It had taken him many weeks to get everything set up. In that time he'd lost his cousin Shiri to Wyatt's rage, and now Victor was sick with grief. It had finally gotten the best of his little brother. Chris knew that if he didn't go back soon, he'd loose everything and possibly his own life too.
"This is it." Chris stepped away from the attic wall and looked at his drawing of the triqutra – the symbol of the power of three.
Victor looked to his older brother. "What if it doesn't work, how will you get home?"
"I won't. But it will work." He patted his brother's head. "Don't worry; I'm going to bring them all back."
The youngest of the charmed ones smiled; then became serious. "How will you protect them if you don't have your powers?" His concern was valid.
"I will have my powers. I created a spell for it." Chris then began to read the portal spell.
The brothers watched as the portal began to tremor and spark uncontrollably. Chris placed a protective hand in front of his brother, as Ryan ran up the stairs to find a portal opening in her attic. She screamed thinking it was a demon on its way.
"Watch out!" She bellowed.
Chris turned to Ryan. "Its ok, it's for me."
"What, no. Chris I told you no!" She begged.
He placed a loving hand on his cousin's face. "Ryan, it'll be ok. I'm going to save us – all of us, and when I come back, everything will be so much happier."
Ryan began to cry. Chris turned to his little brother. "Take care of each other, and don't let Wyatt follow me, do whatever you have to do to close the portal, even if that means preventing me from coming back."
Victor swallowed, not comfortable with that. "But..."
Chris shook his head emphatically. "Victor this is important. Very important. If Wyatt was to go back to the past, he could ruin everything and possibly kill Mom and Dad before you were even born. He could kill us all before we could do anything to defend ourselves."
The young witch understood and hugged his big brother. "I love you, Chris. Please, don't die."
Chris turned to Ryan, whose tears were still streaming down her face. "I know this is dangerous, but it's more dangerous to let this world stay the way it is."
She nodded unnerved at the thought of loosing her cousin. "Who will protect us? Who will get the food, and take Victor to school, and yell at his teachers?" She asked, groping at any straws she could find.
Chris smiled, and patted her head. "You're a big girl, you have a job, and I know for a fact that you can yell at teachers just as well as I can. You guys will be ok, as long as you stay together and don't cause trouble." He insisted.
Turning from their saddened eyes, he peered into the portal. It was like looking into the eye of the abyss. He had no idea if this would work, and if not, where or when he'd end up. Things were so bad right now that anywhere seemed a better place then here.
"I love you guys!" He said, before jumping in the portal.
The moment he was gone, Ryan burst into tears again. She was shaken and disturbed by this whole situation. Her entire family was dead; all that remained now was Victor, and unfortunately, Wyatt. She shivered at the thought of Chris getting caught up in something beyond his control – and knowing him, he would do just that.
As they prepared to close the portal and prevent Wyatt from returning, a thunderous cloud of orbs and mist shook through the attic. They prepared themselves for what and who they knew was coming. It was Wyatt in all his dark glory. His ever faithful bride, Amy was at his arm – as always, with that smart look and smirk that just seemed so cold and calculating. Ryan thrust her hands out and motioned them forcibly, causing an invisible wave of electric energy to ripple through the air. So strong was her wave that it sent Wyatt's little girlfriend flying into the wall behind them.
Enraged by their actions of violence against his beloved Amy, Wyatt reached out and orbed a knife into the air. It hung mid-air for a moment, before Wyatt gestured it, flinging it toward his cousin. Ryan ducked quickly and grabbed hold of Victor, fleeing Wyatt for their lives. They ran through the house.
Once in the kitchen, Wyatt had already orbed himself there and met them head on. Immediately, Victor motioned his hands like his mother always had. A blast of telekinetic energy sent Wyatt sliding backwards a few feet. Giving the fleeing two, time enough to once again run back upstairs; upon reaching the attic, Ryan took Victor aside and held him by the shoulders, whispering.
"We have to go back – with Chris. We can close the portal after we're in the past. We can't survive here much longer; it's only a matter of time before Wyatt gets us." She insistently said.
Victor agreed, nodding vigorously. "Not just a matter of time... I think we have minutes before Wyatt's back up and ready for a fight!"
Not wasting another moment talking, Victor ran to the wall where they had opened a portal for Chris and began to remake the drawing, as quickly as he could.
