Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed world belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Hmm, I think I'll post this chapter and then hide. Some of you will like it and others of you will hate it. But I can't please everyone, now can I?
Chapter 17 Nothing's Changed
How had things gotten so messed up? Everything was working out so well and then all of sudden boom, they were right back to square one. Well worse than square one actually. Now he not only had to worry about his brother becoming evil but he'd have to worry about himself also. Part of him didn't believe that there was any way in hell that he'd be turned. His younger self knew what was at stake and what Barbas wanted. Wouldn't he fight with everything he had to stay good? Chris certainly hoped so. But that was asking a lot of a little kid.
Then there was his family. He wanted so desperately to blame them for everything that had went wrong. They were the ones that let Wyatt go. Wasn't there another way? Couldn't they have done something else? Yeah, they could have. They could have let him die. What a choice that was.
He growled in frustration as he paced the attic floor again trying to sense either of the children. Somehow Barbas was blocking that power and none of them had been able to do so yet.
Paige was trying to scry for the youngsters and Phoebe was working on a 'to call a lost witch' spell, neither of which seemed to be accomplishing their goal either.
Leo and Wyatt were standing in the corner speaking in hushed whispers going over ideas on how to vanquish Barbas once they found him and Piper was nearby trying to convince the Seer to have another vision. Chris felt slightly sorry for the demon, who was clutching the side of her head as if she had a splitting headache. And considering the fact that Piper was badgering her mercilessly it wouldn't surprise him if she did.
"This is not as easy as it looks, Witch," the Seer stated angrily as she pulled her hands away from her temples. "You are asking me to conjure a vision without the use of my seeing pool. I can normally do it, but it's just not as easy without it."
"Fine, Leo, bring her seeing pool here," Piper called out in frustration.
Everyone in the attic looked up at that and she received several strange looks. Paige was the first to respond though. "Piper, the basin that pool rests in is solid rock and probably weighs close to a ton. Are you planning on redecorating the house when you put in the new floor?"
Piper's eyes narrowed in aggravation, "Fine. I wasn't thinking straight."
Leo crossed over to his wife and wrapped her in a tight hug. "It's okay, honey. We are all under stress here." He turned to the Seer then. "If you think you can really get an image we can take you to your chambers. But this better not be a trap."
The Seer rolled her eyes at that. "Always so suspicious. Have I led you wrong yet?"
"There was the Darklighter welcoming party the last time we visited your home," Paige pointed out as she rolled up the map she was using and prepared to travel with them to the underworld.
"I told you, I had nothing to do with that," the demon piped up in a plaintive voice.
"Wyatt, bring Excalibur," Piper suggested giving the Seer a dangerous glance.
"Fine, let's just get this over with," the Seer said rather petulantly and shimmered away. She knew that Leo, Paige and Chris could all find their way back to the chambers now that they'd been there before.
Leo took Piper and Wyatt's hands and orbed them down to the underworld while Paige took Phoebe. Chris still feeling a little uneasy about the whole family thing went by himself.
Once they appeared they were rather pleased not to find any surprises waiting for them. The Seer was standing next to her basin and staring into the image she had just conjured. She wore a strained look as it played out before her.
"Well?" Paige asked impatiently.
"It looks like the best I can do is tell you where he'll be in about two hours," she answered still with a perplexed look on her face.
"How can you pinpoint a time? You told me earlier that it was not a precise thing," Leo asked suspiciously.
"Because there is a clock in the image," she answered rolling her eyes at the Elder.
"Okay, we know where he'll be and when to look for him there, so why do you look so upset?" Chris asked seeing just how tense the demon had become.
She looked up at Chris and smiled slightly. At least one of them was perceptive enough to catch it. "Because I don't know where this is." With that she motioned down to the image. "I've never seen this place before."
They all moved in close to the pool and watched the image of the Demon of Fear. He had both boys with him in what looked like some sort of office and he was staring at something next to the wall, which was covered with a curtain.
