Piperfairy63 – Ugh… Sisters eh? I know what that's like! And thanks! It's good to know that my chapter titles are appreciated!
Princess Pinky – Was that a surprise? Cool! And you'll find out about her death in this chapter! And I'm glad you liked the weather! In the show it's ALWAYS sunny, so I though I would change that! Shal will be making her comeback in Chapter 36; she's going to be good this time, unlike from when we last saw her! And I'm working on something right now; it'll probably once this story is over that I'll write something else, I can't concentrate on something else until this is complete! And Pamela's great, isn't she?
Pyrena – Glad you liked it! And the sisters are going to be on pretty shaky ground for a while as far as Emma is concerned! And Pamela's great! She's by prized creation!
Aniaka – Hi! Your reviews are always so detailed! I hope you write a fan fic soon! I would love to read it! And it's shocking how far she would go to keep her secret, isn't it? And I thought that that situation was the best way to bring in Chris's power, they'll be a lot more incidents once the other kids are born!
Witch Swap Part 1
'Hey, What two ingredients do you never mix in a potion?' Pamela sat at the island in the kitchen doing her Potions homework.
'Burdock root and eye of newt,' Piper answered, drying off a cup with a towel as she stared out the window.
'Okay… Can't use burdock root then…' she scribbled something down on a piece of paper.
'What are you doing?' she put the mug onto the rack and examined the pad her niece was scribbling on, 'Possible ingredients…? What's this all about?'
'Potions assignment… we were given three ingredients to start off with and from there, we're on our own,' Pamela looked down at the paper,
'So, what exactly are you making then?'
'Oh, it's a glamouring potion,'
The oldest Halliwell looked at the pad again, 'These ingredients aren't in a glamouring potion… what are you making?' she asked again with an eyebrow raised.
'It's a secret…' the teenager responded
Piper sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer out of her, she went back to the window and picked up the towel again, beginning to dry a plate.
Pamela continued to scribble on the pad for a couple more minutes until standing up and putting it under her arm.
'Okay, I'm off to the demonic market,'
'What?' Piper put down the plate
'Oh! Don't worry, I've been going there for the past couple of years, although I was pretty annoyed when you and Aunt Phoebe went on a rampage, I couldn't get ingredients for a week!'
'Well, we had a good reason, Wyatt was up for auction and… Wait a minute! You're trying to distract me! You're not going to the demonic market!'
Pamela stomped her foot, 'C'mon! Do you want me to fail Potions?'
'Pam, you live with your teacher, be a normal teenager and use all of your resources,' she went back to the sink.
'What? As if Emma would give me help! She's not even talking to us ever since…'
'I know, but what does she expect from us? She's the one that played Casper for a year and a half! Pam?' Piper turned round to see that her niece was gone, 'Aw… Damn!'
The baby monitor began to sound with Chris's screams; Piper put down the towel and began to walk out of the kitchen, knowing that he probably just woke up from his nap. But the crying stopped abruptly, as if someone had turned off the monitor.
'Chris!' Piper shouted, running through the dining room and bounding up the stairs, meeting Pamela who was coming out of her room. They ran into the boy's room to find three darklighters surrounding the little boy's crib, ready to plunge a poison arrow into his chest, instead of shooting it.
Both Halliwells went into action, Piper blew up one of the lighters and Pamela lifted a heavy shelf with her mind and threw it at the two remaining demons. One of the darklighters smoked a crossbow into their hands, firing at the witches, but Pam stopped the arrow in mid air and threw it back telekinetically, vanquishing the being. The final threat dark orbed out, but Piper knew that he hadn't retreated,
'Pam, get Chris,' Pamela nodded at this instruction and went over to her wailing cousin, before being threw back into Piper by an unknown force. The darklighter appeared again, with an evil grin on his face,
'Say goodnight, kid,' he smirked, that was the last thing he said before being blown into a million pieces by the combined effort of the boy's mother and cousin.
Pamela sighed and helped her aunt to her feet, 'Just another day in the Halliwell household…'
Emma sat doodling on her class roster at the desk in her classroom, it had been an hour since she had dismissed her final class, but she really wasn't in the mood to go home. The sisters had wanted answers from her, mainly about how she ended up with a second chance, but they also began to ask questions about her first life and how she died.
Emma hadn't wanted to share details; she could remember the explosion at the Naxcon building, the one that had taken her life.
She had to run, the building would give way soon and plunge into the icy water below, Shalimar ran ahead of the rest of them, her powers letting her move more quickly and freely than the rest of them, especially her dad and Adam.
