No such things as mercy if you are a Halliwell
Chapter 2: Found him!
"Is he awake yet?" a female voice asked. She sounded like she really cared about her charge lying prone and unmoving in front of her.
"No," a male voice answered her. He was standing next to her and had a sad look on his face.
"Poor boy - way too much alcohol!" The woman sighed defeated. It was always about alcohol. The way the boy smelled of smoke and alcohol it couldn´t have been anything different than a bar he had been to.
"Yeah; old Jo has an enormous influence on the youth!" the man laughed without joy. He knew Jo, he knew what he did.
"Where is he anyway?" the woman wanted to know. They had to be one step ahead of the game.
"Dunno - said he comes back later," the man shrugged knowing full well that there was nothing they could do.
"Chriiiiiiiisssss!" Piper shouted for the millionth time. She was getting really worried and nervous. But still there was no answer which set her on edge. There was something majorly wrong she was sure of it now.
"What is it?" Phoebe shouted back as she stormed through the front door in a hurry. "Paige only said come back as soon as you can!" She wore an expression that expected the worst. She had not been informed yet but she felt like she knew it was really bad.
"Would you please come over here Pheebs?" Paige asked her older sister cautiously. She didn´t know how to voice her concern.
"Where is the here?" Phoebe muttered, a bit pissed at being left out, but she walked over to her sister when she saw her. And in an instant the look of defeat knocked her invisibly back.
What she saw worried her.
Wyatt was in his playpen and around this there was an intact crystal cage. Probably for safety she figured. Paige was sitting at the table with the scrying utilities and Piper paced nervously while she shouted something.
"NOW: What's going on with you two?" she demanded not sure if she wanted to know.
"Well, we have a... um a problem here." Paige started still unsure. She had to convey her worry towards her sister, too.
"Yeah, and we don't know if it is big or if we worry too much – well, I mean you can't know with him. Sometimes he is just so... - then he acts so, so strange, I dunno. But now – now I AM worried sick cause he won't answer and I don't know why and ..." Piper babbled nervously while she kept pacing. She did not look Phoebe in the eyes.
"Stop! Okay, calm down! What's wrong? Who doesn't answer? And most important: Who is after Wyatt and for whom do you scry?" Phoebe wanted to know all at once. She needed to know right now. She didn't think that she could stand to be left in the dark any longer. Was someone threatening her little angel?
"Well, apparently no one is after Wyatt, at least not now," Paige said in a matter of fact tone. She resisted sighing.
"Yeah, that's only for his safety - this cage I mean," Piper agreed quickly. She couldn´t form coherent thoughts let alone inform her sister correctly.
"So what's the matter?" Phoebe tried to be patient, she really did. But one could only ask so much of Phoebe Halliwell.
"Um ... Chris is missing," Paige stuttered. She was glad it was out although she didn´t feel any better and Chris didn´t magically pop out of nowhere just because all of the Charmed Ones knew about his absence now.
"What? Why?" Phoebe almost shouted. That was the reason they had her come home? Wasn´t Chris always somewhere? Yet, she knew that there was more to it than just that.
"We, um we don´t know. When have you seen him for the last time?" Piper asked hoping that she could know but already knowing that she would not know where Chris was.
"Maybe two-three days ago," Phoebe replied after some thinking. She sensed the problem.
"Okay that´s bad," Paige said and looked lost. How could none of them have noticed that he was missing for this long? He was just a boy after all.
"Anything could have happened to him in the meantime. Why didn´t we notice earlier?" Piper spoke out loud what Paige was just thinking. Piper already blamed herself although she did not really like Chris. But a whitelighter was always on top of the wanted list for hungry demons. Not as high as the death of the Charmed Ones but the orbing and healing – no scratch that – power were rare.
"Maybe because none of us "needed" him – as hard as it sounds," Paige muttered and realized that they would be blamed if the whitelighter powers came into the wrong hands or if their whitelighter just died on them.
