Slaughter of Innocence
By Andrew Holroyd
"I can't believe you! Why can't your family, your sons come first at least once." Piper bellowed. "It's his birthday for heaven sake. You weren't here for Christmas and now you're leaving before his party. Chris will be so heart broken."
Leo just stood there. He knew how much it would upset his youngest but the Elders where calling him back. "I can't not go. It's my job." Leo replied knowing full well how Piper would react, for this argument, this exact argument was replayed at least once a week.
"Your job! They're your son's; you can't take time off to celebrate your son's sixteenth birthday?"
"I'll make it up to him; Chris is a smart kid he'll understand. I promise I'll try and get back as soon as I can." And with that, Leo orbed out. As the glow of his orb faded Piper was finally able to notice their little audience sitting on the stairs.
"Oh honey I'm so sorry..." But before she could finish Chris stood up, wiped away the lone tear falling down his cheek and ran to his room. "Chris..." As she called out she was met with a loud slam of the door.
Seeking to console her youngest Piper headed up to the bedroom. As she approached the door she was greeted with music, loud music. Normally Piper would tell him to turn it down but the specific song he was playing cut deep into her heart and she mentally cursed both Leo and the Elders.
..Oh the little pieces falling shatter,
Shards of me to sharp to put back together,
To small to matter but big enough,
To cut me into so many little pieces...
Piper proceeded to knock on the door, not really expecting to get a response, so when the door opened and her son was standing in front of her, eyes red from crying, her heart broke and she pulled him into the tightest hug she'd ever given him. "Chris I'm sure he'll try his best but the Elders need him."
"It doesn't matter; if it's not the Elders then it will just be one of his charges or some great magical event or some other excuse." Chris replied almost void of emotion but Piper could see and feel just how upset he truly was.
They spent the rest of the day in his room just sitting quietly hugging. It wasn't until Phoebe returned from the newspaper did Piper leave her son's side.
"Man you would not believe the day I've had." Phoebe said as she dropped her bags on the dinning table.
"Oh I bet it was better than our day." Piper replied. Phoebe noticed the stress on the latter part of her statement.
"What happened? No demon attack, was there? You should have called me."
Seeing how Phoebe was getting worked up Piper had to wave her hands to calm her sister. "No, no demon attack, not unless an absent father on your sixteenth birthday is a new variety we're only just getting to know." As Piper spoke Phoebe's face fell, she couldn't believe it Leo wasn't going to be there for Chris' sixteenth birthday.
"You've got to be kidding me. He's not going to be here? Why?"
"Something really important that the Elders just have to tell him now. He won't be back for week maybe two." Phoebe's face seemed to fall even further if that was even possible.
"Two weeks, what could possibly take two weeks to talk about? Surely he could take a couple of hours to attend his own son's birthday." As Phoebe spoke, Paige orbed in along with two younger children.
"Hey, hey! Can it you two, cut it out." Paige said feigning annoyance. Immediately the two younger children stopped and looked at her with sheepish grins. "You would not believe how much energy these two have. I mean, they're like long life batteries." Paige lost her smile as she saw the sadness reflected in both her sisters' eyes. "What's wrong?"
Piper just laughed as pervious conversations played through her mind. Just how many times would one of her sisters have to ask that very question? "Leo..." Before Piper could continue Paige realised what the problem was and quickly engulfed her eldest sister in a hug.
"I can't believe it. Again? How's Chris taking it?" Phoebe chimed in saving her sister the pain of answering.
"I'd have to say not good, listen." With that said the room fell silent. The silence made way for the lyrics of the song into everyone's ears.
"Oh, that bad. You know that song used to be a favourite of mine but now every time I hear it I just wanna cry." Paige replied giving Piper one last squeeze before letting go.
"Yeah I know what you mean." Phoebe retorted. Not knowing what was wrong, both the young one's started to head to the kitchen. "Melinda Patricia you keep out of that kitchen young lady." Phoebe added without looking, knowing that her daughter was going in search of anything her Aunt Piper had made recently.
"Aw but Mum I'm soo hungry." Melinda whined with puppy dog eyes.
"I don't care you've been eating junk food all day and dinner will be ready in about an hour." Phoebe added but before Melinda could respond Paige spoke.
"And that goes for you as well Vanessa." The other girl stopped in her tracks. "You both have eaten enough food to last you a week if not two, today."
Piper just smiled as both her nieces wore looks of utter defeat and began to walk into the living room.
