A/N: Sorry for the long break. I've been struggling with writer's block and a lack of motivation, but I didn't want to leave this story too long, so I'm writing again with a better plan of what I want to do than before. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.

INNER CONFLICT

"Are you out of your mind?!" Zeke yelled, incredulously.

"No," Chris replied. Then he tilted his head and considered what Zeke had said. "At least, I don't think so."

"Well, I think you are," Zeke said. "Why else would you even consider taking down Magic School's protective enchantments to allow Wyatt and his demons to attack here?"

"So that I can get into the manor and use the book to work out how to get rid of the enchantments around it."

"Don't you mean 'we'?"

Chris shook his head. "As much as I hate to say this," he began. "It would be better if you stayed at Magic school. With the enchantments down, you'll be able to get in."

"And why exactly is it so important for me to be there?"

"Wyatt hates you," Chris said, simply. "He wouldn't hesitate in killing you. Of course, you and I both know he'd have his work cut out if he attempted that, since you're pretty evenly matched. But that's beside the point."

Zeke sighed. "Fine," he conceded. "But I don't like it."

"You don't have to," Chris said. "You just need to trust me. Help me convince the Elders."

Zeke raised his eyebrows. "I would have thought you'd have consulted them before telling me about this. Because there's no way in hell they'd agree."

Chris sighed. "I know. I'm just hoping Leo will agree with us, and convince the other Elders."

Zeke snorted. "Yeah, fat chance of that happening."

"Not necessarily…" Chris said, thoughtfully. "He still cares about Wyatt. For all he talks about sacrifices for the 'Greater Good', he would never choose the magical community over Wyatt."

"I don't follow," Zeke said, frowning. "How exactly do you plan to turn Wyatt back to good?"

Chris didn't say anything.

"Chris?"

"I really don't know," Chris finally said, quietly. "I don't even know if it can be done. And if it can't… we'll have no choice but to…"

"Kill him," Zeke finished for him. Chris nodded.

"But that doesn't help. Leo would probably kill you before you can touch his precious Twice Blessed son."

"Exactly," Chris said. "He'd do anything to save Wyatt. It's the only reason why he'd ever agree with our plan…"

"They aren't taking it seriously," Chris said, head in his hands. "Don't tell me I'm the only one who remembers the story from the future that started with the Book of Shadows being found on the floor."

"No, I remember that too," Zeke said. "Didn't whoever was after it get it?"

Chris nodded. "And if that isn't bad enough, there's a rumour that Leo knows who sent him to Valhalla. I can't risk him finding out that it's me, otherwise we'll both be screwed."

"Any idea of who he thinks it is? Or how to throw him off our trail, for that matter?"

"Don't think so. I'll ask him about it later."

"Okay, just be careful," Zeke said.

Chris sighed. "Always am. How's things been going in the Underworld? Better than up here, I hope."

"It's been going… okay. Vanquished a hell of a lot of demons. But I still haven't heard anything about turning Wyatt. Kidnapping him and raising him as evil, killing him, yes. But not actually turning him evil." Zeke hesitated. "Actually, I do have one theory."

"Which is?"

"Maybe… the person that turns Wyatt, what if they aren't a demon?"

Chris frowned. "How would that work, though? How does that make sense?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe something happened that cause Wyatt to turn? It could've be one of the good guys that made it happen. I don't know exactly how but… it's just a thought."

"It wouldn't make sense though. Evil would want to turn him because of how powerful he could be. But good beings wouldn't want him evil."

"Well, maybe it was an accident."

"Accident?" Chris asked, doubtfully. "How could someone accidentally turn a toddler evil?"

Zeke shrugged. "Never mind, you're probably right. Anyway, I should head back to the Underworld, try vanquish a few more demons, eavesdrop on a few conversations."

"Yeah," Chris mumbled. "Good luck."

Zeke hugged Chris tightly, before shuffling back, giving him a strained smile, and shimmering away.

"Leo! Leo!"

Chris shook his head, fuming. The past five minutes had been spent shouting Leo's name and waiting for him to materialise from the bright white orbs. But no, Leo had not appeared. To Chris, this clearly meant Leo had no time for him, no matter the situation. He was used to it but it still stung that his father was ignoring him.

