Fic: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn (35/37)
Mar. 16th, 2012 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sara_wolfTitle: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn
Rating: PG
Warnings: emotional torture
Summary: Pax's disappearance shattered Paige. Losing Prue, three years later, reopens old wounds that she thought she'd managed to close off, forever. But, through tragedy comes a sliver of light, and discovering that she's a witch is only the beginning...
*****
Leo's words shocked the occupants of the kitchen into silence. Piper backed up until she hit the counter behind her, her hands covering her mouth. Phoebe let out a strangled gasp, her eyes wide with horror.
And Henry lunged at Leo, swinging wildly at him.
Leo took the first punch on the jaw with a soft grunt, grabbing Henry and pinning his arms to his sides with a surprising strength. Henry struggled against Leo's grip, incoherent sounds being ripped from his throat.
"Damn it, stop," Leo snapped, very close to Henry's ear. "Henry, there isn't another way. There isn't, I've looked."
Henry stopped fighting Leo, slumping wearily against the counter as the Whitelighter let go of his arms. There were tears glinting in his eyes. "After everything we've done," he whispered, "for it to end like this-" He trailed off, shaking his head, helplessly. He looked utterly wrecked.
"Paige is asleep in the other room," Phoebe said, suddenly, and Piper looked over as she picked up a large knife off the kitchen counter, her fingers curling so hard around the handle that they were white. "If we do what Prue did, when Piper was possessed by that alchemist's spirit-"
Leo shook his head, cutting her off. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple," he said, quietly, and Phoebe stared at him in disbelief.
"Simple?" she echoed, incredulously. "You think that this is simple, Leo? I'm talking about murdering my sister!"
She broke into hastily-muffled sobs, burying her face in her hands. Piper wrapped her arms around her younger sister, pulling her in close and stroking a hand over her hair.
"It's going to be okay," she tried, but Phoebe just snorted out a cynical laugh.
"None of this is okay," she said, angrily, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. "We have to kill Paige, Piper. Do you understand that?"
"I understand perfectly," Piper said, softly, keeping her own anger in check in the face of her sister's fury. "But, we are not letting this demon have our sister." Turning to Leo, she went on, "How are we supposed to-"
She couldn't finish the rest of her sentence, her voice choking on the words, but Leo knew what she was asking.
"When Barbas attacks his victims," Leo said, quietly, "he establishes an intimate connection with them through their fear. With the way he's already connected to Paige, the Elders think that the most effective way to destroy Barbas is through that same fear."
"We have to scare Paige to death," Piper said, flatly. "How are we supposed to do that," she demanded, "when Barbas has been trying that for the last month, and Paige keeps beating him back?"
"Maybe," Phoebe suggested, hesitantly, "maybe Barbas will-" She swallowed hard, and then tried again. "Maybe Barbas will do our job for us." She stopped for a moment, considering what she'd just said, and then she let out a weak laugh. "I can't believe it," she murmured. "I'm actually rooting for the demon against my own sister."
"Well," an unexpected voice spoke up, "if it's the only way to destroy Barbas-"
They looked over to where Stimple's astral form was still hanging out in the corner of the kitchen, having heard every word of their painful conversation. He held up his hands, placatingly, when Piper glared at him.
"Which would you rather do?" he pointed out, rather reasonably. "Leave your sister to suffer in Barbas's hands, or end her pain?"
"Why are you helping us?" Phoebe demanded, and the demon gave her a look.
"I want out of that pit," he reminded them. "Helping you get rid of Barbas is my ticket out, or have you forgotten our deal, already?"
"We haven't forgotten our deal," Piper said, icily, "but we're kind of dealing with more important matters, right now."
"Tell you what," Stimple said. "I'm going to go back down there, and I'll tell you if anything changes with Barbas, okay? And when you're ready to finally off him, you know where to find me."
His astral form disappeared from the corner of the kitchen, leaving them alone. Piper let out a gusty sigh as she dropped into a chair across from Henry.
