Title: And Then There Were Three
Author: the weeping willow
Chapter: 1—"The Prophecy Fulfilled"
Rating: PG (possibly to change), for violence and swearing
Spoilers: Up until end of season 4
Setting: season 5 AU
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of its associates, etc. This is just a fanfiction, please don't sue me. :)
Description: Piper, Phoebe, and Paige Halliwell get a nasty shock when they discover who the real Charmed Ones are!
Distribution: Not without asking. I'd prefer you link back to this, please, or get my permission first.
Contact: queenofthebandgeeks@hotmail.com
Author's Notes: I thought of this last year when they got rid of Prue and how it was completely going against everything the show had shown us so far. So, I changed it. :) This is an ongoing piece, with at least six chapters to date and more to come. FYI, my term for Paige's screwed mix of telekinesis and orbing I call tele-orbing. *grins*

And Then There Were Three

Chapter One: "The Prophecy Fulfilled"


"Piper!" came Phoebe's call from downstairs, ringing throughout the house. Piper stuck her head out the doorway of her room.

"What!?"

Instead of a response, all Piper heard was a scream. Sighing, she ran to the top of the stairs. She was greeted by a demon hurling itself at her. Shrieking, she put her hands out and froze him. "Thanks," grinned Phoebe at Piper.

Piper ducked underneath the demon's outstretched arm and stomped down the stairs towards Phoebe. "You couldn't have handled this by yourself? You know that I need to get this work done!"

"Paige is at work, and I thought…" Phoebe defended herself. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to step away for two seconds to save your sister's life. But if you're going to do that thing where you yell at me and make me look in the Book of Shadows then I—"

"Phoebe!" Piper interrupted. "I—"

"Watch out!" Phoebe jumped up and hovered there, pulling Piper with her. Piper froze the demon again and glared at Phoebe as they floated back down.

"YOU- Book of Shadows, NOW." As Phoebe clomped upstairs dejectedly Piper picked up the phone to dial up Paige.

Less than a minute later Paige orbed in, just as the demon unfroze for the second time. "Demon!" she called out, then tele-orbed it as far away as she could manage (the wall). It landed there with a thunk. After a moment, it shimmered out.

Before Paige had a chance to say anything, both she and Piper, who was in the kitchen, heard a distant call from the attic: "Got it!"

Upstairs they found Phoebe with the Book of Shadows open to a page with a picture of their attacker. At the top the words "Klepto Demon" were written in large scripted letters. "Klepto? Like it steals? Steals what?" Paige wondered.

Phoebe glanced down at the page. "It says here that it usually works for a higher level demon. Taking things."

"So Kleptos get the grunge work? Seems unfair to me," remarked Paige.

"So who was he working for?" asked Phoebe.

Piper hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "It took something! We need to find out what it took!"

Without waiting for the other two she ran downstairs. Paige and Phoebe followed closely behind.

Phoebe was the first to spot it. "The clock! … Why the clock?" she asked.

Piper didn't answer. Instead she went and got the scrying crystal and a map of San Francisco and handed them to Paige. "I've got work to do. Once you find it, let me know."

"Hey!" protested Paige. "I have to get back." She dumped the items into Phoebe's arms. "Can't you guys handle it?"

"Okay, both of you!" Phoebe slapped the things down on the coffee table in front of her. "I have had just about enough! Don't you think this is just a little more important than work?"

"Okay, okay, let's get this done already," relented Piper reluctantly.

Paige took the scrying materials and set them up. In less than a minute they located their clock. "It's across town," Paige pointed out.

"So orb us," Piper suggested, taking her sisters' hands into hers. Paige closed her eyes and concentrated, orbing them out a second later.

They ended up in an alleyway in front of an old run-down warehouse. The three sisters entered to see their clock against a wall, along with their chandelier and a few other things of theirs. The Klepto demon, on the other side of the warehouse, spotted them and jumped to attack. Piper tried to freeze him, but it had no effect. "Hey!" she protested. "You're supposed to freeze!"

Paige tried tele-orbing him, to no avail. At the last minute they rolled out of the way. All of a sudden the Klepto demon froze in fear, then started to burn. As the three watched in horror he screamed and exploded into dust.

Something much larger stepped out of the shadows. The thing had red scaly skin and 3 black horns sticking out of its head. It had no mouth, but they could hear it just the same: "I never liked him, anyways."

As Phoebe, Piper, and Paige stared in shock, he 'spoke' again. "What? Are you really that surprised? He lured you here. You even have your trinkets back." He waved a claw and they all disappeared. "I just needed your essence. I was expecting four of you, though. I thought there were 4 Halliwell witches. But," he shrugged, "this is even easier."

Piper was the first to get her voice back. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Does it really matter?" the demon smirked.

"No. Not really," came a new voice from behind him.

A sixteen-year old girl with bright blue, black-tipped, shoulder-length hair and gleaming emerald green eyes swung out of the shadows and kicked the demon in the back the neck, knocking him down onto his face. She landed gracefully on the ground, and then proceeded to kick its ass. Once it was thoroughly beat up two others came from the shadows, and the three held hands. A bright white light began to shine from the circle, and the girls directed it at the demon. He exploded in a bright flash.

Satisfied, the three newcomers turned around to face the Halliwell sisters; whose mouths were still hanging open. "W-Who are you?" stuttered Phoebe.

The blue-haired girl shrugged. "We're the Charmed Ones!"