Fic: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn (29/37)
Mar. 18th, 2012 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sara_wolfTitle: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
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...
*****
Henry stared at the wall in front of him, his phone falling from nerveless fingers. After a few seconds, he could hear his name being called, faintly, and he scooped up his phone from the floor.
"Henry," Piper was saying, but he cut her off before she could continue.
"Paige is dead," he said, tonelessly, praying desperately that Piper was going to tell him that he was wrong, that she hadn't just given him news that had shattered his world in a heartbeat.
"We think there's a way to fix it, though," Piper said, hastily.
"Fix it?" Henry echoed, incredulously. "Piper, she's dead. You can't fix dead."
"This, we can," Piper told him, an insistent tone in her voice. "Henry, just get over here. We can't do this without you."
She hung up before he could say anything in response. Henry glared down at his silent phone for a moment, and then he headed out to his car. He couldn't remember the drive from his apartment to Paige's house; he supposed he had a guardian angel watching out for him, in that regard. The front door was unlocked, like usual, and he stormed into the house without knocking.
"In here!" Piper called out, having heard the front door open, and Henry followed the sound of her voice to the living room.
He stopped short at the sight of Paige lying inside a glass coffin, her hands folded across her stomach. Her eyes were closed, and there was an almost peaceful expression on her too-still face. But, there was no mistaking the depth of that stillness; he'd seen it far too often on faces in the morgue.
"Oh, god," he whispered, shocked.
"Don't tell me that this is her prince," a scornful voice said, and Henry looked down to see a very short man sneering up at him, disdainfully.
"Watch it, Shorty," he snapped, automatically, and the man bristled.
"Who you calling Shorty?" he retorted, and Piper stepped between the pair of them before things could get ugly.
"Both of you, go back to your corners," she ordered. "You," she said, to the short man, "go back to taking care of my sister. And, you," she added, to Henry, "come with me for a moment."
Piper took Henry by the arm, physically steering him away Paige's motionless body. She moved them through the sunroom where he couldn't see Paige, and he sank down onto the couch, burying his face into his hands.
"She's really dead," he moaned, softly, and Piper put a hand on his shoulder.
"Henry," she started, but he shook his head, helplessly.
"How?" he demanded, hoarsely. "Piper, how did this happen?"
"A poisoned apple," Piper said, succinctly, and Henry stared at her in disbelief.
"Excuse me?" he said, faintly. "Do you want to run that by me, again?"
"We're being attacked by an evil witch," Piper told him. "She's been throwing fairy tales at us; Phoebe, got Cinderella's slippers, I have Red Riding Hood's cloak in the other room, and Paige got struck down by Snow White's poisoned apple."
"Snow White," Henry echoed. "So, that would make that man in there-"
"He and his friends are the descendents of the seven dwarves," Piper replied. "Actually, they like to be called little people – that's not important," she added, hastily, seeing the look on Henry's face. "What is important is that Paige fell prey to the same curse as Snow White, which means that she can be resurrected the same way."
"With a kiss?" Henry asked, incredulously.
"With true love's kiss," Piper corrected him, gently.
"And you thought of me," Henry said, flatly.
"You're Paige's closest friend," Piper told him. "You are, outside of this family – and maybe even within it – the person dearest to her heart."
"But, true love-" Henry protested, but Piper cut him off.
"I've seen you and Paige over the last year," she replied, softly. "There is no doubt in my mind that you love Paige, completely and without reservation. I don't think it matters if that love is romantic, or just a deep friendship. I think the only thing that matters is that you love her."
Henry finally nodded. Paige was the best thing to happen in his life, and he would do anything to save her. Even if it meant taking a chance on a fairy tale.
"What do I have to do?" he asked.
"Just a kiss," Piper reassured him.
Henry nodded, again, following her back into the living room. He went immediately back to where Paige was still lying in the glass coffin, still unnaturally quiet. His heart ached at the sight.
