Title: I Am Back
Author:
Za Webmaster Authoress
Posted On: July 7th, 2008
Summary: Time has been turned back, and only Chris remembers what took place. His Shadower self, Sirhc, is determined to break free of his prison inside Chris. And when he finally breaks free, Chris will end up with nothing but more torment. Sirhc knows more than he tells, and visitors from the future and beyond make things even more complicated. In the final installment of the 'Shadower Trilogy', will and power shall be tested and the fate of the universe will be decided. And all of it rests on Chris's final decision. (Sequel to 'I Am Dead')
Rated For: Language, thematic elements, cataclysmic writing, intense emotional rants, some blood/gore, and descriptive scenes of atrocities.
Note: Huh. I posted chapter 7 exactly one year ago. I feel horrible, I have been horrible at updating! All of this hit me last night, at like, 9 PM, and I was up till 1 AM typing it all up and editing it, and then, this morning, I spent a good hour re-editing it and adding more to the chapter. Again, I am sorry for not updating, but the last part of Freshman year was HELL on toast to my writing time, and I was so preoccupied with my website and my original writing (that I do not post anywhere) that I completely forgot about my stories. I'M SORRY! But I made this chapter extremely long, so I hope that compensates for it! Reviews would be lovely, even if they are just to yell at me for taking forever. And I promise to update again before next year, lol.

A special thanks and virtual hugs and cookies to my lovely reviewers:

La La Land is My Home, Amber, ladylookslikeadude, lizardmomma, xcharmedgirl4evax, denise, Maiqu, guardian music angel

I hope this chapter answers any questions you may have had. ;)


Chapter 12: Taken and Awoken

Sirhc and Chris

The duo walked around, searching for a street, or a clue where they were. They wandered for at least half an hour before they found a road. They followed it till they spotted the outskirts of a suburban area.

"Where are we?" Chris asked, eyes scanning for a name or sight that would clue him in.

"Not a clue." Sirhc shrugged, and they wandered.

"Where is everyone?" Sirhc wondered as he noticed that there was not a single living creature around.

"No idea." Chris muttered softly. Finally they reached an empty street intersection. A neon pink flier was crumpled up and discarded at Chris's feet. He picked it up carefully and scanned it, searching for useful information.

"We're in Boston." he finally said, and Sirhc sighed, why, Chris wasn't sure.

"It'll be nice to see what it looks like before we turn it into a Resistance City." Sirhc smirked darkly, trying to find some meager, trivial bright aspect of this apocalyptic situation. Wyatt, ever the civilized being, had focused mainly on Europe and it's many great cities, and also his hometown areas of western North America. Australia, parts of Russia, and eastern North America were mainly Resistance territories.

"Yeah, I guess." Chris said quietly, watching the fluorescent flier fall to the ground as he dropped it.

"Well, at least we know what happens when the clocks stop." Sirhc said venomously, haunted eyes narrowing.

Chris, bewildered, followed his line of sight and cursed vividly under his breath. Everything from humans to cars to animals to trees moving in the wind had stopped. Frozen in time, but yet alive nonetheless. Nothing was moving.

And so they continued walking, taking in the eerie and strange scenes.

The Charmed Ones, Wyatt, Leo, Cole, and Shade

"Piper, Leo, I need you both to do something for me before we do anything else." Cole said, hesitant at first.

"What?" their eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"Drink these." Cole held out the small potion vials, each one half filled with a translucent, dark red liquid.

"What do they do?" Leo demanded, looking from Cole to the potions.

"They're nothing bad, I promise." Cole told them firmly, looking Leo straight in the eyes.

Phoebe looked to her former husband with curious eyes. She felt nothing from him before, but now, he was an open book. He was terrified of the unknown future. He was worried for the safety of Chris, and sick over the pain he had caused his nephew. And he was being truthful about the potions.

"He's telling the truth. They're safe." Phoebe said softly, not taking her eyes from Cole. He gave her a small, weak smile and a nod of genuine appreciation. Leo and Piper did not make any moves, their only reaction was to grimace.

All heads turned to them from their silence.

"Piper, Leo. It's alright." Phoebe reassured them, sounding slightly suspicious.

