A/N: Another long period has past by where I haven't updated, and once again I apologize! THANKS SO MUCH to the people who have still been reading. Your reviews help me through school and they help me write another chapter to this fic. I'm so sorry for the long waiting periods for my chapters. I'm forced to make school my first priority.....and because my stupid high school is a "college prep" high school, I'm getting piled down with a bunch of HARD college work in my classes.
But school shmool! I finally got around to finishing this chapter. Thank you EVERYONE for reading.....please bare with me!!
Once again, please review, and thank you!!!
Separation- Chapter 17
As she watched Arkon shimmer out of the room, Piper froze with fear.
"Oh my god." she whispered. She quickly came back to reality and remembered her injured sisters.
"LEO!" she screamed with all her might. About five seconds later, blue orbs settled into the foyer of the manor right in front of Piper. Leo didn't even have to speak before he ran to Phoebe and Paige to heal them. It was only a matter of minutes until they both were fully healed. Piper still stayed silent, not sure how to cope with all of her fear.
Phoebe and Paige started to come to, and Leo ran over to Piper.
"Piper....what happened to Sam." he asked her, with a stern voice. At first, Piper couldn't find her voice. Instead tears started to slip down her face and she collapsed into Leo's arms.
"Leo, they took her. That bastard took my daughter." she cried. Leo's face suddenly went pale and he too had a cold shiver sent up his spine.
"Wait, he took her....?" Leo asked. Piper nodded, but the more she thought about it, the more she had to cry. She had to admit that she had never felt anything like it before, worrying for the safety of her daughter. It was a new feeling to both her and Leo.
Paige stood up and felt a bit dizzy from her injury, but was used to it, since she always felt the same after she was healed. After she finished recovering she looked up to see Piper and Leo hugging in grief. She could see by Piper's tears that something was wrong.
"Where's Sam?" she asked. When Leo and Piper couldn't bare to answer her, she knew something was wrong.
"They didn't....oh geez...." Paige muttered, trailing off into her own thoughts. Phoebe had just finished recovering from her injury and had just noticed the bad news. She turned to Paige. "We have to do something....now."
Paige nodded in agreement but still wasn't sure what to do. She took another glance at Piper and Leo, but they were still getting over the fact that she was kidnapped. Paige went up to the two. "You guys.....if we want to get Sam back, then we have to start now. I don't think she'll be hurt....we've seen what she can do when she's in need of protection. That big blue thingy, was not what we all expected."
Piper wiped up her tears, but Leo's face still looked extremely pale. "What are we going to do...." Piper said, her voice still weary.
"We'll find her." Phoebe said.
"How.....it said nothing in the book that said anything about his location....he's an upper level demon...." Piper kept going.
"We'll find a way." Paige said.
Piper paused, and Paige and Phoebe could tell that she feeling pessimistic. Leo put his hands on her shoulders, and looked her sternly in the eye. "There's always a way." he said calmly, then glanced to Phoebe and Paige. "We'll find it....we have to."
"Maybe we can scry for her?" Phoebe suggested.
"Scry for what though? We don't have anything of hers we can scry with." Paige said. Phoebe knew Paige was right and put the idea aside. "Well....what else are we going to do?" Phoebe said, getting frustrated.
"Let's just get to the book. We have to find something, fast." Paige said, dragging Phoebe up the stairs to the attic. Piper and Leo were left downstairs in the foyer in silence. Around them, the house was a mess. Practically everything was thrashed, including the front door, and spread across the floor were bits of broken wood and glass. Leftover darklighter arrows were either pinned on the wall or left on the floor.
"I'm so scared, Leo. I'm just so scared right now...." Piper whispered, looking at the mess around her. Leo took a look at Piper, and saw her hurt expression. He extended his arms out and slowly took her into his arms. "I know. Me too...." he whispered, as he held her tight.
Piper once again started to weep. Leo, too, felt worried for his daughter, and was partly mad at himself for not being there to protect her. He kissed Piper on the forehead.
"Come on.....we have to stay strong." he said. Piper looked up at Leo, her face still white with terror as the picture of Arkon with a grip on Sam stayed with her mentally. Leo lightly touched her cheek. "Don't worry. I won't stop until she's safe." he whispered.
