A Charmed Story - Part Five:
20 Weddings And A Funeral?
Chapter 8

Steve had just ended his report when Phoebe's mobilephone rang. "Excuse me," she said and walked a little aside.
"Yeah?" she answered the call.
"Phoebe, it's me... Darryl" she heard from the other side of the line.
"Hey Darryl, what's up?" she said.
Piper and Paige looked up after hearing his name. Also Cole turned his attention to his girl, while Leo was still focused on Odin.
"What?" Phoebe yelled suddenly. Everyone looked alarmed at her. But she went on talking: "Yeah... I'll tell them... Thanks, Darryl... Bye." Then, she hung up.
"What's going on?" Bianca asked.
Phoebe sighed, she looked a little pale: "Darryl got another case just a few minutes ago. A young couple just vanished in their wedding-ceremony."

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris placed himself in front of his friend instinctively, and glared at the clown.
"Don't you have enough toys already?" he asked, pointing to the terrified couple that he was keeping by his enemy's side, with a gesture of his head.
The clown smirked evilly: "There was a void in my collection... and there's still one, thanks to you. But that's a tiny problem. Now... THIS is the day. And with or without them, I'm gonna fulfil my plans. And YOU, little witch... you will have the honorific place."
Michael could perceive the fear that Chris intended to hide, and tried to gain him some time: "The day? What do you mean by 'the day'?"
The clown pushed the new couple forward, and they fell down on their knees. The girl was crying, and the man tried to help her, but his hands couldn't touch her. Both of them were in so much fear!
"Don't you know? I can't believe it... You bastard humans, who chose such sacred days to get married... And you don't even know about the events that took place those days?"
Chris frowned, as he saw Michael rushing to help the new comers. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The clown almost got nuts by this question: "And you of all the people! You, one of my kind! Only a dirty traitor... You should honour and respect those dates more than anyone on earth, you should be by my side, consecrating this moment... But you chose to help the profanes! The pagans! These simple and weak rats!"
Chris saw the movement the clown was making with his wrist, and tried to stop him, but his powers didn't work this time either, and he had to see how Michael flew through the air and into a tree, unable to stop him. Then, with another movement of the clown. Michael flew back again and crashed into the grass next to the carrousel.
"Our ancestors... Yours and mine! They were all sacrificed on those dates! You should know!"
"I don't even know the dates!" cried Chris, who had ran towards his friend and knelt by his side. "Stop this foolishness at once, damn it! If you're angry a me, ok. But these people haven't done anything to you!"
The clown smirked: "Oh, don't worry about that. The best seat is reserved for traitors. You have betrayed your people. They will be happy to have you sacrificed on the altar."
Chris's heart started to beat strongly. All the sounds resounded in his head. The music of the carrousel, Michael's moans, the couple's crying of fear, and the clown's voice.
"Today will be a great day... A good day to die." The clown continued, half-smiling at Chris as he advanced on his direction...
"What happened today?" asked the young Elder-witch in a low voice, trembling.
"TODAY..." he followed, "today is the day in which one of the most powerful witches on Earth was sacrificed, to calm the wroth of his fellow-witches. Today, the revenge was fulfilled."
"You are delirious... Nothing happened today."
The clown was still smirking. He was by his side now, and suddenly, took him by is neck: "You're wrong. Everyone will always remember this day as the day in which Christopher Perry Halliwell died." He smirked.
Chris tried to get loose, but his claws grasped his throat strongly. Everything started to spin around him. The music of the carrousel... Bianca said she knew it. She knew the music...

