Ignored
Chapter 4 – Fatal attraction
A/N: I have a weird new habit that is really getting on my own nerves. I'm uncertain a lot what a word means lately and I go looking them up in a dictionary only to have confirmed what I already thought they meant. And than I don't remember and look it up again some days later. That's just so crazy.
Oh and I'm mad at the servers at because I want to upload the new chapter of my other story, but it is not possible! I'm going crazy here, that's why I'm continuing on this one now, instead of reading other people's stories.
Another thing, when I posted the last chapter I didn't have a clue how to continue the story, but Monday before breakfast I thought of the plot for this chapter. Well, enough babbling, here it is…
Disclaimer: Did I say enough babbling? Well here is the ultimate babbling of the story: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters or any of the authors and they all belong to someone else, for example the WB and Spelling Television and everyone else on this stupid planet except for me. Ah, well, done.
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When the glow dissipated and the Charmed Ones and Leo could finally see the person who had just gotten to their attic involuntarily, they were all a little startled.
In front of them stood a teenage girl, not much older than Chris had been, wearing an orange mini skirt, a red neck holder top and blue flip-flops. She looked at them all suspiciously and raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation.
Paige was the first one to speak. She knew sarcasm didn't help the situation but she just couldn't help it. She asked Phoebe, "You sure we got the right person? I was expecting, I dunno, more of a grim reaper"
"Yeah well, and I was expecting to be in Miami now helping the soul of a young boy who fell off a balcony to the afterlife. Seems all of our expectations were misleaded", the girl said calmly and looked at them. She put her long blonde hair in a ponytail as she spoke.
"Are you an angel of death?", Leo asked, even though from her description of her assumed whereabouts it was pretty much obvious. But you could never be too careful.
"Yeah dude, and you're an elder, and these girls are witches. If that's all you wanted to know, I'll be on my way", the girl said and turned around.
"Wait!", Piper shouted. Well now they had an angel of death. Now came the tricky part.
"What's up?", the girl asked and turned around again only to see Piper's tear-stained face. She looked at all the other faces and saw that all of them had red eyes and looked not very well. Realization hit her when she saw them this way.
"Someone you loved died, right? Well if this is about resurrecting or something, forget it right now, I'm so not doing that. It's-…" she started to ramble but Phoebe cut her off.
"no, no, no, it's not that. We know we can't resurrect him, no need for a lecture", Phoebe said carefully. She was really afraid they would miss their chance to save Chris. She was quite sure if this angel left they wouldn't get another chance. At Phoebe's assurance she calmed down a little and looked at them.
"So what's the issue?", she asked and looked at them expectingly.
"Well, my son, he needs to go to heaven. Please, he's not a bad person, he doesn't deserve hell, he…", Piper began but the angel of death stopped her.
"No, no and no! I thought you might need help with some innocent or stuff who didn't have the destiny to die, but this is unacceptable. It's personal gain", she yelled and crossed her arms.
"But, please, it's out fault he died, he shouldn't have, he shouldn't be punished for our mistakes. We knew we did things wrong when he was alive but that's no reason he should suffer in death", Paige pleaded and looked at the angel with desperation in her eyes.
That seemed to ring a bell to her. She put her head to the side and looked at them in thought. "Is that Chris Halliwell we're talking about? Suicide, 'bout two weeks ago?", she asked.
"Yes", Phoebe said in hope that the girl would understand now. "Please, if you knew him you know he's a good person and he deserves to be in heaven just like anyone else, even more than that."
The angel just snorted. "You know I can't believe you witches. I mean you have a huge advantage to normal people because you know that after death the souls aren't lost. No one else has this knowledge. I mean they don't even know that there are other planes, so you should be content with what you have but noooo…. You need to manipulate the setting! I'm not helping you on this."
Tears started streaming down Piper's face again. "He … please, just", she started and sobbed.
"No, I won't do anything. I mean seriously, you weren't there for him in life when he really needed you, but now that he's dead you won't stop stalking his soul? Live him in peace for god's sake, what's so hard to get about that?", the girl yelled and glared at all of them. That hit a nerve. Because it was true.
"That's what we're trying to do, leave him in peace. But if he's in hell he can't have peace, so we want to give him the opportunity to have peace, is that so hard to understand?", Paige yelled back while she was starting to cry again herself.
"It's none of your business where he is or what happens to him! You stopped having the right to have anything to do with him the instant he drew his last breath, lying under a tree, alone, no one caring for him. You left him back then. You could've saved him. I know that, on the list his name wasn't really written black up until the last seconds because if you had noticed it you still could've saved him, but you didn't.", she shouted at them furiously.
