~...~...~...The Halliwell Manor...~...~...~ Four Weeks Later
Panda descended down the stairs but stopped as loud barking echoed through the house. 'What was going on now?' she groaned to herself, it'd been pretty dead for the past few weeks with Leo gone and everything…But Chris was seriously wearing out the sisters, sending them on demon-hunts every ten minutes - literally. And now to make matters worse, he had been made their new white-lighter. At first she was worried, then annoyed, and now she was just plain pissed-off. Mainly because no one had seen or heard from Leo in weeks, not since Chris did his little send-off that she had accidentally witnessed.
Thankfully he didn't know that she knew about it, but she had a feeling he had his own little suspicions about what was going on with her. But she didn't really give him time to guess why she was so annoyed with him, she always managed to stay away, but she couldn't keep putting it off for long, she had to find out what he had done to Leo eventually. The sister's didn't notice anything different, then again they were pretty occupied with their own lives. Paige was going from temp-job to temp-job, Phoebe was always occupied with her Advice-Column, and Piper... well, she was a little weird right now.
"Why are there dogs in the house?" She asked with raised brows, resting her arms on the banister and looking down at Paige.
"He wouldn't let me take them back first." She muttered gesturing towards Chris.
"Back?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, I'm kind of a dog-walker for the moment. The temp-agency messed up."
Panda continued down the stairs and jumped off the last step, crouching down to pet the dogs - they were pretty cute. They had never had any pets around the house before besides Grams cat Kit, which had went missing a few years ago, probably because of all the demon/monster attacks. "Oh you're so cute." She said in a baby-voice purposely ignoring Chris's annoyed 'are you serious' look he sent at her.
"Do you guys mind? We have to summon the Trok demon while he's still on our plain… Piper!" Chris called.
"Oh, Chris, lighten up. Sending us after all these demons is getting to be a real strain." Phoebe sighed.
"Yeah, you're working us like dogs." Paige added.
"I don't see Piper complaining." Was his defense.
"Yeah, well, that's because Piper doesn't complain about anything anymore…, ever since Leo became an Elder all she ever does is walk around the house all... chipper-like."
"So?"
"So, it's unusual. What's worse, is it's not Piper-like."
"You're telling me. I love her but if she decides to vacuum at six thirty on a Saturday again, I will kill her." Pandora told them, rolling her eyes in remembrance to yesterday's morning of rudely being awoken to the loud noise of the vacuum outside her bedroom door.
"Oh I'd love to have a play-date, maybe we can call Jenny and she can bring baby Josie," Piper said through the phone, coming down the stairs with Wyatt. "And then I'll bring the juice and maybe bake some muffins... Oh, how cute." She smiled down at the dogs not even sparing a glance at any of the other's in the room before carrying on through the house.
"She's getting worse." Phoebe stated.
"Definitely." Paige agreed.
"Do you have a spell?"
"Yep, I'll get it right to you. Right after you summon the demon, and make sure Piper freezes him so you two can make sure you can throw the potion at him. Otherwise, you'll never pull this spell off." Chris said, handing Phoebe the piece of paper.
"Okay, got it. Panda."
She sighed knowingly and stood, crossing her arms as she headed for the stairs. "Fine, I know, attic time until the demon's gone."
"Could you take the dogs with you?" Paige pleaded, holding out the leads. She scrunched her face up gestured to Chris.
"Have him do it, he's here to help right?"
"Me?" He asked in disbelief staring at her as if she had just suggested the most improbable thing ever.
"Yeah, you, go." Paige confirmed, shoving the leads into his hands. Panda laughed and shook her head, heading up into the attic.
~...~...~...~...~...~
Panda sat on the floor of the attic, surrounded by the six dogs Paige was supposedly walking. They were pretty affectionate, then again most animals were. Sure the littlest one had a leg-humping problem going on but it was tolerable...for the most part. The only thing that wasn't tolerable was being stuck in the attic with Chris, who'd decided to find more demons for the girls to vanquish. It was understandable that he wanted them to get rid of some demons, but she was pretty sure the Underworld was near empty by this point.
He was seriously over-working the trio. Piper didn't seem to mind though, she was way too cheerful and spent all her time in the house cleaning or out with other parents. Phoebe and Paige on the other hand, did mind though, since they needed time to actually work, and do other things. She felt sorry for them.
