The Immortals, still sitting at the table, were looking up at Xander with expectant expressions. It was beginning to annoy them to no end that he was just standing there and smiling at them.
Of the three Immortals, it was the one with over 5,000 years experience that lost his patience first. "Well don't just stand there, Alex. Do you know of some other artifact that we could use to boost Cassandra's power?"
Xander stood there with his smile still plastered on his face. Below the surface, however, he was feeling conflicted. He had told Duncan and Methos about his past up to a certain point. He really had no trouble telling them the rest. It was Cassandra that was the unknown here. But, in the end, both Duncan and Methos trusted her, so he would do the same.
"Actually it's not a what, but a who." He looked at them all in turn, ending with Cassandra. "And there are three of them." His smile returned in full force when he saw Cassandra's eyes widen in recognition.
With wide eyes and an awed voice, Cassandra asked, "Surely you can't mean…" She saw him looking at her intently, causing her to pause.
"I can't mean…what?"
In almost a whisper, she spoke "The Charmed Ones."
The reverence in which she spoke the name pushed away any lingering doubts that he had. 'Trust a Witch to know these things.'
He gave a small chuckle. "That is exactly who I mean."
Cassandra's gaze fell straight ahead and she absently took a sip from her beer. When her eyes seemed to refocus she had a smile of her own covering her beautiful face.
"Then I suppose we have a real chance of defeating The First permanently."
As their hope began to grow anew, Xander found himself pondering just how The Charmed Ones would be able to help. There was a question that had been plaguing him, now seemed like an opportune moment to ask it.
"Cassandra, do you know how Duncan is to be used to defeat The First?"
Cassandra seemed to think on that for a moment before responding.
"Yes, I believe I do." Turning from Xander, she faced Duncan. "Duncan, tell me…do you recall meeting the Immortal who was the Champion before you took his place?" Duncan was thinking hard to himself but didn't seem entirely sure of his memory. In a hypnotic voice Cassandra spoke directly to Duncan. "Think back quite a long ways. Can you see it?" She paused and stared at him as his eyes became distant. "Can you feel it? Can you remember it?" As she finished off her last statement, Duncan's eyes began to refocus. When he started talking, it was as though it had happened just yesterday.
In a distant yet firm voice, Duncan began to speak. "I had only been Immortal for a very short time." Duncan smiled to himself. "I was so new that I had yet to learn anything. I knew not of The Game, our Quickening, The Gathering, none of it was known to me at that time. I was simply wandering the wilderness trying to figure out if I was in fact some sort of demon." He chuckled quietly to himself.
"I came upon this cave in the dark of night. There was a small fire within that attracted me towards it. Before I knew what was happening, I was feeling the 'buzz' for the first time." He closed his eyes as though he were feeling it again. "Inside was, of course, another Immortal." He took a sip of his beer and stared pensively at it.
"I don't really recall too much of what happened next. He began to speak to me of Demons and Champions." He looked straight at Cassandra. "He told me I was to be the next Champion, and that he had been waiting for a very long time."
He looked intently at his bottle before involuntarily shuddering from his next memory.
"The man had an Axe. I have no idea what he was doing, but before I could stop him he had cut off his own head." He placed a penetrating gaze onto Xander before turning his attention back to Cassandra. "Without even knowing what it was, I experienced my first Quickening. Once I regained my strength I ran away from that cave and went as far from there as I possibly could." He gave himself a bitter chuckle. "That is all I remember of the man who, before me, was the Champion against The First."
Cassandra smiled at him apologetically for making him relive such an experience.
"You see Duncan; it wasn't just the Quickening that he passed on to you." Seeing the confused expressions worn by everyone, she elaborated. "According to my research the Champion has within him a certain energy that can be used to kill The First. I believe it was not just the Quickening, but that as well, which he passed on to you."
No one said anything, there wasn't much to say.
"So, in essence you will be the main ingredient in a spell used to destroy The First. Before, the best we could hope for was to hold it at bay, but now…" She left the rest of her statement hanging as she turned her attention towards Xander. With a smile she said, "I believe you said something about gathering the help of The Charmed Ones?"
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Xander was currently on his cell phone in the privacy of his own room. It seemed as though an eternity had gone by since he had dialed the Haliwell's phone. He was getting extremely nervous. 'What if The First was expecting this! What if it went after them knowing that we would need their help?' His mind was going a mile a minute when the phone was finally answered.
"Hello?" The voice was tired and feminine.
"Piper!" He exclaimed into the minute cell phone.
"Xander?" Came the curious response.
"Oh thank God! Is everyone all right?" His voice settled down a little, which wasn't really saying much.
"We're all fine. Is something wrong? Has something happened with The First?" The concern was evident in her voice.
Xander visibly calmed down, though Piper couldn't see it. "Actually yea something has happened. We need your help." With a deep sigh he continued. "It appears that it may take the Power of Three to empower the spell we need to cast in order to destroy The First."
"When do you need us?"
Xander smiled into his phone. "When can you get here?"
He could hear her smiling as well. "Give us 20 minutes. If he can, Leo will orb us to you."
"Ok." He paused for a moment, worried that he may have stepped too far earlier. "Piper, I sort of told my friends here that I knew The Charmed Ones, and that was who I was calling. But I didn't tell them about you, only that I knew you…and only when the situation was dire."
He was relieved to hear chuckling on the other end. "It's fine Xander. We look forward to meeting your friends. Since they know us, we can have Leo orb us right to you and not have to worry about being seen."
Xander chuckled at that too. "Ok then. I'll see you in about 20 minutes."
With that he hung up the phone knowing that, come later tonight, he was going to have a lot of explaining to do.