DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters or the places, except for Lucy. No profits intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First, I'd like to thank my sister Karine for giving me the inspiration for this story. I'd also like to mention that this story is kind of an introduction to another story that I'm gonna write. Lastly, if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, I'm sorry. I am mostly a French speaker.
Prologue
Lucy rinses the blood off her hands. She feels like she's living a nightmare. She didn't want to kill that woman. She didn't have any choice : the voices told her that she was the one she had to kill. Everything that had happened to her family was because of her. It was because of her that they were all dead. So she had killed her. To stop the voices.
But the voices are still here, whispering that there is still someone to kill.
Lucy cuts off the water and goes out of the bathroom. She has to find that someone if she wants to quiet the voices.
Chapter 1
Two weeks later...
Piper Halliwell is comfortably seated in the kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee, savoring this rare moment of peace. She doesn't have anything to do before going to the P3 this afternoon and, for now, all she wants to do is just that : nothing. Prue is also in the kitchen, reading the morning paper.
"Guys!" Phoebe screams, entering the room, spooking her sisters.
"What? What is it?" Prue asks.
"You'll never guess what I just saw outside!" Phoebe exclaims.
"Please, not a demon or a warlock." Piper says, already missing the moment of peace that had just ended.
"No, Piper. I just saw a moving truck next door. I think our new neighbor just arrived."
"You mean, at Dan's house?" Piper asks.
"Uh-huh."
"It'd be interesting to go see who are our new neighbors." Prue says getting up.
The three sisters get out of the house to welcome the new neighbors. As they get closer to the truck, Phoebe whispers to her sisters : "I hope it's a handsome single guy.", to which Piper answers by hitting her in the ribs. As the sisters get in the driveway, a young woman appears out of the house. She sees the girls and walks toward them, smiling.
"Hello" she says, holding out her hand. "You must be the neighbors."
"Huh, yeah." answers Prue. "My name's Prue Halliwell. And here are my sisters, Piper and Phoebe."
"Nice to meet you. My name's Lucy Rainworth."
Everyone shakes hands. Then Phoebe, a little disappointed that she didn't meet a handsome single guy but still glad to have a new neighbor this friendly, asks : "Where do you come from, Lucy?"
"New York" the young woman answers.
"Wow. That's a big move!" Prue says. "What made you move from coast to coast?"
Lucy clenches her fists slightly and answers "I didn't have anything left to do back there. Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."
She walks away, leaving the sisters looking at each other. Finally, Piper shrugs and says "Anyway, it's none of our business."
"Yeah, you're right." Prue agreed. "Well, I gotta go" she adds looking at her watch. "I have a photo shoot to do. See you later?"
"OK, bye." Phoebe says.
Prue goes to her car while Piper and Phoebe go back in the manor.
From the window of her living room, Lucy watches the Halliwell sisters. They looked so nice. They could've become her friends. She would've liked to be their friend; it had been so long since she had one. But she - Prue? - had to ask about New York. The voices had heard her. She doesn't have any choice : she must now kill Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell.
Lucy shuts the drapes and falls on the ground, crying. "I don't want to... I can't..." she thinks, knowing that the voices will be stronger than her once again.
In the manor, Piper and Phoebe are back in the kitchen. Piper looks at the microwave's clock. 11:30. She takes her cup of coffee and pours what's left of it in the sink.
"I've gotta go too, Pheebs." she tells her sister.
"Go where?" Phoebe asks.
"To the P3."
"At 11:30? It's a little early, don't you think?" Phoebe teases her.
"All right, if you have to know, I'm gonna meet Leo there for lunch." Piper tells her. "Looks like you'll have to eat lunch alone, Phoebe."
"Thanks for the reminder, Piper. Like I didn't piece that together on my own."
"Great, then my work here is done." Piper says, disappearing trough the front door.
Determined not to spend the afternoon alone, Phoebe calls her friends to do some shopping. After a few calls, she begins to think that it is her destiny to spend the afternoon on her own : none of her friends are free. She looks through the window. "Unless..." she thinks, looking at the neighboring house.
One minute later, Phoebe knocks at Lucy's door.
"Hi." she says when the door opens. "I was thinking that maybe you were tired of unpacking stuff and I wanted to know if you'd like to go in town with me. You know, shopping and stuff."
"Sure, why not?" Lucy accepts. "I'm tired of emptying boxes."
"Great. See you in ten."
"OK."
Soon, the two girls leave together. The afternoon goes on pleasantly for Phoebe. She discusses freely with Lucy. Her new friend confides that she came to San Francisco to start a new life and find a new job. Phoebe reveals that she came back here to remake her life too and that she is succeeding thanks, in good part, to her sisters. When Phoebe tells her that Piper is the owner of the P3, Lucy is very interested.
At four o'clock, Phoebe decides it is time to head back home. As they park in the driveway, Lucy turns to Phoebe : "Phoebe, I've got something to ask you but it's a little embarrassing."
