AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was inspired by a piece of Piper & Leo Fan Art, using the words from Elton John & LeAnn Rimes' "Written in the Stars". All feedback appreciated/

DEDICATION: To Melanie Sampson (Lost Halliwell) Thanks for the inspiration.

THANK YOU to Seneca Suter and Suzanne Acton for proofreading and valuable suggestions.

DISCLAIMER: Based on the Spelling Productions television show, Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge. All Charmed characters are the property of Spelling Productions. Dream was created by Neil Gaiman and is the property of DC Comics. All other characters created by me.

Leo Wyatt dropped to one knee in the middle of P3's deserted dance floor and taking a small box out of his shirt pocket, presented it to Piper. He took a deep breath before beginning. ""They" have finally given in. We can be together," he told her, studying her brown eyes for their reaction. "If you want to be, that is." Taking another breath, the words came tumbling out in a half fearful, half hopeful rush. "Piper, marry me."

Piper was dumbstruck. She opened the box. Inside lay a ring. It was white gold, set with a beautiful pale green stone--a peridot, Piper's birthstone. Surrounding the gemstone like a frame was an exquisite ring of small diamonds. Out of almost instinctive panic Piper gestured, freezing the room and Leo with it. Gazing down at him, still on his knees, Piper laughed, "Piper Kathryn Halliwell," she admonished herself, "What are you doing? Leo finally pops the question and you freeze him?" She smiled. She always used to freeze the room when panicked or surprised, especially when she'd first got the power. She blew out her bangs with a rueful sigh; it seemed old habits died hard.

She gestured once more and Leo returned to life. A beaming Piper, now slightly calmer, was able to answer her boyfriend. Just one word, but it was the most wonderful sound Leo would ever hear, "Yes."

Leo's face was wreathed in smiles as he stood up and slipped the ring onto Piper's finger. "So now what?" he asked.

Piper smiled. Before Leo's arrival that afternoon, she'd been overseeing the installation of a new sound system and had tested it out by indulging in a private karaoke session. Leo making his surprise visit had caught her in the act. Reprising her song she sang softly, "Go on, go on, come on, leave me breathless."

Only too happy to oblige, Leo took Piper in his arms, and kissed his brand new fiance.

Then Leo broke the kiss, looking skyward, "What now," he breathed, annoyance clouding his features. As Leo received "Their" message, his face darkened in a frown. The frown stayed on his face as he looked back at Piper.

"Of all the luck," he said in disbelief.

"What?" said Piper, although she already knew she wouldn't like the answer.

"A whitelighter's been killed by a darklighter. The Elders want me to cover for him until they get a replacement."

"How long?"

"A month, maybe two," answered Leo resignedly. "Damn. I had tonight all planned, a movie, a candlelit restaurant."

"We'll keep them on hold. This is what our life together is going to be like, remember?"

"Yes but not just when I ask you to get engaged! It's not fair. And as you say *this* is what it's *always* going to be like." Frustrated, Leo continued, "Piper, sometimes I almost think that somehow this is all fated, written in the stars. That we're being made to pay for a crime."

Piper giggled. Seeing Leo's stern face she explained, "I'm not laughing at you. It's just that you almost quoted the lyrics of this song I know." Softly Piper began to sing once more,

"Is it written in the stars
Are we paying for some crime
Is that all that we are good for
Just a stretch of mortal time

Is this God's experiment
In which we have no say
In which we're given paradise
But only for a day"

Leo smiled wistfully, "That could almost be our song." Then taking Piper in his arms he gave her a long lingering embrace, "I love you." He finally whispered gently into her ear.

Piper reached her arms around Leo's neck and pulled his head down, her lips meeting his as she kissed him tenderly. Breaking the kiss she looked up into his twinkling blue eyes, "I love you."

With one last look, Leo looked skyward, then transformed into a myriad of blue and white light and orbed upwards leaving Piper to stand alone on the empty stage.

* * *

Lying in her bed, Piper was unable to sleep. Leo's throwaway remark was troubling her. In a way he was right. She thought to herself. Every time it seemed as if they were getting somewhere, something happened to upset it. And it wasn't just in this life. She knew from Phoebe that back in the '20s, she and Leo had been lovers, even though she was married to Dan. She mulled that around in her head, stretching under the heap of covers, and fluffing the pillow into a slightly more comfortable lump. Surely that meant that there had been problems, insurmountable ones, back then as well? She sighed.

