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worryinglyinnocent · 5 years

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Fic: Time in our Hands (5/6)

Summary: Temporal Detective First Class Aiden Gold has been working tirelessly to keep the timeline unaltered for as long as he can remember. He’s been chasing time bandit Lacey French for almost as long, but she always seems to slip through his fingers.

Until the day when his commanding officer tells him to bring Lacey in at all costs. The world itself is under threat, and Gold will need Lacey’s expertise to make sure that history happens as it should, and to prevent a catastrophe in the future…

Written for the A Monthly Rumbelling moodboard prompt, available here.

Rated: T

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[One] [Two] [Three] [Four] [AO3]

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Time in our Hands

Five

They ducked back into the darkened doorway that Gold and Lacey had been hiding in so that Lacey could make her plan for their entry into the locked tower. Gold knew that this was her area of expertise and he accepted that there was nothing he could add to the plan at this stage, and that if Lacey wanted his help, she’d ask for it.

Actually, he wasn’t so sure about that last one. Lacey had always been a lone wolf; he’d never known her to have any kind of back-up or assistance on any of her commissions. Was that out of a desire to keep potential double-crossers out of the loop and remain as autonomous as possible, or did she simply not have anyone? Would she fight to maintain her independence whilst she was partnered with him on this mission? Would she realise that he was able and willing to help her if she needed it? Would she even want to ask for help?

He forced himself to stop thinking about Lacey; she was distracting him from the task at hand. Now that they had found Kida, the time loop was well and truly in motion and there was nothing more they could do except follow it through to the end – and hope that the end had both him and Lacey back safely in the nominal present. Well, Lacey at least. Gold was gradually coming to terms with the nauseating realisation that he might not make it out of Atlantis alive.

Gold glanced over at Kida, whose eyes were darting between the steadily burning tower and Lacey’s crouched form. She was definitely the same woman from headquarters, and Gold was a little wrong-footed. He had expected her to be both harder to find and harder to convince of their benignity. As it was, she had taken Lacey’s appearance out of nowhere in her stride and accepted the complete lack of explanations that had come with the offer of assistance.

“You’re very trusting,” he remarked presently. It could be, of course, that there was some deeper time play at work here and there was a reason why Kida was so calm in their presence. They could have miscalculated completely; perhaps she had in fact already met them in some other time.

“Yes?” Kida turned to him, politely enquiring.

“You’ve never met us before, we’re very obviously not from these parts, and you accept Lacey’s offer to help you back into a dangerous building with no questions asked. You have no idea what our intentions might be.”

Kida’s gaze was cool and logical, and Gold immediately knew that she’d thought this over far more than he’d given her credit for.

“The city is crumbling around us and our ships will not get everyone out in time,” she said, completely matter of fact but with steel behind her words. “There’s going to be a lot of death tonight. If you have nefarious intentions then so be it. Atlantis is falling anyway, and our culture will die with it. I’m not afraid of you two or what you might or might not have in store for me. I’m far more worried about the future and preventing something catastrophic happening in it.”

Gold thought of Mal’s words, telling him that Kida had talked about the apocalypse when she had come through to the present.

“I need help to get back inside,” Kida continued. “If you two can help me get there, then all will not be lost. If something happens to prevent me, then all is lost, and I will rest easily knowing that at least I tried.”

She was so stoic and pragmatic in the face of oncoming doom that Gold was rather alarmed by her.

Presently Lacey stood up.

“Ready to move?” she asked. “I’ve got a plan. And how are we going to stop the apocalypse by saving a library? Believe me, if I could have saved the entirety of Alexandria I would have done.”

They left their cover, skirting through the side streets to get around to the back of the tower.”

“It’s not the whole library,” Kida said. “It’s just one book. Not even a book; just a scroll.”

“A very important scroll for you to risk your life going back to get it,” Gold pointed out.

“It predicts the end of the wider world.” So much for Gold’s feeble hope that the apocalypse that Kida had talked about was only referring to the fall of Atlantis itself. “And more importantly, how to prevent it.”

“Surely your father would have understood the need to protect such a document.”

They’d reached the back of the tower and Gold bent to give Lacey a leg up onto a high windowsill. Strange how they seemed to be so in tune with each other when they’d only been working on the same side for a few hours.

“The prophecy doesn’t mention Atlantis,” Kida explained as Lacey set about working her magic on the window. The princess looked around at the boiling sky and the lightning overhead. More buildings around them were beginning to burn. “Now I’m almost sure why it isn’t mentioned. I highly doubt any of it is going to be around in the future. We’re an isolationist country; my father doesn’t care what happens in the wider world as long as Atlantis isn’t involved.”

