Future Consequences by Kalvana--Updated 2/09

[mcharmed21]

Author: kalvana

Okay . . . this is my first Charmed fic and I don't know what possessed me to write it. So, please read and review. It starts as part of a rewrite of Chris-Crossed and continues fromt here. Please let me know what you think!

What happens if what Bianca says is true? And Wyatt sends back assasins to kill him? And what if they're familiar faces?

Chapter 1

Chris halted a moment, looking back one last time at his family. “Wait!” he choked out, tugging his hand from Bianca’s. “Please?” he asked, knowing she would understand. She bit her lip and nodded.

The three sisters watched him turn to face them, seeing the drawn and defeated look in his eyes. Phoebe felt a piercing ache in her own heart as she watched him. He was in so much pain, so sad, so broken. She watched as he smiled weakly at herself and Paige. “I’ll miss you,” he said quietly.

Phoebe felt that ache deepen when he turned his attention to Piper. He bit his lip to hold back tears and said nothing, only leaned down to take Piper in his arms, hugging her tightly for a long moment before releasing her, keeping only her hands in his. He laughed at the confused and shocked expression on her face. “I love you,” he whispered, bending to kiss her cheek.

“Chris,” Bianca warned, almost sadly. She knew how much this was killing him inside.

Chris dropped Piper’s gaze and nodded, looking at their entwined hands. “Let’s go,” he whispered, stepping away from the sisters. Bianca again took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He took a step towards the glowing portal, but Bianca held him still for a moment, giving him a moment to collect himself before allowing him to face what lay on the other side.

“Wait!” Piper squeaked, finally managing to find her voice. “That’s it? You’re just going?”<br>
“I don’t have a choice,” Chris shrugged. “She’s stripped my powers.”<br>
“But—“ Paige argued.

Chris smiled mischievously. “I guess Leo will have to fix that floorboard without me.” He grinned at the sisters one last time before facing Bianca, his face cleared of the impending tears. “I’m ready,” he said flatly. Together they disappeared through the portal, leaving the sisters confused and lost.

Well, Piper and Paige were confused and lost, Phoebe, on the other hand, dropped to her knees at the relief his absence brought. “Phoebe,” Paige said worriedly, dropping beside her sister. “What is it?”<br>
“Chris,” Phoebe said, shaking her head. “If he felt like that the entire time he was here, I’m glad he could block my powers.”<br>
“What are you talking about?” Paige asked.

Phoebe shook her head, “Not here. We don’t know when the Phoenix will return and I don’t think it’s a good idea to fight her. No telling what would happen to future Bianca.” Paige nodded and reached up to touch Piper’s elbow as she continued to stare at the triquatra drawn on the wall.




“I don’t understand,” Paige said, shaking her head.

“I could never sense his emotions,” Phoebe said, repeating it again. “Until he was unconscious and I felt his love for Bianca. And then, today, she’d stripped his powers. I felt his emotions,” Phoebe’s voice cracked as she forced down tears at just the memory of his pain.

“What did you feel?” Leo asked.

“Fear, guilt, pain,” Phoebe whispered, staring out the colored glass of the window. “Not physical. It was all emotional.”<br>
“Well, yeah, his fiancé comes back in time to strip his powers and take him in for a bounty,” Paige reasoned.

“No,” Phoebe argued, wiping a tear away. “It was more than that. Besides, she felt it was the only way to save his life. Chris understood that.” She stood up, running her fingers through her short-cropped hair. “It was this big, gaping whole in his heart that I felt. He knows loss. He knows it so well. It’s like he had nothing to go back to and it was like-- It was like leaving us was ripping all of that open.”<br>
Paige bit her lip and stole a quick glance at Leo, who flipped through the Book of Shadows as he tried to formulate a plan. And then she glanced at Piper, who hadn’t spoken since they’d returned to the attic. “He told Piper that he loves her. Do you think maybe, in the future, our sister has a thing for younger guys?” she whispered.

“No,” Phoebe assured her. “I think it’s stronger than that. Think about it, Paige,” Phoebe said, all of the fragments settling in her mind. “He’s half-whitelighter. He’s half witch. He’s willing to go through all of this for Wyatt. He loves Piper.”<br>
Paige shook her head, catching on but disagreeing. “But, he hates Leo.”<br>
“Not really,” Phoebe whispered, shaking her head. “He’s got more of a love/hate thing going on there. He relates to Leo a lot like Prue did to our dad.”<br>
“He’s my son,” Piper said flatly, her eyes never seeming to focus. Paige and Phoebe seemed startled as they hadn’t realized they’d been over heard. “I can feel it, somehow,” she said, turning to face Leo, who stood in mid-flip of a page, his jaw dropped as he regarded his ex-wife. “He’s our son, Leo,” she repeated, watching his face for somesort of reaction. Leo stayed there in shock and Piper spun around to face her sisters. “We have to bring him back. We have to do something. Where ever, when ever he went, it can’t be good.”<br>
“He was resigned to it, Piper,” Phoebe said hastily. “He knew it meant his death. I don’t know how we can stop it from this time and he’s defenseless in his own.”<br>
“We have to do something!” Piper shouted, stomping her foot down angrily.

Paige heard the squeak. “The floorboard!!” She shook her head at the confused looks of her sisters and her stunned ex-brother-in-law. “I have an idea.”<br>



Leo closed the floorboard and recovered it with the rug. Not a moment later, Chris flew out of a flash of light, tumbling roughly to the wooden floor. He groaned and rolled onto his back, looking up at the ceiling. “Are you all right?” Piper asked, moving to help him to his feet.

“Yeah, fine,” he groaned, rotating his shoulder as if to make sure it was all right.

“We need to talk,” Piper said sternly.

“I know, I know,” Chris conceded. “I should have told you that I knew Bianca, should have told you what she was up to, but—“

“You should have told up that you’re our son,” Leo piped in. Chris’s eyes burst open, the look of shock evident to everyone around him. “Why didn’t you--?” Before Leo could finish his question, Chris had orbed out.

[mcharmed21]

Chris stepped onto the Golden Gate Bridge, pacing the width of it. He always found this place oddly soothing, the hum of the traffic, the inescapable breeze. How did they know? How did they find out? It was his mistake. He shouldn’t have said good-bye to them, shouldn’t have let them see his emotions, let them know how much he loved them. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. This wasn’t the plan.

He heard the chiming as someone orbed in next to him. As he saw the form take the shape of his father, he tried to orb out. That was the last person he wanted to see right now, but a hand grabbed him before he could, holding him in place.

Leo stared at him, his own blue eyes seeming to memorize Chris’s green. Chris swallowed, tried to keep his expression from betraying him more as he stared at Leo, raising his chin a bit, as if in challenge. “You look like your mother,” Leo said softly.

Chris shook Leo’s hand off him, resigning himself to remain emotionless. “No one seemed to notice before.”<br>
“We weren’t looking before,” Leo said.

“As if you ever did,” Chris muttered to himself as he turned away from Leo. “What now?” he asked, clasping his hands behind his back as he stared down at the mist covered waters.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Leo asked, trying to get through to his son.

“Future consequences,” Chris shrugged.

“I can understand not wanting to talk about future vanquishes, future deaths, but this?” Leo gasped. “How could—“

“You don’t like me very much,” Chris said.

“I love you. You’re my son.”<br>
Chris laughed bitterly and shook his head. “Try to remember how you felt about me yesterday. You don’t like me very much.”<br>
“That’s not true, I—“

“I am an Empath. You don’t like me. You find me irritating and arrogant, stubborn. You think I take too many risks and put the sisters in too much danger. You think I go off looking for trouble, that I’m reckless.”<br>
“I—“

“You’re jealous of the time I get to spend with Mom while you’re off being an Elder, of the time I get to spend with baby Wyatt while you can only watch.”<br>
Leo nodded, biting his lip. “Yes, but—“

“But nothing,” Chris said coldly.

“You’re my son,” Leo argued. “That changed things. That makes things different.”<br>
“No, it doesn’t. And I’m not your son. Your son hasn’t even been born. And, if I have my calculations right, you have about a couple of weeks to decide if he ever is born.”<br>
“You think I dislike you so much as to stop your conception.” Chris shrugged. “How could you even think I—“

“I’ve thought about it myself,” Chris said quietly. “I’ve thought about finding a way to put a stop to it myself. Maybe I’m the reason Wyatt turns?”<br>
“You can’t believe that.”<br>
“It happens right around the time I’m born. Which means, I play a factor, if only to distract the sisters from what ever gets to him. If I weren’t born, maybe the sisters could stop it before it happens.”<br>
“You’re being ridiculous. How can you even think that?” Leo gasped.

Chris laughed, hard, letting the irony in Leo’s statement flood him. “How could you?” he spat before Leo could question. He turned, finally, facing his father with tear-stained cheeks. “You’re the one that put that idea in my head.”<br>
“Me?” Leo asked. “When?”<br>
Chris shook his head, his bitter humor faltering, suddenly realizing that this wasn’t the same man he was used to arguing with, used to hating, not yet anyway. “In about fifteen years,” he shrugged. “Look,” Chris conceded, shaking his head to clear his own emotions. “I wasn’t planning on this. You shouldn’t know. Phoebe, Paige and most certainly Mom shouldn’t know who I am.”<br>
“Why?” Leo asked.

“Because, it’s a distraction. They need to be focused on saving Wyatt and the future. If they know who I am, when I put myself in the risks that I need to, they’re going to protect me because of who I am. I can’t let them.” Chris scratched at his upper arms nervously, trying to find the courage to get his last and biggest reason out. “Besides, this isn’t just some run of the mill quest for me. This isn’t the weekly demon vanquish. This is my entire life and the life of everyone I care about. I will die for this if I need to and I don’t want Mom to have to watch her son die.” Leo swallowed, wrapping his mind around his son’s words, wrap his mind around the fact he even had a son. Chris was silent for a moment, trying to come up with a solution. Finally he turned to Leo. “Help me,” he said.

“What can I do?”<br>
“Dust them?” Chris asked.

“No!” Leo shouted. “I will not take their memories of you away. It’ll—“

“Not of me, just of who I am,” Chris amended.

“No,” Leo argued again.

“Look, you were never there for me. Never when I needed you. But, I need you now. Please, do this for me?” he asked quietly. “Please, for everyone’s sake.”<br>
Leo nodded, biting his tongue. “I won’t dust myself. I’ll remember.”<br>
“But—“

“You say that in the future, I’m up there,” he said, glancing up to the starry sky. “If that’s so, then I’m not involved in anything that is about to happen with the sisters, leaving me completely free to protect you.”<br>
“Can’t work like that,” Chris said, shaking his head. “You can’t know.”<br>
“Too bad,” Leo said. “If assassins are being sent back after you, you need someone to watch your back. You need someone to help you. And you’ve got me.”<br>
Chris let loose a small smile as his face filled with tears. He shook that off quickly, however, and nodded his agreement.

[mcharmed21]

Chapter 2



The sisters waited not so patiently for Leo to return with their whitelighter. When they finally returned in a swirl of glowing orbs, they breathed a sigh of relief, all three of them rushing to hug the young man they’d grown to care about. “I don’t understand,” Phoebe said. “If we put the spell in the attic, how did you get all the way to the bridge?”<br>
“I orbed,” Chris said carelessly. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just glad everything is okay,” he said, catching Leo’s eye, silently thanking him.

