Author's Note: The plot bunnies have hijacked the story, again, and now I have no idea where it's going.

To anon: Yes, your reviews are getting through. The site started allowing authors to moderate anon reviews, and the authors have to go in and approve each one, personally.

And to the guest who was wondering about Prue's behavior: Prue wants nothing more than to protect all of her sisters, Paige included, but she's just escaped captivity in the Underworld, and she's not thinking straight. I'll be going into Prue's time in the Underworld in more detail in the next chapter.

Paige dragged herself back to the wall opposite the cavern entrance, closing her eyes and feigning unconsciousness. She watched the shining shield warily through slitted eyes. A few seconds later, the shield disappeared long enough for Avares to stroll into the cavern, and then it snapped back into place behind him. He crossed to where she was sitting, and then he kicked her hard in the ribs. Her eyes flew open from the shock and she stifled a pained cry, glaring up at the demon.

"What do you want?" she demanded, mulishly, as she climbed slowly to her feet.

"Oh, good," the demon sneered, "you're awake."

"What do you want?" Paige repeated.

"I have a job for you," Avares told her. Seeing her suspicious look, he added, "Oh, don't worry, it's not going to be hard. All you have to do is not die."

"Oh, is that all?" Paige mocked him, and then she doubled over, groaning in pain as he shot a quick spike of energy through the bracelet. "Bite me," she growled, when she straightened back up.

"I like that spirit," Avares told her, grinning. "It'll serve you well when I send you out on assassinations."

"You think I'm going to kill for you?" Paige asked, unable to hide the disdain in her voice.

"Once we're done with your training, of course," Avares replied. "Training that starts now, I might add."

"What kind of training?" Paige asked, guardedly. "And what is that?" she demanded, when she noticed the crossbow in his hands. "What, are you going to shoot me with that thing?"

"Eventually," Avares said. When her eyes widened, he scoffed. "Don't tell me you don't recognize a Darklighter's crossbow?"

"What's a Darklighter?" Paige asked, and the demon stared at her in shock for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"This is too good!" he crowed, happily. "The Charmed Ones are supposed to be so strong, so smart, yet they let their little half-breed bastard go wandering around without any idea about the monsters that walk out there in the world. Well, allow me to enlighten you."

Avares hoisted the crossbow higher in his arms, grinning smugly down at her. He paced a short path in front of her as he talked.

"Darklighters are the only beings in existence capable of killing Whitelighters," he began. "Fallen angels, to begin with, and then they began corrupting and converting humans to increase their numbers. They had no choice, if they wanted to stand a chance against you disgusting little do-gooders up in the Heavens."

"I'm sorry," Paige broke in, "do you expect me to feel sorry for the demons who want to kill me?"

"Don't interrupt," Avares scolded, mildly, punishing her with another burst of pain from the bracelet. "It's rude. Now, the reason that Darklighters are so dangerous to your kind is that they've developed a potion capable of killing Whitelighters. It suppresses your self-healing ability and spreads a poison through your veins that slowly, painfully destroys you." He smirked. "I'm told it feels like burning from the inside out."

Paige's head was swimming as she tried to process everything she'd just learned. Not to mention trying to figure out what was the truth, and what was the demon just trying to scare the crap out of her.

"I – I don't have a self-healing ability," she protested, latching on what seemed to be the most important part of his little tale.

"You'd better hope that you develop one," Avares told her. "Otherwise, this little experiment is going to be over very quickly."

"What experiment?" Paige asked, and Avares brandished the crossbow at her.

He freed the bolt from where it was notched, running his fingers over the smooth shaft. A drop of liquid rolled off the tip of the bolt to splash on the ground.

"It would be inconvenient for me if you got yourself killed by a Darklighter the first time I sent you out," he told her. "So, you're going to become immune to their poison. We'll start with a low dose, to begin with. Give me your arms."

Paige stared at the demon, her arms still crossed over her chest. Avares huffed an exasperated sigh.

"This is going to happen," he told her, "and you have no choice in the matter. And, even if you somehow manage to survive, this is going to be very unpleasant for you. You can make things easier on yourself if you don't fight me. Now, give me your arms."