"Come on, you don't have to be embarrassed with me." Phoebe reassures her. "What is it?"
"Well, when I got in the house, the hot water was turned off. The water heater's in the basement but the basement's light is burned out and I... huh... I'm scared of going downstairs alone in the dark. I know it sounds silly but..."
"Hey, it's okay. I used to be scared of going in the basement too. I'll change the light bulb for you, okay?"
"Thanks, Phoebe."
Phoebe smiles at her.
They go inside and Lucy finds a new light bulb that she gives to Phoebe. Then they both go to the basement's door. Phoebe starts to go down the stairs. She feels Lucy's presence in her back but doesn't think much of it. As she steps off the last stair, she's hit very hard behind the head.
Then everything goes black.
When she comes to, Phoebe is tied up to a chair. Lucy is standing in front and stares at her.
"What the..." Phoebe starts.
"I'm really sorry, Phoebe. Really." Lucy tells her. "I don't have any choice."
"A choice to do what?" Phoebe asks, more and more worried.
Lucy goes up the stairs without answering Phoebe's question.
"I'll have to leave you alone now, Phoebe." she says. "Don't worry : your sisters will soon be keeping you company. And then, we can end all this."
She shuts off the light and closes the door, leaving Phoebe alone in the dark.
Chapter 2
At five o'clock, Prue finally parked in front of the house. The photo shoot had been extremely long and difficult. Problems kept popping up every minute or so. Prue isn't angry the day's finally over.
As she unlocks the door, she calls "Piper, Phoebe, anybody home?". Since only silence answer her, Prue concludes that she is alone at home. As she goes to put away her things in the darkroom, she sees a note on the dinner table.
"Prue, Piper,
I went shopping with Lucy.
I'll be back for dinner.
Love, Phoebe."As Prue finishes reading the message, she hears the front door opening. She goes to see who just got in and sees Piper and Leo.
"Hey Prue." Piper says, seeing her. "Had a nice day?"
"Except for the fact that I lost a whole day taking pictures that aren't even good, yeah." Prue answers. "What about you two?"
"Ours was a little better, I'd say." Piper answers.
"Really?" Prue reacts sarcastically.
"OK, a lot better than yours." Leo says.
"So you're not here for business." Prue concludes.
"No."
The three of them go in the kitchen.
"I thought you had to go to the P3 tonight?" Prue tells Piper as she opens the fridge.
"Yeah, but we came here to eat." Piper answers. "And I've got to change clothes."
Realizing that Phoebe never came to see them, Piper asks : "Where's Phoebe?"
"Oh, she left a not saying she went shopping with Lucy." Prue answers. "She should be back soon."
Piper nods and starts to cook a quick dinner. She asks Prue if she'll come to the club this evening. Prue answers she will and that Phoebe probably will come too.
While they're talking, Leo looks through the window. He realizes something's not right but he isn't sure what at first.
"Lucy's the new neighbor you told be about, Piper?" he asks her.
"Yeah, why?"
"That's weird." he mutters to himself.
"What's weird?" Prue wants to know.
"Her car's in her driveway. You both took your cars. If Phoebe went shopping with her, they should've taken Lucy's car." Leo explains.
"Or they could've taken the bus." Prue replies.
Leo doesn't seem convinced and opens his mouth to protest when Piper cuts him short.
"Or Phoebe met a friend back there and decided to stay with her. You know, Leo, not everything in our lives revolves around demons."
"I know, Piper. I was just worried for your sister. I'm sorry." he apologizes.
"I'll let you get away with it this time." Piper smiles.
Piper, Leo and Prue settle down at the table to eat dinner. At the end of the meal, Phoebe still isn't back. The girls decide that she opted to eat at the restaurant and go get dressed. When they come back downstairs, Leo is still alone in the living room.
"What is she doing?" Piper wonders as she looks at her watch. "The stores must be closed by now."
"Maybe she's on her way back." Leo suggests.
"I don't know, Leo." Prue says. "I'm starting to think maybe you were right. Maybe she…"
"No." Piper cuts her off. "We're not gonna start that, Prue. There's nothing wrong with Phoebe. She's a big girl and she probably decided to go out with her friends."
Prue and Leo agree with her. Since it's already time for them to go, Piper leaves a note for Phoebe, telling her to join them at the club. In spite of what she said to her big sister and Leo, Piper isn't completely reassured as to her sister's welfare. She shakes her head, brushing away her concerns while cursing all the demons who have made her life so full of worries.
When she goes back to the entrance, Leo notices her slightly worried look.
"You okay?" he asks her.
"Yeah." Piper answers. "I'm just thinking I'd really like to know where the hell Phoebe is, that's all."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Let's go, we're gonna be late."
And everyone gets out of the house.
