Apocalypse, Not/Script

Teleplay by: Sheryl J. Anderson

Story by: Sanford Golden

Season 2, Episode 21'

Episode No. 43

[Scene: Manor. Prue, Piper and Phoebe walk in the kitchen carrying shopping bags.]

Piper: Any day that brings new shoes is a good day.

Phoebe: Are you kidding? This was a great day. Yoga, pedicures, shopping, lunch. When have we had more fun?

Prue: It's nice to bond through something other than vanquishing for a change.

Phoebe: Yeah, but I gotta hand it to those pesky little demons. They sure have brought us closer together.

Prue: Maybe you should write them a thank you note.

(Prue turns on the TV.)

Reporter: Early this morning when an argument between neighbours at a block party turned into a street parole, residents of several apartment buildings...

Prue: Ugh.

(She turns off the TV.)

Piper: Some people are just crazy.

Prue: Doesn't it seem like this kind of stuff has been happening a lot here lately?

Phoebe: Random social violence is encouraged by a general D clan and ethical thinking. Well, according to my sociology professor. He said that we don't think about the big questions enough.

Prue: The big question is how did you stay awake through his class?

Phoebe: Not only did I stay awake but I actually enjoyed it. Which is why I bought this book. (She gets a book out of a bag.) It's filled with really deep profound questions, which would actually make a good bar game at P3.

Piper: Oh, great, solve the problems of the world while doing Jell-O shots.

Phoebe: Okay, let's see if I can find a really good one. (She puts on her glasses and opens up to a page in the book.) Okay, what if a building was on fire? Do you save five strangers or one sibling?

Prue: I thought that you said that these were hard questions. That's easy, sibling.

Piper: Of course.

Phoebe: Ditto. Okay, my turn, my turn.

(Phoebe hands Prue the book. The doorbell rings.)

Piper: Okay, don't answer anything until I answer that.

Phoebe: Okay, faster though, faster.

(Piper answers the door.)

Piper: Hi.

Leo: Hi.

(They kiss.)

Piper: Since when do you ring instead of orb?

Leo: Well, I'm just trying to respect everybody's space since the three of you have been so, uh...

(Prue and Phoebe walk in.)

Phoebe: Hey, Leo.

Leo: Tight these days.

Prue: So, um, are you here for all of us?

Leo: No, this isn't business. I was just about to invite Piper to an early dinner before her Paula Cole show.

Piper: Oh.

Leo: Oh, do you have other plans?

Piper: Uh, not exactly. We've just been hanging out all day spending some quality non-magic time.

Leo: Oh, alright, no problem. Rain check?

Prue: Um, Piper, why don't you go with Leo? I mean, we're totally cool with it. Pheebs and I will go to the club early, keep an eye on things.

Piper: I have a new assistant manager and she's all checked out so she can take care of things.

Phoebe: Still, we'll go and make sure everything's okay. We'll bring the book, maybe stir up some trouble.

Prue: How about stirring up some margaritas?

Phoebe: Ooh, that's good.

(They link arms and walk back in the kitchen.)

Piper: So it's a date.

Leo: Alright.

[Scene: On the street. Leo and Piper are in Piper's car. They pull up at a stop sign.]

Piper: I didn't mean that I didn't enjoy being with you, all I meant was that Phoebe and Prue would've enjoyed the restaurant too.

(A guy in a car pulls up behind them and starts honking his horn and yelling.)

Leo: I wish you were normal sisters, they're never this close.

Piper: And it's a problem that we are?

Leo: No. It just seems that sometimes I'm breaking up a great party when I wanna be alone with you.

(They guy behind them continues honking the horn.)

Piper: Leo, I have room for all of you in my life and in my heart.

Leo: I still need to know which room's mine because... (The guy drives around them and speeds around the corner.) Okay.

[Cut to the guy. He crashes into a Ute with crates of fruit in the back and the fruit flies out of it onto the road. Piper and Leo pull up.]

Piper: Oh, no. (The man that was driving the Ute gets out and storms over to the other guy driving the car. He pulls him out of the car and they start fighting. Other people try to break up the fight. One guy picks up a watermelon and throws it at Piper's car. It smashes all over the windshield. Piper and Leo get out.) What on earth? (They walk over near the fighting men. The guy throws another watermelon towards Piper and Leo but Piper freezes it before it can hit them. Everyone else freezes except Leo and one of the four horseman is standing near by. The horseman looks around confused. He then sees Piper and Leo and starts running.) Leo?