°°°°°°°°°°

Bianca fell on her knees. "Chris..." she gasped. Everyone was still looking at Phoebe with surprise, but now all the faces turned to Bianca.
"Chris, oh my God... The music..." she was in so much pain, holding her womb, and apparently in a trance. She might be having a vision.
"I remember the music... From the future. When Chris left for the past..." she tried to explain in spite of her pain, "the carrousel was near our home. This music always on... The owner said... The owner said it was to commemorate the day in which the ultimate sacrifice was offered, for the souls of those witches so unfairly killed in the past... The victim was a traitor to them, he used to say... He was a powerful witch, and he died..."
All the people in the room looked surprised at her.
"I don't understand..." Piper murmured, "what the hell..."
Cole and Leo helped Bianca on her feet. She was sweating, but the pain was gone: "I think the sacrifice was Chris... And that is going to happen now."
"But we changed the future!" Paige exclaimed, completely lost.
Bianca nodded: "Yes... And we know that Chris is alive in the future, and that this won't happen anymore... But that doesn't mean that these events wouldn't take place. This means that this time, we'll be able to solve it, to save Chris, and kill the clown."
"Well... But we know Chris is right, don't we? In the future, I mean..." intervened Tom, worried.
"But the future always can change..." Leo remarked.
Piper shook her head: "Wyatt would have come to save him again. Everything's alright."
"Actually..." Odin said, "no one can come anymore. We closed the portals. Time travelling is too dangerous, you know... So if Wyatt doesn't come, it's just because he can't."
"What!" all in the room exclaimed, except Leo, who lowered his eyes.