Lacey opened the window and slipped into the darkened room beyond. This was it. This was the ultimate test of her loyalties. If she went off treasure-hunting by herself instead of helping them, then she would have failed in his estimations and everyone would be fully justified in saying ‘I told you so’ when he got back to headquarters. If he got back to headquarters. The possibility of that was looking slimmer by the second. He didn’t know why he would be so disappointed if Lacey proved untrustworthy. She was a thief after all. She’d never given him any reason to trust her.

All the same…

A rope of thick blue velvet swung out of the window.

“I’ll pay for the curtain damage,” Lacey’s voice called. Kida wasted no time in shimmying up the rope and Gold followed her. The room they landed in was already beginning to fill with white smoke.

“Lead the way, your highness.” Lacey was breathing through a handkerchief and Gold took one out of his pocket too. Thankfully, Kida led them out of the room and down, away from the fire and falling masonry, running down so many steps that they might as well have been going down into the centre of the earth.

“Who are you, anyway?” Kida asked over her shoulder as they ran on.

“I thought you didn’t care as long as we got you back inside,” Gold replied. “Besides, you wouldn’t believe us if we told you.”

“Well, we’re inside now, and I’m interested, and you wouldn’t lie when we might all get crushed under this building at any moment, would you?”

Gold had to agree with her there. Mortal peril did bring out one’s more truthful side.

“We’re from the future,” he said. “Roughly twelve thousand years from now.”

“In that case, it’s even more imperative that we find that scroll,” Kida said.

“Not necessarily. The apocalypse might still be in our own future.”

“I know that,” Kida said sharply. “But why else would you come back to this place and this moment if not to solve a problem threatening your own time? Since this text is the only one pertaining to the future of the wider world that we have, we need to find it.”

She had another good point, but before Gold could acknowledge it properly, the ground beneath their feet gave a shuddering and impossibly lurch, throwing them all off their feet as the stones above them screamed with the pressure. Gold did not want to think about just how far down they had come, and how much building was now above them.

Kida was the first back on her feet, and Gold accepted Lacey’s hand up off the floor, brushing himself down.

“I hate to say it, but that really didn’t sound healthy.” Lacey looked around at the walls. The horrific screech was still ringing in Gold’s ears, and as he followed Lacey’s sight line, he saw the hairline cracks making their way down the stone. The entire structure was about to crumble around them.

“We’ll be fine,” Kida said, taking off on light feet down the corridor again. “The city’s withstood earth tremors before.” Although Gold couldn’t say that he really shared her confidence, he accepted that keeping moving was a better idea than standing in the corridor like a lemon waiting for masonry to fall on his head. As they ran after Kida, he realised that Lacey was still holding his hand and that he had no desire to pull himself free. He’d already tasked himself with keeping her safe during this precarious mission, and if that involved being attached to her, then so be it. He didn’t really mind. Her hand was warm and dry in his, no trace of nervous sweat. In a way he supposed it made sense; Lacey had always lived her life on the edge. Whilst running around a collapsing building in the middle of a collapsing city probably didn’t happen to her every day, she had wriggled her way out of enough scrapes in the past.

When she glanced over her shoulder at him, however, he could tell from her wide eyes that she was just as scared by their situation as he was, only she was hiding it from Kida slightly better.

They came to the end of the corridor and the ornate doors that separated them from the library. The heavy wood had warped horribly with the earthquake into something twisted and grotesque that certainly would not let them through. Kida’s stark optimism that she’d held earlier visibly wilted as her hopes of getting inside the library seemed dashed before her eyes.

Lacey dropped Gold’s hand, staring up at the doors with an air of utmost determination.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” she said, with a painfully false brightness. Quite how she was going to get in was anybody’s guess, but Gold had certainly seen Lacey get into and out of some tight spots before. She placed her hands on the wood, feeling around for the weak points.

“I think if I can climb up a little way, I should be able to get in nearer the top.” She paused, then jumped back from the doors as if she had been stung. “It’s shaking again, I can feel it.”

Gold couldn’t feel anything at first, but then the rumbling beneath his feet grew undeniable, and he startled out of the way as dust and stone chips began to rain down from the high vaulted ceiling. The tremor was over as soon as it had begun, although Gold wasn’t convinced that they were entirely out of danger just yet.

“Well, amazing as it might sound, that actually helped us.” Lacey had returned to studying the doors. The tremor had warped them further and there was a small gap halfway up. Gold wasn’t even sure if she would fit through it, but anything was better than nothing, and she began to scamper up the twisted wood.

“What am I looking for?” she asked Kida.