Leo: I see him. (Piper runs after him.) Wait, Piper, you don't know what he is. (Leo runs after Piper.)

[Cut to the horseman. He runs around the corner of a building and suddenly a horse appears. He jumps on the horse and they disappear. Piper and Leo run around the corner and wonder where he went.]

[Cut to a field. The four horsemen on horses suddenly appear, galloping along.]

Opening Credits

[Scene: P3. Paula Cole is singing. Prue and Phoebe are sitting at the bar watching her. The bartender hands back the book to Prue. Paula Cole finishes her song.]

Paula: Thank you, P3, you've been great. Thank you.

(Piper and Leo walk up to Prue and Phoebe.)

Phoebe: Hey, I can't believe you guys missed Paula Cole, she was awesome.

Piper: We saw a pretty awesome show ourselves.

Prue: I thought that you guys went to dinner.

Piper: We did and then for dessert we did a little demon hunting.

Prue: What happened?

Piper: Well, there was this road rage thing and it was completely out of control, so I froze the entire street except for this a guy in a suit.

Leo: And he takes off. Your sister doesn't listen to me so we chase him down into an alley. Nothing, he vanished into thin air.

Phoebe: Wait, a demon that causes road rage?

Piper: I don't know if he caused it or was attracted by it.

Prue: Well, the kind of creature that gets off in that kind of thing would certainly explain why the city's been such a mess lately. He's probably some lower level mischief maker.

Leo: As soon as we figure out who he is and what he wants will be better for everyone.

Piper: Yeah, except for those of us who have to get rid of him.

Phoebe: Okay, we can sit around here being pessimistic or we can go to the house and check the Book of Shadows.

[Scene: A field. The four horsemen are there.]

War: What happened?

Strife: First of all I wanna let you all know that I was out on the field and things are looking good. The public is really responding.

War: But...

Strife: We might have a problem.

War: Did you screw up?

Strife: No, why would you assume that?

Famine: Please don't fight.

Death: It's all they know how to do.

Strife: A freezing witch saw me. Caught me working.

War: A good witch?

Strife: I would say so. She chased me, I think she thought she could stop me.

War: That is a problem.

Strife: Fixable. I think we can still move forward with our plan and still make our deadline.

Famine: But the deadline's 7:00 tomorrow night. The source is gonna...

War: Find her and kill her.

Famine: How are we gonna find her?

War: Set a trap. If she's a good witch she'll want to stop us. All we have to do is give her something she'll want to stop.

[Scene: Manor. Attic. Phoebe and Piper are there. Phoebe's flipping through the Book Of Shadows.]

Piper: Wait, stop right there.

Phoebe: The demon of cruelty.

Piper: Hardens the heart, corrodes the soul...

Phoebe: And is a woman.

Piper: Oh, oops.

(Prue and Leo walk in.)

Prue: Hey, so how is it going?

Piper: In big fat circles. We've been reading all night and there's no one in here that matches the guy I saw.

Phoebe: We do have a list of six potential matches though.

Piper: But there's no picture so we're sort of shooting in the dark. My best guess is the demon of anarchy.

Leo: Hey, you can't just guess. Alright, you have to be sure. It's very dangerous to engage an enemy unless you know who he is and what he wants.

Piper: Leo, honey, we have done this a couple of times.

Leo: No, I didn't mean...

Prue: You know, Leo, it would be great to know every single thing about our enemies but that's not always the case.

Leo: I know, but...

Phoebe: And if this guy is causing riots we can't just hang out and wait for inspiration, you know.

Leo: Okay, three against one. I-I just, I was working that's all.

Phoebe: Okay, so no offense to the Whitelighter but we're going with the Demon of Anarchy, right?

Prue: Yes, the Demon of Anarchy.

Piper: Okay, so this potion doesn't even require a double boiler.

Phoebe: And it's your basic iambic pentameter chant. It's a very nice simple vanquish.

Piper: Okay, so all we have to do now is figure out where this guys gonna show up next.

