It's still not mine. Sigh.
"You see, witches, this solution, if injected into a human being, will irreparably alter their genetic makeup. In short, it will turn them and their powers evil. Purely demonic. Forever. And, since you've been so kind as to ask, we'd like to test the first batch out on you."
As Krog stepped closer, vial of bubbling potion gripped between his leathery fingers, Phoebe pretended to consider what he had just said. Slowly, she shook her head.
"One second. That potion makes humans into demons, right?"
"It does," Krog hissed, as the crowd of demons growled in delight at their achievement.
"Does it not also turn demons human?" Phoebe asked.
"It would turn the transformed ones," Krog admitted reluctantly. "Hence all of the safety concerns. We don't want to be turned into humans in the process, no matter what great things we'll be accomplishing here."
"Dude, did you just say 'hence'?" Paige demanded incredulously. Krog's face flushed slightly and a demon stepped up from behind him to smack him on the back of the head.
"Thanks," Krog muttered reluctantly to his attacker. "One of the more unfortunate side effects of the transformation. I have yet to lose some of my human tendencies."
"You were human?" Alexis asked quietly, almost sadly.
"I was," Krog assented, disgusted. "Several of us were. Luckily, this group and their potion saved us, and I will pass the favor onto you. With the Charmed Ones on our side, we will be unbeatable. Prepare for demonization."
"Demonization? Like democratization?" Phoebe asked, subtly signaling to the other members of her posse to prepare to make their move.
"Uh, I guess," Krog responded, bewildered. "Not important. Time for you to drink up."
"Actually," Paige replied, motioning to Alexis, who took a deep breath. "If Piper is ready, it's time for it to get just a little bit hot in here."
"Now!" Phoebe yelled, and Phoebe, Paige, and Chris all threw their hands towards Alexis, channeling pure magic into the young demon, who closed her eyes in an attempt to center herself. She steadily grew brighter and brighter until a brilliant blue aura of magic surrounded her, and she appeared to be struggling to contain the magic as more and more poured in from the group surrounding her.
"Is she okay?" Chris called to Phoebe and Paige over the steadily louder orbing twinkles and levitation whooshes that were filling the cave.
"Hold steady!" Phoebe called back. "She knows what she's doing!" As if on cue, Alexis took in a deep breath and threw her arms forward, towards the crowd of demons that had huddled together in the center of the underground lab, confused and frightened. A huge wave of magic, in the form of bright blue orbs and smoky levitation magic, rushed towards the crowd and enveloped them and their surroundings.
"Send them off!" Alexis yelled over their confused shouts, and Phoebe, Paige, and Chris closed their eyes and concentrated fiercely, directing the magic and sending the demons away, presumably to purgatory. The deserted cave and the abandoned lab equipment sat innocently empty, and Alexis leaned on one of the walls, breathing heavily. Chris hurried to her side, followed closely by Phoebe and Paige.
"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned. Alexis grimaced and raised one shaky hand above her head to snap her fingers and transform from a tired looking Piper into an exhausted version of herself. The witches gasped when they realized that she was still covered in deep scrapes leftover from the battle at the Manor, and that much of her exposed skin was beginning to bruise.
"We forgot to have Leo heal you," Paige moaned. "Alexis, I am so sorry."
"S'okay," Alexis mumbled, drooping over in fatigue. "S'not really that bad. Channeling just takes it out of you, that's all. I'll be a-okay."
"You're going straight home and getting some good old fashioned Whitelighter healing, understand?" Paige asked firmly. "You look like you're about to fall over."
"I just might be," Alexis replied as she stood up, only to waver and nearly fall down. Chris caught her gently and said to his aunts,
"Let's go home. We need to tell Mom and Dad what happened, and get her patched up," Ignoring Alexis' protests, Chris orbed her to the Manor and laid her softly down on the couch while Paige went to bring Leo. Alexis muttered a quiet thanks before passing completely out on the conservatory couch. Chris smiled at her, and glanced up to see his father and Phoebe entering the room.
"How's Mom?" he asked Leo, as he stepped forward to examine the wounds on the sleeping girls' face and arms.
"She's asleep, probably for the first time in a few days. She's exhausted, and weak, but she's going to be fine," he replied with a relieved smile. He turned back to Alexis. "This one will also be fine. She's all surface wounds, not to mention entirely drained of magic. Whatever you guys did down in that cave really did a number on Alexis. Do you want me to try and heal her?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't we?" Chris asked, confused.
"She's a demon, Chris," Leo replied. "She may not heal completely, or even heal at all. Should I try, or just let her heal the old way?"
"You might as well try," Chris said with a shrug, as Phoebe and Paige nodded in agreement. Leo raised his hands to hover above Alexis' peaceful looking face and closed his eyes as a warm healing glow came from them. Slowly, the deepest of Alexis' cuts began to close and the worst of her bruising began to fade, but when the healing stopped the progress was far from complete. Leo lowered his hands and turned to his son.
"Should I keep going?" he asked. Chris paused a moment, looking to Phoebe for her opinion.
"Let her be," Phoebe said decisively. "I can whip up a healing potion for the rest of it and just let her sleep it off. Time and rest are all that will replace the lost magic, and she might as well be healing while she's working at that."
