could be likely the case here.