Broken Lives

[Blueness2]

(This is set in another future. A/U in some ways and not in other ways I guess. You'll just have read and find out, . Also, reviews would be much appreciated)

Chapter 1

Freezing fain pounded the city of San Francisco and lightning forked across the evening skies every once in a while. Thunder boomed occasionally like a thousand drums of heavy metal music being played at once.
Not a single trace of warmth existed in the gloomy grey heavens and that certainly highlighted the moody gloom of the Halliwell manor, the despondent weather making it even more so.
The gloom had always seemed there ever since the original occupants of the house had died and it wasn't just something felt; now it seemed to be tangible and surround the old Victorian manor, cloaking it in an eternal stage of darkly moody and grey demeanor.
The paint was dull and peeling and the house was in dire need of a repairman, having loose wooden planks here and there and the metal coating rusting visibly.
Not many people around the neighbourhood knew the current occupants and not many seemed to want to do so either.
There were five of them so it was said; a tall handsome blond-haired boy, another boy with dark brown hair, a lovely-featured black beauty, a darkly charismatic black-haired boy and a cute redhead.
They were all teenagers, about 14-17 except for the blond boy because he looked a bit more than that and worked part-time. The blond boy could be seen helping out around the neighbourhood often and the redhead sometimes joined him.
It was strange though. They didn't seem to have any parents or any legal guardians for that matter and seldom looked happy. An observant person would say that they all carried pains and sadness, even a dark side.
Yet not even the most observant person could even begin to fathom the depths of just how much they all had suffered emotionally and still do, three even more than the other two.

The lights flickered for a moment in the rooms of the manor and then in a few seconds the house was thrown into pure darkness.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?!" An angry voice shouted from the attic.
"It's a blackout you idiot!" Another voice yelled from the living room.
A figure slipped out of the conservatory and promptly bumped into another figure.
"Hey, Chris, what's all the shouting for?" The first figure asked slightly grumpily. "I was sleeping."
"Nothing Mel, Matt's just being himself," The second figure called Chris sighed. "Wait...I thought you were studying for the test?"
"Yeah well, I fell asleep," Melinda said, sounding a bit miffed. "Hey, do you want to find the-?"
Thunder crackled through the sky, drowning out the rest of her words but Chris managed to guess what she wanted to do. He squinted, wishing now he hadn't closed all the windows.
"Why don't we all just stand here and wait for the lights to come back? Easiest thing," A new voice suggested.
Both Chris and Melinda looked to the direction of the voice but they didn't need to see the owner to know whose it was.
"Hey Haley."
"You didn't bring a flashlight or torch by any chance did you?"
"Wish I did but...you know, I sorta didn't have the chance seeing as the torch was in my drawer, not near me when the blackout came," Haley said with a slightly sardonic smile.
"You know, I never understood how you're the sarcastic one when your mum wasn't and mine was," Melinda mused.
A long silence followed that statement in which only the furious sleets of the rain impacting the house could only be heard and Haley's expression clouded as she remembered that fateful day. God, she hadn't stopped having the nightmares about it since then.
A fiery large ball of flame moved into the room, casting shadows among shadows and reflecting the sullen faces of the people and the source, lighting up the room dimly. Also, the source being Matt. The dark-haired boy was scowling lightly, irritation lining his swarthy features.
"Why didn't you leave the windows open Chris?" He asked with a touch of vexation, handing a torch to Melinda. "Thanks," She said gratefully.
"I didn't leave the window open because it was and still is raining, moron," Chris snapped.
"Oh yeah? Well you know what happened the last time you were careless?" Matt's voice wavered with anger.
"Matt don't..." Haley said softly, touching his arm. Her voice was controlled but she was swallowing back tears, as was Melinda. Chris's face was white with hurt and rage. He was speechless. He was right.
Melinda came to her brother's defence although her eyes were wet with falling tears and her voice shook with emotion. "How dare you say that? It wasn't Chris's fault!"
"No Mel, it was his fault. If he had just remembered about the potion then my dad-” He didn’t get to finish as Chris bulldozed him to the ground, enraged and starting whaling punches. “SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!!!” He yelled angrily. The impact caused Matt to lose control of his flame, extinguishing it and their light source unwittingly.
“No! It was YOU who lead those demons to dad. YOU left a trail for them to follow. YOU killed my mom and Aunt Paige because of them, not only my dad!” He shouted, barely bothering to keep the hostility and fury in his voice and kicked Chris off him.
Just then the lights decided to come alive again. As they returned Haley approached Matt and Melinda hurried over to her brother picking himself up from the floor near the couch.
That was really stupid Matt,” Melinda said quietly, sadly, shaking her head, as she helped her brother rise to his feet.
“The next time you guys want to fight, don’t okay?” Haley whispered as she placed her healing hands over her cousin’s face which was black and blue.
“Sorry,” Matt’s face softened when he saw his cousins’ crestfallen faces, Haley’s especially. Tears were falling freely from their eyes, leaving wet tear tracks down their cheeks. Then he realized as Haley finished healing him that he was crying as well, silently. He wiped his eyes violently and pushed himself to his feet, not looking at Chris.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” Even as he apologized he wouldn’t look at him either but it sounded sincere.
“Whatever,” He muttered but they all heard the quaver in his voice, turning and walking away.
Melinda said softly to her brother as Haley disappeared after him, “It’s not your fault.”
Chris could only nod numbly in response, not trusting himself to speak.

