Chapter 4
Rockslide
Piper's eyes flew towards Phoebe's quick pace as she thrashed her arms and legs wildly trying to loosen the tightly wrapped cloth. She moaned through the gag and lifted her legs, banging them against the wall behind her.
Phoebe heard the faint tapping behind her. Slowly, she turned to see her sister.
"Piper!" She yelled out, running towards her. "Honey, are you ok?" She untied the gag first and listened to her sister's story as she untied Piper.
"You turned... and a hand flew over my mouth and then I woke up here." She nodded towards the path Phoebe had been walking before. "You were walking away from me and I thought you'd never see me." She was finally loose and Phoebe watched as Piper rubbed her chafed arms.
Piper looked around as if expecting something. She pushed her back against the wall and put her hands up to rub the sweat from her forehead.
"Nothing would feel better then a shower right now."
"I don't know," Phoebe stated. "Some demon ass kicking sounds pretty good."
Piper gave her sister a tiny smile and slung her arm over Phoebe's shoulders. Her smile faded as she thought about Tony. "So," Said Piper. "Why didn't he just kill us all and take you if he wants you so bad?" Her eyes brushed over Phoebe's face questioningly.
Phoebe fumbled to find the words as she remembered her earlier encounter with Tony and how her body had reacted to his. Her eyes fell to the floor so Piper wouldn't see through her.
"He's playing some sort of game with us." Phoebe started to walk forward with Piper still connected to her shoulders. "There's some rule that says he has to give us a chance. We have Eleven Hours." She looked at her watch. It was 1:15. "Alright maybe a little less."
"He has to give us a chance?" Piper asked. "So what do we do?"
"We find every one and get out of here." Phoebe paused. "Before we die."
Her head shot up as a familiar scream cut through the air.
"Oh my god!" Piper screamed. She grabbed Phoebe's hand and ran forward.
*****
Cole slipped down the hallway letting his hands do most of the guiding. 'This whole place is dark, so why shouldn't this place be the same?' he thought. He could barley make out where the corridor split apart in front of him from the three candles that glistened far behind him. He wasn't going to wait for Tony to try to conquer Phoebe's heart. Instead Cole decided to go after him. He'd rip out Tony's heart before Tony could have Phoebe.
Cole had woken up about twenty minutes earlier with the biggest head ache he had ever known. The room he was in hadn't helped the pain. It was probably the only bright place in the whole world with its cascade pinks and white flowing across the walls. The floor had been moving in circles and Cole hand to pry open a door just to get out. Tony definitely didn't want Cole interfering, and he knew that.
He also knew the rules of the nightmare world and he would use them to over come Tony and his evilness. Tony was the shadow man, the sandman, he had so many names but mostly he was just evil. He had until a certain age to acquire a bride and unfortunately Phoebe was that bride. The question was why had he chosen Phoebe? The simplest answer would be that she was Charmed and he wanted that power.
As his mind wondered Cole slipped down the right hallway where it was completely black. His hands were all he could rely on now. He used them cautiously sliding them across the rough surface but still staying alert as to anything that could sneak up on him. Tony's father was a deceptive bastard Cole remembered and he had heard stories about him, even met him once. Slowly, Cole advanced further, his mind drifting further away from the task at hand. That was until he heard a scream from behind him.
*****
Leo yawned as he sat still inside a cage. He had woken up here a while ago on the stiff bars. Kicking, Pushing, shoving didn't work on the cage. He looked over to the key that sat on the wall only feet from the cage. Leo wasn't McGuyver No, he couldn't just pull things from thin air and pick the lock.
He leaned against the cool bars letting his eyes glance over the stone room he was in. It was dry and sticky and it seemed like the temperature was rising and rising every few minutes. If he didn't get out soon Leo knew he'd be roasted like a turkey. Fried and served to the demons of this world on a plated garnished with several other things he didn't want to think about.
Not being able to take much more of the heat he peeled off his shirt and stood up again.
"Where are they?"
Leo would have given anything to have his powers and orb out but he didn't. Why didn't his powers work? They had in the sources layer. But then again this was a whole other world according to Cole so he didn't exist on it. But then again he only existed on earth as a whitelighter. His head throbbed as he tried to make sense out of nothing. But, it was better to think about that then frying in a cage.
