Disclaimer: Does it LOOK LIKE I own Charmed? DOES IT?? HUH??? Didn't think so. Grrr...SOMEDAY—SOMEDAY, I TELL YOU, I SHALL—(gets smushed by giant footprint) Oh well!

Fifth Chapter:

Heritage

When Chris woke up in the P3, his head hurt more than ever. It was almost funny. Demons tried to kill him everyday, and yet a simple hairdryer was enough to do this. He smiled wryly despite the agonizing situation at hand. He wasn't exactly invincible.

With a soft moan, he dragged himself off the couch. The spot on the wall was still there like it had been last night. He figured that going to school would be pointless at this rate. He lost his backpack in some back twisting alley running from some demon a while back and he didn't have any of the homework. Why bother?

Well, walking around outside was stupid, too. Somebody would be sure to notice a fourteen-year-old kid with a bleeding head eventually. So...the only question was, what to do?

He moaned. Everything was going wrong. How in the world could the Alliance, HIS Alliance, the one that he'd grown to love and care for, betray him like this? What could he have possibly done to make them so angry?

Suddenly a door opened somewhere in the P3. He leapt to his feet, startled, and whipped his head around to see what was happening.

"Who's there?" he asked.

A muffled gasp of shock came from the corner. A girl with pale skin and hair blacker than night itself stared back at him with big, blue eyes. "You...you go to my school," she managed to stammer. "You're Chris. That kid that sits in the back of English."

"How'd you get in here?" he asked, more curious than mad. "I mean...this place was abandoned a while ago."

"I—I'm hiding," she said simply. "You're hurt. What happened?"

The door burst open again and the demon's arrival interrupted their conversation. "I'll get you, witch!" it screamed, closing in on the girl. Chris raised his hand and in an instant the demon clattered to the ground. He grabbed her hand as quickly as he could, forcing himself to carry her weight along with him on the orb.

They landed in a heap in an alley.

"You—you're a whitelighter?" she demanded.

"No. I'm half." He cringed at the wound on his head. "I wouldn't have this if I was..."

"You're—wow. I thought...well, I didn't think there were other witches at our school."

"There are more than you might think. Catty, Alia...there are others. You're name is Liz, right? Liz Eaton." He paused. "I'm sorry about your sister. I heard about her...at the Alliance meeting."

"Alliance? What...?"

"The Alliance against Wyatt, the evil attacking us all. He killed your sister. I'm the leader of it," he explained. "You can join. We were going to find you. But..." he trailed off.

"But what?" she asked him.

"Everyone's under some kind of spell. They think I'm working for Wyatt, and I don't know why...Even Catty. And you know me and Catty are best friends. I mean, everyone knows that." He shuddered. "They're all that I have left. I don't know what would happen if I lost any of them. And now..." He shrugged.

"A spell? Who would do that?"

"Wyatt." Chris didn't even realize he'd said that until the word escaped him. Of course! Wyatt had done this, right?

"Why? I mean, how did he single you out?"

"He's my—my brother," he said weakly.

She bolted up, shocked and angry. "You're WHAT?"

Chris leaned back, running a hand through his hair and closing his eyes, not willing to see her face. "Please don't leave..."

"You're related to the man that killed my sister!" she screamed.

"I'm related to the man that killed my family," he countered. "I'm related to the man who's trying to kill me every waking moment of my life." His voice was soft, not angry. He was so tired of this. Of Wyatt, of losing people. "Look. Don't let me stop you from joining. I won't bother anyone anymore." He orbed out, finding himself on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Wow. He'd never been up here before. It was so...peaceful. He felt so far away from the hell he called life. So far away from the Alliance, from his troubles. He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in his head that throbbed. Up here...he felt so safe. Away from everything.

"Chris, I'll be back soon. Watch Mel," Piper said curtly, grabbing her coat.

"Where are you going?" asked Chris. They stood in the foyer of the manor.

"The underworld and then the P3," she said casually, turning her back to him and checking her make up in a compact mirror. "I think we've got a lead on Wyatt." She saw his expression through the reflection. "We'll be back soon, I promise. And maybe..."