A loud bang rang out from downstairs and she sighed, continuing to occupy herself with the dogs. She had learnt by now that when you heard a bang, it was better to stay out of the way, especially if you had no power or magic in you.
"Aren't you the least bit worried?" Chris asked her, gesturing to the closed door leading to the downstairs.
"No not really." She shrugged, not even turning to face him. The guy still freaked her out a bit, and until she knew where Leo was, or if he was okay, then that feeling would stay.
"Why not? They could be dead and you don't even care?"
"Of course I care." She snapped, finally looking his way. Surprisingly, he seemed ticked-off with the thought of her not caring about the girls. Sure he was their white-lighter, but so far he'd come off as a neurotic ass. "You haven't been around here long, Chris…But, I've learnt my lesson by now, if there's a loud noise and they're dealing with it, then don't interfere. I almost got killed once and I'm not in the mood right now to do it again."
It was awkwardly silent for a minute or two, until he finally spoke up. "How?"
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, standing from the floor and moving to stand before the book, in front of Chris. "Don't act like you care about me, we both know you don't. All you're interested in is the girls; you're their white-lighter. I know that being stuck in an attic with little ol' me is boring, but deal with it. I am…Oh, and I still don't trust you. And I probably never will." She said, crossing my arms.
He nodded in understanding, flipping through the book again. She sighed and shook her head again, wishing the sister's would just hurry up and vanquish the dam demon already. …Or…, she could go downstairs and see what was going on; to her risking death was better than being stuck in an attic with a shady white-lighter. The dogs were laying down now, most of them asleep, all apart from one of course - the littlest one. He sat patiently, watching her. It was a little unnerving, especially since it felt like he knew what was going on somehow, but she just shook it off as her being paranoid. Sometimes she had a tendency to do that.
"Chris!" Paige shouted from downstairs. He jumped at her voice and headed towards the attic door, pausing to look back at her.
"You'll trust me soon enough."
Panda shook her head and he left the room, heading downstairs to the girls. Once he disappeared from view she peeked out once more, double-checking that he wasn't around. When she was sure he wasn't coming back up, she stood behind the book, flipping the pages to find a certain spell. She knew she wasn't a witch, over the years that much was all she really knew, but she could still make potions. And she had actually met other mortals who said certain spells, they did work…but obviously weren't as strong since they weren't witches, but they still did work. Maybe if she did this spell she'd get answers, the one's she needed anyway. It'd probably only last for an hour or so, since she wasn't a real witch. But what was the worst that could happen? It would definitely satisfy her curiosity.
She smiled slightly once she found the right page, instantly reading over the words; The Truth Spell. As she scribbled the spell down she purposely ignored the stare down the littlest dog was given her.
~...~...~...~...~...~
After writing the spell down on a piece of paper, she headed downstairs, hoping that the girls were okay. Though once she heard Paige complaining, she knew they were fine. She found them all - minus Piper - in the living room, Paige clutching the spot behind her shoulder. Phoebe was in the kitchen, digging through the drawers for something. And then there was Chris, he just stood there, looking as creepy as ever - to her anyway.
"Hey, how'd it go?" She asked, knowing the paper with the spell was safely hidden in the front pocket of her tight skinny jeans.
"Not good. We blew up the demon, but I got hit, and apparently future-boy here can't heal." Paige replied, narrowing her eyes at Chris.
"Hey, you can't heal either!" He exclaimed in defense.
"I'm half white-lighter. How come you didn't tell us this before we hired you?"
"Because you didn't hire me! I was assigned to you's, by the Elders."
"What? All the good ones were taken so we got stuck with you, Marty McFly?" Panda asked earning a small glare from him, which made her feel a small burst of pride go off in herself.
"Any other little surprises you'd like to share with us?" Phoebe asked, entering the room with a wet rag and some other stuff.
"No." Chris replied, a little unsure. Phoebe nodded skeptically and settled down behind Paige, working on fixing her wound. "Look, I haven't been a white-lighter for very long, okay? And healing, it's big. And takes a while to learn how to it!"
"Great student-lighter." Phoebe mocked bitterly as she started to clean Paige's wound.
"You could've told us this like, oh, I don't know, maybe a month ago." Paige added spitting the words out.
