Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed world belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Well here's another installment. I hope you enjoy it and for those of you waiting on an update of Lost Child, it will be up as soon as I can get to it.
Chapter 12 Good vs. Evil
Wyatt orbed into the cavern that he had confronted Dark Chris in the last time and stared around himself wondering just where to go next. It had only been by chance that he had managed to find him there before. Or had it been? He remembered distinctly concentrating on Chris even while in the rage over his father's disappearance. Had he somehow unconsciously called Chris to him before and if so would it work again? There was only one way to find out. So he stared at the bare cavern wall before him and concentrated on the image of his brother. Not the image of Chris that he now had after meeting him in the past but the darker more sinister picture he had in his mind of the Chris from this time.
Only a few moments passed before he saw the air before him shimmer and a figure appeared there. "You are a glutton for punishment, Charmed Brat," Dark Chris said powering up a fireball and juggling it from one hand to the other.
Wyatt sneered at that. "If I remember right it was you who shimmered out before we were done last time but at least you got to keep that pretty face of yours."
"That was then. This is different," came the cocky reply. "You can beat him the same as the Phoenix Witch, can't you?" he added silently to the new voice inside his mind.
Chris could feel the panic welling inside him. He couldn't fight Wyatt, not even to save his self. But to come up with a good enough excuse…'Wait,' he thought as an idea came to mind. Maybe this was just the opportunity he needed. "Will you give me complete control?" he asked his dark self.
"If you can defeat him, yes. But the minute I feel that you are going to fail, I'm pulling back," Dark Chris warned.
"That's fair," Chris answered taking control of the body not missing a beat with the fireball that he was juggling from hand to hand.
"So, Witch, why are you here this time?" Chris asked catching onto the fact that this was not their first meeting.
Wyatt stared at the dark figure before him and felt all his hopes die. Chris truly wasn't there. He was gone, fully absorbed by The Source. All of their hopes had failed and there was nowhere left to go. "It's no longer important," he whispered swallowing back the pain he could feel welling inside of him.
Chris' eyebrows shot up at that and he wondered exactly what his brother was thinking. "Maybe for this," he said letting loose of the fireball sending it to land just between Wyatt's feet.
"What was that? You missed," Dark Chris spat in anger.
"Hey, you got to play with the other witch when I first arrived. Let me have a little fun too, okay," Chris answered playfully knowing his darker self would do the same thing if he had the chance.
"My, aren't we confident?" Dark Chris said sarcastically.
"I spent how many years licking the boots of this creep's alternate self? I deserve this," Chris answered playing along perfectly.
Wyatt didn't even flinch at the missed projectile. It hadn't surprised him that Chris wanted to play with him first. That was part of the whole dance they had been sharing for years now. He immediately swiped his hand out throwing his brother across the room but only half-heartedly. After the disappointment he felt he just didn't have the strength or the urge to truly attack his brother.
Chris looked up feeling a slight bit of déjà vu at the situation. Hadn't he and Wyatt done this several times in Chris' original timeline? But he had to remind himself that Wyatt was the one fighting to save the world this time. He saw Wyatt hesitate as he stood and returned the favor of knocking him across the room sending him further away with a stronger blow. He realized then that even though Wyatt had no way of knowing that he had an ally in the room he had pulled back his powers when he attacked anyway. There was still hope that the plan might work if he could somehow let Wyatt know that he survived the merge.
It was time to try something risky. Chris immediately attempted to use the power of Astral Projection as he pulled his consciousness into the second form that had appeared next to Wyatt's downed body. Chris knew that his darker self, who was still in his real body, would never be able to sense his thoughts while he was not actually in the projection.
Chris leaned over and grasped Wyatt's shirt lifting him slightly as he forced him to look at him. He knew he would have to seem rough to keep his cover, so he whispered, "Sorry, Wy, I have no choice," as he pulled his arm back and threw a fist into his face.
