Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed world belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Well I had a small bout of writers block on this story so I didn't get anything written on it for a bit but I managed to get over it and work through it and now have another chapter for you. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 14 - Discovering the Demon
Chris had sat most of the night thinking through the things his mother and brother had told him. Nothing had prepared him for the news. Nothing could have. To be told that you might be responsible for the death of your own father was so much more than most people could bear, including Chris. And it wasn't just the fact that Leo was his father that was bothering him. This Leo was the one that he had helped to mold in the past. The man who had truly treated him as a son, unlike the one he had grown up with. This Leo was the same man who had been there for him when he lay dying after being stabbed by Gideon. The man who had truly loved him as a father should. Even if he wasn't the darker evil version of himself that had done such a horrible thing, wasn't Chris still somehow responsible? Hadn't he changed the past and in doing so had created this present hell for himself and those he loved?
But he knew he was getting ahead of himself. He knew that he had to try to keep hope in his heart. There was always the chance that Leo still lived. His darker self had mentioned that they had other prisoners that could orb in other parts of his underworld lair. It took all the self-control that Chris possessed not to go searching for those caverns as the early hours of morning crept by. Even though his heart was pleading for him to go find his lost father, his more logical brain knew that it was too risky. If Dark Chris found him snooping around it could set him back further than he could ever afford in his attempts to garner the dark beings trust. And with the balance of good and evil at stake he knew he couldn't risk that no matter how much pain he felt because of it. And he did feel pain. He knew physically it was impossible to feel anything as an astral projection but somehow he still felt as if a vice like grip had a hold of his heart. He knew it shouldn't be possible to feel that way but emotions could cause a person to imagine all sorts of pain he realized.
So he waited and bid his time, but he vowed that he would somehow find his father before the day was through. For he knew if he didn't he just wasn't sure how long he could withstand the way he was feeling.
Once he noticed that his counterpart was beginning to stir he let the projection again merge with the body. And to Chris' surprise the overwhelming sense of evil that he had come to associate with the Source seemed even stronger and it was almost more than he could stand to be able to slam down his defenses again. He had to admit that either the Source was becoming stronger inside his darker counterpart or his own resolve to withstand it was beginning to crumble. That wasn't exactly a possibility that he wished to dwell upon but it was very possible. But no matter how hard he tried he knew he couldn't fight the merge forever.
For a long time after his darker self was fully awake they did not speak. Chris could feel that his counterpart was in quite the good mood, which made Chris feel even worse but he just couldn't force any words around the imaginary lump he felt in his throat.
But eventually once they had gone through their morning routine of cleaning up and looking presentable Dark Chris decided to address the voice within his mind as they made their way out into the underworld passages. "Sleep well, my friend?"
Chris wanted to scream obscenities at the evil being but held his tongue. "As well as you," he answered calmly.
"Good. We have a lot of work to do today." Dark Chris said and Chris could hear the excitement in his voice.
"Oh, and what might that be?" Chris couldn't help the sarcastic edge that colored his voice.
But his counterpart did not seem to notice the sarcasm at all. "Ah see, you have given me quite a lot to think of and I am thinking that we might just have a way to get the Charmed Brat on our side."
Chris hadn't really thought much past his attempt to keep his brother safe, and certainly had not imagined them actually trying to turn Wyatt so his counterpart's word were shocking to say the least but he attempted to control his reaction and sound as if the idea meant very little to him. "Oh, and how exactly might we do that?"
"That, my friend, is a secret. One you will have to wait to find the answer to but I do think you will enjoy it just as much as I." Chris could hear the playful gloating in his mind and realized that he might truly be getting through to his darker self. His words sounded almost conspiratorial, as if he had his complete confidence. This could actually be the break he was searching for.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" he asked carefully. He knew he'd have to beat around the bush some. His dark self wouldn't be quite ready to just jump into his most well kept secret.
"You can ask," he answered with his mind only half on the conversation as he made his way through the caverns that Chris was already familiar with.
Chris realized that the statement did not guarantee him an answer to his question, but he would still have to try. "How exactly did we become the Source in this timeline?"