From the window of her living room where all the lights are turned off, Lucy watches Phoebe's sisters finally get out of their house with the guy who came in with Piper. The voices whisper to her that she has to kill the sisters but say nothing of the man. Which means that if he doesn't get involved in this, his life will be spared. Lucy steps away from the window swearing to do everything she can to save his life. It's hard enough to kill the people the voices tell her to kill, she won't start killing the others.
Now that the neighbors have left, Lucy can turn on the lights. She then goes to the mirror and looks at herself, smiling. Phoebe was right, this dress fits her perfectly.
Thinking of her new friend, Lucy loses her smile. Tears fill up her eyes. Her friend. Her first friend in so long. And she has to kill her. God, life is unfair.
In the basement bathed in darkness, Phoebe tries to free herself for the thousandth time. No luck. Ever since Lucy locked her up in here, Phoebe has tried everything she could to free herself. All she was able to achieve was injure her wrist.
Phoebe also tries to understand what happened. Lucy seemed like a really nice girl and they had a lot of fun this afternoon. She could've sworn they had become friends. Then Lucy traps her and ties her up a chair in her basement. And apparently, she plans the same fate for Prue and Piper. But the more Phoebe thinks about it, the less it makes sense.
Actually, the only thing Phoebe is sure of is that Lucy isn't a witch, a demon or a warlock. After all, she didn't use anything that looked like magic or supernatural powers. "Which leaves what as options?" Phoebe asks herself. "A hit woman? Possible. A terrorist who wants to take us as hostages? Doesn't work. A burglar? No, she hasn't set foot in the manor. A serial killer? Ouch, *that* works. A crazy woman? No doubt about that one."
Suddenly, Phoebe sees the basement door open, the back lighting making it difficult to see Lucy's face.
"Lucy! Get me out of here!" Phoebe screams.
"Shh." Lucy goes. "Don't scream, Phoebe. Please."
"Lucy, you tied me up to a chair. What did you expect?"
"Please don't scream, Phoebe." Lucy repeats. "Or I'll have to gag you and that's really unpleasant."
"God, she's really crazy!" Phoebe thinks, shutting up. If Lucy doesn't gag her, it'll maybe be possible to call for help later, she tells herself.
"Good." Lucy says. "Now I have to go. Be nice, okay Phoebe?"
"Where are you going?" Phoebe asks her.
"To get one of your sisters." Lucy answers. "It won't be very long, you'll see."
And, with that, she closes the door, leaving the youngest Halliwell sister in the dark again.
At the P3, the evening is in full swing. All the customers are having fun, the music is excellent and the mood, electrifying. Still, Piper can't really enjoy herself. She is behind the bar's counter, talking with Leo, scanning the crowd every now and then, hoping to see Phoebe. Still no sign of her.
Prue, who had gone to the bathroom, sits back at the counter.
"Phoebe still isn't here?" she asks the couple.
"Apparently not." Leo answers her. "If she got back home, she didn't come here."
"Did she call?" Prue asks.
"Nope." Piper answers. "But I think I'll call home."
She picks up the phone behind the counter and composes the manor's number. The machine answers her call.
"Phoebe?" Piper says. "You there? It's Piper. Hello? OK, well, can you call us at the P3 when you get home? Bye."
Seeing her come back towards her and Leo, Prue asks Piper "So?".
"She still isn't back." Piper answers.
She looks at her sister and her boyfriend with a worried look. She tries to convince herself that she's worrying over nothing but she can't.
"You know" she says at last "I'm starting to get worried. I'm afraid something happened to her."
"Aren't you the one who told me not to worry?" Prue reminds her.
"I know what I said, Prue. But now, I really have a bad feeling about this." Piper says.
"Do you want me to try and find her?" Leo offers, a little worried also.
Before Piper has time to ask him if he could really do that, she sees Lucy making her way to the bar.
"Hi." Lucy tells them. "Phoebe told me this place was awesome and I agree with her, Piper."
"Huh, thanks." Piper reacts. "Speaking of Phoebe, is she with you?"
"No." Lucy answers.
"How's that?" Prue wants to know. "I thought you guys spent the afternoon together."
"We did. But we split up at dinner time. I went back home and she went to the restaurant with friends." Lucy explains.
"At what time did you come back?" Prue asks.
"What is this, an interrogation?" Lucy laughs. "I got back at four or five o'clock. Why?"
"And you haven't seen her again?" Piper insists.
"No. What's going on? Is there a problem?"
Prue explains to Lucy that no one knows where Phoebe is and asks her if she remembers who she left with. Lucy tells her that she doesn't remember. Leo, who never stopped looking at the young woman finally speaks.
"Excuse me, did you stay home from that moment on?"
"Yes, I ate dinner and I had to get dressed to come here." Lucy answers.
"That's funny" Leo continues "Because there weren't any lights at your place during dinner time. Or after."
Lucy puckers her lips slightly. "Careful, my friend. If you insist too much, I'll have to deal with you too and I'm not all that interested about it."
"I know." she says out loud. "The electricity was cut. Apparently, a fuse burned this afternoon while I was gone. It took me, like, forever to find the problem. That's why I got here late."
