A Charmed Story - Part One:
Saving The Future Over And Over Again
Chapter 3

Leo turned to face the not-so-stranger. "This cannot be true..." he muttered.
He placed himself between Chris and the man, as if he tried to protect his son.
The intruder half-smiled: "I'm also happy to see you again... and... my nephew! He doesn't look fine... " he said frowning.
"He's not your nephew, Cole!" Leo answered to the elegant tall dark-haired man. "I don't know how come you're here, but don't dare to get near us!"
Cole was taken aback by his heated tone, and was hurt by his words, but quickly he composed himself and continued talking: "It's you that are in the wrong place. This is the damned ghostly plane where I'm supposed to wander for the whole eternity, so what the hell are you doing here? "

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"What do you think you're doing here, you son of... " started to yell a very furious Paige.
"Paige!" cried Phoebe, "he's Piper's son, don't forget it!"
Wyatt smirked, and walked to his mother, ignoring his aunts.
"Wyatt. Where's Chris and your father?" she asked.
"Don't you know? I thought they were here, but looking around I imagine that if my brother would be alive he'd be here by now trying to piss me off again."
"What do you mean? You think he's dead?"
"Sure aunt Phoebe. I can't sense him anywhere, even in the Underworld. I thought you had hidden him, but he'll never allow you to get hurt to protect him so I guess my work here is done."
Wyatt started to orb, but Paige was so furious that she couldn't help yelling: "Crystals! Around Wyatt!" The boy didn't have time to escape. He crashed himself against the forcefield and groaned.
Paige approached him: "You're not going anyway, young man. You came and messed all this up, and now you're going to help us find them. Because even if Chris is dead, Leo isn't, and I bet that he has not let him die, so..."
"Yes!" intervened Phoebe, feeling better, and very angry at her nephew, "and look at you mother, you made her suffer a lot! We're going to have a looong talk before we send you back to the future."
"You don't know what you're doing... aunties," said Wyatt in a threatening tone, "I escaped before from this stupid prison, and I'll do it again. I'll kill all of you, and then, I promise I'll find Chris, and if he's still alive, he will desire to be dead!"
He was so furious again that a new explosion took place, but this time he was prepared, and protected himself.
"Nobody threatens ME!" he yelled once he was free, and started to blow and throw things everywhere, while the sisters, slightly injured by the explosion, tried to avoid the attacks.

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"What?" Leo said in disbelief.
"Yeah the damned ghostly plane... It's really freaky to be here..." Cole answered smiling.
Leo looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Why should I trust you?" he asked then.
"Because you don't know this place like I do. I've been here, well... since Piper killed me. I've been condemned to wander in this plane between life and death for eternity, alone. It seems I don't even deserve living among the deads" He answered sarcastically. "But enough chit-chatting... About your son... By the way... good job, I didn't believe that you could make something like that, you..."
"COLE!" Leo interrupted him angry.
Cole smiled: "Your powers aren't working here very well..."
Leo looked at Chris and sighed. Then he turned his face to Cole again: "What do you want?"

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Wyatt was smashing the lamp to the wall.
"What now?" Phoebe asked.
"Deflect him," Paige said and orbed out while Wyatt was breaking a table.
"There is no escape for you..." he said with a strong and determined voice. There was no doubt, that he was going to kill them all.
Phoebe ran over to Piper who was still in a state of disbelief of all this... She was sitting behind the door, unable to move. The only thing she did was crying.
When she reached her sister, Paige returned. She had the Book of Shadows in her arm. With the other she grasped her sisters.
All together they orbed out, leaving the swearing Wyatt alone.