"And maybe Wyatt will be good," he finished. He'd heard this so many times now, but it was never true. "I'll watch Mel."

"Thanks, Chris."

"Are you ready, Piper?" asked Phoebe, stepping into the hallway.

"Where's Les?" asked Chris.

"Work. Some article thingy," Phoebe responded. "All for the better. He wouldn't want to know we were demon hunting anyway.

Chris shrugged. "Bye."

They waved him off and stepped out the front door to drive to Paige's apartment, where she'd orb them down to the underworld. He sighed. This was about the third time this week and it wasn't even Wednesday yet.

"Mel?" he called. "Hey, Mel, where are you?"

"Up here," she responded. She was in her room, channel surfing on the TV she'd recently gotten for her thirteenth birthday. "What is it?"

"Another day, another demon hunt," he groaned. "Wanna raid the pantry while they're gone?"

She grinned. "I suppose I could make some time for that," she said slyly. "Race ya. No orbing!"

"Got it." They ran down the stairs, searching in the pantry until they found a forgotten box of Oreos. "Hey, let's go up to the book," Chris mumbled through his food. "Maybe we can see which demon they're after today."

"Good idea." Mel stood and brushed the crumbs off of her outfit and headed up the stairs, carrying the cookie box with her.

Chris paced at the altar of the Book of Shadows. "I don't know what they could possibly be after," he admitted. "It almost seems as if they've vanquished every demon in the book. And still, Wyatt's evil," he said angrily.

"Hey, Chris...does it, you know, ever bother you to know that you're related to the source of all evil?" Mel asked feebly.

"Yeah, it does. A lot."

Chris gasped when a drop of water hit his head. He was tottering off the bridge and he quickly reached his hand out to regain his balance. It was starting to rain, he realized. Too bad he couldn't stay up here much longer...

That dream. He shuddered. Should it have gone on longer...he'd be reliving their deaths. Again and again and again. It wouldn't be the first time, or even the fifth, for that matter, that he'd watched them die.

His head started too spin and he felt dizzy, being up so high in the air. That was weird...heights had never bothered him before...

Come to think of it, he felt positively sick. And it wasn't a nice feeling at all.

With a slight moan, he reached up to pull his hair out of his eyes, then gasped in pain when he realized he'd just dug his fingers into the wound on his head. "Damn it," he cursed, holding his head to stop the pain. He closed his eyes and orbed off the bridge, afraid that the dizziness may cause him to inadvertently fall off.

Once he'd orbed himself to the P3, he collapsed onto the coach and shut his eyes. "Have to...stay awake..." he murmured. "No...can't..."

There was no way he'd let his guard down and fall asleep again. There was no way he was just going to watch that dream, watch them die...

"Chris?" asked a voice. "Hey, Chris...?"

He opened his eyes and jumped back. Liz Eaton was staring back at him with those big, woeful blue eyes again, back at the P3.

"You...you..." he managed.

"Are you all right?" she asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah...I thought..."

"No, you're not. Look at you. You're sick and you're bleeding. What the hell happened?" she demanded.

He stood shakily. "I—I don't know. Catty threw that damned hairdryer at me...like I said, they're all under a spell. They think I'm evil." He paused, staring at her intently. "I thought..."

"Look...I'm sorry I overreacted earlier. You're right. Just because you're related to someone doesn't mean you're anything like them." She looked down at her feet.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" he asked, forcing a slight grin.

"Because...because my sister."

"I'm sorry."

"Not that sister. I have an older sister, too. Her name is Bianca."

Chris nearly choked in surprise. "B-Bianca?"

She nodded, then looked at him precariously. "Why? You know her?"

"All too well!" he said. "She's been trying to kill me for months." His grin widened. "I guess we have more in common than we thought."

"I'm sorry about my sister," she apologized.

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

She sighed. "I don't know what to think anymore, honestly. I mean...my sister, my little sister Anne, she was so good and pure. And then Bianca's all...heartless. Evil. I feel as if I'm trapped between the two of them, and now that Anne's dead, I almost feel like I'm taking her place."

"She'd want you to join the Alliance. I know she would," Chris said softly.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he assured her.

