I'm not entirely sure where this story was born. I'm sure it has been done before, but this story deals with the what if Chris had somewhre along the line joined Wyatt in the unchanged future. This is an AU (obviously).
Just in short here is the explanation of who is who (ages are for the beginnign of the story, they age of course).
Piper and Leo's kids : Wyatt (16), Chris (14), Melinda (11)
Phoebe and Cole (Yeah I know this isn't what happens on the show, but I prefer them togehter): Prue (12), Brianna (10), Elizabeth (7)
Paige and Kyle: Jack (12) and Tasha & Lilly (twins, 5)
Daryll Moriss Jr. (Daryll and Sheilla's son): 21 (no idea how old he is really, i just guessed)
Tyler (29): is the firestarter in season 4 who almost becomes like a son to Piper, not really sure about the age either.
Matthew (21, again another guess): this is the child from the season 2 episode Reckless abandon.
Derek Jr. (16): The manticore baby from the episode Little monsters.
Emily (16): Cute little psychic from Witch wars
Don't own Charmed.
Somewhere else there is another Chris ( as crazy as that may sound ); he lives in another time, in another story, in another world. Or maybe on some level he lives in the same world, in the same future, but he has different reactions; he makes different choices. That Chris is strong enough to fight against his brother, that Chris is strong enough to win.
That Chris jumps through a time portal to save the world, this Chris (in this timeline, this world) isn't strong enough for that.
He'll never be.
Somewhere deep down inside he knows it's all his fault.
Sometimes he still sees it, as he looks down at his hands, the blood that covers them. It's his mother's blood, his hands are covered in it, and no matter how hard he tries he'll never be able to wash it off. He knows it's his fault, because if he had not been there Piper would have lived. She would not have spend her time attempting to protect him, and she would have seen the demons in time.
But she didn't, and she died.
He killed her. He held his mother in his arms ( his dying mother ), and he knows it's simply wrong. Somewhere else he thinks (in another time) she was saved, somewhere else someone who could heal was with her. Chris pleads for her to stay, and then screams at his father to come, but no one ever does. He watches as the light fades from his mother's eyes, and he just sits there clinging to her. It was wrong and twisted because she was Piper, one of the Charmed ones, and she should not have died.
Wyatt finds him there a couple of minutes to late, his mother is already dead.
Chris's hands are covered in her blood.
He hides out in his room for three full days.
After the funeral, after watching as her body is lowered into the ground, he had orbed to his room and stayed there. He couldn't move, didn't cry, didn't do a thing. He could barely breath, as he stared down at his hands, and swore that there was blood on them. He stayed there for three days, hiding away from the world, never leaving his bed. The wardrobe blocked the door, blocked anyone from coming in.
Three days, it's how long Wyatt left him there alone.
Wyatt breaks the door and the wardrobe (and several items in his room) in his attempt to get in. Somewhere else another Chris finds this hilarious, seeing as Wyatt could have simply orbed in. He stood there for a couple of seconds, Chris will never truly know how long, before he climbed onto his little brother's bed and simply held his trembling body. Melinda had followed Wyatt into the room and crawled onto the bed with them, Wyatt had held them both, Wyatt had let them cry. He had not shed a tear, another Chris sees this as a sign.
Wyatt promise them that he will never leave them and will always protect them.
'I can't lose you to.'
Chris knows it's all his fault, not just his mother dying, but everything else. It's strange, and irrational; but he can't help but feel (know) it. Wyatt had held him close and whispered that he couldn't lose him to.
Piper's dead had been the stressor, he & Mel had been the reasons.
'you won't Wy.'
The others only last a month.
Without Piper there is no power of three, without her the magic is broken. The news spread across the underworld, and demon after demon show up in the Manor. Cole is the first to perish, two mere weeks after Piper dies. Phoebe follows close thereafter, in an attempt to avenge his live, she leaves her children without a mother. Daryll and Sheila die next, though admittedly they die in a car accident (nothing magical about that).
Paige Matthews lasted the longest.
Eventually she too dies, exactly a month after the only oldest sister she has known. Kyle is left to care for his children, but also for all the other children. Victor moves into the manor, in an attempt to help. Great help they are not, seeing as they are both human and can't protect them at all. Tyler moves in as well, he ends up being the only adult with magical powers that lives in the manor (the other's are still children).
Chris wonders if anything will ever be alright again.
Chris knows what happened, though he does not admit it.
Piper had been the stressor, the one that had cause the evil inside Wyatt to take over.
Chris and Melinda had been the reason, he needed to protect them.
Phoebe, Cole and Paige were simply the straw that broke the camel's back.
