A/N: Well.. I decided to keep going. Thankyou everyone for the support, it's appreciated. I thought about Amber's idea of stopping and starting a sequel, but then realised wait.. where does that leave this story? Pretty much plotless. So the other votes to just continue won over. Oh, and Rayefire, I'm sorry if you don't understand.. I try to write so it's easy enough to follow, but I'm a tad vague about things. Piper wasn't mad at Leo, she just took it out on him. See.. in the series, she's always been the calm, collected one. When Prue died, Piper bottled up her feelings until she exploded. When she lost Phoebe to Cole, she went and got drunk to get away from reality. She's like someone I know. Anyway, now since she's been hurt and Leo's trying to help, she's ended up taking it out on him. Then she decided to leave, simply because she couldn't handle it. Back to the whole escaping reality. Sorry, I know.. it's probably hard to follow, but Piper is so like someone I know, and I know that person gets mad at people who've done nothing wrong, simply as a source to release anger upon. Yeah. Anyway, here's chapter 9! Set 10 years after Piper leaves, so.. on with the story!

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A tall teenager could be seen making her way across the park. Walking quickly, her shoulder length brown hair bouncing up and down as she went. Sixteen year old Melinda Prudence Halliwell Warren was dressed in faded jeans, torn at the knees, and a strapless, blue tank-top that clung to her thin frame. Around her neck a silver chain glinted daintily in the sunlight. Her eyes flickered from person to person, taking in each one quickly, scanning, and searching for someone. Finally she spotted them.

'Kaitlyn Courtenay Halliwell Warren! Young lady, I would like to know why on earth you didn't meet me after school today!' called Melinda, frustrated and not in a good mood. A young girl, dressed in a tight t-shirt and a pink, frilly skirt, sitting on a bench a couple of metres in front of Melinda, turned around. Kaitlyn's big eyes stared innocently up at Melinda.

'I... I forgot,' stammered Kaitlyn, one hand moving behind her back as she crossed her fingers.

'Likely story, sis,' said Melinda, glaring down at the ten year old.

'A true story!' stammered the child.

'Then why are your fingers crossed?' questioned the teen.

Subconsciously, Kaitlyn brought her hand back round into view, before realising what she'd done.

'Oops,' she muttered, grinning impishly.

Melinda shook her head and rolled her eyes. She plopped down onto the seat, next to Kaitlyn, depositing her school bag at her feet.

'So, what brings you to the park on a hot day like today?' questioned Melinda. Kaitlyn turned and pointed out towards the water in front of her. Sitting on the edge of the pond was a boy, whom Melinda judged on first glance to be about Kaitlyn's age.

'This is Ben,' said Kaitlyn. Ben turned around at the mention of his name, smiling shyly at Melinda. He stood up, and Melinda noticed he was very tall for his age, making her reconsider whether or not he was only ten. He walked towards the girls, something fluffy squirming in his hands. On closer inspection Melinda realised he was holding a duckling.

'Ooo!' squealed Kaitlyn, as Ben placed the little animal down in her lap. She stroked it affectionately, as it chirped away at her.

'Hi Ben,' said Melinda, smiling warmly at him.

'Hi,' he replied meekly, trying to get the duckling to sit still. An angry quack diverted his attention. A duck had emerged from the pond, waddling up towards where they sat. Kaitlyn giggled, and Ben smiled as he placed the duckling down on the grass. In a hurry it scampered down the bank to its mother, whom led it back to the water, glancing back every couple of seconds at Ben, Kaitlyn, and Melinda.

'So are you new around here?' asked Melinda, trying to melt the icy tension between them.

'Yes,' he replied, running one hand through his black, curly hair nervously. 'We moved here a couple of weeks ago.'

'He's in my class at school,' added Kaitlyn happily. 'We're friends.'

Ben nodded, climbing onto the bench beside Kaitlyn. She squealed as he started tickling her. Kaitlyn leapt off the bench, immediately followed by Ben, smiling mischievously. Melinda laughed at his antics. Kaitlyn was on the ground now, squealing as he tickled her mercilessly. In a split second Kaitlyn had somehow managed to get on top. Probably using her powers, thought Melinda. Naughty girl.

Kaitlyn started tickling Ben, whom was also ticklish. He broke out in childish giggling, pleading with her to stop. What happened next took no more than a split second.

