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Some chapters edited to remove song lyrics

Chapter 9, Falling Feathers


Chris felt a shiver run down his spine as his eyes looked at the fallen form of his father, his mother standing over him as if waiting for him to awake as she held Wyatt close. How many times had he seen that? In both the past and the future, well at least he had.

He had never felt close to his father, or overly loved by him, but he had always admired him, always wanted to impress him, despite never being able to stand side by side with him as Wyatt did. A part of him despised him, and he suspected he always would.

He had never been overly famous for his ability to hold a grudge, but with Leo it was a different matter. He constantly let him down, never going out of his way to make him feel loved, playing favourites all of the time with the other party even when it was between himself and his cousins Chris came out second, and in some cases, third best. Leo just didn't care, maybe he never had, and maybe it was petty to feel so angry about it. To hate a man for not going to baseball games and spelling bee's, forgetting birthdays and never there in his time of need.

Maybe it was petty to feel the pain from his last memory of such a man to have been marred by his brother. They had been fighting, something they did too often, he had screamed to the heavens about his brother's dealings, knowing full well he would be punished for doing so. He expected that much from Wyatt, but not from Leo.

"Don't!" Leo had cried, lashing out and pushing Chris backwards, a little harsher than he had intended.

"Don't talk about your brother like that."

"Oh come on! You're so self obsessed that you can't even see it! He's a murderer!"

"I said don't!"

The slap had been hard across Chris' face, enough to leave a red hand impression. Chris didn't flinch, he didn't stumble, or hide away. He stood, the mark shining like a medal of honour, he stood, facing his father square on, daring him to do it again. Standing stoic, eyes glaring.

It was Leo that stumbled, stepping backwards in shock. Chris didn't care if his father regretted it, he didn't care if he apologised for the rest of his life.

"You'll always choose him over me, I've accepted that, but I hate to think what it'll take for you to see the truth."

And he had seen the truth; he had been worried that Chris' outburst had been a result of some kind of fight. He had orbed to his oldest son, and instantly knew he had been wrong. Black clothes and a grim expression, standing in a lair in the underground until he knew he could take on the world. He had seen his father and he had killed him.

Chris had been sent the body as a warning from his brother. The unseeing eyes still haunted him, and seeing Leo so still, was his fault yet again. He couldn't distinguish between this Leo and his own anymore.

More and more elders were brutally murdered, until there were none left. None standing to stand in Wyatt's way. Nothing but a group of, in Wyatt's opinion, spineless mortals and weak witches, his little brother included.

Chris looked back to Phoebe, at the warm smile lighting up her features and felt at a loss for words.

"Phoebe?" Paige called from the large arch leading the living room to the main hall. "Can I uh talk to you for a sec?" Her nose scrunched up as her shoulders flew high, and lowered once more, as if trying to be inconspicuous but failing miserably.

Phoebe looked at her sister as though she were insane. They had just gotten Chris awake and she wanted to talk!

"Now?" She asked through gritted teeth a fake smile on her face. Paige nodded, and began to tap her foot impatiently. There was a faint touch on her hand, and Phoebe turned to look down to see Chris' finger faintly touching her knuckles, trying to get her attention, and finding speaking harder as time wore on. She looked from her hand to her nephew and was surprised to catch his eyes, suddenly entranced by the dimmed green orbs inside half closed lids.

"Go," He whispered weakly through cracked lips, his throat dry.

Phoebe wanted to disagree, but she felt the need to honour his request as he lay dying, though it tore at her heart. She got up carefully, squeezing Chris' hand in reassurance and striding past her sister into the hallway.

"What?" She hissed as Paige followed her.

"You're keeping something from me."

It wasn't a question, or a doubtful observation. It was a statement, laced with annoyance to be kept out of the loop, feeling the strange switch of their attitudes toward Chris get to her.

"What do you want me to say, Paige?" Phoebe asked quietly.

"What are you talking about? I want to know what you're hiding!"

"How will finding out change your life Paige? Why does this matter to you?"

Of course it matters to her, but she doesn't know yet, she doesn't understand yet.

But she felt it before any of us, or at least before any of us acted upon the urge to save him, to protect him. She was the first, nursing him.

Maybe she does deserve to know.


If the Elder was right, then the Charmed ones would be a prime target as they cared for the wounded boy. But he couldn't get ahead of himself. He had his priorities, he had attacked the boy and he would finish what he had started, he would kill him, and if the Charmed ones got in his way he would kill them too.

Destroy the Charmed Ones while they're vulnerable then attack the Whitelighter. They'll be sitting ducks

Ah the folly of Demon naïveté.


"Maybe it's communication that's the problem?"

Sigmund didn't reply, he was angry, annoyed at Gideon's cocky attitude, his arrogant stance as he sat at his desk replaying the meeting with the Demon to his aide, as if he actually wanted to hear. He could almost imagine a bunch of grapes in his hand, a crown of leaves and a white robe like Caesar himself.

"Surely when one upper level Demon can't kill them the others would put two and two together?"

"Apparently not." Sigmund said distastefully. Gideon turned to him.

"What is it Sigmund? What's wrong?"

"He's an innocent, Gideon." Sigmund said desperately in almost a whine. "This isn't vanquishing Demons or stopping a great evil, this is no sacrifice for the greater good, this is murder!"

"No, Sigmund, it is not-."

"Who says so? You!

"I'll forget this Sigmund, your lack of trust is getting to me, where is your loyalty? Do we not share the same goals?"

"Yes. To keep Magic School open, to teach the gifted, to find more members to add to the faculty but not to kill."

