Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed world belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: The beginning of this chapter is especially for Marcus, who I'm sure will love the irony of what evil Chris is about to do. You've been wanting it all along, hon. Here you go.
I also need to point out that I made a mistake in the last chapter I believe. I think I said that Evil Wyatt also black orbed into the magic school but I meant to say that he shimmered in. Evil Wyatt adopted demon powers, while evil Chris adopted Darklighter powers. It really makes no difference to the story but since that's how things were in the canon I'd rather have it that way. I just wanted to clear that up.
And one other thing. In my version of the story Demons and Whitelighters are on the same side in the Evil Universe that being the good side. Witches, Darklighters, and Elders are on the side of evil. I know that may seem a little strange but since in the show they made evil Chris a Darklighter and evil Gideon was still an Elder, that's just the way it made sense. And both Elders and Whitelighters can still heal.
Point of view switches big time in this chapter several times. I will separate each switch and label it either Good Universe or Evil Universe to make it easier to read.
Chapter 19 You Shouldn't Have
Good Universe
If any of them were in the mood to be comical they could have compared the scene to a Mexican standoff, but at that moment neither the Charmed Ones, nor Leo, or even the two darker versions of their sons were in any mood at all to be comical.
Piper reached one hand out clinging to Leo's arm for support as she stared wide eyed at the evil versions of her sons. "How could we let this happen?" she whispered in almost disbelief. "Chris worked so hard to stop Wyatt from becoming evil and look what we ended up doing."
The darker version of Chris rolled his eyes at that. "Oh give it a break, woman. It's not about you and how much you screwed up. It's about your two sons, who at this moment are most likely being held prisoner by the Demon of Hope."
Piper's eyes widened at that and she nearly bit back angrily at him but his words rang true in her ears, so how could she? This wasn't about her. It was about her sons and what they were going through now. So instead of arguing she just nodded and looked down in a slight bit of shame.
Paige smirked at the young man's hateful words though. She wasn't in quite the right frame of mind to have anyone sniping at them. "Well if you have all the answers why don't you tell us how exactly we go about fixing all of this?"
Chris stared at the sickeningly sweet, although sarcastic, version of his aunt and couldn't help his bitter retort. "Paige, I don't know if your version of me ever mentioned this, but do you know just how much I can't stand you in either universe?"
Paige's face fell at those words though, realizing how true they could really be. After everything she had done and said to Chris in their timeline he had every right to hate her. But she never actually imagined hearing the words from him; well sort of from him.
Phoebe though was concentrating as hard as she could on the two evil versions of her nephews and the less than guarded emotions they were throwing off. "You're lying, I can tell," she pointed out a look of scorn on her face for the young man who was verbally attacking her sisters. She then turned to Paige and tried to reassure her. "Don't listen to him. That's not our Chris."
Evil Chris smirked at that statement and shook his head. "And you, you're not much better than she is, with your whole hypocritical concern. You sure weren't so concerned about your nephew when he was just some stupid Darklighter... sorry make that Whitelighter from the future," he said ignoring her denial of his words.
"Listen, this is not helping any of us," Leo interrupted seeing how things were spiraling completely out of control very quickly. "If we are gonna find Barbas and get the kids back we have to work together and quit bickering between each other. They are more important than good and evil right now."
The look of pure loathing on Chris' face did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room. "Even though I hate to admit it, you might be right this time, Leo," he spit out bitterly giving this version of his father a scathing look. He had only barely managed to reconcile with the evil version of his father back in his own universe but there was no way in hell he was gonna treat this all 'blessed be,' goodie-goodie version of the man like he was more than a temporary nuisance in his life.
"Oh hell, Chris, don't tell me that you expect us to actually work with them," Wyatt asked with a voice full of disgust. "We can't count on them. They are, are… uh I don't even want to say the word but… good!"
Chris rolled his eyes at his brother's penchant for stating the obvious. "We have little choice. They are all we have."
"Do either of you have any idea as to where Barbas might have taken the children?" Leo asked ignoring the looks both of them were giving him.
"I'm not sure right now, but we need to get out of here before he sends us a welcoming party," Chris answered. He saw the strange looks they gave him and couldn't believe they were being that dense. "Hello, this is a trap."
With that eight Darklighters shimmered into the room and took aim at Leo and the Charmed Ones.
Piper's hands flew up and she immediately blew up one of the Darklighters while Paige deflected arrows right and left.
"You know, we could use a little help here," she called out to the darker versions of her nephews, who she could see were just standing back watching the fight with looks of amusement on their faces.
Phoebe rushed forward and spin kicked the crossbow from one of the Darklighter's hands but was shocked to see Wyatt and Chris clapping their hands at the sight. "Oh you two are so dead."
