September 2022
Fire, beautiful and simple. The smell of sweetgrass, sage and lavender in the air. Flickers of light, blinking into existence on waves of magic.
This was the sight Prudence Joanna Halliwell woke up to everyday. As always, it left a smile on her face, easing her worries.
That she created the flames, using her own magic, played it's own role. That the fire still raged in her hand brought excitement and fear.
Knowing her family's history with firebased magic, like when her mother was Queen of the Underworld, she knew they would take great issue with it. She'd never be allowed to leave the house, or keep her powers.
"P.J. ARE YOU AWAKE! FIFTEEN MINUTES TIL THE BUS!"
Her mom's shrill voice made Prudence shudder.
"I'm almost done, be down in a minute." Rolling her eyes, Prudence dispelled the flames. With one wave of her hand,the smoke swirled itself into a ball. "Sage and grass so sweet, bring me joy and make my goal complete. Bless them room and banish clarity. Block my mother's gift of prophecy."
Soft blue light swirled around the smoke, dispelling into her walls.
"Good, now mom can't pick up on my powers..."
Satisfied, Prudence grabbed her hoodie and bookbag and marched out the door.
Pheobe Halliwell, her mother, looked beautiful. Only very thin lines face her age away, even then she could still pass for thirsty instead of nearly fifty. Her hair fell in curled waves diwn her back, matching her white blouse and skirt. Looking at her, no one would expect that she bore tremendous power, that she was a bafflingly powerful witch. That she had battled demons, witches, warlocks and even the Titans.
No one would guess that she was a Charmed One.
"Hey Ladybug, you okay?" Her mom squinted lightly, clearly annoyed.
Putting on a fake smile, Prudence nodded. "More then... you know your empathy doesn't work on us."
"I know, I wish it did. It would make it easier to help you... but it's personal gain." A note of true irriation leaked out, something her mother had said a hundred times since they discovered this so called restriction on her power. Uncle Leo was adamant that this was the only idea that made sense.
'I wonder if she'll ever realize I made an Empath blocking potion after hearing Chris talk about it...' Giggling internally, Prudence felt her skin tingle. Her emotion potion lotion was very successful, really a gift of magic. She slipped it into her sisters' body wash, every couple of weeks. Anything to save them of their mother's constant invasion of their privacy.
Allowing her smugness to slide away, Prudence hugged her mom and ran to the table, picking up one of the breakfast burritos her dad had made.
Said dad was smiling at her, pulling ger into a squeeze. Prudence endured the contact, not liking contact but loving her dad enough to endure it.
"Hey pumpkin, having a good morning."
"Yes, dad." She could see his disappointment, mostly that she wasn't super affectionate like her sisters.
Speaking of...
"P.J.!" Peyton, her youngest sister, barreled into her, holding her tight. Prudence went to pull her off, only to see her sister sobbing.
Immediately, Prudence kneeled and looked into her terrified sister's eyes. "What happened?"
Peyton sobbed, the seven year old had tears running down her face and a tiny snot ring approaching. "I saw you, I saw you, I saw you..." she hiccuped, sobbing over and over again.
"Oh baby, come here." Phoebe grabbed her youngest daughter, as did Coop. Neither seeing the horror on Prudence's face as she figured it out.
As her parents struggled to calm Peyton down, Prudence was having a near panic attack. 'She is so young, Mom already has prophetic powers, she'd never notice if Peyton had a vision in the womb. Peyton can see my future, I can't let her see mine... ' Calm set in. "Peyton had a vision mom... she inherited your power."
Both parents whipped around to Prudence. Coop believed her right away. "I always figured one of you would inherit it... Baby, Peyton... what did you see?"
Peyton responded to their dad's firm voice. She calmed just enough to speak. "P.J. was on fire, her hands... a mean man attacked her. A demon... he threw fire at her."
Utter silence. Prudence knew fire wouldn't harm her, it couldn't. If she was attacked, then she'd be revealed to have power over fire.
She had to stop the attack.
"Ahhh!" Waves of sound shattered six vaces, reducing them to near sand. The marble stands beneath then also shattered, a massive mess.
A soft applause made Sebastian turn around, facing Bo his literal master.
"Your powers are progressing nicely. You've progressed way further then any of your troopmates... I think your ready to start your witch training." Bo snapped his fingers, making the collar turn into ash. "Three Chevrons are required for witch training, which you've had for a week."