A year after his world shatters, the rest of the world is destroyed.
Wyatt takes over magic school, it's the first step on the path that will lead him towards evil. Chris knows why he does it, it doesn't mean that he agrees or is on his side, but he understands. Still the world he lives in is destroyed, and everything he knows falls apart. D.J his brother's best friend is by his side from the start, just as his other friend Emily.
Chris understands but he doesn't want to.
He was just fourteen when he held his dying mother in his arms, he's just fifteen when Wyatt takes over the world. He knows it's wrong, he knows he should fight against him, he knows all of this. But he's just fifteen, a child, and he has to take care of the other's, because he is the oldest. So he doesn't fight, doesn't run, they stay where they are. Wyatt leaves them alone at first, for which he is grateful, he'll deal with it all later.
Hopefully Wyatt will come to his senses in time, he never does.
Somewhere else another Chris rebels against Wyatt.
They don't last very long, he doesn't last very long.
Victor dies three months later, cancer finally taking him away from them.
Kyle follows closely thereafter, killed by a demon attempting to murder his youngest child. Wyatt avenges his dead.
Michael Morris is the third victim, six months after Wyatt takes over, killed by yet another demon.
He is the last thing Chris can handle, everything else is simply a blur.
They pack up their stuff in the middle of the night, and then they run.
There nothing but mere children, with three adults by their sides. Still Chris doesn't think they'll actually last long, doesn't think they'll get very far. He's pretty sure on that first night Wyatt will find them immediately, but he does not. Chris thinks that Wyatt lets them run, expecting them to come back. But Chris doesn't want to go back, he doesn't think he can handle it. It goes against everything they have been taught.
They think about leaving the city, but they never do.
Sometimes he thinks that if they had it would have been better, sometimes he thinks they could have gotten away. But they hid in San Francisco, they're not even entirely sure why, but they stay. He thinks it is because they are still expecting Wyatt to realize he is wrong, still expecting him to become the Wyatt they had once known. It's still easy at first, they can simply move through the city.
They sleep in abandoned houses or inside churches.
Somewhere else another Chris builds the resistance.
Prue is the first of them to die.
In some way this seems logical, they could have predicted it somehow. After all somewhere else in the far away past Prue is the first of the Charmed ones to die, the first one to move on. Now Prue is the first of the next generation to die, it makes sense somehow. Prue is killed by a demon, still fighting against the new regime, and none of them could save her. She dies by throwing herself in front of her youngest sister Elizabeth, taking a fireball for her, and dies surrounded by her family.
They bury her next to her mother, even though they know it will attract attention.
Chris turns sixteen somewhere on the road, in a church somewhere in San Francisco. Jack actually manages to find him a cake (just like Chris had done for all the others) but Chris doesn't really care. Sometimes he thinks this was the worst idea they ever had, because who goes on the run with the oldest child being fifteen and the youngest being five. Tyler promises everything will be alright, Matthew doesn't really know what to say.
Daryll Junior is the first to say it out loud 'this was a bad idea.'
Somewhere else Chris fights Wyatt at every change he gets.
Matthew dies next, but in a way they all expected that.
He was just a human (just like Daryll is), so he had no chances of protecting himself. Chris sometimes wonders why he went with them, why any of them went with him. He wonders why they all seem to look at him as the leader, despite the fact that he is just sixteen and Tyler is thirsty years old. Maybe it's because he's the strongest, maybe it's because he's the only one who has a fighting chance against Wyatt.
If he would actually want to fight him, which he doesn't.
Three weeks after Matthew dies they run into Derek. They had not wanted to hurt each other, so Derek had let them run, still Chris knew Wyatt would be there within the hour. So they ran, Chris doesn't know where they are going, but they are running away. Sometimes Chris wonders what would have happened if he had called for Wyatt instead of Leo the day his mother died, sometimes he wonders if it would change anything.
Wyatt lets them run that time as well, Chris knows it won't last forever.
This Chris and his family have been on the run ( living on the streets ) for over a year.
In another world Chris lives in the Resistance, fighting against his brother.
Tyler dies next, and with him the last of their hope.
Chris is suddenly in charge completely, thought not the oldest, seeing as there is still Daryll. Still with Tyler there they had felt somewhat sheltered, they had felt somewhat secure. Without him they are afraid, without him they dare not go outside to much. They are to many children, without a real adult, they could attract to much attention. They hid out in the streets, stealing food here and there, even though they know it's wrong.
But Wyatt took over the world, Chris doesn't think stolen food matters much compared to that.
