Disclaimer: Ahem. Wow, this is very demoting to admit again...I don't -gulp- own Charmed. -shudders- THERE, I SAID IT. HAPPY? ARGH! Lol. I figure I've written more than a hundred disclaimers by now, you know? Since you write one for every chappie...I've got 25 stories up now (22 of them are Chris-oriented! WOOT! Lol). Yup--disclaimers, disclaimers, and more diclaimers. It just never ends. Sorta like the laundry. My mom's like, "It never ENDS!" I suppose this is how she feels. Hmmmm lol. Or maybe not. :D
Chapter Nine
Wyatt ran a hand through his blonde hair and shook his head. "Wow, it's been so long since—"
"I know, Wyatt, but we can catch up later," Chris cut in. "Right now we have to warn your—our—family about the Alliance." Chris's face twitched as the guilt settled in. He'd been foolhardy enough to be taught to work against his own family. "They did this, Wyatt, they did all of it. They were the reason that nobody knew I was alive. I was knocked unconscious and lost my memory after the massacre, and they found me and took me underground to the headquarters. It probably save my life…but they're evil. I know that now."
"Alliance…" Wyatt repeated. "That had to be where the demon was from that attacked us a week or so ago."
"I was told her name was Cassandra and that she was an innocent witch just trying to hide, like I was," Chris said bitterly. "Pete, my mentor—he made me believe that witches were in turmoil up here. That someone could just look at me and know I was a witch, then sentence me to death. I had to live in fear of that every day, not even knowing who I was."
"But what do they want?"
"Domination." Chris stood angrily and Wyatt got up to his feet with him. "They want witches and demons to be superior, no matter who or what stands in their way. Pete knew me for ten years—he was the closest thing I ever had to a role model, and he just sent a demon to come and try to kill me."
"I'm sorry, Chris," said Wyatt after a moment.
Chris looked up at him. "Why? What do you have to do with any of it?"
"I'm sorry that I didn't do anything the night of the massacre, and I'm sorry we had to be separated for the past decade and I'm really, really sorry about shoving you off a bridge," he joked.
"Yeah, well, let's just say I'm so scarred for life that I'm never gonna pick up skydiving."
"Do you have any idea what Pete is planning specifically?"
Chris shook his head and the boys started walking out of the alley. "No. I don't even think Pete himself knows what's going on. There's someone else in charge of this all that I can't pinpoint—someone that I've only heard once in my life, but never seen."
Wyatt's expression was confused.
"When that demon tried to knock me out back there, I remembered part of the past that I'd forgotten—being trapped under the rubble in the aftermath of the massacre. I heard voices when they found me. They said I'd go to Pete's quadrant, so they must have been superior to him. And then they said…" Chris gulped. "That I was their secret weapon. And they were right—through me, they would have been lead straight to you."
"Don't worry, Chris, the Halliwells can get past anybody."
"I hope so."
Before Wyatt Pushed Chris off the Bridge (lol)
"Gone?" Piper's face paled. "Where could Wyatt have gone?" she demanded of Cole. "Where's my son?"
"Which one?" asked Phoebe.
Piper growled. "Quit this! What is wrong with you people? Chris is dead! He'll always be dead! There's nothing you can do to change that!"
"No, Piper, Chris is alive," said Paige carefully. "Maybe…maybe you just want him to be dead."
There was a stony silence in the room.
"How dare you?" Piper whispered menacingly. "How dare you say that to me! He was my son!"
Paige took a step back and hesitantly kept speaking. "No, I don't mean that you wanted him to be dead in the first place, but once he died, things went badly. Leo left you. Wyatt changed. Suddenly we were both single parents and Cole was the only man around to help. It wasn't easy," Paige acknowledged. "Our lives changed, and it was so easy to put the blame on Chris' death. How many mornings did you wake up feeling hopeless and say to yourself, 'I have a right to be angry or sad, because Chris is dead'? It's like a barrier now. You can protect yourself by saying it's nothing you did wrong…it's just that he's gone.
"But he isn't gone," she continued. "He's alive. And you aren't willing to accept that because even if he is, Leo is still gone and Wyatt will always grow up and you will always feel dejected."
