He did it for me

Chapter 24

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.

AN: What's going on with Christopher—WARNING—SOME ANGST HERE…I'll pick up with the family in the next.

PLEASE SEE "AN" AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER WHEN DONE!

Disclaimer in chapter 1

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Unknown location….

Julius strolled down the empty hallway, his features flush with relief and giddiness; well, as giddy as the stoic angel of death could manage. His long black duster sashayed behind his hasty strides as he entered the agreed upon location.

He swung open the door, his arms wide in greeting and an artificial smile that was a far cry from his normal countenance. "Raina, how are you?" He surveyed the room casually, noting a suspicious absence. "At such a momentous occasion, I would have thought that Matthias would have insisted upon joining us…"

The Elder held her head high, her voice tight with discomfort, and chose her words carefully as she clasped her hands together. "Matthias will not be joining us today, or any day in the future for that matter. We have encountered a slight problem." She hesitated in a momentary pause, watching as his smile faded. "Matthias is dead."

Julius nodded his head slightly to the explanation before sneering at the woman, "It s a shame he did not show up on my list. Not that it matters anyway, but I thought Elder's were supposed to be next to impossible to kill?"

"Not against another Elder. Leo Wyatt decided to terminate his existence. We were aware that this might happen, and it does not change anything."

Looking rather bored, he asked casually, "That's all very interesting, but what of the two I have come for?"

Raina spoke rapidly, intending to distract the man from her failure. "We managed to secure one of them but—"

Julius held his hand up in a stop gesture, refusing to be swayed. He drew his full six-foot-four height to attention while he glared at the woman menacingly. "What do you mean ONE of them? You should have them BOTH by now!"

The Elder backed further from him, his intimidation tactics working quite well. "The first managed to escape, but it is only a matter of time before he is found. We have the second here in this very facility. We believe he knows the first's location and is being interrogated by a brute demon as we speak."

Julius advanced on the woman ominously, his tone lowering dangerously, "Your time grows short. As does my patience, Elder. IF he is not found within the day, I shall consider our arrangement to be null and void—and I will be forced to proceed as originally intended." With a last look, he commanded in no uncertain terms, "Find him."

Raina watched him uneasily as he spun around on his heels and stormed out, flinching slightly as the doors slammed behind him. She smoothed down her robes, straightening them unnecessarily in a vain attempt to regain her composure.

That man unnerved her, unlike any had ever done before. And that was something that was difficult to do, being that she was usually in the position of having that effect on others. She worried what they would all do if they weren't able to secure the other boy by his deadline.

Sighing sadly, she spoke aloud to no one in particular before heading back again, "Perhaps it is time for more drastic measures…"

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"Christopher?" Patty asked quietly as she lifted his head into her lap. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm doing great…," he replied bitterly as a grimace of pain eclipsed his features. "I swear, I haven't told them anything. Yet." He stared up at her with wide green eyes brimming with unshed tears, "Gramma. I don't know how much longer I can do this. I mean I've had broken ribs before, been hit with darklighter arrows and poison, cut by an athame—but nothing like this that's ever lasted longer than the few minutes it took for Dad to heal me. I'm not as strong as Chris. I can't keep this up…"

Patty smiled down encouragingly, "Yes you are, Christopher. You've proven it, Sweetheart. You've been so brave by standing your ground. Just like he did by coming to the past to save his family. I'm so proud of you. You can't give up now, because we will get out of here. I promise you that."

"Then I hope it's soon. Because I don't think I can take much more of this. And I don't want to do that to him. Whatever they're planning—it's not good."

She swept his hair away from his forehead tenderly, "Then hold on, darling. We'll be out of here soon."

Christopher nodded sleepily. He couldn't believe his luck when he had closed his eyes for moment, then opened them to find his grandmother beside him. He felt safe and relaxed in her arms. But with the exhaustion that weighed down on his body, and not knowing how long her presence would last, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep in the comfort of her arms.

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Awakening some time later, Christopher no longer felt the warmth of Patty's arms, but the coldness of the bare floor. His eyes scanned the room, noting only the brute demon glaring at him with his arms crossed. She was no where to be seen, and he wondered if she had even been there at all.

'Probably not', he pondered bitterly. It wasn't physically possible for him to pass out. That much, Arel had proven to him. So he guessed his mind had simply retreated inside itself and offered the words of encouragement that he knew he needed to keep up his denial of the other Chris' existence.

He must be in hell, he told himself. In his mind, there was simply no other explanation for it. Death was not supposed to be an unending amount of excruciating pain, unless you were sentenced to hell for your misdeeds. Christopher had always believed that a Halliwell would never belong there.

