Emerging from Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nuthin.

A/n: this chapter needs a high rating for language and gore.

The five of them appeared in a swirling vortex. Blinding flashes of light and small scenes of memories kept popping up at random times. Chris opened his eyes and saw the sisters standing there with their mouths open in awe. Chris felt rage tearing at his insides like fire.

"What the hell are you three doing here"? Chris asked with a dangerous edge to his voice. Mel opened her eyes and when she noticed the sisters, her eyes went wide, this was going to get ugly. Piper raised her eye brows at Chris as if to say 'What are you going to do about it'? Chris glared dangerously at her and Phoebe answered for them.

"Chris relax, OK? Listen we heard chanting so we went in to ask what you two were up to and then... poof. Suddenly we're in here" Phoebe answered in a somewhat shaky voice. Phoebe has never seen Chris this mad before and it was slightly, OK very, disturbing. If looks could kill the sisters would be dead on the floor... if there even is a floor in this weird vortex thing. Chris tried to take a deep calming breath, but that never worked for him so why would it now.

"Well then write a new spell and get yourselves the **** out of here" Chris practically screamed. Phoebe blushed at the profanity while Paige just raised her eyebrows and Piper looked shocked. Mel smacked Chris on the arm.

"If Paris were here she'd fry you alive. Idiot" She smacked his arm again and Chris looked down at her guiltily. He started to rub his sore arm as he came up with a spell on the spot. Chris smiled, but before he could start to chant the five of them were thrust forward into one of Melinda's memories.

MEMORY

Piper is sitting on a hospital bed sweating and looking around desperately. Minuets before she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. The doctors told her that it'd be a miracle if the baby is OK, because of the complications with her last pregnancy. Suddenly an older looking Leo comes bursting through the doors and runs to Pipers side. Once there he takes her hand and tries his best to comfort her.

"The doctors should be back any second." Leo said, trying to be reassuring. "Do you know what you want to name her?" Leo asked gently, a smile tugging at his lips. Piper smiled back at him and answered in a very quiet voice.

"Melinda Prudence Halliwell." Piper said happily just as a doctor came walking through the door. He looked at the frightened couple before saying in a somewhat grim voice.

"The baby.. Melinda will be fine. She had a collapsed lung, but we re-inflated it, and she should be fine. You'll just have to bring her in often for check-ups this year." A smile broke out on his face. "Other then that here you go." He gently handed Melinda to her crying mother. Melinda reached up and put her tiny hand on Pipers face, as though to comfort her. Piper laughed through her tears, thankful that her baby would be OK. Leo watched the scene affectionately and smiled warmly at his daughter when she caught him staring at her, and smiled. Piper looked at the baby and smiled. She's so adorable.

"Where are you Melony. I thought that this was supposed to be your memory." Leo asked in confusion. Mel stared up at Chris with wide eyes as if to say 'help'. Chris looked back at her and sighed. He couldn't believe how blind their parents are being.

"She's visiting our mom." Chris said smoothly. Technically it's not a lie so hey shouldn't be able to see through it. Everyone bought the explanation and continued watching the memory play out. When they turned their attention else where Melinda blew out a big breath and smiled up at Chris. He had always been such a protective big brother. As if working on command to Melinda's thoughts everyone was suddenly ripped into a new memory. They all stumbled and looked around in confusion for a moment before recognition dawned on Melinda and Chris's faces. Melinda grimaced while Chris smirked, still proud of himself. The sisters looked at them in confusion and anger, they didn't want to leave the new baby yet. Little did they know that she was standing right next to them.

"Piper Melinda is so adorable." Phoebe squealed in excitement.