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"Me?" said Cole showing a surprised countenance, "I just wanna help you!"
Leo looked at him in disbelief.
"Well..." continued Cole, smirking, "and a little bit of company..."
Leo laughed with contempt, but he was interrupted.
"Look, Leo... I've been alone for too long, you know... Not that people don't come here, but they are just a few seconds, then, they disappear with the angel of death... So you can believe me, this is the only thing I want... I want to speak to someone! Besides... " he added, looking at Chris, "I bet you need my help."
"You cannot do anything, you can't heal, that's the only thing I need right now!" yelled Leo, desperate.
Cole shook his head: "Come on, Leo, I know things... And if it means something for you... This is not his hour."
"How can you know that?"
"Well, so long here, I made friends with the angel of death... I saw his list: It's not his hour, believe me. He'll die in due time. But not here. Not now..."
Leo was going to say something.
But at that moment Chris awoke again, and said, very weakly, but excited: "Uncle Cole!"
Cole looked at him, shocked: "Do you know who I am? "
"You... My mother told me... I mean, in the future... that if I needed help, I could count on you."
"Piper? " both men exclaimed at the same time.
"She's gonna meet you in the future, Cole... " explained Chris, gasping in pain, "She'll come to trust you... and she told me when I was younger that I could trust you, too. Even if you're... dead."
Cole frowned, and Leo sighed. "Was it you that brought us here, Chris?" asked the latter. Chris had closed his eyes again, and nodded feebly: "I'm sorry, dad, this is the only place where Wyatt won't sense us."
Leo widened his eyes. "But how? How have you done this!"
Chris was coughing wrenchingly. He felt the blood running over his body and all the aches, but he had to focus. "No. I didn't. I don't have the power.."
"Piper trusts me..." Cole said, still disbelieving...'The oldest sister, the one who always distrusted me and despised me!'
"Who has!" Leo asked Chris, ignoring Cole.
"Barbas." The slight voice of Chris was breaking. Too much pain.
"What!"

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"This won't save us for long!" Paige was running around, not knowing how to keep this family together.
Phoebe laid on the ground, her head exploded because of all the feelings of this day and Piper was still in a state of shock.
"Looks like I'm the last sister standing..." she looked through the book. Then she stopped.
'Why did Wyatt wanted to kill me! Why not Phoebe or Piper! He didn't look like he cares about his family, so why me! He attacked me at first in the park...why had he waited so long!' She was wondering.
The youngest looked around. They were in Richard's house. It was empty and abandoned but still had all the furniture and stuff of her exboyfriend in it. This house had a special protection around it, because the Montanas needed it during their fights and it was a good cache for the sisters. But how long?
Paige was flipping through the book, but she couldn't find anything that could help... Well, she was even not really concentrated, because there was this one question in her head. And she felt that the answer to this would be the answer to everything.
"Why me?" she whispered.
"Paige? What are we doing here?" Piper said suddenly.
Paige looked up: "We are trying to survive."
"No, I mean, what are we doing? We are trying to fight against my son? That is so wrong, that is so completely wrong! We can't do that!"
Paige was looking at her with pity. Then she walked over and took her arms around her: "I wish we didn't have to, but... he wants to kill us... he..." She didn't know what else to say.
"I can't, Paige, I can't," Piper said, and again started to cry.
Phoebe stood up, but just to lie down on the couch some footsteps away.
"This is so...hard. All this hatred, anger, frustration...all the feelings of Chris and Wyatt are destroying me...I can't believe.." her voice broke.
Paige, who was trying to comfort the crying Piper, looked at her.
"What did you feel? Anything else besides these negative things! Anything that could help us saving our family? Our future!"

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"Why do you think about Barbas!" Cole asked. "Didn't see him around here..."
Chris's breath was going slower and slower.
Leo noticed it and tried to heal him but his powers didn't work the way they should.
"Come on, keep it up. We'll find a way to save you and Wyatt! I won't let you die! I haven't had the chance to get to know you!" Leo's face was covered up with tears. Chris fought for his life and there was nothing he could do.
"I'm trying to get him here." Cole said and then disappeared. He didn't understood the whole Chris's being the son of Leo thing, but he had to help that kid.
"Cole!" The Elder looked around but the demon wasn't there anymore.
Chris smiled at his father reassuringly: "Hey, trust him... He's good deep inside, you know?"
Leo stared at him with a worried expression, and pressed his hand tenderly.
"How did you get Barbas bring us here? How did you get him help us, Chris...? " he asked, trying to keep him awake.
The boy started to speak, but a fit of cough stopped him from speaking, and a thin thread of blood showed at the corner of his mouth.
"It's ok, it's ok, son. Don't speak..." he begged him, caressing his hair and cleaning the blood on his face, while tears ran down his face.
"Why did you bring us here, you knew I couldn't heal you in this place..." he said to himself.
A moment later, Cole was back, dragging Barbas with him.

