BEFORE NIGHT AWAKENS
By Sickle Sword
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Disclaimer: As I threatened in the last chapter: I DO on everything! Muaahhhaaa! What are you going to do about it?
A/N: A kind request for everyone out there who reads the story: even if things look a bit bad this chapter, keep reading! Not promising a happy end, but afar all, Chris IS my favorite character. I will not survive without mentioning him at least once a chapter...
Plus, I'm still in a desperate need for a beta and still no one suggested himself! Come on, people, I'm sure my grammar isn't THAT bad that you should be afraid! So, if you agree- just e-mail me to ! PLEASE!
rafiki : Thank you for your kind review. Sorry that I confused you, but that was pretty much the point of the last chapter. And in this chapter- Chris is coming back in all his glory!
AK8: Oh my god, that was. .. thank you so much!!!!!
denna5: Did you really like that chapter that much? Thank you! Personally, this is one of my favorite chapters so far (wink). Did it really sound as if they both were born at the same time? Damn. Well . . .it was more like. . .you'll see already. I'm going to start explaining everything soon. Thanks for the review and keep them coming!
Deranged black kitten of doom: giggling I love your name! Thank you for the review, and sleep a lot! I'm a great believer in sleeping! (And angst, you already know that I'm a tear-junkie!)
Chapter 10: LIES REBORN
You have lived the last years in constant need for hide and shelter, your need for love nurtured from the flowers to which you've given life. The latter beings are the only ones you have given life to, instead of taking, and you are not proud of that. However, you are not ashamed.
You did what was had to be done to protect your family, even if they don't acknowledge you as their own, simply because it was your purpose. You went through hell and never really healed from it, for them.
And now, now there's only one thing you can do. To wake up from the forced nightmare to see the worrying faces of your relatives. You hope they didn't do anything stupid like trying to heal you. You would never forgive yourself if they did, and by that destroyed everything.
"Good morning" you hear buzzing. It takes your tired mind a while to understand what it means, and who's saying it. Paige. They called her home, to watch you die. Your father, on the other hand, isn't here. You dare to hope that it means what you think it means, that he wasn't here all along.
"What happened?" you ask and then all the events of the latest hours are coming to you in a huge boom. You remember "oh"
"Are you ok?" Piper asks you, her hand cool on your burning face.
"Yeah, better. Thank you"
"You got us worried for a while, fainting like that after saying you are dying." Paige says light-heartfully, but even from her tone you can tell she's worried. Just like all of them. Despite everything that fate put you throw, they were still your family, knowing it or not.
"Sorry" you smile sheepishly, but the effect is immediately ruined as you cough again. This time it's taking long till your lungs are letting you relax for a while, and you feel drained. Like after a massive demon attack. Like the last time you died.
"So, want to tell us why you don't want Leo to heal you?" Paige asks, always the practical.
"It's poison" you realize that the effects of the truth potion has not yet passed. "If Leo heals me, he'll die"
"Oh my god! Who did it to you?"
You avoid answering. You maybe can't tell them a well structured lie, but you can still prevent from them the pain of knowing that the real personification of their nephew.
Realization sinks in their eyes nevertheless. "Wyatt"
You avoid their eyes. You don't want to see what's inside them, to see the almost everlasting trust gone, because of you. And Wyatt. This was one of the wars you aren't ready to let him win.
"Is there something we can do?" phoebe asks, her hand gentle on your heart. You wish there was something, but there is only one who can undo the poison, and that's Wyatt. The old one. The baby version of his won't be affected from the devastating effects of the poison, but it will drain him nearly all his powers only to make you feel slightly better. And if there will be an attack, he won't have his shield up. You can't risk that.
But you don't have control on your mouth anymore. You suddenly realize that you have just said what you thought out loud. And knowing them and their stubbornness, they will be willing to take the chance. They always thought that happy endings exist. You, too, have heard so many stories in your life about good versus evil. And somehow, it always wins. In reality, however, the same logic simply doesn't work.
Try living in the future for a while; see what that does to your optimism.
