Disclaimer:

"Chris…! CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!"

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Damn since this boy got his happy end in the series finals, he's hiding. ´

"Chris you have to come out and finish acting in this story till the end….

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No there is no freedom of strike in the fanfiction-world….

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Yes I'm absolutely sure of that!...

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No you can NOT build up a resistance against the author!...

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I will simply delete it on my computer!...

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And you know what: They'll kill MEnot you, if I'm not going to finish this story…!"

"…You what…? OK, OK I tell them…! Yes I promise…"

"Chris and his whole family are not mine, I will not force them to do magical or non-magical chores, like cleaning, cooking or other things for me…

And yes, Chris will get his happy end….(Whispers: Maybe…! Mwuhahahahahahah!)"

Chapter nine / part two:

…

In the end Chris didn't know exactly how he had managed to get to his aim. His body must have sort of switched on the auto pilot.

He found himself staring at the smoking ruins of what once was magic school. To leave no doubt of the whereabouts of their aunt, Wyatt had draped her dead body onto the steps of the destroyed main entrance.

Wyatt's revenge was accomplished.

They had destroyed his headquarter, so he annihilated their precious school, the last bastion of good magic down here.

And Chris was now all alone.

Everyone he cared for was wiped out by his own brother.

He felt that his legs weren't willing to carry his weight anymore.

Why had Wyatt not taken him although? Chris thought as he broke down on his knees.

Why had he to go through the worst torment of the whole family –

To be the survivor!

The boy crawled to his dead aunt.

He was simply heartbroken by the sight of Phoebes still body. He caressed her face only to find it stare and cold. She was truly and irretrievable dead. As much as his mind tried to deny the facts, there would have been no way to save her. But still he told himself that he could have run faster, or that he could have decided to save Phoebe first. Slowly he got lost in his own world of self-doubt and agony.

Phoebe however looked as if she found at least the peace she was searching for such a long time.

Chris leaned onto the stump of one of the heavy door columns and closed his eyes.

He didn't want to stay here anymore, he didn't want to be anywhere anymore – there was no place on earth where he belonged now. He had not the strength to stand up in any way the words implied.

So he remained and tried to merge with the cold stone at his back.

He wanted to become a stone.

Not feeling.

Not thinking.

Not remembering.

Never feeling any pain again!

Oh how he wished for that!

A half faced stone-lion accompanied the boy in his grief…

…

A glaringly white light filled the hall and enveloped the young whitelighter who lay trembling on the dirty ground. The light slowly flow together and formed finally the body of a young woman.

Tia sat down next to the sleeping kid and stroked his hair gently.

"Its time to wake up, Christopher" she said softly.

Chris mumbled in his sleep, hardly able to find his way back to reality.

My god, Tia thought, his heart is racing and beating like a hammer. How long could the poor kid endure this level of stress?

Chris was bathed in cold sweat and horribly trembling. She really didn't know how long his already wounded body would survive this ordeal.

Was there someone calling him?

Slowly Chris opened his eyes and tried to clear his vision.

As he was eventually able to focus he saw Tia sitting besides him, gently putting a hand onto his unscathed shoulder.

Maybe the last unwounded place to be found on his maltreated body, he thought.

OK, just for the check-up: Sarcasm - working again. So you must be vaguely on the mend.´

Tia waited for him to be complete awake.

"Hey.,.", she said with eyebrows knitted in concern.

"…what the hell are you doing here?"

"Nothing" Chris said quiet.

"Its lousy cold inhere and definitely not the place you should be right now!" She said while Chris stared now into nothingness.

"Shouldn't you be at home, with your family?" This time she'd hit the point.

"I have no family – not now, and maybe never will! I've only got "them" and there is no way I will do anything for them again."

"The best would be I would never be conceived…would spare me a life full of pain and them the annoyance of my presence."

Tia knew much more of the things that had happened, then Chris would ever imagine, so she could empathize with the way the young whitelighter felt right now.

She wasn't very proud of what she had to do next. But it was all for the bigger plan.

