Disclaimer: Okay, I certainly don't own Charmed, and I would spend more time coming up with some funny little add-on to that like I usually do, 'cept I'm too confused...What's up with all the changes on thelogin feature? It took me, like, ten minutes and several bad wordsjust to figure out how to get this on document manager. Anyone else lost...? Lol. Maybe it's just cuz I'm blonde!

Chapter Six

In some other lifetime, Chris would be freaking out. In fact, if it weren't for his already overwhelming fear of forever failing the mission, he might have actually noticed the depths of the waters below and the rushing cars. His ears were ringing. He wasn't quite sure how far up from the ground he was, but he knew it was far. It was the Golden Gate Bridge, after all…

And maybe being this far up for once wasn't so bad.

This was the highest he'd ever be in his whole life, he realized. Usually he was the own underneath everything. Up here, he felt powerful. He was above all those people in their cars and above the Manor, wherever it may be, and he was even further above the headquarters. So unbelievably high.

As a result, he didn't pay the dangers below him too much mind. The atmosphere was intense and awe-striking. The blue of the sky never seemed so vibrant, the proud gleam of the water so beautiful, or the sun so calming with its heat. Today it didn't feel as achingly hot as it had to the day before. A gentle breeze even blew threw. How, he wondered, was he going to leave this place behind? How could he ever return to the Underground after witnessing the daytime at its peak?

He frowned. He had to return—that is, if he wanted to live.

"What are you doing up here?" somebody asked him in an eerily calm voice.

Chris jumped, feeling his heart skip with shock. "What the—?" He whipped around. Nobody was there. "Who—?"

"Sorry," the voice muttered. A man unveiled himself, the air near Chris that was once transparent now a person standing in front of him. "Didn't realize you couldn't see me."

Chris gulped, lost for words. "Hello," he managed to say.

There was an awkward pause.

"You really should be up with the other whitelighters," the man said warningly. "I don't think you're supposed to be up here—unless you have a charge, that is."

"A what?" Chris racked his brain. Why would this man think he was a whitelighter? He assessed the robes he was wearing. He had to be an elder, by the looks of it. Could he be the father of Wyatt? No, that wasn't possible…didn't Phoebe mention that he wasn't around all that often? What would he be doing on earth if he wasn't with them?

"Well, maybe you look a little familiar. Sort of like Leo."

Phoebe's words floated through his consciousness. Staring at this man, he couldn't notice much that they had in common—probably because Chris wasn't very accustomed to seeing his own face in a mirror. Something about Leo's demeanor, though, reminded him of himself. But that was only a rough guess, considering they hadn't even made ten exchanges of conversation between one another yet.

"A charge," said Leo slowly, observing Chris just as Chris had observed him. "Are you one of the newer whitelighters?"

"N-no, I'm not a whitelighter," said Chris. "Why would you think I was a whitelighter?"

"You orbed up here. I felt it," Leo insisted.

Chris shrugged, feeling his heart pumping in his ears. It wouldn't be easy getting out of this one without an explanation. He couldn't even think of a proper lie to get himself out of it.

"I don't know how that happened," he said honestly. "One minute I was at the Halliwells' house, and then—"

"The Halliwells?" Leo echoed, his face suddenly alert with a new fire.

"Yes, the Halliwells," said Chris. "A demon's after me. You're Leo, aren't you?"

"Yes…" Leo looked at him incredulously. "How'd you know that?"

"You look a lot like Wyatt," Chris said. And for some reason, a lot like me.

"How…how are they?" Leo asked. It was obvious that there was some sort of battle of wills between him and the sisters, probably because of his high status Up There. "I mean, the sisters and Cole and the kids?"

"They're fine."

"That's good to hear," said Leo, looking a bit relieved. He was still tense, though, his gaze from Chris' face never faltering. "You look so familiar to me. How could you not be a whitelighter? There aren't any other half-whitelighters in the world besides Paige and Wyatt, I don't think. Who are your parents?"

"Dead." Chris cleared his throat before Leo could say anything. He hated it when people got all sympathetic like that, and he wanted pity from an elder least of all. He'd rather have a demon's pity. The elders were cowards, turning their back on what little survived from the massacre all those years ago. Had they ever once assisted the Alliance? No. They left the witches to fend for themselves.

No, Chris reminded himself, anger is not a place here. I am not an Alliance member now, I'm some orphan kid living on the streets with a demon after him. Get that straight!

"I don't know who they are or anything, so it doesn't matter," he added quickly to avoid the subject. "And I don't know why I'd look familiar. I've never actually been Up There or anything."

"Not even Magic School?"

"Magic what?"

