Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't get me started.
A/N: Tell me if the changing of point of views gets confusing. I'm trying, here.
They reappeared in a large room in what looked like a daycare center and were momentarily confused. What on earth would a sixteen or seventeen year old be doing here? But then they spotted Chris, lying on his stomach on the floor with a little brunette boy maybe two years old sitting across from him, giggling and waving a red ball as big as his head delightedly. Phoebe almost squealed out loud, looking at such a cute little toddler. Piper however, felt strange. The little one had silver-grey eyes… like someone they had seen not too long ago… but who? And his facial features also looked vaguely familiar, but maybe from someone else's.
Then they noticed a rather annoyed looking older man standing behind Chris, getting more frustrated by the minute. Chris noticed this without even looking up, and said, "You can go away any time you like, you know."
"You know I can't do that," growled the bigger man, crossing his arms. "Can't leave you alone on the base."
Chris rolled his eyes. "Come on, I've been here for at least five months. What could I possibly be planning to do that would take this long? You might have noticed I'm not exactly patient." He made a funny face at the little boy, sending him into happy squeals.
"Maybe if you actually gave us a reason to trust you, but noooo, you won't even give us your last name!" the man ranted, and Chris mouthed the words silently with him, making exaggerated expression that the man couldn't see, he'd heard the speech so many times. "Come out of nowhere with all these powers and knowledge with no plausible explanation. All the demons knowing you, calling you 'master' and blood traitor all at the same time…" and so forth.
While Chris also played with his little nephew, he was scribbling something down on a notepad, multiple papers scattered around him. He was very good at multitasking, they could see. The little boy orbed the ball on top of his kid-uncle's head, and when Chris jumped, clapped gleefully.
"Hey," Chris said in a mock-scolding tone, wiggling his finger. "That's not very nice, Logan." He picked up the ball and bounced it on his nephew's head lightly. The little one, Logan, giggled and began rolling it around on the floor, making the other toys around him levitate then spin in circles around the two. Chris watched idly for a moment before saying, "You know you scare me sometimes, don't you?"
"Are you done deciphering that, yet?" demanded the burly man standing behind him, annoyance drawing all his features.
"Yep, just need a globe," replied Chris, barely glancing down at his papers. "Mind running off to get me one, Dev?"
The man sneered. "Yeah, right. Nice try, kid. But you can't get rid of me that easy."
Chris stuck out his tongue, but his shoulders slumped slightly, even if the man, Dev, didn't notice. Chris glanced around the room, and, spotting one in a corner a few feet away, reached a hand and the globe flew into it. The boy began comparing something from his paper onto the globe, finger tracing along the longitude and latitude lines to meet somewhere in northern Asia.
"The next place it's going to be is in Finland. Then it'll be in Zlatoust, Russia. Here," he handed it to the eagerly awaiting Dev. "Take that to Archwood and tell him he and the Elders both can---"
"Kiss your ass, got it," said Dev, and wiccanly teleported out. Chris watched him leave, face void of emotion, before turning back to Logan.
"Loge, I gotta leave, now. I'll come back tomorrow. Okay?"
Logan's eyes went wide. "Kwis," he complained in an adorable two-year old voice. "No go! Stay an pway with Loge." Chris smiled slightly at that, but ruffled his nephew's hair nonetheless.
"See ya later; I'll be back tomorrow." And Chris… flamed out.
The ones from the past gasped. "He can flame!" exclaimed Paige. "I thought only upper level demons flamed!"
"Leo, orb after him, now!" commanded Piper, grabbing his forearm. Paige took Phoebe's hand and the four orbed quickly after him.
"I didn't give you that wedding ring."
"I know," said the 22 year old Bianca indifferently. "You missed quite a lot in those months you were gone. The Resistance was crushed. Only about two dozen left alive. Wyatt offered me the chance to join him again, honestly this time, and since it didn't look as if you were coming back, I did." She twisted the band around her finger thoughtfully as she spoke, admiring its beautiful sheen. "We got close, Chris. Very close. He needed me and I needed him, on a more intimate level than work partners, too. And with Monica's and his kid out of the way---"
"Wait," Chris interrupted, heart catching in his throat. "What happened to Logan? What do you mean he was out of the way?"
Bianca raised an eyebrow, pleased she was getting some kind of a rise out of him. "Logan was tortured. Then killed."