"You're so lucky Piper. Phoebe's right, she is cute." Paige said with a grin on her face. Melinda blushed furiously and hid behind Chris, who tried, unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. The sisters looked at him with raised eyebrows and this time it's Chris's turn to blush. He bit his lower lip and nodded towards the scene that was starting to play out in front of them. Phoebe looked towards Melinda knowingly. She knows who Chris is so of course she knows who Melinda is. Melinda looks just like her mother, Phoebe mused with a smile. Melinda raised her eye brows at Phoebe in a very Piper-ish way as if to say 'Why are you staring at me'? She doesn't know that Phoebe knows yet so Phoebe, realizing this, turned away and looked at the memory.

Melinda was sitting at a table, alone, in magic school. In this memory she was probably about two or three. She seemed to be trying to read a book about faries, but got frustrated and gave up. Suddenly a teenager walked into the library and spotted Melinda. He walked towards her in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her in confusion. Melinda was never the shy one. She looked up at him boldly.

"My mommy, daddy and aunties said to wait here while they look for my brothers." Melinda answered confidently.

"Brothers?" Piper echoed in confusion.

"You have a brother?" Paige asked Chris. Chris nodded and mentally cursed the memories for giving away a secret. At least it isn't the big one. Yet.. a little voice in the back of Chris's head reminded him. Chris mentally told himself to shut up. He blinked himself out of the mental conversation and kept watching, but was once again interrupted.

"What's his name?" Piper asked with curiosity. Phoebe bit her lip nervously, wondering how he was going to get out of this one.

"Matthew, we call him Matt." Melinda answered quickly. They kept watching.

"I should take you to the nursery." The teenager said sweetly. Too sweetly. The ones from the past realized something was wrong right away. Phoebe looked on nervously, hoping that nothing would happen to her niece.

"No, they said wait here so I'm gonna wait here." Melinda said in a wavering voice. This man was scaring her. Suddenly he conjured a fire ball and aimed it at her head. Melinda howled and lifted her hands. The fireball exploded and rained fire down on the demon, vanquishing him. Five more demons shimmered in, looking very mad. Melinda's eye's widened and she screamed at the top of her lungs "CHRIS, HELP ME. THE DEMONS WANT TO KILL ME!" Melinda had always been the dramatic one, and she sure knew how to get someones attention. She quickly dived under the table as a four or five year old Chris orbed in. He noticed the demons advancing on his little sister and screamed in rage. His telekinesis kicked in and, still screaming, Chris threw all five demons across the library and into a large bookshelf. The demons fell to the floor and the bookshelf landed on top of them, effectively knocking them out. Chris ran over to Melinda to access the damage. Melinda had scraped her knee, landing on the ground, but other then that, she was fine.

The Chris from the past suddenly froze. He couldn't remember what he said next. If he said the smallest thing then all of his secrets could be out. He looked towards Melinda with wide eyes and she returned the frightened look.

"Are you OK Melly?" Chris asked her in a soft voice.

"I'm OK. Thanks kitty." Melinda answered and gave her brother a hug. Chris returned the hug.

"Anytime." He mumbled happily. He protected his sister from evil! The young brunette couldn't wait to tell his mommy, aunties, daddy and brother. They would all be so proud. Especially Wyatt.

The siblings in the past let out a breath of relief. Then, seeing the amused looks on the sisters faces Melinda asked "What?" Phoebe and Paige started to laugh and Piper smirked.

"Did she just call you Kitty and get away with it?" She asked in an amused voice. Chris blushed as Melinda smirked just like Piper.

"Thanks for reminding me mo... Piper." Melinda said, making sure to catch herself. "Are you embarrassed Kitty?" Melinda asked sweetly. Chris groaned in annoyance.

"Mel, seriously." He pleaded with her. She just smirked and mouthed 'thank you' at the sisters again. This sent all three of them into hysterics. Seeing their normally stoic whitelighter get teased by his little sister, and be unable to do anything about it, was very funny. Melinda laughed lightly and Chris groaned again. He was never going to hear the end of this. Suddenly they were back in the vortex and Paige was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. Phoebe was still chuckling lightly and Piper just smiled. If there were a wall nearby, Chris would've banged his head against it several times already. Melinda looked around in confusion.

