So here is another story from me for this wonderful fandom. I wanted to get this out before the start of the New Year but I was burning the candles at both ends so to speak finishing up all my other stories so I decided the best thing to do was to take a little break and recharge and get into a good place to start this one.
So on a few notes: I have always wanted to write a story with all four sisters. Shannon did such a wonderful job as Prue and Rose did such a wonderful job as Paige it is a shame that for whatever reason we did not get to see a scene shared with them (that one with the back of Prue does not count). So this is my little remedy for that.
This is a happy ending for all of the sisters, it runs this story approximately from prequal days to the end of Season 3. I do intend to redeem Cole and probably Zankou who was arguably the best villain of the series-only just beating Gideon who was outstandingly bad. I wrote Paige and Zankou on a whim in my last story and I enjoyed it and I got a lot of good feedback from it so we are going down this road again. And also Prue/Andy were the love story that for me kicked off a love of Charmed so...he too gets to live.
Some episodes will be skipped over and if you are looking for a cannon compliment, word perfect, dialogue perfect, punctuation perfect story then let me tell you that is not me. I also do a lot of swearing in my stories so if you don't like that then turn away now at this first chapter.
Also again let me be plain I DESPISE the Elders. I hate them, I hate the hypocrisy, I hate the way they treated Leo after Gideon, I hate the way they were with the Avatars, I hate the fact that they expected the sisters to be on supernatural speed dial and I hated that they constantly butted in. Believe me in Season 5 I was actively cheering for the Titans. To me the Elders made themselves Titans. So if your looking for a story where they get a good rap then walk away now please.
Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.
Please Read and Review.
I do not do private messages anymore. If you have a question then please stick it in a review and I will try to answer it in the next chapter notes.
I will try to update as soon as work allows me. Spelling and Grammar have never been my friends please keep that in mind too.
This story will be 28 Chapters long.
And now we are into the main story...kind of.
Let There Be Light
Chapter 6-The Eye Of Fear
Something Wicca This Way Comes-In which the four Halliwell sisters are reunited at the house. A book is found and an incantation cast. Life is never the same for anyone again.
Paige had been living at the house on her own when Prue and Piper turned up. It was an annoyance she thought that she could have lived without but the truth was she was lonely without her sisters. Zankou was off in the underworld doing what he called Demon Things (with the caps lock don't you know?) and so the return of her sisters was a new thing. She had graduated and though Phoebe had not made it let it be said that Paige had thoroughly enjoyed the bottle of champagne she had sent.
So when Piper had come to her and asked did she have a problem with Phoebe moving back in Paige had grinned. Pheobe out of all of them had been her favourite sister. Maybe it had been the contradictory nature of sisters but Phoebe had been the one that she had been closest too simply because Phoebe had bothered to keep in touch.
Prue was the mother/grandmother role model that Paige had not wanted nor needed.
Zan when she had told him that they were all going to live together had gotten an odd look on his face.
"What?" she'd asked but he'd not said anything only took her to his bed in the Underworld and made love to her softly and gently and in a frightening way as if he was saying goodbye. She clung to him then desperate to keep him with her regardless, even as he did the same to her.
And so Pheobe came home.
That night they were all eating popcorn, messing around with the chandelier, and in Pheobe's, case messing around with the Spirit Board when she had screamed out loud in a way that had her and Piper coming back into the room both of them looking for an intruder that wasn't there.
It was the Spirit Board and it was moving.
Paige wondered then and wound wonder deep into the next twenty or so years…why she was not surprised that the thing had moved.
A—T—T—Pure was now in the room, Piper had seen it, Phoebe was freaking out and Paige was watching her hand over her mouth—I—C—ATTIC—
And the lights went out.
Phoebe who was arguably the bravest of them all went to get the flashlight to go into the attic Prue and Piper arguing below. Paige followed her big sister watched wide eyed as the door opened and the shaft of light shone on the trunk and then as the Book of Shadows was finally released she watched as her sister took her hand and turned to the front page.
Together they read.
"Here now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night, the oldest of Gods are invoked here, the great work of magic is sought".
Nothing happened.
