All Hell Breaks Loose
A/N: Well here's the third chapter. I hope you like it and, as always, feel free to message me if there's something you don't understand.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Charmed, but I do own the characters I made up and this plot.
Thanks to lizardmomma: I didn't realize that I had been spelling Coop's name as Coup. The word 'coup' actually comes from the french word, 'coup d'ete' which means to overthrow. Thanks for letting me know lizardmomma. (Also I've been taking french for two years now so I am totally embarrassed that I didn't catch that :D)
"No!" The anguished cry ripped from Billies throat, age old sorrows pouring forth, and ancient wounds being violently reopened. "Please, God, no!" She cried again, begging for divine intervention. "No, no, no, no." Billie sobbed, each 'no' coming out weaker and more violent them before. "NO!" She screamed, wishing she had died instead of her daughter. "Please.." She whispered, her kness giving out. Tears poured from her eyes and her face turned red: she was the picture of grief.
"Oh my God." Piper whispered in a hushed voice, tears also streaming freely from her eyes, dripping down her neck, and finally settling on her blouse.
"Oh, Christina." Phoebe sobbed, delicately moving over the the hysterical Billie.
"No, no, no." Billie whispered in denial, cradling her child's body to her chest. She wasn't gone. Christina was alive and well. She had to be. She just had to be. "Please." Billie whispered to her daughters broken body. Gently, Billie pulled back to pet Cristina's blood red hair. "No." She again, shaking her head in denial.
"Billie, I am so sorry." Phoebe told her, touching her shoulder gently. Billie flinched violently and started crawling away from Phoebe, dragging her daughters body with her. Phoebe sat there on the floor, now covered in Cristina's blood, and raised her hands to her face, devastated.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Paige whispered, her body racked with sobs. She couldn't believe it. She really couldn't believe that Christina was gone. It didn't make sense. How could this have happened? How could things have gone so wrong?
"Leave." Piper commanded the children sharply. "We need to talk to Billie alone." She added, much more gently. They nodded in understanding and quickly orbed/hearted/shimmered out. Piper's body shuddered as she sighed, taking in the grotesque seen before her. "Billie.." Piper started but trailed off, not having words for the tragedy that had befallen the women she thought of as a sister. "I'm so sorry." Piper tried, knowing that 'sorry' would never be enough. Her face fell and she collapsed on the floor next to Phoebe.
Phoebe rested her head on Pipers shoulder and felt her sisters comforting embrace encircle her. "Piper..." She tried. But she couldn't. There were no words for this. There was no way to describe the wound that was in her heart, or the throbbing of her own heart- now a cruel mockery of Christiana's death.
"I know, honey." Piper said desperately, wishing more then anything they could've saved her. "I know." Piper repeated, completely breaking down. "Paige." Piper said with grief, inviting her youngest sister to join them.
Paige sobbed loudly as she sat with Piper and Phoebe. This wasn't right. They should've saved her. "Why couldn't we save her?" Paige asked no one in particular. And no one had an answer. Paige had loved Christina like another niece and now... now she was gone. Now she wouldn't get to have the life that she could've or would've had. Would've had, if not for the demons that attacked.
"Please, please, please." Billie whispered over and over. Her grief unimaginable by most people. "Don't leave me. Please don't leave me." She tired. Gently Billie shook her daughter and, when there was no response, a devastated howl ripped from her empty throat. "Christina Helene Jenkins you will answer me." Billie tired desperately, loosing all sense of herself.
There was no answer from her, Christina was really and truly gone. "Don't you dare." Billie said, sudden anger flaring up in her. "Don't you dare die." She couldn't loose her only daughter, her only connection to her family. "I... love... you, Christina." Billie finally choked out, hating how difficult it was to tell her own daughter that she loves her. "I love you baby. Your a good girl and mommy loves you very much. Wait for me." Billie whispered in her daughters ear, her heart completely shattered, and her world gone.
Zelar paced his cave anxiously. He had sent many demons after the charmed ones children, and it had been a half hour already. He was worried, not for the safety of his followers, but for his plan and his life. If they couldn't kill these witches then he wouldn't be able to lead evil above ground.
