This is it folks. This is the conclusion. I have had great fun with this project and I hope you all have too. You have been fantastic and your support has kept me going. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the final chapter.

Ch. 7 –

"I'd volunteer to die," Cole said, "but aside from the obvious impact on you I wouldn't trust any demon to keep their word. Once you're out of the picture Mace is going to kill the rest of the family. They're a threat. Smart demons eliminate threats before they become problems."

Victor knew his father was right. Though most demons were almost unbelievably stupid, Trent was a clear exception and Mace was his lackey. Of course Trent wouldn't keep his word. He had no reason to, except honor. In the heat of the moment and the uncertainty about his own feelings, Victor had not thought it through. He'd been prepared to risk everything, sacrifice all, on the word of a manipulative demon. It was a humbling moment, and he couldn't figure out how to fix this. He needed his parents.

"What do we do?" Victor asked.

"We save them," his mom answered confidently. Victor looked to her with hope. "First of all, if this is going to work your father needs his powers back. Whatever you're doing to suppress them, stop it."

Victor pulled the amulet over his head and handed it to her. She held it speculatively for a moment. Her expressive face visibly struggled for a second before hardening into resolution. She tossed it to the floor and stomped on it. A small burst of energy radiated from under her heel. When she drew back her foot the amulet was broken.

Cole held a hand out and an energy ball appeared. He nodded to Phoebe. "Now what?" he asked.

"You've been working with a demon the whole time you've been here," Phoebe said to Victor. It was not a question, nor was it a condemnation. Victor was impressed with her deductive skills, or maybe her empathy had returned. Either way he was grateful she did not sound angry. He simply nodded.

"Mace doesn't strike me as the mastermind type," she continued, "So I'm guessing you worked with his boss."

"That's right," Victor answered, "His name is Trent. He's the one who summoned Mace as a way of forcing you guys to summon me. As far as I can tell Trent can move fragments through time, but not whole people. The fragments fade and lack a will of their own. They just replay the events of the past or future. He needed me whole and interacting with this time, which is why he needed the Charmed Ones to do it."

"You must have had some means of contacting him once you got to our time," Phoebe said.

Victor nodded.

"Then you need to contact him now. Tell him you captured Cole and are ready to kill him, but you'll only finish the job once you know your family is safe."

"He won't like that," Victor observed.

"He won't have a choice. He wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of bringing you into this if he thought he could kill Cole some other way. Tell him you'll meet him at some neutral location to make the exchange and tell him there better not be one hair harmed on Chris's head or the deal is off. Make sure he brings the whole family," Phoebe said.

Victor thought about it. It just might work. He turned to his father. "Shimmer me to the alley behind 'The Underworld' dance club." He glanced at his watch. Two minutes.

"Wait," Phoebe said. She handed him the athame he'd left in the cave. It was one of five he kept on his body at all times, but the only one with the energy dispersal enchantment to permanently destroy a demon.

He took it and turned back to Cole. "Right now," he said

Cole reached out a hand and shimmered them out.

They reappeared in the dark alley where they intended. Fortunately no one was around.

"I always thought this place was a bit tacky," Cole observed.

"Hide here in the alley until I return," Victor said. "If I'm not back in five minutes and I want you to take this athame…" he handed Cole the enchanted weapon, "and come charging in to rescue me."

His father smiled. "Count on it," he said.

Victor ran to the end of an alley and then shifted to a rapid walk as he came around to the front. Once again there was a line of people waiting and he walked to the front. Against all odds the seemingly brainless bouncer actually recognized him.

"You here to see Mr. Trent," he asked.

"That's right," Victor said. "Tell him it's about the deal."

The bouncer spoke into a headset and then waived Victor through. The demon accompanied him as before and it did not escape Victor's notice when two other burly demons fell into line behind him. They led him once more to Trent's glass enclosed office overlooking the dance floor.

The dapper white haired demon frowned, and looked pointedly to his watch.

"Little Chris's time is up, Victor," he said. "You know the deal."

"I'm changing the deal," Victor answered. "I've got Cole bound and powerless, but I won't finish the job until I'm sure my family is safe."

The demon smirked. "Touching, but disappointing, and here I thought you were a man of your word." He leaned forward over his desk. "But you don't seem to understand who has the power here. I only have to think about it and your cousin dies."