Prue: Alright, well, who do we know that would be keeping track of anarchy?

[Time lapse. Prue is on the phone with Morris.]

Morris: Yeah, Prue, but the department has all sorts of violence and the captain is calling in civil disturbances. In my professional opinion the whole city's lost its friggin' mind. We got street riots, looting, arson. We're two crimes away from being placed on tactical alert. You're not calling to tell me that all this trouble's because of you know what, are you?

Prue: Yeah, well, possibly. We're actually researching that right now. We were kinda calling for your help.

Morris: Look, I really can't leave right now.

Prue: No, no, no, I-I understand and we're not quite there yet but it would really help to know where the latest hotspot is.

[Scene: In a street. Police cars are there with emergency lights flashing. People are rioting. Prue, Piper and Phoebe get out of the car.]

Prue: Don't freeze them yet. Don't let him know that we're here.

Piper: Alright, alright.

Phoebe: What the hell is wrong with these people?

(They start walking through the crowd.)

Piper: I can not wait to kick this guys butt all the way back to... (Phoebe and Piper get split up from Prue.) Alright, alright, this way, this way. (Piper spots Strife standing near by.) That's him, that's him.

Phoebe: Well, let's go introduce ourselves.

Piper: Prue!

(She points to Strife. He sees them and runs off. Prue runs after him and Phoebe and Piper follow behind. Strife runs in an alley and around the corner where the other three horseman are.)

Strife: There are three of them.

(Prue runs around the corner.)

Prue: There's four of you?

(War walks towards her. She tries to use her power but it doesn't work. He grabs her. Piper and Phoebe come around the corner.)

Phoebe: Prue!

War: Stop or I'll snap her neck. (to Strife) Start the chant.

(Strife starts a chant in a weird language.)

Prue: (to Piper and Phoebe) Start the damn chant.

(Phoebe and Piper get a piece of paper out of their pockets and starts the chant.)

Phoebe, Piper: "Sower of discord, your works now must cease, I vanquish thee now, with these words of peace."

(Piper throws a potion at Prue and War's feet and smoke rises around them. A bright light appears and then Prue and War disappear into a vortex.)

Piper: Prue?

Death: What the hell?

(The horseman disappear.)

Phoebe: What just happened?

Piper: I think we just vanquished our sister.

Commercial Break

[Scene: Continued from before.]

Piper: She's gone.

Phoebe: We don't know that.

Piper: Phoebe, we killed Prue.

Phoebe: Piper, stop it okay. I don't wanna hear that.

Piper: You think I wanna say it? I'm the one who made the potion, Phoebe, it's my fault.

Phoebe: Okay, how about having a little faith. Alright, our magic has never let us down before.

Piper: Well, there's a first time for everything isn't there.

Phoebe: She's not dead.

Piper: How do you know that?

Phoebe: Because, Piper, I have no choice but to believe in us and in our magic. Come here. (She puts her arm around her.) Okay, look, if she were dead, we would see her spirit, right? So maybe because we brought the wrong spell something weird happened. Maybe it just sent them some place.

Piper: Where?

Phoebe: I don't know but I believe that we can figure it out and I need you to believe that too. We have Leo and we have the book and we have each other. We can save Prue. There's gotta be a way.

[Scene: Horsemen's Headquarters. The three horsemen are there.]

Famine: There's no way, he's dead and so are we.

Strife: He's not dead, he can't be dead. Maybe shifted to another plane but he can not be dead. Only the source can kill us. We are the anointed ones. The four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Death: The source won't hesitate to kill us of we miss our deadline.

Famine: We were so close. How did this happen?

Death: Somebody got sloppy and attracted a witch.

Strife: We will not fail.

Death: Other teams have failed. They blew it and they paid the price.

Famine: Which we will too if we miss our deadline. And then he'll kill us and take four willing souls from in there and anoint them. They'll be the next four horsemen.

Strife: Glad to see you two aren't giving up.

Death: We need War. He's the big gun. He's the one who's gonna set nation against nation and do all the heavy work.

Strife: Then we'll get him back.

Famine: By 7:00?

Strife: We have to. Now just listen to me, alright.

Death: Who got vanquished and left you boss?