A large shift of the building sent all of them to the floor, the tremors began to worsen as the explosion began to claim other parts of the company. The floor ripped apart from beneath them, leaving Mutant X to hold on for dear life, or plunge to their doom
Shal had been the only one to find her since then; she remembered when they met up. Shalimar was in the underworld doing what she did best, killing demons, when Emma had come along wanting to the same thing! They noticed each other and went into fits of hysterical weeping! She smiled at the memory, toying with the idea of summoning her friend from where ever she was. A knocking at her door interrupted her thoughts, Grant was in the doorway.
'Hey,' he took a step in, waiting for a signal to move closer
'Hi, come in…' she wheeled her chair out from under her desk, 'How did you get here?'
'Oh, Aidan's looking for Paige, he brought me here as a test run for my sanding,'
'Sanding?'
Instead of responding, Grant squeezed his eyes closed, sand slowly began to appear from the ground and envelop him. The sand dispersed and grew into another tower behind Emma, the sand disappeared and Grant stood there.
'Wow! Pretty good!' Emma clapped with a grin on her face.
'Thanks,' he took a bow and laughed.
White lights swirled in a spot on the floor, disappearing and taking the form of Pamela, who was oblivious to the flirtatious banter part of Emma and Grant's relationship that she had just interrupted.
'Hey, Aunt Piper wants you home,' she said, delivering the message,
'Why? What's wrong?' she walked towards her student
'Darklighters almost impaled Chris on one of their arrows,' Emma's eyes widened, 'Don't worry! We took care of it for now! But they'll probably be back,'
Emma sighed, just the though of that sweet little boy getting an arrow through his chest sent a shiver down her spine, 'Okay… I just need to wrap some stuff up here then I'll be back,'
Pamela nodded and pulled a potion out of pocket, throwing it to the ground and disappearing in the same white lights she had arrived in.
Emma turned back to Grant, 'I'll see you later, okay?' he nodded and sighed as she left the classroom.
'Are you sure this is a good idea?' Piper looked around worryingly.
'Look, I don't like this either, butPaige is theonly one who can get to the bottom of this!'
The four witches stood in the attic, now discussing their plan of attack, or rather stealth. The plan was to use Pamela's newly created power glamouring potion to make Paige's powers look evil, she would then infiltrate the darklighter group and find out who had ordered the attack on Chris.
'But how do we even know that we're dealing with a faction?' Emma asked, as she helped Pamela with her glamouring potion.
'Well, in my experience, one's a demon, three's a group,' Paige replied
'And these guys knew what they were doing,' Pamela went over the Book Of Shadows, 'These weren't just some lighters trying to make a name for themselves with a random attack,'
A dazzle of lights appeared, taking on the from of Leo who was holding a box in his hand.
'Are these what you guys were looking for?' he opened the box, revealing two blood red crystals.
'Perfect!' Paige went over to him, taking the box from him and examining the crystals.
'What are those?' Pamela stopped looking through the book to look up
'These, my dear niece, are Ronyx crystals!' she waved the gems excitedly, 'If I have one, and you have one, we'll always be in contact!'
Piper turned to her husband while Paige gloated in her own idea, 'I want you to take Chris to Magic School,' she nodded towards the silent toddler in the playpen, And keep Wyatt and him there until I say so,'
'Okay, I'll leave them with Mrs Winterbourne,'
'No, I want you to stay there too,'
'What? Honey, when someone tries to kill my children I want to do everything to stop them!' he exclaimed
'And when we're up against someone who can take out everyone in this family with whitelighter genes, I want to protect them! Leo… please… I don't want to lose you,' he took a deep breath and picked up his youngest son, orbing out silently.
'Oh sure!' Piper turned to see what her sister was saying, 'You wanna protect your family, but you have no problem about sending your half whitelighter sister into the lions den!'
Piper smirked, 'You're the one who wanted to do this, not me,'
There was a loud bang from the table signifying that the potion was ready, Pamela came back over to bottle her creation,
'If this works, you get an A,' Emma told her with a smile.
Paige looked at the dark blue potion warily before downing it; she opened her eyes cautiously to make sure she was still in one piece.
'Did it work?'
'I dunno, try orbing,' Piper offered. Paige nodded and disappeared in a flurry of purple and black orbs.
'It worked!' Pamela squealed and clapped her hands, 'Try to conjure a crossbow!'
Paige began to think of what whitelighter power was the equivalent to a darklighter power. She remembered and tried to access her healing power, but got a crossbow instead.
'Wow! Pretty cool!' she waved it about, making the others back away
'Careful!'Emma hissed, 'You've still got whitelighter blood! You mess with that thing without the safety on and it'll kill you!'
'Not to mention my husband and sons!' Piper added
Paige rolled her eyes and made the crossbow disappear. The fun was about to begin.
