A moment later, Vizkaroth himself shimmered in. Piper immediately tried blowing him up too, still unaware this was the very one they had spent so many fruitless hours trying to find. A single stare from the now pitch-black eyes of their majesties and he was protected from any harm.
"I'm sorry, mom, but him we need to hear" that did it. In that instant they knew this was the infamous Vizkaroth; the demon who had successfully and evilly poisoned their minds. Piper didn't care she couldn't blow him up, she was gonna tear him apart limb by limb with her bare hands. She
threw herself at him, only to be magically held back by her son, who stared at her now with those deep black eyes. "The only reason we haven't sent you home yet, is because we want you to see, we don't want you to assume the worst anymore"
"Please, don't make it harder than it needs to be" said Sam turning to face Wyatt, caressing his cheek. Wyatt sighed resigned and released his mother. She stumbled for a moment before she completely lost balance. Phoebe and Paige caught her before she hit the ground.
Viz bowed lower without being able to hide the smirk off his face.
"Your majesties, I've been informed there's an attempt to attack the Halliwell manor"
"Didn't we make it clear our family was well out of bounds?" said Wyatt menacingly.
"Indeed, my liege. However, this kind of insurrections are to be expected, until you show them, they will not be tolerated"
"Don't listen to him" Paige said holding back her sister, who was desperately trying to throw herself at Vizkaroth again. She couldn't help it, even though she was well aware she wasn't gonna get anywhere near him, if Wyatt and Sam didn't allow it.
"We don't fully trust him, if that's what you're worried about" explained Sam. "But he's willing to do whatever it takes to prove himself to us and wait patiently till we do"
"In the meantime, we do share a common goal" completed Wyatt. "A world in equal balance, no more good-versus-evil on a daily basis"
"Honey, that's impossible. There will always be that constant shift in the balance. Best we can do is try to keep it even" Phoebe explained imploringly. Viz rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"We know that, but we can keep things from shifting in such a way it makes having a life impossible for us all" Sam explained further.
"You don't feel like you have a life? Could have fooled me" Phoebe said sarcastically.
"We're not talking about us alone. We mean us, you, our kids, yours"
"Your kids' kids" said Wyatt staring at Phoebe. "Think about it. Not having to deal with that constant back and forth, cause we'll be handling it for you. It would give you the time you need for…" Sam squeezed his arm. It wasn't for them to tell them about Bianca's baby. Letting her know she was gonna be a grandma was up to her daughter, and her alone. "Other… pressing matters. Besides, isn't that what you've been training me for all my life?"
"We raised you to be a beacon of light and good in this world. Not to try and redo the world as you see fit" Piper replied.
"OK. Let's say I do that. How long is that gonna last, mom? How long before evil savagely shifts it back? What would be the cost when it happens again and again?"
"Whatever it lasts, we would make our best to live our lives, stay together and be happy" said Paige. "We've done it all our lives"
"We can't always know the cost, honey" Phoebe pleaded.
"But we do, we've seen it" Sam said bitterly.
"And we're not willing to pay it" added Wyatt pulling Sam closer to him.
"You have to understand that…" Piper made one last attempt.
"Excuse me, my liege" Viz cut the sisters off. "I apologize for the interruption, but the demonic party might already be on their way"
"We'll just have to show them what we mean" Wyatt orbed them all to the manor where indeed the demonic party had already arrived and was raising havoc.
Leo was holding Melinda, hiding behind the dining room wall, while Chris was throwing energy balls at incoming demons. Wyatt orbed them all just beyond the stairs, where a demon shimmered in front of Leo.
"Oh, my…" Piper started to say before reacting and freezing the demon, but all she managed to do was slowing it down. Little Melinda mimicked her mother and slowed time around him enough for Leo to walk over to her and the aunts unscathed. Piper tried blowing him up instead, but wasn't able to. "What the hell?"
"Did you really believe they would send demons you could have easily dispose of?"
"They know we up our game, so they did too" said Sam walking towards the demon. Her eyes went solid black again as she set the demon on fire, making him scream in pain for the others to hear. "Have we got your attention now?" her voice echoed through the walls. Demons around stopped in their tracks, unwilling to bow to them.
"We told you. Our family is not to be bothered anymore" Wyatt's voice echoed like thunder.
