This is an AU futurefic in which Chris is over 14 and Piper hasn't yet died. It's also set before Wyatt has started to turn evil. I think that's pretty much all you need to know for now, and extra characters will be outlined as we go along, rather than a huge list here that you probably won't remember…
This is probably a kind of prequel to BB in the trilogy (the sequel to BB is coming out soon) Meant To Live. Enjoy.
Twisted Flame
Last One Standing
"Mom, please!" Seventeen-year-old Chris pleaded, following her to the dryer. She had a basketful of wet washing under one arm and as she bent down to load it, she shook her head.
"No, Chris," Piper said firmly, slamming the door harder than she meant to and starting the cycle, pushing past her son to get back into the kitchen, "And that's my final word,"
"But…"
"Chris, no buts!" Piper said, sounding exasperated, "I am not taking you on our next vanquish, ok? So just… please stop asking,"
"You took Wyatt when he was may age, younger even!"
"Well, Honey, you don't exactly have a force field of any kind, and Wyatt-"
"Twice-blessed? Special? Yeah, I've heard it all before," Chris interrupted bitterly as his mother dipped a potion pan in the sink and began scrubbing it vigorously.
"If you've heard it all before then why do you keep asking me?"
"Because I want to go!" Chris said, "I mean Aunt Phoebe lets Prue go, and Prue's like, five years younger than me!"
"Three and a half!" The girl in question called from the Dining Room, where she was apparently doing her homework. She was the fourteen – nearly fifteen as she told everyone – year old daughter of Phoebe. Prue was short – a trait she appeared to have inherited from all of the Halliwell witches – and her brown hair was currently tied in a sleek knot at the nape of her neck.
She bent low over her Trig homework, dark brown eyes clouding with confusion, her forehead creasing in concentration.
"Butt out, Prue!" Chris shot back, before turning to his mother. "And Megan, she's even younger than Prue, and she gets to go…"
"Megan is not my concern, Chris. It's your Aunt Paige's choice to put her in danger, and I'm your mother and I say that I don't want you getting hurt. So just stay home and maybe next year we'll see, ok?"
"But-"
"Final word Chris," Piper warned, putting the pan on the side to dry, "Don't make me go over this again,"
Chris, recognizing the finality of her tone, admitted defeat and turned away from her, opened the basement door and went down the stairs. The basement was now host to two beds, white walls and a blue carpet. It even now boasted an en-suite bathroom. This was the room he shared with Wyatt – his cousins in the old nursery upstairs and the sisters in their respective rooms.
Wyatt wasn't in the bedroom and Chris thought he had some kind of sports practice today after school, so he stepped over all of the stuff littering the floor and went to lie on his bed, staring at the concrete ceiling.
It's not fair, he thought sulkily, everyone else gets to vanquish demons…
That was true, his whole family often came back covered in slime, the five girls racing for the shower and hot water first while Wyatt was either elbowed out of the way or completely clean due to his force field.
And despite dripping with gloop of various hues, they always looked so happy, so buzzed and excited, so very family like… And even though Wyatt wasn't being purposely mean he could rarely resist giving his brother a blow-by-blow account of the vanquishing.
He sighed and stretched, chewing on his bottom lip. There had to be a way to persuade her somehow, he could get round her if he really put his mind to it… He smiled, thinking up a better argument to use next time.
The door opened and Wyatt – now eighteen - appeared at the top of the stairs. He clattered down into the room, dumping his sports bag on his bed.
"Hey, Chris, what's up?" Wyatt said, grabbing his normal clothes out of the bag and tossing them onto the bed as well. He was still dressed in shorts and a t-shirt – Chris guessed today's sport had been basketball.
"Nothing," Chris replied dully, staring at the ceiling still.
"You didn't persuade Mom to let you go a-vanquishing then?"
"No," There was a pause, and then Chris rolled over, a confused look on his face, "I mean I don't even get why she doesn't let me go, I'm seventeen now… Aunt Paige lets Meg go, and Meg's only just turned thirteen…"
"She doesn't want you to get hurt, kiddo," Wyatt explained, pulling off his sneakers and throwing them under his bed.
"Why does everyone think I'm going to get hurt?"
