Post by skys on Aug 31, 2006 9:54:01 GMT -5
Author: Sky Samuelle
Disclaimer: If I owned Charmed, Cole wouldn’t be dead, Chris would be the Heir, Bianca would be in more than one episode, and Coop wouldn’t have a reason to exist. Unfortunately I don’t, so I write this fic in a twisted attempt to compensate. Still, I definitely own Virginia Calloway, her niece Ollie and, partly, Ben.
Summary: AU, POST Season 7. A Chris & Bianca story in essence. But also the tale of four friends who discovered an hero inside boy, a girl inside an assassin, a demon inside a witch, a lover inside a cousin.
[glow=red,2,300]THE WITCHING HOUR[/glow]
Prologue: For every son lost, there’s a son found.[/color][/color]
The sunset light filtering throughout the window ‘s glass designed harshly the outline of his daughter’s figure as he kept the baby boy against his chest, his hands busying themselves to rub his back in soothing circles…he noticed that it was almost like if he was trying to warm up his grandson, when in fact it was himself who needed.
Everything had stopped making sense the moment Piper knocked on his door and put the little Christopher in his eager embrace, rushing on with mad suggestions about escapes, abandonment and difficult resolutions ; now all he could feel was a sort of surreal detachment from whole scene. If it wasn’t been for the chilly, unnamed sensation inside him, Victor would be been sure he was dreaming.
Which was why he was mildly surprised to hear himself to talk with a calm, even voice:
“ I just can’t convince myself this is the right thing to do. There’s surely some other solution…”
“There’s nothing – his daughter interrupted him rashly- I do it for his sake . How do you think we can bring him with us, in a life of hiding, knowing we shall have focus on Wyatt every moment, to guard him against the evil which could corrupt him, and educating him to inherit Excalibur ? Chris has already sacrificed too much and … ”
The Piper’s mask of composure looked, for few seconds , ready to melt away in tears and sobs and Victor could swear she had never spoke about her second-born with so much emotion; but it took just as little to settle it back in place.
“ Magic seeks always its balance Dad, if there’s a thing I’ve learned it’s that. The other Chris was just 22 years when he died. Even if he saved our future, there’s a chance he’s meant to …end his life prematurely. And I can’t be the mother he deserves if I look at him and think I’ll have him just for 22 years.”
Victor could read in her expression that she had not meant to reveal so much to him , even if this last reasoning was probably more to blame for her decision than all the rubbish she had wasted the past two hours to explain.
His mouth felt far too dry when he opened it again:
“ Is it all what you think about , every time you hold Chris, a death sentence ? It sounds so…”
“ I can’t even hold him all that much ! ”
The brittle smile on oldest Charmed One‘s face felt and looked like a grimace, and yet it was vaguely liberating to let out the disgusting, shameful secret. One glance at Victor and she knew why she had she had vehemently denied it in front of Leo and her sisters - she wouldn’t be been able to withstand that disbelieving expression from them .
“ I am weary of death and danger, Dad. I ‘m not strong enough to risk it. I can’t grow to love Chris and then lose him. Just now, l look at him and feel nothing . It’s like if he wasn’t mine, like I was only going through the motions of being his mum and it kills me a little every day. I want to give him more than a life of being second best…. With his powers bound, he has a chance at a normal life and the only time I ever seen him happy, it was with you”
Victor didn’t know how break the silence which followed that admission. What could he say to a mother who refused to get emotionally attached to her son – his grandson- but still wanted to protect him from herself ? Although he dreaded the idea, the man suspected that there was almost nothing he could add to dissuade her, if whole the plan was been already discussed and approved by her sisters and Leo.
For some reason , thinking about that particular discussion taking place made him to feel older than he had felt in long time .
“ If something magical was to happen, I wouldn’t know to protect him.”
“You won’t need ”
In silence, father and daughter studied each other again, both upset and stubborn.
“ This is the only thing your family ever asked of you in twenty years. You owe us , dad ”
Three months earlier, New Orleans
At the 3 AM, Virginia Calloway woke up drenched in cold sweat , her sheets sticky to her back. Her mind was still full of the horrible nightmare which tormented from weeks: she could still perceive the encompassing, empty darkness enveloping her, to hear a child’s cry coming from anywhere and everywhere at once, and then *that* voice , taunting her: “Go to him. Save him .If you ever wanted a child… ”
Even if Virginia came from an ancient, well- respected witching family, she was been blessed with only one, albeit rare, active birth-power, called *Discernment of Spirits * and even if her parents had always found it useless- specially when there was feud with the Montanas to cultivate- she was never been displeased with it.
It wasn’t just some “I see dead people” thing; It was even the ability to literally discern spirits, and know whether they originated from good or from evil, and it had always allowed her to fall sleep a little more serenely at the night.
Until a very recent encounter, at least .
“ Enough! – she screamed, looking frantically around the room –Are you listening me, damnit? I want being left alone !I don’t know why you are doing this but you‘ll do better to stop!”
