Disclaimer: I just checked… I still don't own Chris and Wyatt Halliwell or Charmed. I'm not making any money writing this. I'm just making a bit of free entertainment for myself and others that may be interested in reading it.
Author's Note: We're over the halfway point people! Thanks everyone so much for the reviews… I just wish some of those other folks who are reading this and not reviewing would click that little button at the bottom to let me know what they're thinking. Even it's just a short little "Keep up the good work" to motivate me. Sure, I love getting long reviews the best, but I like knowing who's out there reading this thing instead of just seeing more numbers on the 'hits' column. That said, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter… I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please review!
Oh, yes… and to LLC and Jess, I'm prepared for the comments that I just know are about to come once you get to the end of this chapter and see -yet again- an OFC. Good Lord, I can already say it before the words come from either of you: SEE! DAMSEL IN DISTRESS! But the rest wasn't crap. ;) …so, this is for you: WARNING: There is a Damsel in Distress moment coming, read at your own risk… lol. Love you both. I mean it and I'm glad that we talked about all that.
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Destined: The Charmed Sons
Episode 1.1, Pilot: The Crucible
Chapter Five
D.J could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he leaned against the door to the storeroom. He was holding his breath too and looking in dread at Wyatt's unmoving body. What was in those darts? he thought furiously. At least Wyatt was breathing; he could see the steady rise and fall of the witch's chest. But Wyatt being out cold was not a good thing. D.J. looked from Wyatt to the window and frowned. Nope, no way he could lift his friend back up through there, it was all he could do to drag Wyatt into this room. Shimmering was still out of the question. We are so screwed, D.J. thought pessimistically as he closed his eyes.
THUNK!
D.J.'s eyes opened again and he lifted them to look at the door right next to his head. The sharpened metal head of an axe was sticking through, mere inches from having hit him. The half-manticore opened his mouth in petrified disbelief as whoever was on the other side wrenched it back out. THUNK! This time it came closer, sending little splinters into the room. Snapping himself into action, D.J. dove away from the door, "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod…"
He grabbed Wyatt's shoulders with both hands and was shaking the witch in desperation, "This is not happening to me. Not happening… scary axe murderer trying to chop through the door…" The axe-split the door again and D.J. flinched, shaking Wyatt harder. "WAKE UP! Wyatt! Come on! What was in those darts… Wyatt!" he screeched.
The axe impaled the door again, splintering off more wood and D.J. heard the sound of someone's booted foot kicking at it now. He jumped up away from Wyatt and frantically searched the room for something heavy to push against the door. There was a big old desk, solid wood. D.J. grunted with effort and pushed it about an inch forward. "…this just sucks…" he panted and gave up, moving back to trying to rouse Wyatt, "If we survive this, I'm demanding a pay raise."
A swirl of lights appeared just next to D.J. and Wyatt. Chris had his arms crossed over his chest, "Since when did we start paying you?"
D.J. jumped to his feet and dove at the younger man. He clung to him, "I have never been so excited to see you before in my life…"
"You might change your mind about that once I get finished with the two of you." Chris brushed him off, making a face. Then he dropped down beside Wyatt. The axe chose that moment to strike the door again and Chris looked at it wide-eyed. Lifting his eyes to look at D.J. Chris said, "I'm not sure that I want to ask why someone is trying to break down the door with an axe." Chris checked Wyatt's pulse then made sure he was breathing before he gave him a good shake, "Rise and shine, Wy…"
THUNK!
Chris lifted his eyes to glare at D.J. in accusation, as Wyatt wasn't even remotely close to waking up. His pulse was slow and faint, but there, like he'd been drugged with something. Which, he had been of course, but Chris didn't know that yet.
"Don't look at me. I tried my best this time. I did!"
"Your idea of trying your best is locking yourself in a storeroom while a maniac with an axe tries to get in?"
"Wyatt hijacked me and has been holding me hostage all day," D.J. said.
Chris just shook his head and smacked Wyatt's face a couple of time. Wyatt didn't even groan. The axe hit the door again, followed by a foot solidly kicking it and the whole thing creaked and groaned. It wasn't going to last much longer. "Save it," Chris growled. He laid one hand on Wyatt's chest and held the other towards D.J. to take.
