Timeless Mistakes

by lordtrayus

After the awful events of the future, Chris and the Charmed Ones are focused on finding the threat against Wyatt before its too late. However, Neena, the First Witch, had taken bold action in order to try and save the future herself, starting a chain reaction of events that will decide the fate of existence itself and result in the Charmed Ones lives being changed forever...

12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed

Timeless Mistakes

After quickly sending Henry and Andy away with a thank you and a promise to see them later, fearing for their safety with this new information that had suddenly come to light, Prue and Paige hurried upstairs on the heels of Piper, Phoebe (who had called her work and told them to cope without her as she wasn't coming in) and Chris as they made their way to the Book of Shadows.

"The Triad, how the hell are the Triad back?" Piper demanded, sweeping across to the Book, while Phoebe glowered at the world in general.

"Exactly! Cole said he vanquished them, or was that just another of his lies?" she asked irritably, but Prue shook her head as she joined her sisters at the Book.

"No, he definitely took them out, the problem appears to be they didn't stay dead." She pointed out, peering at the entry in the Book that Piper had found, the same one that she had spent ages memorising the year leading up to her death when it became obvious that the Triad had been behind most of the attacks against them.

Paige looked at her sisters in confusion from the other side of the podium they were all standing at.

"I don't understand, who are these guys, why are we so worried?" she asked, and Piper frowned as she read the entry aloud to her baby sister.

"'The Triad is a collective of powerful, upper level demons. Virtual emperors of the underworld, when together, the powers of this evil cabal rise exponentially and there is no known method of vanquishing them'. We thought we had to deal with them three years ago, they're the ones who sent Cole after us, but like Phoebe said, Cole was meant to have taken them out so we avoided that. But they're some of the most powerful demons in the underworld." She explained, and Chris, who had been looking out of the window worriedly, turned to his youngest aunt.

"Think the vice president of the underworld, but with the Source gone more than willing to be the actual president, in fact usually go out their way to make sure the Source is gotten rid of so they can be alone. They're some of the most powerful demons in the underworld, and capable of all sorts of powers, think an evil Charmed Ones, at the top of their game, and apparently, the ones behind a lot of the crap that's been going down recently." He explained, though something didn't sit right with him.

This was another thing that was happening too early. The Triad weren't meant to be back for another two years, back to use their original plan to wrest control of the underworld away from the Source in order to restore their place in the natural order, by using the Ultimate Power. Why would they be back now? But he had to admit, a lot of blanks were suddenly becoming filled in with the knowledge that the Triad had returned, but there was still the fact that they couldn't be the big bad that he was looking for, like he had said when the timeline changed, the main cast was still the same, just the supporting cast that had changed, and the Triad, evil and extremely dangerous though they were, remained part of the supporting cast.

But that left an even more terrifying thought: who, or what, was so powerful that it could convince the near all powerful Triad to work with them?

"Ok, so these guys are seriously nasty, but how did they survive if Cole took them out?" Paige asked, and Piper looked as though she thought her sister had a point.

"COLE!" she thundered, making everyone jump, and to her shock, he faded in right beside them all.

"You rang? You guys aren't going to believe what I've found out." He told them, and Prue gave him a pitying look.

"If it's about the Triad being back, we already know I'm afraid." She told him, smiling a little at the put out look on his face.

"Aww, you guys spoiled my big reveal! But yeah, the Triad is back." He told them, sitting down on the seat he had once sat on when Piper had stormed off to go and try and vanquish Paige for stealing the Book.

"How though? You vanquished them, that's why we had bounty hunters, the Source, everyone harassing us for the better part of two years!" Piper exclaimed, and Cole nodded, looking worried.

"Exactly, I did vanquish them, but somehow they escaped. I know they're not an essence, like the Source is." He told them, and Chris looked at him curiously.

"Well, if they aren't an essence, maybe that means they're a spirit?" he asked, and Cole sent him an appreciative look.

"The kid's right. If they have a spirit form that could explain how they got a get out of hell free card. I only killed their physical bodies, it would take them a while to reconstitute but they could do it." He reasoned, and Chris nodded, that explained that part, even in the future they had never figured out how the Triad had returned, but it didn't explain why they were back early.

Phoebe then looked at Cole curiously, her brow furrowed.

"So why now? Why wait three years while we decimated the power of the underworld?" she asked, and he grinned, proud of himself.

"Well, because of me. To save my skin, I told everyone the Triad was plotting to betray the Source, and everyone hated the Triad enough, and they were suspicious enough to make everyone believe it's true. They'd have kept their heads down because of you guys sure, but also because if it was true that they were plotting to betray the Source, they would have the entire underworld in revolt against them, especially with the mess its in, made worse by there now being four of you." He explained, and they had to admit, that made some sense.

Seeing that they at least had something of an answer, Prue then took control of the situation.

"Alright, so the Triad's back, which is quite possibly the last thing we need. But on the plus side, we're further than we were a while ago. Could the Triad be the ones who brought back Shax, do they have that sort of power?" she asked Chris and Cole, who nodded.

"Yeah, conceivably they could bring back Shax, which explains how he suddenly came back and nearly took us all out." Chris complained, and Cole looked at them all, aghast.

"Wait, Shax is back?" he demanded, not counting on hearing that name, and Phoebe nodded.

"Yeah, he almost killed us yesterday, it was a whole thing. We're fine though. Ok, so the Triad must be behind Shax coming back, and behind the various demons attacking us, the Spider, the genie, the Darklighters, the Celeritys and Rennek?" she asked, and Cole nodded, looking grim.

"Yep, that sounds like them, up to their old tricks. They're clearly up to something though, attacking you so openly, especially with so many minions striking at you." He warned, and Phoebe nodded, then looked hopefully at Chris.

"Does this mean we finally know who's been trying to get their hands on Wyatt? It's the Triad, it has to be!" she concluded, but then her face fell comically as Chris shook his head.

"While it would be nice, I know it isn't them. They're back too early." He explained, and her face turned from one of disappointment to one of anger in an instant.

"Wait, you knew they were going to come back and you're only telling us this now? What's the matter with you? It's the Triad, Chris! We need to know, we need to be able to deal with them, how are we meant to save Wyatt if you keep things from us?" she shouted in frustration, feeling the angry look Piper was giving her, though not particularly caring at the moment she was so annoyed.

Besides, it wasn't as though Chris needed any help.

"I didn't tell you because you didn't need to know Phoebe! They aren't meant to be back yet, they're not meant to be back for another two years, that's why I didn't tell you. The future's changed loads as it is, I thought that might still be the same so I kept quiet." He snapped back, his heckles raised at being blamed, and Cole stood up from his chair and put himself between the two of them.

"Hey, easy! If they're not meant to be back yet Phoebe, Chris was doing the right thing, I get that it's frustrating but it isn't his fault that the Triad has decided to come back early. But knowing them, that isn't good. If the Triad have a plan like he says that they're meant to be going ahead with in two years, if they're back now that means whatever lured them out of hiding has to be good, really good." Cole said darkly, and Phoebe opened her mouth to protest again, though desisted as Prue fixed her with a steely look, before turning to Chris and Cole.

"Ok, so now we know, the Triad is back, and are most likely behind most the demonic attacks we've had, and are virtually confirmed as the new power in the underworld that everyone was so scared about. What I don't get is, why alert us to the fact that the Triad had come back, and if they are back early, why now?" she asked, and Piper leaned on the Book.

"Well, they did say it was only a friendly visit to warn us before they panicked and we blew them up. Maybe they did just want to warn us?" she asked the room, and Cole mused on this, pacing the attic.

"Maybe. After all, the Triad weren't exactly popular before I accused them of betraying the Source, and many a demon on the street blames them for the decline of the underworld, after all, they sent me after you and everything kicked off after that. And you guys have done a very good job of cleaning out the old guard of the underworld, I doubt that the next generation of demons would be thrilled that they're back. And besides, Barbas was living it large, Source in all but name. He won't be too happy with his sudden demotion. Could be anyone, maybe even Chris' demonic contacts." He explained, and Piper nodded, mulling it all over.

The Triad suddenly back, and retaking control of the underworld, that made sense, and explained a lot of everything that had happened lately, like the various attacks, and Shax's resurrection. And Chris' assurances aside, she had to agree, that everything that was going on just didn't seem to fit with the Triad's style. Like Dan getting freed, and Andy's resurrection, they didn't add up. She couldn't see even Dan's addled mind describing one of them as a wise man, and both Chris and Prue had confirmed that there wasn't a hint of dark magic on Andy, which there would have been had the Triad been behind the resurrection.

"That begs the question though sweetie," she asked Chris, who turned to her, "if the Triad is just involved in all this, who are they working with? Since it seems to me, that if they're back two years earlier than they should have been, that means whoever the big bad with the plan is, it has to be pretty damn good for the Triad to risk themselves and their own plan for it. Who are we looking for?" she asked in concern, and he sent her a worried look.

"Exactly mom. Who the hell could make the most powerful demons in the underworld go along with their plan?" he responded, and a slight chill passed through the air.

They had made progress at least, the revelation that the Triad was involved in all this had actually given them somewhere to look now. And if they were right, the Triad must be in cahoots with the real big bad, whoever the hell that was, which meant that they now had a chance of possibly ending this.

Which meant they needed to act fast.

"Ok people, let's prioritise. Cole, I'm assuming the Triad will know that we know they're back?" Prue asked, turning to him, and Cole and Chris both nodded.

"Seems logical to me, and if they know that you know, they'll be waiting for you. You guys really messed things up for them, and they've been vanquished before, they won't be in a hurry to do it again. And they know that you guys will have to come after them, so they'll be prepared to fight you. It isn't going to be easy Prue." He warned, and she nodded, her mind already thinking up battle plans.

"Well, if that's the case, do we really need to fight them?" Paige asked worriedly, seeing everyone so concerned about the Triad, on top of everything else they had to worry about recently, wasn't exactly encouraging her to go fight them, and Prue looked at her pityingly.

"I'm afraid so honey. Whatever else is going on, they are involved and are extremely dangerous, it's a whole destiny thing." She conceded with a sigh.

"And besides, if we take them out, we might finally be able to find out who they're working with to try and hurt Wyatt. I don't like the idea either honey, but Prue's right, we don't really have a choice. And the plus side, we outnumber them!" Piper told her, and Paige had to admit, that did make their imminent confrontation with the lords of the underworld sound slightly more appealing.

Cole then made a noise of dissent.

"Actually Piper, you don't. There's four of them." He told her, and she groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Typical." She grumbled, and Chris grinned as he watched his mother mutter under her breath, while he turned to Cole.

