A step away from my usual crossover stories, this was something I wrote a few years ago, and I figured I would throw it up and see what happens. Not my best work, but not my worst either.

As you will probably discover, this story takes place some time after the end of Charmed, when Wyatt and Chris are in high school. It is NOT compliant with the comics, so be forewarned. I love feedback, and make an effort to respond to all reviews, so if you like it/hate it, by all means, say so!

If you've never heard of me, I wouldn't be surprised. Now, my brother you've probably heard of. Good old Wyatt, the chosen one, the Twice-Blessed, etc, etc. Well, I'm not him. My name's Chris. And when this particular story starts, I had just learned that it is incredibly foolish to wish for something without thinking about what would happen if you GOT that wish.

At that particular moment, I was sitting in Ms McAnahan's history class, listening to her lecture about the Native Americans (and getting most of it wrong, I might note) and praying to the Elders to send something, ANYTHING, to get me out of this hell. I didn't have anything personal against Ms McAnahan, but she had one of those personalities that could give you cavities just by being near her. I was contemplating killing myself with my pencil when someone knocked on the open door of the classroom. The Elders, it seemed, have a sense of humor. The bastards.

"Excuse me," a tall, dark looking man in black clothes said from the doorway, smiling congenially. I wasn't fooled. I've seen that smile before. On a crocodile. "I'm here to pick Chris up for his doctor's appointment."

"Really? Chris, you didn't tell me anything about this," Ms. McAnahan said, looking at me questioningly.

I briefly considered telling her the truth, which was that I had no idea who this guy was, and that I definitely didn't have a doctor's appointment. But then I saw how the man at the door was keeping his left hand hidden behind his back, and how he staring at me, his glaring eyes not matching his face at all. He was sending me a message. If I didn't go with him, we'd throw down, here and now. He probably thought he could kill all the loose ends and then jump out before anyone realized something was wrong.

"Sorry, Ms. McAnahan," I said, standing up and grabbing my bag. "Must have slipped my mind."

"Don't forget that your report is due this Friday!" Ms. McAnahan shouted after me as I hustled out the door, desperate to get some distance between me and the class before the idiot who was trying to abduct me got impatient and tried to take me by force. I probably wouldn't get the report done, I know. I rarely did. The only reason I was a solid C student instead of an A was because I usually had more important things to do than their busywork. Not that Mom saw it that way, of course…

"So are you a demon, or just a warlock?" I asked the man, who had fallen into step with me as I headed for the most deserted of the parking lots.

"Don't be insulting," the man snapped. "Of course I'm a demon. Nothing less for the son of a Charmed One. Even if you are one of the runts of the litter, so to speak."

"Runt?" I asked, offended. "I may not be Wyatt, but I'm still witch enough to kick your scrawny demon ass all the way to the Wasteland."

The demon just laughed and pushed open the door, beckoning me forward with a mockingly chivalric gesture. I gave him an equally mocking smile and walked through the door, watching out of the corner of my eye to prevent any treachery. Once outside, we squared off, standing a good twenty feet from each other and tensing, ready for any sudden movements.

"Catch," the demon called suddenly, tossing something at me. Not stupid enough to catch anything I wasn't familiar with in my bare hands, I snagged it with telekinesis and brought it forward for a quick look. Some kind of arcane symbol wrought of iron, it looked like. I didn't know it.

"What is it?" I asked, drifting it down to float in front of me.

"Something for your mother to find on your burnt corpse!" the demon roared, flinging a ball of fire at me with one hand. I dropped the symbol and thrust my hand forward, bouncing the fire back with telekinesis. The demon was ready though and rolled out of the way, letting the fireball splash against the wall of the gym behind him.

He came up swinging, throwing two more balls of fire at me as I rolled behind a nearby car for cover. It exploded as the balls hit it, throwing me to the ground and out into the open again. The demon's gloating face turned to an expression of pain as I gestured and smashed him into the wall hard enough to crack the bricks. He fell painfully to the sidewalk and glared at me, throwing another ball of fire. I rebounded it again, and the ball smashed into him, burning his body to ash in a second.

"Ugh," I said, picking myself off the ground and surveying the burnt wreck of the car grimly. "They'll probably blame that one on me too."