She was over the moon at getting engaged to Leo. It was what she'd dreamed of, but she had to wonder, Was it meant to be? More than that, Leo's words, "written in the stars," seemed to remind her of something. She couldn't help but feel that there was some memory trying to break through but was unable to put her finger on it. Leo never said anything like that before, but why did that phrase sound so familiar? She wondered.

I wish I knew. I just need some kind of revelation. Finally, with that thought Piper drifted off into a troubled sleep.

* * *

The man sat enthroned upon a seat carved of horn and ivory. He was tall and thin, easily 6 foot 4. From head to foot he was clad in a black robe that seemed somehow to have been cut from the fabric of night, its folds and pleats moving almost as if alive. At his waist hung a small drawstring bag. His skin was so pale as to appear white. His face, like his frame was long and thin, and defined by strong cheekbones. His head was topped with a shock of black hair that grew in all directions. It was a handsome face overall, but the most striking feature were his eyes. They were two black holes, and in their centres' where the pupils should be, was the glitter of twin stars.

His name was Dream of the Endless. He ruled the realm that mortals visited each night as they slept, as they dreamt. His was the kingdom of dreams and nightmare. A rare smile played on his lips as he softly said, "You seek revelation, Piper Halliwell? Revelation you shall have." His hand went into the pouch at his waist and came out holding a pinch of sand. The Dream King brought the glimmering sand to his lips and blew, sending the grains sailing into the air.

In her bed, Piper tossed and turned as she slept. For a brief instant the room was illuminated by a myriad of golden lights, each one of them no bigger than a grain of sand. As the lights rained down, and winked out around her, Piper's movement ceased and she began to dream.

* * *

"Miss Matthews. May I have the pleasure of this next dance?"

Piper looked up from behind her fan. Standing before her, in the cadet grey uniform of a Confederate States officer was Leo. "Leo?" she wondered to herself. Then memory dawned. Not simply "Leo", it was Leonard-- First Lieutenant Leonard Fuller of the recently formed Texas Light Cavalry. And her sweetheart.

As she glanced around her, other things suddenly came flooding back. Her name was not Piper. It was Polly Matthews. She was at a grand ball being given as a farewell for all the officers who would soon join their regiments to fight in the now unavoidable war between the states.

Offering her hand to her beau, Polly spoke with the charm of a true Southern Belle, "Sir, nothing would give me more pleasure."

Taking her hand Leonard led Polly onto the floor. They circled the room in each other's arms, looking deeply, lovingly into each other's eyes. As they danced unawares, a woman with black hair and blue-grey eyes watched them coldly from the edge of the room.

When the dance finished, Polly made her way to the buffet table for a cooling cup of punch. As the attendant dipped the ladle into a delicately carved crystal bowl, a voice addressed her from behind. "Why, Cousin Polly. I haven't seen you in weeks."

Polly turned delightedly to meet the dark eyes and easy smile of her cousin Penny. "Well, I must confess I have been rather taken up with… matters."

Taking hold of her cousin's arm, and guiding her into a corner so they could talk confidentially, Penny answered, "So I have heard. These matters would not involve a certain officer of your acquaintance?"

Polly smiled, dropping her gaze.

Her cousin frowned, "Perdita has not forgotten Leonard breaking off their…friendship, during his West Point days." Like many Southern gentlemen, Leonard had been an officer in the Union army but had left to join the South when his home state seceded. "His courting of you is something I do not feel she is inclined to let pass unchallenged." Dropping her voice to a whisper, Penny finished, "Be careful Polly. You know she has strong powers when roused."

Her voice also a whisper, Polly replied, "You fear too much. However Perdita feels, she would not harm her own sister."

Kissing her cousin on the cheek, who still looked unconvinced, Polly returned to the side of the dashing young officer. They had been dancing together for a few more sets when Leonard asked, "It is a warm night. I could do with some fresh air. Would you walk outside with me?"

Nodding her agreement Polly took Leonard's arm and together they retreated from the dance floor, and walked into the garden. Leading her outside, they stood to one side of the French doors through which they had exited. In this way they still had light so they could see and be seen, ensuring no accusations of impropriety could be made, yet the position also allowed their conversation to be unheard.

From his uniform jackets' breast pocket he took a small wrapped package. Leonard passed it to Polly who gingerly removed the wrapping. In a small frame was a photograph of Leonard, taken that very day. "I would be grateful if you would think of me while I am away, and accept this as a token of my…" He paused, then finished, "Love."

