A Charmed Story - Part One:
Saving The Future Over And Over Again
Chapter 10

"Look, we just have to go down there. We'll show Barbas that I'm the powerful one. And I think he will believe that. Then we'll take Wyatt back from him, "Chris explained, "and when I'm born, you cast the spell and everything will be alright."
"But there are a lot of possibilities which could turn your plan into a wrong way," Cole said. He had again that feeling in his stomach, that feeling humans call instinct. It made him feel sick.
"Come on uncle, that is the best plan I've ever had," Chris answered
Leo nodded.
"Well I have some doubts, too," Penny said frowning.
While Penny and the men were discussing, the sisters woke up. They needed a moment to realize that they were really back.
"NO!" Piper yelled all of a sudden.
The others turned around happy to see the sisters rise.
"No!" Piper yelled again, "whatever you're planing, don't do that."
"What?" Leo asked confused.
"Whatever you plan, it will work, Wyatt will be good," Paige said.
Chris smiled feeling relieved.
"But," Piper went on looking at her son, "he will die and because of that, you'll be the one to turn evil."
"What?" Chris yelled.
"How could you know that?" Cole asked.
"We saw it in Wyatt's memories, for some reason we have been able to see the memories of the changed one." Phoebe explained.
"That can't be," Chris said with tears in his eyes, "I will fail... There is no way out of this... I will fail... again and again." Then he broke down crying.
They sat there, silent, pensive, and distressed, for a long time. They were stuck at that point, no exits, no return, no possibilities of going ahead...
Besides, Chris had broken down. He was devastated, and no one knew how to calm him down because all of them felt the same way. The young Halliwell was crying in so much pain that he had broken all his family's hearts.
"I shouldn't have come... " he sobbed from time to time.
Cole stayed sitting next to him, silent, consoling him only by means of his kind looks and touch. Piper had been caressing his hair.
At the same time as her sisters, Penny and Leo were trying to figure out how to save the two versions of their eldest son and grand-grandson.
"I shouldn't have tried to fight destiny... "
"You did a very brave thing, buddy." said Cole, but he was roughly interrupted by Chris.
"No... It was anything but brave. It was selfish, uncle."
"Don't dare to say that, son!" exclaimed Piper angrily.
"But it IS so... I just wanted to save Wyatt because I wanted to save me. I wanted you to be alive for me, and I wanted a happy life with Bianca... and didn't want to have to face evil Wyatt because I was afraid of him. I was a coward."
"Chris, stop this..." Piper's eyes were welling up with tears, her voice trembled as she caressed Chris's face.
But he continued in a cold, but shivering voice: "No, mom! Look, all what I did, I did it for me, and only that! I wanted dad to see that I'm good at something, that I could get this, I could fight and beat destiny, and all the powers above me! I wanted him to be proud of me, as he was of Wyatt." Now he was crying again.
Piper hugged him tightly, lovingly: "But we're proud of you..."
Chris laughed bitterly: "Not in MY future. You'll never be proud of me there, because you and the aunts will die soon, and dad... He won't ever be proud... In any of my futures, I saw that. That's my destiny, and I shouldn't have come, I should have accepted it as it came, because now, I have made you all worry, even before you should start to worry..."
"Hey Chris... You're not being fair with yourself," said Cole, frowning, "You have changed things. You saved me, I assure you that this is something to be proud of. You also changed Leo: Look, he DOES love you, and he will. We only need to find a way..."
"The cleaners..." Chris said, weakly.
"What?" Piper answered, surprised.
"Use them, let's forget all this, let's clean everything I messed up, and just I won't come back, ok?"

& & & & &

Meanwhile, in Barbas's lair, adult Wyatt had awaken.
"What the hell is this? What am I doing here? Where's Chris, and Leo?"
Barbas smiled: "I brought you here, Master... The Charmed Ones saved your whitelighter and Leo, and took you, but I brought you and your little self, so that they can not turn or manipulate him."
Wyatt's eyes brighted with a strange light: "Is Chris alive? And Leo?" He didn't know why, but he felt relieved. "Fine... Well... I want you to bring them here. But this time, don't harm them, ok? I want to speak to them."
"But Master, I don't understand, I..." Barbas answered confused.
Wyatt raised his hand to stop him: "There are a lot of things between you and me, that you don't know, not now... But we always trusted each other... So please trust me this time, too. Just go there and ask them to come... or better, ask them for a place and time to meet."
"Alright Master..." Barbas said, but was interrupted again.
"Stop calling me that, just call me by my name."
The demon nodded: "O.k., then... Wyatt, I will do my best."
Wyatt smiled at him. "As always," he said.
Barbas nodded a bit shocked by his new attitude towards him, and disappeared.

