Title: And Then There Were Three
Author: the weeping willow
Chapter: 6- "Return to Hell"
Rating: PG (possibly to change) for violence, swearing, etc.
Spoilers: Up until the end of season four.
Setting: season 5 AU
Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its associates, etc.
Description: Their battle ends badly, sending the young witches where they never wanted to go again…
Distribution: Not without asking. Please get permission first, or put a link back to this page.
Contact: queenofthebandgeeks@hotmail.com
Author's Notes: Sorry about the delay! I'm hoping to get the last couple of chapters out before school starts again. I'm pretty sure I'll have a sequel, but I just found a really good place to end it. :) I also have to finish writing this huge story for writing workshop. It's about this girl that gets accused of witchcraft, so she has to escape to the New World… um, yeah. *coughs* I'm thinking she might just end up getting burned, though… it'd be more realistic, anyways. *shrugs* And I will be posting it on ff.net once it's done, don't worry. :)
And Then There Were Three
Chapter Six: "Return to Hell"
A demon leaped down from the building above, landing on top of Phoebe, knocking her flat on the ground. She lay stunned, her neck at an odd angle. The demon swung around, and its horned tail collided with Felicity, sending her flying into the wall with a sickening crack. Felicity slid down to the ground, slumped against the wall unconscious. Paige immediately counterattacked by tele-orbing a big steel pipe towards the monster. It bounced harmlessly off its chest, having no effect but to anger it more. Paige gasped and backed away. Maple kept a watch for the girl at the edge of the alley while Alex and Piper ran to back Paige up.
Alex ran up and kicked its chest rapidly five times in succession. The demon staggered back, dazed. Paige tried to tele-orb it against the wall, but a blue light glowed and she was thrown back. "Dumb shield," she groaned and pulled herself up from the ground painfully. Maple, who was keeping an eye on the fight, waved her hand casually. There were blue sparks, and the demon flew up and against the wall, falling with a big thunk.
"Gone," Maple said simply.
The girls attacked with renewed vigor. Piper froze the demon and Alex attacked it, punching as hard as she possibly could. When it unfroze, Alex stepped back and Paige tele-orbed it against the wall, narrowly missing Felicity's head. The demon, enraged, flung itself at Paige. One of its horns dug into her head, leaving a long gash down her face. Paige tried to get up, but after a moment a dazed look came upon her face and she blacked out.
Piper tried to freeze it again, but there was no response. Alex was fighting a losing battle, becoming quickly overpowered by the demon. "Piper! Switch!" Maple yelled, and she ran forward to help her sister. Piper obediently fell back and continued to watch for the girl.
Maple fared slightly better than Piper, and managed to throw him against the wall. But no matter how hard they tried, the demon still didn't weaken. Piper ran forth again to help fight.
Felicity began to awake slowly, fighting the demon's poison coursing through her bloodstream. Maple noticed, and turned and yelled, "Fire!" That one word caused her to be struck hard in the face. The momentum of the demon's punch sent her flying. Her landing knocked her out like the others. Only Piper and Alex remained standing, their faces covered in sweat and blood.
Felicity thought quickly. Fire… fire… what about fire? The only thing that came to her mind was her old science teacher, talking about matter. Fire was a chemical change, compared to a physical change like breaking a stick in half. Chemical- that was it! She stared at the demon, her eyes unblinking and watering. Concentrating hard, she envisioned the cells burning, destroying themselves, consumed with fire… Smoke began to rise from the demon's head, and it stopped, confused. Then it burst entirely into flames. The demon screeched, then exploded into a cloud of dust.
Only then did Felicity become completely aware of the sharp pain coursing throughout her body. She crawled over to Paige and tried unsuccessfully to wake her up. Alex and Piper walked over, and Felicity could see how badly hurt they truly were. "Poison," Alex whispered in a small voice. She held a hand over a cut on her upper arm. "It's poison." Felicity nodded, unable to do much more.
"Nobody else will wake up," Piper added. "We need Leo—"
"No!" Alex hissed, enraged. "They'll drag us back there and I— I— I won't go!"
"Then what the hell else are we supposed to do?!" Piper retorted, her voice filled with anger and fear.
"I…" whispered Felicity softly. "Let me—"
Alex stared at her. "Are you insane? You're barely conscious." Still, Felicity put her hand on Paige's chest and silently commanded the cells to repair themselves. "Lissie, no!" cried Alex fearfully.
She lunged forward, but Piper blocked her path. "Let her!"
Alex broke free almost immediately; her strength was no match for Piper. Still, the damage was done. Paige awoke just as Felicity collapsed into Alex's arms.
"Paige, can you heal the others?" inquired Piper.
"Wha— I think so, but…" She didn't need to finish the sentence. She'd never healed someone before without Leo.
Alex glared at them with hatred in her eyes. "Look at what you've done— this is bullshit! She's dying!"
Paige sighed and held her hand over Felicity and concentrated. A blue light glowed softly, and Felicity's wounds slowly disappeared. But before the damage was entirely reversed, Paige suddenly stopped. "What are you doing?!" snapped Alex.
"It won't work," she replied weakly.
"Go do the others," Piper told her.
"Liss, wake up. Come on…" pleaded Alex.
Suddenly, Leo orbed in, a disappointed look on his face. "Leo, come help—" Piper started excitedly, but she stopped at the look on his face. "What is it?"
Leo didn't have to answer. They knew when more orbed down and surrounded all six of them. "Leo…" whispered Piper plaintively. He looked down at his feet. Moments later, they found themselves in front of the Elder's Council once more.