Disclaimer: Not mine, but soon it's over, and appearances by -cough- people in the last episode :D
Am beyond pissed since Microsoft Word ate my chapter, and had to re-write the thing!
Chapter 10
"Look, Wyatt has defences," Leo said, replying to the many questions that had been barked in his direction by two women on a mission to save their nephew, fuelled by the fear of injuries they had seen on him earlier, "but," Leo continued, "He thinks the Whitelighter population are wiped out, and he knows Chris would never just orb in, so that's your best bet, he won't be expecting it, and if I work at it, I can weaken the defences long enough for you to get in but then you have to leave straight away, you understand?"
Phoebe found herself looking at a semi-likeable Leo. One who had two son's, and cared for both, and was clearly afraid of the possible outcomes to this particularly bad situation they were all knee-deep in, right now.
"You hear me? Orb, focus everything on Chris, and orb, okay?"
"How long until we'll be able to get through?" Paige asked cautiously, but the look on Leo's face said they'd just have to wait and see.
Great.
But in the mean time, she and Phoebe paced relentlessly while Leo worked on the power surrounding Wyatt's base, hidden, known only to a few, and began making leeway, unbeknownst to his off-track-boy so far from the rightful path of the Halliwells.
Chris ducked the first punch, but caught the second squarely in the jaw, and as he took a moment to spit out the blood from his gums and wince at the now loose tooth inside of his mouth, he planned his attack, quickly, efficiently, and above all, spasmodically.
He lunged, to tackle, aware that his brother was expecting it, and as he saw Wyatt's body prepare down low, Chris jumped, barely a few centimetres off of the ground and pounded hard on his brothers shoulders, the force pushing him to the ground long enough for Chris to land a mighty kick in his ribs, before Wyatt fought back again, and pushing his brother back into the wall landing a punch to the abdomen, and a swift kick to the shin, jerking his knee, as it collided harshly with his brothers strong boot.
"Scared, little brother?"
"I'm not afraid of you." Chris said darkly, as he kicked out at Wyatt, who in turn grabbed his ankle, and twisted it, turning the boy in mid air until he landed with an oof, face first into the ground.
"No, no, you're not are you, but you're afraid for them. Their little lives in your hands. They're terrified, they scream and they cry and they beg for mercy."
"And I bet you love that don't you? Does it make you feel strong, tough guy? To kill knowing the last thing they'll ever feel is fear? 'And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair!'" Chris quoted, eyes too dark as they stared at his brother through hair too long, muttering in response, recalling a time when he had not only attended school, but gotten essays, homework assignments, and promises of pop quizzes come morning in English on the poem of the week. He remembered how long he had complained, until his brother had given in and decided to help him remember the drug induced craze that was the work of Coleridge on opium. He remembered a time when Wyatt had cared to help him, or maybe had gotten too annoyed to say no when Chris had whined for it.
"'Wave a circle round him twice,'" He stepped right up to Chris, a hair away from the younger man's face, making his brother turn away, who hadn't truly expected his brother to remember. "'And close your eyes in holy dread for he on honey-dew hath fed,'" He whispered, in his brother's ear, before straightening up, and saying more clearly;
"'And drunk the milk of Paradise.'" He said triumphantly, his hands gestured out around him, his head flung back, chin in the air, and eyes closed in his own appraisal.
"You call this paradise!" Chris cried, cutting through his brother's reverie, unable to believe the words in which his brother seemed to see similarities in.
"You're the one who started it."
"What, the poem or this hell-hole?"
"Why not both?"
"No way are you blaming me for your twisted creations!"
"It's always been for you Chris, for you and the rest of the family..."
"To protect me? How is letting your cronies beat the crap out of me, protecting me!"
"To keep our legacy alive, to keep us in control over the world..." Wyatt continued as though he hadn't even heard his brother.
"That's not what the legacy's about! You're tarnishing it by killing innocents. By murdering as you see fit! Deciding who lives and who dies depending on their heritage and their loyalty to your regime!"
"I'm surprised you even know of the word loyalty, because clearly the meaning escapes you." Wyatt quipped angrily, but Chris had no time, no patience for the same god damn conversations he kept having with his brother on the rare occasions where they saw each other outside of the battle field. And even then, Wyatt still brought it up, amongst the piles of corpses, the human cannon fodder, and broken bodies...
"Don't start."
"Don't you dare, tell me what to do!" Wyatt bellowed, suddenly more angry at his brother's nonchalant response to his treachery, "You betrayed me, betrayed everything we had together, I trusted you more than anything!"
"You never trusted anyone! You still don't! God, now who's being dramatic?"
"You're a traitor!"
"I was trying to save you!"
"I don't need to be saved, Chris!"
"Yes you do, because god damn it, you've destroyed this world, Wyatt, and I can't bear the thought of killing you but if that's what it takes, then I'll do it, just like I know you'd kill me right now if you could. Just like I know you'll kill anything that gets in your way. I am not like you, but I will stop you, and if it's a choice between joining you, or dying trying to save you, then I hope to God your next fire-ball is your best, Wy, I really do."
