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Chapter Seven: Feel Like Dead Ends

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xxviii. the Manor.

"This is a bad idea." Lynn Perry paced the length of the attic, a panicked, sour expression on her face. "We should be taking her back to Albany, so she can be healed by the clan elders."

Chris, just about fed up with the stubborn Phoenix, shot her a glare laced with venom. "The potion will be ready in ten minutes. Once she takes that, she'll be fine."

"How do you know?" Lynn demanded. "She's my daughter. I'm responsible for her, not you."

"Oh you are?" Chris shot back. "You only have her best interests in mind, yeah? That's why you're all set to send her back to Phoenix training?"

"She is a Phoenix!" Lynn said heatedly. "It's her heritage, her birthright. I never should have taken her away from New York – surely you know something about destiny, Charmed Son?"

"I know plenty," he said darkly. "And you, Phoenix, are as blind as you are foolish. Bianca was meant to come to San Francisco, just as much as she was never meant to be an assassin."

Lynn snorted derisively. "You're a boy," she spat. "Nothing but a presumptuous, hormone-driven boy."

Chris shook his head, turning back and dabbing at Bianca's forehead with a damp washcloth. "I'm more sane than you are right now, Phoenix."

"Why are you calling me that?" Lynn asked, turning on her heel. "Why do you call me 'Phoenix'?"

"It's what you are," Chris said calmly. He rose from his crouched position at Bianca's side, who was lying unconscious on the couch in the corner of the attic. "Would you prefer me calling you Lynn?"

"Ms. Perry would work," she snapped. "And a little respect, too. She's my daughter," she repeated. "I could take her away from here. I should. She and I should be in Albany right now."

"I'd like to see you try to take her away from here," Chris snapped. "And we both know that this is where she needs to be. Your fear will do nothing but hurt Bianca in the end, Phoenix."

Lynn shook her head, momentarily speechless. She collapsed onto a chair shakily. "Why are we here?" she asked, more calmly. "This is not the place for her, the Halliwell manor…"

"Leo is not here," Chris said firmly. "Paige and Phoebe are at work, and Wyatt is with Jacqui – "

"Jacqui?" Lynn said sharply.

"As soon as the potion is finished, she'll be fine," Chris said firmly, talking over the older witch. "And then I'll take you both to a safe place, where Klea can't find you."

"You'll be taking us?" Lynn asked, bristling. "Boy – "

"I am no boy," Chris said sharply. "Snap out of it. You take her to Albany, and Klea will find you both within the hour. We have maybe the rest of the night before she recovers from Bianca's attack, but we don't know how many healers she has working with her. We have to move fast. As soon as the potion's done, I'm taking you both to Cole."

The reminder of Bianca's attack seemed to deflate Lynn's defense, and she sank back into the chair. "What…was that? You seemed to know."

"The threefold power," Chris said quietly, turning back to check on Bianca once more. She was still, breathing regularly, seemingly asleep. But Chris's trained eyes saw the sickly pallor of her skin, the reddish tinge at the base of her throat that signified her weakness.

He turned back to the potion bubbling on the table, checking its progress. Satisfied that it had boiled long enough, he grabbed a handful of ground herbs and threw them in, prompting a small explosion of smoke from the cauldron. Waving away the smoke, he peered down at the liquid, feeling a stab of triumph at the icy green color. This was one potion that he would never forget how to mix.

He quickly grabbed the nearest container – a small mixing cup – and filled it halfway, bringing it over to Bianca's side. He brushed the hair away from Bianca's neck, slipping one hand beneath her head and propping it up. "Drink," he said softly, infusing his voice with magic. "Drink, Bianca."

Bianca opened her mouth obediently in the face of his magical persuasion, reaching forward blindly. He brought the cup to her lips and helped her gulp most of the potion, pulling back when there were but a few drops left in the cup. He let Bianca's head fall back to the couch pillow and took the remainder of the potion, pouring it carefully at the base of her throat, where the skin was flushed unnaturally red. A soft hissing sound came as the liquid came into contact with the magically-inflamed skin, and Chris sighed in relief as Bianca's throat returned to its normal skin color.

"What…" Lynn whispered, having watched the whole process from over Chris's shoulder.

"The potion restores her strength and suppresses certain parts of her magic," Chris explained quietly. "Bianca's power center is here." He laid a hand softly at Bianca's throat, the exact spot where her neck met her chest. "Everyone's power center is different. This potion is custom made for Bianca – she drinks it to clear her body, but it affects her magic directly, so she has to absorb it through her power center as well."

"Power center," Lynn murmured. "I've never heard of that before. Is that like…totems?"

