Title: Unexpected Alliances

Authors: Angelina Rose, Mittel

Fandom: Charmed

Disclaimer: We do not owned Charmed and are simply borrowing it. There is no money being made on this, so please do not sue.

Rating: M

Warnings: Violence, slight torture, and some dark themes...

Summary: In a hopeless world, can one union give the resistance another chance?

Notes: This is a story that was co-written with Angelina Rose and we hope that you enjoy it.

A/N: Italics means thoughts, "Quotation marks" means someone is speaking aloud, and 'Italics with single quotation marks' means something the character is hearing.

What has gone on before: The Great Magic Wars changed everything. The new source exposed magic to the world, causing a panicked chaos to reign in the streets for over four months and giving demons the upper hand. Now the fighting continues, though not much is left to fight for and the few witches left are broken and scattered. During the Great Magic Wars, darkness has overwhelmed most of the world. With Wyatt Halliwell missing, rumors have spread and the darkness is growing. The last stronghold of light is in North America, where the witches have created a tense Resistance. Feeling threatened and defensive, can they learn to accept others in time to save themselves?

Now on with the story...

In California, United States…

The injured girl was stumbling forward, instinct driving her body. All that mattered was getting far away from those who were chasing her. Finally her body was spent and she fell – there in the filthy, deserted alley.

Only one word escaped her lips before she passed out. "Help."

Bryan was out on patrol when he heard noises. There were thuds, groaning, and scraping noises that usually meant trouble. Going to check things out and see if he could help, he saw a girl on the ground and rushed over.

"Hey, are you okay?" Shaking her gently, he saw the bloody wound on her head and sighed.

"Well, you'll have to come with me then, at least till you get fixed up." Gently picking her up, he carried her to the medical bay in the Resistance.

As he laid her one of the empty cots, a nurse came over to see how bad she was hurt. "We need a whitelighter, now."

Rushing off to find one, the nurse quickly returned with a teenager in tow. The teenager barely glanced at the girl, just reached out and let the glowing warmth of healing cover the girl's broken body.

Bryan just watched, a little nervous for some reason. Looking at the nurse, he smiled. "Amelia, right? Take care of her while I go talk to Peter. Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

Amelia nodded at Bryan, a little miffed that he thought she couldn't handle a girl. Watching as he left, she turned to the teenager. "Well, this is the last one, then you are off your shift." After a few minutes, the girl still wasn't healed and she frowned. "Is something wrong?"

After listening to the teenager explain that she couldn't fully heal the girl, Amelia nodded and went about cleaning the girl up and putting her on an iv; filling out the chart for her.

A little while later, Bryan walked back in and came over to the cot. "Hey Amelia, how is she?"

"Well, the whitelighter could only heal her half way, but at least the bleeding has stopped. I've bandaged her wounds and put her on the standard iv until I get other instructions."

Bryan nodded as she left, reaching out to take the girl's hand. "So who are you?"

Somewhere down in the underworld…

Vornak paced as he waited for his informant to bring the girl back down to him. Seeing him blink in, he frowned. "Where is the girl?!"

The demon shook in fear as his master's voice boomed. He whimpered out an answer, knowing he would probably die for this mistake. "I – she ran, sir. We lost her in the ruins of the city…"

Vornak lost his patience and shot a fireball at the underling who dared to tell him they lost her. He heard the screams, but then spun on his heels as he heard someone clearing his throat.

Vornak growled as he saw Calem standing there. "You better have some good news for me!" His anger boomed across the lair as he powered up another fireball.

Calem just smirked at him, confident. "I have located her sire! She's taken refuge with the witches at the resistance, and I'm sure they're trying to heal her now."

Vornak stepped a little closer, frowning at his arrogance. "And just how does that help us? That means she's with those do-gooders now! And they won't just let her walk out, not if they know who she is!"

Calem just nodded. "That's true, unless someone can convince them that they shouldn't bother with her. Someone she would trust to leave with."

Vornak was curious, but let the fireball dissipate as he sneered out his mocking comment. "And just who would that be? Everyone knows only witches can enter the resistance undetected."

Calem chuckled, ignoring his mocking. "Exactly, and that's just what we'll use - a witch. What if we used someone who was close to her, a friend she would trust? They'd have to be someone we could either hold here or perhaps swap bodies with though."

Vornak thought it over, then grinned but his voice became deadly serious. "All right, I suppose that might work. If you can find someone she'll trust, I'll leave this job to you. But don't disappoint me, Calem." After dismissing him with a wave of his hand, he sat down, actually thinking this might work out for him.