NOTE! Catzel and everything else in
this story is a product of my imagination.
Leo and his captor orbed up to
where the Source was waiting. The Source was smiling at them. "Good job,
Catzel. I knew your ability to steal a body would come in handy some day. Who
knew that the Charmed ones whitelighter would become your carrier? Can you exit
him or let him talk without harming you?"
"Yes." Catzel said,
"If I leave Leo, then I am a floating black mass. But I won't be able to
talk to you and I won't be able to regain control of Leo without a fight."
"Stay in control of him
then. Do you think you can get him to take you to the Council?"
"No, they will notice
that there is an evil body taking over one of they're whitelighters. This
cannot be allowed to happen. If I am to kill Piper and Prue, and then take over
Phoebe's body, then I cannot let Leo go."
"That is true. Can you
allow him to speak to me?"
"I will try." Catzel
let Leo regain control of his mouth.
"Get this thing out of
me!" yelled Leo. "Help!"
"Don't even bother."
A low voice startled Leo. "Do you know who I am?"
"Your
the source. Let me go!"
"I'm sorry Leo, I can't
do that. No, I take it back. I'm not sorry. This is the first time we've been
able to capture a whitelighter. Catzel is very talented, is he not? Well,
anyway, we are going to use your body to kill Piper and Prue. Then we're going
to put Catzel into Phoebe's body. You can spend your life knowing what a
worthless whitelighter you are! You're the first one we've been able to capture.
Isn't that just sad? Leo, whitelighter of the charmed ones, a fool!"
"You'll be sorry. Piper
will know it's not me behind those lips."
"Oh, so Piper is the
witch that you're being married to? That information will come in handy. Note
to self, let Catzel kill Piper first."
"NO! Don't kill them!
Please! What do you want?"
"I want to destroy all
goodness in the galaxy. I'm sick and tired of having my best demons killed
because your 'charmed ones' murdered them! Libris (read Loss of sound) is a
perfect example! A demon that could easily have used that power to his
advantage. But of course, you lead your charmed ones to vanquish him!"
"That wasn't me! I wasn't
in control! That was Catzel!"
"Don't lie to me, Leo. I
know that that was you. My loyal servant wouldn't be vanquishing my potentially
killer demons. Don't even try to confuse me. Now, I need to talk to Catzel, so
I would appreciate it if you would go back into the body and never come out
again."
"Never."
"Well then, just going to
have to hurt you." The Source summoned a darklighter and took his bow and
arrow set. He shot Leo in the chest. Leo fell over in pain. Catzel quickly
regained control of Leo's body.
"I'm here, my emperor or
darkness. Please heal me before this body is killed."
"I cannot do that. The
only ones who can are the good side. Please try to get it done. I really would
hate it if I lost a whitelighter body."
"But you will not lose
me. I will bring whatever information back to you that I can get a hold of. I
hope that you will find my efforts satisfactory."
"Kill the charmed ones.
Take Phoebes body. Then kill him."
"Kill who."
"Leo. I need you to break
her spirit. How long does it take for the spirit to die?"
"It takes about three
weeks. Unfortunately, I'm not as strong as the spirit that took over
Piper."
"Do it. Report back to me
once you have the body. I will bestow great power on you if you succeed Catzel.
Please make sure that you help me."
"My Leader. The Source. I
will do my best. Please kill me if I do not succeed."
"That shall be done.
Consider it a threat. Succeed or die."
"It shall be done."
Leo/Catzel disappeared in the blue light and reappeared in the Manor's living
room.
~~~
"Leo! What are you doing
here?" asked a surprised Phoebe.
"Oh, nothing Piper,"
said Catzel.
"I'm Phoebe. You look
hurt. What happened?"
"Oh. Darklighter shot
me."
"Holy shit! Piper, Prue
get in here!" yelled Phoebe.
"What's going on?"
said Prue.
"LEO!" yelled Piper,
"What happened?"
"I was shot by a
darklighter." Catzel's tone was very nonchalant. Too nonchalant. Phoebe's
picked up on something.
