Title: The Lost Future
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Author's note: Okay, so pretty much no action happens in this chapter. Or the next one. But I do make my final revelations in them. I promise the chapters after the next two will be filled with action and I apologize for the slowness of this one.
Secondly, an important note: I had a couple questions in the reviews that I wanted to answer for everyone. First of all, in my story, Jason has never been truly exposed to the dangers of magic. You will note that, in the show, the only time he gets injured is when he and Phoebe are in that fantasy-desire world that Gith creates, and that wasn't even real. And then, when he is captured by the Swarm demons, Phoebe saves him before anything happens. I carried that through the rest of my story, so, although he has been attacked on a few occasions before, the last chapter was the first time he ever needed to be extensively healed. That was part of the reason he didn't really understand Phoebe's point of view, he had never almost died before.
Second question: about the warlock. The effects of the warlock are determined by how predisposed the person was to that perticular personality trait. Neither Wyatt nor Prue were that likely to revert to the people they were in the other life, so the warlock had less of an effect on them, although you will see a bit more of thier hidden personalities in future chapters. Leo is much more predisposed to follow his 'calling,' so he is much more adversely affected. And Chris' withdrawn and neurotic issues will continue to plague him for much of the story since he was the most affected, having already had half-memories returned to him when the warlock struck.
As always, please read and review.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Beginning, Middle, and End
Leo flipped distractedly through the books on the table, scanning the titles. Wyatt was sitting on the floor, drumming his fingers on the cover of a large book in front of him. Kyle sat hunched on the sofa behind him, holding an open book in his hand, and staring in the direction of the kitchen. Phoebe had come storming through the sunroom just a few moments ago, and disappeared into the kitchen, her face streaked with tears, and Kyle and Leo couldn't help but wonder what had upset the witch so much. Unfortunately, Prue, who had followed her mother into the house, refused to answer either of her uncles' numerous questions, and had instead wandered up the stairs to be alone.
"What do you think happened?" Kyle asked, breaking the tense silence at last.
Leo shrugged and opened a book. "I don't know," he murmured, "but I'm guessing it has something to do with Jason." He stared down at the open page on his lap. "What book do you have, Wyatt?"
"Through the Looking Glass: Entries into Other Dimensions," Wyatt read the title in a droll voice. He shared an exasperated look with Kyle, then continued, "I don't know what we are going to find in these books."
"Whatever the Source is doing, bringing out our dormant personalities, returning Chris' memories, and whatever he is doing with Melinda, it obviously has something to do with other dimensions," Leo pointed out.
"Yes, but what?" Wyatt muttered, flipping the book open to the first page. He stared at the entry, then read in a bored monotone, "When Alice fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, she entered through a temporary portal that sometimes occurs between worlds. The portal was most likely created by a rip in the stream of fate, a change to destiny. The worlds were forced to shift, to accommodate this change…" He paused, confused. "Wait, 'Alice in Wonderland' actually happened?"
"Oh, yes," Kyle answered vaguely, reading the open page of his own book. "Alice was a witch who fell through a portal into a plane that existed parallel to our own." He hummed softly as he read the words on the page, then sighed and shut the book with a snap, stood up, and stretched. "When she got back, she told her entire story to Lewis Carroll. I think he changed a few of the parts to make sure magic didn't get exposed… He was a witch too, you know," Kyle added off-handedly.
Wyatt blinked, rolled his eyes, and replied sarcastically, "Of course he was."
"And then when we figured out that Prue had overheard we tried to talk to her but she didn't want to talk at all and she stormed away…" Phoebe finished her story desolately.
"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Paige whispered as she hugged her middle sister. Phoebe had just finished telling them about the divorce, and her eyes were filled with tears, her voice hoarse from all the sobs she tried to keep quiet.
Piper handed Phoebe a mug of tea and said, "I know this is hard for you, but you have to believe that it will work out okay in the end. You and Jason will work through this."
"No," Phoebe replied, shaking her head slowly. "No, Piper, we won't. I finally figured out what I think Jason has known all along; this marriage was never going to work."
