Matilda, Child of Fire

TFB: The Final Battle

33 TFB: The Final Battle

"I put my armor on, show you how strong how I am/I put my armor on, I'll show you that I am/I'm unstoppable"

-Sia, song "Unstoppable"

5 pm, Simulation, Day Before Final Battle, April 5th, 2046, Living Room, Vera Manor, Seattle, Washington

It was Phoebe who provided the warning, having had a premonition. Everyone had taken to wearing their fireproof full-body suits at all times. Piper ingested the potion Mel provided, which instantly rendered herself temporarily invisible. The four fiery servants and the familiar leering face of the Portender appeared before them in a torrential, emblazoned hurricane. The first flame spawn reared its flickering head but was frozen in place by Matilda's spur-of-the-moment pyro-immobilization. Meanwhile, Maggie began her pathokinesis toward the three flame minions (A, B, C, D), two of which (C and D) began viciously pummeling each other while B attacked A, distracting A enough so that Matilda could successfully vanquish it. One down, three to go.

Macy employed telekinesis to obstruct the Portender's path, aided by Paige at turns. At this point, Mel began inserting herself near Jordan, sprinkling a mixture of powders and potions to confuse the opposing forces while Paige telekinetically stripped all of the minions' weapons with Piper's dexterous assistance, tossing them to both sets of the Charmed Ones. B was soon vanquished, while C and D continued to fight each other to the death. Matilda snuck up on both and successfully ended them, leaving just one more. The Portender. Who apparently had enough power to turn into a blue-colored flame when provoked. Matilda made to immobilize him, but her powers, having long since been depleted, were of no use—

But both sets of Charmed Ones mobilized together, creating a force field large enough to engulf and capture the Portender, with an enchantment strong enough to imprison him in a nearby object—looking around, Wyatt noticed a rather chic postmodern Ming vase laying around and orbed to retrieve it as Mel and the others continued chanting. He threw the vase in the center as the Portender was trapped within, bellowing in all its anger as it found itself immobilized in its ceramic-lined prison...

"Harry, what's your verdict?" asked Macy, as everyone found themselves back in the cozy confines of Vera Manor's living room.

"I think...we're finally ready," Harry stated, much to the relief of all.

8 pm, Vera Manor Garden, Seattle, Washington

Wyatt and Matilda sat outside by themselves after dinner, surrounded by the glow of the trellised Vera Manor Garden tealights; on a whim, she reached for her phone and played an Astrid S. cover song, "If the World Was Ending." "A New Zealand singer," she said by way of explanation. "Reminds me of—"

"Camp Wanaka?" Wyatt completed the sentence. She nodded.

"Dance with me, Wyatt?"

"With pleasure."

They slowly rose to their feet as the melody began, Matilda's hand outstretched as Wyatt took it gently in his own, as her other hand cradled his shoulder.

"But if the world was ending, you'd come over, right?/You'd come over and you'd stay the night..." Astrid's voice crooned as the two glided across the makeshift brick cobblestone outdoor dance floor, Matilda's curly-haired visage nestled into the crook of Wyatt's neck, wondering what it would be like had they grown up in a different time—a safer time—a more normal time—where all they had to do was have a day job, the closest thing to drama being two people wearing the same designer dress to a high-profile office party.

"Would you love me for the hell of it?" they swung each other around slowly, Wyatt savoring the touch of Matilda's tapered fingers upon his own, the scent of her curls intermingled with his own, and wondered why this moment couldn't last just a bit longer.