Chris stared, all color completely gone from his face. Struggling for breath the boy fell to his knees, all speech escaping him. Groping for words, he at last stammered, "D-dead? But--- but he was--- Wyatt's own son… he was just--- four. No… he can't be---"
"He is dead, Christopher," said Bianca, amused. "The precious little curls, the silver, delighted eyes, rosy cheeks, happy smile---"
"STOP IT!" Chris screamed. "JUST STOP IT! Wyatt would never torture a four year old child. Would NEVER kill his own son! You're just lying to get me to break down, I know you are!"
"And after their kid was out of the way, nothing was holding me back from having a successful marriage with your brother, the wonderful Source of all Evil," Bianca continued as though nothing had interrupted her calm recounting of events. "Nothing, of course, except you. So I went back to get you, bring you back for execution, and then live happily ever after."
Chris stared at her mutely. Nothing she was saying was registering. His nephew… his nephew wasn't dead. Chris hadn't abandoned him just to let him be killed. It wasn't possible.
Holding onto that little piece of rapturous denial, Chris took a shuddering breath and said, "Then why did Wyatt vanquish you to get back at me?"
"A detour," said Bianca simply. "We had planned it. He was going to resurrect me all along. He just wanted to see you fall one last time before I vanquished you."
"So you admit it? You really don't believe I vanquished you?"
"Course not," scoffed the assassin. "I just wanted to pit your precious relatives against you. I swear, watching you in pain is just everyone's favorite past time."
"I noticed," Chris said sourly. Bianca smiled.
They reappeared in a cemetery. The cemetery in San Francisco. It was dusk, and smoke and fires filled the horizon. In the distance the building were crumbling in decay, or at least the ones that weren't already burned down or collapsed. For a moment Chris simply gazed out at the horror with the closed expression he had worn all the way here, while the sisters and Leo gaped, dumbfounded. Yes, they had heard the world of darkness speech, but before it had just been that--- a speech. Words, and ones that held no actual meaning to them, at that. Now they saw it with their own eyes and suddenly their whole situation seemed more real. Like the moments leading up to this were merely parts of an elaborate dream, and now they were awake. The smell of scorched earth also livened it up.
At last Chris turned back to the gravestones… and completely froze.
"So, what are you planning to do now?" asked 22 Chris, watching his ex-fiancé's face warily.
"Hold you here until you snap from the strain of watching your whitelighter spill all your secrets to your family without you there to stop her," responded Bianca quite indifferently, eyes on the pool.
Scowling, Chris took a moment before turning back to face the pool himself. Suddenly he wondered what would happen if he stepped out of the bubble. Was there even oxygen outside the reaches of time? It kind of looked like space out there… and if that was the case he would surely die the moment he did, if he even could. But what if he did manage to, somehow, and get inside the pool? Would he appear in there and be with them?
He shook his head, as though to shake the thoughts away. Yeah, he thought, I'm losing it… wouldn't be the first time, and sure won't be the last.
The grave beside him looked as if it had been vandalized. There were scorch marks and even spray paint slashes everywhere, not to mention broken beer bottles and shot glasses. Angrily, emotionally, Chris swiped out his arm, sending everything crashing away faster than the eye could follow, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't get the paint off. From what the Charmed Ones and Leo could see, there were very rude and offensive words written permanently there now. Phoebe felt sickened. Whoever could do something like that was just mean, and cruel. It was appalling how low some people could sink. The dead should never be disrespected like that.
"Let the object of objection
become but a dream
As I cause the scene
to be unseen!"
Chris said sharply through his tears. A chicken popped to life in a puff of feathers. Angrily, Chris threw out his hand again and sent the chicken slamming into another gravestone a few meters away, killing it.
"Let the object of objection
Become but a dream
As I cause the scene
To be unseen!"
He shouted now, more vehemently. Nothing happened, except that the chicken came back to life. Chris stomped his foot and suddenly a visible telekinesis shot out from him like a rope and the chicken was… vanquished? Poor little chicken. Tears were now streaming down his face, and he did nothing to try and stem the flow. He didn't even seem to notice.
"LET THE OBJECT OF OBJECTION
BECOME BUT A DREAM
AS I CAUSE THE SCENE
TO BE UNSEEN!"
He screamed.
This time nothing at all happened. Chris folded to the ground, sobbing, and furiously trying to rub the audacities away by hand.
The ones from the past were shocked. They had, with reason, believed to find him in the middle of something evil or unlawful. But nothing like this. Phoebe was crying, as was Paige. Piper was just stunned. What was happening?
"Wh… who… why is he… reacting like this?" managed Piper at last in a soft, dazed voice. "I mean, I know that's really… horrible… that someone could do that… but wh…" she couldn't even finish the word. But they all knew what she meant.
