Disclaimer: Charmed and its inclusive characters are the property of Spelling Entertainment and the writers and creators of the television show Charmed. This story is written for entertainment purposes only and not intended to infringe upon the rights of those that originally created and wrote the characters that feature in it. All original characters and works are my own and permission is required from the author before archiving this story elsewhere. The song used is "Savin' Me" from Nickelback's new album "All The Right Reasons". I don't claim to own those either, although the masterful lyricism of Chad Kroeger has inspired many Wyatt scenarios in my head. This being one of them I decided to write it.
Author's Notes: This is my first songfic so be kind. I only plan on it being a one-shot. All inspirational credit goes to Nickelback. Features Chris, Wyatt and Bianca, but since I like the pairing so much the latter two are together. Charmed producers can't have them back cause if they don't want them then I'll keep them snicker Er… do read, I'm not discriminatory, and please open up your mind and treat the following with tender care cause I've just gone through great pain to write this.
FALLEN
"Mr Halliwell, your time is up."
A firm hand gripped his shoulder. He stared through the glass at his fiancé. She was about to fall to pieces, and I was all because of him. She pressed her hand to the glass, the other still clutching the phone by her ear.
"Don't go. Please," she begged.
Prison gates won't open up for me
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'
Oh, I reach for you
Wyatt stared at the dark pool rapidly spreading in front of him, broken from the thought of what could happen after what he'd just done. He dropped his sword, raising shaky hands to convince himself it was all real. Yes, there was blood splattered across his fair skin. It wasn't the first time he'd done this. He felt compelled to, but by doing so he was ruining not only his own life but that of his fiancé as well. She was his only piece of sanity.
Well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in
All I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin' (I'm fallin')
He orbed back to their apartment. The place appeared empty. He needed her but at the same time didn't want her to bear witness to his misdeeds.
The bathroom seemed the opportune place to go. Spinning the handle, water jutted out from the faucet, washing the sins of what he'd just done in slow swirls down the drain.
"Wyatt?" Bianca asked, pushing the door open. Her gaze lowering to his hands, she rushed to his side, lifting them towards her. "Did you hurt yourself?"
Inspecting his hands, she saw no cuts, no physical signs of injury. Even though she was at first confused, the realisation hit her of what it could possibly be. There was too much blood for a simple cut. She lifted her gaze to his.
"Or someone else?" she asked with slow concern.
Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be
"Don't worry about it," he said, pulling his hands away from her. "I don't want you involved."
"I am involved," she protested as he pushed past her.
Following him into the living room, she shouted his name at him, making him stop in his tracks. He had no idea where he was heading, torn between wanting her with him and wanting her away from this.
"Why come here if you didn't want my help?" she questioned.
"I keep doing this to you," he said. Turning he stared at her. "One of these days it's going to start affecting us. I don't know what to do anymore. I can't control myself."
She walked towards him, worry etched across her face as she tried to work out where this was coming from. Brushing his arm, she took hold of his hand, warm fingers wrapping around his comfortingly.
"Baby, it's okay. Whatever it is, we can get through this together," she encouraged.
He stared down at his hand in hers – his most strongest source of power; that which he used to both harm and heal. His gaze shifting to her sympathetic eyes, he knew he had to tell her. She would listen, she would understand.
"I can't keep living this dual life. I can't keep hurting people and helping them at the same time. It's driving me crazy. Something has to give."
"No it doesn't. I know you can handle this, Wyatt, you've put up with so much already. It's not impossible for you."
"Why can't you see what a terrible person I am?" he queried, shaking his head. "Why do I have to live with all this responsibility to make things better for everybody when I can't even make them better for myself?"
"Baby," Bianca said softly, lifting her hand to his face. "Don't talk like that. You're a good person."
"I'm not. This whole thing's a façade. All I am is a deceptive liar trying to pretend he's something he can't be. I can't do this anymore, Bianca," he said, tears brimming in his eyes. "I can't handle it."
"Wyatt," she pleaded.
Say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me
"I'm sorry," he apologised. Kissing her forehead softly he whispered: "Remember, whatever happens – I love you."
The solidity disappeared behind her hand as he orbed out. Terrified at what those last few words meant, she ran her hands back through her hair, biting her lip harshly and pacing frantically as she tried to keep from crying and come up with some reasonable plan.
Heaven's gates won't open up for me
With these broken wings I'm fallin'
And all I see is you
Wyatt walked through the streets of San Francisco, his mind wrapped up in ill thoughts. He scowled at the people he passed by who seemed to be peering at him with curious accusatory eyes. He was too low here, too exposed. People stared at him as if there was still blood on his hands and the word fraud stamped on his forehead. He needed to be alone.
Orbing on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, he stared out at the bay. The sky had taken on a dusky sheen which only served to remind him of the way the colours had spread out across the ground. The sun was warm against his face, almost burning in its intensity. Perhaps it clearly saw, like all witches, he should burn for his sins – his crimes against humanity. But how was he to separate those parts of himself?
It was those Elders that had made him suffer this unbearable burden. It was their sole purpose to layer him with so much responsibility – to give him an unnatural life. Looking up to the sky, he screamed out his frustration to them.
These city walls ain't got no love for me
I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story
And oh I scream for you
Come please I'm callin'
And all I need from you
Hurry I'm fallin' (I'm fallin')
He was missing for hours. The longer he was gone, the more Bianca worried. Shouting his name brought no result. She trusted him but she couldn't help envisioning the worst. Picking up the phone, Bianca dialled the only person she could think of to help – the only one who knew and understood Wyatt just as well as she, the only one who had those abilities which she didn't that could help if things went terribly wrong.