"Fine." Piper snatched the potion briskly, and Leo followed suit. They exchanged nervously grim looks, and then downed the potions. And in an instant, an orange light outlined the pair. It vanished as suddenly as it had come.

"Wha-what happened?" Piper asked, sounding fearful. Her voice was lighter, no longer biting and cruel.

"Piper?" Paige looked to her eldest sister, concerned.

"I... I remember... I remember kicking Chris out of the house. And I remember saving Wyatt from the Order. And then... Everything's all choppy. I remember some things, important things, but then I'm missing entire chunks of my memory." Piper looked truly terrified, but she seemed to be slowly recollecting the events that occurred over the past few days.

"It's the same for me... I remember everything clearly up to when I talked to Chris on the Golden Gate Bridge, and then everything is all broken and disorganized. Oh my god, Chris is my son." Leo's eyes widened at this realization, and Piper rushed over to her unconscious son. Shade grabbed her arm and pulled her away angrily.

"Leave him be. The less we disturb them, the better off they will be." he growled, eyes blazing.

"What the hell is going on?!" demanded Wyatt strongly, his voice deep and commanding with the authority he had become so accustomed to over his reign.

"What happened, is, Piper and Leo were under a spell. The same person who stopped the clocks is the same person who put Piper and Leo under a spell of darkness and cruelty. They became bitter and apathetic to the world around them, especially towards Chris. Am I missing anything?" Shade glanced over to Cole, who was watching Chris and Sirhc's unmoving forms with concern.

"No." he admitted softly, not tearing his eyes from them. They did not look healthy, their bodies slacken but at the same time taught with pain. Chris's head rested on Sirhc's shoulder, their eyes shut, and breathing in deeply.

"What do we do now?" Paige asked boldly, looking from person to person, searching for some sign in their expressions that they had any clue about what they should do.

No one said anything.

Cadeyrn and Nyx

The duo were standing on the roof of the Empire State Building, just as dusk was approaching, watching the city below. The wind was terrible up there, but neither minded. The wind was loved by the Shadowers, the cold of it anesthetic effect on one's pains and freezing your thoughts so you can relax and bask in the numbness.

"No place like home." Cadeyrn commented mockingly to Nyx.

She glared at him eyes flashing with scorn and bitterness over her history in this city. She had heard Leo's words from Shade.

"...There hasn't been a Shadower for two hundred and fifty years..."

Those fools. Chris was the thirteenth Shadower in about seventy years, if you were referring to his actual Shadower transformation and not his right time. She was a Shadower formed out of the Holocaust, she had been traveling in France, to save an ancestor, when the Gestapo came for her. She became a Shadower there, as an illegitimate daughter between a witch and warlock. No one knew, because her mother was killed a few days after, and her father abandoned her when she was 13.

When she escaped, she traveled all over, and finally settled on the city of New York in 1975, and lived either there or in the Shadower Plane. And Cadeyrn's comment brought back nasty memories that only furthered the darkness in her soul.

"Shut up," she snarled, "We've got to find a better place to hide. It's New Years tomorrow, we can hide out in Times Square, in one of the shops or in the subways. It's so crowded, if there is anyone after us, we'll be able to slip away. The days before New Years are always a racket, and even the days after."

Cadeyrn nodded, not about to question her talents of tactical maneuvers. Without waiting for him, Nyx leapt off the roof and performed a swan dive into the air, free falling. Cadeyrn laughed and followed her example. When they finally reached the street, their landing was soft and delicate, no broken bones or anything similar. Nyx stood up first, and Cadeyrn followed, laughing and stopped when Nyx clamped a smooth hand over his mouth. He ripped her hand off his mouth and walked beside her.

"What is it?" he inquired, intent on finding out what had caused her to act like this.

She pointed a slender finger to the streets. There were a plethora of people, animals, and things that should be active. Cadeyrn couldn't understand what she was freaked out about, the clocks had stopped. Not a single living creature was moving.

Save for a unidentifiable shadow as it rushed towards them.

"Fuck." the pair breathed before it hit.

Sable and Talbot

"Why are we in Rome?" Sable asked Talbot, her eyes shimmering as she sat perched atop a statue.

"Because it's so pretty!" Talbot replied cheekily as he stretched his wings in the crisp air, balanced on the edge of a fountain, coins shining from the pool's floor.

