8.2
Summary: A huge earthquake hits San Francisco. The girls are all trapped in deadly situations around the town. Leo has so many charges to help and he can't focus properly on the Charmed Ones. Plus a powerful demon uses this chance to kill innocents. Can the girls save themselves and vanquish the demon?
CHAPTER 1
The family were sitting around the kitchen table covered in green slime. Piper was sitting at the kitchen table resting her head on her hand; her elbow on the table was collecting a pile of slime around it as it dripped off her arm.
Paige was standing at the sink pulling out bits of dried slime out of her hair. And
Pheobe was pulling off her top as gently as possible so that not so much of the slime went onto her skin.
Leo orbed in and stood open mouthed at the scene before him.
"What happened" he couldn't stop the smile creeping onto his face.
"It exploded, that's what happened. Normally they disappear into a pile of dust but this one had his last revenge by sliming us"
Leo tried hard to stop his chuckles at the girls but Piper heard it.
"Leo, are you laughing at us"
"I would never," he said backing away from them; the girls fixed him with a mischievous gaze.
"Now, now girls" he said but Piper froze him and looked at her sisters.
"Shall we" Piper said, they all laughed and covered him with as much slime as possible, the top that Pheobe had just taken off, she wrapped it around his head, Piper took the pile of slime off the table and covered his face with it. They stood back arm in arm and looked at their work. Piper unfroze him.
Leo looked at the girls laughing and knew straight away what they had done.
"You" he looked at himself and began to laugh, the girls joined in.
The laughter was stopped by a loud rumbling noise. The table and crockery started to shake.
"Leo" Piper said nervously.
"Earthquake" he said, but no sooner were the words out of his mouth than the shaking stopped.
"Just a tremor" Pheobe said.
"God that was short but horrible" Paige said looking around to see if anything had been broken.
"That makes the third one this month, I hope that doesn't mean a big one is one the way" Piper said. Leo tried to take her mind off it, as he knew she had a big fear of earthquakes.
"Well I am off to our shower to clean myself up, care to join me Mrs Wyatt"
"Leo" Piper said in a purr.
"Eww" said Paige and Pheobe together.
The rest of the week had carried on as normal. Piper was at home doing the laundry, she heard a funny noise coming from the washing machine and realised that something must have got stuck in the pipes, she headed off to the basement to find Leo's toolbox. Paige was on the way back from the market after doing the house shopping; she decided to take a different route and headed through the one of the city's tunnels. Pheobe was at the paper with Elise sorting out a complaint, they had, had to travel to the 10th floor to sort it out with the paper's lawyer.
Piper finally found the wrench and placed it on the workbench as she closed Leo's toolbox the wrench started to vibrate across the bench as a loud rumble started off the beginning of the earthquake.
"Oh Shit" Piper said.
Pheobe and Elise were waiting in the lawyer's office when they heard the rumbling outside, when the building started to shake Pheobe realised that it was the quake they had been dreading.
Paige was halfway through the tunnel when the sound of rumbling overtook the sound of her stereo. She turned it off and tried to control the wheel as the road began to shake.
Piper tried to stand but the floor was shaking so much she had trouble, she headed for the stairs whilst being thrown from left to right. Pheobe and Elise tried to make it to the emergency stairs. Paige couldn't control the car and neither could any of the others in the tunnel.
As the quake got stronger Piper realised that she had to get upstairs and fast, she finally made it to the stairs and was on the forth step when a beam from the roof collapsed on top of her knocking her face down on the stairs. He hands went through the steps and the beam landed on her back pinning her down on the stairs.
Pheobe heard people rushing off the floor and heading down the stairs, she was at the door when she turned to look for Elise, she wasn't there.
"Elise" she called out. A fire must have started as the sprinkles triggered, Pheobe turned and fought her way through the rush of people. She made it back to the office and found Elise trapped beneath two filing cabinets.
"Elise" she cried out, but she was unconscious.
Paige tried to avoid crashing into the two cars in front but it was impossible. She hit the first car, which raised her car in the air, then the bonnet of the second one flipped her car over onto the roof, the car skid along the road and was hit by another one spinning it round on its roof.
The quake kept going.
Piper heard a hissing noise and realised that it was the sound of water spraying out of a burst pipe.
"Oh big shit" she tried to move but was pinned down.
"HELP, LEO"
Leo was overcome with cries of help from his charges. He couldn't distinguish one from another; he couldn't tell that his wife and family were in trouble. He just had to hope that Piper was okay as he helped out anybody he could.
Pheobe grabbed Elise's hand.
"Elise, are you okay" she tried to shake her awake.
"Fire, fire" a man shouted, Pheobe rushed out the room as the sprinklers stopped.
"What's going on?" she said as she saw two people rushing back up the stairs.
"There is a fire on the 6th floor, were the only ones left, everyone else made it past the fire and its making its way up here, were trapped" Pheobe knew that Leo could save them. She ran back to Elise as the quake finally stopped.
"LEO" she called, he didn't come. She tried to lift the cabinets off Elise but they were too heavy.
Paige opened her eyes to find herself upside-down. She undid her belt and her legs fell down to her head. She had and amazing headache and touched her head to find blood.
"Great" she said, she tried to get out of the door but there was a car jammed up against it, so she tried the other door, that was the same, a small touch of panic struck her as she realised that she might be trapped. She looked at the rear window and realised that she could get out through that. When she put pressure on her knee she screamed out in pain. She looked at it and thought that it might be broken; she leant on her side and pulled herself out of the window.
CHAPTER 2
Leo was out on the streets helping out with his healing powers and medical skills; he was given permission by the elders to use his powers to heal. Daryl was at the police station, the first thought that came into his head when the quake hit was that it was demonic, he had to find the charmed ones to find out if it was normal or if it was supernatural.
Deep under the ocean near San Francisco a box had been dislodged by the quake, it appeared to have been buried under the seabed. When the box reached the surface and the sun touched it, it began to smoke. To anyone nearby in a boat or on the shore, it would have looked like the burning remains of a boat. The lid of the box blew open and flew out into the sky, inside the sun shone down on a man, well no normal man, it was a demon. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.
"Free at last" he sat up and looked around. He realised that he was still near the shore but he was uncertain what this town was as he had been trapped for so long. He decided to try out his powers. He focused on a seagull and fired at it, but only a small energy fireball appeared. It seemed as though his powers would take time to recover. No matter, he would find out about this new time. He shimmered to the shore; it drained him when he appeared. He realised that he would have to contact the source to let him know he had returned, he didn't want to start that battle again. He shimmered down to the underground to find it half deserted. A demon came towards him.
"What do you want, this is my cave"
"Take me to the source" said the newcomer.
"Your joking aren't you"
"I don't understand what you mean, and I am sure that the source would not be pleased at your humour in him"
"Where have you been, the source is dead"
"What, how"
The demon looked at the stranger, he couldn't believe that he didn't know the tale.
"The source killed one of the charmed ones, they reconstituted with another sister, then they killed the source, then the new source was also slain by them and all the council leaders" The new demon looked shocked and took a step back.
"So who is in charge now"
"No one, everyone is fighting to take charge but the book of evil, the grimlaw, has been banished so no one can obtain the sources power"
"Really, the charmed one eh, so what year is this"
"It is 2003" The demon looked shocked again.
"2003, it has been over 120 years, things have changed, thank you" with that he shimmered back up to the surface.
"So the city is ripe for the picking, and I don't have to worry about the source getting worried that I am treading on his toes, or claws, ohh this could be fun"
Paige had crawled out into the tunnel, it was quiet smoky, there were 5 other cars around her, she looked in each one and found that a couple of people were dead but a couple others were alive and getting out of their cars. The end of the tunnel was blocked and near the other end it had collapsed. Paige knew that she couldn't orb out without being seen by these few people. She tried to find a splint to attach to her leg.
Pheobe had tried to lift up the cabinets, she had managed to get the only other two people who were left in the building, with her to help lift it off Elise, but they were just too heavy. Elise had woken up.
"Pheobe"
"Elise, try not to move"
"What happened"?
"We had a big earthquake, you're trapped underneath some cabinets and we can't lift them off"
"Don't forget about the fire" said Jerry.
"Who are you" Elise asked
"Jerry, I am the junior assistant to the boss, and the fire is on its way up here"
"Elsie are you hurt, can you move, can you breathe" Elise tried to assess herself.
"I'm okay, just trapped, I feel okay, why didn't you leave"
"I couldn't leave you like this" so all four of them were trapped and the fire was rapidly moving in on them.
Piper couldn't move at all, the beam on her back was so heavy, her head was facing the floor of the basement, she could only see out of one eye as the other was covered in blood. She had been calling for Leo for some time but she assumed that he couldn't hear her because of all the cries in the city; she knew that because when a demon changed the city and pain was everywhere, Leo felt it all. What worried her was the sight of the water slowly spreading like a puddle across the floor. At the moment it was only a cm deep or so, being on the fourth step meant that she was about 2 foot off the floor, she knew that it would take a while for the water to reach her and she would probably be found before then. She hoped.
