Thank you so, so, SO much for all the reviews that I've gotten so far for this story.

The kind words are very much appreciated… Anyways, I've had loads of fun writing out this chapter; hope you have as much fun reading it…

Chapter 6

"Everyone ready?" Chris called, addressing his mother, aunts and brother as they clustered together over the table.

Darmuid held an amethyst over a World map, and the other four witches each touched his shoulder or back. When everyone assented, the Charmed Ones and the second born Twice Blessed witch reached within themselves and gathering their power, channeled it through their hands into Darmuid.

The witch in question gasped as the enormous power poured into him like water, filling him up, entwining with his own magick.

By now, Darmuid was seriously regretting choosing to be the conduit- he had joined power with only Chris before.

He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply as he felt the surplus power churning within him, making him feel as if he'd explode from within.

Ignore it! He told himself sternly, your brother needs you!

Opening his eyes, he steeled himself and began twirling the crystal over the map, and to his relief, it began pulling.

It swept over the US, Africa-the pull began to grow steadily stronger, the tug swelled to a crescendo and the crystal landed with a resounding bang on Ireland.

The cottage! Darmuid thought as realization dawned on him. Leo and Piper had bought a small cottage tucked away in an Irish forest about 3 years ago. It was a place that the 5 went to, just to be together.

Sometimes, the 3 brothers went there to spend some quality time together. Right now, however, the only likely scenario that came to Darmuid's mind was Wyatt laying in a pool of his own blood- a not-so-comforting thought, to say the least.

"Orb! Orb! Orb!" Darmuid cried. Taking the cue, Paige grabbed her siblings and orbed out, while Chris grabbed his and started to do the same.

At Leo's indignant "Hey!" Chris' orbs turned back towards him too, dissolving the mortal's molecules into sapphire orbs.

2 seconds later, all 6 individuals materialized in front of the cottage. Fearing the worst, Chris telekinetically forced open the door.

He was met with the sight of Wyatt standing with his back to them, chanting a spell. Fear numbed him as he heard the words his brother was speaking-

"From whence they came,

I send them back,

Take my magick,

Take my p"

"NO!" All 6 of them cried out. Both Piper and Chris instinctively flicked their wrists, summoning their temporal statis, realizing even as they did so that it wouldn't work- as a good witch, Wyatt was immune to that power.

Miraculously, extra-ordinarily, however, Wyatt went sluggish for a moment. Perhaps his whitelighter blood made him partially susceptible to it, or maybe it was the combined effect of two very powerful witches' magick.

Whatever the reason, a moment was all that was needed- for, without skipping a beat, Paige held out her hand and called, "Paper!", in response to which, the paper left Wyatt's hands in a swirl of blue orbs, and reappeared in the Charmed One's.

Recovering from the partial freeze, Wyatt turned to face his family, and thundered, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TRYING TO DO!"

Piper's own anger exploded at that moment, and her nostrils flaring, she said in a tone, which, albeit quite, carried as much force as it would have had she screamed, "What the hell do you think you were trying to do? You know full well that power relinquishing spells, once cast, can't be reversed. Why were you trying to strip yourself of your powers?"

At those words, Wyatt's façade of hostility cracked as his face crumpled into a sob. To Piper and Leo, it seemed as if someone had thrust a knife into their hearts- Wyatt hadn't cried in over a decade, and the fact that he was now, showed the kind of pain that he was in.

Quickly they crossed the threshold and stood beside their son. Gently, Piper guided Wyatt into a sitting position on the bed that stood near them. Leo rubbed circles on his son's back as an effort to comfort him.

For some reason, which seemed indiscernible to Leo, this seemed to cause Wyatt even more pain. Heart wrenching sobs tore out of him, as he buried his face in his mother's shoulder.

In the meanwhile, Piper stroked her son's hair soothingly while turning tortured and fearful eyes to her husband. What can be causing our baby so much pain?

"B..because…. I don't d-deserve t-them…" Wyatt hiccoughed out the words through his tears.

"Oh, honey, just because you were evil in one time line, doesn't mean you are in this one. Sweetie, you're such a wonderful witch, you've never abused your powers.

Baby, don't ever think that you don't deserve your power, because you do, baby, because you do." Piper whispered comfortingly.

"N-no, m-mom… you don't understand… I-I h-hurt, I-hurt…" Wyatt whimpered, as if the words caused him mortal agony.

He shuddered, took a deep breath and then said, "I hurt Chris. I-I… tortured h-him." In the lowest whisper Piper had ever heard.

I hurt Chris… I tortured him… The words hit Leo and Piper with the force of a speeding lorry.

Oh god, oh god, oh god… Both mortal and witch turned to their second born son, hoping, praying for a denial. Please say this isn't true, please!

No such denial came- Chris stared at his feet, not daring to look his parents in the eye, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to lie to his family- not this time, not about this.

Only the sound of Wyatt's grief shattered the death like silence that had descended over the cottage, over the Charmed Ones, over the mortal, over two of the Twice Blessed.

"M-mom, I-I'm s-sorry," Wyatt whimpered, as he felt himself drowning in guilt, in grief, in the most painful emotions a human is capable of feeling.

"I-I o-ordered, I o-ordered…" Wyatt started to say, then fell silent.

A thousand and one dark ideas flew through Piper's mind at Wyatt's words. No more, oh God, please no more! She prayed despairingly.

What else do I have to learn tonight? What other horrors do I have to know about? Leo thought.

Chris, the one from the original timeline, had said that his future had been awful. He'd said that Wyatt was evil. But he had never given details, not once. When prodded relentlessly by his aunts (Phoebe more than anyone else) about it, 'future consequences' was the reason that he'd given.

Now the Charmed Ones and Leo understood the reason for Chris' reticence regarding the future. 'Future consequences' was no more than a subterfuge- in reality; he had been trying to shield them from the pain.

Piper remembered how horribly she'd treated him when he'd first said that he was trying to stop Wyatt from turning evil. Why? Because she couldn't deal with the fact that her son was evil, that he hurt innocents.

The knowledge had hurt, it had hurt had horribly. It had continued to hurt all the time Chris had been present, she just no longer took it out on Chris, only because she knew that he was her son.

Now, the knowledge that her son had hurt his own brother, his family, it hurt several times more than the knowledge of his evil. No wonder Chris hadn't breathed a word about this to anyone.

And even through her own pain, she was keenly aware of a grief of another kind- the grief that she felt for the first version of Chris. Oh God, he must've been through so much, and we treated him like filth for most of the time he was here. And he never complained, not once…

There you go, another installment… I know, this isn't exactly a best spot to end this chapter, but I'm drained, right now. I've let myself ramble on without restraint, and I've got a bad spell of writer's, not block, but cramp.

So, read on, and I'll just tend to my wrists and fingers… ouch… lol

P.S- I'll update ASAP, promise! So, please review!