A Charmed Story - Part Two:
Brothers Love Through The Times
Chapter 10

They had all returned to the large room. Tom, Cole and Paige were looking through the stuff while Piper sat down next to her son.
"Are you ok?"
Wyatt nodded without taking his eyes from that ball.
Piper looked worried at her son.
"Look at me."
Wyatt didn't move.
Piper grabbed his chin and turned his head, slowly and tender. "Son. Wyatt, look at me... Hey. Don't care about your evil-not-even-past yourself. Ok, honey?"
He heard the worry in his mother's voice and knew that she was doing everything she could not to freak out.
He hugged her: "Don't worry mom. I love you."
"I love you too, honey."
"YES!" Paige screamed out loud.

°°°°°°°°°°

After a long time (the corridor seemed to have no end) Leo banged against a wall. "Ouch!"
Chris and Bianca, who couldn't stop, banged into Leo, who felt a little...crushed.
"Damn it!"
"You ok dad?"
"YES!" they heard another voice.
"What was that?" Chris asked. "That sounded like..."
"Paige." Leo ended the sentence of his son.
"Paige! PIPER!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Pai...Piper..." they heard a quiet voice from somewhere.
"You hear that? That's Leo!" Cole jumped up and looked for the yell. "Leo?"
Also the sisters tried to find out where that voice came from.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Leo..." they heard.
"That's Cole..." Bianca remarked.
"Cole? COLE! Is Piper there?" Leo yelled.
The three were leaning their ears on the wall, trying to hear who else was there.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Honey I'm here! With Tom, Wyatt, Paige and Cole! Where are you?" Piper yelled with a smile.
She was really relieved for hearing her husband's voice, even if it seemed to be far away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris grasped Bianca's hand and pressed it tightly.
"I'm here... somewhere outside there, in a long corridor, with Chris and Bianca. I think," Leo yelled his answer. Then he sighed relieved that they all were alright.
"You think?" they heard Piper's voice from the other side of the wall. "Sweetheart, this is not a moment for jokes, o.k.?"
Chris and Bianca couldn't help chuckling.
"Yeah, I know, Piper. But well, I'm not sure where we are actually, nor how to enter there... And it's completely dark, so I hope there's only Chris and Bianca here with me!"

°°°°°°°°°°

Inside, Tom was looking at the rest of his prison-mates in horror.
"Ok, sweetie..." intervened Paige, "enough of horror stories, ok? There's a kid over here who's getting really freaked out. Just, find a door, or something... There must be one!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Yeah..." mumbled a pensive Chris, approaching the wall. "And whatever it is, it must be here..." He added, touching carefully the wall.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, all of a sudden.
"What happened?" asked everyone outside and inside at the same time.
"Nothing... Dad, he touched my hand, I just got spooked. Sorry."
Sighs of relief came from inside. But then Leo said: "Chris... I didn't touch you."
Chris turned to him, or at least looking for him. His voice came exactly from his other side...
"Come on, dad, you said it was no moment for... Wait..."
"What!" all the voices, that came from the other side of the wall, were terrified.
"Where's Bianca?" Chris asked. "Bianca!"
No answer.
"Oh, my God. Bianca, answer right now, this is not funny anymore!"
He forgot about the wall, and started to move around, blindly.

°°°°°°°°°°

Inside Cole looked at Paige with sorrow. She shrugged.
"Chris! Are you ok? Son, what's happening out there!" asked Piper worriedly.
All of them knew that there was something wrong out there...

