It was just one of those days.
It was one of those mornings when Chris was reminded that every single word out of his mouth was either a lie or a half-truth; when he remembered his past family didn't know or care about him; and when life in general sucked. He was used to this, but today for some reason it was really getting to him. Chris had had enough.
He orbed to the Halliwell kitchen where the sisters sat, eating dinner together.
"You want to know who I am? Fine!" he shouted. "Piper, I'm your younger son from the future. Happy now!?"
Piper had an expression of utter shock on her face, but her sisters looked disgusted.
"You seriously expect us to believe that you're her son; yet you're happy to split your own parents up?" Phoebe yelled.
"What kind of a nephew are you if you're tearing this family apart?" Paige added.
Chris backed away from them. He had not expected this reaction.
"I had no choice!" he whispered.
"There's always a choice and you took the wrong one." said Leo.
Chris whipped around to spot the Elder standing in the doorway behind him, he was holding Wyatt.
"If I don't change things Wyatt will turn evil!" Chris exclaimed.
"I've told you once already brother," said the blonde toddler in the voice of his adult self. Before Chris' very eyes the child transformed into the fully grown horror he knew far too well. "I don't need saving."
Wyatt grabbed hold of Chris and threw him into the wall. The sisters laughed all except for Piper. Her eyes were fixed on her eldest son.
"Wyatt?" she gasped.
"What mom? Have I got something on my face?"
He laughed. Then he walked forwards and thrust Excalibur through her chest.
"NO!" Chris yelled.
Wyatt stepped back with a psychotic grin on his face. Chris ran to his mother, who lay slumped on the floor. She gave him a small smile.
"I-it's okay peanut."
"Please mom! Don't go."
Her eyelids flickered and she lay still, bathing in her own pool of blood.
"It's all your fault." Leo hissed.
Chris looked at his father but the hatred the Elder felt for him couldn't have been clearer.
"But Wyatt –" Chris protested.
"How dare you blame this on him! Wyatt is everything we hoped for. You were never part of this family. Get out."
"Should I make him go, dad?" asked Wyatt.
"Go ahead son."
The young man withdrew his sword from Piper's corpse and lunged.
Chris awoke with a loud scream. For a few minutes he lay there in the darkness panting. He wondered if he was dead. Eventually he decided he should get up and work out where he was.
Chris bolted upright, banged his forehead on the shelf above and fell out of bed. Despite his headache he let out a sigh of relief. It had just been a dream.
He got to his feet and turned the light on. He walked towards the door. There was no way he was going back to sleep after that. Much to his irritation, Chris noted that his powers were acting up. The door was shaking; as his hand closed on the doorknob he realised that he was trembling in time with it.
"Pull yourself together." he muttered and opened it open.
Chris staggered over to the barstools and collapsed onto a seat. His head was pounding but he was too exhausted to do anything about it. Maybe in the morning. He wished Piper was here.