Sebastian, not used to talking since the collar restricted the use of his voice for three months, could only nod.
"Oh, come in kid, you can talk now. You've more then proved your loyalty. You have the highest kill rate in any class, stopped six riots and revealed a dozen traitors. Now, show me some joy."
A heavey smile crossed Sebastian's face. "Thank you, sir. I am very excited... but I'm confused. I thought I was a half demon."
"You are. What we don't tell new recruits is that on order to bind and change, you need some innate magical connection. You are a gypsy. You could of still cast spells or make potions or scry if you had a source to draw on. Your banshee side is a source of power for your gypsy side. Of course, that does limit you. You can only cast spells strong as your banshee side."
Understanding, Sebastian nodded. "Is that why some of the others have powers other then their demon gifts?"
"It's exactally why, slick. Ranelsa, our healer, is a human descendant of the god Asclepsius. When we gave her Succubi powers, she gained the power to heal. About half of our recruits are Gypsies like you or Practitioners."
"What's a practitioner?"
"Descendants of Neena, the first witch. They can cast spells or make potions but not as well as a full witch. They need a source of power to draw on. They have no innate powers. Gypsies on the other hand were humans without innate power who trained with witches. The coven they were connected to cast a spell to make them more equal so they gained some level of power, not a lot but enough for them to have some basic abilities. They made their own culture around their powers after magic became hidden and the witches separated from them."
Curious, Sebastian followed his master as the man gestured him to. "Why did I never know about this, sir?"
Bo shrugged. "You are an orphan. Without knowing your familt had power, or being trained, you never developed your powers. Unlike witches, Practitioners and Gypsies need constant training to draw any kind of power. Most Gypsy families draw strength from a family talisman, the Evil eye for example."
Frowning, Sebastian dug into his memory. "So my parents... were Gypsies?"
Bo stopped. "Yes... witches are protected by whitelighters and familars. Gypsies are not. Demons took advantage of it, it was easier to feed on magic if you food supply isn't protected. A lot of gypsies realized that their children were in danger, so they hid them. Their is only one Shuvani now, one highpriestess..."
Something painful hit His chest. "So my parents are dead... because someone refused to see them as important enough..." Coldness burned through him, his heart fell a little darker. "I see."
Anger, intense and pure, boiled through him on waves of sadness. He felt it expand his powers, a single scream wouldn't suffice. Stronger and stronger, the power rose.
He wanted to kill something.
He wanted to kill someone, he just wasn't sure who.
'Excellent... banshees, even halfbreeds, gain power through sadness and loss. And the more power his demon side has, the weaker his humanity.' Bo didn't bother masking his smirk. 'Competent soldiers are so hard to find. Most of the others are canon fodder.'
Knowing he had to do the finishing blow, Bo put his hand in the boy's shoulder.
"Let's do something productive with that rage, kid. I've got a mission for you."
That snapped the kid from his own heart. "I thought I was still in bootcamp?"
Shrugging, Bo threw a fireball at tje boy, the force sent him into a wall. There was little damage despite the blow. "You have resistance, that shows you've developed the power needed to complete Bootcamp. Really, half of the point of bootcamp is strengthen your body naturally so you can speed up the development of your physical powers. The other half is to test your loyalty, fighting skills, intelligence. Your smarter then most people here, and your loyal to our cause, and your old life already gave you potent combat skills. You are a perfect candidate for a very special mission. Should you choose to accept it."
The boy slowly rose. "Anything,Sir."
"Good man. I need you to spy on a witch. A powerful witch... the child of a Charmed One. Corrupt her if you can, if not then just use her to gather intel. Don't worry, we will implant you perfectly into her life."
"I thought I had witch training... which is not what I am. I'm a gypsy, right?"
Bo chuckled a little. "Spells,potions and scrying are hardly just witch skills. Many demons use these skills, whitelighters, darklighters, warlocks and even Gypsies. The magic is different but the technique is the same. These beings, they are the most dangerous of all beings. The possibilities only cease in skill and power and imagination.
So, you ready?"
..
Chapter end, tell me what you think on the reviews. I really wanted to showcase P.J. as she should be the strongest of her siblings, the eldest cupid-charmed one with... she should be powerful like Wyatt, or Prue. But Prophecy is supposed to be rare in the Charmed line P.J.'s powers get explained.
Also, Coop is supposed to only see His family once a year according to the comics. I can explain why he is here... Piper.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika, SPN 2
