Chapter 28- The truth is not always what it seems
"Look I'm not saying I don't want to, I just don't think it's the best idea in the world." Ryan stated simply as he held his hands up in the air and walked away from his younger sibling. It had been over two hours since the whole Gideon fiasco and the three teenagers had successfully managed to clean the living room the non magical way. Apparently Chris was a firm believer in personal gain consequences and since he made the mess, insisted he helped clean it up- by hand.
After explaining, well, basically everything he knew to the fourteen year old, Chris had told him some basic facts about their family, before coming up with, what the twice blessed considered to be the worst idea he possibly could even think about
"Oh come on Ryan, what's the worst that could happen?" Chris asked, while rolling his eyes and folding his arms, having just got of the phone with a repair man, after all there was not a lot he could do to replace the glass without calling in a bit of back up.
"I could be blown to pieces!" He replied, mirroring his brother's actions before tapping his foot impatiently on the floor, a look on his face which actually seemed more fearful than anything else.
"Only mum has that power and she will not be at home for hours yet, besides I have to let them know I'm okay!" Chris argued putting forth the one point that neither of them had considered.
"I can't just orb into a house filled with people who think I am dead!" Ryan shot back trying his best to get though to the witch, who frankly just scoffed at him and rolled his eyes.
"You need to meet Phoebe and Paige and trust me; dad would have mentioned something about you by now." Chris shouted as he watched the blond turn around and head out of the room. He was determined that he was not leaving the Evan's mansion without him in tow just as much as Ryan was determined not to go. "Kelly for god sake will you talk some sense into him!" He added as Ryan disappeared from view, looking at her with nothing but fire in his eyes.
"For the last time it's KelSI, my name is Kelsi!" The curly haired pianist shot back at him, as she got up from her position on the leather sofa and glared up at him, fed up to the bone of the young Halliwell calling her that. In fairness, he wasn't saying it like the bully's at school did, he was just purposely winding her up, but still it didn't annoy her any less.
"If I promise to call you Kelsi for the next few hours will you talk to your boyfriend?" Chris continued with a long deep sigh, looking at her though raised eyebrows as he tapped his fingers against his folded arms.
"We're not dating…anymore…" Kelsi replied a hint of frustration in her voice. "And why on earth should I help you convince my friend to do something that I don't even agree with?"
"Because if you do I will let you tag along for the ride to keep an eye on your 'friend' instead of just forcing his orbs… which I can do, one of the perks of being half elder."
"I'm not even going to ask what one of them is." The brunette said almost instantly, then after a moment of silence shook her head in defeat and opened her mouth once more." If you really want him to go, just tell him he can wear a dress."
Chris brow creased in confusion and raised an eye brow as the girl two years his senior grinned smugly counting on her fingers until the witch came charging into the room.
"Oh you didn't!" Ryan yelled out, pointing his index finger at her, before glancing out of the corner of his eye at Chris, who by now had his mouth hanging open and was looking at him as if he had grown two heads.
"You… What now?" Chris muttered in disbelief, looking from Kelsi to Ryan with nothing but confusion and slight horror in his eyes. Ryan instantly shot his friend a warning glare but she just smiled sweetly before turning her attention to the brunet.
"He promised his dad's boss' son a date with Sharpay for this big presentation evening, she of course refused… so lets just say in order for his dad to actually still have a job, Ryan decided that instead of telling the truth, he would dress up as his 'twin' and go on the date … which I guess wasn't so much make up but more magic which made him look like her….Anyway the guy ended up trying to kiss him, which now that I think of it, was probably when the rumours began!" Kelsi's explained a twisted grin on her face as she looked at the blond, who had his arms out in a strangling motion.
Chris could only blink in response as he studied the duo in wonder, his lips quivering slightly as they tried to break into a smirk that was until the last bit settled in.
"What rumours?"
"Kel, you even think of answering that I swear to God…." Ryan called out as Kelsi opened her mouth to continue. For a second no one said a word as Chris, Kelsi and Ryan all stared at each other, until the only female sighed in defeat and uttered the words the adopted witch was dying to hear.
"Fine, I won't!" She said, but her tone was anything but comforting, as a small smile appeared on her face. "As long as you orb along to the Halliwell manor in the next five seconds!"
Ryan shock his head and was about to argue with her, though some very carefully chosen words, until he saw her hold her hand up in the air, and using her fingers, start counting downwards. She didn't even have to get to two before Ryan grabbed hold of her arm and disappeared in a swirl of orbs, shortly followed by a mystified Chris.
