A/N. Hi, this is probably the longest and best chapter in the fic, except the finale, which I plan to make superb, considering the one for 'Simply Charmed' was rubbish. This is my personal favourite so far, mainly because I had so much fun writing it. Anyway, on with the replies-
Princess Pinky: Glad you liked it! I'm so glad you're back! As the eldest Karis will be very protective! Karis is my main kid at the moment, she will have little bonding parts with everyone! Piper's pregnancy is also gonna be fun to write, it's gonna be a lot less dramatic than with Patrice! I'm glad you liked Paige reuniting her parents!
The-Cheese-Fairy: Glad you liked it! Yep, this is baby Charlotte, but as I said in my review to 'Life of Magic', I can change that if you want me to, cos the new baby I yours is called that! I'm so glad I wrote something moving lol! I just realised that when I read your review, I'm gonna get some 'I love you' in every now an then, especially before big vanquishes!
Lights, Camera, Faction:
A young actress walked through a quiet street, the moon lit her path,
"la, la, la, la," she sang,
"nice voice," a man complimented, he was leaning against as tree
"thank you," she said.
"So, what's a pretty girl like you do out by herself on a night like this?" he asked, walking over to her,
"I'm just heading home, and night doesn't really bother me, this has been named one of the safest streets in San Francisco," she replied, "by the way, my name's May," she said, they shook hands,
"I'm Lei," he told her. The two continued to walk, chatting about normal things, then suddenly, Lei turned to her and his eyes glowed green, May screamed and with a wave of his hands she fizzled out of sight, he laughed.
It was your average morning in the Halliwell manor, Piper was making breakfast, Leo was feeding Patrice, Prue was getting her photography things ready, Andy and Glenn were dressing Grace and Karis, and Paige was letting out tired groans as she shuffled into the kitchen.
"Have you seen this?" she yawned, holding up the newspaper,
"no, why?" Prue asked, counting to see if she all her camera lenses,
"it says someone was watching out of their window and they saw a man and a woman, the man waved his hand and the woman vanished," Paige told them.
"That doesn't mean it was supernatural, maybe the woman was a quick runner, or the witness was imagining things," Piper said, pouring her youngest sister a cup of coffee,
"caffeine, the answer to all my problems," Paige said dreamily, letting the smell tickle her senses before taking a sip.
"I'll ask Andy to check it out," Prue told her,
"I thought he was working on a murder case?" Leo asked,
"yeah, but he'll take time out for his magical duties, he always does," she replied,
"well there's no need, I'll look into it," the Elder said, handing his fiancé the bowl containing the baby 'slop' their daughter hadn't eaten.
"Anybody want pancakes? Paige?" Piper asked,
"what you say?" she groaned, Piper didn't answer, she just pushed a plate of pancakes drowning in maple syrup under her sisters nose.
"Down," they heard Karis' voice say, then she ran in, followed by Glenn and Andy, who was holding Grace,
"me," Grace said, Andy understood what she meant and put her on the floor.
"Uncie Leo, Patsy smell bad," Karis said, pinching her nose, Leo walked over and scooped his daughter out of her highchair, walking through to where the changing table was.
"Have you told them you're pregnant yet?" Andy whispered to Piper,
"no, I'm going to tonight, Phoebe and Cole are coming over for dinner so I can tell everyone," she replied, Andy felt weird being the only one who knew his sister-in-law was pregnant.
"I've gotta go, by sweetie, by Gracie," Prue said, kissing them both and grabbing her bag, as she touch the handle to open the front door, she was hit with a flash;
The woogyman in the basement, Prue went down there and changed into her demonic form,
"kill them," he instructed, an athame appeared in Prue's hands and she smoked into the kitchen, stabbing Piper and Paige with it.
"I recognise that look, you just had a premonition," Leo stated, he had saw Prue when he was walking back into the kitchen, and had stopped when he had seen her pause,
"I think I did," she said,
"how?" he asked, leading her to the couch in the living room so she could sit down and get her breath back.