There was no way she could demand less of the boy, even if she knew he was on the edge of his physical and mental capacitances.

"Why are you here" Chris said, not aware of Tia's former appearance.

"And how did you find me anyways?"

"There are ways to always find you, Christopher!" Tia replied cryptically.

At any other time this would have threaten the boy deeply, but however it didn't now.

In contrary, he felt a warm sensation of safety when Tia was near him.

This was all so damn twisted and strange…

Tia didn't know how she should start her request. She eventually took the straight way.

"You know I'm here for a reason!"

Yeah, of cause you are´, Chris thought. Why should anyone just be here because of him?

"As hard as this may sound for you now, as I see you lost the way…"

Oh god, he looked that desperate and despondent, what gave her the right to go on, even if she knew this was the right thing to do…

"I've come to demand my favour from you!"

Chris stared at her in disbelieve.

There he was - on the absolute deep point of his life (OK, he stated to himself, he would never argue about the deep points in life again. Fate would always proof to him that there ever was a "lower than low"...so he had to cut that!) He was hurt, desperate… maybe even dying, and this barmy, self-seeking, stupid…ahhh whatever, talked about favours. The only favour he could honour at the moment was to redeem the face of the world of his presence.

"Remember you promised me that favour…The thing I want from you is to not give up now!"

Anger rose in Chris chest. He gasped in pain as he tried to sit up. Like always, his anger was a good boost to him. He pushed the pain aside again and made his body obide him once more.

As he'd managed to halfway sit up straight, he glared into Tia's eyes.

"SO WHAT?" he said with a tensed and laboured voice that was now as cold as ice. There were some things he HAD learned from his brother!

"I know the reason, why you are here Chris…

It's maybe the most important thing for the whole mankind at the moment. Under no circumstances I'm willing to let you give up just now. You've come so far, Chris! Don't throw everything away!"

Chris was puzzled. "But how do you…why?" he stammered.

"Believe me, I know!" Tia stated simply.

"…maybe its over, maybe I vanquished the demon that was going to turn Wyatt!"

Chris felt his anger fade. It left only sadness.

"You can take it from me, its not over yet! To be honest, I think the biggest fight for the soul of your brother is yet to come. So I beg you to stay strong, cause you're our last and only hope!"

"I can't" he whispered, sharing an anguished look with her.

"You will!" Tia said firm, because she simply had to. In truth, all she wanted now was to take the boy into her arms, and tell him, that everything would be alright.

But that wasn't her part…

…it was a mother's part!

"Chris", she said calmly. She had to say this now, even If she knew that it was not entitled to her to do so.

"Why don't you tell your family who you really are? It would lighten things so much for you, if you would share your burden. Don't you think so?"

Chris became even more quiet and withdrawn, if that was even possible. He seemed suddenly so tiny and frail to Tia…

"They will hate me only more. See what happened to me after I told them, that their precious twice-blessed diaper-prince will turn to be the source of all evil in my future."

"But it wasn't them, who hurt you, wasn't it!"

"No, not actually, but they didn't care anyways. Or can you see any concerned family around me? And this time I didn't cloak myself!"

"So you want them to find you, to take care of you, right?"

"…maybe - in somways…but they will never believe me…if I tell them…I'll loose them again…they'll never want to see me around, not even as their whitelighter.

I can't cope with loosing them for the second time!"

"I can only give you a piece of advice, the decision lies in your own hands. But don't underestimate them. Think about how they were during your childhood, they really loved you. And they are not so far away from that now. I think they will feel it, if they get a little nudge into the right direction."

Tia knew she had gone far over her set boarders, and she felt it was worth it, but now she had to go back to business.

"So will you keep your promise? Will you still try to fulfil your mission?"

"I'll try" the young whitelighter promised, as he felt his eyes slowly closing again. He fought hard to stay awake. He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to say to Tia, but exhaustion once again took over his agitated mind.

Tia lowered the sleeping boy carefully to the ground. How she wished she could do more for him, to ease his pain and take away his unbearable burden.

But this was not her part, she thought as she vanished again…

…

TBC…