& & & & &

"No!" Leo yelled. He had just come a bit closer to look after his son. "I will not forget you, never!"
"But dad, I just made things more complicated. I..."
"Maybe, but you did a lot of good things to us..."
Chris looked at him with frustration. 'Why won't they understand?' he thought. He felt that he had no chance to discuss this that moment. He shook his head.
"I need to go out of here," Chris said, then started to orb.
Cole was quick-reacting and grasped his arm, so Chris took him away with himself.
"Perfect," Piper murmured.
"He will take care of him," Phoebe remarked, "come over, we need your help."
At this moment Barbas appeared.

& & & & &

Chris orbed on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"Wow," Cole said trying to find balance. Finally he managed to steady himself. "Nice place", he remarked.
"I didn't ask you to come with me," Chris said.
"Well... you told me that we are friends, right? And I think a friend is exactly, what you need this moment."
Chris didn't answer. He was looking to the skyline of the city.
"I don't know what happened, while you were sleeping, or whatever... But I think it must be something strange, something that made you think that you are wrong... so... What was it?" he asked.
Chris turned to him but said nothing. He only looked into Cole's sad eyes. He felt that he only wanted to help... like he always did, or will do. And Chris couldn't stand that look... as always.
"I've seen me... in a way. I've seen every single mistake I made the last hundreds of times I went back into my past."
"What?" Cole's asked in disbelief.
"My other self, he told me that the time loop I created by doing all this, formed that other self of me, to remember my mistakes and tell me them one day..."
"That's crazy Chris."
"Not more than coming back from a horrible future to make things just more horrible than they had been before," he answered.
Cole went closer and put his arm around his nephew: "Boy, I can't explain all that, I've only known you for a couple of hours, but I love you as if you were my own child. You've done so many good things. Trust in yourself, then all will be end in a good way."
Chris shook his head: "There is no way to save Wyatt from turning evil, so how can things become good?"
Cole looked at him with sorrow. Chris had tears in his eyes again.
"How can things end up good," Chris started again, "if Wyatt will kill mum... kill aunt Paige... kill aunt Phoebe, your wife... and at last kill you, too... At the end there will be only me and Patricia left. At the end I'm the only one trying to give her the love her parents couldn't give to her, cause Wyatt had killed you and Phoebe." Chris yelled desperate. There was so much pain in his voice.
Cole looked at him, half sad, half surprised: "I'll have a daughter?"
Chris nodded: "You had, in my time... who knows what will now happen to all of us."
"No Chris," Cole said with a new light in his eyes, "I know it's hard to go on, but I'm sure we will find a way."
"Which one? I, and the other versions of me, we tried it so many times, it's his destiny to become evil..."
"Don't talk about destiny," Cole said very angry, "not to me... Mine was to stay at the ghostly plane... And you changed that... and before Phoebe was the one who changed it... right? So at last there is no destiny. There are only a lot of ways, of possibilities. Maybe most of the possibilities for Wyatt lead to the side of evil, but I'm sure there are also some good ways, we just have to find them."
"You mean, I have to..." Chris said.
"No, I mean WE! I swear by my new life, that I will do everything to help you." Cole made a short break and looked Chris into the eyes, then he asked: "O.k.?"
Chris saw the strong will in his eyes. He was really that person he had known in the future, the same good Cole, the same good friend.
Chris nodded: "O.k.!"

