Disclaimer: --sighs-- I don't own nuttin, kay? Kay.
"Which would be...?" Piper prompted, looking around the room and seeing nothing dangerous or threatening. "I don't see anything wrong but a power outage."
"Demons," said Paige.
Piper groaned. "What? Today, of all days..."
"The power outage wasn't demonic and there aren't any demons here. It was my temp job. There were some demons there, and they have these freakish powers...well, it was supposed to be an after-party for a wedding and I was a waitress and these demons came in with the power to blow things up and..." She gulped. "Bring back the dead."
There was a pause in the room. "Did you see Prue?" Phoebe couldn't help but ask.
Paige shook her head.
"Prue's a whitelighter. She's already been resurrected," Chris explained. "But I guess she could've seen Patty or Penny. I'll go look them up in the Book of Shadows."
The sisters didn't follow him.
"You guys, Chris has to sit this one out," Paige insisted. "They don't just resurrect the dead—they can resurrect the dead from the future."
"You mean...?" Piper trailed off.
Paige nodded. "As long as it's in your memory, you can see anyone you know that is dead. We have all those deaths in Chris' past in our memories, too, so I saw them all. It's not safe with all these memories so fresh in Chris' mind..."
"It wouldn't be good for him to see them," Phoebe finished. "It's like when we couldn't see Prue after she died or we'd never let go. To Chris, all of them basically just died a week ago—it'd be way too soon for him to see them again."
"It's utter chaos over there. Imagine, a hundred people that all know at least one if not more person that's died in their life...and BAM! There they all were."
Chris suddenly came bounding down the stairs. "They're the demons of loss. They're not exactly bad, but they're not good either. When they sense pain or regret over a loss, they resurrect the dead to satisfy the person for a limited time. The only problem though, is that they're addicted to resurrecting. Once they bring one person back they want to bring back more. Somebody in the wedding—most likely the bride or groom—was sad about a loss or missing someone. It attracts them. They only surface once every hundred years or so; the last time was in the late 1800's...It took pretty much all the witches in the area to rid them."
"The power of three can do it," said Piper.
"Need any help?" Chris asked eagerly.
Piper tried not to wince. She didn't want to lie to him but she knew it was for the best that he didn't know... "Nah, we got it. Can you watch Wyatt for us, please? I'll be upstairs making potions."
"You don't need potions. Lower-level demons, they can be vanquished with the power to blow things up like Piper can."
"Then why are they so hard to vanquish?" asked Paige.
"Because you have to vanquish the souls they resurrected for them to rest in peace again," Chris explained. "It's complicated. But I can help! When I was about seventeen I learned how to speed up time like Piper —"
"That's okay, Chris," said Phoebe, a little too quickly. "Watch Wyatt. We'll be back within the hour. Bye!" she called as Paige orbed the three of them away.
Chris looked at the spot they had just been in, put-out. It wasn't fair! He'd had his powers much longer than they had by at least sixteen years. He laughed at the thought: In this time, he had much more experience with demons than the sisters did. Ha!
Wyatt had been placed in his playpen, Piper's flashlight from the club still brightening the dark room. He was relieved that the power outage wasn't demonic, but something still nagged in the back of his head. Something the sisters wanted to hide from him...
He shook it off and turned his attention to Wyatt. "Little rascal," he muttered good-naturedly at the sight of him telekinetically floating blocks in the air. He still couldn't believe the sisters ditched him with a toddler. Not to mention that he had no baby-sitting experience with kids this age...He'd only baby-sit for Prue and the twins when they were little, and occasionally Bindle and Bailey, but none of them were this small at the time.
Well, along with all those bad memories of his family dying, he supposed there were some good ones. Funny times like when the twins lost control of their orbing and ended up somewhere in Paris, or Prue would dare them to think of an emotion really hard in their heads so she could guess it, or when Bailey would clone himself and trick Bindle...
He smiled. He could even remember all those rainy days that he and Piper would make cookies or read stories when he was little. She would have Wyatt and Chris sit on the couch with her in between the two of them and she'd read all through the storms—storms like this one.
There was even a time when the power went out, just like it had today. He grinned, remembering—it was the day that Prue was born. Prue had to be born under the Nexus just like Wyatt, with the inconvenience of no transportation. Chris was only three at the time and he and Wyatt had to be watched by Paige in another room, along with the twins, who were almost a year old.
Paige used to call the four and a half years in between Prue's and Wyatt's birth the "baby boom" since they were all born one after the other. She said that she could hardly remember a time where one of them wasn't pregnant after Prue was born.
Unfortunately, "baby boom" meant "demon boom" as well, and they had quite a tricky time defending Prue since she was the first baby born in the Halliwell generation without the ability to orb. But they all stuck together and pulled through...
