BEFORE NIGHT AWAKENS
By Sickle Sword
--o0o--
Disclaimer: Please look at the other chapters and tell me who owns Charmed. If you still don't know, please feel free to bang your head on the wall for remembrance purposes and make yourself comfortable with little stars flying around you, courtesy of me. Thank you.
A/N: I'm thrilled to say that this chapter is much longer than my usual ones. But don't scroll down just yet, I have people to thank to!
Succubus-69: Of course Chris isn't evil! I would never torture an evil guy, what' the fun in that? NO, they have to be fragile, helpless and not able to attack you back even from fantasy-land. Unfortunately for Chris, he fits all 3 categories. Of course his actor can come and kill, sue or do something equally liberating to me, but that's hardly the point. Thank you for reviewing!
denna5 : Fun in the future? You are obviously not in the right TV show. . Though I CAN think of a few guys. .em.. . someones. . .who will have enormous fun having them there. I know I took my sweet time updating but that's only because this chapter is longer. And the fact that life started...
And, as always, I'd like to thank my very dedicated beta- AK8. I couldn't do any of this without you!!!!
It should have been me who had told him the truth, even when I didn't know the meaning of the word truth, for I have lived in a lie. I should have held him close to my arms and closer to my arms and even when he chose to go away, I should have followed. It should have been me who died. Not him.
Chapter 12 : Time's Tine
They passed their way in the blackened vale of sorrows that was once called their home. It was lightless, unsettled and cold. The scattered green candles were the only ones which provided a vague light in the gloomy corridor, only enough to see one step a head, but no more. It was excellent as a hiding place, or as a place to hunt.
Careful not to step on any creaking panels, they pursued downstairs, the place that once consisted their happy pictures. Now, instead, on the hall were hanged pictures of all the deceased members of their family, their faces salient on the hologram of their grave. Each face was darker, angrier and sadder, holding their head high only because they knew that they can't afford weakness. At the end of the long silk-covered corridor, there was a red scarp that guided them to a huge window while in its side were two enormous candles, weeping out loud. The image on the window dazzled them. It was them.
"So we're dead" Paige quipped, not entirely sure how to respond. Sure, she knew that the possibility of being vanquished is possible but somehow it was easier thinking they were invincible, untouched by the force of evil. Obviously, the future told them just how wrong they were.
Oh, right, she suddenly remembered, Chris told them her she had died in this time. This was, however, unwelcome thought.
"Seems like it. Does it say anything about how we died? Phoebe, can you get a premonition?" Piper asked in a guarded voice.
"I don't think we should" Phoebe answered. "It can screw the timeline"
"Now you sound like someone we all know, stop that!" Piper got angry. She knew her sister was right, but to see your own death . . .that was unnerving, to say the least.
Phoebe stayed quiet for a few moments and then "Ssh, listen! There's someone coming"
"Can they see us?" Paige asked, hoping that they are only passengers in time, not interfering but only seeing things. She would hate to get killed in the future presently!
But she only got a shrug as a response. They will just have to hope.
The steps grew louder as a figure came into being. It was she, and she simply stared at them for a minute. Ok, so they're not invisible, Phoebe reasoned. She'd got a good vibes about the woman who came, and an aura of power. She was a witch, like them. What she was doing in their house, it was a mystery yet to be solved.
"He came back, hadn't he?" She asked them, her voice muffled.
"He?" Paige shook her head furiously, not understanding what the girl is talking about.
"Chris. He brought you here. Had he not?" it was obvious the girl needed to believe that now.
"I guess you can say that" Phoebe shot glares at her sisters, shrugging as she saw their apathy toward her answer. Well, it was half the truth. The spell was meant to bring them to Chris, so in a way he brought them here.
"Come on" she ordered and turned to walk away, holding a finger-sized free-shaped metal, that could be only described as a Thing, and pressed it to their picture. Out of nowhere, a vortex was opened and she stepped trough it.
Not yet sure they could trust her but without any real choice, they followed her.
The next sight they had seen was a brick wall covered with languished moss that seemed to lead to absolutely nothing. It was both intriguing and unnerving.
Suddenly, the bricks began to move, creating a living picture, kind of like a mosaic of structures that looked human. It had white curls and piercing eyes, and they just intuitively knew that no matter where will they go to, these eyes will always find them and hunt them down. They heard the sound before the mouth of the figure moved, deafening the fallen leaves of the dying plants.
"Today it is a day for celebration as our prodigal son has returned to the light. This act of goodness inside him brings hope of salvation for the ones who have not yet seen the road that was paved underneath their steps. Tomorrow he will be seen in the main square, you are all welcomed to join the feast and see the justice being done!"
