Sometimes, the wind

sparklehunter

sometimes, memory is the greatest sin of all.

in the changed future, there are 10 halliwell cousins. in the unchanged future, there are only eight. most of them don't matter.

1

Wyatt can't remember this:

"Come on, Wy," Chris said. "It's not like anyone will notice."

Sometimes, Wyatt was pretty sure Chris and he had a different Mom. His was Piper Halliwell, eldest Charmed One and bearer of the saddest, most disappointed looks ever. Chris's Mom seemed to be some strange creature who actually believed him when he said, "Honest, Mom, we always had that many Legos!"

"I'm bored," Andy said. "Bored, bored, bored." He paused for effect, and then said: "bored."

"Shut up, Andy!" Miles and Robyn chorused.

Andy scowled at them. "Bored, bored, bored!"

Zach started crying.

"Wyatt!" growled Chris. "Shut up, Andy!"

"Is everything all right up there?" Dad called up the stairs.

"Hurry, Wy!" Robyn hissed. "Uncle Leo's about to orb in!"

Wyatt looked at their Legos, and winced. There weren't a lot there – Mom had boxed away most of Chris and Wyatt's Legos when Zach swallowed one, and even more when he stuck one of the double blocks up his nose – and Robyn and Miles had brought Dream Racer 4000 to play with. They had evidently forgotten that Zach had thrown up on the computer. Colby and Andy didn't have Legos; they had bigger, interconnected blocks that were too babyish for Wyatt and Chris to enjoy. Chris and Wyatt (and Zach, now that he was getting big enough to play with them) didn't have enough Legos for seven boys to play with.

Dad orbed in.

Wyatt very carefully did not look at the gigantic mountain of Legos that was threatening a rockslide.

"You okay, Wyatt?" Dad said.

Colby snorted. "Dude," he said, and he was copying Amber across the street, who was really pretty for a girl. "Zach was the one crying." He rolled his blue eyes, just like Amber did when she thought someone was being really stupid.

Dad nodded absently, and gripped Wyatt's shoulder. His hand was warm and firm and it made Wyatt feel sunny inside. Mom always believed Chris when he told her they hadn't done anything wrong, but Wyatt knew that Dad didn't even think Wyatt could break rules. It was cool, but a little scary.

"Okay, buddy," Dad said. He glanced around the attic. "Do your Moms know you guys are playing up here?"

Wyatt said, "Of course. Mom and Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige told us to get out their hair while they talked about the demon that's killing people when they turn 16."

Dad laughed. "Just be careful up here, okay? If any demons drop in, make sure you call me right away."

"Me, too, Dad?" Chris interrupted. "And Zach?"

Dad blinked. "Chris? Wh – of course." And then he orbed out.

All seven boys were quiet for a moment, afterwards. Wyatt was pretty sure their cousins were embarrassed about Dad and how he seemed to forget that Chris existed. Fortunately, Zach wandered over to the Lego Mountain and started babbling to Chris, and the tension broke.

"Wow, Wyatt," Andy breathed. "This is a lot of Legos. Aunt Piper might notice this."

"You think?" Wyatt asked. "I don't think the amount will make a difference." Mom had been sad, lately, and didn't notice a lot of things. Aunt Phoebe said she was sad because the baby had died, and they needed to love her a lot and give her room to grieve. Wyatt was trying, but he missed Mom's cookies and hugs.

"Of course not," said Chris. He was sitting on the floor with Zach in his lap, and they were building with the blue and green Legos. "She'll just think she missed some. I call all the green ones. And Zach calls blue. Right, Zach?"

Zach grinned up at Chris. "Right, Chris!" he said.

"No fair!" said Colby. "I wanted green!"

"I get yellow," Wyatt announced.

"Hey!" said Colby.

"Red," Miles and Andy said. Andy rolled his eyes.

"I want black," said Robyn.

"If you're getting red, I want white," Andy told Miles.

"But I hate gray," Colby complained.

"Too bad," Wyatt said heartlessly. "You snooze, you loose."

Zach gave Colby a green piece; Wyatt forgave him for breaking the rules, but only because he was a baby. He orbed the piece back into Chris's pile and said, "No, Zach."

And then they built.