Wyatt whimpered slightly, catching Chris' attention. Chris ruffled his hair. "What's up, Wyatt?"
Wyatt held out his hands, offering them to Chris. Chris looked at the oddly intense gaze that the toddler was wearing, but took his hands anyways.
He didn't expect, though, for Wyatt to orb them away from the manor.
"Chris, what the hell are you doing here with Wyatt?" Piper demanded, fending off some attacking souls. They seemed to be in a restaurant that was empty of all of its guests, pitiful wedding decorations being destroyed.
"Ask him, he was the one that orbed me here!" Chris accused of the baby, giving Wyatt a death glare.
"Well, then un-orb yourself before Wyatt gets—"
Chris didn't hear the rest of what she said. Figures were slowly forming all around them; short, tall, old, young—
Chris realized what was happening and cried out, trying to orb away...but Wyatt wouldn't let them. He was reaching out for Piper to hold him and apparently wouldn't leave without her.
"Wyatt, please—" Chris begged.
He was too late. Flying souls of his entire family swarmed him, passing through him and creating a whirlwind of spirits. He couldn't see—they were all over—
Wyatt began to scream when suddenly the spirits settled down and a few began to fade; Bianca the first, then Leo. Assumable because they were the first to die, of course...but the longing on their faces was still more than Chris could bear. They were all speaking in whispers, trying to get his attention, but he couldn't decipher anything since they were all speaking at once.
"Vanquish them!" Piper screamed, seeing what was happening.
Chris froze. The rest of them didn't fade...it was apparent what he had to do, but he couldn't. He wanted to be with them again, he didn't think he could handle watching them die in front of his eyes one more time...
But then the whispering stopped. They all turned to him, eyes full of deceit, and began to attack him. Wyatt orbed away to Piper and Chris felt his knees buckle under the pressure of their fighting. The whispers were accusations...they were telling him how it was all his fault that everything was so wrong, that it was his fault for being alive...
Finally, he came to his senses. These spirits weren't his family—they were imposters! He vanquished them all with a quick swipe of his hands, then stared at his palms in shock. They dissolved, screaming, and the room was quiet.
"I killed them," he said to himself in disbelief. "I just killed them all again."
((()))
A/N—MWAHAH! There shall be a reappearance of Leo most definitely in the next chapter. MWHAHAH AGAIN!
"Which would be...?" Piper prompted, looking around the room and seeing nothing dangerous or threatening. "I don't see anything wrong but a power outage."
"Demons," said Paige.
Piper groaned. "What? Today, of all days..."
"The power outage wasn't demonic and there aren't any demons here. It was my temp job. There were some demons there, and they have these freakish powers...well, it was supposed to be an after-party for a wedding and I was a waitress and these demons came in with the power to blow things up and..." She gulped. "Bring back the dead."
There was a pause in the room. "Did you see Prue?" Phoebe couldn't help but ask.
Paige shook her head.
"Prue's a whitelighter. She's already been resurrected," Chris explained. "But I guess she could've seen Patty or Penny. I'll go look them up in the Book of Shadows."
The sisters didn't follow him.
"You guys, Chris has to sit this one out," Paige insisted. "They don't just resurrect the dead—they can resurrect the dead from the future."
"You mean...?" Piper trailed off.
Paige nodded. "As long as it's in your memory, you can see anyone you know that is dead. We have all those deaths in Chris' past in our memories, too, so I saw them all. It's not safe with all these memories so fresh in Chris' mind..."
"It wouldn't be good for him to see them," Phoebe finished. "It's like when we couldn't see Prue after she died or we'd never let go. To Chris, all of them basically just died a week ago—it'd be way too soon for him to see them again."
"It's utter chaos over there. Imagine, a hundred people that all know at least one if not more person that's died in their life...and BAM! There they all were."
Chris suddenly came bounding down the stairs. "They're the demons of loss. They're not exactly bad, but they're not good either. When they sense pain or regret over a loss, they resurrect the dead to satisfy the person for a limited time. The only problem though, is that they're addicted to resurrecting. Once they bring one person back they want to bring back more. Somebody in the wedding—most likely the bride or groom—was sad about a loss or missing someone. It attracts them. They only surface once every hundred years or so; the last time was in the late 1800's...It took pretty much all the witches in the area to rid them."
"The power of three can do it," said Piper.
"Need any help?" Chris asked eagerly.
Piper tried not to wince. She didn't want to lie to him but she knew it was for the best that he didn't know... "Nah, we got it. Can you watch Wyatt for us, please? I'll be upstairs making potions."
"You don't need potions. Lower-level demons, they can be vanquished with the power to blow things up like Piper can."
