CHAPTER XXI:

April 24, 2018

Dad woke us up gently, Wy jolt out of bed but it took me a lot longer to manage to get up. My dad put his hand on my forehead; I didn't even try to pull away.

"I am not staying, dad." I said determined looking at his worried eyes that looked so much like mine.

"I know." He sighed resigned "Get ready, your aunts have breakfast ready downstairs. And Wy, I love how you remodeled the kitchen!" He chuckled and smiled at Wyatt, he looked guilty at him. "Don't worry, your aunt Paige had to cast the glamour spell by sectors like four times, but she decided that was something your mother needn't see."

It took a while for all of us to get ready and we got "up there" with only thirty minutes to spare before the trial. Mom was already waiting for us at the amphitheatre. After thirty very anxious minutes, the elders began to take their places and Chris appeared escorted by Lionel.

The trial took around ten exhausting hours, but the highlights were something like this.

The seat of the amphitheatre were filled with elders. Chris was seated behind a long table, beside him was Lionel and three more chairs were available over there. One supposedly for Paige, one for Jake and one for dad. They were suppose to be in charge of the defense party.

A few feet behind their chairs they had put some chairs for the rest of us.

To our table's right there was another big table with four Elders that were the ones that were going to postulate the case against Chris.

One of those elders started pacing in front of the tiers of seats where the remaining elders were seated.

"Blessed our souls!" Then he turn to Chris "Christopher…may you be blessed and may justice prevail."

"How blessed can he be if you are trying to KILL him, you moron?" Patty yelled and Paige covered her mouth.

I could see Wy closing his fist and elbowing backwards as saying "YES", probably cuz he knew he would get killed if he said something like that, but he was definitely glad someone had said it for him.

The elder ignored her and continued…

"We are gathered here today, to decide the fate of Christopher Perry Halliwell Wyatt, violator of the rules of time/space continuum and planes transitions. Christopher, here in our presence, had by himself, and with the help of his family, attempted to alter, a sequence of different time lines, without consulting or the approval of the council and once forgiven that, he thought that in his omnipotence he could violate our rules at his whim, over and over again… appearing in front of his mother short after his death, to console her just because "she was sad". Taking advantage of our benevolence and ignoring our forewarning he proceed to travel to the earthly plane once again, cloaking himself and hiding from us on purpose. And so is due to all of this that we are asking that his soul should be recycled, taking into consideration that recycling his soul might affect the younger version of himself, and doing our best to avoid that, since it's technically not his crime, but advising that if it's impossible to separate both souls enough to recycle only one… both should be doomed. " He said serious and firmly.

Dad lean on the table for stability, Wyatt was literally fuming, I could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears and his face was red from contained rage. Phoebe and Paige were hugging mom.

Paige released my mom and looked at Jake he nodded with an encouraging smile. She picked up her notes.

"According to article 1161 of the magic code" Paige started addressing the elders "A ghost can assist whenever he is called without the corresponding clearance from the pertinent authorities when the situation which he is called for is of vital importance and the time required to obtained the aforementioned authorization would put the world in an imminent hazard. The referred ghost can choose to descend to the earthly plane skipping the standard regulation in the aforesaid situation."

"Very good Mrs Wilcox" A very arrogant elder said scornfully "But can you enlighten us on which is the vital importance of this particular situation? And why taking the time to get the corresponding clearance would have put the world in an imminent hazard? We already gave him a second chance, and this is how he repays us?"

"And he gave YOU a second chance… to LIVE and this is how YOU repay him?" Now it was Phoebe who couldn't contain her anger; Lionel tried restraining her.

"We gave him a chance TOO, YOU KNOW!" The elder said arrogantly "How can you apply the world's jeopardy theory in appearing in front of your crying mother, just because she is grieving your lost?"

"That happened like FOREVER ago… I wasn't even two!" Wy complained, interrupting him and my dad shut him up.

"Fourteen years in NOTHING in an eternal life, young man!" He said angrily.

"I am sorry for my nephew…" Paige apologized while her eyes expressed that she was anything but sorry about it. "He is young and impulsive"

"You should be… so… do you care to clarify it to us and tell us which is that "vital" cause that forced him to go to the earthly plane in such a hurry and why did he cloak himself from us?"

Wyatt and I were about to say something, but once again my dad hushed us, Wy was getting annoyed… He was sooo frustrated I was picturing that all his contained rage that was bottling up inside him, would soon start boiling, and the elders in the tiers of the amphitheatre would start popping like pop corn.