Strife: I have a plan. Do you have a plan? Oh, of course you have a plan, the same plan you always have. Kill them all.

Death: You looking for a fight?

Strife: It's my specialty.

Famine: We don't have much time. Hear him out.

Strife: All we have to do is find out where he is. Let's pull out the old books, do some research. Alright, he has to be somewhere, we will bring him back. There's gotta be a way.

[Apocalypse - 3 hours to go]

[Scene: Manor. Attic. Leo's there. Phoebe and Piper walk in.]

Phoebe: Maybe if we break down the spell and the potion.

(Piper walks over to Leo and they hug.)

Leo: I am so sorry.

Phoebe: Did you find anything?

Leo: I've been looking.

Piper: And? Tell us you've found something.

Leo: Look, I have been through the whole book and I can not find anything that matches the four beings you described.

Phoebe: What about disappearances?

Leo: Nothing.

Phoebe: Okay, we have to look under botched vanquishes.

Leo: Phoebe, I checked it all. I have been through the whole book. There is no explanation for what happened to Prue.

Piper: But you agree she's not dead. (silence) I don't understand. Wait-wait, I, wait a minute, I-I can't do this. Phoebe tells me to have hope and you're telling me that there isn't any? I just need to know.

(A breeze blows through the room. Piper gasps.)

Leo: Are you okay?

Piper: She's here.

Phoebe: Who's here?

Piper: Prue. She went right through me, I felt her presence. It's hard to describe but didn't you see her in the wind?

Phoebe: She's in the wind?

Piper: No, Phoebe, it's like she-she spoke to me, she's alive.

Phoebe: Okay, are you sure because if she's in the wind doesn't that mean that she's a spirit?

Piper: No.

Leo: No, she could be on another plane trying to break through.

Phoebe: Okay, well, then we have to help her. (calling out) Uh, Prue? Prue, honey, are you still here? Help us find you, Prue. (The pointer on the spirit board moves.) H, E, L, P. Honey, how can we help you? (Phoebe gasps.)

Piper: What was that? Did she do it to you too?

Phoebe: No, it was something else. Or someone else. Evil. Cult.

(A bubble-like figure appears and lands on the spirit board. You see Prue's face in it for a second and it disappears.)

Piper: What is that? Prue?

(Then a red bubble-like figure appears and chases the other around the room.)

Leo: She's alive but she's in trouble.

Piper: Okay, so she's alive and if she can find us then we can find her.

Phoebe: So it must be the four suit that's after her. Maybe the combination of our magic did this to them.

Leo: Which means we need to figure out who those suits are.

Piper: Okay, Leo, you go ask your bosses whoever they are, whatever they are, who those guys are and how to get our sister back. Now orb faster.

(Leo orbs out. Phoebe walks over to the Book Of Shadows.)

Phoebe: Wind.

Piper: Wind?

Phoebe: What else? Can you think of anything else?

Piper: Mist.

[Scene: Horsemen's headquarters.]

Famine: I've checked everywhere. I can't figure out what happened.

Strife: I'm telling you it is the witches. They did this, they must know.

(A guy walks up to Death.)

Death: What?

Guy: You should know we're losing momentum across the board especially in war. Peace has broken out in several areas this afternoon.

(They guy leaves.)

Death: Damn it. If we're going down, we're not going alone. Let's find those damn witches and take them down too.

(War shows up on the TV.)

Famine: War. It's him, he's alive.

Death: Hang in there, partner. We'll get you back then we'll punish those witches.

War: No, cease fire. Cooperation.

Strife: Wait, you want us to work with the witches?

War: Get them to free me.

Famine: How are we supposed to find them?

War: Ask the source.

[Scene: Manor. Conservatory. Phoebe and Piper are there. Piper's staring at the spirit board and Phoebe's taking notes from the Book Of Shadows.]

Phoebe: I still haven't found her but I think I have an idea of where Prue might be.

Piper: And how to get her back? Because we have to do that before this thing hurts her.

Phoebe: Well, remember when Leo said that Prue might be on another plane? Well, maybe we banished her somehow. Now, there are eleven planes of existence.

Piper: Eleven planes? We don't have time to search eleven planes. Prue's been quiet for a really long time, maybe we're too late.

Phoebe: Piper, stay with me, okay. We can not give up.