°°°°°°°°°°

"You are dead in the future, you know? I saw that... I also liked travelling on time." The clown smirked, as he saw Chris choking, and his arm hurting. "I had seen WHO was the sacrifice, and why... I needed to find you, but I didn't guess you would find me before. It seems that destiny exists after all. You came all alone towards your fate. Welcome, Christopher."
Then, the clown had let go off of Chris. "We still need to let a little more time pass... Anyway, you can't run away from your destiny!" he had said and began to walk away slowly.
"You will never kill me." Chris replied still gasping for air. The clown just laughed.
Chris didn't know why, but he was sure that he would not die, not this time. He had gone through so much the past days... In a way, he knew he would get through this too. And with this feeling of hope, his mind turned clear again. The music stopped, he just cut it out of his head. And he calmed down and focused again. He focused on Michael who was still lying there, next to Chris, moaning in pain.
"Hold on, ok?" he whispered, "I'll help you as soon as possible." Michael nodded weakly.
Chris closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he stood up. Slowly, he turned around.
He stared at the clown; then he repeated very loud: "YOU... WILL NEVER... KILL ME!" And then he raised his hand and made the clown fly about ten meters through the air, before he crashed down, back on the ground. Chris grinned. Even if he had hoped it, he couldn't believe that his powers would be working this time.
The clown just mumbled some swearing, then he disappeared.
Chris turned back to Michael: "Hold on!" His friend looked pale.
Then, the witch turned around again. "Hey, you two!" Chris yelled to the other couple. "Come over here, he needs your help!"
The man was sitting next to his crying bride. He looked at Chris with fear, but he didn't move.
"Damn!" Chris yelled again. "If you want to get out of here you should trust me... So come over here!"
Now the woman looked at her bridegroom. Then she stood up slowly, and he followed her. 'Women are always the bravest,' Chris thought smiling.
When the couple reached him, Chris told them to sit around Michael as close as possible. "I just don't want the clown to see what I'm doing... and you swear by your life, that you will never tell him." Both nodded.
Then, Chris turned to Michael who was looking at his friend with fear. "Sorry if I help myself first," he said to him, "but I'm not sure yet if it will work, and I don't want to kill you." Michael nodded.
Chris nodded, too. He moved his hand over his broken arm and took a deep breath again. Then it happened. The warm golden light appeared and his arm was healed within a few seconds.
Chris didn't know why he could actually heal himself, even if it needed a lot of energy. Usually Elders couldn't do that. But usually Elders were dead and therefore their wounds (except those from Darklighter-arrows) healed very quickly on their own. But Chris wasn't dead yet, so maybe that was a kind of compensation.
After it was done, Chris moved both of his hands over the body of his friend.
Michael was scared at first, but then he could feel that his wounds stopped hurting. He noticed that this young man was healing him. "Thanks," he whispered after it was finished.
Chris just nodded. He felt tired. The healing was more exhausting here, at this place.
"So that's your little secret?" Michael asked and wanted to sit up.
But Chris held him down. "Better not letting him know," he explained. His friend nodded. Then Chris turned to the other two: "You'd better take a seat not so close to us... and don't dare to speak about what you've seen!" Both nodded and got up.
Chris sat down next to Michael and looked at him smiling. "What?" the man asked.
"Well... that healing thing... it's not all... it's not the complete secret."
Michael looked at him astonished: "Is there more? More than that?" Chris nodded. "But why are you telling me all this? Didn't you say that witches don't talk about those things to those who are not?"
Chris was still smiling and nodded: "Yeah, but... there is one kind of the 'non-magical-human-beings' who stay out of this rule..." He made a short break looking around. Then he looked to Michael again and added: "Friends!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"We closed all portals through the time. Leo and Chris knew that," Odin said, "they knew it's too dangerous to leave them open."
Piper looked desperate at her husband: "How could you..." Her voice broke and she began to cry.
"But... we don't..." Bianca started to speak very serious. But when she saw the icy look of her father-in-law she shut up.
"Alright," Cole said desperate and a little furious, "we still have a war to win! Right? So stop those fights and focus, ok?"
Phoebe nodded: "Yeah, we have to find him... him and those innocent couples." Then she turned to Jessica and Jason: "You two have to tell us everything, alright? Everything, you know!" Both nodded.
"Ok, it's time for teams again," Nicki said. "Odin, can you take me and Steve back to school...? We could do some more research there. I had an idea about the holograms, but I'll need some Elder-help," she explained.
"But couldn't Leo..." he asked? He was not willing to leave that place of action, not with that powerful unborn baby.
"No," Leo exclaimed, "after your nice words I'm sure you'll understand that I have to stay now."
Odin narrowed his eyes, then he orbed with Nicki and Steve to the school.
Now Phoebe wanted to form another group, but she was interrupted before she could start to speak.
"Leo, what is it? Chris and Wyatt never used a usual time-portal!" Bianca said with a serious voice looking at the Elder.
Piper's eyes where jumping from Bianca to her husband. "Leo?" she asked.
He sighed: "I know. And yes, that way, Wyatt is still able to come here..."
"But... you... Odin said..." Piper was completely confused.
Leo went over to her, and hugged her tightly: "I know what he said. Look... the Elders never knew how Chris came here... or Wyatt... And even if they would... they are not able to stop THAT magic... 'Cause that's nothing controllable... It's inside them... They can't stop them casting a spell like that... even if they ripped the page out of the book... they would create a new one!"
"Oh God," Piper muttered and let herself fall down in his arms. "So that means we will find a way... there is still a chance?"
"There is always a chance!" Bianca said. After all the time she felt weak, all the time she just wanted to cry, because of her pregnancy... Now she felt really strong. Strong and good, and powerful again. She was able to fight and she was going to fight... for the one she loved.
"Alright," Phoebe finally managed to break in, "me and Leo will go down with the couple and try to get a view on our battlefield... Maybe we could use my empathy so that I can see what they have seen..." Then she pointed at her sisters and Bianca: "And you go and mix some potions... even if that clown is a witch, we have to stop him!"

°°°°°°°°°°

Seconds later, all of them were submerged in their own activities frantically. Piper was in the kitchen, surveying the ingredients they had in the cupboards, while Bianca was taking a look on the book, in the attempt to find some interesting spell to defeat witches. Paige had orbed to the school to see if she could find another useful recipe for a potion.
"I don't think this helps, Piper. I mean, all the book is based on demon-hunting activities, we're talking about a witch now... There's nothing useful here.
"Well, just look in the index, remember there's one! I know there must be some potion to, at least, hurt witches. Once, a demon used it against Phoebe, you know?"
Bianca raised her eyes at her, astonished: "Really? How did you save her?"
Piper turned to her: "It was hard... But now, look, please. I'm also trying to remember the ingredients that we could get out of that potion, and see if we have them here."
Bianca nodded, going back to her search. After some minutes of silence and concentration, she said again: "Maybe we could use some spell to steal his powers or something..."
Piper kept pensive: "Yeah... Actually there's one... to reverse the powers... Well, look. His powers, as it seems, are precisely those of stealing powers. Maybe we could exchange ours with his, and then get his powers - our powers."
Bianca frowned, not sure of having got the point. "You mean... You'll get his powers?"
Piper nodded: "And I'll give him mine. But then I'll use his power to get mine back."
The other girl shook her head: "That's dangerous... What if he has time to use yours or something?"
"Leo can always heal."
"You cannot trust that Leo will always be there! What if it's Phoebe that exchanges her powers? After all, hers aren't active..."
Piper shrugged: "We'll ask her later. Now, look for that spell. I'll get the ingredients."