"He's right, you know," she said, into the silence that followed the demon's departure. "If we don't do something, Barbas is just going to keep torturing Paige. And it would kill her if he took her over, used her to hurt us."
"So, we have to kill her, first," Phoebe said, shakily. "No," she corrected herself, "we have to scare her to death. And how are we going to succeed when Barbas has been failing for a month?"
"There's one way," Henry spoke up, softly, startling them with the sound of his voice. He'd been so quiet that they'd almost forgotten that he was there. "Something that Barbas hasn't tried," he went on. "At least, not that Paige has admitted to."
He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, his hands shaking as he pulled a small, slightly-tattered picture out of a clear sleeve.
"You're going to need to be able to create some kind of illusion," he said, his voice hoarse. "Of – of the little girl."
He slowly pushed the picture across the table, and Piper automatically looked down at it, seeing Paige pictured with a little girl with dark hair and bright green eyes. Paige had her arms wrapped around the little girl, both of them beaming widely at the camera.
"Who is this?" she asked, quietly, but Henry just shook his head.
"An illusion," he echoed. "I'll tell you what to say."
"We don't need an illusion," Leo spoke up, drawing Henry's attention to him. "Whitelighters have this ability – we can take on whatever form we want. It's called glamouring."
"You would be-" Henry started, and Leo nodded, before he could finish the sentence.
Bright lights obscured him from view for a moment, and when the light cleared, the little girl stood in the middle of the kitchen. Henry went bone-white as he looked down at the child, biting down on his lip so hard that he drew blood.
"That – that's her," he said, shakily. "Um-"
"I already know what to say," Leo said, in the little girl's clear, high-pitched voice. Henry looked like he wanted to get sick.
So did Piper, as she stared at the scene unfolding in front of her. She was forming some very disturbing impressions of what she was seeing, and she didn't like any of the conclusions that she was coming to.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Phoebe asked, and Henry let out a low, bitter laugh.
"Believe me," he said, a hollow tone in his voice, "this is going to kill Paige. And she's never going to forgive me," he added, softly, more to himself than to the rest of them. "Hell, I don't know if I can forgive myself."
"This has to be done," Leo started, but then he clammed up when Paige wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Sorry," she said, to Henry, "I don't know what's gotten into me, lately-" She broke off, abruptly, when she saw Leo's glamoured form, all the color draining from her face. "Um, do you guys see that?"
"See what?" Piper asked, fighting to keep her voice even. "There's nothing there, Paige."
"Barbas, again," Paige whispered, very deliberately tearing her gaze away from the little girl.
"Don't worry," Phoebe spoke up, quietly, "this will all be over, soon."
"Yeah," Paige agreed, softly. She moved past Leo, very carefully not touching him, and headed straight for the coffeepot. "We're going to find a way to beat this son of a bitch."
She sounded determined, and strong, and any other time, Piper would have been proud of her sister. Was still proud of her, as a matter of fact, but now that strength was working against them. She was about to say something, although she had no idea what, but Leo beat her to the punch.
"Mommy," he said, in that little girl's voice, and Piper shuddered. At the coffeepot, Paige's shoulders stiffened, her hands tightening on the mug she held. "Mommy, why didn't you come for me?"
"You're not real," Paige whispered, still not looking behind her. "You're not here. I'm just imagining you."
"I needed you, Mommy," Leo went on, relentlessly, ignoring Paige's wild flinch. "Where were you?"
"You really don't see anything?" Paige asked Henry, instead, turning pleading eyes on him.
"There's no one in the kitchen but us," he said, his own voice hoarse. "What do you see?" he pressed, after a moment.
"No – nothing," Paige stammered, her clenched fists belying her anxiety. "There's nothing there. It's just Barbas. I can handle this."
Piper shot Henry a despairing look. She'd known that what they were going to do was hard, but she hadn't known how hard. She didn't know what to do. After a long moment, Henry gave her a tiny nod, silently telling her that he would handle it.
"Maybe it's not just Barbas," he suggested, and Paige whipped her head around to stare at him in horror.