Rubbing his temples he heard a far away high pitched scream.
*****
Paige woke up with her head laying on a hard rock. Her whole body was cramped between piles of stone. As she opened her eyes she saw what looked like endless mountains of hills on each side of her. She pulled herself to her feet and brushed her skirt off, sighing heavily as she did.
"Be calm," She told herself.
She glanced at the steep mountains of brown colored rocks. Clenching her fists she walked forward but hesitated when she realized that the mountains were further away then they appeared. Her mind fought with the decision of whether to wait for her sisters or advance forward.
"Paige," She said to herself. "You're Charmed. Just go ahead."
Talking to herself didn't give her much reassurance but she advance forward for a few minutes until she met the first step of the incline. She secured her skirt by pulling it down more. 'Heals are not good for rock climbing.' She thought as she removed them. It was not a good day to be dressed up. No day was actually a good day with the constant demon hunts and battles.
She set her heals to the side and cringed when she thought about the blisters she would have when she was done climbing but, she stayed focused and reached a hand up for a rock. Once her hand touched the rock it fell out of place and like a chain reaction rock after rock after rock came down at her. She threw her arms over her head and screamed.
*****
The scream was short but Piper knew who it was. And it was not going to happen again. They would not loose another sister. Gripping Phoebe's hand tightly, Piper edged towards the castle, when out of no where the ground seemed to open from beneath them causing the sisters to fall down a rocky hill.
Phoebe's hand slipped from Piper's. Piper heard Phoebe scream and went into screams herself until she hit one rock that made everything stop before her. And now all was black.
****
"Phoebe!" Cole found himself calling out into the dark hallway. He distinctively heard her cry and another.
Whatever Tony did to her, Cole would make him pay. He clenched his fists at this thought and stepped out of the shadows into another hallway. This hallway had candles flowing in even distances until it reached a wall. That was the only way to go. Cole slid down the hall slowly keeping his ears and eyes alert for anything out of the ordinary. He reached the end of the hallway and placed his palms on the wall. It was a dead end. Looking the wall up and down he heard a faint rustling from behind him.
In the dark something waited for him. Cole knew it. But what it was, he didn't know and, he didn't want to know.
****
It was weird. One moment Piper's hand was being torn away from her and the next minute she screamed and all of a sudden she woke up in a tree. Phoebe looked around for her sister but, didn't see anyone. Surprisingly Phoebe didn't feel the aftermath of the fall Piper and her had taken. She didn't have much time to think about that once she heard the cracking of the limb from beneath her. She cried out as it gave away, trashing her hand above her to grab a branch but they all seemed to slip out of her grip.
There was that falling again. Falling into the oblivion. She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself for the ground. But when she opened her eyes she was in Tony's arms. She looked up at his face, that handsome face that she would have never thought to be evil and those gorgeous green eyes like the evergreens leaves. He didn't look at her just started to walk. Phoebe would have fought with him but she felt so safe and so tired in his arms that she couldn't. Or maybe she just didn't want to?
They were heading towards the castle. Phoebe knew this and she knew she had to get away. The castle was her destination though... As if reading her mind Tony sat her on her feet and gave her a faint smile. She felt her heart thudding in her chest as he gave her a shrewd smirk as if knowing the effect he had on her.
"You have the choice of going forward with me and, this whole thing being over, or, you can stay here and hope to survive."
Phoebe's stomach lurched at these words. Her mind shot to Cole, her sisters and Leo. She looked at Tony and gave him a tiny grin of her own. "I'll take my chances here."
Tony's expression turned almost sadistic. His eyes locked on hers for a brief moment before he turned towards the castle.
"Don't make me force you Phoebe." He warned. "If you think for a moment I'll let you leave without a fight you're wrong." Pausing, he turned to face her once more. His face had softened into almost a smile. "I love you Phoebe."
As if trying to block out what she had just heard Phoebe threw her hands over her forehead and, in a blink of an eye, Tony had vanished from her sight leaving her stand there, breathless.