Polly's world seemed to spin around her. At last the words she had been longing to hear. With absolute certainty she gave her reply. "Leonard, I love you. I will look at your picture each night and pray for your safe return."

"You need not pray for me," he told her. "I will return and when I do, I will ask you for your hand. Nothing will keep me from that, for our love is fated." He smiled and looked up at the beautiful clear Southern sky. "Written in the stars."

"Written in the stars is it?" The couple turned to see a striking woman walking toward them. She was dressed in a black silk ball gown, her black hair piled up on her head in the latest fashion. Her face was twisted in fury and her eyes were filled with ice. "You spurned my love," she said quietly, staring coldly at Leonard before shifting her gaze to Polly, "And you betrayed me and stole him away."

"You betrayed yourself," Leonard told Polly's elder sister. "While I was at the Point, you changed. You became cold, and distant. Not the person I had known."

"So you pursued my sister instead." Perdita snapped back.

"He merely wrote letters to me," refuted Polly. "But in time, yes, we came to love each other. Can you not feel happy for us, rather than this mad jealousy?"

Perdita laughed then. "Oh I shall be happy. But you shall not. Let this also be written in your stars." Venomously she continued, "I curse your love. You shall long to be together, but forever be forced apart. Your love will bring you neither peace nor joy, but only torture and heartbreak. In this life and all others. From now and until the end of time."

With the terrible curse uttered, Perdita turned on her heel, and disappeared into the crowded ballroom.

Tears came to Polly's eyes. Seeing them, Leonard told her softly, "Do let not your sister upset you. The poor creature is insane with jealously and has taken leave of her senses. In a way I pity her.

Polly looked up at Leonard, "Do not…" she trailed off. "There is something I must tell…" Polly got no further.

The music inside the ballroom had suddenly ceased. The pair re-entered to see the regiment's commanding officer, Colonel Marsden, summoning the attendees' attention. "Ladies and gentleman. It is my duty to inform you that today the Yankees refused to surrender Fort Sumter. Therefore, we have been forced to attack it. The dreaded hour has come. The Confederacy and the Union are at war!" The colonel waited for the gasps to die then finished, "All officers are to report immediately to their companies. I apologize that the ball must end in this manner, but we now have a duty to fulfill."

Leonard kissed Polly on the cheek a final time, and then went off with his fellow officers, to fight. During the four years that followed, Leonard returned to Polly every time he was granted leave. At first, with the South's early ascendancy, these visits though short were frequent. But as the bloody and terrible conflict continued and the Confederacy's fortunes were smashed, Leonard's periods of leave became few and far between.

Finally on April 9th 1865, General Robert E Lee surrendered his sword to General Ulysses S Grant and the War Between the States was over. Polly waited for Leonard's return impatiently, spending hours looking for a figure in grey to ride up to the house. A month passed and Polly saw a horse trotting up. She ran to the door. A figure in a torn grey Confederate uniform dismounted. It was not Leonard.

It had taken time for word of the war's end to reach all of the fighting troops. In an ironic twist of fate the South had won the last battle of the war, fought after the surrender. But Leonard had not survived it. As Leonard's former comrade told her the news, Polly broke down and cried inconsolably. When she collapsed to the floor, she imagined that she could hear her sister's mocking laughter.

* * *

Piper awoke. There were tears on her pillow and her eyes were red. A hand was softly stroking her hair. Then noticing she was awake, the hand's owner spoke, "You OK honey?"

Piper rolled over and looked into the face of Perdita Matthews, "You cursed us."

"Piper?" asked Prue, the one word containing a wealth of questions.

Hearing her name brought Piper back to reality. With relief she realized it was not Perdita but her sister Prue who was staring at her, a concerned look upon her face.

Smiling shakily, in an attempt to reassure her elder sibling, Piper replied, "I'm fine Prue. It was just a dream."

Prue could always tell when her siblings weren't telling the full story. "JUST a dream?" she questioned.

"Maybe a bit more," answered Piper, as she got of bed and selected some clothes from her closet. Hearing movement from next-door, Phoebe's room, she promised "I'll tell you both when we're all downstairs."

Nodding her assent, Prue left Piper to get dressed.

Piper came downstairs and poured herself some coffee, which she took into the lounge to drink. Ten minutes later Phoebe shambled into the lounge and mornings not being her thing, immediately turned on MTV. Piper almost choked on her coffee as she heard the words of the current song.

"Is it written in the stars?
Are we paying for some crime?"

Prue and Phoebe's heads snapped round to stare at their sister, who was sitting bolt upright, the coffee mug halfway to her lips, her gaze upon the TV screen.

