As the moments ticked by, frantic family members began to worry that Leo would not have the power to heal his beloved wife. Chris collapsed next to his mother and cried. He buried his head into her chest and let his tears puddle. This was entirely his fault. If he had just told them about Amy and Wyatt none of this would have happened! Why did he have to be so stupid? He made this mess, and there was nothing he could do to bring back his mother.
"Mom, please!" He begged her body to rise and live.
Leo looked from his wife, to his family – with tear filled eyes and a quivering lip. "She's gone."
His words were the last to be spoken that day. Silence took over their home. The monarch of their family line was gone – and with her – the protection she had given them. Piper had been the most powerful out of them all. She had harbored her sons' powers for years, as well as her own powers. As the mother of all magic she had managed to keep her sons from inheriting the title of 'Charmed'. Upon her death Wyatt, Chris and Victor became the new Charmed Ones.
Unable to cope with the loss of his wife, Leo hid in his work. He pledged his life to the Elders and never looked back - as far as his kids knew. Of course, he missed them and loved them, but guilt and sorrow filled him – he had lost the capacity to feel joy.
Like Leo, Piper's death sent a ripple effect to her sisters. Like the kindred souls they were, without their sister – without hope of renewing their bonds, they became wild with rage. Phoebe and Paige, who were no longer 'Charmed', submerged themselves in consuming power they created through spells. They used the powers they created to vanquish demons. They searched for Wyatt for years; every time they found him he would beat them back, and disappear.
Paige was the second sister to die. It was not by the hand of a demon, or Wyatt – or anything magical. One night while working on some of her student's papers, she fell ill. She was sent to the hospital where they diagnosed her symptoms as severe internal bleeding. Something she should have felt earlier if she had not used magic to take her pain away. She had been using a pain-reversal spell for days to keep her stomach aches bearable, so she could keep fighting. Little did she know she was slowly bleeding to death. She passed away with her family around her, at the hospital where Chris had been born. By the time the doctors knew what the problem was, it was too late.
Even with her daughter there to try and help her grieve, empathy was something Phoebe had retained, even without being 'Charmed'. The stress of grieving and feeling the loss of yet another sister – not just her loss, but the loss everyone else felt for Paige sent her into a deep depression. On the morning of the sixth anniversary of Piper's death, Victor – who was now eighteen – found his aunt lying on her bed. Phoebe had mixed a cocktail of sleeping pills and whiskey. She had passed away in her sleep.
With both of his aunts now dead, Chris was left to fend for his younger brother and two younger cousins. It had been two months since Phoebe's death and he was at wits end. He had no one to turn to, no one to guide him. He wanted so badly to go back and just change things to make them right again. It was then that a memory long dormant hit him. Something his parents had tried to tell him years ago – when he was only seventeen. Now he was twenty three, an adult and capable of changing things. His father had told him that he had gone to the future to stop Wyatt from turning into the power hungry idiot he had become. How had he gone back? When? There were so many questions; but only one person was still alive to answer them – he would have to find his father. As he pondered that option, his bedroom door burst open. It was Shiri – getting ready for work.
"Chris... hello? Earth to Chris!" She waved her hands about. "Hello?!" She yelled.
Snapping back into reality. "What's the matter, Shiri?" He asked.
"Victor's graduation is today... remember? You have to drop him off early – for the photo session with the rest of the seniors." She sighed, throwing him the keys.
Taking the metal objects into his palm. "I can't – not today." He insisted, giving the keys back.
"What do you mean, you can't?" She began to tap her right foot, angrily. "Listen – I don't have a choice here, ok? If it was up to me, I'd have Ryan take him, but she's... honestly, I don't want her driving my car."
Chris smiled, Ryan was a bad driver – not that he would ever tell her that. "Why don't you just tell him to orb his butt into the janitor's closet?" He shrugged. "We did it."
"That's not funny, Christopher!" She had now started strumming her fingers on her hips, clearly irritated.
Getting up from his seat, he sighed. "Okay, relax."
After Paige's death Magic School had no one left to fight for it. No Elder would take the chance of running it, and no witch had the ability to handle the responsibility it entailed. Put simply, without Paige the magic at Magic School was as good as dead. The kids were sent back to their homes, and back into normal schools. Leaving young witches like Victor to fend for themselves. Meaning, when things got rough – they orbed, or otherwise magically transported themselves into a closet at school and prayed no one noticed the blue glow or swirl of magical lights.
"Before I drop Victor off, I gotta do something, ok?" Chris said in an 'I-get-the-last-word' tone.
She nodded, resigning herself. "Fine, but this is his big day. Don't screw him over." She stated bluntly, and spun on her heel to find a blazer for work.
