Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, or any of its characters.

A/N: The whole premise of this fan fiction is to completely rewrite season eight. Everything that happened from the very beginning of season one through to the very end of season seven has happened. If Billie does make an appearance in this season rewrite, she will only be an one episode one-off innocent. Also, Leo will not be frozen and taken away; Coop and Henry will still be introduced in season eight, but the way that Phoebe and Paige meet them will be different; and the whole story arc for this season has nothing to do with an ultimate power. Each chapter is a full 'episode' - sorry about the length, but it's easier to do this way. With the aftermath of the season seven finale, I thought that the season eight premiere would have been better off as a two parter, so here it is...

Mostly Charmless (Part One)

June 28th 2005

A teenage boy and his father were running through a tunnel in the Underworld. It was dim and silent – a little too silent. They came to a stop at a dead end. The father turned around to check that no demons had spotted them. They were still alone.

Slowly the father turned back to his son and nodded. The teenage boy took a deep breath and stared at the earthen wall. Suddenly a wooden door appeared out of nowhere in the wall. Taking a deep breath, the father opened it and entered. The teenage boy followed. As they shut the door behind them, the teenage boy squinted at the door, causing it to disappear and be replaced with wall again.

They had entered an enclosed cavern. It was lit by torches and filled with demons. None of the demons had spotted the two newcomers as the demons were busy. Many of the demons were using their powers to throw energy and fireballs at the ceiling of the cavern. Some were shovelling any dirt, debris, and dust that fell from the ceiling into wheelbarrows. Others were shimmering out of the cavern with filled wheelbarrows, while other demons were shimmering into the cavern with empty wheelbarrows. One demon was standing at the top of some hand crafted stone steps that led up to the ceiling. The demon was blasting the ceiling with energy balls from a close range. It was obvious that the demons were up to something – whatever they were after was above them.

Suddenly a demon flamed into the cavern. He was upper level, and most likely the leader. This caught the attention of every demon, the father, and the teenage boy. Every demon stopped what they were doing and turned to face the lead demon. The demons left their positions and culminated into a crowd. The father and the teenage boy tried to fit in amongst the crowd of demons. They did not want to stand out.

The flare of the torches reflected in the lead demon's menacing green eyes as he observed the state of the ceiling.

'Who was in charge while I was gone?' asked the lead demon. His voice was quiet but threatening at the same time.

Slowly a tough looking demon with a confident expression stepped forward. With a quick bow, he said, 'I was, Xalinth.'

The lead demon, Xalinth, clicked his fingers and the confident, tough looking demon burst into flames before disintegrating into ash. This act resulted in a low murmuring among the crowd.

'Silence!' snapped Xalinth. Once the crowd had quietened down, Xalinth continued. 'I left for a little while, because I had to deal with the disarray that has evolved in the Underworld since Zankou's demise. I left to seek some order amongst the upper level demons. I left expecting you all to have completed this work by the time I came back. You are not finished. Would anyone care to step forward and explain?'

There was absolute silence amongst the crowd as demons exchanged nervous glances. No one wanted to step forward. No one wanted to meet the same fate as the demon that Xalinth had vanquished with a snap of his fingers.

The father and the teenage boy exchanged looks. With a slight nod from his father, the teenage boy knew this was the signal that told him it was time for them to start their attack. Simultaneously, both father and son removed athames from their pockets.

Xalinth began to pace in front of his crowd of demons. He was becoming impatient in his wait for an answer.

'If no one steps forward, I will be forced to vanquish you all–' Xalinth paused as one of the demons in the crowd went up in flames. The lead demon knew that he had not vanquished that demon, so who had?

Almost like a chain reaction, demons, one by one, from different sides of the crowd began to go up in flames as they were vanquished. Terrified demons began to shimmer out, too anxious about what was going on to stay and find out.

Soon so few demons were left that it became obvious to the remaining demons and Xalinth who the source of the vanquishes were. The father and teenage boy suddenly found themselves having to dodge energy and fireballs as they continued to attack.

As the teenage boy ducked out of the way of the umpteenth fireball and impaled a demon with his athame, he heard an anguished shout. The teenage boy turned around to see his father laying stationary on the ground. He was bleeding. The only other demon left in the cavern was Xalinth, who – with an energy ball forming in his hand – was approaching the father.

The teenage boy hurled his athame in the direction of Xalinth. The energy ball extinguished from Xalinth's hand allowing him to catch the athame by the tip. Xalinth turned to face the teenage boy, smirking.

'You thought you and your father could defeat me?' sneered Xalinth. 'The Charmed Ones were the only ones that would have been powerful enough to do that – and they are dead.'

The teenage boy did not reply. His gaze was continually shifting between Xalinth, his father, and a nearby wheelbarrow.

'There is no way out,' said Xalinth, slowly advancing on the teenage boy. 'Your father will be dead soon and you will follow him…'

The teenage boy grabbed a wheelbarrow and pushed it towards Xalinth. This hardly fazed Xalinth. He threw the wheelbarrow against a wall, causing dirt to rain down from the ceiling.

'You cannot stop me…' said Xalinth, continuing to walk towards the teenage boy. 'No one can.'

The teenage boy was continually stepping backwards until he hit a wall. The teenage boy gulped. Xalinth pressed the athame up against the teenage boy's chest.

'Shall I kill you in the same manner that you decided to kill my minions?' asked Xalinth rhetorically.

The teenage boy tried not to look Xalinth in the eyes. Instead the teenage boy looked at the ground. Suddenly the teenage boy had an idea. Focusing on the ground beneath Xalinth's feet, a wooden door suddenly appeared. Xalinth's weight caused the door to fall open, and gravity did its part in allowing Xalinth to fall through. As soon as Xanith had fallen through, the teenage boy made sure that the door disappeared from the ground.

The teenage boy ran over to his father and checked his pulse. The teenage boy breathed a sigh of relief. His father still had a pulse – it was extremely weak, but it was existent. The teenage boy picked up his father, managing to take the weight on his back. Slowly the teenage boy ascended the shoddily built stone steps.

When he reached the ceiling, he squinted at the ceiling, causing a wooden hatch to appear. Pushing the hatch open, the teenage boy pushed his unconscious father onto the unseen floor above. Now alone in the cavern, the teenage boy had one last look around before climbing up through the hatch into whatever lay above.

The teenage boy looked at his surroundings as he closed the hatch – not bothering to make it disappear. The place where he found himself standing looked like it had been caught in the midst of an explosion. Beams littered the ground and soot covered everything. At the end of the room were some wooden steps that were charred but looked stable enough to climb. Hoisting his father back onto his back, the teenage boy ascended the wooden steps.

The teenage boy entered what appeared to be a kitchen. It did not look like the kitchen had been used for a while. He was in someone's house. Still carrying his unconscious father, the teenage boy left the kitchen through some doors. He quickly located the front door. The house was really quite extravagant on the inside.

The teenage boy opened the front door, exited, and shut the front door. He descended the steps and placed his unconscious father on the ground as he reached the pavement. The teenage boy checked his father's pulse. The teenage boy went pale as he could feel no pulse. His father had not survived.

Trying to hold back his tears, the teenage boy took one last look back at the house that the demons were trying to break through to from their cavern: the pink Victorian manor.

...

June 29th 2005

Holding the Bay Mirror newspaper open to the Obituaries page, a brunette haired woman read aloud:

'A memorial service will be held for three brave sisters: Piper Halliwell, Phoebe Halliwell, and Paige Matthews. The service is being held at –'

'Piper! Please shut up! I have a headache!'

The brunette – who was Piper still under her magical disguise – put the newspaper down, annoyed at the interruption. She was sitting on the edge of a double bed in a dingy hotel room. She glared at a red haired woman who was laying on a sofa with a damp cloth on her forehead.

