HTNG: The Rise of Avalon

by Lawsy89

As the next generation of Halliwell witches fight against evil, while trying to live normal lives. One will discover that their destiny, is far greater than they could have ever imagined.

4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.

AN. Sorry to have kept all my patient readers waiting for so long. This chapter took on a life of its own, getting longer and longer – it's still not done, becoming twenty pages, nearly twenty thousand words and as such I've decided to split it into two parts. I've also taken creative liberties with some of the history discussed.

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CHARMED: THE NEXT GENERATION

"The Rise of Avalon"

Chapter Four - Part 1.

September 15th 2027

It had been over two weeks since the Prophet of Avalon's voice had been heard. The Elders still in a state of shock at what she had spoken, about the rising of Arthur's heir. An heir that had long been forgotten about, the myth of Avalon and Arthur's rule falling into legend – even among those who should know better. The name of the heir still remaining hidden, but that many believed the heir spoken about was the twice blessed, Wyatt Halliwell.

"This is pointless. We know who the heir is, it can be no one else and we should have brought him here and began his training, the moment the prophecy was spoken." A disgruntled Elder by the name of Borin said.

"It is not our place to train the heir." Another Elder than spoke.

"Nor do we know for certain that Wyatt Halliwell is the one who was spoken of." Finished another. "Excalibur is often surprising in who he chooses." He then mused, thinking back to when Arthur had been chosen by Excalibur.

The legendary sword surprising not just him, when he selected at the time, a lowly bastard to rise up and rule the great city.

"It does not matter either way." Sandra then addressed the room, when arguments had, again, started to break out over who Arthur's heir would be. "As Niall said, it is not our place to train the heir, nor is it us who decides who that heir shall be. We can only wait."

The Elders having no power over the heir, or the city, something that greatly displeased many in the room. Which was why they desperately wanted to find the heir and train them, as to impose some of their own will, their own guidance, on the heir. A course of action that turned Sandra's stomach.

It was no wonder Gideon had turned, or that Leo had decided to leave them, she thought. We are far from what we once were.

"In the meantime, I am sending the Halliwells their new whitelighter. Today." Odin announced, there having been much talk on the appointment over the last two weeks. Much debate. "I believe with the announcement of Avalon's Heir, that it is imperative for us to have someone close to the Halliwells. We were not the only ones to hear the Prophet's call, nor will we be the only ones to assume, that the heir spoken of is the twice blessed, Wyatt Halliwell."

A few selective demons, as well as powerful Seers and other magical beings, also being awarded the privilege of being able to hear the sacred words of Avalon's Prophet. With many, the Elders had already heard, concluding just as they had, that the heir spoken of was the foretold Twice Blessed. It was why there had been a rapid increase in demon attacks against the eldest Halliwell child. Those who were once too afraid to stand against him, now even more afraid of letting him ascend his throne.

"Yes. The heir must be protected." A consensus was reached by all but one.

Sandra shaking her head but staying quiet. She did not outright believe like the others, that Wyatt Halliwell was destined to be the new and final King of Avalon. The part of the prophecy that most intrigued her, while the others seemed to overlook it, being the Prophet's clear words of the last King, as well the mention of the heir's Queen. Having heard no mention of the twice blessed being in a relationship or close to any female other than his family.

Truth be told, the eldest Halliwell child seemed to have a problem with monogamy. And a short attention span when it came to women.

Sandra also knowing that Avalon would always exist, could not be destroyed, a fate that was tied to Excalibur and whomever the sword chose. The legendary city resting for decades, sometimes even centuries, between rulers. Rulers who were chosen for their heart's, Arthur had once said, while describing how the sword chose its new King.

A new King that Sandra believed that when chosen, would be the last Avalon would have, not because the city or its new ruler would fall. But because somehow a King would rise, that would never need to be replaced. The mention of the heir's Queen also making her think of the younger Halliwell brother, who if the rumors were to be believed was mated. His Queen already by his side... were the Prophet's words, leaving Sandra to ponder if the heir spoken about was not the twice blessed as the others believed, but perhaps his younger brother?

HTNG

Something was coming.

Chris could feel it. A feeling that he had first felt two weeks ago and that had only continued to grow stronger as the days continued to pass. His dreams at night being plagued with images of a grand and majestic throne room. A room that he had seen once before the night of Prue's birthday, with the same soft, enchanting music he had heard that night, calling to him again even now. Only this time the room held something that it didn't the first time Chris had seen it. Something that called out to his entire being, a sword.

A beautiful and ancient looking sword, that Chris felt mesmerized by. The blade of which was covered in markings. Markings that appeared as old as the sword itself, shining like fire, as if they were burned into the metal of the blade. The tip of which was embedded in the stone floor, at the altar of the large black thrones. His hand, as if under a spell, reaching out to grasp the black leather handle of the long and deadly looking sword. With everything inside of him, screaming out that he needed to claim what was rightfully his, but he couldn't touch it. The sword, no matter how hard he tried, seeming to remain just outside of his reach.

Chris also not being able to shake off the feeling of familiarity the sword seemed to hold for him. Or the hollow ache that he now felt, from not being able to touch it. To wield it. Watching as the markings on the sword faded away and not sensing when he was no longer alone.

"It is time." A soft voice than spoke, pulling Chris' attention away from where the sword lay and turning around to see a beautiful woman with long stark white hair, in a blue dress, standing before him.

She was young, Chris could see, but her eyes were old. Very old.

"Who are you?" He asked, but she didn't answer, just smiled. "Where am I? Why do I keep returning to this place?" He continued, the questions that had been plaguing his mind for weeks, falling from his lips.

Still the unknown woman smiled. "Who I am doesn't matter. It is who you are, who you are destined to become, that is why you are here."

She walked towards him, his instincts telling him to not be afraid, that she didn't mean him any harm.

"What do you mean, who I am, who am I?" Chris asked, as her feet came to a stop directly in front of him.

"You are who we've been waiting for." She told him, placing a hand on his cheek. "And it is time for you to claim what it is rightfully yours. Now. Before it is stolen by those, who are not worthy." Her hand fell from his face.

"I don't understand." Chris admitted, nothing the young woman had said, making any sense to him.

"You will." She assured him. "But first you must trust yourself. Trust what it is you've been feeling, sensing. It will lead you to where you must go." She stepped back. "I'll be waiting for you, Christopher."

Were the last words he heard, before the room around him faded away, his eyes blinking open to the familiar sight of Bianca's, now his and Bianca's bedroom. He had been living here for the past two weeks, ever since his family discovered the truth about Bianca, a truth that as he expected, they couldn't look past. A part of him feeling guilty for walking away from his family like he had, but he didn't regret the decision. Feeling more angry at his family for not understanding or even trying to understand his relationship with Bianca.

A relationship that couldn't and that he wouldn't allow to be broken by anyone, not even his family. His family who was completely unaware that he had plans to propose to Bianca, just as soon as the custom ring he had ordered made was finished. A ring that he had spent months designing, wanting it to be perfect. Having searched specifically for a rare type of gemstone. A gemstone that he could trust no human jeweler with. Instead having the ring forged by his friends in the magical community. Friends whose skills with jewels, metals and stones, outmatched by far, that of any humans.

"Good morning, sleepy-head." He was then pulled from his thoughts by the sound of his favorite voice.

Turning his head to see Bianca, in nothing but a racy pair of black lingerie and a black silk kimono, as she exited the bathroom. His eyes eagerly taking in, her perfectly toned form.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." She said, before walking over to him and giving him a short kiss on his lips, as she sat down on the edge of their bed.

"What time is it?" Chris asked, the sun he could see shining outside the windows not giving him any indication to how late or early it was.

"Just after ten." Bianca answered. So still morning, Chris thought, grateful for the weekend off. "Was it the same room again?" She then asked, referring to his dream and what had woken him.

His dreams of late, not being of battles, but of an empty room that Chris had described as something from a time long since passed.

Chris nodded. "Only I wasn't alone this time. There was a woman there."

"A woman, hmm... should I be jealous?" Bianca teased, with a quirk of her eyebrow, causing Chris to roll his eyes.

But Bianca knew that despite being five years older than Chris, that there was no other woman for him and no reason for her to worry.

"Never. She spoke to me, told me that she had been waiting for me and that it was time for me to claim what is rightfully mine." He explained, telling Bianca how she had spoken of Chris coming to find her. "There was also a sword there, that I've never seen before, but felt as though I had. I felt drawn to it in a way that I can't really explain, but it felt as if... felt as if it was calling out to me. As if it was looking for me." He shook his head. "God, I know how crazy that sounds, even by our standards."

Bianca took his hand.

"It doesn't sound crazy." She assured him, trusting his instincts even when he seemed to doubt them. "Tell me, this woman that spoke to you, did you feel anything malicious from her or that she was lying to you, playing you?" She asked.

Chris taking a moment to recall the beautiful woman and the way he had felt around her. The trust that was there immediately upon seeing her and the feeling that he needed to listen to her, to heed her warning. Trusting both in her words and her intentions, that she meant him no harm.

"No." He then answered. "I don't know why or how, but I can trust her." And knew that he had to listen to what she had told him.

The acceptance of that very notion, making the pull he felt inside of him stronger.

Bianca nodded. "Okay then and this sword that you felt you had seen before, do you think maybe this is what you've been sensing lately?" She asked, believing that the objects sudden appearance in his dream must have some importance or significance, though what she didn't know. "That the woman and the sword are somehow connected not only to each other. But perhaps even to, who or what, has the underworld in such a panic lately?"

The two of them being acutely aware of the increase in demon attacks over the last two weeks. Attacks that seemed to focus on his older brother and attacks that no one seemed to know the cause of. The only bit of information that either Chris or Bianca had managed to find out through some of their low-level contacts, was that the underworld was afraid. Something had made them afraid. With only a few select demons, factions and powerful seers, it appeared, actually knowing what it was they were afraid of.

Could the sword be what has them in such an uproar, Chris wondered. Recalling, beneath the awe and wonder he had felt, the immense power that seemed to radiate from it.

"I think it's far too big of a coincidence for them not to be connected or at least related somehow." Chris said, having nothing to support why he felt that way, except for something deep inside of him, that was telling him that it was the sword that many in the underworld was after.

The sword that he was sure was calling out to him, even now, and had started calling out to him, two weeks ago, just before all the attacks started. With the same instinct telling him that he needed to protect the sword, just as the mystery woman in his dream had done.

"Especially with the power I could feel emanating from that sword, it was... indescribable, Bi." He continued. "I've never felt power like that before and I don't know how the demons know about it, but I know they can't have it. I have to find it."

"We have to find it." Bianca corrected. There being no way that she was letting Chris go off on his own, to find something that the entire underworld may possibly be after. "I assume you have a way or at least an idea, how to?" She prompted.

Chris nodded. "She told me to trust myself. Trust what it is that I've been feeling and that it would lead me to where I need to go. To her." He explained, letting his eyes close for a moment and focusing entirely on the pull he felt in his heart.

Embracing, not fighting this time, the feeling that had everything inside of him, now humming in absolute delight. Not allowing his body to physically follow the pull that was calling to him. But allowing his mind to drift and being surprised when he found himself standing amongst what appeared to be the ruins of a small village, overrun in brush and surrounded by a lush forest. Not seeing any immediate trace of a sword, or the beautiful woman in blue from his dream.

