A Charmed Story - Part Eleven:
Enemy In My Mind
Chapter 5

When Michael realised what happened he looked around, first confused but then scared. They were in a cave.
He turned to the boy, picked him up and hold him close. "Where are we?" he asked, fearing the answer.
"Demon's home," Wyatt replied.
Michael was shocked even if he had already knew it in a way. "W... W... Why?" he muttered.
"The men in the white dress... they are evil... they took me away from mommy..." Wyatt said nearly crying.
Michael shook his head to clear his thoughts. 'The Cleaners... it must be them, they had taken Wyatt once,' he knew that... but... "You do remember that?" he asked the boy. Wyatt nodded.
From somewhere they heard a groan... a very unfriendly one.
Michael looked around scared and then back at Wyatt: "And why did you bring us here?"
"Go to Chris..." Wyatt said determined, "my brother will protect us."
"Great..." Michael mumbled looking around. "Ok, buddy," he said then, "which direction?"
Wyatt rose his hand and pointed at a tunnel, actually at the most darkest one.
"Great, just great," Michael mumbled. He sighed looking at the boy. Then he went into the tunnel.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris wanted to say something, but Julian took the word. "It seems we missed a lot since you broke our computers..." he said to the demon, but not angry - more in a teasing way. But then he turned serious: "Chris will stay for a while... he has to hide from the Cleaners."
Now Belthazor opened his eyes widely. "What have you done?" he asked.
Chris sighed: "I've blown up a wall..."
"A wall?" the source asked not sure what to think about that...
"Yeah... in front of about thirty people..." Chris admitted feeling guilty. Now the demon sighed. This was huge.
"It seems it happened at the same..." Julian tried to explain, but Belthazor interrupted him.
"I'm not stupid, Julian," he said harshly. Then he turned to Chris: "You can stay under one condition."
"And that is?" Chris asked fearing the source could want something he couldn't give him, like some more powers or something more huge and more worse.
"You help us to find out what's going on here... alright?" the source said instead. Chris nodded relieved and Julian smiled.
A moment later it knocked on the door. Julian and Belthazor frowned. Then the demon led Chris into another room.
As soon as they where out of sight, Julian asked through the door: "What's the code?"
"Julian? Is that you?" he heard the answer.
The demonic witch was frozen in surprise for a second, then he quickly opened the door. "Michael..." he exclaimed shocked and let them in. The man just smiled confused and put Wyatt down, who looked around interested.
"Michael?" this was Chris voice who appeared just a second later.
As soon as Wyatt saw his brother he went over to him and hugged his legs. Chris could feel the huge relief his brother felt this moment, and that made it impossible for him to be angry at his brother. He sighed and picked him up. "What are you doing here, little brother?" he asked.
But that moment Wyatt clenched his fingers into Chris's shirt and stared at a spot behind Michael who had stepped besides them. "Demon," he muttered scared.
Michael turned around, scared too. Just to look into the eyes of Belthazor.