“Oh, my,” Piper shrieked, seeing Chris’s neck. “What is—“ Tentatively, she reached forward touching the tender flesh. There was a handprint on her whitelighter’s throat, one of bruise as well as burn. “What happened?” she asked, gasping at the thought of the pain it must have caused.

Chris touched his neck and shook his head, not wanting to inform the sisters that it was the darling little baby they cared for so much was such a monster in the future. Not the specifics of it anyhow. But Leo knew, and Chris heard him let out a long sad sigh. “Let me heal that,” he said, reaching forward towards Chris.

Chris stepped away as the hand began to glow. “No,” he said quietly. “I’m good.” Leo stared at him, confused. Chris only shook his head, willing Leo to just understand. “I’m a fast healer naturally, promise.” Chris stood awkwardly, shuffling his feet, not wanting to look up at his mother or aunts, not now after they no longer know. “It’s getting late, and I’m kind of tired. I should go over to the club and get some sleep.”<br>
“It’s not that late,” Piper pointed out after a quick glance to her watch. “The club will still be packed and noisy. Why don’t I make up the couch for you?”<br>
Chris nodded, his eyes still lowered. “That’d be nice. Mind if I borrow your shower?”<br>
“Not at all,” Piper said quickly, watching him nod quickly and jog down the stairs. “What happened?” Piper asked quickly, turning to her ex-husband for an explanation.

“What do you mean?” Leo asked guiltily.

“I mean. He’s hurt and won’t let you heal him. Something obviously has him spooked because he won’t look any of us in the eye and I feel like—“ Piper stopped herself mid sentence and shook her head. “I’m worried about him. I don’t understand why I’m so worried, but I am. And you know something.”<br>
Leo shook his head, “Future consequences,” he said to Piper, orbing out before she could protest.



Chris stripped out of his filthy black shirt, see the blood on it that he was thankful no one else has noticed. Bianca’s blood. How did things get so screwed up? He glanced in the mirror, seeing more clearly the handprint on his neck, felt each pinpricking nerve that it encompassed. He saw other bruises and scrapes, too, from being tossed around the future attic by his darling brother.

He was startled out of studying his own injuries when a swirl of orbs appeared behind him in the mirror. “Why wouldn’t you let me heal you?” Leo asked, staring at the marks that littered Chris, scratches and bruises.

Chris shook his head, leaning over the sink, propping himself there with two outstretched arms. “You can’t. And I didn’t want to have to explain that in front of the sisters.”<br>
“I’ve healed you before,” Leo argued.

“That was different. You can’t heal the damage caused by your own blood,” he explained quickly before pushing himself off the sink and digging into the cabinet for something to put on the itching mark.

“My own blood?” Leo said quietly, dropping onto the toilet as he tried to wrap his head around it all. “You mean—“

“Yeah, that’s Wyatt’s handprint,” Chris said nonchalantly, finding something that might at least cool the burn.

“He just tried to strangle you with his bare hands?” Leo gasped.

Chris laughed. “No. Wyatt doesn’t do much with his bare hands. Doesn’t like to get dirty, you know?

“Then—“

Chris took a step back and faced his father. “Like this,” he said quietly, reaching a hand up, curling it into a loose fist. Leo felt it on his throat, the pressure, though Chris was keeping it light. “Telekinesis,” he clarified before going back to tending his wounds.

“And the burn?” Leo inquired.

“Oh, you know. Everything Wyatt does packs a little extra punch.”<br>
Leo nodded. “So, what are your powers?”<br>
Chris shrugged. “Orbing, telekinesis, empathy, and variations of them. That’s it, really. Though they seem to be growing very quickly.”<br>
“Really?” Leo asked.

“Since I came back to the past my empathy has gotten stronger, maybe if only because I’ve been giving it a workout blocking aunt Phoebs. And I’ve developed sensing to go with the orbing. I never could do that before.”<br>
“Any other whitelighter powers? Healing, maybe?” Leo asked.

“No,” Chris snapped, slamming the cabinet shut. “You know that.” Chris shook his head, admonishing himself for snapping on his father. “Sorry, it’s just that that is a bone of contention between us, in the future.”<br>
“How so?”<br>
“You think I can heal and say I just need to practice.”<br>
“Maybe you just need proper motivation.” Off Chris’s confused look, he continued. “Powers come from emotions. Healing comes from love. If the circumstances are right, if it is someone you love that needs—“

“No,” Chris said, shaking his head. “I’ve had motivation. No luck.”<br>
“But—“

“No!” Chris snapped, then immediately tried to calm himself.

“Chris?” Piper asked as she knocked lightly on the door outside. “Are you all right in there?”<br>

[mcharmed21]

“I’m fine,” he called out quickly.

“Can I come in?” Piper asked.

Chris glanced up at Leo, silently asking him to leave. Chris waited until the orbs had disappeared and his mother repeated the question before pulling the door open.

“Oh god,” Piper exclaimed, seeing the bruises and cuts that covered Chris’s bare torso. “Sit down,” she demanded, urging him over to the toilet. She reached into the medicine cabinet, grabbing for various things. “Why didn’t you have Leo heal you?” she demanded harshly.

Chris leaned back a moment, smiling at the fact his mother was fussing over him. “I’m fine, really,” he said softly, reaching out to stop her hands. “I’m fine.”<br>
“You’re not fine!” Piper argued, taking a perch on the clothes hamper as she pulled away from his hand to work on putting antiseptic on some of the worst of the cuts that covered his back and shoulder. “What happened?”<br>
“I got thrown through a table. And a cabinet. And, I think, a wall,” Chris laughed. “It’s fine. I’ve been through worse.”<br>
“I can see that,” Piper muttered, noticing some scars tarnishing the smooth skin. “Why wouldn’t you let Leo heal you?”<br>
Chris bit his lip for only a moment while he formulated an answer. “Because one day I’ll have to go back to the future where I don’t have a healer and I still have to fight. Wouldn’t want to go soft by having stuff like this healed.”<br>
Piper looked at his haunting green eyes, seeing something there she’d never seen before: recognition. “Is the future really so horrible?” she asked.

“Mine is,” he answered quickly, looking over Piper’s handiwork. “But, I’m working to change that.”<br>
“What about mine?” Piper asked. “What’s my future like?” she asked wistfully.

Chris felt as if her were going to choke on the sob that wanted to escape. “I can’t answer that,” he managed to squeak out, standing up to pace away from Piper.

“Future consequences?” Piper asked, watching as Chris seemed to stare at the wall. He seemed to nod roughly. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know about the consequences. It was more of a rhetorical question anyway. I only ask because of Leo.”<br>
“What about him?” Chris croaked out, swallowing away his tears and doing everything he could to mask his emotions before turning back to the woman seeking his counsel.

“It’s just-- I miss him. I understand why he has to be away, but I miss him. And everything is so different now. I’m a mother and Wyatt-- He deserves a father, not the kind that shows up every once in a blue moon to say hi, but a real one. The kind that’s there for him when he wakes up from a nightmare in the middle of the night. The kind that’ll be there to teach him things. And the kind that just loves his family. And I want that to be Leo, but I know it can’t be. I don’t even know if he would want to be,” she confessed finally allowing herself to cry.

Chris shook his head and enveloped his mother in his arms, letting her cry herself out against him. “Shh,” he soothed, not knowing how to calm her without saying too much. “If there is one thing I know about Leo, it’s that he loves you. He loves you, I promise. He loves you now and he loves you in the future,” Chris let out, hearing Piper’s breath hitch in her throat as she digested the new information.

She pulled back, wiping away her tears. “Thanks.”<br>
“You’re welcome.”<br>
“You’re pretty good at this whole whitelighter thing,” Piper offered.

“Actually, I’m not, but thank you anyway.”<br>
Piper gave him a crooked smile. “I’ll let you get cleaned up,” she said, ducking out the door.

Before the door closed, Chris heard the crash, followed by a loud shout from Paige. “Demon!” she screamed, alerting the household to its presence.

Chris rushed from the room just in time to see Piper knocked backward through the hall, crashing into a bedroom door. He stepped into the hallway, seeing the gray skinned creature heading towards Piper’s prone body. He blocked the way, taking a position in front of her to protect her.

Phoebe let out a shrill screech as she flew through the air, kicking the demon in the back of the head, but the attack didn’t seem to deter the beast. The demon seemed intent on Piper and only Piper. “Vase!” Paige shouted from the top of the stairs, hurling it at the demon, again with no effect.

Instead it focused on Chris, the only obstruction between it and its target. Chris stared at it, catching its foggy eyes, seeming then gleam purple and recognition hit him. “Tasha?” he asked, resting his stance momentarily.

Paige and Phoebe watched in wonder as the beast stopped, sniffing at the air. “Chris?” it asked, but the voice was not what they were expecting. Instead, the voice sounded like that of a young girl. Slowly, the beast began to morph into something that would match the voice, a young girl dressed in simple jeans and T-shirt. “Chris?”<br>
“It’s me, girlie-girl,” he greeted, reaching forward, resting a hand on her shoulder. The girl seemed to giggle at that and pulled Chris into a hug.

Piper groaned as she rolled over, pushing herself off the floor. Chris released the girl and went immediately to his mother’s side, helping her to her feet, sweeping her up into his arms when weight on her leg forced her to collapse again. “Leo!” he shouted, knowing his father was nearby.

Leo appeared, stepping immediately to Piper, who awoke slowly in Chris’s arms. “Can you stand?” Chris asked, moving to set her on her feet.

“What happened?” Piper asked, looking at the damage in the hallway.

“That’s what we’d like to know,” Paige said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Who’s your demon friend, Chris?”<br>
Chris pulled Tasha to the edge of the hallway, holding her in front of him, her back to his chest. “This is Tasha and she’s not a demon. She’s a witch.” The three sisters finally got a good glimpse of the girl. She was younger than they initially though, maybe only thirteen or fourteen. Her hair was a deep muddy brown and was in greasy wisps around her head, falling carelessly in her face. They gasped when they saw her face, gnarled and burned from the nose up, her eyes nothing but milky white pools. “Tasha, this is Paige, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell,” Chris said delicately.

Tasha laughed. “Charmed, I’m sure,” she joked, even Paige managed to find the humor in it. Tasha’s, however, quickly disappeared. “But, if these are the Charmed ones-- I attacked the Charmed ones?” she gasped.

“You attacked Piper,” Chris pointed out.

“Oh my god!” Tasha gasped. “I’m sorry, Chris. I’m so sorry.”<br>
“Shh,” Chris whispered quickly. “We need to talk more in private,” he said, tugging her into the still open door to the bathroom, quickly closing the door behind him. “They don’t know who I am,” he explained quickly. “Will you help me keep that secret?” Tasha agreed readily.

“Where are the girls?” Chris asked when he reentered the hallway with Tasha.

“Kitchen,” Leo answered quickly. “Figured there wasn’t going to be any sleep for awhile, so they’re making coffee.”<br>
Chris nodded. “Tasha, this is Leo Wyatt, my father.”<br>
“I thought they didn’t know who you are,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth.

“Only Leo does and I intend to have it stay that way,” Chris responded quickly.

“Nice to meet you,” Leo said, reaching to take the blind girl’s hand.

“It’s an honor, Mr. Wyatt,” Tasha said awkwardly.

[mcharmed21]

Leo laughed. “Just call me Leo. I don’t think anyone has ever called me Mr. Wyatt.” He turned to face Chris. “I heard what you said to Piper in there, about me. Thank you.”<br>
“I didn’t do it for you,” Chris said flatly. “I still need to be conceived, so I can’t let her hate you yet. Doesn’t mean I think you’re any less of an ass hole.”<br>



Leo led Tasha down the stairs while Chris found clothing to pull on. Her arrival couldn’t mean anything good.

