Title: The Nature of Memory
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Author's note: I know there hasn't been much Chris in the past two chapters, but there will be a lot of him in this one. It's pretty much centered on him as he struggles to figure out what is going on.
Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?
Chapter Eleven: Another Glimpse
Wyatt's Apartment, 2025
Chris sat nervously on the sofa, staring at the piece of paper in his hand. The sun was rising, casting rays of light through the window behind him. He had been in the future… well, he supposed it was really his present… for two days already, and it was feeling less and less like a good decision to come back with Bianca.
From the bits and pieces of what he had learned in the past, and a few conversations he had overheard between Wyatt and his followers, he had ascertained that all it took to create a spell was rhyming words. He wasn't particularly good at this, but he had managed to come up with what looked like a possibly decent spell.
He read the words slowly, saying them under his breath.
"Secrets locked deep inside,
Open for me now
So I can find the answers
And receive the truth somehow."
Nothing happened. He frowned, waiting, but his spell seemed not to have worked. In frustration, he tore the piece of paper to shred and dumped it into the nearest garbage. Then he rose and began to pace back and forth across the room.
Why had he even expected it to work? Leo had tried to heal him in the past, and it hadn't brought back his memories. Clearly, this was not going to be solved with magic. He would have to find the answers he was looking for through some other means.
Just as he thought this, he felt a pull in his chest as though he was being forcefully dragged forward. He stumbled, and the world seemed to swirl around him. When the spinning stopped, he slowly righted himself, and found, to his dismay, that he had no idea where he was.
He appeared to be standing in a hallway. It was dimly lit, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized it looked like some kind of school. A few doors opened into rooms on either side of the hallway, and up ahead a set of double doors lead into what appeared to be a lounge or common room of some sort.
"Spell casting," a voice said from behind him. "Not the smartest idea, especially when you don't know how to write spells. Too many side-effects."
Chris spun around, and found himself staring at a wolf. His first instinct was to orb away before the wolf had a chance to attack, but something in the creature's eyes stopped him. He leaned forward, mesmerized by the strange glow emanating from the wolf.
The creature turned, tail flicking back and forth behind it, and began to softly pad away. Chris, without thinking what he was doing, followed the animal. They walked in silence through the hallway, then the wolf suddenly stopped and stared ahead, finding its path blocked by a dead-end. For a moment, neither moved, then the wolf plodded forward, passing through the wooden wall as though it was not even there.
Chris hesitated, then he gingerly stepped forward, placing his hand against the wall and watching in amazement as his fingers slid right through it, disappearing from view. He let the rest of him fall through the wall, and found himself in a large room. Again, the room was dimly lit, the only source of light being a flickering fire in the very center. The smoke swirled up from the flames, disappearing through the ceiling. Behind the fire sat a young woman with dark hair and dark eyes.
"I see you followed my wolf," she said.
Chris suddenly seemed to realize the dilemma in which he found himself. He had no idea where he was, and no idea if he could get out of it. He didn't know who this woman was, and her certainly wasn't about to trust her. But when he tried to orb away, it was as though something was blocking his magic, preventing him from moving. His next thought was to call for Wyatt, but the strange woman spoke before he had a chance to ask for his brother's help.
"I doubt calling Wyatt would help," she said. "He probably won't be able to hear you."
"He'll vanquish you if you hurt me," Chris said confidently.
The woman laughed. "Probably," she agreed. "So I suppose it is lucky for me that I do not intend to hurt you. Also lucky that I do not think Wyatt can find me here."
"Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?"
The woman tilted her head to the side, regarding Chris thoughtfully for a moment. "My name is Enola," she said. "I'm a shaman. At one point or another, I was a Shaman in a place called Magic School. The School was destroyed by demons a few years before Wyatt took power. Or… it will be destroyed by demons… I'm not really sure."
"Huh?"
Enola sighed slightly at Chris' bewildered expression. "You are outside of time, Chris. And so am I."
