Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed.

Chapter Ten

Air: Yellow

New Years' Day, 2019. Unchanged Future

Anna gasped as she collapsed to her knees in the clearing. Pamela was in her arms, sobbing hysterically, and no wonder. Wyatt had just slaughtered their family, exposed magic, declared himself Ruler of Everything and massacred Magic School. All in one night. 'So much for Savior of Good Magic' she thought wildly.

She stiffened, her Enhanced Senses warning her that there were people nearby. She scrambled to her feet, pressing Pamela to her side with one hand while the other raised in preparation to defend them both. As she scanned her surroundings, she realized with a jolt of dismay that she had no idea where they'd appeared. It was some sort of tropical jungle by the looks of it, and Anna could feel the magic in the air. She prayed she was surrounded by Good beings, not demons. Anna could barely stand, let alone fight off another attack.

Several women stepped from the trees. They were dressed in leather, and armed with various weapons. Anna caught a glimpse of one of their necklaces and gasped in recognition, lowering her hand slightly.

"You're Valkyries," she realized, keeping one hand pressed tightly in between Pamela's shoulder blades, pressing her cousin's face into her side.

One of the women, with a wild head of dark hair, stepped forward. Part of Anna was amazed at how light she was on her feet.

"I am Kara, second-in-command of the Valkyries," she declared bluntly. "Who are you, and how did you get here? I warn you, we have been under semi-constant attack for several hours now. It would be best not to anger us more than we are already."

Anna hesitated for a moment before deciding that the truth was her best option. "I'm Annette Halliwell, matriarch of the Warren line." Two years had passed, and it still hurt to claim the title that once belonged to Piper.

"I arrived here after fleeing Wyatt Halliwell's attack. He has attacked Magic School. He's exposed magic to the mortals as well. And he said he was going after the Elders. Please, can you try and warn them? Oh! This is my cousin, Pamela."

Kara studied her carefully, and Anna resisted the urge to shift anxiously. "Where are the rest of your family?" Kara's voice was gentle, evidently knowing the answer.

Anna felt her eyes burn with tears, remembering the chaotic attack, and pleading desperately for her cousins to be spared. She'd barely managed to yank a hand out of her bonds and grab Pamela to orb away before she was killed too. That same wrist was still bleeding from the rope, Anna absently realized.

Kara nodded, despite Anna not speaking."We'll take them to Freya." She decided, turning on her heel. Anna picked Pamela up and settled her on her hip. She didn't exactly have much options after all.

The Manor: July 15th, 2003.

Anna stared down contemplatively at the empty crib. She felt Wyatt slip into the room, tension radiating from him.

"Would you stop me?" She asked him. "If I decided to kill the baby. Would you stop me?"

He stared at her, thinking of the hints he'd learned about her timeline. Thinking about the pain and exhaustion she had in her eyes constantly, and the scars on her body. He shook his head.

"No," he told her flatly. "After everything he did to you, if you decided to take the easy option and kill the baby, I'd probably help you."

Anna nodded slowly, still staring down at the crib for another few minutes before she heard noise from the living room. She spun on her heel, heading for the doorway.

"They're back," she announced redundantly. "C'mon."

"It's about time," she said, sauntering into the room with her brother at her heels. "We were starting to get wor... Where's Piper?"

"You bitch!" Leo yelled furiously. He punched her in the face and pushed her against the wall. "Why'd you do it?"

Wyatt was frozen in shock. A part of him shattered as he watched his father, a man he had always considered the best of humanity, attack his sister.

"Do what?" Anna coughed out, her head spinning from the blow. 'Worst pacifist ever,' she grumbled mentally. Anna hated everyone with the name Wyatt. Leo threw her across the room, snapping the others out of their shocked states.

"Anna!" Wyatt called, rushing to his sister's side and shielding her.

"Leo, stop it!" Paige demanded.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Cole snarled, stepping between the still enraged Elder and his target. "You're attacking an innocent Whitelighter! And a girl at that!"

"Leo, enough!" Phoebe added, staring in disbelief at her brother-in-law. "This isn't you."

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Wyatt turned from his now-healed sister. It took everything in him to keep from unleashing the wrath of the Twice-Blessed on his father. If this was the man that Anna knew growing up, no wonder she hated him.

"What kind of Elder just attacks a girl for no reason?" Wyatt continued, hoping that everyone saw his contempt and disgust. He ignored the exasperation Anna sent his way as he prevented her from moving into Leo's view.

