Hello! There is an overload of information in this chapter, however it is needed for future chapters.
One thing I have tired to do was explain the time travelling. I know there are awesome stories out there that have done a much better job then my feeble attempt however I always felt that there was something wrong with the plot of season 6. The charmed ones travelled though time and never altered the flow however Chris some how was allowed? If he could why not travell back to change time so Prue could live? There had to be a reason... and here is my reasoning... ENJOY!
The next morning Wyatt was in the kitchen making breakfast. He now had his own apartment in the city close to the university he attended, which he was a junior in. Despite being twice blessed and powerful, academia always came as a stretch to him however his parents had insisted on a college education and he was trying his best to please them.
He had stayed the night at the manor because he knew that his parents had been devastated at finding out that their younger son was still alive. He had fond memories of his brother although he had to say they were more feelings then memories as he was very young when the incident happened however somehow he had vague memories of Chris Perry. He never told his parents about his recollection of Chris Perry not sure what it meant when he was little and when he finally did understand it he did not want to sadden them. When he was young his shield used to go up automatically when Chris Perry had come close and the reason was the feeling of power.
Chris Perry had been powerful and that meant that Chris was powerful, maybe even more powerful them himself and he was sure that he was the only one that noticed that the monk that showed up yesterday was a demon. A neutral demon apparently as they all had asked about Catar monastery afterwards but a demon nevertheless.
His Dad had been full of information about the monastery and had nothing but good things say about it. His mother's reaction was anything but;
"Leo I don't care who or what they are, they have my son and they are going to give him back!"
"Piper calm down."
"Calm down? Calm down? These people took my son!"
"Honey, we don't know if they are the people who took Chris," said Phoebe trying to cool Piper down.
"The monk seemed pretty shocked when we told him who Chris was, I don't think they knew," contributed Paige.
"The Catar monastery is not known for kidnapping their students," continued Leo. "They have enough people that give their children to be educated there that they don't need to kidnap their students," when he realized that everyone was listening to him he had gone on. "My guess is that Chris somehow ended up at the monastery. The monastery is known for taking in orphans, especially magical orphans," he had said as his voice got quieter as what he was saying had impacted them.
The conversation had been still continuing as Wyatt had excused himself to see to Melinda. The demon that had shown up had also mentioned that his brother was a student of theirs which meant that Chris was at least neutral if not evil. Maybe one of the reasons the book was feeling temperamental in the last few years was because of Chris.
The Book of Shadows belonged to the whole family however it resided with the one that had the greatest tie to the family magic who at the moment was his mother. It was assumed that it would go to him as he was supposed to be the twice blessed all powerful but if his brother somehow had more connection to the Halliwell magic that would mean the book would go to him and if he was evil that might be the reason why they on occasion got a shock from the book.
"Deep in thoughts?" came the question from behind him. He turned around to see his sister standing at the door of the kitchen. Melinda was 11 and a surprise for their parents. With her they had found some sort normalcy once again however Wyatt knew that she on occasion felt suffocated because the whole family was over protective of her because of what happened to Chris. She was shaping up to be a quite the witch however did not come close to the others in the power department and didn't have any whitelighter blood in her but what she lacked she made up in wisdom as she was very clever and wise beyond her years.
"Mum and Dad not up get?" she asked as she moved further into the room looking over his shoulder at what he was doing.
"Nope, take a seat and I'll give you my famous pancakes," he told her with a flash of smile. He on occasion had to take care of his sister, Piper Halliwell was a superb mum and their Dad the best however there were a few times in a year (twice to be exact) that they became absent. One was the week of Chris's birthday and Wyatt new that it had loaded memories for both his parents, not only were they remembering their lost son but also the son that had travelled back in time and died. They had lost the same child twice and blamed themselves for both.
He was never given the information on why his brother had chosen to travel back in time, just that he had saved the world but Wyatt was sure that it had something to do with him as he remembered Chris Perry hanging around him a lot. The other time that they became walking zombies was the week of Chris's disappearance and also on a few occasions when something happened that reminded them of either Chris.
