Love's Demonic Black Sheep

by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Set between "The Importance Of Being Phoebe" and "Centennial Charmed". An unexpected visitor arrives to make one last ditch effort to save Cole's life and another's belief in her ability to love.

1. Part 1

Love's Demonic Black Sheep (part 1) by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: Charmed is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling and co. I only own the character of Derrick Serkan Brady and the pieces of the storyline you are about to read that are not seen or hinted at on Charmed. Even the person I'd have portray Derrick on the show is not owned by me, as he works for a guy somewhere called Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Rating: T

Summary: Set between "The Importance Of Being Phoebe" and "Centennial Charmed". An unexpected visitor arrives to make one last ditch effort to save Cole's life and another's belief in her ability to love.

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NOTE: Let's face it, folks. If you are even remotely a Phoebe & Cole shipper, a Cole Turner fan, or just a general Julian McMahon fan (of which I am all three), I'm willing to bet you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that what happened in season 5 was an absolute travesty which completely bastardized everything Cole's character was about just to send Julian on his way to another show. In other words, it was complete vindictive crap. As a matter of fact, you've seen exactly what I'm talking about and reacted somewhere between shaking your head in disbelief and throwing a book at your TV screen in mad outrage.

So now I officially join the band of fanfic writers amongst those of you I'm probably addressing right now in the process of cooking up some written way to fix the utterly complete wrong that was the ruin and (at least partway) death of Cole Turner. What I'm trying to do with this fic, however, is not to magically change the entire picture of happening so that Cole ends up with Phoebe. That would be too obvious. What I'm trying to do here is to introduce a new character who I've already created in concept (and gone over with a few people) in a way that can hopefully rationalize the manure we witnessed and salvage as much as who Cole is as possible without changing the actual events of the Charmed storyline.

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The last four days, he'd been racking his mind over what could've gone wrong and what to do next. He seriously almost had it. He almost had her, in his grasp once again.

That plan to take control of the Manor was almost foolproof. That shape shifting succubus he used to carry it out was definitely unlike the seductress hired by the Seer to try to coerce him into forgetting Phoebe. The fact of the matter is, because Kaia seriously wanted him, he could depend on her both to invest herself in the plot and to be somewhat entertaining in her attempts to be Phoebe. But the biggest part of the plan was the necessity for the Halliwells' lives being turned upside down.

Between the lawsuit on the Bay Mirror over Phoebe's advice, the manipulated hit-and-run which led to Paige being arrested for vehicular homicide, and the warlock rats who caused P³ to close down, the Halliwells were left with nothing to pay for and no one to pay it. Kaia infiltrating the clan as a supposedly spellbound Phoebe while he kept the real Phoebe prisoner by means of pure fortune was the icing on the cake, as she held onto the receipt to the house until it was time to give it him inside, effectively allowing him to magically protect what was now his Manor against the sisters coming in.

Phoebe, however, was a different story. She was his love. She was the one he wanted to be with forever. So of course, she was allowed inside. Unfortunately for him, or at least for his plan, she'd learned all of Kaia's tricks and nuances a hell of a lot better than Kaia ever really bothered to know hers, which pretty much made it easy to get past the demons who were now following him at his side. However, by the time she'd managed to kill that obsessed vixen and get down to the basement just a few minutes later, he contained the Nexus and all of its ultimate power. He could rule the world and finally at that moment she arrived to turn Phoebe evil to be his forever. Unfortunately for his plan, as much as he loved Phoebe's determination and resourcefulness, she'd apparently conquered her fears of the Shadow. So when she said that spell, it took him under with the Nexus. His opportunity to turn her to his side was lost.

But the part of it that really killed him was what happened once he came back instead of staying buried under like the rest of the demons. She had the nerve to tell him that she thought he was dead and felt absolutely nothing for it! Though no one except he and Phoebe were there, that moment was as embarrassing as they come. The mere suggestion that this woman who he loved primarily because she was about feeling and passion, who he'd been working so hard to get back, Phoebe Halliwell, could possibly feel nothing, and especially for him after all they'd been through! How could Phoebe be that cruel to his heart? How could everything have come to this? … Then again, after sitting down and thinking about his own recent actions… how in the hell could he have been so cruel enough to come to this?

