Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed
Chapter 9
As Chris walked up to the demon, the Charmed Ones could tell that the demon was terrified, and with good reason. He had just made a very powerful witch- whitelighter relive some of the most painful memories of his life – and really pissed him off.
The demon was obviously in a big hurry to find another memory bad enough to distract Chris, because the group found that they were flicking between various scenes of Chris's life very rapidly.
-flash-
They were in a bedroom where a bruised, 6 year old Chris was reading a book. He flinched as a man yelled angrily from downstairs, "CHRISTOPHER! GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
-flash-
A tall boy, evidently the school bully, slammed Chris up against some lockers. Many other kids saw this, but no one stepped forward to help.
-flash-
They were standing in an underground passage. The younger Chris (of about 17 years) strode past them, they followed him to an overcrowded hall of people who looked like refugees. As soon as they saw him, many of these people immediately began clamouring for his attention. While he did his best to answer their questions and reassure them, the Charmed Ones and Leo looked around. There were people all around the hall, with families and various groups of people gathered around, sleeping, eating and playing. They looked back at Chris just in time to hear him reassuring a several worried men and women; "…no, this isn't permanent. Just 'til the resistance gets back on it's feet. Hopefully by then, everyone'll have proper living quarters…"
So this was the resistance, Paige was about to make a comment about how it didn't look up to resisting to much, but didn't. She realised that Chris had put a lot of work into it and that it just seemed to be going through a rough patch.
-flash-
A 14 year old Chris was on the phone, looking panicked. "… I need an ambulance. It's my Grandpa-- He's passed out—he just clutched at his chest and fell down---what?---oh—yeah he's breathing--- please just get here as fast as you can! The address is…"
-flash-
A 6 year old Chris was surrounded by darklighters. There was a dark haired woman lying unconscious on the floor, and Chris was yelling frantically for Wyatt – but nobody came. The darklighters raised their crossbows and fired. Little Chris squeezed his eyes shut, tears running down his face. But, out of nowhere, a green energy shield surrounded him and the woman and all the arrows hit it, bouncing harmlessly off.
-flash-
They were stood back in their attic, the one from their time. They could see themselves and Chris there. It was during the incident with the order, and they had got there just in time to here Chris plead "…Let me help."
They all remembered this, but they were still surprised at the iciness of Piper's voice when she replied, "Chris, we don't need your help. I will get my son back and when I do, I don't want to see you anymore." They didn't quite remember her sounding so threatening and severe. This time they could see the hurt and pain in Chris's eyes when he said quietly, "I'm sorry," before orbing away from the unforgiving group.
-flash-
The scenery around them changed again and they found that they were again in the past.
They were on the top of the Golden Gate bridge. Chris was sat leaning up against one of the tall metal struts. At first they wondered if he was in some sort of trance or something from the expression on his face – or lack of. His face was completely impassive, not showing anything that he was feeling.
The group stood there for a moment starting at the Chris from the memory, wondering why they were there… When, all of a sudden, the whitelighter's eyes filled with tears that quickly spilled down his face. His face met his upturned hand and his body was racked with sobs. The Charmed ones were shocked, and Leo was equally astounded. Chris occasionally had rare lapses in his almost perfected mask, where he showed the odd emotion – but never like this. At least, in the past they had never seen him like this, they had heard him cry when they witnessed the aftermath of his family's murders, but never before that.
Then Chris said to himself, "Why can't they trust me? All I've done since I got here was protect Wyatt. Why can't they see that? They hate me!" After this emotional outburst, Chris's entire demeanour changed. His face became like stone again and he said firmly, as if he was trying to convince himself, "Shut up Chris. You don't matter, you're irrelevant in this. All that matters is keeping Wyatt safe, saving Wyatt. So pull yourself together, you have demons to vanquish." And with that, he orbed out, presumably to the underworld to vanquish demons.
-flash-
They heard a man say urgently, "Chris, we've been found! It's not safe anymore! They-- They already g-got P-Patience, you have to run. I'll hold them off."
As young Chris started to protest that they could both escape together, the ones from the past saw the man's face.
"COLE!" Phoebe exclaimed. "B-but—but, we vanquished him! I know we vanquished him. H-how can he be alive?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Paige remarked.
"Chris, why is Cole here?" Piper asked.
"He—he looked after me for a while, after my family was…" Chris trailed off. He daren't carry on, he could let it slip – Cole was his uncle, and married to Phoebe in the future. Also, he didn't want to talk about it, he had already relieved too many bad memories for one day, and was doing his best to ignore this one. This was the absolute turning point in his life, the time when he didn't live in one place with someone to look after him, but on the streets, looking after himself, and occasionally other people as well. He really didn't want to see anymore memories, but he had the sickening feeling that the demon was far from finished, and that there was more to come.
He was broken from his train of thought by Cole saying sharply to his younger self, "Christopher! Listen to me, ok? I failed to protect my wife, my child, your mother, your aunt, uncle and cousins. I won't fail you as well. Run. Hide. Don't look back. Keep moving, ok?" Cole said sternly, but with tears in his eyes and a shaky voice.
When Chris nodded silently, he said, "Take care," And then, when demons started shimmering in he hissed, "GO!"
They could see that the young Chris knew that it was pointless to argue, so, with tears streaming down his face, and with only the clothes he stood up in, he turned and ran through the nearest wall.
-flash-
They were stood in the attic of the manor. The ones from the past were confused for a moment, what was so traumatic and painful about this? They turned to Chris to ask him, but he looked like he was going into shock. All the colour had drained from his face, making him so pale that he looked like he was about to pass out. His eyes were wide and fearful, staring slightly past them, and he was shaking his head saying, "N-no, no, no, NO! We can't be h-here! I CAN'T see th-this again! I can't!" Whilst saying this, he started to hyperventilate, breathing shallowly and very quickly.
Noticing this, Piper made him face her and said gently but firmly, "Chris calm down, ok? What is 'this'."
But Chris didn't answer he only continued to stare past the group, so they followed his gaze… and saw a woman with long dark hair lying on the other side of the attic, a pool of blood spreading from a wound in her abdomen…
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A/N: duh, duh DUH! Sorry about the cliffhanger, but you all know what's about to happen anyway, right? Also, I've been thinking of doing a sequel to this, what do you guys think? And if you think I should... any ideas would be most welcome! Anyway, please review! –you never know, they might make me update faster…