'I thought you might be interested in hearing our obituaries, Paige,' said Piper.

The red haired woman – who was Paige still under her magical disguise – slowly sat up, holding the damp cloth to her forehead, as she looked over at Piper.

'You know what, Piper? I really don't give a damn about that! Do you want to know why? It is because we are not dead!' moaned Paige, irritably.

Piper sighed. 'Paige, I thought you would be curious over how many people miss you…'

Paige shook her head and snapped sarcastically, 'How can you even suggest that, Piper? We have been presumed dead for over a month now. The money that we have is running low and we have no idea what we will do when that runs out!'

Piper let out another sigh. 'Paige, it would have looked suspicious if I had emptied our bank accounts just before our deaths… I had to be inconspicuous…'

'And where has that led us, Piper? The four of us are currently sharing one dingy hotel room, eating take outs every day! Do we even have a plan of what we are going to do when the money runs out? I mean, what were we thinking when we decided to fake our deaths?' moaned Paige.

Piper furrowed her brow, becoming extremely sombre. 'We were thinking: We need to defeat Zankou before he kills us and takes control of the Nexus.'

'Well… yeah…' said Paige, hesitating as she tried to come up with a counter to Piper's words. 'Couldn't we have come up with a different plan to this?'

Piper narrowed her eyes. 'I didn't hear you suggesting anything over a month ago when we were trying to come up with ways to defeat Zankou!'

Paige shrugged. 'Well… Faking our deaths seemed like a good idea at the time…'

The debate fizzled out as Piper returned to reading the newspaper and Paige lay back down on the sofa.

A few minutes later a key was heard turning in the door lock. The door opened to reveal a blonde haired woman, holding a paper bag in one hand and a newspaper in the other. A brunette haired man, holding a couple of pizza boxes, entered the room too.

'Phoebe!' said Paige, sitting up. 'Do you have my paracetamols?'

The blonde haired woman – who was Phoebe still under her magical disguise – nodded and passed Paige the paper bag. Piper looked at the brunette haired man and frowned.

'Are we really going to have take away pizza for dinner again, Leo?' Piper asked unhappily.

The brunette haired man – who was Leo still under his magical disguise – placed the two pizza boxes on the table before sitting on the bed next to Piper.

'Money is getting tight,' said Leo as way of explanation.

Everyone took a slice of pizza and began to eat in silence. Phoebe lay on her front on the floor with the newspaper she had bought open in front of her. She was flicking through the newspaper while eating her slice of pizza. Suddenly Phoebe gasped, dropping the slice of pizza onto the floor. All eyes turned to Phoebe.

'Did you just have a premonition?' Piper asked Phoebe.

'You have not had a premonition since we faked our deaths… Does that mean the Elders have found us?' said Paige.

'Not all of Phoebe's premonitions are sent by the Elders… The Elders only send premonitions concerning innocents…' said Leo.

Phoebe still said nothing. Piper, Paige, and Leo exchanged worried looks.

'Phoebe?' said Piper, concerned.

Phoebe held her hand up, gesturing for Piper to be quiet. That was when Piper, Paige, and Leo realised that Phoebe had not had a premonition at all. Something in the newspaper had caught her attention and she was concentrating on reading it.

'Phoebe!' snapped Piper.

Paige jumped off the sofa and peered over Phoebe's shoulder at the page Phoebe was reading.

Paige gasped. 'Piper, turn your newspaper to page twenty four!'

'What is it?' asked Piper. 'My newspaper won't be any use. Mine is yesterday's copy. I think Phoebe has today's copy.'

Piper knelt down onto the floor so as she could see the page. She gasped as soon as she saw the photograph for the article. Piper pulled Leo onto the floor so as he could see the newspaper too.

The article's photograph consisted of Victor Bennett being escorted out of a police car in handcuffs. The headline read 'Basement Blast Blamed on Bennett.' Below that the subheading read 'Bennett has become the prime suspect in the deaths of his two daughters and their half sister.'

'Oh… This sounds bad,' said Piper, shocked, before she had even gotten into the main article.

Phoebe turned to look at Piper, Paige, and Leo.

'I just finished reading the article. It is worse than bad,' said Phoebe unenthusiastically.

'Shush, we are reading,' was the joint reply from Piper, Paige, and Leo, who now had their eyes glued to the article.

'Victor Bennett, 56, the father of two of the basement blast victims, has become the main suspect in the ongoing investigation fronted by Detective Gordon Riley, 38, and Inspector David Sanders, 32.

Over a month ago, May 22nd, there was an explosion within 1329 Prescott Street. Police were already on site for reasons that they still refuse to divulge. The source of the explosion was found to have originated from the basement. No bodies were found and although the investigating officer at that time – Agent Keyes, who was dropped from the case two weeks later – stated that he had seen the three victims – Piper Halliwell, 31, Phoebe Halliwell (popularly known by this paper and its reader as Ask Phoebe), 29, and Paige Matthews, 27 – within the manor moments before the blast, they were reported missing. As the bodies have not yet been found – dead or alive – it is assumed that they are still filed as missing or presumed dead. Leo Wyatt, 31, the husband of Piper Halliwell, was last seen on the day of the explosion. The police have searched for him, but he seems to have gone missing.

At first, it was seen as a lucky coincidence that Bennett happened to be babysitting Piper Halliwell's two children at the time – Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, 2, and Christopher Perry Halliwell, 1. However, after further investigation, police have begun to suspect that this was all pre-planned.

Bennett was found in possession of the deeds to 1329 Prescott Street (the site of the blast) and P3 (Piper Halliwell's club). Information from the bank confirms that the said Halliwell made this decision only hours before she went missing. Other clues such as the $1000 that left the joint bank account of the three victims hours before the blast also suggest that something was planned.

Bennett was arrested yesterday morning and taken to the police station for questioning while his two grandsons were taken to South Bay Social Services. However with little evidence supporting their theories that Bennett has information regarding this, Detective Riley and Inspector Sanders were forced to release Bennett from custody in the early hours of this morning. His two grandsons have been returned to his care.

Tomorrow, Bennett will be holding a memorial service for his two daughters and their half sister. Although his name has been cleared, it has been confirmed that Detective Riley will be attending the memorial service on official matters.'

Piper, Paige, and Leo finished reading the article. They turned to face Phoebe.

'This is really bad,' Piper stated sombrely.

'They don't have any evidence against Dad,' said Phoebe, trying to think of the bright side. 'He is not lying to them in the interrogation room, because he thinks we are dead. He –'

'What?' said a shocked Paige, standing up. 'How could you not have told him yet? He is your dad!'

Piper, Phoebe, and Leo got to their feet. Phoebe had a guilty expression on her face, but Piper just shook her head angrily.

'What do you expect us to do?' asked Piper. 'Knock on the door and say to him, 'Hi. I know we don't look like ourselves at the moment, but it's us. We are back. We never died.' That seems a little insensitive.'

'Well, of course it would, considering you have left it over a month!' said Paige, turning away from her sisters to avoid eye contact with them.

'Paige! The police are watching him! They have suspicions about us! Possible magical exposure suspicions! If three women turn up on his doorstep, they might use that as proof to expose us!' said Piper stubbornly.

'That is the worst excuse possible, Piper. There are many ways that you could have gone to see your dad without the police knowing,' said Paige. 'I thought you were all about family…'

Phoebe let out a short laugh. Paige turned around to face her. Phoebe no longer had a guilty expression. She was shaking her head.

'Paige, how can you talk to Piper like that? How can you be one to talk about that? When was the last time you decided to call Sam, huh?' Phoebe paused, watching Paige's expression change to one of guilt. 'Exactly my point.'

'Paige, I agree with your sisters,' Leo put in.

'Figures,' mumbled Paige.