To anyone with a decent modicum of both a brain and a history with either Cole Turner or the Halliwell sisters that included recent times, the story between Cole and Phoebe was instantly obvious. Especially the fact of Cole's unrequited love for Phoebe. As a matter of fact, it probably ran obvious to everyone but him that his love for her was never going to be reciprocated again.

It's not that he never exactly thought about the possibility that he may have completely burned that emotional bridge with Phoebe at some point or another during all of this. It had just never hit him as any sort of a certainty until this past week with the latest attempt to get her back, and with what was going on inside of him, nothing was going to deter Cole from pursuing a rekindling of the flame that sparked his and Phoebe's whirlwind romance, an epic love story that he intended to see through to the end. The problem facing him was that maybe, just maybe, the end was here, and there was nothing he could do about it. All he could think about now as he sat on one of the sofas in his apartment was that somewhere within this whole twisted game of pursuit and keep away life was forcing them to play, she had gone from loving him more deeply than anyone had ever known to feeling absolutely nothing at the thought of his death. What really ate away at him was that he couldn't figure out why, or at what point the divide had caused her love for him to fall. Or at the very least, he couldn't figure out an answer that he would actually accept.

So now he thought long and hard about where he and Phoebe had gone wrong to begin with. In the beginning, he had been trying to get close to her as nothing more than a setup, a ploy. He, the great and terrible demon Belthazor, was sent by the Triad to infiltrate the Charmed Ones using his human form in order to get close enough to destroy them, which was the only reason he'd ever approached Phoebe after seeing her at that trial. In due time, however, he'd begun to get captivated into something he'd been conditioned to forget about a century ago. Suddenly struck by the spark of Phoebe's fiery passion and very real determination to fight to be accepted by and to protect those she cares about, which only became more poignant as that came to include him in a very real way, he found a side of himself awakening for the first time in seemingly forever, yet at the same time feeling completely natural to him as it did so: his humanity. The part of himself he'd been taught and conditioned to completely repress in all his time as a demon. Of course, he'd be a liar if he said the fact that she had an endlessly adorable face and voluptuous body didn't help the process at all. Also of course, all this meant he'd fallen in love with her, just the same as she with him, and suddenly he didn't want his assignment to infiltrate the Charmed Ones to end. Moreover, he didn't even want to kill them anymore.

On a base level, he still was concocting and halfway-executing plans to kill the Charmed Ones. Looking back today, he didn't really understand why; probably just to keep up appearances before the Triad. But that wasn't important; what was important was that as soon as he saw or even thought of Phoebe, he completely lost the heart to go through with it. When he was finally caught as Belthazor, he took Phoebe away and finally confessed the truth, and was even willing to allow her to kill him. Moved by the her own love for him in spite of his demonic half, she helped him fight off the demon who helped her sisters track him down, before actually faking the vanquish he'd asked for. He'd never forgotten that moment.

A few weeks later, he surprisingly found his way back into the Manor, helping Phoebe and Prue out of some jams, as well as trying his hand at repressing his demonic nature, which was basically the exact same thing he'd done before except in the opposite direction. Though he and Phoebe continue to get closer and the rest of the family came to accept him, including the latest Charmed One and Phoebe and Piper's baby half-sister Paige, who was discovered after Prue's death, it became increasingly harder to accomplish, what with the demons trying to advance their standing by accomplishing the task of the bounty on his head and the jilted innocents whose families he took lives from back in his day that wanted to kill him. When they'd finally vanquished his demonic half only together, they thought that if he could just get used to being a mortal, a human, that everything would be find and he could be with Phoebe forever. Boy, were they wrong.

