From now on I have to thank Dayna for beta-ing this story. Thanks a lot!

Here's the new chapter, enjoy!

Thanks for reviewing the previous chapters and I'd like to thank the people who put me on one of their alert list as well.


Chapter 4

Chris closed the front door behind him. He couldn't pass the mirror hanging in the hallway, and not check himself out.

"Chris, is that you?"

"Who else?" the teenager muttered under his breath, but called back, "Yes, Dad, it's me."

Leo appeared in the hallway. He dried his hand with a towel. "I'm just fixing some dinner. I have to talk to some parents tonight, so we need to eat earlier." He narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at his son.

"I got a haircut," Chris said.

"And a new color?"

"No. It's just highlights. Amy's sister did it."

"Really? Wasn't it also Amy's sister who pierced your ear which ended up infected, I might add?"

"No, that was Peter's cousin. Amy's sister is a real coiffeur."

"Coiffeur?"

"She doesn't want to be called a simple hairdresser," Chris shrugged. "Now, what do you want to say? Do you hate it or what?"

"No, I don't hate it. It'scool. Really. Short and smart-ish. I just liked your other color more. It's the same as Piper's."

"I know."

"But that's not why you wanted to get rid of it?"

"No. I never wanted to get rid of it. The others persuaded me. I'll do my homework."

"Do that. I'll call you for dinner."

Chris nodded and took his bag.

"Oh and Chris, I know about the trouble you had in school today. Mrs Smith already called me."

Chris sighed. "And?"

"Nothing. She didn't punish you, neither will I. After all, I know some teachers are really not made for their job. But I don't want you to lose respect for others, even if they are jerks. Okay?"

"I know. But someone had to tell him and all the other kids agreed with me."

Leo nodded. "I understand. Really. But why don't you talk to me first or with another teacher, before you get yourself into trouble."

"I'm an adult. I can voice my opinion."

Leo took a deep breath. "Go and do your homework."


Paige appeared in front of the podium where usually the old ancient Book of Shadows lay. She looked around the attic but couldn't see what she was looking for. Frowning, Paige climbed down the stairs. She just arrived in the hallway, when she heard a little explosion in the kitchen.

The whitelighter-witch approached her nephew bent over the book she had been searching for.

"What are you doing?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"Making a little potion to vanquish a little warlock," Chris said, still reading the ingredients in the book. "Although it seems not to work out."

"Let me help you."

"No. I want to do it on my own."

"You did, and now I'm checking it, okay?"

Chris shrugged and moved to let his aunt look into the pot.

"Where's your dad?" his youngest aunt asked.

"Talking to some parents in school."

Paige nodded and threw some stuff in it and smiled satisfied when the potion turned the right color. "Here you go. Something was just missing."

"Thanks."

Paige took the book and flipped some pages. "How are you feeling?"

"You mean after being dead for a while? Okay."

"That's good. I was thinking that maybe we all could go eat some Mexican food for dinner tomorrow. What do you say?"

"Who is 'we all'?"

"You, me, Henry, the kids, maybe your dad."

Chris shrugged. He wasn't that impressed. "Maybe."

"I'll pick you up at 7," Paige decided. "Be ready." She made some notes on what she had just been reading and closed the book. "I see you then. I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Paige orbed out again leaving Chris to fill the potion into vials and orb off himself to vanquish the warlock that had appeared in the Manor an hour ago.

He looked around the lair where he had made out the warlock. Although, it was pretty dark, Chris knew the evil creature wasn't there. He leaned against a rock and contemplated what to do next. He could just go home and wait for the warlock to attack again. Maybe he wouldn't even try it again. But the warlock had attacked him, and that meant he needed to be vanquished. That's just how it was. A demon who appeared in the Manor for whatever reason, had to be vanquished sooner or later. Preferably sooner as later most of the time was already too late.

Chris heard faint voices, though one was getting louder. The brunette Halliwell hid behind a rock.

A second later the warlock came back. He sat down on a simple wooden stool.

"I know you are here, witch. Just come out," he snarled.

Chris cursed under his breath. How did he know?

"You should play more hide and seek with your baby cousins."

"Sure. As soon as I vanquish you," Chris replied. He felt the cool glass fo the vial in his hand. He was ready to throw it as soon as the warlock stood up.

