A Charmed Story - Part Four:
Marriage with Obstacles
Chapter 9

"So who are you and what do you want from them?" Steve asked coldly. Then, when there was no response, he said telepathically to Tom: 'Do it'.
All of a sudden, Tom raised his hand and the demon's arm froze turning into ice. The man screamed in agony.
Nicki pressed Steve's hand and glanced at the man on the floor: "I warn you, it's better if you talk. My friends can be very persuasive..."
"The... the prophecy..." Gabriel mumbled, almost crying. The ice spread a little bit more, up to his shoulder. "Wait! Wait... I'm talking... I'm talking..."
The three teens folded their arms impatiently waiting for the answer. Immediately after Steve had taken his powers away, Phoebe had said that they should stay in the manor, getting answers from the prisoner, and trying to discover who they exactly were. Meanwhile, she and Paige orbed back to the school, to tell the rest of the family that Paige was fine and all what she knew about Zankou. Some of them should go as soon as possible to his lair, to stop him.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Are you fine, Bianca?" a very concerned Victor asked, caressing her hair.
"Hush..." Leo was watching the girl who seemed to be like in a trance.
"What's she doing?" Victor whispered. Piper was still sobbing in Leo's arms.
"I don't know..." he frowned, "but just don't disturb her." Leo somehow knew what was going on, although he couldn't really understand it very well. But once he had been told that when you really love one person, there's a bond that joins you to him or her forever. And when there's danger implied... somehow... they are able to reach each other 'even in the end of the world. 'Even in death...' He said to himself. A very strong bond. Maybe Bianca had been able to send some message to Chris. He wanted to believe that.
But at that moment, Cole entered the library, and frowned at the sight of Bianca. He was going to say something, when the look of Leo stopped him. He just nodded, and whispered: "Is she fine... has she... has she told you?"
Leo and Victor nodded, and Cole just repeated the gesture, and went to Wyatt. He sat by his side, and took some books, to look for information about how to kill that Zankou... But he wanted to do so by Wyatt's side. Just in case he needed him.
Suddenly, Paige and Phoebe orbed in: "Piper, Leo! Paige is back, but they got Chris. We managed to trap the demon that was pretending to be Prue and..."
Leo made a signal that they should lower their voices, but it was too late. They had already awakened Bianca abruptly from her trance.
Now she stared at them with horror in her eyes: "They're hurting him, he needs us!"
Piper, who had been quiet up to that moment, muttered: "No, please... No... Don't let this become true..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris stood up and stumbled towards Zankou. He wanted to crash the bottle of the potion that had fallen from his hand and out of his reach.
But Zankou stood up quickly and stared at him, with his eyes black as the coal: "You've wasted my patience, you..."
Chris stepped back, seeing how he took the bottle from the floor. When Zankou squatted to perform that action, he saw her... Piper, his mom. She was behind the demon, smiling at him.
Chris turned paler than he already was. "No, mom..." he muttered. She made a gesture as if she was going to blow him up, but it didn't work.
Zankou turned to see who else was there. "Gee... The one I wanted," he smirked.
Chris felt his heart sinking. He had had the hope that she was another kind of vision, something that only he could see.
"I told you she'd come," the demon told Chris.
"Leave her alone!" he cried desperate. That was exactly what he had wanted to stop.
Zankou, when realising that what Chris feared the most was precisely that his mother suffered, turned to her: "Let's start with you, then... You'll drink this potion, and teach your little brat what he should be doing, if he doesn't want you to suffer."
Piper looked at Chris sadly, and took it: "I'm sorry, Chris... I don't want that anything happens to you. I need you alive."
"Nooo!" Chris yelled.
He attempted to throw the bottle to the floor with his telekinetic power, but Zankou grabbed his arm and bent it painfully. Chris moaned.
"Just look at what she does..."
"Mom, you swore you would keep to our deal..." he had tears on his cheeks, but Piper didn't even answer to him. She just finished drinking and smiled.
"Your turn..." said Zankou, offering him a new bottle.
He softened his pressure, so that Chris could take it, but the boy didn't move. He was looking at his mother, unbelieving. What had she just done? And she was smiling...That didn't fit her vision at all, had she really tried to change it? But there was something weird about her.
He turned to stare at the bottle that was being offered to him... None of them realised that there was someone else observing the scene, and maybe doing something else about it, from behind the entrance to the lair.