"I don't understand," Chris murmured, deciding to trust Enola for the time being. He took a seat across from her, staring at her through the flickering red and orange flames of the fire. It was then that he noticed the small cauldron-like bowl in the center of the flames, completely consumed by the burning fire. It held something in it, a potion of some type, but when he tried to decipher what it was, the heat of the fire prevented him from leaning too close.
"You cast a spell," Enola replied. "And let me guess… it used the word 'somehow' in it." Chris nodded assent, and Enola continued, "Spells are tricky. Magic can interpret them in different ways. Some words… like somehow, any way, however possible, at all, and necessary… give the magic free reign to do what it wants to answer the plea. In your case, it took you out of the time you were in, it took me out of the time I was in, and it dumped both of us here." She gestured around the room.
"Okay…" Chris didn't fully understand, but he wasn't sure there was any way she could explain it that would have the situation make sense to him. "So… does that mean you are here to help me?"
"I'm here to fulfill the spell," Enola answered. "Whether that helps you or not, I really don't know." She reached behind her and pulled out a small wooden cup. Sticking her hand into the fire, she scooped up some of the potion and handed the cup to Chris. "Drink."
"How do I know it isn't poison?" Chris demanded suspiciously.
"You really don't," Enola answered bluntly.
Chris hesitated, but then took the cup and held it in his hands. After a moment of staring at the dark liquid, he tipped his head back and swallowed it all in one gulp. Everything around him seemed to slip forward on its axis, then he found himself falling through blackness before landing with a thud on the floor of the Manor.
He was dimly aware of voices and the sound of fighting. Pulling himself to his feet, he saw Bianca struggling against three demons. She had managed to send one of them flying backwards with a well aimed kick to the chest, and flipped another to the ground. But the third rose behind her, an athame clutched tightly in his fist, prepared to stab her while her back was turned.
"No!" Chris shouted, waving a hand and pushing the demon to the floor. Bianca whipped around to face her new attacker at the same time that the first two demons fired energy balls at Chris, and he was unable to avoid the deadly weapons. They slammed into his chest, and he felt a burning pain crawling across his skin before the world around him faded to black and he collapsed forward onto the floor in front of Enola's fire.
"Not bad for your first try," Enola said simply.
"What do you mean? Those demons could have killed me! You sent me to my death," Chris snarled.
Enola rolled her eyes. "If I meant to kill you, Christopher, I would have done that already." She raised the cup to him again, holding the dark potion tantalizingly under his nose. "You need to let go of your fears and focus only on your hopes."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, refusing to take the potion until he had more answers.
Enola raised an eyebrow. "You want answers, but you let your fears cloud your ability to move forward."
Chris folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "Leo said that this couldn't be fixed by magic. Why should I trust you?"
Enola smirked and answered, "Because contrary to popular belief, Elders don't actually know everything." She held out the cup again. "Drink."
Chris took it, and drank.
Again, he fell forward, landing on the floor in the sunroom of the attic. He rose to his feet, watching as Bianca battled the three demons. He walked forward, trying his best to ignore the fight, trusting that she would be able to take care of herself. As he moved towards the kitchen, he saw a portal before him, a shimmering blue and silver mist that separated him from the other side of the room.
Behind him, Bianca flipped the second demon to the floor. The third demon rose, shoving the athame into her back, and she let out a whimper of pain before falling to her hands and knees on the floor.
Chris, unable to bear watching her in pain, turned away from the portal and telekinetically flung the demons away from Bianca. Two of the demons flew through the air and smashed into the far wall, toppling the furniture. The third dove to the side, avoiding the telekinetic attack and throwing an energy ball at Chris at the same time. The witch-lighter felt the impact of the energy crackling against his skin, then he slammed forward onto floor.
He lifted his eyes to find Enola watching him through the flames.
"You keep this up, and your quest for answers will kill you," she berated.
Chris crawled to a sitting position. His chest was beginning to hurt and his vision blurred slightly. "What are you doing to me?" he spat.
"Nothing you aren't already doing to yourself," Enola replied cryptically.
Chris groaned. His head hurt too much to try to understand her words. "What did you mean when you said that the Elders didn't know everything?"