While her cousin began to redraw the portal, Ryan crossed the attic to where Amy was laying, unconscious. She bent down and looked at the sleeping temptress. She looked to the table with their magical objects. She stared at the dagger for a moment, and used her electric energy to draw it toward her – magnetically, landing safely in her hand. She brought the knife above her head, and then began to swing it back – motioning to stab the young girl. Just as the dagger's blade touched the girl, she stopped, unable to go through with it. This girl was a demon, she was evil, and it was her job to fight evil – why couldn't she just kill her? Shaking her head and batting the numerous thoughts out of her mind, she motioned once more to stab the girl, this time; she dug the blade into the woman's chest – deep. The knife sunk in, and stayed. It was easy, too easy. The girl's body laid there, still and peaceful. It was creepy. Backing away from her murderous deed, Victor and her said the spell to keep their powers and open the portal and then quickly jumped inside. If they had not been in danger of Wyatt's rage before Ryan killed Amy, they were surely in danger now.
Meanwhile, in the year 2004; Chris had just come through the portal only a few minutes before. He was alone, for the moment. No one happened to be upstairs when he jumped through. That was good; it gave him time to think about what to say to them. According to his father, they would know him, but it would be a different version of him. Although he'd ended up coming to the past again, he'd grown up in a different future, enough so that his father said that he'd turned out much different then he had been before. The idea of different versions of him was weird, and creepy. Chris figured that if they knew him already there wouldn't be much harm in letting them know why he was back in the past. After all, the more they knew the better they would be prepared to change things.
Just as he was organizing his thoughts, he heard a series of familiar footsteps climbing the stairs. He gulped hard. Suddenly, in his nervous panic, he had forgotten what he'd planned to say. Everything was gone, as if he was about to take a huge test. The footsteps got closer. His heart began to pound, his palms began to sweat – he was about ready to freak out. The footsteps had reached the attic door, the door was opening. Chris' instinct was to begin to try and find a place to hide.
In fact, he was half-in-half-out of cupboard that was big enough to hold him. He felt the eyes fall upon his bottom, even though he had his back turned. Flashbacks of being caught in a similar position when he'd tried to get out of going to magic school detention ran through his head. It was like he was twelve again, and he'd just gotten caught doing something bad. He heard his mother's surprised gasp, and his aunts both mutter 'Oh my God.' – All very familiar reaction. Shamefully he slowly turned to meet their startled eyes.
"Hi." He gulped.
Piper was amazed when she saw her son, who was downstairs sleeping his bassinette, upstairs, in his twenties, and just as she remembered. She took a step forward, before Phoebe grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Who are you?" Paige asked, defensively.
Chris was puzzled. "Um, it's me – Chris."
"Really, who are you and why are you shaped like our nephew?" Phoebe demanded, ready to attack him.
"Wait... no..." Chris begged.
Piper didn't need to have anyone tell her that this was indeed her son. She knew it was him before he had even turned around. It was her son, and she was too unbelievably shocked to say anything, at first.
Finally she mustered the courage to speak. "Chris." She sighed – amazed.
Her son smiled in relief at her recognition of him. "Mom, thank God. For a second there I thought I went back to the wrong time. You guys really freaked me out!"
Paige and Phoebe looked at one another, completely confused. Piper just walked quietly up to her son and hugged him tight. She had worried about him, even though he was really right there with him, it wasn't the same – knowing he'd died but been reborn, it was all just so emotional. Seeing him in his adult form took a giant weight from her shoulders. She wiped tears from her eyes and screamed for Leo.
"Leo, Leo, come quick!" She said with a huge smile spread across her face.
His blue and white orbs swirled into the room and took form. He immediately saw Chris and stumbled back slightly, shocked and overwhelmed. He ran over and gave his son the biggest bear hug he could gather.
"Oh my God!" He began to cry tears of joy at the sight of his son. "You're ok!"
Chris smiled, and just let them do as they would with him, hugging him and poking him. He understood their excitement, and his aunts' reservations. It must be an awful lot to take in – all at once. As soon as he was free, Chris took a breath, about to unload the whole deal on them, whether they were willing to hear it or not.
"You guys have no idea how much I have missed you. But I'm not here for a social call." He stated bluntly.
Piper frowned nervously. "It's not Wyatt again, is it?" She looked nervously at her grown son.
"Actually..." He nodded, showing his disappointment. "Sorry..."
Leo crossed his arms, really to take in whatever information he was about to get. "What's wrong?"
"Maybe it'll be better to tell you what's not wrong." Chris said, sheepishly.
After a moment of silence, Phoebe grew weary and impatient. "Well then, what's not wrong?"
"That's it. Nothing is right." Chris shrugged.
Paige rolled her eyes. "Of course, I mean, why would he come back if there was nothing wrong..." She sat down, tired already.