He then wrapped his arms around her again, and orbed up to the attic. The first thing the both of them caught sight of, was Paige over the huge map of the city, trying to scry for Sam with a crystal. Phoebe was flipping through the Book of Shadows vigorously, knowing she had to hurry if they were to save Sam.
Paige looked up from her scrying. She eyed Piper and Leo closely. "Are you two going to be alright?" she asked. Piper and Leo nodded, and Piper sniffled, trying to rid of her tears.
"Any ideas on what to do?" Leo asked.
Paige shrugged and dropped the crystal. "I'm not getting anywhere with this scrying. The crystal barely knows what it's scrying for. I have nothing of hers that would get a clear read on her."
"Phoebe?"
"Nothing. In the entry about Arkon, it says nothing about where his 'hang-out' is or where he does his dirty business. I was thinking maybe we could do the 'call a lost witch' spell, but the spell won't exactly lead us to where she is, and she's not ALL witch. She's mostly whitelighter." Phoebe said, closing the Book of Shadows, a little frustrated.
There was a beat of silence, until Piper let out a pondering sigh. Leo, Phoebe and Paige turned towards Piper. "Piper, do you have an idea?"
Piper paused for a minute, and then spoke. "I was just wondering.....maybe we do have something of Sam's to scry with." she said.
"Like what?" Paige asked, not following what she was saying.
"Well...it's not exactly materialistic......it's more like genetic."
"Umm....okaaay...." Phoebe said, trying to catch onto her plan.
"She IS mine and Leo's daughter. Can't we just, combine something of both of ours and use that to scry for her?"
"Like a drop of blood." Leo said.
Piper smiled. "Exactly."
Phoebe shrugged. "I don't see why we shouldn't give that a try...."
Paige nodded. "It just might work."
Piper and Leo then walked up to the table where the scrying crystal and map was. Paige handed Leo a small dagger to poke his finger with. He made a tiny cut onto his index finger and squeezed the end of his finger to let a drop of his blood fall onto the crystal. Puffs of smoke started to rise from the crystal, as if it was burning. Shortly after Leo donated his drop of blood, Piper did the same, so that her drop of blood fell right on top of Leo's to mix.
Paige waited a minute before picking up the crystal. She then held it up a good height over the map and started to twirl the crystal, waiting for it to take a mind of its own and point to a place on the map. Phoebe, Leo and Piper waited patiently for the crystal to choose a place.
Sam opened her eyes to see herself in front of an old abandoned warehouse, still in the harsh clutches of the demon that kidnaped her from the manor. Arkon had her in a headlock, and was holding her very tightly.
"Let go of me, you sick FREAK!" she said, trying to project her voice as being angry and threatening. Arkon only laughed at her braveness.
"Shut up. You won't have anything to whine about once I'm done with you." he said, coldly. He dragged her through the entrance of the dark warehouse. There was barely any light, but it was bright enough to see that the inside of the warehouse was like a huge dungeon. There were cages and chains everywhere, with bars on all of the windows. It seemed hopeless to try and escape from the place.
Sam could see darklighters everywhere. There were darklighters guarding the door, darklighters fixing their weapons, darklighters polishing up the cages, darklighters shooting target practice, and darklighters sitting around playing cards.
Darklighters started to walk up to Arkon, asking him if he wanted anything, and if there was anything they could do for him. Arkon only pushed them away. It was as if Arkon were a general or a businessman of some sort with all these little darklighters to act as assistants.
As Arkon dragged Sam along, darklighters began to stop what they were doing and started to stare at Sam, wondering what kind of business Arkon had going on with a mere and tiny little girl. Arkon continued walking until they ended up in another room. Sam could see that it was an office, and assumed it was Arkon's.
Arkon let go of Sam's head for a second, only to shove her into the hands of two other darklighters. The two darklighters held Sam by her wrists, and pulled her against the wall, only to lock her wrists into chains. Sam struggled to escape, but the chains were held too tight on her wrists. Arkon waved his hand to signal for the darklighters to leave the office.
As the darklighters left the room, Sam still continued her attempt to escape. Arkon chuckled a bit.
