Chapter Thirty-four

The House

"Prue," Piper began slowly, "I'm about to do something that you're not going to approve of."

"You?!"

"I'm not asking for your approval, sister dear. I love you, but this is the only way I've seen. Cole can't get us out of here. Neither can Kurt or Clark. The Wizards have even gotten Kyna worked up, and you know Auntie 'Ro has always said to get away from whatever worked her up." She shook her head sadly. "Paige, Phoebe, and Aunt Ororo are all unconscious, and I don't even know if they'll wake back up. I just don't see any other solution." Her troubled eyes finally met Prue's. "There's only one thing I need you to do, please, sister."

"You tell me what you're thinking about doing first!" Prue demanded. Though her tone was angry, her anger stemmed only from her great concern and fear for her little sister.

Cole could hear the sisters. He remained invisible but close enough to prevent Piper from doing something stupid.

"The Wizards aren't the only ones with an interest in us. The Elders, I think he called them, also have an interest in us." She spoke now with great distaste for the topic.

"Who are the Elders?" Prue asked. "Why is everybody so interested in us all of a sudden? I thought it was all about Salem until Brendan started getting worked up! He thinks the Wizards want us!"

Piper shook her head. "I don't know, but we can't afford to take any chances, for the sakes of those we love. You might not believe it, but Brendan would stop at nothing to protect you and Cole would do the same for me. The Elders . . . " She dared to meet her eyes again. "They're the ones over the White Lighters."

"You can't mean to call him!" Prue hotly protested. "I know he wants you, and he'll do anything to get you! But you can't give yourself to him! You don't love him, Piper!"

"I know that, Prue! I didn't before, and I damn sure don't now! But, as Grandma always said, desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm not planning on an eternity. I don't think I could stand it." Though she spoke calmly of the matter, Piper knew she couldn't for the grief alone of losing Cole, not to mention her sisters, would surely kill her. "Let him think that, and if it ends up to be an eternity but saves all our family," she gestured to the entire holding area, "then my sacrifice will have been worth it."

"I can't let you do that! Piper, I'm the oldest! Maybe they'll send Sam? Leo was kind of mad when he left. What makes you even think he'll come back?"

"Because he wants me still and they want us. Prue, you may be the oldest, but he's not after you like he's after me." A look of disgust flitted across her face. "I wish they would send Sam, but that's not likely. We've been calling for him for weeks now! They won't let him come, but Leo will come. I'm almost sure of it, and if I turn out to be wrong, there'll be no harm done. I'm not asking for your approval, sister. I'm going to do this. I'm only asking one thing of you."

"And what's that?" Prue was trying very hard to hold her anger in. It was so like Piper to sacrifice herself for her family! Prue grew just as determined. When Leo showed up to get her sister, she'd whack him, and she didn't even have to look for anything to do it with! She'd just use her powers on him!

Tears sparkled in Piper's eyes, but she held them determinedly in. "Tell Cole, when it's all over with . . . Tell him I did this to save you all, not because I loved that jerk. It's Cole I love! He's the only one I've ever loved and the only one I could ever love, but Leo . . . If he can get everybody out of this . . . "

Prue knew it would do no good to argue with her sister. She reached out and hugged Piper. "You can try it." She gave no indication of what she was really thinking. Try it! she growled silently. Let the Devil come, and I'll bust him one!

James was relieved that the raccoon was off of him. He looked at Ace and told him, "Thank you very much, Ace, for removing that horrid little beast." Even as he thanked Ace, James looked apprehensively toward the man's feisty Irish partner. She was stalking directly toward them, her hands curled beside her sides and at the ready. Her dark clothes seemed to billow about the redhead like a black cloud of warning, and her green eyes burned with vicious hatred. James had already seen O'Hara in action far closer than he liked, and he gulped at the sight of her heading for his family even as he stepped to put himself before his partner and sons.