"That's Jessie's grave," said a new, but very familiar voice. Orb lights appeared behind them and they turned to see the eldest Halliwell sister standing there, corporeal and with a dejected countenance.
She turned to her living sisters, who were speechless and gaping, without even saying hello and asked sharply, "What year are you from?"
Piper mouthed wordlessly at her before stammering eloquently, "Prue?"
Prue's lips twitched, but only slightly. She didn't smile. "Yes, Piper, it's me. I'm guessing this is before you found out I was a greylighter?"
"Grey… lighter?" repeated Paige, staring at the older sister she'd never met. She didn't know what else to say.
"It's a whitelighter that keeps their wiccan powers," said Leo, eyes locked on the newcomer as well. "Only the ones that did really great deeds and had a lot of power get to become greylighters after death. But why are you… here? Did you sense us and come to see why there were two of us?"
Prue eyed him thoughtfully, but not kindly. "What year?" she asked again in a sharper voice.
"2004," said Paige, the only one of the sisters that could speak, now.
"So you don't know who Chris is yet?"
"Well, kind of," began Paige. "I mean, he hasn't been born yet, but he came back to the past to stop this world from happening... Or will come… when he's 22. All we know about him beside that is that he was Wyatt's friend when they were kids."
Prue's expression suddenly became very closed and a door shut behind her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. Phoebe flinched at the harsh tone. Was this really her sister? She tried to get a read off her but received nothing.
"We came to get something for the Elders from our time," explained Leo, also wary of familiar stranger, "from the Transporting Archeohauge."
"Prue," said Piper, still mildly stunned, taking a step toward her big sister. "How… how are you? Are you… okay?"
"Okay?" repeated Prue as if this were the stupidest question ever. "What do you think? My charge is hysterical! How do you think I feel?"
"Charge?" Phoebe looked perplexedly at her, then her eyes went wide. She spun back to face Chris, who was still letting the tears fall freely as he tried desperately to rid the tombstone of the graffiti. So much anger emanated from him, so much pain and horror. So much grief and… guilt. "Chris is your charge?" she breathed.
"Secret number one," narrated Bianca, mildly pleased, highly enjoying this.
Chris' fingers clutched into fists at his sides as he looked at his once loved girlfriend. How could she feel nothing about this? Nothing besides pleasure, that is, he reminded himself grimly.
"Yes," said Prue softly, looking solemnly past her younger sisters to her charge. "He is."
An incredulous look passed over Leo's face. "Chris? No way. Why on earth would he require an ex-Charmed One as his greylighter? Why would he even require any greylighter? The Charmed Ones didn't even warrant one, and he can't be half as powerful as even one of your sisters! There's nothing that special about him!"
Prue looked as if she was going to shoot flames from her eyes. "Don't underestimate my charge," she said softly, venomously. "Chris has powers that would make the Charmed Ones' look like child's play."
Piper scoffed. "Yeah, right. And Mom never had an affair with her whitelighter." She paused. "You do know about our half sister don't you? Paige?"
Prue actually smiled and gave Paige a giant hug, surprising everyone. "Yes, I knew the exact same moment ya'll did. And I know her in this time--- she's a greylighter, too. But for now, nice to meet you, Paige."
"Wait," said Paige, shocked. "I'm dead?"
(A/N: I know this would have changed when she was saved, b/c Chris said she was killed by the Titans and they changed that, but I like it this way better, so don't flame me. I know what I'm doing
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," said Prue when she realized what she'd revealed. "But don't get too worried, you got to pretend to be alive. It only took the Elders two days to tell you everything you needed to know about greylighting and assign you a charge. Then you got to go back and 'live' at the Manor, nothing changed except you could heal, now."
Everyone blinked. The initial shock of seeing their dead sister here was pretty much over, and Piper, Phoebe, and Leo were falling back into old habits, thinking back about here like they had before she died. The years when she was dead and unreachable just seemed like a dream (too).
"So, what's so cool about Chris that he would warrant 'super witch' as his whitelighter?" teased Phoebe, coming to wrap her arms around her sister's shoulders comfortably. "What are his amazing powers he neglected to tell us about?"
Prue smiled, patting Phoebe's head like a puppy. "Sorry, I can't tell you something like that."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because they're demonic. That's why he's always so secretive."
Prue cast him a sharp look, snarling, "Leonardo Nathanial Wyatt, don't you make me vanquish you right here in front of everyone, cause if you keep at my charge like that I swear I will. Might even use some of the neat tricks he taught me himself. God knows that'd cheer him up."
The ones from the past just couldn't seem to stop staring. This was the overprotective Prue they remembered, though, if nothing else had reassured them.