Almost two hours later the three sisters were busy putting dinner on the table, everyone was staying as it was Wednesday night, the sister's night to have dinner together. They had promised each other the day Phoebe and Paige moved out that one day a week they'd have a family dinner.
At first these dinners were more like a banquet, Piper would spend hours in the kitchen cooking, and with nine people to feed it wasn't the easiest task to cater to everyone's needs. But as time passed things became easier, first Leo's duties kept him away from the family for long periods but the most dramatic change was when Richard died. Paige was finally able to settle down with the man that she loved and have a gorgeous little girl, but after only two years Richard was killed protecting his daughter from a demon attack.
"Erm Piper, where are we going to put all of this food and why in the world did you make so much?" Phoebe asked seeing the monumental amount of food she had prepared in the last hour alone.
"There's not that much, we'll find room." Piper replied sheepishly.
"Yeah if we eat non stop for a few days or invite the entire street over, but why so much?" Phoebe said as she looked at the recently prepared food and finally noticed. "They're Chris's favourite meals, oh honey, he's strong. He might be upset for a while but he'll bounce back, hey it's what Halliwell's do right?" Phoebe added as Melinda came running into the kitchen.
"Mum, Aunt Piper where's Chris and Wyatt?"
"Wyatt's staying at a friend's tonight, something about a really big test he has to do and Chris is in his room, but I'm not too sure he's in the mood to come down for dinner. You see your Uncle Leo has to be away for awhile and won't be around for Chris' birthday." As Piper finished a realisation dawned in Melinda's eyes.
"He's not going to be here again but Chris..." Melinda stopped just short of telling them something Chris didn't want anyone to know but it was too late now, both her Aunt Piper and her mother caught the near slip and were now pressing the issue. To make matters worse Melinda couldn't lie to her mother, what with her being both an Empath and a Telepath. She could tell if Melinda was lying no matter how hard she tried to mask her thoughts and emotions.
Melinda was also an Empath/Telepath, she inherited all her powers from her mother but Phoebe had gained her Empathic abilities not long after Wyatt was born and her Telepathic powers arose shortly after Chris' birth. Melinda however had only received her Empathic and Telepathic powers four years ago on her eleventh birthday and was nowhere near as good as her Mum.
"What's this about Chris?" Piper asked with her concern for her youngest showing. Melinda just stood there not wanting to think in case her mum could sense the truth.
"Melinda Patricia Halliwell your Aunt Piper asked you a question and I would like to hear an answer and it better be the truth." Phoebe said knowing all too well how close Melinda was with Chris, in fact Melinda, Vanessa and Chris were as close if not more so than the sisters were, Wyatt however seemed to remind Phoebe of her relationship with Prue when they were growing up. Wyatt spent a lot of his time by himself or out, he never tried to get close with his cousins, not like Chris did anyway. "Well!" Phoebe pressed.
"I can't, I promised Chris I wouldn't." Melinda replied her eyes displaying her will not to betray Chris' confidence.
"Honey I would never want you to betray Chris in anyway but I have to know does Chris want something or need something. I want to help my baby. I don't, I can't stand to see him suffer like he is doing." Piper was now pleading with Melinda and it was breaking her heart to see the pain in her Aunt's eyes. What was even worse was the pain she could feel from her Aunt thanks to her Empathic powers. Melinda couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell them.
"Okay but please don't tell Chris I told you, he'd never forgive me." Melinda finally replied, tears threatening to flow freely down her cheeks. Piper could see how hard it was for Melinda to betray Chris' confidence and for that fact alone; she was grateful, grateful that Chris had someone this strong looking out for him.
"Honey I promise that I won't tell him that you told us but I need to know. You understand that I just want Chris to be happy?" Melinda nodded and prepared herself to tell both her mother and her Aunt Piper how Chris was really feeling.
"Chris feels like he's not loved and not wanted." Melinda muttered just louder than a whisper. Both Piper and Phoebe were reeling from this news but Melinda had more to say. "He thinks that Uncle Leo believes he was an accident, that he was just some giant cosmic slip up and that's why he never has anytime for him."
Piper couldn't take it anymore the tears that were threatening to flow before were now rushing free and it felt as if they'd never stop. Even Phoebe began to tear up. How could they not have known this? How could they not have seen the level of pain Chris was now obviously in? All Piper could think was why, why would Chris believe that Leo would, could ever think he was a mistake. Leo loved his sons. Sensing her Aunt's pain and internal questioning Melinda felt she had to go on.