"He almost tore my mustache off," he said as though that would appease Kat. The burning look she gave him told him that not only was there no acceptable excuse for harming the raccoon, even though the raccoon had harmed him first, but also that he was quite likely mere seconds from having the flesh burned off of his bones. "We were not trying to hurt the girl," he tried again with another nervous swallow, a thought to himself to keep his hook at the ready, and a prayer that he could be faster than her, "but he took it into his head that we were. Can you talk to him?" The question was intended for Ace, who James thought might actually help a fellow man, though he could not take his eyes from Kat. He knew if he did she would definitely fireball him!

Ace barely heard him, so happy was he that he had finally gotten his hands on another raccoon! "You're safe now, little buddy. Ouch!" For all his efforts, Ace got bit on the end of his finger and let the raccoon go. He scurried back to his mistress.

"We need to help the girl," James attempted to persuade Kat, hoping she wasn't going to lob any more fireballs. At the same time, he kept trying to see how badly his poor love's rear had been burned.

"What ye need tae gi is leave the area, Hook," Kat snarled, a small fireball already at the ready. "Ye an' yer bloody family are scarin' 'im, an' if'n ye offend him again, ye'll feel me sting, wanker."

"Kat, he bit me!" Ace cried to her, holding his finger up. It was red and throbbing.

"She," James indicated the girl, "is Freddy's intended. We were only trying to help her. We will back off and let you see what you can do to help. If you can but remove the furry, little monster . . . "

"She's a newcomer, Hook. If ye're that damn desperate tae get yer boy laid, buy 'im a whore when we get out o' this mess. An' he's nae a monster. He's defendin' his family from th' real monsters." She moved forward, her fireball growing. "An', Ace, darlin', it 'tisn't yer fault. It's these idiots. They already had 'im scared, an' ye knae what a poor darlin's like when they're frightened by bumblin' arses."

"We've got to help the girl, though, Kat. If I try to get him again, he's going to bite me a second time. Not that I haven't been bit already many times. Those damn teeth hurt! You go from that side; I go from this side. Then we can find out if we can help her or not."

"Madam," James told Kat, "we will back off, but I assure you that we mean the lass no harm and that she is truly Frederic's intended. That's why he stripped."

Kat glared at James, the fire that still licked out from the very tips of her fingers seeming to dance in her eyes' dangerous gleam. "Ye assure me nothin', Hook. I'd have tae trust ye first, ye bloody bastard, before ye could make me buy into any wankin' assurations. We'll see what the wee lad has tae say, an' when we find out the truth, ye can kiss yer arse good-bye."

"Her name's Dove," Freddie told Kat. He didn't want to leave her, but Connor snatched him away. They were far enough away so as to not cause the raccoon fright, but they had no intentions of abandoning her completely. Curiosity had gotten the better part of them, and they all wanted to see what had made Frederic's poor, pathetic brain go crazy again.

Kat took one look at Ace, who was preparing to begin the suggested sneak attack, and shook her head. She then rose her voice into a very loud and long meow. Even now, she kept a fireball at the ready, a fireball with James Hook's name written all over it. He had angered her, and she'd get him . . . sooner or later. Preferably sooner, she thought as she meowed again.

James did not take his eyes off of Kat. He never trusted her, and he definitely feared the fireball. His eyes grew large as he saw the fireball growing. He figured it had his name on it, and he did not do anything to anger her. He did, however, peer anxiously at the girl, who still had not moved. She must be a Witch or Sorceress, he thought, his ebony mustache jerking, to have bewitched poor Freddy so!

It took only a matter of seconds for the tabby cat Kat had called for to come streaking her way. As he neared his mistress, however, Captain slowed his pace. His green eyes studied the creature that had perched himself upon a young lady's chest. He'd seen a creature like it a very few times before and knew that they were not at all fun to deal with when angered. He approached with great caution and slowly began a conversation with it. Chitterings, meows, fur bristlings, ear movements, and tail jerkings displayed their conversation, and their discussion was only interrupted every now and again by Captain meowing something to Kat and Ace. Kat would meow in turn, and then Captain's and the raccoon's conversation would progress.

