Prue hadn’t felt right since the day Shax, the Source’s assassin, had quite literally blown into the manor like a storm and changed her life. That was to be expected, of course. She had lost a sister that day, but there was something else, something…off. The feeling had been nagging at her ever since Leo revived her with his Healing Touch, with seconds to spare by all accounts.

Looking back, she and Piper had believed Phoebe to be upstairs, retrieving the vanquishing spell for Shax, but she never returned from her trip to the attic. Not alive, anyway. Without Phoebe to call for Leo following the attack, he had to be alerted to their plight by her demonic, on-again, off-again boyfriend, Cole, of all people.

Leo heard Cole’s call just in time to save Prue and Piper, but not fast enough to save the innocent they were supposed to protect, Shax’s target, Dr. Griffiths. And as for Phoebe…

***

After taking in the reality of their situation—Piper lying next to her amidst the debris of the wall they had evidently both been blasted through, Leo tending to the doctor's lifeless body, hanging limply out of the shattered dining room window, and Phoebe nowhere to be seen—Prue flew into a panic, racing up the staircase in search of her youngest sister, pushing Cole aside as she did, even as he tried to communicate with her.

Somehow, she knew something had happened to Phoebe. When there was no hide nor hair of her upstairs, Prue tried to ignore the tears she had seen streaming down Cole’s face, tried to convince herself that Shax had kidnapped Phoebe, but the truth was worse. Much worse. It was Piper’s howl of grief that confirmed it.

Prue rushed down to the first floor, where she found Piper bawling uncontrollably, draped over Phoebe’s body, which lay motionless on the living room sofa. Cole was crying too, slumped against the wall, covered in wounds. “Piper,” she called. “Piper, move out of the way, so Leo can get to her!”

Piper only sobbed harder at this, so Prue turned to Leo, her eyes wide with accusation. “Why are you just standing there? Move her. Do something!”

Leo looked to Prue with watery eyes. “I’m sorry, Prue. I tried. It’s too late. She’s gon—”

“Don’t say that! Don’t you dare say that!” Prue chastised in a menacing tone, relinquishing Piper’s grip on their sister by force, and taking Phoebe’s pulse by the wrist, then the neck. “Phoebe? Wake up, sweetie. Wake up!”

“Oh, God, Prue, how can this be happening?” Piper sobbed.

“Piper, please, I can’t hear!” Prue snapped, with her ear to Phoebe’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. She then dragged the body down to the floor, interlocked her fingers, and began chest compressions.

“What are you doing?” Cole spat.

“CPR, what does it look like?” she retorted before angling Phoebe’s head back and performing the breath of life.

“Prue…” Leo said with concern.

“Oh, God,” whined Piper again.

"Stop," Cole demanded, his face contorted with disgust. He was visibly perturbed by the sight and sound of the headstrong woman’s futile efforts. “Stop it, you’ll hurt… You’ll break something!”

“Better a broken rib than dead,” Prue asserted as she continued to pump away to no avail.

Cole got to his feet and grabbed Prue by the arm. “I said stop, damn it!” he rasped.

“Get your damn hands off me!” Prue expelled, whipping her arm out of Cole’s grip, sending him flying across the foyer with a wave of Telekinesis in the process.

“Prue!” cried Leo.

As Cole struggled to his feet, Prue ordered, “Piper, just freeze him, would you?”

“Wha-what?” Piper stammered between sobs, worried about the volatility of her newest power, especially given her current condition. “I m-might blow him u-up.”

“What a tragedy that would be. Honestly, Phoebe, when this is all over, we need to have a long talk about…” Prue’s voice trailed off at that point, and her breathing became ragged. As she heard herself speaking to her dead sister’s body, the reality of the scene seemed to sink in. The blood on her trembling hands, the scorch marks on Phoebe’s skin and clothes, Piper’s hyperventilating, and whatever insults Cole was now hurling at her as Leo tried to calm him… It all hit her at once.

The sisters knew by now that their powers were linked to their emotions—Leo had reminded them of that often enough—but the subsequent pulse of Telekinesis that Prue released still took her by surprise. Everything in her radius was affected. The coffee table, the plants, the mirror, the front windows, the television, the sofa, Phoebe's body, and even Piper, were all assaulted before Prue passed out, either from the exertion or the shock.

