Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.

a/n: I've now written the next 2 chapters, so how fast they are uploaded depends on the responses I get! For those who are worried about Piper's, Prue's, Chris's and Paige's immortal souls (no one is particularly bothered about Phoebe it seems) all I will say is that when 2 sides enter into conflict, there are inevitably always casualties of war…..

Chapter 22 : Past the Point of No return.

Plans had been made. Jo, Ben, Wyatt , and Victor had been sent to the attic under the guardianship of Chris with strict instructions to remain there no matter what. Chris had moaned and wailed, and insisted that he ought to be able to fight too. Piper however was having none of it.

"I have explained a thousand times over, I don't care that you are part witch, part whitelighter, you are my son, and as your mother, I insist, nay I demand that you remain here"

"But you don't understand, the power that this demon wealds,.." Chris began.

"I am perfectly aware of how powerful he is, which is why we all want our children here out of harms way." Her voice began to waver.

"mom"

"Christopher, I want you to promise me something"

"what?"

"That no matter what happens, you will stay here, you will protect your family. No matter what happens. Promise me!"

Chris looked her straight in the eyes. It was then that he realised. She knew. She knew who this demon was, she knew that in his original timeline he had killed her.

Tears began to well in his eyes and he looked away. "No" he shook his head. "You know I can't promise that"

"then forgive me" Piper whispered. She tossed a vial at him, which exploded at his feet, the fumes seeping into his every pore.

"what did you just do?" he shouted.

"Bound your powers" she replied.

"what?"

"CRYSTALS" Paige yelled, activating a cage around the Charmed One's off spring.

"It's only temporary, just lasts for a couple of hours or so" Piper explained.

"I Love you" she told him, tears running freely down her cheeks, he ignored her, fuming about what she had just done. Paige and Piper turned to leave.

They were almost at the door when he shouted. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She looked back.

"Be careful" He called.

Piper nodded, gripped Paige's hand, and orbed out.

XXX

Down stairs, the assembled Charmed Ones plus Kyle and Leo stood, having a final summit.

"so we're agreed then, you men are to toss vanquishing vials at his minions, then we're going to stun him, hit him with a power of 3 spell, said by all four of us for extra effect" Prue for once took the lead, Piper gladly relinquishing the role.

Everyone nodded silently.

"and Paige, if you sense that you and the baby are in danger, or it all gets too much for you, orb out of there immediately, got it? Don't worry about us" she instructed the youngest charmed one.

"Yes" Paige agreed.

"are you sure the spell and the potions will work?" kyle worried.

"as sure as we can be when there is no 'official' potion/spell" Phoebe replied.

"let's just get this over and done with" Piper gritted her teeth.

They had agreed to summon the Caixa demon at magic school, it meant that the children were safe at the manor, it saved them the job of a messy clean up, and there was much more space.

Orbing into the great hall they found it deserted.

"Ok, so we.." the words died in Prue's throat. The Caixa demon materialised at the opposite end of the room.

"greetings ladies" he called.

"Hello" Prue replied.

"Nice day for a battle isn't it?"

"How did you know that we..?" she asked

"..were going to summon me and try and vanquish me?..i have my ways"

"right, well at least you had time to say your goodbyes" Paige taunted

"Ha. What makes you think you'll win?"

"Oh I don't know" the adrenalin made Prue cocky " Perhaps because we're the Charmed Ones, perhaps because you're vastly out numbered?"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that" The Caixa demon replied calmly. He clicked his fingers, and a row of 20 demonic henchmen appeared behind him, followed by another, and another, and another, until they were 6 rows deep. He smiled a deep unnerving smile. "May I present to you my army.."

XXX

The battle began. The air was awash with Fireballs, plasma balls, athames , fumes from potion vials. It was as much as the Halliwells could do to try and vanquish all the henchmen, let alone get close enough to the Caixa demon to try and attempt to vanquish him.

