Charmed Reborn Chapter Fourteen, "What if The Seer Won?"
"It'll never work" Bianca said.
"It has too, we can't keep living like this Bianca" Chris replied, exhausted.
He made his way up the stairs of P3, his Aunt Piper's old club, now in ruins, it was his hiding spot, his own little area of safety, no one came in, no one disturbed him, or Bianca, this was their spot.
"Please don't go, I can't lose you" she shouted, fighting back tears.
"If this all goes to plan, you'll never lose me" he answered.
He wiped a tear away from his eye and walked out the exit, he had to go to Halliwell Manor, he had to travel to the past, and he had to be quick, the spell wouldn't last long, the portal would stay open maybe for a couple of minutes? He had no idea, it had never been done. He had acquired this spell from a good friend whom he trusted, but there was no telling if it would even work.
He walked down the grungy street, litter everywhere, it was quiet, it was always quiet, the people that were left were too afraid to leave their homes or their shelters.
He heard a noise, he sunk back into the shadows of an alleyway, he dared a look around, it was just a stray cat, he breathed a sigh of relief and kept walking. If only he'd had Uncle Leo's power of orbing, he could have been there in a flash.
An hour later he could see it in the distance, Halliwell Manor, not how it used to look, at least from what he'd seen in the old photos, it had been painted a dark black since then, to resemble the ownership it was now under, the ownership of pure evil.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, he couldn't sense anyone inside, but that didn't mean no one was in there, it just meant that were hidden. He was throwing his all into this, he was the last one left, the last Halliwell, the last descendant of Melinda Warren alive. Ten years ago he'd had a mother, a father, three aunts and an uncle, but now? No one, except Bianca of course, she was a witch too, though not usually the good type, she had turned against her masters for him, for their love. He remembered Aunt Phoebe's reaction when he'd told them who he'd fallen in love with, was it really so long ago? She was happy anyway, said she understood, and I believed her.
Chris circled around the back and came face to face with the backyard fence, still standing, he did what his mother taught him, jumped into the air and used his telekinesis to propel himself over the fence, landing in the garden.
He stopped breathing, listening for any sign that he'd been heard. Nothing. Yet.
The back door was wide open, the gall of these fiends he thought as he walked inside, still remembering the way after this amount of time. He entered the kitchen, it was dark, but he could see well enough, he went to one of the kitchen drawers, found a bread knife, it'll do he thought as he slid it into his belt and carried on into the dining room. He looked around, this part he didn't remember, the manor apparently hadn't just been defaced on the outside, but the inside too, it made him sick.
He tore his eyes away and climbed the stairs, he had to check for any intruders before he began the spell, the last thing he needed was someone disturbing him. If his sources were correct, no one, good or evil had set foot in the manor for over a year, so it clearly wasn't being monitored. At least he hoped it wasn't.
He walked through the landing, checking each bedroom, he sucked in a gasp when he entered his mother's room, a half broken crib lay on its side, it was his, he was sure of it, it had his name on it, "Christopher Bennett Marks-Halliwell", a mouthful if ever there was one, he smiled as he remembered his mother yelling at him when he did something wrong, each time using his full name like a weapon, oh how he missed the small things.
He turned away, he didn't have time to reminisce, besides, if his plan worked, he wouldn't even remember any of this, time would change, things would be better, his family would still be alive.
He walked up the stairs to the attic, this has been wrecked as well, all the old family junk gone and replaced with tables upon tables of what looked like potions and weapons, nice he thought as he laid down the bread knife and replaced it with a machete.
He walked back downstairs, if he was correct, then the portal he was going to open up should take him to the exact same spot, but in the past, he was going back to the year 2002, two years before he had even been born, who knows? Maybe after doing this, he'd never even be born, still, he had to try, the world deserved a second chance.
He took out the piece of paper and stared at it, he had a moment's hesitation, he smelled it, it was coated in herbs, witches in this time had found a way to coat the herbs needed for a spell onto the paper, all you needed to do was set it alight as you chanted.
That hesitation cost him.
"Going somewhere?" a deep voice said behind him.
Chris hadn't sensed him, he'd managed to conceal himself, probably some dark magic The Seer had given him.
"I will be" he replied.
"Not if I have anything to do with it" the man snapped back.
Chris threw himself to the floor as he felt the heat build-up behind him, just in time he hit the floor as a wave of fire crackled above him.
He raised his hand and threw the being up to the ceiling and slamming back down on the floor, he grunted in pain. Chris stood, but this guy was fast, he'd had strict training to ignore pain, the two began sparring, Chris grabbing his hands and pushing them down to the sides, then shoving his fist up into the man's nose, sending him reeling.
Chris once again raised his arm and threw the man outside the Manor front doors, shutting and locking them up behind.
