Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This entire chapter takes place in the Morality Bites future. Which means no Chris or Wyatt, sorry about that. More on them and the other Halliwells in the next chapter.

Chapter Thirty-Three: My Son's Killer

Piper's reaction was almost immediate. Gideon barely had time to duck before the chair behind him blew up, a moment later the chandelier shattered, raining shards of crystal and glass onto the floor below.

Kyle jumped from his seat and grabbed Piper's arms, pinning them to her side and effectively stopping the sudden attack. Gideon faltered and took a step backwards, confusion in his eyes as gave Piper a slow once over.

"What are you doing?" Kyle hissed, shooting an apprehensive look towards the stairs. Somewhere up there was Courtney, a girl who believed that the Halliwells were completely normal. If she learned the truth, there was no telling how quickly the witch hunters would show up at their door, and right now that was a distraction they could not afford. He could only hope that Melinda would have enough sense to keep her friend upstairs until this was all taken care of.

"He," Piper snarled, yanking herself out of Kyle's grip and taking a threatening step towards Gideon, "is my son's murderer!"

"Your son?" Gideon echoed, confused.

"Murderer?" Kyle demanded. That was a story that Piper had not told him.

Piper launched herself towards the taller Elder, pummeling him with all her strength. As her fists landed repeated blows on his chest, he stumbled backwards and tried to step out of the way, while at the same time exchanging confused looks with Kyle. The white-lighter moved to pull Piper away from Gideon, but the Charmed One spun around and flicked her wrists at Kyle, blowing him up.

Gideon finally managed to wave his hand at Piper, orbing her out of the room. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, then he waited for Kyle to reappear. A moment later, the white-lighter reformed in the room, and the two stared at each other for a moment in complete silence.

Then…

"What the hell was that?"

Both men turned to see Penny standing on the stairs. Her face was twisted into a look of confusion and horror, her eyes wide. She was resting one hand on the banister and the other hand hovered in front of her mouth as she shook her head slowly in bewilderment.

Melinda was standing behind her cousin, her face pale, her eyes guarded. They had heard the noise from downstairs, and Courtney had been the first to run out of the room. By the time the two Halliwells had caught up with the blonde mortal, Courtney had witnessed the entire incident. Melinda had been forced to freeze her friend, and then she and Penny had watched in open-mouthed shock.

Melinda was the first to break out of her dazed stupor. "Where's my mother?" she demanded, turning to Gideon.

"Up There," Gideon replied smoothly. He eyed the frozen Courtney. "You will need to erase her memory of all this," he said, giving Kyle a pointed look. "Otherwise she could hand you over to the witch hunters."

"Courtney would never do that," Melinda protested heatedly, not liking the idea of altering Courtney's memory. Memory dust was a tricky substance to use, and they could very well end up erasing some memory unrelated to this episode. It would be so much easier if they could just talk to Courtney, explain that magic wasn't a bad thing, that it was only bad if the people using it were bad.

"Melinda, we can't take that risk," Kyle replied reasonably.

Melinda stared at him for a moment, then turned back to Gideon. "Bring my mother back," she ordered.

"I think it would be better if we finished this conversation Up There," Gideon replied, still looking at Courtney. "Less chance of her exposing magic."

"Then takes us with you," Penny said abruptly, breaking into the conversation for the first time. She pinned Gideon with a serious stare. "Take us to Aunt Piper." She did not get along well with her aunt or cousin, but they were her family, no matter the timeline, and if Piper had said that this man had murdered her…

Wait.

Son?

Penny glanced back at Melinda, and realized that Melinda had already noted that discrepancy. How did Piper have a son, when Melinda was an only child?

"What exactly was that other timeline like?" Penny asked suspiciously, turning to Kyle.

Kyle shook his head slowly. "The other timeline doesn't matter. What matters is saving this timeline, and the only way to do that is to ensure that Courtney doesn't talk."

"She won't!" Melinda snapped angrily.

"Melinda, this is for the…" Gideon cut in, his tone somber and grave.

"Don't start with your whole 'for the Greater Good'" Melinda hissed, spinning on Gideon. "You and your stupid 'Greater Good' never got us anywhere expect burned at the stake!" She turned on her heel and stalked up the stairs, her face flushed with anger. "If you won't take me to my mother," she called over her shoulder, "I'll find her myself." And with that last threat, she orbed out.

And then the demon attack.

Penny barely had time to register the flying energy ball. She reacted on instinct, years of training kicking in. Raising both hands, she used her telekinesis to direct the energy ball back towards the demon. At the same time, Kyle and Gideon spun around, each prepared to fight.

This was not a peaceful timeline, and there were no such things as pacifists anymore.