Wyatt shrugged again, "Listen, Mom says dinner's soon, so I'm gonna shower, ok?" Chris just nodded and rolled back onto his back, resuming his intent study of the ceiling. Wyatt pulled off his shirt and tossed it at the laundry basket in the corner. The lid was on so it slid down the back. Wyatt turned and walked into the bathroom and Chris heard the lock click and then water running.
"Dinner!" Piper called from upstairs, and Chris heaved himself off of his bed and climbed the stairs.
Piper hadn't felt like cooking properly, so a large Caesar salad was on the dining room table when Chris entered the kitchen. Prue, her math work pushed onto a chair next to her, was helping herself to a brown bread roll and buttering it.
Phoebe came into the room next, pushing her glasses up onto her head. Paige, who appeared in her seat in a shower of orbs, reaching for the vinaigrette dressing, followed her.
"Wyatt's just finishing up in the bathroom," Chris told Piper, sitting down as well.
"Well he'd better hurry up," Piper said, "Because after this group is done; there won't be any left,"
"Megan, dinner!" Paige called to the ceiling, but got no reply.
"Chris, your cousin's probably listening to music again; can you orb upstairs and get her?"
"Sure, I mean what else are my powers for?" Chris rolled his eyes and disappeared as Piper gave him a reproving glare.
"Meg, dinner," Chris called shortly, appearing in her room. She was floating near the ceiling; underneath her crossed legs, a small patch of orbs twinkled, reminiscent of a flying carpet. She had inherited her mother's pale skin, but not the natural hair colour of the Halliwells. She had inherited orbing from her mother despite being only quarter whitelighter (Leo thought it had something to do with dominant whitelighter genes) as well as levitation and the ability to freeze time.
"Whoa!" Megan screeched, opening her eyes and seeing Chris. She fell from the air and hit the mattress hard, earning a groan of protest. She ripped off her cordless headphones and glared at him, "Thanks for the warning, Chris," Meg hissed angrily, flipping blonde hair out of her face.
"What, the bright blue lights weren't enough?"
"Not when I had my eyes closed," She snapped, swinging her legs off of the bed. "I was meditating, what do you want?"
"Dinner's on the table," He told her before orbing out. She gave a growl of anger before disappearing as well and following him into the dining room.
When they got downstairs Wyatt was there, blond hair still wet from the shower. Everyone was digging into plates full of salad, and Megan and Chris took their seats.
Chris was sitting alone in the conservatory, the remote in his hand. There was nothing on, he was just channel surfing, waiting for something remotely interesting to come up. Outside it was night, and inside only one light was on, meaning that the TV was the main inconsistent and flickering light source.
He flipped channels again, stabbing the 'up' button on the remote with his thumb. Orbing lights appeared behind the couch, forming a man in golden robes.
"Hey, Dad," Chris said, his voice bored and not taking his eyes off the TV.
"Chris, where's your Mom and Aunts?" Leo asked.
"I'm fine, thanks, how are you?"
"I don't have time for this, Chris,"
"Then sense them instead of asking me stupid questions,"
Leo gave a sigh of annoyance and located his nieces in their room, Wyatt in the basement, Phoebe in the living room with Paige and Piper in the kitchen. He walked through the darkened Dining Room and into the kitchen, where he spotted Piper unloading the dishwasher.
"Leo?"
"Piper, hi… Listen there's-"
"A demon? Great… PAIGE! PHOEBE!" She called, and the two sisters joined her in the kitchen.
"Another demon?" Paige asked, seeing Leo, "Ok, what have we got this time?"
"It's a demon that wants to feed off of your powers," Leo filled them in, "literally suck them right out of you. His name's is Drox, and-" He turned as Chris entered the room, but the teen motioned for them to continue.
"Don't mind me, I just wanted some milk," He said, going to the fridge and opening it. He noticed that the adults weren't talking any more. He could tell by the faces of his Mom and Aunts that they were communicating without talking. Ever since Phoebe's powers had grown to include telepathy, the sisters' bond had allowed them to talk to each other in their heads. "Is Drox the power-sucking demon? I saw him in the Book… You need a potion, right?"
"Chris, don't you have some homework to do or something?" Leo asked.
"What, you can't talk demons in front of me now?" He asked, turning around with the carton of milk in his hand. "Ok, fine, I get it," Chris poured the drink, snatched the glass off of the counter and went down to the basement, narrowly missing knocking Wyatt down the stairs.