°°°°°°°°°°

"Don't worry, mom, it's ok," he yelled, but his shivering voice said the contrary. He stumbled and slipped on the ground after stepping on someone's foot, and fell down.
"Shit!" he screamed. His leg hurt a lot, his arm, too.
"Dad! I need some healing, can you hear me? Follow my voice, ok?"
Silence. Chris was now terrified.
"Dad?" he muttered. "Leo?"
Nothing... Chris dragged himself on his back, then he tried to orb away. Nothing worked. There was something wrong there.
"Chris!" He could hear the voice of those entrapped on the other side of the wall.
"Chris! Leo!" It was Phoebe's voice at the other side of the shelves. But behind all the voices, Chris could perceive the sound of heavy breathing... And someone coming fast towards him.
"Belthazor?" he whispered with a shivering voice.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe was desperate. She started to call the guys inside, for them to come back and try to open the shelves from inside. At least, she'd be less worried if she discovered that it had to be opened from inside the next time... "Chris! Leo!"
Nicki stared at her, terrified: "Why don't they answer?"
Steve hugged her more tightly. He was so scared too!
"It's ok. They probably can't hear us, ok? Don't worry," said Phoebe, still looking for some other mechanism to open... to make the shelves move.

°°°°°°°°°°

Wyatt, who finally joined the others, was really worried about the sound of his brother's cries calling Bianca and Leo. Something was going on outside.
"What the hell is happening? Chris!" he yelled.
No more cries from outside...
Tom, seeing everyone was so committed to the task of finding the exit, started to walk around again. And then, when he came closer to that other room, he couldn't help feeling attracted by the ball again. He just wanted to see it, to study it.
Slowly he went over, he went nearer step by step. It was as... as if the ball was calling for him. He sat down in front of it, looked at it.

°°°°°°°°°°

The others were still calling for Chris, Leo and Bianca.
Suddenly they heard a voice, very low and far away. It was Leo: "Chris, where are you?" he yelled.
"Honey what happened out there?" Piper asked out loud.
"I don't know," Leo answered.
Meanwhile, Wyatt turned around instinctively. He noticed that Tom wasn't there. Then he remembered something. He remembered that the ball wasn't only a bomb, he remembered, that it could take control of the mind.
"Oh my God," he said and ran to the other room.
Paige noticed it and followed him.
When Wyatt entered, Tom was sitting next to the ball, his hand moving to it, slowly, but closer and closer.
Tom didn't hear him, he didn't hear his yell. In his mind there was only this ball... and he was sure that the ball knew how to get out.
"No!" Wyatt had yelled. He ran over to the boy, grasped his hands and tuned him away.
Just at that moment Paige entered. "Oh my God," she whispered.
But Wyatt didn't notice her. He just focused on the boy's eyes. They seemed to be empty.
"Tom! Tom look at me!" he yelled. But the boy didn't react. "Mum!" Wyatt then yelled.
"She is talking to Leo, I think," Paige answered.
Wyatt looked up, he looked at her as if she was a ghost. He had to handle this, to put his memories into the right order. "Go, take a look at that table. Try to find a flask which has the shape of the ball, with a silver head. There must be a crown on it. The liquid inside has to be violet," he ordered to his aunt.
"What am I searching for?" Piper asked, while she was doing that.
"The only way to disarm that ball," Wyatt answered.
Paige stopped: "I thought you didn't know how to disarm it."