"What are you saying?" she demanded, quietly, and Henry closed his eyes, briefly, pain written on every line of his face.
"I'm saying," he told her, "maybe it really is your fault. Have you ever thought about that?"
"No," Paige snapped, her voice breaking. "Not you, too."
"You're her mother, Paige," Henry went on. "Where were you? Why weren't you watching her?"
"I looked away for a second," Paige said, pleadingly. "Just a second!"
The anguish in her voice was breaking Piper's heart. She had to physically restrain herself – and Phoebe – from going to Paige's side and comforting her.
"You never should have taken your eyes off her," Henry pushed, and Paige suddenly flung the cup in her hand at his head. Henry dodged to the side, the cup smashing into a million pieces on the wall behind him.
"Shut up!" she screamed at him. "You don't – where's Henry?" she demanded, furiously. "What did you do with him?"
"I am Henry," Henry told her, and Paige slammed her hand down on the table.
"You're not," she gritted out, "because Henry would never say these things. He would never-"
She broke off, stumbling out of the kitchen to get away from them. It looked like she'd forgotten that her sisters were even standing there. They followed her out into the living room, where she was leaning on the back of the couch, breathing hard. She had a hand pressed to her chest, like she was trying to rub away the pain.
"You're not real," she said, not looking up when Henry stopped, nearby. "Neither of you are real, you're in my head-"
Leo reached out and grabbed Paige's hand, making her jump. With a wordless cry, she tore her hand out of his and shoved him away, wrapping her arms around her chest as she slowly backed away. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared down at Leo's glamoured form.
"I called for you, Mommy," Leo went on, ruthlessly. "Why didn't you hear me?"
"You didn't!" Paige cried, her voice breaking. "I would have heard you! I would have-"
She broke off with a choked gasp, hand flying to her chest. She stumbled, reaching blindly for something to hold onto, and crashed to the ground when she couldn't find anything. Her chest heaved, wildly, as she struggled to breathe, and that was evidently Henry's breaking point.
He bolted to Paige's side, falling to his knees as he pulled her into his arms. "You're okay, Paige," he crooned, shakily. "You're gonna be okay."
"Henry?" Paige gasped, staring up at him in confusion. "Henry, I thought-"
"Shh," he murmured, quietly. "It's over, now. I promise. It's over, now."
"Where's Leo?" Paige asked, sounding like the words took every last bit of her strength to force out.
"He's coming," Henry lied, tracing a trembling hand over her cheek. "He's coming. Paige, I'm so sorry. We had to, there was no other choice. I'm so sorry."
"I know," Paige whispered, her eyes falling shut. "It's okay, I understand. Where's Leo?" she repeated, a second later, sounding confused. Her words were getting fainter and fainter as she tried to force air into her lungs.
"He's on his way," Henry told her. "Paige-"
"Henry, I-" Paige started, but then she gasped, her body convulsing in his arms. A horrible, rattling sound was ripped from her chest, and then she collapsed and went still.
At the same time, a dark cloud started to slowly rise from her body, pulling away sluggishly to hover in mid air. The cloud started to sink into the floor, and Piper turned at the sound of chanting to see Phoebe just finishing the astral projection spell. She steadied Phoebe as she swayed, getting her down onto the floor in a lying position, and then she turned back around to see how Paige was doing.
Henry had her stretched out on the floor, doing compressions on her chest in a steady, repetitive manner. There were tears coursing down his cheeks as he worked.
"You need to get her heart beating before I can heal her," Leo told him, in a low voice. He'd shed the glamour and was back to his usual self, and Piper was glad that he no longer looked like her baby sister's dead daughter.
Henry nodded, jerkily, still working to revive Paige.
"Come on," he begged, entreatingly. "Paige, come on. Don't you die like this. Don't you give up. Come on!"
Paige stayed still, her eyes closed even as Leo bent and expelled two, slow breaths into her lungs. Piper clenched her hands into fists, nails biting painfully into her skin as she watched, praying.
"Come on," Henry repeated, tearfully, begging Paige's too-still form. "Paige, please. I love you!"
