Sober. (A Covenant Charmed Fanfiction)

Title: Sober. (A Covenant/Charmed Fanfiction)

Author: Lady_Lyonnesse

Rating: 15+

Summary: The Sons of Ipswitch have all ascended and are beginning to attract a lot of attention, so the Elders send them all to go and live with a powerful witch for a while - as if Piper Halliwell didn't have trouble enough with two boys already!

Chapter one: Dudes in Dresses

"WOOT! Look at that one!" Reid yelled, jumping up and down in the air like a little kid. The car blew about 10 feet into the air, propelled by a vast jet of flames, before exploding in many bright lights and a rush of warmth. Tyler and Reid were almost hugging, they were that hyped up and even Caleb smiled, while Pogue laughed along amicably. Tyler's ascension had been about 2 months ago - and every other fortnight since then, they'd been coming down to the Junk Yard and blowing up a few dead cars. Usually, Caleb wouldn't of approved of such a Using, but since they Used very rarely now (even Reid), he was all for going and setting light to a few scraps of metal. It was like drinking - now and again was fine, but too often was fatal.

"Next one!" Reid screamed, running through the metal frames at lightening speed - his black eyes shining brightly, madly. "This one!" he declared, dragging out the remains of a land rover.

"Light it up Caleb!" Tyler commanded, electricity crackling over his fingers, impatiently. Caleb looked at them.

"I dunno, the Usage has been pretty heavy tonight...."

"So, this is the last one!" Reid cut across him. "Come on Caleb - quit being a pussy and fry the thing already! You've got the power for it!" The last words didn't go without an undertone of jealousy.

"He's right Caleb, come on PLEASE?!" Tyler pleaded. "We haven't Used all week!"

"Exactly. Which is why you shouldn't over-Use now!" Caleb countered, half-heartedly.

"What the hell are you trying to do man? Ween us off Using or something?!" Reid demanded, getting right up in Caleb's face, black eye to brown eye. "Just one last car." he said in an undertone. "Then we'll go." Caleb turned to Pogue, who shrugged non-commitally, but balled his fists tightly.

"Fine." Caleb gave in, putting his hands up in surrender. "One last car - then we go. Agreed?"

"Sure man." Reid consented, though he wasn't even paying attention to Caleb anymore, his entire concentration fixated on the car.

"Dude, lets fry this bitch!" Tyler announced. "In 5, 4...." Caleb began to draw the power into his hands. "3... 2... 1..." Caleb let loose with a thrust of his hands, jets of flames rushing out and hitting the car directly. There was a blinding white light. Then darkness.

* * * * *

Caleb groaned and shifted. He wasn't very comfortable - the floor was hard and smooth, impossible to lie on. With an even bigger groan, Caleb opened one eyelid slowly - only to shut it again tightly when it was hit by a bright white light.

"Hey, he's awake!" a voice came seeping through the mist in Caleb's mind.

"Son of a bitch - is he alright?"

"I dunno, he's moving and groaning."

"Dude, please. Could've done without that mental picture." Suddenly, Caleb felt hands on the back of his neck as someone yanked him up by his collar onto his knees and began slapping his face.

"Dude! Caleb! Wakey-wakey!"

"Wha -"

"Caleb!"

"Oi, pussy!"

"Not helping Reid!" Caleb opened his eyes again, cautiously and could just about make out Pogue, holding him upright by his jacket and the faces of Tyler and Reid, half-emerged in the white mist. "Caleb, you back?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm back." Pogue nodded, offered Caleb his hand and pulled him to his feet. Caleb swayed for a moment but recovered quickly.

"Shit." he muttered, massaging his temples with his fingers. "Where are we?"

"How should we know? You're the pussy that brought us here!" Reid accused, glaring at him.

"I didn't do this!" Caleb protested.

"Yeah, right!" Reid snorted.

"I really didn't!" Caleb growled at him. "All I did was blow up that stupid damn car like you told me too!"

"Cut it out!" Pogue yelled, displaying his very rarely seen ability to make people shut up with three syllables. " Caleb's right. All he did was blow up the car and then we were here."

"Wherever here is." Reid muttered.

"You don't think we.... you know," Tyler put in, nervously. "Died? Do you?"

"Oh man, Caleb if we're dead I will so kill you...." Reid ranted, pacing the floor.