Chris and Wyatt looked to each other and shrugged. "You know, we really do need them alive," Chris pointed out.
Wyatt rolled his eyes at that. "Fine! But what do you think Mom would say if she knew we were vanquishing Darklighters?" With that he reached up and flicked his wrist sending three of the Darklighters flying into the walls. Two of them blew up on impact and the other fell unconscious to the floor.
Chris' bow raised and with deadly accurate aim he sent an arrow into one of the attacking foes as he raised his other hand and clutched it sending another to his knees grabbing his chest where his heart had just exploded. "She'd skin us alive, but what other choice do we have?"
Paige stopped an arrow right in front of her face and orbed it right back into the Darklighter it had come from causing him to burst into flames. After that Piper blew up the last standing Darklighter and the room grew quiet accept for their breathing.
Wyatt strode over to the one Darklighter he had knocked unconscious and an energy ball formed on his hand, which he was ready to turn loose to destroy the evil being.
"Wait, don't. We can question him as to where Barbas is," Leo pointed out stepping forward next to the dark version of his oldest son and laid one hand on his arm stilling it.
Wyatt turned to him with a snarl of disgust and yanked his arm away. "Fine. But let's take this elsewhere," he suggested reaching down and touching the Darklighter on the shoulder and shimmered them away. Chris black orbed away behind him and Leo and the girls followed in their own way.
Evil Universe
"Well do you think this could have worked out any worse?" Piper asked glaring at the innocent looking versions of her sons.
Chris and Wyatt shared a look that said volumes. This Piper was even scarier than their own mother. The look of pure malice in her eyes was even icier than some of the looks they had seen their mother give to demons.
"No, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I came back in time. What do you think, Wy?" Chris asked nervously.
"Me neither," his brother agreed.
"So where do we go from here?" Paige asked looking slightly bored by the conversation already. As far as she was concerned these two goodie-goodies couldn't hold a candle to her evil nephews.
"Well we have to somehow manage to find the younger versions of us and get them back to our universe, along with us of course and then get your sons back to you," Chris suggested.
"And how exactly are we gonna do that since we don't know where Barbas has them?" Piper asked angrily. She honestly didn't care about the two children from that other universe. She was more worried about her own children that were in the clutches of an evil demon. What a concept that was for her. Demons weren't supposed to be evil. They were good. But it didn't matter if the demon was evil or not. He had her sons and no one took her sons.
"See you might be wrong about that. In my original timeline Leo and I came to this world and we found Barbas in the underworld. I'm willing to bet that he's in the same place this time around," Chris suggested pulling information from the new memories he had gained.
"Then what exactly are we waiting for?" Leo asked in a very testy mood.
"Well for one thing, we can't just orb down there without being prepared. We'll need to head back to the manor and collect some vanquishing potions and such," Wyatt said as if he was talking to small children.
Cold laughter sounded throughout the room. "Are you kidding me?" Paige finally asked once the laughter died down.
Wyatt looked to Chris not exactly understanding that. Chris thought he did though. "I'm assuming your Wyatt is pretty all powerful, isn't he?"
Wyatt looked from his brother to the three sisters in confusion. "But I'm sharing the powers of an eight year old."
"So," Phoebe said rolling her eyes.
"Wyatt, evil has no inhibitions. An eight year old who has been raised with no inhibitions can be pretty darn powerful, especially if he's the Twice-blessed." At least that was what Chris was guessing.
"Oh," was Wyatt's only answer to that. He hadn't even thought about that but the thought also made him wonder just how strong he might have been in Chris' original timeline, but he didn't have time to think about that quite yet. "Sorry to disappoint but other than simple telekinesis and exothermic combustion I haven't come into any of my other powers by the time I'm eight."
"My how boring your life must be," Phoebe commented drolly.
Wyatt gave her a scowl, which she returned readily.
"Can we move this conversation away from here?" Chris asked feeling the small hairs on the back of his neck rise.
But just as his words faded away eight demons dressed in white business suits orbed into the room. Chris and Wyatt both stared slightly in shock at the spectacle. "Um, are they Whitelighters?" Wyatt asked in confusion but as one of them readied an energy ball and tossed it towards them his answer was pretty obvious.
"You idiot. Those are demons," Paige called out as a Darklighter bow appeared in her hand and she sent an arrow flying into one of the demons. "But if they were Whitelighters we'd be killing them too," she added winking evilly.
Chris and Wyatt had both ducked the energy ball and Chris swiped his hand out to knock the demon away from them. Wyatt began using the strongest power he possessed and blinked three times as quickly as he could, watching three of the demons disappear into flames.