A few seconds later, Paige jerked under his hand, and Henry pressed shaking fingers to the side of her throat. He nodded encouragingly at Leo, even as the Whitelighter was dropping down beside them, his hands glowing golden as he held them over Paige's chest. Piper waited, holding her breath with anticipation, and she almost cried when Leo let his hands fall – and Paige's eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Henry?" she whispered, and then her eyes went wide as she remembered everything that had happened.
But, before she could start panicking, Leo put a hand on her forehead and murmured something under his breath. Paige's eyes fell shut, again, and Henry pulled her protectively against his chest.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
"She's just asleep," Leo said, reassuringly. "She shouldn't have to remember what happened here."
"None of you should," a new voice spoke up, and Piper turned around to see a golden-robed Elder watching them from the doorway. "And I have the power to make it happen, if you should wish."
Piper shot Leo a look, and he nodded, encouragingly. "This is Sandra," he introduced the Elder. "She's one of the good guys."
Sandra, to Piper's surprise, didn't contradict Leo's indictment of her fellow Elders. Instead, she looked around the room, her gaze falling on everyone in the room, in turn. When she looked down at Paige, there was something indescribably sad on her face.
"I am sorry that you had to go through all of this," she murmured, under her breath, as she knelt down next to Paige and brushed a hand across her forehead. "I'm sorry that all of you had to go through this," she went on, standing back up. "The least I can do is try to make it right."
"How?" Piper asked, suspiciously, getting a small smile from the Elder, in return.
"I have the power to take your pain away," she answered. "The power to make your forget what happened, tonight."
"You would take our memories away?" Henry asked, and his voice still had that scratchy quality that made it sound like he'd been screaming.
Piper had the feeling that he was just barely keeping himself quiet. He and Paige had been friends for a long time. Paige had said, once, that Henry had been there through her best and her worst; Piper was beginning to think that they'd just seen the worst. And in order to save her life, Henry had broken a long-held trust with Paige, and it was killing him.
'If anyone needs to forget,' she thought, 'it's Henry.'
"Yes," Sandra said, bluntly, in answer to Henry's question. "I would take your memories away. Take your pain away," she emphasized.
Henry's shoulders slumped as he stared down at Paige's still features, his arms tightening around her.
"Do it," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I can't – I can't live with myself, with what I've done. I can't-"
Sandra reached out, placing her hand briefly on the side of his head. Henry's eyes went unfocused and he slumped over, and Leo caught him before he fell to the floor. Henry was unconscious in a moment, and Sandra waved a hand, levitating him and Paige onto the couch. Piper flicked the blanket down off the back of the couch to cover them, brushing her hand over Paige's hair.
"Mine, too," she said, as she turned her attention back to Sandra. "What I learned about Paige, about her daughter – Paige has been keeping that a secret for a long time, and she shouldn't have to have it ripped out in the open like this. If she tells us, it needs to be on her terms."
"I agree," Phoebe said, softly, and Piper whirled around to see her sister sitting up, groggily. She pushed herself to her feet, looking down at Paige. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Leo said, reassuringly. "Did you get Barbas?"
"He's in the pit," Phoebe said, a satisfied note in her voice. "And so is Stimple," she added, to Piper's surprise. "I guess it didn't occur to him that we could astral project, too, because he tried to send me into the pit after Barbas."
"I thought he couldn't-" Piper started, but Phoebe shook her head, cutting her off.
"He was lying about how his astral projection worked," she informed them. "I guess after you summoned him, and he realized that he wasn't going to die, he decided to use us to his advantage. And then off at least one of us, so that he wouldn't have to worry about the Charmed Ones once he was out of the pit."
"I can't say I'm sad about having one less demon in the world," Piper remarked. "So, you're in agreement about our memories?"
"Yeah," Phoebe confirmed. "You're right, this should be on Paige's terms, when she feels comfortable telling us. No matter how long it takes."