I put it in the back of my mind and focused instead on the symbol the demon had thrown to me. I still didn't recognize it, but something he had said stuck in my mind. What was it…Something for your mother to find on your burnt corpse. What did my mother have to do with this? It didn't make sense. Unless this wasn't an attack on ME.

I pulled out my cell phone and fired off a quick text message to my cousins.

Just attacked by demon. Think somethings up. You?

The twins' answer was swift, as I knew it would be. The twins were many things, but law-abiding they weren't. They were always texting in class. They were the reason I never left my phone on. I love them, but GAH!

We jst got attckd 2. NP. You?

I winced at their massacre of grammar and spelling while I punched out a quick reply.

Im fine. And would it kill you to use whole words?

Before they could shoot me a snippy comeback (we've had this fight before), PJ's reply lit up my phone.

I was attacked too. 'Ported him into a volcano. Are you okay?

I smirked. PJ was one of the only people I knew who bothered to use apostrophes in text messages. I guess it's a side effect of having a mom with a syndicated national column. Plus it was sweet that she was worried that I might be hurt. She knew better (outside of Wyatt, I was probably the best fighter) but it was the Cupid in her. She couldn't stop caring.

Im fine. Did the demon try and give you some kind of symbol?

She did. I'll text you a picture.

While I waited for PJ to take a picture, my phone went off again. Another text from the twins. This time it looked like they were using bad grammar just to try and tick me off. It worked depressingly well.

Dmn drped a smbl thng u wnt 2 c?

Please. PJ got hit by the same guys it sounds like. Shes fine by the way.

Duh. PJs cool. Hang on.

I waited for a moment before PJ and the twins' texts reached me at almost the same time. The pictures were almost identical, though I noticed PJs was much higher quality than the twins. It was the same symbol I held in my hand. I pulled out my phone to text them back.

Thanks guys. Ive got it from here.

U wish! We want in! the twins texted, followed by a much more legible message from PJ.

It's not safe to do this by yourself, Chris. I'll help.

I scowled. They were not butting in on this one. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate their trying to help, but I didn't need it, and the Aunts would NEVER forgive me if I risked their kids too. Besides, PJ can't lie to her mom. Literally. You think having an Aunt with empathy is bad, I have no idea how I'd do if my mom could read my emotions. I had to keep this in house.

Im not going this alone guys. And neither are you. Im turning it over to my mom.

That kicked up the hornet's nest, or at least the twins. PJ at least agreed to go along with it quietly enough, but in the end I just turned off my phone so I wouldn't have to deal with the twins angry messages. I was just lucky they couldn't orb like Aunt Paige. That would be a nightmare. Speaking of orbing…

I disappeared in a wash of sparks and reappeared up in the attic in front of the Book of Shadows. I checked the time. There was only an hour left to go in school, so there was no need to worry about class. My "dentist appointment" should keep me out for some time. Mom was out trying to keep things from blowing up at the new restaurant, and Dad was still at Magic School. Time for a little research.

It took me the first fifteen minutes just finding the symbol in the Book, even with the index. When I was about six, Mom finally broke down and took Paige's suggestion that they index the book, which definitely made my life easier. My aunts might have read the Book so many times they had things memorized, but I sure didn't. The index turned a research project that would have taken all afternoon in the old days into a quick hour of work.

The symbol it turned out was actually an obscure rune for the concept of fear. From there, I look up demons that used or were obsessed with fear. The list was actually kinda long, since most demons kind of like fear. But there was only one name on the list that would actually have the balls to mess with the Charmed Kids: Barbas.

I'd never met Barbus before at that point, at least not so I'd remember it. He apparently tried to kill me as a baby, part of some big scheme by the Avatars to get my dad to go berserk. And my future self (long story) had dealings with an alternate reality good version of him (ALSO a long story). I liked what the book said about him even less. He was cunning, powerful, and most importantly, pretty much unkillable. The sisters had put him down several times, and he just kept coming back.

Alright. If I were a powerful demon obsessed with fear and killing the Charmed Ones, what would I be doing right now? Attacking the Charmed Kids seemed right up his alley, but why not do it himself? He was probably more than we could handle, individually (except for Wyatt, maybe). The only reason to send disposable demons was fear. He was sending a message: I know where your children are, when they are vulnerable, and I could have killed them if I had wanted to. That would make any parent's blood run cold.

