Disclaimer: Blah blah. Not mine!
Chapter Nine: Good & Evil
2:05 pm
"That's not funny," The words fell out of Wyatt's mouth, sounding a bit more desperate than he might have liked. Bianca just kept staring at him with that flat look of hers, like existence pissed her off.
Bianca shifted her stance and crossed her arms, "Does this look like the face of someone who jokes a lot?"
Wyatt chose not to answer that, his hand coming up to agitatedly brush at his nose, the other propped onto his hip. He was trying very, very hard to make the pieces in his head fit together but they all just seemed okay with swimming around aimlessly, slipping through his fingers anytime he attempted to catch one. In his long experience in the business of being a Halliwell, he'd never been one to crack under pressure. Her certainly wasn't now, but wasn't exactly in perfect form.
Demons were one thing, they were solvable. A spell, a potion, a wave of the hand or a quick stab to the gut with Excalibur... Solvable. Besides, he wasn't going to allow something like a demon even slightly disrupt his good mood, it would give them too much credit. This, though, this was different. The whole thing felt like a trap to him, a big trap that he was helpless against, and if there was anything Wyatt wasn't used to, it was feeling helpless. He refused to be conned and he refused to be bested in this.
He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a calming breath, regaining a sliver of calm before he looked back at Bianca. "You read all that just now?"
Bianca was glad she'd had the forethought to turn away for a second because she doubted her eye roll would help right then. Of course he wouldn't make this easy on her, she didn't know why she was even hoping that. If he'd just accept it, they could skip this melodramatic step and head on to more important things.
Bianca lifted one shoulder in a shrug, turning on a heel to face him, "More or less," the look Wyatt returned to that wasn't anywhere close to friendly, "Okay, look, this all was written in my shorthand so I don't know the specifics, but I'll tell you what I do know." She heaved a large breath, hoping he'd at least let her finish, "Sometimes around ten years ago the war between witches and demons stopped being a secret. For some reason it looks like all the demons in the underworld were flushed out into our world." Bianca looked back over at the mostly blank computer screen, trying to figure out a way to sum up all the various atrocities that were listed. Riots, Murders, the hostile takeover of several large governments, witch hunts. Her voice was slightly haunted when she spoke again, "The mortals didn't take it well. It was... bad. The magical community got blamed for it and humans lashed out."
Wyatt listened, still and quiet, looking at her with an unusually flat expression, "and that makes me evil?"
Bianca clamped down on the reproachful look rising to the surface, "I'm getting to it. When it all happened, you showed up and you just named yourself King. You told the world you could save them from all of this and they believed you. You pegged the blame on the witches, " She hesitated for only a second, "And then you started killing them, good witches."
Wyatt glared intently at the floor. "Why in the hell would I do that?"
"You claimed the demons had been repressed by the witches, that they were only fighting back to protect themselves. You said they were reformed." She couldn't stop her laugh at that idea. "Funny thing was, the demons were following you, they were your own personal army. Anyone who didn't join you was named an enemy and was hunted down." Bianca kept pressing, "I know how to read between the lines. This has all the signs of the source orchestrating his own ascension to power. You have to understand that."
"No," Wyatt answered angrily, "I wouldn't do that."
Bianca threw her hands up, "You think I like this, huh?" She couldn't hold back her annoyance any longer, stalking forward so she was within arms distance of him, "I'm evil here too! You think I like the idea that I apparently am okay with any of this, that I've helped this happen? I'm not, but I got over it five minutes ago and you need to just man up and deal with it."
Wyatt's reaction was a bit more direct than she was expecting, glare all of a sudden aimed right at her, sheer magical power emanating from him in terrifying waves. Bianca steadied her footing, refusing to be daunted even though her nerves were screaming at her to back off. She would if she could have, but she was already in this too deep. This had to be done.
"I don't think you get it," Wyatt said, words cold, "I don't care if you can deal with this. I'm not like you and I don't give a damn about what you say. Do you have any idea how many times my family and I have saved the world? I know I don't! There's too many to count. I am good. It's not possible for me to do all... that. You wouldn't have the slightest idea, you the one with demonic powers, you probably feel right at home!"
"Is that so?" Bianca returned, eyebrows raised, "Orb."
Wyatt looked at her like she was insane, "What?"
"You heard me. Orb." This time it was a command.