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Phoebe shook her head: "There were too many feelings over there. My empath powers blocked the premonitions, you see... I could only feel so much pain!"
Paige sighed, seeing her sister start to cry: "Ok, but... what about those feelings? Didn't they suggest anything to you? Maybe Wyatt felt something special about.. me?"
Piper raised her head all of a sudden: "He's coming girls. Wyatt is coming!"
The two sisters turned to him at a time. None of them had felt or heard anything.
"Hello Ladies," Wyatt said smiling.
None of the witches was able to do anything. They were too much surprised.
Only Paige was able to think partway clearly... Why had none of them noticed that he was coming? Why hadn't Phoebe noticed him before? Why hadn't the protection of the house done anything...?
"It's not fair that you run away... well even it's not useful. It will only make your suffer a bit longer..." Wyatt went on.
"Why isn't he killing us? We have no protection." Phoebe whispered to her younger sister.
Then it finally sunk in for Paige. "Cause he isn't really here," she said, "it's only some kind of projection!"
Wyatt smiled at her words: "You're very good, really really good... I know now whom I take after..."
"What do you want, Wyatt...?" asked Piper tiredly. "Didn't you have enough? "
Her son shrugged, indifferent: "Well... since you cannot go out, and I can't enter... it seems we've got a lot of time. Just do something for me: Scry for Chris, sense him, whatever you have to. But find him, dead or alive. And tell me where he is. That's all. If he's dead, I'll just leave. If he's alive, I'll leave too, taking him with me, so you don't have to see what I'm gonna do to that bastard! If you don't... well, I've got all the time I like. It's up to you. And I warn you, I'll find the way in here, and you'll pay for your betrayal."

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"Ok, Barbas!" yelled Cole, pushing him to the floor, "why did you bring them here? "
Barbas looked at Leo and Chris, and smiled. "Hey... This young guy is really clever, you know? He just tricked me out!" he said, really enjoying the sight of Chris suffering.
"Why? How did he trick you?" asked Leo, ignoring his tone.
Barbas kept silent, so Cole kicked him on the chest: "Ok, ok... stop it! Look... I was there, I was going to take advantage of all the mess to get to the sisters... It seems he saw me, and just made me believe that coming here was his worst fear. I just wonder how he did so!"
Chris opened his eyes again, too weak to speak, but smirked.
Leo stroke his hair: "How do we get out? I have to heal him. "
"Dad." Chris was using his last strength now. "Go back with Barbas."
"I'll not let you here dying with Cole, no way Chris. Don't ask me that."
"Please Dad. Tell Wyatt I'm dead and that I've faded away. He'll leave."
"And you'll be really dead if I don't heal you fast, Chris."
"No I can take a little longer. It's the only way Wyatt will leave without killing mom, please do it for mom, do it for me!"
Leo thought about it for some seconds, then he looked at Chris and said: "You promise me that you're gonna fight, that you'll be alive when I come back"
"I'll try really hard. But no matter what, you have to save them and save little Wyatt."
"I'll save you too buddy." Leo kissed Chris's forehead and looked at Cole: "Take good care of him, or I'll make you live again so I can kill you"
"I will, Leo," he answered, and that was true.
"I'll be right back, son," and with a sad face Leo went back with Barbas.
Cole sighed when he saw them disappear, and then he turned to Chris, who had closed his eyes. "Well..." he said, "It's been a long time since I faced so much action."
Chris smiled weakly, without opening his eyes, and Cole felt some weird sympathy towards him. His nephew...
Gosh, things would have been so different if he had not spoilt it all. After hesitating for a second, he approached Chris, and sat down next to him.
Chris was too pale... But he wasn't gonna die, he would never let that happen. He stared at the boy, and finally he decided to caress his hair.
He would have given his life to have had the opportunity of having that child with Phoebe... The eldest cousin for Chris. It was all gonna be so good!
"I'm going to save you buddy" he said determined. "Just hold on... Tell me things about you, your family, the future... Is... Is Phoebe fine? And why did you come to me? You can't sleep now, ok? Just speak."
"I won't," Chris whispered.
"So tell me, please... I... I don't even understand all that." Cole begged.
"I... I can't tell you about... the future. It would... it would change to much," he answered with pain.
Cole noticed that, and he felt sick about that. He hadn't had the feeling of pity since a very long time ago... what was this boy doing to him?
"O.k., don't speak if it's to hard for you. Save your powers," he said, with real sorrow.
Chris was shaking his head softly. "No," he said, and opened his eyes again. They were looking pale, as his face.
A tear ran over Cole's face. He was really surprised when he noticed it. That boy was touching him in a way Cole couldn't describe.
"Uncle, please..." Chris spoke again, "never give up yourself... There will be a way... a good one... one day..."
"A way to come back, for me?" Cole asked.
Chris nodded: "A way for us becoming friends."
"Friends?" Cole asked crying about the strength and willpower of Chris. His nephew was much stronger than he had ever been.
Chris nodded again. Then he lost his consciousness.

