Disclaimer: You know, nothing has changed since the first chapter was written. I still don't own Charmed or the Halliwell brothers. It's so very sad.
Author's Note: I'm actually getting very close to the end of this story. Another chapter or two, I think, and I'll be all done. I hope that you've enjoyed it. I really do. I've put a lot of work into this (and my other stories too) as I think Jennifer (strikermac) knows! We've stayed up all night tossing ideas back and forth on numerous occasions now. I'm glad to have met someone as crazy about TCS as I am. ;) I'm feeling so incredibly neurotic. Oh, hey! Write me a review when you're finished reading this chapter… I know I'm completely behind in responding back to folks, but I will get back to you! I will! Don't let that dissuade you from writing a review for this chapter. Please.
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The soft keening wail that had come from the dark-haired teen had finally stopped. Dissolved into tearful hiccups and impossible intakes of breath. Chris was trembling as he clung desperately to his brother's corpse. At first when he'd wrapped his arms around his brother Wyatt had still been warm. Now his body was cold and lifeless. He had tried helplessly to will healing to come, begged, pleaded for the life-giving glow to help him bring his brother back. You can't heal the dead, Chris, even if you could heal... Chris was numb, his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he rocked back and forth holding his brother. He didn't even care that he was now covered in the Twice Blessed Witch's blood. Chris's head was bowed forward as he sucked in one hitching breath after another. He just couldn't fill his lungs no matter how much air he tried to draw into them.
"…Wy… come on Wy… Wyatt, you… you can't be dead Wy…" the teen urged despairingly. He had cried until he couldn't cry anymore. He didn't have any tears left, so now the inconsolable teenager's shoulders just shook silently with the heartbreaking loss. If… if Wyatt hadn't come here to help him, if he hadn't asked him to come back… if… if… if…. that horrible two letter word was filled with more self-blame than it had ever been. Chris readjusted his arms around his brother's shoulders, clutching the lifeless form to him. If Wy was gone, then a part of Chris was gone too. "…I need you…" he whispered hoarsely into Wyatt's shoulder.
Alwynne sank to the ground in the doorway, drawing her knees to her chest and watched the heart-breaking scene in front of her. Her hot tears were silent where Chris's had been wails of despair and agony. He was quiet now and that worried her. She caught the sight of his trembling shoulders as he held the lifeless body and shrank back further. Lillith was doing it again. Had done it again. There was another life on her hands and soon there would be two. She was going to have to sit there and watch the woman as she did what she planned with Chris.
Lillith glided from the shadows, emerging as if from the wall and looked towards Alwynne with a chilling smile. Alwynne shrunk back from her, then locked her jaw and opened her mouth to say some warning to Chris. Lillith twitched a finger and Alwynne's mouth closed like her lips had been glued together. Even had she spoken, the words would likely have fallen on deaf ears.
Chris didn't see her because he wasn't looking at anything. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he didn't care if a Darklighter appeared behind him and shot him in the back. He really just didn't care. Chris trembled, sucking in breaths that felt like they burned in his lungs, agonizing to him as he clung to Wyatt. Each breath he took was one more that Wyatt would never take again. Lillith's appearance rippled, morphing into that of the boy's mother. Oh, she wasn't done with him yet.
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Piper had fallen asleep with her head leaned against her husband's chest, listening to his heartbeat as he stroked her hair. She'd felt comforted that way, but even comforted she had fallen asleep with a heavy heart and worries over her children in her mind. She couldn't have been asleep more than an hour or two when the sound of the phone ringing woke her with a start. She jerked awake, groggy eyes staring blearily into the darkened room. Leo startled awake as well, sitting up as Piper did and rubbing his eyes.
The phone continued to ring and Piper squinted her eyes at the glowing numerals on the alarm clock. 12:07 am. Her heart was in her throat instantly as she picked up the receiver. Leo reached over and turned on the bedside lamp.
"Hello?" Piper asked with sleep still clouding her vocal chords. She cleared her throat and repeated herself, "Hello?"
