He did it for me
Chapter 39
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.
Christopher just turned 19, Chris was already 19, and Wyatt is three months shy of his 21st birthday.
Disclaimer in chapter 1
AN: I think there will be one more chapter before the epilog—I thought it would be nice to tidy it up with an even number of chapters—so 40 seemed good since I couldn't finish in 30. So we'll see.
So in here, you'll find out just about everything that's been missing--well, maybe one more question—I'll ask at the end if you think you know…:)
I hope you like it and thank you all so much for being a part of my story:)
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"But what about you," after hearing the whole plan, Chris asked his counterpart sadly.
Christopher gave him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about me. When the shift occurs, I'll automatically become part of the new Chris in the fourth timeline. I'm not going to disappear, I'm just going to exist differently—the way we're supposed to be. And when you come back, you'll become part of me. Trust me. Both of us will be able to live the way we should, in peace. You'll forget all about the horrible things you've ever been through. And luckily, so will I—because I really don't want to remember any of what happened in the last few days." He turned to his older brother and tried to convince him as well, "It really is for the best."
Wyatt had listened to both of his little brother's plan intently. Once they had started bouncing ideas off of each other, they had rapidly formulated a plan. They had each contributed different points to it, and they made sense to him at the time, but he now had his doubts about it all. And apparently, so did Chris since he was acting so unsure. Christopher seemed to be the only one who truly believed what he was saying. He's always been so persuasive, so he didn't have the heart to tell him no this time. He questioned hesitantly, "Do you think it's really for the best? That this is the way things are supposed to be?"
Christopher answered confidently, "I do. Trust me, Wy. You won't even remember the difference. None of us will."
Wyatt closed his eyes and blew out a deep breath, trying to keep his emotions in check. His younger brother must have sensed how much that this plan was bothering him, and placed his hand on his shoulder to get his attention before pulling him into a hug. Wyatt held onto him as tight as he possibly could, not wanting to let go, because the sooner he did—the sooner he would have to let him go forever.
Christopher smiled as he now found himself in the role of the older sibling, comforting his brother who seemed unwilling to accept the change. "Wy, listen…I wouldn't ask you to do this unless I was sure that it was the right thing to do. Things have to be set right. Just do things in the order we talked about, and I promise you, everything will be ok. I'll be fine. Besides, who's to say that we won't remember all of these lives when actually die of old age?"
"Yeah. Ok. Then let's get this show on the road." Wyatt answered resignedly, pulling away quickly. He turned to his aunt, "Aunt Paige, why don't you go back to the manor and explain what's going on and what the plan is. We'll take care of things from here and get Grams and the others in on this."
Paige nodded tearfully as she pulled them all into a group hug. "You three be careful, ok?" She suddenly pulled back, her features frowning with worry, "Wy? You don't think Julius could somehow track them here, do you? I mean, with each time you had to lower the shield and all…?"
He shook his head, "No, I don't think so. It wasn't long enough."
Chris's head suddenly shot up in a panic, "Wait, you let Clarence in and out—but you hadn't put it back up when Christopher and I talked. Do you think that was enough time for him to find us?"
"No, I remembered as soon as you two threw me out. I put it back up while I was—uh—polishing the door knob. Yeah. That's what I was doing," the blonde answered as his eyes darted up toward the ceiling, ignoring the smug grins of everyone present.
Paige snorted, "Polishing the door knob, Wy? You get more and more like your Aunt Phoebe everyday. Sounds like somebody just got caught eavesdropping. Good luck guys," She said just before orbing out.
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Nearly an hour later back at the manor…
Paige had already explained the plan and the situation, much to the chagrin of the remaining Charmed Ones and Elder.
"So you're telling me that Julius planned this several timelines ago?" Leo asked dismay.
Paige nodded, "Yeah. That's what the boys seemed to think. Actually they were pretty sure. Now we just need to find out why he wants to destroy the world to make sure that he doesn't try again. So we go with your plan to interrogate him, then we go the boys' plan and wait for our key players to show up."