****
Piper woke in a tremendous amount of pain. Every bone seemed to ache with relentless agony as she tried to roll onto her stomach. It was no use. She didn't have the strength at this moment. Moving her head side to side, she looked for a sight of Phoebe. She wasn't anywhere but, to her left Piper could make out a red cloth, like the cloth of the shirt Paige had been wearing earlier.
"Paige?" Piper forced. Her throat was dry and her voice cracked.
She desperately reached a hand towards the cloth and felt her bruised fingers brush against it. Like lightning a wave of pain shot through her head. She dropped her hand and used the other to rub her forehead where she felt a warm wetness above her brow and more behind her head. She groaned as she caught a glimpse of the blood that had formed on her hand.
"Phoebe! Leo! Some body!" She half expected some one to answer, but no one did.
She was alone, so alone and she could have possibly been bleeding to death. With all the effort and strength she could manage, Piper pushed herself over to her stomach and got onto her hands and knees. She shook uncontrollably as she edged towards the cloth. She reached a shaking hand out and pulled at it as hard as she could. With the cloth came an arm. "LEO!"
****
Leo heard his name echoing nearby. It was the voice of his wife. Leo followed the cry to a sort of rock pit. It was at least fifty feet deep he told himself. At the bottom was Piper grabbing at something in the rocks, frantically digging her way through. She looked so torn and beat up from where he was standing that it hurt him to look at her. He was as helpless as she was in this world and in a way it scared him.
"Piper!" Leo waved his hands in the air. When Piper looked up at him he started down the pit.
As he reached the bottom he heard Piper's weak cries. She was digging at something. Then Leo saw it. An arm was sticking out of the rock pile. It was pale white. He immediately knelt by Piper's side and shuffled through the rocks. In a few minutes they had Paige's battered up top half revealed. Leo was surprised that rocks hadn't split her skull open by the weight. As Leo checked Paige's pulse Piper kept working on moving the stones from Paige's lower region.
"She's breathing Piper." Leo managed.
This didn't ease Piper weariness. If anything it mad it worse. Piper was almost howling in fits of emotion as tears streamed down her cheeks but, she still didn't stop working. Leo grabbed Piper's shoulders and faced her towards him.
"It's ok. Everything will be ok."
Rockslide
Piper's eyes flew towards Phoebe's quick pace as she thrashed her arms and legs wildly trying to loosen the tightly wrapped cloth. She moaned through the gag and lifted her legs, banging them against the wall behind her.
Phoebe heard the faint tapping behind her. Slowly, she turned to see her sister.
"Piper!" She yelled out, running towards her. "Honey, are you ok?" She untied the gag first and listened to her sister's story as she untied Piper.
"You turned... and a hand flew over my mouth and then I woke up here." She nodded towards the path Phoebe had been walking before. "You were walking away from me and I thought you'd never see me." She was finally loose and Phoebe watched as Piper rubbed her chafed arms.
Piper looked around as if expecting something. She pushed her back against the wall and put her hands up to rub the sweat from her forehead.
"Nothing would feel better then a shower right now."
"I don't know," Phoebe stated. "Some demon ass kicking sounds pretty good."
Piper gave her sister a tiny smile and slung her arm over Phoebe's shoulders. Her smile faded as she thought about Tony. "So," Said Piper. "Why didn't he just kill us all and take you if he wants you so bad?" Her eyes brushed over Phoebe's face questioningly.
Phoebe fumbled to find the words as she remembered her earlier encounter with Tony and how her body had reacted to his. Her eyes fell to the floor so Piper wouldn't see through her.
"He's playing some sort of game with us." Phoebe started to walk forward with Piper still connected to her shoulders. "There's some rule that says he has to give us a chance. We have Eleven Hours." She looked at her watch. It was 1:15. "Alright maybe a little less."
"He has to give us a chance?" Piper asked. "So what do we do?"
"We find every one and get out of here." Phoebe paused. "Before we die."
Her head shot up as a familiar scream cut through the air.
"Oh my god!" Piper screamed. She grabbed Phoebe's hand and ran forward.
*****
Cole slipped down the hallway letting his hands do most of the guiding. 'This whole place is dark, so why shouldn't this place be the same?' he thought. He could barley make out where the corridor split apart in front of him from the three candles that glistened far behind him. He wasn't going to wait for Tony to try to conquer Phoebe's heart. Instead Cole decided to go after him. He'd rip out Tony's heart before Tony could have Phoebe.
