Chapter Four: Descent into Perdition
Phoebe had been strangely wary about the entire plan for reasons that she didn't seem to want to share with anyone, and Piper had been absolutely furious at Chris' supposed dealings with Lucifer, leaving Paige as the only sister thinking clearly enough to quickly assess the situation. Orbing into the backroom of P3 hadn't been the wisest decision – in retrospect, they should have orbed into the main room of the club and then proceeded from there – but it was too late to undo anything.
And now they were here.
With Chris.
And Lucifer.
At least, she presumed it was Lucifer. He didn't look anything like she had expected. His suit was charcoal gray and immaculately pressed, and he wore a light blue tie that matched the blue of his eyes. He had a pair of sunglasses in one hand and an expression of mild amusement on his features.
And the raw power that hovered around him was indescribable.
He didn't look troubled by their appearance, and he seemed content to ignore the potion bottles in their hands and the way Piper's eyes narrowed at him with deliberate warning.
Chris, on the other hand, looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. But there was something else in his eyes. Desperation, perhaps? It sent a shiver down Paige's spine and she had the sudden suspicion that they had underestimated just how far Chris would go and how much he would risk to complete his mission.
Of course, she still had no idea what his mission was.
Why would he be working with Lucifer? Was he after Wyatt? Had it all been a lie?
"The sorceress isn't here," Phoebe said, speaking in a low tone. Her words were the first to break the stunned silence that had fallen over the three sisters. She sounded troubled.
Lucifer raised an eyebrow and asked laconically, "Were you expecting her?"
Chris shot a look between Lucifer and Phoebe. The surprise had slipped from his features and been replaced by calculation. It took her a moment to figure out why that expression looked so familiar to her, and then she realized it was the same expression Chris wore every time he was trying to figure out how to get himself out of an uncomfortable position without revealing any information.
He was preparing to lie to them.
Piper must have seen it too, because she turned to him, hands raised, and said sharply and with a hint of deadly venom in her voice, "Don't even think of orbing away."
Hurt flickered through Chris' eyes, but he gazed at her hands and gave a wary nod. "Let's just talk about this rationally, okay?" he said slowly.
"Rationally? Rationally?" Piper echoed, nearly choking on almost hysterical laughter. "You're working with the devil, Chris."
"It's not what you think," Chris started defensively, but Piper cut him off.
"Of course it is what I think," she snarled. "It's exactly what I think. You've been lying to us all along, and this is just one more lie, one more reason not to trust you. One more bit of proof that you're the one who is evil."
"Oh, this is interesting," Lucifer murmured, smiling slightly as he watched the young white-lighter and the eldest Charmed One face each other.
Paige felt uneasy. There was something wrong about the situation. The pieces weren't fitting together properly, and she couldn't figure out what was missing, but her instincts were screaming at her not to let the situation spiral out of control until they had all of the facts.
"Piper," she said softly, glancing at her oldest sister, "let's calm down a moment and talk."
Piper glared at her. "Talk?" she hissed. "You want to talk?"
They weren't prepared to deal with Lucifer. They had been expecting Lola, and nothing in Phoebe's premonition had given them any reason to believe that Lucifer would be here as well. Paige didn't want to get in over her head until she knew more.
"In her defense," Lucifer said suddenly, glancing at Paige while nodding his head towards Piper "she is under the misconception that I am here to turn her son evil. She does have every right to be angry about that… though, of course, it's not like she can actually harm me so, really, her threats are nothing more than a waste of time."
"You're lying," Piper accused.
Lucifer gave a long-suffering sigh and asked almost mournfully, "Why do people keep accusing me of that? Don't you know by now that I don't lie?"
Paige didn't want to believe it, but Lucifer wasn't the only one who had made that claim. Leo had also told them that the devil never lied, and maybe they couldn't believe a word Lucifer said, but they could trust Leo.
"This is ridiculous," Piper said. "Why should I believe you?"
"Leo said…" Paige started, but Piper shook her head and interrupted angrily.
"Leo's wrong."
Chris was staring at Piper, and her words caused a brief look of annoyance to pass over his face, but it was gone so quickly Paige wondered for a moment if she had imagined it. She could glean nothing else from his face; his expression became inscrutable once more.
