A Charmed Story - Part Nine:
I, Myself And The Elders
Chapter 7

Down there in the living room they were still discussing all the new information.
"And you saw him orb?" Piper asked confused. "You're sure he didn't shimmer?"
"Yeah, I am sure..." Andrew replied tiredly.
"That would fit," Leo remarked, "in one of the books it was said, that he can borrow powers, and he has two... or better now three Elders in his grip."
"But... That's so..." Veronica said.
Paige had picked up her and her friends, just a few minutes ago. Chris hadn't been very happy that Steve was with the girls when they arrived. But he couldn't tell him to stay in the back now, when he always told him that he had to overcome his fears.
"Yeah, I know..." Cole added. I can imagine why the old source banished him how-many-centuries-ever ago..."
"And when he has those Elders now... how shall we stop him?" Phoebe asked worried.
"WAIT!" Chris suddenly jumped up, making everybody looking at him confused and worried. Chris looked around and then said: "Wyatt, he's worried, he... he isn't at the attic anymore." With panic written on his face he turned into a swirl of bluish orblights.
"WHAT?" Piper exclaimed, feeling her husbands hand on her shoulder.
The next moment they all materialised in the attic. But there was no one there... they were all gone.
"Oh my God..." Phoebe muttered.
"Where are they...?" Cole asked.
Piper walked around kind of shocked: "Don't tell me that this demon entered my house and kidnapped my babies..."
Leo sighed, trying to sense them, while Chris went over to his mother to hug her with shivering arms. "Oh my God..." he muttered. He was too freaked out to sense for them on his own, it just didn't come to his mind. The fact that his daughter was gone, too, was killing him inside. He had never thought he could feel like that, so desperate, so helpless, so angry at the same time.
"The kids and Bianca are fine," Leo said, making the other turn around to him. "They are at Victor's apartment," he added then.
"I'll get them," Chris replied and orbed away the next second.
Leo turned to his wife and kissed her lovingly: "They are alright... I can sense them... and Chris will bring them home I guess."
Piper nodded, still her eyes were welling up with tears. She hugged him closely while the others watched the couple in silence.
Then Cole rose to speak: "And where are Silas and Odin?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Victor was sitting on his sofa, half watching TV - half sleeping, when Bianca and the kids shimmered in next to the door on his left. First he didn't notice, but the desperate crying of baby-Chris made him jump up startled.
"WHAT THE HELL..." he exclaimed. He felt like his heart would skip a few beats and sank back to the sofa again, looking really pale.
"GRANDPA!!!" Wyatt yelled and ran over to him to hug him tightly with his short arms.
"Sorry, for startling you," Bianca apologised, "but I had to react quickly to bring the kids to a safe place, and..." She made a gesture to the room and went on: "... this was the first place that came to my mind." Victor just nodded, unable to answer.
"Christopher was dreamin'bout demons," Wyatt said to him, smiling at him. Victor again just nodded, while the color slowly turned back to his face.
"I'm truly sorry... But I guess, he not only dreamt... I guess he had a premonition, that's why we ran away," Bianca tried to explain.
Victor looked at her, while the woman put the babies on the armchair - baby-Chris had finally stopped crying - and covered them with an old blanket, which she found there. "Wait... you mean the baby had a... a premonition?????"
Bianca nodded with a sigh and sat down next to him. "He was crying... and Wyatt said he dreamt about a demon in the attic... I don't know if it was a premonition... but I didn't want to take a risk..." she said, before reaching for the phone to call the others.
"Well but..." Victor said but was interrupted by bluish orbing lights.
"Bianca? What are you doing here?" Chris asked, his voice a little angry, but more because of the fear of losing her, his kids, or even Victor, than because of real anger. Then he looked at Victor. "Hey grandpa... are you ok?"
The grey-haird man nodded, while Wyatt jumped up, to ran to his big brother and hug his leg. Chris caressed the boys hair. Then he turned around to Hope and took her to his arms, holding her tightly, relieved that she was fine. He had been so scared that something could have happened to her.
Turning back to Bianca he asked: "Didn't I told you not to shimmer in here without warning? You could gave him a heart attack."
Bianca chuckled: "Don't you think you are a little overreacting?" And Victor nodded in agreement.
Chris sighed. He never had told anyone what he had found out about his grandfather's future. And he really didn't plan to do it now. So he decided to change the topic: "So... why are you here? And where are Silas and Odin?"
"They are gone?" Bianca asked pale. And when Chris nodded she add: "Oh my God... Then it's true..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Tom was feeling really scared. More and more as the time passed and nothing happened.
