I'm really sorry about the delay, but things have been crazy lately. Dad's pretty sick from the chemo, and he's been hospitalized with a bloodclot in his neck. Writing is a great way for me to de-stress, it's just finding the time to type that I can't do. Anyways, thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming, they are my motivation!

sam jay: Eh, interesting theory, but Ryan's his own being, he's just supposed to have a lot of things in common with Chris, it's a form of irony, which will make sense later. Don't rule AUs though 'cuz they may come into play later evil grin

Disclaimer: If I owned Charmed, then this wouldn't be fanfic would it? No, it would be the script for season 30 or something. Lol.

Warning: Sorry I forgot to mention this before, but this is rated T for language and violence. I don't think it'll ever get worse than the actual show though, so use your discretion.

As Good as Dead

"I'll see you later honey," Leo said, giving Piper a quick kiss after putting his dishes away. "Oh," he added, "Could you get Wyatt to come see me after breakfast, I need his help." As soon as he finished, he orbed away to his office.

For a few minutes, Piper sat lost in thought, neglecting her food.

"Good morning Mother." Wyatt said cooly as he entered the kitchen and began digging around in the cabinet for his favorite cereal.

"Hi, sweetie." Piper said distractedly.

"Oh my," Wyatt snorted, "I think she actually heard me!"

"Oh stop it!" Piper snapped, "Your acting like your brother!You know I had other things to worry about last night!"

"Speaking of which," he countered, "I wanna know exactly what's going on."

His mother shook her head, saying "Well I'd love to tell you, but your brother is the only one who knows and we're not waking him up. I doubt he got very much sleep last night".

"What's that Mom? I can't hear you." Wyatt shouted with an evil grin, before disappearing in a swirl of very mischievous orbs.

"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell!" the oldest Charmed One shouted at the ceiling, "You better not have orbed where I think you did!"

Shouts from upstairs and a nasty thud confirmed her suspicions. A moment later, Wyatt came flying, literally, down the stairs.

"Ow!" he said crashing into the floor at the foot of the stairs. "Mom!" he whined, "Chris just chucked me down the stairs! Aren't you even the least bit concerned?"

"Not if your still able to whine," Piper wryly, before taking a sip of coffee, "I told you we were letting him sleep".

"Jerk." Chris muttered, descending the stairs and stepping over his brother on his way to the kitchen.

"Good morning Chris," Piper said with obvious tension in her voice, "Get any sleep?"

"Not if I can help it," Wyatt said, as he and his brother sat down at the table, one returning to a previously abandoned bowl, the other having only a glass of orange juice.

With an annoyed upward flick of Chris' hand, Wyatt's cereal geysered into his face.

"Chris!" Piper scolded, "Just ignore him. I do it all the time."

"Oh thanks mom," Wyatt said, milk dripping from his chin.

"And there's less of a mess to clean up," she said, scowling at the mess Wyatt's dripping was making on the table.

"I'm sorry, I can't ignore him, it's just too funny," Chris snickered, earning a glare from his older brother. Much of the look's intimidating quality was lost due to the Fruit Loops stuck to Wyatt's face.

"Anyways," Piper said, "As soon as you finish eating your father wants to see you at Magic School Wyatt. And Chris, you really should go back to bed, I know you couldn't have gotten enough sleep last night."

"Mom, I'm fine. Besides I need to-" Chris​? Said a quiet voice in his head. "-Get my head checked out 'cause I'm hearing things," he finished a moment later.

Chris! The voice sounded panicked now. Help! Chris could feel the terror, and he stood up saying, "I have to go." Focusing on his charge, Chris orbed out of his kitchen and into a cave, leaving his mother and brother staring blankly.

"Umm, ok, his charge must've called him." Wyatt said, wiping his face with a towel.

"What if it's a trap? Come on, after him!" Piper exclaimed, slapping Wyatt's arm and then grabbing it.

Wrestling free from her grip, He stepped aside and said "Mom, chill. If he needed any help he'd call me. Now what did Dad want?"

Still looking anxious, Piper replied "I don't know. Go see. But if you hear so much as a whisper from your brother you orb to him that instant or you'll finally be a real whitelighter."

"Love you too Mom," Wyatt quipped, rolling his eyes and orbing out of the room.

Piper bustled about the kitchen, tidying up after the boys, and had almost convinced herself to call Wyatt back and make him find Chris when Paige came running down the stairs.

"Piper!" she said breathlessly, "The same clan that came after Wyatt attacked us again. Phoebe found them in the Book of Shadows, I think we should take care of them before they get one of us."

"Yeah yeah, I'm getting tired of them too. Fine, let's go." with that the sisters walked up the stairs to get Phoebe. The Power of Three was starting to get collectively pissed with a very unlucky demonic clan.


Darkness surrounded him, he couldn't see a thing. Where on Earth were they? "Ryan?" he whispered into the endless shadow, "Ryan are you here?" Maybe his orbing had been off, he hadn't really had time to build a witch-whitelighter bond. He felt air rush by him, followed by a metallic clanging behind him.

Kneeling down, he felt hard earth beneath him. He tried to improvise a spell.

"Give me the sight

to see without light,

reveal the night,

remove the shadow's blight!"

Rocky walls appeared around him. He could see a dim figure standing up head of him. But it was hazy. His new sight wasn't perfect. The figure raised something, pointing it at Chris. A crossbow. Chris rolled to the floor just as another arrow flew into the wall behind him, making another clang. Not possessing night vision, the darklighter was aiming for the sound of Chris's voice.

Careful to move quietly, Chris crawled forward, looking for his charge. He found him huddled against a side wall only a few feet away from the darklighter, who stood unmoving. Listening.

Waving his arm sharply, Chris sent the two fired arrows flying back to their owner,who collapsed to his knees, gasping in pain, before briefly illuminating the room in a column of flames.

"Hey," Chris said, tapping Ryan on the back, "You okay?"

Ryan didn't stir to answer him. He felt his hand brush against the shaft of an arrow.

Feeling sick, he grabbed Ryan and orbed home.


"Wyatt!" Chris practically screamed, as he orbed into the attic. "Wyatt! Help!" He used a mixture of telekinesis and physical strength to lift his unconscious charge onto the battered couch, laying him on his stomach since the arrow was protruding from his back.

When no brother materialized, he started screaming for his dad. Then his Aunt Paige. When they didn't come, he yelled for his mother, for anyone, his voice getting shakier with each name. He wanted to go search the house, surely they couldn't all be gone, but was too scared to leave Ryan alone.

Then he noticed that he couldn't sense any of them. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't heal. His family was missing. Ryan hadn't even been Chris' charge for a day and he was already as good as dead.


Yes, I know it's evil, but it seemed like a good stopping point. If all goes well, I might get to add another chapter today though crosses fingers

Oh, and Ryan doesn't have whitelighter blood, he's just dying from injury. You try getting shot in the back with a crossbow and tell me how it works out for you.