Thank you so much for the feedback, I was really thrilled by the kind things written, particularly as I had expected people to be disappointed. I am sorry about the wait for this part, I hope its worth it, what it lacks in quality it certainly makes up for in quantity - you might want to make a cup of tea before you start, this goes on for ages.

Stony Angel thanks for the advice on my settings, I wasn't actively discouraging anonymous emails (I am far too much of a review alert junkie for that) I was just too thick to set up the account properly. Hopefully it works now and so if I don't get any anonymous reviews from now on it just mean that the writing sucks.
At last Chris spoke, "So, no welcome home cake then?" and the spell was broken. Leo looked at him, he wasn't dead, Chris wasn't dead, despite everything Leo had believed for so long his son was still alive and for him at least there could be a future beyond this nightmare. Pushing aside thoughts of Wyatt he grinned, and pulled Chris into a bear hug so tight that he struggled for breath.

Piper watched them, fighting to hide the mixed emotions reflected in her face. "Hey save something for the dead Mom, I've got 9 years of cuddles owed to me mister." and as she held him Chris was comforted with the thought maybe some things had changed for the better. Yet despite their joy at his return, Wyatt's shadow hung over them all and when Piper finally pulled away from Chris she could still hear her other son's voice, filled with anguish, echoing through the room. She looked around as though expecting to see him but saw only the cheap broken ornaments strewn across the floor. Looking with disdain at this mockery of their home she shuddered. "Lets go, this place it gives me the creeps".

By the time they reached Leo's Piper wanted the support of her sisters and she saw the summoning circle with relief. "Honey get your Aunts, they are going to be so thrilled to see you." She turned to smile at Leo and noticed the brewing equipment. "Potions Leo?"

He was saved from her curiosity by the appearance of the rest of the family, who as Piper predicted, were all over Chris. He surrendered to the hugging and the crying and the kissing and the cooing with a wry grin and some real gratification, but was glad when they finally allowed him up for air. Ruffling his hair affectionately Phoebe asked, "So how is this possible, aren't you suppose to be dead?"

He smirked. "Look whose talking, what's with these fabulous bodies you've suddenly all got?"

There was an awkward silence before Piper answered, "Wyatt came up with a spell."

None of her sisters could look at her and Paige tried to change the subject. "You didn't answer the question Dude, I remember a distinctly dead nephew 23 years ago, aren't you gonna tell us how you pulled off the Houdini act?"

There was a longer pause this time, before an increasingly irritated Piper answered. "Wyatt brought him back from the past and the dead." It wasn't fair; the way they all refused to acknowledge Wyatt, he didn't deserve that, not on top of everything else. She misinterpreted the silence that followed her comment as disapproval and the emotions that she had been barely suppressing refused to be contained any longer. "What? I'm not allowed to mention his name now. I at least owe him that considering what a crap Mother I turned out to be, how I trashed his life and left him screwed up and abandoned"

This was too much for Chris. "That's not true. I was there remember, you were a great Mom. Its not your fault he turned into such an evil bastard"

Prue was confused and therefore impatient. "Hey, enough with the cryptic. What did we miss?"

"Nothing important, according to my brother he turned into this century's version of Attila the Hun because he had a miserable childhood and the world was mean to him. Oh yes and he's spent the last few years killing everything that stood in his way as a welcome back to life present for you and Mom. You must be sure to send him a thank you card, in fact better still sign it from the whole planet because apparently he's made the world a safer place for all of us."

"He didn't say that" Piper appealed to her husband for support. "Leo tell them"

He looked at her wearily. "Tell them what Piper?"

Seeing how distressed their sister had become, Paige took Piper's hand while Phoebe sat beside her, rubbing her shoulders. "Well what did he say Honey?"

Piper was playing back the scene in her head, " He said that he doesn't want to bring us back to life because we would just have to fight demons again, but he will when he's made things safer. That he hasn't done all of the things people say he has. That he has been controlling the demon population to stop innocents getting hurt and...and...and..." she faltered, realising how lame this sounded.

Phoebe interrupted. "Hey! What's this about bringing us back to life? My afterlife is just fine, thanks, in fact it's better than fine its perfect."

But Piper, still thinking of Wyatt, wasn't listening." Then he just got so upset; he was all right before Leo came. It was as though..." she slowly looked at the potions equipment then back up at Leo, things finally clicking into place..."Oh No! No. No, NO!" She rose to her feet, glaring at him. "Tell me you didn't? Tell me you didn't try to kill my son?"

"Piper I.." He reached out to her but she smacked his hands away "Don't you dare touch me" she backed off, staring at him in disbelief, flicking her hands frantically as though trying to blow him up. "Useless freaking body. If I had my powers you worthless son of a..."

