:Ripples in Time:

Chapter Six

2007-10-05T23:13:53Z

Finding Yourself

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Chapter Six

♠

The Relapse

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As the surprisingly strong fist connected with his jaw, Chris felt both relief and apprehension, not to mention the mind numbing pain that accompanied the blow. The pain wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been and he was glad that Mia pulled her punch. Getting hit full-force would have knocked him unconscious for a week, he was sure. As it were, he was only knocked off his feet and thrown back into the china cabinet with a deafening smash. Slowly raising his head, he smiled brightly at his cousin.

“It didn’t work!” one of the sisters cried, but Chris was too busy pulling himself away from the remains of the cabinet to see which one. He sat up painfully while Phoenicia looked down on him, hands on her hip in a very motherly pose, her entire demeanor practically screaming at him. Swallowing his nervousness under her angry glower, Chris shot her a cheeky grin.

“That’s cheating,” he stated, using his Telekinesis to lift himself back up effortlessly.

The white-haired girl scoffed. “Like you’ve never given your punches a magical oomph,”

“Yeah, but at least this,” he made a grand sweeping gesture to the rubble that once was the china cabinet. “Wasn’t my fault,”

“Christopher,” she said with a sweet smile, immediately causing him apprehension. “Run.”

The half-Elder didn’t need to be told twice and he made a break for it, trying to get out of the kitchen and into the conservatory. However, his Twin appeared right in front of him, arm poised for another blow. Suppressing a groan of dismay, Chris reached up and blocked her fist. She took a half step back and Chris was forced to drop to the floor in order to avoid the foot that nearly bashed into his head.

.:.You’re an idiot!.:. she said to him telepathically. .:.A complete and utter idiot!.:.

Chris rolled over and scrambled to his feet as she attacked again. .:.Hey! Quit insulting my intelligence!.:.

.:.What intelligence?.:. she barked back, somehow managing to get a firm grip on his arm. She maneuvered her side against his front and propelled him over her shoulder and into the wall. .:.You need to have it to be able to insult it, stupid!.:. she growled at him. .:.What the heck were you thinking, Chris? Time travel? Do you know how dangerous this is?.:.

.:.If I recall,.:. he scowled at her, trying to block the next onslaught. .:.You’re here too,.:.

Rolling her eyes, Phoenicia unexpectedly swerved around Chris and swept his feet out from under him. She straddled his stomach and pressed her elbow to his throat. .:.By no choice of my own, I assure. I merely followed the pretty trail of Fire,.:. she bit out in annoyance. Chris struggled under her for a moment before he finally got the upper hand. His fingers attacked her sides and she collapsed on top of his in a fit of giggles. “No fair!” the young woman gasped.

Using her distraction to his advantage, Chris revered their positions and beamed down at her. “Am I forgiven?” he asked her, his voice dripping with honey. She eyed him wearily, but Chris decided to go full force and gave her the puppy dog look. Sighing with irritation, she suddenly evaporated from his view and reappeared standing behind him, trying to compose herself. “Pwease, Mia,” he begged, turning around to face her.

“Oh, all right,” she huffed, crossing her arms as Chris began to smirk at his success. “But you do something stupid and unnecessary again,” she began to threaten, a sudden gleam in her eyes while she paused meaningfully for a dramatic effect. “… and I’m summoning the Waterboy.” While her words had little to no effect on the others, any triumph Chris might have felt at her not attacking and giving in to his wishes vanished instantly and he went pale.

“You wouldn’t!”

Phoenicia smirked. “Wouldn’t I?”

“You’re pure evil!” he accused sulkily, knowing she would stand by her threat.

“So I’ve been told,” she replied calmly. “Oh, and Chris,” She smacked him upside the head. “That is for going back in time without me,” She punched his shoulder. “And this for doing You-Know-What and nearly erasing yourself out of existence,” Once again, she made to slap him somewhere, but Chris merely grabbed her wrist and twisted her around so that her arm was locked behind her.

“Glad to have you back, Mia,” he told her with a chuckle, eyes holding a certain gleam in them. She looked over her shoulder at him, tossing him a withering glare that he knew meant trouble. The next thing he knew he was on his back, staring at the ceiling with a confused expression plastered on his face. “Ouch,” he commented belatedly and Phoenicia smirked down at him.

“Nice to be back,” she said, reaching down to grab him, and lifting him into the air effortlessly. Once he was on his feet, she slapped him upside the head. “Idiot!” she growled, a hint of her Esper form seeping through.

“Mia,” he whined. “What’d I do now?”

“Nothing,” she replied happily. “I just wanted to get one more shot in,”

Chris rolled his eyes at her fondly. “Of course,” he said monotonously. “Now that that’s over with, how are you feeling? Are there any side effects? Dizziness, nausea, anything?” Phoenicia scowled at him, knowing that his concern was overriding everything else. Sighing, she scrunched up her nose in thought, tilting her head to one side – dizziness…? Nope, her head felt more then clear. Nausea? Hell no – although she did want a medium pineapple pizza with ranch dressing and a large order of breadsticks and marinara sauce.

Licking her lips at the thought of one of her her favorite dishes, she shook her head. “I’m abnormally hungry, especially since I just had breakfast half an hour ago, and I feel like jumping on the table and doing the Macarena.” she told him in all seriousness, shrugging uncaringly. “It’s like being on a sugar high.” Her eyes suddenly lit up, “In fact, its kinda like that Halloween where we enchanted all that candy with an infusion of Redbull and caffeine.” She grinned impishly. “It gives you wings!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down happily, contemplating expanding her wings just to emphasize her point, but decided against it, figuring it wasn’t worth the pain.

Chris grinned back at her, resisting the urge to snicker at her childlike enthusiasm. “That’s better then being dead on your feet,” he said, watching with no small amount of amusement and she continued to jump. “Okay, Hop-along,” he shook his head with a wry smile. “I think its time to introduce you to everyone.” She paused mid-jump, her body hovering inches off the floor.

“Awe,” she pouted. “I’ve already met everybody!”

“Yeah, but they haven’t met you. Properly, at least,”

Rolling her eyes, Phoenicia felt the immediate effects of the potion wear off, leaving her feeling refreshed rather then hyper. “You seriously just killed my sugar high,” she told him with a sour look, but accepted his hand nonetheless and allowed him to drag her closer to where the others were congregating, watching the two of them with a look of amusement and anxiousness. She paused, looking at everyone. “Yo,”

Chris snorted. “Yo?” he queried.

The white-bled from her hair and she shrugged uncaringly. “Greetings,” she said amended loftily. “I am Phoenicia Naomi and I’m a thirteen year old stuck in a seventeen year old’s body. I have a birthmark shaped like a maple leaf on my left butt-cheek. I like classic rock. I love skydiving without a parachute, though I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can teleport out before you go splat. I can play the piano, though I prefer the violin. I absolutely hate meat and I have an affinity for air, fire and Pyromaniacs. Oh, I also have an unhealthy obsession for video games and I absolutely love pizza.”

Chris barked out a laugh. “Okay, confuse them enough with crazy random facts much?”

“At least I don’t do the cryptic-Elder thing,” she said, throwing him a grin.

“No, you just like messing with peoples heads,”

“Of course,” Phoenicia agreed, smile vanishing. “If they can mess with mine, I’ll mess with theirs,” The dark haired man sighed and squeezed her hand in reassurance. She spared him a thankful glance before turning back to look at the group of stunned people. They seemed to dazed and confused to do anything other then stare. “Well?” she demanded crossly. “Are you just going to stand there all day?”

Damien stepped forward bowing his head lightly, “Hail to the White Shadow who lives in the Daylight.” he said simply, earning himself and impish grin from Phoenicia as the others decided to follow the Shadow Demon’s lead.

Leo just stared at her for a moment before uttering a near silent, “Hello Phoenicia,”

“Nice to meet you?” frowned Piper, looking unsure.

“Yeah,” nodded Paige. “Its… great to see you’re feeling better.”

Phoebe blurted out a “Hi,” and Leon just nodded to her respectfully.

“Great,” the young woman deadpanned, not feeling the least bit happy to see anyone other then Damien. These were the people who betrayed her, after all. Why the hell would she was to be civil to them? “Chris,” She turned to him and smiled lightly. “Lets go get us some food and we’ll begin discussing the current situation. Then we rest and pick up the slack tomorrow,”

Chris nodded. “Sounds good,” he agreed, pausing when he finally took in all the destruction they had caused. He sighed, knowing his cousin could have fixed it all in a heartbeat. In fact, he could have too, considering Conjuring and Banishing was one of their shared powers. Instead, he opted for a spell. “Let the objects of objection become but a dream, as I cause this scene to become unseen.”

As the room righted itself, Phoenicia snagged a hold of Damien’s wrist and then proceeded to drag both of them back into the kitchen, where she then proceeded to Conjure a large bowl of teriyaki chicken and rice, complete with eggrolls and three fortune cookies. She sat down in the chair beside Chris and crated a few bowls and eating utensils.

“So, how far have you gotten on your list?” she asked Chris, taking a large helping of the food and plopping it in her bowl. Chris copied the movement, knowing she wouldn’t let up unless he ate… and ate… and ate… and ate until his stomach was so full that he passed out. He was likely to have food pouring from his nose by tomorrow morning if he knew Mia half as well as he though he did.

“I’ve managed to get halfway through the first page,” he told her meekly.

Phoenicia paused, her fork stopping just outside her mouth. “The first page?”

“Well excuse me if I haven’t been able to convince them,” He jerked his head at the sisters and the clone Elders who were milling around the kitchen curiously. “The importance of Hunting.” Phoenicia chewed thoughtfully and looked at her estranged family. She could sense their irritation and confusion. They wanted to know more about her and it frustrated them that she apparently hated them.

“Did you tell them?” she asked.

Chris sighed, shaking his head. “If it had to do with Hunting, they only wanted information about the demon in question so they could kill it – not to mention they barely listen to me and complain way too much. Seriously, they’re more concerned about finding out my secret then they are about everyone who’s out there dying because they want a… normal life.” He tried extra hard not to sneer.

Lip curled in distaste, Phoenicia shook her head. “Pathetic,”

“Hey!” three highly insulted voices chorused.

“No,” Phoenicia said, standing up to face them. She had a lot of issues and was having a hard time keeping her anger in check, but they needed to hear this. “You truly are. You wouldn’t last a full day in my time without either getting captured by Mortals or killed by Demons. I guarantee it. You would flounder around, unsure and terrified in a city that you don’t recognize. Your constant want for a normal life outweighed everything else where I’m from that you tried to eradicate anything you viewed as… abnormal,” she hissed. “In the end, the three of you died, whereas you children did not. Because we understand that normal is vastly overrated and being unique is better. Stop vying for a normal life, girls, because where I’m from, normal is dying before you reach the age of eighteen.” Needless to say, they were all stunned into silence. “Chris,” she began in warning, noticing that he wasn’t eating.

“Sorry, Mia,” he said meekly, hastily shoveling food into his mouth.

Satisfied that her Twin was getting enough, she took some time to organize her thoughts. Chris wasn’t off the hook, by any means necessary – he’d learn that tomorrow morning when she woke him up at six to resume the training that Wyatt started them on after he began his own lessons. But, she also had more things to do. She needed to create Wards for the Manor. She was positive that Chris would have done it soon, probably after his ritual magic had restored itself after he’d cast the Wards over the Cave, but she didn’t want to wait that long.

The Manor was unprotected and venerable – she would have to cast and hold the Wards herself. Well, she knew she could cast them and was pretty sure she could hold them. After all, she hadn’t done a ritual in years and therefore, her magical reserves, or core as Chris liked to call it, was probably full to the max and then some. She also had to begin plans for her own mission. Chris might be here for Wyatt, and she was too to some extent, but having Wyatt split in half was the least of their problems.

.:.Chris,.:. she thought to him, and he turned to look at her questioningly. .:.While Wyatt is a top priority, we still need to consider other things as well,.:. He nodded in understanding, brown hair falling into his eyes. .:.I have some plans in mind, but they will take a while before we reach our three-month deadline. Are we in this together?.:. Her Twin smiled at her.

.:.Always, Mia,.:. he swore. .:.Always,.:.

“Good,” she whispered, pushing the fortune cookie to him and Damien. She watched as he read it, the tension from their mental chat draining with his laughter. She smirked and gave a fleeting glance to Damien, whose lips were twitching as he read his own. It wasn’t the smile that she’d hoped for, but she had to remember that this wasn’t her Damien – he was more suspicious here, less friendly. She hoped she could bring him out of that shell a whole sixteen years early, and her fortune cookie was a step in that direction.

Good fortune is smiling upon you. So smile back!

Okay, so it wasn’t the best fortune in the world, but it was better then Chris’s:

A toe out of line and the flood will occur. Beware!

Phoenicia and Chris continued on with their privet conversation with quiet tones, not wanting to draw suspicion to the fact that they didn’t actually need words to talk to begin with, while Damien, Leo, and Leon remained silent observers and the sisters decided to busy themselves with small kitchen tasks while the two Time Travelers studiously ignored them. Weather their unwillingness to acknowledge them was intentional or not was still up to debate.

Suddenly, Phoenicia paused mid-sentence, her eyes glazing over. “The Veil of Time unravels,” she began in a delicate tone. “Giving way to the Dragon; The Gateways will break, giving way to the Lycan. If the Dragon does not answer the Summoner’s call, the Phoenix will be struck down and the Sabyl will fall. Yet, if he answers, the Twin Lights will be reborn, their Powers increased tenfold. They alone will Unite the Midland and the Underworld shall know only despair in their wake.” She blinked suddenly and shared a look witch Chris.

“Shit!” they both shouted, jumping to their feet, not noticing the looks they received.

“Struck down?” Chris said frantically, running a hand through his hair. “Fall?”

“I know,” agreed Phoenicia, her eerie eyes unnaturally intense. “We have to summon them.”

“Of course we do,” he nodded swiftly. “But which ones do we need?”

“I said Wastelands, that means the younger version.”

“What about…?”

“That’s where it gets sketchy.”

“How much time do we have?”

Phoenicia frowned. “The Veil of Time unravels,” she quoted.

“As in now?” he questioned. “Or perhaps soon?”

“Soon, I hope. We aren’t prepared just yet.”

Chris nodded. “We’ll need to work faster then we planned,”

“The Wards need to be set by tomorrow,” she decided.

“You and I need to go through my lists, too,” he added.

“Oh my God,” The Astral Twins jumped at the sudden interruption and they turned to find Leo looking at Phoenicia with something akin to awe. “You’re an Oracle.” the Elder stated in a daze, realizing too late that he said it out loud. The result was instantaneous – Leon’s jaw set and he glowered at his younger counterpart; the sisters looked on in confusion; Damien grimaced; Chris’s eyes turned amber as his anger got the best of him; and Phoenicia slapped her forehead just before her body was engulfed in a swirl of blue and white lights.

Chris’s hand shot out to try and redirect the orbs, but he wasn’t fast enough and the he scowled as the jingling sound faded. “You piece of shit!” he hissed at his soon-to-be father, marching up to him and pushing him back fiercely. “Are you out of your mind? She’s your only niece, damn it! What in the name of Shiva were you thinking?”

“Hey now,” said Piper warningly, but she was cut off by Leon.

“Yes, Leo, what the hell were you thinking?” he demanded, his eyes hard.

“I… I didn’t mean,” the younger Elder stammered. “It just came out…”

“Perfect,” Chris growled. “Absolutely, perfect!” The temperature in the room seemed to increase just before his body dissolved into a column of orbs. The orbs floated there for a moment and he rematerialized in the exact same spot, his glare intensifying. “Great, they’ve initiated a lockdown.” he said with no small amount of irritation. He looked at his father. “Can you get in as High Elder?”

“Technically, I should be able to,” he said. “But I’m not the High Elder here so they can lock me out, too.”

Chris groaned. “And this started out as a good day,” he muttered angrily.

“What’s going on?” frowned Paige, completely thrown off by their behavior.

“Phoenicia’s an Oracle.” said Damien, as if it should explain everything.

Phoebe looked at him questioningly. “So?”

The Shadow demon smirked at her. “They were right – you people are pathetic.”

Before the sister’s could let their outrage be known at the comment, Leon stepped forward giving the demon a dark look. “Enough Damien,” he said. “It’s partially my fault that they’re so ignorant,” he said, throwing a look to his younger self. “We’ll have to work on that.” Leo nodded his agreement, and he turned back to the sisters. “Do you know what an Oracle is?”

Phoebe nodded. “They have premonitions, like me.”

Leon closed his eyes and his face contorted. “No,” he whispered, restraining himself from strangling her. It wasn’t really her fault that she never learned even the basics. Any five-year-old witch who attended a proper school of magic knew the difference between a witch who had premonitions, a Seer, or an Oracle. The fact that they, the Charmed Ones, didn't know... “You are a witch. You get glimpses of one of many possible outcomes. You are not classified as a Seer or an Oracle – you are a witch with the gift of Premonition.”

“And Seer’s,” Damien’s gravely voice picked up where the Elder left off. “Have the ability to glance at the future, though it usually is uncertain, and they can meddle by interpreting and creating prophecies that are often only fulfilled because someone heard the contents of those prophecies and decided to act on them.” Leon nodded sagely.

“Oracles… are different, to put it lightly,” he told them. “They always See. Every moment of every day, they See the possible outcome for everything, including mundane things such as what type of gum someone might buy or what pair of shoes. They know everything with intimate details and are forced to See each outcome all within the tenth of a nano-second. Not only do they See, but they can also influence which future will come to pass. It’s all very complicated, but from my understanding they pick the future they want and they speak of it – a Prophecy. Not just one that might or might not happen, a true Prophecy. What an Oracle says will happen, will happen even if someone tried to prevent it.”

“That’s not all,” scowled Chris, pacing a hole in the floor. “There is a system set up long ago. For every Oracle, there are two that will compete to get her. Now, an Oracle is usually found at birth and taken by either the supposed Good side or the supposed Evil side. It doesn’t matter who the Oracle is – she will be taken either way. Potential Oracles are also taken, in case the Sight caused the Oracle to go insane, but that’s another story. Within the two factions, there are two leaders, the rallying point for each side who ultimately has the final say in any major decisions. For Evil, this person is called the Bringer. For Good, he is called the High Elder.”

“I am the High Elder,” sighed Leon. “Its more then just a title – I’m the person who says what happens to an Oracle or a Potential in my time, along with other things. I abolished the Old Laws when I first became the High Elder. Those laws basically state that the Elders are allowed to kidnap and torture the Oracle and Potentials into submission.” He tried to ignore their appalled looks as Chris finally stopped pacing, standing beside Damien with a vacant look on his face. He glanced at Leo and winched at the look of disillusionment. He remembered that look… that feeling too.

“… Torture?” he asked tentatively. “I thought… I…”

“Yes, torture,” Leon confirmed wearily. “Do you really think that an Oracle would willingly cooperate with their captives? Now you know why Zola and Kevin are the only Elders I actually like. The rest are just as bad as the demons, if not worse.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “When a person uses the word Oracle in a location where magic is known and not hidden, both sides will hear it, especially if there is a Whitelighter or an Elder near the scene,”

“And this house if more monitored then most because you’re the Charmed Ones,” snarled Chris. “Not only that, but it was an Elder who said the damned word.” Leo ducked his head to avoid the angered look Damien, Leon and Chris were all sending him. “We’re actually lucky that the only demon near us was Damien, and he obviously is using his powers to hide our conversation from demonic listeners, otherwise this place would be crawling with demons.”

“Yes,” agreed Leon, sending the demon in question a weary smile in thanks. “But now the Elders have Phoenicia.”

“Can’t we just summon her back?” asked Paige.

“No,” Leo shook his head, his green eyes taking on the same look of anger that could be found in his future counterpart. “If they’re under a lockdown, then that means not only are all Whitelighters Up There stuck from coming Down, but there’s no way Up either.” Chris snorted and stepped forward, looking up at the ceiling calculatingly.

“Maybe not for you,”

Leon looked at his son sharply. “Chris,” he said in warning. “You can’t…”

The angry Elemental swung around to glare at his father. “Screw you. This is Mia. She’s already went through this once, I don’t want her to go through it again, damn it!” Every window in the house shook and Leon wisely backed away, as did the others as heat began pouring off of his body in waves. The amber tint in his eyes suddenly flickered to life, actual flames dancing in his eyes while his hair slowly began to turn a crimson red. Smoke rose off of him in spirals and he looked to the ceiling. “Stupid cross-dressing know it alls…” he scowled, his clothes catching alight, springing up around him, before he disappeared with a violent burst of intense flames.

All that remained was a puddle of melted liquid that used to be kitchen tiles.

When Chris first arrived in Elderland, his presence went unnoticed as all Whitelighters were confined to their quarters and all the Elders were probably in Council Hall. However, as he stalked towards the Hall, each step reverberating off the soft walls loudly, his powerful aura suddenly surged forth, finally unconcealed as the gradual binding Phoenicia had on them broke in an instant. Everything in the near vicinity began to dissolve into ashes, an unnatural wave of heat, ten thousand times hotter then the sun, obliterating them in an instant.