“So, Tasha?” Chris asked, getting right down to business as he entered the kitchen. “What brings you to 2003?”<br>
“Please, like you don’t know that one,” she scoffed. “He sent me.” Chris nodded. “I’m sorry, Chris,” she continued. “I didn’t know.”<br>
“It’s okay girlie-girl,” he said, wrapping an arm around her.

“Isn’t she a bit young for you?” Paige joked, seeing the obvious closeness between the two.

“Eww!” Tasha protested, pushing Chris away, turning to face Paige with unseeing eyes. “That’s just gross! He’s practically my father!”<br>
“Your father?” Phoebe chimed in. “Isn’t he a bit young for that?”<br>
Chris just groaned at the stupidity of his aunts.

“He takes care of me. Takes care of all of us, really,” Tasha said. The sisters’ collective curiosity was peaked as they saw the newcomer as a way to finally shed some light on their mysterious whitelighter. “He’s the one that rescued me after my parents were killed. He saved my life.”<br>
“How so?” Piper asked.

“Well,” the girl said excitedly. “We’d bee running from demons for weeks, hiding out in some of the collapsed buildings by center-city. My mom was very powerful and the Lord wanted her killed. They finally had us trapped, cornered in an alleyway. We all fought, even though I as so small. There were flashes of light: energy balls, fireballs and my parents’ own powers. My mom got run through with a spear of some kind and when my dad went to her side, he caught a wave of fireballs and got all burned up. So there I was, my parents dead on the ground and me all alone facing three giant demons!” The girls all were silent, confused by the way the girl spoke so casually and excitedly about her parents’ deaths.

“I shifted into a panther and hunched back, ready to pounce. That’s when one of the demons fell and I saw Chris. He was standing there with this huge pipe in his hands and he just clubbed the sucker, right in the back of the head.”<br>
“Your whitelighter to the rescue, huh?” Piper asked, oddly proud for Chris.

“What’s a whitelighter?” Tasha asked.

“Nothing, sweetie,” Chris responded softly. “Don’t worry about it.”<br>
All three of the sisters looked at him with shock and concern painting their expressions, but Tasha went on with her story, not knowing there was anything wrong. “Anyway, there we were, toe to toe with the demons. Chris told me to run, screamed at me to go, but I wouldn’t. I lunged at one of the demons, scratching his face out with my claws. Chris threw the other one, tossing him out of the alley with a single hand. He went after him, impaling him with the pipe he’d used to knock the first one out, vanquishing him into flames.

“The first one, he woke up and saw me, still scratching at the dead demon. He threw an energy ball before I realized it. Next thing I remember is hearing Chris’s voice tell me everything was going to be all right as he bandaged my face up.”<br>
“Why didn’t you get her a healer?” Piper asked.

“I told you,” Chris said tiredly. “There are no healers in the future.”<br>
“Anyway,” Tasha said, bringing the attention back to her. “Chris took me to the Cavern. I’ve been living there since.”<br>
“What’s the Cavern?” Phoebe asked.

“It’s where we all live, everyone who resists the Lord. It’s a sanctuary for witches and demons and other magical folk who don’t want to do what the Lord says. Chris is in charge. He takes care of us. He makes sure we get food and he makes sure the Lord can’t find us. And he goes out to find others, like he found me. Well, he did until he left a few months ago. Then we all got captured,” she shrugged. “You got anything to eat?”<br>
“Sure,” Piper responded. “What would you like?”<br>
“Whatever you have will be fine,” she answered easily. Piper dug into the cabinet, finding a box of cookies. She put them out on a small plate and poured a glass of milk for the girl. Piper placed the glass in her hand first. “Milk,” she sighed happily. And it’s so cold,” Tasha said quietly to herself. She picked up a cookie off the plate and bit into it absently, spitting it out into her hand by surprise. The sisters watched her face go from surprise to a happy smile and she took it back into her mouth sloppily. “That’s so good,” she said. “What is it?”<br>
“Chocolate chip cookie,” Piper answered flatly, still confused by the girl’s enthusiasm.

“It’s good,” Tasha said around a mouthful of cookie.

Chris shook away the tears he felt after seeing Tasha so awed by such simple pleasures. “Why are you here?” Chris asked her.

“I told you, he sent me.”<br>
“Why?” Chris asked.

“To kill the evil witch that was holding you hostage.”<br>
Chris shook his head sadly. “That’s what Bianca meant,” he said to himself.

“What she meant by what?” Piper asked.

“She said that if I didn’t go back with her, others would be sent back, not to take me to him, but to kill me and those around me.”<br>
“What?” Leo asked, confused. “That’s silly. Why would he send allies back for you? As soon as they realize what they’re doing, they’ll be on our side. Soon we’ll have a little army back here in this time.”<br>
“No,” Chris said sadly. “They’ll be under a spell. He’ll make me kill off my own people one by one.” Chris rubbed tiredly at his eyes.

“Then, why isn’t Tasha under a spell?” Phoebe asked.

Tasha laughed. “I might have been. But, when I change forms, spells cast on me in one form disappear. Not many people know that.”<br>
“Bianca was the first to come back, but she obviously won’t be the last,” Chris said to himself.

“Bianca’s here?” Tasha asked excitedly. “Where?”<br>
Chris stepped forward, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Bianca’s dead, sweetie,” he told her softly.

Phoebe felt the pang in her chest that Chris let through his shield and the full out despair from the girl in his arms. “I’m sorry, Chris,” Phoebe said. “I know how you felt about her.” Chris nodded mutely.

“Did you make up the couch yet?” Chris asked. Piper nodded and watched how the young man swept the girl up into his arms, carrying her into the living room, tucking her tenderly beneath the thick blankets. “Sleep tight, girlie-girl.”<br>
Chris stepped back into the kitchen, going immediately to the coffee pot, pouring himself a huge cup, chugging like it were Gatorade and he’d just run a marathon. He poured himself a second cup and grabbed one of the abandoned cookies. “I’ll see you all in the morning,” he said dully. “I have work to do.”<br>
He headed back towards the staircase. “Wait a minute!” Piper called after him. “You have some explaining to do.”<br>
“I—“

“Don’t tell me you can’t because of future consequences,” Piper shouted. “Why are there no healers? Why doesn’t a young witch, obviously well versed in her powers not know what a whitelighter is? Especially when she obviously knows you so well?”<br>
“I can’t answer that,” Chris said dully.

“Chris,” Leo said softly. “You have to tell them something. Maybe not everything, but something.”

Chris seemed to think about it for a long moment before nodding. “Whitelighters are the chief healers. They always have been. Well, in the future, they’re all dead. It took a year for them all to be hunted, but they were all killed.”<br>
“All of them?” Piper asked, shocked by the new information.

“All of them,” Chris confirmed. “At least all of the full blooded ones. A few of us managed to survive.”<br>
“Us? I don’t—“

[mcharmed21]

“She doesn’t even know what a whitelighter is because I’m not a whitelighter,” Chris sighed. “I’m a witch.”<br>
“But you orb,” Phoebe pointed out.

“All right,” Chris conceded. “Half-witch, half-whitelighter. Like you Paige. But, I was raised as a witch. My mother taught me the craft. There are very few with any whitelighter blood left, and even fewer who actually have the power to heal. And those who do, well, they have their hands full or are imprisoned.”<br>
“Imprisoned?” Piper asked.

“I think that’s enough information for today. Keep an eye on Tasha. There will be another sent here to attack when he’s realized she’d failed.”<br>
“Who is ‘he’?” Paige asked.

Chris shook his head, refusing to answer.

“It’s Wyatt, isn’t it?” Piper asked, pleading with Chris for answers. “It’s Wyatt who’s doing all of this. Who’s turned the world into some MadMax movie, who’s—“

“Yes,” Chris said quietly. “And I’m going to turn it back.” Before anyone could ask any more questions, he’d jogged up the stairs to the attic.
**************

Chapter 3



Chris spent the night thumbing through the Book of Shadows, searching out a way to stop the future from happening, stop the world from becoming what he remembered it to be, what Tasha remembered it to be. He switched books, reading through anything he found in the attic and in the oddest place, he found a spark of an idea.

As light began peaking through the windows, he set candles about, lighting them in a circle. He reached, locking the door. “Leo!” he shouted, hoping for once that his father would answer his cry. His prayers were answered when Leo materialized from a swirling cloud of shimmering orbs.

Leo looked about the room, seeing it set up for a summoning. “You didn’t need to go to all that trouble. You could have just called.”<br>
“This,” Chris said, gesturing to the candled and ritual, “Isn’t for you.” Chris stepped over and picked up a thin spiral bound notebook. “I was reading this last night.”<br>
“That’s Phoebe’s journal. If she finds out, she’ll kill you.”<br>
Chris nodded. “I know. But, it gave me an idea. And now, I need some information from someone. However, since I’ve never met him, I figured it would be best if a familiar face was here with me. And the sisters are out of the question.”<br>
“Who are you summoning?”<br>
“Cole Turner?” Chris asked, hoping the name rung a bell with his father.

“Cole?!” Leo gasped. “Are you out of your mind?! He’s insane and he’s powerful. There’s no telling that if you manage to summon him if you can send him back! No, definitely more trouble than it’s worth. Why would you ever really want to do that?”<br>
“Answers, information,” Chris shrugged, seeming undeterred by Leo’s reaction.

“About what? I’m an Elder! I could give you any information you could possibly want from Cole.”<br>
“In the future, there is no such thing as good and evil,” Chris said quietly. “I work to protect demons just as often as I work to protect creatures of good magic.”<br>
“So, why do you call Wyatt evil?” Leo asked.

“He is a creature of ultimate power. He’s mad with. He’ll kill for more power and has since we were young. His quest for power has upset the balance of good and evil. It’s the balance being offset that has created so much destruction.”<br>
“I don’t understand.”<br>
“He is not good or evil, meaning he can not rule heaven or hell. So, he’s created a magical kingdom right here on earth. He’s enslaved mortals and forced anyone who doesn’t comply with these ideas into hiding.”<br>
“What about the cleaners? Surely they would have—“

“He killed them when he was fourteen,” Chris snapped. On one hand, having Leo know his secret allowed him someone to speak with openly about everything that was going on. On the other, he wished he was alone again without so many imploring questions being asked of him. “I’m sorry.”<br>
Leo nodded, deciding to put the conversation back on track. “Why are you summoning Cole?”<br>
“In aunt Phoebs’ journal, it says something about how Cole was being wooed by something called an Avatar, a being of neither good nor evil, only of power.” Chris sighed, running his hands through his hair. “It’s my hope that Cole can tell me how to contact one of these guys.”<br>
“You think they woo Wyatt into joining them?”<br>
“No,” Chris answered. “I think they thrive on the balance, truly neutral, affecting things only to keep the balance. I think they can help us.”<br>
Leo thought about it for a long moment. “Let me make sure Phoebe has left for work. Then we’ll do this.” Leo closed his eyes a moment, trying to sense the sisters. Paige was still curled up in bed. Phoebe was in her car halfway across town. And Piper, his beautiful Piper was in the kitchen feeding their oldest son and their visitor. He let his thoughts linger on her, capturing the mundane moment in his mind. “Okay, let’s do this.”<br>
Chris nodded and stepped up to the book. Leo watched, seeing for the first time as the young man cast a spell. In a swirl of pale yellow lights, a figure began to take shape. Leo recognized him immediately.

