(AN: Wow, SOOOOO sorry it took this long but Writer's Block is a bitch! Add
that to other problems and fanfic just isn't as easy to write. Thanks so
much to all who sent me feedback!)
Piper opened her eyes slowly, trying to gain her bearing. It was dark, but not dark enough that she didn't realize where she was. She had somehow gotten into her bed, still fully clothed with a blanket pulled up securely around her. Shifting her weight slightly, Piper noted the pair of arms that were draped around her waist as her husband spooned behind her. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there. She had been in the kitchen and then.. Oh God.
Piper swallowed hard and closed her eyes against the flood of emotions. Her hand came up to rest protectively on the slight bulge of her stomach. One of them shifted slightly inside of her. She almost laughed bitterly at her thoughts. THEM. Now there was two, when only hours before hand there had been only him or her. How was she supposed to deal with all this? She could deal with the twin part. And, after some assessment, she could even come to terms with the Chimera part of it. But to be the Gemini Prophecy?
She and her sisters had been blessed enough to have a normal, magic free childhood. They were able to grow up as normal as possible, even with the whole Charmed Ones thing. Piper had wanted to be able to give that to her children too. She and Leo had even reached a point of agreement of binding their powers. Obviously though, that wasn't going to happen.
Piper could taste the salt in her mouth and realized that she was crying. Unbidden, the tears had begun to run silently down her cheeks. Piper couldn't take it. She didn't want to be strong right now, like she always was. Her shoulders began to shake as she gave in to her sobs.
Instantly, Leo's arms tightened around her. His face pressed into the crook of her neck, murmuring comfortingly. She lost herself in his protective hold and let the tears come completely, her body heaving as sob after sob washed over her. After a while, no more tears came and Piper took deep breaths to try to steady her shakiness. Leo still held her from behind and she clung desperately to the strong arms around her. He began to rock her gently back and forth, silence descending upon the room.
"I, uh," Piper sniffed gently, trying to put the last of her composure in place. "I didn't wake you up did I?"
"No," Leo admitted, his response tickling her neck. "Actually, I haven't been able to do much more than doze on and off a couple of times. I've been too busy worrying about you." He picked up his head from its resting place and put his hand on her cheek to turn her eyes to meet his. "You had us all really worried for awhile there. We weren't sure if something was wrong with you or the baby..." He trailed off then continued teasingly. "I should probably say 'babIES' shouldn't I?"
"Yea," Piper replied, chuckling lightly. It felt good to laugh. "And here we thought that we would have trouble making just one. Little did we know..."
Her gaze sobered as she finished her sentence. Leo noticed and reached his head down to give her a quick, loving kiss on the lips. He pulled back only a little, their breaths intermingling as he gently spoke. "Hey, we'll get through this alright? Look how many obstacles we've overcome already."
Piper gave him a small smile, more to reassure herself than him. "I know. It's just that there are so many things being thrown around all at once. I don't know how much longer I can do this." Leo nodded in silent support. His wife sighed deeply, dropping her eyes from his gaze to focus on his chest. She couldn't deal with all of this now. Changing the subject quickly she asked, "So what happened down in the kitchen? How long have I been out?" Her eyes glanced back up to his.
Leo noticed the diversionary tactic but didn't push his wife. He knew that she would talk to him when she was ready to. He rolled them both over until they were facing one another. Picking up one of her hands in his, he began to idly play with her fingers while he talked. "Well you passed out a good four or five hours ago. We weren't sure what was wrong but Phoebe seemed to think that you were really stressed out and hadn't eaten anything in awhile. She mumbled something about a potion but I didn't really catch it." Piper nodded. God, that potion making had seemed forever ago even though it had only been earlier in that evening. "We all decided that it would be better to let you get some rest, rather than waking you up. So I orbed us up here and tucked you in."
Piper looked down at their hands, intertwining her fingers with his. "Thank you." She sighed thoughtfully, furrowing her brow. "So I guess that Phoebe and Paige are demon hunting or something."
Leo shook his head. "Meika.. Angela...well she said that Jakkin won't attack until some time tomorrow. It will take him a little while to figure out how to use to Staff and to finish up on all his spells. Besides, he's going to need the full moon from tomorrow night.
Piper nodded before hesitantly asking, "And where's...?" She didn't know what to call the girl now. Piper would feel wrong calling the girl her daughter.
"She's down in the living room." Leo answered. "She opted to take the couch for the night."
Piper was silently for a few minutes, looking down again at their hands, and Leo patiently waited, knowing that she wanted to say something. Finally, she spoke. "I'm a failure Leo," she whispered quietly.
"What?" Leo asked aghast. How could she say something like that after all she'd done? "Piper, Honey, you are not."
He was cut off by her spitting out sharply, "Yes, I am Leo! I'm a failure as a mother and that girl downstairs is proof of that! You heard about what she's been through. You heard about everything that she's had to do and she's only twenty years old Leo! She should be out enjoying life, enjoying growing up. I should be the one making sure of that! But, obviously, I guess I'm just not cut out for the job." Piper was once again in hysterics, choking on her words as she bitterly spit them out. "I mean, our son's kidnapped before he's even born and.."
"NO! Piper, stop it!" Leo interrupted forcefully. Piper looked up at him, startled, and then quickly dropped her gaze again. She had never heard the tone in his voice before. "Piper, look at me." She didn't move and he repeated again. "LOOK at me." She looked up and was surprised to see the sheen of tears in his eyes. "YOU are NOT a failure. None of those things were your fault and I know that you tried your damnedest to protect your children. Our children."
"How could you know? How could you possibly know?" Piper hissed angrily.
"Because I talked with our daughter." Leo stated. He added in a gentler tone, "And I think you should too."
Piper shook her head anxiously, "No. I can't." She looked into Leo's pleading face again before softly repeating. "I can't Leo. Not now."
"Piper," Leo answered, "I don't think there's going to be any time other than now. If you don't talk to her before tomorrow, I don't think that you'll be able to talk to her at all." Piper opened her mouth to protest again but Leo cut her off. "You're strong enough to do this. I know you are."
Piper's mouth snapped shut. She sniffed one last time, wiping away the last traces of her tears. She nodded determinedly to her husband and he bent over to place one more tender kiss on her forehead. Piper pushed herself out of bed, shedding off her clothes and pulling her bathrobe out of the closet. She tied the belt securely around her waist before stepping out into the hallway. She quickly shut the door behind her and began hurriedly walking to the stairs, knowing that if she took too long, she would almost certainly lose her nerve.
************
She knew that Piper would eventually come. Ever since she had talked to her father a few hours ago, Angela had known that her mother would come with questions of her own. But no amount of time could prepare her for this encounter.
It had been so odd to walk around in this house again, talking with her aunts and parents while pretending that she wasn't anything to them. There were so many things here that reminded her of her childhood. Angela had always prided herself on being able to push away all the feelings that would cloud her judgment or make her weak. But now, not even she could bury the overwhelming feelings of nostalgia. There was the antique vase that she had broken when she was seven, first practicing her growing telekinetic powers. There was the parlor where her parents had renewed their vows to one another only months before (although it now felt like an eternity ago). There were the herbs sitting all over the counter, reminding her of fun times spent cooking up potions with her aunts while her mother was at work. Twenty years of happiness in this house almost erased by two days of hell.
Angela heard a creak behind her (the third floorboard to the left that had given her away when she tried to sneak out to a concert at sixteen). She turned, not quite knowing what to expect from the woman in the doorway. Piper met her gaze, expression neutral, and moved to sit in one of the chairs across from the girl. She sat, immediately pulling up her knees to her chest. She couldn't think of anything to say to this girl across from her; this girl with her hair and smile, but with Leo's gorgeous eyes. This girl was growing inside of her right now. She couldn't help but graze a hand over her stomach.
"So." Piper began lamely. "I've been talking to Leo some. He, uh, told me that you two had a little talk earlier?"
Angela nodded shyly. She too seemed at a loss for words.
Piper bit her bottom lip nervously. She needed to start out with something small, something to begin the conversation. Something that had been nagging the very back of her mind for a while jumped out at her. "I have to ask you this. So, when you were born were you actually human? Or did you come out as a umm.. Well, you know."
Angela smiled and the two instantly felt lighter. "I came out looking like a normal, healthy, human baby." She reassured her mother. "Actually, I didn't even start to show Chimera qualities until I was about a year old. Aunt Phoebe used to tell me the story all the time about the first time that you guys saw my wings." She shook her head, chuckling at the memory.
"What happened?" Piper asked, intrigued.