CHAPTER 3
Leo was desperate to check on his family but with there being a couple of Whitelighters injured he had to do as the elders ordered, and right now he was ordered to help innocents. He orbed to a building that had partially collapsed. The scene outside it was like a war zone, there were abandoned cars, upturned cars on fire, buildings on fire, building half collapsed, rubble in the street, crakes and holes in the road. Some areas were completely unrecognisable. He headed inside the building to help the people trapped.
Paige had found a cricket bat in someone's car and had used that as a splint against her leg. She was talking to the other three drivers that had made it out of their cars. A man called Kevin, a woman called Holly and a little girl called Isabelle; her parents were killed in one of the cars.
"I have walked towards the end and it is completely caved in" Isabelle held on to Paige as if she was her mother, the little girl was only 8 years old and terrified.
"Will you please go and check the other end of the tunnel, just in case?" Paige asked coughing, the fumes from the burning cars were beginning to build.
"No problem" Kevin said and head off to the other end. He came back a few minutes later.
"No it's no good, at least our little bit is secure"
"What do we do now?" Holly asked.
"I guess we wait for the rescue teams" Paige said, she was debating weather or not to use her powers and orb them out, but they weren't in immediate danger just yet, she decided to hold on.
The first aftershock came and Isabelle started to scream. Despite the pain in her leg Paige picked her up.
"It's okay sweetie, it's just an aftershock"
Isabelle hugged her tightly. Some of the rubble up ahead moved but not enough to clear them a gap.
"See it's all over now"
She tried to put her down but she hung on tight around her neck, so Paige hugged her again.
"Okay, how about we look for cell phones, water or any food in these cars, we don't know how long we are going to be in here"
"Good idea" Kevin said.
There were in total, 16 cars in there section of the tunnel. They started to look inside them. Paige approached one and saw that the people inside were dead, she asked Isabelle to keep away whilst she checked inside. After a few cars, Paige came across a car with a woman on the back seat; Paige noticed that she was breathing.
"Hey someone is alive here"
Paige opened the door and turned her over, her eyes opened wide when she saw that the woman was heavily pregnant.
"Oh crap" Paige said. Holly and Kevin arrived and checked on the man in the drivers seat, he was alive but unconscious.
"Hey lady, Ma'am, wake up" Paige said as she gently shook the woman.
She woke up and immediately grabbed her stomach.
"Oh my god, my baby"
"How long have you got to go"?
"I'm overdue and I am in labour now, my husband was driving us to the hospital, my god Jake, is he okay"
"He's fine, just unconscious"
"Okay let's get you out of the car, Isabelle in the back seat of my car you will find a picnic blanket can you go and grab it for me, it's the green VW bug" Isabelle nodded and ran off to her car.
"I have some pillows in my car, I will get them" Holly said and ran off to her car.
"I have a first aid kit in my car" Kevin said, he left to get his.
Paige was so desperate to use her magic. They placed her onto the blanket and rested her head on the pillows.
"Oh god, here comes another contraction" she tried to breathe through the pain.
"Okay, okay what do we do now" holly said
"We are going to have to help her deliver, what's you name honey" Paige asked
"Marie"
"Well Marie, my name is Paige, this is Kevin and Holly and over there is Isabelle, we will be your delivery team today" Marie smiled.
"I found these in a truck up ahead, it was carrying loads of them" it was a water truck.
"Talk about lucky breaks"
"I'm going to take a look at you okay" Marie nodded; Paige sat down as best she could and lifted up Marie's skirt.
"Oh, oh I think I see a little head"
"Oh god it hurts, I wanted every kind of drug, I can't go through a natural birth"
"Okay, I think that you should push"
"It hurts too much" Paige thought about it and muttered something quietly whilst Marie screamed over the top of her.
Help this woman in her our of need,
Help her deliver her baby seed,
Take away her worry and pain,
Make her calm, make her sane.
Suddenly Marie's screaming stopped.
"It doesn't hurt"
"Okay that's a good sign, now push" after a couple of pushes the baby came out.
Paige used the scissors from the first aid kit and cut the cord. They used the water to wash around the baby's face and clean away the blood.
"It's a girl, congratulations" Paige said, they wrapped her up in Paige's coat and handed her to her mother. Jake woke up to see his wife and baby.
"Marie, are you okay, is the baby okay"
"Jake we have a baby girl"
"Is she okay"?
"She's perfect" Jake hugged his wife and looked at his baby girl.
"I got the whole thing on tape for you Jake" Kevin said, Paige thought that, that was such a lovely thought.
"Thank you miss" Jake said hugging Paige.
"No problem" they all looked at the baby as Marie started to breast-feed her.
"I have blankets in the car" he ran over to the car and came back with clothes for the new baby and a proper blanket.
"What a crazy day" She left the new family and began to think on how they were going to get out, she realised that she was going to have to use her powers.
CHAPTER 4
At the same time across town Pheobe was trying to calm down Elise. She was beginning to have a panic attack, as she couldn't get out from under the cabinets.
"Okay, now calm down Elise"
"Thank you for staying with me Pheobe, I don't think I would have done the same" Pheobe wasn't quiet sure how to take that.
"Thanks, I think," she said not wanting to offend her at the moment. Jerry had tried to help her lift it off but it looked as though they were going to need 4 men to do it.
There were just the four of them left on the floor, Jerry, Pheobe, Elise and Amanda. Amanda was a secretary on the floor. She had hardly said a word she was in shock.
"Okay, I think I need to go and check on the fire, I will see if there is any other way out of this" Pheobe said standing up and walking towards the door.
"I will go with you" Jerry said following her out the door.
"No I need you to stay with the Elise" Pheobe looked over at Amanda.
"Plus I think that she is still in shock, and will be no help to Elise" Jerry looked back at Amanda.
"Okay, shout out if you need me"
Pheobe looked at Elise and smiled, she then headed off to the emergency stairs. She walked down to the floor below. She had a look around to see if there was anyone else left, when she found no one there she went down to the next floor. The same Scenario again so she tried to go down another floor but when she opened the door a huge flare of heat and flames threw itself out of the door.
"Wow" Pheobe said as she ducked to get away from the heat. She tried to look around the door, when she did she could see that the fire had completely taken the floor and was rushing up towards them.
She ran back upstairs and into the lawyer's office where they were still waiting for her.
"Jerry" she said quietly, he came over to her in the doorway.
"The fire has made it up a floor already"
"Oh god, we don't have much time do we"
"No, look we are going to have to get her out"
Pheobe tried something that she should have done earlier; she used the phones to dial the fire department.
"Damit, the lines are engaged, everyone must be calling the services" When Jerry went to check on Elise Pheobe tried to call for Leo.
"Leo, God damit I need you" she looked around and waited, when he didn't arrive, thoughts of worry started to go through her mind that one of her sisters needed his attention more.
"God I hope they are okay" She walked over to the office and sat down in front of Elise.
"Okay, Elise, we are going to have to get you out and get past that fire"
"Is it advancing"?
"Yes, it has already covered a floor so it is moving quick, not surprising with all the paper in this place"
"God" Elise said.
Pheobe called Jerry and Amanda over to the doorway where Elise couldn't hear them.
"Right, we are going to have to get her out, then help her down the stairs, we will have to use as many Fire Extinguishers as possible to fight off the fire on the way down the stairs" Jerry took a large breathe.
"Okay"
"Amanda, we are going to need you to help lift this off Elise" Amanda nodded They made their way back to Elsie.
"Okay Elise, when we lift this you will have to crawl out as best you can, okay"
There was no response
"Elise"
Pheobe looked down at Elise and realised that she was unconscious.
"Oh God, Elise" Pheobe put her hand on her neck to check for a pulse.
"What's wrong with her"
"I don't know, I think that she was more damaged than we thought"
"Right we need to get this off her now" Jerry said.
They all gathered around the cabinet and took a side. As they were about to move it the first aftershock struck.
"Oh god, not again, oh god" Amanda started to scream.
"Calm down it is just an aftershock" They waited for it to pass which wasn't long. Pheobe had to slap Amanda across the face to get her to calm down.
"Right we need to get this off you" They all took a part of the cabinet and lifted as much as they could. The cabinet lifted slightly.
"Okay, push it back against the wall" They managed to do it.
"Thank god" Pheobe said as they all took a breath.
Pheobe rushed down to Elise's side and looked at her.
"Elsie" she turned her over. Pheobe could see no sign of blood on her, which was a worry; it probably meant that she had internal bleeding, which was not a good thing.
"Right guys, we are going to have to collect as many Extinguishers as possible, lets get to it"
CHAPTER 5
At the same time across time Piper was struggling to get free. She was not yet beginning to panic. She could see that the water trickling out of the pipe was not rising that quickly. She had maybe a day or two by the time it became a serious threat to her.
The only reason that she couldn't get up was the beam across her back that had wedged her in place; the only reason that she couldn't get the beam off was because her hands were trapped through the gaps in the stairs. But on the plus side she could reach her face and scratch her nose.
"LEO" she called out, she was beginning to worry that he was badly hurt or that one of her sisters was in a bad situation and needed his help badly.
"Oh God, let them be okay" she shouted out loud to anyone up there who was listening.
Piper began to rock her hips to see if she could move the beam. What she couldn't see was that the beam had wedged itself between the wall and the banister. If only she would have fallen the other way around then she could have just blown it off her.
