Disclaimer: Blah blah. Not mine!
Chapter Eight: And We Will Be Again.
November 16th 2027 1:30 pm.
Bianca was familiar with blood. She had to be, and not for the reason people would immediately believe. It was the very first thing you were taught as a young member of their coven. She'd stitched up her first wound on her mother when she was six, popped the first bone back into place at eight, mixed numerous healing salves and curative potions all through her life. Being a witch was always dangerous, no matter what you chose to do with your powers. However, unlike normal witches, Phoenixes weren't allowed to have whitelighters. The elders didn't approve of them, didn't like that they could shimmer, didn't like that they judged the world on a case by case basis, that their morals didn't quite align. There was never the hope of a gold healing glow for her...
An ice cold feeling shot down her spine and then all she knew was pain. When she looked down at the new wound, a jagged hole in her stomach, well, she thought it was over. No one could fix this. The Pale Man stood between her and Wyatt. Every time the twice-blessed made an attempt to help or to take a swipe at him, the Pale Man would disappear and reappear, keeping Wyatt away. She scoffed inwardly, not at Wyatt really, just at the situation. She knew it by sight, the man was just toying with them. She pressed her hand to her stomach and found herself falling slowly sideways, unintentionally falling just next to her mother. She heard Wyatt growl in frustration and felt the blood ooze through her fingers. Hopeless. All hopeless.
Haven't we been here before?
The words faded into her brain, images of a cold attic and someone holding her hand. Despite the cold atmosphere of the images, she felt suddenly warm.
And we will be again...
Awareness snapped into her blood deprived brain. Phoenixes weren't allowed to have whitelighters... but she did. Before the blood seeping out of her took the last of her awareness from her, she whispered his name.
1:31 pm
Chris detached himself from his mother's grip without an explanation and orbed blindly, shooting for the sense in the back of his mind. He hit the floor clumsily, crashing to his knees next to Bianca, the scene coming into sharp focus. He recognized the wound in her stomach in a painful flash of memory, he recognized it even without the shard of wood angling out of it. His eyes flickered to the bodies around. Phoenixes he recognized from the war, each dead of an injury he had either heard about or witnessed personally. All from their other lives, like they'd been plucked out of that time and transported onto these bodies.
Chris pressed a hand to the side of Bianca's face, her eyes opened for a bare second, hazy with pain. He didn't waste any more time. He couldn't heal her, Wyatt could, and that asshole was keeping him from doing it. The sense was there before he even consciously called for it. The same feeling that he'd used the last time he'd met the Pale Man. He could feel the stretch and ping of reality around them, feel the Man's power, feel time bend.
He waited a second just after the man disappeared again, and launched up, planting himself firmly between the man and Wyatt just before he reappeared. With a violent slash of a hand, Chris sent the Pale Man skidding across the floor, the only thing that kepd him from crashing noisily against the far wall were the bodies that kept slowing him down.
"Chris, what are you-" Wyatt managed to get out before Chris cut him off.
"No time." He growled and used his telekinesis to push Wyatt in Bianca's direction, "Heal her. Now."
Wyatt just nodded somberly and obeyed, winding over to where the last breathing phoenix lay just in time for the Pale Man to reappear in front of Chris, hand extended. Chris knocked the hand away with his powers, suddenly focused on that movement as he saw his own arm flash up, showing the bandage wrapped around it. It was the first time he'd really looked at it since it happened, and the memories from his past life flowed forward to meet the sight.
It was in the last two years he was in that hell world, Wyatt wanted a show of power, he wanted to flood the last bits of any rebellious minds away from his utopia. He was going to use a blood spell. He was going to call on the Halliwell line to do his dirty work. Bianca warned him, tried to get him to hide in Valhalla, but he couldn't. He made a counter spell, and it required blood, and lots of it to compensate for the power difference.
The memories played like a bad slide show and faded, leaving him with only the memory of when he'd first met the Pale Man in the library. When Chris had stepped around him to leave, he hadn't noticed the man brush a finger against his arm just before it happened. That's why it wouldn't heal. The wound was self inflicted, just from an entire other lifetime.
"That's what you do." Chris said mostly to himself, watching the Man climb up from where he'd been knocked to the floor, "You make past injuries appear in the present." Just with a touch. He was part amazed and part just buying time. Even though Chris somehow (and he wasn't about to look that gift horse in the mouth) had some foresight into what the man was doing, he couldn't keep this up for long. He just needed to go long enough for Wyatt to heal Bianca and them to get out.
