Please return to me
Chapter 3 – Is it save to believe it?
A/N: I actually didn't know what to do with this chappie for a while, but now I somehow got the feeling I should do an update for no particular reason, but I figured some people would like to read on.
Disclaimer: The funny thing is, that my situation about owning or not owning Charmed has not changed over the last week where the last time I wrote a disclaimer was, so I have to say I'm still not owning it.
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"Slippery little devil, huh?", Corox said in careless tone, only to brush away the insecurity he was feeling in reality. He hadn't been aware that the child could so easily escape from his control. He had been terrified that by not considering the kid's ability to orb he could've ruined everything he had worked the so hard over the course of the past years to achieve. But he had to be calm now, his costumer would soon arrive and if she saw he had problems it could have horrible consequences for her.
Chris meanwhile couldn't articulate a word. He needed to get out of here again. He had seen his daddy, he had been so close to getting out of this hell, but he hadn't made it. The demon had been way too fast for him to have any success. He was still really scared of the demon and he had the feeling that if the geographical distance between him and the athame shrank the odds of being sucked back in would be way higher.
And he was totally terrified of that all surrounding nothingness.
"You know, you're not improving your situation by stunts like that. Worsen it, at the most", Corox warned Chris. It was a completely empty threat, since everything depended on that child being present and unharmed, but he hoped he could intimidate the kid enough to stop him from doing something like that again.
"How?", Chris asked maybe a little to cocky, before he could stop himself. It didn't seem very sensible to him to talk to the demon like that, but he had always had trouble suppressing that character trait of his. He was always too fast to answer and thereby putting himself into more trouble than necessary.
He didn't notice the demon's eyes growing wider at his last statement, however. "Oh, you'll see if you don't stop doing stuff like that", Corox said in a voice he hoped desperately to be enough to stop the child from questioning. What if he knew that Corox had absolutely no useful power to make himself appear important in the Underworld without him? Corox knew he had the upper hand in the moment, since he was the one with the athame, but how was he going to ensure the situation stayed that way?
But the sound of someone flaming in interrupted his train of thoughts, and before he could get any further into his worries he had to turn around to face the demoness he had been preparing for the entire day.
Somehow the sight of her always made him shiver slightly. She didn't look entirely human but like a dangerous mix and that was making Corox feel very uncomfortable. Her long hair was a greenish shade of blonde that seemed anything but natural and her eyes had a cat like outer form, whereas the irises where changing their color from orange to purple and back to yellow every now and then. Sometime the two orbs didn't even fashion the same color. She was a lot taller than she was and still insisted on wearing high heels only to appear more intimidating. But she definitely didn't need them to make people fear her appearance.
"Calica! So glad you're here", he greeted with a false smile plastered across his face. Actually he was not glad at all about the prospect of having to deal with her, but luckily for him she was no telepath so she had no way of verifying his claim.
She smiled back at him and revealed her perfectly white, vampire like teeth. "And I'm glad to be here, I can assure you." He suspected that to be a lie, too, since he was well aware of the fact that she despised him deeply. "But let's not get too lost in showing our affection for each other and get to business", she added in a more serious tone.
She looked around the cave and immediately spotted Chris. "That's him?", she asked, even though she did not expect any other answer.
"Yes, he is. And I can assure you he is very well conserved", Corox assured, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice.
Chris was just about to incredulously repeat the word "conserved" but the sight off the tall and not very friendly demon in front of him seemed to steal his ability to pronounce anything away.
"He's small", Calica observed with while looking not too impressed by the child.
"Well, he's only eight years old", Corox tried to defend himself. Technically the boy was already twelve, but four years of not being able to grow or learn or develop left him at the state of an eight year old.
"I was not that small when I was eight", Calica claimed. Corox had absolutely no trouble believing that, since she was even without heels over two feet taller than he was. And he was not exactly small himself with his 6 foot height. But he could clearly understand why she chose not to leave the underworld to pay a visit to the human world.
"Well, he's just a mortal, so that…", Corox attempted to explain before being rudely cut off by his costumer.