Chris was standing in the middle of his room, staring up at the ceiling. This world was a waste. Good was not prevailing. Wyatt was on a crusade to end the battle between good and evil – sure. But his methods were proving more and more ruthless as time went by. He killed, he stole, he murdered in cold blood. He did whatever and took whoever he had to, to get the result he wanted. This was not a future he wanted to be a part of. This was not a world he wanted his brothers, his cousins or anyone he loved to be a part of. This was a world that had been left for dead – because that's exactly what it was. It was dead, or dying. He couldn't tell anymore. Clouds were always dark, and the sun barely ever shone from the sky. The stars were all but gone and wind – no matter what the weather, was always cold. Rain seemed to go on for weeks without end, and nothing seemed to bring light, or joy anymore. People were miserable, even people who had no clue what magic was, or what witches really did. No one wanted this world, no one wanted this existence. Perhaps it was up to him to change it. But what started it all? What really started this meaningless spiral of gloom?
The young witch-whitelighter hybrid fell to his knees. He prayed silently that his words would not fall upon deaf ears.
"Dad, I know you're there. I can't feel you. I need you Dad – now, right now." He took a small breath, trying to maintain his manliness. "I miss you, and I miss Mom. I miss Aunt Phoebe and Paige; I miss the life we shared together as a family. I want you to answer my questions. You owe me that."
Finally his words brought a reply. Familiar blue orbs twinkled and sparkled as they orbed into his room. They took shape – it was Leo. Chris stood up to greet his father man, to man.
"Dad, is that you?" Chris asked, unsure.
It was him alright. He had changed. His face had aged slightly, and his hair was graying. He wore elder's robes and had a calm about him that didn't sit well with Chris.
"It's me." He assured his son. "You look just like I remember..." Leo said, amazed at the sight of his grown son. "Just like you did years ago..."
Annoyed by the remarks, he jumped right to the point. "Tell me everything about what I did in the future. How I got there, when I got there... everything." He insisted.
"I can't – I won't." Leo crossed his arms – determined.
He grabbed his father by the cuff of his robe, and peered down at him with unrelenting strength. "I will find out – even if I have to orb up there to do it. Don't think I won't."
"Chris..." He tried to make his son understand the importance of this knowledge.
With searing hatred dripping from his every word, Chris interrupted. "Tell me, or so help me God – I'll go back to where it all started – before me, before you and Mom, and I'll stop it all."
Leo was shocked at his son's resolve. "That's crazy! You'd kill your whole family?"
"If that's what it takes to stop the world from being ruined – then..." He paused and looked his father up and down, taking stock of him. "Yes."
Leo knew then that his son would do exactly as he threatened, and relented. "I'll tell you – everything."
Smiling at his small victory, Chris let his father go, and they sat down on his bed. The look of devastation he'd seen only after his own mother's death – Chris saw again wash over his father. As if he was staring at a ghost.
"I'm going to tell you everything I can – to inform you, to let you know what went wrong, who the bad guy was, everything." The Elder explained.
His son nodded, anxious to hear what he had to say. "Ok, let me have it." He braced himself for the information.
"It was the day your mother turned into a Greek Goddess..." Gulping, he prepared for a long story.
Listening for hours as his father told him about everything that happened. Everything gruesome detail – some bits he wished he'd never heard, particularly about his own conception. This was the price however, the price of knowing your future – to know your past. Learning that Gideon was in fact the one who almost turned Wyatt was a shock, but not that crazy. After all, Wyatt still went bonkers. Being impartial to evil still didn't make you good. As his father drew close the end of his retelling, Chris noted a few beads of sweat balling up on his forehead. The memories were clearly difficult for him to share.
"... He stabbed you, by the time I found you..." Leo swallowed hard – repressing the need to cry. "I couldn't heal you, there was nothing I could do – but watch you... you..."
Chris touched his father's shoulder warmly. "It's ok. I get it." Breathing deep. "Is that everything?"
"As far as I know." Leo nodded.
His son was pleased. "Well, with this information I know what not to do. See? The future has already been changed – now it just needs to be tweaked."
Leo grabbed Chris by the arm. "No son, please don't. Things could still go badly. You might die." He begged.
"I might die here too – but if I go, I have a chance to bring everyone back – I could bring Mom back, and make you happy again – make everyone happy again. If I go back, and I die, it'll be a small price to pay for a planet that can feel joy again." He expressed.
Leo shut down emotionally, and would not respond. Chris knew his father couldn't face him, not if he thought his son was about to travel back to a time where he would end up on the pointy end of a dagger. Luckily he knew about all of that now, so this time he'd go back to a point where he was already born, a point where he could make it all right.
He was going to go back to the day just before his Wiccaning.