BEFORE NIGHT AWAKENS
By Sickle Sword
--o0o--
That's it. This is the final chapter. I thank you all for being so supportive; I'll miss your reviews and writing this story. I dedicate the epilogue to AK8, I don't know what I've done to deserve such a beta, but whatever it is, I thank the universe for that.
So here it is. Goodbye.
Epilogue
They checked it soon aftter. Apparently Adam was right. Wyatt was The Twice Blessed, but also very influenced by his brothers. It was found in an old scroll of legends that simply lay there all these years, waiting for them. They never thought of looking in it about Wyatt before. Piper guessed Adam was her awakening call.
But he was gone now. As was Chris.
Both her sons were gone.
Piper still had problems adjusting to the fact that Chris was her son, only to lose him a few seconds after. She understood why he didn't tell them his true identity, even if she didn't like it. He was afraid that if they had known, they would have taken their mind off Wyatt and for once, think about him. And he was right. If he had told them, she had no shame admitting, this was exactly what she would have done. Because how can you make your child understand that his life matters as well, not just his brother's?
How can you say Goodbye to your son when every bone in your body is screaming that you are too late? That it's not fair. You weren't given enough time to cope.
The last words she told him were that she hadn't believed him. That he wasn't her son. That was unforgettable for a human being. Unforgivable for a mother. This is even more repulsing thinking that her son came back to save her, together with everyone else that mattered, only to end up dead himself. She was a horrible mother. And apparently, time didn't make her an expert.
And now, going over his things for the last time, pushing them to locked boxes to a place that can't fade his memory but can soften the pain, she said a final goodbye. To her angel. She looked at the naked room, seeking for lonely last objects when her gaze fell on a closed book. Intrigued, she opened it to find his handwriting. Only the first page was full of words.
This was all the time that he was given.
"I've found a picture today, and a message. From mom. I know what it is that I have to do, only, I'm too afraid to do it. There are too many risks coming back from the future, too many things can go wrong. But when one's nightmares are already the reality, there isn't any other way.
Sometimes I think how strong mom must have been, knowing all along what the future holds. So many times I've seen her crying in her bed or have seen the curtain of tears covering her eyes when looking at me, and only now I can understand. If only she had told me sooner.
I might have understood my life then. Why while I was ready to kill demons to protect my family they never fought to vanquish the demons in my soul. They never fought to save me from my destiny, the same one that was stoned in their faces every time they looked at me, the same unknown wrong I was meant to fix even as a child. But they never told me how I could do it, they never guided me. Now I know why.
It was Wyatt. It was always about him, and even now, he's the only thing that matters. Because then, then I, as well the world, will be given a second chance in life. Living freely. I know that the task may claim my life. But it's fine. It really is. Sometimes it scares me. At other times, I'm simply too tired from fighting to fight my emotions as well. I'm too tired now from fighting the guilt.
I should have saved Wyatt while he was younger. It should have been me who had told him the truth, even when I didn't know what the meaning of the truth was, for I have lived in lie. I should have held him close in my arms and closer to my heart and even when he chose to go away, I should have followed. It should have been me who died. Not him.
And only if I make the wrong right again, maybe then I will be able finally to sleep."
"What's wrong?" she heard Phoebe's voice through the mask of tears. Her voice betraying her, she simply gave her both incoming sisters the book.
Face becoming white and her eyes red from unshed tears, she saw their faces losing their color as well, and she mourned.
"'It should have been me who died. Not him'? Died?" Paige asked, her words sounding too loud in the background of silence "I thought Wyatt was a living tyrant. I mean, we saw him."
"His spirit died" Leo whispered, still coming to terms with the double loss.
Hysterically all of a sudden, Piper rose from her seat, her hands loosening frantically the duct tape that bonded the package. The three exchanged worried looks.
"Eeeh. . .honey?" Leo tried to reach her shoulders, to calm her, only to be rejected by a violent shrug.
Phoebe began dancing on the floor from excitement. Sometimes being an empath sucked.
Finally satisfied, Piper took out another worn book, an album. Opening it, her breath froze. Chris was staring at her from every picture. Her family was there.
They were either staring at her from the attic, or Chris, Wyatt and Adam were smiling at her grieving face with the eternity youth smile of theirs, and she knew they will stay the same way, young. And it ached her so much that she nearly doubled over in pain. But she held herself tight, this was, after all, an album of joy. It was taken when they were happy. And this was the way she wanted them to remain, happy.
Flipping the pages, she felt warm tears trickling down the pictures, saying a silent Thank You for the one who magically protected her precious treasure from wetness.
There were many pages. Through the years, she saw that they were no longer staring, no longer smiling as a complete family, and the air grew heavier. Then the last picture came. There was no more.
It was a worn out picture, an obviously recent one with her standing near adult Chris, her hands resting on Leo's shoulders, near her sisters, her other hand holding tightly baby Wyatt. They looked like a family.
Then it hit her. She saved the picture all those years. She knew all along, just like Chris wrote. She expected it to happen. Chris couldn't make the future better. He was destined to fail. Turning the picture, she found a writing that only one could write, her.
Hear these words,
Hear the rhyme,
Heed the hope within my mind,
Send me back to where I'll find, What I wish in place and time
Save Wyatt.
That was similar to the spell they wrote when they came back to see him die. Along the years they probably simply forgot a few lines.
Melancholic, her tears mingling with the make up, making it hard to see, she erased the red gleaming words. She didn't know for which Chris she was crying- the one whose destiny is already out of her hands, or the other one, whose destiny is already sealed, to return in time over and over again. Only to lose. She hesitated for a moment and then wrote instead- SAVE YOURSELF.
If she had looked back, she would have seen the words glittering for a minute before fading, the old writing appearing again. The angel of destiny had won.
It always does.
But she had already closed the photo album for what would be the last time, sealing the world's fate before looking at Wyatt's empty crib. Then she got up and walked through the door decisively as she felt the familiar motherly wrath increasing in her breast. She was going to save Wyatt and her family.
This time, she was going to win.
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((¸¸.•´ ..•´ -:¦:-THE END-:¦:-
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