It was a generally accepted fact about the Halliwell family that only the cupids, Henry and Wyatt were able to restore peace during an argument, unless one of the others backed down. Kat and Tam had always been as fiery as their hair, and Chris and Mel had inherited their mother's explosiveness, only with their tempers instead. This was why it was a mildly unsettling sight to all to see Mel nod accommodatingly when Cole announced that she would be staying behind.
Kat had returned from her storm out, looking very much like an angry teenager being dragged home by her mother - which was technically true on all points - and she had bitterly recounted her argument with Mel to Henry. If there was any risk to Wyatt, Cole had faith that Mel would stop it. And he knew that, no matter how much they loved him, no one would fight harder to keep Chris safe than Mel. Both of the Charmed sons were safest under the protection of their sister. Even Piper understood that, although not completely or without protests for Wyatt's safety.
Henry had solved that argument by offering to stay. He had argued that as a mortal he was more of a liability in the Underworld, but he was far less of a threat to Wyatt. With his shield up, there would be nothing Henry could do to hurt him, even less than Mel could attempt, and if anything happened Henry's only option was to say and call for help, whereas Mel could run. She wouldn't, certainly not without Henry and Chris, but the Charmed sisters weren't certain of that yet.
That left Paige, Phoebe, Piper, Matt, PJ, Kat and Cole to venture out into the Underworld. The time travellers automatically grabbed onto each other, used to letting Matt or Cole shimmer places rather than risk alerting anyone by orbing, leaving the three Charmed Ones to link arms with each other and follow.
They orbed into a dimly lit cave that was half full of baffled and scared demons.
The group didn't waste a second before the air was filled with potions, fireballs and everything else that they had in their arsenal. Screams rang throughout the cave and, within seconds, everyone lost track of each other.
PJ did her best to watch her mother's back and Kat cut down demon after demon trying to get to her mother's side. Only Matt and Cole managed to avoid losing Piper, mainly because neither half-demon was willing to let Piper go off on her own.
It felt like they had been fighting for hours and even the time travellers, who fought large packs of demons every other day, were beginning to grow tired and sluggish. That's when Piper saw it.
The cavern was surround by misshapen but solid rock, except for a small crack in the surface which was guarded by a small group of demons who seemed unwilling to move, even as those in the middle of the fray were being torn to pieces. They were guarding something, and she would bet she knew what.
"Over there," she shouted at Cole, who nodded to Matt and wordlessly explained the location.
The trio shifted and began cutting and blasting their way through the throng. As they neared, Piper could see the antidote. It was an odd green liquid in a purple coloured glass jar. She was nearly within reaching distance. Or, she was.
A demon shimmered in between her and the jar and threw her back. Piper hit the ground with a grunt, all the air rushing from her lungs. "Paige!" She gasped out.
"Antidote!" Paige called, holding out her hand. The swirl of orbs formed and the jar appeared in her hand.
The demon cackled. It was far uglier than the average demon, and that was saying something. One of its eyes were gone, replaced by an ugly, weeping hole in its head and its teeth were visible even when its mouth was closed.
Piper threw up her hands to blow it up, but the demon was faster. A fireball whizzed through the air and would have killed her, only Matt jumped in between. The half-demon fell to the ground with a muted howl even as he threw his dagger at the demon.
It dodged it like it was nothing, and then turned its attention to Paige. The energy ball it threw only hit her in the air, but it was enough. With a primal scream of rage, Kat threw herself at the demon, howling and screeching. But, the demon was still quicker, it shimmered away, immediately being replaced by another group of demons, ready to attack the frenzied witchlighter.
"Paige! Do you have the potion?" Phoebe shouted over the screeches, as the surviving demons began to regroup.
"Yeah" Paige replied. She gripped the potion with her injured arm and held onto the wound with the other hand.
"Go, I'll get Kat," Cole announced, throwing a fireball and chasing after it to move into the throng of demons.
PJ leapt at Phoebe, beaming away first. Paige shot Piper a reluctant look before orbing and Matt crawled over until he could grab at her ankle and shimmer.
Within seconds of their disappearance, Cole had gathered a thankfully unhurt Kat by the scruff of her neck and shimmered after them, cursing the world, demons and the Charmed Ones the entire time.
~Poisoned~
The Manor was unfamiliar when it was quiet. The last time Mel remembered it being this still was after Aunt Phoebe died. It was also one of the last times she remembered the Manor ever being home. From that day on, her home had been the relatives that followed after and, fairly soon after, led. This place was her home and it wasn't in so many different ways that didn't even have anything to do with time travel.
"Do you think this will actually work?" She whispered to Chris, or more at him because she didn't want to wake him up.
She had been a child when Chris first suggested this plan, half a joke and half motivated by desperation. She was sure that Chris was argue that she was still a child, but by the time the plan had been looked at more seriously she had lost every friend she had ever known and buried too many family members, far from a child. The actual plan wasn't motivated by any less desperation than the original suggestion was, but they had become used a base level of despair and unlikeliness that it went unremarked.
No one had known for sure if the spell survived, or if it had ever truly existed. Paige and Leo talked about it, but Paige had never physically travelled back in time and Leo refused to give them information, too afraid to send his only Good son to his probable death.
It had survived, and the plan worked, amazingly. But now they were facing new problems. The world was never kind enough to leave you with your victory, and certainly not if you were a Halliwell.
