Hi everyone, this is my first charmedfic, so please don't be too mean! (I'm even open to flames...anything helps!)
This is basically an AU of the changed future, so traditionalists hit the back button now.
Here's a brief setup: Chris and Wyatt are 16 and 18, respectively.
Leo is headmaster of Magic School (He was killed in a demon attack but was allowed to become an earth-bound Elder of sorts, effectively and ironically replacing Gideon). Paige is a professor there...sorry, I just liked that idea best..
This story is somewhat Chriscentric, in the sense that he is the main character, but you see much less of him than I'd orginally intended...
Summary:16 year old Chris gets a new charge with enough secrets to put even Future Chris to shame. Speaking of him, he may have changed a future, but he didn't change all of them. As evil threatens to finally overwhelm good, secrets are revealed and loyalties called into question.
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Charmed or any related properties.
Now without further ado, the first chapter! Hope you enjoy.
The Midnight Jingle
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Chris sat bolt-upright in his bed, green eyes searching the darkness of his room for whatever had woken him. A head-splitting jingle. Stupid Elders. His mom would freak if she found out he'd left the house in the middle of the night, but he orbed to the Bridge anyway, still in his night clothes. They would just jingle him until his head split open and his brain oozed out if he ignored them. The Elder Sandra was there waiting for him, and she greeted him warmly, for an Elder at least, upon his arrival. "Blessed be Christopher," she said with a smile.
Grouchy at being woken and also because the night-chilled metal of the bridge was freezing his bare feet, Chris snapped "What do you guys want? Can't it wait until morning?"
The Elder gave him a serious look and replied "No, I'm afraid not. You have a new charge, a witch about your age, and we've learned that demons are planning to attack him at midnight. We aren't sure why, but the demons seem every bit as eager to get to him as they were Wyatt, so you see why he needs more protection than an ordinary whitelighter can offer."
With a reluctant sigh, Chris agreed "Fine, that they want him is a good enough reason to protect him. What's his power?"
Sandra shook her head, saying "We don't know".
Suspecting that there was another reason why this guy was being assigned a witchlighter, Chris asked "Does he even know he's a witch?"
Smiling at Chris's apprehension at the thought of having to be a teacher, Sandra laughed, actually laughed, "Don't worry Christopher, he knows all about witches and whitelighters. In fact-" She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening in surprise. "The attack has come early!" she shouted, " He needs you now!" There was a distinct note of panic in her voice. "Go!" she said, waving a hand, and Chris felt himself being orbed. "Good luck," she whispered as his orbs ascended into the night sky , speeding toward a young witch who was probably already desperately struggling for his life. Equally worried about both boys, she herself didn't think the Halliwell lad was old enough for a charge, she left the Earth to rejoin her fellow Elders, her problems following her heaven bound orb trail.
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With a thud Chris solidified just outside a white two story house, and judging from all the surrounding forest, they were miles from a city. A bright flash in his peripheral vision drew his attention. He turned just in time to see a darklighter erupting in the familiar flames of a vanquish. A startled looking teen looked toward him. Apparently, he hadn't seen Chris orb in, because he raised a hand and sent a jet of flame blazing towards Chris. Orbing out of they way just in time, Chris reappeared next to his new charge. The guy blinked in confusion, and Chris shook his still outstretched hand, saying, "Hi, names Chris, mind not doing that again?"
"You orbed here in your pajamas?" asked the boy, realizing he must be speaking to his new whitelighter.
"Yeah, well you picked a bad time to be in mortal danger."
He grinned apologetically. "My name's Ryan, sorry about trying to roast you."
Before Chris could reply, a darklighter appeared in a flurry of black orbs. He raised his crossbow and fired a quick shot before Ryan had time to react. Chris flicked his wrist at the arrow, and it reversed directions and went spinning sideways out of the air, surprising both Ryan and the darklighter. The demon didn't waste any time, and immediately fired another arrow, which Chris also sent spiraling off harmlessly into the night. This time Ryan was ready, he sent a stream of fire straight at the darklighter. His screams echoed through the night as he was destroyed.
