CHAPTER SEVEN

Zankou sat in the corner of his small piece of the Underworld with his eyes closed, quietly concentrating. Kahn, a fierce and strong looking demon who had recently been promoted to being Zankou's second in charge, quietly entered the room. He waited, not knowing whether to interrupt Zankou, or not. He was most relieved when Zankou started to speak.

"How's the demon recruitment coming along?" He asked Kahn.

"Convincing demons to attack the Charmed Ones is as difficult as we thought it would be. All consider it suicide, which of course it is, and they are taking a bit of persuading." Kahn informed him.

"Well don't have too much fun persuading," Zankou told him, "We want a few demons left for the attacks."

"How did your meeting go with the witch?" Kahn asked.

"As planned." Zankou replied. "I was fortunate that they decided to summon their son from the future. Tapping into his thoughts when he was evil has been of great assistance to me. I must remember to thank them before I kill them."

"So, what happens next?" Kahn asked him.

"The witch is considering my proposal, as I knew she would. Knowing from her son about her desire for a normal life has allowed me to feed her exactly what she wants. If we stage continual demon attacks, then they will convince her even more that a truce with me is her only option." He said confidently. "I will give it a few days and then contact her again to start our negotiations. It's all too easy, really."

"It's your brilliance that allows it to be easy," Kahn said, deliberately sucking up to him.

Zankou smiled at the comment. He knew what Kahn was doing, and he appreciated the sentiment. "Have the first group of demons ready to attack within the hour." Zankou demanded. "For now, leave me alone while I try to sense the witches' next move."


Big Chris and Big Wyatt still stood in the same positions they were in after arriving from the future. They had barely made it out of the portal before being confronted by their parents and aunts, and had spent the whole twenty minutes since arriving explaining while their journey had been necessary.

"So, I'm just confirming here," Phoebe said, wanting to clarify, "In your future, Chris, we all died in less than two weeks? Or is it die? Honestly, getting your tenses right when talking about time travel drives me crazy!"

"It doesn't matter what tense you use, Aunt Phoebe," Chris answered her and then sadly added, "The answer is still yes."

"Aunt Phoebe? Did you hear that he called me Aunt Phoebe." Phoebe said to everyone, as she smiled happily.

"What's wrong with that?" Chris asked, not getting it.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it. Nothing it all." Phoebe quickly clarified. "It's just that the other Chris never used Aunt, it just sounded strange that's all."

"This Chris might not know about the other Chris, Phoebe." Leo chastised.

"He knows, Dad, I told him before we came here." Wyatt told them as Chris nodded in agreement.

"Everything's fine, I know all about him. And you know what – you're right – I am twenty two years old, I think I'll drop the Aunt and just call you Phoebe." Chris decided.

"Chris, I didn't mean to…"

Before Phoebe could finish her sentence, Paige cut her off. "Well, getting back to what we were talking about, you need to tell us how and where we died and who killed us?"

"It's not as easy as that." Chris told them.

"Dad found you in the Manor, but he never thought you had actually died there." Wyatt explained.

"What does that mean?" Leo asked them. "What made me think that?"

"You were only guessing, Dad, because it wasn't like we could have a forensic team investigate or anything." Chris told Leo.

"But there must have been some reason why I would have thought that." Leo said.

"You just didn't think there was enough evidence around the room to show that a fight had taken place. It's something that's played on your mind all these years, and you made sure we remembered to tell you." Wyatt said. "But before you could do anything about your suspicions, the Cleaners took over and erased all evidence of the deaths, and the girls."

"Of us?" Piper asked, taken back.

"Only in the mortal world. The Elders insisted that the magical community be allowed to remember you, that's why we do." Chris tried to explain as best he could.

"That was big of them." Piper said sarcastically.

"It was the easiest solution," Wyatt defended. "Dad was grieving after losing you all, and had to cope with being mortal and raising us by himself. It made it easier that he didn't also have to deal with a murder investigation, and all the questions that would have been involved in your deaths."

"And you remember all of this new future, Wyatt, as well as the other one where the girls didn't die?" Leo asked.

"Yes, the new future is very vivid in my mind, and the old one is fading fast. I really have to concentrate to remember a lot of that other future now." Wyatt answered him.

"And you have no idea what you could have done to cause this?" Phoebe asked him.

"None, although I don't have a lot of memory of when I was evil. But, no, I do not have any idea what I could have done to change the future so drastically." Wyatt said, shaking his head.

"That's why we're here." Chris said optimistically, "To make sure it doesn't happen this time."

"Well, if Leo thinks we were killed somewhere else, but it was made to look like we were killed in the Manor, then that's what happened!" Piper said sounding absolutely sure. "I trust his judgement." She added.

"So do I." Phoebe agreed.

Paige nodded and then added, "So, why would the killer do that? Why would it matter where we're killed?"

Nobody had an answer to that.

"This is really weird," Phoebe said breaking the silence. "We're going to be investigating our own murder, before it happens."

"We're going to stop it from happening." Leo said firmly.

"Demons!" Chris yelled suddenly as four demons appeared at the door to the attic, behind Leo and Piper.

Piper immediately used her hands to blow up the closest demon, but she was too late to stop the other three from throwing energy balls. Phoebe and Paige ducked out of the way, as Wyatt used his telekinesis to send them back into two of the demons vanquishing them instantly.

Suddenly five more demons appeared behind Wyatt and Chris.

"Watch out!" Paige called to them, as one grabbed Chris from behind.

He immediately leant forward flipping the demon over his shoulder, and then using his telekinetic power flung him against the wall vanquishing him. In the meantime Phoebe had been fighting the last demon that had appeared near the door, and had managed to finish it off by sticking a sharp instrument into its torso.

Piper started to use her blowing up power on the remaining four demons, and had vanquished two, but the third one didn't explode like the others and started to head toward her. Leo picked up a nearby lamp and hit the demon very hard over the head with it, knocking it to the ground. He then finished it off by stabbing it.

Wyatt had also been taken by surprise from behind by the last demon, and was fighting him when three more demons appeared near Paige and Phoebe.

Leo moved to help Phoebe and Paige, as they were outnumbered, when Piper suddenly said frantically, "The boys!" And then ran toward the door leading to the stairs out of the attic.

She did not see the demon that was fighting Phoebe, knock her to the ground and then turn to face Piper with an energy ball forming in its hand.

"Piper, watch out!" Leo called, but he was helpless to do anything because he was too busy trying to save his own mortal life against the demon he was fighting.

Piper unfortunately did not hear him, having only her boys on her mind, and continued running toward the stairs.

Chris, however, had seen what was going to happen and was already on his way toward Piper, at the same time using his telekinetic power to fling the demon back against the wall, vanquishing it instantly. Unfortunately, the demon had already sent an energy ball in the direction of a frantic, but unaware Piper, and all Chris could think about was to get her out of the way.

"Mum!" He yelled as he took a flying leap grabbing her on the shoulders and pushing her to the ground. Unfortunately in doing so, he was hit squarely on the back with the energy ball, and fell heavily with his Mum, rolling a few times before they both stopped, very still.

The others, although still busy fighting the demons, had witnessed what had happened, and Leo called "Piper?" Desperately wanting to know if his wife was all right.

Neither Chris, nor Piper moved.