Author's note: Okay, so this one is actually one of my favourite chapters I've written so far. Again, very Leo and Chris-centric but super fun to write (and honestly, I just think this was a very real missed opportunity for a reveal in the show, so I was excited to write this one).
Soul Survivor (in which Chris's luck runs out)
A dinosaur. A freaking dinosaur, Chris thought incredulously, as he and Leo jumped through the time portal, escaping the dinosaur in question's snapping teeth by mere inches.
As soon as his body entered the time portal, he could feel it tugging at him. It felt as though he was going in hundreds of different directions all at once, but somehow with the distinct feeling of being pulled. Chris had done enough time travelling to recognise that he and Leo were moving forward through time.
And then, just as quickly as they had entered the portal, it spat them out. This time into a grassy meadow, which made a much nicer landing spot for the two whitelighters, who both landed on their backs, rolling a couple of times from the force with which they'd exited the time portal.
Well, we're not in San Francisco. And it's not 2003, Chris mused, before turning his attention to Leo, who lay panting with exertion beside him.
"You okay?"
Leo nodded, "Thanks for not listening to me."
"Any time."
And then it happened. Seven gun touting soldiers stepped into Chris's field of vision, their guns aimed at him and Leo.
"You boys Yankees?"
Chris groaned as his eyes landed on one of the belt buckles of the soldier directly in his eyeline. CSA. Are you kidding me? The freaking Confederacy? As if we don't have enough problems.
He didn't have any time to communicate their dilemma with Leo though, because they were being forced to their feet by the soldiers.
"Well?" the soldier who had spoken before, obviously the leader, asked, poking his gun into Chris's chest.
Chris glanced at Leo, who looked less concerned than Chris felt. Then again, a gunshot wound wouldn't kill Leo the way it could kill Chris (not that Leo knew that), although at least they were back in a time period when magic existed, so Leo could heal him if he really did get shot.
What I wouldn't give to have inherited Mom's power right now.
Not that he could use it. Not without outing himself as a witch. And Chris had worked too hard to keep that particular secret to himself. Talk your way out it is then, he decided, casting his mind back to what little he knew about the Civil War from the one American history class he'd taken at Magic School.
"We're not Yankees," he insisted.
None of the guns lowered. Chris swallowed nervously.
"Well you sure as shit ain't Confederates," the leader replied, looking between Chris and Leo suspiciously.
"I guess that means our disguises work," Chris said, glancing at Leo and hoping the Elder understood enough to be able to go with the plan. Even though he still wasn't entirely sure what the plan was.
"Disguises?" the Confederate leader raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Leo finally spoke up, "We were tasked with a fact-finding mission. Infiltrating Union soldiers."
The soldiers, who had been slowly lowering their guns, raised them back up. Chris groaned as he realised something Leo had said must've given them away.
"Union soldiers, hey? If you were real patriots, you'd call those Yankee bastards what they are."
Okay, best case scenario, they take us prisoner and we orb away as soon as we're alone. Worst case scenario, they kill us right here.
All seven soldiers pumped their shotguns. Worst case scenario then. Time for Plan B.
"If there's magic in this time, there must be Cleaners, right?" Chris asked Leo out of the side of his mouth.
"I think so," Leo replied in a hushed tone.
It was good enough for Chris. He was close enough to Leo to be able to wrap a hand around his wrist and orb them both out, just as the Confederates fired. They reappeared on the other side of the meadow in the direction the time portal had thrown them from, just in time to watch several soldiers fall, having shot each other when their targets suddenly disappeared. The remaining soldiers looked around in confusion. It was an empty meadow, it wouldn't take them long to find them.
Realising he still had his hand around Leo's wrist, Chris orbed again. This time, he had no destination in mind. Instead, their orbs hovered in space, out of the eyelines of the searching Confederates. He waited a few minutes, but he couldn't hold it much longer than that. Hoping it was enough time for the soldiers to have cleared out, he let the magic go, bringing both him and Leo back to the ground, where they reformed.
It worked. The meadow was clear. Chris's knees buckled and he would have fallen to the ground, if not for Leo grabbing his arms and steadying him. They stood like that for a moment, until Chris's breathing slowed and he regained enough strength to stand on his own. He could feel his drained magic slowly beginning to return to him.
"How did you do that?" Leo asked incredulously, letting go of the young whitelighter's arms.
Chris shrugged, "A trick I learned in the future."
A witch trick, actually. Using his telekinesis to control orbs. It was the same power he'd sent Leo to Valhalla with, just used in a different way. Of course, using telekinesis on someone else's orbs was a hell of a lot easier than using telekinesis on his own orbs, while orbing himself. Which was why it took so much out of him so quickly.
"Come on," Chris said, making his way in the direction of the time portal, "Let's get out of here before they come back."
There was no wall or rock face this time. Only trees along the edge of the meadow. One of them had to house the portal. As they had done in the previous time period, Chris and Leo split up, running their hands along the trees for any trace of a portal.
"Found it," Leo called out finally.
Chris's hands dropped from the tree he had been searching, and he ran the few steps towards Leo. He supposed he should be grateful that Leo had alerted him, rather than electing to use the time portal himself and leave Chris behind.