With careful precision and the grace of a lethal animal, Chris strode deliberately into the Hall where the Elders all retreated from the immense heat flaring from his body. His eyes sought out his Twin and his rage intensified, though he pushed it aside, the intense heat suddenly becoming soothing warmth, as he approached her. Crouching down to her huddled form, Chris gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She shuddered at the touch and met his amber eyes with her tearstained, blue-gray orbs.

“Shh,” he whispered lovingly, wrapping his arms around her. “I’ve got you. I’m taking you back,”

Foolishly, an Elder approached now that the heat subsided. “You will do no such thing. This creature is now property of –” He cut himself off with a silent scream of pain as his body was ravaged by blazing red flames. Chris looked on impassively as the Elder, Joed he recognized uncaringly, made frantic movements, trying to wipe the fire off of his body. With each swipe he took, more off his skin peeled and the other Elders all had to look away.

Chris silently withdrew his Element from the Elder, who fell to the floor convulsing in useless whimpers. “You have no authority over me,” he said softly, an undercurrent of fury that just dared the others to object. He was positively livid, but turned his burning eyes onto Zola calmly. “Heal him,” he commanded. The dark skinned Elder stepped forward hesitantly, holding his hands over the charred man. Nothing happened. Chris sighed irritably and looked to the others. “It’s going to take more power then that.”

Cautiously, they all surrounded their fallen comrade and raised their hands. A slow, but steady, glow finally appeared and the burned skin tissue and muscle gradually began to heal. It was a grueling process that would have taken five seconds under normal circumstances – this was by no means normal. It took well over ten minutes before Joed’s wounds all cleared and it took another five minutes of healing until he stirred. With a painful groan, he rose to his feet with the help of the others. They all eyes Chris with fear but he paid them no head, too busy trying to comfort his cousin, who seemed to be comatose at the moment.

“What did you do to her?” he ground out, voice as sharp as steel.

Zola stepped forward. “She… her age was unexpected.” he began hesitantly. No one wanted to invoke the fury of the young man, whom they all recognized as the Charmed One’s whitelighter. It seemed they had underestimated him. “We were trying to revert her back into a toddler so we could…” he trailed off, but Chris knew what he was saying.

“So you could mold her into your little pet?” he sneered.

Wincing at the cold tone, he nodded, looking away in shame. “… In a manner of speaking,”

“But it didn’t work, did it?” he demanded, a hint of condescending seeping through. “No, the only thing you did was causing her retreat into her own mind. Because, even with the all of you combining your power, you couldn’t overcome an ounce of hers.” Chris shifter her in his arms, making her more comfortable, before standing up. She stayed in his embrace lifelessly. Fiery eyes glided over to the Elders. “Phoenicia is an Air Elemental,” he said coolly. “And for trying what you just did, you’ve breached the treaty signed by Elder Gabriel and Fire Master Helicon in 426 B.C. and for that, I can declare war on you for the unprovoked attack on Air Mistress, Zephyr.” Every single one of them paled considerably, realizing the implications. “And as I am Fire and she Air, Earth and Water will follow our command as we outrank every other Elemental in this time... should I choose to retaliate even more then I already have, that is.”

Joed whimpered again while a blond woman stepped forward urgently. “Please… it was a mis –”

“Misunderstanding?” queried Chris, cutting her off. “Mistake?” She flinched but nodded and Chris fought the sudden urge to kill her where she stood. “What makes you think you have the right to dictate an Oracle’s life? They are human. The Powers gifted them with Sight for unknown reasons, but who are you to play God and force them to your will? And yet you constantly preach all that Good against Evil bullshit, contradicting yourselves at every turn. You should be more cautious of condemning something before you know what it is.”

“Its for the greater good,” she tried to explain, but Chris wouldn’t have it.

“The good of all for the price of one?” he snarled angrily. “Hypocrites! There is no good or evil, they’re both vast oversimplifications. You attempt to impose your own sense of morality where it has no place.” he told them, feeling somewhat appeased as Phoenicia tightened her hands around the bunched up and burnt remains of his shirt. “There is no black and white. There is power and intent. If you consider demons evil for killing, you should take a look at what you’re doing now, because, by your rules, its considered evil.”

“That’s not –”

“ENOGUH!” he roared, his hair bursting into hot flames, flickering dangerously. “Now, you will remove the lockdown and leave the Halliwell family, Phoenicia, Leo, Leon and I alone. If you even try to step inside Halliwell Manor or the Bay Mirror or P3, then you will all find yourselves trapped in the Endless Void for the rest of your unnatural lives. Do you understand me?” Not willing to face his impending wrath, they all chose wisely to agree. “And I want Joed’s soul recycled.” he added with a vicious look at the one who called his cousin a creature, as if she was something nasty.

Flaming away, his Twin held contently in his arms, Chris’s hair returned to normal, as did his eyes while he inwardly applauded himself for his restraint and not outright killing every single one of them for what they’d just done. Appearing in Phoebe’s room, Chris laid her on the bed, carefully arranging her under the covers. He collapsed on the bed next to her with a tired sigh. He could feel his blood boiling beneath his skin, but held back the urge to let his powers have free reign.

Turning his head, he looked at his cousin in concern. “Mia?” he queried softly.

Reacting to her name, she turned to look at him with blank eyes. “Chrissie?” Chris visibly reacted, recognizing that tone in an instant. His cousin was gone. She was gone... again. Back was the dazed shell that she was forced to become. It took a sheer force of will and his need to protect her not to go back Up There and officially declare it open season on their assess.

With a sad sigh, he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, Mamma Mia… everything will be fine tomorrow.”

“… mm’kay,” she agreed, snuggling into his chest.

Chris barely even noticed the tear that slipped down his cheek.

---

Black eyes roamed the dead city with an unknown emotion. Curly dark hair whipped around his face in the wind, but he paid it no mind, his thoughts currently focused on the letter he held in his hands. Luke, his half-demon cousin, had never been particularly fond of him, though he was sure he could count on Luke to save his life if needed. However, when said half-demon decided to him a letter, he honestly didn’t know how to react.

Broke into the Lab.

Reports say she escaped.

It was short and to the point, but it aroused so many questions. He had known his favorite cousin, Phoenicia, the girl he thought of as a baby sister, had been captured, just around the same time his brother had gone missing. He had aided Luke in his endeavor by sending demons to create havoc to distract the Mortals, as he felt somewhat responsible for her capture to begin with, as she had been helping him at the time. He admitted to himself that he was a bit overprotective of his living family, especially Chris and Mia, and he didn’t like knowing if they were safe or not. In fact, he hated it.

Something had to be done.

Unknown to the dark man, his usually cheerful, blue-eyed counterpart, hidden deep within the Stronghold known as New Avalon, was uncharacteristically somber, his thoughts on his missing family as well. Chris hadn’t told him where he was going and he had no clue where Phoenicia was. Keeping the Wards of the underwater city up and running, plus worrying about his baby brother and the young woman he considered to be his baby sister, was taking a serious toll on him.

Something had to be done.

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End

Chapter

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Chapter Five

2007-10-05T23:09:26Z

Finding Yourself

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Chapter Five

♠

The Remedies

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Sea-green eyes narrowed as he carefully extracted some of the pitch-black liquid from the cauldron and placed it into a beaker. Reaching for a small eyedropper, he selected a vial containing blood. Chris slowly squeezed a drop into the beaker, watching with dissatisfaction, as the potion remained unchanged. Scowling, he Banished the ruined sample, rubbing his face tiredly and grabbed the pen tucked behind his ear, quickly jotting down the results of his latest test.

Complete and utter failure.

The young Elemental couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working. All of his other experiments and tests had all been conclusive, but for some unfathomable reason, he couldn’t stabilize his miracle potion and attune it to Phoenicia as he’d hoped. He was missing something. Everything in the potion was perfect – it was a combination of a restorative potion and a mind-sharpening potion, with the few odd materials such as powdered Basilisk eyes, shaved Unicorn horn, and the antidote for Memory dust.

The antidote to help her memory, for the obvious reasons, the horn to purify what the Mortals did to her mind, and the eyes to offset the Unicorn horn so it wouldn’t purify her demon side as well. All that was left was her blood. But her blood wasn’t responding to the potion – there was no reaction whatsoever. Just as Phoenicia was stubborn, so was her blood. Completely uncooperative. But that didn’t stop him. There had to be something he forgot, something simple, yet elusive.

With a glare at nothing in particular, Chris sat down on his chair made of melted rock, chin between his fingers, an intense look on his face as he contemplated for something he could have missed. A light lit in his eyes at one possibility – she was an Elemental, maybe there was something he could add to make her blood compatible with the potion! But that was quickly shot down as the potion was already sitting in the open air – Phoenicia’s Element. He looked down at his notebook and opened it at the first page. He began reading, hoping the answer to his problem would be found somewhere in it.

One thing was for sure, stubbornness was a Halliwell trait.

---

Hard sea green eyes stared at the men and women before him coolly, his face entirely impassive. Leon stood out in his black attire among the sea of white and gold. A swift glance to his side and he noted that his past self hadn’t bothered to change into formal robes for the occasion either. A smile ghosted his lips at this – so his counterpart wasn’t a complete toady as he’d been once upon a time. It seemed that the battle training he’d received had more of a changing impact on him then he’d thought.

“You say you are one of five in your time,” an Elder, Ennis, if Leon remembered correctly, began. “How is this possible?”

“I’m not in liberty to discuss it.”

Another Elder, Joed, leveled a dangerous look on him. “It is not a request, Leo,”

Leon’s eyebrow rose, nonplused. “I was aware,” he said, knowing that Ennis’ soft question had been more of a demand then anything, but he didn’t care. “But you have no authority over me in this time.” The congregation of Elders all began squabbling, demanding that he answer, but he tuned them out, instead opting to look at his surroundings with more scrutiny. It was a shame that this beautiful palace would soon become headquarters for a demonic regime. That is, until Wyatt decides that he prefers the clouds of Elderland to the caves of the Underworld or the walls of the Manor. Well… if it happened in this time, that is.

“Ahem,”

The polite cough drew Leon’s eyes to the tall dark skinned man, causing the emotionless look to dissolve momentarily. “Zola,” he nodded his greeting warmly before his face became closed off once more. Zola had been a mentor for him when he’d become an Elder. He wasn’t sure if it had happened in this time as well, but the memories he had from his own life were enough to endear the old man to him.

“Leo…” the other man greeted. “Can you please explain why you have come here?”

Sighing, Leon nodded briefly. “As you know, Chris came here to stop something terrible from happening. I wont lie to you and say that he did this with the authorization of the Elders because he didn’t,” There was a gasp of outrage among the council, but a steady glare from icy green eyes quieted them promptly. “The credit for this brilliant plan lies in the hands of a seventeen year old half-breed witch with only four years of real magical experience.” he told them, not bothering to hide his amusement he felt at the stunt Chris had pulled. “He came back here to stop the Charmed Ones from falling, to stop the War, and to save a large amount of people, a few Elder included.”

“Despite his good intentions, he has broken many of our laws,” stated Joed coldly. “We will summon him here after this meeting is over and will discus crime and punishment, with the possibility of having his soul recycled.” Leon was dismayed to find that, not only did the majority of the Elders seemed to agree with this, but they actually looked pleased. His eyes hardened and his shoulders squared.

“I’m afraid I cannot allow you to do anything to disrupt this mission,” he told them, his voice containing a hint of malice as he gazed around the room. “I formally give my express permission for Chris to continue on as he has been.” The angered and disbelieving reactions in the room were to be expected, but they were still disappointing. “As I am from Chris’s time myself and you do not know the whole situation, your jurisdiction is limited.”

“Now see here,” Joed interrupted, his eyes narrowed.

“Also,” continued Leon, unfazed by the other man. “You have no authority over me. I am not merely an Elder, I am a High Elder,” Again, the reactions were to be expected. “As such, I have control over your actions and can direct you as I see fit,” he stated coolly. “If you even try to overrule me, let this be known – I have signed Blood Oaths and have been granted Immunity by the Source of my time, the Valkyries, the wilder of Excalibur, the Resistance, and the Council of Elementals. If you try to bring any harm to me, you will be declaring War with all of these people because, as you know, Blood Oaths exist outside of Time and they will know that you have harmed one of their own.”

Without awaiting their reactions, he took a hold of his younger counterpart and orbed away.

When they rematerialized on the Bridge, Leo pulled away to stare at him. “High Elder?” he asked with a choked voice.

Leon nodded unconcernedly. “Yes,”

“… But, t-there’s only one High Elder per millennia!”

“Your point being?”

“… How the hell did I get turned into a god?”

“Trust me, I am no god,” Leon rolled his eyes. “I am simply more powerful then any of you,”

Leo swallowed thickly, frowning. “So is it you, then? The power surge?”

Snorting, the darker man shook his head. “I’m powerful, but not that powerful.”

The other Elder blinked, recognizing the tone of voice. “What are you not telling me?”

“A lot.” answered Leon in all honesty. “I will tell you this though – keep your wife away from Chris until she learns to accept him,”

“I doubt Piper will ever accept him,” Leo said sadly, feeling sorry for the boy.

A dark look filled Leon’s eyes and he tired to keep his face blank. “For her sake, she should at least try.”

“I’ll talk to her,” he promised solemnly. With a grimace, he added, “But its likely that she’ll ignore my advice,”

“Why’s that?”

“Because, she’s still mad at me for not signing the divorce papers.”

Leon stared at him in incomprehension. Divorce papers? “Excuse me?” he blurted out.

“Piper petitioned for a divorce,” replied Leo in a strained voice.

“Div…orce,” the elder of the two choked. “Whe… wha… why?”

“Because I’m an Elder,” the other said simply.

“Wait… isn’t it 2003 still?” he gasped. Leo nodded and panic rose in Leon’s chest. “No! You’re not supposed to be an Elder until February, damn it!” Shocked by the outburst, Leo jumped. So Chris had been telling the truth, he thought, watching as the older man began to pace. When Leon finally calmed down, he glared at his past self. “What did you do? How are you an Elder now?”

Hesitantly, Leo answered, “I turned the girls into gods when the Titans attacked,”

Eyes narrowing, he bit out a simple: “Why?”

“Because Chris said it had to be done.”

For a moment, the world around Leon seemed to expand and then collapsed into itself. Chris? Chris had turned him into an Elder early? Why would he do that? Didn’t he realize how dangerous that would be to everyone, especially himself? But Chris would have known that this would put his very existence in jeopardy. Chris wouldn’t have cared about himself as long as it saved someone else, because the boy had absolutely no regard for his own life. He thought himself expendable. That he wasn’t worth anything.

Eyes hardening, Leon took in a deep breath. “CHRISTOPHER PERRY HALLIWELL, GET YOUR SKINNY LITTLE ASS OVER HERE, THIS INSTANT YOUNG MAN!” He didn’t even spare his past self a glance – completely forgetting the other man was even there as the soft jingle and dancing lights appeared in front of him. Before Chris could say anything, he surged forward and grasped his son’s shoulders. “You stupid, stupid boy!” he growled. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“W-what –”

“This is suicide, Chris!” he continued. “Why did you turn me into an Elder? Why?”

Chris, at hearing the pain in his father’s voice, faltered, at a loss of what to do. “I… I had to,” he replied hesitantly. “It was the only way to become the sisters’ whitelighter. I had to get you out of the way so that I could send you to Valhalla. I had to…” He bit his lip, unsure what else to say. “I’m… I’m sorry.” Leon didn’t say anything in response to the apology. Instead, he wrapped his arms around his son and pulled his closer, burying his face into the chocolate brown hair.

“I wont let you die,” he said resolutely. “I’ve already lost one son, I wont lose another.”

“You haven’t lost Wyatt,” Chris told him softly, some old doubts in his mind reappearing. His father wouldn’t have turned to him if Wyatt hadn’t taken over the half the world. “He’s still there and I have a few good leads to follow. I’ll get him back.”

“Saving Wyatt doesn’t save you.”

“I don’t matter,” Chris told him dully.

Arms tightening until he was sure his son needed to breathe at some point, Leon pulled away and grabbed Chris’s chin between his fingers, staring at him with a fierce expression. “You matter. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. You’re brave, smart, powerful, a bit neurotic as of late,” he added with a small smile, trying to ease the mood. “If anything happened to you, Chris, I don’t know what I’d do. Please don’t do this to me, don’t take anymore unnecessary risks, don’t pull anymore life threatening stunts… don’t make me lose my son completely.”

Chris stared up into his father’s eyes, a bit startled to see small crystalline tears. “Yes sir,” At his compliance, the only thing Leon could do was pull his son back in for another bone crushing hug, as if afraid Chris might disappear if he let him go. In all actuality, there was a very large chance that he might. There was no guarantee that Chris would be born and as such, he could fade out of existence. When they finally broke apart, Chris felt his stomach drop at the sight of Leo. The man was standing there with a dazed look on his face, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes so wide it almost looked comical. Chris’s breathing hitched and he felt around his pockets for some memory dust, hoping that he actually had some.

Leo swallowed thickly, his throat constricting. “You…” he whispered numbly. “You’re my son?”

“Yes!” crowed Chris, pulling out a small pouch and taking a pinch of the golden powder. Leo stepped back at the sight of the familiar shimmering dust, but Chris threw it at him before he had much of a chance to do anything. “I am Chris Perry, whitelighter to the Charmed Ones, and you will not remember anything that was spoken here for the last five minutes.” he said firmly, watching with some anxiousness as the man swayed in place while the dust kicked in and his face went blank of all emotion.

Leon sighed and shook his head. “You didn’t have to do that, son,”

Chris glared at him. “Don’t call me that!” he hissed, tossing Leo a nervous glance. “He could snap out of the trance any second now and I’d rather not have to waste my memory dust again just to keep my identity a secret!” Leon scowled at his son for being so stubborn – Chris scowled right back, matching his father’s look all the way.

A cough startled them out of their staring contest and they both looked to the young Elder. “Uh… how did we get up here?” Leo asked them, a small amount of confusion playing on his face. “What are we doing up here? I thought we were meeting with the Elders?” Chris rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his dark hair, with a small sigh of relief working its way passed his lips.

“We already met with the Elders,” said Leon. “We just stopped here to speak with Chris and tell him that he is to continue his mission and to ignore any and all direction that anyone, other then myself, give him.” Chris stared at his father with surprise. He opened his mouth a few times, trying to find something to say. Finally, he settled for giving his father a nod in thanks before he dissolved into blue and white lights.

When the younger man was gone, Leo turned to his counterpart, his eyes narrowed. Leon was a bit shocked to see the angry look on his past self’s face, and even more shocked when Leo grabbed his jacket and pushed him up against one of the metal beams. He grabbed onto Leo’s wrists trying to pry the younger man off of him, but Leo growled low in his throat and pulled him forward before slamming him back again.

“I can’t believe you let him do that!” the Elder bit out.

“Do… what?” he asked, perplexed.

“Oh, I don’t know,” scowled Leo, his light tone betrayed by the dark look on his face. “Maybe… allowing Chris to try and erase the knowledge that I have another son who basically committed suicide the moment I first laid eyes on him!” Both of Leon’s eyebrows rose past his hairline, honestly shocked beyond reason that his past self remembered. “How could you let him do this?”

“It happened too fast to stop it,” Leon scowled. “If he doesn’t want anyone to know who he is, then –”

“Not that,” Leo said impatiently. “How could you let him split Piper and I up before he was born?”

Leon’s heart clenched painfully at the reminder that his son might cease to exist and he answered truthfully, “I was dead.”

“What?”

“I was dead. I died when a demon named –”

“Amok,” Leo frowned in realization.

Leon faltered, looking at his past self in surprise. “Yes. Amok. He attacked twice. The first time was a small attack Up There. Chris had me transferred to New Avalon, the Stronghold of the Resistance. I died three weeks later on a recon mission, trying to salvage some of the ancient texts in the Chamber of Light.” Leo nodded, taking it all in, and his hands loosened enough for the older man to pull away.

“I don’t understand,” he frowned. “How are you alive and here now if you died?”

The darker man smiled lightly, shaking his head. “Chris. He sent you to Valhalla. When the Time Ripples kicked in, I received partial memories of my training and was able to fight back. Instead of dying, I only got a few scars,” He gestured to the side of his face.

Leo blinked. “Oh.” he said stupidly. “What’s a Time Ripple?”

Biting back a laugh, Leon realized just how oblivious he truly was back then. “Just what it sounds like – a Ripple in Time. You see, when you change something in the past, it seems like it changes instantly in the future, right?” Leo nodded, but he shook his head. “Wrong. It literally takes years for each new event to occur. They work their way through time slowly. Like a ripple, a small change will create bigger ones. But, Chris did something more then that because he’s been here for months and every little thing he does creates more and more ripples. Thus, he created a paradox – two timelines coexistent with each other until one of them fades. Chris is the deciding factor. If he fails in his mission, the future he’s trying to cement will fade. If he succeeds, then the one we’re from will fade.”