"You don't win this time Tyler, never again" he said as he began to chant.
"Time and space surround us all,
But with this spell I break that wall,
I call upon the ancient power,
To take me back to the hour".
He finished chanting and lit the paper on fire from the flames Tyler had left in his wake, Chris threw the paper to the ground and watched in excitement and nerves as it began to glow a blinding white. He heard banging on the door behind him.
"Let me in!" Tyler was yelling.
Come on Chris thought, any second he'll just burn the door down. His wishes were answered, a wind began to roar around him, objects and furniture being moved around as the hurricane of magic enveloped Chris, one second all he could see was white, the next, he came to face to face with The Charmed Ones.
"Wait, what?!" Piper exclaimed in disbelief.
"You're who?" she demanded.
"I'm Prue's son, I can explain it all, but I don't have time now, that portal will close soon and then we're all doomed, please!" he begged.
"I believe him" Phoebe said suddenly.
Prue and Piper turned to look at her.
"Why?" Prue asked.
"I can't explain it, but I can feel what he's feeling, his joy at seeing us, his excitement, and also his fear, I can feel that he's telling the truth" she explained.
"How long have you been able to do this?" Piper wondered.
"I'm not sure exactly, a few weeks?"
"Piper, I think our younger sis is becoming an empath" Prue said, smiling.
"Ok that's great, but please, can we go now?" Chris yelled.
"Don't yell at your mother like that!" Phoebe shouted before jumping into the portal.
Chris actually looked guilty at what Phoebe had said.
Prue and Piper turned to look at each other and nodded.
They held hands and jumped in after Phoebe. Chris following suit.
Phoebe looked around the dilapidated manor, what year was this?
What on Earth had happened?
"Horrible isn't it?" Chris said, appearing through the portal with Prue and Piper.
"They've ruined this place, befouled it with their evil".
"I can't believe it" Piper said, her hands shaking.
"Ok, start talking" Prue demanded.
"I will tell you everything you want to know, but first we have to deal with that" Chris said, pointing towards the front door that was now melting off the hinges.
"What the heck is that?" Piper said, panicking.
"Honey I'm home" Tyler said as he marched through the front door.
His eyes widened at the sight before him.
"It can't be" he exclaimed.
"Freeze him!" Chris yelled.
Piper did as commanded and threw up her hands, freezing Tyler in place.
"I feel like I've seen him before" Prue said, racking her brains.
"As a child, yes, you helped him".
"His name is Tyler Michaels" Chris dropped the bombshell.
"Wait, the little kid from the social services?" Prue asked in disbelief.
"What happened here? Talk. Now!" Prue snarled.
Chris looked down and back up again.
"It's the year 2030, my name is Chris, I'm your son, and I am the last living descendant of Melinda Warren" he explained.
"But this is the future right?" Phoebe checked.
"So where are we? What happened to us?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"You're all dead" Chris said sadly.
"But we've been to the future before, I had a daughter, Prue was blonde and Phoebe was in jail" Piper said, trying to grasp the situation.
"Well when you went to that future and saw what would happen you went back to the past with future knowledge and changed the outcome and that future never happened" Chris summarized.
"I'm getting a headache" Phoebe said, sitting down on the arm of the burnt sofa.
"But you did have a daughter" Chris said, looking to Piper.
"But she didn't make it" he said, staring at the floor.
"Oh my God" Piper said, clutching her chest.
"But that's why I bought you here, to do the same thing you did before when you went to the future, see what happens and then go back to the present knowing that things need to change, it's our only hope" he said sombrely.
"You're not saying much Prue" Phoebe pointed out.
"I think she's in shock" she continued.
"I'm just trying to process all this, should you really be telling us, showing us all this?" she asked.
"Well that's kinda the point, to show you so you can change it" he said.
"But aren't there rules, or what about the elders?" she queried.
Chris laughed, "Yeah right, like the whities would help us" he sneered.
"There's no need to be racist" Piper said.
"No, whitie doesn't refer to skin colour, it refers to whitelighters, the elders recalled them all from Earth about ten years ago, sealing themselves off from us so they could protect themselves" he explained.
"They abandoned us" he said simply.
"What a shocker, the elders do something crappy" Piper snapped.
"How did we die?" Phoebe asked quietly.
"Phoebe, I'd rather not know that" Prue said harshly.
"The way I see it Prue, none of this even matters because we're going to change it, who cares if we know what happens in this future? When we go back to the past, hopefully none of this will have happened and we won't know what's coming" she said, raising her voice.
"We don't know that for sure now do we, stop being so care free "Freebe" and look around, we failed! The future is in ruins, and it's our fault" Prue shouted, holding back tears.
"Ok, I think we need to all take a deep breath, we don't really have time for this now do we?" Piper asked gently, trying to calm the situation down.