"What is wrong with you?" Paige hissed at him. She stared at Leo, wondering what the heck could justify randomly attacking a girl. "You been playing Gladiator too long?"

Leo stubbornly suppressed the discomfort he felt, glaring at the Whitelighters. "You didn't tell them did you?"

Phoebe frowned, glancing between them. "Tell us what?"

"That they was the last one to see me," Leo spat. "Right afterwards I was mysteriously trapped in Valhalla."

"I was with her when we last saw you," Wyatt snapped at him. "But you didn't attack me."

"Oh, so what, that makes me responsible?" Anna scoffed at the same time. God she hated how Leo got under her skin so much. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Okay, why would Anna do that?"

"Why else?" Leo scoffed. "To get rid of me."

"That doesn't make sense," Paige denied.

"Doesn't it?" Leo argued. "She manipulated things so I could become an Elder. Forced me out of the house, didn't she?"

"So you could save the world," Anna drawled.

"And I was helping her," Wyatt added, still furious and hurt at Leo's actions. "But again, you assaulted the five foot six girl instead of the six foot man! Does attacking young women make you feel better about yourself or something?"

"Alright, Leo, I know how upset you are," Phoebe took on the roll of mediator. "And by know, I mean I literally know. I'm an empath now. But you're way off base here. Anna has been the model Whitelighter since you've been gone. She's done nothing but good."

"Better than you, actually," Cole inserted. Leo looked angrily at him. "Because she's been making them obey the rules, which is frankly, making our lives go smoother."

"She's the reason we were able to rescue you," Phoebe insisted. Leo crossed his eyes, still glaring at Anna. She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he thought he was intimidating. Maybe to someone who hadn't lived her life he was. But Anna was almost amused by his angry look. It reminded her of a spoilt child, not an angry Elder.

"You're welcome," Anna muttered snarkily.

"Where'd you get the pendants?" Leo demanded accusingly making his family begin to lose their tempers at the continued verbal assault on Anna.

"Leo!"

"Alright. Alright," Leo gave in. "I'll let it go for now. So where's Wyatt? Can I see him?"

"No, you can't, he's staying with Sheila until we can figure out how to rescue Piper," Paige informed her brother-in-law.

"Which is gonna be hard because she doesn't want to be saved," Phoebe sighed.

"Well, if we're gonna save her, it's gonna have to be as witches, not as Valkyries," Paige declared. They both pulled off their Valkyrie necklaces and returned to their normal selves.

"Book of Shadows?" She suggested

Phoebe nodded. "Got it." They all left, leaving the two time travellers behind. Wyatt turned quickly to his sister, who's lips were tightly pursed.

"Well, at least he's suspicious," she muttered. "But if he's fixating on me, he'll leave things open for Gideon to sneak through. Damn man can't do anything right."

Wyatt cast her an incredulous look. "That's your chief concern? Seriously Annie, you need to work on your priorities. Our father just attacked you! I don't get why he insisted on blaming you, not me or both of us."

Anna shrugged, "He's a misogynist," she stated simply. She elaborated when Wyatt began shaking his head in denial. "He is, he's just not that obvious about it. But he's still from the 1940s, and a lot of those beliefs only recently started getting disproved. I bet you've never seen him interact with a gay man, or a lesbian woman, have you? He's not as bad as some, but he definitely looks down on them. So, because I'm a female, I'm more likely to be at fault then you are. Plus, he barely interacted with you, but he spent several hours with me and I don't make good impressions on people."

She was very matter-of-fact about everything, as Anna didn't believe in making a fuss about anything save her quest to stop Wyatt's turning. Given the results of his turn, she felt entitled to be dramatic about that. Of course, Anna wasn't actually willing to admit that that she was biased against her father because of her childhood.

Anna had convinced herself that only the worst was true of Leo when her mother, aunts and uncles died. In her view, if Leo had come when called, Piper would've survived, and Wyatt would've then stayed good. Therefore, Leo was ultimately to blame for all of Anna's suffering. Her judgment was hardly the best when it came to her family, but Wyatt was too distressed by the stress of everything to consider that his sister might be giving opinions formed from the point of view of a grieving, hurt child instead of a young woman without an emotional connection to the problem.

So, Wyatt then failed to consider that Leo might be struggling. He could only see that Leo hadn't bothered to fight to stay with their family, and then attacked his own daughter, whether he knew who she was or not, without cause. A part of Wyatt's ability was badly damaged by Leo's actions, and Leo himself had no idea that he had just permanently broken his son's ability to completely trust him.