"We're going to go upstairs," Piper told him, quietly, indicating herself and an older woman with gray hair that Henry hadn't noticed, before. "Try to get to the bottom of this, find this witch and vanquish her. That way-"
She trailed off, but Henry had no trouble filling in the words that she had left unsaid. "That way, if I was wrong, and you can't bring Paige back, we'll still have something else to try." He nodded silently in agreement; he wanted, desperately to believe that it would work, but he just couldn't be sure.
"There's coffee in the kitchen," Piper went on, addressing the dwarves milling around the living room. "You guys drink coffee, don't you?"
"I can't sleep if I have caffeine," one of the dwarves started, but the leader, the one who'd insulted Henry, silenced him by smacking him swiftly upside the back of the head.
"We'll make ourselves scarce," he replied. "Come on, men. Let's go raid the kitchen."
"That's not what I-" Piper started to protest, as the dwarves trooped out of the room, but then she just shook her head in exasperation. "Forget it. Come on, Grams. We've got an evil witch to vanquish."
As they left, Henry turned his attention back to Paige, reaching out and brushing a hand across the glass. The glass shimmered under his hand, disappearing to leave one side completely open, and his hand brushed against her cheek. The feel of her cool skin startled him, and he blinked away the tears that burned his eyes.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, wondering if her soul was somewhere nearby, if she could hear him. "Paige, if I could take this from you, I would. In a heartbeat."
There was nothing from Paige, not even a flicker, and he supposed that he'd been fooling himself. She was dead, and according to Piper, nothing less than a kiss would revive her. A fairy tale cure for a fairy tale curse. He could almost hear Paige teasing him.
"And they lived happily ever after. The end." Henry smiled as he closed the slim book, smiling down at Pax's sleeping form. "Goodnight, my princess," he whispered, bending and brushing a kiss across her forehead. "Sleep well."
He crept out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him, and found Paige standing out in the hallway, watching him with an amused expression on her face.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could hear the affection in her voice.
"Bedtime story," Henry said, holding up the book in his hand.
"Snow White?" Paige said, dubiously, taking the book from him to glance at the title. "Oh, come on, there has got to be a better story than this one."
"What's wrong with Snow White?" Henry asked, as they walked down the hall to the living room.
"Snow White is just like all other fairy tales," Paige argued, as she dropped down onto the couch, leaning against Henry as he sat down beside her. "Full of helpless women who need big, strong men to come rescue them."
"Wow," Henry deadpanned, looking at her. "You are the least romantic person I have ever met. That's your big secret, isn't it? You hate romance."
"I do not hate romance," Paige protested, swatting at him, but Henry just grinned.
"You would take potshots at Cupid with his own bow, wouldn't you?" he teased, and Paige rolled her eyes.
"I don't hate romance," Paige insisted. "I just don't like fairy tales. The women are only there to look pretty, and wear fancy dresses, and twirl their hair until the heroes come riding on the scene. I don't want to teach Pax that. I want her to learn how to be strong on her own, to stand on her own two feet, to swoop in and be the one doing the rescuing."
"You don't think that I wouldn't be there for her in a heartbeat?" Henry asked, and Paige gave him a small smile.
"I have no doubt that you will always be my little girl's knight in shining armor," she told him, fondly. "But, I want her to know that she can always save herself."
"With you as her mom," Henry reassured her, "how could she not?"
"She would have been so beautiful," Henry murmured, shaking himself out of the memory. "Paige, I'm so sorry that I couldn't save her."
He just as quickly shook himself out of the melancholy of the old regrets. Seven years, and beating himself up wasn't going to do anything to change the past. He hadn't been able to find Pax, to save her from the monsters that had taken her. But, there was a chance that he could save her mother.
"I love you," he whispered, knowing that it was no less than the absolute truth.
Then, he bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to Paige's lips.
For a second nothing happened, and he could feel his heart sinking in his chest. Then, as he watched in amazement, color flooded back into her pale cheeks and her eyes started to slowly open. She blinked up at him, confusion in her gaze, and Henry helped her to sit up, giving her a hand out of the coffin. He stared at her, too overcome for a moment to even speak, but then he blurted out the first words to come to mind.
"Why is your hair red?"