Thanks to that damn Seer and the entity of the Source concocting a plan that preyed on his desire to protect and be with Phoebe, he ended up being repressed within his own body by the most powerful demonic entity of all time, watching from inside himself while the Source, as him, manipulated Phoebe so as to impregnate her with the ultimate Hellspawn. While overpowered early, he was able to fight back the Source thanks to the power of his love and the fact that this was his own body, but by then the Source had already done so much that fighting it back meant allowing Phoebe to see the long-held-back premonition of everything he'd done, and to fear him. Along the way, the Seer and the Source-child manipulated Phoebe into stopping his only opportunity to get rid of the Source within himself, forcing them to embrace evil together as the Source and his Queen. Needless to say, despite her dark innermost predilections, the Seer's tonic, and his own absolute best efforts, she had absolutely no true will to be evil. This, combined with her love for her family, meant his vanquish as the Source, which he accepted because it was at her hand. And honestly, he needed that.

Because even though he was ready to accept his final fate for what he'd done to Phoebe, as much against his own will as it was anybody's, by some crazy twist of fate he ended up coming back from the wasteland filled with so much power he was more than well-nigh invincible. And with those powers he was determined to get Phoebe back no matter what, to that effect first saving her from a witch hunter. Clearly, though, she didn't realize his struggle with the Source, and she was still deathly afraid of him as much as she loved him. Which was why she wanted to rush to divorce him, and why she became turned into a mermaid by a tracking spell and easily addicted to the prospect of running free into the sea forever. At first they all thought it was hate, to which end Paige and Darryl eventually convinced him that he needed to leave San Francisco forever. But then Paige and Cole realized the true cause and forced her to admit it to herself - though the fear being there as well as the love meant she wasn't ready to accept him back into her life.

So he then tried to prove himself to her, by basically using his powers to be a hero. Here was the problem: they were still demonic powers. Meaning the slightest even unintentional manipulation could turn him against her and force them to fight each other. In his desire to be with Phoebe at all costs, Cole refused to listen until something actually happened. And even after that, he killed a slumlord using his powers in order to protect her secret. In due time, the evilness crawling around inside him and the drove him to a point where after a brief spell of trying to commit suicide in a thousand different ways, one involving manipulating the Charmed Ones yet again, all to no avail. Succumbing to his evils in al his desperation now, Cole next attempted to get Phoebe back through evil means, one involving working with the infamous Jeric and hoping to give him Paige's body to match with the soul of his dead lover Isis, the other the latest plan to take over the Halliwell Manor and use the Nexus to turn Phoebe evil.

Turn Phoebe evil… really? Magically manipulate Phoebe against everything she stood for? Change her, change everything that he ever loved about her, just to have her by his side? That was his idea? That was the best he could come up with? That was what he was capable of thinking of to do? No wonder she could feel nothing for him by only eight months since his return!

"What the fuck was I thinking?" he quickly muttered to himself, actually feeling the need to make a mental note in the process excusing his language to himself. In any case, after just realizing that he had come up with a plan that was destined to either fail or reduce his own love for Phoebe to a speck of dust, he finally came to a realization: the answer to gaining Phoebe's heart again most definitely did not lie within his powers.

No, how could they? That was impossible; he'd seen that now. All relying on his powers in some form or another had done for him was cost him the love of his life. There had to be another way to change things, to give him the opportunity to win Phoebe back, or at the very least make it up to her. All he knew now was that it did not lie with the ashes of the Underworld, and the only other idea he had involved certain people he'd been trying to put off talking to for awhile.

He didn't even notice the strange light and sound of the red orbing that just occurred inside his home. He also didn't even hear the booted footsteps coming his way. Only when his name was called did he actually respond.

"You know, that actually was a really good question," burst the male visitor's voice, causing the black-haired man to suddenly jolt back into reality as he looked at his visitor.

"Whoa," he started, almost in marvel at… well, basically the audacity of the sight before him. Right in front of him was a relatively tall man, probably a couple inches or so above his own height, sporting blue jeans and a long open red leather trench coat. The guy had wavy long blonde hair, scruffy facial hair along thin lips and a protruding chin, and red-framed black sunglasses over his eyes. The audacious thing was the open trench coat with no shirt underneath, thanks to which Cole bore witness to a well-conditioned (though not overwhelming at all) chest and midsection, which he actually saw before scanning the guy and making notes of his face and attire.