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The crystallized orbs soon reappeared and transformed into three forms in a large wooden attic. The two sixteen year olds instantly glanced around the room as they studied where they had landed in wonder. There were boxes literally all over the place, filled with god only knows what and labelled with some questioning wording. There was a table in the middle covering in bottles and different coloured liquids, weeds sticking out of pots and a stench of blood. The windows were all stained glassed and the only clean area of the room was to their left were a green book laid.
"Sword goes over there." Chris called out as he indicated with his head to their right and walked over to the only door in the room. Ryan was about to say the sword was still at the mansion when it appeared beside him in a swirl of white lights. He instantly shrugged, nodded and headed over to the large stone, before placing Excalibur back where it belonged.
"DAD? MEL?" Chris later added as he pointed to the couch at the end of the room, with his thumb, telling the duo to sit them selves down.
The pianist instantly grabbed hold of her best friend's hand as they headed over to the brunet who was by now studying the ingredients on the table, trying to figure out wha the family had been brewing.
"Mandrake root, black poppy, toad's leg and pixie blood… hmm pretty interesting potion." Chris mumbled to himself as he gazed on each of the items, before turning to face his guests and smiling. "Demons are regular occurrences in this house so be on your guard!"
Kelsi's face instantly whitened at that, causing Ryan to reach over and give her hand a reassuring squeeze, silently communicating to her that he wouldn't let any thing happen to her.
"Chris, you're back!" A woman called out, causing everyone to turn their attention to the stair case, where a small ginger haired woman now stood, her roots clearly in need of a touch up.
"Are you okay?" Another one called out, whom for some reason the twice blessed seemed to recognise and it wasn't because they were related. This one had short brown hair; much like Chris' and the young man could have sworn he'd seen her on a bill bored before now.
"Yeah Ryan saved my ass… allowed me to see the light so to speak!" Chris replied before stepping to the side so his aunts could see the two new comers sitting on the edge of pearls couch.
"Oh… what about the sword?" The ginger one asked while looking at Ryan with a questioning look, her gaze actually making him fell rather uncomfortable, almost as if she was 'scanning' him.
"Back in the stone."
"The demon?" Phoebe added, raising her eye brows as she walked over to her nephew, her face holding a weird expression as she looked the man up and down.
"Well and truly vanquished." Chris replied with a grin, causing the brunette to break her eye contact with Ryan and smile in relief, despite the feeling of uneasiness that her empathy was picking up. Chris however didn't return the smile as he walked over to the newcomers and folded his arms. "Just so you know this is Kelsi, who's mortal by the way, who I still have to thank for… well she knows what… and Ryan who I just found out is part witch part Whitelighter, and if im not mistaken the baby mum told half the world was dead."
As soon as those words left Chris mouth, both Phoebe and the woman Ryan realised must be Paige, froze. The colour drained from their faces almost instantly, their expressions were ones of shock, concern, worry and even horror? It was almost like time had slowed down as their eyes shifted towards each other before looking towards the twice blessed teenager.
"Great introduction there Chris, real subtle…." Kelsi mumbled under her breath as she watched the two women with curiosity, she may not have been the best at family dynamics, or know anything about the two people standing in front of them, but apart of her couldn't shake this horrible feeling that something wasn't right with their reactions. Shouldn't they be, well more surprised? Not to say they weren't, but they seemed more in shock over the fact he was standing in front of them, rather than the fact he wasn't laying in a coffin.
The two forty year olds exchanged identical, unreadable looks once again before squeezing their eyes shut and biting their lips, neither of them willing to say a word, afraid their voices would betray them.
"I have just told you my brother is still alive, aren't you going to say something? Anything?" Chris asked, before he started to recognise their expressions for what they really were, guilt!
Phoebe and Paige once again looked at each other, indicating to one another for the other to come up with an explanation. Ryan instantly stood up at that and folded his arms, now wondering what on earth was going on.
"You already knew he wasn't dead didn't you!" Chris said carefully, studying their faces in more detail than he ever had before, noticing the worry lines and the big vein slowly appear, a Halliwell trait happened when ever either of the sister's were trying to keep their mouths shut.
"You should talk to your mother…" Paige eventually spoke after what seemed like hours, a single bead of sweat running down her face.
"She's not here and I for one would like an answer!" Chris replied, his voice very low as his eyes shrunk into slits, before briefly glancing towards his brother who looked more confused than ever.
"It's not our place to discuss her business…" Phoebe added, only to have her favourite nephew spin around and look at her with piercing eyes, almost like he was scanning her.
"This is about Ryan not my mother! You two have two choices in this; tell us what the hell is going on willingly, or have me cast a spell on you!"
"Christopher Perry Halliwell don't you dare threaten us! You will not use magic like that or even suggest you had the idea, or your powers will be bound so fast…." What ever Paige was going to say she instantly stopped as the fourteen year old's hand flew up in the air and signalled for her to stop.