"You love him," Piper replied.
"And I loved Cole," Phoebe said. She took a sip of tea and sighed. "And Dad loved Mom. And Grams loved her first husband before she turned into that I-hate-all-men person. Sometimes love isn't enough." She swallowed another mouthful of tea, new tears forming in her eyes.
"But I don't understand why he wants the divorce," Paige said at last, breaking the tense silence that had fallen. "Not being married to you isn't going to make him less worried about the demons that attack us all. He still loves you, and he is still Prue's father."
"It isn't about that," Phoebe explained. "Jason...Jason finally realized why I wanted to keep him out of magic. He finally understood my point of view and how valid it was, but he is still not able to compromise on his own feelings..." She sighed and closed her eyes. "He sees he can't be a part of magic but he knows he can't be a part of this family and not be a part of magic...and that only left him one choice."
"Well, I don't think he should have just given up like that," Paige snapped angrily. "Kyle and I have had our problems, but we made it. So did Piper and Leo."
"Paige!" Piper admonished quietly. Under her breath she muttered, "Be supportive, don't say that they were wrong for giving up on the marriage." Although in all honesty, Piper knew that she agreed with her youngest sister. Jason should not have given up without a fight.
"He didn't," Phoebe murmured. She looked at Piper, a smile playing around the edge of her lips. "You were thinking that Jason shouldn't have given up without fighting for this relationship. For us." She sighed again and ran a hand through her short hair. "He has been fighting. We both have, for almost twenty years. But Kyle and Leo are white-lighters, they are magical, and they are part of everything this family does. Jason is a mortal, and it is different. And I think Mom and Dad's relationship set a precedent for that..."
"Mom's and Dad's relationship was broken up by..." Piper stopped, shooting a worried look at Paige as she realized what she had been about to say.
Phoebe shook her head, cutting in before Paige had a chance to retort to the implied comment. "Sam didn't break up the marriage. Dad walked out on us after a demon nearly killed you when you were little, Piper." She tilted her head to one side, thinking. "He walked out because of magic, because of what it was doing to Mom and Grams and us."
There was a silence as each of the sisters contemplated what Phoebe has said. There was truth in her words, as much as none of them wanted to admit it. Maybe marriage between a witch and a mortal just wasn't meant to work out. Finally, Piper broke the depressed mood and said, "At least Jason will be there for Prue. He isn't walking away from her, like Dad did with us."
"I know," Phoebe agreed. "He still wants to be in her life, in my life, and I am grateful for that." She placed the teacup back on the counter. "I just never knew how much it would hurt."
Piper and Paige hugged her again, meeting each other's gaze over Phoebe's head. Neither of them knew what to say to make it better, so Piper simply rubbed circles on Phoebe's back, and Paige whispered comfortingly, "We'll always be here for you. Remember that."
"Prue? You okay?" Mel asked as she walked down the stairs from the attic to the second floor to find her cousin standing in the middle of the hallway, staring listlessly off into space, her dark eyes rimmed with red.
"Fine," Prue replied unemotionally.
Pen came down the steps after Mel, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You don't look fine," she countered, taking a few steps so that she was standing next to her sister. "You don't look anywhere close to fine."
Prue shrugged. "Have you seen Chris?"
Pen and Mel exchanged a brief glance, then Mel said, "I think he's still in his room." Chris normally did not sleep in late in the morning, but it was already ten o'clock and he had yet to get up. Wyatt had explained that they had stayed up late talking about the Source and the Seer, so Chris was probably tired. And Piper had expressly forbidden anyone from waking her younger son up on pain of never being fed by her again.
It was no idle threat, and nobody wanted to suffer the consequences.
"Oh…" Prue seemed disappointed by that. "Okay…"
"You could talk to us," Mel suggested. "Just because Chris is still asleep doesn't mean there isn't anyone here who will listen."
"Nah, I'm fine," Prue answered, waving away the younger Halliwell's concern and running a hand through her hair.