Victor steeled himself. It was strange to feel so afraid. Being borderline suicidal does have the advantage of eliminating a lot of your personal safety concerns. But he was afraid now. He had other people to be afraid for and that was far worse than any threat to himself. It was almost impossible not to show the emotion he felt, but he knew it would hurt his negotiating position. He projected calm indifference. "If you had the power, you wouldn't need me. So let's stop playing games and get down to business."

Trent regarded him angrily. "Go on," he said in a dangerously soft voice.

"We meet on neutral ground. I bring Cole and you bring Piper, Paige, Leo, Wyatt and Chris. Then you set them free and I kill Cole," Victor said.

"So, let me get this straight," Trent said sarcastically. "I give up all my leverage in exchange for nothing. You do drive a hard bargain Victor."

Victor had anticipated this.

"Fine," he said. "Just bring them so that I can see that they're all safe and well. Then I'll kill Cole."

Trent got a far away look that Victor recognized as attempting to see fragments of the future. Victor prayed the demon didn't see what he was planning.

"Cole alone," Trent said. "You bring no one else, and I pick the ground."

Victor nodded. "So long as it's not in the underworld or one of your usual haunts, that's fine with me." Then they worked out the details.

-- Change of Scene --

"Where did Victor go?" Phoebe asked.

"He said he needed to do some thinking," Cole answered. "I'll rendezvous with him just before the meet."

They were in an underground lair. It was one of Cole's old safe-houses. They figured the manor wouldn't be safe in case Trent got impatient. They also figured the last place anyone would look for a Charmed One was in the underworld. After Victor made the arrangements they had spent a few hours planning and making preparations. Now all they had to do was wait.

"I'm worried about him," Phoebe said.

"Me too," Cole answered.

"It seems wrong somehow. Shouldn't we be shielding him from danger instead of putting him in more danger?" she asked.

"It's his decision to make. He's a brave young man," Cole said. "He takes after his mother that way."

She smiled at that and laid her arms around his neck. But her expression was still worried. "Even if we get through this and even if we can correct the mistakes we made with him last time, our lives are still always going to be strange and dangerous. Do we really have the right to bring a child into that world?"

"Well Phoebe, you know better than anyone what that life is like," Cole said. "Do you regret the way you've lived it?"

"No," Phoebe admitted, "but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it."

"If you had it to do all over and you could do it this time without the magic; a normal, safe, mortal life, would you choose that?" he asked.

Phoebe thought about it. If they'd been mortal Prue would probably still be alive. Phoebe still felt the ache of her sister's loss like it was yesterday. That was the single biggest, unrecoverable wound that magic had inflicted on them. But then she tried to imagine Prue never having been a witch, never saving all those innocents, never fighting evil. Prue wouldn't have wanted that.

"Prophecy may have told of you and your sister's power," Cole said as though reading her mind, "but it was you and your sister's choice that made the prophecy real." He smiled proudly down at her. "Do you think a bunch of old men and women in goofy robes mapped out your destiny in advance? You created your own destiny because you cared so much about the world that you were willing to put yourselves on the line to save it. Do you think I love you so much because you were destined to be great? I love you so much because you choose to be great every single day."

Phoebe felt her eyes begin to water. If it weren't for magic she wouldn't be the person she was. And for all that magic had taken away they had made a good life for themselves, such as it was. Without magic Leo would have died a forgotten hero, noble but tragic and with no chance to go on doing good. He and Piper would have never been married, which would mean no Wyatt, no baby Chris, and no smart-alecky whitelighter from the future to give them one of the richest years of their lives. Worst of all she would have never met Cole who, despite all the pain and recriminations, was still the man who taught her what love really meant.

"No," Phoebe finally said, "I'd choose to do it all over again." And then she kissed Cole with two years of pent up feelings. Then they did more than kiss. She made one more choice for the future, one built on hope for a better world, and Victor Turner Halliwell came into existence.

-- Change of Scene --

Cole shimmered in next to him. Victor was relieved. It would only be a couple minutes more till Trent and company arrived.

"Cut it a bit close, didn't you?" Victor asked.

Cole looked uncomfortable. "We had some last minute, um, planning to do," Cole said.

Victor eyed his father suspiciously but decided he didn't want to know.

