Chapter 15: Unloved
Disclaimer: Let's make it simple. Shando come back; I own Charmed.
A/N: Everyone knows Bane and Prue slept together back in season two right? Just wanted to make that clear to anyone who wasn't sure about it. Hope you enjoy. Please review.
Barbas appeared in the center of his square cage. He was hunched over, obviously not recovered from his run-ins with Prue or Cole.
"Witches," he spat, realizing his surroundings, "so you're going to vanquish me are you? The Charmed Ones all grown up. How sweet. Sorry to crush all you're little hopes and dreams, but I'm not going away that easily."
Barbas waved a hand and the bell clerk as well as many other demons appeared in the Halliwell's attic.
"I'll fend them off---start the spell!" Cole cried as he began battle with three demons.
Leo, Andy, and Bane joined the fight, helping in any way they could.
Bane grabbed an athamae from the potion's table while Leo strategically orbed out of the way of energy and fire balls so that they hit other demons instead of him. Andy simply fought hand-to-hand with the demons, occasionally taking their own weapons and using them against the demon at hand.
The four sisters joined hands to start to recite the spell. A demon came at Prue and she instinctively waved an arm at it. But before she could send the demon flying, another demon came at her from behind and grabbed her from around the neck. Prue let out a gasp and upon hearing this, both Bane and Andy ran to help her.
Andy held an athamae from a demon he had just vanquished and stabbed the demon that had first came at Prue. He backed off and covered his face quickly to protect himself from the flames that emanated from the demon's vanquish. Bane was fighting the other demon, trying his best to defeat him.
Seeing that Bane was obviously loosing the fight, Andy started to make his way over to Bane to help him. He then stopped in his tracks, imagining Bane and Prue together. He stared hard at Bane getting beaten to a bloody pulp, almost enjoying it.
Piper realized that Andy wasn't moving and she flicked her wrists. The demon vanished into oblivion and Andy broke free from his trance. He shook his head a little and looked up to see Piper looking at him. She looked admonishing and horrified, but at the same time understanding. Andy looked away from her quickly, hoping no one else saw what he had done. Or what he hadn't done for that matter. He looked around and saw only Bane, dabbing the blood from one of the wounds on his head and giving Andy a look of uncertainty.
Andy looked away from this, as he heard the girls starting their spell.
Heart to heart
Blood to blood
Pain and fear
Cannot be undone
We remove you from this sacred earth
This place of blessing, hope, and birth
The pain you send
The truth you bend
Made nightmares that won't ever end
We take you now
With Four's Grace
Death falls upon your wicked face
Barbas began screaming erratically, his body flashing from skin to flesh to bone. Before beginning to burn away, he shouted one last thing.
"Don't worry, ladies…." he began, "Fear ALWAYS comes back!"
He cackled madly while deteriorating. He began to dissipate until he burned into ash, leaving the carpet covered with a foot-high pile of his remains. The crystal cage lowered, and the four crystals lay harmless on the floor.
All four sisters fell to the ground, as the spell had taken almost more than they had.
Cole ran to Phoebe, Leo ran to Piper, and both Andy and Bane ran to Prue.
Nearly bumping into each other in the process, both realized what was going on.
Begrudgingly, Bane pretended that he was going for Pam the whole time.
"Honey are you okay?" Leo said frantically.
Piper looked up at him and smiled.
"Leo," she said weakly, "I want a baby."
Leo looked stunned by this proposition, and everyone looked over to him and Piper.
He straightened his face and smiled back at Piper.
"I know," he said simply.
Piper smiled once more before falling into Leo's arms.
"Are they going to be okay?" Andy asked Leo.
"Yeah," he answered, "that spell just took a lot out of them, that's all. A good rest is all they need."
Leo carried Piper to their room as Cole, Andy, and Bane followed suit. Based on where everyone else was going, Bane guessed where Pam's room was. He laid Pam down on a double mattress on the floor and she opened her eyes slightly.
"Did we get him?" she said in the same weak voice Piper had exhibited earlier.
"Yeah," Bane said softly, and she pushed a strand of loose hair back on Pam's face, "you did great."
She smiled and closed her eyes. Bane smiled back at her before leaving the room. He closed the door behind him and walked down the hall to meet the other men in the house. They looked at him a bit oddly, none of them knowing what to say.
"Do you think that maybe I could sleep here tonight?" Bane asked earnestly.
After a quick silence, Leo took it upon himself to make answer.
"I'll, uh, make up the couch," Leo said hastily. Even if he didn't exactly trust him, he knew Prue wouldn't like it if he sent Bane out into the city without her knowing where he was.
"I'll help," Cole said quickly, not wanting to have to make small talk with two people he hardly knew.
Leo and Cole left Andy and Bane standing there in an awkward silence. Bane looked as if he were going to say something to Andy, as he had figured that somehow Andy knew about him and Prue. But Andy beat him to it.
"She doesn't love you," he said quietly but gruffly to Bane, "touch her, and you'll wish I stayed dead."
Bane waited for both Andy and Cole to leave him before saying anything.
"I already do," he said to himself as he stood there, unwanted, and apparently, unloved.
A/N: Aww, you almost feel bad for the guy, don't you? Maybe not. Please review.