"Let's go upstairs and find out what happened to Piper," Wyatt suggested in a subdued tone. In the back of his mind, he was grateful Anna had used her telepathy to ensure that he wouldn't admit their secret. Otherwise, he would never have been able to keep up the pretence.

Anna nodded and they hurried up to the attic where the others were looking over the Book of Shadows.

"What were you doing?" Leo asked suspiciously.

Cole's temper began to fray and he jumped to their defence. He felt strangely paternal towards the two, and had his suspicions on why these two, of all the future people, would be sent back.

But he knew the rules of time travelling perfectly well, and they kept him from speaking to anyone regarding his thoughts. That didn't mean he would tolerate Leo's actions. Actually, his suspicions made him more determined to defend the other two, least irreparable harm be done to the family's bond.

"For the love of the Goddess Leo!" He snapped. "Didn't you just agree to leave it be? Obviously Will was checking to make sure his sister was okay after being assaulted! Now can we please focus on Piper, instead of your anger issues?"

Leo looked indignant, but Anna quickly spoke before another argument could start.

"Yeah, seriously, what happened to Piper? Is she hurt?"

Phoebe quickly how Piper had regained her memories, and broken Leo's spell, while they were in Valhalla. She then explained how Piper had turned into a Valkyrie in her distress and anger. Anna bit her lip, mentally cursing Leo to Hell for what he'd done to her mother.

"Well, can we use Wyatt to bring her back? Piper's a dedicated mother, she would never willingly abandon her child," Anna pointed out. She popped her cheek, annoyed with her old habit having resurfaced.

The sisters exchanged doubtful looks at the suggestion. "I get what you're saying," Paige began slowly, wearing a frown. "But I don't like the thought of bringing Wyatt to Valhalla. The Valkyries might hurt him."

"I won't allow my son to be placed in danger," Leo chimed up.

No one save Wyatt noticed both Cole and Anna casting him matching looks of disapproval. No one at all mentioned their thoughts, which were all of how Leo how left both his wife and son without a thought for them or their safety several months before. It was, after all, the reason they were all in their current mess.

"The Valkyries are good," Anna insisted. "Whatever reason they had for kidnapping an Elder, you can't claim they were genuinely dangerous to you. You can only be killed by Darklighters after all, and you look perfectly healthy to me."

Leo's eyes flashed angrily at the young woman, who easily held her ground, but Cole nodded, taking her side. Phoebe gave Leo an apologetic look, but gripped her husband's arm in a show of support. Paige stayed quiet, and it was obvious that Will sided with his sister.

"Maybe if Paige fixes the spell she cast, we can bring her back to us," Phoebe suggested. Cole nodded thoughtfully as he agreed with his wife.

"Piper needs to believe she's a Valkyrie because it's too painful for her to be herself," he explained. "Being a Valkyrie helps take the hurt away."

"Makes sense," Wyatt finally spoke. "Valkyries have to serve the greater good so they're always in control. And they don't have to deal with pain or loss. Piper doesn't have to suffer if she's a Valkyrie."

"Well, that's why we have to make Piper believe she's Piper again," Phoebe pressed. "Because if we don't get her back mentally, it won't matter if we get her back physically."

"Okay, but Piper wasn't exactly being Piper before the memory spell either," Paige pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Leo frowned in confusion at his sister-in-law. She grimaced at him, waving her hand slightly.

"Well, that little magical whammy you performed on her kind of, um, backfired."

"Yeah," Phoebe agreed. "You see, after you left, Piper was really..."

"Chipper," Paige offered. "Yeah. Incessantly, increasingly, annoyingly chipper."

"I was on the verge of trying to convince Phoebe to move out so I wouldn't have to keep dealing with it," Cole said dryly. He grimaced in memory of Piper's unnatural happiness. It was wrong for anybody to act like that, especially the often grumpy Piper Halliwell.

Leo sighed as he spoke. "I was supposed to make her feel less pain, I guess with me not around to pull it back bit by bit, she got happier and happier."

"Uh, no, psychotically chipper," Paige corrected.

Anna clapped sarcastically, "Way to go," she huffed, earning a stern look from Phoebe.

"Anna," she warned.

"What?" Anna demanded defensively. Wyatt gave his sister an equally exasperated look, and yet again Cole felt something inside twinge in familiarity at the actions.

"Uh, I think the spell's finished," Paige announced, holding a piece of paper up in the air as the doorbell rang. Oscar, the remaining dog Paige was watching barked and ran in.