"You aren't fine," Pen countered. She tilted her head to one side, fear filling her features as an idea occurred to her. "Did Aunt Phoebe or Uncle Jason get attacked again? Did something happen?"
"No, they're fine. We're fine," Prue said dully, her tone revealing her true emotions. Her family was anything but fine.
"Prue…?"
"Stop asking me questions!" Prue hissed.
Pen took a step back from the venom in Prue's voice and looked uncomfortably at the ground, but Mel's temper flared instantly and she snapped back, "Stop excluding us from your 'cousin talks,' Prue. I get that we are only thirteen and that Chris and Wyatt have a full decade on us, but we are your family also and you can confide in us when something happens."
Prue raised an eyebrow at Mel's outburst, but said nothing.
Pen placed a hand on Mel's arm and shook her head at her emotional twin. Mel lapsed into frustrated silence, and Pen turned to Prue. "Look, what Mel is trying to say is that you always tell all of your problems to Chris and Wyatt, but we just want you to know that we are here to listen also. If you ever need us…" She pushed past Prue and made her way towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, gesturing for Mel to follow.
The had just reached the first step when Prue's voice called then back. "My parents are getting divorced."
Chris tapped his fingers on the side table and glanced around the empty room as though expecting someone to step out of the shadows and ask him what he was doing. He remained quiet and still for a moment, but when no one appeared, he sighed and lifted the phone cautiously. With one last cautionary glance about, he quickly punched in seven numbers and listened to the rings at the other end of the line.
"Hello?"
Chris held his breath as he heard the familiar voice. He closed his eyes, picturing her silky hair falling over her tan skin and brown eyes, her slender fingers with perfectly manicured nails clutched around the phone, her lips slightly parted, as she waited for an answer.
He wanted to speak, to ask how she was, to tell her everything that had been happening, to just talk to her and listen to the sound of her voice, but something held him back.
And what if the Source finds another way to bring out dormant personality traits?
You think the Source could turn her into the Bianca she was before…when she worked for Wyatt?
It is possible. I would say probable.
Chris, we simply don't know what we are up against, and if there is even the slightest chance that the Source could bring back the assassin part of Bianca…do you really want to do that to her?
Chris sighed and hung up the phone.
Lunch was a silent affair, each person noting Jason's absence. Chris was still subdued, unsure whether or not he should have spoken to Bianca when he called. Prue seemed a bit more cheerful than she had been before, and while Phoebe assumed that her daughter was just putting on a brave face, Mel and Pen knew that Prue had felt better after she had talked to them, and they were happy to have been able to help.
After lunch, Chris and Wyatt walked to the attic to look through the Book of Shadows again, hoping that they might find something they had missed. Mel and Pen orbed back to Magic School because Paige had declared that they had missed far too many days as it was, and just because they were Halliwells did not automatically excuse them from school.
"But Mom, a great evil is going to try and kill us all! This is more important than school," Mel whined.
"I don't care," Paige retorted. "The world is always in danger, and if you stayed home from school every time a demon attacked, you would both still be in kindergarten!" She narrowed her eyes at her daughters. "End of discussion."
"Fine," Pen grumbled, recognizing a loosing battle when she saw one. "But don't blame me when the world ends." She and Mel exchanged dark looks and orbed away, although even their orbs seemed reluctant to leave.
Leo stared at the spot Pen had stood a moment before, his eyes unreadable. Then, unnoticed by the rest of the group, he slipped out of the dinning room.
"A charge is calling," Kyle said abruptly. He glanced over at Paige. "Call if you need anything, I shouldn't be gone to long." Paige nodded at him, and he orbed from the room, a pensive expression on his features.
"I'll clean up," Piper suggested. "Phoebe, Paige, why don't you guys start on some more potions in case the dark-lighters or any other demons attack before we get our powers back." She paused and shot an apprehensive glance at Phoebe. "Unless you would rather…"
"No," Phoebe said quickly, shaking her head. "I need to help out. I need to do something to keep busy right now."
