Post by adzpower on Aug 27, 2016 13:22:04 GMT -5
Charmed Reborn, Chapter Two: “Rescue Strategy”.
Prue was cleaning, she hated cleaning. And yet, here she was, with rubber gloves on, a spray bottle in one hand and a rag in the other, furiously trying to clean the dining table.
“Stop that!” Piper yelled from the sink.
She was washing out bowls and cauldrons which she had just used to make a wide array of different potions, ones to stun, freeze, paralyze, they were getting prepared, according to Rex and Hannah who had gone to visit their “neutral” party to get some more ideas of how to get to Phoebe, they only had about 18 hours left. Leo had gone to see the elders to see if their offer was legitimate.
Prue stood back, satisfied with her work, it was the first time she could say that in a good couple of months. Her photographer job at 415 magazine had gone slightly downhill since Phoebe was taken.
Rex and Hannah blinked into the kitchen.
“Whoa, haven’t done that in a while” Hannah exclaimed.
“We’ve spoken to our friend” Rex said pointedly.
Piper sniggered, “right, OUR friend” she made a waving gesture for them to continue.
“And?” Prue asked.
“And, she has a plan, we’re to meet her in 3 hours at a specific point in San Francisco, there are special weak points in this dimension, where people can sneak into the underworld, undetected” Rex said.
“We’ll meet her and then continue from there” Hannah said.
“That’s it?” Piper asked, disbelieving.
“Well, admittedly, it has some kinks” Hannah said, “but this demon has been a close confidant to The Source for centuries, if anyone can help us, she can”.
“I don’t like the idea of trusting a demon, considering the whole reason we’re in this mess is thanks to one” Piper said, shaking her head.
“We have no choice Piper, remember Krell?” Prue asked.
“I remember him crashing into our clock, and us having to send it off for repair for the one hundredth time” Piper rolled her eyes as she was explaining.
“I mean, that sometimes we have to do things we don’t always want to, if this helps us get Phoebe back we need to give it a chance”.
“Oh, this is probably your only chance” Rex pointed out.
“This is our window, we cannot screw this up, no matter what” Rex continued.
“Gee thanks for the confidence” Piper snapped back.
A bright light shone in the middle of the room, after it vanished Leo was standing there with his arms folded.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Well, sort of” Prue said.
Piper asked, “What did they say?”
“They think it’s legit” he shrugged.
Prue turned to look at Piper, who stared back but gave up and nodded, she knew they had to take this chance, no matter how small.
Prue pulled the book of shadows off the counter top and moved to the now clean table, with the idea of flipping through and finding some kind of spell that may help.
“Huh” she said, surprised.
“What?” Piper asked, curiously coming to look over Prue’s shoulder.
“I don’t remember seeing this spell before” she said.
Piper took a look at the page, “to curse a relative” was the title.
“That’s weird, but come on, we can think about this once we have Phoebe back” Piper said, patting Prue’s shoulder.
The Seer materialised into her chambers, she walked, almost glided along to the well in the centre of the room and looked down into it.
“It is time” she exclaimed.
She raised her arms and the bottom of the well began to rise to the top, a crumpled figure was laying on the top, The Seer directed the figure off the top of the well and moved him onto the floor, he raised his head, it was Cole.
“Rise Belthazor, it is your moment to shine, to save your witch” she said.
Cole raised his head, and slowly got to his feet, then lunged at The Seer, screaming whilst doing so, he didn’t get far however, she raised her arm and a large forcefield knocked him back.
“Listen to me closely, you must do exactly as I say, or your witch, your Phoebe, will be lost to you, and to her sisters”.
Cole perked back up, he was listening. He could barely speak, his throat felt ashen from weeks of disuse.
“Good, now, I have some helpers, people who want revenge on The Source, those that want payback, and right now they are with the remaining Charmed Ones, in 3 hours we will meet them at a secret location, ready for the rescue”. The Seer shuddered at the thought, doing good was definitely not in her nature.
Cole had regained his voice, “helping good witches? That’s unlike you Seer”.