"What makes you think the Gods give a damn? Cupid's out there, but all he's doing is wasting time and playing with us! Although . . . " She smiled sadly through her tears. "At least I was able to make love to you one last time." How was she going to convince him that he had to run, that he deserved to live? she wondered fretfully. "And yeah," she said, remembering back to the first time they'd met, "I saved you, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But I did it so you wouldn't be condemned, so how can you ask me to condemn you now?"

"With love, there is no condemnation," he told her gently. "I don't know how to explain it, Faith, but I believe that the Gods want us to be happy. They've been with us for a while. Something is wrong. They haven't talked to us since we got back from the trials, but that doesn't mean that They've given up on helping us. I hate to say it," he moved closer to her ear so that only she could hear, "but I think Cupid's a dumbass! He's about as lost as, well, Joxer is! Maybe He needs somebody to fall in love with Him?"

"But I still think that They're with us and I don't think you failed. If that was the case, the Wizards would not have needed any one to stand up for any of the other men that belong to Salem. They would have simply laughed at me and told me to go away, but they didn't. They all said "aye"! They all said I could have one, so the trials aren't over, Faith, and if we haven't won yet, we still have a chance! As long as we've got each other, we've got a chance!"

"They did agree," she admitted, "to let you stand but how do we know that it was because there's still a fighting chance and not because they wanted to be able to get their grubby paws on you, torture you, torture us all?"

"We have to believe, Faith."

"I've never been one for believing, Dawson. Didn't you try to believe before? When your bastard father still had you in his clutches, didn't you believe that They wouldn't want him doing to you what he was?" She had believed once when she was a little girl. She had believed that she would be miraculously rescued one day, but that miracle had never happened and she had stopped believing when she'd exchanged one Hell for an even worse Hell.

"I only believed," he told her, his voice as husky as hers with emotion, "when you came to me." He attempted again to reason with her, "We need to at least hear what they have to say, but I don't know how to fix the problem." He gazed soulfully out toward the Wizards, knowing that she didn't have an answer either. He put his arms around her and held her. Breathing in her essence and praying that somewhere, Somebody would take an interest and help them out of the mess they were now currently in.

How could he be so innocent as to think that there was still hope? "Dawson . . . " She sighed deeply. "I believed once, kid. When I was real little, back under that bitch's fists, I believed. I believed there'd come a day when I was rescued, when my Knight on a shining horse," she snorted at her own stupid ignorance, "would ride up and whisk me away from all that shit. I was only taken away from there when I killed the bitch, and then . . . Hell, then look what happened!"

"They don't want to talk. They don't want to give us a chance. Hell, they've got us trapped like fucking rats! And if They cared, damn it, They'd be here by now!"

Faith's eyes, too, had trailed to the Wizards. The thought of what they had done to them and were yet to do to them burned away her tears, and she glowered at them with anger and frustration raging in her dark eyes. What she did not expect to see, however, was the dark figure who appeared behind the Wizards. She had seen Him once before, but she had later told herself that she'd only imagined Him. Her mouth dropped open and hung open as He winked at her, a finger to His nose, and then vanished again.

Dawson's eyes had followed Faith's as she seemed to be seeing something, but he looked again and all he had seen was Wizards. "Maybe it's because we haven't called for them? Maybe the Captain needs to call for Her one more time?"

He wasn't used to seeing Captain Sparrow looking the way he was now looking. He definitely didn't look like a Pirate Captain. He had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at Will's shirt that was tied around Jack's front. "He needs his clothes," Dawson said. He yelled at the Wizards, "GIVE THE CAPTAIN SOME CLOTHES! GIVE US SOME CLOTHES! IT'S NOT FAIR OF YOU TO KEEP US NAKED!" He saw both his and Faith's clothes lying out on the floor and longed to be able to reach them.