Which didn't make sense. Barbas was one of their oldest enemies, and knew them better than almost any demon alive. He'd KNOW Mom would just go mad with fear and rage, round up her sisters (who would be just as scared and angry), and come gunning for him with everything they had. It had to be a trap. Get them frantic, make them so scared for us kids that they stop thinking, then wait for them to show up. My mom would take the bait so fast she'd practically choke on it.

Now I almost regretted not taking the others up on their offers of help. Barbas was a big time hitter in the Underworld, not someone I could take on my own. And I couldn't tell Mom or the Aunts, that would be giving Barbas what he wanted. Still, if the biggest boomstick in the magical world was out of the question, second best was still good. By the time Wyatt got back from school, I was waiting in his room (Aunt Phoebe's old one, or so I'm told).

"There you are, Chris," Wyatt said after seeing me seated on his bed, scratching away at a pad of paper with a pencil. "Where the heck were you today? Mel and I had to orb home by ourselves. I tried to call, but your phone was off."

"Oh, sorry about that," I replied, standing up so Wyatt could sling his backpack onto the bed. "The twins were bugging me."

"Chris, what's going on? You skipped out on me and Mel, and I know damn well you didn't have a dentist appointment today. Are you skipping classes? Because if Mom ever finds out you bailed on your little sister to go joy-orbing across town, you can bet-"

"I was attacked," I interrupted bluntly. "By a demon. Which you would know, if you even wasted a single second to look outside. The parking lot looks like a war zone."

"Wait, you were attacked? Who'd want to attack you?" Wyatt asked. "Normally, I'm the one everyone wants."

"Yeah, rub that one in some more," I muttered under my breath, but I needed his help, so I swallowed that resentment and kept going. "It was just a normal demon. They went after PJ and the twins too."

"I don't understand. Why would them come after all of you?"

"Because we're vulnerable, dummy," I explained, annoyed. Wyatt could be slow sometimes. "Ever hear of a demon named Barbas?"

"I have," came a mild voice from the door. Mom was standing there, a neutral expression on her face. I had come to dread that expression. When she used that expression, it meant that she knew you were in trouble. The only thing she was trying to figure out was just how much trouble you were in.

"Where did you hear about Barbas?" Mom asked, still in that same mild tone.

"Oh, I was just fishing through the Book upstairs a while back, just for fun, and I came across him," I lied. Unlike Wyatt, I can lie convincingly when I need to. And BOY did I need to now. "I've got a study group with some friends from school now Mom, so I've got to go. Later!"

"Oh no you don't," I heard Mom growl just as I started to orb, and I saw her hands flash. They tell me back in the old days, Mom's freezing power couldn't stop good witches. I wished that were still the case. Mom's gotten a lot more powerful since then. Which was why I was stuck in Wyatt's room, paralyzed from the neck down, while my mom glared at me with fury in her eyes and her lips pressed into a thin line. Wyatt was trying very hard to pretend he wasn't there, looking at me with pity in his eyes.

"One more try, Chris. Tell me the truth, or so help me, I will go down to the kitchen and make a potion that will force you to tell me. Now, what the HECK is going on around here?"

I caved. Mom had already overheard too much for me to lie and send her off on some goose chase for a different demon (even if I could think of one on the spot), and she was not bluffing about making a truth potion. She could leave me here for a good half hour if she wanted to. She'd done it before. So I told her everything, and I especially emphasized that it was an obvious trap. And, as I knew she would, she was so worked up that someone had attacked me; she ignored the part about the trap. Damn it. I hate being right some days.

Unfortunately, her lack of common sense did not extend toward my activities. So I got grounded for trying to hide this from her. You know how when normal kids get grounded, they send you to your room and you aren't allowed out to visit your friends? Well, when you and half your friends can teleport, grounding gets a lot harder to do. Which is why Dad came up with a new variation on the crystal cage. There is a ring of crystals all around Wyatt's room, Mel's room, and my room. All you have to do is place one other crystal in place outside the door, and blam, instant force field.

So I found myself sitting sullenly on my bed, watching my mother orb off with my aunts into a massive trap, and being completely unable to do anything about it. Wyatt was just as grounded, but his was only until Mom got back. Which at this rate, would be never. We were trapped.

"So what was that all about?" a cheery voice asked from the door. Melinda, my youngest sister, stood there with a puzzled smile on her face. My heart leapt. Maybe we weren't out of options quite yet after all. I hastily explained what was going on, and that Mom was rushing right into a trap.

