Chapter 14 – The monster versus the good man

Bianca's POV

Chris's soft snores and body heat in the cold cell were starting to send her to sleep. She had spent the last half hour just watching him sleep, stroking his thick brown hair. It was so strange, there was a small part of her that would quack with fear when she saw Chris, the part of her that had lived in this world feared the wrath of the most powerful being in creation, but it was slowly starting to dwindle as it comprehended how devoted Chris was to her. This Chris looked so different to the Chris from the other future. He was healthier; there was no hollowness in his cheeks. When she felt up his chest she found a well muscled body rather than ribs. The one thing that had not changed was his eyes, they were still the vivid green that took her breath away if she wasn't careful.

She was just about to fall asleep when bright blue lights woke her in a panic. Oh Goddess she really wasn't in the best position if it was one of Chris's elder minders like that Joshua guy coming to look for him. It wasn't an elder that orbed in, but a young man a few years older than Chris with short blond hair and brown eyes. It took her a second to realise who it was, he looked so different, so good, but it was still the man she had learned very quickly to fear in the other world, the man who had killed her, "Lord Wyatt." Her voice shook slightly, she hoped he didn't notice. She didn't know what to do, she knew she should bow to him, in the other world he would have had her on her knees, but she had Chris sleeping peacefully on her lap, she had the Anointed Prince asleep on her lap. Oh Goddess, this mustn't look good.

At first he didn't acknowledge her, his eye fixed on his sleeping brother, she noticed a faint smile on his face, it was only when she started to move Chris off her lap so she could rise and bow to him that he looked up at her, "Please don't," he said, "you'll wake him, I haven't seen him sleep like that since we were little and he didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders." He squatted down to run his thumb gently across his brother's cheek. She had never seen Wyatt be tender with Chris, ever part of her was screaming out in fear at this man's close proximity, it all seemed wrong. Unlike with Chris both sides of her feared Wyatt and she couldn't hide the fear from her face or the fact that her heart was beating at a hundred miles a minute. He seemed to sense her fear as he looked up and gave her a weak smile before offering her his hand, "Hi, I'm Wyatt."

She reached out and he took her sweaty palm in his, "Bianca, My Lord."

He realised her hand after an appropriate length of time not wanting to scare her, "I don't mean to scare you."

"I'm sorry, My Lord, It's just ..." She didn't know how to finish that sentence, did he know he had been evil?

"You remember the evil me." He finished for her, "I can assure you that I am quite nice and likable in this reality." He must have seen that she didn't know what to say, so he changed the topic of conversation, "You must have magic hands."

She was even more confused, "My Lord?"

He nodded at his brother, "You calmed my brother, in less than an hour no less, I doubt me or mum could do that."

"He just needed to hear that some of his fears were unfounded, My Lord."

"You really don't have to keep calling me, My Lord, Bianca, you are my brother's soul mate, one day, probably sooner rather than later, you will be my sister in law." He paused for a second before a smile graced his lips and he finished with, "My Future Lady."

She didn't know what to say to that, she didn't know what to say to anything. The man in front of her was so different to his counterpart in her memories. This man didn't have an ounce of evil in him, he even had a goofy smile and a sense of humour. It was almost too hard to handle. She was shaken from her thoughts when she felt a strange feeling. Chris and herself were being levitated in the air by Wyatt's magic as he pick them up and moved them across so there was enough room for him to sit on the bed beside her. Once they had been gently put down so not to disturb Chris, she turned to look at the other man. He now had a solemn look on his face as he stared down at Chris. "Can I ask you a question, Bianca?"

"My Lo..." She never got to finish as Wyatt cut her off with a friendly glare, "Wyatt?" she finished trying to hide the shaking in her voice as she called him by his name.

"Can you tell me about your cousin?" She was confused and he must have seen it as he continued, "What she likes? What makes her feel safe?"

"Why do you want to know?" She asked defensively, he cousin was the only family she had left and she loved her dearly.

Wyatt looked down, suddenly finding his hands really interesting, "Because she's my soul mate, Bianca." It was barely above a whisper, she was almost sure she must have miss heard. "You and Chris weren't the only ones to soul bind the day you attacked us, Katrina and I did as well."

Her first reaction was one of horror and disgust, her cousin had soul bound to the horrible monster from her memories, but when she looked back at the young man sitting beside her, how unsure of himself he was, the concern he already had for her cousin she was forced to reconsidered.

"You're Katrina's soul mate?" It came out more like a question than a statement, she needed one final confirmation. He nodded, looking up at her, his eyes pleading for help.

"Have you told her?"

He let out a sigh as he drew his long legs up to his chest and leaned his head back against the wall. "Yes."

"And..." she prodded.

"It didn't go well." She looked at him to go on. "I don't think she understands what a soul binding is. I think she thought that it was some sort of sentence of servitude as punishment for trying to kill me and Chris, that I did it on purpose, that I bound her soul to me so she would have to serve me. She doesn't understand that it is an equal relationship, that she holds a part of my soul as well, that I also feel like she does, that I have the same desire to be near her, to serve her and make her happy, that I need her in my life as much if not more than she feel like she needs me." He looked down again, she had never seen Wyatt Halliwell look lost before, but there was always a first time for everything she supposed, "I don't know what to do!" he exclaimed, "Every time I try something it only makes it worse." Wow, she felt bad for Wyatt Halliwell who knew that could happen.

"We never really knew love or understood it for that matter. The way we grew up, our parents either left or died and we were taught to raise ourselves. We have lived in the underworld for the last seven years, Wyatt. I only know what love truly is because I have my memories of the other world where Chris taught me what love was."

"How did he teach you to love?" he asked curiously.

"He didn't teach me to love per say, he just showed me how to recognise it. He has this power where he can show others his memories and what they felt like, almost like they are your own." Wyatt nodded showing that he knew what she was talking about. "He showed me all these memories of all the different types of love he had experienced, of him and his mother, of him and you as children, of watching and feeling what his aunts and uncles felt for each other. Once I saw and felt that I could understand and recognise my own love for Chris."

He sighed, "I don't have that power, that one is uniquely Chris."

"I'm sure it will work out, Wyatt, it just needs time." It was amazing in a short amount of time he had turned from a man she greatly feared to a man she truly pitied. He gave her a weak smile, he didn't really think so.

They sat together in silence for a minute, before he turned to her once again, "Please don't tell Chris." He asked.

"What?"

"About my problems with Katrina, he has so much on his plate, I don't want to put my troubles on him."

"He won't mind, Wyatt, he might be able to help."

"Perhaps, but not at the moment. At the moment what's important is Chris recovering the rest of his memories so he can rule the magical realm, so that he is ready for his coronation in two weeks."

Chris gave a bit of a moan and rolled over in his sleep, Wyatt smiled, this one was real, "He's uncomfortable." he stated. "The bond we share." he answered her unasked question as to how he knew that. "We should probably move him somewhere a bit more comfortable, that and if the guards see this it could well be the talk of the city for the next few days, it would irk Joshua in the very least and those are lectures I'm sure Chris and I would like to avoid. Wait here." he said before he quite literally walked through the bars of her cell door. 'It's not like I can do anything else' she almost yelled back but though better of it. Wyatt returned a few minutes later, "The guards know not to panic if they find your cell empty." Before she had time to question that statement he had laid one of his hands on her shoulder and the other on Chris's arm and they disappeared in a cloud of orbs to be deposited on a much comfier and much, much larger bed.