To his own surprise, Wyatt obeyed and was treated not to the sight of the familiar blue and white light that orbing brought on, but a sick purple and black one. He was so shocked by the sight he almost forgot to orb right back into place, the room reforming almost reluctantly and when it did, he felt that anger flood right in around his surprise. He turned back to Bianca, expecting that same self satisfied expression to be on her face, but instead she had a look he couldn't exactly peg. It was stern but almost understanding.
She stepped forward and poked him in the chest, "You feel that anger? That's the dark powers in you. You have to get control of them or, believe me, they will turn you."
He was only half listening, still shocked by the fact that he didn't seem to be a whitelighter anymore, "Those were black orbs..."
"Yeah."
Wyatt stared at her numbly, "I'm evil."
"No," Bianca's words seemed to surprise him but she pressed on, "Right now you've got evil running through your blood, a lot of it, actually. I'm even willing to bet that dark orbing isn't even the beginning of what you can do. But that's not important. You're still you." She let out a sigh, "Someone once told me that powers can't make you evil if you don't let them. They'll be tempting as hell but you know what you're dealing with now, so you can control it. As long as you remain good in your mind, you can fix all this, and you can fix this. If there's anything I've learned in the past two years it's not to underestimate a Halliwell."
Despite himself, Wyatt let out a short laugh, "This must be opposite world," He commented, "Because I think you just gave a whitelighter speech."
Bianca looked taken aback and minutely disgusted, "Really? Ew."
Wyatt did crack up laughing then, attempting to rub the optimism back into his brain. It was all he had right then. Mel had her avoidance tactics, Chris had that single minded habit of pushing through problems until they broke, and what did he have? A sunny disposition and a trust that things would work out. Wyatt dropped his hands and let out a breath.
"Alright." He said without any real reason and Bianca raised an eyebrow in response, "Who was it that told you that thing about powers?"
There was only a few seconds of deliberation before Bianca spoke, "Chris did. Repeatedly actually." She didn't give him the opportunity to press before she slapped him on the arm and motioned to follow her, "Now we have one more problem to deal with."
"What now?" Wyatt almost whined.
"You," Bianca answered, "We have a golden opportunity to take this place down from the inside. The problem is you can't act worth a damn. If we want any hope of pulling this off I can't have you apologizing or thanking one of your demonic minions so, Halliwell, I'm going to give you a crash course on being evil."
Wyatt stared up at the woman with no small amount of trepidation, "For future knowledge, the next time you say that to someone maybe you should try to keep the crazy grin off your face."
Bianca didn't dignify that with an answer.
2:15 pm
The practical applications of telekinesis in the use of petty theft had never occurred to Leo until that moment. What he actually found more alarming was the fact that the idea had not only occurred to his son, but that Chris was actually quite adept at it. The real question he wanted to ask as he watched Chris slowly pop the locks on the other side of the door was precisely which lifetime he learned that in. 23 or not, Leo was not beyond grounding him for a magically assisted B&E. Cluing into Leo's thoughts not through magic but through pure familiarity, Chris sent his father a soft smirk.
"Relax," He said lowly, "There's no such thing as personal gain here." He made a fast slashing motion and the security chain popped out of place, the door drifting open shortly after. "No Powers that'd give a damn anyway."
"I noticed that..." Leo sighed. He could feel the difference, even though he hadn't had his powers in a long time, the emptiness was oppressive. He'd always taken comfort in knowing there was some plan. Not that every event in the world was laid out piece for piece unchangably... it was more just the comfort of knowing someone was interested. He'd always been able to feel it, and now...
He caught Chris giving him a look out of the corner of his eye. The half whitelighter was staring at him with a look Leo knew too well. It was a look he'd used more than once on the sisters when they lost focus or were just plain scared of what was ahead of them. It was a look equal parts comfort and understanding. Chris held the door open, standing over the threshold, waiting patiently for Leo to come to some conclusion. He didn't quite find it, but he got close enough to know they should get back to moving. He nodded shortly in thanks and Chris just shrugged and disappeared into the darkness of the doorway.
"C'mon," He called, "Let's swap you out of those elder's robes before someone sics the demons on us again."
Leo pushed inside, not quite adjusting to the dark quick enough to avoid running into a rack of clothes noisily. The lights snapped on shortly after, displaying what looked like a rather high end clothing store.
"Here," Chris pushed a shirt in his direction and Leo took it on reflex. The minute he looked down at it he raised an eyebrow.
"Chris this isn't exactly my style." He held up the black shirt, plucking at the sleeve and watching the elastic fabric spring back up. He made an attempt to hand it back put Chris didn't give him the chance.
