A/N: As always, thanks to the loyal reviewers. I realize this might be a little bit slower moving, but I've got a lot of stuff planned for this fic, and I have to get all the stuff set up so that I can get into the meat of the story.
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Wyatt and Abby walked hand in hand up the manor steps. For days now their lives had been blissfully normal. No demon attacks, no family traumas, and no magical issues had popped up. It wasn't a normal week, but it was one that Wyatt would take without complaint.
Abby smiled up at him. "Mmm… This has been one of the best weeks of my life, Wyatt. I love you so much. I can't believe you took me to the zoo! Those little monkeys were so cute!"
"Not as cute as you were. I can't believe you wouldn't go into the reptile house. Big bad witch, scared of a few little snakes." Wyatt teased gently.
"A few little snakes? Wyatt those things are humongous. And you know they would just love to eat you." She shivered. "No snakes for this girl."
Wyatt just chuckled and threw his arm around her shoulders, hugging her close as he opened the door to the manor. A nerf ball hit him square in the nose.
"Wyatt! Sorry! You weren't supposed to be there. Minor mistake." Phyra called from the top of the stairs.
"Phy, what are you doing? And how the heck did you throw that thing that far?" He asked with a grin as he ushered Abby inside and closed the door behind him.
"I'm practicing. Either I have gotten buff beyond all reasonable explanation, or I've got another power."
"Hey, really? What is it?"
"Watch." Phyra grabbed another ball, tossed it up in the air, and blew on it. Her breath propelled it across the room, sending it crashing into the wall, knocking down the picture of Chris & Wyatt when they were babies.
"Cool. Have you tried it with anything heavier than a ball?" Wyatt walked up the stairs to where Phyra stood.
"Only the first time. I didn't know I had a new power, and I went to blow my hair out of my face. Instead, I blew my desk over." She shrugged, still embarrassed.
"Ha! That's nothing. When I first discovered I could blow things up, I destroyed the kitchen table while we were all eating. "
"I can beat both of you. When I first used my invisibility, I was in front of my entire class giving a speech on George Washington. Keep in mind, I went to mortal school until then." Abby noted, shaking her head.
Phyra grimaced. "Ew… that had to suck."
"Definitely."
"Yeah, well, I've got all of you beat. When I first discovered my telekinesis, I accidentally stripped mom of every piece of clothing she had on." Chris announced, appearing behind them.
"EW!"
"Ugh, Chris!"
"Damn, that's nasty, bro!" All three of them broke out in equally disgusted and horrified voices.
"Oh, come on. I really didn't look that bad, did I?" Piper called out from downstairs. She laughed at the horrified expressions on her boys faces.
"Nah, Mom. Beautiful as always, of course." Chris was the first to recover.
"Ah, smart guy. You can stay in my will." Piper joked. She turned to Phyra. "So, are you having better luck with your new power?"
"Yeah, I mean, I think so. I can direct where things go now. Before I couldn't predict it, but now, it's not so bad. But the only bad part is, I can't stop anything. Like when Wyatt came in. I tried to stop the ball so it wouldn't hit him, but even though I stopped blowing, it kept going."
"Try it again, Phy. Only this time, instead of not blowing, try sucking some of your breath back in. That might work." Abby suggested. "When I go invisible because I'm embarrassed, I have to wait until I'm not embarrassed for the invisibility to reverse. Maybe the same thing will work. The opposite action for the opposite reaction."
"It's worth a shot. Wy, can you go over by the door again?"
"How come I have to be the one to the get hit again?"
"Because you're the biggest target I can find. Please?"
Wyatt grumbled a little, but did as asked. Phyra grabbed another ball, and again blew on it, sending it hurling towards Wyatt. Just as it was about to hit him, she stopped, and sucked her breath in. She grinned as she watched the ball slow, then start to come back to her. She let out a yelp of laughter as the ball fell back into her hand. "Oh my God, that is so COOL!"
Chris grinned at her obvious excitement. "Let's see if you can use it as a defensive power. I'll throw the ball at you, and then…"
"DEMON!" Phyra yelled as she saw shimmering behind Chris.
"No! No demon. Just me!" Maya squeaked out as she saw Wyatt ready to hurl an energy ball.
Wyatt extinguished his energy ball with a sigh. "Sorry, hon. I'm a little jumpy. All this demon non-activity has me a little frazzled."
Maya laughed, "You're not alone, Wy. Chris almost electrocuted himself when he called back a set of energy bolts last night when I surprised him. We have a very interesting scorch mark on our dining room floor now, though."
"Why can't the two of you just relax? Maybe the demons are just tired of dying. Shouldn't you just be enjoying your time off? Look at how much fun you've both had in the past week." Abby followed Phyra down the stairs.
"Abby, demons don't just stop with no reason." Piper added. "To be honest, I think Wyatt and Chris are right to be jumpy. Lord knows the rest of us are."
"Yeah, especially when the last time we had this little demon activity, Zankou was reforming the Underworld." Paige added, overhearing Piper's comment as she walked through the door.
"Well, that's all the more reason for me to practice right? So that way if a demon does come back bigger and badder than ever, I'll have more powers. C'mon Chris…Throw a ball at me. I wanna see if I can blow it away." Phyra giggled at her own joke.
Chris grinned good naturedly. "All right. Here it comes." He tossed the nearest nerf ball gently at Phyra. She blew hard at it, but missed. Instead the ball hit her shoulder harmlessly, and the gust of breath hit Chris in the stomach, knocking him backwards to land on the couch.
Phyra's mouth dropped open in shock. "Holy cow!" she yelled. "Chris, are you ok?"
