Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed world belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 5 To Kill A Brother
Wyatt stared dumbly at his brother not at all certain he had heard correctly.
Piper though had heard him and found herself feeling her blood begin to boil. "Christopher Perry Halliwell. What in the hell has gotten into you? Your brother is not going to vanquish you."
Chris rolled his eyes at his mother's reply. "And why exactly not? Isn't he a Halliwell? Isn't it his duty to protect the innocent? To kill evil in any form it might take?"
"Yeah well, the lines are a little fuzzier when the innocent you are trying to protect is the one who's evil," Wyatt countered standing as he crossed his arms over his chest towering over where his brother was sitting. Even though this Wyatt was different from the one he had known before he recognized the stance as meaning that Wyatt wouldn't back down from his opinions on this one.
Chris not wanting to seem any weaker than his near breakdown had portrayed him as also stood matching Wyatt's stance. "Listen, Wyatt, I don't really want to die. Don't get me wrong. This isn't some sort of convoluted form of suicide here. I'm just saying that if nothing else can be done, you are gonna have to face the facts and do what has to be done. One way or another, you have to stop me and I'm giving you full permission to do whatever is necessary."
"Chris, before when I was evil, could you have killed me?" Wyatt asked, almost positive that he knew the answer.
Chris swallowed hard trying to figure out just how he could answer that. It pained him to have to admit the truth. "Honestly, I can't say that I never thought about it, Wyatt."
Shocked gasps were heard around the room. None of them had guessed just how desperate Chris had to have been at times; both in his former past and during the time he had been in their time with them.
"I must have really done some horrible things," Wyatt nodded in a sign of acceptance. "But you didn't try, did you? Never once."
Chris shook his head in the negative. How could he have? "No, but that was different," His voice was much softer and not nearly as strong as he had wanted it to seem.
"Why? Why was it so different?" Wyatt asked hoping that his brother wouldn't go on about how much more important Wyatt was. That was something that he found to be totally negligible. It didn't matter one iota to him who was stronger or who had what prophecy written about them. To him it was just family and they were all important in their own way.
"Because I knew you. I grew up with you. We played together just like normal brothers did and we fought like cats and dogs just as much. But you always protected me. You were always there for me, until the final turn. How could I kill someone who I had loved so much?" Chris asked his eyes filling with tears that did not break free making his eyes glisten like crystals in the almost gloom of the attic.
"Chris we all know how much you love your brother? But you have to realize that Wyatt loves you too. How can you expect him to be capable of something that you are not? Especially something like this." Leo interrupted feeling the fear grip his heart the more his sons spoke of killing each other. It wasn't right. It wasn't natural. And it wasn't something he'd allow even one of his sons to consider.
Chris couldn't answer his father. How could he explain to him that just maybe Wyatt was capable?
"I understand what he's saying, Dad," Wyatt whispered nodding in understanding. "I never got the chance to grow up with my brother. To me he should be a stranger. No different than any man I'd meet on the street. So for that reason it should be easier for me to do such a thing, now shouldn't it?"
Paige gasped. Is that really how Wyatt saw his brother? She didn't believe that at all. "But I saw you heal him, Wyatt. I saw the tears in your eyes. I heard the pain in your voice. You weren't faking any of that. I'd stake my life on that fact."
Wyatt turned to his aunt and thanked her silently for realizing his deception. "I said he should have been a stranger to me. And though, I never got to be there for him, or play with him, or even fight with him… Well at least not until recently. I did know my brother. I knew him from the words you all spoke to me. The stories you told of his visit to this time. The love in your hearts that shone through your eyes when you spoke of him. None of you ever stopped loving him. No matter what. And through you, I too had the opportunity to love my brother who I never really got to know." He too had tears starting to form in his eyes and it was plain to see how much he truly meant those words. "So tell me, Chris. Do you think I can just go back there and vanquish your evil counterpart? Especially after being in this time and meeting the you that they all told me about. Can I be that cold and heartless? Would you really want me to be? Because that would destroy me just as surely as it would you."
