Episode(s): Chris-Crossed (6x10)/It's A Bad Bad Bad Bad World Part 2 (6x23)/Someone To Witch Over Me (7x07)/Forever Charmed (8x22)
Continuity: In Forever Charmed, future Chris makes his final appearance. For some unknown reason, he seems to have retained the memories of the future Chris of season six even though that Chris no longer exists. Starting with the events of Chris-Crossed, this one-shot hopes to present a plausible explanation.
Board To Death
2003/2004
Chris was safe from his present... for now. His fiancee had come back to the past to drag him back to their present. She had been successful until the Charmed Ones of Chris' past had figured out Chris' hidden message about fixing the squeaky floorboard in the attic. With the help of a piece of paper tucked away beneath that one floorboard for a little over twenty two years, Chris was able to regain his powers. With his powers back, Chris was able to escape his captors and return to the past where the Charmed Ones were expecting him.
Almost immediately, after dodging questions from the Charmed Ones and Leo, Chris left the attic.
The attic was in silence. No one knew what to say about the events that had just occurred. In their combined years as Charmed Ones, the three sisters had experienced a lot of time travel in varying forms. However they had never experienced anything like this before.
The silence was broken by a squeak as Piper accidentally stepped onto the loose floorboard. Piper suddenly stopped in her tracks as all eyes turned on her.
'Can we never fix that floorboard again?' asked Phoebe.
Piper narrowed her eyes in concentration. 'If we were to fix it... Then Chris would never be able to get the spell in the future that helped him to escape and get back here...'
'Exactly,' said Phoebe. 'So what happens if it were to get fixed?'
Paige groaned. 'We have to live with a squeaky floorboard for the rest of our lives?'
'We never noticed it before Chris mentioned it,' Piper pointed out.
Paige sighed. 'Yes, but now that I know it's there I will notice it more...'
October 2004
Adult Chris had died, baby Chris was born, and Gideon was finally gone. Baby Chris was going to grow up in a world where he had his older brother, his parents, and his aunts with him.
As Piper had been through an operation, she was spending a few days at the hospital with baby Chris. Leo had decided to stay by Piper and Chris' side all night long. Therefore Phoebe and Paige were alone in the manor that evening.
Phoebe was asleep in her bedroom. However she was woken up by a squeaking noise from the floor above: the attic. Suspicious of what evil could be lurking up there, Phoebe made her way up to the attic. She was surprised to find Paige there.
Paige made no response to her sister entering the attic. She was slowly pressing her foot on the loose floorboard, causing the floorboard to make the squeaky sound that had woken Phoebe up.
'Paige...' said Phoebe, worried for her baby sister.
Paige stepped off the loose floorboard and turned to Phoebe. Phoebe noticed for the first time that Paige's eyes were watery.
'Paige...' repeated Phoebe, pulling Paige into a hug.
'Phoebe... I saw Chris... I saw him die...' whispered Paige. 'I was right there while Leo cried for his dying son.'
'Paige... I know this is difficult to accept, but baby Chris is the same person. Adult Chris gave his life for both Wyatt and himself to have a good future,' Phoebe reassured Paige.
'Baby Chris is not the same though. Baby Chris did not save me from the titans, baby Chris did not try to save Wyatt, baby Chris was not a neurotic white lighter that annoyed us for months on end,' argued Paige.
'He may not have the same memories, but he will have better memories,' said Phoebe.
'Yes, but why did Chris have to die?' asked Paige.
Phoebe sighed. She had never seen Paige grieve over a family death before. Phoebe had not known Paige when her adoptive parents had died; and Paige had not known Patty, Penny, or Prue when any of them had died. Therefore, this was the first family death that Phoebe had had a chance to witness Paige mourning.
After what seemed like hours of silence in the attic, Paige finally said: 'What would happen if we removed it?'
Phoebe furrowed her brow. 'Removed it? Removed what?' Then she noticed that Paige was staring at the loose floorboard again. 'The spell?'
Paige nodded. 'If that future no longer exists, could we remove the spell from the floorboard? Surely it would not affect anything, because according to you, the Chris that came back to stop Wyatt turning evil never existed.'
Phoebe ignored Paige's spiteful tone, knowing that Paige was dealing with the loss of a family member as best as she could. Phoebe walked over to the loose floorboard, removing the board, and grabbing the spell.
'What are you doing?' asked Paige, shocked. 'Put that back in!'
'You were the one that was asking what would happen,' said Phoebe.