"It was a bad one, I was bad, I think it was a message," she told him,
"a message to tell you what?" Leo asked,
"that if I don't stop using my demonic powers I'll end up back where I started with them, as the woogy's heir," Prue replied, "but I'm not gonna think about that now, there's a movie being shot in the city and I'm getting paid to take pictures," then she left the house, the look of concern on Leo's face stayed there even after she had gone.
Later that day, Prue was on the set of the movie; 'Forgotten Forever', when she looked through her camera to take a picture, but instead she saw herself through it, she had blood- red eyes and a bubble of orange was bouncing up and down in her hand. She put her camera on the table to see it had been her imagination, but she still needed some air,
"I'm taking a break," she told the nearest person, walking away.
At P3, Piper had Patrice balanced on one hip and Grace on the other, while Karis was running around in circles,
"Karis, take Grace and go do some colouring," Piper said, setting her youngest niece down, then she handed her eldest one a colouring book and crayons, and pointed in the direction of the alcove, where they ran off to. The middle charmed one sat her daughter on the bar and opened the cash register,
"keys, keys," she said, almost like a chant, she was annoyed because her car key had broken in the lock and she could find her spare. She glanced up to see Patrice playing with it,
"thank you baby," she said, taking the key off the infant witch, Patrice giggled, like she practically always did, apart from when she was crying the house down.
In Magic School, Paige was in her office, so bored that she was counting the number of pencils she could find amongst all the messy contents of the draws in her mahogany desk,
"urm, Mrs Matthews, you have a visitor," Miss Donovan said, Zola, an Elder, walked into the room.
"This should be interesting," Paige said under her breath,
"Paige, I'm here to tell you that an upper level demon named Lei is the reason so many actors have been vanishing into thin air," Zola told her,
"what d'you mean, there's only one person who's said to have 'vanished'," she stated.
"No there's more, but people haven't really noticed because they turn up two or three days later acting normal, except they're not normal, Lei is killing them and giving their talent to the faction he leads, then, they replace the actors, but, there's a reason they chose this movie, the cameras used have something special about them, some kind of power, and if they're used on the demons they will become immune to witches magic," he explained,
"we'll get right on it," Paige said, watching him orb out. The youngest Halliwell sister had got her handbag off her desk and put one arm in her denim jacket, when she put them both on her chair and went over to the cabinet which was in the corner of her office. She opened it and pulled out a file,
"Andre Mason," she read, before putting it back, "I know I saw it in here somewhere," she said, "ah hah," she lifted out another file, "Lei Johnson." The whitelighter-witch opened the file and began to skim through it;
"Lei Johnson, left 1986, powers are to conjure the elements, always carried a power-sucking athame, very dangerous, parents Velma Burton and Nathan Johnson," Paige thought for a moment, "if he was dangerous why would they allow him in the school? unless he had another power, to control their minds, or he threatened to stab them with his athame, I think this is our guy," she said, snatching her belongings from the chair and orbing out, with the file still in hand.
After orbing into the manor, Paige explained what she knew to the others,
"so they've got the same first name, and are both dangerous, Zola told you the one we're after is a demon, not an element-controlling witch," Piper said, walking around the attic with a slight bounce in her step, trying to calm Patrice down.
"Piper, I don't believe in coincidences, so if you don't help me I'll go find someone who will," Paige told her,
"fine," Piper agreed, "I'll be ready in five minutes, call Leo, tell him he has to look after his daughter," she said, handing Patrice to her auntie and going upstairs.
Not much later,
"what are you guys doing here?" Prue asked, walking back onto the set to see Piper and Paige standing on the sidelines,
"demon hunting," Paige simply replied,
"hey, that guy looks suspicious," Piper said, pointing over to where a man was standing, watching the actors.