"Come on Dad," He urged, almost amused, "Black is the new flannel. If you don't put something less conspicuous on we'll never get anything done and I promise I won't tell anyone you dressed like a Darklighter."
Leo was obligated to give Chris a "look" for being such a smartass but his heart wasn't really in it. It dissolved into a smile shortly after and he took the shirt with as much grace as he could. Chris just smirked at him and turned back to go across the room, rummaging in a box sitting against the wall. It was a tried and true Halliwell tactic, humor before panic, and their children had learned it well. It was the only thing reminding him that his son hadn't reverted into his jaded old self. He could see the shadows of this world in his eyes for sure, but Chris even being able to joke at all in this place was a great reassurance.
The whole city just had an oppressive air that Leo couldn't quite come up with a comparison to. It felt a little like the underworld, dark, claustrophobic, hopeless. It was just in the air, and the abandoned shop they were in wasn't helping either. Come to think of it, he really hadn't seen that many people at all since they'd given those demons the slip. Granted, they had been ducking through back alleys and across people's balconies but he would have expected to see someone by now.
"Chris, where is everyone? It's the middle of the afternoon, there should be people here." He fidgeted with the shirt, switching the flannel one he'd had on under his elder's robes. By the time he pulled it over his head and looked back, Chris had stopped moving, staring blankly at the wall in front of him, a harsh look overtaking his face. Leo moved to his side, dropping down slowly on a knee and laying a hand on his shoulder.
The touch seemed to jolt Chris out of whatever it was he was seeing. The witchlighter shoved the box he was looking through against the wall and rubbed his hands over his face, Leo had noticed him doing the gesture since this whole thing had started. Leo knew what it meant and he waited for the offending memory to pass and fade. Chris eventually dropped his hands with an annoyed sigh, flashing a look of gratitude for the moment to pull himself together.
"I knew this place would be empty because there was a mark on the door." Chris said, pointing at the door they'd come in. It was still standing halfway open, shuddering lightly in the wind. Leo squinted at it, only then seeing the black X on the door. It was sloppy and angry, the exact opposite of the careful perfection that was the rest of the city. "It means the owners of this store were traitors, spies, enemies of the state... or, I dunno, someone who breathed wrong around Wya— the current government. It doesn't matter. Whatever they did, their life is now his. Anyone who gets the mark gets taken up to the city center for 'reprogramming'. Very few come back." Chris turned back to the box, tipping it over as he talked, voice becoming alarmingly monotone, "After that, they mark your house and your business to warn anyone else off. If you try to show up anywhere that's marked you're admitting treason and you get carted off too."
Apparently finding what he was looking for, Chris stood up and Leo followed, "This city used to be full. Then the evil made him paranoid. Now it's just full of demons."
Leo suddenly couldn't fault Chris for being so jaded back then, and he had a feeling he'd only seen the smallest part of what was wrong in this world. He pushed away the oppressive feeling of the air and straightened his posture, reaching out to grip Chris's arm.
"This isn't your world anymore," He caught his son's gaze and held it unblinkingly, "You belong with us, Your mother, your brother, sister, and I. None of this exists anymore. You and I are going to fix this and then we're going to go home and have an actual birthday party. Understand?"
Chris held that stare for a long time, eyebrows pinched together as if he was trying to decide if he did in fact understand. When he opened his mouth to talk it wasn't anywhere near what Leo was expecting, "You never said what happened to mom after the shift."
Leo became unfocused only for a second, memory flashing back to the library in magic school. One minute he'd been there with the sisters, the next he was all alone. He didn't want to think about where they were right now. Where exactly does the living soul go when they don't have a body to go into? He snapped back forcibly, eyebrows drawing together. "She'll be back waiting for us when we sort this out. Alright?"
Ever so slowly Chris nodded back, letting a tense breath out through his teeth. He only hesitated a moment more before gently moving out of Leo's grip and over to the wall. He pulled a pocketknife he'd found in the box and carefully drew a line precisely down the pattern in the wallpaper, peeling it back to reveal a hidden doorway.
"You know what's awesome about arrogant evil overlords?" Chris said as he stepped back and looked at his handiwork. "He'll look for technology and he'll look for magic but he'll never look for the mundane. Wyatt really should have played clue more when he was younger."
