Author's Note: I am so very sorry that I haven't updated this! So I'm giving you two chapters this time to try and catch up. I know I keep telling you that the boys (i.e. Chris and Wyatt) and going to meet their parents and they actually are in the next one or two chapters (and I really mean it this time, I promise!). And Phoebe Turner might be one to something...Wyatt and Chris finding out that they are brothers, but I'm not saying anything yet...Anyway, here are the next two chapters of the fic, so please read and review!
Chapter Seventeen: Tests
Wyatt was alone when he orbed into his and Barbas' lair. Feebly, he made his way to his makeshift bed and laid himself down, using most of his strength to summon a demonic Healer. After many years of conjuring energy balls, Wyatt now knew what it felt like to have one strike you down. He was amazed at how weak and powerless he felt and wondered if Chris had reflected one more back at him if he would even still be alive.
"Of course I would have," Wyatt said aloud to himself. "I am too powerful to have been killed that easily."
It was then that a tall man dressed in mixed matched dark clothing shimmered in. One of the few Healers of the Underworld, he came as quickly as he could, a large bag of potions and herbs at his side in a pouch used for healing. Wyatt had befriended him many years before, when he had been a foolish little boy who was fond of getting himself into trouble and hurt. The Healer had done his job numerous times for the boy and in return Wyatt granted him protection.
"Lord Wyatt," the Healer said, lowering his head. "What seems to be the trouble?"
"I was struck by an energy ball," Wyatt forced out, the wound finally taking its toll.
Moving closer, the Healer saw the wound and shook his head. "Deep, but I can fix it. It's not like you, to be getting hurt at this age. I would have guessed that you were old enough and much wiser and therefore able to take care of yourself."
Wyatt watched as the Healer cut away at Wyatt's shirt and spread a green like slime across his wounded chest. It was cold to the touch and yet it seemed to burn against his skin. Turning away, Wyatt winced in pain.
"It is only pain," the Healer said. "In time it shall leave."
"I am unaccustomed to it," Wyatt replied as the Healer began to put away his medicines. "I thank you."
"I am here to serve you in any way I can," the Healer said. "Summon me when I am needed."
Sitting up, Wyatt looked at the empty space where the Healer had once stood, then down at his chest. The slime had absorbed into his skin, but it still burned and Wyatt reminded himself that he was never going to let this happen to him again. Standing from his bed, he paced around the lair, thinking of how best to attack Chris in the near future. There was no way he was going to let Chris go unpunished, but his thoughts were interrupted as Barbas flamed into the lair.
"What in all the hells is going on?" the demon demanded, throwing his hands into the air. "What is this I hear about you being attacked? Tell me you did not go and try your hand at the Charmed Ones."
"Barbas, calm down," Wyatt said. "I did no such thing."
"You better not have. I told you that you were not ready."
Wyatt shook his head. "Still have no faith in me, I see."
"It's not that," Barbas answered. "Look at you, I heard that you almost died due to an energy ball. With a flick of the wrists, the eldest Charmed One could blow you up. As your semi-parent, I worry about you. Now, what exactly happened or am I going to have to find out from the demons and get it all wrong?"
Taking a deep breath, Wyatt wondered if it was best that he tell Barbas what had happened. Chris was the Great Good that everyone was talking about and therefore was considered stronger than the Charmed Ones. If Barbas did not want Wyatt going after the most powerful witches of all time, what was he going to do when he found out that Wyatt had attacked someone even more powerful?
"This silence is not helping, Wyatt," Barbas muttered. "Do I need to summon the Seer?"
Wyatt's eyes grew wide.
"Oh yeas, I know about your meeting with the Seer," Barbas continued. "And I know about the rumors in the Underworld, you forget I am a demon and therefore know what is going on. I have heard the threat of the Great Good too. Have you finally met this person?"
"Yes," Wyatt admitted.
"And? I see that you must have gone looking for him and this wound on your chest is the product of your meeting." Barbas motioned his head toward the injury.
"I did not have to go looking for him at all, we found each other by accident."
"By accident?"
"We go to the same school, he is a year below me. At first glance, he looks as if he could anyone but a great and powerful good. After school one day I accidentally brushed up against him and was thrown into a premonition. It showed the two of us in an alleyway late one evening, both fighting with each other and neither one winning. He and I have much power and it was if we countered the other out. There was no defeating him, but there was no defeating me either."
Barbas nodded. "And I take it you went to the Seer to have her tell you more about him and she said that he was the Great Good everyone is afraid of?"