Phoebe looked nervous and could only smile halfway, "You make it sound so simple."
"That's because it is. They came up with this plan, and those boys' of Piper's are no slouches—I know this will work," Paige said confidently.
Piper was biting her thumbnail nervously, "I don't like this, Paige. When Wyatt gets here, the boys will both be there unprotected."
"That's why we have to work fast," the youngest sister pointed out. She walked over to the potion shelf that had been screwed into to the wall, picking up the electric screwdriver on her way. She held out two of the other phillips screwdrivers to Leo and Phoebe as well. "That's also why we have to be prepared up front. We won't get another shot at this."
After they had finally gone through the arduous task of removing the heavy shelving, Leo whistled in surprise at what lay behind it. "Whoa. How did he manage that all by himself? This has been here? All this time? I never would have imagined it."
Sheila finally spoke up after having hung back in the corner for a while. She blushed as she admitted, "Actually, Darrel and I helped him cover it up. But the work is all his. He worked for months at it, whenever he wasn't out demon hunting. He said it was 'just in case of an emergency'. I guess the emergency has finally arrived."
Piper had to gawk at the sight in amazement for a few moments. Delicately, she traced her fingers over the intricate carving on the wooden wall and breathed out with wonder. "I never knew he was such an artist. This is beautiful."
Paige tilted her head, answering firmly. "It sure is. Now cover it up with the rug. We don't have time to admire it, not if we're going to save them."
The mother nodded silently, looking away and sighing in disappointment as they covered Chris's hand carved artwork. He had a real talent for it, and this was just one of the things that she wished she had known about her son. But if their plan worked, she would not get the opportunity to find out such things. She wouldn't get to know him anymore than she already did. And with this new revelation, it was becoming quite clear that she knew next to nothing.
Leo took her hand, smiling at her knowingly. He couldn't offer her any consoling words that would help, but he understood her reluctance, feeling much the same way. He opted instead to take her mind of it. "So. Are we ready to summon him?"
Minutes later, Piper had worked up her anger to play the role as expected, which didn't take much on her part in her current state. She paced the floor angrily as she remembered her experience many years ago with the angel of death. She signaled to the others to get ready and screamed his name, "JULIUS! JULIUS! I know you can hear me! You get your butt down here right now, or I will start casting every spell I can think of and make sure you never take another soul again! JULIUS! I'm not kidding—"
Popping in behind her, he sneered as he circled around to face the eldest Charmed One, "I'm quite certain you're not, Piper. Now what is it that you want, I have work to do."
"I want to know what you did to my son. Where is he?" Piper played along with his charade, pretending to be just as in the dark as he now did.
"He's not my responsibility to keep track of. You're his mother. That's your job," he said waving his hand dismissively.
"I can't follow him when he's been murdered."
Julius feigned innocence, tilting his head inquisitively, "Oh, is he dead?"
Piper narrowed her eyes at the black clad figure. She wished she could blow him up, but knew her powers would be ineffective on him. "Like you didn't know. Let's stop with the games, Julius. We already know that it was you that set Christopher up to be killed by one of the Korack brothers. What we want to know is why?"
Julius shrugged, seeing only way to guarantee the success of his plan. He quickly threw up his force field, sheltering himself away from the witches and the elder. He decided to play the only card he had at the moment.
"Looking for this?" he asked menacingly as he floated his hand through the air. Seconds later, Christopher's physical body appeared by his feet within the shield. "I found it lying around--of all places in a storage closet. Since no one is using it at the moment," he snapped his fingers quickly. "We don't need that now, do we?"
Piper could only watch in horror as her son's body disintegrated into a pile of ash right before her eyes. She stared at the dark outline that only moments before held the child that she bore. If this plan of theirs failed, then there was a good possibility that it had been her son's only hope for survival. She had been hoping that both versions of her youngest son could somehow cohabitate in the same body. A body that was now a pile of ash. Her legs buckled as she almost lost her resolve.
