Soul Survival

Disclaimer:

I assure you, I do not own Charmed, nor the characters in it.

Summary:

What if in "Soul Survivor", Chris and Leo went to the future, instead of to the soldiers? What if Leo got a taste of how bad the future really will be if Wyatt isn't saved?

AU, Chris isn't related to the Halliwell's but is a friend of the family.

AN:

I've been trying to get around to this for a long time now, however, only recently did inspiration strike me. Thank you inspiration, thank you very much. I'd also like to say a big thanks to Soul Of Sorrow for beta reading this for me, as well as for resisting the urge to correct my British spellings, I know it must have been a challenge, I know that from experience, lol. I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to you in partial light of that. I would have wanted to get this done in time for your birthday, but it just didn't work out, sorry, but here you go.

Oh, and something else, if anybody wants to read a really cool story, then check out Like Night And Day by Soul Of Sorrow, it's definitely worth reading. However, don't go there just yet, get to the bottom of this chapter and leave a nice little review while you're there, that would be very nice of you. Flames, however, will be taken and put into storage in preparation for my assault on my school and all the cretins in it. I listen to heavy metal, don't think I won't do it!

Chapter 3: Difficult Conversation

All Leo could do was gape. He had another son! Chris knew and said nothing. And where the hell was Wyatt? If the world in this time was as bad as it looked, then shouldn't the Twice Blessed be involved? Surely his knowledge and magical ability, let alone his family history made him automatically the most suitable person to lead an organization such as this?

At Leo's non-reaction, the two half-breeds shared a look before Darren returned his attention to his father.

"You may want to take a seat, it might take a while to digest what you're about to hear."

After hearing these words, the Elder managed to compose himself enough to look around and spot the chair in front of the desk. He just about managed to make it there and remain conscious before Darren walked behind it and began to search through the drawers, pulling out file after file, placing them in a pile on the desk. He then straightened up and handed them to Chris.

"These should bring you up-to-date on what you've missed, if you got any questions or anything you know who to ask, right?"

Looking at the pile now in his hands, going nearly up to his chin from his elbow, Chris gave his friend a look of incredulity, "I can't have been gone this long!"

"Yes you have, you know how much can happen here in six weeks, let alone six months, it shouldn't really be that surprising." Darren replied, enjoying the perplexed look on his friends' face, something not many people saw very often any more.

"Thanks, I guess. Later." He said, still eyeing the pile, but backing away toward the door, before exiting through it.

"Later. Happy reading." Darren called out, receiving a muffled "Yeah right" in reply.

Finding himself alone with his father for the first time in God only knew how many years. He was, quite frankly, really surprised at the self-restraint he was exercising around the man 'probably thanks to my experience when dealing with Wyatt' He mused, taking a seat behind his desk.

"So…" he started lamely, attempting to get the ball rolling, but failing dismally, trying to find a way to get him out of there as soon as humanly possible.

"So." Leo replied, equally as awkward. For once, and he never thought he'd think such a thing in a million years, but he would rather have had Chris in the room, at least that way there would be someone there that he was somewhat familiar with.

The inpatient rebel-leader in him winning out, Darren Halliwell snapped himself back to reality he had a job to do after all. 'Things can't exactly get much worse now can they?' He thought, before addressing the Elder before him.

"I take it Chris forgot to tell you about me, huh?"

"Among other things." Leo replied, still rather tense, shaken, not quite sure what was what, and definitely not liking it.

"Well, here I am. Yours and Piper Halliwell's second child, although, you know, not so much a child anymore. I'm not quite the Twice Blessed, but I'm not exactly a weakling either, when the grand scheme of things is taken into account." He stopped here, taking the time to gage Leo's reaction, guessing how much further he could go.

"How can Piper and I have another child? We're getting a divorce, I'm an Elder, we've practically split up." 'What the hell was going on here, who is this? What does he think he's trying to pull here?' He thought, too puzzled to articulate anything.

Deciding it safer to steer the conversation away from this particular topic for a while, he chose to change tack. "So how much has Chris told you exactly?"

"Not much. Whenever we try to ask him anything he says 'Future Consequences' and either changes the subject or gets out of there as fast as he can. When he first showed up he turned me into an Elder, the Charmed Ones into the Greek Gods, banished me to Valhalla, weaseled his way into my families' lives, and has since sent them on non-stop demon hunts. The only reason he's ever given in defense for it was that a demon was going to attack Wyatt, the future had been turned into a world of darkness, and that he was sent to try to stop it. The second one I'm now starting to believe, but even so, I hardly think the means justify the end he's trying to achieve. I'm not even convinced he has the interests of the greater good in mind." Leo said, his interest suddenly peeked, as his anger rose to the surface.