"HELP" she cried out, but it was no use, it was such a huge earthquake that probably loads of people were stuck worse than her.
"Hello" a voice shouted from the kitchen above.
"Yes Hello, I'm down here" Piper couldn't lift her head up to see and she began to wonder if it was human or demon, then she though that if it was a demon, why would he have said Hello. The door was pushed open.
"Oh thank God" Piper shouted out.
"I heard your calls for help, I'm Tracy what state are you in"
"I'm okay, I'm not badly hurt its just I am trapped by this beam, can you get it off"
"Oh we have a small problem"
"Why" Piper asked as her suspicion about it being a demon began to rise.
"My arm is broken and I am not the strongest of people"
"Great, that's just great" piper said a little annoyed that she couldn't get her up.
"Don't worry though, there are some fire-fighters down the road, I will go and grab some of them and bring them back here"
"Please, thank you Tracy" piper said, feeling guilty about her comments to her.
"I will be back"
As Tracy left piper, a small rumbling started, Piper realised that it was the first aftershock. She heard breaking glass and objects falling upstairs. She was hit again on the head by falling debris.
"Ow" she shouted out as something sharp hit her.
The rumbling stopped and Piper let out a deep breath. She heard a scrapping noise.
"What the" she said, she tried to look up at the pipe and realised that it had stopped leaking.
"Great" she said, but before she could laugh the pipe cracked in half and the water flowed out faster than before.
"Okay, now we have a problem, please hurry up Tracy"
Up above in the kitchen, Tracy lay on the floor. There was a piece of glass sticking out of her neck. It had fallen from one of the doors and hit her dead on. There was no way that she was going to help Piper now. No one was coming to help her.
The water began to rise quickly, and Piper was beginning to panic. She tried to freeze it but it didn't stay frozen for long, she realised that her head injury was draining her power.
"Oh crap" The water was at a couple of inches high now, and Piper began to struggle to free herself.
Piper realised that she might not make it out of this. She began to regret things that she hadn't done, and promised that if by some miracle she did get out of it, she was going to have a baby with Leo.
The water was now half a foot deep, she was surprised that it kept coming out and only hoped that somewhere down the street, the fire fighters tapped into the water supply to help put out fires. She knew that it was a long shot but it gave her a bit of hope.
A foot now and still rising, she only had another foot and a half to go and she would be under the water. Now full panic set in and she shook her self violently to get free.
"Oh god, Leo please hurry to me" The tears from her eyes fell into the rising cold water.
CHAPTER 6
Paige got a funny feeling inside that her sisters needed her, well one of them anyway. She decided that she needed to orb to one of them, she decided that seeming as Piper had an active power and could sort herself out, she would orb to Pheobe, once she got these people to safety.
The demon had been walking around the chaos and destruction with a permanent smile on his face.
"This is great," he said, he decided to find some witch's and steel there powers. He was bound to find some that were injured or unable to get away from him. The earthquake had done most of the hard work for him, now all her had to do was concentrate and find a fallen witch.
Pheobe had helped pick up Elise. They had placed her onto a chair and lifted her up.
"Right then, I will go ahead and get rid of most of the fire on the way down the stairs, you guys keep close behind me, I will make sure that you get her down past the fire"
They looked at Pheobe with hope in their eyes.
"Okay lets go" Pheobe went down first to the floor with the fire, she shot the fire extinguisher at the doorway as they took Elise past it, then Pheobe overtook them and ran down ahead of them to tackle the next bit of fire.
"Okay come on" she fired the powder at the fire again until they were safely past.
"Stay here I will check ahead" Pheobe left them for a few minutes in a safe part of the stairs.
"Okay" she said as she came back.
"The fire looks like it is no further than the next floor, so lets go" Pheobe once again went ahead of them and fired the powder at the flames as they went by. There was an explosion above them and a door came flying down the stairs, it knocked Pheobe against the wall and at the same time, knocked the fire extinguisher out of her hand.
"PHEOBE" Jerry shouted out.
"Go, get Elise out of here" Elise woke up at that point.
"Pheobe, what's going on"?
"Go now"
"We can't just leave you here, you're trapped between floors"
"GO" Pheobe shouted sternly. Elise realised what they were doing and realised that Pheobe was left behind.
"No we can't leave her, she stayed for me, no I wont leave her"
"Jerry please, get her to safety" Jerry looked at Pheobe through the flames.
"I'm sorry Pheobe," he said as they carried a shouting Elise down the rest of the way.
Pheobe leaned back against the wall and coughed. The smoke fumes from the two floors she was caught between were becoming overwhelming.
Paige was certain now that one of her sister needed her. She had to get to them.
"Guys, I have to tell you all something, and I want you to stay calm" They all looked at her strangely.
"What's the matter?" Marie asked as she cradled her baby.
"I have a way for us to get out of here to safety" she was interrupted.
"How can you do that?" they asked at different times.
"I am going to tell you something and I want you to understand that it is nothing to be scared of" Paige took a breath.
"I am half witch half angel and I can get us out of here" There faces were a Kodak moment, they ranged from thinking that she was insane, to be frightened of her.
"Paige why would you say something like that" Kevin said.
"Please, there is not a lot of time, I need you to trust me" she looked at them hopefully.
"I haven't harmed you or your baby"
"Okay Paige, what do you want to do"?
"I need you all to hold hands and hold hands with me" they all looked at her with doubt.
"Please, others are in danger and hurt and I need to get to them"
They all walked forward and took Paige's hands.
"Now this is going to feel strange but I promise it won't hurt" Paige concentrated and the whole group orbed out of the tunnel and to a clear space in the park.
They all stood open mouthed.
"What just happened" Marie asked.
"I just transported us to safety" Paige looked at them and saw nothing but gratefulness in their eyes.
"Now you need to get to the hospital, I can take you there now if you like" Paige said holding out her hands to Marie and Jake" Marie nodded to her husband.
"Thank you" Marie said
"Oh one more thing, please don't tell anyone about this, my work depends on my secrecy, I cant help people if they know about my powers" They all nodded and Paige knew that she could trust them.
"I promise that we will meet again" she smiled and orbed Marie and Jake to the hospital,
"Good luck, now I have to go" Marie grabbed Paige's hand.
"I want you to know that we are going to name her Paige" Paige's eyes filled with tears.
"Thank you" she hugged Marie and orbed away.
Piper was really beginning to panic, the water was up to her chest and she knew that she didn't have long. She couldn't stop the tears from falling.
"Oh God" she cried. This was the worst way for her to die, just like her mother, drowned.
Daryl arrived outside the manor. He was about to walk up to the open door when a woman ran over to him.
"Please help me, my son is trapped under a cupboard, please I can't lift it off"
"Okay, lets go" he said and followed the lady to her house across the street.
Piper felt the water touching her chin. Her breathing began quick breaths. She was trying to get every last moment of oxygen in her that she could.
Daryl helped get the man out from under the cupboard, he was not hurt. The woman thanked him and he returned to the manor.
Pipers mouth was covered by water, she lifted it up at the last moment and took one last gulp of air as her face was covered completely by the water.
CHAPTER 7
As Piper struggle to free herself under the water, Daryl knocked on the front door.
"Hello" he walked inside.
"Pheobe, Piper, Paige" he called out as he went from room to room. He could see that the damage to the house was extensive. He eventually entered the kitchen and spotted a pair of feet. He ran over to them to find a dead woman, she had a piece of glass sticking out of her neck. He heard a funny noise, it sounded like water.
Piper couldn't hold on any longer. She released the breath she had been holding and foolishly tried to breathe in the water. As it entered her lungs it began to chock and suffocate her quickly.
Daryl could defiantly hear water; he walked over to the open basement door and saw Piper trapped drowning.
"PIPER, Oh God"
Pheobe was having trouble breathing; she hoped that the firemen would be here soon.
Then she heard a familiar sound, and looked up to see Paige in front of her.
"Pheobe my god are you okay"
"Oh Paige I am so happy to see you"
"Are you hurt"?
"No but I will feel better once you get me out of here"
Paige grabbed her arm and orbed her outside.
"Oh thank god your okay" they hugged
"Oh just a broken kneecap but apart from that I'm fine, you"
"Just a few burns, nothing that wont heal"
"Anything from Leo or Piper"
"No, I called for Leo but he didn't come, Let me just check on Elise then we can go to the manor"
They ran out from the alleyway behind the paper and found Elise; she was on a board about to lifted into the ambulance.
"Pheobe" she shouted as she saw her approaching.
"How did you"?
"I managed to grab another fire extinguisher and got past the flames, is she okay,"
Pheobe asked the paramedic.
"We think she had some internal injury's but if we get her to the hospital now she will be okay"
"I will be round later to check up on you" Pheobe said giving her hand a squeeze.
Elise pulled her forward into a hug.
"Thank you Pheobe, you save my life and I will never forget it" Pheobe smiled and stepped back so that she could go to hospital.
Pipers sucked in the last bit of water then gave up as her heart stopped. Daryl knew by the way she had stopped moving that she had drowned. He rushed down into the water and pulled the beam off her.
Leo knew instantly that Piper was dead, he orbed to the manor with tears in his eyes. Paige and Pheobe arrived at the same time.
