A/N: Hi guys, I had a spare moment today so I thought I'd get another chapter in while I had chance. It's a little shorter than the last couple of chapters but I'm happier with this one than I have been with the previous couple so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :)


Paige blinked several times, temporarily blinded by the white lights that had engulfed her as she was transported down to the underworld. Her vision cleared just in time to see a fire ball heading in her direction. She reacted without thinking. She called for the fire ball and sent it hurtling back in the direction it had come from. Hearing a shout and a small bang she knew that it had found it's mark.

She ducked as she sensed another one heading towards her and couldn't help smirking as it missed her and instead hit another demon, vanquishing it. She spun on her heel and saw that there was just one left. He ran at her but she quickly sidestepped him and sent him crashing to the ground with a well aimed shove between the shoulder blades. As he fell, he landed on a particularly sharp boulder sticking up from the floor and burst into flames.

"Great start, Paige," She mumbled to herself as she glanced around and saw that the coast was clear. Too clear. There was no sign of her sisters. She concentrated on taking a couple of deep breaths as she felt the panic beginning to rise inside her. The spell hadn't worked. It was supposed to have taken her straight to them. Why hadn't it?

Now as far as she was aware, she was stuck in the underworld with no idea of her bearings and no clue as to where they were.

A small voice started up in the back of her brain making her think the worse. Maybe they're dead…. Maybe this is where they're buried. She shook her head in an attempt to get rid of the voice and banged the palm of her hand against her head a couple of times.

It suddenly struck her how cold it was. She'd never been to the underworld before. Somehow she'd always expected it to be warm. Maybe because most of the demons she'd seen wandered around with not much clothing on. She could actually see her breath coming out of her mouth.

There were several caverns linking onto the one she was stood in and she glanced at each of the entrance ways in turn trying to decide which route to take. She opted for the middle one in the end and cautiously made her way forward.

Fifteen minutes later she was stood in another cavern more or less identical to the one she'd started in. She had a feeling she was going in circles. Everywhere looked the same! It was almost like a labyrinth And so far, apart from her welcoming committee, she'd come across no more demons which she found a bit odd. Surely there'd be guards stationed everywhere in anticipation of her arrival? She'd have thought that Zoltar would realise she was on her way to rescue them and have demons on stand by.

Unless this was some sort of trap… Which was highly possible. She decided that there was nothing she could do about it for now and that she'd just have to be look out for any trouble.

As she entered the next cavern she saw the same sharp boulder protruding from the floor and a faint black mark where the demon had blown up. Great. She steeled herself and headed for the cavern on the right instead. She sped up slightly. She could be here all night at this rate!


Phoebe coughed painfully as her chest hit the shelf of rock sticking out from the wall with a lung crushing thump. The pain in her leg was nothing now compared to the pain she felt running through her entire body.

Blood ran in rivulets from an open wound on her head. Her ribs were either really badly bruised or fractured, she couldn't tell. Her once broken leg was now so badly damaged she was guessing that the only thing holding it together was skin. Everything hurt. She coughed again and clutched at her chest in agony as a dribble of blood ran from her mouth to the ground.

She braced her hand against the floor as she tried to push herself up onto her good leg but Jeb's boot came out of nowhere and slammed down onto her hand with savage force, crushing her fingers. She screamed out loud but he clearly still wasn't satisfied as he ground his boot into her hand harder.

Tears streamed from her eyes, blinding her and making the nightmare ten times worse. She felt a blunt force hit her in the face knocking her backwards. She hit the floor with a jarring thud and scrambled to get away from the unrelenting attack.

Her hands scrabbled behind her trying to reach for something… anything… to help her. Her fingers closed around a fist sized rock and as he bent to grab hold of her again she swung her arm with every bit of force she could muster and smacked him across the face with it.

He fell like a ton of bricks and crumpled to the ground. Even though he remained unmoving she advanced on him quickly and brought the rock down over and over onto his skull until eventually flames engulfed his body and a small explosion blew his very existence from the world.

Phoebe let out a scream of pain and anguish. Falling back onto the floor she lay in a heap and cried deep gut wrenching sobs until eventually darkness claimed her.


Piper struggled furiously with her restraints. Holding on firmly to the chain and bracing one foot against the cave wall she tugged as hard as she could. When nothing happened she let out a cry of frustration and began yanking on it as hard as she could over and over again but to no avail. The chain remained firmly embedded in the stone wall. She'd been at this for hours now and with each failed attempt she grew more and more desperate. She had to know what had happened to Phoebe, where had they taken her? What were they doing to her?