Leo nods, more or less convinced. He chooses not to insist so he won't antagonize her. Nevertheless, he decides to keep an eye on this Lucy. After all, you're never too careful.
Lucy starts to describe her day with Phoebe and how the latter showed her all kinds of interesting places. Turning to Leo, Lucy says : "San Francisco is a really fascinating city, don't you think…"
She hesitates, seeming to realize she doesn't know his name.
"Oh, sorry : I forgot to do the introductions." Piper reacts as she understands what's happening. "Leo, this is Lucy, our new neighbor. Lucy, this is Leo, my boyfriend."
"Nice to meet you." Lucy says, smiling at Leo. "You two make a cute couple."
"Huh… thanks." Leo says, glancing at Piper who smiles at him.
Lucy ends up spending the rest of the evening with Piper, Leo and Prue. They try to enjoy the evening but, since Phoebe never shows up, the more the hours tick away, the more they get worried. At 11:30, Prue has had it with waiting.
"I think I'll head back home and see if I can find out where Phoebe is." she announces to her other sister.
"'Kay." Piper answers. "We'll stay here, Leo and I. I've got to stay to close, so… Call us if you find anything."
"Will do. See you guys later."
Leo and Piper tell Prue goodbye and she makes her way to the exit.
"Prue, wait up!" Lucy calls after her.
"What?" Prue says turning around.
"I've got a favor to ask you. See, I came here by bus but I don't wanna go back home by bus at this late hour. Can I hitch a ride back home?"
"Why not?" Prue accepts.
It is only when she is inside her car that Prue wonders why Lucy didn't come here with her car. "And what the hell does it matter?" she chides herself, starting up the engine.
After leaving Lucy, Prue goes into the manor. It's empty. She checks if there are messages on the machine, just in case Phoebe called. There's only Piper's message. There aren't any other messages in the house either.
Prue goes into Phoebe's room to take her address book and goes back downstairs, intending to call all of her sister's friends if she has to. As she sits on the couch, the phone rings. Thinking it might be Phoebe, Prue quickly answers the phone.
"Yes?"
"Prue?" a voice whispers. "It's Lucy."
"What's wrong?" Prue asks, detecting fear in her neighbor's voice.
"You've got to come here. I think there's a stranger in the house."
"What?!"
"There's someone in my house. Oh no" Lucy's voice is panicked "he's coming here, Prue. Come quick, please!"
Then the line goes dead.
Prue drops the phone and runs out the front door. She doesn't take time to get some kind of weapon. Besides, she has her power.
She opens the next house's front door and scans the entrance for Lucy. The house is in deep darkness. Prue moves forward with precaution, not wanting to come across the intruder. Suddenly, a scream coming from the kitchen cuts through the air. "Oh my God, help me!"
Following her instincts, Prue runs to the kitchen. As she enters the room, Lucy, hidden in a corner, knocks her out.
In the basement, Phoebe, whom Lucy gagged so she wouldn't be able to alert her sister, hears everything. When she hears the sound of her sister's body falling on the kitchen floor, she struggles against her bindings with renewed strength. Still without success.
When Prue opens her eyes, she is tied up on a chair next to Phoebe, who has a gag on her mouth. She tries to motion to Prue to look the other way. Prue turns back and sees Lucy who's watching her intensely.
"Like I already told your sister" she begins "I'm really sorry, Prue. I don't have any choice, you know."
"Why are you doing this?" Prue asks to buy some time.
"You know very well why, Prue." Lucy answers her. "Maybe you weren't there when it happened, but you and your sisters are in part responsible for the death of my family."
"What?! What are you talking about?!" Prue reacts.
Instead of answering, Lucy picks up a strip of cloth and goes toward Prue to gag her. Having no intention of letting her win that easily and not needing her hands to use her power, Prue pushes Lucy back with it. She lands on a pile of boxes. She gets up, surprise showing on her face. The she cocks her head and squints while looking at Prue.
"Oh, I see." she says. "You're a witch the voices tell me."
Prue is so stunned she can't even think of something to say.
"Well, in that case, I'll change my plan." Lucy goes on as she takes a gun out of a box. "If you use that little trick again, Prue, I'll shoot your little sister. Understood?"
Prue looks at her captor. She knows that even if Lucy is crazy, she is dangerous. She also knows that no matter what happens, Lucy will end up killing them. But Piper is still free, thinks Prue, and she can still save Phoebe and her. "As long as there's life, there's hope." she reminds herself as she chooses not to risk Phoebe's life.
Lucy gags Prue and, for more safety, decides to blindfold her. The voices told her that she could control her power with her eyes. Her task done, Lucy looks sadly at the sisters. Phoebe is surprised to see tears falling from Lucy's eyes. The woman turns away but Phoebe can still hear her cry.
"I don't want to do this." Lucy sobs. "But I have no choice : they're stronger than me."