“A scroll in a blue and white fabric cover, about so big.” Kida held out her hands about a foot apart. “It should be on a shelf at the far end of the room on the third level. Gold tassels at both ends. I don’t suppose either of you read Atlantean, but its title is ‘Future of the Wider Cosmos’.”

“It’s close enough to ancient Icelandic runes, I should be ok.”

Another rumble began underfoot, and Lacey jumped down from her precarious position on the doors until it had passed. This one lasted far longer than the previous one had done, and the dust was accompanied by the ear-splitting scrape of rock shearing in two.

“Watch out!”

The ceiling began to fall in huge tumbling chunks; Gold grabbed Lacey and pressed her in close against the wall out of danger, but Kida was too far away. Lacey’s eyes were screwed up tight, and any pretensions Gold might have held that she wasn’t scared were completely thrown away.

By the time the roaring noise stopped, the corridor beyond them was almost totally blocked by stones.

“Kida?” Gold called nervously. If she was under those stones, then the consequences for the timeline would be catastrophic.

“I’m all right.” Her voice came from the other side of the fallen stones, and a moment later, her face appeared through a small gap. She was bleeding from a cut just above her ear, but other than that she seemed unhurt, just shaken. “I got clear just in time.” She looked around. “I don’t think I’ll be able to climb over this; it’s pretty sheer on this side.”

Gold took a deep breath. It was time. There was nothing to be gained from Kida staying here any longer, trapped in the crumbling tower with them. They knew what she was looking for, and she’d not had it with her when she arrived in Mal’s office. They were on their own with the library, and now Kida needed to go through to the future and close the time loop before she ended up squashed under the weight of the tower.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and drew out his emergency time-out, coated in dust from the destruction in the air all around them, and pushed it through the gap.

“Take this,” he said. “Get clear of the rocks, then press down the catch on the top.”

“What is it?” Kida took the time-out, looking at it in fear.

“It’ll get you out of here,” Gold explained. “There’s nothing more you can do here; Lacey and I will find the scroll and follow you out. It’ll take too much time to get you through this barrier and into the library with us. The building is unstable enough as it is.”

Kida nodded. “Where will it take me?”

“The future.” Her eyes widened. “It’ll take you to the place where Lacey and I came from. When you arrive, the first person you meet should be Captain Mallory. You need to tell her to send me and Lacey back here to help you. That’s important, that needs to be the first thing you say.”

“I don’t know your name,” Kida pointed out.

“It’s Gold. Aiden Gold. Captain Mallory needs to send Aiden Gold and Lacey French back to this time.”

Kida nodded her understanding and stepped away from the rocks. She pressed down on the catch, and a moment later, she was gone.

Gold let out a long breath of relief. Whatever happened now, they had closed the time loop. The entire continuity of everything was no longer in danger.

He and Lacey, however, were in very real personal danger, and they still had a job to do.

He turned back to Lacey; the doors were now warped enough that they would both be able to get through the gap between them.

Lacey gave a nod, and Gold followed her into the darkness beyond, unsure what they might find in its depths.

Hopefully, it would be a scroll with the key to preventing the future apocalypse.

#rumbelle fic #golden lace #Lacey French #Mr Gold #Fic: Time in our Hands

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rufeepeach · 6 years

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Rumbelle AU - TV/movie costars

A/N: for once a straight interpretation of the prompt! Extra bonus points for anyone who catches the inspiration >.>

She sees it when she watches the tapes.

"I hate watching myself," Belle says, when the question is broached. "If I hate watching myself act, why would I want to watch essentially home movies?"

"You're not in them a whole lot," Ruby retorts. She's rather defensive of the whole enterprise, honestly, which Belle can understand. The studio had approached Ruby of all the cast members on Enchanted Forest to do a behind-the-scenes video diary for the second season's DVD. It had made sense: she was easily the most famous, the most open, and the bubbliest member of the cast. Belle has always valued her privacy, and she couldn't imagine the reaction if they'd approached Elias Gold, the show's antagonist.

"Then why are you insisting I watch them?" Belle shoots back. Ruby shrugs.

"They're gonna be on the DVDs," Ruby says. "And you're on there. I'm doing you a massive favour here, you know. If there's anything you're ashamed of on there, this is your veto."

Belle rolls her eyes, but takes the memory stick. Ruby's right, as usual. Anything embarrassing on here today would be a gif and a meme in a week's time, and her career could be over when she's only just got it moving.

"Fine."

Ruby claps her hands. "Text me once you're done!" she says, already halfway out of the hotel room.

She pauses, turns. "Oh, and Belles?"

"Yes?"

"I was right."

The door closes before she can explain.

