Whoa! Thanks so much, you're all great! Once again this is going to remain
untitled so everyone can have a say. But I've had some pretty great ideas,
and I'll be using one of those in the next chapter or so.
princesscatie21: - Yes, they have Chris. Don't be too upset!
Kata Malfoy: - Thank you! I love your title, it's cool.
gimmeabreak: - Thanks a lot!
SpiritOfEowyn: - I like your pen name. Thanks for your review, you're so nice!
ChRsTiNe17: - I am, I really like this story and I don't want it to die out!
Claddagh Ring: - Wow, thanks! I'm glad you like it, thank you so much for reviewing.
Teresa : - You can? That's great! Lol, thanks for your review, it means so much to me!
cherry7up56: - Thank you! You're so kind.
Dev: - We'll see about Leo ok? Lol thanks for reviewing.
Devonny: - Yeah, I like your title. It's going in the draw with all of my other titles, lol.
gaby (hyatt: - Thank you so much!
Goldstranger: - Yeah, we've had this conversation about muses, huh? Mine happens to be here right now, and I'm glad for it. Thanks for your review, you're great!
M J Rosemary: - Wow, thanks so much! Yes, there will be angst, it just hasn't appeared yet in the first few chapters. It will be here, don't worry. Thanks for your review, you're so kind.
line100: - I think this is mainly going to be a fic centred on Chris' childhood, and what it was like growing up with a tyrant for a brother. There will be some Piper of course, but it's not a fic that revolves around her.
Anaxandra: - Yeah, I liked that bit as well. Thanks for your review, you're so kind.
Magicgrrl: - Thanks! Uh... Maybe they should invest in some steel walls? Or at least some two feet thick, reinforced concrete ones... Thanks for your review, now you go crawl quietly back to your padded cell, ok? Lol thanks a lot.
darkdestiney2000: - I will, don't worry. Thanks so much, your comments mean so much to me.
And Pixie Wildfire, thanks for offering to beta this fic.
You're all brilliant! Seventeen reviews, that's so great! Thank you all so much and continue enjoying this story.
Charmed Leo
**********
Chris angrily swept his captors across the room with a wave of his arm. All three of them hit the wall at the same time, sliding to the floor as one. His arm shot out again, flinging the demons over his head and into the wall behind him. Satisfied he orbed out, his body being covered by a blanket of swirling orbs. The lights hit the vaulted stone ceiling and bounced off, flinging the radiance into the walls and finally onto the floor again.
Chris reappeared in a heap, clutching at his head in pain. He groaned and rolled over, cursing himself for not realising that the room would be protected. The room was small – no more than ten feet wide – and as far as he could see there wasn't a door. Torches flared around the walls, casting an orange inconsistent glow over the whole place. The room was empty, nothing on the walls, nothing on the floor. And nothing looked anything remotely like a weapon.
He glared at the pile of snapping snarling demons in a pile on the floor. As Chris watched, they changed. Their eyes grew larger and became red slits. Dark brown fur rippled down their backs and their noses bulged outwards into elongated snouts. Claws sprouted from their fingertips and they fell from upright to all fours, howling.
Chris looked slightly shocked and took an involuntary step backwards. He'd never seen any of Wyatt's demons in anything but human form.
They had transformed into dogs or, better put, jackals or wolves. They were tracker demons, seek and fetch was pretty much all that they knew, so it made sense that they would be wolf-like.
But they were still demons, still vulnerable to his powers. He hardened his resolve, knowing that the only way out of here was for him to be taken out by one of the demons. One of them snarled and gnashed long, yellow teeth, letting a long, thick trail of saliva dangle from his jaws.
"Take me back! Now!" He got no response and raised his arm again, only to have it snatched from the air and dragged behind his back. The demons were gone and were now apparently behind him, and the one holding him was now in semi-human form, able to walk upright but still with fur and a snout. Chris flung his free arm backwards, but nothing happened. He couldn't aim if he couldn't see what he was supposed to attack... He craned his neck backwards, but was unable to see anything behind him.
He felt cold metal being pushed against the skin on his palm. He winced as the blade slashed at his hand, feeling a cold flash of steel in his flesh. He felt warmth coating his hand and dribbling off of his fingers, collecting at the tips of his digits in drops before falling to the floor. He could imagine the rivulet of blood running down...
