A/N:
P/C Story set in season 5.
The Charmed Ones are targeted by an evil spell and choose Cole to be their victim. Leo is the knight in shining armor,Paige lerns something about her true desire, Jason falls in love with Hongkong, Wyatt outdoes himself, Prue oversteps her competency, Phoebe is alwaysPhoebe, and Cole is in the middle of this boiling pot.
How this fits together? Read and find out.
Please be patient, I need the first chapters to get the story going.
Rating: T - I'm never sure about this rating thing
You may remember the scene in "5x08 A witch in Time" where Phoebe discovers that Cole is at Miles' apartment, they argue and then Phoebe gets a call from Paige. Cole offers to protect Miles while Phoebe goes to her sisters. The story starts right after Phoebe left the apartment.
Please read & review!
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Cole watched Miles in his apartment. He was invisible sitting on the couch. Miles had gone to bed again after Phoebe left. He was sleeping his innocent sleep not aware that Death was out to get him. Cole just stared into the void. What would he do if Phoebe didn't give up on protecting Miles? Would he kill Miles to save Phoebe's life as his future self had suggested? Phoebe would hate him for that. But she already thought badly of him, so at least she would be alive. He could kill Miles easily there was no bad conscience inside him concerning that. After being a demon for more than 100 years and countless kills he didn't care anymore about the life of people he didn't know. His own life was miserable enough without caring for others. But Phoebe had trusted him with protecting her boyfriend. He couldn't betray her trust in him again.
Suddenly Cole felt an agonizing pain ripping apart his chest. It took him totally by surprise and he cried out loud. He touched his chest with his hands, searching for any wounds but his body was perfectly fine. His cry must have woken Miles since Cole heard noises from the bedroom. He tried to blur out but the pain was overwhelming. He hardly made it out of the apartment in time, as the door to Miles' bedroom opened. Cole couldn't blur very far and broke down on the floor in the corridor before Miles' door.
Miles looked around his apartment for the strange noise and then went to the front door, opened it and peered into the hall.
He saw a man kneeling on the floor, wrapping his arms around his own lower body and obviously in pain. Miles was a good soul so despite the hour of night he stepped out of his apartment and crouched down next to the man. Phoebe had rescued his life more than once this day, so it was only fair that he paid his debt back to the universe.
„What's the matter with you buddy, "he asked Cole concerned. „Come with me, I'll call a doctor for you."
"Its nothing," Cole bit out between clenched teeth and tried to fight off Miles helping hands. He didn't want any help from the man who had slept with his Phoebe.
But Miles wasn't easy to get rid of. He placed Cole's arm around his neck and carried him inside his apartment and onto to couch. Cole was occupied with figuring out what was happening to him, so he let Miles prevail. Besides with Miles taking him in, he could still hold on to his promise to watch over him. Cole recognized that the pain was fading slowly and was replaced by the feeling of a great void inside him. That frightened him to no end, since he felt the void in his heart at the place he normally felt Phoebe. That could only mean she was dead.
Miles brought him a glass of water and set it down on the table, then set himself beside Cole on the couch. The stranger hadn't responded to any of his yet. He looked very disturbed and lost. Miles touched him gently on his arm, to get the stranger's attention.
„Hey, what's your name again pal? " Miles asked Cole concerned.
„Cole," Cole finally looked up and mustered Phoebe's boyfriend. Phoebe had found herself a nice guy, one who would take in a total stranger.
„Cole, nice to meet you," Miles repeated, „I'm Miles". He offered his right hand to Cole, who took it and shook it weakly.
„Are you better now? Shall I call an ambulance for you?" Miles asked again.
„No thanks, "Cole refused, „it's getting better already. Thank you for taking me in. "
Cole reached for the glass and dranksome of the water to gain some time. He wasn't sure what to do next or tell Miles. He leaned against the back of the couch.
„I divorced my wife recently, "Cole disclosed. It was the first thing that had come to his mind.
He figured it was no harm telling Miles, since Phoebe was dead so Miles would be soon, without her protecting him. Death wouldn't waste any time to get him.
„I'm sorry," Miles said compassionately. He had had a bad breakup himself some time ago.
„She left me because I misused her trust, but I can't forget her. Can't let go, don't want to let go. "
Cole had never talked about this with anybody. There was no one who would listen to him. Demons despised him for his weakness for the witch and the only humans he knew loathed him.