Enola shrugged. "Leo thinks that if he can't heal you, then this must not be something that can be healed by magic." She carefully ladled another cupful of the potion as she continued explaining, "But it doesn't always work like that. Maybe Leo couldn't heal you because fate wasn't ready for you to have the answers yet. Maybe there was something you or someone else needed to learn from this before you could regain your memories." She held out the cup. "And maybe this vision quest will help you learn something."
Chris took the cup. "I can't let Bianca die," he said. "I want the answers, but I can't just ignore her."
"You don't really have a choice," Enola countered. Then she frowned and corrected her earlier words. "No, you do have a choice. But you can't chose both. You can either protect Bianca or you can find your answers." Chris seemed upset by this, so she added gently, "It's not easy, Chris, but that's just the way it is. How important is this to you? Is it worth risking Bianca's life?"
Chris didn't answer. He didn't know what to say. He loved Bianca, even if he didn't remember her. He didn't want to walk by her and let the demons win. But he needed these answers. He knew that something was happening, that both his fiancée and his brother were hiding the truth from him. Was it more important to find that truth or to save his love? How could he even make that decision?
But slowly, ever so slowly, he raised the cup to his lips, and drank.
This time, when he landed on the floor of the Manor's sunroom, he did not even look at Bianca. He rose and walked swiftly towards the portal, ignoring the fight. He heard her whimper, knew that she had fallen to the ground, but he kept walking forward, his eyes trained on the silver and blue.
He stepped into the mist, passed through it, and found himself in the Underworld. Wyatt was standing in the center of a large cave, glaring at the three prisoners in front of them. They were all African American, and by the looks of it, they were family. The father was being held tightly by two demons who grasped his arms. He was struggling violently, his eyes filled with fury and disgust. Next to him, his wife stood perfectly still. She, too, was being held by demons, but her eyes were not on Wyatt. Rather, she was looking at the third, a man a few years older than Wyatt, and probably her son. The young man was being held by three demons who were clearly struggling to keep him in place.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find you?" Wyatt demanded with a sneer.
"Why are you doing this, Wyatt?" the woman asked. "This isn't what your parents would have wanted."
"My parents, darling Aunt Shelia, are dead," Wyatt remarked coldly.
"They're still watching over you," Shelia murmured. "Please, you can still stop this now. It isn't too late to come back to us."
The young man broke from off his demon captors at that point and pulled out a potion which he threw at Wyatt. The blonde witch raised his hand carelessly, and the potion bottle froze in midair. He wiggled his fingers, causing the potion to burst into flames. Then he stared at the boy for a moment, a cruel sneer spreading across his face.
"Feisty, Michael," he snarled. "Impressive. I didn't think you had it in you."
The young man called Michael glared viciously and said, "I have a lot more in me than you ever realized, Wyatt."
"Michael!" Shelia hissed.
"What's the matter, Mom? Can't you see he's never coming back to our side. He's evil, and it is our job to vanquish him."
"He isn't evil," the older man who had not yet spoken said, breaking his silence.
"You're right, Daryl, I'm not," Wyatt agreed. "There is no such thing as Good and Evil. Just power, and those to weak to seek it." He advanced slowly on Michael, gesturing for the demons to move back. They stepped away from Daryl and Shelia as well, giving him full reign to do whatever he wanted. "But you've killed too many of my demons, Michael. You're starting to become an inconvenience, and I don't need that."
"Wyatt, please, leave him alone," Shelia begged, stepping between her son and Wyatt. "Don't hurt him."
"Touching, Shelia," Wyatt spat. Then he raised his hand, closing it into a fist, and Michael began to gasp for breath as his airways closed. "But why should I spare him?"
"We're practically your family, Wyatt!" Shelia cried.
At the same moment, Daryl threw himself forward, tackling Wyatt to the ground. The Twice Blessed was clearly surprised by this, and it took him a moment to shove Daryl away from him. The demons all moved forward, prepared to join the battle if Wyatt called for help, but the witch didn't need their assistance. He sent a low-voltage energy ball at Daryl, burning his shoulder and causing him to collapse to the ground.