My mom spoke or rather barked.

"One…my son was not even aware that we cloaking him from you guys, and when he learnt about that he ran away so we couldn't be blamed… for god sake you idiots… He gave himself in… why would he do that if he was cloaking himself? SO… you can recycle MY SOUL if you want… you'll be down a charmed one… but go ahead. You'll be down three very pissed Charmed ones and a very temperamental and hormonal full blown teenage double blessed if you do something to my baby"

Wy gleamed with pride with such a controversial praise.

"He came to help my kid decide if a particular event would put or not the fate of the world in jeopardy, and what to do about it! He is not even fourteen and he already has a REALLY heavy load on his shoulder and you DON'T CARE that he carries the dooming of the world in his memory and that every day he makes decisions that might save the world or might doom it. A world where you are DEAD… he is trying to save you too… and sometimes… the load gets too heavy to carry alone. MY GOD… He is 13 years OLD… He can't be expected to carry the responsibility of that decision alone. And Chris, the ghost… come on… he just went down there to help… he is the most selfless, generous person that ever existed… you can't punished him for trying to help…Do you think he wanted to be the one carrying the fate of the world in his shoulder AGAIN? He gave his life to save the world… for a cause… he HAS the right to make sure it doesn't happen again… he gave up too much to make sure we were all happy and he is willing to give more and more… and you know what YOU OWE TO HIM… You owe to us… YOU ARE IN DEBT!"

" We owe you? What do we owe you? Woman, you and your family has taken advantage of your powers one too many times! You can't be messing up with the great design and with fate all the time, there a reason why its call the great design. The greater good exceeds the minor subjective views."

"MINOR SUBJETCTIVE VIEWS? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT CHRIS' WORLD WAS LIKE? THAT'S MINOR?" I couldn't help yelling

"Since when the greater good can imply killing a toddler and his adult brother that is trying to protect him? It was one of you, thinking he was almighty and with all the wisdom in the world, which decided that I would turn evil and tried to kill me as a toddler, traumatizing me so bad, that I did become evil. How can that be the greater good? Tell me! And then… my brother came to SAVE THE WORLD, save your freaking ass, the freaking asses of the same people how were responsible for me turning. And now he just wants to make sure it never happens AGAIN, and THIS how do you repay him for that?"

"Gideon made a mistake, a judgment that was erroneous and he failed in consulting with us. And for that he paid!"

"And what is my nephew paying for, then? Having a horrible life? Or saving you sorry asses? Explain me, cuz I fail to understand it!" Paige said sarcastically.

"God! I am the twice blessed, the most powerful being on creation… and knowing my record… I am starting to think you WANT me to turn evil…do you have some kinda of death wish, or something?" Wy asked the sullenly.

"Are you threatening us young man?"

"No, I am just telling you that anybody with half a neuron will deduct from your actions. You must have some weird bet about it. WHOEVER TURNS THE TWICE BLESSED GETS THE JACKPOT or what IS IT WITH YOU GUYS" He said desperate " DO YOU WANNA SEE HOW LIFE WAS LIKE? DO YOU?"

"WY NOOOOOOO" Chris and I begged.

"Yes… they need to know… Mom, dad, everybody in the family, close your eyes… don't want you to see this, please…" Wy looked at them with glassy eyes "because you would never be able to look at me in the eyes again if you see what I am about to show them." Jake, Paige and Phoebe covered the little girls' eyes, but none of them seemed to be looking away. "Please…" Wy begged "I can't handle you guys seeing this!"

"You don't have to Wy, don't do it… it doesn't matter!" Chris said comfortingly.

"It doesn't matter? They are going to recycle your SOUL Chris, if everybody in the world sees it and never speaks to me again, it would still be worth it… if it saves your soul, it's worth it! Ok… here we Go… I hope you are ready!"

Wy cast a spell that allowed everybody to see part of his memories of the other Wy… mom hided her face in dad's chest, and Dad turned around so he wouldn't see. Paige saw it all, while Jake comforted Phoebe and avoid seeing it too.

After he was done, everybody was in deadly silence….

"IS THIS what you want to happen?" Wyatt said seriously. "How can you blame my brother for asking Chris to come and help him make sure this doesn't happen? How can blame Chris for coming and trying to help…WHY ARE YOU GUYS SO UNFAIR?" He said broken hearted… he wasn't angry any more "We give, we do what you want every day, we save innocents every day… and you guys are always so unfair to us… why? WHY?"

