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Chapter 8: The Underworld Sucks
"All right, the first thing we have to do is keep moving. We're targets for any demons that come looking if we're just standing here."
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, Mel, but the cave we're in? It's pitch dark and I don't see a way out. And I don't feel like stumbling around, hoping we find it while running into walls."
"Me neither. I guess I can write a spell; let me think." Mel fell silent, looking around the cave. She bit her bottom lip and then started speaking. "Guiding lights show us the way. Mark our path as bright as day," she intoned.
Tyler watched as the cave grew lighter and lighter until he could see the way out. "That'll work. Are you okay to walk or should I carry you?" Tyler asked, teasing her a bit.
Mel put some weight on her ankle tentatively. "I think I'll be fine but stay close. I might need you to grab me real quick if I fall," she said, teasing back.
Tyler gave a small laugh. "Then I guess we should get moving. He held Mel's hand they moved toward the opening in the cave, Mel limping slightly.
The attic door burst open and Phoebe and Paige rushed in, followed by their husbands. Not even a minute after that Billie came running in with her husband Tim. Since he is a mortal who had never been part of the supernatural world and didn't know much about it he went back downstairs after checking himself that his daughter Angela was okay. Normally Henry would help Tim watch the kids but, since he is a parole officer, he thought he might be able to help.
Paige and Phoebe hugged Piper. "How are you holding up honey?" Phoebe asked. Paige settled for rubbing Piper's arm in a soothing motion.
"I'll be better when WYATT and CHRIS," she said their names loudly, "get back!"
"Where are they?" Paige asked. "And Leo?"
"The boys are talking to the Elders about what might have happened and Leo went to Magic School to see if he could find a tracking spell or something."
"What do you want us to do?" Paige asked.
Piper sighed. "I'm not really sure. I don't really know what to do; I guess we should wait until the boys get back with Leo," she said running a hand through her brown shoulder length hair.
"Well, what if we-" Phoebe was interrupted by blue white orbs. "Or we can wait until we hear what they have to say."
Wyatt and Chris materialized. Piper turned to them, worry etched on her face. "Well?" Chris and Wyatt shook their heads; the Elders didn't know where they could have gone. They hadn't even known that the Sons could Use to transport themselves from place to place, as they explained to their mom and aunts.
"Now what?" Billie asked.
"I'm gonna go to Magic School, see if Dad found anything." Chris left and Wyatt, Piper, the aunts, Billie, the Sons, and Angie looked at each other. Maybe Leo found something. Magic School had the greatest collection of magical tomes. Hopefully an answer could be found there.
Their hopes were dashed when Chris returned almost immediately with Leo in tow. Both of their faces were holding expressions of dejection. Rubbing a hand over her face, Piper walked into Leo's arms and buried her face in his chest. "We have to get them back," her voice slightly muffled.
"We will," he replied. Piper struggled to regain control of herself yet again. She hated losing control of her emotions because it always ended badly but it always happened when something affected her family; she either got incredibly pissed off or she just freaked out and had problems functioning. Unfortunately, this was one of those times where it was all she could to do to keep herself from falling to pieces. "Piper, listen to me. We will get them back!" Leo repeated.
The oldest Charmed One breathed deeply and stepped back from Leo, her husband, her strength, and her support. Giving him a small smile, she turned to her sisters and Billie. "Paige, you, Wyatt, and Chris try sensing for them again. If that doesn't work, orb to different areas and try sensing there. Phoebe, Billie, you two scry. Phoebe, use string and crystal, Billie use your laptop. I hope you brought it. Coop, maybe you could Cupid around with Henry and Leo, and maybe even one of the Sons should go that way you also have a connection to Tyler. Angela, you either help Phoebe or your Mom. I'm going to cast the spell to find a lost witch."
Nobody moved; they seemed to be waiting for more orders. "What are you waiting for? Go!" Piper snapped.
