"Piper, Phoebe... get out of here NOW!"

And they ran. Up the stairs, into the attic... scared of whatever had come to attack them, scared enough to leave her behind.

Piper thought back to that moment often. She thought about how somehow Prue's first instinct was to protect them, but how they didn't do the same. The guilt was there, cold and hard in her chest, thinking about what could've happened...

They'd all embraced after that nightmare, after Jeremy had burned up without a trace and they finally felt safe again. Piper felt tears brimming in her eyes as the weight of their new reality settled heavily on her shoulders. She heard Phoebe's stifled gasps of relieved tears, an undertone of excitement beneath it all. But when she pulled away and looked up at her older sister... all she saw was a fierce resignation. A woeful determination ringing such tired eyes... too tired, too accepting of their fate, too willing to die for them.

Piper looked into Prue's eyes and felt both safe and scared. Safe in the knowledge that her sister would give up everything for them, would protect them until her last breath... but scared for her. Scared for the girl who had given up everything for them. Scared for the young woman with more exhaustion and stress than she should ever have to carry. Scared for the sister who loved them so fiercely that she'd sacrifice herself over and over again if it meant they'd be saved.

And then she smiled. Somehow Prue found it within herself to smile at the two of them, to pretend that nothing had happened, that everything was going to be okay.

But it wasn't... because they had ran.

They weren't so lucky the second time.

Piper felt the burning heat creeping closer, the sinister cackling echoing through her mind as she struggled to string together a spell that could vanquish the demon. The smoke filled the air, stinging her eyes, blurring the figures of her sisters beside her, as if they weren't there in the first place. Gasping breaths tore through her aching chest, the acrid tang ravaging her throat, dark tears pouring down burning cheeks...

"Piper- Phoebe- RUN!"

Her choked plea sounded like a whisper in the inferno around them, the desperate gasps and coughs that followed startled Piper into action. Heartbeat thudding in her chest, she reached out to take Phoebe's hand, rushing in the direction she prayed was a way out. She could hear the startled tears of her sister behind her, straining to keep up, to get out...

The smoke cleared. She fell to her knees, pulling Phoebe down beside her, wet leaves clinging to her palms. Ragged gasps slowed to deep breaths, cool woodsy air soothing her inflamed chest. She blinked away the tears. The threat still loomed over them, the heat at her back spurring her to action and-

BOOM

Piper fell back. She hadn't even had the chance to get up before being blown back to the ground, a burning wind rushing past her, stinging her eyes. Everything was still for a moment. Almost silent... or was that just ringing?

Hands pulling her up. Piper blinked the ashy tears from her eyes, looking into her younger sister's fearful gaze. A sudden thought jarred her, heart stopping as she wondered aloud. "Prue?"

Hadn't she followed them? She was telling them all to run. Why hadn't she run? It was-

They turned back. Scrabbling through rubble, fingernails turning black as the charred wood crumbled beneath their grasp. The demon was gone... they didn't care. Searching with broken hands, wrought with the embers of their guilt...

"Here!"

She was still. Silent as the woods around them. Dark waves tumbled in frazzled ringlets around an ashen face. Prue looked so small... so innocent. How could they have abandoned her?

Piper crept closer, sinking to her knees and pulling her lifeless sister into her arms. A blossom of relief swallowed up by remorse when she felt rattling, gasping breaths. She hugged her close, dark tears falling on alabaster skin, an unspoken promise haunting the ruins surrounding her sacrifice...

They shouldn't have ran.

She wasn't there the next time.

"Piper!"

Phoebe's voice, tinged with such fear followed by the door slamming, scared Piper into action. The stairs flew by beneath her feet, the Book of Shadows long forgotten. Then she saw them.

Prue, on the verge of collapse, dazed green eyes dancing listlessly across the foyer, scarlet drizzling down to the floor while she swayed. Phoebe's eyes begged her. Help me. Piper was frozen - she couldn't possibly - there was so much...

There was a final moment of clarity. Prue's glazed eyes finally met hers. There was no fear, no regret or pain in her emerald gaze... only resolution. Piper couldn't breathe for a moment - she saw acceptance.

Then she'd fallen. Collapsed bonelessly to the floor as if her strings had been cut. Phoebe fell with her, crying out in terror, hands slick with crimson. Tears mixed with blood when Piper finally ran over, heart thudding as she desperately tried to staunch the flow.

"Piper..." Phoebe's whisper broke the charged silence, barely a breath.

She looked up at her, meeting eyes wide with terror and remorse.

"She- she told me to run."

There were no heroes the next time.

Their evening picnic was cut short by a shrill scream. "Fire!"

Piper remembered Prue looking up, watching the building go up in flames. They'd reflected in the sunset, the flames dancing in her determined expression. There was no hesitation.

"Phoebe. Call 911."

Prue was up, tossing her cell to Phoebe and breaking out in a run towards the unforgiving inferno. The flow of people pouring through the door had slowed to a trickle. Piper was frozen, dimly aware of Phoebe speaking to the 911 operator beside her. With a moment's hesitation, she followed.