Chris pulled back.

"That was... not what I was expecting." He said, explaining to Bianca what he had seen and more importantly what he hadn't.

Bianca just grinned, looking excited. She loved a good adventure, a good hunt.

"You didn't expect it to be that easy did you, Chris?" She jested.

The two of them quickly getting dressed, in clothes that were appropriate for where Chris had seen them going. Bianca making sure to strap her ever-present Sai's to herself, before taking Chris' hand. The two of them then orbing away, completely unaware of the fact, they hadn't been alone.

"It is time." Macon then smiled as he uncloaked himself, his protective watch over the yet unknown Royal couple, still going by unnoticed.

The guardians of Avalon having been protecting and watching over their Royal charges, since the time of their births.

"Yes." A fellow guardian, named Myrcella said as she appeared next to Macon. Both the King and Queen each having their own Guardian. "Do you believe he will succeed?" She then asked, referring to the challenge that the young heir would face, before being allowed to embrace his destiny.

Macon smiled. "Undoubtedly." Before the two disappeared.

HTNG

"You know you're obsessing right?" Paige asked her oldest sister, as they approached the stall of the witch doctor, who Piper was hoping would have the last ingredient she needed. "And more than a little desperate." She added, after taking another look around at the demon market they found themselves in.

Piper having demanded Paige's help, after finally learning where the demon market could be found and how to get in. Piper needing Paige to orb her there. After the two of them had cloaked themselves, with Paige disguising her orbs as that of a darklighter's.

"Not now, Paige." Piper shook her head, ignoring her sister, focused on her task.

The last ingredient she needed being the ash from a witch, burned at Salem. Having tried all their usual herb and potion shops, but having no luck, not even at Magic School. The demon market, being Piper's last shot at finding what she believed she needed, to save her son.

There was no way she was going to let some sex demon, corrupt her baby boy. Especially not when she knew that this particular demon couldn't be trusted and would betray Chris at a moment's notice, if it meant saving her own skin.

"Yes now, Piper." Paige said, pulling her sister to a stop and over to what she hoped was a quiet corner, where they wouldn't be overheard. "Look I know you think you're doing all this to save Chris, but honey, you've already lost him. No." She held up her hand silencing her sister when she tried to speak. "You need to hear this. Chris loves her Piper and I know you hate it, hate what she is and hate the connection the two of them share."

"Supposedly share." Piper interjected.

Paige shook her head at her sister's stubbornness.

"But if you ever want to see Chris again. Ever want him to come home, then you need to let this vendetta you seem to have against her go, because Chris won't return until you do." Paige told her sister. "And if you and Wyatt try to follow through with your plan to vanquish her, then I can promise you, you'll lose him forever, is that what you want?"

She was trying to reason with her sister, knowing that Chris wouldn't just standby and let his mother and his brother, kill the woman he loved. No, he would stand between them, placing himself in front of the Phoenix to protect her. Something that Paige knew both from experience and research that wasn't needed. This Bianca, no matter what time Paige knew, was more than capable of defending herself. The thing that would stop her, Paige believed, being that she wouldn't want to hurt Chris' family, despite that same family trying to kill her.

"I won't lose him, Paige." Her sister answered stubbornly. "Not again. And especially not to some sleazy sex demon, who cares more about saving her own skin, than she does about Chris. Or have you forgotten that she was willing to drag him back, powerless and against his will, knowing full well the danger that he was returning to."

"No, I haven't forgotten." Paige huffed, frustrated at her sister. "But I also don't know the events that led to her coming back. Nor do we, despite what Chris told us, know what living in that future was really like, or what we would do to survive, or to keep the ones we love alive." She said strongly, hoping her sister would listen to her. Listen to reason and remember all the questionable decisions each of them had made, all in the name of someone we loved.

"Because that's what she believed, Piper." Paige then continued. "That she was saving him, not condemning him and in the end she gave her life for him." Although Paige was wandering now, if she had in fact died, knowing what she did now about Phoenix witches and more specifically Bianca's parentage.

And wondering even more about what that sacrifice, if she hadn't died, would have cost her, knowing what she knew about Wyatt in that future. The broken and pained look she had seen on Chris' face the days, weeks, following, telling Paige that it was bad. Very bad.

In the end, Paige imagined, that death would have been the preferred option for the Phoenix witch. Chris never going into too many details about what his brother was truly like as the emperor of all evil, but he had let slip that he was a bit of sadist. Enjoying inflicting pain on others, particularly those who had betrayed him and that he was creative.

Paige suppressed a shiver, before speaking the words she knew her sister didn't believe.

"She loved him, Piper. She loved him then and she loves him again now and not only that, but Chris wanted this Piper. He hoped for this. Hoped that despite the changed future he fought and died for, that the two of them would still find each other. And they have." She then smiled. "Because they're soul mates Piper, no matter how much you hate it and the sooner you start accepting that, the sooner your son will come home."

Piper's silence, giving Paige hope of her own, that her sister was finally seeing sense, until she noticed the stubborn set of her sister's jaw.

"I can't accept that." Piper said and walking away before Paige could say anything else.

Must all Halliwell's be so stubborn, Paige thought, as the two of them then approached the small tent that belonged to the witch doctor that Piper had tracked down. The small man behind the stone counter than smiling a toothless smile in greeting. His smile falling from his face when Piper told him what she was looking for.

"Ash of a burned witch is rare." he said. "Ash of a burned witch from Salem, even more so and used for only one task. A task that even if I could help you, I wouldn't. For all who know of the Phoenix, know it is suicide to challenge them. I am sorry." He turned away.

Paige sighed. Thinking that this fool's errand of her sister's was over with.

"Alright, well thanks for your help, anyway." Paige said, turning around herself to leave, until the sound of something being blown up halted her steps.

Her head whipping around to see several shattered glass jars, courtesy of her sister.

"Not quite so fast." Piper said, not ready to give up yet. "I need that ash from Salem and either you're going to give me what I need, or you're going to give me the name of someone else who supplies it. What's it going to be?"

The witch doctor had a startled look on his face.

"Piper!" Paige hissed her sister's name. Her eyes looking worriedly around to see if they had attracted any unwanted attention. "Are you completely out of your mind? Have you forgotten where we are?" She demanded, just as the witch doctor began speaking.

"I-I am sorry, but as I said, I can not help you." He stuttered out. "No one can. The Phoenix are unforgiving, they are ruthless and if they find out someone is plotting against them, then they won't just kill you, they will kill everyone who helped you and everyone who you hold dear. So please, I beg of you, leave now." He pleaded.

"Not happening pal." Piper replied stubbornly. "Not until I get what I came for. Get what I need."

Paige had forgotten how unrelenting her sister could be.

"Piper, is this ridiculous, he already said..." Paige started, before they were interrupted.

"It is not the ash you need, Piper Halliwell." An exotic, seductive voice then spoke from behind them.

Piper and Paige turning in the direction where the voice came from, to see a beautiful woman with tanned skin and long dark hair, decorated with a golden head piece. Dressed demurely in brown robes. The witch doctor recognizing her instantly and dropping to his knees.

"Seer, forgive me, I did not know who they were." He immediately apologized.

"Seer?" Both Piper and Paige said at the same time.

So that was how, despite their glamours, the exotic woman knew who they were.

The seer smiled. "It is alright, Draego." She said, placing a hand under the witch doctor's chin and bringing him to his feet. "No harm will come to you. Not for this and not by the Phoenix or the Halliwells." She promised, gesturing for him to leave, before turning her attention to the witches whose arrival today she had foreseen.

"Hey lady, I don't care who you think you are-" Piper started.

"My name is Ishta and as I said Piper Halliwell, the ash is not what you need." The seer finished, watching as the two sisters shared a look, before each dropped the glamour, masking their true appearance. "For your sister is right, if you attempt to vanquish your son's mate, you will only ensure his desertion from you and your family. And although the Phoenix exiled their beloved Bianca, due to her relationship with your son, it does not mean they will not seek their vengeance for an attack against one of their own. An attack that with the ash or not, you will fail."

She could see that her words angered the oldest Halliwell.

"I think I can handle one demon." Piper said, feeling insulted at the Seer's words.

"A demon yes, but Bianca isn't a demon." Ishta smiled. "She's a hybrid. A powerful hybrid – half Phoenix, half succubus and stronger and more trained, than you could imagine. Besides, as I said, it is not the ash you need, to give you what you really seek."

Both sisters looked at her questionably then.

"And what is it I really seek?" Piper asked bitingly.

Just who was this demon, to tell her what it is she really wants.

"Answers." Ishta replied instantly. "You wish to know Bianca's true intentions towards your son, while the seed of your distrust of her, grows from a heartache that is not your own and a time that no longer exists." The sisters, again, shared a look. "You fight against it, but a part of you wishes to accept your son's bonded mate and you can, with this." She held up a small potion vile filled with a clear liquid.

It was a special summoning potion, that would allow Piper Halliwell to receive the answers she needed. Answers that would allow her to accept Bianca Blackwell as her sons mate. To look beyond what she is and see her for who she is.

"A potion? Just how is a potion supposed to give me answers?" Piper asked, her distrust of the Seer in front of her not hidden.

"By giving you the opportunity to ask that which you desperately wish to know." Ishta answered. "All you must do is burn a photo of your son and throw the potion on the ashes." She explained, having already blessed and spelled the potion herself.

"Why should I trust you?" Piper then asked. "Why should, we," She gestured with her head to her younger sister. "believe this is anything else but a trap, for whichever demon you serve?"

Ishta laughed. "Because if I meant you or any member of your family any harm, I assure you, you would already be dead and if I didn't already know you would accept my help, I would never have shown myself to you today."

Paige considered the Seer's words and that of her gift. A gift that she knew was stronger than that of her sister's and her niece's, own foresight.

"She has a point, Piper." She told her sister, earning a smile from the Seer. "Besides if it is a trap we can always kill her later." Paige added.

Not at all offending Ishta, as the Seer knew killing her would be an almost impossible task for the Charmed Ones. After all, it was hard to kill someone who can see every move you make, before you make it.

"Why are you helping us, me?" Piper pushed, not quite ready to drop her guard. "What's in it for you?"

Always the protector, Ishta inwardly smiled, admiring the eldest Halliwell's fire, her strength.

"My reasons are my own." The seer replied with a smile. "But to satisfy your need to know, let's just call it an act of good faith and a desire to not be considered among those who would oppose him. But rather an ally."

Her words confused both sister's, neither having any idea about their son's, about their nephew's, destiny. Ishta having seen the new King's reign and desiring nothing more than to escape her life of servitude to those in the underworld and to be free of the chains that confine her.

"An ally of who?" Paige asked.

"You will learn of who I speak in time." Ishta told them, placing the potion vile down on a nearby shelf. "Until we meet again." Were her final words before she departed, leaving the sisters alone in the tent.

Piper and Paige sharing identical looks of, did that really just happen and can we trust her, before Paige orbed them away. But not before Piper held the potion vile grasped tightly in her hand. Vowing silently, that if this was indeed a trap and the Seer was playing her, that it would be the last thing she ever did.

