Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 30, 2008 20:57:30 GMT -5
Chapter Eleven – The Short Version
Paige sighed and walked into the sitting room and sat on one of the couches. Piper sat on a nearby chair. Alanna walked over to the window and looked out, unwilling to show an interest in the strange events. Vicki stood in the doorway, watching. Andy stood nearby.
“Well?”
“A couple of years before Prue died and we met you Phoebe had a premonition. It took place far in the future and showed Prue and me standing there letting Phoebe die. To find out what happened we cast a time travel spell. This took us ten years in the future. Phoebe was in jail for using her powers to murder a man. I was in the middle of divorcing my husband, Leo, by the way, and giving him custody of our seven-year-old daughter, Melinda. Prue owned the auction house she worked at and had no social life to speak of. We didn’t know you or at least we didn’t encounter you.”
“I know that,” Paige protested. “Why is this something I need to sit down for?”
“Because when we left, we left behind the reality there. Though we changed what we did and never reached that point, they went on from there. Phoebe burned to death. Prue was alive. I was divorced and had only one child, my daughter, Melinda. They already knew you, but they didn’t find out until after Phoebe’s death that you were their sister. You and Henry were already married at that point, had been for a few months. Time went on and so did the witch hunts.”
“Witch hunts? Like burning at the stake and drowning?”
“And a powerful mortal siding with demons to gain more power,” Vicki added. “Witches weren’t his target you see. Halliwells were.”
“And today he got his revenge,” Andy added sadly.
“Wait,” Paige said looking at them wide eyed. “You two are from there, aren’t you?”
Vicki nodded. “Yes, I am,” after a slight hesitation she added, “Aunt Paige.”
Paige’s eyes widened even farther. “Aunt Paige? I’m your aunt? That’s why you know this is Alanna with me. You’re family.”
“Yes,” Vicki began, “and no. I didn’t know Alanna, not precisely. She didn’t exist, but I did know of her. My powers, you see. And then I’ve spent the better part of the last hour poring over pictures.”
“Alanna didn’t exist,” Paige repeated softly. She looked over at Andy. “And who does that make you?”
“Your brother-in-law, actually.”
“And your name?”
“Andrew Trudeau, Andy.”
“Trudeau. Prue’s ex-boyfriend. Prue’s dead ex-boyfriend.”
Andy nodded. “That would be correct. I am dead.”
“A whitelighter?”
Andy grimaces. “That is up in the air at the moment, but I was this morning. Here it seems that out powers don’t work and They tell us we don’t exist. Well, They say my wife exists, but the rest of us . . .” He trailed off, not really wanting to finish.
Paige’s mind was elsewhere. As he spoke she realized one very important implication and it was that the played center in her mind. “If you are here, then Prue . . .” she let her voice trail off as well.
Alanna was watching from the window, giving up the pretense of a lack of interest. She was very curious about the topic at hand.
“Prue is upstairs in the attic.” Andy looked in the direction of the stairs. “She is the only one of us They seem to agree on. While in this reality she is dead, she still exists. They are willing to allow her to retain her life should she choose and perhaps her powers, though that wasn’t mentioned. As for myself, I no longer exist here. I was killed a second time by a darklighter about eighteen years ago.”
“Oh.” Paige wasn’t sure what else to say.
“The girls have never existed here,” he told her as he looked over at his younger daughter, “and Melinda is in the position of having the powers that here belong to another.”
Paige looked at him confused. “Meaning?”
“Meaning Melinda and Wyatt share the same powers,” Piper told her. “I bet the elders are at a loss as to what to do about two twice blessed witches.”
Paige giggled at that. “She’s twice blessed like Wyatt?”
Piper nodded. “Yes, but like all of them she seems to have lost her powers, so who knows what will happen, if we succeed.”
“Can I see Prue?” the question on her mind since Andy confirmed that Prue was there. She didn’t know what would happen when she met her, but she wanted to. She wanted to meet this sister that still had the ability to choke Piper and even Phoebe up when she was brought up. She wanted to meet this person who after nearly thirty years garnered such loyalty from her sisters, the sisters they shared. She wanted to meet her sister.
Piper nodded unaware of the thoughts running through her sister’s head. “Come with me.”
Piper and Paige both stood. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look at Vicki. “Are you sure, you don’t want to come up, Vicki?” Piper asked.
Vicki nodded. “I am sure. There is nothing for me to do in the search they are on.”
“Then, go up there merely because you are their daughter and sister,” Piper urged. “They do not need you to help them look. They need you to be there. They have lost almost everything, Vicki, still could. We will try to fill in the blanks, but with you they are already filled. They need you.”
Vicki considered this and finally smiled. “I think I like you, Aunt Piper.”
Piper smiled back at her. “Thank you, Vicki.”
“I will come.” With that Vicki headed up the stairs and into the attic of the Halliwell Manor, a new frightening world. A world were magic was okay to use and Vicki must learn to control the very thing she had been forbidden to use her entire life. Magic.