"We need to get moving. Whatever the hell can screw with us in our own damn plane is not to be underestimated. The faster we find whoever did this, the faster we can end this whole mess." Sable snapped, her teeth bared as she stood up and jumped down to the ground next to the fountain. Talbot let his fingers glide across the water, the chill of the water feeling soothing.

"Sorry, sweetheart, you're right." His silvery eyes became devoid of jest as he stared at the water and continued to let his fingers touch the surface, "But what do you propose we do?"

She pursed her lips and closed her eyes, and tried to formulate a plan of any sort. She unfortunately did not have much time.

"Sable!" Talbot's alarmed shout caused her indigo eyes to snap open, but it was too late, and all she could do was scream in agony and rage as a burst of blackness engulfed her.

Lolita, Petrus, and Maeve

"Who's briiiiiiilliant idea was it to go here?" Lolita demanded, her Spanish accent thicker than usual.

"Mine, do you have a comment about it?" Petrus inquired briskly, his vibrant green eyes glowing.

"No, I was just asking." was the toneless reply.

"Enough, the both of ya. We're 'ere, so let's deal with it, and make the best of it, shall we?" Maeve commanded, her fiery spirit matching her flaming orange hair. The other two nodded sullenly, momentarily ashamed of themselves for their childish behavior.

They were in London, poised on the rooftop of Parliament and gazing upon the majesticness of Big Ben.

"It seems to strange when it is silent." Petrus mused, looking down upon the unmoving city.

"Si, it is very strange." agreed Lolita, her bronze eyes sharp as she scanned the area below.

"Well, while we're here, we might as well make the best of it, eh?" Maeve grinned, leaping down onto the streets below. Lolita and Petrus followed her example, and the trio wandered the city, occasionally pocketing any good finds.

"I do like this small, tattered Union Jack." Maeve said, plucking it daintily from it's position on a merchant's table. She pulled out some safety pins from a pouch on her skirt, and attached it to the shoulder of her shirt.

"Very 'Anarchy in the U.K.', is it not?" she asked her companions with a grin.

"Very much so." Lolita replied casually as she carefully picked up a sterling silver ring and put it on her finger.

"Where is Petrus?" Maeve wondered, looking around for the Dutch Phantom. Lolita tensed immediately at this announcement, and Maeve felt her pulse quicken.

"Petrus!" they called out repeatedly, starting off at a reasonable tone before they gave way to shouting.

"He's gone." Maeve breathed in-between curses.

"I think it's time for us to get da hell out of here." Lolita said, and the now duo began to run. Where to, they did not know, but they knew it wasn't safe here any longer.

"LOLITA! MAEVE!" came the panicked plea for help. They sprinted off in the direction of his cries, and they arrived to see him engulfed in a shadow.

"I don't think so!" Maeve shouted vehemently, tossing a sphere from one of her pouches at the shadow. The sphere exploded into pure, light magic, and the shadow let out an unearthly screech.

"I think you made it mad!" shrieked Lolita as the shadow expanded tenfold. And all they could do was scream as it immersed them, for fighting was an effort in futility.

Isis and Airlea

"Where are we, Isis?" Airlea demanded, her wings twitching with annoyance.

"I believe we are in Niagara Falls." the Egyptian replied.

"And why, exactly, did you decided to place us here?" the winged Shadower scowled, her voice not devoid of great scorn. She was currently sitting on top of a large, fake hamburger poised in a giant Frankenstein's hand. It did not amuse her.

"Because this is one of the funnest streets, and it's close to the falls." Isis's lips twitched into a wicked smirk. Airlea jumped down from the roof of the Burger King and down onto a free space on the sidewalk.

Isis jumped down from the roof of the fun house, walking over to Airlea with a grin, "And also because it is one of the perfect hiding spots. Behind the falls, in the haunted houses, in the fun house, in the hotels, there are plenty of good hiding spots."

Airlea grudgingly admitted this to be true, as they walked carefully through the streets, trying to avoid contact with people.

"And Niagara Falls is a one of the natural wonders, meaning it is a hot spot for magic." the Greek Shadower mused aloud as she turned to admire the wax figures of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom as William Turner, in Pirates of the Caribbean.