Belle doesn't chase after her. Ruby has another party tonight - launch party for some new artisan liquor she's a spokeswoman for - but Belle has the night off. She always needs downtime, after the season wraps.

So, she watches the tapes.

She fast-forwards most of it - Ruby pretending she has a make-up blog, Ruby chatting to other costars, Ruby filming the crew filming the show...

She's right, Belle realises with relief: she's barely in it. Probably because her best friend since drama school understands the boundaries, and that while she's cool putting every ugly selfie on Instagram and tweeting her grocery list, Belle has clear walls between work and home.

It's not until an hour in (fifteen minutes on fast-forward) that Belle sees it.

Ruby had been sick, she remembers, the night they were contracted to open a weekend music festival in Santa Monica. She'd been unable to get on the plane to fly down from Vancouver. Elias had been put in at the last minute.

That had been one of the best weekends of Belle's life.

They'd talked for hours on the flight down, catching up since their scenes this season had been sparser than in season 1. His character, the notorious sorcerer Rumplestiltskin, had been banished in the first season finale, and spent this season plotting his return. Her character, Lacey, a bartender dragged into a magical world by accident, had spent the season in an insipid love triangle with a prince and a thief. After the first season, where their characters had been in scenes together more often than not, Belle had missed filming with him.

He was kind, was Elias Gold, and generous. Nobody believed it, he was so taciturn, so grumpy, and truly loathed the press. His public image was surly, even a little dangerous. Rumours had circulated for a long time about his estranged mother, his wastrel father, his childhood in Glaswegian poverty. When he'd suddenly become famous in Zoso Beggs' gritty drama, Dark Ones, he'd been forced into the centre of a maelstrom of press attention and scrutiny. He'd hated every second of it, and that hatred now applied to every journalist who came within a hundred miles of him.

But anyone who acted with him knew differently. Well, anyone who was generous in return, and could hold their own against him. A good sense of humour helped, and a modicum of intelligence. He and Belle got along like a house on fire.

It didn't help that she'd nursed a crush on him since his Dark Ones days. However she had imagined him back then, the reality was so, so much better.

They had become fast friends, but that was all it ever was.

That weekend, Belle and Elias had hung around together until the event, bantered on stage, introduced the first band, and then gone to dinner with some mutual friends. The flight back, Belle had been comatose, sleeping off a hangover she blamed on Elias Gold's brilliant plan for a second bottle of red wine.

Ruby had lent her the camera. Belle had forgotten that she'd filmed much of the experience.

For the most part it was just her, goofing about at the airport, reviewing the book she'd bought for the flight, and failing to convince Elias to appear on camera. She had kept it in her bag after they landed, and forgotten about it until they got to the venue.

But then, she saw it.

They were in the make-up trailer, prior to their appearance on stage. She'd asked Elias to hold the camera while she did her make up. He must not have realised he was in the shot, clearly visible in the mirror.

"Oh, god," Belle murmurs under her breath. She would barely recognise him.

On the tape she is talking about nothing - where to eat that night, or their flight time the next morning. Belle can barely hear her own voice. She is fixated on Elias' face.

He's staring at her. His eyes are huge and dark, and he barely blinks. Belle doesn't think she's ever seen such naked devotion, adoration, on a human face, and it knocks the wind out of her.

"How do I look?" she asks on the tape, smoothing her hair and checking her lipstick.

"Beautiful," Elias replies. He looks heartbroken.

"Turn around, you idiot," Belle mutters under her breath, staring daggers at her oblivious earlier-self. Instead, that earlier Belle is just smiling.

"Why, thank you," screen-Belle teases. Gold nods, and when she makes eye contact with him in the mirror his face is calm and smooth, maybe a little amused. The yearning from before is wiped away, but Belle knows what she saw.

She rewinds, rewatches their previous shots. This time, knowing what to see, she sees it a hundred times. They're in the background of the shot, in line for Kraft services while Ruby yammers about the process of filming, and every time Belle looks away, Elias is looking at her. They're between scenes, in chairs on set, reading scripts: her eyes are on her paper, but Elias' are on her. She's talking to Ruby, he's in the back on his phone; for moments, seconds at a time, he looks up to her.

He's always watching her, she realises slowly: those soft, dark, gorgeous puppy-eyes follow her everywhere. And yet, she has never noticed. He's never said a word.

There are other shots, too. Shots where they're talking and laughing in the background, her hand on his arm, and she's in creases at some terrible joke he's just told. Shots where she's looking at her phone, grinning ear-to-ear, and Belle remembers he'd just sent a picture of his son with jam all over his face, or a bad joke about a fellow castmate.