Zelar was also waiting for demons that he had sent on a different mission. Zelar was incredibly confident, one might even argue arrogant, and he was positive that the witches would die tonight. Therefore he had decided that he would undertake an important ritual tonight. The ritual of initiation.
He would be the first Source in decades, but Zelar was up to the challenge. He had promised the underworlds occupants that he would lead evil into a new year and a new beginning. He was confident that tonight would be a victory so, therefore, the obvious thing for him to do would be to celebrate his achievement by becoming the underworlds leader; by becoming the Source.
So, Zelar was incredibly disappointed when a significantly fewer demons shimmered back in then had shimmered out.
"What happened?" He asked sharply, rage radiating off of him in arduous waves. His eyes changed drastically from a small fire, to an immense inferno.
"There were too many of them." One particularly brave demon stepped forward. Fury and hatred billowed off of him in overwhelming waves.
"And?" Zelar asked incredulously, they had planned for something like that to go wrong. "We were supposed to be prepared!" He exclaimed dangerously, ready to strike that demon down but not wanting to ruin his numbers any further.
Perhaps the demons knew Zelars hesitation to loose anymore demons tonight because his upper lip curled up in a sneer and he scoffed. "Prepared?" He asked disbelievingly. "There is no 'prepared' against the charmed ones and their legacy. They too strong!"
"We knew they would be strong!" Zelar thundered. "It was your job to incapacitate them."
The demon who had been speaking stepped back and remained silent, seething the whole time.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't smite you all where you stand." Zelar demanded, readying a fireball to throw into the crowd. He knew they would all dodge it but he didn't care. At this moment all he was seeing was red. This plan did not go well, and worse; the Charmed Ones and their legacy would be looking for him now. Zelar had to act fast.
"We did kill a girl." A female demon informed him apprehensively, eying the fireball in his hand. Zelar immediately put the fireball out and turned towards the demon.
"What girl?" He asked, hope lining his tone.
"A small child. Maybe five years of age. She didn't look like one of the charmed one's children though."
"That's right." A different demon said, this one with a bald head. "She was the daughter of the former ultimate power. The Jenkins girl."
"Really?" Zelar murmured to himself, a malicious grin marring his features. "Well then. I guess tonight wasn't a complete loss after all." At
the skeptical looks he received, Zelar continued. "A new plan must be made but rest assured, the charmed ones children will fall. And after then the charmed ones, and then evil will rule." He paused. "I still have the legendary sword. We will regather our forces and then we will succeed in killing each and every last one of them." He finished his speech with an evil grin, showing off his surprisingly pointy teeth.
Cheers rose from the crowd and fireballs were tossed at the roof of the cage in triumph.
"Someone get me Levoca." Zelar called over the crowd before muttering to himself, "We have much to discuss."
Chris, Bianca, Wyatt, DJ, Henry Jr, Pearl and Prue shimmered, orbed, and hearted over to Phoebe's house. Coup had managed to get the younger kids and mortals out of the way of the battle... everyone except for Christina.
Solem looks covered their faces and Pearl, Prue and Henry Jr's faces were wet with tears.
Bianca's face was a look of cool indifference but if you watched her long enough her mask would crack momentarily, showing the guilt and fear that hid underneath, before quickly being prepared. She felt guilty for a hundred and different reasons; for not saving Christina, for letting down her newly acquired family and for thinking that she was glad that it wasn't Chris.
Chris was holding Bianca's hand in a crushingly tight grip, though neither of them seemed to notice. He was shaking from head to toe, small convulsions would shot through his body like electricity was shooting up and down his spin. He couldn't get the image of Christina lying dead and broken out of his head. He couldn't get Billies screams out of his head, or the scent of her blood...
Wyatt stood stiffly next to his younger cousins, holding them as they cried. He was trying not to let it get to him, but how could it not. He's lost innocents before, it's part of the job sometimes. But he's always been able to be so detached from them. He's only known them for a few hours, or maybe days, once they died. But Christina... Wyatt's known her for her entire life. Her incredibly short life.
DJ had walked over to his father the second he shimmered in. DJ tired, but he couldn't seem to force words past a blockage in his throat. Derek somehow understood because the second he saw DJ walking towards him he enveloped him in a tight hug and didn't ask any questions. For that, DJ was grateful. He had always seen the Halliwells as this greater then life force and now, to see firsthand that they weren't invincible, DJ was scared.
