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: Okay, before you read this chapter, I just wanted to address something that I've seen a few people mention in the reviews: the big reveal about Chris' identity is not going to take place until after the trip down memory lane. While I'm dying for the sisters and Leo to finally get a clue, they already have a lot to deal with as it is (finding out that Chris was telling the truth all along, that Wyatt turns evil, that the future is a total mess, etc.) When they find out who Chris really is to them, they're definitely going to need time to focus on making it all up to him (especially Leo)!

Chapter Eight:

The Resistance: Origins

"We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated."

– Maya Angelou

"How did you know for sure that Wyatt was the one behind…well, everything we just saw? I mean, yeah, I know that one demon said that Wyatt sent him, but demons lie all the time," Phoebe pointed out once they appeared in the memory. Looking over to her ex-husband, she quickly added, "No offense."

"None taken," Cole said, flashing her a charming smile. Even though she wasn't his Phoebe, it couldn't hurt to start laying the groundwork for his past self.

Meanwhile, Chris turned to look at his youngest-turned-middle aunt, surprised. He had expected the question from Paige or Leo, but not from Phoebe.

He looked at her carefully, trying to gauge her expression and her body language. She seemed genuinely interested in his answer rather than judgmental.

Chris sighed, a feeling of intense discomfort settling on him as he realized that there was no way of avoiding this dreaded conversation. It wasn't that he was trying to be cagey, or secretive, or any of the things his family had accused him of. It was that he didn't like talking about these events, much less reliving them. It brought the pain back with a vengeance, crashing through the numbness he'd worked so long and hard to perfect. Now because of his family, the people that were supposed to protect him, he was being forced to do both.

"The fact that the demons were able to find Magic School was, in and of itself, a huge red flag because it's in a separate, well-hidden realm. The real giveaway, though, was the fact that they were able to get into Magic School." Chris explained.

"Why is that?" Phoebe asked.

To everyone's shock, Leo was the one who answered that question. "The Elders created Magic School in a way that would ensure that the premises, the students were safe. On top of there being protective shields and wards over the school grounds, you need to have permission to enter. It should be impenetrable, but if someone were to figure out the protective shields and wards used to cloak the school…" Leo trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. He ran a hand over his face, visibly struggling to make sense of the unthinkable.

Chris nodded, dumbfounded that Leo had actually stepped in to help him explain. "Wyatt was able to find out what shields and wards were cast over Magic School from Paige. He disabled them the morning of the attack and gave the demons permission to enter the school."

Piper, who had quieted down, broke into another round of sobs. She'd experienced more than her fair share of ups-and-downs, but this was decidedly the worst. She'd never felt so helpless in her life. She'd never felt more guilt or pain than she did at this moment. Being a mother was the most important job in her life, and she had obviously failed at it somewhere along the way. Miserably.

Phoebe and Paige went over to their distraught big sister, one on each side, wrapping their arms around her.

"Was I…future me…able to get the students out safely?" Paige asked as she rubbed small, comforting circles on Piper's back.

"Yes, you helped make sure they all got out safely. Three students were injured in the attack, but it could have easily been far worse." Chris paused and worried his lower lip, not knowing whether to keep going or to stop completely. "All of the teachers, except you, were killed."

Paige exhaled a breath she hadn't even realized she's been holding. She obviously felt bad that her future colleagues had been killed, but she was beyond relieved to know that all of the students had gotten out okay.

What she didn't know was that her husband, Henry, died responding to one of the many attacks that had taken place that day. Phoebe died that day as well. Just like Prue, her last minutes on Earth were spent protecting an innocent.

"Okay," Paige responded awkwardly, not knowing what else to say to that. She wasn't alone in that respect. The five other travelers had no idea what to say either. The atmosphere was laden with sadness and she sensed that Piper was close to tears again. Gathering every bit of strength she possessed to deal with the emotional rollercoaster that was undoubtedly ahead of them, she managed to ask Chris, "Where are we now?"

Chris frowned, as did the others, realizing with a start that they hadn't looked around their new surroundings.

They appeared to be in an entryway. It wasn't quite as large as the foyer in Jake and Ally's house had been, but it was spacious enough to fit all six of them and a small gold entry table that had floating candles and white orchids on it. Gold wallpaper, high ceilings, warm lighting, and cherry wood flooring gave the space a cozy feel.

A look crossed Cole's face, but it was gone before anyone could decipher it, and he admitted, "This is my penthouse." There was a look of confusion on the sisters and Leo's faces. Unless he had done a lot of remodeling, this wasn't the penthouse Cole and Phoebe had once lived in. "It's a different penthouse. The old one was too painful for me to go back to as it was a constant reminder of the time when I had spiraled dangerously out of control," he explained, giving Phoebe a meaningful look. He had more regrets than he cared to think about, especially where Phoebe was concerned, each one more complex than the last.