"You said he was a witchlighter", she reminded him in a sharp tone.
"Well, yes he is, of course, but technically he has the same growth as a mortal child", Corox explained with a little sweat on his face. He had always known his negotiations would not be easy.
"Your price is too high", the taller demon told him after some seconds of watching the young with, causing the smaller demon to jump slightly.
"Beg your pardon?", he inquired very carefully.
"Well, for one thing he is very small and after you kept him in that stupid knife for four years he is never going to be worth the whole price", Calica stated calmly.
So she was going to bargain. Of course she was. Corox took a deep breath and managed to stop himself from scolding her for calling his very valuable athame a stupid knife.
"The size has nothing to do with the extent of his powers", he told her as calmly as he could manage. "And his stay inside the weapon did not drain them in any way."
Calica looked at him and still did not seem to be convinced at the slightest. "Well, then show me how big his powers are. If he's too weak, he is worthless to me, remember, and I do not like people who waste my time, mark you"
"Um, I'm sorry, I had to temporarily bind his powers since he was making an attempt to flee", Corox tried to clarify.
"Well, then unbind them", she commanded impatiently. "Or are you too stupid to unbind your own spells?", she added mockingly.
Chris had so far not even realized Corox had bound his powers, but now that he tried to orb again he saw that Corox had told the truth. But he didn't even understand yet, how he had been able to orb in the first place. If he was dead, shouldn't his powers have vanished?
Corox mumbled a quick reversal spell. "Done", he said quietly and looked at Calica again.
She kneeled down in front of Chris and spoke very slowly and in a low voice, but he still understood every single word. "Listen to me closely, fellow, I'm not going to say this twice. If you make any attempt of any kind to flee from here by orbing or any other way, you are going to be very sorry, because you can be very sure that wherever you go I can track you down and if I find you again I can tell you it's not going to be pretty."
Chris knew from the look in the demon's strange eyes that he had to take this threat very seriously, because there was no trait of humor whatsoever.
"Now show me your powers", she said while standing up again in a friendlier tone. Chris felt too petrified to follow the command.
"I suggest you comply, or else you're toast", Corox jumped in. Calica rolled his eyes again, because she saw an empty threat of his in that statement. But in reality it was a genuine warning to tell the boy how bad her wrath could be.
After those four years inside the athame Chris barely remembered what his powers were and that was causing to make him panic slightly. The only thing he remembered clearly at the moment was his mother warning him never to cooperate with demons.
But desperate situations called for desperate measures, and Chris was way too frightened to be the brave man. He focused on what his insides were telling him and he did the first thing that came into his mind.
He waved his hand and a huge rock that had so far been standing on the cave's surface started floating in the air. Chris waved again and made the rock fly a round around the cave. Then he put it to the ground again in the hope that would be enough.
He looked up at Calica but she only seemed to be bored. And the way she was displaying her boredom made Chris really afraid. So he focused again and to his surprise he dissolved into blue orbs once again, only to reappear on the same spot he had been standing before. He was way too scared to manage to get to another location even if it was just within this cave. The demon still didn't seem to be very impressed.
He concentrated again, afraid that she would somehow get angry, but the longer he thought about what he was supposed to do the more panicked he got. These were his main powers. He wasn't Wyatt, he didn't have the huge loaf of powers at his complete control. The only other thing was that he got a premonition once in a while, but how was he supposed to show that? And was the demon even interested in a passive power like that?
He was staring to shake all over without being able to control it. He was really desperate. He needed to show something else, or god only knew what the demon was capable of doing to him.
Maybe there was some power he didn't know about… but what else could there be? Maybe, by any chance he could've inherited one of his mother's powers. He looked at the stone he had sent flying and tried to think about nothing than destroying it. He lifted his hands, uncertain how he was supposed to move them or what he would to if the demon expected something to happen while nothing did. He concentrated on the stone once more and then something happened he wouldn't have expected in his wildest dreams.
