Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed world belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Wow what a reaction to that last chapter. I was a little bit surprised. I figured everybody would hate the idea of Chris really being a Halliwell. But I'm glad that most of you liked it. Anyhow, I'm having a hard time trying to decide what all to do with this new plot bunny that bit me, so have patience while I feel it out slowly, okay.
Sorry it has taken so long to update. First I got sick, then I got a new computer, which was not easy to set up, then I sprained my wrist lifting my old computer, and I'm still sick. Long story short, I just feel like I've been bludgeoned into incapacity.
Chapter 18 Alternate Reality
"The Demon of What?" Paige asked incredulously.
"Dad destroyed that mirror. It shouldn't even exist anymore," Wyatt said still staring at the image before him in the pool, not even realizing that his aunt had spoken.
"Well apparently when the Cleaners did their thing they undid that too," Chris answered bitterly. "Of all the stupid things to fix."
"Can one of you please explain to us what you are talking about," Piper asked hearing the concern in her sons' voices but not at all following the path of their words.
Wyatt turned to his mother realizing that they were confusing the heck out of their family. "Sorry, Mom. That mirror is a portal to an alternate universe, one where everything is opposite to our own. Good and evil are reversed. In Chris' original timeline Gideon and his evil counterpart cooked up a scheme to get Dad and Chris out of the way by sending them into that universe, in the meantime you were busy having a baby and Phoebe and Paige went after Chris and Dad. That left me unprotected long enough for Gideon to try to kill me."
Piper swallowed very hard thinking about a defenseless baby Wyatt trying to protect himself from an Elder out to murder him. How had they let things get that messed up?
But Phoebe was concentrating on a different part of the statement. "Wait, are you saying that there are evil versions of us on the other side of that mirror?" she asked not at all liking the sound of that.
"Yeah, there are. And right now they are probably having this same conversation that we are. Everything is parallel, unless both versions somehow end up on the same plain. That is bad news. It happened last time with some help from Gideon and the world was turned upside down. Mom and baby Chris both nearly died because of it," Wyatt knew it was a lot of information for them to digest but they were running out of time and he couldn't exactly sit down and have a long discussion about it.
Piper gasped hearing that and looked to Chris. They had nearly lost him before he was even born, and somehow, even if she couldn't remember the baby he was, that one thought frightened her more than anything. To lose a baby, was always a mother's worst fear and she was no exception to that fact. She wanted so desperately to grab Chris' arm and never let go again. Heck, for that matter grab both of her sons' arms and never let either of them go again. It seemed as if no matter what they did fate was bound and determined to take her sons away from her, and now that she truly knew who Chris was, she only wished she could hold onto both of them and never let go.
Chris had all of the memories that Wyatt spoke of but he hadn't minded letting him tell them. A lot of it was still too fresh and painful to dwell on just yet, but he realized that a warning was needed here. "Whatever happens, we have to be very careful. The last time both versions of Phoebe and Paige worked together to stop Gideon from killing Wyatt and it sent both realities into pure chaos. All of us on that side were meant to be evil, just as we here are meant to be good. We can't cross the lines again."
"But what is Barbas planning and who is the Demon of Hope?" Paige asked reiterating her original question.
Leo had been standing back quietly listening to the conversation as he watched the image play out in the pool, and it had become obvious what was going to happen. "I'm guessing the Demon of Hope is Barbas' other version and right now he is in possession of the evil versions of our two sons."
"Exactly," Chris answered knowing his father could put the rest together easily.
"But if they switch the children what happens to you two?" Leo asked already thinking farther ahead than the sisters.
Chris and Wyatt shared a look that said it wasn't a good thing at all.
Piper too began to understand where they were going with this. "That's not gonna happen. We're gonna be there to stop it."
"But, Piper, it's something we have to take into consideration, to be ready for," Leo tried to reason with her hearing the panic in her voice.
"No, quit talking and start orbing. I want to be there before Barbas," Piper demanded ready to go rescue her children.
Chris could see just how belligerent Piper was becoming. She wasn't ready to accept anything that meant her children wouldn't be with her and it was clouding her judgment. So he walked around the basin so he could stand next to her. He took her hands and turned her to face him. "Mom, listen to me. We can't get there before Barbas. He'll sense us there and never show up if we do. That will not get us any closer to saving your sons."
Piper had to admit that she enjoyed the fact that her newfound son wanted to be near her and he was so willing to accept her as his mother, but she felt so much despair as she looked into the seeing pool and saw the younger versions of her sons in the clutches of a monster. "But, we can't just wait and do nothing."