"These certainly are realistic, don't you think, Isis?" Airlea asked her companion, swiveling around. But the Egyptian was gone.

"Isis?"

"Isis!" her call was more of a bark now, distress making her voice rise.

"ISIS!" she leapt onto the top of a gaming center's roof, scanning for movement. And she found it. A dark figure, unidentifiable, and no sign of Isis. An icy feeling struck itself into Airlea's heart, and panic bells went off in her mind. She was in danger. This adversary was much too strong for her, she could practically feel the power radiating from it. It was suppressing her own powers, making her unable to teleport her way out. Her powers, however, were not completely diminished, and with growing horror her connection to her fellow Shadowers told her all she needed to know.

In a desperate attempt, she got down from her perch, and as silent as the night, she crept into the gaming center. She looked for places to hide, to send a message. She spotted a ride of sorts right up front, something to do with ghosts. Luckily for her, the doors to the ride were partially open, frozen just as one of the vehicles were pushing it open. She slid inside, eyes adjusting to the darkness and the black light's affects on the neon decorations and paint. She carefully walked through the next few doors, deeper inside the ride, careful to make as little noise as possible.

Finally, she found a hiding spot behind one of the ghost cut-outs. Crouching down, out of sight, she pulled a piece of rolled up parchment paper from her messenger bag, along with a black fountain pen. In a frantic, flourished script, she began to write out her message. She felt her heartbeat quicken as the banging sound of doors being violently opened and closed reached her ears. She hastened her writing, trying to cram as much information as she could before the shadow reached her.

The doors to the section of the ride where she was hidden swung open. Breathing deeply but quietly, Airlea rolled the parchment back up, tied a black ribbon around it, pulled a feather from her hair and tucked it between the ribbon and the parchment, and placed it back inside her bag. Closing her eyes, she pressed her hands together, and she mouthed several words. The shadow had found her, and leapt through the wooden board and attacked her, but it was too late.

The message had been sent.

Raoul and Fleur

The pair were in Paris, France, standing on one of the platforms near the top of the Eiffel Tower. They let the cool breeze wash over them as they took in the view of seeing the City of Lights at night.

"C'est magnifque, non?" Fleur inquired to Raoul.

"It's beautiful." he nodded in agreement, his liquid gold eyes sparkling in the lights.

"I miss it, sometimes." Fleur admitted, leaning on the railing to peer over the edge.

"I can imagine. We should come back here again, after this is all over." Raoul said.

She perked her head up, looking at him with wide greyish blue eyes, "Really?"

He grinned wolfishly, "Of course, mademoiselle, would I lie to you?"

"Oui, if it suited your purpose." she smiled cheekily, letting her auburn hair drift across her face.

He laughed outright at that, "You know me too well, Fleur. But I promise, we shall come here again, just you and I, and enjoy your Paris when the clocks have not stopped and the future does not hang in the balance."

"That would be nice." she nodded, and she held out her hand, allowing a white and black splotched rose to grow from her palm. She closed her eyes and deeply inhaled the scent of it, and instantly her eyes shot open, "Raoul, there is danger." she said.

He looked at her strangely, standing up straighter, "What?"

She stood up taller to look at him directly, "There is danger, something evil is here, the flowers, zey sense it." she stressed the final word. They both began to look around frantically, trying to find the unknown threat. The shadow flattened itself on the platform underneath Fleur's feet, like black paint pooling. It suddenly leapt up around her legs, trapping her.

"Raoul!" she shrieked, panic creeping into her voice. He grabbed her wrists and tried to pull her out, but it was useless, and the shadow only began to engulf her entire body.

"Get out of here!" she commanded, and he hesitated to leave her. The shadow took this moment to make the decision for him, and it sprung out and latched itself around his ankles, causing him to trip and land flat on his back.

"What is this!?" Raoul cried out, desperately trying to wrench himself free, but to no avail.

"I don't know!" Fleur yelped, and twisted herself violently to get free, which caused her to fall to the ground with Raoul. She snatched his wrist, and he snatched hers, holding onto one another for dear life.

They screamed together as they were overwhelmed by the shadow.