"Kind of." Chris kept an eye on Bianca, slowly calming his worry as her skin started to flush back into a healthy pink, her breathing becoming stronger. "Every witch – every strong witch, anyway – has a place where their power is focused and channeled through. Halliwell witches' centers are usually their hands – my mother could use her freezing and explosive powers by gesturing with her hands."

Lynn nodded. "Paige gestures with her hands for orbing, too – "

"Yes. And Wyatt uses his hands for his powers, too." Chris stood, waving the potion materials away with a wave of his hand. "I use my hands as well, and my voice. But centers can change, too – my aunt Prue, for instance, used to control her telekinesis through her eyes, but gradually started to control it through her hands."

Lynn nodded. "Mine would be my hands, too, then," she said. "But Bianca – her throat?"

"Bianca is…unusual," Chris said carefully. He didn't want to reveal too much, but – it was her mother, after all. "Her power is unusual. It's connected to her blood – therefore, she channels it through her throat, her pulse point."

"But…her powers are the same as mine. Phoenix powers – shimmering, fireballs."

"Those are powers she inherited from you," Chris said. "Bianca did have a father, you know. A very magical one. And she also has powers all her own, powers she's just beginning to explore and understand."

Lynn shook her head, looking weary and overwhelmed. "You know who her father is?"

"Yes."

She looked at him sharply, helplessly. "How?"

"I can't tell you that." Chris laid a hand on Bianca's forehead, smoothing the hair down tenderly. "I can tell you that I have Bianca's best interests in mind here…Ms. Perry."

Lynn cast a critical eye to Chris's hands on her daughter, how careful and gentle they were. She nodded slowly, her heart slowly splintering in two. "Call me Lynn," she choked through a tight throat.

He nodded and they sat in silence, watching the girl that meant so much to both of them.

After a moment, Lynn broke the silence once more. "So this safe place," she started. "Where is it?"

Chris smiled grimly. "It's not where that'll be the issue," he said, "it's who."

xxix. Up There

"Let! Me! In!" Brooke Chase punctuated each word with a pound of her fist, furiously hitting the large, ivory gates that separated the Elder's council chamber from the Whitelighters' common area. "Leo Wyatt, you get your cowardly ass out here and talk to me, damn it!" She kicked the solid white door in frustration, ignoring the flurry of disapproved whispers from her fellow Whitelighters, gathered in a crowd to watch the small girl's tantrum. "I'm his Whitelighter, and you're his FATHER. This is his support system? This is who he has in his corner?"

"You are insolent and disrespectful, child," snapped an elder Whitelighter. "Stop this foolishness – "

Brooke waved a hand, pushing the crowd back with a wave of telekinesis. "My charge is in trouble – Chris Halliwell is in trouble! I felt his pain, I can feel it now – and his own father won't listen to me!"

Murmurs from the crowd grew louder until the Whitelighter who'd addressed Brooke before silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Hush. Child, you are the Prophesized's guardian?"

Tears tearing at the corner of her eyes, Brooke nodded, still pounding at the immovable gate in frustration. "He's my friend," she said fiercely. "My charge and my friend, and…there's something wrong!" She kicked at the gate. "And Leo the cowardly lion won't even tell me what's going on, and I can't sense him!"

The elder Whitelighter laid a hand on Brooke's shoulder. "Calm yourself."

Brooke tore away from the older man, wiping at her face. "This is bullshit," she said angrily.

"He cannot help, you know that."

"Why not?" Brooke demanded. "Because of some stupid Prophecy that may or may not come true?" She threw up her hands in frustration. "How do we even know it's Chris that it's about? It refers to a Charmed Son – there are two of them, you know. And wouldn't you think that it'd be Wyatt who'd be in more danger of something like this?"

The Whitelighter slid his hands into his robes, looking down at her kindly. "Things change. The mere fact that Christopher was the one to travel through time to prevent his brother's downfall almost ensures his."

"How is that fair?" Brooke demanded. "How does that even make sense?"

"It doesn't, I'm afraid." He raised one eyebrow. "If you are worried about him, I will help you. But Leo cannot interfere. It is too dangerous."

"What, he's afraid he'll get his halo dirty?"

"Dangerous for Chris, my dear." He shook his head. "You'll understand one day. I assure you that this pains Leo just as much as it pains you."

Brooke glared at the immovable door. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"You say you cannot sense him?"

Brooke huffed. "No. He completely disappeared off my radar as of twenty minutes ago. But before that, I could feel his feelings – I never could, before."

"He blocks your senses?"

"He took an empath-blocking potion – I don't know where he got it, it was after Piper's death – Phoebe's an empath, remember?" She frowned. "Sometimes, I can feel snippets – when he's upset. Today, I felt…" she shuddered. "So much. Something's up. Something big. I could feel…fear, pain, regret, love, worry…every emotion on the scale, practically."