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The witches were shocked, when Leo appeared together with Barbas.
Same as the unreal Wyatt.
Leo turned to him as soon as he noticed that he was there.
"Chris is dead," he said, "he disappeared."
"No!" Piper screamed and broke down.
Wyatt looked shocked, but it only took him a few seconds to turn cold as the ice again:
"Are you sure, dad? Don't you have any proof?"
Leo glared at him with fury: "I told you that he disappeared. That's enough proof. You will even save yourself the burial! Now leave. You've made enough for now."
Piper was devastated, and so were the sisters.
Paige tried to keep stronger for them, but it was hard. She had come to hate that blonde curly-haired man who was her nephew since the moment he had attacked her, but now it would even be difficult to live with his baby self.
"Dad, you can't give orders to me!" he said in a threatening tone.
"Go, Wyatt. Or I promise I'll kill you with my own hands, and I don't mind who gets hurt." intervened Paige, mad.

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"Hey! Chris, wake up! Do you hear me? Buddy, I have to keep my part of the deal, do you hear me? You have to be alive by when Leo comes back! Or else, I won't be able to keep my promise to you!" His face was streaming down with tears, as he shook the lifeless body. At that moment, the angel of death appeared.
Cole turned to him, terrified: "This is not his time, you know that, he's not on your list!"
"The list changes..." he said in an impassive voice.
Cole turned to the boy, and felt his pulse. "He's still alive, you cannot take him, Leave!"
"He won't survive, he's now on my list, and he's the following one..."
"Leave..." repeated Cole, standing up fiercely, "Look, I'm dead, and eternally condemned, I don't mind whatever happens to me if I do something wrong, so just, LEAVE! Leave him alone!"
The angel of death shrugged and shimmered away.
At that moment, Cole heard Chris's voice again: "Uncle Cole... I'm sorry, I was so tired. I won't do this again. " Cole ran to him, and hugged him.
"I won't let you die, come what may... You've saved my soul, Chris. I know you did. You did give me a soul... It doesn't matter if I have to stay here forever, because now I'll be fine, but promise me that you won't give up until Leo comes."
Chris nodded, and smiled. A thin thread of blood was again running from his mouth, and Cole wiped it softly, lovingly, as if he were his son.

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"Ok, I'll leave dad. But if I figure out that you lied to me, I'll come back and make you pay. Did you hear me!"
"Whatever Wyatt, just go away." Leo tried not to look so desperate as he was. He wanted him to leave and then go back to Chris.
The illusion of Wyatt faded away and Leo looked at the girls: "Come on, he have to see that he's leaving."
"Why Leo, he's gone, Chris is dead. Everything is over" Paige was too mad to control her voice.
"Just take Phoebe and follow me to the attic in the manor." Leo said and took Piper's hand. Paige did what he asked and Barbas that was still there watching then realized that he had a chance to get the sisters so he went back to the ghostly plane.

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Chris was trying really hard to stay awake. Cole was speaking to him, telling him about the days he had lived with the sisters, when he was so happy with Phoebe.
Chris listened attentively, feeling how the pain started to disappear as he fell asleep little by little. He realized that if he fell asleep, the pain would stop. But that couldn't be good. That could only mean one thing...
"We were so happy, Chris. But I spoilt it all. I don't know how I'm supposed to be there for you in the future, you know? " Cole was stroking his hair and looking at the front, pensive. "Hey, Chris, how is she? Is she happy? I mean in the present, you can tell me about the present... "
Chris opened his mouth to speak, but he started to cough loudly. It was good... At least he was completely awake now.
"Ok, man, don't speak, remember? Just nod or shake your head. I just want you not to fall asleep." said Cole with a very worried expression on his face.
At that very moment, a figure materialized in front of them.
Cole stood up: "Barbas? What the hell are you doing here? Where's Leo?"