"Well, you like totally freaked out. You kept going 'She's a demon! Oh my God! What's wrong with her?? She's dying!' Luckily Dad was there though. The Elders must have warned him that something was going to happen. He kept running all around after you going 'Piper, Honey, it's ok. Everything's ok. She's fine.' Then you got SO pissed off at him when he admitted that the Elders had hinted at it. You kept constantly freezing him for like three hours because you didn't want to talk to him. After the initial concern had died down, my Aunts thought it was hysterical."
"I bet." Piper rolled her eyes, picturing her sisters dealing with the situation. She was relieved however that the baby had been born human. If not, it probably would have really freaked the doctors... "Umm, another question. Were Phoebe and Paige my.." She grimaced at the thought, "Midwives?"
Angela laughed loudly, "No way. They wanted to be. But after you went into labor, you started screaming for drugs and doctors and drugs and hospitals. and did I mention drugs? When the really bad contractions started, you started blowing up things in the house (accidentally of course) but they all got worried so Dad orbed you over to Eva's."
Once again, Piper was relieved. As much as she loved and trusted her sisters, she was not at all looking forward to them being her midwives. Piper now had about a million and one questions that popped into her head to ask her daughter. She didn't even know where to begin. She decided to start at the beginning, or actually the present.
"So, I'm your mother." She clarified. Angela nodded. "And Talyn's your brother." Angela nodded again, knowing where this was going. "So Talyn is. my son?"
"Yea," Angela confirmed. "That's why he couldn't kill you earlier. Only someone completely evil could kill their own mother. And he's not that. If Dad had stayed in the room, Talyn probably wouldn't have hurt him either."
Piper was confused. Something wasn't adding up. "But Jakkin took him from me before he was even born. How would he know who I am?"
Angela sighed, sobering. "And that's where the real story begins."
Piper gave her a questioning look.
"When Jakkin stole my brother, he raised him as his own son. But, of course, when Talyn got older he had questions about his mother. I mean, powerful as Jakkin is, he's not asexual or anything. But Jakkin wouldn't answer any of his questions. He just kept blowing Talyn off, telling him that it didn't matter. Eventually, Talyn had had enough and demanded to know. Jakkin lied to him. He told my brother that his parents had abandoned him. Tried to kill him even. Jakkin had saved him from certain death and despair. Talyn wanted to know who his family was so that he could go and talk to them to figure things out. Even after years of living with Jakkin, he was still so innocent. He was confused. But Jakkin forbade it and told him that his family was all dead. Jakkin said that he was the only family that Talyn had."
Piper felt nauseous as the anger swept through her. She didn't know how anyone could tell a child a lie like that. She felt one of the lives within her stir and tried to keep her emotions in check to soothe them. "So what happened?"
"Well, Jakkin had always considered Talyn to b his number one.. Commodity; like he was merely a possession or something." Angela sneered bitterly. "He had Talyn under tight guard for his entire life. Eventually, Talyn got bored with the magic that Jakkin had ordered him to practice. He wanted company. He wanted people to talk to. Talyn started to eavesdrop on the guards conversations. It was inevitable that he would eventually find out about everything. One of the older guards was explaining things to a new demon. Talyn heard everything. He knew about the Gemini Prophecy and, more importantly, he found out about his family. He knew that Jakkin had been lying to him and that's when he started to pull away from evil."
"Well, if Talyn has never been out of the underworld... how do you know all of this?"
Angela smiled. "Because he came to see me. Talyn has the ability to clone himself, a rather useful attribute if you ask me. He left his clone down in the underworld to do Jakkin's training. My brother knew that guard's routines better than they did. He easily slipped by until he could shimmer out without being detected." Angela quickly explained, "When he was in the womb, he had whitelighter blood like me so he had the ability to orb. But once Jakkin stole him, the Elders called back all whitelighter attributes that he might have retained. So Jakkin gave him the power to shimmer instead."
Piper nodded, stunned.
"I met my brother for the first time when I was eighteen years old." Angela whispered. "Isn't that sad? The things that Jakkin took away from him. The things that he took away from us. He shimmered into the Manor while I was home alone and I was so close to trying to vanquish his ass. Thank God I stopped. Once we figured out who we were, we were ecstatic. He asked me so many questions - about you and Dad and Phoebe and Paige. He wanted to know everything about the years that had been stolen from him. But after he heard about how his parents and aunts fought against evil, he was too ashamed to meet you. He promised that he would come back and eventually meet the rest of the family."
Angela stopped and sniffed back the tears. "I realized that I didn't even know his name. He told me that Jakkin had never given him one. In Chimera form, of course, he knew his name was Talyn. But in human form, Jakkin had always just called him 'boy.' I told him what you and Dad were planning on naming him and he loved it." Angela smiled tearily. "Before he left, I made him take a picture with me. Pieces of Aunt Prue's old photography equipment were all over the house. It's the only picture that I have of him." She added with a sad smile. "I hope that I might have more someday soon."
The girl reached out her hand, a piece of paper in it. Piper leaned to her and took the photograph slowly. She flipped it over to look and gasped, bringing her hand up to her mouth. They were beautiful. Her children were beautiful. The camera must have been on a timer because the two of them were standing casually in the parlor, hands around each other's waists. They were smiling and Piper immediately noticed that Angela wasn't the only one who had inherited her father's eyes. His sandy, dirty blond hair was also one of his father's attributes. He looked so much like Leo that Piper swore she would always think of him as an angel, no matter how evil he became. Piper found it hard to believe that the boy in the picture could be anything but good. He was smiling broadly, happily and Piper could almost see them all sitting around joking at the breakfast table.
She flipped the photo over and read what was scrawled on the back. 'Prudence Angela Halliwell and Parker Wyatt Halliwell - August 2021'. "Hmmm.. So I did keep the name thing going." Piper murmured.
"Yea. You and Dad had already broken so many rules and things, you both figured that you should try to keep at least one tradition alive." Angela teased. "Besides, Dad was never really a big fan of Melinda."
"Well, to be honest, neither was I." Piper admitted. "It was just a thought. I can see where Prudence and Wyatt come from. I guess Angela was..?"
"Your idea actually. You thought that it would be good to have something of Dad's in my name too."
"Oh yes. My Angel. What would I do without him?" Piper grinned wryly. She tried to get back to the story. "So Tal.. I mean, Parker." She smiled as she said her son's name for the first time. She loved it. "What did he do after he found out that Jakkin had lied to him about everything?"
"He wanted to leave," Angela explained. "But it was hard. I mean, like it or not, Jakkin had raised him. Jakkin had been his entire family for eighteen years. No matter how much he had been lied to, Parker felt that he couldn't just turn his back on him. But that was the beginning of the deterioration of their relationship. My brother got away whenever he could, leaving his clone to do Jakkin's spells and such. He never actually met you and Dad face to face but he asked about you ALL the time. I kept trying to get Parker to come back, to live with his family. But regardless of how much good was in him and how much he wanted to come back, Jakkin still controlled a part of him that had been corrupted in the very beginning of his life. So he didn't come back but he did visit as much as he could. That went on for about a year.. Until Jakkin found out about it.
"The clone had been practicing some illusion spells. It didn't know any better. It ended up blowing itself up. Jakkin must have realized that Parker had been sneaking out and must have sensed him at the manor. He KNEW that the only thing that could sway my brother to good would be his family. He wouldn't even try to kill me, but he had no qualms about getting rid of everyone else."
Piper interrupted, "Why wouldn't he try to kill you too? I mean, Parker's sister must be one of his strongest ties to his family."
Angela nodded, "Yea, but you forget something. Demons are greedy. Why have just half of the Gemini Prophecy when you can have all of it? He won't dare to come after me until I've turned twenty-one. Once I chose to fight for good then, there is no turning around and he will have no chance of getting me to the side of evil. But since I'm not there yet, he's going to take every advantage that he can get. Jakkin's hoping that my relationship with my brother might be strong enough to bring me to evil, just as I'm hoping that it will bring him to good." She stopped as Kit jumped into her lap, settling down and purring contently.
A somber, worried expression was on the girl's face. When she didn't continue, Piper coaxed, "Angela, what did Jakkin do?" The girl looked up into the supportive, loving eyes that she had known her entire life and found that she couldn't speak. She couldn't sit here and tell her mother what Jakkin had done to their family. "You can tell me." Piper assured her softly, placing her feet on the floor and leaning slightly forward.
Angela shook her head, looking down at the cat on her lap. "No. I can't." She looked up at her mom and her voice cracked emotionally, "But I can show you."
Piper, intrigued, nodded her consent and for the first time in their conversation, Angela got up and came over to her. Daughter knelt down in front of mother and their eyes locked. Eyes that were so familiar, yet painfully alien.
Angela reached up and placed her hands on either side of her mom's head, at the temples. She smiled grimly, "A little something I learned from Aunt Phoebe."
