Wyatt's Worst Memory
I don't own Charmed. I got this story in my head at work today and decided to write it while it's still fresh.
Twelve-year-old Wyatt Halliwell stared at the vile the older students from magic school had given him. All his life, he'd felt as though there was something about himself and his younger brother that his family wasn't telling him. The Charmed Ones had always been very protective of their children, but it always seemed to be a life and death situation if Chris got so much as a paper cut or if Wyatt spoke to anyone who had the slightest possiblilty of being evil. Piper and Leo didn't seem to worry quite as much about their daughter Melinda. They'd once given the excuse that Melinda wasn't part White lighter, therefore wasn't in danger from Dark lighters. That excuse did little to explain things for Wyatt. After all, most of the demons that attacked weren't Dark lighters, and Wyatt and Chris could simply orb away. Melinda couldn't. Aunt Paige's children Henry Jr. Lizzy, and Annie were also part White lighter, but the family didn't shield them quite like they shielded Wyatt and Chris.
"You shouldn't take that, Wyatt," said Chris as he flipped though the pages as a book about creatures of the enchanted forest Aunt Paige had given him last Christmas.
"What could it hurt?" asked Wyatt.
"It could hurt you. How do you know the older kids weren't playing a mean trick on you. Aunt Paige said older kids like to play tricks on younger kids."
"They wouldn't on us. Dad's the headmaster." Chris bit his lip.
"Maybe you should ask him if it's safe," Chris suggested.
"No way. He won't let me take it even if it is safe."
"Why?"
"Because he and Mommy don't want us to know."
"Know what?"
"That's what I'm going to find out. Promise me you won't tell anyone, Chris."
"But what if you get hurt?"
"Look, if something goes wrong you can go get Mom and Dad, just keep quiet till then. You promise?"
Chris stared nervously at a picture of a Unicorn before slowly nodding his head. "I promise," he whispered. Wyatt smiled reassuringly at Chris, uncorked the potion and drank it. His vision became clouded. The next thing he knew, he was in a playpen in the attic. A tall brown haired man stood at the podium flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows.
For some very strange reason, Wyatt felt nothing but happiness and content. He didn't have a care in the world. But the happiness wasn't real. It was just...empty as though he was under some sort of powerful spell. He heard a floor board creak. He should have been scared about it, but felt nothing but empty happiness. The tall brown-haired man looked up. "Hello?" he said. He walked over to Wyatt's playpen and looked around anxiously. "Okay, let's get you out of here," he said. Suddenly he was thrown across the room.
An older man with a beard appeared out of thin air. The tall brown-haired man telekenetically threw the older man across the room. Wyatt was still unphased and in complete empty contentment. An Athame appeared in the older man's hand. As the tall brown-haired man ran toward Wyatt, the older man disappeared and reappeared in front of him, stabbing him with the Athame. The tall brown haired man called "Dad" and fell to the floor in pain. The older man walked over to Wyatt and picked him up. Wyatt still felt nothing but empty content.
"Let him go, you bastard!" the tall brown-haired man gasped. Then Daddy orbed in.
"Chris! Oh God!" he said kneeling next to 'Chris'.
"Wyatt!...Wyatt," he said weakly. Daddy looked up at Wyatt and the older man.
"I'm sorry, Leo, but this is for the greater good."
Wyatt's vision suddenly went foggy again. He was orbing around the underworld, playing a game of hide and seek with the two stupid men trying to find him. Suddenly he heard Daddy calling him. Hooray! Then without warning he was trapped in a Chrystal cage. The stupid old man had tricked him. No Fair! He called out to the really annoying old man who couldn't say more than three words at a time. Beardy handed an athame to non-beardy, who stabbed him.
"Why?"
Non-beardy turned into Daddy. "Because, you murdered my son!" Daddy sent the man flying across the cave. "I'll be right back," he said to Wyatt. The next few minutes were a blur. Daddy shot lightening bolts at the old man, who eventually turned to dust.
"Wyatt! Wyatt! Wake up, please!" Chris begged. Wyatt jerked awake, accidently throwing his brother across the room. Chris hit the wall hard and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Wyatt's hands flew to his mouth.
"I so sorry, Chris, I didn't mean to!" He ran to his brother's side and helped him up.
"It's okay, Wyatt, I'm fine," Chris tried to reassure him. Wyatt noticed the cut on his brother's head.
"Here, let me heal you." Wyatt's hands emitted the familiar warn glow and the cut on Chris' head disappeared.
"What did you see?" Chris asked.
"I'm not sure." Wyatt replied sitting on his bed and scratching his nose absent-mindedly. Chris sat Indian style on his own bed and patiently waited for Wyatt to continue. "I think we had another brother. He was and adult and I was a baby. He got hurt and called out 'Dad!' and our dad orbed in. He looked really upset. Then I was in the underworld with the man who had stabbed our brother. Some really annoying old guy was there and he turned into Dad and stabbed the man. He said 'you murdered my son!"
"How could be have a brother who was an adult when you were a baby? Mommy isn't that old."
"No, but Dad is. I mean he was a White lighter for sixty years. And I think he was married before. It's possible he had another son, isn't it?"
"I guess so. But why wouldn't Mom and Dad tell us something as important as that?"