"Chris, Chris," she said urgently into the phone as his sleepy voice answered. In her panic she hadn't noticed the time, already ticking over into the early hours of the next day. Fretfully she ran a hand through her hair as she continued to pace with phone in hand. "He's going to do something bad, Chris. I don't know what to do! He came and went and… he's going to do something stupid. I know it! I could hear it in his voice. Chris!"
Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be
"Woah, wait! Calm down! Start from the beginning. What's wrong? Is it Wyatt? What happened?"
"I don't know," she sobbed.
Chris was there in an instant, orbing in beside her, his eyes scanning the room quickly for signs of what had occurred before he got there. He found no sign of trouble, just Bianca hanging up and lowering the phone as she brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Where is he?" he asked.
"He orbed out," she answered, gesturing with her hand at the empty spot. "He hasn't come back. He won't answer my calls."
Chris stepped to where she indicated. "He's gotta be somewhere."
"Can you try sensing for him?" she asked, the last few words muffled by her raised hand as she anxiously chewed the thumb nail, her other arm hugging her body.
"He's in town," Chris said after periodically trying. Taking Bianca's hand, he orbed them out.
Say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me
Hurry I'm fallin'
Frantically they searched around town, people looking at them strangely as they called out Wyatt's name like he was a lost child or missing puppy. Unable to get an exact location, Chris ducked around parked cars, chasing shadows and anything that closely resembled his brother. Looking overhead as a bright flash illuminated the darkened sky, his attention was drawn towards the water.
"Bianca, the bridge!" he yelled out to her, the realisation hitting him that his favourite place to think might be Wyatt's also.
They both arrived atop the Golden Gate Bridge at the same time, spying Wyatt teetering on the edge, looking down at the occasional passing traffic below.
"Wyatt! Dude! Get away from there! What the hell are you doing?" Chris shouted.
"Fixing my problem," Wyatt answered, not looking up, just continuing to rock on the arches of his feet.
"Baby, please, don't do this! I love you so much. Don't make me stand by and watch you destroy yourself like that. Please!" Bianca begged.
"I didn't ask you to care about me," Wyatt said.
"You made me love you god dammit!" she cried, exasperated, tears falling freely down her cheeks. "You can't take that away."
"I can. I can make all this go away, disappear forever."
"You're talking like a crazy man, Wy!" Chris insisted. He inched closer towards him, holding out his hands. "Just come back from the edge."
Wyatt lifted one hand slowly, stretching it to the side like he was reaching for Chris, with his other hand he let go of the only hold he had. His arms opened wide, he tilted his head back and fell forward over the edge. He felt so free, like he was floating down to the ground with no real weight. The layers of stress and responsibility peeled away, leaving him feeling strangely calm as his body plummeted down to the road below.
And all I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin' (I'm fallin', I'm fallin', I'm fallin')
Chris lunged forward, his hand grasping at thin air. His eyes moved from the vacant spot to the falling body below.
"Oh god," he said, frozen in shock, trying to come to terms with what was happening.
"No!" Bianca screamed.
She shimmered down to the road below, staring up at her fiancé's falling figure. What she would have given to switch powers with him at that moment, to have some resource she could use to save him, to stop or break his fall, but she was left empty-handed in that department.
She didn't notice the traffic behind her. Her gaze locked on Wyatt, she didn't look back until she heard the squeal of tyres as someone tried to brake in time to prevent an accident. Her impulsive instant appearance hadn't factored in other occurrences. She barely caught sight of the colour of the car before its bumper rammed into her legs. She heard bone break, pain assaulting her body as she rolled up onto the bonnet towards the windscreen. Hearing glass shatter as her head snapped back, everything dimmed to black, her bruised and battered body continuing its momentum until it dropped to the ground.
Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be
Say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me
Hurry I'm fallin'
Vehicles parked around the accident, people gathered in amassing crowds to view the two bloodied bodies that lay strewn across the road. Chris pushed through them, violently shoving those aside that wouldn't move as he made his way towards the centre. His eyes first fell on Bianca, the first body he'd come across. The shock was enough to instigate a feeling of nausea as he surveyed her twisted form. People stood around him aghast, whispering possible scenarios. Explanations of "she came out of nowhere" floated to his ears as they tried to assume an understanding of all that had happened. Nobody seemed eager to take responsibility or do anything about it. Chris whirled around, staring at them with disbelief.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" he demanded, trying to correct their inhumanity.
He didn't have the power to heal, but right at this moment as his gaze moved over to the fallen form of his brother, he wished he did.
Suddenly he saw movement. It only seemed to be a little twitching, but it was enough to give Chris hope. He raced over to his brother and the twitching shoulder moved, lifting up. Chris grabbed his brother's arm, helping him to his feet. His face, hands and arms were bruised, scratched and grazed, but amazingly nothing seemed to be broken.
"Wyatt! What…?" He looked his brother up and down, lost for words.
"I let go of my powers," Wyatt groaned, shaking his head as he straightened. "At least my whitelighter ones. But it's a start, right?"
Chris looked helplessly at Wyatt. The one moment he'd need them, and he'd given them away. His eyes travelled over to Bianca's body, Wyatt following his gaze and instantly crumbling at the sight.
"No," he gasped. Racing over to her broken body, he knelt at her side. "Baby, please, wake up. Baby."
"I don't think she's going to make it, Wy," Chris said, coming up behind him.
Wyatt brushed her hair aside, feeling for a pulse, but there was nothing. Lifting her lifeless body into his arms, he held her close, gently kissing her forehead as tears slipped from his eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you," he whispered. Rising back up he looked down at the serene beauty impressed upon her face. "Why'd you have to care so much, Bianca? Why did you try to save me?"
"Wyatt," Chris said softly, crouching across from them. He looked at the pair with tears brimming in his eyes. "I might be able to fix this. I might be able to turn it back. But this time… you look after her."
Say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me