Chapter 3
By My Side
This
could be the last time
You
will stand by my side
I can feel my soul it's bleeding
Will
you fly with me this evening
Through the blanket of darkness, surrounding him Chris could only make out more darkness in the distance. Looking at his surroundings, he saw, with the help of the full moon, that he was in some old alley with cracks and random bricks littered everywhere that belonged to the two broken down brick buildings on either side of him. A throbbing pain in his left ankle brought his attention to what he had tripped over--a brick. Chris witch of the most powerful family, the Halliwells, was brought down by a brick, he mocked himself.
Remembering his all too real danger he looked down the alley once again, but still saw nothing more than darkness. Since his eyes were useless, he used his ears to listen for approaching footsteps. Listening carefully for what seemed like hours he only heard a very faint sound of traffic, a dog barking somewhere, and his own rapid heartbeat. Hearing no footsteps or any sounds of humans he was satisfied no one was chasing him anymore and orbed home before that could change.
"Where the hell have you been?" Wyatt demanded to know before he was even fully formed.
Ever since their mother had died Wyatt had become even more overprotective but Chris knew he meant well. Even with all of the power Wyatt possessed Chris knew even he was weary of the world now and didn't feel safe. So it wasn't really that usual for Wyatt to be waiting up for him to make sure he arrived home. Although Wyatt was as bad as Grandpa was when it came to worrying about him. They had moved in with Grandpa after their mom had died because the manor was too big for three people, held too many bad memories, and just wasn't the safe haven it had been.
As for his dad, well he did his best to visit and have dinner with both his sons at least once a week although lately it had been once every other week. Chris was mad at his dad for not being there a lot but he was there when they really needed him and with the world the way it was today, he knew the world needed his father more than he needed him. It still hurt though when he got his first 100/100 on a Biology test, his hardest subject, and his father wasn't even there to congratulate him.
Chris knew the world of magic was in trouble and knowing his dad was one of the many people trying to preserve it did make him feel pride for his dad, but it also worried him. He often woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweet having just awakened from a nightmare in which his dad was captured by Witch Watch, taken to a "special" jail, then cruelly killed when they found out he has been dead for years. Chris was dreading the day his dad didn't come when he called him because then he knew his nightmare would have become reality.
Now fully formed all of his weight was being put on his left ankle and he was crudely brought back to reality. Yelping with sudden pain Chris yanked his ankle up causing him to lose his balance and begin to fall. But before he could hit the ground, or orb himself, Wyatt had already orbed them both to the couch.
"Thanks Wy."
Chris' eyes quickly starred at his ankle instead of looking back at his brother's blue eyes that he found so hard to lie to. With both of them now looking at Chris' already swollen ankle Wyatt asked, "What happened?"
"Fell over a brick." Before the words even left his mouth, he knew his brother would not buy it and would want the whole story.
"Chris…" Wyatt gave him their mother's umm-hmm-not-buying-it-mister-look without even realizing it.
Just a simple look brought back so many bad memories of what had happened to Mom that he had to quickly push the thoughts out of his head before he started to lose it and cry. Needing to focus on something else, he told his brother the whole story of what had happened.
When he was done Wyatt merely said, "See now this is why I worry about you so much."
"But I'm fine."
Wyatt pokes Chris' swollen ankle now resting on the coffee table.
"Ouch! All right, all right you proved your point. So maybe I'm not fine but I'm almost fine."
Examining his ankle Wyatt proclaims, "That looks sprained maybe even broken. You should call Dad to heal it."
"Thank you Doctor Wyatt I never would have ever thought of calling a Whitelighter to heal me."
Ignoring his brother's usual sarcasm he yelled, "Dad!"
Immediately blue orbs filled the room and Leo materialized beside his two sons wearing regular clothes not the usual Elder robes yet another sign that the world had changed. Instantly his one son's swollen ankle caught his attention and without a moment of thought, he crouched beside Chris' ankle with his healing hands.
When his dad finished healing and his ankle went back to normal size he said, "Thanks dad."
Leo stood up from his crouch beside Chris and asked what any concerned parent would ask. "What happened?"
Chris hated repeating himself so he gave the cliff note version. "Shawn's. Left. Demon. Vanquish demon. Witch Watch. Run. Witch Watch follow. Brick. Fell. Safe. Orb."
"I'm glad you're safe, son. But why didn't you just orb or did I miss that part in all those fragments?"
"Hello, electrocuting guns. If they didn't see me then I would be safe as long as I out ran them, which I figured I could, but if they suddenly see bright blue lights the chances are they are gonna shoot at it. So then I'd get electrocuted and captured. No thank you, I'll take my chances running."
Leo smiled feeling impressed and quite proud of his son.
"What?" Chris asked not liking Dad looking at him with that goofy smile.
"You've grown up so much."
"Oh no I see where this is going. If the next words out your mouth are, 'I remember when…' I'm leaving 'cause I get enough of that from Grandpa."
"Can't we say we are proud of you?"
"But that's the point, you don't just say 'I'm proud of you' you go on and on and on and then after half an hour you say 'I'm proud of you.'"
"I never talked for half an hour!" Leo defended himself.
"Well maybe not you, but Grandpa did."
"I can't believe that."
Wyatt interrupted with his brotherly comments. "Yeah I know who would have thought you could talk about Chris for half an hour without falling asleep, but it's true I timed it."
Chris rolled his eyes at his brother then smirked adding, "Well at least it would take Grandpa 30 minutes to fall asleep instead of your 15 minutes to actually fall asleep." Chris could still remember laughing until his sides hurt when Grandpa had fallen asleep in the middle his 'I remember when…' speeches directed at Wyatt.
Even though Wyatt sometimes acted like an overprotective mother, they were still both brothers in every sense of the word, which included friendly bickering.
Suddenly they heard the all too familiar jangle of the Elders and family time was over.
Leo turned to his sons clearly not wanting to leave them. "I'm sorry I have to go." He spread his arms wide. "Give me a hug."
Chris then Wyatt gave him a hug not even bothering to say the usual 'come on Dad we are not 5 anymore' because both brothers knew there was a chance it would be their last hug from their father.
Leo's smile faded as he looked seriously at his sons. "Be careful, I couldn't bear to lose either one of you." Again, he smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "I love you, boys."
Then blue and white orbs engulfed their dad and leaving the two Halliwell brothers alone. Alone in the apartment, except for a sleeping Grandpa, alone in school matters, alone in friend and girl trouble, alone in magic, alone in the world, and alone in life. That wasn't completely true because Grandpa always tried to help--but more importantly each brother had each other.
This
will be the last time
You
will stand by my side
A/N: I was stuck on this one sentence for so long but I thankfully finally got past it. Not much happened but the next chapter will have something really important happen. Besides this was the perfect place to stop. As always please review to tell me what you think.