"May I speak with Ms. Halliwell or Mr. Wyatt please?" a man's voice said on the other end. Piper could already hear the tone in the voice that was speaking to her. It was the tone of someone who had the unfortunate job of relaying bad news.
"This is Ms. Halliwell speaking," Piper said, moistening her lips as she slid her legs from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed.
"This is Dr. Hathaway, from the hospital. It's about your son," the man on the other end said.
Piper reached behind her for her husband's hand, but Leo was already reaching for her to supply it. He couldn't hear what the person Piper was speaking to said, but he wanted to give Piper whatever support she might need. From the look on her face he knew she needed it. It couldn't be good news. Then again, they were calling after midnight, so he hadn't expected good news anyway. Unless it had been a call to tell them that Chris had woken up.
"Did he wake up?" Piper asked, echoing Leo's thoughts and sounding hopeful yet doubtful in the same four words.
"I wish that I could say that was what I was calling for m'am," the doctor said gently, "but no. In fact, the reason that I'm calling is because I'm worried that he may not last the night."
Piper dropped the phone. It fell the floor like it was falling in slow motion and she just watched it as it hit the carpet and bounced. Leo moved to pick the phone up from the floor, reading his wife's body language and feeling his stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot. He pressed the phone against his ear and laid a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"This is Chris's father," Leo said, "What's the matter with our son?"
"About thirty minutes ago your son's heart rate took a sudden and rapid elevation. It's well over one hundred beats per minute and still rising. It should be around seventy or so as a resting heart rate, but I just left his room to call you and it was around 135. We haven't yet determined the cause or been able to get his pulse back down to a more normal and safe level," the doctor said.
Leo rubbed slow circles on his wife's back as he listened.
"If it weren't so elevated and continuing to rise, there wouldn't be cause for concern. The heart can beat at an elevated rate for short periods of time to cope with stress. Under normal circumstances it is a perfectly standard physiological response to stress. I believe it's due to an increased sympathetic stimulation, a psychological stress of some sort. The result being the raise in his heart rate. It's like he has taken the 'fight or flight' response and is unable to turn it off," Dr. Hathaway explained.
Leo cleared his throat, disbelieving at how incredibly calm he was taking this news. His son was dying again. He should have dropped the phone like Piper had. He felt like he had been punched in the gut, yet somehow he still managed to speak. It was just like he shut down part of his mind and somehow another part turned on so he could manage to calmly ask a question, "What about giving him some sort of antiarrythmics or drugs?"
"We've attempted several different means of intervention," the doctor said, "but none of them are working. Now, I can explain the rest to you over the phone, or it can wait until you arrive at the hospital, but if we aren't able to bring your son's heart rate down soon it's unlikely that he's going to last the night. I thought you would like the opportunity to say goodbye."
"We'll be there soon," Leo said, numbly hanging up the phone. Piper was staring at him with haunted eyes and he quickly enveloped his wife in a hug. "Get dressed, we need to go to the hospital. I'll go get Wyatt."
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"What have you done?"
Chris lifted his teary eyes to look blearily towards the voice. It was his mother's voice. His face dissolved into tears again when he saw her. When he saw the accusation on her face, Chris opened his mouth to say something, but not words came out. He just ended up choking on them and lowering his head. He'd thought that he didn't have any more tears left and he couldn't have been more wrong. They started leaking hotly down his cheeks again.
"What have you done, Christopher?" Piper asked again.
Chris's lower lip quivered and he lifted his eyes to look at his mother again. He was still holding onto handfuls of Wyatt's shirt, trembling, "…I…" He didn't know what to say. There was nothing that he could say. He couldn't say it wasn't his fault. He felt like it was. Wyatt had come back to help him. Wyatt had tried to protect him and it had gotten the older witch killed. "…m…mom…"
Alwynne shut her eyes tight, trying to block it out. She wasn't a Dreamwalker herself. The control she had in this place was learned from being trapped here for so long. She'd had practice, yes. Against an inexperienced Aisling siúlóir, she could have done something. Against Tromlui d'iníon? She was like a newborn gazelle staggering to its feet and waiting for a lioness for pounce from the savannah. If she had tried to do anything against Lillith it would have failed miserably. She could have tried anyway, but her attempts would have only further angered the woman and she would take that out on Chris. Alwynne had the knowledge of the place, but not the skill, and so the girl sat. Unable to help, not willing to watch, but forced to listen.