Lightning bolts shot from his hands and the huge stone was burned to ashes in a matter of seconds. He had only ever seen one person using this power and only very rarely. And that was his father. It was an elder power. He had inherited an elder power. Under any other circumstances he would've been very happy to discover that he had a power Wyatt would never be able to get, but at the moment he would rather have had Wyatt's shield.
Calica however didn't seem to she his preference of the shield power over the lightning bolts. With a clearly excited look on her face she made her way over to the spot where the rock had been lying and examined the fine ashes that were the only remnants of the formerly big outgrow of nature.
"Clear shot", she said impressed and looked over to Chris who had suddenly gotten a lot more of her respect. "Is that all?", she asked in a friendly voice. She didn't expect anything more, since this power was way more than she ever dreamt of. It was virtually impossible for a demon to access an elder power since stealing these powers was completely unfeasible.
Chris nodded slightly, still afraid that it wasn't enough to satisfy the demon's wishes whatever they were. But then again he was pretty uncertain that these wishes were anything that would benefit him.
"Good. Bind them again, Cori", Calica ordered with a completely revised attitude towards him.
He felt pretty weird at her calling him Cori, but it seemed to be a positive sign. He was very glad the kid had shown this unexpected power. He mumbled the spell he had used to bind Chris' powers with again and smiled at her. "Done"
"Good", she commented with a smirk. "Then I think we should be talking about the price again"
And Chris felt his heart sink again. Whatever these two were planning to do to him was probably something very bad. And he had the bad feeling that by showing his powers he had only encouraged them further. But what had he been supposed to do? If he hadn't shown his powers his situation could've possibly worsened. But the question was, was it better now?
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"You what?", Piper asked incredulously. Somehow she started to believe fate was trying to play some cruel game on her to make her believe something that wasn't true and then mercilessly destroying her hopes.
Leo looked at her with a look in his eyes that told her he couldn't believe what just had happened to him either.
"I… saw Chris", he repeated a little shakily.
"See! I was telling the truth", the seer interrupted with a look of triumph on her face. But maybe that was due to the fact that she had managed to get rid of the ugly spot on her tissue which was now completely clean.
"Shut up!", Paige shot at her. Even if that Seer was telling the truth, she was very annoying.
Piper however remained focused on her husband. "How… where…?", she managed to get out. Hearing it from some stranger who was possibly up to something evil was easy to deny, but hearing it from her beloved husband whom she trusted and believed was a completely other thing.
"I… I was at the golden gate bridge, thinking, and then he orbed in and was transparent, and he wanted me to help him, but I was too confused and then a demon shimmered in and took him away before I could do anything", Leo said hastily, but stuttering a little.
"I failed him again", he concluded with glassy eyes and no longer looking into his wife's face but staring on the floor.
Only the sisters knew what he meant with this, and Wyatt was very confused, but he assumed that his father was referring to his inability to heal Chris 4 years ago.
All three of them knew he wasn't lying and the lost look on his face made them all feel pity for him, but the thought of Chris being alive and somewhere out there, alone, captured by a demon was worrying them a lot more. Maybe someone had been playing a trick on Leo to make him feel worse. But what if it was real? What if their little angel was really alive?
"Corox", the Seer interrupted the family's thoughts.
"What?", Phoebe asked confusedly. The fact that her brother in law was somehow confirming what the demon had said made her less angry at the Seer.
"That's the demon's name. Look him up in your book, I'm sure you're going to recognize him", she advised them all while her eyes were fixed on Leo.
"It's probably a lie", Paige said determinedly, even though in reality she was hoping with all her mind that it was the truth.
"What have we got to loose?", Phoebe asked and walked over to the book. She flipped through the pages in a speed that none of them could do as fast, since she had a lot more practice in "speed-flipping" as she called it. After some seconds she pointed at a page and said "Got him"
She showed the page to Leo while she was careful not to let the seer catch a glimpse of the precious family heirloom. But the demon seemed to be more occupied by examining one of the scorch marks on the carpet.
Leo gasped as he immediately recognized the demon to be exactly the same as he had met on the bridge a short time ago. "That's him", he told the sisters.