"Dad!" Michael cried. He pulled another potion from his pocket and threw it at Wyatt. Wyatt waved his hand, causing the potion to burst into flames, then he flung an energy ball towards his opponent. Shelia, seeing the danger Michael was in, jumped into the path of the weapon, letting it hit her in the chest. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out, and she crumpled into a heap on the ground, a large burn on the center of her chest.
"Mom!"
"Shelia!"
Daryl and Michael rushed to her side, but it was too late. Her eyes glazed over and closed. Michael looked up at Wyatt, his eyes filled with rage. "Murderer!" he snarled, drawing an athame from his pocket and attacking Wyatt viciously. The witch fought back, easily gaining the upper-hand. He caught Michael's wrist, twisting it and forcing him to drop the athame.
"Let him go!" Daryl demanded, rising to his feet.
"Yes, Wyatt," a voice said. "Let him go."
Several people suddenly appeared in a shower of orbs. They spread out suddenly, beginning to fight furiously. One of the men ran forward, dropping to his knees by Shelia and extending his arm. When no healing glow appeared, he looked up at Daryl, grief etched onto his face.
But Daryl had turned his attention from his dead wife to Michael, who was lying on the floor, having been kicked in the back by Wyatt. Two of the rescuers had rushed over to him, but Wyatt raised a hand and sent a blast of energy towards them, knocking all three back into the far wall. They heard the audible snap of Michael's neck as his head hit the stone, then he fell to the floor, and did not rise again.
The scene faded away, and Chris blinked and looked around. He was standing in Wyatt's apartment. The clock on the far wall said 7:47am. He had cast the spell at 7:46am. He had been gone for so long, and yet only a single minute had passed here. How was that even possible?
And then he remembered Enola's words, remembered that the spell had somehow pulled him outside of time.
The spell… He had received answers, but where they answers he wanted? How could Wyatt so cruelly kill someone like that? Or were Daryl, Shelia, and Michael demons? Were they evil? But Wyatt had seemed so cold, so cruel, so… different.
What did it all mean?
"Hey, Chris, you're up early," Wyatt remarked, walking into the room and giving his brother a smile. He paused when he saw the paleness of Chris' skin, the wide-eyed stare. "You okay, little bro? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Chris swallowed. "I'm fine, Wy," he said, attempting a smile. Whatever was going on, he couldn't tell Wyatt his suspicions. He couldn't trust either Bianca or Wyatt with this. He was truly on his own.
Underworld, 2025
"Let me get this straight," Bianca said, a sardonic smile curving her lips as she stared at Cole. "You want me to risk my life and my safety to save Chris from Wyatt, and you have nothing to offer me as insurance that Chris won't get hurt in the process?" She rolled her pretty eyes and shook her head. "You're going to have to do better than that."
Cole grimaced as he watched her. He'd been trying to find her since his talk with Lavinia, but the Phoenix had proven elusive. Although she had left the relative safety of Wyatt's apartment several times, she'd evaded Cole every time he tried to find her. He'd finally thrown all caution to the wind and summoned her, a trick that was difficult to carry off as she was a powerful witch in her own right. Worried that she might simply shimmer away once he had brought her here, he'd also implemented a cage around the entire cave. Because they both had the ability to shimmer, raising the cave meant that he would not be able to leave either. But it had been worth the risk, she was their only hope at the moment.
Of course, she hadn't responded well to his summons or his request. The assassin witch had never been particularly pleasant company, but now that she had embraced Wyatt's rule and practically sold her own soul in order to save Chris, she was unpredictable and dangerous. She'd already tried to vanquish him twice, and he'd only barely managed to evade her more recent energy ball attack.
"We could set up a time ban…" Cole began again, but Bianca cut him off.
"And prevent Chris from ever coming back here? The whole point of this mission of his was so that he could save the world and then return to this time and enjoy the fruits of his efforts. That won't work if he's stuck in the past, growing old in a time he doesn't even belong in."
"I spoke to Lavinia, and she thinks it is possible to set up a time ban so that only Wyatt would not be able to come after Chris, but Chris could still come back to this time," Cole said gently, hoping his words would soften Bianca.