Gideon shot a stream of electricity from his finger tips, but the demon easily shimmered out of the way. He waved a hand, using his own telekinesis to knock the Elder off his feet and send him careening into Penny. The two crashed onto the floor.

Kyle quickly grabbed a lamp from the nearby table and threw it with all his might, striking the demon on the back of the head. Momentarily stunned, the demon was then unable to protect himself from Penny's wild attack, and the force of her telekinetic blows sent him flying threw the air. He smashed into the wall and slipped to the floor, and Gideon finished him off with a well aimed burst of electricity.

There was a moment of silence, then Gideon turned and offered his hand to Penny. She took is gratefully and pulled herself off the floor, her eyes wide as she eyed the damage done to the room.

"I think it is safe to say that the Source has revoked the truce," Penny commented dryly.

"The other Elders will need to be informed," Gideon said swiftly. "We will need to prepare a strategy." He glanced at Kyle. "I can only assume that the timing of this attack was not a coincidence. The Source must have known that this Piper is not our Piper."

Kyle nodded in agreement. "What now?" he asked. "Someone still needs to talk to Piper, find out why she reacted to you the way she did."

Gideon puzzled over this for a moment. "I don't see how I could have ever murdered a Halliwell," he mused. "If that is truly the crime she is accusing me of…"

"Uh, guys?" Penny cut in. "I think we have another problem to deal with."

The white-lighter and the Elder turned and looked at the teenage witch, then followed her gaze to the now empty staircase. At some point during the brief fight, Courtney had unfrozen and slipped unnoticed out of the house.

Piper fumed as she paced back and forth through the mist and fog that enveloped Up There. All around her, Elders and white-lighter eyed her in suspicion. Her sudden arrival had caused quite a scene, and several Elders had gone so far as to accuse her of being a shape-shifter that had manipulated them so that she could gain access to their realm. But after she had threatened to blow them all up if they came near her again, they had kept their distance.

And she had continued pacing.

There were several different, contradictory and confusing thoughts that were traveling through her mind. How did she have her powers back? Was it something about being in a different timeline? This Piper had not lost her powers, and since she was inhabiting this Piper's body, perhaps she still had access to them as well.

How was she going to get out of here? And once she left, could she go back to the other world knowing that she had lost the chance to have a daughter? She would never trade Wyatt and Chris for Melinda, but how could she trade her own daughter for her sons? Either way, she was betraying a child, her child…

Even if she did get out of here, was there definitely a world to go back to? What if the Source had already completed his plan? What if Leo and Chris hadn't made it back from wherever they were? What if her family was already destroyed?

And then, the overarching thought that plagued her mind…

Gideon.

Alive.

Her fingers twitched, itching to blow him up.

And just as she thought of that desire, a cloud of orbs appeared in front of her, and Gideon stepped into the misty realm. Before Piper had a chance to do anything, however, Gideon had quickly waved his hand, and Piper found she couldn't move.

The other Elders watched curiously, it was unusual for an Elder to use that power on anyone, especially an agent of good. Most of the white-lighters had slipped unobtrusively away, realizing this was not their place anymore, and the Elders needed privacy to work out whatever the problem with this witch was.

"I am truly sorry, Piper, but I can't have you attack me right now. We have bigger problems to worry about, such as finding a way to send you back home," Gideon said, his voice filled with sincerest regret.

"Murderer," Piper snarled, struggling against the invisible force that held her in place. "I'll never work with you."

"You don't have that choice," Gideon said heavily. "Tell me what I did that made you despise me so much." It was not a request.

Piper hesitated, then shrugged and replied, "You killed my youngest son."

"How? Why?" Gideon demanded as the other Elders gasped at the accusation. They crowded closer, eager to hear about this different timeline.

Slowly, reluctantly, Piper recounted the details of the other Chris, skimming over parts and only highlighting the main points. She told about how Gideon had tried to kill Wyatt, how it would have turned him evil, how Chris had come back to prevent it, and how Gideon had killed Chris in cold blood.

And then there was a silence.

"You're oldest son is Twice Blessed?" one of the Elders asked at last, confusion on her face. She was tall, with long blonde hair and tan skin. Her blue eyes were bright, but surrounded by wrinkles, the only sign of her age.

"What if he is?" Piper shot back, biting off the words.

"The Twice Blessed Child…" The murmur ran through the other Elders. "We were right to fear his strength," one of the Elders said coldly.

Another nodded in agreement, "No one being should have that much power. It gives him the predisposition towards evil."

"He would never have turned evil if Gideon hadn't tried to kill him," Piper hissed. She turned her eyes to the British Elder. "When we stopped you, we saved him. He's doing well now, he's good and powerful. You're the one who turned him evil, you're the one who brought about your own greatest fear!"

"How dare you accuse us…?"