They all turned their attention to the demon who was still staring at the stain. "You know, I think I knew the guy who left that stain", she said thoughtfully. She didn't seem to be blessed with a long attention span. She kept on talking about it, completely oblivious to the disbelieving glares everyone in the attic were shooting towards her. "Always wore a horrible cologne and his favorite activity was farting. Oh and he looks a lot more attractive as a carpet stain, you know?"
She looked up and was a little surprised to have all of them staring at her. "So, did you find him?"
"Yes, he's the same demon", Leo said trying to hide the pain he was feeling at his inability to save his son from this scum. The demon said he was a lower level demon and not very powerful except for his unique talent for casting spells.
"See, I told you so", the Seer said. But before she could hear whatever their responses were, she was pulled into her kind of premonition.
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Piper was just about to say something more to them as a demon chose that exact moment to shimmer in.
Wyatt immediately threw up his shield to surround the two boys, while Piper glared at the demon.
"You guys are annoying, you know that?", she asked rhetorically, before blowing him up. Wyatt put his shield down again. "Isn't there some way to stop them from coming here? Permanently?", he asked while observing the new scorch mark on the rock that already had many fellows there.
"Well, if we used something like that, they would just shimmer elsewhere, like on the street where they could hurt innocents when they can't get to us, so it's better if they go here, where we can fend them off", Piper explained.
Chris was not very interested in the demons, they were merely annoying for him. He walked to the back of the attic where the book of shadows lay, to see whether this demon had an entry and if so he could cross it off. It was a habit of his always to cross out the demons that were already vanquished.
While he was flipping through the pages, a demon shimmered in behind him without making a noise. Neither Chris nor Piper and Wyatt noticed the demons presence.
Just as Chris had found the right page he felt a sudden pain. A lot of pain. Before he could even see what was going on he felt a scream of agony leave his lips. He looked down at himself just in time to see the athame that had been plunged into his chest being pulled out again.
The seer watched the scene from behind. She wondered whether there was something useful to see, but she didn't have to wait long. She watched the female witch blow up the demon with a small movement of her hand, but something caught the Seer's attention. The athame he had been holding, a beautiful peace that seemed to be art rather than weaponry did not burst into flames along with its holder. Instead it fell to the floor, but before even touching it, it seemed to shimmer out.
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She found herself back in a cave where the ugly demon Corox was holding the athame in his hand exited.
"I did it!", he exclaimed happily.
The seer could feel the small premonition ending, but at least it had clarified for her, how the athame had gotten to its current owner.
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She gasped when she realized she was back in the attic. "I just saw how your son's soul got to be where it is now", she exclaimed proudly.
Everyone except for Wyatt was staring at her in disbelief.
"I don't believe you. How do we know you're not just making that up to make us trust you?", Paige demanded suspiciously.
"Well, your sister can check it, if you like", the Seer said with an innocent look on her face.
"How?", Phoebe asked, because she had the feeling she was probably the one the Seer was referring to, since she had premonitions as well.
"Well, you just have to touch me, that way the last premonition I had will replay for you", the Seer explained simply.
Phoebe was not too eager to believe it, but the look of hope on her nephew's face almost broke her heart, so she decided it was worth a shot.
"Phoebe, don't, it could be a trap", Paige said worriedly and reached out her hand to stop her sister from doing something, in her opinion, stupid.
"It's worth a try, Paige", Phoebe said and walked over to the Seer and took her hand.
Immediately she was pulled into the same premonition the seer had received some minutes ago. When she was pulled out again she looked at all of them startled. "It's true", she simply said.
"What if she only fabricated that to make you believe it was true?", Paige wanted to know. She knew from the look on Phoebe's face that it was indeed true, but she had the feeling this wasn't right. They would definitely have noticed, no demon could've been able to fool them like that? Or could they have?
"Paige, I've had some experience with fabricated premonitions and I can tell you this was real", Phoebe stated firmly, causing the demon to smile.