"You can't do that to Chris, Piper," Phoebe added. "Think about it: he's been gone for years, hanging out with people he didn't even know. It was a miracle he survived, and an even bigger one that we found him—or that he found us—before it was too late."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Piper croaked. "What is this, a make-Piper-feel-like-dirt marathon? Maybe you aren't even my sisters! Maybe all of you are demons in disguise, also!"
"Piper, you would've killed us by now," Cole said with a half-hearted laugh.
Piper raised her hands threateningly. Nobody moved, shocked that her paranoia would take her this far.
Then out of the blue, Leo orbed in front of her. She screamed and everyone in the room jumped, the tension released by their surprise.
"Leo? What the hell?" Piper yelled. "What are you doing here, besides trying to scare the crud out of us?"
Leo looked disappointed by the angry welcome. "Piper," he said softly, "please calm down—"
"Calm down? You want me to calm down? It's not even noon yet, and already this day is unbelievably screwed! First this demon being Chris, then all three of them going crazy, then Wyatt leaves and you—you orb in here in your fancy little elder robes!" she shrieked.
Leo sighed, staring at her longingly. "You know that I didn't want to leave you, Piper. I had no choice."
She crossed her arms and looked away from him.
"I was sent down here to report a significant force the elders noticed…" Leo frowned. "I think I met him, actually, on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Odd little kid, really—said his name was Chris."
"Ugh!" Piper exclaimed, pacing to the other side of the kitchen. "Quit it with him! I don't want to hear it!"
"So he's evil?" asked Leo, alarmed.
"No!" Cole and Paige jumped in.
"Yes!" Piper stressed, glaring at them.
Phoebe was dead silent, lost in her own vision.
"Pheebs?" asked Cole softly as her face seemed to twist frantically.
She held up a finger for him to wait.
A boy trapped in the rubble, discovered by a witch and a demon with evil plots…A meeting of adults underground, discussing domination…The same boy, older, living in a mass of people and being ignored, feeling helpless…so naïve and trusting, never knowing the evils all around him…then suddenly, being given the chance to excel and be recognized—finally, a mission—he felt important…until he realized he was wrong. Several images flickered quickly in Phoebe's mind—A hard shove sending Chris hurtling to his doom, a blue blur…a man, an alley, and darkness.
Once the vision finished, Phoebe took a moment to try to analyze everything she'd just seen. "I think I know where Chris orbed to," she said suddenly.
"Yeah, the bridge," said Leo, "I saw him, remember? So, is he evil or not?"
"No, he isn't," Phoebe said, looking at Piper apprehensively. Piper merely simmered in anger, not making any move to deny it now. "That boy you met up there on the bridge—the one the elders are noticing now—is Chris Perry Halliwell, your son."
Leo's eyes widened. "Chris…"
"Wyatt?" Cole asked when he realized the teen was standing behind him looking quite pale. "When did you orb in?"
"A second ago," he said, voice shaking slightly. "Hey, Dad." He walked over and hugged the man he hadn't seen in months, then said, "So it's true?"
Cole and Paige nodded at him, but he ignored them. He had eyes only for his parents' opinions. For a moment, he received no response. Tears welled up in Leo's eyes.
"All this time, I thought…" Leo trailed off, then looked at Wyatt seriously. "Yes, Wyatt, that's your brother. It has to be. There's no other explanation."
Wyatt turned to Piper. "Mom?" he asked softly.
Piper looked down at the floor in shame, not willing to say anything.
"I'll be right back," said Wyatt quickly.
"Where are you going?" asked Phoebe.
Wyatt gulped. "To get Chris." (A/N--this is where Wyatt goes to the alley and heals Chris...the scene I already wrote about lol. Sorry if there's any confusion. This story's ALL OVER THE PLACE. I'm so disorganized lol. Tell me if you need any clarification!)
TBC... :D :D :D
R&R Pretty please! Lol there's a funny story behind that. At swim team, our coaches are like, "Now, before the meet I don't want you guys doing anything that'll wear you out. Go for some R&R, okay?" And I nudge my friend, a fellow fanfic obsesser, and say, "He wants us to read and review? What the heck? I don't get it! EW--DO THE COACHES DO FANFICTION? AHHHH!" At which point, my friend calmly had to explain to me that before there wasa fanfiction, "R&R" stood for "rest and relaxation." Hmmm. Who knew? O.o lol