Disclaimer
: I do not own any character from Charmed.Authors Note
: This is my first Charmed fan fiction and I'm probably crazy to start it. I have three other stories that I'm not even near finishing, but oh well. =)This is the first chapter I'm limiting myself to three.
Hope everyone enjoys it.
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They don't trust me.
You didn't want them to trust you.
I know but...
You blocked off vibes, so they wouldn't trust you.
I know but... shouldn't they feel it.... shouldn't she feel it anyway...
You blocked yourself off.... very well.
Still.... I don't know how much longer I can do this... live around them...
You could leave....
I promised.
She'd never know
I promised.
She'd never know
I'd know. I can't. Not until....
Until?
Until I teach her how to ride a bike.
Your an idiot.
I know.
Chris shook his head willing himself to stop his mental discussion. Crazy people talked to themselves and he was many things but not crazy.
Not yet at least.
He sighed, he felt like crap. There wasn't a muscle in his body that didn't ache, his head throbbed, and his eyes burned. He had felt a little unwell that morning, it was probably what had prompted the feeling of melancholy, of longing, that led him to create the time portals.
Now though, after spending the day hopping from dimension to dimension, and running for his life, first from a dinosaur then from Confederate soldiers, he felt like the cud the cow chewed.
He just wanted to sleep. To slide into oblivion. But the day's events kept repeating themselves over and over in his head. Running into Leo, arguing, running from the dinosaur, saving Leo... why he'd done that, he wasn't really sure.
The obvious answer wasn't acceptable to him. There had to be an underlying reason, something that fit into his plan... he just had to come up with a plan to fit it into, but the obvious reason couldn't be it.
"Thanks for not listening to me"
, he had said. There were words he'd never expected to hear from Leo Wyatt. Thanks for not listening to me.Ugh! he growled rolling over on the mattress he lay atop. Stop it, Stop it, he told himself this would get him no where. All this thinking. Leo had asked afterwards what he'd really been trying to do with the time portal, asked in a friendly way, as if they were confidents or something. But Chris hadn't been fooled. Leo disliked him and he returned the feeling in spades. He'd made up some stupid excuse and orbed away.
After all, what was he suppose to do. Tell him that he was dying for just a glimpse of his world. That he'd give anything to see his home, his family... his mother.
Gently image after image of home invaded his thoughts, he saw his family, saw them at dinner, in the mornings. Saw them joking, playing, teasing. Saw them crying, arguing, laughing.
The small smile on his lips died as his thoughts went a step further and he saw them once again, this time: still, bloodied, - dead.
The swell of grief that rose in him was shoved to the side as he rolled over. Now was not the time to think of this. There was no time to think of this. He'd saved them. That's why he'd come - to save them - and he had.
His family would live. He wouldn't live with them but they would live. Sure he'd paid a price for this but that was alright. Anyone of them would have paid it if they'd been able - if they hadn't been dead.
The gruesomeness of their deaths could still move him to tears. The titans had found out, some how, who they were. The potential that existed in the house. They'd attacked without warning and at full power. His mother and aunt had been alone in the house with the youngest children. The titans had killed them, brutally. Then destroyed not just the house but the neighborhood, killed the neighbors. Immediately hereafter, they'd sought his father and Uncle, they too were unprepared.
Not that any amount of preparation would have helped, the titans had been indestructible by then.
He and his cousin had found the bodies....
He groaned, pushing the thoughts and images away. He couldn't dwell on them, ever.
Instead he attempted to conjure sleep. Why is it sleep never comes when you need it?
I mean its there in class when you don't want it, during mass when you don't want it, even when your father starts ranting about the old days' its there. But when you're lying in bed at 11 o'clock PM with a aching body, a tortured mind, and a heavy heart its never around.
"...99, 98, 97, 96, 95,94..." he murmured to himself. Trying anything. He felt himself relax as his mind lost its way amid the numbers.
There it is....its coming....