The Charmed Ones, Wyatt, Leo, Cole, and Shade

Everyone was sitting in silence, thinking of a plan. Most of them kept having their thoughts wander elsewhere. Elsewhere, meaning Chris and Sirhc.

Shade was especially distracted. He was sitting right next to them, his gaze only drifting every so often. He was worried. Separating Chris and Sirhc had to have been one of the most stupid and dangerous things Cole had done. Shade could not blame the former Source of All Evil, however. He knew that Cole's intentions had been only to help Chris, and Shade also knew that he had taken every precaution he could to make sure the separation would go alright.

But all the precautions in the world would have done him no good, because nothing could make a Shadower separating go well. Chris and Sirhc had separated and rejoined before, that was true, but this time, they had already been to the Shadower Plane and had accepted their role as a member of The Seven. The bond was nigh unbreakable, except for extreme conditions or outside interference.

Shade's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as something dropped in front of him. Everyone that was conscious jerked slightly, and turned their attention towards Shade and the object.

It was a piece of light grey parchment, rolled up and tied hastily with a thin, silky black ribbon. Shade instantly recognized it as one of Airlea's messages. Even so, he tentatively picked it up and untied the ribbon gently. The feather fell to the ground, and he lightly snatched it back up, holding it tightly as he read her message.

Shade,

Things have changed terribly. There is a shadow being of some sorts, it has taken Isis. I know it has also taken all the others, save for Raoul and Fleur, but I know it will be after them next. I do not know what it is, but it is very powerful. It blocked my teleportation. I don't know what else I can tell you. It's coming for me, I can hear it getting closer. It moves swiftly, it either can teleport or has incredible speed, and it can make no noise if it chooses, and it can engulf you like a wave. Maeve says light harms it only a little. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but it's here, and it won't be long before it finds me. Good luck, have hope. Good-bye.

-Airlea

Shade felt a sickening sensation enter his body. He felt as if he was going to vomit, or even pass out. Every last one of his Shadowers was gone, taken by this unknown shadow, save for Chris and Sirhc, who were in comas.

"Shade? What is it?" Cole asked softly, looking at the Shadower's unhealthy appearance with growing apprehension.

Shaking slightly, Shade read the letter aloud. His listeners absorbed the information with horror and racing minds. When he finished, he looked to them with woeful silver eyes. The Charmed Ones had tears rolling down their faces, yet they remained silent. Wyatt and Leo had their mouths dropped open in horror, and both were trembling. Cole had his head in his hands, clearly distraught beyond words.

Shade could feel the tears prickling his eyes, shocking himself. He hadn't cried in years, but then again, he had never experienced despair and loss in such a magnitude. He had come close, yes. But this surpassed even his darkest moments.

"What are we going to do?" asked Phoebe, her breathing a tad short as she tried to cry harder. Cole, who was sitting next to her, lifted his head up and put an arm around her comfortingly, and she rested her head on his shoulder, biting her lip.

"I may have an idea." Shade whispered, holding up the feather Airlea had given him.

Sirhc and Chris

The pair had wandered Boston for nearly an hour, enjoying the scenery of the harbors and eyeing the foods of Faneuil Hall and deciding what to eat once they got out of this whole mess, and browsing the surrounding shops and vendors.

Finally, after getting absolutely nowhere despite actually trying, they returned to where their bodies were. When they arrived, they noticed with great disdain that the others were simply sitting there, silently thinking.

"Why isn't anyone doing anything!?" demanded Chris fervently.

"Because they don't know what to do." suggested Sirhc, and to Chris's surprise, there was no mockery or cruelty in his voice. He was simply stating a fact.

Both of them jumped when Airlea's letter fell in front of Shade, and they listened to the message with absolute fear. Whatever they were facing, it was incredibly strong.

"I may have an idea." Shade whispered, holding up the feather Airlea had given him. Chris and Sirhc took a step towards him, watching with interest.

"I am the first Shadower, as you all well know." Shade said, not taking his eyes off the black and white feather, "And when I used my powers to create the Shadower... Legacy, you might call it, I was careful. What if something took one of the Shadowers and hid them, and we were unable to find them using any magic?"

Everyone was staring at him, tense and waiting for his explanation to have a point.

