Arbeit Zusamman: It's not just the power of Three
AN: Happy thanks to all of those who reviewed the first two chapters. You encourage me to do more. I want to write more and get this story finish before Christmas, but with a very large paper looming over my head that may be difficult. Must start it soon! I am now moving back to my hometown of Podunk MI. Hubby got an excellent job there so yet more madness to my plate. I promise to try to have the story finished by Christmas, but it will probably be pushed back till the new year. Please enjoy this third installment of the story.
Chapter 3: Making new friends
The Charmed Scooby group arrived at the shop very late. All the other shops around this extremely small town were closed. The sisters seemed surprised that this small of a town supported a magic shop.
"You've never heard of the Hellmouth I take it," Xander said to the girls as Buffy led the group down the main street. Prue asked what that was.
"It a center of mystical convergence. Basically it's a hot spot for demon activity and taken literally the mouth of hell," Buffy replied as she entered the Magic shop. "This should be good. I wonder if Giles will know how to 'vanquish' this warlock and how to get this girls home. Here goes nothing." The Slayer thought to herself and she welcomed the Charmed ones to Command Central.
The girls were surprised at the shop's size. It was huge compared to the little bargain bin stores that were scattered about San Francisco. An older man approached the group with a concerned look upon his face. There was also a young dirty blond haired woman standing behind the counter with a puzzled look on her face.
The man was the first to speak, "Buffy, how was everything tonight?" The blond simply rolled her eyes.
"Giles you don't need to go all in code. They are witches. Allow me to introduce you to the Charmed sisters. This is Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. They are here chasing after a warlock and they could use some help."
"They are witches." He said slowly.
Prue was the first of the sisters to speak, "Yes we're good witches. We came in after a warlock named Mittwoch and could use your help in vanquishing him. We don't how to get home either."
"Mittwoch? You mean Wednesday?" Giles asked the sisters.
"Wednesday?" Phoebe asked. Giles nodded, "Yes. Mittwoch is German for Wednesday or roughly translated 'middle week."
"Oh yeah and he is in possession of the Port du Mach. It's a knife that I suppose cuts through the fabric of dimensions and allows him to jump into a different one which is how we ended up here," Prue mentioned as she thought of it. Giles nodded taking it all in.
"Uh Anya, would you know anything about a warlock named Mittwoch or a knife known as the Port du Mach?" Giles turned down the steps toward the woman behind the counter.
"Why are you asking her?" Prue asked bluntly. Anya wrinkled her brow in insult.
"Hey! I may be a mere mortal now, but after living in the world for a thousand years reaping vengeance I have a learned a thing or two about the under world."
"What? You're over a thousand years old? How?" Phoebe asked quite shocked, "And whatever you're using can I have some? You look good for your age that is for sure."
"Thank you. I was a former vengeance demon. I am human now and have become a useful member of society. And as for Mittwoch… I have heard about this warlock. You don't meet a whole lot of warlocks when you're a demon. He likes to trap his victims in alternate dimensions. Well that and blind people." Anya finished with that afterthought.
"Wow. Wait how does he trap his victims in alternate dimensions?" Prue asked.
"Well I don't know." Anya replied.
"Can you guys help us?" Piper spoke up with fear rising in her throat. "We can't be stuck here. Oh Leo… please help me get out of here. I just want to be home with you again." Piper thought to herself as she waited for their answer.
Buffy looked at the sisters for a moment and then turned to Giles, "I think we should. Maybe with their powers we can do something about Glory and protect Dawn and it's not like they belong here. Look up what you can about this warlock and the Port du Machy thing. I'll take the sisters home where we'll get some sleep and figure this whole thing out in the morning. Not like there is a whole lot we can do at three in the morning." Buffy stated flatly. When no one said anything she nodded her head and told everyone to meet back at the house in the morning.
"Yes and I'll stay behind to check a few volumes to see if I can find out more about this Port du Mach and how Mittwoch uses such an item. We'll see you all here bright and early." Giles said wiping his glasses clean.
"I'll bring doughnuts" Xander offered as he escorted the sisters out of the store.
"What makes her queen?" Prue asked defiantly. Xander chuckled.
"She's the Slayer. The toughest demon fighter in all the land and that makes her the queen as you put it."
"Well who was that Giles guy?" Piper asked.
"Giles well he's Buffy's watcher. All Slayers have watchers. They are like instructors." Piper smiled, "Kind of like what Leo is to us." The other sisters giggled.
"That would be what Leo is to us. What Leo is to you is your loving man." Phoebe giggled.