& & & & &

"Wowowow...Stop it, take it easy, witches..." exclaimed Barbas, half-laughing, half-scared, when he saw Piper ready to blow him up again.
"What do you want, you moron? Where did you take my son!"
Barbas laughed: "Your son is fine, and doesn't want to come back... Actually, he wants your other son and Leo to go where he is."
"No way!" said Phoebe, showing his clenched fist menacingly.
Barbas smirked: "Hey, he doesn't want to hurt them this time... In fact, I'm disappointed, but he said he wanted to speak to them... He made me promise they'll be fine!"
"Why would he want that now?" asked Leo, suspiciously.
The demon shrugged: "No idea... I'm wondering the same thing..."
"It's a trap," stated Paige, with her eyes burning fire.
"No, it isn't... Actually, he told me that you could meet somewhere else. Nor the Underworld, nor the manor... Master Wyatt says you can choose the time and place."
The sisters looked at him, confused.
Finally, after staring at all of them one after the other, Barbas waved his hand and said: "If you don't have questions, that's all for my part... When you have chosen, you'll just have to call him, and he'll orb wherever you are. Now, au revoir!"
And he disappeared in the middle of a blackish smoke.
Leo stared at the floor... What should he do? Maybe he could go on his own, he didn't want to expose Chris. He was suffering too much, already...

& & & & &

Cole and Chris stayed a bit longer on the bridge, looking at the sky. It was such a peaceful place!
But Chris couldn't wait to go back, and start to look for his brother. After his talk with Cole, he felt much better... And stronger to start again what he had come to do, not feeling alone this time.
"We should go now, uncle Cole... Let's see if the others got any idea..."
Cole nodded, and took Chris's hand. Then, they orbed back home...
The two friends arrived in the attic where the others were still standing, confused, in disbelief.
"You ok!" asked Phoebe to her nephew. She felt that he had gotten stronger again, that he was stronger than ever before. Forgotten were all the helplessness, the fear and the painful efforts.
Chris nodded and smiled. "Yeah." Even his voice wasn't as depressed as before.
"Barbas was here." Paige said, trying to cover her angrily shaking hands.
Chris's hair flew through the air.
"He told us that Wyatt wanted to speak to you and Leo. Whenever and wherever you guys want to." she stopped.
"You think it's a trap." Chris knew her very well.
"Yes...at first." the group looked at her.
Phoebe held Piper in her arms. Leo, Cole and Penny were standing in different places of the attic, trying to get a distance to think and Chris stood in front of his beloved aunt. He raised his eyebrow and started to smile. "But now your brownheaded ingenuity can be seen."
Paige laughed. "Hell, you're right."
"Can someone please tell me what's going on! How can you stand here and make jokes while my SONS ARE IN DANGER?" Piper's voice had gotten louder with every word. "Ssh...Calm down honey." The middle sister said.
"What if we do it that way: Leo is binding your powers, so Wyatt will be good now and in the future and can help us vanquishing Barbas. But we don't want you to turn evil, so we give you your powers back in time and teach you and Wyatt how to use them right. Our whole family knows the future now and will prevent you both from turning evil again." Silence.
"What? You can come up with a better idea..."
"It's too risky." Leo interjected.
"But the only chance we got." Penny said.
Now all the heads turned to her.
"I didn't expect that you would say that..." Cole said.
"We should try it out. What can happen! The time loop will start again and we can come up then with a better idea."
"Penny! Since when are you sarcastic!" Leo asked his mother-in-law.
"Let's do it. Cut the conversation and do it." Chris said flatteringly. He was acting like a child who had just brought forward Christmas.
"But.."
His mother tried but he broke in: "No, no buts. Do it. Penny is right." He said this with a sloppy smile.
"Well, ok." Leo reacted faster than the others. He took out a spell, the one Penny used for the three girls and read it.
After a while, they asked Chris. "Everything ok!"
"Yeah.. I think. Don't feel very different."
"Try to orb." commanded Paige.
Chris tried but nothing happened. "Nothing."
"Ok." Paige clapped the hands. "Let's go, meet Wyatt, we need to see if..."
Suddenly they saw light orbs coming in. A blonde man with short hair and a shaved face arrived. "Mom! What am I doing here! Where's Chris!"
"Wyatt!"

