Title: The Troubled Sea

Author: KaliaMa'yir

Disclaimer: Charmed is sadly not mine

Synopsis: Wyatt Halliwell was a perfectly normal teenage boy... or he would be if it weren't for a strange prophecy, a magic sword, a younger brother who was perfectly insane, and a slight propensity for falling prey to all forms of evil and taking over the world...

but other than that...

Author's Note: I should probably mention that any knowledge I have of American high schools (and America in general)has been garnered mostly from various forms of television... so please don't lynch me if it sounds ridiculous... but do tell me! so that I can remedy said ridiculousness.

A/N 2: Much of the backstory for this pseudo-story exists only in my head (although I do intend to get it down on paper or er- type at some point in the future) so unless you have all developed telepathy in preparation... no? nobody? oh well it was worth a shot... I should probably mention that in this little universe both Wyatt and Chris retain their memories of the preceding timeline (for which there is a very excellent reason... which again lives only in my head for the time being) AND since I never actually read season nine of charmed (and I wasn't a big fan of the whole prophecy revoking thing... I wanted Wyatt to have to deal with that at some point) as far as this story is concerned much of it never happened.

Chapter One: Normal with a Hint of Deranged

Wyatt Matthew Halliwell was just your average American teenage boy. He played sports, went to high school, got

good grades. He got along with practically everybody; as popular with math nerds as he was with jocks and; well

he was very popular with the cheerleaders, being a pretty good-looking average American teenager. He

was the kind of guy that everybody just felt that they knew even though they might have only just met him. Of

course Wyatt did have his little secrets. Didn't everybody? Like there was the small matter of him being a witch... the

magical kind. The kind with actual magical powers. And of course he wasn't just any old magical witch he was a

Halliwell, the son of one of the fabled(in the magical not the mortal world of course) Charmed Ones. And then

obviously there was that whole Prophecy of the Twice-Blessed thing. And the thing where he was destined to be

"one of the most powerful witches ever to walk the earth" and magic had disappeared on the day of his birth to

prepare for his awesome power blah blah blah. He preferred not to focus on that stuff though. It made him a little uncomfortable.

Actually in all honesty it made him really uncomfortable. Especially in light of the other little secrets he was keeping not just from his friends

at school but this he had kept from his parents too. Which in turn made him even more uncomfortable. Wyatt hated

keeping secrets, he really did. He kept the secret of his powers from most of the world because he had to, and also

because it was much easier to keep secrets from strangers than from family. He was a Halliwell. He had been

brought up to believe that keeping secrets from his family was one of the most dangerous things there was. But he

just couldn't tell this one. He couldn't. He didn't even like to think about it too much. It was weird enough having

two completely different sets of memories, but when the memories of that other life involved what they did...

Chris had them too, the other memories. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it

was good to be able to talk about them with someone who understood what it was like to feel like two different people.

But lately the memories had changed. They'd always been bad. It seemed a lot of bad things had happened to

them in that other life. Had almost happened to them in this life. But just lately they weren't about bad things

happening to them. They were about the bad things that Wyatt had done. Horrible things, he'd killed people. And it

was worse too. He didn't know if Chris knew that yet. The worse things were still in his mind but if that Wyatt was

anything like him they wouldn't stay there for long. That Wyatt had plans. The world takeover kind. And not the

comical "Binky and the Brain" kind. The evil burning, killing, destroying kind. And they weren't idle plans, he was

going to go through with it, he knew it. And Chris would know it too, that was what scared him most. He could keep

these things from his parents, although as it had turned out they knew basically what had happened. Some time

ago Chris had actually asked them about the other memories although he hadn't told them that Wyatt had them

too. They hadn't seemed surprised that Chris remembered, they'd told him basically what they knew, about the

other Chris from the future and the whole Wyatt took over the world thing. But they hadn't elaborated on that and

he figured the other Chris probably hadn't gone into all of the gory details. But Chris would know them. And how

would he look at him then? It was one thing to hear that in another life that didn't happen Wyatt took over the

world, but to actually see it, know it, remember it as if it had happened? He knew that was different.

He didn't want it to be different. He and Chris had always been close. Closer than most brothers, although they did

fight all of the time it never lasted long before they were back to being best friends again. He didn't want to lose

that.

Especially in light of what was coming, because the other time line wasn't the only one heading towards a

dangerous place, he thought recalling the real reason he was sitting by this lake obsessing. He'd only been here

once or twice before; years ago when his mother had told them about Excalibur. His "birthright" apparently. Because

obviously being a witch and a whitelighter and a Halliwell and "one of the most powerful witches ever to walk the

earth" and having memories of another time line where horrible things had happened wasn't quite enough to set

him apart. Oh no, he was the "rightful owner" of Excalibur too. He knew most teenage boys would be excited to find

out they were the rightful owner of a powerful magical sword. And he wasn't any different really, he would have

been excited, he had been when he'd first been told. But that was before the other stuff had started getting to him.