"That was a hell of visual effects!" Paige called out loud, excited. It seems that not everything is so bad in the future after all.
Processing the information they were just given, Piper suddenly understood. "Oh My God! He's alive! Chris is alive!"
"Why of course he is, he came back to Wyatt" the witch told them, dismissing their puzzled expressions. She wanted so much to tell them how it can be. That the poison is given to those at Wyatt's service and that it was designed to guarantee full loyalty of his minion. And that under his protection, no one but him can kill you. At least not permanently. She had full knowledge about it as she, as well as many, was smart enough to believe in rumors.
In the beginning of his takeover, not everyone was happy to answer Wyatt, and some tried to betray him. There were many purifications trails and injustice those days, and many paid the price for others' ignorance. Slowly, the rumors of the poison's toxicity were spread.
Few crawled back a short while after trying mutiny, fawning and pleading for Wyatt to stop the pain, saying it's killing them. He spared many of those who came back and killed them at the spot, preventing further pain. Others were left to die in agony. All according to his mood and the majority of their crime.
Some, the more powerful ones, ran. They thought they could subdue the poison, but none of them made it far away. Either they committed suicide because they couldn't take the pain anymore or the poison reached their brain and wasted them, or they simply starved to death, too weak to go out and find food. There was not even one who managed to survive the poison.
In the end, people became too afraid not to do what they were told, and in more than 5 years, Chris was the first who tried to. She heard many people saying that's why Chris succeeded, because Wyatt wasn't prepared. Other's say his affection toward Chris blinded him until it was too late. Personally, she agreed with the latter. There wasn't a thing Chris would have told Wyatt without being heard. That helped the resistance a lot.
"Came back? But I thought. . ."Phoebe murmured, still not entirely sure she got handle of this whole Wyatt as the bad guy picture. It was hard, and as much it hurt her to admit it, it also pained her that Chris was on his side.
The witch looked both ways in wary and then silenced her "Shush!", her face wearing angry expression. "They can still hear us"
She didn't have to say who is They. This was obvious. Their enemies. Wyatt's people. Inwardly, the witch debated what she should do. Should she bring them to the resistance headquarters? After all, she was one of the founders. With Chris of course. Even with the intensity of the situation, she allowed herself to sink in daydreaming of the past, when there was still hope.
It was only because she was born undetected, that they could pull it off. When Wyatt took over and forced the magical beings to be registered, she didn't have to. That fact helped her a lot because she could walk freely at the streets without being monitored 24/7. One day, one of the transmitters caught her. Then Chris came along and saved her, helping her to find other unregistered witches. He brought Intel and she brought witches, they were a team.
Together, they have built the resistance. To make the future free. And for that, she would always be in his debt.
Shaking herself, she saw that the three witches were staring at her, not sure to which side she belonged. She would have been glad to tell them everything, but life taught her better. And besides, she shrugged, they didn't ask.
"Where are we going to?" Paige asked, still a little ticked as she just saw her grave.
"Away" Susan answered hastily and made a decision. They wouldn't survive here long and she can't bring them back. She should just as well take advantage of the situation and let them help Chris.
Leading them to the exit door, she instructed them harshly "we are going to Wyatt's palace. Avoid making eye contact with strangers, do not attract attention to yourself and whatever you do, avoid with all costs the probes. Flying yellow things that scan you" and to their puzzled face she added "they can kill you"
"Avoiding yellow flying things then" Paige summarized it, feeling the rash of adrenalin in her veins.
"Just a moment" Piper interfered "why are we going there?"
"To help Chris, of course" Susan answered as if the answer was obvious.
"Why would we want to? He lied to us?" Phoebe's words caught the witch by surprise. She thought that. . .damn. This will be harder that way.
"I don't have time to explain everything to you right now" she breathed heavily, preparing herself to the 3 mules. "But we have to get Chris out of Wyatt's way and send him and you back so the future will be better. Believe me, the moment you will step outside, you'll know what I'm talking about. You don't want to be stuck in the future, do you?"
"We don't have what to come back to, whatever your name is!" Piper exclaimed angrily "my son's gone and your lying friend is the only one who knows who took him"
"I'm Susan. And these are more reasons to help me. Are you coming?" she studied their faces, anxious to get this over with.
"You're not surprised that Wyatt was kidnapped. Why?" Phoebe asked slowly as if only now understanding something profound.
"I'll explain when we get there. Fine?" Susan nearly jumped from frustration.