The chorus ended and the second verse began to play.

"Nothing can be altered, there is nothing to decide
No escape, no change of heart, nor any place to hide
You are all I'll ever want, but this I am denied"

Piper slammed her coffee cup onto the table. "No," she shouted angrily, not even aware she was speaking aloud, "Things can be altered! I'm a witch too, Perdita. And I'm not losing him again! " She turned and headed upstairs. Phoebe and Prue stared at each other, both wondering about their sister's strange behaviour and scrambled to follow her to the attic.

They entered to find Piper, flipping through the Book of Shadows. "What are you looking for, Pipe?" asked Phoebe

"Curses," answered Piper distractedly.

"Curses!" exclaimed a surprised Prue. As good witches they didn't have much truck with that branch of magic. So why would Piper be… Then she remembered, "You mentioned a curse when you woke up." Sharply, so as to get the preoccupied Piper's attention, Prue asked, "Piper, What exactly did you dream?"

The tone of voice worked. Piper looked up from the book and met her sisters' gazes. She took a moment to pull her thoughts together and then she began, "I don't think it was just a dream. I think I saw a past life." Phoebe perked up, and Piper went on to recount her dream, and the incident with the TV ending defiantly with, "I heard those words and something snapped inside. I refuse to let a 140 year old curse keep me and Leo apart, especially not after yesterday."

"Yesterday?" asked her siblings together.

Piper blanched. She'd been so preoccupied by Leo's comments that she hadn't told them. And they hadn't noticed. Extending her hand to show off the fabulous ring she smiled, "He gave me this."

"Oh Piper," they screamed, rushing to hug her. "That's wonderful."

"It will be," Piper said softly. "Once I beat this curse."

"Once we beat it," corrected Phoebe. "Right Prue?"

"Hate to play Scully," replied Prue. "But hadn't we better check this out first? It was a dream." Phoebe and Piper both threw annoyed looks her way. "I know you guys believe this is real. All I'm asking is that we read the Family Tree and the Memoirs. It may even give us a clue to breaking the curse."

Piper nodded. Prue was making a lot of sense. Opening an old trunk the sisters reverentially lifted out the family tree and a thick volume of family legend and history. Phoebe suddenly laughed as a thought hit her, "There were curses involved, the last time we looked at this," she recalled, nodding at the ancient tome in her hand, "Matthew Tate and Melinda's locket."

"Well, let's see what it can tell us about Perdita and Polly Matthews," answered Prue.

Piper ran her finger down the family tree, "Found them. They were the cousins of Penelope Boyd, our great-great-great-great grandmother. Perdita and Polly never married. Their branch of the tree ends with them. Penelope obviously did. Luckily, for us."

The Charmed Ones gathered around the family memoirs, flicking through it until they found some entries for Polly and Penny, but nothing for Perdita. "There's a page ripped out," pointed out Prue. "But why?"

"I think I may know," replied Pheebs thoughtfully. The youngest sister flipped through the book to some more recent entries. "I thought so. Look, the page for my former self in the 1920's is also gone, but your past selves are still in. My guess is that the bad-seeds of the family get ripped out."

Turning back to the entries for their Civil War ancestors, the three read them but the only information that seemed relevant was a sentence, almost a footnote describing Polly Matthew's fate. "On learning of her sweetheart's death in the final battle of the war, Polly was inconsolable. Refusing to eat, she was taken abed, dying two months later of a broken heart."

"That's enough for me," stated Piper. "I know there's nothing about the curse, but we've found they existed and that Polly lost Leonard exactly as I dreamed it. If that's correct then so was the rest of it. Back to the Book of Shadows."

The three sisters started to search through the book. As they did Leo orbed in.

Piper looked up as the usual blue and white light illuminated the attic, "Leo!" she exclaimed delightedly. "You said you wouldn't be back for a month."

"I know," he smiled, walking across the room to kiss his fiance. "But "They" said you needed me. They assigned someone else and sent me back here."

"'They've' changed their tune," observed Prue.

"Yeah," agreed Pheebs. "What happened to the Forbidden Love?"

"I'm not asking," Leo told her. "In case "They" reconsider. Anyway what's up? For once, "They" didn't tell me."

""They" may have no problems with us being in love, but unfortunately someone else does," said Piper, then proceeded to explain the story once more.

"Cursed?" asked Leo in disbelief.

Piper nodded, "That's why we're looking through the book. To find a spell to break a curse."

