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Fic: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn (22/37)
Title: 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...
*****
"Piper!" Paige cried, and she stretched a hand out toward her sister's fallen form, electricity crackling at her fingertips.
But, she couldn't summon enough energy to blast the demons, and Paige silently cursed herself for already forgetting Leo's words. Her powers were going dormant; she couldn't keep relying on them to protect her.
'Prue's power it is, then,' she thought, but for a moment, she couldn't remember how to use it.
Waving her hand did nothing, as did squinting, and she distinctly remembered Piper and Phoebe telling her that was how Prue had activated her power. Then, she remembered the candle, and how she'd had to call for it before it would move.
'Well, that's damn inconvenient,' she thought, irritably. 'I am going to have to find a way around that.'
But, for now, she was going to have to work with what she had. Looking quickly around the room, she couldn't see anything to use as a weapon, but she thought she remembered seeing a fireplace poker in the living room.
"Poker!" she called out, feeling a rush of triumph when the desired object orbed into her hand.
She hefted the poker in her hand like a makeshift spear, throwing it at the demons and hitting one in the leg. The demon howled in agony as the poker sank into her thigh, and the trio disappeared in puffs of smoke.
Paige dashed across the room, falling to her knees at Piper's side, her fingers already pressed against her sister's throat. When she couldn't find a pulse, she immediately started compressions on Piper's chest, counting out ten before bending to deliver two breaths.
"Leo!" she yelled, as she started the cycle again. "Leo, get in here!"
The Whitelighter ran into the room, kneeling down beside her, his hands already glowing with a bright light. Paige leaned back on her heels to give Leo room to work, holding her breath, anxiously, while she waited for the healing to take effect.
"Check on Phoebe," Leo suggested, tersely, while he was healing Piper, but when Paige glanced back, Cole was already helping Phoebe to her feet, both of them looking unsteady on their feet.
Paige moved toward the pair, helping Cole get Phoebe seated on the couch. A dark knot was rapidly forming on her temple and her eyes were slightly unfocused. Cole was still bleeding.
"Didn't Leo heal you?" Paige asked.
"Demon," Cole reminded her, ruefully. "Or, half-demon. Leo can only heal my human half."
"And, unfortunately," Leo said, from the other side of the room where he was helping Piper to her feet, "it was Cole's demonic half that was injured."
He crossed the room to where they were standing, healing the bruise on Phoebe's head. Paige watched him, thinking for a moment.
"I'm half Whitelighter, right?" she asked Leo, who nodded. "So, in theory, couldn't that cancel out Cole's demonic half? Can't we heal him that way?"
"Worth a shot," Leo said, with a shrug. "Here, hold my hand, and put your free hand over his wound."
Paige gripped Leo's hand, holding her free hand over the slow trickle of blood from Cole's nose. Leo's hand was next to hers, and both of their hands glowed with a golden energy. Cole's wounds slowly healed, the blood vanishing and leaving his face unmarked.
"Okay, that's cool," Paige decided, as they finished healing Cole.
"It's a part of who you are," Leo reminded her. "I wouldn't be surprised if you manifested all of a Whitelighter's powers, some day."
"I should probably get used to this power, first," Paige replied. "So, what was up with the demons?"
"They're called Furies," Cole supplied.
"We fought them this morning," Phoebe added, shooting a look at Piper that left Paige clueless. "They were probably here in retaliation."
"Hey, they're demons," Piper snapped. "We fight demons, or have you forgotten?"
"No, I haven't forgotten," Phoebe replied, testily. "But, the demons come to us, we don't bring the fight to them. We have a system."
"I'd say that Prue getting killed counts as a pretty big glitch in the system," Piper retorted, angrily.
"Okay, what am I missing, here?" Paige asked Cole, softly, leaning over to where he was sitting.
Cole shook his head, but before he could say anything, Paige's cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her pocket, moving away so that she could hear better.
"Hey, Henry," she greeted, and she heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.
"What, are you psychic, now?" he asked, teasingly.
"No, that's Phoebe's power," Paige joked back, smiling. "But, you know, caller ID doesn't hurt."
"Are we still on for lunch?" Henry asked, and Paige glanced down at her watch, grimacing when she realized how late it had gotten. If she left it too much later, she was going to have to orb back to work to avoid being late.
"Rain check," she said, apologetically. "How about dinner?"
"We'll try that new Italian place," Henry suggested. "Pick you up at eight?"
"Eight-thirty," Paige corrected. "I'm pulling a shift at the hospital, tonight."
"It's a date," Henry said, and when Paige started laughing, he huffed, impatiently. "Oh, you know what I mean."