"Do it," Piper told Sandra, who nodded. Piper braced herself for the Elder's touch, and then the world went white behind her eyes…
Continued here
Rating: PG
Warnings: emotional torture
Summary: Pax's disappearance shattered Paige. Losing Prue, three years later, reopens old wounds that she thought she'd managed to close off, forever. But, through tragedy comes a sliver of light, and discovering that she's a witch is only the beginning...
*****
Leo's words shocked the occupants of the kitchen into silence. Piper backed up until she hit the counter behind her, her hands covering her mouth. Phoebe let out a strangled gasp, her eyes wide with horror.
And Henry lunged at Leo, swinging wildly at him.
Leo took the first punch on the jaw with a soft grunt, grabbing Henry and pinning his arms to his sides with a surprising strength. Henry struggled against Leo's grip, incoherent sounds being ripped from his throat.
"Damn it, stop," Leo snapped, very close to Henry's ear. "Henry, there isn't another way. There isn't, I've looked."
Henry stopped fighting Leo, slumping wearily against the counter as the Whitelighter let go of his arms. There were tears glinting in his eyes. "After everything we've done," he whispered, "for it to end like this-" He trailed off, shaking his head, helplessly. He looked utterly wrecked.
"Paige is asleep in the other room," Phoebe said, suddenly, and Piper looked over as she picked up a large knife off the kitchen counter, her fingers curling so hard around the handle that they were white. "If we do what Prue did, when Piper was possessed by that alchemist's spirit-"
Leo shook his head, cutting her off. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple," he said, quietly, and Phoebe stared at him in disbelief.
"Simple?" she echoed, incredulously. "You think that this is simple, Leo? I'm talking about murdering my sister!"
She broke into hastily-muffled sobs, burying her face in her hands. Piper wrapped her arms around her younger sister, pulling her in close and stroking a hand over her hair.
"It's going to be okay," she tried, but Phoebe just snorted out a cynical laugh.
"None of this is okay," she said, angrily, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. "We have to kill Paige, Piper. Do you understand that?"
"I understand perfectly," Piper said, softly, keeping her own anger in check in the face of her sister's fury. "But, we are not letting this demon have our sister." Turning to Leo, she went on, "How are we supposed to-"
She couldn't finish the rest of her sentence, her voice choking on the words, but Leo knew what she was asking.
"When Barbas attacks his victims," Leo said, quietly, "he establishes an intimate connection with them through their fear. With the way he's already connected to Paige, the Elders think that the most effective way to destroy Barbas is through that same fear."
"We have to scare Paige to death," Piper said, flatly. "How are we supposed to do that," she demanded, "when Barbas has been trying that for the last month, and Paige keeps beating him back?"
"Maybe," Phoebe suggested, hesitantly, "maybe Barbas will-" She swallowed hard, and then tried again. "Maybe Barbas will do our job for us." She stopped for a moment, considering what she'd just said, and then she let out a weak laugh. "I can't believe it," she murmured. "I'm actually rooting for the demon against my own sister."
"Well," an unexpected voice spoke up, "if it's the only way to destroy Barbas-"
They looked over to where Stimple's astral form was still hanging out in the corner of the kitchen, having heard every word of their painful conversation. He held up his hands, placatingly, when Piper glared at him.
"Which would you rather do?" he pointed out, rather reasonably. "Leave your sister to suffer in Barbas's hands, or end her pain?"
"Why are you helping us?" Phoebe demanded, and the demon gave her a look.
"I want out of that pit," he reminded them. "Helping you get rid of Barbas is my ticket out, or have you forgotten our deal, already?"
"We haven't forgotten our deal," Piper said, icily, "but we're kind of dealing with more important matters, right now."
"Tell you what," Stimple said. "I'm going to go back down there, and I'll tell you if anything changes with Barbas, okay? And when you're ready to finally off him, you know where to find me."
His astral form disappeared from the corner of the kitchen, leaving them alone. Piper let out a gusty sigh as she dropped into a chair across from Henry.
"He's right, you know," she said, into the silence that followed the demon's departure. "If we don't do something, Barbas is just going to keep torturing Paige. And it would kill her if he took her over, used her to hurt us."