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Paige had taken Phoebe and done as Leo had said. Leo cloaked them all so that nobody could notice their presence. And there he was, Wyatt, drawing the triquetra on the wall.
Suddenly, he turned around. He had heard something, or felt something...
Whatever. He went on with his work. He didn't mind, he'd go back and find out if Chris was really dead. He'd know that, once he was in the future. And if he wasn't there they were all going to pay!
But then he stopped again. Something was wrong there, he felt it.
Leo was noticing that with sorrow. 'We have to hurry, Wyatt has to hurry, or Chris will be dead anyway,' he thought.
"He is alive?" Phoebe asked, 'cause she felt what Leo was thinking of.
"What?" Piper and Paige yelled at the same time.
Wyatt turned around. He didn't hear them, he couldn't, but he felt their presence.
"I'll explain you later," Leo said. We have to go now... I think he...
"Daddy?" Wyatt yelled. "Come out and show yourself to me. Why are you hiding yourself? If you want to say goodbye, just do it!" He smiled.
Then he frowned: "Or do you just want to be sure that I leave..." he paused trying to sense them, "...because Chris is still alive, right?"
He laughed, then disappeared
"Damn it!" exclaimed Leo. "Yes, Chris is alive, but he's running out of time, and I hate having left him where he is! Wyatt should have left, that was the plan! He'll get to him now, I have to leave..." he said and orbed away.
"Leo!" Piper cried, in desperation.
"We have to do something, come on!" she said to her sisters as she went down the stairs.
"But what?" asked Phoebe. "We don't even know where he is!"
"And that's not the worst. The worst is that Wyatt probably knows, by now..." added Paige somber.

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"Barbas!" cried Leo, terrified, "Barbas, come here right now!"
When Piper got to the lounge, he found Leo there, destroying everything, trying to find Barbas even behind the carpets.
Barbas... Yes, he had come with him before, but why? Why was Leo with Barbas? Piper ran to her husband and grabbed his arms: "Stop it, ok? We need you to keep cold-minded!"
"Barbas is the only one capable of taking us there... He must be up to something." he whined.
"There... where? Where is Chris?"
Leo looked up at the sisters.
"He's at the ghostly plane," Leo said. "With Cole" he added.
They looked up at him shocked.
"You left him with Cole?" Piper asked, her voice filled with anger.
"We can trust him. I trust him," Leo said. He couldn't believe he had just said that. He trusted Cole.
"I can't believe that," Paige said shaking her head.
"You can't trust that little fucking bastard!" Phoebe yelled. Suddenly she felt better. Her own anger blocked the other emotions.
"Yeah," Piper agreed.
Leo pulled up his hands in defense: "I know. But Chris trusts Cole. And I trust Chris, so I trust him."
"My little nephew is trusting that fu.."
"Phoebe, please," Leo interrupted her, "I know that it's crazy. But Chris told me that. And I have no reason not to believe him. And at last it's his only chance."
Phoebe was crossing arms in frustration, but said nothing else.
"So what shall we do?" Paige asked.

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Barbas smiled: "You'll lose him." Then he disappeared again.
"Uncle..." Chris whispered.
Cole turned around and sat down next to him again. "I'm here," he said.
"I will not get through this," a tear ran over Chris's face.
"No, no, no..." was all that Cole could say.
"Yet, I feel it." he whispered.
"No you can't leave, your family needs you, I need you! What do you think would your daddy do to me, if I let that happen?"
Chris tried to smile, but all he did was cough out some blood.
"No, please!" Cole yelled.
"There is..." Chris spoke under breath, "is... only one... one thing..."
"A thing that helps you?" Cole asked while he stroked him.
Chris nodded.
"What is it?" Cole asked again, really fearful about losing his nephew.
Chris looked at him: "It's... you..."

(Chapter 3 written by Belén, Cassi, Chrissy.W.x, Dark Angel, and majit)