And it was before he realised what he was capable of.

He turned eighteen in a couple of weeks. The age when he could rightfully take the sword and proclaim himself king

of magic-land or something... and however huge that would have been before, and it was scary-huge. Now it just

seemed terrifying. How could he be trusted with that much power? Especially in light of what he had done (or would

do) in the other time line.

This was the lake where it had all started. Well not where it had all started, it wasn't the original lake. That one was,

presumably, in England somewhere. But it was the lake where the sword had been passed from the previous Lady

of the Lake to his mother. Who had also been driven temporarily crazy by the power of the sword. How could he be

trusted when his own mother, who was probably the strongest most stable person he'd ever met, hadn't been able

to handle it. He'd asked his parents that but all they'd said was that it would be different for him. That the sword

was meant for him, whatever that meant. But they didn't know what he knew. They didn't know what he'd been

planning for it last time. Chris did. Or at least he knew enough, and knowing Chris he'd probably known more than

he let on of what was going through that Wyatt's mind.

And Chris was behaving strangely lately too. It wasn't that he was avoiding him per se, but Wyatt couldn't quite

shake the feeling that his brother wasn't exactly acting like himself around him. And there was definite concern in

his eyes whenever he looked at the sword. Of course he could just be being paranoid, seeing what he expected to

see, but he didn't think he was.

The sound of somebody orbing in behind him interrupted his thoughts but he didn't turn around. He knew who it

was.

"thought you might be here" said Chris, moving around the boulder to sit beside him. He didn't really know what to

say to that, it wasn't a question or anything.

"You okay?" he asked, Wyatt shrugged

"not really" he said with a sigh, he wanted to elaborate but he wasn't sure where to begin. It just felt as if

everything was spiraling out of his control. And he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to

happen. He didn't want that sword, and he didn't know how to get rid of it.

"So what's bothering you more?" asked Chris in a voice that was entirely too cheerful "The fact that the sword is

known for driving people crazy or the fact that in another time line you had big world-takeover plans for it?" Wyatt

glared at him but Chris just smiled back cheerfully. Typical Chris, no beating around the bush, just straight in for the

kill. He didn't really know, everything was bothering him at the moment, it was all bad.

"so you knew about that then"

"well duh" said Chris shooting him a look "are you under the impression that you're subtle or something?" Wyatt

chose to ignore this

"what do you think I should do?" he asked. The smile faded from Chris' face and he looked at him seriously "don't

ask me that" he said shaking his head

"why not?" asked Wyatt curiously

"because it's not my call" said his brother firmly, looking straight at him "it's just not"

"I'm not asking you to make a call" said Wyatt a little testily "I'm asking your opinion"

"Still" said Chris still with that serious look on his face "it's not an opinion I trust myself to give"

"So you don't think I should just "throw the damn thing back in the lake and have done with it" then?"

"so you remember that then" said Chris with a slight smile. Wyatt just raised an eyebrow, he didn't need to say

anything. It was one of the more recent memories, an argument they'd had right here.

"but that's exactly why I don't want to say anything, I can't trust my opinion, and nor can you."

"I don't know" he said moodily "it seems to me you had some pretty valid reasons for saying that last time"

"yeah Wyatt last time, this isn't the same thing"

"isn't it?" Chris looked amused

"Why, do you have some world domination plot up your sleeve that I don't know about?" Wyatt snorted, not

entirely sure if he found it more annoying or comforting that Chris apparently found the thought amusing. He

certainly didn't.

"no" he said "but there's a big difference between doing good and doing... well what I did. Who's to say I can be

trusted?"

"well that's kind of my point"

"What?" asked Wyatt perplexed

"the only person that can know if you can handle this is you, that's why what I think" he shrugged here "doesn't

really matter"

"okaay" he said slowly "but who's to say I can be trusted to know that?"

"I trust you" he looked up. he was a little surprised to hear that; although he wasn't sure really why, they'd always trusted each other, it

was just that lately he'd been wondering if maybe that had changed. Gratified as he was to find out that that

wasn't the case however... it wasn't the point.

"yeah but Chris I don't even know what I'm doing here, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with this stupid

thing!" he said.

Power without Purpose

said a voice in his head, like an echo, but he wasn't really sure where it came from. "How can I make a decision

when I don't even know what all of this stuff means"

"I was hoping you'd say that" said Chris grinning suddenly and grabbing Wyatt by the arm "come on"

"what the-? Where are we going?" he asked startled

"you'll see" said his brother orbing them out to god knows where