Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. No infringement is intended and no profit is made from this story. This is a work of my own imagination, but I was inspired to write this after reading so many amazing Chris revelation stories over the years. So a huge thank you to Emma15 for writing When Family Calls, DisneyRBD for writing In His Soul, and NextGeneration for writing Dead Promises!

Author's Note: Yay, another update! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and exploring the different emotions the characters (especially Chris) go through as they get to the more depressing memories. This chapter isn't actually too bad, but it does focus heavily on the death of one character (it doesn't actually show the character's death). Can you guys guess which character died? Let me know in the reviews if you managed to guess correctly!

Chapter Five:

World Spins Madly On

"Woke up and wished that I was dead

With an aching in my head

I lay motionless in bed

I thought of you and where you'd gone

and let the world spin madly on."

– The Weepies, "World Spins Madly On"

Piper frowned as she took in their new surroundings. They were in the foyer of a house. Through the glass panes of the front door, she could see that outside it was dark. It had to be between ten at night and five in the morning. Everything seemed normal enough, but there was something about this particular memory that was already causing her some distress. It certainly didn't help that there was a strange, almost ominous feeling creeping down her spine.

Little did she know that she was about to witness the immediate aftermath of her death. Wyatt's descent into darkness. Chris' obsession with saving Wyatt. The end of the world. The dominos had been put into place a long time ago, but this was when they had started to fall. Piper's death had been the trigger.

"Two questions. One: where, in hells name, are we? And two: what was the point of those last memories? Not that they weren't cute, they were, but Wyatt was the furthest thing from evil." Paige asked Chris.

"This is Jake and Ally's house," Chris said, answering the first part of her question. "And to be honest, I don't really know what was the point of seeing those memories. I guess we're going to see a mix of important and random memories."

"Honest?" Leo scoffed out. "When was the last time you've told the truth, Christopher?"

Chris stiffened at the use of his full first name and glared at his father, the man he hated with a hatred that was burningly close to love. "Don't call me that."

"Call you what?" Leo asked, clueless as ever. "Christopher? Do you hate that name?"

No, you blithering idiot, he just hates it when you call him that, Cole thought to himself.

Chris opened his mouth to say something nearly identical to what Cole had just been thinking, but Leo continued on. "And how can you not know the point of those memories? They're your memories after all."

"I believe it was the Charmed Ones' spell that brought us here, not Chris." Cole pointed out, something that had Leo scowling at him.

"That may be, but if Christopher hadn't been a manipulative liar…"

"I believe he asked you not to call him Christopher," Cole reminded Leo, "and if you hadn't been so damn nosey…"

As much as he appreciated his Uncle Cole for sticking up for him, again, Chris knew that he should really step in and break it up before it came to blows. Hearing them fight though, Chris had to admit he felt more at home than he had in a long while.

"Enough!" Phoebe exclaimed, taking it upon herself to break up the bickering ex-brother-in-laws.

Both men immediately shut up.

"Leo, Cole's right," Phoebe admitted on a sigh, feeling the need to take responsibility for her part in this fiasco. "We brought Chris here against his will. Demanding that he have all the answers is not only unreasonable, it's downright foolish. You're asking for the impossible."

Leo was floored, absolutely floored, and stood there with his mouth gaping like a fish.

Cole smirked smugly at Leo, but kept quiet because he didn't want to risk Phoebe's wrath. You certainly wouldn't think it, but an angry Phoebe was someone no one wanted to mess with.

"Piper…" Leo tried to appeal to her protective nature.

"Let's just see how this plays out." Piper suggested, playing the voice of reason. She wasn't sure what to make of anything anymore.

"So Chris," Paige said out of nowhere, "this is Jake and Ally's house, right?" Chris nodded, confused. "For someone who's all work and no fun, you sure seem to have a lot of good friends. Who would have thunk? So where are the two blonde wonder twins who aren't actually twins?"

That hadn't come out of nowhere, Chris realized. She was trying to diffuse the tension that was thick in the room. "I–"

It was then that the front door swung open. A young man wearing a tight, long-sleeved gray top and Cole's eldest daughter–Lauren–stormed into the room. In between them was a fourteen-year-old Chris. They stood on either side of him, carrying him on their shoulders. Memory Chris was covered in blood, soot, and grime. Trailing behind the trio was a girl who looked to be about eleven or twelve. The young girl had long, straight, jet-black hair and brown eyes. "Place him on the couch!" She directed. "Hurry!" The young girl shrieked, panic clear in her shaky voice.

"Is that Jake?" Paige asked, her eyes on the young man with the unmistakable white-blond hair. "Wow! He's all grown up. How old are you guys in this memory?"