Phoebe looked away, overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment and his gaze.

"What was that look on your stupid face for, then?" Paige demanded, glaring daggers at her ex-brother-in-law. He was saying all the right things and sounded genuine enough, but Paige was always going to be suspicious of him. Just as some habits were hard to break, some natural impulses were all but impossible to overcome.

"This place holds a lot of memories for me," Cole answered simply, "good memories." It was why he hadn't been able to let it go when he'd married Phoebe again. Instead of selling it, they rented it out vacationers and made some extra money off it. Before everything had gone to hell, he'd planned on using the penthouse to convince Lauren to go to a local university. Phoebe used to laugh at the plan and call him crazy, but she understood where he'd been coming from. After the mess with the Seer and their unborn son, which was one of his biggest regrets because he had taken advantage of Phoebe's desire to have children of her own, Lauren was sunshine and rainbows and all that was good in the world.

"If this is your penthouse, then not a lot of time has passed since Wyatt's take over." Chris mused out loud, suddenly remembering that this was where they–what was left of his family–had briefly taken refuge.

He walked out of the entryway, with the five others following closely behind him. The entryway flowed into a sweeping open layout that consisted of the family room, kitchen, and breakfast area. Sleeping bags and pillows littered the floor of the San Francisco penthouse. The sisters and Leo were able to recognize most of the kids that were sprawled out under, in, or on top of the sleeping bags. Ally was the easiest to recognize since she'd been in most of Chris' memories. Next to and across from her were older versions of Cole's three girls–Lauren, Lacey, and Lyla. Then, finally, there was a young girl that they hadn't seen in any of the previous memories.

The scene almost passed as being nothing more than a sleepover between friends, but the items on the coffee table spoke of an emergency-like-situation. Band-Aides in a variety of shapes and sizes. Peroxide. Antibiotic ointments. Gauze, in both pads and rolls. A folded-up map and crystal pendant. Vials of blood, each carefully labeled. A pot and a large wooden spoon. Several potion ingredients. It seemed as if somebody had just grabbed everything that looked remotely useful; as if they'd never see or find this kind of stuff again.

"Would you rather be captured by one of Wyatt's goons or by a D2D wack job?" One of Cole's girls, the one with reddish-brown hair, asked.

Leo and Piper flinched at the fact that their son now apparently had goons at his command.

"Oh, that's easy. I'd choose a D2D wack job over one of Wyatt's goons any day," the new girl answered with a half-smile, half-smirk on her pretty face. She had soft, green-gray doe eyes and long brown hair that was the same shade as Chris' hair. Much like with Jake and Ally, the resemblance between the neurotic half-whitelighter that they were slowly beginning to trust and this girl was striking.

"Chris, is that your sister? And what is D2D?" Phoebe asked.

Since it had already been revealed that he had a little sister, Chris nodded his head in confirmation, "Yeah, that's Melinda, my little sister." The second question required a bit more consideration, so Chris took a moment to form an answer that wouldn't give too much information away. "The take over was planned with care and executed with precision, but Wyatt didn't really have a plan in place for after he took over. I think he just assumed that everyone would bow down to him without so much as a whimper of opposition. Obviously, that wasn't the case. It never is. Does that make sense so far?" Chris asked, wanting to make sure that they were following along.

The sisters and Leo nodded.

"Okay, so basically," he continued from where he left off earlier, "Wyatt's take over resulted in the emergence of three groups: D2D was the first, followed by the Witch Hunters, and then finally the Resistance. D2D is essentially a hate group; they believe that all of Wyatt's friends deserve to die."

And by friends, he really meant family.

In his defense, though, it was close enough to the truth. "Family" and "friends" were two words that were interchangeable to the Halliwells.

"But…why?" Paige spluttered. "From everything we've seen so far, Wyatt acted alone in his plot to take over the world."

Chris shrugged. "Guilty by association, I guess."

"Chris, that's horrible!" Paige cried, shocked and horrified in equal measure.

"Lacey's description of them was pretty spot on; they're just a bunch of wack jobs. Not really a serious threat. The Witch Hunters, on the other hand…" He trailed off, not trusting his voice to say anymore, knowing that it would be hard to conceal his emotions. The Witch Hunters were honestly one of the worst thing to come out of the take over.

Phoebe, who had paled at the mention of Witch Hunters, nodded in understanding. The thought of witches being executed, of being burned at the stake, brought tears to her eyes. Nobody should ever have to go through that. Having experienced it herself, albeit in another future, she could also attest to how cruel and barbaric Witch Hunters could be.

"That's not something to joke about, Melinda," Ally scolded, startling the six time travelers. "Your brother wouldn't be able to live with himself if something, God forbid, were to ever happen to you."