Tears brimmed in Chris's blue-green eyes and rolled down his cheeks, "…he was trying to help me… he… he was just…" Chris hiccupped, choked on the words and squeezed his eyes shut again, "…I didn't mean for…" Another hitching breath that made his words all but incoherent. "…I didn't mean for this to happen. Wyatt…"
Piper was walking towards him and Chris wiped his tear stained cheeks on his shoulders, not wanting to release his hands from where he had clutched his brother's shirt so tightly. He expected his mother to come, to shush him, dry his tears… cry with him over Wyatt. When she grabbed him roughly by the hair and jerked his head back, Chris sucked in a pained breath and yelped. He was so startled that he let go of Wyatt to grab hold of his mother's wrist with both hands. Wyatt's body slumped bonelessly back to the floor, while Chris felt himself being yanked away from him.
"You killed him," Piper accused.
Chris's jaw dropped and then closed in a grimace as the hand that was holding him by the hair dragged him further from Wyatt. He didn't even fight back or defend himself against the accusation. Piper released him just as roughly as she had grabbed him and he tumbled against the couch. Chris wiped at his cheeks with his fingers and looked up at his mother in sorrow. This couldn't be real. Wyatt couldn't be dead… yet the evidence of it was there in Chris's blood stained hands and clothes. But his mother… Chris pressed himself against the sofa and pulled his knees to his chest looking up at her in wounded astonishment. "…I didn't mean for it to… happen…"
Piper loomed over him. For such a short woman, she loomed. "Your brother is still dead, Christopher. And his blood is on your hands."
Chris looked towards his brother's corpse again and something within the boy crumbled even further. With his face still blotchy from tears, his heart still thundering away, and his breaths still coming in painful gasps he looked up at his mother, searching for forgiveness. It wasn't there. Instead, Chris saw something smoldering behind her eyes now. Some feverish light that spoke of glee rather than the devastation and heartbreak that should have been present over losing her son. A pleasure at seeing Chris broken and in so much pain over it.
There was no way that woman was Piper Halliwell. Something inside the young brunette witchlighter snapped. Chris's eyes narrowed and his teeth ground together, biting into the insides of his mouth. His fists balled up at his sides and with a primal yell he leapt at the imposter that was wearing his mother's face. "MURDERER!"
Alwynne's eyes shot open and she looked with shock at Chris as he sent Lillith to the ground with a hard thump. She somehow doubted that she was as surprised as the Daughter of Nightmares. The woman's form rippled, reverting to its usual appearance as she hit the ground, looking up at the boy who had gone from a quivering whelp to a furious madman. She willed herself away, vanishing from under him only to appear in another part of the room.
Chris caught himself as she disappeared and pushed himself to his feet. His eyes darkened now with fury, "You should have killed me first."
Lillith, shocked though she was at his resilience, smiled. She had thought the boy broken and was expecting the accusation from his "mother" to finish the job. She had made a minor miscalculation.
The floor beneath Chris's feet began to sink, dissolve like quicksand. It was doing the same under Wyatt's body, causing the form of the golden-haired youth to sink into the floor. Lillith calmly folded her hands in front of herself, "Patience, dear child. I was getting to that."
Chris looked towards Wyatt's disappearing body, hardly seeming to notice that he himself was now ankle deep and sinking faster into the floor, "NO!"
Like the fabric of the Dreamworld was listening to his command the floor solidified again. The good part was that he and Wyatt were no longer sinking. The bad part was that Chris's feet were now encased in the floor to the point that he lost his balance. His arms wind milled and he fell backwards on his rear.
The Daughter of Nightmares gaped; her mouth opening and closing several times like a fish as the boy had actually stopped what she had been doing. Chris didn't think about the fact that he had just counteracted whatever it was the woman was attempting to do. He wasn't going to let her do that to Wyatt. Hadn't she already done enough to his brother already? Chris jerked his legs to free them and amazingly enough they pulled free of the floor like they had never been trapped. Springing to his feet, Chris looked at the woman in front of him, pushing his sleeves up, "…you shouldn't have done that."