"If that was supposed to make me feel better, it's not cutting it." Piper teased dryly.
Angela smiled sadly up at her and, at that look, Piper steeled herself for what was to come. She was sure that it wasn't going to be good. Angela closed her eyes in concentration. The last thing that Piper heard before her mind was thrust to a different place, was her daughter whispering, "Don't be scared Mom."
************
Piper looked around, confused. She was in the downstairs, front hallway. "Hello?" She called hesitantly. She wasn't sure exactly where Angela had sent her, or when for that matter. The manor looked different that it had earlier. Some things had been moved around, others were gone altogether, and everything had the look of more wear and tear than usual.
"Piper!" Phoebe came out of the kitchen, yelling her name. She stopped near the bottom of the steps, her back to Piper. "Piper!" She yelled again.
"Phoebe? Phoebe, I'm right." she reached out to grab her sister's shoulder but quickly recoiled when her hand went through it. "Ooooookay, well, I can see that that's not going to work. I guess I'm just here as an observer, not as a participant. Fine by me." She muttered. Piper stepped back, leaning against the hallway wall as she watched life at the manor unfold.
Phoebe had opened her mouth to yell again when a small boy, maybe six at the oldest, came running down the stairs. He was only partially dressed with his dark brown wet hair sticking up erratically all over his head. "Aun Pheebee help!" He cried, smiling. He jumped into Phoebe's arms as other Piper came racing down the steps. The boy squirmed, trying to get away as Piper playfully stalked towards him. "Help! Help!" He yelled, giggling.
Phoebe giggled in response, then turned to her older sister, one hand going up to protectively curl around the boy's head. "And just what are you doing to my nephew?"
Piper glared back at her, exasperated. "I'm TRYING to get him ready to go with me to the club." She looked at the boy again. "Baby, if we don't get going soon, Mommy's going to be late for work and there's a really important meeting that I have to get to on time."
"No!" The little boy shook his head stubbornly and the observing Piper had to laugh. He looked just like her when he did that.
The other Piper sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Why not Paul?"
"Becawse," he explained simply, "I wan Daddy to kiss me bye."
Piper couldn't help but smile at her son's statement. "Leo." She called.
Her husband orbed into the room. "What's up?" Piper gestured to their son with a grin. Leo turned to him and smiled. "You rang?"
Paul crossed his arms over his small chest, sticking out his bottom lip. "You didt kiss me bye today."
Leo's smile grew and he reached over, pulling his son out of Phoebe's arms and twirling him around in the air. "Oh I didn't, did I?" He challenged him. "Well in that case," he lowered the boy and placed a kiss on his cheek and another on his forehead. "There's the one for today and there's a 'sorry' one because I forgot." The Piper at the wall smiled. Leo was going to be a great father.
The boy clapped his hands together. "Good!" He exclaimed. He looked at his mother. "We go now."
Piper laughed, "Oh, I'm glad you approve." Leo passed him to her and gave her a soft kiss. "Hey! I already got my kiss this morning." Piper exclaimed.
Leo pulled away and cocked his head, "Are you complaining? I could always stop."
"Don't even think about it." Piper ordered.
There was a clumping sound and Paige came down the steps. "Alright, ready to go." She announced. The small bundle in her arms began to cry. "Uh-oh. I think she wants her mom." Paige reached the bottom and handed the child over to Phoebe.
"Aww.. What is it Melinda?" She cooed. The girl almost instantly quieted down.
"Seems like you've got the magic touch there sis." Paige noted.
"Ha!" Phoebe said, "Magic has nothing to do with this. It's all in the skills..."
Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud crack. Jakkin stood in the middle of the living room. He held up his hand commandingly, "Damn witches. Always getting in the way."
"Excuse me?" Paige huffed. "And who the hell are you?"
The demon in their home didn't get a chance to answer as Piper numbly whispered, "Jakkin."
The other sisters were instantly on alert. Neither had seen this demon before (he had nabbed Piper before they could get to her) but they had heard plenty about him and knew what he had done to their sister. "Dude, you're either insane or just plain stupid to come around here. We are SO going to vanquish your sorry, demon ass." Phoebe spit out.
"Oh, I think not." Jakkin grinned wickedly. "You see, I've had QUITE a while to work on a way to get rid of you. You have NO idea how powerful I've become." Piper raised her hands, quickly moving Paul to her hip. Jakkin saw it though and yelled, "Dashea!" They were instantly all paralyzed.
The observing Piper pushed herself off of the wall, stunned. No demon could do that. None that she knew of anyway. They were the Charmed Ones. What the hell was going on? She looked at the group helplessly as Jakkin prowled over to them and noted with horror that their eyes were still looking around. They were alive. They were all still conscious. Oh, good God.
Jakkin stopped in front of the frozen Piper. He leaned in so that his mouth was right next to her ear, close enough for his hot breath to fall on her shoulder. "Thank you SO much for the gift you gave to me. He is truly a magnificent creature." Jakkin's tongue flicked out and traced the outline of her ear, down her jawbone, ending at her lips. Leo's eyes flashed with rage and Piper was certain that regardless of whitelighter blood, he would be ANYTHING but a pacifist at this point. He pulled back, looking at the three witches, their two offspring, and their whitelighter. "Hmm.this is almost.. Anti-climactic. Don't you think?"
He pulled an athamay out of his belt and went to each of them. Piper leaned against the wall with a cry, tears streaming down her face, as the demon plunged it into her other self and then into her son. He continued on to Paige, then Phoebe, and last to Melinda. None of them made a sound as the blood soaked through the front of their shirts to pull onto the floor. Jakkin stepped back, admiring his bloody masterpiece. He held out his hand and a vial full of black, oily liquid flamed onto him palm. He threw it at their feet and the substance immediately began to smoke and bubble. "And who said that witches are the only ones who could vanquish?" He asked innocently. The looks of all the paralyzed people had turned from hatred to terror. They couldn't defend themselves and there was no one to stop him.
He closed his eyes, beginning to chant. "Where one is three and three is one, I call for them to come undone. These souls that scream for my demise, soon will learn I hear no cries. These witches are as witches be, as mortal here as you or me." There was an orbing next to the stilled figures in the hall and Angela appeared. She looked around, confused and opened her mouth to speak but was too late as Jakkin finished his spell. "Good is weak, as you will see. I vanquish you Charmed Ones and let it be."
"NO!!" Angela screamed as the flames engulfed her family. The paralyzation wore off and agonizing screams ripped through the house. The sisters twisted, shielding the two children with them, as the flames licked hungrily at their bodies. Leo had unfrozen with the rest of them but there was nothing that either him or his daughter could do. In an instant, they were gone. The Charmed Ones were dead.
Piper sobbed, clinging desperately to the wall behind her for support. "No, no, no, no.." She whispered. "It's not supposed to end like this. Not like this.." She choked as a fresh wave of tears hit her.
Jakkin turned to the two remaining people in the room. "Ahhh, Whitelighter." Leo looked up at him, shoulder slumped in defeat. He was supposed to protect them. Not only were they his most important charges, they were his family. How could he have let them die like that? The invisible Piper was attempting to pull herself back together. She looked at her husband, noticing his lost look, and willed him to be strong. Even if she wasn't with him anymore, she would still need him to be strong.
Jakkin was still talking, "I know whitelighters can't be vanquished normally so I've prepared a 'special' treat for you." A darklighter crossbow appeared in his hand. Piper noticed that it glimmered oddly. Something wasn't right about that. "At least, you'll get a quick, painless death." He must have manipulated it somehow, Piper reasoned. Darklighter poison usually took quite awhile to kill a whitelighter. Jakkin raised his arm up, pointing it at Leo.
"Dad!" Angela cried desperately. Leo's head snapped up, surprised that his daughter was still there. Piper saw his eyes flash and knew that there was still some fight left in him. Jakkin pulled the trigger just as Leo orbed out. The demon looked at the girl standing in the hall and she quickly followed her father's lead.
Jakkin shrugged as he looked around the now empty floor. "Ah, well. I got what I came for." And he shimmered out.
Two figures immediately orbed back into the room once the demon had left. They stood silently in front of the scorch marks on the floor of the hall. They didn't know what to say. There wasn't really anything that could be said. Leo took his daughter's hand. "C'mon." He said softly. "Let's get out of here." She bowed her head, mourning and they both orbed out.
Piper was left alone, holding her hand in disbelief in front of her mouth. She couldn't believe that that just happened. That couldn't be their futures. It just couldn't. She felt herself being pulled back and closed her eyes, letting the image in front of her dissolve as she returned to her own reality.
