Hello again! Hope the wait hasn't been too long. Here's chapter 20!

Autumn x

Chapter 20: Hopes and Desires

He was lying on something soft. That was the first though that Chris was conscious of. He shifted slightly and his eyes flickered open. There was a very bright light surrounding him and he squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. He could see now that above him was clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds hovering calmly.

The next thing he noticed was the distinct lack of noise. However, the moment he though how strange that was, a tumultuous kaleidoscope of sounds rushed towards him from a distance and engulfed him. He shut his eyes tightly as his confused brain struggled to make sense of what was going on.

"Chris!" His name was frantically being repeated over and over again, overriding all the other noises bombarding his senses. He opened his eyes again and this time his view of the sky was blocked by blurry figures leaning over him. Four of them.

Repeated blinking cleared his vision and he belatedly recognised three of the people bending over him, with anxious expressions etched on their faces. Prue was the one calling his name, clutching his hand tightly, while at his feet Darryl and Sheila had their arms around each other. The fourth figure he didn't recognise but was wearing the golden robes of an Elder and had his hand splayed out over Chris' stomach.

The golden light dimmed and Chris' senses clicked back into place. He sat up running his fingers over his stomach which only moments ago had been gushing blood.

"Chris! You ok?" Prue blurted anxiously.

"Uh-" His tongue felt leaden but his head was clearing, "Yeah," he managed eventually, "I'm fine. Thank you." This directed at the Elder who had healed him.

"You are welcome. I fear the forthcoming battle would have gone badly if you were not present." The Elder, Orion, bowed his head.

"Battle?" Chris questioned, "Against Wyatt?"

Sheila shivered, still clasping onto her husband, "Has it really come to this?" she murmured regretfully.

Orion nodded, "We can think of no other way of restoring the balance between good and evil. Chris, I know he is your brother, but you must help. We will need someone of your skill to lead this battle."

"Wyatt lost all rights to calling himself our family when he killed Uncle Leo." Prue interrupted, her face uncharacteristically ugly.

Chris nodded slowly, "I know it must be done." he whispered.

"Thank you." Orion made to leave, "I will give you a few moments but we must call a meeting as soon as possible to decide the best course of action."

A little while later, Chris led the other three towards the pool of water that formed the centrepiece of Sanctuary. The courtyard was filled with Elders, mostly silent, with those at the front staring into the water that rippled without the need for wind.

He stepped up to Orion. "I'm ready." he announced, pale faced.

Orion sighed and turned away from the pool. "It is our seeing pool." he explained to Chris, "But it is mostly murky now, we can see little of what goes on inside the city." He sighed again, then shook his head to clear it. "Right, let us get this meeting started."

"Excuse me!" The Elder's voice rang commandingly across the courtyard, "The meeting shall start now."

Chris felt self-conscious as the eyes of everyone in Sanctuary turned towards him. Orion nodded at him to speak.

"As you may know, I'm Chris Halliwell, son of Piper Halliwell, one of the Charmed Ones." Chris paused to swallow in a dry throat, "You will also, no doubt, know of my brother Wyatt Halliwell, as he is the reason we are all here today."

He risked a quick glance over the assembled Elders; none appeared ready to denounce him as a follower of his brother. Encouraging smiles from Prue, Darryl and Sheila further boosted his confidence.

"Wyatt has taken over San Francisco. He has killed those who sought to stand in his way, and those who were nothing but convenient targets. And...and even though he's my brother, and even though I wish we could find a way to end this without more people dying, I...I don't honestly think that Wyatt will let that happen."

Chris felt red stain his cheeks as his voice broke in places but he ploughed on relentlessly. "Wyatt will kill us all, everyone who is standing here right now, and many, many more. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We have to fight back. We have to. There are people out there who are unable to defend themselves against Wyatt and his demons, and we have the responsibility to help them."

"What exactly are you proposing we do?" interrupted a haughty looking, dark-haired Elder.

"We need to start fighting back." Chris announced, "But we have to have some semblance of order, we need to have a plan. Wyatt will have been planning this for a long time, we have to outsmart him. It's the only way we can win."

The Elder nodded slowly in appreciation, "So you are suggesting that we form a resistance group?"

"That's suicide!" another Elder interjected angrily, "Wyatt will hunt us down and kill us. We're safe here!"

Orion stepped into the argument, "Safe? Have you forgotten that Wyatt Halliwell is half whitelighter. If he knows where we are he can orb here and we have no way of stopping him unless we ground ourselves!"

"Like the young man said, we have a responsibility to help!" an elderly looking Elder put in his two cents.

Chris exchanged helpless glances with Prue, Darryl and Sheila, as the battle of words raged around the courtyard. The Elders were creating a tremendous din with their arguments, some for, others against the idea of a resistance group.

"Leave them to it, Chris." Darryl advised, almost shouting to make himself heard, "They'll need to discuss it anyway. But personally I think you did well, it was a grand speech!"

Prue nodded enthusiastically, "You were amazing!" she squealed, "Where can I sign up?"

"What?" "Prue!" "No way!" Were all heard simultaneously.

Prue scowled, hands on her hips and looking remarkably like her aunt Piper. "I want to fight. And I'm going to. Don't you dare tell me I'm too young, or whatever you were about to say, because you know I've been fighting demons for years and I'm bloody good at it!"

"We just don't want you to get hurt." Sheila said soothingly.

"Well it's a bit late for that!" exploded Prue, "Wyatt's already trying to kill me. I'm going to help and that's that!"

Chris frowned, but nothing he or the others could say would change Prue's mind. They eventually gave up, resigned to the fact that Prue would join the resistance. That is, if the Elders would agree to help form one.