“I am not doing this for you, or for the witches, I am doing this for me” The Seer bellowed the last part, making sure he knew what her motivation was.
“You will meet the witches at this entrance” The Seer touched her hand to Cole’s head, telepathically giving him the information.
“Now go”, “and remember, the whole world thinks you dead, so be careful”.
Cole shimmered out, The Seer smiled, her plan was working, luckily thanks to her visions she knew exactly what was to come, she just had to make it all came to pass.
“Here we are” Rex said, pointing at the brick wall.
“Huh, not what I was expecting” Prue said, disappointed.
“What did you expect? A palace” Hannah sneered.
Glaring, Prue took Piper’s hands and together they walked into the wall.
“I feel like I’m on my way to Hogwarts” Prue said as they walked through.
When they reached the other side they were in the underworld, no one was around that they could see or hear, but they’d faced invisible demons before, Prue thought.
“Geez does all of the underworld look this flashy?” Piper jokingly asked.
They were faced with a large corridor, statues lining the sides, candles on the walls, it all looked very dead and ashen.
“Pretty much” Hannah said as she appeared behind them, Rex in tow.
“This way” Rex said, pointing to the left.
They had only gone a few meters when Cole shimmered in front of them.
“Whoa, you look like hell” Piper said.
“You have no idea” he said, obviously exhausted.
“So, where have you been this whole time?” Prue said, glaring at the half demon.
“Believe it or not I was in the same position as Phoebe, held prisoner for the last however long it’s been” he answered.
“Well he’s here now and that’s what counts” Hannah said, throwing Cole a wink.
Cole looked suitably unimpressed and continued.
“I have the plan, The Seer put it in my head”.
“Your head?” Piper asked.
“Yes, my head, so we should get going”.
They continued walking for a few more minutes.
“Who’s The Seer?” Piper asked.
“I can answer that” Rex piped up. “She’s a powerful upper level demon, has served The Source for a long time, but now she means to move against him”.
“But why?” Piper wondered.
“No one knows her true intentions, only that she operates for herself” Hannah explained.
“Sounds trustworthy” Prue said quietly.
Phoebe screamed, she was back on the table, she was in so much pain, like her brain was being warped.
“There now, rest Phoebe” The Source said as he put her back to sleep.
“Take her back to her cage” he demanded of the minion demons surrounding him.
At once three demons stepped forward to retrieve her, they pulled her off and dragged her back through the dungeon, making their way back to The Source’s chambers.
Once safely back in her prison one of the demons turned to one of the others and threw an energy ball over the top of his head, causing him to explode.
The other demon was about to let out a scream when an athame was plunged through his throat, also causing him to explode.
Phoebe was just stirring when she looked up and saw a demon shapeshift into someone else.
“Who are you?” she asked groggily.
“I am Alastair, a chameleon demon” he smiled.
“And I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m here to help”.
He bent down to retrieve the keys to the cage door and then proceeded to unlock it, he grabbed Phoebe under her arms and pulled her out.
“I don’t get it, you’re a demon, you work for The Source, why are you helping me?”
“I did work for him” Alastair said, “but now I work for, you could say, a neutral friend”.
Piper was bored, they had been walking for what felt like hours.
“Are we there yet?” she moaned.
“Really Piper?” Prue gave her a stern look.
As they rounded a corner, they stopped, they were overlooking the side of a large colosseum, currently full of thousands of demons, all gathered for some kind of purpose.
“Listen to me, my brothers and sisters”, a voice bellowed from a high.
The group looked up, and saw a dark, cloaked figure giving some kind of speech to the group of demons.
“It’s him” Hannah whispered.
“Who him?” Piper asked.
“The Source”, she said grimly.
“We’re close” Cole said, “His chambers are nearby”.
Prue was anxious to hear what he was saying, but forced herself to look away.
“Ok” Cole said, clapping his hands together, “This is the next part of the plan”.
“A distraction” he whispered, smiling.
Before they could say anything, Cole had shimmered away from them and up into the colosseum, behind The Source.
“Hello my fellow evildoers” he bellowed, faking a Texan accent.