Then she climbs up the stairs, turning back on the doorstep to say "Don't worry. As soon as I've got Piper, I'll come back and finish all this quickly. You won't suffer. And I promise you I won't touch Leo. I owe you that, at least." And, once again, Lucy closes the basement's door, leaving the sisters alone in the dark.
Chapter 3
When Piper and Leo get back home after the P3's closing, all the lights are turned off. As she opens the door, Piper sees Prue's handbag on the floor next to Phoebe's.
"Well, it looks like the lost sheep came back home." she tells Leo, pointing the handbags.
"Seems like we worried for nothing." Leo does.
"Can you really blame us?" Piper teases him.
"Not really, no." he smiles. "Comes with the job."
Both of them go in the living room.
"I wonder why Prue didn't call us, though." Piper suddenly asks.
"Maybe she forgot or maybe Phoebe got in so late they both went to bed." Leo answers.
"Yeah, maybe." Piper says, not entirely convinced.
"If it bothers you so much, why don't you ask them tomorrow?" Leo kindly suggests.
"You're right." Pipers says looking at him. "I'm sorry. I think I worry too much."
"You don't have to be sorry." Leo says putting his arms around her. "You have the right to worry about your sisters."
"Really?"
"Really. It's even one of the things I love about you, that way you always care about what happens to everyone." he adds before kissing her.
They stand like that for a few minutes, in each other's arms, without saying anything because they don't have to understand each other. Then Leo looks at the sky. He's being called. He lets out a small sigh. Why does it always seem to happen at such moments? Slowly, with regret, he loosens his embrace around Piper.
"Huh, Piper, you know I'd love to stay…" he starts.
"But you have to go." she finishes in his stead, knowing what's going on. "Go, I understand."
"Really?"
"Really. Come on, your bosses are waiting for you." she smiles.
"Thank you, Piper."
He kisses her one last time and, just before he orbs out, he tells her "I love you."
"I know." she says, watching him disappear. "I love you too."
Piper finally goes upstairs to go to bed and notices that her sisters' bedroom doors are closed. "I hope they didn't have a fight." she thinks entering her room. "I'll talk to them tomorrow." she decides as she gets changed. Then Piper goes to bed, unaware that the other two bedrooms are empty and that Prue and Phoebe are actually in Lucy's basement.
In front of her living room's window, Lucy watches the neighboring house's last lights turn off. "Damn it." she thinks. She saw Piper arrive with Leo and had waited for the latter to leave so she could go take Piper in her sleep. That's why she brought Phoebe's handbag to her house and closed the bedroom doors she thought were those of her prisoners. But Leo never left. So she must change her plans.
Thinking of Leo and Piper, Lucy remembers how cute she thought they were at the P3. She mostly remembers the look Leo had has he looked at Piper : a look that expressed as much love as it is possible to feel in this world. No one had looked at her like that since her fiance's death.
Poor Kevin. He really loved her, she knows that. That's why she fought the voices with all her might when they told her to kill Kevin. She even tried to kill herself to shut up the voices. But Kevin had stopped her. And she killed him. That day, the first time the voices had been stronger than her, Lucy's life had turned to horror. Because the moment she gazed at the love of her life's face, frozen in death, Lucy knew she had lost her strength and her soul with him.
In the back of her mind, she knows Kevin didn't have anything to do with her family's death. As she steps away from the window, a little voice tells her that all those who came after him, including the Halliwell sisters, were as innocent as him. But that little voice is soon drowned by the other voices who whisper to her to kill Phoebe, Prue and Piper.
Lucy finally falls on her bed, crying, praying that death will come to her before tomorrow morning.
In Lucy's basement, Prue tries to undo the ropes that bind her to her chair. It's not easy with her eyes blindfolded. She can hear Phoebe move next to her, no doubt trying to free herself too. She also hears her say something through her gag but Prue can't understand what it is.
While she tries to free herself, Prue blames herself for not having suspected anything of Lucy's intent. If only she had insisted at the club. If only she had listened to Leo at dinner. If… Prue knows very well that that's not useful but she can't help herself. And since she can't share her thoughts with Phoebe and her sister can't try to comfort her, Prue keeps blaming herself.
Next to her, Phoebe is wondering what time it is. Let's see. When Lucy came to gag her before Prue's arrival, she told her she was right, that the P3 was great. So, it was night. But how late at night? Late enough so Piper's back from P3? Locked in the basement since the end of the afternoon and unable to look at her watch, Phoebe has no way of knowing. But if Piper *is* back from P3, she must've notice they weren't there, right? "Unless she's with Leo and she has something else on her mind." Phoebe jokes to herself. "Let's say Piper's back." she thinks. "Let's also say she notices we're both missing. She still wouldn't know where we are." Phoebe realizes. She feels demoralized. All that remains for her to do is hope that, one way or another, Piper discovers where she and Prue are and comes to save them.
