THREE

"That's the guy," said Paige suddenly.

"Please, I'm not a demon," said Myers, putting his hands up to show he was unarmed. "If you'll just give me a minute to explain, I'm sure I can clear this whole mess up."

"What do you want?" demanded Piper, suspicious of the intruder. "You were here earlier. You froze my sister. You better have some very good explanations."

"I do, believe me," said Myers. "I'm sorry about earlier. It couldn't be helped. All I ask is that you give me a few moments to explain everything. It's very simple, really."

"This is dangerous," said Chris. "We have no idea who or what this guy is."

"And yet I didn't harm Paige or the baby when I was here earlier," said Myers. "That in itself should prove something. If I were a demon, wouldn't I have killed Paige? Or harmed your baby?"

"Wyatt has a force field," said Piper. "You wouldn't have been able to hurt him."

"Paige is still unharmed," said Myers. "Would any self-respecting demon pass up the opportunity to finish off one of you?"

"I guess not," said Piper. "I'll give you two minutes. But if you try anything I promise you it will be the last thing you ever do."

"Fair enough," said Myers. "First, my name isn't really Myers. It's Lucan."

"Lucan?" questioned Leo.

"You recognize the name?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes," said Leo. "Lucan is one of the leaders of the Dark Mages. I told you about them. Witches and warlocks who don't believe either side will ultimately win the battle of good versus evil. They spend their time trying to keep a balance between the two."

"Exactly," said the man now known as Lucan. "It's why I'm here. It's because of him." He pointed at Chris.

"What about him?" Paige asked.

"He's upsetting the balance," said Lucan. "He's giving you an unfair advantage over evil. One that could have disastrous affects. He's all ready upset the balance more than you know. If he's allowed to continue, he could destroy everything."

"That's ridiculous," said Chris. "I'm trying to save them. I'm from the future. Evil is widespread there. Because of what happened here, in the past. I'm trying to restore the balance and save them in the process."

"But you're doing too much," said Lucan. "You're swinging the pendulum too far the other way. Giving good too much of an advantage. If you keep it up, so much evil will be vanquished that it will never be able to recover."

"And that's a bad thing?" Phoebe asked. "If you ask me, that's exactly what we need. A few less bad guys running around."

"You clearly don't understand the significance of this," said Lucan. "Even if good should win, it could have disastrous affects on the entire world. It's why we try to keep a balance between the two."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Leo. "How could it be disastrous if good should ultimately triumph over evil? I know you Dark Mages are devoted to keeping a balance but that doesn't give you the right to...."

His statement went unfinished as he suddenly stumbled forward a couple of steps. Everyone looked at him and noticed what looked like an arrow sticking out of his back. They turned to see a Dark Lighter smile, then suddenly vanish from where he had been standing next to the fireplace.

"Paige, Chris," said Piper, putting Wyatt into his playpen as Phoebe grabbed Leo, "don't touch him. That poison could affect you, too."

Piper took hold of Leo and together she and Phoebe helped lay him on the sofa. His breath was coming in labored gasps as the poison from the Dark Lighters' crossbow bolt began to fill his system.

"Chris, get up there and get a White Lighter down here to heal him," Piper demanded.

"I can't let him do that," said Lucan.

Lucan raised his hand and Chris was thrown across the room. He struck the far wall and slid to the floor, slightly dazed from the impact. The three sisters turned to face the Dark Mage. Only it wasn't the form they had been facing before. He had returned to his previous form. The one that had stepped from the vortex into the deserted alley.

"What's going on?" demanded Piper. "Even if everything you said is true, Leo's not the one doing it. It's Chris. You have to let him bring a White Lighter down here to save Leo."

"That's not going to happen," said Lucan or Myers or whoever he was. "I have no idea if what I told you is true. I only needed to distract you long enough to allow the Dark Lighter to do his job."

"Why?" Piper demanded. "So you can kill an Elder?"

"No," said the man, looking over at Chris. "So I can kill him."