At one point she'd even resorted to trying to scratch away at the stone… until her nail had snapped. Then she had been reduced to kicking, screaming and punching at the wall. It wasn't working though and she was starting to give up hope.

Resting her back against the wall, she slid down into a crouching position and rubbed her wrists. They were starting to bruise from all the pulling at the chains and the metal cuffs that were secured round them were starting to chafe pretty badly. Her knuckles were bruised and bleeding and the finger from which her nail had snapped was crusted with dried blood and throbbing painfully.

Hearing a noise, she snapped her gaze up to the cave entrance. When no one appeared she slowly stood up and took a step forward, "Who's there?"

Nothing.

She heard another noise and frowned, raising her voice, "Who is that?" She heard footsteps approaching and quickly stepped back against the cave wall wondering whether it had been wise to call out or not.

"Piper…?"

It was Paige's voice!

It only took Piper a split second to react, she ran forward a few steps calling out her sister's name desperately.

Unfortunately in her haste she'd momentarily forgotten that she was chained to a wall and her arms were yanked back painfully behind her as she moved, sending her toppling backwards onto the hard floor. As she struggled to get back into a sitting position Paige appeared at the cave entrance.

"Paige!" Piper didn't think she'd ever been so glad to see someone before in her life.

"Piper! Thank God I found you! I've been so worried!" She started to run over but slowed to a stop as she glanced around the otherwise empty cave, "But… Where's Phoebe?"

"I don't know," Piper answered tearfully, "They took her somewhere. I haven't seen her since."

Although worry instantly engulfed her, Paige knew that the most important thing at the minute was to get Piper out of there. She closed the gap between the two of them and knelt at Piper's side resting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "Are you hurt?"

"I'll live."

Paige nodded and pulled hard at one of the chains, she stopped as Piper shook her head, "I've already tried that - a lot. They won't come free."

"Do you know where the demon is?"

"I'm right here."

Paige jumped up and spun round to face the voice. Behind her she could hear Piper scrambling to her feet.

The demon walked slowly into the room, the hood of his cloak pulled up over his head causing his face to be concealed in shadow. He was on his own and appeared to be completely calm… almost casual. His hands were clasped behind his back as he strolled closer. "It didn't take you as long to find her as I thought it would. I'm impressed."

Paige snorted, "Save it. Where's my other sister?"

"That's not important. What is important however, is where we go from here."

"Simple really, I vanquish you then me and my sisters go home."

"I've always admired your fighting spirit." He lowered his hood and smiled, "That's one of the first things that caught my attention."

Paige let out an audible gasp, "Michael?"

"You know him?" Piper asked in disbelief.

Paige took a step towards him, ignoring Piper, "Michael, what's going on? What are you doing here? You're not…?" She left her sentence hanging as it suddenly clicked. She shook her head disbelief, "You're the demon. You're Zoltar? You took my sisters!"

"Well, I didn't take them personally but it was me who gave the order for their capture."

"But why?"

"Because they don't trust you Paige. They don't treat you right, they don't fully appreciate you the way I do. They see you as a burden. I see you as an amazing woman and a very powerful witch who has the ability to be so much more."

"That's not true!" Piper's voice sounded out suddenly from behind Paige, "Of course we appreciate her! Without her there'd be no Power of Three, no-"

"You see?" Zoltar interrupted, "All they see you as is a tool. The only reason they have you around is to complete the Power of Three. They don't want you for you."

Paige nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off his.

"But I don't think of you like that. Join me. Together we can be more powerful than you could ever dream. No more responsibilities. An end to being unappreciated. Unloved. They don't want you. I do."

"Paige…." Piper's quiet voice was pleading with her.

"Look at how they treated you. At how she treated you. Like an outcast, like you didn't belong, like you were unwelcome."

"You're right," Paige took a step towards him and gave a sad smile.

He smiled back at her and extended his hand, "Come with me."

Paige nodded and slowly walked up to him.

"No!" Piper pulled against her chains trying to get closer to the pair, "Paige, don't listen to him!"

Ignoring her sister's pleas, Paige looked up at Zoltar, "I felt like an intruder. Like I wasn't good enough. Unwanted."

"I promise, you'll never have to feel like that again." He offered her his hand again.

Paige smiled and slowly raised her hand to meet his, "I'm glad." She closed her fingers around Zoltar's hand and smiled at him.


A/N: Mwahahahahahaaaa!!! Reviews? lol