It was just fifteen minutes later when she awoke in the parlor, past her denial and ready for answers. Annoyingly, it was Cole who provided them, the only person who could. And what a story it was, so crazy that Prue had no choice but to believe him, even if she wasn’t inclined to trust the word of a demon.

According to Cole, after fending off Shax’s attack, or original attack, as the case may be, Prue and Piper were revealed to the world as witches. Things had quickly spiraled out of control, and Piper had somehow died. The existence of demons had been exposed too, so at Phoebe’s urging, Cole had approached the Source with a solution, to reset time for the sake of both sides.

The Source had forced his powerful but injured sorcerer, Tempus, to comply at the cost of his life. In exchange for this, he demanded that Phoebe remain in the Underworld as his prisoner. She agreed in order to save Piper’s life, and there, beyond the reach of Tempus’ spell, she and Cole had fought for their lives.

“After Leo confirmed what happened to Piper, Phoebe hugged him and got a Premonition of Prue dead. That’s when she insisted Leo return before time was reset,” Cole explained in a detached manner, his face now devoid of emotion. “The Source didn’t want Phoebe as a prisoner, of course. He wanted her dead, and me along with her. He sent his guards to do away with us.

“I was expecting that much. What I didn’t predict was that a dark witch would be among them. She worked a spell to prevent my Shimmering. It was a smart move. We couldn’t escape, so we fought. Phoebe was amazing… She killed more of them than I did once she got a hold of a sword. But there were too many. She took out the witch, but before I could get us out of there…”

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Prue wiped her face of tears. “Something,” she started, but her voice cracked, so she coughed to clear her throat and continued. “Something doesn’t make sense about that. I thought Piper was the one who died in the alternate timeline, so why did Phoebe get a Premonition of me dying?”

“What I don’t understand,” Piper addressed to Leo, “is why you didn’t just Orb her the hell out of there?”

Leo looked taken aback and hurt. “I… I can’t answer that. Technically, I wasn’t there. That was my future self,” he explained. “But…if you had died…”

“So, you chose me over Phoebe, because I’m your wife?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, Piper. I meant that if Phoebe thought sacrificing her freedom was the only way to save you, do you think she would have allowed me to stop her? Once she sets her mind on something—”

“There’s no convincing her. Kinda like how she insisted on going down there in the first place,” said Prue with a glare in Cole’s direction. He didn’t react to her provocation, though. He seemed…broken. “Well, whatever the full story may be, we’ll get it from Phoebe.”

“What are you saying?” asked Leo.

“Magic did this, magic can fix it,” said Prue. “Come on, Piper, Book of Shadows. We’re bringing Phoebe back.”

Leo's jaw dropped, while Cole shook his head. Before they could begin arguing, however, a siren rang out. Apparently, one of the neighbors had alerted the police to a “possible disturbance”. And no wonder.

***

A week of endless questions and failed spells later, Prue still had that odd feeling of foreboding. Something about Phoebe’s death wasn’t adding up, and she couldn’t help shaking the thought that it was somehow linked to that Premonition.

Shax hadn’t succeeded in killing her or Piper in either version of that day, so it didn’t make sense. Did Phoebe sending Leo back prevent it? If Leo had been with her when the Source’s goons attacked, couldn’t he have Orbed her and Cole to safety? In that scenario, with Leo out of reach, would Prue have been the one to die? Technically speaking, had she died that day? Was she supposed to be alive?

Prue shook off her dark thoughts. Now was not the time for an existential crisis. She was deep in enemy territory and had somewhere to be in an hour.

“What’s the matter with you?” Cole whispered.

“Nothing,” Prue hissed in reply, narrowing her green eyes.

“What was that shudder? If you’re not up to this, we should leave.”

Prue rolled her eyes and peered around the rock they were hiding behind. “I’m fine! Just focus on what we’re here for,” she said, indicating her head in the direction of their quarry, a hulking man, and his considerably shorter companion, who had just entered the torchlit cavern. Each wore a tattered gray trench coat and shabby human clothing underneath. “I’ll take the big guy.”

Cole took Prue firmly by the wrist, preventing her from jumping up from their hiding place. "I’ll take the big one,” he said with a stern expression.

“Fine, whatever, just take your hand off me,” Prue warned through gritted teeth.

Cole acquiesced, and mouthed, “On three. One. Two—” He sighed and huffed irritably as Prue sprang up early and made a dash for the pair of demons, her low brown ponytail and floor-length black coat billowing behind her as she ran.