"Past injuries, Alternate injuries, Future injuries. All the same." The Pale Man giggled insanely and demonstrated the process with his hands, "As long as they are at the correct place to bend!"
Chris stole a look over to Wyatt, seeing the gold glow washing over Bianca, the wound was closing painstakingly slow. He clued back into the Pale Man's motions a moment too late as he moved past him, becoming a silver streak in sped up time as he darted past Chris and towards Bianca, his fingers inches away from her and his brother. Chris damned the consequences and tackled the small man, orbing them both out and across town before they hit the floor.
Neither of them had the agility to recover from the fall, they both tumbled into the new scenery, rolling across cracked asphalt before they came to a painful halt. Chris didn't move for a moment, he was too concentrated on getting rid of the bright sparks behind his eyes that had nothing to do with the orbing. The pale man didn't seem quite as shaken up or maybe he was and just couldn't find it in his twisted mind to care. He was flat on his back a few feet away, giggling at the sky, bouncing his heels against the ground in a childish motion.
Chris glared at him, "You're insane..."
This made the man giggle more, "Clarity is often confused for insanity." He intoned wisely, "I see the way the world works, the rest are meddlers like you."
Chris twisted so he could attempt to get up, two severely bruised ribs complaining as he did. He didn't give a damn. He just wanted to see how the little insane bastard would "see the world" if he got his head smashed in with a rock. He didn't get a chance. Just as he sat up, the world shifted again. The empty parking lot they were sitting in changing into something altogether more beautiful and frightening at the same time.
What once was dirty asphalt turned into pristine white slabs of tile. The small islands of grass were replaced with strategic and perfectly placed hedgerows dotted with manufactured flowers and vines that crept up carefully controlled latticework. The broken riverside warehouses were no longer rusty boxes but sweeping architectural master works brimmed in by high walls dotted with video screens bigger than semis every ten feet. Screens that were proclaiming the wonders of the modern world. It was probably the most beautiful city in the world.
Chris was terrified of it.
"Hah ah!" The Pale Man crowed from his spot on the ground, "Many apologies on the passing of your friend. It seems I have won."
Chris was up on his feet in a flash but he knew that the Pale Man would be gone by the time he got there, disappearing to god knows where. He slammed his fists down in the spot anyway, falling to his knees in frustration, forehead to the stone floor, fists clenched at his temples.
"While the war rages outside of our doors, Camelot keeps us safe."
He pressed his hands over his ears and clenched his eyes shut, trying not to hear the woman speaking on the screens. He couldn't be here, this wasn't happening again. This was just another temporary shift, he still had time. He just had to wait for it to shift back. It didn't.
"Please be on the lookout for any rogue witches or those who conspire with them. If you do, please call this number and a witch retrieval team will arrive shortly."
If the world didn't shift back, that meant Bianca was dead... again. The irony wasn't lost on him. He'd promised her they'd be here again, and they were, to near identical proportions. She was dead and he was failing. He was getting so tired of failing...
"All praise the Halliwell name as it protects us in these harrowing times."
Chris pulled his hands away from his ears and sat up, face impassive as he stared out around him, entirely unsurprised to hear the sound of shimmering clog the air. He looked up as the demons circled around him, not giving them the slightest hint of what was running through his head.
"I guess you guys are the retrieval team?" He told them conversationally, the situation making him sort of giddy. They just frowned at him. His head was swimming, his whole body ached, there was an open hole where his hope had been... funny thing though, his will to fight was still entirely intact. Chris climbed up to his feet slowly giving the closest demon an only slightly psychotic smile. "Just try it, I dare you."
1:35
Wyatt leaned into the healing, dredging up every spare emotion and feeding it into the process. It was going slow, way too slow, and the feeling was familiar. It was the same feeling he'd gotten when he'd tried to heal Chris, like there was just something in the way, some invisible barrier that was keeping him from what he was supposed to do. He felt defeat sneaking up even as he kept trying to heal. The only thing that had saved Chris last time was the combined healing powers of him and Paige and he didn't have that now, he didn't even have his full energy.