"I'll see you, tonight," Paige said, grinning, and then she hung up the phone, turning around to see everyone watching her. "Something wrong?" she prompted, when they continued to just stare at her.
"Who were you just talking to?" Piper asked, and Paige raised an eyebrow at the cold, almost hostile tone in her sister's voice.
"Excuse me?" Paige asked, incredulously. "No offense, but how is that any of your business?"
"It's our business," Piper said, icily, "when you start talking to people outside this family about our magic."
"What?" Paige demanded in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"No, that's Phoebe's power," Piper parroted her earlier words, an angry tone in her voice. "What were you thinking? How could you just tell some random stranger about us?"
"He's not some random stranger," Paige snapped, defending Henry. "He's my best friend. I trust Henry with my life."
"Well, I hope that Phoebe and I can trust him with ours," Piper shot back, "because you've just exposed us as witches to someone we've never even met."
"One person!" Paige protested, hotly.
"And that one person could expose us to the entire world!" Piper yelled, a nearby glass shattering as her power surged. "Damn it, Paige, how could you be so stupid?"
"Piper," Leo said, quietly, she ignored him in favor of glaring at Paige.
"Would you just relax?" Paige gritted out, forcing herself to stay calm in the face of Piper's rage. "It's not like Henry's going to go running to some tabloid at the first chance he gets."
Piper shook her head in disgust. She wouldn't look at Paige, like she couldn't bear to. "Maybe you'd feel differently about it if you'd lost a sister," she snapped.
Paige rocked back on her heels at the verbal slap Piper had given her, staring in disbelief at the woman she'd thought was her sister. Hot tears pricked at her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. She took a shuddering breath, hands clenching into fists at her sides as she tried not to yell at Piper. It wouldn't help, and in the mood she was in, Piper probably wouldn't believe her, anyway.
Behind Piper, Phoebe was hovering at her shoulder, an anxious look on her face. Her eyes kept darting between Paige and Piper, like she wasn't sure whose side she was supposed to take. Paige felt her heart clench, painfully, when she realized that it wasn't going to be hers.
"If you need me," she said, struggling to keep her voice even, "I am going to be at work."
"We don't need you," Piper snapped at her back, as she headed for the front door, and Paige angrily blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over.
'I don't need you, either,' she thought, furiously. She made it all the way out to her car before the tears finally fell, and she bent over her steering wheel, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
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...
*****
"Piper!" Paige cried, and she stretched a hand out toward her sister's fallen form, electricity crackling at her fingertips.
But, she couldn't summon enough energy to blast the demons, and Paige silently cursed herself for already forgetting Leo's words. Her powers were going dormant; she couldn't keep relying on them to protect her.
'Prue's power it is, then,' she thought, but for a moment, she couldn't remember how to use it.
Waving her hand did nothing, as did squinting, and she distinctly remembered Piper and Phoebe telling her that was how Prue had activated her power. Then, she remembered the candle, and how she'd had to call for it before it would move.
'Well, that's damn inconvenient,' she thought, irritably. 'I am going to have to find a way around that.'
But, for now, she was going to have to work with what she had. Looking quickly around the room, she couldn't see anything to use as a weapon, but she thought she remembered seeing a fireplace poker in the living room.
"Poker!" she called out, feeling a rush of triumph when the desired object orbed into her hand.
She hefted the poker in her hand like a makeshift spear, throwing it at the demons and hitting one in the leg. The demon howled in agony as the poker sank into her thigh, and the trio disappeared in puffs of smoke.
Paige dashed across the room, falling to her knees at Piper's side, her fingers already pressed against her sister's throat. When she couldn't find a pulse, she immediately started compressions on Piper's chest, counting out ten before bending to deliver two breaths.
"Leo!" she yelled, as she started the cycle again. "Leo, get in here!"
The Whitelighter ran into the room, kneeling down beside her, his hands already glowing with a bright light. Paige leaned back on her heels to give Leo room to work, holding her breath, anxiously, while she waited for the healing to take effect.
"Check on Phoebe," Leo suggested, tersely, while he was healing Piper, but when Paige glanced back, Cole was already helping Phoebe to her feet, both of them looking unsteady on their feet.
Paige moved toward the pair, helping Cole get Phoebe seated on the couch. A dark knot was rapidly forming on her temple and her eyes were slightly unfocused. Cole was still bleeding.
"Didn't Leo heal you?" Paige asked.
"Demon," Cole reminded her, ruefully. "Or, half-demon. Leo can only heal my human half."
"And, unfortunately," Leo said, from the other side of the room where he was helping Piper to her feet, "it was Cole's demonic half that was injured."