“Okay, I think I understand,” he nodded tentatively. “But if you have two sets of memories, why doesn’t Chris? Or does he?”

“He doesn’t,” Leon said dismissively. “Not yet, anyway. Chris is in the past, as am I and Phoenicia now. Any new memories we have will have to follow us back in time. So, basically, the events of the new timeline will have to be pushed forward through time, then they will have to come back in time to reach us. It’s more complicated then that, but that’s the gist of it. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“That’s alright,” said Leo. “I get it.”

“Good, because I don’t really feel like asking Chris to explain it to you,”

“Why would you do that?”

“Chris is the one who discovered Time Ripples,” the older man said, his green eyes shining with pride. “He was searching for ways to save Wyatt, and when he thought of time travel, he did a few tests and came up with some pretty sound theories. And, judging by what’s happening in our time and this one, he was correct. Of course, that’s no surprise. Chris has always understood the makings of magic better then anyone I know. He’s an exceptionally bright kid,”

Leo smiled at him. “Sounds like I raised him good.”

Blanching, Leon adverted his eyes, staring out at the ocean. “I didn’t raise him, Wyatt did.” he confessed despondently, turning his back to his counterpart. He could sense the other man’s confusion and began to elaborate. “I didn’t even know he existed until he was six. Chris was the result of our last night together. I’d just become an Elder and Piper… well, I couldn’t just leave. It was something we both needed. When I left, I looked down a few times, but only short glances when something big was going on. Then, six years later, two small boys suddenly appeared in the Council Hall, both covered in cuts and bruises…”

The blond boy clutched looked around him warily, one arm secured tightly around the smaller dark haired child, his other hand wrapped around the hilt of a sword. He jutted his chin out proudly, shoulders squared, his crulean blue eyes looking out into the crowd of white and gold as if daring them to take a step closer. The dark haired boy let out a sniffle, and the blond ignored everyone else and began rubbing his back.

“Shh, Chris,” he whispered soothingly. “Everything will be okay,”

“B-but… aunty Paige,” the smaller boy choked out. “She…”

“I know,” he swallowed, hugging him tighter. “Everything will be alright. I promise.”

“Wh… where are we?”

The blond faltered, looking around. “I don’t know.”

One of the men in gold stepped forward and the blond gripped the sword, raising the blade slightly. “Blessed be,” the Elder said by way of greeting, and the two boys shared a confused look. “I am the Elder Zola,” he said, but before he could say anything else, two small gasps could be heard. The blond narrowed his gaze.

“An Elder?” he sneered distrustfully.

“Wyatt,” muttered Chris slightly reprimanding.

This time, it was Leo who gasped and he removed the hood concealing his face as he stepped closer. “Wyatt?” he asked with equal parts of disbelief and hope. “Wyatt Halliwell?” The boy’s eyes found his and they stared at each other.

“Yes. Who the hell are you?” he asked crossly.

Winching, Leo answered softly, “I’m your father.”

Wyatt groaned, dismayed. “Stupid Orbing” he growled. “It was supposed to take us somewhere saf –”

While many of the Elders looked as if they wanted to scold him for his language, a small voice beat them too it, cutting the other boy off mid-sentance. “Wyatt,” the small boy said tiredly. “Please don’t.” Wyatt’s eyes softened and he gave a swift nod of assent, answering without words that he wouldn’t purposely cause trouble. Instead, he swayed and the sword dropped with a clatter as both boys collapsed onto the floor.

“They were both dehydrated, half starved, and severely injured. They were lucky that they came to us, actually. They would have died otherwise,” he said sadly. “As Wyatt was my son, they were placed in my care while everyone else tried to find out what happened.” He closed his eyes and grimaced. “Chris was unconscious for hours, but Wyatt stayed by his side and barely let anyone near him. I tried to talk to him numerous times, but he always ended up either glaring at me or ignoring me completely. After the fifth attempt, he finally lost it and started yelling at me, accusing me of abandoning my sons. Not son – sons. I stood there for a while, not knowing how to react. Then I looked at Chris, sleeping there on the bed, and it clicked.”

Leon sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Wyatt refused to speak to me again until Chris woke up. When he finally did… Chris was the complete opposite of Wyatt. He wanted to see me, wanted to talk to me, he wanted to know his father. He didn’t hate me and he didn’t blame me for leaving. He was able to get Wyatt calm enough for us all to talk, and they told me what happened to them. A group of demons attacked and kidnapped them and Paige, who had been watching them at the time. She had used her powers to orb them to ‘safety’ as they put it. We were able to get her out before she died and everything worked out, I suppose. We got Wyatt and Chris home and after that I decided to… make it work. I spent less time Up There and more time with my family.”

The other Elder eyed him seriously. “… But it didn’t work out.”

“No,” he said shortly. “It didn’t. The Elders wanted me to concentrate only on Wyatt. He was the Twice-Blessed Child and he needed more attention,” he muttered bitterly through gritted teeth. “So I, being the good little lap dog I was, did as they said. I slowly stopped spending time with my sons and began training Wyatt with his powers and teaching him the responsibilities of a whitelighter. He went through courses in Magic School on politics and magical laws. When he was ten, They decided it was best that Wyatt live Up There for the remainder of his training and everything started to deteriorate from there. Then, on the day that Chris turned thirteen, Wyatt showed up demanding that I sign emancipation papers for him and then to sign over my rights as a parent to Chris to him.”

Leo blinked at him in disbelief. “… What?”

“I still don’t know how he got Piper to sign them,” sighed Leon, his never-aging body somehow looking old. “Maybe he glamour the papers to make them look like a report card or something. All I know is that they moved in with Victor and Phoenicia’s dad just before the Trials started and broke off all communication to Phoebe and Piper. Paige…well, she died not too long after that. I joined the Resistance when it started up, ironically by my own sons, and I tried to be there for both of them. Wyatt… well, he…” Leon trailed off, and Leo nodded knowingly – Wyatt turned his back on everyone. “But Chris… he didn’t trust me. In fact, he didn’t trust anyone really. It took me a whole year to get even somewhat close to him again and when I did, Amok attacked. Then, with the Time Ripples, things changed. I knew how to fight him off then later I found out that Chris was in the past. I dropped everything I was doing, pulled my power of High Elder and created a time portal. The rest you should know,”

The other Elder was silent for a moment. “I wont let you make me forget.” Leon turned to him in surprise, but Leo wasn’t done. “You want to fix the relationship between you and Chris. I respect that. But I’m not you. I don’t think the same way you do. We’re basically different people and you’ve lived in what sounds like hell, and I haven’t. But Chris is my son too. I want to remember who he is. So I don’t make the same mistakes that you have.”

Leon flinched, but nodded anyway. “I was actually hoping you would build your own relationship with him once he told everyone about him,” he admitted. “Because, if this mission is successful, there is a possibility that I will fade from existence and you… well, you still have a life, a chance to make it what it should be. You’re already more independent then I was back then, so I know you wont blindly fallow orders as I did. Plus, I want you to know who Chris is so that he will still be born. His conception date, by the way, is February 2nd, so make sure you’re around for Wyatt’s birthday.”

He nodded. “I wouldn’t miss my son’s birthday.”

Again, Leon flinched. “I did,” he said desolately.

“As I said before, we share souls, not minds,”

“That’s something to be proud of,” claimed Leon, self-degradingly. They were both silent for a while, watching the sun begin to set. “We should go back to the Manor.” he said, before pausing. “Tell me something – how were you able to throw off the effects of the memory dust? I know I wasn’t able to do that, in fact, I'm not sure I could even now, so how did you?” Slowly, a smirk formed on Leo’s face.

“One of the first thing the Valkyries teach their Warriors is how to throw off the effects of outside influences,” he told him. “When the dust hit me, I used their method of a counter attack, then I let myself look all dazed and confused when he tried to redirect my thoughts so he’d think it worked. Afterwards, I played dumb,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “So, it’s Chris’s own fault that I still remember,”

Leon stared at him before he busted out laughing.

---

Phoenicia winched as the needle slid from her skin. She felt a cloth being pressed against the small of her back, covering the wound. She listened as Chris shuffled around a bit before turning over. He was putting his medical supplies away when she touched his shoulder. She opened her mouth, trying to speak but what she said wasn’t what she wanted to say.

“See the Hart, follow the Heart.” He looked at her, startled, but he nodded, obviously taking her words to mind. He moved to stand, but she clasped onto him tighter. “See the Hart, follow the Heart.” she said with more insistency, her boring into his. He didn’t understand. She scowled briefly in annoyance, and tried again. “See the Hart, follow the Heart.”

Chris placed his hand over hers, placating. “It’s okay Mia,” he whispered soothingly, his other hand reaching over to pet her hair. She relaxed under his touch unwillingly and allowed her eyes to flutter closed. Images flashed in her mind and she snapped her head up, staring at him, trying to force the images she saw into his own head. But, she wasn’t able too. It was against the laws of magic. She could only convey the images in words, but her own control over her words failed her.

“See the Hart,” she began again. “Follow the Heart.”

“Shh,” he soothed, tugging her into his arms. “The potion will be done soon.” he told her conversationally, obviously trying to distract her from whatever it was she was going through. “When you’re better, I vote we take a day off and go see a movie. After all, every movie around this time is a classic to us, right? I say we see Star Wars.” Phoenicia stared at him blankly, eliciting a sigh from her Twin. “I love you, Mia,” he whispered into her hair before he pulled away to finish packing away his things. “Phoebe’s in the next room, okay? I’ll see you in a bit.”

When he was gone, Phoenicia licked her chapped lips and stood up stiffly. If she couldn’t show him through Telepathy, then she’d find another way. Accessing her powers, she suddenly found herself in the attic. A sense of familiarity hit her and she looked to where the Book sat on the podium. Stepping in front of it, she placed her hand on the Triquetra, allowing the Book to test her. It glowed golden for a brief moment, sensing the demon blood in her, but then settled, appeased by the goodness in her.

Silently, she opened the Book and began hunting for a specific demon. When she couldn’t find him, she scowled deeply, both annoyed and happy that he hadn’t done anything bad enough to get his name in the Book. It would be a lot better if the Book had a Self-Updating spell on it, like the one in the future did. That would be the first thing she would cast when she regained control of herself. Well, the third, actually. The first was to kick Chris’s ass for not taking care of himself, the second would be to place Wards around the Manor, P3, and Uncle Darryl’s house, then she would cast the Self-Updating Spell.

With a wordless thank you to the Book for allowing her to read, she crossed the room and sat in one of the overstuffed armchairs. There had to be a way to get her meaning across to Chris. There just had to be. Curling up on the chair, pretzel style, Phoenicia looked around the room for inspiration. Boxes… playpen… old pictures… broken lamps… antique mirror… Paige’s art supplies… more boxes… spider webs… she froze, her eyes darting back over to the abandoned easel and canvas.

Face lighting up, she Conjured herself a drawing pad and a standard pencil.

Ten minutes later, she stood up and sensed for Chris. He was downstairs, along with Leo, Leon, baby Wyatt, and the sisters. A bit put out that he was not alone, she Breezed to his side nonetheless. He looked at her, smiling a strained smile when he saw her. A few things hit her as she regained her bearings – Leo knew about Chris. Her mother was sad that Phoenicia wanted nothing to do with her. Piper was angry because someone messed up the orders at her club. Paige was annoyed with her new job. Leon was pretending to be calm, but was worried that his son wouldn’t be born. Chris was frustrated because his potion wasn’t coming out the way he’d hoped. Wyatt was hungry because he’d just woken up from his nap.

Face blank, but eyes blazing, she grasped her Twin's shoulder. “See the Hart, follow the Heart.” She repeated for what seemed the thousandth time, thrusting her crude sketch in his face. She watched as he shot her a confused look before his eyes glided over the smooth paper. Chris frowned at the drawing. It was of a bald man with tattoos around his neck, a man he clearly remembered. A Shadow demon that happened to be Luke’s friend and personal bodyguard. Realization washed over him and his head shot up, eyes searching his cousin’s.

“Damien Hart?” he inquired. “You want me to see Damien?”

Phoenicia felt relief fill her and nodded sagely. “See the Hart –”

“Follow the Heart,” he finished and she nodded again, placing her hand on his chest. “Follow my heart and trust him?” She gave him a look that practically shouted FINALLY! and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m an idiot,” he said awkwardly, grinning when she nodded her head in agreement. “Alright, I’ll track him down. He shouldn’t be that hard to find seeing as he ran an… apothecary,” Another realization hit him – she was helping him with the potion. “Is this your way of telling me to hurry up?” he joked.

Phoenicia didn’t smile. “The Light is fading.”

Swallowing, he asked uncertainly, “The Phoenix’s Light?”

“Three months.” she nodded and it took him a moment to realize what she meant. He had three months to live. Thanksgiving was in a few days, then it would be December. Wyatt’s birthday was in February. He had until February 2nd before he faded out of existence. “See the Hart,” she insisted, giving him a small push. Chris nodded, pulling her into a small hug before he dissolved in a column of lights.

Phoenicia sighed, relieved, and then looked Leo in the eyes. “Not a word.” she said serenely, though her tone held a threatening undertone to it. He obviously got her meaning because him and Leon shared a knowing look as her own body fading into the wind as she Breezed back upstairs into the attic. She needed to start making plans.

---

Looking up at the haunted looking house with some apprehension, Chris bit his lip. This was not where he’d pictured Damien would live, in this time or any other. Damien always wore the most expensive clothing in existence and he got all of his money legitimately – if one could call potion making a legitimate job. He was a neutral demon. Neither good nor evil. He wouldn’t hurt humans of his own accord and he didn’t hurt demons either. Chris wasn’t sure what his policy on half-Elders were in this time, though.

Steeling himself, Chris marched onward, knocking on the door.

When it opened, the young Elemental was met with a welcome sight. Damien stood wearing a pair of black slacks and a smoky gray silk shirt – he still wore his customary onyx ring secured around his neck by a silver chain, and his stormy eyes stared down at Chris with a menacing look. Compared to Luke, he wasn’t all that scary, though he was intimidating by his sheer size.

“Who are you?” the demon asked with a gravely voice.

Chris took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly. “Hail the Shadows that Haunt the Night.”

The man looked at him calculatingly and replied, “Hail the Shadows that Protect the Light.” He stepped aside, allowing Chris to enter, before closing the door and locking it. Chris took in the entryway with a knowing look – of course, the outside looked horrible but the inside was completely furnished in the most ridicules array that money could buy. “I’ll ask again, kid,” he said smoothly. “Who are you?”

“Judging by your response, I guess you can tell I’m half-Elder,” Chris said.

Damien looked at him with surprise. “Actually, I could tell that you were a witch, but thanks for telling me.”

Chris grinned at him sheepishly. “Right. So… I’ll just get right down to it because I trust you with my life and I know you’d know if I was lying or not anyway,” he said, gaining himself another look of surprise. “My name is Chris Halliwell, I’m from eighteen years or so into the future and I’m trying to save the world. Problem: I have a cousin who’s in need of a potion to keep her mind stabilized and I can’t finish the final step to attune it to her. I’ve met you in the future and I you’ve helped me before, so I know you can help me now.” The demon quirked an eyebrow slowly.

“I think I like you kid,” he said decisively. “Right to business, no bullshit. How can I help?”

Grinning, Chris let out a sigh of relief. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll take you to my lab and you can read up on my notes. Go ahead and gather up any supplies you might need – I have to adjust the Wards so you wont get zapped. Bring anything you want.” With that, he closed his eyes and began manipulating the Wards in his Grotto to allow Damien inside. It took a few minutes, and when he was done, he opened his eyes to find Damien tucking an athamé inside a sheath up his sleeve. “Ready?”

The demon nodded and Chris held out his hand, knowing that it was a bad idea to grab a demon, no matter how docile they were. When he had a hold on Damien’s arm, Chris orbed them into the center of his cave. The demon blanched openly and Chris resisted a snicker – Damien obviously preferred Shadow Melding to Orbing.

Clearing his throat, the Elemental strode forward and snatched up his notes. “This is everything I’ve added so far and their reactions to the potion. I started off with water as the base, then added essence of lemon as the catalyst for the good materials and essence of wraith for the darker ones.” The demon looked on in astonishment at the large book in his hands, silently accepting the hand written tome.

“Interesting.” he said smoothly, flipping through the pages. “Your friend is has demonic ancestry?”

“Second generation half-blood,” he nodded. “Chimera demon.”

Damien frowned, nodding slowly. “I see,”

“She’s also an Elemental,” he began, hesitating for the smallest moment before trusting his instincts. Phoenicia had said to trust his heart, after all. “… and an Oracle.” He watched with bemusement as the demon suddenly froze, nearly dropping Chris’s notebook. Damien looked up at him, face carefully blank, smoky gray eyes searching his own for any hint of a lie.

“An Oracle?” he repeated in a slow, drawling voice.

“… yes,” he whispered in reply.

Damien set the book down and stared at him. “How is that possible?”

“She has Immunity due to her Elemental status.”

Taking a deep breath, the demon shook his head, “She’s lucky.”

Chris nodded his agreement. “Plus it pays off to have the High Elder as your uncle,”

A low chuckle emitted from the demon. “I suppose it does,” he said with no small amount of amusement. Picking the book back up, he resumed his reading. It took a total of twelve long hours of pouring over the thick book of notes that basically contained everything that had been done to Phoenicia while she was locked away, all the thoughts on his potion and everything he'd already added to it. Damien was impressed when he finished, dark circles under his eyes, and he let out a low whistle.

“Very efficient," he complimented, looking steady but Chris knew he was supressing a yawn. "Not only have you somehow managed to compile two completely different potions together perfectly but you’ve also managed to add certain healing properties that should have been impossible. From what I gather, you want to attune it to her, right?”

Chris nodded, a small flush working its way up his neck from the mild praise. “Yes,”

“You’ve done everything right,” he told him. “But you forgot to take in to account two factors. One, she is an Oracle, and they are entities in their own right. Their magic is different. You need to find something that reacts to Seers in a positive way, such as chamomile leaves mixed with sage.” Chris smacked himself in the head.

“Of course!” he exclaimed. How could he forget that? “What else am I missing?”

“You.”

Chris blinked at him strangely, “Huh?”

“Astral Twins share many things. Souls, obviously, mystical energy and certain powers,” Damien explained. “Mystical energy can be found in the blood. You need to add equal amounts of your blood when you add hers. By doing so, you’re grounding her, acting as the hand that hold her up when she can’t stand on her own. Or something likes that at least.” Chris smiled at him.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” he asked before shuffling through his supplies, looking for the right substances. He pulled out the sage and chamomile, before laying them out. “Any thoughts on how they should be distributed?” he questioned.

“I would crush the leaves,” he told him. “Like you would in a calming potion.”

“What about the sage?” Chris asked, already grinding the leaves into small pieces.

“We should either mince it like a binding potion or slice it like a fortifying potion,”

Chris frowned decisively, “Slice,” Damien nodded and began slicing the sage into thin, equal parts. When he was done, he carefully tipped each slice into the cauldron, one at a time. The potion turned into a dark gray, something that Chris wrote down right away in his notebook just before adding the chamomile. The reaction wasn’t very drastic, but the potion lightened just a hair. “Now the blood,” he said. Going through the same process he had earlier that day, he took a small portion of the gray liquid and took a single drop of Phoenicia’s blood out of his stock with an eyedropper.

Selecting a knife, he made a small incision on his finger and held it over the potion. Using his telekinesis, he slowed their decent down so that each drop hit the potion at the exact same time. Both Chris and Damien felt the reaction before they saw it. The beaker shook, small sparks of red and white flashing as the blood interacted with everything else. Then, there was a bright flash and the potion settled.

“This is unexpected,” drawled Damien. “I expected it to stay gray or at least take on a reddish hue,” Chris nodded. He’d been expecting the same thing. But as he thought about it, he should have known. After all, Phoenicia’s hair turned white when she used her Element, just as his turned red. So, instead of a bleak gray color, the potion now looked like a liquid form of a candy cane.

Chris looked at Damien. “It’s ready for testing,” he said, selecting a vial and poring small amount into it. “Thank you for your help. I would have been stuck on that for ages without it,” The demon nodded, looking at him expectantly. “How much?” he asked, knowing that the demon wanted payment now. Or at least, he thought he did.

Damien, however, had something else in mind. “I want to see if it works.”

Biting his lip, Chris told him, “While I wouldn’t mind you there, I doubt the Charmed Ones would,” Quirking an eyebrow, Damien just looked at him. With a sigh, Chris waved his hand and his lab righted itself, the unused materials putting themselves away. He held on tight to the vial and grabbed Damien’s arm. “If Piper blows me up – you’ll wake up tomorrow with the body of a twelve year old girl and I’ll make sure to orb you to the Underworld. Or better yet, Elderland!” He was highly amused by the sight of the demon paling just before he orbed them into the kitchen.

