"You bastard! How DARE you come here threatening us!" Paige spat at Leo.
She and Phoebe were sitting in Phoebe's kitchen and they were both on edge. Today was the anniversary of Piper's death, and they went to each other for support. Leo showing up unexpectedly threw them both a loop and they didn't take kindly to the words that Leo spoke.
"I'm not threatening you. I'm warning you," Leo replied.
"Sounds like the same thing to me," Phoebe told him, crossing her arms and looking hard at him. Despite herself, she still loved Leo like the brother she never had. She had known him since the very beginning, before Wyatt, before he became an Elder, before Gideon, before his trip off the deep end, and before the Avatars. She remembered him as their kind hearted Whitelighter who loved her, Paige, and Prue... and loved Piper even more than life itself. She couldn't, however, help but to blame him for Pipers death. With all of his powers he could have saved her. He brought her back from death once before, and she knew that he could do it again if he wanted to.
"I swear it's not a threat!" Leo insisted. "They know, okay? They know that you guys are planning an uprising, and they sent me to stop you. Please, just don't do it!"
"What are you talking about?" Phoebe asked Leo. "We're not planning anything!"
Paige looked from Leo to Phoebe for a moment, and then smiled inwardly to herself. She knew what was happening, but there was no way she would allow Leo, or his Avatar friends, find out what was going on.
"Stop Phoebe, they're onto us," she told her big sister. She walked over to Phoebe and laid a hand on her sisters arm hoping that the image that she tried to project to Phoebe would prevail. Phoebe felt the usual jolt of a premonition and looked at Paige with wide eyes.
"What did you see?" Leo asked suspiciously.
"That's none of your business. You go and tell your friends that they can't stop us, but we will stop them." Phoebe told him vehemently.
"You can't fight them, they're too powerful! You guys are Pipers sisters; it's my job to look after you now that she's gone. Please, please don't do this!" Leo pleaded.
"You're such a good brother in law. Tell me, did you give Piper the same warning before she was murdered by your little brotherhood?" Paige asked coldly.
Leo looked as if he had been struck by a truck. His face paled and he looked down at his feet. He wished that he could tell them the truth, tell them what happened to Piper, and why he couldn't stop it. He knew that he would put his boys at risk if he did though, and the thought of dying Chris in his arms still lay heavy in his minds eye.
"You're not the only ones that miss her," he told them instead before he orbed away.
"That was mean, Paige." Phoebe reprimanded.
"Not the point, we have to work out a plan here. As long as they believe that it is us that is planning this uprising, the boys will be safe." Paige said excitedly.
"Like Hell, Paige. I'm not putting those boys at risk! Piper would come back from the dead and haunt us to no end if something happened to them. Not to mention our daughters, what will happen to them?" Phoebe insisted.
"Melinda and Kayla will be fine, and Wyatt and Chris will be too. We can't stop the boys, you know that, but if we help them then they are sure to prevail. You know this Phoebe... help me, don't make me do this on my own!"
Phoebe looked out her kitchen window toward the girls. Her daughter Melinda, 13, and her niece Kayla, 11, were sitting on a blanket under a tall oak tree painting each others fingernails and giggling, undoubtedly discussing some boy or another. It was a comforting scene, a vision of all things good, until Phoebe looked further and saw the crystal cage that surrounded them. The cage that she and Paige insisted on having to protect their children from the Avatars. What was worse was the cage didn't even faze the girls because they were so used to it.
"Alright, let's do it. But we have to protect the boys, not just help them get started." Phoebe relented quietly.
Meanwhile back at the Manor
Excalibur pulled easily from the stone. It pointed heavenwards and the bright light that illuminated from the stone engulfed them, warming them with a sense of hope. They heard the sound of singing, as if the angels above were praising their joy with song. Chris felt as if his head was spinning, and so he closed his eyes. He saw himself once again with his mother, in a safe and happy place. They were in a field of wildflowers, a breeze was toying with her long black tresses, and she was laughing happily. She reached out to take his hand, and started to lead him down a little cobblestone path--
"NO!" a shout interrupted Chris's momentary vision of bliss. With a start he and Wyatt turn to see their father standing before them. His face was red with fury and his eyes were narrow slits of rage. He threw his arm up and the boys went flying. Wyatt landed with a thud against a far wall, and Chris landed closer to Leo's feet. All three men watched as Excalibur flew into the air, catching light as if flipped through the air, and landed with a pinging noise on the other side of Leo.
Chris lifted himself to his knees and scrambled to the sword. He groaned as he felt Leo's foot impact his ribs, but he pressed on holding the sword tight in his hand. He tucked it against his chest and rolled away as Leo advanced on him again.
"Wyatt! Take it, go!" Chris called as he threw Excalibur to his brother.
Wyatt leapt forward and caught it, but he paused for a moment to look at Chris and Leo. It was evident that he was afraid for his little brothers well being. He had never seen his father in such a rage, and the thought of leaving Chris alone terrified him.
"Go!" Chris demanded. "I'll meet with you soon!"
Wyatt orbed away, leaving Chris alone with his father and terrified. Leo lifted Chris up by the collar of his shirt and stared long and hard at him.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Leo raged.
"I'm fulfilling the destiny of my brother that you tried to conceal!" was Chris's defiant answer.
"Chris, you can't fight this! There is nothing that you can do to save yourself now! You cannot win!" Leo shouted as he let go of his son. Chris landed with a thud on the floor and scooted back into a corner. Leo advanced slowly on his youngest son, his who whole body rigid with tension.
"You're scared," Chris said, forcing a smile through his terror. "You're afraid of what the sword will do to the Avatars... and to you!"
"You don't get it do you?" Leo asked calmly as he knelt in front of Chris. "You just don't get it! I don't understand, I thought I had time. Chris," Leo was at a loss of words so he said the only thing he could think of, "Don't give up on me son.""I gave up on you the day you let my mother die," Chris spat back at him.
Leo stood up and walked away. He couldn't let him see the tears that were welling up in his eyes. How could he fail his children so horribly, when all these years he was trying to prevent this very thing?
"You've ruined everything," Leo said quietly before orbing away.
The words stung Chris down to his very soul. His ribs were throbbing, he could hardly breathe, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He stared longingly across the room to where his mother had stood only moments before.
"Mom!" he called through his tears. "Mom, please!" The only answer was a squeak from the floorboards as he collapsed in agony.