Wyatt had been momentarily caught off guard by the words but the action just triggered his anger as he blocked the next blow and threw Chris back slamming him into a stone column a few feet away. He could feel rage bubbling up inside him at the thought of losing the brother he had wanted to love so much. This creature had taken that from him and he'd never be able to forgive him for that. He was up within seconds and was kneeling over Chris reaching out to pummel his attacker but he paused for a moment as he saw the pleading look in his eyes. It was not a look he had ever saw in this version of his brother's eyes before. Wait, those eyes were green, not black as they had always been since he was taken over by The Source. How could that be?
Chris could see that he had caught Wyatt's attention, but he knew he needed to continue the farce to convince his darker self. He glanced towards his body, which was still standing across the cavern watching curiously. Wyatt also followed his eyes and saw Chris' body. He had no idea that Chris could Astral Project so he was a bit shocked by the revelation. Chris then whispered two words that surprised Wyatt even more. "Play along."
Wyatt's eyes widened as he realized the meaning behind those words along with the look he had seen in the projection's eyes. It was Chris. The Chris he had saved in the past. He had survived the merge. He nodded imperceptibly and then punched out with a glancing blow that looked painful but wouldn't be.
Chris took the punch and then threw Wyatt off with a soft kick to the stomach. He wasn't about to seriously injure his brother to keep up the ruse, but it still had to look good. He was on his feet and had shoved Wyatt into the wall pinning him with his forearm just below his throat. He leaned in and spoke softly so just Wyatt would hear. "Orb out and I'll meet you at the Manor tonight," he whispered as Wyatt tried unsuccessfully to counter the hold he had him in.
Wyatt hated to think of just giving in. Giving in wasn't a Halliwell trait but this was more important than his ego, so with that he shoved Chris back and quickly orbed away.
"Damn," Chris muttered loudly as he allowed the projection to remerge with its body.
"What a damn coward," Chris thought inwardly. "He had so much more fight in him in my other timeline."
Dark Chris was being very quiet but finally asked what was bothering him. "Why did you project?"
Chris had expected the question and was ready for it. "Do you think I wanted to risk injuring my body?" he scoffed as if it was obvious. "And besides, I was dying to try that new power."
"Hmmph! I was hoping for a better show. Maybe a more final ending than that," Dark Chris suggested and Chris knew exactly what he was meaning.
"You know, I could have easily finished him off but what if…" he paused dramatically hoping to hook the dark creature.
"What if what?" he took the bait.
"The opportunity for evil is there. He was evil in my other timeline and he would make a dangerous ally, if he could be turned," he suggested hesitantly.
Dark Chris snorted in derision. "You want to try to turn the Charmed Brat. Have you lost your mind?"
"It wouldn't be the first time he's turned and imagine what it would do to the Charmed Ones to see their precious child as evil." Chris knew it was a tempting idea. To control the child of a Charmed One.
"Could we control him? You said he ruled you before." Dark Chris just wasn't sure it was worth the effort and he certainly didn't want to risk being controlled himself.
"As The Source I'd be ashamed if we couldn't," Chris said confidently.
Dark Chris smiled inwardly at that. What an achievement it would be to control that powerful a being. There would never be any doubt as to the power he possessed and no other demon would even consider defying him. It might just work at that.
Wyatt whooped in glee as he orbed back into the attic of the Manor. He noticed that all three sisters were there waiting for him. He gave them a huge smile that was unmistakably one of triumph.
"That I'd say is a good sign," Came Paige's sarcastic quip.
Piper stood noticing something and walked over to her oldest son. "Wyatt, you're bleeding." She reached out and touched the corner of his mouth that was split and bleeding slightly.
"Someone really needs to teach Chris how to pull his punches better," he answered her grinning all the while.
This comment seemed to confuse the sisters even more. How could fighting be a good thing? "If you two fought why are you grinning like the cat that ate the canary?" Phoebe asked joining her sister where she stood. Paige also stood and came up next to Piper.
"Because it's really Chris. The Chris from the past, not that dark creature our Chris became." Wyatt answered happily.
"But if it's Chris why did you two fight?" Paige asked in confusion.