Having finally taken a measure of this man, the invincible demonic human finally stood up and walked over in the direction of his visitor. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" was the first question he asked.

"You might figure it out once you hear my middle name, for which I can thank my demonic parent;" the taller blonde man began, leaving Cole to anticipate it for a few seconds before he said it: "Serkan." And suddenly, Cole's eyes lit up as if he did recognize him.

"Wait, so the legend is true," Cole uttered in wonder. "You're Derrick Serkan Brady, the Double-Edged Child. The one born of both a whitelighter and a vampire. Though I'd heard your clan was killed back in 1989, so how could you still be alive?"

"Hey, thanks for confirming something I already figured, but I was never turned into a vampire, Like you yourself just said, I was born one and a whitelighter. Meaning, I don't belong to a clan unless I start one myself, nor does my life depend upon a king or a queen," the newly revealed hybrid of legend now explained. "See, the second I chose to embrace the vampire side of my nature, along with my whitelighter half back when I actually was a child, It became established that I am one. Got it?"

"I'm gonna assume that this is not what you came to talk me about is it?" Cole then asked before this simply became a pointless battle of wits.

"You're right. It's not," Derrick finally admitted after a short pause. "You see, Cole, I actually came here… to save your life." Cole just looked at him dumbfounded, having no clue what the hell this blonde punk was talking about. Save his life? There was no threat… that is, unless Serkan was coming to warn him of those self-assured sisters of Phoebe's coming to vanquish him. But why would he do that? It's not like the two men ever knew each other. And there was no way Serkan was offering a partnership against the Halliwells, because according to what Cole had heard, this guy refused to ever harm any witch.

"To save my life?" he questioned the hybrid, as nothing else came to him to do. When Derrick didn't answer for three seconds, Cole finally got agitated. "Either talk now, or get out. I'm not in the mood for anyone to waste my time."

"Good. I have your attention," Derrick noted, before taking a few steps to the right while processing his words. "You see, uh… we've been watching you."

"We? Who's we?" Cole immediately demanded.

"Myself along with someone else who wants to warn you that what you're doing is going to kill you," Derrick replied, staying both blunt and vague at the same time. There's a word for that, actually: it's called cryptic. And Cole did not appreciate cryptic in the least right now.

"Get out," he then ordered, officially tired of his guest.

"No, no, no; zip it- listen to me," Derrick persisted. Cole sardonically puffed and shook his head in disbelief. "You've done absolutely nothing for yourself since you've been back but try, and try again, to get Phoebe back. What's it done for you, exactly, except make the entire family, including Phoebe, think to sooner vanquish you than ever help you again? And to top it all off, we've seen into the future, and from what we've seen, if you're gonna continue this way, then you're gonna die."

"What, does your friend have some sort of clairvoyant powers?" Cole then asked incredulously, before something suddenly dawned on him. "You're in league with a Seer, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" the blonde asked, trying to diffuse suspicions which he had to have known were there for good reason.

"Because if so, I have no wish to be involved with their kind ever again. And considering you and yours have been watching me, you should know why I feel that way," Cole retorted, the disgust at anything Seer-related clearly hinted in his voice.

"Let me guess: because it's the Source's Seer that cost you Phoebe's love, your first new lease on life. Well, guess what: my Seer, and I, are here to give you another one before you continue to chase Phoebe's love all the way to your grave!" Derrick decisively… no, commandingly remarked. Yet it still never fazed the former Source-possessed demonic human.

"Phoebe's love is worth everything. Even my life, if need be," Cole near-silently explained to him once again, hoping for his own peace that this guy would get it and leave.

"She's worth your life? Are you kidding me? She stopped being worth your life the moment she helped end it the first time," Derrick strongly argued, continuing to persist.

