Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series or Charmed

Author's Note: I have never written any of the Charmed characters, nor really read much in the way of Charmed fanfic, bar a handful of crossovers. So while I've done my best to re-watch Charmed and get a feel for the characters and their voices, let's be fair and say I may get them wrong. Please, please feel free to let me know if I get something wrong, characterization or Charmed-verse wise.

Thanks to Deiticlast and Maria/Whatever her Tumblr name is right now for beta-reading.

Battered Souls

By Alkeni

Chapter 9: The Charmed Ones - Piper

May 7th, 2002

1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco

Once their three sudden and unexpected arrivals were inside, Piper closed the door behind them, turning to look at Leo, who was still standing there, looking dumbfounded at the 'dark witch.' No, wait-the other girl had called her Amy.

And the other girl was named Faith and was apparently the 'Slayer.' That didn't sound like it might involve demons or magic at all. Because that was just a title normal people carried around.

So much for a quiet summer, she thought for the second time in as many minutes.

"Alright, all three of you, into the living room." Piper made shooing motions at them until they complied. "Sit, and let's take this from the top." She glared at each of them – the witch, the 'Slayer,' and the scruffy English guy until they were all seated on the couch.

"Okay, so, someone needs to fill me in on who you are, and why my husband seems so sure I shouldn't have let you," she began, pointing at Amy, "into the house. And what is a Slayer? You two," she pointed to Leo and the Brit, "talked about it like it's a thing I should know about."

"A Slayer is a mystical warrior blessed with supernatural strength, speed and durability, chosen by the Powers That Be to fight vampires, demons and the forces of Darkness," the English guy explained. "If you have an iron bar or a crowbar or something along those lines, we could have Faith bend it into a pretzel to demonstrate, but for the moment you'll have to take our word on it."

Piper blinked-not so much at the idea of some chosen warrior that fought demons. Nothing particularly odd there, when you got right down to it. But vampires?

"We killed all the vampires, when we killed their Queen..." Piper said, looking over at Leo. She distinctly remembered that, and the sight and sound of all the other vampires dying around them. "Months ago."

"Lady, I don't know what you're on, but vamps are definitely not all dead. Fucking things are everywhere," Faith cut in.

"Different kind of vampires," Leo explained. "The Slayer fights... the original kind. The other ones that tried to turn Paige into one of them-they were created by the Source to copy the earlier version."

Piper blinked. "And you've known about all this and haven't mentioned it? Seems like it would be a big deal that we didn't kill all the vampires in the world." Even as she said that, she could only imagine it had something to do with the Elders. They'd probably told him to not say anything.

"It was never relevant!" Leo protested. "They aren't very common in San Francisco or the surrounding area, and you can't kill them with a vanquishing spell or the Power of Three. The Slayer and the... original vampires, are the purview of the Powers that Be."

"And they are? This is new information to me, Leo. You need to catch me up to speed."

"I'd be interested in knowing this myself," the Englishman commented. "A Whitelighter's perspective on the Slayer and the Powers would be... interesting-"

Faith cut in, "Yeah, yeah, that's all kinds of fascinating nerd shit, but we're not here for that. We're here so you," Faith pointed at her husband, "can help Amy, so get to it."

"The Powers that Be are... on the side of good, but they and the Elders don't exactly... agree on how things should be done. They mostly just stay out of each other's way," Leo explained.

"And instead they get in our way all the time. Because that's so much better," Piper snarked, rolling her eyes. Then she turned back at their visitors. "Okay, so, we've got a Slayer, a witch, and what exactly are you, apart from obviously being the designated adult?" Piper ignored the sputtering reaction from Faith. Yes, the girl was obviously an adult, but the British guy was equally obviously older than her and certainly looked like he thought he was in charge, if nothing else.. And the witch, Amy, didn't really react to her words. She was just sitting there, her arms wrapped around her stomach, rocking back and forth, looking pale.

And she obviously needs to eat something. Piper resisted the urge to put everything aside and help the gir-dark witch. She had to be careful. Obviously it was her maternal instinct kicking in, because she was feeling a powerful urge to feed Amy, like, chicken noodle soup or something.

Who am I kidding? Piper had always wanted to feed people. She loved to cook.