"Hands behind your back," Victor ordered. Cole complied and Victor fixed shackled to his wrists and ankles. They looked impressively restrictive, but of course he could shimmer out of them in an instant. Hopefully Trent would assume Cole remained powerless. Victor was banking on the fact that even a very intelligent demon could never fully understand a family dynamic, and could therefore not anticipate that Victor would be willing to forgive a man he was willing to kill days ago. He would certainly never guess Victor would give up his greatest advantage over a long term enemy. No, he would assume Cole's powers were as shackled as his limbs. Or at least that's what Victor kept telling himself.

Victor looked out over the old abandoned cell block. He'd brought a flashlight but it did little to dispel the shadows that loomed from every corner. Alcatraz was a creepy place, especially at night. Long rows of barred cells stretched off on either side into the darkness. Victor felt a shiver run down the back of his neck. The oppression and suffering were almost tangible in the air.

Then Trent and a dozen demonic bodyguards appeared.

Victor held a knife to his father's back.

"I've got what you came for," Victor said. "Now show me my family."

A moment later Mace appeared along with shimmering magical cage. Its glow cast a reddish glare over the darkly lit cell block. Piper, Paige, Leo and the kids were inside. They looked dirty and a little beaten up, but otherwise okay.

"Kill Cole," Trent said, "and then I will free your family."

"What assurances do I have you'll actually free them once Cole is dead?" Victor asked.

"You have my word," the demon answered.

"That's not good enough," Victor answered. "Free the kids now as a sign of good faith."

"I'm going to order Mace to eat the children if you do not put that athame through your father's heart," Trent answered. Mace's expression looked greedy, like a fat child offered a particularly delectable treat.

"Alright," Victor said, "I just don't want to have any more lost witches calling on my conscience." Trent furrowed his brow at the odd wording. Victor looked at Piper significantly. She raised her eyebrows to indicate she got the not so subtle message.

Victor growled loudly as he raised the athame slowly, dramatically, and held it aloft behind his fathers back. He only needed to distract the demons, keep their eyes and ears riveted on him for a few seconds. He could see the sisters mouthing the words of the call a lost witch spell. Then he flung the blade as hard as he could at Trent's forehead, where it embedded itself with a wet crunch. Trent appeared unfazed, and calmly removed it. He didn't seem to notice Phoebe appear in a swirl of light within the cage.

"NOW!" Victor shouted. He pulled the two potions his mother had prepared from his trench coat and hurled them amidst the demons. He closed his eyes, covered his ears and looked away. He hoped Phoebe had time to tell the others to do the same. Even through his hands the sound was deafening and the light through his eye lids was like staring at the sun. He blinked back the after image and turned around to charge the demons. To his gratification, most of them were staggering and off balance; all except Trent and Mace that is. Cole shimmered out of his bonds and started taking out demons like ducks in a shooting gallery.

Victor had eyes only for Mace. He launched into a flying kick which should have sent the demon flying into the bars of the nearest cell. But before he could get there the demon shimmered a few feet sideways and Victor came down awkwardly. Before he could regain his balance the demon grabbed him from behind with inhuman strength. Victor lashed out with a desperate back kick, which broke the hold. He knew if the stronger opponent managed to grapple him he was done for.

He threw a round house kick, a back punch. He flowed through strikes, kicks, and sweeps with the grace and speed of a life time of practice. Almost any human opponent and most demons would have been overmatched. Mace, however, was like nothing else. He was too strong, too fast, too good at shimmering out of the way of Victor's best blows. Even worse, more demons had shimmered in to replace the ones vanquished and it looked like Cole was reeling under the combined assault of Trent and his flunkies. Victor started in Cole's direction to help out and Mace took advantage of his momentary distraction. The little demon grabbed Victor by the throat. Mace's face twisted into sadistic smile as he lifted Victor into the air. Victor's head pounded and his vision narrowed to white. He dimly registered the sisters chanting in unison.

Suddenly, something like a bolt of lightning washed over his entire body. Mace was thrown back from the discharge. Trent and the demons fighting Cole had stopped what they were doing to look over at him. Victor got slowly to his feet. He felt different somehow. Then a moment later the knowledge hit him. His powers, the ones he's always wondered about, the ones he'd always been denied; it was all there, everything. Even better he somehow knew exactly how to use them. His mother was a genius.

