Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Charmed. I will let you know when I do.
An new update by popular demand...nah, that just sounded too corney
Anyhoo...Thank you to my reviewers. I'm sad to say that this story is coming to a close. The ending is written for the next chapter. I know, I'm sad that it's coming to and end too, I really liked writing this story.
Here is the (not so) long awaited battle scene...
New Surprises
Chapter 6: The Battle
Melinda did not need to be told what was going on. As soon as she heard the door, she knew who it was. Wyatt was here. Glancing around the room, she realised he was early and nobody was ready. She should have known not to trust the timings, if Wyatt knew about Ryan then he was going to give him fake timings, knowing that he would pass on the information.
"Everybody, move into position," Melinda shouted, "Just not the back door." She knew it sounded obvious but demons were not the smartest of people. As everybody moved, she saw a nymph killed with a fireball, and then one of the fairies.
"Melinda, we need to run." Peyton shouted above the racket, as the fighting started. Purposely, Melinda ignored her, throwing an energy ball at the demon that had killed the nymph and fairy. Wyatt's troops make have had the element of surprise, but her troops had the element of fighting on home turf, and if that was not good, then what was. She had learnt from watching war movies where people slipped up. Fair enough the war movies were biased, but she remembered an old one Gladiator. She loved the fight scene at the start, and saw what the Romans had clearly thought about. Get the enemy to attack on your own ground, not where they want you to.
Melinda threw another energy ball, this time at a darklighter, but the darklighter shot of an arrow at her. Just in the nick of time, Melinda telekinetically directed the arrow at another one of Wyatt's demons. This was now getting hard to figure out who fought with whom.
Peyton looked around the room. This was what war was like. She saw magical beings being slaughtered left, right and centre, both sides of magical beings too. She soon realised that her and Melinda had created a battle line with other demons.
"We need to hold the line." Peyton shouted to Melinda, who had just thrown another energy ball at a demon, and looked to be weakening. This was going to be too much for her.
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Wyatt had finally entered in the middle of the fight, he had been waiting outside to make a dramatic entrance. Also, most of the enemy would be slaughtered by the time he would get in, or that was what he thought. Just before he entered, he turned to Ryan and threw a potion at him. He saw Ryan's quizzical expression.
"Wouldn't want you fighting against me, would I?" Wyatt smiled, it was a power stripping potion, "Can't have you shimmering to your girl's side either." Then he turned to another demon. "Keep hold of him. I don't want him dead, yet. Bring him in when I call for you."
Ryan tried to fight with the demon as Wyatt entered the hideout, but it was no use. With no powers, he was useless against anybody in that house.
Wyatt entered he room, to see a darklighter arrow flying through the air towards him. He quickly ducked and then saw a darklighter aiming his newly loaded crossbow at him. With a flick of the wrists, the darklighter was blown up. Damn! he thought to himself, he knew he should have been more careful.
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Chris sat in the corner of the attic floor, watching as the sisters explained everything to Leo. Baby Wyatt ran over to him and jumped on him.
"What do you want, buddy?" Chris asked weakly, looking into the bright blue eyes of the baby who would soon become his little sister's torturer. All he received in return was a hug from the nearly one-year-old, as if to say 'it'll all turn out ok'.
"Chris…" He looked up to see Paige stood in front of him, "You d realise you need to wait till after midnight. If he's going to attack you can't be there."
"I need to be there," Chris shouted, startling the baby in his arms, "I need to fight next to my sister." Chris stood up and started to pace the attic, "I can't sit here knowing he's going to kill her."
"He might not." Paige offered, trying to help, but had suddenly got cold feelings for Melinda, since she had been shot by a darklighter on her command. The other two sisters were not so over keen on her either.
"Look, what she did was to save me…"
"So don't let that be in vain." Leo stated. He had not met the girl, but knew Chris must love her. Chris groaned loudly as he ran his hands through his chocolate coloured hair.
"I can't just sit here, Leo, she's my sister I need to be there."
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The battle had been going on for a good half and hour now, and both sides were quite evenly matched. Well they were, until Wyatt made his appearance.
"We need to retreat," Henry shouted and then looked at his older cousin, who was now holding herself up against a wall, still throwing energy balls and deflecting arrows, "Melinda can't hold up much longer."
She was their best bet to beat Wyatt, but the three months of torture and no food was getting the better of her.
Prue looked around the room, to see they were down to three witches, four darklighters, two Upper-Level demons, one base-level demon, an Ogre, and an imp master…oh no, the imp master had just gone up in flames, and that was excluded the four of them. Wyatt had too may witches and demons fighting with him, they were too strong, Melinda just needed to give the order to retreat, but deep down she knew she would not. After the three months of hell, Melinda was going to fight to the death, even if it was her death.