“MIA!” he called loudly and suddenly the room was filled with a breeze as the girl faded into existence. He smiled at her in greeting, and she returned it mildly before looking at Damien. She stepped forward and made her way to the demon just as the other arrived to see what the shouting was about. Damien gave her a look-over and she just stared at him serenely.

“Hail the Shadow that Lives in the Twilight of the Midlands.” she said to him, bowing her head respectfully. “Many thanks for your services, Twilight Shadow.” The demon just stared at her, unsure how to react. Chris had known the proper greeting for a Shadow demon, but she obviously knew quite a bit more then the kid did. Of course, he could just peg it to her demonic lineage or to her being an Oracle, but he didn’t think that was it. In fact, he was pretty sure someone had taught her how to read the symbols tattooed on his neck. “Welcome to the Manor,” she continued calmly. “Shall we?”

Chris grinned, noting the mischievous look in her eyes. She was in control, if only for a moment. “It's finished,” he told her, holding up the red and white filled vial. She looked at it and nodded her consent. He pulled the stopper out of it and held it out for her to take. She did so, only slightly apprehensive, looking down into the shimmering liquid. She glanced around swiftly, taking in the anxious looks her family was giving her and the suspicious ones they were shooting Damien, to her Twin, who held a hopeful look in his eyes.

Phoenicia sighed and placed the bottle to her lips and let it pour down her throat without another thought. She could feel the tension in the room increase when nothing happened. She could sense Chris’s disappointment. She could hear his negative thoughts, trying to figure out where he went wrong and how to fix it. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment and when she opened them, they were a milky color, emitting a soft glow, taking everyone by surprise. The next moment, her hair flared out with a brush of wind and her hair turned stark white.

Then she pulled her arm back and punched Chris squarely in the jaw.

-----

End

Chapter

-----

Damien Hart: Vin Diesel

Kind: Shadow Demon

Age: Thirty-two (2003)

Powers: Shadow Melding (it has many uses but is most commonly used for travel. To picture how he teleports with it, think about the portals of Darkness from Kingdom Hearts.)

Relationship (Future): A close friend of Luke’s and his personal bodyguard and was often assigned to watch over Phoenicia while the others were on missions; hates Leon; despises the Charmed Ones; tolerates Chris and Wyatt, and occasionally finds them bearable.

Chapter Four

2007-10-05T23:03:24Z

Finding Yourself

-----

Chapter Four

♠

The Memories

-----

The small eight-year-old boy stared at the gold and silver sheen that the sword seemed to cast. He smiled at it, closing his eyes and listening to the soft song it was singing to him. Did it sing like this for his brother? He’d never thought to ask him before. It was like a wave of calm had been washed over him every time he was in the same room with it.

On some level, he wanted to answer the calling he felt from it – but he wasn’t allowed to. Excalibur belonged to Wyatt. As soon as that thought passed through his head, the sweet singing faltered and dulled considerably, as did his smiling. It wasn’t meant for him. He wasn’t the Twice-Blessed Child, son of a Charmed One and a Whitelighter, and he was the second child that no one noticed, that no one cared about.

Christopher Perry Halliwell – the half-Elder hybrid that was invisible.

Sure, his mother doted on him occasionally, teaching him how to cook some of the most fascinating dishes, his aunts babysat when his mom needed them to, his uncles took him on play dates, and once, his dad even took him to a baseball game for father’s day just for the two of them. But he wasn’t important. Wyatt was the first name on off their lips when a demon attacked, and he was just an after thought if they remembered him at all.

Normally, Chris didn’t mind. After all, he may have had an inferiority complex with his brother, but Wyatt had never treated him like they did. His brother always told him how special he was. He praised him when he accomplished things and even helped him develop the powers his family didn’t know existed – after all, they thought he was too young to have powers.

Neither Chris nor Wyatt understood their logic – Wyatt’s had powers since the womb. However when Chris tried to tell them about his powers when he was four, they brushed it off and his mother grounded him for telling lies. He had even been prepared to show her what he could do. It was amazing, he could hear everyone’s thoughts. However, it was what he’d heard that made him not what to show off his new power.

‘Why can’t he be more like his brother?’

After hearing that, he’d just stayed quiet and let her yell at him for lying even if he knew he hadn’t. Later that night, Wyatt had orbed into his room and let him cry on his shoulder. The older boy had been thinking murderous thoughts, he knew, but they had both calmed down when he asked if Wyatt could help him learn how to control it.

When he got a new power over the years, he only tried to tell his parent one last time before he gave up on them completely and decided to only tell Wyatt and his Astral Twin and cousin, Phoenicia. Since she was a Telepath herself, they learned how to control their abilities together. She kept most of her powers secret too. She didn’t even tell her dad about some of them, though they all had a feeling that uncle Cole knew about what they did on their ‘play dates’ and just didn’t say anything to anyone.

Chris had always liked uncle Cole – he praised him too. He was the fun uncle who always snuck presents and candy to him and his brother when their parents weren’t looking. The man wasn’t entirely human. He was born a half demon and currently everyone considered him an Immortal since he couldn’t die… or at least stay dead. Somehow he always managed to come back to life after someone killed him.

Then there was grandpa Victor. Gramps was probably the adult closest to Chris. The old man had woken up to find the small boy curled up on his couch at four a.m. on more then one occasion. Usually when his parents yelled at him for something. They had started yelling more and more, and Chris had spent the night almost every day for three weeks straight.

Orbing was a handy power.

Now he was eight years old and he had a total of eight powers – two a year since he was four. It may not have been as many powers as his brother had, but considering his mom only had two powers, he figured it had to be worth something. He wondered what would happen if he tried to tell his father about his powers now… his dad was always spending time with Wyatt, training him how to use his powers and Excalibur, so would he finally spend time with him like he used to?

Before he could think more on it, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The boy panicked. He wasn’t supposed to be in the attic by himself, and he certainly wasn’t allowed to be near his brother’s sword! Taking a deep breath, Chris channeled his new powers. When the door opened his parents walked in, arguing, not noticing their son’s presence. The dark haired boy might have thought they wouldn’t have noticed him even if he hadn’t been Cloaking himself from them. It was a weird power and he wasn’t too sure what it did exactly. He wasn’t invisible, because when he was testing it all he had to do was say something along the lines of ‘I’m right here’ and they noticed him again.

Kind of like a Notice-Me-Not power, he supposed.

“No!” his mother cried, drawing his attention back to them. “You can’t do this, Leo Wyatt!”

“Piper,” sighed Leo reasonably. “He needs to be trained properly,” Chris’s heart leapt to his throat. Could they be talking about him? “He is too powerful be stay the way he is. It’ll only be for a little while,” the man assured her. Piper shook her head, angry tears forming in her eyes as she glared at her husband.

“You’re not taking my baby from me!”

“Sweetheart,” he soothed. “We’ll visit every weekend, I swear,”

“No!”

“Honey, you need to think about the bigger picture here,” the Elder said sternly. “I won’t let him out of my sight, you know this. He’s the most important thing in my life – our life – but he is a danger to himself and other the way he is. If he is to become King and rule over all magic he needs to be able to handle it,”

“… But he’s only ten years old,” she said miserably.

“I know,” her husband nodded. “I know it’s hard for you to let him go. But he needs this. And you’ll still have your sisters here.” The Elder caressed her face lovingly. “Chris will be here too.” Piper scoffed, effectively yet unknowingly breaking the eight-year-old boy’s already fragile heart into a million tiny orb particles. It would have hurt less if she had blown him up, he was sure.

“It won’t be the same,”

With tears running down his face, he orbed away, unnoticed by his parents who were wallowing in tears of their own for their only son – after all, Chris didn’t matter. When he rematerialized, he found himself on the Bridge. This was his spot. His father had brought him here after his first and only baseball game. The small boy collapsed and curled into a ball, his chin resting on his knees. No one would find his up here. His father had stopped coming when he had began training Wyatt. Now it was his and his alone. He reached up a hand and wiped the tears away from his eyes, taking a deep breath while trying to get a reign on his emotions.

Empathy had been a nightmare to control but he found it easier ever since he’d learnt how to clear his head. Phoenicia had thought him some breathing techniques and the Art of Meditation. It took him longer to clear his mind today then it normally did. Maybe it was because he’d actually heard his mother admit, without words, what he’d feared for half of his life.

That he wasn’t worth it.

Dark lashes fluttered open and his sea green eyes peered up at the ceiling with a pained look in them. He remembered that day, so very clearly. Up on the Bridge, he’d been kidnapped by a demon that tried to poison his mind against his family. He'd very nearly turned on them, would have, had it not been for Mia, Wyatt, and Luke. However, in the process of saving him, everyone had learnt about his powers and they tried to bind them so that he wouldn't be... tempted to use them against anyone again. For his own good.

Chris looked down when felt Phoenicia shift in his arms. “Darkness?” she queried.

“Yes,” he nodded briefly, tightening his hold on her. “Just a little bit,”

The girl scowled darkly. “Trying to snuff out the Light,”

“I suppose,” he agreed.

“Wont work,” she said fiercely. “Light is too strong – Darkness cannot contain the Phoenix of Light.”

Chris smiled at her and nodded his head, “It wont, Mia, it wont.” he promised her and she smiled back at him contently before resting her head on his chest, her eyes falling closed. Chris shook his head, knowing that she was purposely trying to make him go back to sleep by trapping him under her – she was sneaky like that. With a sigh, his eyes fluttered closed once more and his breathing evened out. He was asleep within minutes.

Stranding in the open doorway of her room, Phoebe didn’t know what to think as she watched her neurotic whitelighter from the future with her daughter from the future together in her bed. She hadn’t understood a word of their conversation. They knew each other better then anyone else could hope too, she could tell, but how did they do that? How did they communicate with just their expressions and a few simple words? She sighed, perplexed, and looked back at the bed.

Chris had his arms wrapped around the slender girl, one hand buried in her hair while the other was resting on her waist. Phoenicia was cuddled up to Chris, her face buried in his neck, her body practically lying on top of him. The pair looked so… content. Surprisingly enough, she didn’t feel the motherly urge to rip the two apart like any normal mother would do when catching her daughter in bed with a man.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that she could actually feel the emotions in the room. Chris had his guard down and she could actually read him clearly for once. Protectiveness. Sadness. Grief. Anger. Love. There were so many emotions floating about that she couldn’t decipher them all, but she knew that he cared about Phoenicia with all of his heart and would do anything for her.

With a wistful sigh, she stepped back and closed the door softly before going downstairs to the kitchen. Paige and Leo were munching on a cookie, which looked really good, while Piper was frowning. She had been a little surprised to find that there were homemade cookies waiting on the counter when she got home, and Leo had taken it upon himself to tell them that Chris had made them and no, there were not any potions or poisons in the batter as he’d watched the younger man make them. Phoebe, of course, snatched a cookie up as she sat down.

“They’re in my room,” she told them.

Paige quirked an eyebrow. “Both of them?”

“Yes,” affirmed the Empath with a nod. “Both of them.”

“In the same bed?” the youngest sister asked slyly.

“Yes,” she said firmly, giving her sister a glare. “Gutter, gutter, gutter,”

Piper eyed her sister strangely, “You’re okay with that?”

“Yes,” repeated Phoebe for the third time. “They are both in my room, wrapped around each other, sleeping away their afternoon blissfully unaware of the conversation we’re currently having about them. No, they weren’t naked, nor was there anything sexual about the way he was holding her. Can we pick another topic now?” Her sisters backed down and Leo only shifted uncomfortably, and Phoebe looked at him, “Did you find out anything else about the surge of power you had us working on?”

The Elder shook his head, “No, we’re just as lost about this as you are.”

“Well, maybe we could do something if we knew what we were looking for,” hinted Paige.

“Look,” sighed Leo, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We detected a magical surge. Those usually happen when a demon surfaces from the Underworld. We haven’t been able to pinpoint it’s exact location – it’s almost as if this thing is everywhere. I can find traces of it in Spain and at the same time in New York. The only thing is, it hasn’t moved. It’s in both places.”

“Astral Projection?” Phoebe suggested.

“No,” he shook his head. “Its here in San Francisco. We know that much because the concentration of power basically overlaps the entire state. But that’s what I mean – it’s so powerful that the magic is spreading over the entire world. Japan, Italy, South America, Canada… it’s everywhere. Whatever this thing is, its more powerful then the Titans. Its like having Charmed Ones, the Source, the Titans, and the Elders all combined and you still barely come close to how powerful this thing is.”

“That’s bad.” said Paige faintly, her eyes wide.

“What could be that powerful?” asked Piper worriedly.

“More importantly,” said Phoebe. “Is it good or is it evil?”

In the shadows of the room, a lone figure had to suppress a snort at their little chat. He was highly amused at this – who would have thought that everything would be in such turmoil over two teenage kids? True, one of them was out of her mind, but even in her state she wouldn’t hurt anyone. Honestly, he was a bit surprised that Leo hadn’t figured it out yet. After all, the surge happened when Phoenicia arrived. It had gotten stronger after the Bond between her and Chris had been restored and his more… offensive powers were unbound. It was glaringly obvious. If Leo would just put his head to good use, he would realize that the reason their magic was everywhere was because they were each connected to their element.

Air and Fire.

Phoenicia was connected to pretty much the entire atmosphere, especially since she was the only Air Elemental in this time and Chris… well; he was connected to the earth’s core. Add their unique mix of Telepathy and Empathy to that and they were pretty much connected to every living being on the planet. Of course, Leo didn’t know about Chris or their psychic powers, but he did know that Phoenicia was an Elemental. Was he really that ignorant? How could he not see the connection?

Shaking his head sadly, the figure stepped out of the room and walked up the stairs. He made his way to Phoebe’s room and watched the two on the bed, a small smile playing on his lips. He crept closer to the bed and sat down, observing them. Chris had let his hair grow out. It reached passed his ears, the ends curling slightly. He felt a pang in his heart as he spotted the dark circles under the boy’s eyes and the hollowness of his cheeks. Chris deserved better then this. So did Phoenicia.

Tentatively, he reached out to brush the strands of dark hair away from Chris’s forehead. Before his hand could come in contact, a hand closed around his invisible wrist and sea-green eyes peered up at him lethargically. The hand tightened and he didn’t even bother trying to yank it away. Chris narrowed his eyes at the empty spot and allowed heat to pour through his hand, his eyes slowly taking on an amber hue.

“Show yourself,”

The command was quiet, as to not wake the slumbering girl beside him, but it held venom that promised intense pain if the demand wasn’t met accordingly. Steeling himself, he faded into view. He watched with some trepidation as shock settled over the younger man’s face. Chris took in the man’s appearance, as if trying to assure himself who was sitting there. He spotted a scar running down the side of the man’s face from his left eyebrow all the way to his ear. His dark blond hair was slicked back, hiding the tuffs of white that he knew were there. But the eyes… they were the same. Sea green, so much like his own.

“Leo?”

Winching at his given name, the man nodded, “Yes, son, it’s me.”

“Are you from…?” he trailed off hesitantly.

“Well,” the Elder began dryly. “I’m certainly not from here. Could you imagine the look on your mother’s face if I suddenly showed up dressed in a black leather jacket, carrying a never ending supply of potions and throwing knives on me?” Chris’s breath hitched and that was all the confirmation he needed. He tugged on his father’s wrist and pulled him down for a hug. It was kind of awkward with the position he was currently in, but he didn’t care.

“It worked.” he whispered in awe.

“So it was your fault” chuckled Leo, a playful smile settling on his lips as he gripped his son in a tight embrace. Who knew the next time Chris would let him hold him again. In fact, Leo himself could only remember doing so on very few occasions, all when the younger man was still a boy. It wasn’t enough, and it wasn’t fair. But it was his own fault Chris was so wary of him. “I’d wondered where my sudden knowledge of sword fighting came from and how I survived the attack when I remember being on my death bed after it happened.” Chris let out a choked laugh and pulled away. He disentangled himself from Phoenicia and looked at his father.

“Yeah, I kind of sent you to Valhalla,” he said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. “I guess the Time Ripples have started to take effect if you’re alive now. That means you’ll have two sets of memories until the paradox is fixed and one of the timelines fade. I hope he process wasn’t too painful for you,” Leo nodded, giving his son a humorless look.

“Just wait till they catch up with you,” he mumbled with a hint of annoyance. “I don’t have to wait for two sets of memories as I’ve already gotten them as will you soon. You’re part Elder and once the Ripples work their way back through time to get to you, you’ll have one hell of a headache for a few weeks.” Chris bit his lip to hold in a laugh.

“I’m sorry, I forgot that Elders aren’t effected by changes is time the same way everything else is.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he rolled his eyes, trying to keep the affectionate tone out of his voice. “I’ve missed you, Chris.” The younger man looked up at his with a shy, almost hopeful look on his face. “Thank you for giving me another chance. Especially since my past self seems to be a bit dim witted,” he admitted reluctantly.

Chris smirked at his father. “Just your past self?”

“Watch it, Christopher,” the Elder said playfully. Laughing, Chris stood up and stretched, feeling better then he had in a long time. His secondary mission had been a success. His father was still alive. If he could change that, then he had high hopes about saving Wyatt and Phoenicia. The potion would be ready in three days, if all went according to his plans. He was sure that with his father and Phoenicia’s help, they would neutralize any threat to Wyatt possible.

“Come on,” said Chris, gesturing for the Elder to follow him after he tucked his cousin back into bed. “I better introduce you first before they walk in unexpectedly and think you’re a Shapeshifter posing as Leo.” The two made their way downstairs, Chris feeling a bit nervous as he led the way. He prayed that his father didn’t say anything about who he was. He hoped he knew that Chris wanted to keep his identity a secret from them.

Walking into the kitchen, he hesitated slightly before clearing his throat to get their attention. All eyes went to him and he shifted his weight from foot to foot. His father stepped around him and, even with his knew foreboding appearance, they all recognized him immediately. Their first instinct was telling them that this was a demon in disguise. Another was saying to give him a hug. They each took a third option, which was to stare at Leo’s doppelganger with pure shock.

“Everyone,” said Chris clearly, masking his anxiousness. “This is Leo… from my time.”

“Are you sure?” asked Leo suspiciously, eyeing the darker man with distrust.

Chris rolled his eyes and turned to his father. “And you actually wonder why I say you need to lighten up,” he quipped, gaining himself a glare from both versions of the Elder. Finding this somewhat amusing, he smirked at them. “Okay, to make this less confusing, Past Leo, your get to keep your name and Future Leo, you’ll go by your alias, got it?”

“Fine, fine, Leon it is.” grumbled the Elder.

“Not much of a difference,” Paige pointed out .

Chris shrugged, “Well we don’t have to worry about mixing them up physically and they’re technically the same person, though I’d say Leon is a bit more battle wary, so who cares?” Not able to come up with something to dispute her whitelighter’s logic, Paige kept quiet. “Okay, so now I’ve introduce you, we can get down to business.”

“No.”

The young Elemental witch paused, looking at his father questioningly, “No?”

“No,” the Elder affirmed. “You’re on probation. No demon hunting, potion making, scrying, spell writing – none of it. You eat and rest until I say otherwise.” Chris stared at him in disbelief, his mouth hanging open slightly. He was on probation? “Don’t even try to make up excuses, Chris, otherwise I’ll tell Mia and you know that even in her state, she can kick your ass back to the future.”

Mouth snapping closed with an audible click, Chris glared at him. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Actually, I can,” said Leon coolly, returning the look full force. “You’re still a minor until October so I’m your guardian until then.”

Chris growled deep within his throat. “You can’t do that!”

“I just did.”

“I’m not a minor, damn it,” he hissed. “I was emancipated.”

“Watch your language,” chided Leon sternly. “And do you have any proof you were?”

“You watched me sign the damn papers!”

“Prove it.”

Before Chris could loose his temper, a gentle hand settled over his shoulder and he glanced back, already feeling the forced wave of calm his Twin was feeding him. Their eyes met and he smiled slightly when he noticed that hers were clear for the moment. Not only that, but he could tell that she was just as angry as he was. She took his hand and he felt something being pressed into his palm. He looked down and smirked, trying not to let out a laugh.

“Here’s your proof,” he said with no small amount of amusement, waving the papers in front of his father’s face. He studied the Elder for a moment and realization sunk in – Leon had purposely tried to piss him off. “You didn’t have to do that,” he told him quietly. “Besides, it wont work. I have more control now then I ever did.”

Leon looked at him earnestly. “You need to release your anger before your powers do it for you.”

“I’m not emotionally repressed, Leon,” he scoffed. “I’m not going to explode if I get angry.”

“But you could, especially since your aggressive powers have been bound for so long.”

“He won’t.” Phoenicia cut in tersely. “Don’t put so much faith in what you’ve heard second hand – it usually proves false. A tightly wound thread will break easily, that’s why there are many layers to keep the rope intact.” She rolled her eyes back to her brother and whispered to him softly, “The Path to Hell is paved on good intentions – He who is Light will forsake his vows on what he believes is Right and, with Good in his mind, Bring forth the Lord of Darkness and everlasting Night.”