Tasha, now six years old, the oldest of Paige's twins disappears one day. Lilly is sure that she's not dead, and Chris (wants to ) believe(s) her. He knows that if she is not dead, than she must be with Wyatt (he hopes she is, because despite everything Chris knows it's safe with Wyatt, but wrong at the same time). Chris watches their small group, wondering what had happened to the strong group they were two years ago.
He knows what happened, he just doesn't want to think about it.
Brianna dies next, thought they never truly discover why.
Chris holds Elizabeth, the last of his Aunt Phoebe's children, and swears he will protect her. Daryll buries Brianna helped by Jack, tears shining in their eyes. Chris doesn't look at them, he doesn't want to confront what they have lost, they should have stayed with Wyatt. But it was wrong on so many levels, and against everything they had been taught, they simply couldn't stay. Lilly crawls in Melinda's arms, barely six years old, unable to understand what happened.
They keep running, even though they all think they should go back.
But they can't simply let go of what they know is right, of what they have been taught. But there is almost nobody left to help them. Sometimes some of the magical creatures their family saved over the years lend a hand, but slowly they all disappear. They all expect him to fight against Wyatt, but all he really is, is a scared child who doesn't know how. In another time there is another Chris, one that does know how to fight. They hide in churches and sleep on the street, they eat stolen food or food bought with money they are given in pity.
This is not the live Chris had envisioned, this is not the life they should have had.
So much for destiny, so much for fate. So much for rewards, after all they have done.
Sometimes Chris wonders if this his hell.
His next birthday creeps on closer, and they are still running.
One night, when he is so tired he can barely move, and so scared he can barely breath, he does something he never thought he'd do again. He looks up at the heaves and screams for his dad, screams for any of the elders to come down and help them. But nobody ever comes, nobody cares about them after all, nobody comes to save them. Chris can see them all, sitting there staring down at the hell that is earth, and not caring at all. They are hiding somewhere in an alley, Chris knows he doesn't have much strength left.
They have been on the run for almost two years.
Chris knows that they will return or die, and for a second he wonders if Wyatt even cares. Sometimes he wants to give up, scream out for him and be brought home. But then he looks at his younger sister, and in her he sees his mother, and he is given a bit more strength. His hands are already covered in Piper's blood, he doesn't need anyone else's blood as well. Sometimes he wonders what would happen if he would die, if he would be killed, the others would be all alone.
He looks up at the heavens and asks his mother what to do.
No answer ever comes.
He turns seventeen the day the elders die.
Or at least most of them, about a hand-full of them die 'up there'. Leo is one of the survivors, thought Chris doesn't know where they have gone. He doesn't care, because they didn't care about them either, he wonders if they ever did. Living on the streets becomes harder, there are demons everywhere as well as witch hunters. They are hurt and tired and on the run, and there is nothing they can do. Nothing except return to where they came from and beg for protection, but they don't do that because it's wrong.
The winter that follows is the worst of all.
It's cold and snowing, and Chris is pretty sure this is the end of it all. It is on one of those nights, hidden in a church, that Daryll points it out yet again. 'This was a bad idea.' Chris stares at the front of the church for a long time before he answers 'I know, but what else could we do.' No answer comes, because there isn't one. They sleep in the back of the church, it's far to cold to sleep outside.
December rolls around, Chris knows this is the end.
Somewhere else Chris and Wyatt have their first confrontation, somewhere else and elder saves him.
The first week of December they stay inside the church.
They know they can't stay forever, but they can for now. Every night one of them points out that it was a bad idea, but there are never any ideas of how to save them. They can't stay in the church forever, eventually they have to move on. Fifteen minutes after they leave Wyatt appears in the church. The second week of December they stay in the alleys, attempting to fight the cold. On the third day Melinda crawls close to him and says 'It's warm at Wyatt's.' Nobody ever says a word, but they imagine burning fires and they know she is right.
The next night Jack says 'There is food there.'
Chris knows they are one by one giving up, he knows they will return. Even though they know it's wrong, even though they know they can't live trough it. It goes against everything that the Charmed ones stood for, but they are just a group of cold, cared and hurt children and they don't know how to fight. The third weeks begins, and they find themselves hiding in a park. Chris stares at the sky, trying to imagine what kind of advice his mother would give him. Nothing comes to him.
Melinda says 'it's warm there.' Jack says 'There is food there.'
Daryll points out 'This was a bad idea.'
They hid in the bushes, close together to fight the cold.
They'll never make it to the fourth week, they'll return or die here. Daryll says 'This was a bad idea.' Melinda says 'So what should we do, go back?' Chris stares at her for a long time, Jack looks at the sky never saying a word. Daryll answers 'It's wrong what he does.' 'I know.' Elizabeth answers. Chris doesn't say another word, eventually they all fall asleep. They last one more night, in the cold outside.
