Revelations of the Ultimate Kind

by PrueAndyForever

NEW CHAPTER. Piper, Phoebe and Paige try to move on with their lives after the Ultimate Battle but come to learn some shocking truths about their oldest sister. A new prophecy is unearthed, an old evil is resurrected, and Billie uncovers a secret.

42. Grand Design or Grand Disaster?

New chapter time. Enjoy. Thanks to the reviews I got for the previous chapter. Happy there are some readers out there who are glad the story is back. As always, your feedback is very much appreciated.

I noticed some reviews trying to guess about Sarah. Interesting. Lol, I think that might be going in a direction nobody has seen coming yet because of the way I already set some things up in earlier chapters, but we'll wait and see, ha-ha. You will definitely know the answer to it by the end of this story.

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Chapter 41: Grand Design Or Grand Disaster?

(Present - 2007)

Manor

"Aahhh!" a demon wailed as he was sent flying across the attic, only to burst into flames while in mid-air.

Future Wyatt stood motionless, his arms behind his back. His face was an emotionless mask of well, nothing, completely void of any of the emotions that would normally give other people's feelings away. Sarah's face was kept hidden, her longer hair shielding it, while she kept her gaze on the floor.

"Anybody else?" Future Evil Wyatt's voice finally broke the silence. His eyes scanned the remaining demons still in his presence.

The demons all cowered, backing away. They refused to make any eye contact.

"Good," Evil Wyatt commanded. "Now let's try this again," he instructed, while he began pacing the row of demons standing in a straight line.

"But ..." Sarah suddenly lifted her face and attempted to intervene. Wyatt immediately silenced her by putting up a finger.

"Where's the Book?" he demanded in a commanding tone of voice.

The male demon at the front of the row looked down the line at his fellow demonic comrades. He had been the one to accompany Sarah earlier. They had investigated the manor only to come up empty. He stepped forward.

Future Wyatt's attention shot to him.

"The Book was already gone by the time we got here," the demon declared boldly. "It's not our fault."

Future Wyatt came to stand directly in front of him. He stared the demon down. "The Book was already gone only because you failed to do your job and find whoever was still inside this house!" his voice boomed. "Clearly, somebody still was."

"And if they were, I'm telling you they were long gone before we came looking for it!" the demon shouted back. "We held up our end of the bargain," his stare was defiant. "Sir!" he spat condescendingly.

Future Wyatt kept silent for several seconds, his blank stare unreadable. He took a few moments to size the demon up before finally stepping back from him. He waved the demon on his way. "Go!" he instructed.

The demon shot him a confused and questioning look.

Wyatt waved him away again.

The demon took cautious steps away from the other demons. "What is this?" he reacted with suspicion.

"If what you're saying is true, then our arrangement is over," Future Wyatt surmised for the demon, still withholding any clear signs of emotion or what his next moves might be.

"Good!" the demon roared. "I mean, yes," he amended, still eyeing the future visitor with caution. "I take it we're free to go?" he glanced over his shoulder at all the other remaining demons.

"You're free to go," Future Wyatt told him.

Letting down his guard, the demon turned his back to signal his other demons that it was time to leave. During his distraction, Future Wyatt swung his arms up in a quick flash and sent the demon flying up in the air. While he hung suspended in place, he was then set ablaze. The demon's wails were loud and penetrating. Sarah flinched. The fire went out but then the cycle was repeated all over again. More flames erupted; more screams were heard. Sarah looked away. Even against a demon, this torture method was rather cruel. Finally, when Wyatt found himself growing bored with the spectacle, he allowed the demon to burst into nothing. He was vanquished for good.

"He was free to go," Future Wyatt gave his final word on the matter, addressing the remaining demons. "So are the rest of you but let's be clear. I never said you'd be leaving alive." He took in a deep breath. "And don't ever call me Sir!" he admonished. For the first time, his face mirrored disgust.

The rest of the demons stood frozen in place, sharing uncertain looks with each other, but remaining on full alert. Some went on the immediate offense and decided to throw their energy balls at Future Wyatt, which he quite easily deflected back in their direction. They imploded on impact. Future Wyatt then raised his hand and swiped, virtually erasing the rest of them, not caring which ones initiated the attack. They vanished from sight.

"Useless!" Future Wyatt sighed. "Every last one of them."

Sarah was the only one left standing with him. "What did you do that for?" she interrogated. "We can't keep replacing demons; we don't even have any of our own left."

"Quiet!" Future Wyatt demanded, as he began pacing the attic floor. "I need to think," his tone lowered and became reflective.

Suddenly, they were both alerted to the sound of a cat meowing. Turning to look, they saw a black cat rubbing itself up against the chair leg by the table.

Future Wyatt smirked.

x

The Magic School

Paige sat at the small wooden table, completely engrossed in the content of the book. She sighed in frustration because she wasn't getting very far. Gibberish, gibberish and more gibberish, she thought, as she flipped haphazardly through some pages. Of course, it would help if she actually understood what was written. At first glance, she thought it was Latin. On closer observation, it clearly wasn't. Somebody had taken the liberty of including scattered footnotes at some point, which were in English, but she wasn't getting very much from that either.

This task was pure boredom.

"Somebody save me," Paige groaned, closing her eyes and bringing her hands up to rub the sides of her temple, attempting to ward off a headache.

A flash of light brought back Coop. He teleported into the library but was not alone. Henry was with him.

"Henry!" Paige exclaimed, getting up from the chair.

A welcome distraction.

"I know mortals technically aren't allowed inside the Magic School," Coop gritted down on his teeth, "but I figured given the circumstances, safety over the rules?"

"Eh," Paige waved off, "what rules," she rounded the table to close the distance between herself and her husband. They embraced.

"Glad you're still alive," Henry teased, always left assuming the worst whenever his wife went MIA from their personal lives for long periods of time.

Paige smiled and pulled back. She was actually grateful Coop had thought of the precaution. Who knew what Gideon, the Triad, or even Wyatt for that matter, would think of doing in order to get to them again. She had already dealt with the reality of possibly losing Henry once before, she didn't want to deal with a repeat.

Henry looked directly into her eyes. "You haven't been home to sleep the last couple nights so how bad is it?"

Paige sighed. "Well, let's just say, that if that book," she nodded over at the book on the table, "is what stands between us and saving the rest of the world from Gideon and the Triad, then everyone is pretty much screwed."

"Oh," Henry let his voice trail off. "Well, can I help?" he sighed, eager to be able to do something besides sitting around at home and waiting.

"That's sweet, but no," she cupped the side of his face before dropping her hand back down. "This one is completely on us."

Henry nodded. "Right, okay. So then what's wrong with that book you're talking about?"

"Um," Paige hummed, folding her arms. "What isn't wrong is more like it," she headed back in the direction of the book. Henry followed behind. "It's written in some language I've never seen before so reading it is a no go," she began flipping pages to demonstrate.

Henry scanned the pages. "That actually looks a lot like Gaelic," he remarked.

Paige turned to look at him. "Gaelic? And you would know this ... how?" she squinted her eyes at him. She was genuinely curious.

"Long story short?" Henry shrugged. "I had this one foster mom from Ireland. Sometimes at night, I had trouble sleeping so she'd read poetry to me until I finally nodded off," he shared. "Of course, never understood what any of it meant but it was kind of soothing to listen to," he smiled at the memory.

Paige listened and smiled. Henry never talked about his past, particularly his experiences while growing up in foster care. In fact, to say he was closed off would be an understatement. His motto was not to live in the past, it couldn't be changed, so only look to the future. While she absolutely respected that, it was nice to hear him open up a little bit even if it was something so small.

"Anyway, I remember looking at the pictures from the book, but the words looked a lot like these," Henry finished.

"I think he's right," Coop chimed in. He had moved in beside them and was now standing on the opposite side of Paige while examining the book. "It appears to be some original form of the dialect but definitely Gaelic," he concluded.

"So, you can read it?" Paige's hopes were lifted.

"Uh, no," Coop shook his head. "Sorry. Even when I actually was still alive language arts was never really my forte. I barely made it through Latin in law school," he joked.

"Okay, then," Paige shrugged, "so how does knowing this even help if none of us here can actually read or speak Gaelic," she groaned.

"Hey, what are those down here?" Henry questioned, looking at the footnotes scribbled in English.

"Pointless dribble designed to drive me insane?" Paige threw out some sarcasm.

"Actually, maybe not," Henry furrowed his brows, after catching something with his eye. "Look here," he pointed. "Et. al V.22 Reference Guide," he read out loud.

"And?" Paige shot him a confused look.

"And ..." Henry stressed, "it's a citation for filing," he nodded. "Maybe it leads to some kind of help with translating this thing?" he began looking around the entire library trying to figure out where to start.

"Oh." Paige made a face and thought about the possibility.

Coop was already on it. "Here," he handed Paige what appeared to resemble a notebook. It had been stored in a special section reserved for all the reference material. He had only discovered it earlier because before anybody else had arrived, he had been investigating the entire library born out of his own curiosity.

"That was fast," Paige widened her eyes as she went to open it. "And ..." but her expectations were short-lived. "Nothing. It's blank?" She skimmed the entire notebook only to discover that none of the pages had anything on them.

"Strange," Henry shook his head.

"It's another dead end," Paige threw it down on the table about to give up.

"Wait," Coop had an idea. "Maybe it's not actually blank," he suggested next. "Maybe it just needs some kind of spell or magic to unlock it. I mean, this is Magic School after all. Right?" he shrugged.

Henry thought about it. "Paige?" he deferred to her.

"Yeah, it's possible, I guess," she thought about it. "We've seen what these stones can do in the wrong hands. Could be some type of safeguard. Which then begs the question, how did demons get past this? Barbas had them."

"Gideon, maybe?" Coop speculated. "He was the original Elder who first ran this place, wasn't he?"

"Was, being the operative word," Paige reminded Coop. "But, no, Barbas actually used these stones to resurrect Gideon so I doubt he would have given Barbas anything."

"No clue then," Coop shrugged.

"So, if that's the case, how would she go about unlocking it?" Henry jumped in, curious to know what the next step would be.

"Well," Coop sighed. "You're a Charmed One," he nodded at Paige. "I guess make up a spell and see what happens?"

"Right," Paige rolled her eyes and picked up the notebook. "Here goes nothing," she made a face. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Object of protection," she began to recite off the top of her head, "reveal yourself?" she kept it simple.

Coop and Henry shared an amused expression.

Peeking through one eye, Paige witnessed a flash of light wash over the notebook coming from the physical contact she had made with it. Then, opening it up, she watched as the invisible ink did begin to slowly reveal itself. "It's an incantation," she told them.

"For what?" Coop bent down to look at it.

"To translate the book, thank god, I thought I was about to lose it," her enthusiasm was spreading until her face suddenly dropped. "A translation that is apparently going to require the Ultimate Power," she realized.

"What does that mean?" Henry asked.

Paige dropped the notebook and sat back down in her chair, elbows on table, and hands resting on the sides of her face, back to feeling completely discouraged. "It means we're one sister short," she pouted, taking a brief glance over in Past Prue's direction.

X

(Past - 1988)

Magic School

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Prue shook her head, attempting to shake away the cobwebs starting to form there. Weird. Standing before her was the geeky lab assistant, teacher, whoever, and he had just asked her something. Only now, she was completely blanking out.

Nathan, Gideon's assistant, sighed in annoyance before repeating his inquiry. "The Guardian? Did your charge open the box?"

Prue suddenly burst out in a fit of laughter.

Grams shot her granddaughter a rather stern look.

Nathan's face mirrored disdain. "I beg your pardon, but I fail to see what is so funny. This is a very serious matter. If Pandora's box has been opened, it can be very dangerous," he scolded.

"Look, bald dude," Prue shot out, as Nathan flinched, and his hand flew to the balding spot in the middle of his head. "The last box I ever opened was a gift I got last Christmas and let me tell you, the only thing dangerous inside there was the horrible sense of fashion," Prue stopped laughing long enough to deliver the dig. "That sweater ..." her voice trailed off and her face dropped when her memory abruptly shifted gears again.

Prue's head turned and her eyes quickly met with Grams. Her grandmother's expression was one of clear disapproval. Prue averted her gaze, remaining silent.