"Oh, great," she grumbled, glaring at the animal. Leo blinked in surprise at the sight. Piper didn't particularly like animals, but maybe the spell had gotten her to allow it?

"You got a dog?" He wondered. Paige grimaced again and shook her head in denial.

"No, I got a career."

"Sore subject, don't ask," Anna advised as Oscar barked again, making Paige huff and start for the attic door.

"Alright, I'm coming." Phoebe followed at her heels, but Cole stayed with the others. If his theory was correct, he was going to defend his possible niece and nephew as fiercely as he defended his wife.

They waited in silence for several moments before Phoebe called for Will and Anna to come quickly. They orbed, Anna taking Cole, as someone was obviously in need of healing.

"Oh by the goddess, Darryl!" Anna exclaimed, a hand going to her mouth. It reminded Cole of Phoebe. Wyatt hastily went to the detective's side, his hands starting to glow as Paige explained what Darryl had told them about the attack on him.

"Why didn't you call me for help?" Leo asked Phoebe lowly. She glanced briefly at him before returning her attention to the two men.

"You're not our Whitelighter anymore, Leo. Will and Anna are."

His jaw clenched at the reminder and he turned to Darryl. "Feeling better?"

Darryl nodded. "Yeah. It's good to have you back by the way."

"Thanks for helping me get back," Leo answered. Noticing his sister about to make the situation worse with a snarky remark, Wyatt quickly stopped her from speaking. She shot him an irritated look, but stayed quiet.

"How long after we left did the warriors show up?" Phoebe asked and Darryl was quiet for a moment to work out the answer.

"Not long," he decided. "Maybe a couple of seconds."

"They must have followed us from Valhalla," Phoebe concluded grimly and Paige scowled, crossing her arms.

"Great. That means they're after us now."

"Except they didn't hang out long enough to ask me where to find you," Darryl disagreed. "Granted I was looking through swollen eyes but they just seem lost and confused."

"So what, they just took off?" Anna raised an eyebrow. That didn't fit with her extensive knowledge of the warriors. "There must be something wrong with those warriors. They're only supposed to fight evil beings during Ragnarok."

"We should have never put you in that situation," Phoebe told her loyal friend, stricken with guilt. "We should've come up with another way."

Darryl waved her off with a gently reassuring smile as Cole squeezed his wife's shoulder. "Forget it. You know, it worked."

"Yeah, for you maybe. What about the next poor guy that runs into those warriors?" Anna pointed out. "They're trained killers."

"Yeah, but like you said, they only kill evil," Paige argued.

"He's not evil though," Will pointed out. "Anna's right. There's something wrong with those warriors."

"Will is right," Leo added. "Not everything is black and white in this world. Warriors can't always tell the difference between good and evil."

"What do we do?" Phoebe worried.

"Well, we need to find them fast," Leo stated and Anna hid an eyeroll at the stating of the obvious.

"That shouldn't be too hard, they're gonna stand out. Even to San Francisco," Darryl commented and Leo nodded grimly.

"Which is why we need to move fast. If they're exposed, so are the Valkyries."

"You're awfully forgiving considering everything they put you through."

"They still have a noble purpose to perform. Keeping their secret is key to them fulfilling it. Besides, it's not the Valkyries fault that I ended up there." He glanced over at Anna and Will.

"Which bring us back to the warriors," Cole pointed out, right before Anna could.

"And let's not forget about Piper," Phoebe added grimly.

"Maybe we should split up," Leo suggested. He turned to Darryl. "You should go to the police station. They're gonna show up on the radar screen in a big way."

"You know what, the officer's paging me anyway."

"Alright, make sure you're the first cop on the scene, we might need you to buy us some time," Leo instructed. The detective nodded.

"Okay."

"Thanks," Will called as Darryl left. The cop gave the younger man a warm smile. The Halliwells rarely thanked him for his work covering for them, but Anna and Will had done so regularly since their arrival. Their mother had raised them well for sure.

"I've got a suggestion," Cole began, making everyone turn to him. "If they go after evil beings and can't tell the difference properly, I'd probably be a tempting target."

"No!" Phoebe snapped. Anna nodded in agreement, her green eyes wide with concern.

"I'm not letting you put yourself in danger Cole," Phoebe insisted. "I'll go to the newspaper while you head to the office. We can keep an ear out for the warriors as well. Darryl might get called to another case after all."

"Good idea," Leo agreed, trying to take charge of the situation. "Paige..."

"I should take Oscar home before I get fired," she declared, rising to her feet.

