Death lurking within
Chapter 5 – Decisions and Deception
A/N: An interesting experiment. My most successful story so far, not updated in literally ages (about 10 months). I wonder if anyone will still read this…
I'm not going to waste my and your time trying to explain why it's been so long, but I read some of my own old stories including those unfinished like this one and decided I could write on a little. I don't know when the next update will be, however, it might be a while, but I thought of a way to end "Please Return to Me" and I don't think I want to leave this the only story unfinished (except for the one I abandoned). Well, enjoy this chapter, regardless of when the next update might be.
Disclaimer: Apparently not writing Charmed stories for 10 months didn't make me own it either. Who would've figured…
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Wyatt glared in the stranger's face. Due to the cave's scarce illumination he didn't see a lot, but the person seemed to be female, but didn't look very special. Dark hair, rather pale skin, just like any other demon who looked human. The face was rather forgettable and uninteresting and the long dark robe she was wearing looked rather common as well.
"Who are you?", he asked in an icy voice that usually managed to get anyone to shiver, but the demon smiled.
"Neema is my name," she announced and stepped a little further into the cave so that she was a little better visible. Wyatt somehow had the feeling he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't pinpoint where. It was probably just his imagination anyway since she looked similar to a lot of demons he knew.
"And why should we be interested in you?", Wyatt demanded to know. He was not in a mood to be messed with, and he really wanted to focus on bringing Chris back, even though he didn't have the slightest idea how he was supposed to accomplish that.
"He's dead isn't he?", she asked and looked at Chris' body that Wyatt had put on a large stone altar in the middle of the room a little more closely. She did not wait for an answer but commented as she leaned closer with a strange movement of her head that looked as though there where no bones in her neck, "Looks rather nasty, too" She noticed Wyatt glaring at her in a way that was exactly the opposite of reassuring and she stepped back a little. "Well if you don't like him being dead, I think I can help."
"How?", Wyatt asked with a steely voice. His face remained unmoved even though he felt a glimmer of hope rising inside him. Perhaps this was…
"Well, I'm sort of specialized in raising the dead", the demon explained with a small smile that suggested she knew that she had earned Wyatt's attention.
"That's impossible," Phenola broke in. "No one can raise the dead," she added with a threatening undertone in her voice. She was certain that this demon was only trying to deceive them. She didn't trust demons in general, but she had the feeling that this one was even less trustworthy than all the others she knew.
"Maybe not as impossible as it seems. I'm a necromancer", Neema explained, the smug smile never leaving her face.
Phenola pulled up an eyebrow and glared at her, making her disbelief quite evident in her expression. "The only necromancer I ever knew could not raise the dead", she stated, doing her best to make the necromancer see just exactly how little the young half witch thought of her.
Neema just kept on smiling in a way that was sometimes used by old people, smiling at the ignorance of young children, finding it cute what opinions they had about life but resting with the smug assurance that they knew better. That smile made Phenola want to punch her. "Necromancy is more of a wide spread term. It can mean a lot, and there are a lot of different directions to this craft, mine being the resurrection of dead people", the demon said calmly. For a moment Phenola could've sworn that the demon's eyes had turned yellow, but perhaps it was just her imagination, because a second later she looked the way she had before.
"What do you want?", Wyatt asked suddenly, obviously not caring about whatever Phenola thought of the idea and only focusing on the necromancer. It took Phenola a second to realize that he was talking of payment.
"Well, I'm sure we can figure something out as soon as your brother has recovered," Neema said cryptically, still smiling, but now a little more satisfied than before.
"You're not seriously considering to let her do this, are you?", Phenola asked incredulously, staring at her cousin in disbelief.
He pointedly ignored her question and asked Neema, "What do you need to revive him?"
"Just the body. Maybe a personal item or a picture, too, that sometimes raises the chances of a successful procedure," Neema explained.
Wyatt's eyes narrowed. "Chances?", he repeated in a low unsettling voice.
"Nothing to worry about, of course," Neema reassured him hurriedly, "Sometimes there can be problems, regarding the connection of soul and body, but the odds of there being any issues are extremely low. It's just a little safer with a personal item."
"You can't let her do that!", Phenola protested, seeing that her cousin was obviously considering making an alliance with the demon. She really couldn't believe it.