[mcharmed21]

Cole recognized the attic and groaned. “Oh, no,” he whined. “I’m dead! Couldn’t you leave well enough alone?” He spun around, expecting to see the sisters, potions in hand ready to re-vanquish him. Instead, he saw Leo and a face he didn’t recognize. “What do you want?” he asked flatly.

“Just some information,” the newcomer said.

“And then you let me rest in peace?” Cole asked.

“Yes,” the young man answered.

“I want some answers first.”<br>
Chris narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the specter, then flashed to Leo for some advice. Leo nodded slowly. “Ask your questions.”<br>
“Who are you?” Cole snapped. “This is the Halliwell manor. And you have the Halliwell’s whitelighter. But, I don’t recognize you.”<br>
“Chris. Chris Halliwell.”<br>
“So? You’re what? Phoebe’s son come to torture me for messing with his mom?”<br>
“The world does not revolve around your relationship with my aunt,” Chris spat.

“Then you’re the brat of another sister.” Cole glanced over at Leo. “Piper,” Cole concluded. “And how is Phoebe?”<br>
“None of your concern at the moment,” Leo interjected. “We have some questions.”<br>
Cole nodded, looking to Chris to do the asking. “I need to know everything you know about Avatars,” Chris said quietly.




“Where’s Chris?” Tasha asked quietly between her gulps of juice and mouthfuls of pastries.

“In the attic, probably,” Piper groaned. “He’s always up there. I think he’s trying to memorize the Book of Shadows.”<br>
“That would be helpful,” Tasha said. “Maybe if we knew the spell in the book we could fight the Lord better.”<br>
“Yeah, well, he’s not going to be able to fight anything real well if he keeps this up,” Piper complained, thinking of his actions yesterday.

“Keep what up?” Tasha asked innocently.

“Oh, getting himself beat up, refusing healing, refusing to sleep.”<br>
“Does he eat?” Tasha asked.

“Yeah, he eats.”<br>
“Then that’s more than he does in the future. When I come from, I don’t think Chris ever takes care of himself. He’s up and taking care of things around the clock. And because there’s usually a short supply of food, he usually decides not to eat. I don’t think he ever slows down unless someone knocks him unconscious. I even hear that Bianca has knocked him unconscious to force him to rest.”<br>
Piper laughed at the thought. Maybe she should try that tactic. “Well, then we’ve got to keep him eating, right?” Piper stood up from the table, gathering up a heaping plateful of breakfast goodies. “Could you stay here with Wyatt? I want to take Chris some breakfast. Just yell if you need anything.” Tasha nodded

[mcharmed21]

There was a heavy knock on the door. “Fine, Chris. If you want to stay in there all the time. But you are not allowed to lock me out!” Piper called through the door, the lock rattling. “If you don’t answer this door right now, I’m going to blow it!”<br>
Before Chris could figure a way to respond to his mother’s demand, the door flew open in splintery little pieces. “You!” she screamed, dropping the plate to the floor, letting it shatter. “Paige!” she called, getting the attention of her little sister. She started flicking her hands at the translucent figure, ignoring the shouts of protest from both Leo and Chris.

“Sword!” Paige shouted when she entered the attic, flinging the object through the translucent figure and landing in Chris’s stomach.

The two sisters ignored the fallen whitelighter, but Leo rushed to his side, preparing to remove the sword and heal his son, but Chris shook off his hands. “Give me a second,” he muttered, closing his eyes, concentrating.

Leo heard yelps of pain, turning to see both of the sisters doubled over in pain, holding their own stomachs. Chris pulled the sword free of his own abdomen, collapsed to the floor and nodded to Leo, who quickly healed his wounded son.

“What the hell happened?” Piper demanded of Cole, dragging herself back to her feet.

“I had nothing to do with this,” Cole said, holding his hands up, proclaiming his innocence. He seemed to look harder at Piper, his head cocked to the side. “You’ve aged really well.”<br>
“Excuse me?” Piper spat.

“Well, Leo I was expecting. He’s already dead, but you-- You’ve aged amazingly well.”<br>
“It’s been like, what? Two years? If that?” Piper shrieked.

“You super-aged your own kid?” Cole asked, gesturing over to Chris as Leo helped him from the floor.

“What are you talking about?” Paige demanded.

“Chris?” Piper asked, obviously confused.

Cole laughed, turning to face Chris. “A liar in the family. I like it. Though, Leo doesn’t seem surprised by this news.”<br>
“Leo?” Piper asked, trying to catch her ex-husband’s eye, but failing.

Chris glared at the spirit. “Do you have anything else you can tell me about the Avatars?” he asked coldly, ignoring the confusion swirling around him.

“No,” Cole said. “That’s pretty much it.”<br>
“Good,” Chris said. “Enjoy the afterlife.” Chris waved his hand, extinguishing the candles that had surrounded Cole’s spirit. And Cole disappeared with them.

“What the hell is going on?” Piper demanded.

Chris strode towards the door, continuing to ignore Piper. “Either explain it to them or dust them. I have work to do.”<br>
“You can’t go alone,” Leo protested.

“You can’t go. You’re too high up in the hierarchy of good. Too much of a risk. And I can’t take any of the sisters. They need to be here for the future.”<br>
“But you can’t go alone!” Leo argued.

Chris nodded. “Tasha’s young, but she’s a good fighter. She’d be even better if she could see. Can you heal her?”<br>
Leo shrugged. “I can certainly try.”

With that, Leo orbed down to the kitchen, leaving Chris with his mother and aunt. He didn’t want to answer questions, but couldn’t find it in him to orb away from them again. Instead he went about gathering up the ritual supplies, putting them neatly away.

“How did you cause us that pain?” Paige asked.

“Projection. The opposite of empathy.”<br>
“That would mean you felt it first.”<br>
“You did impale me with a sword,” Chris said, pointing to the bloody blade lying forgotten on the floor. “Anything else?”<br>
“Are you really my son?” Piper asked.

Chris took a long breath and shook his head, not wanting to answer this question. “Yeah, ma, I am.”<br>
“Chris!” Tasha shouted. “Look!” she said as she stepped into the room. “Your dad healed me! I can see!”<br>
“That’s great,” Chris said with enthusiasm he didn’t quite feel as he looked at the young girl. “I need a favor. Back-up on a dangerous mission. You up for it?” he asked.

“Hell yeah!” she said joyfully. Chris reached forward, taking her hand as the disappeared in a swirl of orbs.




“Dad?” Piper asked, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at her ex-husband.

“Piper, calm down,” Leo said as he backed away from her. Her hands flicked up, blowing him away in a rain of shining particles. She waited patiently in the same position for Leo to reform. “You have to listen to me. I just found out last night.”<br>
“Still, before me,” Piper said.

Paige backed away. “I think I should call Phoebe.”<br>
“Do not,” Leo started, bringing Paige’s attention back to the arguing couple. “Do not tell her we summoned Cole, please.” Paige nodded, agreeing and then bounded down the stair.

When Leo turned back to Piper, her anger had managed to subside in favor of panic. “How could I have not have known? What-- I don’t understand!” she shrieked. Leo pulled her happily into his arms. “I don’t understand.”<br>
“We all found out last night. We put the clues together after he disappeared. But, when we confronted him, he orbed. I followed. He made a good case about why you shouldn’t know the truth. He begged me to take that knowledge away from you and I did. Obviously, fate feels you should have it.”<br>
“What case could he possibly have?” Piper grumbled.

“One where he felt he was a distraction. And that he knows that, knowing you’re his mother will make it so you protect him with your life, and that couldn’t happen because at this point his life is acceptable to lose while yours isn’t. And he doesn’t want to hurt you.”<br>
“Hurt me?” Piper asked, holing Leo tighter as more tears appeared in her eyes.

“He came here to save Wyatt. He’s willing to sacrifice his life for it. He’s willing to die for this, for the future. He didn’t want to make you watch a son die.”<br>

[mcharmed21]

“Where did he go?” Piper asked.

“To speak with the Avatars.”<br>
“Demons?” Leo released the hug, shaking his head sadly as he looked away from her. “What are they?”<br>
“Invincible creatures of pure power.”<br>
“He shouldn’t go alone.”<br>
“He took Tasha.”<br>
“She’s a kid.”<br>
“A kid who grew up in a war zone.”<br>
“So? Our sons are both the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood?”<br>
“It would seem so.”<br>
“Is it right to be so proud of Chris? The way Tasha was talking about him, how much she respects and adores him, how much he seems to take care of so many? Is it okay to be proud of him?”<br>
“Why wouldn’t it be?”<br>
“Because it’s our other son he’s fighting? Because I can’t be a good mother if I have created this situation.”<br>
“No,” Leo admonished her, turning to face her again. “Don’t talk like that. Chris knows that it’s not your fault. He knows that. That’s why he’s here.” Leo shook his head, pushing away his own tears as his eyes seemed to unfocus, no longer seeing the room around him.

“What is it?” Piper asked.

“He blames himself for it. And, apparently, in the future, I do too.”<br>




“Elise is going to kill me!” Phoebe muttered to herself as she jogged up the front steps. This was the third time this week she’d run out of work early for the seemingly endless “family emergencies.” She pushed open the door and immediately shouted for Paige, anxious to hear the newest of the emergencies.

“Be right down!” her sister shouted from the second floor.

Phoebe peeled off her jacket and hung it up after tossing her keys onto the side table. She stepped towards the stairs, her impatience wearing thin, when she was knocked backwards by a burst of energy.

“Get back here you stupid sons of bitches!” Tasha screamed at the ceiling, waving a clawed fist in the air. “I want to scratch your eyes out!” she threatened.

Phoebe was just about to ask what the commotion was about when swirling orbs filled the room and Paige, Leo and Piper all appeared. “What happened?” Piper demanded. “Where’s Chris?”<br>
“They kept him,” Tasha spat. “Get your asses back here!” Tasha shouted again at the ceiling.

“What do you mean they kept him?” Leo asked, placing a claming hand on their young ally.

“He asked for help. He knew they had just as much to lose, if not more, than he did if the Lord comes into existence. So, he asked for help in finding out what happened. They wanted proof. So, he used his powers so that they would see—“

“Wait,” Phoebe asked. “Why would whitelighter powers be of any help?”<br>
Piper bit her lip, turning to face Leo as she tried again to hold back tears. She had to be running out of them. Paige coughed a bit, grabbing Phoebe’s attention. “Chris is half-whitelighter. He’s half-witch. And, he’s got this funny power like your empathy, but different.”<br>
“He has empathy too,” Tasha pointed out.

“Yeah,” Paige continued, “but he also has something called projection, which is like the opposite. He can make other people feel what he feels. And, well, probably see what he’s seen.”<br>
“Anyway,” Tasha continued. “That’s when they sent me back here! Give Chris back!!” she demanded of the ceiling again.

“We’ll get him back,” Piper said firmly, definitively. “I promise you we’ll get him back.” Piper snapped to attention and faced everyone. “Leo,” she said, taking charge of the situation. “I want you compiling everything we know about these Avatars. Everything you found out from the summoning and then ask those stupid co-workers of yours what they know. Tasha? Can you scry?”<br>
“Yes.”<br>
“Then I want you to scry for him. Paige, start setting up to summon him, though I doubt it’ll be that easy, so start looking for any other kind of spells that might help us. Go!” she demanded, watching the three of them scatter from the room before she faced Phoebe. “You missed a lot this morning.”<br>
“I’m starting to gather.”<br>
“Short of it,” Piper said quickly. “He’s my son and I want him back.” Piper spun on her heel, heading for the stairs when Phoebe grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

“Wh—what?” she breathed out in a long gasp.