"That looks familiar for some reason," Leo muttered feeling as if he should know the place.
The sisters all just stared down at the image with blank stares. None of them recognized it either. Chris also couldn't recall what the place was but for some reason he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Wyatt had remained very still and very quiet but had started shaking his head back and forth at the image. "No, it can't be. That should have been destroyed years ago."
"You recognize that place, Wyatt?" Leo asked anxiously.
"Yeah, all of you really should too, but thanks to the Elders you don't," he commented his voice full of anger as he almost spat the word Elders out.
"What?" Piper asked in confusion.
Wyatt looked down and sighed heavily. "It's a really long story and I hadn't planned on bringing it up until everything was fixed."
"Well by the looks of that grandfather clock in the image I'd say we have nearly two hours, so I suggest you start talking, young man," Phoebe piped up. She could feel the emotional turmoil that her oldest nephew felt as he thought about whatever it was that he had been holding back from them.
Wyatt stared for a moment at Chris and a sad look crossed his face. Would his brother be up to hearing all of this right now? He certainly hoped so.
"I told you that the Athame that Barbas used on Chris was blessed by an Elder who died seven years ago. That office used to belong to that particular Elder and it's at Magic School," Wyatt began to explain.
"Magic School?" Paige asked her face holding a look of confusion.
Leo's eyes widened. "Yeah, I remember now. Magical children used to go there to study but for some reason the Elders closed it down a few years ago. I never could figure out why. I had actually thought about suggesting that we send Wyatt there but it didn't last that long."
"Well, in my changed future Chris and I will both eventually go there after Paige reopens it," Wyatt stated rather matter-of-factly. "But that's not important right now."
Paige was about to comment on her running a magic school but the look her nephew wore stopped her. There was something eating at him and it worried her to see it. "What is important, Wyatt?"
So Wyatt continued. "I don't know how to go into all of this. It's so complicated. None of us would have ever known about any of it if the Seer here hadn't come to us when I was about twelve and asked for our help. She showed us a lot of stuff that the Elders never wanted us to know."
"What didn't the Elders want us to know?" Piper asked glancing at Leo.
Chris' mouth suddenly went very dry and he felt a sick feeling creeping up his spine. Whatever his brother was trying to tell them directly affected him and he knew it, and whatever it was would change his life forever. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did.
"The truth about Chris," Wyatt answered staring at his brother with eyes full of sadness. "And about Gideon."
Once the name was spoken aloud Chris felt a sudden sense of vertigo and he stepped back and closed his eyes as thoughts began to pour into his mind. Thoughts and memories that seemed both familiar but also very alien to him.
Wyatt could see the distress his brother was in and hurried around the basin grabbing his arm. "Sorry, Chris. I forgot, this is how you reacted when she first told us about it too."
"What's wrong?" Piper asked also moving forward as her son leaned back against the cavern wall concern written clearly across her face.
"He's gaining a whole new set of memories. Memories from the first time a version of him traveled back through time," Wyatt explained kneeling in front of his brother who had went completely white as if he'd seen a ghost.
"The first time. What do you mean, Wyatt?" Phoebe asked as the rest of the family gathered around Chris who had leaned over and was clutching his knees as the memories all played through his head. Tears had started streaming from his eyes and he had begun to shake uncontrollably.
"Chris, maybe you should sit down," Leo suggested moving to his son's other side and gently taking his elbow in his hand. Chris had only barely heard him and allowed his father to help him to sit on the rock floor. He wore the look of someone who was only half there as his mind worked to process too much new information.
"I don't understand. Why would Chris be getting new memories? He always acted as if he knew most of what happened to him in the other times." Phoebe asked very worried by the distant look on her nephew's face.
"These memories are different. Most of them occurred before he was even born," Wyatt tried to explain. They had all figured it out together in the future that Wyatt was from. During the time that the new memories were from Chris wasn't even born yet but he still had gained all of those memories but they were locked deep inside his mind, too much for a newborn or even a child to process. So they had lain dormant for years until they were triggered by the name Gideon.