Melinda wasn't sure she'd actually seen it, it happened so fast. Kaitlyn had begun to tickle Ben around the ribs, causing the boy to squeal and try and squirm away from her. He'd thrown out one hand suddenly, in Melinda's direction, and what appeared to be a purple, statically charged, energy ball had been thrown across the grass, hitting the leg at the other end of the bench.

Melinda jumped up off the bench, staring wide-eyed at Ben. Kaitlyn rolled off him, gaping at the small scorch mark on the bench leg. Ben sat up quickly, glancing from Kaitlyn, to Melinda, and then at the bench.

'Oops,' muttered Ben. 'It's happening again.'

'Was... was that an energy ball?' asked Kaitlyn, voicing Melinda's thoughts. Stop reading my mind, hissed Melinda. Work on reading his mind! Kaitlyn's eyes flickered towards Melinda, full of uncertainty.

'An - I mean - It was... an electricity ball,' answered Ben, trying to make himself invisible. 'Wait, you know about... about demons?' he added as an afterthought.

There was a couple of moment's silence, before –

'Do you… do you like being a demon?' asked Kaitlyn shyly, her eyes gazing, unblinkingly, into his.

'No,' he replied coldly. 'Do you?'

'I'm not… I'm not a demon,' answered Kaitlyn, her eyes flickering hesitantly from Ben to Melinda and then back to Ben. 'You don't have to be, either, you know.'

'Yes, I do. I was born a demon.'

'I know someone who can help.'

At this point Melinda snapped back into attention, her eyes in a piercing glare at Kaitlyn. If Kaitlyn were even thinking about what Melinda guessed she were thinking… well… it was just so out of the question! Melinda couldn't even justify why Kaitlyn would dare ask their mum for that.

'Really?' asked Ben, his face lighting up. 'Will you… will you take me to them?'

'Yep,' answered Kaitlyn, climbing to her feet before helping Ben up. Melinda opened her mouth to protest, but the daggers Kaitlyn was glaring at her was enough for her to keep quiet. Slowly, Melinda got to her feet and picked up the schoolbags, before silently following Kaitlyn and Ben back to 1429 Kingsford Drive, Aurora, Illinois.

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'Mum, I want you to meet someone.' Kaitlyn started up nervously.

Piper watched as Melinda mouthed 'demon' to her silently from across the room. She half nodded to indicate that she understood, while answering her youngest daughter. 'Sure, okay…'

Kaitlyn pulled her hand in the door, and in stepped Ben. Piper choked on the air, as a familiar wave of déjà vu ran through her. She took in his bright blue eyes, black hair, and tall, gangly frame quickly.

'Cole?'

The boy gasped, as a pulling sensation overtook him.

// He was standing in a penthouse. On the ground were four crystals, and in the middle of them, hovering midair, were thousands of little black flies, spinning around, grouping together. Off to the side stood three people. One was a young woman, with long, brown hair and deep brown eyes. Another was also a woman. This one was slightly shorter than the first, with ebony, shoulder-length hair and a fair complexion. The third person was a man, with short, sandy coloured hair. All three people had looks of concern upon their faces, and the first was yelling something, which passed on, unheard to Ben.

Suddenly the little black flies regrouped totally, forming into a man. He was tall, with black, curly hair, and an evil smile across his features. A huge fireball formed in one of his hands, as a door opened off to the other side of the scene. A new figure emerged from the room behind this door, her face tear-streaked, and her body shaking with fear. Silently, she bent low, picking up a fifth crystal, lying some feet away. Then she walked towards the man, the energy ball disappearing from over his palm as she reached up to kiss him. Silent words were exchanged between them, before she stepped back, dropping the crystal into the circle. A split second later a force field had formed around the man, his expression contorting into one of fear and anger.

The woman, presumably his wife, moved to stand with the other occupants of the room, her face set in a determined look as the brown-haired woman took out a piece of paper, and the three started chanting. A terrible fire surrounded the man within the energy field, working from his feet upwards. His face fell into a defeated look, before he vanished, an extreme surge of power exploding outwards from where he had been standing moments before.\\

It took Ben a couple of seconds to realise he was once again standing in a doorway, as he leant against the frame, blinking, eyes fixed on the ground, trying to hold onto what he had seen as it trickled away like water through his fingers. Slowly he brought his gaze up to meet that of Kaitlyn's mum, but regretted it instantly. His blood turned to ice.

'You killed someone...'