“That’s why he wants to save Wyatt so badly. He’s his little brother. And it’s not just Wyatt; it’s all of us. He wants to save his family. He went to these Avatar things. They’re creatures of ultimate power, but balanced. Not good, not evil. I’ll vanquish them anyway if they hurt him.” Piper pulled out of Phoebe’s grip. “Take a short moment to digest. Then come help Paige and me.”<br>

[mcharmed21]

Chapter 4


“We’re running out of things to try,” Paige complained, flipping through the book again. Tasha had since given up on scrying and sat against the wall. Leo had already reported to Piper that there was nothing to report.

“All right,” Piper said, stopping in her pacing. “He went to talk to them. Ask them for help. Would they help?”<br>
“I think so. If he managed to convince him of the truth, of the fact the world was tipped and power became unbalanced.”<br>
“But has it?” Piper asked, looking to Tasha for the answer.

“Good is much less willing to align itself with the greed for power. The Lord has many more demons in his ranks than any other magical creature,” she shrugged.

“Then Evil is winning,” Piper concluded. “And he would have convinced them by showing them the future he’s lived, showing them what the world is.”<br>
“Yes, using his power of projection,” Phoebe said. “I really wish I knew how that worked. I wonder if I have—“

“This is about Chris,” Paige hushed her sister, turning her attention back to Piper.

“What if, when he showed them the future, they saw something more?” Piper asked.

“What do you mean?” Leo said as he stepped forward, obviously confused.

“What if they saw something in the future that interested them, maybe even more so than what turned Wyatt. What if Chris knows something about the future and the balance of power that he doesn’t even realize?” Piper asked.

“Well, if he does, it’s in his head,” Phoebe shrugged.

“That’s it!” Paige gasped, beginning another frantic flipping through the book.

“What?” Piper asked.

“When you’d been taken by the source and he was looking for the spell to relinquish our powers, we used a spell to get into your mind too. Maybe we could get into Chris’s?” she stopped, smiling as she found the spell they’d used.

Phoebe nodded, hopping to her feet, setting up the circle of candles, quickly waving her sisters to join her in the center. Paige brought the book, resting it in front of her as the all knelt. Together they chanted. “Life to Life and Mind to Mind, Our Spirits now will intertwine. We meld our souls and journey to the One whose thoughts we wish we knew.” The room dimmed and blurred, but they soon reappeared, Tasha and Leo still watching them.

“Maybe the Avatars are somehow blocking you?” Leo offered weakly.

“No,” Paige said. “It started to work. We just need more power.”<br>
“What if only one of you went?” Tasha asked.

Leo shrugged. “You could tweak the spell.”<br>
Piper pushed her sisters from the circle at the same time as grabbing the book to think of a way to tweak it. They all agreed quickly. “Tasha, you too,” Piper said, directing her to join Phoebe and Paige at the edge of the circle. The three witches outside the circle clasped hands together and began the soft chant as Piper spoke her own. The three witches watched as a dull yellow light surrounded Piper and she collapsed to the ground.

[mcharmed21]

Piper stood at the street corner, looking around at the whirling traffic, wondering if it worked. That’s when she saw him at the opposite corner, walking with his head down, hands in his pockets, seemingly completely unaware of the world around him. He stepped off the curb, not glancing up at the light, not seeing it turn red.

Instinctively, Piper tossed her hands up, hoping to freeze the whirling traffic. Her powers were useless. Without another thought she ran into the traffic, tackling her son out of the way of an on-coming vehicle. Chris climbed to his feet, dusting himself off. “What are you doing!” he snapped, before reaching a hand down to help her to her feet.

“Saving your life!” Piper snapped back just as angrily.

Chris rolled his eyes. “Non-corporeal,” he said nonchalantly as he stepped back into the traffic, allowing a car to pass through him. Piper let out a defeated and embarrassed ‘oh.’ “Now what are you doing here?” Chris asked.

“Rescuing you?” Piper asked, noticing how peeved he seemed.

“Not a real need for it at the moment,” he said sarcastically, glancing at the clock in front of the bank on the corner.

Piper growled her frustration. “What is going on? Where are we? I’m supposed to be in your head. This is what? A memory of your past, my future? If so, it doesn’t look that horrible,” she shouted.

“This is the future and my head,” Chris explained shortly. “The Avatars are helping me by allowing me to see my lifetime through objective eyes from memories already locked in my head that I just can’t access because I was too young.”<br>
“So, then where are you?” Piper asked, looking around.

“Haven’t quite been born yet,” he said.

“And you have memories of a street while you’re in the womb?”<br>
Chris growled his frustration. “You’re in labor with me. This is where I’m born in exactly seventeen minutes,” he said, again glancing at the clock.

“You’re born on the street corner?!” Piper snapped.

“Middle of the intersection,” Chris said smugly, looking down the street to their west. “You’re on your way to the hospital, alone, when you’re in a car accident. Right here,” he said, pointing at the pavement below him. “You told me the story every birthday when you’d come wake me up.”<br>
“Why was I alone?” Piper asked sadly.

“Paige was at work, taking her students from the magic school on a fieldtrip to an alternate dimension. Phoebe was in Hong Kong.”<br>
“And Leo?” Piper asked.

“Gone by then,” Chris shrugged. “Stopped answering the calls at the insistence by the other Elders that he was risking too much by coming to Earth too often.” Chris hopped up, seeing what he was looking for. “Here you come,” he said quietly.

Piper looked up to see her own SUV flying towards them. She glanced up at the light, seeing it turn yellow, but the car showed no signs of stopping. She flinched away from the sight, but heard the crash and rumpling of metal, the shattering of glass. Then everything seemed eerily quiet for a moment, until a familiar wail pierced through the silence. That’s when the hustle and bustle began.

Piper followed Chris as he jogged towards the vehicle seeing Memory Piper crawling through the front seat of the car, away from the smashed driver’s side door. “You’re okay sweetie,” she muttered in response to Wyatt’s screams. “Everything is going to be fine,” she promised as she looked back over the seat to look at him. “See me, everything’s fine.” Then when she groaned in pain and turned around to slump down.

Piper watched herself, seeing her own huge belly. That’s when she saw the slice through her side, a piece of glass stuck into her. “Oh my God, Chris?” she asked, turning to the man who’s memory she was in, hoping he would tell her everything was fine. Chris, however, kept his eyes on Wyatt.

“Mam? Are you—“ a voice asked, walking through Piper as he reached for the door of the SUV. “Oh my God!” he shouted, seeing what Piper had: a very pregnant belly with a very big wound. “Missy, Maggie!” he shouted, looking over his shoulder. “Bring my bag, now!” The man then reached into the vehicle, helping Piper out and easing her to the ground.

“Wyatt?” Memory Piper asked, looking towards the car. The man nodded reassuringly.

The non-corporeal Piper watched as her image fell into unconsciousness. She watched as two women approached her to help the man who was already tending her. She watched him gesture for one of them to check on Wyatt. When the younger of the two women, a girl not quite into her teen years had swept Wyatt into her arms and carried him over to stand over his mother, Chris followed, taking a place beside the real Piper. Piper watched the man lean down, seeming to listen to her stomach, a worried look on his face

“You might not want to watch this,” Chris said calmly.

“Why? What happens?” Piper asked, her voice shaking.

“I’m delivered by C-Section. Right here, on the street. You’re hospitalized for over a month from the infection and blood loss. I’m in the PICU almost as long, that glass having cut me up pretty good. Didn’t help that I’m three weeks early.”<br>
“Oh my God,” Piper said, feeling sick. She turned away, looking at Wyatt as he continued his crying, though now more quietly as he watched his mother on the ground. “Who are these people?”<br>
“These are the Blacks. Christopher and Maggie. They’re both doctors at the hospital you were heading to. And that’s their daughter Missy.”<br>
“You were named after him?” Piper asked, piecing that little piece together.

“Yes. He did save my life,” Chris shrugged. “You become friends. Missy baby-sits for me sometimes.”<br>
Chris and Piper both stood there, watching Wyatt as Chris sought for answers and Piper sought to not watch the horrible birth of her second son. They watched as Missy rocked Wyatt on her hip, whispering to him quietly as she watched the surgery being performed, oddly mesmerized by it. Piper was distracted out of the odd trance she’d put herself in by another high-pitched wailing behind her. She let out a shuttering sob as she turned, looking at the infant Chris being placed in a dark blue jacket Christopher had peeled off. She saw the cuts on his abdomen and chest as he squirmed and wriggled, letting out louder and louder cries. She held her hands over her mouth as she witnessed it, seeing him with a tuft of dark hair and a round pink face.

“Oh my God, Chris,” Piper gasped. “Look at you,” she said in awe, reaching forward, trying to touch the newborn as Maggie held him close. “You’re beautiful.”<br>
Chris, however, didn’t want to see himself. Instead he watched Missy with Wyatt. That’s when he saw it. Wyatt’s eyes glazed over with a foggy gray. Missy smiled and glanced up, catching her mother’s eyes as Maggie still held baby Chris. Maggie nodded to her daughter, a cold smile spreading on her face. “No,” Chris whispered. “No!” he shouted.

Piper couldn’t remove her eyes from baby Chris, watching only him as the hustle and bustle began, loading her in the back of the ambulance with Christopher and he took the newborn from his wife. Chris watched in horror as Missy and Maggie held Wyatt as police arrived.

[mcharmed21]

“Did you see what happened?” one of the officers asked.

“Yes,” Maggie said easily. “She just ran the light and got sideswiped. I think she may have been in labor while driving.”<br>
The officer nodded. “Would you mind if I got your name and number to contact you if we need a full statement?”<br>
“Of course,” Maggie said. “Makith,” she said easily. Missy elbowed her swiftly in the ribs. “Excuse me,” she corrected, clearing her throat. “Maggie. Maggie Black.”<br>
“Chris!” Piper yelled, watching as they closed the ambulance doors. “We have to follow you! I have to know if you’re all right!” Piper shouted, her face twisting in sobs.

Chris shook his head. “We’re done here,” he spat coldly, looking up at the dull gray sky. “I’ve gotten what I came for!”<br>
Chapter 5

Leo paced nervously, watching as Piper lay restlessly on the floor of the attic. Tears streamed down her face as she shuttered with sobs and sucking breathes. “What the hell is in that kid’s head?” he wondered out loud, but Paige, Phoebe and Tasha could only watch as he did. Without warned, Piper shot upright, her eyes snapping open.

“Are you okay?” Leo asked quickly, already on his knees beside her.

“Oh, God, Leo,” she muttered, leaning into his chest for comfort. “The way he was born. The way he-- He was in such pain, even before he was out of the womb. He was seriously wounded, before he even took his first breath,” she sobbed.

“Where is he now?” Tasha asked nervously.




Chris orbed into the room, ignoring the huddle around his mother and heading straight for the book, flipping through the pages. “Chris!” Tasha shouted, running to hug him the moment she saw him. The Halliwells did the same, Piper reaching him first.

She pulled him into a tight hug, momentarily making him forget his work, his mission and he hugged the woman that would be his mother, squeezing her tightly as she cried into his neck. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I failed to protect you before you were even born.”<br>
“It’s not your fault,” Chris whispered soothingly. “It’s not your fault,” he tried to assure her.

“But it is,” she complained.