"How can there be four of them? Surely, that defeats the purpose of them being the Tri-ad?" he complained, and Cole grinned, nodding.

"Yeah, but you forget one thing, they," he explained, gesturing at the sisters, "screwed things up by becoming a group of four instead of three. But, there is one, slight bonus." He said elusively, with an enigmatic smile, and Phoebe looked at him curiously, a smile on her own face.

"Oh, I remember that look, the look that means someone has really screwed up. Come on, tell us!" she insisted excitedly, anything that made him that cocky in this situation had to be good.

"Well, it seems like because you suddenly became a collective of four, the Triad panicked, realising they couldn't beat you in an outright battle. So they tracked down one of their former members, Xar, he was an old golfing buddy of the Source so they couldn't kill him when he fell out with them. He's now joined them, so there's four of them and four of you. But," he said, smiling a little, "there's a small, tiny flaw in the plan. You see, unlike you guys, divine providence didn't interfere. You guys are a natural power of four, they only added Xar to it, which means…" he said leadingly, and Prue's eyes lit up excitedly.

"That while we're a Power of Four, they're a Power of Three plus One. It's like we'd have been if we were all together before Neena changed the timeline, their power is spread too thin, which gives us the advantage," she purred, her battle plan coming together as she turned to look at Cole with interest, "what does this Xar guy look like, in comparison to the rest of the Triad?" she asked, getting a strange look from her sisters, but Cole shrugged.

"Well, they all kind of look like aged old dudes, you know, the sort who run the Republican Party," he commented, making them grin, "Baliel's bald, Candor's got a whole head of hair, Asmodeus has a receding hairline, and Xar himself is the easy one, he's the red head of the four."

Prue nodded, a plan developing in her mind. But if they were right and the Triad knew about them, they were going to have to move fast, otherwise the Triad would either be untouchable, or worse they would come after the sisters and put them onto the back foot, they needed to strike while the iron was hot.

A Charmed Offensive as it were.

"Here's what we're going to do. We're going to evacuate to Magic School as soon as we can, the Triad's already sent Shax after us here once and I don't want them doing it again, and while I'm not totally convinced the place is safe, at least we're not here. Then once we've made sure Wyatt is safely tucked away here, we go to war, starting with Shax, agreed?" Prue asked, taking charge, and everyone nodded, and she smiled like a predator who had sighted its prey.

"I'll get the board ready, see if I can think of anything else we might need, might be worth taking the Book too." Chris said as he headed down the stairs, and Piper nodded, picking it up.

"Good idea, I'll get Wyatt ready to go." She told them, heading downstairs herself.

Paige stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Even if we go to war, the problem is we're not going to be able to get to the Triad, unless you know where they are?" she asked Cole, who shrugged.

"I know vaguely where they are, but where exactly is another thing, and if you stoat around in the place they've made home, you'll be a sitting duck." He told her, and a slight smile came to her face.

"I've got an idea." She said, heading downstairs, and her two other sisters looked at her in confusion.

"Alright, Phoebe, see if you can make us some small spells just for crowd control, just in case our powers don't work. I'm assuming the Triad will be in the deepest reaches so our powers might not be as effective, so I want to be prepared. And you Cole, you are going to come and help me." She told him, beckoning with her finger imperiously, and he looked at her in confusion.

"What can I do?" he asked blankly, and she grinned.

"You can help me play with Wyatt's teddy bears…they're going to be very helpful to me as I plan strategy." She told him, and confused, but also greatly interested despite himself, he followed.

XX

Leo was once more in the underworld, hunting for Rennek. His last encounter with the Elders hadn't exactly been a good one, and the fact that there had had to be an intermission while he went and healed the girls after Shax's attack hadn't exactly done him any favours.

While ones on his side like Gideon, Sandra and Kevin had been understanding, the council was more or less unanimous in their belief that Leo was being completely irresponsible in his determination to hunt down Rennek. They admitted that he was a powerful and potent threat, perhaps dangerous enough to the Elders themselves, but had decreed that he was a problem for the sisters to hunt down and deal with, especially when there was now four of them. They had lambasted him for endangering himself and the council as a whole with his encounter in the alleyway that had led to him being trapped in the Ghostly Plane, telling him he had no consideration for the others and had left the Elders as a whole vulnerable. Leo had defended himself, saying that as the Whitelighter who had hunted Rennek down last time, he was best suited to tracking him down, which Sandra had admitted he had a point in saying. However, there was still the fact that Rennek still hadn't been brought to justice, Leo had been avoiding his responsibilities as an Elder, and had endangered them all by going off the rails.

As such, they had given him an ultimatum: he had until he found, and dealt with Rennek, and then he was to come up to the heavens and take his full time place as an Elder, sever the ties that bind and finally do what was expected of him. And if he did not, he and his family would suffer the consequences.

Indeed, his supporters had looked pained, it was clear that they had been outvoted in that regard: Gideon, Sandra, Kevin, Zola and even Jonnah. However, the ones most perturbed by his constant absences, the likes of Odin, Aramis, Adair, Roland, Kheel, Byron and others, had clearly outvoted them, leading to this impasse.

Which now led Leo to having to make a choice. There was no way he was going to abandon his quest to stop Rennek, once and for all. If he didn't deal with Rennek properly this time, his family would never truly be safe. But his family, they were the very reason that he was hesitating to begin with.

He knew why the Elders wanted him up there. Despite everything, he quite enjoyed being an Elder. But they couldn't ask him to choose between them and his family, that was one of the things that had destroyed the original future in the first place. No, Leo was a husband, a father, a brother in law. But if he didn't play ball, what exactly would the Elders do to his family? Perhaps strip infant Chris of his powers before he was even born? Make him forget all about Piper and their love for one another? Try to take his boys away from him, his wife? Would they force the sisters to go back to three instead of four?

There was so many questions, and he didn't like any of them one little bit. He knew that since the Titans attack (and Chris' complicity in it) they had been even more rigid and authoritarian than before, and now they were tightening their grip.

But where did that leave Leo?

He wanted to be with his family, leaving the first time had been bad enough, and besides, the damage inflicted by him alone on the future was enough to stay his hand, however he highly doubted that the rest of the Elders, particularly the more obstinate ones, would see things his way. And if they forced his hand, forced him to choose them over his family, who knew what sort of a Pandora's box it would unleash if it put the Elders even more at loggerheads with the Charmed Ones than they usually were?

So he was now stuck, between the Elders which wanted him to do his job, and his family which wanted him to be with them, and one side would enact all sorts of repercussions if he moved against them, and the other would be devastated and could risk starting the whole chain reaction all over again should he be forced to side with the Elders.

As Leo mused over his predicament, a hand laid on his shoulder and he turned in fright, ready to blast lightning into his assailant, only to find that it was Cole, who raised his hands in surrender.

"Whoa, easy Leo, it's just me!" he protested, and Leo rolled his eyes, lowering his hands.

"What are you doing here?" he asked warily, looking around to make sure no one was spying on them, he suddenly had the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

Cole looked around shiftily, then leaned close.

"I came to tell you, something's about to go down. Shax is on the move, and so is Rennek, looks like they're all gearing up for the endgame whatever the hell that is." He said darkly, and Leo felt a claw of terror grip his heart.

If that was true, if their unseen opponent was about to make its move, they had run out of time, his son was in terrible danger, hell his whole family was. But then, there were all four sisters and Chris all in place to protect Wyatt, and if Cole alerted them that something was about to go down too, which he surely would, for Phoebe if nothing else, they would surely retreat to the safety of Magic School. And if it was indeed the endgame, then perhaps Rennek's guard would be just that little bit lower than usual, and with any luck he could make his move before anything else went down.

"Cole, you wouldn't happen to know where Rennek is would you?" Leo asked hopefully, and he shook his head, though did lean in conspiratorially.

"Where he is, no, but Barbas has been coming and going to whatever the big bad's place is by the sounds of things, and he's going back to his lair, and Rennek is meant to be meeting him there later. Only thing is, Barbas has been hanging around with this shapeshifter demon, kind of hot really." He told the Elder, and something lit inside Leo's eyes, and he turned with a brilliant grin towards Cole.

"Cole, you're a genius! Thanks, thanks very much!" he exclaimed, then orbed away leaving Cole standing bemused in his dust.

Cole then transformed back into Katya, who smiled to herself. She couldn't help herself with the hot comment, she really couldn't. But on the plus side, the Elder would now be able to have the Darklighter waltz merrily to his demise, which solved him as a problem.

One down, seven to go.

Smirking darkly to herself, and rather glad that it was the Charmed Ones on the case, she headed to the entrance to the Triad's base, prepared to do the next part and ensure the continued good governance of the underworld, under her domain.

XX

"Where the hell is Wuvey, he'll never settle when we get to Magic School if we don't find him!" Piper complained, everything was ready to go other than having her sisters present and accounted for, and her son's favourite bear, and she couldn't even find any of his other less favourite bears to replace him with either.

Chris grinned at her from the staircase, beckoning upstairs with his head.

"I found him, come see." He said, putting a finger to his lips and beckoning her up the stairs, and very curious and confident that Wyatt was still safely in his playpen with Paige in the conservatory, she followed him to the open door to his and Wyatt's shared room and peered her head around the door while he stuffed his hand in his mouth to keep him from laughing.

Inside the room, Prue and Cole were sitting in the middle of the floor with four teddy bears of various sizes and shapes surrounded by various other stuffed animals, which included Wuvey. Cole was currently wielding a teddy with a red bow tie that was in the centre of the other four toys, while Prue wielded Wuvey.

"Die witch, die!" Cole screamed, and Piper was surprised that she hadn't heard them coming up the stairs with the noise they were making.

"Back off Triad scum, stay away from my sisters!" Prue shouted, equally into it, slamming her bear into Cole's, and he pulled his back.

"You can't kill us witch, we have a collective, just like the Power of Four!" Cole boasted, and Prue then seized a cuddly dog toy.

"Prove it!" she challenged, and Cole attacked said dog with his bear, only for Prue to jerk the bear out of his hand and slam it into another bear, and Cole let out a scream of terror as she threw the bear away and used both the dog and Wuvey to leap onto the other bears in the centre, throwing them away before picking up a cuddly duck and doing the same to the last centre bear.

"Curse you witches!" Cole cried, and then his eyes widened comically as he realised that an incredulous Piper was standing in the doorway, incredulous expression on her face, hands on her hips, tapping her foot while Chris finally gave in and roared with laughter, doubling over beside her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Piper yelled, and while annoyed she was kind of amused too, she had to admit, and the sheer guilt and shame of having been caught doing such a thing made Prue turn her head to her little sister, staring at the floor while going very red.

