The plan was simple. The group would wait for Wyatt to come and collect them as if everything were normal, then when he told them the spell, Paige would orb in and throw a sleeping potion at him to knock him out and then secure him in a crystal cage. The five witches would then summon Merlin who would strip Wyatt of the Source's powers while he was incapacitated. Simple.
"This is never going to work." Declared Chris who had been pacing up and down the room for the last half hour. "Wyatt trusts nobody; he's probably already putting plans in place to make sure you can't betray him!"
Piper stood up and pulled her nervous son into a reassuring hug- largely to stop him pacing- and pointed out the various precautions they had taken to prevent blackmail.
"Don't forget your Dad is looking after your Grand Dad and baby Wyatt so if Wyatt comes for either of them Leo is going to orb them up to the heavens where they'll be safe."
"What about you're past self." He asked Paige. "If Wyatt gets a hold of her, he would easily kill her if it meant stopping you and saving himself!" At this Paige and Prue exchanged smirks. Clearly they had already put a precaution in for this event as well.
"Well obviously we tried to get her to stay with Leo-" Began Prue.
"But she refused immediately and kicked us out of her apartment." Continued Paige, looking oddly proud of her past self's strong will.
"So instead I called Darryl and asked him to keep an eye on her." Finished Prue, but Chris wasn't happy with this plan at all.
"Darryl won't be able to stop Wyatt!" He pointed out desperately. "He wouldn't think twice about killing him! You've basically just left two currently powerless resistance leaders under one roof as sitting duck's for Wyatt!"
"Relax Chris!" Instructed Paige. "When on the phone to Darryl, I happened to mention a couple of the indiscretions of my youth to him- nothing serious-" She added, seeing the curious look on her nephew and sister's faces. "Just enough to give him just cause to arrest me earlier this morning and then release me with a warning tomorrow morning. She's locked in a community cell with fifteen witnesses." Chris was impressed by this ingenuity, but still had doubts about the plan.
"What if he wakes up before you have explained things to Merlin- A crystal cage won't hold him." No one disagreed with him on that point, which was why they were bringing extra bottles of the sleeping draft to keep him knocked out. "What if the draught isn't strong enough? Over the year's he's worked on making himself invulnerable to magical attack." He continued. The sisters opened their mouths to respond, but Chris had already thought of another weakness in their plan. "What if he doesn't tell you the spell- he might only need your power and can say the words by himself. What if..."
"Look kid, if you've got a better plan then we're all ears, but if not: I'm going to need you to shut up." Cut in Adric. Chris sighed, but the Welsh Witch was right. He didn't have a better plan and there wasn't time to make any changes to this one. Wyatt could return at any moment meaning Paige had to head back down to her hiding place so Wyatt wouldn't suspect a conspiracy.
"Fine." He conceded. "But if anything goes wrong-" He cut off as suddenly he heard a jangling and then the sound of his brother calling for him rang through his ears. He glanced around nervously at Paige who had heard it as well.
"Go." She instructed. "And remember the plan. Wyatt must believe you are on his side because if this goes wrong the resistance is going to need you more than ever." Chris nodded nervously- this was the part of the plan he was most displeased with- and orbed away to his brother leaving the five witches alone in the manor.
"Now he's gone, is there anything anyone else wants to say about this plan?" Asked Prue.
"I think you're all either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid." Stated Adric. "From the stories I've heard of Merlin, he did not like being told what to do, and was impossible to reason with, meaning we are about to piss off the two most powerful beings I have ever heard of in one fowl swoop." The sisters exchanged nervous glances at this news.
"Is there anything we can do to increase our odds?" Asked Prue who was sat beside Adric on the sofa. He looked into her eyes, trying to think of something comforting to say but no plan came to mind.
"Maybe if we had more time but if we wait any longer than the guardians' powers will have the opportunity to find new hosts and Wyatt will want to wipe out another five families." Adric's voice showed no sign of emotion at his words, but his eyes were screaming out with the pain of his loss. Prue gently squeezed his hand and the pair's eyes locked for a moment until Paige brought them back to their senses.