" You messed up with the great design and fate one too many times, and you can't seem to understand that can brings awful consequences. Not to mention that you people don't comprehend that you can not go playing god and decide the rules you live by and how to do it. And above all, not consulting us in matters like this! "

" WE DON'T DECIDE THE RULES WE LIVE BY! We are not your SLAVES you know? You can't dictate our lives, like you don't do that enough… we do it because it's our choice and we can always choose to QUIT and bye bye charmed ones… It's NOT our job to decide what happens in our lives? That is your job right? Being gods and decide who lives and how dies, and what can everybody do?"

"YES! That is why we are here for and we make the decisions, not you, regular witches, and its time you guys learn that! And this will be a great way to show you and the rest of the world what happens with people that defy our power. You defy us, one too many times"

Piper, Paige and Phoebe whispered "cut the elderly crap" to each other, but were scared to say it out loud.

"So this is all about you showing your power? You want to kill my son, just to prove you are more powerful than them?" My dad said shocked with glassy eyes… "That's what's all about? Then recycle me and let him go… I started all… I married a charmed one, she had my kids… set me as an example. PLEASE" my dad cried… literally… tears and sobs while he pleaded to the elders "Take me and let my kids go…I WILL BE YOUR EXAMPLE!"

"No… it doesn't work that way… the greater good has to be served"

"And which is the greater good? TELL ME" Mom was beyond upset and mad "Was the greater good to kill Wyatt as a baby? Cuz that is what Gideon said. Or… the greater good was to traumatize him so badly so he could turn into an evil tyrant? Or… Nooo I am sure… I know which is the greater good… to kill his brother that went all the way to the past to save all of our lives…. Yes all of us..,. yours too! Actually to save THE WHOLE WORLD from evil and darkness… yeah that is probably the greater good, right?" She asked sarcastically " To kill the one person that did nothing but good deeds, saved the world, helped everybody in a complete selfless way… he was willing to risk his life, offer it to his brother… Ahhh yeah the greater good is to punish him for trying to make sure that doesn't happen again… or maybe cuz he was trying to help his younger self with that… sure… THAT IS SOOO SELFISH… to both risk everything to save the world… I should ground my bad, bad kids forever… right?" Mom said sarcastically and I almost laughed " How is that the greater good? Explain me cuz I am at lost. I know, I am their mother and you think I am not partial… but please explain me how Chris, that is the most selfless, generous person that I know, that never complains, and that had struggled through all the horrible things that life put him through, just to go to the past and suffer some more, to save us all, deserves to vanish? Cuz I don't understand. I don't see how you guys can't realize that all he deserves, is gratitude and to be able to live a long, healthy, happy life, or at least an after life. You should be thankful instead of asking for vengeance… specially from him… punish me, punish us, but not him… he has done nothing…. All he ever did was good."

"We are thankful but…"

"But you want to recycle his soul?" Phoebe asked in disbelief.

"No… but I am the public defender, I am just doing my job." He didn't show remorse, nor pleasure… he stated that as a matter of fact, void of feeling.

"Well if you ask me, your job SU…" My dad didn't let Wyatt finish his sentence.

"Then I am lucky I didn't ask you. I think everything that needed to be said, has been said. Do you want to add anything more?" The elder asked Paige.

"I think we are done." She looked at us and answered.

"Well… then you can retire…we'll inform you about our decision tomorrow." An elder that seemed to be the "Judge" but haven't even talked till now told us.

"Tomorrow ?" I asked desperate.

"Do you guys wanna kill us or something?" Wy added.

"You honor… I want to ask you for a special request… since the fate of my son won't be decided till tomorrow and after that we might loose him forever, I am begging you to let him come to the manor with us. You can send guards if you want, you can send whatever or however you want… but just let me take my kid home…" My dad spoke to him, in a "come on, we were colleagues, I used to be an elder, please help me" sort of tone.

The elder seemed to think about it. "Ok, he said… you can take him home."

April 25, 2018

It was six in the afternoon and we still hadn't hear a word…we were desperate… nobody had slept and I thought me and Chris were going to get dismembered cuz EVERYBODY wanted to grab us somehow and never let go. Chris and I took it with stoic resignation and gave each other sympathetic and understanding looks.

We had three whitelighters acting as guards, standing there looking like soldiers. Wy glared at them more than once, restraining himself from punching them. The little girls "accidentally" stepped on them a hundred times or more…

"They are little girls… what can you do?" Paige and Phoebe would say innocently fanning their eyelashes at the poor whitelighters that didn't even seem to want to be there.