Billie went to get her laptop and Phoebe grabbed a map of San Francisco and a crystal tied to a string. Angela grabbed another crystal tied to a string and a globe of the world. Paige, Wyatt, and Chris orbed out after discussing where each would go. The Sons talked briefly and Reid went with Coop, Henry, and Leo. Caleb had decided that Reid's bond with Tyler was stronger than either his or Pogue's since the two younger Sons are best friends.
Piper settled down on the floor in front of a silver mortar and she had an athame in her left hand. Putting the knife down, Piper threw some rosemary, cypress, and a yarrow root into the bowl. While grinding the herbs together, Piper said "Power of the witches rise, course unseen across the skies. Come to us who call you near, come to us and settle here." Piper picked the athame up again and pricked her finger. Spilling her blood into the mortar, she finished the spell. "Blood to blood, I summon thee. Blood to blood, return to me."
Phoebe paused in her scrying. "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean? My daughter's missing! What isn't wrong?" Piper exclaimed.
"No, I know what's wrong with you Piper. I was asking Caleb and Pogue." Phoebe looked at the Sons in question. Pogue and Caleb had backed up against a wall to stay out of the way and had been conversing with each other. "Well? I can tell you're worried."
"How did-?" Caleb wondered.
"How did I know you're worried? I'm an empath; I can sense feelings. Now, what are you worried about?"
"It's Tyler," Pogue said. "Teleporting like he did and with Mel in tow and he's probably addicted now. Transporting mass requires a lot of Power, more than we thought Baby Boy had. Chase could do it but he had his full Power plus his father's. We didn't think it was possible for Tyler to do it."
"His desire to protect Mel must have been great enough to give his powers the needed boost," Phoebe stated.
"Your brother is a good person," Piper said.
Caleb nodded and Pogue said, "We know. Tyler is…well, Tyler. It's the best way to describe him."
As Phoebe went back to her scrying, Billie came back with her laptop and set up. Piper was about to go back to casting her spell when Coop, Henry, and Reid came back.
"Anything?" Piper asked. "Where's Leo?"
"Underworld. He stayed with Mel and Tyler," Coop said.
"You found them? Where are they? Is Mel okay?" In Piper's excitement her words tripped over each other, the questions running together. She had gotten to her feet and was a couple steps away from wringing her hands.
Coop hesitated and then answered. "Call for Wyatt. Mel's hurt," Coop said.
"What? How bad?" Phoebe asked.
"Bad enough," Coop responded.
"Don't go into details! Just go get her. NOW!" Piper yelled. Coop left. "Wyatt! Paige! Chris! Get back here now! Coop found Mel and she needs to be healed."
Tyler and Mel had wandered around the Underworld, avoiding demons whenever possible. When they couldn't, Mel either froze them, managed to tap into her empath power to use their magic against them, or they ran. More often than not they ran. Her freezes didn't always work and she didn't have the greatest control over her new power.
After one of the times where they had to run away, Mel looked up and saw Tyler's face. She jerked to a stop, causing him to stop too. "What's wrong, Mel?"
"Are you feeling okay? You don't look so good."
"No, not really. I feel kind of…tight. Tense, I guess."
"Like you need to Use?" Mel gripped his hand tighter, trying to give him any comfort she could.
Tyler looked off into the distance, his gaze searching but for what, she didn't know. "Yeah. Like I need to Use."
"Are you going to be okay?"
Tyler swallowed, still not looking at Mel. "It's hard…right now. But, if I can keep from Using for awhile I think I'll be okay."
"Try concentrating on something else. Like, math problems or history facts or…reciting Shakespeare!"
Tyler gave a small laugh at that. What Mel didn't know is that he could recite some Shakespeare. His English class at Spenser had required them to memorize one sonnet and one speech for the final he ended up not having to take. "I'd rather concentrate on how pretty you are."
Mel blushed and ducked her head a little bit. "You're kind of corny, you know?"
He grinned at her. "Is that bad?"
