A Charmed Story - Part One:
Saving The Future Over And Over Again
Chapter 7
"Barbas!" exclaimed Cole, when Penny ended the spell and Barbas appeared before their eyes. "I should have guessed," he said clenching his fists as he stood up menacingly.
Wyatt intensified the forcefield.
Barbas looked at them, smiling: "Look at you... You need to be protected by a little child."
"By the way... " he added before Cole or Penny could answer, "This 'little child' wants you dead, so come on, don't do this more difficult."
Barbas threw an energy ball against the forcefield, making it tremble, and all the people inside woke up with their hearts beating strongly. Little Wyatt started to cry.
The sisters needed a few seconds to realize what happened. Then Piper noticed Barbas and let him explode. Only a second later, the forcefield went down.
"That will not stop him for long," Cole remarked, still holding the crying little boy, trying to calm him down.
Phoebe observed that scene fascinated. It was so cute how he tried to handle that.
"Give him to me," Piper said.
"Sure," Cole gave Wyatt to his mother, then he looked around, "and?"
"Don't ask, please..." Phoebe said. And then she added: "Are you o.k., Cole? I mean because of Barbas."
He looked surprised, then nodded.
Chris, who just rose, winked at his uncle. And now Cole smiled. He was sure that Phoebe had seen something in his memories, something about him, about "them".
But the sisters had other things in mind.
"How can you be so sure, that it has been one or more Elders?" Piper asked her son, still not really believing that.
"The Elders?" Penny and Cole asked at the same time.
"Actually, I'm not," Chris said, "but think back, remember what you've said, what Cole said, and even what Wyatt said himself. It must be them..."
"What if..." Cole started, and the others were looking at him. "What if... Chris just started that thing? I mean, we know that the Elders want us to... well you know... just because evil Wyatt returned... and he did it, just because Chris returned... What if this is the start?"
Chris was frowning, then he shook his head: "No, I changed a few important things... Leo for example is now an Elder, but he wasn't in my time."
Cole nodded: "O.k., just a thought." Phoebe smiled at him.
"Well," Piper rose to speak, "we should discuss that with Leo... by the way... where is he?"
& & & & &
Leo wanted to ask Wyatt what he was talking about, but the poison was running through his veins and invading his whole body fast. He felt so weak, he could hardly speak.
"I won't tell you where Chris is," he said feebly.
Wyatt shrugged, pretending not to be so angry as he really was: "Then, die. He'll do it anyway. You won't be a problem for me in the future anymore..."
"What do you mean? " asked Leo, in the attempt of clarify things. Even though he was going to die...
Wyatt laughed bitterly: "I was your favorite, daddy... I always was. Since he kidnapped me and tried to kill me, you decided to overprotect me, and just ignored Chris. That was soooo cute! Then, after many years passed, you came to see the truth. MY truth. That I'm over good and evil, dad. And actually good or evil don't exist. Because look, good is seen as evil by the evil side of the world, and evil is THE evil for the goodies... So what do we have? EVIL! Only that! I wanted to change that... And you helped me."
"Then..." tried to speak Leo again, feeling sick, but in the need to know more, "how can you say I was a problem?"
Wyatt smirked: "Because you couldn't choose in the end. Because you knew the best thing for both of uswas to kill Chris. But you were blinded by your stupid conscience, and stopped me. And then, you promised you'd erase his memories, but you didn't! Dad, I would have let him live, I loved him... But he knew things he shouldn't know. He was a danger for my empire... I had to do that, just like... remember Alexander the Great?... like him. He had to choose between his empire and his friends. And when he found out that a friend wanted to betray him, he had to kill him, in spite of himself, with tears in his eyes... But he did the correct thing."
"And that's why you want to kill Chris? You think he betrayed you?"
"Yes, he did. And you did... If you hadn't done so, Chris would have been by my side..."
"Just like a puppet or a robot, under your orders?"
"But alive, dad!... However, that's not possible anymore... I'll kill you, and all of you. That way, Chris won't be a problem for me anymore."
"Who... who kidnapped you, Wyatt?" asked Leo, ignoring the painful words his son had just revealed.
& & & & &
Chris and Paige closed their eyes and tried to sense Leo.
"He has gone to the P3, he said he had heard Piper calling him, and that something was wrong..." said Penny.
"Why didn't you say before?" asked Phoebe.
"Because we were too worried about Wyatt and his forcefield!" answered Cole, turning very pale.
Paige nodded.
Phoebe went over to Cole and put her hand on his arm. "Thank you anyway, for taking care of him," she said smiling.