In a blink, the familiar figure of tall, slender man took consistence from the shadows of her bedroom. Naturally, he wasn’t really material, but like many other souls forced to over in the bleak space between worlds called Limbo, he kept to hold on his mortal appearance – with his blue-green eyes ,raven hair, sensual mouth and roman profile, Virginia was forced to admit he was been handsome.
“ Then help me, so I’ll leave ””
There was just a touch of mockery in his soft, confident voice, but like every time it was the intensity of the despair she could read in his aura which drew her in.
His soul was blazing rainbow of contrasting passions(love and bitterness, hope and disappointment) but the hopelessness, the absence of any expectative so typical of the dimension he was struck in were wrapped around him like a thick, dark cloak . Yet Virginia could also see fierce, stubborn ties keeping him anchored to the mortal realm.
It was a beautiful and sad thing to observe. Too bad she was too angry to feel pity.
“ It isn’t in my power to give you peace .”
“ I don’t seek peace, but closure. I took ages to find someone with your power and now my son’s time is running out. I need you save him. ”
“Wait a moment - she said shaking her head- those images you sent in my dreams weren’t your doing? ”
“ No”
The admission unsettled her deeply. In those two months he had tormented her manipulating her dreams, it was been easy to resent him, to believe the spirit was playing on her personal weaknesses to win her cooperation, not unlike others which came before him : she had been certain he had someway known about the miscarriage of the only child she had never conceived, a tragic casualty in the eternal guerrilla warfare between Calloways and Montanas.
Her fairytale marriage to her mortal high school sweetheart had ended shortly after, in a traumatic explosion of blame and misunderstandings, cutting comments and petty, endless discussions, in spite of their attempt of leaving both the past and the magic behind by running from San Francisco.
Night after night, those horrible nightmares had shattered forever whatever fantasy Virginia had never entertained about being over that loss … and she had had no doubt about the purposefulness of them. But if she was been mistaken….
“ Were you showing me what you see, what you feel ? ”
“ I tried to get you to understand my… problem. I’ve been feeling my son growing weaker. He can feel me, and I can feel him a bit more every day . Perhaps I always could , but I was… distracted, I guess . I know he ‘s been in this condition for long time . I believed him vanquished before I reached my actual state. ”
“ Wait a second, here- Virginia interrupted him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion – I can tell you were not completely human . I wouldn’t get involved in reviving some demonic spawn and you are insane if you think you can convince me . ”
“ His mother was good witch, I was half-demon. This makes our child ¾ human. ¬¬¬”
The spirit explained with a rational, studied manner which belied the increasing urgency colouring his most recent admissions.
-----
For now. That's it, guys and gals. Reviews make the heart getting fonder and author getting bolder....
Disclaimer: If I owned Charmed, Cole wouldn’t be dead, Chris would be the Heir, Bianca would be in more than one episode, and Coop wouldn’t have a reason to exist. Unfortunately I don’t, so I write this fic in a twisted attempt to compensate. Still, I definitely own Virginia Calloway, her niece Ollie and, partly, Ben.
Summary: AU, POST Season 7. A Chris & Bianca story in essence. But also the tale of four friends who discovered an hero inside boy, a girl inside an assassin, a demon inside a witch, a lover inside a cousin.
[glow=red,2,300]THE WITCHING HOUR[/glow]
Prologue: For every son lost, there’s a son found.[/color][/color]
The sunset light filtering throughout the window ‘s glass designed harshly the outline of his daughter’s figure as he kept the baby boy against his chest, his hands busying themselves to rub his back in soothing circles…he noticed that it was almost like if he was trying to warm up his grandson, when in fact it was himself who needed.
Everything had stopped making sense the moment Piper knocked on his door and put the little Christopher in his eager embrace, rushing on with mad suggestions about escapes, abandonment and difficult resolutions ; now all he could feel was a sort of surreal detachment from whole scene. If it wasn’t been for the chilly, unnamed sensation inside him, Victor would be been sure he was dreaming.
Which was why he was mildly surprised to hear himself to talk with a calm, even voice:
“ I just can’t convince myself this is the right thing to do. There’s surely some other solution…”
“There’s nothing – his daughter interrupted him rashly- I do it for his sake . How do you think we can bring him with us, in a life of hiding, knowing we shall have focus on Wyatt every moment, to guard him against the evil which could corrupt him, and educating him to inherit Excalibur ? Chris has already sacrificed too much and … ”
The Piper’s mask of composure looked, for few seconds , ready to melt away in tears and sobs and Victor could swear she had never spoke about her second-born with so much emotion; but it took just as little to settle it back in place.
“ Magic seeks always its balance Dad, if there’s a thing I’ve learned it’s that. The other Chris was just 22 years when he died. Even if he saved our future, there’s a chance he’s meant to …end his life prematurely. And I can’t be the mother he deserves if I look at him and think I’ll have him just for 22 years.”
Victor could read in her expression that she had not meant to reveal so much to him , even if this last reasoning was probably more to blame for her decision than all the rubbish she had wasted the past two hours to explain.