"Um, well, we were going through my battle plan, and we got a little…into it." Prue admitted in a small voice, and Cole pointed towards her desperately.

"It was all her idea! She's so competitive, besides, she was cheating!" he said smartly, and she turned to look at him in outrage.

"I was cheating, you cheated!" she argued, and Cole rolled his eyes.

"You're fighting four of the most powerful demons in the underworld Prue, of course they're going to cheat, and so am I for that matter." He reasoned, while Chris calmed down a little, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, and Piper would actually be more annoyed by this delay had they not so amused her son.

"I actually can't believe it, you've been delaying everything, your plan I might add, while you re-enact Custer's last stand with my son's teddy bears!"

Prue looked up at her sister defiantly, though she was still very red.

"Cole agrees, he thinks my plan should work! Like I say, we just took so long because we kind of got a little too into it." She muttered, and Chris, struggling to keep a straight face, stood beside his mother and shook his head, looking down in feigned disappointment at the two of them.

"To think, I left you in charge of the resistance when I came back here, and this is how you plan battles? What did you do, go around the base stealing all the kids action figures?" he asked, trying not to laugh, and she shot him a dirty look but did smile a little herself.

"No, I used the holograms, though I will admit to using chess pieces when the damn thing stopped working." She conceded, leaping to her feet, while Cole followed suit, and Piper, determined to maintain a straight face, picked up Wuvey and walked out of the room in silent dignity…and then burst into laughter as she headed into the hall.

"I would have won had the Triad done their job properly by the way." Cole muttered to Chris who sniggered and rolled his eyes while Prue hurried after her sister.

At the bottom of the stairs, Phoebe had a large bundle of spells that she had written, while Paige tucked her own one into her pocket, Wyatt in her arms. There was a pile of things, including Chris' board, to take with them, and the Book was there as well.

"This feels weird, all of us abandoning the manor." Piper said, stopping suddenly on the stairs as she saw it all, and Chris shook his head stubbornly, squeezing his mother's hand.

"We're not abandoning the manor mom, we're just taking all this stuff to be extra safe, chances are we'll be back by the end of the day, we're just performing a strategic withdrawal to a safer location." He informed her, and Prue nodded, wrapping an arm around her sisters' shoulders.

"Exactly, a strategic disappearance, and considering we have an up and coming mortal foe in this world, it's probably a better idea if we take anything supernaturally incriminating, or anything that happens to be stolen police property." She said brightly, and Piper looked at her in confusion while Chris shot her a dirty look.

"What stolen police property? Actually, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Are we ready people? Let's mooove out!" she called in an army baritone as she headed down the stairs while Chris summoned the portal, Phoebe picked up the Book and Piper relieved Paige of her baby.

"Wuvey, where did you find him?" Phoebe asked, noticing the bear which Piper passed to Paige in place of Wyatt, and she shot a pointed look at Prue and Cole, both of whom were going red.

"Ask your sister or your ex-husband my dear. Let's go." She ordered and the four Charmed Ones, the former Source of All Evil and demonic hitman, the boy from the future, and the Twice Blessed Child all headed into the portal.

Emerging into Magic School, a thought suddenly occurred to Chris, and he spun, only to find Cole standing right beside him, shouldering the white board along with him.

"How did you get here?" he asked, realising it sounded dumb and Cole looked at him in confusion.

"Um, through the door?" he said, and Chris rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean, you shouldn't be able to get in, you're still technically a demon, even if you are a spirit." He reasoned, and Cole shrugged.

"Maybe it's because I'm dead?" he asked, and Chris nodded absently, sure, that must be it, but he couldn't help but feel there was something a little odd about it, and Cole looked like he too was bothered by the implications before Ms Winterbourne appeared with a smile to greet them.

"Piper, it's good to see you back so soon!" she said, clasping Piper's hand, and she smiled at the nursery teacher, though Phoebe did detect a slight feeling of fear from the woman, apparently the staff were all still rattled by Piper's intensive questioning.

"Thank you. Is Gideon around? Or Sigmund?" she asked, and Ms Winterbourne shook her head, looking puzzled.

"I don't know where either of them is to be honest, the headmaster said he had a meeting to go to, but no one's actually seen Sigmund in a couple of days I think. I have to say, it's strange for him, we had to physically escort him home when he got glandular fever a couple of years ago, it's strange for him to take time off if he's ill, but that's what the headmaster said." She told them, beckoning the group and leading them back towards the rooms Piper had had when she had stayed here.

"I hate to do this again, but can we stay a little bit? I mean, you're already taking us, but still." Piper said with a small smile, and the nursery teacher smiled.

"Of course Piper, stay as long as you want, I know you wouldn't bring your whole family here if you had any other choice. I imagine something is going down, so feel free to use the place as a base, we haven't gotten it back to normal yet anyway, the elf company we use to clean all the rooms are working to rule due to some dispute over whether or not socks should be provided or not as part of their protective gear. I must get back to the nursery, but don't hesitate to call on us if you need us Piper, and I'll happily take Wyatt if you need a break." She told her on the way out of the door as she left them all in their rooms.

"She seems lovely, don't tell me you interrogated her too!" Paige scolded, and Piper rolled her eyes.

"I interrogated virtually all the staff Paige, though I admit, she got off most easy. Alright, let's get set up." She said, setting Wyatt down on the couch, but frowned when she saw the concerned look on Chris' face.

"Chris?" Cole asked, also noticing his expression, and Chris looked very concerned all of a sudden as he orbed out.

"Grandpa…"

XX

Victor sipped his tea, feeling very good, as he had most mornings recently, and that was all due to the new lady in his life, and he was fairly certain this one wasn't a demon, or even magical, which in and of itself was a refreshing change of pace.

It had been quite by accident that they had met to be honest. He had gotten out of a meeting much later than he should have, and had been absolutely starving. He knew Chris was still living with him, but in his grief with the loss of his big brother in the future, he didn't always eat, despite Victor's attempts to make him do so, and he was famished so couldn't take the risk, especially when he hadn't been food shopping in a while. He had popped into the restaurant called Quake, where Piper had used to work, for a meal, and had seen a woman sitting at another table shovelling her olive around her martini glass miserably. Feeling sorry for her, he had asked to join her, and while she had seemed reluctant to allow him to do so, she had acquiesced, and she had brightened up a little when he had bought her another drink.

As time went on, she explained that after numerous entreaties by the woman she viewed as her best friend to give dating a shot, she thought she had finally scored a date with a decent guy, only for him to stand her up at the last minute. Upset, as she had been looking forward to going on a date again, she had been considering leaving when he had joined her.

Furious on her behalf, he had then treated her to dinner, and over the course of the evening the two of them had relaxed, laughing, melding together in a way many people take months to get to that point of. He told them of his career, and she of hers, she was the editor of a newspaper and made it quite clear in her personal ad in said paper that she was a workaholic, and he told her he understood completely, and said that many people didn't understand how important jobs could be to people. He then admitted that he had made mistakes in that regard with his three daughters, though she could tell from his smile that he truly loved them, and their half sister as well who he had essentially adopted as one of his own, and he had two grandkids, though left it vague as to the status of the second one.

She had told him of her own bitter divorce, as her husband, who she had described as a schmuck, certainly didn't understand her enthusiasm for her job, and had cheated on her. He told her of his divorce and then the death of his first wife, and then of being widowed the year before, but admitted that was more a sort of shotgun wedding (he never had found out if he'd been enchanted for that one). The night had passed in an amicable blaze, the two of them enjoying each other, riveted by each other's stories, and Victor had then taken the two of them to P3, delighted to see none of the girls were in attendance as he couldn't deal with the teasing, and watched the band, The Cranberries. It wasn't until after dancing a few times and having a cooling drink in one of the booths that they had then discovered who each other were.

His date had asked him how old his daughters were, and he had happily shown her a picture of the four girls together, taken after Prue had returned which Piper had sent him, that she suddenly went pale and started to laugh. Confused, he had asked her what was so funny, and she had then pointed to Phoebe, telling her that it was her who had encouraged her to go on a date. She then revealed that she was actually Phoebe's boss.

All night, his date, Elise, had actually been Elise Rothman, editor of the Bay Mirror and Phoebe's boss.

And all night, her date, Victor, was actually Victor Bennett, Phoebe's father.

Both of them laughing had led to another drink, and when the club closed, they both found they didn't want the night to end, and he had invited her back for a nightcap. Mistakes were made, admittedly, if you could call them mistakes, and the day after had dawned sunny and bright, both of them very happy with what had transpired the night before. Elise had then left his apartment, and he hadn't expected to hear from her again, and didn't want to put Phoebe in an awkward position either, but he was sorely tempted to call her, he hadn't felt a rush like that since he had first met Patty.

And then, she had called him for lunch, which he had readily accepted, and then she had asked with a mischievous glint in her eye not unlike Patty's if he wanted to play hooky for the rest of the day, to which he had agreed.

And so it had continued, and here they were, six weeks after their initial meeting, and still going strong, hell, if anything, it was heating up, with him convincing her to relax and not let her job rule her, while she encouraged him to live a little, to get out of his set ways, which was now obviously a lot easier than it had been six weeks ago when Chris had still been living here.

Bless him, he had suspected that his grandfather had had a lady friend over several nights but had said nothing, just gave him a coy smile and a wink before leaving.

But no, he had the place to himself again since Chris had moved back into the manor, and he and Elise were free to have as much fun as they liked. And it certainly was a lot of fun they were having.

"Oh, I've got to go to the office, Phoebe's apparently having some sort of crisis, so I better go." Elise said, and while he felt a flicker of worry for his daughters and grandsons, he reassured himself that such a thing didn't automatically mean demons.

"Well that's no fun, after all, I was going to teach you a new game." He said cheekily, wrapping an arm around her waist, and she smiled playfully up at him.

"And what sort of game would that be?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"Oh, just a few games of strip snap." He said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows, and she laughed, leaning an arm on his shoulder.

"Now now, we don't have time for you to start your nonsense, or else." She warned, making a fist, and he took the fist in his own hand.

"Well a good whack would certainly put paid to my nonsense," he conceded, "but isn't it a pity that so much of my nonsense goes to waste every day? I mean you never know how much you have left do you?" he mused in amusement, and she laughed again.

"That's true. I better go," she said, receiving a disappointed agreement from Victor as she did so, "I'll see you later." She promised, kissing his cheek.