"I'm a Watcher," the Brit began. "My name is Wesley Wyndam-Pryce,"

"You can just call him 'Wes'," Faith cut in, but Wesley ignored her.

"Watchers train Slayers, and assist them by serving in research, helping them figure out how to defeat the various demons they come across," Wesley explained. Piper nodded, understanding. Basically, he was a walking Book of Shadows. Made sense. The times they had to fight enemies that didn't have an entry were a lot harder because they had no idea about the demon's weaknesses, strengths, habits... anything.

"Anyway, there is a great deal we could share in the way of information, including the fact that you and your sisters apparently vanquished the Source of All Evil, but that isn't why we're here. Questions and answers there can wait, I think." Wesley looked over to Amy for a moment, and Piper's gaze followed his. Faith had put her hand on Amy's shoulder, squeezing it, obviously trying to comfort her, but the whole motion came off as awkward, unsure, maybe even a little forced.

Piper could tell that this Faith girl obviously wasn't used to physical contact, orc omforting people, or even displaying concern and emotion. But equally obvious was the worry written across her face, the way Faith was actually biting her lip just a little – if only for a few seconds – as she watched Amy almost curl in on herself even more. Piper's role as the middle sister had given her plenty of practice in reading others, and here was a woman who was giving off a hundred little 'tells.'

Piper looked over her shoulder at her husband, and was unsurprised to see that he wasn't looking at Amy with hostility anymore. Like I said, a stiff breeze could knock her over. It was hard to be worried about her at that point.

"Right. You said that she needed Leo's help."

"Whitelighters guide and help witches, but we're not in the habit of helping dark ones," Leo replied, but he was more... earnest than angry. On some level, her husband wanted to help Amy. That's just who he was.

"Amy's not evil!" Faith protested for the second time, glaring at Leo. "She's just... she's just fucked up." Her voice lowered to a soft almost-whisper. "She screwed up... made mistakes and now she needs help. Doesn't make her evil-doesn't mean she can't get better... Do better." Piper raised an eyebrow, trying to place what it was she was hearing in Faith's tone.

"The short version," Wesley cut in, "is that Miss Madison here is... addicted to a rather potent magical drug, and it has - like most addictions - quite ruined her life. She wants to get clean, but the psychological effects of the withdrawal are compounded by all the dark magic that clings to her aura. Which, you, Mr..."

"Wyatt. But just call me Leo," the Whitelighter supplied, and Wesley nodded.

"Which you saw, Leo. Miss Madison... Amy has done questionable things with her magic, in recent months, but... well, while I'm not as vehement on the subject as Faith, I would agree that fundamentally, she is not evil and not irredeemable. She has made bad choices, but... that shouldn't damn her to total destruction at the hands of her addiction." Wesley started to say something else, but then Faith cut in again. Wesley closed his mouth and gave Piper a look that was a shrug without actually being one.

"Just a couple nights ago, Amy was ready to let a fuckin' vampire have her for dinner, okay?" Faith shook her head. "She's harmless to you guys."

"More or less, she is," Wesley agreed. "We just need your help, Leo. She needs your help. As long as all that dark magic is on her aura... she's not going to be able to recover from this addiction very easily. The two are-"

"Feeding on each other, yes, I can see that," Leo said. "What exactly did she do to get all that in the first place? Dark magic isn't exactly something you just stumble into."

"Surviving," Amy said softly, speaking for the first time since she'd come into the house. "After... it's a long story, but I didn't have... money or... a place to stay... anything to eat. Used magic to... make people not notice I was taking things." Amy tried to take a deep breath, but the action was ruined by a shudder. A few shallow breaths later, the girl continued, sounding even more... well, pathetic, than before.

"Made my landlord think I'd actually paid my rent... not many other options for a drug-addicted, legally-dead, didn't-graduate-high-school-because-she-was-a-rat-for-three-years witch." Amy shook her head, "No. That's-" She bit her lip and hunched her shoulders forward, a small cry of pain escaping her. "That's just excuses... I know... I know it was wrong. All of it. I just..."

"I just wanted to forget." Amy finished softly. She trailed off, and Faith wrapped her arms around Amy's waist, almost pulling other girl into her lap, holding her close. Piper blinked. I didn't realize they were together. But it would make sense as to why the Slayer was so determined to help this nominally 'evil' witch.