"Oh my god! I can't forgive me if something bad happened to him," Piper whined. Somewhere along all this she wondered why she cared so much all of a sudden.
"Honey, listen. He's okay. I am sure. I mean he is here to save Wyatt. And he is our whitelighter. He has duties to do he can't run away from," Phoebe explained trying to calm everyone. Yet at the same time she knew that it was lame.
"What if he was kidnapped? We know a lot of demons who want whitelighter abilities!" Piper cut in voicing her fears. What if some new upper level demon decided to use orbing powers all of a sudden? They wouldn´t suspect blue orbs to be a threat.
"That's what I am scrying for," Paige said. If he is alive then we will find him, she was confident.
"You can't really scry for this whitelighter Paige!" Phoebe replied as if Paige had all of a sudden forgotten that scrying did not work for whitelighters.
"Well, I am looking for witches in trouble. Maybe he is by one of them – I mean he is a whitelighter after all. Why shouldn't he be there - we refused to work with him. Maybe he helps others instead," Paige said and believed that she had a point there.
"Yeah, but I don't think so. He is not that good as a whitelighter and he wants to spend all of his time to find a way to save Wyatt. I don't think he is near any of them," Phoebe argued with a sad expression. "And he wasn't kidnapped because of his powers. There are a lot more whitelighters out there who are more powerful than him!"
"Maybe he can't heal. But he can orb. And he was an easy target. So why not?" Piper shot back and realized what she just revealed. Chris was not so strong that he could escape all demon clutches. What if one of those really had laid hands on him?
"I see, but I doubt it. Maybe he is in the underworld. He is busy and can't call back?" Phoebe suggested although she knew that this was definitely not the case here. He had been missing for far too long.
"Very funny Pheebs!" Piper said angrily but she knew that Phoebe did not deserve her anger.
"Sorry honey. Maybe he comes back any minute," Phoebe tried to apologize.
"I tried to call for him for almost three hours!" Piper went on and couldn´t keep the anger and worry out of her voice.
"Oh..," Phoebe trailed off. She understood that she had no possible explanation that did not include the words `kidnap` or `death` in it.
"Yeah, `oh`," Piper replied, "and I also used terms as `Wyatt's in danger` but he doesn't show up." Why didn't he? Isn´t he always trying to help them and trying to save Wyatt?
"Uh oh," Phoebe released a long breath and let her shoulders sag.
"Yeah, `uh oh`," Piper agreed and then all three of them fell silent.
Chris startled awake.
Something woke him. Disturbed his quick nap. Well, not a nap, more like an exhausted faint. Yeah, definitely something like fainting felt righter than just sleeping.
"Hey, sleepy head - easy there!" a woman greeted him warmly. She was sitting right next to him as he noticed. He didn´t even notice her before. It was just another sign how out of his game he was.
He was lying on his back in a bed. He did not recognize the room and had the vague feeling that he had been awake some time before only to have discovered about the same fate back then. The woman who he met was a middle aged woman; she looked like a nice elderly lady.
"Where am I?" he answered utterly confused and always cautious. All of this – he didn´t recognize it. It was neither the manor nor P3. And the woman could always turn out to be a demon or a warlock or whatever.
"Where the heck am I?" he thought confused as he looked around. His eyes landed on nothing that seemed vaguely familiar. There were shelves and cupboards. It looked like a comfortable and clean room.
"Alan, could you come over here, please?" she replied as she noticed his confused glaze. Chris thought he saw a flicker in her eyes. Was it fear? Did she know who he was? What he was capable of?
"Maybe I have to restrain him when he causes trouble - you never know with this youth..." she thought sadly as she watched him closely. She had made enough bad experiences with drunken young ones to be careful. Although this one looked nothing like he would smite her but the look in his confused and slightly frightened eyes let her be cautious.
