I do not owe Charmed in any way. I make nothing of this.
AN: This chapter is extreemly short and I apologize for that. My time is running short now with shool and everything so it might be a few days (no more then three) between updates from now on.
--------
His head was pounding, his throat felt like it housed the Sahara desert and his eyelids seemed glued shut. He could feel himself going in and out of unconsciousness but he never really seemed to awake fully. Where was he? What happened?
He couldn't move. He tried the legs, then the arm and fingers but nothing worked. He felt pain, it didn't seem to come from one place but all over his body. Why was he in pain? Why couldn't he move? Was he restrained?
He had a feeling he was forgetting something, something important. But just as his body didn't obey him, neither did his mind. His thoughts were going round and round and he couldn't seem to grasp anything concrete of what had happened to him. What was he forgetting? Why did he have this nagging feeling he had to be somewhere? Be where?
What was going on?
--------
Leo, Wyatt and Paige walked on the sandy ground looking at the very unwelcome village they just entered. The people they walked past would glare at them. Some hissed and others ran inside the huts as soon as they were in eyesight.
Even more worrying were the men walking behind them in a safe distance with home made clubs, branches and other kind of object clearly used as weapons. The further they walked the more people teamed up with does behind. They finally stopped in what could be the village center. By now they were surrounded by people.
An old man walked up to them. He looked fragile and Paige feared a nudge from the wind would bring him down. He stopped just out of reach and started to speak. Paige couldn't understand but the demand in his voice was hard to miss. Leo spoke back and the old man frowned. Paige hoped Leo hadn't said something stupid. A few seconds later Leo translated what had been said.
"This is the village elder. He said they didn't want strangers here and demanded that we leave," Leo said. "I asked him why they didn't want strangers to come here and he said a stranger showed up a few months ago turned to be a demon and cursed the village."
"Our kind of demon or boogieman kinda demon?" Paige asked.
"It's our kind of demon but they don't know that," Leo said. He spoke some more to the man who seemed reluctant to answer.
"Apparently this man that came a few months ago did something stupid that they were going to punish him for, he won't say what for, and escaped but not before putting a curse on them. After that more strangers has showed up trying to help but only making thing worse."
"What was the curse?" Wyatt wondered. Leo asked the man.
"People began disappearing only to show up dead a few days later. They were taken at night, randomly, some nights more then one. The times strangers has shown up an illness infect the village people, one they can't cure and don't get better until the strangers leave."
"Have they seen Chris? Was he here?" Paige asked.
"He was," Leo confirmed after asking the man, "He was here at night with a woman he said was his wife. Chris apparently told everyone to stay inside and not to come out no matter what." The old man said something more and waved his hand and arm in one direction, "He says they heard fighting that night and neither Chris nor Bianca was seen anymore afterwards. Apparently what ever they did that night worked because the curse seemed to have been broken, no one else has been taken. But they are still wary of strangers."
"I bet," Paige muttered and looked around.
--------
He didn't know what happened to him, where he was or anything like that. So let's see what he did remember. Let's start with the name. Name? Chris… Chris Halliwell, no, Chris Perry, he was married and took his wife last name. Why did he do that? Something about staying hidden, but all that was still too jumbled for him to remember.
So he was married. What was his wife's name? Something about a bird… Phoenix. No, wait, that's what she was called, her name was… Bianca. Yes, that's it, Bianca Perry. They had been married for… he couldn't remember but had a feeling it was a long time. Thinking about Bianca made two faces pop up in his mind. Two girls, young and very familiar. What were their names? Sandra and Melinda? No, that was wrong. Carolina and Melissa? No, that wasn't right either. Cassandra and Melitta! That was it. They were his daughters! Oh, god. Cassandra and Melitta, where were they? Bianca had been with him, right? He thought he remembered that, so who was with the children?
--------
Piper moved around the kitchen waiting for Cassandra and Melitta to be done eating. The two girls hadn't said a word since they entered the kitchen and still behaved like they were uncomfortable with her. Piper hoped it would be better with time.
She watched as Melitta leaned over to her older sister and whispered something in her ear. Cassandra nodded and glanced at Piper. "Melitta wonders what to call you?" she said. From the way she said it Piper got the feeling Melitta wasn't the only one.
"Well," she said slowly and sat down on a chair by the table, "I am your grandmother. But it you don't feel comfortable calling me Grandma then how about Piper?"
"I would like to call you grandma," Melitta said shyly, "I never had a grandma before."
Piper couldn't help but wince since she was partly responsible for that. "I would love for you to call me grandma and I know Leo would love it if you call him grandpa."
"Will you make us cookies and give us candy?" Melitta asked innocently.
"Melitta!" Cassandra scolded. Her little sister turned towards her.
"That's what Margo's grandma does," she said.
Piper laughed. "Yes, I'll bake you cookies and give you candy. But not all the time, Chris probably would be mad if I did." Piper's thoughts turned sad briefly, thinking about her youngest son. But watching her granddaughters bicker about who would get the most candy made her cheer up.
"Hold it you two," Piper said when the argument began to turn bad. "When I give you candy both will get an equal amount. I won't play favorites." That made the girls calm down and they were soon eating again.
"Can… can you tell me something about your father?" Piper asked carefully hoping they wouldn't pick up on the desperate hope in her voice. "And your mother," Piper added. She guessed it was time to accept her as a part of the family.
Both girls nodded happily. "Dad is the bravest person there is," Cassandra said cheerfully, "he's not afraid of anything."
"Not even the monster in the closed," Melitta added.
"Mom is very beautiful, that's what dad always says." Cassandra stopped and thought about something. "I was wrong, there is one thing dad is afraid of and that is Mom angry at him. What is it he used to say, Melitta?" Cassandra turned to her sister.
"That he rather fights the monster in the closet then Mommy when she is p of," Melitta dutifully explained.
"P of?" Piper asked confused.
"I'm not allowed to say the P word," Melitta said, "Or the S word or the F word. If I do then Mommy gets angry at daddy because he is the one who taught me them."
"Oh," Piper said and held a laugh thinking of Chris's dilemma with Bianca.
--------
To Be Continued…