Disclaimer: I'll inform you when I win the lottery and hire assassins to go after Brad Kern, then pretend to be his long lost aunt's niece's friend's cousin's mailman's daughter, heir to the Charmed throne. Cough. Cough. Cough.

"Holy crap!" Wyatt screamed. They grabbed each other's arms, trying not to be swept away. Their cries were barely heard over the howling of the wind.

"What the hell?"

It was neither of the two boys that spoke. Chris and Wyatt looked up, mouths agape, staring at a tall 23-year-old man with brown hair and trademark green eyes. Big Chris and Chris locked eyes in amazement and Wyatt looked between the two of them several times, obviously understanding the connection.

"Oh god," both Chris' said at the same time. "You're me!"

"Whoa, that was weird. Don't do it again," Wyatt pleaded.

"You're a younger me and little Wyatt," said Big Chris. "Did you...summon me?"

"I-I think so," Little Chris stuttered.

Piper bit her lip, washing the plates in the sink. She was staring outside, waiting, but not quite sure what for. This entire family was tragedy-prone. Something would happen soon enough, it was bound to. After Chris had died everything got crazy. Gideon and Sigmund were brought back to life and strict orders were made that elders could never leave Up There. The rule as made to ensure that Gideon wouldn't hurt Wyatt, but it came at the price of Leo as well.

After that, baby Chris had been taken away. Piper and Wyatt had been left on their own for a year until Leo was finally able to return for good. Now his elder duties were more like a part-time job.

But now everything was too perfect. Finding Chris, having Leo, everybody being safe and healthy...There were setbacks. Chris didn't know them or his powers and he was constantly in danger. Bounty-hunters, elders, Magic School students, Gideon—they were all after him now. Or at least they would be if they weren't careful.

Some tragedy would occur soon. She knew it.

But it was best not to think about it.

She scrubbed harder. It had been so long since she'd seen little Chris' face, and yet she already knew what he'd look like. And not because of the future Chris she'd met. She knew it because of his attitude. When he was only a little baby, she could still see it in his eyes. The strength, the determination, the mischievous nature—it was all there right away. If only she'd gotten to keep it.

He's back, she reminded herself. He's back and nothing will change that.

"Holy crap!"

Piper jolted up and ran to the attic. She'd been expecting this. A tragedy of some kind—and this was it! She'd run up there and one of the boys would be hurt or kidnapped or missing or dead...

"Chris...?" she stuttered, aghast. Only she wasn't staring at the little boy by the altar. She was staring at the transparent 23-year-old man standing in the circle of candles.

"Hey Mom," he greeted her with a confused smile. "Somebody called?"

"That would be us," little Chris informed him.

"It was our idea," Wyatt added. "Are we in trouble?"

"N-No, of course not," Piper whispered, still staring at Chris. It had been so long. Nine years, to be exact. And all through it she'd hoped that maybe he'd gone to a better future...

But no. He was transparent. That meant he'd been dead.

"Chris, I'm so sorry," she cried. She wanted to go and hug him but she knew she couldn't break the triangle of candles or he'd disappear.

"Don't be, it's not your fault. It was Gideon's."

"What was Gideon's fault?" asked Wyatt.

"Gideon's a bad man," Chris said to himself.

"That's right," Big Chris agreed.

"I hoped you'd gone to a better future...the one you created..." She felt tears running down her cheeks and she couldn't stop them. He'd worked so hard for them all and he didn't even get to enjoy it.

"Don't cry, Mom. It was my time. I was supposed to die that time you and Dad were on the ghostly plane, but I was spared because I needed to save the future. I completed the task. And then...well, you know. I had to die."

"But I didn't want you to..."

"The Angel of Death came for me. There was no other option." He turned to Wyatt and his little clone. "Why did you summon me?" he asked.

"We...were confused," Wyatt said sheepishly, staring at his feet.

"Wait—what's been going on in this time anyways?" asked Big Chris.

Piper's face fell. "Wyatt's not evil. That's the good part."

"Something happened," he guessed.

"Yeah. Chris—you, I mean—were kidnapped at two weeks old. We just recently found you—um, him—two days ago, after nine years of being an orphan. He didn't know anything about witchcraft except all these weird powers that he had." She paused. "Chris, when you were, uh, alive, what were your powers?"

"Telekinesis and orbing," he admitted. "That was it. Wyatt had all of the powers."

"Chris has more powers than that," said Wyatt. "Tell them, Chris."

Chris looked up, a little nervous. "I have telekinesis and orbing, too. But I can freeze time, see in the dark and far away like binoculars, and heal myself."

Big Chris' eyes widened, almost as if to say, "No fair!" but he quickly regained composure. "The elders. They must have thought there was a balance switch. That's why they kidnapped him, right?"

"That's what we think."

"Wait...Gideon didn't die, did he?"

"No," said Piper regretfully, "he didn't. The elders brought him back to run the Magic School."