"Barbas wasn't the one who turned you," Chris whispered still locked in the memories but hearing his brother's voice anyway.
"No, Chris, the first time around it wasn't Barbas. Oh he helped. He blessed the Athame that brought my shield down but it was Gideon who was behind it all. He was afraid of me, of what I'd become, so he tried to kill me when I was just a toddler. But you came back in time and warned them. Dad stopped it from happening and killed Gideon," Wyatt said his voice full of love for the brother who had repeatedly done everything possible to save him.
Chris looked over to Wyatt and for the first time really looked at him since the memories had begun. "I died again, didn't I?"
These words brought a strangled sob from Piper. How many times would her son have to die before fate let him live a normal life?
Wyatt nodded and his head sunk feeling the pain of losing his brother all over again.
Chris looked around to everyone else surrounding them and his eyes landed on his father. "Dad was there, and Aunt Paige. They were crying."
Wyatt looked to his father and knew his words would hurt the man. "Yes, Chris, you died in Dad's arms and then your body just disappeared."
Piper sunk to the floor on her knees and felt all of the energy leave her. "Where was I? Why wasn't I there? I should have been there for him?"
Chris looked to his mother and a confused look passed over his face. "You were in the hospital, having a baby."
"What?" Piper's voice squeaked. "I think I'd remember having a baby several years ago."
Wyatt stood and paced over to the basin staring down into the vision it was showing. Somehow it had picked up on the memories going through his brother's head and he could see the cruel visage of an Elder that should have been their friend, but ended up being their worst betrayer. "You would remember it if the cleaners hadn't erased it all from your memories along with everything surrounding Gideon and the baby."
"They did what?" Piper seethed in anger. She gave Leo a look that clearly said he was dead if he knew anything about it.
Leo looked at her in complete shock. "I don't have any of those memories either."
Wyatt whirled around and faced them all. "An Elder betrayed our family. He was Dad's closest friend and mentor and once the other Elder's realized what he did, they erased everything about him from all of our memories and they also erased everything about Chris from our memories since Gideon killed him. They were ashamed and wanted to hide what had happened."
"But my baby," Piper said still thinking about the child that had been lost to her.
Wyatt looked pointedly at Chris. "Was not completely erased. But instead the demon members of the Tribunal secreted him away in the underworld, to be raised by demons himself, so he could be used as a weapon against you someday. But their plan backfired and he was found by three witches who fell very much in love with the small boy, as well they should have considering he belonged to them in the first place."
They all turned back to Chris who sat staring at his knees. The memories were all there. His original life growing up as a Halliwell and his mother and aunts dying and Wyatt turning evil. The first time he decided to go back through time to save his brother. The secrets he kept that time around also. Bianca's death. Aunt Phoebe discovering who he was on a vision quest. Trying to get his parents to hook up so he could be conceived. His mother's reaction when she learned he was hers. The fight with Leo while he was possessed by the Spider Demon. Forgiving his father. Gideon stabbing him with the Athame. Dying. Always dying.
"By the way, today's your birthday, Chris. Seven years old in this timeline. Twenty-three in ours," Wyatt added knowing how irrelevant the fact was but unable to keep his mouth shut as he watched so many emotions play over his brother's face.
Chris hadn't looked up from his knees yet as his mind still whirled through all of the new information he possessed. "Hmm, maybe I'll make it past twenty-three this time. Wouldn't that be a great birthday gift?" With this Chris started to chuckle and began to wonder if maybe all of this information was just too much for him to handle this time. Surely one mind could only withstand so much.
The entire family was still reeling from the newest revelation about their youngest family member but his words served to jar some sense into at least one of them. Leo reached out and laid one hand on his son's knee. "Chris, listen. I know this is a lot for you. You've gone through too much already and all of this isn't helping you any. I promise you that once this is over and you and your brother are both back home safe that you can take as much time as you need to work through all of this and we'll all be there for you."