"What is she talking about?" Nathan raised his voice at Grams. His impatience was beginning to break through.

Ignoring him, Grams approached her granddaughter with concern in her eyes. "Prue, what's going on?" she came in close, her hand coming to rest behind Prue's back.

"Uh ..." Prue stammered, embarrassed she couldn't account for what had caused her outburst.

"Maybe you should go and sit down for a minute," Grams began ushering Prue towards one of the desk chairs in the library.

"No, no I'm fine," Prue resisted, downplaying the exchange. "Nothing's wrong," she denied, gently trying to shake her grandmother's hand away.

"Prue?" her grandmother tried to object.

"I understand the seriousness here, but it was only a joke," Prue spoke over her grandmother and back to the man.

"A joke?" Nathan shook his head, not amused.

"Yeah, a joke," Prue gave off some attitude in return. "Clearly no sense of humor at Magic School, got it, noted," she rolled her eyes, driving the point home. She knew how lame the excuse she came up with sounded but she had to make up something.

"No, no sense of humor," Nathan mocked. "Forgive me, but we pride ourselves on teaching the next generation of magic how to protect the greater good and staying alive to do it. I have yet to meet a successful demon vanquish using any humor," came the snide rebuttal.

"Okay, chill, four eyes," Prue narrowed her eyes, taking a shot at the man's glasses. "Nobody opened any box."

Nathan's posture immediately stiffened.

"Prudence, what's the matter with you?" Grams reprimanded, stepping back. "Stop it right now. This is NOT funny!" her eyes went wide.

"Yeah, sorry," Prue offered, without sincerity. "Probably not your fault you teach boring and uptight classes," her retort was directed back at the lab assistant.

A very uncomfortable silence took up residence in the library.

Prue closed her eyes, bringing her hand to her forehead. "Wait, where are we again?" she took to observing her surroundings, appearing confused. "And who are you exactly?" she interrogated the assistant.

Nathan's eyes widened. "What?" he laughed in disbelief.

Grams was getting more concerned now. "Sweetheart, are you sure you're feeling okay?" she interjected.

Prue didn't answer. Instead, her attention shot to the man's attire. "Hey, what's with the robe?" she pointed at it. "Are you a priest?"

Nathan scanned the length of his black robe before his expression of disbelief morphed back into more annoyance.

"Please don't tell me we're attending another funeral," Prue closed her eyes. "Did somebody die?"

The man's eyes shot from Prue over to Grams. "Is this another joke?" the offense in Nathan's tone was quite clear. "I happen to be a junior Elder," he puffed up his shoulders, reflecting his self-imposed sense of importance. A slight air of superiority rang out from his voice.

Prue burst out with more laughter. "Right. An Elder. Well, okay then. Sorry," she held up her hands.

"Um," Grams stuttered, cutting in, while turning away from her granddaughter to address the frustrated lab assistant. "Listen, Nathan, thanks for your help but would you mind just giving us a moment?"

"Certainly," Nathan told Penny Halliwell. "Take all the time you need; I have more important matters to attend to." He took one last glance at Prue and shook his head in disapproval. Then he moved to leave; however, still clearly in a state of unease over the entire encounter.

After his departure, Grams silently turned around and gave Prue one of her looks.

"Grams," the frustration in Prue's tone was evident. She began pacing.

"Well, care to explain yourself?"

"No, because there's nothing to explain," Prue brushed off.

Penny Halliwell stood with one hand resting against her hip. "Just out of curiosity, what's the last thing you remember before coming here?"

Prue stopped her pacing and shook her head. "Why?"

"Just answer the question," her grandmother countered.

Prue crossed her arms. "I ..." and as she tried to come up with her last moments before meeting up with her grandmother in this timeline, she realized she was having trouble doing it. Even the moments shared in the attic with Grams were fuzzy. Turning around with her back to her grandmother, Prue closed her eyes, running a hand through her hair. She knew what was coming next.

"You can't recall?" Grams pushed.

Then some of it started returning in bits and pieces. Piper, Pandora's box, the trip to the past and finally encountering Grams. "Grams, it's nothing ..." she shook her head, trying to beat her grandmother to the punch only to be cut off.

"No, hold it right there!" her grandmother's commanding voice broke over her own. "Enough with the lies," she pointed a finger at Prue.

"Yeah, well, the lies are sometimes necessary," Prue argued back, pacing again with her hands against her hips. "Besides, I'm not really lying, just omitting," she spun it. "I think you of all people should get it."

Grams threw a glare but knew she couldn't really argue against it.

"And what even possessed you to slip with my real name after I already told Gideon I was somebody else?" Prue threw her arms up in frustration.

"I think the more pressing concern we have right now is what is possessing you!" Grams meant business. "You're not acting like yourself."

Prue crossed her arms. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she denied, becoming defensive.

Grams shook her head sadly. "Prue," she sighed, inspecting her granddaughter carefully. "That facade may work with your sisters but there's nobody here you're protecting by lying."

"Okay, fine, but what if Nathan, what's his face, goes back and tells Gideon who I really am?" Prue diverted back to her original concern.

Grams eyes widened. "So, what if he does?" she challenged. "We have more important things to be worried about right now aside from Gideon finding out you're here from the future." There was a brief pause, Grams studying her granddaughter. "Unless you really are keeping something from me about Gideon? Any specific reason you'd prefer he doesn't know who you are?"

"Grams, stop," Prue pleaded, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"No, I'm not going to stop if there's something I need to know," the stubborn nature of Grams pressed on. "What are you hiding?"

"Grams, if you don't want me to lie, then don't ask," Prue still refused to give in and tell her grandmother what she wanted to know.

Determined, Grams came closer. She was now standing face to face with Prue. This battle of wills was getting them nowhere. "Now listen here. I've faced down more than my share of battles over the years. Demons, very bad witches, and yes, I've even clashed with the Elders in my day, you name it, I've been there. I lost your grandfather and dealt with the loss of your mother because of this life, while still managing to raise you girls to the best of my ability. I understand future consequences and I certainly understand the need to keep secrets when we don't want those we love to get hurt. But, by god, my number one priority has always been to keep you and your sisters safe. That hasn't changed now. So, take this as my final plea," she shook her head. "Don't lie to me."

Prue listened. Demons, she wasn't surprised her grandmother dealt with those. Clashing with the Elders? Meh, that wasn't too surprising either. Prue was a little curious about which bad witches her grandmother may have come across during her time as a witch. During their time as the Charmed Ones, she and her sisters had dealt with a few evil warlocks, even a bad witch or two like Tuatha, but bad witches had a tendency to start out as good witches who had gone astray, turning their allegiances over to team evil. "Bad witches?" she inquired. "Care to elaborate?" she smiled.

The brows on Grams rose. "Care not to change the subject please?" she retorted.

Prue sighed. "Just be careful," she finally relented a little bit. "With Gideon."

Penny Halliwell shared a look with her granddaughter. It would have to be enough, she knew that, so she gave a nod and accepted what sounded like a bit of a warning. "Now what's going on with you? The truth," her tone softened at Prue.

"Honestly?" Prue shook her head. "I have no idea."

X

(Future - 2029)

The trip through the winding sewer tunnels was long, stinky, and tiresome. What was left of the next generation "Halliwell crew" had at least managed to calm down the remaining survivors and convinced them to depart. They were headed for the Zone. Piper walked at a safe distance behind the others still trying to digest all the information that had come her way only hours ago.

"Auntie Piper, my feet hurt," Molly complained and stopped walking.

Piper was forced to stop. "I know, baby, but c'mon, just a little further, I promise," she tried to coax and encourage her along.

Molly rubbed at her eyes. "No, I can't," she moaned.

Wyatt, who had been holding onto his mother's hand, let go and just stared.

Piper sighed and peered ahead. She wanted to make sure they weren't falling too far behind the others. She didn't want them lost. She was holding onto Chris and shifted him to the other side of herself. "Molly, listen to me. We have to keep going, okay? We have to. It's not safe here anymore."

"Because of the bad people?" she asked.

"Yes, exactly," Piper nodded. "Here, hold Wyatt's hand, and the two of you can count steps for us and then we'll know how many steps it takes to get there," she thought up something quick to distract the little girl and get them moving again. "Go ahead," she ushered the two children in front of her.

Wyatt and Molly held hands and began their counting spree together.

Piper sighed with relief and resumed her steps with Chris still held firmly at her side. She certainly understood, she was tired too. Some more time passed before they finally reached a ladder leading up to a small-sized manhole.

"I forgot how many," Molly told Piper.

Piper just smiled and gently placed a hand on her head. "It's okay because I think we're here."

"All right, peeps, I'm gonna' climb first, and do a quick scan of the layout," Prudence announced to everybody. "Laura's going to come with and when it's all clear, she'll give the thumbs up. You can start coming up and Julie will follow up on the rear."

Which meant, Julie was last, Piper concluded.

As soon as everything was cleared, the remaining survivors were guided up the ladder by Julie, who stood at the bottom, and was also doing her duty to remain vigilant of their surroundings. They weren't out of the woods yet. Piper stepped in to assist. She stood on the opposite side, helping people to lift themselves up onto that first ladder rung, which was really the main hurdle since it was a little high off the ground, while Julie guided from the other side. Both she and Piper exchanged a look. Julie's face softened and together they finished assisting every remaining person until it came down to only Piper, the kids, and Julie who were left. Laura began climbing back down to help with the kids.

A noise suddenly caught Wyatt's attention. He turned around to look.

Christie and Penny climbed up past Laura and started the ascent up the ladder. Molly was next. Laura then reached out for little Chris. "Here give him to me, I can scale it and hold onto him at the same time," she offered.

The sounds of loose pebble being thrown in Wyatt's direction had Wyatt's curiosity piqued once again. This time he smiled at something and scampered off.

After releasing Chris into the arms of Laura, Piper turned around ready to retrieve Wyatt for the climb. "Wyatt, sweetie ..."

Julie looked too and noticed he was gone. Confusion spread across her face as she nervously scanned the area. "Where is he?"

"Oh no!" Piper murmured, frantically doing a search with her eyes.

"What's going on down there?" Prudence called down from above. She had just finished helping Christie and Penny exit the manhole. Molly was waiting next.

Panic took hold. "Wyatt?" Piper shouted. She instantly went to make her way back towards the direction they had come from when unexpected blasts of energy suddenly shot out from around the tunnel corner.

"Look out!" Julie shouted a warning and Piper ducked just in time.

"What the hell?" Laura sped up her pace climbing the ladder. Little Chris began wailing.

"Jules, move it!" Prudence yelled down her instructions. "Get up here now!"

Piper threw up her hands and sent back her own blast.

Julie looked between the ladder and back over to Piper. "Go, hurry!" she instructed Laura, before making the decision to run and assist Piper. Laura was already getting close to the top.

"Julie, no, you get your ass up here!" her sister ordered.

"Follow the protocol," Julie yelled back. "Seal the door."

"Julie? No way," Prudence pleaded. Panic filled her tone. "I'm not leaving you."

Julie ran to the sewer wall and began kicking at the pipe that was lining it. "Seal that door, P!" she instructed again. "You know the drill, we're under attack!" After some intense and repetitive kicking, she got the pipe to crack, and spurts of water began squirting out.

Piper peered back and saw that Julie was in the throes of attempting some type of water manipulation with her powers. Overhead, they both heard the hard slam of the manhole being closed off after Laura and little Chris had been the last ones to make it through. That feeling of dread settled in; however, Piper at least felt some relief in knowing that Chris and Molly had been able to reach relative safety. Now she was determined to retrieve Wyatt. She took quick steps, immediately going in pursuit of their attackers.

Julie formed icicles and was ready to telekinetically direct them in the direction the attack had come from in order to clear the path when she noticed Piper leaving. "Aunt Piper? Wait!"

Distracted, Piper turned to look and the last thing she felt was the blow to the back of her head. Everything else went black.

X

(Present - 2007)

The Magic School: West Wing

The silence in the potion lab was almost deafening. Phoebe lifted her head from across the workstation and peered over at Future Piper, who was completely immersed in the task at hand. Phoebe wanted to break the silence and talk about something, anything, but she just didn't know where to start.

