Been a while, I think, but my internet refused to stay connected for more than five seconds. Literally. It had a personal vendetta against me. I don't know what I did to make it hate me, but it hates me so, so much.

Anyways, on with the chapter.

Chapter 9 - Trust

Paige was already trying to heal before they were back in the attic, and the golden glow appeared almost instantly. Prue fell backwards, now having lost consiousness, and Paige leaned over her, sobbing as she tried to heal. Sat on the floor where he had slumped the second he'd let go of them, Preston watched, terrifed.

Slowly, the gaping wound began to close over, and, as the rest of their family shimmered in around them, it closed completly. Prue's eyelashes fluttered a few times before she opened her eyes, and blinked.

"Am I dead?" She asked.

"No, not this time." Paige said, laughing from sheer relief. Getting to her feet, Paige pulled Prue up with her and found herself pulled into a real hug.

"Thanks." Prue murmured. She had barely realsed Paige when she was hugged by all three of her boys, who refused to let go for several minutes. She clung to them, knowing how close she had been to losing her life, losing them.

"The demon -?" Piper said suddenly, and Chris shook his head.

"Dead. Someone killed him."

"How did you find us?" Prue asked, but she knew. A part of her knew.

"Louian." Preston said. "Chris and I went to find him, he found out, then tried to kill us."

"What?" Her anger was obvious as Prue drew back from them. "He did what? I'm going to kill him?!"

"You?" Piper murmured. "The two of you?"

"He saved my life." Chris said quietly.. "Twice. I trust him, now, mum."

"Mum, come on, he was just scared other demons were going to kill him for helping us -"

"He should of been more scared of what I would do." Prue replied. "I'm going to vanquish -"

"You don't have powers." Andy murmured. She hadn't seen him, sat by the window, and his words hit her hard. The last few hours had made her forget all about it...it was just like old times, bleeding to death in some dark cave...but she wasn't witch anymore, wasn't a Charmed One.

"We do." Parker said. "We can vanquish. He betrayed us, dad always said -"

"Ricker." Preston corrected.

"Huh?"

"Ricker. He's not our dad. He never was. Just Ricker."

"Oh...OK." Parker nodded. "Well, Ricker always said that a demon who betrayed you was dangerous to have around, and out had to get rid of them -"

"Well, I guess that's a good rule to live by." Phoebe said carefully. "But here, we kind of go by, no demon can be trusted and any that threaten you in anyway need to be vanquished..."

"Almost the same." Preston said. "Either way, we'll vanquish Louian. It's not safe to have him out there." He did, however, look almost sad. The last thing from his old life he thought he could depend on was gone."

"Come on, then." Parker said. "Will he still be at the cave?"

"You're not going alone." Lydia said suddenly.

"You think we'd just let the three of you go?" Sydney added.

"This is our demon. Chris nearly got killed last time -" Parker began.

"Halliwell's don't go at it alone." Paris said. "We'll all go."

"How about, we just go, and you kids stay here?" Paige said brightly. "Or did you forget about us who've been demon-fighting since before you were born?"

"This is their fight." Piper siad, shaking her head. "They have to do it themselves."

"What?" Phoebe spun round quickly. "Piper, they're still just a bunch of kids -"

"If this had taught us anything, it's that we aren't always going to be here to help. Summon him." Piper directed the last part to the kids. "You summon him hear, into a cage, and vanquish ihm properly - with a spell, together. We'll be right here if you need us, but this is your fight."

"Really?" Linnie asked, her eyebrows raised in a face just like her mothers.

"Yep. Be careful, 'cause I'll be real mad if you get killed." Piper smiled nervously. "Go on, then, get the cage ready. Someone needs to find the summoning and vanquishing spells."

"I'll do the spells." Linnie volenteered.

"I'll help." Perry said, and they both moved to the book. Lydia held out her hands and the box of crystals materlised in them. They worked quickly, setting up the trap in the way they had seen their parents do for years, except for Parker and Preston, who hovvered uncertainly.

"It's like a cage." Phoenix explained, seeing their confusion. "We summon him here, and he gets trapped inside. That means he can't shimmer out, or throw anything at us."

"Like the bubbles." Preston stated.

"Yep. We used the bubbles though, because we knew you were going to come to us, and we could just throw the potion at you." Prudence explained.

"Cage is done." Wyatt announced.

"Spells are ready." Linnie said, and then looked to her aunts and mum."

"Go on, then." Paige nodded.

"Only three of us need to do the summoning spell." Linnie said.

"Let them do it." Little Henry said, looking towards Preston, Parker and Perry.

"Uh, sure." Linnie held out the peice of paper. "Just read it out together."

Uncertainly, Parker took the paper, and looked down over it.

"You want me to count you in?" Lydia asked. "It takes some practice."

"Ah, sure." Parker nodded.

"OK. 1...2...3."