Grinning at her reaction, Julius remarked snidely. "Well. Now that we have that loose little end out of the way—you can't stop me, so I suppose we can get on with business. There's no way to resurrect Christopher now. Now before we begin, I feel it is my duty to inform you of the existence of the other Christopher. You know, the one that came to save his big brother from turning evil?"
Regaining her composure now, Piper went ahead with the plan. She decided that it was her turn to answer snidely, "Tell us something we don't know, Julius. We know he exists and that he never crossed over, nor did he become part of our Christopher. And through some very careful investigation, we also know that you somehow believe that it was his destiny to die young. So you helped him along."
Leo saw the look of shock quickly pass over the Angel's face and added, "I thought you were supposed to be neutral. And this is what you call being neutral? Stepping in to murder an innocent teenage boy?"
Julius looked quite surprised that they so much, and he began to wonder if they knew of his plan to merge the two boys together. He masked his expression, and answered boldly—hoping to divert their questions with a lie. "I care nothing of the methods of death, only of the precise age--down to the hour, minute, second--of the soul I claim. The one who came to the past altered the grand design by dying outside of his timeline. He allowed the other one to be born, splitting his soul in half. The only way to remedy that was to collect his soul entirely. They had to be of the exact same age. It was nothing—personal."
Piper crossed her arms, gauging his reaction. Having already known the truth through her sister, she now knew that his eyebrow twitched slightly when he was lying. And she was determined to point that fact out to him, "You're lying, Julius. This wasn't about some grand design. You would murder my son, against your own rules of non-interference, just to punish me? Do you hate me that much?"
He walked around the force field, getting as close as the shield would allow before he grimaced disgustedly. "As a matter of fact, I do," he answered bitterly, "Your arrogance astounds me, Piper. You think that you are most powerful, and that everything revolves around you. Oh how I've dreamed of getting you on my list permanently so that I can show you otherwise. Yet you've always been granted far more lenience than you have ever deserved. 'Take her off the list', I'm told. 'She does too much good as the Eldest of the Charmed Ones to simply end her life', I'm told. This situation has just been an added bonus to cause you interminable pain, but this is not about you!"
Knowing that it would anger him further and possibly provoke the Angel into revealing more, Phoebe stroked her chin curiously before putting on her trademark therapeutic expression. "Have you seen anyone regarding these aggression issues you seem to be having? Because your obsession with Piper and her family seems to have taken over your life. It's not normal."
"I AM NOT OBSESSED!" he fired back angrily.
Paige glared at him coldly as she took a shot at the Angel, "I was wondering…Were you like, a demon in your former life or something? Because you are just far too evil to convince me otherwise. Either that or you're just clinically insane. Unless of course, you can prove you have another reason for stalking Piper's family."
"I told you why," he ground out.
Paige shrugged indifferently and baited him again, "And we think you're lying. Is this just your twisted little way of proving your affection for her? Kind of like the little boys in kindergarten who pull the girls pigtails because they like them?"
Piper grinned smugly, enjoying the Angel's discomfort now that the tables had been turned on him. She added, "You see, we know about your plans to try and destroy the world. We even how you tricked the Elders and the Demons Council all these years into thinking how killing my son would somehow save them from it. But what we can't figure out, is what you get out of all of this. Unless of course my sisters were right about your feelings for me? But I gotta' tell you—this is so not the way to impress me."
Julius was definitely shocked now at how accurate they had been with his plans, but grimaced with the thought of wanting anything to do with that infuriating woman. He decided to set them straight since they couldn't stop him now anyway.
He addressed the two younger Charmed sisters. "If you must know, I hate your sister, and her simpering little offspring. Despise them even. If it weren't for the fact that I need Christopher's help, I would deem him as completely useless as his mother. Now that both of those otherwise useless little brats are dead, there is absolutely nothing you can do to interfere with their new destiny. Together, they will destroy this terribly pathetic little world of yours."
Paige questioned him irritably, "Why would you want that? You'll be destroyed right along with us."
