Nomember 9th 2025
"You should not be here, children."
Melinda's heart sunk as she recognized his voice. She looked to her left and Matt's bleach white face echoed what she already knew; there was no way they were getting out of this unscathed.
The Elder in front of them chuckled, taking in their expression.
"You are indeed in a lot of trouble," he remarked and his lips twisted upwards into a cruel sort of smile. Odin paced in front of them, unapologetically enjoying his power over them. "Oh, what should I do with you? I know I can't kill you, such a shame if you ask me," he said that directly to Melinda, "But I can throw you in the dungeons and let the others play with you for a couple of-"
A blue lightening shot through his chest before he could finish his sentence. Odin's face contorted a mixture of confusion and terror, before he dissolved into a pile of smoldering ash. Melinda didn't dare look who had intervened, fearing it was just another Elder who simply wanted to take the credit of capturing them. But then the twins simultaneously cried out,
"Dad!"
And Melinda let out a shuddering breath. She pushed herself into a seated position, scooting closer to Parker's prone form and helping the other girl to steady herself. Melinda watched with a pang as her cousins threw themselves at the black-robed Elder, hiding their faces against his body. He hugged them back fiercely, asking over and over if they were okay.
"We are fine, Dad," Ruth said, pulling back a little to look at his face. His eyes scanned her whole body, before turning to Matt's and he seemed to calm down a little when he saw they suffered nothing but a few scrapes and bruises.
"When I realized it was you who Odin had cornered, I was so worried," he said, pulling both of them closer to drop a kiss on each of their foreheads.
"Dad, no, it's okay we could have handled it," Matt said earning a disbelieving look from his father. "Okay, so maybe we couldn't have handled... But, that sneak attack though? That was fire, Dad!"
"I'm assuming that means you were impressed?"
"Totally!"
"But, Dad, how are you going to explain what happened without giving your cover away?" Ruth asked, worriedly biting on her bottom lip. He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, offering her a gentle smile.
"That's for me to worry about, my little witch," he said. Ruth flung her arms around his neck then, burring her face in his neck.
"They miss him a lot," Parker muttered and Melinda strained to understand all the words she drawled out. She looked at the blonde worriedly, wondering how much blood she'd lost before they had healed her.
"Yeah, they do," she answered after a breath, trying to convince herself that Parker would be alright.
"You know it's not your fault or anything, right?"
Melinda took a second before answering. She could still hear loud yelling and screams in the distance, could still see flashes of the attack in the darkness. She shivered then, and wrapped an arm around her stomach.
"I know," she said, but her voice didn't sound quite certain. "It's just that Leo-"
"You are not responsible for him, Melinda," Parker said sternly, pinning into her eyes; "It doesn't work that way."
"Hey guys," Ruth's voice broke between them, "We should get going."
Melinda nodded in affirmation. She jumped on her feet and helped Parker stand up. The other girl grimaced in pain, her free hand clenching at her side. Underneath her hand her blouse was still drenched in blood. Melinda quickly wrapped an arm around Parker's waist, pulling more of the other girl's weight on herself.
"I got you," she said, reassuringly. Parker leaned more on her, closing her eyes. With one last look towards her Uncle, Melinda orbed back to the safety of the bunker.
Melinda had been pacing back and forth for the last fifteen minutes, her nails nervously pinching the flesh on her wrist. Every now and then she'd pause, look at Chris for a second and then shake her head and start walking again. She didn't know where to start, couldn't decide how much she could divulge without risking to break the time and space continuum.
"At some point you'll have to get off the catwalk," Chris quipped, making her halt. He was staring at her, arms crossed over his chest. His face wasn't giving much of what he was thinking away, which only made her more nervous.
She knew she had to find some common ground; she had to tell him something he would easily believe, something he already knew to be true from his own life
Melinda had managed to break through his mental defenses when she'd attacked him; she'd wandered, albeit briefly, through the maze he'd constructed to conceal his thoughts and memories. She could remember all the dark corners, the ones even Chris himself refused to visit anymore and how Wyatt's presence was always so prominent around them. She'd seen flashes of dead family members, Chris scared and alone at fourteen, the Excalibur shinning with blood, golden-robbed corpses smoldering...
