Of All the People

Chapter 24

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: I know its been a while, and I'm really, really, REALLY sorry, but animation is a tough subject and I just finished for the semester.

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Chris landed hard into the dirt, the extra weight of another body on top knocking the wind out of him. Green eyes stared up at her in confusion, "What happened?"

Kira practically growled in annoyance as she climbed off of him. "You lost! That's what happened! Plus I saved your life!"

"I mean, why can't I flame?"

Throwing her hands to her hips, she jutted her chin out smugly. "Your brother remembered that you suddenly learned how to flame, and didn't want you running around all by yourself. So he left instructions to cast a spell on the manor and vicinity—meaning anyone who doesn't shimmer—doesn't get in—or out."

He tried again, then huffed in frustration. "Well, why can't I flame now?"

"And you're supposed to be the smart one. Hello, still in the vicinity…"

Seconds later Wyatt's clone shimmered in looking none the worse for wear. He rushed to the woman, snaking his arm around her waist. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," she answered sugary voice.

Chris wrinkled his nose in dismay at the odd couple and resisted the urge to shiver. "How long has this been going on? And you do realize, that he's not the real thing, right?"

"Real enough for me. Besides, it's none of your business. And do you realize that they'll ambush the one that is real?"

"I know," Chris admitted.

"And you're ok with that?" she demanded incredulously.

"Surprisingly, no. Now we have to find a way to get them out of there before he gets back."

She stared at him suspiciously, "Ok, so you're going to help us with that. But then, you still think that when we're done, you're going back, don't you?"

"I'm not staying here…"

"Don't you understand you stubborn fool? Your brother may be evil, but he only brought you to the future to save your life!"

"What? How is making me evil saving me?"

Kira rolled her eyes languidly, "Oh please. You aren't evil, not even by your standards."

"Yeah?" Chris fired back, "Then why can I suddenly flame and throw fireballs—both of which are demonic 'evil' powers!"

She threw her hands on her hips and grinned smugly before answering. "Your brother is not the cause of those abilities. Your beloved Bianca is. In fact, Wyatt doesn't even know why you can do that. But I do." She narrowed her eyes in annoyance again as she continued, "I saw it in a vision since I've had 23 years—and a college education to research it. Besides, you would have died in the past. I can show you what he saw that day in my pool—you remember? Just after you ran off to murder your Uncle Darryl. It's the reason he decided to send you back—one way or another."

"Then show me."

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Kira shimmered them both into an underground cavern just outside of the city. She dropped his hand and waved it over her seer's pool that she had reacquired about a decade ago, commenting about the absurdity of seeing yourself in your own seer's pool.

As the rippling cleared, an image of Wyatt Halliwell appeared to be talking to her twenty-three years into the past, looking exactly as he did when Chris was thrust unceremoniously into the future.

"It's not my fault if the boy never learned patience." Wyatt commented absently as he watched his younger self fending off what was supposed to be one of his father's most trusted friends.

As soon as the scene unfolded, another unfamiliar sight soon took its place. This time, he saw himself as a toddler being kidnapped by Gideon with no help from Darryl. He spun around to face the seer, "But that didn't happen. What is this?"

"No, this is what will happen now that he's changed quite a few things."

Wyatt watched intently as his brother stood over the Book of Shadows, guarding his younger self in the playpen a few feet away. He didn't think it was possible, but sure enough, his younger self looked apprehensive, as if he knew something was about to happen, and that didn't bode well with the adult version staring captivatingly into the pool.

'Come on,' his brother said to the child as he bent to pick him up. 'I think it's time to get you out of here.'

Wyatt shouted at the view of his brother in the pool, knowing that vision couldn't hear him. "NO! You idiot! Leave him—he can protect himself! CHRIS! LOOK OUT!"

The burly blonde jumped a little at hearing the sickening crunching sound that the athame made as it sliced through vital organs. It was only made worse as Gideon thrust the blade further into the delicate flesh and twisted to ensure a fatal blow.

He himself had performed that move hundreds, if not thousands of times. But it was different somehow watching it being done to his little brother.

Turning to the seer, he added somewhat nervously, "Dad can heal him."

"No," she shook her head sadly. "Look."

They watched in silence as the Elder tried desperately to heal his son before finally realizing there was nothing he could do.

Ice blue eyes hardened again with determination as they locked on the brown ones of the woman. "He's not going to die. I've already made my decision on that, else I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to ensure that he was born."

"I'm sorry, my king. And please don't kill me for saying this, but you can't fight death. He always gets the one he wants."

"Well he's not getting him. Not for a very long time."

"I know the pool. I can read between the lines of what it doesn't show. The only way to save him would be to send him back to the future. As long as he remains in the past, my king, his destiny will be to die an excruciating death by the blade of knife."

Wyatt searched his mind for another solution. "What if I eliminate the threat? Kill Gideon."

"He would still die by the hand of another."

"I could warn them…."

"It would only serve to make him afraid. Afraid of the death he can not change. Because by remaining in the past, it will become part of his destiny. The angel of death always finds his victims, and as powerful as you are, even you are powerless to stop him."