"You said that about five other guys, you even said it about the director," Paige stated, it was obvious that Piper wanted to leave,
"oh I know what this is about," Prue chuckled,
"don't you dare," Piper warned, wagging her finger at her big sister,
"in ninth grade, she was in the school play; Cinderella, and because it had always been her favourite story she wanted to play the lead, so when they night came she stood up on stage and forgot all her lines, so she burst into tears and while she was running off the stage she tripped and broke the heel off on of the 'glass' slippers," the eldest said, in-between laughing.
"That's so not funny," Paige said, putting on a serious turn before bursting into a fit of giggles,
"you're mean," Piper moaned, crossing her arms and pulling a face at her sisters, who continued to laugh. The teasing came to a stop when a fire began to burn through one of the props, a giant, heart-shaped, fluffy, pillow,
"elements," Paige whispered, all of the cast and crew froze,
"what you do that for?" Prue asked,
"I didn't," Piper replied,
"I did," a voice said, they spun around to see a man holding a fire ball. He was Asian-American, with grey eyes and pasty lips, a black tattoo of a dragon was stretched across the left side of his face,
"you must be Lei," Paige said, he nodded and extinguished his own fire ball with a spray of water, which shot from his fingertips.
"It looks like you've gained some powers beyond the elements," Piper said, Lei pounced at the charmed ones, throwing them to the floor before they could use their powers,
"blow him up," Prue yelled, over the roaring of flames as Lei created a dome of fire over them,
"I've tried," Piper told her. Paige reached over and grabbed one of each of her sisters' hands, orbing them out.
They orbed into the manor,
"what are we gonna do? it looks like the cameras have already been on him, he was immune to my powers," Piper stated,
"I've got an idea, it will help us find out exactly what he's doing and also help you with your stage fright," Paige said, glancing at Piper,
"and what exactly is your idea?" Prue asked.
Just minutes later,
"I look ridiculous, I can't believe I let you talk me into doing this," Piper said, staring at her appearance in the full-length mirror facing her, she was wearing a long, red, wig and a yellow mini-dress.
"Don't worry, drink this and your face will fit the bad style," Paige told her, handing her a vial containing a blue substance, which Piper downed in one go, a mild light covered her temporarily and when it faded she was different, still in the yellow dress, but the red hair was real, and her eyes were now green,
"are you sure this is what the lead looks like?" Piper asked, her voice had changed to,
"positive, and remember, your name is now Jackie," Prue replied, Piper frowned.
Prue pulled up outside where the movie was being filmed, then she and Piper/Jackie got out the car,
"Jackie, darling, where have you been, you weren't here this morning," the producer said. Piper remembered that Jackie had only gone missing yesterday, just after May had,
"well, you see, I was at the hairdressers, I'm thinking about going blonde," she told her,
"no, I forbid it, we've already filmed seventy-five percent of the scenes with you having red hair," the producer, Veronica, said. Seventy-five percent, that's a lot of time for the cameras to be on the demons, they'll be practically indestructible to us now Piper thought, as Veronica led her off to shoot a scene.
A swirl of bright lights formed in the hall at Magic School, becoming Paige,
"Mrs Matthews!" Miss Donovan exclaimed, grabbing Paige by her arm and pulling her into the preschool part. In it, Paige saw Karis and another little girl, about the same age, fighting,
"everybody who's tried to separate them has either been blasted away with an electro-hydrokinetic bolt from Karis, or had their face rearranged by Kelly, literally, she can shapeshift other things," Miss Donovan told Paige.
"Karis, stop it," she ordered her daughter, but Karis just pulled a tongue and hit Kelly in the face,
"that's it," Paige yelled, suddenly, Karis and Kelly orbed to opposite sides of the room.
"I'll try to keep them away from each other," Miss Donovan said,
"thank you, I'll be in my office, and you missy, be good," Paige instructed, looking at her daughter, before walking off.
Meanwhile, Prue was drinking a can of Coca-Cola, while she took a break as the actors were, when the can burst into flames,
"I hate my demonic powers," she groaned, getting a bottle of orange soda from her bag.
