Dearies, if you want me to answer to your comments, you should not write as guests. carameldip18 and CharmedOpal: Thank you so very much, sweethearts! 3
I am sorry that this comes rather late, I was a bit busy at university, but now that Germany has successfully defeated Brazil in the Football World Cup(For Americans and all those who wonder: Football is played with your FEET. I don't know the logic behind the rugby type-a football, I only know that it's... idiotic.), I am both enthusiastic, completely stunned(7:1! I mean... WTF?! D:) and willing to no longer hold this chapter back, which I just finished yesterday... by adding two sentences~
One thing for one of the anonymous commenters: Dearie, if I were to include Cole in this story and as Parker's daddy, I would lose all traces of logic, and while the sanity of my narrator and myself can entirely be doubted, I won't go THAT far. Ever. Cole's dead, and Parker is Coop's daughter, and I am not uncreative enough to change that. Sorry to destroy your hopes... wait... ah, whatever. Hope you can enjoy the story anyway, if you keep track. If not... *shrug*
If you spot grammatical errors or typos anywhere, please point them out to me. :) Hope you enjoy the chapter! 3
oooOOOooo
One fine monday morning, I am not interested which one, but one in August I believe, a still sleepy Melinda Halliwell rose from her bed at the speed of a cannon, because, apparently, her dearest brothers, at least one of those idiots, had decided to blow up the attic. Again.
Mumbling death threats under her breath, for Melinda was a passionate sleeper, she stumbled out of her room, up the stairs and into the attic, ready to maim each and everyone who had dared to disturb her summer vacation sleep she held more dearly than her breakfast, which she held more dearly than the lives of her family.
"What! Are! You! Doing?!" she, thus, screamed.
Chris was waving away the smoke from his nose, seeming a little off-guard, for surely the explosion had temporarily disturbed his hearing, sight and balance.
"Just trying this new potion out-" he started, but realised too late he was standing in front of his younger sister, who he had just woken up by force. And, as he had expected, she turned on her bare feet and ran down the stairs, screeching "Moooooom! Chris has ruined the attic again!", and quickly he leapt after her, in the faint hope that he might be able to catch her and limit the damage his mother was going to inflict on him. For he might not care much about the world anymore, but that didn't mean he didn't fear Piper's punishments. She could be frighteningly creative.
Sadly, Chris had only been in history club and had never made up for his lack of experience in phsyical skills, while his sister prided herself in practising either martial arts or athletic sports daily, at least one of those once a day, and she trusted her skills enough to shorten her way downstairs by jumping against the walls and down the last bit of stairs. She had the unfortunate habit of making a show out of it when she could.
When Chris finally reached the kitchen, Melinda had already filled their mother in on the necessary details: Attic boom, Mellie wake. Piper glared at her second son and he wondered for a split second if the source of all evil had truly been extinguished, then lowered his head in submission.
"How long am I grounded?" he asked, hoping to turn whatever kind of punishment she had in mind for him into something as plain as being grounded. That was boring, but kinda easy to bear.
"You're not grounded. You're going to go with Mellie and Colin to the movies today, and make sure they go into a movie suited for their age and are not attacked by demons in the process. Can you do that WITHOUT blowing anything up?"
How many times had he blown up the attic again? Those two times only during these summer vacation, three times before that... it was no big deal, all in all, but he could tell his mother thought differently. Well, so he would have to play babysitter. Better to care for Melinda than Pat, who would only find some reason to bite into his leg. Literally.
Contrary to him, Melinda wasn't happy with this conclusion.
"But Mom! I wanted to go with Colin alone! We're more than old enough to go to the movies ourselves, and we want to talk about things which Chris doesn't even WANT to hear, much less than I want him to hear them!" she protested loudly, displaying the angry, immature teenage girl she was. And Chris, being the not any more mature young adult he was, started to tease her.
"Aww, poor little Mellie, did big bad Chrissie ruin your date?" he asked mockingly, adding kissing noises for the atmosphere, and for the mere heck of it.
She quickly answered to it, her face disgusted: "As if I would go on a date with my best friend! That's gross!"
