Charming the children
By Catney
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Charmed. All characters copyrighted to their proper creators. I lay claim on the Kinder demon and Marryn as my own creations and that's all. Thanks.
This story takes place after Pheobe's wedding.
Prolouge:
Traffic on the highway was practically hellish. The cars moved at pace that would make a snail laugh. Pheobe and her sisters were getting restless. Amazing, even when there was no rush to get anywhere, a traffic jam still racked at the nerves.
"Why couldn't we get Leo to orb us over to this antique and curios shop?" Paige huffed as she curled up in the back.
"One: He's handling his one of his other charges right now. Two: We're not in a hurry to get the amulet so we don't have to abuse the power of our whitelighter," Piper replied tartly as she stared out the window.
"Oh, I think see the reason for the hold up," Pheobe craned her neck to see past the cars in the other two lanes. "It's a car accident."
"Should have figured," Paige leaned over to the front seats to see the accident.
"Hey! Hey!" Piper lightly slapped at her half sister. "You're not six, get back there."
"What? The traffic isn't even going 10 miles per hour. No ones going to die," Paige then suddenly gasped at the sight out the car window.
Police officers were directing traffic around the remains of three cars that crushed one another. The accident took up two lanes and the emergency lane to their right. One of the cars could only be described as crushed metal.
Some paramedics where tending to several people. Others were spreading plastic tablecloths on the ground. One of the bodies belonged to a little girl who didn't appear older than six. The little girl's body lay face down on the ground. A trail of splattered blood lay behind her. She had been flung through the windshield from her seat in the car and skidded onto the pavement face first.
"Oh, God…," Piper gasped as she saw the little girl.
The traffic began to pick up and the Charmed Ones could do nothing more than just drive away.
* * *
A man materialized among the accident and no one noticed his presence. Dressed in dark suit and stylish trench coat, he appeared handsome and amible. He walked among the four dead bodies and held his hand out to each when he stopped before them. Each time a soul arose from the dead body and took his hand. The people were shocked to see the scene.
"Who are you?" one asked.
"Death. I'm here to take you to the afterlife," he turned to last body. The little girl.
Her soul rose from the body and stared at Death wide eyed. She backed away from him until she passed her own body. Her eyes went even wider as she saw her own body. Frightened like so many children are. Innocent eyes looked around at the scene and he knew that she barely understood what was happening.
"Mama!" The girl ran past Death and towards a woman weeping at the ambulence. "Mama, what's happening!"
The girl's mother only wailed in response. As far as the woman knew, her daughter was now lying dead on the street. She couldn't see the soul of her little girl begging for a mother's reassurance.
"Mama… please," she began to cry alongside the woman.
"Sweetling, she can't see you. You were in an accident and your body has died," Death knelt by the child and placed his hand upon her shoulder to comfort her. "If you come with me, I'll take you to a place where you can wait for her."
"No! I want to stay with my mama," the little girl ran from Death. The other souls watched on unsure of what to do.
"Not now then, but if you don't mind I would like to leave you with a friend of mine," Death said smiled lovingly at the child.
A gray creature appeared next to him barely reaching half his height. Its face was human but it had no nose and its eyes resembled a feline's. It had a set of four wings and one pair of those wings had hands at the end of them. The body was covered in feathers and it's legs were a cross of a bird's and paws. Only piece of clothing was a shawl wrapped around its shoulder.
The creature cooed.
The girl smiled and let out a giggle.
"This is a Kinder. If you don't mind, it would like to keep you company. Is that all right?" Death smiled as the girl nodded. "Wonderful. I'll come back when you're ready."
Death turned his attention to the other souls who were waiting for him. He nodded at them and all but the child vanished to the afterlife.
The Kinder jumped into the air and began to sing. Laughter filled the girl and all sadness melted from her face. She began to follow the creature, leaving her mother to continue mourning.