She stopped; to make the vanquishing potion for Wyatt you needed the Power of Three. She knew she hadn't, so that meant...She couldn't believe it, for a moment she couldn't even feel angry the betrayal was too big to comprehend. Her eyes were wide with shock as she stared at each of her sisters in turn. Prue grabbed Piper's hands and forced her to look into her face. "Piper, we're sorry. We truly are, but you know how this works".

Piper just looked dazed. "He's my son Prue."

"I know, I know and its not fair and non of us should have to do this but we do."

"But he's my son."

"And I'm your sister, yet you and Phoebe were willing to let me die to save the world from the apocalypse and I hadn't killed any innocents."

"Is that what this is about, some kind of revenge?" She couldn't take in what she was hearing.

"No of course not honey, you know me better than that. I," she gestured to the room, "we, all of us, love you Piper, we really, really, really do and we would give anything not to hurt you, let alone your son." Her eyes were full of tears at the pain and bewilderment she saw in Pipers face. "But you know that sometimes what we do is bigger than us, and to protect the world and innocents we have to make hard choices."

"But he's not evil Prue, Phoebe, you believe me? He's not evil. He's trying to save people, he said so..... LEO TELL THEM."

God he wanted to agree with her "I, I don't know."

She paused and looked at Leo as though seeing him for the first time. "He asked you if you would have done it. Would you?"

He winced at the coldness in her voice but was relieved that he could finally answer one of her questions honestly. "No."

She scrutinised his face trying to detect a lie, at last she was convinced. "Well thats something." and she turned away. Taking this as a sign of relenting he moved towards her.

"NO! You stay away from me". He stopped dead, stung. "All of you stay away from me."

Suddenly she was seething. " Where you even going to tell me or did you hope I wouldn't notice my dead son?" No one could meet her eye. "You're right Prue, to protect your innocents you do have to make hard choices. Well you make yours and I'll make mine and I am warning you, you'd better make damn sure that those choices don't collide.

She made to dematerialise.

"Mom" Chris held out his hand to her.

"NO!" Then realising he was the only one she was not mad at she toned it down "No Chris, I need to be on my own right now." and with that she faded away.

Paige let out a long breath." Well I think she took that better than expected don't you?"
He orbed to his office to be alone, more upset than he could ever remember. The sight of Tiathon sprawled in his chair was an unpleasant surprise, apparently for both of them as Tiathon hastily jumped up. On another day this undignified scramble by the powerful demon would have entertained Wyatt but today it was just a further irritation.

"Wyatt! I wasn't expecting you."

"Obviously." Wyatt said dryly. "And you are here because..?"

"I," Tiathon quickly recovered his poise. "I was putting together some recommendations for future bodyguards. You seem to have run through a number of them recently."

Was that some kind of threat? An insinuation that Wyatt was losing control? Maybe even weak? Was Tiathon planning something? As usual Wyatt couldn't get a thought reading. He didn't need this, not right now. He tolerated Tiathon partly for his ruthless intelligence but mainly to keep him close. Tiathon was one of the very few with sufficient ability and following to challenge Wyatt's leadership of the underworld.

He could not afford to display his inner turmoil now. "Some of your previous choices have proven poor, I made my own arrangements for Loquarious's replacement"

He flicked his fingers and a figure materialised on cue, quickly took in his surrounding and the situation before calmly establishing a position by the door.

"Was there anything else?" Wyatt, now cloaked in his full majesty, was an intimidating sight.

Tiathon made a credible attempt to smile through gritted teeth, annoyed at himself for being so presumptuous, how could he have believed that snivelling Elder's promise of Wyatt's death. "No. I am sorry to have disturbed you" He shimmered out leaving Wyatt to his thoughts.

Leo had had a potion to vanquish him. His Dad had sat down schemed and cold bloodedly planned to kill him. No, it didn't work, no matter how many times he ran the sentence through his head he couldn't take it in. His childhood had sucked in so many ways but one thing he had known, known without any shadow of a doubt was that his parents truly loved him and for as long he could remember Leo had been Wyatt's hero. In many ways their estrangement had been the hardest part of Wyatt's plans but he had consoled himself with thought that it was only temporary, a necessary evil to safeguard Leo and Chris from his enemies. Pretty much invincible himself the frailty of his family frightened him and the fact he had been unable to save his mother and aunts had shaken him to the core. His aunts! They must all have been involved too, unless his mother...NO! He relaxed slightly. No, it wasn't her; he didn't need to read her thoughts to know that.

The new guard moved, attracting Wyatt's attention and he thought about dismissing him then stopped. The guard's presence there would be a deterrent to his Mom who was certain to come. He couldn't talk to her now.

