Chapter 2
Paige orbed the entire group into the manor living room, orbing Chris on to the sofa.
Piper stayed close to her son, crying out as soon as the orb cloud settled, "Leo! Leo! Hurry!"
Leo rushed out from the kitchen, followed by Caleb, Stanley's whitelighter, a graying man in his mid-fifties.
"What's wro…." he started, stopping in his tracks the moment he spotted the adult version of his younger son, who remained crouched in a fetal position, sitting up on the sofa. "Chris? Oh My God! How…" He rushed over to join his wife at his son's side.
"Heal him, Leo," Piper ordered, stroking her son's hair, fearful for her son.
Leo placed his hands over his younger son, the golden glow immediately taking effect. The bruises and cuts quickly disappeared.
"Chris, are you okay?" Leo said, trying to get some kind of response from his son.
Chris continued to look straight past him, a blank expression on his face, unresponsive to his father and his surroundings.
Piper pleaded, speaking to Chris in the same manner she used with his baby self, "Please, sweetie. Talk to us. It's mom. You're home now. You're safe."
Phoebe approached him, her empathy power kicking in.
"He's afraid," she said, her heart breaking for him. "Oh, God. He's in so much pain. It's unbearable."
Leo said, "But I healed him. He shouldn't be in any pain."
Phoebe shook her head. "No, it isn't physical pain. It's mental. He's been through so much, it just…finally broke him."
Paige then asked, "How is he even here? Alive? We saw him die."
"You only thought you saw him die. It was a trick," said the witch who had tenderly cared for him when they were trapped in Slavo's cave. She introduced herself as Laura and quickly explained that she had been captured by Slavo a few days before. The few days she had spent in the cage in his lair, Chris had still been aware and spoke a little when she first arrived. Slavo had known that the Charmed Ones were after him and that Chris was the son of one of him. He wanted information about them that Chris refused to give him. In trying to get the information he wanted, Slavo and his minions beat and tortured Chris until he became completely unresponsive to his surroundings.
"Chris had told me that Barbas, the demon of fear, was the one that traded him to Slavo in exchange for powers. Barbas had tricked you all into believing Chris was dead."
"But we all saw him die," Paige reiterated. "Me, Sheridan, Darryl, the entire SWAT team. Barbas isn't that powerful."
"He had help," Laura explained.
"Gideon," Leo realized. "Gideon had strong magic, with his help Barbas was able to make everyone around me see my fear. Gideon needed to make sure I was distracted. He had to convince me that I couldn't heal Chris, that he was really dying. So he made everyone else see that too…"
"Including Chris," Paige said. "But then, why did he disappear?"
"I don't think he really did," Leo realized. "We only thought he did. If we were frozen at the moment it appeared Chris died, and then he was taken before we were unfrozen, it would appear to us that he disappeared…."
"Avatars," Piper realized. "It makes sense. They were helping Barbas to get to you. Part of their plan must have been to make you believe he died, leading to your breakdown so they could easily recruit you."
Leo became solemn, guilt washing over him. "It's my fault. They helped Barbas kidnap Chris to get to me."
"Leo, it isn't your fault," Phoebe said. "You didn't know. None of us knew."
Piper interjected, "Leo, we can't think about those things. We need to focus on helping our son now." As she said this, her eyes remained fixed on her younger son, who remained oblivious to his surroundings.