'No. Not because of the fact that Piper is my wife,' said Leo. 'I agree with them because we are trying to stay below the radar. If we start visiting family – even under our disguises – people will begin to notice and wonder. I am not just talking about the police. I am also referring to the good magical community, as well as evil.'

Paige sighed, giving up with the argument, as she dropped back onto the sofa. She would have continued to argue for longer, but her head was killing her. Phoebe noticed Paige's discomfort.

'Are the paracetamols not working?' asked Phoebe. All anger was gone from her voice, replaced with concern.

Paige shook her head. 'I still have a headache and the damn whitelighter ringing keeps going on and on and on and on and on and o–'

'We get the point, Paige,' said Piper, smiling gently to show that she was trying not to start another argument.

'Sorry,' said Paige. 'I guess I have been a little on edge recently, because it won't stop.'

'It will only stop after you have answered the calls of your charges,' said Leo.

'The Elders don't even know we are alive,' Piper pointed out. 'How can they still be sending Paige charges, Leo?'

'Shouldn't her charges have been reassigned?' asked Phoebe.

Leo nodded. 'I would have thought so.'

'I thought they had been reassigned. The ringing only started up again a few days ago,' said Paige. 'I think I have somehow been assigned a new charge.'

'How though? Why would the Elders..?' Piper trailed off as she turned to Leo for an explanation.

'The Elders don't assign every charge. Sometimes a charge connects to a whitelighter by themselves. It's called the latent charge effect. The ringing won't go away until you answer the call,' explained Leo.

'Well, if it is just one charge… maybe I should…' mumbled Paige.

'Don't answer them, Paige,' said Phoebe. 'We want to live a magic-free life, remember?'

'We haven't been attacked by a demon since our faked deaths. We have not even been found by the Elders yet,' continued Piper. 'As long as we avoid using our magic – both witch and whitelighter abilities – we will stay under the radar.'

Paige sighed. 'That's easy for you to say…' Paige stood up. 'I need some fresh air.' With those words, Paige exited the hotel room.

Phoebe knelt back onto the floor to pick up the slice of pizza she had dropped.

'Do you think this is still okay to eat?' Phoebe asked Piper and Leo.

Piper and Leo did not reply. Their eyes wandered over to a cockroach that was crawling across the carpet in the far corner of the room. Phoebe followed their gaze and took the cockroach as the answer. Phoebe dropped the pizza slice into the bin.

...

Paige was walking along a street, not paying any attention to where she was going. The sun had set on San Francisco. It was quite late into the evening. Paige looked up and immediately recognised where she had unintentionally walked to: P3.

Paige had not been completely honest with her sisters. They thought that her main reason for moaning about their new lives was because she was finding it hard to ignore her whitelighter duties. However, Paige also felt homesick. She had lived at the manor nowhere near as long as Piper and Phoebe, but Paige missed being there. Paige also missed hanging out at P3 in the evenings.

Paige found herself walking into P3. There was no bouncer at the door and the club was not very full. No live band was playing. Instead songs were being blasted through the speakers of a stereo. By the looks of it, the club was not doing very well without Piper.

Paige approached the bar and sat on a bar stool. She held her head in her hands as it began to pound again.

'Maybe going to a noisy club with a headache was not such a good idea,' Paige muttered to herself.

'Can I see an I.D.?'

Paige looked up. The bartender was staring directly at Paige, waiting for her response.

'My – My I.D.?' said Paige, puzzled. She did not realise her disguise made her look younger than twenty one.

'Yes, can I see it?' asked the bartender.

'Don't worry. I don't drink alcohol, so I won't be ordering any,' Paige reassured him. That was the truth, but she also suddenly realised that due to their fake identities, she and her sisters had no I.D.

'That doesn't matter,' said the bartender. 'The new owner said that he does not want to get into trouble. So anyone below twenty one is not allowed in the club.'

'Do I look under twenty one to you?' said Paige, annoyed.

'Show me your I.D. then,' said the bartender.

'I don't have it on me…' said Paige quietly.

'Then I will have to ask you to leave,' said the bartender.

Paige frowned angrily. 'No. No! I am not leaving! I deserve to sit in here as much as anyone else does!'

The bartender shook his head. He looked behind Paige and shouted across the room: 'Ray! I need you to escort someone out of here!'

Paige turned around in her seat to see a big, bulky man – presumably Ray, the club's bouncer – approaching the bar.

'Hey Ray. Could you show this young lady the way out?' the bartender asked Ray.

Ray nodded and then turned to Paige. 'Follow me.'

Paige shook her head. 'No!'

'We reserve the rights to refuse entry to anyone. We could get the cops involved if you would prefer,' said Ray.

Paige sighed. If the police got involved then she would definitely have a problem with her lack of I.D. and lack of real identity. Paige stood up and followed Ray to the back door.

'Do I not get to leave via the entrance?' asked Paige grumpily.

'Look, just leave and come back with I.D.,' said Ray, closing the door on Paige.

Paige turned away from the door. Her headache suddenly reached a peak, causing her to lose her balance. Paige fell to the floor in agony. She opened her eyes to notice that she had fallen onto someone's feet. Someone was standing, looking down at her.

'Please don't vomit on my shoes, Paige.'

Slowly, Paige got to her feet to face the person who had uttered those words. Recognising him immediately, Paige stepped back a little.

'What are you doing here, Sam?' asked Paige.

...

June 30th 2005

Piper was sitting up on the double bed. Phoebe was sitting on top of a makeshift bed that they had put on the floor. The sound of water running – a shower – in the adjoining bathroom was audible. The alarm clock in the room read '01:08'.

'What are we doing here, Piper?' Phoebe sighed dejectedly.

Ignoring Phoebe's melodramatic question, Piper asked, 'How long do you think it will be before Paige comes back?'

'Relax, Piper. She needs a chance to think about things,' said Phoebe. 'She is a grown up. She can do whatever she wants.'

'I know, but… I am worried… With the way things have been recently…' said Piper.

Phoebe sighed. 'Yeah. You would have thought that a life without the Elders and demons would be great.'

'I just cannot see that as a huge positive at the moment, because… Paige was right. It is all about family and I have not spoken to or seen Wyatt or Chris for over a month. Plus Dad does not know that we are alive,' said Piper.

'Piper, are you suggesting we attend the memorial service tomorrow?' asked Phoebe.

Piper frowned. 'Do you think it's wrong to crash our own funeral?'

Phoebe shrugged. 'You will get to see Wyatt and Chris… and Dad. We can tell him the truth while we are there. You know, let him know we are fine.'

A tap was heard being turned and the sound of running water in the bathroom stopped.

'What about the things Leo said though? As soon as we do that, the Elders and demons are sure to figure out we are still around, whether we wander around in disguise or not,' said Piper.

'As long as the police do not find out, I don't care,' said Phoebe. 'I want to see my nephews and speak to Dad.'

Piper nodded. 'Wyatt, Chris, and Dad.'

The bathroom door opened and Leo walked out wearing pyjama bottoms. He noticed Piper and Phoebe's cheerful expressions straight away.

'What did the two of you decide while I was out of the room?' asked Leo.

'For an ex-whitelighter, you sure still have that instinctive thing down,' laughed Phoebe weakly.

Leo sat down on the bed next to Piper waiting for a proper response to his question.

'Leo,' said Piper, taking his hand. 'We need to go clothes shopping in the morning.'

Leo looked puzzled. 'Why?'

'Well, I don't fancy turning up to my own funeral in a t-shirt and ripped jeans,' said Phoebe, cluing onto what Piper meant.

Leo's jaw dropped.

...

Sam and Paige were sitting at a table in an apartment building. Sam had orbed them there so as they could have a private chat indoors.

'How did you know it was me?' asked Paige, breaking the silence that had been maintained since they had arrived at the apartment.

'That is how you want to start our reunion, Paige?' asked Sam.

'Yes, Sam,' said Paige.