She headed to pick up her handbag from where it had been discarded the night before, when Victor felt a terrible chill.

"Love, did you shut the bathroom window when you came out the shower?" he asked, figuring that that would be what the cause was, and she turned and looked at him in confusion.

"No, I closed it before I even got in, it was freezing, but you're right, there's a hellish chill coming from somewhere." She agreed, and Victor began to get a bad feeling that Phoebe's problem may actually be to do with demons.

It was getting colder, and there seemed to be a wind whistling through the apartment door. He quickly crossed to Elise, figuring something was indeed wrong when the door to his apartment blew open and a wind surged through his apartment, a swirl of leaves accompanying the whirlwind that materialised inside the doorway.

Inside his doorway was the hulking, open robed form of a demon. His skin was a pale blue grey, his long grey hair blowing into his face in the windstorm he had brought with him, his eyes alight with malice and an evil smile on his face, and while he had never even so much as seen a picture of him, Victor knew instinctively that this demon, this was the demon who had murdered his eldest daughter.

"Dear god…" Elise whispered in shock as they beheld the demon in the split second before he pulled back his arm, and Victor acted on instinct, tackling Elise to the ground, over the back of the sofa she had been standing in front of and landing on the other side as a swirling blast of air ripped his sofa in two, dismantling the sofa.

"What the hell?" Elise shrieked, and Victor took her arm and grabbed her, hurtling for the rooms as another blast ripped apart the majority of the wall as he rushed into the bedroom, slamming the door, as if that would stop him.

He needed help, the girls, but then he couldn't guarantee he would get all the girls, but if he called Chris, he didn't want to endanger his grandson but he didn't have a choice…

"CHRIS!" he cried, as the door to his bedroom was blown to smithereens as the demon stalked in, his wicked eyes finding his victims and drawing his hand back to finish them.

This was it, he was going to die, so was Elise, murdered by the monster that had killed Prue…

Chris orbed in right in front of them, his face clouded with worry.

"Behind you!" Victor cried, and Chris span just in time, managing to divert Shax's attack away from him, smashing it through the bed and the wall, blowing the window and a lot of rubble out onto the street below.

"Shax!?" Chris demanded in shock as Shax moved to strike again, "Evil wind that blows, That which forms below, No longer may you dwell, Death takes you with this spell!" he gasped desperately, and with great relief, Shax then twirled into the wind and retreated, leaving a very shocked Chris shaking in fear while Victor and Elise huddled behind him in relieved terror.

"Good work slugger." Victor gasped, and Chris turned in alarm, helping his grandfather to his feet, looking at him anxiously.

"Are you alright?" he demanded, and Victor nodded.

"Yeah thanks to you. I didn't want to put you in that position son, but I…" Victor said, and broke off when Chris hugged him fiercely, and Victor realised that his grandson had truly been terrified for his grandfather, meeting that particular demon.

"Are you alright…oh!" Chris asked Elise, who had still been cowering on the floor, but despite the seriousness of the situation, his face broke into a grin when he saw who his grandfather's lady friend was, "I so want to be there when Phoebe finds out. Are you alright Elise?" he asked her, helping her to her feet, as she shook in abject terror and he sat her down on what was left of the bed.

"Um, yes, I think so…what was that?" she croaked, and Victor squatted down in front of her and took her hands.

"I'm so sorry you got caught in this love, but that was a demon. If you were going to find out, I certainly didn't want you to find out this way." He told her, and she looked at him, aghast.

"A-a demon? A demon? But why would a demon, attack us?" she gasped, needing like she could do with a good, stiff drink.

Victor looked to Chris for help, but his grandson was in the living room, perhaps assessing the damage.

"Demons are a lot to do with my family Elise. My first wife, Patty, she was a witch. My girls are all witches too, including Phoebe. They're good witches I might add," he insisted, seeing her eyes widen, "they protect the innocent. That demon, I think he is the infamous Shax. That demon murdered Prue." He explained, and she looked at him quizzically, not quite grasping what he meant.

"Wait, Prue's dead? What's going on? And your first wife, was she killed by a demon too?" she asked weakly, having been told by Phoebe that her sister was back from the dead, and he nodded gravely, realising he wasn't doing a good job of explaining all this to her.

"Yes, a water demon. It drowned her from the inside out. The girls, their mother, even their grandmother, they fight demons to protect people from them. And Prue was killed three years ago, but she's back now." He told her, and she nodded weakly, still clearly not understanding, and then looked at Victor hesitantly.

"And your second wife?" she asked, and he grinned humourlessly.

"She enchanted me, she was a demon herself, trying to kidnap Wyatt as soon as he was born." He told her, and her eyes went even wider.

"They do that?" she gasped, and Chris returned to the room, the phone in his hand.

"You'd be surprised, and I'm thinking that Shax attacking you guys is actually a part of the big bad's plan to do the same. Come on mom pick up," he growled through clenched teeth as he held the phone to his ear, "I know your mobile's there because I packed it myself!"

"Hello? Dad, are you alright? Chris orbed out of here saying something about you!" Piper's anxious voice responded over the speaker phone.

"Mom, it's me," Chris replied, and Elise looked agog at Chris before looking in a baffled manner at Victor, who suppressed a groan, "grandpa's alright, so is…his lady friend." He said with a slight grin at Elise, who gave him a very half-hearted thumbs up.

"His lady friend? Dad's dating? Ew, not again." Piper moaned, and Victor rolled his eyes.

"You're on speaker phone honey." He called, and she made an embarrassed noise.

"Sorry dad. You were saying peanut?" she asked, and Chris braced himself.

"He's fine, but mom, it was close, he was just attacked by Shax." He explained, and Victor and Chris both winced as Piper exploded.

"WHAT? Dad are you alright?" she demanded anxiously.

"I'm fine honey, we all are, Chris saved us." Victor assured her, and he heard her breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god. Why would Shax attack dad?" she asked, and Chris eyes clouded in anger.

"Ask Cole, if he was trying to force you guys into a showdown, and couldn't get to you, what would he do?" he hissed, realising the danger everyone was currently in.

"Cole, you hear?" Piper called, and Victor and Elise both looked at Chris in confusion, how the hell was Cole back?

"Well, if it was me, and I wanted to face you guys, I'd hit your innocents, which obviously Sirk has already done, and failing that, I'd got after your extended family." He admitted, Piper's phone clearly on speaker as well, and she made a noise of alarm through her teeth.

"But if they do that, then?" she breathed, and Chris nodded.

"Yeah, Henry's in danger, and so is Darryl and his family. Mom, we need to get someone to make sure they're alright!" he urged, and she made a noise of agreement.

"Agreed sweetie, ok, bring dad, and I suppose his lady friend, if need be we can memory dust her if we have to, they'll be safe here at Magic School." She ordered, and he agreed.

"I was going to anyway, don't worry mom, his lady friend isn't as bad as you think." He told her with a note of badly suppressed glee, and Victor and Elise groaned, it was obvious he was imagining Phoebe's reaction, which they so weren't ready to deal with.

"That sounds…promising. Ok honey, hurry here, and maybe clear up whatever mess Shax made, we'll get them locked down safely." She commanded before hanging up.

"Where are we going?" Elise asked weakly, her voice sounding a bit more normal now to her great relief, and Chris gave her a reassuring smile.

"Magic School, you'll be safe there. Oh, want to see some magic?" he asked cockily, and cast the spell to return Victor's apartment to normal.

"That was…kind of handy got to say." Elise admitted despite herself, and Chris grinned and winked at his grandfather.

"Nice going gramps." He teased, and Victor felt himself going red as he took Elise's hand, and she looked at him in confusion.

"Um, how do we get to Magic School?" she asked, and Chris grinned.

"Like this!" he said brightly, sniggering to himself as Elise screamed as he orbed them to safety.

XX

"Shax attacked dad, is he alright?" Prue demanded, and Piper nodded, looking grim.

Shax attacking their father, and his unknown lady friend, was a new low, and the fact that Chris could easily have been killed by the same demon that had nearly already killed him once, the same demon who had murdered her sister, who could easily have murdered her father too, was not sitting well with her at all.

"He's fine, Chris banished Shax, but without access to the Power of Four or anything, I doubt he's done much more than just annoy him really. And if what Cole says is true," she breathed, pointing to Cole, who nodded darkly, an ugly look on his face.

"It looks to me like someone, likely the Triad, is trying to draw you out. Shax can't get to you guys, and too many of your innocents have been killed already, so the next logical step is attack your extended family, anyone else in your lives." He explained, and Prue felt a growing sense of foreboding.

"Andy…" she whispered, and Piper nodded darkly.

"Paige, go check on Henry." She ordered, and Paige orbed out before another word could be said, and Prue could feel her heart hammering in her chest, she had just gotten Andy back, the thought of losing him again… And Darryl had risked so much to help them, to help all of them.

"I need to get to Darryl's!" she cried, various images flashing through her mind like a tape on fast forward about what could happen if she didn't get there in time.

"But how can we-?" Piper asked, agreeing with her sister, but unless Chris hurried up it could be too late.

"I'll take her." Cole volunteered, and Prue sent him a thankful look.

"Thank you Cole." She said, and the two of them faded out as Piper was left alone in the room, eagerly awaiting any news, and realising that this time the demons really did mean business, and she rubbed herself worriedly as she watched her baby cooing away to himself, a growing shadow of fear surrounding her as she considered everything that was about to possibly happen.

XX

Henry was now showered, fully dressed, and prepared to head into his late shift at work. Yesterday had been such a weird day, bringing down the Mercers had been all well and good, but then the various revelations pertaining to the Halliwell family, and then this morning as well, it had been intense. He could tell from the fear radiating off Piper, Prue and Phoebe that this Triad that they had been warned about were serious business, and Paige had hastily sent him packing upon realising how distressed her sisters were.

He couldn't imagine it really, this was their lives, every day, dealing with threats that most people could scarcely imagine.

Darryl hadn't been kidding when he said they had done more good than any police force.

He had so many questions flying around his head, so many things he wanted to ask Paige, but yet on the other hand, he didn't want to know, fearing that if he did know these greater details of existence it would drive him mad when the supernatural was concerned. And seeing Piper and Chris vanquish those two demons this morning, that had been pretty cool admittedly, but also quite worrying in some respects, if they could that easily infiltrate what did that mean for, well, everything?

These questions, he had so many questions, he felt like the Riddler. He knew Paige was busy, they all were, if Paige was right, they were trying to prevent some unknown threat hurting Wyatt and messing up the future so much so that it broke, but all these questions spinning around in his head were driving him mad. There was just so much he didn't understand about magic, about the whole thing.