"No problem," he answered while his heart started beating a little faster, "he is very cute."
"I can't find him," Paige remarked.
"Me neither," Chris added, "but I think I know where he is."
"Where?" Piper asked.
"Can't you imagine?" Chris asked back. He went over to the Book of Shadows and flipped through it.
"What are you doing?" Cole's voice sounded really worried.
"I need something to hide myself for a while, so Wyatt will not notice that I'm there. Something must have happened to Leo. I have to help him."
"I'm really wonderingthat you want to do that..." Phoebe said.
Chris was looking at her.
"After all what we've seen," she explained, "I thought you must hate him..."
Chris felt that all eyes were placed on him. He raised his eyebrow: "I do... but after all that happened this day... I'm sure, this Leo here isn't mine."
Phoebe nodded. Then her face changed. She was thinking about something very hardly. She went over to Penny and whispered with her.
Meanwhile Cole walked over to his nephew: "You can't do that alone. What about your powers, thought Wyatt had taken them?"
"Not all, but... that's why I need a spell," he replied.
"But you can't do this alone!" Cole repeated.
"I have to," Chris answered, "the sisters have to find out which Elders want to kill Wyatt. They have to stop them..."
Cole nodded: "But he will kill you..."
"I know," he answered emotionless. He already found what he was looking for.
"I really admire your strength. I wish..." Cole said but was interrupted.
"I have it," Phoebe yelled. Waggling with a sheet of paper, she went over to her sisters.
Piper smiled when she read what was written on it, and Paige nodded.
"What is this?" Cole asked.
"A little surprise for Chris," Phoebe answered smiling.
Chris was looking at them with misunderstanding, when the sisters started to speak:
"All your spirits in the air
come to us from everywhere
gave our Chris what he just need
to make the whitelighter complete."
Within a second some sparkling white lights appeared over them. They were wandering around and then they turned to Chris. They went inside him, they suffused him with a warm feeling.
"What have you done?" Chris asked after he recovered himself.
"If it worked the way it should, we gave you all the whitelighter-powers, like the power to heal," his mother answered.
Chris wanted to say something, but Phoebe was faster.
"Now go, go and help him," she said.
Chris nodded and orbed away.
& & & & &
Wyatt had approached the bars of the cell where Leo was imprisoned, and was grabbing them.
The Elder was really sick. He was trying to keep his eyes open but this action was becoming harder and harder. Finally, Wyatt opened his mouth to say something, but at that very moment Barbas shimmered in.
"What happened?" the witch asked furious.
"They were doing something, my Lord. They've got some plan... When I got there your... little self protected Cole and the old bag... Penny. Chris and the Charmed Ones were like sleeping but when I attacked them, they woke up and the eldest tried to blow me up!
"You, bastard, you cannot do a single thing on your own!"
"I'm sorry, my Lord, I... I can try again. Maybe you could convince your little self that..."
"Shut up!"
"Wyatt..." mumbled Leo.
But Wyatt didn't hear him, nor noticed the glittering lights that surrounded them.
"Chris?" said the Elder, suddenly very worried.
"Shhhh, " ordered Chris, ducking behind some rocks so that he could hide himself from Wyatt and Barbas, who were still arguing.
Chris looked around himself. It was evident he wouldn't be able to orb inside the cell. Otherwise, Leo would have orbed outside, so he should find the keys... He looked at Leo. He was closing his eyes.
'No... stay awake, come on, you have to hold on...' he thought. If Leo died, he'd disappear... But the keys were nowhere!
"I want you to go there, NOW! And bring all of them here. Do whatever you need, use their worst fears, I don't mind. But bring them!" yelled Wyatt.
Barbas lowered his head: "But how? You won't let me go! The little child, I mean..."
Wyatt sighed impatient, and waved his hand. Barbas ducked at the thought he was going to vanquish him. However, he had just glamoured him!
"Now, go! I will trust my father," he said smirking, looking at the new Leo-shape of Barbas.
Chris didn't have time. He would have to open the prison with his telekinesis, but then, he would hardly have time to take him out and orb away with him. Let alone heal him first! But he had no choice... He saw Barbas glamouring as Leo, and orbing away. The sisters would think it was Leo! He had to do it... Now.
Chris wanted to start his offence, when he noticed that Wyatt turned around. So he still had to hide. He knew, time was working against him. But trying to get Leo out while Wyatt was facing him, meant suicide. He needed help.
At that moment another demon entered the cave.
"My Lord," he said. Wyatt turned around visibly peeved. "My Lord, we tried to find that other whitelighter..."
That was Chris's chance. He ran over to the cage.