Coughs and gasps interspersed by crackling sparks greeted her. Some people were crying. Most were frozen, watching the gray smog drown out the sunset.

"Prue?" The roar was deafening. She couldn't find her sister.

"My babies!" A woman was screaming, fallen to her knees in anguish. "She- she went after my babies!"

Piper knew.

It hurt. The heat of the remorseless tongues of flame, licking at her heels as she fought through the fray. "Pr-" Coughs. She couldn't get it out.

"Pi-per!" Her hoarse cry came from just further down the hallway.

Piper tried. She really tried. But Prue materialized beside her, holding a crying child. There was no fear in her dark eyes, just a reflection of those wretched flames.

"Take her." Prue begged, eyes round with conviction. "Take her and run."

Piper clutched the child close, opening her mouth to reply but Prue went back. She went back into the fire. Back into the jaws of death, where Piper couldn't follow. So she ran.

She stumbled out of the building, barely hearing Phoebe's cry of relief over the screams of the mother. Piper fell to her knees, burned arms throbbing as she offered up the child. She saw, rather than heard, the mother's cries of joy.

Phoebe dropped beside her, examining her arms with gentle fingers. Piper couldn't hear anything over the roar her heartbeat. Her eyes were glued to the building, to the door, an empty prayer in her heart.

Phoebe waved and a medic was soon applying cream to her arms, soothing the burning pain. Piper almost wished it'd come back. Her heart felt empty, fluttering with fear as Phoebe clung to her.

There.

A flash of... something. An uproar from the gathered crowd. Piper couldn't see. The throng of people obscured any glimmer of hope. There were calls for a medic. There were screams. There were cries of relief. Phoebe clutched Piper tightly, scared.

And she was there. Limp in the arms of the medic, alabaster skin streaked with blood and ash. Piper couldn't even tell if she was still breathing. She felt Phoebe sag against her when they slid a mask over Prue's face. She had to be alive, right? She must be breathing. She had to be.

Phoebe rushed after the stretcher, jumping in the ambulance with Prue. She heard the reassuring voice of someone beside her, telling her that they'd follow. But suddenly there was a woman before her, grateful anguish written all over her features.

"You're a hero. You and your sister... my babies are safe."

But Piper was no hero... she ran.

There shouldn't have been a next time.

Pain. Hot and bright and too much, coursing through every fiber of her being. It throbbed with every beat of her racing heart. She couldn't breathe...

Hands. Warm and quick, pulling her close against a shaking frame. Piper could see - a little bit - through blurred vision. Vague shapes and colors brought more fear than comfort. There were voices too. She knew them, she thought. But she couldn't -

"It's gonna be okay."

"Prue- what do we do? Is she-"

"You need to get her out of here. The hospital."

"Me? No- we- what about-"

"It'll be okay. Run. I'll be right behind you."

Her vision cleared for a moment. Dark hair framed angelic features. A comforting embrace. More hands, these ones trembling and afraid. She was up, she thought, head spinning and bile threatening to rise. Was she moving?

Wait... don't run... But she was too weak. She watched the fallen angel grow smaller, as if a distant memory. There was nothing she could've done.

"It's okay - we're gonna be okay."

How could it be okay? They ran.

There was no next time.

They thought it was over. Her invincible older sister had fallen. Over and over again... until she couldn't get back up. Echoes of tired pain enveloped her while she watched hope die. It was over.

"I-I'm sorry!"

Her gasp broke Piper's heart. She stared down at her beaten savior, wide but remorseful emeralds staring back. She fell to her knees, hearing Phoebe sob beside her. Prue was so small in that moment, her tortured frame shaking while Piper pulled her into one last embrace. Piper could feel everything. She felt the guilt, the anguish, the fear, the resolution... felt the weight of their future crumbling as she just held her selfless older sister.

"Y-you need to run. I can't- I can't stop it. But I- you can still save yourself and-"

"Shhhh..."

There was a moment of clarity. Piper felt her fear leave, taking a deep breath and letting her determination fill her heart.

"No."

She didn't know what hurt more - the shock or the relief staring back at her. Tears streamed down gaunt cheekbones at Piper's revelation...

"We're not going to run this time..."

Epilogue

And they didn't run.

They were okay in the end. A little beaten, a little broken... but okay.

Piper listened, soft sleepy snuffles echoed in her mind. She felt warm, a languid heartbeat pulsing beneath her fingertips. Dark, tousled waves tumbled down, framing an angelic face at peace. She reached out, tucking the blanket tighter around her injured sister.

Their destiny, painted in the stars and reflected in the depths of their hearts, was changed that day. The Charmed Ones were saved not because of their strengths, but because their weaknesses were united as one. They stayed, together, beaten, broken, but together.

Gentle fingertips traced through soft ebony tresses, the unspoken realization overcoming her in the quiet moment. She took comfort in the silence, the stillness... wondering what she was ever so afraid of.

There would never be a next time.