He threw a blindingly fast series of punches and kicks at the demons clustered around his father. This may have seemed odd, since they were more than ten feet away, except that each blow projected an after image that carried across the intervening space and slammed into the demons. His power was a form of astral projection combined with his father's demonic energy. He did not project his entire body, nor did he slip into unconsciousness when he used the power. Rather he projected just the striking limb, which produced the oddly disconcerting visual of a half dozen glowing arms and legs flying across the room. When they hit their target, the astral image faded and released both the kinetic energy from Victor's strike and the same kind of demonic energy used to infuse Cole's energy balls. The combined effect created a lot of flying flaming demon debris.

Then he turned his attention back to Mace. The little demon had recovered his surprise and produced two athames from somewhere. Victor did the same and blade clashed against the blade with the rhythm of a metal drum solo. After a dizzying flurry the two locked blades and pushed each other in a contest of main strength. Amazingly, Victor realized, he was now just as strong as the demon. With a grunt he threw Mace back and then launched into the air, literally – he levitated just like his mother -- and threw astral side kicks at the demon's head so quickly that ten projections were en route before the first one hit him. He then dived fists first, superman style, and slammed into Mace. Both athame blades sank into the demon's chest up to their hilts and the force of Victor's charge drove them both back against the bars of a nearby cell. Mace glared at him with feral fury. Victor realized he could channel his father's destructive energy directly through the blades and into to Mace's chest. He did so. He poured the energy, pure and raw, straight into the demon. With an inhuman snarl Mace exploded.

Victor felt drained and weak, but he couldn't relax yet. He turned to see his father and Trent engaged in combat. He moved to help but Cole saw him and waived him off. The Charmed Ones had somehow broken free of their cage, probably the old P3 spell if Victor had to guess, but Cole waived them off as well.

"This is my fight," he said. "For some reason he did all this to get to me. And I want to know why."

Trent looked around and seemed to realize all of his followers were dead. He tried to shimmer out, but Cole caught him and held him in place. Cole pushed him against the wall and held the athame Victor gave him to the demon's chest.

"Why?" Cole demanded.

"Simplest reason in the world," Trent said, suddenly calm. "Self-preservation. But I can see now how wrong I was to be worried." He broke Cole's hold and shoved him away. "I can sense it now; you don't have the power to stop me." He approached Cole menacingly, but Cole shimmered behind him and put the athame blade through the back of his neck.

"Fool," Trent said, spinning around. He looked un-phased despite the metal blade protruding from his throat. "No simple athame can destroy me. I exist in all times." But then something started to happen, a kind of luminescent energy extended from the blade and gradually suffused the demon's body. Trent's expression went from smug to worried and then terrified as his whole body started to shake with red and white currents of power.

"No, it's not possible," he said.

"The funny thing is," Victor said, "I never could have gotten that blade without your help." Trent's eyes widened in recognition.

"No, that was to destroy Cole," he said.

"I think I see what this was all about now," Victor said. "You must have seen, in one of your time fragments, that my father would kill you. So you arranged all of this, recruited me, summoned Mace, sent me through time, helped me get the magical artifacts, all to kill him before he could kill you. But all along you were causing the chain of events that led to your own demise." Victor shook his head ruefully. "If you'd done nothing, you would have been fine."

"NO!" the demon shouted again. Parts of his body were starting to boil away.

"I almost feel like I should be thanking you," Cole told the demon. "If it weren't for you I would never have gotten a second first chance with my son."

Trent cackled. "Don't you realize, Cole, your son is already dead."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Victor asked.

The demon looked to him and smiled through his obvious pain.

"Mace was linked to you in more than one way. I created him from your pain and hatred. He was a part of you, a part of your soul. And a person can't survive long when a part their soul is on the other side." He cackled again before exploding in a final violent burst of radiance.

Victor's fatigue redoubled. He felt a tearing pain in his chest. He looked to his mother.

"It was me all along. I'm sorry," he said. And then fell to the ground.

-- Change of Scene --

Phoebe ran down stairs from the attic. After Victor collapsed Leo had orbed them back to the manor, where the Phoebe and her sisters had been trying desperately to come up with a way to reintegrate Victor's soul.

Her son lay on the couch, pale and covered in sweat. Cole stood at the end of the couch, arms crossed in helpless frustration. Leo knelt over Victor's still form, trying to heal. She looked at him hopefully, but he shook his head.

