Chapter Twenty-seven:
When Chris and Bianca arrived at the school it was late and most everyone was sleeping, after their exhausting day. It appeared as if many of them had cried themselves to sleep. However, the pair could still sense the overwhelming sorrow that was hanging over everyone after Brian and Leo's deaths. They decided to try and get some sleep as well, although neither of them had much luck.
When morning finally arrived Prue immediately approached Chris, not noticing or recognizing Bianca she was so upset. "Did you find out what happened with Leo and the elders?" She questioned him. She was hoping against hope that her vision had been wrong. "You were right." He answered her. "Leo and nine other elders are dead. The rest of them have fled from the heavens. We are on our own now."
Prue was staggered by the indifference in Chris voice. He had just lost his father, and he only seemed to feel annoyed if anything at all. This worried her to no end, she knew that deep down Chris had to be devastated at yet another loss. Deciding to change the subject she told Chris about Brian. "I know." He told her. I asked one of the remaining elders to come down and heal him, but she told me it was too late. Prue nodded before finally noticing Bianca.
Something seemed familiar to her about the young woman standing beside Chris. And then she realized just where she had seen Bianca before. "Chris, why is this woman here. She is a demon, evil. She tried to kill senator Hall. She works for Wyatt." Prue did not give Chris a chance to answer as she began to confront the Phoenix witch. Bianca stepped back indicating she did not want a fight and Chris stepped between them. "This isn't what you think Prue." Chris told her. "Bianca she has changed. She is good. If it wasn't for her I would never have been able to escape Wyatt's prison."
Prue looked at her cousin skeptically. She was not sure Bianca could be trusted, but Chris seemed to trust her, and well Prue had complete faith in her cousin. "If you say so." Prue relented, before adding sharply, staring down Bianca- "It just better be true. I don't want you hurt Chris." Chris was not all that surprised by his cousin's reaction. "Don't worry about me." He told her. "I'm okay, how are you?" He could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't great.
"It's…It's just hard. I'm worried about Bridget, and Brittany, and Danielle. They are all devastated and there is nothing I can say to make it better. What is worse is that all of this is my fault. If I hadn't been taken by Wyatt in the first place, We all would have been together, stronger, able to face him." Chris took his cousin in his arms as Bianca backed away to give the cousins some privacy.
"It is not your fault." Chris told Prue. "It's Wyatt's. He needs to be stopped. One way or another" Prue agreed but she hated to think that it may come down to them having to kill there own family. "So how are you so sure you can trust this Bianca?" Prue asked. "I just am. She is the only reason I am not still Wyatt's captive, and the only reason that it took Wyatt so long to find you." "What do you mean?" Prue asked intrigued.
"Well after you all rescued the Senator, Wyatt was set on finding you. Bianca volunteered to search for you herself and well she kept putting Wyatt off claiming she was not having any success." He explained to her. "Okay, then perhaps she isn't all bad, but I am going to keep my eye on her." Chris smiled. "I wouldn't expect no less." Prue nodded. "I need to go check on Bridget, see how she is. She is really hurting." Chris nodded understanding that Prue needed to be there for her friend. "I'll come too." He told her.
Meanwhile Bianca had gone over to take a seat over on the old bleachers. Seeing Chris' friends living here in such an old rundown building, made her see the world in another light. Here were all of these good witches, many of them only children and teenagers, who were sacrificing everything just to fight the good fight.
A few months ago, Bianca could not have even comprehended such selflessness. Sure, she always hated her job, but that was mostly because of how it made her feel. She hated the guilt she felt over what she did, and she hated taking orders from slime like Wyatt. Chris however had changed her. She felt herself truly and deeply caring about another person more than she did herself, and she felt so much admiration for Chris and his friends. She knew that she wanted to help them in their fight.
Sitting not too far from her on the bleachers was an older man. She recognized him as senator hall, the man she had tried to kill not too long ago. He nodded her way, not seeming to recognize her. He looked completely dejected. She found herself feeling bad for him, something she was not used to. Usually she only looked out for number one. Not knowing what else to do, she approached the man, hoping she could do something to help.
"Hey." Was all she said at first. He looked up surprised as if he had not noticed that she had came and sat down next to him. "Hi. I don't think we have met." He told her. "I am John Hall." "I'm Bianca." She answered. "Are you alright?" She asked him. "Honestly I haven't been alright for awhile now. My entire life just seems meaningless to me, next to what you kids do. Protecting the innocent, fighting demons." He was assuming that she was just another witch who had come to hide out with the group. "And now, because that kid Brian and his friends saved my life, he is dead, at only 18." Bianca wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't all that good at comforting people. "It isn't your fault. There is nothing you could have done. Besides if you were not in the picture Wyatt would have found another reason to go after them, he just wanted an excuse."