„I think I got a stomach ulcer from it," Cole lied. Finally he had thought of something to explain his pain, „but it is under control, it just sometimes hurts like hell. "
That wasn't a straight lie, being without Phoebe was hurting him like hell. Miles bought Coles explanation without a second thought.
"Did you try to get her back?"
"Didn't work", Cole said sadly, "I tried really hard, showing her how much I care for her, that I'm worth her trust and all. But it all backfired. The more effort I made, the more she drifted away. Now she is going out with some rebound guy."
"Rebound guys don't last, they are just a stand in for the lost one", Miles said soothingly.
Cole closed his eyes for a short moment. Why could he tell this stranger – Phoebe's boyfriend for crying out loud - about his feelings for her? He had never been the talkative type when it came to his feelings.
"Maybe you tried too hard?" Miles asked tentatively, "and pushed her away with it".
Cole pulled up one eyebrow and looked at Miles interested. "What do you mean?"
"Remember", Miles said, "at school, the boys running after the girls never got them. But the ones seeming unreachable and sought after by other girls were the ones who did."
Cole never had been to high school nor had run after any woman, and just nodded slowly.
"You say I should make myself scarce? I don't think that would work with Ph.. my ex-wife", he corrected himself at the last moment.
"Maybe it does," Miles shrugged his shoulders, "and just maybe she needs some space. Give her time to think about what happened between you. In the meantime go on with your life. Be yourself like you were when you met. The man she fell in love with in the first place, not some whining guy running after her like a puppy. Either she comes back to you by recognizing this or you find out you have gone on already."
Miles told Cole about his own experiences. It hadn't worked out too bad for him. He had met Phoebe by accident and she was everything he could dream of, besides her slightly loony sisters maybe.
"So what are you?" Coles asked incredulously, "some ASK PHOEBE substitute for men?"
Miles smiled. "Funny you mentioned her. I think she gives really good advice and it is not only for women. You could try to write to her. I'm curious what she would recommend."
"Don't think that would work for me", Cole stated with a small smile. He was grateful that Miles tried to understand him.
The air around the two men suddenly started pulsing and the surroundings blurred out. Miles looked around frightened not comprehending what was going on. Cole grabbed Miles hand and instinctively blurred them both out for a moment. He didn't want to get caught in whatever. When Cole blurred back in some seconds later he discovered that Miles was nowhere to be seen. He had somehow vanished from his grip. That was a bad sign. Cole looked around the now dark and deserted apartment. It looked like he had failed to fulfill Phoebe's wish, he had lost Miles.
"Damn it," Cole cursed throwing an energy ball at the wall.
Suddenly it hit him. He recognized that he felt Phoebe again. Cole exhaled in relief. It seemed the sisters had done something that had affected Miles. It probably meant the angel of Death had finally gotten his claim. Miles was probably dead. And since the sisters had very likely their fingers in the pie, Phoebe couldn't blame him for that. That was good. Still Cole felt genuine regret for Miles' death. At the same time he was endlessly relieved that Phoebe was safe and sound. He sat down on the couch in the apartment and stared into space, thinking about Miles' advice.
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Sometime later somewhere in the underworld.
The demon was pacing up and down the dark cave agitatedly. It was only lit by some torches on the walls and looked rather empty and forsaken.
"Why does this take so long?" He roared at a smaller greenish one with a long slim tail. It looked somehow like a lizard.
The small demon flinched at his master's wrath. "It is not easy to get to the Charmed sisters, master Kiwik," he apologized, "they have their house protected with all sorts of magic."
"Then don't get it at the house," Kiwik advised, "go to their work place. They won't be suspicious of strangers there."
Working with low level demons always drove Kiwik mad. They had so little brain power. They were only good at carrying out orders that were very specific. He snarled once again at the smaller demon.
The smaller demon nodded hectically. "Yes master, of course, I do as you wish". With that it shimmered out of the cave, glad to be still alive.
"Don't fail to bring me what I want", the bigger demon growled after the small one, "or you have no time to regret it."
Servants were easy to be found. If this one failed, he would just use another. And he would cherish the kill of this little deadbeat.
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Halliwell manor. Morning.
"Paige," Piper shouted from upstairs, "did you borrow my brush?"