'I know, but I did not mean that we should actually take it out!' said Paige. 'What if we leave the attic and find that Gideon did succeed and Wyatt is evil and... Chris... He...'
'Chris died before Leo stopped Gideon...' Phoebe said, sighing.
'If that spell was not there, Chris could have died in the unchanged future,' said Paige.
Phoebe shook her head. 'This is giving me a headache! That unchanged future no longer exists! If we remove this spell it shouldn't make any difference to our current timeline!'
'How can we be sure?' asked Paige.
Phoebe took one last look at the spell that they had left for Chris before putting it back under the floor, replacing the loose floorboard to cover the spell up.
2004/2005
The concerns of his wife and sisters-in-law had led to Leo undertaking a vision quest. After taking a sip of the potion, Leo lay down on some pillows and blankets that had been set out on the attic floor for him. There was a slight squeak as his head fell onto the pillows. Someone had decided to position one of the pillows directly over the loose floorboard.
During the vision quest, Leo found himself speaking to adult Chris, except it wasn't Chris. He had the appearance of Chris, the voice of Chris, and all the memories of Chris. Except he was not Chris. The figure only knew the things that Leo knew about that Chris. He was a figment of Leo's imagination. Leo's mind was using someone he was familiar with to help him work through his thoughts.
Leo awoke from his vision quest only to be dragged back into a second one by the floating heads. He felt himself fall back to the floor, his head landing harshly on the pillow on top of the squeaky floorboard as he fell back into the slumber of a vision quest.
As Leo listened to the man - Alpha - who had appeared by the gravestone in Leo's new surroundings, Leo could not take his eyes off the gravestone. Even as Alpha began to explain about the existence of Avatars, Leo could not stop himself from thinking back to how one of adult Chris' many regrets had been that Piper had died when he was only fourteen.
Once alerted to the fact that Piper and Phoebe were in danger, Leo was pulled out of his vision quest. Leo spoke to Alpha in the attic before leaving to find his wife and sister-in-law.
Leo did not notice a faint glow being emitted from beneath the pillow... from beneath the loose floorboard.
October 2018 - Changed Future
A newly turned fourteen year old Christopher Halliwell sat in his room, scribbling in his notebook. He was in a bad mood at his mother who had told him off for accompanying Wyatt to the underworld. Accompanying had not been the word that Piper had used. Piper had used the word taking as if it had been Chris' idea and as if he was responsible for his older brother.
Chris was utterly annoyed at this. For as long as he could remember, his parents and his aunts all treated Chris like he was the responsible one. It was as if anything bad that happened was his fault. For a long while, Chris believed that this behaviour of his family members was because, to them, Wyatt was the golden child. As the golden child, Wyatt Halliwell could do no wrong in their eyes.
However, over the years, as Chris heard more and more references to the non-existent future version of himself, he had come to realise that his parents and aunts had gotten so used to the idea of their second son, Chris (a.k.a. Chris Perry from the unchanged future), keeping his eye on Wyatt, that they were unaware that they had enforced this role onto their second son, Chris (the Chris that had been allowed a normal life thanks to the time travelling antics of Chris Perry), even though Wyatt was one year and eight months older than him.
Chris had never confronted his family about this annoying factor. It had its downsides which often ended up with Chris sitting by himself in a bad mood, scribbling in his notebook, in his bedroom. However there were also some positives to it. Being the younger brother of the Twice-Blessed first born of the Charmed Ones had led to Chris having a major inferiority complex. Therefore, being treated as if he was more responsible than Wyatt gave a boost to his self esteem.
Chris laughed to himself as he continued to scribble in his notebook. I bet that other Chris never had an inferiority complex considering he was Piper and Leo's only good son.
Chris suddenly put the notebook down and stood on his feet. He furrowed his brow. He had sensed some sort of change in the atmosphere. This was strange for two reasons.
Although Wyatt and Chris were both white lighter-witches, Wyatt had always been more skilled in the white lighter area, with his white lighter powers and white lighter personality traits. Chris had always been more skilled as a witch. He had developed the same power as his late aunt Prue and his aunt Paige - the power of telekinesis. Although he had white lighter genes, Chris' telekinesis operated in the way that he had been told his late aunt Prue's power had worked.
Chris had never gotten the hang of the white lighter ability to sense. Therefore the fact that he was suddenly sensing a shift in the atmosphere was the first reason that this was strange to him.
