Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I live for them, so keep 'em coming. ;)

CHAPTER 9

Chris' Legacy Revealed

Wyatt sighed as he watched his Aunt Pheobe try to force a premonition. It wasn't working. Neither one of them had picked up anything on the ashes of the witch except for the feeling of fear and a flash of her face before death. Nothing about who had actually done it. The Twice Blessed Witch was frustrated to say the least.

He sighed and moved over to the wall, leaning against it. He needed to clear his mind after hearing the victim's screams. She had been in so much pain. Burning to death would have to be such a terrible way to die. He couldn't imagine the terror and pain such a death would cause. Well, actually, he kind of could now. He had felt her fear and pain with his empathy as though he had been the one to burn. He had heard her thoughts as she prayed for her family, and knew that the last thought dwelled on her daughter, Susie. It had broken his heart to hear her pleas go out for her loved ones instead of her own survival.

Even though he had heard and felt the death as though it was his own, Wyatt at least knew that those thoughts and feelings would end and that his life would go on once he muted his powers. The victim didn't have that reassurance. The young man closed his eyes, trying not to think about it. He needed to have a clear mind in order to help find whoever was responsible for killing all the witches. To avenge the mother and all the others. No one should have to die by fire.

After taking a few deep breaths to rejuice his mental battery, Wyatt pushed off from the wall, and prepared to start another telepathic sweep of the alley, hopefully getting the thoughts of the killer this time. Maybe even a name or place to track the demon by.

Closing his eyes Wyatt concentrated and finally succeeded in picking up something. It just wasn't at all what he expected to hear. "My mother wasn't evil. You monsters killed her. Now...you can all burn." The thought jolted Wyatt back to reality. He turned around quickly, nearly knocking down his uncle Kyle. "I got something! I heard him! I don't think this is what we thought it was."

Brody frowned, shaking his head. "What do you mean, Wyatt?"

"I mean that I don't think this guy is completely evil."

Pheobe exchanged a confused look with her brother-in-law. She turned to her oldest nephew, an uncertainty in her brown eyes. "Honey, what do you mean? He killed three witches. That's pretty evil in my opinion."

"He sounded so hurt and confused, Aunt Pheebs. He said that witches killed his mother. He was exacting revenge for her death. While I know that's wrong and he needs to be punished, I can understand how that would push someone over the edge. I don't know what I would do if someone had succeeded in killing mom."

Pheobe thought to herself how close Wyatt had been to almost knowing exactly what he would have done. If his brother from the future hadn't let slip to his grandpa Victor how old he was when Piper died, then she would have been killed by that demon. Because they knew Chris would be fourteen, they were extra careful, and Leo never left her side. He was able to heal her after the attack and the Power of three vanquished that sorry thorn demon. "So, did you get any idea of what this guy was?"

"He sounded young, but as for what he is I have no idea. Sorry."

"It's okay, Sweetie. We'll just keep trying. At least we know that a psychic trail is still here."

Wyatt nodded and prepared to clear his mind once more when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Falling onto his knees, the twenty-year old grabbed his chest groaning in pain. Brody was by his side in an instant, and without remembering that Wyatt was more than capable of healing himself, he raised his hands expecting the familiar golden glow to start healing his nephew. Nothing happened.

When Wyatt looked up tears were in his eyes. "Chris. I'm picking up on Chris." He screamed out again. "Wyatt, help!" His voice strained as he screamed out what he heard in his mind.

Brody closed his eyes to sense for Chris, ready to go heal his nephew. He didn't pick up on anything. That frightened him more than anything. Either Chris had been taken to the underworld or...

Silence took hold of the alley as Pheobe held her now shaky, eldest nephew. His screams had stopped but the tears hadn't. She rubbed circles on his back and looked to Kyle for guidance and information. When the whitelighter's mouth simply fell open and his skin paled, the Aunt swallowed hard, fearing the worst. Her own tears threatened to choke her as she fought to stop from sobbing. She had to have hope. Chris could not be dead. They couldn't have lost him again! Not again!

Without a word, Wyatt jerked away from his Aunt and orbed out of the alley leaving Brody to kneel next to Pheobe holding her close. He shook his head. "If anyone can find Chris, it's his brother, Pheobe. Besides, Wyatt's healing power is stronger than anyone elses. If Chris is dying..." He winced as his sister-in-law sobbed. Bad word choice. "Uh, if he's bad off, Wyatt has the best chance of bringing him back. Don't give up hope yet. Without hope, we have nothing left."