But was it? Melinda questioned herself as she retired to her room later to go to bed. She sat there on the edge of her bed, staring into the now natural darkness of her room and listening to the roaring rain hammer the windows, memories playing in her head of the events of six, or was it seven? Years ago that destroyed her life. Goddess help her, this wasn’t the first time she wished she had just been born in a normal family with a normal life, free of demons and magic and powers. Ever since her mom, her Aunt Phoebe, her Uncle Cole, Skye, Sapphire…the list was endless, ever since their deaths things had just gone downhill and she was often surprised that the remainder of their family still managed to survive without any of them having any full-time jobs. Yet it wasn’t Chris’s fault Uncle Cole died or Aunt Paige died. The odds had been stacked up against Uncle Cole, almost overwhelmingly and even if those upper-level demons hadn’t attacked things weren’t looking good either way. Just like things hadn’t been looking good for her mom and Aunts. There were so many ifs and what ifs and could haves and sometimes when Melinda replayed the scenes she could envision herself doing something different, something which could’ve saved the lives of her deceased family and prevented this tragedy. Melinda stared at the closed door, her face shadowed in the darkness. It wasn’t the first time Matt and Chris had fought, goddess ever since that day that was all the communication they had between them, and she could bet there would be more to come.

[mjp3]

Good start. Please write more soon!

[Blueness2]

(Thanks,

Chapter 2

Haley toyed with the strands of her red hair absent-mindedly the next morning as she gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror thoughtfully and her reflection gazed thoughtfully back at her. Maybe she would die it blue or black. Wouldn’t that make an interesting topic at Magic School? With a sigh she grabbed a brush and combed her lengthy hair, straightening out the curls with quick practiced strokes.
“Hey Hal, are you done in there yet? I need to brush my teeth,” Wyatt.
“Just a minute Wyatt, give a girl some time,” Haley called, rolling her eyes slightly but in humour as her cousin said jokingly, good-naturedly, “Okay, okay, take your time. I’ll be back in a few minutes to make sure you’re not doing anything crazy.”
Haley smiled slightly. He was always like that, in fact, with a twinge of sadness, he reminded her of his father a lot, not just in looks but behaviour. Her smile faded and she lowered her gaze sadly. It was painful sometimes when he acted like that because he was so much like his father and it brought back to home the painful reminder of Leo’s condition.

Matt’s heart beat against his ribcage as he read the torn pages in silence, accompanied by a horrible cold sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. He stared at the words, reading them over and over again as if that would change them but no, when he blinked they still remained. In the final battle the Charmed Ones will loose their lives against a being of supreme evil too powerful and the being of supreme evil his life against their powers. The battle between good and evil will never end and the offspring of the two forces will be called upon in the world’s greatest time of need to defeat an even bigger enemy.
“A bigger enemy,” Matt repeated in a barely audible whisper, the pages fluttering to the floor as he backed away from the gold tome.
His dark brown eyes filled with fear and he shut his eyes, scenes from the past flashing into his head. Dad dying in a burst of flames, mom shoving him out of the way to take an electricity bolt, Aunt Paige blowing up in a thousand orbs and those orbs withering away, Leo’s comatose body in the hospital…no, no, no, he couldn’t face all that again. He opened his eyes, realizing he was breathing heavily and not noticing Haley orbing beside him.
“Matt, hey,” He started visibly as he heard her voice and she apologized, concern and worry immediately passing her features as she saw his stricken face. “What’s wrong?”
Wordlessly, he pointed at the fallen pages, his hands shaking in anger. This couldn’t be happening. How dare destiny pull him, his family, back into that nightmare that still haunted him to this very day! He glanced at Haley whose face was turning grim and pale as her eyes drank in the words on the pages and then realized that he wasn’t seeing things very clearly at all. All around him people, witches, strode happily towards their classes, talking, showing off their powers and laughing and Whitelighter teachers orbed here and there to their classes but Matt didn’t hear any of it; not the tinkle of orbs or the voices or the sound of footsteps stepping across the marble floors of Magic School.
“How long was this in here?” Matt choked out, barely able to speak.
Haley answered softly, her eyes shining with tears, “I, I don’t know Matt but we can’t change the past. You know that.” It was with a forced strength that her voice didn’t waver. “We’ve got to tell the others about, about this or we might loose them,” At this point she swallowed back tears, her voice breaking.
“I know,” he said quietly, crossing over to his cousin. He managed a small smile, leaning his head on her shoulder comfortingly as she wrapped her arms around him, tears rolling laconically down her cheek. “Don’t worry Haley. I won’t let anyone get you or anybody else again.” He whispered fiercely.

[Blueness2]

Chapter 3
Sitting in the hospital waiting for a loved one’s results of a test or doctor’s diagnosis was something pretty taxing and nerve-wracking but sitting beside your coma-inflicted father who shows no sign of waking up was ten, no, a hundred times worse. Every time Wyatt visited his father there was no difference and his heart broke with the sheer lifelessness that emitted from Leo’s empty shell. He was there physically of course but not spiritually. The lacking of spirituality part of it was like a dagger being twisted ruthlessly into his heart and it had basically reached the core of his heart by now.
“Dad, I miss you so much, all of us, Chris, Mel, Matt, Haley. It’s been so miserable without you for the last nine years. Matt and Chris are fighting now more than ever and no one’s laughed, no one’s even smiled,” Wyatt paused, getting his voice under control and a silver of a bitter smile darted across his lips. “The house is starting to become a depressing place. It’s strange. That’s why you’ve got to come back. You have to fix everything. Melinda said that as well you know. She also said something else the other day. That you shouldn’t be here because you don’t deserve to be like this, after all the stuff you’ve done for the world, for us. Mel will be coming in later as well, with Chris and you’ve gotta to wake up for them because they’ll be so upset if you don’t.”
His eyes darted to his father’s face for any sign of recognition, he hadn’t really been looking at him when he spoke and that dagger twisted another half inch when none came. Wyatt looked at Leo with dismay and as he did, he remembered what the doctor said. Talk to him because that’ll help. Help? He placed his head in his hands, frustration and hopelessness welling up inside of him. Damn it, what good was he when he wasn’t helping in the slightest? Wyatt rose to his feet slowly, grasping Leo’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze, “I’ll be back in a second okay? I’m just going to get a drink.”
As he reached the door, he cast a glance over his shoulder hopefully and his spirits dropped as nothing happened.
“Please wake up, I can’t do this alone,” He whispered as he leaned against the wall once he was outside.

