I know that this is short but it is also the end of the story. I wanted to finish it. This was only ever meant to be a one shot so in the long run you got a heck of a lot more than I was every planning. Thank you to all my readers and as always if you have a question then please message me. Enjoy the end and Merry Christmas.

Four years. It had been almost four years to the day since they had rescued his little brother from the dark lighters. Yet at times, it felt as though it were merely yesterday.

When Chris had woken up on that first day he hadn't been pleased. His little brother had spent hours screaming his lungs out for the dark lighters. No matter how many times one of them explained that the dark lighters were dead and that Chris was now safe the youngest member of the family refused to stop screaming. He thinks that if Chris hadn't screamed himself hoarse he never would have stopped.

After that day Chris didn't say a word for a long time.

It hurt. Not hearing his little brother's voice. Knowing that Chris could speak but was pointedly refusing to speak to any member of his family.

Still, things were better than they had been; until Grandpa showed up.

Three months after Chris had been rescued and Grandpa had knocked on their door. Mom had been pissed. She had screamed at Grandpa for hours. The only reason Mom stopped was because Chris came bolting down the stairs.

"Grandpa!" Chris had screamed, running over to the man and giving him a hug.

There was a look in Mom's eyes as she watched her youngest that showed of a heartfelt pain and he heard his father mutter 'not again' when he saw them.

Not long after that Grandpa was thrown out. His mother had forbidden the man from coming anywhere near the house of her family again.

That lasted all of two weeks before Mom had to relent, if for no other reason than to get Chris to eat anything again.

School had been the only thing that Chris hadn't fought his family on. Chris had been more than willing to continue his education and going to college got Chris out of the house on a regular basis. He truly believes that Chris kept up such a hectic workload in order to spend as much time away from the family as possible.

The one thing that made everyone nervous was that Chris continued going to the magic school's college. Even though Mom had bound Chris' powers it apparently only worked on the powers that she knew about which was the telekinesis and orbing. Thankfully that was enough to stop Chris from leaving if for no other reason than without orbing Chris couldn't travel easily.

Chris' last name had caused many battles though.

When Chris had left at eighteen he'd had his last name legally changed to Perry – the dark lighters last name. When enrolling in both magic school college and Stanford Chis had his name listed as Christopher Perry. For some reason his baby brother wanted to continue using this name.

Naturally he and his parents put up a fight but in the end Chris was legally an adult and they could not force him to change his name. No matter what they promised or threatened Chris' last name remained Perry.

As the years went on Chris threw himself into his schoolwork. His little brother spent all his free time at the library or locked in his bedroom.

He didn't see his brother as much as he'd want to for the first few years because he was in college as well and he lived on campus. Still, every break, holiday, and a lot of weekends were spent at the house trying to get through to his brother. Well… at first most of his time was spent that way but as the months and years dragged on and Chris showed no signs of wanting anything to do with his family he stopped coming to the house as often.

In the end he graduated college the same year that Chris did. Was it bad it took him two years longer to complete college than his little brother? Didn't matter.

Once he graduated Chris had tried to move out and get a job on his own. His family wouldn't allow it. In fact his mother had slipped his little brother a power-binding potion the day before he graduated from magic school. Sneaky really, everyone was expecting her to do that the day after he'd graduated.

Regardless of when it happened Chris was still stuck at the house.

According to his mother he and Chris were welcome to run the club for her. Chris had no interest. Didn't matter though because Chris was either working for Mom or not working at all. Either was fine with Mom.

In the end Chris had taken a bartending job from Mom and then the after hours clean up. It kept his little brother at the club from about noon until five or six in the morning on most days and that seemed to be how Chris liked it.

Today though his little brother seemed different.

When he woke up Chris was in the kitchen making a massive breakfast. He didn't even know his little brother could cook. Apparently neither did his parents.

"Chris!" his Mom had exclaimed, rushing over to the stove only to stop in shock when she saw that nothing was burning.

"This is an amazing spread." Dad had complemented, "Why didn't you ever say you could cook?"

Chris had just shrugged it off, "Not a big deal"

Breakfast had been reasonably pleasant. There had been no awkward silences and Chris had joined in the majority of the conversation. It felt like they were all one happy family.

That whole day Chris had stuck close to the house. He didn't know what was going on with his brother but he wanted to take advantage of it. So all day had been a family day. They'd played board games, had a picnic lunch at the park and then Chris and Mom had made supper together before ending the day with a movie night.

The following morning, when he woke up he and his parents found a letter on the kitchen table.

It was from Chris.

Yesterday was his twenty-third. Last night his 'other' self caught up with him. The power binding was broken.

His Mom and Dad had grabbed each other crying.

It was in this moment that he knew he would never see his little brother again. They had destroyed their first chance when Chris came to the past. Demolished it when Chris grew up this time. Their last chance was a train wreck from the beginning when they killed the dark lighters. There would be no more chances.