The caixa's demonic army consisted of very hard to vanquish soldiers, Piper's explosive power needed to be used 3 times on one henchman before it had any effect. Similarly the potion vials only worked if they landed directly on the demonic face, any other place on the body and they were protected by armor.

On they fought, 3 hours had passed and still they hadn't closed in on the Caixa Demon. Then suddenly Phoebe saw her chance. She had tumble rolled to avoid a plasma ball, and when she opened her eyes, she noticed that the Caixa demon was less than 5 ft away. Silently she looked around. Prue was on one side of the room, tking demons into the wall, Piper was on the otherside attempting to blow them up. Paige was orbing fireballs back to their owners, although the strain was taking it's toll, and she was getting weary. Leo and Kyle were no where to be seen. They couldn't last much longer. Phoebe knew she had to take her chance now.

Slowly she crept up to the Caixa, the spell and a vanquishing vial clutched in her left hand.

"Oh look, the Power of One" The Caixa drawled, spotting her out of the corner of his eye. "It won't work you know"

"want a bet?" Phoebe tossed the vial at him.

Nothing happened, not even the slightest wince of pain. Dammit, they needed the spell. She looked around, Prue was still far off body slamming demons, Piper was surrounded by a small group of them, and Paige, Paige orbed a fireball back at its owner, before falling unconscious to the floor, the strain on her body being all too much.

Phoebe swallowed hard.

"It wouldn't work you know" The Caixa demon was now bouncing a plasma ball on his right palm. "even with your sisters. Because there is one thing you don't know about me"

He leaned forward an evil glint in his eye. "you, see" he whispered "Good magic can't vanquish me, only evil can…"

The colour drained out of Phoebe's face. "bye bye now" he shouted as he threw the ball at her. She threw herself to the floor, praying that it would miss her.

Before he had chance to celebrate his triumph he suddenly fell forward, his vision blurring as a searing pain ripped through his torso. Twisting his head around he saw an athame protruding from the small of his back, "what?" He stuttered in confusion.

"Good job I was here to help then wasn't it?" A hooded figure told him.

"You!"

The hood was lowered as the Caixa demon exploded into hundreds of thousands of pieces. "Good bye to you" Cole spat.

The foundations of the room began to shake, the cosmic energy released by the vanquish of such a powerful demon had been released, and needed somewhere to go.

Cole looked up, pieces of the ceiling were beginning to fall…this was not good he reckoned they had precisely 10 seconds before the ceiling collapsed entirely.

On the other side of the room, unaware of the vanquish that had taken place due to the hundreds of demonic minions still remaining, Piper had taken 5 demons, at once, throwing her hands out and exploding them one by one. She was so focused on this task that she didn't see the plasma ball headed directly for her. The first sign that something was amiss was the demon in front of her flinging himself voluntarily to the floor. She turned. The ball was 30 centimetres from her face. Time seemed to slow down, fear paralyzed her arms. She closed her eyes to brace herself for the inevitable

XXX

Chris paced the cage in frustration, all of a sudden he was overcome with a feeling of absolute terror, and he knew that he had to get to the battle scene. It had been several hours since Piper had bound his powers, it was time to find out if the potion had worn off. Gathering up every last ounce of power and strength within him, he broke through the crystal cage, near on destroying the room in the process. He just had time to lock his brothers back in and utter a hasty 'stay there' to his cousins before he orbed to the battle ground.

There was a putrid smoke everywhere making it impossible to see, rubble was falling, debris littered the floor. Rubbing his eyes he finally managed to survey the scene in front of him. Bile rose up in his mouth and he heaved. Before him lay complete and utter devastation. Bodies were strewn as far as the eye could see, the dirt from the explosion having splattered them to the extent that it was impossible to tell men from women, demons from witches, his family from the enemy…

A noise in the corner caught his attention. It was a voice. A lone weak voice, muffled beneath the layers of debris, and it was shouting ..'help, please somebody help me'.

XXX

TBC

Cruel aren't I?