Paige glanced at Phoebe. The empath was studying Lucifer and didn't meet Paige's eyes.
"Well," Lucifer said idly, "as fascinating as this little family spat is, I have other things to do." He nodded his head towards Chris. "I'll be in touch."
"But you still haven't told me…" Chris started, and then stopped, because it was too late. Lucifer was already gone.
There was a moment of stunned silence at the sudden departure, and then Piper took a threatening step towards Chris, her expression cold and uncompromising. With her arms extended in front of her and her fingers twitching as though she was just waiting for an excuse to blow up the white-lighter, she said, "Start talking, Chris. And you'd better hope that we like what you have to say."
"Look, whatever Leo told you about Lucifer was true - the devil doesn't lie," Chris said. "And he wasn't lying right then when he said he isn't after Wyatt. He's not the one who turns Wyatt evil."
"So we should trust him?" Phoebe asked skeptically.
Chris shook his head quickly, emphatically. "No. Never. Just because he doesn't lie doesn't mean he's trustworthy." He paused, looking at Phoebe intently, and then said, "Surely Leo told you that?"
"He's the devil, Chris, and you're working with him," Piper said sharply, cutting in before Phoebe could respond. "You're working with him. Why should we trust you?"
Chris flinched, and then said, "It's not what it looked like. I'm not…" He trailed off, sounding unsure.
Paige would be the first to admit that she didn't trust Chris. She had in the beginning – but they all had, except for Leo – and when his actions could no longer be ignored or excused, she'd been left with the bitter feeling of regret and disgust. How could she have been blind to the fact that underneath his earnest assertions that he was here to save Wyatt, save the future, all he was really doing was manipulating them?
She'd made the mistake once, and she wasn't willing to make it again.
And yet, at the same time, Lucifer's sudden departure had seemed to drain some of the tension from the room. Piper was still glaring at Chris and it was clear that she might resort to violence at any moment, but without Lucifer's powerful aura filling the air, everything just seemed calmer.
Calm enough for Paige to think clearly, and to ask firmly and with a look that told Chris she expected a full answer and not whatever half-truth he believed was sufficient, "What were you doing with Lucifer, Chris?"
"I can't… I can't tell you…" Chris said quietly.
"Wrong answer," Piper snarled, and started to flick her wrists at him.
"Wait! Wait!" Chris cried instantly, holding one hand out in a defensive gesture. There was desperation in his voice, and Paige remember with a start that, as a half-witch, it was possible that Chris wouldn't have the ability to reform as easily as Leo did.
On the other hand, if he was evil, she wasn't going to spend a lot of time feeling sorry for whatever pain Piper caused him.
"I can't tell you because I made a deal with Lucifer and I can't risk him finding a way to take my soul and not give me what I need in return," Chris said quickly, his eyes fixed on Piper. "But I did this for Wyatt. I'm trying to help him, to save him. That's all, Piper. I swear."
"Your word means very little to me," Piper answered flatly.
"Why would you make a deal with Lucifer?" Phoebe asked in a far more gentle tone.
Chris looked at her. "I can't…"
"Wrong answer!" Piper snapped again.
"Did you tell Lucifer that you wouldn't tell anyone about the deal?" Paige asked. "Was that in the contract?" Having had some experience with Faustian deals herself, Paige knew more than either of her sisters. Even though the demon Zahn wasn't in Lucifer's league, even though the devil was a far more difficult enemy, some things would be similar.
Such as the contract.
"No," Chris said.
"Then you can tell us," Paige said.
"Can you promise me that you won't try to interfere?" Chris asked with a hint of derision in his tone. He knew them too well.
"Why would we promise that when we don't even know what deal you made?" Piper questioned suspiciously.
"If you interfere, Lucifer will find a way to manipulate the situation," Chris explained softly and with a pleading look in his eyes. "He'll either use it to get to the three of you, or he'll do something to make me violate the contract and lose the information I've acquired. I can't risk that. I won't."
"Information?" Phoebe asked. "Is that all you are after? But couldn't you get that from anyone?"
"Obviously not," Chris snapped irritably, "or I wouldn't have gone to the devil!"
"If Lucifer has already given you information, why do you care if you violate the contract? What is he going to do? He's already got your soul," Piper pointed out unfeelingly.