"You're right Piper, I'm sorry Phoebe, I guess this is all a lot to take in" Prue said.
Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, letting it slide.
She then turned to Chris, looking at him properly.
"You really look like your mother" Phoebe said, noting their similar features.
"If this future does change, you might not even be born" Piper said carefully.
"Maybe, but that's a chance I'm willing to take, once you see how it is out there, you'll see how important this is".
"Wait, out there? Can't you just send us back now you've told us all what happens?" Phoebe asked.
Chris shook his head.
"The spell I used requires a lot of power, it'll need 24 hours to recharge until we can use it again".
"Of course, because having us go straight back would be way too easy" Piper whispered to herself, annoyed.
"We need to see this I think" Prue said suddenly.
"Let's go".
"Uh, what about Tyler?" Phoebe asked.
"How'd he get so evil?"
"The Seer brainwashed him, turned him evil, he's no better than a demon now" Chris explained.
"While he's frozen we can vanquish him" Chris said, pulling out his machete.
He raised it above his head before it flew out his hands and landed across the room.
He turned around, Prue was staring at him, furious.
"Maybe he is evil, but the last I saw him he was an innocent little boy who wanted to be normal, so no, you won't vanquish him" she snarled.
"He's killed innocents, he's killed witches, good people".
"He's the reason your daughter is dead" he said, turning to Piper.
Piper looked down, trying not to cry.
"Let's just get outta here" she said quickly, rushing for the half melted door.
Prue looked around what used to be Prescott Street, the houses in ruins, the streets rubble, she could barely believe it, in 28 short years this is what life would be like, and she had a son!
She looked at the man walking in front of her, what did she think of him? He was a hard-ass, she knew that already, but what choice did he have? He was alone, no family, fighting a war against evil by himself, he'd probably had to make hard choices.
"Why Chris?" she blurted out of nowhere.
"Huh?" he said turning to face her.
"Your name, why did I call you Chris?"
He smiled.
"It's short for Christopher, it was Leo's Father's name".
"You once told me you had all these names planned out, only to give birth and see that you'd had a boy, so you asked for male names that meant something to your family and Leo suggested Christopher, you liked it so that's what you named me" he explained.
"Who's your dad?" Phoebe wondered.
Prue looked back up, that is something she'd very much like to know as well.
"Ah, well, I can't tell you that"
"Seriously?" Prue asked.
"Well, if I still want to be born in this new future we're making, then I don't want to influence my parentage".
"That makes sense I guess" Phoebe said.
"Yeah it does, that doesn't make it any less maddening though" Prue said through gritted teeth.
"Whoa" Phoebe said, looking up at the remains of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"Is the whole world like this?" Piper wondered.
"Pretty much" he replied.
"What happened though?" Prue asked.
"It started before I was born, The Seer raised an army of demons and all kinds of hell beasts from the underworld and decimated our planet".
"Her goal was to eradicate all that was good".
"And she pretty much succeeded" he concluded.
"But why didn't we stop her?" Prue demanded, not able to accept it.
"You couldn't, you had the power but not the right tools" he said.
"What does that even mean?" Piper asked.
"I'll show you once we get to P3".
An hour later and Chris and the sisters had made it there, they were all silent as they'd walked the streets, it may have been dark but they still saw everything, the destruction, the dead, it had made them all sick, to think that one being was capable of so much evil.
"Guess the club is still thriving" Piper said as she marched through the door.
"Guess not" she concluded as she surveyed the ruins of her livelihood.
"Piper duck!" Phoebe yelled from behind as an energy ball came sailing through the air towards her.
Piper yelped and threw up her hands, freezing it.
"Who are you?!" A woman demanded from behind the bar.
"Dammit Bianca, it's just us" Chris said, pushing past the sisters.
"Chris?" she asked in disbelief.
Bianca jumped over the bar and ran into Chris's arms, their lips meeting in greeting.
"Ew, now I feel weird" Prue said.
The couple separated.
"You actually did it, you found them" Bianca said looking them up and down.
"The Charmed Ones" she stated.
"We've met before, well, in the past, my past, your future selves, boy this is complicated" she said.
"Yep" Piper quipped.
"Have you told them?" she asked, looking to Chris.
"Not yet" he shook his head.
"Told us what?" Prue wondered.
"Follow me" he said walking towards the store room.
Tyler Michaels unfroze, peering around at the room, had he really just seen what he'd think he'd seen? Surely it wasn't possible, The Charmed Ones, alive again, they looked so young.
He thought back to the spell he had heard Chris cast from outside, a time travel spell, these women were from the past.
He had to report this, he sneered at the scene before him as a wave of flame surrounded him, teleporting him to the underworld.
End of Chapter Fourteen, stay tuned for Chapter Fifteen, "Chris' Reveal"