"Chris," Leo whispered.
"Hush... I'll get you out of here," he answered. Then he opened the cagedoor. But it was a little too loud.
"WHAT?" Wyatt had turned around.
"Leave," Leo said, "he will kill you."
"If you're dying, I'm dead, too." Chris answered.
"Right," Wyatt said, "and it would be very funny to watch you disappear after Daddy has passed away..." He grinned in a bittersweet way. Then Wyatt threw his little brother into the cage and closed it again using a fireball to weld the steel.
"Don't hurry with fading away Dad, I'll be back in a few minutes," Wyatt said, while Chris was glancing angry at him. Then the blonde man left the cave.
"Great," Leo said with pain, "now we are both dead, and Barbas is attacking the sisters."
"Well, I can't tell you what's happening to the sisters, but we are not dead," Chris answered.
"But we will be, I can feel it."
His son smiled. "You should have more trust in me, Dad," he said, then he started to heal his father.
Leo was shocked as he felt that he was getting better, that his son was healing him.
"How did you...?" he asked.
"Thank your sister-in-law, she wrote a nice little spell for me," he explained. "Are you alright?" he asked after he finished his work.
Leo nodded.
Chris sighed. He felt really relieved. "Good," he said, "but stay on the ground, don't let Wyatt know that I could heal you, not now."
Leo nodded again. "Thanks son, I'm very proud of you."
"I hope you'll never forget that," Chris answered.
Then they heard the sound of steps...
Chris and Leo turned to see who was coming, as they felt their hearts beat strongly.
"Don't move. Close your eyes, please, dad..." said Chris, swallowing.
& & & & &
"What do we do meanwhile?" asked Cole, who was pacing from one corner to the other in the attic.
"You, just stay there, don't move!" exclaimed Phoebe, "you're getting on my nerves!"
"Sorry... " muttered Cole, lowering his eyes.
'How could he be sooo cute?' Phoebe had forgotten all those aspects of Cole's personality. But there he was, the true Cole, not the demon. The human being she had got to know.
Piper, who had given little Wyatt to Penny, was working with Paige on something.
"Ok... We have to find out who that Elder is," she said.
"Yeah... " answered Paige. "actually I was thinking that if we get Wyatt, we could cast the same spell as before, to get into his memories and see who was the one that tried to kill him."
"Do you really want to enter HIS mind?" exclaimed Phoebe. "Didn't you notice he's a psychopath?"
"Hey! It's my child, you're talking about!" said Piper, not knowing if she should be angry or not.
"But she might be right..." intervened Penny, playing with the little child, who was having a lot of fun. "There must have been something really bad and traumatic for him."
"I think we should go there first, " said Cole, very nervous.
"Where?"
"Where Chris went. This is taking ages to him, they should be here by now."
The sisters looked at each other wonderingly. Perhaps they could do both things at the same time? Trying to get Wyatt, too? Over Barbas dead body, of course... And all the demons who might be serving Wyatt at that very moment. And even in that case, how would they get him?
"Well, the spell must be enough to get Wyatt, I mean, if you use the spell and enter his memories he will lose his consciousness as you will do," Penny explained, "but you still have the problem about the other demons down there."
"Yeah, and we couldn't use that spell with Wyatt, not exactly that one. Cause adult Chris was able to join us. And if Wyatt is able to do the same, he is maybe able to kill us... That's too dangerous," Phoebe remarked.
At that moment Leo orbed in.
"Where have you been?" Piper asked.
"I was at the P3, I..." he said.
"Where is Chris?" Cole asked worried.
"I don't know, thought he was here," he answered.
"He was going to find you, cause Paige and he couldn't sense you," Phoebe said. She felt that something was wrong, but couldn't catch it.
Cole noticed a special kind of expression in her face. That kind he had seen a lot of times, always when Phoebe felt that something was going on. And that moment, he felt the same... in a way... like intuition.
Leo went over to Piper and hugged her.
Paige was frowning, but said nothing... everything was a bit crazy the last hours, so why not Leo...
Cole took Phoebe's arm and took her a bit offside. "There is something wrong," he whispered.
Phoebe looked in his eyes, his wonderful eyes, and suddenly she felt him, his feelings, his... love... "No," she said to herself, "not now."
"What?" Cole didn't understand what she meant.
"Not you..." she said, and after a little break and a deep breath she went on, "I think you are right, something is going on here, something has happened to him, we have to be careful."
Cole nodded slightly, then he turned to Leo: "Hey... If Chris hasn't come back, he might be in danger... Leo, are you sure you didn't see him?"