"Well, I know one thing for sure, we're going to stop this demon-hunting for a while, that's for sure." Phoebe declared with a stern nod.
But that didn't set too well with the white-lighter, apparently. "Wait, why?"
"Can somebody please fold the towels from the dryer once it's done?! Thanks!" Piper cheerfully called from the next room over.
Phoebe raised her eyebrows up causing her forehead to crease up, "That's why."
Piper walked into the room, holding the almost two year old Wyatt with a rather-large bag thrown over her shoulder. "I put a casserole in the oven, you can check on it in about an hour or so, I will be at the club if you need me. Have fun!"
"Piper, wait." Panda called, determined to prove a point to the future boy once and for all.
"Yes Panda?"
"Could I borrow like... twenty-five dollars or so? I thought I'd go to the movies with my boyfriend."
"Of course! Take some money out of the kitchen drawer newest to the closest near the backdoor; you know where it's at. And have a good time sweetie, and make sure to use protection unless you want one of these darling little things sooner then you're ready!" She smiled at her before beaming down at baby Wyatt before leaving the house. Panda walked back into the living-room to the others, knowing that they'd heard and seen it all. Though they did look a little confused to what just happened.
"What the hell was that?" Phoebe asked, eyes narrowed in confusion.
Panda shrugged. "Me, proving a point. Piper would never let me borrow twenty-five bucks; she barely lets me borrow ten unless it's from allowance or lunch money. And, she'd never ever let me go to the movies alone in case a demon decided to attack, because ya know I'm never not protected."
"And the boyfriend?" Chris asked, sounding more bored and uninterested than anything... But yet there was something that flashed in his eyes that told her otherwise.
"That was a lie. I know that none of the sister's would let me go out with a guy that they didn't know."
"She's right yah know." Paige shrugged, nodding.
"But – " Panda cut piped back up again, "I am going out to the movies with a friend tonight."
Phoebe turned her head back down to the youngest and shortest in the house narrowing her eyes in at her, "With who little missy?"
"Only Zac, you guys have met once or twice…soooo, he's not a stranger, not really! So yep!" Panda finished quickly feeling her face heat up with all the older occupants of the room staring her down for a good long minute before future boy huffed turning to the remaining two of The Power of Three that were still in their right minds at the moment.
"Look, there are still three more demons on the list, and then we can take a little break." Chris tried.
"Do you have a quota or something?" Paige asked him, rolling her eyes.
"I told you guys before, I know from future knowledge that a demon is going to come after Wyatt. These are all just pre-emptive strikes." He shrugged.
"Look Chris, we like you a lot," Phoebe started. Panda scoffed and she sighed, changing her tactic. "Okay, most of us like you a lot. But we've been doing this a lot longer than you have, trust me, you've got to pace yourself and let us have a life!" She said before glancing down at her watch. "Oh, speaking of witch, I have to get ready for my lunch date before I'm late."
"I didn't know your boss was back in town." Paige said. Phoebe shrugged and paused, turning to face us all.
"No it's not with Jason, it's with Chad, the DJ, the one I'm not really interested in."
"Two demons, how about that? Two." Chris suggested, slightly pleading.
"No, Chris, and especially not until we find out what's wrong with Piper. And more importantly, Piper's powers." She said.
"I swear Leo did something to her before he left." Paige said.
"Well you know what? I think it's about time we orb him down here and ask him."
"I don't think that's possible." Chris shrugged.
"Well make it possible. Look, even if he doesn't care about Piper as his wife, as an Elder at the very least he should care about her powers!" She exclaimed.
Chris sighed and shook his head. "I can't."
"Yeah, you can. You just go up there and tell him to orb his butt down here." Paige said.
"That's not why I can't!" He exclaimed in frustration. Paige's eyes narrowed in along with Phoebe's, but in confusion. Panda's eyes narrowed in skepticism, she wanted to see how he would play this one out. "Look, I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't want to worry you two, but... Leo's missing."
"What?"
"Missing? For how long has he exactly been missing!?"
"Since the last time we saw him. Anyways the Elders think he's been kidnapped."
"By whom?" Phoebe asked.
"They don't know yet, they're still trying to figure it out I guess."