**************
Piper gasped as her eyes shot open. She was sweating, sitting bolt upright in her chair, and Angela quickly removed the hands from her forehead. She didn't even have to ask if Piper ad seen it. Her mother's reaction was enough. Angela reached for a glass of water that she had set on the table earlier. "Here, drink this." She coaxed. Piper gratefully accepted the drink, downing almost all of it before coming up for air. She was shaky though and Angela had to gently place the empty glass back on the table for her.
After taking a few deep, calming breaths, Piper finally asked. "When does.. When DID that happen?"
"Two days ago." Angela confirmed. Piper looked up, startled that the girl could be so calm after losing so much just a couple days ago. It had taken her weeks to get composed after Prue had died and even then she still hadn't been solid. Angela continued, not noticing Piper's look. "Dad and I grabbed the Book of Shadows and left the house. We had been staying Up There since then. We talked about it for a long time and eventually decided that me going back to the past would probably be our best bet."
Piper looked at her, "But why come all the way back to now? Why not just go back to before Jakkin ambushed everyone and get him then."
Angela looked up at her, haunted. "I tried that. I tried that so many times. But it never worked. I didn't watch you die once mom. I watched you die dozens of times. I tried to stop it and I failed every single time. I'm so sorry mom." Angela whispered the last part, and Piper knew that the girl wasn't really talking to her. She was talking to the dead, future mother that she would end up failing again and again.
"Hey!" Piper said forcefully, "You are NOT a failure." The earlier words that Leo had spoken echoed from her mouth. "None of this was your fault and I KNOW that you tried your damnedest to try to save us. It just.." She trailed off, not quite knowing what to say next.
"Was meant to be." Angela finished for her. She chuckled lightly, "That's exactly what Dad said too the last time that I came back. It must have been your destiny to be killed by Jakkin. So we thought that maybe I just wasn't going back far enough. Before now, Jakkin had been imprisoned in the underworld, so getting him then wouldn't work. But we thought that if we could stop him here, stop him from getting what would make him so powerful in the underworld (Talyn), then we could alter the future as well. As much as the Elders would like you to believe otherwise, destinies are not set in stone. They can always be changed."
Piper nodded understandingly, remembering when her and her sisters had gone to the future to alter Phoebe's fate. "So what do we do now? Just wait and be prepared?"
Angela nodded, looking knowingly down at her mother's bulging tummy. "Now we have to keep my brother out of Jakkin's hands." She placed one hand across the pregnant stomach and Piper gasped as she felt the current flow through her. The children inside of her squirmed and, for the first time, Piper could feel both separate bodies.
Angela grinned up at her before a shadow fell across her face. "I won't fail this time mom."
Piper brought a hand up, stroking her daughter's ponytailed hair and tucking an errant piece behind her ear. "You'll never be a failure to me." She assured her softly. Without warning, she gathered her daughter against her in a hug. After a brief hesitance, Angela relaxed, leaning into the embrace and wrapping her arms tightly around. And Piper understood that the girl wasn't just holding on to her. She was holding on to the dozens of other Pipers that she had watched die.
And Piper smiled as she knew that she wasn't going to let it happen again.
It was time to change some destinies.
************
The Underworld
Exact Location Unknown
Parker had been prowling around for hours. He had quickly grown tired of watching his family talk in the Manor while he had stayed outside. He figured that finding Jakkin would be a better use of his time. No one in the underworld had really taken any notice of him, which was just what he wanted. He was in his human form now, trying to avoid any unnecessary, and unwanted, attention that he would undoubtedly get as a Chimera.
He didn't really know too much about Jakkin's past. When he had asked, the demon had usually just ignored him or changed the subject. And the few questions that Jakkin had answered.. Well, Parker was growing supicious of all the things that Jakkin had taught him while he was growing up. First it had been lies about the Gemini Prophecy. Then he had found that everything Jakkin had told him about his family had been a lie. It was a slap in the face. Jakkin had been everything to Parker growing up. He had been a leader, a mentor, and most importantly a father figure. Parker had wanted to be just like Jakkin when he got older. And he had wanted for Jakkin to have everything that he wanted. Everything that he DESERVED.
But now things had changed. Parker wasn't sure of anything anymore. He didn't know who was right and who was wrong. He didn't know who to trust or who to believe. What he did know though was that it was his decision to make. Whatever direction he would decide on would be his alone to make. Noone, not Jakkin or Angela, was going to dictate what he was going to do.
And he needed to find his answers on his own.
Parker reached the entrance to what would later be the cavern where he would spend the first eighteen years of his life. He thought that he should feel something, anything as he moved past the familiar walls. But there was nothing. No memories, mo happiness, no nostalgia. And he was confused even more. And at that point he did feel something. He was scared. What if he was further along than he realized? What if he was already too evil to be saved? Was that why he couldn't feel anything?
An array of voices interrupted his thoughts. One protruded above all the rest, a victorious tone clearly evident. "I have called you all here in hopes of gaining your support. I can assure you all that I WILL become the ruler of this chaotic underworld." Parker peeked around the corner. The speaker's back was to him, but he could easily tell that it was Jakkin, holding some sort of silver staff I his left hand. Parker noticed that there were wounds across the demon's arms and neck. He guessed that Jakkin might have already run into Meika. There were about twenty or thirty ominous demons huddled in front of him, facing in Parker's direction, but all their attention was focused up on the speaker in front of them.
Jakkin hissed at the anxious group before him. "Now I know that some of you were loyal to me before my imprisonment." Almost half of the group bowed their heads respectfully at this statement. "And I have heard that you all are rather displeased as to the current state of the underworld hierarchy." All in the group nodded and grunted their accordance. "If you decide to follow and support me, I will ensure that you all are amply rewarded for your allegiance." The members of the group began to mutter amongst themselves.
One large man on the far side of the group, pierced and tattooed, yelled out in a booming voice. "But you were captured and your followers were killed the last time you tried this crap. Why the hell should this time be any different?"
Jakkin turned his head just far enough so that Parker could see the wicked smile that flashed across his features. "I know a secret." He taunted in a sing-song voice. At the clamor from the crowd, he raised his hands and it was quiet again. He cleared his throat dramatically. "I am sure that you all know about." He paused, making sure he had everyone's full attention. "The Gemini Prophecy." He was immediately bombarded with shouts of disbelief and questions. At his raised hands, the room silenced again. "The children are to be born within the next month. Tonight I will go and take the mother, bringing her down here where I can perform the ceremony to steal an unborn child."
"Why only get one?" A voice from the middle of the crowd called out. "Just nab them both."
"I highly doubt that I'll have the time," he drawled snidely. "Although the spell itself is rather short, the preparation is quite lengthy. Friends of the witch will come to save her before I get the chance to get the other child."
A large black man with tribal tattoos across his face asked, "So which one are you going to take?"
"The male of course." Jakkin answered like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"But females are always stronger than males. Why not take her?"
"Because you idiot," Jakkin spit angrily, "Males are easier to manipulate. These children's parents are an extremely powerful witch and a whitelighter. They were born to do good. It would be hard enough to turn one if they were just normal. Forget power for the moment. I'm going to need the one who is more pliable, who I can bend and mold into exactly who I want him to be."
"So, in other words," interjected a demon in the back, "You need a pawn."
Jakkin grinned at him. "Exactly."
"But what about this whole.. Emotion thing?" asked the same demon again. "You're going to need to show at least SOME amount of love and support," he almost gagged on his own words, "to get this kid to love and trust you. And looked what happened the last time that the leader of the underworld was ruled by his emotions."
Parker had heard that story. He knew that they were talking about Cole and his Aunt Phoebe. But he was so focused on Jakkin's answer that he didn't really care.
"Love? You expect me to love him? Ha! Demons are masters of deception Crackus. You should know that. He will believe what I want him to believe. Love has nothing to do with it. A demon doesn't have emotions remember? How could I possibly love something that is merely a pawn?"
The entire group burst into laughter at his statement before quickly settling down and getting back to business. If any of the demons had stopped to listen, they might have heard the steady drip as blood hit the dirt floor in the entranceway. Parker stood, face ashen and downtrodden, his nails digging into his palms causing the blood to run to the ground. He turned slowly and walked away from the chamber and the sounds of the demons within it. As he walked, he slowly morphed back into his Chimera formed. He didn't know where he was going and really didn't care. His walk was rigid, tail slashing angrily from side to side.
A pawn? Nothing more than a pawn? Jakkin had stolen almost twenty years of his life. The only father that Talyn had ever known had never really loved him at all. He bared his predatory teeth and gave a primal scream that went echoing up and down the walls of the tunnels around him.
And it was at that point that he knew that he wasn't a demon as a myriad of emotions washed over him.
Talyn had been betrayed.
He was hurt.
And he was pissed off.
