Lessons in Power
Wyatt Halliwell knew what it was to be important since the day he was born. As the son of a whitelighter and Piper Halliwell, the eldest and most powerful Charmed witch, he had been fawned over by fairies, nymphs and all sorts of good magical creatures all over the world. He had even been destined to be the most powerful force of good that the world was to ever meet; the Twice Blessed. As a newborn he was never in want for more attention.
He also learned that power was the key to everything from a young age. Just before his younger brother had been born an invisible force picked Wyatt up and teleported him into the deep dark caves of the Underworld. For the second year of his young life all he could remember was being literally stabbed in the back as fire and electricity pierced his small body. For what felt like hours on end he spent crying and screaming out for help that never came. Where were Mommy and Daddy? Why didn't they rescue him? Didn't they love him?
His break came when a darklighter appeared to lend his crossbow to his tormentor. Wyatt was half whitelighter and therefore darklighter poison should work on him. Before the arrow reached him Wyatt telekinetically sent the arrow shooting back towards his tormentor who disappeared in an explosion of orbs. His aunts came to the recue and vanquished the darklighter but it was too late – he had already successfully completed his first lesson in power: You had to be strong otherwise other people screwed you over. Wyatt never wanted to feel like that again.
That memory would fade into his subconscious where eventually it would do the most damage. Wyatt even blanked out on the face of his tormentor – he didn't need that haunting his dreams. Besides, he wasn't important anymore – Wyatt had vanquished him.
Betrayal was what he felt when he was introduced to his new younger brother. Was this pink squishy thing the thing his parents had been fawning over while he had been trapped and tortured in the demon underworld? Why were they making goo goo faces at it anyway? They should have been focusing on Wyatt. He couldn't see what was so important about the thing called "Chris" - it didn't even have powers, as far as Wyatt could tell. It certainly couldn't fight back when Wyatt made a point to orb him away to Grandpa's to show his parents that he was the stronger one. All it did was make Mommy very upset with him. She told him he should look after his younger brother, because that what older brothers were for. Wyatt hated it when his Mommy cried. Even though she had forgotten him he still didn't want to make Mommy cry.
He stopped orbing the thing called "Chris" around everywhere – although that still didn't mean he had to like it. The pink squishy thing kept crying and screaming all the time and Mommy and Daddy had to pay all their attention to it. Chris was nothing like the half manticore baby Mommy forced him to stop playing with – Chris was a fragile little thing and Wyatt hated it. He wanted to get rid of it.
He almost got his chance when a demon invaded the attic and made a grab for Chris, mistaking him for Wyatt. That was when Chris really started screaming and crying – a high-pitched wail that Wyatt recognised. Wyatt had made many wails like that while he had been a prisoner. Chris was really terrified – and something about that forced a lump in Wyatt's throat. Wyatt telekinetically sent a sword from the corner of the attic into the demon's heart. Wyatt had never wanted to feel vulnerable ever again. He realised he didn't want Chris to feel like that either.
Wyatt's second lesson in power came Daddy went away to become an Elder. Something happened that caused Daddy to miss Chris's third birthday. Wyatt didn't know what it was but Daddy had been crowned a hero and promoted to an Elder. The gift came with a price – he had to live "Up There" and wasn't allowed to visit his family in case his movement attracted darklighters and endangered the other Elders. Why did the Elders have to take Daddy away? According to Mommy the Elders didn't really need him; they were just a bunch of sadists he liked to torture people by toying with their lives. Somewhere in his young mind that made sense.
Shortly after Daddy left Wyatt threw his first power tantrum. The seas surged and nearly swallowed the Golden Gate Bridge. No one got hurt but Daddy had to rush back from "Up there" to calm Wyatt down. The same thing happened when he accidentally projected dragons from the television. Soon he discovered a pattern; whenever he made a big magical mess Daddy would come down, give a sympathetic ear and spend time with him.
Chris also tried to get Daddy's attention through more positive means. He drew pictures that Daddy never saw, got good grades that Daddy never praised him for and learned to play the piano that Daddy never listened to. Eventually he gave up and tried copying Wyatt but the results weren't the same. Chris was only an ordinary witchlighter whereas Wyatt was the prophesised Twice Blessed. Chris could only throw things around with his telekinesis – he couldn't project giants or trolls out of fairytales like Wyatt. Most of the time the damage Chris did was minor and Chris only ended up hurting himself. Even then Chris wasn't important enough for Daddy to come down to heal him and Wyatt ended up doing it.
Wyatt had always hated seeing Chris cry; it only reminded him of a painful distant memory he didn't want to remember. He felt pity for his brother for being so weak. He tried throwing power tantrums for Chris but Daddy simply assumed there was something wrong with Wyatt and would spend time with him. As soon as he realised there wasn't an emergency he'd leave.
That was when Wyatt learned that love was useless. Daddy could claim that he loved Mommy, Wyatt and Chris equally all he wanted but that didn't change the fact that as an Elder, Daddy prioritised in order of strength: Wyatt first, Mommy second and then Chris. You needed power to get attention.
The third lesson and the seal to Wyatt's fate occurred when his mother was killed by demons. They had just been lighting the candles for Chris's fourteenth birthday when they crashed into the manor and destroyed everything. Wyatt had been knocked out and by the time he came to his mother was already dead and Chris had almost been on his way out. Fortunately Wyatt had been able to save him but the damage had been done and the idealistic illusions preached by their mother died with her.