“I am here to tell you, that you all smell like a scavenger demon” he laughed as he shimmered from behind The Source and into the middle of the crowd.
“Who wants to catch the big, bad, Belthazor?” He asked, eyebrows raised, then shimmered out.
“Find him!” The Source shrieked angrily.
“Now’s our chance” Rex muttered.
The four of them ran as fast as they could, Hannah leading the way, they rounded the corner and almost collided with someone.
They all stopped in disbelief, it was Phoebe.
Prue couldn’t believe her eyes, her sister was here, she looked dishevelled, exhausted and dare she say it, broken?
All three sisters pulled each other into a hug, Prue and Piper barely able to conceal their joy.
Phoebe was too weak to reciprocate.
Prue and Piper hiked Phoebe up onto each their shoulders and dragged her along the pathway.
“We have to make our way back to the portal” Rex said, anxious.
“All the way back there?!” Piper questioned furiously.
“Phoebe won’t make it that far” Prue pleaded.
“I’m sorry, but there is no other way” he said.
They continued on, past the colosseum when a dark voice cascaded around them, echoing pure evil off the walls.
“Going somewhere?”
He appeared in a huge column of flame just ahead of them, his face covered by his hood, all they could see were massive red hands poking out of his sleeves.
“You have something of mine” he boomed.
“I don’t think so asshole” Prue snarled, bringing her arm up to make him fly across the room, only for him to barely flinch.
“Huh?” she looked down at her arm in disbelief.
“What is going on?” she asked, suddenly quite scared.
“You mean you don’t know?” Hannah questioned.
“Don’t know what?” Piper asked.
The Source was shaking with laughter.
“Here I am, foiled time and again by the most powerful witches of all time, and you don’t even know that your powers are weakened down here”.
“Your Whitelighter didn’t tell you?” he asked innocently.
“Prue, if we get outta this, remind me to divorce Leo” Piper yelled.
Phoebe groaned between them, growing weaker by the second.
“Try and freeze him Piper” Prue said.
Piper threw up her hand but to no avail, it had no effect whatsoever.
“I think this is where we come in” Rex said as he and Hannah took a step in front of the Charmed Ones.
“It’s time we got some revenge” Hannah spat.
“You two?” The Source cackled nastily.
“You fools, you’re as weak as they come, you failed miserably before and you’ll fail miserably again”.
Hannah got down on all fours, and turned into her panther form, she stalked slowly towards The Source before leaping up, taking a chunk of finger with her.
The Source screamed in pain, “Stupid girl, you stand no chance!”
He raised his hand, produced a fireball and threw it at Hannah, who exploded into a million particles of ash.
“NO!” Rex shouted, his voice full of grief.
He ran to The Source, yelling at the sisters to turn around and make a run for it.
He pulled out an athame and plunged into his gut, at least he tried, it bounced off The Source and slid right into himself.
Rex fell to his knees. Looking down at his wound.
“Didn’t I tell you this was fruitless?” The Source teased.
“Oh I wouldn’t say that” Rex smiled.
“You see, we knew you’d dispatch us quite easily, our true revenge was to make sure the sisters escaped, so that one day they could come back, and make you wish you had never been born”, Rex laughed as he burst into flames, his ashes mixing with those of his beloved, his laugh echoing off the walls as a breeze blew him away.
They had made it to the colosseum, Prue and Piper dragging Phoebe along with them, but they hadn’t made it far before a cascade of flames erupted just in front of them, he had found them already.
But Prue wasn’t going down without a fight, powers or no powers, she was going to make him pay. She ran forward, ducking under his outstretched arms and performing a roundhouse kick to trip him up, he fell to the ground and she jumped on top of him, punching him round the face until she felt her hand slick with blood, it was black, she swallowed back bile and pulled his hood off. She had to swallow back some more.
“Yuck!” Prue heard Piper gag from behind her.
The Source was a monstrosity, red skin, huge black eyes that shined with glaring flame, his face was half torn away by years of warfare, two large horns poked out of either side of his head, his teeth were razor sharp, almost like they had purposely been filed to look that way.
“So, you’ve seen my true face”, he smirked, “now you have to die”.