The Elder that had asked him how he felt, was also chained. He had not noticed before, because she hid her chains with her robe, but when he thought that she would go and release him, or comfort him, he realised that she could not move either.
Therefore he had tried to reassure the poor women by telling that everything was gonna be ok, but he wasn't sure of that anymore.
A few minutes after that, Rhashirk came back and poured some sort of poison in the mouth of the Elder that had talked to him, making her feel very dizzy and agonising.
"I'm sorry, sister, I need your powers. It's too bad that I can not enjoy the benefit of orbing as you do..." he had said sarcastically as the woman writhed in pain on the ground. Then he had left again.
After he had disappeared, Tom started to call the Elders again, trying to attract their attention, to make them look at him, but the one that had talked to him, had finally lost her consciousness again, and the other one was so pale and sick that would not awake.
Tom could not help moaning a little bit at the thought of what could happen to him. He swallowed and closed his eyes. He had to do it... He had to establish contact with Steve.
Suddenly, bright blue orbs and the familiar sound made him open his eyes widely.
"Chris?" he asked, trembling. But it was not Chris. It was Rhashirk... bringing another Elder with him.
"Oh my God..." he muttered.
"I don't think that God likes that you call me like that," Rhashirk mocked, placing Jeremiah on the ground and chaining him to the nearest wall.
Tom fixed his eyes on the poor man, and then glared at Rhashirk. "Do you bastard plan to empty the Elder's place?" he asked angrily and scared at the same time.
Rhashirk smirked: "Basically..." Then he turned: "Be ready, my boy. I'll be back just for you in a few minutes." Then he left again, and appeared in the attic of the manor, where he kidnapped Odin and Silas.
Tom felt how the tears started to run down his face. Why had he been so stupid? Veronica was right; he should not have done that on his own. It was a suicide. Now he knew that very well... He had just wanted to help Steve, but... He closed his eyes again, trying to regain control over his mind and not to panic, so that he was able to communicate with his friend: 'Sorry Steve... I didn't want to do this, but I need your help...'
Rhashirk was back soon and made him come to reality. Tom did not know if it had worked, and he did not know either if he'd have another chance to try.
The demon carried out the same process with his new two victims and turned to Tom, smirking.
"Now... let's find out what a little brat like you was doing here; trying to play with magic is like playing with fire, son. You can get burnt."

°°°°°°°°°°

Michael was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was worried. He had never seen Chris like that... so desperate, so mad... so hurt... he had never seen him like that as long as he knew him.
He sighed realising that it was less than a year since they first met, since he had freed them, since he had saved them.
Michael closed his eyes for a moment. Then he turned around to watch his wife, who was sleeping on his right. He felt so much sorry for her, but still he wished she would be more open-minded. He wished she would open her eyes to all the things Chris and his family were doing for all the whole mankind. But she only saw the weird things that could happen to her, and she saw the demons... All that scared her too much to see that those witches were risking their lives for innocents every single day.
While Michael thought about all that, he noticed that Angela's sleep became more and more uneasy. She started tossing around and mumbling something he couldn't understand. Then she began to yell and sat up.
"Shhhhh..." he hugged her from behind. Angela was shivering, she was crying. "It's ok, baby... you're safe... everything is fine," he whispered to her ear to make her calm down.
She turned around and buried her face in his chest, crying. Softly he caressed her back. He loved her so much and it killed him from the inside that he couldn't help her.
The woman was crying for a while but finally she calmed down. A few minutes later she looked up to him frowning. "Did I wake you up?" she asked feeling guilty.
"No, I wasn't sleeping," he replied.
Angela rose to be face to face with him. "Why?" she asked. But before he could answer she pointed at his forehead: "I see... you worry about something... You have that little 'worry-wrinkle' between your eyebrows..."
Michael sighed. He didn't want to bother her with his thoughts, so he kept silent.
She looked at him, then asked: "It's about Chris, right? I noticed that something was wrong when you came back from your 'saying goodbye'... So what is it, that he told you and that worries you so much?" Michael sighed again, avoiding her look.
"Mike... please..." she begged.
He closed his eyes, then answered whispering: "He has troubles with some Elders, because of something he had done a while ago... and that hurts him... Actually it hurts him a lot and I'm not sure if he can handle that..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Everyone looked up, when Chris orbed back to the living room of the manor.
Piper jumped up, when she saw he was alone. "Where are they?" she asked worried.
"Don't worry mom, they are fine..." he said and let himself sank down on the sofa. He looked really exhausted, frustrated and somehow defeated, when he added: "I think it's better for them to stay there... it's not safe here... if all what we know it's true, it seems no one can stop that demon... So I hope he will not find the kids there..."
