Thanks to all reviewers. I want to point out this isnt a great chapter but it should be readable.

Chapter 7 - Survive Alone

"They can't do this, they can't do this!" Piper raged. Her upset replaced by rage, she was pacing the attic angrily.

"They can." Prue sighed. "They warned us... he should have gone to his charge."

"What? Don't you dare blame Leo for this!" Piper yelled, loudly and angrily. "It's not his fault - we're his charges too, he saved me..." She trailed off. "It's not his fault." She repeated, at a loss for anything else to say.

"I know, I know." Prue said quickly.

"So how are we going to get him back?" Piper asked.

"We're working on it." Phoebe said, form the sofa she and Paige were sat with the book of shadows.

"Prue..." Piper said slowly, turning back to her eldest sister. "What are you doing?" Prue looked up almost guiltily from the smoking pot she was throwing various things into.

"Uh... making a vanquishing potion." Prue said awkwardly.

"We can't vanquish elders." Piper said, sounding almost challenging.

"I know... it's not for the elders. It's for the demon. The one that attacked us..."

"I don't care about the demon that attacked us!" Piper yelled. "All I'm bothered about is getting Leo back!"

----

"See, I was right." Odin said. She doesn't care that there's a demon out there that will come back after them."

"Only because you took me away!" Leo burst out. Odin shot him a sharp look, Zola a pleading one. Both meant the same - shut up.

"The fact remains that you were distracted from your duties, and she is from hers. I was right all along - you two cannot be together."

"I - told - you -"" Leo said angrily to Zola, his teeth clenched. "If I have to, I will fall from grace."

"Please, Leo, hold out a little longer." Zola said quietly.

"What for? He's not going to change his mind!" Leo spat.

"Leo..." Zola took Leo's arm and led him away from the others. "Try to stay calm, you are not helping your case."

"What case? He's already decided!"

"No, Leo, we have to vote on it... this is all part of the test." Zola said quietly. "This is Piper's test."

"What? I - I don't understand."

"This was all Odin's idea, and unfortunately, the other elders agreed to it... We... we sent that demon."

"What! You sent a demon to attack them? As if they don't get enough!" Leo snapped, although careful to keep his voice as low as Zola's.

"Yes." Zola said, his tone clearly stating it shamed him. "To test you ... to test how you'd react -"

"Wait, what about the demon that attacked Miranda?"

"That one too - don't worry, we wouldn't have let her die." Zola added quickly. "Anyway, you failed your test. Now Piper has to save an innocent, and if she does we can vote on whether or not you stay her whitelighter. If she fails... you will lose the sisters as your charges."

"You have to tell her." Leo said quickly and desperately. "She's too mad - I know her, she won't do it. She's more likely to quit magic. Zola you have to warn her."

"I can't... They're watching them."

"There must be a way..."

"I think I have and idea. Leo, the demon that killed you. Do you know its name?" Leo shook his head. "Well it's a good job I do. If I can convince the others to use that demon as our bait for Piper, do you think she'd go after it, in revenge for you?"

"Uh... Yeah, I guess... Could you do it?"

"I will try. In the meantime, Leo, I suggest you see to your other charges... I will call you as soon as I know anything." With a reluctant nod, Leo orbed out.

----

"No, Prue, you listen to me!" Piper yelled. "We are not doing anything until we get him back -"

Behind her, Phoebe gasped.

"See, Piper? Even Phoebe thinks -"

"She's having a premonition." Paige cut in. "She doesn't think anything.

"Oh - well -"

"I don't care what it is." Piper said, as Phoebe opened her eyes. "I'm not doing it."

"What did you see?" Prue said, ignoring Piper.

"I saw... a girl, a young girl, about Paige's age. And - a demon attacking her."

"Which demon?" Prue asked quickly.

"Ah ... it was the same demon that killed Leo." Phoebe mumbled.

"What?" It was Piper who spoke, shock and fear mingled in her face as she whipped her head round to Phoebe. "The - the same one? Are you sure?"

"Yes." Phoebe said. "It was him, Piper, he was killing the little girl."

Piper sank into a nearby chair, suddenly dizzy, unsure what to do. To think of going out and saving an innocent after what they did was against everything she had just said, everything she had promised herself in the short time since he had gone. But to let that demon take another life, another young life, when Leo's blood still stained his hands was something she couldn't think about. Something she wouldn't think about.

"So, what do you want to do?" Prue challenged.

Piper closed her eyes, put her head in her hands. Leo, Leo, what should I do?

No reply came to her, but a memory did. One of when she was younger, ten or eleven. Prue and one of her friends had taken her and Leo to a nearby sweet-shop, and while Prue was out of ear shot her friend had dared Piper to steal something. She had thought it funny because Piper was the classical good girl, and she expected her to refuse. She'd even laughed, and that had made Piper angry. She'd picked up a bar of chocolate, then wrestled with her conscience. Grams had always told her stealing was bad. So when she realised Leo was right next to her, she asked him what to do. He had simply replied, Do the right thing.

She had put the chocolate back, and told Prue. She never did see that girl around again.

Leo's words came back to her now, in the present. Do the right thing.