TBC Hopefully the next part won't take as long. But if you want more you've got to hook me up with some feedback! ;^)
Piper opened her eyes slowly, trying to gain her bearing. It was dark, but not dark enough that she didn't realize where she was. She had somehow gotten into her bed, still fully clothed with a blanket pulled up securely around her. Shifting her weight slightly, Piper noted the pair of arms that were draped around her waist as her husband spooned behind her. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there. She had been in the kitchen and then.. Oh God.
Piper swallowed hard and closed her eyes against the flood of emotions. Her hand came up to rest protectively on the slight bulge of her stomach. One of them shifted slightly inside of her. She almost laughed bitterly at her thoughts. THEM. Now there was two, when only hours before hand there had been only him or her. How was she supposed to deal with all this? She could deal with the twin part. And, after some assessment, she could even come to terms with the Chimera part of it. But to be the Gemini Prophecy?
She and her sisters had been blessed enough to have a normal, magic free childhood. They were able to grow up as normal as possible, even with the whole Charmed Ones thing. Piper had wanted to be able to give that to her children too. She and Leo had even reached a point of agreement of binding their powers. Obviously though, that wasn't going to happen.
Piper could taste the salt in her mouth and realized that she was crying. Unbidden, the tears had begun to run silently down her cheeks. Piper couldn't take it. She didn't want to be strong right now, like she always was. Her shoulders began to shake as she gave in to her sobs.
Instantly, Leo's arms tightened around her. His face pressed into the crook of her neck, murmuring comfortingly. She lost herself in his protective hold and let the tears come completely, her body heaving as sob after sob washed over her. After a while, no more tears came and Piper took deep breaths to try to steady her shakiness. Leo still held her from behind and she clung desperately to the strong arms around her. He began to rock her gently back and forth, silence descending upon the room.
"I, uh," Piper sniffed gently, trying to put the last of her composure in place. "I didn't wake you up did I?"
"No," Leo admitted, his response tickling her neck. "Actually, I haven't been able to do much more than doze on and off a couple of times. I've been too busy worrying about you." He picked up his head from its resting place and put his hand on her cheek to turn her eyes to meet his. "You had us all really worried for awhile there. We weren't sure if something was wrong with you or the baby..." He trailed off then continued teasingly. "I should probably say 'babIES' shouldn't I?"
"Yea," Piper replied, chuckling lightly. It felt good to laugh. "And here we thought that we would have trouble making just one. Little did we know..."
Her gaze sobered as she finished her sentence. Leo noticed and reached his head down to give her a quick, loving kiss on the lips. He pulled back only a little, their breaths intermingling as he gently spoke. "Hey, we'll get through this alright? Look how many obstacles we've overcome already."
Piper gave him a small smile, more to reassure herself than him. "I know. It's just that there are so many things being thrown around all at once. I don't know how much longer I can do this." Leo nodded in silent support. His wife sighed deeply, dropping her eyes from his gaze to focus on his chest. She couldn't deal with all of this now. Changing the subject quickly she asked, "So what happened down in the kitchen? How long have I been out?" Her eyes glanced back up to his.
Leo noticed the diversionary tactic but didn't push his wife. He knew that she would talk to him when she was ready to. He rolled them both over until they were facing one another. Picking up one of her hands in his, he began to idly play with her fingers while he talked. "Well you passed out a good four or five hours ago. We weren't sure what was wrong but Phoebe seemed to think that you were really stressed out and hadn't eaten anything in awhile. She mumbled something about a potion but I didn't really catch it." Piper nodded. God, that potion making had seemed forever ago even though it had only been earlier in that evening. "We all decided that it would be better to let you get some rest, rather than waking you up. So I orbed us up here and tucked you in."
Piper looked down at their hands, intertwining her fingers with his. "Thank you." She sighed thoughtfully, furrowing her brow. "So I guess that Phoebe and Paige are demon hunting or something."
Leo shook his head. "Meika.. Angela...well she said that Jakkin won't attack until some time tomorrow. It will take him a little while to figure out how to use to Staff and to finish up on all his spells. Besides, he's going to need the full moon from tomorrow night.
Piper nodded before hesitantly asking, "And where's...?" She didn't know what to call the girl now. Piper would feel wrong calling the girl her daughter.
"She's down in the living room." Leo answered. "She opted to take the couch for the night."
Piper was silently for a few minutes, looking down again at their hands, and Leo patiently waited, knowing that she wanted to say something. Finally, she spoke. "I'm a failure Leo," she whispered quietly.
"What?" Leo asked aghast. How could she say something like that after all she'd done? "Piper, Honey, you are not."
He was cut off by her spitting out sharply, "Yes, I am Leo! I'm a failure as a mother and that girl downstairs is proof of that! You heard about what she's been through. You heard about everything that she's had to do and she's only twenty years old Leo! She should be out enjoying life, enjoying growing up. I should be the one making sure of that! But, obviously, I guess I'm just not cut out for the job." Piper was once again in hysterics, choking on her words as she bitterly spit them out. "I mean, our son's kidnapped before he's even born and.."
"NO! Piper, stop it!" Leo interrupted forcefully. Piper looked up at him, startled, and then quickly dropped her gaze again. She had never heard the tone in his voice before. "Piper, look at me." She didn't move and he repeated again. "LOOK at me." She looked up and was surprised to see the sheen of tears in his eyes. "YOU are NOT a failure. None of those things were your fault and I know that you tried your damnedest to protect your children. Our children."
"How could you know? How could you possibly know?" Piper hissed angrily.
"Because I talked with our daughter." Leo stated. He added in a gentler tone, "And I think you should too."
Piper shook her head anxiously, "No. I can't." She looked into Leo's pleading face again before softly repeating. "I can't Leo. Not now."
"Piper," Leo answered, "I don't think there's going to be any time other than now. If you don't talk to her before tomorrow, I don't think that you'll be able to talk to her at all." Piper opened her mouth to protest again but Leo cut her off. "You're strong enough to do this. I know you are."
Piper's mouth snapped shut. She sniffed one last time, wiping away the last traces of her tears. She nodded determinedly to her husband and he bent over to place one more tender kiss on her forehead. Piper pushed herself out of bed, shedding off her clothes and pulling her bathrobe out of the closet. She tied the belt securely around her waist before stepping out into the hallway. She quickly shut the door behind her and began hurriedly walking to the stairs, knowing that if she took too long, she would almost certainly lose her nerve.
************
She knew that Piper would eventually come. Ever since she had talked to her father a few hours ago, Angela had known that her mother would come with questions of her own. But no amount of time could prepare her for this encounter.
It had been so odd to walk around in this house again, talking with her aunts and parents while pretending that she wasn't anything to them. There were so many things here that reminded her of her childhood. Angela had always prided herself on being able to push away all the feelings that would cloud her judgment or make her weak. But now, not even she could bury the overwhelming feelings of nostalgia. There was the antique vase that she had broken when she was seven, first practicing her growing telekinetic powers. There was the parlor where her parents had renewed their vows to one another only months before (although it now felt like an eternity ago). There were the herbs sitting all over the counter, reminding her of fun times spent cooking up potions with her aunts while her mother was at work. Twenty years of happiness in this house almost erased by two days of hell.
Angela heard a creak behind her (the third floorboard to the left that had given her away when she tried to sneak out to a concert at sixteen). She turned, not quite knowing what to expect from the woman in the doorway. Piper met her gaze, expression neutral, and moved to sit in one of the chairs across from the girl. She sat, immediately pulling up her knees to her chest. She couldn't think of anything to say to this girl across from her; this girl with her hair and smile, but with Leo's gorgeous eyes. This girl was growing inside of her right now. She couldn't help but graze a hand over her stomach.
"So." Piper began lamely. "I've been talking to Leo some. He, uh, told me that you two had a little talk earlier?"
Angela nodded shyly. She too seemed at a loss for words.
Piper bit her bottom lip nervously. She needed to start out with something small, something to begin the conversation. Something that had been nagging the very back of her mind for a while jumped out at her. "I have to ask you this. So, when you were born were you actually human? Or did you come out as a umm.. Well, you know."
Angela smiled and the two instantly felt lighter. "I came out looking like a normal, healthy, human baby." She reassured her mother. "Actually, I didn't even start to show Chimera qualities until I was about a year old. Aunt Phoebe used to tell me the story all the time about the first time that you guys saw my wings." She shook her head, chuckling at the memory.
"What happened?" Piper asked, intrigued.
"Well, you like totally freaked out. You kept going 'She's a demon! Oh my God! What's wrong with her?? She's dying!' Luckily Dad was there though. The Elders must have warned him that something was going to happen. He kept running all around after you going 'Piper, Honey, it's ok. Everything's ok. She's fine.' Then you got SO pissed off at him when he admitted that the Elders had hinted at it. You kept constantly freezing him for like three hours because you didn't want to talk to him. After the initial concern had died down, my Aunts thought it was hysterical."