Leo nodded, smiling: "Yeah, sure!" Then he frowned: "But... where did he go? Cole, you were supposed to take care of him." Then the Elder turned paler. "I sense him.. He's dying!"
"What?" exclaimed everyone at the same time.
"It was your fault, you shouldn't have let him go!" went on Leo, full of anger.
"Leo?" said Paige, freaked out. He would have never said something like that...
Piperstepped a bit away from him.
Cole seemed very hurt. He sat down, and started to shiver. "I didn't mean anything bad happened to him!" he muttered. "What can I do?"
"What can you do?" repeated Leo, approaching him menacingly, "You killed my son, that's what you wanted! Why you came back! You will always have a demon inside!"
"That's not true!" yelled Cole, trying to defend himself from his attacks.
But by then, Phoebe was so near Leo she could feel his feelings.
"Cole, don't listen to him, "she said, opening her eyes widely, "that's not Leo!"
Suddenly, Leo, smiled, and his shape started to change.
"Very clever, you are... But that was not a lie: Leo has died, and therefore, Chris has disappeared," said Barbas, rejoicing from their sorrow.
Piper raised her hands prepared to blow him up, but Paige held her hand: "Wait! How do we know you're not lying? You are only trying to cause our worst fears to defeat us!"
Phoebe turned to Cole, he was absent-minded, his eyes flowing with tears... It was his fault. Leo and Chris were dead because he hadn't done anything to stop them!
The witch patted his shoulder: "Cole, honey, listen to me... It's ok, they're fine, and we're going to get them back. Forget what he said... You know him, you know what he's trying to do to you."
"I'm sorry to tell you that what I have just said is true..." repeated Barbas, mockingly.
All of a sudden, Piper let go off Paige's hand and blew him up: "Shut up you bastard!" she was also crying...
Penny coughed a little bit: "Maybe we should mourn later... and try to find them first. You won't really believe that demon?"
Paige nodded as she tried to calm down Piper and looked at Phoebe caressing Cole's hair.
"Hey," she said, "we couldn't sense them before, that's why we can't now! So Penny is right, just let's go!
"Where? " asked Cole feebly.
"Where Chris went. He knew where he'd be... Probably where we have been before. Let's try something! And once there, we'll cast that spell the first thing, right?"
The sisters nodded.
& & & & &
Wyatt had just entered, followed by several ugly and huge demons.
"Still alive?" he asked in a sarcastic tone, though a little bit wondered.
"He's strong, brother... " answered Chris, "We won't give up."
"Whatever..." laughed Wyatt. "I'm bored, you know? Maybe I could have fun with you, while I wait... My friends here haven't had much fun lately."
Chris was afraid of what he could do, but didn't stop looking in his eyes, bravely.
& & & & &
Paige orbed the sisters into that cave they had been before. But it was empty. There was no sign of Chris, nor of Leo or Wyatt.
Piper sighed: "And now?"
"We have to find a trace of them... somehow... we have to..." Piper answered.
So the sisters were looking around. They were seeking in every chink, looking under every stone. But there was nothing.
"Phoebe, do you get any feelings of them now..." Paige asked.
Phoebe tried to sense them, while the others looked at her. Then she opened her eyes.
"No trace of them," she said, "but behind that wall there are a few small demons."
"So Paige, orb us to them, maybe they know where they are," Piper ordered and so they did.
& & & & &
Meanwhile Wyatt had orbed Chris out of the cage, to let him fight against the demons like a gladiator in the arena.
It was a hard fight, but Chris was better than Wyatt had thought. He was beating one demon after another.
Leo wanted to help him, but he kept lying on the ground, playing the dying one.
After Chris let another demon explode, Wyatt lost his patience. He threw a energyball at his brother on his own.
Chris got hit, for a moment he couldn't breathe. Wyatt went over to him and grasped his neck. "That isn't funny!" he yelled and orbed Chris back into the cage.
At this moment Barbas appeared and Wyatt turned to him.
"Are you o.k.?" Leo whispered. Chris nodded.
"We have to go out of here, the sisters..." the Elder said with sorrow.
Meanwhile Wyatt was yelling at Barbas full of anger.
"It seems to me, that the sisters are o.k. at the moment," Chris remarked. He had still problems with taking breath.
"But how long? We have to get out of here... any idea?" Leo asked his son. "You know him better than I do."
Chris nodded: "He is very overweening..." He frowned then smiled: "Can you hide me from his sight?"
Leo nodded: "Sure."
"So you just have to die, dad." Chris answered with a wink.
(Chapter 7 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)