Dark Chris paused in his inspection of a group of swam demons that were attempting to self-duplicate without causing harm to them selves. Chris noticed that the attempt wasn't going so well and was very tempted to help them along slightly with a well-placed fireball. But he refrained as he awaited his answer. "That was something I had to do," Dark Chris finally answered but Chris could hear something in his voice that surprised him. Was that regret? Surely not. Chris waited quietly hoping his darker self would continue. "When you are being controlled by the strongest demon in existence, the only way to defeat that is to become an even stronger demon. And isn't the Source the strongest form of pure evil that ever existed?"
But which demon would be considered to be the strongest demon to ever exist? Chris needed more information, so he decided to attempt a few words. "I'm assuming this strongest demon is the demon that raised you."
Dark Chris growled slightly at that. The reminder that he was not born a demon was not necessarily something he wanted to hear. "Yes, Zankou did raise me, but I'm still not sure how much of your story I really believe, so don't push it."
There it was. The name Chris needed. His ticket to stopping all of this from happening. But he'd never heard of this Zankoo, had he? "And this Zankou is really that powerful?"
"He was, until I took in the spirit of the Source. You see Zankou remained trapped for centuries and I learned that he had been trapped by the original Source. But he was freed for the express purpose of defeating the Avatars, which ironically he did with the help of the Charmed Ones. Then in turn he tried to defeat them also. Unfortunately he failed when he tried. But you see they also failed because they thought they had vanquished him. But they hadn't. He told me the story many times. I was very young when it happened though. So I don't remember it myself." Chris listened intently to the story and began to have a sneaking suspicion that made him want to cringe. He did remember the name Zankou after all from his original timeline. The sisters had faced him not too long after they got Wyatt back from the underworld and it was the most difficult fight they'd ever experienced. It had even caused them to go into hiding for several months. It had also nearly cost them their lives and now come to find out Zankou had survived. It was a hard blow to take.
But there was something else about Zankou that Chris felt he should remember but he couldn't put his finger on it. "So how did you defeat him?" Chris asked hesitantly almost afraid of the answer.
"I did the same thing the original Source did. I trapped him," Dark Chris answered as if it should be obvious.
"You mean you didn't vanquish him?" Chris couldn't believe that Zankou was actually still alive out there somehow, always a threat looming in on his family. This was getting worse and worse with each piece of information he learned.
"Honestly, I'm not sure if there is any power alive today that could defeat him," Dark Chris admitted nonchalantly.
But Chris had heard something in his voice. Was it reluctance? But why would a being with little or no emotions be reluctant to kill the demon who had dominated him his entire life? Unless Dark Chris did suffer from bouts of emotion. Did he somehow care for the demon after all this time? Like he would a father possibly? Chris didn't want to admit it but it did make sense. Dark Chris wasn't born evil and he could have still felt emotional attachments towards the demon that raised him couldn't he?
Chris was so lost in thought over this new idea that he hadn't noticed when his darker self took him into a part of his underground lair that he hadn't seen yet. But he did take notice when his darker self began to speak again. "This is it. Our final weapon to use against the Charmed Brat."
Chris stared forward and noticed that the area of the underground that they had been taken to was darker and damper than any other part they had been in thus far and the air around him seemed colder. But what truly caught his eye were the barred cells that were built into the very walls and each cell had red crystals lining the twelve-foot ceilings and each of the crystals glowed like fire. Chris had only seen anti-orbing crystals once before in his life. They were a demonic tool that was often very hard to come by but apparently Dark Chris had managed to horde quite a few of them.
Then Chris' eyes were drawn to the farthest cell, which at the moment was the only one occupied. His heart caught at the sight of a man sitting against the cell bars with his back to them. His cloths were tattered and smeared with filth and his sandy blonde curls were matted with dirt and sweat. He had his knees pulled up to his chest with his arms resting across them and his forehead resting on the arms. Chris wanted to scream his name. Even though he could not see him completely there was no doubt in his mind that that mistreated and weary figure was none other than his father. But he stilled himself knowing that anything he might say could ruin everything he had worked so hard for.
So instead he talked internally to his darker self. "Who is he?"
"I didn't know what I had at first when I imprisoned him. But it didn't take me long to figure out that he was the Charmed Brat's father. But he sure is a curious fellow," Dark Chris hadn't even bothered to speak out loud to the prisoner yet and Chris found this quite a strange thing. Surely his father knew his captor was there.
"Curious how?" Chris finally asked not sure what to think of that statement.