"Who's Leo?" Willow asked.
"Well Leo is our Whitelighter which is like guardian angel to good witches." Prue explained.
"And he's your loving man?" Xander asked. Piper blushed slightly.
"He's my husband."
Willow, Xander, and Anya parted to head to their prospective homes. Buffy escorted the girls to her humble abode. She felt it was her Slayer duty to mention her sister Dawn. "Dawn is my sister. She is a typical 15 year old girl. She's hormonal and emotional so be warned," she said as they entered the Summers' home.
"Dawn!" Buffy yelled. A young voice replied that she would be down in a moment. The sisters looked at their surroundings. The house was beautiful to say the least. Roomy and very comfortable, it sadly reminded them of their Manor and that they were apart from it. A moment later a tall and skinny young girl with light brown hair walked down the steps surprised to see visitors, she simply asked Buffy who they were.
"These are the Charmed sisters. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. They are staying here for the night just until we can get them home. They need the Scooby gang to help them fight a bad guy they followed here. So is your homework done?" Dawn looked down at the floor.
"It's done. I getting a snack, is that okay Big Sister," she remarked rather sarcastically. Buffy just nodded her head and off the younger Summers went. Buffy led them into the living room, "Sorry about that. Our mom died a little while ago and I'm just getting used to… we're still adjusting." She smiled and told them to sit down.
"I know how that goes," Prue said smiling, "When our mom died I had to take the lead for the family and raise these younger two. It wasn't always fair and sometimes it simply sucked, but it was worth it," she said putting her arm around Phoebe's shoulders. Buffy smiled back.
"It's good to know someone else has been through this. I also have to protect her from the Hell Goddess Glory and that is an even bigger job."
"Who is Glory and she's a Hell Goddess?" Piper asked concerned.
"Glory is a Hell Goddess who was banished from her hell dimension to this one. She plans to use a mystical key to open the door to her home, but will ultimately destroy our dimension in the process."
"How does Dawn factor in this?" Phoebe asked.
"Dawn is the mystical key. Her blood will open the dimensions and there goes ours." Buffy yawned, "Here let me get you some blankets. Two of you can sleep in my mom's old room. The other one can have the couch." Phoebe and Piper called the bed and Prue took the couch.
"Here let me help," Prue offered getting up to follow Buffy upstairs to where they kept all the extra linens leaving Phoebe and Piper by themselves.
"I think I'm going to get a glass of water. You want one?" Phoebe offered Piper. She just shook her head and looked of into space. Phoebe could tell she wanted to be alone so off she trotted to the kitchen.
Dawn was munching on a fresh quesadilla when the youngest Haliwell entered. A moment later Dawn was coughing up hot quesadilla. Phoebe wasn't spooked by her abrupt coughing, but just chuckled lightly to herself.
"You okay over there?" Phoebe asked searching for a glass. Dawn took a deep breath.
"Ah there we go. Nice oxygen, good oxygen, don't ever leave. Yeah I'm fine. It was just too hot," Dawn smiled at the lost Phoebe, "Uh the glasses are in the next cupboard over." Phoebe thanked her as she filled her glass. "So you guys are witches?" Dawn asked.
"Yep. We're good witches. We do good magic and help innocences. I have the power of foresight." Dawn's eyes widened in amazement.
"So you see the future?"
"Well sometimes. I mean it's not as easy as bitty bobbity boo. It takes concentration and time to perfect, but it's a lot of fun." Dawn sighed longingly for she wished she could do spells and have exciting adventures saving people. She was always so sick of being in Buffy's shadow.
"I wish I could do stuff like that."
"Oh you will. I mean we only got our powers three years ago and I'm glad for all that time to be normal and get bored with it before dashing into the fray with super powers. And you're a mystical key so you're already on your way to a magical destiny." Dawn smiled at this.
"You think so?"
"I know so… for I have the power of foresight, don't forget." Dawn chuckled and felt a lot better than when the sisters had first arrived. Dawn had been distancing herself from people over the past several months due to her mother's untimely death. Buffy had her slaying to occupy her while Dawn had homework which she didn't see as a fair trade off.
TBC
End note: It's snowing here and I already am feeling a head cold starting to work its evil way into my sinus cavities. I wanted to do more than talk about the weather here… I wanted to thank my reviewers once again for encouraging me and critiquing me. Both are extremely helpful. I thought about making this chapter longer, but I would rather post a couple of shorter ones consecutively rather than make one long one. Thanks again and hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.