"His shirt." The voice was odd, a human with partially formed vocal cords, twisted and not quite in the right place. It sent shivers up Chris's spine. He frowned, trying in vain to hit something with his telekinesis. He failed again. Buttons sprang everywhere, pinging off of the walls as a demon tore the garment off. Underneath he was wearing only a thin T-shirt, and he shivered in the cold air of the dungeon room.
Material was roughly pressed against his wound, gouging at raw tissue and absorbing blood. He grimaced as his wrist was shaken, making more blood fall onto his shirt. When the demons were done he snatched his hand out of their grasp and inspected it.
A crimson line went straight from the bottom of his thumb joint to the bottom of his little finger and was still bleeding. He curled his fingers over the gash and then glared at his captors. They said nothing, just smirked at him. On the floor was his shirt, soaking up his own blood in a couple of places.
"What was that for?"
"So the witches can find you." Chris frowned slightly. He didn't quite get it. He threw them all into the ceiling, and then they dropped heavily to the floor. He settled down, sitting Indian style and leaning against the cool stone wall.
"I can keep doing that all day y'know." He told the squirming pile, which at the moment was busy trying to untangle itself, snapping and snarling as it did so.
**********
The crystal swung over the map in ever-widening circles. Paige frowned, pushing red hair out of her face. Chris wasn't showing up on the map. Phoebe was blowing out candles, having failed in the spell to call a lost witch. Piper was pacing up and down the attic.
"Got him?"
"No, I think we need something to pull the crystal to him..."
"Like what? It's not as if he's got tonnes of stuff here in the past!" Piper snapped, throwing her hands into the air and sending ribbons of rainbows streaming from her fingertips. Paige paused, watching the coloured arcs of lights shimmer near the ceiling.
"How we use himself?"
"Huh?"
"Piper, come here," Paige patted a chair next to her. Piper sat down, and Paige put the hand onto her sister's pregnant stomach. She exhaled, picked up the crystal and started scrying again. Almost immediately she felt the crystal tug, and the string went taut. She looked down and saw that it was pointing in the middle of a very busy section of street.
"Paige, Chris is not being held captive on the middle of a street."
"Not on it. But under it," Paige said, clearing the crystal off of the map. "Storm drains." Piper groaned.
"Not the damn sewers again..." She got up out of the chair. "Who's staying to look after Wyatt?"
"I need you to find Chris in case I go wrong..."
"So I'll stay." Phoebe volunteered.
"Thanks, sweetie." Paige motioned to Piper and orbed the two of them out along with the scrying map and crystal.
**********
"They would have found you by now. Let's go." Chris gave a snort of laughter. He had long since tired of the demons trying to free themselves from tangles that he kept blasting them into.
"Like I'm gonna go anywhere with you..."
"You'll do as you're told." The demon said, forming an energy ball in his hand. Chris gestured with his wrist tiredly, sending the energy ball out of the demon's hand and into another one of his captors, vanquishing it in a ball of fire.
"Whoops." He said, looking up at the demon defiantly. He was back handed around the face and disappeared with the demon before he could react any more.
**********
"I don't see Chris," were Piper's first words as soon as she could see around her. They were in a small room with a mass of pipes protruding from the sides of the room and crossing the ceiling, coming up from the floor and going into the walls. They all made a mixture of a hissing and gurgling noise. Paige stepped distastefully out of the path of a falling drip.
"Give me a minute, this place is a labyrinth," Paige took up the crystal again, reaching for Piper's hand. Again the crystal fell onto the map, and Paige rolled it up. "This way." The sister's walked off in the direction that Paige had been pointing.
Soon they came up to a dead-end, the way blocked by a wall. Piper cocked an eyebrow at Paige, who just shrugged and looked sheepish, grabbing the crystal again and unrolling the map on the rubbish-strewn floor. It landed on the same spot that they were standing on.
"He's here," Paige looked up at the wall blocking their path. It was less slimy and less age-worn that the stonework around it. "This wall, it's newer than the ones around it." Piper looked and saw that her sister was right.