“Not yet. It hasn’t happened yet. We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen at all,” he growled fiercely, releasing her and turning again to the book. He stopped with a startled yelp and stared at the page before him.

“What?” Phoebe asked, seeing the shock seep into his features.

“At the accident,” Chris said. “I saw Missy whispering to Wyatt, watched his eyes glaze over gray. And I saw her signal to Maggie as if it was done.”<br>
“What accident?” Paige asked.

“Just shut up and follow along,” Piper snapped, waiting for Chris to continue the explanation.

“When the officer asked her name, she said Makith before Missy elbowed her, corrected her.”<br>
“So look up Makith,” Tasha said, shaking her head, confused at why he seemed to stop the explanation there.

“I did,” he said, pointing to the book.

Piper stepped forward, looking down into the pages of the book. “Makith and her sister Moskah are creatures of fortune. They seek to change destinies for their own amusement,” Piper read, skimming forward without reading aloud. She looked up, shrugging. “They’re more like mischief makers than evil. They probably didn’t even realize the damage they would cause if they turned Wyatt. And they sound like they’re low level. A vanquishing potion should do the trick.”<br>
“I’ll go start it,” Paige said.

“I’ll try scrying for them,” Phoebe offered.

“Keep reading,” Chris said, cutting off the disbursement of duties.

[mcharmed21]

Piper narrowed her eyes, confused, but looked back down at the book. “Makith and Moskah were once the mortal sisters Margaret and Melissa, sister witches. They, along with their sister, were infected by a demon. The three sisters found that two could surrender to the poison to save one of them. After using their powers to see their futures, the eldest of the sisters was chosen to be saved and was released from the pain of the demon. Margaret and Melissa, however, became the demons of fortune and plot their revenge on their saved sister . . .” Piper looked up, her face turning white as Chris’s. “Melinda Warren.”<br>
“Demon!” Paige shouted, turning everyone’s attention to the figure in the shattered attic doorway. Tasha turned herself into a panther of some kind, her eyes gleaming purple, coat a shimmering silver.

Piper flicked a hand, watching as the demon only stumbled backwards. Chris stood almost frozen as he recognized the woman as she continued towards them, her eyes focused on Piper and Piper alone.

“Shay, stop this,” Chris asked of the newcomer.

“She will murder you,” the demon hissed.

“No, Shay, you—“ Chris didn’t get a chance to finish. The demon reached her hand up, a silver coil shooting from her palm, wrapping itself around Piper, tugging her quickly towards itself.

“What now?” Paige asked rhetorically as she saw her sister against the demon, blocking her from further attacks, all the while holding her throat as the coil began to choke her.

“Chris! Do something!” Tasha shouted, pulling Chris from his shocked stupor.

“I’m sorry,” Chris said quietly as he extended an arm, palm facing upwards. Slowly he his fingers curled upward, first into a grasping claw. Tears appeared on his cheeks unchecked as that grasp on seemingly nothing began tightening. “Shay, I’m so sorry.”<br>
“What’s happened?” Phoebe asked, watching as the demon stumbled, the coil releasing Piper, who collapsed to the floor, struggling for air.

“I’m so sorry,” Chris manage to choke out, quickly closing his fist completely just as the demon burst into flames.

“No!” Tasha screamed, shifting back into her human form as she rushed what was now just a scorch mark on the floor. “Why?!” she screamed, turning her anger to Chris.

Chris slumped down into the old ratty chair in the corner, staring at the scorch mark blankly as he wiped his tears away with one hand.

“I don’t understand. How did the demon die?” Phoebe asked.

“Telekinesis,” Leo said softly.

“Psychokinesis,” Tasha corrected. “He just squeezed her heart until it popped in her chest!” she accused, screaming at Chris. Chris flinched away from the shout as if it were a physical attack. “You murdered her!” Tasha again shifted into the form of a panther, a form that seemed to be among her favorites and pounced at Chris, who made no move to stop her.

“No!” Piper shouted, pushing the angry shifting witch away. “Paige! Get her out of here!” Tasha disappeared, along with Paige, in a swirl of lights. “Leo!” Piper gasped as she knelt beside Chris. Blood coated his features, trickling from the three parallel gashes stretching from ear to opposite shoulder, tearing the already bruised and burned flesh of Chris’s throat.

Leo’s hands were already were glowing when he reached out to Chris, the lines quickly creating seams then healing completely. Still Chris sat dully, still staring at the scorch mark beyond his parents. “She was one of our chief scavengers,” he said softly. “We would go out together, orb into one of Wyatt’s storehouses. She’d grab a huge amount of food and supplies with those coils, just wrapping around it like giant arms. I’d orb her back and then run like hell to distract Wyatt’s minions from tracking her. I’d hide and orb and hide and orb for days, sometimes weeks until they’d lose my trail. Shay would protect the Cavern while I was gone.”<br>
“I’m sorry,” Phoebe offered weakly.

“It had to be done.” Chris pulled himself from the chair. “Try to explain that to Tasha, please?” he asked. Leo nodded. Chris nodded. “I think I’m starting to smell,” he said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood of the room. Phoebe could still feel the guilt he truly felt for his actions.

“You’re exhausted,” Piper said quietly.

“No,” he said. “A quick shower and then I’ll be back to discuss what to do about Margaret and Melissa.”<br>
“You’re so exhausted that I can sense how you really feel,” Phoebe said, looking away from the group.

“A shower. Then sleep,” Piper demanded. “You can take my bed. You probably haven’t slept on a bed since you came back to your past,” Piper offered.

“I haven’t slept on a bed since I was fourteen,” Chris said to himself. He nodded in agreement, too tired to argue and then orbed directly into the shower, too tired to bother with walking the stairs.

“Thanks so much for that duty!” Paige grumbled as she reappeared, Tasha lying at her feet.

“What happened?” Leo asked, kneeling beside the unconscious girl.

“I did what I had to,” Paige explained. “I clubbed her over the head.”<br>

[mcharmed21]

Chris stretched into awareness slowly, letting his eyes rest closed as he took in the feel of the soft bed beneath him, the plush blankets he piled around him, the comforting warmth of the morning light filtering in through the curtains. He could hear birds chirping the hustle of the day just beginning. He was aware of the presence in the room and normally, he’d have jumped to his feet, refusing to be caught unaware.

But, not today. Today he felt safe. Safer than he ever remembered being, safer than he’d ever dreamed of feeling. No, nothing was fixed, but they finally knew the answer, knew what they were up against, had a target for their efforts. He smiled at that, thinking for the first time that he might actually succeed. That Bianca would be alive and well, that his big brother would smile at him with warmth and caring, that every horror he’d been forced to witness in his life could be erased.

“You look really peaceful when you sleep,” Piper remarked quietly from her seat beside the window.

“You been watching me all night?” Chris asked, his smile broadening before he opened his eyes to look at her.

Piper smiled brightly at him, “No. Just for the past couple of hours. I think I’m starting wrap my head around the fact that you’re my son.”<br>
Chris nodded, as he sat up, the blanket falling down to reveal the scars and cuts and bruises that covered him. “I don’t expect anything from you,” he said flatly, seriously.

“I would do anything for you,” Piper assured him. “I love you, Chris,” she added.

“You don’t even know me,” Chris said, looking away, pretending to be distracted by something out the window.

“Maybe not everything, but I do love you. You’re an empath. You know.”<br>
Chris nodded, feeling the love emanating from her as she looked at him. He laughed a little to himself. “Damn the future consequences,” he said before turning to look at her. “It’s not easy raising an empath. I think that’s why you pawned me off on the Blacks all the time,” he spat, looking down.

“Chris—“ Piper started, but she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t need to be an empath to feel his pain and his anger.

“I have so few good memories and so many of them were with that family. And that family was a lie.”<br>
Piper sighed, still not knowing what to say. She was the mother of a toddler. She had no experience being the mother of and adult, especially one with a horrible life that she’d been a major factor in. “You can’t hate them,” she said softly.

“Why not? They’re the ones that destroyed my family!” he shouted. “They’re the ones that destroyed me,” he added softly.

“And it seems they’re also the ones that gave you the happy memories you held onto. The memories that made you want to come back here and make things better.”<br>
“So what?” he snapped bitterly. “It’s all a lie. There’s nothing to change for the better.” He began shoving his fingers through his hair. “I should have known! I should have felt it! Maybe-- Maybe if I had told you—”

“How could you have known?” Piper asked, standing to block his frustrated path.

“I’m an empath! I should have felt the lies!”<br>
“You were a baby!” Piper countered. “There’s nothing you could have done!”<br>
“But—“

“You can’t blame yourself!”<br>
“It was my birth that gave them the opportunity to turn him. It was me that should have been able to sense—“

“Phoebe too,” Piper pointed out. “She would have met them, been around them. If she couldn’t sense a problem with them, it goes to reason that they were blocking her somehow. Besides, did you even have your empathy as a baby?”<br>
“It was my first power, my only power until I was four. You used to tell me, when things started to happen that you wished I’d never gotten powers, that you wished I could just have a normal life.”<br>
“When did the empathy develop?” Piper asked.

Chris shrugged. “The sisters used to say it started in the womb. That you exhibited signs of it, but they blamed it on pregnancy.”<br>
“What do you mean?”<br>
“Mood swings, overly emotional. When it first developed, I was too young to understand what was going on. And, because it’s basically passive, you didn’t even know it existed. For the longest time, I would just adopt other people’s feelings. I think you thought I was just the moodiest child ever. I’d be happy, then someone would walk into the room, or past us on the street and I’d be angry or depressed.”<br>
“You mean to tell me that you’ve always be bitchy?” Piper laughed.

Chris smiled as he took the insult with a grain of salt. “Yup,” he laughed. “It wasn’t until I was ten that I had any control over it. That’s when things really started getting bad around here. Just know that you can’t lie to me.”<br>
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” Piper said.

Chris laughed. “All parents lie. They lie when they say everything is going to be all right when they’re really scared to death. They lie when they say Dad’s going to be there when they’re really fuming because deep down they know he won’t. They lie to protect.”<br>
“I’m sorry.”<br>
“I’m just saying you might want to invest in empathy blocking potions,” Chris laughed, dragging himself from the bed. Piper laughed when she saw the sweatpants Chris had pulled on last night. “Sorry. I didn’t have any clothes here. I pulled them fro the ex-boyfriend pile.”<br>
“How do you know about the ex-boyfriend pile?” Piper asked.

“I grew up in this house,” he laughed. “And you might have gotten you act together, but Paige and Phoebe? Give them a few years and then a few more.”<br>
Piper nodded, taking in the information. “They’re not ex-boyfriend sweats. They’re ex-husband sweats. Those are your father’s.”<br>
Chris looked down at them and shrugged. “You know how I said I don’t expect anything from you?”<br>
“What can I do for you?” Piper asked eagerly.

Chris flashed her a wicked grin. “In a couple of weeks could you please have lots and lots of sex with Leo? I kind of want to guarantee my existence.”<br>
Piper blushed from head to toe while the smile on her face refused to leave. “If he’s willing, then so am I,” she said, shaking her head at herself. “I can’t believe my son hasn’t even been conceived yet and I’m talking to him about sex and about to tell him he needs a shave.”<br>
Chris rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Guess I do.”<br>
Piper stood up, taking a step towards the door. “Since you know where the ex-boyfriend pile is, feel free to rummage. I’ll let you get dressed. Can I interest you in breakfast?”