The two of them being left speechless, however, when they returned to the manor and the sight that was before them.

HTNG

The Manor was quiet.

Just as it always seemed to be nowadays. It being more than two weeks since they had discovered that Chris's mystery girlfriend was in fact a demon. A hybrid demon – part succubus, part Phoenix witch. And two weeks since any of them had heard from Chris since he angrily orbed away, with a promise to Wyatt that all his stuff would be moved out of their shared apartment by the next day and it had been.

Melinda sighed. She hated the quiet.

With the only time it wasn't quiet now, being when her mother and eldest brother were murmuring angrily, either to themselves or to each other, about how to get Chris back and away from the demon they believed was poisoning Chris against his family. Something that after calming down and talking to her father, Melinda didn't believe anymore. Her father having explained everything he knew about mates, something that she and Peyton had looked up further on their own at Magic School.

Not that they had found much information there either. With the only thing they could find that they didn't already know, being that mates were connected by a soul bond. A rare and unbreakable kind of bond, stronger even then the one that Chris shared with Wyatt and similar to the one that Priya and Prim shared. That connected two souls together as if they were one and that to break, just as her father had said, would be to kill them both. Neither half being able to survive without the other.

The topic of Chris' relationship with a hybrid demon, being highly talked about throughout the entire family. With some of the things mentioned confusing Melinda. Her mother, her aunts and her father, always seeming to refer to Chris' relationship as if it had happened before, something that Melinda couldn't understand. Parker and her mother, both then earning scathing glares from Piper and Wyatt, when they shared their views of how romantic and sweet they thought it was that Chris would live forever with the woman he loved. Parker's view, Wyatt dismissed, as being influenced by the fact that this Bianca had saved Parker's friend Jenna's life.

While Piper dismissed Phoebe's feeling's by reminding her of someone named Cole. A name that always cast a sad shadow over her aunts face and a name that neither Melinda or Peyton, or any of the kids had heard spoken before. Melinda then wisely keeping her own opinion on the touchy subject to herself. Knowing that there was enough tension in the house already, without herself adding to it, by saying that she agreed with her cousin and aunt.

Tension that was beginning to drive the teenager slowly insane. With her mother and aunts barely speaking to each other, although she knew her parents were trying to hide how strained their own relationship had become. Her mother not being able to believe how 'open minded' her husband was about her baby boy, her peanut, being in love with and apparently mated to a female sex demon. Something that her mother couldn't accept, but her father could. His refusal to help his wife look for a way to sever the connection between Chris and the demon whose name could never be said aloud, for fear of Piper's wrath. Driving a wedge between her parents. A wedge that had her father no longer sleeping at home and spending his nights at one of the spare rooms at magic school.

Melinda hated it.

All of it.

Not believing how quickly things had seemed to fall apart, break, without Chris around. It being made worse by the sudden increase in demon attacks around the manor and more specifically around Wyatt. Attacks that had been happening almost daily, much to the entire families confusion. Wyatt having stopped going to the club, to prevent any innocents from getting caught in the crossfire of any sudden attack and spending his days instead down in the underworld looking for answers.

Melinda suspecting that there was more to his decision than just the sudden increase in demon attacks and was fairly confident he was using his time down below to also look into she-who-must-not-be-named. Her brother having taken what he saw as Chris' betrayal, harder than anyone and was determined, even more so than their mother, to get Chris back.

Melinda having tried on her own to talk to her favorite brother, by repeatedly calling out to him, but he had never answered. Even going as far as trying to summon him, her attempt failing, just as she had suspected it would. Melinda knowing that with her brother's extensive knowledge of magic, that if he didn't want her or anyone else to find him, than they wouldn't. Even going as far to block himself off from Wyatt and the bond the two of them shared. The absence of that connection, being what Melinda guessed was making Wyatt so agitated and determined, to track his baby brother down.

It being the by any means necessary approach that was worrying her.

An approach that her mother too, had adopted. Having tried everything, every spell, every potion, that she could think of to bring her son home. As well as anything she could find on separating mates. A search Melinda knew was difficult. The information that her mother was looking for, being a closely kept secret, just as her father had said. With the only information they could find about separating them, being what Leo had already told them, which was to kill one, is to kill the other. A situation that that her mother and brother, both refused to accept. Believing that there had to be a way to break, or at least around, the connection and free her son, his brother. A way that didn't include killing him.

Melinda once again, wisely keeping her own opinion on the subject to herself, which was that she didn't see how it could be possible. Especially not when, from what she had read, mates when bonded, were essentially sharing one soul. Not to mention that if Chris of all people could see something good in this Bianca, enough to love her. An argument that her father had used on her, once she had calmed down, than maybe she wasn't as bad she had first feared. It being her inbuilt prejudice and automatic response to associate all demons as bad, evil, that was the reason that she couldn't initially accept her brother's girlfriend.

It being this same argument that also made her understand why her brother had kept the relationship to himself for two years. It more than anything, being that lie, that Melinda had mostly been angry about anyway. An anger that once she had calmed down and once she had talked to her father, had melted away. Understanding that Chris hadn't lied to hurt them, or because he couldn't trust them, but because he knew that we would all react exactly like he had expected.

And we had.

Melinda not caring anymore about who her brother was dating, or mated to, she just wanted him home. She missed him.

Pushing away from the dining room table with a sigh, her homework not enough to capture her full attention. Regular school having started back a week ago. She was a senior now, as was Peyton, the twins a year below them and already they were being swamped in work. Both Peyton and Melinda gratefully having the day off from work to study and complete the assignments they had been given.

"Thinking about Chris again?" Peyton asked, stopping her own work.

With the increase in attacks, her parents, aunts and uncles, had made it so that none of them could go anywhere alone and that included being at home. Otherwise both Melinda and Peyton would be studying on their own, both girls still grounded, just as Priya was, for their involvement in teasing Marissa and all that had happened afterwards.

Melinda nodded. "I miss him, I can't help it." She shrugged, as she sat back down.

Deciding to drown her misery in chocolate and grabbing from the kitchen two slices of her mother's delicious chocolate cake. Her mother who in-between looking for ways to bring Chris home, had been in a cooking frenzy, the last two weeks. Cooking being a task, her mother always fell into obsessively when she was stressed or worried or both. A result of which being that their fridge and freezer was now filled with various kinds of baked goods.

"He'll come home, Mel." Peyton promised her cousin. Hoping that her words weren't hollow and that Chris would soon come home. "I take it that aunt Piper and Wyatt haven't given up their search to save him?" She then asked.

Everyone in the family knowing how obsessed the two had become, in 'freeing Chris' and dragging him home.

"No. They haven't." Melinda sighed. "They're both convinced that Chris has been bewitched, or spelled, or something and that it's their duty to save him. That he couldn't possibly be in love like he says, or mated like he claims and that it's all just a lie." She shook her head. "They both want so desperately for him to come home, that neither of them can see that until they can accept, or even just try to accept Bianca, that Chris will stay away."

Her mother and brother being two of the most stubborn people on the planet and Melinda knew that neither of them would give in or admit to being wrong. Not when they both believed they were right and that the demon that Chris believed he loved, was simply playing him.

Unlucky for them, that Chris was just as, if not more stubborn, than the both of them.

It was a trait that all Halliwell's shared.

"Especially if he learns that the both of them are walking around with bottles of vanquishing potions in their pockets." Melinda continued.

Wyatt and her mother making the potions the day after Chris had disappeared. Both unsure how the Incubus vanquishing potion would react to Bianca being a hybrid. Particularly how the Phoenix witch within her would react, there only being two known ways to vanquish a Phoenix witch – kill their mate or pierce their heart with a silver athame, dipped in the ash from those who had burned in Salem.

Neither of which were available, Melinda thought thankfully. Whilst hoping with everything inside of her, that the errand her mother had left to run earlier, was to do with the restaurant or the club and not anything to do with her obsessive hunt to vanquish her son's girlfriend.

"Have you had any luck catching him at work?" Peyton then asked, knowing that after her cousin had exhausted every magical mean that she could think of to track her brother down, she had settled for a more human approach of trying to ambush him at work.

"No." She replied again. "He's never there at the times I can sneak away and the best I've been able to do is getting one of the other riders to pass along a letter to him."

A letter that he had yet to reply to. The thought made her frown.

"I'm sure he'll write back to you, Mel." Peyton assured her cousin. Chris loved his little sister more than anything and if Mel reached out to him, than he would definitely make sure to reach back. "He's probably just busy, what with all the demon attacks we've been having lately."

Melinda chuckled slightly. "You're probably right. God knows, how neurotic Chris is when it comes to demon hunting." She shook her head. "Speaking of, have you heard any talk about why the sudden increase in attacks lately?"

"Nothing." Peyton answered. "Not even aunt Paige knows what to make of it and if all the cursing the twins say they heard the other night coming from their mother is true, than the Elders know something, but for whatever reason they aren't yet telling us what they know."

"What else is new." Melinda rolled her eyes, having as much patience and tolerance, towards the Elders as her mother did.

The two girls than digging into the rest of their cake, before grudgingly returning to their work. Quiet once again overtaking the manor until the unmistakable sound of shimmering could be heard. Both Melinda and Peyton looking up in shock in the direction that the sound had come from, their eyes going wide when they saw the bodies of eight demons standing poised and ready to attack just a few feet from them.

Each of them dressed the same, in clothes that looked as if they belonged in another time. An ancient time.

"Hope we're not interrupting." One spoke, with a smirk and a thick accent, before launching an energy ball towards the two girls.

Both girls immediately jumping back from the table. The energy ball extinguishing and setting a flame their homework.

"Hey!" Melinda cried out indignantly. "Do you mind, that essay was due on Monday and I don't think my teacher will accept that it was blown up by demons excuse." She then waved her hands, just as her mother did, the closest two demons to her freezing.

The four behind them, then immediately advancing towards her

"Energy Ball." Melinda heard Peyton call out.

A bright pink light encasing the energy ball, before Peyton sent it back towards the two demons that were charging towards her. Melinda ducking two more attacks before getting grabbed from behind in a bear hold.

"Mel!" Peyton cried out, before quickly levitating out of the way of another energy ball.

Melinda struggling for a moment, before grasping tightly onto the forearm of the demon holding her and using her cyrokinesis to freeze his arm. A groan of pain escaping the demon's lips as she did so, his grip loosening, allowing Melinda to break his hold. But she didn't drop her grip, instead holding on tighter and watching as the ice steadily froze his entire body, before letting go and shattering the demon with a strong and high kick to the demon's chest.

Enjoying a small moment of victory, before feeling herself get thrown across the room, her head colliding painfully with the wall. Everything around her then instantly fading to black.

"Mel!" Peyton called her name again, whilst dodging yet another attack. "Wyatt. Chris. Aunt Paige. Anybody!" She then called out hoping one of them would respond, as three energy balls flew over her head and into the wall behind her as she quickly ducked out of the way.

Taking note that the demons seemed more focused on Melinda, rather than her. Melinda who still hadn't moved since being thrown across the room. The demons having heard her call out for help, then growling. Two turning away from Melinda, to glare at Peyton, but being stopped from moving towards her by another.

"Forget her, it's the sister we want." He growled, before bending to pick her up.