"Let's hope this one leads us home," Chris said, ignoring the curious look he could feel Leo shooting at his back.
He knew Leo was wondering why he was abandoning his quest to find a portal to the future and opting to return to the past. But there was no way he could step into the future. Not with Leo still with him.
It was with that thought in mind, the thought of the past and the future, that Chris stepped through the time portal. There was that same feeling of pushing and pulling again, and the overall sense of being pulled forward. Forward through time, that was a good sign.
And then he stepped out, stumbling forward a few steps from the force of the portal expelling him into this new place and time. Whatever it was.
Chris took a moment to take in his surroundings as Leo landed behind him. They were in an alley this time, similar, but not quite the same as the alley they'd stepped through in 2003. There were bags of trash all around them, and graffiti on the walls that hadn't been there when they'd left. It was darker too, grey clouds hiding the sky, where there had been sunshine before. Unease filled Chris as Leo stepped beside him. There was something… off… about this time.
"We shouldn't be here," Chris said, his eyes still flickering around the alley, looking for anything that would tell them when and where they were.
"When are we?" Leo asked.
There was a deafening crash that sounded then. Startling them both. It sounded like thunder, but louder and deadlier. The sky seemed to darken, as the clouds turned a deep, ominous looking red right before their eyes. Another crash sounded, accompanied by a flash of red light in the sky. And another after that.
Then came the screams. Chris reacted as he'd been punched in the gut, the air leaving his mouth with a whoosh and his face paling.
He knew where they were now.
"We shouldn't be here," he repeated, throwing an arm up in front of Leo and stepping backwards all at once, forcing the Elder to step back with him.
"Where's here? When are we Chris?" Leo asked.
"San Francisco, 2020. My past. Your future," Chris answered, his eyes darting frantically around the alley.
"When is this? What's happening?" Leo asked, flinching as more screams filled the air.
Chris looked at him with a pained and haunted look Leo had never seen in his eyes before. The only thing Leo could compare it to was the expression on wounded soldiers' faces after a particularly terrible battle during the war.
"This is the day the world ends," he choked out, "We gotta go."
But before either of them could turn back towards the time portal, an energy ball landed between them, exploding the garbage behind them and blowing both of them into opposite corners of the alley. Relying on well ingrained instincts he'd spent so long suppressing in the past, Chris was able to use his telekinesis to flip in the air, landing on his feet like a cat. Leo wasn't so lucky, landing flat on his stomach. He'd mostly landed in trash though, which though disgusting, had cushioned his fall.
Out of the corner of his eye, Chris saw Leo drag himself to his feet. But his attention wasn't on the Elder. It was on the group of upper-level demons standing at the entrance of the alley a few feet away. At least five, he counted quickly. Possibly more. If not with this group, they were definitely crawling their way out of the Underworld and into the streets of San Francisco.
So much for making a quick exit, Chris thought wryly, raising his hands defensively. He didn't have a choice now, he'd have to use his powers to defend himself and Leo. He could only hope that the Elder would be distracted enough with the whole surviving a demon attack thing that he might not notice how Chris was fighting.
Stepping towards the centre of the alley, Leo raised a broken plank of wood. He must've found it in amongst the trash he'd landed in, Chris realised. It's not much of a weapon, but it'll have to do for now.
The demons charged at them, and Chris realised he had miscounted, as three headed for Leo and another three headed for him. Six upper level demons and a future Dad who can't die without dooming my existence. Piece of cake. He directed his magic at the three demons headed towards him, using his arm to throw them back with a powerful telekinesis blast. It didn't kill any of them, but it at least put some distance between him and the demons.
Energy balls started flying towards Chris. Where he could, he sent them back in the direction of the demons with a flick of his hand. Where he couldn't, he dodged. After he'd vanquished a second demon, the three demons fighting Leo took notice. They obviously recognised him as the bigger threat because they turned away from Leo and started stalking towards Chris.
Leo noticed it as well. And then, to Chris's horror, he orbed.
"No!" Chris shouted, but it was too late.
One second, Leo was across the alley. The next, he was beside Chris, ready to help him fight the remaining demons.
Okay, not good. We have about sixty seconds to get the hell out of here.
"We gotta get out of here. Now," Chris said hurriedly, "On my signal, run. Whatever you do, don't orb!"
He knew his words had to be confusing to the Elder. He had no idea of the world they'd landed in. But Chris did and he hoped that Leo trusted him enough to follow his instructions. They'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble if he didn't.
The demons stalked closer, trying to back the two whitelighters into the corner, clearly wanting a confined space that they could use to their advantage. Chris let them take one more step before he flicked both of his wrists, and suddenly the demons parted, two flying into the left wall and the other two flying into the right.
"Run!" he cried, already taking off at a sprint.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of wood clattering to the floor and Leo's footsteps behind him a second later. He'd listened.
They'd run several blocks before Chris slowed his pace, looking for somewhere to hide. He didn't want to get too far from the time portal, but they needed to be away from the orb trail Leo had left behind. That alley would be crawling with demons by now, and the last thing they needed was to get into another fight.