"So, I created a system. Each of my Shadowers has specific objects that are a part of them. For Fleur, it's her flower. For Sable and Airlea, it's their feathers. For Maeve, it's all her trinkets. For any of them with weapons, it is their weapons. Some may have several things they are connected to, others may only have one thing. But the idea is, is that if I have one of these objects, I can reconnect with the Shadower. I can find them by doing a certain ritual, or I can teleport to them with only a quick spell."

It dawned on them all at once. If they could find Airlea, then it was highly possible they would find whoever – or whatever – had abducted her.

"But there is a catch to this, unfortunately, one I couldn't prevent." Shade murmured, barely loud enough for them to hear it, "If one of my Shadowers is not complete, then the connection is severed. Until the Shadower is complete again, I cannot find the missing Shadower, even if I have a hundred of their objects. It is part of the legacy. All Shadowers share a connection."

Chris and Sirhc exchanged looks.

"If we could only merge again." Sirhc said, looking at his unconscious body.

"There must be a way." Chris growled, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"It doesn't matter right now. First, we need to get out of this coma." Sirhc pointed out.

"And how do we do that?" Chris asked him, looking desperately at his Shadower in hopes of some answer.

"I think... I'm not sure, but... Just... Close your eyes."

Chris was reluctant, but after a moment, he shut his emerald eyes.

Sirhc did the same, and he whispered a flurry of indistinguishable words. Chris couldn't even catch a word here or there, it was a storm of soft sounds that sounded odd coming from such a fierce and powerful being's lips.

But whatever Sirhc did worked, because a second later, Chris and Sirhc snapped their eyes open, and both let out shouts of raw, unimaginable agony. Hissing and clenching their teeth, they managed to stop their screams.

Shade was instantly there, trying to calm them down and ease their pain, "Easy boys, it's alright. You're awake now. Calm down."

But despite his soothing words, the pain still coursed through their weary bodies. Shade pulled out two vials from a necklace that was hidden under his shirt. He unlinked them and held them out to the poor boys.

"Take a sip of these." he says gently, pressing the fragile glass into each of their hands. Swallowing their torment long enough to down the clear liquid proved beneficial. Their pain ebbed away, going from an intense, sharp agony to an aching pain.

"What was that?" Sirhc croaked out as he gasped for air and tried to move his sore muscles.

"A tonic." Shade replied shortly. There was silence for a few moments, as Sirhc and Chris recuperated. Eventually, they were well enough to sit up on their own and talk.

"We know what happened with Airlea and that shadow, and the catch about finding her." Chris informed them all. But no one replied, and the duo looked up warily to see why they were not speaking.

Cole looked relieved beyond words, but a faint hint of worry still was present. Phoebe and Paige were wiping away their tears and the corners of their lips were turned up into the slightest of smiles. Wyatt was regarding them with a mix of concern, fear, relief, and confusion. Piper was openly crying, with Leo unsuccessfully trying to soothe her. Shade was looking from the boys to Airlea's feather, pondering what to do next.

Before either Chris or Sirhc would open their mouths, Piper had drawn them both into a hug. Neither one were pleased about this, least of all Sirhc. Both of them pushed her away, staring at her as though she had lost her mind.

"I'm sorry." she choked out through her racking sobs, "I'm so sorry!" through her tears and hysterics she apologized for everything, telling them she loved her son and that she was a horrible mother. Leo joined in, apologizing again and again for being so untrusting and cruel towards his son.

Sirhc and Chris just sat and tuned them out slightly, exhausted. When their rant was finally over, Sirhc glared at her.

"Do you really think this makes everything okay?" he demanded, and she stared at him, open mouthed.

"Apologies mean nothing, especially not now. I don't care if you were under a fucking spell, you still treated Chris like shit ever since he got here, and I know you weren't under a spell these past few months. Just because you suddenly discover Chris is your son doesn't mean you can be excused for what you've done! And don't whine on about how you didn't know! It doesn't matter if he was your son or not, no one deserves to be treated like that! You never even bothered to find out about anything that had to do with Chris! Saying you're sorry and you love him doesn't do jack! So I really suggest you shut up, back off, and start thinking of a way to fix this fucked up mess! After we finish this damn thing, THEN we'll talk about you being a bitch and Leo being a bastard, alright?!"

