Back to the Past
Chapter Eight: Better and Better
A/N: I tried to update this sooner but ff.net wouldn't let me sign in!
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"Oh my God!" yelled Pt. Phoebe as Chris and Wyatt appeared. Wyatt collapsed on the ground from sheer exhaustion as Chris sat down quickly on a near by seat.
"What happened?" asked Pt. Piper running over to Wyatt who was lying on his back taking deep and ragged breaths.
"We found them," said Chris who was also breathing heavily.
"Is Wyatt ok? Do I need to call Leo?" Piper asked worried about the state in which her two sons had appeared.
"No he is just drained. Can't say I'm feeling particularly hot myself," admitted Chris. "We couldn't orb so he had to hold up his shield to protect us from Dermairon's fireballs while I tried to think of a spell to get us out of there," Chris explained, his breathing slowly returning to normal.
Piper made Wyatt sit up straight and lean against the wall. Paige brought them both a glass of water, which they accepted eagerly.
"He was so strong," said Wyatt slowly. "Our powers didn't work on him. My shield normally can withstand anything but keeping it up just drained every inch of energy from me."
"And that was the good news," said Chris.
"Aww, you have got to be kidding me," said Paige.
Chris and Wyatt both explained to them about what had happened in the cave and all that they had found out.
"So basically the timeline has changed and anything can happen," said Phoebe.
"So much for if we don't do anything out of character the same things should happen and everything will be ok. All bets are off now," said Piper. "Well, what are we waiting for? To the book!" she ordered, leading them up the stairs to the attic.
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After about an hour of searching most of them had gave up and Piper was looking after baby Wyatt and Chris, while Paige was trying the less likely option of trying to find him on the internet.
Phoebe however, was determined that the must just have missed something and was insisting on going through it again.
"It's no use, Erech isn't in there," said Chris from the sofa.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Phoebe.
"Because several people have already looked though it before you including me and I can usually find things in our book pretty quickly and our book has a hell of a lot more in it," he said. Phoebe looked at him sceptically and continued to go through it.
"He's right you know," said Wyatt. "As big headed as he is, he does this whole thing with the sensing and the telekinesis to find things in the book so if he didn't find Erech, he isn't there."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" she asked.
"Check with the elders," said Wyatt. "We should call Leo and ask him what they know."
"Yeah that's probably the best idea," agreed Chris. "While you guys are doing that I'm going to go get Aunt Paige and go to Magic School and look through their books, they are bound to have something on him," said Chris getting up and leaving.
"Is he ever going to remain in a room with Leo?" asked Phoebe.
"Not likely. He kinda has the idea that if Dad can't make time for us then why should we make time for him," explained Wyatt.
"And you don't feel the same?"
"No, not really, but then again I am a little more mature than Chris. But he's generally a very angry person and I guess that just gets directed towards Dad a lot. Patricia is somewhere in the middle. I mean if we haven't seen him in a couple months her and Chris will go and sit out in the back garden to avoid him but Dad can usually talk her around."
"I can't even imagine how weird it must be, him being around so seldom. Not that he is around all the time now," she said. "I'll go get Piper, she might as well see her husband today if we are going to."
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"Much good all those charms and enchantments did us," said Dermairon, still fuming from his encounter with Wyatt and Chris.
"It took them longer to find them this time," said Erech. "Besides I doubt they will be back any time soon, they seemed completely helpless," he reminded. Dermairon had told his brother what had happened and they were now discussing their next plan of action.
"Yes but now they have the time to go back and figure out a way to get around that!" he said. "It took a lot of restraint on my part to not kill their mother just to hurt them."
"Well it's a good thing you didn't, we are under strict orders not to kill them. He probably wants to have the pleasure of that himself," said Erech. "Now we probably shouldn't leave the Charmed Ones alone for too long in case they come back," he said walking back into the cave.
"I hate them! I am going to kill those annoying half witches if it is the last thing I do," seethed Dermairon.
"News flash, trying to kill them will be the last thing you do," said Piper, regaining consciousness slowly.
