Chapter 13- Rescuing Lost Souls
When they arrived in the underworld, Chris and the Charmed Ones ended up in a long corridor attached to a large cavern. They pressed themselves against the cave walls as Paige carefully peered around the corridor and into the demon's lair.
"Are we in the right place?" Phoebe whispered to her sister.
Paige nodded. Stepping back to join them she whispered, "Zorac is here, along with the rest of the clan."
"How many?" Piper asked.
Paige shrugged. "About twenty or so."
"Twenty?" Piper whispered. "Just great."
"Don't worry about it. These guys are only lower level, remember?"
"Paige, these demons kill us in the future," Piper reminded her.
"But we were all alone then. We got the power of three now, and we're packing some serious fire power," Paige replied, holding up the bag of potions and sounding more confident then she looked.
"Are you going to be alright?" Phoebe asked Chris.
He nodded, but plastered himself a bit closer to the cave wall, his eyes filled with trepidation. "Let's just get this over with."
Phoebe nodded and began to grab a handful of potions and stowed them in her pockets. "Do we just go in fighting?"
"I don't think there's another way. C'mon," said Piper. She stepped towards the cave entrance and raised her hands. She blew up the nearest demon and began moving forward, blowing up anything that moved in their direction.
The bald headed leader spun around in surprise. "It's the Charmed Ones," Zorac yelled. "Attack!"
Phoebe and Paige followed their older sister, throwing potions with deadly accuracy. Amazingly they were able to take out a few demons at a time with each vial of potion. Like Chris had said earlier, they packed quite a punch.
"Should we try the spell?" asked Paige, throwing another potion.
Piper shook her head. "Not yet. We wouldn't be able to read a word of it without being overtaken. Get rid of as many as you can first!" she shouted.
All three sisters dodged the fire balls and energy balls that were being thrown at them and began to split up. As they had expected, this clan had a variety of demons with various fighting styles.
Phoebe wanted to get to Zorac, but found there were too many demons in her way. She engaged in some hand to hand combat with a few demons, using her fighting skills to vanquish several demons by kicking them into the cave walls. She quickly became overwhelmed, however, when she was put into a headlock. She fought against her attacker, but found that this brute was too strong for her. She was going to call her sisters for help when she remembered the athame she was carrying. She yanked it from her belt and stabbed the demon in the chest. He howled in pain before he erupted in flames. Phoebe backed away quickly, feeling the searing heat against her skin.
Paige was using a combination of potions and her teleorbing against the demons she was attacking. At one point a demon began to spit streams of some sort of yellowy liquid at her. Phoebe happened to glance over and saw what was happening. She could only assume that it was acidic in nature and prayed that her sister wouldn't be caught in the stream. When Paige had enough of dodging the awful substance she yelled, "Icky stuff!" and orbed it straight back at the demon. He melted into a pile of goo.
Piper was holding her own, blowing up the demons that she could and freezing a few others. Phoebe began to follow behind her and used the athame on any demon that was frozen. They too erupted in flames, howling in misery.
Chris had hung back and stayed near the shadows by the cave entrance. He didn't seem too keen on fighting and at first Phoebe thought he hadn't been helping at all. But then she noticed that a fireball that had been heading her way had been diverted to another part of the cave where it crashed against the wall harmlessly. Apparently he had been giving them some cover so that they could vanquish demons without coming into harms way. She smiled at him appreciatively.
By now they had exhausted their potions and the Charmed Ones were beginning to tire. There were only a handful of demons left, including the leader Zorac, who had been watching the display with interest. He seemed to stand back and allow his minions to fight rather than get his hands dirty.
Phoebe approached Zorac eager on vanquishing him herself after witnessing what he had done to her poor nephew in the future, but she wasn't sure if she could accomplish this on her own. She didn't have active powers like her sisters and she didn't think she could get close enough to use the athame, even though this was the closest she had been able to get to him since the fighting had begun.
"We're almost done!" Phoebe shouted to the others. "Let's read the spell!"
"You're right," said Piper, and all three sisters gathered together.
"Demons who dwell in this lair, we draw upon the power of witches everywhere-" they began to chant, reading from a piece of paper Phoebe was holding.
"I don't think so," said Zorac, sending a fireball their way.
All three girls hit the floor to avoid the fireball, but thankfully Chris diverted it at the last second. Phoebe hadn't noticed before but he had finally joined them, stepping away from the shadows the cave entrance had provided. He stood there quietly; his body was tense and fear was still written on his face.
The Charmed Ones stood back up and tried to resume the spell once more. "Demons who dwell in this lair, we draw upon the power of witches everywhere-"
Before they could complete it, Zorac clapped his hands together twice. He then crossed his arms over his chest looking quite smug. Soon demons began to pour out of the recesses in the cavern, forming a circle around Chris and the girls. They were once again outnumbered.