"Well it was both of them sort of. The Chris from our timeline was watching from his body while the other one was fighting me as an Astral Projection," Wyatt explained realizing that his words still wouldn't answer their question. He afterall was still fighting with the Chris that was supposed to be their ally.
"Hmm, looks like my boy has a new power but still that doesn't explain why Chris was fighting you. He's supposed to be on our side," Piper said scowling slightly. After the talk she'd had with Wyatt before she had started to worry about whether or not Chris was going to be able to withstand the power of The Source. Power was very seductive, wasn't it? The Wyatt from Chris' original timeline was a perfect example of how power corrupted and she had become to fear for her second son's soul just as much as she had once feared Wyatt's.
Wyatt could see the doubt in his mother's eyes but after confronting Chris he was almost positive that his brother was still on their side. "Don't worry, Mom. He was just playing along, trying to gain the trust of this timeline's Chris. He said he'd meet me here at the Manor later tonight."
"But his other self?" Paige asked in concern.
"Astral Projection. Prue used to project anywhere she wanted to go," Phoebe pointed out. "He'll just leave him behind in his body. This is such a lucky break."
Things were going much better than he had hoped for. His darker self was warming up nicely and he had even managed to halfway convince him not to kill Wyatt on sight. That was one heck of an accomplishment. Now he just had to wait until his dark version fell asleep and then he'd be able to make contact with his family. It was something that Chris needed more than he was willing to admit. The time he had spent with just the company of his darker self was beginning to wear on his soul. Even though he was used to pretending to be something he was not, it was much harder to pretend to be evil than any of the false impressions he had adopted while in the past. If he were completely honest with himself he'd have to admit that the possibility of being consumed by the evil inside himself was frightening the hell out of him. He needed the love of his family to reassure himself that he had the courage to fight it.
Time seemed to tick by slowly as he went through the rest of his day only half paying attention to the tasks his darker self was seeing too. At times though certain conversations with upper level demons would catch his attention and he'd listen intently. One of those conversations had just occurred.
"What deadline were you talking about?" he asked curiously.
"That's right. I didn't tell you about that yet. I've got a surprise planned for the Valkyries," Dark Chris said smiling to himself. It was easy to hear the glee in those words.
"Oh, what might that be?" Chris asked trying to sound only slightly curious even though the mention of the Valkyries did pique his interest.
"Let's just say that the time for the final battle is a lot closer at hand then they might think." If Chris hadn't been seriously concentrating on trying not to react his mouth would have dropped open in surprise. Could his darker self be serious about that? The final battle between good and evil was not something to joke about. The outcome of that battle would shape the world into either a utopia or hell on earth.
"How is that possible? I didn't think the battle was supposed to happen for a long time to come," he asked in as emotionless a tone as possible.
"Let's just say, I'm pushing it up some. It seems that one of my minions is very close to finding out the location of the Valkyries hidden island. I do believe that a preemptive strike is in order." The gloating quality in his voice made Chris want to be sick. If the forces of evil destroyed the Valkyries and their warriors who would be left to defend the innocents? He knew what that meant. His family would have to face an entire underworld united under one malicious ruler, Him.
He couldn't suppress the amount of shock that thought brought to him. When he had started this mission his intention was to just save himself, but yet again he was now finding himself on a path to save his family and the entire world. Not at all what he had bargained for. But what other choice did he have?
"I can see that you realize the implications of my plan," Dark Chris commented thinking he had thrown his other self into a state of euphoric disbelief. "We shall rule a world of darkness, my friend."
It was all Chris could do not to flinch at the word 'friend' as he managed a quiet. "So we shall."
A/N: We all knew that Chris would have to save the world again, didn't we? It isn't like just saving himself would be enough. I also realize that some of you are gonna say, "hey astral projection doesn't work that way." Yes I do realize that, but considering the fact that Chris has two separate consciousnesses in the same body, I am manipulating the power a little to fit the situation. Just go with it. And also again, with the whole battle of good vs. evil I am putting forth my interpretation of what I think would be the outcome if either side won. I know some people think that life would be completely over afterwards but that's just their theory. Mine is as stated above. Utopia or Hell on Earth.