"Well at least they're trying to find him, right? God only knows what his kidnappers are doing to him." Panda said, looking directly at Chris. The white-lighter's eyes darkened slightly, as though challenging her to do something. "He might not even be kidnapped; maybe he's dealing with leaving Piper too. It's not like he just disappeared out of thin air." By this point she was sure Chris knew what she'd seen, if his glare was anything to go by.
"Yeah, well, either way, maybe Piper should know. Maybe he said something to her before he went missing. Chris can you watch Panda while we go to P3?" Phoebe asked as Paige stood from the couch, taking her sister's hand.
"No." Panda stated at the same time Chris replied with 'Yes'. The last thing she needed was to be stuck alone with him, especially now that he knew something was up. "My date…" She whined softly under her breath with a small pout.
"I thought it wasn't a date?" The most annoying voice she swore in all the world asked her.
She closed her eyes trying to calm her raising temper and annoyance with him before reopening, "It isn't." She hissed back with an 'Hmmph'.
"Oh?" He asked with a small smirk on his face, "Then why is it that you just said 'my date' Panda?"
"Maybe you should get your hearing check McFly, I think you're starting to hear things now, must've been that big time-jump you took…hmm maybe it's a sign that you're not supposed to be here and you should go back…?"
Chris frowned taking a few steps further into the room and closer to her, "No, I'm pretty sure my hearing is one hundred percent in tact still…so, he your boyfriend then?"
Now it was Panda's turn to frown, "Ugh…no he's not! We're just friends…and I don't know okay! Just leave me alone! It's not your business if he is or not!" She threw her hands in the air in frustration.
"Okay…" He nodded his head stiffly fidgeting ever so slightly.
It was silent for a few moments as the atmosphere of the room began to return back to normal. "So," Panda awkwardly muttered once the silence had gotten too awkward for her. Unfortunately she hadn't really planned this far ahead when she practicality threw him under the bus. "Guess I better... go check on the dogs about now and all." she said, heading for the stairs – but she didn't get very far. Chris threw an arm out to stop her from going anywhere, and she knew now that she was pretty much screwed.
"Oh no you don't." He stated. Panda sighed and turned, moving to sit down on the couch. He remained stood, instead choosing to cross his arms and glare down at her. "What was that about?"
"What was what about?" She asked trying to play dumb.
Chris chuckled humorlessly, shaking his head. "Don't even try it; you know what I'm talking about. You trying to snitch on me, Panda? I thought teenagers hated that."
She shrugged and wrung her hands nervously, knowing she'd gotten herself into a bit of a tough-spot now. "Uh...nope. Normal teens hate snitching; I'm not exactly opposed to the idea." He nodded and she continued - better to get it all out now. "I saw what you did to Leo."
"Really?" He asked, a little too calm about this if she had anything to say about it. "And what did I do to Leo?"
"I don't know yet. Because if I did then he'd be here right now, wouldn't he? I was on my way home when I saw you both talking, he took off and you sent him somewhere else. Big questions is; Where…? Kill me if you want, I will figure it out soon enough." She admitted, shrugging her shoulders. Chris moved pretty quick and leaned down, glaring again. "What? Are you actually going to kill me, Chris? Whit-lighter gone bad…?"
"Why can't you just leave it alone, Panda?" He gritted, obviously refraining from kicking her ass or at least shaking her till she had some sense to knowing not to butt in where she didn't belong. But she have to hand it to the guy, he had some pretty good self-control.
"Wyatt puts up his shield around you, you sent Leo off to god-knows where and we haven't seen him in at least a month. You claim to be from the future and helping us, but you don't tell us any of the bad things until they've already happened. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's finding out people's secrets, things they don't want us to know. You can lie to them, but you can't lie to me. When I find out where Leo is, they'll know, and you can't do anything about it." She said, her voice dangerously sweet. She was pretty sure she was asking for it, but if he did do something, then it was more proof that her theories were right, that he was the bad-guy here.
"I'll wipe it from your memory." Chris threatened, moving to stand straight again.
"You're a white-lighter, not a witch." She stated, tilting her head slightly to observe him more closely.
"Can't hurt to try, right?"
"You know what; you're right about that one…it can't hurt to try."
His eyes immediately narrowed in confusion and then turned to slight worry before alarm panic.