"Why don't they tell us a lot of things?" Wyatt tapped his finger on his chin thoughtfully. "C'mon Chris, let's ask them.." Wyatt hopped off his bed and headed for the door. Chris watch him, eyebrows raised in a confused manner. "Are you coming?" Chris sighed, nodded and slid off his bed to follow his brother.
Piper leaned against her husband's shoulder as they sat curled up on the couch catching the local news.
"Tired?" asked Leo.
"Hmmm," Piper replied. "But I'm not complaining. I wanted a restraunt, I've got one and everything that goes with it, including the constant hustle. Are the kids in bed?"
"The boys are. Melinda's spending the night at Phoebe's."
"We need to ask you something very important," said Wyatt. Piper and Leo looked up to see Wyatt standing beside the couch with Chris.
"What's wrong?" asked Leo in a worried voice.
"Why didn't you tell us we had another brother?" asked Wyatt. The color drained from the faces of the adults. Their eyes shifted to their younger son who looked nervously at his feet. "C'mon you guys. Tell me what's going on, I'm mature enough!" Wyatt insisted.
"Chris, sweetie, why don't you go back to bed," Piper suggested. Wyatt put his arm around Chris as stared defiantly at his parents.
"Chris is mature enough too! I just saw a vision of a man named Chris getting stabbed in the attic. He called for his dad and you orbed in and tried to heal him," Wyatt continued as he pointed at Leo, who buried his face in his hands. "No offense, Dad, but you are pretty old and it's possible you had other kids. Did you name Chris after him or something?" Leo looked up from his hands. His eyes were filled with tears. "I saw you stabbed the man who killed Chris and you said it was because he'd murdered your son." Piper put her hand gently on Leo's shoulder and glanced sadly at her sons. "Look, it's obvious you're hiding something, so tell us!"
Piper and Leo exchanged anxious looks. "We knew this day was going to come," said Leo.
"You two had better sit down," said Piper moving away from Leo to make room for her sons to sit between them on the couch. "This is a very long story." Wyatt and Chris took their seat. Piper wrapped her arms protectively around Wyatt and Leo pulled Chris into a tight hug.
"Why didn't I help him?" asked Wyatt.
"What do you mean, Honey?" asked Piper.
"The man who stabbed the other Chris. I'm not trying to brag, but I could have stopped him, but I just sat there feeling silly."
"Wyatt, the whole world was under a spell that day, it wasn't your fault. It was Gideon, not you," said Leo as he tightened his grip on to Chris.
"Daddy, you're squishing me," said Chris.
"Sorry, Buddy," said Leo rubbing Chris' arm.
"Who was Gideon," asked Wyatt. "And who was...the other Chris?"
"Gideon," Leo spoke the name with disdain. "Was once a very good man. But in his obsession to protect what he considered to be the greater good, he killed a lot of people and threw the whole world out of balance."
"Why did he do that?" asked Chris. "Killing people doesn't help the greater good."
Piper smiled fondly at her younger so, reached over and lightly tapped his nose.
"Eight years old and already smarter than an Elder."
"He was an Elder?" asked Wyatt. "I know the Elders can be messed up sometimes but that's ridiculous."
"Gideon stopped being an Elder when he tried to kill you, Wyatt," said Leo.
"Why did he try to kill me?"
"He was afraid of your power," Leo answered reluctantly. "He thought...he thought that you all the power you had would turn you evil."
"But Wyatt's power comes from being Charmed and Whitelighters," said Chris. "Those are good powers, how could they turn him evil?"
"You're right, Chris, Wyatt's powers couldn't turn him evil, but someone kidnapping him and...spending months trying to-to kill him...Well that could certainly traumatize him..."
"What!?" said Wyatt. "I don't understand."
"It's okay, Wyatt. You're not evil," Piper began rocking Wyatt back and forth. "You're not evil. You're not evil. You're not evil." she whispered.
"Mom, you're scaring me," said Wyatt. "What happened to me that day?"
"Nothing happened to you Wyatt. We were able to stop Gideon from hurting you thanks to your brother," said Piper.
"The guy you named me after?" asked Chris.
"We didn't exactly name you after him, Peanut," said Piper.
"Do I have a different middle name or something?"
"No Chris, you see you and Wyatt never had another brother. That Chris Wyatt saw, well he was you from the future," said Leo. "You came back to save Wyatt."
"And he died because of me," said Wyatt with self-loathing in his voice.
"No, Wyatt, it was because of Gideon," said Piper firmly. "He was trying to hurt you."
"So, either I have to get hurt or Chris has to die, is that it?"
"Chris isn't going to die, Wyatt. Your mother and I won't let that happen," said Leo.
"No I'm the only one who let's that happen," said Wyatt, tears running down his face.
"Wyatt, I told you, you were under a spell. It wasn't your fault."
"It wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for me."
"Wyatt, please, you can't think like that," said Piper hugging him tightly. Wyatt orbed out of her arms and re-materialized near the stairs.
"Wyatt--" Chris began, but Wyatt help out his hand.
"Stay away from me, Chris. You're gonna get yourself hurt."
"No I won't," said Chris earnestly taking another step toward Wyatt.
"I said STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Wyatt screamed. Chris stopped in his tracks and started to cry. Wyatt stared at him for a moment and ran up stairs.