Bianca's eyes slid shut, head listing to the side and the world seemed to fall with it. Wyatt felt the shift as it happened, the room subtly changing. The bodies and blood surrounding him disappeared, the room went through small almost imperceptible changes, desks switching positions, bookshelves filling with books that weren't there before. The lack of bodies should have lifted the foreboding feeling in the room but, to Wyatt, it only felt more sickly. Just as soon as the shift finished, the barrier blocking his healing disappeared with the rest of it and, like someone letting go of one end of a tug of war rope, Wyatt fell into the healing with more power than usual. The wound in the Phoenix's stomach closed almost immediately and Bianca dragged in a ragged breath, hand snapping out to latch onto Wyatt's, fingernails digging in the skin of his forearm reflexively.
Wyatt looked down in confusion at the pain, he'd been wearing long sleeves before. He looked down at himself, noticing the pitch black outfit he was wearing, he felt the tickle of hair along the sides of his face seeing out of the corner of his eyes that it reached down to his chin, then he looked back down at Bianca. Somewhere in the time he'd been healing her, her appearance had changed drastically as well. Her hair was shorter and her outfit, well, it certainly left less to be imagination, black leather with silver buckles that didn't entirely close the gap.
He stared down at her with the same confusion he could see reflected back in her face about him. He opened his mouth, trying to figure out something to say, but he only succeeded in mumbling a curse that would have had his mom slapping him upside the head.
"You've got that right, at least," Bianca said in breathless agreement, sitting up slowly from her spot on the floor and looking around, "Something is very very wrong."
"Isn't there always?" Wyatt sighed heavily in exasperation, standing up and wordlessly offering a hand to help Bianca the rest of the way up. To her credit, she only gave him a mild look of annoyance before she accepted it, this wasn't the time to pick fights.
Bianca stared around the room, noting the changes piece by piece before she tossed a look back to Wyatt, "Is this some kind of Halliwell thing?"
Wyatt raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know," Bianca tossed her hands up, "You Halliwells have things. Things happen to you that don't happened to anyone else. I just though you might have some kind of past experience with this."
"Experience with what? Spontaneous costume changes, disappearing bodies, shifts in reality?" Wyatt snapped his mouth shut at the look Bianca was giving him. "Well... okay, sometimes yes. Not all the time. It's not a thing." Wyatt crossed his arms and refused to act like a petulant kid. He didn't know what it was about this Bianca chick but she just had the habit of rubbing him the wrong way. Nothing good had happened since she'd shown up and it just didn't feel right taking crap from someone who was even mildly demon flavored, no matter what Mel had said.
Wyatt stopped then, feeling like the floor had dropped out from under him. Bianca noticed immediately, stepping a little closer, "What is it?"
"I can't sense Mel," Wyatt breathed the words in disbelief and cast his senses out farther. He couldn't sense anything really. Even the ever present hum that was the elders was conspicuously missing. He didn't even know how that was possible. "I can't sense anyone..."
The door banged open behind them without any preamble, eight darkly clad demons stepping through. The way they moved was organized, in step, marching in a V formation that looked distinctly military. As a matter of fact, the whole thing looked military. While demons didn't exactly have an individual fashion sense, Wyatt had never known them to wear the exact same thing unless they were the same type of demon. These were wearing uniforms. Then, just as the whole situation was bordering on insanity in Wyatt's mind, the demons went and did something even more odd. They dropped to the floor one one knee and bowed.
Wyatt was, for once in his life, way too shocked to say anything. He snapped a look over at Bianca who was staring at him with wide eyes, the only thing from keeping her from being open mouthed in complete awe was her years of training. Wyatt sent a desperate look to her, looking for any sort of explanation. These were her types, he tried to intuit to her, what was he supposed to do. A small jolt of her shoulders served as a shrug in return.
"My king," The demon at the lead of the formation said, though he kept his head down, shoulders tense as if he was expecting intense pain at any second, "We heard sounds, did you need our help?"
Wyatt looked back over at Bianca who had succumbed to the urge to stare, open mouthed. My King? She mouthed the words at him in disbelief. He shrugged back.
"Is everything alright?" The demon prompted again, looking up. Bianca's face dropped into something impassive, bordering on threatening and Wyatt took her cue to do the same.
"Yes," Wyatt managed to say without stumbling, folding his arms imperiously, "Everything is just fine." He almost said thank you, but a sharp look from Bianca told him better. The demon bowed his head again in acknowledgment before turning a look at Bianca.
"Did you require our assistance any further Ma'am?"
Bianca squared her shoulders and looked at the demon as if he was completely inconsequential, a look Wyatt had seen on many upper level demons when asked anything. "You'll be called when you're needed." She said darkly, giving them a pointed look toward the door. The demons didn't wait a second longer, they slunk out like submissive dogs, metaphorical tails between their legs. Neither Wyatt or Bianca eased up until the sounds of their feet disappeared down the long hall, as soon as it did the two of them turned to look at each other with openly confused faces, neither quite knowing what to say.
