A Charmed Story - Part Six:
Happy Birthday, Chris!
Chapter 11

"Oh, my God..." Paige was still hiding, not knowing what to do, when she saw Belthazor appear, and right after him, Chris... and when she turned her look to the place from where they both had come, she saw... Michael!!!!
Her heart beat strongly, what should she do? Just let him pass? Or retain the young man, so that nothing happened to him? She sighed and orbed over to him. As soon as she rematerialized she grasped his arm, making him startle.
"What the hell..." he exclaimed before noticing his friend's aunt.
"What do you think you're going to do?" Paige asked.
"Well... What do you think? I'm going to help him!" Michael shot back at her. He was about to leave the tunnel.
"Oh no, man, you stay!" Paige said and hold him back again.
At that moment Julian showed up behind them. "She's right," he said, "you should stay in the back... you can't help anyway."
"What are you doing here?" Paige asked surprised.
"I... I mean... I... " the witch didn't now what to say.
"He came with us," Michael said quickly, noticing the other man's problem. But not sure why he was helping him. Julian just nodded.
"Ok," Paige said with a sigh, "so we go out there now and end this..."
"But don't hurt the source," Julian exclaimed suddenly.
Paige looked at him in disbelieving: "What? He is here, helping them, and you want me to reprieve him???"
"He isn't doing that on his own will... they forced him to come... they called him in his mind... he wasn't able to stand that..." Julian tried to explain.
'Was that fear in his voice?' Paige thought. 'Was he worried about him?' She frowned.
"And," Michael added realising that this conversation went into the wrong direction, "we maybe need him to stop this!" Julian nodded quickly.
Paige sighed. She felt that there was something going on... she didn't trust that Julian. But she also knew that they were running out of time.
"Ok, " she nodded, "let's go."
While Paige was already leaving Julian turned to Michael. "You stay here," he commanded. And as the young man nodded he whispered: "Thanks..." Then he followed Paige into the cave.

Blanca reacted quickly and attacked the intruder with several fireballs.
Chris was shocked for a moment, when he saw that woman looking exactly like his wife... But there was one important difference, this woman was not pregnant...
Noticing that, brought him back to reality and made him avoid the fireballs right on time.
Jonathan used Chris distraction to help Waterbe out of the water. Now the demon was attacking Chris on his own as Jonathan preferred to stay in the back.
While stopping Waterbe's energy balls with his own Elder-flashes, Chris saw from the corner of his eyes, that the freaky woman was about to put the bloody athame carefully on the stone next to his little self. Chris stopped breathing... He had to hold her back or everything would be over... but he was too far away, and too busy with Waterbe.
Suddenly he heard a very familiar voice.
"Athame!" Paige yelled. "Into the Water!"
"Right on time," Chris remarked when his aunt winked at him.
Julian who had been right behind Paige went over to Belthazor first. "Are you ok?" he asked. The source nodded weakly, but Julian saw that he was bleeding strongly.
Very angry the demonic witch turned around and began to attack Waterbe with fireballs... No one was allowed to hit the source... especially not that freaky little mid-level demon!
Chris turned meanwhile his attention to his twin. Now he saw for the first time what was going on clearly... and it made him shiver.
He jumped over the little river, threw Blanca into the water and pulled the man down to the ground forcing him to let go off of his little self. Seconds later they were emerged into a evil fight.
Meanwhile Paige turned her attention to Travor: "You wanna leave?"
The man looked at her shocked. "Paige..." he muttered, right before the witch beat him in his face.

At that time Phoebe, Veronica, Cole, Steve and Tom had reached the end of the stairs. There was a long tunnel leading them into darkness. No one of them had noticed that the solar eclipse had already began... and so had the ritual.
"How late is it?" Veronica asked thinking about that.
But before she could get an answer they were attacked by a group of demons. They couldn't see anything, all they saw where the fire- and energy balls...
Every witch jumped or ran to hide somewhere.
"Fuck!" Cole yelled and ducked right that moment, when a fireball cut the air at the place he had stood before. Frightened he kept hiding. "Shit... I'm definitely... too old for that... and completely... out of practise..." he mumbled breathing heavily.
"Veronica!" Tom yelled.
She turned around right in time to face a demon, standing over her with a glowing energy ball in his hand.
Paralysed in panic she watched how the demon suddenly turned to ice. Terrified, grasping for air, she saw how Tom beat the frozen monster into billions of little pieces.
"Are you ok?" he asked then. She nodded putting, still scared, her arms around him.
Cole saw how the others were fighting. He wished he could help... But even if he was a witch now, he had no active power and without any fight-training, he should stay in the back...
'If it only wouldn't be so dark,' he thought. 'Wait... I'm a witch... So I can cast a spell! A spell... a spell... light... light...'
"Damn I should have paid more attention to my poetry lessons at school!" he exclaimed to himself.
Then he got it. It had hit him all of a sudden. He took a deep breath and said:
"Please magic
come to my side,
and spend my friends
that badly needed light!"
Seconds later a dozen of little light spots appeared lighting up the whole area.
Cole looked at his work astonished. "Wow... It worked... I'm a witch... I'm really a witch," he muttered grinning.