"Ok, stand back. Halliwell demolitions at your service." She rotated her shoulders backwards, shook out her neck and raised her hands. The wall exploded inwards, all in one blast, sending plaster dust, bricks and mortar flying into the sealed-off chamber beyond. They both started choking on dust, waving their hands in front of their faces to clear the air.
"I don't see Chris." Piper said again. Paige squinted into the room, moving forward over a pile of bricks. One gave way and started a miniature landslide, making Paige grab the wall for support.
"No, but I see his shirt..." She grabbed the piece of clothing, white dust clinging to a now pinkish damp patch. "It's got blood on it. Chris was never here, just his shirt."
"Damnit... Let's go back to the Manor and try again." Paige agreed and orbed them out.
**********
Phoebe picked up her nephew and sat him on her knee. Wyatt continued plying with a stuffed bear. Phoebe smiled happily at him. Even if her secretary didn't care about how cute her nephew could be, she did. Wyatt dropped the bear and before Phoebe could bend to pick it up, Wyatt had orbed it to him.
"Clever boy!" Wyatt gurgled and mumbled something from behind his pacifier. Phoebe smiled again, turning her attention the midday news on TV. The reader said something that Phoebe didn't quite catch, and cut to a reporter standing outside with a microphone. Phoebe saw that the remote was on top of the TV and didn't bother going to get it.
A prickling feeling worked its way up the back of Phoebe's neck, and she nervously rubbed the spot. She felt as if there were eyes boring into the back of her skull. She turned, expecting to see a hoard of demons standing there but saw nothing.
Uneasy now she turned back to the TV. She let out a loud shriek as suddenly a limp, unconscious Chris fell from the air, narrowly missing her as it hit the couch with a soft 'thud.' Her heart was beating wildly and she forced herself to take deep breaths to stop herself from passing out from the shock.
"Oh my God, Chris!" She finally shouted. Her nephew didn't stir. Phoebe was about to shift Wyatt off of her lap to see to Chris when an energy ball headed straight for them. Phoebe shrieked and was suddenly consumed in glowing orbs, disappearing from the Manor.
**********
"Phoebe?!" Piper yelled, going to the door of the attic and opening it. "PHOEBE?!" Paige looked out of the window and did a double take.
"Uh Piper?"
"What?"
"I think Phoebe's standing on the sidewalk." Piper crossed to the window, looking out as well.
"Why is she standing on the sidewalk?" Phoebe spotted them looking and beckoned furiously.
"I think she wants us."
"So do I..."
Paige orbed herself and Piper in under a large shrub in the front garden. They both rolled out, Piper with some difficulty, and went over to Phoebe.
"Did you decide to take Wyatt out for air? Phoebe, there's a spare key under the flowerpot..."
"No, Wyatt decided to stop us getting killed by an energy ball."
"He orbed you out here? In broad daylight? With all the neighbours around us?!" Piper grew close to hysteria.
"No one saw us," Phoebe paused. "Well no one screamed 'Witch! Witch!' and whipped out a gas can and a stake anyway..." She trailed off, seeing as neither of her sisters found this funny.
"The demons attacked again?"
"Yes, and they brought Chris back."
"They brought him *back*?" Piper said in disbelief. "I know he can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but..."
"I don't think that's why they brought him back."
"So why are you standing out here? Why aren't you in there being the Kung Fu Queen?" They walked up the front steps and Paige reached for the door. She drew her hand back and swore loudly.
"Hey, not in front of the kid!" Phoebe chided, covering Wyatt's ears. "That is why I'm not being the 'Kung Fu Queen.' The front door is frying people!"
"Ok, so the door just shocked me, and I don't even get to swear?!" Paige complained, nursing her hand.
"That's ridiculous..." Piper reached for the knob, then drew back her hand as well, cradling it to her chest. "Ok, maybe not so ridiculous. That's it, orb us in there." In the shelter of the porch they orbed away in relative security, and appeared in the foyer.
"Chris?" Piper called. A young man came out of the lounge. He had long, thick blond hair and cold blue eyes. Eyes that pierced and were almost grey. He seemed amused to see them, especially baby Wyatt. He walked slowly over, his face twisted into a smile. "Who the hell are you? Get out!" Piper threw out her hands but he kept walking that slow deliberate walk, like he had all of the time in the world and all of the power was his.