The sisters wanted to reply though they didn't know what to say but the angel wasn't finished yet. She turned to Leo and pierced him with an icy glare. "And what about you, the elder? I know that elders can sense when their charges are in pain. And you're son was in pain. Where were you? Why didn't you come? Did you even care when you noticed? Or were you too busy doing elder stuff when he died? You should've noticed it long before it was too late, but you didn't."
Turning back to the others she continued, "None of you did for that matter. And now, now that everything that you could've done is nothing but a missed chance, now where you have absolutely no impact on what's happening to him, now you care? Now you have the incredible arrogance to say you want to save him? You were the ones who let him die, so you can not save him!", she boomed and glared at all of them. She had put a lot of emotion into this, even though she normally didn't express them. She realized that even after 8 years in this job the fate of her assigned souls was still touching her deeply, and seeing those people die still hurt her. Actually she had her own personal issues that went into that, but she didn't want to think about it.
The others in the room looked at her stunned. They seemed to have shrunk a lot at her yelling, because it was so painfully true. Every single word was true. Somehow seeing them so miserable gave her a deep satisfaction. It was their fault he now shared the same fate as her, seeing people, children die every day and not being able to do something about it. She didn't want anyone to have to do that and she had been so sorry for Chris when she had led him to his new destiny.
It was right they were feeling bad. She knew if she told them he wasn't in hell they would only be relieved and that wasn't what she wanted, so she said nothing about it.
"Well, I'll leave now. The affairs of death are none of your business. Stay out of it", she commanded in a cold voice and with that she left the room.
The inhabitants of the manor could do nothing but stare at the spot where the furious girl had just been standing.
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In the next week the manor became a very quiet place. All of their efforts to do anything to better Chris's situation turned out to be worth nothing. They had tired to summon the angel of death again, but this time she didn't even show up.
Leo had tried to get help from the other Elders, but they couldn't help him. For once they understood the situation and agreed that Chris shouldn't be in hell, but they simply didn't have any power about the placement of dead people in afterlife. To their credit they had tried. They had seen that Chris would have had an important destiny to fulfill, so they tried to talk to those responsible, but they didn't get any answers not even where he was now.
The fact that no one except for Penny had really said he was in hell was a little comfort, but not much, because it was obvious, wherever he was, he was not in a happy place.
They had summoned Patty again, this time without Penny because no one had wanted to see their grandmother after her latest behavior.
Patty had told them all she knew. She had told them about the rule "Those who end their own lives will never find peace of mind" That didn't say hell per se, but still it meant wherever he was he was being punished and that made every one of them feel so bad.
Wyatt on the other hand was hardly ever there just like before. He seemed to have no problem with his brother's demise which disturbed his family on many levels. But since he was hardly ever around they had no chance to talk to him.
Paige hadn't told them about the time where he had orbed Chris' stuff away because she didn't want to think about it.
Piper hovered around the house like a ghost. She hardly ate or slept and only kept going in circles or wandering about the house aimlessly. She just stared into nothingness most of the time and didn't talk a lot. The others were really worried about this kind of behavior and tried to talk to her but they could hardly reach her within her small world of self-loathing and self-blaming.
There wasn't any laughter in the manor anymore.
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Chris transported himself to a small alley where his next assignment would be killed. He had studied the clipboard. A four-year old boy who was perfectly healthy but who would be murdered soon.
Chris felt so sorry for this child and wished he could do anything to help him or any of the others for that matter. But when he had arrived at where he was staying now when he had nothing to do they had explained to him that they couldn't stop death.
One of the other angels had told him it was best not to be affected by the death of the others. It was better not to care than to do so and go crazy. He had tried not to worry so much about them but it hadn't worked. How could he not be touched when a mother or a father desperately clutched on their child who had died so long before its time? How could he remain unaffected when he saw a small girl yelling for her twin sister knowing she would never receive an answer from her again?
No he couldn't pretend not to care, not even to himself. This way he always felt himself on the verge of tears when yet another innocent life had been ended, but he was rather feeling uncomfortable than to have a heart of stone. He had decided that he could only properly help the souls to move on, if he was feeling something. That made him seem like a friend to them. If he knew what they were feeling and was sorry for them it was easier for them to accept than if a robot like guy was just throwing them off in afterlife without any explanation.
He had also adapted the habit of looking for dead relatives of the children before he left them so they had someone who could help them to understand and to accept.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he envied these angels of death who took the souls of people who simply died of infirmity. Those accepted their death a lot easier and where usually at peace with the world before dying. So it wasn't as hard to help them move on.
