Legacy: Pilot

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Sorrows

Susan Dawson stared at the two freshly piled mounts that held her brother and mother now. Only the markers showed that the two people she cared about most, her family, had been. Tears sparkled in her eyes as Susan pulled her black trench coat tighter around her, sniffling slightly as she pushed a sheet of her brown hair behind her.

"Mom," she whispered, squatting down beside them. "Ryan . . . why'd you have to die? Why did you leave me here all alone?" Sobs emerged from her as she bowed her head.

Not that she'd expected them to, but nobody answered her questions. Only the howling wind that blew through Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, showed any sign that anybody had heard her.

With a small sigh, Susan thought back to the day when she had lost her family. It had been a day like any other. Her mother had cooked dinner and they'd gone out to visit Uncle Teddy, who lived on the other side of town. They did that every Saturday night. Her uncle was a comedy, laughing fellow with three kids he was raising on his own. Alex, the oldest, was twenty-one, two years older than Susan. Marie was twenty and the youngest, Mark, was nineteen, Susan's own age.

And Ryan's . . .

They had shared one birth, the two of them, Ryan only slightly her elder. Their mother, Celandine Dawson, had certainly had a handful raising two children by herself, but she'd managed. Certainly there had been rough spots, but they had managed to get by. The three of them had been so close for so long that Susan found it frightening being so alone.

The car accident had taken everything away . . . her family . . . her mother . . . her brother, her half-self . . . and in a way, it had destroyed part of Susan as well.

Susan couldn't remember much about the accident. Her memories of that night were vague, almost as if they had been put there by somebody else. What she did remember was that she'd somehow managed to escape the accident, unscathed except for a few scraps and bruises. How could she have survived such a traumatic incident with hardly even a mark to show for it? she wondered. Even the doctors remarked on it.

"You're one very lucky girl, Miss Dawson," he told her as he stitched up a cut on her forehead. "A very lucky girl. An accident like that . . . you should have more wounds than a couple of stitches."

But he was wrong. The injuries that she'd received weren't on the surface; they were engraved in her heart.

Feeling a hand touch her shoulder, Susan looked around and stood up, wiping away her tears. "Hi, Brooke," she said, her voice quavering.

Brooke Murphy stood behind her, looking just as melancholy as she did, her brown hair tied up into a bun as she wrapped her arms around Susan, who hugged her back. The two girls clung to each other, united by their grief.

"Come on, you need to go home, sweetie," Brooke whispered, leading her away from her mother and twin. "You need to get a shower, have something to eat, get more than a few hours sleep." Susan said nothing to her dead brother's girlfriend and her best friend and almost sister as Brooke pulled her to her car and gently pushed her into the passenger seat. "You've been out here for almost twenty-four hours, you're freezing. See, your hands are trembling."

"I'm not cold," Susan replied softly, staring out the window as the streets of Chippewa Falls flew by. "I don't feel much of anything right now. Not cold, not hunger, not even fear." Brooke looked over at her and Susan turned towards her. "You know, it's like I'm dreaming . . . you know how you have those dreams that seem so real that when you wake up, you don't know what to believe?"

Brooke nodded, her brown eyes glistening. "I know, Sue, I know," she whispered. "But your mom and Ryan are still here, you know. In your heart," she added with a small, weak smile. "They would want you to move on with your life."

"How am I supposed to go on with my life if I can't even think straight?" Susan demanded. "How am I supposed to live when my twin brother is dead and my mother, too! They were my family, Brooke! I loved them!" Her voice rose with every sentence and by the time she finished, she was screaming and crying at the same time.

Pulling over to the side of the road, Brooke hugged Susan as she cried onto her best friend's shoulder. "We're gonna get through this, you know?" she whispered as Susan wept. "Together, somehow we're going to survive. And that's how Ryan would have wanted it."

"I know," Susan sobbed. "I know . . ."

--

Brandon James stood before the Council of Elders, anticipation hovering through him as he watched Them file into the heavenly room. If They were trying to make him feel as though he was in trouble, Brandon though, They were doing an excellent job.

"We have been monitoring Susan Dawson's behaviour ever since the deaths of her family," one of Them said. If Brandon recalled correctly, his name was Roan and he was one of the Elders who'd survived the Titan attack twenty-some odd years ago. "It has come to our attention that she will not long survive this heartache. Not without help."

"Which is why we need you to go to her and guide her," an Elder by the name of Curtis told Brandon. "Help her find her path to happiness again. Only by doing that can she finally fulfil her destiny. She is a witch and a Whitelighter, but unless she can find her way back, she may also be lost."

"You want me to go and help Susan?" Brandon demanded, incredulous. "Do you really think that's a good idea, considering who I am?"

"Which is why you will not be going as who you really are, you will be going as Brandon James," Roan said firmly. "Never reveal your identity, because then the consequences of that are too ghastly to discuss. If she realises that she will be able to talk to you, then she will never be able to move on completely."

"Still—"

"We understand your concerns, Brandon," another Elder named William said gently, calling him by his new alias. "But I feel that these matters are best solved with someone that a person feels comfortable with. The bond between you and Miss Dawson is strong, even in death. I'm certain that it will help."

Brandon swallowed, worried suddenly for his new charge. Was it really as bad as They were making it out to be? "How is she? Is she really doing so badly with this?" he asked. "I mean, Brooke is still there with her, shouldn't she be able to help?"

"Miss Murphy is also deeply affected by Ryan's death. Both of them are grieving equally. This is why you must help both of them move on with their grief, Brandon. They will be graduating soon and moving to California to go to college there. You know who waits in California for Susan."

Brandon's heart sank when he realised what the Elder meant. "Peter Connelly," he said, his tone filled with distaste.

--Opening Credits--

Title Song: "Chariot" by Gavin Degraw

Drew Fuller as Chris Halliwell

Wes Ramsey as Wyatt Halliwell

Michelle Trachtenberg as Susan Dawson

Anne Hathaway as Brooke Murphy

and Hayden Christensen as Brandon James