That was her first mistake.
The next day Prue met Andy Trudeau for the first time. Piper went out with Jeremy, Phoebe left a note for Paige that they were witches (as only Phoebe could) and Paige took that Book off Phoebe's bed and called for her boyfriend.
He arrived in a puff of black smoke and Paige through the book at him. It hit him in the stomach and then flew into the hallway and she called "Book!" and the book flew into her arms.
She threw the thing onto her bed and turned to stare at her boyfriend.
"You got any vodka?"
Two drinks in and she was somewhat coherent.
"So we are witches"
"You are the ultimate witches my dear" Zankou said and he took a sip of his vodka and then poured her another. It was twelve in the afternoon….she had blown off her college courses…she could wait a day before learnt the skills that allowed her to be a social worker.
"And that would mean?"
"Charmed Ones"
"And that would mean?"
"You know how I told you that I was the Original Demon?"
"Yes but you never said how you became that"
Zankou smiled.
"One day my dear if we are both alive long enough I will tell you how I became the Original Demon. When I do…we will need a lot more vodka than this"
Paige nodded. She was not entirely sure how legal her relationship with Zankou was but she knew that she did not want to know the intricacies.
"So…just so I understand you…I am a witch?"
"Yes"
"And demons…your demons are coming after me?"
"My demons no…no demons who work for me will come for you. But there is a Source and—"
"Source of what?"
"All Evil"
Paige drank from her vodka and by God she drank deep.
"Okay…and you didn't think to mention this…oh I don't know before?"
"When your grandmother was going to kill me?"
Paige considered that and conceded that he was probably right.
There was a pause and then.
"Are you going to kill me now?"
He looked at her and Paige got the impression that she had deeply hurt him.
"You want to ask me that?"
Paige stared at him. There was the argument that he was not for real, really there was and perhaps he got that because he rolled his eyes as if she was being deliberately stupid.
"Paige…I have been through hell and back…mostly alone for a very long time and there have been moments…" he didn't speak for a second though she was sure that she was clinging on to every word. "You kept me alive. And there is no other way of describing that. You kept me alive and so I can promise you and your sisters…and I imagine I will have to promise you and your sisters many, many times over…that while I am not your friend I am not your enemy"
She did not understand that last bit so she said meaning for him to give it to her.
"Vodka"
And with crashing lights the vodka orbed into her hand.
"Should have figured you were half whitelighter" Zankou said but the vodka had tumbled out of her hand and crashed onto the floor by that point so she could not even ask what the fuck a whitelighter was as then Piper and a slightly drunk Prue came home so that took the edge off of that.
And then Piper came home.
Jeremy was a demon. They had defeated them.
The Power of Four will Always Be More
Oh…and Paige was dating a demon.
Prue was going to have to get a lot more drunk she was sure of that.
"So…you knew?"
"No I didn't know that we were witches. I did know about demons…and I keep saying I did try and tell you that Zankou was a demon"
"Paige I don't mean to be funny but if we were to take that analogy and apply it to every guy that we met then—"
"I know Phoebe but…I trust him"
"Paige—"
"Prue what if he came here and spoke to you? You listen to him and then you understand…I have known about the dark side of the world for a long time and so I know something about what he is on about. Just listen to him…I don't think that he wants to kill us, believe me if he was going to do that then he would have done it when Grams was dead and we all splintered…if there is an enemy out there we have to be aware of then he knows it"
"Oh God" Piper said her head in her hand. "Another enemy other than demons?"
"Other than your boyfriend?"
"Fuck off Phoebe…and yes…"
"Pray tell who?"
"Zankou calls them THE ELDERS"
Prue was not impressed.
Well…she was and she wasn't.
Zankou was tall and dark and glamorous and had Prue Halliwell not lost her head and her heart a long time ago to Andrew Trudeau (and she knew that deep down…by God did she know that now)
He sat on the edge of the sofa and told them about the Elders.