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Wyatt Halliwell jerked his elbows back, digging them into his mattress hard in a physical expression of what he was feeling. Wyatt was furious. He lay on his back in his bed and after pounding the mattress with his elbows he folded his arms over his chest staring at his ceiling and grinding his teeth together. Why wouldn't his parents listen to him?! He felt betrayed and like they were betraying Chris by not believing him. After everything that their family had been through and experienced, he would have thought they would believe him. Or at least look into it. Worse, his mother expected him to try to go to school tomorrow? He was waiting now, giving his parents time to go to sleep so that he could orb up to the attic and try working on the potion again. I won't let you down Chris.
Sighing in frustration, Wyatt sat up and ran his hands through his hair. He was determined to help his little brother. He glanced at his clock. It was just a few minutes past midnight now; his parents ought to be asleep. Wyatt was just about to orb to the attic when he heard the main house line ring. It was way too late for a social call even from worried family members. The phone rang again and he heard it stop, indicating that his parents must have picked it up. A little tendril of worry gnawed at his insides. He hoped that he wasn't too late. Hang on Chris. I'm coming back, I promise. Wyatt looked towards his door in the darkness.
Several minutes passed before Leo stuck his head into the room, looking somewhat lost. He came into the room, "You awake, Buddy?"
"What's it look like," Wyatt asked sharply, unable to take the heat from his aggravation with his parents out of his voice.
"That was the hospital," Leo said, sitting down on the bed next to Wyatt. There was sadness in his father's eyes and Wyatt's heart missed a few beats. "They called because Chris is--"
"No!" Wyatt said harshly, jumping up out of the bed, "Don't you say it. Don't you dare say it Dad. I am not losing my little brother!"
Leo rested his hands in his lap and lowered his head, unable to look at the intensity in Wyatt's eyes. He sighed heavily, weary shoulders sinking forward, "Wyatt… we're going to the hospital because the doctors don't think Chris is going to make it through the ni--"
"He's not going to die Dad! I can help him! I know you don't believe me, but I can help him!" Wyatt exclaimed shrilly. "I'm not going to watch Chris die! I can't believe that you would even say that! I can't believe you're just (censored) going to sit there and watch him when you can do something about it! But you don't believe me!"
Leo flinched, putting a hand to his chest. He didn't want to do it either. He had already sat by once unable to do a single thing as his twenty-two-year old son from the future died in his arms. Now he was going to have to do it with his not quite sixteen-year-old. But here was Wyatt, denying the truth that the doctor had told Leo on the phone and thinking that he could 'fix it'. Leo felt sympathy for him, in fact his heart was breaking for him. He was glad that he had decided to come in here and do this instead of Piper. "Wyatt, we should be there in case we have to say goodbye."
"No! Damn it! NO! I'm NOT telling my little brother goodbye," Wyatt practically growled. He pointed towards the door, which swung wide and banged hard against the wall. The handle actually left a dent in the plaster where it had struck. Wyatt didn't care. He couldn't believe his parents! He couldn't believe his father could be that damn stupid and insensitive and… "Get out!" Wyatt snapped vehemently.
"Wyatt, you really should come wit--"
"GET. OUT."
"Son--"
The seventeen year old grabbed his father roughly by the shirt and jerked him off of the bed, "I said get out. So GET OUT!" He actually gave Leo a hard shove towards the door, blue eyes burning with anger and tears that he was forcefully holding at bay.
Leo blinked up at his eldest son. He wasn't sure how Piper was going to take the fact that Wyatt refused to go to the hospital with them, but even a madman could see that there wasn't going to be any reasoning with him. Closing his eyes and letting out a sad breath, Leo turned and walked out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him hard enough to rock the foundations when Wyatt waved his hand.