"That was my fault, because I became the Source of All Evil. And even if what you're saying is true, I still feel the same way about it," Cole once again tried to reason his feelings of love, and perhaps even some previously unexplored guilt, to the argument of the guy in the red trench coat. "You wouldn't understand, because you've never been with Phoebe Halliwell. Someone so passionate, so lively, so beautiful… she transformed my entire life, you know. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably still be killing random witches for the Source as it is. But instead, I've discovered my humanity, who I truly am. So I think you could at least try to understand why Phoebe is worth all the effort I have to give, even if it bleeds my heart out!"

"Fact: no woman is worth destroying yourself unless she wouldn't let you! Phoebe today - not when she first found out you were Belthazor, not when she lost Prue, not when you tried to be human, but today - could personally witness you were self-destructing and not even lift a finger to help you!" Derrick countered defiantly, the strength of his convictions even more evident in the steely gray eyes which were revealed as he took off his shades. "And as for her love transforming you and awakening who you are: you're not really doing too well with that these days, are you?"

"You're right, Serkan. That's why I need her back. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be at the mausoleum," Cole explained, turning his back to Derrick and taking a few steps away. "The way to getting her back doesn't lie within my powers, but maybe I can get some inspiration from the second safest place I know in order to figure out where it is." He then attempted to fade away from Derrick, but the blonde caught his shoulder in time, and ended up fading with him into the mausoleum. Immediately upon being there, Derrick pulled at Cole's shoulder to turn him back around, not finished with him yet.

"Just what the hell don't you understand about what I'm trying to tell you!? If you keep going down this path of chasing after Phoebe's love again like some unattainable holy grail, then you, are going, to die! Jeez!" Serkan replied, totally exasperated. "How can you not get this? It's like I'm talking to a sick, lost puppy here." Cole sighed; as now he had no choice but to explain to this guy what he was utterly failing to understand:

"That's exactly what I am without Phoebe."

"Then you're a complete and total fool. But what else should I have expected? Thanks to your mother's demonic conditioning from the day you were born, you've been screwing up your entire life," Derrick countered, Cole's sudden surging scowl showing the vamp-lighter hybrid that he'd just struck a nerve.

"SHUT UP!!! You know nothing about my life!!!" a now flabbergasted Cole shouted in all his fury.

"Oh, really? Then how come I know that for over 115 years, you've shunned and despised your humanity just so you could be a powerful ruthless demon? And how come I know that when you fell in love with Phoebe, you tried to shun and despise your own demonhood the exact same way, even to the point where you allowed it to be vanquished - which, may I add, was the absolute worst mistake of your life!?" Derrick shouted, having somehow read Cole's history like the summary of a book. The black-haired ex-demon had to hand it to his meddling "friend": he certainly was thorough in his research. As the silence swept over their anger and cooler heads took hold once again, Derrick sighed before continuing.

"Did you ever wonder why you were able to turn good as Belthazor, but your current powers have completely messed with your psyche to the point where you just lost Phoebe forever?" he then asked, Cole's responsive silence being the kind interpretable as yes. "It's because Belthazor, unlike these new demonic powers and needless to say the Source, was an innate part of you, whether you liked it or not. For as much as you've outright shunned ever being Belthazor as some sort of atonement exercise, your demonic half instinctively recognized you and the power of your love for Phoebe, and out of a newfound respect for your humanity, actually allowed itself to yield to you. When you vanquished that half, you left a void which more powerful demonic entities and mixes with absolutely no respect for your conscience could've and most definitely have entered and invaded your very psyche."

"I have… quite the long memory, as you know, and from what I can tell, you've never been in my body. Not to mention that neither whitelighters nor vampires have telepathic abilities. So please tell me, how in the world can you know all this about me?" Cole demanded, coolly but menacingly, as if he knew Derrick had been watching him even more intently than he'd let on somehow, perhaps for some disingenuous purposes.