"She can have my room," Paige volunteered, and the others nodded in assent. Paige closed her eyes and orbed the sleeping demon out of the room. "All set!" she said when she had landed Alexis gently onto her bed. As Leo went to check on Piper, and Phoebe and Paige went to work on the healing potion, Chris sighed and continued with the abandoned cleaning effort that never actually seemed to end. But, futile or not, Chris did not want his mother waking up to a dirty house. He'd never hear the end of it.
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It took quite a bit of concentration, but Alexis managed to convince both of her eyes to open, and stay opened. She glanced around for a moment, confused, before she remembered exactly what had happened that had landed her in the Halliwell Manor, unconscious. Sighing in resignation, she pulled herself out of bed and examined her arms and legs. They were healing slowly, but nicely, she noted with satisfaction. Having completed the necessary inventory and made sure that she was still intact and in working order, Alexis opened the door to what she had surmised was Paige's bedroom and wandered down the hallway and down the stairs. The house appeared to be empty, but Alexis soon came upon Piper, sitting at the kitchen table in her pajamas, brow furrowed as she studied the back of the Honey Smacks box.
"Morning," she said, smiling slightly, noting that Piper had been trying hard to work out a maze printed on the box. "Have you figured it out yet?"
"Not yet," Piper replied, sounded irritated and shaking her head. "It's like the damn frog doesn't even want to find the damn lily pad!" With that, she shoved the box down to the other end of the table and grumbled to herself for a moment, before glancing up at Alexis. "Hey! You're awake!"
"So are you," Alexis replied, smiling back at Piper as she shoved her hand into the cereal box and pulled out a handful of cereal. "Are you all patched up?"
"I'll probably live," Piper responded airily. "You?" Alexis stopped chewing for a moment and mentally berated herself for not having checked to see if she had healed magically, as well as physically. She shut her eyes, concentrated, and was relieved to feel the familiar flooding of magic course through her body. Content, she opened her eyes and swallowed her cereal.
"Good as new, magic and all," she told Piper. "I appreciate y'all taking such good care of me."
"Oh, don't thank me," Piper hurried to reply. "I've been unconscious."
"You too, huh?" Alexis asked, giggling a little at Piper's matter-of-fact tone. "When did you wake up?"
"Yesterday, after three days in the wonder of Coma-Ville."
"I was out for four days?" Alexis yelped. "I have to get home! I have to talk to the office and check on my puppy and fix all the ways my life must have gotten messed up while I was laying upstairs, asleep! What?" she asked, annoyed by the amused look on Piper's face.
"Relax, kiddo. We took care of everything. Actually, Chris did," she added as an afterthought.
"Chris did?" Alexis asked, unconvinced.
"Absolutely," Piper confirmed. "He found your information in your purse, called you in sick, and adopted your dog, even though Phoebe declared her a yeti and refuses to go very close to her."
As if on cue, the front doors of the Manor burst open and an obscenely large Bernese Mountain Dog charged inside, dragging a laughing Chris behind her. A few seconds later, Paige entered as well, looking harried and closing the door while mumbling something about crazed canines. The dog, delighted to see her owner for the first time in four days, immediately launched herself into Alexis' lap and began to lick her face frantically. Alexis laughed, and glanced up to thank Chris, who, she noticed with pleasure, looked almost as happy to see her as her dog did.
"You're awake!" he exclaimed, while struggling to unclasp the leash from around the massive dog's collar. "How do you feel?"
"I'm all better," Alexis replied, scratching her huge dog behind the ears. "Thanks for taking care of Trixie Pixie for me." She frowned in confusion as the looks on the faces surrounding her slipped into expressions of shock. "What?" Chris pointed a finger towards the dog that had stretched out on the ground, chin resting on Alexis' feet, practically drooling with contentment.
"Trixie Pixie?" he asked, stunned past the point of being able to form complete sentences.
"Yes," Alexis replied hesitatingly. "My puppy-dog."
"Dude," Paige interjected, shaking her head. "We'd been calling that monster Jell-O Bruiser."
"I'm sorry, Jell-O Bruiser?" Alexis asked, bewildered. Piper nodded sagely, though she seemed to be laughing at Paige more than she seemed to be agreeing with her.
"Apparently Missy Paige believes that true monstrosity is only achieved when the being in question is able to bruise Jell-O," she said, sounding perfectly serious but looking to be dangerously close to giggling. "Your dog is just monstrous enough."
"It's true!" Paige assented, shaking her head empathetically. "There is no way I will ever be able to call her Trixie Pixie."
"That's fine," Alexis replied with a smile. "Y'all have done quite enough for me already. I'll just take my giant Jell-O Bruiser and take off."
"What?" Piper demanded, looking quite thunderstruck by the notion. "You most certainly will not! You've done an amazing thing for this family and this city, and now that we're all conscious again we are going to celebrate, dammit!"
"Okay, okay!" Alexis said, throwing her hands up in defeat. "We'll celebrate! I'm still going home, though. I'm ready to get out of the clothes I've been wearing for the last four days."
"That is allowed," Piper decreed magnanimously. "But you'd better meet us at P3 tonight or there'll be hell to pay."
"Deal," Alexis replied, taking Trixie Pixie's leash from Chris with a smile. "P3, tonight, new clothes."
"And no huge dog!" Phoebe hollered from the door that she had just walked into, only to balk in poorly concealed fear and edge into the kitchen with her back pressed against the far wall. "No huge dog!"