"You're kidding, right?" Leo protested.

She shook her head. "No, I promised the temp agency I'd have him back in the morning and, huh, it's the morning. Listen, before you say anything, you've been gone, some things have changed and one of those things is that I am determined no more than ever to have a life separate from being a witch."

"Fine. But now?"

Paige: nodded. "Yeah. I've already done the reversal spell, can't do it without Piper and we don't know how to get her, so, I'm just an orb away if you need help." With that, she left.

"Paige," Leo called.

"Let her go," Phoebe ordered. "It might seem silly to you but it's important to her, I know. Now, we have to come up with another plan to get Piper out of Valhalla."

"She's right," Leo agreed. He grabbed Anna's arm. "Let's go." He orbed away and Will looked panicked.

"I know that he's your family, Phoebe," he told his young aunt. "But if he hurts my sister again, I'll be as much of a pacifist to him as he's being to her."

"And we won't blame you for defending your baby sister," Cole replied. "Phoebe would do the same as you for Piper or Paige."

She nodded her eyes going to floor as she wrestled with her torn feelings. On one hand, she'd known and loved Leo for years. On the other, she quite liked Anna, despite her hard exterior. And she couldn't support Leo hurting any innocent person, especially a young woman who'd suffered a number of unknown traumas. Plus, Leo had hurt Piper, and that was something Phoebe could never consider tolerating.

Valhalla: July 15th, 2003

"Come on, in here," Leo snapped, dragging Anna by the arm.

"Easy," Anna hissed back at him. She was only going willingly because she was determined not to blow her and Wyatt's cover.

"Who goes there?" A warrior barked as they marched in.

"What's the matter?" Leo challenged the other man. "Don't you recognise me?"

"Leo," the warrior stated, obviously surprised. "But we heard that the witches had broken you out."

"Disinformation. Enemy's favourite tactic, don't fall for it again."

The warrior nodded, looking apologetic. "Right, sorry. It's just that everyone's a little on edge, especially since the alert's been sounded again."

"I know," Leo nodded. "I caught the intruder. Where's Freyja? She'll want to question her."

Anna was silently thankful that the warriors hadn't seen her face on their previous trips to the future. Freyja had kept the knowledge of her and Wyatt limited to her and a few trusted members of the Valkyries.

"She's not here," the warrior informed the Elder. "She went after the warriors in the city."

"And the new Valkyrie, where's she?"

"They took her with them."

"Alright, then I'll have to question her myself," he decided, grabbing her other arm and tossing her roughly onto the cage floor. "Alone."

Leo entered the cage as the warriors left. He shut the door and picked up two swords.

"What are you doing?" Anna tried to sound scared instead of annoyed. "Leo, what's going on?"

"I am gonna get the truth out of you one way or another," Leo snarled at her. "No one else around here to help you this time. No orbing, no way out. Just you and me."

He threw the sword at Anna's feet. She stared at him in disbelief. Was he actually insane? Goddess, she hated him. She put an anxious expression on her face and reminded herself that she was supposed to a pacifistic Whitelighter, not a dangerous witchlighter.

"You're joking, right?" She laughed nervously. "I mean, shouldn't we be getting back to fill in the others and find Piper?"

"I already lost Piper. Pick it up."

Anna crossed her arms and raised her chin. She imagined an angry Emperor Wyatt to give her eyes a hint of fear. "You know, this isn't funny anymore. This isn't very Elder-like either."

"Being trapped here for over a month and fighting for my life has changed me a lot. Pick it up," he repeated stonily.

She hid a sneer at his dramatics. At no point had Leo been in genuine danger. He had no concept of what it felt like to suffer, really suffer. "Forget it," Anna refused stubbornly.

Leo kicked a shield at her and she caught it automatically. Leo then lunged at her and she let herself fall to the ground to maintain her pretence. "I didn't do it," she insisted, trying to get up, only for Leo to knock her sword out of her hand.

She was inwardly disgusted at his technique. If she wasn't acting like a defenceless Whitelighter, she could've killed him a dozen times over already. He was obviously letting his anger affect his fighting abilities. Freyja would never allow one of her warriors, temporary or not, to leave so many openings in their defence.

"You can't kill me, I'm a Whitelighter."

"No? Then why are you sweating? I'm gonna find out the truth. I'm gonna find out who did this to me, I promise," Leo vowed. He removed the weapon from Anna's throat and stepped away, glaring darkly at her. "Right now we're gonna go catch up with the others and have a little chat with the Elders."