"Hello to you, too," Paige grumbled, and then she looked back at where she'd been lying. "Um, why was I in a coffin?"
"You were dead," Henry said, trying for nonchalant, but he had a feeling that his shaky tone belied his nervousness.
"Dead?" Paige echoed, incredulously.
"I brought you back," Henry told her, and then he burst into relieved, happy laughter. "I brought you back!" he repeated, joyously, as he swept Paige up into a tight hug. "You were dead, and I brought you back. It worked!"
"Thank you," Paige told him, a smile on her face, but the rest of her words were cut off by the sound of a scream coming from upstairs.
Paige grabbed Henry's hand, pulling him with her up the stairs toward the attic. They burst through the door to find a wolf standing in the middle of the attic. The wolf snarled, its teeth bared, and Paige slowly pushed Henry behind her, reaching blindly to her side and coming up with a huge, double-bladed axe.
"Piper was up here," Henry whispered, as he warily watched the wolf. "With a woman she called Grams."
"Damn it," Paige muttered, her eyes darting around the attic, but clearly not seeing them.
"Piper said she had Red Riding Hood's cloak," Henry went on, quickly. "You don't think that thing ate them, do you?"
"And us, if we're not careful," Paige retorted. Raising her voice, she demanded of the wolf, "Where's my sister? Where's my grandmother?"
In answer, the wolf growled and leapt at them, and Paige braced the axe to swing. But, before the wolf could reach them, it exploded into a million pieces, and Piper and her grandmother tumbled to the attic floor.
"What the?" Henry asked, turning to Paige, who just shrugged as she leaned the axe against the wall.
"Piper, you okay?" she asked, getting an affirmative grunt as her older sister pushed herself to her feet.
"Getting eaten sucks," Piper groused, and Paige grinned.
"Yeah, next time you should try not being dinner," she retorted. "How'd you get out, anyway?"
"She blew him up from the inside!" the third woman said, pride in her voice. "Although, it took you long enough," she added, glancing at Piper, who simply gave the older woman a scornful glance.
"Ah, back off, Grams," Piper retorted. "I just saved your ass."
The older woman chuckled at her granddaughter's words. Then, her eyes lit on Henry, her gaze sharpening. "And, who is this?" she asked, curiously.
"This is Henry," Paige said, wrapping an arm around his. "Henry, this is Penny Halliwell. My grandmother."
"The dead one?" Henry asked, with a raised eyebrow, and Paige elbowed him gently in the stomach. "What, it's a valid question."
"Since you're back among the living," Penny commented, ignoring Henry's remark, "I take it this is your prince? I thought you didn't have a boyfriend."
"I don't," Paige replied, giving Henry a smile. "Henry's special."
Leo chose that moment to orb into the attic, holding a small, orange pumpkin. Without a word, he shoved the pumpkin into Henry's empty hands, sweeping Piper up into a tight hug.
"I could feel you," he was saying, his voice shaky. "I tried to come, but Phoebe-"
"I'm fine," Piper reassured him, gently. "We're all fine," she added, her hand resting protectively on her stomach.
"Not to ruin this tender moment," Paige spoke up, "but, where is Phoebe?"
Leo sheepishly turned and looked at the pumpkin that Henry was still holding, and Paige groaned in disbelief.
"You're kidding me," she said, flatly, and Henry stared dubiously down at the pumpkin in his hands.
"I am not kissing that," he announced. "No offense," he added, hastily, just in case Phoebe-pumpkin could hear him.
"What do we do, now?" Penny asked.
"Same thing we were, before," Piper retorted. "We find the evil witch, and we vanquish her. Although, I don't know how, since scrying was a bust-"
"I think I do," Paige said, slowly. "The wolf was after something."
"How did you notice anything other than the really huge teeth as it was lunging at us?" Henry asked, incredulously.
"Because it wasn't lunging at us," Paige corrected him. "It was aiming for that," she added, pointing at the book of fairy tales open on an old steamer trunk. "Maybe it can get back to fairy tale land, that way?"
