A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Especially those who have reviewed both chapters and stuck with me - you guys rock! Okay. On with ficness.

Chapter Three.
"What aren't you telling us?" Piper asked.

"Everything that Chris isn't," Zack answered. "But *I* will. I... just don't know where to start."

Paige crossed her arms. "Start with Chris. Who is he?"

He gave a weary chuckle and muttered, "who is he...". Then, serious, he said: "His name is Christopher John Perry - I suppose he told you that one truth. There's really not reason for him to lie. We grew up together here in San Fransisco... Same grade, same classes, same neighborhood. But not the same lives and not the same powers."

"Powers?" Phoebe questioned.

Zack nodded. "Yeah. Powers. Surprise - we're both witches."

"But he can orb," Paige pointed out.

"I can orb," he said. "It has nothing to do with anything."

"Whitelighter's aren't evil," Piper said. "It's beyond them."

He shrugged. "Beyond most. And I never said he was a Whitelighter. I'm not. Piper, your son isn't a Whitelighter. He'll orb. Believe me - do not base a person's goodness by their powers."

"You can orb?"

"Yeah," Zack answered. "My father was a Whitelighter. So was Chris's. But my mom was a witch. Chris got his 'witch genes' from his grandmother and aunt."

Phoebe stopped him. "Wait... you mean his mother wasn't a witch but he still was anyways?"

"Uh-huh. His father was his aunt's Whitelighter. The two of them got too close - married against the Elders' wishes," he explained. "They couldn't do anything about it, really, though. By the time we were born, Whitelighters *could* marry. We have you and Leo to thank for that, Piper."

She gave a little smile.

"Anyways, none of that really explains anything," Zack continued. "See, when Chris was five, his dad was killed by a Darklighter. His mother had no idea how to raise a magical child so her sister moved in with them. My family lived just down the road and it wasn't hard to realize that we were both witch families. From the moment we first met, we were best friends. For eleven years, we were inseperable. Chris was like my brother - more so than my real brothers. But then, when were sixteen, he snapped."

He had to take a moment before continuing. The three sisters with him could see the pain on his face at the thought of whatever he was going to say next.

"It was an accident," he said. "A demon had followed Chris's aunt home. His mother wasn't supposed to be there. But she was. The demon killed her before his aunt could do anything. It didn't matter that she got the demon right after, Chris's mom was gone. I guess he couldn't take it. I don't think I would have been able to take losing my parents. He... fell in with the wrong crowd. And then one day... he just changed. Sure, we'd gotten distant after his mother's death, but I still knew him better than he knew himself. We were still friends. We'd even talked the day before and he'd been fine. The next day... he made his first kill. His aunt."

Phoebe gasped. "His aunt?"

"He blew up the entire house," Zack told them. "Then... he came after my family. But my dad was the only one home. So he killed him - yeah, even though he is was a Whitelighter - and just laid in wait for us. When my brothers and I got home and found Dad... he sprung on us. But three against one was more than enough. He orbed out before we could stop him."

"There were three of you and you couldn't stop him?"

He shook his head. "No. Something had... happened to him. He was never that strong, ever. But in just one day... He was different. He was... evil. He is evil. Mom, Matt and Andy spent three years trying to find him and stop him. It didn't work. Chris killed hundreds. Hundreds of witches and Whitelighters. No one could stop him."

Piper shot up. "Wyatt-"

"He's fine," Zack said. Then, when he saw the looks of question and distrust, "He is. Trust me."

"Was," Paige said. "You never explained the was."

There was a pause.

"He'll kill here," he said. "That's why he opened the time portal. I... tried to stop him, but I couldn't. You saw. He had almost killed me."

"Was, Zack," she repeated.

He sighed. "I... The future will never happen as I know it. Piper, it was you and Leo who - in three years - would go to the Elders to allow them to allow other Whitelighters to marry. But..."

"But what?" Piper asked.

"It's never going to happen," he repeated. "In my time, Leo was never made an Elder. You defeated the Titans easily. But in this time... I don't know what Chris's game is... why didn't he just kill you? But he didn't... not all of you."

"What?"

"Piper..."

She looked him in the eyes. "What... do you mean?"

He looked at his feet. "Leo's dead, Piper. Chris killed him."

Her voice wavered, "You're lying."

"I'm not," Zack told her. "You have no idea how much I wish that he was still alive and that I *was* lying. But I'm not, Piper. I'm not."

A tear ran across her face. "Then we've got to kill him."

Though he had previously been very gung-ho about the idea, Zack's face had fallen even more - if if was possible. The memories were now strong after having to tell them about him before he had changed. But then his face turned hard again. "Yes. We do."

***

How long had he been lost?

There was no way to tell time in the dense forests he had wandered in for so long. His watche had stopped ticking his first day there... was it still the first day? He was not hungry or thirsty or even tired... could it have only been a day? He could never tell if the sun had set or risen... The canopy was too think.

It was always dark.

Always.

His hopeless wandering was doing him no good. Even through the dark he could tell he had passed that large oak a thousand times already. Yet, what else could he do? There was no escape. Even if he went in one direction he would still, somehow, come back to that tree.

That tree.

It was a symbol of his hopelessness. A symbol that could never be broken... Or could it?

What else was he going to do? He took a rock and with little thought beforehand, smashed it into the tree's trunk. Again and again and again... Until there was a sudden movement from his right and soon he was on the ground.

Tears poured out. Of course it wouldnt' work. Nothing worked. Nothing. It was hopeless. He was hopless.

"Leo... help me..."

***