Where's safe? Chris wondered, though it was hard to come up with anywhere when he still didn't know where exactly in San Francisco they were. Wherever they were, they needed to find somewhere nearby. They didn't have the luxury of orbing wherever they needed to go.
Chris came to a stop outside of an empty store. There was a 'For Lease' sign, and from what he could see, it didn't appear that any demons had gotten to it yet. He tried the door handle which was, as he'd expected, locked.
Running out of options here Halliwell, he thought to himself, gritting his teeth, It's either use magic and reveal yourself, or keep your secret and possibly die.
"What are you-?"
Chris raised his hand to shush Leo, "Inside we need to be, let us in, though we have no key."
He tried the door again, breathing a sigh of relief when it opened easily.
"In here," Chris gestured for Leo to enter.
Leo looked shocked, but he stepped into the store. Chris locked the door behind them, and quickly surveyed their surroundings.
"You cast a spell," Leo said, disbelievingly.
Chris ignored him, looking for the best place for them to hide in case demons decided to check the building. The store was largely empty, obviously having been vacant for some time now, but there was a long built in counter on the other side of the room.
"Come on," Chris gestured for Leo to follow him, as he made his way behind the counter.
He sat down, pulling Leo down with him.
"We should be safe here, until the coast is clear and we can get back to the time portal," Chris said.
He finally looked at Leo. The Elder's expression had settled into a mix of confusion and suspicion.
"You cast a spell, Chris," Leo said again, adding, "And before, with the demons. You used telekinesis."
"Yes."
"Whitelighters can't cast spells or use magic."
"No, but witches can."
Leo blinked in surprise, "You're a witch."
"Only half," Chris shrugged, "Half-witch, half-whitelighter."
He expected Leo to get stuck into him about lying to everyone when he came back from the past. Instead, the Elder surprised him by asking, "What did you mean when you said, 'the end of the world' back there? And why can't we orb?"
Chris sighed, "There's only so much I can tell you about what's going on. I don't want to make the future worse."
"According to you, this is the end of the world," Leo pointed out, "How much worse can it get?"
"You'd be surprised," Chris said darkly, "This is the day magic was revealed to the world. And lucky us, we seem to have landed right in the centre of all of the action."
"Magic's been revealed? How is that even possible? Where are the Cleaners?" Leo asked.
"Dead. Along with the Tribunal, and most of the Elders. There's a new… Source, for lack of a better term, in this time. And he's spent the better part of the last year or so uniting the Underworld with promises of bringing them all topside. This is him making good on that promise. Those flashes of red you saw, that was a doorway to the Underworld being wedged open. Permanently. By the end of the day, what's left of the world will be evil's domain."
Leo looked shocked. In fact, his mouth was literally opening and closing like a goldfish, as he processed Chris's words.
"What about the rest of the magical community? Those on the side of good? Why didn't they do anything to stop this?" he asked finally.
"Well for starters, no one knew what was happening in the Underworld. The Source was very good at covering his tracks," Chris said carefully, not wanting to give too much away.
"And?" Leo prompted, when he didn't say anymore.
"And no one saw him as a threat. He was supposed to be good," Chris said softly, trying desperately not to remember how crushed he had been by Wyatt's turning. Which ironically enough, he'd originally found out about on this day.
If it was even possible, Leo looked more shocked at that. For a second, Chris thought that he would press him for more information, but he didn't. Whether it was because he knew how dangerous it was to know too much about the future, or because he simply didn't want to hear anymore, Chris couldn't tell.
"So why can't we orb?" Leo asked.
"The Source cast a spell before he opened the doorway to the Underworld. It alerts him every time someone orbs, allowing him to send his demons after them. He's trying to eliminate as many whitelighters and good witches as he can."
Okay, so it wasn't technically true. That particular spell had actually been designed to locate Chris. The fact that it allowed Wyatt to send his demons after other whitelighters and witches was just a bonus to the older boy.
"This is all linked to what happens to Wyatt?" Leo said slowly, in realisation, "This is what you've come back to stop?"
Chris nodded.
"I can't explain how what happens today is connected to what happens to Wyatt," he said, anticipating Leo's next question, "But know that saving Wyatt is key to stopping this future from ever eventuating."
He let Leo read what he wanted into that statement. Let him think that whatever happened to Wyatt stopped the Twice-Blessed from being there now, to stand between the new Source of All Evil and his plans for world domination. With the limited information Chris had given him, not to mention his own bias as a father, Leo was never going to guess that the reason Wyatt hadn't stopped this was because it was his plan.
"So what now? How do we get back to the time portal?" Leo asked finally.
Chris looked at the watch on his wrist. How long had it been since they'd landed in 2020? How long since they'd fled the alley. In all the chaos, he really couldn't be sure.
"Best estimate, we have maybe another hour or so to get back to the portal. After that, there's no guarantee that it'll still be there, in which case we're gonna be relying on the spell I used to come to the past. And that's going to be almost impossible for us to get our hands on it in this time," Chris explained, "We need to get back to the alley on foot. But we should give it another half hour or so. Make sure the demons are definitely gone."