In the underworld it was oddly deserted. Neither hair nor foot of a demon was seen shimmering in or walking through the fiery caverns. Maybe it had something do with the fact that when the Charmed Ones killed the Source they had also killed most of the rest of the demons that inhabited San Francisco. Or maybe it had something to do with the evil power radiating through the crude tunnels and caverns, originating from the strange, eerie guy sauntering with measured pace through the paths. He looked appealing enough with his rugged good looks and muscular, tall frame but there was something in his cold black eyes which spoke of pure, ruthless unholy evil. The way he stared at everything and anyone with unnerving impassiveness as if deciding whether or not to slaughter or just merely injure it could’ve sent a chill down anybody’s spine. He crossed into a large room constructed of craggy rocks, gazing around with approval and murmured, “Perfect.”

[mjp3]

I like your story. Good update. I was wondering, what happened to Leo?

[anglomaltese]

Cool story! What happened to Piper, she hasn't really been mentioned yet? Leo's been in a coma for 9 years! Poor Leo! I can't wait to see what happens next, update soon!

[Blueness2]

Chapter 4

When Melinda returned home from school she was not pleased to see her family, including Wyatt, waiting for her in the living room with varying expressions of grave solemnity on their faces. In fact, she was actually very worried and even more so when Wyatt said the words “Mel, you’d better sit down.”
“What’s going on?” She did so, next to Haley.
“Very bad news,” Haley muttered bitterly, handing her some crumpled pages. “Read this.”
A stab of fear arched across her chest as she did, noting her cousin’s bitter tone. At least everyone was here and accounted for and she felt somewhat relieved by that. The black words written of the impending battle to take place stole that relief away and her anxiety flared again with increasing dread as she read it silently to herself. Another battle? With an evil even more powerful than the one her parents and Aunts and Uncles faced? The pages rustled as she clenched the edges with writhing anger.
“We can’t do it, no way,” Melinda said hopelessly.
“We can’t change it but we’re not going to die okay Mel? No one’s going to die,” Chris looked as if he’d swallowed something very nasty but he seemed determined to prove his worth in front of Matt.
“Of course no one’s going to die Chris,” Matt retorted from his position at the wall.
“Yeah, we’re all going to be okay. We’ll get through it,” Wyatt reassured everyone firmly.
“Look, there’s been no demonic activity so everyone can just relax. Anyway, we’re all pretty powerful so we’ll kill this evil, no problem,” Haley said smoothly. “Besides, it gives us a chance to take our anger and…vengeance on all the crap that’s happened to us.”
Melinda was a little more than angry. She flung the pages out onto the coffee table and stormed away, her face determined and set, so much that it was a startling resemblance to her mother.
“Mel, wait a second! Where are you going?” Chris cried, staring at her in alarm.
Matt pushed himself off from the wall which he was leaning on, watching her go with concern.
“To do something we should’ve done years ago,” She said with cold steel in her voice.
A shell-shocked silence struck the room like a sudden plague.
“You…are you going to…but Mel, remember the last time you tried? It, it didn’t work,” Haley broke the silence, a note of desperateness in her voice.
Melinda avoided her cousin’s eyes and said softly after a pause, very well aware that the younger girl’s parents had both died, unlike hers, “I know and I’m sorry you had to see that Hale.” She turned; her figure framed in the doorway, and as she did it was as if she was older. “But I’m going to do it differently this time and don’t any of you try to stop me.”
Nobody dared to with the expression on her face but every face looked more distraught than the last. To call the spirits of their dead parents, as well as Sapphire, to physically see them and drive home the reality their deaths, to make it tangible again, well that was too much. What if she failed again? They couldn’t, especially Melinda, couldn’t bear to face the disappointment but there was no reasoning with her. She had a will of steel.
“Think about what you’re doing. We weren’t allowed to see them last time and it might not have changed,” Wyatt tried to persuade her, following her out of the room.
“Don’t you want to see them Wyatt?” Melinda whirled around furiously.
Wyatt became unusually rigid and he looked like he’d been slapped. Melinda softened.
“Sorry, that wasn’t fair,” she apologized. “I’m going to do it though.”
“Melinda, stop it okay?” Matt appeared at the doorway. He sounded hurt and looked so vulnerable and pained that she paused in the middle of orbing to listen, her heart going out to him and her rage simmering down to a low boil.
“Don’t do it please. I can’t see my mom and dad or yours or Haley’s. It’s different for you guys and I can’t, I couldn’t,” His gaze was trained on hers. “You know they wouldn’t know anything, even if you did summon them,” Matt whispered.
For a moment it seemed as if his words changed her mind, then she shook her head sadly and said in a barely audible voice, “I’m sorry Matt, Wyatt.”<br>Before either of them could do anything she orbed out. Then Chris ran into the room, followed by Haley, looking purely ecstatic, which caused Wyatt and Matt to stare at him in incredulity.
“Dad’s awake!” The impact that had on the two boys was the equivalent of the September 11 bombings, to a lesser extent for Matt though and joyful instead of tragic.