°°°°°°°°°°

The two men in white were standing in the middle of the circle made by all the members of the Halliwell family and their friends. They did not show any emotion at all, they just stared at Piper and Leo...
"Well, there must be another solution..." Steve started, but when he felt Nicki's hand pressing strongly his arm, he shut up immediately.
Tom and Veronica stood by them with worried looks in their faces. How were they going to escape that situation? Both of them turned to Steve when he talked, scared to the bone of the reaction of those weird men who did not belong to any of the sides.
"If there were more solutions, we would not be here, young man," one of them answered, despotically.
"We proved you that there are always other ways, you bastards!" Piper exclaimed, unable to stop herself. Leo looked at her, shocked and very scared, when one of the men glared at the Charmed One.
"We will find Chris and do our job, and there's no way you can stop us," he said threateningly.
Paige stepped forward, seeing how Cole hugged Phoebe tightly. "Over our bodies, gentlemen," she said with sarcasm and hatred at the same time.
This made the two men in white smirk and shake their heads. "Paige Halliwell, you know that's not a problem for us, if we want to preserve the state of magic as it's now."
"Wait," Silas then intervened. "You can't destroy the Charmed Ones because they are necessary to keep the balance between good and evil. And anyway, you should know that Chris Halliwell is way too important too, for this purpose. We, the Elders, are responsible of his actions, and promise now that we'll fix this."
The Cleaners stared at him with an indecipherable look in their eyes, while the others held their breath, waiting for the resolution of the situation. Finally, the one who had not spoken yet, said: "You have twenty-four hours. Then we'll be back, and then you better have Chris here." After those words, the Cleaners looked at them one by one, and then disappeared.
Right after that, Piper burst into tears in Leo's arms, but Cole stared at the sunroom, where Michael had been with Wyatt not long ago. Actually, he was the only one who had seen him orb with the child. Thanks God Angela had not noticed, hidden by Silas. But as soon as all of them noticed, they were going to freak out.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Inspector Morris!" The door of his office opened soundly, letting a man come in. He looked really angry, all his face red in rage. The two men were startled by his outburst, and looked at him surprised, but they did not have the opportunity to utter a word.
The man just put a pile of papers on his table, causing a strong thud, and yelled: "Can anyone explain me what is going on??"
Kyle looked at his friend and then at the intruder, but said nothing. However, Darryl stood up and glared at the man in front of him: "May I ask who the hell you are?"
The man who had just arrived opened his jacket and showed him his FBI badge: "Agent Anderson. And now, why did you not inform us of these disturbances?"
Darryl frowned, faking his surprise and ignorance. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
The agent looked at Kyle who shrugged. "You do know what I am talking about! Those people outside are going crazy with those things they saw, and you just keep the secret and do nothing!"
"WHAT?" Darryl cried, very angrily. "First, this is my case, this corresponds to the police of San Francisco, not the FBI, and I don't have to inform you of anything. Second, we are taking care of this case discretely, and I assure you, we are doing a good job." Kyle swallowed, as his friend went on: "And if it's not a problem for you, just please go out of my office and go back to your work. Let me do mine!"
The FBI agent glared at him, and stepped forward a little bit more: "No, you're gonna listen to me. This case is in federal hands from now on, and you are not in the case anymore."
"What??" This was Kyle, who was freaking out now: "This is a case inside the boundaries of this town, not even the state... You don't have the right..."
"I have. We have it. We have had robberies and pick pocketing of the same nature as here all over the country, and this is the last and bigger magical case. This is now a national problem, inspector Morris, and therefore, this is MY case now."
"No, you can't... you cannot do that..." But the agent was leaving the office already.
Kyle turned to Darryl, pale as the snow, and the inspector lowered his eyes, and sat down, feeling his fingers tremble in a weird way.
"We have to do something..." Kyle stated the obvious.
Darryl nodded and picked up the phone, but then just hung up again, and looked in Kyle's eyes: "Maybe it's better if we just go there... Before the press takes advantage over us."
"They're gonna relate us with this, or they will think we are helping them!" Kyle exclaimed nervously, as he saw how Darryl put on his jacket.
"I never risked anything for them. Not really. And they always risked their lives for all of us. Do as you like, I am not gonna mention your name at all. But I am going," he said, and left his office, closing the door strongly.
Kyle sighed, thinking about Paige. Then he hurried to take his jacket and rushed out of the room: "Wait! Of course I am going!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Demon..."
When the child said that, Michael had turned scared just to find himself facing Belthazor. "Aaah... ahh!!" he exclaimed, jumping backwards.
But the demon grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and brought him towards his face. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, a bit angry but looking like furious because of his physical appearance.
