Disclaimer: Let's all declare this where the whole world can see it and LAUGH AT ME: I DON'T OWN CHARMED!! Well, neither do you--so HAHA!

Chapter Four:

Hypnotized

Catty slowly rose out of bed and tiptoed to her parents room, eyes glazed over and expressionless. She touched her mother's arm. "Chris wishes doom upon the Alliances. He is a spy."

"Chris wishes doom upon the Alliances. He is a spy," her mother repeated tonelessly.

"Exactly." Catty walked out of the room.

Chris blinked, opening his eyes. He squinted at the light that met his eyes. Where was he? What had happened? It slowly dawned on him that he was in Catty's living room. But how did he get here? He was dying. He was sure of it.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to make at least a little sense out of what was happening. He'd been in Catty's house many times before, but something was different. Tense. Something wasn't right.

"What...?" he tried to guess, but nothing came to mind. Some force was in this house. Maybe it was his imagination, though. Now he was starting to think that he could've dreamed up Leo and the stabbing. After all, what were the odds that he'd see Leo after all these years AND get stabbed within the same thirty minutes? Not likely, he assured himself.

"Oh, Chris, you're awake," Catty's mother said flatly. He whipped around to face her, making pancakes in the kitchen. Her eyes...there was something wrong with her eyes. They were dazed, the hazel that once matched Catty's now dull and lifeless. "That's nice."

"What am I doing here?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Ask the girls."

"What's the matter?" he asked, suddenly panicking. "Did something happen? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. When will you be leaving?"

"Uh...I don't even know how I got here in the first place. Could you explain—?"

Catty's mother's eyes met his and for a shocking moment he felt himself shrink away in fear of her stare. "It would be convenient if you would leave. I need to get the girls to school."

"Sure," he said, voice cracking. "Thanks for letting me spend the night..."

"Mm-hm," she said curtly, ignoring him and flipping a pancake. She began to hum out of tune, pretending nobody was there.

With a last uneasy glance at his best friend's mother, he walked out into the morning light.

It was still cold out. He shivered, no coat to help him in the dead of winter. (Once again...unrealistic San Francisco weather. Bear with me here as I constantly bend reality. Lol.) Questions still fleeted endlessly in his mind. How did he end up Catty's? Wait—maybe he dreamed up the entire Alliance meeting, too. And Catty found him...but where? Where did he orb to?

He shrugged it off. It was time for school, anyways...Catty would explain it all to him there. Right?

Not right.

"Hey, Cat," he greeted her on the bus.

Her eyes were as dull and paled as her mother's. "Hello. Please move."

"Wh-what?" he stammered.

"I asked you if you could please change seats."

He felt a chill run up his spine. Her voice was so bitter, so uncaring.

"Why?" he asked softly.

"Because I don't sit next to filthy spies." She stood up a little straighter, nose up in the air, and faced forward. "Now please move before you regret it."

"Filthy WHAT?" he demanded, outraged.

"You're working for Wyatt!" she shrieked.

The entire bus turned around and began to whisper. Everyone knew that Wyatt was evil because he revealed magic. All the world knew his name...since all the world was in danger. And if you were working for Wyatt, you might as well be dead.

He shot up out of his seat. "How dare you!" he hissed. The bus came to an abrupt stop and the driver turned around to see what was going on. For once, the entire vehicle was silent; not even one person began to poke fun at Chris.

"You call yourself the leader of the Alliance," Catty spat, "but you lied to us. You LIED! You're trying to kill us all!"

"I can't believe this, Catty. This isn't funny. Please, stop."

"I'm not joking, Chris. You know it. I know it. And now the world knows it." She gestured the horrified students on the bus, staring at him as if he was a monster. "I'll ask you again nicely. Please move."

"No!"

Suddenly his entire back seared with pain and smoke rose from his shirt. He cried out in pain as her eyes flashed bright red, piercing him. Catty, a firestarter? Was that even possible? He desperately tried to beat out the flames as his shirt burned away, suddenly feeling himself slip off the ground...Damn it, he was orbing in front of the entire eighth grade!