"Prue, we have a problem, Veronica just went into the bathroom five minutes ago, and then she didn't come out, so then I went in to see if something was wrong and she wasn't there, but this was," Piper/Jackie said, holding up a power-sucking athame,
"oh god, didn't Paige say that Lei always carried one of those?" Prue asked, Piper nodded,
"he's here, somewhere," she stated.
"I'm gonna go get Paige, we'll try find a way to vanquish him and then we'll come back, you just make sure none of the demons have those cameras on them again," Prue told her, clutching her car keys and running outside.
She drove to the manor where Leo orbed her to Magic School with just a click of his fingers,
"Lei took the producer, we need to get back there," she said to Paige, after almost leaping into her office,
"okay, do we know how we're gonna defeat him?" Paige asked, Prue shrugged,
"I was hoping you might have a book that can help us," she said. Paige thought for a moment before pulling a small book from one of the shelves, she flipped through the pages before stopping one and showing it to Prue,
"we haven't got time to strip his powers, he could be taking Piper as the speak," the eldest sister said,
"well lets just think of a way when we get there," Paige nodded, orbing them out.
They orbed in to see Piper/Jackie walking backwards away from lots of demons,
"I'm guessing they're the actors?" Paige asked,
"yep, they're Lei's faction," Piper said, running to her sisters. One of the demons, a grimlock, began strangling Paige with her aura,
"oh no you don't," Prue said, throwing him through the air with a telekinetic blast and breaking his hold on Paige. Two harpies jumped forward, baring their large talons and firing bolts of electrical energy, which Piper froze before blowing up the demonic twosome themselves. Prue astral projected to create a distraction, while Paige psychokinetically orbed three demons off a cliff in Saudi Arabia, then Piper went to blow up another one when she found herself levi-orbing,
"what the…?" Prue gasped. Piper did a kick into two demons' faces before returning to ground level and blowing one up, Paige got on with the battle also and took a camera in her hands, using it to smash over a grimlock's head, Prue flung out her arms and two shot through the air,
"wait, I've just realised, our powers work on them," she said,
"I know, I think Lei is taking all the immunity from them for himself," Piper replied. The three sisters stood together again as Piper blew up the final demon there, but then Lei shimmered in,
"clever little witches," he said, clapping his hands sarcastically. Piper glared at the super demon, and without her even noticing a small sphere of orbs appeared by her forehead, shooting over and exploding upon impact with his,
"what they don't know is with a simple spell they can break my immunity," he said, but she was shocked when Prue and Paige didn't react to this, in fact, they hadn't even heard.
"Urm, I think I just read his mind," Piper whispered to them,
"is that what the ball of orbs was?" Paige asked,
"I think so," she replied,
"what's he thinking?" Prue asked,
"we can make him un-immune with a spell," Piper replied,
"I've got one," Paige said, before chanting;
"remove his immunity,
make it now so we can hurt thee."
Lei glowed a bright shade of red,
"how?" he snarled,
"we're charmed," Prue quipped with a cocky smile, watching as Piper blew him up,
"thank god," she smiled, as her appearance returned to normal.
That night, the family were having a special dinner which had been cooked by Piper, even though Andy already knew, and Prue and Paige had seen the powers, she was announcing her pregnancy, which was even going to be news to Leo.
"Guys, I have something to tell you," she began, Phoebe looked at her sister and was hit with a premonition;
Piper was smiling and had her hands on her baby bump.
The Angelic Seer came out of the vision just as Piper finished speaking,
"congratulations," they all said in unison, but Phoebe was jealous, and it showed, especially when she let it get the better of her and tapped into her empathy, which tapped into Prue's power, and sent Piper to the floor and sliding across the foyer, Phoebe ran into the kitchen.
To be continued…
Next chapter- Andy and three other warlighters, Lisa, Erica, and Lance, must track down one of their kind who is set on getting revenge on their ex-lover.
'All's Fair In Love And Warlighters' should be up soon.