His mouth felt far too dry when he opened it again:
“ Is it all what you think about , every time you hold Chris, a death sentence ? It sounds so…”
“ I can’t even hold him all that much ! ”
The brittle smile on oldest Charmed One‘s face felt and looked like a grimace, and yet it was vaguely liberating to let out the disgusting, shameful secret. One glance at Victor and she knew why she had she had vehemently denied it in front of Leo and her sisters - she wouldn’t be been able to withstand that disbelieving expression from them .
“ I am weary of death and danger, Dad. I ‘m not strong enough to risk it. I can’t grow to love Chris and then lose him. Just now, l look at him and feel nothing . It’s like if he wasn’t mine, like I was only going through the motions of being his mum and it kills me a little every day. I want to give him more than a life of being second best…. With his powers bound, he has a chance at a normal life and the only time I ever seen him happy, it was with you”
Victor didn’t know how break the silence which followed that admission. What could he say to a mother who refused to get emotionally attached to her son – his grandson- but still wanted to protect him from herself ? Although he dreaded the idea, the man suspected that there was almost nothing he could add to dissuade her, if whole the plan was been already discussed and approved by her sisters and Leo.
For some reason , thinking about that particular discussion taking place made him to feel older than he had felt in long time .
“ If something magical was to happen, I wouldn’t know to protect him.”
“You won’t need ”
In silence, father and daughter studied each other again, both upset and stubborn.
“ This is the only thing your family ever asked of you in twenty years. You owe us , dad ”
Three months earlier, New Orleans
At the 3 AM, Virginia Calloway woke up drenched in cold sweat , her sheets sticky to her back. Her mind was still full of the horrible nightmare which tormented from weeks: she could still perceive the encompassing, empty darkness enveloping her, to hear a child’s cry coming from anywhere and everywhere at once, and then *that* voice , taunting her: “Go to him. Save him .If you ever wanted a child… ”
Even if Virginia came from an ancient, well- respected witching family, she was been blessed with only one, albeit rare, active birth-power, called *Discernment of Spirits * and even if her parents had always found it useless- specially when there was feud with the Montanas to cultivate- she was never been displeased with it.
It wasn’t just some “I see dead people” thing; It was even the ability to literally discern spirits, and know whether they originated from good or from evil, and it had always allowed her to fall sleep a little more serenely at the night.
Until a very recent encounter, at least .
“ Enough! – she screamed, looking frantically around the room –Are you listening me, damnit? I want being left alone !I don’t know why you are doing this but you‘ll do better to stop!”
In a blink, the familiar figure of tall, slender man took consistence from the shadows of her bedroom. Naturally, he wasn’t really material, but like many other souls forced to over in the bleak space between worlds called Limbo, he kept to hold on his mortal appearance – with his blue-green eyes ,raven hair, sensual mouth and roman profile, Virginia was forced to admit he was been handsome.
“ Then help me, so I’ll leave ””
There was just a touch of mockery in his soft, confident voice, but like every time it was the intensity of the despair she could read in his aura which drew her in.
His soul was blazing rainbow of contrasting passions(love and bitterness, hope and disappointment) but the hopelessness, the absence of any expectative so typical of the dimension he was struck in were wrapped around him like a thick, dark cloak . Yet Virginia could also see fierce, stubborn ties keeping him anchored to the mortal realm.
It was a beautiful and sad thing to observe. Too bad she was too angry to feel pity.
“ It isn’t in my power to give you peace .”
“ I don’t seek peace, but closure. I took ages to find someone with your power and now my son’s time is running out. I need you save him. ”
“Wait a moment - she said shaking her head- those images you sent in my dreams weren’t your doing? ”
“ No”
The admission unsettled her deeply. In those two months he had tormented her manipulating her dreams, it was been easy to resent him, to believe the spirit was playing on her personal weaknesses to win her cooperation, not unlike others which came before him : she had been certain he had someway known about the miscarriage of the only child she had never conceived, a tragic casualty in the eternal guerrilla warfare between Calloways and Montanas.
Her fairytale marriage to her mortal high school sweetheart had ended shortly after, in a traumatic explosion of blame and misunderstandings, cutting comments and petty, endless discussions, in spite of their attempt of leaving both the past and the magic behind by running from San Francisco.
Night after night, those horrible nightmares had shattered forever whatever fantasy Virginia had never entertained about being over that loss … and she had had no doubt about the purposefulness of them. But if she was been mistaken….
“ Were you showing me what you see, what you feel ? ”
“ I tried to get you to understand my… problem. I’ve been feeling my son growing weaker. He can feel me, and I can feel him a bit more every day . Perhaps I always could , but I was… distracted, I guess . I know he ‘s been in this condition for long time . I believed him vanquished before I reached my actual state. ”
“ Wait a second, here- Virginia interrupted him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion – I can tell you were not completely human . I wouldn’t get involved in reviving some demonic spawn and you are insane if you think you can convince me . ”
“ His mother was good witch, I was half-demon. This makes our child ¾ human. ¬¬¬”
The spirit explained with a rational, studied manner which belied the increasing urgency colouring his most recent admissions.
-----
For now. That's it, guys and gals. Reviews make the heart getting fonder and author getting bolder....