(Leo orbs in.)

Piper: Did you find out where she is?

Leo: No, but I have a message from them.

Piper: She's not...?

Leo: No, no. While I was there they was contacted by their counter parts on the other side.

Phoebe: Are you telling me evil called good and good answered?

Leo: These suits that you're dealing with have the highest possible connections. Their bosses talk to my bosses.

Piper: About Prue?

Leo: About the whole situation. They wanna have a meeting with you.

Piper: Uh, what could they possibly want from us? They already have Prue.

Leo: Prue and their partner are trapped in another world between good and evil. And the only way to release them is for good and evil to cooperate. You have to work with the suits.

Piper: Are we allowed to do that?

Leo: Look, all they told me was to give you the message and to let you decide whether you wanted to do it.

Phoebe: Did they mention what they think we should do?

Leo: Free will. It's a big thing with them.

Phoebe: Wonderful. So where's the meeting?

Leo: You're gonna do it?

Phoebe: I'm sorry, Leo, did you show up to the party late? Of course we're gonna do it.

Leo: Phoebe, you can never get into bed with evil, you know that. It could be a trap.

Piper: Leo, thank you for your opinion but your bosses did say that they were leaving the decision up to us so maybe you should too.

Leo: Look, I can't. Alright, the last time that you went up against this evil you lost Prue. Alright, now you're gonna go up against it again? Both of you could be lost this time.

Phoebe: But we're not gonna go up against them, we're gonna work with them, right?

Leo: But they'll betray you. Alright, this is how evil works. This is why evil loves free will so much. Because humans use it to follow their heart. And evil takes advantage of that.

Piper: So Leo, what are our options?

Leo: You have to try and save her by yourselves.

Phoebe: But Leo, we don't know how. We have to work with them.

Leo: But you don't even know who they are.

Phoebe: We tried to find them but they weren't in the book.

Leo: Which means they probably aren't even demons or warlocks anyway.

Phoebe: Okay, then what are they?

Leo: In the hierarchy of demons. Ferocious, impossible to vanquish. And these went to extraordinary lengths to ask for this meeting. Who knows what'll happen when the four of them are reunited.

Piper: I don't care what happens, we just want Prue back.

Leo: So do I but this is not the way.

Phoebe: Leo, it's the only way we know. We have to save Prue.

[Scene: A field. Piper and Phoebe are waiting there.]

Piper: This is where we were supposed to come, right?

Phoebe: Right.

Piper: And it's not a trap, right, please tell me we're doing the right thing.

(The horsemen appear.)

Phoebe: Or we're making the biggest mistake in the world.

Strife: Thank you for coming. And you are?

Piper: Anxious to get this over with, let's go.

Strife: Are you in a hurry?

Phoebe: You stalling?

Strife: You want your sister back?

Piper: Do you want your friend back?

Strife: Let's do business.

(He holds out his hand. Piper hesitates for a moment but then shakes his hand. You hear a crack of thunder.)

Commercial Break

[Scene: Manor. Conservatory. Phoebe, Leo and the three horsemen are there. Phoebe picks up a plant off the table and the horsemen step back in alarm.]

Horsemen: Whoa, hey, what are you doing?

Phoebe: Just making room.

Strife: Of course. (Strife reaches in his coat and Phoebe gasps.) Taking notes. (He pulls out a pen.)

Phoebe: Of course.

Strife: Old habits are hard to break. I'm sure we can put that all aside and get this done.

Famine: Or die trying.

(Piper walks in.)

Leo: (whispers to Piper) You know, it's bad enough working with them but to bring them here.

Piper: To the manor where we're the strongest and safest or maybe we should've gone to their place not that they offered.

Leo: And why not? Hmm? Why give up home field advantage unless they're hiding something.

Piper: Of course they're hiding something, they're evil.

Phoebe: Okay, if we can reconstruct exactly what happened in the alley, we might be able to figure out what sent them away and undo that.

(Phoebe has placed some items on the table. Death moves one.)

Death: I was standing there.

Piper: No, actually, I was there, you were here.

(She moves them back.)

Famine: No, he's right. It was more like this.

(He moves them back.)

Phoebe: Okay, you know what? If we can't agree on this, we're not gonna get anything done.