Yet here he was.

Unable to escape from it.

Unable to be granted even the tiniest bit of a reprieve except for his own mind's meandering.

Just a moment to stop his muscles from convulsing; a few seconds even to catch his breath; any amount of a break before Arel's interrogation continued, was all he wanted. At this point, hours later, he didn't even think the demon would be satisfied with an answer. He just seemed to enjoy his work.

Worst of all, the demon seemed to harbor a deep-seeded anger and resentment towards him. Particularly evident in the way he taunted him with the name 'boy' or 'Halliwell' as it rolled off his tongue with no small amount of venom. Christopher wondered what his family had apparently done to piss Arel off. And if he ever got out of here, he thought with a smirk, how they could do it again.

Having been born with the natural instincts of a pacifist through his Elder genes, Christopher had never taken pleasure in harming another form of life—not even a demon. He would do his job and vanquish them when and if necessary, but he would never drag it out for the sheer pleasure in it. Not like Arel. Who seemed to have made it his personal crusade to see and hear him suffer.

At the moment, he hated the brute demon. More than he had ever hated anyone or anything in his entire life. Except perhaps for the female Elder. She was the one who allowed this. No! ordered this. After every bit of good he and his family had done for the world, he had been betrayed by an Elder. The very people he fought for.

The female Elder had visited once a few hours before. 'Raina' he thought she had been called. She had offered to put an end to it. IF, she emphasized, he would only give up what he knew of his other self. And it was tempting, to say the least. But he was determined not to give her what she wanted. Whatever the reason for capturing Chris, it couldn't have been good in his eyes. So yet again, he had denied any knowledge of what they were asking.

"After all of this, you are still claiming ignorance? Why do you not simply save yourself and tell us where he is?" she had asked.

Breathing heavily, he lifted his wide-green eyes to hers, hoping to convey sincerity, but praying that they didn't betray his words. "Believe me, if I could, I would gladly save myself and go home. But I can't. Because, again. I...DO...NOT...know what you're talking about."

Weak from the pain, he staggered to his feet allowing the tears to fall freely. He smiled inwardly thinking of how his pleading expression always worked on his family, getting him anything he wanted. "So please, if you would be so kind as to tell me what it is you would like me to say, I'd be happy to repeat it."

Her patience waning, he inhaled sharply at the angry way she stomped her foot like a petulant child before snapping her fingers, signaling the others. 'Uh oh. I guess she doesn't find it as cute as my family does…'

It was then Christopher realized in his stubborn refusal, that he could go for at least a half an hour without air. Probably longer in this-dead-but non-dead state. He had to fight down his body's natural instincts not to panic. He tried to convince his brain that the clear plastic covering his airways wouldn't kill him, but his flailing limbs refused to be pacified.

He now found it ironic. What would have killed him had he been alive, only gave him a killer headache while dead. He laughed deliriously thinking that it was probably also what triggered the hallucinations of his grandmother…

The insane laughter emanating from the teenager only seemed to anger the demon further. To Arel, it was simply Christopher's latest response of denial, earning him a violent kick to the ribs, but also strangely enough—a brief respite not of the boy's own doing.

Winded, Christopher looked up from his position on the ground when Arel summoned a few of his minions, who immediately answered by shimmering in with what his father had once shown him to be a seer's pool. After several hours of experiencing first hand the insane methods the demon could concoct to try and make him talk, Christopher found himself vaguely wondering what sort of madness this new item was for…

He shivered unconsciously at the feral grin that Arel shot his way before strolling over to him and hefting him up by his tattered remains of a collar. Meeting the other's gaze, he found himself entranced by the deep black orbs that held no mercy. Something inside of him had just started to snap. He couldn't help his reaction. He knew it was illogical, but still, he grinned goofily as he was dragged over to the edges and peered inside.

'Ah. Something new then…' he thought absently before being thrust into the pools depths.

Tbc…

AN:

Since I'm a little caught up with the schoolwork—yeah, like that'll last long (spring break and all)—I am going to get some of my thank you's in personally. You guys are really the best, and I couldn't ask for more.