Sam sighed. 'Will I ever earn the chance to be called dad?'

'I already had a dad. Remember our chat when you last saw me, three years ago?' said Paige.

'Paige, I am sorry for not visiting since, but you have to understand that the Elders have kept me extremely busy with charges and I don't want to go through the pain of losing another…' Sam trailed off.

Paige put her hand onto Sam's hand. He looked at his daughter.

'It's okay,' said Paige. 'I just… I don't know… It would be nice if you visited every now and then…'

Sam smiled weakly. Paige took her hand off Sam's hand and stood up.

'So, how did you know it was me?' repeated Paige.

Sam stood up. 'Paige, you are my daughter. The news has spread throughout the magical community that the Charmed Ones are dead. I sensed for you and knew you were still alive. I was content with knowing that you were safe. Who am I to rant about staying off the Elders' radar and trying to hide from magic?'

'Then why did you decide to look for me today? Albeit, it was very much a déjà vu moment to the state that I found you in when I first met you,' said Paige, blushing as she suddenly understood Sam's comment about not vomiting on his shoes – the very act that he had done to her Jimmy Choos three years earlier.

'I decided to look for you today, because I sensed that something was wrong,' said Sam.

'Something's wrong with me?' said Paige, perplexed. 'What are you trying to insinuate?'

'Paige, you are not drunk… yet you managed to lose your balance and fall to the floor right in front of me,' Sam pointed out.

Paige sighed. 'That is only because of a stupid headache caused by me ignoring this constant ringing in my head.'

Sam furrowed his brow. 'The Elders think you are dead. You shouldn't have a charge, unless…'

'I have automatically been assigned the charge? Leo said something like that,' said Paige.

Sam beckoned for Paige to sit back down on the chair, so she did. Sam sat down on the chair opposite.

'Paige, if you want the ringing to stop, you have to go to your charge,' said Sam. 'Or at least start by sensing for their whereabouts… That will quell the headache and ringing for now…'

'I cannot use my powers. The Elders will be able to find me. If they find me, they find my sisters. That is not fair on them,' Paige said.

'I would be a hypocrite if I asked you to answer your charge's call,' said Sam.

'Oh great. You're the perfect person to give me advice on being a whitelighter,' said Paige sarcastically.

'Well, despite your tone and your reasoning, I might just have some good advice,' said Sam. 'Go to your charge. I will come with. Maybe my orbing will offset any chances of your power use being tracked.'

Paige sighed. 'I don't want to go to my charge though.'

Sam nodded. 'As soon as we have helped this charge of yours, I can help to make sure that the Elders do not find you or your sisters.'

'Don't you understand? I don't want to help–' Paige paused. 'Wait, I can help the charge, not get found out, and have the ringing stop?'

Sam nodded. 'With my help, yes.'

Paige smiled. 'It's nice having a father that's an expert at staying below the radar.'

...

The teenage boy found himself walking along Prescott Street. It was the early hours of the morning and it was extremely dark out. The teenage boy could tell that he had come to a stop directly outside the abandoned pink Victorian manor even though it was silhouetted in the darkness.

The teenage boy could feel tears forming in his eyes. He wiped his eyes dry before walking up the manor steps. He stopped on the porch. It was no surprise to him that the front door was locked. He squinted at the wall next to the door. On that bit of wall, a wooden door appeared. The teenage boy pushed it open, entering the manor. As the teenage boy pushed it shut, he made it disappear, so as the wall could reform behind him.

The teenage boy found the staircase that led upstairs. He walked up the stairs until he came to a stop on the upper landing. All of the doors on the upper landing were shut. The teenage boy was about to enter one of the rooms when he noticed another staircase – the one that led to the attic.

Slowly the teenage boy made his way up the steps. He pushed against the attic door and it creaked open. He entered the attic. Moonlight poured in through one of the windows, allowing the teenage boy to see the contents of the attic. The walls of the attic were cluttered with antique furniture and to one side sat a sofa. In the middle of the attic stood a stand. However there was no book placed on top of it.

The teenage boy approached the empty stand. He ran his hand across the top of it. Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, the teenage boy saw blue and white orbs coalescing. The blue and white orbs disappeared to reveal Paige. She was shocked to see where she was – the attic in the manor.

'Hey!' Paige shouted angrily at the teenage boy. 'What are you doing in this house?'

Paige was momentarily distracted by blue and white orbs forming in the corner of the room as Sam appeared. The teenage boy took this chance to make a run for it.

'Hey! Wait!' shouted Paige, running after him.

The teenage boy reached the upper landing and continued down the next staircase until he was in the moonlit foyer. He was about to open the front door of the manor when Sam orbed in between him and the door. The teenage boy scowled. He turned around and noticed Paige standing at the bottom of the steps.

The teenage boy ran into the living room. Paige and Sam followed him. As far as they knew, he had no way out from the living room. Paige's jaw dropped in shock as she saw the teenage boy exit through a wooden door that happened to be in their living room wall. The wooden door led straight outside. As the wooden door closed, it disappeared, turning back into an area of the living room wall.

'Who is that kid?' muttered Paige, slumping onto the living room sofa. She was partially happy to be back in the manor, but she knew she could not stay for long.

'It looks like your charge is a witch,' said Sam. 'I wonder why he was here.'

'I guess we should go and ask him,' said Paige, sighing as she stood back up.

Sam shook his head. 'You don't have to. Paige, you answered the call. That is all you had to do. Although that kid is still your charge, unless he specifically calls for you, you won't get that ringing in your head. We need to get you out of here if you truly want to stay under the radar.'

Paige sighed. 'I guess you are right…'

'Do you need a lift back to wherever you have been staying?' asked Sam.

Paige shook her head. 'Don't worry. I don't mind orbing.'

'I thought you want to stay under the radar,' Sam pointed out.

Paige shrugged. 'That was until I found my new charge snooping around my former place of residence.'

With those words, Paige orbed back to the hotel room.

...

Piper and Leo were fast asleep in the double bed and Phoebe was curled up asleep on her makeshift bed. The alarm clock in the room read '03:27'.

The sudden burst of bright blue and white lights in the hotel room caused the hotel room occupants to wake up startled.

'Oh no! They have found us!' shouted Phoebe, half in a daze from being woken up. Phoebe threw a sock at the figure that had orbed in.

The room was too dim for Paige to see the sock flying in her direction, so she was a little unsure of what she felt hit her on the shoulder. The hotel room lights suddenly switched on. Leo was standing by the light switch, wiping his eyes. Piper was sitting up on the bed, staring at Paige, and Phoebe was sitting on her makeshift bed, yawning.

Paige suddenly noticed the sock draped over her left shoulder and flicked it off.

'Paige, did you orb in here?' asked Piper.

'I refuse to answer that, because you know the answer and I am tired. I want to go to sleep,' said Paige.

Paige picked up her pyjamas and wandered into the bathroom to change in privacy. She shut the door behind her.

Piper got out of bed and began knocking on the bathroom door.

'Paige! Paige! What happened to the part about not using our powers? What makes you exempt from all of this, huh?' Piper shouted.

Leo put his hand on Piper's shoulder. Piper turned to face Leo.

'Piper, you and Phoebe are going to the funeral later. The Elders will figure out then and there that you are back – whether you are in disguise or not,' said Leo. 'How is Paige using her powers any different to what you are going to do?'

'It is different, because Phoebe and I are going to the funeral to speak to Dad. That does not even involve using our powers! Paige, on the other hand, is using her powers for… for…' Piper trailed off as the bathroom door opened.

Paige walked out of the bathroom dressed in her pyjamas.

'For your information, Piper, I have a charge to find,' said Paige. 'And yes, I could hear you from within the bathroom.'

Phoebe was now fully awake enough to comprehend what was going on.

'Paige, is that ringing still irritating you?' asked Phoebe.