Paige appeared in a swirl of black orbs, looking around nervously. She remembered that she was doing this for her nephews so she stayed calm and began to walk towards the cave entrance. Just as her hand touched the large handle on the colossal iron door, five darklighters orbed in, crossbows ready to fire.
'Who are you?' the middle one moved closer but kept his crossbow raised.
'Uh…' she pondered for a moment, 'That… doesn't matter, all that matters is that I heard this was the place for a darklighter to be these days,'
'Oh yeah? What's your source?'
'Well gee! I don't know!' she responded sarcastically, 'Maybe it was because I saw that pathetic attempt on the Charmed One's kid's life, and I thought I would help you improve,' she smirked confidently.
The darklighters looked at each other before the middle one responded, 'What makes you think you'll do any better?'
'Trust me, I'm not your average darklighter,'
The darklighters conferred again, 'What clan are you from?'
'Clan?' the clicking of crossbows could be heard, they were ready to fire as soon as the wrong answer fell out of her mouth. Paige tried to stay calm and confident, but decided to just charge in!
She took two athames out of her back pockets, throwing them at the darklighters on either side of them and vanquishing them instantly. The two that were next to the leader let loose with a barrage of poisonous arrows, Paige was consumed in a cloud of black orbs and reappeared behind one of the darklighters, slitting his throat with another athame, then repeating the process other the other daklighter. Only the leader remained, Paige kicked the crossbow out of his hands with one of her Judo moves and sent him to the floor. Still trying to keep her real identity a secret, she finally answered his question,
'I'm not going to speak of my clan in front of a hopeless warrior such asyourself!' she dropped the bloodstained athame on his chest and left him shocked as she opened the iron door with her powers.
'Is it me, or is she enjoying this a little too much?' Piper asked, after watching the battle on the projection that the Ronyx crystal was creating on the wall.
Emma stood at the book, 'Well, she's just playing the part. Demons stab each other in the back all the time so she's doing what she has to do,' she looked through the pages of the Halliwell book in front of her.
'What are you looking for?'
Emma replied without looking up, 'That darklighter said something about clans, so maybe there's something in here,'
They stood in silence, the only sound that could be heard was the occasional rustling of the pages in the Book Of Shadows being turned. Emma took a deep breath and spoke,
'It was two years ago…' Piper looked up with wide eyes while Emma looked distant, 'My line of work was pretty dangerous… if you were part of my team; the chances were that you would go down fighting. Anyway, the mission turned sour, and the place was brought down around our ears in an explosion and… I didn't make it…' she looked back down and kept flipping.
Piper dared to try and continue, 'What's the last thing you remember before you were reborn?'
Emma looked back up, 'I remember the heat of the flames… the coldness of when I sank into the water below… There was this beautiful bright light, it was everywhere! And there was a voice that told me that my destiny wasn't over yet and that I was being given a second chance for a reason, and well...you've seen and lived most of the rest,'
Pamela came back in with a grin on her face, 'Okay! I've made more vanquishing… potions,' she had paused in mid sentence after seeing the awkward silence, looking between the two she slowly went back to the Ronyx crystal but not before saying, 'Foot. In mouth. Gotcha,'
Paige finally made through the labyrinth of tunnels that had been after the door. The dim light of torches brightened the area slightly; enough to see that other darklighters populated the area, talking in whispers. One of them noticed Paige and walked over to her, he had short black hair and a three day old stubble, as he got closer she could see that he had dark brown eyes. He was the sort of guy that Paige would have fell for years ago, the rugged look would make her gaga. He shuffled slightly, trying to make the crossbow on his back a little more comfortable to carry.
After kissing her hand, he spoke, 'And how is it that such a beautiful fallen angel like yourself has graced these caverns with her presence?'
It was official, the Paige of five years ago would be in love at this point, the present Paige wasn't too far off either as she had to keep saying Aidan's name in her head every five seconds.
'I take ityou're the leader?' she said with a suggestive eye brow raise and a smirk, 'I hope those weren't your best guys at the door, I vanquished most of them,'
He smiled, 'Of course not, although my best men aren't much better… But why do I have a feeling my luck's changing?'
'Maybe because it is,' Paige smiled back, 'You want the Charmed Ones children? I can help you get them,'
'How so?'
'Well, like I said to your people outside, I'm not your average darklighter. For instance, Torch!' she called for the flaming wood that was attached to the wall. It disappeared in a haze of dark orbs, reappearing in Paige's hand in the same way.
The darklighter raised his eyebrows, 'Impressive! You're hired!'
Paige looked surprised, 'Just like that?'
