A Charmed Story - Part Three:
Double Demons
Chapter 11

"Honey," Bianca whispered, touching his face softly. Her hand was so cold. "I'm so sorry... I..."
"No, don't say that, sweetie, you'll be alright I swear."
"I'm sorry, that I didn't tell you..." she went on. But then she was shaken by a wave of pain.
"No... sweetie, don't leave me... don't leave me..." Chris cried desperate. He had to do something, but he couldn't.
"I love you..." she whispered.
"I love you too, but... please... stay with me... o.k... you have to... I need you..." he cried in pain. He couldn't let that happen, but he knew there was nothing he could do... not without his powers.
Cole put his hand on his nephew's shoulder. He didn't know what else he could do.
Bianca closed her eyes.
"Noooooo!" Chris yelled. He couldn't stand this. He couldn't lose her. He needed her! He cried, remebering what he saw in the fields. That couldn't happen, he couldn't lose her.
Suddenly there was a light. It came from inside Bianca's body. A little orange-golden light. It started at her belly and went over to her chest.
Chris was looking at it with eyes and mouth wide open, without understanding, without believing.
Cole frowned. 'Could that be...?' he thought.
The light surrounded the wound in her chest... and it healed her. The wound was getting smaller and smaller. Bianca's breathing calmed down, and when the light disappeared, the wound was gone and she slowly opened her eyes.
She smiled a little and sat up slowly. Chris was looking at her astonished. Then he hugged her tightly, more than happy to have her back.
Cole smiled, too. He was relieved that she was alright... he couldn't imagine what had happened, otherwise.
Chris looked into her eyes: "I... I don't understand this... I mean... That wasn't me... My powers... What... What was this?"
Bianca smiled, looking at her womb, caressing it softly. Then she looked into Chris's eyes: "Well... I think your little child has done that to me."
Chris looked at her surprised and unbelieving: "My what?"
Bianca smiled at him, caressing his cheek: "Honey, I'm pregnant."
Chris took a deep breath. "Oh, my god," he smiled. That was overwhelming... "I'll be a daddy?" he asked with sparkling eyes. She nodded smiling. "That's fantastic, unbelievable, wonderful..." Chris was so happy that he didn't know what to say exactly.
"Not all birds are reborn, but one is. And one is, that is not bird at all," repeated Cole smiling, "that fits exactly!"
"But why didn't you tell me before?" Chris asked then, frowning.
Bianca turned pale.
"Because she's not allowed to have that child. That's why she has to die," one of the Phoenixes said.
"No!" Bogus yelled.

°°°°°°°°°°

"You can start right now, Miss 'I've-got-in-my-hands-the-power-and-the-knowledge-to-destroy-the-world'!" Paige yelled, as she entered the room with the round table, followed by a big bunch of witches.
The woman started at her voice and turned to see her. "What the hell are you..." but she stopped, when she saw all the others behind her.
Instead of going on talking, she blasted a huge ray on them, but Leo made it explode with his own rays and the woman had to duck to avoid the blasting effect.
"My people, we need to fight! This is starting once again! They'll kill all of us, and destroy our golden dream!" she cried in the attempt to push the new-found double demons to an attack.
However, Steve, taking advantage of the confusion generated by the sudden attack of the witches, tried to take control of the situation, himself: "No! Listen to me! This woman is lying! Forget what you have seen! You've been living as witches and demons all your lives and no one has treated you as inferiors, as they are claming!"
The woman in grey glared at Steve: "You traitor, you, Judas! Kill him, kill him right now, for our future's sake!"
The two men by her threw energy balls at the boy, but he avoided them, and went on, as some of the witches tried to prevent any other attack from the men in grey. "I have seen the truth! I saw what they did in the past, they only caused destruction. They even destroyed a whole race of angels!"
Meanwhile Tom struggled to get to Phoebe.
"You should hide yourself, you don't have your powers..." she said.
Tom nodded, but before running behind the other witches, asked: "What about the potions? Even if they believe Steve, we need the potions. Haven't Chris and Cole come back?"
Phoebe didn't answer; she was so worried; she preferred not to answer, but to stick to the action.
"Don't worry, we'll sort this out. Go out there, quickly, with Piper, John and your friends, they're helping the others to escape," said his father, smiling at him from behind.
Tom smiled back and nodded. Then he ran out.
At that very moment, the woman started to form another ray aimed at Steve, who was looking at the mestizos around him. But then, one of those who had been raised as a demon, threw an energy ball at her and at the two men.
"He's right! I won't serve these people anymore. I'm happy with my own evil world," he smirked.
The woman fell back a little, but her wounds were healed right away. "You can't kill us... And if you join us, Mestizos... Nobody will be able to kill you..." she smirked.