"We'll see if I will be vanquished today. How is that brother of yours, by the way? No one has seen him lately in the underworld."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "If I were you, I would be happy, that he isn't around. He would blast you all into tiny little bits within seconds."

"Is that so? Then, I'm wondering even more where he is. I mean, you shouldn't be here in the underworld all by yourself, little witch. What if something happens to you? Can you really help yourself when it is needed? Are you powerful enough? Next to your brother, you are just one weak potion mixer, aren't you?"

Why did demons have to talk so much when they know they're going to die?

"Now what? Throw the potion, witch. Or do you have another way to vanquish me?"

The warlock approached the teenager.

Chris narrowed his eyes. He just wanted to vanquish the stupid demon. He felt the vial in his hand and could perfectly imagine how the demon would explode, burnt to death. Forever in hell.

Suddenly the warlock started to scream when flames surrounded his legs, rising upwards, surrounding his whole body before he burned to nothing more than ashes.

Chris looked around. But no one was around. It was just him, and the now vanquished warlock.

The brunette witch still held the vial when he orbed out.

"Dad! I just killed a demon with my thought projection!" Chris burst into his father's office in magic school.

The headmaster was still talking to some parents, who looked back and forth between father and son for a second.

"Excuse me." Leo got up. He took Chris by the arm and led him out of the office. "What's going on? I'm trying to persuade those parents to send their daughter to magic school. They aren't witches. Can you imagine how confusing this is for them?"

"Do you know how confusing this is for me? I just orbed to the underworld to vanquish a warlock. I had the vial but I never had to throw it. He burst into flames. Just like that. I only thought about it for one second and suddenly it happens," Chris told his father excited. That was really great. Now he could defend himself without any potions or without calling out for Wyatt.

"Chris, are you sure, it was your power that vanquished the demon?"

"I was there all by myself."

"So you are positive that no demon was standing near by to kill the warlock?"

"Yes. It was me. He made me kind of angry and I imagined vanquishing him, and then he was."

"It took you the last two years to control your power when you have drawings in front of you, and now you just know how to use them?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

Leo sighed, "Because it's a rare and complicated power."

"No, it's because you all think I'm not strong enough to handle my powers. You would like me to always stand behind Wyatt if a demon appears. You can't even imagine that maybe I'm just as powerful as he is. That I'm just as powerful as the Charmed Ones."

The ex-Elder stared at his son. Chris had been the one to say he could go without any powers, that he didn't want to fight demons, and now what was happening to him? "Chris, why are powers that important?"

Chris frowned. He never cared that much about powers. He knew he wasn't as powerful as Wyatt. He never missed it that much. He fought the demon because he had to. Or didn't he? "I don't know."

"Listen, I need to end the conversation with the parents. I'm home in a bit and then we'll talk again, okay?"

"Okay." Chris orbed out.

The young witch knew it would take his father a while to come back home to talk to him. Chris decided he'd find out what it was about this knew version of his power.

He went to the attic and placed some crystals on the floor in a circle. Then flipped through the book and found a lower level demon that was right to train.

The brunette summoned the demon easily. He appeared inside the circle and looked around confused first.

"What am I doing here?" the demon asked in a deep voice.

"I called you," Chris explained. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the demon being vanquished. But nothing happened. "Damn it!"

The demon looked at the young witch. "What the hell are you doing?" He tried to get out of the cage but only got an electric shock.

"Shut up!" Chris tried again. He could see the flames appearing around the demon in his mind. But when he opened his eyes again, the demon was still in the cage alive. "Shit!"

Suddenly the attic was filled with the blue and white lights of orbs turning out to be Wyatt. The older brother stared at the demon. "What's going on here?"

"That's what I want to know, too," the demon agreed.

"You keep quiet," Wyatt told him. The demon threw his hand in the air.

"Nothing, Wy. I'm just trying something out," Chris shrugged.

"And what?"

Chris closed his eyes again but still nothing happened. He frowned. "I don't understand," he muttured.

"Chris?"

"I hoped I had gotten a new power or rather a new version of my power. But apparently not."

Wyatt moved over to his brother. "You have enough powers. What about the demon over there?"

"Yeah, what about me?" the demon called.

"I don't need him anymore," Chris replied.

Wyatt removed one of the crystals. "Shimmer off!"