"His resolve weakens in intense situations." The Whitelighter shook his head, thinking. "If he's disappeared, I doubt that it's unintentional."

Brooke bit her lip. "He doesn't know I'm a Whitelighter. Why would he block himself?"

"Are you sure he doesn't know?" Brooke started to nod, but stopped, hesitating unsurely. "It may not be just you he's hiding from."

"Either way, I still have no way of finding him," Brooke argued.

"Stop thinking of him as a witch and think of him as a person. Where would he go to hide? Somewhere he regards as safe?"

Brooke crossed her arms. "Not the Manor," she said, snorting. "He'd go somewhere…" she huffed. "I don't know. But I think I know someone who does."

xxx. Cole's Apartment

Bianca always jerked awake, no matter where she was. It was an old habit from Phoenix training – the surprise training sessions didn't exactly lend for comfortable sleep. But this time as she jolted awake there were no aunts and cousins throwing fireballs. Only Chris and…well, her mother.

"Bianca! You're awake!"

Bianca jerked backwards, eyeing Lynn suspiciously. She looked over at Chris, who was watching her with a quiet smirk. "She's not still evil, is she?"

"Uh, no."

Lynn hugged her, kissing the side of her face. "God, I was so worried."

"Uch." Bianca swallowed. "Mom – oxygen."

"Sorry." Lynn pulled back and eyed her daughter anxiously. "How do you feel?"

"A little freaked out," Bianca said. "A little pissed off. I'm not going back to Albany, Mom," she said firmly. "You can't make me."

Lynn fell quiet, an uncomfortable look on her face. "Bianca…"

"Mom, I'm not going. I'm not."

"We'll…" Lynn shot an uneasy look at Chris. "We'll talk about it later."

"Ugh. Fine. Please get off me." Lynn sighed and backed off the bed, letting Bianca sit up fully, swinging her legs around so she was sitting normally on the couch. "What happened?"

"Well, you kicked threefold ass, and then you collapsed." Chris sat next to her. "How do you feel?"

"Cold," she replied. She looked down at her hands, realizing that they were shaking. "Does this always happen?"

"Yeah." He grabbed a blanket laying over the back of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You'll have the chills for a few hours, nothing major."

"How do you know?" Lynn asked – or demanded, really. "You've never used this – this power before, have you Bianca?"

"Um, not technically," she replied. "Chris knows, Mom, I trust him. You can too." She shivered, bringing the blanket around her shoulders tighter. "So Klea's gone?"

"For now," Chris said. "You hit her pretty hard, but she's got pretty much every type of demon the Underworld has available around her. She won't stay down for long."

"Klea," Lynn said flatly.

"Does she – "

"I explained things," Chris said dryly.

"Why are we at Cole's?" Bianca asked.

"You know who Cole is?" Lynn asked sharply.

"You know who Cole is?"

Chris cut in. "This is the safest place for us right now, until we can figure out what Klea wants."

"I would assume she wants us dead," Bianca said wryly. "Considering how she possessed my mom so she could attack us, and everything."

"She's up to something. She didn't know I'd be there," Chris reminded her.

"I don't know, Chris, Mom and I were fighting for at least two hours before Klea showed up." Bianca gestured to Lynn, who was watching their conversation closely. "She could've possessed her at any time, but she chose the moment right after I called you to do it. I think she was waiting for both of us to be together."

"All the more reason to stay here until Cole wakes up."

Bianca glanced at the bedroom door, closed tightly as always. "He's still unconscious? How long do these low periods last?"

"At least a week. He should be coming out of it tonight – tomorrow at least."

"What's wrong with him?" Lynn asked quietly, shooting a look at the door.

"We don't know." Chris sighed heavily. "Klea cursed him. It weakened him enough that I was able to summon him – but we don't know how to cure it, or even what it is, really. Cole never remembers anything when he wakes."

"So what do we do?" Bianca asked.

"We stay here," Chris said. "We need Cole. We're safe here – "

"How do you know?" Lynn asked.

"This apartment is untraceable, trust me."

"What about your family?" Bianca asked. "You can't just not go home."

"They can freak now, I can explain later." Chris wrapped his arm around her shoulder, seeing her shaking violently. "Everything's going be fine."

Lynn eyed the young couple together on the couch warily, her eyes inexplicably drawn back to the bedroom door, her protests all dying on her lips.

xxxi. The Manor

Brooke crossed her arms, looking around. "Huh."

"Where are they?"

The Whitelighter who'd calmed her down looked amazingly out of place in the homey living room of the Halliwell home, his brilliant robes clashing with the neutral tones of the furniture and draperies. "I dunno." She frowned, moving across the room the peer into the Conservatory. "They're not upstairs. I'm not sensing anyone – not even in the surrounding houses."