Michael watched how Chris was fighting against... well... Chris. It was weird to see that. 'But that's what Cole and Phoebe saw,' he thought to himself. He took a deep breath because... if THAT was true, then surly also the other premonition they had. The one about himself.
Meanwhile Paige used a potion on Travor who grinned when nothing happened: "I'm only less then a half-part demon... you can't hurt me with that, I'm too much human."
"Oh... I can... and I did..." she said, "this only takes away your powers... got it from a friend."
Travor's eyes turned furious as he tried to shimmer which didn't work.
"Rope," Paige yelled again, "around Travor."
Seconds later the man was enchained by a strong rope not able to move at least an inch.
Paige grinned enjoying her victory. Then she turned to Blanca who was struggling to get out of the water and to the baby. She grasped the woman by her hair and pulled her back.
Meanwhile Julian, yelling furious, vanquished Waterbe with a fireball. Short after that he did the same with Jonathan, before hurrying back to his friend.
When he saw the worried look on the witch's face, Belthazor grinned: "Don't worry, Julian, I'm alright... Now I am..."
"I'm sorry," Julian said, "I should have stopped you."
Belthazor shook his head: "You couldn't... I don't know what kind of power that was, but I couldn't stand it... I'm just glad that at least I didn't hurt you... and don't worry about me, I'll be alright soon."
Meanwhile Chris and Cris were still fighting. They were rolling on the ground, beating each other.
Paige, who had already knocked out Blanca and was now watching the two men, wasn't able to tell within the action which one was her Chris.
Suddenly Michael appeared next to her. "What's your plan?" he asked, while one of the twins hit the other, who was about to rise, down again.
"I wanted to use a power-binding potion on Chris's twin, but I don't know..." Paige answered at the man.
Michael sighed, understanding her. Then he had an idea: "Chris... I know you're busy, but could you please do that orb-thing for a second!"
Even he didn't know why, Chris did as he was told... one of the two turned into orbing lights. Paige, who immediately understood threw the potion the same second at Cris.
Feeling what had happened the demon flinched when Chris rematerialized.
The Elder-witch hit his twin on his jaw making him pass out. Then he turned to Michael a little exhausted: "Good idea!"
"Thanks," he said visibly enjoying all that.
"Alright," Paige said and pointed at the baby. There was still that dark cloud of "whatever" that grew up around him streaming away to the ceiling and through the tunnels out of the cave. "There is still a little problem."
Chris swallowed then he turned to his aunt again: "Go to the others... Waterbe send demons after them, they could need you."
Paige was about to protest but Chris send her a look that showed no room for discussions. So she nodded and orbed away.
Chris turned to Belthazor: "What have you to do with all that?"
The source grinned: "Nothing... except that my soul was lost in the deeps of hell, before the balance send me back as counterpart for you... which makes me a 'lost demon', who's blood they needed."
Chris nodded. He had already thought something like that balance-thing. How else could the red demon had come back... "But why are you helping us?"
"Because you're a good boy... the world needs you... and now go and save the world again... and your little version."
Chris nodded and went over to the baby. "Hey mini-me," he said looking at that small piece of life impressed, not knowing what else to do.
Michael stepped to his side and said: "You have to touch him, like the other one had done it."
Chris looked at his friend with fear: "How can you know that?"
"I don't... but I feel it's right... it's the only way," Michael answered. And he wasn't only saying that because of what Cole and Phoebe had told him. He really did feel it!
Chris sighed: "What if I make things even more worse?"
"You won't... trust me! If your evil genetic twin could start this, your good soul has to be able to stop it..."
The Elder-witch nodded. Then he placed his hand carefully on the belly of his little self.
First nothing happened but then Chris felt something inside him, like a glow which turned bigger and bigger, making his heart beating stronger and his breath going faster.
Michael stepped a little backwards noticing a little light between the two versions of his friend.
And then a great bright and blinding white light broke free, filling the room, the tunnels, the air, the whole world...
Michael closed his eyes in pain, same as Julian and Belthazor.
Paige who was already with the others screamed in panic and Cole hugged Phoebe tightly while the light covered them.
Detective Johnson couldn't believe his own eyes when he saw the light streaming out of the storage. Darryl and Officer Turner, scared to death, jumped behind their car in order to protect themselves.
The kids stepped closer to Nicki who tried to comfort them as good as she could, even if she was filled with panic on her own.
Bianca closed her eyes and touched her womb, praying that her husband was alright, while Leo and Wyatt hugged Piper tightly when the light filled her room.
Victor hid under his sofa afraid of a demon attacking him.
Every woman every man in the world shut their eyes confused, because of the unexpected bright light... every kid playing in the sand, every mother taking care for her baby, every man working for his family, every teen sitting in front of the computer... every single person!
The light even reached the Elders making them froze in fear.
Chris felt a little dizzy. He got the feeling of a strange exchange between him and his little self.
Then everything turned calm. Looking around he noticed himself standing in a great white hall without ending... THAT white hall... He looked at the boy in his arms: "Hey mini-me, do you know what's going on here?"
"You really should stop calling him that?"
Chris turned around to face 'himself' again: "What shall that be? What do you want from me again?"
"I'm just taking my chance to contact you again while you're about to pass out... I'm here to beg you to stop me... my existence... otherwise the day will come, that I tell your little version all the things about your past lives, like I did it to you... and I really don't want that..."
Chris took a deep breath and then sighed, looking at the child. He was right, completely right... He didn't want the little baby to remember all those sad things.
He nodded and smiled weakly. "So that means that I won't see you again..." The other one smiled and nodded. "Which also means that I won't remember anything...anything at all, about my past lives."
The incarnation of his memories stared at Chris for a second, and then nodded once again, closing his eyes: "You'll only remember the present timeline, Chris. Your actual life, which means your true childhood, and your last coming back to the past, when you saved Wyatt."
Chris frowned: "So I will remember his being evil and all?"
The other one smiled even widely: "That's your life... That is you. You will forget the times you failed, the times you died, and all those pasts. But you have to keep your true life, and the true past, the one that led to this timeline."
Chris smiled back weakly. "Ok..." he murmured, staring at the baby, who was calm and happy on his arms.
When he raised his eyes again, everything was black, and no other Chris was there.
The whole scene was spinning in his mind, and finally he opened his eyes a little bit.
'The baby...'

