The following morning Chris awakened from one of the best nights of sleep he had in the longest time. There had been no nightmares. When he went downstairs he found his cousin serving their grandfather some breakfast. Once again she had whipped up a delicious meal; this time it was eggs benedict. After they all had eaten Prue left to catch the bus to school, and Victor was off to an appointment that he did not explain to his grandson.
And so Chris found himself alone in the apartment with nothing to do but start getting ready for work. He had a job at the local post office which he did not particularly enjoy, but it gave him something to do during the day, and at least he felt as if he was contributing something financially to his family. Of course his Grandfather did have more than a modest amount of money, but Chris did not feel right simply sponging off of Victor. He was an adult and needed to earn his own money.
Before Chris was able to leave however, black orbs appeared before him. Chris knew who it was before he had even fully appeared: Wyatt. Chris had not seen his brother for a few months, and he preferred it that way. Facing his brother simply dredged up all of the bad things that had happened in his life. Besides, he was always trying to remain in denial about what his brother had become, as well as the fact that he would eventually have to engage his brother in battle. Chris was a Halliwell and he had to protect the innocent. Wyatt was the source of all evil and Chris knew that he had to be brought down. Despite this knowledge, Chris was simply not ready yet to fully face that fact , and that was why he preferred it when his brother was simply absent from his life.
Here Wyatt was now though and Chris would have no choice but to deal with him. Upon arriving Wyatt's first words to his brother were "Chris, it's been awhile, and I am glad to see you, hopefully you feel the same." The younger Halliwell simply replied in a cold tone, asking his brother just what he wanted. "I have come to warn you" Wyatt began. "I am making my move to take over the mortal world. I do not want you getting hurt. Join me and we can share in the power together." Chris responded by saying "you know that I won't. You are evil, and I am not, I will not help you kill innocent people." Wyatt took a deep breath feeling the anger rising inside of him, but refusing to let it get to him just yet, continued to try and convince his brother, "Everyone is going to die eventually Chris. I am meant to rule the world and if lives have to end for me to fulfill my destiny than so be it." Chris: "That is bullshit, and you know that Wyatt, our destiny is to protect the innocent and you turned your back on that." "Give me a break Chris, being selfless and good gets you nowhere. Look at our entire family, they all died before their time all because of their twisted morals. Us Halliwells we have gifts, powers and we should use them for ourselves." Wyatt countered. Chris was becoming increasingly disturbed. "You're the one with twisted morals Wyatt." Chris yelled back. "And it is because of you that Mom and Aunt Phoebe are dead."
And that was it, Wyatt was set off. He violently waved his arm in the air and threw Chris into the wall using his telekinesis. "Fool," he exclaimed. "By not joining me you are going to lose every one you love, you will regret this decision. Perhaps then you will reconsider." Chris recovering from the blow answered back "I will not let you hurt anyone else." Than Chris' voice turned a little softer asking his brother in a pleading tone "What happened to you Wy, what was it that caused you to turn.?" "That doesn't matter, all that matters is power, and I am going to get it. Yes… eventually I will have absolute power over the entire world." With those words Wyatt orbed out, leaving Chris alone once again and now with the realization that it was time. He had to stop his brother, one way or another.
Upon returning to the underworld, and still fuming from the confrontation with his brother, Wyatt called for Granchus. Wyatt's most trusted minion, who happened to be an upper level demon arrived immediately. "It is time." Wyatt stated. "We will cast the spell compelling all good witches to expose their powers." Granchus smiled mischievously and answered: "all right, lets get this show on the road."
Meanwhile Chris was simply to distracted to go into work and so he opted to call in sick. He needed to figure out just what his brother was up to and then find a way to thwart him. Chris decided his best course of action was to summon Devon, a half demon who was the product of a manticore and a mortal man. Derek, Devon's father had been a close friend of the charmed ones after they helped him rescue his son from the manticore clan. Despite his half-demon nature Devon had fought his innate tendency toward evil for most of his life. However, since his father had been murdered by some of Wyatt's minions, Devon had become tediously close to giving in to his need for revenge, and his close childhood friendship with Chris had slowly deteriorated. After all Chris' brother was the one responsible for his father's murder and as far as Devon saw things Chris had let it happen.
In the events leading up to Derek's demise, Prue had received a premonition of the impending doom. Wyatt had viewed Devon as a strong potential ally and knew that Derek was the only thing stopping Devon from embracing his evil nature. That was why he put a hit out on the mere mortal. At the time Chris was only seventeen and was still reeling from the loss of his Aunt Phoebe which had happened only a month earlier. Regardless Chris had seemed determined to keep his friend from losing his only parent.
In the end though Chris had failed. Wyatt foresaw Chris' interference and acting accordingly set up a distraction. He cast a spell that elicited hallucinations, causing Chris to see Piper, alive and in need of her youngest sons protection. As a result Chris had been busy protecting his imaginary mother while Devon's father was lost. Consequently, Devon blamed Chris for not being there to help protect Derek, and never accepted the explanation that Wyatt had been playing with Chris' mind. Although the half manticore had fiercely tried to protect his father on his own, it was not enough. He had needed the back-up his best friend had promised him, but it never came.
Despite the fact that Chris had not spoken to the man who was once his closest friend in over three months, he knew he needed Devon's help. After all Devon was half demon, and was thus able to infiltrate the demonic ranks and often come out with much needed information. Devon had done just that several times before while helping the Halliwells in their fight against evil, and Chris needed him to do it again. He had to find out what Wyatt was planning.
Upon being summoned, Devon did not seem all to thrilled to see Chris, but he was still curious to see what his former best friend wanted. Chris was first to break the uncomfortable silence: "Devon I know we have our issues, but I need your help, Wyatt is about to make a major move and I have to find a way to stop him." "Right because you have always been so successful in thwarting all of Wyatt's other plans ," Devon answered bitterly, and he could tell he had struck a nerve.
"I have apologized and explained so many times for what happened, I do not know what else to say. Your father was like an uncle to me, its not like I did not want to save him" Chris shot back. He regretted to this day that he had allowed Wyatt to deceive him, and keep him from helping two of the people he had always felt closest to. "Of course. I forgot, you wanted to help it just turned out that your supposed back from the dead mother was more important to you." With this statement Devon knew he had simply gone to far. Yes he blamed Chris for his fathers death, but with all of their history he could not help but still care somewhat for the guy who had always been his closest friend. Plus he knew that bringing up Piper's death was the one thing that hurt Chris the most. As Chris flinched, Devon quickly apologized.
"Okay, I am not promising that I will help just yet, but what is it that you need from me? Why do you think Wyatt is suddenly going to 'make a move' as you said?" Devon asked, changing the subject. "Well, I sensed it first but Wyatt telling me that he was preparing to take over the world was the biggest hint." Chris answered "So that power hungry bastard now wants to take over the world huh." Devon commented. "Yep and I need you to find out just how he plans to do it. I would do it myself but I don't really have the greatest demonic connections just yet." after a brief uncomfortable silence Chris continued "I would not be asking you if I had any other choice." After Devon took a few moments to think he finally responded. "All right. I'll do it. That asshole murdered my father so I will be happy to cause him as much misery as possible." Although Chris did not completely like the other man's motives, he was happy to have his help. "I'll be back as soon as I find something out." And with that Devon shimmered out.