I pace back and forth in front of a confused Prudence.

I called Prudence here because I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with and she's the only person here that knows the full extent of what we're dealing with. I've come to the conclusion that...

"I need to go to the future." I blurt. I stand before her, not the least bit surprised by her stunned expression. I take a deep breath, "It's the only way I can understand how I got so...evil."

"You didn't turn evil!" Prue argues, "You just—"

"Not the answer that makes me change my mind. Look, Prue, you cannot show up here and drop the amount of bombs you have without causing some kind of ruckus. I think you came back because you wanted to change what's going to happen. You're still here, Prue. We haven't changed anything." I see Prue's hesitation. I also see that she's thinking about what I'm saying. I sigh, "Look, I don't want to become that. I want you to feel like you're the most important person to me. I will literally kill myself to save you."

"Fine."

"How did you pass through the fabric of time and space?" I ask.

"In addition to my mad mind-reading skills, I can sort of—I said a spell."

"A spell? I have a feeling that you're not being truthful."

"Okay, given. I'm more in tune with my magical side. It's pretty easy for me."

"We are so going to have a talk after this!" I growl, "A huge one."

Prudence walks over to me and pulls my hand towards her, palms out. She pulls her hand up and an athame materializes in her hand, "I'm not just a pretty face." She runs the dagger over the skin of my palm. I wince. She quickly does the same of her palm. I notice she doesn't wince. She waves her hand through the air and I expect the blood to drip, but it doesn't. It causes ripples through the air. I stare at her and she pretends not to know. She pulls my hand up and the ripples begin to turn into a whirlpool. I take a step back and she looks to me, "I should go first."

I pass her and walk to the portal. Without hesitation, I push myself into the portal.

I feel as if I'm falling and numb but aware. It's an odd cocktail of emotions that makes me feel as if I'm lost.

-

The world seems to shimmer into place in front of me.

What strikes me first is how quiet the world is. Once again, the sun is blinding. The harness of the light. I take a step forward. There's no car and no people. I can practically feel the creepiness.

"I knew she'd bring you here." My voice says.

I spin around to see myself. I'm definitely older. The startling attribute is that my eyes are blacked out and there are veins covering the whole of my face. I'm wearing a grey t-shirt with a white jacket and black pants. My eyes stay glued to his eyes. It's like staring into the abyss again.

He smirks, "I miss how innocent I was when I was screwing vampires and werewolves."

I can understand how Prudence grew to dislike me. I don't what it is about him that I dislike. To be honest, I thought seeing myself like that would be unnerving and scary but seeing him, I feel a sense of guilt and sympathy.

"I know the questions you have. How did I get this way? Why did I let this happen?"

"Actually, I don't."

This response surprises him.

"Let's be honest, we're always one step from being totally nuts. I thought that I'd become hard and angry. Standing here, looking at you, I can see the despair and anguish. It's like when they brought me back, when my Father died."

"You think you know me? I don't remember being this ballsy."

"I expected to come here and face off against you. To tell you how horrible you are. You're not horrible. You're not even evil. You're hurt."

"You don't have the right to come here and judge me! You think you're so insightful and so together and that you understand things. This isn't your time."

I stare at him, "And you're full of shit. God, is that how I sound and look when I have a meltdown?"

He chuckles angrily, "All your jokes. And it never got you anywhere but alone. We are alone."

"Because you push everyone away."

"We." He snaps, "We always push."

"It hurt you. It made you this way. You let your grief consume you." I frown.

He laughs, "I did. I always will. It's our destiny to fight and yet when we're gone, we leave nothing but the trail of broken hearts and dead friends. Our happiness is contingent on our fundamental need to love and be loved. You haven't watched everyone you loved die."

"Grandmother. Father. Eva." I list them off and I choke on the last, "Lucas."

"I remember you at this point. I remember hope. I was wrong. I know everything you're going to say because I said it. I meant it. But it wasn't true."

"You killed him." I say, goading him, "You loved him and through whatever cause of events, you killed him! You want to feel sorry about that? Do it but the events don't change. You murdered David."

With a swift gesture, he causes an invisible force to knock me back against the ground. I roll backward, landing on my back. I can feel the burns on my back and the hot cement against my skin.

I struck a nerve.

I get to my feet and laugh, "Doesn't matter how much you attack me, it doesn't change what you did. You're a monster."

He pulls his hand up in a fist and I lift off the ground. With another jerk, he tosses me through the window of a nearby shop.

"Let's begin." He says angrily.

-

Future me goes on and on, yammering about how shitty his life is.

He's mentally barred me from moving. After using his power to toss me around the town, I'd accumulated a series of bruises, a possible bruised rib, more than a few cuts and scrapes and a swollen eye. I felt as if someone had taken a bat and went to town on my body.

He bound me to the floor, not that I'd be able to move anyways. I've been totally down and out before, full of self-doubt and loathing for myself and this world, but I've never been so totally disconnected to who I am on the inside. It's the whole reason I am so guarded with my heart. Losing David would crush me.

It has.

"I think you're blacking out. The story doesn't quite work if you don't listen."

I let out a tired laugh, "Sorry, my bullshit meter is almost full." I gasp the next words out, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry about?"

"That I became you. That I wasn't able to save David."

He stares at me, puzzled. He moves to me and bends down to me, "You didn't say that."

"I just did."