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper, Odin and John were outside the room in a long corridor which joined the two tunnels that led to the prisons. The Elder and the whitelighter, who weren't very used to the fighting stuff, decided to help Piper in her task. They assigned a half-whitelighter to every two witches, so that they could orb back home. All the witches and demons were running away at that very moment, and they, together with Veronica, were leading them to the place where they'd be able to orb away.
Nicki had left with Sarah, who was really distressed.
Tom decided to join the Charmed One and Piper, who smiled sadly, said: "It seems that Bianca and Belthazor did it too... But I wonder what the hell is going on in there..."
Tom nodded: "If I can help."
"No way!" Piper realised the boy was without any powers at all. John, please, orb him back to the school. And see if Cole and Chris are back. We need that potion..."
The whitelighter obeyed and grabbed Tom's hand to orb him to the magic school.

°°°°°°°°°°

All the faces inside the cave turned at once to look in Bogus's eyes, in surprise.
"No..." he repeated, humbly.
"What? But you said that..." was the voice of one of the female Phoenixes that had stayed back.
"I know what I said... But I can't do that. She has saved me... us. And, even if I think these little creatures, mixture of good and evil, can be really dangerous..." Chris hugged Bianca instinctively. "I think we can actually make some kind of... alliance with good witches," Bogus went on. "After all...", he sighed, "we're all witches, aren't we?"
Bianca's mother embraced her little child strongly, tears streaming down her face, as Chris did the same with the adult version and helped her up.
Cole had been observing in silence, moved, until he heard Belthazor's groaning behind him. He frowned, and got a bit away from this sweet scene, to watch the demon: He was badly wounded, and suffering. And he didn't know why, but he felt some pity for him. Bogus had been able to forgiven Bianca's child's life because she had saved his... If the evil witch could do that... wouldn't the good side be able to forgive a demon that had saved all their lives? He shook his head and turned to Chris, who was distracted enough with his love.
"Cole..." Belthazor mumbled weakly, "you won..." Cole sat down by him, and frowned, remembering how in his vision, his father said that Cole would win... Cole closed his eyes, and touched the demon's arm. "There's no 'you' or 'me'," he whispered, enigmatically, "we're the same person... want it or not."
"Cole!" It was Chris's voice: "We need to go, and prepare the potion. This hasn't finished." Cole nodded, but said nothing.
Chris turned to Bianca: "Can you shimmer us?" She nodded. "Then, take also Belthazor to the manor, and we'll imprison him in a cage of crystal. We can try to save him later."
All the faces turned this time towards the boy, who smiled. "This is not the moment to kill him... And who knows... 'Hope' has been 'reborn' today'" he said simply.
Cole smiled back at him, grateful, without the others noticing. "Yeah... And literally," he muttered while looking straight to Bianca's womb, "Literally... This Wyatt will be a genius." He grinned.
All the witches shimmered, some to help the good ones, others to their homes.