"You told us we could do as we pleased" protested a demon who stood at a would-be-safe distance.
"You insolent creature…" Vizkaroth prepared to attack the speaker, but was stopped by a single hand gesture from Wyatt.
"Was a single rule too much for you to understand?" he said threateningly.
"Who could we seek revenge against if not the Charmed Ones?" the demon went on in a much more approachable tone.
"I guess that answers my question" Wyatt burst the demon with a wave of his hand anyway. Sam stood by his side now, holding his hand. They released a shadow blast taking care of all the remaining fiends, using shields formed from his own to protect his family, Vizkaroth and a single demon, who looked perplexed to be the only one from his party to be spared.
"Go spread the word again. Know we'll be visiting the Underworld very soon" Sam told him. He immediately shimmered away, before they even had a chance to change their minds.
"So, it's alright for them to pick a fight with innocent people?" asked Chris outraged as he dusted his jeans, walking closer to them.
"You're welcome" said Wyatt. "And no. We will limit their hunting urges in time, but for now our first priority were the Halliwells and the Nightingales"
"Not that my Aunt Carol needs help taking care of demons, but she's in no state to do so at the moment. She's still mourning one of her sons"
"See, we don't wanna be there ourselves… or see any of you there either" Wyatt went on.
"We're just covering the basis for the time being. We promise it will get better in time" Sam completed their thought.
"No, it won't, we've seen it!" Paige snapped.
"We know" Wyatt's voice was calm.
"No, you don't know all the details of what we saw" Phoebe said alarmed.
"Can't you see he's been manipulating you all this time?" Piper tried desperately to convince them. Vizkaroth shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously. Wyatt and Sam noticed and decided to put him to the test.
"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked in the same calm voice.
"He's been whispering what you needed to see to get you to take in the Nexus in the first place" It felt good to finally tell them this to their faces. Maybe they could finally open their eyes and force them to snap out of it.
"Is that true?" Wyatt asked Vizkaroth, both facing him now.
"I…I… only wanted you to see this was the best solution for us all" he gulped. "I would never try to manipulate your majesties… I…"
"Please. Don't destroy whatever trust we have in you by lying to us now" Sam addressed him.
"Can I kill him now?"
"Why would we let you do that, mom?" Vizkaroth, who had been bowing down low, felt relieved. "Haven't we made it clear we are working towards a common goal?"
"But…" Wyatt raised his hand to stop them from elaborating.
"We know" they felt like a rock had just dropped from the inside of their throat, making it difficult to swallow, and all the way down to their stomach.
"How could you know?" Paige asked where Piper couldn't.
"Well, we didn't exactly know who or how he was doing it, but we figured something was keeping us in constant fear and then one day" Wyatt grinned. "He simply showed up with an answer" Vizkaroth was, if possible, increasingly in awe with their majesties. They were something unique indeed even beyond his own expectations.
"Thing is… he didn't put anything in our heads that wasn't already there" Sam explained. A tone of sadness in her voice.
"We just hadn't been able to come up with anything that would effectively fix the problem" Wyatt held on to her hand.
"The problem being?" Phoebe asked now, overwhelmed by Piper's sorrow right then and there.
"Our kids turning evil" Sam's voice couldn't hide her own sorrow, even if Phoebe wasn't able to pick up on it.
"Or evil getting to them before they had a chance to fight back" Wyatt's voice had the same tint.
"You can't rearrange the world just for them" Piper finally spoke up, her words aching in her throat.
"Didn't you do the same?"
"Yes, but that was different. We…"
"Did what you thought needed to be done… and so are we" Vizkaroth curtsied politely to them all before, prouder than ever, bowing to their majesties again. He was dismissed by a single nod, and then Wyatt and Sam themselves disappeared among a darker shade of orbs.
It was hard to even think what the next step would be. All this time, they had been thinking Wyatt and Sam were manipulated victims of a dark scheme and now they knew, no matter how much they didn't want to, they were willing participants of something that would end up wrapped up in evil and a worse evil at that, cold and calculated, where the less of two evils would no longer be an eventuality but the norm.