"Look I have to go." She announced. "Is the plan a go?" She asked. Everyone looked to Prue, and Paige now understood more than ever the pain her sisters had felt after they had lost Prue. They had not only lost their sister, but also their leader and in her place Paige had arrived- young naive and innocent and had forced the other two to assume Prue's roles before they had been ready.
"Let's do this." Prue stated, not allowing any uncertainties she might have felt into either her voice or her expression. Paige nodded and orbed into position.
Wyatt stood atop the golden gate bridge surveying the city. It looked so different to his time and yet Wyatt did not see the beauty other's spoke of. In his day the San Francisco skyline, as broken and smoke filled as it was, was a testament to his power and achievement whereas here Wyatt could only see the clean, undamaged skyline as a mask for the corrupt broken world of good and evil.
Wyatt was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of jingling with marked his brother's arrival. He turned to him instantly, searching his face for any sign of guilt.
"Where have you been?" He questioned, although he knew the answer perfectly well as he was almost always able to sense his brother's location.
"In the manor with the sisters and Adric." Chris replied immediately and honestly. "They're ready for whenever you are putting your plan into action."
"And how do they know what my plan is?" Inquired Wyatt. Chris made eye contact with Wyatt, for the first time in a long time able to tell his brother the whole truth.
"Paige, Leo and I helped them to piece it together." He told him, without a hint of bashfulness or remorse. Wyatt seemed to grow several inches with fury at this revelation.
"You've been working with Paige without telling me?" He asked. "I gave you specific instructions to keep Paige away from them, but instead you helped her plot against me?"
Chris didn't even flinch at his brother's wrath, he kept calm and held eye contact as he remembered the story he had worked out back at the manor.
"Paige convinced them while I was convincing Adric to help you." He said, and it wasn't entirely a lie. "By the time I returned they had already changed sides and Adric's loyalty was difficult to retrieve after you murdered his family. If I left to warn you or acted in anyway disloyal to them, then I would never have discovered their plan." Wyatt ground his teeth in fury, but couldn't fault Chris if his information was good.
"And what is their plan?" He asked.
"They're going to betray you." Chris flinched- expecting Wyatt's fury to explode out of him, but when he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see his brother smiling as if everything was coming together better than expected.
"Excellent." Declared Wyatt. "Good work, brother."
Chris' eye's widened as it suddenly hit him. This had been Wyatt's plan all along. Wyatt had been gone all night, but it shouldn't have taken him more than a few hours to kill such a small amount of witches- he was giving them time to figure it all out and come up with a counter attack which would no doubt play right into his hands. He had killed Adric's family so violently and mercilessly not for fun, but to ensure Adric's tactical mind would help the sisters come up with a predictable plan. And he had left Chris with them as a test to see which side he was really on- well at least in that Chris still had the upper hand.
"You already know there plan, don't you Wyatt." Wyatt's grin grew wider and he nodded.
"Of course I do Christopher." Confirmed Wyatt. "Three of those women practically raised me and one of them actually did. I could predict every move they were going to make and Adric is my second in command- we have worked together and planned attacks for the past four years. The only surprising part of this meeting is the fact that you told me the truth." He said.
"I told you I'm on your side." Replied Chris.
"And now I believe you." Wyatt said. Chris looked up at his brother with a grin.
"What should I do now?" He asked- needing to know Wyatt's plan so he could warn the sisters.
"Oh don't worry. I have a very special Job for you."
San Francisco Police Station, One Hour Earlier.
The present day Paige paced the cell nervously. How the hell had that cop known all those things about her? And for god's sake, most of the crimes he had listed she had committed in her teens, surely the police didn't still care about them. She considered that this might have something to do with the Halliwells. Maybe after she had refused to go with them they had called the police on her instead, but then- how did they know those things about her?
She continued pacing for a while longer, occasionally going to the door to look out of the bars to see if anyone was coming to release her- surely they weren't going to make her stay all day! She desperately tried to ignore the stares of some of her other inmates as she settled down in the far corner of the room, but she could still feel several eyes keeping a permanent watch on her.