D.J. didn't even care about the orbing this time, he grabbed hold of Chris's hand. As soon as he did, the three of them vanished in a cloud of orbs.
With a splintering crunch the door into the storeroom finally broke inwards. The large man with the axe was the first through, while two other figures slipped through the opening behind him.
"Their whitelighter must have come," a female voice said, her face obscured by a porcelain mask and her body cloaked in black robes.
"They are whitelighters," the man with the axe said, moving over to the spot where the trio had disappeared from, "At least… two of them are."
"I thought he was a witch," the second masked and robed figure said, a male's voice.
"He is," the man with the axe said, to the confusion of the other two. The man with the axe turned and smiled a slow and sinister smile, "Not just any witch though. The witch. He'll be back, I know just how to bring him here again… he and his brother. The sons of a Charmed One. Get the altars ready and rouse the rest of the coven… it's time."
---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------
Chris orbed the three of them back to the apartment, and D.J. promptly staggered out of the room and into the bathroom looking green. Chris shook his head then returned his attentions to Wyatt, tapping his brother's cheek again, "Come on Wyatt. Wake up…"
D.J. staggered back into the living room, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
Chris looked up at him, "What is he, drugged or something?"
"Um… he kind of got shot by a dart of some sort."
"Great," Chris grumbled, he backed up from Wyatt and made a gesture with his hand. Telekinetically he lifted his brother up and levitated him over to the couch. It wasn't like he could have picked Wyatt up physically if he had tried to, being smaller. "You didn't happen to get one did you, so I can find out what was in it. Did you?"
"No," D.J. said. He grabbed a blanket and tossed it to Chris, who in turn tucked it over Wyatt, "I think it was just a tranquilizer dart though, if that's any help."
"Great. Just great," Chris grumbled, "Is that supposed to be good news?"
"Not really, but I do have some good news," D.J. offered.
Chris crouched next to his brother, lifted his eyes to look at the shaggy haired young man, "What?"
D.J. smiled awkwardly, "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geiko."
If looks could kill, D.J. would have been ash right then from the venomous look that Chris shot him. Had Chris not been so terribly worried about Wyatt, he probably would have found D.J.'s comment funny. He always appreciated good sarcasm. Right now just was just an exception to the rule.
---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------
The sun was beginning to set, even though it was difficult to tell that in Chicago for the rain that was pouring from the sky. Leo paced back and forth in front of the large windows at their gate in the terminal. He sighed and moved back to the seats to sit next to Piper.
She had just returned to the chairs herself, after having waited in line at the information counter. "The flight has been delayed for at least an hour," she said.
"Because of the rain?" Leo asked.
"Technical difficulties," Piper said.
Leo paled, "That doesn't sound good."
"Relax, sweetheart," Piper said, kissing his cheek, "I was kidding. Yes, it's because of the rain. They've apparently got backups on the runway. We may as well use the time wisely, I'll give the boys another call and let them know we're going to be a little late getting into Boston."
Leo got up with her as she made her way to the bank of payphones and sat down. She punched in the boy's phone number and was surprised when Chris answered on the second ring and his face appeared on the small, grainy payphone video screen.
"International Trans-mutual Conglomeration of Associates. May I help you?" the image of Piper's youngest son said.
"Chris, shouldn't you be in class?" Piper asked immediately, her earlier doubts resurfacing, "Is everything okay?"
"Yep, everything's shiny. Is that it? I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"Is something wrong?" Piper pried. That nagging sense that something was wrong was back with a vengeance. "You know you can tell me… I'm still your mother."
"Everything is under control," Chris said, sounding like he was in a hurry to get her off of the phone. Which just told Piper that everything wasn't under control. It was setting warning bells off in the concerned mother's head.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." Chris said, giving his mother a dazzling smile.
"Only fools are positive," Wyatt groaned, quoting a line from one of his favorite books, as he woke up.
"Oh, thank God," Chris exclaimed. Piper saw him look over his shoulder into the room behind him from the small video picture.
"What…? Chris, what's going on?" Piper demanded, her worries growing. That had sounded like Wyatt in the background. Nothing unusual there except for the extremely relieved expression she had been sure she saw cross Chris's face.