For example, demons, Paige had given him quite a good overview of the whole thing, but how did the demon part even work?

He picked up his car keys, wondering if Paige was at the manor, if he didn't get some answers he would go crazy, and if he was distracted it may draw more attention to the sisters from Sheridan as well, which was the last thing he wanted to cause. His mind was abuzz, and as he headed towards the door, he suddenly felt a sudden chill blowing through his apartment.

And then to his shock, the whole demon thing needing answers reminded him to be careful what he wished for.

His door blasted open, and he was suddenly face to face with his first demon, a muscular, blue grey hulking figure with an evil grin, dark, sinister eyes, wind whistling around him and blowing his long grey hair into his face as leaves cascaded around him.

"Oh my god…" Henry breathed, as the demon reared his hand back to kill him.

In a split second however, Paige was suddenly wrapping her arms around him as she surrounded him in a tempest of orbs and orbed him to safety, just as Shax let loose his blast, ripping apart the apartment and destroying exactly where Henry had been standing not a second before, debris falling everywhere but his target now gone.

XX

"So I don't quite get it, I hope you don't mind me asking Andy, but how exactly does it work, with you and Prue, you know, dating wise?" Sheila asked curiously as she passed him a cup of coffee, and he grinned a little as he took it from her.

"Well, the afterlife's a bit difficult to describe Sheila, and I'm pretty sure that there'll be some magical thing out there making sure I don't give the game away," he commented, looking around with a vague aura of suspicion around him, "but by and large, you can do what makes you happy, so Prue and I have been kind of dating essentially for the last three years. I'm not going to lie, it's been damn difficult at times, she never really accepted her death, but yeah, we're doing good. I think." He said, sipping his coffee, and Sheila smiled.

She had met him five years ago when Darryl had told her that he had been assigned a new partner, and had actually met Prue at the same time, the two of them had had a double date with Darryl and Sheila, with Prue being the first of the sisters she had met. She had been able to tell even then that the two of them were made for each other, but even then, the cracks were beginning to show as Prue had been hiding something, which they all now obviously knew was the fact that she was a witch. They had all gotten on well, and Sheila had been just as upset when Andy had been lost to Rodriguez's attack five years before.

It was so strange to think that the two of them had in some form been living the lives they had been deprived of by their early murders. All this magic stuff was far too much for her to get her head around.

Darryl smiled a little as he sipped his own coffee. While it was true that Prue and Andy did seem to be far more stable post resurrection than they had in their original lives, he didn't want to jinx it, and the fact that Shax had almost killed her again had strained her nerves to the breaking point, not that she would admit it. Andy had said that the Triad was also back, so if her supernatural responsibilities were about to suddenly take precedence again, he didn't know how long their period of relative bliss would last. Especially when there was still the fact that they didn't know who or what had brought back Andy in the first place, and he, unlike her, was still officially dead, but that was a problem they could deal with after the sisters had dealt with the current multitude of enemies that seemed to be besieging them.

"I'm sure you're both doing fine." Sheila assured him happily as she sipped her coffee, and the three of them sat in companionable silence, enjoying the fact that Andy was back, and the fact that the kids were at their grandparents was also an added bonus, Andy could get used to being alive without all of their racket, and Darryl and Sheila could make the best of a mostly empty house.

Andy was just about to take all their cups through to the kitchen when eh suddenly stopped short, frowning.

"Andy, what is it?" Darryl asked worriedly, getting to his feet, he knew that kind of look, it was the one the sisters got when something was about to happen, something bad.

"I don't know, something, I got a chill…" Andy muttered, and then a second later his eyes widened and he looked urgently at Sheila, but Darryl was already on the move, pulling her off the seat and shoving her behind the sofa just as the door shattered inwards as they leapt to the floor, Andy right behind them, and Andy and Darryl peered from around the corner of the sofa.

The hulking, muscular pale blue grey form of Shax had emerged from within his whirlwind as he stalked into the house, a wind howling through the house, leaves blowing around him in a tempest, his grey hair blowing behind him as he stalked into the house, his eyes glinting maliciously and a sinister smile on his face, clearly having some idea of where they were.

"That's him isn't it?" Darryl asked grimly, cursing his stupidity for leaving his gun upstairs, he knew it wouldn't do anything against a demon like Shax however he would feel better having it, and Andy nodded.

"Yeah, it's him." He hissed angrily, also feeling extremely exposed and vulnerable, and Sheila, quaking in fear behind her husband, looked at them both, her face pale with fright.

"Him who?" she squeaked in terror as the wind howled around them and Shax stalked towards them like a predator.

"Shax, the demon who murdered Prue." Andy replied, as Shax emerged from the side of the sofa and the three of them looked up into his eyes, a murderous fervour glinting in them, as he pulled back his arm in order to finish them.

"RUN!" Darryl yelled, and hauled Sheila to her feet as he and Andy made a break for it, throwing themselves through the air, praying they would manage to reach the kitchen, just as Shax blasted at them, his attack shredding their couch and blowing splinters out of the walls into the kitchen and leaving a massive crater in the wall facing him.

"Out, we need to get out!" Andy gasped, pulling himself to his feet but they were too late, their hearts hammering in their chest as Shax had emerged in the ruined doorway of the kitchen, and Sheila and Darryl were just pulling themselves back up to their feet.

This was it, this was the end, the assassin was about to snuff them out, and Andy was about to die again, he pulled back his arm…only for another two people to fade into existence in front of them and an energy ball of some sorts flew into Shax, knocking the demon back in surprise, if not pain.

"What the, Cole?" Darryl demanded weakly, and he looked over his shoulder to give him a grin.

"Hey Morris, what's up?" he asked, and threw another energy ball at Shax, which just seemed to ripple across the assassin's chest as the murderous demon narrowed his eyes in recognition, though was harassed by energy balls that Cole was throwing but that wasn't going to last long.

"Prue, say the spell damn it!" Cole spat, throwing an energy ball at Shax once again, but now the hitman had noticed his companion, his eyes burning with a vicious, bloodthirsty pleasure as he beheld Prue, who was standing behind Cole, and was actually shaking in fear.

Shax had seen her, and as Cole was literally a shadow of his former self, his energy balls were no match for a demon as dangerous as Shax. He had spotted her, the malicious evil gaze he had fixed upon her was clear about that, he intended to kill her once again, to kill her, Andy, Darryl, Sheila and Cole if he could manage it. It was him, one blast, it would all be over, she would be dead again…

"Prue! What's wrong with you? Say the damn spell!" Cole yelled frantically as Shax allowed himself that chilling smile that preceded murder.

"Prue…you've got this." Andy told her from the floor, and she heard him, but still, it was him, it was Shax, her murderer, who not a day ago had damn well nearly done it again.

"Prue!" Cole cried as Shax brought his hand back, power swirling around his hand.

"Prue, you can do this!" Andy insisted, and Shax prepared to strike, and despite the abject terror she felt, Prue took a deep breath and squinted through her eyes, and Shax took a stumble back, which was the opportunity she needed.

"E-Evil wind that b-blows,

That which f-forms below,

No-no l-longer may you dwell,

Death takes you with this spell!"

Shax cried out in pain as he twirled into the wind, vanishing into the aether, and Prue allowed herself a steady sigh of relief, while Cole turned to look at her, an odd expression on his face.

"What happened to you? It's not like you to seize up fighting a demon." He pointed out, and she shook her head in agreement.

"You're right, it's not. But then most demons haven't murdered me." She said softly, and he gave her a consoling look and squeezed her arm reassuringly.

"Of course, it never occurred to me, I'm sorry." He said kindly, and she nodded, and felt herself melt into the embrace that Andy wrapped her in, rocking her slightly.

"You beat him, he's gone babe. You saved us." He whispered into her ear, still feeling her shaking in his grip, while Cole helped Darryl and Sheila to their feet, Sheila also quaking in fear.

"That-that was a demon?" she whispered softly, and Cole nodded, looking at her with a pitying expression.

"Yep, Shax, the Source's Assassin, and the only demon to ever, you know, kill a Charmed One." He informed her, and Sheila looked over at Prue who seemed to be struggling to pull herself together.

"Prue, thank you," Sheila managed softly, jerking Prue out of her reverie, "you saved us, you as well Cole…wow, he was my first demon." She commented, and Prue looked at Sheila despairingly.

"I'm so sorry you got involved in all this Sheila, we never wanted any of you put in this kind of danger." She said, prying herself from Andy and taking Sheila's hand in her own.

"This isn't your fault Prue, we're just collateral damage," Sheila assured her, but she did look at the witch in interest, "but why were we targeted?"

Cole shrugged.

"We don't know, but it's what I would do if I was in the big bad's position, they sent Shax to kill everyone and he failed, and the various other distractions haven't held either. And now that we know the Triad are back, it looks like they're gearing up for a showdown with the girls, and attacking you lot is a good way to make sure they face them." He explained, and Darryl, who was holding onto Sheila's hand which she was resting on her shoulder, looked at them in terror.

"So this will happen again?" he asked weakly, he had always known that by getting involved with the girls he was risking himself, but now his wife had nearly been killed by a demonic hitman as well, that was too far.

"No, because we're going to stop it. I'm so sorry that all of you got caught up in this." Prue said again, but Sheila, though she still looked a little anxious, waved it off.

"Not your fault Prue, just make sure you get the evil bastard for good this time. He was my first demon, pretty cool in it's own way." She admitted, and Cole smirked while Prue snorted in amusement, while Andy just looked at her, horror-struck.

"Yeah, my first one was hotter, the blonde chick with the freaky tongue…shutting up now." Darryl muttered, correctly deducing the less than impressed expression on his wife's face.

Prue took a deep breath to settle herself, she couldn't let Shax keep messing with her head like this, and besides, war was on the horizon, and it was time that they brought all their power to bear and demonstrated the true power of the Charmed Ones.

"Cole, are you able to get all of us to Magic School?" she asked, willing herself to take charge, and he nodded.

"Yeah, of course." He said, offering his arm, to Sheila, who did take it after a nod of encouragement from Darryl, who took hold of Cole's upper arm reluctantly.

Prue nodded, her mind working overtime. Shax had launched an attack on their extended family, which as Cole said was most likely bait for a trap. But as Chris had always said in the future, the good thing about a trap is if you know it is one, you can make it work for you. And she was beginning to get an idea of how to just that, but for that, she needed her sisters, as it was time to take the war to the Triad.