Chris’s breath caught in his throat. Lord of Darkness. Wyatt. He quickly imprinted her words to his memory. The person who turns Wyatt Evil was a good person who did it unintentionally. But who? And how? Smiling thankfully at his Twin, he turned back to his father and carefully kept any type of emotion off of his face with practiced ease.

“You may be an Elder,” he said quietly. “But you have no authority over me.” Leon flinched slightly, knowing that he deserved that, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt that his son hated him. Although, Chris cared enough to ensure his survival and that meant that there was still hope of mending the broken relationship between father and son. Leon bowed his head in acknowledgement that he had no say in his son’s life and Chris’s eyes shown with thanks. “I’ll leave you guys alone to talk a bit,” Chris said, taking Mia’s hand. “But no details – the last thing we need is another paradox.”

Leon snorted. “I know the rules of time travel Chris. Future Consequences.”

“So you’re the culprit!” exclaimed Paige with an accusing finger.

Chris snickered at all the dirty looks his father was receiving. “Ta-ta!” he said with a grin, dissolving in a column of blue and white, Phoenicia in tow. They reappeared on top of the Bridge and Chris scowled at the area covered in blood – the place where he’d found her not long ago. Reaching out with his mind, he felt Phoenicia’s magic and drew from her – with a flick of his wrist, the blood vanished.

“Frustrated.” she said serenely.

“I know, Mia,” he agreed sadly. “But it’ll get better soon. I promise.”

The young woman tilted her head in his direction. “No, not me. You.”

Chris sighed. “Maybe a little. It’s a bit harder to control my powers since you unbound them. But the weird thing is, I don’t have all of them yet, and my Pyrokinesis seems… a bit weaker then normal.” She looked at him and smiled. He got the feeling that it was her doing. In fact, he was sure of it – but why would she only give him his powers gradually? And how was she doing it without being in complete control of her own mind?

“If you break the dam completely a flood will occur,” she told him, either reading his expression or his mind. “It must be drained slowly to prevent damage.” Her eyes cleared once more and she smirked at him momentarily, the twist of her lips completely foreign to Chris. “If not, the world will explode and we’ll be the only survivors.” she told him matter-of-factly, eyes sparkling as they had when she was younger.

Scoffing, Chris shook his head with a wry grin. “We’ll rule the world?”

Phoenicia nodded. “Conquerors of all.”

“But what would we do with all the free time?” he sighed with mock-disappointment. “There would be no demons to hunt.”

“We must ensure the survival of the human race,” she said with a glint in her eyes.

Chris stared at her in bemusement. “Of course. And how would we do that?”

“By having hot monkey sex?”

Choking on his own saliva at the innocent tone belying her crude words, Chris glared at her. “That is just so wrong on so many different levels.” She just continued to smirk at him. “It wasn’t funny!” At his attempt to sound stern, she smiled wholeheartedly at him and he couldn’t help but laugh. “You have a dirty mind,” he muttered with mock exasperation.

Phoenicia nodded. “I know.” she said proudly. “Several, in fact.”

“Cant you avoid peeking into the perverted ones?” he pleaded with her. “For my sanity?”

“I suppose,” she said calmly. “I think two Halliwell Hazards are enough.”

“… Yeah.” he smiled sadly, knowing she was talking about herself and Wyatt. “Someone has to be left to fix you guys.”

---

Leon shifted uncomfortably as the sisters and his younger self stared at him. He wasn’t sure how to interact with his dead ex-wife and sister in laws, let alone him past self. He cleared his throat nervously. “You all… look well.” he said lamely, feeling the urge to orb away like his son had intensify greatly. Had Chris done this on purpose just to annoy him? As some form of revenge to get back at him for trying to make him mad? Or for all the missed birthdays? Or…

“Thank you,” said Piper just as awkwardly, cutting off his train of thought.

Paige looked between them, deciding to try and break the ice. “So… how do you know Chris?”

The man tensed, his sharp, weary eyes settling on the half-whitelighter. “I’m an Elder, one of five in fact,” he answered her softly, ignoring the look of shock Leo’s face at his admission – there were far more then that! “I know every person who possesses even the slightest hint of whitelighter blood in his or her veins, and, unfortunately, there aren’t that many to keep tract of. I was also close with his father.” Far closer then you can imagine, he added mentally.

“Who is his father?” asked Leo curiously. He couldn’t remember anyone with the surname of name Perry. Although, it was true that Chris could have taken his mother’s name rather then his fathers. Or perhaps it was an alias, kind of like the name Leon for him.

Leon eyed his past counterpart and shook his head, “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” demanded Piper. “Why keep us in the dark?”

“You don’t know the laws of time travel Piper,” he told her, trying to keep his voice even.

“I don’t care! Screw the laws,” she hissed. “I’ve had to put up with that bastard–” Before she could finish, Leon glared at her in a way she’d never seen Leo look at anyone. His sea green eyes were burning with pure hate, all directed at her. He took a half step forward, his fist clenched together tightly, unnoticeable sparks of energy gathering at his fingertips, and she instinctively moved away from him.

“Never. Call. Him. That. Ever. Again.” he ordered, barely controlling himself. Wife or not, this was his son she was talking about. She didn’t have the right to speak about Chris like that. He wasn’t about to let her bad mouth him to make herself feel better about the situation. Chris’s personal feelings had been neglected by both of them for the longest time and he wasn’t ever going to make that mistake again – Chris deserved better.

They all nodded nervously, not used to seeing this side of Leo.

Taking a calming breath, the Elder adverted his eyes, ignoring them while he tried to collect himself. Luckily, he was saved from having to answer any questioned when his younger self was called away by the Elders and it was decided that he should come too to try and explain the situation so he and Chris wouldn’t be hit with any resistance from them. With his position as High Elder in his time, it would be easy to convince them to leave Chris alone so he could complete his mission.

When the two men were gone, Piper made it her mission to cook dinner as a distraction while Paige decided to go attend one of her Temp-Jobs and Phoebe, feeling a bit perplexed at the sudden turn of events, sat down watching her sister cook as she contemplated the high strung emotions flitting through her. The emotions coming from Leon confused her to no end.

Protectiveness. Anger. Resentment. Hate.

Leon was protective of Chris, which was understandable seeing as he’s his friend’s son. But the other emotions weren’t solely directed at her older sister. They were directed at himself as well. She kept her mouth shut, deciding she would corner him later and ask. He obviously was going to be as tightlipped about the future as Chris was, apparently because of the Time Travel laws. She really needed to find out what those laws were and if there were any loopholes in them.

-----

End

Chapter

-----

Chris and Phoenicia

Individual Powers – ones only one of them can us:

Lightning Generation – Chris.

Flaming/Orbing – Chris.

Pyrokinesis – Chris.

Clairvoyance – Mia.

Breezing/Shimmering – Mia.

Aerokinetics – Mia.

Shared Powers – ones they can both use:

Sensing (x2)

Telekinesis (x2)

Telepathy (x2)

Empathy (x1 – Chris)

Cloaking (x1 Chris)

Esper Transformation (Phoenix/Sabyl)

Astral Projection (x1 – Mia)

Conjuring/Banishing (x1 – Mia)

Note:

The (x2) means that they both have it Individually and can combine the two together to make it stronger as a whole.

Chapter Three

2007-10-05T22:58:41Z

Finding Yourself

-----

Chapter Three

♠

The Potion

-----

Chris frowned at his family from the doorway, watching them try to force feed Mia. It was actually kind of funny to watch them try to do this, especially since he knew that she wouldn’t eat unless they fed him too. They didn’t seem phased by his presence anymore, hadn’t since she arrived. He had a feeling that since Phoenicia knew and trusted him, even more then she trusted them, they put up with his presence.

For her sake, at least.

Of course, it helped that he wasn’t hounding them about demon hunting constantly. Mia had only been here for a day and he hadn’t even thought to send them on a demon hunt. He had been too busy to research to schedule hunts. He still wasn’t getting enough sleep, but he knew that if Mia had another lucid moment, then he’d be put under a sleeping spell. It was nice having her around – wonderful actually. He loved her so much, but it still hurt him to see her like this. In the whole twenty-four hours she’d been here in the past, she’d only had two moments when she could speak with them clearly with coherent words that weren’t all pulled together in some kind of sonnet that he couldn’t understand.

Everything out of her mouth had a double-edged meaning to it.

Sighing, Chris ran a hand through his dark hair and stepped into the kitchen. Watching wasn’t the reason he was here. He was on a mission, a very important one at that. He approached the table, ignoring his mother and the aunts. His father was there too; he’d been a hanging around more ever since Mia arrived under the pretenses that he was here to help them find that ‘shift in power’ he kept going on about. Chris had his money on his cousin being the cause of uproar, but didn’t say anything.

Phoenicia’s head tilted in his direction as he came close to her, but she made no other acknowledgement that he was there, too busy making a cabin out of her waffles to notice. However, when he at down beside her, she turned and looked at him more fully. He looked healthier then he had when she’d first arrived, but he was still to skinny for her taste. She conjured up a plate for him and went back to ‘eating’. A resigned sigh later, and he was inhaling his food, sending mental images of his latest mission to her, hoping she would understand. She did. He was trying to develop a potion that would help her think. While he didn’t think it would cure her, he was hoping that it would clear her mind and make her lucid enough for the both of them.

The young woman waited until he was finished eating, every bite gone, until she gave him her answer. There was no way she was giving him an excuse to skip another meal. The moment he set his fork down, she held out her arm with an expectant look. The others looked on in confusion, but Chris stared at her in relief. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small packet. He opened it pulled out a long strip of rubber. Without a word, he wrapped it around her upper arm, making as tight as possible without hurting her. He fingered the vein he wanted, and ignored his family’s inquires. Visibly bracing himself, he pulled out a needle and a small vial, looking at Phoenicia in case she was ready to bolt at the reminder of what her life had always been about.

“You okay?” he asked her quietly.

“… Yes.”

“What’s going on?” asked Phoebe, watching as he tapped her vein a few times to get the blood pumping. She knew what he was doing, but not why he was doing it. They were all done with their food so ruining their appetite didn’t matter, but that didn’t mean they wanted to see this right now. “Chris?” she tried again when he didn’t respond.

“Drawing blood,” he answered crisply, sliding the needle through his cousin’s flesh. She didn’t flinch, her body used to the feeling by now – her scars were a testament to that. He watched her reaction though, rubbing his free hand up her arm soothingly as the vial filled up with the crimson liquid. Once it was full, he placed a piece of gauze on the wound and pulled the needle out. “Hold.” Phoenicia obeyed, holding the fabric to her arm while he pulled out some tape and secured it for her. She let her hand drop once he was done, and watched as he put everything away. She didn’t even notice she was shaking. Chris did, however, and had anticipated this. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. “It’s okay,” he whispered into her hair gently. “You did great, brave little Piglet, eh?”

“… Piglet?”

Chris chuckled, “You remember don’t you? You’re Piglet and I’m Christopher Robin,” Phoenicia merely gazed at him, trying to sort out her thoughts. “It’s okay, Mama Mia,” he told her with a small smile tugging at his lips. “If this,” He held up the vial of her blood, shaking it a bit. “Works like I hope, you’ll be able to remember that, and so much more,”

The young woman nodded her head, showing that she understood him to some extent. “Chrissie,” she tilted her head at him. “See the Hart, follow the Heart.” With those words of wisdom, she went back to playing with her food, showing no signs of ever speaking with him to begin with. Chris sighed, holding her words to memory, and put what he needed into his pocket.

Most of the time, the words she spoke weren’t nonsense like everyone thought.

He was just getting ready to orb off when Piper grabbed a hold of his arm, “Not so fast mister,” she said, hands on her hips as he turned to look at her. Phoebe and Paige were behind her. And all three of them had similar looks on their faces. Chris looked to Leo, who was holding Wyatt, but the older man shrugged helplessly. “Why did you draw her blood?”

The dark haired man pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Couldn’t they just back off?

Taking a deep breath, he answered, “I need a vial of her blood because it was either draw blood or give her a lumbar puncture – it takes fluid from her spine.” Chris added at their confused looks, seeing as only Leo seemed to get the medical term. Well, duh! He’d been a doctor in his other life. “In fact, it would be better if I did both,” he said more to himself then to them. “Anyway, I need it so I can use it as one of the bases of the potion I’m developing because this potion will have a direct impact on her body, which means that she could have various reactions to the stimuli provided by both the magical and the Mortal materials that will each react or counter-react with each other. I need to get a skin sample from her as well, to test her physical reaction to the potion. Once it’s perfected, I’ll test it on her directly in a controlled environment and if she has no negative reactions to it, then I will give her a full dose and hopefully it’ll work like it’s supposed to. If the experiment is successful, then I will continue to make more and distribute it to her in daily doses to help her function and stay lucid.” With that, he promptly orbed out, leaving a room of speechless people.

Paige was the first to break the silence, “I think I liked it better when he only said ‘Future Consequences,’”

---

Chris brushed his bangs out of his eyes as he carefully added the next substance into the cauldron. He was currently in a cave that he’d created by literally melting the rocks around him and molding them into a workplace for him. It had taken a full two hours to make it, but he now had a place to live that wasn’t as cramped as Piper’s office and he liked it. He’d made it a bit like a studio apartment, an underground studio sure, but it worked for him.

There was a living room that he’d made couched out of rocks (not very comfortable, and it reminded him of the Flintstones, but it worked for now), which were positioned in front of a working fireplace. He’d conjured the fire himself. It would never go out, not unless he or another Elemental put it out with their magic. Just sprinkling water over it would do nothing, in fact it would probably work like a grease fire then – instead of putting it out, the flames would grow. The dark haired man had made a kitchen, a bedroom (his bed was made of magma, sure, but it was like a hot water bed to him, and he liked it), and he’d found an aquifer that provided proficient indoor plumbing. He had a working sink and shower, which would really come in handy considering he was getting tired of pretending to be a student at the local collage just so he didn’t smell horrible every day.

Not to mention the last time he’d done it, campus security nearly caught him.

There was also a Core room, which held the Wards he’d created to keep his… Grotto safe from prying eyes. He doubted even the sisters would be able to find him if he hadn’t added their magical signature to the Wards so that they could sense him. They could even orb in if they wanted to, whereas any demon would be turned into poached ala demon if they even tried. Not that they’d be able to find him to begin with.

Furrowing his brow, the young man eyed the next ingredient on his list. Powdered Basilisk eyes. The substance was just as deadly to consume as it was to look at. Basilisks could kill with a single glance. Not many people knew this, but Basilisks were relatively small, unless it was of a royal bloodline. They could be as small as a garden snake or as large as a submarine. Luckily, Chris had found one when he was clearing out the cave.

It was risky to use the eyes, venom, blood, or even scales of a Basilisk in any potion. Especially for the kind he was trying to develop. But Chris had to take into account of Mia’s demon lineage. Cole had been half Chimera demon and he still held the gene dormant when he’d come back as human. Phoenicia had inherited that gene, only not so… dormant.

By some magical anomaly, she had the full powers of a Chimera even though she was only a second-generation half-blood. And it was a well-known fact that Chimera demons often took Basilisks as their familiars. Mia had one when she was younger, and it bit her when he bonded himself as her familiar. Which meant that she had the venom in her blood.

Adding this would actually help her rather then harm her…

Carefully tipping a small amount of the finely ground powder into his cauldron, watching intently as the liquid went from a bright red to a pitch black. He stepped back with a grin of success and narrowed his eyes at the flame below the cauldron. The fire died down to what might have looked like the size of a small candle. Nodding his head, he grabbed his notebook and quickly wrote down what had happened, glad that his prediction had proved correct. The potion had turned black, just as he’d hoped it would – the Basilisk eyes were going to be a key ingredient when he made this potion in the future. With a tired sigh, he manipulated the Wards, creating a strong barrier around his potion so that nothing, not even a fly or a spec of unwanted dirt, could disrupt his hard work.

If Chris’ predictions for this potion were correct, it would take at least three more days to finish. That meant all together it would take a nearly a full week to brew another batch. Today marked day one and there was nothing he could do to it until tomorrow. Besides, he’d need to see that Apothecary he’d used for the Empath potion for some of the things he needed. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to find them himself like he had that time. Chris didn’t fancy outracing demons and other unspeakable things to get what he needed.

Sighing, he sealed the Wards and orbed away, rematerializing in the entryway of the Manor. He tilted his head, sensing for the occupants of the house. The sisters weren’t here. That wasn’t anything to be concerned about, thankfully. They were probably just at work. Leo was upstairs in the attic, and he could sense both his brother and his cousin up there as well. The young man decided against going up there for now and went into the kitchen. He was a bit bored. To be honest, he should have been attacking the Book for demons that might pose a threat. Still, he was procrastinating. He needed a break, and this was his chance to have one.

So, he started grabbing things out of the cabinet and the fridge.

Might as well do something productive, right?

Chris went about mixing everything together like a pro. His mom had taught him how to cook. It was one of the few things that they did together before she died, something that he could be praised for that his brother couldn’t. It wasn’t like Wyatt had ever rubbed in his face that he got more recognition, although that didn’t stop everyone else from doing it. When Chris was younger, he didn’t understand why everyone praised Wyatt over the simplest things that Chris had accomplished long ago, or why he could get in trouble for little things when his big brother couldn’t. It wasn’t until he was eight that it sunk in completely – they favored Wyatt, the, oh so powerful, Twice Blessed Child over him.

What is the definition of Twice Blessed? Having more then one magical being as a parent? Chris had those too. So where was his title? They had always said he was too young to fight, too weak to be of any use. They had even tried to bind his powers so he wouldn’t feel tempted to use them, but that was after they learned that he even had powers. Chris was just as powerful as his brother – maybe even more so considering that he had a Twin who could share powers with him.

Not to mention Wyatt was only half-whitelighter – Chris was half-Elder.

Had his family seen that, though? No, they only saw what they wanted and it had cost them greatly. He hoped they would do better this time around, that is, if he was still alive. Oh, Wyatt would pitch a fit if he knew that Chris had split their parents up before his precious little brother was conceived. Both versions of him. Good Wyatt was very overprotective – Evil Wyatt was extremely overprotective and possessive. He wasn’t too keen on seeing either version of his brother at this point.

“Hey,” a voice behind him called out, and Chris whipped around, taking a defensive stance. He faltered at the startled look on his father’s face. Leo eyed the dripping spoon in his hand warily, “Going to beat me or the batter with that?” he asked jokingly. Chris gave him a sheepish look and turned back around to finish his mixing before he got out a cooking sheet and began placing small the mixture an inch apart with a teaspoon. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

Chris glanced at him over his shoulder, “My mom taught me,” Leo blinked at the admission. Thus his ears deceive him – had the neurotic witchlighter from the future just give him a straight answer? Instead of saying something of the sort, which would probably cause the younger man to clamp up again, he nodded silently. “Where are Mia and Wyatt?”

“They fell asleep so I orbed Wyatt to his crib and Phoenicia to Phoebe’s room,” he answered, stepping closer to observed what exactly Chris was making. “Peanut butter cookies?” His mouth watered as the boy nodded, offering him the spoon and bowl before opening the oven and placing a sheet of uncooked cookies inside. “When will they be done?”

“Eight minutes,” said Chris, smirking as his father licked the spoon clean like an eager five year old. About half an hour later, the cookies were all done and sitting out to cool and Chris had already cleaned up his mess. It didn’t matter if Piper was on tolerating terms with him right now – if he messed with her perfectly organized kitchen he was dead.

“So, any luck with that miracle potion of yours?” asked the Elder after swallowing a bite of his cookie.

Chris took a swig of milk and answered, “It’ll be done in three days,”

Leo blinked stupidly at him. “What…?”

“I’d already had plans to do this in the future so I had the list of what I needed before hand,” he explained, leaning forward eagerly as he did so. “The only problem was I never got a sample of Mia’s blood to mix with it so it would be customized to her, plus I didn’t have the time to experiment fully. I did most of that today and I’ve got the finished recipe. I might change a few things along the way, but it’ll be ready for testing in a few days,”

“… I see,” the Elder responded in a strained voice. “I’m not very good with potions, in fact I’ve only made about three of them myself and those were listed in the Book of Shadows already, so I’m sorry if I’m not familiar with the whole development process.” Chris merely shrugged it off easily – Leo had already done more then most Whitelighters had with just those three potions, so he wouldn’t say a thing.

“So… how long have you known Phoenicia?” he asked flippantly, trying not to sound to interested even though he was burning up inside with questions. Chris merely shrugged once more.

“Since we were kids,” he answered, not bothering to elaborate.

“You two seem close,”

Chris snorted. “Hell yes,” he agreed. “We’ve been together for so long our parents used to joke that we were extensions of each other. Of course, when you share a… relationship like we do, it’s kind of hard not to act like we’re one.” Leo tried not to choke on his cookie. He wanted to know, yes, but he didn’t want any in-depth information about their relationship. “Hey, Leo…”

Leo blinked at the boy’s soft tone, “Yeah?”