No one said anything for a long time. Piper and Leo seemed to be in a state of shock.

"How do we merge back?" Chris asked Shade wearily, his voice cracking slightly.

"I don't know, honestly. It's different for each Shadower. When Petrus was split, half of him was a phantom and the other half a witch. His phantom half simply overshadowed his witch half, and then they merged together. This time, however, I'm not sure how you two will be able to merge. Especially not when you're both so weak." Shade admitted honestly.

"Then what do we do now?" Cole asked with a sigh.

"We find safety. Food, water, and shelter. We're all tired. We're all hungry and we're all thirsty. So let's go." Shade stood up, and everyone did the same, even Sirhc and Chris. They all began walking towards downtown Boston in search of the needed shelter and provisions. Shade and Paige led the way, followed by Leo, Piper, and Wyatt, and then Phoebe and Cole, with Chris and Sirhc in the back.

"How ya doing kid?" Sirhc whispered.

"Not so great. You?" Chris asked, his voice also quiet.

"I'm not doing so bad. I think it's cuz I'm the Shadower. I'm not sure." Sirhc shrugged and instantly regretted that action, wincing at the pain it caused him. He looked over to Chris, who looking close to falling asleep on his feet. Sirhc put his arm around Chris and allowed Chris to lean on him for support.

"Thanks." the witchlighter murmured wearily.

"Welcome."

They all walked in silence, save for the sound their feet made against the ground and their heavy breathing. Occasionally, they exchanged words in hushed tones, because as most people knew, the charmed Ones were not good at being quiet. Paige and Shade obviously knew what they were looking for, but the others were clueless, so they simply followed the witch and the Shadower through the crowded city of Boston.

"We can always get food and water and then find shelter." Paige murmured to Shade.

"True. Faneuil Hall is filled with restaurants, and there are shops around it. You all need to find more... Battle-ready clothes." Shade told Paige, looking at her sandals, Piper's dress, and Phoebe's high heels.

She shrugged, "Alright."

They changed directions and began walking towards downtown Boston, finding it easier to walk through the streets than try and not disturb the people on the sidewalks.

They eventually came to rest at Faneuil Hall, and they all collapsed on the entrance steps.

"I'm going to get us some food." Shade announced as he stood up and began to walk inside.

Wyatt stood up, "I'll help."

That left everyone else to remain there and either sit or look around. Piper and Leo remained sitting, but Cole, Paige, Phoebe, Chris, and Sirhc all stood up and began to wander around at the various vendors and stores nearby. Chris and Sirhc wandered around at a slow pace, trying to find a good shelter.

"I don't think we're in the best spot possible." Chris commented, looking around at the openness of the marketplace.

"Yeah. If we could find a magic shop, or something, we could try and stay there. It would be safer, we could use the stuff in the shop to create some sort of defenses." Sirhc agreed as they walked.

"Are you in as much pain as I am?" Chris asked his Shadower, his beautiful eyes shut tightly and his breathing more like hisses of agony.

"No. And I'm worried." Sirhc replied, looking at his other half with true concern in his voice and eyes. Chris's lips twisted in a wry smirk.

"Don't be."

"Too bad. I am." Sirhc said, not taking his eyes off the pained witchlighter. Chris stopped suddenly, and Sirhc had to stop with him.

"Chris?" he stepped in front of Chris, kneeling down slightly. He lifted Chris's head up, trying to get him to stay awake.

"Come on, man, stay with me. We're almost there." he whispered desperately, and as he did, he felt an icy grip claw at his heart. He let out a hiss of pain and he shut his eyes. Both stood there, leaning on the other for support as they tried to overcome the agony. Sirhc tried to heal Chris as best he could with his Shadower gift of cure. To his amazement, it worked slightly. Chris felt his pain subsiding enough for him to stand on his own and breathe normally, and Sirhc was pleased to discover the icy pain that had enveloped him had faded.

"Don't ever do that to me again." Sirhc muttered darkly as they both sat down on the ground.

Chris let out a quiet, almost choked laugh, "I'll try my best."


Well? Did it suck? Was it what you expected? Was I too sweet with Chris and Sirhc? I LOVE YOU ALL!