"Alright," Piper agreed hesitantly. "Prue, can you help us in the kitchen?" Prue nodded and followed the her mother and youngest Aunt into the kitchen. Piper stood by the dining room table for a moment, watching the rest of the family depart, then shook her head. She hated this waiting, this feeling helpless so entirely helpless while her family suffered.
At least she had worked things out with Leo. And Chris did seem to be in a better mood today…
"Hello, Mother."
Piper spun around so quickly she nearly lost her balance. Stumbling slightly, she reached out and steady herself on a chair, her eyes widening as she took in the woman standing in front of her. She was everything Piper had ever imagined her to be. Tall, beautiful, powerfully magical, dark hair falling over brown eyes, lips twitched upwards into a tiny smirk, kind but cold at the same time.
"Hello, Melinda," Piper replied faintly. She glanced over at the kitchen, but her sisters were now gone behind the closed door. She twisted and looked at the sunroom, but she couldn't see Leo. She had half a mind to call one of them, but Melinda stopped her.
"Don't," the phantom girl said quickly. "I just want to talk to you."
"About what?" Piper replied suspiciously.
Melinda rolled her eyes. "Why are the people in this family so distrustful of strangers? I'm not going to hurt you."
"You're evil," Piper countered flatly, her eyes narrowing. "You work for the Source."
"Hardly," Melinda replied. She sent her mother a smile so sweet that Piper had to mentally remind herself that she could not trust this girl. "I'm not even real."
"Then how are you here?" Piper questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"A lot of magic and a few ancient tricks by the Seer," Melinda replied easily. She took a few steps forward and sat down in front of Piper at the table. "The Source is doing much more than even the Elders realize, Mother." There was something in her voice that sounded almost like concern.
"What is he doing?" Piper pressed.
"I can't tell you," Melinda answered quickly, automatically. She saw Piper's hands twitch slightly, and smiled smugly. "You don't have powers, Mother. And even if you did, would you really blow up your own daughter?"
"Like you said earlier, Melinda, you aren't real," Piper replied coldly. But even as she said the words, she knew she would never have the strength to attack this phantom, evil or not. "Why can't you tell me what the Source is planning?"
Melinda sighed. "I'm not your daughter, Mother. I'm an image of her, a reflection, a shadow. Something pulled out of the fabric of the universe. And I have to follow the rules of the universe, and of the magic with which I was brought forth. There are some things I simply cannot do."
"Like helping us?" Piper demanded harshly.
"I am helping you, if only you would listen," Melinda retorted heatedly. "But I can't answer that question. There are some lessons you have to learn for yourself."
Piper, managing to keep her temper somewhat under control, asked in a voice of forced calm, "Alright, then what can you tell me?"
Melinda was quiet for a moment, staring at her mother with an odd expression. It was hard to place, perhaps a mixture of love and anger. "I wish I could have been born, you know. I wish I would have had the chance to live in this world, to see you and Dad… a chance to be a Halliwell, to be real."
Piper felt her heart constrict painfully at those words. She had wanted a daughter so much, wanted her little girl from the moment she, Prue, and Phoebe had set foot in that other timeline. But now she had Wyatt and Chris, and she was happy with them. They were her children now, not this apparition standing in front of her and speaking riddles while her real family was in grave danger.
Hardening her heart, Piper replied coolly, "I guess fate decided to send me someone else."
Melinda raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it sent you Wyatt." She stood up abruptly, shoving the chair away from her. "You know, sometimes, fate goes by a different name."
"Can't you give me anything helpful?" Piper asked in annoyance. "A clue perhaps? Instead of speaking in riddles?"
Melinda flashed Piper a chilling smile. "I just gave you your clue, Mother," she answered, then she disappeared into thin air, leaving Piper alone with her troubled thoughts.
"Okay, I've read the entry on Werewolves six times now," Wyatt muttered. "I think we've read everything in the Book." He closed the cover and turned to look at Chris, who was standing next to the window, staring out at the sky. "Chris? You with me?"
