Disclaimer:
Wyatt: We have a review – someone hates your spelling and grammar.
I know. I'm so sad.
Chris: Don't be! Look, Wyatt's stupid too!
Wyatt: Christopher I warn you!
But he's right! I'm not a native speaker and…and…I can't even answer this review cause it was anonymous…and…+sniffs+ …and I don't know if I should continue this story.
Maybe…maybe I'm not good enough for this+sighs+
Wyatt: Hey, don't cry.
Chris: We should visit this "E". He made her cry! Hey YOU out there. If this doesn't continue...we will…we will…Wyatt?
Wyatt: …We will come over to your computer and haunt you every day.
Chris: Yeah! We will read your emails…
Wyatt: …vanquish your passwords…
Chris: …delete your spellchecking program…
Wyatt:…and…
OK, OK its enough boys. You've pushed your point home. Now… this is not the way.
And I think "E"´s right, this sucks.
I'll try to get better but I don't know if I can…
Both: Awwwwww +big hugs+
Chris: We think people will read our story anyway, you know…and…and…if anyone finds a mistake he can PM us and you can change it.
Wyatt: Maybe dad could beta-read this…
Chris: ...no way – not dad! This story is already stuffed with strange words. Did dad ever check your homework? I got a good laugh from my teacher every time he'd "revised" my homework essay!"
Wyatt: OK, no dad. But come on dragons. The folks are waiting for the next chapter!
But we forgot something…
Both: Oh yes…we'll do this today!
Wyatt: We don't belong to dragonsflyfree, but we like her…
Chris: (+grinning+)...even if she's stupid…
Wyatt: CHRISTOPHER!… (+runs after him+)
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On with the show…
Chapter eleven: Out of the woods…/part one
"Leo!...LEO, get down here!"
It did not need more then this to let the elder appear in blue-white orbs within seconds.
"What's up?" He asked worried "Any changes?"
"His breathing has slowed down once more! I'm not sure, but maybe it's the best if we take him to a hospital?" Piper was on the edge of her nerves. She had taken care of their young whitelighter non stop, only to watch him helplessly fading away more and more.
Leo tried immediately to heal the young man which at least eased his breathing, and Chris began to take in deep steady breaths again. The elder wished he could do more, but all his enquiries on who could have given the dangerous potion to Chris stayed fruitless.
He watched once again helpless as the young man moaned while endless nightmares seemed to haunt him. Oh how he hated to be helpless!
"Did Paige and Phoebe find out anything about the potion yet?"
"Nope, nothing! They've worked the last fourteen hours straight, but the only thing that they've achieved so far is to extract the traces of some potion out of the blood samples.
But the amount of stuff is so microscopic that they are struggling to find out all the ingredients. There is too little to run enough tests to find out all constituents of this concoction. So they concentrate on the main ingredients and try to work out with the help of the book of shadows some kind of multipurpose antidote.
They are working feverishly but…"
A slight explosion made the luster in the living room shake dangerously.
They heard a many-voiced "shit!" coming from the attic.
"Here goes unsuccessful attempt number...ehm…" Piper recounted using her fingers "…twenty-nine!"
Stretching her head up the stairway Piper yelled upstairs in a mix of annoyance and worry "Hey upthere is everybody all right?"
At this a very sooty and violently coughing Paige orbed in.
"We're all right so far…" Paige stated as the youngest sisters eyes took in the state of their whitelighter she broke off "… what you can not say about him!" she finished.
Piper sat down besides Chris and brushed a wet cloth over his feverish forehead.
"He needs help! Fast!" Piper stated.
Paige knelt down in front of the couch and took the frightening hot and limp hand of the boy.
"Hey there buddy! It's really time to wake up now. I swear what ever is bothering you we'll fix it someways. Just wake up please!"
There was no reaction at all. Paige's face took on a determined feature.
"OK then get ready for attempt number thirty!"
"Hope the house will survive it!" Piper stated.
"Fuck the house! What matters is that HE will survive it!" Paige took this really personal.
"Alright! And you mister…" She poked a finger into Chris chest "…you will hang on! That's an order! You understand!" And with that she orbed back to the attic.
…
Chris was meanwhile back at the worst day of his whole life.
How he wished that he knew what had happened on that one fateful day. But even now in his dreams there were only blurred pictures. His mind still had shut all security locks…
…Far away he heard noise, cries; someone was calling his name…Leo. He slowly got conscious again but still wasn't able to open his eyes.
"We'll only know what happened when he wakes up." Leo's voice seemed to come from far away…
"If he wakes up" an upset Wyatt yelled. "It's been hours now!"
He felt someone violently shaking him, but there was no chance. It was like being trapped into his own body. He could not move or speak. But he could hear and now although feel something again, so he was confident, that the remaining body functions would be coming back soon. His mind tried desperately to reconstruct what had happened, but there was nothing…
Chris had arrived home from school. He was earlier than his brother, because he had against all orders orbed home, instead of walking. He wanted at least a few minutes alone with his mum. Today was his fourteenth birthday. He stormed into the kitchen "Mom I'm home" and then… nothing! Total black out!
After what seemed like endless struggles he was finally able to tiredly flutter his eyelids.
"Hey there you are!" The first thing Chris saw was the worried glances of his father and brother.
"Wy...dad...what...?" He managed to croak before his voice faltered.
Wyatt eyed his brother with red rimmed eyes. "Don't you remember anything?" He asked carefully, his voice now small and shaky. Pictures flooded Wyatt's mind.
As he'd come home finding his little brother and mother lying in the kitchen in a pool of blood. How he had believed they were both dead. How his father had broken down as he held his dead wife - right after healing his youngest. All this pictures overwhelmed the blonde boy at once.
Chris slowly shook his head in denial, he could not remember anything, but an uneasy feeling began to spread in his guts that something must have happened. Something...and then it hit him. "Where is mom?"
Wyatt sat there thunderstruck "Chris, mom is...she is..." but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Speaking out loud would make it real would bring this nightmare into reality. He could not think it let alone speak it out loud.
Seeing his oldest struggle with words, Leo took over. Chris deserved to know the truth that he saw his youngest already presage deep inside.
He took his youngest into a firm hug as he whispered softly "Your moms gone, Chris!"
"No" Chris whispered "No" and it was the last thing the apathetic young boy said for a long time...
…
"No!...No" they could hear the whitelighter mumble in his sleep while Leo finally administered "attempt number thirty five" to the writhing boy. This one simply had to work. The longer Chris stayed into his current state the more improbable it would become for him to come back out of it. So they all waited tensed for any reaction.
Chris became aware of light whispers besides him.
"I still don't understand what the hell he thought by using such a heavy and dangerous potion…?" That was definitely the sound of his mother's voice. It almost painfully mixed with the feeling of loosing her, which had the last of his dreams brought up freshly again.
"…think it's my fault. I must have set him under enormous pressure with my trial to clip his wings…"
Leo, always the self-blamer. Wimp! ´thought Chris.
"Look! I think he'll wake up every moment…!"
Paige´Yeah the young whitelighter liked her practical kind to go about something – no fussing around.
With that the youngest Halliwell tried to open his eyes not knowing what he should do otherwise.
He was was shaken to the core as he was not able to do so…!
TBC…