The next one thrown was not his most powerful but Chris would be doing what he does best if he said it hadn't hurt, he'd be lying that is, because the blast of energy hit him square in the abdomen, leaving a trail of blasted flesh and dripping blood in its wake, a small wisp of fluttering smoke fading upwards, and Chris felt his stomach convulse at the stench of his own burning skin.
"You're going to get yourself killed, is beating me really worth it?" Wyatt asked, as he stepped forward, and just as his brother was about to fall, adrenaline fading, and body failing, Wyatt threw Chris against the wall, the elder boy's powers holding the younger against the wall, his arms and legs pinned by an invisible force. Wyatt's large hand found Chris' throat and he held it in a vice-like grip against the rocky wall.
"Now it's my turn to save you, little brother, from this mess you've made."
"Go on then." Chris said through gritted teeth, but Wyatt merely stared as though semi-surprised at his little brother's words.
"What? Need provoking?" Chris sneered, hiding his pain with anger. "Ok then, you're weak and stupid, pathetic to think no one would be able to stop you, idiotic and naïve, power hungry and a tyrant." The grip tightened with each insult, despite Wyatt's attempt at keeping a hard exterior. Chris wasn't just provoking Wyatt for the sake of it, oh no, this was revenge and despite the situation, and death lingering so closely, he couldn't help feel how sweet it was.
"No one loves you, you're a murderer, a cold blooded murderer and you will burn in Hell for all that-." The grip was too tight. Dark spots danced in front of Chris' eyes, but he was determined to finish. "For all-for all-that you have done." He croaked out as he once again tried to raise his arms to Wyatt's to stop his air supply being cut off.
"You are the weak one, Christopher. Too weak to see the bigger picture, you are the one alone, with no one to love you, not I."
Only choked breaths replied as Chris' mind raced.
Can't breathe. Can't breathe. Can't breathe.
"What are you looking at dear brother?" Wyatt sneered, seeing his brothers green eyes begin to glaze over, but Chris didn't answer, though the fact that Wyatt's hand kept his head against the wall, tilted upwards wasn't exactly helping matters.
But Chris had stopped looking down to his brother, he merely stared up as the pounding in his brain became unbearable. His chest was on fire as he desperately tried to breathe. And then, it happened, he saw it, the reason he know longer tried to meet his brothers eyes.
It was the strangest thing to Chris. The cave ceiling melted away, noticeable only to himself, the sky parted from its blue tinge until a light purple and white scoured above them. Clouds swirled around quickly and burst suddenly with a bright light, soft and warm. Smiling faces bearing down on him. Words of affection and comfort ringing in his ears.
'Hold on.' They told him. 'Just hold on'
Easy for you to say, you're not the one being choked to death.
Maybe that's all this was, an illusion of his oxygen deprived brain. Showing him what he longed to see. Before the light engulfing them was blinding and finally, the grip was relinquished, followed by a cussing Wyatt as he cried, "What the-?" The light only got brighter, and the older Halliwell shielded his eyes from the rays, while Chris simply bathed in the glow. It made him stronger somehow, seeing so much light after being surrounded with such darkness. It gave him a hope he didn't think he could possess, a strange optimism that didn't suit him in the slightest, and yet though foreign, seemed so right.
It kept getting brighter and brighter, until Wyatt's hand was no longer anywhere near him, and with one look from Chris, his brother was shooting across the room, flying fast and landing hard into the cavern's back wall, bits of debris fell in cascades over Wyatt's still form, his head having hit hard enough to knock him out. Chris was breathing hard now, fighting for air as black spots danced across his vision.
And blue spots too...blue orbs, dancing so slowly, merging into one giant blue, no, black, dark blanket that looked so inviting. He fell to the darkness, fell to the floor, hard, unconsciousness winning as two voices cried out in shock.
Paige and Phoebe rushed forward to their motionless nephew, so still save for the slow, too slow, movement of his chest rising.
"Chris." Paige whispered and she was about to edge closer to him when everything happened at once.
A guard had spotted them and instantly started shouting orders to the other guards, while running towards them, a fire ball at hand, but at the same time, Phoebe and Paige both grabbed Chris and suddenly from nowhere there was a sound, similar to the tinkling of orbs and white lights engulfed them all as the fire ball whizzed past where they had been standing and straight into the wall leaving a nasty scorch mark.
Aruth growled as one of his colleague's came up to him.
"Inform Lord Wyatt that his brother has escaped." He said darkly, knowing of the anger that would follow. "Again." He muttered.
"Uh, sir?" The guard asked timidly, unsure of his commander's mood, or what his reaction would be. "Lord Wyatt is still in there."
"He is?" The amusement was hidden by confusion effectively, and Aruth smiled grimly at seeing his Lord, crumbled at the base of a very damaged wall. He crept closer, kneeling, checking the man's pulse and retracting at the feel of the thump, thump, thump beneath his fingertips.