Leo sighed and went over to his son. He sat down beside him and put his arm around him. He could only imagine how he felt, after all that had happened today... And now he also had to worry about his baby-girl's safety. And that alone - he knew from his own experiences - was a lot to deal with.
"But it seems Rhashirk has Odin and Silas," Chris said then. "It seems mini-me had a premonition. That's why Bianca and the kids escaped."
"He had WHAT???" Piper exclaimed.
"So... what are we gonna do now?" Cole asked ignoring his sister in law.
Chris shrugged even if his uncle hadn't addressed him exactly. "I don't know," he admitted, feeling more helpless than ever before.
"What can we do?" Nicki asked. "I mean, if he has the powers of all those Elders... how can we defeat him?"
Steve began to shiver a little, and Nicki regretted that she had talked like that. She took his hand and caressed it. Her boyfriend freaking out again, was the last thing they needed.
Everyone tried to look at something, just to avoid the looks of the others. Because... No one had any idea what to do.
Suddenly the air was waving in the middle of the room, making everyone jump up startled. "Hey..." Julian said, even before he completely materialised, "just thought I have a look what's going on here..." He looked around with a smile and went on: "I was a little worried that you could already be dead, because you missed our meeting..."
Chris looked at him, and then at his father, who opened his mouth but closed it again, not knowing what to say.
Julian frowned. "Is everything ok?" he asked.
Leo shook his head as the others looked at him expectantly. If he had come to help, great, but what was he waiting for? "Listen... Julian. I can't give you those powers, that's not in my hands. And right now the world is in the middle of a really big problem that might concern you too, man... So..."
Julian raised his hands defensively: "Wait, wait... Look at me. I am not a monster, nor a demon. I am a witch like you... And I have always helped you. I just wanted those powers to make life easier for me, but I guess this is bigger than I thought."
Chris looked him in the eyes, timidly: "Does that mean that you... that you're gonna help us?"
Julian shrugged: "I always did. I'm not gonna let you down now."
"And you don't want those powers anymore..." Leo said, before the interested look of the rest in the house.
Julian shrugged. "We can discuss that later, we've other things to deal with now... Because if we lose this battle there will be no use for that power anyway." he said.
"Ok, so what do you have?" Cole asked, encouraging him to speak.
"Yeah, hurry, or we'll lose the few goodies left up there."
Julian frowned at Paige's words, but said: "Ok... we don't have much, but we know how to get there, to where your demon is right now."
"How can you know that?" Piper asked, approaching him suspecting.
Julian sighed: "The old source of all evil sent him there. I found some of his old papers and from that I know how he did it, but you do not need that information to get there." He smirked, as the others grimaced disgusted and Chris half-smiled. "I can send you there as he sent him. And I can bring you back."
"And how do we know you will bring us back?" Phoebe asked, narrowing her eyes. She knew who had his hands on that... And that red thing called Belthazor was still who she hated the most, even if he, for some truly weird reason, was helping.
Julian smiled at her: "You'll need to trust me. But it's up to you."
"Ok, I'll go," Chris said, cutting the others out. "There's no time to lose."
"Why am I not surprised?" Phoebe murmured, rolling her eyes. Of course, who else but her nephew with hero-complex would offer himself to go to that unknown dimension, with the only trust of a demon? She sighed, as Piper opened her eyes widely and tried to convince him not to go. But Chris was determined.
"And I'll go with you," Steve said after a while.
Nicki more than anyone else freaked out: "What? No way... I can't believe you wanna go..." Steve turned to her angrily, and the couple started to argue.
Julian cut them all off: "I need to go now, and I need to take those who want to come with me, but before there's something else you should know..." Everyone stopped talking, and he went on: "Have you ever heard of the Fallen Angel?"
Cole looked at the others, frowning, and then said: "The devil? You mean... Satan? We had already something related to him some time ago..."
Julian chuckled: "When I say fallen angel, I do mean it... It's an angel that fell. Rhashirk..." He paused, creating expectation and suspense. Then he concluded: "Rhashirk was an Elder before becoming a demon."
"WHAT?" Leo, Chris and Andrew exclaimed at the same time. Julian just nodded. "But how came they don't know him?" Chris asked close to freaking out. Leo just shrugged.
But Julian grinned: "Because they are more human than it seems... Rhashirk became who he was, about a millennium ago... And the memories of the Elders got blurry with the time like those of every other human being... They just forgot..."
"That's sooo weird, but it explains how he could went up there without being noticed by someone..." Leo remarked and his son nodded.