[anglomaltese]

Cool, Leo's awake, and Melinda's going to summon the sisters! Can't wait to see how that all pans out! By the way who is Sapphire and Skye? Relatives or friends? Update soon!

[DrewFullerFan4Life]

I like it so far , very well written.

[Blueness2]

(Thanks for the reviews guys and you'll just have to be patient and wait anglo, . Don't worry though, things will be revealed and a surprise as well, ;D)

Chapter 5

The demons that shimmered into the designated room or rather, cavern, in Underworld were nervous. They were fidgeting uncharacteristically and even the tough ones were casting anxious glances over their shoulders every once in a while, as if they expected to see someone they weren’t particularly fond of, no, in those looks were fear. The tension in the vicinity was so palpable you could cut it with a proverbial knife. In a sort of unspoken agreement the few demons that had remained after the demise of the Source rarely ventured back to what had formerly been their ‘hang-out’ centre one could call it. It reminded them too much of the gruesome deaths of their fellow demons and their loss of most of their kind in defeating the Charmed Ones. The smarter demons, or rather more cowardly demons, depending on which way you looked at it, had rejected any involvement in the plan the Source had concocted and their reward was to live to fight another day. And it seemed that day had come.
Rumours and whispers had been abounding in the few remaining demonic networks after a while after the Source’s death and they spoke of another coming, an evil even greater than any the Underworld had ever seen. Over the years the demons had been lying low, knowing that the children of the Charmed Ones were just as dangerous as their parents and probably out hunting for revenge. The danger had gradually faded and the demons were considering making appearances again, killing, inspiring terror in humans, all that stuff they loved to do. Then the word had been passed from demon to demon and they returned to the Underworld on the assigned day, today, waiting with curiosity and somewhat apprehension.
A hush settled across the chamber as he arrived, Lucifer the new King of Evil. The demons at the doorway shuffled backwards or stepped backwards, parting to make way for him. He walked through the milling throng of demons, his expression emotionless but his black eyes ranged his audience with satanic malevolence, lurking in their fathomless depths. Most of them avoided his gaze or seemed to move back unconsciously, automatically, when it fell on them.
“Is that him?” One demon asked his neighbour. “He doesn’t look like much.” Unfortunately this demon was a Tragoth demon and Tragoth demons possessed the innate ability to able to sense good but not evil, hence the reason why he couldn’t feel the pure evil emanating from the one called Lucifer.
“Shut up Juda,” His neighbour growled nervously.
Lucifer paused and looked right at the Tragoth demon and the demon met his stare unflinchingly. In a few seconds though Juda screamed and burst into a thousand flames which withered away almost as quickly as they had appeared.
He ignored the stunned silence and the death as if it had never happened and climbed up onto what served as his stage. An evil grin laced his rugged features as his gaze swept in the crowd, “I’m sure you all know me, in some way or another but just in case you don’t, I’m Lucifer.”
A kind of ripple of mild surprise passed through the audience and as if he were reading their minds he nodded, sounding amused, “I know what you’re thinking and yeah, I have changed. My hair and my eyes are blacker and I’m wearing a black cloak instead of a coat, shirt and jeans but that doesn’t matter. Why I called you all here today was to see how many of you are still alive and well, I’m glad not too much of us died. That means you’re still available to help me. The second thing,” He waved his hand a couple of times lazily and a white-blue mist swirled into the room. The demons gasped as they saw who it formed into and a few formed energy balls into their hands instinctively. Then the angry yells began.
“She one of the Charmed Ones! She’s meant to be dead!”<br>“Are you crazy?!”
“What do you think you’re doing, messing with the forces of white magic?!”
“BE QUIET!” Lucifer bellowed over them in a voice like booming thunder.
He turned to the orange-haired woman and said in such a dangerous voice that no one dared to raise their voice again, “Anyone dare defy me again and I will make your end come closer than it should be and believe me, it will be very, very painful.” He continued in a much more casual voice, “Besides, this one is already dead. I just need her for my plans.”

[anglomaltese]

Cool twist! Orange-haired - is that Paige? Or did one of the other sisters get a dye-job? Can't wait to see what happens next, update soon!

[Blueness2]

[c]Chapter 6[/c]