"This is beyond my power," Leo said sadly, and stood up.

"Well what good is having an elder in the family if you can't even save my son?" Phoebe shouted. Leo looked down in shame. "Do you have any idea what it's like to watch your own child just fade away in front of you?"

Leo's eyes flashed with an anger rarely seen there. "Yes," he answered simply.

Phoebe realized what she'd just said. "I'm so sorry Leo; that was a stupid thing to say. It's just…"

"I understand," he said.

She nodded. There was nothing else to say. She looked at Victor again. He was twitching in his unconscious state and seemed to be getting weaker by the minute. She looked to her sisters. "Let's do this," she said.

They chanted in unison:

"Power of the witches rise;

Course unseen across the skies;

Lost Victor's soul, we summon thee;

To Victor's flesh, return to he."

Phoebe watched Victor anxiously, waiting for any sign it was working. A rolling ball of black, ugly energy came hovering through the ceiling and settled down just over Victor's body. It started to settle into him. Victor's eyes flew open.

"NO!" he shouted and held up a hand. He seemed to be holding it at bay. "I don't want that part of me back."

"Victor you have to take it," Cole said. "You'll die if you don't. I know it's hard to deal with your demonic side, but we'll help you threw it."

"You don't understand," Victor said. He stared at the dark energy with horror. "That's not my demonic part. Remember what Trent said, that's a part of my soul, my human soul. It is a concentration of everything that has been twisted by hatred, anger and fear. Having that out of me, or at least, partially out of me, helped me make the choice to help you guys. It explains why I didn't just kill you like I planned to." He visibly struggled and pushed the energy away. It dispersed.

"Okay," Phoebe said, "we can just do the spell again. But this time you can't stop us Victor."

He turned to regard her and her heart broke. There was such sad determination there. "No mom, this is my choice. I don't want to go into eternity hating you."

"You don't have to go into eternity at all," Cole said with a touch of anger. "Pain can be dealt with, in time. So long as you're still alive at least there's a chance."

Victor turned back to his father. "You may be right," he said softly, "but I'm tired, dad, so very tired and I don't know if I have the strength to fight myself. I don't want to be responsible for what will happen if I'm too weak. It will be better for everyone if I'm just gone. This is the life I've chosen for myself." He turned back to his mom, weakly, as though that much movement was almost too much. "Don't let this destroy you mom. If you change who you are or what you believe in, that's how the bad guy's win. Don't ever stop being Phoebe Halliwell." His voice started to fade and he seemed to lose focus. "Life is just a dream," he said.

Tear's streamed down Phoebe's face. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be watching yet another loved one die.

"Mommy," Victor called softly. It was a small voice, a child's voice. She knelt by the couch and lay her head down on his chest.

"Yes sweetheart?" she said through her tears.

"Tell me I'm a good boy," he said faintly.

Phoebe sobbed. "You're a very good boy," she said. "In fact I think you're the best boy in the whole wide world."

He smiled. "I love you mommy," he said. Then he went silent and seemed to fade.

"NO!" Phoebe shouted. "No, no no! You cannot do this to me. You cannot give up on yourself."

He didn't seem to hear her. Then his eyes suddenly lit up. "Chris!" he asked in genuine wonder. His brow furrowed in concentration, like he was listening to someone. This went on for a few seconds. Then he looked back at Phoebe.

"I don't want to get up yet. I changed my mind. Can't I dream just a little bit longer?" he said.

He was delirious, but Phoebe desperately hoped he meant what she thought he did. She turned to her sisters, who were both openly weeping. "Again, now!"

They quickly chanted the spell. The dark energy came back and descended into Victor, this time without protest.

Victor returned to himself, from the bright place where he'd spoken with Chris. Victor realized now it must have been the Chris who traveled through time. He told Victor how much he wished he had the chance Victor did, to come back, to see his parents, how he would do anything to ease their pain at his loss. He told him the hardest and bravest decision he would ever make was to live in this world. Victor chose to come back. It was not a decision without consequences. He felt the darkness inside of him, but his will was still his own and he would fight it.

Victor opened his eyes and blinked against the brightness. He looked to each of his concerned family members and settled finally on the tear streaked smiling face of his mother.

"So much for tragic destiny," he said at last. The family descended on Victor in a crush of hugs and laughter.