And please forgive me if I didn't say all that I should, because I'm really no good at this (Yet another reason I don't do it often). If I miss something, feel free to holler at me in email or your next review;)

I'm doing them in order of most recent review to older since the last time I did this, so please don't be upset if you're not at the front of the list—it doesn't mean I love you any less:)

So here goes:

Catyeah, I'm the youngest out of three, and they're kind of like that too. But it makes for funny family reunions now that we're older:) Thanks for reviewing:)

ilovedrew88I'm glad you like the bonding, because I like to write it. Really makes me smile too. Thank you so much for your frequent reviews. I'm happy that you're still with me:)

phoebe turnerthanks for the enthusiasm! I'm so glad you liked it. I'll try to update again soon. And thank you so much for your frequent reviews, they really keep me going:)

Alyssa Halliwelldon't feel bad for Phoebe, at least not yet…I've only just begun to mess with her. Thank you so much for the review (even after ch 23) and sticking through this. You're terrific, million thanks:)

Sparkling Cherriesno problem girl!besides, you even took the time to review 22 after 22, so thanks immensely. I really like your story and I can not believe that I missed the update. Well, when are you going to updateyou're as bad as me with the homework:) And I hope this answers your question about poor little Christopher. Yeah, he's not loosin' it... One more thingyou're note about the meetings, well it was just as funny when I read it too, so it wasn't just in your head:)

Terriwow, right away, really? Thank you, I'm so flattered. I think I'll deal with Piper & Leo in the next chapter. Much angst to be had there. And eventually, both Chris's will meet up again, now what will happenI'm not ready to let on to that little secret yet:)

trina-kthank you for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked itbecause I was thinking of doing a prequel after this one about Chris & evil Wyatt's relationship. I'll see what happens with the timing. And I would absolutely love to write longer chapters, but then you get them even fewer & further between:) sorry, but between a full time job, full time grad school, and family (grumbles) that always seem to want something, I just don't have that much time for the fun things like writing & reading. But I'm so glad that you like it and hope that you'll accept this as my humblest appologies insert puppy dog eyes here

Stony Angelyeah, my email was screwy too. It's been doing that the last few weeks. Thanks for the happy birthday note. But I really appreciate you taking the time to review 22 after 23you're such a sweetheart. So you like Leo going off huh? Well you aint' seen nothin' yet:) And the Chris'suhm, cant say just yet. But that's coming soon. You've been so kind to me with your encouraging words, so I'll give you a hint thoughthe title has a lot of meaning for more than just one of the charactersin my best yoda voiceonce onto something, you have sorry couldn't help it, I'm watching star wars again:)

Fire GazerThank you so much for taking the time to review so often. Short, but sweet:) You're wonderful!

Nikki14uI'm really glad you like it. That says a lot because I love your chris/wyatt stories. Are you going to finish …my baby boy? It's really bugging me that they took it off and now you don't update it. Maybe another ff. site?

Icantthinkofafnickwow! You think so? You really make me laugh & feel giddy at the same timethank you so much for your constant encouragement, its really helpful seeing as how you know the characters so well—especially chris. And you know-that's not the first time I've been accused of being an alien, which cracked me up;) My family says it all the time:) I'm glad you like it, because I was thinking on a prequel to explain more of chris/evil wyatt's relationship. What do you think?

charmedchick4evaI'm glad you liked those moments. And thank you so much for all of your kind words...

Nathy1000000Thanks! I think it was one of my favorites too, which is why I am thinking on doing a prequel about their relationship. I just love stories like thatand speaking of, I'm getting antsy about checking on brothers bond…I love your story and you have to update soon, because it's killing me.

Queen of the Dudesthank you. Actually, initially, I hadn't planned on a chapter in such detail with chris/wyatt. You're my inspiration because I added the scene because you said you liked stuff like that. And I was really happy with ch 23, because it turned out to be one of my personal favorites. So reallycan I say thank you enough:)

Christine Bahrensthank you. I'm so glad you decided to stick it out. I hope it turns out to be worth the wait for you.

bunk64thank's for reviewing. Don't worry, you'll find out soon if you're still with me in the next few chapters…

Missing Whisperthank you so much! I'm glad you liked it, and thank you for reviewing. I'll try to keep updating as quick as I can.

Calenyour funny! Wyatt just may do that. Or perhaps Leo:) Thanks for reviewing!

ChrisBiancauhm, all I can say is sorry? I don't mean to keep you in suspense. Well maybe I do, but I'm trying to quit with my cliffhangers anonymous meetings… Don't worry, the plot will be revealed in the next few chapters. So thank you for sticking it out this long & reviewing:)

Vickiyour review made me laugh, and it was so flattering. Thank you. I'm glad that it seemed so real because I really try to get into my character's heads to make it life like. And to answer your question, yes, Wyatt in this reality is so accepting because he is good. And he's really appreciative of what Chris did for him.

PhOenixFyrEthank you so much for the encouraging words. I made you cry? That's so sweet. I really hope you're still interested.

mizunderstood writerawe, thank you. I really tried put a lot into 14 and am really glad you liked it.

Tasmaniantigerthank you! I hope you're still there, because we're winding down now, and the plot will soon be revealed.