"Aunt Piper I'm so sorry." Piper just took Melinda within her arms and hugged her tightly. Through she didn't verbally thank Melinda for telling her the truth Melinda knew but that didn't make it any easier to continue. "For some reason Chris strongly believes Uncle Leo thinks Chris will bring harm to Wyatt. That some how Chris will stand in his was to fulfil his destiny.
It was Phoebe's turn to hug her daughter even though she had practically ordered Melinda to tell them she was so proud of her little girl and she secretly hoped that her father was looking down on his daughter and was as proud with her as she was.
Piper stood up after several minutes by which time she had managed to compose herself to some extent. "I have to go talk to him, now!" Melinda virtually jumped out of her mother's arms.
"No Aunt Piper you can't!" She practically bellowed. "You can't, he'll know I told you... you promised, you promised you wouldn't tell him." Seeing her obvious distress, Piper decided that this problem had to be handled in a specific way and that it would take time to truly get to the bottom of it.
"You're right Melinda I promised and I intend to keep that promise." Piper said looking Melinda in the eyes. Just then, Paige came into the kitchen.
"Hey what's taking dinner so long? I've got one very hungry little girl out here." Seeing the tears in everyone's eyes Paige stopped. "What's wrong, not Leo again, please tell me it's not Leo again?" A slight tone of rage evident in her voice.
"No, well yes, maybe but there's a better place and certainly a better time to discuss it." Piper replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes and proceeded to move their dinner into the dinning room.
"Oh goodie dinner, I'm starving." Vanessa said as everyone filed in around the dinning table.
"Hey young lady please at least wait 'til everyone's seated before you start gorging on the food." Paige replied as she pulled a face at her daughter.
"Where are Chris and Wyatt?" Vanessa asked noticing what her Mum was referring to.
"Wyatt is at a friend's tonight," as Piper told her, Vanessa's face crinkled into a deep frown, but the look on her mother's face told her she better not let Aunt Piper catch her pulling a face, so she immediately removed the frown. "Chris is in his room. I was just about to go and, see if he was feeling up to joining us for dinner."
As Piper approached Chris' door she was relieved not to hear that song, she didn't think she would be able to handle hearing it again today. "Honey." Piper said as she knocked on the door and entered. She found Chris lying on his bed reading a book, at least he seemed happier than before but Piper remembered what Melinda had told her, just how good was Chris at hiding his feelings? "Dinner's ready if you want to join us. Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige are here and Melinda and Vanessa keep asking where you are. I think they want to play with their big cousin."
That last remark brought a smile to Chris' face. "Mum we're practically the same age. I'd hardly call me their big cousin." With that, Chris marked his page and got up for dinner. It would be only his second meal all day and he was absolutely starving.
"Come here." Piper grabbed him as he was walking past and engulfed him in a tight hug and planted a kiss on his forehead.
"Mum!" he exclaimed, as he was taken by surprise.
"What can't I hug my boy no more... fine then?" She replied faking nonchalance. But as Chris was moving away she pounced once again this time instead of a hug she began to tickle him.
"Ah that's not fair... ah you cheated, I wasn't ready." Chris exclaimed between fits of laughter. "Okay, okay I surrender, I surrender." Piper had won, once again, now she would be able to hug her son anytime she wanted, for about a week anyway.
"Good," Piper said as she again pulled her youngest son into a hug, "let's go eat, before your cousins start a mutiny."
"Ah that might be a good idea. What's for dinner anyway coz I'm starving?" Chris asked as they headed towards the stairs.
"Erm, well about that..." Chris didn't like the sound of that but Piper kept going, "I kinda made about six different things, meatballs, lasagne, tomato soup, chilli con carne, a three cheese risotto and there's a garden salad in there somewhere too."
As Piper listed of the meals that were waiting on the dinning table Chris' face lit up. Every single dish was one of his favourites, but then again everything his Mum cooked was his favourite. "You were worried about me huh? That's why you cooked so much." Chris finally said as the situation dawned on him.
"Kinda but I just wanted to show you how much I love you. You do know that right, that your father and I loved you more than anything in this world or the next?" Piper said as she squeezed him once again. Though Chris didn't say anything the look in his eyes spoke volumes, he did know.
Meanwhile in the depths of the Underground several demons where gathered in what was once the Source's chamber. "Who summoned us here, in this place of failure?" One of the demons hissed.