How had it come to this? At the start it had been so clear. When his Mom died he was consumed by sadness for all of them, but most of all for her. She had deserved a better life. Around him everyday he saw greedy people, mean people, selfish people all living lives that she could have only dreamed of. Yet his father was a good man, the finest, and they had adored each other, his Aunts were loving and supportive, her businesses had been successful and his mother's desires had not been unreasonable, yet her life had been wretched, every part contaminated by their magical destiny. It wasn't fair, if his family, the very best of people trying as hard as they could, failed to break through this cycle of death and desolation then what was the point?

The burden of his powers oppressed him. He knew that he was blessed, unique, the ultimate weapon for good, but after her death he no longer had any enthusiasm for the fight. So very like his mother he craved an ordinary life for both of them. It seemed such a little thing and he could see no value to his powers if they could not even gain him this. Slowly a thought developed, maybe they could, maybe that's exactly why he had them, maybe it was his destiny to change things. But how?

With his vanquish of the Source came an epiphany. If Wyatt spent every day of his life trying to kill every evil being he could find, it wouldn't even make a dint on their numbers, however, if he could control them, control their behaviour he wouldn't need to kill at all. Intrigued by the thought he made himself the new Source and watched, amazed. He had always been taught that Evil existed purely to be evil. Good beings sought to nurture and create, where as Evil lived only for destruction. It wasn't true. His new subjects hungered for more powers, or more followers, or a higher status. Some even loved and cared for each other and their families. While a few needed to feed on mortals to survive the vast majority attacked only to move up the power hierarchy. Wyatt realised that if he could control that hierarchy he could change everything.

But it hadn't been easy. Fear, and the now legendary Wyatt Halliwell was greatly feared, went only so far and in the early days he had worked day and night to make pacts, find allies, consolidate his position. The massacre of the wood nymphs had been a watershed. Intent on fooling the underworld the simple ruse of faking the wood nymphs' vanquish had seemed obvious. He had never even considered his family's response, believing in them implicitly he'd simply taken their trust for granted.

Leo's reaction devastated him.

Wyatt had never seen his Dad like that. He had tried to speak out, to explain, but couldn't find words to withstand the onslaught of his father's fury and despair. For the first time in years Wyatt could hear Leo's thoughts and they were screaming to be heard, beneath the emotional tirade was a single idea repeating again and again– It had happened at last. Wyatt was stunned; there was no benefit of the doubt, no loving confidence, all the good he had ever done was irrelevant, his father had been simply waiting for him to go bad for years.

Horrified he thought about giving up then and it was Piper's presence that strengthened him, he felt her night after night, whenever he was most vulnerable he felt her trust and love and knew he couldn't let her down. He had to rescue her, rescue all of them and now he had to prove his father wrong, make him proud. Immersed in his task it wasn't until he had completely subjugated the Demon world that he realised that it was not enough. With every vigilante witch primed to attack by the Elders how could it be? The naivety of his original plan seemed laughable, like believing he could balance one side of a seesaw alone. But by now he was relentless, he was The Wyatt Halliwell and if he needed to control every single magical creature alive to stop the fighting, to save his family, to regain his father's favour then that's what he would do. Phase two of his plans began.

In his lonelier moments he still thought about calling Leo and Chris, often, but the risk to them of being seen with him was too great, besides he no longer trusted their support and was too resentful explain his actions. Promising himself it was only temporary, that they would come to appreciate him in the end, he cut them out of his life when he needed them most and it was then that he started to make the other sacrifices.

At first he tried to play nice he really did. He spent months trying to win over and coax the various parties of good into his Alliance but with the Elders stood against him, urging suspicion and resistance no one would listen, no one would trust him. Frustrated and used to success, he reverted to the more familiar methods of persuasion he had employed on the underworld. They proved very effective. He could still visualize the first group of innocents he killed, their faces and cries for mercy had haunted him for weeks, robbing him of his sleep and purpose, but the second was easier and third failed to register at all. He convinced himself that the deaths were necessary for the greater good, arguing that when everyone was in his Alliance all killing would stop. Shutting his ears to the agonised screams of the present he concentrated on his idealised world of the future, focusing so obsessively on the big picture nothing else seemed to matter.

Until now. His father wanted him dead, his brother had travelled into the past to try and stop him, and his aunts had tried to vanquish him. His grand plans to restore his family suddenly seemed seriously flawed. He could no longer delude himself that deep down they still loved him and would come to value his deeds. With terrible clarity he saw himself through their eyes and recognised the evil thing that they always knew he would become. Where they right? Was he a monster? He no longer knew and wasn't sure that he cared. What did it matter if he remade the world now he had no family to share it? He had come so near, so very near his final goal, with only the Elders themselves left between himself and total control of the magical world and now at the final hour victory was hollow. He realised that everything he had done, every sacrifice he had made was for nothing.

Finally out of his own thoughts, he became aware of the guard's. Intrigued Wyatt looked up and stared at him for a moment.