Wyatt ended up settling for the first thing that came to his mind, "What in the hell..."
1:50
Chris slammed his back into the wall a little harder than he was intending to, jostling his ribs painfully. He clamped his mouth shut, keeping himself from letting out a pained hiss or any other sound that might give his position away. Good thing too, as the second he flattened himself against the wall one of the supposed "Retrieval Team" dashed by, face looking a bit bloody from the loose brick Chris had sent flying at him. They really should have secured anything minutely tossable, but then again, the people of Camelot weren't exactly expecting someone with telekinesis to just waltz in. They didn't think anyone was that brave... or dumb. Or unlucky, as Chris's case was. He only dared to breathe after the footsteps had faded somewhat, easing back into the wall and bringing up his sleeve to keep the cut on his forehead from dripping into his eye.
This really wasn't going well, it really wasn't. Being dropped back into the alternate timeline without any real plan, no idea where he stood, and no concept of even what direction he should be heading. He honestly didn't care at the moment, his mind was in complete fight or flight mode and that was the only thing keeping him sane, especially with all the old memories pressing forward.
Chris had been able to avoid dealing with the memories before just by avoiding their triggers but, really, this whole timeline was one big trigger, there was no way to hold it back. While the information he was pulling from his old memories was extremely useful, the feelings that came with them were not. He could not afford to turn into an emotional wreck right now.
A clang outside of the alley startled Chris back into reaction, diving out of the way just in time for a fireball to scorch the wall behind him. Chris returned the favor by slamming the demon into a wall and jumping over his body to get back out into the empty street.
...or what he thought was an empty street.
The once empty air seemed to fold in upon itself showing a full horde of demons of every shape and size. Chris recognized a good many of them and they seemed to remember him as well, if the looks of pure hatred were any clue. It seems his reputation for being a pain in the regime's ass had gotten ahead of him, they'd called in at least two extra teams, all hell bent on bringing him down. Chris just glared at them with a bravado he didn't feel. It'd required a miracle to vanquish this many demons at once.
And then a miracle dropped out of the sky and made the demons eat lightning. Chris turned his head away from the blinding light only for the second it was there. When he turned back the three demons in the middle of the group were now scorches on the usual pristine floor. Standing in front of them, staring at his hands as if they were on fire, was Leo Wyatt.
"Elder," One of the demons said unhelpfully, shuffling back in fear. You could see the indecision on his face, trying to figure out if he was more scared of the Elder in front of them or the Source that had hired him. Leo saw that on his face too and raised his hands at the rest of the demons.
"No one," Leo said coldly, "Messes with my kids."
Chris punctuated that sentence by telekinetically pulling down one of the semi truck sized video screens from the wall, crashing it down on top of the whole right flank of demons. The remaining ones scattered. As soon as they were gone, the threatening aura Leo was using drained out of him, leaving him looking tired and confused. He turned around, open mouthed, holding his hands out in front of him like he didn't know what to do with them.
"I have my powers back..." He said in a small voice.
If Chris hadn't of figured it out before, he would of right then. This wasn't the alternate Leo, this was his Dad. Chris practically pounced on him, wrapping Leo in one of the most unabashed hugs he'd given since he was a kid. He didn't care if he was being sentimental or girly, this was his dad and more importantly, he was hope. If Leo was still himself, they had time to change this. There was still a chance!
Despite himself, their surroundings, and the fact that they'd scared off a horde of demons who would most likely be back any moment, Leo chuckled and pulled back, hands on his son's shoulders. Chris grinned back, "You have no idea how good it is to see you're... you."
"I think I have an idea," Leo returned, patting Chris on the shoulder, "Now, I was wondering if you could explain how I'm here." The growl of a demon cut them both off, it was far enough away now but getting closer. Leo grimaced in that direction, "But I guess that will have to wait. I think running now might be a good idea."
1:50
"What are you looking for?" Wyatt followed behind Bianca, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, holding the urge to charge out into the hallway and beat the ever loving tar out of the Demons in it at bay. Bianca didn't seem so inclined, she'd been tearing the room apart since they'd gotten here, scattering anything in sight, upending boxes, pulling drawers out of desks. Aside from a little sideways look she didn't seem to be inclined to let him on the loop. Wyatt sighed again, "If you just tell me, maybe I can help you find it."