“When I was… out of it the yesterday day,” he began nervously. “Did… did I say anything… or…?”

“Yes, you did.” the Elder said in a soft tone. “You spoke about the Trials in more detail then when you explaining to us last night.” He watched Chris’s eyes close in a grimace, but continued on anyway. “And then you told me about the breeding facilities,” Another wince. “And about the Mark on your neck.” Chris’s eyes flew open, startled and his hand automatically went to the back of his neck.

“Shit.” he swore, furrowing his brow and adding a glamour over the Mark. His skin glowed briefly as the glamour locked in place and he sighed in relief. Tentatively, he peered up at Leo. “You can’t tell anyone.” He tried to be forceful, but it came out rather weak. “You shouldn’t even know about it.” Leo nodded.

“I wont tell anyone your secrets,” he told him, honestly. “… On one condition.”

Chris frowned at him. “What?” he asked warily.

“All I want is for you to answer one question,” Leo raised his hand to stop the protest, watching in mild amusement as Chris’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the future, I swear. I just want a straight answer from you. No lies, no half truths…” Chris swallowed and then nodded slowly. “Why did you send me to Valhalla?” Chris froze.

Shit!

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with more force then necessary.

“I’d prefer the truth.”

Licking his lips, he looked at Leo. The Elder knew, he just knew, so it would only fuel the suspicion and distrust if he continued to deny it. “In seventeen years, give or take, a Japanese demon known as Amok attacks Elderland. The Elders and Whitelighters that survived the Titans were killed off easily… because he didn’t fight with magic…” he trailed off, recalling that awful day.

“He fights with a sword.” finished Leo.

“Yeah,” he nodded shakily. “We don’t have many Healers in the future, so…” He shrugged uncomfortably. His father had died in his arms. It still hurt to talk about it, to think about it. Shaking his head, he added, “Plus I kind of have a… personal grudge against you, so I admit it was partly out of revenge.” Leo looked at him in surprise. “It has to do with Mia.”

“In other words, that’s all I’m getting?”

“Hey,” scowled Chris in defense. “Be glad I gave you that much.”

“Oh, I am,” the older man smirked. “At least now I know your reasoning is for a good cause, well, most of it,” he added. “So I wont have to report you to the other Elders,” He chuckled when Chris shifted uneasily. “For what its worth – thank you for giving me the skills to save my own life,” Chris eyed him for a moment, quirking an eyebrow.

“… You’re, uh… welcome,” he replied unsurely.

“You know, I think I’m beginning to understand you a bit,” commented Leo, sitting back in his chair. Chris snorted at the absurdity of that statement. No one understood him, no one but Mia, Wyatt, and Gramps when he was alive. “No really.” insisted the Elder. “At first I thought you told a bunch of lies to complete your goal – but that’s not the case. I think there’s a bit of truth in everything you say.”

Worrying his bottom lip, Chris shrugged, “Alright, think you can decipher my brain, go right ahead.”

“Well, lets start with Paige,” the older man said, and Chris stared at him in bewilderment. “You said that she died during the Titans attack, right?” Chris nodded. “I don’t think she did. Or maybe, she did die that day, but came back.” Sea-green eyes stared at him in shock. “I take it from your expression that I’m right?”

Chris was silent for a while, but he eventually took a deep breath and shook his head, “Okay. During the attack, yes, Paige died and with her went the Power of Three. After Phoebe and Piper got infused with the power of the gods and used their anger as a tool to defeat the Titans, Paige came back as a full whitelighter, and as you know, whitelighters don’t have wiccan powers. Without the Charmed Ones, demons had an easier time with everything and… lets just say that things didn’t turn out so good.”

“Alright,” he nodded. “I can understand that. And me becoming an Elder? You might not have planned it, but in your time, it didn’t happen, did it?” Chris sighed and shook his head. Damn Leo and his perceptiveness.

“You became an Elder the night before you con –” he paused. He couldn’t tell him that. “The night of Wyatt’s first birthday. You left the next day and no one saw you until… about six years later. You were juggled back and forth between the Elders and everyone here for a while. After an attack up in Elderland happened, you moved to New A… shit. Stop it,” he scowled, eyes staring accusingly at his father. “You’re doing that on purpose,” Leo tried to maintain a straight face, but his twitching lips gave him away. “Okay, you want to know every little half-truth I’ve told you since I’ve been here?”

“It would be nice,” Leo commented, but Chris was too annoyed to notice.

“Fine, not only about you and Paige, but Phoebe wasn’t supposed to get her Empath power until Mia was born,” he said with an angry look thrown at Leo. “Paige is supposed to be the new family whitelighter once you’re gone, but I guess that wont happen now because I stopped her ass from dying. Luke isn’t supposed to be here yet, but if he senses Mia, then he’ll show up seven years early! Lets see, what else? Oh yeah, I’ve killed off about half of the demons that might be able to hurt Wyatt and I still have two more lists to go through, and I haven’t been able to find the one who kills Piper in about fifteen years, give or take, and right now, Mia, Luke, and Wyatt are the only reason I give a damn about what happens to you people anymore, so back the hell off!”

Breathing heavily, Chris slumped in his chair, eyes wide. He pinched his mouth in a grimace. Damn. Leo always knew how to get under his skin without saying a word. Not to mention now that Mia was here, he had all of his powers back. Including hers, though her power over air was wild, his over fire was violent. It was going to be hard to control his emotions now.

Leo himself was a bit surprised by the younger man’s outburst. He tried not to smile when he heard Chris mutter something about stupid cross-dressing Elders who think they know everything. Leo watched as Chris stood up and placed his half-empty glass of milk in the sink and did the same, making sure to snatch up one more cookies. Chris shook his head as his could-be father wolfed down a fourth cookie – he was so much like Wyatt sometimes it was uncanny.

“Please Christina?” his brother pleaded.

“Calling me that isn’t going to make me very cooperative,”

“Alright, alright, Christopher.” corrected Wyatt reluctantly.

“Yes?” he asked swwetly.

Scowling impatiently, Wyatt bit out, “Will you please make me some cookies?”

Chris held in a snicker and fingered his chin, “Hmm… let me think.” Wyatt glared at him and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, big brother, I’ll make you some cookies. What kind do you want?” Wyatt let out a whoop and threw his arms around Chris’s smaller form, grinning from ear to ear.

When he finally let Chris go, he answered, “Peanut butter cookies?”

“Sure,” Chris agreed, smiling. “But I thought Sugar cookies were your favorite,”

“They are,” he shrugged carelessly. “But no one ever makes your favorite,”

Chris sighed softly as that memory came to him. It had been his thirteenth birthday and Wyatt had been trying to cheer him up because his parents hadn’t remembered the significance of the day. It had hurt, because Wyatt’s birthday was always considered a big deal. They never forgot Wyatt’s. His birthday had always been planned a month in advance. The aunts had remembered, so had Cole and Gramps… even Great Grandma Penny had dropped by for a visit to wish him a happy birthday. His admiration grew for Wyatt that day. He had orbed them to the institution that Phoenicia was in and arranged for a visit. It had been the best birthday gift he’d received, especially since Mia had still been herself back then. However, when they had got home, Piper had tried to ground Chris for leaving without permission.

Oh, Wyatt had been royally pissed off about that.

“You’re grounding him?” asked Wyatt in a deadly clam voice. “Today?”

“He needs to start taking responsibility for his actions,” claimed Piper.

Wyatt fisted his hands by his sides. “Well then ground me, I was the one who took him out,” he said scathingly. “I’ve been planning on taking him to see Phoenicia for weeks, I even told you I was going to do it.” Piper shook her head condescendingly.

“You said you were taking him for his birthday,”

“Well, then neither of us should be in trouble,” he growled. “Since today is October first. Maybe if you remembered once in a while that you have more then one son, then you wouldn’t forget simple facts like that,” Without waiting to see his mother’s reaction, he grabbed a hold of Chris’s arm and orbed them to the flat uncle Cole shared with Grandpa.

It had been the final straw for Wyatt. He wouldn’t stand by and watch them treat his brother like that anymore. That night, Wyatt had moved all their stuff to Grandpa’s and had somehow managed to get custody papers so that their mother couldn’t make them go back. Chris never knew how he got them, but he suspected that they weren’t real, but that didn’t stop them from living with Cole and Gramps. Two weeks later, the Trials began and a custody battle was the last thing on anyone’s mind.

“Chris?”

The young man in question looked up at his father questioningly, “Yeah?”

“Where’d you go?”

“Sorry,” he muttered, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “I zone out when I’m tired.”

The Elder eyed him in concern. “Why don’t you go lay down,” he offered and Chris looked at him in surprise. “Take the couch or one of the free beds upstairs. The girls won’t be back for a few hours, so that should be plenty of time for you to take a nap,” Chris thought on it for a moment. Well, he was tired. Nodding his head, he bade Leo goodnight and orbed up to the second landing and began walking to Phoebe’s room. He wasn’t brave enough to try and sleep on Piper’s bed. That would be suicide. He supposed he could have tried Paige’s. She wouldn’t blow him up if he did, but… Phoenicia was in Phoebe’s room.

Closing the door behind him, Chris looked at his cousin. She was curled up in a ball in the center of the bed. The covers had all been kicked off and he shook his head at the sight. He crawled onto the bed and pulled the covers back over her. Predictably, she kicked them off again within a matter of seconds. He snickered and did it again, this time getting under them as well. He pulled Phoenicia closer to him and kissed her forehead. She cuddled closer, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder.

“Sweet dreams, Mia,” he whispered into her hair, sea-green eyes falling closed.

“… g’night, Chrissie.” she mumbled back sleepily.

-----

End

Chapter

-----

Chapter Two

2007-10-05T22:54:28Z

Finding Yourself

-----

Chapter Two

♠

The Reactions

-----

“Hello mother.”

The words seemed to echo throughout the room and in their heads.

It took several minutes for Phoebe to process those words through her mind and she found herself feeling a bit faint. In fact, she was sure she was hyperventilating. Was this what Piper had felt during their trip to the future and discovered her daughter? That little girl had been only around five, but this one looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Instant grown up children were a bit hard to wrap your mind around.

Chris closed his eyes with a small winch. He felt like his carefully thought out plan just flew out of the window. His cousin hadn’t been here for… what? More then ten minutes and she’d already revealed her identity? Funny, because she was the person he’d likely turn to with a secret. She was nothing like Phoebe when it came to secrets – but he couldn’t blame her for this. It wasn’t Phoenicia’s fault that she was… volatile.

“… Excuse me?” breathed out Phoebe finally, staring at the young woman whose critical gaze never wavered as it was settled unblinkingly on her nervous form. How could one girl make her want to inch away and rush forward to hug her at the same time like that? It wasn’t natural, but then again, when was anything in their lives natural?

“I said hello,” repeated Phoenicia, pausing a bit and looking towards Chris. “Is that wrong?”

“No,” he smiled at her, a genuine smile that lit up his face in a way Leo and the sisters had never seen before. “Hello is the proper way to greet someone,” the dark haired man verified. Phoenicia nodded and gripped his hand tighter. She sighed and looked around the house she’d grown up in, not in the least bit concerned with the four people who were still in shock and wanting answers.

Everything was… different. Wrong. That child’s playpen should have been up stairs in the attic, collecting dust. That sofa had been replaced when she was eight years old where they moved it to the basement, which had been renovated into two sections – Chris and Wyatt’s room. But then Wyatt had made this place into a museum, hadn’t he? She recalled all of the costumes when she’d been through here. But, where were they? With a careless wave of her hand, the room morphed into what it should have been, with the costumes, the gift shop, the probes that scanned people. Chris flinched at the change, wondering if she added the hologram systems as well. He touched her shoulder and she looked at him, then back at the room.

“It was wrong,” she said. “Had to fix it.”

“Mia,” he sighed, glancing at his family’s horrified reaction at what she’d just done to their home. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This is how it will be, but right now you need to change it back.” She eyed him strangely, so he elaborated, “We’re in the past Mia, 2003. So can you change it back? Please? For me…?" A longsuffering sigh and a wave of her hand later, the playpen and the sofa were back. He smiled at her in thanks and tried to ignore the sputtering sounds everyone else was making. This was actually kind of amusing. It wasn’t everyday that you could shock a Charmed One and an Elder into utter silence.

To bad silence never lasts long enough.

“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” demanded Piper, her rich dark eyes going between the two time travelers. The girl claimed to be family, and frankly, she could see it. She had a mix of Prue and Phoebe in her face, the dark hair, the slim figure… she was obviously magical as well.

“Well, since she already said it,” muttered Chris with a hint of annoyance, though his lips twitched showing more amusement then anything. He smiled a bit and introduced, “I’d like you all to meet Phoenicia,” Saying her name drew her attention, though not for very long before she was gazing about again. “Phoenicia Naomi… Halliwell.” He made sure to leave off the Turner, no point in giving Phoebe anymore of a shock then they already had.

“Born October 1st, 2004, twelve hours, zero minutes, zero seconds; five pounds, seven ounces,” added Phoenicia automatically at his introduction. “In the Tween Hour; the night of the Chimera Flight Festival in Valhalla and the Elemental Fall Rites the Nether Realms.” They all stared at her in shock, unable to form thoughts, let alone words. “Chrissie,” she said, turning to him. “Demons.” As the words passed her lips, two demons appeared, looking ready to fight. However, thanks to Phoenicia’s absent-minded warning, they reacted a bit quicker then they would have otherwise. Piper blew the first one up easily, and Chris sent the other flying into the antique clock, winching as he heard it smash.

Piper’s going to kill me, he thought with a sour face, preparing to attack the demon again. The damned thing shimmered out before he had the chance and Chris immediately looked to where his Twin had been. She was still standing there with a mild interested look on her face but seemed not to care about what was going on around her. Piper scowled as she got control of herself.

“How did she know that?” she demanded, hands on her hips. Chris hesitated. If he answered that, it could cause a butt load of trouble he didn’t want to face right now. Unfortunately, or thankfully depending on how one looks at it, he didn’t have to answer. Phoenicia decided right then to sober up and started talking normally… for her anyway.

“How does one know anything?” she asked lightly, settling her unsettling gaze on her would-be aunt. “How do you know what substances to add to a cake or a sauce or a potion?” She turned to Paige. “How do you know what to add to your artwork to make it look realistic or see the Signs in your Calling? Or what about what you write in your column?” she asked her mother. “How do you know what people need to hear?”

“… Instinct?” the shorthaired woman answered, though it was more of a question.

Phoenicia studied her and then nodded slowly. “Just as you Feel emotions, I Feel things as well.” Chris had to hold in his breath of relief when she didn’t add anything else. Certain phrases would have tipped Leo off, which would have had the Elders crawling all over their asses, and that was not something he wanted to happen. Not that they could do anything, but it would waste valuable time.

“She’s handy to have around,” commented Paige, trying her hand at humor. The teenage girl frowned at her. She obviously hadn’t been handy enough when she was younger, had she? Chris, either sensing the direction of thought by the look on her face or somehow reading her mind even with her shields up, redirected the conversation.

“Okay, now I know you have questions,” he said, getting looks from all of them that basically shouted ‘duh!’ at him. “Right. I do too, so I think we should all sit down for this.” Piper nodded and rushed towards the kitchen. The others followed a bit more slowly, Phoebe trying to get a closer look at her daughter (ooh, just thinking that word made her grin), whom was being led around by Chris.

Inside the kitchen, Piper was bustling around trying to make tea for everyone. Five minutes later, all six of them had a steaming mug of chamomile in their hands, waiting for someone to break of the awkward silence. It didn’t bother Phoenicia and Chris, who had played the Silent Game for years, but the other four were obviously uncomfortable in their chairs.

“… So,” began Phoebe brightly, smiling at her daughter. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen years, one month, fifteen days, sixteen hours, forty-eight seconds… forty-nine… fifty…” she kept counting the seconds under her breath, unaware of the strange looks she was getting as she zoned out. Chris felt his heart constrict painfully as her eyes glazed over, completely unseeing. The only thing that told them she was still alive was the soft rise and fall of her chest and the breezed words she spoke of time. Phoebe didn’t know what to think and looked at Chris imploringly.

“What’s wrong with her?”

For the longest time, he didn’t answer, merely stared at his Twin with pained eyes. She shouldn’t be like this. Part of him resented his family, and always would, for what they did to her. She wouldn’t have been discovered as a witch so soon, if at all, if she hadn’t been in that institution, she wouldn’t have been hurt so young. But he couldn’t tell them about that. As much as he may have resented them, he loved them too much to hurt them like that.

“… This is what happens to witches in my time,” he finally answered, the sadness in his voice not missed by anyone. He reached over and took the dazed girls hand, squeezing it lightly. She flinched away automatically and turned to him fearfully. “It’s just me.” She relaxed after looking directly into his eyes, seeing the silver band around his pupil. Chris could tell they wanted more of an answer then that, but he could also tell that they weren’t too sure they wanted to ask in fear of the answer he would give them. So, they left it alone for now. He was grateful fore that much at least.

“Uh, what was up with those wings?” asked Paige. “And how did you heal her like that?”

“Oh, the wings are part of her Esper form,” he answered, turning to the girl. “She can turn into a kind of… griffin. Only instead of a lion, it’s a white panther, also known as a Sabyl. She got hurt because she only let her wings loose and human bodies don’t do well with partial transformations like that – as for the healing: that’s an easy one. I didn’t.”

“If you didn’t heal her,” mused Leo, frowning at the boy with a searching look. “What did you do?”

Chris shrugged nonchalantly, “Mia’s an Air Elemental,” he told them, and Leo nearly fell of his seat at the news, even though he had already suspected this. An Elemental! But there hadn’t been a known one for thousands of years! A single Elemental could have as much, if not more, power then all the Elders combined. And she was his niece. Did that mean her father was an Elemental or had she just been Chosen for the Gift?

“I don’t get it,” stated Phoebe, scrunching up her nose in confusion.

“… Let me put it this way,” chuckled Chris, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of his tea. “If she was an inch from death and the only thing I could do with her was attack her with a blow-dryer or rush her to the hospital, I’d use the blow-dryer.” The sister’s balked at him and he snickered at the scandalized looks on their faces. “Don’t you get it? Air Elemental – the blow dryer would heal her; the air would heal her. She absorbs air, she is air.”

“Ohhhh.” the three woman nodded slowly.

“Christopher Robin?”

The young man cringed at he nickname and looked at Phoenicia. She looked at him; her eyes clear at the moment. A delicate hand reached out and cupped his cheek. Her eyebrows pinched together in a frown and she traced her thumb around the soft spot under his eyes, touching the bluish skin. Chris didn’t flinch as her finger came in such close contact with his eyes; he only smiled at the concern in her own eyes.

“I know,” he said with a smiled, reaching up slowly to capture her wrist. “I need to sleep more, right?”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation, her frown intensifying. Her strange eyes ran up and down his form, half hidden behind the countertop but she saw enough to know she didn’t like what she saw. Pursing her lips, she pulled her hand away from him and held it above the table – a slice of large slice of pizza appeared. “Eat.”

Amused by the order, he took the pizza and picked the pepperonis off, eating them first. “Thank you,” he smiled at her after swallowing. He continued to eat, the rest of them all watching the two feeling like outsiders. They were so… in tune with each other. Leo knew it had to do with the Bond Chris had gone through. It had to have been her appearance.

The girl was Soul Bonded to Chris.

Leo could only assume that due to the fact that they had been in different Times that their Bond had, if not been disconnected, then had been severely damaged. It would explain why Chris had been in so much pain when the Bond was restored. Soul Bonds were not meant to be broken and most Bonded people couldn’t leave their other half cross-country, let alone in a different Time.

“Skinny boy,” muttered Phoenicia, watching him intently to make sure he ate it all. She blinked as she finally let things sink in, her mind clearing up. Sometimes this happened. She could think straight. And she hated it because she knew that it wouldn’t last long and then she’d be back talking in riddles only her muddled mind could understand. Annoyed, she conjured him a slice of lemon cake as dessert. “Eat.”

Chris only nodded, smiling at her gratefully before obeying.

“I was recaptured,” she told him softly in her moment of coherency and he looked up at her sharply, dropping his fork onto the plate with a clatter. He stared at her imploringly. Phoenicia took a deep breath, trying to hold on to the moment and spoke, “You disappeared – I couldn’t find you… Wyatt’s army had just been in a scrimmage with Mortals and he was hurt and no one could get to him. I heard him calling so I went… I conjured a tank of water around him and forced his shield up. I couldn’t get out before Mortals found me.”

Phoenicia raised her arms, showing him the bands around her wrist, and pointing out the one on her neck. Chris’ hands went to them immediately, not caring if the damned things had no effect on her – he wanted them off. She could feel his magic work them loose, mixing his power over heat and his Telekinesis together to tear the shackles off.