"I think you've been spending too much time with Leo. You're starting to sound like him."

"Well, it's the truth. I'm sure Chris is going to be just fine." Even as he said the words, Brody's heart cried out for his family. If Chris was really gone...would they be able to go on?

000

"Where the hell is my brother?"

Wyatt stepped out of the shadows, his eyes no longer the color of the sky but the shade of the sea during a storm. They remained focused on the young man slumped against the wall. Whoever it was must have seen Chris. The Twice Blessed Witch wasn't about to leave here until the kid had told him everything he had seen and heard. If he wouldn't tell him voluntarily, then the Halliwell witch was more than ready to force the matter.

The youth by the wall slowly raised his head, his eyes even in the darkness of the falling night appeared red, puffy and full of sorrow. His whole body radiated loss. He didn't seem to care that Wyatt looked angry enough to beat the shit out of him. The kid just looked numb. Blinking slowly, the stranger shook his head. "Why?"

Confused and irritated by the comment Wyatt moved forward, grabbing the younger man by the shirt and shoving him against the wall. "I know he was here. I know you must have seen what happened to him. Tell me damn it! Shaggy brown hair, green eyes, lean and tall. You know who I'm talking about. He was hurt and you must have seen it happen, so tell me!"

"Chris..."

Taken back, Wyatt loosened his grip. "You knew him?"

The boy lowered his head unable to force his voice to work. Just thinking about Chris made him feel like being sick...or using his power on himself. He wasn't sure which he would do at the moment.

"What happened to him?"

The boy's green eyes drifted to a pile of ashes then back to Wyatt's shoes. Catching the stranger's gaze Wyatt followed it and nearly collapsed at what he saw. As it was he felt ill and needed to support himself up on the wall. The pile of ashes...that couldn't be...oh God...Chris? "No. That can't be..." Tears welled in his eyes at the thought.

"I think I was wrong." The green eyed youth seemed to be talking more to himself than Wyatt. "He was nice to me. I don't think it was an act, but then that would mean..." His voice dropped. "I'm a murderer of innocents. I-I killed Chris..."

Wyatt's head whipped around at the confession. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Alex replied, tears falling down his cheeks again.

The Twice Blessed Witch was shaking, his face contorted in rage. His blue eyes grew darker than the shadows. Shoving his brother's killer into the wall with as much force as he could, Wyatt's whole demeanor changed. He didn't remember the feeling of confusion and pain that he had picked up in the alley earlier. Didn't remember saying that the killer didn't seem evil. All he cared about was hurting the person responsible for taking his brother away from him. "You're sorry? You son of a bitch! You killed my best friend and brother all in one and you expect sorry to be enough? No fucking way! I'm going to make you pay for what you did to him. I'm going to rip you limb from limb and when I'm through I'll heal you just to do it all over again, you hear me, you bastard!"

Shoving Alex to the ground, Wyatt raised his hands letting the lightening flow through them and into the frightened youth. "It's your turn to burn asshole."

000

Prue turned away from the image of her eldest nephew and great nephew, noticing that her mother and Grams did the same. She couldn't believe this was happening. Everything was falling to hell and as usual the Elders were doing nothing to stop it. Well, she wasn't going to let her family fall apart. She wasn't going to give up until she fixed this mess. The former Charmed One turned on her heel, intending to head out to find reinforcements.

"Prue?"

The dark haired woman turned at the sound of her mother's voice. "I'm not going to stand by and watch this happen."

"What can you possibly do to stop it? We're dead. This isn't our job anymore. We have no say in what happens down there." Grams cut in.

Prue shook her head. "Maybe we can't do anything, but there is somone who can, and no one is going to stop me from helping him as much as I can." She didn't wait to hear the response before leaving to find the one person who could help her change all of this, or in all actuality, stop it from happening in the first place.

Seeing who it was she was looking for, Prue paused and put on a small, unsure smile. "Chris?"

The dark haired youth turned around and when Prue saw him, her breath caught in her throat. He looked different. Granted his hair was the same, build and clothes too, but in his eyes, she saw that he was different. He did not look like the happy go lucky young man she had been watching for eighteen years. The jade eyes normally bright and hopeful were dark and resigned. The way he held himself did not show any of the confidence he normally portrayed. He looked tired. When he offered her a dark smile, a feeling of familiarity arose within her. This wasn't her sister's son, yet...it was.