Michael, who had met the demon once, could not help feeling really scared: "I... Wyatt..."
"Did you think this was like an orphanage or something like that?"
Meanwhile, Chris was trying to calm Wyatt down: "It's ok, Wyatt, I am here..." But with Belthazor's outburst the child had started to cry. This moment Chris was glad that no one could use their powers in this place. Otherwise he wouldn't know what Wyatt would have done by now, out of fear.
The red demon was going to yell more, when he felt Julian's hand on his shoulder: "Come on, friend, calm down. He didn't choose to come and we have more important things to deal with now." Belthazor grumbled a little bit and let a very pale Michael go.
"Don't worry, he cannot use any power here." Julian whispered at Mike's ear, winking, as the source went over to Chris.
"Alright, but please make him shut up. I think I have a headache..." the huge demon said unnerved.
Chris glared at him, but answered nothing. Actually they were technically in HIS house.
"Wyatt, look at me," he separated the boy a little bit from him so that he could see his eyes. "Don't you think I would be worried?"
"But you are worried..." Wyatt sobbed.
Chris smiled at him reassuringly, and answered: "Yeah... But not because of this ugly red demon." He grimaced. Belthazor looked at him and rolled his eyes, as Julian chuckled. But Michael was still trying to get over.
Wyatt laughed a little bit seeing Chris's expression, but then he put his thumb in his mouth and mumbled: "They came for you, Chris..."
This time Belthazor and Julian exchanged worried looks and Michael held his breath. Chris frowned: "Who came?"
"The men in white..." Wyatt sobbed, still a little afraid of Belthazor.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Where is he?" Piper asked as she stared into the empty sun room. Angela and Leo stepped next to her frowning.
"Well..." Cole said hesitating, "I guess Wyatt orbed with Michael away."
"WHAT?" Angela exclaimed scared.
But Piper kept her coolness. "What did you see, Cole?" she asked, knowing that freaking out wouldn't bring them back.
"I saw them in the doorway," he answered with a sigh. "It seemed to me that Wyatt was afraid of the Cleaners."
"So where could they have gone to?" Steve asked. He and Bianca had followed them, too, when they heard Angela's panic filled voice. They had caught the last bit of the conversation.
"Maybe to the school?" The Phoenix suggested.
Leo shook his head silently. He sighed and admitted: "I don't think he's there, because I can't sense him..."
"And that means?" Angela asked. Noticing the sudden tension in the air and wondering what was going on.
"That means he's probably in the underworld," Steve explained which gained him a punch in his side by Bianca.
Angela just stared at him shocked. Her husband was in the underworld? Where the demons live? "Oh my God..." she muttered turning pale.
Piper sighed and put an arm around her: "I'm sure he's fine... I guess Wyatt brought him to Chris..."
"You think so?" Bianca asked surprised.
"Yeah," Piper explained, "it's the most likely possibility. Chris is Wyatt's hero... So if he's afraid he orbs to him because..."
"But..." Leo interrupted her confused, "do you think Wyatt can sense him down there?"
"He can..." Cole and Steve said in union and then looked at each other surprised before smiling.
Bianca took a deep breath, wondering why Chris had never told her that... or had he? She wasn't sure anymore... Nevertheless... "What are we going to do now?"
"Find out what happens to him..." Piper said determined. "If we know what this is about we'll maybe find a way to solve this on our own..."
"And Wyatt?" Leo asked.
Cole shrugged and started to speak before Piper could: "I think I know how to find out if he's safe... I just need someone to orb me down there..." Cole said.
Piper was about to answer, that he should go with Leo and get her baby-boy back, when the doorbell rang again.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe sighed, when she entered the attic followed by her younger sister and their three friends. They had to find a way to solve this... they had to find out at least what was going on... They just had to.
"Ok," she said, turning around to face the others. "Veronica, Tom, Nicki? Could you shimmer to the school and check the library there? Me and Paige will check our books..."
"Alright," Tom replied grabbing his friends' hands.
But Nicki freed herself. "No..." she said, determined, "I want to stay... at least as long as Steve does..."
Everyone looked at the girl frowning. "But we could need..." Veronica said. But the young woman interrupted her: "I said no..."
Phoebe sighed as her powers kicked in and she realised what this was about. Nicki was extremely afraid of losing Steve and that was why she didn't want to go. So to prevent more fights she said: "Alright... I go with you two... and you Nicki, you can help Paige." This was the easiest solution. Still she made a mental note to talk to Nicki later. Then she took the young man's hand and Tom shimmered them away.
Short after that, the other two heard the doorbell. "Oh no... The mob is coming..." the witch-whitelighter said sarcastically.
Nicki frowned and walked over to the window: "Do you think so?" She looked down on the street but there was no one to see. Again the doorbell rang. "If there is a reporter, then it's only one... No cars, no cameras to see," the young woman announced.
Paige sighed hoping that whoever was ringing down there, didn't mean something more worse then the 6-o'clock-news.