It's a thin hope but it's enough so Phoebe won't lose her spirit.
When Piper wakes up, the first thing she notices is the silence in the house. Even if it's rather unusual at this hour, she doesn't worry inordinately. Piper gets up and goes to the bathroom to take a shower. Doing so, she passes by her sisters' bedroom doors and notices that they are still closed. "They must still be asleep." Piper deduces.
When she gets out of the shower, the doors are still closed. She decides to let her sisters sleep a little bit longer and goes down to the kitchen to make breakfast.
After having eaten, Piper goes in the living room to watch TV. As she sits on the couch, she notices the phone on the floor next to the couch. "What is the phone doing there?" she wonders. As she picks it up, she notices that the line is still open. Finding this extremely odd, she brings the phone to her ear. All that she hears is the recorded message telling her to hang up and redial the number (which is probably repeating itself since yesterday evening).
Piper hangs up and, intrigued, goes upstairs to ask her sisters if there's been a problem. She starts with Prue's door.
"Prue?" Piper calls. "You there?"
No answer.
She keeps knocking at the door and calls her sister again. Still no answer. Piper opens the door, mentally preparing the excuses she will give Prue. She's surprised to see that not only is the room empty but that the bed isn't even unmade.
Having suddenly a bad feeling, Piper runs to Phoebe's room and opens the door without knocking. As she suspected, Phoebe isn't there and everything's in order in the room (well, as much in order as Phoebe's room can be). "Oh no." Piper thinks. "Phoebe never came back last night. And now Prue's missing too!"
Remembering that she saw her sisters' handbags in the entrance yesterday evening, Piper rushes to the entrance, grabs the handbags and starts to search them hoping to find a clue. Ten minutes later, Piper still hasn't found anything that can tell her of her sisters' whereabouts. In spite of that, the meticulous search of the handbags let her calm herself. "OK, let's try to retrace their every steps. Maybe that'll help me." Piper tells herself, wishing Leo would come back soon.
During that time, Prue and Phoebe, whom ended up falling asleep, tired, are awakened by Lucy who turns on the basement's light. She holds a tray with toasts on it. She comes near the girls and undoes Phoebe's gag.
"Lucy, what's going on?" Phoebe asks.
"It's breakfast time." Lucy simply answers.
"Huh?"
Lucy takes her gun, looks at Phoebe and says "I'll untie your hands so you can eat. If you try anything, I kill Prue. Got it?"
Phoebe nods. Lucy unties her, then gives her a plate. Phoebe eats in silence, putting together escape plans that all reveal themselves unrealistic.
When she's finished, Lucy begins to tie her back to the chair. Doing so, she touches Phoebe's hands and triggers a premonition in her. Phoebe sees Lucy in their kitchen closing in on Piper from behind and knocking her down. Lucy, who didn't notice a thing, finishes tying Phoebe's hands and gets up. She undoes Prue's gag.
"Listen, I'll do you a favor and leave the gags off since, anyway, I'm going to get your sister." she declares before climbing back up the stairs.
As soon as the door is closed, Phoebe hurriedly tells Prue about her premonition.
In the manor, Piper is seated in the kitchen, thinking about what happened yesterday. "Okay. Phoebe went shopping with Lucy. She left a not saying she'd be back for dinner but she didn't come back. Lucy did. But she doesn't know where Pheebs is. Prue, her, disappeared after leaving P3 yesterday night. But she left alone. No, wait a minute." Piper suddenly realizes. "That's not true. Prue left with Lucy." Which means that both her sisters disappeared when they were with Lucy. Piper realizes Lucy is probably the one who kidnapped her sisters. She gets up and goes to the phone.
In the entrance, the door opens. Lucy enters the manor, determined to come out with Piper Halliwell.
In Lucy's basement, Phoebe finishes telling Prue about her vision.
"We have to do something, Prue!" Phoebe exclaims.
"Yeah, but what? We're stuck here." Prue replies.
"We have to try to free ourselves."
"No, wait. Maybe not."
"What?"
"I think there's something I can do." Prue explains.
"What?" Then she understands what Prue means. "Oh, you're gonna astral project yourself."
In the manor's kitchen, Piper dials Darryl Morris' phone number. He's no doubt the only person who can help her right know. Though luck, the line's tied up.
On the kitchen's doorstep, Lucy sees Piper on the phone. There's nobody else in the room. "Perfect." she thinks taking a step forward.
Piper hangs up and dials the number again, decided to do this until Darryl's line frees up.
Lucy walks slowly. Piper is back to her, unaware of the danger she's in. "In a few more seconds, it'll be over." Lucy tells herself.
At the same moment, Prue closes her eyes under her blindfold, then her body goes limp on her chair.
Prue appears in the kitchen behind Piper and Lucy. "Piper! Watch out!" she screams as Lucy is getting ready to jump on her. Alerted, Piper turns back and sees Lucy getting ready to attack her. Piper screams, raising her hands and freezes Lucy. Prue tells her "We're in her basement." before returning to her body.