The demon that Chris had knocked away from them managed to find it's feet again and aimed an energy ball at Phoebe but she used a spin kick to knock the demon's hand away and the ball of energy flew wide hitting one of his fellow demons.
Piper threw her hands up blowing up two of the demons at once using more firepower than Chris or Wyatt had ever seen their mother use. It seemed that not only the children in this universe had gained more power due to the lack of inhibitions.
"Remind me not to piss her off, Chris," Wyatt commented and then turned his head seeing Leo incinerate the last demon with the electric strike power that the Elder's possessed. "Or him for that matter."
"You realize if they wanted, our versions of Mom and Dad could be just as powerful," Chris pointed out and then stepped forward getting everyone's attention. "We need to get out of here before he sends more."
With that he and Wyatt orbed to the Manor and were shortly followed by the rest of the family.
Once they had all reformed in the attic Chris noticed the disgusted look on Piper's face. After everything he had lived through for the past few months the look made him very uncomfortable and he had to remind himself that that woman was not his mother. "What?" he finally asked when the silence became too much to handle.
"It's just hard watching someone who looks almost like my son being… well being so good. I liked my son the way he was. You. Well you scare me," she answered coldly.
Chris again found that he had to remind himself that this woman was not his mother even though she did sound similar to the Piper he had been spending time with for the past few months. "Funny how my own Mom probably would have agreed with you a couple of days ago."
Wyatt had been searching through the attic's contents looking for potion ingredients but those words caught his attention. "Chris, you don't need to think like that. You know Mom doesn't feel that way anymore." Wyatt had worked too hard to bring his family back together to let these alternate versions of them hurt his brother any more than he had already been hurt.
"Would you two like us to leave you alone so you can have a brotherly bonding moment?" Paige asked in a rather patronizing tone.
Wyatt and Chris both looked at her in scorn. How could anyone have a serious conversation with all the sarcastic remarks? But the look on Piper's face changed ever so slightly. "Lay off them, okay," she said turning to her sisters.
Paige and Phoebe both gave her a surprised look and she just shook her head slightly. Wyatt's comment had struck a nerve with her and caused her to think about her own children and the situation they had faced just recently. "Hey, I know what my Chris went through in the last few months, not to mention his shitty life up until that point. I'm sure it wasn't any easier for this one." With her words she glanced back at Chris and tried to see her son in the young man and had to admit there was a certain wounded look in his eyes that reminded her all to much of her own son.
Chris nodded his thanks and looked away from her penetrating stare.
Phoebe and Paige both nodded too looking slightly guilty. Even being evil, family still meant everything to the Halliwells. "All right, so what can we do to help you?" Phoebe asked willing to look past the goodness she could see in the two young men who reminded her so much of her nephews.
But just as she was walking across the attic to join Wyatt at their cauldron several more demons orbed into the attic and the fight was on again. Chris immediately started tossing demons away from all the family members as Wyatt blinked sending demon after demon up in flames. Piper's hands flung right and left destroying as many as she could, while Leo fried them with electricity. Paige black orbed every sharp object she could find at them and Phoebe used martial arts and a deadly looking atheme to destroy as many as she could.
It seemed as if an almost endless flow of demons, and what Wyatt and Chris guessed were this universes version of Whitelighters, just kept orbing into the attic trying desperately to rid the world once and for all of the Halliwells. Barbas was pulling out all of the stops this time to try to keep his two young protégés.
Good Universe
Even though Leo had been reluctant to use his Elder powers in any situation it was obvious that even with the added fire power of the two evil versions of their sons, they were fighting a losing battle, so with a heavy heart he let angry emotions fill his soul as electric bolts of energy flew from his fingers totally disintegrating any demon or Darklighter it touched. But even he was not untouchable as a fireball flew into him knocking him across the attic unconscious.
"Leo," Piper screamed seeing her husband's limp body slam into a cabinet and lay motionless. She immediately flicked her hands at the demon that had downed him and watched as it burst into millions of pieces. She started to rush towards her husband but something in the corner of her eye caught her attention as she saw a demon shimmer in behind Wyatt and slam an energy ball into his back. Even though she knew he was not her son, she felt her heart clench and she turned towards his attacker sending him into oblivion along with the second demon that had shimmered in right beside him. As she glanced around the attic she could no longer see any enemies left standing, but was relieved to see both her sisters still up and moving.
Chris also saw his brother's fate and raced to his side kneeling and placing one hand on his shoulder. "Wyatt, damnit, get up! That wasn't strong enough to kill you." It was easy to see the concern he felt for his brother written plainly across his face even if his words were harsh.
Piper watched this sight frozen in her tracks for an instant but she knew she couldn't stand back and watch as any version of her oldest son died, so she crossed over right behind Chris and stared at Wyatt over his shoulder. "Is he?" she asked her voice breaking slightly.
