Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it.

AN: Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews.

Chapter 4.

Gaia's Story

The Charmed Ones looked around at the Fortress. "Wow," Paige said. "This is nice." She craned her head up and looked up at the vaulted, white marble ceiling. Both Piper and Phoebe murmured their agreement.

The Daughters all breathed a sigh of relief at the sense of home that overcame them. Keahi was the first one to sigh out loud. "This is good. I never knew that I could miss home so much."

The other girls agreed with her, but Kesia did not let the feeling linger. "Mother? Where are you?"

Kronos looked around. "I guess she is in her work room. I take it you can find that?"

Kesia nodded. "Of course. Follow me." She led the group down a couple of hallways that featured some sort of earth element in them. Soon they were standing in front of a set of double doors that had carvings of each element on them. She paused and then knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Kesia threw open the doors and everyone walked in the room.

Piper looked at the tall, elegant woman standing in front of them. She had deep auburn hair that fell to her waist in waves. She was wearing a long white gown that was reminiscent of a Grecian goddess gown. It was belted at the waist with a silver belt that dipped low. Piper felt the power radiating off of the woman. It was like basking in the sun. She stopped in awe and felt the urge to bow, which she did.

Gaia smiled at the oldest Charmed One. "There is no need to bow to me, Piper. I am not a Goddess. I'm just a long lived witch."

Piper nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry."

Gaia laughed a musical laugh. "No worried, dear. I completely understand. That's how I felt about Kronos when I first met him. Well, that and the thought that he is completely gorgeous."

The Charmed Ones laughed at that, feeling the tension in the room dissipate. Both Paige and Phoebe were feeling much more at ease after the little joke. They both admitted to themselves that Kronos was extremely good looking.

Gaia turned and looked at both Kronos and Leo. "I do apologize to you. I need to talk to all of the women. Unfortunately, what I need to say can only be passed on to them. No men allowed."

Leo looked at Piper. She nodded to him and he turned to Kronos. "So, where do we wait?"

Kronos raised an eyebrow to Gaia. She in turned looked at them. "Kronos? Why don't you take him to the gardens?" Kronos looked at her and nodded. Silently, he led Leo out of the room.

Gaia turned to the remaining women. "I'm guessing that you have lots of questions about why the Source would try this tactic." At the other women's nods, she turned and raised her hand to a wall. Quickly, a door appeared.

The Daughters looked shocked and the Charmed Ones just looked on. Keahi was the first to find her voice. "Mother? Where does that door lead?"

Gaia looked at her daughter. "This is something that I was not supposed to show you until one of you was picked as my replacement. However, with the things that are happening right now, I've deemed that it's appropriate to show you guys. All of you guys. I think it might hold some answers."

Paige decided to voice her question and raised her hand.

"Yes, Paige?"

"What kind of answers?"

Gaia smiled. "It depends on the question. The more important question is, what question do you want to ask? Think about that carefully. It does not matter what question you are asking, somewhere in this room, you will get the answer."

Phoebe raised her hand. "Pardon me, but why are you helping us? I thought Gaia was meant to be impartial."

Gaia looked at Phoebe. "Excellent point. Yes, Gaia is supposed to be impartial, but the Source has crossed the line. As a result, I no longer have the choice to stay impartial. This is a rule that he probably does not know about. Now, before we enter the room, everyone was must be dressed properly." Gaia waived her hands and all of the women's clothes were changed to match her own. "Now let's enter the Room of Knowledge." She led the women towards the room and quickly they entered.

Everyone looked around at the plain white walls. Gaia caught their looks of confusion. "Don't worry about it. This room harbors all of the knowledge of the Earth. First, let's take you back to the beginning."

All of the women, except Gaia, gasped as the room suddenly changed. They were transported back to a small, dimly lit room, where a woman was standing. They heard a door knock and turned to watch the scene unfold.

The woman turned towards the door. "Come in."

Kronos walked into the room. "Hello, Mother. Why did you summon me here?"

The woman sighed. "I summoned you here to inform you of my decision." She turned from him. "I'm tired, Son. I can't take anything else after this mess with Zeus and the Greek Gods. I've decided to give up my immortality."