Chris had listened intently to his brother's words. And he knew in his heart that Wyatt could never do it. Not this Wyatt. This Wyatt was everything he had ever wanted him to be. Good, loyal, and loving almost to a fault. Oh he had done his job right. That was for sure. What a grand success his mission had turned out to be. "I'm sorry, Wyatt. No, I wouldn't want you to. I wasn't thinking," he whispered leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. He tried desperately to calm his frazzled nerves so he could take control again. But to do that he'd have to change the subject. He knew that his admissions were worrying his parents and aunts. But right now he had to concentrate on fixing the problem at hand. "So, did you come back here with any kind of plan in mind at all?"
Wyatt's face adopted an embarrassed look as he avoided looking at Chris. "Well um, that's sort of why we decided for me to come to this particular time and heal you. We sort of figured that since you did such a good job with the whole Gideon thing that maybe you'd have some thoughts on the current problem."
Chris immediately dropped his head back down facing his brother, an incredulous look covering his features. "Oh, and I really did such a good job with that, now didn't I? Gideon nearly killed me, Wyatt. I'd say somewhere along the way there my plan sort of failed! You know, I've been wondering about that for the last couple of days and I think I've come to the conclusion that if you hadn't have come back to save me that I would have died, now wouldn't I?"
Wyatt swallowed hard still avoiding Chris' eyes. "Would you buy it if I said 'future consequences'?"
Chris scowled and Paige and Phoebe couldn't hold back the giggles that were threatening to escape. Piper and Leo both gave them dirty looks quieting them immediately. They were still very worried about their son.
"Wyatt, you do not get to say that. You have already blown too much of our future for that to even count as an afterthought. Don't say it again," he warned.
Wyatt finally looked up to his brother and tried out a smile. "Chris, you're the best shot we have. The best shot you have. I have faith in you."
"Since when are you an optimist? It's really gonna take some getting used to, this new version of you?" Chris knew that the friendly bantering between he and his brother would go a long way towards calming everyone's nerves and they all needed it. "Okay, I know there has got to be more information you can tell us, so let's get to it," he said pushing away from the wall and walking towards the couch on the other side of the room taking a seat. His voice again sounded determined and strong, almost like the neurotic Chris Perry, they had met a year and a half before. He was back and they were all glad to hear it, because it would take his cunning and determination to face the current threat to their family.
The others followed him and took up places surrounding him. It wasn't hard to see that they were closing in ranks almost as if they were making a protective shield around him. It was comforting to know that they wanted to protect him, just as it had been comforting to hear that after all those years they had still loved him and spoke so fondly of him to his older brother in the future no matter what he had turned out as.
"Okay, so first off, six months from now, mini-me is taken captive by a shape-shifting demon. Did anyone see it happen?" Chris asked first trying to get a handle on the events as they happened.
"Well not originally, but the sisters have all traveled back in time several times over trying to stop it. But somehow everything they try gets messed up and the demon looks different every time." Wyatt couldn't even count all the times that they had tried and failed.
"Messed up, like what?" Paige asked curious about some of the things they had tried.
"Well facing the demon head on was a complete bust and several times nearly got your future selves killed." He remembered how haunted they had all seemed after returning to the future distraught and heartbroken.
"That certainly wouldn't help any of us," Chris stated thoughtfully. "And what else?"
"Well Dad tried both the Magic School and 'Up There'. But with Gideon gone the school has lost a lot of the protection it used to have and the demon was able to break the defenses. And 'Up There' is not a permanent fix due to the aging thing. None of us really relished the idea of a white haired, wrinkled baby Chris. So the demon just bid its time and waited till you brought him back." Wyatt knew how much Leo's faith in the Elders was tested over the years and he didn't want to mention to them that the Elders had almost refused to even let him take Chris to the heavens to begin with.
"It broke the defenses of Magic School. But I didn't think that was possible." Paige had a special place in her heart for the school and really didn't relish the thought of demons roaming its halls.
"It is now, well at least until a group of powerful witches figure out how to ward it better. But that's many years down the road when they are stronger." Wyatt knew that they would realize that he meant them but he at least wanted to sound like he was trying to keep some of the future's secrets.