"Ok, could you explain to me what you're talking about??? Because this time, I really think I missed something..." Julian snapped kind of annoyed.
Chris sighed and then wanted to answer. But he was interrupted by Steve.
"Wait!" the young witch exclaimed suddenly and jumped up. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Nicki asked worried. Also the others looked at him questioning.
Steve shook his head frowning. "I don't know," he said hesitating, "It was as if Tom was crying for help..."
"You mean...?" Chris wanted to ask, but didn't need to end his sentence. His young friend looked at him scared and freaked out, but nodded.
"Ok," Cole said and rose. "I think we all should just take a step backwards, because I got the feeling that we're running into our own death if we rush into action without any planings..."
"But we need to do something?" Piper said. "Only God knows how much Elders he has captured until now..."
"Elders?" Julian asked surprised. "All he wants to do at the moment, is erase your family..."
"WHAT?" the sisters exclaimed as one, while the others looked at the colored witch shocked. "Why do you think that?" Paige asked.
"That's non of your business... but believe me, it's true..."
"Ok... Stop it!" Cole rose his voice to make the others listen to him. "I really think we should do that one step after the other... First we need a plan... Then we can go and kick the ass of that bastard... And by they way... I'm also going."
"NO!" Phoebe said but he stopped her with a look that told her that he would go, with or without her permission.
Chris nodded: "Well, I guess he's right... Not, about the last part, but... we really need a plan." Julian and Leo nodded too.
"Yeah," Steve said, "but what if Tom hasn't that much time...?"
Veronica looked at Steve with her eyes round open. She had always been the coolest girl in the world, the happy girl for whom everything was fine, and everything had a solution. But now that her beloved ones were in danger, all that had changed and she was scared to death. Nicki, pressed her arm softly, worried herself by the idea that Steve was so determined to go.
Chris swallowed, trying to think hard. He could not just go that way, without a plan. Rhashirk had proved to be a really tough demon, and now they knew that he had been an Elder... That was really scary. But if they wouldn't do something, Steve was completely right. It could mean death for Tom. What should he do?
The others were talking and talking, in search for a good plan, but Andrew had been silent for a while, deep in his own thoughts.
Finally, Chris took Steve's hand: "Ok, we go now. You all, get a plan, and get it soon." And after saying that, grabbed Julian's arm with the other hand and orbed away.
"No, w-w-wa...it..." It was too late. Piper swore in a mutter, and then looked at the others who were now silent and indecisive.
Nicki had gone paler when she saw that Steve was going with Chris, but she did not dare to say anything, since it was to save Tom, and Veronica had the right to be more worried than her at that moment. Moreover, Tom had not hesitated when he went to find Rhashirk, and he had done it just for his friend...
Cole was tense. He really missed the action. He wished Chris had also grabbed his hand because he needed to help him. Man, he could not let him go alone! He felt Phoebe's touch, trying to calm him down and saw Paige's and Leo's expressions.
"Ok. The plan is urgent. Any idea?" Paige asked, nervously.
"I... I might help," Andrew said. All the heads turned to him, who lowered his eyes timidly: "I am an Elder, he wanted me too. I just escaped... I might be the bait."
"No," Leo said, "and by the way... I'm an Elder, too... So if we do that, I'm going to do that!"
"No you can't," Nicki said, still scared but suddenly beginning to understand, "even I don't trust that... whatever he is... Chris trusts Julian... and he said that Rhashirk is after your family... So if you go Leo, you give him what he wants..."
"But we have to do something," Paige said. The fact that Chris and Steve ran away like that, was annoying her, like everyone else in the room.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Tom... Tom..." the young witch heard a familiar voice, while he slowly gained back his conscious. He felt confused and his brain hurt from the sudden pain he had felt... That's the last thing he remembered... the pain... a pain he knew so well... 'Oh my God,' he thought and sat up startled. ‚What if he did the same to me? If he manipulated me?' He looked into Odin's eyes.
The Elder had tried to wake him up the last minutes. He was chained next to him, but still had enough room to touch him. "Are you alright?" he asked, now that the young witch had opened his eyes.
Tom looked confused around. He was still chained to the wall, his wrist still hurt. Then he looked at the Elder: "Odin?"
"Hey, welcome back," the Elder said with a smile.
"What happened?" Tom asked scared remembering his last thought. Desperate he tried again to free himself. "What did that bastard do to me? Did he...?"
"Shhhh... Calm down," Odin said, holding him tightly by his shoulders. "He did nothing to you," he explained then, "you passed out before he could do something."
"Sure?" Tom asked with a trembling voice.
"Sure!" he answered and then added, "and therefore you should calm down. Because... when he returns it's better to make him believe that you're still unconscious, right?"