Chris tried to get up. He thought that he had to get away from here as soon as possible. Sure, he was powerful and bla but he was also hurt. He could not battle in his condition as well as if he was fit. He pulled his elbows under him and pushed himself a bit up.
But as soon as he was in a semi-sitting position he got nauseous and dizzy. He gasped and put a hand to his head. This was an even worse idea than sitting up in the first place. He lost his balance and crashed back into the mattress which caused his head to connect with the pillow. The contact even if it was a soft pillow caused stars to appear in his vision.
"Easy kiddo. Yesterday was a late night I guess," the woman replied caringly and patted his arm carefully but lovingly. He flinched at the contact and she withdrew her hand quickly as if burnt. She should have known he was a stranger after all.
"Who are you?" Chris asked in a bitter tone and thought: "I never saw her before, why did she touch me? I can´t smell demon on her... Who is she?"
"Very well, you definitely have no manners," she began in a hurt voice and sighed. They were always rude and ungrateful nowadays.
"Sorry," Chris realized that he was rude and corrected his false start swiftly, "I am Chris," he tried again. He was still lying in the bed and holding his head. He did not even consider using his alias. Lying there made him feel vulnerable to whatever the lady could have planned.
"At least I know that a demon would not start a conversation this way," he thought bitterly before his thoughts shifted to Jo and his gang. The memories were fussy but they held nothing good. He wondered what had happened to him.
"Much better sweetie (he flinched at that word too). I am Helen, nice to meet you, " she smiled at him. "Maybe you should rest some more," she suggested in a motherly and caring tone. It sounded sincere.
"Rest? No, I have no time for such sort of vacancy. I have to save my brother!" he wanted to scream at her but replied instead in an urgent voice: "No, I gotta go."
"Easy kiddo – no need to hurry! Alan hurry up!" she shouted alarmed and stood up. Now she was hovering over Chris and glared at him in a "don't-you-dare" way. Chris felt cornered. He still did not know what she was exactly or who this Alan guy was.
Nevertheless, Chris tried to get to his feet again. But once he stood – this time successfully on his own two feet in a fluid motion - he swayed dangerously. His knees refused to hold him up, they felt like lead and butter at the same time. He could not get them to support his weight. He cursed at his failure to have control over his own body and simply fell down.
"Why is the room spinning?" he could only think as he accepted his current predicament. He had no way of running away and he was not sure if he could use his magic in front of her. What if she was a mere mortal?
Before he could meet the ground, however, two strong arms grabbed him from behind. They were linked in front of his chest and raised him up a bit. He shuddered at the contact but was too weak to fight it off. If this was a demon then he was screwed. Well maybe not it seemed as if he was already screwed.
"Easy kiddo," a low male voice told him next to his ear. It did not sound like the fierce voice of a demon but rather like the voice of a caring husband. The strong hands helped him down to the floor in a slow motion.
"Mmh," Chris mumbled before he couldn´t hold onto consciousness any longer. The room had been spinning and darkness claimed him once again.
"I don't know what's wrong with him Alan," Helen said in a defeated tone, "He seems lost and hurt."
"Me neither. But the way he looks like it seems he was in a huge bar fight," Alan suggested bitterly. It was always the same with the boys. They went to a bar and then got into a bar fight.
"But he was the victim it seems. He is hurt pretty badly. Maybe we should take him to a hospital," Alan informed his wife.
"No. He has no ID. And how should we explain this outfit?" Helen interjected suddenly worried. How could they possibly explain this situation? Even if they had their son to help them it wouldn´t be easy.
"We could change him," Alan tried to reason with her but he knew that they had way too many lost boys who got hurt in a fight in the last couple of weeks. His son was getting into trouble with them for trying to cover for them each time.
"Yeah we could. Oh and his name is Chris," Helen was glad that Alan understood.
"Chris? Maybe is mother is already looking for him. I´ll call Daryl. If someone searches for him he´ll know," Alan was glad that he could do anything for the boy. He was already fond of him.