Strife: Okay, it was more like this. I was here, (he moves one) here, (he moves another) and our missing friends were here.

(When he finishes moving them, there are five on the outside in a circle and one in the middle.)

Piper: Phoebe.

Phoebe: I see it, Piper.

Famine: What? What do you see?

(Piper and Phoebe take some long stemmed flowers out of a vase and place them on the table in the shape of a pentagram.)

Death: Pentagram, our lucky sign.

Phoebe: Actually, a pentagram is a sign of good energy until your side stole it.

Piper: Okay, is it possible that the five of us by forming a pentagram somehow created some weird magical energy field?

Phoebe: With Prue and your friend in the middle. There must of been a vortex. Okay, if we can figure out how we opened it, then maybe we can figure out how to open it again.

Strife: And release them.

Leo: And who knows what else.

Death: This is good, keep it up. I'll check things back at the office. Page me when you have the answer. Ladies.

(He leaves.)

Leo: I'm leaving too.

(Piper walks over to Leo.)

Piper: Where are you going?

Leo: (whispering) I'm gonna follow this guy back and find out who he is.

(Leo orbs out.)

Famine: What is he?

Piper: He is none of your business. Okay, since this is supposed to be a joint effort, what is your contribution?

Strife: Perhaps it was the combination of our chants that opened this vortex.

Phoebe: What language were you chanting in?

Strife: Actually it's a dead language that we sometimes use for ceremonial purposes.

Piper: How festive.

Strife: I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

Piper: Okay, while you two do that, I'll go remake the potion 'cause we're probably going to need it.

Famine: Mind if I watch?

Piper: Yes I do.

(Piper goes in the kitchen and Famine follows.)

[Scene: Horsemen's headquarters. Death walks down the corridor. Leo orbs in. Someone walks out of a room and sees Leo.]

Guy: Who the hell are you and what the...

(Leo punches him in the face.)

[Scene: Manor. Living room. Phoebe and Strife are sitting on the couch.]

Strife: It's your standard chant to destroy the common witch. Clearly you're no common witch though.

Phoebe: Thank you.

Strife: Okay, first line. I'll interpret. I call you servants of the unholy and then...

Phoebe: Now, being a bad guy and all, you wouldn't happen to be lying to me would you?

Strife: Being a bad guy and all, would you believe me if I told you no?

[Cut back to the Horsemen's headquarters. Leo's walking down the corridor wearing a suit and tie.]

[Cut to a room.]

Death: I don't like these numbers at all. I gave specific instructions to spread cholera. Especially in central Asia. What happened? I'm asking you a question. If somebody is vaccinating these people I wanna know about it. (Leo stands at the doorway.) Find out now. Small pox outbreak in Venezuela. Let it spread.

[Cut back to the manor. Kitchen. Piper notices Famine rubbing his neck. He has a tattoo there.]

Piper: What is that? Tattoo?

Famine: Yes.

Piper: What does it mean?

Famine: Nothing. Goes with the job. What are you doing?

Piper: I am recreating the potion I made for our first meeting. I think it might help get Prue and...

Famine: Our friend.

Piper: Back. So what are you four up to?

Famine: You really expect me to answer that?

Piper: Well, we're supposed to be working together and we don't know anything about each other.

Famine: I know you are a witch.

Piper: And you are...?

Famine: Not. Look, we just want our partner back, that's all you need to know. It's all business, just like it is for you.

Piper: No, she's our sister, it's completely personal.

Famine: Every mortal's weakness. That's why you always lose.

Piper: Hmm.

Commercial Break

[Scene: Manor. Living room. Strife and Phoebe are sitting on the couch.]

Phoebe: Well, this is great, we both did spells the same time but we did it on the wrong people. So I think that we... (she notices Strife staring at her) Am I the only one that's working here?

Strife: Have you always been a witch?

Phoebe: What? Why?

Strife: I don't know, there's something about you. You ever been a demon?

Phoebe: I think we need to get back to our chants.

Strife: Meaning yes?

Phoebe: No. I have never been a demon.

Strife: You know, we're not that different.

Phoebe: No, we're both trying to undo the other side.

Strife: I wanted the challenge.

Phoebe: I think I figured out how good and evil mix together.