"Oh now, now. You really think that would work? I would have thought that you would have known better... Mother."
princesscatie21: - Yes, they have Chris. Don't be too upset!
Kata Malfoy: - Thank you! I love your title, it's cool.
gimmeabreak: - Thanks a lot!
SpiritOfEowyn: - I like your pen name. Thanks for your review, you're so nice!
ChRsTiNe17: - I am, I really like this story and I don't want it to die out!
Claddagh Ring: - Wow, thanks! I'm glad you like it, thank you so much for reviewing.
Teresa : - You can? That's great! Lol, thanks for your review, it means so much to me!
cherry7up56: - Thank you! You're so kind.
Dev: - We'll see about Leo ok? Lol thanks for reviewing.
Devonny: - Yeah, I like your title. It's going in the draw with all of my other titles, lol.
gaby (hyatt: - Thank you so much!
Goldstranger: - Yeah, we've had this conversation about muses, huh? Mine happens to be here right now, and I'm glad for it. Thanks for your review, you're great!
M J Rosemary: - Wow, thanks so much! Yes, there will be angst, it just hasn't appeared yet in the first few chapters. It will be here, don't worry. Thanks for your review, you're so kind.
line100: - I think this is mainly going to be a fic centred on Chris' childhood, and what it was like growing up with a tyrant for a brother. There will be some Piper of course, but it's not a fic that revolves around her.
Anaxandra: - Yeah, I liked that bit as well. Thanks for your review, you're so kind.
Magicgrrl: - Thanks! Uh... Maybe they should invest in some steel walls? Or at least some two feet thick, reinforced concrete ones... Thanks for your review, now you go crawl quietly back to your padded cell, ok? Lol thanks a lot.
darkdestiney2000: - I will, don't worry. Thanks so much, your comments mean so much to me.
And Pixie Wildfire, thanks for offering to beta this fic.
You're all brilliant! Seventeen reviews, that's so great! Thank you all so much and continue enjoying this story.
Charmed Leo
**********
Chris angrily swept his captors across the room with a wave of his arm. All three of them hit the wall at the same time, sliding to the floor as one. His arm shot out again, flinging the demons over his head and into the wall behind him. Satisfied he orbed out, his body being covered by a blanket of swirling orbs. The lights hit the vaulted stone ceiling and bounced off, flinging the radiance into the walls and finally onto the floor again.
Chris reappeared in a heap, clutching at his head in pain. He groaned and rolled over, cursing himself for not realising that the room would be protected. The room was small – no more than ten feet wide – and as far as he could see there wasn't a door. Torches flared around the walls, casting an orange inconsistent glow over the whole place. The room was empty, nothing on the walls, nothing on the floor. And nothing looked anything remotely like a weapon.
He glared at the pile of snapping snarling demons in a pile on the floor. As Chris watched, they changed. Their eyes grew larger and became red slits. Dark brown fur rippled down their backs and their noses bulged outwards into elongated snouts. Claws sprouted from their fingertips and they fell from upright to all fours, howling.
Chris looked slightly shocked and took an involuntary step backwards. He'd never seen any of Wyatt's demons in anything but human form.
They had transformed into dogs or, better put, jackals or wolves. They were tracker demons, seek and fetch was pretty much all that they knew, so it made sense that they would be wolf-like.
But they were still demons, still vulnerable to his powers. He hardened his resolve, knowing that the only way out of here was for him to be taken out by one of the demons. One of them snarled and gnashed long, yellow teeth, letting a long, thick trail of saliva dangle from his jaws.
"Take me back! Now!" He got no response and raised his arm again, only to have it snatched from the air and dragged behind his back. The demons were gone and were now apparently behind him, and the one holding him was now in semi-human form, able to walk upright but still with fur and a snout. Chris flung his free arm backwards, but nothing happened. He couldn't aim if he couldn't see what he was supposed to attack... He craned his neck backwards, but was unable to see anything behind him.
He felt cold metal being pushed against the skin on his palm. He winced as the blade slashed at his hand, feeling a cold flash of steel in his flesh. He felt warmth coating his hand and dribbling off of his fingers, collecting at the tips of his digits in drops before falling to the floor. He could imagine the rivulet of blood running down...