These times Wyatt took over caring for his sister from seeing her feed to making sure she went to school in clean clothes and did her homework. Their parents had gotten counseling for their loss however Wyatt thought there wasn't a counselor in the world that could help them about losing a child to magic and he didn't mind helping out to take care of his sister, he would lay down his life for his little sister.
He was just putting the finishing touches on breakfast when he heard someone at the door. "Hold on a sec will you," he told his sister and orbed over to the door to answer it.
The man on the other side of the door was, the only word that described him was, dangerous. He was dressed in black pants, black t-shirt and a black leather trench coat and he seemed have a charm around his neck, he looked powerful and sure of himself.
"Wyatt Halliwell, I suppose," he said. He had a crisp British accent that spoke that he was very well educated. Wyatt's magical, moral and other wise all senses went off, this man was not all that he presented.
He narrowed his eyes, demons did not come knocking on their door at eight o'clock in the morning, "who might you be?" he asked trying not to give anything away.
"I am Salek, I believe you were expecting me."
Salek! The man that was his brother's guardian! Did he invite the dangerous man in? "Hold on one second!" he told the man before closing the door and orbing up to his parents room. His parents made double time making their way downstairs.
"Where is he?" asked his mother looking around fanatically.
"He is out on the porch,"
"What! You didn't invite him in?" asked his mother hurrying over to the door. Wyatt stepped in front of her.
"Mum," he said calmly getting her attention when she looked at him he went on, "the man on the other side of the door… for a lack of better word is powerful and maybe even evil, and we were told that he is Chris's guardian, we don't know, this could be a trap."
His mother had looked at him and for a brief second Wyatt had felt her sadness. He wasn't an empath but had a tiny power of the gift and if what he felt were only the tinniest fractions of what his mother was feeling how was she standing up right?
She had reached up and caressed his face "I know your concerns sweetheart and believe me I have them too. But he is my son, your brother and even if he turns out to be the next Source I have to know. I at least have to try, do you understand that?" she said in a soft voice before releasing him and moving over to the door to let the man in.
"Please come in," was what Wyatt heard and knew that from that moment on that their lives would be different and the battle they were involved in had just changed dynamics for all of them.
Salek walked into the famous Halliwell manor, the hearth and the soul of the light side pulsed here.
As they were walking into the room Piper gave a shout for Paige to get Phoebe and get over to them ASAP which they did even before they had moved over to the living room.
Salek was invited into the living room and he couldn't help but take in the photographs they seemed to have on display around the area. One particular drew his eye and he made his way over to it and picked it up, it was a picture of a smiling happy little boy who seemed to be happily running around somewhere in chest high grass. There was no mistaking the happy kid that was his charge.
He had been prepared for this to be a misunderstanding and even if the Charmed Ones had demanded that Derek was theirs he was going to insist on some sort of magical connector spell to tell if the child was theirs. Salek could name four spells and three potions on top of his head that would give them the connection and he knew there was more. Not to mention that they were in the 21st century, there were such things like DNA tests but looking down at the photo there was no need for any confirmation. It was the eldest Charmed One that instigated the conversation.
"Chris was always an outdoor child who loved the sun and the wind, it took a lot to just get him to come inside," said Piper Halliwell, not really surprising as Derek slept on the roof when the weather permitted, which would be always if it were left up to him but Salek dragged him inside not wanting him to catch his death.
Salek looked over at Piper Halliwell who would be Derek's mother. Derek had taken his looks after her. He didn't know how they would feel when they would come face to face with having a son that not only was undecided on which side of the war he was going to be but he was slightly grey as well.
"I don't like you," he informed her out of the blue. He was momentarily surprised at what came out of his mouth. That had not been what he had been planning to say.
"Look, we know we are not exactly on same side but that is not any reason to be hostile," said the great Leo Wyatt. He was no longer a whitelighter or an Elder however he still had the air of one.
Salek decided to elaborate, "I do not dislike you because you are the charmed ones or because you are in league with the light. I don't like you because you let your son be taken from you. You are meant to protect the innocents of this realm, how can you do that if you cannot even protect your son."