"Twenty or so? Paige, I think you underestimated," said Piper, looking alarmed.
Paige glanced at her sister in disbelief. "Yeah, well I didn't know that there was some hiding in all those little caves."
"We're out of potions, what do we do?" Phoebe asked.
Before any of her sisters could reply, Zorac stepped forward to address them. "Why have you come here?" he asked.
"To vanquish you, duh?" said Paige.
"But why?" he asked curiously. "We have not caused you any grief. I didn't think the Charmed Ones were in the habit of attacking unless they were threatened in some way."
"It's personal," Piper responded, looking quite fierce. "And I will not stop until every last of you is destroyed."
Zorac shrugged indifferently, not looking overly concerned seeing how he had them completely outnumbered. "Attack!" he commanded the others.
The clan began closing in, looking quite menacing. Chris began to use his telekinesis to throw demons against the cave wall, causing them to exploded into ash and disappear. His mother began to blow up demons in rapid succession. Paige was using her power to orb rocks at the demons to slow them down. Phoebe had taken a fighting stance, but had yet resume combat.
"I thought this was supposed to be a small clan," Paige whined, as a fireball grazed her shoulder. "What the heck is their idea of large?"
Nobody responded. The situation was just too dire. The demons were closing in an alarming rate, and Phoebe was suddenly not so sure that they would make it out of this alive. They needed a solution and fast.
She then remembered the power that Chris had displayed in the memory she had seen. She knew that it was the only way they were going to make it out of here alive. Now Phoebe just had to convince Chris to use a power that he had barely seemed to know he possessed.
"Paige, orb us out of here," said Piper, grabbing onto her sister's arm. "We'll never be able to finish the spell in time."
"No, wait! I have an idea," Phoebe said. "Chris?"
"Yeah?" he replied, using his power to lift another demon up into the air before throwing him against the rocky surface.
"We need your help," she replied earnestly.
"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked, using his power to hold some other demons from approaching.
"I need you to do that explosion thing you did," Phoebe said.
"What are you talking about?" he asked feigning confusion.
"You know what I mean. Do whatever it is that you did to escape this place," she commanded.
"Do you know what they're talking about?" Paige asked Piper.
"Not a clue," she said, still blowing up the approaching demons.
"But I didn't even vanquish him," said Chris, eyeing Zorac anxiously. His hold on the three demons he had shielded them against broke and they staggered towards them. With a sweep of his arm they were cast aside.
Phoebe let out a yelp as the demons nearly flew into her. She side stepped them and drew closer to Chris, hoping to reason with him. "You were just a scared kid then, Chris. You are a powerful adult now. I think you can do it."
"I don't know."
"Just try!" Phoebe shouted, ducking an energy ball. "We don't have much time."
Chris nodded. "I don't want to hurt any of you. The three of you need to orb out of here."
"We're not leaving you alone!" Piper told her son firmly.
"Can we get to the cave entrance?" Phoebe asked, knowing how powerful this explosion would be. Maybe they could take cover around the corridor.
"I don't think that's possible," said Paige, surveying the demons that were blocking their escape only a few feet away.
Chris sighed in frustration. "Then hit the deck!"
The sisters looked at one another in surprise before falling to the floor and covering their heads with their arms. Chris took a deep breath and held up his arms to telekinetically hold back the demons while he figured out how he was going to harness the explosive power he had used when he was only a kid. There were times he had tried to call upon it in the future when he was fighting off Wyatt's demons, but doing so had meant remembering that awful day when he had first learned to use it. He had never been able to reproduce the power since.
As he quickly thought about the memories he had suppressed, he remembered how helpless he had felt that day. Everything else he had tried in order to escape hadn't worked and he had been desperate to get away from the demon that was torturing him again. He wasn't sure how his explosive power worked exactly so he focused on what he had been feeling at the time he had first used it. His father always said that their powers were tied to their emotions.
He remembered feeling afraid, so horribly afraid. And alone, and anxious, and so very desperately ashamed of what was happening to him. But mostly he had been angry.
Angry that his mother had died, leaving him alone. Angry that he hadn't been strong enough to protect her. Angry that his father and brother hadn't responded to his many calls for help. Angry that he had been left alone to rot in this hell hole. Angry that he couldn't defend himself against his attacker. That rage had exploded from him a dazzling display of white light.
Remembering that all consuming anger, Chris allowed himself to feel it once more. He let the righteous fury consume him, fill every fiber of his being. He felt something stir within him and knew what he had to do to control his power. He took a deep breath and pulled his arms towards his body with great effort, drawing on the energy of his surroundings. He had the power of telekinesis, which was the ability to manipulate matter. He could influence it, but not cause it combust like his mother could. He realized now his explosive power must be an extension of his telekinesis. He could draw matter and energy, which were closely related, towards himself and then release it at an accelerated rate. The sheer velocity of the accelerated particles must have been enough to throw Zorac away from him. He figured that the white explosive light was simply manifestation of his whitelighter side combined with his witch power.