"Worth a shot," Leo suggested. "I don't know how you access it, though."
"We can't," Piper pointed. "But, maybe Red Riding Hood can." She picked up the sleek, red cloth draped over the back of the couch. "I knew I was going to have to put this thing on, sooner or later," she said, ruefully.
"I'm not letting you go alone," Paige retorted, immediately.
"Well, this cloak isn't made for two," Piper countered, and Paige rolled her eyes.
"Oh, just put it on," she said. "I'll be able to follow you."
"What about the potion?" Piper said. "The wolf dumped it all in the sink when it was masquerading as Grams."
"Not all of it," Paige said, pulling a vial out of her pocket. "Luckily for you, I saved some before I died. Now, let's get going."
Piper sighed, slinging the cloak around her shoulders and walking over to the book of fairy tales. She put a hand on the pages, and as she started to disappear, Paige grabbed onto the edge of the cloak, trailing along behind her in a cloud of orbs.
The attic was silent after Piper and Paige had left, but they didn't have long to wait. A couple of minutes later, Phoebe-pumpkin in Henry's hands starting shaking and glowing golden, and he hurriedly set her down on the couch, before he dropped her. The pumpkin shook for a few more seconds, and then a dazed-looking Phoebe sat on the couch, staring up at them, bemusedly.
"What's going on, guys?" she asked, and Leo chuckled.
"You were a pumpkin," he informed her, and news that would have had anyone else in shock barely took Phoebe by surprise.
She just groaned out something that sounded like 'again?' before flopping dramatically back on the couch. Then, she bolted upright, something like panic in her eyes.
"Paige!" she yelped, as she jumped to her feet. "Leo, she-"
"She's fine," Henry spoke up, giving Phoebe a reassuring smile. "Trust me. She's fine."
Phoebe didn't look convinced until Paige and Piper orbed back into the attic about a minute later. Their voices preceded them into the attic, and it sounded like they were arguing.
"-one thing, the slippers weren't even red!" Paige exclaimed, she and Piper appearing in the middle of the room. "They were silver in the book, the red was only introduced for the movie. For another, The Wizard of Oz isn't even a fairy tale."
"I thought it would be cool, all right?" Piper retorted. "Being able to click my heels and appear wherever I wanted to."
"Not a fairy tale," Paige repeated, emphatically, and then she yelped when Phoebe jumped on her, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. "Oh, hi. Phoebe, I can't breathe."
"You're alive!" Phoebe crowed, happily, as she squeezed Paige. "Paige, you're alive!"
"Yeah, I've noticed," Paige said, pushing gently at Phoebe to get her to let go.
"Thanks to your prince," Piper said, teasingly, and Paige shot her a glare. "Sorry, sorry," she said, in a placating tone. "I won't mention it, again." To everyone else in the attic, she added, "Come on. We're going downstairs."
"All of us, Grams," Phoebe added, warningly, when the older woman looked like she was going to try and linger in the attic.
"Does she know that he's a mortal?" Penny hissed, sounding scandalized, as her granddaughters bustled her out of the attic.
"What's wrong with being mortal?" Henry asked, plaintively. "Didn't Prue say that your grandmother had been married six times, or something?"
"Four," Paige corrected him. "Engaged six. Um, Henry, about Piper's whole prince comment-"
Henry could feel his heart drop at the hesitant sound of her voice. He scrambled to cover the silence before Paige could say anything.
"Paige, I do love you," he told her, quickly. "You are my dearest, my oldest friend. I will always love you. As a friend."
He hoped that she bought it, that she couldn't hear the quaver in his voice.
"Friends, yeah," Paige said, after a moment, and her voice sounded slightly hoarse. "Forever, right?" she added, with a weak smile.
"Like you're ever getting rid of me?" Henry asked, rhetorically. "Hey," he added, "didn't you promise me dinner? So long as Piper is cooking, I mean?"
"Watch it, you," Paige mocked growled, under her breath. "Or this wicked witch is going to stuff you into her oven."
"You're going to have to catch me, first," Henry told her, and then he sprinted down the stairs with Paige hot on his heels, laughing the whole way.
