Dichotomy
A/N: Wow! This fic is far more popular than anticipated…thanks so much to all who reviewed! I was so encouraged I wrote chapter five at top speed…I hope you don't mind the short delay for chapter six!
Summary: Christopher Peregrine Halliwell died. Yet he is now alive and well. Surely that doesn't happen so easily? And if it does, whatever happened to the Chris who died to save him?
Disclaimer: Charmed belongs to someone who is very rich, so we can immediately assume it is not me. Don't sue, you'll only get a half empty jar of old fashioned jelly babies.
Chapter 6
Wyatt and Leo gaped after Piper as she took in the situation, then left the room with nothing but a throwaway comment. Perry smirked.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I did not grow up into a normal human being."
Perry sighed, and edged away from Leo as the whitelighter took a step towards him.
"Well, as it seems the whole dramatic effect of my entrance has been undermined by my darling mother, why don't you both stop the fish impression and start asking questions?"
There was a silence, which was swiftly broken as Chris groaned and stirred. Perry rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his temple.
"What is this, ruin Perry the son returned from the evil future to die and then return to the evil past which is now a good present day, or something?"
Leo blinked, and gave Perry a concerned look.
"Uh…could you repeat that?"
Wyatt asked, having managed to lever his jaw off the floor and back into its rightful place beneath his skull. Perry muttered to himself about lack of appreciation for witty comments.
Chris moaned again, and his eyes fluttered open. He gave a yelp as Wyatt abruptly dropped him in surprise, and glared accusingly up at his brother, rubbing his head, as Wyatt gave a sheepish smile. Chris then turned to look at Perry, and Wyatt did not miss the sudden look of fear which flitted briefly across his little brother's face.
"Oh, hell. I forgot. Evil bloody me is still here?"
Perry snorted, his smirk dropping from his face as he looked down at Chris with an impassive expression.
"Lack of ability to remember must run in the family. We find it easy to…forget things which might cause discomfort."
Perry gave Leo a pointed, sinister look. Wyatt frowned, and helped his brother to his feet. Chris gave a grunt of pain as he held his head, and held onto his brother's arm to steady himself. Perry gave him a disdainful look.
"Wow, I really feel fulfilled now." He said sarcastically "My death was really worthwhile. For God's sake, kid, grow a backbone, bloody invertebrate…"
Chris gave him an affronted look which quickly turned into a scathing scowl. He stood straighter and moved his hand away from his head.
"Oh yeah? Well at least I'm a living invertebrate, rather than a dead vertebrate with a sarky temper." He turned to his brother, suddenly serious "I'm not really this infuriating to be around, am I?"
Wyatt hesitated. Chris' scowl grew thunderous and he turned his back on his brother, indignant.
"Hell, I really need some peanut butter…"
Perry raised an eyebrow, and Leo saw amusement cross the boy's face. He frowned. This was not the Chris Perry he remembered. That Chris was sarcastic, and paranoid, but not outright cruel. Was he really Chris Perry, or was this a deception?
Perry's head snapped around to look at his father.
"Tsk, tsk…" he shook his head, mocking disapproval "negative thoughts, Daddy…you're aura's going haywire, by the way. You're not masking it too well."
Leo's eyes widened. Chris glowered at Perry, his gaze smoldering.
"Just who do you think you are, just waltzing in here and insulting us? What are you, a replicitus demon, or something? If so, you're not doing a very good job. I mean, come on…" he smiled "anyone can see I'm far cleverer, wittier, not to mention prettier, than you are, so the real Chris must be me."
"Oh, what a triumphant improvement." Perry said sarcastically "Instead of a neurotic time-fearing freak you get a peanut butter obsessive with a questionable taste in cuisine. Peachy." He paused "Oh, and the grammatically correct term is 'more clever' not 'cleverer'."
"Hey! My taste in food is not questionable." Chris interjected, slightly uncertainly, still eying the large blood stained hole in Perry's side. He coughed weakly, hand flying to his mouth.
Perry snorted and folded his arms over his chest.
"You don't like peardrops. Any person in their right mind likes peardrops. That's a fact."
"I like peardrops." Wyatt added, unhelpfully. Chris glared coldly at Perry, batting his brother's concerned hand away irritably.
"Point officially contradicted."
There was a pause.
"Hey! Wait just a-"
Just then, Piper re-entered the room, the portable phone clutched in her hand. She raised an eyebrow at the scene, and everyone turned to look at her.
"The girls are on their way." There was silence. "Oh, don't mind me. Continue."
