Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, OKAY? Use some common sense here!
A/N: Bianca and Chris are the same age (About…) in my version. The way where she's older is just creepy…
"No, Paige," Bianca said, icily blazing eyes on their whitelighter. "Chris is the one who vanquished me."
The Charmed Ones and Leo stared at her and Chris alike. Bianca was just as cold and steely as ever, but Chris' countenance was shifting between confusion and pain.
"Bi, what are you talking about?" He asked hoarsely, taking a half step towards his supposed victim, once deceased lover.
"Save the act for them, Chris," Bianca spat. "The Source has had it with you. He knows how I like evening scores so I got the task of getting rid of you personally." But even as she said it, the young woman made no move to start a fight.
Chris, overwhelmed by seeing the love of his life alive and hell-bent on having him dead, asked in a broken voice, "And how do you plan on doing that?" He stopped trying to move closer to her.
Phoebe could see the evidence of heartbreak surrounding the boy like a dark cloak, even as he forced himself to ask what was necessary, to act accordingly. It tore her heart to pieces. She believed him, somehow. If he said he didn't kill her, she believed him. His reactions were just too realistic to be hoaxed, no matter how good of an actor he was. But, said a nagging little voice in the back of her head, if he is lying, I will personally help Bianca drag him back to the future. Execution and all. I can't take any more frigging lies from him!
Bianca crossed her arms, leaning back slightly on the balls of her feet. She seemed quite comfortable considering she was in the presence of ones who could vanquish her in a heartbeat for just being what she was-- evil. Instead of answering directly she asked, "Remember when we first met?"
Chris, as though in a trance, nodded, replying tonelessly, "You had been hired to assassinate me when we were kids."
Bianca nodded absently. "Yeah… and you always managed to survive everything I threw at you. We were so evenly matched it was ridiculous. Neither of us had anything over the other to win a single fight."
Chris sighed, looking away. "What are you getting at, Bianca? It's not like you to beat around the bush."
"You just said it," his fiancée said with a mischievous grin. "Beat."
Chris stared at her, a subtle question lighting somewhere within his unnatural blue eyes.
Bianca's cold gaze met his, seemingly providing an answer only Chris could interpret. The young man's face slid into a paler shade, a larger question now evident in his entire face.
The time remote chose that moment to stop, succeeding in hurling the Charmed Ones and Leo down an unfamiliar tile hallway. Bianca and Chris weren't affected and stood stone still, eyes locked, seemingly holding an entire conversation without words. They both were oblivious to what was going on around them.
The sisters and Leo, however, were not. They were in some kind of school or academy with perfectly kept white stone walls, polished tile floors, gleaming teal doors, behind which classes were not yet taking place. Judging from the windows in the classrooms it was very early in the morning.
They didn't have time to dwell on the time, however, as at that moment they all became aware of the extremely magical fight going on. They whirled around to find two young teenagers in the middle of practically taking down the entire building; one they recognized as a boy, the other a girl, but besides that the two were moving too fast to see any distinguishing features. That was, until the girl succeeded in throwing an evil looking atheme into the boy's shoulder.
The scene seemed to freeze as the force of the throw spun the boy slightly so that they could see his face.
Of course it was Chris, Phoebe thought, admonishing herself for holding her breath. The time remote wouldn't have dropped them off here if it wasn't. But she did gasp as she saw his state.
His front, from shoulders to toes, was entirely drenched in purple paint. And running across his face were multiple dark bruises, all somewhere else along in the healing process, so she knew he hadn't gotten them from this fight. Then there was the whole knife in the shoulder thing, but anyway.
As the fight had suddenly careened to a halt, they also saw the attacker's face. It was Bianca at age thirteen, with raven black hair and a more modest outfit, though not by far. She looked highly pissed.
"I swear I am going to have SO much fun watching you die, now!" she screamed, throwing another energy ball at the boy. 13 Chris ducked beneath it and tore the dagger from his shoulder, yelling back,
"Well, excuse me for stating the obvious! I mean, really! Do you have PMS or something!" He hurtled the atheme back at her, missing by mere inches.
The adult Chris spun to face the older Bianca, horrified. "How did you know this was--- there's no way---"
But Bianca cut him off with no more than a malicious smile that made Phoebe's blood turn cold. The assassin, still smiling, shimmered out, only to reappear next to her young counterpart. The two Biancas shared a look, coming to a silent, instantaneous understanding.
They both threw energy balls at the thirteen year old Chris just as a shield of light appeared in front of the Charmed Ones, Leo, and adult Chris, cutting them off from the fight. Thirteen Chris groaned, wearily redirecting them with his telekinesis. He already seemed worn out.