"That's gonna hurt in the morning." He muttered, looking Wyatt over once more, before ordering the guards to take him to his quarters, while he stalked off, wondering who had saved Chris this time.
Phoebe and Paige looked around them, judging by the light shining through the attic windows, it was day, and there was no portal but they definitely weren't in the future anymore, the state of the attic they had left gave that much away.
Paige looked at Phoebe confused, and the empath looked down. She was back in pantaloons, back in blue, back to being a blonde, something she was more than glad had disappeared after going through the portal.
"What the-? Oh come on!" She cried.
"The spell must have brought us back to the moment we left." Paige reasoned.
"But why? How? I mean we didn't go through the portal."
"But the spell was to find-." She stopped and span around. The young man they had sought out to save was still unconscious, lying on the ground of the Halliwell attic in the same position he had been in the dungeons.
"Chris!" They both cried in unison, kneeling over him. Leo orbed in, having heard the cry and assuming it was out of habit for wanting their Whitelighter, and until they were assigned a new one Leo would be there for them.
As he materialized in the attic and saw what was in front of him, his mouth hung open and his eyes went wide.
Phoebe and Paige were kneeling over Chris. But how was that possible, he had only left a few minutes ago, and Paige and Phoebe had only been in the attic for a few minutes, less even.
It was the sight of the boy that made Leo stop, his stomach dropping, and guilt threatening to over-power him. Chris' arms were limp, but his wrists were bruised, looking close to broken, and his ankle jutted out at an odd angle. His jacket was gone and his shirt was in tatters, thin lined rips showing welts on his back, burn marks littered his clothes, and Leo could only imagine how much pain he must be in, judging from the deep crimson stains covering his clothes. He had to have been attacked with at least three energy balls in the time that he had been gone, and that only accounted for a small part of the wounds. The rest he didn't dare contemplate.
Paige and Phoebe looked up at the Elder and they instantly stood up, standing in front of Chris guarding him from Leo, who they assumed was there to take him back.
"Leo, don't you dare-." But the Elder stopped Paige. "What happened to him?"
They didn't stop him from kneeling down next to him, taking in his appearance.
"Wyatt." Phoebe said simply, not daring to give Leo any sympathy for the guilt he felt. "Look, Leo if you want to help, just heal him."
Leo nodded, carefully beginning to untie the knots on the ropes. Feeling the aggravation on his skin, Chris began to come to, his head shifting from side to side as he tried to wake up. He opened his eyes and saw Leo leaning over him. Panicking he shuffled backwards, crying out as soon as he did so, his wounds screaming at him. He began to shake and Phoebe couldn't believe the amount of fear she was reading from him. She ran to his side, blocking his eye-line.
"Chris, Chris, look at me, its ok, your back now."
Chris looked at her and felt relief wash over him. He opened and closed his cracked lips, but no words came out, she smiled at him. "You need to let Leo heal you." She said softly and suddenly Chris was very aware of his state. He looked down at her hands on his arms, trying to calm him and he instantly began to back away afraid that Barbas was back somehow or that Wyatt had resorted to more cruel games. He pulled, trying to get out, get away, he was frantic, fearful and Phoebe was fighting to keep him calm.
"What happened?" He asked, confused, and in need, understandably so, of an explanation, and Phoebe hastily explained of the help they had recieved from an elder, while Chris knew full well of the only remaining elder who would help...but he knew his Aunt wouldn't have ignored thename if she didn't have herreasons, and he suspected she didn't want to owe Leo anything. Either Leo.
"Did you see," He paused, breathing hard still, and worrying hisAunts with every momenthe wasn't healed."Did you see a light?"
"A light? What do you mean?"
"There was this...light, and it was so bright, and sopowerful..." He said vaguely his voice becoming more and more distant.
"It was probably because of Le-the elder's powers."Paige said,correcting herself at the last minute."He told us using that much power might cause a reaction on the other side, you know? He warned us that it might make things riskier." She said, also in Phoebe's direction, to remind her of Leo's words of caution, to get in and get out quickly and efficiently. Chris hid a sigh, thinking his visions really had just been wishful thinking of an oxygen deprived body...
Phoebe nodded at Paige, but suddenly feeling sadder to see her nephew's crestfallen expression, andnot even knowing of whatever horrors Chris had gone through. She dared touch his wrists, and Chris gasped at the pain to his hands and the agony of the air getting to his raw wrists became worse and worse. Phoebe, feeling his pain, grabbed his shoulder, comforting him but then as soon as he dared calm down, dared believe...
Leo was back next to him.
"Just lie back." He instructed, and Chris did so, never letting go of the image of his Aunt Phoebe in his eyeline, the pain was getting unbearable, and if he gritted his teeth anymore they would surely shatter into a million pieces. He couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to-
But the thought was blown away by the blissful oblivion that overtook him.
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