Title: Until the End
Author: rachelAbendstern
Characters: Bianca, Chris, Wyatt, Cole
Summary: In a world where Chris never went back to the past to correct the future, how would it have ended?
Disclaimer: No, still don't belong to me... Furthermore, the intro and inspiration to this little ficlet belong to the song 'The Truth Beneath the Rose', Within Temptation
Spoilers: Does Chris's true identity still count as a spoiler?
Warnings: Death fic
Author's Notes: After almost a year of inactivity, I cleaned out my hard drive and found this. It's actually the last chapter of a story that has nagged me for a while but will never get written. I think it stands pretty well on its own, in a 'What-If' sort of way. For all those waiting for AWP, I'm working on it. Until then, maybe you'll find this to your liking.
~ Until the End ~
Blinded to see
The cruelty of the beast
Here is the darkest side of me
Forgive me my sins
The veil of my dreams
Deceived all I have seen
Forgive me for what I have been
Forgive me my sins
(The Truth Beneath the Rose, Within Temptation)
"Chris!"
No, no, no! This couldn't happen, this wasn't how it was supposed to happen!
Bianca's disbelieving, betrayed cry cut through the air like a knife when she discovered Wyatt looming in the shadows.
The young man who she had counted on, believed in to be the last hope for the resistance, for their entire world, didn't meet her eyes. Instead he turned his head, halfway looking over his shoulder to watch his brother approaching. The older Halliwell's silent presence felt heavy and menacing. Oppressive. Neither of the brothers said anything. But then, they didn't need to. Everything that needed to be said had been said, and even if it hadn't... some actions spoke louder than words.
Seeing them standing together like this, shoulder to shoulder, Bianca couldn't help the defeat washing through her. They were the twice-blessed children of a Charmed One, the most powerful witches of their time (or, quite possibly, all time), and they were all the family the other had left. Together, they were invincible.
She had been foolish to underestimate the bond of blood they shared, foolish to think Chris would turn on his brother so completely as to deliver him into the resistance's waiting hands.
"Please don't do this!" she begged of him nevertheless. They had shared something too, Chris and Bianca, and it had been no less real, she was certain of that. Maybe it was selfish, but she didn't want to lose him, not even to his brother. "Not after all that's happened, after all we've been through! I thought you..."
Bianca left the sentence unfinished when Chris finally met her head on. The anguish in his eyes was all too real, and it almost hurt herself to witness it. She saw regret there too, and that wasn't a good omen.
"I made my choice, Bianca." He had told her that so often, but somehow those words never felt so final as they did now. "I made it a long time ago."
His eyes flickered up to his brother's. Bianca caught Wyatt's thin but triumphant smile. He felt satisfied and victorious, she was sure, safe in the knowledge that his little brother chose him over her, would always choose him over anything. That was when anger reared its furious head in her.
"Bastard!" she spat. "I trusted you!"
And she had. She might not have trusted him to betray his brother, not completely anyway. But she had trusted him not to render her to Wyatt's mercy. And that was exactly what he was doing today. Chris might as well have put his signature under her death sentence. Everyone knew what Wyatt did to traitors.
A warm, strong hand on her elbow reminded her that she hadn't come alone either. Suddenly, she was glad that Cole had insisted on coming with her. They would still die, of course, but with the old demon at her side, at least the coming fight was more evenly matched.
"I'm sorry." Chris's soft, anguished voice put an abrupt halt to her spinning thoughts. Once again, he wouldn't look her in the eye. The hand on her arm tightened almost painfully when a long, sharp dagger appeared in the young witch's... warlock's hand, conjured up out of thin air without so much as a spoken command. An athame. "I'm so sorry."
And then, Chris did something completely unexpected.
Wyatt grunted, more in surprise than pain, as the athame slid effortlessly through his ribs and into his heart. Some detached part of Bianca, the assassin part, had to congratulate Chris on the clean, quick hit. Another part almost laughed at the expression of confusion, surprise, hurt and incredulity on Wyatt's face as he stared at his little brother. For the most part, though, she watched in horrified silence as Wyatt's knees gave out, and his weight dragged Chris down with him onto his knees. Chris carefully, almost gently laid his brother's larger form on the ground, his eyes never breaking free from Wyatt's stare, one hand still on the dagger in his brother's chest. "I'm so sorry."
In the dim light inside the deserted ruins, Bianca could see how pale Chris's face was, almost as pale as his fallen brother's. There were tear tracks staining his cheeks.