"No!" Peyton screamed, but it was no use as in the next moment Melinda and the demon carrying her were gone.

Dropping her concentration from the fight as she watched her cousin being taken and not seeing the energy ball that was heading directly towards her, until she felt herself being thrown back. The searing pain in her chest than quickly forgotten when she crashed to the floor, her head impacting hard against the hard wood and causing everything around her to turn black.

Silence again encompassing the manor, as a small pool of blood began to gather beneath Peyton's still form. Peyton being unaware of everything around her until an odd warmth started to spread through her, the pain then fading and opening her eyes to someone she had never met. Finding herself not on the floor where she had been thrown, but instead on the couch in the living room. Her eyes warily taking in the beautiful woman beside her, with long dark hair and familiar looking green eyes.

The stranger smiling warmly at her, before speaking.

"Hello Peyton, my name is Prue."

HTNG

"Put her with the other one." A slightly whispery voice commanded, gesturing with her hand to the other side of the room where there were iron manacles, hanging from the ceiling.

Manacles that had been spelled to hold witches and neutralize their power. Melinda Halliwell's unconscious form being dropped roughly to the ground, as her wrists were then placed in the restraints. Next to the filthy and dirt covered body of a young girl. A young girl who when the demon carrying Melinda's body had approached where she was chained up, had done her best to shrink as far back into the wall as she could.

She had been here a while.

Having lost track of exactly how many days it had been since she was taken. Her once blonde hair now a dirt matted brown. Her voice now hoarse, her throat bleeding from all the calling she had done, to the one who had promised to help her if she ever needed it.

I guess he lied, she thought.

Having given up calling his name after two days. The ones who had taken her always smirking and finding an endless amount of amusement in her cries for help. With the one she had surmised was in charge, telling her that it would be better to save her voice until the time was right. Until she was ready.

Ready for what she didn't know.

Nor did she fully understand why it was she had been brought here. With all the talk that she had managed to overhear, being nothing she could understand or follow – lost swords, Prophets, rising cities, she didn't understand any of it. Or what her part in it all was, the only thing she was able to speculate about, being that whatever it was they were planning, she was some form of bait.

It was why she was still alive, she had reasoned out. Although she had no idea who it was they were using her to lure, she was a loner. Her only family dead. With no one to care about whether or not she lived or died.

Her eyes then following the imposing female in charge, her presence one that couldn't be ignored or denied, as she left her throne to kneel down and inspect the girl who was just restrained next to her. A girl who appeared close to her own age.

"She really does take after her mother." She spoke, as she brushed the hair away from the girl's face. "Did you run into much trouble acquiring her?" She then asked her servants.

"No, my Queen." He answered immediately. "The only one with her was the empath's youngest daughter and she was easily taken care of."

"Easily taken care of and yet still you managed to return with three less than when you left." She said, dropping her hand from the girls face and standing, turning back to face those who quickly kneeled before her.

"Forgive us, my Queen, we underestimated them both, the eldest's daughter in particular and she was able to take one of us by surprise. We did not let it happen again." One of the kneeling men spoke reverently.

Their Queen chuckled. "I can see that." She made her way back over to her throne.

"Is it finally time, my Queen?" Another one of the men who had just returned asked.

"Yes." He said, sitting down. "With the Lady's call, the sword will soon begin to look for it's new master, if it hasn't already and the two can not be allowed to unite. The heir must be killed. Only then will I have the chance to claim what I have been waiting centuries for."

The chilling grin on her face sending fear down the young girls spine.

"What of others, my Queen, who also seek to possess the sword?" Another servant asked.

"They shall die. As shall all who stand in my way." She said confidently. "Now," She turned her piercing gaze to her, her body instinctively pushing back against the wall, as if to try and hide from her sight. "I believe it's time for us to send the heir a little message." Her growing smile reminding her of a hungry wolf. "Isn't that right, Amanda."

HTNG

The village was empty just as Chris had first seen. With nothing but ruins of stone and wood, that the earth and surrounding forest had started to claim back as its own. Chris and Bianca both still taking the the time to search what was still there, finding old faded parchments where the writing had completely faded away. Along with several burnt remains of what Chris figured were once leather bound books and primitive weapons such as crossbows and blackened swords.

"This village must be centuries old." Chris commented as he gently, with great care, turned the pages one of the books they had found.

Most of the pages had blackened corners from where they had burned slightly, but not all the writing was completely faded. With Chris, thanks to his elder genes, being able to understand that the writing was a very old dialect of early Latin. The book being not a book at all, he realized as he read, but a record of all the trades that the village conducted. The biggest of which, Chris deduced, was food that they grew on nearby crops and then traded with the capitol for protection. The capitol that wasn't mentioned by name.

"It's amazing that there is anything left here at all." he said in wonder, still reading.

The records not stating why protection was needed or where the capitol was located, but Chris imagined that it couldn't be far. Not if they were transporting food. Collecting as many of the more preserved books as he could and slipping them carefully into protective bags he conjured, before then slipping them into the backpack he had brought with him. The history geek inside of him, absolutely relishing in the find he had made.

Sometimes Chris really did take after his father.

His father who would also appreciate what Chris had stumbled upon.

"I think we're somewhere in Europe." Chris then said standing and walking over to where Bianca was admiring some of the old fashioned weapons. "Or at least what is now known as Europe, the dialect I found in the trade books was an early form of Latin, that was mostly used back in the fifth and sixth century."

"I guess that's why the weapons are so well preserved." Bianca said, before firing an arrow from the crossbow she had found. "All weapons back then were made for war, for inflicting death and each all made to last." She then smiled, when the arrow it's target, dead center. "I take it none of the weapons here, is the sword you saw in your dream?" Chris shook head. "I figured it wouldn't be so easy. So... any idea where to head next?"

Chris again shook his head. "Not a..." he started to say, before a strange light caught his eye.

It was blue. Shining from within with a bright white light, brighter than even his orbs and hovering in the air like a tiny jelly-fish. It's thin, long, tentacles of light urging him forward. The feeling in his heart that had led him and Bianca here, doing the same. The trust that Bianca had in both him and his instincts, being something that Chris would always be amazed and thankful for, however their steps still remained cautious as they followed. Neither one of them getting too close to the strange blue light, that felt to Chris as if it were alive, as it led them into the forest and along a path that had the yearning in his heart growing stronger and more than anything impatient.

They were getting close. Chris could feel it.

Not knowing how long they had walked until the trees before them began to thin, Chris and Bianca then finding themselves walking towards a vast lake. But the sight that truly took their breaths away, was the cascading water falling from the mighty waterfall above them.

It had to be at least seven hundred feet high.

"Hello Christopher." A voice he heard spoken before, then pulled his attention. Looking out towards the lake where the woman in blue, the one he had seen in his dreams, was emerging, completely dry, from the water. "It is good to see you again."

HTNG

Peyton was speechless.

Her eyes taking in the woman before her, a woman that Peyton knew was dead and that her mother and her aunts, had missed dearly. Recognizing her instantly from the numerous photos that her mother had of her.

"A-aunt Prue?" She stuttered out in disbelief, as she continued to stare at the woman for whom her oldest sister was named after.

Her aunt smiled at her in response. "It's nice to finally meet you, Peyton."

"But how...?" Peyton asked. "How are you alive? How am I alive?" Her last question was asked more towards herself, as she remembered the burning pain, followed by a feeling of ever increasing weakness.

She had been dying. Had felt it. But had also, she remembered, felt an odd warmth spread through her. A warmth that took the pain away and that felt just like when her Aunt Paige... "You healed me." Peyton then said in surprise, connecting the dots.

"Yes." Prue answered, feeling relieved that she had arrived in time to save her niece.

A niece that looked so much like her mother, that Prue couldn't help but smile and was happy that the Elders finally allowed her to rejoin her family. It had been too long.

Far too long.

"You're a whitelighter." Peyton couldn't believe it. "That's why when mum and Aunt Piper always tried to summon you, it never worked."

"That and the Elders preventing me from seeing them, until they deemed the time was right." Prue didn't bother hiding the resentment or bitterness in her voice.

The pain of being able to watch, but not help or interact with her sisters, including her baby sister Paige, who she hadn't found out about until she had died, was still fresh in her mind.

She may have understood why her mother and Sam felt it was necessary to hide Paige, but that didn't mean that Prue had to like it. Paige was family and as such, she should have been raised with her family. Being thankful however, to the people that had taken in and raised Paige as their own, into the strong and wonderful woman that she now is.

"Now I can see the aftermath, but can you tell me everything that happened here?" Prue then asked the still slightly shocked teenager.

"Mel and I were studying when we were suddenly attacked by demons – Oh my God, Mel!" Peyton exclaimed, berating herself for forgetting that her cousin had been taken. "They took her, they hurt her, we have to find her." She tried to stand, but her Aunt Prue prevented her from doing so, by placing her hands on the tops of her shoulders and pushing her back down.

"Peyton, sweetheart, I need you to calm down." Prue said soothingly, hoping to get the young girl to listen.

She too, was worried about her niece, but knew from experience that panicking wasn't going to help.

"No, we have to find her, we have to help her." Peyton refused, shaking her head and attempting again to stand, only to be stopped once again from doing so, by her Aunt.

"And we will, I promise you, Peyton." Prue vowed. "We will bring Melinda home, but first I need you to tell me everything that you can remember. Anything, no matter how small or insignificant, that might help us to identify the demons that took her, can you do that?"

Peyton slowly nodded, after taking a breath.

She knew her Aunt was right, that she needed to calm down. That her freaking out wasn't going to help bring Melinda home. She might not be like her oldest sister, or her cousins Wyatt and Chris, the three of them relishing in the "family business". Taking great pride in hunting down demons and saving innocents. But just because Peyton preferred to be kept out of the fight, that didn't mean that if somebody, demon or otherwise, threatened or attempted to hurt her family, that she wouldn't make them pay.

She was a Halliwell after all.

But before she could begin speaking, they were interrupted by the sound of orbing – and bickering, coming from the bottom of the stairs.

"Piper, I know what I said, but just because I agreed to help you kill her if this is a trap, doesn't mean we just throw all caution to the wind." Paige exclaimed, her tone exasperated as she threw her hands in the air.

"I want my son back, Paige." Peyton and Prue could hear Piper say. "And if this is the only..." Piper started, before her words caught in her throat as she was the first of the two, to notice the large blood stain on the floor, as well as the scorch marks on the dining room table and surrounding walls.

Paige's eyes soon following as they took in the clear signs of a demon attack. Both women then moving into action.

"Melinda! Peyton!" Piper immediately called out, praying that the two girls were safe.

But the sight of the clearly fresh blood on the floor, made her doubt that they could be. No, the girls are strong, both of them, they'll be fine, they have to be, Piper reassured herself. Pushing down the guilt she felt for leaving the two teenage girls alone, especially with the increase in demon attacks they had seen lately.

Guilt was not going to help her daughter and niece. It being then that another thought struck her – had she risked saving one child at the expense of another? Had her obsession, as Paige and Leo and everyone else had called it, made her reckless and blind to the dangers surrounding the rest of her family?

"I'm here, Aunt Piper." Peyton then called out, garnering both her Aunts attention.