“I summon thee, cross now the great divide” Melinda lit the last candle as she whispered the last line of the spell.
She stepped back from the drawn circle, holding her breath with tense and hopeful anticipation. Cool winds blew by gently; supernatural winds, teasing the roots of her hair and scaring the candle flames but Melinda’s gaze remained fixated on the spot which the spirits of her dead Aunts, Uncles and mom were meant to appear. Emotions flashed across her lovely features; hope, excitement, fear at the prospect of failing but most of all, excitement at seeing her family again, which was why all thoughts of the written apocalypse flew out of her brain the moment the first traces of ghostly presence administered itself into the large space of her drawn pentagram.
An ecstatic smile lit up her features as they formed into four shapes, one much smaller than the rest, making a remarkable difference in her expression. She seemed younger, happier. She didn’t even realize that two out of the five spirits she had meant to summon were missing as the white swirls coalesced into the ghostly image of her mother. Dimly she noticed her other Aunt and Uncle and cousin form but all her attention was fixated on Piper. She couldn’t believe it but it was real! Her mom was home.
She remained silent, rendered into reticence with her joy, rooted to the spot with the emotions flooding her at the re-appearance of her mom and deceased family members, however temporary they may be but it was something and she forced herself to forget that for the moment. She was just stoked that it was happening, it was real.
Piper smiled at her daughter but it was marred with sadness-sadness Melinda knew had to do with the fact that she couldn’t stay forever-but it was also a happy, gentle smile nevertheless. “I’ve missed you so much but I knew we would see each other again Melinda,” Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears and so were Melinda’s.
Melinda smiled back through tears, feeling for the first time in nine years safe and the happiest she had ever been, “I had to mom. You know I wouldn’t ever have stopped.”<br>“Mellie!” A familiar voice cried out excitedly and the next minute the very solidified-and corporeal-form of her seven-year-old cousin Sapphire nearly bulldozed her over in her excitement to give her an energetic, loving hug.
She laughed, embracing her little cousin tightly and was almost surprised to hear it coming from her own mouth. Such a joyful sound hadn’t been heard in the Halliwell Manor for a very long time but it lifted the dark atmosphere and that had been around for too long a time. “Hey Zaph, glad to see you too!” She smiled tenderly at the young face, so full of endearing innocence and sadly, Melinda thought, probably not even realizing the state she was in or if so, thinking it otherwise. She hadn’t changed one bit though and that was both painful and comforting at the same time.
“Mom and Uncle Skye and Aunt Piper said we would see everyone again!” She grinned up at her happily once Melinda set her back down. “Mom showed me yesterday. I knew you guys were okay because I saw it. But…” The little girl’s smile faded and a worried look passed across her features.
Fear struck Melinda but before she could ask a corporeal Phoebe placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder and said gently, “Honey, wait.”
“Aunt Phoebe, what is it?”
Piper approached her daughter and gazed into her eyes, brown into brown, “You don’t have to worry about it honey. I promise,” It seemed there was long-suffering pain in her voice though to Melinda but she allowed herself to be pulled into a long-awaited hug with her mother and closed her eyes as she whispered, savouring this moment and cherishing it, “I’m just glad to be home.”
Matt chose that moment to shimmer in, followed by Haley orbing in.
“Hey Mel, Wyatt and Chris-” The rest of his words cut off in mid-sentence as he saw what, or rather who, was there, registering and absorbing the entire scene in a few seconds. Haley stared as well in a mixture of wonder, alarm and gaining excitement.

Matt’s mind was blank with shock and for a moment he couldn’t say a single word. There were so many things but his mind was made up by Sapphire very nearly knocking him over in a great big hug. Actually, she did knock him over and he ended up flat on his back.
“I missed you the most big brother!” She didn’t sound any different and nor did she look it.
“So have I Zaph, so have I!” He laughed, embracing his sister with a brother’s love.
“Mom said we could visit you and everybody else today,” She declared as soon as he sat up with half his body still on the floor.
“That’s great,” Matt smiled softly, his dark eyes seeming to warm and a tender look adorning his charismatic features. He ruffled Sapphire’s hair affectionately and asked with a teasing grin, “They keeping you good up there? Or are you being a troublemaker?”
“No!” She protested.
“She’s being Sapphire Turner and you’re still the same Matt Turner,” A voice admonished behind them but with warm humour.
Matt turned to the voice and his heart thudded. “Mom, is it really you?”
“Of course it’s me. I haven’t changed that much, have I?” Phoebe, his mom, his flesh-and-blood mom stood before them and grinned. “At least I don’t think I have.”
She hugged him and whispered, “You haven’t changed. You’re still my tough, strong son.”
“Wait a minute, where’s Dad?” He asked after a moment.
“I’m sorry Matt but he’s not here,” She hesitated before answering quietly.
“Daddy’s missing,” Sapphire said sadly.
Matt’s expression became stony and he watched his mother hug his sister reassuringly, saying, “Don’t worry, he’s going to come, I promise.”
She looked at her only son but he didn’t say anything.

[anglomaltese]

Nice chapter - so now we know who Sapphire and Skye are! I wonder why Paige didn't turn up either...? Update soon!

[CanadianHalliwell]

Great Update. Hopefully you will explain why the others weren't able to come and where Cole is?

[Blueness2]

Chapter 7

“Hey, Matt, sorry about your dad,” Melinda said gently later when everyone was gathered downstairs in the living room.
“Thanks,” He was wearing an odd expression but it certainly wasn’t happy. “Have you seen Haley yet, about Aunt Paige?”
Melinda shook her head, “I did but…” her brows furrowed. “It was weird. She just mumbled something and disappeared with Skye.”
Her cousin raised a questioning brow at her, “Literally?”
“Well no, she went into the kitchen with him.”
A look of concern and confusion flooded his façade. “Do you think Aunt Paige could’ve been…well, not sent there like my dad?”
“Matt…I’m sorry but I don’t think so. Aunt Paige was different. She was a half-Whitelighter and your Dad, well he was a demon,” Melinda said sympathetically, quietly.
“Yeah, that’s right, she was good wasn’t she? Not like my dad, who was evil right? Probably suffering somewhere in hell right now right?” Matt said somewhat bitterly, the dark look returning to his countenance.
“No Matt, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m-I’m sorry. What I meant was that even though he was a demon he still was good. He helped us and, and with the amount of good he’s done he deserves to be in a place that’s good and not suffering.”
“There you two are. I was thinking of calling the police,” Skye joked as he walked over to them.
In spite of themselves, both Melinda and Matt smiled a little at their Uncle’s humour. His sense of humour was still intact and they were grateful for it. He was a positive guy and always looked for laughter even in the most grim of situations.
“Hey Uncle Skye,” Melinda greeted him with a hug, something which she had forgotten to do upstairs in the attic.
“Hey Melinda, Matt, it’s good to see you again. Where did you say Wyatt and Chris is Matt?” He said warmly. “And by the way, I didn’t see the Book of Shadows up there. What’d you guys do with it?”