"Is it really that bad?" Phoebe finally found her voice.

This broke Future Piper's concentration. "Is what bad?" Her eyes met with that of her younger sister.

Phoebe gave her a weak smile. "Back home. Things must be pretty bad off for Melinda to feel the way she does." She was recalling the guarded reactions coming from her future niece, Piper's daughter. "I mean, they didn't even know you were still alive, right?"

Future Piper shot her a questioning look.

Phoebe smiled. "I overheard you guys talking in the basement before you fell asleep," she admitted. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. Well, maybe that's not completely true," she amended, smirking.

Future Piper placed down the baster being used to fill the empty potion vials. Next, she gently pushed aside some of the finished vials laying atop a torn fabric cloth and then rested her elbows on the workstation, folding her hands in front of her. Looking Phoebe square in the eye, she sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"A pretty loaded question," Phoebe sighed a bit nervously, "what don't I want to know?" came the rhetorical question. "What can you tell me?"

Future Piper appeared to be giving it some thought. "Let's just say, things didn't exactly turn out the way I thought they would," she finally answered a bit dejectedly.

Phoebe waited for more. "That's it?" she pushed.

"Oh Phoebe," Future Piper sighed. She locked eyes with her sister. "What you really want to ask me is about Prue?" she deduced. "Am I right?"

"Well, definitely that," Phoebe broke the eye contact; she wasn't about to deny it. "Among other things," she looked back at Future Piper.

A very distinct sadness passed through Future Piper's eyes. For Phoebe, it kind of offered up an answer without actually giving one.

"Phoebe, even if I ..." Future Piper was about to protest.

"I know, I know, don't say it," Phoebe brought her hands up to cover her face. "Future consequences."

Future Piper didn't say anything.

"Look, even after all this time, I still don't understand any grand design that would allow everything to virtually go to hell," Phoebe vented in frustration. "Is nothing we do ever good enough?"

"Pfft," Future Piper waved off in disgust. "The grand design. Believe me, I stopped caring about that a long time ago," she expressed in a rather defeated tone.

"Okay, so then what's the problem?" Phoebe challenged. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Telling you won't make it any easier," Future Piper tried to get Phoebe to understand. "It won't change what's going to be. No matter what we do, the grand design always seems to be reworking itself."

"See, that's exactly my point," Phoebe resumed her argument. "If the grand design is always reworking itself anyway, and all these different timelines continue to exist, why should we bother worrying about future consequences? Why can't we just choose which one we want and fight for it?"

"It's the fighting for it that usually lands us in trouble," Future Piper reminded her. "It either falls in our favor or it doesn't."

"And with Prue it clearly doesn't," Phoebe shook her head, sounding miffed at the hopelessness of it all. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, there's also the personal gain," Future Piper sighed, adding on.

"Personal gain? This has nothing to do with personal gain, Piper, not even close!" Phoebe refuted the idea outright. Future Piper gave her one of her infamous looks, so she decided to amend it. "Okay, so maybe it is a little," she shook her head, closing her eyes. "Prue is our sister, of course, finding a way to keep her alive would be personal to us, but I don't even care at this point if that makes us selfish. It benefits the greater good too! What is even the point of having this Ultimate Power if we won't have it for very long anyway," she pointed out.

"Hey, not saying I disagree with you," Future Piper empathized, assuring Phoebe. "Never said it was always fair either."

"Then we should at least be given the chance to change things, to make it better. Otherwise, what's even the point of free will or choice," Phoebe roughly jerked off a handful of pieces from the Areca palm plant and threw them into the small cauldron beside her. It instantly erupted into a cloud of smoke. She jumped back as both she and Future Piper waved the smoke away from their faces. "Phew!" Phoebe began to cough.

"Phoebe, easy there with the Areca," Future Piper teased. "I think that potion mix only calls for two leaves, huh?"

"Yeah," Phoebe nodded as her coughing spurt continued. "Minor oversight."

Future Piper handed her a bottle of drinking water from the workstation and Phoebe grabbed for it, opening the cap and gulping it down.

"Thanks," Phoebe used the back of her arm to wipe across her mouth.

Future Piper smiled before she let it fall. It got quiet and Phoebe's mind wandered, lost in her own thoughts. Then Piper's next words caught her attention.

"I spent too much time resenting her decision," she opened up.

Phoebe's eyebrows furrowed; her curiosity immediately piqued. "Who?" she went to sit back down and listen.

Future Piper gave a sad smile. "Prue." She looked down. "I told her I forgave her but, the truth is, I never really let it go," she admitted. "And by the time I was ready to, it was already too late. Too late to understand how I had taken her return for granted."

Phoebe reached out and grabbed for Future Piper's hands, holding them with her own and offering her the support to be able to continue on.

"It never quite got back to being the same between us," Future Piper reflected with regrets. "I think on some level she sensed it. You had the right idea all along," she told Phoebe. "You made the most of the time you guys had and it was nice to see you two so close," she shared.

Phoebe was a bit surprised, and she knew her face was showing it. Not that she didn't love Prue nor value the relationship they did share but their history had always been a bit rocky. It was no secret, and anybody close to them knew it. They were notorious for fighting and not getting along, especially in their younger adult years. Fortunately, discovering their destiny as The Charmed Ones had changed some of that dynamic and they became closer. But, still, there was always a bit of that wall left in place and those moments where she felt like the third wheel when it came to Prue and Piper. Their relationship had just always been naturally closer, all throughout their childhood and beyond. Of course, they had their moments too, but the difference was they always seemed to get past it. They could pick back up like it had never happened. Phoebe used to secretly envy their ability to do that, so it was a bit unexpected to hear of a future where things had shifted to a place where she and Prue created a closer foundation.

"Everything just seemed to go downhill from there," Future Piper nodded. "Wyatt changed, but it was subtle at first," she shifted the direction of the conversation. "Then there were the other losses, the division of what was left of the family. When I agreed to leave, I thought it was for the best." She smirked. "How much worse could it possibly get, I thought at the time," she shrugged, recalling the tragic events from a life she had already lived. "But that's also when I came to realize what I had done wasn't all that different from Prue. My children were told I was dead, and I can only imagine the pain that caused, the hurt I created," she acknowledged with regret.

"Oh honey," Phoebe sympathized.

Future Piper shook her sister's concern away. "At my age, I can own my own mistakes," she nodded. "But I also now know what it means to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love and to make absolutely no apologies for that," she concluded with determination.

"Where were we?" Phoebe almost dreaded asking the question but the fact that Future Piper was revealing how she was left in a position to fake her death all on her own, without the input nor the inclusion of her sisters, spoke volumes and not good ones.

Future Piper didn't answer. Instead, she squeezed Phoebe's hands tighter. "Promise me you'll make the most of your life. Don't look back, no regrets. And when you can, do your best to kick my butt into gear," she laughed a little.

Phoebe smiled. "You know I try."

"If there's one gift I could bestow upon my younger self, it would be the wisdom that only comes with time," Future Piper shared. "Continue to look out for each other. Look out for Paige. And Prue," she trailed off and her eyes became downcast. "I know Prue thinks she never needs it because she's the oldest and it's her job to look out for us first, but I'll let you in on a little secret. She can definitely use it sometimes."

Phoebe took in a deep breath. "Piper, what exactly happened to us? What happened to Prue?"

"Hey!" Leo suddenly interrupted them after orbing back in.

Future Piper pulled her hands back and was saved from having to explain any further. Leo had her full attention. Phoebe was dismayed but let it go. Maybe it was better not to know the details, especially if they really were powerless to do anything to change it. Got to love that grand design the Elders were always on about.

"I managed to get back into the manor unseen," Leo revealed. "Seems quiet and I didn't see anybody but there's definitely some type of strong magic sealing the others inside the basement. The door in the kitchen has an invisible barrier."

"An invisible barrier? How did you find that out?" Phoebe inquired.

Leo lifted the palm of his hand to reveal a huge, inflamed gash.

"Oh," Phoebe looked away.

"How are things coming along in here?" Leo wanted to know, oblivious to the discussion that had been ongoing just seconds before his arrival. "Did you get what you needed?"

"I think we're good," Future Piper smiled. "Not much more we can pull together, so what we came up with will have to do."

Phoebe nodded. "And we should be getting back to the others. Maybe Paige had some luck with that book? We need to find a way to reclaim the manor and quickly." She was concerned for the remaining family members left at the house.

"One step at a time," Future Piper advised.

"And I get that," Phoebe nodded with one thought worrying her, "but Andy didn't look too good when we left, he was still unconscious, and if Wyatt and the other demons aren't still back at the house, where did they go?"

Leo shrugged.

An unpleasant thought dawned on Phoebe. "Guys, do you think they'll find a way into the school?"

"I don't see how," Leo dismissed. "The guards are back up. We even tightened them. Evil shouldn't be able to penetrate."

"Yeah, but still, didn't Wyatt find a way to bypass it once before?" Phoebe countered, thinking back to the time that the demon Vicus got to young Wyatt and turned his older counterpart evil.

"I think we should be prepared for anything," Future Piper suggested.

All three shared a troubled look.

x

Billie observed the others from across the library. They were engaged in something over that book Paige was trying really hard to figure out.

"I'm not keeping it, you know," Past Prue suddenly blurted out.

"Huh? What?" Billie's attention was pulled back to her.

"The baby?" Past Prue stressed. "I'm not going to keep it," she repeated.

"Oh." Billie was at a loss for words.

"Do you think that makes me a bad person?" Past Prue's face appeared a bit melancholy now. Her eyes were downcast.

"Well ..." Billie stuttered, not sure how to respond to such a straightforward question. "No, no, of course not!" she finally found her voice in an attempt to reassure younger Prue. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," Past Prue shrugged. "My Grams says I'm too young. And at first, I was really mad at her. But now I think," she sighed and stopped talking.

"You think?" Billie gently pushed for her to continue.

"I think she's right. I'm all by myself. I don't have a job, no money, and I'm not even out of high school yet," Past Prue opened up.

Remaining silent, Billie only nodded. This exchange was a bit awkward.

"But ... " Past Prue wanted to share more but was clearly hesitating.

Billie waited for younger Prue to finish her thought. "But what?"

"What if the baby hates me for it?" her hidden concern was finally voiced.

"No, I don't hate you ... I mean," Billie closed her eyes and quickly caught herself. She remembered Past Prue didn't believe the story about who Billie was. "What I meant to say is the baby isn't going to hate you," she voiced strongly. "I promise."

"How do you know?" Past Prue was struggling to believe it.

"Because ..." Billie tried to quickly think of a way to say the truth, without actually saying the truth. "I'm adopted," she finally settled on. "And l had a great life. I'm grateful for the family I had. I had two amazing parents and a big sister I looked up to. I didn't always appreciate what I had but I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Past Prue was considering Billie's own admission. "So, you don't care at all that your mom gave you away?"

"No, I mean, I do care," Billie struggled to find the right words. "It's just ... " Billie paused for a second. "I'm not upset about it. Not anymore."

"When you were upset what were you upset about?" younger Prue bit down on her lower lip.

Billie's eyes went a little wide. "Well," she sighed, "I think I just had some trouble understanding where my birth mother was coming from," she tried to carefully craft her answer. "I was confused when I first found out especially because of all the magic stuff," she waved her hand around.

"Your first mom did magic?" younger Prue seemed surprised.

Billie nodded. "When I found out the truth, I was kind of hurt. Mostly hurt though because I had just lost my parents shortly before finding out. I sort of wanted to blame her for it because of the magic part but it wasn't really fair. She didn't do anything to them, the demons did," she nervously rubbed her hands against her jeans, looking down.

Past Prue felt bad hearing the news about Billie's parents. "I lost my parents too," she shared. "My mom died when I was little and my dad just left," she rolled her eyes for dramatic effect.

Billie picked up on the bitterness. She really didn't know what to say. Somehow, reciprocating with 'sorry' just felt empty and inadequate.

"I wouldn't even know how to be a mom anyway," Past Prue sighed dejectedly. She pulled the Book of Shadows back onto her lap and opened it, flipping through the pages. "I help take care of my sisters a lot but it's not really the same thing. Grams still takes care of all the bigger stuff."