Panda jumped up from the couch and sprinted into the kitchen, pulling the folded piece of paper out of her jeans. Chris had the advantage, obviously, with him being able to orb and everything. Still, she made sure to keep moving. Reading and running wasn't the easiest task, but what the hell, she was a chick, so she could pull it off. Plus the motivation you get when running from a psycho was pretty amazing.
"Panda!"
"Back off asshole!" She yelled, running into the basement. The door had a lock on it, but she knew it wouldn't keep the white-lighter out for very long, actually if he just orbed like a smart whitelighter then it wouldn't last more then a few seconds. So she knew she had to do this quick.
"Pandora! You don't know what you're doing!" She heard him shut at her through the door as she looked down at the paper in the dim lighting.
"For those who want the truth revealed,
Opened hearts and secrets unsealed,
From now until it's now again,
After which the memory ends.
Those who now are in this house,
Will hear the truth from other's mouths."
Now, she had never said one of the girls' spells before out loud but she was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to feel how it did. The spell worked, of course, she felt it taking hold around her but she also felt the intense pain that radiated through her head. She also knew that she didn't have much time until the spell wore off, because while it should've lasted twenty-four hours, she wasn't a witch, so there wasn't as much magic in it. If there was ever a time to interrogate Chris, now would be the time to do it. Holding her head with one hand, she unlocked the door with the other, hesitatingly moving into the kitchen - he wasn't there.
Though she did find him in the living-room, sat down on the couch, hands resting on his lap as he stared at the floor. At first she was worried the spell had terribly back-fired or something, but by the intense anger in his eyes, she had a feeling she had got it spot on.
"You shouldn't have done that, Panda." He said, shaking his head.
She sighed and moved to sit on the arm-chair, wincing as her headache continued. Maybe this was what happened when mortals did magic. Most likely the reason why they kept all this spell casting to the witches. Still, as harsh as this pain was, she needed answers, and she needed them now. "I had to."
"Why?" He immediately shot, eyes narrowed. "Why couldn't you just leave it alone?"
"Because I don't trust you." She answered. It was the truth too, which reminded her one of the effects of the spell - the caster told the truth too as well. This was bound to get messy.
"Why?"
"I can't trust you.
"Why can't you?! It's not that hard Panda, why can't you see that I'm not the bad guy, I'm the good guy in all of this! I'm trying to protect you and the sisters, I'm looking out for you trying to keep you all alive!"
Panda narrowed her eyes in at him in determination, not sure if that was a part of the spell working or not, "Are you really here to save Wyatt?"
"Yeah, from himself."
"What does that mean?" She asked, though she immediately gasped as another pain ran through her mind. What the heck?.
"It means he turns evil in the future, that's why I'm here. To change the world that he creates." Chris answered honestly - not like he had a choice in it. Though he did look pretty annoyed when he had to answer, something that made her a slightly amused with the whole situation.
"Where did you send..." She couldn't continue, the pain became too intense. Falling from the armrest of the sofa to the sofa crushing she grabbed her head trying to push the pain out of her head. Maybe Chris was up to something, maybe it was his fault the spell was causing her so much pain. Maybe she had gone too far this time.
"Hurts, doesn't it?"
"Yes. What did you do to me, Chris?"
The white-lighter shrugged standing from his seat coming towards her, crouching so that they were the same level. "Nothing. It's magic doing this to you."
"Can you make it stop?" Panda asked, taking in deep slowed breaths.
"Yeah, I can. But I'll do it on one condition," He said with a stern nod. She would've so protested had she not felt like someone was hammering a needle into her forehead. "You leave everything alone, stop looking for Leo."
"No." Panda managed, immediately regretting it as the pain grew.
"Hey, it's your funeral. That pain's just going to get bigger and bigger until you can't take it anymore, it'll probably feel like an aneurism." The calmness in his tone was irritating, and if she could've punched him right she would have, but she had bigger problems at the moment.
"Where. Is. Leo?"
"Valhalla." He reluctantly answered, the spell obviously still working its magic on him.
"That's all I wanted to know." Panda smiled...well more like grimaced in triumph at her success, "Now was that so hard?" Panda giggled pushing her golden blonde hair back and away from her now-sweaty forehead.