He on the other hand was in the children department. The reason was quite obvious, he was only fourteen years old and he wouldn't age anymore and it would be unsuitable for a child to pick up the elderly. They would feel as if they weren't taken seriously, and it was a lot easier for a child to trust someone who wasn't so far away in age of them, than to trust some adult.
But witnessing the death of children was even more painful than to witness those of adults. Because when he saw these children, he saw their potential, their possible future that was now going to be denied to them. It was just so unfair.
But there was nothing he could do.
Except for easing their pain and helping them to get over the fear of dying. And he was determined to do it as good as he was able to.
He looked around the alley. It was completely deserted. He looked at the time that was noted on his clipboard and then at his watch. In ten minutes the boy would be here and murdered. He could again feel the horrible feeling of how unfair it was. What kind of monster did someone have to be to murder a four year old? He couldn't imagine.
When he heard a scream he looked up. A girl about 8 ran into the alley only to find it had no exit. A small boy followed her. It was the boy Chris was here for. When he looked closer in the alley he saw another figure hovering nearby. Angelina, the angel of death who had led him to be one of them, too. She just looked at him with a face stone and then looked to the ground. He knew she was holding back tears. Her gaze followed the girl and by then both of them knew these children were both going to die.
An energy ball was thrown at the two of them from the entrance of the alley. It missed the children, but the girl screamed again and the boy started to cry. Both of them were scared for their life.
And it would end very soon.
Both angels of death turned around to see who the monster was that was going to cause the death of both the kids. When they saw a tall, muscular blonde man enter Chris' blood almost froze.
Wyatt.
He held an athame in one hand and an energy ball in the other. He walked towards the children slowly, like a lion having cornered his prey. They were both pressing their backs against the back wall and sobbing scared. Wyatt was grinning at them in such an evil way that Chris had the strong desire to blow him up.
But he couldn't. He didn't have any wiccan powers anymore. All he could do now was watch. And that made him more angry now than it ever had. He had to stand back while his own brother was killing innocents and could do nothing about it.
But the fact that Wyatt was killing innocents was not a big surprise to Chris. Wyatt had always been evil, and Chris had always known. He had suffered from this often enough to know. Wyatt invited demons to their room when Chris had still been alive and had forced him to keep quiet about it, with all sorts of blackmailing he could think of. He had told him he would kill innocents if Chris said something and of course, he hadn't wanted that. Chris always believed that what happened to him didn't matter as long as no innocents were involved.
And now Wyatt was right here, killing innocents before his eyes. Even though he had no idea Chris was there. Angelina seemed to be as furious as he was. A guy keeping up the appearance of being a good witch who was secretly killing innocents was just despicable. And this twisted smile on his lips was just disgusting.
"I am truly sorry, but you've seen things that would get me into a lot of trouble if they were public", Wyatt said and let the energy ball in his hand hop up and down absentmindedly.
"We… we promise not to tell anyone, we won't, please, don't", the girl begged through her sobs and got down to her knees with so much fear in her eyes that it broke Chris' heart.
"Sorry, I can't take that chance", Wyatt said in an uncaring tone, as if he was talking about the weather. Then, without a warning, he threw the energy ball at the girl who screamed and was vanquished into a pile of ashes. The boy screamed and stared at the spot where his older sister had just been.
Chris saw the spirit emerging of the body and he saw Angelina waving her hand to the girl's spirit and disappearing with her to the ghostly plane.
Now he saw Wyatt walking closer to the boy who was sobbing uncontrollably. He tried to think of a way, any way, to save him. In his head the words replayed themselves, telling him he was totally powerless. You can't stop death
He heard the boys scream and he saw Wyatt stabbing the athame into the small child's body, drinving the blade ever deeper at least ten times when the boy was already dead. He saw the sick smile on his brothers face.
Right then a new thought struck him. He couldn't stop death.
But he could bring it7777777777777777777777
Paige was sitting on the couch in the living room, desperately trying to get her mind off things. She had no work at magic school left and there was no demon to vanquish. She tried desperately not to think about Chris' situation because it was just too painful for her.
She tried to focus on the magazine she was reading, but then she realized she had read one sentence at least 6 times and still had no idea what it said. With a sigh she put the journal down and tried to clear her mind a little.
She knew it didn't do Chris any good if they spent all their time grieving over him, but she didn't want him to be forgotten in death like he had been in live. She felt a tear entering her eyes again as she once again thought of what beautiful life he could have had if not for the fact that they had caused his death.
She was distracted however by the sound of someone orbing in. She looked up in the hope it would be Leo, who was out again trying to find any way to help Chris or at least to find out where he was.