As Wyatt lunged at his brother to avenge this indirect insult, and Perry watched with a quiet amusement, Piper frowned, staring from the sweet bowl in the centre on the table to Perry.
She clicked her fingers.
"Peardrop!"
Perry blinked at her. Wyatt froze in his fake throttling act, and Chris stared, red faced, at his mother.
"Excuse me?"
"I can't call you Peanut, so I shall name you Peardrop." He gave her a slightly disturbed look, and she shrugged. "Blame Phoebe. She gave me those sweets." She gestured to the bowl.
"This is relevant…how?" Leo asked, but was ignored.
"Peardrop." Perry muttered, thinking. "Pear-drop. Okay. Better than Peanut, I suppose. Especially if it's after the shape of your-"
"Yes, well." Piper said hastily, shooting a furtive, guilty glance at her youngest son, who frowned. "Who wants lunch?"
Piper, Leo and Wyatt sat awkwardly in the kitchen, eating their many and varied types of sandwich, all thinking deeply, which was a rare commodity nowadays. Wyatt kept shooting Leo furtive looks, which Leo promptly ignored.
Chris had announced he was tired, and was going back to bed. Piper scowled. It was completely unlike her son to ever refuse food of any kind, no matter what his physical condition.
Perry had taken one look at them all, and orbed, albeit a bit awkwardly away. He would be back, though, Wyatt reassured them. He had left his strawberry peardrop behind.
Wyatt was thinking hard about some of the things Perry had said, having got over the initial shock of discovering the spirit he had been interacting with was now a solid replica of his brother. What had he meant, easy to forget? He didn't catch all Perry had said, as the boy rambled just as much and at the same velocity; in other words, completely incomprehensible.
Piper was more concerned for her youngest son than the appearance of 'Perry'. He was acting very strange. When he spoke, his voice lacked its usual energy, and his eyes seemed…empty, almost. She refused to let her thoughts wonder to the true identity of 'Perry', however. It led to too many questions. Questions with answers she was not ready to comprehend.
Leo, unlike Piper, was allowing his imagination to run wild. Was Perry really the Chris from the future? He shuddered as he recalled the last time he had seen that Chris. Dying. Telling Leo not to give up, even when he was the one who was dying. He glanced upwards, towards the room where Chris was now sleeping. It was the room furthest away from the room where Perry had died. Somehow, Leo had felt that if he ever saw his son in that room again, he would not be able to prevent himself from breaking down. He had lived a façade for so long…a futile hope that Perry had somehow become part of Chris, and was still alive and well.
Well, he thought, at least he was dead, but still well.
Perry sat quietly in the middle of the utterly empty room, staring around at the immaculate wallpaper, brushing away the thin layer of dust which clung to the bare floorboards. Apparently they couldn't cope with using this place. It was…comforting, somehow, to know that at least they had felt some sort of emotion for his death.
Had he died?
He was still here, wasn't he? What was it to die? When the heart stops beating? When the body goes cold? Perry didn't think it was any of these things. As long as you were remembered, you lived on in others. Loved, treasured, always present in a little patch in their hearts, kept just for you.
Perry snorted.
They had forgotten within minutes. The moment they laid eyes on the little 'bundle of joy', they had happily jumped to the conclusion that everything was alright, and pushed him to the back of their minds in relief.
In that perspective, he truly was dead.
Chris lay in bed, still fighting the weariness which invaded his senses. He felt so…weak. Limp. Like he hadn't eaten or slept in days. His head pounded, and his lungs never seemed to draw enough breath to satisfy. Blurred shadows hovered on the edges of his vision, but flitted away the moment he attempted to focus on them.
Utterly exhausted, he allowed his eyes to drift shut, and succumbed to sleep. Meanwhile, in a forgotten room with a locked door, Perry leant his head against the frosted window pane, drew his knees up close to his body, and closed his eyes.
Blood.
Blood, everywhere. On his clothes, on his skin. Sticky, hot, blood, clinging to him like a desecrated child. There were pale cream peach blossoms beneath his feet, drenched in crimson.
He was drowning in it. It was filling his mouth, the salty tang swirling around and pouring down his throat, spreading bitter fire throughout his body. He couldn't breath, he exhaled and a gush of blood fell from his mouth.
He screamed.
And for the second time that day, Wyatt was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard his brother's petrified cry.
A/N: Apologies the update took so long, my BASTARD internet connection short-circuited and wouldn't let me access my account…(growls) the chapter is a little short, but I wanted to save all the stuff I've got planned for next chapter…it's gonna be gooooooooood…
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