A Charmed Story - Part Two:
Brothers Love Through The Times
Chapter 7

Bianca looked him in the eyes again. There was something inside them. Something she had never seen before. And she also felt it... Chris wasn't simply loving her. He put his own life in her hands. She was everything to him, that was what she just understood at that moment.
She smiled: "Baby, I would never leave you, I swear by my life." Then she kissed him very hot and intimately.
But suddenly Chris pulled her off and jumped to his feet.
"What's wrong," she asked surprised about that reaction.
"I don't know," he answered breathing heavily, "something's wrong at home..." He looked at her with worried eyes.
Bianca understood that this wasn't because of her kiss, that he instead felt some kind of danger: "So bring us there, honey."
So they did. They orbed directly to the attic.
"Look," Bianca said pointing to the dead body of Viviona.
"Cole? Wyatt?" Chris yelled. There was no sign of them.
Meanwhile Bianca had a closer look on the dead demon. "It was the smoke, I think," she said emotionless.
"Oh God... What if it finally got Cole, or Wyatt again?... I... I wish I had the chance to say..." Chris was desperate. He thought he had lost them without being able to clarify some things.
"Calm down honey," Bianca said to him softly, "if the smoke had had killed them... they would be here..."
Chris looked at her and then nodded.
"Maybe they escaped... Your brother is able to orb like you, so maybe they are just gone..."
Chris nodded: "I'll try to sense them, the smoke will not give up so quickly... we have to find and help them."

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper was picking up some little flasks with several kinds of potions, when her youngest sister went in.
"Is everybody ready?" she asked her.
"Yes, I hope so," Paige said. After a short moment she added: "Are you sure that there is no other way? We are risking not only our lives this time... We are also risking the lives of Nicki, Tom and Steve."
Suddenly, Piper felt some presence coming into the room, and turned around with her hands prepared to face Belthazor.
"Wait, it's me, mom!" cried Wyatt, materializing with Cole in front of them.
"You? What the hell are you doing here? Wait... where are Chris and Bianca? Where's Viviona? Oh, my..." she felt as if she was going to faint, and Paige had to support her.
"Don't worry, mom," said Wyatt, "Chris wasn't there when... well... Let's start from the beginning, right?"
But it was Cole, who explained everything to them as fast as he could. He told them about the smoke, the death of Viviona, and Chris's leaving before all this happened. He just kept the part about the argument for himself.
"Ok... Fine!" said Paige, really crossed. "And now what? They're alone, they can go back to the manor, and they won't be prepared for the attack of the damn smoke!"
"Ok, aunt Paige... don't worry, I'll go to get them both and bring them back safe and sound... but I thought it was better to bring Cole first, we would have died, otherwise!"
"Ok..." sighed Piper, "Go, son. Bring them back, but please, be careful. And orb right here, because the others do not expect you, it could be dangerous..."
Wyatt nodded and started to orb.

"They're at the magic school," confirmed Chris after a while.
"Then we should go there, too," Bianca was looking around herself, nervously.
Chris nodded pensive.
All of a sudden, the smoke appeared from the nothing and surrounded them. Everything turned dark. They could not see, they could not breathe... They only heard a strong noise that threatened with deafen them.
Chris felt that he had lived that before. But he couldn't think that much, because the lack of air made him faint.
Bianca crawled towards him. She was breathing heavily, her lungs burning, but she had to keep awake for him, for Chris. Finally, she reached her fiancé, grabbed his hand, an shimmered out...
Just in time. Then, she also passed out.

°°°°°°°°°°

Wyatt was in the middle of his orbs, when he sensed Chris somewhere very near. He rematerialised in front of the two girls and Cole, and said: "They've come."

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve was alone in the biggest class of the magic school. He was freaked out. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a Guinea pig... But when all this had finished, he'd be the new hero in the school! He would have helped the Charmed Ones, that was too big! He smiled...
Suddenly, someone shimmered on the other side of the class. It was so dark he couldn't see it properly. But he did what he had to, and rang the alarm.

°°°°°°°°°°

Nicki and Tom were in the basement, pacing from one place to another. They were nervous, but man... They were working for the Charmed Ones! It was a great privilege! They felt so proud, they could try to ignore the danger.
All of a sudden, the alarm started to ring loudly. The two teens looked at each other and went to the doors.
At that very moment, something shimmered in there.
Tom was just about to let whatever had come in turn to ice (his main power) when he noticed that it was their new head-teacher.
"Mr. Halliwell," he whispered.
Nicki felt his pulse. "He's alive," she remarked.
"We should bring him to Leo, he could help him!"
Nicki nodded: "You stay here. I'll use my telekinetic powers."
So she did. He lifted Chris about one meter over the ground and sent him slowly in the direction of the stairs.