Wyatt watched the door and the teen clenched and unclenched his fists. He couldn't believe them! He stood, barefoot and still fully dressed from earlier having never gotten ready for bed, glaring at the door and listening. His mother didn't even shout. He had expected to hear her and then to have her come up to his room to drag him by his ear to the hospital when Leo told her. Scold him for yelling at his father and for practically throwing him out of his room. Something. But it didn't come. He actually heard the front door close downstairs and their car doors open and shut.
Like a man possessed, Wyatt raced out of his room and pounded up the stairs to the attic in haste. He was shouting as he ran, desperation and fear fueling him now as his anger was channeled in a new direction. "PAIGE! AUNT PAIGE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he grabbed the book and set it properly back on its stand. Wyatt glared up at the ceiling, "AUNT PAIGE!!"
He paced the attic and shouted again, his voice faltering with notes of fear now, "AUNT PAIGE! NOW! PLEASE, AUNT PAIGE!"
The jingle of orbs produced a sleepy-eyed, pajama wearing Aunt, wiping sleep out of her eyes and yawning. She stared in shock for a moment at the devastation in the attic and then looked at Wyatt bewildered and curious as to why she had been called out of bed. If there had been demons up here, obviously Wyatt had handled them. Paige frowned, wondering where Piper and Leo were at this hour for the attic to be nearly destroyed, Wyatt to be shouting at the top of his lungs, and they not be racing up here to box his ears for giving everyone a heart attack. Her sister and brother-in-law had enough to worry about without Wyatt going off the deep end.
"Aunt Paige!" Wyatt exclaimed, grabbing hold of the woman by her shoulders and hugging her anxiously.
"What? What? What?" Paige asked, eyes going wide as she noticed the look in Wyatt's eyes. Bright, shining blue, ready to brim over with tears, and completely frantic.
"I need your help," Wyatt said in a rambling rush, "You've got to help me Aunt Paige. Please, you've got to help me! I need your help." He wasn't going to let his Aunt go until she agreed to help. New fears kept piling onto the ones that Wyatt already had. What if she didn't believe him? What if his Aunt thought this was just some sleep deprived delusion and abandoned him? Wyatt's hands trembled on her arms.
"I gathered that you needed help from the obnoxiously loud and rude wake up you just gave me," the woman said dryly. She was worried about him, he looked exhausted physically, but was so wired up the poor boy was shaking all over. In short, her nephew looked about one step from losing it completely. She wanted to ask him if he had slept, or where his mom and dad were, but instead the pleading look in his eye put other words on the woman's tongue, "Okay, so what am I helping you with?"
"It's Chris," Wyatt said.
"…Wyatt…"
The boy cut her off, not letting her even get whatever thought she had been about to express out. "Just listen to me!" Wyatt burst. Paige blinked and nodded, his hands had tightened to vice-like grips on her arms. "There's a demon and I need you to help me make a potion to vanquish her or she's going to kill my brother."
Paige winced as her fear for Wyatt's sanity was confirmed. Poor boy, she couldn't blame him. He wanted some physical adversary. At least Wyatt was focusing this on some demon rather than going out looking for the kid that had put Chris in the hospital in the first place. "Where's your mom and dad, Wy?" Paige asked gently.
The tone had Wyatt on edge all over again, and he looked at his Aunt in a disbelief ready to break down. His heart was hammering in his chest so loud he was surprised he was still able to hear himself think, but Paige's soft-spoken words rang loud and clear. "…you don't believe me either…" He kept hold of her, but took a step back. "Mom and Dad are at the hospital Aunt Paige. Chris is dying… and no one will believe me that we can help him… I promised I would help him. I promised… you've got to believe me Aunt Paige…"
Paige rubbed her hands over her eyes and moved them to her temples. Wait? Chris was dying? Paige's heart nearly stopped and she looked at Wyatt. No wonder he was so close to being madder than the Mad Hatter. It also explained where Piper and Leo were. "You didn't go to the hospital with your parents?" Paige asked, sounding surprised.
"NO!" Wyatt snapped. The teen's tears that had been threatening to spill the whole time started to fall as he continued to hold his Aunt's arms. "I didn't go because I'm not going to let her kill Chris. Aunt Paige… please… please… help me. Believe me or don't, but Chris's life is depending on this! I need you to help me make this potion or he's going to die! And I don't want to have to tell my brother good-bye. I promised him! I promised him I would help him..."