He hoped that he could reproduce that power now, but with a lot more force. He had to. He had a lot at stake. Everything he had sacrificed and worked towards the last six years had finally come down to this final moment.
The cave was enveloped in an odd rushing sound, which stopped the demons in their tracks. Everything seemed to bend inwards as the matter and energy in the cavern were pulled towards Chris. When he could contain it no longer, an explosion of white light erupted, crashing against the cave walls erratically. The amazing display of power had stopped as suddenly as it had began, leaving everything smoldering in its wake. Every single demon was vanquished simultaneously, erupting into flames. The piles of ashes left behind, where each one had been standing, was the only indication left that they had been here at all.
Sighing in relief Chris collapsed to his knees, shaking uncontrollably. The Charmed Ones slowly rose to their feet, amazed by the sheer power they had just witnessed. They saw the tears that were streaming down Chris' face and their hearts went out to him.
"You did it," said Paige hoping to reassure him. He nodded as he covered his face, still looking quite distraught. "How did you do it?"
Chris wanted to explain to her that it was just an advanced form of his telekinesis and that he had been using his powers a lot longer than they had, but he couldn't find the words. He was still too shaken.
"That was an amazing display of power," said Phoebe, as she wrapped an arm around her nephew. "I knew you could do it."
Piper knelt down in front of her son and wrapped her arms around him as well. "I'm so proud of you," she said. "You vanquished all those demons and saved our future. Your brother won't be evil, we won't die, and you won't ever have come here…"
At this Chris let out one painful sob and brought up his arms around his mother, finally allowing himself to be comforted. She held onto him as Phoebe stepped back to join Paige.
"I'm sorry Mom…" he said finally, mumbling his apology into her long brown hair.
At first Piper was taken aback by Chris' use of that title. It was the first time he really acknowledged her for who she was. "For what?"
"That I didn't save you before," he said sadly.
"Honey, you were just a kid. I'd hardly expect you to save me. It should have been the other way… I'm sorry I died before I could save you," she said, her own eyes filling up with tears. "I hate that you went through all that and I don't even know what really happened."
They held onto one another for another few minutes, while Paige and Phoebe curiously scoped out the rest of the cave to make sure that they had vanquished every last demon. Now that they weren't fighting they could see just how unusual the cavern really was. For lack of a better word, it seemed almost civilized. Never before had they seen such an elaborate demon dwelling. They had been to hives, hide outs, demon bars, and markets before; but never had they been in something that they could call a "home."
They could see now that the large cavern they were standing in was some sort of makeshift house. The circular cavern was illuminated by several torches that lined the walls. In the center of the large space there seemed to be a meeting place of sorts, containing an odd assortment of mismatched chairs. There were also a large number of boulders that seemed to be used for additional seating or tables. Various papers and roughly drawn maps had been laid out on the surface of one flat boulder. There were areas clearly designated for storage that held clothing and weapons. And there was even a section that seemed to be used for the preparation of food. There were carcasses of several unknown creatures lying half-butchered on long slabs of rock and furs were drying on frames laid against the cave wall. Surrounding the entire room, were smaller caves. Deep recesses had been carved out of the rock to create sleeping quarters. Each one contained odd looking rugs, furs, or blankets made of rags on the stone floor.
There was only one other long corridor other than the main entrance, and Phoebe had a feeling that she knew where it would lead. She sensed pain coming from the darkened depths, but assumed she was simply remembering what she had felt in the memory she had witnessed.
It was easy to see why this clan's numbers would have grown in future years. Their systematic organization would probably have appealed to many other low level demons. Their sheer strength in numbers had been almost been enough to overwhelm them today.
Looking back at mother and son, Phoebe could see that both were much more composed now. "Are you ready to leave?" she asked.
Chris shook his head. "There's something I need to do first," he said, grabbing a torch from the cave wall as he approached the narrow corridor.
Phoebe suddenly knew what he wanted to do. "You don't have to do this," she said.
"Do what?" Paige asked.
"I have a bad feeling, Aunt Phoebe," he replied. "I need to be sure that there's no one else down there." Realizing her nephew was right; she nodded and began to follow him down the passageway.
Chris had gotten the sense during his own captivity that he had not been the first to be brought to the dungeon for such a hideous purpose. He was simply a prize taken after battle. Henry Jr., who had also been killed during the attack on the sisters, might have just as easily been taken if he hadn't died when he had gotten in the way.