"Okay," she muttered, mostly to herself, as she came to a stop. "So, I guess you noticed that the Elders couldn't sense I'm a Whitelighter," she said, all the while wringing her hands nervously.
Rather than giving her an answer Chris simply kinked an eyebrow. Melinda bobbed her head and drew a deep breath.
"The reason they couldn't sense me is because my-my brother put a cloaking spell on every underage Whitelighter in hopes to -"
"Cloaking spells don't work like that," Chris cut her off.
"Wyatt's cloaking spells do," she said, almost reflexively. She saw Chris' jaw tightening and she hurriedly added, "You know a spell's worth is fifty percent wording-"
"Fifty percent intent," Chris spoke over her once again. Melinda stared at him for a long second, before giving a nod of affirmation. He was clearly trying to establish his authority, which was annoying, but so endearingly Chris that Melinda couldn't bring herself to feel annoyed,
"Exactly. Wyatt has to repeat the casting every six months so to keep the spell active," Melinda said, clasping her hands together.
"Why is he using a cloaking spell in the first place? And exactly how many underage Whitelighters are there in your time?" Chris asked sounding half intrigued half something else that Melinda couldn't really name.
"Ugh well... You know...ugh," she stammered earning herself an unimpressed glare. "It was an easy fix when he figured out, we'd been sneaking out of the bunker-"
"Bunker?"
"You know I just-" Melinda let an aggravated breath out, pinning in his eyes. "You know how dangerous it could be if I tell you more than you are allowed to know!" she snapped and one of the throw pillows on Aunt Pearls' couch exploded into a cloud of feathers and filling.
Chris looked at the mess she'd made before cocking his head and focusing his gaze on her.
"Molecular combustion?" he asked. She nodded.
"And telepathy," she added. It was his turn to nod.
"I remember," he said snidely, but not angrily, tapping a finger at the side of his head.
Melinda had the decency to blush but forced herself to hold the eye-contact.
"You are right," he said after a moment of silence and her jaw all but hit the floor. Chris relaxed his posture, thrusting his hands in his jeans' pockets. "You shouldn't tell me too many things; we shouldn't compromise the timeline more than we already have," he continued, and Melinda found herself nodding along. "But we need to trust each other, if we are going to work together."
He was probably playing her, manipulating her in order to get information, but Melinda didn't care. Chris wanted to work together, and she was just so tired...
"Yes, work together," she whispered, "I'd like that."
"So, cloaking spell to protect you from the Elders, because they are the bad guys?" Chris asked, leaning towards her.
"No, well I mean yes, but it's technically-"
The rest of her sentence got drowned by a thunderous explosion at one of the lower parts of the house. Melinda jumped in alarm, looking around frantically.
"What was that?" she demanded at particularly no one. Chris spared but a minute to look at her seriously, spit out a,
"You stay here," and then swiftly orbed away.
The second explosion was strong enough to shake the house around her. A small yelp escaped her lips and Melinda ran her fingers through her dark hair. She tried to draw in a deep breath, but it felt like her body had forgotten how and she ended up chocking on air. Melinda closed her eyes, shook out her arms, reminded herself she was safe; Chris was here, the Charmed Ones were here, she would be safe.
And then the house shook again.
Melinda jolted involuntarily; loud noises usually had that effect on her.
Her teeth bore on her lower lip, and she contemplated orbing out of the Manor. The fighting downstairs had really picked up and Melinda was suddenly way too hot and jittery. But orb where? This was not her time period, hell it wasn't even her own timeline...well, possibly. No, no, she had to stay put, because she was going to work with Chris and they would find a way to get her back home, because Chris -
A loud scream broke her thought process. Melinda couldn't take this anymore; at least if she were part of the fight, she'd know what was going on. So, following after Chris' magical trail she orbed into the living room.