The second reason why it was strange was because the atmosphere change seemed to have come from upstairs - the attic. Piper was downstairs preparing Chris' birthday dinner, while Leo was at magic school, and Wyatt had been called away by the Elders - although Wyatt was only fifteen, he was already training to be a white lighter. Lastly, eleven year old Melinda was still at their aunt Phoebe's house as Melinda had spent the day working on a school project with P.J. Therefore it could not possibly be a member of Chris' immediate family in the attic.
It could not be evil either, as it was impossible for evil to set foot inside the attic as the three Charmed Ones had performed a Power of Three protection spell on it. Combined with the extra powers provided by the Charmed Ones' offspring, the protection spell had been a success.
Chris opened his bedroom door and snuck across the hallway towards the attic steps. If there was someone up there, he did not want them to know that he was on his way up. Chris reached the attic door and slowly pushed it open. At first sight of the attic, it was completely empty of any life and there was nothing out of place. However, as Chris shut the door behind him and surveyed the attic for a second time, he noticed something strange coming from the attic floor.
A strange faint glow was being emitted around the edges of one of the floorboards. Slowly, Chris approached that area of floor. He knelt down in front of the source of light. Digging his fingers into the spaces of that one floorboard, Chris separated that particular floorboard from the floor. Luckily for him, that particular floorboard was already loose, so the act of separation required minimal effort.
The source of the glow had come from a small rolled up piece of paper that sat in the space beneath where the loose floorboard had been. Chris picked up the rolled up piece of paper. Although it was glowing, Chris could tell that the paper was quite yellow and worn.
I wonder how long it's been here, thought Chris.
Chris took a look around the attic to check that he was definitely alone. Once he had confirmed that he had no unwanted company, Chris unravelled the piece of paper. A blast was emitted from the piece of paper before Chris could read its contents. Chris fell onto his back, knocked out.
A few hours later, Chris found himself being shaken awake. Slowly Chris opened his eyes. He was lying down in the attic and he could not remember why. A young girl that looked so similar to Piper was still pushing against Chris' shoulder, trying to shake him awake even though his eyes were now visibly open.
'Chris! Chris!' the girl said.
'I am awake! My eyes are open!' moaned Chris, sitting up, still trying to figure out how he had gotten into that position in the first place.
'I know,' said the girl, smiling cheekily. 'Anyway, you had better get downstairs. Everyone's home and we are all waiting for you so as the celebrations can begin.'
Chris furrowed his brow. 'Celebrations?' What celebrations could there be? Wyatt's evil and dad's never around.
'Your birthday! Remember? Did you get a knock on the head during a demon fight or something?' said the girl before adding, 'Don't worry, I won't tell Mum that you were fighting demons up here by yourself.'
'Sorry, but who are you?' asked Chris.
The girl went pale and began muttering to herself, 'Okay, okay, what are the options? It could be possession, a spell gone awry, or...' Colour returned to the girl's cheeks as she shook her head. '... Or it could be a mean older brother trying to scare his gullible little sister!'
'What? Sister? What? Number one: I am not possessed; number two: I don't think I cast a spell; and number three: What? Sister? What?' shouted Chris.
'Chris, this is not funny!' said the girl annoyed. 'Just because it's your birthday, it does not mean you can act like a jerk.'
'Melinda! Are you bringing Chris down today or are you going to wait until his next birthday?' Piper called from downstairs.
Melinda? thought Chris. Then it all came back to him. Melinda was his little sister, Wyatt was not evil, and Leo was always around. It was as if Chris had remembered something from another lifetime.
'We are on our way!' Melinda shouted in the direction of the attic door. She turned back to Chris and said, 'Are you finished being a jerk yet? Can we go downstairs now?'
Chris smiled as he stood up. 'Sure.'
'What's that?' asked Melinda, pointing to Chris' hand.
Chris suddenly noticed that he was holding a crumpled piece of worn, yellowing paper. Before he could take a look at it to figure out what it was, Melinda had snatched it from his hand.
'Why do you need a spell to get your powers back?' asked Melinda as she finished reading the piece of paper. 'Did you lose your powers?'
Chris frowned. 'I... I don't know.' Chris noticed that a floorboard was out of place behind Melinda. He suddenly remembered what had happened prior to waking up in the attic. The glow... The loose floorboard... The yellowed piece of paper... The blast... 'I was researching,' Chris lied. 'It's nothing to worry about.'
Chris snatched the piece of paper back from Melinda and shoved it in his pocket. Chris quickly flicked his wrist and the floorboard moved back into place telekinetically. Chris did not want anyone to know what had happened until he had figured out the answer himself.