"Not so much," Mel said, tilting her head back to look him in the eyes. He lowered his head to cover her lips with his own but Mel cleared her throat and stepped back. "As much as I want to, we should probably keep moving." They started walking again, still holding hands. They wandered around the Underworld for awhile. They turned down a passage and were still moving when Tyler pulled Mel to a stop. "What?"
"Shh." Tyler listened for a second. "Can you hear that person talking?" he whispered.
Mel frowned, trying to hear what Tyler had heard. Straining her ears, she thought she caught someone talking but couldn't tell what they were saying. "Yeah," she whispered back. "But I can't make out what they're saying or who it is."
Tyler and Mel edged a little closer to figure out who it was. The Son motioned for Mel to stop but before Tyler could walk any farther toward the large cavern, Mel grabbed him. "Are you sure you should go? I'm the one who can freeze things and you shouldn't use your Powers. What if they see you?"
Tyler shook his head. "I'm just gonna look. I'll be right back, just wait here. And if they see me, I'll come running back and then you can freeze them. I'm not going to hide behind you just because you can use your magic and I can't use mine."
Mel looked like she wanted to argue some more but Tyler left before she could. She watched him anxiously as he moved silently toward the cavern. She put her hands up, ready to freeze anything that wanted to harm him as Tyler peeked around the corner. He stared for a couple of seconds and then made his way back to Mel.
"Well? Who is it?"
"Chase and I think there's a demon there too. C'mon, they're talking about us." Tyler pulled Mel farther up the passage and they stopped at a point where they couldn't see or be seen but they could hear clearly.
"Updates?" Tyler whispered to Mel that the person talking was Chase. Mel rolled her eyes. She could almost tell just from the voice. Chase Collins seemed to have an "evil" voice; hearing him talk sent shivers down Mel's spine and not in the good way.
"The attack on the club was unsuccessful in the way we wanted it to be. We were unable to kill any of the Halliwells or capture any of the Sons, but we did cause a fair amount of mayhem and the youngest Son and the daughter of the oldest Charmed One vanished. I have my best demons searching for them right now; I can send more if you wish, Lord Chase."
"No, that shouldn't be necessary. I trust that you will find them before the witches do. Otherwise…" Chase trailed off, letting the demon fill in the silence.
"Yes, Lord." The demon fell silent.
"Is there something else, Cartian?"
"My lord, I have wondered. Why are you going against the Halliwells? Surely you know what has happened to the past Sources, the Triad, the Avatars, Christy Jenkins, and any other demons and warlocks they have vanquished. Really, they are best left alone. They have defeated every demon that has gone up against them. It's suicide."
"Enough. I don't care about the Halliwells; they can rot in hell for all I care. I want the Sons. And those idiots just happen to be under the protection of the damned witches. Killing the witches will just be an added bonus but if you can manage to get my brothers away from them without messing with the witches, by all means do so. I can't use Wiccan magic; because of my nature, I am unable to tap into that particular magic. The Sons can because they are essentially good, even if the Power they use is actually evil. I can receive their Powers though, which is why I want them. Besides the fact that I owe Caleb some pain. This time, I plan on attacking Tyler first. He is the most vulnerable of the Sons and with him gone, the others won't last one. They care about each other too much, the stupid fools."
Tyler and Mel shared a look; at least they knew what it was Chase wanted, even though they kind of already figured he was only interested in the Sons. Mel wasn't very happy though that Chase intended on attacking Tyler to tear the Sons apart. She leaned her head against the stone wall and closed her eyes, feeling the worry she felt for him and the worry he felt for himself. As if sensing this, Tyler cupped Mel's cheek and she opened her eyes to look at him. He shook his head and mouthed "It's not going to happen."
They went back to listening to Chase rant about how much he hated the Sons and Mel and Tyler shook their heads at each other. Mel mouthed "Broken record, much?" and Tyler laughed softly. He wouldn't have done that if he knew that Chase randomly Used to look around the Underworld to check on his demons. Normally Chase didn't bother looking at the area around his throne but this time he did because he though he might have heard something in the hallway. A small smirk covered his lips and he silently motioned for Cartian to check the tunnel leading out of the cavern.