The next night the same conversation plays.
This time Chris says 'We should go back.' Daryll looks at him before saying 'I know.' Their time of running is up, there is nothing they can do anymore. Still they last one more night, if only to see if someone will come. But Melinda is thinking of strong fires to fight the cold, and Jack thinks of food to drive away the hunger. Daryll knows it's wrong, but he doesn't want to live on the streets anymore and Elizabeth thinks of a warm bed to sleep in.
Chris holds Lilly close to him, feeling how warm she is.
Somewhere in another timeline Chris tries to find a way to save Wyatt.
Here there is nothing to fight with, not anymore
Lilly gets sick, and Chris knows this is it..
They began their return home, their clothes are torn, they are hurt and tired, but they begin to walk back. They would orb, but with the witch hunters around it's a bad idea and besides they are to weak. Jack holds Melinda's hand while Daryll holds Elizabeth's. Chris carries Lilly, hoping they will make it back. It's wrong, against everything they have been taught, but still they return. Slowly they are closing in on Wyatt's house, hoping he will receive them back home, hoping he still cares.
They stop two blocks from the house, catching their breaths.
'It's wrong what he does.' Daryll jr. says out loud, despite the fact that he wants to return. 'I know.' Chris says, holding onto the six child, 'But there's nobody else.' They begin their walk again, not one of them speaks another word. They know they are doing the wrong thing, they should be fighting him, but they are just children. Derek sees them before they seem him, allows them entry withouth a word.
After all at that moment they just look like 6 broken and lost children (despite the fact that Daryll Jr. is 23), who have spend years on the street. They are cold, hurt and hungry.
They are lost, and now they have finally come home.
Somewhere up in the Heavens the Charmed ones look down with tears in their eyes.
Melinda and Elizabeth have their own room, they are asleep rather quickly.
Wyatt never speaks of their betrayal, never says a word.
Lilly is reunited with her twin sister, given a room to share with Emily.
Healing Lilly is the first thing Wyatt does, proving that he still cares about them.
Jack and Daryll share a room, they could get their own rooms if they want but they don't.
Some rooms are left empty, throwing in their face the ones they have lost.
Chris has his own room, but he doesn't go in it at first.
He goes to talk to Wyatt, he wants to make sure he knows something.
Derek leans against the wall, Emily sits on a chair.
Chris doesn't really see them, his eyes travel to Wyatt's immediately. For a couple of minutes nobody talks, Chris has many things he wants (needs) to know. Wyatt thinks of everything that has happened, willing to understand why he came back. Neither one says a word, but neither do the others in the room.
Chris looks his brother in the eye and says 'I'm not fighting.'
Wyatt looks back for a long time before he answers 'Okay.'
Because he understands what his baby brother is saying. He's not fighting against him, but he's not fighting for him either.
He just accepts. 'Maybe in the future.' Wyatt thinks.
Chris walks away hearing Daryll say 'It's wrong what he does.'
Somewhere else in another time there is another Chris, a stronger Chris. He lives in a different story, a different time line. He lives the same story, or at least the same beginning, as this Chris but he makes different choices. That is a stronger Chris, that is a Chris destined to save the world. That Chris jumps trough a time portal, to go back and save Wyatt from becoming evil. Maybe he even succeeds.
Chris walks away, knowing it's wrong, but there's nothing he can do.
The Charmed ones cry over what happens, they know everything is lost now.
There are different time lines, different worlds (he thinks).
In one world Chris dies along with Piper, never seeing what the world becomes.
In another Wyatt is on time to save her, he doesn't have a reason to become evil.
In a third world Chris never exists, there is a gab between Wyatt and Melinda. Wyatt always misses something, but he doesn't know what it is.
In another world they never return, they die out on the streets, never giving up on what they know.
In the last Chris fights back, jumps trough a portal and attempts to save the world.
Who's to say which one of these worlds is better, who's to say which one is the one they should be living.
There are different time lines, different stories, but Chris doesn't think it matters.
Because he's living this one.
He knows what happened.
He knows it's all his fault, he's the reason Piper is dead after all.
He knows it goes against everything he has ever been taught, that he should be fighting against it, but he's not strong enough.
He doesn't think he even cares anymore.
Somewhere else another Chris saves the future and dies for it.
Somewhere Wyatt doesn't become evil and none of them die.
In the end none of the worlds matter, only his own.
He looks at his hands, still covered in blood, and knows that somehow it's all his fault anyway.