Or at least she orbed into what used to be the living room. Melinda could still remember how meticulous her mother's cleaning was, how nothing ever seemed out of place, how much pride her mom took into knowing everything looked pristine and tidy. Now most the heavy furniture had been blown to smithereens and several windows were missing. Glass shards were strewn all over the plush carpet and there were scorch marks on the parqueted wooden floor.
Someone was yelling orders, their voice hurried and intense. It sounded like a woman.
Melinda looked around her; there were two separate groups of intruders. The first one consisted of several human looking upper-level demons; they were all drawn to Chris like moths to the flame. Every person in the second group was clad in black robes and was holding a wooden arrow. The hair in Melinda's nape stood in fearful apprehension. Unconsciously she took a step backwards; she'd never seen so many Dark-Lighters gathered in one place.
There was a blast of energy, blowing some of them up and only then did Melinda see that the Charmed Ones were standing right in the middle of the commotion with the Dark Lighters. Melinda felt her forearms prickling and there was a sudden itch running all over her body. They looked young, younger than she'd ever seen them. Young and just so alive.
Melinda forced herself to avert her gaze, choosing to focus on Chris instead.
Granted she hadn't had much of an experience in active combat, but the way Chris moved around the battle taking place in the middle of their living room was mesmerizing. Melinda had never seen anyone orb in and out of place so fast or use their telekinesis quite like Chris; it almost looked like dancing, as he dodged between the demons, his power moving along with every flick of his fingers in a way that made it look like he was slashing through their bodies with his bare hands.
The sisters were bickering while trying to keep the swarm of Dark Lighters away from Chris. Melinda could hear Paige's angry voice over the general noise of the fight; "You are pregnant with a Whitelighter baby, maybe you should, I don't know stay away from the Dark Lighters?" she yelled and orbed just in time as a dark arrow flew straight through the blue and white particles she left behind.
When she re-materialized both Phoebe and Piper were looking at her with identical unamused glares.
"Your point?" Piper asked in her usual lethally sweet tone.
Melinda had been so preoccupied trying to listen in on their argument that she almost didn't sense the fireball flying her way. She barely had time to move out of its way as it crashed on the end table behind her. She saw the demon eyeing her as it wiggled its fingers again and she quickly fell to her knees, blindly feeling the carpeted floor for something she could use as a weapon. The next fireball whizzed over her head just as her fingers wrapped around the hilt of an athame. Still kneeling on the floor, Melinda straightened her posture as much as she could and took aim; she hurled the blade which found its target with ease.
Melinda took a moment to feel proud for herself before returning her attention to the chaos around her. Another athame was lying to her left, closer to the couch than she was, and Melinda stretched her body to reach for it. That's when she heard it.
A blood curdling scream.
A thud.
A power wave pulsed through the room disintegrating the remaining demons.
Melinda's heart was hammering inside her ribcage. She could barely make out the jumbled voices of the Charmed Ones talking over each other.
Remember your training, a gentle voice echoed in the back of her mind. But she couldn't, she couldn't, she...
"Leo!" Piper screamed and Melinda realized she was crying.
Piper was crying.
Chris!
Melinda tried to empty her mind, to concentrate as she reached out for him. A thankful breath passed her lips when she crashed on his mental defenses; he was unconscious, but alive. Melinda quickly recoiled at the sudden surge of pain spreading through Chris' mind like wildfire. She bit on her lip to keep from crying out and took a moment to calm her racing heart before trying to orb out.
"Can't you just heal him?" Phoebe was asking.
"It's not like I'm not trying!" Paige shot back, sounding exasperated; "It's not working."
Piper was still calling for Leo.
Melinda crouched on all fours and slowly started making her way towards the front door. She had no idea where she was going to go, but she knew that she couldn't stay in the Manor any longer. With Chris unconscious it wasn't safe. She had to get out of there, go some place where she could think, maybe back to Chris' room in P3, maybe…
Melinda cried out in pain, before she could manage to stop herself; a jagged piece of a broken vase had embedded its way into her palm. Melinda winced as she saw the blood pooling on the wooden floor underneath her spread fingers. She had but a heartbeat to think of orbing away, before she was slammed face first onto the wall to her left.
