"What?" Piper's heart plummeted to her feet as Phoebe paled. She looked down over her younger sister's shoulder at the ancient family heirloom that lay in her lap. "Oh no."
"Okay, now you're scaring me." Paige joined her older sisters on the bed and stared down. "The demon Brax can only be vanquished by the Blessed One."
"What the hell does that mean?" Piper exploded, gazing up at her angelic husband.
Leo shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably and dropped his gaze.
"Leo, who's the Blessed One?" Piper asked slowly, suspicion dripping from every syllable. In her stomach Piper had a niggling felling she knew who this Blessed One was, and that her husband knew, too. She didn't like it one bit.
Leo's face flushed bright red, a sure sign he knew something and didn't want to share. Before he could have the chance to answer, a cluster of orbs appeared and formed into a small man wearing white robes. Immediately the sisters knew who, or what, he was.
"Who are you?" Paige demanded, springing off the bed.
"I am Roland, an Elder," he answered in a surprisingly loud voice for a wiry man.
"And what do you want?" Phoebe asked defensively. Even though They were a force of great good, Phoebe didn't trust the Elders. After all They had put Piper and Leo through, she had every right not to.
Roland's grey eyes locked with Piper's brown ones, ignoring the younger Charmed Ones. "I have news on the baby you are carrying."
"Is there anything wrong with her?" Piper inquired, her pulse quickening.
Roland smiled reassuringly. "No. The baby is absolutely fine."
"Well what then?" Paige snapped, growing impatient with the Elder's slow talking.
"The baby Piper is carrying is the Blessed One. The most powerful witch in all existence. More powerful, the prophecy says, than the Power Of Three."
"Wait a minute. There's a prophecy about my baby?"
"Of course The prophecy of the children goes like this: 'When Charmed One and Whitelighter fall into forbidden love, three special children will be born. The eldest shall be the most powerful magical being ever known to the universe, possessing more strength than the Power Of Three and will be a force of good. The first child's abilities shall come from both the mother and father; a mixture of its unique magical heritage. The middle child, although not as powerful as the first, will also wield great magical strength. Its magical abilities will also come from both its mother and father equally. The youngest witch-lighter will be one of the first of its kind in the Warren line, and its powers will not come from its family line, but from its father and an outside force.'
"A bit vague isn't it?" Paige quipped.
"My baby is that powerful?" Piper asked, incredulous. Her voice was small and disbelieving. " And we're going to have three children. And what does it mean 'one of the first of its kind in the Warren line?' Piper knew she was rambling, and she could hear how ridiculous she sounded, and yet she couldn't help it. How could this Elder drop a bombshell like this without even a bit of notice? She needed answers.
"Honey, are you okay?" Leo said as he sat down next to Piper and put his arms protectively around her shoulders.
"I'm fine. Just a bit overwhelmed."
"I must leave now, I've done all I came to do. Goodbye." With that abrupt goodbye, Roland orbed back 'Up There'.
As soon as he was gone, Piper turned to Leo and shrugged his arms his arms off her. "You knew about this didn't you?" she accused, her eyes blazing.
"Yes, I did." Leo admitted. "Piper I'm so sorry."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Piper poured all her hurt and disappointment into those few words as tears spilled down her face.
" I wanted to. But I was sworn to secrecy by the Elders."
"That's not an excuse. Leo I'm your wife!" Piper all but screamed.
Leo placed his hands over Piper's. "Please calm down. This stress isn't good for the baby."
"Well, she's so all powerful, I'm sure she can handle it!" The second the words were out her mouth Piper regretted them. She didn't mean it, of course she didn't. As magically powerful as her baby was, she was still a baby. An unborn one at that. And unborn babies needed their mother's protection. "I didn't mean that," Piper said quietly.
"I know sweetie." Leo wrapped his arms around his wife, and this time she didn't object him off.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we've got a demon to vanquish," Paige said.
Piper and Leo pulled apart, and Piper wiped her eyes. "Are you okay now?" Leo asked.
Piper nodded and sniffed. "I'm fine. It's just the hormones."
"Okay." Phoebe slid the book off her lap and slapped her hands together. "What to we do now? I mean, the baby's still in the womb. She can't vanquish demons for a good few years."
"That's easy," Leo said.
"It is?" Piper asked, everything already forgiven and forgotten.
"Yeah. The baby heals you, right?"
"Yeah," Piper confirmed. Ever since Piper was a few months pregnant the baby had been healing her from the womb.