She smiles often. She's a smiley person. But these tapes are living proof that she never smiles more, or wider, or with such genuine joy as with Elias Gold. It's written all over her face. She lights up in his company.

How had she missed it? How had she lived these past two years with this overwhelming crush on her costar, and never once caught him looking back?

She texts Ruby: you were right.

Ruby texts back instantly: i know rite!!!

How did I not see it??

Because you're too busy hiding from him to LOOK at him!!

Belle thinks about that. The next number she dials isn't Ruby.

It rings, and rings, and rings. Belle's heart is in her throat.

It connects. She waits to hear his low, sweet voice.

Instead, a woman answers. "Hullo, Elias Gold's phone."

"H-hi," Belle stammers. Her heart drops to her knees. Elias doesn't have an assistant!

"Who is this?"

"This is... ah... Belle French," she says. The woman sounds British, London if Belle had to guess. But Elias is Scottish, and he doesn't have any family...

"Oh yeah, from the show," the woman says. "Elias is just in the shower, can I take a message?"

"N-no," Belle feels something awful, black and thick welling up in her throat, clogging her lungs. Happiness turned to dispair, to disappointment, to brutal self-loathing that she could have been so blind, waited so long, and been too late. How would she know if he was seeing someone? It's a Friday night and he's a handsome man, of course he has a date! "No it's fine. It can wait. I'll call tomorrow."

"Okay then," the woman says. "Goodnight."

"Night."

Belle hangs up. She takes a deep breath. When she begins to cry, at least there is no camera to record it.

#rumbelle fic #rumbelle #rumplestiltskin #belle french #rumpelstiltskin #belle gold #fanfiction #fanfic #writing #ouat #once upon a time #Anonymous

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charmedtheselfproclaimedking · 5 years

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Charmed Again (Charmed Fanfic)

Episode 2 - Charmed Reborn: Part Two

Warnings: I don’t own the rights to any of the characters from the hit TV show “Charmed” or the storylines related to the show those rights belong to original creator Constance M Burge.

15+ Moderate/Graphic Displays of Violence, Sexual Innuendos, Witchcraft and Potentially Triggering Scenes.

PART ONE HERE

“Drake, are you okay?” Paul asked his son in the middle of the alleyway in which Drake had just been attacked by a demon as Lacey lay spread on bin bags and Pan stood beside her brother.

“You literally just threw into trash there better be a damn good excuse.” Lacey complained as a shocked Drake helped her back to her feet.

“There was a spider on you, so I had to move quickly.” Drake lied to her; not sure she’d believe the truth.

“Well that is literally the only answer I would accept.” Lacey admitted while clearly looking around for the supposed spider. “It’s gone now right?”

“Yeah,” Drake replied while looking over at Paul and Pan. “They helped me get rid of it.”

“By the way Drake’s the one scared of spiders not me.” Lacey bluffed in embarrassment after noticing Pan and her brother Paul.

“Spiders give me the creeps too so it’s all good.” Pan laughed at Lacey’s innocence.

“Oh, thank god,” Lacey said while breathing a sigh of relief. “Because I was totally trying to pretend, I was brave right now, but spiders freak me the hell out.”

“Do you want to go for that drink now?” Pan asked Lacey while Drake and Paul just stood there in silence.

“Yeah that sounds good,” Lacey accepted before turning to ask Drake. “Are you coming in?”

“I’ll be right there.” He replied.

“So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that was a demon am I right?” Drake asked Paul as only the two of them now remained in the alleyway outside of P3.

“How do you know about demons already?” Paul wondered.

“This lady called Prue Halliwell visited me today and I just thought she was crazy but then she vanished into thin air and I thought I was crazy until I was literally just attacked by some magical ball of god knows what.” Drake explained himself. “God, this is crazy!”

“The man who threw that magical ball is known as a lower level demon and the magical ball you were referring to are often referred to as energy balls of fire balls.” Paul informed the struggling Drake.

“Demons have like levels?” Drake wondered. “Which level do I need to hit for a game over because I sure as hell don’t like demons attacking me and my friends in the streets?”

“I know trust me none of us want to be attacked but it’s part of the curse of being a Halliwell.” Paul replied reluctantly trying to get his secret son on side.

“Prue said that I was part demon part witch and then that devil said the same. Do witches have levels too and if so, which level am I? Probably a beginner considering I’m literally just finding out about all this.” Drake rambled on clearly trying to come to terms with the ordeal he had just went through. “Why am I even considering any of this?”

“I know this is a lot to take in…” Paul began to say.

“So, you and your sister are really my half siblings?” Drake butted in as he began to try and wrap his head around the magical madness, not realizing his supposed half-brother was his father.

“Yes.” Paul lied, too scared to admit his truth.