"What? Still haven't learnt your lesson yet, witch?" asked Dermairon threateningly.
"I think the problem here is that you haven't learnt yours, demon," said Paige. "When are you going to get that they are always going to out smart you? You said that it was practically impossible to find us and low and behold they found us!"
"It IS practically impossible to find us here!" yelled Erech. He had spent years planning how to cover up the cave's location, he had thought it never could have been breeched.
"Yeah well lucky for us Chris and Wyatt aren't the most practical teenagers you'll ever meet," said Piper.
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"So you have only just started working here?" asked Chris.
"Yeah, please don't tell me I'm still working here 16yrs on," said Paige. She stared at her nephew who looked at her blankly.
"What?" he asked. "You said not to tell you!"
"That's just great, stuck in a dead end job," said Paige opening a different book.
"Are you kidding me? You love working here! You don't have to worry about covering up the fact that you are witch because, well so is everybody else! No more making up stupid excuses every time there is a demon attack and you have unlimited resources here to help you research and practice the craft. God, probably why I love spending so much time here," he said with his patented lopsided grin.
"You're right, that does sound pretty cool," admitted Paige. "So are you ok?" she asked seeing a worried look on Chris' face as they were going through some of the numerous books on demons that could be found at the Magic School.
"Yeah, just a little shaken up," said Chris.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but you are not the sort of person who is easily shaken up, you are too much like Piper to be like that," said Paige, worried.
"You're right, I'm not but it's just that I've never seen Wyatt so helpless looking before," said Chris. "He has always been the powerful one and yet within a few seconds of being under attack it seemed that he knew Dermairon was too strong for him."
"I take it that scares you?" asked Paige.
"Hell yeah! Usually Wyatt and I have no problem looking after ourselves when it comes to demons. I mean today alone we must have vanquished about fifty demons and it was not a bother to us!"
"Yeah but they weren't big bad demons, like the Source. Now that was a battle," said Paige. "When you two can do that by yourselves you know you will be fine."
"Oh please!" said Chris. We have vanquished the newest Source by ourselves last year when I was only fourteen, nearing fifteen to be sure but it's still pretty impressive you have to admit. He had had you guys attacked by a swarm of demons to distract you from his latest evil plan. Fortunately demons always seem to forget about us," said Chris.
"Ah so I see, you two are like our little secret weapons?" she said.
"Pretty much, demons always think that their biggest worry is the Charmed Ones, that if they get you guys out of the way nothing can stop them. They always forget about the newer members of the Halliwell Family and that is always their demise," he said grinning.
"So what, now you two are finally facing someone who is more powerful than the both of you so you are freaking out a little?" she asked.
"Uh duh! Wouldn't you? We were cutting it pretty close in that cave, I just got that spell out in time and no more. If I had taken one more second we would have been fit for an ashtray."
"That is always more than a little scary," said Paige. "So your powers didn't work on him at all?"
"Nope, I mean when I tried to throw him across the room he just sorta stopped for like a second and like closed his eyes but then continued bombarding us with fireballs. What made it worse was that mom, you and Aunt Phoebe were just lying there, chained up and helpless. I couldn't have deflected the fireballs in case they accidentally hit you. There was nothing we could do to help you guys or get you out of there with us," said Chris sombrely.
"Oh Chris," said Paige, putting her arms around him and hugging him. "You can't always be the hero, sometimes you aren't going to see an immediate solution. You had no choice but to leave them there. If you hadn't both you and Wyatt could have died and then there would have been no hope of getting them out."
"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," said Chris, forcing a small smile.
"So I hear from Wyatt that you have found some pretty cool ways of channelling your powers," said Paige.
"Yeah," said Chris.
"Well I was thinking, since we are both half witch half whitelighters with telekinesis, doesn't that mean that I can do the same thing?" she asked curiously, interested in expanding her powers.
"Sure," said Chris. "Actually if there ever was a time for you to learn I think it would be now. I figured out a way to check through books really quickly when looking for a certain thing," he said.
"Ok but is it weird that I am being taught by someone who is in reality like 27 years younger than me?" she asked.