"They couldn't all be gone, could they?" he asked.

She snorted. "A family as huge as this? Chances are very low that they all happen to be running errands at the same time."

"So what happened?"

"I don't know." Brooke worried her bottom lip. "Chris disappears and now his family, too? This is too big of a coincidence. If coincidences even existed, that is."

"We need to find the Halliwells," he said firmly.

"Who needs to?"

Brooke whirled around, face falling upon seeing the visitor. "Oh, Wyatt. It's just you."

Wyatt entered the room, presumably having just orbed in. He was wearing his jacket, and his hair was dusted with moisture from the rain falling on the windows. "Brooke…" he trailed off, seeing the Whitelighter behind her. "Kevin! What are you doing here?"

"Kevin?" Brooke repeated incredulously. "Your name is Kevin?"

"Yes." He looked at her, nonplussed. "So?"

She snorted. "Nothing, it just seems so…normal."

"I'm not an alien, Ms. Chase."

Wyatt frowned. "Wait, wait. What's going on? Brooke, you know who this is?"

Brooke huffed impatiently. "I'm a Whitelighter, okay?"

"What?!"

"Look, we don't have time for this. Chris is missing, possibly in trouble, and now your family's gone. We have to figure out what's going on, fast."

"Wait, wait – slow down. Chris is missing?"

"Uh, yes. And your family. Am I speaking too fast?" Something behind Wyatt caught Brooke's eye, and she frowned. "Is there someone else here?"

"No," Wyatt said quickly.

Brooke narrowed her eyes, shoving past him into the foyer, finding a sheepish Jacqui hovering by the end table. "Uch, you scum."

"Hey – "

"Whatever, I don't care. You stay here with her and make sure she doesn't get killed. I'll find Chris."

"No, wait." Wyatt grabbed her arm. "He's my brother."

"Really? No one in this family seems to be acting like it," she hissed. Wyatt frowned and Brooke shook off his arm. "Why don't you make yourself useful and look in the Book of Shadows for something we can use. Kevin and I – " she shot a look at the Whitelighter, who was standing slightly away from the arguing teens, looking amused. "…will look for Chris."

"What about the rest of my family?" Wyatt frowned, the weight of the situation seeming to sink in.

"Chris is the key, wherever he is," Brooke said, mostly to herself. "If we find him, we find out what's going on."

xxxii. The Underworld.

The expensive urn hit the stone wall, shattering on impact. Klea's scream of rage rattled the dark cavern, her guards taking a step back in the face of her anger.

Her thin eyes narrowed in disgust as she watched the two Whitelighters orb away from the Manor, the water of her scrying pool rippling as the scene ended. "We missed the son," she said quietly. "Who missed the son?"

One demon stepped forward, bowing low to the ground. "He was away from the house, my lady," he said. "I apologize. You told us to ignore the son – "

"The younger," she hissed. "I told you to ignore the younger son Which would imply that there are more than one, would it not?"

"I apologize," he repeated. "My companions and I can get to the Twice Blessed, we can still take him here."

"The Whitelighters have discovered their absence, you idiot! If he disappears now, they may very well trace him to me!" She waved her hand, watching as the demon exploded into flames. "Everyone get out of my sight. Now!"

She whirled away, waiting until all her guards have exited the chamber before turning to the corner of her chambers, a deadly smile on her face.

"Well, well. Seems you're becoming more trouble than I thought."

Paige glared at her from between the cage bars. "I don't know who you think you are, but – "

"I am Klea, and you will be silent," she said, smirking. "Unless you want to end up like everyone else."

Paige looked over at her family – and her sister's family – all unconscious in separate cages in the long, dank cavern. "I will kill you," Paige vowed. "Make no mistake."

Klea smirked. "I'm counting on it."

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If you didn't catch it, Kevin is the boy from 5.05 Witches in Tights – the boy whose drawings came to life, who became an Elder in the end? I always wondered what had happened to him when the Elders were killed in the beginning of season six, so I brought him back. We'll see him more.

As for questions…Chris's powers are kind of a plot point. Let's just say he's got some tricks up his sleeve – and they don't really come from where you might think. That sounded sufficiently mysterious, right?

I'm keeping Bianca and Chris the same ages as in canon – as in, Bianca being three years older. Chris, right now, is sixteen-ish, making Bianca nineteen. However, Bianca got a late start on the whole school thing, what with Phoenix training. I'll elaborate on this soon.

I think that's it. I'll be going off to college in a couple weeks, so I'm not sure about updating – but I've definitely found my second wind on this story. Thanks for reviewing. ;)