'Melinda! Am I going to have a send up a search party?' Piper called up to the attic, getting impatient with the wait.
'I think we should get downstairs,' said Melinda.
Chris followed his little sister all the way down to the dining room. As Chris entered the dining room, he felt forced to take in a deep breath...
Chris blinked. He was standing at the dining room entrance by himself. In front of him, the dining room was decorated with party banners and balloons and the table was filled with an extravagant meal. Six people were sat at the dining room table: Piper; Phoebe with extremely short hair; Paige with straightened red hair; Darryl; Darryl's wife Sheila; and David.
As Chris let a breath out, he rubbed his eyes, confused by what he had just witnessed. Whatever that was, it had been Piper's birthday. He was a little stunned not just by what he had seen, but what he had known. How had he known that the couple in that memory had been Darryl and Sheila? His family had spoken of them, but the couple had left town when Chris was close to one years old. Therefore Chris had never met them before. Plus Chris somehow knew that the man known as David had been conjured by his aunts. How did he know these things and why had he even seen it?
Chris reopened his eyes to look at the real view of the dining room in front of him: The dining room table was set out for a special dinner celebration - Chris' birthday dinner to celebrate turning fourteen. The cutlery and plates, that were strictly only used for special occasions, were out on the table and there were many balloons littering the room. The table had been magically lengthened to fit sixteen people.
Paige (with her usual long dark hair), Henry, Tamora, Kat, Henry Jr, Coop, P.J., and Parker were all already sat at the table. Paige smiled at her niece and nephew as they entered the dining room.
'There the two of you are. Piper was threatening to call the party off if you did not show up in the next few minutes,' said Paige.
'Sorry. I had to sort a couple of things out,' lied Chris.
Chris noticed Melinda looking at him. She had noticed that Chris had lied to their aunt, but Melinda had decided not to say anything about it.
Wyatt stuck his head into the dining room and saw Chris and Melinda. He smiled at them before disappearing back into the kitchen.
'Mum! Everyone's downstairs now!' they heard Wyatt shout as he made his way back to the kitchen.
A few minutes later, everyone was sat down at the table. Piper sat at the head of the table, the chair closest to the kitchen. Leo sat to her left. Next to Leo was Victor, followed by Coop, and then there was Phoebe (with her usual long hair). Next to Phoebe sat her youngest child, who was next to P.J., who was next to Parker. Paige was sat at the other end of the table. To her other side sat Henry. Next to Henry was Henry Jr followed by Kat, followed by Tamora. Next to Tamora was Melinda, who was next to Wyatt. Lastly, between Wyatt and Piper sat Chris.
The birthday dinner was running quite smoothly, with the great food - consisting of three courses - and great company. Wyatt, the golden child that he was, helped Piper clear away the plates from the main course while she went to make final preparations on the dessert. Leo had also disappeared into the kitchen.
During this interval between courses, Melinda shuffled into Wyatt's empty seat so as she was sitting directly next to Chris.
'Are we going to talk about what happened in the attic?' whispered Melinda.
Fortunately for them, the rest of the family were too engrossed in their own conversations to overhear Chris and Melinda's new conversation.
'I told you I was researching,' whispered Chris.
Melinda shook her head. 'Not that. The part where you forgot who I was.'
Chris frowned. 'That was me joking around.'
Melinda rolled her eyes. 'That's what I thought up until dinner started.'
'What do you mean?' asked Chris.
'You have been acting a little off ever since we set foot in the dining room,' said Melinda. 'It is as if you are not used to the sight of so many family members at once. Looking at your demeanour, you would think a happy family setting is rare around here, even though our family is closer than most others.'
'Where did you get that stupid analysis from?' asked Chris, trying to deny that Melinda's observations had been correct.
'When you were speaking to Henry Jr about the television show you saw the other day and dad joined in the conversation, you gave him a cold glare,' began Melinda.
Chris sighed. He did not know why he had done that. The sound of Leo's voice butting into Chris' conversation had caused Chris to feel anger towards Leo, but Chris did not know why. He had hoped that the glare had gone unnoticed in the brief second that it took him to change his expression, but Melinda had evidently noticed.
'During the main course, Wyatt nicked one of your roast potatoes. You flinched as Wyatt moved his fork towards you as if you were scared...' continued Melinda.