Peyton threw a mixture of potions at the enemy, vanquishing three demons and badly injuring a witch. That gave her enough time to run to Melinda's side.
"We need to retreat." Peyton whispered to her.
"Get them all out. I'm staying here."
"He'll kill you."
Peyton suddenly saw a hint of defeat in her cousin's eyes.
"Get them out."
Peyton decided against it, shouting to everybody to hold the line, while Melinda dropped back to regain some sort of strength, she knew she was going to need it. This was not going to her plan, and now she feared she was going to lose. Somehow, she felt happy, death would finally come, but she would not give in yet. Not until she saw Ryan. She needed to know what had happened to him.
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Wyatt saw the battle coming to an end. As a darklighter took out another darklighter with his crossbow, he stepped forward to throw an energy ball at one of the resistance witches, hitting her straight in the chest, killing her instantly. He could see Melinda weakening by each second too, which pleased him. This would be his chance to kill her. As one of his witches was thrown into a wall by an energy ball from an Upper-Level demon, he clenched his fist, turning his arm as if to strangle the demon. The Upper-Level demon in question instantly dropped to his knees, reaching for his neck. Then Wyatt did something nobody had seen him do before, he twisted his clenched fist to the side, causing the demon's neck to snap. The Upper-Level demon dropped to the floor and went up in flames. He saw his youngest cousin Prue, look astonished at what he had just done, so smiling he threw her telekinetically backwards into a wall.
"Hold it!" Wyatt shouted, realising all that was left was his family.
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"I can't wait until midnight." Chris shouted, and then went to a notepad, picking it up along with a pen.
"What are you doing?" Phoebe asked, taking the pen off Chris.
"I was going to write a spell." Chris stated to his aunt, he did not know what else to do.
"And are you willing to kill your own brother?" Piper asked her son, understanding if he nodded, but also understanding if he said no.
Chris thought to what could happen. His sister was going to have to fight his brother to the death within three hours, but knowing Wyatt he would surprise them. He could be there already for all Chris knew, and if was there he woud have to make that choice. He laughed to himself slightly, remember what Melinda had once said to him when they were teenagers, when Wyatt had first decided to rule the world.
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"I should have listened to you, Mel." A 16-year-old Chris stated to his sister, as they sat in their first hideout. It was not too bad, but then again that was because the Aunts and Uncles were with them, they had helped find it, and ignored all Personal Gain rules to make it somewhat a home, something Melinda had given up on, to her a hideout was another place to put your head down while on the run from that tyrant.
"Yeah you should have done," Melinda agreed with Chris, but with a smirk, "But you're just stubborn."
Chris pulled Melinda into a hug, it had been two years Wyatt had killed their mother, and all over Excalibur. Wyatt was not allowed to draw the sword until he was 18, but of course the power hungry tyrant had other ideas and decided he needed it at 16 so he could harness it's power to take over the world there and then. Of course, Piper did not want her son to draw Excalibur from the infamous stone, and had tried everything to keep her eldest son away, which resulted in her death and Chris and Melinda's attempts to heal her, and then Leo blaming Chris. Leo always thought his youngest son should have been able to heal, and Chris kicked himself every time for not being able to do it.
"You know," Melinda smiled at her brother, with her head on his chest while he rubbed her back trying to send her to sleep, "The only reason you didn't want to believe me is because you're the middle child. You can't fight with me nor Wyatt."
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Chris laughed, it was the reason he could not argue with them. He lived up to the middle child syndrome, always being the mediator between the two, and he proved it as they all grew up. When Wyatt would 'pay them a visit' as he liked to put it, he would have to stay between his brother and sister so no energy balls were thrown. At that time he could never see himself choosing his sister over his brother, but after everything that had happened, he would if he had to.
"You can't just keep taking trips to the future and back," Leo stated calmly, "You have to chose one or the other."
"Well I choose the future," Chris stood up and looked into his father's eyes, his mind going back to the future and how he was so caring towards Melinda, why couldn't he have that? "I've warned you about Wyatt, and they've seen what he turns into, now my sister needs me."
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Wyatt looked around the room, he was pleased with himself. He had Prue knocked out against the wall, Melinda was still trying to regain her strength, and Peyton and Henry were being held by demons. He walked to Melinda, holding her up against the wall by her throat.
