The Basement

[Majora]

"How romantic."

(I need to get out of here. But how? The Source will be able to track me any damn where.)

[The Source]

"That's right."

[Majora]

"I suppose you've wanted something like this for some time now."

::Majora circles slowly, trying to come up with a plan. But when The Source is a mind reader, any hopes of surprising the demon king are more than a little scuppered before they've even formed.::

[The Source]

"Don't flatter yourself, Jora."

::The Source remains still, simply watching him.::

"You have never been more than a mild irritation since your banishment. Those who gave chase may have had delusions of grandeur, but I never placed any bounty on your head. You're simply not important enough, following your escape from the mask."

[Majora]

"I don't get it. If I hadn't torn that thing off and stopped the moon, this whole planet would've gone up. Including you. Including the whole of demonkind. You guys should be grateful! If it wasn't for me, my father's bitterness would've destroyed the world!"

[The Source]

"Laying aside, for the moment, that the power your father first possessed is the same that runs through my blood generations after,"

::The Source pauses.::

"It is not your final act of heroism that led to your, 'impeachment', if you will, but your actions thereafter. There is little doubt, Majora, where your true affiliations lie. You are lucky you were not killed on the spot and instead left to rot in the Square. You are, after all, still a prince."

[Majora]

"So it's because I saved them?"

::Majora spits.::

"I killed the Charmed Ones. What more could you want? So, the event led me to have a connection with their doofy sister. That's not me. That's them, what they left inside me."

::He walks towards The Source.::

"You can read my mind. You know I'm telling the truth. It's not me that fixates on her. It's them."

[The Source]

::The Source regards the demon for some time before speaking.::

"I can see that you believe what you say is true. In some part, at least."

::He's quiet now.::

[Majora]

::Majora stares back.::

"I take your silence is concession that you think it's possible. That the Charmed Ones somehow mixed minds with me when I used their power to send back the moon. And that some of their witch sentiment remained."

::He steps closer to the demon now, getting right up into his face.::

"You weren't there, Source. Before we did it, I laughed at them. I laughed in their stupid, weedy faces. Not after. After, I respected them. Heck, I did more than that for one of them. Can I explain where these... these feelings came from? No. Because they're not mine."

[The Source]

::The Source remains stoic.::

"Even if that were true, what could you do, Jora?"

::He raises his hands, more as a way of creating a barrier between them. Majora is uncomfortably close.::

"You've made no move thus far towards ridding yourself of their agendas."

[Majora]

"No."

::The demon backs off a little now.::

"You're right. But I could. I could go to her right now and change things."

[The Source]

::The Source chuckles now.::

"Oh, Jora. I already know you have absolutely no intention of ending this relationship you believe you have with Paige Halliwell. I can see it in your eyes, let alone your mind."

[Majora]

"No, I don't."

::Majora is sweating now, but he remains defiant.::

"But that doesn't mean I won't. Let me prove it. And if I can't, then you can kill me as a traitor."

[The Source]

"Why? Why would I let you rush off to warn her that her time is near?"

::The Source stoops slightly, bringing his great height down a little so it's more level with Majora's.::

"Even if you didn't 'change things', as you put it, other plans are underway that will see the Halliwell does not survive much longer."

[Majora]

(Damn it. And I don't care if you can hear me think that.)

"Because I want to see if I can do it. For my heritage's sake."

::He's telling the truth. He does want to see if he can do it.::

[The Source]

::The Source is silent for some minutes, looking at the crack in the ground that is the Nexus. Eventually, he makes his decision.::

"Very well. Go. But you don't have much time. And I will find you, wherever you are, so be prepared to face the consequences. I'm not finished here yet."

[Majora]

::Majora's lips curl upwards at the sides, but he manages to suppress a wider smile.::

"I may even bring her to you."

::He steps back, straightens up, and shimmers to Paige in Aoife's lair, at the vampire's domain.::

[The Source]

::The Source is attuned. He is attuned with many things; the vibrations of the earth, psychic threads, the rumblings of magic as it rollicks and tumbles through his veins. The sound of his own breaths, majestically filling all that is around him. He is connected to every little thing, and right now he is especially connected to Majora. He saw his little exile attend the witch and aid her in sedating Melinda, who The Source will consider at a later stage. The move to block her magic worked out well for him in the end, since she was showing considerable signs of volatile behaviour, meaning she'd probably end up turning on him at some point. That, he could do without. Perhaps he should've just killed her after all.

He looks around the basement of the manor. The Nexus has been sucked dry. It doesn't exist any more. He is the Nexus, and that means that, in a few years, when Melinda is ready to receive the touch of magic once more, she will answer to him, and this time, she won't be of poor mental faculty, she won't misunderstand or just plain confuse. She'll know exactly what she's doing.

Of course, that's only Plan B. Plan A is to get her back quickly, before this day is over, through the quick and gruesome slaughter of her parents and their compatriots. Because they're annoying, filthy, and in the way, like wasps. And, like wasps, they have a sting that can catch you unawares. But, also like wasps, they can easily be swatted, sprayed or caught in a jar and left to starve. It's simple, really, once you ignore the tiny bite they have in them. Really simply.

The Source drops a crystal ball onto the cracked floor. It rolls and comes to a rest in one of the rivulets that appeared when the Nexus soared from the ground. It's time to stop waiting for others to fail.

He locks on. Then he flames to the abandoned hideout in Persepolis.::