"Dude, chill!" Pogue snapped at him. "Even if we are dead - think of all those virgin school girls who got met an untimely end." At the word; virgin, Reid's eyes lit up briefly, before returning to their normal cold edge.

"Greetings Brothers." All four span on the spot, to see about four people emerge from the mist, all dressed in white.

"Man, you call this virgin school girls?" Reid hissed in Pogue's ear. "It's just some dudes in dresses."

"Muttering is very bad manners you know." one of people said, dissapprovingly.

"Yeah, what are you going to do about it?" Reid demanded, moving towards the four figures, his eyes flaming black.

"Dude, just stop!" Caleb told him sternly, grabbing Reid around the shoulders. Reid opened his mouth furiously, but shut it again. Once sure Reid wasn't going to make any stupid moves, Caleb turned to address the figures.

"Where are we?"

"You're not dead." one on the far left said. "If that's what you're asking."

"Not yet anyway." the one that had reproved Reid muttered.

"You're Up There. As it is most commonly referred to as." the centre right one added.

"You may call us; The Elders." the one next to him put in.

"Elders, what -?"

"We need to speak to you."

"You're ascension has not gone unnoticed."

"And not just by us."

"The Underworld is in uproar."

"Underworld? What the hell -?"

"Demons are being sent after you...."

"You won't be able to control your addiction if you don't receive the necessary training,"

"STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!" Caleb yelled. "What the hell are you going on about and what the hell do you mean by Demons?"

"That is not for us to say." one replied, sounding miffed at the interuption.

"Who does say then?" Caleb demanded.

"I do." Everyone spun around as another person walked towards them; a guy in faded jeans and a shirt. He seemed normal - which made the Sons of Ipswitch all the warier. "Hi, I'm Leo Wyatt."

"Er, hi Mr Wyatt." Tyler said, a little cautiously.

"Please, just call me Leo." Leo beamed at them.

"How did you get up here?" one of the four Dudes in Dresses asked, heatedly.

"I hitched a ride with one of the whitelighters." Leo replied, the smile still present but his voice dropping a few degrees. "I heard what was happening and thought to give you a hand."

"We don't need your assistance."

"Are you sure?" Leo raised his eyebrows at them cooly.

"Excuse me, Leo?" Caleb ventured. "Not meaning to be rude, but..."

"Why are you here?" Leo filled in. "Well, it seems since you all ascended, you've been attracting a lot of attention, magically speaking."

"What do you mean? We can't have! We've only been Using once a bloody fortnight!" Reid exclaimed, outraged.

"Yes, we know, but those little spouts of lots of magic make yourselves easy to track - easy targets."

"Easy targets for who? The 'Demons'?!" Reid snorted. "Give me a break."

"Reid, shut up! Look, define Demons." Caleb said, feeling a headache coming along.

"Think of them as your typical bad guy - then times that by a thousand and add a hell of a lot of power." Leo said, darkly.

"Power? Look dude, if it's power you're worried about, we've got enough to take on a few Demons!" Reid assured him, unable to resist the urge to brag a little. "I mean look at us! We're the Sons of Ipswitch! Aka Sons-with-kick-ass-powers-who-are-unlikely-to-allow-themselves-to-be-destroyed-by-a-few-fricking-demons!"

"They wouldn't have to destroy you. You'd destroy yourselves." Leo corrected him.

"What?" Tyler asked, before he could stop himself.

"Oh, they'd begin with the small attacks first, make you feel confident, weigh up your abilities - and then they'd get heavier, the amount of magic you'd use would become greater until eventually...." Leo trailed off. Even Reid was stunned for a moment.

"Is there anyway we can.... stop this?" Pogue asked.

"We believe that there is one way, yes. And that's sending you to live with another witch for a while."

"Another witch?" Caleb didn't know whether to feel shocked or insulted. "What good will that do?"

"That witch is one of the three most powerful witches in the whole world and probably the best vanquisher in the world. You will have a better chance of survivial with her."

"The hell we are!" Reid snapped. "Live with some other witch? Fight Demons? No, I don't know about the rest of you but I am not going down that road!"

"Same." Tyler agreed, looking a tad sick. Leo looked to Pogue, who nodded and then to Caleb.

"Sorry, man." Caleb shrugged, uneasily. "I think we'll take our chances by ourselves." Leo shrugged too.

"If that's the way you feel." he said, mildly. "Oh, I should mention - there might also be a chance she can teach you how to prevent that curse of yours coming true."