'I was not scared. I just was not expecting it,' whispered Chris in an annoyed tone. Truthfully, he had flinched at Wyatt's rash movement because the idea of an evil Wyatt had returned to his mind. All he had been told by his family was that Wyatt had been evil and his future self and stopped that from happening. Therefore Chris was not too sure why he was suddenly getting such a vivid recollection of an evil Wyatt.
Melinda laughed. Chris was about to argue in defense of his dignity, but was halted by the sudden intake of a deep breath...
The table in the dining room was bare except for three empty plates. The balloons had disappeared. Chris was sat at the dining room table with Phoebe. Her smile had vanished and her expression were glum.
Phoebe noticed Chris staring at her. She smiled faintly at him before saying, 'Try not to think about your brother, Chris. Today is your day. It's all about you.'
Chris pouted as he stared at his aunt. 'Why couldn't dad be here? It's my birthday. Has he forgotten?'
'He has not forgotten that you are fourteen today. He's busy working, honey,' said Phoebe apologetically. 'White lighters and Elders are on full alert at the moment, because of Wy - because of... what's going on.'
Chris sighed. 'Wyatt always gets dad's attention.'
Suddenly the lights went out. The only source of light now came from the glow of the candles on top of the small birthday cake that Piper was carrying into the dining room. Piper and Phoebe attempted to sing 'Happy Birthday', but the tone in the room was so depressing that the song seemed quite melancholic.
Piper placed the cake on the table. However, before Chris had a chance to blow out the candles, the cake burst into flames as a fireball hit it. Phoebe pushed Chris behind her as she and Piper faced the demon that had thrown the fireball.
Piper flicked her wrists towards the demon, but her power had little effect on him. A small puff of smoke erupted from his shoulder, but no pain or injury had been inflicted. The demon sneered. Phoebe levitated into the air - she had been granted her levitation powers back years earlier - and aimed a kick at the demon. The demon made a motion with his hand and Phoebe was thrown backwards into the wall. Phoebe had been hurt and she was unconscious.
Chris flicked his wrist at the demon, trying to push him away with his telekinesis. However the demon appeared to be immune to Chris' powers as well as to Piper's powers. The demon sneered at Chris.
'Chris, get down!' Piper yelled, pushing Chris to the ground as a fireball came hurtling in his direction.
In saving her son, Piper had moved into the path of the fireball. The force of the fireball forced Piper through the wall behind her into the conservatory.
'No!' Chris shouted, looking through the hole in the wall. Piper lay unconscious and injured on the other side.
Chris turned back to face the demon that had injured his mother and aunt. Chris was seething. The demon laughed at Chris' angry expression.
'I came with a message from your brother. No one was going to stop me from delivering it,' said the demon.
Chris scowled at the demon. 'What was the message?'
The demon's smile grew into a wicked grin. 'Happy Birthday.' Having successfully sent his message, the demon shimmered out of the dining room.
Chris immediately called for his father, yelling at the top of his voice. If there was anyone else that he knew who could have healed Piper and Phoebe, he would have called them instead, but Leo was his only choice.
On orbing in, after five minutes worth of Chris calling for him, Leo met Chris and Phoebe in the conservatory. Phoebe was conscious. She had aided Chris in calling for Leo when she had woken up, and was ignoring her bleeding forehead. Her teary eyes were set on her older sister when Leo finally appeared in the room. Chris was kneeling over his mother, hugging her limp body. Debris littered the floor all around them, but Chris did not care. He had been unable to find a pulse, but he was hoping beyond hope that Leo could heal her.
Leo hovered his hands over Piper, trying desperately to get his healing power to work, but it was too late. Piper was dead.
The only positive of the day was that this was the first of Chris' birthdays that Leo had ever attended, and that was all thanks to Wyatt.
Chris finished his deep breath as the surroundings of the birthday party that was filled with his happy family returned. However everyone had gone quiet now. They were all staring at him, worriedly.
Chris feigned a smile. 'What?'
Phoebe was the first to speak. 'What did you see?'
'What do you mean?' asked Chris.
'That was a premonition face if I have ever seen one,' Phoebe explained.
'Since when do you look in a mirror when you are mid-premonition?' asked Coop, trying to break the room's tension with a little humour. Everyone ignored him, eager to hear Chris' response.
'I don't have that power,' said Chris. He knew that what he had just seen was not a premonition. It was more like a forced memory, but he did not want to worry anyone with the details of it, especially as it had never happened.
'You could be developing it as a new power,' Paige suggested.
'I don't think it is possible to inherit more than one of the three main Warren lineage powers,' said Chris.