& & & & &

"Chris, Chris wake up," Cole was shaking his nephew softly.
"What?" Chris said. Still half sleeping he looked around and noticed the sunset. "How long did I sleep?"
"A while," Cole answered, "I think we should return now."
"No wait," he rose slowly, "there is something I had to talk about."
"What?" Cole asked, afraid that Chris could start to lose his trust in himself again.
"I had a dream. I saw Dad, he cast the spell on me... on me, not on my younger version... That's freaky..."
Cole smiled.
"In my dream, even if it's impossible, it worked and I met a Wyatt who was really kind..."
"And?"
"That was really scaring me a bit... I mean... I have always... I felt always hatred for him... I'm afraid that I can't..."
"Can't love him?" Cole asked.
Chris nodded. "Yes," he whispered.
Cole smiled again: "If you really remember all that, which we actually don't know, cause nobody knows what will happen to you and him if this is all over... So if you remember, you will find a way to love him. Cause he is your brother... You'll only need a bit of time."
Chris smiled and hugged him: "Thanks uncle. You're the best."
"I'm proud of you," Cole said, "I don't know if I would have been able to fight all the time, alone I mean... you're a very strong person."
"Well I wasn't alone in the future... I had..." Chris stopped.
"What?"
"An idea," Chris said after a moment.
Cole was still not understanding.
"Sorry, uncle," Chris said, then and orbed him away.

& & & & &

"Cole?" Piper asked surprised after the ex-demon materialized in the attic, "Where is Chris?"
"I don't know, he said he had an idea, then he sent me back." Cole answered.
"What idea?" Phoebe asked and hugged him, happy that he was back.
"Don't know"
"O.k.," Leo rose to speak, "So I think I should go alone... We don't know how long Wyatt will be willing to talk to us..."
Piper nodded, and Leo orbed away.
"Wyatt?" asked Cole.

& & & & &

Chris was knocking at a door. It took a few seconds, then a woman opened. She had a short look at him, noticed something, and then slammed the door.
Chris knocked again: "Come on, I don't want to hurt you, I'm not after you, I only want to talk!"
The door was reopened: "Who are you?"
"Believe it or not, I'm from the future and your daughter and me, we'll become very good friends."
A few minutes later Chris sat on the sofa in the small flat.
"What do you want from her?" the woman asked.
"I just want to talk to her for a moment," Chris answered, "alone... I have to tell her something, she shall tell me in the future."
He lied, but he knew she wouldn't notice... she never did.
The woman nodded: "She's in her room. You have 2 minutes."
"Thanks," said Chris and entered the children's room.
Bianca was playing with a doll. It was a crazy feeling, to see her... as a child.
"Hey Bianca... I'm Chris," he said, "would you do me a favor?"
The child nodded.
"O.k.," Chris said, "in a few years, about 15 I think, we will meet again. I will look a little younger, but you will know that's me... And if we meet, I want you to read this carefully and follow exact the orders I wrote down. O.k.?" He gave her a sheet of paper.
She nodded again.
"Hide this letter carefully, it shall be a secret till we meet again. And don't read it before."
The girl nodded and smiled. Chris smiled back. "Goodbye," he said and orbed away.

& & & & &

"That's crazy," Cole yelled after the others informed him.
"Leo thought we should give him a second chance, and I thought that too," Phoebe said smiling, "like I gave you."
"What?"
At this moment Chris orbed in.
"Chris where have you been?" Piper yelled.
"No time," he answered.
He put himself in the middle of the attic and took a deep breath. Then he started to speak:
"Those lines by an Elder written
ask the magic a favor forbidden.
When this spell by two lovers is cast,
bring the girl to her loving Elder in the past."
Seconds after that, a red light appeared, and with this light, the wounded Bianca.
"Chris..." she said so feebly that for a moment he thought it had been too late. He ran towards her, ignoring the rest of the family's questions, and started to heal her.
"It's ok, sweetie..." he was saying as the bright golden light hovered on Bianca's body.
"What is this...? What's happening? Haven't... haven't we been here before?" she asked, confused and semi-conscious. For a moment, she felt weird, as if she had just had a deja vu.
Chris smiled with tears in his eyes... This was one of the last things she said to him, before he had to leave her... leave her dying. But she didn't die. That had already changed, from the very moment he gave the piece of paper to little Bianca... She had read it and she never died...
But for Chris it was still near... the moment in which a dying Bianca asked him: "haven't we been here before?" He knew they had. Hundreds of times, they had lived that moment. And he remembered all of them, and probably, he had told Bianca about it... That's why she had asked that. She knew he was reliving everything, stuck in the endless time-loop, looking for a way out.
"I told you, honey, maybe we will be again." he answered, almost crying. "And here we are, but this time I'm gonna save you, and you're gonna help me save Wyatt."
The family were staring at the couple, shocked and moved at the same time, wondering which was Chris's plan exactly, because time was running, and Leo was with adult Wyatt, who knows where.