°°°°°°°°°°

After the Cleaners were gone, Silas orbed up there to do some more research. When he appeared in the main place, Jeremiah was waiting for him. "And? he asked.
Silas shrugged: "Chris is hiding, I'm not really sure where, but somewhere were the Cleaners can't find him at the moment..."
"That's good," the other Elder said, still worried, "because we couldn't stop them."
Silas nodded: "I know... I met them down there..."
"And?" Jeremiah felt his worries return.
"They gave the sisters twenty-four hours..." he answered shortly. Because he had other things in mind. "Where are Odin and Elenia?"
"In the library," Jeremiah answered and gestured for Silas to come with him.
They walked silent side by side and Jeremiah's thoughts moved on to Chris again. When he had first met that future-boy, that half-Elder, that... well he hadn't liked him to be polite. But now he know it better. Chris, the owner of Excalibur, the Elder... and as he hoped, his friend. Because lately they got along really well... Jeremiah felt truly sorry for how he had treated Chris so long. He had to help him, he just had to find a way.
"What are you thinking about?" Silas asked after a moment, knowing very well what it was.
"Nothing," Jeremiah replied and his friend nodded.
Another few moments later they reached the library and quickly found Odin and Elenia submerged in a few books.
"Something new?" Jeremiah asked, grabbing a book on his own, while Silas looked around first.
"Actually... maybe..." Odin said deep in his thoughts.
"WHAT?" Jeremiah and Silas exclaimed at the same time, startling the other visitors of the library. Jeremiah looked around blushing slightly and apologised. Then he turned back to Odin.
"Well... we found some hints about a demon who once tried to kill the source of all evil," Odin explained.
"And what has that to do with Chris?" Jeremiah asked wondering
"Well..." Odin went on, "it seems a demon who was able to manipulate someone's mind, tried to force the source to kill himself."
"And what has that to do with Chris???" Jeremiah asked again, not understanding.
Meanwhile Silas sank down to one of the chairs and sighed. Then he asked: "You think that's a side effect?"
"Either that," Elenia said, "or that demon is after Chris himself."
"Ok... Please stop!" Jeremiah interrupted them. "Side effect??? What are you talking about here?"
Odin sighed and gestured his friend to sit down. Then he began: "Actually that was Leo's idea and Chris seemed to agree when I talked to him about that the last time... of course this was a while ago, but I doubt his opinion has changed. Well... The source re-appeared nearly at the same time like Chris pulled himself out of time... So Leo thought that this could be the work of the higher balance of powers... like a counter-balance for Chris..."
"And now you think there could be more about that?" Jeremiah asked. "That's impossible... and you know that..."
"Yeah, maybe," Silas said, "but I met Julian at the manor." He left that statement like it was, leaving the conclusions to the others. Then he went on: "And still this demon is the best thing we have... I guess it's worth to have a closer look on that." The other three nodded.

°°°°°°°°°°

All the people in the lounge had turned to the door when the doorbell rang. Cole had looked at them, hesitant, but it rang again, so Bianca had just pushed him. "Go now!" she had exclaimed.
Cole had looked for Leo with his eyes. He would go, but he needed someone to orb him. The doorbell had rang once again.
"Ok, let's go down there..." Leo had said, finally, grabbing his arm.
As soon as they had disappeared, Bianca went to the door and opened it, expecting the reporters and journalists, and thousands of stupid cameras flashing and blinding her right after opening it. But instead, he saw a very anguished and distressed Darryl, followed by a not less worried Kyle.
"Hey..."
"Where's Chris?" Darryl asked, almost pushing Bianca aside, and going directly into the living room.
"What? Why do you want Chris?" Piper demanded, alarmed by his sudden appearance.
Darryl started to look at all of them and tried to see if Chris was there, but he couldn't find him. Kyle came after him, followed by Bianca: "Didn't Paige tell you? ... Where is she?"
"Actually she did. And that's why Chris is hiding..." Steve explained, not sure if he had talked more than he should.
Piper was still staring at Darryl, as well as Bianca, both women more than worried: "You don't come to take him to prison, do you?"
Darryl sighed: "Actually, we're out of this case. It's not in our hands anymore. The FBI is after Chris now, we just wanted to warn you."
"WHAT!!??" all the people asked at a time.
Kyle nodded, resigned and still looking for Paige: "They'll come sooner or later, and you should know it's not very recommendable to try to trick them out..."
Piper went pale, and felt a little dizzy, so she sat down and looked at the nothingness in front of her. Angela was sitting near to her, without knowing what she should do, and thinking of Michael. She needed him back... This situation was so weird!
Bianca was also panicking. "What... what does that mean??" she asked. "I mean... What do they want from him?"
Kyle shrugged, uncomfortable, and Darryl shook his head, feeling all the looks on him. "We don't know... We have never had a case like this, but you must know that the FBI has a special department, a secret one, devoted to these kinds of cases. I guess Chris is the living proof that these things exist, and they do really want him," Darryl explained.
Kyle nodded. " I already worked for some FBI agents before, and helped them with this topic. Before coming to San Francisco, I was working in another city, and some FBI agents came asking for some people in my station who could help them around, because they were following a good clue. I got to know some about what was going on in the FBI. They have thousands of files related to supernatural stuff. This is, somehow... a modern witch hunt, Piper," he explained bluntly. They needed to know. They did really need to know that, since now their secret was out. "Not that they actually found anything back then," he added, "but this...?"
Everyone kept silent, shocked by that. Bianca sobbed a little bit, and Steve went to take her hand to calm her down, as Piper shook her head peremptorily.
"What... can we do?" Steve asked. "Is there anyway we can help here?"
Darryl and Kyle exchanged looks, and then sighed. "If you mean a magical way... That's the only way of helping him right now," the latter said.
Darryl nodded at Kyle's words: "We need a miracle, boy."
Angela felt a thrill, but said nothing. Her brain was working fast, trying to understand and find a way to help, inside her limited possibilities. Apart from that, the others in the lounge were the picture of desolation and helplessness.