Paige shook her head. 'It is gone now, because I visited my charge earlier.'

'Then why do you still feel obligated to help? I thought you liked staying under the radar,' said Piper.

'I don't necessarily want to help this charge. I want information from him,' said Paige.

'Information?' said Phoebe, scratching her head in confusion.

'Yes, information,' said Paige. 'I want to know why he was in the manor.'

'The manor? That manor? As in our manor?' said Piper, perplexed.

Paige nodded as she dragged a pillow and folded duvet out from underneath the sofa and set them up on top of the sofa.

'He got away from me, but I am going to find him tomorrow,' said Paige determinedly. She lay down on the sofa, and closed her eyes.

Piper and Leo switched off the light as they got back into their bed. Phoebe lay back down in her makeshift bed.

Suddenly in the darkness of the hotel room, Paige asked, 'Did I hear you say something about going to a funeral? Whose is it?'

...

'It will be our funeral if Xalinth finds us in here, Pognor,' said a demon.

Two demons stood in the cavern beneath the manor's basement. The torches were still flaring, but apart from the two of them it was empty.

Pognor shook his head and looked at the demon who had spoken.

'Repugnus, we may have fled the scene during the witches' attack, but Xalinth will understand –' began Pognor before the other demon, Repugnus, interrupted him.

'Understand? Since when do demons have the ability to understand?' growled Repugnus. 'We should get out of here before Xalinth returns. I heard that the teenage witch made him fall through the floor. Xalinth will be angry for being humiliated like that. He will take his anger out on us.'

Suddenly Xalinth flamed in behind the two demons. His expression was one of pure rage. Pognor and Repugnus turned to face him. They bowed.

'Xalinth, we have returned to make sure your plan succeeds,' said Pognor. 'As you may have noticed, we are the only two loyal enough to return. That adolescent witch does not scare us.'

Through gritted teeth, Xalinth said to Repugnus, 'You stay here and continue work on penetrating that ceiling.' Xalinth then turned to Pognor and said, 'You must go to the surface world and find that adolescent for me.'

'Do you want me to kill him?' asked Pognor.

Xalinth shook his head. 'Bring him here alive.'

...

Piper, Leo, Phoebe, and Paige were making their way down Fifth Avenue which was comprised of many different clothes shops. The sun had been up for a while now as it was approaching ten in the morning.

Phoebe turned to her younger sister to notice that she was walking with her eyes closed.

'Er, Paige?' said Phoebe.

Paige opened her eyes and stopped walking. 'Yes?'

Phoebe stopped walking too. 'Why were you walking with your eyes shut?'

'I am trying to sense for my charge, but… I don't think I am going to find him again unless he calls for my help – involuntarily or actively,' said Paige.

'Are you concerned for the kid? Or is it because of where you found him?' asked Phoebe.

Paige sighed. 'Is it bad that I am more concerned about what he was doing in the manor than his well being?' After hearing herself say that, Paige added, 'Ugh! I am a terrible person… a terrible whitelighter.'

'Paige, you have every right to be sick of magic. We have been saving both the magical and non-magical community for so long now and we deserve a break from it – without having to hide who we are,' said Phoebe reassuringly.

Piper poked her head out of a shop that she and Leo had entered, having only just noticed that her sisters were no longer with them.

'Hey! Are you two coming? Or do you want Leo to choose your dresses for you?' Piper called across the street, a mischievous grin on her face.

Phoebe and Paige exchanged exaggerated worried looks at the prospect of Leo choosing their outfits. They quickly broke into a run, slowing down as they reached the shop.

The disguised three sisters and Leo spent the next few hours clothes shopping. As they were low on funds, they had to keep their small budget in mind, but that did not stop the sisters spending time looking through all the possible outfits. Meanwhile Leo found a suit that he liked within the first few minutes and had to wait for each of the sisters to decide on something they liked.

...

The teenage boy wandered around his empty, quiet house. He was wearing a smart pale blue shirt with a dark grey tie, black trousers, and black freshly shined shoes. He looked in a mirror to make sure his short blonde hair was tidy. He had to look presentable for the place he was about to go.

Turning away from the mirror, the teenage boy approached his front door. In front of the door was a crystal. He had had to surround the inside of his house with crystals as soon as he had gotten home in order to stop any demons finding him. He was sure that they would be looking for him after what he and his father had done.

He picked up the crystal, moving it to the side, so as he could open the front door. Leaving his house was going to be dangerous, but he was not going to miss his own father's funeral.

The teenage boy exited his house, walking casually down the street with an athame in his pocket in case a demon tried to attack him in broad daylight.

...

The undercover Charmed Ones and their ex-whitelighter walked along a busy street. They were all dressed in funeral attire. The eldest Charmed One wore a long elegant black dress with a sweater to match. Her husband wore a smart suit. The psychic witch wore a slender sleeveless black dress. Lastly the youngest of the group wore a dark grey waistcoat, a white under top, and stylish black trousers.

The party of four came to a stop outside the building that the memorial service was being held at. Piper squeezed Leo's hand, as she wondered whether or not this was the right thing to do. Leo smiled at her reassuringly. Phoebe watched as other people made their way up the steps towards the building's entrance. Some she recognised, others she did not. Meanwhile Paige shuddered at the thought that they were about to encounter a memorial service held for them.

Phoebe was the first to be brave enough to start the ascent of the steps. Paige almost immediately followed her. With an encouraging nod from Leo, the married couple began to make their way up the steps in pursuit of the single sisters.

Their memorial service was taking place in a hall on the fourth floor. However as they made their way up the stairs, they passed other halls where other funerals or memorials were taking place.

The hall where their memorial service was being held was relatively big. There were rows of seats filling the hall. The seats were mostly empty at the moment as the few people that had already arrived were wandering around the hall, chatting in small groups, or approaching Victor Bennett with their condolences.

Along the far wall, there were four photos. One of the photos was a group photo of Piper, Paige, and Phoebe. The other three photos were individual shots of the sisters. Towards the middle of the far side, there was a small platform. Presumably this would be for the speaker to use when the service began.

Victor Bennett stood to one side of the room. Little Chris held onto Victor's hand. The brunette haired toddler wore a cute little suit. He seemed intrigued by the number of people entering the hall, his eyes looking around the whole time. The blonde haired boy known as Wyatt was sitting on the chair nearest to the photo of Piper, staring at it.

'Wyatt,' Leo muttered to himself. He had caught sight of his son and realised that their son missed his parents just as much as they missed their son.

Leo walked forward, but Piper held him back. She had evidently heard what her husband had voiced, but she knew that they could not approach their eldest son – not yet.

'This is too much to handle,' Piper whispered.

Leo nodded. 'Maybe we should speak to Victor first.'

'Not just yet,' answered Piper. 'I want to see who else is here.'

'Well, I think that's the detective over there,' said Phoebe, who had been listening in on the conversation.

Phoebe was pointing over to the back corner of the hall where a tall man wearing a trench coat on top of a suit stood. The man was holding an open notepad in one hand and a pen in the other. It was difficult to tell where he was looking as sunglasses hid his eyes, but it was possible that he was observing the room for anything suspicious. In addition to all of this, a walkie-talkie was attached to the belt loop of his trench coat.

Some people had begun to gather around the photos, paying their respects by placing flowers down. This drew the three sisters' attentions. Though none of them were willing to admit it, they were each fascinated by the idea of finding out who had visited to pay their respects.

Paige began to walk towards her own photo. She stopped when she almost immediately recognised one of the bystanders.

'Glen!' Paige spoke up.

The sandy haired man – Paige's best friend since forever – known as Glen Belland looked around to see who had called his name.

'Sorry. Do I know you?' Glen asked.