& & & & &

Leo was wandering on the bridge, waiting for Wyatt, calling him once and again, and starting to lose his patience.
'Where the hell was he hidden?' Well, it was a clear rhetorical question... Leo rolled his eyes. Would he be able to turn him, without Chris?
Where was Chris, by the way? He had thought he'd find him there, but he didn't. If Chris had been there, he had gone just before Leo arrived.
Finally, the tall blonde young man orbed in front of his father, startling him.
"Wyatt?" Leo asked surprised. His son was looking kind of different. His face seemed to be softer...
"Hey Dad," he answered.
"Why did you want to talk with me?" Leo asked. He wasn't in the mood for long conversations.
"I'm not sure," his son answered. And Leo felt that it was the truth.
"When I was... away..." he went on, "I didn't know what you've done to me, but there was something... something I can't catch, but... I don't know... A kind of feeling I never felt before."
Leo frowned.

& & & & &

Bianca rose: "How is that all possible?" she asked. "The spell, I never thought it could work... even not THAT way... Am I really in the past...?"
Chris nodded.
"Son, would you please be so kind to give us an explanation?" Piper said with a strict and warning voice... That voice she always had, when she was angry about him.
Now Bianca noticed the others, all of them, and all alive. "Oh my God," she said and grasped Chris's arm, "it's really true."
Chris smiled at her, then he turned to Piper who was looking very angry: "Mom, look... I was thinking about what I could do... well, what else, to let this all end. And then I talked to Cole and..."
"So you put him the bee in the bonnet?" Piper asked him.
Cole raised his hands in defence: "I did nothing!"
"No, mom, he said he can't understand how I was able to do all that alone, on my own... And that moment I realized, that the reason which let me survive all the time, was her. She had been there for me all the time, she rescued me, she gave me the strength to go on just with her love. And as soon I come back here I fail... I did it all the time... And I thought it's maybe because I hadn't her on my side."
While Chris spoke these words Binaca was looking at him turning red. She was really impressed and embarrassed by his words.
And Piper? She felt sorry that she wasn't the one who had been there for him... she should have...
"But how...?" Paige asked.
"I thought that an Elder should be able to create a spell which should be strong enough to bring us together again, even if we would be in different times. And well... you made me an Elder. So I wrote the spell and went to the little version of Bianca," he explained.
"He gave me a letter, and told me to read it only after we met again," Bianca went on, "and so I did. In the letter he had written that he would leave me to the past, twice. And after the second time, just when he was away, I should cast the spell. But I should never tell anybody those things before, not even him. And so I did."
"And when I cast the spell, too, here in this time, she..."
"O.k., o.k., I understand," Piper said.
Cole smiled. He thought that was really funny in a way... like a big family reunion. But then his smile faded away, when he noticed her birthmark.
"Chris?" he asked," do you know that she... That she is..."
Chris smiled: "Yes, uncle I know, and you too. We both know that she isn't evil."
Cole frowned.
"You know my mother very well," Bianca said.
"Yeah that's true," Phoebe said, "You'll bring our daughter to her, after..."
Suddenly she noticed what she had said, that she had said maybe a little to much.
Cole looked hat her with a lot of love.
Phoebe smiled.
Meanwhile Chris had looked around.
"Where is dad?" he asked.

& & & & &

"And that's why you wanted to talk with us this time, and to kill us as soon as you had the opportunity?" asked Leo, a little bit frustrated yet.
Wyatt seemed to be hurt by those words.
"Ok, I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that... Well, I meant to!" he changed his mind again quickly, as the memories of Chris dying in the ghostly plane, came to his mind, or before, when Wyatt had tried to kill him and make them believe the evil one was Chris, not him. Or any of the times he had tricked them, hurt Chris and the family...
"I cannot say I'm sorry... Because I am not. I just feel weird. It's something like... Something like the love I once had towards my little brother, but you see, he betrayed me!" he frowned.
"So then? What do you want?" Leo asked, starting to get confused.
Wyatt shrugged: "Give him another opportunity?" He didn't really know... He had a lot of memories in his mind at that moment... Changing memories. He didn't know if he really hated Chris or loved him, if he wanted to save him or kill him. It was a queer feeling, as if memories were changing all the time.
And Leo somehow guessed it. Chris might be doing something, and he would need time, so he, Leo, should try to keep Wyatt busy.
"By the way, dad... Where's he? Where's my brother?"