"That's it? All he's ever said other than that is 'Future Consequences'?" Darren asked, eager for confirmation. When Leo nodded, he sat back in his chair, releasing a sigh of relief, far more relaxed with the situation now that he knew where he stood, or at least had a better idea. Speaking more to himself than Leo he continued, "Typical Chris." He chuckled. "Honestly, the guy's like a safe when it comes to information and secrets. A little annoying at times though." He was stopped from going any further when the Elder spoke up.

"What is going on here?" Leo asked. "Why, no, how is there a war going on here, and where the hell are Wyatt and the Charmed Ones?" That's it. He was getting tired of this, he wanted answers and he was going to get them! He needed to know who Chris was, what the risk he posed to his family was, where the rest of his family was, and what the hell had happened to the world?

Understanding his fathers' mood, and acknowledging his need for information, Darren took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts, making sure that he could satisfy his father, without putting too much at risk.

Glancing up and meeting his fathers' gaze, he decided to start the story. A story which so many people lived as reality, himself being no exception.

"The reason, Leo, that the world is in its' current state is because The Source came to power eight years ago, and led his hordes of demons top-side, out of the Underworld, and declared war. None of us saw it coming, not the Elders, not any Oracles, and not the Charmed Ones.

"The first surge, the first wave he sent, took the lives of 786 witches about 600 whitelighter, and 8000 mortals. We were completely unprepared for it. It became known as the Initial Blast in the months that followed. It caused as much destruction and loss of life as a particularly powerful earthquake in terms of numbers." He paused to observe how the Elder was holding up. Leo was sat stock still, face slightly pale, and didn't seem to be responsive. "It gets worse, believe me," Darren continued, wanting to get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

"The following week he launched an attack on the manor, during which he revealed his identity. First, he sent a wave of warlocks. We could handle them okay, we'd had enough experience with them sure enough. We'd gotten a few scrapes and bruises here and there, but other than that, we still had all our powers and had remained conscious, normally that qualifies as peachy around here. Next, he sent a wave of different types of demons, some shape-shifters, other of more reptilian species, and some other lower levels; we took them out too, but we were wearing out, and he knew it.

The third wave, however, was not so simple to dispatch. As soon as the lower levels became piles of ash, about thirty upper levels shimmered or flamed in. They were relentless, unstoppable, scarily powerful, bloodthirsty killing machines. All of them had only one thing in mind: to spill as much Halliwell blood as physically possible, without actually killing us, and to collect our powers." He stopped, needing to catch his breath before continuing, needing to stabilise himself before he let the memory flood his mind. Leo was also somewhat grateful for the slight pause, or at least the pallor of his skin seemed to suggest so, he remained wordless.

Finally deciding that he was capable of going on, Darren continued his account of the events marking one of the worst days of his life, and one of the darkest ever seen in the magical community. "They worked fast. Wore us out quickly, efficiently and had us all battered, bloody and easily restrained before long. Then, everything paused, everything other than the pooling blood on the floor anyway, as they waited for their master to arrive. They didn't say a word the whole time they were in our home. Only just grunting and screaming when they were injured or vanquished, which wasn't often, and then waited in silence. Suddenly a dark figure shimmered into the hallway where we were gathered, cloaked in black.

"Then perhaps the most painful thing about that day happened; we found out who was responsible for what had been done to us and our home. We found out who orchestrated the slaughter of so many people a week before, as well as ripping our family apart. Mom was destroyed the moment the cloak was pulled off of his head; she could have died more peacefully had she not known the identity of her murderer." He had to stop there. The memory was simply too much to walk through, it always was. But he knew he'd have to continue if he was ever to get Leo to understand.

Taking another deep breath, he forced the approaching tears back, somewhere he could lose them for now, they could come back with a vengeance later on, but now he needed to focus. "When he revealed his face, none of us wanted it to be true, he was a shape-shifter, that was the only explanation, just a shape-shifter. When we saw who it was that was to end us… It just couldn't be true." Sighing, deciding to finally drop the bombshell he'd ordered Chris not to, he told Leo the words he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. "When we saw it with our own eyes who it was that was to end us, we couldn't kid ourselves anymore. Somehow, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell had gained control of the Underworld and became The Source."

Leo was breathless. Lies, it had to be lies. There was simply no way his son, his pride and joy, his angel, was capable of such a feat. He did not have it in him, literally. Unable to accept such heresy, Leo jumped to his feet and boomed "My son is not evil! He can't be, he's meant to grow up to save the world, not condemn it, and there is no way he will work with demons, let alone command them! No son of mine would dream of it."

Unwilling to put up with such blind ignorance, Darren matched his father's outburst; rising to his feet, planting his hands on his desk and leaning forward slightly. "Wake up and smell the coffee Leo! A persons DNA does not define them. Their choices do. And your precious son chose world domination and warfare. He chose to kill his own mother, aunts, uncles and cousins. He chose to enslave everything less powerful than himself. He chose to slaughter everyone who disagreed with him. He chose to make life not worth living for those he captures. You've seen what he did up there." He pointed upwards, indicating street-level San Francisco. "And you've seen the people here. Seen how scared and desperate they are. He did that."