"Hey, don't take this the wrong way because I'm totally not judging or anything. I promise. But what about the dad?" Billie treaded very carefully. "You don't think he would be willing to help you?"

Past Prue didn't answer right away. Billie could see a dozen different emotions washing over her face. "No, I think he would," she finally admitted. "He's away at school right now though. He got into a good college which my Grams says I should be focusing on doing this year. She said I shouldn't ruin that for him," she momentarily paused to think about what else she wanted to say. "I was mad that she wouldn't let me tell him, but I don't want to force him to be with me because of a baby either. And I don't want to make him give up what he's doing," her face then dropped. "We already broke up anyway."

Billie offered a small but sympathetic smile.

"I don't know," Past Prue sighed and shrugged. Her attention was now on one of the pages describing some type of Wombat demon. "It might all sound pretty stupid, but it makes sense to me."

"No way, it's not stupid at all," Billie refuted. "Actually, I think I might be starting to understand some things a little better," she admitted.

"I wrote a letter to the baby," Past Prue revealed next. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, her eyes glossed over, and she came off looking a bit confused.

Billie caught wind of the very weird shift taking place. "Are you okay?" her voice took on some concern, reaching out to younger Prue.

Past Prue closed her eyes, trying to shake it off. "Um," she stammered. "Sure. What was I talking about again?" she looked at Billie.

Billie sent her a strange look. "Do you mean the baby?"

Past Prue's eyes began to dart back and forth. She was trying to remember. "Right," she nodded with uncertainty. "The baby," she then placed her hand against the right side of her temple and began rubbing it.

Billie swallowed nervously. She stood up, her concern for the situation only growing. "Hey, are sure you're okay?"

Past Prue's demeanor drastically shifted once again. She sent Billie a questioning look. "What are you talking about?" her tone was firm and direct. "Of course I'm fine. The Power of Three will handle it."

Billie's eyes widened.

Past Prue was now reading from a page in the Book of Shadows. "Didn't we already vanquish this demon?" she was pointing at the picture of a Wendigo and looking to Billie for an answer.

Okay, something was definitely off, very off, Billie concluded.

"Hello?" Past Prue began waving at Billie to get her attention. "Anybody home?" She widened her eyes waiting for an answer. "The Wendigo? The furry ugly thing, who's super long and mega gross talons could use a serious manicure?" she pointed on the picture.

Completely lost, Billie struggled on how to handle this. She tried to think of something quick and off the top of her head. "Uh, Wendigos. Right, you know, I think I might have skipped out on that particular vanquish?" she nodded to play along.

What was happening?

"Actually, maybe that's a good thing. For you," younger Prue began to silently read to herself the foot notes added in about the creature. "Says here with the right blood type, you can transform into one of these nasty guys. Ew, shudder," and she made the pretense at shuddering. "You're not AB are you?" she looked back at Billie.

Billie stuttered. "Uh, you know what?" she lifted a finger. "I think I might be, but I'd have to get back to you on that," she began backing away.

"Yeah, that sucks, Piper too," younger Prue shook her head. "Phoebe and I were able to take care of it, so she's okay now, thank god." She sighed. "Wait, who are you exactly?" she turned her attention back on Billie.

Billie stopped moving. This interaction had shot straight to creepy and was only getting creepier by the second. She didn't know how to answer. Why was younger Prue suddenly talking about things she should have no memory about? After all, she never actually experienced any of this yet, her future counterpart would, or rather, already had. Billie didn't understand anything that was going on but from what she was putting together, it seemed as though Prue was acting a lot like her older self?

"Oh, hey, it's Kitty," Past Prue's attention was pulled to something new.

Billie also witnessed a black cat scamper quickly by. Wasn't that Prue and Molly's cat? How had it gotten from the manor and into the Magic School?

Past Prue was smiling and threw the Book of Shadows onto the couch. She got up to pursue the cat, any thoughts into her inquiry about Billie forgotten. "Here, kitty kitty," she began calling.

"Right. Kitty." Billie kept a grin in place, clenching teeth together. "While you check on that, I'm just going to go check up on the Wendigos," she took advantage of the distraction and resumed walking away. "Make sure they're all gone."

Younger Prue managed to snatch the cat before it got away. "Hey there, sweet girl," she began cooing at the animal now in her arms.

Billie's face fell after she turned around.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Uh, Paige?" Billie shouted out, eyes going wide again.

X

(Past - 1988)

Magic School

Prue and Penny Halliwell were heading in the direction of the school's apothecary located somewhere in the West Wing.

Whatever that meant, Prue was thinking, as they continued their steady strides down the never-ending stretch of hallway. It's not like this place had a beginning or an end, so what part was actually considered the West Wing? In all honesty, though, Prue could care less. She was just happy to be rid of that embarrassing encounter with the assistant and was also hoping to avoid any more run-ins with Gideon.

"Grams, I said I'm fine now," Prue objected, amidst her rambling thoughts. "A check-in with some random apothe-quack isn't going to help anything." After the words left her mouth, Prue realized she probably sounded a bit like Piper, taking on some of her sister's cynicism.

"Prue, do an old lady a favor," Grams threw back. "Humor me this time, rather than Gideon's assistant," she mocked.

Momentarily stopping in their tracks, they shared a look.

Prue rolled her eyes, but okay, she probably deserved that one after the incident with Nathan.

"Besides, you should have said something right away," Grams gently admonished. "Forgetting how you got here is not a good sign and definitely not something we should be making light of."

"No, I just didn't think forgetting something as trivial as the name of a stupid box was that big of a deal," Prue made a face, downplaying the concern. At least, she hadn't thought it was too big of a deal until her 'episode' in the library.

"Well, maybe it started out that way," Grams conceded, "but we don't want it to keep happening." They resumed walking.

"So, what does an apothecary do exactly?" Prue sighed in exasperation.

"Think magical doctor," Grams explained. "Sometimes they're even the keepers of certain knowledge. Magical secrets."

"You mean like prophecies?" Prue's face contorted.

"Among other things," Grams nodded. "Ah, here we go!" she announced as their journey finally landed them in front of a door with a nameplate that spelt out, wait for it? Apothecary.

"Right," Prue lifted her eyebrows as she read it.

Her grandmother knocked once before opening the door. "Hello?" she called inside and walked in with Prue following closely behind.

The room was abundant with a variety of plant life. Rows and rows of pottery soil lined the tables, flowers blooming, and as Prue made her way through one of the aisles, she pushed some hanging vine out of her way. This room was certainly unique. Almost like an acre of garden in every direction, only instead of it being in somebody's backyard, it was sprawled out inside a big room at this school. As they approached the back end of the room, they encountered the backside of a woman. Both Prue and Grams immediately stopped walking. The woman was in the middle of some task that involved grinding up herbs.

"You can take a seat right over there; I'll be right with you," the woman instructed without turning around. She must have sensed their presence.

"I take it you would be the apothecary we are looking for?" Grams took the initiative with her usual brand of assertiveness.

"I think what she means is, who she is looking for," Prue corrected, grinding against her teeth.

The woman finally turned around to greet them. "Of course," she answered, a bright smile in place, as her eyes landed on Prue. When she noticed they were both still standing, she waved a hand in the direction of some chairs. "Please, take a seat, make yourselves comfortable," she offered again.

Grams obliged this time around and took the lead. With a little reluctance, Prue followed, and they sat down.

"This is ... my whitelighter," Grams introduced, settling on the whitelighter story they decided to go with for Gideon. "Marie."

The woman smiled, giving her full attention to Prue. "Nice to meet you. How may I be of assistance?"

Prue immediately noted the red and flamboyant flowing of hair. It stood out. She couldn't be much older than Prue herself but there was also something about those eyes. An odd familiarity. Had she met this person before? No, that wasn't possible. Still, it gave Prue an uneasy feeling. "Actually, my grand ... my charge," Prue quickly corrected, "insisted that we come here," she jumped in. "I'm fine."

"I see," the woman nodded.

Prue flashed a fake smile to drive her point home.

"She's definitely not fine," Grams refuted. "However, completely hardheaded."

"Well, I was raised by you now, wasn't I?" Prue retorted under her breath, hopefully so that only her grandmother could hear, her smile still set firmly in place.

"Marie, dear, now is certainly not the time for this," Grams asserted, sending Prue the message with her eyes.

The woman carefully observed the interaction. "How about I take it from here?" she put up a hand.

"Yes, of course," Grams gave in.

"Good," she smiled between the two. "I'm Nadia," she offered her introduction and pulled over a chair to sit in front of them. There was a brief moment of silence. "You're pregnant," she announced, meeting Prue's eyes, "and having trouble with your memories. Does that sound about right?"

Prue quickly glanced down at her mid-section before meeting with the eyes of the other woman in front of her. Her current condition wasn't a far out guess but the woman's very astute assessment of everything else was a bit unexpected. "How do you know all that?" her brows furrowed.

Nadia smiled to help ease some of the building suspicion. "It's okay. I think I might have something that can help."

Prue swallowed, feeling a bit uneasy. On the surface, the woman seemed friendly enough, but something still felt off. Nevertheless, Prue found herself letting some of her guard down only because she really needed to find out what was happening to her. She kept downplaying it with her grandmother, but the truth was she was continuing to experience episodes where she was having trouble remembering events from her own life, things she should definitely know. She was acting in ways she hadn't since she was a teenager. Questioning the motives of this other woman momentarily made her feel bad and to wonder if she should add paranoia to her list of growing concerns.

"There's no need to be nervous," Nadia reassured, almost as if she were sensing Prue's growing doubt.

"But why would memory loss change behavior?" Grams moved straight in to interrogate.

Prue looked between her grandmother and Nadia.

"Would you actually mind if I spoke with Marie alone?" Nadia nodded towards Prue, while addressing Grams.

Grams stiffened up a bit, not appreciating what she perceived as a dismissal. "Why? Is that necessary?"

"No, not at all," Nadia smiled, "but sometimes I find that it helps the people I'm working with to get more comfortable if it's just one on one and they can explain in their own words," she explained. "Makes it easier to get to the root cause of the issues. Then I know better how to help."

Grams was considering it, but Prue could tell she still wanted to protest. "Hey, it's fine," she reached out to reassure her grandmother.

"Are you sure?" Penny Halliwell asked her granddaughter, already aware of the fact that Prue hadn't really wanted to make this visit to begin with.

"I'm sure," Prue nodded.

Grams sighed heavily. "Very well, then. I'll just go check up on Gideon and make sure 'our friend' isn't spreading any unfettered gossip," she winked at Prue and Prue understood immediately what she meant regarding Nathan.

"Good idea," Prue smiled and watched as her grandmother got up to leave.

After she was gone, the awkwardness resumed. The two women sat there silently while Prue observed her surroundings, and Nadia waited for any communication.

"You can't stay here much longer, Prue," Nadia suddenly announced and Prue shot her eyes up to meet the other woman's. "The timeline is catching up to you."

"Excuse me?"

X

(Future - 2029)

Piper slowly came to with a throbbing headache. She let out a groan and rolled onto her back, bringing her hand to the back of her head.

What had happened? Her mind was blank.

Her eyes fluttered open and all she could see was darkness. Then there was some blinking. Now, she was beginning to make out stars in the distance. On the ceiling above her, there was a huge glass dome providing a view of the night sky.

Piper sat up. "Any UFO's up there? I suppose it's too much to hope one will abduct me out of this nightmare, drop me back in my own zip code," her snark flew out. "Demons a plenty wherever you look but where's an actual alien when you need one?"

She took note that her hands were magically tied and bound.

"Well great. Trying to get up should be interesting," she struggled to get on her knees and then push herself off the floor.

After finally standing, she found herself trapped inside a cage. The small circular glass contraption was practically invisible to the naked eye but most definitely there. The light coming through the dome ceiling reflected off of the glass making it shine. Carefully reaching out her hand to touch it, Piper discovered that magic didn't appear to be an issue, so she immediately tapped into her power, attempting to blast it apart. Unfortunately, her attempt was blocked. The blast only ricocheted off the glass structure and sent Piper flying back on her ass.