"Yes. I wanted to test him, to see if he would use his powers against me if cornered and threatened. I had a few minions capture his friend and when he came, his friend was begging for his life. Foolish Chris, he-"
Barbas' eyes grew wide. "Chris?"
Wyatt nodded. "It's his name. Chris confuses me. In my vision he had great power and I know he has it in him, but even with his friend in danger, he was reluctant. I suppose this is only a notion of weakness."
Barbas remained silent for a moment as he let it sink is. He had heard the rumors, just as every other demon in the Underworld had, but he never had imagined the person to be Chris, the younger son of the Charmed One. Years before, Barbas had encountered Chris and found him to be reluctant as Wyatt said of his present-day self, and he did not seem to be the all powerful type.
But what really got Barbas was that Wyatt had met Chris. Of all the high schools for the younger boy to go to it had to be the same one he had sent Wyatt. His mind racing, Barbas wondered how Chris even knew about his powers, not growing up with his magical parents. Of course, the potion he had given the Darklighter to give to Chris would cloak his location, but he had never even thought about a power stripping potion; besides, potions were things made by witches, not demons.
"This is not good," Barbas said to himself as he turned away from Wyatt. "After all these years of having the older of two brothers here, everything I have worked for will be ruined. If Chris were to somehow find out who he really is what is to say that Wyatt could not do the same thing? But I have raised Wyatt to be evil, even if he knew the truth about his parents he would never join them...turn on me for lying to him, yes, but never leave the dark side."
"Barbas, is something the matter?" Wyatt asked, interrupting the demon's thoughts.
Barbas remained silent. He needed to think of a solution and fast. Chris was a much bigger threat than just being a "great good" and he had to be taken care of to keep Wyatt's true identity a secret. There was one answer that continuously came to mind and that was for Chris to be killed and as soon as possible.
"How powerful was he in this premonition that you had?" Barbas asked, finally speaking.
"As powerful as I. When I spoke with the Seer she told me that he was my balance, that we basically countered the other out."
"Did the Seer have any other suggestions?"
Wyatt nodded. "She expressed the need to have him killed. He has many powers, but is not sure of how to use them or at least is reluctant to use them. I must kill him before he becomes willing to use them against me. But, she suggested that I defeat him emotionally before I defeat him physically."
Barbas grinned. "That is a wonderful idea."
"When I captured his friend, he waited until after he sent him away to fight against me. I know he would have fought me, were he a bit more confidant, and he was on the verge of threatening me if I so much as touched his friends or family."
Barbas shook a finger at Wyatt, the grin still on his face as he realized he could use this to his advantage. "And to think you only injured his friend. He was angry, but he you had killed his friend he would have been devastated and a broken heart cannot fight those who did the breaking. Do you see where I am going with this?"
"Yes," Wyatt answered.
"Chris is a threat to you, and he will be until he his taken care of. Not much has happened yet, but can you really wait and take the chance of something happening in the near future?" Barbas walked over to Wyatt and placed an arm around his shoulder. "This is your test, Wyatt. Chris is not only your threat, but also a threat to every being in the Underworld and by defeating him the demons will join you and make you their Source. Once Source, the lives of the Charmed Ones and their progeny shall be taken easily, all beginning with the death of Chris."
Wyatt nodded and broke away from the demon. "I will destroy him, but his heart must be destroyed first. That friend of his was just the beginning and if I want to make a lasting impression I need to find someone who will have more of an impact."
"Just remember what the Seer said and what I have told you. Chris would come after you if you harmed anyone important to him, but could he if his heart was broken? Don't just harm, if you want to get your point across, kill. Then, you will either see what he is capable of or he will fall at your hands. It will be his test," Barbas said.
In a fury of lights, Wyatt nodded and disappeared. It was night when he arrived in the human world and he knew the young man he was after was not at home as he walked to the front door. His head to the side, Wyatt knew somehow that Chris had stayed behind at Daniel's house to make sure that his friend was all right, but another had returned home anyway. Reaching out, Wyatt rung the doorbell and waited.
A tall woman with short hair answered the door, her large black dog barking up a storm behind her. "Can I help you?"
"I am looking for Chris," Wyatt answered.
"I'm sorry, he's not home right now," the woman to him.
"I know, but I had to be sure."
The woman looked at Wyatt confused and took a step back. "Excuse me?"
Wyatt grinned. "I am terribly sorry it had to happen this way."
Taking a deep breath, Wyatt threw his hand out forward toward the woman, sending her far back into her house where she hit a wall with a thud. Arrogantly, Wyatt entered the house, turned around and telekinetically shut the door, an evil grin across his face.