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole was sitting on an armchair as he observed how his love was trying to get something from the couple, on the sofa.
"Just relax, ok? I need you to be relaxed so that I can see something..."
"See what?" the man asked, suspicious.
"Premonitions," was the short impatient answer of Cole. "Just do as she says..."
Jessica smiled weakly and pressed her bridegroom's hand. Then she closed her eyes and tried to think about everything she could remember.
Jason did the same, at the sight of her love, and then Phoebe tried again to get something. If they didn't relax, her own empathy wouldn't let her premonitions work. Their feelings at that very moment wouldn't help, because the only thing they were feeling was so much love, and fear. But above all, love.
Phoebe giggled a little bit. She needed to say it... She had always wanted to say that. "Come on, people... can you relax?"
'Oh... I really love you. I needed to be with you.'
Phoebe's feelings were being messed up with those of the couple, and she could barely control them. She didn't want to do something stupid, like when she told her ex 'love you too,' before he had said nothing at all. But she was unable to control it...
Jason smiled with his eyes closed. 'I'll ask her again if she wants to marry me. We'll marry, and we'll be happy forever after. We'll truly marry this time... Do you wanna marry me, honey? No, no... Will you be my wife for all our life?...'
"Yes I do, I will!" Phoebe exclaimed suddenly.
Cole raised his eyes in surprise: "What?"
The couple looked at her astonished too, as Phoebe covered her mouth with her hand.
"Ooops... I mean, I do... I will... I will have a premonition. I DO want to have one, honey, I really want to have a premonition..."
Cole raised his eyebrows in astonishment. "Are you ok, Phoebe?"
"Yes, I am!" she answered, showing him her widest smile. "And now, let's go on with this. And you two..." she added in a reproachful tone, "you two, please... concentrate on the topic in question, ok? The clown, the holograms... and maybe how you, Jason, escaped."
They both nodded and closed their eyes again, but Cole wanted to say something. However, he stopped. He felt something weird. He had that bad feeling again. Something was gonna happen. He knew it.
Suddenly, they heard a terrible evil laughter... And a figure shimmered in front of them.
"Oh my God!" Jessica yelled in panic. Jason placed himself in front of her, trying to protect her.
"Well, well..." the clown said, "my two missing slaves... and two little witches... how funny!... That's a nice prey."
Cole turned around to Leo who had sat behind him. But the chair was empty. 'Where the hell has he gone?' he thought not really listening to what the clown had just said. Meanwhile, Phoebe was calling her sisters. But she wasn't sure if they had heard her.
"They won't come on time," the clown said. "You'll all come with me." Then he went over to Phoebe with his hand up to touch her.
Phoebe stepped backwards, still calling Piper and Paige, while the clown went closer little by little.
"NO!" Cole yelled. He jumped up, ran over to his love and pushed her aside just before that evil bastard touched her.
Instead the clown now took him. He moved his hand into his body and then Cole disappeared in a green light.
Phoebe and the frightened couple were unable to react. They were just paralysed.
Then, bluish orbs filled the room, when Leo returned with the other sisters.
As soon as they materialised Piper blew the clown up. When he was exploding, they heard his evil laugh...
"He isn't dead," Leo remarked.
Piper nodded: "I know... but for now he's gone."
Paige looked around. "Where is Cole?" she asked. But instead of an answer, Phoebe just broke down crying.

(Chapter 8 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)