"Good. We won't let them get away with this, I promise. Oh, that reminds me," she said, and quickly cast the spell to restore the Morris' home to its usual splendour, "no point being friends with witches if you can't get some perks. We'll get you to safety, and then, we bring down Shax and his bosses once and for all." She promised, as Cole faded them towards Magic School.

XX

"I see now the reason for your face being almost pink with glee," Piper teased her son as she came back into the rooms where he had brought his charges, and he grinned back at her, "excellent!" she gloated quietly in barely suppressed mirth before putting on a much more sombre face, "Elise, are you alright?" she asked, heading over to Phoebe's boss, who was still a bit taken aback and gratefully accepted the coffee that Piper handed her.

The older woman nodded slowly, Victor squeezing her hand while sipping his own cup of coffee.

"Um, yes, I think so, it's all just a bit much to get your head around I have to say, witches, magic, demons, resurrections…you know if you ever wanted to go public, it would be a killer story, and I'd happily print it." She offered, and Piper grinned a little

"Um no, but we'll keep the offer in mind. So how long have you and dad been you know, an item?" she asked, sitting down beside Elise, who did allow herself a small smile as she looked at Victor.

"About six weeks, have to say, didn't expect him to have a skeleton like this in his closet." She said fondly, and he chuckled.

"I didn't want to terrify you, though I suppose a demonic hitman trying to kill you will do that anyway. And besides, it's the girls secret to tell." He told her, taking her hand, and she nodded.

"And it's a hell of a secret. I'll keep it Piper, you don't need to worry about that. And, Chris is your son? I'm not ready to deal with time travel, but you did a good job with him." She said kindly, and Piper smiled as she watched her son peer out the door, clearly waiting for Phoebe to return, he was almost quivering in excitement at the thought of his aunt finding out her boss was sleeping with her father.

"Thank you, hey, wait a minute mister, if this has been going on for six weeks, surely you knew before now!" she challenged her son, and she was sure she could almost use xray vision to see him roll his eyes in exasperation before he turned back to face her.

"I knew he had a lady friend, I didn't know it was Elise, besides, I didn't get any hint of demonic nature of her, so I figured she was safe. It was grandpa's business, it's his life." He pointed out, and she scowled a little, while Victor winked as he lifted Wyatt onto his knee, allowing Elise to play with him.

"Thanks slugger." He said, and Piper shook her head, though she had to admit, fun as it was to tease her father and his new lady in his life, she was worried about Paige and Prue, hell, she was even slightly worried about Cole.

However, her prayers were then answered as Paige orbed in with a terrified Henry in her arms, his expression shellshocked and mouth wide open in fear.

"Here honey." Paige fussed, sitting him down on another chair, and Piper looked at him worriedly.

"Are you alright Henry?" she asked hopefully, and he turned slowly to face her, and nodded a little.

"He's a bit of a work in progress not going to lie." Paige admitted, sitting down beside him and stroking his back while he regained the use of his faculties.

"You get used to it son." Victor assured him, and Henry let out a small noise that was a mix between a groan and a squeak.

"So this thing you and apparently Paige can do, is this some form of teleporting?" Elise asked Chris curiously as he came over to stand beside them, leaving his mother to watch for Phoebe, and it was then that Paige's eyes fell on Elise, and her face lit up in amused ecstasy.

"Hi Elise! Hi Victor! Oh this is gold." She sniggered, chuckling as both Victor and Elise gave her an embarrassed smile.

"Did you see Shax?" Chris asked, figuring that if any demon was going to terrify Henry, Shax was probably one of the ones who would do the best job at it, and Paige shook her head.

"No, I just got in, grabbed Henry and orbed out, didn't want to risk it." She admitted, and he nodded, looking worried.

"Yeah, I cast the spell but I think if anything I only inconvenienced him, nothing more." He complained, and Elise patted the small of his back softly.

"Yes, but it was enough, you saved your grandfather, and you saved me, thank you." She said kindly, and he smiled a little at her, though Paige could see that he, like her, was fearing the wider implications of all this.

"And you saved me…thanks." Henry managed to croak out, and Paige smiled a little and took his hand, kissing it.

"Where is Phoebe?" Victor asked curiously, as Piper peered out into the corridor, looking for her.

"She went to try and find some spell to allow us to astral project and watch you all at the same time instead of just Prue being able to do it, but if you're all here there's not much else we can do, I'd phone her but the reception here's crap." She complained, figuring she wouldn't be gone much longer.

Cole then faded into the room, complete with his four passengers.

"I should have charged." He commented, as Darryl held Sheila up as she seemed like she was about to pass out.

"You ok? It takes a bit of getting used to." He admitted, helping her to a seat, and she nodded, looking a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing.

"Are you alright?" Victor asked Prue worriedly, hugging her, and she nodded, though she still looked a little shaken.

"Yeah…it's just, it throws me, seeing Shax again." She admitted, and Piper exchanged a dark look with Paige, they needed to give her closure, and soon, otherwise her fears and insecurities about him would tear her apart.

"Darryl, I'm so sorry you got involved in all this, both of you, and Andy you just came back the last thing you need is to be dealing with a demonic hitman." Piper said kindly, and Darryl shook his head gruffly.

"Don't be silly Piper, not your fault. Just make sure you get them and we'll say no more. So, what now?" he asked, sitting down beside Sheila, who seemed to be being coaxed out of her shock by Elise, who seemed to be taking the revelation well in stride bless her.

"Now, we need to finish this. Shax has attacked all of you guys, which means you guys aren't safe until we take him out." Paige explained, sharing a significant nod with her sisters, she was right, and no matter what else might happen, they were going to have to do something in order to bring an end to these constant attacks, though admittedly the thought of running headlong into danger wasn't exactly comforting.

"What does that mean though, you hunt him down?" Henry asked, sounding dubious, and Paige nodded.

"That's the plan, otherwise none of us will ever be safe, least of all you guys." She reasoned, though frowned a little as Henry looked less than thrilled with that part, something which she would have to deal with later she suspected.

There was a distraction then as Phoebe finally returned, clutching a spell that she revised as she entered, and her face collapsed into one of relief as she saw Victor and hugged him.

"Daddy, you're alright. Is everyone else alright?" she asked, looking round, but thankfully, Victor was standing in front of Elise so she didn't spot her boss sitting there looking extremely sheepish, and Chris and Piper leaned against each other in amusement, Chris crossing his arms and propping himself up against his mother to let her watch what was about to happen.

"We're fine Phoebe, Cole helped Prue save us." Andy said, and she sent a brief smile towards Cole who accepted it with a surprised look on his face.

"That's good. Oh, Elise, I didn't realise you were here, are you alright?" she asked frantically, hugging her boss, and Prue leaned in towards Paige, a curious expression on her face.

"So that's her boss? The one dad's, well, you know?" she muttered under her breath, and Paige nodded eagerly, her answer made Prue grin, and it seemed everyone else was content just to let this powerful little human drama unfold too as they were all watching with interest, while Victor tried to avoid looking at Phoebe.

"I'm fine Phoebe thank you. I have to say, I hardly expected you to be a witch!" she said, hoping desperately that they could postpone the awkward conversation she knew was looming, however the Cheshire cat like grins of Phoebe's immediate family was making it quite clear that that wasn't going to be an option.

"I'm sorry Elise, I've wondered whether I should tell you so many times! I'm glad you finally know though," she said sweetly, and then, a thought must have struck her, "hang on, if you didn't know I was a witch, how did you know to call for help? Or did Chris check on you on his own accord?" she asked, puzzled, and Elise nodded, as did Victor, glaring at the others.

"Yes, he did." She said, as though that would settle the matter, but sadly everyone else had other ideas.

"Yeah but, if that's the case, how did you know to trust Chris?" Andy pointed out, earning him a wink from Prue, and Victor scowled at him to which he seemed singularly unperturbed.

"Well, I…" Elise said, and Phoebe looked at her suspiciously.

"Elise, what's going on?" she challenged, and annoyed, Elise figured she might as well get it over with.

"Alright fine, I was with your father when he was attacked, you happy now?" she grumbled, turning away from Phoebe in a huff, and Phoebe stood there for a second, trying to figure out what part of this she had missed.

And then it slowly started to dawn on her as she looked at Elise, then to Victor, and then to Elise, her face transforming into a mask of shocked horror.

"Ahh! Ahhhh! You, and and and, and you! You, and him! Oh my god!" Phoebe proclaimed, and her sisters, ex husband and nephew all burst out laughing, and she turned to look at them in outrage.

"You all knew! Oh my god, ew!" she complained, and to add insult to injury, Victor then walked over and sweetly kissed Elise, who then broke off the kiss cackling and they all watched, laughing as Phoebe shook her head, though there was a small smile on her face, she was clearly picking up on the empathy vibes from her father and boss and could feel it was genuine.

However, she was still slightly disturbed and the lovey dovey feelings were a bit too much, and before she lost control of the situation again, she decided to take charge.

"Alright, so if Shax attacked all of you guys, he's clearly looking for a showdown, right?" she asked, and Cole nodded, looking pensive.

"That would be my guess. The Triad must know that you know that they're alive, and they sent him to tie up loose ends, but because you guys all moved here, they struck at your extended family as that's the only place they can strike in order to force you into position. This reeks of a trap." He warned, and Chris had to agree, the whole thing stank of a trap, the Triad was using Shax to force a showdown with the Charmed Ones, which meant they had something evil in mind.

"Agreed, but it doesn't help us much since we don't know where the Triad are or even how to vanquish them." Piper explained, aware of all their extended family watching them in fascination as they planned.

Prue swept around the room to look at the whiteboard they had brought, the Triad now written at the top and linked to all the other shenanigans that had been going on, but it was like they were doing a jigsaw, and there were missing that one piece that would make it so much easier to solve the whole thing once they got it. But whatever else may be going on, she knew the Triad was involved, and had to be taken out.

"I have a plan to take them out, but if we're right about their spirit forms, we'll need a way to take them out." She told her sisters softly, her mind abuzz with battle plans, and behind her, Piper nodded eagerly.

"I have an idea for a potion that could help us, but we still don't know where to find them." She pointed out, and yes, that was something of an impediment when you needed to blow up the bad guys, you needed to find them first.

Paige raised a hand.

"Well, I have an idea on how to find them, but we need to vanquish Shax," she said, and correctly deducing the curious expressions on her sisters faces, she explained further, "one, because we need to take him out regardless, two because the bastard nearly killed us, three, because we need to give Prue closure," she said kindly to her big sister, who smiled, "and four, because my spell I wrote won't work otherwise."