"Piper. Go get the remedy
we made last time this happened." said Prue, "I'll get the book of
shadows. I think we're going to need it."
"Wait. Leo. What's my
name?" asked Phoebe.
"You're Piper. Why ask my
love? I know it is you!" said Catzel.
"Something is up here,"
said Piper, catching on, "who am I?"
"You're Prue. That's
Phoebe. What kind of an idiot do you take me for? Get that remedy. I'm dying,"
said Catzel. He realized he had made a mistake. He had gotten the sisters mixed
up. "Shit" he said to himself.
The sisters ran out of the
room.
"Alright, that is not Leo," said Phoebe.
"How can you be so sure?
I mean, he has an arrow stuck in his chest. He's dying. Of coarse he would mix us
up. He probably can't even see straight," said Prue.
"Well, that doesn't mean
he can call me Piper. He's got to know which one of us is the girl he is going
to marry." Phoebe shot back.
"I agree with
Phoebe." Piper put in quietly. "I say we get the truth spell from the
book of shadows."
"That sounds right,"
said Phoebe, "I say go for it."
"Fine," said Prue.
She was obviously beaten.
The sisters trouped up to the
attic. But downstairs, Catzel and Leo were having a little talk.
"You gave me the wrong
names." Catzel thought to Leo.
"I know."
"Bastard! I need those
names. Now who is who?" Catzel was muttering under his breath.
"Is there something
wrong?" startled, Catzel/Leo looked up. There stood Piper. "I mean,
Leo, you're not acting like yourself. You're swearing. You messed up our names.
Something is wrong. Can you tell me what it is?"
"Listen, girl. I have no
intention of telling you what is up. That Leo you knew? He's gone. Forever. I'm
in charge now, and now that I'm here, there's gonna be some changes. First of
all, this." Catzel took the knife that he had earlier hid in his coat
pocket and stuck it into Piper's chest. She started bleeding heavily, and
collapsed on the ground. She let out a shriek in pain. With one of her panted
breaths, she said, "You're not Leo."
"That's right,
'Princess'. My name is Catzel, and you're going to die. See ya!"
"They'll find out.
They'll know you killed me."
"Boo-hoo. They're going to be dead within an hour."
Then to Leo he said, "Let's go tell the source about our first
victory." They orbed out.
"Prue, Phoebe!
Help!" yelled Piper. She was going into a coma. They came running
downstairs.
"Piper!"
Phoebe began bawling. "Leo, help!" but no blue-white orb appeared.
The room remained empty.
"We've got to get her to
the hospital," said Prue.
"Agreed." said
Phoebe. They used the nearby phone to call 9-1-1. They gave all the necessary
information, but Prue had some problems telling them how it had happened. She
eventually made up a story about how an unnamed man had come into the house and
stabbed Piper. The case would eventually get routed to Darryl, and he would
know that there was a demon involved and call off the case. Meanwhile, Piper
wasn't doing very well. She had to have surgery and she wasn't expected to make
it out of her coma. She lay on the bed for days, as if she was trying to decide
whether to live or die.
~~~
"You succeeded,
Catzel." The Source said, some days later. "The witch's condition is
getting weaker."
"I know," said
Catzel. Leo fought the words with every mouthful of air he took in.
"Leo? How does it feel to
have murdered your bride-to-be?" asked the Source, "Awww, can't talk?
Let me fix that." He toyed with the mouth that Catzel had taken from him.
Leo struggled, and regained control of his mouth for a few seconds.
"You'll never succeed.
Phoebe and Prue will know what you are doing," he said. "It doesn't
matter. They'll never let you near them. They know…" he was cut off by
Catzel, who regained control of the mouth. Suddenly, Catzel began slapping
himself.
"Regain control of the
whitelighters body."
"Yes, my royalty."
Catzel pushed Leo into the far corner of his brain. He then took the vial that
had been handed to him.
"Drink this. You will
regain your strength. No longer will the darklighters poison bother you."
