The Lost City (updated Nov. 14) completed!

[Ladybug1977]

Phoebe awoke with a start. Sweat streaming down her face. “Was that a premonition?” she thought. Phoebe buried her face in her hands. Suddenly her bedroom door flew open making Phoebe jump out of bed with fists up ready to defend herself.

“Where’s the demon?” Piper asked rubbing her eyes. Paige rounded the corner stubbing her toe on the door jam. Before she could blurt out some fowl word to express her pain Chris started crying. “There’s no demon.” Phoebe answered and lowering her hands. “Go take care of Chris, and Paige… go take care of the toe.” Paige nodded a “Thank you” to her sister and wobbled away mumbling.

“Leo can take care of Chris. What’s wrong with you? This is third time this week you’ve woken us all up in the middle of the night.” Piper said.

“Really Piper, I’m okay.”

“Don’t tell me your having nightmares about Cole again, because it’s been…” Piper began.

“No! No.” Phoebe interrupted. “It’s just I think these nightmares aren’t nightmares at all. I think…”

“Piper, Wyatt wants his Mommy.” Leo calls from the other room.

“Phoebe let me go take care this, then…”

“No. Piper it’s OK. Go take care of your family. It’s late we can talk tomorrow.” Phoebe said pushing her sister out of her bedroom and closing the door behind her. Phoebe leaned against the door and sighed.

Wondering if it really was a premonition or just a nightmare. “Come to think of it… what was so bad about it?” She wondered aloud. Phoebe couldn’t remember one thing about her dream.

The next morning, Piper is sipping on a cup of coffee, still in her pajamas. Leo stands behind her and bends over to kiss her on the forehead. She smiles softly and leans her head against his chest lovingly. Paige walks in still limping a little from the night before. “Where’s Phoebe? I want to give her a piece of my mind!” Paige shouts angrily.

“Shush.” Piper scolds. “She must still be in bed. She’s had a rough week. Let’s take it easy on the shouting and her OK.”

“Fine, but I’m not happy about it.” Paige replies while pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“I’ll go get the boys. Are you going with us to the mall today? Wyatt wants to see Santa.” Leo says looking to Piper.

“Yea, I just have to check on the band I booked for P3. I still can’t believe Green Day agreed to perform for our ‘Christmas for Orphans’ fundraiser.” Piper says feeling proud of her self.

“Don’t forget to change your clothes too.” Paige laughs trying not to be so glum.

“Oh ha-ha.” Piper scoffs while shooting Paige a mean look. Piper then smiles herself as she gets up to go make her phone calls then ready her self for the family outing.

Phoebe sits at her dresser with a pencil and paper trying to remember every detail from her dream the night before. She gets very frustrated because she can’t recall anything, not one tiny little memory from the thing that has been waking her in a cold sweat almost night for a week. A knock on her door breaks her from her concentration. “What?” She yells out.

“Piper and I are taking the boys to see Santa today. Do you want to join us?” Leo asks through the door.
Phoebe gets up and walks to the door. “Leo, does memory dust help remember things too?” Phoebe asks ignoring his question.

Hurt, Leo just shakes his head, “No. Do you want to go?”

“No thanks. I’ve got things to do.” Phoebe replies and begins to shut her door so she can turn her attention back to her dream.

Leo butts in, “Phoebe it’s Saturday and the boys won’t be this small forever.”

Phoebe looks to Leo feeling bad. “I know Leo. Just take a picture for me would you? I really need to figure this out.”

Leo nods knowing she won’t give in this on one. He turns and walks to the boys’ room.

[Ladybug1977]

Paige is standing at the front door. “Let’s go already. This aunt is ready for some Christmas cuteness.” She shouts to anyone in the house that can hear her.
Piper and Leo tromp down the stairs with a stroller and a diaper bag. Chris is in Leo’s arms and Piper is guiding Wyatt down each step so he won’t fall. “We’re coming keep your panty hose on.” Piper jokes.
“You sure you won’t come Phoebe? Last chance.” Leo calls up the stairs.
“No. Go, have fun, takes lots of pictures for me.” Phoebe answers.
The family exits the house with Paige saying, “Got the kitchen sink? Good let’s go then.”