They didn't. "First of all, Wyatt's not the real threat. It's unlikely he would ever go back himself, it is far too dangerous to leave his throne here unoccupied. But he will send demons back to kill Chris, and that is not acceptable. Secondly, Lavinia doesn't do anything for free. Which begs the question, what did you offer her in return?"
"We can extend the entire ban so that it prevents anyone from this time returning to the past, but Chris would still be able to come to the present," Cole argued. "And Lavinia has named a price, but it is just something the Charmed Ones need to do, so you don't need to worry about it."
"Right," Bianca drawled. "I don't need to worry about it?" She looked at him skeptically, then said, "What did she ask for, and did the Charmed Ones really agree to it?"
Cole hesitated. It was no use to lie to her, she would be able to see through it in a heartbeat. And she certainly wouldn't help him if she felt he wasn't being completely truthful with her. He sighed and said, "She wants the Charmed Ones to not vanquish Orexio. And I haven't spoken to the Charmed Ones yet, but they will agree to the plan."
"You don't know that," Bianca snapped coldly.
"Look, if they don't agree to it, I'll just tell them that Chris is Piper's son. If they know he's family…"
"They won't trust you, they won't trust me, and they'll refuse to listen to any of your reasoning," Bianca sneered. "They'll try to find another way, and it will just end up getting us all killed. Try again, Cole, because that plan just isn't good enough."
"I liked you better before Wyatt turned you," Cole remarked casually.
Bianca was at his side in a flash, slamming him against the wall of the cave. His head snapped backwards, hitting the stone, and stars burst into his vision. She had an athame pressed tightly against his throat, and he could feel the cold metal biting his skin. He wondered if she was drawing blood.
"You abandoned me," Bianca snarled, her face twisted with rage. "You, Daryl, Greg… did any of you even try to convince Melinda that she was wrong, or did you decide just to cut your losses? It was too much to argue with her, Henry, Max, and everyone else who was against me from the beginning."
"Bianca…"
She slammed his arm into his throat, effectively cutting off his ability to speak. He gasped for breath, his windpipes bruised by her vicious assault.
"You don't have a clue what Wyatt can do, and I've spent the better part of three years keeping him away from all of you. Do you think he was happy all the times I 'failed' to complete a mission? Do you think he never suspected me a betraying him? Do you have any idea what this was like for me while the rest of you hid behind your protective spells?"
She pulled away from him, and he stumbled and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. Coughing and chocking, he managed to say, "People died…"
Bianca crossed her arms over her chest. "I walked into the lion's den time and time again. Death would have been preferable."
Cole rubbed his bruised throat. "You know I could never have convinced Melinda to change her mind," he argued.
"You could have," Bianca said quietly, "if you had just tried harder."
"You didn't try to convince her to let you stay either," Cole pointed out, watching her warily. He took a few steps away from her, praying she wouldn't attack him. She watched him with a piercing gaze, but made no move in his direction, and he continued, "You gave up as well."
"I didn't give up," Bianca whispered. "I argued with her, and then she threatened to turn me over to Wyatt herself. When I had to leave the Resistance, I ran and I hid, but it wasn't enough. When Wyatt had me, I held out for weeks. In case you've forgotten, that it quite a bit longer than anyone else ever has."
Cole had to accept the truth of her words. The times that Wyatt had managed to capture members of the Resistance alive, he had broken them in less than a day. The fact that Bianca had held out for weeks was a testament to how much she loved Chris and far she was willing to go to keep him alive and safe.
"Wyatt has turned you and Chris into his allies," Cole said finally. "Is this really what you want? It certainly isn't what Chris would have wanted." He paused, then, pressing his luck, he ventured, "Chris' dream… that you did give up on."
"I didn't give up," Bianca said softly. "I just… I'm just hoping we can find another way." Her anger seemed to fade, and she looked away, crestfallen and hurt.
Cole sighed. Chris would never be able to kill baby Wyatt, even if it meant saving the world. Bianca would never be able to leave Chris in danger, even if it meant saving the world. They never seemed to see anything past their own fear and desires, and it was a problem that afflicted everyone in the Halliwell family. None of them ever realized how important saving the world was.