He saw the parents' rail back like they had been hit. This was not going as he had imagined, he had come here to meet them and argue that this child was not theirs and if it turned up that he was related then come to some sort of agreement on what they were going to do. But now he found himself angry on behalf of his charge that probably would not be. Derek had never once had asked about his family or inquired about who he was in the last ten years. He had just expected that this was the way life was meant to be. Salek had not realized that he was angry on behalf of Derek. He looked over at them to see how they were going to reply it was the older boy that answered for them.
"Look, you don't know anything about our family or how hard we have worked to get him back! You cannot come here and just accuse us things!"
It was Piper who had moved towards him, and although she was addressing her son her eyes locked and reminded on Salek. "It's alright Wyatt, it is something I ask every day of my life before I get up out of bed. Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently that would have changed the situation? Have I the right or the power to help others when I could not help my son? I have even considered trying a time spell…" she trailed of and Salek picked up.
"But you found out that people no matter how powerful they might be just couldn't cast time spells. Right?"
It was the annoying twice-blessed that answered, "We have had experience with time travel spells before."
"But you learned that only certain time spells are allowed and those that would not really alter time, and no matter where you traveled time always flowed the way it was supposed to be."
At their stunned looks he continued, "The only time you would be allowed to travel back in time was if something out of the ordinary happened the first time around that was not meant to be. So destiny or whoever is in charge of this grand design actually allowed the change to be made back." He saw that he had their undivided attention. No wonder the light side was always on the brink of losing, if these people were the best that they had and they were clueless.
"You mentioned to Bruno yesterday that your son travelled back in time and therefore there must have been an event, I am sure that you know that had happened. That event should have not happened the first time around so therefore you were allowed to alter time back to its original flow. And no matter how much you want to change your son's disappearance it is not a significant change to the time line so travelling back to stop his disappearance has not been allowed."
"How do you know all this?" asked the ex-whitelighter.
Salek turned around to face him. If there was justice Derek would have been safe since he was born. If he could alter time himself would have travelled back and prevented Coltac from ever getting his hands on the boy. If it meant that he never met Derek then so be it however he knew that you needed power to cast and maintain a time spell and like he said something extra ordinary would have had to happen the first time around for it to be able to change back. Despite Derek's misfortune at a young age whoever was in charge had led Salek to Derek therefore affectively putting the time follow back to its rails by guiding Derek's future into whatever it was. If Derek was not to play a big part in the coming years then he would have been left where he was, a slave, and Salek would not have been called to guide. Salek had an inkling that he probably were to have been his guide no matter where the boy grew up but still would have preferred the boy not to experience the six years of being a slave.
He answered the ex-whitelighter question with ease, "I actually know very little considering the fact that I just found out about time travelling last night. I looked into it and found out that you need a considerable amount of power to cast the spell itself, which I am sure you yourselves have noticed as you must have travelled back and forth several times."
He saw that he had their attention, "you on the other hand have also noticed that you were not allowed to alter the time for your son's disappearance. Your only mistake was to stop looking for him." he informed them calmly.
"That's not true!" that was the younger sister, Paige, known to be spirited, "we looked for him everywhere!"
Salek actually smiled, an evil smile, "you looked for him for five months. I have known demons and evil beings that looked for their offspring for longer then you have!"
He charmed ones were silent, it was true they had stopped looking for Chris, buried his memory and had gone on with their lives. It was Phoebe who answered, "we know what we allowed to happen was inexcusable but we really believed him to be dead," she told him in a quiet voice.
"So it was you who took my brother!" said the twice-blessed all of a sudden moving towards Salek with the intent of murder in his eyes.
Various forms of 'Wyatt's' could be heard from all sides of the room and Wyatt suddenly found that he couldn't move and looked over at Salek with fear in his eyes, no one had ever been able to stop him before and this guy had not even raised a finger or uttered a word. He looked over at his mother and shouted, "How else does he know how long we looked for Chris if he was not watching!"