"Without me, Magic School would have never opened. Children would be running amuck in the city, their powers going untrained, unchecked, and more deaths would have surfaced."

"Just because hypothetically you may have saved lives does not give you the right to kill others, it is not your decision-."

"Do you see an athamé in my hand Sigmund? Do you? It is not I committing the act."

"You gave the order Gideon, if he dies then his blood is on your hands."


"Yes, I'm keeping something from you."

Paige smirked, she knew it.

"But," Phoebe continued. "It's not my secret, it's Chris' and it isn't fair if I tell you if he doesn't want me to."

Paige couldn't help it, she growled, her teeth clenched tightly together, her lips pursed in annoyance. "How will he know?" She asked exasperated. "In case you hadn't noticed he's not exactly up to screaming at you right now!" Her hands flicked in his direction before going back to her hips.

"Paige!"

"What? A few hours ago you were riding me for feeling the need to care about him and now suddenly you do!"

"Pai-"

"What's going on!"

"He's your nephew!" She hissed, half screaming, putting enough emphasis on the words for Paige to stumble backwards at the hard gaze.

"He's my what?"

"Your nephew, Paige." Phoebe said, in a calmer tone, before remembering Piper being in the living room. She left her shell shocked younger sister, and rushed to the doorway. Piper was still trying to rouse Leo. She hadn't heard Phoebe and the latter let out a sigh of relief, turning back to her other sister, still wearing her shocked expression.

"He's…family?"

Phoebe nodded, ready to impart the need for secrecy when the commotion from the living room reached their ears.

"Phoebe! Paige!" Piper cried, standing at her side with Wyatt faced away from the Demon, Yerrish as she tried and tried to blow him up. As her sisters joined her, Piper called out to the youngest, telling her to orb Wyatt upstairs while Phoebe attempted to lunge at the demon, who shimmered out, and re-appeared as she crashed to the ground.

"Ugh!" She groaned, picking herself up. Paige orbed back in instantly, knowing her sisters would need her but ready to orb to Wyatt's need if she had to.

"Chair!" She cried, moving her hand towards the demon as the blue orbs rematerialized dropping the wooden seat onto the Demon's head, dazing him for a moment. As he came to, he moved his arm in a similar fashion and Paige was thrown into the wall, crashing to the ground, out cold.

Piper continued attempting to blow him up while Phoebe clasped her hands together, and prepared herself. As Piper distracted him by blowing up pretty much anything, Phoebe lunged again, kicking out with her left leg aimed for its torso. She reached her target, her heel thwacking the demon hard. She aimed a punch at his face but her fist was stopped instantly as she was thrown backwards, landing, and crushing, the table in front of where Chris lay.

The demon began to edge towards his prey but Piper continued to distract the demon, making him momentarily forget about him, focusing on destroying the Witches.

There was another clash, and Chris could see furniture flying across the room from where he lay. A part of him wondered why they even bothered to replace things so often.

Now,

He thought to himself.

I can lie here, watch my family get their asses kicked and thus cease to exist, or I can help them out and die anyway.

He gritted his teeth and pushed himself up, leaning heavily on the wall. He gathered his energy and orbed himself to the attic, barely arriving there in his weak state. He fell forward, tumbling over the stand that held the Book of Shadows, pushing it to the ground, the book in question falling open.

Chris crawled over to it and turned the pages briskly, and then he saw it, the description, the drawing, and the folded over page that the sisters had clearly found earlier, and more importantly, the vanquishing spell, one that only needed a single witch. He grabbed the book in his arms and orbed back down, right to where Piper stood, continuingly re-freezing the demon as Leo held on to Wyatt, ready to protect the toddler.

Piper was startled for a moment as she looked to the side, staring. At that moment Chris was standing on his last legs, literally. The Whitelighter was shaking uncontrollably, holding on tightly the book that despite his best efforts was about to fall out of his hands, and he knew he would surely follow it to the floor.

"Chris?"

He had no energy to speak or even to stand anymore, he hit the book, showing the rhyming spell, and Piper read it out quickly, well aware of what it must be, but she saw the words above it, and turned back to the demon. "It's a power of three spell, Chris." She said, blowing up a lamp, causing the shards to fly off onto the demon, momentarily distracting him. Chris swallowed the lump in his throat. Feeling weaker as the seconds flew by.

Orbing weakly and landing beside Paige. He reached out and grabbed her nose, pulling it, well aware that it had worked in his own past. Paige squirmed and woke up surprised to see Chris. Once again his weak orbs filtered across the room, still holding the Book of Shadows, to Phoebe as Piper continued to blow up nearby objects seeing as it didn't work directly on Yerrish

Chris began shaking Phoebe with all of his might, and now with Paige by his side helping, she finally awoke. The female half-whitelighter in the room picked her up, grabbing the book, and they both ran to their sister's aid, chanting as they did so.

"From whence you came, now be gone
Stopped, must be, your doings of wrong
From whence you came, now leave this place
Banished forever from time and space."

As the last of the words were said, the demon began shaking his head in denial. "No, no!" He cried as the flames engulfed him, destroying him, glaring at the boy, at his victim, the unfinished prey, until all that was left of his destruction was the destroyed furniture and a pile of ash on the ground, not to mention Chris' pain.

Chris orbed up right, unable to do so himself and had intended to make his way back over to the couch. He only took a single step before falling. His eyes rolled back into his head and the world seemed like a cloud, his body falling like a feather through the air, no resistance, especially not from him and his weakened body. A simple nothing as he hit the ground and lay there, still.

Wow, even managed to get some retrospective irony in there with Gideon too.

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