"Yeah, do that sweetheart. I stay with him," Helen agreed happily. They could help this one without their son.
Alan picked Chris up and lowered him on the bed again. Helen dug him in blankets. Carefully enough not to harm him further.
Chris looked worse than he gave away in the short time he was awake. His hair and clothes were a mess. He didn't wear his shoes anymore and his shirt was disrupted. There were bruises all over his face. His hands had been full of cuts. Those were now hidden under big bandages. And he smelt like a bar. Cigarettes and alcohol.
"Sleep well Chris," Helen whispered softly as to not disturb him and stroked over Chris´ hair. "I hope Alan finds your family."
She kissed him on the forehead and left the room after a while.
"Piper, would you sit down for a minute?" Paige asked annoyed. She had stopped scrying because she ended up with nothing. She wasn´t one to give up easily but that the crystal wasn´t dropping somewhere could mean either there was no witch in trouble which was odd or there were so many witches in trouble that the crystal could not land a single hit.
"Whatever kidnapped Chris could be after Wyatt too! I must check every room!" Piper replied like a crazy one and hurried to the next room in search of a demon. She knew it was ridiculous but it was at least something that she could do.
"Piper, he is safe in the crystal cage." Phoebe commented while she was searching through Chris` stuff that they had taken here from P3. Maybe she could get a premonition.
"Yeah, and Chris can take care of himself. I know. I'm just always worried!" Piper was already in the next room.
"No, I didn't say that!" Phoebe said irritated, "He is missing for four hours and two or three days now!"
Phoebe took some more things from Paige in hope to get a premonition that would tell her where their whitelighter could be. But so far nothing had happened. And in his stuff there was no indication as to where he could have gone.
"We should do more!" Piper shouted from the kitchen where she was now in.
"Honey, we do everything we can think of!" Phoebe replied and had to smile. Piper was worrying too much. But it was good to have Piper care so much about Chris. It felt better than seeing her threatening the whitelighter.
"Well, we could call Leo," Paige suggested after tentatively.
"No way," Phoebe hissed, "he would probably kill Chris for leaving us alone now."
"Yeah, if he isn't already dead," Paige muttered under her breath before she could stop herself.
"Hey, cut the crap you two! He IS NOT dead!" Piper said with a glare in her eyes. She now stood in the doorway with her hand on her hips. She could not believe her ears. When did all of them become so easy to lose hope?
"Well, technically he is already dead with being a whitelighter and all," Paige changed her statement to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, that's true... But still, he is kinda alive as in well, you know," Piper began and gestured wildly with her arms, "Well, argh."
"What do you mean?" Phoebe said sensing Piper´s frustration.
"I dunno. But my stomach tells me so," Piper didn´t know what she meant by saying that but it was that what was running through her head at the moment.
"Oh," Phoebe replied curiously as to why Piper would have a gut feeling when it came to Chris.
"Your stomach?" Paige wondered out loud. She was also curious for Piper´s explanation.
"Well... forget it!" Piper sighed. She didn´t know why she had even brought it up.
"So what do we do now?" Paige asked trying to change the subject in order to give Piper a break. She wasn´t going to let Piper get away this easily, however. She was getting back to it later.
Her query was greeted with silence.
"Morris?" Daryl Morris, a police inspector and friend of the Charmed Ones answered his ringing phone.
"Um yeah, hello Daryl, this is Alan," Alan greeted his friend hesitantly.
"Hello Alan! What can I do for you old friend?" Daryl's joy at hearing his old friend was apparent.
"I have another teenager," Alan was quick to get to the point although he could have used the small talk.
"Drunken? Too bad that this won't stop," Daryl muttered. His joy was replaced by sadness.
"Yeah drunken and beaten up," Alan informed him but something in his voice gave away his devotion to the new boy.