"My guardian, the witch that raised me, was someone who taught me to embrace all of who I am. She not only encouraged me to understand both sides of my nature, she offered all that she could to understand me with me. So I know this because the blood coursing through my veins contains both whitelighter and vampire traits, all of which coexist in exact harmony because of an acquired cell-level form of mutual respect," Derrick continued and replied, leaving Cole with an impressed type of clarity with was evident in his open-mouthed nod. "On the other hand, Cole, your current powers have intentionally, endlessly led you to believe that the answer to rekindling the flame of your love actually lied in their darkness when all it did was put it out and bury it. And if you continue trying to get her back, my Seer and I have already seen that it will put out your humanity and bury you."

A few seconds of silence came over the two men. Struck with impression at how Derrick drew on his own bodily genetics and experiences in addition to apparently very keen Seer-assisted watch on him to understand the entire situation as it was, Cole now actually started to legitimately contemplate Derrick's words. Meanwhile, the younger hybrid was hoping that he was getting through to Cole and would be able to redirect his course, a shaky confidence rising with every second Cole stood in mere thought.

"What is your Seer's name?" Cole then asked after what seemed like an eternity. Surprisingly to him, Derrick suddenly froze in shock, as if something huge had just hit him. "What? Cat got your tongue? Hiding something? How is it that you can tell me so much about watching my past, present, and future with a Seer but you can't even tell me this Seer's name?"

"Huh? Oh, wait. I'm not hiding anything. It's just that… well, behind me, you're only the second person who's ever asked my Seer's name," Derrick somberly admitted. "You and I are the only ones who've ever been concerned enough to know that much."

"Well, my concern, Serkan, is-"

"Derrick. Please. I would think that you and I can be good on a first name basis," Derrick instantly cut into Cole's reply to express.

"If you insist. Now, Derrick, my concern is that your Seer has the balls to show me this much honesty that the last Seer I encountered could never show," Cole expressed, dismissing any sentimental value his gesture could be interpreted as having. "Come to think of it I'm actually surprised not to once get a reply about how this was, none of, my… business…" He stopped, as something suddenly seemed to dawn on him. He then gave Derrick an easily knowing gaze, which left him a little quizzical. "What's her name?"

"Huh? Wait, what gives you the idea that it's a she?" Derrick asked, his tone finally seeming to get a little defensive. This only confirmed to Cole what he was actually about to tell the blonde with the rock star appearance how he'd already reasoned.

"You once said something about how no woman is worth destroying yourself unless she wouldn't let you, as if you were speaking from experience. You speak so fondly of your Seer, insist that you guys genuinely wanna save me, and based on how me simply asking for a name was so meaningful you froze in your tracks, I take it this is one of the few Seers who's not a snob," Cole replied, not even hesitating for a second to get into detail. "Based on all this, I can only guess that your Seer is not only a woman, but she's also someone you're very close with. Besides, I've never really dealt personally with a male Seer before in all my time. Now, the name, please?"

Derrick could only stand in awe at how well Cole had managed to deduce these facts about his Seer just now. Now he knew for a fact that this was truly the man he'd been looking for all along. That level of understanding could only come from someone who'd not only experienced what it meant to truly care for someone, but who had enough of a rational thinking cap on to relay that understanding almost perfectly. He wasn't the obsessed maniac manipulated hopelessly by his own powers anymore into ignorantly dismissing all warnings that the road he was taking to get to Phoebe would instead lead to death. His innate goodness was shining through once again and he finally knew who he was once more. He'd come to his senses again. The real Cole Turner had returned.

"It… it's Kyra," Derrick finally confessed once he had his marbles about him once again.

"Say that again?" Cole requested, having been caught by such surprise when the other man finally said something that he didn't catch what exactly it was.

"Her name. My Seer's name is Kyra," Derrick repeated himself. Cole smiled.

"Well, give Kyra my thanks. For the honesty you two have shown me today, and for actually caring about my well-being," Cole acknowledged, all sense of confrontation now gone from his voice. "Admittedly, that's more than I can say for Phoebe and her sisters recently."