°°°°°°°°°°

"And that's why you are here?" Chris asked after Wyatt had told him about the Cleaners. The boy nodded and the Elder-witch could feel his fear. Chris still wished he could kick their asses for taking Wyatt away, even if it was just for a short time.
Softly and lovingly he hold his brother close to him and whispered to his ear: "Don't worry, they will not get you again... nor me... never."
"You promise?" Wyatt asked.
"I do," Chris replied hoping that his brother didn't notice that he actually wasn't so sure about that.
"So let's help me clear my mind for a second... Wyatt orbed you two down here... why?" Julian asked then, looking at the casual mortal.
Michael, who had stepped backwards until his back reached the wall, just looked at the source with fear. But he said nothing.
Chris sighed. Then he looked at Wyatt and said: "I guess Wyatt was afraid when he saw the Cleaners, they took him once, you know... He was afraid and... he knows I will always protect him." Julian sighed, then nodded.
"Yeah... very sweet," Belthazor said, "but now send him back home!"
Chris nodded. He wanted to do that anyway. The cave of the source wasn't a place for a kid like his brother. "Ok, Wyatt," he said. "I'm sure nobody will hurt you at home... mommy and daddy will protect you."
"But I don't want to go home!" Wyatt cried.
Chris sighed: "Buddy that's no place for a kid... even if it's such a great and powerful one like you are."
"I want to stay with you..." Wyatt sobbed even more.
Michael just looked from Belthazor to Chris and then back to the demon. HE really wanted to go. "Wyatt..." he said therefore, "but... I want to go... so could you just bring me back?"
But the child wasn't paying attention to him. Wyatt just kept focused on Chris his arms wrapped around his brother's neck.
"I can't stand this," Belthazor grumbled. Angry he went over to the brothers mumbling: "I promise you, you will..."
He couldn't say more. Because when he approached Wyatt, the boy rose his forcefield around him and Chris and with this made the source of all evil fly backwards to the wall.
All the others looked shocked at the small boy, who had put his forcefield down again, while the source awkwardly got back to his feet.
"Didn't you... didn't you say no one can use magic in here?" Michael asked shivering, fearful looking at Belthazor.
Julian nodded and then turned to the boy: "How have you done that?"
Wyatt looked from on to the other not sure what was so special about the shining ball, which he had created so much often before.
Meanwhile Belthazor approached them again. "Alright," he mumbled, "stay if you want, but this is my house so if I tell you something you do as I say!"
Wyatt nodded hugging Chris closer again.
"Wow," a familiar voice said all of a sudden. All heads turned around just to see the smiling face of Cole. "Sorry if I disturbed you guys with something... but the door was open..."

(Chapter5 written by Chrissy.W.xand Belén)