Phoebe goes into the attic and approaches the Book of Shadows. She flips through the pages hoping to find a spell to help her remember her dream. She touches a page and is hit with a premonition. She sees: A tall, pale, beautiful woman freezing a muscular man who doesn’t stay frozen long. He walks towards her and she turns to run. They’re in a hallway of some sort with symbols drawn all over the walls. The walls look dilapidated and aged.
Phoebe looks down to the page she is holding in her hand and something familiar hits her. What is so familiar she doesn’t quite know, but it’s something about this… this symbol. It’s a symbol for “The Lost City”.

“Of Atlantis?” Piper asks. They’ve just returned from their trip to the very over crowded mall.
“Yes. Piper, I think we need to find this place. It still exists. I know it does.” Phoebe says excitedly.
“Great! That’s just great, Phoebe. Not only do we have your nightmare or premonition or whatever it was to worry about, but now we have to find and…” Piper pauses. “What? Save The Lost City of Atlantis?”
“Yea, I think so.” Phoebe answers. “I think my premonition has to do with Atlantis.”
“Oh so now you know it was a premonition?” Paige asks as she enters the living room.
“Yes!” Phoebe turns to Piper. “Or at least I think it was.”
“Ok. I’ll go to the book and…”
“I’ve already written a spell to take us there.” Phoebe interrupts her older sister.
“If it exists.” Paige retorts.
“And,” Piper adds. “If it doesn’t we’ll end up at the bottom of the ocean or something.”
“No” Phoebe argues. “Nothing will happen if it doesn’t exist.”
“OK, let’s say it does exist, but it’s protected from magic then what?” Paige asks.
“What is wrong with the two of you?” Phoebe snorts angrily. “If it’s protected from magic then we’ll just have to find another way. I don’t have all the answers; I just know this is right. This is something I… we need to do.”
“OK. Calm down Phoebe. We’re just trying to cover all our bases before we jump into this. We don’t know what to expect.” Piper tries to comfort her weary sister. “I’ll tell Leo what’s going on. Paige, go make a few potions. Then we can work this spell of yours, okay honey?”
“OK.” Phoebe whispers as she falls back onto the sofa. She lets her head fall back and closes her eyes. Paige and Piper leave the room feeling a little worried about Phoebe. Phoebe drifts off into a short dream.
A woman calls out for help then falls silently to floor. She’s dead. A feeling of dread hits Phoebe and she wakes with a start. Piper is standing over her with Paige approaching. “Are you alright?” Piper asks taking Phoebe’s hand into her own.
“We need to get to her!” Phoebe warns.
“Who honey?”
“I don’t know. I just know she is… I don’t know!” Phoebe starts to cry. Piper sits beside her. Piper slides her arm around Phoebe and holds her. Paige joins them. “We’ll help her Pheebs, I promise.”

[Ladybug1977]

“But how can we help her when we don’t know who or where she is?” Phoebe cries.
“We’ll find a way, we always do.” Piper comforts Phoebe. “Now, where’s that spell of yours?”
“Yea, I’m loaded with vanquishing potions.” Paige smiles jumping to her feet and pulling Phoebe up with her. “Let’s go save an innocent and a city.”
“Yea, should be a walk in the park after saving the world countless times.” Piper jokes. She stands to join her sisters.
Phoebe pulls a piece of paper from her pocket and holds it so that both of her sisters can see to read it. They all begin to chant: Powers of the sisters’ rise, course unseen across the skies, through the barriers of space and time, carry we three to Atlantis with this rhyme. White lights envelope Piper, Phoebe, and Paige then they disappear.