"No", Paige shouted back from the sunroom.
"Phoebe?" Piper shouted again.
"No..no", Phoebe came out of the bathroom with the toothbrush in her mouth and shook her head. She leaned against the doorframe but kept on brushing.
"The last time I had it was at P3", Piper wondered, "I thought I put it in my bag."
Paige came upstairs. "Talking about borrowing things", she said, "did one of you take my Ipod?" She looked at Phoebe and Piper questioningly. Both shook their heads and Phoebe went back to the bath.
"I haven't seen it in days. I lent it to some colleague and then it was gone. But he swore he had put it on my desk." Paige wondered.
"So at least we know something for your birthday," Piper teased.
"But it was a present from Tony", Paige said sadly.
Phoebe came back from the bathroom. "This is weird. I lost my favorite pen this week too. It's the one I gave my first autograph with." Her sisters looked at her inquiringly.
"But I won't ask you if you have it", Phoebe smiled, "because I know you would deny it." Paige stuck her tongue at Phoebe.
"So we have the itsy-bitsy-things-stealing-demon attacking us", Paige joked.
"Paige," Piper warned, "be careful with jokes like that in this house." Paige just shrugged the warning off.
"I'm off to work," Phoebe said waving happily to her sisters and flying down the stairs.
"Looks like Jason really helps her getting over losing Miles," Paige commented looking after her.
"Yeah", Piper agreed, "I'm thankful we could let Miles die. I hate losing an innocent, but losing you two was much worse. It was horrible."
Piper shivered remembering how the two warlocks had killed Phoebe and Paige. Only the time portal she and Leo had found and used had been able to undo it.
"Have you heard from Cole since Miles' funeral?" Paige asked Piper.
To Phoebe's disturbance Cole had shown up at Miles' funeral. He had stayed at the back at the service and approached the grave as one of the last. Phoebe had felt Cole was doing it to mock her and had been very angry with him. Piper and Paige had to pull Phoebe away or otherwise she may have attacked Cole in the open. It had been quite embarrassing for the funeral company. Cole on the other hand hadn't bothered to talk with Phoebe or them at all.
"No", Piper said thoughtfully, "and I'm not sure if I should be relieved or concerned about it."
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Dark cave in the underworld.
Kiwik stood tensely next to Dantalon, the high priestess who was going to prepare the ritual for him. His servant had finally managed to get the things of the Charmed Ones he had ordered.
A brush of the eldest Charmed one, a pen of the middle sister and an iPod – what ever that was – from the youngest. All these things carried the essence of the witches, which was necessary for the ritual. His servant had told him the middle sister was always chewing on the pen – so some essence of her was sure on it. The brush held hair and skin from the oldest and the iPod-thing held earwax and sweat from the youngest.
The objects were placed on the stone altar in front of them. Kiwik eyed Dantalon closely. He had to be careful that the high priestess didn't cross him. You could never trust anyone in the underworld.
"You think this will work?" he asked the priestess. There were not many priestesses in the underworld who could perform such a sinister and powerful ritual.
"I'm sure it does. I got the basic idea from one of my distant cousins."
"And what happened to her?" Kiwik asked intrigued.
"They broke the spell somehow and killed her, " Dantalon shrugged her shoulders. She wouldn't be so careless as to let the Charmed Ones know that she was involved.
"That's reassuring", Kiwik snorted sarcastically.
"The price justifies some risk," Dantalon countered, "or are you afraid of the witches?"
Kiwik was offended. "I'm not afraid. I'm just cautious and not a fool. Many demons have failed to do what I plan, but I will succeed." Modesty was no trait Kiwik could claim for himself.
"So let's start then. You brought the human sacrifice we need?" Dantalon asked.
Kiwik nodded and waved for his green servant to bring in the innocent. The small green demon carried an unconscious young man into the room and put him on the altar next to the objects.
"Very good," Dantalon said contentedly. "The beating heart and blood we need for the spell, the soul is my reward for my service," Dantalon informed Kiwik and pulled an Athame from her robe.
"As we agreed", Kiwik said, "How long do I have to wait until the spell develops its full strength?"
"Shouldn't be more than some hours, a day at the most", Dantalon answered casually as she thrust the Athame in the man's chest forcefully, a smug smile on her face.
tbc