Lies my Brother Told Me ~ Chapter 5
Pixie Wildfire: - Yeah, I love my beta! You'll have to meet her someday, she's great! She's got all of these wonderful ideas and the chapters wouldn't be the way they are without her. ^_~ Love ya.
goldstranger: - I'm glad you felt that way! Well not glad… Or am I? I don't know, the aim was to get people feeling bad for Chris, not to make them feel bad! But if it worked that way I think that's good… Who knows? *shrug* Thanks for the review! There's more angst to come, though…
Magical Princess: - Thank you! And yes, Wyatt is mean. And poor Chris! Lol, thanks for your review and there is more angst to come yet!
cherry7up56: - I know, writing it makes me feel that! Thanks for your review, you're so kind.
Pheniox-skye: - THANKS!
TickledPink: - Thank you! You really are very kind, your review was so nice! Thanks a lot.
Tigerdrake: - You like the title? Well as with a lot of things that sprang from Pixie Wildfire's head and I really liked it too, so there it is!
Queen of the Elven City: - Thanks.
Cat: - Thanks a lot! I know it's sad, and there is more angst to come.
Magicgrrl: - Ok… *backs away slowly* This is scary… Bounce, bounce wheeeeeeee! Ok. Back to business now. Thanks for your review, now I know all about the loony bins… Thanks for saying that you loved the story, it was really kind of you.
M J Rosemary: - Thank you so much! You're so cool, thanks a lot. I always love reading your reviews; they make me feel so happy!
Taynna: - Whoa! Ok then! Thanks for all three of your HUGE reviews, my e-mail provider was complaining like hell, lol! Thanks a lot. It was nice talking to you as well, drive safe!
Ok, review number 1: Yes, Wyatt wants to rule with fear. He wants all the people to be scared of the arrogant tyrant that now rules, so his demons go out colour-coded to keep that fear strong. Yeah, I thought it was funny about the symptoms, although it's also really convenient, it stops them getting into the house if Piper can't blow anything up. ^_~
#2, here we go: That was when Paige was in jail, right? And they had to get a payment or something off of the house to bail her out, right? Anyway I did think about Wyatt being a little OTT, but you gave me a reason – it's genetic! Lol… Reading back I do agree with the sisters lack of concern, although I never really thought that the shirt was dripping in blood anyway, just a cut on his hand, although I suppose I could have made it clearer that there wasn't all that much blood on it.
3! Lol: - Yes, I know that he should have thought of that first, but then the sisters couldn't get into the house at all, and there wouldn't have been that scene where they found out the current evil was their nephew/son, so I really had to make Wyatt 'forget' to put a shield up, despite that fact that I believe that he's too smart to forget that kind of thing. I know, it seems odd now thinking that Wyatt used to prefer fireworks to explosions doesn't it? Ah, you shall find out what Wyatt's agenda is! It's a closely guarded secret! And yeah, to be honest I never thought about Wyatt being able to orb himself in, maybe he could do that…
denna5: - Thanks, I will!
darkdestiney2000: - Thank you! I was aiming for sad, thanks for your review.
Claddagh Ring: - Thank you! Thank you so much! You're too kind, you really are. I like Piper too! Thank you so much, it's reviews like that that I really appreciate, thank you! You're so sweet. Thank you for all of your compliments, they mean so much to me, they really do. Thank you for reassuring me on the characterization and thank you for being such a great reviewer!
line100: - yes, I'm feeling very proud of myself! I had a week of exams this week, and the teachers weren't giving me any homework, so I've had the time to update.
Piper15: - Thank you. And you'll have to wait and see about Wyatt!
Dark Fires: - Ok, I will. Thanks so much for your review.
princesscatie21: - Don't cry too much! Thanks for your review.
Alcandre: - Save the best 'til last! ^_~ Thanks for your review, and get that box on issues out for often. It's useful for… stuff… I'm sorry about your titles, they were great it's just this one was… more great? *hides* Ah-HA, wait no more, just read! Lol, thank you!
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! YOU'RE REALLY GREAT; YOU REALLY MAKE ME FEEL NEEDED. THERE'S NOT REALLY MUCH I CAN SAY BUT THANKYOU, SO YEAH. THANKS.
For this chapter I'm going to twist the timeline slightly, not enough to make it an AU but probably enough to be noticeable. As you're a certain age for a whole year (14) then there's a year's gap that something can happen when you're fourteen. Like the day before your fifteenth birthday you can still do something when you're fourteen.
Also I'm not sure about Wyatt's birth date, so I twisted that as well slightly, making Chris' fifteenth after Wyatt's seventeenth, so Wyatt is older than Chris by that much
Thanks for your continued reviews and support, and just to let you know there's not as much angst in this chapter.
Charmed Leo
**********
"We can't just sit here until tomorrow morning, you know!" Paige said in exasperation.