It was Salek who answered in a calm, quiet and angry voice, "I know because I asked around, information follows pretty easy if you know the right people. And for your information I came to know Derek when he was ten. He has been under my care since and now I know he would be considered an adult here on the surface as he is over 18 however we come from down below and there people and creatures are under their parents and guardians care until they prove that they are an adult therefore before you get any ideas you have to answer to me if you wish to see him."
"But he belongs to the surface!" said the boy's father.
"We have raised him since he was ten, I say he belongs to us!"
"Enough!" with the command came a powerful suggestion behind it as well and Salek released the twice-blessed without having any intention of doing so and everyone in the family turned around to see Melinda standing at the entrance of the living room. That was one powerful witch thought Salek. You needed serious power to affect him.
"I really don't care who thinks they have the right to my brother. I however would like the opportunity to meet him and get to know him." She then turned her eyes onto him, "if you did not have the same intent you would not be here, so why don't the adults calm down and come to an agreement of some sort." She said all this with a calm air and her attitude seemed to affect everyone in the room as tempers began to calm down. Salek noted that she had mediator magic in her, something her parents probably never realized she had. Mediators were rare, very very rare.
Salek looked over at the oldest charmed one and her husband the ex-elder with narrowed eyes. What had these two people done? No wonder that all the Elders on both sides did not want them to be married. Even though they did not encourage it half-breeds tend to pop up know and then, he himself had fathered a child once upon a time, several millennia ago and the Elders did not get into a huff and puff over half-breeds. After all Paige Matthews was a half-breed and a charmed one to boot and no one even cared. However even he had heard that the Elders did not want Leo Wyatt and Piper Halliwell to get together. It was the higher ups, whoever they were, that had allowed the marriage and now Salek could see why so many were against the union. Their oldest was the twice-blessed and their youngest apparently was the long prophesied mediator that they probably had no idea about.
That left the middle child, Derek or Christopher Perry Halliwell. How did he fit into all this and what kind of powers had these two had passed onto his charge?
Salek suddenly knew where this was going, the moment Derek met his younger sister, the side which he was to fight would be determined, he would do everything in his power to keep this one safe after all Mediators were know to affect and encourage powerful beings to follow them especially if they were family. Salek smiled mediators were known to be neutral beings, regardless to how they were raised, this might turn out better than he hoped.
A very quiet and a timid question came from his right, "Do you mind… if you know… to tell us… who took my son and where was he until he came to be in your care?" asked Piper. This was something she had been thinking about since last night. Leo and she had stayed talking about it late into the night.
It was obvious that the monk that came or the Catar monastery were not responsible for kidnapping their son. If they had been they would have known who he was and not let him near the book or if their purpose was to get the book they would not have come to apologize.
Leo had told her that the monastery was an educational center and that it was neutral and that many great leaders and fighters had been trained there; Chris would have been raised well. Piper did not care. She had wanted to raise her son. She had wanted to see that brave, handsome boy that she had met so long ago come into being. She had known that she was not around the first time around and his life had not been easy however she had wanted to do right by him but was not allowed. And the question had remained: who had taken their son and why?
Salek looked over at her. She was already in tears and Salek knew he was going to add to this woman's pain with his answer but she deserved the truth. "It was a demon named Coltac, he was a slaver," he informed them with enough calm.
Gasps could be heard all around the room, Piper found that her knees would no longer hold her and she started to fall only to be caught by the stranger that walked into their lives just minutes ago. Salek led her to the couch and sat her down others were also sitting down where they were as what he said was impacting them as well.
"Do you own him now?" asked a very calm voice.
And Salek turned around to look at the little witch, despite her young age she knew how to get to the heart of the matter. "No. He has not been a slave since the day I have met him and he would never be under the control of anyone if I could help it," he informed them taking in all of them as he spoke, making his intentions clear on where he stood with his charge. He would not allow these people to control him no matter what good intentions they had or ignoring the fact they were family.
"But he was a slave before he came to be in your care?" asked Leo, Chris was taken when he was just shy of four and Salek had mentioned that Chris had been under his care since he was ten, that let six years unaccounted for. How could he allowed this to happen to his little boy?
Salek just nodded his head. "Does he remember us?" asked Paige.