°°°°°°°°°°

"That's Steve," Paige said after hearing the alarm, and then she orbed to him.
Piper looked to her son: "Orb to Tom and Nicki, they are downstairs"
Wyatt nodded and did as he was asked to.
Cole sighed: "I have a bad, bad felling about that!"
Piper nodded.
"Where are Phoebe and Leo?" he asked then.
"They left just five minutes ago, they are trying to find a way to stop you... your other half. They are up there..." she said and pointed her finger to the ceiling. "And little Wyatt, too... He'll be safe there," she added with a sigh.
"Phoebe went there?" Cole asked in disbelief.
Piper nodded. "Yes, I wanted to go, but they..." again she put her finger up, "...chose her."
At that moment Belthazor shimmered in, in front of them, grinning very evilly.

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige orbed directly to Steve. And so she orbed directly inside the smoke of death which had already surrounded that young boy.
Steve was lying on the ground. Paige panicked a little bit, she thought she would be dead in a few seconds. But then she noticed that the smoke didn't hurt her, or take her breath.
'Maybe the smoke didn't notice me, when I orbed in,' she thought.
However, they had to get out of there, so she picked Steve's arm up, tried to orb... and yes, it worked...

°°°°°°°°°°

Meanwhile Chris gained back his consciousness while he was flying over the steps.
"What the hell," he yelled noticing what was just happening to him.
Surprised and a little scared, Nicki lost control of her powers and he fell down.
"Outch," Chris said, while rubbing his back. Then he looked around. "What happened?"
At that moment Tom and Wyatt ran to them.
At the sight of his brother, Chris jumped up and hugged him strongly, very happy to see him alive. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean all that, what..."
"It's o.k.," Wyatt interrupted him, holding back some tears. They just kept hugging each other in silence for a while.
"What about Cole?" Chris asked then.
"He is upstairs with Paige and Piper."
Chris nodded. "And Bianca? Where is she? She was with me." He had a feeling, more like a far memory, that somebody had taken her from his side.
"You came alone," Tom answered.
"We haven't seen her," Nicki added.
Chris looked at his brother full of fear: "Where could she be?"
"First we should go up to Leo and the sisters, I'm a little afraid to be here," Nicki added.
Wyatt nodded and orbed all of them to the office.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Where are they?" Wyatt asked when they found the office empty.
Seconds later Paige and Steve orbed in: "Chris! Thanks God you're here, heal him!"
Chris knelt down to boy and started the healing.
"What happened?" Wyatt asked worried.
"The smoke," Paige answered shortly.
"You escaped the smoke?" the elder brother asked with suspicion.
Paige nodded.
"Me, too," Chris added, "even if I don't know how."
Wyatt wanted to say something, when again blue lights appeared and Leo and Phoebe returned.
"What happened? Were is Piper?" Leo asked.
"And Cole?" Paige said. Phoebe looked at her, worried.
"And where is Bianca?" Chris added.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bianca woke up slowly. It took a moment till she realised where she was... She knew that place very well. She was lying in the middle of a little hall, surrounded by a dozen of Phoenixes.
She rose to the half: "What do you want from me?"
One of the Phoenixes, the one that seemed to be the leader, approached Bianca and knelt by her, smirking: "A bird told us that you were... or will be, doesn't matter... a Phoenix."
Bianca frowned.
"Yeah, well, you are, actually. Your little self is around, bothering us all, you know? And your dear mom," said another one, mockingly.
"What do you want?" asked she again, a little scared.
"You betrayed us, honey... That, we can't let happen..." the leader took the word, caressing her hair.
Bianca flinched, and tried to stand up, but a rude hand pinned her down, harshly.
"Are you gonna kill me?" she asked.
The leader smiled at her: "That's what we wanted to do. But your mom has a weakness, and it's you. I have to recognize that you were very sweet." He pinched her cheeks.
"She thinks..." he continued, "That we can... how to say it? ... persuade you to come back to us. Some way or another."
"NEVER!" she yelled.
The leader and another Phoenix grabbed her arms and made her stand up.
"That, we'll see later."