"Well, I will leave you alone for a while so you can deliberate," Neema announced, still having that annoying smile of hers. With these words she shimmered out.
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"This seems so surreal," Phoebe said while both she and Paige were sitting in the kitchen, mixing together ingredients without having any idea whether this had any chance of working.
"hm," Paige replied without really listening, but it wasn't as if Phoebe cared whether someone listened to her.
"I mean, it's as if it's a bad dream. I doesn't seem real, you know. I can't really believe this. Maybe they lied. Maybe he isn't our nephew. Maybe that guy isn't even Wyatt but just pretending to be. Maybe this is all some sort of bad dream, and I will wake up in a short while," Phoebe went on rambling.
Paige barely took notice of any of the words flying around the kitchen. She heard something of nephew and bad dream, but she failed to see the connection. She didn't try to either. She was busy cutting some roots with a perfectionism that was not usual for her. But she was completely lost in thought and even though her hands were moving professionally she didn't really know what she was doing.
She had no doubt that it was true. She hadn't had any from the second that Wyatt had told them who Chris was. It fit too neatly to be a lie. Everything he had said and done over the last year had instantly replayed in her head, and added with her new knowledge made a whole lot more sense. Not mainly his actions, but the way he behaved, the way he knew their names instantly, the way he knew the house, some side remarks that she had barely noticed when she had heard them, but now seemed to be carrying more significance than anything else he had ever told them.
Her mind was busy comparing everything she knew to the fact that he was her nephew. Too busy to acknowledge the fact that this knowledge did her no good. Too busy to acknowledge that he was gone forever and she would never be able to tell him how proud she was of everything he had done, of the way he had faced everything, all the obstacles in his path including them.
Still she remembered quite clearly how he had told them to look for another whitelighter. He had sounded completely indifferent and had orbed out right afterwards, but when he had said it, she had noticed something odd. His expression wasn't as indifferent as his tone, she had seen reluctance in his face, maybe even regret, even though her initial confusion at what he had said had made her forget about these details. Now they stood out all too clearly to her.
He had known. He had known that he would die.
But two questions were standing out to her. The first was: How did he die? Was it really a disease like Wyatt had said? Or something different? She couldn't forget the fact that Chris had thought he was evil. Had Wyatt perhaps… She dearly hoped not. He had not been nice, but evil enough to kill his own brother? Probably not. At least that was what she wanted to believe. The second question was: Whose daughter was the young girl whose name they hadn't even been told so far?
She heard distantly that Phoebe was still rambling on about something, and she had the feeling that her sister hadn't even thought about that. If the girl really was Chris' cousin, then she was either her daughter or Phoebe's. But then how would she get the power to shimmer?
Paige wondered how Piper and Leo were faring. They probably had as much trouble processing the information as she had. It was simply too much in one instant. She knew that the only reason Phoebe kept on filling the air with rather pointless babbling was to keep herself busy so she wouldn't have to face the implications of everything that had happened this day.
Paige knew she had a hard time believing all of it. She would've been deeply sorry had their neurotic whitelighter died, because even though she hadn't always been sure whether he was trustworthy, she had somehow liked him all the time. She would've been overjoyed to find out he was her nephew under different circumstances. In combination it was simply unbelievable.
She also didn't have enough information. They were trying to find Wyatt, the girl and Chris, but she had no idea what would happen then. But doing something at least gave her the impression they weren't just accepting faith.
Hopefully they could do something to change it.
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"You can't accept that!", Phenola yelled at her older cousin, who was staring at Chris' body with a hard determination on her face. He hadn't reacted to her protests when the demon had been there, and she wondered what he would do now.
"Why not?", he snapped at her angrily. "Do you want him to stay dead? It's the best idea we have."
"I think it isn't," Phenola snapped back. "I heard of her kind of necromancy, that is not a solution."
"Oh did you hear of it, now?", Wyatt asked with sarcasm thick in his voice, finally looking up. "Just a minute ago you said you had no idea that was possible."
It was true, she had said she didn't know it. "Well I remember now. I did hear of it. And what I heard is bad. They don't revive people, they reanimate them."