°°°°°°°°°°

Belthazor was looking at the screen. That witch, Julian... He didn't know how much power he really had. Not magical power perhaps. But this, his magic, combined with his true power... his knowledge about computers, was incredible. He smiled.
'Don't worry, brother... He'll be safe, I promise,' he said to himself. He was, looking at the screen... at the image of Piper that Julian had created right before he left. He was going there, alright, he had said. But he'd use his own methods... Virtual reality combined with a little magic.

°°°°°°°°°°

Tom moved his hand, an the ice turned back a little.
"Now talk," Steve said.
Gabriel was looking at him with fear. He was trapped, alone, without any power to defend himself. He didn't want to die, of course. So he talked.
"Our order... We... we have to save the world, we promised. We have to save the world from those two lives which will collide... and which will create the greatest power the world has ever seen."
"Where is he now?" Tom asked.
The demon shrugged: "Don't know... In the cave of Zankou, I think."
"Do you know how to vanquish Zankou?" The demon just shook his head.
"Why do you think it's them, the prophecy is talking about?" Nicki asked.
"Because of... the signs..." he muttered.
"And what kind of power will it be?" Steve asked.
The demon just looked at them, but said nothing.
'Tom...' said Steve telepathically.
Tom moved his hand again and the ice grew up a little more. It was close to his lungs. "A little more and you'll die," Tom remarked.
"No... no..." muttered Gabriel.
"Then talk!" Steve yelled.
"We... we don't know... exactly... We only know that their power is stronger than anything else this world has ever seen... And that it will destroy the world..." he answered.
"The Underworld?" Nicki asked.
The demon shook his head: "No... The whole world."
"You're lying!" Nicki yelled.
Gabriel smiled evily: "Sure?"
Nicki was about to run over to him and beat him in frustration. But Steve stopped her. He looked at Tom, who nodded. Then, the latter made the demon freeze completely and then shimmered him away.
Nicki was looking at Steve with sorrow: "What if it's true?" She couldn't believe it, but... what if that whole time-travel-thing finally made the world collapse?
"It isn't... It can't be..." Steve answered hugging her.
"How can you be so sure?"
Steve smiled: "Well... because I discovered a new power a few weeks ago... I can see if someone is lying... and he was, at least at your last question..."
Nicki looked at him confused.
"Look," he explained, "I can hardly explain it myself, it's just... it's just that I know it... And this demon... he was definitely lying about the last question."
She smiled: "You surprise me everyday."
At that moment Tom returned: "Come on, let's go back to the others."
Nicki and Steve nodded and took his hands.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Piper please, try to relax o.k.?" I'm sure he'll be fine," Phoebe was trying to calm down her sister.
"She's right," Victor added, "you're not stressing only yourself... that will also have an influence on the little one." Piper sobbed. Her nerves were completely down.
Meanwhile, Cole sat down next to Bianca. "Are you o.k.?" he asked. She nodded weakly. There was still the fear in her eyes.
"What have you seen?" Leo asked, while Paige was also sitting down, taking little Wyatt in her arms.
Bianca just shrugged: "I've seen him in a cave, very dark. He tried to orb out but he couldn't. And I saw Zankou who wants him to drink that potion... Who hurt him..." Again she started to cry and Victor hugged her.
Cole was observing her with a little confusion. He had known her as a strong and powerful woman, but since she was pregnant she was so emotional and so vulnerable. He felt so sorry for her.
Suddenly, the air began to wave in the middle of the room. Tom, Steve and Nicki shimmered in.
"Have you found out something?" Paige asked.
Steve shook his head: "Nothing new. Only about that prophecy and that they want to kill them and so on..."
"And now?" Cole asked. No one said a word. They had no idea about how to go on. It was pointless... hopeless... There was nothing they could do as long as they didn't know how to vanquish that bastard.