Another cry came out of her lips, but this one was muffled; her chest was pressed against the wall so tightly that Melinda could hardly feel any air reach her lungs. The collision had made a number to her head as well, Melinda was half certain that the trail she felt running down her crown was blood. There were voices behind her, but Melinda couldn't make out what they were saying. Her ears started ringing and she blinked hard in attempt to clear her vision. It felt futile. It would be so much easier to just fall asleep and –
"Who the hell are you?" Piper's angry voice broke into her thought process, "And what have you done to my son?"
It was pathetic, but even with the amount of disdain obvious in the woman's voice, Melinda's heart still faltered. It had been years since the last time her mother had addressed her and Melinda was already so hurt, so tired, she couldn't very well control her emotions.
"I asked you something," Piper seethed and suddenly Melinda found herself span around. There was a loud crack as her back hit against the wall and she saw Phoebe, who was standing just behind Piper, flinch involuntarily.
Phoebe… Melinda couldn't stop the choked sob that ripped out of her lips as she looked at her aunt, who she hadn't seen in almost as many years as her mother. The older witch's face was a unreadable as she stared at Melinda, but there was something in her eyes that looked achingly similar to surprise. Flanking Piper from the right, Paige was also staring down at her, arms crossed tightly across her chest. Her hair was a fiery red color and Melinda briefly considered how much it complimented her youngest aunt's personality.
"It would be in your best interest to start talking," Phoebe advised, taking a small step forward.
Melinda nodded and opened her mouth, only to cough violently and spit out some blood.
"Talk," Piper ordered, and Melinda saw her flexing her fingers. The tightness on her chest intensified and Melinda's head hit against the wall softly, as she tried to alleviate some of the pressure.
"Piper," Paige's voice sounded leveled, but the look in her eyes was uneasy as she looked at her sister, "If you keep the pressure like that you could break her chest bones."
"That doesn't sound so bad," Piper said, and Melinda shuddered at the viciousness in her mother's voice. Her mother had always been a little on the strict side, and she could be downright scary when she faced down demons, but vicious? She'd never thought the day would come when she'd associate her mom with that word.
"Think it like that; she's no good to us if she's dead," Paige pressed on. Piper seemed to contemplate that for a second. The next breath Melinda drew in came easier.
"I'm going to ask you one last time –"
"I didn't hurt Chris," Melinda said hurriedly. "I would never hurt Chris," she added. Piper scoffed.
"And why should we believe that?" she asked. Melinda blinked at her,
"Because I'm telling you the truth-"
"You show up in our house, you attack my sisters and my son, while my baby sleeps in his room upstairs and you expect me to believe a word coming out of your mouth?" Piper yelled marching forward, so that they were standing face to face.
"I d-d-din't at-ttack a-any-one," Melinda stuttered. Tears were prickling in her eyes and she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay.
"Bullshit!"
"Piper," Phoebe started, but it was clear there was no reasoning with her.
"What's wrong with Chris? Why can't we heal him?" Piper demanded. Melinda shook her head, a couple of tears slipping down her cheeks.
"I don't know," she whispered.
"Bullshit!" Piper yelled again, right into her face and Melinda's entire body quivered.
"I swear, I have no idea! If you just let me –"
"Okay, I don't have time for this," Piper said. "For those who want the truth revealed.."
"No, no, what are you doing?" Melinda panicked, looking at Piper with her eyes blown wide. Her sisters seemed to be equally surprised but didn't intervene.
"Open their heart and secrets unseal," Piper continued, reciting the spell by heart, "From now until it's now again. From now which the memories end,"
"No, please, I'll tell you whatever you want to know, just don't finish that spell!" Melinda begged, thrusting against the invisible hold on her body.
"For those who are now in this house," Piper went on, as if she hadn't heard her, "Only truth will be heard from their mouths."
Piper finished her chanting.
An opal light pulsed through the room.
And then everything went dark.