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 73
"Dammit!" Wyatt yelled angrily. "Now what?"
Ryan examined their surroundings, looking for any signs of possible escape routes. "We'll probably have to blast our way out," he finally said grimly.
"That'll take forever. Chris can't wait that long!"
"Let's see if you can heal him a bit to slow down the poison and then we work on the boulders."
Wyatt nodded and began to apply his healing powers on Chris. However, he stopped abruptly after only a few seconds as Chris' body began to experience violent spasms. Wyatt's face turned ghost white as he realized the implications.
"What happened?" Ryan asked, afraid of the answer.
"The poison…it's designed to counteract with Whitelighter magic. I think I just made the situation worse," Wyatt answered softly, on the verge of tears.
"We have to get Mom and the aunts to help, Wyatt."
"They can't sense us here, remember?"
"One of us has to get back to the manor to get help."
"Ryan, you go back to get Mom and the aunts. Can you fit in the small opening over there?" Wyatt asked.
Ryan nodded with determination. "I'll be back before you know it." With that, he slowly climbed into the opening and was soon on his way.
With Ryan gone, Wyatt held tightly onto Chris, who by this time has begun to shiver. Wyatt pulled his younger brother closer to him, trying to keep him as warm as possible. "It'll be okay, Chris. Ryan's gone to get help. Everything will be fine. Just hang on," he pleaded.
Chris weakly brushed his hands away. "You have to leave, Mom…" he mumbled. "Before it's too late…" Chris continued to talk softly but incoherently. His body rapidly losing heat and his shivering began to intensify.
Wyatt angrily wiped the tears from his face and focused on his brother. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Chris. You don't deserve this…" he said as he wiped the cold sweat from Chris' forehead, softly willing his younger brother to sleep and rest.
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"Where are they?" Piper asked nervously as she resumed her pacing. "It's not like them to just disappear without saying anything. Chris, maybe. But definitely not Ryan and Wyatt."
"I'm sure they're fine," Phoebe comforted her sister. "They're big boys and they pack more than enough magical firepower to protect themselves."
"That's besides the point, Phoebe," Piper argued. "And you know Chris…he's so bent on ridding the world of demons…plus his martyr tendencies…that's a dangerous combination."
"Relax, Piper, you're going to drive yourself to a nervous breakdown if you don't calm down."
"When they get back, I'm going to really give them a piece of my mind!"
Before Piper could continue with her rant, swirls of blue lights appeared as Ryan materialized.
"Where the hell have you been, young man?" Piper yelled in anger mixed with relief.
"I'll explain later. You guys, come with me," Ryan half-requested, half-ordered in a Chris-like no-nonsense manner.
"Not so fast, Ryan Halliwell," Piper interrupted, refusing to let this matter slide so easily. "Explain now, then we go with you."
Ryan rolled his eyes and sighed with exasperation. "Did you not hear what I said? Come with me now, and you'll get your explanations later. We don't have all day to argue about this."
"I'm the mother here so don't you take that tone with me, young man," Piper shot back angrily.
Ryan knew when to back off and he softened his stance. "Look, I'm sorry for being rude, Mom. But you really have to come with me now. Chris needs help…"
The young Halliwell's last words snapped everyone to attention. "What happened? Is Chris alright?" Piper asked, her heartbeat become faster with each passing second.
"He won't be if we don't hurry up," Ryan answered grimly. "So will you guys come with me now?"
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Wyatt gently brushed the damp hair from Chris' face as his brother slept. He couldn't look at his brother's battered body for too long without having tears threaten him again. He kept asking himself why Chris always seemed to be the one who got the bad end of the deal. He asked himself how he deserved to have such a selfless and amazing brother despite everything that he did.
The cold breeze that blew through the tunnel heightened the state of alert in Wyatt. He carefully looked around the tunnel to try and identify the source of the breeze.
"How touching!" the unmistakable voice of the Nekona greeted Wyatt as she materialized in front of him. "And now I have two Halliwells boys to play with."
"You'll pay for what you did to Chris," Wyatt said menacingly, barely able to control his anger.
Nekona continued to mock Wyatt. "Do I look like I'm very scared?" she laughed.