Michael had tried to open his eyes, but whenever he tried he felt that terrible pain on his head.
Suddenly, he had the feeling that the light was fading away. He reopened his eyes little by little, carefully, and looked around, feeling disoriented.
The first thing he saw was the colored witch-demon or whatever that had helped them, as well as the reddish demon they called the source.
"Take care of your friend," the huge old Belthazor said, pointing at Chris.
Michael frowned, he was really surprised that a demon was helping them, but then he remembered Cole, and all his story, and tried to believe that sometimes demons are more like guardian angels, however weird it was.
Julian nodded and smiled weakly. Then, he took the wounded Belthazor by the arm, and shimmered away with him.
"Wait!" Michael cried, but it was too late.
When he turned to his friend, the light was almost gone and Chris had taken his little version to his arms. He seemed to be dizzy.
"Chris!!" Michael exclaimed.
His friend didn't hear him. He was just stumbling, and finally he passed out.
Michael ran towards him, he had to catch the baby. 'I wish I could orb,' he thought.
But at that very moment, the baby orbed straight to his arms.
"Wow!" he exclaimed.
Chris crashed against the floor with a heavy thud.
"Chris..." he murmured, rushing to his side, and kneeling by his friend. He took a look around himself. How the hell was he supposed to get out of there?
Then he saw Cris, who was standing up slowly.
Michael was shocked at the similarity. They were more than twins. They were the same person, how could that be?? So similar, and so different.
Cris glanced at him with hatred: "Tell him that there's no place in this world for both of us." Then he ran away and disappeared through one of the tunnels.
Michael saw scared how he escaped. For a moment he couldn't react. Then he turned to Chris.. He was opening his eyes.
"The baby..." he mumbled. He had just realised he didn't have his mini-self on his arms, and was panicking.
"He's alright, Chris... He's fine." His friend showed the baby to him, and Chris smiled.
"Where's everyone?" he asked, getting a sitting position.
Michael smiled. "You scared them all, except me, of course," then turned to Travor, who was still tied up, "and that pseudo-demon." Both of them laughed soundly.
Then, Michael took his arm: "Let's go home, Chris."
Chris sighed, looking around. Only an angry Trevor was there. Chris orbed him to the main level, where Darryl could find him.
Apart from him, to whom no one would believe at all, the place was deserted, the two rivers would keep their secrets for hundreds and hundreds of years, because they had saved the world again...