Paige blushed. This had been the first time she had seen Glen in a long time. In her surprise, Paige had forgotten that she was currently under a glamour spell, and therefore that he would not recognise her – add to that the more obvious fact that this was a memorial service for her, so despite his knowledge of magic, Glen would probably be shocked to find out not only that Paige was faking her death, but also crashing her own funeral.

'Oh. Sorry, no. I'm Jo,' said Paige, holding a hand out for Glen to shake. 'I'm a cousin of the Halliwell sisters. Paige told me a lot about you.'

Glen shook her hand. He had no reason not to be persuaded by the explanation.

Paige grimaced, suddenly avoiding eye contact with Glen. 'No… I can't do this…'

Glen raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the stranger's words. 'Can't do what?'

'Glen, I can't lie. Not to you,' Paige began to say. Her eyes wandered up to his. She took a deep breath before saying the words. 'Glen, it's me…'

On the way towards her own photo, Phoebe recognised a few faces. There was Elise chatting with someone else from the Bay Mirror. Then there were other co-workers that Phoebe recognised as well as a couple of distant family members – from Victor's side – that she remembered meeting at Prue's funeral.

Phoebe came to a halt as she saw a face that she recognised but could not put a name to. The woman looked like she was somewhere in her early to mid-twenties. The woman had long blonde hair and was wearing a dark blue dress. Phoebe knew she recognised her from somewhere, but she could not remember where from.

Noticing that the woman had noticed her staring, Phoebe approached her and introduced herself. 'Hi. I'm Julie, a distant cousin of the sisters. How do you know them?'

The woman smiled pleasantly. 'I only knew two of the sisters for a short time. I met them seven years ago, so they probably wouldn't even recognise me. When I heard what had happened, I felt obliged to show up and pay my respects.'

Phoebe smiled approvingly, hiding her puzzlement over trying to identify the woman. 'The three sisters have done a lot for the local community over the years. I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name.'

The woman smiled. 'Aviva.'

Phoebe's eyes widened in surprise. Aviva was one of the first innocents she, Piper, and Prue had helped in their first year of becoming witches. The reason Phoebe had not recognised her was because Aviva had looked so different seven years earlier, especially considering she had short dyed hair back then. In fact, if Phoebe remembered correctly, Aviva was a witch.

Piper and Leo had not been able to take their eyes off their unhappy eldest son. The watchful parents made their way over to the lonely little boy. However before they were able to reach Wyatt, a teenage boy wearing a grey suit approached him and started to try and amuse the toddler by playing a small game of catch with a red ball. The teenage boy would throw the ball towards Wyatt; Wyatt would catch it, and throw it back. The game continued in this repetitive nature.

The teenage boy caught the ball and stopped when he noticed Piper and Leo staring at him.

As a technique to figure out who the teenage boy was, Leo asked him, 'Is that your little brother?'

Piper frowned at Leo for a split second. He knew as well as she did that the little boy was Wyatt and therefore that he did not have an older brother. However she suddenly realised what Leo was trying to do, so remained silent, waiting for the teenage boy to reply.

The teenage boy shook his head. 'Nah. He's Piper Halliwell's kid. I just thought he looked a little lonely. I know what it's like to lose your parents.'

Piper smiled sadly. 'Thanks for keeping him company at a time like this.'

'No problem,' said the teenage boy.

'I'm Louis and this is my wife, Jenny,' said Leo. 'What's your name?'

The teenage boy threw the ball back towards Wyatt while replying with: 'Tyler. Tyler Michaels.'

'How do you know the family?' Piper asked, wanting to find out more.

Tyler shrugged nonchalantly as he caught the ball that Wyatt had returned to him. 'The family helped me out of an ordeal once. Paige Matthews was my social worker at one point, and Piper Halliwell and her husband, Leo, helped me out of an issue with some… er… bullies, before binding my… er… book for me.'

Despite Tyler's replacement of the words demons with bullies and powers with book, Piper and Leo suddenly made the connection as to who he was. Over three years earlier, they had helped the ex-Firestarter, who was temporarily their innocent.

...

Pognor and a lower-level demon shimmered into the corridor outside of a hall a few floors below the one that the Charmed Ones were currently on. They looked into the hall and spotted the teenage boy straight away.

The two demons entered the relatively small hall. There were ten or twelve chairs placed in the hall. A closed casket sat at the far end of the hall. The teenage boy stood by the casket as a queue, consisting of five or six people, approached him to say their condolences.

The two demons joined the queue, not wanting to arouse any suspicion. They wanted to catch the teenage boy off guard.

Eventually the two demons were only one person away from confronting the teenage boy. The woman in front of them began speaking to the boy.

'I am so sorry for your loss, Will,' said the woman. 'Your father was a good man.'

'Thank you,' said Will.

The woman smiled respectfully before parting ways with the blonde teenage boy called Will. Pognor and his demonic accomplice were now at the front of the queue.

'Good afternoon,' Will said, greeting them, unaware of who they were.

Pognor snarled. 'It is, isn't it?'

The final visitor exited the hall. Will and the two demons were the only people left in the hall. The nameless demon allowed a fireball to visibly form in his hand. Will's eyes widened in horror.

...

Piper and Leo were still off to one side at the memorial service talking to Tyler, who was still keeping Wyatt entertained with a game of catch. Phoebe and Paige had regrouped after their respective conversations with people they had not seen in ages had finished.

'I saw you chatting to Glen,' said Phoebe. 'I know it must have been difficult to lie to him about who you are.'

Paige frowned sheepishly. She knew that Phoebe would be mad if she found out that Paige had told Glen everything.

Phoebe sighed, misinterpreting Paige's silence. 'I know it's not fair on you, lying to him. Especially considering that Piper and I are about to confront Dad.'

Paige nodded, and then decided to try and change the topic to something else. 'So –' However Paige was cut off as the ringing sound suddenly became audible in her head again.

'Paige?' questioned Phoebe, who had noticed the change in her younger sister's expression.

'I – I'm being called,' Paige responded, her eyes wandering as she tried to sense the location she would find the teenage boy at. Paige frowned as she rested her sight on Phoebe. 'He's… I think he's downstairs.' Paige grimaced. 'I think I am going to have to crash another funeral.'

Phoebe smirked. 'Don't act like our memorial service was the first funeral you've ever crashed. I remember two that you've crashed over the past four years. Anyway, go and find him. Piper won't mind if you leave.'

Paige nodded. She ran into the empty corridor before orbing out.

...

Will dived out of the way of a fireball. He made a run for the door, but the nameless demon shimmered in front of it, blocking the teenager's path.

'Don't give him the chance to use his power or he'll escape!' yelled Pognor.

The nameless demon nodded. He threw a fireball at the teenage witch. Will ducked. While on the ground, he pulled his athame out of his pocket. As he stood up, he propelled the hand holding the athame towards the nameless demon. However, the nameless demon grabbed Will's arm, holding it still. The nameless demon sneered wickedly.

While the nameless demon had Will distracted, Pognor formed a fireball in his hand. Xalinth had ordered them to bring the boy back alive, but that did not mean that Pognor could not bring him back unconscious. Pognor threw the fireball in the direction of the teenage boy.

'Fireball!'

The fireball was engulfed in blue and white orbs. This caused the fireball to change direction and head back towards Pognor. The fireball hit Pognor, but did not cause a dent in his demeanour. While Will continued to struggle against the strength of the nameless demon, Pognor turned to see the whitelighter-witch that had interrupted the fight.

Paige stood facing Pognor. The demon had no idea who she was other than that she was a whitelighter with extra powers that an ordinary whitelighter should not have.

'Who are you?' Pognor asked.

'A funeral crasher, but I am probably a lot more welcome here than you,' said Paige.

'Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not polite to crash a funeral?' growled the hypocritical Pognor.

'Demons!' Paige shouted. She made a sweeping motion with her arm as she said it. Both Pognor and the nameless demon were telekinetically orbed into the wall.