He pushed Prue off him like she was nothing more than a ragdoll, he spat black blood out his mouth to the side as he was standing, Piper helped Prue to her feet.
“What do we do?” she asked, terrified.
The Source started to gather massive energy into a large fireball, Piper tried to freeze it but just as before it had no effect.
“We do this” Phoebe suddenly shouted. She raised her arms and magically shimmered the sisters out of there.
“That isn’t one of Phoebe’s powers” The Source exclaimed.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Phoebe began to morph, once finished she resembled an older male demon with greying curly hair.
“Alastair!” The Source shouted, shocked.
“How dare you betray me?!”
“All for the cause, my liege, all for the cause”.
Alastair stood and took his punishment of the large fireball, he exploded into tiny particles.
The Source looked up at the colosseum ceiling and roared, flames licking up and down his body as he teleported away.
Phoebe felt so weak. The demon, Alastair, was that his name? Had shimmered her to some kind of corridor with statues lining the side, she was dizzy and unfocused, she could barely hold on much longer, but she could see a shining wall at the top of the corridor, she felt a strong pull towards it, like she had to make it down there.
A light at the end of the tunnel, she thought as she laughed at herself, delirious from lack of sustenance.
It took her far longer than it should have, but eventually she made it to the wall, and stepped through it.
There was a whirling sensation and she felt as though she were spinning.
Then she felt something she hadn’t felt in months, the cool, smelly breeze of fresh air, she breathed in deeply, savouring every second of it.
Her head had cleared a little, she opened her eyes, it was night time, she was in a gloomy looking alleyway, but she knew for certain she was back home, in the city she had grew up in.
She collapsed to her knees, tears falling from her eyes, she had to close them from pain though when a bright blue light flowed down through the sky and down in front of her.
Piper felt lightheaded, one second they were facing The Source, the next they were back where they started, right by the portal.
But none of that mattered, Phoebe wasn’t with them, The Source had probably vanquished her, they had failed.
The sisters had nothing to say, both of them were speechless, almost in disbelief, to have come so far only to be stopped at the last hurdle, it was heart-breaking.
She took Prue’s hand and led her towards the portal, through it and onto the other side into the chilly night air of San Francisco.
They couldn’t meet each other’s eyes, if they did they would have collapsed in grief.
Prue and Piper made their way to the entrance of the alley, located Piper’s SUV and got inside, drove home in silence and made their way to the front door.
Piper located her key and inserted it into the lock only for the door to swing open seemingly by itself, but it hadn’t, Leo was on the other side, looking the happiest he had been in weeks.
“Oh, don’t look so happy, we failed” Prue said curtly.
She stormed in, making her way towards the stairs so she could hide in her bedroom only for Leo to orb in front of her, blocking her way.
“Move Leo” Prue demanded.
“I don’t know why you’re so angry, you did it!” He literally jumped for joy and wrapped Prue in a hug.
She shoved him off, not sure what he was talking about.
“Leo, I don’t get it, didn’t you hear her?” Piper asked.
“But Phoebe is here, she came through the portal, as soon as she appeared in this realm I felt her presence and orbed to her!” he exclaimed.
“But we saw The Source take her” Piper questioned.
“That wasn’t me” a voice echoed from the dining room.
Prue and Piper bolted for the adjoining room, almost tripping over themselves.
Phoebe sat in a chair to the left, looking utterly filthy but alright.
“Ok, I’m confused, someone wanna explain?” Prue asked hopefully.
“It was a demon, Alex something I think, I don’t really remember, but he broke me out of my magic proof cage, turned into me and shimmered me to that portal, I guess he made it back to you guys as well” Phoebe said, sounding extremely weary.
“But this is great!” Prue laughed happily.
“But are you ok?” Piper asked, concerned.
“I’m ok” Phoebe nodded.
She got up and made her way to her sisters, Prue engulfed her in a big hug, Piper could have sworn she saw Phoebe flinch, but the next second she was hugging her oldest sister back, must having imagined it she thought to herself.
The Seer closed her eyes as the vision ended.
She smiled.