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
"CHRIS..."
He jumped a foot in the air as the voice reverberated in his head.
It was Phoebe. He thought as his eyes blindly searched his room, Phoebe's not here, he thought bewildered.
He could hear her, though. Why?
Whitelighter...
Her whitelighter...
I'm her whitelighter.
"CHRIS..."
she called again and he clutched his head. God why was her voice so loud. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, hoping to wake up.See, he thought, there it is when you don't want it. As he stood, he stumbled a little and had to reach out to steady himself.
"God please,"
he thought, "I can't be sick. I can't be sick. I can't be sick." The spinning room before him mocked his motto."Greatttt" he thought emphatically. "Just what I need... to be sick and have a run in with the Sisters."
"CHR-I-S..."
her voice had a sing-song quality to it now and he cringed. With a deep breath he orbed to the manor, thinking all the while. I can't be sick. I can't be sick. I can't be sick.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So he was hopping in time?" Paige asked her ex brother-in-law.
"Yeah, when I asked him about it he made up some excuse about having an appointment and we'd talk later." Leo said suspiciously.
He'd orbed in on the girls and requested a moment to chat with them.
"But he saved your life?" Piper asked as she sat down.
"Well yeah but..."
"And the other day he saved our lives...." Phoebe said from her place next to Piper on the couch.
"True but..."
"So why is it exactly that we don't trust Chris?" Piper said smiling acidly at her ex husband.
"Because we know nothing about him." Leo said patiently as if talking to children.
"And according to you... what do we need to know about him?"
"oh I don't know.... Anything! For Christ sake his birthday would be a start! His parents names' would be nice, where he's from, how did he come here, how does he know us. Who the hell is he!!!?"
"Relax Leo." Piper said.
"Why don't we just ask him?" Phoebe said, "you know instead of sitting here discussing him behind his back."
"I agree." Paige said, "He knows he can trust us."
"He's not going to tell us anything because he has something to hide. I know it." Leo insisted.
"You know this is really starting to annoy me Leo." Piper said glaring at him. "Chris is our whitelighter. You may not like it but that's the way it is and personally I think I can speak for all of us when I say that he's earned our trust." She finished standing.
"I'm sure that was the plan..."
"you need to leave..." she said angrily.
"Piper..."
"No, really, Leo."
"Fine but I'm telling you he's hiding something..." with that he orbed way.
"Well..." Paige asked when the room remained silent.
Phoebe sighed, as Piper sat back down, "I don't know. I hate to admit it but he's got a little bit of a point. We don't know anything about Chris
"But we trust him." Paige stated, firmly.
Phoebe nodded, "yeah but still, who is he? Shouldn't we know?"
Piper sighed, "Ok, so what do we do now?"
Phoebe shrugged, "CHRIS!!!!!" she yelled.
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"What" he said as he appeared in the living room, stumbling a little? He couldn't seem to focus or make the room stand still.
"Are you okay?" Paige asked, frowning at his disheveled appearance and flushed face.
He glared at her, as best he could, "This had better be good." he said grimly as he surveyed the living and found no signs of anything supernatural.
"It is..." she responded smiling now.
"we have three questions." Phoebe said, glancing at her sisters for approval. They nodded.
"And you have to be truthful when you answer." Piper said.
"Fine, what are they." he said gruffly, steadying himself against the doorway.
Paige smiled, "when's your birthday?"
"who are you?" Phoebe said simply.
Steadily, Piper added, "what are you hiding?"
He blinked a moment as there questions washed over him, "what?" he gasped. Not today, was all he could think, I can't deal with this today.
"when's your birthday?"
"who are you?"
"what are you hiding?"
They repeated one after the other.
He sighed, really he didn't need this today.
Before he even knew what was happening the words were flowing out of him, "November 16, Chris Perry, and..." he almost lied but couldn't summon up the energy, "...everything."
