Disclaimer: If I told you I owned Charmed, would you believe me? NO DUH YOU WOULDN'T!! Lol. I don't, for the record. Lol.
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"We have to wait here for Aunt Paige," Wyatt explained, sliding onto the floor by the classroom door. Chris remained standing. He didn't hear Wyatt, his thoughts were a little preoccupied with the note that he'd slipped into his pocket. What did it mean? Was that boy threatening him again?
"Chris?"
"Uh, right." Chris sat down next to him.
Wyatt gasped. "Chris, that's really bleeding. You're hurt bad. Just please, tell Aunt Paige...She knows how to heal..."
"I'm not telling them!" said Chris indignantly. After years in the orphanage, he was pretty sure of this fact: Never include adults in anything, they'll make a big deal out of nothing. Besides, how awkward would it be? He just got here and they basically knew nothing about him. What would they think, that he was a troublemaker and a tattletale, so weak and babyish that he had to ask an adult to heal him? Nuh-uh. "And you won't either. Please?" he added.
"I have to tell them!"
"Please, Wyatt...They'll think..."
"They'll be happy to know that you're healed and safe."
"I am safe. It only hurts a little," he lied vaguely, still sidetracked by the thought of the note. Suddenly a bright light surrounded his arm. Wyatt jumped back in surprise and Chris squealed.
The pain was subsiding in his arm and the burn disappeared. His shirt was no longer stained with blood and it looked as if the wound had never been there in the first place.
"Did you do that?!" Chris exclaimed, gawking as the light faded off his arm.
"N-no—I can't heal yet, they won't train me until I'm thirteen!" Wyatt yelped. "Do you know how advanced that magic is? You just healed yourself!"
"What's this talk of advanced magic?" asked Paige, coming out of the room. "What is all the commotion? You two alright?"
"Chris—just—"
Chris glared at Wyatt but Wyatt didn't notice.
"Chris just healed himself!" Wyatt blurted. Then he realized his mistake when he got an awkward look from Paige. "That bully Herman sent a fireball at him and Chris just healed himself! It was amazing, it just happened—"
"He did WHAT to you?!" Paige screamed. She leaned over Chris, checking for burns.
"It was an, um, accident," Chris lied.
"No it wasn't! That kid really hurt him, Aunt Paige, he just doesn't—" Wyatt paused, then lightened up. "You should've seen it. He shouldn't even be learning about healing for four more years!"
"Chris..." Paige said softly, crouching down to their level. "Why...why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't important."
"It's important to me, Chris. And to your parents and Phoebe."
Chris wanted to scream, "I barely know them!" but instead, he mumbled, "It just...doesn't matter, okay?" He stood, pulling away from Paige. "Why are you making a big deal out of nothing?" He could almost feel his cheeks turning red.
"It's not nothing. You were hurt. I...don't know why you wouldn't tell us...if you were..."
"I want to go home," Chris burst. It came out of nowhere, but it was true. He was so unfamiliar with this place. All he wanted to do was go to the orphanage and stay there. He'd wake up and Sammy would be shaking him. It would all be a bad dream...
"That's where we're going," Paige assured him. "And your parents will hear about this."
"No, I mean that I want to go home! Where I belong! At the orphanage!" Chris couldn't help it. He broke down in angry sobs. "I don't...I...I can't..."
Paige leaned in and hugged him. "I know this is hard. It was hard for me, too. I didn't even know I had sisters until my early twenties when Prue died, and suddenly I was thrown into this magical world with demons and powers and sisters...or in your case, brother. It'll be alright. It'll get better. I know." She held him for a minute or so before releasing him. "Are you ready to go back to the manor?"
Chris nodded, wiping away the last of his tears. "I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong." Paige glanced worriedly down at the child. The nephew she'd never known. He was strong, she could tell. And stubborn. But what if something worse happened, and he didn't heal? What if he never told her? She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be ripped from everything you knew at nine years old. She was at least an adult. She could make a decision on her own, but...he had no choice. And she still had her friends in an outside world of magic. Now Chris had no one. They all thought he was dead.
"Let's go." She grabbed both Chris' and Wyatt's hand and for the first time, it felt so...complete orbing home.
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"How was your first day of Magic School?" asked Piper, taking their bags with a big grin on her face. The grin faltered when she saw the remnants of what she thought were tears on Chris' face, but he grinned back.
"Great," he lied. "Fantastic! I made some new friends!"
"That's great! Wyatt, why don't you and Chris go play in your room? I'll make some dinner."
"Okay," said Wyatt hesitantly, pulling Chris by the arm up the stairs.