Cole had woken up about twenty minutes earlier with the biggest head ache he had ever known. The room he was in hadn't helped the pain. It was probably the only bright place in the whole world with its cascade pinks and white flowing across the walls. The floor had been moving in circles and Cole hand to pry open a door just to get out. Tony definitely didn't want Cole interfering, and he knew that.
He also knew the rules of the nightmare world and he would use them to over come Tony and his evilness. Tony was the shadow man, the sandman, he had so many names but mostly he was just evil. He had until a certain age to acquire a bride and unfortunately Phoebe was that bride. The question was why had he chosen Phoebe? The simplest answer would be that she was Charmed and he wanted that power.
As his mind wondered Cole slipped down the right hallway where it was completely black. His hands were all he could rely on now. He used them cautiously sliding them across the rough surface but still staying alert as to anything that could sneak up on him. Tony's father was a deceptive bastard Cole remembered and he had heard stories about him, even met him once. Slowly, Cole advanced further, his mind drifting further away from the task at hand. That was until he heard a scream from behind him.
*****
Leo yawned as he sat still inside a cage. He had woken up here a while ago on the stiff bars. Kicking, Pushing, shoving didn't work on the cage. He looked over to the key that sat on the wall only feet from the cage. Leo wasn't McGuyver No, he couldn't just pull things from thin air and pick the lock.
He leaned against the cool bars letting his eyes glance over the stone room he was in. It was dry and sticky and it seemed like the temperature was rising and rising every few minutes. If he didn't get out soon Leo knew he'd be roasted like a turkey. Fried and served to the demons of this world on a plated garnished with several other things he didn't want to think about.
Not being able to take much more of the heat he peeled off his shirt and stood up again.
"Where are they?"
Leo would have given anything to have his powers and orb out but he didn't. Why didn't his powers work? They had in the sources layer. But then again this was a whole other world according to Cole so he didn't exist on it. But then again he only existed on earth as a whitelighter. His head throbbed as he tried to make sense out of nothing. But, it was better to think about that then frying in a cage.
Rubbing his temples he heard a far away high pitched scream.
*****
Paige woke up with her head laying on a hard rock. Her whole body was cramped between piles of stone. As she opened her eyes she saw what looked like endless mountains of hills on each side of her. She pulled herself to her feet and brushed her skirt off, sighing heavily as she did.
"Be calm," She told herself.
She glanced at the steep mountains of brown colored rocks. Clenching her fists she walked forward but hesitated when she realized that the mountains were further away then they appeared. Her mind fought with the decision of whether to wait for her sisters or advance forward.
"Paige," She said to herself. "You're Charmed. Just go ahead."
Talking to herself didn't give her much reassurance but she advance forward for a few minutes until she met the first step of the incline. She secured her skirt by pulling it down more. 'Heals are not good for rock climbing.' She thought as she removed them. It was not a good day to be dressed up. No day was actually a good day with the constant demon hunts and battles.
She set her heals to the side and cringed when she thought about the blisters she would have when she was done climbing but, she stayed focused and reached a hand up for a rock. Once her hand touched the rock it fell out of place and like a chain reaction rock after rock after rock came down at her. She threw her arms over her head and screamed.
*****
The scream was short but Piper knew who it was. And it was not going to happen again. They would not loose another sister. Gripping Phoebe's hand tightly, Piper edged towards the castle, when out of no where the ground seemed to open from beneath them causing the sisters to fall down a rocky hill.
Phoebe's hand slipped from Piper's. Piper heard Phoebe scream and went into screams herself until she hit one rock that made everything stop before her. And now all was black.
****
"Phoebe!" Cole found himself calling out into the dark hallway. He distinctively heard her cry and another.
Whatever Tony did to her, Cole would make him pay. He clenched his fists at this thought and stepped out of the shadows into another hallway. This hallway had candles flowing in even distances until it reached a wall. That was the only way to go. Cole slid down the hall slowly keeping his ears and eyes alert for anything out of the ordinary. He reached the end of the hallway and placed his palms on the wall. It was a dead end. Looking the wall up and down he heard a faint rustling from behind him.