With that his intent was to orb, which he tried to do, but instead he produced a sort of hiccup effect and reappeared in the manor living room. The room was lurching about and he couldn't steady himself, he stumbled and felt someone reach out to steady him but his eyes were closing and he didn't see who.
"Chris?" the voice was so far away...
"Chris!!." Piper yelled again as she felt his body go limp.
"oh god." Phoebe said grabbing his other arm and heading for the couch.
His eyes fluttered a moment before they closed.
Paige bent over him, "he's completely unconscious."
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"What do you thinks' wrong with him?" Paige said as she looked down at him. They'd managed to lay him down. Piper and Phoebe were a few feet away, while Paige just looked at him, he was very still.
"How are we suppose to know?" Piper said a little irritated. She was feeling a bit off balance and couldn't place why. Her sisters were fine, Wyatt was playing contentedly in his pen, Leo had just left... everything was fine. Still though....
"You think its magical or mortal?" Paige asked, her eyes still studying Chris intently.
"Paige..." Phoebe started.
"How old do you suppose he is?" she asked as she kneeled down next to him.
"PAIGE." Phoebe said firmly
The girl blinked at her, "what?"
"We know exactly what you know... nothing." she said.
"Should we call Leo?" Piper said softly her eyes on Chris' pale features.
They shrugged, "Leo doesn't like Chris." Paige answered.
"Well we can't just stand here staring at him. We have to do something." Piper replied, her annoyance filtering through loud and clear.
"LEO!!" Phoebe called, there was no response. "LEO!!!...LEO!!!!!" she called again but still received no response.
"Okay so now what do we do?" Paige asked.
"Maybe we should call a doctor..." Piper said hesitantly
They were silent, maybe....
"Maybe you should get whatever's poking me out from underneath here." a tired voice said from the sofa.
"Chris!" Piper said as they all went over there. She pulled out a pen from underneath him.
"sorry 'bout that." Paige said claiming it as hers.
"Uh-uh..." he said his eyes closing again, he wanted to stay awake but it was just... so hard... He was so tired.
"Chris?" Phoebe said as she tentatively reached to feel his forehead.
The tips of her fingers had just touched his skin when the images began to flash through her head.
Soulful brown eyes filled with tears...
Fire destroying cities,
Titans causing mayhem with electricity and power balls,
Their neighborhood in ruins,
The Manor a wreckage,
School buildings bombed,
Children, teenagers, babies killed - their bodies amid the swing sets and parking lots,
Blood everywhere,
Fire everywhere,
Death everywhere,
The pages of The Book of Shadows - torn - burning in flames,
The Manor a wreckage - Piper's body, Her body, among the wreckage -
blood soaking the ground,
Soulful brown eyes filled with tears....
"Phoebe!!... Phoebe...your scaring us....PHOEBE" Her eyes focused on Piper's worried gaze and briefly she registered how much they looked like the ones in the vision, before the tears and trembling started.
What she'd seen was horrific, what she'd felt was unspeakable. The grief, the despair, the absolute lack of hope she'd experienced was... it was death.
A death one survived.
"what happened honey? what is it?" Paige asked as she rubbed soothing circles on her back.
Piper just held her and murmured that it was okay, that everything was okay.
"Oh my god..." she finally said in a breathy whisper, pulling away from Piper and staring at Chris. "Oh my god...."
"What happened, what did you see?" Paige asked again
"I... I saw....it had to be.... it had to be the end of the world." she couldn't stop shaking. They were dead, her and Piper in this very living room - they were dead.
"Shhhh, its okay, honey. Paige take her out to the conservatory. I'm gonna make you some tea." Piper said in the big-sister voice she'd perfected since Prue had died.
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"Alright, here we go." she said gently, handing Phoebe a warm cup.
"feeling better?" she asked after watching her sister take a few sips.
Phoebe nodded, "yeah I guess the Empath thing combined with the visions got to me."
"Guess so..." Paige said sweetly, kind of. "what did you see." she said after a moment. She was very interested in hearing what she;d seen from touching Chris.