'You obviously have some…' he looked her up and down, 'Talents that this organisation could benefit from. Come! Let me show you around!' he was about to put his arm around her shoulder, when he stopped in mid gesture. Paige looked around to see that all the other darklighters in the room were frozen too.
'Having fun?' Piper's voice came from the shadows, her hands were outstretched and Pamela and Emma were behind her
Paige rolled her eyes, 'What are you guys doing here? What would you have did if he hadn't frozen?'
'Is he the leader?' Emma asked, Paige nodded
'Then what are we waiting for? Let's blow his ass up and send him to hell!' Pamela made a gesture, but it was intercepted by Piper pushing her hands down.
'Easy! We don't know what kind of powers this guy has! He might not go boom so easily!'
'Why are you guys here?' Paige put her hands on her hips, wanting this over before her cover was blown.
'To give you these,' Emma stepped forward and handed her vials, 'The green ones are vanquishing potions, and the blue ones are top ups for the power glamouring potion.
'Alright! Thank you! Goodbye! Manor!' she made a gesture while saying the last word, making the others return home in a large mass of black orbs.
Paige quickly got back into position just as the darklighter unfroze, 'Let's go and see about getting you a uniform,'
'Wow!' Pamela looked at the projection, 'She looks really evil now!' she pointed to Paige on the transparent screen. She was now wearing a slanted skirt that started at the middle of her left thigh and slanted down to just past her right knee. The leather boots that she had been given had steel on the toecaps, the glossy leather shining in the dim light of fire. And to top it off, she was wearing a one-sleeve shirt; the left side only had a spaghetti strap to hold it up. All of it was black, but was complimented by the brown strap of the crossbow holster that she now wore on her back.
'Yeah, I just hope she doesn't get carried away,' Piper paced the room, not watching the scene unfold.
'You look even more beautiful than before,' Hades said, that was the darklighters name.
'Thank you…' she pulled out her crossbow at lightning speed, aiming it at him, 'It's a lot easier than conjuring it…'
'Yes,' he circled her, laying his hands on her arms and whispering in her ear, 'A hunter needs to be quick… if he is to catch his prey…' he began to nuzzle into her neck.
'And what am I in that analogy?' she asked
'For now… the prey,' this came as a great surprise to Paige, who retaliated by ducking down and sweeping his legs, making him fall to the ground, then sitting on chest.
'You sure about that?' she said with a smirk
He grabbed her arms forcefully and pulled her down, kissing her roughly but passionately. He pushed her back and said, 'Let's go hunting,' before orbing the two of them out.
'What? Where did they just go?' Pamela stood up, the projection had went fuzzy
'The only that could have happened, is if she's deactivated it herself…' Emma said with dread in her voice.
'A little side a effect to your potion?' Piper asked her niece angrily
'Ugh! Forget about that! We need to find her!' Pamela quickly got out the scrying tools and began the search for her evil aunt.
The young woman was thrown into the side of the dumpster forcefully, she struggled to get up and tried to run away. Paige stood with her arm out stretched, she had obviously sent the woman into the dumpster with a telekinetic blast. Hades stood and watched with lust burning in his eyes.
The woman had almost got away until Paige dark orbed in front of her and delivered another telekinetic blast, this time, throwing her into a brick wall. She whimpered as she got up, now crying and not understanding how her attacker kept throwing her like this.
'Please…' she whispered
Paige pulled out her crossbow, 'Quit your snivelling! That's not how a future whitelighter should behave,' she smirked as she pulled the trigger, sending an arrow whizzing through the air and making a beeline for the young woman. It was inches away from her heart when it froze in mid air. Paige spun round to see Piper, Pamela and Emma standing behind her with betrayed looks on their faces.
'My, my, my, my… You guys have impeccable timing,' she smirked and walked over to Hades, who put an arm around her waist.
'Paige! Have you lost your mind?' Piper exclaimed
'I believe she's chosen…' Hades responded
'Why don't you stay out of this?' Piper gestured towards him, but the blast just bounced off his chest. She was about to fire again, when an arrow whirred past her ear, hitting a wall behind her and narrowly missing the oldest Halliwell. Paige stood with an empty crossbow,
'Back off Piper! Next time, I won't miss,' the two dark orbed out and narrowly missed Pamela sending the frozen arrow flying at them.
The three remaining witches approached the innocent, who had fainted due to all the events and helped her up.
They had nowhere to turn…
Okay, I know the storyline is different from the summary in the previous chapter, but I liked this idea!
NEXT TIME: Due to Paige's shift in morality, the balance is upset and causes the real evil Paige to become good! In the hopes of restoring their sisters, a shaky alliance is made between the two Pipers, who then go after Hades…
Chapter 34 'Witch Swap Part 2' will be up soon!