“Looks like it’s all going to plan” she said to herself, cackling as she vanished in a ray of indigo light.
End of Chapter Two, stay tuned for Chapter Three: “A Day in the Life”.
“Stop that!” Piper yelled from the sink.
She was washing out bowls and cauldrons which she had just used to make a wide array of different potions, ones to stun, freeze, paralyze, they were getting prepared, according to Rex and Hannah who had gone to visit their “neutral” party to get some more ideas of how to get to Phoebe, they only had about 18 hours left. Leo had gone to see the elders to see if their offer was legitimate.
Prue stood back, satisfied with her work, it was the first time she could say that in a good couple of months. Her photographer job at 415 magazine had gone slightly downhill since Phoebe was taken.
Rex and Hannah blinked into the kitchen.
“Whoa, haven’t done that in a while” Hannah exclaimed.
“We’ve spoken to our friend” Rex said pointedly.
Piper sniggered, “right, OUR friend” she made a waving gesture for them to continue.
“And?” Prue asked.
“And, she has a plan, we’re to meet her in 3 hours at a specific point in San Francisco, there are special weak points in this dimension, where people can sneak into the underworld, undetected” Rex said.
“We’ll meet her and then continue from there” Hannah said.
“That’s it?” Piper asked, disbelieving.
“Well, admittedly, it has some kinks” Hannah said, “but this demon has been a close confidant to The Source for centuries, if anyone can help us, she can”.
“I don’t like the idea of trusting a demon, considering the whole reason we’re in this mess is thanks to one” Piper said, shaking her head.
“We have no choice Piper, remember Krell?” Prue asked.
“I remember him crashing into our clock, and us having to send it off for repair for the one hundredth time” Piper rolled her eyes as she was explaining.
“I mean, that sometimes we have to do things we don’t always want to, if this helps us get Phoebe back we need to give it a chance”.
“Oh, this is probably your only chance” Rex pointed out.
“This is our window, we cannot screw this up, no matter what” Rex continued.
“Gee thanks for the confidence” Piper snapped back.
A bright light shone in the middle of the room, after it vanished Leo was standing there with his arms folded.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Well, sort of” Prue said.
Piper asked, “What did they say?”
“They think it’s legit” he shrugged.
Prue turned to look at Piper, who stared back but gave up and nodded, she knew they had to take this chance, no matter how small.
Prue pulled the book of shadows off the counter top and moved to the now clean table, with the idea of flipping through and finding some kind of spell that may help.
“Huh” she said, surprised.
“What?” Piper asked, curiously coming to look over Prue’s shoulder.
“I don’t remember seeing this spell before” she said.
Piper took a look at the page, “to curse a relative” was the title.
“That’s weird, but come on, we can think about this once we have Phoebe back” Piper said, patting Prue’s shoulder.
The Seer materialised into her chambers, she walked, almost glided along to the well in the centre of the room and looked down into it.
“It is time” she exclaimed.
She raised her arms and the bottom of the well began to rise to the top, a crumpled figure was laying on the top, The Seer directed the figure off the top of the well and moved him onto the floor, he raised his head, it was Cole.
“Rise Belthazor, it is your moment to shine, to save your witch” she said.
Cole raised his head, and slowly got to his feet, then lunged at The Seer, screaming whilst doing so, he didn’t get far however, she raised her arm and a large forcefield knocked him back.
“Listen to me closely, you must do exactly as I say, or your witch, your Phoebe, will be lost to you, and to her sisters”.
Cole perked back up, he was listening. He could barely speak, his throat felt ashen from weeks of disuse.
“Good, now, I have some helpers, people who want revenge on The Source, those that want payback, and right now they are with the remaining Charmed Ones, in 3 hours we will meet them at a secret location, ready for the rescue”. The Seer shuddered at the thought, doing good was definitely not in her nature.
Cole had regained his voice, “helping good witches? That’s unlike you Seer”.
“I am not doing this for you, or for the witches, I am doing this for me” The Seer bellowed the last part, making sure he knew what her motivation was.
“You will meet the witches at this entrance” The Seer touched her hand to Cole’s head, telepathically giving him the information.