Towards the end his words started to choke on themselves and Paige caught her lip in her teeth as he dragged her over to the Book of Shadows. Still holding onto her arm as though he was afraid she was going to abandon him, he tapped Lillith's page forcefully several times, "Her. Aunt Paige. She has Chris trapped, she won't let him wake up, and she's killing him with his own nightmares. Just help me."
Paige glanced at the entry in the Book of Shadows then at her nephew, "Wyatt. It's after midnight and my sleep-deprived brain is clearly not tuned in to the same station that yours is. What does this woman, demon, whatever have to do with your brother?"
Wyatt cried out in frustration, so that his Aunt flinched. He released her arm and turned to shout at her, "You're not listening to me either! Everything! She has everything to do with him!"
His jaw tightened and he grabbed hold of her again, pulling her behind him as he started grabbing jars and vials of ingredients with a tense fervor. Paige was wide-eyed as her nephew moved in frantic actions, tugging her along for the ride. She looked back at the page in the Book. "The Daughter of Nightmares," she stated, "…I've never even seen that entry in the Book before…"
"Are you going to help me or not?" Wyatt asked, stacking up the ingredients and turning to look at his Aunt. It was hard to see if he was grabbing the right stuff through his blurry vision. She was looking back at the Book. Wyatt stopped next to it again, letting his Aunt get a better look at the page. He was clutching the vial of almond oil so tightly that his knuckles were white. Wyatt asked in a softer voice, that admitted both the boy's weakness and his vulnerability, "…please Aunt Paige… I can't do this by myself."
Paige scanned the entry in the Book. She looked at Wyatt's tear-stained face when she heard that softly pleading question. Paige's brown eyes looked towards Wyatt's blue, "How do you know it's her? This says that some family named O'Bruadair from Ireland has had her imprisoned for three centuries."
"Then she got out somehow! I know it's her because Chris told me… I talked to him," Wyatt was still holding onto Paige's arm with one hand and the vial in his other so he just nodded towards the page opposite Lillith's, which was written in his Aunt Prue's handwriting, "He's in a coma because she's keeping him there," he indicated the entry for the Dreamworld, "and she's going to kill him if you don't help me. Please, Aunt Paige. Please. Chris needs me." Wyatt took a breath to try to even out his voice, but it didn't work well at all, "Chris is going to die. Mom and Dad are heading to the hospital right now because the doctors called. He can't wake up and she's killing him."
Paige moved past Wyatt, actually pulling the teenager with her away from the Book, and towards the waiting cauldron, "Hand me that spoon over there. We've got a potion to make and I've got a nephew to help save."
"You believe me?" Wyatt asked softly, releasing Paige's arm.
"Of course I believe you," Paige said, rolling her eyes. She just wouldn't admit that she thought he was two seconds away from needing a straight jacket a minute ago. She believed him now and that was what mattered.
Relief flooded Wyatt before the adrenaline-fused urgency took over once more. They didn't have time to waste. Wyatt stood at the Book, reading off the ingredients to Paige as she took care in measuring them out properly and adding them to the brew. "Thanks Aunt Paige… I tried a good five times to do it on my own before Mom stopped me from the sixth attempt."
"So that's why the attic looks like a bomb went off," Paige quipped, carefully adding another ingredient. She winced as she started to put in the next one and stopped to rub her temples.
"What's wrong?" Wyatt asked.
"It's really hard to concentrate on this with your mother screaming in my head," Paige said, "She's yelling for both of us. And I didn't think anyone could be louder than you were when you were screaming for me. She sounds urgent."
Wyatt grabs his Aunt's arm and looks at her desperately with his blue eyes. He was suddenly terrified that she was going to abandon him with a half-finished potion and sentence Chris to certain death. Pleading, Wyatt looked from the potion to his Aunt, "Ignore her. Please… I can't do this without help Aunt Paige."
"Ignore her?" Paige asked, wincing again, "Wyatt, are you not hearing her screaming?"