Leo nodded, and Chris was surprised to find the Elder was deferring to him. Sure, it made logical sense for Chris to take charge, given that he'd lived through this day once before. But never in his life had Leo ever put this much trust in him.
The two men sat in uncomfortable silence for some time, until Leo finally said, "You said this is your past, when we were in the alley. What time do you come from then?"
Chris hesitated, then decided it probably wouldn't do any harm for Leo to know, "Five years from now. 2025."
Leo pondered that for a moment. Five years. Five years of evil walking the world freely. How much worse had the world gotten in that time?
"How old are you now? 2020 you? I don't even know how old you are."
Chris shrugged, "Age is pretty relative for whitelighters."
"But you're not a full whitelighter," Leo pointed out.
Chris chuckled dryly, "Right. I think I was sixteen, when all this went down."
Leo did the math.
"That would make you twenty-one now."
"Actually, my age now is a little complicated. Time travel isn't exactly straightforward. I didn't come back to the same date in 2003 that I left 2025 in. I've tried keeping track, but honestly with trying to work out what's after Wyatt and trying to work out if I've actually changed anything, which clearly I haven't, it's not exactly been a priority."
"So, twenty-one-ish, then?" Leo joked.
Chris chuckled again, then looked down at his watch. It hadn't quite been a half hour, but he was reluctant to wait much longer to get back to the time portal in case they were confronted again. He didn't want to risk losing the portal and ending up stuck in this time.
"I think we should try getting back," he said, pulling himself to his feet.
Leo's face grew more serious as he too stood.
"Remember, no orbing," Chris reminded him as they crept to the store's front door.
Leo nodded, "Do you remember where the time portal is?"
"I think so," Chris replied.
I hope so. Swallowing hard, Chris unlocked the front door and slowly, carefully turned the handle. He couldn't see any demons out in the street, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
"Let's go," he whispered to Leo.
Chris led Leo out of the store and back in the direction they had run in. They didn't run this time, though they certainly walked quickly, trying to draw as little attention to themselves as they could. They made it to the alley unconfronted. It made Chris feel uneasy. It felt too easy. He remained on guard as they stepped into the alley, making their way to the back wall, where the time portal had thrown them out.
They were only a few steps away when a round silver device appeared in front of them. A probe. Before Chris could blast it with his telekinesis, a projection started playing on the alley wall in front of them.
Not a probe. A drone, Chris realised.
His breath caught as the projection brought up the image of his older brother. He was only 17, nearly 18 in this time. But his cold eyes and the satisfied smirk on his face were identical to the expression Wyatt had worn the last time Chris had seen him.
He knew he should have sent the drone flying into the wall. But the sight of his brother in front of him, seemingly staring straight at Chris, made him freeze.
"Chris," Leo said uncertainly beside him, shocking Chris back to reality.
Chris wasted no time. The drone would do them no harm. They didn't track or scan for magic. No, Wyatt wouldn't come up with those for another three years. Even still, he didn't want Leo learning anything more about the future than he already had. He flicked his wrist, flinging the drone against the alley wall. To his horror though, the projection magically remained in place.
Well, crap. Great invention, Wy. Of course his egotistical super-villain older brother would have ensured that no one could turn the projection off until he wanted them to.
With no time to lose, Chris stepped forward, through the projection and started frantically running his hands along the alley wall, searching for the portal.
Behind him, Leo stared at the projection. He didn't recognise the young man in front of him, though he felt like he should. And then he began talking.
"Welcome to the new world order. Some of you may already know of me. The prophesised son of a Charmed One, the Twice-Blessed Witch. For those who don't know me, I am your saviour. Wyatt Halliwell."
Fucking hell, can't a guy catch a fucking break? Chris thought, his hands moving more frantically.
"For centuries, we have been ruled by arbitrary concepts of 'good' and 'evil'. Magical communities have warred with one another, while the non-magical went about their lives obliviously. I have freed us of these constraints. Destroyed those who would force us to fight their battles. Because there is no 'good' or 'evil'. There is only power. I come from the most powerful lineage of all, and now that I have freed us, I vow to use my power to protect us all. Join me, and you will be safe. Resist, and you will be dealt with."
Leo wasn't saying anything. Not good. So not good. But all Chris could do was keep searching for the time portal and get them out of this time before Leo learned something he shouldn't.
"My enforcers have been sent out to maintain order. Do not be afraid. They will only harm those who threaten to disturb the peace I have created. They're also looking for someone."
Chris whirled around at that, his eyes widening in horror. Somehow, over the years, he had forgotten this part of Wyatt's first announcement. How the fuck did I forget this?
But there was nothing he could do, as the projection of Wyatt changed to a picture of a teenaged Chris. Chris, of course, recognised himself. He hadn't changed that much in the last five years. And that meant that Leo would probably recognise him too.
"This is Chris Halliwell. My brother."
Chris's eyes met Leo's through the projection. Leo stared back at him, wide eyed and evidently too stunned to speak. Chris swallowed hard.
Fuck. Thanks a lot Wyatt.