"If I violate the contract, he can wipe my memory and the memory of anyone I've told, and he still gets to keep my soul. And if you do something to interfere, he might find a way to get to you, too," Chris replied with a heavy sigh. "Piper, he's been doing this for a few millennia. Don't you think he knows how to play the game by now?"
"We can figure out a way to…"
"You can't win against Lucifer," Chris said, shaking his head at Piper's stubborn denial. "You can't beat him. The best you can do is figure out exactly what you're willing to sacrifice and make sure he doesn't take anything else. I've already given up my soul, but at least we can keep him from taking anything else."
"Maybe," Paige said coolly and with a hint of challenge in her voice, "but if you don't tell us, Piper will blow you up, and I've got a suspicion that you don't reform all that well."
Chris blanched and looked away. "Please…" he said in a choked voice, "don't do this. I need you to trust me."
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you manipulated us into wanting to bind Wyatt's powers and then went on to make a deal with the devil," Piper spat.
"I didn't have a choice!" Chris cried in desperation. "I was wrong in trying to get you to bind Wyatt's powers, I know that. And I'm sorry. But this thing with Lucifer… I had to do it. I had to."
"Why?"
"Because he can tell me who turns Wyatt evil!"
There was an absolute stunned silence in the room and Paige saw her own surprise mirrored in the expression of her two sisters. Piper had dropped her arms to her side and was looking at Chris intently, and Phoebe was shaking her head slowly, her mouth wide open.
"Wh-what?" Piper stammered.
"Lucifer knows things," Chris said, his voice colored with frustration and bitter resignation. He clearly didn't want to be telling them any of this, but he was backed into a corner and he knew it. "I don't know how he knows them but he does. He can show me things, tell me what's happening and even why…" He ran a hand through his hair and said in a tone filled with raw helplessness and despair, "And I wasn't getting any closer to saving Wyatt. I couldn't even… Piper, I knew that the Order was going after Wyatt and I still couldn't stop them. I needed help and he… he could help me."
"Did he tell you who turns Wyatt?" Piper asked in a hushed whisper.
Chris met her gaze and answered with a miserable nod. "Yeah, he did."
"And?" Piper prompted.
"He didn't tell me if this… being… is working alone or with others of his… kind," Chris said. "I need to… I need to find that out before I even think of telling you anything."
There was something he wasn't saying. Paige didn't know what it was, but the fact that he was skirting the issue made her far more uneasy than anything else had. Whatever it was he had discovered, he didn't like it.
And he didn't think they would like it, either.
"Wyatt is my son. You have no right to keep this from me!" Piper said, marching forward until she stood directly in front of Chris. She was significantly shorter than him, but with her hands on her hips and her eyes blazing, she seemed to get taller.
Chris practically cowed underneath her glare.
"Piper, wait," Phoebe said. Piper turned towards the empath with a look of incredulity in her gaze, and Phoebe held up her hands in a defensive manner and said, "If Chris is right…"
"Wyatt is my son!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Paige saw Chris move. She opened her mouth to call out a warning, but it was too late. With Piper's attention momentarily focused on Phoebe, Chris reached out and shoved the eldest Charmed One away from him. It was a light push, and did nothing more than knock Piper off balance, but it was enough to prevent her from being able to blow him up as he quickly dissolved into blue and white lights.
The orbs disappeared, and Chris was gone, but Paige was sure she'd gotten a glimpse of his expression right before he'd orbed away.
It had been an expression of remorse.
"Family is such a wonderful thing, isn't it?"
Chris started from his thoughts and spun around at the sound of Lucifer's voice. He watched in silence as the devil appeared next to him on the tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, then narrowed green eyes at Lucifer.
"I don't think there is anything in the world I love quite as much as family," Lucifer continued, taking a seat next to Chris and gazing out at the city sprawled beneath them. "All those emotions. When family is involved, people feel things so strongly. It makes my job more… fun."
"You leaving me alone with them," Chris said bitterly, "did you actually have other things to do or was that merely for your own amusement?"
"You could have orbed away at any time," Lucifer said.
