everything you wanted to know about portals but were afraid to ask

[ultleatherarmor]

who: prince james and chris halliwell
what: worlds accidentally collide
where: james's castle
when: not long pre-series for james; charmed episode 622 for chris.

Annette was here. Annette was here and part of James knew that he ought to be with her, wooing her, talking to her, and yet here he was, in the library. Oh, she was beautiful and talented

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[ghostlighter]

It didn't surprise Chris to appear in a library. Heck, it didn't totally surprise him that the library looked different than the one he had left. What got him was the fact that he was alone. Something had gone wrong; he'd felt it on his way through, the painful static cling of magic beginning to collapse. He stopped almost immediately outside the portal, twisting just in time to see it close behind him. Turning back toward the rest of the room, he cautiously glanced around.

He really was alone. Alone, somewhere unfamiliar, and without any of their backup potion or the Power of Three to send him back. Stones dropped in his gut and he swallowed reflexively, tense but far from freaking out just yet. He needed more information before he would freak out about it. Maybe the solution to this would be simple, maybe he just needed to find a reversal spell, something that didn't require the Power of Three. He could do this.

... but Chris was still worried over the man who should have come through with him. "Dad?"

[ultleatherarmor]

The voice made James stop short and blink. That sounded like Robin, and yet, why would he be asking for his father? Even worse, what was he doing here, in the middle of the day? He knew James's father didn't entirely approve of him.

With a shake of his head James moved forward again, rounding the last bookshelf to see Robin standing by the door he'd meant to leave by.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, moving up to the man and tugging him away from the window, into the alcove. "At this time of day; are you mad?" It could only be for something bad; the though made James exhale slowly. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

[ghostlighter]

Chris gave the new man a wide-eyed look, a little too surprised to resist being dragged until they were already in the alcove. Once they were there, he yanked his arm away and gave James an incredulous and confused look. What were those clothes the guy was wearing, anyway?

"Excuse me? Look-I'm pretty sure I didn't mean to come here," he explained, shaking his head and glancing out toward the rest of the room. "So if you could point me in the direction of your magical tome section, that'd be great."

[ultleatherarmor]

"What?" James blinked and shook his head. "Since when have you cared about magic--or been able to use it, for that matter? And what do you mean, you didn't mean to come here?"

Alright, this was confusing, and James knew it was showing on his face even while he took Robin's shoulders and looked him in the face with a frown. "Are you alright, Robin?"

[ghostlighter]

As soon as James took them, Chris rolled his shoulders and made to step out of the man's reach. "No," he answered, raising his hands to ward off further approach. "No, I'm not, because my name's not Robin. It's Chris. You've got me mistaken for someone else."

What the hell had gone wrong? More importantly: where was his father?