He hesitated. "Dad?"

Zeke stared at him, stunned. In all the years he had known Chris, never had he called his father Dad. It was always Leo. Because Chris believed Leo didn't deserve to be called Dad. Not after neglecting his youngest son.

"Dad…" Chris hated begging, especially when it was to his father, but he didn't see any other option. There was no way he and Zeke could convince the Elders to go along with their plan alone. They were already suspicious enough of Zeke as it was. Leo was too, for that matter, but Chris was clinging to the hope that he would believe and trust his son.

"Dad, please. I need to speak to you. It's important. Please Dad."

A good few minutes later, Leo still hadn't appeared. Chris sighed, leaning against the wall and shutting his eyes in defeat.

"Chris?" Zeke asked, quietly.

No response. He took Chris's hand in his own and gently rubbed circles on it with his thumb.

"Hey, it's okay. We can still go through with the plan. We'll just have to work harder at convincing the Elders. It'll be difficult but we can do it."

Chris shook his head, eyes still closed.

"It's not that," he said in a small voice. "It's… Leo. Even now, he's ignoring me. I'm his last remaining family member, other than Wyatt, and he's ignoring me."

Zeke inwardly cursed himself. Of course Chris was upset about that! Of course he was hurt!

"He really doesn't care," Chris continued. "If he did, he would be here by now. Hell, he never would have left. But even when it's urgent, he abandons me."

Zeke stepped closer to him, silently cursing Leo to the fiery pits of hell. He knew what it was like to have a terrible father. Hell, his father had tried to kill him. But at least he had an excuse. He had been evil, a demon, after all. But Leo, Leo was a whitelighter turned Elder. He was on the side of good. He had given no reason as to why he paid Chris no attention, and Zeke had a strong feeling his reason would be invalid anyway. Just because Chris not being as powerful as Wyatt didn't make him any less worthy. Even Wyatt knew that.

Not entirely sure what to say but knowing he had to do something to comfort Chris, Zeke moved even closer to him, putting a hand on Chris's face and slowly rubbing his thumb across his cheek, his other hand still holding Chris's.

"I know," he said, quietly. "I know it hurts, and I'm so, so sorry. If I could take the pain away, I would."

He didn't say anything more; he didn't know what to say. How do you comfort someone whose father abandoned them?

Chris opened his eyes slightly, a tea slipping out and down his cheek. Then another, and another, and another, until Chris was shaking, crying uncontrollably. Zeke just held him close, whispering words of comfort in his ear, frustrated that he could do little else.

When Chris had calmed down somewhat, Zeke pulled away and gazed at his face. He leaned forwards and kissed away each remaining tear, before giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

Chris looked up at him. "Thank you," he whispered.

Zeke hurled a fireball at a demon, watching with something similar to boredom as it burst into flames, shrieking. The demon had been weak, classed as lower level. Normally, Zeke would've been okay with that. Lower level demons were not only weaker in power, but generally also weaker in mind. They were easy to interrogate, easy to force answers out of them.

This demon had been no different. He quickly gave into Zeke, but shared no useful information. There was no point in him staying alive, so Zeke had vanquished him, huffing in dissatisfaction. Today, he wanted a fight. He wanted to be challenged. He wanted a demon he was evenly matched against. Because he needed to let out his frustration and anger. And what better way to do that than by vanquishing demons?

But then he remembered how he and Chris had met. Chris had been grieving, struggling to handle the loss of Piper. As a result, he'd been reckless, taking on large groups of demons, barely surviving. Wyatt and Victor had tried to talk him out of it but they failed. Zeke had been the one to stop him. Chris likely wouldn't be alive if it weren't for the half demon.

Chris.

Zeke sighed. Chris was the main reason why Zeke was feeling so frustrated. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't anyone's. But that just made Zeke feel worse.

They'd both been stretched thin, working hard day and night. It had started off with simply trying to survive, trying to live to continue fighting the next day. And it had been exhausting, both mentally and physically.