"Nothing. Gotta go, Mom. See you when you get here."
"Chris I---" click "…was going to tell you our flight's been delayed… Leo, they're up to something, I know it."
"They're always up to something Piper. You shouldn't worry so much."
---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------
Chris went from being worried about Wyatt to angry at him in a heartbeat's time. "You are in so much trouble Mister!" he shouted as soon as he hung up the phone on his mother. He turned away from the phone and stormed across the room towards the couch.
D.J. quietly whispered under his breath in his best Ricky Ricardo accent, "Lucy, you got some splainin' to do."
"I got a new power," Wyatt said quietly from where he was sprawled on the couch. He began to sit up, moving a bit stiffly.
"What's that? The power to almost get yourself killed? Sorry, bro, that one's not new. You have exactly five seconds to start explaining to me why you were in Salem, got shot with a dart, and were unconscious in a storage room with D.J. while an axe-wielding maniac was trying to break open the door. What were you thinking?"
One of the glasses on the counter behind Chris started to move as he passed it in his progression towards his brother and their friend. It rattled slightly, sliding around on its bottom edge in a quiet clatter.
"He wasn't," D.J. contributed.
"Stay out of this. I'll get to you in a minute," Chris growled. His green eyes were locked on Wyatt. The glass on the counter move a bit faster. So did the two coffee mugs that D.J. and Wyatt had left out from this morning.
"Hey, don't yell at him, it's not his fault," Wyatt grumbled defensively.
"Oh, so you're actually taking the blame this time? You must really have not wanted to clean your room to pull a stunt like this. What is the matter with you? You're not invincible, when are you going to get that through your thick skull!" Chris snapped. The first of the glasses flew off the counter and smashed against the kitchen wall behind Chris's back.
D.J. flinched. Wyatt just locked his jaw stubbornly and looked at the approach of his younger sibling.
"Yeah, well you're not invincible either Mr. Gung-Ho-Constantly-Looking-for-Demons-to-Vanquish! You're the one who's always looking for trouble," Wyatt countered.
There went the two coffee mugs, both flinging off the counter and slamming into the ground as though someone had grabbed them in their fist and thrown them to the floor with all their might. D.J. flinched again and swallowed hard. He so did not want to be in the middle of this.
Chris's emerald eyes were flashing. "It's called being pro-active and don't you dare try to turn this onto me. I saved your ass. Again. When I go 'looking for trouble', I at least let you know where I'm going and don't mask myself from you un--"
"What?! Are you forgetting about the time that y--"
"Not finished!" Chris snapped again. The picture frames on the mantle began rattling as though they were the next to go. He wasn't about to let Wyatt try to turn this around on him. Chris looked very much like their mother, hands on his hips and green eyes flashing like polished emeralds. Wyatt shut his mouth and let his brother finish. "Unless I know that I can handle it."
"That's bullsh--"
"SHUT UP! I'm still not done!" More glass breaking as the pictures on the mantle hit the opposite wall. D.J. squeaked, wishing Wyatt would just shut up. The Twice-Blessed Witch had his jaw clamped shut to the point where the muscles in it were twitching, but he let Chris finish talking.
Chris continued, his voice dangerously quiet now, "When I do realize that I can't handle something I have always called for you, haven't I? I don't wait until I don't have any options left. I use my head and when that fails I call in the cavalry. Were you planning on calling me at all today? Somehow I doubt it and if you hadn't gotten yourself shot and knocked out, I wouldn't have known just how 'in over your head' you were until it was too late. What if it had been a Darklighter, Wyatt?"
"It wasn't…"
"It could have been," Chris said hotly, "And it wouldn't have been the first time either!"
Wyatt sighed and lowered his eyes, "I'm sorry."
Chris rounded on D.J. again and the half-manticore sunk back against the couch wishing he could vanish into it. "As much as I appreciate Wyatt taking the blame for this, I am by no means holding you guiltless. He got the idea to go racing into danger from somewhere. I know it came from you because almost every time he's done something like this, I find out that somehow you're involved!"
D.J. flinched, half expecting some heavy book to fly off the bookshelf and crack him in the head. When it didn't come, he cracked his eyes open to look at Chris. The younger witch was glaring at him, awaiting a response.
