Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't care. Only need my Drew to survive...

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"Chris..." A man walked into a bedroom where a wounded older boy lay dying and wounded. The man rushed over to him. There was a woman standing at the doorframe, already crying, as tears threatened to fall down the man's cheeks.

"Hey..." the boy greeted him weakly.

"It's okay, I'm here now, I'm here. You just hold on, okay? Just hold on, don't you dare give up..." He seemed like he may burst into sobs, knowing that saving this boy was hopeless.

"You either." The boy takes a last shuddering breath and is obviously dead. The woman lets out a sob from the corner and the man holds to the boy's body, crying himself. Just then the body of the boy disappeared.

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Chris jolted awake but found that he remained lying on a bed. The bed wasn't his...where was he? He tried to look around him but he was too weak. Something was holding him back. When he tried to see what it was, all he saw was white. White walls, white sheets, white everything. It wasn't at all familiar too him, but maybe he was still dreaming.

If he was still dreaming, it would finally be something different then the dream about the boy dying. He'd had that dream once a week since he was about four—but wait—the man, the crying man. That was the same man that came looking to adopt this morning, and the same one he'd dreamed about last night. He felt a flash of sympathy for whoever the man was. Obviously he was sad.

"It must be demonic. They can't get any explanation for what's happening to him," said a female voice. Chris turned his head slightly and realized that there were tubes all around him. He looked up and saw "Emergency Care Unit" in big, bold letters—and then it hit him.

He most definitely wasn't in the orphanage anymore.

"I agree that it could be demonic, Paige, but really, what are we supposed to do? Leo can't heal anymore, that power was stripped of him nine years back. And we certainly can't go up to the doctors and explain the mystery saying that a demon did it!" The speaker, also a woman, was the closest to him. He could see a flash of really short dark brown hair but the rest of his vision of them was limited.

"Pheebs..." another woman that sounded more familiar to Chris than the others spoke. "I never wanted this to happen. Once Chris died we all promised he'd have a better future—now look what's happened to him! He risked everything to save Wyatt, only to screw everything up for himself..."

"Piper, it's not your fault," the woman closest soothed her. "It's not your fault or Leo's or anybody's. It's those stupid damn elders. There was nothing we could've done. Besides, now that we've found him, we can give him that better life he fought for."

"If he doesn't die first," the familiar woman sobbed.

Chris froze in fear. Were they talking about him, or some other Chris? He didn't understand. Who were these people? They seemed to be talking about two Chrises—one that died and one that was...one that was dying. But he couldn't be dying. He didn't feel like he was dying, and for some reason he was pretty sure that he knew what dying felt like. After all those dreams and everything, how could he avoid knowing?

There must have been another Chris. This was all a mistake. These people weren't supposed to be in the room with him.

He tried to open his mouth and say, "What's going on?" but all that came out was a cough. The three women were at his side in an instant, hovering over the bed.

The first one that spoke—Paige, he thought—had an orangey-yellow color of hair, obviously dyed. The second, the one that was closer, had short black hair. The last of the trio was the woman at the orphanage, the one that seemed so familiar to him.

"Chris..." said the last one. She gulped back tears.

"I'm going to get a doctor and tell them he woke up," announced Paige, hurriedly leaving the room.

"What...?" Chris managed to say.

"Don't try to talk," said the black-haired one, concern in her voice. "You've been out like a light for a while there. You scared us all!"

He wanted to scream, these people were frustrating him so much! He just wanted them to either explain themselves or get the hell out of here! Where was he, anyways? Tears sprang in his eyes but he couldn't brush them away, his muscles seemed way too weak. What was happening?

"Ack!" one of them exclaimed out of nowhere. "Okay, I get it, you want answers. We can't give any to you yet...not until they make sure you're okay."

The one that seemed so familiar—Piper, he thought he heard the other one say—ran a hand through his hair soothingly. He couldn't flinch if he had tried, but he didn't want to. Something about her seemed comforting...like he knew he shouldn't be afraid. He felt like he knew her.

The other woman left the room abruptly.

Piper sighed. "I am so, so sorry baby..."

His mind was reeling. What was she so sorry about? It's not like she did whatever had happened to him. That brought him to another thought...what exactly had happened to him? He felt dead-exhausted. His body ached. He felt like he hadn't eaten and slept in days...he just felt miserable.

A man in a white uniform came in, looking him over. "Can you talk?"

Chris tried to speak but all that came out was an inaudible squeak. His throat hurt, too. He shook his head instead.

He turned to Piper. "Are you his guardian?"

"Ye—no. No, I'm not. He's an orphan."

Where's Sammy? He thought. Why am I here?

The doctor nodded. "I'll inform them of his current condition. You'll watch him?"

"Yes."

The doctor nodded in response, face solemn, and left the room. Paige and Piper were now by his side now and basically driving him up the wall. WHO WERE THEY?!

"Chill!" cried a voice—Phoebe—from the corner of the room. "Sorry. Getting lots and lots of empathic and telepathic vibes from him..."

"Pheebs, why don't you leave the room?" Piper suggested. "This could be a bit much."

"Alright. Hang in there, Chris," she said before leaving.

Piper sighed again. Tears formed in her eyes and she tried to hide it, but Chris saw. "Chris...this isn't easy, okay? I—we—never meant for any of this to happen. You're not an orphan. You're...my son."

Her SON? Now she was talking crazy! He'd been an orphan ever since he could remember. Besides, if she was his mother, why was he abandoned? He couldn't trust her, flat out. But...he wanted to. He felt himself give in. He was believing her.