"Magic school," Leo repeated, eyeing him warily. "You mean to tell me you're an orphan kid with whitelighter powers on your own?"

"Yeah." He hoped Leo didn't hear his voice wobble.

"Why haven't we detected you?" Leo muttered, more to himself than Chris. "It makes no sense. If you use whitelighter powers—witch powers, even, for that matter—we should be able to detect you."

"I've been using my witch powers all of my life," said Chris honestly. Now he himself was beginning to wonder about this. Why wouldn't the elders detect him if they really had that power? "I can do telekinesis and I just recently started having visions…they're a little haywire, though."

Leo nodded. "Phoebe has visions."

"I know."

Leo's stare seemed to pierce him, though not painfully. Though Chris felt uncomfortable knowing he was being so closely watched, he didn't feel threatened. Something about Leo made him feel safe. But then again, could he ever truly feel safe when there were horrible people out there that wanted to kill him?

"I just don't understand," said Leo, shaking his head. "You're obviously powerful, and the elders always feel any kind of…"

But there's more than just me! Chris longed to scream. There's a whole slew of people in the Alliance that you're not detecting! You've gotta help us, or no one else will!

"…oh well." Leo cleared his throat. "I must have seen you somewhere before, though. You almost look like my son, Wyatt. You almost look like—" Leo paled. "You almost look like…no, you look a lot like…"

"Like whom?"

"Like somebody I once knew," Leo said carefully.

Chris didn't press the matter much further. He didn't want Leo to be suspicious of him—he might be a good ally if the sisters chose not to like Chris. Piper surely wasn't taking much of a liking to him anymore.

There was a slight jungle. "I'd better get Up There, the elders are calling me," Leo explained reluctantly. "Well, good luck." He orbed out.

Chris wished he'd stayed a moment longer—how the heck was he supposed to get off the bridge? Fly off? He closed his eyes, trying to orb again. "C'mon…"

It didn't happen. It obviously wasn't going to happen anytime soon, either. Ugh.

"Is the coast clear?" Wyatt asked snidely, orbing in front of Chris. Chris jumped up in surprise, almost losing his balance. "Did I freak you out?" He snickered, offering no apology for his actions.

"What do you mean, the coast clear?" asked Chris.

Wyatt frowned, almost menacingly. "Leo. I mean, my father. He comes up here all the time—I can sense him, but the idiot has no idea. I mean, if he had the time to orb up here and do all his wonderful elder meditating, why is it that he has no time for his family?" Wyatt asked bitterly. He turned to Chris. "What kind of crap did he try to pull on you, hm?"

"He actually seemed pretty nice," said Chris. He regretted saying it, though, knowing it would be a wiser choice to agree with Wyatt.

"Pretty nice, huh?" Wyatt scoffed, kicking one of the pillars of the bridge with his foot.

Yeah, this kid obviously had anger issues. Chris made a mental note to tell Pete about this.

"Well, he's not pretty nice. Don't talk to him again, okay?" Wyatt demanded, as if it were Chris' fault that he ran into Leo. Without waiting for a response, he smirked, saying, "I figured that you'd need some help, considering that that was probably the first time you orbed. Didn't want my new trainee to get stuck up here. You've got a lot to learn."

"Like what?" asked Chris. "Could we start now?"

"Sure," said Wyatt, his expression suddenly changing. "We'll start today's lesson up here, right now." He took a step closer to Chris.

Chris suddenly was very aware of how high up he was…and he didn't feel so powerful anymore. He felt intimidated by Wyatt's attitude and it sent a strange chill up his spine. Why did Wyatt look so wild?

"The first lesson that I want you to never forget," Wyatt began, "is that demons are not allowed to infiltrate the Halliwell manor."

His eyes locked with Chris'.

"Okay," said Chris uncertainly.

"And you're no exception!" Wyatt cried. His eyes watered in fury. "How—how dare you! Coming to us, pretending to look for help—you demon scum! Pretending to be my dead brother! How sick are you?" Wyatt's face was shadowed, looking down. "Sick. You're sick, I tell you. Don't you think we've suffered enough? His death tore the whole family apart….and you…you—" Wyatt's face contorted into one of utter detestation. "You disgust me."

"What--?"

"Don't act all innocent!" Wyatt screamed. "It won't work! I'm going to resolve this once and for all!"

"Wyatt—I don't know what you're—hey, stop--!"

It was too late, though. All it took was a little push to send Chris flying off the edge and into the watery depths below.

Har-dee-har-har. Will Chris survive? Is Wyatt crazy? Has the mission failed? Am I certifiably insane? Stay tuned...for only you can find the answer... BWAHAHAHA!

TBC!