Haley listened blankly to her Aunts’ reassuring words but everything they said passed her by. She sat on the living room couch, staring at the carpet unseeingly. She was faintly aware of Piper’s surprise and exuberance at something and saw out of the corner of her eye Melinda hugging her mom and Phoebe but she was far from there, spiritually in the living room at the moment. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be true. She saw her mother die. She saw her mother explode into-
She squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t block the images darting through her mind.
The Source of all Evil; the second one Haley had been told, was standing in the smashed living room of the Halliwell Manor. Wyatt, Paige, Matt and herself were all that stood between the Source of all Evil and a living hell. Haley could hear the screams outside as the demons pillaged the city at will and could almost feel her cousins’ and Aunt Phoebe’s tension and struggle against the forces of evil. She was here though and it looked like the makings of a stand-off. She didn’t understand it and she sure didn’t like the man who was in their living room now. Then it happened. With superhuman speed so fast neither one of them so that none of them could’ve intervened he blasted a powerful stream of energy at her mom and a little girl screamed “MOOOOM!” As Paige Matthews exploded into a thousand little orb particles and those particles withered away like paper being fed to the fire.
“Haley!” Melinda’s voice snapped her out of her stupefied daze.
She started and looked up into her cousin’s ecstatic face and she remembered vaguely about Leo but she was still not really with it. “Haley, I’m going to go with mom to the hospital and you guys are coming. Did you hear? Dad’s woken up!”
“What? Oh yeah, sure, course I’ll come,” She heard herself mumbling.
“We’ll be coming in a minute,” That was her father.
She sensed someone giving her an understanding, sympathetic gaze, somehow she knew it was understanding and sympathetic and in fact, she had a haunch about the owner that was that offering her that particular look but didn’t look to see who it was.
“We need to all get together later and soon. There are some very serious things that we need to talk about, aside from the prophecy.”
“Wait, you, you guys know about that?” From Melinda.
“Not when we were alive so you don’t need to be hard on yourself,” Piper.
“Come on, we need to go,” Matt sounded slightly impatient as he stood beside an oddly still Sapphire.
“Yeah, we do. So meet you two in a few minutes?” Phoebe asked.
Skye nodded and once they were gone, earning a bit of half-reproving, half-disgruntled look from Phoebe as Melinda announced ‘Matt’s driving,” he sat down beside his daughter and stroked her vibrant red hair fatherly. “You okay?” He asked softly after a while.
Haley seemed to come out of the funk she had lapsed into and her voice broke as she glanced at her father with such a look of hopelessness, desperation and helplessness that Skye’s heart nearly tore in two, “Mom could be out there in trouble and we’re just sitting here but…but she can’t be can she? I, I mean I saw her die.”
“I know, I know you did Haley but I can’t do anything,” Skye said with guilt and regret, still stroking her hair.
Haley couldn’t force back the tears flowing freely from her eyes as she buried her head into her father’s clothing, “Dad, what if she’s stuck somewhere? We can’t help her and we don’t know where she is.”
She had always restrained herself from crying ever since that day, regarding it to be a sign of weakness but with her father here, she felt no shame at all and felt at home to be in the comfort of her dad, especially when he whispered in the same comforting, strong voice that he used nine years ago when he was still technically alive, “I know but you don’t have to worry. Your mother will always love you, no matter where she is and she’s always in your heart and so am I. Your mother is safe and she will always be looking over you, like me and your Aunts.”

[anglomaltese]

Cool chapter! So has Paige not been in the same afterlife as her sisters since she died or is she recently missing - same for Cole? Update soon!

[Blueness2]

Chapter 8

It was amazing how much more joyful the atmosphere was in the late evening and even the Manor seemed to lighten up in order to celebrate Leo’s recovery. It was like Christmas had come early.
Talk about an emotional rollercoaster, Melinda thought as she looked around the dining table at her family happily that night. Everybody was talking flippantly and it like she was in a dream. There was Skye with Haley and Aunt Phoebe and Sapphire with Matt and the best of all, her own individual family were all here. It saddened her to think that Piper would be leaving soon because that meant Leo only had a few hours with her mom and her poor dad, just waking up and seeing what she thought to be the alive forms of his family but only to discover that only half of them were alive and the other were here temporarily.
“It isn’t fair,” She had told her mother earlier at the hospital and her mom had just smiled slightly at her sadly, nodding in agreement and saying, “I know but that’s the way life is.”
Melinda would’ve thought her mom would’ve been less accepting about it but then Piper had said with a definite note of anger and Melinda noticed her hands balling up into shaking fists, “I can’t do anything about it and let’s just be happy I’m here.”
Haley was silent. In fact, she had been pretty laconic ever since she had orbed into Leo’s room with Skye and Melinda felt a wave of sympathy for her. It was different for her and Melinda couldn’t begin to imagine what it could be doing to her mind at the moment.
“Haley, don’t worry about it. I’m sure your mom’s okay, wherever she is,” She tried to reassure her but goddess, that sounded inadequate even to herself as she heard her own voice saying it. Wouldn’t that be what everybody was saying?
“Thanks but you don’t need to say it okay? I know what you’re trying to do and I don’t need your help Dr Melinda,” Haley retorted sullenly. To anyone else this would’ve sounded rather mean but Melinda knew better.
Haley tended to snap back once too many people sympathized and pitied with her, using her sarcasm to cover her vulnerability.
“Okay, everyone settle down, we’ve some important things to discuss,” Skye called over everybody else.
Once everybody became quiet he continued, “The Book of Shadows.” His gaze shifted to Matt, Wyatt, Chris, Melinda and Haley. “This is very important because without it, the spells you need for this new evil might be in there.”
“Yeah but I’m sure with our powers and the stuff we know now we can still beat him can’t we?” Wyatt said. “And the Magic School’s got a lot of books.”
“We should,” Chris replied confidently.
“Hey, Mel, how’d you call our parents and Zaph without the Book of Shadows?” Matt asked curiously.
“Well I’d tried it so many times after…that day, so the spell stuck in my head after a while and it was only stolen a year after.”
There was a short moment in which the adults pondered that statement. Then Phoebe voiced what everybody else was thinking, “It couldn’t have been a demon.”
“What else could it be?” Piper demanded.
“They could have found some way to get their hands on it,” Wyatt guessed.
“Maybe it was something else,” Chris suggested.
“Like what?” Matt said derisively, looking dubious and cynical.
“I don’t know, I’m just guessing okay?” Chris glared at him.
Matt, we need to giving ideas here, not biting each other’s heads off okay?” Melinda warned but gently. He fell silent at that.
“Maybe one of you misplaced it,” Skye said. Matt snorted in disbelief.
“I don’t think so,” Melinda ignored him.
“We’ll find the Book, don’t worry. Just…what about the prophecy, what do you guys know about it?” Haley spoke for the first time, quietly, adamantly avoiding her cousins’ gazes.
“The same as you do,” Phoebe replied, “Which really isn’t good.”
“Yeah, you’d think it’d come with a description of this new evil,” Skye muttered although he wasn’t joking.
“It said something about the offspring of the Source. Does that mean we’re meant to fight alongside with him, or her?” Haley’s voice was tainted with shaking anger.
Her Aunts’ and Dad’s solemn faces answered her question. “Why should we?” She snapped. “The Source killed you and now we’re meant to pretend that we’re friends with his child? No way am I doing that.”<br>“You have to Haley or this new evil might and possibly could win without the help of this child,” Skye tried to calm his daughter.
“We can beat the evil without the help and we will,” Haley flared. She pushed back her chair with a loud scrape and stomped off, muttering, “You’ll see.”
In the silence that followed, Sapphire asked the rest of her family with a curious, concerned innocence only a child could possess, “Why isn’t Hallie happy?”