Chris watched his family watching the memory. He was surprised that his Aunt Paige recognized Jake so easily, but hadn't been able to recognize the one person she should have recognized…the young girl. Sophia Mitchell was the youngest of Paige and Henry's three children. Her twin sister, Cara, beat her by thirteen minutes.

On second thought, he really shouldn't be surprised by his Aunt Paige's failure to see what was literally right in front of her. His own mother hadn't recognized him either. Maybe it was a sister thing. "Jake's sixteen here, which means that I'm fourteen, Lauren's thirteen, and Sophia's eleven."

Paige nodded, acknowledging that she had heard him, and then shuddered when Jake walked through her in order to get Memory Chris to the living room couch. "So weird," she stated before she and the rest of the onlookers followed the kids into the living room.

Once inside the living room, they laid Memory Chris on the couch and propped up his head with a pillow. Within seconds Lauren had assembled clean clothes, sheets, blankets, and a glass of water. Meanwhile Jake carefully removed Memory Chris' shirt, which was ruined beyond even magical repair, and then moved out of the way. Sophia filled the space where he had been, put her hands over the numerous wounds, and began to heal her older cousin. She waited anxiously for the magic to take full effect and then proceeded to smack him upside the head.

"Ouch!" Memory Chris whined, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"

"That was for going to the Underworld, again."

She smacked him again.

"And that was just in case I don't get another chance." Sophia answered. "I'm dead meat if my dad finds out that I'm gone."

"I like her! She's got sassiness in spades!" Paige declared.

"Your dad's a mortal. Shouldn't we be more worried about Lauren's dad since he's a demon?" Jake asked.

Sophia looked at him with an expression that seemed to suggest he'd slipped down a few notches on the IQ scale, "he's a cop."

Lauren nodded, "Yeah. Plus, being a demon doesn't automatically make my dad evil. It just means that he's more susceptible to the dark side than other supernatural beings. You, of all people, should know that! Caleb, one of your oldest and best friends, is half-manticore!"

"That's my girl!" Cole said proudly.

"Why does that name sound so familiar? Caleb? I know I've heard that name somewhere recently…" Phoebe mused, searching the depths of her mind for a connection.

Chris sighed, knowing that it would come out sooner or later. "Probably because you have heard that name recently. Caleb is Derek's son."

Paige smacked Chris on the shoulder. Like mother, like daughter. "You wanted us to vanquish him!"

"Wait, why would you want to have him vanquished?" Cole asked curiously. Caleb had been just as much Chris' friend as he'd been Wyatt's. Unbeknownst to most, they were still friends. Caleb, Lord Wyatt's second in command, was actually a double agent working with the Resistance. Sadly, the same couldn't be said about Emily. The girl was to Wyatt what Ally had been to Chris.

Chris held back an amused grin, knowing he had an ace in the hole, and shrugged. "So he wouldn't flirt with and kiss my cousin."

"He did what? With which cousin?" Cole asked, even though he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew the answer.

"With Lauren."

While Cole scowled at that and made a mental note to have a nice little "chat" with Caleb when he got back home, the sisters smiled at how adorably overprotective they were being.

"Are you sure about that?" Jake asked, causing everyone's eyes to fly back to the scene playing in front of them.

"I'm sure," Lauren said, rolling her eyes to show him how annoyed she was. "Speaking of guardians, where's your uncle?"

"Uncle Ethan spends six out of seven nights sleeping over at his girlfriend's apartment. He doesn't know how to handle two teenagers with magical powers, so he just…doesn't. I can't say that I blame him though. He's only twenty-six years old. Besides, I can take care of my sister and myself just fine." Jake explained.

"Where's Ally?" Memory Chris asked, frowning.

"Oh, so now all of a sudden you care about her welfare? After you spent all day in the Underworld going after demons and putting your life at risk? You must be losing your screws, Chris," Jake said in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course I care about her," Memory Chris snapped, "she's my girlfriend."

"Yeah, and she's my sister. My baby sister." Jake pointed out. "You're not going to do her any good if you're dead. You're supposed to be there for her. You're supposed to protect her when she's unable to protect herself. Lord knows I try, but I can't because she keeps herself closed off from everyone but you."

"Did something happen today? Is she okay?" Memory Chris asked, not understanding where this was coming from. Lauren, Memory Chris noticed, avoided his gaze. Much like her mother, she couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it.

Something had definitely happened.

"Why don't you ask her that yourself?" Jake said before Lauren could spill the beans.

Memory Chris sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get a lot more out of them. He took the clean shirt that Lauren had grabbed for him and quickly threw it on over his head, getting ready to orb to Cat…wherever she was.

"Chris…" Jake trailed off hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"I understand how you feel, more than you know, but just remember there are a lot of people that love you and need you around." Jake told him. There was a deep sadness in his voice–a deep, dark, sadness. A sadness that Chris hadn't heard in years. Not since Jake and Ally's mother had died.

