Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the television show Charmed. All characters belong to Spelling Television, and The WB.
I'd love to get feedback! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the story so far. Please continue to review the story or e-mail me at Pain of Future Wrongs – Chapter 69
Chris froze in shock as he stared into the face of his friend. "Mike?" he asked again to no one in particular. "What…how…"
"Hey," Mike replied softly, but without his usual energy or enthusiasm.
By now, Chris had recovered from his initial shock and his mind was already processing a whole bunch of questions that he wanted to ask. "It's so good to see you again, Mike," Chris said sincerely. "But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" Chris immediately noticed the discomfort in Mike's demeanor. He quickly debated what to do before speaking up again. "Give me your hand," he said gently.
Mike looked at Chris with a puzzled expression.
"Trust me," Chris urged. "You do trust me, right?"
Mike hesitantly did as Chris requested and within seconds, they both disappeared in blue orbs. The two young men reappeared at a quiet, secluded park that Chris had discovered earlier.
"Wha…what just happened?" Mike whispered in awe and fear.
"Oops…I should've warned you. We orbed," Chris answered with a chuckle.
"Orb? You mean like the people on Star Trek?"
"Uh…sort of. Same type of idea…"
"Okay," Mike answered before a silence resumed.
"I thought this would be a more private place to talk," Chris said, still not sure if he did the right thing. "But I'd understand if you don't want…"
"No, I'm fine," Mike cut in before Chris launched into one of his famous ramblings. "Thank you."
Chris looked at his friend and noticed that this wasn't the same Mike that he knew from before he came back home. "What's wrong, Mike?" he asked out of genuine concern. "Maybe I can help…"
"You can't," Mike answered, a faraway look on his face.
"Do you want to at least talk about it?" Chris asked. "You might feel better."
"I don't think anyone would understand…it'd be too hard to explain."
Chris arched his eyebrows and stared at Mike. "Try me…"
Mike sighed and knew that there was no way to argue his way out of this if Chris had made up his mind. "I just found out that my whole life has been a lie…everything was one, huge damn lie!" he yelled as tears of anger began to fall.
Chris quickly wrapped Mike in a hug, not really knowing what else to do. After all, this was Phoebe's specialty and he felt kind of strange being put in this role.
"Do you understand how it feels when you find out after twenty-three years that you're an illegitimate child? That you're a bastard son?" he asked Chris, his eyes glistening with tears.
Chris was floored by the revelation. He was prepared for all sorts of answers but certainly not this one. "Wh..what?"
"I don't know how it got started, but about two weeks after you left, these rumours started on campus about me being an illegitimate child. No one ever confronted me directly about it but everyone was talking behind my back. I tried to ignore them, but I couldn't help but notice the knowing smirks that everyone was giving me and the snickers that I would hear in the hallway," Mike explained. "After a few days, I got fed up so I confronted my dad about it. He and I had been on rocky terms the last little while, so obviously the discussion wasn't very friendly."
"What did your dad say?"
"He confirmed the rumours…telling me that the person who I had always believed to be my mother was not my mother after all…and that the only reason why I was born was because…because of a mistake…"
Hearing the word "mistake" brought back painful memories for Chris. He remembered that this was how his own mother talked about him when she first found out that she was pregnant. But he knew that now wasn't the time to think about himself.
"As if that wasn't bad enough…my dead mother was a whore…" Mike said flatly.
Chris was stunned by Mike's description of his mother and Mike knew that he had completely shocked his friend.
"My dad met her at a strip club…then slept together one night…and well, you know the rest…she was a freakin' prostitute…I'm the son of a prostitute!" Mike yelled as he began to pound the ground with his hand.
"Stop it, Mike," Chris cried out, trying to calm his friend down. "Stop beating yourself up over it!"
"That's easy for you to say, Chris, you have a family that worships you!" Mike said as he pushed Chris away. "Unlike me, you're the saviour of the freakin' world!"
Chris felt like Mike had punched him in the guts. For some reason, Mike had managed to revive all of the painful memories that Chris had struggled for so long to bury. And surprisingly, Mike seemed to realize that something had hit Chris' nerve.
"Chris?" he asked, ashamed of his behaviour and worried at the same time.
"It wasn't always like this," Chris said softly at the ground. "For the longest time, they hated me…I screwed up their lives…they all wished that I would just go away…and probably on more than one occasion, wanted to vanquish me…"
Now Mike really felt horrible for what he said. "Chris…I didn't mean…"
Chris continued talking as he recounted his horrific experiences. It was almost as if he was in a trance and couldn't control himself. The memories were overwhelming him and it sent the poor young man into shock. All this time, Mike sat there listening in horror as Chris recounted his past and felt stupid for making such a big deal out of his own problems when his friend had faced something a thousand times worse.