"Wyatt and I have to go there and back Mom up," I finished quickly. "She's in over her head but she refuses to admit it. You have to let me out of here."

"Alright. I'll do it, but under one condition."

"Mel, this is not the time for haggling. Mom is in trouble, I'm telling you!"

"Too bad. If you're in such a hurry, you should quit complaining and agree. I've got all the time in the world."

"Fine," I scowled. "What do you want?"

"I want to come with you two when you go," Mel stated simple, smiling broadly at the look of surprise and dismay on my face.

"No way Mel! This isn't some game! This demon is real bad news! It's too dangerous for you!"

"Isn't that what Mom just told YOU?"

"That's not the point!"

"That's exactly the point!" she yelled, stamping one of her feet. "She's my mom too you know! And you need all the backup you can get for this one!"

I scowled at her, but I knew she was right. She had as much riding on this one as I did, and she wasn't bad to have around when things got violent. She couldn't blow things up like Mom could, not yet at least, but she could freeze things, and that was never a power to take lightly.

"Fine. You can come. Go start scrying for them, I'll get Wyatt."

Mel squealed with delight and grabbed the crystal outside my door before running off to get the scrying gear. I sighed heavily and got to my feet, walking up to Wyatt's door, finding him deep in concentration, his eyes closed and his hands straining against the barrier around his room.

I calmly kicked the crystal out from in front of the door, and Wyatt surged forward, falling flat on his face. I savored the image for a moment before grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet.

"Come on," I told him, leading him down the stairs. "I've got Mel scrying for Mom already, so we'll be fighting soon. Grab the emergency potions from the kitchen and meet me up in the attic. I'll get some crystals just in case we get the opportunity to throw Barbas into the cage."

"Right," Wyatt said, his mind going straight to business now that I'd reminded him that Mom was in danger. "Mel is scrying for Mom?"

"Yeah, she's coming too," I replied, my tone business-like. "And don't give me crap about it. She's got as much right to go as we do, and we might need her."

Wyatt didn't look happy, but he didn't give me any lip either as he moved into the kitchen to grab the potions. A few minutes later, he and I were distributing potions and crystals (Wyatt got the crystals, since he was the only one who could orb objects) while Mel scryed.

"I've got them!" she cried suddenly as the crystal dropped onto the map and began glowing red. "Looks like the underworld too."

"Go figure," I stated flatly. "Okay, everyone ready to go?"

"Sure," Wyatt replied confidently.

"As I'll ever be," Mel said, her humor not quite hiding the tremor in her voice.

"Alright, everyone orb on the count of three," I replied. "And don't jump the gun this time, Wyatt. This is important. We orb in, Mel freezes the whole room, Wyatt blasts everything, and I play defense. Got it?"

"Yep."

"Got it."

"Right. One…two…THREE!"

The world dissolved in a wash of light, and we reappeared in a large, dark cavern. About a half dozen demons were gathered around something just to the right of us. The turned just in time to see Mel gesture at them, and freeze them where they stood. Wyatt waved his hands, and the demons immediately exploded in a spray of fire and orbs.

With the demons gone, I could see what the demons had been gathered around: Mom and the Aunts. They were all curled in the fetal position, clutching their heads. I could just barely hear mutters coming from their mouths. Wherever their minds were, it sure as heck wasn't here.

I was about to go check on them when I heard a slow applause from behind us. We turned to find a man dressed all in black smiling crookedly at us, the fiery glow of the underworld reflecting oddly off his silver hair.

"Well, if this isn't an…unexpected surprise," the man told us, his smile growing wider.

"Barbas, I presume," Wyatt said calmly, stepping forward. "Give us our mom and aunts back, and I might not blow you to kingdom come."

"Oh do try to be more original," Barbas replied acidly, rolling his eyes. "It took me thirteen years to come back, and I spent the rest of the time creating this little trap. I call it the Prison of Fear. Do you like it?"

He gestured at Mom and the Aunts, but we just glared at him.

"They're trapped in a world of their own worst fears," Barbas explained calmly. "It won't kill them, but I think it will hold them quite nicely."

"That's your plan?" Wyatt asked spitefully. "Keep our mom locked up in a nightmare world forever?"

"Of course not," Barbas answered scornfully. "I just need them disabled while I make their worst fears become reality."