Phoebe, Cole, Paige, Steve, Tom and Veronica saw how the light vanished very slowly.
They were hugging each other, thinking it was the apocalypse, finally. Maybe Chris hadn't arrived on time, after all.
But when the light faded, they were still alive. And when they looked around, they could see that all the demons and hooded people had disappeared. Some piles of ashes made them believe that the servers of Satan had been killed by the true light.
At first they just looked at each other. Then they smiled, and finally they started to laugh. It was real... it was all over.
"But what about Chris? And Michael??"
"Let's go home and check up if they are ok... If they got back." Phoebe said. "If not, Tom can shimmer us back here."
And after that, they did as she suggested, but Tom took Steve first back to Nicki, who jumped among the scared kids and hugged her boy with all her love, crying in happiness.
All the children stared at them, some still freaked out, some amused.
"And this..." Steve said, out of breath because of Nicki's hug, "this is exactly what we wanted you to see today. I'm sorry if you were scared, but didn't you want magic? That was magic in the Middle Ages, kids. An eclipse, and a star shower..."
All of them exchanged amazed and wonderingly looks, as Nicki laughed.
"Good lesson, Stevie... Just, this was magic also today. Come on, let's go back to the youth hostel, and tell me everything..."

"Look, Silas..." Odin said, looking at the book.
The other elder looked at the page that he was showing to him, and gasped. The prophecy was disappearing.
"But why...?" he asked in awe.
"Because the prophecies are there to be fulfilled. If they aren't, then there's no reason for their existence."
Silas smiled understanding. The Halliwells had saved the world once again.

Darryl, Detective Johnson and Officer Turner saw in awe how everything went on. Finally the light faded away, and the street was submerged in an incredible calmness.
"Come on..." Detective Johnson said.
They ran towards the storage, Darryl praying that Chris and the others weren't there. When they got in, they only found a tied up Travor, the son of Mr. Anderson, of 'Anderson International', a subsidiary company of 'Waterbe Inc.', as they would know later.
Moreover, the nurse in the hospital would start to hesitate. Perhaps she was wrong, she had seen a handsome man, around the same age as Mr. Wyatt's son, as he had called him once, or whatever he was... Yes, perhaps she was wrong. Actually, now she was sure that she had seen Travor, who tried to show he hadn't been there at all.
His father had a lot of money, he would pay for his freedom, Travor said angrily as he was imprisoned. But when they called Mr. Anderson and Mr. Waterbe, they found out that they were gone. There offices were a mess, as if there had been a battle there. But no trace of blood or anything.
Anderson had disappeared. No one noticed the little pile of ashes that rested on the floor, by the table... "Il mesaggero has failed, you have failed, and I'll have to wait a thousand of years to be reborn. But you'll pay for this." Those had been the last words that Anderson had heard in his life, before being reduced to ashes. Travor would never find his father, and would never care, if he hadn't needed him to be free...

Piper and Leo had been hugging each other until everything was over.
Bianca had sat down on the floor, in a corner, trying to protect herself from the light.
Then, Piper kept sobbing uncontrollably, and Leo rubbed her back. "He's ok, honey, he is... Believe me..."
Suddenly, bluish orbs filled the room, and Chris materialised with Michael and his little self. Leo and Bianca jumped in surprise and happiness while Piper sat up in her bed, and they all embraced each other, crying.
Piper took little Chris in her arms, sobbing, and Leo smiled and cried at the same time, looking at the baby, as Bianca kept hugging Chris and Michael observed the scene from behind.
"Sorry, Mike, I need to go somewhere first," Chris had told him in the middle of his orbs. He smiled, happy to be part of such a story. Then he frowned. He would need to invent something to tell his wife. "Very boring, honey... Very boring. I really missed being with your mom," he would tell her in the afternoon.

"What's that Chris?" Bianca asked, at the sight of Chris holding a little vial.
The man didn't turn, just kept staring at the bottle: "A potion... To forget."
"To forget?" she frowned.
Chris nodded: "To forget all the other timelines. To only remember those things I really lived. I'm not sure if I should take it... It's like killing a part of myself... But someone told me that I should save my mini-me from those memories and..."
"Who told you that?" asked Bianca, caressing his back. Chris looked at her and said nothing. Then he smiled: "Someone who I should learn to believe in..."
"So... if you think he was alright, do it... You do not need those memories. You do not need those nightmares anymore."
Chris nodded, and kept looking at the potion: "I know..."