“Hey Hal, mind if I come in?” Matt stood at the open door of Haley’s bedroom later, his face thrown in the shadows.
“Yeah okay but close the door behind you,” Haley answered stiffly after a short moment.
“Do you want to put the lights on? It’s kinda dark in here.”<br>“Sure.”
The lights clicked on, exposing Haley lying on her bed, looking absolutely downtrodden. Matt crossed over to the bed, offering her a small smile, “Wyatt said he wanted to come you know. Well, everyone did because we’re all worried about you. They’re still down there, still talking about the prophecy and everything but they’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”
When she didn’t respond he hopped onto the bed, hesitantly at first and then sat near her.
“Remember that time we had a raging thunderstorm and we were the only two in the house?” He said softly after a moment. “It was really bad because it was raining like hell and there was thunder and everything, a lot like yesterday. You were so scared and I remember thinking ‘how the hell can you be scared of a thunderstorm when you’ve faced demons?’”
“You know, that is little ironic because I’m living with a half-demon,” Haley seemed to smile a little and Matt thought, success.
“I’m not like the other demons,” He said, “Anyway, that’s beside the point. What I’m saying is remember how you were so scared that the thunder and rain and lightning wouldn’t go away and I kept on telling you it would. This thing with your mom, it’s exactly like that. It looks bad and it seems bad but it isn’t because it’ll get better, I know it will but you’ve got to have faith and believe otherwise it won’t.”
It was a fair while before Haley said anything and when she did it wasn’t with a derisive smile but a grateful one and somewhat empathic, “Thanks.”

[anglomaltese]

Good chapter I want to know what happened to Paige though, and Cole!

[Blueness2]

(You're just going to have to be patient with me, but don't worry, all will be revealed in due time, . Thanks for the reviews and sticking through anglo, )

Chapter 9

“You can’t leave Piper, not now!” Leo said desperately, holding onto her hands for their worth. His green eyes; though crinkled slightly at the corners by his post-mortal-literally-aging, still shone with the same earnest love that he always displayed for her when she was alive.
“You know I don’t want to Leo but I can’t stay here,” Piper’s heart was breaking as she practically forced herself to say those words. She swallowed back the sob that was threatening to spill out of her throat, “I’m so sorry.”<br>Leo’s eyes were wet with tears and he never looked away from her nor did he release his gentle grip, his endearingly loving eyes locking with hers from underneath his now-long hair, “Piper please, don’t leave. We’ve just seen each other and…and the kids.”<br>Piper was crying now but she whispered through her tears, never breaking her gaze either, “I know but they’re not kids anymore Leo, they’re all grown up but they still need a father, something they’ve been deprived of for nine years.”
“What about us?” Leo cried angrily, “We were going to start a new life! We were going to be happy together.”
“You have to be strong,” Piper’s voice wavered and she slowly, gently released his hands and lifted it to brush his falling tears away, at the same time he released his hold and gently wiped away her tear-stained cheeks, “I’m sorry but you know I can’t live without you. Can’t you stay for a little longer?”
“You know I can’t,” Piper shook her head, her voice shaking violently with sadness and anger.
“Don’t go Piper, please, I need you,” Leo whispered in a barely audible voice.
Piper’s throat seemed to close up and she couldn’t say anything for a moment. “I’ll always be in your heart and you’ll always be in mine. I’ll never stop loving you Leo”
Piper, come dear, we need you back. She heard. Damn it! She needed more time, to say goodbye to her husband, her children, her nephew, her niece.
“I do as well so please don’t leave us,” Leo choked out, trying one last time, desperately, even though he knew he already couldn’t change anything.
Piper tried to comfort him but she could already feel herself dissipating and then she felt Leo grab her still corporeal hand and heard him cry out her name. She kept her gaze locked on him as long as she could and whispered through silent tears, “Be safe Leo, my angel.”