Henry sat beside Chris on the bed, holding Wyatt in his arms. Mel wasn't sure how to feel about her baby big brother. She couldn't imagine that toddler doing anything evil, but then she couldn't imagine the brother who had walked her to school doing anything evil, or the brother who had fixed her dollhouse for her, or the brother who had given her his ice-cream, or even the brother who had pushed her off the swings doing anything like the monster in the future did.
"Are you okay, Henry?" Mel wondered. There was a lot of meaning behind that question, but even without any powers, Henry was fairly empathetic. He probably had to be to understand what went on in this family without losing his cool.
Henry nodded, brushing a hand through Wyatt's hair, almosting petting the toddler. "Yeah. I mean, I miss her, Mel, more than I ever imagined - but she died on the side of good, and I can be proud of her for that. If she had died evil, then it would be harder to mourn her because she wouldn't deserve it. But she chose her family in the end, and I can hate a lot of what she did, but I can be proud of how she died, I can pretend that she's up there with dad."
"She did the right thing, in the end," Mel agreed. "It doesn't absolve her of what she did, but it means that maybe she could have been absolved, eventually."
Henry nodded. "And she will be," he said, certain. "When we save Wyatt, save Chris, save Tam - all the suffering will be undone. She will never make that choice."
"You sound so sure. What if we fail?"
"We won't. Chris won't fail us. We won't fail him. Good won't fail Wyatt. We won't fail this time."
When Henry said it all so certain, Mel almost believed it. She almost allowed herself to believe it.
Chris woke with a start. There was a crash upstairs. A howl. A familiar howl.
Mel cursed. "Stay here," she ordered the three boys before orbing up to the attic, relying on Wyatt's shield to keep them safe. She held up her hands, ready to blow up whatever she saw. And then she saw him.
Eye missing, skin missing, mouth gaping. Ryake. "You got uglier," Mel commented, false bravado automatic even as her heart pounded. How the hell was he here?
Ryake grinned, grotesquely destroyed skin stretching and twisting in the process. "You're not the only one who can open a portal, Melinda."
Mel grit her teeth. Ryake talked a big talk, but his face proved that he was just as vulnerable to her powers as anyone else. Her fingers twitched to kill him, but keeping him alive would be better. Wyatt's second in command was loyal to no one but himself. With enough pressure, he would give up everything on the lord of all evil, or whatever he called himself these days.
"I'm surprised you're still here," Ryake snarled. "Seeing as I just blew up your mommy and her little demon-mutts."
Mel flinched.
"He's lying," growled Chris.
Mel startled. She tore her eyes away from the demon. "Chris!" She cried. Her brother was shaking and sweating, barely keeping his feet beneath him, but he was standing, every bit the leader of the Resistance. Ready to kill.
Mel was so focused on Chris that she didn't notice Ryake's move to strike her until Chris flung out a hand and threw the demon through the air. Ryake fell with a sickening crack, doubtlessly even more damaged than a minute ago. But Chris fell too. Blood pouring from both nostrils as he struggled to breathe.
Henry arrived at Chris' side in a swirl of orbs before Mel could move, he looked surprised and bemused but the squirming blond in his arms explained his arrival fairly easily. Wyatt struggled until Henry dropped to his knees beside Chris and let his brother get his grubby little mitts on him.
Wyatt babbled unhappily at his big little brother, sounding astoundingly similar to how he would as a teenager.
Mel flicked her wrists at Ryake, almost absently, before she rushed over to Chris, dropping down at his side. Ryake shimmered away, less his left forearm, while no attention was on him, but she didn't care.
"Chris?" She pleaded, but Chris didn't answer.
Pale and gasping for breath, Chris didn't move.
~Poisoned~
The world around him was white. There was no obvious temperature. If it ever felt too cold, the temperature would raise to warm, if it ever felt too warm, the temperature would shift to cold. It was a world designed for comfort, even if there was nothing of note in it.
Chris felt untethered, drifting from thought to thought. Sensation to sensation. Occasionally bursts of pain and fear filtered through the white haze, but it didn't feel painful. It was just information to his brain, telling him that there was hurt, but it was as though he couldn't be bothered to feel it.
"That doesn't sound like my nephew."
Chris didn't recognise the voice. He only had two aunts, and that wasn't either one of them talking.
"I believed in you, Chris. The least that you could do is keep fighting for me."
He knew that voice. He knew it far too well. He missed it too keenly. Everytime he closed his eyes, everytime he imagined a future where he succeeded, where he failed. Every time he saw two people who loved each other. "Bianca?"
"I'm here, Chris. I'm here for you, but I need you to do something for me. For all of us."
"Anything," he promised, looking around the white room for Bianca, but not able to find her.
"You need to hold on."
"Hold onto what?" He wondered, looking down at his hands. What was there to hold onto.
"Life, Chris," said the first voice. "You need to hold onto life. You need to keep going. You're almost there, I promise."
"We're all here supporting you, Chris. Even if you can't see us," said Bianca. "You're never alone in this fight."
"All you need to do is keep fighting."
"Fighting what?" Chris asked. But then he felt it. The pain from before, but real, attacking every nerve ending and receptor. His bones felt like they were burning, his blood boiling, his eyes bleeding, his brain crawling. He was dying.
"No, not yet you're not," said the first voice. "Not while I have a say in it."
Chris looked up into bright green eyes that were just like his own before the black rushed in, dragging him from the peaceful white room down into a wave of darkness and life.
Aunt Prue?