"Leo, thank god, what's the matter"?
Daryl heard their voices and carried Pipers lifeless body into the lounge.
"Oh my god, what happened to her?" Pheobe asked as Daryl placed her onto the floor.
"She was trapped and drowned in the basement"
"Oh no" Paige said and began to cry.
Daryl turned her over and began CPR. They all watched helplessly. Paige and
Pheobe held hands and prayed whilst Leo stood motionless waiting for signs of life. He couldn't believe that he didn't feel that she was in trouble earlier, if only he had checked on her.
It took Daryl over a minute until finally she coughed up the water in her lungs. He turned her on her side straight away and waited whilst she sicked up the water.
"Leo" she said quietly, he was down on the floor by her side instantly.
"I'm here Piper, can you hear me"
"Thank you Daryl, we owe you one, you saved her life" they hugged him.
"She's not responding" Leo said looking up at Daryl for help.
"We need to get her to a hospital, I will take her you guys have people to help"
They were all a bit reluctant to let her out of their sights but they agreed.
"Don't worry I wont leave her side"
"Okay thank you Daryl, if you need anything, I will be there"
Daryl picked her up and carried her out to his car.
They were sitting in the room in shock when Leo got a calling from the elders.
"I will be back soon I promise" he left the two of them talking about what had happened over the last few hours.
"Please don't, NO" screamed the witch as the demon placed his hand inside her chest.
She struggled as he took her life force away, it took only a few minutes and she was dead, he gasped as her powers entered him giving him more power and rejuvenating his old ones.
"Five down many more to go"
He left the dead witch where he found her, trapped underneath her car in her own garage.
Leo orbed back into the manor looking a bit worried.
"What is it"?
"The elders have just informed me that an ancient evil has been released by the quake"
"That doesn't sound good"
"No its not believe me, this demon is called Malakii, he was a rival to the source and they fought many times, there powers seemed to be equal, when he was eventually caught by two covens of witches over a century ago, they couldn't vanquish him, so they banished him to the bottom of the sea, but the elders tell me that the quake has released him and his has already began to kill, 5 witch's so far."
"Great, how are we going to stop him without the power of three"
"Book of shadows" Paige called out as the book appeared in her hand. She looked up at the heavens.
"A little help here as we are pressed for time" the book opened by itself and the pages flicked through and stopped on the picture of a normal looking man.
Paige read out what it said on the page, basically what Leo had just told them.
"No Vanquishing potion, no spells, how are we going to do this Leo"
"The only thing you can do is banish him again or try the power of three spell, when Piper is better"
"Great, this day just keeps getting better"
The demon sensed another hurt and immobile witch, a powerful one, an easy target. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he opened them and smiled.
"A charmed one in trouble, this day is just too good to be true"
CHAPTER 8
"I need some help here," Daryl shouted as he marched into the emergency room of the hospital. He was still holding Piper and she was still unconscious.
The hospital was in chaos, there were sick and injured people lining up the hallways, repair crews were trying to fix broken things, children were screaming looking for their parents, people whose relatives had died were crying. The doctors seemed overrun.
"What happened" asked a nurse as she came over to them?
"She was trapped underwater and drowned for a couple of minutes, I managed to revive her with CPR but since then she has been unresponsive" The nurse looked at her and pulled out a blue tag from her top, she pinned it to Piper and began to walk away.
"Hang on a minute, what is this for" Daryl asked, the nurse turned around and explained.
"It means that she is to be looked at soon, she is serious but not life threatening, they will get to her when they can" she turned to walk away again but Daryl grabbed her arm.
"That's it, that is all you are going to do"
Sir, take a look around you, we are in the middle of a major crisis, we have had over 400 people admitted in the last ½ hour alone, in these circumstances we have to take control some how, and the way we do it is by tagging patients, Red is for immediate care and life threatening, Blue is for serious and not life threatening, yellow is for mildly serious can wait, and white which is come back later, and there is black, that is for the morgue, now I know that this may seem unkind but it is the best thing for everyone so please, trust me, she will be seen soon" Daryl let go and took a good look around.
This time he noticed the coloured tags on people, most of them were yellow but a few were blue and red, he found a space on the floor beside a wall and sat down with piper still cradled in his arms.
"Okay, we can wait"
Malakii headed to the place that he found the witch most vulnerable. The manor. Pheobe, Paige and Leo were in the manor when he walked in the front door.
Pheobe heard someone enter and called out.
"Hello"
Malakii appeared in the doorway.
"Ah, the famous charmed ones, my, my aren't we a picture of prettiness, it seems that I owe you my gratitude"
"It's him," Leo said taking a protective step towards the girls.
"Why do you owe us your gratitude" Paige asked curiously.
"Well, for killing my brother the source"
"Your brother, as in real blood brother" Pheobe asked amazed that he could exist.
"Yes, it should have been me that received the sources powers, but he banished me to another plain of existence and when I returned it was too late, but never mind, he's now dead and I am here" Pheobe was shocked as he seemed so civil, so human like.
"So where is the third witch, the hurt and vulnerable one"
"What makes you think she is hurt?" Pheobe said trying to make him unsure.
"Oh please little girl"
He lifted up a fireball from his hand and threw it at them.
"Fire ball" Paige shouted and threw it back at him, he shimmered out of the way, avoiding it easily.
"Not bad, not bad at all" he said with a smirk then he disappeared.
"What was that all about, where did he go?" Paige asked.
"Piper" Leo said as the realisation hit him that he would go after her.
"We need to get the crystals, the spell that vanquished the source may be the only thing that kills him" Paige's said as she ran upstairs to get them.
"No wonder he couldn't be killed before, he is the sources brother" Leo said.
Paige returned and they orbed to the hospital.
CHAPTER 9
Daryl was happy when a doctor came over to them.
"Hello, would you please bring her back into this examination room for me"
"No problem" Daryl said as he followed the doctor.
Paige and the rest arrived at the hospital it was chaos.
"We have to find them"
"Leo can you sense her" he closed his eyes.
"That way"
"Now if you would just place her onto the table" Daryl did and stood back as Piper started to wake, she looked up at the doctor and smiled.
"Hello their witch" he said and thrust his hand into her chest
"PIPER" Daryl shouted and got out his gun; he fired it at the demon that was thrown backwards from the force of the bullets.
Piper was grabbing her chest.
"Leo" she called out.
Malakii seemed unfazed by the bullets and walked back to Piper's side and thrust his hand back inside her chest. She screamed out in pain. Daryl punched him, but with a flick of his hand he was thrown across the room.
The girls entered to find the demon draining Piper's life force and powers.
"Get off my wife now" Leo said as he rushed forward and knocked him onto the floor. Piper rolled off the table and landed on the floor, she was grabbing her chest and gasping for breath.
"Piper, my god" Paige said as she pulled her sister back away from the two fighting men.
"We don't have much time to explain do you remember the source killing spell"
Piper just nodded.
Leo kept Malakii busy wrestling him on the floor whilst the first spread the crystals around them.
"Now Leo" Paige shouted and as Leo jumped off the demon Paige set the last crystal in place.
"You fools, you cant kill me, no one can"
"Wanna bet that those were the exact words your brother used before we vanquished his ugly ass" Piper did a double take at the word brother. Malakii smiled and tried to step outside the circle but the crystal force field kept him inside.
"What, but this is impossible" Paige nodded at Piper and she started off the spell.
"Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda" Piper began
"Astrid Helena, Laura and Grace" Pheobe continued
"Halliwell witches stand strong beside us, Vanquish this evil from time and space" they all finished together.
Malakii screamed and a huge explosion ripped through the hospital, all the glass shattered as the girls were thrown to the floor, Leo covered Daryl.
When it stopped they looked over at the circle and all that was left was a pile of dust. "Don't mess with the charmed ones pal" Pheobe said giving Paige a high five.
Piper started to gasp for breathe and grabbed at Leo. He immediately began to heal her and he was surprise when it took longer than expected, but eventually she was healed.
"Thank you"
"Leo, my knee if you don't mind"
"Just this once" he said and healed her knee.
Daryl was awake through the vanquish and was shocked and speechless.
"Daryl are you okay" he just nodded.
They left the hospital and went back to the manor to check the damage. The water from the basement has over flown from there and was now pooling in the kitchen.
"Piper you must have been so scared"
"It was horrible, terrifying, now I know how mum felt when she died, I never want to feel like that again, thank you Leo"
"Actually, it wasn't me, it was Daryl" Daryl looked sheepishly at them all. Piper stood and walked to him, she took his hand.
"Daryl, you saved my life twice today, if you wouldn't have been there for me I would be dead, I am forever in your debt"
"No problem"
"Daryl I am in your debt, this is not just a phrase, I mean it, anything that you want and I will help to the best of my abilities"
"Anything" Piper nodded.
"How about writing a spell that helps out the people of this city, so that people who are trapped can be found, people with red tags and blue tags can be yellow" Piper frowned at the last bit.
"I will see what I can do, but what is the tag thing"
Daryl explained and the girls set about granting his request. With any luck they will help bring the death toll down to the 10's instead of 1000,s.
Leo smiled at Daryl, he knew that the elders had heard his request and he knew that someday, he was going to make a great Whitelighter.