"Oh, for crying out loud," she swore. She took a deep breath and rested one hand protectively against her stomach. She was getting too far along for this, she acknowledged. The last thing she wanted was to give birth prematurely in the middle of some magical apocalypse and certainly not in a foreign place or stuck within a timeline not her own. She pushed herself off the floor again.

Her last moments in the sewer tunnel came flooding back into her mind and she quickly wondered where Wyatt and Julie could be. They weren't with her or didn't appear to be. "Wyatt?" she called out just in case. "Wyatt, honey, can you hear me? It's mommy. Everything's going to be okay, I promise. But if you're here, I need for you to let me know. Okay? Say something, anything."

There was only silence.

"Dammit," Piper mumbled to herself.

The pristine marble floors were glistening under the moonlight. Next, Piper's eyes came to rest on a small table with a box. She tilted her head a bit, trying to get a better look at it. The box was unique in its appearance. It kind of reminded her of a music box; it was gold platted with silver. Could it be the mysterious box Prudence and Julie had informed her about? The soul eater? How strange, she thought. It wasn't at all as dark and ominous looking as she would have expected it to be.

When Piper brought her attention back in front of her, she jumped at the unexpected figure staring in at her from the other side. "Oh, good lord, where did you come from?" she rested her hand against her now rapidly beating chest.

There was no answer. The young woman staring back only sneered.

Piper's eyes narrowed. "Laura?"

The girl was an exact replica of Paige's daughter, Laura. The young woman just kept her sneer in place and slowly shook her head.

"No?" Piper imitated the reaction by shaking her head in return.

The young woman threw up her hands which made Piper jump again. She began using her hands to sign, quite animatedly.

"Whoa, easy there, easy," Piper put her hands up defensively, unsure of what to expect and to quite possibly ward off another magical attack.

The girl's hand movements only intensified, and Piper tried to follow.

Clearly frustrated, Piper mimicked her hand motions. "I have no idea what any of this means," she exclaimed.

The young woman grew angry. She took her hand and slammed it on the glass window, causing Piper to flinch. Suddenly, lights flickered on, and everything was lit up. Piper squinted against the blinding intrusion, her eyes needing a moment to adjust.

"Down girl!" an unexpected laugh broke in from the background. Piper shot her head in its direction and watched as two new faces emerged. "Easy with the prey," came the insidious reference to Piper.

"Hayley, you were supposed to wait for us," the voice of another young woman rang out. She was one of the mysterious newcomers.

Hayley? Piper thought. Then, she quickly connected the dots: Twins. Hayley had to be Laura's identical twin and another daughter of Paige's. Apparently, also one of Evil Wyatt's loyal and obedient foot soldiers. How sad and unfortunate that they wound up split like this. Piper shook her head in dismay.

The young man stopped in front of Piper's place of imprisonment, just beside Hayley, a disgustingly amused expression covering his face. "Have a nice nap?"

Piper didn't answer.

"Bugger off, sis," he yawned with what came off as boredom. "I got this," he then patted Hayley on the head in the same manner one would a dog or some other pet. Surprisingly enough, she complied and sauntered off in the direction of the table with the box. His attention fell back on Piper. "Hayley's not deaf or anything," he decided to share. "She just can't speak anymore on account of your son's flare for the magical dramatics," he spat venomously.

Her son? Piper's assumptions fell on Chris.

"Yes, I would be talking about Chris," he confirmed for her, almost as if he had read her mind, and did so with an annoyingly smug expression in place. "Hayley's voice used to be one of the most powerful magical weapons. Think of it like a siren's call."

Hmm, how did that work, Piper found herself wondering.

"Your son is like that annoying little bug always buzzing around by your ear," he demonstrated with his hand. "The ones that require squashing. I don't understand why Wyatt doesn't just rid us of the whiny pest for good. There's been ample opportunities," he revealed.

Piper shook her head.

"Of course," the young man sighed, "he could have done the smart thing and joined over with the rest of us at the very beginning, but he was always too stubborn for his own good," he made in reference to Chris. "But, like mother, like son, I guess."

Yeah, that definitely wasn't any compliment, Piper noted, and she certainly wasn't scoring any points with either one of these two groups today. One side, presumably the side for the greater good, couldn't hold back on blaming her for Wyatt. Now she found herself on the darker side of things where apparently Chris was the bane of everyone's existence here on Team Evil.

"Oh. My oh my, where are my manners, though," the young man mocked. "In case you were wondering, the name's Henry."

"I wasn't," Piper retorted, shaking her head, "but nice job ruining your mother's legacy," she began mock clapping after finding out who he was. "She was never much of a follower but you on the other hand, too bad," came the dig. "Following in Wyatt's shadow."

Henry smirked. "No, probably not," he relented, not appearing to take much offense to the insults. "Mom did always march to the beat of her own drum which is also why she's nothing more than a speck of memory now. But see, this little gem right here is Jenna," he nodded at the young woman who had arrived with him. "I may still carry some manner of decorum and restraint when it comes to your pithy comebacks, but this little spitfire. She'd rather avoid conversation all together and jump straight into ripping your tongue out," he flicked his tongue at her.

Piper gasped in disgust. That was just gross!

"Or the heart." Jenna's eyes locked with Piper's. "Take your pick." She deliberately began smacking her gum loudly while Piper gave her a quick glance over.

"I'll pass, thanks," Piper retorted. "But come any closer and then maybe you can give me a reason to blast that smirk right off your face," she threatened point blank.

The smugness immediately left Jenna's face.

"You know, your counterpart in this timeline may already be dead but think of the possible victories we could have if you were gotten rid of a lot sooner?" his sneer only widened while he made his own threat in return. "After all, we do technically still have a place waiting for you on our wall," he turned slightly and waved towards the back.

Piper's line of sight followed, and, for the first time, she noticed what appeared to be rows and rows of markers lining the entire back wall. As she began to read what she could, a sickening feeling began to creep and then settle into the pit of her stomach. All of those names. Her eyes went from one to the next: Phoebe, Paige, Billie, Henry, Coop, Andy, and then her heart sunk even lower: Leo. She closed her eyes and borderline felt the need to throw up but pushed it back down. All the casualties of this war. There were more unknown names too, obviously others who fought the good fight and lost, but the tragic reality of this future timeline was beginning to wear down on her. Now, here she was, standing in front of a twisted shrine they erected in honor of all their magical 'kills.' The light went on for Piper. This was definitely some sort of a mausoleum, and these final resting places were their trophies.

Hayley paced around the small table, and the box, over and over again. She ran her index finger around the table in circles.

"Okay, so now what? You have me. What do you plan to do?" Piper got straight to it.

Hayley snickered, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. This caught Piper's attention and she watched as Hayley pointed down at the box and then used her finger to point back over at the wall.

"Yeah," Piper drew out, looking away. "Guess I don't need to understand sign language to know what that means," she cracked.

They intended to make her the next victim of the box.

Jenna didn't say much else, only stood guard and gawked.

"Right, so let's can it with all the meaningless chit chat and get on with it," Piper pulled up her courage to face them head on. "Just know, I won't be going down without a fight." Her eyes expressed her determination on that front. Family or not, she understood reasoning with this group would be painstakingly useless. It would also most likely result in her own demise.

Henry, Henry Mitchell's namesake, appeared to be considering what to say next when another unexpected voice interrupted the not so pleasant festivities.

"Am I late?" the latest newcomer announced, while walking in.

This time, Piper reacted. "YOU?" her eyes widened, her tone accusatory, when she recognized who the newcomer was.

As the young Avatar came into full view, he stopped with his hands behind his back. He faced Piper but he kept his expression blank.

"Where's my son?" Piper stepped forward, pounding on the glass. "What did you do with my son?" she demanded to know. Her tone was emotional and the betrayal she felt clear in her eyes as they began to mist over.

X

(Past -1988)

Magic School

Prue shot up from her chair. "Who are you?" she demanded to know.

Nadia slowly arose from her seated position as well. "Calm down," she attempted to placate Prue as Prue began backing away.

Prue put up her hand. "Get back!" she ordered, "and stay away from me."

Nadia didn't move. "Prue, we both know you can't do anything to me," she reacted calmly. "You don't even have your powers."

Prue already felt completely vulnerable and useless without her powers but even more so now that the woman appeared to know that too. Slowly, she brought down her hand.

"If I was going to hurt you, I already could have," Nadia got straight to the truth of the matter.

"Okay, fine," Prue could accept that admission; however, it still didn't mean the other woman was to be trusted. "But you still haven't answered my question."

"I told you who I am. My name is Nadia," the woman reasserted. "That is the truth."

"How do you know who I really am?" Prue countered, still not comfortable in this strange woman's presence.

Nadia took a deep breath.

Prue gave her a look of impatience. "Anytime now," she nodded at her. When she was met without any forthcoming response, she turned around to make a swift departure. "Right, and that's my cue to leave!"

"Wait!" Nadia stepped forward, sighing.

Prue stopped and turned back around to face her.

"I wasn't lying when I said I could help," Nadia told her. "I have a way to get you back to your own time," she revealed.

Now she had Prue's full attention. "You can get me back home?" she sounded hopeful. "How?"

Nadia's eyes darted to the side, and she avoided direct eye contact with Prue. "It would require somewhat of an ... exchange," she settled on.

Prue felt confused. "An exchange? What kind of exchange?"

"It's not really important for you to know," she answered quite cryptically.

Prue's guards shot back up, her anticipation short-lived. "And you must be under the mistaken impression that I speak stupid," she mocked Nadia. "Meaning, try again,' she crossed her arms. "What's the catch."

"It's just an energy exchange," Nadia immediately jumped back in to explain. "It's nothing you'll miss because you'll never even know it's gone."

"Nothing I'll miss?" Prue challenged. "Then why the big secret?"

Nadia pulled out a small vial.

Prue's attention fell to it. "What's that?"

"If you decide to make the exchange, you drink it," this time she looked Prue in the eyes as she explained. "But you'll need to decide, and soon, because you're running out of time. The longer you wait, the more you stall time, eventually it'll be too late to make any decision at all. You'll be a forever prisoner to this timeline, forgetting everything about the life you came from, your sisters, your marriage, until this past of yours completely consumes you. The same will happen to your counterpart stuck in your place right now."

Now Prue became nervous. Should she trust this? She couldn't squash the nagging doubts that kept surfacing, but she was getting desperate.

"Here, take it," Nadia insisted, handing it over to her.

Why so eager, Prue wondered.

"Prue?" came the plea.

"Are you even a real apothecary?" Prue narrowed her eyes at the woman, becoming more and more suspicious of her intentions as the minutes ticked on.

"What do you think?" Nadia proposed, turning the question back around.

Prue snorted. "I think I know when something sounds too good to be true," she mustered up with visible confidence.

Nadia was left standing there with the small vial outstretched in hand. "Please, take this. It may be your only chance at reuniting with your sisters."

Prue still didn't budge. Instead, she stubbornly matched the other woman's intense stare with one of her own.

Nadia finally gave in. "I'm Nadia, an Avatar."

"An Avatar? Explain." Prue had heard the term mentioned to her back home while playing 'catch me up' but she never really got a clear understanding on what their designated role was supposed to be.

Nadia's frustration was growing but she did her best to mask it. "It just means we extend beyond the boundaries of good or evil," she kept it brief.

"So, you're both, you're neither?" Prue shrugged, seeking some clarification.

"Neither" Nadia exerted forcefully. "We're part of the balance, just another universal aspect of the grand design."

"Interesting. The grand design doesn't seem very well balanced to me right now," Prue challenged her assessment.

"Look, if you want a crash course in Avatar," Nadia finally erupted, letting her frustration get the better of her, "go to your sisters. Or your brother-in-law. I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you all about it," she delivered snidely.

Prue was a little taken back by Nadia's abrasiveness. "Oh, no worries, I will," came her own snarky retort.

"And again, I stress, that won't be happening unless you take this!" This time, she practically was shoving the vial at Prue.

Prue looked at it again, considering taking it this time. "How did you find me here? Did you follow me?"

"We're not bound by the same rules of time," she gave another answer which Prue considered as vague as ever. "We can come and go freely from anywhere."