"Well, I don't know why'd you'd need me," admitted Leo. "But at least I can help find the spell." Leo held his hands over the Book of Shadows. A golden glow emanated from them surrounding the ancient grimoire. Then of their own accord, the pages started turning, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until they were almost a blur. Finally, the pages stopped turning and the assembled company crowded around the lectern that held the book.

"To Break A Curse," read Prue, "Take 5 white candles and arrange in a pentagram. Place a black candle… "

"Black candle!" interrupted Piper, "I'm not the hottest Wiccan but isn't black bad?"

"Yeah," breathed Phoebe, "Black candles are used in black magic. They represent negativity, loss and discord." She read through the spell muttering to herself, then looked up. "Nothing to worry about," she told Piper confidently. "The black candle is the curse. It's placed in the middle which means the white candles, in other words good, surround it and cancel it out."

"OK," breathed a relieved Piper. "What do we have to do?"

The spell was surprisingly simple. A pentagram of candles with a black one in the middle and a chant to be said by those afflicted by the curse. Leo and Piper looked at each other. "Ready?" Piper asked. In answer Leo squeezed her hand. With the sisters looking on, Piper lit the black candle, followed by the five white ones, then taking a deep breath they began to chant:

"Evil curse that blights our lives
Be lifted now and flee
These candles' lights overcome the dark
And let…"

From nowhere, there came a sudden gust of wind, extinguishing the candles. Piper and Leo turned to see the eldest with her hand extended, as if she'd just used her power.

Three shocked voices said the same word, "Prue?"

Prue laughed. "Another P name?" she drawled. "But the answer to your question is no. I'm Perdita. Perdita Matthews."

"What have you done to Prue?" demanded Phoebe.

Perdita laughed, "Oh she's in here honey. Fighting to get out. And failing." She turned to Piper, "I just knew one day, dear Polly or one of her future selves would try and break my curse and I knew we'd never be far apart as a family. So I arranged matters for my spirit to possess my future self should the attempt ever be made." She looked at Piper and Phoebe. "So, what relations are we now?"

Piper and Phoebe kept a stony silence. Perdita gestured with her hand, and a wind started blowing through the attic. It gathered around Piper and lifted her off the floor. "I asked a question and I mean for it to be answered. Dear." She added the word harshly.

Leo rushed forward to tackle Perdita as did Phoebe. Still holding Piper in the air, she gestured again. The floorboards started sprouting long sinewy vines, which entangled the pair, binding them immovably.

Letting discretion win out over valour, Phoebe told her ancestor, "We're sisters."

Perdita paused, then her mouth broke into a thin smile, "The fabled Charmed Ones! I must say I am disappointed. You were no more difficult to defeat than apprentice witches."

Conversationally she continued, "Oh to once again have a physical form! You cannot imagine the tedium of the spiritual plane. I think I'll stay here, but I have a feelin' you might object. I suppose I also must ensure that you don't attempt to lift my curse again." She addressed Piper. "You had the power of fire, not me, so I guess I'll have to do this the hard way."

Perdita started to chant. Her hand started to glow, then slowly a fireball began to form on her palm, growing steadily bigger. As she concentrated on the other spell, the vortex that still had Piper suspended in mid air weakened. Not much, but enough. Fighting the wind surrounding her, Piper lifted her hand and gestured. Time froze. Perdita's chant ceased and the fireball stopped its growth. The wind stopped blowing, and with no more force to hold her up, Piper dropped to the floor.

"Guess you should've thought to ask what power I have now, Perdita," she shot at the frozen witch as she jumped to her feet. Crossing to Phoebe, she tried to disentangle the vines that had her bound, but to no avail. Piper thought fast. She couldn't get an axe. By the time she'd got one, Perdita would unfreeze. But there was something that might work.

"Phoebe, I think I can get you free, but you're the one who knows about past lives.. Have you got any idea how to get her gone and Prue back?"

Now it was Phoebe's turn to think quickly. After a moment she nodded. "Yeah, if her spirit leaves, Prue should come back." She squinted her eyes as she finished cryptically, "I'll send her home."

Not asking what her younger sibling had meant by that comment, Piper turned and recited,

"Among us now evils roam
Within my sister and in my home
Banish her spells from these walls
Hear the words this Charmed One calls."

Unlike Phoebe, Piper didn't often write her own spells, but when she did they proved every bit as effective as her younger sibling's. And so it proved. The vines unwound themselves from Leo and Phoebe, shrinking until they were no more. The still visible, yet frozen wind effect dissipated. Perdita's fireball, still being created, was no more.