"And where would be the difference?", Wyatt replied without patience. Why the hell was she so stubborn? She had been eager to save him before, but now she was backing out? Maybe she didn't care as much about Chris as she had said she did.
"They reanimate the body, without the soul. They create zombies. Undead."
"She said she would connect the soul with the body, so there is no problem," Wyatt said stubbornly.
"And you believe that?", Phenola asked incredulously. Was he really stupid enough to believe anything some demon told him?
"Yes," he said and glared at her.
"I didn't think you were that stupid. But assuming she would succeed, what about that payment she demanded?", Phenola asked pointedly. "What if she wants your soul or something?"
"Well, after she's done and everything is ok, I just kill her," Wyatt informed her in a cold voice.
"And you really think she won't consider that possibility? She'll do some trick on everything so that you can't kill her. Besides, how did she even know that he was your brother? She's probably planned her involvement in this well. You can't trust demons," Phenola yelled. Was he really that stupid or was he just pretending to be?
"Says you," he replied with an icy glare.
She froze for a moment. He couldn't really mean that, now could he? But he did and she knew it. They didn't call him evil for no reason, and being cruel on purpose was one of his strengths even when it was just by using words. But then she did have a demon in the family now didn't she? She could be just as cruel as Wyatt if she wanted to. Though she rarely did.
"That's beside the point, now is it?", she asked with a voice that matched the cold of his. "You're not doing this because you want to save him. It doesn't matter to you that he's dead now is he? You only care about yourself, ever have, and you simply can't deal with the fact that he died because you failed." He stared at her incredulously for a moment, maybe stunned that she was able to rub into wounds like that, but maybe also because there was a little truth in what she said, no matter how hard he tried to deny it. But she didn't leave him time to reply and went on, "Because you really did fail. You killed him with that stupid idea of yours." She yelled the last part.
For a moment he could do nothing but stare at the young girl of which he had always believed she was a quite nice and gentle person. Then his eyes narrowed. "You agreed with the plan," he pointed out. "You thought it was logical and reasonable and that we should do it. This isn't just my fault." The last sentence wasn't really addressed to her but more to himself. She had hit the sore spot with her remarks. He did blame himself, and he felt the only way he could ever look into the mirror again was by fixing what he had messed up.
"Maybe it wasn't just your fault. But maybe you can make things a little better by doing the right thing now," Phenola now said a little more gentle than before.
"What do you mean?", he asked and for the first time some of his confusion and fear at the situation was evident in his behavior.
"I don't Chris would want this. Would want a demon to resurrect him or whatever," Phenola explained to him, hoping she was finally getting through. "And besides I can't stand the thought of seeing some evil soulless thing bearing Chris' face," she added much more quietly.
He looked at her and for a second both understood the motivation of the other. And finally Wyatt realized that he wasn't the only one that this was hard on. He realized that if he didn't behave the way he did she would probably look for some very deep hole vanish in it and just spend her life sobbing until the end of time. He was just making it harder on her by trying to revive him when she believed it would do no good, and just make accepting Chris' death harder on both of them.
But he knew he could prove her wrong. He had to prove her wrong. He didn't believe that all hope was lost. He couldn't. If he actually forced himself to believe that this was all real, that Chris was not coming back, no matter what he did and that all the years he had spent trying to look for a way to find a cure had been for nothing he would probably lose his sanity.
He couldn't give up and he wouldn't. Both for his own and Chris' sake.
"I can't let go. I can't accept any of this without even trying to change it," Wyatt told her.
A small tear was running down Phin's face. She made no move to wipe it away. "He had accepted it," she stated simply. She remembered so clearly how he had told her to accept it, too and he would've wanted Wyatt to do the same as well. She could not imagine what it must've been like for Chris all these years knowing he would die from this disease and do nothing about it. But he had accepted his fate. He had accepted that he could do nothing to prolong his time, and chose to make the best out of the time he had.
"Maybe he has, but I haven't," Wyatt said in a tone that reminded in absolutely no way of the menacing voice of an evil ruler. It was more like the voice of a broken man.
"He would want you to. He was really touched when he found out you cared," Phin said, remembering her conversation with Chris just a few short hours ago, when there had still been hope.