THE END
Summary: A huge earthquake hits San Francisco. The girls are all trapped in deadly situations around the town. Leo has so many charges to help and he can't focus properly on the Charmed Ones. Plus a powerful demon uses this chance to kill innocents. Can the girls save themselves and vanquish the demon?
CHAPTER 1
The family were sitting around the kitchen table covered in green slime. Piper was sitting at the kitchen table resting her head on her hand; her elbow on the table was collecting a pile of slime around it as it dripped off her arm.
Paige was standing at the sink pulling out bits of dried slime out of her hair. And
Pheobe was pulling off her top as gently as possible so that not so much of the slime went onto her skin.
Leo orbed in and stood open mouthed at the scene before him.
"What happened" he couldn't stop the smile creeping onto his face.
"It exploded, that's what happened. Normally they disappear into a pile of dust but this one had his last revenge by sliming us"
Leo tried hard to stop his chuckles at the girls but Piper heard it.
"Leo, are you laughing at us"
"I would never," he said backing away from them; the girls fixed him with a mischievous gaze.
"Now, now girls" he said but Piper froze him and looked at her sisters.
"Shall we" Piper said, they all laughed and covered him with as much slime as possible, the top that Pheobe had just taken off, she wrapped it around his head, Piper took the pile of slime off the table and covered his face with it. They stood back arm in arm and looked at their work. Piper unfroze him.
Leo looked at the girls laughing and knew straight away what they had done.
"You" he looked at himself and began to laugh, the girls joined in.
The laughter was stopped by a loud rumbling noise. The table and crockery started to shake.
"Leo" Piper said nervously.
"Earthquake" he said, but no sooner were the words out of his mouth than the shaking stopped.
"Just a tremor" Pheobe said.
"God that was short but horrible" Paige said looking around to see if anything had been broken.
"That makes the third one this month, I hope that doesn't mean a big one is one the way" Piper said. Leo tried to take her mind off it, as he knew she had a big fear of earthquakes.
"Well I am off to our shower to clean myself up, care to join me Mrs Wyatt"
"Leo" Piper said in a purr.
"Eww" said Paige and Pheobe together.
The rest of the week had carried on as normal. Piper was at home doing the laundry, she heard a funny noise coming from the washing machine and realised that something must have got stuck in the pipes, she headed off to the basement to find Leo's toolbox. Paige was on the way back from the market after doing the house shopping; she decided to take a different route and headed through the one of the city's tunnels. Pheobe was at the paper with Elise sorting out a complaint, they had, had to travel to the 10th floor to sort it out with the paper's lawyer.
Piper finally found the wrench and placed it on the workbench as she closed Leo's toolbox the wrench started to vibrate across the bench as a loud rumble started off the beginning of the earthquake.
"Oh Shit" Piper said.
Pheobe and Elise were waiting in the lawyer's office when they heard the rumbling outside, when the building started to shake Pheobe realised that it was the quake they had been dreading.
Paige was halfway through the tunnel when the sound of rumbling overtook the sound of her stereo. She turned it off and tried to control the wheel as the road began to shake.
Piper tried to stand but the floor was shaking so much she had trouble, she headed for the stairs whilst being thrown from left to right. Pheobe and Elise tried to make it to the emergency stairs. Paige couldn't control the car and neither could any of the others in the tunnel.
As the quake got stronger Piper realised that she had to get upstairs and fast, she finally made it to the stairs and was on the forth step when a beam from the roof collapsed on top of her knocking her face down on the stairs. He hands went through the steps and the beam landed on her back pinning her down on the stairs.
Pheobe heard people rushing off the floor and heading down the stairs, she was at the door when she turned to look for Elise, she wasn't there.
"Elise" she called out. A fire must have started as the sprinkles triggered, Pheobe turned and fought her way through the rush of people. She made it back to the office and found Elise trapped beneath two filing cabinets.
"Elise" she cried out, but she was unconscious.
Paige tried to avoid crashing into the two cars in front but it was impossible. She hit the first car, which raised her car in the air, then the bonnet of the second one flipped her car over onto the roof, the car skid along the road and was hit by another one spinning it round on its roof.
The quake kept going.
Piper heard a hissing noise and realised that it was the sound of water spraying out of a burst pipe.
"Oh big shit" she tried to move but was pinned down.
"HELP, LEO"
Leo was overcome with cries of help from his charges. He couldn't distinguish one from another; he couldn't tell that his wife and family were in trouble. He just had to hope that Piper was okay as he helped out anybody he could.
Pheobe grabbed Elise's hand.
"Elise, are you okay" she tried to shake her awake.
"Fire, fire" a man shouted, Pheobe rushed out the room as the sprinklers stopped.
"What's going on?" she said as she saw two people rushing back up the stairs.
"There is a fire on the 6th floor, were the only ones left, everyone else made it past the fire and its making its way up here, were trapped" Pheobe knew that Leo could save them. She ran back to Elise as the quake finally stopped.
"LEO" she called, he didn't come. She tried to lift the cabinets off Elise but they were too heavy.
Paige opened her eyes to find herself upside-down. She undid her belt and her legs fell down to her head. She had and amazing headache and touched her head to find blood.
"Great" she said, she tried to get out of the door but there was a car jammed up against it, so she tried the other door, that was the same, a small touch of panic struck her as she realised that she might be trapped. She looked at the rear window and realised that she could get out through that. When she put pressure on her knee she screamed out in pain. She looked at it and thought that it might be broken; she leant on her side and pulled herself out of the window.
CHAPTER 2
Leo was out on the streets helping out with his healing powers and medical skills; he was given permission by the elders to use his powers to heal. Daryl was at the police station, the first thought that came into his head when the quake hit was that it was demonic, he had to find the charmed ones to find out if it was normal or if it was supernatural.
Deep under the ocean near San Francisco a box had been dislodged by the quake, it appeared to have been buried under the seabed. When the box reached the surface and the sun touched it, it began to smoke. To anyone nearby in a boat or on the shore, it would have looked like the burning remains of a boat. The lid of the box blew open and flew out into the sky, inside the sun shone down on a man, well no normal man, it was a demon. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.
"Free at last" he sat up and looked around. He realised that he was still near the shore but he was uncertain what this town was as he had been trapped for so long. He decided to try out his powers. He focused on a seagull and fired at it, but only a small energy fireball appeared. It seemed as though his powers would take time to recover. No matter, he would find out about this new time. He shimmered to the shore; it drained him when he appeared. He realised that he would have to contact the source to let him know he had returned, he didn't want to start that battle again. He shimmered down to the underground to find it half deserted. A demon came towards him.
"What do you want, this is my cave"
"Take me to the source" said the newcomer.
"Your joking aren't you"
"I don't understand what you mean, and I am sure that the source would not be pleased at your humour in him"
"Where have you been, the source is dead"
"What, how"
The demon looked at the stranger, he couldn't believe that he didn't know the tale.
"The source killed one of the charmed ones, they reconstituted with another sister, then they killed the source, then the new source was also slain by them and all the council leaders" The new demon looked shocked and took a step back.
"So who is in charge now"
"No one, everyone is fighting to take charge but the book of evil, the grimlaw, has been banished so no one can obtain the sources power"
"Really, the charmed one eh, so what year is this"
"It is 2003" The demon looked shocked again.
"2003, it has been over 120 years, things have changed, thank you" with that he shimmered back up to the surface.
"So the city is ripe for the picking, and I don't have to worry about the source getting worried that I am treading on his toes, or claws, ohh this could be fun"
Paige had crawled out into the tunnel, it was quiet smoky, there were 5 other cars around her, she looked in each one and found that a couple of people were dead but a couple others were alive and getting out of their cars. The end of the tunnel was blocked and near the other end it had collapsed. Paige knew that she couldn't orb out without being seen by these few people. She tried to find a splint to attach to her leg.
Pheobe had tried to lift up the cabinets, she had managed to get the only other two people who were left in the building, with her to help lift it off Elise, but they were just too heavy. Elise had woken up.
"Pheobe"
"Elise, try not to move"
"What happened"?
"We had a big earthquake, you're trapped underneath some cabinets and we can't lift them off"
"Don't forget about the fire" said Jerry.
"Who are you" Elise asked
"Jerry, I am the junior assistant to the boss, and the fire is on its way up here"
"Elsie are you hurt, can you move, can you breathe" Elise tried to assess herself.
"I'm okay, just trapped, I feel okay, why didn't you leave"
"I couldn't leave you like this" so all four of them were trapped and the fire was rapidly moving in on them.
Piper couldn't move at all, the beam on her back was so heavy, her head was facing the floor of the basement, she could only see out of one eye as the other was covered in blood. She had been calling for Leo for some time but she assumed that he couldn't hear her because of all the cries in the city; she knew that because when a demon changed the city and pain was everywhere, Leo felt it all. What worried her was the sight of the water slowly spreading like a puddle across the floor. At the moment it was only a cm deep or so, being on the fourth step meant that she was about 2 foot off the floor, she knew that it would take a while for the water to reach her and she would probably be found before then. She hoped.
