Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed

Chapter 7

-flash-

The white light blinded them again and they were transported to another memory. The sisters and Leo breathed a collective sigh of relief, thinking that there was no way that there could be a worse memory than the bloody scene they had just witnessed. But Chris saw where they were, and knew better.

He remained silent, struggling to control the turmoil of emotions that were screaming at him to break down and give up. He wasn't sure how much longer he could contain them. As it was, it was getting so hard that he was having difficulty in blocking out everyone else's thoughts and emotions. Before he always blocked them out effortlessly, not wanting to invade people's privacy, and finding hearing the torrent of random thoughts and feeling stray emotions that weren't his annoying and sometimes taxing. But now, he was hearing the odd thought or flash of emotion from the sisters and Leo. He just really hoped that this next memory wasn't the death of his mother, if it was, he didn't think he would be able to hold out much longer.

They found themselves in another destroyed street. Only this time it obviously used to be a main road rather than an alley. They looked around at the remnants of shops and buildings running down the sides of the roads, they were little more than rubble now. They could also see a very large group of demons standing around, as if waiting for someone.

Piper shuddered at the sight of that many demons freely roaming the streets and turned to Chris, "Where is the you from this time?"

Chris knew he didn't have a choice in his family witnessing this, so he decided to tell her and give her a forewarning of what was to come, "I'm about to come running down this street, running from another group of demons, and run straight into this lot," he gestured at the dozen demons.

Chris remembered this fight. It was the time he had finally been caught. He had been seriously outnumbered, had made several stupid mistakes and had been caught. Then he had been taken straight to the dungeons that they had seen earlier.

Sure enough, they could see a dark coloured blur heading down the road towards them. Within a second he was right next to them. Young Chris stopped, and saw the gathering of demons. Who also saw him. They all stood up and faced him, and the leader stepped forward.

"So, you're the one we've been looking for all this time." It wasn't so much a question, but a statement.

They watched as the second group of demons, the ones who had been chasing Chris here, approached and closed in around the whitelighter. The young man twitched almost imperceptively and glanced over his shoulder, saw that he was surrounded, but made no move to escape.

The leader noticed, but only said, "There is no way for you to escape. There are more demons all around this perimeter just in case you somehow get past us. We know all about how tricky you are, and we've been planning this for months."

"I'm sorry to put you to all that trouble," Chris said sarcastically, but the ones from the past could see that he was trying to buy himself some time to think of a way out of the situation.

"Not at all," the demon leader smiled nastily, playing along, "We have had specific orders from Lord Wyatt to capture the leader of the resistance. I must say I was expecting someone a little more imposing than some boy who's barely old enough to shave!" This earned a laugh from all the demons, "Nevertheless you are the resistance leader, so there's no such thing as too much trouble." He grinned at Chris, showing a lot of brown and yellow teeth.

Chris merely said with a deadly calm, "I'm glad to hear it."

He threw out his arms to his right side and sent a stream of fire at the demons standing there. They were instantly vanquished in the inferno. However, all the other demons promptly began sending fireballs, energy balls and athames at Chris. They all passed harmlessly through him and hit the demons on his other side. Chris closed his eyes for a split second in concentration, and suddenly (to all the demon's confusion) there were now several of Chris standing in the street. All the demons started sending missiles at all of them, trying to decide which was the real one.

The Charmed Ones and Leo gaped at this display of power and turned to Chris.

"Why didn't you tell us that you had this much power sooner?" Piper demanded.

"Yeah," Paige agreed, "It would have some very handy in all the demon hunts that you sent us on!"

Phoebe was still watching the fight. A few attacks had hit Chris (including an athame in his leg) and he was now slightly wounded, but he was still giving better than he got, sending out alternate streams of ice and fire as well as flicking demons and their energy balls back telekinetically. Unfortunately for him, more demons were arriving all the time. "I didn't think that anyone but Wyatt was that powerful." She murmured, almost to herself.

"Wyatt is more powerful than me," Chris said.

"More powerful… but look at you!" She cried, pointing at the younger version of him, who was still fending off dozens of demons, "You are really powerful!"

"Maybe," Chris said quietly, "But not powerful enough."

He was looking over at the fight. It now looked as though the brave young whitelighter was fighting a losing battle. He had vanquished more demons than they could count, but he was wounded and more kept on coming. He also yet had to face their leader. Sure enough, the leader stepped forward, calling the other demons back. Taking advantage of the momentary pause in attacks, young Chris bent down and pulled the athame out of his leg, wincing slightly, but taking no notice of the blood that was now staining his already stained trousers.