Piper told the sisters to go home. She thought, at the state of things, it might be less tempting for demons to attack the sisters, if they weren't all together in one place, at least for long periods of time. Plus, she told them, even though they would continue to look for the answer, they might as well enjoy their time left with their families, since they couldn't tell if they would be able to stop what they saw coming. She even convinced Chris to call Bianca and just go out somewhere. His story shouldn't end like this, if this was the end of what they knew after all. He should have the opportunity to enjoy his life while they figured out what to do, if they did in the end.
Bianca was thrilled to go for a walk in the park. It had been a while since they had simply enjoyed each other's company without some nasty mission playing in the back of their minds and getting undoubtedly in the way.
"This is nice" she said, looking at the night sky, contemplating the stars as she safely walked holding Chris' arm.
"Yeah"
"I know it's hard, but… can you try and enjoy the moment? Just for a little while?" she made a hand gesture where the tip of her index finger almost met her thumb's, then she pressed them together on and off, while closing an eye in a funny-looking grimace which made Chris laugh in spite of himself. He turned and faced her, resting his hands just above her hips and sighed.
"Were you always this cute?"
"I think so, gotta ask my mom" they chuckled.
"I can't wait till this is over so we can finally focus back on us and where we're heading"
"Where's that?"
"Still wanna built a future with me, don't you?" Chris smiled at the thought of a family of his own, next to her.
"Of course" she kissed him repeatedly, hugging him tight for a second before pulling him towards the metal railing, leaning back against it, still holding his hand firmly in hers. "But, you really think we couldn't build a life together if the world changes?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if we're waiting to move forward in any kind of way based on things we can't control…"
"I know it feels like we have no control over the situation, but we'll find a way, we always do. Don't worry" he stood in front of her to try and steal a kiss but she stepped away from him.
"So, you're telling me, unless you find a way to get your brother to do things your way, we have no chance?"
"No, that's not what I meant at all"
"Well, it sounds a lot like it"
"No. I mean when the world goes back to its natural order"
"The one where you, regarldless of what I do, still think I'm essentially evil?"
"What?" Chris couldn't believe this was still an issue after spending so much time together, but then again he had to confess it had crossed his mind more than once, even if he never dared to say it out loud.
"The one where our constant battling each other will get me or you or any kids we might consider having killed for no good reason?"
"Bianca…"
"Can't you see?" she stood very close to him now, so much he had to move his head back to avoid colliding with hers. "This might actually work for us. We might get a shot at a real life in this world they're trying to create. It shouldn't be the thing stopping us, on the contrary…"
"You agree with them?" Chris had to ask, cupping her face with his left hand hoping against hope he hadn't just heard her say that, but she didn't answer. Chris gulped and took a moment to gather his own thoughts before speaking. "Tell me the truth. Did you know they were coming for the Nexus that night?" everything around them had gone suddenly quiet as he had finally gathered the courage to ask her directly; something he feared he might already know the answer to.
"I did" she said without hesitation. Chris pulled away from her. "I believe the only way you will ever consider me to be good, would be in a world where I wont have to be killing anybody for the other side"
"Them don't, stop"
"I can't… not here. Don't you see?" she held on to his hand, pulling it back up to her face, leaning into it. "I could get a fresh start, a clean slate, become somebody you could love for who I am"
"Problem is… I already love you… as you are"
"Do you? You keep lying to yourself, but you don't fool me" she let go of his hand. "Truth is you fell in love with somebody who is long gone. I'm not my ancestor Ama. I'm not the force of good she was… and every now and then you realize that, please don't pretend like you don't" Chris could feel tears running down his cheeks which he hadn't felt coming in the first place. "Every time I don't measure up to those standards, we have a fall out until you convince yourself again that it is me you're in love with"
"How can you doubt if I love you?"
"I think you could love me the way you mean to, if I somehow detach myself from who I was, from who I've been all my life… Why do you think you haven't asked me for the next step?"
"I was trying to save my brother, I still am"
"OK. Now. And before that, you were trying to stop Elak. There's always gonna be something, don't you see? They are offering us the opportunity to put all that aside and do our lives first for a change, a way out" Chris wiped any trace of tears from his face before addressing her.
"If you can't see how wrong is what my brother is doing, then maybe you're right. Maybe you're not the person I think I'm in love with, because I could never be happy at other people's expense" Chris took one last look at her and walked away. It was killing him, but maybe she had a point, maybe there was nothing of the woman he had fallen in love with in her. His eyes burned, his chest ached, feeling hollow, as he made his way home.