CHAPTER 3
Leo was desperate to check on his family but with there being a couple of Whitelighters injured he had to do as the elders ordered, and right now he was ordered to help innocents. He orbed to a building that had partially collapsed. The scene outside it was like a war zone, there were abandoned cars, upturned cars on fire, buildings on fire, building half collapsed, rubble in the street, crakes and holes in the road. Some areas were completely unrecognisable. He headed inside the building to help the people trapped.
Paige had found a cricket bat in someone's car and had used that as a splint against her leg. She was talking to the other three drivers that had made it out of their cars. A man called Kevin, a woman called Holly and a little girl called Isabelle; her parents were killed in one of the cars.
"I have walked towards the end and it is completely caved in" Isabelle held on to Paige as if she was her mother, the little girl was only 8 years old and terrified.
"Will you please go and check the other end of the tunnel, just in case?" Paige asked coughing, the fumes from the burning cars were beginning to build.
"No problem" Kevin said and head off to the other end. He came back a few minutes later.
"No it's no good, at least our little bit is secure"
"What do we do now?" Holly asked.
"I guess we wait for the rescue teams" Paige said, she was debating weather or not to use her powers and orb them out, but they weren't in immediate danger just yet, she decided to hold on.
The first aftershock came and Isabelle started to scream. Despite the pain in her leg Paige picked her up.
"It's okay sweetie, it's just an aftershock"
Isabelle hugged her tightly. Some of the rubble up ahead moved but not enough to clear them a gap.
"See it's all over now"
She tried to put her down but she hung on tight around her neck, so Paige hugged her again.
"Okay, how about we look for cell phones, water or any food in these cars, we don't know how long we are going to be in here"
"Good idea" Kevin said.
There were in total, 16 cars in there section of the tunnel. They started to look inside them. Paige approached one and saw that the people inside were dead, she asked Isabelle to keep away whilst she checked inside. After a few cars, Paige came across a car with a woman on the back seat; Paige noticed that she was breathing.
"Hey someone is alive here"
Paige opened the door and turned her over, her eyes opened wide when she saw that the woman was heavily pregnant.
"Oh crap" Paige said. Holly and Kevin arrived and checked on the man in the drivers seat, he was alive but unconscious.
"Hey lady, Ma'am, wake up" Paige said as she gently shook the woman.
She woke up and immediately grabbed her stomach.
"Oh my god, my baby"
"How long have you got to go"?
"I'm overdue and I am in labour now, my husband was driving us to the hospital, my god Jake, is he okay"
"He's fine, just unconscious"
"Okay let's get you out of the car, Isabelle in the back seat of my car you will find a picnic blanket can you go and grab it for me, it's the green VW bug" Isabelle nodded and ran off to her car.
"I have some pillows in my car, I will get them" Holly said and ran off to her car.
"I have a first aid kit in my car" Kevin said, he left to get his.
Paige was so desperate to use her magic. They placed her onto the blanket and rested her head on the pillows.
"Oh god, here comes another contraction" she tried to breathe through the pain.
"Okay, okay what do we do now" holly said
"We are going to have to help her deliver, what's you name honey" Paige asked
"Marie"
"Well Marie, my name is Paige, this is Kevin and Holly and over there is Isabelle, we will be your delivery team today" Marie smiled.
"I found these in a truck up ahead, it was carrying loads of them" it was a water truck.
"Talk about lucky breaks"
"I'm going to take a look at you okay" Marie nodded; Paige sat down as best she could and lifted up Marie's skirt.
"Oh, oh I think I see a little head"
"Oh god it hurts, I wanted every kind of drug, I can't go through a natural birth"
"Okay, I think that you should push"
"It hurts too much" Paige thought about it and muttered something quietly whilst Marie screamed over the top of her.
Help this woman in her our of need,
Help her deliver her baby seed,
Take away her worry and pain,
Make her calm, make her sane.
Suddenly Marie's screaming stopped.
"It doesn't hurt"
"Okay that's a good sign, now push" after a couple of pushes the baby came out.
Paige used the scissors from the first aid kit and cut the cord. They used the water to wash around the baby's face and clean away the blood.
"It's a girl, congratulations" Paige said, they wrapped her up in Paige's coat and handed her to her mother. Jake woke up to see his wife and baby.
"Marie, are you okay, is the baby okay"
"Jake we have a baby girl"
"Is she okay"?
"She's perfect" Jake hugged his wife and looked at his baby girl.
"I got the whole thing on tape for you Jake" Kevin said, Paige thought that, that was such a lovely thought.
"Thank you miss" Jake said hugging Paige.
"No problem" they all looked at the baby as Marie started to breast-feed her.
"I have blankets in the car" he ran over to the car and came back with clothes for the new baby and a proper blanket.
"What a crazy day" She left the new family and began to think on how they were going to get out, she realised that she was going to have to use her powers.
CHAPTER 4
At the same time across town Pheobe was trying to calm down Elise. She was beginning to have a panic attack, as she couldn't get out from under the cabinets.
"Okay, now calm down Elise"
"Thank you for staying with me Pheobe, I don't think I would have done the same" Pheobe wasn't quiet sure how to take that.
"Thanks, I think," she said not wanting to offend her at the moment. Jerry had tried to help her lift it off but it looked as though they were going to need 4 men to do it.
There were just the four of them left on the floor, Jerry, Pheobe, Elise and Amanda. Amanda was a secretary on the floor. She had hardly said a word she was in shock.
"Okay, I think I need to go and check on the fire, I will see if there is any other way out of this" Pheobe said standing up and walking towards the door.
"I will go with you" Jerry said following her out the door.
"No I need you to stay with the Elise" Pheobe looked over at Amanda.
"Plus I think that she is still in shock, and will be no help to Elise" Jerry looked back at Amanda.
"Okay, shout out if you need me"
Pheobe looked at Elise and smiled, she then headed off to the emergency stairs. She walked down to the floor below. She had a look around to see if there was anyone else left, when she found no one there she went down to the next floor. The same Scenario again so she tried to go down another floor but when she opened the door a huge flare of heat and flames threw itself out of the door.
"Wow" Pheobe said as she ducked to get away from the heat. She tried to look around the door, when she did she could see that the fire had completely taken the floor and was rushing up towards them.
She ran back upstairs and into the lawyer's office where they were still waiting for her.
"Jerry" she said quietly, he came over to her in the doorway.
"The fire has made it up a floor already"
"Oh god, we don't have much time do we"
"No, look we are going to have to get her out"
Pheobe tried something that she should have done earlier; she used the phones to dial the fire department.
"Damit, the lines are engaged, everyone must be calling the services" When Jerry went to check on Elise Pheobe tried to call for Leo.
"Leo, God damit I need you" she looked around and waited, when he didn't arrive, thoughts of worry started to go through her mind that one of her sisters needed his attention more.
"God I hope they are okay" She walked over to the office and sat down in front of Elise.
"Okay, Elise, we are going to have to get you out and get past that fire"
"Is it advancing"?
"Yes, it has already covered a floor so it is moving quick, not surprising with all the paper in this place"
"God" Elise said.
Pheobe called Jerry and Amanda over to the doorway where Elise couldn't hear them.
"Right, we are going to have to get her out, then help her down the stairs, we will have to use as many Fire Extinguishers as possible to fight off the fire on the way down the stairs" Jerry took a large breathe.
"Okay"
"Amanda, we are going to need you to help lift this off Elise" Amanda nodded They made their way back to Elsie.
"Okay Elise, when we lift this you will have to crawl out as best you can, okay"
There was no response
"Elise"
Pheobe looked down at Elise and realised that she was unconscious.
"Oh God, Elise" Pheobe put her hand on her neck to check for a pulse.
"What's wrong with her"
"I don't know, I think that she was more damaged than we thought"
"Right we need to get this off her now" Jerry said.
They all gathered around the cabinet and took a side. As they were about to move it the first aftershock struck.
"Oh god, not again, oh god" Amanda started to scream.
"Calm down it is just an aftershock" They waited for it to pass which wasn't long. Pheobe had to slap Amanda across the face to get her to calm down.
"Right we need to get this off you" They all took a part of the cabinet and lifted as much as they could. The cabinet lifted slightly.
"Okay, push it back against the wall" They managed to do it.
"Thank god" Pheobe said as they all took a breath.
Pheobe rushed down to Elise's side and looked at her.
"Elsie" she turned her over. Pheobe could see no sign of blood on her, which was a worry; it probably meant that she had internal bleeding, which was not a good thing.
"Right guys, we are going to have to collect as many Extinguishers as possible, lets get to it"
CHAPTER 5
At the same time across time Piper was struggling to get free. She was not yet beginning to panic. She could see that the water trickling out of the pipe was not rising that quickly. She had maybe a day or two by the time it became a serious threat to her.
The only reason that she couldn't get up was the beam across her back that had wedged her in place; the only reason that she couldn't get the beam off was because her hands were trapped through the gaps in the stairs. But on the plus side she could reach her face and scratch her nose.
"LEO" she called out, she was beginning to worry that he was badly hurt or that one of her sisters was in a bad situation and needed his help badly.
"Oh God, let them be okay" she shouted out loud to anyone up there who was listening.
Piper began to rock her hips to see if she could move the beam. What she couldn't see was that the beam had wedged itself between the wall and the banister. If only she would have fallen the other way around then she could have just blown it off her.