"You should have known you wouldn't beat me at my own game." Wyatt sneered in her ear. He pulled back to see the look in her eyes, he expected fear, but all he got was nothing. Her eyes were blanked.
"You know you should be scared right now."
"I would if I cared." Melinda simply stated.
Wyatt dropped her to the floor, he was slightly confused. He had been with her for three months, torturing her, getting as much information out of her as he could, and each time there was something in her, whether it was hate, disgust, some sort of fighting spirit, but now she seemed to not care. But was she planning something? Surely she would not just give up. He decided to move on to Peyton, she was always easy to break. Her and Prue were the weak too.
"So where's that wonderful brother of mine?" Wyatt asked her, "Did he decided to go back and try and 'save' me." He laughed, wondering why his brother would want to save him. There was nothing to save him from. The boy constantly talked about saving him from evil, but there was no good or evil, it was all about power, why couldn't he understand that? Why couldn't any of them understand that, why did they all have to fight him?
Peyton stared at her eldest cousin, deciding that looking him straight in the eye would be better than looking away from him.
"You know, I'll take pleasure in killing you," Wyatt sneered in her ear, brushing her brunette hair away from the said ear, "Just like I took pleasure in killing your mother."
On hearing about her mother, Peyton felt the fire in her growing. She struggled with the demons to get out of their grip to hit Wyatt. Even if it was the last thing she did, it would be worth it. But Wyatt just laughed and moved onto Paige's son.
"Why didn't you follow you sister?" Wyatt asked, "She gained a special seat at my side, and you would have done too, but no you had to fight me."
"Leave my sister out of this. You have no right." Henry battled with the demons that were holding onto him to lash out at Wyatt.
Wyatt stepped away from his cousin, hearing a moan coming from the floor.
"Prue, wake up and get out of here!" He could hear his young cousin shouting out at her sister, but knew she would not have a chance.
"Grab her." Wyatt shouted at a demon, knowing it would not take much to hold her frail frame. The demon did as he was told, and he stood in front of her, waiting for her eyes to open.
"What happened?" Prue asked, thinking that her sister or one of her cousins had helped her up.
"You've been captured, that's what happened."
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"If he catches them, he'll torture them to death." Chris shouted at his Aunt Phoebe as she took the pen from him again to stop him writing a spell.
"And if you go and he had caught them, he'll catch you too." Phoebe stated at her nephew, walking away with the pen.
"What do you mean he'll torture them to death?" Leo asked, slightly confused, he had not been caught up on everything, "Who's he?"
Chris looked at baby Wyatt, who was now back in Leo's arms, and then at the floor.
"I can't let Mel go through anymore of it. You saw what she was like when she came back. And it'll be hell for her without Ryan."
"Who's Ryan?" Leo asked.
"Oh Leo," Piper said softly, "Just stay quiet for a minute will you, why don't you put Wyatt to bed, it's far too late for him."
With a sigh, Leo left the room with Wyatt. Chris mouthed a thank you to Piper and ran his hands through his hair again.
"I just really need to get to her."
"Just give it some time, ok sweetie," Piper stroked the back on her son, "She had a great plan, it will work out and then you can go in and see how well she's done…"
Piper tried to stay optimistic for her son, not realising what was actually happening in the future at this time.
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Wyatt was getting bored, very bored in fact. He always thought that once he had his family, killing them would be fun, but it was boring, just too…easy.
Thinking that, he looked at Melinda. She knew it too, it was too easy for him, but now he had them he could not let them go. Contemplating sending them to the dungeons, going through months of torture to find out where the remaining resistance members were – he knew for a fact not all the resistance had been with them tonight – he caught Melinda's blue eyes, and finally saw some emotion coming through, just not what he wanted. He saw her fighting spirit coming through, he wanted pain and fear. Looking at his youngest cousin, Prue, he formed an energy ball, it was only low voltage but it would be enough to seriously hurt her and scare everybody in the room. He threw the energy ball at the girl, earning a blood-curdling scream from her and screams from Peyton and Henry, he smiled. Maybe it was not as boring as he first thought. Suddenly he was attacked by Melinda. She ran to him, tackling him to the ground. To say she was a hell of a lot lighter than him, she still had some strength behind her. Wyatt soon had the upper hand though, he pinned to the ground and stared into her eyes, with a flash of annoyance.
"Now that wasn't very nice, Melinda. Chris would not be happy with you." Wyatt taunted.
Melinda looked into Wyatt's crystal blue eyes, thinking about how Chris was the middle child, and then kicked herself for allowing Wyatt to let her think off topic as she felt herself being picked up. She felt two demons holding onto her, and although she kept struggling, so could not get out of their grasp.