Pearl immediately ran to her father and threw her arms around his waist, burying her head in his stomach. Coop embraced his daughter with worry, wondering what had traumatized her so much.
Prue was crying, but she wasn't sure she was feeling it. This whole thing just didn't feel real. How could it be real? Her family and Billie fight demons all the time. They do lots of good acts in the world. The world would repay them this way. The 'powers that be' wouldn't do this to them. It couldn't be happening... It couldn't. Because if it happened, if it was real, then Prue would be forced to feel the weight of her cousins death. A weight that she would place on her shoulders, a blame that would shame her for the rest of her life. And Prue didn't think she could handle that.
Henry Jr was trying to stay strong. He was a guy, and guys didn't cry. Especially not 14 year olds. However, Henry Jr couldn't help it. What he had seen was so horrific, so terrible.. Henry Jr felt another shudder rip through his body and didn't bother to hold back his sobbs. He felt his older cousin pass him off to his father and felt his dad's panicked arms wrapping around him.
"Hey, it's alright. It's going to be alright." Henry tried to comfort his distraught son, but his words only seemed to make him worse. Henry was panicking now, wanting desperately to know what had happened, but not wanting to ask.
"No it's not." Henry Jr whispered desolately.
"What happened?" Henry finally asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know. Wyatt stepped in at this point, wanting to save his younger family members from the pain of having to relive that awful moment. Gently, Wyatt shifted Prue into Chris's arms and walked over to Henry.
"I think that adults should follow me." He said gravely. Victor, Henry, Coop and Wyatt walked into the other room.
"Did something bad happen?" Purity asked innocently.
"Ya." Chris said, unable to form a coherent thought, much less a sentence. "Something bad happened." He said, nodding his head at her question and trying to control the raw grief that threatened to overwhelm him. Tears started to fall from his eyes and Chris shook out his hair, hoping to hide his face and stay strong for his family.
"Hey." Bianca said quietly. She gently kissed Chris's cheek and took Prue from his arms, allowing him time to grief. Prue clung to Bianca, having gotten used to having her around and having begun to think of her like a sister.
"She's dead." Prue whispered brokenly, not knowing what else she could say. Or if there even was anything to say.
"I know, honey." Bianca murmured, stroking Prue's hair gently. "I know." She repeated, feeling the full weight of her own tears blistering her eyes.
"What happened?" Pandora and Patricia said at the same time, but with different tones of voice. Pandora was weary whereas Patricia was petrified and Purity merely looked solemn.
"Did someone die?" Pamela asked quietly, wishing that she had stayed and helped fight. Maybe then whatever had happened wouldn't have.
"Yes." Bianca answered sadly.
"Grams warned me. She told me to tell everyone to leave. I should've listened better." Purity mumbled guilty, looking at her hands as though expecting them to be covered in blood.
"Hey, that's not true." Pamela said, walking over to her sister and pulling Purity into a comforting hug. Pamela was terrified, there was no denying that, but she knew that whatever happened wasn't Purity's fault.
"You're only nine. You couldn't have known what was going to happen." Pearl said miserably, walking away from where she had been standing, and gently stroking Purity's hair, hating the tragedy that had befallen their family and Billies.
"Who?" Patricia asked, barely holding it together. In some ways she didn't want to know. In other ways if she didn't know right this second, she felt as though she would explode.
Bianca exchanged a look with Chris, not wanting to overstep her bounds. After all, these weren't her cousins. She really felt like they were, but Chris had known them his entire life, just like he had known Christina her entire life, so if anyone had a right to deliver this news, it was Chris. Chris scrubbed a hand across his face sadly, looking more exhausted and worn then his cousins had ever seen him
"Well?" Pandora demanded anxiously. She couldn't take this waiting. What if it was her mom who was dead, or one of her aunts, or... Pandora just couldn't do this. She didn't want any of them to die.
Chris stood up and walked over to Pamela, Patricia, Pandora, Purity and Pearl. Chris looked at Pearl, giving her permission to walk away if this was to much for her. Pearl moved away from the small group and walked over to where Bianca, Henry Jr and Prue where standing.