Prue took it as an omission that she had been, in fact, tracking her. Why though? "So, if you're not about playing by the rules for the greater good, why even care about helping me?" she wanted to know.

"PRUE?"

Both Prue and Nadia were suddenly alerted to the urgent call of her name. It sounded like Grams, and she was definitely closing in, making a quick return. On a spur of the moment decision, Prue quickly grabbed for the vial and then deposited into the back pocket of her jeans. When she looked back up, Nadia was already gone. Her head turned just in time to see her grandmother appear, another stranger by her side.

Grams appeared out of breath. "Oh, thank goodness," she brought her hand up to rest against her chest. "You're all right."

"Fine, what's wrong?" Prue looked worried and reached out for her grandmother.

Grams caught her bearings and grasped Prue's hand. "Prue, meet Dolores. The real apothecary working at this school."

Prue gave an awkward smile and nodded knowingly.

X

(Present - 2007)

The Magic School

Billie scurried over to Paige and the others. "Yoo-hoo. Hey, hey, hey," she sang. "SOS!" she pointed back over her shoulder in younger Prue's direction.

Paige shot her a look. "What now?" her face contorted.

"I don't know what's happening over there, but she is acting really weird, and when I say weird, I'm talking like mega creep level weird," Billie made a face.

"You mean weirder than usual?" Paige tried passing off as a joke.

Billie sent Paige an ... are you serious expression.

"Well, don't look at me like that, the girl is stuck like twenty years into the future, how would you even know the difference?" Paige gently retorted. "Just saying."

"Hello?" Billie's eyes went wide. "Who's been the one practically assigned to her hip since like the time she got here!"

"Okay, okay, okay," Paige relented and then groaned. The last thing she wanted was another mystery to solve before they dealt with the first one. They were still no closer in getting their hands on those stones so they could work on actually reversing this entire mess. The book for the summoning was useless without the translation.

Paige, Henry, and Coop all shifted their attention to Past Prue.

"Hey, where did the cat come from?" Paige was now left wondering the same exact thing Billie had been thinking only minutes ago.

Orbing appeared in the library.

Paige sighed. "Oh, thank god, it's about time."

It was Leo returning with Phoebe and Future Piper. This momentarily distracted everybody.

"Anything?" Paige was hoping for some good news. Hers certainly wasn't.

"Well, we were able to pull some ingredients together for a few different potions," Phoebe shared, displaying some, then tossing one in Paige's direction. Paige caught it and Phoebe resumed walking over to rejoin Coop. They stood side by side, arms around each other's back. "It's not much but at least it's something for back up."

Paige nodded while lifting the vial in the air to get a better look.

"The magical guards are up too," Leo jumped in, "so we should be good. And I did make a quick stop back to the manor to see about possibly freeing the others but no luck," he admitted regrettably.

Paige sent him a slightly reproachful look.

"I was careful," Leo assured her.

"Right," Paige nodded, her eyes narrowed at him. "But your hand looks like it may want to tell a different story," she pointed out, having noticed the bandage that was now placed there.

"Hey, it comes with the territory," Leo gently reminded her, defending his decision.

"I could heal that for you?" Paige offered.

Leo smile. "No, it's all good," he declined. "Just a small cut."

Smirking, Phoebe gently challenged him. "Sure that's not the pride talking? It looked pretty nasty earlier when I bandaged it up."

Leo laughed. "No! I said I feel fine, and I meant it."

"All right then, suit yourself," Paige sang back.

While all the chatter was underway, Billie kept taking glances back at younger Prue to keep an eye on things.

Future Piper had ventured over to the desk where the book material was. She began investigating. "Any luck with any of this?"

"Nooo!" Paige drew out, shaking her head. She walked over to her. "In fact, I resent the fact that you left me in charge of deciphering a book that can't even be deciphered," she complained in a teasing fashion, picking the book up and lightly slamming it back down on the table.

"Can't be deciphered?" Phoebe moved to join both of them at the table. "What does that mean?"

"Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration," Paige sighed, playfully narrowing her eyes. "There's a translator but you need the Ultimate Power to unlock it."

Phoebe's eyes closed. "Well then, yeah, okay. I'd definitely say that's a problem. So, what do we do?" she looked at both her sisters.

Billie was watching as younger Prue was starting to struggle with the cat. It suddenly began to snarl and hiss while Prue did her best to manage it and calm it down. Without warning, it turned on her and pawed at her, finally escaping her arms.

"Ow!" Past Prue held onto her bleeding arm. "She scratched me!"

The snarling cat stopped moving and instantly began to transform into a cloud of smoke and out of it emerged a human form. The face staring back was the last one that anybody in the library expected to see.

"Uh guys?" Billie tried to grab the attention of the sisters. "Guys! Guys!" she began shouting, while backing away.

At the same time, Phoebe, Paige, and Future Piper all turned to look.

"Miss me?" Future Evil Wyatt sneered.

"How the hell did you get in here?" Phoebe went into full panic.

Future Wyatt turned his attention to her. "Likewise," he countered. "Aren't the three of you supposed to be meeting with the pavement of the basement right about now?" he eyed Phoebe, then Paige, until his sight finally landed on his mother.

"Paige, what's going on?" Henry wanted to know.

"Get back!" Leo held out his arm for Henry, the only mortal standing in the room. He blocked his attempt to get to his wife.

Paige shot a concerned glance over at Henry who only shared one back.

"I'll make this simple. Just give me the Book!" Future Wyatt demanded. "And then we'll call it a day. I'm even feeling generous today, so I'll turn a blind eye to your little ... jail break," he settled on.

Past Prue stood frozen in place. Her eyes shot back to the couch and the Book of Shadows lying there after it was brought up. Discreetly, she began taking slow moves back in its direction, hoping she wouldn't draw the intruder's attention.

Phoebe snorted. "Forget it! No dice."

"Yeah, sorry, but we don't make deals with evil," Paige threw back at him.

"Especially when it comes to our family. Or with an 'evil' literally killing any chance at hope for the future," Phoebe stared him down, holding onto one of the potion vials behind her back. "Our future."

Future Piper looked away at the mention of the future.

"Makes us nostalgic for the precious time we still get to have with you here in the present, the real you," Leo jumped in, addressing his son for the first time. "What happened to you Wyatt?"

Future Wyatt turned to eye his father. "Letting you all go alive," his eyes scanned over everyone in front him, "is about as nostalgic as I'm going to get! Dad!" he spat the word out like his tongue was on fire. "Now, give me the book!" he ordered.

"No," Leo crossed his arms. "You'll have to go through all of us first to get it."

"And if you think that's a problem for me, you'd be sadly mistaken!" Future Wyatt warned.

While Leo had Wyatt distracted, Phoebe took the opportunity to aim and release the potion she held in his direction. However, he somehow must have sensed it coming. In a flash, Future Wyatt orbed out before it could make impact and then orbed back in behind younger Prue. He made a grab for her, and she gasped.

"Don't do that again!" he tightened the grip around Past Prue's neck.

X

(Future - 2029)

Piper was left feeling drained after her earlier encounter with the darker Halliwell's.

The inside of the Mausoleum was once again left shrouded in darkness, and she was alone stewing in her own thoughts. Hopeless and depressing thoughts. Was there anybody who could be trusted in this stinking place? Piper morosely contemplated the future the grand design apparently had in mind for them and quickly came to the startling conclusion that maybe they were all just better off dead. It seemed as if the only thing the grand design was good at when it came to her own family line was turning out the biggest grand disasters possible.

Piper sighed. She was still no closer to finding out what happened to Wyatt. After the others had left, she had been forced to accept the worst when she had been given no answers regarding her son.

A noise alerted Piper in the distance.

Click.

Piper bolted up from her resting position. "Who's there?" she called out into her dark surroundings.

Nothing. No further sound.

She turned back around but then heard it again. "Hello?" she shouted.

What were the odds somebody had actually found her and was coming to her rescue? Not very good, she concluded with unfortunate dismay. Then she realized it wasn't just her imagination, something was actually there, no someone. They were approaching quickly but quietly. It was a hooded figure. Not knowing what outcome to expect, she got ready to put herself on the magical defense.

The hooded figure reached the glass structure and dropped the hood.

Piper paled and recoiled. "Get the hell away from me!" she seethed, when she realized who had revealed themselves. "Now!"

"Piper, you need to relax," the young Avatar whispered barely above a whisper. "It's not what you think."

"Not what I think?" she parroted incredulously. "You set me up. What were you doing, following us in the tunnels the whole time?" she accused. "Planned that attack back at the sanctuary to force our hand? Then when we had no choice but to leave, you ambushed us from behind."

The young Avatar pulled out a key and placed it into the lock. "And why would I have done that exactly?" he countered with an eerie calmness. "When you could have been left in the sanctuary with the others and they could have just taken you then?"

Well, it was a fair point, but she still wasn't convinced. "I don't know, maybe the idea was to let me think you were really on my side, trying to help, when you were preparing to sell the others out the whole time by using me," Piper watched his movements with curiosity.

"Mhm," he hummed, as he finally got the door to unlock and then unlatched it. "Interesting theory." He stepped back and motioned for her to leave.

Piper wasn't sure what to think. She took cautious steps at first. When she was finally free of the glass cage, only then she decided to interrogate further. "Okay, so if you're not a part of all this, what are you doing with them?"

The young Avatar sighed. "I'm not with them," he stressed. "They just think I am."

Piper thought about it. "So, what, you're spying? Why?"

"Because that was part of the plan," he shared. "Our arrangement, or rather, the arrangement with the older you from this timeline," he clarified. "To keep one step ahead of things."

"Hmm," her eyes narrowed, contemplating it.

"What?" he shrugged. "Not believable enough for you? It certainly was for them. Otherwise, I wouldn't still be here."

"Kind of dangerous, though, don't you think?" she relaxed a bit. If this was an act, and he was only leading her into another trap, it was a damn convincing one. "They don't strike me as the most forgiving bunch if they were to find out."

With a wave of his hand, he freed her from the magical handcuffs. They poof'ed into vapor and instantly vanished.

"Thank you," she began rubbing at her wrists.

"I can promise you they don't know who I am," he assured her, while re-locking the door. "Nor will they ever."

"Yeah, well, I don't know who you really are, so they're not the only ones," Piper lightly retorted. She tried to inconspicuously eye the box still on the table. What if he was the one being sent to dispose of her since it could be assumed by them that he had already won her trust? It could mean less resistance.

He caught onto what she was thinking and turned his head to look over at the box. "Yeah, just for the record, I wouldn't need you out of the cage for that to work."

Piper took in a deep breath, almost embarrassed for considering it. "Precautions."

"You can just call me AJ," he offered. "They do."

"AJ?" She thought about it.

He nodded back, affirming it wordlessly.

"I don't know, THE Avatar, kind of had a nice ring to it," she threw out sarcastically. He only stood there with a blank expression. "Fine, AJ it is," she relented. "What did my other self, the old me, actually call you?"

"THE Avatar," he quickly came back with. A small smile broke across his face.

Piper's eyes narrowed playfully this time. "Ha. See, there is a little sense of humor lurking behind that serious avatar exterior," she teased.

His smile went a little wider, his eyes brightened a bit, before the curtain fell back down again. "We should get going," his duty resumed.

Piper's eyes darted back in the direction of the wall behind them. One thing had caught her attention earlier and she couldn't get it out of her mind. The young Avatar followed where her sight landed.

"The conquered and the fallen," he remarked.

"Yeah, that much I gathered," she bit down against her lip. "From what I could tell, they seem to practically worship at the feet of this spectacle," she shook her head, walking over to take a closer look. If Piper had a bulldozer, she'd bulldoze the whole thing down. "Obviously, I get why my name isn't up here. And I see everybody else," she slowly walked the length of the wall, reading the names. "Except one," she stopped moving. "One is missing," her eyes turned and met his.

The young Avatar broke eye contact and began to uncharacteristically fidget once he sensed where this inquiry was going. He understood the inevitability of it.

"Where's Prue?"

He saw the depths of sadness in her eyes.

"Why isn't her name up there with the rest?" She had to ask but putting some pieces together wasn't too difficult. If Prue hadn't died in the battle that had robbed the rest of the Halliwell's of their lives, it was most likely because she was not around for it. Which meant, her life ended some other way.

