TEN
Angel and Spike had little to report when they returned just before sunrise. They had learned that some powerful human had recently arrived in the demonic underground of San Francisco. This human was organizing the demons into a sort of underworld right in the city. But there was no substantial information identifying who or what that human was.
"I don't think there can be any question who that human is," said Giles. "I doubt there's another human with that level of power."
"This is strange," said Chris. "He didn't do this the first time. He started out by destroying the leadership of the underworld. This time he seems to be deliberately avoiding them. That would give them time to organize against him."
"Except they aren't doing that," said Angel. "All that we can find out is that the demonic underground is apparently ignoring this. They don't seem to consider it much of a threat."
"That is odd," said Leo. "The demons on the Earthly plane would answer to senior demons in the underworld. If someone is organizing them without the consent of the demonic leaders in the underworld, they should be concerned about it."
"He also seems to have completely forgotten about us," said Paige. "Other than that one demon he sent against us he hasn't done anything else. I don't suppose we can hope he's gotten distracted and forgotten about us completely."
"Hardly," said Chris. "He didn't come all the way back from the future to just forget about us. No, this has to do with his plans, whatever they are. Only I can't figure out what he thinks this is going to accomplish. Sooner or later the demonic leadership will find out what's going on and move to stop him."
"Can they?" Piper asked. "Stop him, I mean."
"I doubt it," said Chris. "They couldn't stop him before. There's no reason to believe they could this time."
"Only they've been warned this time," said Buffy. "That should help make a difference."
"Not enough," said Chris. "They just weren't strong enough to stop him. Even if they all went after him at the same time. Once he started vanquishing the demonic leadership, the other leaders banded together to stop him. As you can see, they were less than successful."
"Maybe he's trying to change things," offered Phoebe. "Maybe he's trying to make things go more in his favor this time. I'm sure he had some setbacks during his quest for world domination."
"Sure," said Chris. "You can't just set out to take over the world and the underworld without some things going wrong. But all things considered, what went wrong wasn't all that important."
"Not to you," said Leo. "But maybe it was to him. There might have been a setback that he wants to change. That could be why he's going about things differently this time."
"That would be a reasonable hypothesis," said Giles. "But he is taken an awful risk. By changing things from what happened before he risks changing other major events. Even the most minor alteration could have major repercussions."
"I thought you couldn't change the past?" Paige asked. "That's what we've always been told. What's happened has happened. You can't go back and alter them."
"Nothing major," said Leo. "For example, you couldn't go back to Dallas in November of 1963 and prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated. But if you go back a few days earlier and make some minor adjustments it might affect the major event. Kennedy would still be assassinated but the circumstances would be different."
"And there's no guarantee that what he wants to change is anything major," said Phoebe. "Maybe something that would be considered minor. If that's the case, he could conceivably change it."
"Which means the major events will still happen," said Piper. "Including The First taking over my son."
"I don't know," said Chris. "Some things have all ready changed. Nothing major so far but enough."
"Uh, guys," said Willow suddenly, "were you expecting any company you hadn't told us about?"
Everyone looked up to see a man standing in the foyer to the manor. He stood with his hands folded in front of him, smiling at the group. No one moved. There had been no indication that he had appeared. He was just suddenly there.
"Hello, Phoebe," said Cole. "Hi Piper, Paige. It's good to see you again Leo. Even considering the differences we use to have. We need to have a chat. Things are worse than you think."
The End
(Be sure to look for the sequel to this story "Forewarned Is Forearmed" coming soon that will continue the saga.)
If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed" stories at my website, www.geocities.com/killeenmale/. You can also post your own "Charmed" stories if you like to write fan fiction.
Angel and Spike had little to report when they returned just before sunrise. They had learned that some powerful human had recently arrived in the demonic underground of San Francisco. This human was organizing the demons into a sort of underworld right in the city. But there was no substantial information identifying who or what that human was.
"I don't think there can be any question who that human is," said Giles. "I doubt there's another human with that level of power."
"This is strange," said Chris. "He didn't do this the first time. He started out by destroying the leadership of the underworld. This time he seems to be deliberately avoiding them. That would give them time to organize against him."
"Except they aren't doing that," said Angel. "All that we can find out is that the demonic underground is apparently ignoring this. They don't seem to consider it much of a threat."
"That is odd," said Leo. "The demons on the Earthly plane would answer to senior demons in the underworld. If someone is organizing them without the consent of the demonic leaders in the underworld, they should be concerned about it."
"He also seems to have completely forgotten about us," said Paige. "Other than that one demon he sent against us he hasn't done anything else. I don't suppose we can hope he's gotten distracted and forgotten about us completely."
"Hardly," said Chris. "He didn't come all the way back from the future to just forget about us. No, this has to do with his plans, whatever they are. Only I can't figure out what he thinks this is going to accomplish. Sooner or later the demonic leadership will find out what's going on and move to stop him."
"Can they?" Piper asked. "Stop him, I mean."
"I doubt it," said Chris. "They couldn't stop him before. There's no reason to believe they could this time."
"Only they've been warned this time," said Buffy. "That should help make a difference."
"Not enough," said Chris. "They just weren't strong enough to stop him. Even if they all went after him at the same time. Once he started vanquishing the demonic leadership, the other leaders banded together to stop him. As you can see, they were less than successful."
"Maybe he's trying to change things," offered Phoebe. "Maybe he's trying to make things go more in his favor this time. I'm sure he had some setbacks during his quest for world domination."
"Sure," said Chris. "You can't just set out to take over the world and the underworld without some things going wrong. But all things considered, what went wrong wasn't all that important."
"Not to you," said Leo. "But maybe it was to him. There might have been a setback that he wants to change. That could be why he's going about things differently this time."
"That would be a reasonable hypothesis," said Giles. "But he is taken an awful risk. By changing things from what happened before he risks changing other major events. Even the most minor alteration could have major repercussions."
"I thought you couldn't change the past?" Paige asked. "That's what we've always been told. What's happened has happened. You can't go back and alter them."
"Nothing major," said Leo. "For example, you couldn't go back to Dallas in November of 1963 and prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated. But if you go back a few days earlier and make some minor adjustments it might affect the major event. Kennedy would still be assassinated but the circumstances would be different."
"And there's no guarantee that what he wants to change is anything major," said Phoebe. "Maybe something that would be considered minor. If that's the case, he could conceivably change it."
"Which means the major events will still happen," said Piper. "Including The First taking over my son."
"I don't know," said Chris. "Some things have all ready changed. Nothing major so far but enough."
"Uh, guys," said Willow suddenly, "were you expecting any company you hadn't told us about?"
Everyone looked up to see a man standing in the foyer to the manor. He stood with his hands folded in front of him, smiling at the group. No one moved. There had been no indication that he had appeared. He was just suddenly there.
"Hello, Phoebe," said Cole. "Hi Piper, Paige. It's good to see you again Leo. Even considering the differences we use to have. We need to have a chat. Things are worse than you think."
The End
(Be sure to look for the sequel to this story "Forewarned Is Forearmed" coming soon that will continue the saga.)
If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed" stories at my website, www.geocities.com/killeenmale/. You can also post your own "Charmed" stories if you like to write fan fiction.