Both women releasing the breath they didn't know they were holding, in relief, as they heard the teenager's voice.

"Peyton thank god, what happened here and where's Melin-" But Piper couldn't finish, her face paling, her eyes going wide as she took in the sight of the person standing behind her niece.

She couldn't believe it. Staring in silence, her face a mask of shock, disbelief and hope, all rolled into one, at her sister. Her beloved older sister, who she had lost long before her time and who didn't look a day older than the day she had died.

"Prue?" She finally managed to whisper, after a moment.

"Hey little sister." Prue smiled back, as she stared at her two younger sisters.

The youngest of which, Paige, was in shock herself, as she stared at the sister she had never met and that when she had first discovered who and what she was, she had tried so hard to live up to. Her insecurity in accepting her new family, coming from the inadequacy she felt in trying to live up to Prue's memory. The legacy she had left behind. While trying at the same time to forge her own identity and place in the family.

But staring at her now, none of that mattered. Just like it hadn't for a long time now. What did matter was the fact that Melinda was presumably missing and that the sister she had always longed to meet, was standing barely two feet from her.

Piper being the first to move, her steps tentative and Prue seeing that her sister still didn't believe she was really here, stepped forward and pulled her sister into a tight hug. The feeling of her big sister's arms around her again, bringing tears to Piper's eyes.

"You're really here." Piper hugged her sister tighter. "I can't believe it. You don't know how much I've missed you. How much we've all missed you." She started rambling.

Prue chuckled. Same old Piper.

"I don't know, I think turning into a fury sends a pretty strong message about how much you missed me." She teased, earning a half-hearted glare from her sister, as they separated.

Watching Piper and Phoebe grieve for her and not being able to let them know that she was okay, had been heartbreaking for Prue.

"And I missed you too, sis. All of you." She said, meeting Paige's eyes, who was standing nervously and uncertain at the edge of the living room.

Prue closing the distance between them and immediately pulling her baby half-sister into a hug.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you, Paige." She said. "And thank you."

Her words confused Paige. "For what?"

She couldn't think of any reason for why Prue would be thanking her.

"For keeping our family together when I couldn't. For protecting our sisters when I couldn't." Prue smiled at her. "You have no idea how grateful I am that Piper and Phoebe found you, Paige." Paige who could feel the tears pooling in her eyes. "You are strong and beautiful and brave, an extraordinary witch and everything that I could have ever dreamed of, that another sister could be and more. And I'm so sorry that I never got the chance to know you before now, because no one could have made me prouder for the way you took care of our family."

Paige wasn't hiding the tears that streamed freely from her eyes now. Feeling overwhelmed and incredibly thankful herself to have her eldest sister's blessing. There being a small part of her, that had been afraid that Prue wouldn't accept her. A thought she knew was her own fear talking and a fear that Prue had just extinguished.

Peyton watching the scene before her with tears of her own, in her eyes. Knowing just how much having their sister back meant to both her aunts. And how much it would mean to her mum, when she found out.

There would no doubt be shrieking of some variety involved.

"It's really good to finally meet you, too." Paige then said with a smile, wiping away her tears. The two sisters pulling each other into a hug. "And for the record, you look really good."

Prue preened. "I do, don't I." With a pleased smile on her face.

Same old Prue, Piper thought with a chuckle, before something else occurred to her.

"Okay, not that I'm not ecstatic to see you Prue, because I am, but how are you here?" Piper then asked, needing to know. "And why now?"

"The Elders sent me down." Prue answered. "They've been debating for a while now about the kids having their own whitelighter."

"Whitelighter!" Both Piper and Paige exclaimed.

The possibility that Prue had become a whitelighter when she died, having never occurred to either one of them before.

Prue nodded, then continued on with her explanation. "Someone who the kids can call when in need, without having to worry about pulling Wyatt away from his work at the club or with a charge." She then spoke directly to Paige. "They also didn't want to have to make you choose between your calling and your family and with the sudden increase in attacks lately, they decided now was the best time. Although personally I think this is just another attempt at bribery on their part, to earn back this family's support. It's no secret throughout the magical community that we distrust them."

"And with good reason." Piper muttered.

She would never forgive the Elders for the pain her family had been put through over the years. Nor would she ever be able to not associate them with Gideon's betrayal.

Prue herself having been irate when she had learned of Gideon's failed plans and the life that he had taken.

"Regardless of their reasons, I'm here now." Prue continued.

"Yes you are and I'm telling you now Prue, if you die on me again, I'll..." Piper started, but she couldn't finish her threat.

"I know." Prue smiled at her sister, having no intention of going anywhere.

Peyton then jumping in. "It's a good thing she arrived when she did, because if she hadn't..." She trailed off, shivering slightly.

Peyton's words and reaction, instantly stopping the happy reunion as Piper and Paige remembered the sight that had greeted them when they orbed in. Both women taking in the sight of their nieces burnt and bloodstained top, her frightened eyes and the unblemished skin of her chest.

"Peyton honey, are you alright? What happened here? Where's Melinda?" Were the first words out of Piper's mouth.

"We were attacked and they took her. I don't know why. And I tried to stop them, we both did. But there were too many." Peyton answered rambling. "And I called out for help, but no one answered and then the next thing I know they were taking Mel and all I could feel was pain, until Aunt Prue showed up and healed me."

Piper's guilt for leaving her daughter and niece alone, coming back in full force. Whilst Paige was flooded with her own guilt for being unreachable when her family needed her most. Having not thought about the demon market being shielded, protected, just as the rest of the underworld was, despite the entrance being located topside.

"And just before you two arrived, I was asking Peyton about the demons that attacked her and anything that might be of help to us, in tracking down Melinda." Prue then spoke. "Although I would also be interested in knowing just where the two of you were, that you couldn't hear Peyton calling when she needed you." Paige winced. "Likewise for my two nephews."

Who at the moment Prue couldn't sense at all. An occurrence that she had become accustomed to recently, with Wyatt making regular trips to the underworld, Prue had observed, while Chris fell off her radar completely.

Paige immediately apologizing and explaining where her and Piper had been, and what it was they were there looking for.

"I thought the Demon Market was just a myth?" Was all Peyton said, understanding and not having any anger towards her Aunt Paige for not hearing her when she called.

She knew how obsessed her Aunt Piper had become over the last two weeks and how impossible it was to say no to her.

"Not a myth, just well hidden." Piper explained, leaving out how she had come by the location of the market.

"Okay and I already know about Wyatt's constant trips to the underworld and the futile obsession the two of you have." Prue said, gesturing to Piper. "But none of that explains why I haven't been able to sense Chris, or why he didn't respond to Peyton's call?"

"He's blocking us." Paige was the one to explain. "We don't know how, Wyatt said it's because of his Elder gene's, but since the night he left, he's shut himself off completely, not only from me but Wyatt as well. Not even summoning will work."

"Right and having his mother and his brother, constantly looking for ways to vanquish his girlfriend, won't be bringing him back home anytime soon either." Prue said, holding up a hand to halt her sister's retort. "Nor will it help us get Melinda back, from the demon's who took her."

She had been shocked to learn of her nephew's girlfriend, but unlike the rest of her family, she could accept the relationship with much more ease. Having seen the way the two of them were together and the deep bond that existed between them. It was pure. Unbreakable. And more than anything it was clear to Prue that this Bianca was not Cole and was not simply using her nephew as a means to hurt the rest of her family. Not that Chris would ever fall for such a ruse. With Bianca already proving that she couldn't, after her many failed attempts at killing Chris. The bond even then, before it had even really formed, being too strong for either of them to ignore.

"Speaking of, since the Elders sent you here, does that mean that the almighty overlords have shared with you what is behind all these demon attacks lately?" Paige asked, feeling a bit slighted, that she had yet to be told.

"No." Prue shook her head. "Whatever it is behind the sudden rise in attacks, they aren't as of yet sharing."

"Typical." Paige snarked, rolling her eyes.

"Regardless it doesn't matter." Piper then spoke up. "Our only priority at the moment is bringing my daughter home." She turned to Peyton. "Did you recognize the demons that attacked you?" She asked.

Peyton shook her head. "No, but they were lower level." She said, recalling the way they threw energy balls instead of fireballs. "Human looking, but their clothes looked as if they were heading to a renaissance fair and they seemed to focus only on Mel, like she was their target, they didn't seem interested in me at all. Only her. One of them even saying that I didn't matter and it was only the sister they needed."

"Sister?" Each of the sisters shared a look.

Peyton nodded.

"Which means whoever is behind this, isn't after Mel, they're after Wyatt or Chris." Paige concluded.

"And from all the attacks recently, my guess would be that their true target is Wyatt." Prue added, following Paige's same train of thought.

"And that they plan on using Mel as bait to lure him out." Piper finished, her anger rising and her hands clenching into fists at her sides. "I'm going to kill them."

Prue smiling at her sister's bloodthirsty protectiveness over her family and the way her sister had grown and come into her own, after she had died.

"And we will, but first we need to find Wyatt and then find out who it was that took Mel in the first place." Prue said, taking charge, just like she had done before she had died.

But before anyone could move, the sound of orbs once again filled the room, the four heads turning in the direction of the entrance way and seeing Wyatt appear with a thin and bloodied body of a young teenage girl.

"Help?"

HTNG

She walked across the water, as if made by air, the water beneath her feet showing no trace that she was touching it at all. Before coming to a stop, a warm smile on her face, in front of the still unknown to them royal couple.

"It pleases me to see that you heeded my words. That you are here." The woman in blue said in greeting.

Both Bianca and Chris, regarding the woman with caution, despite the innate trust that Chris had for her and the belief that she meant either of them no harm.

"And here would be where exactly?" It was Bianca who asked, still on her guard and her fingers ready to grip her Sai's in the blink of an eye, if they were needed.

"A place long forgotten by man and witch and Elder." The woman answered. "A place of great importance."

"Does this place have a name?" Chris inquired, the history nerd inside of him buzzing.

"It has many." She replied. "Unfortunately none that you will recognize."

"How about the one who brought us here, does she have name?" Bianca wondered.

The woman in blue smiled. "I also have many, but you may call me Nimueh."

Nimueh... Chris whispered the name is his mind.

"Do you mind explaining why it is you brought us here, Nimueh?" Chris then prompted.

"To embrace your destiny." She answered simply, before directing her gaze and the couple's attention, upwards, towards the top of the mighty waterfall.

Where amongst the cascading rapids, right at the edge where the water tipped over, the sun could be seen reflecting off a silver metal. It taking Chris only moments to recognize what it was he was looking at, as the hilt of the sword that he had seen in his dream. It was a hard design to forget or mistake. And feeling the longer his eyes remained fixed on it, the stronger the compulsion inside of him grew to claim it.

"You feel it, don't you." Nimueh's voice pulled his gaze away. "The sword's call."

"Yes." Chris admitted, turning his gaze away from the sword, his answer making Nimueh smile. "But what I don't understand is why or how, or what a sword of all things, has to do with my destiny?"

Having grown up the son of a Charmed One, he was a bit more open, bit more receptive, to words such as destiny and fate and the weight, the role they had in his life. Destiny isn't something you can run from, Chris... he could hear his mother's voice in his mind.