"Why would you rather vanquish your brother-in-law than hear him just talk about Chris?" queried Paige, intrigued. She could tell Prue had meant what she'd said and wasn't the type big on bluffs. But even if he was her charge, she was being WAY too overprotective of him.
It seemed for a moment, as though Prue was debating something in her mind. They watched and waited expectantly as the woman leafed through pro's and con's of a decision they knew she was trying to make. At last she seemed to come to a definite decision and sighed. "Okay. I know Chris, and no matter how old he may be, he'd never tell you what you needed to know so you didn't question his every step. He'd never tell you why he is the way he is, so I will for him. I don't want you to give him any more of a hard time than you need to. He's been through enough already."
The Charmed Ones and Leo gaped. It was finally time. They would finally be able to find out the mystery that surrounded Chris Perry.
Prue sighed. "Okay, you guys. Ask away."
Chris was more than a little put out. He couldn't believe Prue would do this, especially with Jessie so closely concerned. The girl's death had almost torn charge and greylighter apart, and Chris had almost followed the blonde in committing suicide. As if reading his mind, another seeing pool drifted up into eyeshot.
Inside, it showed two figures sitting on the ground beneath a tall oak. One was a little boy, the other was a strange magical-looking creature with enormous wings with black plumage and sprinkled with a few scarlet feathers, and the body of… a wolf? Okay, it was a winged wolf. But even as interesting as that was, the boy might have been found far more interesting.
He looked about seven, but Chris knew he was nine, and he was unbelievably thin. For once he wasn't wearing long sleeves, and he and Bianca could see how bruises literally covered every inch of his small frame. Even his face swam with the murky purple and blue injuries.
The two sat side by side, and Chris remembered how he had been at that point beyond tears, as he stared silently into the foliage, but not pain coming from the aftereffects of the beating. A woman orbed in beside him--- Prue--- and the boy barely had time to look up before his greylighter had throw herself down beside him. She gently took his chin in her hands and gazed into his grief stricken eyes with pain of her own.
"Chris, please tell me you tried, baby," she whispered, tears sliding slowly down her cheeks. "Please tell me you tried to stop Jess."
The young boy's gaze fell to the ground. "I tried," he whispered, but still the tears would not fall. "She didn't want to live, Prue. She wanted to die and she wanted to leave us and I couldn't stop her," he was looking desperately into his greylighter's eyes now, imploringly, "She wanted to hurt us and she did. She knew I couldn't survive without her and she wanted me to come with her. She's evil and she's hurtful and she's---" But whatever else he was going to say they wouldn't know, for at that moment Prue raised her hand and struck the boy hard across his already bruised face, sending him falling forward to the ground. Immediately Prue regretted it, for the confused and frightened look the small child gave her shattered her already emotionally strained heart.
Gasping, horrified at what she'd done, Prue instantly reached out to help him sit back up, but the way he flinched away stayed her hand.
"P-please, Prue," he stammered, cringing away. "I--- I didn't mean to be s-so hateful. P-please don't you hurt me, too. Please. I p-promise I won't d-do it again. Promise."
"Oh, Chris," Prue choked, tears pouring done her face, sobbing openly. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to--- I just didn't want to hear anything bad about her and I couldn't stop myself and---" another sob racked her body. "I'm sorry, baby. God, I'm so sorry. I'd never want hurt you. Never."
"But you did," whispered the boy, and at last a single tear slid down his cheek as he looked dejectedly to his lighter. "You did." The young one exploded, suddenly, in multicolored orbs, a slight sonic boom emitting in the aftermath, blowing Prue's hair behind her shoulders. It went dark.
The pool slid back out of sight, leaving Chris gazing at empty space. One of the only times in his life Prue had ever hit him, and she had never forgiven herself entirely since. She couldn't believe she'd hit an already severely abused child, and her own charge at that. Sighing, Chris turned his eyes back to the main pool and waited forlornly for his greylighter to spill everything.
A/N: Okay, people, need some help here. I know what I'm doing with 16 Chris but nothing whatsoever what I'm doing with adult Chris. Suggestions, PLEASE!
Thanks for the reviews EVERYONE! Keep 'em comin' !
Prissy-lady: I LOVED your review. I was laughing.
Kelsy: oh yeah, you bet I'm doing something with it. Notice anything maybe connected with it in this chapter…:smiles innocently:
Elfsong: yeah, it's cool shocking people, isn't it? But you'll find I have many ways to do that…
:laughs manically:
Drama Angel: it won't be too much longer til they figure out what his parents did to him…
:hint hint: