Shadows Like Ghosts
Center of Attention
Leo appeared to the Resistance distinctly uncomfortable. Chris, for his part, seemed to do his best to avoid the whitelighter. It later became apparent why.
" Let me make this clear, Leo," Billie spat, " Chris knows about your precious time traveling nonsense. We're not doing that. Misbehave, and I will grab a darklighter arrow and stab you myself, Chris or no Chris."
Ironically, despite Cole's initial reservations, the animosity on the part of all the Resistance against Leo was so strong that Cole wound up being the only person Chris could trust to relocate Leo.
" I know I'm no expert on how to deal with him," Chris said to Cole, " But usually what I try to do is ignore everything he's saying. And don't talk to him. Not even orders. Just get him to the room and that's that."
But the advice was hard to follow, even though Cole tried his best. The man's very presence was antagonizing. Leo seemed to opt for keeping silent as well, but the fact that he always seemed to want to speak did not help.
" Bastard." Billie spat. " I wish I can wring his throat."
To ease everyone, including himself, Cole remarked, " He hasn't done anything yet."
" He's done enough before." Billie replied. " More than enough."
The Resistance members were looking through the gems Sardo and John had brought back from the Elders. Cole did not have the chance to slip Chris's stone into the pile, but he figured he should hold on to it for now.
" There's no need to cultivate rage." Chris said to Billie gently, though Cole could tell the boy was touched by everyone's support. " We don't want him running away from the Resistance, or something."
Billie just glared at him.
Cole, for his own part, did very little the last few days, other than watch Chris as the boy worked. He was truly beginning to think of the boy as his son now, or at least his nephew, and sometimes he reflected back on when he was married to Phoebe. She had always been gorgeous, but when she was pregnant, she seemed even more so. Maybe if he did not become the Source, he could have had a son just like Chris. Or maybe Chris would actually be that son. Maybe Chris was the son he and Phoebe were meant to have had. He had Phoebe's premonitions and empathy, after all, as well as her levitation.
But even if he still remained Piper's son, if he and Phoebe were together, he would have been there for Chris all the way. He would have challenged Leo's neglect to the man's face, instead of hiding in that world between worlds the way he did. Chris deserved a father figure in his life, and even with Coop and Henry in the family, the boy never got that because Leo had been in the way.
" Cole, are you alright?" Chris laughed at the spirit. " Don't get all gooey on me here."
" What?" Oh. Stupid empathy.
" We still have a lot of work to do." Chris declared, before leaving Cole with Billie.
" Slavedriver." Billie muttered. " I wish Wyatt would just die and leave us in peace." She ran her fingers through her hair. " Wow." She paused. " Haven't allowed myself to entertain that idea since this started."
" What idea?"
" Wyatt dying." Billie looked at Cole dully. " We're not even sure if he is capable of dying. Being half whitelighter and all. Ugh, this blows."
" You could always steal a little darklighter poison."
" Ha! Sounds easier than it is. You honestly think Chris didn't try that before?"
Cole blinked. " Yes and no. I didn't realize he would resort to such methods."
" Had to." Billie shook her head. " The odds were really against us then. Wyatt was killing the children, and we were desperate."
Cole did not get a chance to hear much more, because one of the witches called to Billie, who left Cole alone. The spirit eventually found Chris again, hard at work making potions. He dodged one of the bottles as Chris's telekinesis brought one ingredient too close for comfort.
" Hi Cole." Chris called. " I wouldn't have hit you, you know."
" Instinct." Cole replied. " Stocking up supplies again?"
" Yeah." Chris started a fire. " Can you check on Leo for me?"
Cole did not feel like checking on Leo personally. He stretched out his other-worldly senses and knew the whitelighter was moping in the room.
" He's sad and lonely." Cole said with some derision.
Chris's lips twitched. Cole was not sure if he was frowning or smiling. " He loves making my life miserable." The boy sighed. The ingredients continued to fly about the room, and Cole wondered just how much the boy was concentrating right now. " Ooh! Almost forgot. How did it go," And Chris murmured an incantation over one of the pots. It puffed a cloud of purple before going back to a simmer again. Chris squashed out the flame underneath, then started choking.
" Oh god, that's strong." He coughed.
Cole smelled it too, but he was not affected, and watched, with some amusement, as Chris tried to calm down.
" Ugh!" Chris exclaimed when his fit was over. " That was nasty!" He orbed a lid onto the pot. " Gah!"
" What is that potion?" Cole asked.
" Power enhancement." Said Chris. " Smells worse than it tastes. Which is a good thing…I think."
He suddenly froze, and when Cole concentrated, he realized that Leo had just orbed out of his room.
" Sucks." Said Chris. " But he's just gone to the cafeteria."
Cole scowled a little. Too bad they could not really treat Leo as a prisoner, as unwelcome as most of the Resistance was. The two of them stood in silence as they paid attention to what Leo was doing.
" Fudge, I better get down there before someone tries to kill him." Chris orbed.
oO
" What did you expect we have? Starbucks quality coffee?" The woman said irritably to Leo, as Chris orbed in.
" Nancy," Chris called, " Get the fine ground for the two of us, would you?"
Nancy scowled unhappily before turning around and obliging.
Leo folded his arms unhappily as the two of them waited in awkward silence while Nancy prepared the coffee. He kept sneaking glances at Chris, who ignored him for the first couple of minutes. Finally, Chris glared at Leo.
" What?"
Leo met his gaze and held it, tightening his jaw. " Just wanted to make sure you were okay." He said quietly.
Chris knew this to be true, but he was still annoyed. " I've been doing very well." He replied coldly, before adding, " Cole has been taking very good care of me."
Leo was less stung by this comment than Chris had wished. " I know." He said quietly.
He doesn't care. Chris thought angrily. He doesn't care enough to be jealous.
But that was not it. Leo was merely resigned. He had accepted this long ago.
They got their coffee.
" I recommend you avoid wandering around." Chris said to Leo. " That way you stay out of trouble." He then took leave of the whitelighter.
oO
In the days that followed, Chris seemed to be keeping a closer personal eye on Leo, to the extent that for the time being, he was around Leo more than he was around Cole.
Cole did not mind. He used this opportunity to get to know the other members of the Resistance a little more. Before, his association with them had been through Chris, but now it seemed safe to associate with them on his own. He felt safe and secure. There was room in this family for him, and it seemed like once Chris laid to rest any potential conflicts and hard feelings, everyone took Cole with a stride, just as they had when Cole first mingled among them.
Most of the socializing took place in the cafeteria, which was reasonable given the setting. Chris used mealtimes to socialize with the other witches. Cole sat with Sardo, watching him from a distance. Sardo was actually quite protective of Chris, Cole realized. The elf always seemed to pay attention to what the boy was doing. Elves were not known for their affectionate behavior, but that did not mean they did not love as strongly as any human.
" How'd elves get involved in the Resistance?" Asked a witch. She had been sitting next to Cole because there had been no more room in the cafeteria. Cole had occasionally seen her face in the halls, but never enough that he wanted to learn her name. He still did not, to be frank.
" Blame it on Sardo." Said an elf. Cole did not join the conversation, though he listened. He had watched this particular occurrence, but he was interested in hearing the elves' side of the story. " Sardo shot him."
" Shot who?"
" Chris Halliwell."
" Whoa." Said a couple of humans at another table. " Who shot Chris?"
Sardo leaned back, with a look of faint annoyance.
" Why'd you shoot him?"
" Wyatt's forces was attacking the forest." Said another elf. " We were at the front lines. Chris was trying to get Darklighter poison in order to kill Wyatt."
" They all headbutted each other." Said a witch who obviously heard this story before.
" We were able to obtain some darklighter arrows before Wyatt personally captured Chris." Said Sardo. " They were about to orb. Chris yelled at me to shoot him. So I did."
" Just like that?"
" Chris did influence you." Cole decided to add, then. " Using his powers of empathy."
" Ach. It didn't kill Wyatt?"
" It did not hit him. Wyatt was too fast." Sardo replied, looking at Cole. " Chris was wounded. Wyatt escaped with his troops, and we took care of the Resistance members. Later Chris informed us about the state of affairs and asked us to join him. We did."
The group stopped talking all of the sudden, everyone staring at Chris and Leo. Feeling anxious, Cole rose out of his chair and went to Chris's side.
" You don't even know how to open El Dorado." Leo was accusing Chris. " And even if you do, Wyatt can easily snatch it from you all the same. And then he would be even more powerful than before."
" Leo, this is not open for discussion."