"She's right. I really wish you would take your safety more seriously," Memory Chris said as he and Jake suddenly entered the room.

Melinda's eyes narrowed to slits as she turned to face her big brother, her hands on her hips. She looked exactly like her mother when she was pissed. How the sisters and Leo could remain so blind to what was so obvious, Cole had no idea. Neither did Chris, for that matter, but he was thankful for it whereas Cole was troubled by it.

"Yeah, well, I wish a lot of things, too. I wish that mom was still alive to tell me what to do. I wish that Cara hadn't fallen for Wyatt's spiel hook, line, and sinker. I also wish Cara hadn't severed the link she shared with Sophia. And most recently, I was wishing that you would have told me that you were going out instead of just leaving me in the dark." Melinda shouted in a low voice so as not to disturb Sophia upstairs, where she currently was, with Uncle Cole and Junior keeping watch over her. The poor girl was in enough pain as it was. She didn't need to hear about the latest family drama. "You're lucky that Uncle Cole has been too busy taking care of Sophia to notice that you slipped out because otherwise your ass would be grass."

"Girls got a point," Cole said. He had expressly forbid the kids from leaving the two-story penthouse. In the immediate aftermath of the take over, the city burnt with implacable fear, panic, strife, and desperation. The streets had been strewn with the dead and the dying. It wasn't safe for anybody to be out there, but especially not for a Halliwell. They had giant targets on their backs from all sides.

Chris winced, feeling bad for disobeying his uncle.

"Mellie–" Memory Chris started to say, but was interrupted by Melinda.

"Don't 'Mellie' me." She said in a voice that dared him to call her that one more time.

"Look, I'm sorry that you were worried about me–"

"I never said that," Melinda quickly pointed out. "And for the record, I wasn't worried about you." A chorus of snickers could be heard from Ally and Cole's girls. They knew that Melinda was lying through her teeth. She had been worried sick about Chris.

"Okay. Fine. I'm sorry for not telling you that I was going out, but I'm doing all I can to bring back honor to our family name. To live up to the legacy." Memory Chris said, the sincerity of his words all too clear.

As Cole watched the conversation between his nephew and niece play out, he realized something he should have realized much, much earlier: Chris' way of dealing with the guilt he carried was to immerse himself in his mission.

He was going to have to have a long talk with Chris when they got back to 2004.

"I was scouting abandoned warehouses and factories all over the city," Memory Chris revealed, "if we're going to start a Resistance, then we're going to need to give people a place to go."

Melinda's face softened at his explanation. She hadn't meant to jump down his throat like that, but she had all this pent-up anger inside her petite, five-foot-three frame. These days it seemed like she was angry at everything and with everyone. But Chris had proven to be the one constant, dependable person in her life and that wasn't fair to him. He deserved more than that.

"And I went with him to make sure that he didn't get killed," Jake piped up.

Ally rolled her eyes at her big brother, but smiled and mouthed a "thank you" to him.

"Did you find any diamonds in the rough?" Lauren asked as she sat up in her sleeping bag, joining the conversation.

A frustrated look came onto Memory Chris' face. "No," he admitted.

"That's actually what I was hoping to hear. I've been giving it a lot of thought and while places like a warehouse or factory might seem like a great idea because of their capacity to hold a lot of people, it would stick out like a sore thumb and be a pretty obvious hiding place. We need to find something that's inconspicuous. A place that no one would think to look." Lauren stated.

"That's…true," Memory Chris agreed with his cousin. He hadn't thought of it like that before. "Any more ideas, oh brilliant one?"

Before Lauren could answer, however, a bloodcurdling scream came from upstairs.

The youngest of Cole's three daughters, the one with shoulder-length wavy caramel brown hair, ran over to Memory Chris with her arms outstretched. Despite the fact that Lyla was seven years old, she still liked being picked up and carried around.

Memory Chris picked the girl up, then set her on his hip with an ease that only came from long practice.

"Is Phi-Phi going to die?" The girl asked worriedly as she clung to her cousin, breaking everyone's hearts. She should be concerned with Barbie dolls, not issues of life and death.

"Sophia's going to be fine," Memory Chris said as he gently rocked her back and forth.

Another bloodcurdling scream came from upstairs.

"I hope," Memory Chris murmured, low enough so that Lyla wouldn't hear.

And with that, the onlookers were whisked away to another memory.

Author's Note: I noticed that a lot of Chris revelation stories don't focus on or go into detail about how the Resistance was created, so that's kind of where this chapter came from. Anyways, we got the some Cole/Phoebe interaction and some insight into Cole in this chapter! Also, Leo helped Chris out! Do you guys think there's a glimmer of hope for them? As always, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review!