"No. When I came here, at your age, I didn't say that! You just—you changed everything." He stands and turns from me, "Dammit, I just keep surprising myself."

I shiver. I'm not sure if I'm quite prepared for that statement or the next.

He turns to me with a smile, "She did it. She changed you. But why are we still here? It should have changed us. We should exist."

"Dad!"

He whips around to the open hole in the glass. He glances back at me once more before heading for the hole. I shout for him to stop but I can barely speak. I watch him as he leaves. The hold over me releases and I push myself forward. I try to crawl but the pain is unbearable.

I hear the scream of Prudence and something in my body snaps. I put my hands to the ground and push myself, wobbly I might add, to my feet. I stagger to the opening and climb through. As I pass, I realize that it's now twilight. The sun casts a beautiful myriad of hues on the night sky.

I see myself standing over a kneeling Prudence. He raises his hand, as if to slap her. I jump to my feet and gesture towards him. He flew through the air and crashed into the side of a car. I stumble over to Prudence, who catches me as I fall.

She is quickly joined by a man who is the spitting image of David and a girl who reminds me of my Father. They bend down to me, smiles spread across their faces.

"Dad?" The girl asks.

"Parker, we don't have time." The boy hisses.

Parker jabs him, "If not now, then when? Patrick, this is our father, before his descent into full-on crazy!" She asks.

"Definitely my daughter." I wheeze.

Prudence grabs my hand in hers, "You changed it. But this world is a paradox. It can only be undone by your absence. Without you, our world can be reset."

"Good."

"Dad..."

"It's okay, Patrick. You open the portal. I have one more thing to do." I say as they help me to my feet. I turn to Prudence, "Open the portal."

Prudence nods and turn from us. I feel a pull as I hear Patrick and Parker fly back, each of lands on the hood of a car on opposite sides of the road. I stare in horror when I realize neither of them is moving. Anger rises in my stomach.

"What have I done?" He says softly.

I pull my fist up and the future version of me lifts into the sky, choking as if choked by an invisible force. I can feel the power siphoning through my entire being. I want to kill him, to make him pay for all he's done.

Then it strikes me.

His death wouldn't undo any of the things he's done. It's a mercy I can't let him have. In the moments left of this world, he has to feel the loss he's been trying to avoid. This is my first step in not becoming him.

I release the hold and he drops to the cement.

"You think you know what you are, what's to come? I've seen so many incarnations of you that it's hard to tell exactly what or who you are. But you're magnificent. An enigma."

"I know." I says as I gesture him backwards into a car. He slumps over, unconscious. I turn to Prue, who's having trouble steadying the portal. She's bleeding from the nose and just as the portal stabilizes, she begins to convulse. I run to her and grab her as she falls, both of us falling. I manage to catch her before she hit the cement. The blood kept coming and her convulsions lessened. I feel helpless. I run my hand over her, trying to do something to heal her but it doesn't work. I begin crying, "Prue, come on! You're stronger than this! You've got to live, baby."

Prudence laughs weakly, "You're not what I expected. You're so much more. You have to leave...you have to change all of this." She says before her body goes limp in my arms.

I feel the overwhelming urge to cry and hurl onto the sidewalk. I kiss her forehead, promising not to become him. I stand and limp towards the portal. I see that it is dying and I push myself in.

After traveling through a vortex, much the same as last time, I fall to the floor of my apartment. I'm already sobbing before I ever see anyone. I can hear people around me and I suddenly feel someone pull me from the floor.

I know the smell.

David pulls me into a hug, asking me what happened and where Prudence is.

I can't answer.

-

After the ordeal, David promises our friends that he can 'handle this'.

I pulled a chair up to the window an hour ago and wrapped a blanket over me. I've stopped sobbing uncontrollably. That's a start. I can't tear my eyes off the skyline of the city. I know I can't stay here, wallowing. I know what that looks like now.

I'm not surprised when David pulls a chair up beside me and hands me a cup of cocoa. I chuckle lightly and take a sip. It doesn't matter that it burns my lips. I sit the cup on the windowsill and smile over to him.

"How long do you plan to stay here?" He asks.

I shrug, "Not long." I say simply.

"What happened to them isn't your fault. It's mine."

I roll my eyes, "You have to stop making excuses for me. You died. None of that was your fault! I lost it, like I always do." I reach out and take his hand, "You don't always have to be the strong one. It just makes me weaker."

"Because I love you?"

"Because I depend on that for survival. I should be able to love you and love myself at the same time." I let go of his hand and look out of the window again, "I can't stay here too long. It would be a disservice to my children and you to stay here."

"Does this mean—I hate to jump to conclusions, but are we good?" He asks.

I smile, "You're one of the only things that keeps me going. Sorry, pal, but you're not getting rid of me."

"You really have changed."

"I gave you an out. You chose not to take it. Thank you." I say with pride, "I thought finally getting together was the hard part. We haven't started to get to the hard part."

"This side is kind of hot."

"I want to get married sooner. I want to have you here, with me, because I need you. Because the darkest I'll ever go, beyond losing my shit, beyond how I was when I came back from the grave, I have to go so far beyond that. And I think you're the only person who can ground me." I can see how confused he is, "To be the darkness, I have to embrace it. Magic isn't good or bad, it's magic. I just have to be able to handle it."

"I'm here with you, until the end." He nods.

"Then let's get started."

O"