Memory Chris merely nodded, knowing there was nothing he could say to that.

When they appeared in the next memory, it was obvious they were in a cemetery. It was nighttime, but not so dark that they couldn't see. The moon hung serene in a cloudless but star-packed sky, full and knowing and bright.

Memory Chris was wearing the same clothes as before, so the onlookers assumed that this memory was just a continuation of the last one.

It didn't take them long to notice that Memory Chris was walking towards Ally. The two teens were the only people there, probably because visiting the cemetery was not usually an activity that people participated in unless there was a funeral.

Ally made a lonely figure, standing in front of a grave. She wore a pair of gray sweatpants that were way too big for her, which was due to the fact that they had originally belonged to Chris. The sweatpants rode low on her hips, highlighting her toned stomach. From the waist up, she wore a sports bra that was a bright, don't-run-me-over, neon pink color.

"What are you doing here?" Memory Chris asked once he was only a few feet away from her.

"I could ask you the same question, you know." Ally pointed out as she turned to face him. Her crystal blue eyes were rimmed red and despite her best attempts, there were tiny glittering tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Well, do you normally come to the cemetery by yourself at night?" Memory Chris questioned with sarcasm.

Ally shrugged. "Maybe."

"Cat, you're always telling me that you hate this place." Memory Chris said slowly, a frown working its way onto his face. To say he was confused would be an understatement. He was really, truly confused.

"My mom is buried here," Ally forced herself to say, barely recognizing her own voice.

Memory Chris nodded and waited for her to continue.

"Your mom is buried here too now."

Brutal, shattering spikes of pain blossomed in Memory Chris' chest. His lungs burned as he fought to force air past the giant lump in his throat.

Twenty-two year old Chris rubbed his hand over his chest, feeling an all-too-familiar ache. His mother's death would never stop being painful for him.

"Jake and I got pulled out of school today," Ally revealed, "our dad was found dead in a seedy motel room. They'll do an autopsy, but we all know the alcohol did it."

Memory Chris stood there, stunned.

Our dad was found dead.

I understand how you feel, Jake had told him, more than you know.

Her dad had died and all the while he had been in the Underworld. The realization that he had unintentionally abandoned her when she needed him the most, just as his own father had done to him a few horrible months ago, felt like a punch to the gut. It was devastating.

"Cat, I'm so sorry…"

Ally cut him off before he could continue because she didn't need an apology. As sad as she was about her dad's death, he hadn't been the dad she and Jake needed for the last several years. Not since their mother had died. So, no, it wasn't an apology she needed. What she desperately needed was to finally admit the fears she'd been carrying around, "People I love keep dying. I can't sleep at night anymore because all I do is wonder about who's going to be next on death's list. One of our friends? Jake? Someone from your family? Could it be, God forbid, you?"

"Not if I can help it." Memory Chris said fiercely.

"Are you sure about that?" Ally asked as her eyes searched his. "Because it sure seems like you're tempting death with the way you've been acting lately. I can handle most things that life throws at me, but I can't handle the idea of losing you in any capacity. I'm scared of not being with you. I can't–"

"Stop, baby," Memory Chris said as he closed the gap between them. Cupping her cheek, he tilted her head back until their gazes met. "I'm here. You couldn't lose me if you tried."

Chris felt his heart breaking. Knowing what he knew now, it was difficult for him watch this past version of himself reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

Everything hadn't turned out to be okay–not for any of them.

Ally sighed, relief washing through her as her body weakened against his. Wrapping his arms around her as she buried her face against his chest, he hugged her for all he was worth. In that moment, nothing else mattered except the two of them.

"How about we both do our best to stay away from life-threatening danger?" Memory Chris suggested, pulling back slightly so he could look at her beautiful face. "I can't handle losing you, either."

But I did end up losing her and to this day I still can't handle it, Chris thought to himself.

Before she had a chance to answer, Memory Chris reined kisses over her face. He kissed her cheeks, her eyelids, her nose, then finally settled on her mouth.

The kiss slowly ended, but they stayed against each other, foreheads touching. While their lips were still close, still sharing breath, Ally decided it was long past time to come completely clean with him.

"I know that we're still pretty young, but I love you. Always have, always will."

For Memory Chris, those words were a whole lot of light in a time of such darkness and it overwhelmed him. His voice was thick with emotion as he whispered the truth back to her, "I love you too, Cat."

Author's Note: Well, there we go, Chapter 5! So yeah, Chris dealt with his mother's death by constantly going after demons in the Underworld…very similar to how Piper consumed herself with hunting demons after Prue's death. Like mother, like son lol. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review!