"I'll go and bring Wyatt" mom says, but before she moves, he orbs to her arms. He could always do it, even when he was older. Well, not to her arms, obviously, but he could sense when he was needed, and came immediately, no matter where he was. He answered the quickest while in school.
They put Wyatt on you and you feel a wave of warmness, soothing your body and soul. You are fighting sleep to wash over you again, but you feel so good that it's hard. How can you fight belonging? Why would you want to?
Slowly, your eyes are being shut down, and you stop resisting. You feel refreshed and fueled, but also so tired. The pain is leaving you inch by inch, your body strengths with every passing moment. You feel warm. Safe. Home.
But then all the warmth is being sucked away, and there is only darkness.
It seems a while since the last time you have envisioned hell breaks all loose and merging with the upper world. Now, you see it again. Armies of demons attacking, washing every bare spot with their existence, and you know, you simply know, that you are going to lose. This time, you don't even have the knowledge of the future helping you. This was not supposed to happen.
Yet it does. The reality is harsh, but whatever reason the world has of picking on you and your family, you will not let it. You will not let your family die.
The seventh wheel of eternity started circling as the fires of doom arose from every corner, making the door of the damned to be opened with scorch marks. One by one, as Pandora box is being opened, a wave of demons are resurrected from the underworld for a reason that was better stayed buried within the hearts of the deceivers.
The outer walls of the house shiver, ready to protect their habitants's lives even in the cost of theirs. This isn't a mere battle this time, the clouds whisper to each other as they grow solemn in the sight of the massacre that is about to be held, this is a war.
The earth is shaking furiously, opening its vast pharynx in hunger. It will return to its sleep only once sacrifice will be made.
And while everything is happening, you watch incredulously at what seems to be taken from the Tales of Armageddon, and you simply don't know how you are going to save the world this time.
You see a creature hurrying toward Wyatt in his weakened form after healing you, and even while struggling to get up, you simply can't.
Time freezes and then fastens again as there's nothing you can do. You're helpless, and that weakness cost Wyatt his life. Now you know why he was turned. You.
He's being taken. There's nothing you can do about it.
You lost.
Outraged, your feverish body abandons this earthly plain and forgets the pains and the aches that are all over you, and you run. Wyatt may has been taken, but you won't let your family be killed as well.
You are blinded by tears and you don't see where you need to go. It doesn't matter, from every corner there are demons attacking you, and you fight each of them with equal determination, not ready to lose. You have already lost one thing, you will be damned if you will let the universe win again.
But as it seems, you have no choice. Mom.. Piper . . . is not looking as the blue Garlik demon is ready to hit her with his venom.
Without wasting time, you step in front of her, ready to protect her, with all costs.
A loud gong is heard and the demons disappear. The offering was accepted.
Your life.
Now bitterly, you fall on your knees, ready to your grand end. Death. And you know that you have done the right thing. You are doomed anyway.
It's not as if life would have granted you absolution even if you wanted it, even if you've believed you deserve to be given it. The truth is that so far life introduced you nothing more than a one way ticket to eternal, internal hell. Watching your family being destroyed one time apparently wasn't bad enough, so you were given encore. Not something that you've wanted, but hey, nobody asks you anything nowadays. Nobody asked you if you wanted to die. You couldn't let all your attempts crumble when that demon attacked. They weren't ready to die. Not yet. You were.
Your sight began blurring; erasing from your anguished mind the fractures you've tried to mend before unsuccessfully. You've came back from the future to save the world, in the end all you were doing was to destroy your past. Peachy.
So in the end, you came here not because you thought that the world was a bad place, even though it was. Not because you presumed you could save it. Not even so you could save yourself. You have come here for one purpose only- to fail.
You now know that, really.
You can only hope that in the next cycle, your adult you would realize that sometimes you can't save them all, just yourself. And that sometimes by saving your self, you save them all.
But maybe even that won't happen, you suddenly realize. This time, you will not be born again. Or maybe they had done.. . .it? Maybe. ..
The poison that was always inside you envelops you like a merciful cloud, and as you lose the feeling in your legs, you let yourself be dragged to the darkness.
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