"It is your birthright." Was all Nimueh said.

"His birthright?" Bianca asked, feeling just as confused as Chris did by the woman in blue's words.

"To succeed Arthur Pendragon and become the next and final King of Avalon." Nimueh's words shocking Chris, not being at all what he had expected to hear.

Arthur...Avalon... names that had his eyes going wide at the mention of two of the greatest names, in both legend and myth. His gaze, then of its own accord, flicking back and forth from the sword – the sword embedded in stone, his mind whispered, to Nimueh and the lake she had emerged from – the lady in the lake, it whispered again.

"That's not possible." Chris muttered, his mind connecting, but having a hard time believing in the legend that appeared to have come to life in front of him. "You can't be... that sword can't possibly be..."

"Excalibur." Nimueh, the lady of the lake and guardian of the legendary sword, finished. "The fabled sword of Kings, that was forged in the great city of Avalon and was last wielded by Arthur Pendragon, the bastard peasant son of Uther Pendragon, the steward of Camelot."

Chris, from his obsession with history, recognizing the name of Avalon's great castle – Camelot, instantly. Along with the name of the steward that had ruled, as King, until his death and until, as legend told, Avalon's true heir returned. An heir, that according to legend, was revealed to be Uther Pendragon's hidden son, after pulling the thought to be fabled sword, from the stone foretold to hold it, until the next true King of Avalon freed it.

He had thought it was just a legend, he thought unbelievably. It taking him a few moments to gather his thoughts before he next spoke.

"Even if everything you're saying is true." He then started, a part of him still not ready to believe what Nimueh had spoken. "You... you can't believe that I am Arthur's heir?" He then asked incredulously.

Believing that there had to have been a mistake and that she had the wrong person. He couldn't be a King.

"You said yourself you can feel the sword's call." Nimueh told him. "Something that only Arthur's heir can hear. Just as they are the only one that I am allowed to reveal myself to." Nimueh said, not understanding why the heir appeared so reluctant, both in accepting and believing his destiny. "Why do you fight against something, you know in your heart, to be true – you are the heir, Christopher Jaymes Halliwell. Arthur's heir. And the next great King of Avalon. The King we have all been waiting for."

But Chris still found it hard to believe, to accept. Not when he was just simply Chris. Plain old Chris, whose birth – unlike his brother's, hadn't been prophesied, or stopped magic for an entire day. It shocking him only marginally that she knew his middle name, the same middle name that he shared with his grandfather.

Whilst Bianca's thoughts were filled with their own disbelief and mild confusion, having been raised a witch, an assassin and never having heard the tale, the legend, of Arthur Pendragon or Excalibur. Nor had she heard anything about Avalon, save for whispers about a great unnamed city, a city of magic, that even the Source himself had once feared and that had witches and mortals living together in peace. Not fear. Bianca from her own experience's not believing that such a city could exist, with mortals having proven more than once, their ignorance in fearing and condemning what they didn't understand.

She also couldn't believe that such a place, could have been forgotten about so easily. Especially with as power hungry, as most demons were. Although thinking then about the rise in demon attacks lately, it made her believe that perhaps it wasn't as forgotten about as she thought – clearly someone must still remember, someone who...

"Believes that Wyatt is the heir." She muttered, speaking her thoughts aloud.

Having no trouble in believing Nimueh's words about Chris being the next heir, as she had always known, always felt, that Chris was meant for so much more, than just being the second born son of a Charmed One. Having never been impressed herself, by his older brother's twice blessed status and truly believing that one day Chris would find he was meant for more than just being his brother's sidekick.

A position that Bianca knew, Chris had never hated his brother for. Although she also knew, thanks to Chris confiding in her, that growing up, before he had really started to come into his powers, he had at one time, felt inferior to Wyatt. An insecurity that over the last few years Bianca had seen begin to fade, as Chris' own confidence in himself and his abilities began to shine through.

"Who believes that Wyatt is the heir?" Chris asked, pulling her from her thoughts, having heard what she had said.

A part of him, the part that still couldn't believe that he was heir, believing himself that it was a mistake and that it was Wyatt who Nimueh and the others she spoke of, were waiting for.

Bianca ignoring Chris' question, not answering him and instead addressing Nimueh.

"You said this place was long forgotten, but there are a few who still remember correct?" She asked.

"Yes. Not all have forgotten the old ways." Nimueh said. "And those who do remember have ways of hearing the Lady Melisandre's call, despite not being chosen."

"Lady Melisandre?" Chris asked.

"The Prophet of Avalon." Nimueh explained. "She who spoke of your return and let me know when it was time to seek you out. Just as the sword did."

Bianca continued. "And this call of hers, I'm guessing it was about two weeks ago, right before you started feeling something calling out to you." She faced Chris. "Or dreaming about a grand throne room and right before your brother became more of a demon target than he already was."

It was then Chris understood what Bianca was saying.

"Because they all believe that he is the heir."

"Exactly." Bianca nodded, before again addressing Nimueh. "I'm assuming that only the heir can remove the sword." She gestured with her head, to where it was currently embedded in the stone of the waterfall.

"Yes." Nimueh said. "Only he who is worthy can pull the sword. For only he can wield the power of the sword and not become corrupted by it."

"A power that would make many in the underworld fear Wyatt more than they already do and a power that they would all greedily covet for themselves." Bianca said. "And probably believe that if they kill the heir, the sword will then be their's to take. Tell me," She all but commanded Nimueh. "if the heir dies, before the sword is freed, what then?"

"Nothing. The sword will remain embedded in the stone, until the next heir is born and of an age deemed ready."

"But if the sword was released before the heir was killed?" Bianca prompted.

"Others unworthy of the power and the honor, will be able to claim it if not returned here." Nimueh said fearfully, knowing the type of destruction Excalibur could cause in the wrong hands.

The sword itself being forged and burnished, in the magic of old. Ancient, long forgotten magic, that was terribly powerful and terribly dangerous.

"Whoever it is behind sending the demons after Wyatt, must believe that if the heir dies, the sword is then fair game. Or they have some way, some plan, to get Wyatt to retrieve the sword for them and then hand it over." Chris reasoned out, while wondering how the demons thought they could force his stubborn brother to do whatever they wish.

"They'll take a hostage." Bianca said, knowing the most likely route the demons would take. "You Halliwell's don't have many weaknesses, but your biggest is the also the easiest one to manipulate – family. You'll do anything, sacrifice anything, for the life of someone you care deeply about." It was a trait Bianca both admired and loathed in equal parts. "And if I had to guess, they'll go after Melinda."

Chris might not carry the title of twice blessed, but the underworld – despite underestimating him at times, still knew enough to fear him, especially in recent years, just as they did his brother. Sometimes more. However, his baby sister, didn't have the same reputation. Or any reputation at all. So to the demons, she would be fair game and the best bait available to bend Wyatt to their will.

Chris immediately closing his eyes at Bianca's words and reaching out for his little sister. His little sister who he knew had been trying to reach out to him these past two weeks. Even going as far as to trying to find him at work and not wanting to get into another argument or see the look of hurt and betrayal that he had witnessed in her eyes, the night he had left, Chris had been avoiding her. Not even being able to bring himself to open the letter she had left for him.

And instantly becoming worried, the moment his senses had reached out when he found himself blocked. A frown appearing on his face, worrying Bianca that she was right. Chris faintly feeling that his sister was alive, but beyond that there appeared to be some kind of barrier around her, preventing him from sensing anything else.

As it stood, his senses could only feel what they could from here, because he was part Elder and imagined that if he was simply part whitelighter like Wyatt, that he wouldn't be able to sense her at all.

He opened her eyes.

"Mel's in trouble." He said. "I can sense her, but barely and only enough to know that she's alive. There's some kind of barrier around her, some kind of magic, that is preventing me from sensing anything else, including where she is. We need to go." He told Bianca.

But before either of them could leave, they were prevented from doing so by Nimueh, who trapped the royal couple in a crystal cage.

"What are you doing?" Chris demanded, his jaw clenched and his eyes blazing.

"I am sorry to hear about your sister, but I can not let you leave before completing your task." Nimueh said. "You must prove yourself worthy and retrieve the sword."

Chris shook his head. "My sister's in trouble, your sword can wait." He attempted to escape the cage he was in, but found that his magic simply reflected back to him.

Bianca in response gripping the handle of one of her Sai's.

"The sword is not mine, I am only its protector and if your sister was taken by those who seek to claim the sword for themselves." Nimueh said. "Then I urge you to fulfill your destiny and claim what is rightfully yours, it will help you save your sister." She promised him.

But Chris didn't care. Letting the power inside him build, preparing himself to shatter the cage completely, before Bianca spoke up.

"Perhaps she's right." She grudgingly agreed, earning a heated look from Chris. "We're here and we know that whoever has taken Melinda, has taken her as a means to persuade Wyatt, who they believe is the heir, to hand Excalibur over to them in exchange for Melinda's life. Something he can't do. But you can." She said, silencing Nimueh with a look when she began to protest. "I know you still don't believe that you're the heir, but I do." She took his hand. "Because you've always been meant for something more Chris, something truly great."

She then spoke directly to Nimueh.

"And I'm not saying that Chris just simply hand over the sword for Melinda's life, I'm saying he should use it." Chris recognized the look on her face, as one of a trained warrior preparing for war. "Whoever has Melinda is convinced Wyatt is the heir, so the last thing they'll expect is for you to show up wielding it."

Chris knew she was right. That both of them were right, although he still felt uncomfortable with the thought of apparently being a King. But knew he could set aside all of that, if it meant getting his sister back.

"What do I have to do?" He asked determinedly.

Nimueh smiled, releasing them from the crystal cage she had trapped them in, before answering. "You need to climb."

HTNG

"The girl has been delivered, my Queen." The loyal servant said, on bended knee and with his head bowed in respect. "The heir felt her pain and arrived to save her, almost immediately."

The Queen smiled. "Excellent. Now let's see how long it takes for them to receive my message." She then turned to her prisoner, whose eyes were still closed. "And to see how much the life of his precious baby sister is worth to him."

The cavern filling with laughter.

HTNG

"Wyatt, what happened?" Piper asked her eldest son, as Prue and Paige took care of the bloodied and clearly malnourished young girl, that had arrived in her son's arms.

She was unconscious. Her clothes filthy, bloodstained and torn. Her blonde hair closer to brown and there were clear markings on both her wrists that showed signs that the poor girl had been restrained. Introductions between Wyatt and his thought to be dead Aunt Prue, being quick and short, everyone's priority being the young girl that Wyatt announced was his charge Amanda. The young runaway who had refused Wyatt's assistance and that Wyatt had been unable to sense or find for the past nine days.

"I was in the underworld." Her son began.

"Surprise, surprise." Peyton muttered under her breath, not at all surprised in the least to learn where her cousin had been.

A flash of guilt then crossing over Wyatt's face as he heard Peyton's words. Feeling just as his mother did, about letting his obsession in trying to find a way to free, to save Chris, something he was now beginning to understand was futile, get in the way of being there when the rest of his family needed him. His mother and aunts – even those who he had until today believed dead, not wasting time in informing him of the attack and his little sister's subsequent abduction.