"By killing their children," I stated calmly, palming the most powerful potion I had and stepping up to stand next to Wyatt. I noticed Mel followed next to me.

"Of course," Barbas said in a tone teachers use for a clever answer by a promising student. "Now I wonder, what exactly do you fear?"

He waved his hand before I had a chance to stop him, and looked like he was reading something in the bright white glow that surrounded it.

"I see," he said with a chuckle. "How interesting." He turned to Wyatt and smiled broadly. "Your greatest fear is what could happen if you turned evil. Maybe we should find out."

As he spoke, a second Wyatt appeared beside Barbas, wearing all black with his hair in menacing spikes. With a gesture, he sent our Wyatt flying backward. Good Wyatt came up fighting, launching a wave of pure energy at his evil counterpart, but Evil Wyatt just blocked with that annoying shield of his.

Before it could go any further, I spun and launched my potion at Barbas, but he merely flicked a hand, sending off in a different direction.

"Ah, Chris," Barbas said, focusing on me. "Would you like to know what your greatest fear is?"

In response, I shoved a hand at him, trying to throw him into a wall. To my lack of surprise, he didn't even flinch. Without conquering my fear, I couldn't touch him. Guess I had to just face it.

"Bring it on," I snarled at him, trying rapidly to figure out my greatest fear. Not heights, spiders, rats… Heck, after I smashed a performer at a haunted house with telekinesis when I was 8, I've never even been scared of big men with chainsaws.

"Your greatest fear is that you'll never be able to live up to your future self," Barbas announced with satisfaction. "Well, now's your chance."

A young man that looked identical to some of the pictures Mom showed me of my future self suddenly appeared in front of me. I wasn't going to wait for it to make the first move like Wyatt did. I shoved out hard, only to find my double doing the same thing.

It felt like I was trying to hold back a runaway bus. Future Me was much stronger than I was. I considered orbing to his other side to try and get the drop on him, but I rejected that idea. I knew from Dad's stories that my future self could scatter orbs, and the last thing I needed was getting shot into some pit somewhere.

As I tried to think of a way out, Future Me suddenly shoved harder, smashing me backwards and into a stone wall. I was still seeing stars when I realized he was standing over me, one hand extended toward my neck. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. Something was choking me, crushing down hard on my windpipe. It was all I could do to fight back with my own telekinesis, clearing a tiny trickle of air to enter my lungs. I couldn't keep this up for long though.

"And now for you, my dear. Do you know what your greatest fear is?" I heard off in the distance as I fought to take in a breath. I didn't hear what Mel replied, but it made Barbas laugh.

"Your fear is that you'll never live up to the example of your big brothers," Barbas' voice echoed through the dark fog starting to clamp down on my mind. "How unique. You fear being weak. So why don't you watch as your brothers die, and you are powerless to help them."

Any further conversation was driven from my mind as my ears began ringing, and my vision exploded into splotches and stars. I knew that was probably a bad sign, and I struggled more frantically, trying to get more air, but my future self was just too strong. I couldn't make any headway, and even now, I felt my will beginning to slip. I could barely fight anymore. With one last rasping exhalation, I lost my focus and felt the full power of his telekinesis come down on my throat, and I dropped into painful darkness.

Suddenly, the pressure was gone, and I felt welcome air rush into my lungs, bringing the world rushing back in a series of coughing, sputtering gasps. I looked up and saw Mel standing over my prone double, hate in her eyes, and noticed that his right leg was bent at a horribly unnatural angle.

"Who's powerless now?" she spat at Barbas. "My self-defense teacher calls that one the Knee-Snapper."

Future Me reached up with one hand to start to strangle her with his powers, but I was faster. With the welcome breaths of fresh air had come something else as well: a memory. Something Mom had said to Dad, about how she didn't want me to grow up and start crushing people's hearts like Future Chris. I was eleven at the time, so I just thought she meant that the other me had been something of a ladies man. But having just been on the receiving end of my future self's wrath, I knew she had meant it literally.

Just as my double clamped down on my little sister's neck, I reached forward with my mind and crushed my hand into a fist. He stiffened and jerked, half spinning to try and face me, but I wasn't going to give him the chance to try and stop me. I clenched my fist harder, imagining an iron-hard vice where his heart would be. He jerked again, harder, and then vanished into vapor.