The young Avatar took a deep breath. "If you had to ask it, then you probably already know the answer," he offered.

"So that's why she's not here with me?" Piper was beginning to draw a clearer picture on what happened after Gideon had unleashed Pandora's Box on them. "The kids and I all came here to the future because we have one, right? She doesn't."

The young Avatar just listened and kept silent, examining her carefully.

"Prue died before all of us," her voice broke, and she looked away. Of course, she herself wasn't technically dead, yet, but she couldn't imagine existing in this reality is what one would call living either.

The young Avatar cleared his throat. The emotions were getting to him a little bit. Piper brought her eyes back up to meet with his. He wished she wouldn't look at him like that. He had a strong inclination what was coming next. He couldn't.

"Can you at least tell me why?" came her plea. "How did she die?"

He slowly began to shake his head. He hated the idea of letting her down with this but there was nothing good that would come of her knowing. Destiny would have its way. It was all part of the grand design. She wouldn't be able to change it.

"No?" the disappointment in her tone was clear.

"I can't," he found his voice.

"You can't or you won't," she challenged in typical Piper fashion. "Is there any stinking timeline left where she does have a future?" her tone sounded bitter.

"It doesn't matter," he defended his decision not to say anything. "Can't. Won't. It all amounts to the same thing. Knowing your sister's fate ahead of time isn't going to help you. Besides, even if I told you everything I do know, you wouldn't remember any of it anyway. When you get back to where you belong, your memories of this timeline will be wiped."

"Wait, why, that didn't happen before," she argued, remembering her trip to a version of the future with Prue and Phoebe years back. "Why would it happen now?"

"Your being here is a fluke," the young Avatar explained. "You weren't sent here to learn some lesson for the greater good or to alter something the grand design wants fixed." He was hoping she would understand the bigger picture.

"If the grand design seriously thinks nothing here needs fixing, it can go suck it! We have a problem, this grand design and I," Piper became feisty.

"Piper?"

"Don't!" she put up a finger. "If you know me as well as you claim to, you will not be finishing that sentence." Piper huffed. "Besides, if it's true that I won't be remembering anything, then I really don't see the problem with you telling me," she countered.

He said nothing while she walked past him quite agitated.

"How do we get out of here?" she demanded. "And where's my son?" her face was hardened when she turned back to face him. Roughly, she wiped at her face to get rid of the few straggler tears that had fallen freely.

"Not here," he admitted. "They took him back to the Fortress."

Piper shot him an odd expression. "What's that?"

"You called it the Manor back in your day," he elaborated.

"Whatever. Take me there. Now," she instructed.

"It's heavily guarded," the young Avatar warned her. "We should wait and get you back to the others first. There's more power in numbers."

"I'm not leaving without my son," she persisted.

"They won't hurt him. I promise."

"I don't care! I said I'm not leaving without him," she practically shouted. Piper paused and took in a deep breath to try and recompose herself. "And what about Julie?" her tone softened, as she remembered to inquire about her fate next. Julie had been the only one to stay behind and try to help. The only thing Piper dreaded hearing was that it was possibly done to the young girl's own detriment.

"I honestly don't know," the young Avatar revealed. "I've heard nothing about her."

Piper felt bad. Well, there was nothing she could do about it in the present moment. "Let's go," she gave the directive.

The young Avatar moved to join her.

"Wait!" Piper had an epiphany as she ran for the box on the table. She grabbed it. She would take it back with her to the others. Her objective was to get the hell out of this timeline as fast as she could, and back to her sisters, but perhaps it would be useful to the others. Maybe they could figure out how to reverse the damage already done.

The young Avatar waited.

"Okay, ready," she rejoined him and latched onto his arm.

"Make the best of the time you have left. When you get back," the young Avatar advised. He knew she was unhappy regarding his lack of cooperation in revealing more about her sister. "That's the best advice I can offer."

"Your advice doesn't really count if I won't remember it later," she retorted.

They faded out. While it was happening, Piper observed the sparkly exterior that accompanied the young Avatar's mode of transport.

That was different, she thought.

X

(Past - 1988)

Manor

The portal opened and Prue and Penny Halliwell came through. They found themselves standing near the living room.

"Well, home sweet home," Prue sighed. "One version of it anyway."

Inside, a young face popped up at the sound of the interruption. It was a twelve-year-old Phoebe. She was kneeling at a small coffee table and intensely focused on her math homework until turning her head from curiosity.

"Grams!" her face lit up until she noticed the stranger. Then her inquisitive side took over. "Wait, who are you?"

Prue shared a look with her grandmother.

"This is an old friend of your mother's," Grams quickly came up with off the top of her head. "They went to school together."

Young Phoebe's face lit back up, even brighter than before. She had no recollection of her mother, no memories to hold onto, just the pictures and the stories either Grams or her older sister Prue used to share. "Were you best friends?" her smile went wide.

Prue couldn't help it; her smile was contagious. "Yeah, you can say that," she smiled back, keeping it short and sweet.

"Darling, how's the homework coming along?" Grams cut in and took over the flow of conversation.

"Good," young Phoebe nodded. "I got a B on my pop quiz today," she shared.

"All right, and where's your sister?" Grams inquired.

Young Phoebe returned to working on a math problem. "I think she went outside," she answered while writing. "The delivery boy is here," she laughed. "Piper's in love," she folded her hands and fluttered her eyes, making fun of her sister's crush.

Prue couldn't hide her amused expression. Grams went over to the window and discreetly pulled back the curtain to take a peek. There Piper was on the sidewalk, blushing and nervously playing with the ends of her hair while the paperboy stood holding his bike and engaging her in talk.

"Hmm," Grams mumbled. "Looks like it might be time for another little chat."

"Grams, that's just Arden," Prue smirked, remembering a tiny bit about this time in their lives. "Trust me, it's harmless."

Grams sent Prue one of her infamous looks. "Harmless you say?" she mocked, walking back towards her. "Isn't that what I thought about you and Andy?"

Prue cleared her throat. Awkward moment.

"Hey, do you know an Andy too?" young Phoebe's attention went back to Prue. "So does my other sister Prue. But how do you know the paperboy?" her expression became quizzical.

Oops. "Well, um ..." Prue began to stammer.

Grams immediately ran interference. "Sweetheart, enough with the distractions for today," she gently reprimanded. "Now if you need anything, please let your sister know. I'm going to be busy upstairs for a little while. Under no circumstances are you to venture up there, do you understand?"

Young Phoebe nodded without hesitation.

"Good girl. I left some snacks on the kitchen counter earlier if you get hungry."

Grams nodded at Prue signaling for them to leave. As they turned to make their departure, they were suddenly greeted by an unfortunate visitor. It was Dumain. He had made his return, shimmering in.

"Ah, good evening, ladies," he mocked. "Welcome back."

"Yes, well, seeing as how I do live here," Grams retorted. "But you certainly don't." Before Grams had time to react and tap into her magic, he shimmered back out in a quick flash and appeared behind young Phoebe. The child didn't even have enough time to register what was happening as Dumain grabbed for her, yanking her off the floor and brandishing an athame he quickly brought to her neck.

Young Phoebe yelled in terror.

"Don't!" Prue began to instinctively advance on the demon before Grams put out her arm to hold her back.

"Let her go," the tone of Grams was low but threatening.

"Nah, I don't think so," Dumain sneered. "See, you got something I want, now I have something you want."

"Grams, help!" Young Phoebe tried to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Stop squirming, kid," he laughed insidiously. "You'll only make it worse," his grip tightened on her. He looked down at the floor. "Trust me, I don't think your Grams wants your blood staining that clean carpet," he locked stares with Penny Halliwell. "I figure we can maybe avoid any messy clean-ups if I'm just given what I came for," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I actually don't mind messy clean-ups after I'm finished dealing with the likes of you," Prue threw back.

Dumain laughed. "And what exactly are you going to do about it, whitelighter?" he mocked. "Orb me to death?"

Prue's eyes narrowed. How badly she wished she had her powers right now. "You bastard."

"Well, I do aim to please," Dumain returned. "Oh and did a little time jumping while you were gone," he opened up with. "Curious to learn what I found out?" he baited them, while looking between both of the women.

Prue and her grandmother exchanged looks.

While moving his hand to point the athame at them, he spilt the beans. "It's you!" he accused, staring at Prue.

Prue's heart rate picked up. Uh oh, was she found out? She waited for the inevitable revelation. "Yeah, it's me," she challenged. "So what?"

He waved the athame around in the air, the other hand holding on firmly to Young Phoebe's arm. "I can't find her because I know she's no longer here. She's been placed somewhere else in time," he made in reference to Prue's younger counterpart. "I don't know how you did it, whitelighter, but I must have missed it before I got back here. Where did you put her?"

Prue exhaled her breath, feeling relief that she wasn't outed like she thought she was about to be while Grams, on the other hand, caught the slip of the tongue.

"What do you want?" Grams demanded.

"Let's see," he pretended to be considering it, "how about a little trade?"

"Out of the question," Grams refused.

Prue turned to her grandmother, considering the proposal. "Wait, maybe I should ..."

Grams put up her hand to silence her. "He doesn't know a damn thing," she decided to call his bluff. While Grams had him distracted enough, she recited a few words and used her power to send the athame flying out of his hand.

Dumain was then violently catapulted sideways all the way into the foyer. He quickly shimmered out.

This freed young Phoebe up, who ran for her grandmother, crying and scared. The child threw her arms tightly around her waist and wouldn't let go. Grams gently pulled her back, reassuring her everything was okay, and then uttered some more spell words, waving her hand in front of Phoebe's face. Young Phoebe's eyes began to flutter until she dropped to the floor, immersed in a very deep sleep.

"She won't remember anything," Grams shared.

Prue watched as Grams gently lifted Phoebe up and brought her over to the couch to sleep it off. It suddenly made Prue wonder how many times their Grams had used that particular magic on all of them whenever something may have occurred inside the manor that she wanted to make sure they held no recollection of.

"There," Grams swept some hair back from a sleeping Phoebe's face.

"Grams, I shouldn't be here," Prue's hand went to her back pocket and fiddled with the small vial found there. She felt guilty; her presence was putting her younger sisters at risk. After all, Dumain only kept showing up here because of her.

"We're going to fix that," Grams walked back over to her.

"No, I mean," she was momentarily tempted to share the news the Avatar had given her but stopped herself.

Grams was waiting for her to finish.

Closing her eyes, Prue shook the idea away. "Never-mind, uh, so how do we stop him?" she went straight back into problem-solving mode.

"Follow me," Grams went into taking charge as she first retrieved the athame from the floor and then lead Prue back upstairs and to the attic. "He slipped with something. I don't think he actually belongs in this timeline any more than you do," she dropped the bomb about Dumain.

"How do you know?"

In the attic, Grams pulled the Book of Shadows back out from the chest. She began flipping through the pages. "He mentioned coming back, not returning," she answered in a distracted manner.

Prue thought about it, but they were only words. It didn't necessarily mean anything. "Coming back? Returning? Can't it just mean the same thing?" she proposed.

"Perhaps, but I don't think so," Grams stuck to where her mind was going with it. "He thinks the younger you is misplaced. Moved from here. He's time-jumping somehow," her hands finally came to rest on a page. "Here we go."

"Misplaced? As in, what, we traded places somehow?" Prue recalled the Avatar had made reference to something similar.

"I think that's the most likely conclusion, yes," Grams nodded. "Don't you?"

Prue moved to see what her grandmother was thinking. "A Time-Locking Spell?" she read from the book. "How is that supposed to help?"

"Well, you said it yourself earlier, you didn't think he was after you. You thought he might have been tracking the baby," Grams recalled.

Prue tried thinking back to their conversations and realized she was having trouble.

"Don't you remember?" Grams prodded gently after receiving no feedback.

No, not quite, Prue was thinking but didn't say aloud. Some panic began to grip at the edges of her heart again. The Avatar did warn her she would be running out of time. What had been her words? It was only a matter of time before this timeline completely consumed her. Her own life would be forgotten, and she would be trapped somewhere she no longer belonged.