°°°°°°°°°°

Nicki and Tom stared at each other with the fear reflected in their eyes. One of the Charmed Ones had disappeared, together with two more relatives. If they couldn't handle the situation, who could? But they decided it was better to stay in the background, so they let the others talk and discuss, and they just listened attentively.
"When I left they were right here..." Wyatt said, worried.
Chris was so upset and scared that he was about to yell again at him, but then he noticed Leo's look, and he calmed down. He went on healing; it was almost done.
Phoebe seemed to be very worried, too: "Do you believe that Belthazor..." She didn't finish the sentence.
Paige shrugged: "This has been a mess, with all you coming, and shimmering, instead of orbing you know? The plan failed because we got distracted, so I guess Belthazor took advantage of that..."
At that moment, Steve woke up shocked and scared, and cried. Chris pinned him down sweetly: "It's ok, buddy. You're safe, you did a great job."
The other two teens rushed to see how their friend was feeling, as Chris stood up and joined his family. "Ok, whatever. We have to do something, and do it now. First, try to find them. Secondly, make up a plan to end with the source, once and for all."
Wyatt nodded, agreeing with his brother.
Leo had closed his eyes. He had been doing so since the moment they had arrived: "I can't feel them, none of them, actually." He looked at his sons, helplessly.
Chris felt a bit better now. Trying to calm down Steve a little, let also him gain back his coolness, partly. So he began to think about all that clearly... And he remembered something.
"Well... O.k., maybe the source got Piper and Cole... But what about Bianca?"
"What do you mean?" Leo asked.
"I mean, that she was by my side. From what you've said she shimmered us here, or me... I know she was there, but then... It was like she had been caught while shimmering..." Chris explained his thoughts.
Leo frowned: "So where could she be?"
"Who is able to catch someone while shimmering?" Paige asked.

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole and Piper were put in a cage made of steel. Belthazor had smiled at them, and told them that he would go after the others. Then he had left them alone.
"It's all my fault," Cole was nearly crying. He felt so helpless.
Piper sat down by him: "No, it wasn't. We'll find a way to get out of here, all of us."
Cole leaned his head on the bars of the cage, and sighed, while Piper was thinking that something didn't fit at all.
"The alarm rang in the class where Steve was..." she said pensive, "but Belthazor, the source or whatever it is now... appeared where we were."
Cole followed her reasoning without speaking.
"So that means he's got an ally."
Cole sighed again: "The smoke... We already know that, o.k.? It was the smoke for sure!" Piper shrugged: "At least I'm trying!"
"The problem is we can't do anything but wait, and hope that the others are able to defeat my other self!" said Cole, crossed.
Piper turned suddenly to him: "That's it!"
"What?"
"Well, he's your other self. He's been you for a long time... He might know a lot about us because of you, but that means you also know a lot about him! His powers his movements, and all..."
Cole rolled his eyes: "Well, and what if I do? We're here and can do nothing!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Mom!" Bianca had been pushed to her feet. It seemed they were in an old factory in ruins, somewhere outside San Francisco, probably.
Whatever it was, it wasn't the same place where she remembered the Phoenixes used to gather when she was younger. That must have been part of the plan, so that Bianca wasn't able to recognize it.
She raised her eyes coldly to her mother: "What do you want?"
The woman stared at her, hurt. "What's happened to you, Bianca?"
"I grew up and learnt many things on my own, mom," she answered, using a mocking tone for the last word. "Now let me go. You won't get anything from me."
Her mother knelt by her and tried to stroke her hair, but Bianca flinched.
The woman pretended not to be hurt by that: "If you don't come back to us, they're gonna kill you." Her voice was scared.
"I'll fight..."
"No, you don't understand, Bianca. They have YOU, your other self. If you don't collaborate now, they'll kill you as a child."
Bianca opened her eyes widely. "You cannot do that!" She exclaimed.
Her mother shook her head. "I'm not gonna do it. I want to save you, Bianca, you're my daughter." Her eyes were welling up with tears. "That's why I am asking you! Just come back to us!" She looked at her expectingly. She noticed a change in her eyes since their 'first' meeting a few weeks ago. She had lost her hardness.
"I... I can't do it, I... just can't," her voice trembled in spite of herself at the thought of Chris. What if he hadn't survived? What if he had died?
"Why?" asked her mother back.
Bianca looked in her eyes and kept silent.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Phoenixes," said Nicki, suddenly.
All the heads turned straight to look at the young girl.
"Yeah, Phoenixes. They can do that. Bianca's lesson yesterday, it was about Phoenixes. She said that Phoenixes have got a special way of shimmering, because they're not demons, after all. They're witches, too. They can sense each other, as whitelighters do, and they can go into others' shimmering and redirect them. You know, it's exactly the same thing... Isn't it?" she finished a little bit insecure, at the sight of all the wondering eyes around her.
Finally, Paige grinned: "I told you they were our best students!"
Chris, however, looked like very worried now.
Leo and Phoebe, on the other hand, could not stop thinking about Piper and Cole, and about Belthazor.
"We should make two teams, or three even," suggested Phoebe, "each one will focus on one of them, ok?"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Nothing..." Cole repeated quietly.
"Well I thought the demon/human/source/avatar/human-again and whatever the hell you were would say something different." Piper said sarcastic, reminding him of all his evil and good deeds. "So cut the crap!" She walked through the cage.
The man looked at the sister. "You always were the direct one."
She smiled at him.
"This is what! Steel?" Piper went closer to the bars and looked at them. "Doesn't look to me like they are magical..." she thought out loud.
Cole widened his eyes. "Piper N... "
She raised her hands and blew it up.
"...OOO!" Cole finished his scream while his hands covered his face. He heard the explosion, Piper's scream and a harsh 'pling'.
After a few seconds he heard her again: "You want to stay in there forever!"
Cole opened his eyes. The door was open and Piper stood outside the cage looking at him with a big proud smile on her face. "Told ya!"
"What the hell...?" Cole began but Piper interrupted him.
"No time for that," she grabbed his arm and pushed him out of the cage and also out of the little cave, right into another one.
They found themselves in a really big cave, nearly a hall. It was full of things, potions, books, medals and other stuff. It was a lair but not a lair of an usual demon, but it was Belthazor's lair as it seemed, so...
Piper walked over to a big antique desk, which was covered with old fragile papers with ancient languages and words on them.
"Maybe we could use something."
"Damn it Piper!" Cole grabbed her arm - harshly - and turned her around. "This has to be a trap! Do you think he really would entrap us in a cage in his lair? A cage that you actually could blow up? Think about it!" He had loosened his grip. "I don't want to bring home a body. Please."