Whatever the reason, Piper was hesitant. Helping people was what they did. Helping people was what Whitelighters did. Leo's own instincts were probably telling him to help her.

"How exactly can Leo help? I don't think this is something you do with normal healing. And I don't think he has a dark magic vacuum or anything like that up his sleeve," She looked over at him, smiling a little at the absurdity of the thought. "You don't, do you? Because that could have been pretty useful before now."

"I don't," Leo said smiling back a little, then he looked over at Amy. "Losing dark magic... just don't use it, is the basic way. It wears off, eventually. But that much... and with this... thing, addiction wearing on her as well..." He shook his head. "Yeah, I can see the problem. There are things I might be able to do to help speed up the process. Maybe. I've never actually done it. But sometimes a Whitelighter's charges do need help, when they make mistakes."

"Wouldn't know. Never had a Whitelighter," Amy cut in after another small cry of pain that almost had her fall off the couch. Piper was wincing at the sound, at the pain almost visibly coming off of her. "My family... not good witches."

May 7th, 2002

1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco

Not good witches. Another time, Amy might have chuckled at the level of understatement in her words. It was hard to tell, really, if it went any further back her than grandmother, but Amy guessed her family tree had more than just two dark, nasty witches to show for it. Probably nothing but dark witches up her entire maternal line. Which means I'm just as fucking damned as they all are, so why the hell am I even trying?

She didn't hurt as much, for the moment, thanks to Wesley's little spell, but that didn't do anything about how cold she felt, how sick she felt, the hunger gnawing at her.

And ever since the Whitelighter had shown up, Amy had felt... itchy. Like she was wearing a wool sweater or something. Just a minor thing, but on top of everything else...

One more thing I get to thank my own wonderful decision making for.

Faith's arms around her waist weren't really doing anything for the feeling of cold, since it wasn't skin to skin contact, but...

"That would explain a few things," Leo observed. "Regardless, even if I can do this – even if I do do this, there's a lot more dark magic on you than this process is designed to deal with. And it won't be easy."

"Easy hasn't described my life in months," Amy said dully. "Anything that can help me... I don't care if it hurts. It has to be better than this." She knew how that sounded, or at least how it could sound. Like bravado, or being blasé about it. That wasn't what it was.

As far as Amy was concerned, her choices were either die or get better. She couldn't live like this. She couldn't live with this need and hunger. She couldn't live with herself if she hurt or manipulated (or both) Faith every morning to try and get free, to get back to Rack.

She couldn't live with herself wanting to go back to Rack. To begging him for another hit.

And it would be just like that sick, horrible monster of a man to demand she do something-she had no idea what-even more degrading and humiliating than he already had, to show her the price for trying to get clean.

"Just because I can doesn't mean I will," Leo said, his voice turning stern. "Yes, it's obvious that you need help, and Piper's right: you don't seem all that dangerous right now., But my responsibility as a Whitelighter is to my charges. And if there's even a chance you could be a threat to them, to the sisters, to my wife... No."

Piper looked over at her husband. "I can take care of myself you know. If she causes problems I can just, y'know, freeze her." She can do that? She'd known that the Charmed Ones were supposed to have specific powers, beyond just casting spells, something they could do all the time, without it costing them any energy. Casting a spell to hold someone in place... that was difficult at best, and it was far, far from permanent.

"I don't... I don't want to cause trouble. I promise," Amy said softly, wondering what she could do to convince the Whitelighter – Leo – of that. "I just... I just..." Amy shivered and bit her lip as she felt her stomach start to want to heave. Not that she had much to expel, but her body wanted to get rid of it nonetheless.

"Look, you useless son of a-" Faith started, but then she cut herself off, taking a deep breath. "Amy needs help, okay? She's not evil, she's not gonna hurt anyone." Amy closed her eyes, wishing she could muster the energy to defend herself...

But what defense was there to give? She'd stolen, messed with people's minds... there was no defense there. It was all minor manipulations, really short false memories that barely counted. But...

Messing with people's minds? That was wrong. She'd known it was.

I had other options, right? It hadn't seemed like it the time, but she really did. The fact that she hadn't taken them...

I am dark, that's the whole damn problem. Amidst her self-recriminations, she heard Faith, Wesley, Piper and Leo talking; about her, she guessed, but she couldn't make out their words. It almost sounded like she was on the other side of thick glass as they spoke – she heard noises, voices, but nothing distinct. Nothing specific. Nothing she could actually make out...