Chris nodded dully as he stifled a yawn. “Tasha?” he asked, breaking the thoughts of a relaxing morning. “She still mad at me about last night?”<br>
Piper shook her head, but looked guilty. “I had Leo dust her. I didn’t think it was something she needed to remember.”<br>
“Thank you,” Chris said quietly, wrapping his arms around his mother. Piper froze for a moment, startled by the gesture. And before she had the chance to reciprocate, Chris had pulled away, his eyes on the floor, obviously embarrassed by his actions and Piper’s lack of a response. It was just so hard to be around her and remember that she wasn’t his mother, not really. “Sorry,” he whispered.

Piper smiled at him sadly, tapping his chin up with a finger to force him to look at her. Silently she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. She felt as he stiffened momentarily and then melted into her arms, holding onto her tightly. She could feel tears in hair and knew he was crying, though he did so silently.

[mcharmed21]

Chapter 6

Piper had just managed to pull everything out that she needed, placing it on the counter when she felt bumped to the side by Chris, his eyes still bleary as he stifled another yawn. “Sit,” he said quietly.

She did so obediently, taking a seat at the table as she watched him maneuver about the kitchen, knowing where anything he needed was. She watched as he whipped up omelets, watched as he knew her favorite without her asking, watched as he even pulled out her special ingredient: dill. He set her plate down in front of her with a dull thud, handing her a fork. He wasn’t much for presentation, she decided, but forgave him the moment she tasted the omelet. “I teach you to cook?” she asked, surprised.

“You did raise me,” he pointed out as he gobbled down his own breakfast.

Piper watched him a moment longer, seeing his hair flop into his face as he hunched over his plate, downing his breakfast quickly. “Why do you eat so fast?”<br>
“Never time,” he mumbled around a mouthful of egg. She grinned, thinking of him as a teenager. Probably a late sleeper, rushing out the door in the morning. And a good looking kid, probably rushing out to spend nights out at parties and doing things she, as a mother, didn’t want to know about. Chris swallowed down the last bite. “Always running, hiding,” he finished.

Piper immediately blanched. “From what? Who?” she asked in a breathy whisper, barely recognizing her own voice.

“Future consequences,” Chris said, staring down at his plate.

Piper let out a frustrated groan. “You’ve already told us everything there is to know.”<br>
“No,” he said simply. “There’s more. So much more.”<br>
“What does that mean?” Chris shook his head, refusing to answer. “I want to know you,” Piper pled. “I want to know my son and I can’t unless you tell me something!”<br>
Paige whined as she entered the kitchen, stomping her foot like a child. “Piper! You made omelets and didn’t invite me?” She dragged herself t the cabinet, reaching up for a box of cereal.

“Take a seat,” Chris offered, standing from the table

“More assassins!” Phoebe screamed from the living room.

Paige ran to her sister’s aid. Chris paused for only a moment. “Mom, stay here. They’ll be after you,” he demanded.

“But—“

“Stay!” Chris growled, running from the room.

When he entered the foyer beneath the stairs, he felt his entire chest tighten as he took in the scene. Two identical small girls, may five years of age, stood together, their hands clasped as they chanted, their hands not attached to each other raised in front of them, pushing back Paige and Phoebe with a wall of force.

Phoebe ran at them, leaping to kick, only to be pushed away. “Lamp!” Paige shouted, summoning the lamp by the door, pulling it to knock one of the girls in the back of the head. She went down, her twin dropping her hand to raise it, the force shielding them only faltering for a moment.

The little girl moved her hand, placing it in front of her mouth and then quickly dropped the force and blew along her palm, a stream of ice and air coating the room and knocking Paige through the banister, sending her tumbling down the stairs. Phoebe ran, tumbling into the dining room, past Chris as he entered as she dodged another stream of ice. Phoebe grabbed a knife from the table and ran towards the girl.

“No!” Chris shouted, pulled from his stunned silence. He stepped in front of the attack, the knife entering his chest.

“Chrissy!” the little girl shouted, falling onto her knees beside the fallen whitelighter-witch. The girl looked at the blood and the knife and then back up to Phoebe. “You killed Chrissy!” she accused, raising her hand to her mouth again while Phoebe was backed into the corner.

[mcharmed21]

“Pi?” Chris asked weakly from the floor. “Pi, no,” he demanded.

“But she killed you!” the little girl screamed.

“No, Sweetie Pi,” Chris said. “Come here.” The girl stared hard at Phoebe, giving her a more than threatening look before turning to face Chris. “Everything is going to be fine,” he promised softly. Before she could let out a protest through the tears streaming unnoticed down her cheeks, Chris grabbed her hand, holding it tightly in his own. “Leo!” he called as loud as he could manage, praying his call would be answered.

When he heard the glowing particles around him, he dropped his head to the floor. “Oh God, Chris!” Leo shouted, sliding onto the floor beside him. Leo grabbed the knife, silently telling Chris to brace himself. Chris gave a quick nod and then screamed with pain as the serrated blade was pulled from his chest.

“Chrissy!” the girl screeched again. Her tears renewed as sobs joined them. She tried feebly to push Leo out of the way, too upset even to think to use her powers, but Leo shrugged off the little girl, intent on healing his son.

Pi watched as the man’s hands began glowing a soft warm, bright glow and then she watched as the blood began to disappear, then the wound itself.

Chris breathed in a deep satisfying breath, smiling up at the little girl, seeing her crack a smile through her tears as she fell into his arms. Chris gripped her tightly, gesturing behind him to the unconscious twin on the floor. “Pay,” he said, asking Leo to go heal the girl. Chris dragged himself to his feet, bringing Pi with him. He followed the whitelighter, watching little Pi watch her sister jump up with a gasp.

“Chrissy!” Pay screamed happily, running to hug him around the waist as her sister hugged his shoulders tightly from her perch in his arms.



Curiosity finally got the better of her and Piper stepped into the living room seeing her son with two five year olds latched onto him, one tears staining her face. “Chris?” she asked, seeking an explanation. She caught the attention of the two girls as well and quickly found herself dodging a stream of fire.

“No!” Chris shouted, grabbing her with a hand on her shoulder as Pi struggled in his arms. He had no choice as they continued to fight them. He orbed out, taking the little girls with him.



As Piper used a fire extinguisher on the now black wall of her dining room, Leo finally looked around at the damage. And at Phoebe, still standing against the wall, seemingly in shock. “Where’s Paige?” he asked suddenly. Phoebe didn’t react. Piper looked startled until they heard a weak “over here” from the stairs.

Leo rushed to her aid, disappearing from the room, leaving Piper to deal with Phoebe. “Phoebe?” she asked quietly, moving to stand in front of her. Piper eased her sister into one of the dining room chairs and called for Leo.

“What is it?”<br>
“I think the little demons did something to her,” Piper snapped. “Should I be concerned that, in the future, my son is sending back little demon assassins to kill me so his brother won’t have a chance to be born?”<br>
“Not demons,” Phoebe said finally as Paige stumbled into the room. “My daughters.”<br>
“What?” Piper snapped in surprise.

“Chris called them Pi and Pay,” Leo clarified.

“How do you know that they’re yours?” Paige asked Phoebe.

Phoebe shook her head and shrugged. “I just do. They’re my daughters. But she didn’t recognize me. All I could feel from her was anger and fear from when I stabbed Chris.”<br>
“You stabbed my son?” Piper asked quickly.

”He’s fine,” Leo said quickly. His eyes lost focus for a moment while he seemed to be listening to something. “He wants me to bring Tasha.”<br>

[mcharmed21]

“I want to go,” Phoebe said quietly while Paige called for Tasha.

Tasha appeared on the stairs, seeming unmussed by the debris everywhere, with Wyatt in her arms. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Two little girls attacked. Chris called them Pay and Pi,” Paige explained.

“Oh,” Tasha whispered, looking sad. She tried to pass Wyatt off to Piper, but Piper stepped away. Leo took him, giving Piper a confused look.

“Who are they?” Phoebe asked, desperately seeking confirmation.

Tasha shrugged. “I’m not really sure. Chris’s as best anyone can tell.”<br>
“Chris’s?” Piper asked. “I’m a grandmother?”<br>
“No,” Tasha laughed. “I mean, they’re Phoebe’s,” she clarified.

“Then why would you say they’re Chris’s?” Phoebe demanded.

“He raised them. He’s had them since they were babies. He and Bianca raised them.”<br>
“Why wouldn’t I raise my own children?” Phoebe asked. “And if I didn’t, why not my sisters?”<br>
“You’re dead,” Tasha said, confused by why this seemed like such a surprise. “You’re all dead.”<br>
“When? How?” Piper demanded.

Tasha took a step backwards. “I shouldn’t be saying anything.”<br>
“Please?” Paige asked softly.

“I only know the stories.”<br>
“Tell them,” Phoebe demanded.

“Chris is calling again,” Leo pointed out.

“Is he in trouble?” Piper asked.

“No.”<br>
“Then he can wait,” Paige responded. “Go on,” she urged Tasha.

“Umm . . . Paige is the first of the Charmed Ones to die, when the Lord took the magic school. No one really knew who or what was the driving force of the attacks at that time. The magic school was the first full out battle. Paige died defending it, along with over a hundred young witches and wizards. After that, the attacks seemed to grow more and more over the next couple of years. Then he attacked the manor. It wasn’t until he attacked here that we even knew who was behind it all. He killed Piper personally. Chris won’t talk about it. He was here, I know that much, but the details of the attack . . . He won’t talk about it,” she repeated.

“And me? Those little girls?” Phoebe asked.

“You were the original leader of the rebellion. Umm, you got married to a fellow witch. You had the triplets.”<br>
“Triplets?” Phoebe asked, concerned. She’d only seen two girls.

“Yes,” Tasha answered, squirming uncomfortably. “Anyway, when your husband died, you led an attack against the small nest of demons who’d killed him. You were killed. Chris has been our leader ever since.”<br>
“How long ago was that?” Paige asked.

“Umm . . . You died when Chris was sixteen.”<br>
“Sixteen?” Phoebe asked. “But, Chris is twenty two! Those little girls—“

“They were only a few weeks old when you died.” Tasha saw the four sad and desperate faces surrounding her and misinterpreted their disappointment. “He’s a good leader!” she defended. “He takes care of us! He defends us! He and Bianca are like our parents! She sings us to sleep at night! Chris wakes the girls up blowing raspberries on their bellies in the morning! He loves us!”<br>
“We know he does,” Leo assured her.

“Then what more do you want from him? He almost died trying to save Prue! Bianca had him under a sleeping spell for a month so he wouldn’t feel the pain! But he did! I saw him, even under a spell he was muttering beneath his breath about how sorry he was, about how he knew he was a disappointment, not good enough! He’s the best, damn it!” Tasha shrieked. “What more do you want from him?!”<br>
Piper pulled the girl into her arms, holding her gently. “We can’t ask for anything more from him.”<br>
“He tried,” Tasha sobbed. “He tried to save Prue!”<br>
“How long ago did she die?” Paige asked.

“Just six months ago.”<br>
“Guys!” Leo interrupted. “Chris is starting to panic.” Without further explanation, he grabbed Tasha’s hand and orbed out.




“Where the hell have you been?!” Chris shouted, pushing Leo before he’d even had the chance to fully form. “What happened? Is Mom—“

“Everyone is fine!” Leo defended.

Chris saw the tears staining Tasha’s cheeks as she walked by him to the two girls curled together beneath a tree. “What happened?”<br>
“The sisters were interrogating her.”<br>
“So they made her cry?” he snapped. “She’s just a kid!”<br>
“It wasn’t like that,” Leo defended weakly.