"What's your name?"

The guard startled at being addressed jumped to attention "Mark. Sir" He had a light lisp.

Ah, there it was, you could just see it when he spoke, Wyatt smiled "It an unusual name for a manticore"

"Half manticore." It was obviously a sensitive point. "My human father gave it to me, he was an unusual man." The forked tongue was more evident now. The guard hesitated; he had worked so hard to get here, desperate to serve this man, whom he owed so much. Born bad, brought up good, all his life he had been an outcast, fitting no where until Wyatt had transformed the world and given him the chance to find a place in it without labels. He couldn't mess this up, finally he had a chance to say thank you. He cleared his throat.

Wyatt placed a hand on his shoulder before the guard could speak. "No. Thank you" Maybe it hadn't been all for nothing after all.
"DAMN IT!" Leo kicked the wall before turning to Chris. "How about you?" Chris looked confused. "Well I'm 2 for 2 at the minute, you thinking about storming out as well? God knows I've given you enough reason over the few years."

Chris smiled. "Nah, I'm cool for now thanks. You forget I've had a year to work through my issues, and the incident in the spider demon's cave, had to be worth two years of counselling sessions alone."

Phoebe tried to lighten the moment. "Hey does this mean that we can finally ask you questions. I swear if I'd heard you put me off with "it might jeopardise the future" one more time...."

Paige chipped in "Oh yeah - damn that was annoying and what was all that about Wyatt turning evil before you were born rubbish, the kid was an angel and lets face it, its not like we weren't watching for it."

After a year of hedging it was a relief to be honest. He smiled at Page. "It was you, you and Phoebe, I overheard you when we were kids, Wyatt and me we were in trouble, nothing bad just kid stuff and you were all freakin out. Paige said you were over reacting, that it didn't prove Wyatt was evil and that everyone was just paranoid about him being since I came along and I..." He stopped, they were all staring at him, he realised what he had just said. "Oh."

Paige sighed. "Time travel just sucks."

Prue turned to Leo." Since when did the future become this fixed circle anyway? We've time travelled before and changed things, We stopped Nicolas, made sure Melinda was born and you guys met Granddad and Piper stopped everyone from getting killed over Phoebe's rebound guy, when did the rules change?"

Leo was thoughtful. "I don't know, maybe you didn't change anything then either, maybe like Chris your trips back in time and their effects were part of the grand plan, and always destined to happen."

Phoebe became indignant "I don't buy that.Hello remember me burnt at the stake in a very different future, not to mention your nonexistent daughter, and as for...why are you suddenly looking so shifty, what is it your not telling us Leo."

"That wasn't the future, it was an illusion made by the Elders to teach you a lesson, it was based on a distortion of Prue's ambitions and Piper's hopes." He could see that nobody was impressed and he grew defensive "Look I didn't know at the time and then what was the use in saying. Prue was dead and..."

He was rescued by Prue. "I think that's all irrelevant now. What we should be talking about is Wyatt? Now that Piper's gone what's the deal Leo, is he evil?"

"I just don't know, some of what he says makes sense, its just I ...."

Chris can't believe what hes hearing. "WHAT? Don't tell me all that crap he was spouting has taken you in. Dad he kills people, lots and lots and lots of people, good people whose only crime was to get in his way and what was with those figures he was spouting, who the hell compiled those, the world famous Institute of Demon statistics?"

Leo undaunted by his son's scorn. "Its common knowledge that Demon killings are down, we thought it was a side effect of Wyatt's Alliance." He thought bitterly that it had never even occurred to him it might be an aim. What sort of father was he?

"No Dad, I know that you and Mom want to believe in him, but I've had it. I tried everything I could and it didn't work, he is a killer, not for the greater good of mankind, just the greater good of Wyatt Halliwell. I know that now. If we weren't his family both of us would be dead and you know it. Am I supposed to just forget that he killed my friends, that he killed Bianca?" He stopped, he hadn't meant to say that, he was an expert now at not mentioning her name, not thinking of her, ignoring that ache.

Leo saw his face and said gently. "He didn't kill her."

"Yes Dad he did. I was there."

"No you weren't, you went back to the past, Piper was there, she told me that he healed Bianca and sent her home. She's not dead son".

Chris just gaped, torn. Not wanting to let go of the idea of Wyatt the Tyrant but the hope that Bianca could still be there refused to be ignored. "I.." He orbed out.

Leo looked ruefully at where he had stood "3 for 3. Anyone else?"

"Ahem" They all turned to Paige. She was holding the bowl that had held the remains of the vanquishing potion, it was empty. She turned it upside down. "Not wanting to be all Paranoid Patty but I think we may have a problem" She looked around at the glum faces of her remaining family and corrected herself. "Another problem"