"Anyone caught concealing him will be charged with resisting the new world order, and will be put to death," the picture was replaced with Wyatt again. Though he couldn't see Chris, this time Wyatt spoke directly to him. Despite the fact that he was older than this Wyatt, and Wyatt had no idea he was even in this time, the familiar hard look in his brother's eyes, and the cold, uncompromising tone sent a shiver through him, "Chris, if you're watching this, come home. I will find you."
The projection ended, shrinking to the size of a pinhead and disappearing. As soon as it did, Chris turned back around, running his hands along the wall again. Almost immediately, his hand slid through the wall.
It couldn't have been here five minutes ago, Chris grumbled to himself.
"I've got the portal," he left his hand inside of it, lest it disappear again, and turned to look at Leo, who was still yet to say anything.
"Chris."
"No time," Chris shook his head, "You heard him, there's a whole city of demons looking for me. And if they get both of us, he'll figure out what I'm up to and it'll all be over. He'll keep you here to erase me. We gotta go."
The words seemed to snap Leo into action, and he hurried over to the wall. Together, they stepped through the time portal again.
Hopefully for the last time.
The familiar feeling of being pushed and pulled came, though this time, with the distinct feeling of being pushed backward that they'd both felt before their little trip to the Crustaceous period. A second later, Chris stumbled out of the portal and back into the alley he had left from. Leo landed beside him a second later.
Chris looked around, breathing a sigh of relief. The sky was darker than it had been when they left, but it looked, and felt, like the time they had left from. He cast his mind out, seeing if he could sense the sisters, satisfied they had landed in the right time when he felt three familiar presences.
The relief was fleeting though, as he remembered what Leo had just seen. He turned to face the Elder, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Wyatt-" Leo spoke slowly, clearly still processing all of the information he had received in the last few minutes, "Wyatt's the good witch that went bad? The new Source?"
Focussing on Wyatt. What a surprise.
"He doesn't call himself the Source. You heard him, he genuinely thinks he's the saviour of the world," Chris replied forlornly.
His brother's corruption was one of the greatest pains Chris had ever known. Second only to his mother's death. But seeing the day everything had fallen apart again, seeing teenage Wyatt all but declaring himself Supreme Overlord of the World and knowing that he hadn't changed anything in the past, threatened to bury Chris under a new wave of pain and grief.
"Did he find you?"
Chris blinked in surprise. He hadn't been expecting Leo to ask that next.
"He was looking for you, in the future. Did he find you?" Leo asked again, when Chris didn't answer.
Chris swallowed, the memory of the first time he'd lived this day overtaking him.
~Flashback~
He was running, not paying much attention to where he was going, but knowing that if he stopped moving, he was done for. Chris had been running since the projection, since Wyatt had revealed himself as the architect of the apocalypse, named himself the Ruler of the 'New World Order' and all but put a hit out on his little brother. He'd known things were bad, that Wyatt was heading down a dangerous path, but he'd never expected this, not even in his worst nightmares.
Chris had been with his grandfather when the screams had started. They had gone for a movie, Victor's attempt at getting Chris's mind off the increasingly frequent arguments they had been having with Wyatt, who seemed to be going more and more off the rails. When the screams had begun, Chris orbed them both back to Victor's apartment, where Chris had been living since his mother had died. He hadn't known it at the time, but his orb trail set off a spell cast by Wyatt to find him.
They'd only been back in the apartment a minute or so when a group of demons shimmered in. Chris had been able to fight them off, eventually vanquishing them with some potions he always kept handy in the apartment, in case his grandfather was attacked while Chris wasn't there.
When the demons were gone, Chris had quickly cast a protection spell on the apartment and begged his grandfather to stay behind while he went to find out what the hell was going on. Victor had fought him on it, not wanting to let his sixteen year old grandson step out into what, by all accounts, looked like a demon apocalypse, but he also knew that he could be putting Chris at risk if he went with him, and so he had reluctantly relented and let the teenage whitelighter-witch venture out alone.
So, Chris had orbed back to the cinema he and Victor had been at when the screams started. More demons, another fight which he had only managed to win because there was so much rubble in the street, and the sharp corners worked as well as an athame when Chris threw the demons into them.
On his third orb, and his third encounter with demons, Chris realised that there was something about orbing that was attracting the demons to him. He had just vanquished that group of demons when the projection started. As soon as Wyatt had said the demons were looking for him, Chris took off at a sprint. He heard Wyatt's message for him, projected on just about every surface in the city. Fear struck him at the obvious threat in his brother's voice. He kept running, grimly aware that whatever Wyatt wanted him for, it probably wasn't good.
Chris wasn't sure how long ago that was. His pace had definitely slowed, but he was running as fast as he could, doubling back and ducking behind things when he saw anyone, good, evil, or in between. The whole city had seen Wyatt's projection, and he couldn't be sure that anyone he came across wasn't going to turn him in.
His lungs burned, his legs ached, and he felt like he was stumbling more than running at this point. He was seriously regretting not taking up jogging as a hobby, grimly aware that he couldn't keep running much longer. It was as he was coming to this realisation that his path was blocked by a pair of Darklighters. He stopped, looking over his shoulder to see if retreating was an option. A second set of Darklighters stood behind him. All four had their crossbows raised at him threateningly.
'Okay, fight it is,' the young whitelighter-witch thought, raising his hands up defensively.