"Aunt Prue." He lowered his eyes, staring at the white floor. In that moment, he looked so young, so unsure of himself. It was as if he were afraid of rejection. Definitely not how the Chris she had watched grow up would behave.

Even his tone was different when he spoke: softer yet steady all at once. As though he were trained to control his voice. Trained to cover up his uncertainty, but wanting to reveal some of it too. Prue found herself truly smiling when he spoke next, the same tone used. "It's nice to finally meet you." A regular Mr. Manners, like mother like son.

"I wish it were under better circumstances."

Chris let out a short, airy laugh, that was almost as melancholy as his smile had been. "Yeah. Me too."

Noticing his Aunt giving him a strange look, the youngest son of Piper Halliwell knew that she had seen the change in him. He had known that she would be watching her family from up here, known that she was expecting someone who wasn't really here, known that she would notice the difference right away. Shoving his hands into his pockets he sighed, finally forcing himself to look his mother's hero in the eyes. "I'm not the Chris you think I am. I want that to be clear."

"I got that feeling. What I don't understand is what happened to the Chris who just died."

Chris smiled sorrowfully again, a distant look in his eyes. "Mom was right, you never waste time beating around the bush."

His aunt recognized the pain in his voice. She had often had that same quality in her own tone when speaking about her mother. She had always known that she and this Chris were a lot a like, but until this very moment it had never struck her how terrible a thing that could be. Lost mothers, dead-beat dads, and a responsibility that never seemed to end. Her heart went out to him. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through. I always wanted to tell you that."

The young man's face reddened slightly. It was obvious no one had ever told him that before. After a moment he collected himself and cleared his throat to ease the tension. "Yeah, well it doesn't really matter anymore. I had the chance to live the life of my dreams in the end. Brother that isn't evil, a dad that's around, and mom's alive. It's great."

"Only it isn't and you know it." Prue folded her arms over her chest staring at him inquisitively. "You aren't really living that life. You feel like someone else is. That's why you're up here and he isn't, right?"

"He's in here too. I mean, I remember both lives; it's just that the first life was not only longer, but the memories from it were stronger. The pain, the struggles, the passion, everything about that life just resounds in my mind right now. Maybe it will even out eventually, I don't know."

"So, let me see if I understand this. You remember both lives now that you're dead, but the first life was the more powerful of the two so that's the persona you have right now?"

"Well, from what I can figure out since each person only has one soul no matter what, now that I'm up here, it's free to remember both the lives in which it's existed. Make a little more sense?"

"Yes, I guess." Prue frowned, thinking. "Actually this may work out better than I had initially thought. I knew I would need your help to save him, and now that you remember what happened it will make that easier."

"You're talking about Alex." Chris let out a breath shaking his head. When he spoke his voice was full of self-loathing. "I can't believe I was so careless, so selfish. I knew better than that. Now, look what's happening. My brother is about to kill my son. Everything I did to make the future better is going to be for nothing once Wyatt takes that first step. My death is going to be the trigger that turns him evil this time. Not to mention what Alex's life has been like because of me. I did what I swore I would never do. I abandoned my child just like Leo did to me."

Prue moved forward putting a reassuring hand on her nephew's shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. You couldn't have known this was going to happen. Besides, from what I've seen of both your lives, I know that you are just as smart, strong-willed and determined as I am, so together we're going to fix this."

"How?"

"You have enough power to get to earth. You won't be able to stay long once the Elders find out you've left the heavens, so you're going to have to make every moment count, which is why it's so perfect that you got your memories back. Tell them the truth. Get them to stop fighting long enough to understand the situation."

"I don't know if I can do that. How am I supposed to explain why I was in the past in the first place? I refuse to tell my brother that he was an evil tryrant, Prue."

"Keep it simple. Tell him that you went there to save him. Nothing more." She moved closer to him, holding his green eyes with her blue pair. "Chris, the fate of our family is depending on your ability to convince Wyatt to go back through time and fix this. It's the only way to solve all our problems."

Chris frowned. "Are you planning on me convincing my brother to stop me and Anne from...you know?"