“Now go”, “and remember, the whole world thinks you dead, so be careful”.
Cole shimmered out, The Seer smiled, her plan was working, luckily thanks to her visions she knew exactly what was to come, she just had to make it all came to pass.
“Here we are” Rex said, pointing at the brick wall.
“Huh, not what I was expecting” Prue said, disappointed.
“What did you expect? A palace” Hannah sneered.
Glaring, Prue took Piper’s hands and together they walked into the wall.
“I feel like I’m on my way to Hogwarts” Prue said as they walked through.
When they reached the other side they were in the underworld, no one was around that they could see or hear, but they’d faced invisible demons before, Prue thought.
“Geez does all of the underworld look this flashy?” Piper jokingly asked.
They were faced with a large corridor, statues lining the sides, candles on the walls, it all looked very dead and ashen.
“Pretty much” Hannah said as she appeared behind them, Rex in tow.
“This way” Rex said, pointing to the left.
They had only gone a few meters when Cole shimmered in front of them.
“Whoa, you look like hell” Piper said.
“You have no idea” he said, obviously exhausted.
“So, where have you been this whole time?” Prue said, glaring at the half demon.
“Believe it or not I was in the same position as Phoebe, held prisoner for the last however long it’s been” he answered.
“Well he’s here now and that’s what counts” Hannah said, throwing Cole a wink.
Cole looked suitably unimpressed and continued.
“I have the plan, The Seer put it in my head”.
“Your head?” Piper asked.
“Yes, my head, so we should get going”.
They continued walking for a few more minutes.
“Who’s The Seer?” Piper asked.
“I can answer that” Rex piped up. “She’s a powerful upper level demon, has served The Source for a long time, but now she means to move against him”.
“But why?” Piper wondered.
“No one knows her true intentions, only that she operates for herself” Hannah explained.
“Sounds trustworthy” Prue said quietly.
Phoebe screamed, she was back on the table, she was in so much pain, like her brain was being warped.
“There now, rest Phoebe” The Source said as he put her back to sleep.
“Take her back to her cage” he demanded of the minion demons surrounding him.
At once three demons stepped forward to retrieve her, they pulled her off and dragged her back through the dungeon, making their way back to The Source’s chambers.
Once safely back in her prison one of the demons turned to one of the others and threw an energy ball over the top of his head, causing him to explode.
The other demon was about to let out a scream when an athame was plunged through his throat, also causing him to explode.
Phoebe was just stirring when she looked up and saw a demon shapeshift into someone else.
“Who are you?” she asked groggily.
“I am Alastair, a chameleon demon” he smiled.
“And I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m here to help”.
He bent down to retrieve the keys to the cage door and then proceeded to unlock it, he grabbed Phoebe under her arms and pulled her out.
“I don’t get it, you’re a demon, you work for The Source, why are you helping me?”
“I did work for him” Alastair said, “but now I work for, you could say, a neutral friend”.
Piper was bored, they had been walking for what felt like hours.
“Are we there yet?” she moaned.
“Really Piper?” Prue gave her a stern look.
As they rounded a corner, they stopped, they were overlooking the side of a large colosseum, currently full of thousands of demons, all gathered for some kind of purpose.
“Listen to me, my brothers and sisters”, a voice bellowed from a high.
The group looked up, and saw a dark, cloaked figure giving some kind of speech to the group of demons.
“It’s him” Hannah whispered.
“Who him?” Piper asked.
“The Source”, she said grimly.
“We’re close” Cole said, “His chambers are nearby”.
Prue was anxious to hear what he was saying, but forced herself to look away.
“Ok” Cole said, clapping his hands together, “This is the next part of the plan”.
“A distraction” he whispered, smiling.
Before they could say anything, Cole had shimmered away from them and up into the colosseum, behind The Source.
“Hello my fellow evildoers” he bellowed, faking a Texan accent.
“I am here to tell you, that you all smell like a scavenger demon” he laughed as he shimmered from behind The Source and into the middle of the crowd.
“Who wants to catch the big, bad, Belthazor?” He asked, eyebrows raised, then shimmered out.