Chris shook his head. "Piper was focused on me the whole time, and she was ready to attack. I wouldn't have been able to orb away before she got me, and I don't reform all that well." He'd been blown up once before, in the future, and it hadn't been a particularly fun experience. He didn't really want to repeat it.
On the other hand, he'd physically attacked his mother in order to get away. And he knew – logically and rationally – that he'd shoved her very lightly and that it wouldn't have hurt her at all and that it couldn't even really be considered an attack. And he knew that he'd caused her worse pain on a mental and emotional scale every time he'd manipulated her and lied to her. And he knew he'd even put her in actual danger when he allowed Gith to trap her in his alternate reality.
But this was different. He'd never physically attacked his mother before.
Lucifer seemed to sense his thoughts, because he rolled his eyes and said, "That was hardly an attack, white-lighter. And she was threatening to blow you up, which seems to me to be a bit worse. Of course, I suppose my ideas on morality might not exactly match yours."
"You were watching?" Chris asked.
Lucifer gave him an entirely unwholesome smile and replied, "Of course. Did you really think I would miss that?"
Chris looked up at the night sky. There were very few clouds, despite the fact that it was the middle of winter, and he could see the stars.
There were always clouds in the future. The sky over San Francisco was a perpetual gray, although some of that was due to the smoke that spiraled upwards from the frequent fires around the city. Wyatt often let his demons do as they pleased, and they had a penchant for destruction.
The fact that Lucifer had been watching the conversation wasn't a surprise, but it did bother Chris. It meant that he knew that Chris had told the Charmed Ones about the deal, and it wouldn't take much for Lucifer to manipulate them into doing something stupid.
Chris had no intention of letting his family lose all of their souls as well, but he had no idea how he could stop Lucifer from taking them should the devil decide that was what he wanted to do.
And Chris still didn't trust that Lucifer wasn't after something else besides Chris' soul. The devil had other plans, Chris was sure of it. But he had no idea what those plans were, and that scared Chris far more than he wanted to admit.
He rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He just wanted this all to be over.
"Is Gideon working alone?" he asked.
"No," Lucifer replied. "There is another Elder helping him. Sigmund."
Chris blinked, then nodded. He didn't know Sigmund. They'd never met in the future – Sigmund had been vanquished before Chris was born – but Chris was fairly certain that Leo had mentioned the other Elder once or twice while he was growing up.
No one ever did find out exactly how Sigmund had died.
"He's not a threat, though," Lucifer said, looking up at the night sky as well. "He's having second thoughts about this. He doesn't like the idea of killing a child."
"Good," Chris muttered.
"The other Elders do not know of Gideon's plan, nor would they support him if they knew. Despite their rather arrogant disregard and disinterest towards the Charmed Ones' wishes for a normal life, they do not want anything bad to happen to the Halliwell family. And they would hardly condone killing a toddler."
Chris licked his lips. That was somewhat of a relief. He really doubted they would be able to fight all the Elders.
"And Sigmund?" he pressed, wanting confirmation that this particular Elder truly was not a threat.
"If you stop Gideon, Sigmund won't go after Wyatt on his own," Lucifer added.
Chris glanced over at Lucifer. "Will he go after anyone else?" he asked shrewdly.
Lucifer smiled again, and the expression sent shivers down Chris' spine. "Our deal only involved me telling you about threats against the Twice Blessed," he replied.
Chris tensed. He wouldn't get an actual answer from Lucifer, of course, because the devil would not volunteer information for free. But Lucifer also wouldn't lie, which meant that his non-answer could merely be a way for him to avoid admitting that Sigmund would go after the rest of the Halliwell family.
Chris stared at Lucifer for a moment more, and then felt his heart plummet into his stomach as a horrible thought occurred to him.
He might not be able to kill Gideon on his own. He probably didn't have enough power to do it, and if he couldn't come up with another plan that involved the element of surprise or some sort of trickery, he would be forced to go to the Charmed Ones and Leo for help. He might have to involve them in his plans anyway, given that they already knew so much about what he had been doing.
He sincerely doubted Piper would be willing to sit this one out.
Which meant that they would have to help him kill an Elder. And the Elders might not be on Gideon's side now, but if the Charmed Ones murdered one of them, the other Elders might very well turn against the family.
Why did this keep getting more complicated?