"It's not like we've just been sitting here all day!" Piper snapped back. "I mean at least Pheebs and I have done something, Paige!"
"What, broke a heel and made sure we never have to call a florist again?!" Paige said, standing up and getting angry.
"Guys…" Phoebe said, rubbing her temples and suddenly feeling dizzy. Tears welled up in her eyes and she had to fight to stop them spilling. She was ignored in the heat of the argument.
"Well at least it's something Paige!"
"Hey, I've landed on my butt three times trying to orb in there!"
"Well-"
"GUYS!" Phoebe yelled, standing up and scaring Wyatt, who was sitting waist deep in petals on the porch floor, making him start to cry.
"Phoebe! We're trying to have an argument here!"
"Whoa…" Phoebe said her voice gaining a high, squeaky and upset note. She gave a loud sob, letting a few tears roll down her cheeks. She sat back down, clutching at the back of the seat for support. But then as quickly as it started it stopped. She shook her head. "I thought I'd got a grip on that…"
"Phoebe, what was it?"
"Pain," she said grimly, looking up at her sisters. "And one hell of a lot of it,"
**********
"So you wanna go again, little brother?" Wyatt sneered into Chris' blindfolded face. The jackal demon – growing tired of being thrown from one wall to another – had made Wyatt blindfold his brother again. Chris, who was still reeling from the last memory, shook his head and put up a brave front.
"What do you hope to achieve, Wyatt? What are you accomplishing by showing me these memories? Whatever it is, it's not working." Wyatt smiled and gave a small snort of laughter.
"That's a yes, then? You want to see another one?" Wyatt stepped closer to Chris, walking around behind him and putting his hands on his brother's shoulders. He lowered his face so that his chin was almost touching Chris' head and whispered: "And don't worry about it not working, baby brother. It will. Just wait." His hand shot out and gripped the top of Chris' arm, sending another cold rush through Chris like a subway train.
Teenage Chris, no more than fourteen, was sitting on an unmade bed. The comforter was rumpled and half on the floor, the pillows creased. The room was untidy; a sea of clothes was strewn across the floor and was dotted with school-book islands. There was a variety of papers and books, some of them stacked haphazardly in piles, others face down and open.
Chris looked at them with worry. They were all his brother's - Wyatt's, books - and had titles such as Demonic Seduction; Evil – the tie that binds; Realms of Hell… All of them were adorned with embossed serpents or pictures of fanged, snarling demons or were just simply black with age.
Wyatt fuelled his obsession for these kinds of books at second-hand book stores, so the books smelled musty and were stained and damp, some too spotted to read at all. Age had yellowed pages and crinkled paper, darkened leather and worn out spines. Chris didn't like the feel he got from those books at all.
But then of course not all of the books were evil ones. There were books on white magic, on crystals and potions, notebooks with spells copied from the Book of Shadows in them, and many were just normal teenage books, a geometry text book, a French one… There were a few fiction books as well, crammed to the point of overflowing on a bookcase.
A baseball cap dangled from the bedpost and a corkboard displayed a few family pictures, all devoid of Leo, their father. Chris had cleared the unmade bed of CDs, MP3s and a basketball with no air in it just to make space to sit down. Falling off of stands were autographed baseballs and pinned to the wall was a calendar showing a variety of topless blondes straddling Harleys for every month of the year.
Chris was in here, in the midst of it all, hoping to confront his brother about using personal gain magic. Just the other day a ball that had been kicked too wide had made it to the back of the net, scoring Wyatt's team a 'fluke' victory.
And then there was the time where a mild outbreak of spots had cleared up completely overnight, something Wyatt had put down to the latest spot-wash on the market. Things just didn't add up with Wyatt sometimes, the doctors had said that with his pulled tendon meant that he wouldn't be playing any sports for at least a month, and within a week it was healed and he had scored victory. He had put that one down to whitelighter genes.
Behind Chris on a shelf above the bed was a shelf jammed full of trophies. Some were sports ones from High School; Wyatt played football, basketball, baseball, soccer and, after much cajoling from his Aunt Phoebe, took Judo classes. Other trophies were from Magic School, signs of how easily Wyatt could win against opponents using his magic.
On Wyatt's laptop an orange light glowed just below the screen. Chris stared at it, considering for a minute and totally transfixed. He got up off of the bed and crossed the room, running his finger along the touchpad to take the machine out of standby.
The screen slowly faded up into view, and as soon as there was a full picture a prompt box asking for a password came up, barring his way in. Chris licked his lips nervously, straining to hear anyone coming up the stairs. There was no one.
"Let locks not be locked,
Let doors not be closed.
Let passages be open,
So I can go as I'm supposed."