"I bet." Piper rolled her eyes, picturing her sisters dealing with the situation. She was relieved however that the baby had been born human. If not, it probably would have really freaked the doctors... "Umm, another question. Were Phoebe and Paige my.." She grimaced at the thought, "Midwives?"
Angela laughed loudly, "No way. They wanted to be. But after you went into labor, you started screaming for drugs and doctors and drugs and hospitals. and did I mention drugs? When the really bad contractions started, you started blowing up things in the house (accidentally of course) but they all got worried so Dad orbed you over to Eva's."
Once again, Piper was relieved. As much as she loved and trusted her sisters, she was not at all looking forward to them being her midwives. Piper now had about a million and one questions that popped into her head to ask her daughter. She didn't even know where to begin. She decided to start at the beginning, or actually the present.
"So, I'm your mother." She clarified. Angela nodded. "And Talyn's your brother." Angela nodded again, knowing where this was going. "So Talyn is. my son?"
"Yea," Angela confirmed. "That's why he couldn't kill you earlier. Only someone completely evil could kill their own mother. And he's not that. If Dad had stayed in the room, Talyn probably wouldn't have hurt him either."
Piper was confused. Something wasn't adding up. "But Jakkin took him from me before he was even born. How would he know who I am?"
Angela sighed, sobering. "And that's where the real story begins."
Piper gave her a questioning look.
"When Jakkin stole my brother, he raised him as his own son. But, of course, when Talyn got older he had questions about his mother. I mean, powerful as Jakkin is, he's not asexual or anything. But Jakkin wouldn't answer any of his questions. He just kept blowing Talyn off, telling him that it didn't matter. Eventually, Talyn had had enough and demanded to know. Jakkin lied to him. He told my brother that his parents had abandoned him. Tried to kill him even. Jakkin had saved him from certain death and despair. Talyn wanted to know who his family was so that he could go and talk to them to figure things out. Even after years of living with Jakkin, he was still so innocent. He was confused. But Jakkin forbade it and told him that his family was all dead. Jakkin said that he was the only family that Talyn had."
Piper felt nauseous as the anger swept through her. She didn't know how anyone could tell a child a lie like that. She felt one of the lives within her stir and tried to keep her emotions in check to soothe them. "So what happened?"
"Well, Jakkin had always considered Talyn to b his number one.. Commodity; like he was merely a possession or something." Angela sneered bitterly. "He had Talyn under tight guard for his entire life. Eventually, Talyn got bored with the magic that Jakkin had ordered him to practice. He wanted company. He wanted people to talk to. Talyn started to eavesdrop on the guards conversations. It was inevitable that he would eventually find out about everything. One of the older guards was explaining things to a new demon. Talyn heard everything. He knew about the Gemini Prophecy and, more importantly, he found out about his family. He knew that Jakkin had been lying to him and that's when he started to pull away from evil."
"Well, if Talyn has never been out of the underworld... how do you know all of this?"
Angela smiled. "Because he came to see me. Talyn has the ability to clone himself, a rather useful attribute if you ask me. He left his clone down in the underworld to do Jakkin's training. My brother knew that guard's routines better than they did. He easily slipped by until he could shimmer out without being detected." Angela quickly explained, "When he was in the womb, he had whitelighter blood like me so he had the ability to orb. But once Jakkin stole him, the Elders called back all whitelighter attributes that he might have retained. So Jakkin gave him the power to shimmer instead."
Piper nodded, stunned.
"I met my brother for the first time when I was eighteen years old." Angela whispered. "Isn't that sad? The things that Jakkin took away from him. The things that he took away from us. He shimmered into the Manor while I was home alone and I was so close to trying to vanquish his ass. Thank God I stopped. Once we figured out who we were, we were ecstatic. He asked me so many questions - about you and Dad and Phoebe and Paige. He wanted to know everything about the years that had been stolen from him. But after he heard about how his parents and aunts fought against evil, he was too ashamed to meet you. He promised that he would come back and eventually meet the rest of the family."
Angela stopped and sniffed back the tears. "I realized that I didn't even know his name. He told me that Jakkin had never given him one. In Chimera form, of course, he knew his name was Talyn. But in human form, Jakkin had always just called him 'boy.' I told him what you and Dad were planning on naming him and he loved it." Angela smiled tearily. "Before he left, I made him take a picture with me. Pieces of Aunt Prue's old photography equipment were all over the house. It's the only picture that I have of him." She added with a sad smile. "I hope that I might have more someday soon."
The girl reached out her hand, a piece of paper in it. Piper leaned to her and took the photograph slowly. She flipped it over to look and gasped, bringing her hand up to her mouth. They were beautiful. Her children were beautiful. The camera must have been on a timer because the two of them were standing casually in the parlor, hands around each other's waists. They were smiling and Piper immediately noticed that Angela wasn't the only one who had inherited her father's eyes. His sandy, dirty blond hair was also one of his father's attributes. He looked so much like Leo that Piper swore she would always think of him as an angel, no matter how evil he became. Piper found it hard to believe that the boy in the picture could be anything but good. He was smiling broadly, happily and Piper could almost see them all sitting around joking at the breakfast table.
She flipped the photo over and read what was scrawled on the back. 'Prudence Angela Halliwell and Parker Wyatt Halliwell - August 2021'. "Hmmm.. So I did keep the name thing going." Piper murmured.
"Yea. You and Dad had already broken so many rules and things, you both figured that you should try to keep at least one tradition alive." Angela teased. "Besides, Dad was never really a big fan of Melinda."
"Well, to be honest, neither was I." Piper admitted. "It was just a thought. I can see where Prudence and Wyatt come from. I guess Angela was..?"
"Your idea actually. You thought that it would be good to have something of Dad's in my name too."
"Oh yes. My Angel. What would I do without him?" Piper grinned wryly. She tried to get back to the story. "So Tal.. I mean, Parker." She smiled as she said her son's name for the first time. She loved it. "What did he do after he found out that Jakkin had lied to him about everything?"
"He wanted to leave," Angela explained. "But it was hard. I mean, like it or not, Jakkin had raised him. Jakkin had been his entire family for eighteen years. No matter how much he had been lied to, Parker felt that he couldn't just turn his back on him. But that was the beginning of the deterioration of their relationship. My brother got away whenever he could, leaving his clone to do Jakkin's spells and such. He never actually met you and Dad face to face but he asked about you ALL the time. I kept trying to get Parker to come back, to live with his family. But regardless of how much good was in him and how much he wanted to come back, Jakkin still controlled a part of him that had been corrupted in the very beginning of his life. So he didn't come back but he did visit as much as he could. That went on for about a year.. Until Jakkin found out about it.
"The clone had been practicing some illusion spells. It didn't know any better. It ended up blowing itself up. Jakkin must have realized that Parker had been sneaking out and must have sensed him at the manor. He KNEW that the only thing that could sway my brother to good would be his family. He wouldn't even try to kill me, but he had no qualms about getting rid of everyone else."
Piper interrupted, "Why wouldn't he try to kill you too? I mean, Parker's sister must be one of his strongest ties to his family."
Angela nodded, "Yea, but you forget something. Demons are greedy. Why have just half of the Gemini Prophecy when you can have all of it? He won't dare to come after me until I've turned twenty-one. Once I chose to fight for good then, there is no turning around and he will have no chance of getting me to the side of evil. But since I'm not there yet, he's going to take every advantage that he can get. Jakkin's hoping that my relationship with my brother might be strong enough to bring me to evil, just as I'm hoping that it will bring him to good." She stopped as Kit jumped into her lap, settling down and purring contently.
A somber, worried expression was on the girl's face. When she didn't continue, Piper coaxed, "Angela, what did Jakkin do?" The girl looked up into the supportive, loving eyes that she had known her entire life and found that she couldn't speak. She couldn't sit here and tell her mother what Jakkin had done to their family. "You can tell me." Piper assured her softly, placing her feet on the floor and leaning slightly forward.
Angela shook her head, looking down at the cat on her lap. "No. I can't." She looked up at her mom and her voice cracked emotionally, "But I can show you."
Piper, intrigued, nodded her consent and for the first time in their conversation, Angela got up and came over to her. Daughter knelt down in front of mother and their eyes locked. Eyes that were so familiar, yet painfully alien.
Angela reached up and placed her hands on either side of her mom's head, at the temples. She smiled grimly, "A little something I learned from Aunt Phoebe."
"If that was supposed to make me feel better, it's not cutting it." Piper teased dryly.