Kronos turned towards her. "What do you mean, Mother? How can you give up your immortality?"

The woman smiled. "I'm tired, Kronos. I just can't take it anymore."

"Then who will become the Earth Goddess?"

"That's why I wanted you here. I plan on having children. Five daughters. I can control the sex of the baby. These will be born, not of other Gods, but of witches on Earth. They will be spelled, so that one of them will be chosen at random to become the next Earth-Mother. She will take on my name and Gaia will continue to live. Her lifespan will be approximately five thousand years. I need you here to keep an eye on this while I go down to Earth."

Kronos looked at Gaia. "Okay. I understand. I hope you realize that I do not intend to follow in your footsteps."

Gaia smiled. "I understand. Thank you, Son."

The scenery in the vision morphed into another scene, this one showed the same Gaia, with five young women around her. "Approximately twenty years have passed," said Gaia.

Gaia had lines around her eyes and some gray in her hair. She addressed the five women in front of her. "Adana, Arden, Anemone, Aqua and A'Neelam. You are to go down to Earth and learn all you can. It is an important lesson for you to learn if you choose to become the Earth-Mother. You will be down there for a minimum of five years. At the end of those five years, you will return to this fortress and the choice will be made on who is the best to succeed me."

The five women nodded and quickly decided on where they would go on Earth. One of the daughters, Aqua, turned to look at her mother. "Mother? Will we see you again?"

Gaia smiled. "Yes, dear. You will see me one more time when the choice is made. At that point, I will cancel the spell that ensures long life, so the remaining daughters will live normal mortal lives on Earth." She turned and looked at the women again. "Be safe, my daughters."

The astounded women looked at Gaia, who smiled at them. "Aqua was my name before I was Gaia. This will be my story. I hope you find it useful."

She waived her arms again and the eight women were transported back to Ancient Egypt.

Aqua looked around the streets. She knew that with her power, she would be highly revered in Egypt. She made her way to a temple of Anuket, the goddess of water. There, she spoke with some priestess' who gave her the name of a small village who was in dire need of some help.

She quickly made her way to Aswan, a village by the Second Cataract. They were having many problems with trying to travel due to the many rapids in the area. That was where she met with the chief priestess, Nakia.

"Well met, Nakia. I am Aqua. I am gifted with the power of water. I was told in Alexandria that this village was in dire need of help. What can I do?"

Nakia made a bow of greeting. "Indeed. Your help is greatly needed here. Those rapids in the Nile make travel and fishing difficult here."

Aqua smiled. "I can definitely help you out."

The scene faded a little and all the women heard Gaia's voice. This was my life for five years. I helped to make life easier for these people. Then things changed.

The scene reappeared in front of them. This time they saw Aqua standing with a man.

Aqua looked at the man. "Nen? You truly want to spend the rest of your life with me? Why?"

"Aqua, I feel like you complete me. Please do me this honor."

A shadow crossed her face. "Nen. I love you. But there are some things about me you don't know. Please, come to my hut tonight and I'll come clean with you."

Aqua fretted for the rest of the day. She knew that she had to tell him the truth about her parentage. She prepared the meal and had everything ready a few minutes before Nen arrived. Once dinner was over, she told him everything.

Nen looked at her after the she told him, an unusual glint in his eye. "You have so much power at your disposal. Power that could be mine. I know that we are meant to be together."

Aqua took a step back at his words. "What do you mean?"

Nen looked at her. "When you become the Earth-Mother. Both of our powers will be multiplied."

"Pardon me. Both of our powers? The Earth only has one keeper. The only one who can control the power of the Earth, is the Earth-Mother. We will not share powers. If and I mean if I am chosen to be the one who succeeds Mother, I will no longer be part of the Earth. There would be no we."

Nen's face became an ugly mask of rage. "What do you mean? We are meant to be together!"

Aqua took another step back, feeling the waves of evil rolling off of him. "No. We are not. Just the fact that you believe what you believe, makes my choice easier. I want you out of my life. To answer your question, no. I will not spend the rest of my life with you. Leave this place. Now."