"So, you're the son of a Charmed One?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

He shrugged. "Guess so. But they're all dead."

"They're what?" she gasped.

"The Charmed Ones are dead," he informed her, trying to keep his face as blank and emotionless as possible. "Wyatt killed them and my uncle and cousin. Well, actually, I only saw two of them die, so there's a slight chance Paige is alive. But she's made no attempt to contact anyone if she is, so I can only assume she's dead too."

"But if Wyatt can defeat the Charmed Ones..."

"I know. He can probably defeat us all."

"I'm sorry...for your loss."

"They never really cared much about me, anyways," he told her. "How did Bianca turn? Was she ever...normal like you and your little sister?"

Liz winced. "Yeah. I s'pose so. On her thirteenth birthday, though, she was assigned her first task as a phoenix—to serve Wyatt. She had to kill for him. She'd come home and day by day, she become more bloodthirsty...more savage. My mother swore that Anne and I would never be initiated as phoenixes after what happened to Bianca. We haven't heard from her in two years now." She raised up her sleeve, revealing the mark on her shoulder. "But I guess I'm still bound to my heritage, no matter what I do."

"Tell me about it."

She sighed. "Well, I really should be going. I was just waiting around to see if you'd pop in," she said, smiling.

Chris wondered how somebody related to a killer could have such a warm smile.

"See ya," he said.

She shimmered out of the room.

"Alia, I need for you to tell me everything you know," Prue ordered the girl.

Alia's gray eyes grew wide and she was silent for a good three minutes. Prue didn't dare interrupt her; she knew the girl was trying to determine whether or not she could trust Prue. And Prue honestly couldn't blame her, even if she did think that a little girl seeing all of her past and memories was a bit weird.

"I don't know much," she confessed after a long while.

"What's the first thing you noticed about Catty and your parents?"

"Catty...she said that she hated Chris because he was evil and working for Wyatt." She looked at Prue uncertainly. "That couldn't possibly be true, could it?"

"No, you're right, Alia. It couldn't possibly be true. Do you know why they could've thought that?" she asked gently. She was beginning to get used to Alia's long pauses in the conversation. The girl would always say everything carefully, without hesitation. But she always thought through her words first.

After another moment of silence, Alia answered, "It's like they're hypnotized. They're not their normal selves. I went to school today and the other members of the Alliance seemed the same way; just listening to teachers and talking like robots. Whenever I mentioned Chris, they'd suddenly be irrationally angry and claim that he was evil and betrayed us all." She looked around them. "Where is this place?" she asked, curious.

"We're Up There," Prue explained. "This is where whitelighters and elders go when they're not with their charges."

"It's pretty," she said offhandedly, taking in the scenic clouds and great blue sky. "But it's almost superficial." Prue knew that Alia didn't mean it in an offensive way by any means; Prue even agreed with her. With all the horrors erupting in the world below them, this place was pretty superficial. As if the people that created this place were trying to create an illusion of happiness despite the hells that existed on earth everyday.

"It is, isn't it?" Prue sighed. "What else can you tell me?"

Alia looked down at the cloud she was standing on, thinking for a moment. "It's like a virus. It's like they can infect other people and make them turn on Chris. I think..." She paused. "I think Wyatt did it."

"I think so, too."

Alia tucked her blonde locks behind her ear, eyes locked with Prue. "You're a good person," she said simply.

Prue smiled. "Thank you," she said, happy that Alia trusted her. "You're a good person, too."

"I saw Chris. He came to the house. Catty threw her hairdryer at him and he orbed away."

"Is he all right?" asked Prue.

Her face fell. "I don't know."

Liz opened the door to her house, feeling better for once after talking to Chris. He was a such a nice boy...and finally, she had somebody to relate to. Why hadn't she noticed it before?

"Liz, welcome home," sneered a voice.

"Bianca? How...?"

Lynn, her mother, sat tensely at the kitchen table. "Bianca came because she needs your help with something, dear," she explained to Liz.

"It's because mother dearest wouldn't let you get initiated..." Her mouth curled into a sickening smile. "So I thought I'd initiate you myself."

"What do you want?" asked Liz shakily.

"I need you to help me kill."

TBC...