"HELP" she cried out, but it was no use, it was such a huge earthquake that probably loads of people were stuck worse than her.
"Hello" a voice shouted from the kitchen above.
"Yes Hello, I'm down here" Piper couldn't lift her head up to see and she began to wonder if it was human or demon, then she though that if it was a demon, why would he have said Hello. The door was pushed open.
"Oh thank God" Piper shouted out.
"I heard your calls for help, I'm Tracy what state are you in"
"I'm okay, I'm not badly hurt its just I am trapped by this beam, can you get it off"
"Oh we have a small problem"
"Why" Piper asked as her suspicion about it being a demon began to rise.
"My arm is broken and I am not the strongest of people"
"Great, that's just great" piper said a little annoyed that she couldn't get her up.
"Don't worry though, there are some fire-fighters down the road, I will go and grab some of them and bring them back here"
"Please, thank you Tracy" piper said, feeling guilty about her comments to her.
"I will be back"
As Tracy left piper, a small rumbling started, Piper realised that it was the first aftershock. She heard breaking glass and objects falling upstairs. She was hit again on the head by falling debris.
"Ow" she shouted out as something sharp hit her.
The rumbling stopped and Piper let out a deep breath. She heard a scrapping noise.
"What the" she said, she tried to look up at the pipe and realised that it had stopped leaking.
"Great" she said, but before she could laugh the pipe cracked in half and the water flowed out faster than before.
"Okay, now we have a problem, please hurry up Tracy"
Up above in the kitchen, Tracy lay on the floor. There was a piece of glass sticking out of her neck. It had fallen from one of the doors and hit her dead on. There was no way that she was going to help Piper now. No one was coming to help her.
The water began to rise quickly, and Piper was beginning to panic. She tried to freeze it but it didn't stay frozen for long, she realised that her head injury was draining her power.
"Oh crap" The water was at a couple of inches high now, and Piper began to struggle to free herself.
Piper realised that she might not make it out of this. She began to regret things that she hadn't done, and promised that if by some miracle she did get out of it, she was going to have a baby with Leo.
The water was now half a foot deep, she was surprised that it kept coming out and only hoped that somewhere down the street, the fire fighters tapped into the water supply to help put out fires. She knew that it was a long shot but it gave her a bit of hope.
A foot now and still rising, she only had another foot and a half to go and she would be under the water. Now full panic set in and she shook her self violently to get free.
"Oh god, Leo please hurry to me" The tears from her eyes fell into the rising cold water.
CHAPTER 6
Paige got a funny feeling inside that her sisters needed her, well one of them anyway. She decided that she needed to orb to one of them, she decided that seeming as Piper had an active power and could sort herself out, she would orb to Pheobe, once she got these people to safety.
The demon had been walking around the chaos and destruction with a permanent smile on his face.
"This is great," he said, he decided to find some witch's and steel there powers. He was bound to find some that were injured or unable to get away from him. The earthquake had done most of the hard work for him, now all her had to do was concentrate and find a fallen witch.
Pheobe had helped pick up Elise. They had placed her onto a chair and lifted her up.
"Right then, I will go ahead and get rid of most of the fire on the way down the stairs, you guys keep close behind me, I will make sure that you get her down past the fire"
They looked at Pheobe with hope in their eyes.
"Okay lets go" Pheobe went down first to the floor with the fire, she shot the fire extinguisher at the doorway as they took Elise past it, then Pheobe overtook them and ran down ahead of them to tackle the next bit of fire.
"Okay come on" she fired the powder at the fire again until they were safely past.
"Stay here I will check ahead" Pheobe left them for a few minutes in a safe part of the stairs.
"Okay" she said as she came back.
"The fire looks like it is no further than the next floor, so lets go" Pheobe once again went ahead of them and fired the powder at the flames as they went by. There was an explosion above them and a door came flying down the stairs, it knocked Pheobe against the wall and at the same time, knocked the fire extinguisher out of her hand.
"PHEOBE" Jerry shouted out.
"Go, get Elise out of here" Elise woke up at that point.
"Pheobe, what's going on"?
"Go now"
"We can't just leave you here, you're trapped between floors"
"GO" Pheobe shouted sternly. Elise realised what they were doing and realised that Pheobe was left behind.
"No we can't leave her, she stayed for me, no I wont leave her"
"Jerry please, get her to safety" Jerry looked at Pheobe through the flames.
"I'm sorry Pheobe," he said as they carried a shouting Elise down the rest of the way.
Pheobe leaned back against the wall and coughed. The smoke fumes from the two floors she was caught between were becoming overwhelming.
Paige was certain now that one of her sister needed her. She had to get to them.
"Guys, I have to tell you all something, and I want you to stay calm" They all looked at her strangely.
"What's the matter?" Marie asked as she cradled her baby.
"I have a way for us to get out of here to safety" she was interrupted.
"How can you do that?" they asked at different times.
"I am going to tell you something and I want you to understand that it is nothing to be scared of" Paige took a breath.
"I am half witch half angel and I can get us out of here" There faces were a Kodak moment, they ranged from thinking that she was insane, to be frightened of her.
"Paige why would you say something like that" Kevin said.
"Please, there is not a lot of time, I need you to trust me" she looked at them hopefully.
"I haven't harmed you or your baby"
"Okay Paige, what do you want to do"?
"I need you all to hold hands and hold hands with me" they all looked at her with doubt.
"Please, others are in danger and hurt and I need to get to them"
They all walked forward and took Paige's hands.
"Now this is going to feel strange but I promise it won't hurt" Paige concentrated and the whole group orbed out of the tunnel and to a clear space in the park.
They all stood open mouthed.
"What just happened" Marie asked.
"I just transported us to safety" Paige looked at them and saw nothing but gratefulness in their eyes.
"Now you need to get to the hospital, I can take you there now if you like" Paige said holding out her hands to Marie and Jake" Marie nodded to her husband.
"Thank you" Marie said
"Oh one more thing, please don't tell anyone about this, my work depends on my secrecy, I cant help people if they know about my powers" They all nodded and Paige knew that she could trust them.
"I promise that we will meet again" she smiled and orbed Marie and Jake to the hospital,
"Good luck, now I have to go" Marie grabbed Paige's hand.
"I want you to know that we are going to name her Paige" Paige's eyes filled with tears.
"Thank you" she hugged Marie and orbed away.
Piper was really beginning to panic, the water was up to her chest and she knew that she didn't have long. She couldn't stop the tears from falling.
"Oh God" she cried. This was the worst way for her to die, just like her mother, drowned.
Daryl arrived outside the manor. He was about to walk up to the open door when a woman ran over to him.
"Please help me, my son is trapped under a cupboard, please I can't lift it off"
"Okay, lets go" he said and followed the lady to her house across the street.
Piper felt the water touching her chin. Her breathing began quick breaths. She was trying to get every last moment of oxygen in her that she could.
Daryl helped get the man out from under the cupboard, he was not hurt. The woman thanked him and he returned to the manor.
Pipers mouth was covered by water, she lifted it up at the last moment and took one last gulp of air as her face was covered completely by the water.
CHAPTER 7
As Piper struggle to free herself under the water, Daryl knocked on the front door.
"Hello" he walked inside.
"Pheobe, Piper, Paige" he called out as he went from room to room. He could see that the damage to the house was extensive. He eventually entered the kitchen and spotted a pair of feet. He ran over to them to find a dead woman, she had a piece of glass sticking out of her neck. He heard a funny noise, it sounded like water.
Piper couldn't hold on any longer. She released the breath she had been holding and foolishly tried to breathe in the water. As it entered her lungs it began to chock and suffocate her quickly.
Daryl could defiantly hear water; he walked over to the open basement door and saw Piper trapped drowning.
"PIPER, Oh God"
Pheobe was having trouble breathing; she hoped that the firemen would be here soon.
Then she heard a familiar sound, and looked up to see Paige in front of her.
"Pheobe my god are you okay"
"Oh Paige I am so happy to see you"
"Are you hurt"?
"No but I will feel better once you get me out of here"
Paige grabbed her arm and orbed her outside.
"Oh thank god your okay" they hugged
"Oh just a broken kneecap but apart from that I'm fine, you"
"Just a few burns, nothing that wont heal"
"Anything from Leo or Piper"
"No, I called for Leo but he didn't come, Let me just check on Elise then we can go to the manor"
They ran out from the alleyway behind the paper and found Elise; she was on a board about to lifted into the ambulance.
"Pheobe" she shouted as she saw her approaching.
"How did you"?
"I managed to grab another fire extinguisher and got past the flames, is she okay,"
Pheobe asked the paramedic.
"We think she had some internal injury's but if we get her to the hospital now she will be okay"
"I will be round later to check up on you" Pheobe said giving her hand a squeeze.
Elise pulled her forward into a hug.
"Thank you Pheobe, you save my life and I will never forget it" Pheobe smiled and stepped back so that she could go to hospital.
Pipers sucked in the last bit of water then gave up as her heart stopped. Daryl knew by the way she had stopped moving that she had drowned. He rushed down into the water and pulled the beam off her.
Leo knew instantly that Piper was dead, he orbed to the manor with tears in his eyes. Paige and Pheobe arrived at the same time.