Colby built spaceships out of gray blocks. He wanted to be an astronaut, and Aunt Phoebe kept telling him he could. Wyatt thought a Colby would make a terrible astronaut – he hated traveling, and still slept in the same room as his twin, even though Aunt Phoebe had offered to separate them. Wyatt slept in the same room as Chris, but that was only because Mom and Dad wanted to have the nursery still be a nursery.

Andy built racecars in white, and he was negotiating with Miles to get some red pieces for patterns in the hood. He wanted to be a racecar driver, like Dromi Luvadan. Chris and Wyatt had gotten Dromi Luvadan to autograph a picture, which they were going to give to Andy on his birthday. Chris hadn't told Wyatt how they were going to get an astronaut to autograph something for Colby.

Miles and Robyn worked together, like Chris and Zach did, only they both did the work, unlike Chris and Zach, and so whatever they were making was sort of weird. Wyatt thought it might be a robot, but Robyn was putting thrusters on it, so maybe it was a jet. Or maybe Miles and Robyn were just being weird again. Miles wanted to be a garbage man, and Robyn wanted to be an Elder. They practically epitomized weird.

Wyatt liked playing with Legos. He always built a big castle, like he imagined Arthur lived in when he was king, and built a huge wall around it so none of Arthur's enemies (like Morgan le Fay or Lancelot) could get in.

When Wyatt finished his wall, he looked over to see Chris watching him. Chris's eyes sometimes looked too old, like he was Mom or an Aunt. He was sort of absently pulling Zach's hand away from him mouth, too, so Zach didn't swallow another Lego.

"What?" said Wyatt.

"You didn't put a door in," Chris said.

"Wyatt never puts a door in," Andy said.

"It'd be a drawbridge," Miles said. "Because it's a castle."

"Whatever," Chris said, and rolled his eyes, but he didn't look much like Amber. He crawled across the attic floor and started pulling at the blocks on the wall.

"Hey, don't touch!" Wyatt snapped.

"Shut up, Wy, I'm just putting in a door."

"I don't want a door," Wyatt argued.

Chris started putting blocks back in. Zach said, "Chris, Lego? For Wyatt!" and passed him little blocks.

Chris said, "How am I supposed to visit if you have a giant wall up?"

"You'll live there with me," Wyatt said. "All of us will. When I get Excalibur, and get to be King. And no one will be able to get in."

"But I don't want to live in a castle!" Robyn said. "You can't make me!"

Wyatt was pretty sure everyone would be a lot better off if they all just listened to him. He knew what he was talking about. The wall was a very important part of the castle. "Chris," he started.

"There," Chris said. "One door. Drawbridge," he said, seeing Miles' look.

"You didn't listen to me," Wyatt said. "I didn't want a door. Or a drawbridge."

"I wouldn't want to live in the castle," Chris said. "I want to explore."

Chris, Wyatt thought, a little angry, would make a great astronaut.

"I'm bored," said Andy. "This always happens whenever we play. Wyatt starts getting boring."

"Hey!" said Wyatt, and Chris, and Zach.

"You are!" said Colby. "You always want to lock us up and never let us do anything. I wanted to play outside, but no, Wyatt wanted to play Legos in the attic!"

"You didn't have to play with us!" Wyatt shouted.

"You wouldn't let me go outside!"

"It's getting dark out!" Wyatt protested. "Zach's a demon magnet. It's dangerous!"

"No," spat Andy. "You just want to rule our lives."

"I hate you!" Wyatt yelled. "I don't care if you do die by demons! Fine. Go outside. But don't ask for me to save you when demons attack!" He grabbed Andy's racecar and threw it at the wall, shattering it.

"I hate you!" Andy screamed, and knocked over Wyatt's wall. "And your stupid wall. You're so stupid Wyatt. You—"

Wyatt choked back another yell and smashed another racecar against the wall, too furious to speak. What did Andy know? There was no one out there that could be trusted. The world was dangerous, and he wanted to do stupid stuff like play outside after dark.

Andy grabbed up handfuls of Legos, and hurled them back at Wyatt. "Don't touch my cars!" he shouted. "You always ruin things, Wyatt!"

Wyatt retaliated, using bits of his wall to pelt Andy as hard as he could. Andy flung with both hands, but his aim was bad. Wyatt was years older and practiced flinging stuff around with Dad every weekend, so he was winning, until Colby chucked his spaceship at Wyatt. It shattered on his knee, and hurt, and Wyatt screamed at them,

"I hate you I hate you!"