'Melinda Warren had all three,' Henry pointed out. Over their years together, Henry had learnt as much about Paige's family, as she had about his family.
Paige smiled sweetly at her husband. 'She was the first in the line of Warren witches, so she obviously would have all three powers.'
Henry blushed.
Suddenly the lights went out. Chris froze in terror. Minus the numerous family members in the dining room, this was how the memory had began. Piper, Leo, and Wyatt entered the dining room, carrying a huge birthday cake that had fourteen candles lit on top. Everyone began to sing 'Happy Birthday'. The similarities between this and the memory were too much for Chris to handle. As the cake was set down in front of Chris, everyone went silent, waiting for him to blow out the candles.
Instead of attempting to blow the candles out, Chris grabbed the cake knife that Piper had put on the table. He stood up on his chair, the cake knife in his hand, as he looked around the dining room for any sign of a demon shimmering in.
'Christopher Halliwell!' shouted Piper. 'Put that knife down and sit on your chair!'
'I can't, mum!' shouted Chris. 'I don't want you to die on my birthday!'
Piper went pale at hearing these words. 'We... We never told you about that...'
'About what?' asked Melinda, scared at hearing these words. 'Are you going to die?'
'Auntie Piper?' said a worried P.J.
'If Aunt Piper gets hurt, you will heal her, won't you?' a grimacing Kat asked Paige.
'Chris... How do you know about that?' asked Leo.
The commotion of separate conversations concerning the same subject matter filled the room with noise. Chris was still standing on his chair, holding the cake knife, ignoring his parents' questions as he scanned the room for any evil. Chris' eyes suddenly landed on Wyatt who was looking up at Chris with an expression of worry.
'Take all the kids into the other room,' Leo said to Henry and Coop. 'We need to have a chat with Chris about something that happened over fourteen years ago.
Henry and Coop nodded, ushering all of the children into the adjacent room, excluding Chris, Wyatt, and Melinda. The only daughter of Piper was refusing to leave after hearing her brother say such a thing about her mother. She wanted to know what was going on. Meanwhile, Wyatt was still watching Chris, who was in turn watching Wyatt.
Wyatt's evil, thought Chris. I can stop him now before he gets a chance to cause mum's death. Chris' eyes darted down at the knife quickly before looking back at Wyatt. The words If I can't save you, I swear I'll stop you reverberated through Chris' head.
Chris' grip on the knife tightened as he stared menacingly at his older brother. Paige must have noticed Chris' sudden intentions because she shouted:
'Knife!'
The knife was telekinetically orbed out of Chris' hand into Paige's. Chris' eyes widened in shock as he realised what he had been about to do.
Wyatt is not evil, Chris thought. I know that! Why did I think differently just before?
'Christopher Halliwell! Sit down now!' shouted Piper, extremely worried about Chris' impossible knowledge and his current strange behaviour. 'We need to have a talk!'
Chris sat back down. At the same time, everyone else who had remained in the dining room found a seat. Someone had removed the cake while he had not been looking so the table was clear enough to see across. Piper, Leo, Wyatt, and Melinda were sat back in their original positions. Phoebe and Paige were now sitting to the left of Leo, and Victor was sitting to the other side of Melinda.
Victor was the first to speak up. 'I will never forget the day that Chris told me that Piper would die on his fourteenth birthday.'
Chris' eyes widened in shock. 'I saw something that happened to the other Chris?'
'So you did have some form of premonition,' said Phoebe.
Chris shook his head. 'Not a premonition, Phoebe. A memory.'
'Chris, manners!' Piper snapped.
Chris was confused by this statement. 'What did I d-' He paused as he realised that he had not called her 'aunt Phoebe'. 'Sorry, it's a force of hab - habit...' Chris stammered a little as he realised that memories of the other Chris were seeping into his own memories, causing his mind to become a little jumbled.
'A force of habit?' said Leo. 'How is it a force of habit?'
Chris held his forehead and closed his eyes as he tried to think clearly. 'I think I am getting Chris' memories. That Chris' memories. The other Chris. He was used to calling aunt Phoebe by her first name, because he was under cover.'
'You're getting Chris' memories? You saw how I died in the future that he came from?' asked Piper, anxiety entering her tone.
Chris opened his eyes and looked over at his mother. He nodded. Piper took one of Chris' hands and squeezed it.
'Don't worry about me, Chris,' said Piper. 'I am sorry that you had to see whatever happened that day, but that will never happen. Wyatt is not evil, this family is in one piece, and I am not going to leave you. I promise.'