"I thought so..." Wyatt said, "but now I remember when I saw it the first time. It wasn't a memory of my evil self, it was my own. It was here! It was in my timeline when I was 8, and that time, I was at Tom's position."
Paige frowned.
"That time, the ball was trying to control me, that's why I felt that... Look, the ball is trying to take over Tom's mind. We have to use that potion on the ball itself, or he will die, or something worse than that."
Tom was trying to free himself. In his mind there was only one thing: he had to touch that ball.
"How could you know that?" Paige asked still wonderingly.
"Because that was what you and the sisters did in my time. I just had forgotten all that... So hurry, I don't know how long I can hold him back."
"I have it!" she yelled then.
"Distribute it on the ball!" Wyatt ordered.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Leo, where are you now?" Piper asked. She hadn't heard anything more from him. Also this time there was no answer.
Suddenly there was another noise, a kind of crack.
"Hey, over here!" Bianca yelled. She was standing inside a kind of doorway.
"Oh, I'm glad to see you," Cole said, "Is this the exit?"
"Actually I'm not sure, but I got in, so we should be able to get out... somehow. I'm just afraid this door could close again, so I'll stay here."
The others nodded.
"Is there a rope? If so, take it and bind everyone together, so that nobody gets lost..."
"Where are Leo and Chris?" Piper asked.
"I don't know," Bianca answered, "where are Wyatt, Paige and Tom?"
At this moment the whole cave was shaken.
"What the hell..." Bianca had grabbed a shelf to support herself on it.
"Wyatt?" cried the others.
At that moment, Paige appeared waving her hand, like dusting something in the air, and she was followed by Wyatt holding Tom.
"Ok... the ball... We stopped it. It's ok. Everything's fine. Bianca?" said Paige, coughing, and suddenly seeing her. "How did you... don't tell me you were also tricked out and brought here..."
"No... I think I found the way out. Just, please, follow me... I don't know what's happening out there, but it seems Chris, or Leo are in some danger. So take the ropes and do as said before, ok?" she said, starting to move.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Piper?" Leo was yelling. He had heard her just a moment ago, but now it seemed that she was away... or was he moving...?
Well he didn't walk, he stood still, he knew that... but... Maybe everything around him was moving all the time. Maybe the ways through that cellar were moving themselves.
Maybe that was the reason he lost contact with Chris and Bianca.
"Chris?" he yelled again, "Piper?"
Then the ground under his feet started to shake.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wa... What's that?" asked Phoebe, feeling a little quiver of the whole building.
Steve and Nicki went closer.
"Don't know," the boy said, "I did nothing."
"We have to go in there," Phoebe remarked, even if she knew that everyone was sure about that.
"But how?" Nicki asked.
Phoebe turned around. But instead of answering, her eyes opened widely.
Behind the kids stood Belthazor.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Leo? LEO! CHRIS!" Piper tried yelling at the wall, but no answer. She couldn't hear anything.
"Come on Piper. We'll find them." Cole grabbed her hand and didn't let go. These two were the last ones.
Everyone took the end of the rope they found in the room, and went after Bianca. Paige was right behind her. Wyatt was still carrying Tom, who was shocked and unresponsive. Cole was behind them looking after Tom too and Piper was the last one.
After they passed the door and were in the dark, it closed itself. They had to follow Bianca now through the dark hallway. If they wanted to or not.