"Ouch! That looks like it hurts!" The leader smirked, taking infinite pleasure in the possibility that Chris was in pain. Chris said nothing, but, sent a stream of ice and fire at him, which he seemed to absorb. Chris stared at him, astounded.

The demon chuckled, "A present from our lord and master! He really wants you dealt with, so he made me impervious to your powers."

He suddenly threw several potions at Chris.

"What did you just do?"

"Another present from Lord Wyatt. I just bound your powers, now maybe you'll come quietly"

Chris glared.

"No? well we're taking you anyway."

Several demons threw energy balls at Chris

Paige and Phoebe nearly closed their eyes, not wanting to see this. But they remembered that chris couldn't die here, they knew him in the future. Piper and Leo were transfixed.

To everyone's surprise (including young Chris's) the energy balls stopped before they reached him and shot back at their original owners.

"What the hell was that? I just bound your powers!"

The teenager thought for a moment and then grinned slightly, "Apparently you can't bind powers that you don't know about with a potion."

"Oh? And what is this power that even Lord Wyatt doesn't know about it?"

"Telepathy." Chris said, before using the demons powers against them and throwing fireballs left, right and centre. Unfortunately, he didn't have any of his evasive powers, so he could now be hit by the attacks that the demons were sending at him in retaliation.

Sure enough, he was hit by a fireball in the leg, and then one on his torso. The leader stepped up behind Chris and threw a low powered energy ball at the back of his head. Chris stumbled, but spun around to face the leader. The ones from the past hoped there was still a chance that he could escape, but Chris's eyes were unfocussed and a second later he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Piper, Paige, Phoebe and Leo watched, horrified as the demons took Chris away.

Phoebe plucked up the courage and asked, "Where are they taking you?"

"You already saw the dungeon." Was the only reply that Chris would give.

"Why didn't you just orb away when you were first being chased by demons?" Leo asked.

"No one can orb in this city, Wyatt made sure of that." Chris explained.

Suddenly, the scenery around them changes and they found themselves back in the maze. But they weren't done, they still had more questions for Chris. They weren't interrogating him or anything, they were just really curious.

"So, leader of the resistance. What's that?" Paige asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Some magical beings and some mortals set up a resistance against Wyatt. I was the leader."

How can you have been the leader of a resistance against someone who was once your friend? Piper wanted to scream at him, but then thought better of it when she remembered what Wyatt had done to Chris's family. Surely he's way too young to have been the leader though. He could have only been in his late teens when he was caught, so how long had he been leader?

She was shocked however, and everyone else was confused when Chris answered the question that she hadn't even asked yet.

"I was 18 when I was finally caught by Wyatt's demons, and I had been with the resistance for 2 years. I know that that seems very young to you, but in the future all kids grew up quickly. You had to, to survive."

Paige asked him, "Chris what are you talking about? No one has said anything."

Now it was Chris's turn to look confused as he turned to Piper asking, "But… I could've sworn you asked…" Realisation dawned on his face and he groaned, "Oh man! I'm sorry, I did it again!"

"Did what?" Leo asked.

"Read her mind." Chris said sheepishly.

"Read her...! Oh right, telepathy – you mentioned it in the memory." Phoebe realised.

"So have you been reading our minds since you got here?" Piper asked incredulously.

"No! No I haven't, I usually block it all out, but recently I've been finding it harder and harder to do. I can barely cope with all my own thoughts and emotions without having to deal with everyone else's." As soon as he finished speaking, Chris flushed and wished he hadn't said anything at all. He was never this open with anyone. It was because it had been Piper to ask the question, and he was getting confused, thinking it was his mother.

She is not your mother yet you idiot! He berated himself. She doesn't even know that you're related to her! Stop making a fool out of yourself!

Piper had noticed his embarrassment, and said in a gentle voice. "Hey, you know you don't have to hide everything from us anymore. Now we know a bit about your past, and we know you were friends with Wyatt, so you can tell us stuff. You don't have to hide anymore." She repeated.

Chris looked at her. At the woman who sounded so much like the mother he had known. She's not your mother. He reminded himself.

"Yes I do" he whispered.

Then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and pulled himself together, and looked around the tunnel, "C'mon, the demon's this way". And they walked down the corridor.

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A/N: Thank you to anyone who persevered with this chapter. What did you think: good? Bad? Mediocre? Please review and tell me! Also, any ideas you have, feel free to let me know… But don't worry, the Charmed ones and Leo are going to find out who Chris is at some point – hopefully soon!