The person she saw however was a lot more unpleasant than what she had expected.
It was her nephew, the one she couldn't stand anymore.
She had been avoiding him ever since she had slapped him in his room. She didn't feel guilty or anything, the bastard had clearly deserved it. The true reason she was keeping away from him was the sick way he had tried to turn her on. The way he had most obviously shown his very, very sick attraction to her that she didn't even want to think about.
But now he was standing right next to the couch and looking at her.
Her eyes however were fixed on the object he held in his left hand. A bloody athame.
"What's that?", she asked warily and tried to bigger the distance between her and him.,
"What? Oh!", he said. He hadn't even noticed he had still held it in his hand after killing that annoying little brat and his sister. With a quick thought he orbed it away along with the blood that still stuck to his fingers.
"Did you orb that to pacific ocean?", Paige asked with disgust in her voice.
Wyatt smiled, "Yeah, how'd you know that?"
Paige didn't respond. She didn't want to spent anytime with this psychopath and tried to get to the point.
"What do you want?", she asked him and made no secret of the despise she had for her older nephew.
But his reaction scared her. He stepped closer to her and with the same twisted smile he had worn two weeks ago when he had tried to make her sleep with him, he looked at her body closely, apparently liking what he saw.
Paige had never realized how tall and muscular her nephew actually was, but now it hit her very clearly. When he stood over her, she suddenly felt very small and scared. He took a breath, enjoying her uncomforted state.
"What I want", he said, grabbing her wrist, "Is you"
And with that he orbed himself and his very scared aunt out of the manor.
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Chris now entered an underworld cave. He was still furious about Wyatt and frustrated about not being able to help the little boy.
He had gotten a new assignment way too soon to help the boy all the way, but he had talked to Angelina who was taking care of the boy's sister and she was on her way to find some relatives of them. That way he could take care of his new assignment.
He hadn't even bothered to look at the clipboard yet, because he was still too lost in thought. He wasn't certain if he could just use his abilities as Angel of Death to take Wyatt's soul to hell. It would definitely be a good deed, he would rid the world off Wyatt's evilness and save thousands of innocents to come. Because there was no way in hell Wyatt would ever turn good again. He had been evil ever since Chris could remember, though less evil, but evil nonetheless.
But it wasn't as easy. It was definitely against the rules, but he knew if he explained the situation to his supervisor he would be allowed to do it. The problem was, that you couldn't just take a soul out of a mood. If the body wasn't in some state of injury that made it easier to separate soul and body it was almost impossible to take, especially when it came to such a strong person as Wyatt.
Chris hated all this. He needed to do something before the world suffered too much, but at the same time he couldn't because he had no way to physically impact the real world. So he could not take Wyatt's soul. He was completely powerless and that was just so frustrating.
He took a deep breath and tried to focus. He had a new assignment, probably another small child and he needed to be concentrated on the task and do his best to make the soul find peace. If he couldn't do anything good, the least he could do was do his job properly and to help the children who were dying.
From somewhere in the back of the cave he heard a scream. Sounded female. He sighed and looked at his clipboard. He was pretty certain the scream he had just heard belonged to his assignment.
He was startled when he read the age.
41
He was working in the children's division why the hell did he get someone who was forty-one?
He looked at the clipboard if it was really his assignment, and found that it was. Then he read the name and the world seemed to stop for him.
In sudden realization he ran towards the corner where he had heard the scream from and froze when he saw what was happening there. He was so shocked that he let go of the clipboard which fell to the floor with a loud noise that was inaudible to everyone but him.
"She's your aunt!", he screamed before he realized no one heard him. He saw his brother doing things to his aunt that relatives should never do to each other. He saw him doing things no one should ever do to anyone.
And he heard her scream, he saw her struggle. He knew she was in pain but there was absolutely nothing he could do.
And to his feet lay the evidence that she would not have a normal life again after Wyatt was finished with her.
He tried to think of something, anything he could do, but there was nothing. Seeing his aunt there made his heart break and seeing Wyatt made him sick. Again he felt so terribly powerless. Now he was certain that his fate was the worst punishment there could be for suicide. Having to watch it all.
He didn't want this happening to Paige, or to anyone. But in his mind the doomful words were replaying themselves over and over again.
You can't stop death…
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A/N: Great, here I am, having finished updates for both my stories and now I can't log in! This is driving me crazy! Aaarrrgh!
Anyway, I don't have time for personal thanks right now, I'll try to do it at the end of the next chapter, but now is not the best time for this.
I know this chapter is shorter than the average for this story, but I had to do this cliffhanger. I hope you like it grins evilly
TBC….