Continued here
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
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...
*****
Henry stared at the wall in front of him, his phone falling from nerveless fingers. After a few seconds, he could hear his name being called, faintly, and he scooped up his phone from the floor.
"Henry," Piper was saying, but he cut her off before she could continue.
"Paige is dead," he said, tonelessly, praying desperately that Piper was going to tell him that he was wrong, that she hadn't just given him news that had shattered his world in a heartbeat.
"We think there's a way to fix it, though," Piper said, hastily.
"Fix it?" Henry echoed, incredulously. "Piper, she's dead. You can't fix dead."
"This, we can," Piper told him, an insistent tone in her voice. "Henry, just get over here. We can't do this without you."
She hung up before he could say anything in response. Henry glared down at his silent phone for a moment, and then he headed out to his car. He couldn't remember the drive from his apartment to Paige's house; he supposed he had a guardian angel watching out for him, in that regard. The front door was unlocked, like usual, and he stormed into the house without knocking.
"In here!" Piper called out, having heard the front door open, and Henry followed the sound of her voice to the living room.
He stopped short at the sight of Paige lying inside a glass coffin, her hands folded across her stomach. Her eyes were closed, and there was an almost peaceful expression on her too-still face. But, there was no mistaking the depth of that stillness; he'd seen it far too often on faces in the morgue.
"Oh, god," he whispered, shocked.
"Don't tell me that this is her prince," a scornful voice said, and Henry looked down to see a very short man sneering up at him, disdainfully.
"Watch it, Shorty," he snapped, automatically, and the man bristled.
"Who you calling Shorty?" he retorted, and Piper stepped between the pair of them before things could get ugly.
"Both of you, go back to your corners," she ordered. "You," she said, to the short man, "go back to taking care of my sister. And, you," she added, to Henry, "come with me for a moment."
Piper took Henry by the arm, physically steering him away Paige's motionless body. She moved them through the sunroom where he couldn't see Paige, and he sank down onto the couch, burying his face into his hands.
"She's really dead," he moaned, softly, and Piper put a hand on his shoulder.
"Henry," she started, but he shook his head, helplessly.
"How?" he demanded, hoarsely. "Piper, how did this happen?"
"A poisoned apple," Piper said, succinctly, and Henry stared at her in disbelief.
"Excuse me?" he said, faintly. "Do you want to run that by me, again?"
"We're being attacked by an evil witch," Piper told him. "She's been throwing fairy tales at us; Phoebe, got Cinderella's slippers, I have Red Riding Hood's cloak in the other room, and Paige got struck down by Snow White's poisoned apple."
"Snow White," Henry echoed. "So, that would make that man in there-"
"He and his friends are the descendents of the seven dwarves," Piper replied. "Actually, they like to be called little people – that's not important," she added, hastily, seeing the look on Henry's face. "What is important is that Paige fell prey to the same curse as Snow White, which means that she can be resurrected the same way."
"With a kiss?" Henry asked, incredulously.
"With true love's kiss," Piper corrected him, gently.
"And you thought of me," Henry said, flatly.
"You're Paige's closest friend," Piper told him. "You are, outside of this family – and maybe even within it – the person dearest to her heart."
"But, true love-" Henry protested, but Piper cut him off.
"I've seen you and Paige over the last year," she replied, softly. "There is no doubt in my mind that you love Paige, completely and without reservation. I don't think it matters if that love is romantic, or just a deep friendship. I think the only thing that matters is that you love her."
Henry finally nodded. Paige was the best thing to happen in his life, and he would do anything to save her. Even if it meant taking a chance on a fairy tale.
"What do I have to do?" he asked.
"Just a kiss," Piper reassured him.
Henry nodded, again, following her back into the living room. He went immediately back to where Paige was still lying in the glass coffin, still unnaturally quiet. His heart ached at the sight.