She then passed the spell to Phoebe, who gave it the once over and smiled proudly.

"Great idea Paige, that might just work, essentially you'd be using a demon to track a demon, our magic would just kick start it…very cool idea." She complimented, giving the spell back to Paige, who smiled proudly, going a little pink.

"Thanks sis. So if we do this, we take out Shax and he leads us back to the Triad."

"Then we go ahead with my plan to take them out, we're a real tag team. It's time we take the fight to them, we need to finish this. You guys will have to stay here, we've put you in danger too much as it is. Chris can stay here and protect you." Prue said, clearly deciding this was the end of the pre mission briefing, and wrapped Victor, Darryl and Sheila in a hug, before kissing Andy deeply, Andy wrapping his hand in her long blonde hair as she did so.

"I'll stay too, keep the kid company, maybe if we all put our heads together we can try and figure out who's behind all this." Cole suggested, and Chris nodded thankfully at him, looking grim despite that, while Piper favoured him with a smile.

"Thank you Cole." She said earnestly, genuinely impressed with how different he seemed now, how willing to help he was.

Phoebe hugged Victor, Darryl, Sheila and Elise before heading to the door to join Prue, who's eyes were fixed on Andy, the two of them clearly having a silent conversation, the sort that they had all had at some point over the years, when they were about to leave their loved ones to go into battle.

"Be safe Paige, come back to us. I could-" Henry began after he kissed her, but she laid a finger to his lips.

"No Henry, you couldn't come with me, it's far too dangerous." She said softly, and the mortals in the room now realised that the girls were worried themselves, fearing the oncoming battle.

She then hugged Darryl and Victor before joining her sisters, and Piper also hugged Darryl, Andy, Victor and Sheila before joining the others, a tense atmosphere between them. They were leaving virtually everyone they cared about in the hands of Chris and Cole, while they went off to war with Shax and the Triad, and it was clear that the sisters were worried about the oncoming battle, they may be a Power of Four but that was no guarantee of victory, especially if the Triad knew they were coming.

Indeed, for the first time, they were actually going on the offensive as the Power of Four no less, and at the very least about to have a showdown with the demon who had single-handedly inflicted the most damage on their family and the hidden power of the underworld which was second to, if not equal to, the Source himself.

"Mom, I don't like this, it's a trap, it has to be." Chris warned, feeling extremely anxious and worried for his family, holding Wyatt in his arms, and Piper nodded gravely before kissing her baby on the forehead, then wrapped her son from the future in a tight, loving embrace, one hand stroking through his hair.

"I know honey. Try not to worry too much, and look after your brother, and the others," She ordered softly, avoiding looking at his eyes because she knew that seeing his worry would undermine her ability to do this.

"It's a trap mom." He whispered softly, as Prue wrapped him in a tight hug herself.

"Yeah, we know scrappy, and like you say, when you know a trap is a trap, you can make it work for you." She reminded him with a smile, and despite the worry he was feeling for his family, he did smirk a little at having his own argument thrown back at him.

"Be careful, be safe." Phoebe warned him, hugging her two nephews, before then clasping hands with Cole before joining her sisters again.

"Don't worry little dude, we won't be gone long." Paige promised and gave him a last hug and kissed Wyatt before the four of them joined together, Paige picking up the Book.

"Be careful, don't be gone too long." Chris advised, and the sisters gave him a last, reassuring look (well, as reassuring as they could muster) before Paige orbed them out.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Darryl warned, and melodramatic it may have seemed, Chris was kind of inclined to agree with him, and he was startled out of his thoughts by Victor taking Wyatt from him.

"Don't worry slugger, they're good at what they do. They'll be alright." He assured him, though Chris suspected it was as much for his own benefit as Chris'.

And that was the point, yes, they were good at what they did. But past experience had shown that sometimes there were things that even the Charmed Ones couldn't overcome.

"Chris? I've been kind of caught up on everything to do with Wyatt, but why don't you fill us all in on everything you can on your board? I'm sure that between the lot of us, you, an ex demon, your grandfather, a newspaper editor, three cops and me, we can think of something that might help, or even the fresh pair of eyes might help." Sheila suggested, and he smiled a little at her before nodding, and besides, anything that would distract him from his worry about his family would be good at the moment.

He didn't like this, there were too many variables, too much going on, but he knew full well that the whole thing must have been designed that way. But he couldn't help but feel there was something they were all overlooking, something small yet vital that they had missed. And now here he was protecting the entire family who wasn't magical, and still no closer to exposing the truth of all this. Maybe their eyes would help, a fresh perspective. He closed the door to their rooms and sealed it with his powers, he knew Magic School was safe but he couldn't help but feel uneasy with his mother and aunts going off to war and his father still MIA. He then used his powers to wheel the board against the wall, setting it in between the two windows and allowing them all to look out at Magic School's unique realm as they studied the board, their backs to the closed door.

"Hey, wait a minute, this is one of my boards!" Darryl thundered in outrage, and Chris cursed inwardly, he'd forgotten he'd swiped it, "I knew there was something fishy, you thieving little blighter!"

"Some detective you are." Sheila mumbled under her breath, and Andy had to stick his hand in his mouth to stop from laughing.

"Well you can't complain Darryl, he needs it to help figure out who messes up the future. Alright kid, let's see what you've got." Cole said, and Chris nodded, shrugging at a disgruntled Darryl.

"You can get it back after this is over, then you'll have two." He reminded, and while Darryl grumbled and shot him a dirty look, he did smile a little, which he counted as a win.

"Ok bro, let's see what we can figure out." Chris said to Wyatt as the assembled extended family then started to ask questions in order to try and help solve their oncoming crisis.

XX

Blood stained the sands. Screams and cries were becoming fewer and fewer as the inexorable march of the Twilight Legion slaughtered its way through the Nexus of the All. The automatons were all dead, cleaved or ripped apart by these harbingers of doom. The last bastion of magic was broken. The large shield bubble was shattered, smoke was rising into the air, pouring more pollution into dark, stormy skies. The dead bodies of the remaining slaughtered defenders of magic, of existence itself, littered the ground.

Pratt's command skiff had been abandoned. Liam had slipped through the defences, and had managed to make his way to the skiff in a last ditch attempt to kill the Emperor and his allies. Cal Greene was dead, his throat ripped out by the grief stricken, berserker of a werewolf, and his dead body was slumped over the rails of the skiff. Liam had then found Gerard Argent, and had savagely ripped out all of his life supporting equipment before finally ripping his head open, and Gerard's broken, decrepit body which had been torn asunder was lying in a pool of its own black blood on the floor of the skiff, the hateful monster finally dead. His death, Liam's sudden appearance, had shocked the pilot who had crashed the skiff into the ground as Liam, who had been moving like lightning, had been just about to tear apart Pratt himself. However, the crash had thwarted him. And in those vital seconds, the robot like merciless monster that was Eventide had grabbed Liam's neck, and despite his best efforts to dislodge the murderer's hand, Eventide had ripped his head asunder from his neck, dropping his headless corpse back onto the skiff floor, then dropping his bloodied, battle weary head beside his body, leaving Liam to stare horrified into eternity.

Dislodging Eventide had actually made matters worse. The remaining forces of the empire had come to bear and had slaughtered the rank and file that remained of magic, but the leader of the Legion, there was no defending against that. Eventide had then led a bloody purge through the last of the defenders. Glynnis, wielding her various magically crafted weapons had been her first port of call, firing a rocket which had blown apart the weapon in Glynnis hands, blowing her backwards just as a plane smashed to the ground, immolating the weaponsmith. Aggrieved by her loss, Josh and Aiden had pounced at Twilight, one vampire and one werewolf, determined to stop their rampage, however Eventide had simply grabbed them both by their skulls, not even stopping to pause, and had shattered their skulls by squeezing their hands together, dropping their lifeless bodies to the floor. The dog Pongo had run off from Eventide, panicked by the noise of battle, only to fall into a crater and become trapped.

The defenders had put up a good fight, Pratt had to admit. Half of his Sky Annihilators had been destroyed by the various magical defences of the Nexus of the All, and a good sixty percent of his army had been destroyed simply by the sheer scale of the magical power brought to bear, pulses and blasts of magical energy had proved much more effective at hindering his forces than he would have preferred. Nearly all the drones were destroyed, and a few planes were left limping through the air, their weapons spent. Pratt followed the bloody path Eventide and their advanced forces had cut through the remaining magic users, these refugees of an old, imperfect world.

Eventide hadn't stopped. The dead bodies of the remaining aspects of the supernatural, of monsters, witches, hunters, vampires, magical beings of any sort, littered the ground, the formerly white sands now darkened with blood. Rubble, fire and carnage followed as the terrified defenders fled back towards the fortress, most of its upper levels destroyed when a Sky Annihilator had plunged into the ground behind the fortress, ripping apart most of the building and destroying much of the rest with the quake caused by the explosion. Belle had still been defending when the doorway had crumbled above her, crushing her as Eventide and their forces made their way into the fortress proper, where the last vestiges of magic remained, struggling desperately for survival.

The fortress was in ruins. Mutilated, murdered and desecrated bodies strew the passages, blood and gore stained every surface. Fire burned throughout the building, the smell of fire and death reaching far and wide. Rubble collapsed into heaps as it fell from on high. Dead Legionnaires were also littering the corridors, though there were far fewer of them than defenders. Pratt savoured the smells he was scenting through the air. Greene may be dead, as was Gerard, but he was finally victorious. Magic, the supernatural, was dead, and he, the architect of its destruction. The world would never again be threatened with magic, and he could return and lead his victorious empire and remake the world in his image.

All was as he planned.

Jackson, one of the last remaining commanders, was dead, his face scarlet and tongue protruding, having been throttled to death by Eventide, his body then impaled on rubble as Eventide had cast his body away and he looked sightlessly at Pratt as he made his way into the lower reaches, determined to find exactly why the defenders had been so keen to hold out for hours, to prevent them from getting down here.

Below him, up ahead of the inexorable march of Eventide, the architect of magic's utter destruction at the bidding of their master, the last few defenders remained outside the entrance to the catacombs, where Wyatt was resurrecting. Regina had a hand against the wall, panting, as blood gushed from her side. She was dying, she knew that. They all were, and even if they weren't, they were about to. She had always known that this would be their final stand, and that there was really no hope of preventing the god-awful catastrophe which Pratt had unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. She had been wounded trying to protect Belle, and a bit of shrapnel had embedded in her stomach as her friend had been crushed.