But the Darklighters hadn't attacked. They stepped closer to him, and he realised too late they were trying to box him in. He threw a hand out, flinging the two on the left away from him, but before he could deal with the two on the right, an arrow lodged itself in his ribcage.
Chris let out a cry of pain and crumpled to the ground as the Darklighter poison entered his bloodstream. He couldn't fight as a Darklighter appeared on either side of him, pulling him to his feet roughly and orbing away.
~End Flashback~
"Well, not him personally, but yeah, he found me."
A shiver ran through Chris at the memory of Wyatt's rage when the Darklighters had dropped Chris at his feet, dying from the arrow that was still embedded in his side. Though the Darklighters had sworn it was the only way to get Chris to come with them, which was probably true because he'd never planned to go down without a fight, Wyatt had vanquished them all by simply clenching one hand into a fist. No one hurt his little brother, except for him, apparently, because, though Wyatt had removed the arrow and healed Chris, when the younger boy refused to join him in his pursuit for power, the older boy had lashed out at him in a very physical way, expecting his powers to convince his little brother to see things his way.
Leo must have noticed Chris's reaction, because he didn't ask for more detail. That or he didn't care about whatever it was that Wyatt had subjected him to.
"What happened to him?"
A flash of pain ran through Chris at the question. Of course all Leo wanted to know about was Wyatt. He shouldn't have been surprised. Wyatt always had been Leo's favourite. His golden child, who could do no wrong.
"Something got to him when he was a baby. Infected him with evil, which lay dormant until he was a teenager. I don't know what, I just know that whatever it was got to him before I was born," Chris explained.
"Which is when?" Leo's brow furrowed as he tried to do the math again.
"November 2004."
"Next year," Leo breathed.
By the end of 2004, Wyatt would be evil if they didn't do anything to stop it. And whether Wyatt was good or evil, Piper and Leo would have another son.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell us?" Leo asked.
"About Wyatt? Like you would have believed that. The Twice-Blessed Witch, the supposed paragon of all good magic, being turned evil? I barely believed it at first, and I lived it," Chris scoffed.
Leo shook his head, "No, not about- about you? Why didn't you tell us who you were from the beginning?"
"The only thing less believable than Wyatt turning evil is a yet-to-be-conceived son coming back from the future to stop Wyatt turning evil."
Leo frowned, but he had to admit it was true. It was a pretty unbelievable story.
"That must have been really hard for you. Being around us, not being able to tell us who you really were."
Chris blinked. Did one of those demons knock him in the head or something?
"Yeah, well, the future I'm trying to change here is more important than my feelings. And it's nothing I hadn't prepared for before coming back," he replied.
Leo frowned, "Still, we haven't made any of this any easier on you. I'm sorry."
Chris hadn't been expecting the apology, though he supposed he should have. How many times had he heard or read those words from Leo's future counterpart? "I'm so sorry I have to miss your birthday party, buddy." "Sorry, I was with a charge when you called." "I have to go, sorry Chris. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Old feelings of abandonment welled up inside Chris, and he scowled at the Elder.
"Don't do that," he snapped, "Don't act like this changes anything."
"What are you talking about? Chris, this changes everything."
"No, it doesn't," Chris insisted, squaring his shoulders, "I mean, I could do without the constant suspicion now that you know that my motivations for coming here are good, but other than that-"
"Chris, I can't go back to how it was before. I can't pretend I don't know that you're my son."
"Why not? It was easy enough for you to do in the future, it shouldn't be too hard to do now!"
Chris ignored the flash of hurt on Leo's face. He was feeling plenty of hurt himself, as all the resentment towards Leo that he had been trying to push down the past few months bubbled to the surface.
"Chris-"
"Why don't you just do what you do best, Leo. Go back to focussing on Wyatt and the sisters, and the rest of the damn world, and leave me alone!"
With that, Chris orbed away, leaving a very stunned and confused Leo in his wake.
"Hey, look who it is. Where you been?" Phoebe asked as Leo came to stand beside her and Piper at that bar in P3.
"Long story," Leo replied, his eyes on Piper, "Can I talk to you?"
Piper looked surprised, but there was something about the look in Leo's eyes that made her realise whatever he had to say was important.
"Yeah, sure," she slid off of the stool she was sitting on, and followed Leo as he made his way through the crowd of people.
Leo led her into the back room, where Chris had been staying since he had come back to the past. He looked around, his heart aching as he noticed how unlived-in the room looked. Maybe Chris was just really tidy, but Leo suspected that it was more a combination of not feeling comfortable enough to truly settle in and not having much stuff to leave there.
Twenty-one. Leo recalled Chris's words to him earlier. Chris, his son, was 21 and practically homeless, stuck in a time that wasn't his own, essentially alone.
"What's going on Leo?" Piper asked, impatience creeping into her tone.
Leo swallowed, wondering how exactly he was going to tell Piper this. Where to even begin.
"You should probably sit down," he said, gesturing to the couch.
Piper pressed her lips together grimly, as she sat down on the couch. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.
Leo sat down beside her, "It's about Chris."