"I was interrogating a low level demon, hoping that he might have heard something, anything, about why I had suddenly become number one on every demon's hit list – even more so than usual." Wyatt continued, thinking that until today all the attacks had been focused on him.

"I'm sure that's not all you were interrogating him about." Peyton softly sniped, earning a half-hearted glare from her aunt Paige.

Her aunt Paige whose thoughts were thinking, like mother, like son.

"I don't suppose this demon gave you an answer?" Paige then asked, her voice not overly hopeful, as she ran a wet cloth over the top of the young Amanda's face.

She had a fever.

Both her and Prue and even Wyatt had all attempted to heal the young girl with no avail – there was something blocking them. They could feel it, but couldn't identify what it was. Peyton being given the task of looking through the book of shadows, whilst Paige and Prue worked on helping Amanda the best they could.

"No." Wyatt shook his head, his aunt turning back to her task. "He said, that whatever it is, it is well above his pay grade and that most of the demons are just guns for hire."

"Which we already knew." Piper sighed, tired of having no new information.

"I know and I was hoping to get the name of whomever was truly behind the attacks, but he didn't know. Or was too afraid to tell me otherwise." Wyatt pressed on. "However, he did mention that it wasn't just one demon that had rallied all the demons out for my blood and that whoever they all are, they're old. Very old. And that some of them haven't been seen for centuries." He let his words sink in for a moment. "He also mentioned that the three most powerful seers that the underworld has, have gone missing."

Paige and Piper's eyes instantly snapping up to meet the others, when Wyatt mentioned Seer. Both of their thoughts silently asking the other if Ishta was perhaps one of these missing seers and from the way that the witch doctor had immediately dropped to his knees in her presence, the respect he had shown her, they both suspected that the answer was yes. But neither could think of a reason, were both still at a loss, as to why she had helped them.

Or at least appeared to have helped them. The potion she had left for Piper, feeling as if it was burning a hole in her back pocket and the reason she had given for her help, still confusing them both.

"Alright girls." Prue's voice then interrupted their thoughts. "What's that look for, share with the class?" She asked, not having missed her sister's reactions.

It being Paige then to speak and explain about the Seer, Ishta, they had met that morning. Leaving out the part, about the potion that she had left for Piper to take, but mentioning her reason for why it was she had helped them. Or rather why it was she had stopped Piper on her foolish quest.

"She called it an act of good faith and said that she wanted to be considered an ally, not an enemy." Paige continued. "Although she made no mention of whose ally she wanted to be and said simply that we would learn in time."

"So still just as cryptic as ever I see." Prue said, thinking that it had to be a genetic trait with Seers that they never just flat out told you what it was you needed or wanted to know.

She could also see that both of her sisters were holding something back. But was more concerned at the moment with the who and why, that had made this Ishta betray her master. All seer's, especially powerful ones all having a master to serve. And not being able to shake the feeling that everything was somehow connected – the Elders secrecy, the attacks on Wyatt, the Seer's words, not to mention the two abductions that Prue knew would hit Wyatt the hardest. His little sister and his first charge. Knowing that having any charge taken, would be like having the wind knocked out of you. But having your first charge taken and hurt, all to send a message to you, Prue knew, would be like a sucker punch to her nephews face.

"They seem almost afraid of something." She then mused, sharing her thoughts.

Thinking that with the reputation her family had in the underworld, that her nephew had, that there could only be one thing strong enough to drive any demon from the underworld to attack or kidnap anyone from her family – fear.

"Something that from the attacks and who they have chosen to use as bait, has something to do with you dear nephew." Giving Wyatt a look, asking if he had any idea why.

"Absolutely none." He answered. "And believe me when I say that I've tried to get answers, but just like today, no one's talking."

"Then hopefully Amanda will have some idea." Paige said, looking over the still pale and feverish girl. "She was obviously let go for a reason, speaking of where did you find her?"

"In an abandoned apartment building, that I suspect is where she has been living." Wyatt said, recalling the dilapidated building and the dark, stained wall apartment that Wyatt had surmised was where Amanda had been living.

Or more like squatting would be a better description.

Finding a small mattress in the corner that was being used as a bed, as well as an old and seen better days dresser, that was covered in candles. In fact there had been candles all over the apartment, as well as a small collection of jewelery that included the necklace Wyatt recognized as the one she had been wearing the first day they had met. The one he knew she had stolen. The relief he had first felt, at again being able to sense her, quickly turning into worry and concern when he picked up on the pain she was in and how weak she felt to him.

"I sensed her and felt her pain the moment I returned from the underworld. Speaking of," He spoke directly to Peyton now. "have you had any luck identifying what it is that's blocking us from healing her?"

Peyton shook her head. "Nothing." She said with a sigh, closing the book. "For a book on magic, in a family with so many with whitelighter blood, it is surprisingly light on anything to do with whitelighter's or why they might be prevented from healing."

The book explaining about darklighter poison and how lethal it is to all those with whitelighter blood, but beyond that there was nothing.

"We need Leo, Paige do you mind?" Piper then said, her sister understanding at once what she wanted and nodding her head, before orbing away.

"Has anyone tried reaching, Chris?" Wyatt asked, reaching out himself with the bond the two shared but again, just like he had become accustomed to over the last two weeks, he could feel nothing.

"I called for him when the demons attacked, but he didn't answer." Peyton replied.

"And he's still blocking me." Wyatt grumbled, before turning to his aunt Prue. "I don't suppose you can sense him, being our appointed whitelighter and all?" He asked, not holding out much hope and feeling oddly grateful for a change, towards the Elders for reuniting his long lost aunt with her sisters.

"Other than being able to feel that he's still alive, no." Prue answered, just as Wyatt had expected. "And a bit of advice for the both of you." She was looking at Piper as well. "Chris won't come home until you let go of this obsession you have of freeing him from Bianca. Who by the way, means him no harm and loves him just as fiercely as he loves her."

That startled both mother and son.

"And you know this how, Prue?" Piper demanded.

"Because I've seen them together. Seen how strong the bond between them is, even at the beginning." And realizing what her sister's real problem with Bianca was, she added. "She's not Cole, Piper."

The mention of Phoebe's at one time demon husband, making Piper tense. As both Wyatt and Peyton looked to each other, silently questioning if the other had heard the name, both shaking their heads, before turning back to Piper and Prue.

"I know that." Piper sighed. "Or at least a part of me does. But even with knowing that I can't do anything to separate them, not without killing Chris, I still had to try Prue. Because I don't ever want him to go through the kind of pain that Cole inflicted on this family." She said, not mentioning Phoebe's name in front of Wyatt and Peyton.

"He won't." Prue confidently assured her. "The bond the two of them share won't allow it."

"And again a part of me knows that, but there's also another part that doesn't trust her and can't believe that she won't someday, somehow, betray him again." Piper ranted, her use of the word again, confusing the teenager and the twenty-four year old.

But Prue understood, knowing that her sister's wariness and total lack of acceptance towards Bianca had to do with the Chris that had died. The son that had come back in time, bravely, to save his older brother and that had, as far as Piper knew, been betrayed and almost killed by the woman he loved. Prue not being so quick to condemn Bianca for her other self's actions and suspected just as Paige did, that we didn't know the full story, or just what the catalyst was for Bianca coming back.

She didn't outright believe, as her sister did, that Bianca just came back to betray him.

"She won't." Prue told her sister. "And you can't hold something that happened in another life against her. Not when you don't know what all the circumstances were, that brought her back in the first place."

Piper sighed, knowing her sister was right. "You sound just like Paige." She said, slightly annoyed at the sense both her sister's seemed to be making.

Whilst Prue's words only further confused Wyatt and Peyton – another life, they both thought, having no idea what their aunt meant. And having no time to think anymore on what it could mean, as it was in the next moment that Paige returned with Leo. Leo who had the same reaction as everyone else when he first saw Prue. Before pulling his sister-in-law into a hug and assuring his wife that he had no idea about her status as a whitelighter. And that if he had he would have told her. The once former Elder, then not wasting anytime before kneeling down next to his son's charge and examining her. The former army medic inside of him, instantly noting the malnutrition, the various cuts, the bruising around both of her wrists that were clear signs that she had been restrained – forcefully, as well as the faint bruising on her face that was the result of someone slapping her across her face.

But it was the grey discoloration in her face, the dryness in and around her mouth and the extreme dilation of her pupils that had him the most concerned. Not to mention puzzled as he took her gentle steady pulse, her body showing no signs that she was in any form of distress, or pain.

It was most odd, Leo thought, before standing.

"She's been poisoned." He said.

"Poisoned?" Piper spoke in question.

"But wait, shouldn't we be able to heal that, we have before?" Paige then asked, amazed at how calm Leo was.

Even after being told that his daughter had been taken by demons. Leo's calmness coming from years of practice and faith that he had in his family to protect their own and the strong belief that he knew his daughter would be rescued safe and in one piece.

She was her mother's daughter after all.

"You should, but this poison is unlike anything I've seen and it's not causing her pain, but whatever it is, it's somehow preventing you from healing her." Leo said. "And the only thing I can think of that stops a whitelighter's power, is darklighter poison. But even then, that can simply be healed by another whitelighter."

His words were worrying to everyone.

"We need Henry." Wyatt said, referring to his younger cousin who was the resident science brain in the family and was studying to be a forensic scientist. He was also the best at potions, having taken after both his mother and his aunt Piper. "He's our best chance of identifying whatever it is that they've given her."

Everybody agreed. With luck being on their side, Henry having just finished meeting with his study group for a project they were working on when his mother had called him. Henry making sure that he was alone, before orbing from the campus library to the manor. It saying something about growing up as a Halliwell, or in his case a Mitchell, that the sight of his mother's, apparently alive, dead sister and a pale, bloodstained young girl laying on the couch, didn't shock him as much it would anyone else.

However hearing that one of his younger cousins had been taken and another attacked, had the anger inside him simmering.

"You were right about it being a poison." Henry said, after taking the time he needed to analyze the young girl who he had learned was named Amanda and Wyatt's charge's, blood. "And what's amazing about it is how simple it is. It's darklighter poison," He explained. "that has somehow been magically altered so that magic itself can not cure it. In fact the more magic you use, actually strengthens it. It's quite genius really." He couldn't help but admire.

"So now what, we just let her die?" Wyatt demanded, gesturing to where Amanda was still laying unconscious on the couch.

It was Leo who shook his head. "Of course not son and the poison isn't killing her."

"He's right." Henry nodded. "It's just preventing us from healing her with magic, that doesn't mean we'll let her die. We can treat her by other means for the time being and presumably once the poison has faded from her system you should be able to heal her again as you wanted to." A sudden idea then occurred to him. "Although I may have a way to get rid of the poison now..." He trailed off, ignoring the curious looks and questions of his family as he orbed away.

Retrieving from his apartment, something that he and Chris had worked on together and something that he had hoped would work now. The two of them coming up with an antidote to darklighter poison, something one of them could take if they were ever in the position of being infected but not able to be healed.

"Henry what are you doing?" His mother asked him when he arrived back at the manor.

Not answering her and instead placing one hand underneath Amanda's head to lift her neck, before carefully tipping the contents of the potion vial he had brought back with him, into her mouth.

"Hopefully this will work." He muttered under his breath.