"Uh-oh," said Paige, taking in the situation without much enthusiasm. "Do we need to help little you?" She asked Chris.
They turned to see him clearly debating with himself. Something more than just the simple question if to glamour, break down the shield, and help was taking place behind those ice blue eyes. Something that seemed to take more of a toll on his conscience. At last he sighed, looking away.
"No. We can't. This has to happen without future interference."
"But she's interfering," Phoebe pointed out, clearly concerned for the young one's safety. Children shouldn't have to fight evil, shouldn't have to fight for their lives. It wasn't fair for them to be forced into those types of situations that even adults had trouble dealing with.
"I know, but she also interfered the first time around. I remember this is when she-- the younger one-- discovered a certain… weakness," he explained ambiguously. They grimaced as an energy ball got past the young one's telekinesis and scraped his side. The boy groaned and rolled his eyes and instead of keeping up his defense, turned to offense. He flicked his wrists, sending the two Phoenixes flying down the hall and crashing into a stone wall. That was enough to piss them off even more. The two came at him with even more force, and again the moves were faster than the eye could follow. Chris was blocking again and the Biancas were all but kicking his ass. Energy balls and athemes were flying, telekinesis was throwing.
"What weakness?" queried Paige with interest.
Chris threw her a look that said all on its own, 'don't make me hurt you'.
Meanwhile the two thirteen year olds had been holding their own conversation,
"If you EVER call me fat again I will--"
"What-- kill me?" smirked 13 Chris, redirecting an atheme back at its owner and dodging extremely skillful marshal arts blows. "Isn't that what you were planning to do in the first place? And you do need to find another tank top… even though 'fat' wasn't the exact word I used…"
She screamed angrily, "That is so freaking it! I am so going to go call your parents and tell them you were using magic!"
13 Chris' face drench of all color, making the various bruises stand out more prominently than ever. He stopped trying to vanquish her. "You wouldn't dare…"
"Oh, so I was right!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "You aren't allowed to use magic! Oh yeah! I knew it!"
The boy's mouth fell open. "You bitch! You can't go inferring stuff like that and expect me to be able to see the difference! That's just--- just---"
"Evil?" She taunted, and, with one last sneer, shimmered out.
The older version of Bianca smirked and, with a wave of her hand, four crystals materialized in a circle around the boy. The crystal cage activated immediately. The teen groaned and let himself sink to the ground, swearing repeatedly. The news that his parents would find out seemed to hit him harder than the fact that he was currently trapped with no escape in the presence of an assassin intent on murdering him.
The Charmed Ones and Leo looked at the adult Chris, noticing this with confusion. Phoebe was now left in no doubt as to what his home life might have been like. Piper, however, had her attention caught by something else. "You weren't allowed to use magic, but you still had your powers? Why would your parents not bind them so you wouldn't be tempted?"
"They tried," he said inexpressively. "Didn't work." Piper was about to question him further, but was interrupted by Bianca
"Tough luck, huh?" she said conversationally to the 13 year old Chris, unable to hear the other's conversation through the shield, though they could hear hers.
The young Chris threw her a look with pronounced hatred. "Why did you tell her?" he demanded. "You can't screw with the future like that! What if you weren't supposed to know about that this soon?"
"I would have figured it out eventually," The woman replied, a twisted smile forming on her lips. She was enjoying seeing him in such a defenseless state, making Phoebe want to slap her. "It doesn't take a genius to see the reluctance you have when you use your powers around other people. Or the way you hate going home every day. Anyway, this is how I remember finding out that I could use someone else to weaken you enough for me to strike. And this time it will be an even deadlier blow than the first time around-- which your future self could tell you-- was pretty bad."
The ones from the past looked at the adult Chris. "What is she talking about? What did she find out?"
Chris raised an eyebrow mildly. "And here I was thinking you could put two and two together without me being your calculator."
Paige rolled her eyes, yet Phoebe was gazing at him with a grim curiosity as she asked, locking their eyes, "Is it what I think it is?"
Chris eyed her, giving no sign of his thoughts for a moment. At last he replied in an indifferent voice, "Something along those lines, yes."
"Something along what lines?" said Piper suspiciously, looking between the two. "Phoebe, what are you thinking?"
But Phoebe still had locked her and Chris' eyes and took a second to respond. "Chris…" she began, off-balanced, "…should be the one to tell you… It's his choice. His life."
"Or we can just put two and two together ourselves," declared Paige, turning back to the scene before her and paying rapt attention, determined to find out what secret the empath and halfblood were in on together.