"We're going to go upstairs," Piper told him, quietly, indicating herself and an older woman with gray hair that Henry hadn't noticed, before. "Try to get to the bottom of this, find this witch and vanquish her. That way-"
She trailed off, but Henry had no trouble filling in the words that she had left unsaid. "That way, if I was wrong, and you can't bring Paige back, we'll still have something else to try." He nodded silently in agreement; he wanted, desperately to believe that it would work, but he just couldn't be sure.
"There's coffee in the kitchen," Piper went on, addressing the dwarves milling around the living room. "You guys drink coffee, don't you?"
"I can't sleep if I have caffeine," one of the dwarves started, but the leader, the one who'd insulted Henry, silenced him by smacking him swiftly upside the back of the head.
"We'll make ourselves scarce," he replied. "Come on, men. Let's go raid the kitchen."
"That's not what I-" Piper started to protest, as the dwarves trooped out of the room, but then she just shook her head in exasperation. "Forget it. Come on, Grams. We've got an evil witch to vanquish."
As they left, Henry turned his attention back to Paige, reaching out and brushing a hand across the glass. The glass shimmered under his hand, disappearing to leave one side completely open, and his hand brushed against her cheek. The feel of her cool skin startled him, and he blinked away the tears that burned his eyes.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, wondering if her soul was somewhere nearby, if she could hear him. "Paige, if I could take this from you, I would. In a heartbeat."
There was nothing from Paige, not even a flicker, and he supposed that he'd been fooling himself. She was dead, and according to Piper, nothing less than a kiss would revive her. A fairy tale cure for a fairy tale curse. He could almost hear Paige teasing him.
"And they lived happily ever after. The end." Henry smiled as he closed the slim book, smiling down at Pax's sleeping form. "Goodnight, my princess," he whispered, bending and brushing a kiss across her forehead. "Sleep well."
He crept out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him, and found Paige standing out in the hallway, watching him with an amused expression on her face.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could hear the affection in her voice.
"Bedtime story," Henry said, holding up the book in his hand.
"Snow White?" Paige said, dubiously, taking the book from him to glance at the title. "Oh, come on, there has got to be a better story than this one."
"What's wrong with Snow White?" Henry asked, as they walked down the hall to the living room.
"Snow White is just like all other fairy tales," Paige argued, as she dropped down onto the couch, leaning against Henry as he sat down beside her. "Full of helpless women who need big, strong men to come rescue them."
"Wow," Henry deadpanned, looking at her. "You are the least romantic person I have ever met. That's your big secret, isn't it? You hate romance."
"I do not hate romance," Paige protested, swatting at him, but Henry just grinned.
"You would take potshots at Cupid with his own bow, wouldn't you?" he teased, and Paige rolled her eyes.
"I don't hate romance," Paige insisted. "I just don't like fairy tales. The women are only there to look pretty, and wear fancy dresses, and twirl their hair until the heroes come riding on the scene. I don't want to teach Pax that. I want her to learn how to be strong on her own, to stand on her own two feet, to swoop in and be the one doing the rescuing."
"You don't think that I wouldn't be there for her in a heartbeat?" Henry asked, and Paige gave him a small smile.
"I have no doubt that you will always be my little girl's knight in shining armor," she told him, fondly. "But, I want her to know that she can always save herself."
"With you as her mom," Henry reassured her, "how could she not?"
"She would have been so beautiful," Henry murmured, shaking himself out of the memory. "Paige, I'm so sorry that I couldn't save her."
He just as quickly shook himself out of the melancholy of the old regrets. Seven years, and beating himself up wasn't going to do anything to change the past. He hadn't been able to find Pax, to save her from the monsters that had taken her. But, there was a chance that he could save her mother.
"I love you," he whispered, knowing that it was no less than the absolute truth.
Then, he bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to Paige's lips.
For a second nothing happened, and he could feel his heart sinking in his chest. Then, as he watched in amazement, color flooded back into her pale cheeks and her eyes started to slowly open. She blinked up at him, confusion in her gaze, and Henry helped her to sit up, giving her a hand out of the coffin. He stared at her, too overcome for a moment to even speak, but then he blurted out the first words to come to mind.
"Why is your hair red?"