He had wanted to keep his family out of this in order to protect them, but somehow he had ended up involving them to the point that they could end up making enemies of some of the most powerful beings in the world.
The road to hell was paved with good intentions.
Chris gave a sudden, strangled laugh at that thought. After all, he'd sold his soul to the devil. For all his good intentions, he was, quite literally, going to hell.
Leo stared blankly at Piper, not quite able to comprehend what she had said. "Chris sold his soul to the devil to get information on who turns Wyatt?" he asked slowly. It was the third time he had asked the question, and Piper, instead of rolling her eyes or snapping at him like she would have done in any normal situation, just nodded slowly.
He looked from Piper to Phoebe and Paige, and they both gave him identical nods.
He closed his eyes and took a slow breath.
He hadn't been lying that night on top of the Golden Gate Bridge when he had told Chris that the white-lighter hadn't completely lost his trust. The Order had turned Wyatt evil, and even if Chris had lied to them and manipulated them, he had still saved Wyatt in the end.
He trusted Chris' intentions, if not his judgment, and this particular stunt only proved that he was right. Chris was on their side. Chris was clearly desperate to save Wyatt.
No matter the cost.
He had no idea what happened to the souls that Lucifer collected. There were rumors that they came back as demons and other embodiments of evil a few hundred years down the line. There were rumors that they became vengeful ghosts who worked as Lucifer's minions, spreading discord and strife. There were rumors that they burned in hell until they were driven mad by pain and despair, and then Lucifer would let them go and watch them wreak havoc on anything that crossed their paths.
There were a lot of rumors, but the Elders had never been able to confirm any of it.
What would happen to Chris?
Leo opened his eyes and looked over at the playpen that currently stood in the middle of the attic, holding Wyatt in it. The toddler blinked once, blue eyes focusing on his father. He clearly had no idea what was going on, and that was really for the best.
Leo didn't want Wyatt to know. He never wanted Wyatt to know what he had presumably become in Chris' future and just how far others were willing to go to prevent it. He didn't want Wyatt to be burdened with the knowledge that someone else had given up everything to keep him safe.
He didn't want Wyatt to feel the inevitable regret that accompanied that knowledge, nor the hopeless desire that he could have somehow prevented it.
Leo's stomach flipped over once and he felt the tiniest bit of shame curl around his heart. Because he didn't regret this, he didn't regret what Chris had done. How could he? Wyatt was his son, and if Chris was willing to go this far to keep Wyatt safe…
Some part of Leo was glad. He would do anything for his son… including sacrificing someone else.
He glanced towards the window. The sun was rising steadily over the horizon. It had been several hours since Piper's confrontation with Chris at P3, and Leo was a little annoyed that he was only hearing about it now. But apparently Piper had tried to scry for Chris, tried to summon him with a few different spells, and even tried a spell to send herself to him, all without any luck.
Leo could have told her that if Chris was with Lucifer, there was no way she was going to find him. Lucifer could block almost anything.
But she hadn't called him until only ten or fifteen minutes ago, and he hadn't been able to sense Chris either.
It was now morning, and all three sisters and Leo were tired, annoyed, and desperate for information.
As if on cue, there was the sudden shimmer of orbs and then Chris appeared. His expression was worn and haggard, and his green eyes were clouded with an emotional tumult and exhaustion. Before he had even fully formed, he was turning towards Piper and raising a hand in a placating movement.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Piper stared at him, her expression hard and unforgiving. "You pushed me, ran out on a conversation, and then blocked yourself so that no magic could find you, and you did all of that after telling me that you knew who turned my son evil, and all you have to say is sorry?"
"I told you…"
"I know what you told me," Piper snapped, "but Wyatt is my son."
Leo intervened, not willing to wait for Piper to finish her rant. "Did you find out if the demon that turns Wyatt is working alone?"
Chris turned towards Leo and nodded. "Lucifer told me what I wanted to know," he said slowly. He didn't say anything else.
"Well?" Piper prompted impatiently. "Are you going to tell us or give us more nonsense about how we can't help?"
Chris rubbed his eyes. He looked suddenly very young and vulnerable. "I didn't want to," he admitted, "but I've spend the last five hours thinking it over, and I just don't… I don't think I can defeat this being on my own. I need your help." He turned his attention to Leo. "Lucifer doesn't lie. You understand that, right?"
