꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

BEING A WITCH WAS HARDER FOR THE HALLIWELLS THAN THEY'D CARE TO ADMIT.

Namely, because of the demons and warlocks and terrible things that happened to them because of it.

In Piper's case, she'd dated a warlock and had to vanquish him. Her boyfriend was a whitelighter and she couldn't be with him without "The Elders" agreeing.

In Prue's case, she lost the love of her life, and their childhood friend, Andy. She was shut off and cold to the world and kept a wall sprung up tight to ensure no one overstepped a boundary.

In Phoebe's case, she'd been nearly killed by a demon a year prior, burned at the stake in the future, and nearly murdered by another warlock in the past.

They'd all been through the wringer. But so was the fate of the Charmed Ones, or that's what they'd learned at least.

And in that pain, Pandora tried to hide herself. She, too, had discovered her powers upon their retrieval of the Book of Shadows, and her abilities grew exponentially the more she practiced them.

But she was never a Charmed One.

Despite enduring terrible feats — like almost being killed by a warlock, being electrocuted by a possessed bandmate, and having her heart nearly torn from her chest by a demon — she was still, only a Halliwell.

Their Grandmother called her a mistake. A lovable, wonderful mistake, but an accident nonetheless.

When Patty Halliwell grew pregnant with Piper, it was five months before they realized she was carrying twins.

How incredibly unusual.

It seemed as if Pandora had just appeared one morning, eager to share her womb with Piper, and four months later the pair were born.

At first, Piper and Pandora were inseparable. They grew up very close, sharing everything, finishing one another's sentences.

But things changed the older the got. After Phoebe's birth and their mother's death, Pandora retreated into herself.

Where her sisters found strength in one another, relying on each other for everything, she grew quiet and cold and bitter.

Why had their mother died, of all mothers? Why was it their fate to endure such pain and sadness — especially when their father just walked out on them, as if they never mattered to him at all.

No, Pandora found anger at a young age. It grappled her heart and constrained her breath and buried itself deep in her lungs. It festered with every conversation, relished in her misery, and maintained the cold exterior she used as a front.

Anger consumed Pandora and separated her from her sisters, creating a tongue sharp enough to maim, and an emptiness she couldn't fill by anything else.

As the years passed and the girls grew, so too did their personalities.

Phoebe was the wild child, experimenting with boys and parties and fun. She was vivacious and energetic and could never keep a job or a boyfriend long enough for it to matter.

Piper was calm and collected, but soft and well-mannered. She was sweet and kind and put everyone before herself.

Prue was angry too, but not like Pandora. Prue was strong and stubborn and fierce. She'd given up her childhood to help raise her sisters and it showed in her heart every time she opened it for someone else.

But Pandora was always angry. She'd get into fights at school, sit through detention and talk back to teachers. She was a dark cloud over the Halliwell name and she was always disappointing everyone else.

She'd dabbled in drugs and alcohol, and where Piper found strength in studies and Phoebe in friendship, it was years before Pandora found a suitable outlet for her resentment.

Music.

Pandora's band was the most important thing for her. When she discovered guitar and played until her fingers bled, she was able to fix herself. If only for a few moments at a time.

Music was ineffable to her, indescribably perfect. It matched every beat of her heart and strummed every angry feeling, creating something beautiful and powerful.

Pandora barely graduated high school, so college wasn't an option for her. But the moment she was old enough, she left the Halliwell's and went straight off to find herself.

A band was formed with three other members and they travelled the states in small venues. They broke up more times than Pandora could count, but her music remained. She moved in with Phoebe in New York, both girls finding a rhythm in the eccentric city, both a little too wild for their family.

And so, when Grams died and left the Halliwell Manor to the girls, they had but one option after Piper's call.

To go home.

And that decision was the catalyst for a terrifying, beautiful, magical rest of their lives.

They were reunited with magic they lost at a young age, given the power to be witches and have a coven.

And the Charmed Ones were born.

But they were three, not four.

"The Power of Three Will Set Us Free."

Not four.

Pandora was still an outcast, a shadow, a barely seen figure in the Halliwell family. Her anger still burned, her music still sung, and her powers were growing.

It was only a matter of time she met Cole Turner.

After all, Pandora's Box was never meant to stay closed.

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

RAHHHHHH IM SO EXCITED FOR THESE BOOKOSKDSS