°°°°°°°°°°

John and Tom reached the school. There was no one else there. "Damn it," Tom swore.
John grasped his shoulder and looked him in the eyes: "O.k. Tom, you'll stay here, here you're safe. I'll go back and help the witches to orb away from the underworld, o.k.?"
Tom nodded; even if he felt not very well imagining that he should stay there, alone.
"If Chris and Cole come here," the whitelighter went on, "tell them to hurry. They must call me!" Tom nodded again and John orbed back to the underworld.
Now the young witch was alone. He looked around the empty hall and sighed.
God, he had never believed that his life as witch could be so... full of action. But now he was a friend of the Charmed Ones. First he thought that this was great, but now... now he began to realise that this meant a lot of danger for him. But he was also proud of that... Proud that they trusted him. He smiled and sat down on the stairs. He wished he could be with them right now.
Suddenly he heard a little noise, a kind of giggling. He followed that noise, to the library. Then he smiled.
There on the ground sat little Wyatt playing with a fluffy toy.
"Oh boy, I'm sure your mommy is worried about you... It was a good decision to orb here, when they attacked us in the cave... You're very wise for your age," he said smiling stroking his hair. Then he took the little boy and went back to the hall.
Suddenly the air in front of him was twisting. He stopped, afraid of whoever would come to kill them now.
But the persons who shimmered in were just Bianca, Cole, Chris, another Phoenix and...
"Mom?" Tom put Wyatt on the ground, ran over to her and hugged her tightly.
Bogus looked at the Phoenix with angry eyes, while she looked back at him afraid.
"Mom?" asked Bianca, Chris and Cole at the same time.
"Another child of a Phoenix and a witch, damn it, that's disgusting," Bogus remarked.
Tom looked at him, then at his mother, then he noticed her birth-sign and took a step backwards: "You? You are the Phoenix? But I thought you were a witch? Why did you do that to me? Why did you lie to me?" Tom was shocked and nearly crying.
His mother sighed: "Because they wouldn't accept you, if they had known..." she stopped looking at Bogus.
"This day is a little freaky," he said with a weak smile, "I think this place is corrupting us... I think I won't remember anything I hear and see here today..."
"Thanks," Tom's mother said.
"Tom," Chris started, "me and Bianca will go and complete the potions. Would you stay here, with your mom? I think you have a lot to talk about." Tom nodded.
Then Chris turned to Bogus: "You go to the charmed ones, help them. As soon as the potions are ready Bianca will bring me there." Bogus nodded, too.
"Before that, take me and Wyatt to the manor. I will look after my other half," Cole said. So they did.

°°°°°°°°°°

A little later Chris was in the lab. He held a half-filled potion-bottle in his left hand, and the witch-potion in his right.
"Don't harm youself... Be careful!" Bianca warned him.
Chris smiled: "You bet I will."
Slowly he decanted a part of the witch-potion in the other bottle. There was a bright light when the two liquids came together.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Chris asked while the light went lower and lower till it was away, and all that left was a now dark-red liquid.
Bianca sighed; she had been afraid of this question, since she had told him. "I was afraid, because of the arrangement," she tried to explain, while he prepared the other potion carefully, "I was afraid that you wouldn't understand... I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to give birth to that child."
Chris placed the bottles on the table. Then he sighed and turned around. "But that's what love means, right? I mean, we should go through those things together... or not?" he said, while he went closer to her. She just looked to the ground and nodded. A tear ran over her cheek. Chris wiped it away. "Bianca, I love you... I love you more than what can be said with words... And I'm there for you, all the time... Next time you have a problem, you tell me, o.k.?" he smiled at her.
She sobbed a little, then nodded: "O.k., honey, I swear."
They hugged each other tightly and kissed full of love.
Then the Phoenix looked into Chris's eyes: "Take the potions and then let's end this."
He nodded with a smile, took the potions from the table and grasped her hand. Together they shimmered away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bogus shimmered Wyatt and Cole to the hallway of the manor. Cole sighed. Then he took the boy and went up the stairs. He wanted to talk to Belthazor, he felt he needed to.
But when he reached the attic, he found it empty. Afraid, he looked around.
The crystals lay on the ground, two of them were broken.
"Belthazor?" he called. But there was no answer.
He went a little closer to the place where they had left the wounded Source. Cole noticed a paper lying on the ground. He picked it up and read:
"You don't really believe that you can keep the Source of all evil in a cage like that, do you?
Have a nice day. B."
Cole smiled. In a very weird way, he felt relieved that he had been able to escape.
"Come on, Wyatt. Let's go down and read a fairytale," he said then to the little boy.
Wyatt smiled: "Unce Co..." Cole smiled back at the little boy and walked out with him.