When they heard her approach, the demons turned and raised their right arms, undoubtedly planning to unleash Lightning Bolts from their palms.

Low-level demons such as these Zotar didn’t pack much of a punch, but there was no sense in letting them get in a shot. Anticipating their shoot-first-ask-questions-later response, Prue had brought her hands together as if in prayer. She then separated them forcefully, telekinetically flinging the demons in opposite directions, who landed hard, far from each other.

She left the big one for Cole, after all, hoping the more muscular demon might just give the man a good thrashing, something she had been longing to do herself. Sadly, Cole proceeded to transform into his demonic form, the fearsome crimson-skinned being known as Belthazor, and began savagely beating the foe he now towered over.

Focusing on her own fight, Prue ducked a surprisingly well-aimed Lightning Bolt from the smaller Zotar, then rushed in to force a close combat fight. She took pleasure in smacking him around for a while, delivering a steel-toed boot to the groin and a leather-clad knee to the face when he buckled over in pain, then finished with a telekinetic thrust that pinned him to the rocky wall of the cavern.

Keeping her left hand raised to hold him in place with her power, Prue retrieved an athame from her coat pocket with her free hand, twirling it playfully between her fingers. “You know who I am?” she asked.

“The witch!” he spat with disdain.

“That’s right,” said Prue. From behind her, she heard the tell-tale signs of Belthazor disposing of the bigger Zotar with an Energy Ball. As planned, Cole had timed it just right, so one could watch the other’s fiery demise. She looked over her shoulder at the black scorch marks that now marked the craggy wall.

The pinned Zotar’s eyes were wide with fear.

“He didn’t want the job,” said the seven-foot-tall Belthazor with a sinister snarl, fangs bared in a satisfied smile as he crossed the cavern to join Prue and her captive.

“Pity,” said Prue simply. “Maybe this guy will be interested.”

“What job?” he asked.

“You’re a bounty hunter, right? Well, I’m having trouble tracking someone. I want you to find them for me using your abilities,” she clarified.

The Zotar looked like he wanted to laugh, but as his eyes darted between Prue’s knife and Belthazor’s terrifying visage, he managed to contain himself. “W-why would I help you?”

"For the bounty, of course," said Prue, looking at her partner in crime. "Was that unclear? If so, I apologize. Did you think we wouldn't pay? Come on, we're the good guys. If you help us out, we're not going to let you go home empty-handed.”

Prue let out a chuckle of embarrassment, and even Belthazor leaned back and barked. The Zotar nervously joined in. “W-what’s the bounty?” he asked.

Neither Prue nor Belthazor was laughing anymore. Their faces deadly serious, the latter rasped, "Your life!"

“Ah,” said the Zotar, his eyes flickering to what remained of his vanquished comrade.

“Is a strand of hair enough for you to get a scent?” asked Prue.

“Err, y-yes, should be. Who’s the mark?”

After a pause, Prue confirmed, “Shax.”

Immediately, the Zotar said, “The Source’s assassin? No, no way! He’ll kill me!”

“I will kill you!” Prue growled, using her power to throw the athame deep into the wall, not an inch from the terrified Zotar’s face. “Like I’ve killed every other one of your kind that’s refused me. But I won’t just kill you. I will do it in the most painful way imaginable, then I’ll curse you to endure that pain for all eternity!”

“Y-you don’t have the power. You’re not a Charmed One anymore,” he asserted weakly.

Prue scowled darkly for a moment, then chanted, “Evil hunter in my grasp, who doubts the power of my craft, with this spell I now will cast, know the pain of victims past.”

His eyes closed tightly, the Zotar was braced for pain. When none came, he began to roar with laughter.

Prue looked unbothered. With a come-hither curl of her forefinger, she mentally retrieved her athame and threw it again. When it sunk into her target’s hand, the sound of laughter that filled the cavern quickly turned to cries of agony. “Believe me now?” she asked.

Between, bloodcurdling screams, the Zotar managed to get out, “YES! PLEASE STOP! I’LL DO IT! I’LL FIND SHAX!” However, those were his last words.

All at once, Prue felt herself tugged backward, narrowly avoiding a Lightning Bolt meant for her head, while two more struck her now-compliant Zotar. The pain of the attacks, amplified by her spell, elicited an unworldly shriek from him before he combusted.

“No!” Prue cried in frustration as she felt Belthazor’s arms dragging her away and into nothingness.