Chris saw how his mother's gaze was drawn to the image of her small children and knew how much this had to be tearing her up inside. He was still slightly reeling from all of the new memories he had gained but his heart still reached out to her as it always had in every timeline he lived through and he couldn't bear to see her in such pain. "We are not going to just do nothing. Wyatt and Le… Dad are going to come up with a plan to stop Barbas. Paige and Phoebe are gonna watch that image to make sure that nothing changes until it's time for us to go there. And you and I are going to go over here and sit down. I'm still having some problems dealing with all the new memories and I need someone to talk to about them." It was an out and out lie and he knew it. He would have much rather put them, along with the rest of his memories, to the back of his mind to deal with later when he really had time to sort through his emotions but he knew she wouldn't turn down a request to help one of her children, no matter what. And it was best for all of them if Piper was in a better emotional state once they faced Barbas.
Leo had heard his son almost slip and call him Leo again. That in itself told him that they still had some issues to work through but for now he was just grateful that Chris was willing to help his mother deal with her own fragile state of mind. He watched as Chris guided Piper away from the pool and sat her down on a stone bench several feet away, taking the seat next to her, while never letting go of her hands. For just a moment Leo locked eyes with his son and gave him a half smile and mouthed the words 'thank you'. Chris nodded and Leo could see how much doing this weighed on him by the weary look in his eyes. He vowed then to make sure Chris had all the support he needed once this was over to deal with his own pain. His son had to be his first priority, no matter what.
Phoebe could feel emotions running high around the room and was trying her best to block them out. She loved her family very dearly but at times like these it was pure hell on her sense of empathy. The longer the children were missing the more Piper became upset. And Leo still felt so much guilt, which she had to admit, he did slightly deserve part of, but still the man had been willing to die for even the slightest chance to save his son. That was more than most fathers could boast. And Chris, my god he was completely overwhelmed. There was no disguising that. He had gone through so much and learned way too much for most people to accept. But look at him. He was accepting it and not only that, was working towards helping his mother get through this also. Talk about amazing. Paige and Wyatt were both feeling close to the same thing, extreme worry. And Fear. Fear was the most prevalent feeling amongst them all. And why wouldn't it be? With the Demon of Fear orchestrating their lives for the moment.
Then there was Phoebe herself. A lot of the time whenever emotions were running so high in her family it was very difficult to differentiate between their emotions and her own. Today was certainly no exception. She still felt guilt over all of the horrible things they had done to Chris in this time, even if she hadn't been as vocal about it as the others, she still had said some things that were completely uncalled for. But that wasn't what her guilt mainly consisted of. No she felt guilty because she had known that Chris was in trouble. Deep down she had felt that something wasn't right about their Whitelighter's emotions. On some level she had known how much pain he was in, and she had done nothing at all about it. Oh, she had defended him a time or two against the others but only halfheartedly. She hadn't wanted to risk angering her family to take the part of an outsider. Boy, had she been way off. Chris never was an outsider, or at least he never should have been.
She had been trying to sort through her own crazy mixed up emotions but was also doing just as Chris had suggested she and Paige do. Watching the horrible image of Barbas with her two young nephews. Everything about that image disturbed her and made her blood boil. She watched as Barbas stood with one hand clutching Chris' shoulder knowing that Wyatt would never dare to try to escape without his little brother.
The demon leaned over and whispered something in the youngest child's ear and Phoebe could see how the child flinched at the words. Her heart clenched in agony at the sight. Her nephew looked so small and fragile next to the demon towering over him.
But nothing at all was changing in the image. There were the two boys standing one on each side of Barbas, and the mirror was before them. Reflected in the mirror was Barbas' altered version dressed all in white and smiling benevolently and on either side of him stood two little boys that were very familiar but also very different than her nephews. Wyatt looked sullen and his eyes held a glint of anger that she had never seen in their version of the child. His blonde hair, instead of gleaming with hints of sunshine, was darker and seemed to be oiled so it would lay flatter upon his head. Their version of Chris had soft brown shoulder-length hair that often times hung in front of his eyes and the look on his face, though a lot of the time was too deep for a child of his age, always held a glint of sweet innocence. But the version of Chris on the other side of that mirror looked cold and calloused way beyond his age, with not hints of compassion or innocents left. His hair was a few inches longer and hung in waves down his back. Both boys wore nothing but black and the sight of them left her feeling cold and heartbroken.