It had to be real, she realized, watching them. Chris hadn't betrayed her. But her feelings of betrayal had to be real, or Wyatt wouldn't have bought it. Chris knew all along that he was the only one who would ever stand a chance to end Wyatt's rule of terror. He knew. No one else got close enough. Moreover, it was his responsibility. He told Bianca as much once, in not so many words. I am my brother's keeper. The words haunted her now. Even as he was walking down a path of darkness himself, Chris had still tried to temper his brother's violence, his ruthlessness, his insanity.
With Cole by her side, she watched as Wyatt weakly grabbed at his brother's shirt. His words were barely audible, as he whispered, "Why? Why, Chris?"
Bianca was honestly surprised that there wasn't more anger, more disappointment in those words than there was. Mostly, Wyatt just seemed weary.
"Because what we did was wrong. It's not how things were supposed to be. And deep down you know that. But you wouldn't have stopped. You couldn't have."
"You... you promised... you promised not to leave me. Until the end..."
"And I won't." Chris's voice was both definite and jaded, a hoarse edge to his words, and Bianca felt unease coil in her belly. It was only reinforced when the young man she had so desperately wanted to save looked up at her for unknown moments, a myriad of emotions in his eyes. None of them boded well.
He looked down at Wyatt again, the warlock only barely conscious anymore, and carded a shaking hand through the mass of his brother's blond locks. When Chris softly, haltingly began to chant, she finally knew why she felt like a cruel fist was crushing her heart.
"I call upon the ancient power
To help us in this darkest hour.
One last time I call to thee,
Remembering who we used to be:
All horrors shall end in a flaming blaze
Let fire be our saving grace."
It must have been the first time in years that Chris had evoked the powers of his family as the witch he used to be and not the warlock he had become. Bianca needed a moment to understand the purpose of his spell. She did understand in the same moment she felt the hand on her elbow once again tightening, trying to lead her away and saw the flames leaping up around the brothers, quickly spreading across the whole building.
"No," she whispered, horrified. And then screamed, "No!"
"Bianca!" Cole's voice against her ear was almost as hot as the fire raging in front of her. "We need to get out of here!"
She knew that herself. But she couldn't just leave Chris here to die, not like this, not after...
"You heard him, he won't break the promise he made to his brother. Until the end. He sacrificed himself for us, Bianca. Don't let it be in vain!"
And she knew that too. Even knew why Chris had chosen this bitter way to end it all. It was no coincidence that witches had been burned at the stake in the old days. Fire was supposed to be cleansing. It was supposed to wash your sins away. Between the two brothers, they had accumulated plenty of sins.
It was in that moment, when she was just a second away to give in to Cole's insistent pulling, that Chris raised his head once more and looked her directly in the eyes, the bright orange glow of fire both illuminating and obscuring his hunched over form, flames lapping at his hair and clothes. Bianca saw his lips moving before she heard the words. Freezing in her movement, she stared at Chris incredulously when the impact of this newest spell hit her.
"What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine,
Let our powers cross the line.
I offer up my gift to share,
Switch our powers through the air."
A cloud of bright lights covered Chris before rising above him, weaving and dancing, heading her way. She felt a tingling sensation all over her skin, almost like someone was tickling her, and then the weird, disconcerting feeling of loss before the cloud settled over her, and the feeling faded into nothing, leaving behind only warmth and Chris's soft voice in her ears (You can change all that. If you choose to.)
His eyes were still on her as the fire finally latched on to him. But instead of anguish or pleading or whatever she had expected to be there, Bianca only saw calmness, an odd sort of encouragement and, curiously enough, relief. He had made his peace at last.
The next thing she was aware of was the sharp coolness of night and grey rock beneath her feet. Cole had apparently shimmered them out of the burning building when she wouldn't move. In the distance she could see the faint glow of a fire. Angrily, she wiped away the dampness on her cheeks.
"You do know what he has gifted you with, don't you?" Cole's voice cut through the void in her mind, awe and glee and hope all mingling in his tone.
It took a moment for Bianca to catch on. When she did, her eyes went wide.
The legendary Book of Shadows. There was no one of the Halliwell line left to claim it. But in his last moments Chris had given her his powers. Halliwell powers. And with them the Halliwell legacy.
Yes, she thought, a tiny seed of hope taking hold in her heart again. They really would be able to change it all with the knowledge of one of the most powerful line of witches at their disposal.
Bianca realized another thing as she tried to access her old powers to shimmer both Cole and herself back home and instead was enveloped in a shower of white and blue lights.
Chris still had possessed his whitelighter gift of orbing...
~The End~
A/N: Hope it wasn't too sad...