Chapter five:
"Chris" Leo responded. "We have a huge problem, as you know magic has been exposed. What's even worse though is the cleaners are nowhere to be found so there is no one to fix this mess." "It's great to see you too dad" Chris answered sarcastically. He had not seen his Dad in over a year and now Leo had just shown up pretending like everything was fine.
Ever since Leo had become an elder when Chris was only three, he was almost never around, particularly when it was Chris that had needed him. Despite his calling as an elder, Leo had tried to remain a presence in his family's life, but to Chris it seemed that Leo had been there only for Wyatt, while he had neglected Chris. His feelings were not unjustified either, Leo had always tried to guide Wyatt more than Chris as he had always sensed that Wyatt was troubled, ever since he had been kidnapped and taken to the underworld, as a toddler. Chris, however had not seemed as burdened, and although Leo had tried to devote time to his second son as well, "elder business" had always seemed to get in the way. The elder wrote many letters to his younger son apologizing and explaining his absence, but he knew that it just wasn't enough. He sensed that his second son always resented him because of that.
The real breaking point in the relationship between father and son however, was when Leo had failed to come when Chris called the day that Piper died. Leo had been preoccupied in an elder council meeting and so he was unable to come to the manor until much later. He had mistakenly assumed his son simply wanted to see his father on his birthday. When he did finally arrive at the Halliwell residence he learned what had happened, that Piper was dead. Leo had never forgiven himself for not coming when his son had called, and he certainly did not blame Chris for not forgiving him either.
Now however, Leo was hoping they could simply put their issues aside as they needed to work together. "Chris I know that we do not have the best relationship, but we need to work together, this is a serious problem that we are facing." Leo stated hoping to ease some of the awkwardness between them. "Okay, well I think it is safe to assume that Wyatt is responsible for the cleaners' sudden disappearance." Chris began, treating the conversation with his father as just business, "and their really is nothing else that can undo what has happened. Simple memory dust is not going to work, there are simply to many people involved." "Right" Leo responded. "and you have done good so far bringing as many witches as possible to a safe place, and managing to reverse the spell so no more witches are forced into exposing their powers." "So the spell definitely worked?" Chris asked his father. "Yep" Leo answered, he was so proud of what his youngest son had been able to accomplish.
He knew however, that he could not take credit for the great man Chris had become. It was all Piper's doing; she raised him right. The son he had influenced most however, had become the source of all evil, and Leo would never forgive himself for how he failed his family. He could not dwell on that now though, he needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
"I think the best course of action now is for me sense any other remaining witches in the city, and bring them here. The more power we have on our side the better." Leo told his son. "Agreed." Chris commented. At that moment the door to the back office swung open and Prue walked in. "Chris, everyone out…" upon seeing Leo she stopped in the middle of her sentence. "Uncle Leo, what are you doing here?" Prue did not know her uncle all that well, but she certainly was aware of all the issues between Chris and his father. She could feel the tension between them. "uh, he is here to help us out with everything that is going on. The elders are very concerned now that magic has been exposed." Chris answered, before Leo could respond. "Right" the young witch responded…"well we can use whatever help we can get" she continued hoping to lighten the mood.
"Anyway I came in here tell you that all of our guests out there are getting a little restless. They want to know exactly what is going on, and well since this was basically your plan, we all figured that you should be the one to address them all. After all you know the most about what is going on right." "Yeah I know" Chris answered his cousin. "I was just about to come out when uh…Leo orbed in." Leo winced at his son referring to him by his name rather than by dad. Chris either didn't notice or pretended not to. Considering his fathers feeling right now wasn't really at the top of his list.
"Right," Leo broke in, "so you go address the crowd and I will go find however many remaining witches there may be in the area." Leo told his son. "It is great to see you." he added before orbing out. Chris turned to his cousin giving her a look that said he did not want to talk about it. "I guess I have to go play leader than huh." Prue just nodded. "Okay." Chris said and then left the office to inform his troops about the entire situation.
As all this was happening up at P3, Wyatt was down in the underworld, continuing to celebrate the success his plan had enjoyed thus far. He knew though that he would have to get back to business, and execute the next step in his plan. Have his demons, especially the ones that had a human from, use powers that both white and dark magic shared, to kill innocents. This way people would not only fear witches because they did not understand them, but because they were murderers.
Wyatt realized that in doing this he would have to accept the loss of some of his demons, but considering the reward, they were expendable. After all, it would take a lot of magic to coerce good witches into killing, so this would use a lot less of his energy. Besides mere mortals would not understand that there are good and bad witches, they would simply lump all of them together, labeling them all as murderers. And so Wyatt summoned the mass of demons he had selected for the mission to his chambers. "It is time for the next step in the plan" he announced once they arrived. "Go, have a killing spree, that is until I swoop in and save the day." The demons obeyed, all shimmering or flaming out after Wyatt gave the word. "Things are coming along perfectly." The source of evil said to himself. "yep, perfectly."