"You did it?" Phoebe asks her as she sees her move.
"Yeah. Piper froze Lucy and she's coming here."
In the manor's kitchen, Piper doesn't take time to think. She leaves Lucy there and runs out to go get her sisters. She rushes to the neighboring house and opens the door which, luckily, isn't locked. Upon setting foot in the house, she yells "Prue! Phoebe!"
"Here, in the basement!" she hears Phoebe scream.
Piper runs to the kitchen.
Still in the manor, Lucy unfreezes. She notices Piper's absence but doesn't loose time asking herself questions. Anyway, it's easy to guess where she went. She takes out her gun from her pocket and runs to her house too.
In Lucy's kitchen, Piper has found the basement's door and tries to open it. It takes her a few seconds to notice that it's resisting because Lucy blocked it to keep the girls from escaping. She hurries to take the lock off and opens the door. She sees the switch and turns on the light.
"Piper!" Phoebe yells.
Piper runs down the stairs and goes toward her sisters. She starts by untying Phoebe who's the nearest.
Meanwhile, in the manor, Leo orbs in the living room. The whitelighter immediately notices something's wrong. The front door's wide open and there's no sound in the house. "Something happened to them." he thinks feeling concern wash over him.
At the same moment, Lucy gets to her kitchen. She quietly walks to the basement door by which she can see Piper finishing freeing Phoebe. Then both of them go to Prue. It's time, the voices tell her. Phoebe can't really do anything and Prue's eyes are blindfolded for a few more seconds still. As for Piper, she's back to her. She will have to be the first victim. Quickly, Lucy aims at Piper and shoots.
Leo, who got out in hopes of seeing the girls, hears the shot coming from the next house. "NO!" he thinks running there, suspecting that's where the girls are.
In the basement, things have just turned ugly. Piper is on the ground in Phoebe's arms. There's a red stain growing on the front of her shirt. Prue, who's still tied to her chair but doesn't have the blindfold because Piper had taken it off just before Lucy shot her, watches the scene, horrified. She hears Piper having difficulty to breathe and Phoebe telling her to hang on. She knows Lucy's on top of the stairs. Normally, she would use her power to make her fall. But Prue is still in shock and can't take her eyes off Piper.
Lucy, in tears, aims her gun at Prue. As she starts to pull the trigger, two strong hands catch her from behind and she looses her balance. It's Leo. He sees Piper lying on the ground. "Piper, no!" he says. He starts to climb down the stairs but Lucy, who managed not to drop the gun when she fell, gets up and threatens Leo with it.
Fortunately, this time, Prue sees her and pushes back the young woman with her power. Lucy falls down the stairs. Leo rushes to Piper, who's life is hanging on a very thin thread. But she's still alive. So there's still a chance he can save her.
Lucy slowly gets up. She rises her eyes and sees Leo kneeling next to Piper. She can read the pain in his eyes. She knows she just killed the love of his life. Suddenly, she doesn't see Leo anymore, she sees Kevin. That's how he looked at her when she tried to kill herself. She hears the voices telling her to pick up the gun and kill Leo so she can kill the sisters after. Lucy reaches her hand toward the gun then stops. She sees in her mind everything that happened since she started hearing the voices. "My God, what have I done?" she asks herself. "What have I become?" Kill them, the voices tell her. "No." Lucy says. "I won't kill anymore. Never." And she curls up, crying.
Meanwhile, Leo tries to heal Piper. Suddenly, Piper's breathing, which had become unstable and difficult, stabilizes. Then the young witch opens her eyes and whispers "My savior." Looking at Leo. He smiles at her and holds her in his arms, thankful he was able to save her, once again.
After holding Piper in her arms too, Phoebe frees Prue. Then everyone looks at Lucy. She's seated on the last stair, her head in her hands, crying her heart out.
"I'm sorry." she says looking at them. "I didn't want to, I swear. It's the voices."
The others look at each other, unsure what to do. In the end, Phoebe approaches Lucy. She doesn't know why, but she's sure Lucy's being sincere. One look at Prue, Piper and Leo tells her they're all feeling the same thing. She sits next to Lucy and puts her arms around her.
"There. It's over, Lucy, it's over." she comforts her.
"Call the police. Tell them that I'm turning myself in. Tell them I have many murders to confess." Lucy says.
"Okay." Prue answers. "Come with us, we'll do that."
A few minutes later, everybody's in the Halliwell manor. Prue is on the phone with Darryl.
"She says her name's Lucy Rainworth and she has murders to confess."
"She told you what they were exactly?" Darryl asks.
"No. She just says she has murders to confess. But I think she has mental problems, Darryl."
"How come?"
"She says voices told her to kill people."
"Okay. I'll be right there, Prue."
"Thanks, Darryl."
"And Prue?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful, 'kay?"
"I promise, Darryl."
She hangs up and joins the others. Prue sits down in front of Lucy.