Phoebe looks around and immediately recognizes the hallway from her premonition. “This is it! This is the place” she exclaims and touches a symbol on the wall.
“It’s about time!” A voice behind them demands. “I’ve been waiting a week for you.”
“Um who are you?” Piper asks protectively.
Phoebe looks to see the source of the voice and it’s the woman. “You!” Phoebe says.
“Yes, dear. It’s me,” the woman answers. “My demise will happen soon. We haven’t much time. Come with me, quickly, I have so much to share with you.” The woman turns to walk away with the three sisters following her confused.
“You see this is Atlantis. It was once a great city of power. Many witches lived here harmoniously. We were revered all over the world as a place filled with great knowledge. People flocked to us for answers and guidance in their everyday lives.
One very evil warlock stole many powers from other witches. We banned him and placed these symbols all over the walls to keep him from returning. In return he cursed all who lived here to live forever but by his hand. Many have grown old and tired. They sought him out begging him to kill them so that they may go to the afterlife. Only a small few of us remain. The curse has kept us from having children and becoming old physically.”
“But why is the city lost?” Paige asks.
“Ah, we combined our strength and cast a spell to hide the city from the world. We sunk it to the bottom of the great sea you now call the Atlantic Ocean. We did this to keep others from taking residence here and fall victim to the curse.
Now, I do brag, but I am the eldest and most powerful witch left in the city. As you can see, Atlantis is falling apart. I can no longer sustain the magic that is required to keep the city together and hidden. The others try to help but our numbers are too few. We no longer have the power. Gustav, the warlock, has entered our city recently and attempted to kill me. One of my closest friends died protecting me.” The woman explains.
“But how did he get in?” Piper asks.
“Now that our spell is crumbling, so are the walls and in turn, the symbols that block him. He has found a way in.
I have seen my murder and reached out to the most powerful witches I could find. I left the city cloaked from Gustav, which we often do for short times to learn of the world outside of these walls.”
“Why don’t you just leave the city?” Phoebe wonders aloud.
“This is our home, we live to protect it as you do you home. We have heard of you, The Charmed Ones, and your deeds. I have called you here to ask of your help.”
Of course.” Phoebe jumps in without discussing it with her sisters who look at her slightly shocked.
“We thank you.” The woman suddenly realizes she hasn’t told them her name and quickly surrenders it. “I am Tierra.”
“I’m Phoebe and this is…”
“I know your name, all of your names. As I have said, I have heard of you. I learned your language so that we may communicate. This city once only spoke Latin but over the years we have learned a great many languages so that we may grow with the world. Once Atlantis was populated with a thousand people, each of us a witch. Now barely more then eight hundred remain.

[Ladybug1977]

How Gustav has managed to live all these centuries we do not know, but he is much too powerful for us to resist any longer. The thousand of us barely were strong enough to cast the spell needed to hide this city and the eight hundred left fight with everything we have to keep it the way it is. We have children who have lived for centuries and not aged a day. Our sick and dying were the first to seek Gustav. And our, what you would call chief or mayor, left as well.
We do not believe Gustav has taken the powers of every witch he has killed, many of us have the powers and he would not wish take something he already has. We know because he has sent a few people away and they returned to us.”
They walked out of what seemed to be the city’s capitol building and into a large beautiful park. The woman stretched out her arms and began to explain. “We do miss the sky so a few have cast a spell to create the illusion of the sun, moon and stars. We also have green grass, trees, and flowers to keep our spirits high. We are faltering.
We wish to continue our lives. Though we know that now witches are not free to openly display their powers as they once were, some of wish to live in the world outside but do not want to abandon the city that needs us. If we leave the city to live elsewhere, the curse is broken. That also destroys the city a little more. This is where you would come in. I sent visions to you in hopes that you could vanquish Gustav for us and cast a protective spell on the city so that it may remain here and so that we may grow old or grow up in some cases.” Tierra finishes.
“This is beautiful, kudos to the gardeners.” Paige says.
“Where is this Gustav?” Piper asks.
“I do not know. I only know that he plans to return tonight and he will kill me.” Tierra responds.
“Not if we have anything to say about it.” Phoebe demands.
“No. My time is at its end. I have accepted my death, as should you. My husband and daughter have gone. I am all of my family that remains. I wish to join them, do not cheat me of this I beg of you. Centuries without my husband and decades without my daughter have left me lonely. I am ready to go on.” Tierra admits.
“We understand.” Piper tells Tierra thinking what it would be like to live forever without Leo and her boys in her life.
“You will help us then? All of us?” Tierra whispers feeling bad for asking them to allow her to die. She knows the burden she is putting on them. Losing an innocent is something she has faced before and knows the guilt and sadness that goes with it.
“Yes.” Answers Paige sheepishly. “We don’t want to lose you, but if it’s what must happen then there isn’t much we can do. We have learned that once Death comes for you, there is no stopping him.”