& & & & &

"Well, he... went to speak to adult Wyatt." said Cole.
"What?" Chris tensed.
"Well, Barbas came to tell us that he wanted to talk to you, so..."
"So you just let him go?" Man, he was frustrated.
"Wow, why do I have the feeling that everyone wants to blame me for something today?" exclaimed Cole, on self defense.
Chris lowered his eyes: "Sorry, I didn't mean to, but... He shouldn't have gone!"
Bianca hugged him: "Hey, he's trying to help, honey.. I'm sure he's trying to give us time. We need to do something."
"Like what?"
"Saving little Wyatt, for example?" intervened Paige.
"So Barbas is this time the one to turn him evil..." murmured Piper. "Maybe he's getting his worst fears, about losses, betrayals, and all. And that could affect adult Wyatt. We have to bring him back."
"And kill that bastard." said Bianca very angrily.
Chris nodded: "So let's go!" And taking his fiancé by the hand they orbed to the underworld, without listening to the angry and frustrated complaints of the sisters and Cole.
But when they materialized again, they were still in the attic. The sisters looked at him with surprise.
"What is this?" Chris asked. "I can't orb out."
Bianca pressed his hand a bit stronger.
Then another light appeared, and two Elders orbed in.
"What do you want here?" Piper asked, worried that they maybe wanted Chris like in those memories she had seen.
"We have to talk," one said to Chris.
"About what?" he asked trying to sound confident, which he wasn't.
"About what you've done," the other said.
Piper walked between her son and the Elder: "Talk you can... but don't come closer."
The first Elder smiled: "Don't be afraid, Piper... we won't hurt him."
Piper frowned. Same as Chris and the others in the attic.
"You did too much trouble with the time," the second Elder began to explain. "You changed too much, not only the fact that you helped a demon to become human."
Cole was watching them fearful, but Phoebe took his hand. "I'll never let you go again," she whispered.
"Usually this should be no problem but... you forced yourself to remember all that, all these versions of time," the Elder went on with a serious voice.
Chris swallowed.
"We don't know how you got the powers of an Elder, but you have them," he continued while Phoebe was lowering her eyes. She hoped he'd never find out that she was the one who wrote that spell...
"And with that, to top it all, you forced your girl to remember a lot of that, too. And you brought her here, too."
"And now?" Chris asked with fear and anger at the same time. "Will you clean out my existence to save the time, or...?"
"Well we've wanted to do that," the first Elder said, "but there was no need to."
Now everyone in the attic was looking at the two in confusion. 'Where shall that lead to,' Cole thought.
"Why?" Chris asked wary, and a bit afraid of the answer.
"Because you liberated yourself and your girl out of time... out of any time," the Elder said.
And the other added: "You separated yourself from your other ego from this line of time, from every line of time... You can never go back to where you've come from. So it seems the universe healed himself that way."
Chris and Bianca looked at the Elders with distrust... They couldn't believe that.
"And Wyatt?" Piper asked.

& & & & &

"I haven't seen him, since he went out to take a breath... I wanted to give him some time," Leo said, afraid that Wyatt could notice if he lied.
Wyatt turned his face to the city.
"What has happened son? Please... just tell me," Leo said.
"So that you can change it?" Wyatt asked back.
"And were is your younger version?" he asked, ignoring his comment.
"Don't worry about him, Dad, he is safe. Much safer than with you and mom. Barbas will never hurt him," Wyatt said with a sad voice.
"How can you be so sure? He's..."
"Evil?" Wyatt had turn his face back to his father and focused on him.
Then he went on talking: "Barbas isn't that evil, he is my friend. He saved me when Gideon tried to kill me. Something you and mom have not been able to."

(Chapter 10 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x and Dark Angel)