Piper suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She shouldn't have been surprised. Everything with Leo was about Chris recently. Although, she had to admit that since their encounter with the Demon of Desire, she too had found herself becoming suspicious of the whitelighter from the future.
"What about him?" she asked.
Leo took a deep breath and then said, "He's our son."
Piper blinked, her expression becoming one of surprise and confusion.
"Wh- How- How is that even possible? I mean, I know how it could be possible," her cheeks flushed at that, "But- we're separated. How is it possible that we have another child?"
Leo frowned. He hadn't actually thought about the logistics of it all, but then again, he'd had a lot of information to take in at the time. Now, though, he realised just how much Chris had given up to come back to the past.
"We mustn't have been separated in the original timeline. Chris must've changed it."
"What? Why would he do that?" Piper exclaimed incredulously, wondering how bad of a mother she must be if her son had come back from the future to split his parents up.
Leo didn't answer, thinking about how Chris had acted when he first came back to the past. He'd obviously had his reasons for making Leo an Elder and splitting up his parents. And Leo knew now, without a single doubt, that every shady thing Chris had done was to save his brother, to save Wyatt. But to risk his own existence…
"He's so determined to change the future. No matter the cost," Leo said aloud, vowing to himself at that moment that the cost would not be Chris's own existence.
"How do you even know this? Did Chris tell you?" Piper asked, though she knew it couldn't have been as simple as that. Chris had been so tight lipped about the future from the moment he stepped back through time. She doubted he had just offered up information about his true identity to anyone, let alone Leo, who he had shown nothing but animosity towards. And had received from the Elder thus far, if Piper was being honest.
"No, I followed Chris through a time portal. We ended up in the future- a few years earlier than the time Chris came from, but the future for us," Leo explained.
Piper straightened up at that. Leo had seen the future?
"What did you see?" she asked eagerly, wondering if he had seen the future versions of the two of them.
Leo closed his eyes for a moment as the images flashed in his mind. The red sky. The screams. Demons roaming the streets. And a grown Wyatt, declaring himself ruler of the world and sending demons after his baby brother. He swallowed, and pushed the images away, focussing on Piper.
"It was… terrible, Piper," he said softly, "Chris called it, 'the day the world ended'. And I can see why. A portal to the Underworld was opened in the middle of the city, and demons were roaming the streets freely attacking innocents and hunting down whitelighters and good witches."
Piper gasped, "How is that even possible? Surely, the Cleaners-"
"No, they're dead in the future," Leo cut her off.
"How?" she asked again, thinking back to her own run in with the Cleaners not so long ago, "How could that happen?"
Leo didn't respond right away, looking down at his hands in his lap. An ominous feeling settled over Piper. Leo was holding back, saving the worst for last. She knew it.
"It was Wyatt," he said finally, looking back up at Piper with tears in his eyes, "He killed the Cleaners, and he opened the door to the Underworld."
Piper's mouth had fallen open in shock. Thoughts of denial filled her head. It couldn't be, not Wyatt. Not her baby boy. If anyone else had dared to say it, she may have voiced those thoughts. But Leo- she didn't need the haunted look in his eyes to know that he was telling the truth.
"He- he declared himself the Ruler of the World, Piper," Leo whispered, "And he sent demons after his little brother. Chris was no more than sixteen at the time. And Wyatt sent demons after him, Piper."
Panic struck Piper at the revelation. Sixteen. Still a boy, and his big brother had sent demons after him.
"Where were we? Why didn't we stop it? Were we even there to protect him?" she asked.
"I don't think so. Chris didn't say. All he said is that whatever happens to Wyatt happens when he's a baby. Something turns him, but the evil doesn't start to show until he's older. That's why Chris came back. To stop whoever it is that's trying to turn Wyatt."
Piper nodded, wringing her hands together in her lap. She didn't say anything, needing a moment to process everything Leo was telling her.
"Why didn't he tell us any of this?" she asked finally.
"He didn't think we'd believe him. Not about Wyatt and not about who he really is. And… he hates me, Piper," Leo let his head fall into his hands.
Piper shook her head. She couldn't believe that Chris hated Leo. He couldn't.
Maybe he hates you too. Maybe that's why he didn't tell you who he really is, Piper pushed the treacherous thought out of her mind.
"I'm sure he doesn't hate you, Leo," she said softly, automatically placing one hand on Leo's back and rubbing it soothingly.
"Oh, he does," Leo replied miserably, "You should have seen him, Piper. So angry, insisting that knowing who he really is changes nothing. He all but told me to forget I know anything about him."
"Why would he-?" Piper wondered aloud.
"I don't know," Leo raised his head to look at her again, his eyes wet.
Why don't you just do what you do best, Leo. Go back to focussing on Wyatt and the sisters, and the rest of the damn world, and leave me alone! Chris's words echoed in Leo's head.
"Do you think he blames us for what happened to Wyatt?"
"He should," Leo said guiltily, "We're his parents- both of their parents. We should have realised what was going on and protected them both."
Tears rolled down both Piper and Leo's cheeks. Unconsciously, they wrapped their arms around one another, holding each other as they both cried silently.
"We're going to fix this, Piper. We have to."
