Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed

A/N: Thank the lord! I have been trying to update for DAYS now! Thank you everyone for your review! – enjoy…

Chapter 6

The group were walking down one of the dark tunnels of the maze, when all of a sudden; they were standing in the hall of the manor.

Chris groaned, and muttered, almost to himself, "No, not again."

"Ok, why are we here?" Paige asked.

"We're in another memory," Phoebe decided.

"Clearly, but whose is it?" Piper asked, looking around. It was definitely the manor, but it wasn't quite the one that they knew. Things were slightly different; there was some different furniture and there were quite a few toys scattered around. There were also some new photos adorning the room.

At that point, a blue-eyed boy of about 7 years with curly blonde hair entered the room. He was looking around as if he was searching for something, or someone. Sure enough, he kept looking around, peering in cupboards and behind objects, until he finally called out, "Chris! I give up! I can't find you. You win! Come out now!"

"You know Wyatt in the future?" Piper asked, surprised.

"Yeah, we used to be good friends before he turned." Chris lied hastily. He was really hoping that Wyatt wasn't about to start calling him bro or little brother or anything else that would reveal his true identity.

"Oh c'mon Wy! I'll make it really easy for you!" A smaller boy (of about 5 years), who they guessed was Chris suddenly walked into the middle of the room. But it wasn't that that surprised them, it was the fact that young Chris's skin and clothes were the same colours as the wall and objects behind him! He was blending into the background of the room like a chameleon!

"Hey! That's not fair! No wonder I couldn't find you, we said no powers!" Wyatt whined.

As the boys bickered and started another game – this time 'orb and seek'. The sisters and Leo looked on, still slightly surprised, but pleased that this seemed to be a happy memory.

"Whoa! Chris can you still do that chameleon thing?" Paige asked.

When Chris nodded in affirmation, both she and Phoebe pestered him until he showed them, and when he did they both squeaked with surprise and proceeded to prod him to be sure that he was still there (when he stood very still you could barely see his outline).

Just then, little Chris orbed back in. Unfortunately, the instant after he did, several demons shimmered in behind him. The ones from the past, forgetting that little Chris couldn't see or hear them, shrieked at him to look out.

Luckily, the 5 year old seemed to have figured out that they were there by his own accord because just as a demon threw a fireball at him he streaked across to the other side of the room as a blur. When he stopped, all the demons threw their fireballs at him. He concentrated briefly, and they all went straight through him, and hit the wall behind him. Little Chris yelled, "Wyatt! Help! Demons!" before having to zip out of the way of another fireball. He continued to call for Wyatt (whilst dodging the demon's attacks) for only a minute, when Wyatt orbed in. Wyatt instantly put his shield up, which protected Chris too, and proceeded to blink three times – vanquishing all the demons.

After making sure that there were no more demons and that they were indeed safe, Wyatt lowered his shield and looked down at Chris. "You ok?" he asked the younger boy.

Little Chris nodded, still looking a little shaken.

"I don't get it, why didn't you just use your shield?" Paige asked Chris.

"Because when I was this age I couldn't make shields."

"What could you do?" Leo asked.

"Just what you saw; orbing, camouflage, speed and phasing." Chris explained, starting to get tired of the incessant questions.

"Ok, so how do we get out of here?" Phoebe asked.

Silence greeted this question; no one had any idea.

"I guess we have to wait until the demon stops showing us memories," Piper said.

-flash-

There was a bright flash of light and they were standing in the hall of a house that they didn't recognise. The place had been ransacked. The furniture was almost completely destroyed and there were various scorch marks on the walls. The group looked at Chris, hoping for an explanation, but all the colour had drained from his face and he looked like he might pass out. For a second his face was a picture of misery and grief, before the mask slipped back on and he switched back to appearing emotionless again.

Behind them, the front door opened and Chris came in, he looked like he was in his early teens. His reaction when he saw the wrecked room was the same as older Chris's was. Only when he hid his emotions he wasn't able to hide a glimmer of fear that still showed on his face, and when he spoke, in his voice. He dropped his rucksack on the debris-covered floor and called out, "Mel! Portia! Poppy! Is everyone ok?"

He went into the next room, but came back out a minute later with tears streaming down his face, and choked out, "Uncle Richard! Mel! Where the hell are you?" He hurriedly went down a corridor that was opposite the room he had gone in. This time the sisters and Leo followed him. Older Chris didn't. He knew what was waiting for them down that corridor, and there was no way he wanted to see it again. He remained exactly where he was.

When Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo entered the room behind younger Chris, they instantly saw a man lying on the floor on the far side of the room and a girl of about 7 by one of the wrecked sofas. The man was quite far away from them, and facing away from them, so they couldn't see his face, which unbeknownst to them, was fortunate for Chris as they couldn't recognise the man as the Richard that they knew.

Their attention was instead drawn to the extensive burns that both the man and the girl had on their bodies. Were it not for these wounds then the dark haired little girl could have been sleeping. Her eyes were closed and her face was almost peaceful, but everyone knew that it wasn't so by the wound that marred her torso and by her still chest. Chris instantly ran over to them and desperately checked each of them for a pulse.

Finding none, he fell to his knees beside the girl, brushed a lock of hair from her face and whispered in a strained voice, "I'm so sorry Portia. This is all my fault. I should've been here."

More tears spilled down his face before his head snapped up, "Mel and Poppy!" he cried, jumping to his feet. He ran out of the room as a blur and back down the corridor yelling, "MEL! POPPY! ANSWER ME!" He dashed up the stairs two at a time and into one of the bedrooms.

The ones from the past followed him as quickly as they could, but when they reached him, they saw two more dark haired girls lying on the floor. One of them was about 10 and the other was only a toddler of about three. From their wounds, they were clearly dead. Therefore, they were shocked when the older girl suddenly coughed weakly and whispered, "C-Chris?"

Chris was at her side instantly, "Melanie? Thank god, I'll get some help. You're gonna be fine, ok?"

"No… Chris… save Portia… and mum… a-and dad…I t-tried to s-save Poppy… but I was too w-weak… there were so many." The girl called Mel stuttered out.

"Shhh, don't talk like that. It wasn't your fault Mel. You did your best, there was nothing more you could have done. I should've been here to help." Chris soothed.

"I-Is… Portia… ok?" Mel managed, although she was obviously in a lot of pain from the burns on her body.

Chris paused for a second, as if not sure what to tell her. He seemed to assess that from the extent of her wounds, it didn't look like she was going to make it, or even last until an ambulance arrived. Chris cursed inwardly at the remaining elders for forbidding any of the few surviving whitelighters from healing charges. They thought that Wyatt would sense them and some and capture them, so now there were no healers. Chris managed to smile through his tears and said, "She'll be fine, she's ok."

At this, the girl closed her eyes and smiled slightly. Then she whispered, "Wyatt… h-he was here… He… d-did this." Then she went limp in Chris's arms. He finally let the grief consume him and he broke down completely, cradling his cousin's body to him.

Leo, Paige, Piper and Phoebe had watched the entire scene and were suitably horrified. Wyatt had had Chris's family murdered, or at least his uncle and cousins. What they didn't know was that if they had followed Chris into the first room he went in, then they would have seen a dead Paige as well.

When they went back down the stairs where the older Chris was still standing, they could still just about hear the younger Chris sobbing. They couldn't even imagine what it must be like to have to go through something like this, let alone have to relive it. They had lost people they loved before, but they had never had to come home to the aftermath of a… massacre. That was the only word that could describe what they had just seen.

Piper was just about to say something along the lines of 'Chris, we're so sorry for what happened to you' etc. But Chris interrupted her before she even started, saying "Don't. Just don't, Piper." Unintentionally he had just read her mind of what she was about to say, and answered before she even said it! Fortunately, neither Piper or her sisters or Leo noticed the slip up.

For an awkward moment, no one said anything. The only sound in the otherwise silent house was the anguished sobs of the young Chris upstairs. They had no idea of what to say to the Chris that they knew. He hadn't said anything and his face was emotionless. The sisters glanced uncertainly at each other, wondering what to do.

Finally, Leo asked, "What happened to you, after… this? Did your parents come and find you?"

Chris stared at him for a minute, considering what it was safe to tell him. In the end, he opted for the truth, "No, my mum was already dead by this point, and my father…" He exhaled angrily, "he didn't want to know. I don't think he even cared. Well, he cared about my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins, but not about me… He didn't even check that I had somewhere else to live! Several hours after this, the police arrived, and called my grandfather to come and get me. He took me in for a while." Chris trailed off after this burst of honesty and there was another awkward silence, until…

-flash-

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A/N: Ok, I hope you liked this chapter, please review and tell me what you thought of it!