He did it for me 12

Chapter

By: teal-lover

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Being twice blessed, Wyatt thought that nothing could ever hurt him. It's devastating to find out how wrong you can be. Takes place in the future that Chris changed.

Chris just turned 19, and Wyatt is three months shy of his 21st birthday.

Disclaimer in chapter 1

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UNKNOWN LOCATION….

A female voice spoke warily, "I only hope that setting this chain of events into motion will not be the cause of our downfall…"

The man answered her confidently, "If we had not set this in motion, the world would surely have been destroyed. And where would that leave us?"

"You know the history. And if the Twice-Blessed Child falls because of this?"

"He is no longer a child, but a full grown man. He is responsible for his own choices—and if he falls—then it is through no fault of ours. Then it is simply his destiny to be evil, and that is something we can not change."

"Correct." The woman cautioned, "But if we must accept that as his destiny, then we must also accept that ours will be to perish. For he will surely take his revenge on those he deems responsible…"

The man stroked his chin considering her words thoughtfully, "Perhaps. But I would rather take my chances they way things are now."

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HALLIWELL MANOR…

Chris had listened in amazement as Leo had explained the bizarre circumstances surrounding his other self's death. He found it hard to believe that someone would go through so much trouble to kill the boy. Sure, he knew that as the son of a Charmed One and an Elder, he was naturally more powerful than most other witches, but still no where near as powerful as their first born. So it didn't make sense to him why he would have been a target.

He turned to his brother, "Wyatt? Are you sure that the demon wasn't after you?"

Wyatt stared at the brunette strangely before answering, "I'm positive. It all happened so fast, but he shimmered in directly behind you. And he was only aiming for you. Not me." He closed his eyes sadly, "He even made a point to taunt me. He said—mine for yours, witch! That's why it's my fault, Chris. When I was down in the underworld, I killed his brother. He told me then that I would pay for it—and I am. So he came back to do the same to me. They may be demons, but apparently, family's still important to them."

When he opened his eyes again, they were glassy as the water threatened to spill over his lashes. "So now you know the truth. Do you blame me now?"

Chris desperately wanted to cheer up the older boy and decided that levity was the best way to do it. He placed his hand on Wyatt's arm and began to lead him to the door. "No Wyatt, I still don't. But if it will make you feel any better, I'll be happy to take you out back and slap you around a bit."

Everyone looked on nervously to gauge the Twice-Blessed's reaction to the solemnly stated, but obviously teasing comment. When Wyatt began to laugh, the rest of the room shared in his amusement and joined him, all needing that small bit of relief after the trying and stressful night before.

Chris grinned widely as he got the reaction he was looking for in a much calmer and focussed Wyatt.

Wyatt was shocked by Chris's capacity for forgiveness, but knew he really shouldn't have been. His younger brother had always been the more easy-going and level-headed of the two. But he was glad, since he didn't know how to handle it if Chris didn't forgive him. He recognized Chris's comment for what it was—playful banter designed to cheer him up and eliminate the need for any further apologizing on his part.

After he stopped laughing, he accepted the hidden meaning and answered in much the same way. "Thanks, Chris. Maybe later, ok?"

Chris bowed gracefully, "Anytime. Happy to be of service."

Penny stepped in, "Wyatt, dear. I think his point is that we need to stay focussed here. We simply can not afford to have anyone here blaming themselves for what was obviously orchestrated by someone with a lot of power, and a lot of planning." She turned and looked pointedly at all present before continuing.

"Now, Leo. Let's start with the most obvious to narrow things down. Who has the power to hold off one of Phoebe's premonitions?"

"Actually, that's not one of the most obvious, because it can be a lot of sources. It can be the Elders. The Council for the Trials. An upper level demon. Even a powerful witch with the right spell."

Penny huffed disappointedly, "Fine. Well then, where do you get your orders to assign charges?"