The Angel of Death sighed dreamily. "Yes I will, as planned. True, I'll have to work overtime from all of the death and destruction her second born will cause—but in the end, it will be worth it. I can get everyone in just a short time and then be done with this horrid job!"
He began to pace and quickly grew agitated, "Every minute, I take a soul and get no further with new ones being born twice as fast. And with you three running around 'saving innocents', it's even worse. I never get ahead. And it will never be over. I hate this job. AND I CAN'T RETIRE UNTIL THEY'RE ALL DEAD!"
Everyone's jaw practically hit the floor at the explanation. Paige asked incredulously, "You want to destroy the world because you hate your job? Most people just call out sick—or hey, here's a thought—quit—when they hate their jobs that much."
Julius shot back angrily, "Contrary to popular belief—DEATH can't take a holiday. Do you know how long I've been doing this damned forsaken job? Thousands of years. Day in. Day out. Never resting. Never any different. Always boring. Why don't you try it for the next 4 to 5 thousand years and then tell me how you feel." He gloated happily, "But soon, I can finally be done with it. All thanks to your second born, Piper."
"I wouldn't count on that, if I were you," another voice interrupted Julius's tirade.
The Angel of Death spun around ready to face the Twice-Blessed Witch with a brash remark, but it died on his lips at the sight of the visitor that accompanied him.
Clarence stood next to Wyatt, eying his counterpart disappointedly and shaking his finger at him, "You've been a very bad boy, Julius. I had to hear it for myself, but I see that you've been making quite a nuisance of yourself to these nice people."
Leo was familiar with the older angel of death and asked him suspiciously, "You knew what he had been up to all along?"
"No. Since Julius started this whole mess, he's the only one who remembered it. But once Penny informed me and the other's of his plan, we were able to see what went wrong."
"There are others?" Phoebe questioned.
Clarence nodded jovially. "Of course. And the majority of the others are much higher ranking than Julius, like myself for instance. He just so happens to be one of my apprentices. Unfortunately."
Piper refused to be side tracked and demanded of the older Angel of Death, "So what are you going to do about it? My son is still dead! Set up by your little sidekick here. And I will not stand for that!"
Clarence shook his head sadly, "As much as I would love to, I can't do anything about it. Your sons were right, Piper. The only way to undo Julius's mistakes are in the past. An Angel of Death can not time travel, nor reverse time," he explained. "That is why Julius apparently set this whole chain of events in motion, because there are a few rare souls who can. They all happen to be Halliwell's, but that's beside the point."
He waved his hand toward Julius', who now looked incredibly nervous behind the shield. The younger Angel of Death was immediately frozen in place, with only his head retaining the freedom to move. "NO!" he yelled at Clarence. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! Not after everything I've been through…"
Paige and Phoebe ignored the angel's despairing sobs, finally glad to be doing turning the tables on him. Together, they ripped down the decorative rug that they used to cover the wall with earlier as a precaution. Revealed underneath was Chris's finely-detailed, hand-carved triquetra. They grinned together as they both thought that they wouldn't be needing any chalk this time around.
Clarence bowed curtly and extended his hand from the carving toward the Twice-Blessed Witch. "Wyatt? Be my guest. Do as you planned, and things will work out just fine. It's impossible to reset the timeline back to the original before Julius interfered, but when you come back to this new fourth timeline, it will be as close as possible to the original. Perhaps even better. Good luck, son."
Wyatt took out the letter that he had stored in his back pocket from the day prior. He didn't think he would be looking at it again so soon, but now he couldn't tear his eyes away from it. Carefully, he turned the page over and recited the spell on the back of the precious document. He smiled to his family, who all gave him encouraging nods.
He began to move, but suddenly spun around to taunt the angel who had wreaked so much havoc on his family's lives. The stunned look on his face was priceless as he shrugged. "What can I say, Julius. I have to. After all. He did it for me," Wyatt grinned as he jumped through the glowing portal.
Tbc…
AN: So here's the question from the first AN--where did he go? Do you think you know?
