Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 30, 2008 23:31:35 GMT -5
Chapter Twenty-Two – Not Powerless, Another Kind of Power
Uncertain where to start, Chris had come down stairs and entered the conservatory where most of his family was gathered. In the carrier strapped to his chest he carried his baby version. He walked into the conservatory where his father was putting some gauze on a wound on Phoebe’s arm. Paige was pacing behind her. Piper was sitting at a table completely engulfed by a map, scrying.
“We were lucky to get out of there alive,” Phoebe told Leo before pulling back in pain. “Ow!”
Sorry, Aunt Phoebe, Chris thought as he watched with a wince. I tried to help as best I could.
“Sorry,” Leo apologized as Phoebe tried to laugh the pain off.
“We weren’t lucky,” Paige retorted from behind Phoebe. “Wyatt wanted us distracted long enough to grab Wyatt.
To do what?! Chris stared at his aunt with worry covering his face. Wyatt had his younger self? This was bad. And it wasn’t bad before, Chris thought bitterly as he talked over to a wicker couch by a window and sat down to listen. His younger self looked up at him solemnly before settling back to sleep. Ah, come on. I’m not that morose as a baby am I?
“And now that he has him, what is he gonna do with him?” Piper asked looking up from scrying.
Chris looked across the room at his mother.
“He wants to take him back to the future so we can’t change them both back to good,” Leo informed them looking between the sisters. “That’s why he wanted the Book of Shadows.”
Piper looked back down with a sigh.
Chris managed to hold back his groan. Baby Chris moved in sleep. Chris exhaled slowly and as quietly as he could. There is no way you are going to take your little self to the future Wyatt. As if you turning evil wouldn’t mess things up enough, you not being her, would just be a recipe for disaster.
“He’s gonna figure out a way to get that Book,” Phoebe informed them confidently. “My nephew is very resourceful.”
Chris had to smile at that. Yeah, Wyatt was resourceful. And stubborn, very, very stubborn. Not so very long ago, when everyone else was insisting Chris didn’t exist, Wyatt stubbornly had clung to his memories of his brother and kept looking even when every thought he was crazy.
“Sorry about it all, Chris,” Seth told Chris looking even more sorry than he sounded. “I should have trusted him.”
“See why I don’t like demons shimmering into our apartment?” Chris asked him teasingly. “Bad things happen. A demon tries to mess with my memory. A demon tries to erase me from memory.”
“Warlock.”
“Not the point.”
Seth stuck out his tongue. “How about we compromise? Next time I’ll shimmer into a room you’re not in.”
“Also not the point.”
Seth looked at Chris questioningly, as if not sure how to respond or what Chris was talking about. Finally, he chose to chuckle. “Okay then.” Seth picked an empty glass off the counter and lifted it high. “Here is to the most stubborn witch on the planet and his almost equally stubborn older brother, without whom things would be very boring.”
Chris smiled at the words. He heard the front door open and Emily’s distinctive voice arguing with Wyatt. He turned around and walked over to the hallway.
Emily must have sensed him there, because she looked up and grinned. “Hey, Chris, sorry I forgot you.”
Chris shrugged. “It worked out okay. Thanks for helping Wyatt look even when you didn’t believe him.” Chris turned back around to include Seth in the comment. “Both of you.”
Seth grinned and inclined his head. “Like I said, he’s pretty hard to argue with, especially when he knows he’s right.”
The scrying crystal Piper has been using hits the map catching Piper’s attention. “Found him.”
Chris stood up and walked over to the table.
“Let’s go,” Piper added looking over at her sisters and her husband.
Chris looked at the map. Okay, so why can you find him at all? He’s evil or were you scrying for mini-Wyatt? Or am I right and the good Wyatt is still there, just unreachable?
“Whoa,” Leo protested. “You can’t just go right to him. He’s gonna be expecting that.”
Chris looked over at his father, nodding. Good point.
Paige rolled her eyes. We know that, Leo. But we have to do something.
“So?” Piper asked annoyed. “I can’t just sit here and let my son corrupt himself.”
Equally good point, Chris conceded.
“Yeah, but that,” Phoebe said pointing at the map, “was way too easy. It’s gotta be a trap.”
Chris shook his head. It wasn’t that he disagreed with her. It was just that he didn’t know what to do about it. He opened his mouth to say something and remembered that he couldn’t, not if he didn’t want them to know he was here. And that was getting old very quickly. He wanted to hug his mom and assure her that everything would be fine, but right now he didn’t know if it would be.