The senator nodded. Logically he knew Bianca was right, but it didn't make him feel any better. He looked over to Danielle in the corner who was sobbing quietly. "See that young woman. She isn't even 18 and yesterday she threw herself into harms way to save my life and then brought me to safety. By the time she got back to help her friends the man she loved was mortally injured. How am I supposed to live with that huh?" Bianca was not sure how to answer. "I don't know." She told him. "I don't know."
While Bianca and the Senator were talking, Prue and Chris had made there way over to Bridget who was trying so hard to comfort her sister when it was obvious she was devastated herself. Chris took Bridget into her arms, and let her have a good cry, while Prue tried to comfort the younger Harley girl.
When it seemed that Bridget had finally cried every last tear she pulled back from Chris and dried her eyes. "I'm glad you are okay, and that you are back." she told him. He simply nodded. "I am so sorry." He told her. "If only I had made it back sooner." "It's not your fault Chris, you can't blame yourself. If you hadn't shone up when you did, Brian would not have been the only one of us to die." Chris didn't respond at first and she realized her mistake. "Gosh I am so stupid. He was not the only one. I am so sorry about Leo." She told him.
"It's okay." He responded blankly. "Leo made his choice. He died fighting for the greater good." Bridget could sense the subtle anger in Chris voice. She could read his thoughts too. She knew that the loss was affecting him much more than he would admit. "Right." She said not knowing what else to say. "You just really need to know that we are all so glad you are back. At least one good thing happened yesterday." Chris simply nodded, before giving the young girl who was practically a sister to him another warm embrace.
Brittany came over to give Chris a hug as well, and echoed Bridget's sentiment that they were all glad he was back. Chris felt so guilty, here was this twelve year old girl who should be enjoying her childhood who instead was grieving her big brother. And now she was thanking him when he had not gotten to the club to help in time to save Brian. "Just…please don't leave us too." the young girl choked. Seeing Brittany so devastated just broke his heart. "I won't." he told her before giving her a comforting hug. "I promise." He was desperately hoping that it would be a promise he would be able to keep.
Meanwhile Bridget had taken Prue aside to talk. "I'm really worried about Danielle." She said. "She is absolutely devastated. She loved Brian. And well, she hasn't said a word to anyone since well… you know." Bridget's voice trailed off. Prue was worried too. Over the past couple of weeks they had all become very close and Danielle was always positive and upbeat. Now she was just totally withdrawn. She did not want Bridget to have to worry though. "Give her time." She told her friend. "It has only been a day and well, some people deal with things in different ways." Bridget nodded.
"Your right," Bridget agreed, but she did not seem totally convinced. "Still though I am going to try and talk to her. Brian would want us all to stick together. He loved all of us." Prue nodded. Maybe helping Danielle would help Bridget also. She thought. "Do you want me to come too?" Prue asked. "Yeah that would be good." Bridget responded. The two girls held hands as they walked over to the other side of the gymnasium.
When they reached the tiny corner that Danielle had planted herself in they quietly took a seat next to their sobbing friend. Bridget took her hand. Somehow being close to the girl who had won her brother's heart made her feel closer to him. "Do you need anything?" Prue asked breaking the silence. She immediately realized how stupid the question must have sounded. Danielle simply shook her head no. This was followed by a long, uncomfortable silence.
Feeling awkward it was Bridget's turn to try and break the ice. "Well if you do, know that we are here, whatever you need." Danielle looked up, attempting a half smile, but failing miserably, and nodded. She appreciated her friends more than she could say, but at that moment she just wanted to be alone. Bridget could sense Danielle's thoughts and signaled over to Prue for them to give her some time alone. "If you need to talk we are here." Prue told her, then gave her friend a kiss on the forehead, before her and Bridget got to there feet leaving there friend alone once again.
The devastation among all of the witches was abundantly clear. They had all become a family, and now they had lost two of their own, Leo and Brian. It was a blow that many of them, if not all of them would never really recover from. In their time of sorrow they desperately clung to one another. Chris was holding onto Bianca for dear life, while Prue tried to bury herself in Sean's arms, and Bridget sat with her younger sister in her lap, wishing she could make everything better. Everyone except Danielle, had someone to hold onto. She though remained in the corner alone. After all, the only arms she wanted around her were those of the boy she loved. And those arms were gone, as was he. In that moment she could not imagine ever being happy again.