"Bastard," Big Chris muttered. Both boys gasped and Piper glared at him, causing him to clear his throat and mumble, "Sorry. But I thought that he'd be gone for good! Before Gideon was killed I was in this weird plane between life and death, like you and Leo were stuck in when...well, you know. But when Gideon died I was allowed to move on. I didn't think that he'd be resurrected because I stayed, well, dead and all." He sighed. "But I gotta say I prefer this timeline. In the other one, everything was generally destroyed by now."

"They're only eleven and nine!" Piper gasped. "Wow, I never thought it was that bad."

"It was that bad." He turned to Wyatt and Chris. "Just for the record, let me assure you two that I don't think there was a balance switch. The elders are paranoid. What I think is that in this timeline, the powers were evened out so that they BOTH had the same amount. But, like I said, paranoia causes the elders to do stupid things...but this 'stupid thing' definitely tops all the others."

"That's definitely right," Piper agreed. "Do you want me to call Leo?" she asked hesitantly.

Chris hesitated. "I don't think we should. It might hurt him more than help."

"Hmmm." Piper understood. Leo was, after all, the one that watched him die. Along with Paige.

"Does that answer your questions?" asked Big Chris with a grin.

Chris and Wyatt grinned back, the three of their faces eerily identical. "Yeah, I think that's good," Wyatt replied.

"Bye, everyone. Um, oh yeah—I just thought I'd add—don't get us water guns for Christmas."

Piper stared at him incredulously. "Why...?"

Chris stifled back a laugh, shrugging. "Uh, future consequences," he laughed as the shimmering lights took him back to wherever the dead peoples went. Lol.

Piper stared wistfully at the flickering, dying candles for a moment. "Okay boys, that's enough screwing around with time and space for one night. Let's get you two into bed, alright?"

"Okay." Wyatt took Chris' hand and orbed them down to the bedroom. They laid on their beds and stared at the ceiling until Chris finally said, "That was weird."

"Yeah, I know. It was."

"It's nice to know that at least somebody thinks that their wasn't a weird shift in the balance. I don't mean to brag..." Chris grinned widely. "But the older me is pretty cool."

Wyatt laughed. "You're right. Wonder what I was like?"

They stopped laughing.

"Or maybe not," Wyatt whispered.

"Don't worry about it, Wyatt. That guy wasn't you and he never will be. And it'll never happen. Any of it."

"Yeah, but all those dreams I—WE—keep having seem so...so...realistic." Wyatt sighed. "I wonder if they're trying to tell us something."

Chris shot up in bed. "Don't think like that, Wyatt! You're not evil and neither am I! It's probably just a coincidence. I mean, maybe the dreams are just perfectly normal—weird and unexplainable, like all the others. For all we know, none of it ever happened.

Wyatt scoffed. "Yeah. Sure. That's why we have the same dreams where the same disasters happen."

Chris couldn't think of anything to say to that, so they fell asleep in absolute silence.

"What are you doing??" A woman with jet-black hair and beautiful tan skin demanded. But she wasn't beautiful in a pretty way. She was beautiful in a determined, courageous, valiant way. But who was she?"

"Chris, we have to get out of here," she choked. He saw tears running down her cheeks.

"No!" Chris heard himself say. He turned his back on her, facing the rest of the room. The room was unfamiliar and burning. Fire was all around him, eating away at the wooden walls. The woman stood at the doorway, frantic. "Bianca, Wyatt caused this and I'm not going to let all of these innocents die!"

"But Chris, I—"

"Oh, save it!" he cried. "You WORK for the bastard! Just get out of here!"

"But we..."

"Go. I don't care. You don't love me, you're an assassin."

And with that, he faced the roaring flames and left her there to cry.

Chris woke up, gasping. It was still dark out and Wyatt was asleep in the bed next to him, completely unaware. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. He was awake. The fire and that woman...weren't real.

'Wyatt caused this...you don't love me, you're an assassin...'

He shuddered. So, he'd been in love with a woman in this alternative life, too? Bianca was her name. He almost wanted to summon her, too, assuming that she was dead...but then he realized that she'd probably be alive as a child in the normal timeline they were in now. That wouldn't help anything.

For now he'd just go back to sleep.

When he woke up again, Wyatt was shaking him excitedly. "Mommy made pancakes!" he exclaimed. "She used to be a chef, you know. She's a great cook. Now she owns the P3, a club for older people, though."

"Cool," Chris yawned, getting out of bed.

When they got to the breakfast table, Paige was frowning over some paperwork.

"What's up, Aunt Paige?" asked Wyatt.

She put the papers down and smiled. "Hey, boys! You're awake!" She looked down again, reading the text. "Nothing much. You guys have a new classmate for Magic School, though. A little younger than Chris. Funny, we don't usually get late applicants like this." Her smile widened. "Except for you," she assured Chris.

"What's his name?" Chris asked.

"Her," Paige corrected, "name is Bianca."

Chris was so shocked he could've choked on air. "B-Bianca?!"

MWAHAH!! Lol.