"I put her on mute before you got here. We need to do this," Wyatt said, looking at the cauldron, "We have to do this or my brother is going to die…"
Paige rubbed her temples again, "Okay, okay, I'll put your mother on mute. She's going to be so furious."
"Not if we save Chris," Wyatt said.
It seemed like it took forever before they had finally finished the potion. As Paige was putting it into a vial she looked towards Wyatt, who had been pacing for the last several minutes. His nervous energy was going to wear a hole in the floor. The blonde looked at the potion and frowned, "Great… now I just need to go to sleep."
"Um… question. How do you get the potion that is clearly physical and here in my hand," Paige asked gesturing vaguely, "To wherever Dreamland is?"
Wyatt took the potion into his own hand and walked over to the beat up old couch, laying down, "I haven't a clue. But I know the only way for me to get to Chris is if I sleep…"
He honestly tried. Wyatt attempted to get comfortable. Rolled over. Tried the other side. Seeing his difficulty Paige grabbed a blanket and a pillow, helping to tuck him in. "Just relax, Wyatt."
Wyatt swallowed hard, trying to get comfortable again, "I can't! My heart is beating so hard it's making my whole body shake. I need to sleep…" He had to or Chris was going to die even though he had the potion now. No pressure there.
"Just try," Paige said, kneeling on the floor next to the couch and running her fingers through Wyatt's hair in an effort to calm him down. He had gotten so worked up, now he just couldn't get himself to sleep. One would think after so many sleepless nights the boy would be exhausted enough to sleep for a month. Adrenaline was a funny thing though. That urgency felt in the need to get to Chris and help him was the exact thing that was keeping the young blonde witch awake.
"Isn't there a sleeping potion or something?" Wyatt asked, getting more and more desperate by the moment.
"There is, but we can't know what the side effects might be," Paige told him, "You might be able to sleep, but then you may not be able to dream."
Wyatt made a noise of frustration and rolled onto his side again, "Hit me in the head then! I don't care! Knock me out! Do something… I can't sleep and Chris is going to die if I can't… UGH! This is so frustrating!"
Paige shook her head, "I'm not going to knock you out Wyatt. You can do this. Close you eyes, relax, and take slow deep breaths just think about your brother…"
"I AM. That's why I can't sleep!" Wyatt moaned. His brother was going to die from his nightmares and it was going to be Wyatt's fault because he couldn't sleep. This was terrible. Chris needs you. Think about Chris. He had to sleep.
Paige tucked the blanket around him again and began humming a lullaby softly. Wyatt held the potion vial to his chest and closed his eyes, trying to take slow, deliberate deep breaths and listen to quiet humming. Chris. Chris. I'm coming Chris, hang on… Gradually he began to actually relax as the adrenaline started to fade and soon enough Wyatt's breathing was the soft and regular breathing of someone asleep. Paige gave a gentle, encouraging smile to her oldest nephew, and ran her fingers through his golden hair again. "Go get him, Wy."
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Alwynne was watching a scene unfold before her eyes that she never would have imagined possible. Someone was fighting back against Lillith… and it was actually working. She was in shock, standing back in the doorway and watching as Chris waved his hands to send the woman flying again. Lillith thought she had made a minor miscalculation. As Alwynne saw it, this was a lot more than just a 'minor' miscalculation. The boy that the Daughter of Nightmares had thought to be broken was now bent on exacting revenge on her and he clearly didn't care if it killed him to do it.
The walls of the Dreamworld manor shook, rippled in some places, and in others completely disappeared to show a star-filled nothing beyond. Only a strong Aisling siúlóir could have done that and counteracted Lillith's power here. Alwynne watched the dark-eyed, powerfully emotional fury that the brunette witch was unleashing in his grief. Untrained, unpracticed, but the answer to the question he'd had to how he got here was answered. That he had been such a quick learner and had been able to counteract Alwynne's attempts at keeping him in plaid earlier had been a clue. That he had been able to help them get away from Lillith briefly earlier had been a shouting sign. But even the hints had given the girl absolutely no idea what the slender teen could do.
