Replies-
The-Cheese-Fairy: Thanks! Glad ya liked it! He will eat his words ;)
Princess Pinky: Thanks! Glad you liked it! The plot is going to thicken in this chapter ;)! But this fic is set over seasons 4 and 5 of charmed so it will change quite a lot, and if I do a sequel (which I really wanna do so I hope people will eventually want one) then that will be seasons 6 and 7! Yeah, Phoebe sort of got a power advancement, but her premonitions won't always be in colour, which will be more important in a later chapter! Willow's relation isn't revealed until about chapter 20-24, sorry : )
Enough Is Enough:
Tears coursed down Phoebe's face as she feared for her sister's health, they had arrived at the hospital just ten minutes ago and Piper was now being rushed to the accident and emergency unit.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Willow asked the doctor, almost tasting her own sadness and fear,
"we'll do everything we can," he promised, checking Piper's weak pulse for a second time before leaving the two charmed ones and Tara in the family waiting room.
"Do you think her 'stomach cramps' have anything to do with this?" Willow said,
"or maybe the demon you told me about from yesterday morning," Tara suggested,
"good thinking, did you find out what the demon was?" Phoebe questioned,
"no, I managed to find him in the book but you screamed for me before I could read anything," the redhead replied.
"Well I'm gonna go back to the manor, find out about that guy, and kill every living member of his demonic family if he's responsible for hurting my sister," Phoebe told them, her former look of sadness morphing into one of anger and confidence,
"I'll go with you, the power of two's better than the power of one," Willow said, standing up and walking over to her fellow witch,
"I'll call your cell phone when the doctors know what's happening," Tara informed Phoebe, who nodded in thanks and then walked away with Willow in tow. Tara sat alone, thinking of when she had lost her own mother, and then the Halliwells' had lost their mother, and grandmother, and sister, and now there was something wrong with Piper, were they going to lose her too? She sure hoped not, in the couple of weeks she and Willow had lived at the manor they had both taken a liking to Piper, Phoebe and Leo, and they didn't plan on losing their new friends yet, if at all.
Not much later, Phoebe was standing at the Book of Shadows while Willow whipped up a vary of potions,
"Essence Thieves," the clairvoyant read, "Essence Thieves have the ability to absorb a life essence through a scarlet blast known as an essence funnel. Once the life essence is absorbed through the funnel the Thieves must wait twenty-four hours for all remains of the essence to disappear from it's original embodiment before strengthening themselves with the stolen life."
"Is there any way to reverse it?" Willow asked,
"kill the King and every essence his thieves have stolen is released," Phoebe replied,
"well that's good," Willow said,
"wait, you didn't let me finish; every essence his thieves have stolen is released into the afterlife," Phoebe told her.
"So either way they die," Willow murmured,
"not if we can help it, it says the original asorber of the essence has the power to restore it, or we could just call Leo" Phoebe said, "we're gonna need a spell to summon a whitelighter, if he can't come to us his way then he'll come our way,"
"can we even write a spell to do that? won't the Elders be mad?" Willow said,
"they will, but right now I don't care."
A few minutes and three failed spells later, Phoebe and Willow had finally written a chant they were sure would work,
"Angel from up above,
We call you down to heal your love,
Release your light in this day,
Bring Piper back and let her stay."
Orbs blossomed in the air and became Leo,
"Piper's hurt, we'll explain on the way," Phoebe said,
"on the way to where?" he asked,
"the hospital," she replied, heading towards the door only to be blocked off my a tall, skinny, essence thief. His bald head and fancy black suit made him look like a lawyer of sorts, while the energy ball in his palm showed him for the creature he really was,
"Leo, orb you and Willow to San Francisco memorial and heal Piper," Phoebe instructed,
"I'm not leaving you to fight these guys alone," Willow objected,
"just go, I've got your potions and the book, I can take them," Phoebe said, Willow hesitantly agreed and allowed Leo to orb her out. The essence thief in the doorway threw his energy ball, only for it to strike the being behind Phoebe as she used her levitation as leverage to avoid the attack,
"the clocks ticking Miss Halliwell, soon enough your sister shall die," another of the thieves hissed,
"not on my watch," Phoebe said, swinging a spin kick into his chest and grabbing two potions; one blue and one green, from the table behind her. Both vials shattered against his shoulder like glass bottles on a hardwood floor, however, they caused him no pain and he simply dabbed his finger into the mixture and licked it off,
"umm, tasty," he chuckled. With one swift movement his released an energy ball which skimmed passed Phoebe's right bicep and tore the sleeve of her tight red shirt,
"you owe me fifteen bucks for that," she stated, grabbing another potion; this time one a deep shade of orange, and smashing it at his feet. This appeared to be one which finally caused pain; spreading acidic burns across his skin,
"where's your king?" Phoebe questioned, holding another of the potions right next to his face,
"I'll never tell you," he snarled, she sighed and pulled the cork out of the potion, pouring the liquid over his head and stepping backwards as he exploded into a fiery bang.
"Any of you wanna tell me where your king is?" she asked, grabbing two potions in each hand; three of them being orange, and turning to the essence thieves standing behind her,
"I'm right here," an unnaturally muscular essence thief said. His brown hair hung down passed his ear lobes, while thick layers of leather covered his body and black gloves which had silver spikes on the top hid his hands.
"Send my sister's essence back!" Phoebe ordered, vanquishing one of the lower level thieves with a potion,
"you are mistaken little witch, I do not have your sister's essence, but your niece however…" he replied,
"niece?" Phoebe repeated, before the realisation that Piper was, or at least had, in fact been pregnant at the time of the attack yesterday.