Placing her cup down, Phoebe glanced at the door leading to where Chris was, "he knew us or will know I guess..."
Paige frowned, following her gaze, "Chris? what do you mean."
"or at least he'll see our..." Phoebe trailed off.
"our what?" Piper asked softly.
"our bodies." she said numbly, a pharonic gaze invading her eyes. Then focusing on her sister, continued, "...he'll see our bodies. He'll see this Manor, be in it I think. Because I felt familiarity." she paused then added solemnly, "I saw his world. Its not pretty."
They were silent. "speaking of..." Piper said.
"yeah we should check on him." Phoebe said standing, willing herself to step out of the vision. She wasn't sure why it was so hard for her to shake it. Wasn't sure why she'd felt it so strongly. She'd had visions after becoming an Empath but never had she felt so intensely what was going on.
He was sitting up, holding his head with his hands, when they entered the living room. They could hear that he was muttering to himself.
"Chris?"
"Don't come near me." he yelped, looking up quickly, then resuming his muttering.
"what? why not? what's wrong?" Piper asked her voice rising as she took a step towards him.
"I... need.... defense" he was murmuring, but they could pick out a few words.
"the what?" Paige questioned moving closer.
"just don't come near me." he said again, still muttering intensely. It almost sounded like a spell. But whitelighters' didn't say spells - witches did.
"I saw, Chris." Phoebe said quietly.
And the muttering stopped, he lifted his head and locked his gaze with hers.
Phoebe felt a sliver a recognition slide through her as she met his gaze. A sense of deja'vu.
"what did you see?" he asked warily.
She went and sat across from him, the sisters following suit. "who are you Chris?" she questioned gently, almost tenderly, "how did you know us? You came to the Manor."
He shook his head.
"You can trust us Chris." Paige said softly.
He smirked and laid back, letting his eyes face the ceiling and sighed. "When I woke up a few minutes ago I knew this would happen. My powers always go haywire when I get sick. I knew I wasn't going to be able to block myself off. That you'd get a reading off of me." He lifted his head and looked at Phoebe again. "Didn't realize you'd already gotten one."
They were silent. "What did you see?" he asked again.
"A girl with big brown eyes, death, the Manor in ruins and mine and Piper's bodies in the living room." she said bluntly.
Chris met her gaze steadily and Phoebe felt.... relief?
Why was he feeling relief?
Then she knew. She hadn't seen what he didn't want her to see. So he was still safe. He could still lie.
"Block yourself off?" Paige asked him, referring to his statement of a few moments ago.
Chris broke his gaze with Phoebe and looked at Paige. Didn't answer her though, just looked at her.
"You don't have to lie to us Chris." Piper said softly, her eyes wide with concern. He didn't look well.
He smiled wryly, "I was an idiot to think I could stay here and not tell you anything." he said to Piper, almost reverently.
Then transferring his gaze to Paige said, "When you grow up with an Empathic, Vision seeing Witch you learn how to block off your emotional vibes pretty early in life."
He let them absorb this information. Let them register what it meant before going on, this time looking at them collectively, "By the time we were seven Payton and I could already do it."
"Payton?" Phoebe asked hesitantly.
He nodded, took a deep breath and continued, "Payton Sofia, Your daughter."
Before she could say anything, Chris continued, "And there's Andrea Pauline and Paul Samuel too; and me, of course, Christopher Perry. We all got the P somewhere in there." his voice was strained as he stared into the sisters' blank faces.
"Only one who escaped it was Wyatt." he added after a moment, looking at Piper.
"My daughter..." Phoebe said numbly then took a sharp breath, "Are you saying that..... that your.... my son?" she asked shocked.
He shook his head, "No, no, of course not..." she sighed, her heart resumed its normal beating. "...I'm her son." he said after a moment, looking at Piper.
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Authors Note #2: Don't forget to REVIEW!!!!!
Thanks. =)