The elder of the rescuees the BFG and Ludo had brought to the Pirates sat on the floor, looking from the Wizards to the Pirates in confusion. He could not understand why the Wizards had trapped the Pirates. They weren't that bad. The catwoman who had healed his beloved and himself was amongst the Pirates, and she was trapped in there. He moved over closer to his brother so that he could protect him even better. Just because he didn't have any weapons did not mean that he was helpless. He had been trained in many different fighting styles and had taken to most of them like a duck to water; he could also outfight almost any one in a saloon brawl. He'd use all the knowledge and skill he had to protect his love, and if that failed, he'd make up something new that wouldn't, he vowed.

His eyes kept going from the Wizards, who had to be bad, to the Pirates, where the catlady was being held in the trap. He knew she was not evil. He called his brother by a nickname only he was allowed to call him and said, "we have to get closer to the Pirates." He scooped him up and carried him over as close to the trap as he could, placing his brother between the wall and himself. He then turned angry eyes back on the Wizards.

What was this strange being reported to be a God who was in their midst? He appeared to be more of an Angel, than anything else. Why couldn't this God, if He was supposed to be a God, get them out of this mess before the Wizards did them all in? "If you're truly a God, save us from the Wizards!" he demanded.

Jack watched as the strangers approached the wall, and then he noticed that the one carrying the other placed the unconscious one between the wall and himself. He was surprised to hear him turn around and confront Cupid. "Ha! That won't work!" Jack commented to Will. "I've been calling Aphrodite for what seems like months, ever since the night of the battle! I've even called Her today, and She's still ignoring me! Why does this boy think that Cupid gives a damn? He got His jollies, His entertainment for the day! He could care less to what becomes of us!"

Bob almost exploded as a voice came to him that he thought he would never hear again in all his cycles! "PHONG!" he cried joyfully. His eyes searched the room. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" He prayed his CPU was not malfunctioning! Had the others heard it, or was Phong's voice only in his own processor?!

AndrAla finally looked up at Bob's yell. Her blue eyes went wide. "Mouse?" she queried, looking to her friend for assurance that she had not just heard Bob calling for the dead.

Mouse shook her head slowly for she, too, had missed Phong's voice. Her sad eyes followed Bob's actions. "Ah'm afraid so, shugah."

AndrAla left Matrix's hold, patting her husband's arm and reassuring him she'd return soon. She walked slowly over toward Bob, eyeing him cautiously, and pausing by Ray to nudge his booted foot with her own.

Ray wondered what in the 'Net could be wrong with Bob now. He had not heard Phong's voice, but he had heard Bob. Could Bob be crashing? He prayed that he wasn't. By the User, please don't let Bob flip out! Enzo would not be ready to be the leader, so it would fall to one of the ladies. Ray would never, in a thousand cycles, presume that he might even stand a chance at being their next leader.

He got slowly to his feet and walked over to Bob. Laying a reassuring hand upon his friend's shoulder, Ray looked Bob directly in the face as he questioned, "Bob? Are you all right? It's okay to have fond memories of Phong, mate, but he's gone."

"I'm not crashing!" Bob told Ray very sincerely, his eyes flashing with the exclamation. "But I did hear Phong! PHONG, WHERE ARE YOU?" Bob called out again.

Ray lifted his hand and hung his head. He didn't know what to do. He hoped Enzo would get up and take charge.

AndrAla had barely decided to wait for a nanosecond and give Bob that time to realize that Phong was not going to answer him when excited whisperings reached her ears. She turned and saw Mouse looking eagerly toward the ice wall that suddenly seemed to no longer be expanding. She looked past the wall, and cautious hope began to spring at last as she saw Captain Kitty Pryde making her way toward the Wizards.

"My stars and garters!" Henry exclaimed at last, dropping his hands cautiously from around his mouth but keeping them at the ready. "Willow, what force enables you to converse through my vessel?"