Then it had got possibly worse when they'd travelled to the past. They were trying to find the demon that turned Wyatt, while working to keep anyone from finding out who they were. Zeke knew it was especially hard for Chris, having to hide who he was from his own family. And to see his family alive and well again, after them being dead for so long in the future. Chris was growing weary, even if he didn't show it, and he was starting to take it out on other people.

No, it wasn't Chris's fault. Zeke knew that. Like everyone else, Chris had a breaking point, and it was only natural that he'd snap every now and then. Even so, Zeke didn't want to see him any time soon. He was struggling himself, but it seemed like Chris didn't care. Just like it seemed he never gave Zeke's ideas a second thought.

So, against his better judgement, Zeke shimmered away, searching for a challenge, a powerful demon to fight.

Something was off and Chris knew it. The three of them… they appeared to be the Charmed Ones, but they just weren't acting like themselves.

The first thing was Phoebe and Paige hitting on him. The horror of having both his aunts flirt with him aside, it just didn't seem like them. Especially since when they first met, Paige had been suggesting to castrate him. Wasn't Phoebe in a relationship? She wouldn't be hitting on him if she was.

The second thing was the dead body on the floor. Chris's eyes had been drawn to it the second he'd orbed into the house. Piper had told him they were investigating a murder, but she'd very clearly hesitated. Besides, Phoebe and Paige would definitely have told him about that before they chose to flirt. They just weren't acting like themselves, and it was confusing Chris.

Nevertheless, he had to go to the astral plane. He needed to find out where that athame was from, on the off chance those three women were the Charmed Ones.

"I'm onto you three," Chris said, sitting casually in the chair, the athame appearing in his hand. "You thought you could fool me, but you can't."

He watched their reactions carefully. All three sister's adopted a look of fear, panic, worry. That was odd. If the Charmed Ones really sent him on a wild goose chase so they didn't have to hunt demons, they wouldn't look that panicked. Guilty maybe, but not panicked.

They lied their way out of it, saying they had needed time to investigate the murder. But it didn't seem legitimate. They were acting too suspicious, too unlike themselves. Chris needed to watch them carefully.

He sighed, wishing Zeke was here to help him figure out what was going on. But he was in the Underworld, busy vanquishing demons, and Chris didn't have any way to contact him, or any way to know when he would be back. Added to that, Zeke had seemed a bit off too. He was quieter, more weary, his smiles were forced, and Chris wasn't sure why.

After receiving a message from a few gremlins, supposedly passed on from Paige, Chris orbed to the manor. He wasn't sure whether to trust them or not, but something weird had been happening and he needed to find out what it was.

When he got there, he found two groups of sisters, arguing about who were the real Charmed Ones. With each word spoken, it became clearer and clearer what had happened, and who the real sisters were. Finally, he managed to get them to argue, revealing themselves as imposters.

"How did you know it was us?" Piper asked.

"Well in all my life, I have never seen you take the bait the way that witch took it from you."

"In all your life? You've only known us for two months," Phoebe said.

"Let's just reverse the magic," Chris said, avoiding the question, furious with himself for slipping up and letting on that he knew more about the sisters than they thought he did.

To make matters worse, Leo knew it was him that sent him to Valhalla. Leo had made it quite clear when Chris had later approached him about the rumour. Chris sighed. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't keep hiding his true identity, not when Leo obviously distrusted him.

What he needed was Zeke, to guide him, to support him, to just be there.

Leo was… confused. Even since Chris and Zeke had come to the past, his emotions had been conflicted.

Zeke had claimed to be a witch, and Chris had claimed to be a whitelighter. But Leo knew that Chris had been the one to send him to Valhalla. Why though? And why, even after everything he'd done, did Leo still feel love and protectiveness towards Chris?

If Chris was who he said he was, he was definitely a good being. So why had he been accompanied by Zeke? For all he claimed to be a witch, and all Chris trusted him, Leo didn't trust Zeke. He wasn't sure why exactly, but his instincts told him to be wary around him.

No, Leo couldn't understand. It was complex, confusing, and nothing made sense.