"Yes. You happy now, hmmm?" He paused watching the young teen before him hiss in agony." The pains getting worse now isn't it? See this is what happens when mortals do magic, the power is too much and it's going to kill you Panda. C'mon, just agree to let this all go and I'll take the pain away."
"Why do you even care, hmm?"
Chris's face turned a shade of red gritting out from clutched teeth, "Because I do! I care so much that it hurts! I can barely concentrate on my mission because of you! It's driving me crazy!"
"Ugh, fine, whatever." Panda groaned back. "No need to get your panties in a twist over it." Obviously she wouldn't be letting this go, but he didn't need to know that at the moment.
"I mean it Panda. After I get rid of the effects of the spell, let it go...everything that was said! All of it."
"So do I, jackass."
"No need for hostility."
"You go through this and tell me there's no need for hostility." She snapped, earning a light chuckle from him.
"Good, if you're able to insult me then you're able to say this reversal spell."
"Why can't you say it?" Panda whined, leaning back to rest her head on the couch cushion.
"Because you're the one that cast it!" He exclaimed, a little more than annoyed with her now and her childlike behavior. "Now, repeat after me; I call upon the Beaumont power,"
"What?"
"Just say it."
"Fine. I call upon the Beaumont power,"
"To help me in my troubled hour,"
"To help me in my troubled hour,"
"That which I forced to be revealed,"
"That which I forced to be revealed,"
"Hide again, remain concealed."
"Hide again, remain concealed."
Like before, she felt the spell work it's magic. Obviously the truth-spell wore off and the reversal-spell kicked in - not that she was complaining. As soon as she uttered the words after Chris, the pain went away. The relief was instantaneous, and she was partly grateful for Chris' spell. Still, it didn't mean she trusted him now, if anything she was even more wary. No mortal had ever been in pain when saying spells, so why had she felt it? It must've been something he'd done! She couldn't think of any other reason for it. Still, she was pretty tired out from the pain, too much to even come up with a good insult.
"So, how d'you feel?" Chris asked, standing at his full height.
"Fuckin' fantastic. How did you know that spell? It's not even in the book." Panda said, clearing her throat afterwards.
"First of all, language Panda, language. And second of, being from the future has its perks. You may want to stay down though; it'll take a while for your head to get back together." He shrugged, "Guess you might need to call that boyfriend of yours and cancel you little date for later, huh?"
"Yea, and no, I'm going to my room." She sighed, "And I will not be canceling on him unless the underworld freezes over, and that aint happening anytime soon, now is it future boy?"
Chris's only responds was a scoff with a deep frown and his eyebrows pulled down in annoyance.
"Oh, and hey, Chris." she called as he started for the kitchen and she was almost to the staircase. He turned to face her, waiting in the archway. "I still don't trust you."
He smirked and nodded, shrugging as he turned back again. "Didn't think you would."
~...~...~...~...~...~
She'd been lying in her bed for the last hour and a half napping on and off during that time knowing she had till around six thirty before Zac would be by to pick her up for the evening. She was slowly dozing off again when she swore she heard her bedroom door creak open, but she pushed it to the side and rolled over onto her side, her back facing the door. She wrapped one around her waist and tucked the other under her pillow and pulled one leg up slightly having it bent at the knee.
It was only a few moments later that Panda felt the side of the bed dip in and a hand reach over to push some of her hair that had fallen into her face back behind her ear. She instantly tensed snapping her eyes opening and yanking her head to the side getting ready to scream at Chris for even daring to enter her room!
Her room!
"Chris, what do you think you're doi – hmmph…" Panda was silenced by a hand slamming down onto her mouth forcing her into silence… and it was only then that she realized that it wasn't Chris or even his stupid hand that was covering her mouth.
It was a man dressed in all black. He looked to be about Chris's age or so and she could see the power radiating off him…he looked down at her seemingly satisfied at being able to silent her with no fuss while bringing his other hand forward to glide down across the side of her face... The touch felt almost soothing in a way…
That's when she knew she was in serious trouble.
Panda tried jerking away from the stranger but it was no use. She was desperately wishing that this really was Chris and not some demon; warlock; witch, or whoever the hell it was.
For the first time in a long time, she truly felt terrified.
And alone.
DunDun-Dunnnnnn! Cliff Hanger...!