"Beaten up? I'm sorry to hear that. How bad?" Daryl could already hear the question on Alan´s mind: Where there kids missing? Did someone already start looking for him?
"I dunno. But Helen refuses to bring him to a hospital, says that we have to keep our boy out of more trouble," Alan supplied openly.
"Yeah, and if she says so then it can't be too bad," Daryl joked as he sensed his friend´s distress and tried to lighten the mood.
"Would you check if his parents look for him?" Alan did not respond to the joke. He was worried.
"Sure. What's his name?" Daryl asked. This was nothing new to him. Some boys always tended to end up drunk and somehow found them in the caring hands of Alan and Helen who tried everything to help them.
"Chris," Alan replied and was disappointed that he couldn´t tell Daryl the last name, too.
"Chris?" Daryl repeated the name. He had a strange feeling in his stomach.
"Yeah I dunno his last name though," Alan confessed. He waited impatiently.
"That's a bit vague. Can you describe him?" Daryl had to gain more information before he could start a search. There were a lot of people missing and Chris was a common name. It could be short for Christian, Christopher or simply Christoph. There was no way that only one missing boy would show up in his list.
"He has dark hair. He is tall...," Alan began to describe his new lost boy.
"Has he green eyes?" Daryl asked suddenly and he dreaded the answer.
"Dunno maybe. Why - do you know him?" Alan got his hopes up. If Daryl knew him personally then he could get the poor boy back to his parents faster.
"Keep an eye on him, will ya?" Daryl asked seriously. He wasn´t sure if this was really Chris. He still had to confirm his suspicion.
"Sure. Is something wrong? Is he a criminal?" Alan wanted to know. He didn´t think that Chris looked like a bad guy but one could never know. It was common knowledge that silent guys could turn into bad guys, too.
"What? No, no. I just check him with my list. I'll call you back as soon as I can!" Daryl assured his friend.
"Good. Thanks Daryl. And he is in safe hands here," Alan affirmed his earlier statement.
"Yeah I know. Bye Alan, and thanks," Daryl said his goodbyes and hung up.
"Good bye," Alan did likewise.
"Can this be? Is this Chris Perry? What did he do now? How did he end up in a bar fight?" Daryl wondered anxiously and called the Halliwells quickly. The sooner he got news the better. Something was not right. How did the whitelighter of the Halliwells end up in Alan´s care?
The phone rang loudly and broke the deafening silence that threatened to suffocate everyone in the Manor. Ever since their last argument the sisters had yet to utter more words.
"I'll go and answer it!" Piper told her sisters indifferently and ran towards the phone. Her stomach, however, got her hopes up.
"Piper Halliwell, hello?" Piper answered the phone politely while her heart hammered in her chest. It was ridiculous to say at least. Why would Chris use a phone?
"Piper? This is Daryl. Can I talk to you in private?" Daryl greeted her in a serious tone that did not imply that he called for small talk but rather for business.
"Hey Daryl. Sure, what's wrong?" Piper did not think that she could handle a demonic hostage situation or some warlocks who killed people in the backstreets now. She had other things to worry about. But just as soon as those thoughts entered her mind she felt guilty. When did she place innocents on the last spot of her priority list?
"I dunno. But when have you seen Chris the last time?" Daryl interrupted her thoughts.
Piper nearly dropped the phone. This was about Chris? How could it be?
"This can't be right - this can't be true. He is not dead, no Daryl calls because... because he is in trouble... yeah that's it...," Piper thought worried sick. Was Chris found dead lying somewhere next to the street? Bloodied, battered and lifeless? She imagined his body lying defeated maybe in the corner of the room and quickly pushed the mental image to the back of her mind before it could turn into the bloodied corpse of her whitelighter.
She forced herself to ask: "What's about him and where is he now?"
To be continued...
A/N: I tried to improve this chapter – fixed some typos and grammar mistakes, added some descriptions. I hope you approve of it!
Thanks for your feedback