A little while later, although a few debates buzzed around the courtyard, the majority of Elders had come to some conclusion and had resumed their staring into the seeing pool with a variety of solemn expressions. Chris caught Orion's eye and the Elder nodded.

"Excuse me!" he called again, "I trust you have all had time to discuss this proposal, now I think the only way to do this is to have a vote. I realise we Elders are not normally so democratic but this decision may well affect whether we live or die so we must go by the majority vote."

A rumble of agreement spread around the assembled group.

Orion gestured to Chris, who stepped forward somewhat apprehensively. "Ok, all those in favour of forming a resistance group put your hands up." he announced.

A wide number of Elders raised their arms, but before Chris could attempt to count them a bubble of light rose from each outstretched hand and gathered in a floating mass to the right-side of the courtyard. Chris blinked in surprise, but quickly realised that this must be some method of counting votes.

"And those against?"

There were only a few Elders who released a bubble of orbs, and the mass of light that settled over the left side of the courtyard was drastically smaller.

Chris felt a wide smile spread across his face, before hurriedly realising that it might not be appropriate and settling for a quick nod.

Orion pointed at the floating lights, "We appear to have decided. We shall help Chris Halliwell form a resistance group to fight the dictatorship of his brother."

A murmur of appreciation rippled across the group, and Prue gave Chris a thumbs up.

Orion added, "Any who do not wish to be a part of this resistance, come and find me after the meeting and we shall find a way to transport you out of Sanctuary and into another place, where hopefully none will find you."

The meeting broke up. "So what happens now?" Darryl asked.

Chris thought quickly, "We need to contact any remaining witches and magical beings and see if we can persuade them to help us. Orion, can you...?"

The Elder nodded, "I will send people to contact everyone we can find. We should bring anyone who wishes to help here immediately, and I suggest use memory dust on those who don't, to prevent Wyatt's troops from finding out what we are planning."

"Good idea." Chris agreed, "Let's get this revolution started!"

Wyatt let out an outraged roar, and swung his hand at a champagne glass sitting on the edge of his desk. He breathed heavily for a moment, watching the delicate glass smash into smithereens as it came into contact with the unyielding floor.

"How did this happen?" he hissed, fury weaving through his veins.

The heavy-set brute demon stood by the door, visibly apprehensive. "M-M'Lord?" he questioned tentatively.

In response Wyatt slammed a clenched fist onto the wooden desk, "How could they escape!" He was outright shouting now, body tensed and eyes a terrifying icy blue.

Kezlar remained silent this time, but Wyatt whirled upon him anyway, "Well?" he demanded, "Where is the Elder I commanded you to capture for me?"

"We-we have been unable to locate one, M'Lord" Kezlar muttered nervously.

Wyatt let out a growl of anger, "Chris'll be with the Elders now. So you need to find one, torture him and make him tell us where they're hiding them. Is. That. Understood?"

"Y-yes M'lord." Kezlar hurriedly turned to leave, leaving Wyatt alone in his office.

The witch yanked out the ornate chair and seated himself behind the desk. His thoughts were whirling, pure anger seeping insidiously into every section of his brain. When he got his hands on Chris again...

Wyatt shook his head to clear it of thoughts of what he wanted to do to his last remaining family members. He had to focus on bigger matters right now. He had a plan, and not even his little brother could distract him from it.

He knew what he wanted: more power, more control. And the next step was...California.

Chris was seated alone in a small chamber, away from the bustling activity that he had stirred the Elders into. Half-formed plans swirled through his brain, many marked as ridiculous and discarded, others showing potential and being carefully set-aside for further thought.

A soft knock sounded on the door and Chris rose to let his visitor in. He was expecting it to be Prue demanding he tell her every detail of his imprisonment, or maybe Sheila enquiring if he was ok, but instead it was Orion, the Elder, standing there looking slightly less composed than usual.

Chris frowned, "Is everything ok?" he asked.

"Yes, the preparations are going well." Orion replied hesitantly, "It's about something else that I've come to see you. It's about Wyatt."

"Oh," Chris sensed this was not something that the Elder found easy to say, "What is it?"

"I do not know if this will help any in fighting your brother but..." Orion took a deep breath and started his story. "Wyatt's birth caused a lot of...commotion, shall we say, across the entire magical community. Some saw him as a saviour, others as a threat. Even us Elders were divided upon the matter. One Elder was adamant that the amount of power Wyatt possessed would eventually corrupt him, but others, myself included, took a different view on the matter."

Orion paused to marshal his thoughts, Chris waited patiently, listening intently.

"Everyone has the ability to be good or evil. That's my belief, and it's a relatively common one amongst us Elders. But opinions as to when this choice occurs vary considerably. Some believe once you chose a side, you are condemned by your choice, you cannot change. Others believe that those who choose evil can later become good and vice versa. Personally I believe this latter case, while possible, is very rare, and even though I will not discourage you from attempting to return your brother to you, I do not think it will be achievable. Indeed, this resistance appears to be the only option. However, I will give you one piece of advice which may help you: Wyatt was originally good, that is irrefutable, but now he is lost to evil therefore something must have happened to make this switch."

"Wait...What?" Chris was confused now, he had tried to turn Wyatt back but now that he had all but given up Orion was giving him information that might make it possible again.

"My belief is that there was an event in Wyatt's life that made him susceptible to the influences of evil. Find that event and you may be able to repair some of the damage. I say 'may', as many are sure that Wyatt is too deeply immersed to come back now, but... I will leave that up to you. Maybe my information will be useless, but even so I feel you have the right to know."

Chris nodded vaguely, deep in thought, "Thank you."

The witch barely noticed as Orion left the room, one exciting thought flickering throughout his conscious. If he could find this event, this turning point in Wyatt's life, he could turn him back. He could have his brother back, and everything would be ok again.

If.

It was enough to keep that small flicker of hope burning.