Paige was watching Wyatt. She wished his older version would be there... She would have asked him for another hint. He had left a lot of riddles in the book, but nothing useful for this time... this time, when they really needed one.
Wyatt was giggling. Surely he had no idea about what was going on around him. Suddenly, he orbed one of the books into his hands and showed it to Paige. "Tale... Tale.." he said.
Paige smiled: "No, Wyatt, that is not for you." She took the book and put it away.
But only a second later, Wyatt orbed it back into his hands.
Cole smiled: "He will not give up... Just open it and invent a story for him..."
Paige sighed. Then she opened a page somewhere in the middle and was about to start. But then she stooped. "Oh my God," she whispered.
"What?" asked the others at the same time.
Paige turned the book around to show them the entry. It was about Zankou!
Wyatt's giggling was the only thing heard in the middle of the silence that involved the whole library. "Tale!" he said once again, clapping his hands happily.
The sisters, Bianca, Leo and the teens, all at once, rushed to surround Paige and the book, and take a glance at it, as Victor, without keeping his eyes from Cole's, went to little Wyatt and took him away from the others.
Cole smiled and shrugged: "I told you... he's really clever. And protective."
Victor was shocked with the little child and stared at him in awe. The boy tittered and started to babble some incoherent words, because of the excitement. Cole stood up and approached the man: "Come here... I'll tell him a story. He deserves it." He winked. Victor nodded, and both men, together with the child, went aside, to a sofa, with the hope that the others would find out something soon.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris kept staring at the bottle for a while, and then at his mother. It was so weird... But he felt too sick already to keep on thinking. He couldn't give up, he had promised... But why had she drunk it? It made it even more difficult...
"Drink," Zankou insisted threateningly, "drink or I'll kill her." And he grabbed her arm.
Piper looked at his very distressed son, and said softly: "Your mother will be fine, sweetie... and your little self too..." She pointed to her womb, and smiled.
Zankou also smirked and said: "You heard that? A wise woman, your mommy..."
Chris was about to say something when he looked at her womb and realised... that suddenly she wasn't pregnant, anymore! He opened his eyes widely. Had his little self... died? But how could Piper be so calm? And she had said 'your mother will be fine...' Not 'I'll be fine.' He suddenly had a weird feeling and looked at his side.
Zankou was too busy watching his movements as to realise... that there was someone else's there, nodding.
Then Chris smiled, and took a decision. He grabbed the bottle with potion and dropped the content in his mouth before the shocked and pleased stare of the demon, and a smiley Piper. Then Chris threw the bottle to the floor, and shivered a little bit.
"Done..." he muttered almost inaudibly.
Zankou grinned and took his hand and Piper's, closing his eyes, waiting. He recited some verses in an unknown language. Chris fought to get released from his grip, but he was tightly grabbed. However, Piper didn't seem to worry...
And after some seconds, nothing happened. Zankou opened his eyes and looked at both of them, surprised: "What the hell...?"
Suddenly, Piper disappeared, Chris smiled, bent over himself and threw all the content of the potion on Zankou's feet.
"What?" He was really furious now...
"Was that all the potion you had, bastard?"
Zankou raised his leg to kick him on his face, but Chris orbed to the other side of the cave, where the man was, and covered him with his body.
"I'll make more, stupid witch. You won't escape from here, you know? You're only delaying... Keep on orbing while I make the potion!" Zankou cried.
Behind Chris, the man whispered: "I'm the messenger of the witchhelper. I'm visible only for you now... I gained you some more time, buddy. Now I need to go, but resist. Help is coming." Then he disappeared as Chris nodded.
He wanted to ask who that helper was, but...