"Of course," Leo said irritably, annoyed with Chris' stalling.
Chris gave him a searching look, then said, "Please remember that." And in a softer voice, he added, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Paige demanded. "What is this all about? Chris, just tell us already."
"Actually," a new voice said, and Lucifer appeared next to Chris, "your white-lighter would prefer you hear this one from the proverbial horse's mouth." His lips twisted into a grimace. "I never did like that saying. Who really wants to be compared to a horse?"
Leo tensed, every instinct telling him to orb his family away from the monster in front of him. He knew the being was Lucifer simply by the aura he cast, and it made him practically sick to feel that kind of insidious power filling the room.
But he forced himself to remain calm.
"Well?" Piper said in a clipped tone, and it was a testament to how much she wanted this information that she didn't even bat an eye at the devil's abrupt appearance in her home.
Lucifer stared at her.
"What demon is after my son?" Piper demanded, her face flushed red with anger. "Tell me!"
"He isn't a demon," Lucifer replied. "The being that turns your precious Twice Blessed evil is an Elder." His blue eyes turned to Leo and a cruel smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "An Elder by the name of Gideon."
"No."
It came out as barely a whisper. Leo could not think, could not get his mouth to form coherent words. There was something heavy resting on his chest, pressing against his lungs, making it impossible to breathe. This was not true, this could not be true.
"An Elder?" he heard Paige say, her voice filled with skepticism. "That's not… why would an Elder…?"
Lucifer must have replied, but Leo didn't hear it. The others in the attic seemed far away, their voices echoing in the distance. He couldn't focus on anything except the sound of Lucifer's voice forming that name.
Gideon.
It reverberated in his head.
Gideon.
"No," he said again, this time in a louder voice. "No. It's not Gideon. It's not. There is no way Gideon would…"
Except…
Lucifer stared at him with sympathetic blue eyes that could not in anyway be trusted and said in a voice filled with absolute honesty, "Gideon is the one who turns Wyatt evil."
This was Lucifer.
Lucifer did not lie.
"Who is Gideon?" Piper asked, turning to her ex-husband.
Leo didn't answer, so Lucifer did it for him. He seemed to take great pleasure in elaborating on the Elder's identity.
"Gideon is an Elder," Lucifer said. "He was your ex-husband's mentor. He took Leo under his wing when Leo first died, taught him how to use his white-lighter powers, how to help his charges. Helped him make sense of the strangeness of being dead and alive at the same time. Helped him move on past the horror of his own death and everything he had seen in the war. Taught him how to be a guardian angel."
Leo shook his head in denial. Gideon was his friend. Gideon was one of the few Elders he trusted implicitly and without hesitation.
Gideon couldn't be the one who turned Wyatt.
"He was one of the few who fought to get the other Elders to allow you and Leo to marry. He was one of the few Elders who insisted that the three of you be allowed to work outside of the rather strict rules each charge is supposed to follow," Lucifer continued. He was speaking to Piper, but his glittering eyes were fixed on Leo. Each word was soft and gentle, and each one twisted the metaphoric knife deeper into Leo's heart.
And the numb disbelief gave way to a simmering fury. Something dark and dangerous pounded through Leo's blood. All he could feel was the sting of an entirely unexpected betrayal and the burning desire to strike back.
He had trusted Gideon.
The feeling of pure hatred washed over him. Gideon had betrayed all of the ideals he had supposedly stood for. He was the one who had taught Leo how to take a stand against seemingly unstoppable evil. He was the one who had believed that every innocent was worth protecting, that every battle was worth fighting, that Good could triumph in the end.
Leo had been scared when he first became a white-lighter. He'd been a boy, really, still in his twenties. The world had been falling apart all around him and then he'd been dead – killed in battle – and then he'd been told he was an angel, and none of it made any sense.
Gideon had made sense. Gideon had shown him how to live after dying.
Gideon was going to turn Wyatt evil.
"Remember that anger, Leo," Lucifer whispered. "Remember that pain and that feeling of betrayal. Remember the desire to make Gideon pay for what he has done. Remember how you feel right at this moment. You're going to need it."
And then Lucifer was gone.