"Only one thing before I'm taking any step further." Piper hardened again, deciding o ask the question that nested in her chest for quite a time now. "Chris and Wyatt are less than on friendly basis. I get that. But how exactly did Chris and. . .Wyatt. .. meet?"
"Meet? That's an interesting way of saying that.. . .I can't exactly tell you. This is Chris's' choice." Susan was amused now. Not every day you meet mother asking how one son of hers met the other one.
"Err! Why doesn't anyone tell us anything about him?"
"Trust me, there are things that are better off not knowing"
"Trust you?! We don't even know you!" Phoebe obviously still had issues of trust.
Susan just shrugged. "So, are you coning?"
With really little choice left. The Charmed Ones followed.
The moment they stepped outside, they understood fully what Susan meant when she said they don't want to live here. There was utter silence, almost deafening in the midair, unnatural. There was no man, woman and living being at sight, and as they kept breathing in fear, they couldn't help but to think of those who couldn't breath anymore, and passed to the world beyond, their minds lamenting for the loss of hope and wonder that once lived here. The whole atmosphere was gray, like taken from an old black and white movie, a fact that strengthened the melancholy. If the Future seemed like an Old movie, is there even hope left for them?
"Oh, god, what happened to this place?" Phoebe cried to the forsaken city's streets.
"Time" Susan whispered, grieving for what had become of her once favorite place.
They kept walking silently, treading mercilessly on the dreams which died, like their owners. Each step getting them closer toward their salvation. Or their end.
Suddenly, Susan stopped. They had reached somewhere, they just weren't sure to where. In fact, in all aspects, this place looked exactly like the last block they passed- the same crumbled unpopulated buildings, the same lifeless neighborhood and the same scent of smoke that they preferred not knowing its origin. Apparently, however, there was difference as Susan whispered to their ears in haste "quickly, do it" as she stepped forward, her eyes sailing fearsomely from them- to unknown ghosts that only she could see.
Looking closer, they were able to identify the difference at last. One of the bricks had darker color, almost black only not quite there, and as they stepped on it and to the one beyond, the buildings disappeared.
It was a matter of seconds before the view had faded to be no more than water marks and instead came to be a wide wooden hall, engraved with metallic- green creatures.
"Come on, hurry" the younger woman pushed them, not letting their minds fully process the wonder that just happened. They could do it later- now, they had a job to do.
As if answering to the unspoken question marks which flew in the air, Susan whispered while encouraging them to move faster "Once the palace was outside but too many tried to assassin Wyatt, so he moved it to somewhere safer. Here. Sure, he could handle them, but it was unnecessary nuisance. And anyway, that way he doesn't have to think about how his place will look from the outside as for you are now IN it"
"Are you sure it's not a trap?" Paige walked carefully "there are no guards"
"There's no need for guarding, only few know about this place. Wyatt feels safe here, that was all the point"
"YOU know about this place" Piper said almost accusingly
"Yeah well" Susan shrugged uncaringly and continued with her half- walk- half- run pace. It was obvious she knew more than she let on, they just couldn't decide if these were things they needed or wanted to know.
Reaching to an open door, they saw two young men standing; one about to attack while the other was preparing to defend his life. One had soft blond curls and shady hands, the other owned black hair and piercing green eyes. One was foreign, the other acquaintance. One alive while the other came back from the dead. Two strangers in their own way. Enemies. Friends. Fighting.
Death.
One will kill the other.
"Who is battling Chris?" Phoebe whispered to Susan, pointing the fair-haired man who opposed their ex- whitelighter.
Dryly, Susan whispered back, summoning her will power to prevent the emotion from creeping on her face, showing that she cared about the both men. "Wyatt. This is Wyatt"
"But. . " Piper felt her mouth getting dry, fighting for words to come " .. he's fighting. . .Hands! What wrong with his hands?"
Dropping her gaze from the fuming mother to Wyatt's semitransparent hands, Susan took a deep breathe and said "The demon who took him nurtured from power. Once his force field's energy was gone, the demon consumed the energy of his hands as well. It is only now, when he is in his utmost power, that he is able to have the amount of energy that would be enough for his arms to be this visible. This is why he chases power. He thinks that if he concurs the world and have its power, his arms will be restored"
Despite the fact that this was the longest speech that Susan has yet spoken, this hasn't comforted them at all. They didn't know how long it would take the shield to hold, and right now they were stuck in the future without real means to come back and to save him.
Gathering the last shreds of her strength, Piper walked to the excuse that was once her son and whom she still loves so much that it hurts, and as she heard the echoes of her own steps on the wooden floor fading, she hoped the echoes of her dreams wouldn't disappear that easily.
--o0o--