"Then why are they so hard to vanquish?" asked Paige.
"Because you have to vanquish the souls they resurrected for them to rest in peace again," Chris explained. "It's complicated. But I can help! When I was about seventeen I learned how to speed up time like Piper —"
"That's okay, Chris," said Phoebe, a little too quickly. "Watch Wyatt. We'll be back within the hour. Bye!" she called as Paige orbed the three of them away.
Chris looked at the spot they had just been in, put-out. It wasn't fair! He'd had his powers much longer than they had by at least sixteen years. He laughed at the thought: In this time, he had much more experience with demons than the sisters did. Ha!
Wyatt had been placed in his playpen, Piper's flashlight from the club still brightening the dark room. He was relieved that the power outage wasn't demonic, but something still nagged in the back of his head. Something the sisters wanted to hide from him...
He shook it off and turned his attention to Wyatt. "Little rascal," he muttered good-naturedly at the sight of him telekinetically floating blocks in the air. He still couldn't believe the sisters ditched him with a toddler. Not to mention that he had no baby-sitting experience with kids this age...He'd only baby-sit for Prue and the twins when they were little, and occasionally Bindle and Bailey, but none of them were this small at the time.
Well, along with all those bad memories of his family dying, he supposed there were some good ones. Funny times like when the twins lost control of their orbing and ended up somewhere in Paris, or Prue would dare them to think of an emotion really hard in their heads so she could guess it, or when Bailey would clone himself and trick Bindle...
He smiled. He could even remember all those rainy days that he and Piper would make cookies or read stories when he was little. She would have Wyatt and Chris sit on the couch with her in between the two of them and she'd read all through the storms—storms like this one.
There was even a time when the power went out, just like it had today. He grinned, remembering—it was the day that Prue was born. Prue had to be born under the Nexus just like Wyatt, with the inconvenience of no transportation. Chris was only three at the time and he and Wyatt had to be watched by Paige in another room, along with the twins, who were almost a year old.
Paige used to call the four and a half years in between Prue's and Wyatt's birth the "baby boom" since they were all born one after the other. She said that she could hardly remember a time where one of them wasn't pregnant after Prue was born.
Unfortunately, "baby boom" meant "demon boom" as well, and they had quite a tricky time defending Prue since she was the first baby born in the Halliwell generation without the ability to orb. But they all stuck together and pulled through...
Wyatt whimpered slightly, catching Chris' attention. Chris ruffled his hair. "What's up, Wyatt?"
Wyatt held out his hands, offering them to Chris. Chris looked at the oddly intense gaze that the toddler was wearing, but took his hands anyways.
He didn't expect, though, for Wyatt to orb them away from the manor.
"Chris, what the hell are you doing here with Wyatt?" Piper demanded, fending off some attacking souls. They seemed to be in a restaurant that was empty of all of its guests, pitiful wedding decorations being destroyed.
"Ask him, he was the one that orbed me here!" Chris accused of the baby, giving Wyatt a death glare.
"Well, then un-orb yourself before Wyatt gets—"
Chris didn't hear the rest of what she said. Figures were slowly forming all around them; short, tall, old, young—
Chris realized what was happening and cried out, trying to orb away...but Wyatt wouldn't let them. He was reaching out for Piper to hold him and apparently wouldn't leave without her.
"Wyatt, please—" Chris begged.
He was too late. Flying souls of his entire family swarmed him, passing through him and creating a whirlwind of spirits. He couldn't see—they were all over—
Wyatt began to scream when suddenly the spirits settled down and a few began to fade; Bianca the first, then Leo. Assumable because they were the first to die, of course...but the longing on their faces was still more than Chris could bear. They were all speaking in whispers, trying to get his attention, but he couldn't decipher anything since they were all speaking at once.
"Vanquish them!" Piper screamed, seeing what was happening.
Chris froze. The rest of them didn't fade...it was apparent what he had to do, but he couldn't. He wanted to be with them again, he didn't think he could handle watching them die in front of his eyes one more time...
But then the whispering stopped. They all turned to him, eyes full of deceit, and began to attack him. Wyatt orbed away to Piper and Chris felt his knees buckle under the pressure of their fighting. The whispers were accusations...they were telling him how it was all his fault that everything was so wrong, that it was his fault for being alive...
Finally, he came to his senses. These spirits weren't his family—they were imposters! He vanquished them all with a quick swipe of his hands, then stared at his palms in shock. They dissolved, screaming, and the room was quiet.
"I killed them," he said to himself in disbelief. "I just killed them all again."
((()))
A/N—MWAHAH! There shall be a reappearance of Leo most definitely in the next chapter. MWHAHAH AGAIN!