“Well no offence to you both but I had a family and an amazing mother I’m not looking for a replacement family.” Drake politely rejected him. “I know it’s not you or your sister who gave me up but that’s how I feel I’m sorry.”

“I understand that but there’s not much choice here none of us are safe without each other the demons will just keep coming but at least together we may actually stand a chance.” Paul pleaded with him in an attempt for charmed to be reborn.

Pan and Lacey had found themselves back sitting in the same private booth that Drake and Lacey were earlier which was far from a coincidence considering that was the booth all Halliwell’s reserved for themselves. Meanwhile the artist Bebe Rexha had begun playing her song meant to be on stage at the club.

“So how long have you known Drake for?” Pan asked Lacey, eager to learn as much about her nephew as possible.

“We met when we were just kids and just sort of clicked and we’ve been friends ever since.” Lacey explained to her. “What about you? Have you got any friends here tonight for your grand reopening?”

“To be honest with you between work and family I just drifted apart from most of my friends from school.” Pan answered with a saddened sigh, being a Halliwell never granted anyone much of a social life.

“Well I’m more than willing to be your friend anytime.” Lacey said before laughing at her owns words, clearly embarrassed once again. “Oh my god I can’t believe I just said that.”

“You are something else Lacey Morgan.” Pan responded with a smile as she kissed Lacey on the lips before noticing Drake coming into the crowd and heading towards the exit. “I’ll be right back I promise.”

Drake stormed out of the entrance to P3 eager to get away from the night in question to get away from the magic and the madness of it all and eager to go home and wish it all away but he wasn’t quite down dealing with his newly found family at least not quite yet.

“If you don’t stop with the running away, I’m going to have no choice but to freeze you.” Pan warned him as the two of them made their way into the P3 parking lot which had nobody in sight but was packed with cars meaning they all must’ve been inside the club.

“Hold up so you can freeze things and blow them up. What else can you do?” Drake asked as he turned to face her, clearly intrigued by her powers.

“I’d love to tell you all about my powers and then all about your powers just come back inside and I’ll tell you everything.” Pan promised him.

“Look I get magic exists now I can’t exactly deny what just happened before my very eyes, but I just want a normal life.” Drake explain to the woman he believed was his biological half-sister.

“I get that trust me I do I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve wanted to have a normal life but I’ve been witch all my life that’s kind of my purpose on this earth to help protect the innocent from the evil and it’s your purpose to.” Pan responded trying to convince him of the blessing of his destiny even if she wasn’t always convinced of it herself.

“Listen I protect the innocent just fine within the law as a detective and I don’t owe you or your brother anything just because we share the same blood.” Drake made himself clear.

“We’re not saying that you do Drake but you’re safer with us.” Pan pleaded with him. “We’re the charmed ones.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Drake replied before continuing to walk away.

Drake walked down his apartment building corridor before reaching his door ready to escape from the night he had just witnessed only to walk in to find Quinn stood waiting for him in his living room with no idea how Quinn even got there.

“Let me guess you’re a witch too and your power is unlocking locks.” Drake said to Quinn as he closed the door behind him.

“I’m not a witch I’m a white lighter which is basically like a magical bodyguard.” Quinn replied to him.

“So, witches get their own bodyguards then?” Drake as he walked over to his kitchen within the living room of his kitchen/living room open planned living area. “Today’s already been long enough without white lighters added into the witch mix.”

“I’m your white lighter and I’m Pan and Paul’s,” Quinn answered as Drake pulled out a bottle of rose wine from the fridge and started pouring himself some.

“The thing is I’m not going to be a witch it doesn’t really fit into my life so I’m not going to need a bodyguard.” Drake replied just before a demon shimmered into the room causing Quinn to orb over to Drake before orbing out of Drake’s apartment just in time to avoid the demon that was clearly hunting Drake.

Quinn orbed Drake to the alleyway outside of Drake’s apartment building both quickly losing footing as Drake fell to the ground with Quinn fall on top of Drake’s body.

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t need a bodyguard?” Quinn laughed while still laying on top of Drake before the two men’s eyes caught each other’s with a sense of longing.

“I guess you’re not too bad at your job.” Drake replied before kissing Quinn.

Quinn pulled away from the kiss for a moment as the two looked at each other knowing what they were about to do was far from a good idea but also knowing they couldn’t resist any longer as Quinn crashed his lips against Drake’s while the couple began passionately kissing as they continued to lay on the ground.

Drake and Quinn continued kissing for several minutes their tongues crashing against each other’s while their hands continued to wonder until Quinn suddenly pulled himself of Drake standing up on his feet in the process.