In the dead of the night, after being "abused" passively by all the members of my family, one cracked and explained us that two of them HATED doing this, and that the only reason that they were here was because they really admired our family and they wanted to make sure Chris was treated fairly. So after that our relationship improved considerably.

Anyways… it was six o'clock, they had me and Chris seating on a couch and ALL of them seating on top of us… well all but Wyatt that was pacing frenetically and then… the little girls were kind of jumping around on top of us.

"How long can they take to arrive to a decision?" Wyatt said desperate for the 15000222222220563789645627634348763411027 millionth time.

We had all ran out of answers, and out of energy a long while before, we just looked at him sadly. Suddenly, his cell phone rang and a few of us sighed relieved while Wyatt smiled looking at the small screen.

"Hey, baby!" He said sadly orbing away.

"His girlfriend AGAIN? How many times a day is she going to call him? I mean they spoke like two hours yesterday night, and today she called him like three times already!" Mom said upset and dad chuckled caressing her shoulder tenderly. Even though Emma came to the manor quite a lot lately, Wy haven't told them she was his girlfriend yet. Still they never questioned Emma's presence, cuz they are use to have her home, being my best friend and all.

"Oh come on… his girlfriend is probably the only reason the house is still standing… she calms him down… why are you complaining?" Phoebe said smiling.

Mom sighed in an "I hate when you are right" sort of way.

Wy came back a lot calmer twenty minutes later.

"Here she told me to print you this in case you weren't checking your emails" he gave me a piece of paper and another one to Chris, and we manage to sneak out of the crowded couch before everybody else read them.

The older people looked suspicious… but we didn't care…

I read Emma's email, it was actually really nice; it almost made me cried. She told me how much she loved me and that she knew that everything was going to be fine. She explained that she wasn't calling me, because she knew I wouldn't like to be bothered in time like this and I would HATE for her to make me open up and all those "girly things" I always tell her she force me to do; but that no matter what, tomorrow during my birthday she expected a WHOLE, COMPLETE, ALL DETAILS INCLUDED report. A lot more mushy things, she even retold memories she had of me and stuff like that. She had done a great job, telling me all I wanted to hear.

Chris also was smiling when he finished his email…

It was 7.32 pm when three elders orbed in.

A/N: Ok people… just one chapter to go!

&&&&&&

Nathy1000000

Te entiendo…es una epoca de m… en todos los hemisferios…y hasta en Charmed life

"Me gusta lo presente que tienen todos la inminencia del juicio y como se sienten a medida que llega. El discurso de Chris fue muy conmovedor y es más que comprensible que el pobre se sienta así. Y por supuesto, cada vez me dan más bronca esos elders." Si debe ser re frustrante para el.
Glad you liked it all… estoy un poco apurada asi que no puedo responder como me gustaria : (…. Pero tenes un asiento libre con tu nombre y muchos tomates en la grada de la derecha… asi les podes pegar justo a los public defendant.

Chris-Halliwell

"HOW OLD ARE YOU? CAN YOU ANSWER ME? PLZ? plz?" Hmmm I don't know if it's more tempting to let you know or to keep on torturing… lets say I could be your mother…a teenage mom… but if I had gotten pregnant at 16 I could be your mother.

" Have you seen the movie? I haven't but my friend told me what happeneds coz i can't see it coz of the stupid rating!" Really is rated? PG13 I guess… yeah I saw the movie… it's my favorite of all 6… cuz I like the whole psychological torture you know? Well… you'll get to see it soon, don't worry… you can always download it…if you read the things that can be read in fan fic… definitely start wars is nothing compare to that.

How old are you? Do the math!
Whats gonna happen to older Chris? You'll see next chappie.
Are you gonna tell me how old you? I already did… I am soo nice..
Is Piper gonna die? You'll see next chapter
Are you gonna tell me how old you? Now? Hmm no NOW I am tempted to remove what I just say! ;)

Pukah

Yeah don't worry it's a hell of a time 4 all of us… Nahh I tell you most people liked the movie reference so I geuss we were all at the movies the other week.
" sigh, I loved it, but someone should shot to death Lucas's scriptwriters, and Anakin is plainly dumb... the only thing left for Palpitine to hint him that he was the Lord Sith was to carry a neon sign in his back saying: You idiot! I'm The bad guy!)." I take it like he is a Jedi…I mean Jedi have lots of good qualities… but they are like soldiers, they are taught not to question… not to think…so… If I say this one is good is good… it's the only logical explanation… you know?