Piper's look of reassurance helped to quash Chris' fears. Chris felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see that the hand belonged to Wyatt.
'Chris, I am not evil,' said Wyatt. 'I will never be evil.'
Wyatt had never been one for motivational speeches. Chris nodded at his brothers few words of reassurance. Melinda peered around Wyatt to grab Chris' attention.
'Chris, did I not exist in that future?' Melinda asked, referring back to when Chris had no idea who she was.
Chris sighed. 'I don't know. I guess when you connect the dots of a father who was never there...' Chris glanced over at Leo before glancing back towards Melinda. '... it was never conceivable for you to be born.'
'I thought Chris never mentioned Melinda to keep up his 'future consequences' theme,' said Paige, shrugging.
'So do you remember everything that happened while Chris was in the past?' Phoebe asked Chris.
Chris nodded. 'The whole twenty two years of his life, and I guess the final year of that consisted of the year before I was born.' Chris suddenly cringed as he recalled the time when Phoebe had been a genie and the other Chris had wished for Piper and Leo to sleep together. When being told the 'Phoebe was once a genie' story, that part had always been left out. 'Wow. There sure is a lot of things you have not told us in your stories of the other Chris.'
'Oh tell us! I want to know!' said a suddenly curious Melinda.
Chris shook his head. 'Trust me, you don't want to know.'
'I don't quite understand,' said Victor. 'Why - no, how - is Chris remembering all of this?'
Piper and Leo exchanged looks as they tried to think up a suitable explanation.
'Chris, when did this start?' asked Leo.
2026 - Changed Future
Some information involving a new evil looming in San Francisco had led Wyatt and Chris to the underworld. The two brothers were making their way down a tunnel when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a horde of demons.
Wyatt and Chris exchanged smug glances. They knew that they could easily take on the demons. Working together, Wyatt and Chris were easily vanquishing each demon that attacked them. They were not even unnerved by the fact that more demons were constantly joining the brawl. The two brothers were too busy competing with one another to show off who was more powerful.
Wyatt held his palms outwards, sending some combustive orbs into a demon. The demon exploded in a burst of flames.
Chris tried to do one better than Wyatt. Chris swept his arm outwards at a brisk pace causing four fireballs to revert in the direction they had come from, vanquishing four demons at once.
'I can do better than that,' said Wyatt, laughing.
Once again, Wyatt held both of his palms outwards. This time an energy wave was emitted from his palms, knocking out more than ten demons.
Chris rolled his eyes. 'Show off.'
Wyatt chuckled. 'You only say that now, because you can't do any better than me.'
Chris accepted the challenge. 'Fine. Try and beat this one.' Chris took a deep breath and concentrated as he channeled his power of telekinesis into his right hand. Taking a step backwards, Chris threw his right hand outwards. The telekinetic blast pushed almost ten demons away from them. Some of the demons were vanquished in the process by fireballs that had been caught in the telekinetic blast.
Wyatt raised an eyebrow and continued the banter. 'Is that it? Chris, you can do better than that.'
It was Wyatt's turn again to show off his power. Wyatt noticed that a fireball was hurtling in his direction. Attempting to tap into his power of pyrokinesis, Wyatt knew that he could manipulate that fireball.
Chris rolled his eyes again. Wyatt loved to show off his range of different powers. The fireball was getting extremely close to Wyatt, and Wyatt looked like he was trying to concentrate hard on activating his pyrokinesis power.
'Wyatt!' shouted Chris, worried for his older brother's safety.
Wyatt suddenly ducked out of the way when he realised that his pyrokinesis power was not working. Chris quickly helped Wyatt to his feet.
'Why did you duck? You could have orbed out of the way,' said Chris.
Wyatt shook his head. All the smugness from their competition was no longer visible in his expression.
'I can't orb,' said Wyatt.
Chris was shocked. 'What? Try another of your powers.'
'I am trying!' said Wyatt as he held his palms outwards towards the demons. Nothing was happening.
'Let's get out of here and figure out what's going on,' said Chris.
'What about our lead on the new looming evil?' asked Wyatt.
Chris sighed. 'We will have to wait until another day. We can't face evil with you powerless.'
Chris grabbed Wyatt's shoulder and orbed them to the safety of the attic.
'We should tell mum and dad,' said Wyatt, walking towards the attic door.
'No,' said Chris, who was already flicking through the Book of Shadows. 'They don't need to worry. We will get your powers back soon enough. We just need to find a spell that will take us back to when you lost your powers.'