"Where are they going?" Paige asked her older sister, wincing as she gently touched the burn on her shoulder.
"I don't know," Piper said quietly, following the other two curiously.
Chris made it halfway down the long corridor when he suddenly stopped. Phoebe could feel him trembling beside her and she reached out and took his hand into her own.
"You can do this," she said softly.
He continued on, dragging her along with them. Phoebe was beginning to wonder if the despair she was feeling was her own or if it belonged to someone else. She tried to sort through what she was feeling using her empathic abilities, but the emotions were so strong. She was almost certain that the feelings weren't coming from Chris, though he was visibly upset.
They soon reached the end of the corridor and stood in the cave entrance. Chris reached over and placed the torch in the wrought iron sconce. Together they surveyed the dungeon, noticing that it looked much as it did in the future. Then their eyes fell on the corner, and Phoebe gasped in surprised.
"Oh god," said Chris as he moved forward and fell to his knees in front of two small teenagers.
The boy and girl, though each chained to the wall, were huddled together in fear. Phoebe could see that they resembled each other enough to be brother and sister, the boy appearing to be slightly older. They were filthy, barely clothed, and were covered in cuts and bruises. It made Phoebe sick to her stomach to think what these pour little souls had been through. Unknowingly, she began to cry.
They saw Chris approaching and tried to move away but only managed to flatten themselves further against the cave wall. Paige and Piper soon arrived and saw that they were not alone.
Like her sister Piper gasped loudly at the sight before her. "Oh no," she said. "What are they doing here?"
Chris didn't reply. Instead he used his telekinesis to open the manacles bound to their wrists, wondering why this simple power hadn't worked when he had been in their position. He could only assume the chains were enchanted against the prisoner from escaping, but not from an outside magical source.
"It's okay," he said softly. "I'm a friend. We're here to rescue you."
Their haunted eyes turned to look at him but neither responded. They then looked past him and at the sisters, looking distrustful.
"Don't worry. We're not demons. They are all gone now," Piper said sweetly as she came to kneel beside Chris. "We're going to take you some place safe. Can you tell me your names?"
Neither the boy nor the girl replied and Phoebe wondered if they even knew how to talk anymore. It was clear that they had been here for a long while. They were still so scared and in so much pain… it was overwhelming. Both kids were near insane and she wasn't sure that if they were going to be able to do anything to help them. Phoebe staggered backwards, trying to get a hold of the emotions she was feeling. Paige caught her and noticed the tears cascading down her face.
"Are you alright?" Paige asked her.
Phoebe shook her head, sobbing now. Paige pulled her into a protective embrace, trying to shield her sister from what they are seeing.
"Can you stand?" Chris asked the two lost souls. He rose to his feet and pulled his mother up beside him.
They responded by simply standing up, albeit painfully, holding onto one another for support. The girl swayed on her feet and Chris reached out to catch her, but then saw the look her older brother gave him and stepped back.
"We need to get out of here," said his mother, "in case any more demons show up."
Chris nodded. "I'm going to take you some place safe, but I'm going to need you both to hold onto my hands," he said, offering his hand to them.
They flinched in response, expecting to be hurt, but Chris waited patiently with his hand out to show he meant them no harm.
"I'm going to use magic to get you out of here. You'll be surrounded by all of these pretty blue and white lights and you will feel as light as an angel. I promise it won't hurt. When we get to where we are going you will arrive in a beautiful Victorian home. There will be two other men there that will help heal you so you don't have to be in pain," he explained. "Do you understand?"
The brother and sister looked at one another anxiously and then back at Chris, silently communicating their consent. They took his hands and he quickly orbed them away leaving the sisters behind.
"Phoebe, why are you so upset?" Piper asked. "What happened here?"
"I- I can't… please, I just need to get out of here," she begged, still sobbing into Paige's shoulder.
Piper sighed in frustration. "Fine. Paige, take us home," she said, grabbing her sister's arm.
Paige nodded and they orbed away from the horrid scene, only one of them truly understanding the purpose of this hidden cave.
A/N: I know, I know. It was horrible of me to just leave it there, but this chapter was getting a little long and the scene was changing anyway. What did you think of the battle scene? Were any of you surprised that Chris wasn't the only one to be taken hostage by these demons? Those poor things. Let me know in a review!
A/N2: I had originally planned Chris to have the Elder power of lightning. But as I was writing the chapter 11, I realized that in my AU he would have not had that power in the unchanged timeline. Although the timeline has already begun to change (because Chris made Leo and Elder earlier than before), I figure that any new powers Chris would have wouldn't come into effect until he returns to the future. Much in the some way that the new memories he would acquire wouldn't occur until he returned. Does this make sense? As such I decided to give Chris a more advanced form of TK instead of an Elder power. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.