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige read over all the information on the page about Zankou. She read that this demon had been a very powerful one until the source of all evil destroyed him in a terrible battle for the control of the Underworld. She also read that he had been resurrected several times, and each time, his power had grown.
"How do we destroy him?" asked Bianca impatiently.
"Here it is..." answered Paige, excited. "Look, Zankou cannot be destroyed with simple magic. A bigger magic is needed. The conjunction of big powers. No vanquishing potion, only a spell. This doesn't mean that he won't be back. Until now, everything has been tried, but he always comes back from death."
Piper sighed. Well... we have the power of three... but..."
"No, "Phoebe exclaimed, "you will not go down there!"
"But you will need her," Leo remarked. Piper was surprised that he was on her side this time...
"But we still don't know if this is enough..." Paige muttered.
"You have a lot more power," Bianca rose to speak, "I can cast spells too, same as Chris who will be with us, I'm sure." 'He has to be there,' she thought.
"And we're also in," Steve said, looking at Tom and Nicki, who nodded. Then, the latter added: "Yeah, you know how powerful the boys are."
"I'll help you, too," another voice said. All heads turned around to the door, where the 'whitchhelper's' assistant stood and smiled sadly. "By they way," he said, "you can call me Julian."

°°°°°°°°°°

Belthazor was pacing around in front of the monitor. He was a little tired, but he had to watch over that boy. Chris was sitting in a corner of that cave, his arms around his legs.
That witch Julian was very helpful. He had installed a little camera, when he was there. Zankou didn't notice that. Now Belthazor was able to have a look on the scene.
He sighed. He wished he could do more for that boy. He admired him in a way. He knew what he had done, what he had given up, just to save the world... not only the humans' world... also his world. If it had been necessary, that boy would have given his own life for that... Belthazor sighed again.
Then he thought about Julian again, his assistant... He had given him some potions and sent him to the sisters to join them for the moment. Belthazor hoped that those potions would help a little. He hoped that his assistant would come back safe... Julian... his friend.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris was staring into the darkness. Zankou had left him for a while; surely he was preparing some new potion.
He sighed. His back hurt, his jaw hurt, his arm hurt... But he didn't care about all that.
His mind was wandering around that vision he had had. 'Was it a vision?' He thought about what his mother had said about his little self. 'Was that my first own vision? Am I able to have those visions?' He sighed again.
'Or was it Bianca?' Had it been her, the one who contacted him, to help him?
He had never heard before that Phoenixes were able to do something like that.
Whatever it had been, it had helped him. He had really been about to give up, but then... To see his "wife-to-be-in-a-few-hours"... his daughter... that had made him fight again.
"Hope," he whispered smiling. 'I will have a daughter,' he thought. And that thought made him smile. 'My daughter!' He sighed again.
Then, another thought crossed his mind. 'Could that be possible?' he thought frowning. 'Can it be her that sent those pictures to me?' No one knew that this child would be a girl. It was too soon for that. Even Bianca wasn't sure about it. So, who else could know that, apart from herself...
He smiled again. 'I will have a daughter with some interesting powers,' he thought. "You will be one of the best witches in the world," he whispered, "and I'll teach you everything I know... I swear... I'll be there for you." He sighed again. "I'll get through this... for you."
He smiled. His daughter had given him his strength back. 'You are already the greatest witch in the world.'
Then, he heard some steps. Chris raised his head.
"It's high time you drink this," Zankou said, suddenly grabbing his hurting jaw again.
Chris tried to fight, he struggled to kick him, or punch him, and then he only tried to push him away. He didn't answer just because he didn't want to open his mouth.
"I wasn't gonna kill you, stupid boy... But now, you gained it. The order of Sorix will love to have you... they won't even ask if you still have your powers..."
Chris felt how Zankou raised him on his feet and then over the ground a little bit. He grabbed the arm whose hand was pressing his neck. He wouldn't drink... Where was the help that the man had promised? He wouldn't drink... He fought back, and even tried to make the bottle fall with his telekinesis, but the lack of air was too much for his strength.
Zankou smirked: "Open your little mouth... You need air..."
Chris knew that even if he opened it, he wouldn't get that air, so he clenched his teeth stubbornly, as he saw the bottle approaching.