Leo patted Chris on the shoulder and stepped forward to push the door open, "We'll just have to work on that when we get back." The wall panel slid inwards and to the side showing Leo a long dark tunnel sparked with lanterns only close enough to keep you from tripping over yourself as you went down it. He dropped down into it, continuing on only when he heard Chris slam the door shut behind him, jamming it shut so no one could follow.
He could only eye the walls suspiciously as he continued, squinting to adjust his eyes. "It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic." He said mostly to himself. Chris mumbled a huh back anyway, obviously not paying attention. Leo looked back to see he'd stopped several feet behind him, and from what little light he had, Leo could make out a look of confusion on Chris's face. "What is it?"
Chris frowned, distracted, "This might sound crazy but did you just see a girl in a white dress?"
Leo opened his mouth to answer just in time for the nearest lantern to shatter, tossing them into pure black. He got the chance to drag in one more breath before the world was pain and he hit the floor.
2:15 pm
He usually didn't stay around to observe his handiwork. Usually it was a matter of straightening out time, dealing with the meddlers, and then shuffling his way off to the next offense. This one however, this one had been far more difficult than what the Pale Man had ever dealt with before and though he wasn't usually the type to indulge, he just had to take a look around. He arrived in the center of the ruined city, stretched his hands above his head like he was trying to hug the sky.
Ah yes, this was how it was supposed to be. This was the way time was supposed to run.
The Pale Man breathed in a large satisfied breath and prepared to leave, but then, there on the edge of his senses. No. He transported in a flash, arriving with time frozen to look in on the two people. The girl! The girl should be dead yet here she was alive and well. He almost charged in again to finish the job but he held back. He couldn't, any more direct influence on his part would only destabilize things further. He'd have to find someone to do it for her.
That shouldn't be too hard, when he'd killed her, he'd seen a peek into her role in this time line and he had a feeling that demons didn't suffer spies lightly. Containing a manic laugh, he disappeared again, plan already in mind.
… pm
For the second time in less than 12 hours, Chris woke up in the Manor's sitting room with an utter sense of confusion. He knew it wasn't the real Manor, despite it looking identical. It was too still. Chris couldn't remember a five minute stretch where everything was still in the house. There was always some distraction, if not demons or stray magic, it was one of the many cousins tramping through. That was a big giveaway, but not the biggest. It was the smell that really warned him. There was always the lingering smell of spices or food in the house tinted with just an edge of magic. He couldn't actually describe what magic smelled like, but you knew it when it hit you, and the Manor had always been filled with it.
The sound of pleasant voices filtered in as he sat up, staring at the room suspiciously. He looked over the back of the couch into the sun room, eyes catching on the wicker chair and table that occupied the far corner. He could only see part of it, just enough to see someone sitting there, a dark suited elbow leaning on the armrest.
With a sense of ease Chris was pretty sure was as unnatural as this fake-manor, he silently got up followed the sounds.
"...rules shmools," A feminine voice said, sounding more than a little put out, "if I want to use the word I can use the word." A small clacking sound Chris was familiar with rang out shortly after, as if someone was placing little wooden pieces down with some ferocity.
"Now, now," A male voice Chris very much did recognize rang out, gentle and calming, "You were the one talking about rules five minutes ago."
"That's a different game." The girl replied just in time for Chris to make it around the corner, the calmness of the room being the only thing keeping him from turning around and running in the opposite direction. Instead, he stopped in the middle of the sun room, hooked his thumbs in his back pockets, and stared openly at the people sitting in his family's house.
"Oh come on," Chris almost whined, "Don't tell me I'm dead again."
Clarence, his two time angel of death, smiled up at him with all the charm of a beloved grandfather, "Oh no, not for now." He stood up from the table and gestured for Chris to take the remaining empty wicker chair with all the outdated manners Leo had tried to instill on his own children. The teenage girl sitting at the table wasn't nearly as polite.
"Really, though, I don't think you ever stopped being dead from last time," She stared at him openly, halfway leaning across the table to slap scrabble pieces onto the board. Clarence eyed her with a slightly exasperated look. She caught it, looking probably as close to abashed as she ever got. She shrugged at Chris, "Y'know, purely by definition." She dropped back into her chair, halo of blonde hair whipping around her shoulders and spilling over onto her white sundress.
Chris wasn't impressed with that, not finding the subject of his status in breathing to be funny at all. He walked up to the table on cautious steps, leaning against the back of the chair but not sitting in it. For some reason he had a feeling that sitting in the chair would be some kind of commitment and he wasn't about to do that before he heard the terms.
