author's note: omg... you guys probably want to throw inanimate objects at me... for not updating in so long... I had this major writer's block and I couldn't find the will to write... plus I had huge ass tests going on and I had to study and life was really hectic. I'll try to update sooner, but I doubt I'll get back to the pace it once was. Anyway... chapter 15, I made it sorta longer for you... and no cliffie.
SORRY
Chapter 15-
"What should we do?"
"We can't just leave him here, Chris could get into trouble conscious or not."
"Point taken… He's something else… I'll give him that."
The three sisters (and Leo) were standing around Chris as the rest of his team had taken off and was somewhere else mourning the loss of Ellory and the evident fact that their leader, had led the source of all evil to them. Unbeknownst to the other members of Chris' team, Chris was alright and safe and in his office currently stretched out on a makeshift cot of a couple pillows and blankets.
"Wy…" Four sets of eyes instantly shot down to Chris' unconscious face. They watched with mild apprehension as Chris slowly sat up. Suddenly his eyes snapped completely open.
"Wyatt!" He yelled and then realized where he was. A look of complete confusion crossed his face. It must have been a couple days ago, but Chris could still here Wyatt's words echoing in his mind.
"I do it for you"
Chris sighed seemingly calmer.
"Dammit Ell… how could you leave me like this?" He whispered to himself but loud enough that the other people in the room (who Chris had not noticed yet) could hear.
"Just like that?" Phoebe asked startling Chris. "You're over her? Just like that? When she was your best friend?" Phoebe's voice was incredulous and a little angry.
Chris' eyes narrowed, "over it? Hell no, of course I'm not over it. I'm probably never going to be over it because in this world you don't get to heal and move on… you get to shove it down where it won't affect your short-term actions and wait for the next tragedy." His words hung in complete silence. And a tear leaked from Phoebe's eyes.
Suddenly the door slammed open.
"Chris!" Faris yelled running forward and hugging him.
"Chris what the hell man?" Pierce asked clapping him on the back.
Celes narrowed her eyes, "You have a lot of explaining to do, mister. We haven't told anyone what's happened yet… but… Chris, you brought the fricking source of all fricking evil right into the resistance built against him."
Chris nodded sheepishly.
"I know… and uhhh… he might be back sometime soon… but he won't hurt anybody! Probably…" He added looking just as innocent as he sounded.
"Dammit Chris… what the fuck is going on here dude?" Aeris asked rather harshly. His voice was strong and unwavering.
"He killed her Chris… he killed her… and you're… you're defending him? What the hell? Whose side are you on?"
The question hung in the air. The one they all had wanted to ask.
"I'm on your side guys… it's just… Wyatt… he was my best friend and when Ell… died… I was back in those days and I know it's stupid, but I wasn't thinking and I called for him and I guess he heard me. It was stupid and ridiculous, but I'm sorry for scaring you." Chris said looking almost pleadingly into Aeris' eyes.
Aeris looking increasingly angry and then sighed in defeat. He walked forward grabbed Chris' hand and shook it in a brotherly fashion.
"Yeah, it was stupid." He said quickly.
There was a quick rap at the door. The person standing on the opposite side knocked twice in quick succession.
Aeris moved to the door as he was the closest. He opened it slowly peaking around. Suddenly he threw the door open. It was none other than Wyatt Halliwell, the source of all evil.
"You BASTARD!" Aeris yelled backing up to opposite side o the room to get himself as far away from Wyatt as possible.
"Well, I can't say I'm not used to such a greeting…" Wyatt's voice lingered in the air.
"Wy… Wyatt, what the hell are you doing here?" Chris said suddenly anger clearly evident in his voice though he tried to suppress it.
"What does it look like? I'm here to see how you are." He said, leaving off the obvious duh. Wyatt simply strolled across the room and stood in front of his baby brother completely oblivious the presence of anyone else in the room.
"I'm fine. Now leave." Chris said tightly looking anywhere but Wyatt's blue eyes.
"Let me check." Wyatt said reaching for the hem of Chris' shirt.
Chris backed away.
"No. Wyatt, you're scaring the crap out of my friends. Leave now." Chris said flatly eyes narrowed as if he were talking to an embarrassing parent and not the source of all evil.
"Chris, I'm not leaving until I know you're okay." Wyatt insisted. Stepping closer again and backing Chris into a corner.
"Wyatt! This is a resistance built against you. Get the hell out before someone realizes you're here." Chris protested.
"Pft, like they could do anything." Wyatt said, "I'm the most powerful force of magic on the planet." He said laughing and puffing his chest out comically. It would have been funny if he wasn't you know… as Chris had so eloquently put, scaring the crap out of his friends.
Chris backed farther into the corner and glared at Wyatt who eventually deflated himself.
"God you're a loser." He said rolling his eyes.
And instead of blowing off his head, like he would have done with any other person who called him such a name, Wyatt simply laughed. He wiped at his eyes as if it were some terribly funny joke.
"I think I'm going through withdraw from your sarcasm."
"I wasn't being sarcastic."
"I miss you Chris." The words lingered in the air. Silence. As Wyatt stepped closer trying to get Chris to look him in the eye. Nobody knew what to say… or if they should say anything. Actually, everyone was trying to get over the fact that this man, who had slaughtered millions and ruined so many lives was playfully bantering and laughing like a normal human being… with their leader nonetheless.