"I called Darryl." she says. "He's a friend of ours, a police inspector in the homicides section. He'll take care of you."
Lucy nods but doesn't say anything. In fact, she hasn't said anything since she got here.
"Lucy, can you tell us why the voices wanted you to kill people?" Phoebe asks.
There's a long silence. Then Lucy finally answers.
"They said that it was because of them my family died."
"And you believed them?" Piper asks.
"Yes. But not anymore. In the basement, I remembered the truth."
"And… what truth is that?" Leo wants to know.
"Two years ago, something horrible happened at home. I'd left to visit Kevin's family. He was my fiance…" She stops to master herself. "My father took his hunting gun and killed the neighbors. Then he came back home and killed my brother, my sister and my mother."
"Why'd he do that?" Prue asks.
"I don't know. I never understood. I've been trying to for two years. With the results you saw."
"What happened to your father?" Piper asks after a long moment of silence.
"He… When I came back home, I found him in the living room, next to my mother. He… He'd shot himself. I tried to help him but… it was too late."
Lucy starts to cry. Phoebe, sitting next to her, holds her in her arms. No one dares to talk. After a few minutes, Lucy finally calms down and starts to talk again.
"That's when the voices started. And they never stopped."
As she finishes her sentence, Darryl rings the doorbell. Prue lets him in. Lucy spends the next hour giving her deposition to Darryl. When she's finished, she stopped crying. Darryl says that he must now take her to the station.
"Right." Lucy says. "Can I go to the bathroom first?"
"Sure." Darryl answers.
Piper leads Lucy upstairs and leaves her alone in the bathroom. Lucy closes the door. She opens the cold water tap and sprays water on her face. Then she looks up and stares at herself in the mirror. "God, I'm a monster." she tells herself.
Downstairs, an eternity seems to have gone by when Darryl suggests "Maybe one of you should check up on her. She's been there for a while."
"I'll go." Piper does.
She climbs up the stairs and knocks on the bathroom door.
"Lucy, are you okay?" she asks.
No answer.
"Lucy?"
Still no answer. Piper opens the door and freezes.
"Oh my God! Leo!" she screams rushing inside.
Lucy is lying on the floor, blood all around her. Both of her wrists are slashed. Piper falls down next to her. She suddenly fells a weird chill up her spine but doesn't pay it much attention. She attempts to revive the young woman.
Alarmed by Piper's cry, Leo, Prue, Phoebe and Darryl come rushing in the bathroom. Instantly understanding what's going on, Leo kneels next to Lucy and tries to heal her. Unfortunately, it's already too late.
"I can't, Piper." he says taking his hands away. "I'm sorry."
"Oh God, why'd she do that?" Piper asks, tears in her eyes.
"Maybe because she couldn't keep living like this." Leo answers taking Piper in his arms. "At least now, she's in peace."
Epilogue
Prue and Phoebe are sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee before going to bed. It has been a long day.
After the discovery of Lucy's body, Darryl called the paramedics. Lots of policemen arrived at the scene and the girls and Leo had to answer to a lot of questions and to describe their misadventure in all its details (leaving out, of course, all the magical parts). When night came, the police finally left. Darryl also left after making sure Leo and the girls were all right. After their departure, Piper had gone to bed with Leo.
"How do you think the 'voices' knew we were witches?" Phoebe asks Prue.
"I don't know, Phoebe. Maybe Lucy had some kind of sixth sense to guess that kind of thing." Prue answers.
"I don't know, Prue…"
"Pheebs, it's over, okay? Drop this whole thing and go to bed, 'kay?"
Phoebe nods.
"Yes, ma'am."
Then the sisters get up and go to bed.
In Piper's room, Leo and her are sleeping. Suddenly, Piper wakes up screaming.
"NO! Oh my God, no! Not that!"
"Piper! Calm down." Leo says. "It's just a nightmare."
"Oh my God, Leo." Piper says clinging to him. "It was horrible. You were all dead, all three of you, you, Prue and Phoebe. And…"
"Shh. It's over." Leo comforts her. "We're all alive, Piper. It's going to be OK."
For a few minutes, Leo tries to calm Piper down. She at last stops trembling.
"Are you all right now, Piper?" he asks her.
"Yeah. It was just a bad dream, like you said."
"Can I get you anything?"
"No, it's okay. I'll just go to the bathroom."
Piper gets up and goes there. The truth is, she still feels a little weird, but she doesn't want to worry Leo for nothing.
She hoes to the sink and sprays water on her face. Suddenly, she hears a voice whispering to her "It wasn't just a nightmare and you know it." She jumps and turns back. She's still alone in the bathroom. She peeks in the hallway. It's empty. Piper goes back to the sink to turn off the water. "You won't be able to resist for long." Piper turns around again but she's still all alone. She turns off the water and listens. There's no more sound.
Finally, Piper shrugs and goes back to bed. It's probably just her imagination.