"The Event" reaffirmed his dormant belief that love was useless. Mom loved Wyatt and Chris with all her heart but that didn't change the fact that she died. She wasn't strong enough to stay with them. The oddly familiar feeling of powerlessness crept into his heart. It gave way to a determined anger that stopped him from being able to feel any other emotions. All that mattered was power and if you wanted to protect the ones you cared about you needed as much power as you can get.
You needed power to show your enemies you couldn't be fucked with. Well Wyatt was the fucking Twice Blessed wasn't he? He tracked down each of the demons that had been involved with "The Event" and demonstrated his power in a torturously slow manner. Each of those demons begged for mercy; but that only made Wyatt more abhorrent of their weakness. How could these lowly creatures kill his mother? There was a slight satisfaction from abruptly ending each of their pathetic lives but it didn't cover up the fact that he had been too weak to stop them from killing his mother to begin with.
Wyatt didn't know what to do with himself. The taste of vengeance wasn't as sweet as he thought it would be and killing those demons didn't bring his mother back. So he simply continued to paint the Underworld red with demon blood. He may as well spread the message. Chris would accompany him simply to state his concern about Wyatt's state of mind but Wyatt didn't listen. Chris was his younger brother and he was naïve; he didn't understand that he was doing this to protect him.
The Elders also began to worry. They sent his father back down to reason with him, just like old times. According to his father Wyatt was going against his destiny as the Twice Blessed and he needed to stop his reckless ways or the Angel of Destiny might intervene. Wyatt laughed. Screw destiny; he never wanted to be Twice Blessed tour de force of good anyway. Besides, what good was there in being good anyway? Being good didn't protect you from evil – his mother had been a paragon of virtue, saving innocents left, right and centre and she hadn't been saved. If she had focused on becoming stronger instead maybe she'd still be alive.
It was the Elders who made the first move. Whilst Chris had orbed "Up There" to find their father and presumably get him to talk to Wyatt again he overheard some of the Elders commissioning the Cleaners to come and wipe out Wyatt's existence. Chris had quickly warned Wyatt and before the Cleaners could get to him he got to them. After that Wyatt slipped off the radar and went into hiding in the Underworld. Reshuffling the Underworld to order came easily; he had already built up a fearsome reputation and demons soon learned if you joined Wyatt you wouldn't die a slow and painful vanquish. For other Upper level demons he appealed to their sense of injustice – why should Elders and humans be allowed to rule the Upper surface? They were pathetically weak beings that didn't deserve their position. It was time they were shown their place.
"Good" was an ambiguous term defined by hypocrites who didn't understand the meaning of it. The term "good" just gave beings an annoying moral superiority complex – at least demons and warlocks didn't bother pretending that they weren't on a quest for power. The Elders… pah. Wyatt couldn't name one good thing they ever did. The only thing he knew was that he didn't want to be another blind faithful pawn in their game of Good vs. Evil like his mother had been. He would carve his own destiny with his own fist, one that had nothing to do with what the Elders wanted. The only way he could stop being the pawn was to become the player, the one who made all the decisions. This required major reorganisation in the cosmos.
The world was almost completely organised. Wyatt had lost his father, his aunts and cousins during the war but he finally had control. He could make sure the demons didn't hurt anyone unless he wanted them to and anyone he defied his rule would be crushed. Well, almost anyone.
Of all the people to betray him Wyatt didn't expect it to be Chris. Chris had always been a minor player in the game, ignored by everyone because he wasn't important. Wyatt didn't understand; Chris knew what it was like to be powerless, he had been weak his entire life. If anything should have taught him the importance of power it should have been that. That's why Wyatt had to organise the chaos that was the Underworld to protect him from demons or any of the supposedly good magical creatures that would hurt him.
Despite all of this Chris coordinated with a network called the Resistance made of humans, witches and even some demons to defy Wyatt's rule. Before Chris turned his back on Wyatt he told him what he was doing was wrong. Wyatt couldn't help but laugh at him – he had always been the most like their mother. He also declared that he pitied Wyatt. Wyatt asked why; what was there to pity?
It was because Wyatt didn't have anyone to share it with, Chris said. The prize had come with the death of the Halliwell line. Chris and Wyatt were the last ones left standing and Chris wouldn't be standing at Wyatt's side.
Wyatt didn't quite know what it was that stopped him from crushing Chris. He could easily do it but he only felt empty at the notion. Although Wyatt would never admit it, Chris had a point; if he did kill Chris Wyatt would be truly alone and Wyatt didn't want to be alone. This was why he had to bring Chris back from his mission and make him understand why Wyatt needed to bring control to the universe.
Maybe it was love that stopped Wyatt from killing Chris. But Wyatt was too estranged to the concept to understand what it was anymore. He had been too focused on learning about power.
A/N: So, this is my take on your typical "Wyatt's decent into evil" story. Most authors seem to think that Wyatt was a good kid until "The Event" but I think if Gideon was the main reason that Wyatt turned evil then flashes of darkness would have shown during his childhood. I hope you liked it and feel free to send me your thoughts.