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo stood up: "Damn it. Ouch. What the hell was that?"
He was still moving, or better, the hallway was moving. Suddenly it stopped and Leo could feel a door. He pondered if he should go in or not.
"Screw that. I'll try."
He opened the door and was in a bright and shiny room, which nearly looked like the office of Gideon.
"What the..."
He heard a noise and knew that the door to the hallway was closed.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris opened his eyes... after a time he noticed that he was lying on the cold floor, his arm twisted in a wrong way and hurting like hell. There he was, Chris Halliwell, young, powerful but completely lost. He didn't know where he was or where the others were.
He stood up, moaning and gasping.
"Great. Just great. I'm all alone in a small, dark, red cube?"
He turned around. It was a cube. Red, with steel, plastic and other human material... nothing magical. It had 6 doors. One on every side including the top and the bottom.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Watch out!" Phoebe cried out loud. But it was too late.
Belthazor had flung both teens against the shelves, and everything, every book, fell on the floor.
Phoebe turned to help them but then she decided not to. She'd better face Belthazor.
She could hardly believe she was seeing him like that, in front of her, evilly smirking. She couldn't accept that that ugly demon wouldn't turn into his handsome future husband, Cole...
Belthazor approached her, slowly...
Phoebe stepped backwards: "Don't dare to get nearer!" she exclaimed.
But the demon didn't listen to her. He grinned, and stretched his hand to touch her face.
She flinched, but the shelves prevented her from getting farther.
"You're so beautiful..." said Belthazor.
Phoebe was feeling like spewing out everything she had in her stomach. "Get away from me, you bastard!" she yelled.
But Belthazor wouldn't move: "I still share some connection with Cole... I understand how he... I, fell for you."
While he spoke that way, Nicki and Steve stood up slowly. They were going to use their powers to stop him... But they didn't realize the smoke was there, behind them.
Phoebe, however, did, and her eyes opened widely.
Belthazor smirked again: "You didn't think I'd let any one spoil this moment, did you?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo looked around, confused. It couldn't be, of course. It was... some kind of illusion?
He moved his hand carefully towards the books, and smiled. Yeah, it was just a copy. The books on the shelves weren't real. Everything was just an unreal copy. But then.. what did that place mean?
He tried to think hard. If Gideon used that place to imprison the kids, he must have included some kind of... teaching. Maybe the punishment consisted in getting some kind of lesson out of it.
He thought hard. What kind of students would be sent there? Which would be their mistakes, their failures?
Of course, any kid there would first try to find an exit... but how? He stopped to look at the curtains behind which the mirror world was supposed to be hidden, at least in the real office.