Wyatt gripped the edges of the pool tightly as he tried to think of an alternative. "What if I stay to protect him?"

"He will simply die in your arms. Just as he nearly did when you arrived in the past a week ago. He has already set this in motion. The only way to alter it is to change the path he has set himself on--take him back with you, keep him there. The longer he stays in the past, the lower his chances for survival. And there's one other thing…"

"What?"

"If you allow him to kill Darryl? He will loose his soul. The Christopher you know will be lost to you. Killing an innocent will destroy him. I think you know that."

Closing his eyes grudgingly, Wyatt nodded in admission before he thought of a plan. "But he doesn't have to think that for long. Just long enough until I can get him back to the future. Once he's there—he's not going to get the chance to screw up his life and get himself killed. I'll tell him then."

When the vision was over, Chris stood as stiff as a board, gazing into the pool. He almost didn't believe the expression of near panic from the normally calm and collected ruler. Almost. But something in the crystal blue eyes told him that it was true. He blinked back tears of his own and half heartedly tried to deny the older witch's concern for him. "How do I know any of this is true? He still tricked me into drinking that potion."

The brunette rolled her eyes at the infuriating stubbornness of the younger man. "You know it is. He could have left you on your own. Instead, he risked sending you back here and having you hate him forever rather than letting you die. And in his defense, he didn't know the potion would have that effect on you. He couldn't have, because he wasn't there to see when it actually occurred."

Chris cocked his head in confusion, "I'm not following." He turned as she indicated the pool again where Bianca crept through an alley. He sighed softly at the woman's reflection, unconsciously reaching out to touch it. When the liquid rippled, he pulled back as if he had been burned, suddenly content to rest his hands on the side of the container. He watched her high-heeled boots pounding the pavement soundlessly. He knew that walk enough to know that she was stalking her prey.

The sound of a newspaper blowing around behind the woman gave her away. The demon turned and flamed out of the path of the oncoming athame she had thrown at his heart. He quickly returned a fireball, but the brunette shimmered out and behind him. Before he could turn, she lodged her hand deep in his back and straight through to the front of his chest. He sunk to his knees from the staggering pain.

The reddish glow emanating from his body seemed to travel up her arm as she drained his powers and life.

Before she could complete her task, Wyatt shimmered in demanding her attention. "Bianca. It's time."

"I'm kind of busy at the moment, boss."

"Obviously not pleased with her flippant remark, he growled and telekinetically threw her across the alley and forced her to relinquish her hold on the barely alive demon, who slumped further with relief.

Though the relief didn't last long as Wyatt disintegrated him with an energy ball before stalking over to the woman. "You're not busy now."

Wyatt reached down and pulled her up by her long locks, "When I give you an order, it does not mean whenever you damn well please!"

She pulled at his fingers still clutched in her hair and replied defensively. "You can't interrupt a power drain like that! It could kill me."

The look he gave her made it clear that he didn't care, but he held his tongue on that subject. "You're the one who was begging me to allow you to retrieve that traitor. Well, now, the spell is ready. But I'm warning you Bianca—turn him, bring him back—or I'll send someone else. Then neither of you will have to worry about the spell for the return trip."

He released her, then slipped a conjured piece of paper in her hand. She committed it to memory before discarding it, then jutted her chin out defiantly before shimmering back to the home of her youth. Before long, she had slipped back to the past and was approaching her fiancé.

Chris turned to the seer, "I still don't understand, why are you showing me this. I was there."

"Yes, but I think you were a little too preoccupied with getting drained by your fiancé to pay attention. Watch."

Chris' eyes widened at what he saw and leaned in closer. At the exact moment that Bianca drove her fist through his chest, her arm emitted a warm reddish hue and traveled up through his body where it was attached, That was definitely not the typical color of witch or whitelighter powers being drained, he thought in shock. In fact, it looked exactly like the demon's powers that she drained minutes before she returned to the past. His mind reeled at the implication and tried to process the new information.

He spun around to the seer, only to find her grinning madly and nodding in confirmation. "That's right. Your girlfriend infected you with that demon's powers. And she knew exactly what she did to you. Do you remember what she said to you the next day in the park? She said, 'think of it as—'"

Chris finished her sentence softly, knowing the words all to clearly. "…an infection."

Her brown eyes glinted with amusement. "She contaminated your powers with his. Just like a disease. Then she cured you. And then your mom and aunts were so kind as to give them back again with their little spell. Now that's irony for you. The potion he gave you only allowed you to choose. I can only assume that you chose these powers because of their advantage."

He still wasn't convinced, "Then why do I feel so angry ever since I drank that potion?"

The clone finally spoke up and answered for her. "Because you've always been a cranky little brat whenever you don't get your way. I have his memories, remember?"

Chris breathed out deeply in relief, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. If this was true, then he wasn't evil. He hadn't killed an innocent. All wasn't lost. He may still be able to salvage his mission yet. But first, he had a bit of business to take care of. "What about my other powers?"

Kira shrugged her shoulders, "I assume they're still in there. Why?"

His lips curled up in a devilish grin. "Because we need to get rid of those demons back at the manor. And if I can access all of my powers, I've got just the plan to do it with."

TBC…

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