"Leo, thank god, what's the matter"?
Daryl heard their voices and carried Pipers lifeless body into the lounge.
"Oh my god, what happened to her?" Pheobe asked as Daryl placed her onto the floor.
"She was trapped and drowned in the basement"
"Oh no" Paige said and began to cry.
Daryl turned her over and began CPR. They all watched helplessly. Paige and
Pheobe held hands and prayed whilst Leo stood motionless waiting for signs of life. He couldn't believe that he didn't feel that she was in trouble earlier, if only he had checked on her.
It took Daryl over a minute until finally she coughed up the water in her lungs. He turned her on her side straight away and waited whilst she sicked up the water.
"Leo" she said quietly, he was down on the floor by her side instantly.
"I'm here Piper, can you hear me"
"Thank you Daryl, we owe you one, you saved her life" they hugged him.
"She's not responding" Leo said looking up at Daryl for help.
"We need to get her to a hospital, I will take her you guys have people to help"
They were all a bit reluctant to let her out of their sights but they agreed.
"Don't worry I wont leave her side"
"Okay thank you Daryl, if you need anything, I will be there"
Daryl picked her up and carried her out to his car.
They were sitting in the room in shock when Leo got a calling from the elders.
"I will be back soon I promise" he left the two of them talking about what had happened over the last few hours.
"Please don't, NO" screamed the witch as the demon placed his hand inside her chest.
She struggled as he took her life force away, it took only a few minutes and she was dead, he gasped as her powers entered him giving him more power and rejuvenating his old ones.
"Five down many more to go"
He left the dead witch where he found her, trapped underneath her car in her own garage.
Leo orbed back into the manor looking a bit worried.
"What is it"?
"The elders have just informed me that an ancient evil has been released by the quake"
"That doesn't sound good"
"No its not believe me, this demon is called Malakii, he was a rival to the source and they fought many times, there powers seemed to be equal, when he was eventually caught by two covens of witches over a century ago, they couldn't vanquish him, so they banished him to the bottom of the sea, but the elders tell me that the quake has released him and his has already began to kill, 5 witch's so far."
"Great, how are we going to stop him without the power of three"
"Book of shadows" Paige called out as the book appeared in her hand. She looked up at the heavens.
"A little help here as we are pressed for time" the book opened by itself and the pages flicked through and stopped on the picture of a normal looking man.
Paige read out what it said on the page, basically what Leo had just told them.
"No Vanquishing potion, no spells, how are we going to do this Leo"
"The only thing you can do is banish him again or try the power of three spell, when Piper is better"
"Great, this day just keeps getting better"
The demon sensed another hurt and immobile witch, a powerful one, an easy target. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he opened them and smiled.
"A charmed one in trouble, this day is just too good to be true"
CHAPTER 8
"I need some help here," Daryl shouted as he marched into the emergency room of the hospital. He was still holding Piper and she was still unconscious.
The hospital was in chaos, there were sick and injured people lining up the hallways, repair crews were trying to fix broken things, children were screaming looking for their parents, people whose relatives had died were crying. The doctors seemed overrun.
"What happened" asked a nurse as she came over to them?
"She was trapped underwater and drowned for a couple of minutes, I managed to revive her with CPR but since then she has been unresponsive" The nurse looked at her and pulled out a blue tag from her top, she pinned it to Piper and began to walk away.
"Hang on a minute, what is this for" Daryl asked, the nurse turned around and explained.
"It means that she is to be looked at soon, she is serious but not life threatening, they will get to her when they can" she turned to walk away again but Daryl grabbed her arm.
"That's it, that is all you are going to do"
Sir, take a look around you, we are in the middle of a major crisis, we have had over 400 people admitted in the last ½ hour alone, in these circumstances we have to take control some how, and the way we do it is by tagging patients, Red is for immediate care and life threatening, Blue is for serious and not life threatening, yellow is for mildly serious can wait, and white which is come back later, and there is black, that is for the morgue, now I know that this may seem unkind but it is the best thing for everyone so please, trust me, she will be seen soon" Daryl let go and took a good look around.
This time he noticed the coloured tags on people, most of them were yellow but a few were blue and red, he found a space on the floor beside a wall and sat down with piper still cradled in his arms.
"Okay, we can wait"
Malakii headed to the place that he found the witch most vulnerable. The manor. Pheobe, Paige and Leo were in the manor when he walked in the front door.
Pheobe heard someone enter and called out.
"Hello"
Malakii appeared in the doorway.
"Ah, the famous charmed ones, my, my aren't we a picture of prettiness, it seems that I owe you my gratitude"
"It's him," Leo said taking a protective step towards the girls.
"Why do you owe us your gratitude" Paige asked curiously.
"Well, for killing my brother the source"
"Your brother, as in real blood brother" Pheobe asked amazed that he could exist.
"Yes, it should have been me that received the sources powers, but he banished me to another plain of existence and when I returned it was too late, but never mind, he's now dead and I am here" Pheobe was shocked as he seemed so civil, so human like.
"So where is the third witch, the hurt and vulnerable one"
"What makes you think she is hurt?" Pheobe said trying to make him unsure.
"Oh please little girl"
He lifted up a fireball from his hand and threw it at them.
"Fire ball" Paige shouted and threw it back at him, he shimmered out of the way, avoiding it easily.
"Not bad, not bad at all" he said with a smirk then he disappeared.
"What was that all about, where did he go?" Paige asked.
"Piper" Leo said as the realisation hit him that he would go after her.
"We need to get the crystals, the spell that vanquished the source may be the only thing that kills him" Paige's said as she ran upstairs to get them.
"No wonder he couldn't be killed before, he is the sources brother" Leo said.
Paige returned and they orbed to the hospital.
CHAPTER 9
Daryl was happy when a doctor came over to them.
"Hello, would you please bring her back into this examination room for me"
"No problem" Daryl said as he followed the doctor.
Paige and the rest arrived at the hospital it was chaos.
"We have to find them"
"Leo can you sense her" he closed his eyes.
"That way"
"Now if you would just place her onto the table" Daryl did and stood back as Piper started to wake, she looked up at the doctor and smiled.
"Hello their witch" he said and thrust his hand into her chest
"PIPER" Daryl shouted and got out his gun; he fired it at the demon that was thrown backwards from the force of the bullets.
Piper was grabbing her chest.
"Leo" she called out.
Malakii seemed unfazed by the bullets and walked back to Piper's side and thrust his hand back inside her chest. She screamed out in pain. Daryl punched him, but with a flick of his hand he was thrown across the room.
The girls entered to find the demon draining Piper's life force and powers.
"Get off my wife now" Leo said as he rushed forward and knocked him onto the floor. Piper rolled off the table and landed on the floor, she was grabbing her chest and gasping for breath.
"Piper, my god" Paige said as she pulled her sister back away from the two fighting men.
"We don't have much time to explain do you remember the source killing spell"
Piper just nodded.
Leo kept Malakii busy wrestling him on the floor whilst the first spread the crystals around them.
"Now Leo" Paige shouted and as Leo jumped off the demon Paige set the last crystal in place.
"You fools, you cant kill me, no one can"
"Wanna bet that those were the exact words your brother used before we vanquished his ugly ass" Piper did a double take at the word brother. Malakii smiled and tried to step outside the circle but the crystal force field kept him inside.
"What, but this is impossible" Paige nodded at Piper and she started off the spell.
"Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda" Piper began
"Astrid Helena, Laura and Grace" Pheobe continued
"Halliwell witches stand strong beside us, Vanquish this evil from time and space" they all finished together.
Malakii screamed and a huge explosion ripped through the hospital, all the glass shattered as the girls were thrown to the floor, Leo covered Daryl.
When it stopped they looked over at the circle and all that was left was a pile of dust. "Don't mess with the charmed ones pal" Pheobe said giving Paige a high five.
Piper started to gasp for breathe and grabbed at Leo. He immediately began to heal her and he was surprise when it took longer than expected, but eventually she was healed.
"Thank you"
"Leo, my knee if you don't mind"
"Just this once" he said and healed her knee.
Daryl was awake through the vanquish and was shocked and speechless.
"Daryl are you okay" he just nodded.
They left the hospital and went back to the manor to check the damage. The water from the basement has over flown from there and was now pooling in the kitchen.
"Piper you must have been so scared"
"It was horrible, terrifying, now I know how mum felt when she died, I never want to feel like that again, thank you Leo"
"Actually, it wasn't me, it was Daryl" Daryl looked sheepishly at them all. Piper stood and walked to him, she took his hand.
"Daryl, you saved my life twice today, if you wouldn't have been there for me I would be dead, I am forever in your debt"
"No problem"
"Daryl I am in your debt, this is not just a phrase, I mean it, anything that you want and I will help to the best of my abilities"
"Anything" Piper nodded.
"How about writing a spell that helps out the people of this city, so that people who are trapped can be found, people with red tags and blue tags can be yellow" Piper frowned at the last bit.
"I will see what I can do, but what is the tag thing"
Daryl explained and the girls set about granting his request. With any luck they will help bring the death toll down to the 10's instead of 1000,s.
Leo smiled at Daryl, he knew that the elders had heard his request and he knew that someday, he was going to make a great Whitelighter.
THE END