"You can thank her yourself when you come with us," Derrick offered. Much to his surprise and chagrin, Cole shook his head, that smile still on his face. "Hold on a sec, you're not gonna come with us?"

"Sorry. As enticing as the offer is to join you two in whatever cause or plan that you might have in mind, there's no way that I can right now. Not with my current powers, and not with this situation between me and Phoebe right now," Cole replied began his reply, quickly continuing with a finger up as he saw Derrick about to open his mouth to speak. "Don't worry. I've listened to what you've had to say. And I believe you. But the way I figure it now, if I'm to die at Phoebe's hands, I'm willing to endure that fate because of the suffering I've dealt to her."

"Wait, so you're taking everything I said into account and you're still gonna try and shoot for Phoebe's affections?" Derrick questioned, not quite certain if Cole was back to his old self anymore.

"While it's true that what I'm about to do is a last ditch effort to be with Phoebe again, it's not about obsessively wanting her back anymore," Cole tried to reassure him. "It's about my atonement. I've been putting this off for too long. It's something that could take me anywhere between getting Phoebe back and dying at Halliwell hands. It's the only way to find out where I'm truly headed now. I promise you that if I don't come out of this either with Phoebe or dead, I'll come and join you in an instant. But hopefully, you can understand why I should want this."

"Well, as much as I don't like this, if you really feel like this is what you have to do, then-"

"I do," Cole explained, interrupting his red trench coat-wearing friend. "I can't circumvent my fate. Whatever it is, I have to find out as soon as possible so I can accept it. If I'm meant to die anytime soon because of what I've done to Phoebe, then how can I join you two and risk your safety along with me?" Realizing and accepting his point, Derrick sighed.

"Okay. I get why you feel this way, I understand it now," the Double-Edged One finally conceded. "It's a shame, though, as you really could've been a huge help to us. But, uh, especially since I get a feeling you're gonna need it where I think you're going… good luck."

"No need for it, friend. I'm ready for this, whatever comes of it," Cole assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks again… and farewell, my brother. Remember to give your Seer my regards." Cole then took his hand off of Derrick, and finally faded away, presumably back into the penthouse to enact his plan. Derrick, as if in unfortunate acceptance of the final result of his attempt to dissuade his newfound "brother", sighed and nodded in understanding before leaving in a sea of red orbs.

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NOTE: As you can see, what I was trying to do was find some way to explain and even rationalize the entire situation of Cole, specifically that utter complete debacle that was season 5. I find myself a little disappointed here because I could never quite get into depth enough on the part where Phoebe and her sisters just innately began to fear him beyond any kinship he may have ever established with them solely on the premise that he was ever the Source of All Evil. I did mention that they (or specifically Phoebe) didn't realize that Cole had been taken over rather than intentionally become the Source, but I don't think I even included that in the argument between Derrick and Cole, which probably would've made for some interesting dialogue.

However, as I was writing this, something came to me. While I never agreed with the way season 5 treated Cole in terms of both his character and those surrounding him, I'd always thought the point at which Cole was first truly doomed was when the Seer tricked him into taking in the Hollow to help the Charmed Ones vanquish the Source. Because that only resulted in vanquishing the Source as in the demon who was the Source at the time, but never the entity or the powers. That, through the Hollow, was allowed free access to the void in Cole's body and soul where his demonic half had been, allowing the parasite all the room in the world to take over him. But that still didn't explain how in season 5 he had completely lost his marbles and thought the answer to getting Phoebe back lied solely in his powers in some form or another. Considering that this happened only in season 5 after he came back with the Underworld's ashes festering inside him, I knew that I needed to go deeper.

So as I wrote this piece and thought about this whole situation, I actually came to the realization that the moment Cole was in fact destined to fail was the moment he allowed the Charmed Ones' power-stripping potion to be used on him and vanquish Belthazor from within. Because even though he'd been conditioned to embrace only his demonic nature as Belthazor and totally shun his humanity as Cole Turner for 115 years since the day he was born, his humanity had always been there, lying dormant, waiting for a spark to arrive and awaken it. When that spark came in the form of his love for Phoebe Halliwell, he and the sisters felt it was necessary to shun his demonic half in order for him to be good. Especially after that incident with Raynor and the murdered witch. Hence why anyone ever felt a vanquishing or power-stripping potion was even necessary.