"What's going on Chris. I thought that it was just supposed to show me why I came to the past." Melinda said worriedly. She didn't want to reveal to much to the sisters, it could mess with the future.

"It's getting there Mel. This is destiny's idea of amusement." Chris said bitterly, but only Melinda knew the real reason behind it. After all they've been through, Melinda wasn't sure if he could handle much else. Melinda sighed and tried to push the darker memories away. She couldn't remember much of a time were things weren't dark, but she stilled tried to enjoy what's she's got. She grabbed Chris's hand and he gave hers a light squeeze of reassurance.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige tried to listened into their conversation with confusion. They had been bitter about their destiny sometimes too, but they had never heard Chris speak like that before. Not even to demons. Maybe once to Leo, but Leo apparently is a special case. Melinda smiled sympathetically at Chris and patted his shoulder in a comforting gesture. The sisters watched the exchange and looked away sadly. Those poor kids have been through a lot, Paige thought with disgust. What could do this to the entire world? Can anything be that cruel? Even demons? Wyatt certainly couldn't have done this. Paige shook her head with sadness and watch the siblings some more. Piper was more worried about Wyatt then anything. If he really did create a world like this then something awful must of happened. Phoebe was almost to tears. Not only for her nephew and nieces profound sadness, but also for Wyatt. She just couldn't believe that he's so far lost in the future that the only way to save him is by going to the past. Suddenly every ones thoughts were interrupted by another memory.

"Where are we now?" Paige asked with slight annoyance. This was really starting to get annoying.

"I don't know." Chris answered in confusion. He and Melinda were so close that they shared everything with one another. How is it that I don't know about this place? Chris asked himself with confusion. Melinda had turned a bright pink and her eye's had widened comically.

"Melony are you OK?" Piper asked caring. She really did look flushed. Melinda was flushed... with embarrassment.

"We don't need to see the first part of this memory. Let's turn around until D.J. comes barging in." Mel said in a squeaky voice. Chris raised his eyebrows at her. "This is after you left." She answered his unspoken question. Chris nodded in understanding, but then the door to the bedroom they were in opened, and the memory started.

Suddenly Melinda and some guy with bright red hair barged in the door, locked in a kiss. They were kissing so passionately that you couldn't tell whose lips and arms belonged to who. They fell onto the bed and continued making out with such fierce intensity, you could tell that they're in love.

Chris made a small sound of disgust and turned away, giving his sister a filthy look in the process. This was just to gross. Melinda had gone from bright pink to a deep red. Phoebe smiled at the affection, but she and Paige also turned away with gagging sounds. Piper shook her head and raised her eyebrows at Melinda who, if it was possible, flushed even darker. Piper laughed a little and kept watching.

As they kept kissing Melinda moaned the mans name "Tony." She breathed in a sexy voice. He merely moaned in response and began kissing at her neck. She began tugging at his tee-shirt and they stopped kissing long enough to take the offending object off. Slowly and deliberately Tony began unbuttoning Melinda's blouse, making her moan again and bite her lip with adrenaline flowing through her. Her blouse came off completely and was thrown carelessly to the floor. Tony was about to un-hook her bra when another young man opened the door and stared open mouthed at the scene before him.

Chris's eye's widened in obvious recognition. Everyone was watching now as Melinda's embarrassment became more pronounced. Chris shot her another disgusted look.

"It's not what you think Chris. We were just..." Melinda trailed off at the death glare her older brother sent her. She gulped audibly and put on her best puppy dog pout face. The sisters snickered as Chris went into big brother mode.

"When we get back to the past you and I are going to have a serious talk. Your lucky that Matt isn't hear. He would kill that guy and then he would lecture you and then I would lecture you and then he wouldn't let you date until you're 25, which by the way you're not allowed to date, much less do THAT until you're at least 30. End of discussion, keep watching." Chris said in his big brother voice. Melinda pouted but Chris just shot her a warning look. Knowing Chris's temper she decided not to upset him even more and just kept watching, still pouting. Phoebe shook her head at them affectionately while Paige and Piper exchanged raised eyebrows and smirks.