Paige glared at Avares for a moment, and then, grudgingly, held her arms out. She forced herself not to wince when Avares dragged the tip of the bolt lightly over her arms, blood welling up in its wake. For a moment, all she felt was the pain of the scratches in her arms, but then the burning started.

When she was six, her best friend, Glenn, had dared her to lick an exposed wire. Every muscle in her body had seized up, her heart had almost exploded out of her chest, and her parents told her later that she'd been dead for two minutes. It was the most pain she'd ever felt in her life.

The Darklighter's poison was so much worse than that.

Avares hadn't been lying when he'd described it as burning from the inside out. Every nerve ending in her body was on fire. She opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was a whimper. She collapsed, curling into a tiny ball on the ground.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours," Avares told her, his voice oddly distant through the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. "If you're still alive, we'll proceed to the next step in your training."

Whistling, he strode out of the cavern, leaving Paige alone. She stared after his shadow as it disappeared behind the shield, and then dropped her head to the rocky ground. Closing her eyes, she tried to ride out the waves of agony coursing through her veins. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

'I don't want to die,' she thought, desperately. 'I want to live. I want to get out of here and see my sisters, and Dave and Julie, and Mr. Cowan and everyone at work, and Henry, again.'

According to Avares, there was an easy way to insure that. All she had to do was tap into her inner Whitelighter and heal herself.

'All I have to do is not die,' Paige thought, suppressing a hysterical laugh. 'These things are specifically designed to take out fully-trained Whitelighters; what the hell chance do I have?'

Not much, not that she could see. She didn't know if she even had a healing ability, let alone how to make it work. And she was scared. So, damn scared. She wanted nothing more than to have someone swoop in and save her.

But there was no one coming. Prue was gone, hopefully somewhere safe. Piper and Phoebe probably didn't even know she was missing. And she'd sent Henry away to keep him from getting hurt. She had to save herself.

In college, one of her psychology classes had covered the concept of guided imagery. It was used for mental problems, not physical, but maybe she could use it to activate her latent powers.

Paige forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. She imagined a river rushing over her, dousing the flames that licked at her nerves, imagined a stream flowing through her veins, diluting the poison that crept through her body. She focused on the image, only on that, single image.

And slowly, so slowly, the pain started to recede. She could breathe a little bit easier. She was by no means healed, but she thought that maybe it was starting to work. Her stomach spasming a second later made her doubt herself. But, the pain wasn't as bad as it had been before. Maybe it was possible for her to heal herself; maybe being half-Whitelighter made it possible.

"Okay, I tried to warn your sisters, but they weren't at the house – Paige, what the hell?"

Paige opened her eyes, rolling onto her back to see Henry standing over her with a concerned expression on his face. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it was clear that he wasn't buying it. He knelt down next to her, hand on her shoulder.

"What happened?" he asked, and Paige choked out a weak laugh.

"Avares is teaching me to conquer my weaknesses," she joked, as the laugh turned into a hoarse cough. "Today, we're working on Darklighter poison."

"Bastard poisoned you?" Henry demanded, his eyes dark with barely-leashed fury.

"Apparently, it's for my own good." Paige burst into another coughing fit, curling into a ball.

When she was done coughing, she relaxed enough to realize that Henry was sitting on the ground beside her. Without thinking about it, she rested her head in his lap, feeling his fingers card gently through her hair.

"Avares thinks that, if I'm motivated enough, I can learn to heal myself," she went on, quietly. "Must be working, 'cause I'm not dead, yet."

"Darklighter poison takes a while to work," Henry muttered. "I had to see you at the end-" He trailed off, his voice choked up. Paige glanced up to see him fighting back tears.

"Is that how I die in the future?" Paige asked, quietly. "A Darklighter's arrow?"

Henry sighed, nodding wordlessly. He reached out to grab her hand, and Paige squeezed his fingers as hard as she could. He smiled down at her, tremulously.

"I don't want to lose you, again," he whispered, his voice breaking on the words.

"I'm not going anywhere," Paige promised. Another spike of pain shot through her, and she gripped Henry's hand, trying to ride it out. "I'm not going to let this son of a bitch beat me. Not like this."

"Can I do anything to help?" Henry asked.

"Stay with me?" Paige asked, quietly. "For a little while?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Henry reassured her. "I'm not going anywhere."