" Because you're a coward."
" Ahem." Cole cleared his throat. " You two are making the folks anxious over there." He gestured at the cafeteria, where a noticeably large group of people were anxiously watching the scene. " No provocation." He ordered, though this was aimed mostly at Leo.
Chris spoke right over him though. " I don't care if you care about Wyatt! I don't care if you had been the best father in the world! These people don't care!" He gestured at everyone in the cafeteria. " Do you understand? I don't care how many times you and Mom solved problems by time-travel—you had protection, you had Elders to call upon, and God damn it you had luck! Maybe if we live in a coccoon and Wyatt's evil only affects us—I'd go back in time in a heartbeat, but right now they don't deserve the consequences that come with it, okay?"
" So they deserve the life right now?" Leo snapped back. " The life under your rule? Are you sure you're not just unwilling to let go of this power that you have over these people?"
Chris turned white. He was struck speechless.
Cole glared at Leo. " You know that is not true. You've always had the annoying habit of believing in the wrong things and then saying them out loud."
" Such as the fact that you were Evil's incarnation." Leo glared back at Cole. " What?" He looked around the room. " You didn't tell them? You never told them, did you, what you did in life. They just assume because Chris accepts you—does Chris even know what you did in the past? I bet you didn't tell him either."
Cole felt a flash of panic, but he was able to press it down. He knew Chris sensed that panic anyway, though.
Sardo's voice cut in like a wave of cool water on hot flames. " Neither of you are in any position to judge Chris. You both lack his nobility and will. Chris's priority is not Wyatt and has not been Wyatt for a long time. Nor is his priority family. He is our leader. He has kept us safe and given us a life in the midst of hell. You will do well to cooperate this time."
" No one goes into the past." Said Chris. " We do not know enough to venture into the past—we might nuke the world before we know it. And unless things get so dire that no one can hope to survive, we're not going to allocate any resources to such an insane idea. And is there anything you're not telling me?" He turned his flashing eyes to Cole.
Cole blinked. " N-no." He was not even sure if he was telling the truth.
Chris scowled and stalked away, still angry.
" Guys, there's nothing to see here. Just the usual drama between Chris and his old man." Eroof was telling everyone. Cole noticed the loud commotion as Chris went out of the cafeteria.
" Get over here." Cole ordered Leo when he saw the glares directed at the whitelighter. " I have half the mind to hang you up for your idiocy, but that would break Chris's heart, ironically. You're going to get yourself lynched with all this Wyatt nonsense."
Leo was about to reply, but Billie suddenly rushed in. " Chris!" She yelled.
" Chris is not here." Said a witch.
" Where'd he go?" Billie looked a little frantic. She then rushed out.
Cole blinked. What's going on?
oO
El Dorado remained a dead end. Chris was not taking the bait. Wyatt had to admit—his brother was a clever one. Still, against the power of the Dark Lord, Chris was only postponing his inevitable downfall.
After deliberating for a while, Wyatt called upon another group of demons and darklighters for a separate project. He would have to risk letting Cole Turner hear of the plan, but the Dark Lord was hardly going to sit around waiting for Chris to make the first move. They needed an upper hand.
From when they were children, Leo had always favored Wyatt. He never had time for Chris—he had been so engrossed in Wyatt's education. Wyatt became Leo's world, so much so that their mother had eventually gotten annoyed as well. For this reason, Chris and Leo had never gotten along, and that sickeningly loyal Resistance of his little brother's sided firmly with their leader. Leo had little protection over the years, and Wyatt left the man alone. The poor fool had been useless to Wyatt, always blathering about how he failed Wyatt and how Wyatt had been turned, somehow. Wyatt had meant to use Leo as a way to disrupt the ridiculously happy haven Chris had constructed for the weak idiots he was "saving". Over the years, he forgot about Leo, and never thought to destroy the man at all.
But now was the time.
He knew where Leo was. Magic school, of course. And upon sending the demons there, he found, to his surprise, that not only was magic school protected by Chris's wards, but all of the books were gone by now, along with its lone occupant. Somehow, Chris was able to get Leo out of there, along with much of the resources the Resistance could use.
His brother was turning into a serious thorn in a side. Of course, Chris had been a serious thorn for a long time.