"What the hell is going on in here? Mel what in god's name do you think you're doing?" D.J. asked with disgust. He looked towards Tony. "And you are so dead. That's Chris's little sister." D.J. explained. All the color drained from Tony's face and he started to stutter stupidly.

"Why is he so afraid of you?" Paige asked with confusion. Chris is a good yeller, but other then that...

"Let's just say that to make up for lack of powers, I learned some kick butt martial arts. I've been forced to use them occasionally." Chris smirked and winked at Phoebe. Phoebe blushed and felt pleased, but also wondered were this memory was going. Melinda knew exactly were this memory was going and she also knew that she didn't want to see it again.

D.J. finally took pity on Tony and spoke. "Relax dude, he's still on his mission." At this Tony smiled, relieved, but then he frowned.

"You mean that top secret mission that he wont let any of us know about?" Tony asked sarcastically. The only people that knew exactly what happened to Chris, and aren't dead, are the two people in front of him.

"Yep." D.J. smiled in a teasing way, knowing how much Tony hated to be left out of the loop. "Anyways I came here to tell you guys that we have a 3-86 down in Phoenix so we've gotta go." The atmosphere turned serious once more and everyone rushed out of the room with determined looks on their faces.

"What's a 3-86?" Piper asked curiously.

"A very important rescue mission." Chris and Melinda answered at the same time. Phoebe made a soft 'oh' noise and everyone returned their attention to the memory.

They were all in the middle of a big room, preparing to leave. The three of them grabbed hands and D.J. shimmered them out.

"You're working with demons?" Paige screeched. Phoebe and Piper looked equally bewildered.

"No, just D.J. He's that manticore baby you guys saved." Chris hastened to explain. Paige ginned widely. She was the one who had fought for the baby to live.

"I told you he'd be good." Paige said to Phoebe and Piper.

"Oh, be quiet." Piper said to her with a small smile on her face. She never could've killed a baby. Even a demon baby.

"Mel, were is this going?" Chris asked in confusion. Melinda had paled drastically and shook her head frantically once she realized which memory this is. "What's wrong?" Chris asked with concern. He took a step forward, but she took one back and pointed to the memory. Everyone turned to watch.

The three of them had arrived in a battle ground of destruction. Massacred bodies layed on the ground in groups of ten or twenty. Blood was every were and something that looked like guts were hanging from a tree. Fire was everywere. It was consuming everything. Explosions could be heard, followed by screams and sobs that seemed to never stop. People could be heard begging and pleading to die quickly, for others to live and be left alone. The sight was one of utter devastation.

Tony, Melinda and D.J.'s eye's widened and they ran toward the main source of destruction. There they were met with giant beasts destroying everyone and everything without mercy. In fact they seemed to be killing in the most cruelest way possible. The giants noticed them and ran towards them. Their giant footsteps created earthquakes; creating more death, more destruction. Melinda, D.J. and Tony grabbed hands, but they couldn't shimmer out. They were trapped. Melinda screamed as the giant stepped on D.J. giving him no chance to run. When his foot lifted D.J. was nothing more then blood, guts and gore. Tony grabbed Melinda's hand and they ran as fast as they could. They were no match for the giants. Every five of their steps was one of the giants and they were out numbered 2 to 5. Suddenly a portal opened and they both ran faster. Melinda was using her power over wind to sweep as many innocents as possible through the portal, knowing that it would lead to the resistance. A few feet away from the portal and another giant foot loomed over them. Suddenly Melinda was shoved forward and went tumbling through the portal. She looked back just in time to shout "I love you." to Tony. Tony shouted back those three words and was trampled.

They were all taken out of the devastating memory by a grief stricken wail from Melinda. Chris ran to her and let her cry in his arms.