"Let her go," Phoebe said, her voice strong yet weak with sorrow,
"I can't, you vanquished the demon who absorbed her essence, only he had the power to send it back, you're simply stuck Miss Halliwell," he explained. Phoebe levitated again and aimed a blow at the King's head, but he grabbed her ankle and threw her into the wall in-front.
"You won't win this battle, I'll take your life and the power of three will be diminished," he told her, shooting an essence funnel,
"or how bout I take your life instead," she spat, rolling out of the way of the beam and kicking the table over. Scatters of smashed glass and potion stains blobbed all over the floor and created a storm of flames, smoke and sparks; making the demons explode like erupting volcanoes.
Meanwhile, Leo and Willow were sitting back in the waiting room with Tara,
"I don't understand why I couldn't heal her," he said,
"maybe it's because her essence is slowly leaving her body," Willow said, a sincere pout on her lips as she rubbed his arm in comfort,
"it's not her essence," Phoebe said, walking in and closing the door behind her,
"what do you mean?" Leo asked. Phoebe thought for a moment at how she was going to tell him what was happening and then sat down opposite him on the wooden coffee table,
"I'm sorry honey, but Piper is…well was…" she began,
"was what?" he questioned,
"pregnant," she replied, "it isn't Piper's essence that was drained, it's the baby's, and there's no reversal, but I've made sure that she goes to the happy place, rather than to the underworld where her power will be used as a battery for the essence thieves." Tears glistened in Leo's eyes,
"Mrs Halliwell is awake, but there were some complications, please come through," the nurse said, stepping in and then back out again, the four of them following behind.
"Piper, remember the stomach pains you were telling me about, well you were in fact having a miscarriage, I'm terribly sorry," the doctor informed her, Piper instantly burst into tears, leaving Leo to hold her in his arms,
"we're afraid there's news which is possibly, if not definitely, worse," the doctor continued,
"go ahead," Phoebe nodded, from where she, Willow and Tara stood beside Piper's bed, on the opposite side to Leo,
"Mrs Halliwell, we're sorry to say that you have tissue scarring; this can be caused by a number of blows to abdomen or something else, but it looks like this may have been your only chance to have a child, my deepest condolences," he explained. More tears streamed down Piper's face,
"I think we should give them some time alone," Tara said, glancing from Piper and Leo to Willow and Phoebe. The female trio exited the room with the doctor not far behind,
"I can't imagine how they must feel," Phoebe said, as they returned to the waiting room,
"if only there was something we could do," Willow said, bowing her head in dismay.
That night, Piper lay alone in her hospital room. It was getting late and the moon was shining brightly in the sky, her thoughts had drifted to what life would have been like if she hadn't lost her baby;
She and Leo were in the garden of the manor, a little girl, around the age of two, was running around chasing a butterfly.
"Pru, don't chase the butterfly," Leo said in a childish tone, scooping his daughter up,
"I'd rather she chased it than blew it up," Piper joked, smiling at their child and pulling playfully on her dark pigtails.
"You can have that life Piper," a voice said, "and you know what you have to do to get it,"
"mom?" Piper whispered, the voice didn't reply, "I have to give up my powers," Piper murmured.
At the manor, Phoebe; now dressed in grey sweatpants, oversized white wool socks and a purple tank top, was cleaning the mess in the attic with help from Willow and Tara, while Cole had taken Leo to P3 to get his mind off the miscarriage. Willow; wearing red shorts and a baggy purple sweater, picked up some glass and tossed it the plastic bag Tara; who wore a long red skirt and a creamy yellow cardigan sweater, was holding.
"It's gonna take forever to get these potion marks off," Phoebe moaned,
"I'm sure there's some kind of cleaning spell in the book," Willow said,
"wouldn't that come under personal gain?" Tara asked,
"after the day we've had I think a little personal gain would do us good," Phoebe said, walking over to the book and flipping it open.
"You were right, here's a spell," she stated, brushing her hands against her thighs before chanting:
"Let the object of objection,
Become but a dream,
As I cause the seen to be unseen."
A river of lights travelled across the floor and erased the stains which the potions had created,
"abra kadabra," Willow smiled, clicking her fingers and telekinetically closing the book as they left.
The following morning, Piper; dressed in jeans and a sleeveless black turtle neck, returned home and gathered her family in the conservatory to tell them her plans,
"magic has only ever created loss and pain in our life, it took mom away, it took Prue away, and now I've found it's taken my only chance to have a baby away. I don't want to have to lose anybody else, I don't wanna lose my husband or my sister or my friends, that's why I'm doing this," she said, her eyes beginning to fill up as she spoke,
"doing what Piper?" Phoebe questioned,
"giving up my powers, I've had enough, I quit, I'm done with being a charmed one," she replied, turning around and walking away,
"but what about the power of three?" Phoebe called after her,
"screw the power of three," Piper shouted back, heading into the kitchen and slamming the door behind her.
"Hey guys, what's up with Aunt Piper?" a teenage girl, around the age of fourteen or fifteen, asked, glossy black hair sitting on her shoulders as she walked in. Dressed in a short denim skirt, black flat boots and a black sweater, the teen approached her other 'aunt', her 'uncle', and the two former Sunnydale survivors, and sat opposite them.
"Not now Patty," Phoebe warned,
"whatever, I'm going up to my room," the girl muttered, stomping upstairs.
To be continued…
Next chapter- The power of two proves useless against the demons, so Phoebe and Willow make a last minute bid to get Piper back on side. Patty tries to summon her mother Prue. And Piper decides that in order for her to truly escape her magical life she must move out.
'Two Out Of Three' should be up soon.