Barbas said something sarcastic and patronizing to us as I picked myself up off the ground, but I ignored him and grabbed Mel's hand, rushing to where the two Wyatts were locked in a deadly struggle.

"Mel, freeze them," I told her, a plan already coming together in my mind.

"But they won't freeze!" she exclaimed. "Our Wyatt's good and Evil Wyatt's too powerful to freeze!"

"Just trust me," I replied, still watching the battle. "Do it now!"

She gestured, and as she predicted, neither Wyatt froze for even a second. But the blasts of energy they had both fired froze instantly, hanging limply in the air.

"Wyatt, hit him!" I yelled, before shoving the frozen energy with everything I had left. Wyatt complied, throwing one of the biggest energy blasts I'd ever seen him use toward his foe. Evil Wyatt seemed to have the same idea, firing his own huge blast. I caught it with my telekinesis, throwing that back at him too.

The cavern shook as the barrage of energy smashed against the power of Evil Wyatt's shield, throwing up a huge cloud of dust and an avalanche of shattered rock. I'd never seen an explosion that size before, not even when Mom got really mad. In retrospect, I was lucky I hadn't killed us all with a cave in. I peered through the dust, trying to see if anything remained of Wyatt's evil doppelganger. I was about to give up when I saw a soft glow coming from within the cloud, and I cursed. Evil Wyatt strode from the wreckage, his shield still formed around him, a cocky smile on his face.

"I had no idea you were so powerful," I told Wyatt, moving to stand beside him.

"Me neither," Wyatt replied, assuming a combat stance. "This might take a while."

Just then, I heard the familiar melodic chime of orbing, and saw that Mel had orbed right through Evil Wyatt's shield, reforming right behind him. He turned just in time to get at kick to the back of his head. The shield went down immediately, and Mel rode him all the way to the ground, her hands around his throat in a textbook chokehold.

"Mel, orb!" I yelled, and sensing my plan, Wyatt pulled back for another blast. She vanished into a cluster of lights just as Wyatt's attack hit his stunned evil self. This time, there was no shield, and Evil Wyatt exploded in a blast of flame.

Wyatt and I rounded on Barbas as Mel appeared beside us, glaring at him. He just smiled.

"Nice to know the next generation is just as…resilient as the previous one," he stated, smiling with that same crooked grin. "I'll be seeing you all again. Soon."

"Not on my watch," I snapped before he could flame out. "Mel!"

Her fingers flashed, and Barbas froze, his body wriggling as if struggling against invisible bonds.

"Wyatt, he's all yours," I said calmly, and just as Barbas wormed his way free, a cascade of exploding orbs crashed into him, and his body vanished in a massive explosion.

"Think he's gone?" Mel asked uncertainly.

"Not according to the book," I answered, turning around to go check on Mom. "Barbas can't be killed so long as there is still fear in the world. All you can do is destroy his body. He'll be back."

"Not if he knows what's good for him," Wyatt put in, following behind me. "How are they?"

"Fine, now," I said, rolling Mom over onto her back. "I think Barbas' trap dissolved when he died. They'll be awake soon."

"And we probably don't want to be here when they wake up," Mel pointed out. Wyatt and I heartily agreed, and the three of us quickly orbed back to the kitchen.

"Shouldn't we be back in our rooms?" Wyatt asked as I pulled three glasses out of a cabinet and began pouring us all drinks.

"Mom and the Aunts won't be awake for at least a few more minutes," I explained calmly. "Then they've got to figure out what happened to them, and will probably spend a decent amount of time trying to find out what happened to Barbas. I figure we've got about a half-hour to kill."

My siblings accepted my logic, mostly out of relief and exhaustion I think, and settled down at small round table in the kitchen. The sighs of relief and weariness were audible from everyone, even me, and for a long moment, we all just sat there, enjoying the peace and quiet.

"So Chris," Mel said finally, turning to me as she sipped her drink. "Your greatest fear is that you can't live up to your future self? How do you figure?"

"It's…hard to explain." I grinned sheepishly. "It's just…I saved the world before I was even born. My parents got to know me, and they loved me. But that guy, he's not me. I grew up hearing stories about Chris, and how he was so dedicated, and loyal, and how selfless he was to travel back in time and give his life to try and save the world. My parents loved that Chris, and lately every time they look at me, it feels like they're seeing future Chris, not me. It's like they're trying to force me into a mold I don't think I fit."