Angela smiled sadly up at her and, at that look, Piper steeled herself for what was to come. She was sure that it wasn't going to be good. Angela closed her eyes in concentration. The last thing that Piper heard before her mind was thrust to a different place, was her daughter whispering, "Don't be scared Mom."
************
Piper looked around, confused. She was in the downstairs, front hallway. "Hello?" She called hesitantly. She wasn't sure exactly where Angela had sent her, or when for that matter. The manor looked different that it had earlier. Some things had been moved around, others were gone altogether, and everything had the look of more wear and tear than usual.
"Piper!" Phoebe came out of the kitchen, yelling her name. She stopped near the bottom of the steps, her back to Piper. "Piper!" She yelled again.
"Phoebe? Phoebe, I'm right." she reached out to grab her sister's shoulder but quickly recoiled when her hand went through it. "Ooooookay, well, I can see that that's not going to work. I guess I'm just here as an observer, not as a participant. Fine by me." She muttered. Piper stepped back, leaning against the hallway wall as she watched life at the manor unfold.
Phoebe had opened her mouth to yell again when a small boy, maybe six at the oldest, came running down the stairs. He was only partially dressed with his dark brown wet hair sticking up erratically all over his head. "Aun Pheebee help!" He cried, smiling. He jumped into Phoebe's arms as other Piper came racing down the steps. The boy squirmed, trying to get away as Piper playfully stalked towards him. "Help! Help!" He yelled, giggling.
Phoebe giggled in response, then turned to her older sister, one hand going up to protectively curl around the boy's head. "And just what are you doing to my nephew?"
Piper glared back at her, exasperated. "I'm TRYING to get him ready to go with me to the club." She looked at the boy again. "Baby, if we don't get going soon, Mommy's going to be late for work and there's a really important meeting that I have to get to on time."
"No!" The little boy shook his head stubbornly and the observing Piper had to laugh. He looked just like her when he did that.
The other Piper sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Why not Paul?"
"Becawse," he explained simply, "I wan Daddy to kiss me bye."
Piper couldn't help but smile at her son's statement. "Leo." She called.
Her husband orbed into the room. "What's up?" Piper gestured to their son with a grin. Leo turned to him and smiled. "You rang?"
Paul crossed his arms over his small chest, sticking out his bottom lip. "You didt kiss me bye today."
Leo's smile grew and he reached over, pulling his son out of Phoebe's arms and twirling him around in the air. "Oh I didn't, did I?" He challenged him. "Well in that case," he lowered the boy and placed a kiss on his cheek and another on his forehead. "There's the one for today and there's a 'sorry' one because I forgot." The Piper at the wall smiled. Leo was going to be a great father.
The boy clapped his hands together. "Good!" He exclaimed. He looked at his mother. "We go now."
Piper laughed, "Oh, I'm glad you approve." Leo passed him to her and gave her a soft kiss. "Hey! I already got my kiss this morning." Piper exclaimed.
Leo pulled away and cocked his head, "Are you complaining? I could always stop."
"Don't even think about it." Piper ordered.
There was a clumping sound and Paige came down the steps. "Alright, ready to go." She announced. The small bundle in her arms began to cry. "Uh-oh. I think she wants her mom." Paige reached the bottom and handed the child over to Phoebe.
"Aww.. What is it Melinda?" She cooed. The girl almost instantly quieted down.
"Seems like you've got the magic touch there sis." Paige noted.
"Ha!" Phoebe said, "Magic has nothing to do with this. It's all in the skills..."
Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud crack. Jakkin stood in the middle of the living room. He held up his hand commandingly, "Damn witches. Always getting in the way."
"Excuse me?" Paige huffed. "And who the hell are you?"
The demon in their home didn't get a chance to answer as Piper numbly whispered, "Jakkin."
The other sisters were instantly on alert. Neither had seen this demon before (he had nabbed Piper before they could get to her) but they had heard plenty about him and knew what he had done to their sister. "Dude, you're either insane or just plain stupid to come around here. We are SO going to vanquish your sorry, demon ass." Phoebe spit out.
"Oh, I think not." Jakkin grinned wickedly. "You see, I've had QUITE a while to work on a way to get rid of you. You have NO idea how powerful I've become." Piper raised her hands, quickly moving Paul to her hip. Jakkin saw it though and yelled, "Dashea!" They were instantly all paralyzed.
The observing Piper pushed herself off of the wall, stunned. No demon could do that. None that she knew of anyway. They were the Charmed Ones. What the hell was going on? She looked at the group helplessly as Jakkin prowled over to them and noted with horror that their eyes were still looking around. They were alive. They were all still conscious. Oh, good God.
Jakkin stopped in front of the frozen Piper. He leaned in so that his mouth was right next to her ear, close enough for his hot breath to fall on her shoulder. "Thank you SO much for the gift you gave to me. He is truly a magnificent creature." Jakkin's tongue flicked out and traced the outline of her ear, down her jawbone, ending at her lips. Leo's eyes flashed with rage and Piper was certain that regardless of whitelighter blood, he would be ANYTHING but a pacifist at this point. He pulled back, looking at the three witches, their two offspring, and their whitelighter. "Hmm.this is almost.. Anti-climactic. Don't you think?"
He pulled an athamay out of his belt and went to each of them. Piper leaned against the wall with a cry, tears streaming down her face, as the demon plunged it into her other self and then into her son. He continued on to Paige, then Phoebe, and last to Melinda. None of them made a sound as the blood soaked through the front of their shirts to pull onto the floor. Jakkin stepped back, admiring his bloody masterpiece. He held out his hand and a vial full of black, oily liquid flamed onto him palm. He threw it at their feet and the substance immediately began to smoke and bubble. "And who said that witches are the only ones who could vanquish?" He asked innocently. The looks of all the paralyzed people had turned from hatred to terror. They couldn't defend themselves and there was no one to stop him.
He closed his eyes, beginning to chant. "Where one is three and three is one, I call for them to come undone. These souls that scream for my demise, soon will learn I hear no cries. These witches are as witches be, as mortal here as you or me." There was an orbing next to the stilled figures in the hall and Angela appeared. She looked around, confused and opened her mouth to speak but was too late as Jakkin finished his spell. "Good is weak, as you will see. I vanquish you Charmed Ones and let it be."
"NO!!" Angela screamed as the flames engulfed her family. The paralyzation wore off and agonizing screams ripped through the house. The sisters twisted, shielding the two children with them, as the flames licked hungrily at their bodies. Leo had unfrozen with the rest of them but there was nothing that either him or his daughter could do. In an instant, they were gone. The Charmed Ones were dead.
Piper sobbed, clinging desperately to the wall behind her for support. "No, no, no, no.." She whispered. "It's not supposed to end like this. Not like this.." She choked as a fresh wave of tears hit her.
Jakkin turned to the two remaining people in the room. "Ahhh, Whitelighter." Leo looked up at him, shoulder slumped in defeat. He was supposed to protect them. Not only were they his most important charges, they were his family. How could he have let them die like that? The invisible Piper was attempting to pull herself back together. She looked at her husband, noticing his lost look, and willed him to be strong. Even if she wasn't with him anymore, she would still need him to be strong.
Jakkin was still talking, "I know whitelighters can't be vanquished normally so I've prepared a 'special' treat for you." A darklighter crossbow appeared in his hand. Piper noticed that it glimmered oddly. Something wasn't right about that. "At least, you'll get a quick, painless death." He must have manipulated it somehow, Piper reasoned. Darklighter poison usually took quite awhile to kill a whitelighter. Jakkin raised his arm up, pointing it at Leo.
"Dad!" Angela cried desperately. Leo's head snapped up, surprised that his daughter was still there. Piper saw his eyes flash and knew that there was still some fight left in him. Jakkin pulled the trigger just as Leo orbed out. The demon looked at the girl standing in the hall and she quickly followed her father's lead.
Jakkin shrugged as he looked around the now empty floor. "Ah, well. I got what I came for." And he shimmered out.
Two figures immediately orbed back into the room once the demon had left. They stood silently in front of the scorch marks on the floor of the hall. They didn't know what to say. There wasn't really anything that could be said. Leo took his daughter's hand. "C'mon." He said softly. "Let's get out of here." She bowed her head, mourning and they both orbed out.
Piper was left alone, holding her hand in disbelief in front of her mouth. She couldn't believe that that just happened. That couldn't be their futures. It just couldn't. She felt herself being pulled back and closed her eyes, letting the image in front of her dissolve as she returned to her own reality.
