Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, except for the ones that were not created by the Charmed writers.
Chapter 1:
The last thing Cole remembered seeing was the potion being thrown at him. The very next second, he was covered in fire and he blacked out. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was lying on a mountain of some sort. He got up warily, looking around at the surroundings. "Where am I?"
"Welcome, Mr. Turner." A voice said behind him.
Cole quickly turned to the source of the voice. The stranger was a normal-looking human man, but Cole moved back a few feet. "Who are you? What do you want? Where am I?"
"So many questions." The stranger chuckled, "You can call me Lou."
"Well, where am I? Do you live here or something?"
Lou looked around at the surroundings and laughed, "Actually, I don't. A lot of people have the misconception that I live here all the time, but I actually travel a lot. I go all over the Earth."
"You still haven't told me what I'm doing here."
Lou sighed sympathetically, "It must have been horrible, hasn't it? The love of your life rejected you and then vanquished you. Even before, your life had been a series of unfortunate events."
Cole sighed impatiently, "How do you know all of this? What are you? My fairy godfather? My guardian angel?"
Lou smiled, "Well, yes! Think of me as an angel." Seeing Cole's unconvinced expression, he continued, "I'm here to help you. If you tell me your greatest wish, I can grant it."
Cole's suspicions arose. "Why are you doing this?"
"The Angel of Destiny told me about you and how much you suffered. You have been through so much. So, I have been sent to grant your greatest wish. Tell me what your heart desires more than anything in the world. Tell me what would make you the happiest person on Earth."
Cole stood silent for a while, wondering if this would actually be real. Lou seemed to have guessed the reason for Cole's hesitation, "Don't worry, Mr. Turner. I can assure you that this is very real."
Cole took a deep breath. Here he was talking to this guy who apparently would grant his greatest wish. Here was his chance for a perfect life.
"I want to be with Phoebe. I know she just vanquished me, but I love her. I want to be married to her and raise a family with her. I want to share my life with her. That is my greatest dream. That would make me very happy."
Lou nodded understandingly, "Very well. Just close your eyes and keep thinking of that life."
Cole's eyelids started to become heavy. "And then what?" He asked sleepily, but his mind drifted away before Lou could respond.
His eyes opened slowly and he found himself lying on a floor. After blinking a few times, he looked again, noting the colors of red and black on the ceiling, floor, and walls. He then noticed the ring on his finger. Taking it off, he held it close to his face and grinned happily as he saw the words SOUL MATE and TRUE LOVE inscribed on the ring.
'I can't believe it! I'm actually with Phoebe. I'm MARRIED to Phoebe!'
He quickly got up and ran up the stairs out of the room. The house did not seem like a bad place at all, but he was definitely not in the Manor. As Cole explored his house, he found out that there were seven main rooms. Strangely, each room appeared to be flooded by a certain color, down to every last detail. Opening the door to the last room, he saw a bed with a sleeping figure.
'Phoebe!' He moved closer to see her beautiful face, looking serene as she slept. He leaned down and gently kissed her on the lips. He moved back slightly when she started moving and finally opened her eyes.
"Hi Phoebe." Cole greeted her quietly, masking his nervousness. He had just been vanquished by her.
"Hi Cole." She replied...and that was all.
As she got up and moved to the bathroom, he stared after her, wondering why she had not jumped into his arms in joy. Feeling starved, he made his way to the orange-walled kitchen and was about to gorge like a glutton on the food in the refrigerator when he noticed a teenage girl eating at the table.
She barely glanced at him, "We have no more cereal."
Cole kept staring in shock. The girl got up from the table and was about to leave the room with some books, when she noticed him staring. She looked back towards Cole with an expression of confusion written all over her face.
"Are you okay?"
He had no doubt that she must be his daughter. Though, she had inherited some of her mother's traits, she looked almost like a female version of himself.
"Uh, yes...daughter." He winced silently as he realized that he didn't even know her name. He glanced at the books she was holding and beamed as he noticed they were about law and attorneys.
Phoebe came into the kitchen, "I have to go to work early today. Pamela, I don't want you to stay out late, all right?"
The girl rolled her eyes, "Don't worry. I'll be with Wyatt, Chris, and Mel."
As she left, Cole turned back to Phoebe, "So, honey, how are you?"
Phoebe didn't look up from the magazine she had grabbed, "I'm fine."
Cole put his arms around, startling her. He pulled her closer and kissed her passionately. When Phoebe pulled away from him, she looked at him with an unreadable expression.
"Phoebe? Is everything all right?"
"Yes...I'm late for work, Cole." She ran out the door, but not before she at least gave him a half-hearted smile.
"Phoebe, wait!" Cole called after her, now bewildered by what was going on. Baffled by her behavior, he went to the living room and called out, "What's going on here, Lou? You're the one who created this reality!"
There was no response and all he could do was to stare at the light blue walls of the living room.
'Now what? Should I just go to my job? Should I go after Phoebe and talk to her? Should I keep calling for Lou?'
However, he felt strangely sluggish as a sloth and gave up on all three ideas. He decided to just wait for Phoebe to come home. He lay on the couch and the light blue color of the living room slowly lulled him to sleep.
Cole woke up at the sound of the front door opening and people laughing. Phoebe, Pamela, and some guy came into the living room.
"Cole! We didn't know you were here! Coop just dropped me and Pam off."
Coop greeted Cole, "Hey! How's the case you're working on?"
"Great! Just...great." Cole replied, staring cautiously at the newcomer.
"Why don't you have something to eat?" Phoebe asked Coop.
"I'm not hungry, Phoebe."
Cole took Pam aside, "So, uh, this...Coop gives her a ride to home...a lot?"
Pam answered casually, "Well, he's her best friend. He's been close to this family for a long time."
Cole went to the next room, observing his wife and her colleague. It appeared that they were chatting about a letter someone had sent to them. But as the conversation went on, he felt more and more left out. It seemed like they were speaking a language that was only intelligible to the two of them.
Cole loved to see Phoebe's smile. He loved to hear the sound of her laugh. He liked to hear her talk animatedly about anything. But at the moment, he hated it. He detested the way she smiled at Coop instead of him. He abhorred the way she laughed with Coop instead of him. He despised how actively she talked with Coop instead of him.
Not wanting to watch the scene, he turned away to face the walls instead. However, the green color of the walls of the room only reminded him of his envy. As he thought about Phoebe and Coop, the walls appeared to become more sickly green, making him feel disgusted. He eventually decided to leave the room, feeling that he would vomit if he stayed in that room a moment longer. He went outside the house and decided to go for a walk to clear his head.
'Phoebe would never cheat on me. She's not that kind of person.'
'They may be opposite sex friends, but he seems too close to Phoebe'
'I'm simply being paranoid.'
Yet, it was not easy to rid his mind of the envious thoughts he had conjured in the green room as he walked in the direction toward the Manor.
'What's going on, Lou? There's something wrong with this world, with the way Phoebe is acting toward me. Why?'
As he looked at his ring, he didn't know if it was just his imagination, but the TRUE in TRUE LOVE appeared to be fading.
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