Salek would have loved to give them good news however, "the underworld has been in this business for a very long time. The slavers; they grab children at a very young age and train them. They have various methods of training that we do not need to get into. Slaves commonly have no memories of who they were, only that they are to serve." He heard a sob from the mother and saw the father move next to his wife and gather her in his arms, he didn't blame them, it was one thing to believe that you had not been able to stop your son being murdered and another thing altogether to know that you allowed him to be taken to be a slave and gave up on him.
"However with time and exposure to you, Derek might begin to recall faint memories or more likely feelings associated with you," he could not help but add giving them a little bit of hope.
After a moment of silence he continued, "Ok, this is how it is going to play out. And this is none negotiable; you either take it or leave it. Derek has been doing really well without you in his life I am sure he will continue to strive without you there." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments.
"No matter who he is, he is a student of the Catar monastery and if you would allow me, I will tell you how things are done at the monastery therefore you can get an idea of what is going to happen from now."
He saw that the family exchanged glances and there were nods all around. They did not have much choice in the matter. Salek's voice took the lecture mode he was known to have, "If you wish for a child to be trained by the monastery you give him or her to the monastery around the age six or seven and have no contact with them except for a package you are allowed once a year."
He saw that the females had looks of horror on their faces where as the ex-elder did not, he probably knew all this. "Don't look so shocked, it is not a bad experience and it is not out of place if you have been raised in this way, you of course expect your child to be raised in the same way."
"After ten years at the monastery the student and the family get to spend three days at the monastery seeing where their child had been raised and meeting all the teachers," at this he smiled as he remembered fond three day celebrations from the past. "It is somewhat of a reunion for the parents that have children of the same age who themselves have been educated at the monastery. After that comes what is know as the mingling year where the student and the family balance their time together, the student continues his or her education at the monastery however spends time with his or her family learning about his or her heritage. After the year is up it is up to the student with the guidance of his teachers and family to decide what to do with his or her life."
"The choice is either to stay at the monastery and finish their education and if they wish then to continue to become a master or go back to his or her family. Are we clear on what happens until now?" He looked onto each member to see if they had understood. "The reason I am telling you this is because if a child drops out before the mingling year is up they can never go back. If they leave after the mingling year they have the option of coming back to finish their education at a later time or better yet they can have sanctuary at the monastery whenever they wish regardless whether they have completed their training or not but if they leave before, the doors of the monastery will be forever closed to them. Now the choices are different when the child is an orphan."
His comment got the oldest charmed one to come to life, "My son is not an orphan!"
Salek looked over at Piper, "Eldest, I know it is hard to accept but your son was an orphan until just thirty-six hours therefore everything had been done accordingly."
It was Leo who stepped in, "and as you might imagine this is hard for us to accept. Also we have not yet relayed our gratitude to the Catar monastery or you, for taking in and educating our son and know that all this will take some time." Salek nodded his head accepting the thought before continuing.
"Orphans are normally expected to finish their education they are not given a choice. Whether they wish to stay at the monastery afterwards is up to them. Derek has been raised in the belief that there would be no choice to his completing the training and afterwards we know that he would not stay in the monastery. He is much too restless to become a monk." It did not go unnoticed that Salek had a smile on his face when he talked about Chris, he really cared about him. "It is the reason why he is at the moment on the surface, he is learning about his options as he does not know of them."
After a moment of gathering his thought Salek went on, "I have mentioned this before, down below a child remains with his parents and teachers until they prove that they are an adult, for the monastery this also signifies the end of their training. For a magical being this usually happens when they are around 25 years of age however Derek is proving to be unique case, he could very well complete most of the trials today if he wanted but he needs more information and experience about the world furthermore he has not even completed his ten years of education. It has been unheard of to take the trials before completing ten years plus the mingling year at the monastery. We had planned that Derek would be taking his trials within a year and a half."
He noted that the entire living room was silent. He shook his head the surface world was quite ignorant of the ways of the underworld. The demons who wished to fight the surface were thought everything however it seemed that those on the surface that were to fight the underworld were fighting blindly. How did these people managed stay alive all these years? Better yet what had the whitelighters been doing all these years? When he was a whitelighter these things had been common knowledge, things you told your charges so they had a better understanding of the enemy they were fighting but now looking over at the ex-whitelighter he knew that what he was saying was new to him as well.