Nen felt the power rolling off of her and decided to leave. "This isn't over. I will not rest until your power is mine." He stalked out of the building, letting the door slam behind him.

Aqua sat down, shaking in her rage. She had finally calmed down when she noticed someone else in the room with her and looked up. "Kronos."

Kronos nodded. "It's time for the choice to be made. Come with me."

Aqua and Kronos transported back to the fortress. Once there, Kronos bowed to all of the women and left. Gaia turned to her daughters. "It is time for the Choice. Please come and stand around the pentagram."

The daughters stood on their points, dressed in white robes. Gaia began to speak in Latin. "EGO dico super vox of orbis terrarum. Terra, ventus, unda, incendia, quod metal. Is est vicis pro Choice. Terra est promptus parumper transitus. Cui should is veneratio peto?"

A bright light entered the room and a wind began to circle the daughters. The wind circled each daughter once and moved on. When the wind was done, Gaia began to chant again. "Quinque elementum exertus. Quod unus mos gero pallium de vox?"

The wind began to circle again. It finally settled around Aqua bringing with it the purest light. Gaia smiled. "Aqua, you've been chosen to be my successor."

Aqua smiled and the scene faded out.

The girls blinked as the white walls became clear again. They shook their heads, trying to bring themselves back to the present.

Gaia waited patiently for them to process everything that they had seen. "That was how I became Gaia."

Keahi looked at her mother, a new respect in her eyes. "Mother. You had to endure so much. What ever happened to Nen?"

Gaia nodded. "He revealed his powers not to long after I was chosen. He was a demon in disguise. It took him four thousand years to gain enough power to satisfy him. He has been the Source of all Darkness for the past thousand years."

Piper gasped. "That's how the Source came to be?"

Gaia smiled. "That's the short version. He never got the power that he truly wanted, however. That's why he created the Cathract demons. They have the specific purpose of sensing Daughters of Gaia when they are on Earth. He used them to destroy my sisters. Now he intends to use them to destroy my Daughters."

Piper looked like she was thinking. "So basically, he is just power hungry. It just makes me want to destroy him even more."

Gaia nodded. "With that knowledge imparted, it is time for you to return to Earth." She turned to face the daughters. "Girls? I'd like a moment alone with the Charmed Ones, please."

The girls nodded and filed out of the room. Gaia turned to the Charmed One. "There is some knowledge that I would like you to know. If Nen succeeds in killing all of my daughters, the power of Earth will be shattered. I have already begun the spell to transfer my power. That happened when Kesia was sent to Earth. I have a small chance of being able to choose a successor that is not of my blood, but it is not a guaranteed thing."

Piper furrowed her brow. "So basically if he kills all of the Daughters, he kills you. He then tries to gain control over the power of the Earth."

Gaia nodded. "I need to ask you to protect them. They are strongest when fighting together. When they fight together, they almost control all of the power that I have."

Phoebe looked at her. "We will protect them. We will protect them and stop the insanity."

"Thank you. That's all I can ask for."

The girls nodded as the doors opened. Piper took the lead. "We'd better get going then. We will find a way to stop him. Thank you."

They left the workroom and joined up with the others. Once they were all together, Leo and Kronos transported them back to the manor.

Latin Translation:

I call upon the powers of the Earth. Earth, wind, water, fire and metal. It is time for the Choice. Earth is ready for a transition. To whom should this honor go to?

The five elements have been tested. Which one will wear the mantel of power?

AN: There goes the fourth chapter. It doesn't seem to be going the way I had originally planned, but I am happy with the chapter. Thanks go out to everyone who is taking the time to read and a very special thanks to those who review!!!

eacstl-Thanks!! I've decided to just let my muse have control. This is so not what was originally in my head, but I do think that it's turning out even better!! Thanks so much for your reviews!!

A Forgotten Fairy- I'm so glad that you always review!! Thanks so much for your support! I should have the next chapter up by next weekend.

Updated 6/14/07 to correct grammer and formatting. Many thanks to Aphina for betaing this for me!!!

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