Bianca tipped another desk drawer over and pawed through the contents, fingers tapping at the desk in agitation when she didn't find anything. All the papers were blank, just like all the rest of the papers and books in the place. They were there for show, though she couldn't imagine why. If this was still a Phoenix house, which it seemed like it was, there was bound to be something here. Not the cliff notes of their situation, she couldn't hope for that, but a newspapers, some research, a shopping list. Something.
She stopped and turned back to Wyatt, "We can't just charge out there uninformed. They obviously think we're someone important and I'm willing to bet that those demons out there aren't even the beginning of what we'd have to fight. That was a military formation, I don't care how powerful you are, you can't just hope to fight an army of demons."
Wyatt nodded slowly, he'd come to similar conclusions, even if he didn't entirely want to admit it. All his brain was concentrated on was the big empty spot where his family used to be. He'd been able to sense them since forever and now that they were gone it just felt wrong not to try to track them down.
"Alright," He said finally, "So what can I do?"
Bianca cast a look around fingers tapping again, "I don't know, can you sense for spells, magic, something? This place is bare and there's no reason for it. Everything is for appearances. No one would go to that much effort if they weren't using it to hide something..."
"Good, right," Wyatt snapped his eyes closed, pushing out with his senses. It wasn't something he'd particularly tried before, but it certainly didn't seem outside his realm. He snaked his senses across every inch of the room, almost covering the thing completely until something pinged back. "There." He pointed across the room at a bookshelf Bianca had completely emptied. He crossed over to it, the Phoenix close behind, and scraped his fingernails along the bottom shelf, pulling it up. They both leaned in, looking at the contents underneath.
"Congratulations," Bianca said in a sarcastic tone, "You have found a light switch."
Wyatt glared, "In a bookshelf? There's got to be a reason." and without much of a second thought, he reached out and flipped it. The room's lights dimmed only for a second before a blue glow overtook it. The far wall was glowing, images flashing over it in an obvious start up sequence. "It's a computer." Wyatt said before sending a grin over to Bianca, pleased with himself. She gave him a flat stare and pushed him over.
Words flashed across the wall, asking for proof of identity. The Halliwell and the Phoenix looked at each other, confused.
"Does it want a password or something?" Wyatt asked and as soon as it did, the computer screen flashed red.
'Voice Identified. Wyatt Halliwell. Denied.' The words flashed and disappeared. Wyatt frowned at it, feeling slightly insulted.
"I think I like this computer," Bianca smiled slyly.
'Voice Identified. Administrator. Provide proof of identity.'
Wyatt rolled his eyes, "Go figure, your computer doesn't like me. Now what?"
Bianca peered up at it, examining at the panel of light carefully. It was her computer, she knew. The question now was, if she had a secret computer, what would she use for proof. Passwords were too easy. Fingerprints or eye scans could be flubbed magically... which made a thought occur to her.
"You found this when you were scanning for magic, right?" She looked over at the twice blessed and Wyatt's face dropped into one of understanding.
"How could a computer be magic..." He asked no one in particular and Bianca shrugged in answer. If it was magically powered then she knew exactly what she'd use to make sure only she was able to use it. She lifted a hand, watching it glow the same white blue as the computer screen, and pressed her hand through the monitor. In the next second the panel was awash with information. She skimmed it as it popped up, feeling more and more sick as she did.
"Oh," She said simply after a minute and pulled back, the screen quieted and the lights eased up to their usual level.
"Oh?" Wyatt asked eagerly, "Oh what? What's going on?"
Bianca turned around, not quite sure how to word this. There had been nothing in her training on how to explain this, she couldn't imagine a reason for there to be. Oh well, she'd never been one to mince words before now and she wasn't bout to start. "Wyatt," she said, "I'm pretty sure you caused the Apocalypse and are now the Source of All Evil."
A/N:
Hey people! As you may have noticed, there was no little past vignette and there won't be from here on out. I felt it would mess with the pacing too much and, really, it wouldn't be nice to take away from the action coming up to go to entirely different places. So. Here we are. Tell me what you think, if you're confused, tell me about what. Some stuff is still going to be explained, but I'd appreciate the input on what I might need to concentrate on.
Also, forgive this version here. I didn't feel right withholding this for another day so I didn't look over this one as closely as I'd like, and I'm already prone to typos so. Pardon. I'll probably come back in and fix it tomorrow when I find a bagillion inevitable errors.