That last comment sent Wyatt over the edge as launched and energy ball towards Nekona, who easily shimmered out of the way. The battle raged on for several minutes but no one managed to gain an upper hand. Nekona, becoming tired of the games, decided to try a different tactic. With lightning quickness, she launched several energy balls towards Chris' still body.
Wyatt's eyes widened in horror as he realized what Nekona was doing. He flung himself on top of Chris' body just as the energy balls made contact, slamming into Wyatt's back and causing him to cry out in pain and agony. Nekona laughed maniacally as she advanced on the now injured Wyatt, who blocked her way to Chris protectively.
"How sweet of you, the Twice Blessed One protecting his younger brother," she sneered. "Too bad both of you will soon be nothing but a set of memories."
"I wouldn't speak too soon," another voice cut in. "No one messes with my sons and gets away with it." With that, Piper froze Nekona while Paige used telekinesis to send boulders crashing into the demon. The demon screamed in pain but refused to be vanquished. Meanwhile, Phoebe put the finishing touches on the vanquishing spell and before Nekona could launch another attack, the spell was read by the Charmed Ones and the demon was dealt a slow, painful death.
The Charmed Ones and Ryan ran over to the injured Wyatt and Chris, quickly assessing the damage.
"Are you alright, Wyatt?" Phoebe asked her nephew with concern.
Wyatt gently brushed Phoebe's hand away. "I'm fine, Aunt Phoebe. Don't worry about me. Chris…"
"Chris will be fine," Phoebe assured Wyatt. "We'll get both of you back to the manor and get you guys all patched up."
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Chris opened his eyes and immediately regretted doing so. The bright sunlight intensified an already very annoying headache. He groaned as he got himself out of bed, just as Piper walked into the room.
"Chris, you're awake!" Piper said with relief as she rushed over to hug him. Before Chris had a chance to react, Piper broke the hug and smacked Chris at the back of the head.
"Ow!" Chris protested.
"That's for pulling another martyr stunt," Piper said angrily before smacking her son again. "And that's for making me worry."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Chris blurted while preparing to defend himself from further attacks.
"You always say that and you never, ever change!" Piper continued her ranting. "Have you ever thought about how worried we are when you pull these stunts?"
"Okay, okay!" Chris pleaded, hoping to catch a break. "I'm sorry, Mom. I promise I will be more careful in the future," he added, careful with the types of words he chose to leave himself some room to manoeuvre later on. Just for better effect, he put on his best, innocent, sad puppy look. He grinned when Piper's expression softened and she moved to hug him again.
"I'm just so worried about you," Piper said softly. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you, Chris."
"Don't worry, Mom. Nothing's going to happen to me. I promise," Chris answered sincerely, hoping to calm his mother's worries."
Piper nodded, partially comforted by Chris' assurances. "I'll fix you something to eat."
Chris ran his hand through his hair and breathed a sigh of relief as Piper headed downstairs. No sooner did he exhale did Jamie walk into the room, not looking amused at all. "Christopher Halliwell, I swear, if you don't stop pulling these stunts," she warned and she smacked Chris' chest. "I'm not going to be put through this every time you decide to play superhero," she continued as she hit Chris over and over again.
Chris looked skywards and pleaded for mercy. "I'm sorry, Jamie, okay? I promise I'll be more careful in the future." Again, he pulled out his trump card and put on the sad, innocent look.
"Not going to work, Christopher," Jamie warned. "Your Mom might fall for that, but not me."
"Oh come on, Jamie," Chris whined. "I mean, I was injured and almost died. Can't you at least show some compassion?"
"If you weren't so stubborn and if you weren't so bent of being a superhero, you wouldn't have been injured in the first place," Jamie shot back. "What were you thinking, Christopher? Going in a demon lair alone?"
"Jamie, calm down," Chris begged. He really didn't want to deal with this right now and he felt his headache getting worse by the minute.
Jamie just glared at Chris. "Fine. But don't think that I'm just going to let this go so easily, Christopher. Once you're well enough, we're going to have a nice, long chat."
"Yes, ma'am," Chris said softly as Jamie left the room and headed downstairs, still angry at her boyfriend. Chris sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands, cursing himself for even getting out of bed.
to be continued -