"So, we have to kill her, first," Phoebe said, shakily. "No," she corrected herself, "we have to scare her to death. And how are we going to succeed when Barbas has been failing for a month?"
"There's one way," Henry spoke up, softly, startling them with the sound of his voice. He'd been so quiet that they'd almost forgotten that he was there. "Something that Barbas hasn't tried," he went on. "At least, not that Paige has admitted to."
He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, his hands shaking as he pulled a small, slightly-tattered picture out of a clear sleeve.
"You're going to need to be able to create some kind of illusion," he said, his voice hoarse. "Of – of the little girl."
He slowly pushed the picture across the table, and Piper automatically looked down at it, seeing Paige pictured with a little girl with dark hair and bright green eyes. Paige had her arms wrapped around the little girl, both of them beaming widely at the camera.
"Who is this?" she asked, quietly, but Henry just shook his head.
"An illusion," he echoed. "I'll tell you what to say."
"We don't need an illusion," Leo spoke up, drawing Henry's attention to him. "Whitelighters have this ability – we can take on whatever form we want. It's called glamouring."
"You would be-" Henry started, and Leo nodded, before he could finish the sentence.
Bright lights obscured him from view for a moment, and when the light cleared, the little girl stood in the middle of the kitchen. Henry went bone-white as he looked down at the child, biting down on his lip so hard that he drew blood.
"That – that's her," he said, shakily. "Um-"
"I already know what to say," Leo said, in the little girl's clear, high-pitched voice. Henry looked like he wanted to get sick.
So did Piper, as she stared at the scene unfolding in front of her. She was forming some very disturbing impressions of what she was seeing, and she didn't like any of the conclusions that she was coming to.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Phoebe asked, and Henry let out a low, bitter laugh.
"Believe me," he said, a hollow tone in his voice, "this is going to kill Paige. And she's never going to forgive me," he added, softly, more to himself than to the rest of them. "Hell, I don't know if I can forgive myself."
"This has to be done," Leo started, but then he clammed up when Paige wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Sorry," she said, to Henry, "I don't know what's gotten into me, lately-" She broke off, abruptly, when she saw Leo's glamoured form, all the color draining from her face. "Um, do you guys see that?"
"See what?" Piper asked, fighting to keep her voice even. "There's nothing there, Paige."
"Barbas, again," Paige whispered, very deliberately tearing her gaze away from the little girl.
"Don't worry," Phoebe spoke up, quietly, "this will all be over, soon."
"Yeah," Paige agreed, softly. She moved past Leo, very carefully not touching him, and headed straight for the coffeepot. "We're going to find a way to beat this son of a bitch."
She sounded determined, and strong, and any other time, Piper would have been proud of her sister. Was still proud of her, as a matter of fact, but now that strength was working against them. She was about to say something, although she had no idea what, but Leo beat her to the punch.
"Mommy," he said, in that little girl's voice, and Piper shuddered. At the coffeepot, Paige's shoulders stiffened, her hands tightening on the mug she held. "Mommy, why didn't you come for me?"
"You're not real," Paige whispered, still not looking behind her. "You're not here. I'm just imagining you."
"I needed you, Mommy," Leo went on, relentlessly, ignoring Paige's wild flinch. "Where were you?"
"You really don't see anything?" Paige asked Henry, instead, turning pleading eyes on him.
"There's no one in the kitchen but us," he said, his own voice hoarse. "What do you see?" he pressed, after a moment.
"No – nothing," Paige stammered, her clenched fists belying her anxiety. "There's nothing there. It's just Barbas. I can handle this."
Piper shot Henry a despairing look. She'd known that what they were going to do was hard, but she hadn't known how hard. She didn't know what to do. After a long moment, Henry gave her a tiny nod, silently telling her that he would handle it.
"Maybe it's not just Barbas," he suggested, and Paige whipped her head around to stare at him in horror.
"What are you saying?" she demanded, quietly, and Henry closed his eyes, briefly, pain written on every line of his face.