"I never really know. It's all supposed to be random to prevent any favoritism. We kind of have mail slots that we pick up and it lists the charges, whitelighters, locations, and the time for the transfer. But it's always been like that, and I've been doing it since I became an Elder. And even before that, it's how I would get charges from other Elders. There was nothing different about this particular time, either."

Piper slapped her hands on her thighs in frustration. "So another dead end! Great!"

"Maybe not," Chris mumbled, "Who distributes the mail?"

Wyatt patted him on the back, "Now you're thinking. I guess all that "crap" as I like to call it is not for nothing after all, is it?"

Chris scrunched up his face in confusion, "Huh?"

"What we talked about yesterday—you remember? I think it's a big waste of time, you don't?"

Not having a clue what he was referring to, Chris began to panic and sought out Penny, who shook her head slightly signaling that she didn't know either. Facing Wyatt, he laughed nervously and shoved his hands in his back pockets. "No, sorry. Um—"

Wyatt stared at his brother incredulously, "How could you not remember that? It was only like," he looked at his watch, "less than 24 hours ago."

Penny spoke up quickly to save him from having to make something up. She pointed to her own head as an explanation, "His brain's a little on the fritz after what happened yesterday. Memory is one of the things that doesn't always come back right away when you die. You'll just have to excuse him. So here's what I think we should do--"

If anyone thought it was strange the way the Halliwell Matriarch jumped in and defended the teen for his strange behavior, no one commented. But Wyatt focussed on a few oddities that buzzed in the back of his mind, completely tuning out Penny Halliwell's plans. He was now convinced that there was something indeed different about the young man—and he was determined to find out what it was.

"WYATT!" his mother yelled, "Are you listening?"

Wyatt was visibly startled and stammered, "What-huh?"

Penny pursed her lips in annoyance, "Did you hear anything I just said?"

His eyes darted to every other pair in the room, who all looked at him with varying expressions of anxiousness and irritation. "Uhmm. No?"

"This is important, Wyatt!" "We need you here!" "We don't have time to repeat ourselves!" "Pay attention!"

Since several of the family spoke at once, he wasn't sure who scolded him with what comment. But he did hear when Chris spoke up afterwards in his defense.

"Everybody, calm down, please? There's no need to jump all over Wyatt." Turning to face his older brother, he reiterated, "Grams said that you and I should stay here since I can't go anywhere anyway. Mom and Dad are going to go up there to watch for whoever does the mail. They'll probably be able to lead us to who issued Dad's assignment. Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige are going to do some snooping in the underworld to see if they can get any info on the demon. Aunt Sheila's going home—"

"No I'm not!" She shook her head as she planted her feet firmly on the ground.

Piper tried to reason with her friend, "Sheila, thank you so much for looking after my son—but I can't take the risk of you getting caught in the middle of something really bad. I'd never forgive myself."

"That's sweet of you, Piper. But it's my decision to make. You guys are family to me. And this involves my Godchildren. I'm not leaving at a time like this when I know I can help somehow. Just tell me what to do."

Leo was grateful to the woman for her concern for his family and hugged her. He had initially been upset with his long-time friend for the fact that she had went against their wishes and told Wyatt. But he knew that she must have had an extreme reason to do so, and had quickly gotten over it. "Thank you, Sheila. For all you've done."

Turning to his wife hopefully, "An extra pair of eyes and ears couldn't hurt. Besides, she'd be safer with us than with Phoebe and Paige since they're going to the underworld."

"O..k." Piper muttered reluctantly. "Then I guess you're coming with me and Leo. And Grams—"

Penny didn't give the Oldest Charmed One a chance to assign her another task, since she wanted to go back to the waiting area and check on Christopher. "Has something else that she needs to check on. But I'll be back shortly." She stepped back into the circle and vanished. The others took their cue from her and orbed to their assigned destinations as well.

With everyone's departure, that left only Wyatt and Chris remaining in an attic that had been bustling with people only moments ago.

Wyatt turned to the younger man and asked him conversationally, "So. How've you been?"

Chris answered in the same manner, "Dead. Yeah. Yeah that pretty much sums it up."

Tbc…