Then, faster than a ray, the bottle exploded before his eyes and the liquid was spilled on the floor, and on their clothes.
Zankou turned his head towards his right side, but he didn't let go off Chris, so he couldn't see who had done that... However, he heard them...
"Don't even try that again. NEVER!" It was Piper's voice; her hands were still up, from her attack.
"No one messes up with our family," an angry Paige continued.
"And no one dares to spoil my wedding!" This was Bianca!
Chris struggled to get free from the claw that hurt his neck and jaws, but it was useless, he was going to lose his consciousness. All of a sudden, a very shocked Zankou found himself hit by something cold which made him fly backwards, and Chris fell down to the floor.
"And... just for you to know... ugly demon: This family has also lots of friends who want to go to that wedding," Nicki was smiling at the surprised Zankou, while Tom lowered his hand.
Chris raised his head, sweating and breathing heavily, but he smiled at the sight of so many beloved people there. Bianca didn't wait for anything else. She ran towards Chris and hugged him strongly, almost crying. "I told you not to celebrate any wild party before our wedding, honey..." she said, sobbing. Chris felt like laughing in spite of his pain.
Meanwhile, a very grave and determined Piper, the 'warrior', not the 'mother', was leading the group.
Zankou stood up slowly, pondering his situation, eyeing his enemy.
"Don't try," repeated Piper. "Tom!" Tom nodded and started to freeze Zankou's legs.
The demon raised his eyebrows, surprised, but then he burst out laughing, as all the ice broke into thousands of little pieces: "Wow… Impressing..." He walked towards them, slowly: "Do you really think I was one of those inept demons you can vanquish with a ballet dancer movement of your hands?"
Chris and Bianca joined the others. Julian was also there, behind them all, and cast a reassuring look at Chris, who smiled back at him, thankful. Who the hell was the one who was behind all that?
At that moment, Zankou threw an energy ball at them, but Paige orbed it back so that it hit the demon.
When Zankou rose after that, Julian wasn't there... Or wasn't visible... at least. The demon raised his hand to make his movement, furious: "This isn't a fair fight, people... you're too many..." He smirked.
"We're all one, man... All for one and one for all," Steve said, grinning. All of them, except Chris maybe, were smiling...
Zankou had a bad feeling about it… Where was the other man? The coloured witch?
Chris turned his head around, even if it hurt. But he couldn't see the stranger, the helper. He narrowed his eyes.
Then he turned to Bianca: "Which is the plan?"
"We have a spell," she whispered to his ear. He nodded weakly, because every move hurt him a lot.
Suddenly Zankou flew through the air again.
Nicki looked surprised: "Who was that?" Then Julian reappeared next to Zankou smiling at them.
"I know who you are, now I remember you." the demon said to him, "and if they find out, they will kill you."
Julian swallowed. Then he disappeared again while Zankou was attacking him with some energy balls.
Julian again reappeared behind the other witches. "The spell," he whispered.
Nicki, Paige and Bianca pulled out little sheets of paper, while Tom was trying to freeze Zankou again. Together they read.
"Many deaths you have gone through
you, the demon called Zankou..."
"Stop, stop, STOP!" Paige yelled suddenly, interrupting the others. Then, she pointed at the empty cave: "He's gone!"
Chris sighed; then, he broke down. It had been all a too much. His energy was gone, he just wanted to sleep.
"Oh my God, Chris," Bianca exclaimed kneeling down next to him. "Honey, are you o.k.?" she asked caressing his cheek.
Chris shook his head softly. He felt terrible. He wasn't able to move. He only wanted to sleep.
"Where is he gone?" Paige asked meanwhile.
Julian cleared his throat: "The only place where he could go is the temple of the Sorix. There are not many of them left. Zankou killed most of them. But the rest doesn't know."
"So we should go there and end this," Nicki replied
Piper was now next to Chris, too. "We have to bring him to Leo," she said. Then she looked at his son: "The next time, you do as I say, alright? No more solo efforts!"
Chris nodded; then he closed his eyes. His breath was weak but consistent. He was just tired.
"Hope," Chris whispered.
Bianca frowned. Then she turned to Steve: "You come with us. With your connection to Tom we can return to the others easily."
Steve nodded and went over to her. Then he turned to Piper: "You should come with us!"
Piper shook her head: "No, my place is here. No one will hurt me, I swear... Go and let Leo heal him, and then come back to us." Steve and Bianca nodded; then they shimmered out.
Piper stood up and looked at the others: "So where is that temple?"
Julian sighed: "That is a little bit difficult to say."


(Chapter 9 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)