[mcharmed21]

Chris only growled and stalked over to the girls. “Sweetie Pi, Pay Day, Tasha is going to stay with you. I have to go back.”<br>
“No, the evil witch will kill you!” Pi shouted.

“No, you have to trust me. I’ll be back.”<br>
“No!” Pay screamed, latching onto him. “Don’t leave again!” she cried.

Chris found himself crying at her desperation. “Do you trust me?” he asked the two girls, waiting for the two teary-eyed faced to nod their yeses. “I have to go, but those witches aren’t going to hurt me and I will be back soon.”<br>
“But—“

“If you need me,” he said, not letting them interrupt. “All you have to do is yell for me and I’ll come. I promise.” They both seemed ready to cry again, but nodded. “Now, give me a kiss,” he demanded with a smile, waiting for them to lean to either side of him to kiss his cheeks as he held them tightly in his arms. “I love you.”<br>
“Love you too Chrissy,” they answered in chorus.

Chris stood, taking a step towards Tasha. “This is an enchanted forest. There are magic folk about. I’ve warned them that you’ll be here. They’ll look out for you three. I need you to take care of them while I try to figure out what to do.” Tasha nodded her understanding. “Call for me if you need me,” he said, bending to hug her, orbing out after a tight squeeze.




He returned to the manor, seeing the three sisters sitting at the burned dining room table, all of them blankly staring at the charred surface. “What did you do to her?” he asked, his voice menacingly low.

“We asked her about the future,” Paige answered, not moving her eyes from the table. “She told us how we all died.”<br>
“She doesn’t know the answer to those questions, not really,” Chris spat, leaning against the doorframe. “I’m only here to say goodbye.”<br>
“Why? Where are you staying?” Piper asked, looking up at him.

“I’m going home,” he growled. “I should never have come back. I’m useless here and he’s there killing and hurting and torturing. I have to go back and just do what I never could bring myself to do: kill him.”<br>
“No, Chris!” Piper shouted, jumping from her seat to stand before him. “That’s what he wants! Can’t you see that? He’s sending people here to distract you! To piss you off! To remind you that the more eminent danger is there and that you’re not there to fight!”<br>
Chris cocked her head at her, looking completely confused. “Isn’t that what I’m doing? Isn’t that what I’ve done? Left the people who depend on me to defend themselves against my own brother?”<br>
“No!” Piper shouted. “You’ve come back to make sure that no one would ever have to!” Chris shook his head, stepping back from his mother’s passion filled words. She finally got it, what he was doing here, at the same time he’d given up hope. “Please, Chris,” Piper continued. “We know what we’re dealing with. We can change things. Let us try,” she begged, placing her hand on the back of his neck, pulling his head down so his forehead rested on hers. Chris took the moment, taking his mother in his arms, holding her tightly to his chest as he tried desperately to memorize her. Leo orbed in and rested his hand on Chris’s shoulder, not wanting to interrupt the moment, but to join it.

“I want to see my daughters,” Phoebe said quietly. Piper felt Chris tense, heard him growl low in his throat and couldn’t figure why he would react that way. “I want to—“

“They are my daughters!” Chris spat, pushing Piper away as he squared off against Phoebe.

“But, Tasha said—“ Phoebe started, frightened by the renewed strength and anger in Chris.

“You may have biology on me, but make no mistake! They became my daughters the day you left them and I will not allow you to change that!”<br>
“I left them?” Phoebe gasped, confused as to why she would ever do such a thing. Then she realized he was talking about her death. “I can’t be blamed for dying.”<br>
“Oh yes you can!” Chris shouted. “So can you, Mom,” he added, facing Piper.

“And me?” Paige interjected.

Chris looked at her and softened. “No, Aunt Paige. Your death is my fault.”<br>
“Chris,” Piper said, moving towards him, her hand going to his cheek, trying to provide comfort to him only to have him step away, slapping her hand away in frustration and anger, not at her, but at himself and the world he'd grown up in.

“You want to know how you died?” he asked, addressing the group as a whole. “Let me show you!”<br>
The world erupted in a flash of blinding white light.

[mcharmed21]

Chapter 7


“Where are we?” Phoebe asked.

“Magic school,” Paige answered immediately, trying to dodge out of the way of two black robed students running through the hall.

“Christopher Halliwell!” an iron gray haired woman shouted down the hall. The three sisters watched as one of the boys who’d been running slid to a halt and then turned sheepishly. Piper stared in awe at a twelve-year-old Chris.

“Professor Samiel, did you get your hair cut? It looks great,” Chris said while flashing a toothy grin.

“Get in here!” Chris smiled at the two boys with him and shrugged his shoulders before following the teacher into the classroom, the three sisters following as well. “I’m waiting,” the teacher informed Chris.

“For what?” Chris asked with an innocent smile.

The teacher shook her head and let loose a small smile. “You can’t charm your way out of everything, Christopher.” Chris continued to only smile sweetly at the older woman. “Where’s your homework?”<br>
“Well, you see, Professor, I didn’t have a chance to finish it.” The professor rolled her eyes, waiting for what the sisters assumed was a familiar explanation. “There was a demon attack last night.”<br>
The professor nodded. “And for how long do you think that your ‘I live in the manor of the Charmed Ones. We got attacked by demons so I didn’t get a chance to finish, my homework was eaten by a demon’ excuse is going to last?”<br>
“For as long as demons keep eating my homework,” Chris laughed, quickly erasing his amusement when he saw that the professor didn’t share in it.

“Wyatt never gives these excuses. His homework is always in on time and correct.”<br>
“That’s because he’s been paying Cynthia to do it for the last three years!” Chris struck back. The professor didn’t seem amused, or even to hint at believing him. “Besides, it’s not like he really lives at the manor, anyway. He’s been living and training on the island of the Valkeries for the last six months!”<br>
“That still doesn’t excuse your lack of homework,” the Professor continued, beginning a lecture on the values of homework.

“I thought Chris was showing us our deaths,” Phoebe whispered to her sisters. “This isn’t exactly a life altering moment, is it?”<br>
That’s when they hear it, the crash from the hallway. The professor instructed Chris to stay put as she ran into the hallway. Chris, on the other hand, chased after her.

When the sisters made it into the hallway, the entire school was in chaos. Children were screaming, running from demons and other magical folk. There was fire and smoke and sparks of magic as people tried to defend against the attack. Then there were bodies beginning to litter the floor.

“Chris!” a voice shouted. The sisters saw another boy grab Chris, dragging him along behind him as he ran. “We have to get to Aunt Paige’s classroom!”<br>
“Wyatt?” Piper asked, chasing after them through the chaos.

Chris and Wyatt ducked into one of the classrooms. Wyatt pulled out an athemae, turning to face his brother. Chris seemed not to notice as he leaned out the door to see the chaos in the hallway. “We should go back out there. We’re probably the two in the entire school that have the most experience with this kind of thing. We could be the only chance,” Chris said.

“You’re right, Chris. You and I are the only ones who’d have any chance,” Wyatt said. The sisters watched as Wyatt approached with the knife, but Chris seemed to ignore him, distracted by the battle outside.

The sisters saw a swirl of orbs appear beside the two boys and then Paige formed, looking only slightly older and wearing a long black professor’s robe. “Come on, I have to get you boys out of here,” Professor Paige explained quickly, grabbing at them.

Chris pulled away. “If this stupid school didn’t have that stupid spell so that students can’t orb or teleport or anything, I could go myself. Besides, we can’t go! We have to help!” Chris shouted.

[mcharmed21]

“It’s more than what’s going on here, Chris,” Professor Paige argued. “The Elders are being attacked as well.”<br>
“What? How?” Chris asked.

“Out of here first, questions later,” she gasped then and Chris saw the blood trickle from her mouth.

“Oh my god!” the real Paige screamed, seeing herself dying.

“Aunt Paige!” Chris screamed, catching her as she fell forward. He lowered her to the ground and then looked up at his brother, the bloody athemae in his hand. “What did you do?!” Chris screamed.

“My intent was to kill you, little brother, but she obviously couldn’t be a witness.”<br>
“How could-- Why?!” Chris screamed.

Just them another cloud of orbs appeared and the sisters saw Leo in his golden robes. “Wyatt? Are you all right?” he asked, seeing his son covered in blood.

“Dad!” Chris shrieked, bringing the Elder’s attention to the blood and body on the floor. Leo knelt down, trying to heal Paige.

“It’s too late,” he breathed, stepping away from his sister-in-law and turning to focus on his children. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”<br>
Again, Chris pulled away from the hand that meant to orb him away from the battle. “I’m not going anywhere with him!” Chris shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Wyatt. “He did this!”<br>
“What?” Leo asked, looking from one son to the other

“I found Aunt Paige like this,” Wyatt explained. “I pulled the knife out and was going to try to heal her when he runs in and threw me across the room with his powers. She would have survived if I had just gotten to her in time!” Wyatt shouted, turning the blame back to Chris.

“That’s a lie!”<br>
“Enough!” Leo shouted, his voice booming. “We have to get someplace safe. Then we can argue this out!” He grabbed both his sons and disappeared.

The sisters did too in another blast of white light.



The three sisters found themselves in the manor’s kitchen, already in the middle of an argument. They saw a slightly older Chris facing off against Piper, the only noticeable change in her appearance a streak of silver in her hair.

“I told you already, Chris. We can’t just go out and attack this Lord, whatever he is. And with the whitelighters fleeing for their lives-- We don’t even know who the Lord is.”<br>
“I’ve been telling you for a year and a half that you could just ask Wyatt! He’s joined him.” Piper growled in frustration, the argument obviously old and well worn. “Fine, then ask Leo! I’m sure he knows too!”<br>
“Dad!” Piper snapped back. “Will you call your father dad?”<br>
“He hasn’t been a dad since the elders fled the heavens. He’s been a freaking general!” Chris spat coldly. Piper only rolled her eyes and faced away from her younger son. “You even believe me about Wyatt and won’t admit it,” Chris added, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at her.

“I cannot and will not believe that your brother murdered my sister. I won’t!” Piper shouted.

“But he did!” Chris yelled. “And the sooner you finally accept that, the sooner we can start fighting against him and the Lord he serves!”<br>
“You’re wrong, Chris.”<br>
The three sisters turned to see Wyatt standing in the door frame, his hair longer than in the last memory, pulled back into a tight tail at the base of his neck. He was sixteen now and had sprouted since they last saw him.

“Thank you,” Piper said. “Now if only you could get him to actually believe you.”<br>
Wyatt turned to Piper, smiling a sad almost guilty smile. “I just meant he was wrong about me joining the Lord.” He walked towards her slowly, almost unnoticeably backing her into a corner.

“What?” Piper asked. “You killed Paige?” still expecting to hear Wyatt say she was mistaken.

Wyatt nodded. “But I never joined the Lord.” He could see the slight relief on his mother’s face. “I am him.”<br>
“You!” Piper gasped. “But—“ That’s when she saw the athemae orb into his hand.

The trio of sisters and Leo watched as Chris jumped onto Wyatt from behind. The two brothers struggled physically until Wyatt managed to fling him away with his powers. Chris hit the cabinets and then fell towards the floor, but before he hit, he’d up righted himself and flung an arm at Wyatt, crashing him into the wall beside the basement door. ”My telekinesis is stronger!” Chris screamed.

“Only because you fuel it with that damned empathy!” Wyatt hissed back. “But I will always be stronger!”<br>