“Find him!” The Source shrieked angrily.
“Now’s our chance” Rex muttered.
The four of them ran as fast as they could, Hannah leading the way, they rounded the corner and almost collided with someone.
They all stopped in disbelief, it was Phoebe.
Prue couldn’t believe her eyes, her sister was here, she looked dishevelled, exhausted and dare she say it, broken?
All three sisters pulled each other into a hug, Prue and Piper barely able to conceal their joy.
Phoebe was too weak to reciprocate.
Prue and Piper hiked Phoebe up onto each their shoulders and dragged her along the pathway.
“We have to make our way back to the portal” Rex said, anxious.
“All the way back there?!” Piper questioned furiously.
“Phoebe won’t make it that far” Prue pleaded.
“I’m sorry, but there is no other way” he said.
They continued on, past the colosseum when a dark voice cascaded around them, echoing pure evil off the walls.
“Going somewhere?”
He appeared in a huge column of flame just ahead of them, his face covered by his hood, all they could see were massive red hands poking out of his sleeves.
“You have something of mine” he boomed.
“I don’t think so asshole” Prue snarled, bringing her arm up to make him fly across the room, only for him to barely flinch.
“Huh?” she looked down at her arm in disbelief.
“What is going on?” she asked, suddenly quite scared.
“You mean you don’t know?” Hannah questioned.
“Don’t know what?” Piper asked.
The Source was shaking with laughter.
“Here I am, foiled time and again by the most powerful witches of all time, and you don’t even know that your powers are weakened down here”.
“Your Whitelighter didn’t tell you?” he asked innocently.
“Prue, if we get outta this, remind me to divorce Leo” Piper yelled.
Phoebe groaned between them, growing weaker by the second.
“Try and freeze him Piper” Prue said.
Piper threw up her hand but to no avail, it had no effect whatsoever.
“I think this is where we come in” Rex said as he and Hannah took a step in front of the Charmed Ones.
“It’s time we got some revenge” Hannah spat.
“You two?” The Source cackled nastily.
“You fools, you’re as weak as they come, you failed miserably before and you’ll fail miserably again”.
Hannah got down on all fours, and turned into her panther form, she stalked slowly towards The Source before leaping up, taking a chunk of finger with her.
The Source screamed in pain, “Stupid girl, you stand no chance!”
He raised his hand, produced a fireball and threw it at Hannah, who exploded into a million particles of ash.
“NO!” Rex shouted, his voice full of grief.
He ran to The Source, yelling at the sisters to turn around and make a run for it.
He pulled out an athame and plunged into his gut, at least he tried, it bounced off The Source and slid right into himself.
Rex fell to his knees. Looking down at his wound.
“Didn’t I tell you this was fruitless?” The Source teased.
“Oh I wouldn’t say that” Rex smiled.
“You see, we knew you’d dispatch us quite easily, our true revenge was to make sure the sisters escaped, so that one day they could come back, and make you wish you had never been born”, Rex laughed as he burst into flames, his ashes mixing with those of his beloved, his laugh echoing off the walls as a breeze blew him away.
They had made it to the colosseum, Prue and Piper dragging Phoebe along with them, but they hadn’t made it far before a cascade of flames erupted just in front of them, he had found them already.
But Prue wasn’t going down without a fight, powers or no powers, she was going to make him pay. She ran forward, ducking under his outstretched arms and performing a roundhouse kick to trip him up, he fell to the ground and she jumped on top of him, punching him round the face until she felt her hand slick with blood, it was black, she swallowed back bile and pulled his hood off. She had to swallow back some more.
“Yuck!” Prue heard Piper gag from behind her.
The Source was a monstrosity, red skin, huge black eyes that shined with glaring flame, his face was half torn away by years of warfare, two large horns poked out of either side of his head, his teeth were razor sharp, almost like they had purposely been filed to look that way.
“So, you’ve seen my true face”, he smirked, “now you have to die”.
He pushed Prue off him like she was nothing more than a ragdoll, he spat black blood out his mouth to the side as he was standing, Piper helped Prue to her feet.