Angel…she had called him angel even though he wasn’t anymore. Leo couldn’t believe it. Even as he stared at the spot where his wife had been just two seconds ago, remaining on the bed, his whole body felt numb. Did that just happen? Did his wife just disappear? He clenched his hands into fists, the familiar anger rising up again. After all he did. After all he’d sacrificed. This was how the fates repaid him? To have his wife whom he had not seen for nine years to be snatched away from him!
“GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!”
He jerked at the yell as if an invisible force had slammed into him and his anger was quickly replaced with worry. In his momentary panic he attempted to orb but then he remembered he didn’t have his powers anymore. So he ran, his heart thumping with every step he took.

[Blueness2]

Chapter 10

Wyatt waved his hand furiously and the startled vampire disappeared in a multitude of shiny white orbs, then the orbs crashed into the opposite cabinet just as the vampire re-formed. He hurried over to Melinda, aware of Matt shimmering in, followed quickly by Haley and Chris orbing in.
“Mel, are you okay?” He asked as he knelt down beside her.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” She murmured, still holding her hand to her neck.
“That’s a vampire!” Chris exclaimed, shock riding his voice.
Matt, alarmed like everybody else, still looked like he was about to retort something then seemed to re-consider.
“Dad, get out of here!” Wyatt shouted as he saw his father appear at the doorway.
Chris, who the nearest, grabbed his father’s wrist and orbed out with him before he could protest, just as the vampire swooped at him-in bat form. Then they realized it wasn’t aiming for him but aiming to exit the attic. Matt threw a sizzling energy ball at it in instant and it burst into flames. He looked faintly amused at the clever attempt of escape at the vampire and then turned to Melinda.
Haley was beside Melinda, gently easing her cousin’s hand away from her neck, revealing two bloody minor punctures.
“Jesus, what happened Wyatt?” Matt asked, concern lining his charismatic features.
“She’ll be fine,” Wyatt confirmed.
“She won’t be a vampire then?” Haley said with relief.
“No, I got the vampire before she bit her,” Wyatt reassured her.
“But wait a minute…weren’t all the vampires killed…a long time ago?”
Both Matt and Wyatt’s expressions were grim and dark, in Matt’s case even darker than usual.
“Exactly,” Wyatt said solemnly as he helped Melinda to her feet. “That’s what worries me.” Then he asked his sister, “By the way, do you someone to heal that?”
“No it’s okay, it’s nothing big,” She replied, although she sounded a little weak.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Matt gazed at her.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’m fine,” She insisted.
“I think the best thing we can do now is take a rest, we’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Wyatt suggested.
Matt and Haley nodded in agreement. “How’d the vampire get in here anyway?” Haley asked as they headed out.
“The window was open. It must’ve gotten in after I left Mel…” Wyatt’s voice trailed away as he disappeared out the door.
And the window was still open. No one thought of shutting it and no one saw the black bat flap down from the beams on the ceiling which it had been hanging from and fly out, merging into the night.

Lucifer mused as he watched the new vampire queen pace up and down the cavern in an agitated, worried fashion, “Don’t worry yourself Raquel, your…children will be back soon. All they needed to do was to spy on the Charmed Ones’ children, not engage forces.” His fathomless black eyes flicked towards her as she stopped in her tracks and he said with an underlying tone of amusement, “Unless…they did anyway?”
The dark blonde woman just glared at him, though it faltered somewhat as he stared at her. “You didn’t tell me there were so many. And it doesn’t help that she’s here!” She snapped, pointing at the motionless Charmed One standing beside him like some macabre statue.
“I told you already, this is not Paige Matthews but simply her body, devoid of soul or spirit so you have nothing to worry about,” He said, a dangerous note in his voice.
The Vampire Queen still looked disgruntled but said nothing else and returned to her pacing. She was beautiful, pulsing with sensual attraction and so young and voluptuous with a cascading mane of dark blonde hair and eyes the colour of the ocean. Lucifer actually wouldn’t mind having her by his side when the time came. True, the vampires had been ostracized from the Underworld for centuries as an unspoken rule and that hadn’t changed even when the first Vampire Queen had died, been killed either by the Charmed Ones or the Source he didn’t know but one of her ‘children’ had survived the massacre, one that hadn’t killed yet and Lucifer was pretty happy about that. Personally, he hadn’t seen the reason in kicking out vampires because they’d tried to overpower the Underworld oh so long ago but he hadn’t been about to defend the vampires when so many demons were howling for their alienation. He had been thinking something more along the lines of ‘torture control’. They could have been forced to stand down instead of being banished. They could have been useful which was exactly why he had invited the new vampires to join the Underworld and included the Queen and her underlings in his plans.
“I think you’re missing one,” He noted as the demon he had assigned shimmered in with Trina.
Raquel darted straight to the young woman though and fawned over her, taking her hand and leading her to him, saying things like ‘Oh dear, I was getting so worried!” “I hope they didn’t hurt you too badly!” It sickened his stomach.
“What did you find out?” His gaze traveled to the female vampire and she mumbled, avoiding his eyes, “There are five of them and one older man. One of them, a boy, I think he’s half demon.”
“Really, why do you think so?” A noticeable change of interest traced his rugged features.
“He threw an energy ball at James.”
At this, Raquel’s face fell with disappointment and she shook her head sadly, “Why didn’t you take better care of him Trina?”
“Very interesting…what about the parents, did you find out which ones belong to who, especially Paige?” He continued without pause.
“Sort of,” She hesitated before answering.
“Tell me all about it and don’t be afraid to tell the truth, or else,” Lucifer was smiling at her but it wasn’t a friendly one. It was a malevolent, malignant one.