“I’m sorry I really shouldn’t have kissed you back.” Quinn apologised as Drake stood up to face him.

“Trust me when I say you have nothing to apologize for.” Drake said with a sly smirk on his face having clearly just enjoyed himself with the white lighter.

“It’s against the rules for anything to happen between us.” Quinn revealed to a shocked Drake.

“Hold up so because you’re my magical bodyguard and I’m a witch we’re not allowed to kiss?” Drake asked him.

“Witches and white lighters are allowed to date nowadays but white lighters aren’t allowed to be with demons or even half demons.” Quinn admitted. “The elders strictly forbid it.”

“Why do these elders get to make all the rules?” Drake wondered.

“Because they’re my bosses.” Quinn explained before changing the subject. “We should probably get you back to the Halliwell Manor you’ll be much safer once you receive your powers.”

“I’ve already told you this whole witch life is just not for me.” Drake replied making it clear how he felt about becoming a witch.

Before Quinn had a chance to argue the point of him being safe the same demon shimmered into the alleyway proving his point for him as Quinn quickly grabbed Drake’s arm and orbed out of the alleyway once again running from the demon hunting them.

“Look I’m sorry but I refuse to accept this destiny so please tell every both under and on top of this world to leave me alone.” Drake told Quinn after the two of them orbed into the attic of the Halliwell Manor.

“The demons from the Underworld won’t stop hunting you until your dead so your safest just accepting that this is your life now.” Quinn pointed it out bluntly. “You need to decide whether you want to keep running till your dead or learn how to fight back.”

Before Drake could respond the demon shimmered into the attic standing right in front of Drake who instantly side kicked the demon in the face causing the demon to fall to the floor instantly.

“Why don’t you head straight back to hell and leave me alone already?” Drake shouted at the demon before the demon grabbed a hold of his leg and shimmered away with him leaving Quinn completely horrified.

Despite all the madness of this night Pan had managed to have a successful night with P3’s grand reopening and had stayed behind with Paul to clean up the club as much as possible so the cleaners didn’t have too much work on their hands in the morning.

“Well despite everything that went down tonight the club reopening was a great success.” Paul said to his sister as he held open a bin bag while Pan put rubbish from surround tables and booths into it.

“Look I’m sure Drake will come around eventually this life is a lot for anyone to adjust to.” Pan replied hoping to make her brother feel better following his first meeting with his long-lost son.

“I know but the thing is we don’t have time to let him come around we need to restore the charmed ones as quickly as possible.” Paul explained to her.

“Discovering you’re a witch then meeting your adoptive father as well as a charmed conversation is more information than one person can comprehend in one night.” Pan told her brother.

“Actually, I never told him that I was his dad.” Paul reluctantly admitted.

“Okay,” Pan sighed, clearly not too impressed with her brother not telling Drake everything. “What did you tell him?”

“I just let him believe I was his sibling.” Paul revealed while tying up the bin bag after Pan finished picking up the rest of the rubbish. “A part of me wanted nothing more than to tell him I was his father and that not a single day had passed where I wish I never gave him up but then I realized if I told him then I’d have to admit I gave him up because he’s part demon and the only reason I’m in his life now is because the elders are willing to overlook that fact in favour of bringing back the power of three.”

“It’s not like you had much choice Paul you were only trying to keep him safe.” Pan said as she placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder attempting to comfort him.

Before Paul could respond to Pan, Quinn orbed into the club instantly interrupting their brother sister moment by doing so.

“Okay don’t kill me guys because I tried really hard to stop this happening, but a demon has taken Drake to the Underworld and we should probably get down there like right now before something happens to him.” Quinn said frantically, worrying for Drake’s life.

“The source is going to be very happy with me.” The demon said as he shimmered into a cave within the Underworld while holding Drake tightly.

Drake wasted no time in head butting the demon before hitting with several punches across the face and kicking him once more to the ground before beginning to run off into the tunnels of the Underworld narrowly avoiding a fire ball that was thrown to him by the demon as the demon got back on his feet and began running after Drake.

“There’s no escaping from here half breed.” The demon shouted as he continued to chase Drake through the dark tunnels of the Underworld with flame torches on it’s walls serving as their only light.

Drake continued running through the seemingly endless tunnels until finding himself within another cave in the Underworld only for the demon to shimmer in front of him blocking him from running any further.

Drake wasn’t one to give up easily and quickly launched himself at the demon leading to the two fighting each other in which it quickly became clear Drake had the upper hand having had fight training from a young age from Lacey’s father Eric not to mention all his police training.

After the demon was once again kicked to the ground he decided to use his powers against the not yet activated witch waving his hand and magically sending Drake flying across the cave his body hitting off the wall before slamming onto the ground as the demon rose back to his feet.