“Well, whatever we do, we have to be smart about it,” Paige reminded them looking at Phoebe and Leo. “’Cause Wyatt is very powerful and we’re gonna get one shot at this.”
Powerful and when he is evil, very dangerous. Be careful, Aunt Paige.
“Well, we know what his ext move is gonna be,” Phoebe said, addressing them all. “He’s gonna go after the Book.” She turned her head to look at Leo as she finished. “So maybe we should set a trap for him.”
Leo looked thoughtful as she spoke, then nodded. “We’ll he’s not gonna attack you guys here.” He turned to look at Piper as he said, “He doesn’t want to have to fight you.”
“But you said if we go to him,” Piper reminded him a bit confused, “he’ll be expecting it.”
“He will,” Leo nodded in concession. “Which is why I agree with Phoebe. We should set a trap.”
Phoebe nodded.
Leo continued, “Only I’ll be the one waiting for him, not you.”
Dad! Chris reacted instantly and had to force himself not to talk. Alone? Don’t you know I need you? And so does Wyatt? Be careful.
Piper shook her head, unknowingly agreeing with her son, but not fully for the same reasons. “Leo, you don’t have any powers to fight him with.”
Chris looked at his mom. Powers wasn’t the issue. Wyatt was the issue. Is Dad safe with Wyatt?
“Which is why he won’t sense me as a threat,” Leo told her, trying to allay her fears. “Any one of you guys are here, he’s not gonna show up.”
“Fine,” Paige said giving Leo a worried and confused look. “So you get him here. What exactly are you gonna do?”
“Well, the demon needed Wyatt to trust him, right, to hand over the bear willingly?”
Paige nodded, concern still etched on her face, but she was listening.
“I just need him to give it back.” It sounded reasonable the way Leo put it, but exactly how easy was it.
“Leo, I . . .” Piper began, shaking her head.
“Look,” Leo stopped her. “I may not have any powers, but I’m not powerless. I’m his father. He’s not gonna hurt me.”
Chris wasn’t as confident as his father was of this. His mind reminded him of dozens of examples of Wyatt hurting people in their family. Not killing them. He had only done that once.
It was the only time Chris had seen his then older brother show remorse, when Aunt Phoebe had lain dead on the ground at Wyatt’s feet, her blood pooling around her head and the rest of her body. With her had died, not the Power of Three, for that had died long before with Aunt Paige, but with her had died the last of the former Charmed Ones, the last of hope. Aunt Prue had been the first of the Charmed Ones to die, killed by the Source’s assassin, Shax, long before even Wyatt was born. Aunt Paige’s death, not long after Meta had turned her to stone only two years later, had forever ended the Power of Three. Almost sixteen years later, on Chris’ fourteenth birthday, demons had attacked and only one Charmed One had survived, Aunt Phoebe. It had been almost seven years later, only weeks before Chris had begun his trip to the past, when Wyatt had killed Aunt Phoebe.
Chris and Victor were only a few feet away. Victor stared down at the dead body of his youngest girl, his old body shaking as tears racked him. Chris did not looked at Aunt Phoebe. It was at Wyatt he looked. Until that moment he had believed that Wyatt still held some tenuous grasp on good. As strange as it was, the horror in Wyatt’s eyes convinced Chris that he was right. That was still good in Wyatt, but it wasn’t in control.
Wyatt looked up from Aunt Phoebe’s body and in a chilling voice he said, “Leave.”
Chris met his older brother’s eyes. He both saw and heard the terror.
Victor looked up at his younger grandson. Though tears still filled his eyes and streamed down his face, it was no longer the tears that made him shake.
“I don’t want to kill you tonight.”
“Tonight?” Chris asked in the steadiest voice he could muster, which at the moment wasn’t very steady.
“Go!” The word was a command, with anger tightly bound by the remnants of lingering love. That was the only reason he wanted them out, away from him. He still loved them. Evil could not love, proving once more than good still existed, but its strength was small, not enough to save them for long, but enough to save them for now. “Now!”
Chris looked down at the body at their feet. He looked up at Wyatt and nodded. I’ll save you, Wyatt. Chris grabbed Victor into a hug and orbed them out of there.
As soon as they reappeared outside Victor’s house, Chris waved his hand, turning the lock and opening the door. He pulled Victor inside and shut the door behind them. He manually locked the door and closed his eyes with a sigh. Chris looked at his grandpa. “I won’t let this happen, Grandpa.”