It was three days after Leo's revelation before Piper saw Chris again. She was home with Wyatt, folding some laundry in the sunroom, when Chris orbed in.
"Chris."
"Hey Piper, I just wanted to look up a demon in the Book."
"Oh," Piper said, disappointed, "Yeah, sure. Do you- do you need any help?"
She felt awkward, unsure of how she was expected to act around Chris. Does he even know I know?
Chris looked surprised at the offer. Normally getting Piper's help with anything remotely related to magic required a lot of persuasion on his part. Even when she'd been under Leo's magic and had been creepily agreeable to basically anything, she'd still never offered to help him with anything magical. Not once.
"Uh no, that's- that's okay," he shook his head, "Just doing some research. Book in the attic?"
Piper nodded, and watched sadly as Chris turned and headed for the stairs. She looked back down at the half-folded shirt in her hands.
He hates me, she thought miserably, I must be a terrible mother.
She sat in silence, wondering what to do next. Did she go and try to talk to Chris, or did she just keep pretending she didn't know? A part of her desperately wanted to talk to Chris, but she feared what she might find out if she did. Not to mention, there was nothing to stop him from orbing away to avoid talking to her if she did decide to try.
The sound of Wyatt crying drew Piper out of her thoughts. She looked at her watch.
Not a bad nap, she thought, dropping the shirt back in the laundry basket and making her way up to Wyatt's room.
Wyatt's cries quietened when Piper lifted him into her arms. She pulled him in close to her chest. Looking down at him, with his innocent blue eyes and his sweet little face, it was hard to believe that he could ever be evil. But Leo had seen it with his own eyes. Unless they did something, her beloved baby boy was going to grow up to take over the world and, from everything Leo had said, terrorise his little brother. His little brother who was simultaneously yet to be born and currently a twenty-something year old man.
Time travel, Piper shook her head in disbelief.
She wondered suddenly if Chris was still in the attic, or if he had orbed off without telling her. Shifting Wyatt so that he was sitting on her hip, she headed in the direction of the attic. Relief washed over her when she found Chris was still there, flicking through the Book of Shadows, and occasionally stopping to make a note in the notebook he was holding. Piper did a double take, noticing that he wasn't actually touching the pages to turn them.
Prue's power, she realised.
Chris looked up suddenly, his eyes widening as he realised Piper was watching him.
"Piper," he said nervously, his hands stilling, "How long have you been- I- I can explain."
He expected Piper to yell at him, demand answers, threaten to blow him up. But she didn't do any of those things. She was just staring at him, with a really strange look in her eyes. She actually didn't even look all that surprised.
Crap.
Chris sighed, "Leo told you, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did."
"He shouldn't have done that."
Feelings of anger and frustration coursed through Chris. He should've known he couldn't trust Leo to keep this a secret. Not that it was Leo's place to tell anyone, but when had that ever stopped him before? He wondered if Phoebe and Paige knew yet.
"I wish you had been the one to tell me," Piper said softly, stepping towards Chris.
"Would you have believed me?"
Piper thought about that. She wanted to say yes, of course she would have believed him. Looking at him now, knowing what she knew, she could see the combination of herself and Leo in him. But she couldn't really be sure she would have seen that, would have believed it, even if he had come to her. She'd barely believed it when Leo told her he'd seen it with his own eyes.
"I thought so," Chris replied when Piper didn't say anything, "Look, I don't want this to change anything, okay?"
"Chris, this changes everything! You're my son-"
The words died in her throat at the pained expression on Chris's face, and the way he stepped back from her.
"Was I really that bad of a mother?" she asked.
"No! That's not-" Chris ran a hand through his hair, "There are so many things I can't tell you without risking making the future worse. But… you're a great mom."
"Then why- how can you think this doesn't change anything?"
"Because I can't do what I need to do to save Wyatt and be your son. I'm sorry, but I can't. I don't want you to have to know the lengths I'll go to to get my brother back. The lengths I've already gone to. And I can't have you trying to stop me either. I'm risking everything just by coming here."
"I know you are. You've risked your entire existence to come here."
"It's not that. It was only a matter of time before Wyatt found me again in the future-" Chris trailed off, realising who he was talking to.
Piper's grip on Wyatt tightened. It felt like her heart was in her throat.
"I'm sorry," Chris said, "I- I shouldn't have- all I meant was, I was living on borrowed time before all of this started."
"He'd really kill you?" Piper asked heartbrokenly.
Chris didn't answer. There had been a time when he'd thought Wyatt could never kill him, even as lost as he was. But he'd pushed Wyatt's tolerance of him to the brink long before he'd travelled to the past. The Wyatt of his time had to have worked out what he was doing, why he'd needed the Book of Shadows and the time travel spell. That alone would cost him his life if he ever went back to that future. If he was sure of anything, it was that.
"Well then," Piper said when Chris didn't respond, "It's a good thing we're going to change that future."
"We?" Despite the surprise in his tone, Chris flashed Piper a small smile.
"I meant what I said Chris. This changes everything. Now that I know who you are and what's at stake, I'm going to do everything in my power to help you. I promise," Piper spoke determinedly, moving to stand beside Chris at the Book, "So, what are we looking at here?"