Chris had rolled him over and had one hand resting on his chest. "He's breathing. I think the shock from the energy ball just stunned him," he said with some relief. He knew it would take alot more than that to kill his brother.
Phoebe had crossed over to Leo and was checking on him also. "Same with Leo. He'll need healed, but he'll live."
Piper glanced to her husband and was torn between being with him and making sure that Wyatt would be all right. But neither of those options mattered for long as one last demon shimmered into the attic and took aim at the nearest undefended target. To Piper's horror that was Chris. The energy ball was let loose before she could even consider blowing the demon up and she did the only thing she could think of. She pushed him forward so he sprawled over his brother but that left her open and unprotected.
The energy ball blasted into her chest right of center, missing her heart, but blasting her off her feet and leaving behind a huge energy burn covering a large part of her chest and shoulder.
Evil Universe
Chris rolled over facing the demon that had just tried to blast him and threw his arm out knocking it backwards and onto a coat rack in the corner. The end of the rack impaled the demon causing it to implode scattering demon goo over half the attic.
His eyes traveled away from the deceased demon and toward Piper. "Oh, god no!" The sight was horrendous and brought up all of his worst fears. He quickly got to his knees and crawled to her side.
Both Phoebe and Paige had moved forward and Phoebe kneeled pulling her sister's head into her lap. Chris grabbed her hand and no longer saw the evil version of his mother, but instead the mother that he had lost so many years before. "Oh god, why? Why'd you have to do that?" he asked as tears came to his eyes and threatened to spill down his cheeks.
Piper drew in a shallow breath and stared up into the gorgeous green eyes of her son and she too pushed back the thought that he was not hers. For in her mind he was. Just a moment before when she had the desperate need to protect him, he had very much been her son and she had acted on that feeling and done what a loving mother should have. "I couldn't bear to lose you," she whispered as matching tears crawled down her cheeks and over her throat soaking into her long brown tresses.
Somewhere in the back of Chris' mind he knew that this woman was not his mother. She wasn't even the Piper from the past that had accepted him hours before as her son. But somewhere along the line in just the short amount of time they had existed in the same reality she too had accepted him as hers and had done the one thing that he knew without a doubt his mother would have always done for him. She had sacrificed herself so that he may live. A sob was ripped from his throat as he let his head sink and rest against the hand that he was holding. "Please no," he whispered as the flood of tears overtook him and he could not hold them back.
Paige and Phoebe too had tears running down their cheeks as they faced a life without their sister. But Paige had been thinking, trying to piece together any idea that would save her sister. "Hey, you and your brother are Whitelighters aren't you? Don't you heal or something?"
Chris looked up to her and shook his head in utter pain and despair. "Wyatt can." He glanced to his brother though and saw no more movement than he had before. "I never could," he ended looking back down feeling again how useless it was to be a Whitelighter who couldn't heal. The same way he had felt when he was fourteen and she had died in his arms.
Phoebe glanced at Paige. "Paige, go find us an Elder, or hell even a Whitelighter if you have to. I don't care how many of them you have to torture. Just get us one. I doesn't matter which."
Good Universe
Paige disappeared into orbs hoping she would be able to find either a Whitelighter or an Elder willing to come and help.
Chris couldn't understand why this Piper had done what she did. She wasn't his Mom, and he couldn't imagine that she truly had any feelings for him in particular. Could she? He couldn't be sure, but one thing he could be sure of was the way he had felt when he turned and saw her chest and shoulder covered with blood. It had torn at a part of him deep down inside that he had thought was locked away along time ago. It was so hauntingly familiar to the night his Mom had died so many years before.
She reached up wanting his hand and somehow he hadn't been able to deny her that one small thing. "You shouldn't have done that," he whispered feeling all of the pain and guilt that her death would bring to him.
Piper squeezed his hand and gave him a weak watery smile. "You can't stop a heart from loving," she whispered to him and raised her other hand to cup the side of his face.
For a moment he considered pulling away from her but her words had ensnared him along with the longing look in her eyes. He knew she was probably imagining her own son and truth be told he was having too hard a time distinguishing her from his own mother at that moment himself. So he would let her pretend, just as he pretended himself.
"Don't go!" he pleaded letting his own emotions swamp over him. "Please, just stay this time."
A/N: Okay then, ducking all flying objects. You all know about me and my cliffhangers. I'm just horrible about them. But at least I don't wait forever to update. That's good right?
Anyhow, I should mention before anyone points it out, I went slightly off canon in this chapter as far as powers and such and the whole inhibition theory. That's one of my big things. I believe it and think they should have used it in the tv show, but anyhow if you don't like my theory, sorry but I won't change my mind.