°°°°°°°°°°

They kept on walking and walking and walking in the dark.
Tom just followed the row, without even blinking. Wyatt wouldn't let go off him.
He was trying to think too, about all the things that were happening. He had gone there to tell Chris something... He'd never had thought the adventure would turn like that...
Cole was also thinking about what Wyatt had confessed him before, the reason why he was there... Poor Piper and Leo... Even if Chris had to know... should he tell them? They were so happy now with all their family. How could he tell them that both versions of Chris would die the same day, 22 years later? because... how could he know that someone would stop that this time? Maybe it was meant to happen...
He sighed: "Piper..."
"Huh?" she was submerged in her thoughts.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah... pretty," she said, "well... No. I'm worried."
Cole nodded, even if she couldn't see him.
She went on: "I don't understand anything, Cole... and I'm worried about Chris and Leo. What the hell has happened?"
That was the same thing Bianca was trying to understand. She was out there, with Chris, and suddenly there was no more Chris, no more Leo... She had gone on walking, however, and found the door, and all. But where the hell were they? Maybe there was someone else in that dark place? Maybe... Belthazor?
She watched out as she walked, attentive to any noise or irregularity on their way to... where exactly?

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris's arm really hurt. It was broken, for sure. And the red color of the cube where he was in was really.. stressing.
What could he do? Six doors, fine.. and? How could he guess which one was the good one? If there was any...
He had turned around so many times to look at all the doors, that he was now completely disoriented.
"Can anyone hear me?" he cried, starting to panic. No answers...
'Ok, Christopher Halliwell, you need to calm down.' You're the cold - headed boy here... No, you aren't.' he contradicted himself. 'You were because you had to, while they didn't know you're identity. But now, you're the poor little child, the one who needs his family and cries and feels scared when there's no one around. You miss Wyatt. You'd wish Wyatt was here... But he isn't, he won't come... you're alone, lost, and alone... and you'll surely die alone because no one will ever remember that you exist or who you are, Christopher Perry...'
"No!" Chris's yell filled the room. He breathed heavily, freaked out.
That wasn't him. He would not have been thinking like that.
There was something speaking in his head... Trying to use his worst fears...
He suddenly thought about Barbas, and this scared him much more. But no, he was dead. He wouldn't bother them anymore.
However... he felt that the power inside the room was using his worst fears. He had to find the door out, but which one?
'You'll never find the way out, because you're not clever enough. You'd need Wyatt to help you with this. But he's not here. You're alone... Alone...'
Oh, man, the red walls were driving him crazy...
Then, he spotted some signals on each door. He approached them carefully, and looked closely at the signals in one of them.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe saw how the smoke surrounded the kids, but she was unable to do something. So she looked to Belthazor: "Let them free."
"Why should I?"
"Because they are innocent kids, damn! Is there nothing inside your chest that let you understand that?" Phoebe knew how unuseful her words had been, but she was desperate, she didn't know anything better.
But suddenly the demon made a harsh movement with his hand, and the smoke disappeared, leaving the kids where they were... alive!
Phoebe rose an eyebrow: "Thanks!"
After the kids had overcome that shock, they started to move around quiet but quickly behind the demon. Luckily, Belthazor had his eyes focused on Phoebe all the time.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bianca was going on and on, along the same way she took when she went in. Suddenly she crashed against a wall. "Shit!" she yelled.
"What happened?" Cole asked.
"I don't know," Bianca sighed, "the wall shouldn't be here."
"What do you mean with 'the wall shouldn't be here'?" Piper asked from the back.
Cole frowned; then, he rose to speak: "O.k., come on, everybody gets as close to that wall as possible."
They did, they hustled to that wall. "Why are we doing that?" Piper asked.
"I think the walls are moving," Cole explained, "And I don't want anyone to get lost, even if we are bound together. A wall could maybe cut the rope."
Paige felt sick, she didn't like that kind of darkness around her. It was cold, she was afraid. She wanted to get out. Then she remembered something: "Wyatt?"
"Yeah."
"Didn't you tell me you had been here before? Can you remember the way out?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo was sitting on a little chair. He was still in that room. He had looked in every corner, under every paper, behind everything... He wasn't able to find an exit. And his mind was still turning around that question: "What had this place been used for?"
After about five more minutes, sitting on that chair without moving, he had an idea.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris was walking around the room, ignoring the voices in his head, as much as he could...
The room was like seven feet x seven feet big. It was red, had several metal and steel struts within the walls and was covered with big plastic plates. It looked like human beings had built this. The cube had six walls with little alcoves in them, where you could find the small metal doors with a big wheel in the middle of them. If you crawled into the alcove you could maybe open it.
And that was what Chris was doing now. He groveled to it and tried to turn it. He pushed and pulled, but nothing happened. Then his eyes looked the signal again. It wasn't really a signal, as he thought the first time. It was a tiny number.
"What the hell is that?"
'You don't know that? See, you need your family and Wyatt more than you think...' The voice in his mind kept on whispering.
"Shut up!" he yelled into nothing. He tried to concentrate and then had an idea.
"That might work..."
He ignored the voices and his aching arm and reached out for the number. He touched it, closed his eyes and waited. Then, like a flash, he saw images in his head.

°°°°°°°°°°

Wyatt had closed his eyes. He was trying to remember.
"And?" Paige asked without patience.
"I'm trying," Wyatt answered, "but if you always disturb me..."
Cole took the hand of his nephew. He didn't know why, he just thought it could help him, after all what he had told him about their friendship.
And he was right. When Wyatt felt his hand he felt better, not so alone. He closed his eyes again and tried to remember. There was a room, full of things. Not like the room they had been before. It was smaller... it was looking like... Gideon's old office, the other office. He opened his eyes again, even if he saw nearly nothing in the dark: "I know where we can go. Don't know if we'll get out, but from there we could find the others."
"So let's go," Piper said, "show us the way."

°°°°°°°°°°

"What are you doing?" Steve whispered while Belthazor was busy with Phoebe.
"I'll try to write a spell to scud him out of the magic school, forever," she answered.
"Are you crazy? This is the Source! We should..."
"...try our best to help the Charmed Ones," Nicki ended his sentence, although she knew he was about to say the opposite.
"Do you remember that banishment potion, you used to get Lizzi out of your room?" Nicki asked after a while.
Steve nodded: "Yes, but if you want to use this we need his blood."
Nicki looked at him and frowned. Then she grasped a sheet of paper.

(Chapter 10 written by Dark Angel, Belén and Chrissy.W.x)