Mel and Tyler looked up to see a burly form in the tunnel opening. He had a fireball in one hand and a menacing look was written all over his face. "The Source wants to talk to you."
"And if we don't want to talk to His Bigheadness?" Mel asked, knowing it wasn't going to matter either way; they were pretty much trapped because there was no way they could run from the demon. He threw the fireball at the stone above their heads. "Right." She and Tyler stood up and followed the demon.
Chase stood up. "Baby Boy! Just the Son I wanted to see. Of course, I really want Caleb, but you'll be a nice distraction."
"You know, Chase, Caleb doesn't swing that way. He's still with Sarah, so I don't really think you stand a chance. And don't call me Baby Boy; you're not one of the Sons."
"Well, what if I get with your little witch?" he said, looking Mel up and down. "That could be fun."
Mel drew back a little in disgust, unconsciously half hiding behind Tyler. "You stay away from her! I swear to God, if you even touch her, I won't wait for Caleb. I'll kill you right here, right now."
"Oooo, Baby Boy grew up!! Well, it's about time." Chase laughed in derision. "Cartian, I think it's time for that one plan of mine. Would you go and get the genie." Even though it was phrased like a question, it was actually a statement.
"My lord, are you sure? I don't think you should be left alone."
"You question my ability to handle two people who are less powerful than me? GO!" Cartian left before Chase could kill him.
"I'm surprised at you, Tyler. Pleased that you're finally standing up for yourself but, well, I can't let that happen." Mel felt Chase's intentions and they both watched as Chase's eyes flashed with fire and then bled black. The rock above them shifted and Tyler shoved Mel out of the way and then dove out of the way as pieces of rocks fell where they had been. Mel hit the floor, her back smacking the stone, stunned because she hadn't been expecting Tyler to push her; she had only been focused on Chase and wasn't paying attention to Tyler. He, however, rolled right back to his feet. His body loose, Tyler was ready to either start fighting hand to hand or with his Powers, addiction be damned. He would protect Mel, even if it meant his life.
Mel struggled to her feet, trying to get her bearings. The room was spinning because she had hit the floor rather hard so she didn't realize that two warlocks, Cartian, and a figure dressed in bright colorful clothes had come in. The warlocks blinked over to Tyler and grabbed a hold of him while Chase quickly talked to the genie. Mel was still shaking off her dizziness when she caught sight of the genie nodding his head and snapped his fingers. She briefly wondered what wish Chase had made when her dizziness finally went away. Her eyes widened as Chase's eyes focused on her and flashed with fire. Before she could react, Chase threw an energy ball at her and she went flying into a wall. Lifting her head slightly, she focused on the blurry appearance of her father, Coop, Henry, and Reid and faintly heard Tyler yelling her name. Her stomach lurched and Mel gave into the swirling blackness.
Piper paced the room as she waited for Coop to get back with her husband, Tyler, and Mel. She turned to Wyatt again. "Maybe you should go down there and heal her there. Coop's taking a really long time to get back."
"Mom, we talked about this already. Chris went down there to see if he could sense them. Aunt Paige and I stayed here so we could heal Mel; in case she needs both of us. It's only been about a minute since you called us. It takes about that long to orb from the Underworld and it might take longer for Uncle Coop because he has to focus more than we do since his power is based on love and he has to focus on the right relationship; otherwise he could end up in the past or future."
"You know, Wyatt, you could let your Mom fret instead of being rational!" Wyatt hugged Piper and she wrapped her arms around him. "Henry, Reid, go back over what happened after you arrived."
