Would you dance
if I asked you to dance?
Would you run
and never look back?
Would you cry
If you saw me cry?
And would you save my soul, tonight?
I'm fourteen years old and yet if you lived my life it would seem as if those years were milleniums. Today I feel as if time has stopped, as if the cruel hands of fate that once tick-tocked on earth's clock have come to an end. And I'm so numb I can't even bring myself to cry.
She lied to me. She betrayed me. I met her three years ago, when my life started falling apart. I supposed that I was vulnerable in my moment of weakness. After all, I'd just realized my brother was evil and that he was the one commiting the mysterious murders around San Francisco, blackmailing and killing his way to power. I was lost, scared, confused.
And that's when I met Bianca. She was the first good thing that ever happened to me. I'm generally ignored; there were seven Halliwell children living under one roof and considered the easy kid that never needed to be bothered. Not only that, but Leo hated me. Occasionally he even hurt me. And Wyatt wasn't any better.
For a while there I actually believed that the world was giving me something back by finally giving me a friend.
Would you tremble
If I touched your lips?
Would you laugh?
Oh please tell me this.
Now would you die
For the one you loved?
Hold me in your arms, tonight.
It was too good to last. I know that now, but then...it seemed so perfect. We met at San Francisco Park, sitting on the benches by the angel staues. I was trying to figure out what to do at the time. I mean, it wasn't that simple--my brother was evil and I was the only one who understood the full extent of the problem.
She was crying. At first she wouldn't tell me why, but I kept pressing, eager to help. She finally admitted that an evil man was trying to get her to kill someone. She was a phoenix--in other words, an assassin.
We were only eleven, but we fell in love that day. We were a couple in secret. I never told anyone in my family about her, scared that they'd take away the one thing I cherished. It's too bad I never told them. In the end it only hurt me.
I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.
After that day we were inseparable. She was there for me all through those hard times; when little Mel, my cousin, was murdered by Wyatt and Leo blamed me. The times when Leo would punish me brutally for the things I didn't do. When Wyatt would force me to watch as all the people I managed to get close to were tortured.
Yeah, she was always there. I remember our first kiss, on her thirteenth birthday. We celebrated it in her apartment and stayed up all night, laughing and talking. No one at home even asked where I was. We were out on the porch, overlooking the city...
It was the best moment of my life. And on my fourteenth birthday, she tod me she loved me. There were tears in her eyes and I told her I loved her back. I thought that our lives could be nothing but perfect from here.
I was wrong.
Would you swear
That you'll always be mine?
Or would you lie?
Would you run and hide?
Am I in too deep?
Have I lost my mind?
I don't care...
You're here tonight.
That night I was in my room. The night of my fourteenth birthday, and only the littler kids, Phoebe's and Paige's, remembered. There was no celebration or happiness. But it didn't matter. My head was up in the clouds, I was walking on air...Bianca, Bianca, Bianca. She loved me. We were going to live happily ever after.
Then I heard the scream.
Phoebe was out on a business trip with Jason, having left the kids. Paige was teaching a night course at Magic School. So the high-pitched shriek from down the stairs could only be my mother.
"Stay down here," I ordered the four of them, not including Mel since she was...dead. My little sister and Phoebe's twins and Paige's son blinked at me, too young to fully comprehend that there was trouble. "Don't move."
I orbed down to the kitchen.
I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.
Bianca stood there, panting, holding a knife...drenched in blood. There was a fleeting moment there that I thought she'd been stabbed--but no. There was a body lying at her feet, lifeless and bloody.
It was Piper. She'd killed my mother.
"No..." I'd stuttered, unable to believe it was true. "No!"
"I'm sorry, Chris," she sobbed. "He was going to kill me. He was going to kill you!"
Tears filled my eyes and I rushed over to her body. There was no pulse. A sob wracked my body, but the tears never fell. I never cried. I was shaking all over--suddenly I seemed so cold.
"Bianca, how could you?" I whispered. "Why?"
"I didn't want to," she cried. "It was Wyatt. Do you remember the day we met? He wanted me to kill you, Chris! He wanted me to murder you in cold blood!"
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU?!" he screamed. "WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE?"
"Because," she wailed," she was going to be killed anyways. Wyatt would kill her if I didn't. And it was her life...in exchange for yours." She lifted her head, facing me, watery eyes locked with mine. "It was the only way to save you. To save US."
"NO!" I howled. "NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU LIED!"
"Chris, don't," she pleaded. "I love you."
I scoffed. "I'm sure." I orbed away.
Oh, I just want to hold you.
I just want to hold you.
Am I in too deep?
Have I lost my mind?
I don't care...
You're here tonight.
Now I'm still sitting here, remembering all of the pain. All of the deciet. There are bruises and wounds all over my body from Leo's rage--of course he thought it was me. Who else? Santa Clause?
The rain beats down and I wince as they hit the fresher scars. Bianca, my one, my only...killed her. Piper may have never noticed, but she cared. She was a good person. She was the glue that held our family together, and now it has fallen apart.
Because she was super glue and I'm just a fourteen-year-old kid without a job. And yet I'm running the P3 on my own and protetcing little Andy and Prue and Cassie on my own now that Phoebe and Paige are dead. I won't let the same thing happen to them that happened to Mel.
Not over my dead body.
"You okay, kid?" asks a member of the band that was hired tonight. The club's still booming. I have no idea how I'm doing it, but organizing the club and taking care of the kids...keeps me occupied. Keeps me distracted like the balloon of pain in my gut.
"Yeah, fine. Good playing tonight," I say vaguely.
I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by your forever.
You can take my breath away.
"Hm." I watch as the band leaves. The street is empty and the rain dances before my eyes.
"Chris?" asks a little timid voice from inside the club.
"I'm coming, Andy," I assure him. I sigh, walking back into the warmth. I take Andy and Mel and Cassie's hands. "We're going home now," I tell them.
"Chris..." says Prue. "Who beat you up?"
"A demon," I say between clenched teeth. I do not lie. "A very, very bad demon."
We orb away.
I can be your hero.
I can kiss away the pain.
And I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.
You can take my breath away.
Later that night I watch them all, sleeping in the conservatory. They're so peaceful. They're too young to understand. Andy's only six; Cassie's three and Prue is four. They don't know what's happening. They don't know that the world is crumbling beneath our very feet.
And they don't know what it's like to feel true love and be slapped in the face by it. They don't know what it's like to be a voice never heard.
But I do know this: They are destined to be powerful.
And they're on my side.
I'll kill you, Bianca. And I'll kill Wyatt right along with you.
Just as soon as I stop loving you.
I can be your hero.