The illusion of night falls upon the lost city. The mud brick buildings seem to disappear into the darkness. The golden streets seem to glow against the fake sunset. Tierra knows Gustav will enter the city soon and bids her friends farewell. “Please,” she says to The Charmed Ones. “Come with me. I have something for you.” Tierra leads the girls into her home. The pause in a room that is seems to be the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one. Tierra goes to a room in the back of the small house and emerges a beat with a small silver box. She sits in a worn and wobbly wooden chair. Opening the box she looks to Phoebe and reaches inside the box. “This is something that my Grandmother gave to my Mother, who in turn gave it to me. I have since passed it on to my daughter. Now that she is gone with no children of her own I choose to give it to you.” She pulls out an emerald the size of a walnut and places it in Phoebe’s hand. “Please adorn yourself with it as we have. Then, when the time comes, pass it on to your daughter.” Tierra requests.
“Of course.” Phoebe answers with a tear in her eye.
Tierra then reaches back into the box and looks to Piper. “This is a simple golden chain. It has been enchanted with a spell to breach the barrier of minds. I have a feeling it will come in handy for you being the mother of The Twice Blessed Child. Simply hold his hand and place the chain over your adjoined hands and you will be able to communicate without words.”
“I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” Piper says trying to smile but feeling dreadful that in less then an hour this woman will be dead and she will let it happen.
Tierra reaches into the box once more. Before pulling out the item she has planned for Paige she looks to the youngest Halliwell and pauses to study her for a moment.
“I don’t need anything.” Paige tells Tierra.
“Yes dear, you do. This is something very special that I believe was meant for you. It was old when my mother was the age you are now.” Tierra pulls out a small copper orb embedded with rubies. One sapphire sits on the top. She touches the sapphire and orb opens to reveal a small folded piece of paper. She removes the paper and hands it to Paige. Paige unfolds the paper but she can’t read what’s written on it.
“I know you can not read what is there so I will tell you. My Grandmother was a prophet. She foretold a guardian born to a human, a girl who would be the fourth in a trio of powerful witches. Everyone thought she read the signs wrong, but she knew she was right and wrote it down and hid it away here. I believe I am correct when I say this prophecy is about you?” Tierra says.
“It must be.” Paige says confused. “There was a prophecy about me? Why?”
“I think it is because you are something new to the universe. A child born to a Witch and guardian.”
“We’re called Whitelighters now.” Paige informs Tierra.
“Yes, of course. The Twice Blessed Child and his younger brother are of the same breed as you correct?” Tierra asks Paige.
“Yes, they’re also Whitelighter and witch.” Paige answers.
“You are their guide. I can see that plainly. You will help them to know they are not so different from the world around them.” Tierra claims. “Now it is almost time. Ready your selves and potions. Gustav is coming.”