Paige glance around the room to see who it was that was so fascinated by her and she found five of the most terrifying women she had ever seen glaring at her without ever seeming to blink. Paige shifted awkwardly on the spot, not daring to call them out on it. No one else seemed to have noticed.
After another hour, Paige finally heard footsteps coming towards the cell. She got to her feet and quickly walked back to the door, determined demand answers. The officer stopped at the door and unlocked it. Before Paige had the time to speak, he pointed at her, and a few of her cellmates.
"Follow me." He instructed.
"Are you letting us go?" Asked Paige hopefully. The officer didn't reply, but instead he simply grabbed Paige by the arm and forced her to follow along.
When Paige turned back to see if any of the others were receiving the same treatment, she saw to her horror that it was the five terrifying women that had been staring at her since her arrival.
"Hey!" Came the voice of the officer that had arrested her. "What do you think you are doing? She is not to be released until-" But the officer stopped mid-sentence as two of the woman suddenly grabbed him as well.
"You are wanted too." Crowed the tallest of the woman in a high, cruel voice.
Paige and the arresting officer were dragged into an empty interrogation room. One of the women deactivated the camera's and then the kidnappers exchanged hideous grins as their forms began to grow hazy and before Paige's eye's all six of them changed into their true demon form. Paige screamed and tried to run, but she felt arms seize her and her vision became blurry.
Victor Bennett's Apartment 30 minutes earlier.
Victor and Leo sat nervously in Victor's apartment with Wyatt on the floor in-between them. Leo had explained most of the situation to Victor, but Victor was finding it difficult to believe that the sweet little boy before him could ever grow up to be the monster Leo described.
The men tried to distract themselves by talking about other matters, but neither of their eyes would stay still as the flicked constantly around the room prepared for any attack, but it was Wyatt who felt the danger first- he raised his shield, protecting his dad and grandfather just as blue orbs filled the room and the grown up Wyatt arrived.
Wyatt looked down at his younger self, a flicker of surprise on his face- he had arrived personally as he knew if any demon were to arrive his younger self would have had that reaction- but he had never expected him to raise a shield against himself.
Wyatt didn't bother with any act- if Leo was here too it meant both men already knew the truth, and besides his way was far quicker.
Leo looked up at his son, trying to sense any piece of goodness left in him, but all he could find was the corrupting influence of the source. Knowing there was no point in trying to reason with him, Leo quickly picked up his son, grabbed his uncle's arm and tried to orb out.
But he couldn't. Wyatt smiled.
"If you want to go somewhere father, all you have to do is ask." He informed him. Leo didn't reply- from what Paige had told him, the future him had tried everything to get through to his son, but nothing had worked.
When he didn't receive a response, Wyatt turned instead to his younger self, kneeling down just outside the shield's edge. "Hey, little guy." He said in an uncharacteristically friendly voice. "You know me, you can trust me." The baby, however, didn't make any effort to lower his shield and just lay there gargling, staring happily up at his father. Wyatt ground his teeth, hating how stubborn he was and turned to plan two.
He too raised his shield, allowing the two blue shapes to touch and, just as he had thought, because they were the exact same shields they combined, allowing Wyatt into the shield dome as well.
Victor and Leo got to their feet quickly, Leo bent down to pick Wyatt up but suddenly he wasn't there- Wyatt sneered at his Father and Grandfather's desperate attempts to escape, before grabbing them both and orbing them to where he was also holding Paige and Darryl before orbing away to speak to his brother.
Halliwell Manor, Half an Hour Later.
Wyatt orbed into the manor, taking up his role as the good older son, despite the fact he knew no one was buying it. He smiled at the four assembled witches, noticing how close Prue and Adric looked- he had always thought they would have worked well together
"Sorry I've been gone so long." He said- his mouth already growing tiered from holding a smile for so much longer then he would normally have to endure. "I've had to get a few things sorted, but I know now exactly how I am going to help you destroy the source for good." Everyone nodded, but their acts were far from convincing.
"We're taking out the source are we?" Questioned Adric. "Someone could have told me I was signing up for a suicide mission."
"Ordinarily, I'd agree with you Adric." Replied Wyatt. "But I assure you that my plan is fool proof- it won't even require us facing him at all.