"No...stop...Catty..."

He was gone.

When the spinning stopped, he found himself at P3 again. By now he was used to the whole orbing concept; he was tired but not enough to have the same effects as the previous orbs.

But now he was angry. Not just angry...furious. How dare she? Catty was his best friend. And now she hated him for reasons he couldn't seem to piece together. She knew how devastated Chris was about Wyatt turning, she knew how horrible he felt for not being able to stop him.

If his own best friend didn't care about him, who would?

Don't freak out, he told himself. It'll all work out. She would come to her senses and realize that what she said was wrong.

Unless everybody hated him now. For sure, the school thought he was a menace now. Catty and her mother had acted all crazy around him. Maybe the whole world hated him now. Had it gotten out that he was the terrible Wyatt's brother? Did everyone think he was evil, too? It wasn't fair. But then again, nothing was in this twisted world of his.

He kicked the office door in rage, his back still burning where Catty had set him on fire. There was nothing left of his shirt and the flames had died down during his narrow escape by orbing.

"I can't believe this," he said, flopping down on the mothballs of an old couch. "I can't believe this. Catty...of all people..."

He sighed. "I guess I was thinking the same way when Wyatt turned. It's starting all over again, isn't it?" His eyes watered but he wouldn't allow the tears to fall. There was no way he'd be weak about their deaths, even if he still held himself accountable. "Nobody believes a word I say. They always thought I was lying about Wyatt." He laughed bitterly. "And then they just left me here. They all left...and I'll never forgive them for it..."

His expression hardened and still the tears never fell, hanging there until they faded away. He wouldn't cry for their deaths...because a part of him would never willingly accept the fact that they were gone forever. All he could do was fill his heart with more regret every minute.

"I wasn't good enough to save them. I wasn't fast enough."

He didn't know how long he sat there, staring at a spot on the wall in front of him and wondering about his life. Was that little spot there when he was born? Was it there when Wyatt turned, when Leo left them, when his family died? That poor little spot on the wall, watching everybody's lives tear apart as Wyatt's evil rein continued. That poor little spot on the wall.

That's how Chris felt. Disregarded like a little spot on the wall, forgotten once the stain remover couldn't get it away. Then made fun of because it stood out so gawkily on the cleaner walls all around it. Yeah, that was definitely how he felt every day of his life.

They're dying, Chris. All of them...it will be your fault, just like it was before. That's right. Everyone you care about...they'll die, all because you were too weak to save them...

Chris blinked. Blinked harder. "Who's there?" he asked shakily, not daring to move.

Your conscience, the voice responded, laughing coldly in his ear. You're afraid of losing them. Welcome to your greatest fear...

That's when he looked down and saw it: their bodies, mangled and destroyed at his feet. He cried out and leapt from the couch in shock. There lay Catty, Alia, the rest of the Alliance, Prue, Leo...even Wyatt. Dead, on the floor.

"No..." he moaned, stumbling back into the corner. "It's not true...it—it can't be..."

Oh, but it can...they're dead, Chris. All because you weren't there to save them. A pity, isn't it? That they suffered so much? The voice cackled again, growing louder unceasingly in his ear. They'll all die...just like last time...

The bodies faded, replaced by Phoebe, Jason, and Mel, groaning as the life was sucked out of them through the poisonous athame. He reached his hand out to them but froze in fear, watching them leave again. Instead, Piper appeared, screaming...

Screaming and burning as flames tore at her flesh. His eyes locked with the scene and he stood there, utterly silent and frozen. No. There was no way he could watch this again. Not after all the nights he'd relived it...not after all of his suffering...

"It's not real!" he screamed, clenching his eyes shut tight and covering his ears. "It's a lie! Go away!!"

Not until you see the truth. They'll all die. And in the end, you'll be the only one left to suffer. They'll leave you all alone, just like they did last time. It's a never-ending pattern...first they stop trusting you. And then they die.