°°°°°°°°°°

"How are they doing?" Nicki asked, returning to Piper. She had gone with Sarah till she was safe. Now she wanted to help, too.
"How can I know that? I'm trying to get all those witches out of here," Piper answered a little frustrated. It wasn't easy to lead those witches into the right direction, 'cause a lot of them didn't understand her language.
Nicki just nodded and went to the grand cave, to her friends, to Steve.
When she entered the room. Steve was talking to the other mestizos there.
'Good grief,' she thought. She had never imagined that there were so many of them.
The men in grey were attacking Paige, Phoebe and the others, while the woman attacked Steve. She ran over to him, pushing the others out of her way. She wanted to help him.
"Nicki," he yelled surprised. He had turned around to her when he felt her hand grasping his own. She just smiled at him.
"I swear by my life you will not destroy all my plans, not this time!" the woman in grey yelled. Then she sent out another ray of energy into Steve's direction.
Steve didn't know what to do. He just graspped Nicki holding her close and tried to cover her. He just wanted to save her.
Nicki was sure that they would get hit.
But then something glimmered around them.
'A forcefield? I have a forcefield?' he thought.
The rays which the woman had sent out were just reflected away from them.
"How have you done this?" Nicki asked, shivering.
He smiled at her: "I don't know."
"Paige!" Phoebe yelled at the same time. "We need to do something. We can't stand this any longer!"
Paige orbed an energyball back to the grey-dressed man and turned to her sister: "Any idea?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Bogus shimmered where Piper, John and Odin stood, sending the remaining magical beings to their homes.
"Can I help?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Piper said, tiredly. "We've almost finished. I guess you can... take some of the demons to their place," she added in a disgusted tone.
Bogus nodded, and did as he was told. Once he had finished there, he'd go back with his people.
Then Piper turned to Odin and John: "Do you think you can handle this without me? Just get those over there, and orb them back home... With a bit of luck, by when you finish we'll have finished here too... we'll see you in the school, ok?"
The three men nodded, and she, with a deep sigh, got ready to enter the room where the others were fighting.