"Hopefully what will work, Henry what did you give her?" His mother demanded this time.

But again he didn't answer her, instead watching as slowly the grey tinge faded from Amanda's face, her pupils returning to normal, as slowly but steadily, the poison left her system.

"Good it's working." He smiled, before turning to the others. "You should be able to heal her now."

The rest of the occupants of the room each sharing a confused and curious look, but Wyatt trusting that his cousin knew what he was doing, knelt forward, placing his hands over his charge and feeling relieved when his hands began to glow a soft gold, the bruising and small cuts, covering Amanda beginning to heal. Her eyes then slowly fluttering open with a groan.

It taking her a few moments to register the softness beneath her and not the hard stone that she had become accustomed to over the past week and more. Blinking her eyes open and being even more startled when the first thing she recognized wasn't the cold stone of the cavern walls that had become regrettably familiar to her. But instead what appeared to be a comfortable living room. As well as the baby face blond, whose name she had stopped calling out for and the curious looks of six other people who she had never seen before, but instantly made her nervous.

She sat up in a rush, immediately feeling dizzy.

"Easy Amanda, we've healed your physical wounds but you're still extremely malnourished." An older gentleman, with the same hair and eyes as her – what had he called himself – said to her gently.

She instantly backed away, pushing herself into the far corner of the couch she realized she was laying on.

"W-who are all of you? How did I get here?" She asked quietly, stuttering slightly, her knees pulled into her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around them.

"They're my family. They mean you no harm." The one she had met before, the one who had promised to help her when she needed him, spoke. "And I brought you here."

She frowned, not understanding why he had bothered, not when he had ignored her.

"I called for you." She admitted, her words making him flinch. "Just as you told me to, if I was ever in trouble, but you didn't come. You left me there. You lied." She accused.

Wyatt taking a cautionary step towards Amanda, but seeing how she pulled away, he stepped back.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me, but you were being kept hidden from me, blocked from me, by the ones that took you." Wyatt hoped his charge would understand that he hadn't just abandoned her.

The mention of the ones who had taken her and kept her chained up, making her flinch. Especially as she remembered the last words her captive had for her...

~Flashback~

"Sweet Amanda, how bittersweet it is that our time together is ending." The menacing woman Amanda knew simply as the Queen, cooed to her, as the rest around her laughed.

Turning her head away, as she cringed at the sound and sparing a glance to the unconscious girl next to her, who had yet to wake up.

"Oh don't worry your pretty little head about her, she won't be touched." The Queen yanked her head back, her hand on her chin, so that she was once again looking into Amanda's eyes. "At least not if the heir does what he is told, which is where you will come in." The Queen waved her hand, unlocking the manacles around her wrists. "You are going to give your whitelighter and his family a message for me – give me the sword that is rightfully mine and their precious Melinda will be let go unharmed. Refuse and I'll kill her, slowly."

The sadistic smile on her face, making Amanda's heart race.

"Do you think you can do that for me, sweet Amanda?" She asked almost mockingly.

"I-I..." Amanda stuttered. "I don't know how to find him." And he lied to me about being there for me, if I were ever in danger.

"Don't worry, you don't need to find him. He'll find you." And with that, she let Amanda go, but not before slicing her across the back of her hand with a sharp blade and knocking her out with a hard slap to her face.

~End Flashback~

"She was right." Amanda whispered, as the memory faded.

"Who was right?" Wyatt asked, having heard her.

"I-I don't know her name, but the ones who served her, the ones who brought me to her, addressed her simply as their Queen." Amanda answered him. "She said that you'd find me and that when you did I was meant to pass along a message to you and your family – she has your sister." Piper's eyes went wide at Amanda's words, as she shared a look with her husband. "And that to get her back, you are supposed to give her some sword that she says rightfully belongs to her, if not..." Amanda trailed off not being able to bring herself to say the words.

But they weren't needed.

All in the room understanding at once what the unspoken threat was – Melinda's life, but not one of them having any clue about any sword.

"Sword?" It was Piper first to speak. "My daughter has been taken for a sword, that my family doesn't even have." She was doing her best to reign in her temper, so not to frighten the young girl.

"It doesn't make any sense." Wyatt couldn't understand. "Are you sure she said sword?" He asked Amanda.

She nodded. "Yes. She said that with the lady's call, that the sword will begin to look for its new master and that she couldn't let that happen. Not when the sword and the city rightfully belongs to her."

"Wait, now there's a city she's after as well as a sword?" Paige asked. "Bit of a greedy little Queen isn't she."

"A greedy Queen that knows more than us." Prue said, before turning to Amanda. "Amanda is there anything else you can tell us about what it is the Queen wants, about this sword, or anything about her?" She asked the young girl.

"I'm sorry no, nothing they said made any sense to me and I did my best to not draw any attention to myself." Amanda said, with a shake of her head. "I actually thought I was going to die in that cavern until you're daughter arrived and she suddenly let me go."

"Speaking of, why did she let you go?" It was Henry who asked. "She could have sent her message by other means, could have had her demons or whoever it is that is serving her, relay her demands and even use your death to strengthen her threat."

"Henry!" Paige scolded her son.

"I'm sorry, I'm not wishing death on you." Henry assured Amanda, who had appeared to fold even more into herself at his words. "But it is curious that she let go. Even more so that the poison she gave you was only to prevent us from healing you with magic and not at all lethal. It's strange."

That had everyone thinking, each wondering about what the Queen's true motives were behind keeping Amanda alive.

"It was probably nothing more than a delay tactic." Prue surmised. "Not knowing that we would be able to heal the poison so quickly, if at all and a way to also distract us from looking for Melinda and drag out the suspense."

The mention of Melinda, making Piper and Leo's heart clench, but seeing the toll that all of this was taking on the young Amanda, Piper offered. "Peyton how about you take Amanda upstairs to freshen up. I know Melinda won't mind if you borrow some of her clothes."

"I could use a change of clothes myself." Peyton said with a nod and a gentle smile towards Amanda, who then followed her upstairs.

"So do we have any idea who this Queen may be or what sword it is that she wants to exchange for Mel?" Wyatt asked once the two girls had head upstairs.

"The only Queen in the underworld I've ever heard of, is our own dear Phoebe." Paige said, before asking a question of her own. "What about this lady's call, what do you suppose was meant by that or who – a seer perhaps?"

"That would explain why some have gone missing. Or been taken." Henry added, following his mother's train of thought.

Henry who had tried scrying for Melinda, but with as expected, no luck. He knew that it probably wouldn't work, but it didn't hurt to try and at least rule out the option.

"No." Leo answered. "Not a seer, a prophet."

"Prophet?" Prue, Piper and Paige asked in unison.

"Rare magical being's that were once mortal, but were blessed with the divine power to foresee future events." Leo explained. "Although unlike Seers a prophet is bound to the events of a particular calling – a place, a person, an event. They don't see everything and their prophecies are beyond their control, spoken aloud for only a select few to hear."

"So that should make tracking them down easy right, if there aren't that many." Wyatt said. "Maybe if we track down the prophet that spoke of this sword that I'm suspected to have, they'll be able to help us locate the Queen who took Amanda and who now has Melinda. Or maybe at the very least we might learn of what this Prophet spoke, that has this Queen and the rest of the underworld coming after me."

He said, connecting the dots that it must have been this mysterious Prophet's words, that had led to the barrage of attacks he had found himself the center of, the last two weeks.

"Unfortunately, the identities of these Prophets is a well kept secret." Leo shook his head. "And while few, like the Elders, may know their names, it will do us no good in finding them. Prophets are highly protected."

"Perhaps not." Prue said. "But the Elders know something. And I'd wager to bet that from the constant whispering and council meeting's they've been having lately, that they know exactly who this Queen is. Or at the very least they know about this sword that she is after and why she believes that Wyatt is in possession of it." And with that Prue orbed away.

HTNG

Bianca watched with a nervousness that was foreign to her, having never feared so much for Chris' life before. Her eyes never leaving his form, as he slowly climbed the great waterfall and without the aid of magic or help of any kind. Nimueh saying that the climb was a test of the heir's worth, his bravery, his courage and his determination. With only a true King being able to reach the top and free the sword from the stone, from where Arthur had returned it.

"Knowing that the power of the sword would always be coveted, Arthur, in one of his final acts as King and before he died, returned the sword to where it would be safest and where he himself had been deemed worthy. Vowing that just as he had done, only his rightful heir, only he who is truly worthy will be able to free the sword from the stone and claim the title of King." Nimueh had explained about Excalibur.

Along with the dreams that Chris had been having, that Nimueh revealed were in fact not dreams but memories of Arthur's reign as King. Nimueh also knowing, but not sharing, that from what she knew of Christopher Halliwell, that Arthur's memories weren't the only set of memories that the young King was destined to inherit.

"Your fear is unfounded." Nimueh's voice than pulled Bianca's thoughts, but her eyes remain fixed on her mate.

Her heart skipping a beat when he, for a moment, lost his footing and slipped. Releasing the breath she didn't know she was holding, once he had steadied himself and resumed climbing.

"And what fear would that be?" Bianca then managed to ask.

"That there is no place for you in this new destiny of Christopher's." Nimueh said, having sensed what the hybrid witch was most worried about. Even more so than her love failing and falling to his death. "That you will not be accepted and instead replaced, despite the unbreakable bond the two of you share."

Bianca couldn't help but laugh bitterly. "Right, because I'm sure that the same people who have been waiting for their new King, have also been waiting for an ex-assassin to be there new Queen."

"The late Queen Guinevere was a warrior." Nimueh said and your ancestor, she added silently. It is why you look so alike. "A great warrior, that despite her past, her parentage, the people of Avalon accepted because she was who their King had chosen. You should have faith that your people will see in you what Christopher does. Will see the love you have for him and the strength you possess to fight to protect him."

Bianca would believe it, when she saw it. If she saw it.

"Even if the people of Avalon can accept me as Queen," Something, that despite her belief in Chris, was a hard concept for her to swallow. "the Elders most certainly won't." She said. "They will never allow someone who is part demon, to rule over a city with so much power."

"The Elders will have no choice. They have no control or authority over the city or it's rulers. They, like many others, answer to the King." Nimueh paused. "And the Queen."

But Bianca had stopped listening, not interested in hearing about titles or rulers, not when Chris was almost at the top. The spray from the cascading water, soaking him now as his movements became even slower. More cautious. Bianca watching with bated breath as he slowly inched closer to the hilt of the sword. Seeing the strain in his arms, from the strength, she knew, that it was taking him to keep from being washed away with the heavy current of the water.

The next few moments as he attempted to reach out and grasp the hilt of the sword, feeling like the longest moments of Bianca's life. His hand never seeming to reach, his feet stumbling slightly, until her heart lurched when in the next second Chris all but leaped towards the sword. Both hands, thankfully, coming to rest tightly on its hilt and the sword, thankfully, remaining embedded in the stone, keeping Chris from falling.

A thankfulness that was short-lived, when in the next moment, Bianca felt herself screaming Chris' name, as she watched on helplessly, as the momentum of pulling the sword free, caused him to fall backwards. His body falling towards the water below as if in slow motion, with he sword of legend, Excalibur, still grasped in his hand.