[Ladybug1977]

The girls nod in a somber manner.
“Do not mourn me. I will rejoin my family soon.” Tierra tells the sisters. Then she stands and hands the small copper orb to Paige and places the box on the table. She motions for the girls to follow her and leaves her home. The small adobe house disappears and turns into a beautiful garden after everyone has left the house. Tierra walks to the capitol. “Now remember vanquish him after he has released me then do what you can to help keep Atlantis hidden here from the world. After Gustav is dead, his curse should be lifted.”
The girls nod in acknowledgement. They then follow Tierra into the capitol and cast a spell to be invisible. Tierra walks down the long hallway as Gustav blinks in. “Hello Tierra. How is my darling aunt this evening?” Gustav growls.
Hearing this shocks the girls. He is related to this woman? Why didn’t she tell them?
“Leave here Gustav before you die here. This is your only warning.” Tierra says.
“I think it shall be you who dies here. After I receive your powers Atlantis will be mine and all of it’s magic will soon follow.” Gustav retorts thinking he has won. He raises his hand and an energy ball forms in it. “Like it? It’s just a little something I picked up in the last century.” He smiles. He hurls the energy ball at Tierra who turns and runs.
“Help!” she shouts. Gustav chases after her. The Charmed Ones, confused, follow them. Tierra stops at the end of the hall and turns to look at her nephew. He throws another energy ball at her. She freezes him but he doesn’t stay frozen long. “Are you here?” Tierra whispers.
“Yes” Piper replies.
Gustav unfreezes and the energy ball strikes Tierra in the chest. He laughs at his victory. Then three small vials explode at his feet and three women appear behind him. The moment he sees them and realizes what’s happening he explodes.
Piper walks over to Tierra who is lying on the floor. “She’s dead.” Piper informs her sisters after feeling for a pulse and not finding one. Paige approaches their lost innocent and with tears in her eyes, orbs Tierra to the city’s courtyard. The beautiful park they saw when first arriving now seemed sad and lifeless. Phoebe and Piper walk out to join their youngest sister. The three sisters hold hands and chant: In this time and in this hour, we call upon the ancient power, to grant the wishes of Tierra, for Atlantis to endure another era.
A bright light surrounds The Charmed Ones and seems to explode in every direction. Old buildings begin to look new again in the glow of light. The sisters hug each other and Paige orbs them home.

Piper looks to Phoebe and Paige, “I think I’ll go spend some time with my family. Good night ladies.”
“I think I’ll go find a nice place for this emerald. Some place that I can see it and remember our fallen friend. Good night sis.” Phoebe says kissing Paige.
“No more bad dreams ok Pheebs.” Paige tells her sister. Phoebe smiles and treads up the stairs wearily. Paige pulls the small copper orb from her pocket and smiles. Holding it tight in both hands, Paige then follows her older sisters up the stairs for a good nights rest.

[XxP3HalliwellxX]

This was a realy good story, good job!

[Ladybug1977]

Thank you.
I kind of got the idea watching the episode about Excalibur. I was trying to think of something the writers haven't made into an episode and Atlantis came to mind.
I wanted drama and not saving the innocent they set out to save, but in turn saving an entire way of life and still defeating the bad guy seemed to do that.
I also wanted to use all of the girls powers and it was a little tricky trying to figure out how to use Phoebe's but I think it flowed nicely into the story. Her premonitions are what start it all off.
Spells are always difficult for me so they tend to be a bit cheesy, so I don't use them much. But hey no one reads fan fics just to see what spells other come up with right? LOL

One last note, I know the story starts off in the past tense but then goes into the present tense. I did this on purpose. It is meant to give a "last night" & "this morning/afternoon" feel to the story.

[*Prueforever*]

That story was fab u r so talented.
Well done!

[Ladybug1977]

Thank you. I enjoyed writing it. If anyone has any more comments on this story (bad or good) I'd love to hear them. Now for a shameless plug...

I have another story started in the Spin-off section about Wyatt and Chris. It's a Christmas one and it's longer. I added more details to describe the brothers and their lives as those things aren't as familiar to us as TCO are.