"Hello to you, too," Paige grumbled, and then she looked back at where she'd been lying. "Um, why was I in a coffin?"
"You were dead," Henry said, trying for nonchalant, but he had a feeling that his shaky tone belied his nervousness.
"Dead?" Paige echoed, incredulously.
"I brought you back," Henry told her, and then he burst into relieved, happy laughter. "I brought you back!" he repeated, joyously, as he swept Paige up into a tight hug. "You were dead, and I brought you back. It worked!"
"Thank you," Paige told him, a smile on her face, but the rest of her words were cut off by the sound of a scream coming from upstairs.
Paige grabbed Henry's hand, pulling him with her up the stairs toward the attic. They burst through the door to find a wolf standing in the middle of the attic. The wolf snarled, its teeth bared, and Paige slowly pushed Henry behind her, reaching blindly to her side and coming up with a huge, double-bladed axe.
"Piper was up here," Henry whispered, as he warily watched the wolf. "With a woman she called Grams."
"Damn it," Paige muttered, her eyes darting around the attic, but clearly not seeing them.
"Piper said she had Red Riding Hood's cloak," Henry went on, quickly. "You don't think that thing ate them, do you?"
"And us, if we're not careful," Paige retorted. Raising her voice, she demanded of the wolf, "Where's my sister? Where's my grandmother?"
In answer, the wolf growled and leapt at them, and Paige braced the axe to swing. But, before the wolf could reach them, it exploded into a million pieces, and Piper and her grandmother tumbled to the attic floor.
"What the?" Henry asked, turning to Paige, who just shrugged as she leaned the axe against the wall.
"Piper, you okay?" she asked, getting an affirmative grunt as her older sister pushed herself to her feet.
"Getting eaten sucks," Piper groused, and Paige grinned.
"Yeah, next time you should try not being dinner," she retorted. "How'd you get out, anyway?"
"She blew him up from the inside!" the third woman said, pride in her voice. "Although, it took you long enough," she added, glancing at Piper, who simply gave the older woman a scornful glance.
"Ah, back off, Grams," Piper retorted. "I just saved your ass."
The older woman chuckled at her granddaughter's words. Then, her eyes lit on Henry, her gaze sharpening. "And, who is this?" she asked, curiously.
"This is Henry," Paige said, wrapping an arm around his. "Henry, this is Penny Halliwell. My grandmother."
"The dead one?" Henry asked, with a raised eyebrow, and Paige elbowed him gently in the stomach. "What, it's a valid question."
"Since you're back among the living," Penny commented, ignoring Henry's remark, "I take it this is your prince? I thought you didn't have a boyfriend."
"I don't," Paige replied, giving Henry a smile. "Henry's special."
Leo chose that moment to orb into the attic, holding a small, orange pumpkin. Without a word, he shoved the pumpkin into Henry's empty hands, sweeping Piper up into a tight hug.
"I could feel you," he was saying, his voice shaky. "I tried to come, but Phoebe-"
"I'm fine," Piper reassured him, gently. "We're all fine," she added, her hand resting protectively on her stomach.
"Not to ruin this tender moment," Paige spoke up, "but, where is Phoebe?"
Leo sheepishly turned and looked at the pumpkin that Henry was still holding, and Paige groaned in disbelief.
"You're kidding me," she said, flatly, and Henry stared dubiously down at the pumpkin in his hands.
"I am not kissing that," he announced. "No offense," he added, hastily, just in case Phoebe-pumpkin could hear him.
"What do we do, now?" Penny asked.
"Same thing we were, before," Piper retorted. "We find the evil witch, and we vanquish her. Although, I don't know how, since scrying was a bust-"
"I think I do," Paige said, slowly. "The wolf was after something."
"How did you notice anything other than the really huge teeth as it was lunging at us?" Henry asked, incredulously.
"Because it wasn't lunging at us," Paige corrected him. "It was aiming for that," she added, pointing at the book of fairy tales open on an old steamer trunk. "Maybe it can get back to fairy tale land, that way?"
"Worth a shot," Leo suggested. "I don't know how you access it, though."