"Don't think I wont do it, because I swear on the pitiful elder's that if someone does not start talking in the next twenty seconds I will start brewing in a cauldron and you will no longer have control over what comes out of your mouths."
Ryan and Kelsi instantly exchange looks of bewilderment, neither of them had ever even thought about talking to someone the way Chris had just done, what's more by the way the sister's were looking at each other, it seemed he was going to get away with it.
"Fine, but we want to make something clear before we say anything else." Paige eventually said as she looked Ryan up and down, her Whitelighter senses already telling her that he was more powerful than they had expected and had clearly been around magic his whole life.
Chris and Ryan instantly wore the same expression of pure confusion as they looked at their aunts with suspicion written all over them. "We in no way agree with what Piper did and if it was up to us we would have found another way, but it was her decision and a clocking spell we couldn't reverse…"
"So YOU DID KNOW!" Chris instantly yelled out as he took a step forward his jaw almost hitting the floor."YOU KNEW ALL ALONG THAT WYATT WASN'T DEAD! YET YOU PLAYED ALONG WITH IT."
Phoebe instantly flinched at the tone in her nephew's voice, far from used to having his anger directed at her.
"Do you really think your mother could have lived with a secret like that on her own? For fourteen and a half years?" Paige replied quietly, causing Chris to clench his fists.
""There were a lot of demons after Wyatt, after you were born as his powers just kept growing." Phoebe began with a sigh as she headed over to the table and pulled out a chair. Determined that when this was over she was going to have a serious word with her nephew about using magic as a threat.
"So there are lots of demons after us now!" Chris shouted, his teeth clenched as he tried to keep his ever growing teenage temper in check. "How does that change a thing?"
"Look, we found out not long after Wyatt's funeral, when we realised that Piper's story didn't add up, there was just little inaccuracies which shouldn't have been there. We confronted her and she told us, well basically everything." Phoebe continued, looking at her sister for a form of encouragement as she took a deep breath and retold the events which happened years ago for the first time.
"Four days before, the event, the angel of death had come to see her, to warn her. He told her that Wyatt's name kept appearing and reappearing on his list every two minutes and if something major didn't change in his life soon he was going to die before his second birthday…. Along with both Chris and Melinda"
"Death, said that there was a huge evil rising to power who was going to send every member of the underworld to kill Wyatt and that his two siblings would be caught in the cross fire." Paige interrupted, deciding she at the very least could help with the explanation. "Piper, of course told him there was no way she was going to let that happen, but death was ready for that. He told her that even if she bound your powers, the demons still knew where we lived and would inevitably wipe out all three of you."
"Piper didn't want to believe that, so she kept his visit a secret, and went to the underworld. She was basically vanquishing a demon a minute trying to get information. Eventually she was told the source had already taken his place as the king and that he doubled the charmed ones in power, that Wyatt was the only one to have even a small shot against him. However he wouldn't stand a chance until he was a lot older." Phoebe took over, before once again being interrupted by Paige.
"She refused to believe that her children would suffer like that, but when she went back to the manor, a demon attacked and nearly killed baby Chris, which is when she made her decision to fake Wyatt's death. In order to protect her family, she was going to give up her son, tell the world he was dead…it was the only way to ensure that the source didn't lay a hand on him."
"When we found out, we were of course angry, but we eventually understood and promised not to tell Leo, for if we did, the elders were sure to find out, risking Wyatt… or Ryan's very life and the people now around him." Paige finished. "As much as she loved her first born son, loved you Ryan, she made a wish never to see him again, for she knew if she did his life would be put in an incredible amount of danger and she didn't want that."
The first thing the two witches noticed as they looked up at the three teenagers, was that Chris didn't seem to be as angry anymore, he was still obviously pissed, but his expression was more understanding. Ryan's however, his eyes with covered by the shadows and his face still lacked any emotion.
"Ry?" Kelsi said softly as she placed her hand on his shoulder. As she did, he turned his head slightly to look at her straight in the eyes, before turning to face his birth family. For a second they thought he was about to say something, but he was instantly engulfed in the familiar blue orbs and the two of them disappeared completely.
None of the three said a word; instead they looked at each other, wondering what the earth was going to happen now.
(a/n) Hi everyone, shame on whoever thought piper was just a cold hearted bitch!! You really think I would just make her go from a caring mother to one who abandons her son without a reason lol…. In all seriousness started writing a perfectly planned out chapter, and I'll tell you this turned out A LOT different than I had anticipated, in fact I have no idea where it came from. Hopefully that's a good thing though. As always thanks for reviewing and the 250th reviewer will have their wish…. Maybe that's where this chapter came from…