The demon didn't need to be asked twice. He knew the sons of the oldest Charmed One and he knew he was not powerful enough to stand against them.

Wyatt looked at his brother closely. "Are you alright?"

"A bit disappointed, I guess."

"Don't be. You have enough powers."

Chris nodded. He knew that. But he still wouldn't mind to have one or two more.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked his brother.

"I only need some oleander. Do we have any?"

"Kitchen."

"Great. I'll get some and orb out again."

Chris nodded. He followed his brother down the stairs but went into his room instead of meeting his brother in the kitchen.

The young man was really disappointed that apparently his new power turned out to be nothing.

Chris took one of his books and tried to concentrate on his homework, but he couldn't. It was bothering him that he couldn't vanquish the demon. Why was he so weak next to his brother? They had the same parents, the same ancestors and still they were that different.

Leo knocked on his son's bedroom door. "Can I talk to you now?"

"Sure."

Leo sat down on his son's bed. He decided to not mention the mess in the room. The father sighed. Now, it was a difficult task what he had to do now, telling his son more truth. He had spoken to Chris about his future self a few years ago, but he had left a few aspects out which he now had to voice. Maybe it would help his son to understand.

"I have to tell you something more about you. The you from the future."

"Dad, you already told me."

"Not everything. You came from the future to save Wyatt from evil. But it wasn't a demon."

"I know. It was this Elder that you killed."

"No. I mean, yes. The evil that you came to stop was Wyatt himself."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Wyatt, he was evil in the future you came from. You saved him from becoming evil."

"No." Chris shook his head. His brother wasn't evil. He barely got angry at all. "I'm more likely to turn evil than Wyatt."

"Chris, I know it's hard to take that in. You told us. And we believed you. We had no reason not to." That was not really true. When the future Chris first came into the lives of the Charmed Ones and Leo, they all were quite skeptical and didn't really trust the neurotic whitelighter. "You had to save him in the past, because no one was able to stop him in the future. He was too powerful."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"By saving Wyatt, we had to change a lot of things. Not just the aspect that turned him. That means, we also changed your whole life. You changed it yourself."

"That's what happens when you go to the past to save the future, isn't it?"

"I guess so. We never thought how all of that would affect your personality. How much it would change you. I'm just wondering if you are made for all the powers you now have. The future you was conceived when I was a whitelighter, and he didn't has as much power as you do now. I just don't know if you can handle what wasn't meant to be yours."

"What does that mean? You think, I got powers I shouldn't have gotten. You think, I should be as weak as in the other time line?"

"You weren't weak, just like you aren't now. You only had fewer witch powers."

"But maybe that was the reason Wyatt turned evil. Because I couldn't stop him in the future. If I'd have had more powers then, I'm sure I would have been able to save him and I would never have had to come to the past. Have you thought about that?"

"I guess, we don't know. But the way you are acting at the moment, scares me. One thing is for sure, the future you, wasn't on the power trip you are at the moment. Powers are not everything. It depends how you use them."

"I know."

"Do you really? We saved Wyatt. Everything we did with the time we knew what was going to happen to him, stopped him from turning evil. But what did it do to you?"

Chris shrugged.

"The more power you've got the more you can be corrupted. Even more so, if you have powers that weren't originally meant for you."

"I learned how to handle my powers just fine. I can handle them whether they were meant for me or not. I have them now."

"It's like you said, it's more likely that you turn evil than Wyatt."

"I will not turn evil, Dad. I never will."

"We all have our dark sides you cannot promise me that."

Chris glared at his father. "Maybe it would help me if I knew that you had some faith in me. But all you do, is tell me what I do wrong, that I can't handle my powers and now you're telling me that I could turn evil. What's wrong with you?"

Leo shook his head. "I'm not saying that you're going to turn evil or anything. I'm just worried how you are acting lately."

"Just because you don't understand me, doesn't mean I'm acting wrong."

"Chris, I don't want to fight with you."

"You always start the fights!" Chris yelled.

"Alright." Leo stood up. "Apparently, you don't want to understand me. But please think about what I told you. Use your powers carefully. Use them for the right reasons."

Leo left his son's room. He almost had lost one son to evil, he had lost the other to save him. They were given a second chance. That's more than anybody else on this earth.


I know it's not so much happening. Just the usual Chris and Leo moments ;-)

Please leave me your thoughts on it anyway.