"His shirt." The voice was odd, a human with partially formed vocal cords, twisted and not quite in the right place. It sent shivers up Chris's spine. He frowned, trying in vain to hit something with his telekinesis. He failed again. Buttons sprang everywhere, pinging off of the walls as a demon tore the garment off. Underneath he was wearing only a thin T-shirt, and he shivered in the cold air of the dungeon room.
Material was roughly pressed against his wound, gouging at raw tissue and absorbing blood. He grimaced as his wrist was shaken, making more blood fall onto his shirt. When the demons were done he snatched his hand out of their grasp and inspected it.
A crimson line went straight from the bottom of his thumb joint to the bottom of his little finger and was still bleeding. He curled his fingers over the gash and then glared at his captors. They said nothing, just smirked at him. On the floor was his shirt, soaking up his own blood in a couple of places.
"What was that for?"
"So the witches can find you." Chris frowned slightly. He didn't quite get it. He threw them all into the ceiling, and then they dropped heavily to the floor. He settled down, sitting Indian style and leaning against the cool stone wall.
"I can keep doing that all day y'know." He told the squirming pile, which at the moment was busy trying to untangle itself, snapping and snarling as it did so.
**********
The crystal swung over the map in ever-widening circles. Paige frowned, pushing red hair out of her face. Chris wasn't showing up on the map. Phoebe was blowing out candles, having failed in the spell to call a lost witch. Piper was pacing up and down the attic.
"Got him?"
"No, I think we need something to pull the crystal to him..."
"Like what? It's not as if he's got tonnes of stuff here in the past!" Piper snapped, throwing her hands into the air and sending ribbons of rainbows streaming from her fingertips. Paige paused, watching the coloured arcs of lights shimmer near the ceiling.
"How we use himself?"
"Huh?"
"Piper, come here," Paige patted a chair next to her. Piper sat down, and Paige put the hand onto her sister's pregnant stomach. She exhaled, picked up the crystal and started scrying again. Almost immediately she felt the crystal tug, and the string went taut. She looked down and saw that it was pointing in the middle of a very busy section of street.
"Paige, Chris is not being held captive on the middle of a street."
"Not on it. But under it," Paige said, clearing the crystal off of the map. "Storm drains." Piper groaned.
"Not the damn sewers again..." She got up out of the chair. "Who's staying to look after Wyatt?"
"I need you to find Chris in case I go wrong..."
"So I'll stay." Phoebe volunteered.
"Thanks, sweetie." Paige motioned to Piper and orbed the two of them out along with the scrying map and crystal.
**********
"They would have found you by now. Let's go." Chris gave a snort of laughter. He had long since tired of the demons trying to free themselves from tangles that he kept blasting them into.
"Like I'm gonna go anywhere with you..."
"You'll do as you're told." The demon said, forming an energy ball in his hand. Chris gestured with his wrist tiredly, sending the energy ball out of the demon's hand and into another one of his captors, vanquishing it in a ball of fire.
"Whoops." He said, looking up at the demon defiantly. He was back handed around the face and disappeared with the demon before he could react any more.
**********
"I don't see Chris," were Piper's first words as soon as she could see around her. They were in a small room with a mass of pipes protruding from the sides of the room and crossing the ceiling, coming up from the floor and going into the walls. They all made a mixture of a hissing and gurgling noise. Paige stepped distastefully out of the path of a falling drip.
"Give me a minute, this place is a labyrinth," Paige took up the crystal again, reaching for Piper's hand. Again the crystal fell onto the map, and Paige rolled it up. "This way." The sister's walked off in the direction that Paige had been pointing.
Soon they came up to a dead-end, the way blocked by a wall. Piper cocked an eyebrow at Paige, who just shrugged and looked sheepish, grabbing the crystal again and unrolling the map on the rubbish-strewn floor. It landed on the same spot that they were standing on.
"He's here," Paige looked up at the wall blocking their path. It was less slimy and less age-worn that the stonework around it. "This wall, it's newer than the ones around it." Piper looked and saw that her sister was right.
"Ok, stand back. Halliwell demolitions at your service." She rotated her shoulders backwards, shook out her neck and raised her hands. The wall exploded inwards, all in one blast, sending plaster dust, bricks and mortar flying into the sealed-off chamber beyond. They both started choking on dust, waving their hands in front of their faces to clear the air.