Now that the nameless demon was no longer gripping his arm, Will darted for the door. Glancing quickly between the two demons that were getting to their feet and the strange teenage boy that was running away again, Paige headed after Will.

Paige caught up with him on the staircase, orbing into his path to stop him from proceeding any further.

'Kid! I need to speak to you!' Paige said stubbornly.

'Well, if you haven't noticed, there are currently two demons after me, so I think a conversation with a whitelighter can be held off for now,' said Will, trying to get past Paige, but she was not letting him.

'Look, I am no ordinary whitelighter, I am a witch too, and I can help you,' Paige explained hurriedly.

Will glanced frantically behind him. The sound of running footsteps was getting louder. The demons were not far from catching up.

Turning back to Paige, he said, 'Fine. Just orb us out of here first.'

'Fine,' said Paige, smiling, grabbing the teenager's hand.

Paige orbed the two of them out of the stairwell into a very familiar setting. Will recognised the place straight away. It was the living room of Halliwell manor, the place where he had first ran into the stubborn whitelighter-witch.

'Why did you bring me here?' Will asked hastily. 'This is exactly where the demons wanted me to go!'

Paige furrowed her brow, confused. 'Okay, kid. You need to start talking. What's going on?'

...

Back in the hall at their memorial service, the two Halliwell sisters and Leo had joined an ever growing queue of people saying their condolences to Victor. There were a number of people in front of them and the queue was moving somewhat slowly.

'I cannot believe how many people that we have met only once in the past have turned up,' Phoebe said.

Piper sighed. 'Yeah, but we've given up…'

Phoebe shrugged. 'We deserve to give up. We never wanted to do this.'

Piper rolled her eyes. 'Oh come on. You so wanted to at the beginning. You're the one who embraced being a you-know-what first.' Since they were in a busy queue at the moment, they did not want to say anything that could be overheard the wrong way.

'I found the idea of…' Phoebe lowered her voice so as only Piper and Leo could hear for the next part, '…magical powers…' before raising her voice to a normal level again, '…interesting.'

'Yeah, but you also enjoyed helping people,' Piper pointed out.

'And you didn't?' Phoebe questioned.

'Well, obviously I did enjoy helping others,' said Piper. 'It was the only thing that made me believe that being a you-know-what could be a good thing.'

'Then when did that change for you?' Phoebe asked.

Piper took a deep breath before saying, 'Probably when Prue died. Everything changed and despite the fact that we were still helping people, I guess I focused on the fact that it was interrupting the life I was trying to have.' Piper narrowed her eyes sceptically as she added, 'Anyway, you can't judge me. You definitely started hating this lifestyle after a while too!'

'Well, yeah. Most likely because I finally had a life of my own: A boyfriend, then a job, and then a marriage. Okay, so that didn't work out, but the job's still there. Or at least it was, until we…' Phoebe paused to lower her voice, concluding with: '…faked our deaths.'

Suddenly the person who had been standing in front of them in the queue turned around. He was a tall teenage boy with glasses.

'Excuse me, but did I hear you mention Prue Halliwell a few minutes ago?' the boy asked.

Piper, Phoebe, and Leo exchanged looks. Piper and Phoebe nodded slowly, worried about what else he may have heard. Leo, however, smiled.

'Max!' Leo greeted.

The boy known as Max looked puzzled. 'How do you know my name?'

'Er…' Leo said.

From hearing the name, Piper instantly recognised the boy. He was Max Franklin. Although he had been Prue's innocent and Leo's charge, Piper had met him when he came to Prue's funeral four years earlier – Max left before Phoebe spoke to Paige, receiving a premonition, and before the demonic bounty hunters came for Cole, ruining what remained of the funeral. Max was a witch with the power of psychokinesis and had been Leo's charge up until Leo became an Elder. Although Leo was mortal now, he still knew all of his previous charges whenever he bumped into them.

'My husband knew your ex-whitelighter. Your ex-whitelighter talked about his charges a lot,' Piper said quickly.

Max looked a little taken aback that these strangers were so open about magic. Lowering his voice, he said, 'Are you witches too?'

Phoebe nodded. 'We are, but let's keep that between the four of us.'

Max agreed. He suddenly noticed that the line had moved forward a little, so went to walk forward.

As they moved forward in the line, Piper and Phoebe suddenly noticed that Leo was now looking in the opposite direction. The ex-whitelighter was watching Detective Riley, who was still standing in the corner of the hall.

'Honey, is everything okay?' Piper asked, catching Leo's attention.

Leo turned to Piper and feigned a smile. 'I want to keep my guard up with that detective here. We may want Victor to find out, but we definitely don't want him to.'

'It's okay. We'll be careful,' Piper assured Leo.

Leo let out a sigh. 'I know you will. I just don't trust cops at funerals.'

...

Paige peeked out of the living room window between the closed curtains. She noticed that a police car was stationed on the street. Paige quickly ducked out of view of the window, allowing the curtains to remain closed as she turned back towards Will.

'You're lucky the cops weren't watching over the manor last night when you did your disappearing door trick, kid,' said Paige. 'Now start talking.'

Will shook his head. 'Do you not listen? The demons will find me here so easily! This is practically their territory!'

Paige furrowed her brow. Rather than asking the teenage boy why he thought that, she decided that the pressure of staying somewhere that worried him would cause him to tell her more. Therefore, Paige said, 'Then you may want to talk fast, kid, because we're not leaving until you've explained everything.'

Will sighed in exasperation. He slumped down onto the sofa. This caused a burst of dust to rise from the sofa. Paige tried to hide a dismayed look at how dirty the manor had become in just over a month.

'My name is Will Cooper. I'm a witch and I come from a long line of witches. All that was left of my family was my father and I,' Will began. 'When the Charmed Ones died, my family and a group of other magically inclined families knew that we could not stand down and let evil win. There will always be demons and there should always be witches to stop them.'

'This group of witches… who are they?' Paige asked while Will was pausing for breath.

Will shrugged. 'Never met them. My father and I knew that we were not the only witches out there that were snooping around for information on what was going on in the evil community. That's the only reason I know there may be others.'

Paige nodded. She took a seat on an armchair – which also erupted with dust once sat on – as she waited for Will to continue.

'My father found out about an upper-level demon trying to steal the Nexus…' Will continued.

Paige shook her head. 'That was Zankou. The Charmed Ones stopped him and destroyed the Nexus in the process.'

'Zankou's not the only one with that plan. Another upper-level demon, Xalinth, was working on stealing the Nexus at the same time as Zankou, and is still in the process of doing so,' said Will.

'That still cannot be right. He won't find anything,' protested Paige. 'My si – I mean, the Charmed Ones destroyed the Nexus along with Zankou. There is no Nexus down there to take.'

Will shrugged. 'Xalinth doesn't seem to think all hope is lost or he wouldn't be doing it. The point is that Xalinth has been working on stealing the Nexus, and he still is. Xalinth is trying to access the Nexus from below. He had demons digging upwards from below this manor's basement.'

'Wait. Why upwards?' Paige asked. 'The manor has been empty for over a month now. If the Nexus wasn't destroyed and is still there, why hasn't he tried accessing it from inside the basement?'

'From what I've heard, he's a demon that likes to work covertly,' explained Will. 'I guess he would have attracted too much attention from other demons if he were to change his plan after the defeat of Zankou and the Charmed Ones.' Will paused as his expression became grave. 'My father and I attempted an attack the other day to diminish the number of demons working for Xalinth. We succeeded in slowing Xalinth's plan down, but the success came at the cost of my father…'

'I am sorry for your loss,' Paige said respectfully. 'Sorry if this seems disrespectful at all, but I found you here in the early hours of the morning. Why did you return if you knew the manor was unsafe?'