Leo sat down, short of breath, face pale, as he realized the severity of the situation he had found himself in.

After a few minutes he found his voice. "But… How? How did we let this happen? Where did we go wrong?"

Satisfied that his father had seen the light, so to speak, he also sat down: a deep and tired sigh escaping his lips. "I don't know exactly what happened to him. All I know is that it must have been the result of some kind of outside influence which had managed to get to him. A demon. One which must have been either a forgotten threat once vanquished, the consequences of its actions not registered. Or it must have acted with such stealth that it hadn't even shown up on anybody's radar as a threat of any kind at all. I do know that it must have gotten to Wyatt when he was very young, before I was born. That's why Chris had to go back so far to try to stop it."

Leo suddenly perked up at this. He had completely forgotten about Chris, and with the reminder, returned his distrust and curiosity about the time-traveler. "You sent him? Why? Why not come yourself?" He was genuinely puzzled, a feeling he realized he was fast becoming used to. "If it was a family member then it would have saved a lot of problems, we would have trusted you much more willingly for one."

"You say that now Leo. If I had shown up and told you all 'Hi, I'm your unborn son from the future. I'm here to stop my big brother growing up to kill everybody, little help please?' Would you have believed me?"

"Okay, probably not too much more easily, but it would still have been better than sending a complete stranger."

Shaking his head in disagreement and taking a deep breath, Darren elaborated. "I couldn't go because if I did Wyatt would have known instantly, and this place would be left defenseless. The defensive magic protecting this place; the glamouring spells on the exits, the undetectable force-field around this base and many others around the world, the warning systems, the scanning barriers, everything protecting these people within the confines of the Resistance is linked to my magic specifically. If I were to leave this plane or this time then this place would crumble. There is no back-up plan in place which would stand any real chance at protecting the population. There is nowhere even for them to retreat to." Darren finished.

"Did Chris have to be the one you sent though, if you ad to stay, surely there's someone better than him around?" Leo asked.

"I sent Chris because he is the best choice. You're my family. He's the only one I would trust with a job like this. He's not only one of the best operatives we have; he's one of my most trusted friends. He is the only one with the powers and capabilities needed to fulfill a mission such as this, who is still alive. There is no one else I could have sent."

That answer only frustrated the Elder further. He could not understand the situation; how could anyone trust Chris so much, from what he knew of him, it was impossible. "What? How the hell can you trust him? Do you even know what he's been doing? He had me turned into an Elder, he broke up my marriage, he's caused more trouble in our lives than anything else has ever done, and you sent him to us!" Leo exclaimed, perplexed beyond recognition.

Darren couldn't resist chuckling at this. "Yeah, that sounds like something he'd do. When he has something he needs to do, something important, he'll do pretty much anything to do it. Besides, that stuff would have happened anyway, he just moved up the schedule a little. You and mom were having problems before he even showed up, if my memory serves me right, it really was just a matter of time. As for the Elder thing, I really don't think I should explain any of that just now, but it was meant to happen, it really was the only thing that could have destroyed the Titans. Oh, and the Valhalla thing, I told him to do that too. He needed to get you out of the way temporarily, and that was the only thing we could think of. It's better than one of Wyatt's cells anyway, which is where you'll end up if the timeline isn't fixed."

The sobering look on his father's face told him all he needed to know. The Elder was too new to this, too unsettled to really understand anything more if he heard it. With a sigh he decided to give the man something to distract him with for the moment. "Listen, you'll probably be here for a while, since I don't know exactly how long that'll be, why don't we go get you settled in here, I'm sure there's an empty place somewhere you can call your own for the time being." At the nod he received from the older man, he proceeded to the door, indicating for Leo to follow him.

As they stepped out into the bustle of the command centre a million things swept through Leo's mind. None of which he could focus on as he finally looked around at the people around him. The people of the future; the people he was meant to protect. He took in the pallor of most of them, realized how they must spend most of their time underground. He noticed how skinny most of them were, suddenly thinking of how Piper may inch toward a kitchen at such a sight. And then he took in the looks on all of their faces. Most of them wore looks of exhaustion, as though this world was sucking the very life out of them. On some faces he read anger as the driving force seeing them through it. On others an ebbing hope; slowly dying with them. On others however, he could hardly read anything, no anger, no sadness, no hope, nothing. He saw the same expression Chris usually wore, or lack thereof and suddenly realized where it must have came from. His son.

Thanks for getting this far, you've accomplished something, most probably. Please add a little review, at least in gratitude for all the hours I spent slaving away at this, all for your enjoyment. Pretty please.