"What's all the noise about?" Wyatt asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Latest demon, Sweetie," Piper said quietly.
"Why can't they leave us alone?" Wyatt groaned, "Do you want me to get the Book?"
"Might as well look him up if we've got to kill the sucker," Paige said, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs. Wyatt waved his hand at the kitchen table and the Book formed there in a cloud of orbs.
"What have we got?"
"Drox, he's a power-sucking demon,"
"Ok…" Wyatt sat down in front of the Book and with a flick of his fingers flipped the cover open, "Drox, power-sucking…" The pages began to whir very fast until they stopped on a page depicting a demon dressed in a long black robe. His hood was currently down, but it was large enough to obscure his head if he chose to put it up.
His skin was mottled and green in some places, in others the flesh was almost human-coloured. He had scars – some kind of rune – carved into both of his palms, and an enlarged picture of his left hand was shown at the bottom on the page, complete with long, knobbly fingers and yellowing nails with half-moon crescents of filth underneath them.
"So what do we need?"
"There's a potion…" Wyatt said, turning the book around so his aunt wouldn't have to read it upside down.
Piper gave an exasperated sigh, "I just washed the potion pot," She grumbled, grabbing it off of the side and putting it on the gas burner, "So, what do we need?"
"Something smells totally gross," Prue grimaced, walking into the kitchen and met by a large cloud of smoke. She choked slightly, "You can smell that all the way upstairs, you know?"
"Sorry, Sweetie, we left the vents open," Phoebe bent down next to the vent in the kitchen and slid it shut.
"Either there's potion brewing going on or someone besides Aunt Piper tried to cook," Megan said, appearing from the Dining Room at her cousin's side.
"Hey, don't be bratty," Paige warned.
"Sorry,"
"Oh leave her be, Paige, it's a well-known fact that no Halliwell but Piper can do anything more than boil water," Phoebe said, although it was unlikely she would have taken this from her own daughter. Piper threw the last ingredient in and the potion gave a soft 'bang' before settling down and turning a cool blue colour.
"Potion's done!" Piper said, using an oven glove to waft away the fumes.
Chris listened to the footsteps above him in the kitchen and sighed. The whole family was now there by the sounds of it, getting ready to go and vanquish Drox. He'd heard that much before they'd stopped talking.
How come they all got to vanquish demons? As well as the offensive power of telekinesis, he could also orb and levitate out of danger – something he had inherited from the hovering ability of whitelighters and his family heritage.
His Mom was being so damn unreasonable, he knew that she didn't want him getting hurt but she was happy to put her own life on the line while he sat at home and waited for them to come back like some worried parent. Wyatt came back in shortly after that, and Chris looked up at his brother, who was outlined in the light from the kitchen.
"What, not orbing off to kill Drox?" Chris asked bitterly as his brother clicked on the light and shut the door, forcing Chris to squint quickly.
"Mom thought we should sleep first," Wyatt sighed, "Kill him in the morning," There was a long pause and then Wyatt spoke up again, "Chris I don't know why you're so bitter about this. All we do is nearly die in order to throw some potion at a demon,"
"Yeah, how come everyone else is allowed to 'nearly die' except me? How come I'm not allowed to go?"
"Chris, I don't know the reasons behind what Mom thinks but you're her youngest child, she thinks she needs to keep you safe…"
"I don't want to be safe!"
"Well get used to it, kiddo, because that's what Mom thinks and what Mom says goes…" Chris scowled, both at the nickname and what Wyatt said. Wyatt rolled his eyes and gestured at Chris, levitating him into the air.
"Wyatt!" Chris protested. Wyatt had always done this when they were kids to cheer him up; before Chris realized that he could levitate on his own, he had loved floating. But now he was a teenager, it was just embarrassing. "Put me down!" He crossed his legs and sat Indian style, glaring at his brother. "Well?" Wyatt grinned at him, forcing him higher, "Wyatt, quit it!" He whined, struggling against the power that held him there.
"You used to like that,"
"Well I don't any more!" Chris snapped, and Wyatt put him back down on the bed with a slightly hurt look.
"Chris, if you're going to act like a kid, Mom is going to treat you like one,"
"I'm not a kid!"
"Whatever… Night," Wyatt said, climbing in between the sheets and flipping the light of with telekinesis, leaving Chris standing speechless in the dark.