"What happened?" asked Piper the instant the two boys were gone. She looked at Paige's sorrowful stare and knew immediately that something was wrong.
"It's not as bad as you think," Paige blurted before she could think of what to say.
"What?" said Phoebe. She had apparently arrived with her daughter. "Run along, Mel...go play with your cousins."
Mel looked at her quizzically, wondering why she said "cousins" rather than "cousin," but, being four years old, she didn't look into it much. She wandered up the stairs as well.
"What's not as bad as we think?" repeated Phoebe.
"I don't know, we're waiting for Paige to tell us," Piper snapped.
"Calm down..." said Leo. "They're fine, right?" he asked Paige.
"They're fine now," Paige assured them before beginning. "It's complicated. You know that we were testing today, right? It's not about the testing," she added quickly. "It was about the other kids. Let's just say that Chris didn't exactly look the part for typical Magic School student in those oversized hand-me-downs."
"I—I didn't realize—" Piper stuttered.
"Does this mean I can go shopping for him?" Phoebe asked. She didn't get an answer.
"What happened?" asked Leo.
"That Herman kid. You know, the big one with his friend, Phil? He spotted Chris right away and I couldn't do anything since we were testing. I don't know what happened. They were bullying him and Wyatt, but when I got distracted Chris got burned pretty badly by one of Herman's fireballs."
"You healed him, right?!" demanded Piper.
"But that's just the thing!" she exclaimed. "I didn't heal him, he healed himself!"
There was an awkward silence in the room. "He—he healed himself?" Leo managed, gaping at Paige as if she was speaking Gibberish.
Paige nodded. "According to Wyatt, that is. And Chris didn't deny it, and there as at least half a class of witnesses...though none of them would admit to seeing Herman bully someone..." She shuddered. "The point is, he could've been seriously hurt and he was planning not to tell us. He was going to hide it. And he's pretty damn good at it, too."
"He's a Halliwell," Phoebe said, shaking her head in regret. "No doubt about that."
"Unfortunately," Piper said under her breath.
"Um, Paige, just wondering...how did they boys' tests go?" asked Leo.
"Wyatt's was normal—slight advance in his powers, as it should be. Chris..." She paused. "Well, let's just say that the kid's got a lot of powers on his hands."
"What do you mean?" asked Leo, eyes narrowing. "Is something wrong with him?"
"No!" Paige exclaimed. "He's fine. Uh-oh, there's a teacher meeting...I, uh, gotta go now."
"Paige—" Leo was cut off by her quick orb away. He sighed.
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Mel sat down on the ground, next to Wyatt. She looked up at the stranger. In most circumstances, she would've greeted him with, "Hullo, I'm Mel. Are you Wyatt's friend?" but there was something captivating about this boy that made her hold her tongue.
"Mel, this is Chris," said Wyatt, before she could open her mouth. "He's my brother."
Mel laughed out loud at that. "Nuh-uh," she whined. "Don't be stupid, silly!" She giggled.
Chris grinned. "Cute," he laughed, "real cute."
Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Mel, I'm dead serious. This is Chris. Remember when we said we were looking for a little boy about my age? This is him. We found him. He's your cousin and my brother."
She giggled again. "Okay, I'll play too! This is my sister," she said happily, clutching the stuffed animal she'd brought along.
Wyatt shrugged. "Close enough," he muttered, grinning as well.
"Lalala," Mel sang, completely ignoring them now. She was running a finger through her hair, looking in the mirror. "I want to be a princess," she giggled. "Hey, Wyatt, let's go get some cookies!"
"The grown-ups are downstairs talking in the kitchen. I wouldn't go right now if I were you. How about later, alright?"
She pouted. "Puh-LEAZ?"
"Hey Mel, how about we play hide-and-go-seek?" Chris suggested.
"Yay!" she exclaimed. "Me hide, me hide! You guys count!"
"Okay, but here's the deal: You can't go downstairs, alright?"
"Alright."
"Now, we're going to count."
"Close your eyes," Mel accused, eyes narrowing.
"Right." Wyatt and Chris closed their eyes, facing the wall. "One...two...three...four..."
"Count all the way to a minute!" Mel reminded them before fleeing out through the door. She ran out through the hallway and looked into the attic. "Perfect," she beamed. "They didn't say not to hide upstairs, did they?" She grinned and walked up the stairs.
"Fifty-six...fifty-seven...fifty-eight...fifty-nine...sixty!" They finished.
"Ready or not, here we come!" Wyatt called.
Just then there was a shriek from the attic. Chris and Wyatt exchanged looks before racing up to go see what was going on.
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Lol...