"Somehow, best I can figure," the invisible redhead responded, her words continuing to come out of McCoy's own mouth, "I'm in you! I look at my hands, and not only are they furry and blue but you're moving them! I'm not worried about the hows or the whys right now, Hank! I've got to get to Kenn before she does something stupid!"

The mutant called Beast was moving before he was even aware of his change in posture. He loped across the floor, racing past several others on all fours, as Willow sought desperately for Kennedy.

Invisible, Cole clenched his fists. Let Leo come, he thought. Let him get the Pirates out, and then it was going to be just him and Cole and Cole knew right where he was going to take him to! It was all a White Lighter was good for, any way: use them and kill them! He would kill Leo before Leo ever got so much as a kiss off of Piper!

"Prue," Piper said, cupping her sister's face in her hands, "there might be a way to get me back when it's all over with. He's simply an ends to a means, and for the sake of our family, you've got to let me do this. I love you!" She hugged her tightly.

Prue hugged her sister back but did not agree with her. Inwardly, she vowed, Use him and then whack the Hell out of him! He'd never take Piper away with him! She vowed to save her sister, even if it took her dying breath!

Piper took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. She backed away from her sister, looked around for Cole, and frowned when she didn't see him. She shook her head and mumbled to herself, "He must be trying again. Gods bless his heart!" She closed her eyes and bowed her head. She hoped he would be able to learn to forgive her for what she was about to do. "Leo! Leo, please! Please, Leo, help! I . . . " Say it, Piper! she demanded herself. "I need you!" There was no answer. "Leo, I need you!" Still, there was no answer. "Please, Leo, don't . . . " She faked a sob. "Don't let us end this way!"

Prue looked from her sister and then hopefully back to Brendan. She needed him beside her. If she failed to stop Leo, she hoped Brendan would try. She could tell he was looking at her. She looked at him and smiled when she saw his clenched fist raised.

Cole tried to contain his anger. It would do no good if he lost it and went ballistic on Leo when he appeared. He'd lose everything. It was just like Piper to sacrifice herself for not only her family but for his family, as well, and it was just his fortune, or maybe misfortune, to not be able to stop her at the present time. He clenched his hands into fists and waited for Wyatt to appear. He was glad to see that Prue and Brendan also had taken an interest. Maybe, between the three of them, they could do in one White Lighter!

As Derek slowly settled back down onto the floor, he grinned sillily at Chong. "Friend . . . ?"

"Friend," Chong agreed, his breath a soft moan.

Hansel grinned widely at his men from where he was leaning back on his knees. "Now that's my good boys!" He smiled proudly up at them. "I promise, sweethearts, when we get out of this, you'll both get more, plenty more as long as you get along!" His hands had returned to rubbing their members, and he turned and pressed his mouth first to Chong's, as he knew he was more alert than Derek, and then swiftly to Derek's.

Both men lay there with silly looks on their faces, thinking about what they could get later!

"Jack, look!" Will exclaimed and pointed out to where Kitty had not only managed to get through the trap but was making her way toward the Wizards.

Crystal could feel her children pressing against her on either side, holding her up, but she had kept her eyes closed in her determined concentration despite Elvira's urgent licks. It was when Cindy also bumped her hand that Crys opened her eyes. It took a second for her vision to uncloud, and then she smiled as she saw Kitty Pryde heading for the Wizards. She heard concerned coos, but before she could answer Kitty's dragon, her own beloved Blue answered the other dragon reassuringly.

Rachel had breathed a sigh of relief before still partially reluctantly rolling off of Tessa and getting to her feet. As she stood, she almost looked in the direction Kitty had gone, but she forced herself to look away and look back down instead to Tessa. She seemed even more beautiful lying there, looking up at her with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. She was so trusting and eager to help, and Ray knew that Kitty's words must have hurt her feelings. She reached a hand down toward her. "I'm sorry you had to hear that," she spoke with an apologetic smile. Whisperings met her ears, and she turned to see what was going on. Her green eyes widened in surprise and she couldn't help but to grin as she saw Kitty determinedly making her way toward the Wizards.