"So she has powers," Paige said, catching on.
"And all you need to do is read the spell," Phoebe finished with a grin.
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A few minutes later, everyone was in the attic. At first Phoebe had protested, but Paige had managed to persuade her. They figured it was the safest place to battle demons.
"So how do we get Brax?" Paige asked.
"Well, in my vision, I think we can safely call it that now, Brax killed us here. And we were in P.Js , so we can assume it was night time. Hopefully it happens to night so we don't have to wait long," Phoebe answered.
A gust of wing whipped around the attic, lifting the Charmed One's long hair off their shoulders.
"In coming," Paige called over the whistling of the wind.
Brax appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, decked in a long black robe. Piper flexed out her fingers and froze the demon. For a split-second, Brax was motionless, but then he started moving in slow motion. A mili-second later Brax was out of the freeze and grinning maliciously. With a wave of his hand Piper was sent flying through the air and crashing out a window.
"No!" Leo screamed, beginning to orb out.
Before he had completely disappeared, Piper was brought back into the attic in a swirl of blue and white lights. The cuts and grazes caused by shattered glass began to heal on her body. Piper blew up the demon, but as soon as she did he began to re-constitute.
When he was whole again her gave a howl of rage and pain and swept his arm in the Charmed Ones' direction. Piper braced herself for another telekinetic onslaught, but none came. Instead, four enchanted crystals flew off a shelf and surrounded the Charmed Ones, locking them in a crystal cage.
"It's just like my vision!" Phoebe screamed hysterically. She had had that vision to save herself and her sisters, but they had failed.
Brax formed a fireball in his bony palm and bounced it cockily up and down. Phoebe cringed. This was the end.
Just as he was preparing to launch it, Leo orbed in front of him. The fireball was extinguished but a startled Brax.
"You think a whitelighter can stop me?" Brax asked, a cocky grin secured on his gruesome features, instantly replacing his surprise.
"Actually, yeah." As he said the words, Leo spun around and swept one of the crystals away, breaking the cage. "Now!"
Piper took this as her cue and she began to chant.
Whispering winds, serve me well,
Send this demon straight back to hell.
As she shouted the words of the spell over the noise of the gale, her lungs burned and she felt the power of her unborn baby coursing threw her veins. It gave her the strength to repeat the spell numerous times until, finally, the wind dissipated into a long, thin funnel in the centre of the attic's Oriental rug. Brax was pulled violently towards the mini tornado and was sucked into it, along with a few books, potion bottles and pictures. The tornado collapsed in on its self and with a small pop, was gone.
Piper crumpled to the floor, her body exhausted at having experienced the full force of her baby's power. Leo sprinted to her side, fearing the worst.
"Piper," her whimpered. He lifted her head gently onto his lap and cradled it. Piper's pulse was strong and pounding furiously over her wrists as Leo felt for a sign of life. "Piper, wake up," he muttered coarsely. Something was terribly wrong.
"Leo?" Phoebe and Paige dropped to their knees next to their fallen sister.
"Is she.. is she d ..?" Phoebe couldn't bring herself to voice the word that etched fear into their hearts. Ever since losing Prue, she had clung to both her sisters, terrified of losing another.
"I'm fine," Piper croaked weakly. She lifted her head so slowly it was as if her neck wasn't strong enough to support it.
"Piper, are you okay?" Leo brushed Piper's hair from her eyes. What he saw made him shrink back in shock. They were not Piper's chocolate brown eyes. They were a deep coffee colour, so dark you could barely see the pupils and were specked with emerald green. They were most definitely not the eldest Charmed One's eyes. They were the eyes of the Blessed One. The eyes slid closed, and when they were opened again, they were back to their original light brown.
"Leo," Piper rasped. She took in a deep breath and started again. "Is Brax vanquished?"
"Yes sweetie. You did it," Leo answered, tears glistening in his eyes. He had just stared into the eyes of his unborn child. How many people could say that?
"No." Piper lifted herself from her husband's lap, her strength returning with every second. "It wasn't me. It was the baby. She.. she.." Piper faltered, unsure how to explain what she had experienced. " It was like she took over me. I could see and hear and feel everything, but I had no control."
"Is that possible?" Paige wondered. "That your baby could be that powerful?"
Leo shrugged and looked down lovingly at Piper. "Anything's possible"
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A/N. Hope you liked it. I know the prophecy was really bad, but I couldn't come up with anything? Next chapter should be up soon.
Please review.