"NO!" he choked out.

'Yes. Yes, they're all going to die. Leaving you...hating you...Your fault. All your fault.'

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he yelled. The scene gradually faded and he fell to his knees, gasping for air. "Not real..." he moaned, "not real...lies...no...not dead..."

Once he caught his breath the shock caught up with him. He bolted up to his feet again, too worried about his fellow Alliance members to linger on what he'd just witnessed. If it was true...if they really did all hate him...they'd all die. And he'd have nobody left.

"Take me to Catty," he told his mind, shutting his eyes and focusing hard on the orb. "Please work...c'mon..." Once he concentrated for a painful thirty seconds, the orbs finally coursed through him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn it!" he cursed, hitting the floor of Catty's room with a hard thud.

A crash. A shriek. BAM! Something collided with his head and he saw stars dancing in front of his eyes as the impact of the hit knocked him back. He moaned and reached for his head, feeling the warmth of his own blood.

"Get out of my house!" Catty shrieked. He looked down. She'd smacked him with her hairdryer.

"I SAID, GET OUT!" she screamed louder.

Her screams seemed to echo through his blank state of mind, intensifying the pain. "I'm...I'm going..." The orbs began to succumb him once more, and it was too late to move back when Alia called out for him.

He couldn't hear her. Because if he had, he might have gone back. If he'd heard her, then maybe this whole mess would straighten itself out.

But he didn't hear her cry out, "Chris! Wait!" and so he never knew in time.

He reached the P3, head throbbing, and fell into an uneasy slumber on the P3 couch.

There was always tomorrow to hope for.

Prue rushed up the white, glowing stairs, the fluffy clouds surrounding her. She really thought this whole heavenly Up There look was cliché and phony, but, as a whitelighter, she had to deal with it. Besides, she wasn't running up these stairs all the time. Whenever an elder summoned you, it usually meant big business or lots of trouble. And neither of which seemed appealing right now.

She finally reached the high, golden doors to the council room and swung them open.

"You're not in your robes," commented an elder disapprovingly.

Prue flipped her hair back in defiance. "I was told it was and emergency. I had no time to change. Sorry if I've inconvenienced you in any way."

"Stop at once with this impertinence!" the same elder demanded.

"Robert, this isn't going to help. Control your temper," another elder scolded. "It won't help the situation."

"Yeah, about that. What exactly IS the situation? I need to get back to my charge. He's in danger."

"More than you might think."

Prue looked up, immediately recognizing the voice. "Leo," she greeted him curtly, avoiding his gaze. "Nice to see you after...hm, what would it be? Two years now?"

Leo sighed. "Look, Prue, you know the conditions as well as I do—I can't go down there. Anyways, Barbus has escaped. We all fear that Chris would be his first victim. You need to keep a close eye on him."

Now, THIS was enough to make Prue boiling angry. "Keep a close eye on him?? I HAD A CLOSE EYE ON HIM! Then you all summoned me here, where I CAN'T SENSE HIM BECAUSE HE CAST A DAMN SPELL!" She rounded on Leo, furious at his incompetence. "THINK the next time you call me! Got it??" She orbed away in a huff, landing in Catty's house.

The couch where Chris lay the night before was empty, and Catty, Alia, and their parents were happily eating at the dinner table.

"Where's Chris?" she asked.

"Gone," said Catty, not even bothering to look up.

"You let him LEAVE?" Prue demanded, shocked.

"We don't let evil in our house," said Catty's mother with a big smile. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Prue opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. "Is this a sick joke?" she stammered.

"I don't know what's wrong with them," Alia wailed. "They've been like this all day. It's like their hypnotized!"

"Barbus," Prue muttered instinctively. "Alia, come with me. I may need your help."

Alia nodded and feebly got up from the table. Her dazed family did nothing to stop her as she took Prue's hand and they orbed away.

The Angel of Death stood in the middle of the dance floor, watching the boy sleep. His lips curled into a smile. At this rate, it wouldn't be long now...

TBC...