Taking a breath to steady herself, she forced herself up to see what she had left. They had sealed the antechamber where they were now all clustered, the last two dozen of them. Besides herself, there was also Sam, flanked as ever by a haggard and gaunt Ezekiel. Mulan was tending to one of the last merry men and one of the last of the seven dwarves. Cole was standing with an exhausted Lazarus demon, leaning back against the wall, clearly not doing well. Hope was cowering in fear beside a leprechaun and an oracle, and there was a vampire and an Avatar behind her. There were four remaining automatons, though they were slowly disintegrating into nothing, as there wasn't enough magic left in the world to sustain them. A last sandman stood panting weakly, wounded in the side. There was two hunters left in existence, and they were standing with the incubus that had brought them here. A last hexenbeist remained, looking at Regina in terror. And the last two beings of magic in existence were a psychic and their cat familiar.

This was it, this was the end, this was all that was left of life, of magic, of everything really. The Twilight Legion was about to finish them, and when they did, all magic itself would die, and the world would die along with it.

As Pratt would eventually learn, but far too late to do any of them any good.

"We can't win, we always knew that. We can't even survive. This is it. We need to hold, we must hold them long enough to prevent them from getting inside the catacombs." Regina intoned, suppressing many attempts to gasp in pain, god the wound in her stomach hurt like a bitch.

"What's in the catacombs?" the Lazarus asked, and Sam looked at him tiredly.

"A real, last ditch attempt to save the world. But if Pratt gets through before its's done, this is all for nothing, and we all die for nothing. Regina, was it true? They're bringing Nexus bombs in?" he asked worriedly, and she nodded grimly, seeing that had been what had distracted her and led to her injury and Belle's death.

"Yes, the burrowing variants, what fun, they'll be dropping them down so they can blow this place apart from under us, but Eventide and Pratt will want to make sure we're all dead first," she growled, just as the door which they had thrown as much debris as they could against to block, shook, "ok, make it count people." She ordered, preparing herself for one last battle.

Sam then took her arm, casting a significant look towards the catacombs.

"Regina, you're dying, you need to get inside, besides, you're the one with the spell to give to Wyatt. Go, we'll hold here as long as we can." He said softly, and she looked as though she was about to protest, but Sam shook his head.

"not this time Regina, go, please, otherwise this is all for nothing." He told her, and seeing the cold set of his eyes, of Cole's, Mulan's and others, she reluctantly nodded and acquiesced, slipping into the door behind them all.

"One last stand." Sam whispered, readying his angel blade just as the door into the antechamber shattered in a fiery explosion, and Eventide strolled through, silhouetted by the flames.

"The last defenders of magic…slaughter them all." Eventide ordered in their terrible, distorted voice and the last battalion of magic gave a war cry and rushed at them.

As more Legionnaires poured through the destroyed door, the sandman fell first, being atomised by one of the attackers. They could just make out Pratt at the end of the corridor, his face bright with a smug smile on his face as he came to oversee their execution personally. The hexenbeist summoned a blast which delayed an attack, only for her to be sliced in two by one of the Legionnaires, and one half of her body fell on the leprechaun, whose head was then crushed beneath the foot of Eventide. The Lazarus and Cole were throwing energy balls as fast and hard as they could, however a magical beam erupted, turning the Lazarus to dust before the killer scattered his ashes into the wind howling through the catacombs as fire encroached upon them. The automatons leapt at Eventide, but they moved far too fast, and within seconds all four burst into dust, never to be seen again as they dispersed into the fire raging around them, heading for the door. Mulan was fury personified, her blade singing through flesh and bone, trying to stop their advance, the last dwarf and the last merry man behind them however a bullet punched through the head of the merry man, and the dwarf tripped and fell over his body, when a stream of fire extinguished his life. Ezekiel was blasting with as much grace as he could muster, but his power was failing, his energy drained, unable to hold out much longer. The final Avatar summoned a shield to try and ward off the onslaught, but Eventide simply punched through it, his shield collapsing and he screamed as the leader of the Legion ripped him in two. Sam took down another Legionnaire, panting with the effort, he was too old for this, he was sick, he was tired, he needed this to end. Eventide was finishing them off one by one, decapitating the oracle who met their death with a hastily cut off scream. The last two hunters surged forward only to have their hearts ripped out by the two Legionnaires they attacked, dropping their lifeless husks. The incubus charged, and one Legionnaire grabbed his long demonic tongue and throttled him to death within seconds with it. Mulan gave a cry, screaming as she ran for Eventide with the rest, the small antechamber now flooded with Eventide's soldiers, preparing to end all magic once and for all. Mulan swung her sword at Eventide, who used their gauntlets to deflect her sword, before ripping the weapon from her hand and snapping it in to, before throwing the bladed end at its owner, puncturing her through the heart, and she dropped like a stone.

"Mulan!" Sam gasped as another soldier turned the vampire to dust by staking it through the neck.

He was just so tired, so weary, so sick of seeing everyone he cared about die. The poor cat was gone, and the psychic was dead now too, their skull shattered and its contents seeping over the floor.

"It never ends…" he whispered sadly, and then Eventide appeared from nowhere, hoisting him up into the air by his neck, and he gurgled slightly before Eventide slammed him into the wall with such ferocity that his entire skeleton shattered, his eyes rolling into his head as his life ended instantly.

"Sam!" Cole yelled in a panic, firing energy balls with reckless abandon, they had to hold them off, had to give Wyatt more time to resurrect, had to give Regina time to make sure he got away.

Ezekiel gave a furious scream upon seeing Sam's death, charging at the Legion as it prepared to claim ultimate victory, and was then immolated in a cocktail of flame, screaming as he too met his end.

But it was too late, he and Hope were the only remaining defenders, and Hope herself was in Eventide's clutches. She fixed Cole with a terrified look as members of the Legion grabbed him, forcing him to his knees, then watched in horror as Hop's throat was slit by Eventide, her body collapsing like wheat in a storm.

"I have to admit Mr Turner, I am impressed, despite everything, you are literally the last mand standing. You have fought well. Kill him." Pratt ordered coldly, a malevolent smirk on his face, and Cole spat at the so-called emperor.

"I'll see you in hell." He growled, and Pratt laughed.

"I? Oh when the unhappy day comes that I die my friend, I will be welcomed into heaven with honours for exterminating you and your kind. Goodbye." He sneered and Cole screamed as electricity wracked through him and with a final puff of flame, he was finally gone.

Inside, Regina heard the cries of her comrades as they were killed, sounding less and less by the second. She didn't have long, but then, neither did Wyatt. He was fully restored as far as she could see so why the hell wasn't he waking up? If he didn't wake up, then all was lost, if he didn't wake up in time, then all their lives would have been lost for nothing. He was restored damn it, why the hell wasn't he waking up?

And then, just as she heard Ezekiel scream out for Sam, Wyatt's eyes suddenly flew open, and he gasped as he jolted up, panting, and she felt an overarching feeling of bliss, of relief, she could die in peace now, knowing that with any luck, she had ensured that this god awful existence never came about.

He was panting, looking in terror towards the door, and looked at Regina, blood pouring from her, looking grey and ashen yet relieved.

"We did it, you're back…listen, there isn't much time," she whispered, it was hard to speak when she was in so much pain, "everything's lost. Pratt has won, magic, the world, are doomed. Take this spell," she panted, passing him the blood stained piece of paper the spell was written on, "use it, help your brother fix all this. Hurry!" she urged, as the door into the catacombs rattled, and Wyatt, suddenly restored to life and vey disorientated, looked at her desperately, utterly lost.

"Regina, what?" he demanded, as the door rattled once again, and she raised a hand, trying to use her magic to shore up the defence of it, make it hold just that little longer.

"We all lost! Go, use the spell, help Chris! Save him…save us all. Go, now, or we died…for nothing. Stop it, stop it all, save your brother, yourself, and stop Pratt." She begged, and he nodded, clearly the situation was dire, and he scrambled to his feet, offering a hand which she accepted, and his once evil eyes were looking at her with concern.

"Regina, what happened? How am I back, what's happening?" he asked, but she shook her head, pushing him away as the door rattled once again, Regina's control slipping.

"No, time…the world's lost. Go! Go!" she yelled as the door was blown apart and Eventide strode in, followed closely by a smirking Pratt, whose face changed to one of outrage as he spotted Wyatt.

"NO! Kill him!" he bellowed, and the Legion swarmed in, and Regina shoved Wyatt once again, sending him toppling towards the wall.

"GO, NOW!" she screamed, using one hand to keep her guts in while the other she used to create a flickering magical shield to try and hold them off.

Feeling extremely out of sync, his mind extremely muddled, and not having a clue what the hell was going on, Wyatt nonetheless did as he was told, the whys and hows weren't important, but it was clear that the former queen of Storybrooke had sacrificed a lot to allow this to happen, and he wasn't going to dishonour her sacrifice. She staggered, sweat and blood pouring out of her as she held Eventide and the Legion at bay, Pratt still screeching on the other side of the shield, wanting Wyatt dead, and he knew he had to leave or face death all over again.

"Throughout space and time I send this rhyme,

To my brother I deliver this burning sign,

In this desperate time we combine our power,

I travel back to Chris in this most desperate hour!"

A blazing portal opened in the wall, and with one last look at Regina, who gave him a brief nod, he stepped into it, the portal slamming shut behind him. And with a contented sigh, hoping and preying that that was indeed enough, she allowed the shield to fall as she too collapsed to the ground, closing her eyes tiredly and she knew no more as the Legion stormed in with Pratt screaming in fury at Wyatt's disappearance, and her last, contented thought was that she had gotten one up on the emperor one last time before she met oblivion.

The stage is set for the final showdown, the future is lost, and Wyatt is back.

I hope you enjoyed the more lighthearted moments, such as Prue and Coles strategy session, and discovering Elise's new man, I hope you all were caught by surprise and like that development.

So once again, please stay safe, follow government advice, help your health services and be nice to shop workers

And a reminder therell be no notes at the end of next chapter for reasons which will become clear when you read it. As such, I must extend my thanks to Terra King here who gave me the idea for the new potion Piper makes next chapter, so thank you my friend. Anyway, one last chapter to go, so, of course that means, please keep reading, and please leave a review, and enjoy the showdowns as the Charmed Ones go to war

(Also, in case you're interested, the track list in the next chapter is

Mother of Dragons from Game of Thrones for when Chris realises whats really been happening

Duel of the Fates from Star Wars for the showdown itself

And lastly, Light of the Seven from Game of Thrones for when the girls realise whats happened, and finising off with the Night King also from Game of Thrones for the end of the chapter)