“I’m really going to enjoy killing you.” The demon boasted as he summoned a fire ball above his hand only to be left shocked when Paul, Pan and Quinn orbed in front of them, Pan quickly raising her hands straight afterwards and exploding the demon and his ball of fire.

“I was kicking his ass until he cheated using his powers against me.” Drake told the three of them as he raised back to his feet before beginning to look around the cave. “I get this placed is called the Underworld, but would it kill them to take some pride in their living quarters?”

“Funny thing about demons they’re not particularly big on the whole decorating.” Pan replied to him.

“I hope the whole kidnapping was enough to convince you you’re safe with us than by yourself?” Paul asked Drake.

“I guess I should probably get those powers now I mean if these guys are going to fight dirty, I’d like to level the playing field.” Drake admitted to them. “I’m not saying I’m ready for a welcoming a whole new family into my life, but I supposed for my own safety I’m willing to give things a try.”

“Well I guess it’s time for a hug.” Pan said while grabbing a hold of Paul and dragging him with her as she walked over to Drake and forced the two men into a group hug.

The moment the three witches hugged each other a blue shining light appeared above them like the light that appeared the last time charmed was reborn.

“Charmed is finally reborn.” Quinn said with an excited smile on his face.

The newly restored charmed ones Paul, Pan and Drake walked into the attic of the Halliwell Manor before walking over to the book of shadows which was placed on it’s usual book-stand in front of the windows.

“I think I briefly seen that book before the whole demon taking me to the Underworld debacle.” Drake said to Paul and Pan as the three of them walked over to stand behind the book of shadows. “What’s so special about this book of shadows anyway?”

“The book of shadows is centuries old having been passed down from generation to generation of Halliwell witches’ dating well back to our ancestor Melinda Warren.” Paul explained to him. “This book holds all the information about spells, ingredients for potions, information about demons, witches and several other magical creatures and every Halliwell witch has contributed something to the book making that much more special.”

“So, it’s like a family grimoire.” Drake said as he began scanning through the pages of the book of shadows noticing spells and ingredients for spells writing by Penny Halliwell, by Prue Halliwell, by Phoebe, Piper and Page and several more names before stopping at a page where a spell was written by Melinda Halliwell, the woman he believe to be his mother. “Melinda Halliwell isn’t that?”

“Our mother yes.” Pan lied while awkwardly looking at a guilty Paul as they shared a look of discomfort over lying to Drake.

“I see.” Drake responded with a sense of discomfort before closing the book.

“How about we introduce you to your new witch power as you clearly have your demon power of blinking under some kind of control.” Pan said to Drake, attempting to break the ice following some discomfort felt by all three of them. “Traditionally the third charmed one has the power of telekinesis however because you’re something like a hybrid like Aunt Paige was I’m going to take a guess and say your power works with a little demonic twist like her power worked with a white lighter twist.”

“A demonic twist that sounds interesting.” Drake replied before going on to ask. “So, how does it work exactly?”

“Hold out your hand and call for something it doesn’t matter what you’re calling for just focus your mind on what your calling for as it should appear.” Paul explained to him.

“Ice Cream!” Drake shouted while holding out his hands only for a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream to blink into his hands causing him to smile. “I could get used to this.”

“I’m going to call it a night and head to bed.” Pan said while placing a hand on Drake’s shoulder before giving Paul a knowing look as she then turned to face Drake. “It was nice finally getting to meet you.”

Pan wasted no time in rushing out of the attic clearly hoping for Paul to speak to his son and divulge the last remaining bit of information that Drake was yet to learn that Paul wasn’t his half-brother, Paul was his father.

“I guess this means you’re going to have to wait for another day.” Drake said while speaking to the tub of ice cream causing Paul to laugh by doing so before Drake went on to ask. “Do you guys have a freezer?”

Suddenly a freezer blinked into the attic crashing into the ground with a loud bang much to Drake and Paul’s surprise.

“Well we did.” Paul laughed.

Pan walked down the attic stairs and into the first-floor hallway only to find Prue stood in the middle of the hallway clearly waiting for her.

“Well the power of three has been reborn but it’s started out with a lie.” Pan said to her. “Drake should really know the truth about his parents.”

“I know that’s how you feel and it’s mostly how I feel but it’s not up to us to decide that’s in Paul’s hands only.” Prue told her.

“If he doesn’t hear it from Paul it won’t be long till he works out the truth for him self and then Charmed won’t be staying reborn for long.” Pan worried.

“Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to that’s the way it always does whether we like it or not.” Prue explained to her great-niece.

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