Chris looked up to his father and knew without a doubt that he meant those words and he most certainly agreed that he'd need time and a lot of it.
Piper too had begun to come to her senses as she stared at her grown son but she realized that there was one thing that he probably needed to hear most right then. "Chris, you need to know that this doesn't change anything really."
Chris looked at her in confusion. Wouldn't knowing that she gave birth to him mean that she felt a stronger link to him? That's at least what he would have thought.
She reached out and gently stroked his cheek staring into those expressive green eyes that she had thought on a few occasions reminded her of Leo's. "Chris, I can't love you anymore than I already did before I learned the truth, because I already loved you more than words can ever describe. The only difference I can really see is that I want my memories back so I can have more memories of the time I got to spend with you before."
Chris swallowed hard hearing her words. He hadn't really thought about how this would affect their relationship or how his new memories might make them feel but those memories did contain some good times. Like the look on her face the first time he called her Mom or the way it felt when she hugged him and told him she loved him. He had let them love him that time around. Even his father, who had went so far as to bust him out of jail. And Paige and Phoebe had done everything they could to make sure that he had been conceived. "I want you to remember it too, Mom," he whispered knowing that she'd still love him just as much once she did.
Phoebe and Paige had also moved closer so they could try to assure their nephew of his place in there family. "Me too. I want to know how different things were that time around. What did we do when you told us who you were?" Phoebe agreed wondering if they had treated him any different than they had this time around.
Chris had to smile at that. Would they be surprised to know the truth? "I hate to admit it but I didn't tell you who I was that time around either. You actually figured it out on a vision quest, Phoebe."
"That figures," Paige piped up and then couldn't help adding a dig into the conversation. "Well at least we now know where he got that neurotic streak of his," Paige commented staring pointedly at Piper.
Piper swung around and looked at her sister giving her a dirty look. "That means you must be the source of all the sarcasm."
Paige smiled proudly at that thought. At least he got one thing from her. "Well there is one thing we know he didn't get from Phoebe," she added smiling at her middle sister.
Phoebe gave her a questioning look and Chris couldn't help answering that one himself. "I can keep a secret."
"Ha, ha… Very funny, future boy," Phoebe came back turning and walking back towards the Seer's pool.
The Seer had been watching all of this and was ready to gag from the whole family togetherness thing but she knew better than to interrupt them. So instead she watched the image in the pool, which had reverted back to the one of Barbas and the children. Something about the vision struck her as strange. He was speaking to the children and motioning to the item behind the curtain. After a few moments he reached up and pulled the curtain down and the picture before her became even stranger than it had been before. "Not to break up the little family reunion or anything but would one of you future heroes mind looking at this and telling my what is going on."
Even though he felt a little on the shaky side Chris needed to know what was in the vision that was bothering her, so he stood and joined his brother at the seeing pool. They both looked into the water and neither spoke for several long moments as looks of dread crossed their faces, then finally Piper couldn't stand the suspense. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Chris and Wyatt stared to each other and everyone could see the look they shared and none of them liked it. "Chris, if he does what I think he's gonna do, what happens to us?"
Chris stayed silent for a moment as he thought of the only logical way that this could turn out. "Well, Wyatt, if that's the case I hope you enjoy living in a world of evil with the Demon of Hope as your mentor. I personally would rather go back to when I was dying."
A/N: Da, da, da, evil cliffhanger. Guess I should have warned every one of that. All right, I must first apologize to Marcus, who at this moment is very politely cursing the entire Halliwell family except for Chris, all because I went ahead and made him a Halliwell. Yeah, I know, they don't deserve him. But I couldn't not do it. I mean how many Whitelighter/Witch couples are there really? And he looks like Leo and Piper. Just remember not all Halliwells are lamebrains. Look at Grams and Prue.
And for Euge who guessed this was gonna happen quite a few chapters ago, congrats on figuring it out. I did sort of change the way I planned on doing it, but I think this works out better. So how many of you know exactly what Chris and Wyatt are referring to at the end of this chapter?