"We've got to save her." Piper said, standing up. "We can't let an innocent die." Her "especially by the same demon that killed Leo" was silent, but her sisters knew it was there.

"Then I'll start scrying." Phoebe siad quickly, jumping up and moving towards the map.

"I'll help." Paige said, following her.

"What about a spell?" Prue asked.

"You and Piper can write one." Phoebe said. "Your turn."

"Actually, I sorta have one." Piper confessed. "It might need some work but I... wrote it after the funeral..."

"OK, go get it." Prue said. Piper hesitated before leaving the room. She could do this. No problem. She returned a few seconds later, a folded piece of paper clasped in her hand.

"I don't know if it's any good..." She murmured. "I never wrote a spell before." She held it out to Prue, who took it and unfolded it, reading it quickly.

"It's... It's good, Piper. It'll work."

"We think we've found the demon." Phoebe said eventually. "Is the spell ready?"

"Yes, lets go." Prue nodded quickly. They moved into the centre of the room, gripped hands and dissolved into tiny orbs.

The first thing Piper noticed once they'd materialised was the screams ringing in her ears. Turning, she saw a young girl stood with her back to the wall, her hands at her face to protect herself as the demon in front of her threw fireballs at her, one after the other, laughing at her screams. He didn't seem to be interested in killing her, not yet. For now all he wanted was to hear her scream, see her cry.

It was the same demon who killed Leo. The demon that had taken her whole world away from her. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have all these emotions raging through her all the time. She would be happy, normal, and she would still have Leo.

As she looked at him, she felt sudden anger, and she threw her hands up, even though she knew she couldn't blow him up, and caused him to fly into a nearby wall. Prue, Phoebe and Paige ran to the girl, who had sank to the floor, sobbing. Piper stayed where she was, her eyes on the demon, who was getting to his feet. She allowed him to regain his balance before repeating the gesture, sending him flying again, higher this time. While she was doing so, her sisters were helping the girl to her feet, talking to her quickly.

"Come for your revenge, then?" The demon smirked, taking longer to get up this time.

"Actually, yes." Piper said, blasting him yet again. She didn't know how many times she did it after that, five, ten maybe more. All she knew was that this demon was the root of all her pain. Eventually, she felt Prue's hand on her arm, and she turned to look at her sister as the demon landed on the floor.

"Come on, Piper, lets get this over with." Prue said sympathetically, and Piper reluctantly lowered her arms. Her sisters grouped around her, holding the notepaper up to read from, but Piper kept her eyes on the demon. She knew the words by heart, they had been in her head long enough before she had written them down, determined that this moment would come when she was strong enough.

"Hear these words, hear the rhyme,

In this day, and in this time,

The pain I feel I now share,

As I vanquish you through the air,

You took his life without cause,

Now with these words I take yours."

While writing the spell Piper had intended the vanquish to be painful, and it looked like she'd succeeded. His eyes bulged, he clutched his throat like he couldn't breath, and as the flames started licking his feet, then his legs, working their way higher, dancing around him, he screamed. She could feel the heat from where they stood, and see his pain... She had never felt so satisfied with a demons vanquish before. She'd never really thought about how much pain they cause, not just to their victims, but to the people close to them, and it seemed right to her that they should pay.

She waited until every trace of him had vanished, and stared at the spot a few seconds after, as though he might jump up from the ground. But he didn't and when Prue murmured "Come on, lets go" Piper turned and slowly started to walk.

-----

"What happened to the girl?" Piper asked on the journey home. She felt happier than she had since it had happened, she'd gotten my revenge and yet... she was still angry. She just wasn't sure who with.

"She only lived a few houses away. We took orbed her home while you were... ah, keeping the demon busy." Prue told her. "Her mum is a witch, and she thinks the demon took her daughter as revenge for something."

"Oh. OK." Piper murmured.

Back in the manor, Piper followed the others to the attic. Phoebe and Paige picked up the book, Prue started clearing the potion stuff away, and she sat on a chair, thinking.

"Piper?" Prue said after a while. "I'm sorry if I upset you, earlier on. It's not Leo's fault, I know that. I'm going to help you get him back .And if you want to boycott magic for a while, I'm right behind you."

Piper listened to the "me too"s that followed, then smiled at her sisters.

"Thank you... but... if we refuse to help the innocents, then who will?" Piper said softly. "Whether we like it or not, we're the ones who are supposed to help them, and it's not their fault the elders took Leo... I'd sort of forgotten what's important, and I'm glad we saved that little girl. She didn't deserve to die, just because Leo isn't here... And I'm sure that if we're meant to be together - which we are - then he'll be back."

"True love conquers all." Prue smiled, half-joking.

"Yeah..." Piper murmured.

----

"She passed." Zola smiled, as Leo let out a loud "Yes!"

"Only because of who the demon was!" Odin protested. "You didn't tell us it was the same demon."

"Nevertheless they saved the innocent - and you heard what Piper said. She's going to carry on saving them, even after what we did." The female elder said firmly.

"But -"

"We'll put it to the vote." Another said. "All those in favour of returning Leo to the Charmed Ones..."