Author Note: Hey everyone! First off, let me tell you that this is one of my first attempts at anything besides academic writing. I'm planning for this to be a rather long story, so I hope you'll join me for the ride! That being said, I promise not to abandon this fic. I also want to say that I really appreciate any and all reviews. Comments and critiques are the only way I can improve, so please, don't be afraid to speak your mind and tell me want you really think. And if you see any, and I really do mean any, spelling or grammar mistakes, please let me know. Thank you and please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own any of this. At all. Really, I'm not lying to you. Promise.
Summary: A new power is rising on the side of evil and it will stop at nothing to destroy all that is good. Chris needs to protect his family, but are they really the ones in danger? As he fights to protect his future and his loved ones, secrets will be revealed and life will never be the same for the Halliwell family. Takes place prior to the girls and Leo finding out that Chris is a witch and, at this point, no one is really a fan of poor Chris.
The thin pages of the book turned quickly, the ancient pages crackling with every flip of the page. Frantic hands pawed at the brittle pages, urgency apparent in every move. "Shit, shit, shit," a low voice said, the quiet words breaking through the oppressive silence. The man glanced up at the door leading out of the attic; waiting for the hinges to creak loudly and announce the arrival of one of the witches. Turning his attention back to the book, the man suddenly smiled. Here it is. This will bring their downfall.
"Come on, Piper!" Chris pleaded as he followed his charge into the kitchen, "it's just one little demon! Look we can go right now and be back before your cookies even need to be out of the oven!" Leaning on the counter Chris plastered a winning smile on his face that looked more like a grimace. How these people ever got anything done was beyond him.
Piper threw an annoyed glance over her shoulder as walked over to Wyatt's high-chair, settling the toddler in the seat before she started chopping up vegetables for dinner, "Chris, do you know that this demon is going to hurt Wyatt? No. You don't. Things are quiet right now and I don't want to stir up any trouble. So instead of sending us after every demon you see, how about you take some extra time to, you know, focus your efforts. You're always saying how this time travel thing was supposed to be surgical strike, how about we try that with demon hunting too," Piper gave a decisive nod and turned back to her chopping, effectively dismissing her neurotic whitelighter.
"Fine" Chris said, glancing up at the ceiling, scowling once before turning back to Piper, "for now". He shook his head once before he was enveloped in twinkling blue lights. Piper sighed, turning back to her work before she was almost immediately interrupted by the distinctive sound of another set of orbs which deposited her ex-husband in the place where her whitelighter had just stood.
"Hey, Piper," Leo said distractedly, "Have you seen Chris?"
"Ah, yes, he just left," Piper said as Leo walked over to his son and started making faces at the little boy. Wyatt giggled in delight as his father blew out his cheeks like a blowfish, "Why? What's up?" In response Leo made popping sounds at Wyatt. "Leo!" Piper called, miffed that he was ignoring her but happy to see Wyatt and his father together again.
"What? Oh, um, I just wanted to keep tabs on him," Leo turned around to face his ex-wife, a serious expression on his face "I don't trust him. I think he must be up to something—" Piper rolled her eyes as Leo started off on the same tangent he always went on when the subject of Chris came up "—What?" Leo asked, confused.
"Leo, listen, you're just saying the same thing about Chris that you always say; you don't trust him. I understand that, honey, really I do. Actually, I think we all understand that. But nothing's changed, we don't have anything on him, just vague suspicions," Piper walked around the counter to the cabinet and peered inside, "where is it…hmmm… where…. Oh. Left it upstairs. We really need to get two jars of rosemary," Piper turned back to Leo, who had gone back to making faces at Wyatt. Piper smiled softly, reveling in the moment before realizing that she couldn't count on Leo anymore and she couldn't get used to the little domestic scene in front of her. Straightening her back and clearing her throat Piper said, "Leo, I need to go grab the rosemary from upstairs. Can you keep an eye on Wyatt for a sec?"
"Sure, sure, I've got him," Leo picked up his son and started bouncing him on his hip, "in fact I could take him up there for a few hours. You know, just in case you needed a break or something…" Leo trailed off, looking hopefully at Piper.
"Well…I guess, but he needs to be back in time for dinner"
"No problem, Piper, see you in a few hours," said Leo, as he disappeared in a flurry of blue orbs.
Piper sighed as she went off to get the rosemary.