"You're not going to get anywhere." said Arkon, walking towards Sam.
"What do you want from me?? I don't have anything valuable!"
"Are you kidding me?? I thought you already had that talk with someone else......." Arkon said, his voice raising. "Of course you're valuable you little brat. Weren't you already told that you're one of the most powerful beings in the universe??? Everybody wants to get their dirty hands on you......but I got to you first." he said, smiling.
Sam knew he was right, and didn't know what to do. She closed her eyes and tried so hard to orb, but nothing would work. She still didn't know how to trigger any of her powers yet. When they happened, they just.....happened. She finally stopped struggling, and had a look of defeat on her face. Arkon noticed and kept on chuckling.
"Oh.....what's wrong with the teenage witch. Sad?? Frustrated??? No Mommy or Daddy to save you here....???" he said, feeding on her sadness. Sam glared at the demon, and couldn't stand his smart aleck confident expression.
"Screw you. I won't let you get away with this. YOU KILLED MY AUNT AND UNCLE. You stole their SOULS. You sick bastard.......I'll murder you before you do anything else." she screamed, filled with anger. Tears slipped down her cheek from all the hatred she felt.
"Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam........you underestimate me. Just because I am a demon, does NOT mean I am not willing to make a little proposition for you. I'm a businessman on the side, and I never hesitate to make a fair trade for the things I want......" he said, coming closer to Sam. Sam kept a strong glare towards him.
"What are you talking about?"
Arkon smiled and started to pace around the room. "Sam......when my darklighter stole your whitelighters' souls.....he stole it with a little special crystal. So, your whitelighters' souls are sitting in that crystal. But I never got that crystal back. The charmed one who saved you from your house stole it from me......and now it's in their possession. Help me get that crystal back.....and I'll let your aunt and uncle's souls go up in peace."
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?!?! You're a demon.....I know you're just lying to me so you can get your stupid crystal. I may be new to this magic stuff, but I still know a liar when I see one."
Arkon laughed and Sam became so annoyed with his cockiness. "Demons may be deceiving. But I'll tell you something.....demons NEVER fail to keep their end of the bargain when they really want something. It's a known fact. I want that crystal.....and I'm willing to sacrifice a few things to get it back." he said.
"I'll never help you. I'll never betray Piper, Leo, Paige and Phoebe. They're my friends....."
"Oh come on, you don't even know them!! Your parents gave you away when you were little. They didn't want you. They still don't want you!! You have NOTHING to gain by helping THEM. I thought it was your aunt and uncle you loved. You can set them free Sam."
"There's nothing you can say that'll make me help you. I'll never help your kind.....you evil BASTARD." Sam said, spitting at his feet. Arkon rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I knew there was going to be some kind of challenge. You've got all the stubbornness of a regular goody-goody witch. Well.....I have ways of making you help me. Or you can say.....I have something that you may want to save in exchange for your power."
"What do you mean?? What are you talking about?" Sam asked, now confused. Arkon laughed and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Sam saw a darkligher's black orbs form in the room. The darklighter was holding an unconscious person over his shoulder, and dumped him down on the floor. Sam gasped as she saw who the body was.
"Arnold!!!!" Sam screamed as she saw Arnold unconscious on the ground. He started to move a little, and was starting to regain his consciousness.
"We found this one running home after you and your friends escaped from the night club. I thought he would be of SOME use to me......." Arkon said. Arnold started to groan a little, and he opened his eyes. He started to sit up and look around.
"Where......where the heck am I?? Sam??" Arnold said, confused about his surroundings. He finally caught sight of Sam.
"Sam!!" he exclaimed, weakly. "You're okay......they told me that they were going to hurt you...."
Sam wanted to run over to help Arnold up, but she was still chained to the wall. "Arnold.....I'm so sorry. I'll get you out of here.....I promise!!!!" she told him. Arkon snapped his fingers to signal the darklighter. The darklighter walked over to Arnold and held his head by his hair. Arnold struggled to break free, but the darklighter held his neck to choke him a little. Sam's courage withered away, and she couldn't bare to see Arnold getting hurt on her behalf.
"STOP! LET HIM GO!!! STOP HURTING HIM!!! HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!" Sam desperately cried.
