Chapter Five
About 20 Years in the Future:
"I told you to find him." The loathing tone in the man's voice was apparent as he intently watched the young-looking warlock, who couldn't have been much more than 20. He had light brown hair and the beginning of a beard, but still possessed the baby fat of adolescence on his cheeks. This, mixed with the stubble on his face created an odd boy-man mix.
The largermancreated a fist with his hand and gently squeezed it together, choking the youngwarlock that had failed him. He let go and the warlock collapsed onto the floor, his chest heaving up and down as he gasped for air like it was his very first breath. His face seemed overcome with betrayal and he gazed up with pain in his grey eyes.
"I didn't ask you to find a demon that has several of the same powers. I need Him for my plan to work. No other demon will do."
Taking a moment to regain his composure, the warlock answered, "My apologies sir, it was the best I could do with so many tracker demons dead. A good one is hard to find and to come across one with the ability of tracking Barbus- it's nearly impossible," He choked out.
"One more chance. But only because you have been very useful to me in the past, Mr. Cattaway." No one realized just how important this was. If his plan was to succeed, it would need to be followed exactly how he had thought everything out. To get things right when going to the past required a lot of skill and precision- to wing it could cause devastating results. He had been planning this ever since he had the not-so-pleasant discovery that Chris had gone back to the past to try and "fix" him. His little brother was too simple to comprehend what true power was- he could not think behind the whole "good verses evil" concept that had been drilled into his head: just like it had been to every witch before him. Wyatt was above all of that.
"Thank you sir," the warlock said as he picked himself off of the floor. Lowering his eyes a moment, he could no longer hold in his curiosity.
"There is just one question I have, Sir. Why can't you just locate Barbus yourself? You are powerful enough, surely?"
Wyatt's face gave the slightest hint of being angry before he quickly caught himself and stopped.
"I've told you before. Barbus, he…aggravates me," Wyatt said, searching for the right word. "I don't like to deal directly with him." He looked at the warlock for a moment with his cold eyes. One who did not know him would have thought he was hesitating, perhaps deciding to be merciful for once in his life. But it would soon become clear that he was not. As the warlock screamed in the fire, he was burned from the inside out. Wyatt walked away nonplused, not bothering to glance back.
Chapter 6
Present:
"Prue!"
"What is it, Piper?" Prue said, as she orbed back to the manor. This was the third time Piper had called Prue home that day. She kept having Prue check in to see if she was okay; she was so afraid that Prue would leave her again. It had been hard enough losing her once, and she didn't think that she would be able to take losing her a second time. Somewhere in the back of Piper's mind she felt that the Elders had only given Prue back just to take her away again, so that they could hurt her. Like they did with Leo. Sorrow followed every happy experience that Piper had ever had. She, Prue, and Phoebe had become close again, and then Prue died. Leo and her were able to get married- but then Leo was taken away from her by the same people that had allowed the couple to be together in the first place. Piper had Wyatt, but then she discovered that she would not be able to protect him; that in the future he would become evil.
"I uhh…I needed to ask Chris something and I thought you could tell me where he is."
"Then why didn't you just call him?"
"Good idea, Prue. I'm gonna um…go do that now!" She exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.
"Piper." Prue gave her sister a knowing look and Piper knew that she knew.
"Do you want me to stay here for a little while? I've been running around all day, and I could use a break anyway."
Piper grinned, and ran over happily to hug her sister.
Several days passed by, and Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were never apart very long during the course of it. Chris only nagged the Charmed Ones to go on vanquishes a few times during the week, because since Prue was no longer really a Charmed One, but a whitelighter, most of the vanquishing needed to wait until Paige got back from her trip.
"Piper! Phoebe! Anyone home?" Paige called out to her sisters to let them know that she was finally back from her trip. She trudged a few feet with her heavy luggage before deciding that she really didn't feel like carrying her bags all the way up the stairs.
'There's a much easier way to do this…'
"Suitcase!" Bright blue orbs encompassed her luggage and she motioned her hand upward in the direction of her bedroom. As soon as it had disappeared into the depths of her room, Paige's paranoid eyes darted quickly from left to right to see if anyone had seen her. She didn't really consider it personal gain, but Piper was a nut with that kind of thing and she didn't want to disappoint her.
Even now after more than two years, Paige just wanted to be accepted by her sisters. She was an only child for her entire life- but in the blink of an eye everything had changed. She discovered that she had sisters- and magical ones at that. It was all very complicated. The insecurities that she had when she had first met her sisters had not been vanquished with time but rather, suppressed to the outside world, and she still felt as if she was just a cheap replacement of Prue. She knew that Piper agreed with the thought, but Paige chose to ignore that part of their relationship with each other. Whether this was true or not, she still possessed the impression that the only reason that Piper had let Paige into her life was so it would still be possible to have the power of three. And even though Paige knew this was the reason, she was still very grateful to have her sisters in her life.
Just as she was about to head upstairs to unpack, Chris orbed in. "Things to do, demons to vanquish. Let's get going!"
"How did you know I was…nevermind. I just got back literally five seconds ago, Chris. Chill."
"Come on- Piper and Phoebe are already out on a vanquish right now. Let's go," Chris whined.
Paige saw orbs begin to materialize behind Chris. "See? They're back already."
Prue was the first to notice Paige's presence.
Her youngest sister stared back in shock, a stunned expression painted onto her face.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Please review this time too and tell me what you think, whether it be criticizing or good.