Now all that really remained was to attack Chris directly. To do that, they need the locations of the bases. Wyatt did not have this. Even with his powers, he could not possibly hope to examine the entire world, both magical and unmagical. He did not have that time, or patience.
But he did know that near there was one base near El Dorado. The demons he had sent there had been constantly getting captured, as Wyatt had hoped, but no doubt there was a base somewhere nearby. He sent the demons to find it.
Sometimes war is all about luck.
oO
" Open the portals, now!"
" Chris, we can't! They would use this link to invade the other forts!"
" There are children in there!"
" There are children in other forts as well!"
" We need to fight back!" Chris snapped. " Everyone, stay calm. Jake! Mike! Yuta! Kal! Maintain the portals until I give the signal, then you are to shut the portals immediately! Damon! Vars! Ming! Billie! We're going through to maintain the shields! As long as the wards remain in place, Wyatt cannot pass through, and we have to get people into this fort as fast as possible! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"
Frantic commotion, yet strangely organized—everyone was in a hurry, but everyone knew exactly what they needed to do.
" Call all whitelighters and tell them to stand by!" Chris continued to shout orders. " Megan! Get the potions from the stockroom! Red and Green team, report to the portal entrance! Blue, White, Cash and Bright, come with us through the portal! We can't make this too easy for the demons to break through! Move it!"
With a flash of light, the portals opened and Billie was the first one to charge through, along with Ming, Damon, and Vars. Chris continued to yell out orders while Cole tried to stay out of the way of the moving bodies. Leo was next to him, but the man was thankfully silent. No one paid them any attention.
Four groups headed through the portal. Chris then dove in, and a line of refugees began streaming out of Colombia through the portal the other way.
" Fast as you can!" Cried one of the witches. " Whitelighters! Orb those who are not near the portal!"
Feeling that he should help, Cole shimmered to Colombia, where a crowd of frightened refugees were gathered around the portal. They turned to him in surprise—not all of them knew him, and his shimmer startled them.
" Everyone!" Cole called. " Those of you near me, come close. I will get you to the base."
He must have had a trustworthy expression on his face, for a group of people went near him. With a shimmer, he shimmered them to the fort. Then he shimmered back, alone.
" East Wing, cracking!" He heard Chris shout. " Billie!"
" On it!" And the ward sealed itself. The elves were shooting arrows from the windows of the fort. The earth shook as Wyatt's might tried to crush the defenses.
" On my count!" Chris shouted, " Rebound! On three! One! Two! Three!"
A flash of light shone, so bright that for a moment Cole was blinded. He blinked the dark spots out of his eyes to hear a loud groaning noise, like the earth was heaving. Several people were beside him, so he shimmered, but wasted no time shimmering back because he was worried about Chris.
" Chris!" A malignantly dark voice bellowed. " I will have you, Christopher Halliwell!"
Wyatt's form shone as the walls suddenly became transparent. He was flying in the air, and looked like a fell angel. At the sight of him, Chris froze and his eyes flashed with tears of fright.
" Chris!" Billie shouted, as Wyatt raised his hand and threw a white orb bolt right at Chris.
" Chris, down!" Sardo yelled, and Chris barely managed to dive down to the ground before the white orb crashed into the walls of the fort, shaking it on its very foundations. With his magical sense, Cole could see the defenses crack, though they did not break.
Screams filled the air. The foundations were crumbling under the shields. Cole felt a sudden magical puff, as if something had just popped. He did not know what that meant, but Chris did.
" Billie!"
Billie was crushed under the walls that gave when the fort was hit by Wyatt's attack. She was blinking rapidly, and Cole could not say whether she was blinking because she was alive or because some nerve had been hit by the sharp rocks. Her body twitched, as if some electrical impulse was constantly being sent through her form. Her blood pooled on the ground and mixed with the dirt and dust.
The world shook again as Wyatt's next attack hit. This time, without Billie's magic to strengthen the defenses, the magical barriers shattered like glass. Everyone was thrown back, even Cole. He wasted no time getting to his feet and rushing to Chris's side.
" Whitelighters out!" Sardo yelled. " Close the portal, now!"
Cole stayed long enough to see the portals shut with a final glow and go dark as the other side closed the connection. As the whitelighters orbed the last of what they could reach, Cole shimmered away. Behind them, Wyatt broke through the walls of the fort and unleashed his wrath onto the remaining refugees who were stranded, abandoned by the Resistance.