Strife: To such powerful results.

Phoebe: I know how to undo that.

(The bubble-like figure appears and floats past Phoebe. She gasps.)

Strife: You alright?

Phoebe: No, uh, I'm a bit queasy.

(Phoebe notices the bubble-like figure and it floats over to the spirit board. The pointer moves to 4 then to H then to O. The red bubble-like figure appears and knocks the pointer on the floor. They both jump up.)

Strife: What's going on?

Phoebe: I don't know.

(The bubble-like figures fly around the room and knock a picture off the wall. They disappear.)

Strife: What did you do?

Phoebe: I didn't do anything, what did you do?

(Piper and Famine come in.)

Famine: What happened?

Strife: Hard to say.

Piper: Are you alright?

Phoebe: I'm not sure.

Famine: So do you have an answer yet?

Phoebe: Reverse polarity.

Famine: In the pentagram.

Phoebe: And in the chants. If we stand in opposite points and say the opposite words in chant, save instead of vanquish and so on...

Strife: It will reopen the vortex and get them back and we can get back to business.

Phoebe: And we can get on with our lives.

Strife: It's 6:00 now so why don't we go back to the office, get organised and we can all meet up at 6:30 sharp. We, uh, have an appointment at 7:00.

(They leave.)

Piper: Okay, what really happened?

Phoebe: It was Prue. She was trying to spell something out on the spirit board but all I got was 4 H O.

Piper: 4HO... Four hours? Maybe she feels that's all the time she has left.

[Apocalypse - 49 minutes to go]

[Scene: Headquarters. Leo's in a room looking around. He looks on the wall and notices the four horsemen's faces with their names underneath and numbers underneath that.]

Leo: It can't be.

(A guy storms down the corridor.)

Guy: Security bridge. Grab him.

(Leo orbs out.)

Death: Never mind him, keep working, we're running out of time.

[Scene: Manor. Kitchen. Piper and Phoebe are there. Piper's still making the potion.]

Piper: Are you sure they're willing to do their half?

Phoebe: They seem to want this as badly as we do. (Leo orbs in.) Great, you're here. We're done, we have everything figured out.

Leo: You sure?

Piper: Leo, what are you wearing? Where have you been?

Leo: I just followed the black tie back to his office.

Piper: Leo, they'll think we don't trust them.

Leo: And you shouldn't trust them, Piper. You wanna know who they are? They are the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Piper: The four-four... That's what Prue was trying to tell us.

Leo: Don't you understand what's at stake here? If you save Prue, you will release the fourth horseman and bring about the end of the world.

Commercial Break

[Scene: Manor. Conservatory. Phoebe, Piper and Leo are there.]

Leo: I don't believe you.

Piper: Leo, it doesn't change anything, we would help the source himself if we thought we could get Prue back.

Leo: Listen, they wear the mark of the anointed ones. The omega. It means the end.

Piper: The tattoo on the neck?

Leo: Yes. Look, the missing horseman is War. You've been dealing with Strife, Famine and Death. They're gonna begin the apocalypse as soon as they're reunited.

Phoebe: I thought dodging the Y2K bullet bought us more time on the whole apocalypse thing.

Leo: You know why nothing happened on New Years Eve? Because it wasn't the real millennium. The monks who converted the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar made some critical errors.

Piper: So when does the new millennium start?

Leo: Tonight. Approximately...

Phoebe: 7:00. Which is probably why they wanna meet us at 6:30.

Leo: Right, then all four horsemen can be in place to begin the apocalypse. You can not let that happen.

Piper: Leo, we know what we're doing.

Leo: No, you don't. You're thinking like sisters, mortal sisters.

Piper: Well, what are we supposed to think like?

Leo: Like the Charmed Ones. You have a duty.

Piper: To save our sister.

Phoebe: Look, Leo, we've made up our mind. We're gonna save Prue. It's not like we can beat them without her.

Leo: Only the source can vanquish them, Phoebe. For failing. Think of the times the world has been on the brink. Hitler, the Cuban missile crisis. Each time a team of horsemen has almost succeeded and then failed and been destroyed and replaced by a new team.

Piper: So then we'll make sure that they'll fail too.

Leo: They are closer than any team has ever been.