Wyatt looked startled at that. "What? Did he think I wouldn't?" He had spent so much time, trying to save Chris and all this time his younger brother had thought he meant nothing to him? How could he have misjudged him so badly? But then the older witch remembered their encounter when Bianca had died. He didn't need to be a genius to divine where Chris got the impression that Wyatt wouldn't care. He hadn't exactly been friendly, and he still scolded himself for his behavior. He had been angry, but nothing could justify the way he had acted. He had been angry because Chris had gotten the idea he needed to be changed, he had been angry because Chris had had the idea to travel to the past and he had been angry that Chris had never understood his motivation. But he had had no right to treat him that way.
Phenola said nothing. She felt that she finally had a moment to grieve. Before Chris had left for the past he had said goodbye to her, knowing full well that he probably would never return. That was why the spell he had used had been a one way door. Because he had thought he wouldn't need a way back. And he didn't, Phenola thought sadly. Somehow that thought made her even more sad and she began to sob quietly, more tears running down her cheeks once again. This hopelessness, the thought of never seeing Chris returning was what had driven Bianca who had loved him more than anything else to join Wyatt because she had felt he was the only one who could get him back.
But being the evil ruler of the world did not give him the power to stop destiny.
"I'm going to accept the necromancer's offer," Wyatt suddenly said and interrupted Phin's thoughts.
"What?", she asked bewildered. She had thought he understood. Thought he had realized that it was better for Chris to have some peace than some mad attempt at saving him that had no chance of succeeding. But she had been wrong. Wyatt had never been someone to accept things, most of all not things he didn't like.
"I know you think it's foolish, but I have to try, ok? I could never forgive myself if I didn't," he said. His voice sounded almost pleading, desperate for her to understand. Maybe he wanted her to see his point of view and accept it, helping him even. He probably saw that this was not the best way, and he sought reassurance. But she wouldn't give him any.
And that put them on opposite sides once again.
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Neema turned the small bottle between two of her fingers that had now assumed their lizard like appearance once again. The liquid changed colors depending on the way the dim light in the room fell on it and also depending on the way it was shaken.
"Amazing potion, isn't it?", she asked pensively. Her apprentice, a young and incredibly small demon who had light fur didn't answer, assuming the question was rhetorical, which it was.
"Pity it didn't get a chance to work, now is it?", Neema added with a small grin, revealing lines of sharp teeth that had been hidden beneath her human glamour before.
"Would it have?" her apprentice asked, suddenly interested. The young demon had a female sounding voice, even though Neema wasn't entirely sure that this kind of demons even had genders.
"Oh yes. I'm not entirely certain if it would've cured the disease, but it would have revived the boy. Probably still could, I don't really think there's a very tight time limit", Neema explained, shaking the bottle and watching two different shades of blue separating from each other only to be mixed again.
"Well, if it would've worked, how did you get it? And why didn't it?", the feline demon inquired further. She wasn't informed about the entire plan, and mostly not about the parts that had already been finished.
"Well, it would've worked if I hadn't gotten it. I used a rather interesting spell to make the potion transfer here instead of the bloodstream of the boy. So it had no chance of working to begin with. And goldilocks didn't notice." The grin had grown wider and now affected the yellow eyes with slits as pupils as well.
"Why? What do you even want with the boy? Do you really want to bring him back?"
"Oh most definitely not. I want the body. I never had the chance to work on the body of someone this powerful before, and it would definitely prove interesting. Besides I can probably use the boy's blood to create the potion that could kill the twice blessed one. I don't yet know what I would to with that, but I'm certain there would be someone willing to buy a vanquishing potion for him."
"Pity the body won't be in too good a state though," she continued. "Do you know why the Cretsa even spread that disease?"
A quick glance towards her apprentice told her that she was shaking her head. "It's because they need it to feed. Their digestive system can only process what has been killed by the disease. So the only thing they do is run around the world infecting random people with the disease. It changes the bodies naturally, so they can eat it. Another state would definitely be preferable for my studies, but well, I just have to accept that, I guess."
"So you try to deceive someone of whom you know is the source of all evil in the future. Sounds risky," her apprentice commented.
"Well, no risk, no fun"
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A/N: Despite my expectations it was actually fun to write on here. I might do that again. Please tell me what you think and whether there is still anyone reading this.