Chris sighed.
"I miss you too, Wy… but that doesn't change what you've done." Chris said sadly shaking his head. Wyatt's eyes flared as he reached forward and grabbed Chris by the shoulder shaking him lightly, but not nearly hard enough to hurt him. Chris turned his head away.
"What I've done? What I've done? Dammit Chris! Will you get your head out of your ass and realize that I've made this a better world for us. We could be so unstoppable together. Look at me Chris!"
"I'll look at you when you stop killing." He said softly.
"I'm doing this for us! What they could never give us!" Wyatt shouted angrily.
"Go away Wy, just leave. Please." Chris pleaded something unreadable in his eye as he fought back tears. Only Wyatt could make him fall to pieces like this.
Suddenly Wyatt reached forward and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy. Chris' eyes widened in shock but he did not fight his older brother… he missed the days when Wyatt would hold him like this when he was crying because of some irrelevant thing. When he was upset about the way Leo treated him or the way the aunts and their mom used him like a machine. Wyatt was always there… always. He was steadfast and strong and God he missed him. It terrified him how much he missed his big brother… because they had a bond that was like no other and it was going against nature and everything in it for them to be separated. But he knew that he had to fight against Wyatt… because what he was doing was so, so wrong… no matter his intentions, the end did not justify the means.
"I love you Chris… and I'm not letting you go by any means." Wyatt said, and then he shimmered out leaving Chris slumping against the wall blinking back tears.
A long moment passed where everyone in the room just stared at their leader who struggled to regain composure once he was able to stop staring at the ceiling.
"What the hell?" Pierce said breaking the silence. That seemed to wake Chris up a bit.
"Okay Chris… Explaining now would be good." Celes said calmly eyes focused on Chris.
Chris shook his head the tears long gone. Then he sighed.
"Is he your… your boyfriend… holy shit… Chris are you gay? What about Bianca?" Faris blurted hands running through blond hair.
Chris' eyes widened.
"This conversation sounds vaguely familiar." He muttered glancing over at the time travelers. "And no… Wyatt is so not my boyfriend. That'd just be… that'd just be like… like… incest." Chris said struggling for the word he was thinking of… the rest of them had no idea how true that was.
Aeris finally backed away from the wall and found a place next to Chris.
"Chris… you're my best friend… I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here… but if you don't start explaining soon… I swear to god I'll—"
"Okay okay!" Chris said cutting him off before he could explain what he would do.
"It had better be more than just 'The source and I were good friends when we were kids… because that… that right there, was something more than just 'good friends''" Celes said warningly.
Chris sighed again and slumped into a chair. The others followed suit eager to hear the explanation.
"Alright… guys… Chris is about to tell us about his feelings." Faris said giggling childishly but succeeding in lightening the mood significantly. The others chuckled in appreciation because they all knew that Chris never talked about anything remotely close to feelings. So all in all it was rather humorous."
"Okay guys… so once upon a time…"
"Chris!" A chorus of voices shouted. He bowed his head sheepishly.
"Alright alright… okay… wow, this is going to be awkward… Wyatt and I… we… we have a bond that… it's really strong." There was no way he could explain that well enough without them knowing that they were brothers.
"Chris, he confessed his love to you."
"Yeah… kinda annoying when he does that…" Chris said, even though deep down he loved to hear Wyatt say it, because he was the only one who could say it now, and Chris had never heard it enough… and as always, Wyatt knew that.
"Yes… well… okay, so growing up, you guys know that I had a pretty sucky childhood, right?" His teammates all nodded and grimaced slightly at the mention of it. Though the charmed ones (and Leo) were relatively clueless.
"Wyatt… he was… he was always there for me… he's the only person in my life who has never broken a promise or let me down… well he was, until he turned. I was his best friend and he was mine. We were connected and never apart. He was a brother to me."
They just looked at him blankly.
"I don't think you can understand how deep the connection between Wyatt and me is…" His voice trailed off as he thought of a way he could explain it.
"Chris… do you love Wyatt?" Aeris asked softly.
"Yes." Chris said without blinking. He didn't so much as flinch when Aeris stood knocking his chair over in the process. He didn't breathe as Aeris pushed himself dangerously close and stuck his face in Chris'.
"Then what the fuck are you doing here?" Aeris spat anger coursing through his veins from the loss of his fiancé.
"I'm trying to save him."
"That's great." Aeris said huffing and standing straight still glaring down at Chris, "You're here for that bastard? What about the innocents he's killed? What about the lives he's destroyed? What about them Chris?"
"Of course I'm doing this for them…" Chris said evenly, "But I believe I can stop this from ever happening if I change the past. We don't have to kill Wyatt to make this better."
Chris said sadly.
"This is why I must go back to the past. To keep this from ever happening."
There was such determination in his voice that the listeners almost did a double take. Chris was nothing if not dedicated to the cause. Aeris sighed and sunk back into his newly righted chair.
"Alright Chris… I'm sorry… I yelled… it's just… Ell…" Aeris' voice cracked.
"I understand." Chris said the sorrow in his voice unmistakable and if one was oblivious enough to miss that, the sorrow lingered in his deep brown eyes as well.
And he did. He understood… more than any of them.