He crossed the room to where they were standing, healing the bruise on Phoebe's head. Paige watched him, thinking for a moment.
"I'm half Whitelighter, right?" she asked Leo, who nodded. "So, in theory, couldn't that cancel out Cole's demonic half? Can't we heal him that way?"
"Worth a shot," Leo said, with a shrug. "Here, hold my hand, and put your free hand over his wound."
Paige gripped Leo's hand, holding her free hand over the slow trickle of blood from Cole's nose. Leo's hand was next to hers, and both of their hands glowed with a golden energy. Cole's wounds slowly healed, the blood vanishing and leaving his face unmarked.
"Okay, that's cool," Paige decided, as they finished healing Cole.
"It's a part of who you are," Leo reminded her. "I wouldn't be surprised if you manifested all of a Whitelighter's powers, some day."
"I should probably get used to this power, first," Paige replied. "So, what was up with the demons?"
"They're called Furies," Cole supplied.
"We fought them this morning," Phoebe added, shooting a look at Piper that left Paige clueless. "They were probably here in retaliation."
"Hey, they're demons," Piper snapped. "We fight demons, or have you forgotten?"
"No, I haven't forgotten," Phoebe replied, testily. "But, the demons come to us, we don't bring the fight to them. We have a system."
"I'd say that Prue getting killed counts as a pretty big glitch in the system," Piper retorted, angrily.
"Okay, what am I missing, here?" Paige asked Cole, softly, leaning over to where he was sitting.
Cole shook his head, but before he could say anything, Paige's cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her pocket, moving away so that she could hear better.
"Hey, Henry," she greeted, and she heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.
"What, are you psychic, now?" he asked, teasingly.
"No, that's Phoebe's power," Paige joked back, smiling. "But, you know, caller ID doesn't hurt."
"Are we still on for lunch?" Henry asked, and Paige glanced down at her watch, grimacing when she realized how late it had gotten. If she left it too much later, she was going to have to orb back to work to avoid being late.
"Rain check," she said, apologetically. "How about dinner?"
"We'll try that new Italian place," Henry suggested. "Pick you up at eight?"
"Eight-thirty," Paige corrected. "I'm pulling a shift at the hospital, tonight."
"It's a date," Henry said, and when Paige started laughing, he huffed, impatiently. "Oh, you know what I mean."
"I'll see you, tonight," Paige said, grinning, and then she hung up the phone, turning around to see everyone watching her. "Something wrong?" she prompted, when they continued to just stare at her.
"Who were you just talking to?" Piper asked, and Paige raised an eyebrow at the cold, almost hostile tone in her sister's voice.
"Excuse me?" Paige asked, incredulously. "No offense, but how is that any of your business?"
"It's our business," Piper said, icily, "when you start talking to people outside this family about our magic."
"What?" Paige demanded in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"No, that's Phoebe's power," Piper parroted her earlier words, an angry tone in her voice. "What were you thinking? How could you just tell some random stranger about us?"
"He's not some random stranger," Paige snapped, defending Henry. "He's my best friend. I trust Henry with my life."
"Well, I hope that Phoebe and I can trust him with ours," Piper shot back, "because you've just exposed us as witches to someone we've never even met."
"One person!" Paige protested, hotly.
"And that one person could expose us to the entire world!" Piper yelled, a nearby glass shattering as her power surged. "Damn it, Paige, how could you be so stupid?"
"Piper," Leo said, quietly, she ignored him in favor of glaring at Paige.
"Would you just relax?" Paige gritted out, forcing herself to stay calm in the face of Piper's rage. "It's not like Henry's going to go running to some tabloid at the first chance he gets."
Piper shook her head in disgust. She wouldn't look at Paige, like she couldn't bear to. "Maybe you'd feel differently about it if you'd lost a sister," she snapped.
Paige rocked back on her heels at the verbal slap Piper had given her, staring in disbelief at the woman she'd thought was her sister. Hot tears pricked at her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. She took a shuddering breath, hands clenching into fists at her sides as she tried not to yell at Piper. It wouldn't help, and in the mood she was in, Piper probably wouldn't believe her, anyway.
Behind Piper, Phoebe was hovering at her shoulder, an anxious look on her face. Her eyes kept darting between Paige and Piper, like she wasn't sure whose side she was supposed to take. Paige felt her heart clench, painfully, when she realized that it wasn't going to be hers.
"If you need me," she said, struggling to keep her voice even, "I am going to be at work."
"We don't need you," Piper snapped at her back, as she headed for the front door, and Paige angrily blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over.
'I don't need you, either,' she thought, furiously. She made it all the way out to her car before the tears finally fell, and she bent over her steering wheel, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
Continued here