"It was Christina. She got hurt and we couldn't heal her in time." Chris said, biting his lip at the looks of shock, distress, hurt, grief and disbelief that covered his cousins faces. "She's gone." Chris reiterated, flinching at the loud sob that came from Pamela. "I'm so sorry." He added, his voice breaking and tears flowing down his faces faster then ever. He hated having to break the news to his cousins, he hated having to break their hearts.
Distressed sobs rose from the small group as they huddled together, Chris trying his hardest not to fall apart and failing. Christina had been like another cousins, a little sister, to him and he couldn't believe that she had died right in front of him. She had been hit and Chris hadn't noticed. How could he ever forgive himself for that?
The adults walked back into the room, each with red rimmed eyes and some of them still crying. Coop immediately took his three daughters into his arms and mourned with them. "I know it hurts." Coop murmured gently. "But mourning is showing how much you loved that person. You're honoring her memory by mourning her. It's alright to cry." Coop said comfortingly, directing this last statement at Wyatt, who was trying to stay strong for his family, and Bianca who had yet to shed a tear.
Wyatt immediately went over to Chris and pulled him into his arms, trying to soothe his baby brother. Victor walked over with him and rubbed Wyatt and Chris's backs soothingly, his own grief unable to be voiced. Before long they were joined by Prue with Bianca standing awkwardly in the background. "It's alright Bianca." Wyatt whispered, afraid his voice would crack if he spoke much louder. Bianca's eyes immediately began to water again and her bottom lip trembled.
"Come here, baby." Chris called sadly, making room for her in the group hug he, Wyatt and Prue were enveloped in. Bianca moved forward gratefully and thrust her arms around Chris, Wyatt and Prue.
"I'm sorry." Bianca murmured, feeling her tears overflowing. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her." Bianca said again, choking on her tears. Chris kissed her head gently.
"I know baby." He answered just as Wyatt said, "It's not your fault, Bianca. It's no ones fault."
Once Henry had entered the room, he immediately took his kids into his arms and let them cry. Henry didn't know what to say, he didn't think there was anything to say. He felt horrible, not just because of her death, but because he knew there was no way he could've helped to prevent this from happening. Without any powers he's as defenseless as she was.
The small families eventually huddled together, mourning for a lost life.
Billie, the Halliwells, the Matthews, and friends of the family were all gathered at the same mausoleum where Prue's funeral was held. Phoebe, Piper, Leo and Victor were having intensely sad feelings of deja vu, but they all were trying to stay strong for their children and their friend.
Billie was a complete mess, she couldn't do this. She couldn't bury her daughter. Christina hadn't even had a chance to live yet. This wasn't right. It wasn't right! After all the good Billie had done, this was how she was repayed. Billie had fought more evil then most people even know exists and she was still alive and kicking. So why did her daughter have to die when she didn't even get a chance to live yet. Why?
"I would like to lead you into a chant. If you can, please sing with me and show our lost sister how dearly she is loved and will be missed." Gently the High Priestess began to chant. After a few moments other voices joined her and soon a large chorus was morning their loss.
"We all come from the Goddess
And to Her we shall return
Like a drop of rain
Flowing to the ocean
Hoof and Horn
Hoof and Horn
All that dies shall reborn
Corn and grain
Corn and grain
All that falls shall rise again."
Eventually the song gently drifted away, and the only sounds filling the mausoleum was sobbing.
"That which belongs to fellowship and love. That which belongs to the circle, remains with us. The wheel turns. As life is a day, so our sister has passed into night. Nothing is final, and we who remain behind know that one day, we will once again share the bread and wine with our sister. O' blessed spirit, we bid you farewell, for you await a new destiny. Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again."
The Wiccan High Priestess finished her speech and picked up a lenght of rope. Gently she put the rope into a silver bowl filled with water. After resting her hands over the bowl momentarily, she raised her head and blew out the candles.
"Blessed Be." She finished, bowing her head at the large crowd of mourners.
"Blessed Be." Was echoed back at her, voices filled with pain.
A/N: That is an actual Wiccan chant by the way. I'm Wiccan so I thought that I'd include that. I'm not really sure what the name is but it's been stuck in my head forever. You can see it on youtube if you want to look it up.
I know that this chapter was all about mourning but the next chaper will be getting away from the mourning a little bit.