"I'm saying," he told her, "maybe it really is your fault. Have you ever thought about that?"
"No," Paige snapped, her voice breaking. "Not you, too."
"You're her mother, Paige," Henry went on. "Where were you? Why weren't you watching her?"
"I looked away for a second," Paige said, pleadingly. "Just a second!"
The anguish in her voice was breaking Piper's heart. She had to physically restrain herself – and Phoebe – from going to Paige's side and comforting her.
"You never should have taken your eyes off her," Henry pushed, and Paige suddenly flung the cup in her hand at his head. Henry dodged to the side, the cup smashing into a million pieces on the wall behind him.
"Shut up!" she screamed at him. "You don't – where's Henry?" she demanded, furiously. "What did you do with him?"
"I am Henry," Henry told her, and Paige slammed her hand down on the table.
"You're not," she gritted out, "because Henry would never say these things. He would never-"
She broke off, stumbling out of the kitchen to get away from them. It looked like she'd forgotten that her sisters were even standing there. They followed her out into the living room, where she was leaning on the back of the couch, breathing hard. She had a hand pressed to her chest, like she was trying to rub away the pain.
"You're not real," she said, not looking up when Henry stopped, nearby. "Neither of you are real, you're in my head-"
Leo reached out and grabbed Paige's hand, making her jump. With a wordless cry, she tore her hand out of his and shoved him away, wrapping her arms around her chest as she slowly backed away. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared down at Leo's glamoured form.
"I called for you, Mommy," Leo went on, ruthlessly. "Why didn't you hear me?"
"You didn't!" Paige cried, her voice breaking. "I would have heard you! I would have-"
She broke off with a choked gasp, hand flying to her chest. She stumbled, reaching blindly for something to hold onto, and crashed to the ground when she couldn't find anything. Her chest heaved, wildly, as she struggled to breathe, and that was evidently Henry's breaking point.
He bolted to Paige's side, falling to his knees as he pulled her into his arms. "You're okay, Paige," he crooned, shakily. "You're gonna be okay."
"Henry?" Paige gasped, staring up at him in confusion. "Henry, I thought-"
"Shh," he murmured, quietly. "It's over, now. I promise. It's over, now."
"Where's Leo?" Paige asked, sounding like the words took every last bit of her strength to force out.
"He's coming," Henry lied, tracing a trembling hand over her cheek. "He's coming. Paige, I'm so sorry. We had to, there was no other choice. I'm so sorry."
"I know," Paige whispered, her eyes falling shut. "It's okay, I understand. Where's Leo?" she repeated, a second later, sounding confused. Her words were getting fainter and fainter as she tried to force air into her lungs.
"He's on his way," Henry told her. "Paige-"
"Henry, I-" Paige started, but then she gasped, her body convulsing in his arms. A horrible, rattling sound was ripped from her chest, and then she collapsed and went still.
At the same time, a dark cloud started to slowly rise from her body, pulling away sluggishly to hover in mid air. The cloud started to sink into the floor, and Piper turned at the sound of chanting to see Phoebe just finishing the astral projection spell. She steadied Phoebe as she swayed, getting her down onto the floor in a lying position, and then she turned back around to see how Paige was doing.
Henry had her stretched out on the floor, doing compressions on her chest in a steady, repetitive manner. There were tears coursing down his cheeks as he worked.
"You need to get her heart beating before I can heal her," Leo told him, in a low voice. He'd shed the glamour and was back to his usual self, and Piper was glad that he no longer looked like her baby sister's dead daughter.
Henry nodded, jerkily, still working to revive Paige.
"Come on," he begged, entreatingly. "Paige, come on. Don't you die like this. Don't you give up. Come on!"
Paige stayed still, her eyes closed even as Leo bent and expelled two, slow breaths into her lungs. Piper clenched her hands into fists, nails biting painfully into her skin as she watched, praying.
"Come on," Henry repeated, tearfully, begging Paige's too-still form. "Paige, please. I love you!"