This wasn’t the same Wyatt, at least not as far as Chris knew, but he had the same tendency for evil. Chris didn’t know if Wyatt would hurt their father. He hoped not, but he didn’t know.
Chris came back to the present just as Phoebe replied. “No? Ever read Hamlet?”
A little much, don’t you think, Aunt Phoebe.
“Hamlet,” Leo reminded her in his gentle way, “killed his stepfather.”
“Close enough,” Phoebe intoned, beginning one of her little speeches. “Freud says that according . . .”
“Woman,” Piper interrupted, annoyed, “can it!”
Chris couldn’t keep from chuckling, but fortunately the spell he had used worked, and no one heard it.
Leo stood. “It’s the only way it can happen, Piper. You know it.”
Piper sighed and looked away.
“All right,” Paige said, a little loud, as if she was trying to put up a cheery front. She calmed down as she continued. “Well, any sign of trouble, you call, all right. ‘Cause we’re just an orb away.”
Leo sighed and inclined his head slightly to indicate his agreement. He looked over at Piper.
Piper stood and walked over to him. “Be careful.”
Piper took a step to her right. Phoebe was already standing to Paige’s left. The three sisters locked arms.
“I will be,” Leo assured her.
Paige orbed her and her sisters out leaving Leo thinking he was alone.
Chris looked at where his mom and Aunts had orbed out and back to where his father was staying. To leave or stay. Dad, I’m going with you. Wyatt will sense that, but I think he will ignore that. If he doesn’t show after long enough, I will leave, but for now, I want to be there. Be careful, Dad. Chris walked right past his dad and headed toward the stairs.
Leo turned and picked up the Book of Shadows. He tucked it under his arm before he, too, headed toward the stairs.
Chris was again visible as he walked down the hallway of the second floor toward the attic. A sound behind him caused his to turn invisible. He turned around and saw Leo turning the corner into the main hallway. Chris stepped backward into an open door, right back into the room he had been in earlier, the nursery. He sighed. How is this going to help anyone?
Behind him, black orbs formed into Evil Wyatt holding Little Wyatt. Evil Wyatt frowned as he looked around. He walked over to the crib.
The sound caused Chris to turn around. His eyes widened as he saw his older brother looking into his crib.
Smart. Now, where are you, Christopher?
Chris watched silently, hoping Wyatt would just turn around and leave. It was beginning to look like a good idea to stay out of the attic.
I know you are in here. I just can’t see you. Interesting. I hadn’t realized before that you were invisible. A new power?
Chris frowned. Wyatt knew about his power of invisibility. He had been the one to tell Chris about it the first time Chris had used it. Surely even an evil version of his big brother would know about that power.
Come out, come out where ever you are. Wyatt walked around the room. He waved a hand in the direction of the door closing it. You can’t hide from me, Christopher. This room isn’t that big. Wyatt walked toward the door.
Chris tried to walk very quietly as he moved away from the door towards Wyatt’s bed. He debated silently what he should do. He couldn’t fight, not with both of the little versions in the room. He looked at little Wyatt standing quietly in the center of the room. Could he reach him?
Perhaps Wyatt sensed what Chris was contemplating. Perhaps he simply knew how Chris mind worked. He turned around and little Wyatt disappeared in dark orbs, reappearing at evil Wyatt’s side. Uh, uh, uh. He stays with me.
Why are you doing this, Wyatt? Chris asked finally breaking his mental silence.
Wyatt smirked. So you decided to talk to me, huh?
I don’t get it. It’s like Aunt Phoebe said. You aren’t evil. You aren’t.
I am, Christopher. You will have to accept that. You can’t change it.
Wy, please, let them help you.
You know this spell you wrote is interesting. It was a spell right?
Chris frowned. What on earth was Wyatt up to now?
That spell could come in handy at times. What was it?
Why would I tell you?
Wyatt raised a hand and sent the covers of little Wyatt’s bed around the room until they hit Chris. Wyatt smirked, again. Because I’m going to win. Don’t you want to be on the winning side?
Chris pushed off the blanket and got over to the other side of the room. I am good, Wyatt. You are good. I don’t know what point a spell that will only work between the two of us would do you, because that’s all it will work with, but I am not helping you with spells or anything else while you are working toward evil goals.
“I. Am. Not. Good,” Wyatt said aloud punctuating each word. This is pointless. I’ll be back for you. He took little Wyatt’s hand and dark orbed out.
Chris sighed and turned visible. He glanced up at the ceiling trying to decide what to do next.