Lillith was throwing everything she could think of at him. Darklighters conjured in the dream and their arrows dissolved into the floor or burst into dust without him even looking at them. Other evils and attempts to cause the youth to falter met with destruction before they got close. The witchlighter had lost all sense in his grief and he was just reacting. Lillith found herself flying across the room again to smack against the wall and dropped. The teen's words were ringing in her ears. She should have killed him first. She shouldn't have done that. She had never met an opponent that she couldn't crush within moments, even those that had been challenges. Certainly this was an unpleasant surprise to the woman that was the self-professed owner of this place. To have the nightmare she'd created for the boy crashing down around them with the very walls of the manor. The very fabric of Domhan'al'taibhream was coming down around them.
She got up and Chris threw her again with his telekinesis. She had killed his brother. She had killed his best friend. He'd give almost anything to have his brother back. But he would settle for making his murderer suffer until he died or until he found a way to vanquish her.
Wyatt, the real Wyatt, appeared just in front of his seething little brother just as Chris had lifted his hand to toss Lillith again. Chris froze. The boy's eyes widened as the awareness of his link to his sibling met his consciousness. He almost didn't believe it, standing in place in total shock. Then he launched himself at his brother, arms wrapping around Wyatt and clinging to him fervently. He had his blue-green eyes closed, holding onto Wyatt as if he let go the older witch would be gone again.
Wyatt wrapped his arms around Chris in return, finding the uncontrollable shaking upsetting. He was shaking like a leaf, so badly that Wyatt was concerned. Protectively Wyatt held his sibling while Chris clung to him. Over the top of Chris's head Wyatt saw the body. His body laying broken on the ground and he turned to look towards Lillith in disgust. "I'm fine Chris, she never touched me."
Chris didn't respond, he just continued to hold onto Wyatt for dear life. Wyatt narrowed his eyes and turned to Lillith as he rested a hand on the back of Chris's head, the other around his trembling brother's back. "What did you do to my brother?" Wyatt asked coolly. Wyatt flicked his hand at Lillith, intending to blast her into little pieces if he could… and nothing happened. The older witch blinked, looking at his hand that was suddenly powerless. And he didn't even have the potion any longer. It wasn't there. Wyatt tried again in vain to blast the white-clad woman approaching them.
Lillith smiled, a cruel, cold and twisted smile and pushed herself back up. Carefully Wyatt pried himself loose from Chris and flicked both of his hands at Lillith to no effect. His powers didn't work? Why didn't his powers work? Chris wanted to cling hold of Wyatt, to continue holding onto his brother as proof that he really was still alive. Tears were still steaming down his cheeks as he put himself in front of his brother. Chris closed his eyes, took a deep breath and the potion vial appeared in his hand.
"It's my fight Wy, just back me up…" Chris said.
Chris waved his hand and flung Lillith against the wall again. Wyatt was a little surprised that his little brother seemed to still have his powers here, but there would be time for understanding how or why later. He reached into his pocket and discovered that the spell he had written down from the book was actually there. He unfolded it and handed it to Chris, placing his hand on his younger sibling's still trembling shoulder.
Chris, tears still rolling down his cheeks, threw the potion at her and the little vial burst at her feet. Smoke climbed up and wrapped around her, swirling in a cloud that exploded into a dozen tiny stars and a blindingly bright flash. Alwynne covered her eyes and then looked towards the brothers, she wanted to open her mouth to thank them, but the red-haired girl faded out and vanished from sight before she got a chance.
Chris wavered on his feet and if not for Wyatt catching him, he would have fallen to the ground. Wyatt was startled when his little brother did exactly what Alwynne just had; he faded out and vanished from his sight, leaving the older witch staring bewilderedly at his empty arms. He wasn't here any more. Wyatt hoped that meant that Chris was okay and that he'd woken up. Closing his own eyes, Wyatt willed himself to wake as well.
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Author's Note: Yay! Now all that's left is a little more resolution which will take place over one or two more chapters… I hope ya'll have enjoyed this. Please read and review! Ask questions if you have them, let me know what you think, or just tell me hello so that I know who's been reading this.