Wyatt walked away from the door over to his brother. 'Okay.'
Chris smiled as he stopped on a page in the Book. 'This spell should work.'
2006
The spell had sent Wyatt and Chris back to 2006. It happened to be around the time of the Ultimate Battle. After hearing future Wyatt and Chris' predicament, the Charmed Ones asked them to go to Victor's house, while they prepared for what was hopefully the end of the Ultimate Battle against the Triad and Christy.
Piper, Phoebe, and Paige returned to the manor a little while later to be greeted by the rest of the family, including the return of Leo. The sisters had also been successful in making sure that Wyatt's powers came back.
Phoebe decided to tag along with Coop for his task of sending Penny and Patty back to their own respective times; Victor went back home; and Piper and Leo decided to take a walk with their two sons as Leo had missed his boys while Piper had missed her husband. This left Paige alone in the conservatory with future Wyatt and Chris.
Wyatt and Chris had been about to head upstairs to the Book of Shadows to find a spell that would send them back to their own time, but Paige had stopped them.
'Wyatt, you can go on up to the attic,' said Paige. 'I need to speak to Chris in private.'
Wyatt nodded and orbed out of the conservatory. Paige turned to Chris.
'Shouldn't you be finding Uncle Henry?' Chris asked Paige. 'I am sure he would want to know that you're okay.'
'I need to ask you something first, Chris,' said Paige.
Chris looked slightly nervous. 'What's there to ask?'
'You noticed your slip up as much as I did,' said Paige. 'As if it was habit, you called my sister 'Phoebe' instead of 'aunt Phoebe'. You also knew other details about us that Wyatt did not know.'
Chris gulped. 'What are you implying?'
'How do you have Chris' memories? That future never existed... How can you know some of the things that you shouldn't know?'
Chris sighed. 'Look, at some point in your future, I will find a rolled up piece of paper in the attic, beneath a loose floorboard. Unravelling the piece of paper will project that other Chris' memories into me.'
'How?' asked Paige, furrowing her brow.
'You are the one who explained it to everyone straight after dad asks 'when did this start?'' said Chris. 'Apparently you only knew why because a future version of me - apparently the me standing here right now talking to you - told you and then asked you not to mention it again until after that question was posed by dad.'
Paige put her hand on her forehead. 'Ugh. Time travel causes too many headaches.'
Chris nodded. 'Anyway, what you told everyone on that day was: When dad was under the influence of a vision quest, the force of the Avatars invading his mind created a power that reverberated into the piece of paper below that floorboard. The power consisted of Dad's memories of me, because apparently I was his guide in the vision quest or something... So when I found the spell, the memories inserted themselves in with my own.'
'I did not even know the details of Leo's vision quest,' said Paige. 'How did I ever get around to knowing this stuff to tell you it?'
'I told you. You said that you knew it, because I came back from the future and told you. It turns out that that day happened to be today,' explained Chris.
'Yes, but you did not know that stuff originally,' said Paige. 'One of us had to learn it somewhere! Ugh! Time travel!'
Chris laughed. 'Try not to think about it. Just get around to asking the same question that you will ask me again straight after you finish explaining the memory insertion thing when it eventually happens to me in your future.'
Paige smiled. She had a good idea of what question Chris was referring to, as she had been itching to ask it ever since Chris had mentioned the loose floorboard. 'Can we fix that loose floorboard now? I may not live here anymore, but every time we use that attic, it drives me nuts.'
Chris shook his head. 'No. Not today. Ask me that again when you finish explaining it to everyone in your future.'
Paige sighed. 'Can you at least tell me when that will happen? How many years are we talking?'
Chris smiled and shook his head. 'I can't tell you. Sorry: Future consequences.'
A/N: I did not originally intend for it to be this long, but I got a little carried away, despite the fact that I usually hate the idea of writing stories that revolve around the changed/unchanged future, or around Wyatt and Chris. I feel compelled to point out that the title of this one-shot is a pun, not a spelling mistake. Plus, the Prince Charmed memory was a last minute add in, but it works. Please review with your opinions on this one-shot!
The next one-shot will either be based pre-season four (so as Prue can be in it) or during season five. This one-shot series is not open to requests at the moment, because I have tonnes of ideas that I am working my way through. The only reason I accepted the Chris' impossible memories challenge was because I already had the Chris-Crossed 'Can they ever fix that loose floorboard?' one-shot idea.