A/N: Hey guys I am so sorry fo the long delay, my computer broke and I lost everything. On top of that, I had to go out and get a new computer, which took some time, and then I found out my old computer could be fixed so I had to send it in and that took a long time, so yeah... so sorry again- hope you enjoy (this is my favorite chapter, it's totally sad btw) Disclaimer still stands
Piper was starting to hate memory lane. Once again the air smelled of burning flesh and it was making her stomach turn. She could hear someone scream from a distance. She recognized the grey tunnel from a previous memory and wondered if it were the same one. When she saw Chris she prepared for the worst. He was holding a gun, but other than that he seemed to look relatively normal. Piper wondered if Whitelighters were allowed to use guns. "Damn it, Cal, where are you?" He mumbled, making his way down the halls. Piper stayed close, behind him.
They made their way further underground. With every flight of stairs they went down, the smell of burning was replaced with filth. The stench was so revolting, even Chris pulled a black buff up to cover his nose. Piper thought it made him look like a ninja, but then laughed at her own immaturity. He finally chose a floor to exit on. The smell was relatively gone on this floor and Piper took in a deep breath of clean air. The walls were pure white and shined. This floor looked more like a lab than the prison camps above. It was a rectangular room and the walls were cells. In the center there was an operating table. Piper noticed the same green glow around the crowning of the cell doors that was on the handcuffs the cops used on Chris. Chris stopped in front of the archway to the room and hesitated. The moment he steps into the room he's would be detected as a witch and fifty Wyatt demons would shimmer down to his destruction.
He looked down at the cuff on his wrist and fiddled with its settings. She watched as orbs went to the cuff. Piper suddenly understood. He must have reprogrammed a pair of handcuffs to strip his powers at will so he could go on undetected. He smirked and walked into the room without a problem. He cocked his gun and gripped it nervously, as it was his only form of defense now. He went to every cell and clicked the defog button for the viewing glass on each. Piper began to cry seeing the deformed bodies, some half transformed, some in bandages, written on, etc. Everyone had a cuff similar to Chris' on their wrists, but the kind that bound their hands (or talons in some cases). There were labels on each of them, some sort of code tattooed on. Each one was drug induced and out cold. She could see the frustrated and disgusted look on Chris' face. How could someone do this to living beings? He made the mistake of pressing the defog button on a large cell. In it, piled up dead bodies of the unsuccessful experiments.
Chris' body began to shake and his breath became short. Pressed up to the glass was a teenage girl with stone cold, dead blue eyes. All her hair had been shaven for the procedure. Her face haunted Chris. A distinctive birthmark on her ribs below her breast confirmed her identity. "Cal..." Chris let out his last tears ever during this scene, for this was his turning point. The day he refused to show any emotion, because if he chose to give in he knew he could only feel pain.
He retraced his path in order to exit the internment camp, being far more careless. He made it out alive and stood outdoors of the facility, shaking his head at the black smoke coming from right wing. He wondered which witch they had caught and orbed away. The orb brought Piper into a new memory, though she wasn't sure how much more she could take. Chris in this memory seemed to be much younger than the last, but still older than the boy she had seen swimming by just a few months. He was lying on a carpeted floor, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm telling you, something is going on. Magic wasn't supposed to the public knowledge... and these stupid ID cards? I can't go anywhere with out being asked if I'm mortal. You know the other day I was told I may not be able to graduate because of 'my condition'?"
"That's ridiculous, Chris. Everyone's just trying to figure everything out. It's a bit of a shock. Last month the boogie man became an actual possibility to us. Not everyone gets the whole good and evil thing. I'm sure it'll calm down. I mean there have to moderate mortals. Look at me? No way do I think you're a monster, Chris." Stan replied. "Have you talked to Wyatt about it all yet?"
"Nah, I haven't had a chance. Ever since the exposure he's been really off. I don't want to bother him. My aunts aren't helping, either. They've got too much stuff to deal with now that demons are attacking in broad daylight. I just… this is how it always starts…"
"How what starts?"
"ID cards, that shit radio claiming all of us are out to kill, the government setting up check points around the cities… I'm scared, Stan. I'm scared. I got laid off at work this morning because they thought it would be bad for business if someone like me worked there. God damn it…" Chris shut his eyes tight, hoping to calm down. Every survival instinct in his body was on alert. He'd been in history long enough to know what the next step is in the sequence. Extermination. He started standing up to go. "I should leave… you're dad wasn't too happy about me staying here tonight. I don't want you to get in trouble-"
"No. Chris, you're my best friend. I don't care what my dad says. You've never done anything wrong and I have a house not being monitored. You're staying here until this quiet down."
"What if they come after you? For helping?"
"Chris, this isn't 1945 Germany. It's modern day San Francisco! You're talking like-" Stan cut himself off, finally understanding what Chris has been saying. He froze, dropping his head to his hands. "Shit."
"Still want me here?" Chris leveled his voice. Stan starred at his friend. "If anything, I want you here more. I won't let them take you, Chris. I won't let them strip you of your powers or put you in prison or… or kill you. That's not what friends do."
"Thank you." He brought his friend into a hug and ran a hand through his hair. "So now what?"
"Let's unpack." The memory fast-forwarded a few days of Chris' life to the school. He was sitting outside the dean's office with his forehead pressing into his hands, elbows to knees, and feet into the floor. A girl came out of the office crying, and Chris automatically looked up to find his sister. She collapsed into his arms before the dean came out and told them to leave the property. Chris flicked him off and orbed out, leaving the principal quivering in fear. They reappeared on the golden gate bridge. Chris comforted his sister.
"I'm scared." She looked to her brother.
"Me too, Mel. Me too." He held her tight. His brain was stil racing from the event of the day, from being told he could no longer come to school to sexual abuse his sister had received from the boys in her class- just for being half witch. They laughed. They thought it was funny to watch her squirm. He wanted to protect her as much as he could, but he didn't know how and that scared him more than anything else. Piper felt for the siblings. The image faded away, leaving Piper in her attic to soak everything in.
She could hear her sister's still bickering in the background and birds chirping outdoors. There was a pleasant scent in the air. It wasn't until Paige walked in that she realized she was trembling. Chris was back at the club's back room trying to piece together when Piper would be back, based on the memories the spell let her see. He took a sip of beer and sat down on the couch, kicking he feet up on the boxes in front of him. He figured he'd pay for it later, but depending on Piper's reaction it could end up being the last day in the past. They just don't make booze like this anymore, he thought. It was a suicide mission trying to get any in the past. It was only legal for government officers and that made it very tricky to get rebel hands on. He looked down at his watch and figured Piper should be barging in soon. Instead, he found Leo orbing down to see him.
"Leo? What are you doing here?" He placed a bit too much emphasis on the word you, and it made his father suspicious.
"Why? Expecting somebody else?" Leo studied Chris carefully, especially as his son was hiding the alcohol. "Are you drinking? If the sisters need you-"
"God you sound like my dad. I know what I'm doing. Trust me… You really think I'm stupid enough to get drunk with you following me around all the time?"
"Trust you? You haven't earned that yet." Leo starred him down. Chris was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable and Leo's strange behavior. Both of their heads snap to the doorway when they hear Piper entering the club. Chris smirked as Leo orbed away. Chris took another sip until he was interrupted by Piper. She stood standing in the doorframe. He put the bottle down and she looked at him, carefully. He swallowed heavy and avoided her gaze.
"Chris… We need to talk."