"We can't," Piper pointed. "But, maybe Red Riding Hood can." She picked up the sleek, red cloth draped over the back of the couch. "I knew I was going to have to put this thing on, sooner or later," she said, ruefully.
"I'm not letting you go alone," Paige retorted, immediately.
"Well, this cloak isn't made for two," Piper countered, and Paige rolled her eyes.
"Oh, just put it on," she said. "I'll be able to follow you."
"What about the potion?" Piper said. "The wolf dumped it all in the sink when it was masquerading as Grams."
"Not all of it," Paige said, pulling a vial out of her pocket. "Luckily for you, I saved some before I died. Now, let's get going."
Piper sighed, slinging the cloak around her shoulders and walking over to the book of fairy tales. She put a hand on the pages, and as she started to disappear, Paige grabbed onto the edge of the cloak, trailing along behind her in a cloud of orbs.
The attic was silent after Piper and Paige had left, but they didn't have long to wait. A couple of minutes later, Phoebe-pumpkin in Henry's hands starting shaking and glowing golden, and he hurriedly set her down on the couch, before he dropped her. The pumpkin shook for a few more seconds, and then a dazed-looking Phoebe sat on the couch, staring up at them, bemusedly.
"What's going on, guys?" she asked, and Leo chuckled.
"You were a pumpkin," he informed her, and news that would have had anyone else in shock barely took Phoebe by surprise.
She just groaned out something that sounded like 'again?' before flopping dramatically back on the couch. Then, she bolted upright, something like panic in her eyes.
"Paige!" she yelped, as she jumped to her feet. "Leo, she-"
"She's fine," Henry spoke up, giving Phoebe a reassuring smile. "Trust me. She's fine."
Phoebe didn't look convinced until Paige and Piper orbed back into the attic about a minute later. Their voices preceded them into the attic, and it sounded like they were arguing.
"-one thing, the slippers weren't even red!" Paige exclaimed, she and Piper appearing in the middle of the room. "They were silver in the book, the red was only introduced for the movie. For another, The Wizard of Oz isn't even a fairy tale."
"I thought it would be cool, all right?" Piper retorted. "Being able to click my heels and appear wherever I wanted to."
"Not a fairy tale," Paige repeated, emphatically, and then she yelped when Phoebe jumped on her, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. "Oh, hi. Phoebe, I can't breathe."
"You're alive!" Phoebe crowed, happily, as she squeezed Paige. "Paige, you're alive!"
"Yeah, I've noticed," Paige said, pushing gently at Phoebe to get her to let go.
"Thanks to your prince," Piper said, teasingly, and Paige shot her a glare. "Sorry, sorry," she said, in a placating tone. "I won't mention it, again." To everyone else in the attic, she added, "Come on. We're going downstairs."
"All of us, Grams," Phoebe added, warningly, when the older woman looked like she was going to try and linger in the attic.
"Does she know that he's a mortal?" Penny hissed, sounding scandalized, as her granddaughters bustled her out of the attic.
"What's wrong with being mortal?" Henry asked, plaintively. "Didn't Prue say that your grandmother had been married six times, or something?"
"Four," Paige corrected him. "Engaged six. Um, Henry, about Piper's whole prince comment-"
Henry could feel his heart drop at the hesitant sound of her voice. He scrambled to cover the silence before Paige could say anything.
"Paige, I do love you," he told her, quickly. "You are my dearest, my oldest friend. I will always love you. As a friend."
He hoped that she bought it, that she couldn't hear the quaver in his voice.
"Friends, yeah," Paige said, after a moment, and her voice sounded slightly hoarse. "Forever, right?" she added, with a weak smile.
"Like you're ever getting rid of me?" Henry asked, rhetorically. "Hey," he added, "didn't you promise me dinner? So long as Piper is cooking, I mean?"
"Watch it, you," Paige mocked growled, under her breath. "Or this wicked witch is going to stuff you into her oven."
"You're going to have to catch me, first," Henry told her, and then he sprinted down the stairs with Paige hot on his heels, laughing the whole way.
Continued here
