Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the television show Charmed. All characters belong to Spelling Television, and The WB.
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The Pain of Future Wrongs – Chapter 72
Nekona smiled and shimmered to where Chris was standing. "I'm always interested in propositions from you, Christopher," the demon answered with a seductive smile.
"Well, that's always good to hear," Chris answered with an equally charming smile.
"So what's your proposition, sexy?" she purred as she ran her hands down Chris' chest.
Chris smirked and tried not to roll his eyes at Nekona's pathetic actions but decided to get straight to business. "I heard that things have been going tough lately for you and your demons."
Nekona's smile faded somewhat and she withdrew her hands from Chris. "No thanks to you and your family," she hissed.
"Well, how would you like to take out your anger without anyone interfering with you?"
"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well, it seems like that a group of your fellow demons have been conspiring with a group of renegade Elders."
Nekona laughed. "And so? What does this have to do with me?"
"I want those demons eliminated," Chris answered simply.
"Why would I want to fight against my own kind?" she asked. "If I really wanted to unleash my anger, wouldn't it be much easier to target innocents and helpless witches instead?"
Chris smiled slyly. "That's because I know that you have ambitions of becoming the leader of the demons. And you can't do that with your rivals around. I'm giving you a chance to eliminate your rivals while I get these annoying demons out of my hair so that I can deal with the Elders."
Nekona put on the seductive smile again as she got close to Chris. "And how would I know that you won't turn your firepower on me once I help you get rid of these demons?"
Chris put on his best, charming grin. "Well, Nekona, I think you and I have always worked quite well together. I'm sure we can work something out, don't you think?"
"Well, Christopher, you're quite the salesman," she purred. "But there's still one problem."
Chris arched his eyebrows in confusion. "And that would be?"
"The problem is that I don't believe you," she hissed before plunging an athame into Chris' stomach, causing the Halliwell to cry out in pain. The athame was quickly spreading its poison around Chris' body and he fell to his knees. He clutched his side as the pain overwhelmed him.
"Take him away," Nekona ordered as her minions dragged Chris from the cave. "I'll deal with him later."
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"Where is Chris?" Piper asked as she placed another plate of pancakes in front of her famished household.
"Still sleeping, probably," Ryan answered absent-mindedly as he poured syrup on his pancake.
"Oh, so Chris actually does sleep on occasion!" Phoebe remarked with amusement.
"I know it's hard to believe, but yes, he does sleep, Aunt Phoebe," Ryan answered with a smirk.
"Did I ever tell you that you're a smart ass?" Phoebe asked with a genuine smile.
"I'm a Halliwell," Ryan answered with a dead serious face. "Plus, I learned from the best."
"Wyatt, are you okay?" Piper asked, noticing that her eldest son was being very quiet.
"I'm fine, Mom," he answered. "Just a bit tired, that's all."
"Oh come on," Ryan teased. "We didn't stay out that late. I guess it's the first sign of aging, Wy."
Wyatt just snickered at the comment. "Aren't you just a bundle of joy this morning," he added with a touch of Halliwell sarcasm.
Breakfast continued with light banter and everyone just went about their business, each hesitant to disturb Chris from his much-needed sleep. Once all the dishes were done and everyone was well into their morning routine, Wyatt pulled Ryan aside as discreetly as possible.
"Ryan, I need to speak with you."
Ryan saw the concerned, clouded look in Wyatt's eyes and immediately became very concerned. Without arguing he followed Wyatt into his room and closed the door behind him. "What's wrong?"
"Chris."
"What about him?"
"I don't know…something just isn't right."
"Do you have a bit more to go on besides your gut feelings?" Ryan asked, trying to remain calm.
"Well, he certainly isn't sleeping in his room," Wyatt began.
"That's not a sign," Ryan countered. "He's probably out demon hunting."
"I can't give you any hard evidence. I just feel off," Wyatt concluded. When he saw Ryan's skeptical expression, he continued, "Come on, Ryan. You must have that strange feeling too…"
Ryan thought for a moment and sighed. "You're right…I have been feeling a bit weird this morning. I just thought it was from being too tired from last night." After another moment of silent thoughts, Ryan said what was on both of their minds. "So what do we do? Do we let the others know?"
"Definitely not," Wyatt immediately answered the last question. "The last thing we need is to get everyone all panicky. You know how they are with Chris…especially Mom."
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Chris looked around his surroundings and his heart sank as he realized that he was indeed in a very precarious situation. Not only was this place totally secured but in his present state, he wouldn't be able to get very far before being caught again. He grimaced as another round of pain surged through him, the poison from the athame obviously beginning to spread throughout his body.
He tugged at the chains that held him against the wall again, faintly hoping that somehow the chains would come loose but of course, that wasn't about to happen. To make matters worse, Chris figured that his family wouldn't even start looking for him for a while given his usual habit of disappearing on demon-hunting excursions.
Chris scolded himself for being so careless but he didn't have much time to dwell on it before Nekona emerged into the cave with a self-satisfied smile.
"My, Christopher, I must say that you look delicious in your current position. I always thought that you were one of the hottest witches around."
"Can't say the same about you, I'm afraid," Chris shot back with sarcasm. "I can understand why you don't bother putting any mirrors in this lair of yours."
Nekona walked up to Chris and slapped him hard across his face, drawing trickles of blood from his lips. "Silence, you fool. You really think you're in any position to play games with me?"
Chris felt the pain in his body intensifying but he refused to give this demon the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. Instead, he fixed a cold stare at Nekona. "And what exactly are you hoping to accomplish by your little antics?"
Nekona laughed chillingly at the question. "Christopher, I would take great pleasure in just giving you a slow, painful death. But to make things even more exciting for me, just wait until the rest of the demonic world hears about how I destroyed the son of a Charmed One."