In the background, Chris was saying, "Be careful! Stop it, you're gonna hit Zach!" over and over again, but Wyatt couldn't hear him, and Andy and Colby weren't stopping, either.

"This is what I think of your stupid wall!" Colby snarled, and threw Robyn's robot at the remains of Wyatt's castle.

The entire setup shattered. Little plastic blocks flung all about the attic, and Chris shouted,

"Zach!"

He sounded terrified, and Wyatt spun to see Chris hunched around their little brother, little plastic blocks bouncing off his head and arms. Zach was crying again.

Colby and Andy turned, too, staring at Zach.

"Chris –" Andy said, right as the attic door slammed open and Mom said,

"Just what is going on up here?!" in her I'm-really-mad-but-trying-not-to-show-it voice.

Colby said, "Wyatt's a jerk!"

"No, he's not!" Chris glared at Colby, arms still wrapped around Zach.

"Colby blew up my castle and almost hurt Zach!" Wyatt announced.

Mom frowned. "Zach?"

Zach was still sniffling, but he poked his head out between Chris's arms. "Mommy!" he said. "I got a booboo!" and waved his hand at her.

Mom scooped Zach out of Chris's lap. "Chris, why didn't you orb?" she demanded. "It's okay, honey, Mommy's here. Here, I'll kiss it better," she shushed Zach.

Chris froze, looking at her.

"Robyn, tell me what happened," Mom ordered.

Robyn looked hesitant. "We were playing Legos," he said.

Mom sighed, and then said. "All six of you know you aren't supposed to play with Legos. You always end up at each others' throats, and this time Zach got hurt. What if you'd knocked his eye out, or something?"

"Well," said Colby, "We probably would have called Aunt Paige."

Mom was startled into a smile. "Aunt Paige?" she aked. "I suppose you would, wouldn't you. Alright, then. I still want to hear apologies."

"Mom!" "Aunt Piper!" "Aunt Piper!" Wyatt and Colby and Andy all said.

"Now," said Mom.

"Sorry for putting in a drawbridge," Chris said.

"Sorry," said Miles.

"I'm sorry, Wyatt!" Zach said. Wyatt almost smiled at that, but it was going to be his turn, soon.

"Sorry," Robyn muttered. "You aren't a jerk, Wyatt."

Andy scuffed his feet. "Sorry, Wyatt," he said.

Wyatt said, "Sorry."

"Me, too," said Colby. Andy smacked him across the shoulder, and Colby said, "Ow! Okay, I'm sorry!"

"Alright," Mom said, nodding. "Now, I think we all need some cool-down time. Wyatt, Chris, bedroom. Miles, Robyn, kitchen. Andy, Colby, living room. And you, little man," Mom said to Zach. "You come with me."

"Mommy!" Zach cried, and kissed her. "We played Legos! And we threw them all over. All over!"

"That's right," Mom said, almost amused. "You did. Okay, you six, get going. And when you're done with the time-out, you guys are going to be picking all of these up. Where did they all – Wyatt!"

Wyatt scrambled downstairs before she could say anything more.

"Told you so," he said to Chris.

Chris grinned at him. "Yeah, but you can just get rid of the ones you conjured, right?"

Behind them, Wyatt heard Mom muttering a spell. "If Mom doesn't do it herself," he said.

Chris bumped his shoulder as they turned off into their room.

"We're alright, though?" he asked.

Wyatt shrugged. "I guess," he said, bumping him back. They both curled up on Wyatt's bed.

Chris said, "It's a shame about the Legos."

Wyatt smiled. "Well, I may have managed to save a few," he said.

At Chris's look, he grinned and rolled over. "I didn't get to see what you made," Wyatt explained. "So once Colby started throwing stuff, I orbed it to our room." He pulled himself to the edge of the bed and looked down. In blue and green miniature, the Golden Gate Bridge rested majestically on their floor.

"Cool," said Chris.

"Bridges, again?" Wyatt asked.

"Walls, again," Chris shot back.

Wyatt orbed the bridge to his dresser. "We'll keep it there," Wyatt declared. "You know, the only survivor of the Lego Massacre of 2013. Maybe it can get a medal."

"Shut up, Wy," Chris said amicably, and then said "Oof!" as Zach orbed onto his stomach. "Hi."

"Hi, Chris, hi, Wyatt," Zach said. "Legos?" and held out two baby handfuls of green and blue building blocks.

tbc