He quickly explained his plan to summon Merlin- justifying it by saying Merlin would then be able to destroy the source and possibly seal of the underworld for good. No one criticised it or argued that there could be a better way- everyone just wanted to get this over and done with.
Although it was barely the afternoon in San Francisco, it was already dark at Stonehenge- which provided a perfect cover for their plans.
Once they arrived, everyone turned to Wyatt, awaiting instructions for how to open the grave. Wyatt instructed them to stand in a circle just on the inside of the inner semi-circle of stones, equidistant from each other. Their hearts began to pound- if Wyatt was only going to tell them the ritual bit by bit, then they may not have enough time for Paige to take out Wyatt before Merlin was conjured. They all followed his instructions, however, waiting for their opportunity.
"The spell itself it relatively simple." He announced raising his voice slightly as a cold wind was blowing across the land, carrying his words away. "There are no words, needed, simply fear." The group exchanged nervous glances, as a slightly manic look entered his eye. "Fear is an emotion, and just like any other emotion, it has an effect on your powers. In this case, on this piece of land, the effect is for your powers to call for help from the earth, thereby calling down to Merlin." The group was now feeling incredibly nervous. "So, shall we get started?"
"What do you mean?" Asked Prue, determined not to let any fear show.
"Well, if fear is what is required for this spell to work, then fear is what I shall bring."
Before anyone else had a chance to ask more, Paige orbed in. She had heard enough of the conversation to want to stop the plan now, and threw the potion directly at Wyatt. The potion his him squarely in the back, knocking Wyatt forward, but, just as Chris had feared, it had no effect on him.
"Ah, Aunt Paige." He greeted, seizing her wrist and dragging her to his place in the circle as he himself moved to the centre. "Thank you so much for joining us."
"We're not afraid of you Wyatt." Lied Phoebe. "You're our nephew, we raise you. If you kill us, you'll change your own past!" Wyatt smiled politely, but didn't respond.
Suddenly, Paige began to scream. Everyone turned to face her and they saw her doubled over in agony, although there was no sign of blood or injury.
"Remarkable, isn't it." Commented Wyatt. "The bond between our past and future is so strong that we can feel pain even when it was inflicted upon us years before." He gestured across the circle, drawing everyone's attention to where a demon was holding in one hand a bloody athame and in the other, the limp form of the present day Paige, who was clutching her stomach, trying to stop the steady flow of blood.
"Stop it!" Screamed Prue. "You need her alive if you want the spell to work!"
"Oh, the wound isn't fatal." He reassured her. "Not for a couple of hours at least. I just wanted to remind her how much she is at my mercy." Paige glared up at her nephew, but her hatred was very clearly clouded with fear. "And speaking of people at my mercy." He gestured again out of the circle, this time to just past where Adric stood. More demons had arrived and this time they were holding the battered forms of Leo, Darryl and Victor.
"No!" Screamed Piper and Phoebe, who had the best view of the torture. Each man had an athame to their throats and the demons were clearly looking for any excuse to use it.
"Feeling the fear yet?" Cried Wyatt triumphantly. In more than one way he was glad that his family had tried to betray him, it was freeing almost. This way he felt no guilt as he surveyed each of their tortured faces.
"You're bluffing." Called Adric. But he too didn't seem so confident, he could also feel a blade against his own back, but that didn't cause him nearly as much fear as the tormented look on Prue's beautiful face.
"Am I, old friend?" He laughed. "What, you think because they are family that I value their lives more than the power I am going to gain?" He turned once more in the circle, surveying each one of their traitorous faces. "You all came here, or tried to protect people an attempt to destroy me." He announced.
"No!" Cried Piper desperately. "We wanted to save-" Wyatt held up his hand to silence her.
"As Paige will tell you, Phoebe especially, I do not see traitors as family." Phoebe looked over to Paige nervously but her sister could not meet her eye. "Let me show you now what I do with the traitors that I once loved."
He waved his arms and a shower of orbs rained down before him and when they cleared everyone saw Chris's body at Wyatt's feet.
He wasn't breathing.