Tom nodded. "Do you know where he's gone?" Odin looked around sighing. So did Tom. There were actually more then a dozen of Elders, most of them were unconscious.
"I guess," the Elder said, "he's trying to get another one of us." Then he turned back to Tom: "But what are you doing here?"
Tom didn't listen. He had noticed another familiar person and actually he couldn't believe it was really her. "Mrs Moody?" he asked confused. Odin sighed. He had hoped Tom wouldn't notice Elenia, but now it was to late.
She looked up when she heard those words and smiled at the young man: "Hello Tom."
"But... what are you doing here... and where have you been the last year?" Tom asked confused. He hadn't seen Steve's mother since she had helped them with the people in grey. Then he noticed her white and golden dress: "Are you an Elder?"
She nodded: "I am... and I was... Look this story is really..."
"No... No-no-no!" Tom exclaimed shaking his head. "You just left without any explanation... You left your son with a thousand of unanswered questions... you just disappeared... Damned your son suffered so much lately... He needed his family to support him, he needed you!" Elenia sobbed a little.
Odin sighed and put his hand on Tom shoulder: "Stop it man... don't judge before you knew the whole story..."
"It's ok, Odin," she said, "he's right." Then she turned to Tom. "I am an Elder since a few centuries. I... well... 20 years ago I was kidnapped by a demon and..." She swallowed. "I escaped but... well when I found out that I was pregnant I had to decide... and I voted for my baby..."
Tom's eyes grew wide: "You mean... Steve is the son of an Elder?"
She nodded and went on: "I wanted to have my baby, but for that I had to leave the Elders, because if they had found out... Well, I made myself fall, I became human... and a few month later I met Steve's stepfather, who became his dad for the rest of his far too short life... I hoped that Steve would only have less powers, because I lost mine when I fall and his biological father was only a mid level demon... But he has... he has more powers than he knows by now."
"But... why did you left him?"
"When the double demons rose again, I had to help you... him... but therefore I had to die... The Elders already knew why I left them and they decided to let me rejoin them... So I could watch over him..."
"Shall that mean Chris and Leo knew that too... That they knew where you had been?" Tom exclaimed.
"No," Odin said, "they don't know her story... They don't know about Steve's parents... Only less of us do"
But Tom didn't listen: "And what do you mean with 'watch over him'? He tried to kill himself damned! Where have you been that moment? Where have you been???" Elenia lowered her head, sobbing.
At the moment they heard steps from the entrance of the cave.
"Tom," Odin said begging. Tom nodded, closed his eyes and let his head fall to one side, shortly before Rhashirk went in.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ok, let's go," Chris said, as soon as they materialised in the Underworld.
The colored witch looked around scared, and then turned to Chris, ignoring the worried look of Steve: "Are you nuts? You never do this again." He took their hands to take them out of sight: "Never orb this way here with me. They can not see us together, understood?"
Chris nodded, and looked him in the eyes. "Take me to that plane."
"What about me?" Steve asked, concerned.
"You stay with Julian." Chris said. Actually he wasn't even sure why he had took Steve with him, it just had felt right that moment. But now he wasn't sure anymore. "You can help from here with your telepathy or whatever. I am not gonna risk you."
"But..."
"Take me there."
"Where?" It was Belthazor's voice. He was right behind him. And he seemed to be really angry.
Steve jumped behind Chris to duck scared. Not only that they were walking through the underworld like this would be a park... No... Now there was also the source of all evil... the one who had tried to kill him once.
"Good evening," Chris said casually. Then he felt how Steve grasped his hand, Chris could feel him trembling.
"Sorry," Julian said stepping at his friend's side, "I guess he's just going crazy..."
"Yeah," the demon mumbled angry.
Chris just looked at the demon, waiting for what would happen next. He wasn't afraid of him, but he was aware of the fact that Belthazor was, and ever would be a demon.
Steve, still hiding behind Chris, looked from on to the other. "It's a trap Chris, we should try to..." he murmured.
But Chris interrupted him: "Don't worry, he will not hurt us... Right?" The last word was dedicated at the red demon.
Belthazor smirked. Then he gestured with his hand: "Follow me... but cloak yourself... please..."
"Will you bring me to that plane?" Chris asked without moving.
Belthazor turned around to face him. He narrowed his eyes, examining the Elder-witch from head to foot. "No," he said then, "but I'll show you how to do it on your own."
"But Julian said you wouldn't tell us, you would only...?" Chris snapped back.
Belthazor smirked again: "Yeah, I was just curious how much you would trust me..."

(Chapter 7 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)