"No. Alex is supposed to be here. He has a destiny that needs to be fufilled. Things just got a little messed up."

"So what should I tell Wyatt to do?"

Prue smiled. "Don't worry so much. Wyatt's smart. He'll figure it out."

"You really think I can pull this off?"

"Yeah, I do, but you're going to need some help, though."

Chris frowned, folding his arms over his chest. "Why do I have the feeling you aren't just talking about yourself?"

"Well, if she is as smart a woman as I have come to believe she is, then she'll be talking about me."

Chris turned to the sound of the refined voice. "Anne?"

"You remember me."

The witch-whitelighter nodded, a small, sad smile playing on his lips. "You're Alex's mother. Of course I would know you."

Prue moved between the two young parents. "I hate to break this little reunion short, but you two have a son to save. Chris, make sure Wyatt stops this from happening in the first place. Have him go back to before this all started. You know what spell to give him."

Chris nodded then turned to the woman he had met all those years ago. A woman he had felt a connection to and leaned on during one of the worst nights of his life. The mother of his son. When he looked at her beautiful face, her blue eyes so full of determination, his jade pair softened, knowing that under different circumstances they might have been good together. He extended a hand. "Ready?"

"I have to be."

With that, Chris and Anne went up in a swirl of golden lights. Prue watched on hoping with all her heart that her plan worked.

000

Alex convulsed on the ground as the lightening coursed through his body. Every nerve he had seemed to be on fire. He didn't mind. In fact, the pain almost made him feel better about everything that had happened, everything he had done. If he was truly a killer, than this was the fate he deserved. This pain would be his way of paying back those he had killed. The teen didn't even try to fight back. He didn't have the will to.

"Wyatt, stop it!"

The victim of the attack attempted to raise his head to see who was speaking, but found that he didn't have the strength. All he could do was listen to the conversation and wonder who had attempted to save him. The voice sounded so familiar to him...Alex strained to hear the conversation.

"Chris?" Wyatt's voice whispered.

Alex frowned wondering what was wrong with his attacker. Chris was dead. Murdered. This was why he was currently lying on the ground, possibly dying. How could Wyatt possibly even think that Chris was there? How could he mistake someone else for his own brother? He tried to raise his head again, finally succeeding, but he couldn't see who was talking. Whoever it was, Wyatt was blocking them from vision.

"Wyatt, I don't have much time here, so you're going to have to listen carefully. Alex is my son."

The youngest Halliwell finally found the strength to lift himself up. Standing unsteadily, he heard the remark of the stranger and nearly fell back down. Instead he blinked, staring toward the man Wyatt was speaking to. It looked like Chris. However, he knew that Chris was dead. He had killed him. Besides, Chris couldn't be his father. That was ludicrous. The guy was only a year older than him. If his head wasn't still spinning, he would have said as much. He probably would have been angry at this guy claiming to be his father too. His father was dead, had been since before he was born. What was this stranger smoking that he thought he could pull of this stupid lie?

"Chris, what are you talking about? That's Alex. He's not from the future...is he?"

"No, he's not." Chris replied moving closer to Alex, trying to get the younger teenager's attention. "In another timeline I went back in time in order to save my brother, and when I was there I met your mom, Alex. She helped me through a really hard time. It resulted in you. I didn't even know. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that your life has been so hard because I wasn't around for you. I couldn't protect you like a father should."

Alex snapped in that moment. This guy was not going to pretend to be his father, taint his father's memory like this. No way. "Shut up! You are not my father! He is dead. Has been since before I was born. You're nothing but a liar. Chris is dead, so you can't be him either, and there is no way that Chris was my dad anyway. You're insane if you think I'm going to listen to this."

"Sweetheart?"

The young man froze as he heard that voice. It was a voice hadn't heard in such a long time. A voice he would have given his soul to hear just one more time. He turned to face the owner of it. "Mum?"

Anne stood next to Chris a sorrowful look on her face. "I am so sorry I lied to you."

"Mum? How is this possible? How can you be here?" He shook his head, not believing that this was actually happening. Was it really her? Or was it some sort of trick? What did she mean by lie? "Mum, what's going on?"

With tears in her eyes, Anne took a breath, shared a look with Chris then turned back to her son. "Alex, Christopher Perry isn't your father. Christopher Perry Halliwell is your father. Everything he said is true."

tbc...