But what everyone forgot to take into account is that without being expressly magically manipulated in some form or another, Belthazor never pushed Cole back in the direction of evil after he fell for Phoebe. How was this possible, and especially compared to the Source which directly invaded and subjugated Cole, and these new demonic powers suddenly messing with his mind in such a completely senseless manner? Simply put, it's the exact same explanation I had Derrick give to Cole. Belthazor and Cole were two vastly different halves of one and the same. They were innately connected, as part of one another. So when Cole reawakened in spite of all the past conditioning of all his 115 years, Belthazor respected him enough to allow him control. Kinda like how the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from Naruto respects Naruto, but on a more intrinsic level.

The Source, however, as well as all what a Mortal Kombat fan could probably describe as "the Ermac of demonic powers" that Cole obtained in escaping the wasteland, never had that natural connection with Cole. Therefore, those entities never had the respect for the being he truly was. The Source had absolutely no qualms with directly taking over Cole, and his demonic ash conglomeration of powers messed with his mental capacity for reason… probably within five seconds of the first power that he got there. The fact that those in full were stronger power entities than Belthazor could only worsen the problem.

Notice how in "Centennial Charmed", when Alpha (the Avatar leader) tells Cole that in his new alternate reality he's still Belthazor, he retorts by recalling that it was as Belthazor when he and Phoebe were at their best? That, not Paige, would be the real reason why. As he's not relying on his demonic powers anymore as an Avatar, one would think he would have a little more clarity. Thus, the fact that he had Paige killed off in his new alternate reality can probably account for two reasons: one being personal fun because he and Paige never truly liked each other that much, the other being Belthazor was vanquished after she came into the fold and Cole figured without one happening nor would the other. And his stubborn refusal to listen to Alpha and call off what he was doing before it was too late can be attributed to the idea that he never intended to stop and join the Avatar collective, only to see his fate through already so he could accept it. The contrition Cole showed in "The Seven Year Witch" and his off-screen role in the events leading to that episode for both Piper and Phoebe would support that theory.

I originally created the character of Derrick Serkan Brady with a different storyline in mind that didn't involve Cole - though part of his personality would involve considering himself as better than Cole for obvious reasons. But when I was suddenly moved to try to reason this whole thing out somehow, I realized that using my vampire-whitelighter hybrid character to help Cole feel his way around through this was probably the best bet. Certainly no one connected to the Halliwells was even willing to speak to Cole, let alone understand him or want to help him out, and a good-and-evil hybrid character was perfect to try to reason to Cole what he was going through. Plus, obviously, I already had it in mind for Derrick to be associated with a certain someone who could observe from afar that way and who at heart could never truly be evil.

Now look at the title. Next to it says part 1 in parentheses. That means a part 2 focusing on the relationship of Derrick and Kyra is definitely coming soon. As a matter of fact, you may find some sort of ulterior motive for this whole situation involving Derrick, Kyra, and Cole. Before anyone asks: yes, the Kyra in question is the Seer from season 7 that was played by Charisma Carpenter - not to be confused with the Seer that manipulated Cole. And no, specifically to those who don't know this, I did not give her the name Kyra, nor did any other fanfic writer. The name was revealed in her conversation with Piper after she was turned human and before she got destroyed by the master of evil cunning bastards himself, Zankou. (Oded Fehr, if you by some insane stroke of luck ever come to read this, know that the "evil cunning bastard" part was said in good fun.)

Show of hands if you're curious as to who I see portraying Derrick, maybe? Yes? No? Well, let's just say I enjoyed writing Edge's lines under a different persona. Some of you may know just who I'm talking about, and if you do, you know exactly what I mean. That's my cue to split, everybody. Don't forget to review and expect a part 2.

-Pac.