Chris turned and sent his brother a hesitant smile. "Yeah, sorry. My mind was elsewhere for a moment there." He walked to the sofa on the other side of the room and flopped into it. "I don't know what we expected to find in the Book anyway. We're obviously dealing with something so far beyond anything we've ever seen before."
"Yeah, I know," Wyatt replied. "I just…I just can't help but think that there is something really big and really important that is standing right in front of us. A clue to this whole mystery, if only we could figure out what it is…"
"Aunt Paige didn't marry Uncle Kyle in the other timeline," Chris said abruptly.
"Huh?" Wyatt asked, not following the non-sequitur.
"Aunt Paige married a guy named Richard and hand different children. Patricia and Adam." He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "Mel and Pen didn't exist."
Wyatt's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh…" He couldn't think of anything else to say.
Chris got up and started pacing. "The Source is trying to do something with different timelines, we've all agreed on that. But I don't understand what it could be. There are substantial differences between the timelines, it isn't as though he could bring back my other future." He ran a hand through his hair.
"True…" Wyatt agreed, eyeing his brother shrewdly. "Is that what your argument with Mel was about a few days ago?"
Chris nodded dumbly. "I erased Ria and Adam. I didn't just kill them, I erased them."
"And I was the Source of All Evil," Wyatt pointed out. "You saved me, you saved the world."
"I know," Chris replied, waving the comment aside. "That isn't the point. I'm over everything that happened..."
"Are you?" Wyatt cut in, tilting his head to the side and staring at his brother. Although Chris was much more open with them all than he had been the past few days, there were still moments when the shutters dropped over his green eyes and his voice became unemotional or impatient, and Wyatt couldn't help but wonder if the horrors of the other timeline would ever truly pass.
Chris paused mid stride and sighed. "No," he admitted truthfully, feeling something inside him squirm at admitting weakness. He tried to push it down, but it refused to go away, telling him insidiously that he could do everything on his own, that there was no need to involve everyone else. After a moment's pause, he finally gave in to the voice and turned to Wyatt with a tight smile, "But I will be."
"If you ever want to talk…" Wyatt offered, not entirely convinced.
"I know, I know," Chris replied with a grin, this time a real one. "If I ever want to talk the entire family is here to listen to me." He took a seat on the sofa again and switched the subject adroitly, not wanting to dwell on the matter of his other self. "But you really are missing the point."
"What is the point?"
"If Mel and Pen didn't exist in another timeline, and if Ria and Adam don't exist now, then how could the Source ever hope to bring out the old timeline. Any old timeline? He may be able to bring himself and the Seer back from the dead, but he can't bring back someone who has never existed."
"He brought back Melinda," Wyatt countered.
"But she's not even real," Chris replied. "You said it yourself, when you sensed her she felt as though she wasn't entirely real."
"We don't even know for certain that the Source is trying to bring back any timeline," Wyatt pointed out. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the cushions.
"What else could he want?" Chris retorted. "If he wanted to kill us all, he would have done it by now. If he wanted to launch an attack on the entire magical community, he would have done that to. If he was just trying to organize the underworld, he wouldn't have needed to send dark-lighters and warlocks after us; it would have been a waste of his resources and incredibly foolish to try and get us involved."
Wyatt nodded slowly. "So where does that leave us?"
"Dazed and confused?" Chris quipped back.
"She told you that fate goes by a different name? That was her clue?" Paige asked incredulously. "Very useful." She rolled her eyes and took a seat on the rocking chair.
Piper shot a glare at Paige. "Not helping," she admonished her youngest sister. The family had congregated in the sunroom after Piper had told them of her one-time daughter's appearance. Phoebe and Prue were sitting on the wicker loveseat, Leo was hunched over on the sofa, flipping through one of the books from the Magical School Library, and Chris and Wyatt were pacing the hardwood floor. Piper was leaning against the wall, watching them all. Kyle, Mel, and Pen where still gone.