In the dark something waited for him. Cole knew it. But what it was, he didn't know and, he didn't want to know.
****
It was weird. One moment Piper's hand was being torn away from her and the next minute she screamed and all of a sudden she woke up in a tree. Phoebe looked around for her sister but, didn't see anyone. Surprisingly Phoebe didn't feel the aftermath of the fall Piper and her had taken. She didn't have much time to think about that once she heard the cracking of the limb from beneath her. She cried out as it gave away, trashing her hand above her to grab a branch but they all seemed to slip out of her grip.
There was that falling again. Falling into the oblivion. She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself for the ground. But when she opened her eyes she was in Tony's arms. She looked up at his face, that handsome face that she would have never thought to be evil and those gorgeous green eyes like the evergreens leaves. He didn't look at her just started to walk. Phoebe would have fought with him but she felt so safe and so tired in his arms that she couldn't. Or maybe she just didn't want to?
They were heading towards the castle. Phoebe knew this and she knew she had to get away. The castle was her destination though... As if reading her mind Tony sat her on her feet and gave her a faint smile. She felt her heart thudding in her chest as he gave her a shrewd smirk as if knowing the effect he had on her.
"You have the choice of going forward with me and, this whole thing being over, or, you can stay here and hope to survive."
Phoebe's stomach lurched at these words. Her mind shot to Cole, her sisters and Leo. She looked at Tony and gave him a tiny grin of her own. "I'll take my chances here."
Tony's expression turned almost sadistic. His eyes locked on hers for a brief moment before he turned towards the castle.
"Don't make me force you Phoebe." He warned. "If you think for a moment I'll let you leave without a fight you're wrong." Pausing, he turned to face her once more. His face had softened into almost a smile. "I love you Phoebe."
As if trying to block out what she had just heard Phoebe threw her hands over her forehead and, in a blink of an eye, Tony had vanished from her sight leaving her stand there, breathless.
****
Piper woke in a tremendous amount of pain. Every bone seemed to ache with relentless agony as she tried to roll onto her stomach. It was no use. She didn't have the strength at this moment. Moving her head side to side, she looked for a sight of Phoebe. She wasn't anywhere but, to her left Piper could make out a red cloth, like the cloth of the shirt Paige had been wearing earlier.
"Paige?" Piper forced. Her throat was dry and her voice cracked.
She desperately reached a hand towards the cloth and felt her bruised fingers brush against it. Like lightning a wave of pain shot through her head. She dropped her hand and used the other to rub her forehead where she felt a warm wetness above her brow and more behind her head. She groaned as she caught a glimpse of the blood that had formed on her hand.
"Phoebe! Leo! Some body!" She half expected some one to answer, but no one did.
She was alone, so alone and she could have possibly been bleeding to death. With all the effort and strength she could manage, Piper pushed herself over to her stomach and got onto her hands and knees. She shook uncontrollably as she edged towards the cloth. She reached a shaking hand out and pulled at it as hard as she could. With the cloth came an arm. "LEO!"
****
Leo heard his name echoing nearby. It was the voice of his wife. Leo followed the cry to a sort of rock pit. It was at least fifty feet deep he told himself. At the bottom was Piper grabbing at something in the rocks, frantically digging her way through. She looked so torn and beat up from where he was standing that it hurt him to look at her. He was as helpless as she was in this world and in a way it scared him.
"Piper!" Leo waved his hands in the air. When Piper looked up at him he started down the pit.
As he reached the bottom he heard Piper's weak cries. She was digging at something. Then Leo saw it. An arm was sticking out of the rock pile. It was pale white. He immediately knelt by Piper's side and shuffled through the rocks. In a few minutes they had Paige's battered up top half revealed. Leo was surprised that rocks hadn't split her skull open by the weight. As Leo checked Paige's pulse Piper kept working on moving the stones from Paige's lower region.
"She's breathing Piper." Leo managed.
This didn't ease Piper weariness. If anything it mad it worse. Piper was almost howling in fits of emotion as tears streamed down her cheeks but, she still didn't stop working. Leo grabbed Piper's shoulders and faced her towards him.
"It's ok. Everything will be ok."