"How do you think I feel," Wyatt muttered, taking a gulp from his own drink. "I'm the freaking 'Chosen One'."

"Yeah, but you've got the powers to back it up," I answered. "And we all knew we were going to fight demons and save people when we grew up. I'm not complaining about being forced into the job, I'm worried that everyone expects me to grow up into someone I'm not."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Mel said, smiling. "Mom and Dad love you for who you are, not who you were. The other Chris just showed them your potential. Now it's up to you to show them who you really are."

"Thanks Mel," I said with grin, before turning to Wyatt. "And you! Your greatest fear is turning evil? How arrogant is that?"

"Hey, I'm the reason that Future You had to come back at all!" Wyatt countered. "I've got all this power, and I KNOW what could happen if I use it for the wrong reasons. I'm a risk to the whole world if I go bad."

"Relax," Mel replied with a chuckle. "If you go all dark and spikey, I'll just kick you in the back of the head again. Worked pretty well this time."

"How did that work again?" Wyatt asked. "My shield can block orbs, I'm sure of it."

"Not after the beating we gave it," I pointed out. "That was a lot of firepower we threw at it. It probably didn't have the strength to stop something a small as orbs."

"Point, point," Wyatt agreed. "Still, it's nice to know that if I ever go bad, there'll be someone who has a chance of taking me down."

"A chance?" Mel sputtered at him with mock rage. "A chance? Buddy, you even think about going evil and I will unscrew your head and shove it down your neck."

"Thanks sis," Wyatt said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"What are siblings for?" she asked serenely.

"And thanks for letting me out," I put in. "If you hadn't, well…I'd rather not think about it."

"Hey, you know what they say," Mel stated wryly. "'The Power of Three will set you free.'"

We all broke out into gales of laughter that only subsided when Wyatt laughed so hard he fell off his chair. Mel lay with her head on the table, tears streaming out of her eyes and soft hiccups coming from her mouth. Okay, I admit, it's not that funny in retrospect, but we were so giddy at still being alive and having gotten away with it, we didn't even care.

"Well, probably time for us to be getting back up to our rooms, before Mom comes back and we're really grounded," I said, rinsing out my glass and putting it in the dishwasher. "Coming, Wyatt?"

"Right behind you," he chimed, putting his own glass away and following me out into the hall.

"…oh crap," I exclaimed quietly as I saw who was waiting for us there. Mom was sitting in one of the chairs, an expression of barely contained wrath on her face as she glared at us. Dad stood behind her, his hands on the back of her chair, an equally stern look on his face. Mom looked at me and held up the broken remains of a potion vial, which she waggled silently in the air to underscore her point.

"Double crap," Wyatt muttered behind me.

What followed was quite painful, so I'll spare you the drama. Suffice to say that when the smoke cleared, one of the lamps in the living room would never be the same again, and all three of us were grounded for the rest of the month. The only reason Mom stopped yelling was because she eventually lost her voice, and Dad had to guide her back to their room so she could go lay down.

"Your mother was right," Dad said to me as he finished placing the crystal in front of the door. "What you did was reckless, dangerous, and placed both of your siblings in danger."

Then he smiled at me.

"It was also the right thing to do," he continued. "Don't worry about your mom. She knew this was going to happen eventually, and once she gets over the heart attack you all gave her, she'll see that it was all for the best."

"So I'm NOT grounded?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, you're grounded," Dad replied. "You broke the rules, now you have to live with the consequences. But you broke the rules for the right reasons, and I'm very proud of all of you."

He smiled at me again, and I realized for the first time that he was smiling at me. He was proud of me. Not 'Chosen One' Wyatt, or at little baby Mel who could do no wrong (until now, and BOY was Mom mad when she found out we let our sister come along). Me. He was proud of me. What I had done. Not what some future version of me, but the real me.

I turned away quickly so Dad wouldn't see my eyes begin to water. By the time I turned around again, he had already started walking down the hall, humming a little tune to himself. It took me a moment to realize that when he left, his foot had kicked the crystal outside my door, breaking the ring. It could have just been an accident, but I remembered that smile...

My own lips began to curl up as I noticed that the crystals outside Mel and Wyatt's doors had also been accidentally nudged out of place. I saw a familiar blue glow suddenly appear from their rooms, and I grinned from ear to ear. And then the world dissolved into light.