°°°°°°°°°°

It was all a complete mess. Those mestizos were also fighting now, even though they didn't know well who the enemy was.
"Paige! We need to do something. We can't stand this any longer!"
"Any idea?" these were her sisters' voices.
Piper looked around anxiously, but neither Chris nor Cole had come back yet. What if they had di...? She couldn't end the stream of her thoughts, when a voice interrupted them.
"Will this do, instead of ideas?" It was Chris's voice!
Piper grinned when she saw him there, standing bravely by the side of Bianca, facing the woman in grey, just between her and Steve and Nicki. Her sisters and Leo, even Mr. Marsden, smiled happily when they saw him, and sighed, relieved.
Suddenly, the woman blasted her rays towards the couple, in her last desperate attempt to save her cause. But Chris and Bianca had already thrown their little vials to the two men and the woman.
"No!" Piper cried, when she saw the woman's attack. She used her blowing powers against her, even though she knew it was useless.
The rays had already been thrown towards Bianca and Chris, and they didn't have time to run away, not even to hug each other. They closed their eyes. "Nooo!" they heard coming from different people. Piper, the sisters, Leo, Steve and Nicki, and also the three double demons that were being disintegrated.
"No..." Bianca gasped, and pressed her face on Chris's chest, when they felt the quaking movement around them. It was as if the world was going to collapse over their heads. But it ended, and they opened their eyes slowly, only to see they were safe and sound. In front of them, there was nothing. Only ashes, grey ashes.
"Oh, my God!" Nicki cried, surprised, "I can't believe it! Bianca has got a forcefield too, and even a much bigger one? But I thought Phoenixes didn't have those powers!"
Chris blinked, shocked, his heart beating and his hand gripping Biancas strongly. The woman looked down to her womb, unbelieving. Then, the couple turned to see the sisters, who smiled relieved.
Leo nodded, grinning more than glad: "The Halliwell babies are very protective with their families." He winked, as Piper chuckled. Now he knew it, too.
Chris and Bianca hugged tightly, aware of the fatal destiny they had just escaped from.
"O.k., o.k... I'm sorry to spoil this, but..." Paige said, "we need to go back home!"
She winked to all the half-demons, half-witches, half-whitelighters, and every possible combination inside there. They nodded, and started shimmering or orbing away, according to their powers. As Paige had said... back home... whatever their home was.
Phoebe sighed: "Guess we can not turn them all to the good side..."
Leo laughed: "This is the weird way the world works: Good versus evil. That's the only way to keep the tip of the balance stable."
"And this..." Chris said in a grave tone, turning to Steve and Nicki, "this is the lesson you've learnt today! Tomorrow, we'll take an exam on... let me think... Double Demons?"
The two young witches laughed, still embraced since the moment Steve had created his own forcefield. Before that day, Steve had been Nicki's best friend, but she had felt that weird feeling of admiration towards his gorgeous headmaster, Chris... However, at this very moment, Nicki couldn't take her eyes from Steve, and was unable to stop thinking that he had been a true hero that day.
"Oh... you're so cute," Bianca pinched Chris's cheek, "isn't he, little baby? Your daddy is sooo cute!"
Paige rolled her eyes, took Piper's hand, and grabbed Steve with the other, and orbed them, together with Nicki to the magic school.
Leo shrugged. "I guess she means that we should leave..." and did the same with Phoebe and Tom's father.
Chris and Bianca stayed a bit longer, looking around them, pensive. The round table was impeccable.
"King Arthur..." Bianca joked, "your Lady Guinevere really needs a rest."
Chris smiled: "They really believed in their Camelot, you know? They really did..." He muttered with a sad voice: "But I guess that Camelot is only a dream."
Bianca pressed his hand: "Camelot? Chris, we've got our particular Camelot waiting for us, at home." She took her hand, kissed him sweetly on his lips, and shimmered straight to the manor.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Well... Home, sweet home!" Piper exclaimed, once she arrived at the manor and sat down on the sofa, by Cole. "Where is this Derrick?"
"Hush...!" he ordered, really terrified, "I've been reading fairy tales the whole day, please... I repeated each one zillions of times. Just... please, don't wake him up... I won't be able to bear another session of 'The Magic Cauldron' and 'Merlin'. "
Paige and Phoebe, who had also arrived together with Leo, chuckled, as Phoebe sat down on Cole's knees.
"You've proved to be the best of the daddies today, believe me," she said cockily, reaching to his mouth with hers. He gave her back the kiss and smiled.
Paige chuckled then turned to her oldest sister: "Derrick? Home, I guess... somewhere in Australia..."
"Well, I think I'll take this little knight to his bedroom before he awakes," Piper stated with a sigh, holding Wyatt in her arms. Leo kissed him and stroked his hair before Piper took him away.
"Hey... What about... Belthazor?" Paige asked, remembering suddenly. "Tom's mom told us that he had been wounded and that you had brought him here..."
Cole sighed as he gave her the note: "Yeah, well... It seems my other half is as clever as I am."
"Oh, you're so silly!" Phoebe exclaimed, slapping softly his cheek. He laughed.
"By the way..." he said, "where are the kids?"
"Well... We took Steve and Nicki to the school, and then they went home from there, I guess. Tom was already there with his mother. I gave him his powers back, and well, the whole family left together. It seems they need to talk, poor boy... His mind was a complete mess," Leo explained. "By the way... Where's Chris? I should give him the powers back, too..."
He looked at Cole, frowning, as well as Phoebe did.
"Oh..." he sighed. "He's up there," he pointed with the finger at the ceiling, "attic, with Bianca. But I don't think it's a good idea to give him the powers back. Not yet." He grinned: "I think that can wait."
"Oh..." said Phoebe and Leo at the same time.
The father of the alluded boy blushed: "O.k., I guess this can wait..."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Bianca..." Chris whispered.
"Hummm..?" she was almost asleep. They were lying on a mattress in the attic, embraced lovingly.
"I think we should tell them all... about the... baby."
"Tomorrow, sweetie... Now I'm tired..."
Silence...
Some seconds later: "Bianca..."
"Yeah...?"
"How did Wyatt know all this? I mean, those riddles in the book of shadows and all..."
"No idea..." a sleepy voice answered.
"He's just a little boy now.. I guess we should tell him all this... just in case. He should know, by when he's a grown up... Oh, but... well, if he changed what he came to change he won't be back, so... if the other version of Wyatt wrote this, and now he's another version, well, maybe this doesn't make sense."
"Sweetie, please... sleep."
Silent.
"Bianca..."
"Hummm... yeah...?"
"The baby..."
"What's up with him now?"
"How are we going to call her? The riddle... I think it was meant also for her, you know... I think that Cole thinks the same... Maybe Wyatt was saying that this baby is called Hope, so we should probably call her... Hope?"
"Her? O.k... I just HOPE that you wanna sleep a little bit, baby... Just that. I promise... Tomorrow we'll talk as much as you like."
"O.k..." he kissed her head.
Some minutes later:
"Bianca..."
No response.
"Oh... It seems you fell asleep. I just wanted to say... Good night and... I love you so much."
No answer. But Bianca's lips raised in a sweet and grateful smile.


(Chapter 11 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)


And that's the end of part 3! We hope you've enjoyed it... Next part "A Charmed Story - Part Four" will start as soon as possible... so stay tuned!