And then suddenly they were all surprised by Wyatt dissipating into a swirl of golden lights.
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Chris was desperate not to let his fear get the best of him. He had to keep it together or he didn't stand a chance. The two demons had gone into a corner of the cave where he couldn't hear them to discuss the details of their deal, but Chris knew that they were not discussing things he would've liked to hear. Whatever they wanted it was bad.
He needed to get out, but he was unable to orb out and he was sure, that if he did the female demon would not hesitate to turn her threat into reality.
He needed help. This much was clear. He needed someone powerful, who was capable of scaring the demons or preferably getting rid of them.
And he knew immediately who the most powerful person he knew was.
But he had no idea how to get him here. He could try calling for him, but if he was really dead he wasn't sure if Wyatt would be able to hear him and he would definitely have to raise his voice for doing so and thereby alerting the demons of what he was up to.
He could summon him. That was a pretty blunt method, but he didn't believe he had much of an option. But he wasn't even sure if the spell to block his powers the demon had cast wouldn't keep him from casting spells.
Well, trying didn't hurt, but not trying could hurt, if he didn't stop the demons from whatever they were planning, so he thought very hard, trying to come up with a decent rhyme. Luckily he never had a big problem with rhyming.
After some seconds of thought he quietly began to chant.
Older brother of mineI call to you through space and time
Please come to this place to save me
I desperately need thee.
He knew it wasn't the best spell he had ever made up but he was in a desperate situation, so he didn't expect himself to do a lot of lyric.
He was very relieved when he saw the familiar golden lights that used to accompany a summoning form in front of him.
When he saw Wyatt in front of him he couldn't believe his eyes. He knew that the demon had said it had been four years, but until now, Chris had been very reluctant to believe it. Now he did. Wyatt looked a lot older and taller than the last time he had seen him. Leo had been exactly the same since Elder's didn't age, but his brother had changed a lot. He had to be 14 by now.
Wyatt stared at Chris incredulously. "It's real…", he whispered completely stunned. He was feeling more joy in that particular moment than he could say, but he felt somehow petrified at the sight. He had wanted to believe that Chris was still alive, but he had so far not really grasped the meaning of it all. Now he did.
"Wyatt no time to freak out now, please orb us out of here", Chris said pleadingly.
Wyatt stared at him for a moment. He hadn't orbed for four years. He had tried to forget he ever did and now Chris was asking him to use magic again. He thought for a moment before being forced to admit ,"I don't know how"
Chris stared at him in disbelief and then turned around. The demons had spotted Wyatt standing there…
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TBC… please review.
Chris-crossed: Well, I'm mean, I kinda kill him off quite often… and somehow I like doing that. Seems a little sick, doesn't it?
Chi no hana: I'm so sorry that it's your birthday, I actually just picked a random date, I didn't think anyone would read it who had birthday that day, I'm really really sorry. Oh and by the way, does the chi in your nickname refer to blood or to earth? Just like to know.
JadeAlmasy: Yeah the people like me are all psychopaths…
Midnite-magic: Well, I don't think people like stories where Chris dies so I believed no one would read it, since it was evident he dies in here.
Ceres217: Als ich dein review gelesen habe, musste ich auch erstmal nachdenken um mich an den Artikel für Kapitel zu erinnern. Tja, deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache ;)
Danni88: you're seriously the person who has written the longest reviews to any of my stories, ever! I love you! And I'm really glad you like it so much, I never would've expected anyone to like it this way. I really hope you liked this chapter, too.
Teal-lover: I'm not really sure yet, whether I need to change the rating yet. I figure it wouldn't make much sense since the next rating would be PG-16 and I'm not even 16 myself. Seems a little weird, doesn't it?
Beleninwe: Yeah, it would be the same body, he would still look as if he was eight years old.
Grey Daze's Nirvana: Well, in your mail you told me your name, and I was curious to see who it was, but the other staff members of the C2 all had their names in the profile and they were different to the one in the email, so since you were the only without your name it the profile, I figured it was you. And yes, it would be the same body.