"Right, then." Chris didn't care so much about what happened to the Magic School. Phoebe had seen the future where Paige was teaching there and he was positive that that would still happen. She was meant for it. "What about time travel? Did any of you consider hiding mini-me somewhere else in time?"
"Actually, we did try it. Our mom from the future came back here and took you to our time. I think it nearly killed this Piper though. But it didn't matter anyway. The demon found a way into our future too and snatched you again bringing you back here and starting it all over again. I tell you, everything we tried it was as if he knew we were gonna do it before we did." Wyatt shook his head remembering the small amount of time he had been able to spend with baby Chris. He had learned exactly what it was like to have a baby brother then and he had been just as heartbroken when he was taken.
"Um, Wy, you say that our future counterparts have been going back and forth through time for some time now. Aren't any of you worried about how much they might change while doing this? I mean, how many times in the future are our future selves gonna show up here? This is really confusing me." Phoebe always hated talking about time travel. If she thought too hard it would give her a headache she knew.
"Actually each time whoever is going back goes back to just a day or so further in time then the try before and when they fail they return to the point right before they left in the future so they can stop themselves from actually leaving. It's sort of like a reset button on a game. Of course the person who goes back will retain that knowledge and share it with the rest of us before we decide who will go next and what they will do. It took a lot of thought to come up with that strategy and other than the ones going back aging a little bit more than they should it has no adverse effects." There were several looks of confusion at this explanation. But Chris seemed to grasp it the easiest.
"That's rather brilliant actually. To be able to erase the mistakes you made before you ever made them would come in handy, well at least until you had spent so much time in the past that you have aged dramatically." Chris knew the theory well. He had originally intended to go back to the time right after he had last left the future which would put him still at the age of 21 but in all reality he had actually aged a little more than a year and a half while he was in the past making him 23. Phoebe was right though. If you thought about it too hard it would give you a headache.
"Since we have a few months notice on this thing maybe I should do a little investigating in the underworld. See if I can determine who the next up and coming power is. It makes perfect sense that whichever demon did this would have to be the most powerful out there," Leo suggested knowing that Chris would have normally been the one to take on that task. But Leo wanted to give he and Wyatt some time together. Time to possibly form the bonds of brotherhood that they had been deprived of so early on. When no one objected he orbed away in search of a demon to question.
Chris didn't even seem to notice Leo's offer to take on something he would normally do. Instead he was deep in thought himself but he didn't seem ready to share whatever it was he was thinking and didn't hardly blink as Leo orbed away.
"Alright, Paige you got the book. I want you to scour it for any demon that has shape-shifting abilities," Piper said taking charge as the oldest sister always did.
"And powers of premonition," Phoebe suggested. At the questioning look she received she explained her theory. "Wyatt said that the demon seemed to know exactly what we were gonna do next. It makes sense."
"Good thinking, Pheebs. I know with the way your active powers are right now your premonitions aren't all that reliable but do you think maybe you can try to write a spell that would shed some light on whoever this demon might be?" Piper knew that since the Tribunal had taken Phoebe's active powers away she had started to feel useless in the magic department but this at least was something she could do. Phoebe nodded quickly and took a seat at one of the tables with pen and paper in hand. "Now, you two, you need to get your heads together and see if you can pull anymore ideas on what to do out of them," she instructed her two grown up sons.
Chris just nodded but Wyatt had to ask a question. "And what are you gonna do, mom?"
Piper turned her head to where the younger versions of her children were. "If this demon can tell what we have planned then he might change his mind and come for Chris sooner. If he does I'm gonna be right there with him. And if the demon wants him, he'll have to take me too," she vowed standing and making her way over to sit next to her son's bassinette.
"Always the mother bear," Wyatt commented. "Keep my younger self close by, okay. In the few times that your future selves were able to hold the demon off for a while it was usually because the little guy shielded Chris. At that age, my shield can't last forever but it might make all the difference in the world."
A/N: Okay, not much action I know, but you have to admit it was full of information. Next chapter Chris makes a rather shocking decision.