Amy stopped really paying attention to the world around her, or even thinking anything coherent, as she felt another wave of nausea. She doubled over, not escaping Faith's grip, but she was bent anyway, dry heaving out onto the floor before her.

The hunger was still gnawing, it grew with every heave, taking up space as she vacated her stomach – that was the only way she could describe it, even if nothing was coming up... her entire world was her nausea, and hunger...

She had no idea how long she kept it up, how many times she heaved, but eventually, she felt her stomach settle a little and she opened her eyes slowly, trying to straighten up. She only really managed it with Faith's help, the Slayer more or less settling Amy in her lap completely. It was more than a little strange, since she was taller than the other girl, but...

Once more, in Faith's arms, her body against the other woman's... she felt safe. She felt... like maybe there was a chance, a tiny chance, that she...

"... there will be conditions... but yes... I'll hel,." she heard Leo saying, and Amy blinked, wondering suddenly just how much she'd missed, what had been said...

"And what conditions would we be talking about?" Wesley asked, his voice cool and level and all clipped, stereotypically 'British'.

Part of Amy just wanted to say she agreed, whatever they were. But... well... she couldn't. Even if this Whitelighter, guardian angel for good witches that he was, was hardly going to make her do anything like what Rack had...

Saying she'd do anything, without qualifier...

"She'll need to be close. She can't exactly stay here - there's no room – but there's a place for rent just down the block, you might be able to get that. This... this is a situation that will need to be monitored carefully. Her progress, what she does, how she does it... I'll need to be able to check on her, and know where she is. It's easier if she's close."

"Done," Wesley agreed for her. He and Faith were the ones who would have to be paying for any such rental, so... it really wasn't up to her.

"You're going to have to promise to not use magic except in defense of your own life or of other people," Leo said. "Even for small things, except for the white magic spells I have you cast to help with clearing off your aura. Even the most minor use of magic done the wrong way at the wrong time could mess this up. It's a delicate process."

Amy blinked. Not use magic, even for small things? She'd... she'd used magic for so many things. Minor things – less so recently, because she'd lacked the presence of mind to do anything but continue existing in her half-life state, but...

She'd just used magic this morning, trying to get Faith to let her go...

Could she just stop... could she just not use it?

"I..." Amy swallowed.

She wanted to agree. If this was a condition, she had to agree. But...

I can't... She didn't have that much control. Wasn't that the whole fucking problem?

"I can..." Amy inhaled sharply, "I can... I can try?" She said quietly, then she raised her voice, trying to speak more firmly. "I can try."

"Try as hard as you can," Leo admonished. "Like I said: delicate process. Lastly... " He looked to Wesley and Faith. "When you can, when your talents make it possible, you two have to help Piper and her sisters as much as possible."

Faith shrugged – Amy didn't see it, of course, but she felt the movement. "You guys are supposed to be good witches fighting demons and all that shit. Don't see the problem helping you out."

"Leo, we can handle ourselves," Piper protested. Then she looked over at Faith. "Not that I'm saying we don't want your help if you want to or anything, but-"

"Piper, please. I know you can take care of yourself, but there's absolutely no reason to not take the help when it's here." Leo took his wife's hands in his, gently rubbing the back of them with his thumbs for a moment.

"Like I said, it's cool. I'm a Slayer. Fighting demons is kind of my job."

"Well, it is your job, not 'kind of', Faith. I can't imagine the Council would like the prospect of paying you to do nothing. And then there's the entirely different discussion-"

"Wes, I don't think we need to bring up what I think you're gonna bring up right now, okay?" Faith interrupted, and Amy realized what Faith at least assumed Wesley was suggesting. Her prison time, the whole reason she was even let out – redeem herself fighting demons.

"I'll help with the fighting demons. You and your sisters can do the magic and I can beat them up," Faith finished, and Piper shrugged after a moment.

"Then I guess we have a deal. We'll start tomorrow... I need to make sure I know how to do this before we start," Leo said, the firmness and confidence slipping from his voice a little. "And I'll drop by your sisters and let them know about this."

"Bring Phoebe her lunch!" Piper said. "She's probably already forgotten that she didn't bring it, and just worked right through."