"It was your own failing to raise him…"

"It was for the greater good…"

"If there was any chance he could turn he had to be eliminated…"

The arguments broke out among the crowd, and Piper suddenly shivered as she heard the comments. How could the leaders of Good be so cold, so callous?

"Enough!"

Gideon's voice rang through the crowd, silencing everyone. "That is enough. We do not kill innocents, regardless of how much power they should or shouldn't have had." He turned to Piper, his face a picture of sorrow. "If what you say is true, then I am honestly sorry for the pain that I caused you. I cannot imagine why I would have done something like that, but I assure you, this version of me does not hold the same opinion as the other one did."

Piper gave a bitter chuckle. "You're sorry? You ruined everything, and all you have to say is that you are sorry? You killed my son!" She glanced around her, then asked suspiciously, "How do I know you haven't made some plot to kill Melinda as well?"

"Melinda is not Twice Blessed," Gideon answered simply. Piper raised an eyebrow, and Gideon elaborated, "She is twice blessed in the sense that she was born of a white-lighter and a witch, but she is not the Twice Blessed. She is not the Prophesized Child."

"Only Wyatt is?" Piper asked quietly, confused.

Gideon nodded. "It would appear so. Each prophesy can only have one person who it speaks about. If that person does not exist in one timeline, then that timeline does not fulfill that prophecy. We do not have the Twice Blessed Child, but we probably have others that your time does not."

Piper nodded, then said snidely, "Well, at least you won't have a chance to try and kill Wyatt in this timeline."

The other Elders bristled, but Gideon just shook his head heavily. "Courtney saw you use magic, Piper, and she had disappeared. She's not a witch, we can't sense her, and if she turns your family over to the witch hunters… The Source has revoked his truce, he sent a demon to attack you. We do not have time to argue over these other matters. We must get you back into your own timeline, and quickly, if we are to have any chance of repairing the damage your presence has caused to this world."

Piper swallowed. "Melinda? Penny? Kyle? Are they okay?"

"They're safe," Gideon answered, waving his hand and releasing Piper from the invisible prison. "For now."

Piper nodded and glared at Gideon. "Alright, I'll work with you," she spat. "But only because my family is in danger and I don't have another option."

"I am not the same Gideon you knew," the Elder replied quietly.

Piper frowned suddenly, distant words echoing in her mind.

Despite the fact that we did not make the choices and live through the same events of the other timeline, the fundamental person we are is still unchanged.

"No," she said slowly, looking at Gideon seriously. "No, you aren't. You are the same Gideon, and the only thing that has changed in the time and place."

And Gideon had to pause, recognizing the truth in her words.

Courtney ran. She ran blindly, tears pricking at her eyes. The streets were filled with people, all of them looking at her in concern and confusion, and a few in suspicion, but she ignored them, bumping into people and pushing through clumps of pedestrians in her haste. She wanted, needed, to get as far away as possible from what she had just seen, what she had just witnessed.

How?

After all these years, how could Melinda have never told her?

They were witches.

Magic. The word was filthy, like mud on her tongue. She could barely think it, let alone actually associate the it with the Halliwells.

She remembered spending hours shopping with Melinda, listening to Penny's angst teenage rants, eating Piper's amazing cooking. She had met the mysterious handyman Kyle, who Penny insisted Piper had a crush on, on several occasion. She knew these people.

Or, at least, she thought she knew them.

Now she saw that she was wrong.

She didn't want to believe it of them. How could they ever be capable of anything so horrible? She knew what Phoebe Halliwell had done, the entire world knew what she had done. But that was murderer, that was cruel and horrible, and how could these good and kind people ever do something like that?

Courtney paused long enough to catch her breath. She shook her head and wiped the tears away angrily. She should have seen it, should have known there was something a little off with the family. How could she have been so blind?

"You look like hell."

Courtney jumped and turned to look at the woman standing in front of her. She had been so caught up, she hadn't even heard the stranger approach, but now the woman was standing there, holding out a Kleenex and offering a gentle smile.

Courtney took the Kleenex and shrugged. "Thanks," she muttered. "I'm fine."

The woman tucked a strand of dark hair behind one ear and nodded. "Alright," she said, clearly not buying Courtney's statement. She unconsciously ran a hand over the front of her shirt, smoothing out the red silk. "I'm Bianca, by the way," she introduced herself, cherry-red lips splitting into a smile.

Courtney nodded. "I'm Courtney," she sniffed.

Without warning, Bianca closed her hand swiftly over Courtney's wrist. Her grip was strong, like steel, and panic leapt into Courtney's eyes.

"Actually," Bianca said smoothly, "You're the bait." And quite abruptly, and in broad daylight, in view of every pedestrian on the street, she shimmered away, taking Courtney with her.

Next Chapter: Things I Wish I Didn't Know

Due: Fri 3/17