"Oh but he does, dear." Arkon said, forming a fireball in his hand. "If you don't agree to help me, this fireball's going straight to his chest, and your boyfriend will be no more."
Sam panicked as she saw Arkon aiming the fireball at Arnold. Arnold's eyes widened as he saw the fireball. "How'd he do that??!? What the hell is that!!!!" he screamed, but the darklighter held him still. Sam didn't know what to do. She stared blankly at the fireball, and knew that there was nothing she could do to stop Arkon. Tears that brimmed her eyes slowly started to fall.
"STOP! I'll help you.....FINE! I'll help you!!!" she screamed. Arkon's smile spread across his face and the fireball disappeared from his palm. Sam closed her eyes and couldn't believe she had just made a deal with the demon, but knew that it was the only thing to do to save Arnold. She didn't want another person dead because of her.
The darklighter kept Arnold in a headlock, and Arnold was too weak to break free. "Get off of me you freakish thing....." he said, struggling. Arnold saw Arkon walk over to Sam, who was still chained to the wall.
"Don't you dare hurt Sam! I'll RIP you to PIECES!" he screamed. The darklighter covered his mouth so he would shut up. Arkon walked over to Sam so that he was only a few inches away from her.
"What do you want me to do??" Sam exclaimed, feeling guilt and shame.
"You don't need to do anything except let me take your power. I can't use your power unless you control your emotion to be less defensive. Then I'll have the power to go over to your precious Halliwells and get my crystal back."
Sam's eyes widened. "You can't hurt them. DON'T YOU DARE HURT THEM!" she screamed. Arkon's eyes grew dark, and formed an electric energy ball on the base of his palm. In a span of two seconds, he threw it towards Arnold. The energy ball grazed the side of his abdomen, and Arnold had a huge flesh wound.
"Ahhhhh....." Arnold gasped from the pain.
"NO!" Sam screamed. Arkon grabbed her neck and squeezed it tight so that Sam would choke. "The only way for you to save him is to give me your power." he said, viciously. Sam's tears fell down her cheeks and she had no choice but to try and control her emotion.
Arkon squeezed a little tighter, and soon a stream of bright light that signaled Sam's power, started to flow from Sam into Arkon's body. Arkon felt the enormous amounts of power flow into his system, and he couldn't believe how powerful the girl was. He sucked the power out of her for a few minutes until he could take in no more.
He knew that he didn't take ALL of her power. There was just too much for him to take in, but he had enough to reach his maximum level. He let go of her neck, and left Sam feeling extremely weak. Her skin color had turned a shade paler than before, and she felt drained out.
"So much power....." Arkon said, closing his eyes and harnessing it all down. To test it out, he shot his hands out at the wall, and a huge powerful beam demolished the wall in a few seconds. The darklighter who was keeping Arnold under control was astonished by how much power Arkon actually had. Arnold was too in pain from his wound to notice. Sam was just too weak.
"This is incredible....." Arkon whispered.
"My lord. What do we do with the girl and the boy?" the darklighter spoke up. Arnold was on the floor, almost unconscious by the huge amount of blood loss, and Sam felt like she didn't have the strength to move.
"There's no use for the boy anymore. Eliminate him." he muttered. "I'm going to get my hands on the Charmed Ones......."
Sam's head jerked up at Arkon's comment. "NO!" she screamed. Sam found energy inside of herself, and hoped that there was still some power inside of her. She used her emotion to orb out of the chains. When she realized that she was out, she ran as fast as she could to Arnold. When she got to him, she quickly held his hand, and orbed the both of them out of the warehouse.
The darklighter was about to chase after them, but Arkon raised his hand to stop him from doing so. "My liege.....shouldn't we go after them?" he asked.
Arkon shook his head. "We don't need them anymore.....the girl doesn't have enough power to heal the boy fully. They will cause no flaw in my plan....." he said.
"What about the charmed ones sir.....?" the darklighter asked.
"The Charmed Ones are falling into my trap. By now.....those witches have found where she is, or where she was anyway......" Arkon said, with a devious smile on his face. "They will come here, looking for Sam with that whitelighter, and when that happens......" Arkon made a "pulling the trigger" gesture with his hands.