Soon, they fell to the floor with a clatter, but Chris didn’t seem to notice as he inspected her neck and wrists for any lasting damage. He blew on a single cut on her left wrist, which had been made by the Sealing Bracelet that had been cutting into her delicate skin. She felt it close over as she absorbed the air. It would have healed by morning now that oxygen could touch it without the sealer blocking it, anyway.

“Missed you,” she smiled at him, her lucid period fading just as fast as it came. Chris watched her moment diminish, the absent look returning to her face as she stared at him unblinkingly. He smiled at her, though it was a pitiful smile. He had to find a way to fix this. He would too. Screw the world, the Mortals – what had they ever done for him? Wyatt could have his Empire if it meant Mia would be all right.

Besides, he wouldn’t loose his brother, not really.

Wyatt wasn’t completely evil – only half of him was. And the good half was hidden away at a secret place in New Avalon where no one could touch him. He still didn’t know what had happened this far into the past that had split his mind in half, but Wyatt had been sure that fixing it would put him back together. Literally. It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with a magical twist – Jekyll-Wyatt ran the world and Hyde-Wyatt hid from it, keeping the Wards of the Stronghold up and running. Of course, only a select few knew about that, especially since Chris had this theory that if Hyde-Wyatt was to die, then so would his evil counterpart. If someone else came up with a similar theory, then he would loose his brother, both versions of him.

A few feet away from him, with absolutely no clue as to what Chris was thinking, the Charmed One’s all had identical frowns on their faces as they observed the two. Phoenicia had spoken to Chris with such familiarity and a loving tone that she had yet to use when she spoke to them. They knew she was family. They knew that it was true, they could see it, feel it.

So why did she seem to care more about Chris then them? Leo had his own theories – after all, he was the only one who knew what Soul Bonds were and all that they entailed other then Chris and Phoenicia. It would also explain Chris’s relation to Wyatt and why he wanted to save him so badly. How he knew so much about them and how he knew his way around the Manor.

Chris was Phoenicia’s Soulmate.

Of course, if Chris knew what his estranged father was thinking, he might have passed out in a fit of laughter. He loved his cousin, his Twin, but not in the way Leo was thinking. It was possible to have two completely different Soul Bonds, rare yes, but not unheard of. Mia was his Twin… Bianca hadn’t been his Soulmate but he’d loved her all the same. His true Soulmate died years ago, when the Trials had first started.

Phoenicia sensed her other cousin seek her out and smiled, absentmindedly noting that Chris had finished most of his cake. It had been her fault he had stopped eating it, so she merely banished what was left since he clearly wasn’t about to finish it. She could hear Chris begin a somewhat diminutive explanation about the Trials and what she went through. He didn’t go into detail. She didn’t care if they knew the extent of what they had done to her, or that they even knew if they were responsible.

The only thing the teenage girl cared about was the small tug at her mind. It wasn’t strong, not like Chris or even her mother. It couldn’t have been Luke because he was still in a Hell Dimension, and wouldn’t be back on Earth until she was six. It had to be Wyatt. Her eyes narrowed as she sensed for him. People underestimated babies. Wyatt was probably smarter then your average toddler, but he already knew how to talk, not that anyone would have noticed. However, Phoenicia was probably the only person who could have heard him.

After all, she could speak to the Book of Shadows, which most people wouldn’t believe possible, but they seemed to forget that magic happened in the most mysterious ways. The Book protected itself, didn’t it? And not all those times the pages turned on their own was Grams’ doing. The Book was a sentient being, a bit primitive, but it knew words. After all, it was a book, wasn’t it? But right now, she didn’t want to talk to the Book.

‘Hello,’ she sent to her older baby cousin.

‘… Hello.’ he sent back in return, a bit shyly. ‘Are you the girl?’

‘Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘I am Mia.’

‘You came to help Chris save me?’ he asked curiously.

‘No,’ she thought back. ‘I came to find my Chris. He was missing and I wanted him. So I followed him.’

‘… You wont hurt him?’

‘He’s my Chris,’ she told him. ‘I would never hurt my Chris.’

‘Okay. He’s my Chris too, but mommy says to share with others, so he can be yours too.’ the toddler said, breaking the connection. Not a moment later did a scatter of orbs form directly in front of her, hovering a bit. She observed them for a moment, wondering what he was waiting for. It hit her after a second and she held her arms out. Wyatt formed, settling himself, and smiled up at her.

“Mia.” he said, his voice slurring a bit with his babyish voice as he stared at her happily. The other occupants in the room were both startled by Wyatt’s sudden appearance and the fact that he seemed to know her name and be able to say it considering he’d only said his first word just a few weeks ago. Chris was not as shocked as he could have been, but it was still a bit strange. After all, Phoenicia could connect to a plant, a book, even a big ball of energy, so why not a baby?

“Play?” the young woman asked, unaware of their bafflement. Wyatt nodded and she stood up with him sitting contently in her arms as she walked back into the parlor and sat down on the floor in front of the playpen. The others joined them, watching from the door. She paid them no mind and conjured a few building blocks, and began to play with her little/big cousin.

Chris shook his head at the sight… things were certainly going to be different around here.

-----

End

Chapter

-----

Chapter One

2007-10-05T22:19:39Z

Finding Yourself

-----

Chapter One

♠

The Incident

-----

In the early morning, a lone figure appeared miles under water.

An air bubble appeared around her head after a wave of her hand and she scowled at a passing school of silverfish. This was not what she had, had in mind when she tried to find her Chris. No, she had not wanted to end up in the Pacific ocean near the floor of the sea. Huffing, she expanded the bubble and created a whirlpool below her feet, as to propel her towards the surface.

After nearly five minutes, she broke into the air and floated serenely above the water, her white dress and hair dripping. Gazing around with curious eyes, she noted how different her surroundings were, even though they were the same. To some one else’s mind, this would make no sense, however this was her mind and it was perfect logic to her, so that’s all that mattered.

The wind picked up around her and she was dried a bit, though it left her feeling drained. She had not used her powers for so long and it took a lot of energy to create air, especially from under water were she had no existing air to pull it from. If she continued to hover like this, she was sure she’d fall right back in the water. With that in mind, she arched her back and two pearly white wings shot out from her shoulder blades, extending six feet each way.

Looking down at her reflection, she noted that a few of her feathers had blood on them, especially the ones that had fallen into the water. She hadn’t even felt the pain of the partial transformation. If she were in her right mind, it would have likely made her cry out, but seeing as she wasn’t, it made no difference. She stopped looking at the water and peered around, trying to regain her bearings.

Spotting a familiar area in the distance, she flexed her wings and shot into the sky.

Rising higher and higher, she began feeling her energy return as her Element filled her, surrounded her. Her body flew through a few clouds before she began to glide towards Golden Gate Bridge. Fluttering to a stop, she landed gracefully atop the colossus structure and frowned. Everything was different, yet the same.

Sighing in irritation, she closed her eyes and looked at the threads. It was time to find her Chris… she didn’t even notice that her body was flickering brightly, projecting her aura around her before she collapsed. High above the busy street she laid, the world around her unaware of her presence. If anyone was to see her, with her long wings, even covered in her own blood, they would think she were a fallen angel.

Luckily, there were few who would be able to find her.

---

Several miles away, in a large Victorian house, a group of three congregated in an attic. One was leaning over a map, a crystal attached to a string in her hand, which was moving rhythmically over the surface of the map, her reddish blond hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. Another was lying down on a couch with a notebook laid forgotten in her hand and a pen pushed behind her ear, while the third was passing out a cup of black steaming liquid to each of her sisters.

“Any luck?” asked the eldest, Piper, setting the tray of doughnuts and coffee down on the table. She tucked a few unruly strands of her long chocolate brown hair behind her ears and looked between her sisters who each shook their head in the negative. Sighing, she walked over and sat down in an armchair, slumping her shoulders as she settled down.

“None whatsoever,” replied Paige, dropping the accursed crystal on the table. She snatched a doughnut and ducked it in her coffee, taking a large bite out of it before looking at her sister. “Did Leo say exactly what were looking for other then a ‘surge of magical energy’? I mean, that’s not very specific, now is it?” she asked in a grumpy tone.

“Nope, that’s all he said,”

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I think this sucks,” grumbled Phoebe, rubbing her eyes tiredly before she sipped her coffee. The black jet fuel. Perfect way to jump-start your day. God, she wished it were stronger right about now. “I say we summon Leo’s Eldery butt down here and curse him. Paige, you lock him in a crystal cage, Piper you blow him up and freeze the orbs so he stays that way.”

Piper smiled in amusement. “As fun as that might be,” she began. “I don’t think it’ll wake you up any.” Phoebe just made a sound in the back of her throat akin to a groan and nursed her jet fuel while she sulked. The three of them stayed like that for a while, until the baby monitor began relaying Wyatt’s demands. Piper wasted no time and quickly made for the door, careful not to spill her drink on the way, and with a simple ‘be back later’ she was gone.

Phoebe sighed and cuddled into her makeshift bed. “So, how was your date with Richard?”

“Probably about the same as your date with Derrick, I suppose.” the blonde answered with a scowl.

The shorthaired woman made a sympathetic sound. “That bad, huh?”

“It wasn’t until Chris orbed in and demanded my presence here last night for those demons,” complained Paige. “I get that there was an emergency and that Piper couldn’t handle it on her own, but it was his fault. He was the one who sent her after the demon in the first place. Why can’t he just do it the traditional way – wait until they attack us! But no, he had to assign us on hunting trips…”

“I feel your pain,” nodded Phoebe empathetically, pun intended.

Meanwhile downstairs, Piper entered the kitchen, her blue-eyed son in her arms. Setting her son down in his highchair, she grabbed an apple from the basket and a knife. After finely dicing the fruit, she placed in a bowl in front of Wyatt and let him have at it. She watched his for a moment with a smile on her face. He was nearly a year old already. She marveled at this. Years ago she wouldn’t have pictured herself a mother, let alone a mother to a baby boy. Her small visit to the future a while back made her believe she was going to have a girl, so this was an unexpected surprise, but it was a welcome one.

Shaking her head, she began cleaning up the small mess he made as her sisters trudged into the room and gave her a sour look. Piper raised an eyebrow as they complained about her escaping from their pointless search and slumped in to a chair, both holding out their empty coffee cups with an expectant look. She wordlessly refilled their cups and sat down beside Wyatt.

“Can you believe how big he’s gotten?” she asked them, watching as a small hand grabbed some apple bits and shoved them in the boy’s mouth. Blue eyes looked over at them as he somehow managed to get some in his hair and he giggled a little before trying again. Phoebe snickered as she watched him.

“It’s kind of hard to believe he’s your son when he does that,” she commented lightly seeing as her sister was a total neat freak, then scowling as a large chunk of apple landed right in the center of her forehead, sliding down her face until she wiped it off. “Ick,” she whined, her nose scrunching up in distaste. “No attacking auntie Phoebe, Wyatt, no, no, no,” she said in a mock baby voice, shaking her finger at him accusingly.

The result was more food flying at her head.

Paige laughed at her expression and handed her a paper towel. “Maybe that’d teach ya,” The three sisters talked a bit, and as they did Wyatt felt the presence of Chris and looked over to the door leading into the parlor. The dark-haired man was watching the proceedings with a wistful smile on his face. Blue eyes caught the sea green ones and they stared at each other.

Wyatt didn’t know why the man didn’t like him. He could sense it. But he could also sense the feeling like his daddy and mommy gave him, only different. Some times he thought that Chris might like him, but then he always gave him a dirty look. It was all very confusing for the toddler and he desperately wanted the older man to like him. He didn’t know why he wanted this, but he did.

The child held out a hand full of food towards him and Chris looked amused as he watched his big-baby brother try to feed him. If his Wyatt were here, he’d probably try to feed him too, considering he wasn’t eating right. Shaking his head he smiled at the boy, which in turn caused Wyatt to smile back at him with a half toothed grin. Chris wished he had a camera with him. This would all be great blackmail material; the great Twice-Blessed covered in sludge known as apple mush.

Bringing a finger up to his lips, Chris pointed at the sisters, signaling he didn’t want them to know he was there. The toddler pouted but nodded his agreement, going back to his food though Chris knew he was disappointed. The dark-haired man smirked. Whoever said that babies didn’t understand things was an idiot, he decided, waving goodbye to his brother as he snuck away.

It wouldn’t be good if the sisters found him.

They were all still pretty mad about what had happened on Piper’s birthday – that whole fiasco with the demon in Wyatt’s room. If it hadn’t been for Leo’s interference he would have been a lot worse off then just a few harsh… incredibly harsh word and an order to get out and never return. God, why did he have to be such a screw up all the time? This mission shouldn’t have been this hard. Of course, he wasn’t exactly making it easier, now was he?

At least Leo had talked the girls down enough to let him help out again. They refused to do their Charmed duties. He supposed it was up to him to continue hunting, but in the state he was in lately he didn’t think he was up to demon hunting like he used to be. He’d been going out every night, and that was taking a toll on his body considering his day was dedicated to research. That left about an hour to two hours of sleep every other day or so.

Abruptly, Chris came to a halt before he could make it to the stairs.

A hand rose absently to his chest where he felt a sharp pull. It was like something was trying to rip his soul out. The man cried out as it happened again and collapsed onto the floor, grabbing the place above his heart, his eyes watering. What was happening to him? He heard someone ask a similar question as a pair of soft, familiar hands settled over his shoulders. He lifted his head and peered into his mother’s brown eyes, her brow furrowed in confusion and… concern? Why did she care if he was in pain? He was only the neurotic witchlighter from the future who was out to ruin her life, right? So why was she looking at him like his mother would have. Maybe that was only wishful thinking, though… Chris didn’t have any more time to think on it however, as he felt another jerk.

The pain of it made him nearly pass out, which was weird because he was no stranger to pain.

Something wet leaked down his face and it took him a moment to discover that it was his tears. He lifted his arm and wiped his face as he struggled to re-gather his composure. He took a deep breath. His head was throbbing and it felt like he had a hand wrapped around his heart. He looked up at the sister’s, Wyatt in his mother’s arms, and he noted that Leo was standing there as well, looking ready to try and heal him.

Chris hadn’t even heard anyone call for the Elder, let alone the bell like sound of Orbing.

“Are you okay?” the older man asked, and Chris tried to stand up while he nodded his head. He had not anticipated on the action causing him dizziness and he stumbled into Leo’s arms by accident. “Easy there, buddy,” the Elder said soothingly as he tried to steady him, reminding Chris of how his father had been just a few months before he had been murdered. It had devastated Chris, who had always wanted his dad to be there, and when it finally happened, when it finally looked as if Leo would be a father… he was taken away.

In response to Leo’s actions, Chris muttered something undistinguishable.

Then, something swelled inside of him and his skin glowed faintly, taking the others by surprise. His aura flared, crimson and amber blending together dancing over his skin, and Chris keened painfully, his arms circling his father as is seeking protection. The Elder held onto him, not knowing what else to do but try to comfort the boy. He hadn’t really noticed this before, and he wasn’t sure why he’d picked now of all times to notice, but why was Chris so thin? Didn’t the boy eat?

Come to think of it, Leo couldn’t remember a time where he could recall Chris consuming more then a piece of burnt toast that Piper had been about to throw away, and the boy had acted as if it was the most delicious thing in the world even with the lack of butter or marmalade. An unexpected wave of guilt flooded him, and he had to physically shake the thoughts from his mind as Chris began to tremble.

The Elder then noticed thin silver threads twining around the boy’s aura.

If Leo didn’t know any better he’d say that Chris was being forced to enter a Bond. But that was impossible. Only Soulmates and Astral Twins could Bond like this, and a Twin’s Bonding was done at birth. Chris had to be at least twenty years old, so it couldn’t be that. Therefore that only left a Soulmate Bond, but for that to occur Chris would have to be in the middle of… the Elder flushed in embarrassment.

Chris seemed to be in pain not… pleasure.

So a Soulmate Bond was out of the question as well.

Twenty minutes later found Chris resting comfortably on the couch with Leo using a cool washrag to wipe small beads of sweat off of the younger man’s forehead. The sisters were researching once again, but only this time they were looking for something to help their neurotic witchlighter. So far they hadn’t been able to find anything, but they hadn’t been at it for very long.

Leo frowned at the boy who leaned into his touch. There was something off about Chris. Right now he looked so unguarded and it made Leo notice things he hadn’t before. He knew the boy was underweight, by at least twenty or thirty pounds. The Elder also noticed an array of scar tissue around the boy’s neck and wrists… like he’s been chained up with a collar and manacles. Sighing, the older man watched him shift uncomfortably as his eyebrows pinched together.

The Elder placed a hand behind the boy’s neck and lifted him up a bit to adjust the pillow. His fingers brushed something, which made the man pause. There was a series of smooth upraises on the skin. Frowning a bit, Leo shifted Chris onto his side so he could inspect, and he did not like what he found. The skin was melted and fused into letters and words, like a brand.

1957325

Class A; Elite

Special Breed

Property of the US

“Dear God,” breathed Leo in shock, fingering the brand with horror. Who would do such a thing? Special breed? What was a special breed? A whitelighter? Swallowing thickly, Leo shook his head. This was so messed up. Was this what happened to people in the future? They were branded like cattle? Leo didn’t even notice that his hands were shaking until Chris’s hand enclosed his own as the boy rolled over, looking up at him with tired eyes.

“It’s the Mark,” he said in a quiet, disoriented voice. “Magic was discovered and the Trials started up again. I was fifteen when I was taken to one of the encampments. There were about ten others with me. We were all trained… and brainwashed. We had to kill each other to pass their tests. Only three of us made it out alive. The Mortals don’t care if we live or die. We’re only weapons after all.” Leo was shocked at how flippantly he said that.

“You’re not a weapon,” he told him firmly.

“… I am,” disagreed Chris, looking up at his father with a detached look. “I’m a Class A; Elite. They taught me how to kill. I’d killed demons before. I never felt bad about doing it because demons usually tired to kill me first and they had no soul so it didn’t matter. It’s different with people. You have to deal with the accusing eyes… and the guilt stays with you forever. The first person I killed was a witch who was giving our superiors a hard time since she refused to submit to the Breeding facilities.”

Leo felt his mouth go dry. “Breeding facilities?”

Oblivious to his future-father’s inner turmoil, the boy just nodded. “Any female witch with a body mature enough to bare children is taken there. Once they’ve conceived, the fetus is removed and placed in an artificial chamber where the baby can grow in a controlled environment and then taken to the Nursery where they begin their training.”

“Why would anyone do that?” the Elder asked, appalled.

Chris shrugged nonchalantly. “They wanted to build an army to kill off the demons. They killed off most of the witches, and without witches to protect them the demons took control over everything. We’re each given the Mark and a computer chip is implanted in the brainstem to track us… it can also send messages of pain to the nervous system. I’ve known a few people who were driven insane by it. Some of them have died from shock.”

Leo swallowed thickly, watching the sea green eyes close tiredly. He knew that if Chris had been awake enough, he wouldn’t have told him anything or even if he did, Leo probably wouldn’t have believed it. But seeing as how Chris was out of it Leo felt compelled to believe it, no matter how much he didn’t want to. Chris had let his guard down and had spilled facts about the future, which both made Leo sick and his blood boil. What had happened to the world? Why hadn’t anyone done anything to stop it?

He was brought out of his musing when the sisters walked into the room. “Anything?”

Phoebe shook her head. “Zilch.”

“I say we make him take care of his own damn problems,” muttered Piper half-heartedly. It was kind of heard to maintain an animosity against someone when they cried in the arms of your ex-husband like that. She noticed to the look Leo was giving her. “What?” she snapped defensively. Leo frowned and debated turning the boy over and showing the sisters the brand, but thought better of it.

This was Chris’s secret – he wouldn’t interfere.

Suddenly, the young man in question bolted up, startling everyone as he gasped for breath, his green eyes wide and outlined with a shimmering lucent silver ring. He blinked and inhaled sharply, a look of shock settling over his features. The young man shook his head clear and tried to sort out everything that had happened and only came to one conclusion. But that was impossible. She couldn’t be here. She didn’t have her powers and she wasn’t lucid enough to write a spell and then repeat it correctly to open a portal or anything.

… Was she?

Absently licking his dry lips, Chris untended and reached out at the presence… and then jerked back. Oh, it was her, alight. She was here. In the past. With him. Had he changed something here that had… fixed her there? Was she still unstable or had that been fixed too? He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice his family trying to gain his attention. He didn’t even feel Leo shake his shoulder.

Instead, Chris took one look at them… and orbed out.

“Where’d he go?” demanded Piper, and Leo closed his eyes and sensed for the boy. Grabbing a hold of his ex-wife’s hand, they were just about to follow when Chris reappeared… with a girl in his arms. The four of them just watched in bewilderment as Chris placed her on the couch where he had been previously, careful to avoid jolting the pair of white wings, which were currently stained crimson.

Blood.