A few seconds later, Paige jerked under his hand, and Henry pressed shaking fingers to the side of her throat. He nodded encouragingly at Leo, even as the Whitelighter was dropping down beside them, his hands glowing golden as he held them over Paige's chest. Piper waited, holding her breath with anticipation, and she almost cried when Leo let his hands fall – and Paige's eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Henry?" she whispered, and then her eyes went wide as she remembered everything that had happened.
But, before she could start panicking, Leo put a hand on her forehead and murmured something under his breath. Paige's eyes fell shut, again, and Henry pulled her protectively against his chest.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
"She's just asleep," Leo said, reassuringly. "She shouldn't have to remember what happened here."
"None of you should," a new voice spoke up, and Piper turned around to see a golden-robed Elder watching them from the doorway. "And I have the power to make it happen, if you should wish."
Piper shot Leo a look, and he nodded, encouragingly. "This is Sandra," he introduced the Elder. "She's one of the good guys."
Sandra, to Piper's surprise, didn't contradict Leo's indictment of her fellow Elders. Instead, she looked around the room, her gaze falling on everyone in the room, in turn. When she looked down at Paige, there was something indescribably sad on her face.
"I am sorry that you had to go through all of this," she murmured, under her breath, as she knelt down next to Paige and brushed a hand across her forehead. "I'm sorry that all of you had to go through this," she went on, standing back up. "The least I can do is try to make it right."
"How?" Piper asked, suspiciously, getting a small smile from the Elder, in return.
"I have the power to take your pain away," she answered. "The power to make your forget what happened, tonight."
"You would take our memories away?" Henry asked, and his voice still had that scratchy quality that made it sound like he'd been screaming.
Piper had the feeling that he was just barely keeping himself quiet. He and Paige had been friends for a long time. Paige had said, once, that Henry had been there through her best and her worst; Piper was beginning to think that they'd just seen the worst. And in order to save her life, Henry had broken a long-held trust with Paige, and it was killing him.
'If anyone needs to forget,' she thought, 'it's Henry.'
"Yes," Sandra said, bluntly, in answer to Henry's question. "I would take your memories away. Take your pain away," she emphasized.
Henry's shoulders slumped as he stared down at Paige's still features, his arms tightening around her.
"Do it," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I can't – I can't live with myself, with what I've done. I can't-"
Sandra reached out, placing her hand briefly on the side of his head. Henry's eyes went unfocused and he slumped over, and Leo caught him before he fell to the floor. Henry was unconscious in a moment, and Sandra waved a hand, levitating him and Paige onto the couch. Piper flicked the blanket down off the back of the couch to cover them, brushing her hand over Paige's hair.
"Mine, too," she said, as she turned her attention back to Sandra. "What I learned about Paige, about her daughter – Paige has been keeping that a secret for a long time, and she shouldn't have to have it ripped out in the open like this. If she tells us, it needs to be on her terms."
"I agree," Phoebe said, softly, and Piper whirled around to see her sister sitting up, groggily. She pushed herself to her feet, looking down at Paige. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Leo said, reassuringly. "Did you get Barbas?"
"He's in the pit," Phoebe said, a satisfied note in her voice. "And so is Stimple," she added, to Piper's surprise. "I guess it didn't occur to him that we could astral project, too, because he tried to send me into the pit after Barbas."
"I thought he couldn't-" Piper started, but Phoebe shook her head, cutting her off.
"He was lying about how his astral projection worked," she informed them. "I guess after you summoned him, and he realized that he wasn't going to die, he decided to use us to his advantage. And then off at least one of us, so that he wouldn't have to worry about the Charmed Ones once he was out of the pit."
"I can't say I'm sad about having one less demon in the world," Piper remarked. "So, you're in agreement about our memories?"
"Yeah," Phoebe confirmed. "You're right, this should be on Paige's terms, when she feels comfortable telling us. No matter how long it takes."
"Do it," Piper told Sandra, who nodded. Piper braced herself for the Elder's touch, and then the world went white behind her eyes…
Continued here