"Not really I have been doing this for sixteen years, you have only been at it for three. It should be expected that I'm a little more advanced than you," said Chris.
"Carry on like that and your head will expand," said Paige.
"So everyone keeps telling me," said Chris grinning.
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"You let them go down there and face Dermairon by themselves?"
"Oh for Gods sake Leo! One, we hardly let them. They just went! Two, they can look after themselves, they have being doing this for longer than us and three it is not really our place to stop them! It's their mom and aunts and yes we are too but they have grown up with them, surely they are more connected to them than us!" said Piper, a little angry at the accusation that she had deliberately endangered the lives of her sons.
"Piper, don't you think that . . ."
"Leo, we didn't call you for a lecture, we need to know about Erech," said Piper, interrupting her husband.
"I don't know much myself. I can check with the other elders and get back to you though. I'll see you later," he said kissing Piper on the cheek.
"Wow, feels just like home," said Chris, who had orbed in just in time to see his father leave.
"We found Erech," said Paige before Piper could start an argument with Chris. She opened the book she was holding at the page with the picture of the demon on it. "Which is good cause I got nothing on the internet."
"Yeah it's always a shame when that happens," remarked Wyatt with a smile.
"I know, and so unlikely too!" said Chris. "I mean ever since demons.net stopped providing a search engine it's just been impossible to find any ancient demons on the internet!"
"Stop being a smart ass and tell them what we found out," said Paige, rolling her eyes.
"Well, you know the way Dermairon is the demon of passing though time," said Chris. "Erech, his brother, is the demon of passing through different planes of existence."
"And guess what. No known vanquishing potion or spell for him either!" said Paige with fake enthusiasm.
"This just keeps betting better and better doesn't it?" said Wyatt scanning down through the page.
"It's ok, we can always write a vanquishing spell for both of them," said Piper.
"Yeah and I'm sure that's what you thought before," said Wyatt. "And look at how that turned out. We are in deeper shit now that we should have been."
"He's right," said Paige. "We can't risk making the same mistakes as we did before."
"But how can we not? I mean we are the same person!" exclaimed Phoebe.
"We ask," stated Chris.
"Are you crazy?" asked Piper.
"No. If we ask mom and the aunts what they did before we'll know not to do it!" said Chris.
"Why do I have a feeling that you don't really mean to say 'we,'?" asked Wyatt.
"Because I don't," said Chris. "I'm going in alone," he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yep, definitely crazy," said Phoebe.
"Chris! That demon almost killed you last time and that was when he was unprepared! He's bound to expect you to come back. Plus before you had Wyatt's shield!" said Piper.
"And it took all of Wyatt's energy to keep it up!" yelled Chris. "He was almost unconscious near the end and you three certainly aren't going in! If you get hurt or killed then we loose our Charmed Ones too and the future is changed for the worse anyway."
"Well wonder boy what exactly makes you so qualified to go in?" asked Paige, trying to call his bluff.
"Your invisibility," said Wyatt, working out his little brother's plan.
"Chris you have the power of invisibility?" his mom asked him.
Chris nodded.
"But you can't fully control it, you said so yourself," said Wyatt, concerned for his brother.
"Yeah I know but it's kind of necessary now. Besides I managed to figure it when we were playing hide and seek at the age of six so I'm sure I can do it now," said Chris resolutely.
"I knew you cheated!" said Wyatt. "There was no way that you could have beat me other wise."
Chris ignored his brother and continued, "I'll orb down there, become invisible and sneak in. I'll find some way of communicating with them and I'll find out what went down before," he said solemnly.
"Chris, you could be killed," said Piper.
"I don't have much of a choice," said Chris. "This is the only way and besides I can use the spell I did before to get out of there if I'm in trouble. Plus, now that I've learnt to channel my TK with my orbing I can just orb rocks at him or call for his fireballs so they don't hit me. I've been practising since we came back."
"Wyatt, try and talk some sense into your brother," said Piper. "Maybe he listens to you."
"If you get in trouble call for me, I mean it," said Wyatt.
"Way to talk him out of it," mumbled Phoebe.