"Thank you, my
liege." Catzel drank the potion that was in the vial. He felt the poison
slowly drip out of his veins and arteries. He regained all strength.
"Now. Kill Prue. Remember
that you need to keep Phoebe's body. You know that someday, she will become the
most powerful witch ever. She is gaining power every day. Her premonition and
levitation powers are only a beginning. You will see. Someday, she will be even
more powerful the Prue."
"I thank you for this information.
I will use it wisely."
~~~
Catzel and Leo took off for
the manor, Catzel, hoping to be the one to outsmart the charmed ones and Leo,
hoping that they had that truth spell ready.
"Do you really think that
that isn't Leo?" asked Prue.
"Yeah.
I also think he's the one who stabbed Piper," said Phoebe. Their sister
was in critical care, but she was expected to recover. She was on life support,
and her wound was healing nicely. They just wanted to keep her there and let
her pull out on her own. Phoebe and Prue knew that if they wanted Piper to pull
out, they needed to vanquish the demon that had stabbed her. She wouldn't be
revived any other way.
"Do you have the truth
spell ready? Leo should be here any moment," asked Prue.
"Yeah, I do." Phoebe
replied. But a thought had come to her head. What if there was demon either
taking the place or possessing Leo? If there was a demon possessing him, then
he could easily make Leo do the talking, making it look like Leo had just gone
insane. But if there was a demon who was taking his place, then everything
would be fine.
"Phoebe, look up! There
he is."
Leo had orbed back into the
house. "Prue!" He yelled. "I've got
info on the man who stabbed Piper for you! This could be valuable."
Prue and Phoebe quickly recited the truth spell. They then walked down the
stairs.
"Hi Leo," said Prue.
"Hello, Phoebe," said
Leo, to Prue. Prue realized that if Leo had told the demon that she was Phoebe,
then he would honestly believe it. He wasn't under any strain to say the truth,
so he must believe that it was the truth. She realized that a demon must be
possessing Leo, which was one of Phoebe's thoughts at that same moment.
"Leo, who are you?"
asked Prue.
Leo shook and squirmed and
twitched. He finally spit out an answer for Prue. "My name is
Catzel."
"Who are you?"
"I am Catzel."
"What are you?"
"I am Catzel."
This was getting them nowhere.
Prue and Phoebe looked at each other. They silently agreed to have Phoebe look
upstairs in the book of shadows for a vanquishing spell. Phoebe ran up the
stairs. Prue looked at Leo, who she now knew was Catzel.
"So, Catzel. How did you
get into Leo's body?"
"I possessed him."
Wow, he's good, thought Prue. He's able to tell as much as the
truth as he can get away with. I'm going to need to ask him more specific
questions. But while she was thinking, she hadn't noticed that Leo had slipped
away into the kitchen. He returned with a knife.
"Catzel," said Prue,
about to ask another question, "How did you possess Leo?"
"Like this." Catzel
took the knife he was hiding behind his back and stuck it into Prue's lower
stomach. It didn't hit any vital organ, but it was obvious that without
immediate medical help, she would die. Prue screamed. Phoebe ran down the
stairs.
"Prue!" she yelled.
"Leo do something! Fight Catzel. You can't let her die like this!"
She stood, helpless on the stairs. Then an amazing thing happened. A black
cloud filled the air, coming out of Leo's mouth.
"Phoebe, watch out!"
yelled Leo, but it was too late. Catzel filled Phoebe's body. He took over
every finger and brain cell she had. Leo ran over to Prue. He removed the knife
from her stomach and placed his healing hands above the wound. Slowly, the
wound began to heal itself, and within minutes, Prue was standing next to Leo.
She walked over to Phoebe.
"What's going on?"
yelled Prue.
Catzel/Phoebe darted over to
the discarded knife. They picked it up. They then held it against Prue's neck.
"Leo, one move and she dies," yelled Catzel
in Phoebe's voice.
"Catzel, I know you. You
have what you want. Why can't you leave us all alone now?" asked Leo. He
quietly orbed to the attic and wrote out the vanquishing spell. He orbed back. "Catzel, you can't visit the source
in that body. It's physically impossible for you. She can't orb, shimmer, or
blink."