Sometimes, just sometimes, he wondered if she was entirely late on things like puberty.
oooOOOooo
I like Barbas, so let me tell you how he came to leave the wasteland yet again. This involves a bit of demonology.
Do you remember one occasion when Barbas announced his return to the sisters, by claiming that "fear never dies"? This was the truth, for he would continue to return as long as there was fear. You see, some magical creatures are the incarnation of certain elements in the world who continue to exist as long as their element, and, therefore, source of power and life, exists. For Barbas, this is fear. Concluding, he will stay around until the last creature able to feel fear on earth dies, and only then die himself. Barbas is in that aspect a unique creature as he is one of the few incarnations of an element – or, rather, emotion – that has no fellow incarnations. Is it that which makes him indestructible, since there should be someone to take over his position? I don't know. Or perhaps I'm just not telling you.
So, his power of existence made Barbas almost invincible to the effects of the wasteland... or, rather, completely invincible. Still, it was his least favourite part of the universe, safe for the Halliwell manor and any place where he was surrounded by idiots. Because of this, he immediately accepted the offer of an old acquaintance, a female, demonic creature by the name of Despina, sometimes referred to as "Phix". She preferred Despina, as it turned out she had given herself this new name when she had set sail over to the new world. It seemed a little uncreative, was Barbas thought, but he wouldn't tell her that. He did like her, somehow, since she could appreciate his love for a good fright. Was in the business herself, so to speak.
To be honest, I doubt Barbas fully understood what Despina wanted for her part of the deal. He knew how it worked, certainly, but he had been pretty oblivious to the consequences...
"Dad, that is MY orange juice!"
Or perhaps he just hadn't anticipated this outcome.
oooOOOooo
Somewhere, in some part of the underworld, a demon called Nomed, who had been awarded the price for best uncreative demon name in demon history, in consequence maiming the jury, paced to and fro in his living area, thereby supporting his thinking process. He wanted the sisters, preferrably dead, and he wanted their children, preferrably enslaved, and he wanted the world, preferrably as his, but he sure as hell didn't want to fight against the Twice-Blessed or the Blessed-Brother.
Wyatt was a danger in his own right, a being he was sure was too powerful to be granted existence(If only those stupid humans ever used logic!, he fumed), and Chris was simply a lunatic. He would use their sister as pawn to ensure they didn't come after him, but history had proven that, if one of the Charmed family's loved ones was used to threaten them, they'd just turn around, kill the demon responsible and take their loved one home. This tactic never worked. So, he needed a different way to get to those most dangerous Halliwells.
He could bind their powers. That was the easiest alternative, although not at all foul-proof, as the past, again, proved. But he could use this tactic as inspiration. Maybe, if he bound the powers of the lesser dangerous children, they would be at a disadvantage... after all, they wouldn't be able to protect them all the time. He would keep that in mind, might work.
He could try to sway them to the dark... nah, never worked. Or he just crushed their belief in the light. Fun, and useful.
But there was one thing that annoyed Nomed more than all of that. He had thought about how to get to the Halliwell's before, and he was at a pretty good way with that, although he liked planning for alternatives just in case, but there were too many risk factors in this equation. And not even the blessed idiot brothers. There was the middle child of the middle child, without powers, and no one knew why, so whatever secret lurked behind that was bound to disturb his plans in some way. Then there was the youngest child of the youngest child, solitary and hard to read, therefore a risk factor, as Nomed could not for the bad of him figure out how this kid would react in a certain situation. And, lastly, there was this freaking Melinda Halliwell, whose power level was swaying by the second. He didn't trust what he saw when looking at her, and that alone was reason for worry. Normally, he could gladly trust his observing skills, but with her, they seemed useless. And that was disturbing.
"Oy, boss, got a minute?" called one of his subjects by the name of... of... ah, screw it, Subject A.
"What is it?" he asked, happily hoping for a distraction which might even lead to a nice inspiration.
"We got a visitor."
And while Nomed started forming a new alternative plan in his mind, I begin to think this narrating thing might even turn out interesting.