"I came to tell you both there'd been another murdered witch… because I'd finally heard more about what was going on from some folks in the er…" D.J. decided to leave the part about the Underworld out, Chris was already mad enough, "…I thought maybe you two would want to go look into it…"
"And what did you call it, D.J.? Wyatt 'hijacked' you, before you could tell me about it?" Chris asked heatedly.
"He orbed me before I could do anything to stop him. Don't you think if I could have shimmered, I would have gone to get you? Or, hell, I would've gotten us out of there before the axe-murderer starting hacking down doors. He knew you had classes today. He didn't want you to have to get involved and worry…"
"How thoughtful of him," Chris said dryly.
"You two should get a room, sticking up for each other like that," Chris added with harsh sounding sarcasm, folding his arms over his chest. He was looking at the two of them like a pair of kids he'd caught sticking their hands in the cookie jar. Very slowly counting to ten in his head and trying to calm down. "All day long I've been thinking he's just being an irresponsible slacker and avoiding doing his share around here… instead I find out he's being some kind of impulsive gumshoe out playing 'Nancy Drew' with you. I hope you found out something worthwhile from your little perilous escapade."
"Would it help if I said I was sorry again?" Wyatt asked.
"A little," Chris said, unable to stay mad at Wyatt no matter how much he tried. Now that he had let off his steam from the anger, the worry came rushing back. He finally sat down on the arm of the couch next to Wyatt and gave him a fierce hug. Then Chris balled up his fist and punched his brother in the arm, "Don't scare me like that again okay?"
Wyatt hugged Chris back, and gave him a shove off of the couch's arm onto the floor, "Thanks for saving my ass."
"I'm trying not to make a habit of it. Now, what was this about you getting a new power?" Chris asked from the floor. It wasn't like his Twice-Blessed brother didn't have enough of them already.
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The weather in Boston was still clear, since the storm front that was pummeling the center of the country had not yet reached the east coast. The sun had made its final descent in the sky, painting it in purples and golds. Detective Andrea Payton sat in the front seat of her car across the street from a coffee shop. Two steaming cups of coffee sit in the coffee holder, as the young woman spoke on the phone in her idling car.
"Thank you," Andrea said, hanging up the phone. She dialed another number, "Hey, Matt… just got off the phone with victim number four's parents. He had a necklace too. Get this… symbol for water. We've got Water, Earth, Spirit, Air..."
"I just finished speaking with the parents of the kid from this morning. They said he'd never been anywhere without his. I'll let you have one guess as to what it was."
"Fire. Sounds like our serial killer has something very specific in mind."
"Oh, they ran the chem. lab on those samples you took from the burn spot in the corner. Your friend was right about that too. I don't believe in that stuff, but I think he really could be psychic. That or we need to move him to the top of our suspects list…"
"Wyatt's not a suspect, trust me, Matt. What were the results?"
"There was definitely DNA present. We're running the results through missing persons, but whoever it was just may not have been reported missing yet. You coming back to the station?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way now. I just stopped to get us some coffee. I've got a feeling we're going to need it." She hangs up and rubs her hands through her hair, "I hope you know what you're doing Wyatt. I know you were keeping something from me this morning. I just don't know what it is…"
Andrea pulled her notepad out and made five dots on the page, then one by one as she said the words, drew lines connecting them until they formed a pentagram, "Water, earth, spirit, air and fire…" She drew a circle around the outside of the pentagram, uniting all five points. "All that's left is--" Andrea squeaked as a hand snaked over her back seat and covered her mouth with a chloroform soaked rag.
A man in a porcelain mask leaned over the seat to whisper in her ear, "Power." Her eyes rolled back into her head and she sunk limply against the seat of her car.
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Author's Note: So, how was that? What do you think is going to happen? Am I moving too fast now? Was the dialogue okay? The argument between Chris and Wyatt? I won't know what you all think of how this is going unless you tell me. That means, you have to click that little button at the bottom of the page and write me a review. I'll even take the grumbles about Andy from a certain couple of reviewers that I know are going to have something to say about her… and I'm glad that we talked about it. I feel a lot better now. Ya'll are great for being so patient with me. Mwah! ;)