Leo ignored most of the conversation as he read the words from the book on his lap. The sisters were arguing about Melinda, but he was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice. Memories kept flickering through his mind as different ideas began to form.
"What are you reading, Dad?" Wyatt asked, pausing in his pacing to glance over at his father.
Leo looked up, distracted, and answered, "Time and Space."
"Oh, Melinda said something about that book," Chris said, remembering the conversation he had had with the strange girl. "Something about it being really old."
"Well, that was helpful of her," Paige commented sarcastically, rolling her eyes again. Piper shot her another glare and she resumed her silent glowering, not knowing quite what to say.
"It is old," Leo answered absentmindedly. "It's been around for just this side of eternity." And he lapsed into silence, his eyes traveling up and down the page.
At the beginning of eternity, white magic pulsated. Pure, untouched, unadulterated, it hummed with its own internal steady rhythm, echoing the undercurrents of the newly created world. It burned with the stars, grew with the plants, ran with the rivers, sung with the wind, and walked with the animals.
Wisps of blue, green, and yellow appeared, winding their way through the white. Controlled by witches and demons, the magic left behind a slowly fading blueprint of the war between good and evil, the war that would rage until the end of time.
But some magic would not be controlled.
Someone, witch or demon, dark-lighter or white-lighter, reached out for magic beyond their control, and the magic rebelled. As it fought to break free, its inner rhythm was thrown off balance, and it burst out of control, consuming everything around it.
And red magic was born.
The world fought against it, but it grew steadily, consuming other magic with rapid efficiency. Good and evil saw the magic, and they were afraid…
Leo frowned, a long forgotten memory coming to the surface of his mind.
Piper scanned the Book of Shadow's entry on the Hollow, her eyes worried. "Hmm, there's no mention of a vanquish here," she commented, concerned, looking up at Leo.
"You can't vanquish it. The last time it was unleashed it nearly decimated all magic, all things," Leo explained quickly, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning.
"The last time was unleashed?" Phoebe questioned. That didn't sound good.
"Eons ago. Good and evil had to join forces and use their strongest magic and even then all they could do is contain it."
"Okay, so if good and evil are seeing eye to eye on this one, who let it out?" Phoebe wanted to know.
But Piper had the answer. "The Source."
Leo nodded, agreeing. "If he was desperate enough."
Leo sighed and closed his eyes. What was it that Wyatt read in that book about Alice in Wonderland?
When Alice fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, she entered through a temporary portal that sometimes occurs between worlds. The portal was most likely created by a rip in the stream of fate, a change to destiny. The worlds were forced to shift, to accommodate this change…
And what had Pen said?
Don't blame me when the world ends.
Leo opened his eyes and glanced back down at the book. He flipped through the pages, thinking, until another paragraph caught his eye. He read it slowly, fear growing in his stomach as he realizing with startling clarity what he hadn't seen before.
The world changes everyday to accommodate the choices we make and the paths that we choose to follow. But every possible world must have some similarities, but only a few, in order to adequately respond to its ever changing existence.
Leo shut the book with a snap, still lost in thought. Anna Carlson's father died the same day in both timelines. And Melinda had told Piper that fate sometimes goes by another name. And the other Elders didn't believe that the Source had truly come back.
Which meant…
"I know," Leo announced quietly, looking up at his family.
"Know what?" Piper asked, tearing her attention away from the argument she was having with Paige.
"I know what the Source is trying to do."
Okay, so I tried to give all the clues necessary for figuring out what the Source is going to do, but if you don't get it, that's probably because it was some random idea that my overactive and somewhat unusual immagination came up with and it isn't that obvious to anyone who doesn't think the way I do (which would encompass basically the rest of the world). But you are more than welcome to guess.
Next Chapter: Time and Space
Due: I have no idea. I'm a bit behind in my school work right now (and I've only been back at school for a little over a week, how do they expect us to have read so much by now?), so it may take me a while to write this next chapter. I'll try to post it within the week, but I can't promise anything.