"Now Derek's position at the Catar monastery has changed, I personally would like him to complete the eleven years at the monastery so that in the future should he need sanctuary the doors of the monastery would be always open to him."
Phoebe thought that this man not only made too much sense he had given them more information about the demons they had been fighting for the last 25 years then they themselves had gathered. And she believed that they were only scartching the surface of his knowledge base, she had nothing against Leo or any other whitelighter they had had over the years but she couldn't help imagine what they could have accomplished with someone like him. And thinking of Chris who wouldn't want a sanctuary, she knew she had wished for one over the years however; "What does this mean for us?" she asked.
Salek looked like he was going to part with knowledge that he did not to part with, "I have spoken about the situation to some of the other masters and the first decision is that we will tell Derek about his family. And because this is a unique situation if Derek wishes to meet you, several meetings can be arranged."
It was Wyatt who noticed the underlining meaning: choice, "and if does not wish to meet us? What then?"
"As every student in the Catar monastery gets to have their family over at their tenth year, for the three day celebration, you too will be expected to be there no matter what Derek feels about the situation. This year's three day celebration is coming up just under three months and Derek will be expected to attend and then take part in the mingling year that follows and what happens afterwards will be up to him to decide."
With that he looked around, "I have given you an overload of information about the situation, why don't you take some time to digest it and we can talk about what is going to happen after you have given it some thought."
It was Leo that took charge of the situation, "there would be no need to think it over the situation, we will accept all our terms,"
He was cut off with gasps all the room and he gave every single member a look that silenced them. "You will tell our son about us and I accept you to try your hardest in convincing him to agree to meet us." With that he looked into the eyes of the stranger that had walked into their lives and had so much control over them and their son. He would agree to all the conditions that the man had so they would be allowed contact with Chris, then they would see about getting him back.
Salek knew what this man was thinking and he was surprised that he agreed with him. He would do everything in his power to get Derek to agree to meet his family. He knew his charge very well however he had no idea how he was going to react to finding out not only to having a family but a powerful light side family. He decided that they needed few more ground rules before the day was out.
"I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to make Derek understand the situation should he react negatively to it. However I would like to warn you that he has been raised in a monastery that teaches both sides of the coin, he is yet an undecided, which means he has yet to make the decision on whether he wishes to be a light or dark a creature."
At that Phoebe pied up, "we know he is a good person at heart, no matter what might have happened to him you cannot change what a person is down in his core."
Salek had to give her points, Derek was a softy but he also had a darker side. "You of course would want him to be dark. You are evil!" that was once again the twice-blessed. This little boy needed a few lessons on how the world worked.
He looked over at him and his weird green eyes pierced into the boy and the boy squirmed under the ancient gaze. "I am not evil," he informed him very composed, "however I am also not good. I am one of the people who believe the world needs both to keep its balance hence your brother was brought up in the Catar monastery which I am sure you looked up and found out that it was neutral. I am determined that Derek would make his own choices when the day comes and those that have thought him would respect his decision. You as his family will do the same if you wish to be part of his life."
"You cannot expect us to not pass on our morals onto him," said Leo.
"I don't expect you not to tell him about your side or try to coax him to the light. I however will draw the line if you criticize him on his choices and the things he has done."
"Now wait a minute…" said Paige, Salek held up a hand to forestall her.
"I am older and more experienced in this then you are. I have seen people and creatures chose sides because they have been cornered by their families and loved ones and become angry enough at their loved ones to switch sides because of hurt feelings and then live with regret for the rest of their lives because of their choices." He saw that they were hanging onto every word he was saying and went on.
"I consider Derek to be my own and I would do everything in my power that he makes choices with an open mind and not have regrets down the line."
All of the Halliwell's noticed that this man standing in their living room was not all he presented to be. They all however agreed that he seemed to have their son's best interest at heath and decided to work with him as he seemed to be in the way for them to see their son.