Disclaimer: I own nothing, as usual. We all get it by now.
I know probably not all of you have had time to read the last chapter, but for those who have, here is the epilogue.
I know it's rather short, but I just needed it as a lead in for the next story, (which I will start writing soon, I promise!).
Enjoy that last little bit of this rather long story!
:)
Chris sat in the kitchen, gripping onto a mug of coffee, taking sips of the warm brew as he stared out the window. It was still dark out the sun was starting to peak its way up in the sky, the moon having its last minutes of light until the next night. Chris was up early, something that he rarely did anymore. It had been two weeks since they had preformed the ceremony on him, two weeks of vision free bliss and peaceful sleep, until now. He had had his first vision since that fateful day, and though there had been no pain, it still affected him. It had been just like some hideous nightmare - like it used to be, before everything started to get so bad. Wyatt as a sadistic Ruler of All Evil, and he, just the younger brother filled with disgust towards the elder boy. He watched as his brother killed so many innocents, unable to help, held back and confined by chains. It had been some sort of ambush, he had been caught off-guard, captured yet again, and the people who had been hiding him were being punished as Wyatt seemed fit. Even after seeing so many visions, so many deaths, he still couldn't get used to it. It was disturbing, and he didn't know if he'd ever see his brother - his real brother - in the same light again. Although everything was as good as it was going to get with these visions, he knew that his relationship with his family was really shattered. Too many things had happened in his visions for everything to just be okay between them.
"Chris."
His mother's voice caused him to turn his gaze from the window and look her way, catching onto the worried look that graced her features. Her long hair was up in a ponytail and she was wrapped in a robe, brown eyes half open and tired.
"What are you doing up so early?" She asked, concerned. "Did something happen with -"
"I just had a vision, that's all." Chris replied, cutting her off with shrug of his shoulders. "It's not big deal or anything."
Piper made her way to the table and sat down beside her son. Of course her son would try to shrug it off. Whenever anything was bothering him he just shrugged it off, refused to talk about it or admit that it really was bugging him. He didn't like to talk to her like he used to. Piper didn't know if this was just him growing up or it was because of the visions. He didn't like to burden others with his problems now, he just didn't seem to understand that that was what she and his father were there for. You burden your parents with your problems because it is their job to try to make things better.
"Was it really bad?" Piper asked, desperate to try to console her obviously affected son. She never liked to see any pone of her children upset or pained
Chris just shrugged again. "Not really. I didn't feel anything, it was just ... I don't know, it just felt like a nightmare."
Before his mother could start up with gushing over him and trying to comfort him, Chris added. "I'm okay though, just didn't feel like sleeping anymore, that's all."
That was somewhat of a lie, he wasn't exactly okay. After seeing innocents be slaughtered in your dreams you weren't okay, but he wasn't going to tell his mother that. He didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to tell her or his father or anyone in the family about what he was seeing, about every death that plagued his thoughts for days even after he witnessed them in his visions. He hated it, he hated still having to see these things, but it was as good as it was going to get, and if he had to deal with it for the rest of his life, then so be it (though that thought was not pleasing in the least).
"Alright." Piper said, giving her son a nod. She watched as the boy took a sip of his coffee before turning his eyes back to the window. "How about you try to go get some sleep? It's a Saturday, and seeing a teenager not sleep in just doesn't seem right to me." She wore a small smile as she said that, and Chris looked her way, staring at her for a minute as he contemplated her suggestion, before giving a shrug and placing his mug down on the table.
"I'm not a normal teenager though." Chris responded as he stood from his seat. "But I'll give it a try." He honestly was just in a mood to be alone, and his mother's presence and her worry and concern did not really help that in any way. His relationship with her still wasn't too good - it was slowly healing - but it was far from what she would like it to be.
Piper gave him a smile, reminding him that he was, in fact, a normal teenager (that was completely untrue) before Chris made his way out of the room. As he reached the stairs, he suddenly spotted something in the corner of his eye - no, it wasn't something, it was someone. Before Chris could turn himself around and prepare himself, the thing rushed over his way and pushed him into a wall, his pale, veiny long fingers gripping hard onto his neck, long nails piercing his skin. Chris looked straight into the black eyes of the grotesque demon, eyes narrowing as he stared into them, though on the inside he was screaming in fear. He was staring right at the Source, who was looking rather angry, which did not mean anything good for Chris. He squeezed his fingers tighter against Chris' neck, fingers digging harder into his skin, and the young witches eyes widened, oxygen suddenly being blocked from his craving lungs.
"You think you could just get away with killing the Seer without any consequences, Halliwell boy?" He hissed, tightening his grip even more, causing Chris to claw frantically at his neck. His finger gripped onto the Source's hand, prying with no avail at his long fingers. He was scared now, scared beyond belief. He didn't want to die!
"You messed with the wrong demon, witch."
Chris stared straight into the black, dark eyes of the Source, and managed to gasp out, "Are you. Going to. Kill ... me?"
"Not yet." The Source hissed, a small, devilish smirk curling on his lips, watching as the Halliwell boy struggled. He enjoyed it, seeing the dumb little witch squirm and pry frantically in fear. The Haillwell boy's life was in his hands now, and he bathed in the fear and had been lusting for this control. "I'm going to make you suffer. I'm going to make your whole family suffer." He told the boy, banging his back hard against the shut his eyes and flinched, fingers stopping their constant prying for that moment, instead just gripping hard.
"I'm going to make your waste of a life a living hell, you stupid little witch."
"Chris!" Piper screamed as she walked into the foyer, spotting the Source himself strangling her child, her baby. The Source looked her way, black eyes narrowing. Piper instantly brought her hands up and flicked her fingers, the Source shimmering out before her attack could even singe him.
Chris' body fell to the floor with a thud, the teenager coughing and gasping madly for breathe, body trying to suck in as much oxygen as his raspy breaths could gather. Piper rushed her way over to her son and kneeled down next to him, instantly wrapping her arms around the boy and bringing him close to her in a protective hold. She held him tight against her as the boy struggled for air, hearing the rushing footsteps of her husband and older son pounding on the stairs. As they made their way to Piper and Chris, listening to the boy's harsh gasps and spotting the way Piper held him, they knew what had just happened had to be bad.
"Mom, what happened?" Wyatt asked, his features matching his father's almost perfectly, shining concern and worry in a perfect mix.
Piper didn't answer, her mind still running over what had just happened, the demon's face - his dark eyes - still staring straight at her in her mind. She had heard what he had said to her son, he was going to make his life a "living hell." She kept thinking back to the moment she walked in and heard that, saw that demon strangling her son, saw her son struggling to break free, struggling to breathe, right in the hands of death. He wanted to hurt her baby, that demon wanted to hurt her youngest child.
Piper pulled Chris tighter to her, listening as his breathing finally began to slow its pace, the gasps becoming less frequent and returning to a somewhat normal sound. She had thought everything was over, she thought everything was finally okay now, but she had been wrong.
This was just the beginning.
Thank you all for reading and hopefully reviewing for the last time for this story!
I hoped you all liked it as much as I liked writing it, and I will start the sequel as soon as I can. Yes, Bianca will be in it (she's not gone) and Chris will still have visions, as you can all see.
I believe I'm titling the sequel Soul Of A Man - after a great Beck song (if you didn't notice, I tend to name my stories after songs, I suck at creating titles) - so look out for it. I'll try to get it done this week and post it sometime next week.
Until then, I thank you all again for reading this story and giving your support through reviews!
I hope you enjoyed it.
:)