"What kind of crazy advice is that?" exclaimed Piper. "You won't be able to hear him when he's in the underworld!"
"Chris and I have always been able to hear each other calling, so has Patricia, even if we are in the underworld," explained Wyatt.
"Cool," said Paige. "A little strange but cool nonetheless."
"I will let you go on one condition," said Piper.
"What?" asked Chris.
"You become invisible right this second."
"What?!" exclaimed Chris.
"I mean it," said Piper sternly. "Unless you can prove to me that you will be able to become invisible in that cave you are not going young man."
"Fine," said Chris, closing his eyes and concentrating. Unfortunately for him, he became translucent rather than invisible.
"Ha, you can't go!" said Piper. "I can still partially see you!"
"Yeah, that's a little irritating but I can fix that before I go into the cave," promised Chris.
"No you won't because you aren't going into the cave," said Piper determinately.
"Uh yes I am," corrected Chris.
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No you're. . ."
"Guys! As much as I hate to break up the most convincing argument of the century, time is running out here and we need to make a decision fast," said Paige.
"Mom, look, it's not really your decision, you the one who's life is in danger and I am going to save you," said Chris taking what he hoped was a softer more persuasive tone.
"I just don't think I can watch you come back to the past to save us . . . again, and die all over again," said Piper.
Chris smiled and put an arm around him mom. "You won't have to, I can become invisible," he assured her.
"What if you can't?"
"I can."
"But what if you can't?" said Piper.
"I can."
"Confident little git ain't he," commented Paige.
"Always when it matters," said Wyatt. "And when it doesn't really, he's like this a hell of a lot. So yes actually, you're right he is a confident little git."
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A/N: Ok so there are 2 more chapters plus an epilogue but the next chapter is pretty long so yeah. Also it might be a while because I am going on hols for two weeks on Sunday and I don't know if I will be able to get Ch9 finished before then but I will try.
But like I'm bringing my notebook so like by the time I get back I will have this story finished and probably a very large wack of the sequel which is very relationshippy rather that actual plot. Well there is a plot but it's not as complicated as this one. Honestly I'm giving myself a headache!
But anyway when I come back all I need to do is type them up so if Ch9 is not up by Sun it will definitely be up on Sat the 24th. God that seems ages away. I just thought I would tell you all of that in case I don't get the next chapter up and you think that I have abandoned this fic so don't worry I haven't.
Once again thanks to all of my lovely reviewers! You guys kick ass! Lol.
Flephanie: I have to admit I cracked myself up with that one, lol. But tut tut! You haven't been paying attention. All of them have been stated! Energy balls, freezing, the fire thing (I think its like spontaneous combustion or something) the shield thingy and exploding! In Ch7 Wyatt blew up the demon he didn't make him all spontaneously combusting, lol.
Queen Isa: Good to know I am keeping you amused. Sorry I don't think this chapter is funny at all. I think I used up all my jokes in Ch6! But I'm hoping the next one will be funnier, fingers crossed and all that.
BuffSpike: Thanks, hope that wasn't too much of a wait between updates!
NoAlias: You are so going to love the next chapter that is planned in my head and not at all on Microsoft Word, it's very actiony. Am I writing the action ok though cause I'm not used to it and try to avoid it as much as I can, hence the relationship filled chapters. Anyway thanks for reviewing.
DarkDestiney2000: DUDE!! Thanks, lol. Only joking, I can't mock as I seriously over use the word dude myself. Anyway I'm glad you like my story and thanks for the review.
SickleSword: You don't have to stop! Really I welcome unnecessary praise! Really I do!
Wickedwms: Thanks, I'm a little worried about my big bad though. I'm not sure it will make sense to other people. Meh I don't really care though I'm sure I'll end up explaining it a lot. But uh Leo is about . . . somewhere. I mean he was in this chapter! For a very short amount of time granted but he was there nevertheless. He's in the next chapter . . .maybe. I think I'll go look for him.
OneTreeHill4eva!: you updated twice, on the same day! A little eager there. Glad you like my story though.
Mely's the name: Why thank you very much, Mely, lol.