Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed

Previously…

"Aww, how touching," came a cold, sarcastic voice from behind them.

Teenaged Chris wheeled around, his face still stained with tears. But when he saw who it was, he stared incredulously…

Chapter 11

It was Wyatt. It was unmistakably him; even the ones from the past recognised him. But there was something about him that wasn't quite right; like the fact that he was stood there casually in the doorway sneering at his younger brother through his blonde curls. Despite the fact that their mother was lying dead not 10 feet away from him.

"Wy, why didn't you come when I called? Mom needed you!" Chris asked disbelievingly, not wanting to accept the possibility that Wyatt had heard him, but not come to save mom.

But if Chris had been hoping to get a valid excuse from Wyatt for his behaviour, he failed miserably. Wyatt merely stood there smirking and said, "I know she did."

"But how could you…" Chris couldn't finish his question. Instead, he stared in astonishment at his so-called brother.

Wyatt took a deep, theatrical sigh, and said slowly and disdainfully, "come on Chris. Think really hard, use that supposedly superlative brain of yours, and figure it out. Who could have the power to take on a Charmed one… and not only survive, but win?"

Chris stared at Wyatt, looking like he was either trying to decipher his meaning, or trying to come up with rational alternative answers to the question.

But Wyatt was too impatient to wait for Chris. "Oh, come on! It was me Chris! I did it!

"You—you…" was all Chris could say to this revelation.

"That's right, I killed our mother!" Wyatt said, almost sounding proud of what he had done.

"But how could you…?" Chris began.

Before he could finish his question, Wyatt interrupted, "She was standing in my way, so she had to be dealt with, comprendé?... Anyway, enough chat little brother, I have much more work to do…" with this, Wyatt looked up at the ceiling and shouted, "DAD!" at the top of his lungs.

Immediately, a flood of bright lights came through the ceiling, and formed into Leo.

In the few seconds it had taken Leo to arrive in the attic, Wyatt had completely changed his entire demeanour. He had tears running down his face, and as Leo asked him what was wrong, Wyatt screwed up his face and sobbed out, "Dad… it's mom! She's dead! I can't heal her! Chris called me… but by that time, she was already gone!"

"And the Oscar goes to…" Paige muttered under her breath.

Future Leo saw Piper on the floor and was instantly at her side, trying to heal her. When nothing happened and he had to face the fact that she was dead, tears began to course down his face. He stood up slowly, his back to his sons. Then, in a voice as hard as steel, he rounded on Chris, glaring.

"Why didn't you call Wyatt sooner? Or why didn't you heal her?"

Chris was astounded; he was going to be blamed for his mother's death? He stared wide-eyed at the man who everyone said was his father, and for possibly the first time in his life, he answered back-- not caring what the consequences were. "I couldn't heal her, you know I don't have that power. But I did call Wyatt! And you! Didn't you hear me?" he yelled.

"Yes I heard you, but I was busy. How was I supposed to know that it was Piper in trouble? You should have called Wyatt sooner. He could have saved her." Leo said, with something that sounded a lot like hatred in his voice.

By now, Chris was desperate to prove his innocence, "Dad, I called Wyatt as soon as I found her! It turned out he was already here, he was the one who did this to mom!"

Wyatt started to protest, but Leo interrupted him, furious—with Chris, "do you really expect me to believe that Christopher? You're really trying to blame your brother for this? No Christopher, this is all your fault. It's your fault she's DEAD!" With this, he struck Chris in the face, knocking him down.

The ones from the past all watched with horror as the boy stumbled to his feet. His lip was bleeding from where Leo had hit him. The same questions were in all their heads; how could Leo do this? How could this be Leo? He would never do something like this!

Now back on his feet, Chris pleaded frantically, "Dad, please!"

But Leo only looked at him with disdain and said, "I only have one son." Before calling "Come on Wyatt," and orbing out.

Wyatt smirked at Chris, triumphant that his plan work, and followed his father.

Chris stared at the empty space where his father and brother had been and whispered, "I never was your son, as far as you were concerned, you only ever had one." Chris walked over to his dead mother. Falling to his knees beside her, he cried into her shoulder "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you mom. I tried, really I did. This is all my fault."

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Back in the demon's cavern, there was a stunned silence. They all felt so guilty (especially Leo) about what Chris had had to go through in his life, and how they had treated him in this time. He was family, and they had treated him like dirt when all he had tried to do was protect Wyatt, his brother-- the brother that had murdered their family, and tortured Chris. Yet after all this, he still persevered, never giving up.

However, as they looked at him, they realised that that might all soon change. It looked like witnessing Piper's death the first time around had traumatised him, but having to see it again? It looked like it had broken him. Chris was still sitting on the floor, his knees drawn up to his chest and his head in his hands. He was shaking and they could hear him sobbing and mumbling.

Piper went over to him and tenderly touched his shoulder. He flinched away and wildly looked around. Seeing Piper, he shuffled away from her and stuttered out, "Y-You're not real! You d-died! I saw... and it w-was all m-my fault." Chris stared over Piper's shoulder into nothingness, in shock, tears running down his face and whispered again, "it was my fault."

"No sweetie, it was not your fault." Piper said gently, trying to bring him back to reality. "That was just a memory. You're in the past, remember? You came back to save Wyatt from turning… evil. We're all still alive, see?"

Chris slowly looked around at Piper, Phoebe and Paige, taking in that they were all alive and well, and younger than he remembered from his time. His eyes passed over Leo, who was radiating guilt, and Chris realised that Piper was telling the truth, he was in the past. He had never felt anything that resembled guilt from the Leo of his time, only anger, disappointment, and sometimes hatred.

Behind them, the demon was revelling in his victory in breaking Chris. He was so busy sneering at their supposed 'defeat', that he didn't even notice Chris's eyes narrowing as he remembered who was responsible for him having to relive his most painful memory.

Chris's entire countenance suddenly changed. He was very, very angry. He got to his feet and said in voice that exuded power, "enough!" The demon shut up immediately, the grin dropping instantly from his face as the enraged whitelighter advanced on him.

Chris held the demon off the floor with his telekinesis and glared at him. "You know, I would love nothing more than to make you suffer like you have made me suffer. I could rip your heart out repeatedly, just like you did to me. Of course, for me it was metaphorical, but you… I could do it to you literally. But fortunately for you, I'm not as sick and twisted as you that I enjoy watching people, or even demons suffer, so I'll just have to settle for vanquishing you."

As soon as he had said this, Chris sent a stream of fire at the demon, incinerating him instantaneously. He then turned to his family, aware that they knew exactly who he was and what had happened to him. He could feel waves of pain, guilt and sadness coming from them. But he really didn't feel up to the conversation that was no doubt going to start as soon as they got back to the manor. So he said quietly, "you should go and get Wyatt from magic school, he's been there for a while."

However before Chris could orb away, Leo asked hesitantly, "Chris, can we talk?"

Inside, Chris was screaming I can't deal with this now! I don't matter, Wyatt does. I have to deal with my issues so I can focus on saving him. So I can do what has to be done. Don't you see? You should be doing the same! But he couldn't voice these thoughts aloud, so instead he said, "there is nothing to talk about," and orbed out.

The others paused and glanced at each other before Piper grabbed Leo's hand, Phoebe grabbed Paige's and they orbed away to get Wyatt and go home.

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A/N: to be properly concluded…