Chris snickered at the revelation. "Nekona, you're even more boring and simple-minded than I had thought. No wonder you're always stuck at the lower end of the demonic hierarchy."
Nekona screamed in anger and threw three successive energy balls at Chris, each crashing into his weakened body. "You won't be so sharp-tongued when I'm done with you."
For the next few hours, Nekona vented her anger and frustration on Chris. Every type of torture or pain-inflicting games she could think of, she tried them on the young Halliwell. Chris, on the other hand, was barely hanging on. First, the poison was now in the advanced stages of spreading. He could no longer feel his arms and legs and instead only felt numbness. Furthermore, he was completely bloodied by Nekona's energy balls and the various whips and torture devices that she used on him. He had to give Nekona credit, he probably underestimated her resourcefulness. But none of that mattered now. He was certain that his family would not get to him in time and more frighteningly, Nekona seemed to be getting more and more into this torture regimen of hers. He was afraid to even imagine what she still had up her sleeves.
As if on cue, Nekona reappeared in the cave with her sadistic smile. "It's too bad that you're going to spend your last hours all alone," she taunted.
Chris glared at her as best as he could, but after the hideous torture he was put through, his green eyes had lost the fire and determination that characterized him. His eyes were now dull and even if he didn't want to admit it, Nekona was succeeding in breaking him bit by bit.
"Ah, I see I hit a nerve, Christopher," Nekona continued. "I can't really blame your family. After all, they have other children to look after. It's only inevitable that someone gets neglected."
"I was not neglected," Chris shot back, his voice coarse and weak.
"Then where are they now? Why aren't they here to save you? You've been gone for hours, Christopher."
Chris wanted to answer but he couldn't. Seeds of doubt entered his mind. It was true. It had already been hours, if not over a day, since he was gone. Where was his family?
Nekona dropped some magical dust in the pool of water in front of Chris and immediately he saw his family in the kitchen having breakfast, everyone laughing and talking.
"You see, they're carrying on as if you didn't even exist. They all think you're in your bedroom sleeping and no one even bothered to check if that was really the case."
Chris felt his heart sink at the sight. Nekona was right. His family was carrying on as if he didn't even matter. They just brushed him aside, thinking that he was sleeping. Whatever fight remained in Chris was sapped away by what Nekona showed him.
"Pity, Christopher," the demon taunted again as she approached him, holding a vial in her hands. Without warning, she forced his mouth open and poured the contents down his throat.
Chris felt like his throat and stomach were on fire. He literally felt like something was ripping up his insides. "What the hell did you give me?" he yelled.
"A little parting gift," she answered. "It'll make your final hours that much more painful," she laughed. Her laughter was cut short by the sound of explosions behind her. She turned around to see several of her demons vanquished. Two young men ran into the cave and faced off against Nekona.
Wyatt gasped at the sight of Chris, battered and bloodied, chained to the wall. "What the hell did you do to my brother?" he yelled angrily.
"You're too late, boys," Nekona laughed. "Christopher here is good as gone," she laughed before shimmering away, not giving Wyatt or Ryan a chance to even attack her.
Ignoring the demon, Wyatt and Ryan ran up to Chris and quickly freed him. Without the chains to support him, Chris' leg gave way and he collapsed to the floor. Ryan and Wyatt gently picked Chris up and Wyatt carried his younger brother on his back. "Hold on, Chris, you'll be fine," he urged his brother, trying not to let his panic show.
Ryan was still in shock but he knew that now was not the time to get emotional. One thing that he had learned from Chris was that when a crisis was at hand, the only thing that mattered was to get the job done. Emotions needed to be pushed aside.
Wyatt held onto Chris tightly and orbed out of the cave, dismayed to find that the orb failed to work and that they were still in the cave.
"Anti-orbing spell," Ryan said matter-of-factly. "We'll need to go back the way we came and orb from there."
The three Halliwells began to retrace their steps, vanquishing the odd demon along the way. After several minutes, Wyatt laid Chris down so that he could catch his breath and also took the opportunity to examine Chris' wounds.
"Oh god, we need to get him back to the manor quickly. The poison is spreading fast and these wounds aren't helping," Wyatt whispered to no one in particular. "You hang on there, Chris," he added as he grasped Chris' hand.
Chris seemed to react from Wyatt's touch and he turned his glazed eyes to him. "Mom?" he asked. Wyatt and Ryan shared worried glances. "Mom…" Chris continued talking to Wyatt, "you have to get out of here…no…you have to believe me…Mom…Wyatt is going to be back…he's going to kill you…he killed an innocent…I saw him…Mom…"
Wyatt felt a pain in his heart as he listened to his brother's rambling, realizing that he was experiencing some of his most painful memories again. Ryan gave Wyatt's shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Wyatt smiled gratefully at his youngest brother. In the past, any mention of these memories would have invoked Ryan's anger towards Wyatt, but it was clear now that Ryan had finally completely forgiven Wyatt for his past actions.
"We better get going," Ryan said gently. "Let me carry Chris," he said as he loaded his older brother onto his back. Just as they were about to get moving, the ground began to shake violently, knocking all three of them off of their feet. Boulders began to crash to the ground.
"Take cover over there," Wyatt yelled as he pointed to a protected area of the tunnel. Ryan and Wyatt quickly carried Chris to the protected area as they waited for the rocks to stop falling. After a minute, all was quiet again. Wyatt looked around cautiously to make sure that it was safe to emerge from their shelter.
When the three of them finally emerged, they were confronted with a dreadful reality. They were trapped – the falling boulders had closed off both ends of the tunnel.
to be continued -