As Chris finished his story, he seemed to emerge from his daze and regain his senses again. "I'm sorry, Mike…I wasn't planning on telling you my whole sorry history…"
"No…it's okay," Mike said. "I had no idea, Chris…I would never have…"
"Don't worry about it…" Chris answered, although it was apparently that the young man was still shaken by his past. Then, as he had done so many times before, Chris shoved his emotions away and focused on more important matters. "So…why did you run away when…"
"I was scared…and ashamed…" Mike explained. "I felt dirty and I just wanted to disappear off the face of the earth. I mean…everyone on campus treated me like I was the scum of the earth…after I confronted my dad, he kicked me out of the house…I had no money…no status…no one wants anything to do with me…"
Chris looked at his friend with sympathetic eyes. "And you thought that I would react the same way?" he asked, somewhat hurt that Mike would think of him like that.
"I don't know," he answered honestly. "You were my best friend…and I didn't want you to know…"
"You think I was your friend only because you had money and status?" Chris asked. "Is that seriously what you thought of me?"
"I'm sorry," Mike apologized. "I'm telling you…all my life, I've never had anyone that I could call a true friend until I met you. I'm not good at this friend thing. I don't even know what real friends are supposed to do for each other…"
Chris pulled Mike into a hug. "Hey, you were a great friend to me. I wouldn't have my family back if it wasn't for you, so stop beating yourself up over this okay?"
Mike hesitantly nodded.
"And we're going to bring you back to my place and get you settled down. I'll whip up some dinner and then we're gonna do some major catching up, okay?"
"But…what about your family? I don't want to intrude…"
"My family loves you," Chris smiled. "So quit worrying, okay?"
"If you say so," Mike answered, smiling for the first time in a while.
"Oh, and before I forget," Chris continued with a serious expression. "Don't be so hard on your mom. I'm sure that she loved you."
Mike's smile faded at the mention of his mother. Chris knew he needed to tread carefully, but he knew from his own experiences that things are not always as they seem. "Mike, when I first came back to the past, my family accused me of all sorts of things. I was accused of being everything from a demon to a childish attention-seeker. But I can't blame them for that because they didn't know all the facts. I was only doing what I thought was best for them…"
Mike nodded as he understood where Chris was going. "I get it…I shouldn't pre-judge my mother…"
Chris smiled and hugged his friend again. "Don't worry, everything's going to work out, Mike. Trust me…you're like a brother to me and I won't let anything happen to you."
Mike smiled genuinely and nodded. "I know…" For the first time in a long time, Mike felt that things would actually turn out fine.
Wyatt flipped through the pages of the Book of Shadows casually, trying to find some information on a demon that Chris had mentioned earlier. As he was reading, he felt that he was being watched. Turning around, his thoughts were confirmed when a demon appeared, smiling at him. Wyatt reached for a vanquishing potion and prepared to throw it at the intruder.
"Don't bother," the demon answered. "Those don't work on me," he laughed.
"What do you want?" Wyatt demanded. "Because unless you have a very good reason for coming here, I am going to vanquish your sorry ass."
"So how are you enjoying your new life, Wyatt? Enjoying being at your brother's beck and call?"
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
"I know deep down you resent that, don't you?" the demon continued. "After all, you're the Twice-Blessed One, not him. What gives Christopher the right to take charge of everything?"
Wyatt scoffed. "Chris is the most deserving of this, you fool. And for your information, I get along with my brothers fantastically. Now if you're done," Wyatt smirked, "I plan to destroy your pathetic self now."
"If your brother and your family loves you so much, why would they lie to you and keep things from you?"
Wyatt stared at the demon with an annoyed look but didn't answer. All of a sudden, Excalibur appeared in the attic and Wyatt gasped.
"Go ahead, it's rightfully yours."
"Get out of here now before I lose my temper," Wyatt warned, his eyes still on the sword.
"Pull it out, Wyatt. That is the true source of your power. With that, you can regain your rightful place as the most powerful magical being and put that pretender brother of yours in his place."
Wyatt continued to stare at Excalibur but made no attempts to reach for it.
"Let me guess, you've been told that Excalibur played a part in you becoming evil. That you're not the rightful owner of it. Well, guess what? They're all lies. The only reason they don't want you to touch it is because they want to save it for Chris. But everyone knows that the Twice-Blessed One is the rightful owner of Excalibur." The demon smirked as he felt Wyatt's inner struggle. "I'll leave you to think about what I've told you," he concluded before shimmering out.
Wyatt stood there in the attic even after the demon departed. After thinking long and hard, he found himself walking towards Excalibur. More moments of hesitation passed before he reached out for the sword.
- to be continued -