"But......how are you sure that they will come here?"
"Because......I have a spy." Arkon said. He snapped his fingers, and a familiar face formed in the room in bright blue orbs.
"You rang....?"
"Patrick.....my good friend." Arkon said, greeting the whitelighter. Patrick smiled deviously. The darklighter, however, was shocked to see him.
"Whitelighter!" he cried. His crossbow suddenly appeared in his hand as an automatic reaction to kill the whitelighter. He aimed it towards Patrick until Arkon used his powers to knock the crossbow out of the darklighter's hands.
"Relax. I'm on your side, you idiot." Patrick muttered. The darklighter didn't seem convinced, but looked to Arkon and Arkon nodded to confirm. The darklighter grew confused, but decided not to touch the subject.
"Everything's going well......those witches are so predictable. They used the scrying board with Leo and Piper's blood to scry for Sam, just like I predicted they would. I manipulated the scrying board so that it wouldn't track her down and it would lead to right here." he said.
Arkon smiled. "Excellent......that was nice touch to bring the Elders down to the manor. That Elder's power will come in full use to me."
Patrick smirked, obviously cocky. "Don't worry. They don't suspect a thing."
"Now.....all we have to do.....is wait."
Sam found Arnold and herself lying on the grass of a park nearby her house. She originally planned for them to be orbed to her old house, but there wasn't enough power in her to orb the two of them all the way there. It was dark except for a few streetlights, and it was late so there was no one in sight. Sam still looked around in case someone followed her.
"Unhhh....." Arnold groaned, his hands soaked in crimson blood. Sam panicked as she saw Arnold hurt. She laid him down on his back and supported his head. She took a deep breath as she tried to concentrate. She remembered Leo talking about how emotions controlled her power. She knew she still had power left because she was able to orb, so that meant she still had some power left to heal.
"Okay it. Let it flow...." she whispered to herself. She held her hands over Arnold's wound on the side of his stomach and closed her eyes to concentrate. To her surprise, a bright light began to shine from her hands.
"Yes.....work.....please work...." she whispered. The blood all over Arnold's shirt started to disappear and Arnold's wound was slowly starting to heal. But before she knew it, Sam felt dizzy, and had to stop before Arnold was full healed. The cut was still visible, but it wasn't as bad anymore. Sam felt as if she had absolutely NO MORE strength left inside.
"No....." she muttered. She tried again, but after a few minutes of silence, she knew that she didn't have enough energy to harness her powers. She sighed and felt helpless to help Arnold. Arnold opened his eyes a little and saw Sam tearing.
"How.....how did you do that?" he said, his voice quiet. "Ow...."
Sam was startled, and thought that Arnold was unconscious. "ARNOLD! You're okay.....I'm so sorry...." she said, in between sniffling.
"I don't really know what happened.....but I guess my cut still hurts a lot.....Where did those guys go?!? Are you hurt???" he asked, trying to sit up, but struggled because of his weakness.
"They're gone......I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I wish I could heal you....." she whispered. Arnold looked baffled, and Sam didn't know how to explain everything.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Sam. When they said that they were going to hurt you.....man, I was just scared....." Arnold said, still showing signs of pain. Sam smiled and held his hand. "I promise.....I'll get someone to heal you." she said. She kissed him lightly on the cheek.
As she kissed him on the cheek, Arnold lifted his hand to pull Sam in to kiss his lips. Sam was surprised, but held her kiss with Arnold. For a minute, she forgot all about her situation and about magic, to experience her first kiss. As they let go, there was silence, but Sam and Arnold kept holding hands.
"Wait.....I know someone who can help us." she said, suddenly remembering about her family. She didn't have the strength to orb, but she did know who to call.
"PRUE!!!! HELP!!!"
To be continued......Stay tuned for Chapter 18 of "Separation".
A/N: OMG.....thanks you guys so much for keeping up with me. I love you all.....thanks for ALL the reviews. There's only a few chapters left to write. I PROMISE....PROMISE....GIVE YOU MY WORD.....that the next chapter will come within the next month. If I don't keep to my promise....give me NOTHING BUT FLAMES!