Piper unfroze her ancestor who stared at the sisters in disbelief. Piper smiled, "Still disappointed, Aunt Perdita?" Then she turned to her sister, "Pheebs. Do it!"

"In this time and in this place,
Take this spirit I displace.
Bring Prue forth while she goes back
To her soul so black."

Perdita slumped to the floor in the sleep like state that Phoebe had entered when she'd gone back to experience her past life. Gathering around the still form of their sister, Piper, Phoebe and Leo waited for her to awaken.

* * *

1861

Perdita pulled the rug back over the loose floorboard that hid her cache of occult equipment. The burnings were long over but people changed slowly and it did not pay to takes risks, especially if you really were an evil witch.

And an evil witch Perdita was. Leonard's comment of her increasing cold behaviour had been a direct result of when she had sought out more and more power, and had used it for her own profit.

On her face she wore a smile of satisfaction. Let them try and lift the curse now. When they do, I'll be there to rectify the situation. The spell she'd just completed, which had taken her all day, would make sure of it, no matter by whom or when in time the attempt was made

Perdita's grin was wiped from her face by a sudden pain. She tied to scream but the pain had overtaken her system, paralyzing her completely. In silent agony, Perdita Matthews collapsed to the floor.

Souls may travel between bodies. You can even have more than one soul inhabiting a body. If you couldn't, possession would be impossible. But one thing that was impossible was for the same soul to exist more than once in the same body.

Phoebe Halliwell was a talented witch but could never have known the terrible effect of sending Perdita's soul back into a body in which Perdita already existed. It was like an atomic reaction. The collision of souls unleashed unstoppable forces. The forces reacted to one another releasing even more energy, creating a continuous loop of release and reaction, a loop that ended only in self-destruction.

Perdita Matthews, screaming silently, lay unmoving on the floor as her spiritual and physical being were torn apart.

* * *

Prue opened her eyes, to meet the concerned gazes of Leo, Piper and Phoebe. "Prue?" came Piper's voice, with just a hint of question.

"It's me," confirmed Prue, in her Californian accent. She smiled thinly as her sisters and prospective brother-in-law breathed visible sighs of relief.

Phoebe was most affected, "For a moment," she admitted, "I thought my spell had gone wrong."

"Well it didn't. I'm back. And Perdita is where she belongs, back in the past." She smiled, her gaze fixing on Leo and Piper, "Now you two can take care of the future."

Relighting the candles, Leo and Piper took up their positions and prepared for their second attempt. Piper offered Leo her hand. He took it in his own, glanced at his fiance and the pair began:

"Evil curse that blights our lives
Be lifted now and flee
These candles' lights overcome the dark
And let our love fly free"

For a second, nothing seemed to happen, then the flame of the candle at the bottom point of the pentagram seemed to flare, growing larger. Then slowly, so slowly that they thought they were imagining it the flame seemed to stretch, a glowing line of orange streaming across the circle. It touched the third candle and now, picking up speed, its flame too became a line connecting to the fifth candle, and then to the second and fourth candles, forming a flaming pentagram.

As the pentagram was completed, five more arcs of flame, one from each of the candles, raced simultaneously toward the black candle standing in the middle. They engulfed it and in the centre of the pentagram, the dark column of wax melted in an inferno of black fire.

As the eldritch flames died out, the candles extinguished themselves, smoke wafting through the attic. "It worked!" exclaimed Piper.

"Now, nothing can stop us," Leo told her. He lowered his face to her own. His lips meeting hers, as oblivious and uncaring of everything but each other they kissed passionately.

A myriad of golden lights sparkled in the room, not unlike Leo's orb effect. The lights formed into two figures. A tall young man, who looked not unlike Leo, but for his darker hair, dressed in the dashing cadet grey uniform of a 1st Lieutenant in the Confederate States Army. In his arms, a woman, in a stunning pale yellow ball gown, who had some of the look of Piper.

Leonard and Polly were kissing each other also, but more sedately than their present day counterparts. Breaking their kiss, the pair looked on tolerantly at their incarnations in this life. Eventually ending their kiss, Leo and Piper turned to look at their past selves. No words were said as the two couples shared a silent moment of thanks and reflection.

The moment passed and a smiling Leonard turned to his love, "I told you that we were fated. I was right."

He paused. Piper and Polly looked at each other, both knowing what he'd say next. They smiled and completed the sentence, speaking together in one voice, "Written in the stars."