"Like we know, but who ever it was risked great torment by summoning me." Just as the second demon spoke, the chamber torches began to spontaneously ignite. Once all the torches were lit all the demons where facing the throne that was once the seat of the most powerful evil, The Source. As the demons watched on, the eternal flames that had been extinguished decades ago by the Charmed Ones suddenly erupted to life. Taken back by the immense power of the flames they didn't notice the cloaked figure sitting on the throne.
"My aren't we the sorriest bunch of demons to ever exist." The figure's voice was cold as ice, and even sent chills down the spins of the demons.
"So did you two have a nice day?" Piper asked her two nieces. Today was Paige's day off so she decided to take the girls on a moderate shopping spree.
"Oh you wouldn't believe it. Aunt Paige took us to HeadGirl and let us loose with Mum's credit card." Melinda replied but as soon as she did, her Mum almost exploded.
"What! Paige you let her loose in a store with a credit card?" Phoebe was verging on livid when she turned to her daughter. "How much did you spend?" seeing her mother's reaction pushed Melinda over the edge. She could no longer hold back the fits of laughter. Phoebe's face shifted from anger to embarrassment when she realised Melinda was playing a trick on her.
"Sorry, but I couldn't resist. We did go to HeadGirl but we only window shopped." Melinda managed to say, through the fits of laughter she was now truly caught in.
"Just you wait young lady." Phoebe threatened but shifted her attention to her sister, "And you, you were letting this little charade continue until when? I pop a few blood vessels?" Paige threw her hands up in defence.
"Hey I'm not the one who's an Empath/Telepath. Shouldn't you have sensed it was a joke?"
"Oy can you two stop it. Can't we have one family dinner without this whole prelim to an argument? Thank you." Piper said over her sister's comments. As they calmed down Piper looked over at her son, he was laughing just as hard as Melinda and Vanessa now. If anything at least Phoebe's little outburst was able to make him laugh and just hopefully forget his worries, even if it was only for a little while. Piper must have been staring at Chris too long because both Phoebe and Paige took one of her hands. Piper was just able to smile at them when Phoebe was hit with a premonition.
Beginning of Premonition
They had just finished dinner and where starting to clear the table, but before either his Aunts or his mother could pick up the plates Chris had taken them.
"Hey you don't have to do that, I can manage." Piper said as Chris began towards the kitchen.
"It's no problem Mum, you've been... busy today and I'm sure Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe are both tired." And with that, he vanished into the kitchen.
"Okay now that's sweet," Phoebe said and turned to her daughter, "Now why don't you do that for me?" But before Melinda could have responded, a small troop of demons shimmered into the living room.
"Mum!" Vanessa yelled as she saw the demons materialise.
"Vanessa, take Melinda and get out of here!" Paige said as she and her sisters went to vanquish the demons. Vanessa reached across the table and grabbed Melinda's hand and orbed out of there, not a moment too soon, coz as they orbed, a fireball hit the table where Melinda had just been.
"Hey!" Phoebe bellowed getting the attention of the demon that had nearly killed her daughter. She levitated in the air and kicked the demon into the conservatory. However, as she touched the ground another demon hit her with a fireball.
"Phoebe!" Piper yelled as she saw her sister hit the wall with bone crunching force. Piper turned to face the demon, tears in her eyes. She flicked her hands and two of the demons exploded. "Leo! Leo Phoebe needs your..." but before she could finish she was hit from behind by two fireballs sending her through the window, just as Chris was running back into the dinning room.
"Mum!" He yelled, so loud in fact that the remaining demons stopped their advances on Paige who was in bad shape. Her body was covered in multiple burns, a draw back of have multiple astral forms hit by fireballs. Paige could just make out the tears falling down Chris' face as unconsciousness claimed her.
Chris was spiralling into an uncontrollable rage, he'd never felt anything this strong in his life. The demons continued their approach each holding a fireball in their claws, an evil grin on their face. "Oh look, the little boy thinks he can take us on." Chris was now visibly shaking with rage; all the demons could do was laugh as a dozen fireballs flew in Chris' direction.
Chris, now completely controlled by his rage, didn't even flinch; instead, an energy barrier appeared in front of him and absorbed all the fireballs. The demons looked on in terror, how could this boy have that much power to fend off an attack of that magnitude? Chris instinctively knowing what they were thinking just raised his arms. As he did both his eyes and his hands began to glow with power, as the power intensified, the remaining demons were struck by lightning and were destroyed.
End of Premonition