"They call themselves the Elders…they have whitelighters that report to you" he said casually. "And while I personally consider them to be a mess some are very good at what they do, they propose to put a witch on the right path…help them understand the gifts that they have…it works…I don't subscribe to the dark lighters out there but it does help. But the Elders will come for you. You see the Prophecy of the Halliwell sisters decreed three. Not four"
"I don't understand"
"Three sisters…not four" he said looking at her in the eye. "So when your mother had four daughters it created this lovely vacuum"
Prue did not know what to make of that. She realty did not know what to make of that but she knew it was bad.
"Look" Zankou said standing up. "I can bombard you with information that you wont believe and I can turn you against the Elders which I know they are fully expecting me too but the truth is that I don't care. I don't care if you kill thousands of my kind. I have survived worse. You cannot vanquish me and I know that. The Elders know that. They will try and come for you, divide you, tell you that you cannot have a life outside of your world now. I am telling you that you can. I am telling you that if I wanted to end the Power of Four I could have very easily killed your sister in her sleep—"
"Yeah that is not a comforting image" Piper said looking up from where her head was in her hands but Zankou shrugged.
He turned back to Prue. Somehow along the way he had decided that it was Prue who he was supposed to plead his case too. She honestly did not know weather or not that was a good thing or not.
He leaned forwards and looked her dead in the eye. Prue met him look for look and dead in the eye.
"I love her" he said to her and Paige choked on her drink but Zankou said nothing. "I love her" he said again. "And weather or not you believe me that is the truth. So I propose a deal, you stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours"
"And err…does this not get you into trouble with the…er…Source of All Evil" Phoebe said and Zankou swung his expression around to hers.
"No" he said flatly.
"Why?" Prue asked and he swung his expression round to hers.
"Because I was the first."
"The first what?"
"The first demon"
There was a pause where everyone but Paige took that in and then Piper spoke.
"And how old does that make you?"
"Old enough to know what I know. Look…I don't ask for much, I want to be with Paige, she wants to be with me, I don't care if you kill every demon in the Underworld, I will help you kill every demon in the Underworld if I have too. I just want to go to my lair and be at peace. What I want is a deal. I will not hurt you…you do not allow the Elders to manipulate you into hurting me"
"What happens if you like the helper that they send?" Piper asked.
"Sweetheart I don't care if you get pregnant off the man that they send" Zankou said bluntly. "I just don't want him to turn you against me. Consider yourself the Allied Forces and me Switzerland"
"And if Paige dumps you?"
"PRUE!"
"If she does" he said meeting her eye. "Then she can vanquish me with a clear conscience"
Prue rolled her eyes. He was exceptionally charming she had to give him that but still.
"I don't see why we can't have both" Paige said into the silence. "Why can we all not be with the men that we love no matter what. I love all three of you but I also love him. What happens if these Elders tell us that you three cannot be with the men that you love? If we are these all powerful witches then what is the point if we cannot be happy?"
There was a long pause and Prue tried very hard not to think of Andy and his smile.
She sat down and Phoebe passed her the vodka bottle.
Telekinesis. The Power to Freeze. Premonition. Moving Objects by Orbs.
Fuck. Prue. Halliwell's. Life.
She sighed and drank straight from the bottle. Both Phoebe and Paige looked impressed. Piper had her head again in her hands and so it was her that looked at the man…no the demon…that was promising her amnesty.
"Peace" Zankou said but the smile on his lips matched her own and they both knew that neither one of them meant it.
Prue looked at Paige and then.
"Truce" she said and Zankou smiled.
And so…despite it all…a deal was struck.
And long live the consequences.
And yeah here we go, I have always made it clear in a lot of previous charmed stories that I believe whole heartedly the Elders were the ultimate evil, I really do think they got corrupt with power but they knew that they could throw innocents at the sisters and things would happen. Believe me I actively routed for the Avatars, I mean they were bad don't get me wrong but they admitted that to some extent...how the Elders expected the Charmed Ones to work for them after 'recycling' Piper's husband weather or not it worked out fine was just bizarre.
So here we go. See you next time.
Next Chapter-Leo arrives the sisters grapple with their powers, Victor Halliwell turns up and drops a bomb on Paige and the Elder and the Whitelighter have a drink...sort of.