"Umm..." Ryan began to ask, but Chris cut him off, saying "We need to get you somewhere safe first, in case any more show up, then you can ask questions." Stepping closer to Ryan, Chris said "What were you doing out here anyway?"
"Well, Sandra told me that demons would probably come after me tonight, so I figured I'd better get out here where they couldn't hurt anybody".
Raising an eyebrow at his apparent first name basis with an Elder, Chris placed a hand on his shoulder and they orbed away.
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Piper Halliwell sat her coffee mug down on the table next to the Book, and began flipping through the ancient pages. Normally, she wouldn't be in the attic in the middle of the night, but for some reason she couldn't sleep. Never one to waste time, she'd decided to search the Book again for the demons that had come after Wyatt last week. Suddenly, she saw blue lights dancing across the pages. The sound of orbing told her that the lights weren't just from lack of sleep. It also told her that someone was probably about to be busted for getting a late night peek at the Book of Shadows. She looked up, startled, and found Chris standing in the attic with a teenager she'd never seen before , wearing all black no less.
Thinking that Chris must've been forced to orb the demon to the Book, Piper shouted,
"Duck Chris! I'll blow him up!"
Chris quickly held up his hands placatingly, saying "No mom! He's my charge!"
Ryan wasn't getting this any more than Piper was.
"Wait," he said, "How do you have a mom, aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Eyes widening, Piper shouted "What! Dead ? Okay, I'm definitely blowing you up, move Chris"
Getting frustrated, Chris stepped in front of Ryan, blocking him from Piper. Just in case. "Mom you can't blow him up! I told you he was my charge! Jeez."
"Your too young to have a charge!" Piper retorted.
Sighing, Chris waved a hand at a chair sitting in a corner, making it slide forward and halt next to Ryan. "Please, Ryan, have a seat," he said. Looking very confused, and wary of Piper, Ryan complied.
Walking over to his mother, the young witchlighter said "Mom please, he just got attacked by a bunch of darklighters and your probably scaring him more than they did".
Piper noticed how this kid, Ryan, Chris has called him, was sitting. A humble shoulders-slumped posture, and his eyes were deliberately avoiding her own. He noticed her watching him, and stared at the floor, self consciously brushing a lock of hair from his blue eyes. She knew this was probably scary for him.
Feeling guilty, she sighed, saying, "Chris is right, I'm sorry Ryan. It's just you can never be too careful in this house."
He looked up shyly and she could tell from his eyes that he was indeed nervous. She also felt like he was hiding something, and it made her uneasy. He had that same closed look that the future iteration of her son had so perfectly mastered. He was too young to have that look. He couldn't be any older than Chris, they were the around the same height and build. They even had somewhat similar hair, both being dark brown and relatively short. Except Ryan's was long enough in the front for him to hide behind it.
"It's ok." he mumbled, before returning his gaze to the floor.
What happened to him? Chris wondered. He didn't even blink at a darklighter's arrow but Mom is intimidating him? "Okay," Chris said, wanting to break the awkward silence. "Now that we're safe, ask away".
Obviously glad to shift the attention away from himself, Ryan asked "Okay, how do you have a family... and whatever it was that you did to those arrows?"
"Well," Chris began to answer, sitting down in the chair next to his mother, "I'm not a real whitelighter. My dad is-was one, but Mom here is a witch. So I'm half witch, which is why I'm telekinetic." Chris vaguely wondered Ryan was trying to cover up his look of surprise. It's not like half-breeds like him were common. Well, thanks to the Halliwells they were starting to be, but still.
Just then a number of demons shimmered into the room, each readying a fireball to throw.
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So what do you think? Should I continue? I know it's short but it's sort of a trial run. There's actually about three chapters worth of stuff written but it's hard enough for me to get ahold of a computer so I'm not typing unless I know someone will actually read it! Please review!
Sorrow