She had to look away from those faces, so filled with hate and malcontent. They were not the faces of the nephews she loved so dearly. So instead she concentrated on the items around the room. She could see a dark mahogany desk with several papers and books that were now covered in dust from the years of abandonment the school had suffered. There were many items in the office that she did not recognize from her own life but none of them truly drew her attention until her eyes lit on the grandfather clock standing just to the left of the mirror. It was an ornately designed piece and the intricate carvings were fascinating to say the least. The glass front was clouded slightly with the dust that covered everything else present but she could still see the pendulum hanging in its rightful place, still holding a gleam of the golden metal it was carved from. But wait. Hanging very still, without even the slightest movement. She then glanced to the hands that would circle the face of the clock and her heart stilled. It hadn't changed at all as the image proceeded. "We have a problem," she called out gaining the complete attention of everyone in the cavern. She glanced up from the image. "The clock hands aren't moving. The pendulum isn't swinging."
Chris and Piper both stood and crossed back to the seeing pool as Leo and Wyatt moved forward also wanting to confirm what she said.
The Seer who had been standing next to the wall didn't move but glanced nervously in their direction. She hadn't thought about that.
"Oh hell, we have no way of knowing when this will happen," Wyatt pointed out motioning to the image.
"It could be happening right now for all we know," Leo suggested.
"Or it might have already happened," Paige added.
"No, we'd know if that was the case," Chris said imagining what would happen. It wasn't an idea he was particularly fond of.
"Well do we go now or stand around discussing it?" Piper asked trying to get her family to act.
Chris nodded and grabbed his mother's hand again, ready to orb them to magic school. Leo and Wyatt each took one of the other sisters' hands and they all started to form into orbs.
As they began to reform Piper looked towards Chris and a startling thing happened. Instead of staring into the caring face of her youngest son her eyes focused on a very different person and as she glanced around them she could see the leftover traces of black orbs dissipating into nothingness.
She stepped back immediately from the dark figure, who moments ago had been the smiling, loving image of her son. Now all she could see was a disgusted sneer on his face, accompanied by darker wavy hair, an eyebrow ring, and dark clothing. And even worse he held a darklighter bow clutched in his hand. "Oh my god, Chris!"
The darklighter bow came up defensively but, to her surprise, he did not pull the trigger. She heard a gasp to her left and swung her head around to see Paige backing away from Wyatt, whom she could see matched Chris' dark features. His hair was also longer and darker and he wore all black and a dark sneer to match his brothers.
Leo and Phoebe had appeared just seconds later and Leo could be seen shaking his head. "We're too late."
Both darker versions of their sons backed away until they were near the wall, and they all could see the blank space on the wall where the mirror had been in the image, but no longer was.
"Leo, what is going on?" Paige asked as he and the sisters moved to the opposite side of the room forming a defensive group as they all stared at the two dark figures before them.
"Barbas took the mirror and he's already traded the children with their darker counterparts. Time has adjusted to reflect the change," Leo explained what he had suspected would happen if Barbas somehow managed to switch them.
Wyatt glanced at his brother. "We tried to warn them."
Chris turned to his older brother and quipped off sarcastically, "Since when do they pay attention?"
Wyatt powered up an energy ball and smiled evilly. "You think they'd get it if I did this?" With that he tossed the energy ball toward Leo.
Leo, seeing the dangerous projectile flying his way, ducked. Both of the dark beings broke into laughter, seeing the shocked look on their faces.
"What the hell? Stop that this minute, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell!" Piper demanded, her voice taking on a commanding tone.
"Kill Joy!" Wyatt said petulantly. "It isn't as if I was trying to kill him." His voice almost sounded as if he was a small child who had been scolded for something wrong. "He is an Elder, you know. It would have taken at least three of those to actually kill him."
Chris couldn't stop the small chuckle that left his lips. "Like you'd know," he said in an offhanded manner to his brother.
Wyatt looked towards his brother defensively with a biting comment. "Hey, it's not my fault that damn demon turned me good, and at least you were able to fix it. You just haven't seen the evil I'm capable of yet."
Chris nodded accepting those words. True he hadn't been back to the future yet to see how his brother had changed and honestly he was nearly dying in anticipation of seeing the evil his brother had become.
Piper turned to Leo, her face ashen, as she started to feel ill seeing what her sons could be. "Leo, where are our sons?"