The girl was obviously bleeding, heavily at that, but when Leo made to heal her, Chris glared at him. The young man, once satisfied that his father wouldn’t try anything, arranged the girl on her stomach and pushed her hair short away from her face as he kneeled down beside the couch. It was then that the dwellers of this time noticed how… familiar the girl seemed. She couldn’t have been much older then eighteen, despite having white hair for some reason, and she looked so familiar.

They just couldn’t place her…

Unaware of his family’s problems, Chris stroked his cousin’s soft white hair as he waited for her to wake up. Every few seconds he’d wipe some of the blood off of her back with the washrag that his father had been using for him earlier but he knew the bleeding wouldn’t really stop until she retracted her wings. She should have known better then to try a partial transformation, he mentally scolded. Her human body couldn’t sustain them – it just wasn’t built for flying like that. Each flap would tare away at the skin.

Ooh, was she in for a lecture when she woke. Even if she didn’t understand what he was saying, he was going to do it anyway. She could have died, if not from exhaustion then from blood loss. Wasn’t she thinking? Or was she so out of it that she didn’t even feel the pain? He feared both, actually. Another thing was bugging him… why was her hair wet? What, had she decide to take a dip in the bay?

Glaring down at her prone figure, he tried to clean her up some more. She shifted a bit, leaning in to his touch as he ran a hand through her hair. She began purring and he couldn’t help but snicker. She was so much like a cat sometimes. Especially when she transformed, even only halfway it appears. He quieted his chuckles and adopted his best ‘you’re in trouble’ look as a blue and a gray eye, both with a ring of amber around the pupil, opened and peered around.

“Hello Mia,” he said softly, trying not to smile at her when a few emotions played out on her face. He hadn’t seen her look so healthy in years. She was still skinny as a rail, short, pale, and sickly, but she had a healthy glow in her face that made up for it. A small delicate hand reached up to his face and he felt her poke the freckle on his nose.

In response, he touched the birthmark on her cheek.

“Chrissie?”

The soft questioning voice broke down everything else he was feeling, and he hugged her the best he could from his position on the floor. “Yeah, it’s me,” he nodded, kissing her forehead. “Can you do me a favor? Can you pull your wings back in so I can heal you?” She looked at him unresponsively for a moment and then glanced back at the two appendages.

With a look of concentration on her face, nose scrunched, eyes pinched, and her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, the two limbs retreated into her back, leaving two large diagonal cuts on her shoulder blades and a few hands full of pearly (some blood splattered) feathers scattered around her. Her hair then faded back to its original color of black as well.

“Whoa,” said Phoebe as the dark-haired boy tried to wipe his cousin’s back clean enough to see what he was doing. Paige grabbed another towel and handed it to him. Chris muttered quick thanks and hurried. Once he got a clear view, he leaned forward a bit and inspected the wounds, mapping them out with his eyes and fingers. “I thought you couldn’t heal,” said the Empath accusingly.

“I said I don’t have healing powers,” corrected Chris, taking a deep breath and blowing on the cuts on her back. The area scabbed over quickly and he covered the entire cut with air while the others just watched in disbelief. Leo looked mildly shocked as he began to realize just what the girl was, but that was to be expected. Chris pulled back and scowled. The cuts would reopen if she moved too much. “Guess that’ll have to work for now, just try to let them get air.” he muttered, helping her sit up.

The girl smiled at him and let him wrap her in an embrace.

Phoenicia enjoyed being in his arms again, especially since their Bond had been restored. She could see it in his eyes – the silver ring around the black, just as hers had amber. She felt content just letting him hold her like this, like old times before everything went to hell. But as she spotted the four people standing off to the side, she tensed. A feline growl erupted from her throat and her eyes flashed dangerously.

“Mia,” soothed Chris, taking her chin in his hand and directing her gaze back to him. “Calm down, honey. Everything’s fine, right? Nothing is going to happen to you, I wont allow it. I promise,” he gave her a Scouts Honor salute and she blinked at him. Thinking it over, she nodded her assent, and allowed him to help her to her feet, which were still encased in wet threadbare socks.

With a casual wave of her hand, they disappeared and she wiggled her toes against the carpet. “… Soft,” she murmured and Chris smiled and kissed her forehead again. He wanted to pepper her entire face with kisses he was so happy to see her, but figured it might freak her out a bit. He took her arm and guided her closer to the sisters and Leo, smiling at them hesitantly. Before he could start explaining anything, Phoenicia looked up and stared directly at Phoebe with a piercing gaze.

The older woman fidgeted under the eerie gaze, unsure of what to do.

“Hello mother.”

-----

End

Chapter

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Well, there it is. I hope you like it!

Finding Yourself

2007-10-05T22:10:46Z

Greetings one and all. This here is the first chapter of my Charmed Fanfic. The story is actually going to be long, I predict fifty chapters or more for what I'm planning. I've gotten most of it written down on paper and but it takes time to transfer it onto the computer and edit it. So, bare with me and enjoy!

Finding Yourself

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Prologue

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Short breaths of air rushed through her chapped lips, visible in the coldness of the room. She had her head resting against the soft wall, almost like a pillow, her pale and sickly form curled into itself in the corner. She was shaking like a leaf in the wind, and she shifted, trying to keep her circulation up so she didn’t freeze to death in the cold room.

To the casual observer, the young woman was underweight with raven hair chopped off unevenly. She had eerie eyes, one a pale ice blue and the other a steel gray, yet both were seemingly unseeing, a glazed look in them that made it hard to keep eye contact. Her skin was unnaturally pale making her skin glow in the small light above her.

The girl’s clothes were made of thin fabric, a pair of pure white drawstring pants and a matching shirt that tied up in the back, leaving the smooth expanse of skin bare for all to see, and a pair of socks that did little to keep her feet warm. Adorning each wrist and around her neck was a single circlet; the one on her left was silver, while the one on the right was bronze, and the one upon her neck was gold.

They each left her heart feeling empty.

Even in her confused state, with drugs and electroshock therapy running through her system, she knew what the bracelets were. They sealed away her powers. These doctors thought they were so smart. Well, they were obviously pretty stupid if they thought that those cheep little trinkets could stop her. No, they forgot to take into account her Mind Powers. Mind Powers, or Telepathy as it was more commonly known, could be found in pretty much any human being, weather or not they practiced magic; they had it on some form. It was usually strongest in the form of Twins, since they would each have a bit of the others soul inside. She was a twin.

An Astral Twin, but a twin nonetheless.

They thought she was helpless in here; all locked up like a good little lab rat. They should never underestimate a Halliwell. True, she was completely out of her mind do to their treatments – treatments that her family helped pay for once upon a time before the truth came about – but she did have a few coherent thoughts once in a short while.

Those thoughts mostly included her only living relatives, or at least, the ones she still considered family. Her brothers were still family. Luke, Chris, and Wyatt. Sure, only one of them was her brother biologically, but they each were at heart. Luke was her brother in blood. He might have been the reason her relatives had placed her at the mercy of doctors when she was thirteen, but that hadn’t been his intention. She had been the only one who could see him. Even though her family had dealt with invisible people before, they had thought she was loosing her mind. When one talks to a wall (or appears to, anyway) they tend to think that you need therapy. So they shipped her off. Her mother, her aunts, and her uncles… only her dad and brothers remained firm in their belief that she was still sane.

They had believed it so much that they moved out, her father getting a divorce, and moved in with Grandpa. Before they could get her out, magic was discovered once again, this time irreversibly, and the Trials began. She had been fourteen at the time. When the Trials started up, she was scanned for magic, and then shipped off to a hidden facility. During the Trials anyone who was even thought to have been friends with a witch or anyone remotely magical was burned or locked away, like her. This went on for years until there were only a few handfuls left throughout the entire world.

That’s when the demons surfaced.

Without the protection provided by the witches and Whitelighters… the mortals were completely defenseless. When the few that revealed their magic to fight the demons stepped forward, they were taken by the Mortals and were molded into warriors. With the new technologies they took the original witches and used them for breeding. They created their own army, growing people in incubation pods and adding chemicals to make them age and learn faster. They were each superhuman weapons. There was the Mortal side against the Demons side. Somewhere in-between was the Resistance, ran by the most powerful forces of demon, whitelighter, and witch alike.

The Halliwell family.

Still, by the time her brothers had found her, she was sixteen and pretty far gone. Four years she’d been gone and in that time she’d suffered greatly, going through unnecessary brain surgeries, shocks, dissections… she had too many chemicals in her body and the only reactions she had were automatic and instinctual… some time even animalistic.

From then on, she had been kept safe. Luke, Chrissie, Wy-bear, Daddy, Gramps all kept her safe. But Gramps died. Heart failure. And Daddy couldn’t look at her anymore without crying. Then Wyatt got mad at the Mortals for what they did and formed an army of demons to wipe them out. He had always been the overprotective big brother who would do anything for her. But he wasn’t around much anymore.

And Chris…

Chris was her Twin. They were born on the same day, in the same month, during the same year, with the same soul. They didn’t just share a bit of each soul like most twins or even most Astral Twins did – they were one soul divided in half. But he was gone… and she couldn’t sense him. It didn’t make sense. Just a few months ago he’d disappeared, right before the Mortals recaptured her.

It was his disappearance that had woken her, if even just a little bit, out of her drug induced stupor.

From then on she began her plan. It wasn’t like the idiot Mortals would have had the foresight to put magic detectors or even a few probes inside her cell. They had too much faith in their textbook science and technologies, thinking their inventions would stop her, especially when they only sealed the powers they thought she had. She had many more.

Tonight, she would put her plan into action. So she sat there, her skin cool to the touch, body shaking yet steady, unseeing eyes staring fixatedly at the padded wall in front of her just waiting for the guard who arrived at exactly 6:00 P.M. like every other night. She counted the minutes, right down to the very second; timing was everything if she wanted to help the guard’s daughter as well as herself.

When six o’clock rolled around, the heavy footfalls could be heard, echoing about the hall way just beyond the door. A slow smile crept its way onto her chapped lips and she got into position, lying on the floor her body convulsing as if she were being electrocuted. She heard him peck at the keyboard on her door, the video camera activate and circle around allowing him to view the inside of her room.

There was a sharp curse and a rattle of keys before he opened.

“Hey,” the guard said tentatively. “Girl, are you alright?” When she didn’t answer, he cursed again, his hand going for his com-link, but suddenly found himself unable to move. If it were physically possible, his eyes would have widened at the sight of the young girl, who couldn’t have been a day over eighteen, look at him as if she could see through him completely.

“Daniel Quinn del Mar, age twenty-eight; wife, Chelsea Nina del Mar nee Yates, age twenty-six; two children, Kathryn Anne del Mar, age seven, and Marcus Neil del Mar, age four.” Daniel would have hyperventilated when she recited such things, things she shouldn’t know, couldn’t know, but he was unable to, and the girl just tilted her head. “Do you know Kathryn is a witch?” she asked. “You’ve seen it happen. She’s made things float when she was angry or upset – it’s called Telekinesis.”

Not noticing (or simply not caring) the blood draining from his face she continued, “I was happy once. I wanted to be a doctor, like my uncle. I’ve had everything planned out since I was four.” Her glazed eyes met his frightened ones. “I don’t like doctors anymore.” she told him in a dead voice, walking closer. “Does it worry you that sweet little Katie will be here, where I am, her eyes dull and lifeless, with you standing guard while they do unspeakable things to her, when they find out what she is?”

Daniel suddenly found himself getting dizzy, and he crumbled to the floor, the young woman peering at down him curiously. “White used to be my favorite color too. It went with everything. Reminded me of snow.” She glanced at the walls. “I think I like black now, maybe blue if its dark enough. White is too bright. I still don’t like the pills and needles though,” she lifted the thin sleeve revealing her inner elbow, small scars and red dots made from continues insertions of small spikes. There was also a tattoo on the inside of her wrist.

A bar code and a serial number; Property of the U.S. Government.

The sight made Daniel’s stomach roll. He opened his mouth, trying to find a way to tell her that he didn’t want this to happen, to her or his daughter… but she smiled at him gently. She knew. He didn’t know how, but she knew he wanted nothing more then to help her. She reached her hand down and he grasped it, shock showing on his features when the young woman hauled him up by his arm easily.

As if he were weightless.

“Conditioning,” she offered the single word as the explanation to her strength. “Keep Kathryn safe,” the black haired girl ordered, placing an ice cold hand on his shoulder. “One day, she’ll grow strong. Her powers will progress. She will save a man’s life, a very important man. And with his life, many more to follow. As it has been written, so shall it be. A single gain of sand can move water on the opposite side of the ocean, unnoticed, but still there. She will create ripple that will grow into a wave.” The man’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she only smiled. “Follow your heart; you will understand,” she assured him before her body began fading. “One day,”

With that, the strange young woman vanished. One second she was there, the next she was gone. He blinked almost stupidly and exited her empty cell in a daze. She was a witch. She had powers. But they were bound, right? He needed to know. If she could… it would explain what she said, right? He walked over to the computer and began typing. He pulled up her file and began to read.

Serial:

00524685

Name:

Phoenicia Naomi Halliwell-Turner

Species:

Witch/Elemental/Chimera (Demon)

Powers:

Foresight; Astral Projection; Conjuring; Telekinesis; Aerokinetics

Notes:

Subject could have more powers, but has yet to show any signs of more then the previous five listed. Subject is incredibly gifted in Sight; has correctly predicted both minor and major outcomes of certain events and seems to have complete control over her Telekinesis. Subject is severely Schizophrenic and is unreliable in the field.

Recommendations: Would be useful as a Breeder; any children from her would be powerful assets. However, artificial inseminations would be ineffective as she could use Telekinesis unconsciously to abort the pregnancy before it starts; would recommend the use of a muscle relaxant and GR Groups over long periods of time.

The sick feeling returned and he shut the monitor down. She could. She definitely could. She could see into the future and his daughter was someone important. He couldn’t let something like this happen to Katie, his sweet little Katie. He just couldn’t. This girl had been like his Kathryn once, full of life. Now she was a hollow shell of what she used to be.

It wouldn’t be Katie’s fate.

Nodding to himself, he conveniently neglected to report the girl’s disappearance and made his way down the hallway, intent on clocking out and getting home. He would join the Resistance. And he did, both him and his family were immediately transferred to New Avalon, the stronghold of the Resistance. It wasn’t until he met the current Acting Leaders of the Resistance two week later that he discovered whom the Sovereigns of the Resistance were until the others got back or were found.

The Halliwells and the Turners.

---

Meanwhile, Phoenicia carefully treaded down the familiar path. Getting away from Daniel had been easy. With Mind Powers came the ability to control the mind. He probably didn’t even realize that he’d practically been frozen inside her cell for half the night – she’d stopped his mind from thinking, making it seem as if she’d just disappeared.

The area she was in was relatively bare of human or demon life. This was good. She could easily tap into their heads if she ran into trouble, but it would wear her down faster. She didn’t want to risk getting caught by either side. So, she tiptoed her way down to a secret location. One that only very few people knew about. The park was as ruined as ever. She could scarcely recognize the place and she doubted her screwed up mind had anything to do with the difference. The world itself had already become a war zone; what were the uses of parks if not for battlefields? She came to a stop in front of the old cave, the entrance covered in burned ivy and moss, hiding it perfectly.

Smiling slightly, she stepped inside, a cloak of darkness incasing her until she stepped further in where torches sprung to life. The golden glow made her pause, her eyes trying to adjust to the new brightness. With a resigned sigh, she pressed onward. When she came upon the dead end, she simply stepped forward and searched the wall.

It didn’t take long to find what she was looking for; four small gems encased in the rock. They were arranged with the four corners and elements in mind. North: an emerald with different shades of green and gold. East: a blood red ruby melded perfectly with amber flakes. South: amethyst mixed with aquamarine. West: a clear stone, set inside a hollowed pearl.

Slender fingers touched the West Corner Stone, her stone. She plucked it out of the cave wall and unraveled the chain that was attached to it before settling it around her neck. After a pause, she grabbed the others too and secured them around her wrists so she wouldn’t lose them. Closing her eyes in concentration, she grasped her stone tightly, and began her chant. After she finished the spell, she felt the magic swirl around her and simply waited.

The escapee faded out of the cave and appeared in New Avalon, in a secret room where no one would be able to find her. She had helped build this place after all. It had been before she was locked away – it was ironic that the Stronghold of one of the most advanced civilizations was originally a clubhouse for her and her brothers.

It was in the middle of the Pacific ocean, miles below the surface. They had created it quite easily, actually. Wyatt had parted the water, like how the Bible described Moses doing when the Hebrews were escaping the Pharaoh. Luke and Chris had molded the earth to create a castle for them, and then she made an air bubble to provide them with oxygen while Wyatt had hidden them beneath the sea once more.

They cemented what they called the Wards in a chamber deep in the heart of their castle, a room that could only be accessed by the four of them. This was that room. She peered up at the floating ball of azure, emerald, crimson, and white energy as the magic of the Wards brushed against her excitedly, welcoming her back. With all the magic the four of them infused, they had actually made the Wards mildly sentient.

They called it the Săhl Ķéd, which meant Ensouled Core, in a language they created so their family wouldn’t know when they were up to something, whether it be pranks or spells or demon hunting. If she remembered correctly, it was also now considered the main language taught to each member of the Resistance so no their radio transmissions couldn’t interpreted by Mortals.

Phoenicia smiled as the magical feeling retreated and silently asked Săhl not to tell anyone she was here. Săhl seemed disappointed but let tendrils of magic circle her, soothing her emotions and letting her think better then she had in years. Sending feelings of thanks towards the being she helped to create, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

The young woman blocked out everything she could, sat pretzel style on the floor and opened her senses. It was time to find Chris. Luckily, being his Astral Twin helped out greatly, for in her mind’s eye, she could see his soul, still attached to her own by small spider webs of amber energy that were hanging by a thread, some trailing away from her own soul and fading away into a single point.

Like it had been pulled into a black hole.

This was wrong, all so very wrong. There should had been so many different strands connecting them, overlapping so much that it would have been impossible to disclose how many individual ones there were, making it look like one big sphere superimposing her own. They were literally one – this could kill them if it went on for a long time.

With a pained noise escaping her hoarse throat, she mentally tugged on one of the strands, trying to pull her brother back. She was met with resistance, and therefore decided to gather as many strands as she could together and try again. Slamming her hands down on the marble floors of the room, she gritted her teeth and pulled as hard as she could.

Something snapped inside her head and her eyes flew open in surprise as her body glowed a bright silvery white mixed with webs of a brilliant crimson and amber. The fiery strands belonged to Chris, she knew, as his aura. Hers must have been the silvery white, but she hadn’t seen her own aura since her powers were ‘bound’ (not very well, she would add) back when her family decided that she was a danger to herself if she kept them. As she thought on the day her mother force-fed her the potion, her body pulsed and her skin tingled with power.

Her power.

Fingers twitched as sparks raced between the digits, and a small smirk appeared upon her lips as she looked down at them. She took a swift glance at her hospital apparel and, with a casual flick of her wrists, it transformed into a flowing white sundress. She ignored her feet for now, and grinned as she ran a hand through her long hair, magically shortening it to reach the base of her neck.

The young woman stood up and closed her eyes in concentration, gathering the flaming strands once again. She knew she could easily just go to her brother or her father, but they would likely give her the binding potion again and send to back to her room without telling her anything. She would bee brushed off because she was such a bother. She needed her other brother. Her Twin. She needed Chris. Her Chris.

With that in mind, she gave a sharp jerk on the threads and faded out of existence.

-----

End

Chapter

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lynxlarabellows @ 2007-05-11T00:06:00

2007-05-11T10:22:30Z

Aloha everybody! Guess what? It only took a year, but I'm going home! After that little trip to MO last year, we've been trying to get back there permanently just in case something bad happens to my grandpa. Well, now we're moving in like, two weeks. So, no story update just yet. I've decided to work on the rewrite though instead, because I think it works better. It'll have more detail and hopefully you wont be totally lost with it.

Anyways, I've been working on the world map to show you more detail as well. I hated the name Bayla. It sucks, big time. I've changed it to Nëoŕl. I've also changed some city and town names and pointed out certain areas (like the Raider's Camp where Minna kicks some dragon butt) and stuff like that. Hope you enjoy!

Click here to view map of Nëoŕl: http://pics.livejournal.com/lynxlarabellows/pic/0001ecy3

- Lynx

Minnaja Tallina Toile...

2006-05-07T03:28:39Z

Hello... welcome to my new homepage! Anyways, since I have over twenty reviews for Resistance RAIN, I decided to make something in... celebration, I guess you could say.

May I present; A picture of Minna.

So... whatcha think? This is how I've pictured her since the beginning. See why her weapon is called a Swallow? I pictured the blades to be like bird claws, so this is what I came up with. Her boots are lacking the steel points, but that's okay and the Talli-Screen is... kinda strange, but it's close enough to what I pictured.

Anyways, the next one will be of Kleara, since I've finished designing her outfit already, then Xane, Semmion, and so on... The guys are gonna be a bit harder since I'm used to designing dresses and such, but it'll be a fun challenge!

Bye!