Will coughed to clear his throat before he continued. 'I came back to look around the manor for anything the Charmed Ones may have had that could be useful in an attack against Xalinth…'

Paige nodded. 'Zankou definitely wasn't the first demon that had attempted to steal the Nexus, so I can see why you would think the Charmed Ones might be used to protecting the Nexus.'

'Yeah…' muttered Will.

'I hate to break it to you, but Zankou was no easy demon to defeat. Otherwise the Charmed Ones wouldn't currently be presumed dead,' Paige said.

'Which is why I have to face Xalinth and vanquish him myself,' stated Will. 'Once I find out how, that is.'

'Will, you can't do this alone,' said Paige. 'I am going to help you…'

Will shook his head. 'No. I have to do this alone… I have to…' Will stood up, a determined expression on his face. 'I don't know how yet, but… I am going to vanquish Xalinth.'

Paige stood up too. 'Listen, you're not doing this alone.'

'No, you're not going to help me. This has nothing to do with you. Xalinth killed my father. This is my fight,' said Will.

Paige smiled. 'I think I can convince you that this is also my fight. Technically my sisters' fight too, but… I can fight on behalf of them.'

Will looked puzzled at this statement. His eyes widened as Paige became engulfed in silver orbs. When the silver orbs disappeared, the disguise was gone and Paige was back to looking like herself – her dark hair had grown longer over the month that she had spent in hiding. The initial surprise that the female witch had been under a glamour spell had worn off. Will did not look impressed.

'What do disguises have to do with anything?' Will asked.

Paige looked a little offended by that remark. 'You mean you don't know who I am?'

'You're the extremely stubborn whitelighter-witch that orbed us to a manor under threat by demons,' said Will.

Paige rolled her eyes. She wandered over to the mantelpiece and picked up a photo frame containing a photo of her sisters and herself.

'Do you not know a Charmed One when you see one?' Paige said, handing Will the photo frame.

'I've never met a Charmed One before. I've only heard of them,' Will explained. He looked down at the photo for the first time and then over at Paige. He had to double-check that the person standing in front of him was the person in the photo. 'It can't be… They're dead.'

Paige shook her head. 'We're presumed dead… Trust me, being dead is a totally different thing. I would know. When you're a Charmed One, death happens a lot.'

Will put the photo frame down on the dusty coffee table. 'If you're a whitelighter-witch… That makes you Paige Matthews, right?'

Paige grinned. 'The one and only. If the demons are attacking this house, then that makes it our business too.'

'The Charmed Ones are alive!'

Paige and Will turned around. The two demons that had attacked Will at the funeral were standing in the living room, fireballs alight in each of their hands.

Keeping her eyes on the currently stationary fireballs, Paige said, 'So neither of these two are Xalinth, right? They're just the lackeys?'

'Yep,' said Will through gritted teeth. He was preparing to grab his athame out of his pocket.

Paige directed her next sentence towards Pognor and the nameless demon. 'Sorry guys, but I really don't have time for dealing with demonic cronies. I'm going to go straight to the top.' Paige grabbed Will's hand and orbed the two of them out of the living room.

Pognor and the nameless demon had released their fireballs just as Paige orbed out with Will. The fireballs went straight through the disappearing blue and white orbs, hitting the closed curtains. The curtains burst into flames.

...

In the police car outside the manor on Prescott Street, a sandy haired officer was keeping watch over the manor. His eyes widened in alarm as the curtains behind one of the downstairs windows caught alight.

The officer picked up his walkie-talkie and switched it on.

'Riley? This is Sanders speaking. There is movement at the manor, I repeat, movement at the manor,' the officer, Inspector David Sanders, said into the walkie-talkie. His eyes were firmly planted on the burning curtains as he waited for a reply.

The reply came relatively quickly: 'Riley here. I can't get there as back up for you – I don't want to leave the memorial service just yet. Call for other back up and keep me updated.'

'Understood. Over and out,' said Sanders, switching off his walkie-talkie. He put the radio device back into his pocket.

Ignoring the advice of calling for back up, Sanders stepped out of his car. Making sure that he had a gun on him, Sanders approached the manor cautiously.

...

In the basement of the manor, blue and white orbs flew towards the floor, but bounced upwards as they materialised into Paige and Will. Paige and Will went toppling onto the debri-filled basement floor.

'Ow,' said Paige, sitting up. 'Why couldn't I orb down there?'

Will got to his feet. 'Xalinth must have the place protected from whitelighters. Witches can't teleport, but whitelighters can, so it makes sense to have that sort of a barrier up.'

Paige stood up. 'You couldn't have mentioned that before?'

Will rolled his eyes. 'It's not like you discussed your plan before orbing!'

The sound of a slow taunting clapping was heard. The two witches looked into a shadowy corner of the basement to see a demon emerging from it.

'So those two demons were telling the truth a moment ago. The Charmed Ones – or at least one of them – are alive. Hmm… Maybe I shouldn't have vanquished those two demons when I thought they were lying,' the demon said maliciously.

'Xalinth,' Will said, narrowing his eyes.

The demon smirked at being identified by the young witch. Xalinth nodded. 'That's me, and you… you're the boy that I was looking for all along.' Xalinth let out a callous laugh as he added, 'And you were delivered to me, not by the demons that I sent looking for you, but by a Charmed One!'

Paige scowled at Xalinth. 'You're not going to get Will or the Nexus! Considering my sisters and I came out of our battle against Zankou in one piece, you're going to be a piece of cake to vanquish!'

'Oh really?' said Xalinth, unconvinced.

All eyes suddenly darted towards the basement door as someone shouting 'Police! Show yourself!' was heard.

While Paige was distracted by the fact that there was a policeman in a house currently containing an upper-level demon, Xalinth launched an energy ball in their direction. Will dived out of the way. He hit his head on a piece of debri, knocking himself out. Paige orbed on the spot at the last second. The energy ball hit a loose beam behind Paige. As she orbed back to where she had been standing the beam fell onto her, trapping her arm. The agony was so painful that she could not focus on orbing out from under the beam.

Xalinth approached Paige, a new energy ball in his hand. Paige stared up at him, waiting for him to throw it at her. However, Xalinth let the energy ball fizzle out just as the basement door burst open.

Xalinth sneered. 'I'll let the mortals find you,' he whispered. 'It wouldn't be much of a fight if I didn't get to face all three Charmed Ones, would it?'

With those words, Xalinth grabbed Will's shoulder, and flamed out.

Inspector Sanders came running down the basement steps. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the youngest missing resident of the manor caught under the debris of the basement.

Sanders picked up his walkie-talkie and spoke into it. 'I need all units on Prescott Street and an ambulance. One of the victims has been found. I repeat, she has been found.'

...

In the queue at the memorial service, Max had just finished speaking to Victor. As Max bade goodbye to Victor, he made his way out of the line. Piper, Phoebe, and Leo were now at the front.

'Hi…' said Piper.

'Good afternoon,' said Victor sombrely. Little Chris was no longer standing with him. He had wandered off to join in the game of catch with Wyatt and Tyler.

'Hey,' said Phoebe, feigning a smile.

'So… How did you know the girls?' Victor asked the three people stood in front of him.

Piper, Phoebe, and Leo exchanged looks. Piper was the first to reply:

'We knew them, because… because… We are –'

Detective Riley came running over to Victor. The detective had his walkie-talkie in his hand. He pulled Victor over to one side.

'Hey, buddy! We were talking!' Piper yelled in frustration.

However, the contents of what Riley was saying to Victor caused Piper to stop yelling. Piper, Phoebe, and Leo were close enough to hear everything Riley was saying.

'We have new evidence that suggests the sisters are alive,' Riley said.

'What's the evidence?' Victor asked, concerned.

Riley took a deep breath before revealing: 'One of the sisters has been found alive at the manor.'

To be continued...

A/N: Please review and let me know what you think.