"We got there as Chase threw an energy ball at Mel. She hit a wall and lost consciousness. Tyler Used to vanquish the two warlocks and started throwing his Power at Chase. Leo, Henry, and Coop ran over to Mel and I helped Tyler with Chase. The demon that was there told the…genie to get Chase out of there and they disappeared. Then, the demon shimmered out and Coop brought me and Henry back. We tried to get Tyler to come, but he refused to come with us." Reid finished summarizing what had happened and as he finished, Coop finally came back with Leo and Tyler in tow, Leo carrying Mel. Chris orbed back in after them, sensing that they had come back home.
"Wyatt, Paige, hurry. She's lost a lot of blood," Leo exclaimed. Wyatt and Paige rushed over to Mel. Wyatt took control of healing her head which had the biggest wound from when she had hit the wall. Paige quickly healed the broken arm Mel had and then went to Tyler to see if he needed to be healed. He had a couple of cuts but was mostly exhausted from Using too much.
"What's taking so long?" Tyler asked.
"She almost died," Chris explained shortly. "It always takes longer if the wound is serious."
Wyatt finished healing Mel and her parents and brothers surrounded her, waiting for her to wake up. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at them. Wyatt helped her sit up and then hugged her. "How bad can I hurt him?" Mel asked, her voice muffled because Chris had joined in the hug and they both were kind of smothering her. "Air," she gasped. They let her go and Piper and Leo hugged her next. After a couple of minutes of holding their daughter (during which Wyatt and Chris would randomly touch her as if to make sure she was actually there), they let her go and the rest of her family, including Billie, Tim, Angela, and the rest of her cousins who had come running up the moment she was back, tackled her. Gasping for air again, she broke free of them. Getting to her feet, she was a bit surprised when Caleb hugged her quickly then passed her to Pogue, who did the same, and then passed her to Reid. When he was done, Tyler pulled Mel into a tight hug, wrapping his arms around her protectively.
Phoebe, sensing that Tyler needed to talk to Mel alone, convinced everyone to leave the room and at the same time, got Piper to agree to cook a big celebratory meal. Tyler lowered his head so his forehead rested against Mel's. Both of their eyes were closed. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" she asked. "You didn't do anything."
"Exactly. I couldn't stop Chase from hurting you. I tried but I wasn't strong enough to kill him."
"Hey," she said, "I'm glad you didn't kill him. Even though he's evil, he's still human. It's different from vanquishing demons or warlocks because it's murder. You wouldn't have been the same; it would have changed you and I like you exactly as you are."
Tyler was silent and Mel could tell he was struggling with himself. "Please don't ever do that again. Scare me like that. When I saw you bleeding…"
"Shh. I know, but I'm okay. You're okay, we're okay, and we will get him."
Tyler was silent again. Then he whispered, so quietly she almost didn't catch it, "I think I love you."
"What?" Mel gasped. Her heart thudded and her stomach jumped. She opened her eyes and they pulled back their heads so they could look at each other.
"I said," he talked a little bit louder so his voice was just a little bit louder than a whisper, "I think I love you. I know it's insane; we haven't known each other very long but we've been through a lot and well, I think I'm in love with you." Mel stared at him. "Mel?" he said a bit uncertainly after her not responding for what seemed like forever to him. "Should I not have told you? Is it too late to take it back?"
"No, no you can't take it back. I'm glad you told me. Tyler, there's a small chance that I might be feeling the same way," she said, moving her hands up to his shoulders. He placed his hands around her waist.
"How small?"
"Well, I don't really know how to reassure it, but I know that I love being with you and I don't like it when we're apart. I can't wait to see you when you're not around and when you are with me, everything is perfect…even if we're in the middle of a demon attack. So, however you want to measure that, that's your answer."
"I'd say that's a lot." Tyler pulled Mel closer again so he could rest his head on top of her's and they stood together in contentment.
Mel laughed when she heard Tyler's stomach growling. He turned a little red and she laughed at him again. "Let's go get some food. I heard Aunt Phoebe talk Mom into cooking." Tyler followed Mel out of the attic.
No one knew that late that night, the triquetra on the book glowed. The book shook and fell off of it's stand, hitting the floor as the Charmed symbol stopped glowing and the book fell still.