"That's what you think,
Leo, buddy. I know for a fact that this witches powers are going to be immense.
Greater the Prue's. I'm just going to have to speed up
the process." Catzel awakened the part in Phoebe that allowed her to have
access to powers. Phoebe suddenly disappeared in a flash a white light.
"What the hell was
that?" asked Prue, who was over the shock of almost getting killed twice.
"That was one of Phoebe's
future powers. She is eventually going to be able to deflect attacks and do a
witches version of orbing. Catzel awakened her powers to be. But it is too
early. She needs to be able to learn these powers for herself. This could kill
her."
"Where is she?"
"She went to the source.
Fortunately, I can get us there. Once I've orbed somewhere, I can always go
back." Leo took a hold of Prue's hand and gave her the paper. "Use
this to vanquish Catzel."
They orbed up to the place of
the Source. But Catzel was waiting for them. Prue was wounded and she lay on
the ground. Leo was orbing from place to place, sending harmless blue balls of
energy at Phoebe, trying to get her to tell how many powers Catzel had
awakened. When he was pretty sure that Catzel had not awakened the deflection
power, he told Prue to read the spell.
Imposter beware
You are not here to stay
With these words
I vanquish you
Then she got cut off. Catzel
had levitated Phoebe's body over Prue and had begun to repeatedly kick her.
Prue, who was already pretty weak, collapsed. Leo knew it was up to him.
"Phoebe, fight Catzel.
It's possible. Fight to regain control of your mouth.
This is your body. You know it better then anybody, anywhere. Fight for your
mouth."
"Le-o" a hoarse
voice croaked. "Help!"
"Read this, Phoebe,"
said Leo.
Phoebe read the spell, in her
hoarse voice, fighting to keep control of her mouth the whole time.
Imposter beware
You are not here to stay
With these words
I vanquish you
And send you to a place
Where you are forced to become
Your own personality.
Catzel flew out of Phoebe's
body. The black cloud became white, and then was sucked towards a fire pit.
Phoebe stood up, choking and coughing. Leo ran over to Prue and used his
healing hands to revive her.
"Well, that was an
adventure!" said Phoebe as she tossed her hair.
~~~
"Piper!" yelled
Prue. "You're home!" The sisters gathered into a great big sisterly
hug. Leo stood nearby, smiling at them. Piper had come out of her coma about
five minutes after vanquishing Catzel. The doctors had called it a miracle, but
Prue and Phoebe had known that it was only supernatural powers at work.
They all looked towards Leo.
"Are you sure there's no Catzel left in you?" they asked him.
"Yeah I'm sure." Leo
gave them his easy going smile that he was famous for. "You're Piper,
you're Prue, and you're Phoebe, the powerful witch." He said as he tapped
each on the head.
"Oh, Leo, been meaning to
ask you, but do I still have that power?" asked Phoebe. She was quiet
excited to find out what a powerful witch she was to become.
"No, I'm sorry. They've
shut them in you until you have learned to control your premonitions and
levitation. But believe me, you'll get them sooner then you think," said
Leo.
"Man!" said Phoebe,
"But I'm glad that this is over. Leo, how did you get Catzel in you
anyway?"
"When we were at the
beach, he came into my system after Libris knocked me out. I was vulnerable,
and Catzel took advantage. But I'm very glad you could tell the
difference."
"So were we. We're going
to be more careful from now on," said Prue.
"Yeah, she's going to
lock her car doors," joked Piper.
"Prue, how did that
meeting go anyway," asked Phoebe.
"Oh! I got a promotion!
I'm not the head of my department!" Everybody yelled and congratulated
Prue.
~~
Meanwhile, Catzel pleaded for
his life with the Source.
"You've failed me,
Catzel. I'm sending another." Catzel then officially blew up in a cloud of
smoke. The Source picked up a pile of applications on his desk. "This
one…" he muttered to himself.
