Underworld (Future)

"Your underworld?" he spat, "Little cousin, this is not your domain. It's mine."

"Really?" Mel smirked, and small, controlled smile played upon her lips. She watched with amusement as her older cousin squirmed around in his cell. Her expression was becoming harder to maintain, but she held fast.

"Look around, Wyatt," she began. Her arms flew up, and gestured to various cages, where his dead/vanquished commanders sat. "This is my world now, not yours. Never again yours. Every demon killed or vanquished comes to me. All I need to do in order to discover a secret is to have the knowledgeable person killed."

"You don't have that kind of power! I don't even have that power!" he shouted, "Only the Source can pull demons from the Wasteland!"

Melody walked slowly up to him, and came within a foot of the bars. She smiled a truly evil smile, one she had learned from the demons under her command.

"Who do you think I am, Wyatt? A fairy princess?" She mocked, and was rewarded with a deep blush of embarrassment creeping up his neck and spreading through his cheeks.

Just to add the final touches, she blacked out her eyes, as she often did to threaten demon minions.

Wyatt fainted right on the spot.

"Watch him," she commanded a demon posted nearby, "I have some business to attend to."

Valley of the Leprechauns

Silence.

Heads turned this way and that, taking advantages of small sounds in the distance to divert them from the present situation. The few leprechaun advisors and spokespeople tapped their sticks on the ground, waiting for someone to speak.

Phoebe shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Cole, who had shimmered in a few minutes ago, sat two people away from her, with Ella on his lap. She glanced from person to person, reading the unfamiliar faces, and trying to learn their emotions.

Paige couldn't keep her eyes off the reddish-haired boy across from her. His shy eyes, pale face, and ragged clothing each portrayed new stories to her. Richard sat beside him, and rubbed his back every once and a while. Paige raised an eyebrow.

Piper stood with Leo, and trying to glare at those who shot her husband dirty looks. Everyone seemed to utterly despise Leo. Her hands itched to blow up something, especially the blonde woman, who constantly looked at her and her husband – ex-husband, she means.

"So…" Cole started. Everybody looked at him, and he lost his nerve, and shrunk back to his former position.

"Oh, what the hell!" The blonde, Teresa, stood up and marched to the center of the little circle. Michael groaned, but secretly he was glad that his soon-to-be-sister had stopped the awkward silence.

"Cole! What did the Charmed Ones say?" she demanded. The three sisters from the past looked up. Piper could contain herself no longer.

"What do you mean? We're right here."

Teresa smirked. "I wasn't referring to you, Piper. I mean the 2nd, more powerful Charmed Ones.

"Who are you to judge that?" Paige insisted.

"Your future daughter-in-law, Teresa." She bowed deeply, mocking her, and the circle chuckled, with an exception of the Charmed Ones and Leo.

"You're marrying my son!" she said, trying to mask her disgust.

"Your older one, yes," she answered, and punched Michael lightly in the shoulder. "No offense, Mike."

"None taken," he grunted, as he gingerly massaged his shoulder.

"Cole? My question?" Teresa jumped back on the subject, determined to receive the information.

"We never really got to discuss it."

"WHAT!" Teresa exploded.

"All that time in the future and you discovered nothing!" Richard asked incredulously.

"Well, a few problems came up!" Cole defended himself.

"What kind of problems…" Teresa leaned in.

"Well, the sisters and Leo pretty much figured out everything, and we still had one secret left, until Mel shimmered us Down There, and then…" Cole trailed off.

"Poof, no more secret," Ella finished for him, though she did not really understand the severity of the situation.

At the moment, as if on cue, Melody shimmered in.

"Speak of the devil," Teresa remarked sarcastically.

"Shut up," Mel snapped back.

"Why can't we all just get along?" David cried out. Mel saw him and rushed into his arms. He scooped her up, and spun her around.

"You're OK," he murmured.

She smiled. "Of course I am. It's me we're talking about."

He grinned, and the seriousness fell from his place for a moment. Mel's eyes sparked with joy, and he squeezed her tightly.

That is when he felt the blood on the back of her cloak…the wet, fresh blood.