"Kid," Faith managed, "get ready. I can't keep you from standing, but sometimes it's better to run from a fight than to stand. If we can get everybody together . . . " Her words trailed off. She didn't really want to run, but she knew they didn't stand a chance in Hell of fighting. Her dark eyes turned to sweep their surroundings. Salem was being held by that blonde machoist. Jack and Will were together. Katrina was healing Delvira while Tom hovered protectively over her, his tail swishing as he, too, watched Pryde's progress toward the Wizards. Lex appeared to be picking up Clark's pieces and fusing him back into the man he loved. And Hansel . . . Damn, if Hansel wasn't leaning back with the biggest grin on his face, looking for all the world like he'd just gotten laid really good!

Jack's mouth fell open in amazement as his hand reached out and grasped Will. Some one had made it out, and that some one was Kitty Pryde! She wasn't exactly the one he would have picked to have gone out to face the Wizards alone, but he knew the Wizards had a worthy opponent. She would wreck havoc upon them. He longed to be able to join her. He heard his father's muffled exclamation of "Oh Hell!" and knew his Daddy was not glad to see his daughter out there. "GO, LITTLE SISTER! BEAT THEIR ASSES!" He cheered her on even though she probably couldn't hear him.

"Ah, mein sweet fraulein! Give zem Hell! I only vish I could join you!" Kurt was very proud of Kitty and her abilities. No one else could have gotten through the barrier like his Kitty, but it was also bad news because nobody could join her to help her to fight.

Sean had been quietly taking it all in, wondering what he could do to help and praying to his Goddess even though She had not deigned to answer him. Now he gasped aloud and reached out, grasping Emma's arm and drawing her attention from trying to read the Wizards' minds. "Kitty!" he moaned. He wasn't sure whether he was glad she was out there, but it was not for her that he feared for he had seen her wipe out a complete army practically single-handedly in the past. If she wiped out the Wizards now, they might not ever know the true outcome! He only hoped that Emma had been able to scan something from the Wizards' minds.

Emma barely knew her love's Captain, but the flashes of memory she picked up from Sean made her smile. The girl was quite the fighter. It might not be too late, after all. Unlike her beloved, she was certain that the Wizards were not bringing good news and hoped that Shadowcat would not only land on her feet but find a way to save them all. She reassuringly squeezed Sean's hand but did not offer any words of reassurance for though the girl was good, she feared the Wizards would be better and was nearly as certain that they would far out pass Captain Pryde as she was that they meant to bring them their doom this day.

Dawson had no intention of running, and he knew that Faith would only run to protect him. "Not running," he mumbled and winced before she even started fussing. "GO, CAPTAIN PRYDE!" he yelled with a grin.

Tessa was now feeling very uncomfortable with her previous thoughts. She thought Kitty would have been an easy target, and now Kitty had broken through the barrier! Maybe she was a worthy opponent, after all! She watched anxiously, hoping that the woman would beat them and that the Wizards would never stand a chance with them, the whole while being afraid she would fail.

Spike grinned fangily at his sire. He'd seen Angel motion he and Kyna to join Angel's party, but he had declined the offer to stay by his beloved, who had not yet been ready to leave her command post. Now her brilliant mind had once more found a way through a situation that, mere seconds before, had seemed thoroughly hopeless. He turned his head and softly pressed a gentle kiss to Kyna's raven hair.

Cordelia's hazel eyes shone with excitement as she and Angel came up behind Lorne. Maybe everything was not lost, after all!

Kyna could both feel and hear the others' growing excitement and hope, but she did not partake in either emotion . . . yet. Instead, her almond eyes remained focused on Kitty Pryde as she watched the Pirate Captain's progress toward the Wizard. The Shadowcat would have been a worthy opponent for many enemies, but Kyna doubted that there was any way that the girl could hold her own against the collective might of the Wizards. Her next command hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she remained watching, waiting, half-hoping and half-dreading what would happen next . . .

To Be Continued . . .