Chris orbed back into P3 and collapsed onto the couch that served as his bed. His clothes were grimy splattered with a variety of substances, including blood; some of it, his own. Throwing an arm over his eyes he attempted to sleep, but the scenes from his future played like a movie in his head. Full Technicolor. It was getting worse. He could barely sleep and it was affecting his ability to carry out his mission. 'Damn these psychic powers,' Chris thought,' I can't get anything done!' Chris peeked his eyes out from behind his eyes, resigning himself to the lack of sleep. He got onto his feet in one smooth motion. 'like ripping off band-aid,' he thought, before almost stumbling to his knees. 'Okay, maybe that was a bad idea.' Chris grabbed the desk next to his bed to steady himself, breathing deeply before straightening.
"gotta get something to take care of this," Chris groaned, "I can't deal with this right now". His powers were going out of control. These past couple of weeks had been an emotional hell and because of it, his powers were on the fritz. In the beginning, everything had been almost okay. It was hard seeing his mom every day, but the sisters had trusted him because they thought he had saved Paige during that fiasco with the Titans. And most importantly, Leo was out of the way. But now… Leo was back and he was hanging around more and more often. Chris had thought seeing Leo would be the easiest part of coming back to the past. His hate for his father covered him like a warm blanket; he thought he knew what to expect from the man since Leo was actually still alive in Chris' future. But he was wrong. Very, very wrong. This Leo was a completely different person from the one Chris knew. Granted, he was still an Elder and he was still away from his family. But he cared. He really, really cared! In the future Chris had thought that Leo had been there for his mom and Wyatt, even if he had never been there for Chris himself. But now he knew that that his father from the future was only a shadow of his former self. 2003's Leo was there for his family in a way Chris had never thought possible for the man.
This Leo was messing with his head in a major way. He didn't know how to feel about the guy. Should he hate Leo or give him the benefit of the doubt. As it was, Chris felt like he had when he was a child; teetering on the edge of hate, but still searching for his father's approval. Every hateful and suspicious glance his father threw at him cut like a knife and Chris was getting sick of the confusion that plagued him every time he saw his father. It was tearing him apart. Destroying him. Chris sighed, "Nothing I can do about that now. Besides, I know how he's going to turn out. What he's going to become. And he did that all by himself. I just need to concentrate on what I know."
Chris ran his hands through his dark hair, let out a sigh, and closed his eyes making a valiant attempt to center himself before he attempted to orb to the underworld again. He needed to visit his potions guy again to get something to suppress some of his powers at least until he was sure he could control them; especially his premonitions power. For the past few weeks he had been getting almost constant premonitions of the future. His future. A future he had already seen and lived through. And nothing had changed. He was lucky his premonition power didn't work the same way his aunt's did, otherwise the girls would have found out he was a witch a long time ago. Unlike his aunt, he could still function while the premonition played itself out. It was almost like half his consciousness was concentrating on the future while the other half was focused on the present and he had long ago learned to school his features so no one could tell what he was thinking; what he was feeling. But the biggest problem were the dreams. He couldn't sleep because every time he closed his eyes he saw… everything it felt like he was reliving it all. The death, the destruction, the pain. He had to stop it, but he just couldn't deal with seeing everything again and again. 'The Underworld,' Chris thought, 'Potions guy first. Then I need to burn off some steam before I start doing something I regret'. Like running to his mother and crying to her about how much it hurt and how tired he was all the time. Chris grimaced, 'damn, I'm a wreck.'
Just as Chris disappeared in a swirl of blue and white orbs as a pair of floating obsidian eyes appeared, hovering a few feet over the bed. Slowly a tall man began to appear on the bed. His features distorted into something grotesque, before finally solidifying into a handsome face. He smirked slightly before rising from the bed and moving over to the desk. He pulled the drawer all the way out of the desk and set it on the chair beside him. Then crouching down reaching into the space the drawer had left, he strained his arm until he found the right crevice. Smiling, he withdrew a picture, glancing at it briefly before pocketing it. From the same pocket he withdrew a small, wooden box with an ornate symbol on the lid which he placed on the desk before returning the drawer to its rightful place. He drew a deep breath and smiled, letting a look of dark contentment settle on his face. "Oh, Chrissy, we're going to have so much fun," he said to the empty room before he again faded into nothingness, as if he had never been there to begin at all. Only the box, exuding a dark, dark aura as it lay on the desk, remained as a symbol of his presence.