"Now you've got some fight back in you," Wyatt smiled, but it was cold and evil, "You can see what I want you to see."
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"So you will let me back?" Chris asked, wondering how his mother and aunts had a say on whether he was going to future or not. After all, the Elders had been planning for months to send him back to the future, and they never came after him the first time, but now they did not want him going there. Why the sudden change? Had they finally realised what he was here to save? Or was it the fact that they now knew who he really was?
"You know if you go back now then you'll just be setting yourself up exactly how Melinda is." Paige explained.
"I thought mom just said that she's got the upper hand." Chris looked, smirking slightly, knowing that his mother was just trying to make him feel better. He was still angry at himself for letting Melinda get the upper hand on him and attacking him with the darklighter arrow, well not healing him just to send him back to the past. That was a decision that was going to cause her, her own life.
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Wyatt stood in front of Henry, his fist clenched, telekinetically strangling the 17-year-old. Henry tried to get out of the demon's grasp to grab his throat, but it was no use.
"You know Melinda," Wyatt said, staring at his male cousin, "This could have been avoidable if you'd have just told me where they were."
Wyatt snapped his wrist to one side, breaking Henry's neck. The demons dropped the lifeless body of the 17-year-old witchlighter, while Peyton screamed in tears. Melinda just stared, coldly, she would not let him get to her. She had gone through months of torture at his hands and she had never shown weakness, she would not now, she refused to.
Wyatt then moved onto the unconscious Prue, who Peyton thought was dead, but Melinda knew better. He wanted the reaction out of them, he thrived on it. After all, the chase was over.
"If you tell me where the final members of the resistance are, I'll stop." Wyatt said, forming an energy ball, this time extremely high voltage, in his hand. He turned to face Melinda, and then looked at Peyton. Neither girls were going to answer. Was it that they did not know? No, of course they knew, Melinda had helped hide them. She had grown up a lot after he had killed Phoebe, and even more so after Chris left them.
Angry that neither girls were talking, Wyatt threw he energy ball at the 16-year-old girl, killing her instantly. The demon holding her, dropped her to the ground, to prove that she was dead.
"Oh Hannah!" Wyatt called out, seeing his mousy haired cousin stepping through the door. Wyatt had asked her to stay outside while the fight went on. He could not risk her being hit by a darklighter arrow, which just proved he could still care about his family.
"Hannah!" Peyton called, as she saw her 18-year-old cousin stepping into the room.
Hannah looked at Peyton, blocking her emotions from the empath. She felt sorry for her, but all they had to do was stand by Wyatt and everything would be ok. She had turned to Wyatt with information about one of the resistance hideouts, and he took her in. Why did the rest of the family not see that this was the way to go? Why fight the inevitable?
"You said you wanted some fun." Wyatt smiled, hoping his cousin would get the hint. He secretly knew Hannah and Peyton never really got along. Well, Hannah never got along with Peyton. Just because they were family did not mean they had to like each other, right? I mean, look at Melinda and Wyatt. Hannah was always jealous of Peyton. Peyton was the one who got the new powers first, just because she was a couple of months older than Hannah, and got the boyfriends, although Wyatt never understood why, Hannah was always the prettier one, just shy.
Hannah stepped to Wyatt and then looked at Peyton.
"Care to do the honours?" Wyatt asked, indicating to the 18-eyar-old brunette in the hands of demon. Hannah held out her hands and electricity shot from her hands, straight at Peyton, she could just see the look of shock from Peyton's eyes, until she died. As her body went limp, the demons dropped her.
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Suddenly the clock chimed midnight. Chris could faintly hear it from the living room, mainly because of the silence that surrounded the attic. Chris got up from Aunt Pearl's couch and started pacing again. Wyatt was attacking, if he had not already, and he just knew how it was going to turn out. Melinda should have ran when she had the chance. Henry should have stuck to his guns and ran rather than giving into Melinda's little 'I'm sick of running' speech. It was not that moving. He would not have stayed because of it.
"Chris, calm down honey," Phoebe sighed, knowing he was too stubborn to listen to her, "Melinda could win."
Just then Leo entered again, where had he been for the past few hours?
"What are you all still doing up?"
"Trying to stop this one from going to the future." Paige answered, looking at how nervous Chris was getting, like he knew what was happening. Did he know? Did he have some sort of connection with his sister? No, he could not have, since he did not know that she had been tortured for the past three months.
"I have to go," Chris said, "She could be dying there, she could need me."
Even though all the Charmed Ones knew it was true, they could not let their whitelighter go.
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