Hellstorm
Chapter 1: Forecast
Author's Note: Set before Centennial Charmed. I wanted to take things a different route. Phoebe Cole
Coursing through him were the powers of over a hundred demons, pushing and tugging and in many cases overlapping, an invisible feast of power that made much more than he was. Cole Turner had become a terror. However, it was what he didn't have that made him that made him so much more dangerous. They said it was better to have loved and lost…
He stalked through a long cave system of the Underworld, the dirt below his feet mixing with the ash of fallen demons. Before him were the bright flashes of vanquish after vanquish; he ceased having to throw the energy balls at his targets. He simply willed them to die and perish they did. Even their screams were dull and hollow. He felt less, saw less, heard less.
In the beginning they had tried to serve him, responding instantly to his overwhelming power and will, then they had tried to steer him in the direction of their enemies when they discovered that he was beyond reach, and after that they fled from him, simply trying to stay out of his way. They understood that he had become a raging storm that a smart individual would just wait to blow over. Word had begun to spread. What would have happened if he had done this with a Source on the throne. Perhaps it was fortunately that there wasn't.
A demon shimmered into view, casually adjusting his overcoat before he noticed the acrid smell of death, saw the signs of destruction. When he turned, there in the hollow tunnel of pain and anger, Cole could only see the demon he saw in the mirror, the man who ruined his chances with Phoebe, that which had prevented all of his efforts from bearing the fruit he so desired. Sometimes it was the Seer, sometimes it was the black hood of the Source before him, sometimes his former mentor, sometimes Phoebe, sometimes even himself. He'd tried killing himself; it hadn't worked and the agony remained. So maybe if he destroyed everything else…
He watched the demon evaporate before his power, almost like an ice cube before a jet engine. Cole paused for a moment, looking at the scorch marks lining the cavern, the floor where there was more ash than dirt, and willed himself to the Wasteland. He fished through his consciousness for the ability to seek out the essences of the recently slain demons, and then willed those orbs of sparkling light to him, and into his being. There was a brief struggle, as there was always, as they resisted bonding inside of him, tried to fill him to bursting, but he suppressed them the way he had subjugated the others. Demons worshipped strength, and that power grew from pain. Cole towered above all the other powers inside of him, and he showed them all his pain and the resolve that had grown from it. There was nothing they could do but submit.
"So, what is the plan now, I wonder," the smaller man said, glancing at Cole under salt and pepper eyebrows. He looked past him and regarded the Wasteland with obvious distaste. "You have learned nothing from your failures, you were once a brilliant mind Cole, look at what you've become, a deranged hate fiend, a mindless gorger," Cole all at once came to his senses, sensing the other man more than heard him. Layers upon layers of powers showed him the other man's various protections and shields. He sneered. "With your joining us, becoming an Avatar, there also comes an overwhelming peace, no more straddling the line. I know that's what you want, Cole," Cole's vision cleared as he ceased concentration. He looked at the man, his thin frame, beady eyes, and suddenly rigid posture. He shook his head.
"If you've been stalking me for all these past months, and you think that's what I really want, you haven't paid attention at all," and willed himself elsewhere. His rage subsided, Cole felt the press of self-pity and sadness. He raised his head slightly to see the neon sign of the bar then trudged across the street. For rage, he had discovered an endless font of demons that looked like him, smelled like him, he knew where to find them, how to kill them. They helped him feel better, at least marginally. For pity, he used alcohol. Once inside, he slammed a fistful of cash on the bar.
"Vodka," he barked. The tender walked up, curious if Cole had come from another bar, he looked drunk already. "Leave the bottle," Cole said, responding to the proffered shot glass.
Piper concentrated, displaying with absolute confidence that the food she was about to feed her son was disgusting and looked every bit of it. She had to admit, secretly, that there really was something odd about how healthy food tasted terrible. She smiled her best smile and swept the tiny spoon towards her son. An inch from his face young Wyatt realized that the green goop was just the red goop from yesterday and recoiled backwards, waving his hands frantically.
"Oh, Wyatt, baby no," Piper panicked. "It's good, tasty. You like it, it's good for you!" the last part in vain as the spoon and the bowl disappeared from his hand and lap and ended up on the floor. Piper dropped the charade and sighed, bringing her hands to the sides of her face, smoothing her hair backwards and leaning back in the chair. As if on cue, tiny blue lights filtering down from the ceiling coalesced into her husband. Leo looked down at the floor. He raised an eyebrow.
"Still not eating?" he asked. Piper rose from her seat, shaking her head.
"I can get him to eat popcorn, ice cream, but the healthy stuff, it doesn't matter what color it is or how it smells,"
"Or what kind of airplane noises you make?" She made a face at her husband, and swatted his chest, suddenly with an odd look on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked. She looked up into his eyes.
"You don't have anything negative to report," she railed inwardly against her gut feeling. "Do you?" Leo looked down, grinning at his amazing wife.
"No, I was up there for a weekly report, you know just checking in. No grim portents, no evil prophecies," he shrugged, seeming to think little else of it. Furthering that, he stepped away from her and opened a door to the refrigerator. At that Wyatt, tried turning around in his chair, interested in what his parents were doing suddenly. Piper watched her husband interact with their son, and she began to get a sneaking suspicion. Well, two sneaking suspicions. The first was that her husband was responsible for their son's lack of interest in healthy baby foods. Leo made faces at Wyatt, gesturing to various adult foods as if taking the baby's order. Piper frowned. The second of her conclusions definitely had the possibility of being more dire, but she made a mental note to reprimand her husband later. Right then, Piper had a bad feeling brewing.
A/N: Hope you enjoy it, please read and review!