He decided he didn't feel like being tactful today and cut right to it, "Alright, what's the deal. I'm not dead and I'm not anywhere near ceasing to exist, so unless you guys have an excuse for keeping me... wherever this is, I'd appreciate it if you sent me back. I have things to do."
"Ooh," the girl said wide eyed, turning to Clarence, "You are right, he is a bit mouthy."
"And you're rude," Chris returned before looking back over at Clarence, "What's her deal?"
Clarence tried to answer, of course, but the girl would have none of it, halfway jumping out of her seat to answer, grin plastered on her face, "Oh don't worry, I like it when they have attitudes. Makes them more virulent."
Chris could do nothing but stare flatly at the girl for a moment pointing a finger at her like he had something to say before whipping his head over to talk to Clarence again, "Did she just compare me to a virus?"
"Oh shit, did I get it wrong again? Damn english, so many words... viscous maybe?" The girl looked severely crestfallen, staring off into space, lips whispering to herself like she was trying to figure out where she went wrong. Clarence swept a hand over his face, looking completely martyred soon though, the expression turned into a chuckle.
"Excuse her, she's just rediscovered cursing," He explained with a soft smile, "She hasn't quite gotten back to the manners part yet. She'll get to it here in a minute, I'm sure, just give her some time. In the meantime, we have some catching up to do, Chris, it has been a while. I understand you're in a bit of trouble right now, but otherwise, how have you been?"
There were times as a witch where you just had to throw up your hands and go with it. Staring at the two in front of him, a girl distractedly talking to herself and the Angel of Death talking to him like they were old friends, he just decided that it was one of those times. It helped that, despite the fact that Chris hadn't wanted to see Clarence any time soon, he really did like the man... angel... whatever he was. In the past, before anyone had known, he was one of the few people who was really rooting for him, whether Chris knew it at the time or not.
Chris dropped down into the wicker chair, slouching comfortably, "It's been interesting," He supplied, "Demons, dating a girl from an enemy coven, crazy guy trying to reset time. The usual. How about you?" He staunchly refused to acknowledge the twisted feeling in his gut when he mentioned Bianca. He wouldn't believe she was dead until he saw it himself and if she was, well, he'd deal with it then.
Clarence nodded, chuckling, "Ah yes, the usual for me as well, guiding souls from this world to the next."
"Vibrant!" The shout started the other two out of their conversation, turning towards the girl again, "That's it right? That's the correct word?"
"Eh, I don't know," Chris shrugged, "I don't think I've ever been called vibrant in either lifetime. Bitchy, neurotic, sure. Vibrant, no." He almost didn't notice it at first, staring over again at the girl. He thought he'd seen wrong, but a few moments ago she had seemed... younger. The girl snorted out a laugh, propping her chin up on her palms apparently forgetting about her search for the correct word.
"It's really great to meet you, Chris, I can call you Chris, right?" Her tone of voice took on something entirely more polite, a sharp change from what it was before. Clarence made a hand motion that said it all. Apparently the girl had discovered her manners in a big way. Chris took another look at her, not fooling himself anymore. She was older. When he walked in he would have estimated her at about 14, she was at least a year older then, hair now down past her shoulders. This was no normal little girl.
She noticed him staring and looked down at herself as if expecting she'd dropped something down the front of her dress. Then it seemed to dawn on her, "Oh, you've noticed have you?" She looked slightly embarrassed, a pink blush covering her cheeks, she plucked at her dress shyly, "It's good you woke up now, if you'd woken up a half an hour ago I wouldn't have been able to talk at all and I've really been wanting to meet you for such a long time."
He looked at her with utter seriousness, more than a little cautious now, "What are you?"
"Chris," Clarence leaned over, dropping a comforting hand on his arm, "I'd like you to meet the Source of All Good."
A/N:
Aah here we are, a bit quicker than last week. It's also really talky. I hope you all don't mind. In other news, I'm so glad the last chapter surprised people. I will be getting replies back to those reviews but my email yet again decided to delete some, so I have to sort through which ones I did and did not reply to again. Some people are also making predictions. Feel free to guess away but, for your guys' enjoyment, I'm not going to either confirm or deny any of them :D. Hope you all liked and, yet again, I adore reviews, they kick my inspiration into gear.
In other news, for the RP crowd going around here who would like to join a Charmed RP. I actually just joined up at one that's new and raring to go. It's not mine, but it's a guilty pleasure so, if anyone is interested: http:/ /z3. Invisionfree . com / Charmed_Once_More / (removing spaces)