“What do we do?” she asked, terrified.
The Source started to gather massive energy into a large fireball, Piper tried to freeze it but just as before it had no effect.
“We do this” Phoebe suddenly shouted. She raised her arms and magically shimmered the sisters out of there.
“That isn’t one of Phoebe’s powers” The Source exclaimed.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Phoebe began to morph, once finished she resembled an older male demon with greying curly hair.
“Alastair!” The Source shouted, shocked.
“How dare you betray me?!”
“All for the cause, my liege, all for the cause”.
Alastair stood and took his punishment of the large fireball, he exploded into tiny particles.
The Source looked up at the colosseum ceiling and roared, flames licking up and down his body as he teleported away.
Phoebe felt so weak. The demon, Alastair, was that his name? Had shimmered her to some kind of corridor with statues lining the side, she was dizzy and unfocused, she could barely hold on much longer, but she could see a shining wall at the top of the corridor, she felt a strong pull towards it, like she had to make it down there.
A light at the end of the tunnel, she thought as she laughed at herself, delirious from lack of sustenance.
It took her far longer than it should have, but eventually she made it to the wall, and stepped through it.
There was a whirling sensation and she felt as though she were spinning.
Then she felt something she hadn’t felt in months, the cool, smelly breeze of fresh air, she breathed in deeply, savouring every second of it.
Her head had cleared a little, she opened her eyes, it was night time, she was in a gloomy looking alleyway, but she knew for certain she was back home, in the city she had grew up in.
She collapsed to her knees, tears falling from her eyes, she had to close them from pain though when a bright blue light flowed down through the sky and down in front of her.
Piper felt lightheaded, one second they were facing The Source, the next they were back where they started, right by the portal.
But none of that mattered, Phoebe wasn’t with them, The Source had probably vanquished her, they had failed.
The sisters had nothing to say, both of them were speechless, almost in disbelief, to have come so far only to be stopped at the last hurdle, it was heart-breaking.
She took Prue’s hand and led her towards the portal, through it and onto the other side into the chilly night air of San Francisco.
They couldn’t meet each other’s eyes, if they did they would have collapsed in grief.
Prue and Piper made their way to the entrance of the alley, located Piper’s SUV and got inside, drove home in silence and made their way to the front door.
Piper located her key and inserted it into the lock only for the door to swing open seemingly by itself, but it hadn’t, Leo was on the other side, looking the happiest he had been in weeks.
“Oh, don’t look so happy, we failed” Prue said curtly.
She stormed in, making her way towards the stairs so she could hide in her bedroom only for Leo to orb in front of her, blocking her way.
“Move Leo” Prue demanded.
“I don’t know why you’re so angry, you did it!” He literally jumped for joy and wrapped Prue in a hug.
She shoved him off, not sure what he was talking about.
“Leo, I don’t get it, didn’t you hear her?” Piper asked.
“But Phoebe is here, she came through the portal, as soon as she appeared in this realm I felt her presence and orbed to her!” he exclaimed.
“But we saw The Source take her” Piper questioned.
“That wasn’t me” a voice echoed from the dining room.
Prue and Piper bolted for the adjoining room, almost tripping over themselves.
Phoebe sat in a chair to the left, looking utterly filthy but alright.
“Ok, I’m confused, someone wanna explain?” Prue asked hopefully.
“It was a demon, Alex something I think, I don’t really remember, but he broke me out of my magic proof cage, turned into me and shimmered me to that portal, I guess he made it back to you guys as well” Phoebe said, sounding extremely weary.
“But this is great!” Prue laughed happily.
“But are you ok?” Piper asked, concerned.
“I’m ok” Phoebe nodded.
She got up and made her way to her sisters, Prue engulfed her in a big hug, Piper could have sworn she saw Phoebe flinch, but the next second she was hugging her oldest sister back, must having imagined it she thought to herself.
The Seer closed her eyes as the vision ended.
She smiled.
“Looks like it’s all going to plan” she said to herself, cackling as she vanished in a ray of indigo light.
End of Chapter Two, stay tuned for Chapter Three: “A Day in the Life”.