**************
Piper gasped as her eyes shot open. She was sweating, sitting bolt upright in her chair, and Angela quickly removed the hands from her forehead. She didn't even have to ask if Piper ad seen it. Her mother's reaction was enough. Angela reached for a glass of water that she had set on the table earlier. "Here, drink this." She coaxed. Piper gratefully accepted the drink, downing almost all of it before coming up for air. She was shaky though and Angela had to gently place the empty glass back on the table for her.
After taking a few deep, calming breaths, Piper finally asked. "When does.. When DID that happen?"
"Two days ago." Angela confirmed. Piper looked up, startled that the girl could be so calm after losing so much just a couple days ago. It had taken her weeks to get composed after Prue had died and even then she still hadn't been solid. Angela continued, not noticing Piper's look. "Dad and I grabbed the Book of Shadows and left the house. We had been staying Up There since then. We talked about it for a long time and eventually decided that me going back to the past would probably be our best bet."
Piper looked at her, "But why come all the way back to now? Why not just go back to before Jakkin ambushed everyone and get him then."
Angela looked up at her, haunted. "I tried that. I tried that so many times. But it never worked. I didn't watch you die once mom. I watched you die dozens of times. I tried to stop it and I failed every single time. I'm so sorry mom." Angela whispered the last part, and Piper knew that the girl wasn't really talking to her. She was talking to the dead, future mother that she would end up failing again and again.
"Hey!" Piper said forcefully, "You are NOT a failure." The earlier words that Leo had spoken echoed from her mouth. "None of this was your fault and I KNOW that you tried your damnedest to try to save us. It just.." She trailed off, not quite knowing what to say next.
"Was meant to be." Angela finished for her. She chuckled lightly, "That's exactly what Dad said too the last time that I came back. It must have been your destiny to be killed by Jakkin. So we thought that maybe I just wasn't going back far enough. Before now, Jakkin had been imprisoned in the underworld, so getting him then wouldn't work. But we thought that if we could stop him here, stop him from getting what would make him so powerful in the underworld (Talyn), then we could alter the future as well. As much as the Elders would like you to believe otherwise, destinies are not set in stone. They can always be changed."
Piper nodded understandingly, remembering when her and her sisters had gone to the future to alter Phoebe's fate. "So what do we do now? Just wait and be prepared?"
Angela nodded, looking knowingly down at her mother's bulging tummy. "Now we have to keep my brother out of Jakkin's hands." She placed one hand across the pregnant stomach and Piper gasped as she felt the current flow through her. The children inside of her squirmed and, for the first time, Piper could feel both separate bodies.
Angela grinned up at her before a shadow fell across her face. "I won't fail this time mom."
Piper brought a hand up, stroking her daughter's ponytailed hair and tucking an errant piece behind her ear. "You'll never be a failure to me." She assured her softly. Without warning, she gathered her daughter against her in a hug. After a brief hesitance, Angela relaxed, leaning into the embrace and wrapping her arms tightly around. And Piper understood that the girl wasn't just holding on to her. She was holding on to the dozens of other Pipers that she had watched die.
And Piper smiled as she knew that she wasn't going to let it happen again.
It was time to change some destinies.
************
The Underworld
Exact Location Unknown
Parker had been prowling around for hours. He had quickly grown tired of watching his family talk in the Manor while he had stayed outside. He figured that finding Jakkin would be a better use of his time. No one in the underworld had really taken any notice of him, which was just what he wanted. He was in his human form now, trying to avoid any unnecessary, and unwanted, attention that he would undoubtedly get as a Chimera.
He didn't really know too much about Jakkin's past. When he had asked, the demon had usually just ignored him or changed the subject. And the few questions that Jakkin had answered.. Well, Parker was growing supicious of all the things that Jakkin had taught him while he was growing up. First it had been lies about the Gemini Prophecy. Then he had found that everything Jakkin had told him about his family had been a lie. It was a slap in the face. Jakkin had been everything to Parker growing up. He had been a leader, a mentor, and most importantly a father figure. Parker had wanted to be just like Jakkin when he got older. And he had wanted for Jakkin to have everything that he wanted. Everything that he DESERVED.
But now things had changed. Parker wasn't sure of anything anymore. He didn't know who was right and who was wrong. He didn't know who to trust or who to believe. What he did know though was that it was his decision to make. Whatever direction he would decide on would be his alone to make. Noone, not Jakkin or Angela, was going to dictate what he was going to do.
And he needed to find his answers on his own.
Parker reached the entrance to what would later be the cavern where he would spend the first eighteen years of his life. He thought that he should feel something, anything as he moved past the familiar walls. But there was nothing. No memories, mo happiness, no nostalgia. And he was confused even more. And at that point he did feel something. He was scared. What if he was further along than he realized? What if he was already too evil to be saved? Was that why he couldn't feel anything?
An array of voices interrupted his thoughts. One protruded above all the rest, a victorious tone clearly evident. "I have called you all here in hopes of gaining your support. I can assure you all that I WILL become the ruler of this chaotic underworld." Parker peeked around the corner. The speaker's back was to him, but he could easily tell that it was Jakkin, holding some sort of silver staff I his left hand. Parker noticed that there were wounds across the demon's arms and neck. He guessed that Jakkin might have already run into Meika. There were about twenty or thirty ominous demons huddled in front of him, facing in Parker's direction, but all their attention was focused up on the speaker in front of them.
Jakkin hissed at the anxious group before him. "Now I know that some of you were loyal to me before my imprisonment." Almost half of the group bowed their heads respectfully at this statement. "And I have heard that you all are rather displeased as to the current state of the underworld hierarchy." All in the group nodded and grunted their accordance. "If you decide to follow and support me, I will ensure that you all are amply rewarded for your allegiance." The members of the group began to mutter amongst themselves.
One large man on the far side of the group, pierced and tattooed, yelled out in a booming voice. "But you were captured and your followers were killed the last time you tried this crap. Why the hell should this time be any different?"
Jakkin turned his head just far enough so that Parker could see the wicked smile that flashed across his features. "I know a secret." He taunted in a sing-song voice. At the clamor from the crowd, he raised his hands and it was quiet again. He cleared his throat dramatically. "I am sure that you all know about." He paused, making sure he had everyone's full attention. "The Gemini Prophecy." He was immediately bombarded with shouts of disbelief and questions. At his raised hands, the room silenced again. "The children are to be born within the next month. Tonight I will go and take the mother, bringing her down here where I can perform the ceremony to steal an unborn child."
"Why only get one?" A voice from the middle of the crowd called out. "Just nab them both."
"I highly doubt that I'll have the time," he drawled snidely. "Although the spell itself is rather short, the preparation is quite lengthy. Friends of the witch will come to save her before I get the chance to get the other child."
A large black man with tribal tattoos across his face asked, "So which one are you going to take?"
"The male of course." Jakkin answered like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"But females are always stronger than males. Why not take her?"
"Because you idiot," Jakkin spit angrily, "Males are easier to manipulate. These children's parents are an extremely powerful witch and a whitelighter. They were born to do good. It would be hard enough to turn one if they were just normal. Forget power for the moment. I'm going to need the one who is more pliable, who I can bend and mold into exactly who I want him to be."
"So, in other words," interjected a demon in the back, "You need a pawn."
Jakkin grinned at him. "Exactly."
"But what about this whole.. Emotion thing?" asked the same demon again. "You're going to need to show at least SOME amount of love and support," he almost gagged on his own words, "to get this kid to love and trust you. And looked what happened the last time that the leader of the underworld was ruled by his emotions."
Parker had heard that story. He knew that they were talking about Cole and his Aunt Phoebe. But he was so focused on Jakkin's answer that he didn't really care.
"Love? You expect me to love him? Ha! Demons are masters of deception Crackus. You should know that. He will believe what I want him to believe. Love has nothing to do with it. A demon doesn't have emotions remember? How could I possibly love something that is merely a pawn?"
The entire group burst into laughter at his statement before quickly settling down and getting back to business. If any of the demons had stopped to listen, they might have heard the steady drip as blood hit the dirt floor in the entranceway. Parker stood, face ashen and downtrodden, his nails digging into his palms causing the blood to run to the ground. He turned slowly and walked away from the chamber and the sounds of the demons within it. As he walked, he slowly morphed back into his Chimera formed. He didn't know where he was going and really didn't care. His walk was rigid, tail slashing angrily from side to side.
A pawn? Nothing more than a pawn? Jakkin had stolen almost twenty years of his life. The only father that Talyn had ever known had never really loved him at all. He bared his predatory teeth and gave a primal scream that went echoing up and down the walls of the tunnels around him.
And it was at that point that he knew that he wasn't a demon as a myriad of emotions washed over him.
Talyn had been betrayed.
He was hurt.
And he was pissed off.
TBC Hopefully the next part won't take as long. But if you want more you've got to hook me up with some feedback! ;^)