Chris lifted his head up off the couch. "Umm Hmm. I think it's safe to say, you can use your power defensively. I feel like a dump truck ran over me."
"Oh God, quick, Wyatt, heal him! I didn't mean to hurt you, Chris!" Phy ran over and knelt beside him.
"No! No, Wy. I'm good. I don't need to be healed. I'm not really hurt. Phy, it's okay. I'm good as new. No big deal, just a little winded that's all. It's cool. I'm glad actually. At least now, I'm not going to worry so much about you. You can certainly take care of yourself." He patted the back of her head gently.
"Okay, so I couldn't take it anymore. I mean, I love the no demon part, but seriously, we're going to up to our elbows in demons any second." Phoebe announced running down the stairs. "So when Cole volunteered to go on a recon mission, I accepted. He's gone to the Underworld to check things out."
"What? You sent him out alone?" Paige asked incredulously.
Phoebe and Piper both immediately turned to stare in shock at Paige. Was that really concern for Cole coming from their baby sister?
"So, he's kinda growing on me. You know, now that he's not constantly trying to kill one of us or all of us, he's not that bad of a guy. For a demon, that is."
Wyatt laughed. "Nothing like damning him with faint praise, Aunt Paige."
"Hey, even to say anything nice about him is a step in the right direction for me. Don't push it!" Paige turned to look at Phoebe. "Besides, I see how happy he's making my sister. And he's definitely trying to be a good person now. As long as neither of those things change, I'm going to try to be nicer to him."
Phoebe gave a girlish squeal and wrapped her arms around her sister in a hug. "Oh, Paige. I'm so happy! Thank you!"
"You're welcome. But seriously, should Cole be alone? What if someone recognizes him?"
"Actually, Mom, I think it's good that he's alone. I mean, he still has all of his demonic powers. Just because he doesn't use them for evil anymore, doesn't mean they aren't still just as strong as they always were. Trust me, they're awesome. If someone messes with him, Balthazor will hand them their as…er…butts." Phyra quickly changed her words at her mother's arched eyebrow.
"Phy's right. If anyone can take care of himself in the Underworld, it's Cole." Phoebe stated calmly.
"I agree. Now, not that I mind, of course, but what are you four doing here?" Piper looked pointedly at Chris, Wyatt, Maya & Abby.
"Well, for starters, we wanted to check on Phy. With all these warnings about her new powers, we just wanted to make sure things were okay." Wyatt started.
"And we also wanted to talk to you about this lack of demon activity…" Chris added.
Maya snorted and looked at Piper. "They want Phiona. Both of them are just dying to see the baby again. That's why they're here."
"Not to mention, I think Wyatt is tired of my cooking. All I've heard for the past two days is hinting about your cooking." Abby added with a laugh.
Chris and Wyatt glanced at each other with a sheepish shrug. Piper laughed. "Phiona is upstairs sleeping with Paisley. They'll probably wake up in a little while. We're having homemade chicken pot pie tonight. If you would like to stay, there's more than enough for all of you."
"Great! Thanks, Mom! Hey, how about, I run to Yummies and grab one of those caramel cheesecakes that Chris made this morning, and bring it back for dessert? We can have a little celebration for their wedding, since the reception kind of got cut off."
Piper smiled at her sisters' enthusiastic agreement. "Sounds great, Wy. But you'd better get three of them. This is a pretty big crowd, you know."
As they all laughed and talked below, the shimmering circle appeared again at the top of the stairs, and the man stepped out again. He looked below and grinned evilly. "That's right Wyatt. Celebrate…celebrate like it's your last night on earth." He spoke softly, not alerting anyone to his presence, and stepped back into his shimmering circle, disappearing before anyone noticed he was there.
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Cole shimmered into the Underworld behind a rock formation. He could hear the normal sounds of the Underworld- screams, shrieks, growls and grunts. He stretched a little, relaxing. It was strange being a good soul inside an evil one. Being with Phoebe at the manor with her family was wonderful. Her kids had accepted his presence with a grace that surprised him. Even Paige was being tolerable. But as much as he loved that life, there was still something soothing about the dark caverns and holes of the Underworld. No matter what it was still home, and he fit into the comfort of it with the ease of a well worn shoe. He strolled down the darkened corridor, listening for any activity.
"Balthazor?" Cole whirled at the sound of a voice calling his demonic name. Instantly he changed forms.
"Who's asking?" he growled dangerously.
"Surely you recognize me, Balthazor. After all, we were once very…close." A slender, gray haired female came from around the outcropping to reveal herself.
"Knox."
"Ah, you do remember me. I'm touched."
"Don't be. I remember the name of all the beautiful assassins who try to kill me."
"I'm sure it happens often."
"You'd be surprised, actually."
"Look, I'm not after you this time. But I thought that you deserved to know this much. I, along with the rest of my brood have been hired to take the Charmed Ones and their children out. Unless you want to be vanquished with them, I suggest you stay here where it's safe."
"Hired by who?"
"That's not important, Balthazor. What is important is making sure you aren't one of the victims. We've missed you down here. The Underworld just isn't the same without you." She sighed.
"You'll have to keep on missing me. I'm sure your boss will be disappointed. There's no way you and your brood is strong enough to kill the entire Hallowell clan. They are a thousand times stronger than you." Cole shimmered away, stopping all conversation.
"Ah, my beautiful Balthazor, but who said anything about killing them?" Knox asked the darkness.
"Wonderful job, Konix. You will be well rewarded for your efforts." The shimmering circle appeared and the young man stepped out. "The Halliwell's are already confused. This will completely shock them."