"And I loved Wyatt playing big brother and forcing him to breakdown (that's what he was doing, wasn't it?) in a not to subtle way." Of course

"Anyway, poor Leo:
"I tried to be perfect thinking that if I was powerful enough, smart enough, good enough, if I didn't cause any trouble Dad would be proud of me and pay attention to me and love me…but it seemed the better I was, the least dad thought I needed him and the least attention he paid to me."

Thats like a really big grand piano dropping in Leo's head.

" Then you died and I thought that if I tried to overcome my grief and tried to be good enough, dad would come to me… Dad would love me and be proud of me"

And here goes the rest of the orchestra!" Well now he has sth to play with at the amphitheatre.

"" When mom died, I fought to stay strong for everybody, and what did that bring me? That everybody thought I was fine and just relayed on me… and I was a broken hearted fourteen year old boy, with a lot more weight over my should that I could carry… but I still carried it, ( BLA BLA LOTS OF REALLY NASTY AND DEPRESSING STUFF, NO WONDER THE GUY IS A NEUROTIC BLA BLA )and I fought to stay on the right path… cuz I wanted to be with Wy so badly… I wanted to follow him, to take refuge in this false sense of security he gave me, but I didn't…

AND WHAT DID I GOT OF IT? HE BLEW UP MY COFFE SHOP! " hehehe you are always so funny… anything but the coffee shop, that is right when he decided to leave everything behind and come back to the past… what's the point of keep on living in a place without his fav. Coffee shop?

"M don't kill me, I can't stop my mind from wandering when I'm reading... that piece was so angsty. It's like... how can your live be so screwed and you still be going on? You don't need a shrink, you need a a miracle or for someone to hand you a gun (which probably won't work)." Poor boy… hehe but funny… even if the gun works… he is dead… its not going to help. Actually come to think of it… is that some people have it as bad in real world and keep on going (ok.. demons and elders aside, obviously… but well… there are worst things than demons in real life –why am I thinking this so early in the morning… dumb me!)

And so sad-- I never get anywhere!
So so so so sad!

"Can I go to the trial? Please? Me and a couple of posioned arrows pretty please? " yeah you can seat next to Nathy100000, to the right.. I left tons of tomatoes/.. not poison arrows please…

"THAT must have been the most beautiful part of a fic I've ever read... so tasteful and sweet and yet a little bit funny in the way it happened but sad in what it meant."Ok… NOW I feel flattered… though the most beautiful? I am glad you liked it though… I really liked that part too.

" I knew I liked thew guy! I knew it! You can't be really great if you don't like Star Wars. Ok, he liked specially one of the new ones but that was because of a mental trauma and it wouldn't be fair to hold it against him ." Chris thanks you for that and he says he likes them all… and Old Chris says he likes the return of the Jedi better!

phoebe turner

THANKS… Here it is!

teal-lover

I am glad you liked it… and it was sad… well… it was a sad moment! And now the moment of truth! Chris says tks for the hug.. he really appreciate and he told me not to tell you anything, but he thought you were cute!

"so the next chapter we find out their fates, huh?" yeah… do I look like I am so nice? I love cliffies… we know that… next chapter… all your questions will be answered :)

ilovedrew88

THANKSSSSSSSSSSSSSS… I am glad you liked it all… we are almost done and we'll know (or you'll know cuz I already do since like a long time ago) what is going to happen. Thanks for your reviews!

Victorious Light

"'Chris you are DEAD, it's kind of illogical that you have a head ache, you know?' What a great line, you made me laugh." I am glad I made you laugh… you make me laugh a lot with your fic… that I am missing badly!

Chris says tks for the hug.. he really appreciate and he told me not to tell you anything, but he thought you were cute!

"Poor Piper and Leo having to listen to their boy spout out like that, I know if my children said that I would just cry. (No, I don't have kids, yet)" I know his life was bad

You are so right about the characters! I guess that's why you right so good… you also think about them… I noticed that people that think about their characters histories and personalities tend to right better stories.

"The whole Star Wars thing, I am so glad you mentioned it. I thought maybe I was the only one to see the similarities. Yeah that you think so too" hehehe you would be surprised how many people reviewed saying sth like that.

Here is the next chappie!

Nikki14u

Thanks… I am glad you like it and I know what u mean… Chris doesn't deserve any of this… but we'll see what is the verdict next chappie