Nine black circles appeared in the box, and then the computer was logging in. Chris looked at the door again, seeing and hearing no one. He quickly manoeuvred his way around the screen, searching for anything that would help prove Wyatt's personal gain spells.
There. A file. He selected and double-clicked. Another box asking for a password. For some reason Wyatt had protected this folder. He repeated his spell under his breath, but in a swirl of blue orbs on the screen a message appeared.
'Sorry, Chrissy. For my eyes only.' Chris thumped the desk in anger. Now there was a security measure he couldn't get past. He sighed, suddenly hearing footsteps. He panicked and hit 'log off' just as the door opened.
Wyatt came in and tossed his school bag into the corner before seeing Chris. He regained cool composure almost immediately and looked at his brother, an eyebrow raised. "Spying on me, little brother?"
"No, I just wanted to talk to you, that's all." Chris said, keeping his face passive and innocent (or so he hoped). He had learned to be a good liar to cover up his magic, and lying to Wyatt was no different than that.
"What about, Squirt?"
"Don't call me that," Chris replied automatically.
Wyatt shrugged. "Whatever," He shot the basketball he was holding at Chris' head, and his brother absently deflected it, sending it through the hoop Wyatt had mounted on the back of the door. The older Halliwell flopped down onto his bed, sending his blond hair into his face and not looking at all impressed. "So, what's up?"
"I… Uh… I wanted to talk to you a-about…" How the hell was he supposed to put this? Wyatt frowned slightly, then his face split into a wicked grin.
"Oh! Chrissy has a girlfriend! Which one is she?" Wyatt considered, a small frown furrowing his brows. "Jack's little sister Jess, the one with the dark hair, is in your grade, right? She's pretty hot, even for a fourteen-year-old…" He made the basketball fly into his waiting hands, throwing it through the hoop and collecting it magically again.
"Not exactly…"
"So what?" He spun the ball on his finger nonchalantly, slapping the ball with just the right timing to keep it balanced and seemingly ignoring Chris. Then his face cracked into another grin and he stopped the basketball, holding it with both hands. "You want a talk?" a wicked grin spread slowly across his face. "I can go get Mom and get her to give you The Talk." He offered tauntingly, knowing the embarrassment it would cause his younger brother. "Or I can get Aunt Paige, her side was interesting." Chris' face had turned a startling shade of scarlet at the thought. "I got mine from both of them. MOM!"
"No!" Chris hissed, hoping for the hot flush to go away.
"MOM?" Wyatt made for the door.
"Wyatt!"
"Aunt Paige?" He was half-way out of the door when Chris blurted out what he had come to say.
"I know you've been using spells for personal gain."
Wyatt whirled around and his eyes narrowed threateningly. "What did you say, Squirt?" Chris didn't bother arguing with the name, he'd made Wyatt angry, which was not a smart move. Wyatt tossed the ball hard at Chris' stomach, the younger boy catching and then dropping it before it could hit him. "How is that any of your business?"
He advanced, pushing Chris in the chest, and sending him sprawling across the floor. "So that's why you were in here, looking at my stuff for personal gain spells! How dare you. I thought we were brothers, Chrissy."
"No! We are! I'm just worried, you know, consequences, and-"
"You know what, you worry about your consequences and I'll worry about mine." He waved his arm and sent Chris flying out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Chris landed at the top of the stairs, grabbing the banisters to stop himself from falling.
"Boys? Are you fighting again?" Piper demanded from the kitchen.
"No Mom!" Chris called back, climbing up painfully and going into his room. Obviously this was going to be harder than he thought.
**********
"Ooh, big deal. You threw me out of a room. It wasn't the first or the last time," Chris said, looking in the direction he guessed Wyatt to be. Behind him he was twisting his hands, trying to break free of his bonds.
"Don't you remember what happened next?"
"Well, yeah…" Chris said, distracted and picking at a knot.
"Then you'll remember how nobody ever used to believe you."
Chris stopped trying to get free. "We've been through this. That's not true and you know it. I know it."
Wyatt shrugged. "Whatever," and gave Chris a bad sense of déjà vu.
"Just go back to the future, Wyatt. It's easier for you to terrorize people there."
"That's what you think," Wyatt reached out, touching Chris' head, making the young Halliwell feel as if he'd been doused in ice-cold water.
**********
"Mom, I'm worried about Chris," Piper was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the online San Francisco Chronicle via the miniature flat screen that was mounted on one of the cabinet doors. This was an older Piper, a Piper with a few more lines around her eyes and mouth and grey streaks beginning to show in her hair. She pointed a remote at the TV and a new page came up.
"Why, sweetie? What's up?"
Wyatt sighed heavily, his blue eyes hooded with concern. Piper's stomach dropped a little. "Baby?
"I… I think he's using spells for personal gain,"
Piper's eyes darkened and she snapped off the screen. " What?" Wyatt shrugged helplessly, getting up and making his way to the sink so he could peer out the window.