"Well I'm assuming you mean the two versions of our son's from our universe. They are in the evil universe, probably having a very similar conversation with our evil counterparts." The thought frightened Leo to some extent. Truthfully the events of each world should mirror each other, with some minor changes, but if even one larger event ended up out of place it could start a chain reaction that would destroy both world, and fear of what could happen to his sons was beginning to overwhelm him.
Alternate Evil Universe
As their orbs were reforming Chris glanced to his mother and his heart froze inside his chest at what he saw. His mother, who he had always considered to be the epitome of everything good in the world was staring back at him through eyes filled with anger and a coldness that froze his very soul. As he glanced away from her eyes he took in the dark appearance of her clothing and the dark eyeliner that lined her eyes along with an overabundance of makeup that he knew his mother would usually use sparingly. "Mom?" he asked hesitantly.
"Who the hell are you?" she shot back angrily raising her hands ready to blow up the person impersonating her son.
Chris backed up and looked around the room seeing his brother reform with a very angry looking Paige next to him. She too looked like something almost out of his worst nightmares. But then when his father and Phoebe formed he knew for sure what was happening. His father had black orbed in and Phoebe reminded him of a mixture between a goth queen and punk rock star. This was not good. Not good at all. His most recently regained memories had featured these very people and there was not doub that he wasn't in the right universe anymore.
Wyatt's eyes had more than doubled in size seeing the state his family was in and he grabbed Chris' arm pulling him over near the wall where the mirror had been in the image. His shield immediately flew up surrounding he and his brother as he stared at the angry looks upon their faces. "We aren't in Kansas anymore, are we, Toto?" he piped up nervously biting his lip.
"Nope, but we knew this could happen, didn't we?" Chris answered looking over the dark beings grouping together on the far side of the room.
"Where are my sons?" Piper asked angrily into the room not caring who answered as long as she got an answer. And if she didn't get one soon there would be hell to pay for someone, she'd make sure of it.
Leo decided to answer her question. "I'm assuming they are in their world," he spit out bitterly, "That sick disgusting world of goodness that Chris told us about."
Without anyone noticing an invisible figure shimmered out of the room and into a brightly lit utopian style meadow that had been magically formed in the underworld. As he reappeared the Demon of Hope looked from side to side and saw his two prisoners. Both were imprisoned in crystal cages separated from each other. He smiled to each of the boys in a friendly manner. "I trust you are comfortable. If you have need of anything, please, you only have to ask it of me and I shall endeavor to provide your hearts desires."
"I want my brother," Chris said sadly staring through the glowing electrical field that kept him and his brother separated.
Barbas walked over next to the cage and kneeled so he was at eye level with the child. "I'm sorry, young one, but until I can trust you two not to try to run off, I'll just have to keep you separate.
The demon ran his hand in front of the child's face with the palm turned in and stared into it. "Ah, I see your greatest hopes, my child. Family. That is your one desire, but I am your family now. Once you realize and accept that you and your brother will be much happier.
"Over your dead body," Wyatt called angrily from his own cage. He had been very frightened when they stepped through that mirror but now that he'd had some time to think he knew he had to be strong for his little brother. Chris had been through too much already. In this other world he was all Chris had left to depend on and he'd be there for him, no matter what.
Barbas stood and swung around quickly. "Now, now. Is that any way for a good little boy to speak? Tsk.. tsk! You must have more respect, child."
Before Wyatt could bite out a bitter reply two very strangely dressed demons shimmered in with a third between them. Wyatt's mouth dropped open as he saw the Seer dressed in a flowing white gown that could actually be considered conservative, with a high neckline and hemline brushing the green grass at her feet. She was surrounded by two demons dressed in white business type suits that reminded him of the all white of Elderland. That in itself seemed way to strange.
Though her facial expression was one of calm she still had a distinctive squint to her eyes that told of her displeasure at being in the Demon of Hope's presence again. "Barbas."
He gave her a winning bright smile and stepped close to her leaning in close. "Did you not think that I would see your ploy to help them?"
She just stared straight ahead and fixed a look of boredom upon her face. "It was a possibility."
"Well, your days of helping them are over." With that he waved his hand and several crystals appeared at her feet imprisoning her as they had the children. "Don't think this is over."
Oh, she knew it was far from over. Barbas, as the Demon of Hope was able to see all of your hopes. Usually his role in this world was to bring hopes to fruition but whenever he was angered he could also make sure your hopes became your worst nightmares.
A/N: All right. That's it for this chapter. As I said, sorry it took so long. A large portion of the next few chapters will rotate back and forth between the two worlds. I hope you enjoy what I've done with them.