°°°°°°°°°°

"So you're willing to kill your little self!" her mother said after she hadn't got any answer of her daughter.
Bianca didn't know what to do or to say. The fear that Chris might have died grew bigger and bigger.
"Why did you turn? Why Bianca?" her mother stepped closer.
"I just did." She wouldn't tell her about the future she had lived, the future where everything was different. She whouldn't tell her that it was Chris who turned her. That it was Chris's love that had turned her forever.
Bianca saw tears running down the face of her mother. Seeing her cold-blooded mother crying was confusing her, irritating her. When had she ever seen her mother cry?
The moment didn't last. Her mother wiped away her tears. "I'll find a way to bring you back home and to save you both. Don't worry my dear. I'll find out why you've turned." she shimmered out, leaving her daughter alone in the dark, unable to do anything or to shimmer out.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ok, any ideas?" asked Leo.
Phoebe, Nicki and he were sitting in a classroom thinking about their task. They had to find Cole and Piper and they had to find a way to save them. That was their only mission. Finding them and saving them. Nothing more.
Phoebe shook her head. "Need some time... some time."
"Ehm..." Nicki coughed, "I might have an idea." She was still insecure but the compliment from Paige made her a little more self-confident. She raised her voice.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ok guys. We got the most difficult mission here." Paige clapped her hands.
Wyatt rolled his eyes. He knew that his aunt would start with some words and before he could say "Belthazor" it would have been a major speech.
They both were sitting opposite each other in the big hall.
Tom was walking around and listening to his admired Charmed One. He couldn't believe it. He was there with a Charmed One and a man, who was supposed to be the son of the other sister - he didn't get the grip with everything - and was planning to fight the source of all evil. He, the skinny Thomas Marsden, the school geek, he should save the world. He would finally be able to get the attention of Veronica and…
"Tom?" the admonishing voice of Paige interrupted his day-dream.
"Yeah?"
"Please listen. It's very important that everyone knows what he has to do."
"I'm sorry." Tom sat down next to Wyatt, who smiled at him, knowing that the boy's attention faded away as his did during Paige's speech.
She went on talking.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Mr. Halliwell?" Steve whispered, but Chris raised his hands to make him shut up.
Both were in a dark and dingy room, hidden behind some crates and other stuff.
It was the place where the Phoenixes usually met. Chris knew it from Bianca and he thought that she might be there but he was wrong.
They only saw four men and a woman standing and sitting all over the place.
Steve remained silent. He didn't want to mess something up or to pull the anger of Chris on him, because since he had woken up in magic school and hadn't been able to find his girl, his face was secretive, determined, worried and angry. It fascinated Steve how many emotions he could see in Chris's face.
The women started to speak. "She's not willing to cooperate..."
After she saw the angry faces she rushed to add: "Now."
"You know that we have her little self! She betrayed us, betrayed you by turning away from us."
The women nodded.
Chris got a better look at her and recognized Bianca's mom. In his mind everything was spinning... he felt sick, because - in a way - it was his fault that she turned...
He sighed, then he looked at Steve. "Stay here," he said, "and if something goes wrong, call Leo to take you out of here."
"What are you going to do?" Steve asked really worried.
Chris smiled: "Rescue the one I love."
Steve wanted to add something but Chris orbed from their hiding place to the middle of the room... next to Bianca's mom.

(Chapter 7 written by Chrissy.W.x, Belén and Dark Angel)