"Wyatt," gasped Chris rising to his feet unsteadily.

"Hello, little brother," said Wyatt. "It's been a long time."

"Wyatt?" questioned Piper. "Chris, who is this?"

"What's the matter, mummy?" asked Wyatt. "Don't recognize your darling baby boy?"

"It's Wyatt," said Chris, contempt in his voice.

"Wait a second," said Paige, "hold on. I thought Wyatt was dead?"

"Is that what you told them?" laughed Wyatt. "That I was dead?"

"I haven't told them anything," Chris responded.

"But you've implied he was dead," said Phoebe.

"I only said a demon was after him," said Chris. "I never said for what."

"Oh, yes," said Wyatt. "Your fantasy about me being infected with the essence of some demon. Twisting my insides. Corrupting me to produce the terrifying ogre you see before you. Really, little brother, when are you going to give up on that delusion? I've told you time and again. It's not about good or evil. It never has been. It's about power."

"Wyatt?" questioned Piper again, tears in her eyes. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, it's me," said Wyatt. "Your miracle child. The child you took every opportunity to hold back. The power I had and you would never let me use any of it."

"Uh, guys," said Paige, "this is all touching and everything, but Leo is still poisoned. Can we do this another time?"

"Wyatt," said Piper, wiping tears from her eyes, "if that's who you really are, that's your father lying on the sofa. He's dying. You have to let us save him."

"No, I don't," said Wyatt. "He was as bad as you were. Worse even. A pacifist who never let me reach my true potential. Who held me back every chance he got."

"We can talk about that later," said Phoebe. "Right now we need a White Lighter to heal him."

"No," Wyatt shouted, raising his arms.

Suddenly the girls found they couldn't move. They were frozen as Piper had often done to demons before. Their entire bodies frozen, all but their heads. All they could do was stand and look at Wyatt and Chris.

"A little variation on your freezing power, mother," said Wyatt. "Every voluntary muscle in your body is frozen. I want you to witness this."

He walked over to Chris.

"You've been a pain in my ass for as long as I can remember," Wyatt said to Chris. "I've given you every opportunity. I've vanquished underlings for a lot less trouble than you've been. And still you betray me at every turn. Take every chance to stab me in the back. And now finally you come here. To the past. To try and correct what you think went wrong."

"It did go wrong," said Chris. "How did you get here, anyway? I took the time travel spell with me when I left the future the last time."

"Do you think that was the only copy?" asked Wyatt. "You think I wouldn't have an extra copy of it just in case something like what you did happened? That's why you could never beat me, Chris. I'm always two steps ahead of you. I always have been."

"But you can't kill me," said Chris. "You never could. Even after all the problems I've caused, you still can't bring yourself to vanquish your own brother."

"So true," said Wyatt, looking at Leo. "But, now I don't have to. In a few minutes he'll be dead. Which means I won't have to kill you. You just won't ever have existed. You may be my brother, but you're just too much trouble. Maybe I can't kill you but this way I get to kill two birds with one stone, to coin a phrase. I get you out of my hair and I punish him," he looked at Leo, "for what he did to me."

Chris looked at Wyatt then at Leo. He could tell Leo was in a bad way. It would only be a few more minutes and Leo would be dead. And there was nothing Chris could do about it.

"I knew you were cruel," said Chris, trying to buy them some time so he could think of something, "but I didn't know just how cruel. This isn't necessary. It's me you're after, not him. Why make him suffer? It doesn't accomplish anything."

"I like it," Wyatt said deliberately. "Oh, I must admit, the first time was fun. But I was kind of busy then. I couldn't savor the moment as I can now. And once he's gone, there won't be anyone who can challenge me. It will be interesting to see what changes this is going to make. Very interesting indeed."

Chris knew he had run out of time. Even now Leo's breath was coming in labored gasps. If he moved to help Leo, Wyatt would stop him. And without another White Lighter to heal Leo, he would die from the Dark Lighter's poison. Chris glared at Wyatt with near hatred in his eyes.