She was choking back sobs now. "You're not normal, honey. But I...I wanted you to be..." She was crying too hard to go on.

Paige started to back her up. "Chris, what she means is that you're a witch," she said bluntly. "You have magical powers. Have you ever done anything weird—something you can't explain?"

Chris nodded weakly and tried to hold up a hand to show her, but his arm raised an inch or two before flopping back down at his side. Finally, someone understood what was going on. The freezing, the traveling, the moving objects, the seeing in the dark...someone else knew.

"You don't have to show us. You must be really tired right now...I can imagine. You collapsed and you've been in a coma for three days now. We were all so worried..."

Piper stopped crying, indicating that she was ready to say more. "We never meant to give you up. Before you were born, another boy named Chris that was in his twenties came from the future. Your biological brother—my other son, Wyatt—was evil in his future, and this Chris came to save him from becoming that way. He died for his cause, but he succeeded. Wyatt was saved...but it came at a price."

He wanted to ask what she meant. He wanted to ask why she was telling him this. All he wanted to do was sleep...

"After Wyatt was saved, the elders—magical beings that control things that happen down on earth—thought that the threats of the evil weren't quite over. They decided that since Wyatt wouldn't turn evil in this timeline, YOU would—because you're his brother. I know you may not understand this...time travel is so tricky...but honey, you are that Chris. Just in a different timeline. We're all in a different timeline than the one that died."

Chris was just barely taking in what she was saying. His eyelids drooped, he was too sleepy to be in shock. But he understood her. He'd always been smart for his age. He nodded, telling her to keep going.

"It doesn't make much sense, and it's not fair. It's not fair at all...and there is nothing I can do to ever make this up to you. They—they made us—I'm sorry, I can't..."

Paige gave Piper a sympathetic look and finished the story. "It's hard for her, Chris," she explained. "She loved you more than anything. You hardly left her sight for the first three weeks of your life..." Her sad face turned to one of bitter rage. "The elders thought that since Wyatt wouldn't turn evil, it would create a reverse effect and YOU would be evil. They kidnapped you right out of the manor...God, we put up a fight...But in the end they got away." She had to stop now because she was crying too.

"Just remember this, Chris: You never did anything wrong, and we love you more than you can imagine. We've been looking for you for nine years..."

He couldn't help it. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, the image of Piper—his mother?—fresh in his mind.

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They were in the streets of San Francisco, and utter chaos surrounded everything. Buildings lit afire, people running for their lives, gunshots, energy balls, black arrows; screams, blood...death. Chris wanted to wake up but he couldn't pull himself out of the dream. He was watching the madness from afar, as if he was merely an unharmed witness separated from the mayhem.

He let out a wail. People were dropping dead on the streets. There were people—witches, he assumed—trying to fend off whatever evil force was coming through, maybe twenty or so of them. He saw the three women from before were among them, and they all seemed to be adults except for one little boy in the front, moving things with his hands and throwing them.

"Stop, Wyatt, stop!" he was pleading. Chris couldn't make out his face. "Please! Don't do this! You're killing all of these people!"

An energy ball came from the evil force and shot the child down. Chris ran up to him, immune to the weapons. What was going on? Was this the horrible future with Wyatt as its ruler that Piper was talking about?

He finally reached the boy and looked at his bloody face, only to see the exact mirror image of himself. He screamed as his body was slowly being pulled and merging with the wounded boy's. He couldn't stop it...His clone's pain and thoughts and distress were suddenly his own...All he wanted was for Wyatt to stop and his mom to rescue him...

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"Mommy!" he woke up screaming. He wasn't in the hospital bed anymore, somebody was carrying him. He looked up and saw the man from before, but he knew he shouldn't scream. The man was looking down at him with the same intense green eyes as Chris. Was this man his...?

"What happened?" he asked, his voice suddenly regained. He felt better. Nothing hurt anymore.

"We used magic to heal you, buddy," the man exclaimed. Chris liked the sound of his voice, too. It was reassuring. "How are you feeling?"

"Good...How'd you...?"

"I'm a whitelighter. That means I'm supposed to take care of witches." He looked like there was something he was about to add but he said something else. "My name is Leo. Sorry if I gave you a shock in your room a couple of nights ago—you weren't supposed to see me."

"A couple of nights ago? How long have I...?"

"A while. You scared us. It was a demon—a bad guy—that did that to you. He poisoned something you ate." Leo set Chris down on a bed. "Chris...there's something I should tell you. I'm...Chris, you met Piper, right? Your mother?"

Chris nodded, surveying his surroundings. There were two beds in the room, he was sitting on one. It looked like a kid's room, with blue walls and books and model airplanes.

"Chris, look at me for a moment."

Chris complied, looking over at the man. He wasn't afraid like he had been before.

"Chris, I'm your father. Piper's husband."

Chris looked up at the man and wished that he couldn't talk again. That would give him an excuse not to say anything. Right now he was at a loss for words...Why were they doing this to him? Couldn't they just leave him alone? He shifted uncomfortably. If they were his parents, why had they abandoned him? Why would they just come and get him now?

Leo pulled him into a hug and Chris felt compelled to hug him back. Once he was released, he searched for something—ANYTHING—in the room that looked familiar. Everything was so foreign. He'd lived in the shelter all his life...where was he now?

"Um...where am I? When are we going back to the shelter?" he asked. "Where's Sammy?"

Leo flinched and made a quick blink over at the corner of the room. Chris leaned in to see what he was staring at and was quite taken aback.

His backpack was at the door of the room.