Grams eyed her. "Anyway, my guess is he found out about the baby some other way and probably jumped from one timeline to this one in order to make a grab. And it led to you," she drew her conclusions.

"So, what do we do?" Prue crossed her arms, concerned.

"This spell will banish him back to wherever he came from and prevent him from ever returning. At least back to this timeline," Grams clarified.

"Well, okay, that should solve the problem of him being able to come back after younger me, but we still have no idea how to switch us back," Prue came across a little bit visibly and uncharacteristically shaken.

Grams' face softened. "I know, my darling, I know. But we'll find a way, I promise. Just be patient."

Prue knew patience wasn't a luxury she had because time wasn't on her side with this. Magic School may have provided them some indirect information about Pandora's Box and how she ended up here, but they were certainly no closer to finding any magical solution to fix it. Once again, Prue thought to the small vial still sitting in her pocket. All she had to do was drink it. Then everybody's problem could be solved.

"Be honest. Is it getting worse?" her grandmother practically read her.

"It's not getting any better," Prue settled on before forcing herself to focus on the task at hand. "How are we going to get this done aside from just waiting for this demon to randomly pop back in again?"

Grams sighed. "We have this," she pulled out the athame she had separated from him in the living room. "He touched it, his energy is attached, so we can use it to draw him back."

"Okay, then let's get this over with," Prue was determined to get a move on. Then she noticed how distracted her grandmother suddenly appeared to be. It was as if she were in some kind of trance. Prue shifted her focus to what held her attention. "Grams, what is it?"

Grams slowly turned the athame in her hand. "This ... athame," she slowly inspected it. "It looks almost familiar."

"Familiar?" Prue questioned. "What, you think you've seen it before?" Although, to Prue, it just appeared to resemble any other athame. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, nothing that stood out.

"Yes, I mean, I think it belonged to them," her very vague explanation followed. "It's theirs."

"Theirs?" Prue shook her head at a complete loss. "Grams, look, we don't have much time here and you're not making a whole lot of sense right now."

"The Coven, the witches," Grams finally provided some type of answer.

Prue moved to take the athame. "Okay, Grams, maybe I better hold onto this for now," she removed the source of her grandmother's distraction from her hand. It appeared to snap her out of it. "C'mon, we have work to do."

"Right," Grams agreed.

Prue and Grams went straight to work. Using white chalk, Prue drew a straight line across the middle of the attic. Chanting a few words, the line lit up with a bright red glow and then returned to its normal color before disappearing all together so the demon wouldn't see it. Her powers may be gone for the time being, however, she found herself grateful that she could at least still cast spells and do other magic as a witch. The magical barrier was now ready to go, and it would keep themselves divided and at a safe distance from Dumain after he was summoned back. Grams signaled for Prue to place the athame in a pot surrounded by candles. After lighting the candles, Grams began reciting a spell to draw the demon back to them. While reciting, Grams handed Prue a vial.

"What's this for?" Prue was curious.

"Right when I begin the spell to lock time, you throw this at him," she explained after finishing the other chant. "It will paralyze him, and he won't have the opportunity to escape."

Prue accepted. "Got it."

"Get ready," Grams nodded.

Prue could feel the hairs on her arms begin to stand up as the energy in the attic began to shift. Then it happened. Dumain appeared on the opposite side of the chalk line, and he was definitely not happy about it.

"Clever!" he snickered, gazing around. "Or maybe just stupid." Not realizing the magical barrier existed, he attempted to charge at them only to receive a zap which sent him flying back through the air. The wall broke his fall.

Prue stared, she suddenly found herself stuck in a daze, while Grams immediately began chanting. "I protect this time; I protect this space," she glanced over and noticed Prue's hesitation. "Prue? Now!"

Prue's daze was broken, and she went to throw the vial; however, the hesitation had cost them. Dumain had been provided the opportunity to recollect himself and after identifying the problem, sent electrical bolts directly into the attic floor, which then reverberated throughout the entire attic. Everything began shaking, Prue barely maintaining her balance, but Grams was thrown backwards off her feet. She fell to the floor, hitting her head in the process.

"Grams!" Prue immediately ran to her grandmother's aid.

With Prue's assistance, Penny Halliwell slowly sat back up. She was rubbing her head.

"Grams, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Prue was worried. "Is it bad?"

Dumain laughed.

"Fine, fine," her grandmother mumbled but Prue could tell she was still disoriented.

"Grams?" another small voice could now be heard calling out from the other side of the attic door. It sounded like Phoebe.

Prue rolled her eyes. Great, what happened in the attic probably alerted the rest of the house. What if Piper decided to venture up here too? Prue glanced between Dumain and the door and noticed he had caught wind of the interruption as well. The last thing they needed was for Phoebe to get hurt, or worse, killed. It was in that very moment; Prue made a split-second decision. Turning back to her Grams, she quickly pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thanks for everything, Grams," she closed her eyes.

Prue got off the floor and scrambled over to the Book of Shadows. There, on the open page, she had seconds to memorize the words. Closing her eyes, she muttered the spell to herself and held tightly to the potion vial still in hand. As she was ready to advance on Dumain, she saw he was advancing on the door and young Phoebe.

"Hey!" Prue called out to grab his attention.

Dumain turned around and instantly was met with the potion vial Prue threw at him. "What the hell?" he realized he couldn't move.

Prue breached the magical barrier and held onto him.

"Prudence, what are doing?" her grandmother was back on her feet. "Be careful." She knew it was risky for Prue to be taking demons on directly without access to her powers.

Prue ignored her and began reciting the spell her grandmother had started. Prudence. Her Grams was the only one who ever got away with calling her that. "I protect this time; I protect this space, seal this era, seal this place."

"No! Let me go!" Dumain wailed, when he realized what was happening.

"Go forth now, return no more; our spell now locks this portal door," Prue finished and she watched as he cried out in anger before being ejected from the timeline. She closed her eyes and sighed in relief. Thank god that was over.

Grams looked relieved as well. "Good, a quick recovery," she nodded in approval. "Guess I raised you girls right after all."

Prue smiled. That was probably the closest you could get to a compliment coming from Grams. Then Prue's smile dropped. Next came the hard part. Saying good-bye without actually saying good-bye. She knew her decision. Her sisters needed her back home, and she didn't know how much longer she had here before everything became a blur. Retrieving the small vial from her back pocket, she removed the cap. While trying to ignore the presence of her Grams, she threw her head back and quickly swallowed.

"Okay, that was nasty," Prue made a face.

"Prue?" her grandmother interrogated using just that one word, her brows contorting in concern. "What on goddesses green earth did you just do?" she began approaching her granddaughter.

"Going home," Prue answered. She looked over at her grandmother for the final time before the older woman's image started to become blurry. The last thing she heard were the protests and then saw that her surroundings were going into a tailspin. Everything was fading out as her eyes began to flutter and then finally close. Wherever she was now, she fell down unconscious.

x

Nadia faded into the netherworld abyss.

Slowly, the avatar approached the sleeping form of Prue who lay stretched out on the white platform found beneath her. One arm was wrapped protectively over her abdomen, while the other remained at her side. To any observer, she just appeared to be resting peacefully. She had been removed from time and space. Nadia scanned the entire layout of her body. Then, she produced a cylinder in the palm of her hand.

"Now," she knelt down. "Let's get this done, shall we?" she said to Prue even though she knew Prue would never remember anything about this.

X

(Present - 2007)

The Magic School

Younger Prue was scared. She was having trouble breathing now and tried desperately to free herself from the suffocating grip.

"Wyatt, you let her go!" Future Piper immediately stepped forward. "Do you hear me?" and anybody listening to her could tell she meant business. That tone was usually reserved for her last or final warnings.

Phoebe and Paige were in panic mode but were trying their best to hide it. Panicking certainly wasn't going to help Prue get out of this mess.

"What's the matter, Mom?" Future Wyatt mocked. "Afraid I might change the future even more than we may have already done?"

Future Piper met with the terrified eyes of her sister. "He won't hurt you."

"Oh yeah?" Wyatt confronted his mother. "Then stop me!"

Future Piper locked eyes with her son.

"C'mon," he urged. "I know you want to," he baited her, emotion slipping into his voice and betraying him. "What else have you got to lose at this point? All that's left to return to is that sucking void of nothing you now call a home," he spat. "You even hated your life so much; you left your own children believing you dead just to escape it!"

Future Piper tried hard not to let his words trigger the guilt.

"Wyatt, don't do this," Leo attempted a plea, which was futile. Wyatt was clearly trying to goad his mother into attacking first. Throughout the confrontation, he kept glancing between the future version of his wife and his son. He swallowed over the constricting feeling enveloping his throat. He didn't understand how it had gotten so bad.

Paige had enough and was about to take action. Scanning the entire layout, she spotted an object. "Statue thingy!" she called to the marble structure. It appeared to be a monument erected in honor of some Elder and it moved swiftly in the direction of Future Wyatt.

"Don't!" Future Piper instinctively threw up her hands to blast it away in mid-attack.

Everyone moved to duck, as splintered pieces of the statue scattered in all different directions.

"Piper, what are you doing?" Paige jumped in, clearly frustrated. "We have to do something. Stop him!"

Phoebe was in agreement with Paige. "Piper, if you don't, we will," she warned.

Future Wyatt broke out with a self-satisfied grin. "Doing something to stop me has never been Mom's, hmm," he paused for the right word. "Forte?"

Future Piper stiffened.

Future Wyatt's sneer grew wider. He slowly began to tighten his hand around younger Prue's throat and she began to choke.

"Piper, blast him!" Phoebe stepped forward, reacting to Past Prue's increased discomfort. They couldn't let her die; their entire Charmed life would be altered. This moment would no longer exist. She understood Future Piper's hesitancy, but they couldn't leave this to chance.

"She won't!" Future Wyatt arrogantly insisted. "She never could."

Unexpectedly, something began to occur in which nobody saw coming. Past Prue was beginning to gradually fade in and out until she disappeared altogether. Future Wyatt was even taken off guard when he was finally left holding onto nothing but empty space.

"What the hell is this?" Future Wyatt's accusatory stare landed on the sisters. He jerked back.

"Don't look at us, we didn't do it!" Phoebe retorted.

The next thing everyone saw was another form beginning to take shape inside the empty space left by younger Prue. Was she coming back? Instead, very surprised expressions were met with the reappearance of their missing adult sister.

"Oh my god, Prue!" Phoebe exclaimed.

Prue came off a bit startled, yet at the same time relieved, to be back where she knew she belonged. Whatever the avatar had given her, it had worked. For a moment, however, she was confused as she stood staring into the face of an older woman who was completely unrecognizable to her.

"Prue," the older woman muttered, frozen in place.

"Uh, " Prue's facial expression was already asking what she couldn't bring herself to verbalize: Who are you? "Aunt Prue," she then heard a voice completely foreign to her. She turned to look and was met by the sight of, Thor?

"Welcome home," Future Wyatt mocked her. "This is even better. Let the real games begin," and before Prue even had a speck of time to react to what was happening, Wyatt was preparing his attack against her.

"No, Prue, get down!" Phoebe shouted.

Prue was able to instinctively go with the flow. She ducked just in the nick of time as Wyatt's power blast was met overhead by an even stronger blast coming from the opposite side. Phoebe and Paige watched in amazement as their sister's power blast not only blocked Wyatt's but proceeded to swallow him up inside of a fire bubble, sending him flying backwards until he hit the wall behind him. He landed on the floor face down, flat on his stomach, hot steam rolling off his body in waves. Everyone else in the room was stuck, waiting in anticipation, for what would happen next.

"Holy smackers, did you see that?" Billie was in awe, mouth agape.

Slowly, Future Evil Wyatt's face rose to meet with his mother's. It had been the first physical attack she had ever initiated against him. Future Piper could tell that some part of him was still in shock that she had actually done it. However, when his eyes met hers this time, all the lingering doubts were gone. Her stare was hard, unwavering. It was different. She could no longer be read like before.

Future Evil Wyatt orbed out.

---

To Be Continued: That concludes this chapter, folks. Took me awhile to get all these parts done. We also had some problems with wi-fi, then some days I felt more motivated to write than others. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Drop a review if you can; they're appreciated. Thanks.