"I don't know," another helpless sigh. " I've been thinking that he's been doing it for a while now… I mean, I don't want to tell tales, but-"
"You're not, Honey." He smiled sadly at his mother.
"But I caught him trying to magically hack into my computer today…"
"Seriously?" Piper sighed, looking slightly lost. Then her resolve hardened again. "Send him down here."
Wyatt nodded, trudging out of the room, but stopped. "Oh, Mom, by the way, is it ok if I go out tonight?"
"Sure, but normal rules apply,"
He broke out into a grin. "Back by midnight, gotcha. And don't worry mom." He patted her shoulder. "I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding…" She nodded and Wyatt went upstairs, pausing by Chris' door. "Chris, oh Chris…"
"What do you want Wyatt?" His voice was muffled through his closed bedroom door.
"Nothing, actually. Mom wants you." Chris didn't answer but Wyatt was pretty sure that he had orbed out downstairs to the kitchen.
**********
"Pain? As in emotional pain?" Phoebe nodded, her head still swimming. "Which one was it coming off of?"
"I don't know, but I don't see why adult Wyatt should be in any emotional pain at all,"
"We've got to get in there," Piper said, running her hands through her hair with worry. "Wyatt's doing something to Chris and I don't like it."
"How? We've tried every way we can think of!"
"Maybe we could call Leo…" Paige suggested quietly. "You know, with infinite Elder wisdom?" There was silence as Piper walked away and looked up at the sky at the first star of the night. "It's getting dark," Paige said, after the long pause, trying to make up for it by changing the subject.
"Making a wish, Honey?" Phoebe said, seeing her sister staring at the star and getting up to put her arm around her. Paige did the same.
"Making a wish?" Piper gave a sad, wistful snort of laughter. "No. I wish it was all that simple, though."
**********
"Chris, I want you to tell me the truth," Piper started off, standing up as she her son appeared in the room.
"Sure, Mom," Chris chirped, although his stomach was doing somersaults. He went to the fridge, pulled out a carton of juice while shoving his glass under the ice cube dispenser. Pulling it away after the glass had filled enough, he began pouring his grape juice.
"I know being a witch can be hard on you," Piper began quietly, hesitantly. "It can be hard on anyone, but you have this power, Chris and you have to use it responsibly," Chris sat down, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.
"Yeah…" he trailed off as his mother pinned him under her concerned and angry gaze.
"Wyatt tells me that he thinks you've been using spells for your own personal gain. Is that true?"
Chris nearly choked on his juice. "Wyatt said that?"
"Is it true, Chris?"
"No!"
His mother sighed, shaking her head. "Lying only makes these things worse, Chris. Lies can grow; you don't keep things covered up for long in this family. It's not healthy, especially not with the magic flying around here…"
Chris jumped up, depositing his glass in the sink. "I said no! Don't you believe me?!"
"Quite frankly no, Chris. Wyatt said he caught you hacking into his computer. Is that true?"
Chris turned away toward the curtains, guiltily studying the pattern. Ok, so that was true. But then it had been to find evidence of Wyatt's own misuse of magic, not to get him in trouble…
"Well yeah, but…"
"No buts!" Piper said, clearly frustrated. "These things don't have buts! Can't you see?" She made an exasperated noise and threw her hands in the air.
"Mom!"
"I don't want to talk to you. Misuses of magic for your own personal gain leads to consequences, some of which might rebound on us as a family. Magic is not a toy, Chris! It's not something you can use light-heartedly!"
"But-"
"No." Chris' face fell. "Go to your room. You admitted hacking into Wyatt's computer. That's bad enough, but more magic for even more selfish reasons?" Piper shook her head. "I'm grounding you for a month, you hear me? No TV, straight home from school, no Internet at all and if you don't stick to it I will bind your powers, Christopher, God help me, I will do it!"
"Mom, it's not me! It's Wyatt, he-"
"Lies and excuses make it worse, Chris. I've already said that. Now go. And no orbing." Chris took the disappointment in his mother's face like an iron fist around his heart. She didn't believe him! She had believed Wyatt and now she thought that he was irresponsible, and was now feeling let down by him.
He glanced one last time at his mother, but Piper's face was set hard and he had no hope of changing her mind right now. As he reached the second step up Wyatt came thundering down the stairs, a sneer curling his lip when he saw Chris.
"See you later, Chrissy," His eyes danced in triumph. "BYE MOM!" He went to the front door. Chris heard a car honk, obviously Wyatt's ride for the night. The door closed and Chris continued upstairs, feeling lonely and defeated.
**********
Chris took the head rush associated with coming out of these memories better this time and was soon back with the real world, suddenly feeling that whatever it was that Wyatt was here to achieve, it was slowly working.