"I don't see Chris." Piper said again. Paige squinted into the room, moving forward over a pile of bricks. One gave way and started a miniature landslide, making Paige grab the wall for support.
"No, but I see his shirt..." She grabbed the piece of clothing, white dust clinging to a now pinkish damp patch. "It's got blood on it. Chris was never here, just his shirt."
"Damnit... Let's go back to the Manor and try again." Paige agreed and orbed them out.
**********
Phoebe picked up her nephew and sat him on her knee. Wyatt continued plying with a stuffed bear. Phoebe smiled happily at him. Even if her secretary didn't care about how cute her nephew could be, she did. Wyatt dropped the bear and before Phoebe could bend to pick it up, Wyatt had orbed it to him.
"Clever boy!" Wyatt gurgled and mumbled something from behind his pacifier. Phoebe smiled again, turning her attention the midday news on TV. The reader said something that Phoebe didn't quite catch, and cut to a reporter standing outside with a microphone. Phoebe saw that the remote was on top of the TV and didn't bother going to get it.
A prickling feeling worked its way up the back of Phoebe's neck, and she nervously rubbed the spot. She felt as if there were eyes boring into the back of her skull. She turned, expecting to see a hoard of demons standing there but saw nothing.
Uneasy now she turned back to the TV. She let out a loud shriek as suddenly a limp, unconscious Chris fell from the air, narrowly missing her as it hit the couch with a soft 'thud.' Her heart was beating wildly and she forced herself to take deep breaths to stop herself from passing out from the shock.
"Oh my God, Chris!" She finally shouted. Her nephew didn't stir. Phoebe was about to shift Wyatt off of her lap to see to Chris when an energy ball headed straight for them. Phoebe shrieked and was suddenly consumed in glowing orbs, disappearing from the Manor.
**********
"Phoebe?!" Piper yelled, going to the door of the attic and opening it. "PHOEBE?!" Paige looked out of the window and did a double take.
"Uh Piper?"
"What?"
"I think Phoebe's standing on the sidewalk." Piper crossed to the window, looking out as well.
"Why is she standing on the sidewalk?" Phoebe spotted them looking and beckoned furiously.
"I think she wants us."
"So do I..."
Paige orbed herself and Piper in under a large shrub in the front garden. They both rolled out, Piper with some difficulty, and went over to Phoebe.
"Did you decide to take Wyatt out for air? Phoebe, there's a spare key under the flowerpot..."
"No, Wyatt decided to stop us getting killed by an energy ball."
"He orbed you out here? In broad daylight? With all the neighbours around us?!" Piper grew close to hysteria.
"No one saw us," Phoebe paused. "Well no one screamed 'Witch! Witch!' and whipped out a gas can and a stake anyway..." She trailed off, seeing as neither of her sisters found this funny.
"The demons attacked again?"
"Yes, and they brought Chris back."
"They brought him *back*?" Piper said in disbelief. "I know he can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but..."
"I don't think that's why they brought him back."
"So why are you standing out here? Why aren't you in there being the Kung Fu Queen?" They walked up the front steps and Paige reached for the door. She drew her hand back and swore loudly.
"Hey, not in front of the kid!" Phoebe chided, covering Wyatt's ears. "That is why I'm not being the 'Kung Fu Queen.' The front door is frying people!"
"Ok, so the door just shocked me, and I don't even get to swear?!" Paige complained, nursing her hand.
"That's ridiculous..." Piper reached for the knob, then drew back her hand as well, cradling it to her chest. "Ok, maybe not so ridiculous. That's it, orb us in there." In the shelter of the porch they orbed away in relative security, and appeared in the foyer.
"Chris?" Piper called. A young man came out of the lounge. He had long, thick blond hair and cold blue eyes. Eyes that pierced and were almost grey. He seemed amused to see them, especially baby Wyatt. He walked slowly over, his face twisted into a smile. "Who the hell are you? Get out!" Piper threw out her hands but he kept walking that slow deliberate walk, like he had all of the time in the world and all of the power was his.
"Oh now, now. You really think that would work? I would have thought that you would have known better... Mother."