"He saved me and in doing so betrayed his own kind. See he's an Elder and somehow they managed to discover my underground home here. They even had me trapped in a crystal cage and he was arguing with the others. They wanted to kill me but he absolutely refused. Finally they decided to attempt it without him. For a time there I actually feared that I'd be vanquished. But he stopped them and killed the one that was leading them. Not long after my demons arrived and we made quick work out of the rest of them, but for his actions I spared him." With every word Chris felt his heart breaking more and more. His father had even loved the darker version of him enough to kill one of his fellow Elders, someone who had possibly been his friend. He sacrificed everything he was and everything he believed in for the love of a son who would go on to imprison him and might never return his love in kind.
"Did he give you a reason why he saved you?" Chris asked hoping his voice did not sound husky with emotion.
"No, actually he hasn't said a word since the day it happened. I've tried everything to get through to him but he just sits there like that as if he was nothing more than an empty shell of a being." With those words Chris couldn't help the burst of utter despair he felt. No, he hadn't killed his father and for that he was grateful but instead he had sentenced him to a life of self-loathing and complete silence over the actions he had been forced to perform to save his son. Chris had never imagined that he would see the day that his father was a broken man, but there he was and it was Chris himself that had done this to him.
"What was that?" Dark Chris asked feeling the sudden surge of emotions.
Chris tried hard to slam his barrier back down but the heartache he was feeling threatened to burst through that barrier to encompass his entire body. He knew he'd have to somehow explain his emotions to his darker self, but exactly how could he? He thought for a moment, as Dark Chris waited not so patiently for his answer then the solution came to his mind. "I knew him," he thought slowly trying to project as little emotion into the word as he could.
He could sense his darker self's confusion over the statement and then went on. "Remember, I went back in time to change things. I had to get in good with the Charmed Brat's family to be able to change events."
"That's right. Hard to imagine that I actually knew them at one time," Dark Chris said shivering at the thought.
"It's probably also why he tried to save you. To him I was a person from the future that helped him save his son from turning evil. He never knew my true intentions. He probably felt he owed it to you," Chris lied effectively.
"Ah, that makes sense. It's a mystery that has been plaguing me for a year now. But you seemed almost sad when you saw him," his darker self questioned.
Chris was worried about his next statement. If he took it wrong it could be the end of the game, but what else could he say? "I have to admit the old man was interesting to be around. He sure kept me on my toes. You see, he didn't really trust me most of the time I was in the past and it was quite a challenge to keep a step ahead of him. But in the end I would have never made it back to my time without the potion he created. It just seems sort of sad that he had to end up this way. He was always the most interesting of opponents and I rather enjoyed our game of cat and mouse."
Dark Chris considered those words and then nodded accepting them without much argument. "What you say we try to rouse his attention?"
Before Chris could stop him his darker self had bent next to the cell bars and begun to speak out loud. "Hey old man. I saw your son yesterday." There was no reaction from Leo to the statement and Chris cringed at the malice he heard from his own voice. "Nothing to say?"
Leo still made no effort to communicate and Chris just couldn't handle the pain he knew it must be causing his father if his father was even aware of anything at all. "Let's just leave him be. He's obviously not gonna speak to us."
"Wait, I have one more thing to tell him," Dark Chris thought with an evil smile coming to his face.
"Old man, I know you can hear me and I've decided to attempt something. You'll be seeing your son again very soon, because I'm gonna use you against him and when he's ready I'll turn him to my side." This statement actually did bring Leo's head up off his knees but still he made no sound as he looked straight forward.
Chris wanted to scream at the rotten bastard to leave his father alone but of course that was impossible but still he was hoping and praying that they would just leave him be until he could come up with a plan to fix everything.
"Ta, ta, for now. We'll be seeing you again soon," Dark Chris said maliciously and then shimmered them back to another part of the underground.
"My wasn't that fun? But it will be even more fun when we start using him against his son." Chris could hear the glee in his darker self's voice and he wanted to run from it. To run from everything he was doing to those he loved, but he knew he had to stick to what needed to be done. So for the rest of the day he remained mostly silent as they continued to check the progress of his minions and their impending war on the Valkyries. But the entire time Chris was planning and scheming forming a plan in his mind that would save everyone that he loved.
A/N: Well that's the end of that chapter. I know, surprisingly not a real cliffhanger. But next chapter starts the real excitement, so everyone hold on and I'll update as soon as I can.