Meanwhile back at P3 Chris had just finished addressing the crowd. He first introduced himself as Christopher Halliwell, son of the eldest charmed one, and yes brother to the source of all evil. This had elicited lots of murmuring from the crowd, but he managed to assure them that he was not evil, or aligned with his brother in any way. He informed them that Wyatt was the one responsible for the exposure and that the cleaners had disappeared, but that Wyatt's spell had been reversed so no more witches would be forced into revealing their magic. Chris also explained that he believed getting as many witches to safety as P3 was very important, as they needed to band together if they were going to be able to stop Wyatt. He also told them that the elders were also willing to help and one of them was already out searching for witches to bring them to the abandoned club.
He was also honest about the fact that, so far he had not developed a plan to undo all the damage Wyatt had caused, but that he intended to discover what Wyatt's next move would be. (Earlier Devon had agreed to go back underground and see if he could find out how Wyatt was planning to use magic's exposure to his advantage.) He told them for now they had to sit tight and just wait for information to come in and then they could strategize and formulate a plan.
The young man was now once again in the back office of the former nightclub trying to grasp the idea, that everyone out there; his cousin, his friends, and all the other witches were looking to him for guidance, and a way out of this mess. Chris just was not sure if he could handle it. For the first half of his life, he had been the younger brother looking to Wyatt for answers to all his questions. As a child Chris used to think that his brother knew everything. Now though Wyatt had turned into someone that Chris didn't even recognize, and with his mom and Aunts gone, he was good magic's best chance. He simply wasn't sure if he good be the great leader everyone needed him to be. Still though he knew that he could not let down those he loved, so he would do his best.
While Chris had been sitting around thinking all of this to himself, Prue had came into the office. At first Chris did not even notice. She was not sure if she should disrupt his thoughts and was about to leave to give Chris more time to himself when he noticed that she was there. "You don't have to go." He told his cousin. "frankly, I need a distraction from my own thoughts or I will drive myself crazy." "You did great out there" Prue commented. "Everyone out there trusts you. You have given them hope that all is not lost." Sometimes Chris could simply not believe how mature his cousin was for her age, and smart too. He often felt that she was the one taking care of him, when he knew it should be the other way around.
"I trust you too. I know you will find a way for us to get out of this mess. We will all help you too, you are not alone in this." "I know" Chris replied. "Anyway, enough about me, how are you coping with all of this." "Well, I am doing all right, as long I have you and Sean I know everything will be okay. Even if being a witch makes me a target for arrest and execution." She meant it as a joke even though she knew it was quite serious. "All right if you say so, but if you need anything I am here." Chris promised his cousin. "I know and the same goes for me. By the way I called Grandpa a little while ago to let him know what was going on and to tell him that we were okay." "Good" Chris answered, "I don't want him to worry and I have been so preoccupied I didn't even think of it." "Well that's why you have me, for the common sense things." Prue smiled at her cousin before turning the conversation to something more somber.
"You saw him earlier, didn't you? That was why you weren't at work when I called you about my vision." Prue asked. "I can't hide anything from you huh kid." His cousin gave him a look that said I'm not no kid. "Yep, he stopped by the apartment this morning. He wanted to warn me that he was planning to take over the world, asked me to join him again. I refused so he threatened me, you know, the usual." Prue knew her older cousin was making it out to be less of a deal than it really was. She knew how much it hurt Chris that the older brother he always loved and looked up to so much no longer existed. She knew because it hurt her too. Even though she was only ten when Wyatt turned, she still remembered the fiercely protective cousin she thought of as an older brother. And that same person had turned into the twisted being that murdered her mother. It was simply too much to deal with so she always tried not to think about it.
Chris could see his baby cousin was upset. As mature as she was, he knew that when the topic of Wyatt came up she couldn't help thinking of what he did to her mother. "Don't worry, we'll stop him. Everything will be okay." and with those words he took Prue into his arms to console her. Suddenly she was thrust into a premonition. She saw flashes of demons, using various powers to kill innocent people, it was just too much for her . The worst part however was the last flash she saw. In it she saw Wyatt thrust an energy ball her way, but it did not hit her. Sean had jumped in front of her and took the hit instead. Suddenly, she could feel her knees buckling underneath her, and then everything went black.
Chris managed to hold her up as she lost consciousness. He knew whatever she saw must have been big. "Prue, sweetie wake up." He pleaded. Even unconscious, she seemed to be in distress, and she started hyperventilating. He felt helpless looking down at his cousin in this seemingly panicked state. "Leo" he called hoping against hope that his dad would come and be able to heal his cousin.