But for all the times he grew annoyed at the Halliwells' insistence that there was no bigger picture than their family, he could see now how strong it made them all. It gave Chris the strength to endure his family's distrust, it gave Bianca the determination to hold out against Wyatt. If he could just convince her that there was a way to succeed at this, she would bring Chris to him.
"I'll talk to the Charmed Ones," Cole said, waving his hand and deactivating the cave. "We will find a way to return Chris to the past and keep him safe. Will you help us then?"
Bianca gave him a long stare. "Maybe," she said at last. "But don't hold your breath."
Resistance Stronghold, 2025
"Absolutely not!"
"This really isn't your decision, Melinda."
"You can't possibly think that allowing that demon to live will solve anything? It could ruin this future."
"If we can return Chris to the past, this future won't matter."
"Or you just want to ensure that another demon lives. Planning to join forces with him, Balthazar?"
"Do you ever stop to listen to anyone else? Or are you always so damn sure that you know what is best?"
The raised voices greeted the three sisters and Greg as they wandered into the small kitchen area. Melinda was standing in front of the stove, arguing furiously with Cole. A man that they recognized as Max watched the argument from his place leaning against the opposite wall. Rhodin and two white-lighters listened as well, worry and displeasure evident on their faces.
Melinda stopped speaking as she saw Greg enter. Behind him, Piper and Phoebe were watching her with open curiosity, while Paige was staring at Cole with mistrust.
Cole glanced at the sisters, then looked back at Melinda.
"You agree that we need to rescue Chris?" he asked calmly.
"Yes, but…"
"And that as he is currently in Wyatt's lair and with no memories of who he is, the only person who can get close enough to him to bring him to us would be Bianca?"
"True, but she isn't trustworthy and…"
"And the terms Bianca has given us are that she will only help if we can guarantee Chris' safety?"
"Yes, but that…"
"And the only way to do that is to place a time ban preventing anyone from returning to Chris' time? And Lavinia is the only one who knows how to do that, and she has given her terms as well?"
"Cole!"
"Do you agree with all that?" Cole practically snarled.
Melinda placed her hands on her hips. "So what?" she asked angrily. "We just let Orexio live? He destroys the Underworld, or worse, joins forces with Wyatt? How does that help?"
"We don't have any other choice!" Cole said firmly.
"Isn't Lavinia the seer that Leo told us about?" Paige asked Piper, breaking the tense silence that had fallen. Melinda glanced over at the youngest Charmed One, but said nothing. Cole didn't even bother acknowledging their presence, and Piper gave a slight shrug as a reply.
"I agree with Melinda," Max said, stepping towards the younger witch and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"What a surprise," Cole muttered sarcastically, and Max and Melinda sent him identical glares.
"Vanquishing Orexio was one of the best things the sisters ever did. It is just as important as their defeat of the Triad or the Source," Max continued.
"Actually, technically, I was the one that killed the Triad," Cole announced.
"You know, I really don't think this is the time for debates over who gets credit for the vanquishes," Rhodin said, his tone mildly reprimanding.
"What's going on?" Piper asked curiously.
"We can save Chris," Cole said, "but only if you three agree not to vanquish Orexio when you return to your own time."
"Why would we make that promise?" Paige asked incredulously. "He's a demon. He tried to kill us."
"If you don't, you won't be able to save Chris," Cole countered.
"So?" Piper demanded bitterly.
Both Cole and Melinda flinched at her harsh comment. Phoebe noticed this and found it odd, but before she had a chance to comment on it, Cole was speaking again.
"Look, all we have to do is let this one demon live and we can save the world. Lavinia can help us erect a ban that would prevent anyone from this future from traveling to the past. The ban would disappear once Chris has the chance to find the evil after Wyatt and kill it because then this future will be erased. It isn't that difficult…"
"Except that we have to let a very powerful demon go unvanquished," Melinda hissed. She shook her head and said, "I won't agree to this. And I will make sure that the council doesn't either." Without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed from the room.