Piper: Then we obviously need Prue to beat them.

Leo: Oh my God, you have not heard a thing I've said. Look, I love Prue too, you know that. But just like when you went to the future you saw that sometimes there are more important things than saving your sister.

[Apocalypse - 2 minutes to go]

[Scene: Alley. The horsemen are there.]

Famine: Give it up. If War's not back soon we're history. The source is going to burn us off the map.

Strife: We are not going down alone. Instead of just standing here, let's go hunt those witches down and kill them.

Death: I told you they'd double cross us. That's why they sent their man in to spy on us.

(Piper and Phoebe walk around the corner.)

Piper: We were doing research, it's just good business.

Death: Let's just kill them now.

Phoebe: Oh, but you need us. You can't end the world without us.

Strife: So you know who we are.

Phoebe: Yeah, and we came anyway. See, on our side of things we call that good faith.

Famine: Call it whatever you want. Let's just do it. Hurry. You ready?

Phoebe: Bring it on.

(Phoebe and Strife shake hands. Phoebe has a premonition of the apocalypse.)

Strife: Battle stations.

(They stand in their places.)

Piper: What did you see?

Phoebe: Let's just get this over with.

(Strife starts the chant. Piper then starts their chant.)

Piper: "Sower of discord, your help we implore..." Phoebe.

Phoebe: Leo's right. I saw what's gonna happen, Piper. We can't do this, we can't be selfish.

Death: Why aren't you two chanting? (to Strife) You keep going. (to Phoebe and Piper) Why did you stop?

Famine: We're running out of time.

Death: Do you know what you're doing? You're killing your own sister.

Phoebe: There's more at stake here then sisterhood.

Strife: Finished. Did they finish?

Piper: No, and we're not going to.

Strife: We had a deal. We shook on it.

Piper: That was a mistake in more ways than one.

Phoebe: We know what you want. And we're gonna make sure you don't get it.

Piper: Even if it means losing our sister forever.

(The vortex opens.)

Famine: Look, they didn't finish their chant, how can the vortex open?

Strife: The source is opening it.

(The horsemen start getting sucked into the vortex. Phoebe gets the chant our of her pocket.)

Piper: What are you doing?

Phoebe: Well, the vortex is open. If we can finish this before they're destroyed, maybe we can pull Prue out.

Phoebe, Piper: "I summon thee now, with these words of truce."

(Piper throws the potion in the vortex and Prue comes out. The horsemen disintegrate and the vortex closes.)

Piper: Prue, are you alright?

Phoebe: It's okay now, everything's gonna be okay now.

Prue: Thanks for saving my life.

Commercial Break

[Scene: P3. Prue, Piper and Phoebe are sitting in the alcove. They're watching everyone dance.]

Phoebe: Look at them. They'll all live to dance another day and what do we get? We saved the whole darn world. The least we can get is a thank you, you know.

(Leo comes up to them.)

Leo: Ladies.

Phoebe: Hey, Leo.

Leo: I know this has been hard on all of you.

Phoebe: Yeah, well, we sort of made it hard on you too.

Piper: Leo, it's just...

Leo: It's okay, Piper, we were doing our job.

Phoebe: Okay, the master of understatement, is there anything else?

Leo: No, I was just at a meeting and they told me that it was your act of complete selflessness that stopped the source's plan from going forward.

Prue: So the four horsemen were destroyed because Piper and Phoebe were willing to sacrifice me?

Leo: The horsemen's bosses said that it was a sign that there were still too much good in the world to make the apocalypse successful.

Piper: So are they giving up?

Leo: No, in fact they'll probably try harder from now on.

Phoebe: Do you wanna have a drink with us Leo?

Leo: No, you need time together. Just you three. I'll see you.

(He leaves.)

Prue: You know, you two faced an incredibly hard thing and, um, you made the right decision. Through your own free will.

Phoebe: I am so, so, so sorry, Prue.

Piper: So am I.

Prue: There's no apologies necessary. You were all just doing our jobs, I just have to deal with that.

(The bartender comes up to them holding Phoebe's book.)

Bartender: Everyone has to vote on this. What if a building was on fire? Do you save five strangers or one sibling?

Prue, Piper, Phoebe: Five strangers.

End