Truths Unfold

By: angel74

Summary: [AU] This story takes place during season six and is set after "Prince Charmed." The girls know that Wyatt is evil in the future, but they don't know Chris's identity. Frustrated by their lack of progress in finding the demon that turns Wyatt, the Charmed Ones decide to cast a spell to find the demon responsible. What happens next is something they could have never have imagined.

Disclaimer: I have decided to say this once, and only once instead of posting it for every chapter. I do not own Charmed or any of the characters. I only want to play in their world. I intend this story to be merely for pleasure, not profit.

Genre: Angst/Family

Rating: M (just in case).

Warnings: This fic is what I like to call the "darker side" of Charmed. There may be some potentially disturbing themes during this story, but I don't want to give too much away now. Don't worry, most of it will be implied instead of going into graphic detail.

Piper gently set her son down in his crib and covered him with his soft blue blanket. She watched over him for a few moments as Wyatt lay sleeping, her heart heavy with the knowledge of what she had learned only days ago. He was so beautiful and peaceful; it was hard to imagine the bleak future that Chris had revealed to them.

"The only reason I came here was to keep Wyatt from turning evil… He's gonna grow up and terrorize people with his powers; take over. Kill even," Chris had said.

Piper couldn't imagine how any of that was even possible, but she was determined now more than ever to stop it. Chris obviously didn't know what had happened to Wyatt to turn him evil, and he really hadn't offered any strategy for figuring it out other than vanquishing every possible demon threat. So Piper had resolved to figure it out herself.

Grabbing the baby monitor on the dresser, she quietly walked out into the hallway and headed upstairs to where she had left Phoebe and Paige. It had taken quite a bit of convincing, but they had both agreed to take the afternoon off work to help her. The threesome had spent the better part of the day brainstorming ways that they could save Wyatt and in the end came up with only one solution. They needed to write a spell that would specifically ask the powers that be to help them in this matter.

Her younger sisters both looked up from the table they were working at when she entered the attic. "How's it going?" Piper asked hopefully.

"We finished the spell, but I honestly don't know if it will work," Phoebe admitted. Both she and Paige looked as though they still had some reservations about what they were about to do.

Piper held out her hand for the spell. "Let me see it."

Paige handed it to her and Piper looked it over critically. It was a pretty decent spell, and she hoped that it would cause the Book of Shadows to flip to the demon that was after Wyatt. She couldn't see anything necessarily wrong with it, but she knew that no matter how well the spell was written that there was always the potential for it to backfire.

"Looks good," Piper admitted. "Let's do this."

Phoebe and Paige followed their older sister over to the podium where the Book of Shadows lay open. They all stood behind it, prepared to read the spell. Piper couldn't help but notice that Paige and Phoebe still seemed hesitant. They cast each other a look of uncertainty and she felt herself growing annoyed.

"Are we going to read the spell or not?" she asked. When neither one answered her right away, she decided that she may as well read the spell on her own if they weren't going to help her. Before she could begin, however, Paige reached over and took the spell back from Piper.

"Paige, what are you doing?" Piper asked irritably.

"Should we really be doing this? Isn't this like personal gain?"

"No," Piper replied quickly.

"But Piper, it is personal gain," said Phoebe. "You know it is. This kind of thing never works the way we expect it to and there's bound to be some kind of backlash."

"Well, so what if it is personal gain? After all we have done, don't we deserve a few answers," Piper argued. "I'm willing to take on the consequences if it means saving Wyatt. Aren't you?"

Paige and Phoebe both sighed and nodded in agreement. There isn't anything they wouldn't do to protect their little nephew.

Sighing loudly, Paige added, "I still think we should tell Chris about this. He is, after all, the one who came to the past to warn us about evil getting to Wyatt."

Piper turned on her and said, "Don't you mean Wyatt turning evil?" She still wasn't handling this information very well and was prone to snapping at everyone in her frustration over it.

"Well, yeah… but doesn't Chris have a right to know about the spell? He could even be of some help," Paige explained.

Phoebe shook her head. "Chris would never agree to this. As unconventional as he is, he still would never agree to a spell for personal gain."

"Well, what about Leo?" Paige continued. "Wyatt's his son, shouldn't he know about this."

"He wouldn't agree to this either," Piper interjected.

"But still…"

"Paige, why are you so opposed to this? Evil is what is responsible for turning Wyatt, so why can't magic help us find out what causes it?"

"I'm not opposed," Paige said quickly, holding up her hands to placate her sister. "I was just saying…"

"Let's just do this," Phoebe suggested, knowing that they could stand here all day and bicker over the details.

Paige handed the spell back to Piper, who was standing in the middle. The three sisters took a deep breath and began to chant,

"Innocence corrupted, A good witch turned, Protecting Wyatt is what we yearn. A future of darkness will come to be, Reveal the evil responsible to me."

They watched the Book of Shadows expectantly, but nothing happened. Not even a page had turned.

"Why didn't that work?" Piper said sadly. "I was so sure that was going to work."

"I had a feeling that it wouldn't," Phoebe muttered.

Piper shot her a dirty look and said, "I don't want to hear 'I told you so." I just want-"

Before she could finish what she was saying a swirl of bright yellow lights filled the attic, nearly blinding them. It was over almost quickly as it had begun.

"Okay, what just happened?" Piper asked.

"I don't know-" Phoebe began.

"Look!" Paige shouted, pointing to a man's still form lying crumpled on the rug in front of the old couch. They had been so blinded by the lights that they hadn't noticed him being deposited on the attic floor.

"Did the spell bring him here?" Piper asked in confusion, suddenly feeling very afraid. If this was the person responsible for turning Wyatt there was no telling how powerful he was. Her fingers twitched anxiously by her sides, ready to blow him up at a moments notice.

"Do you think he's friend of foe?" Phoebe asked, taking in his haggard appearance. "He doesn't exactly look like a demon."

The man looked as though he could have been homeless. His denim jeans and blue button-down shirt could hardly be distinguished under the level of dirt and grime covering them, not to mention that it was frayed from obvious years of use. He was thin, painfully so, and his hair was as dirty and unkempt as the rest of him.

"Well, neither did a lot of other demons we've gone up against. We better play it safe. Paige could you place some crystals around him," instructed Piper.

Paige nodded and gestured towards the bookshelves where they kept the crystals and then towards their unexpected guest. "Crystals… circle!"

The white crystals flew to the floor in a circular pattern and then glowed once, signaling the magical cage was in place. Phoebe grabbed some vanquishing potions from a nearby table just in case. Confident that they wouldn't come to any harm while questioning him, Piper stepped forward to see if they could figure out why the spell had brought this person here.

"Um, excuse me…. Hello!" Piper called loudly. She smirked when the man stirred slightly and seemed to roll over in his sleep. "Yeah, you! We have some questions…"

"Leave me alone," the man mumbled, his voice cracking from apparent lack of use. "I'm tired of these games."

"Yeah, see I'm not going to do that," she continued. "I need to talk to you. So if you don't mind sitting up…"

The man sighed wearily and gingerly pushed himself up to a seated position. Finally, he raised his eyes to look at them properly and Piper gasped in shock.

"LEO?"

A/N: Please leave a review if you like the story so far!