Summary: Through an unfortunate series of events, Cole and Prue find themselves stranded in the middle of the woods without the use of their magic. A group of demons who are responsible for the temporary suspension of the world's magic have tracked Prue and Cole to this location and mean to kill Prue in order to be rid of The Charmed Ones for good. Cole and Prue must put their differences aside and work together to avoid being killed.

Notes: This takes place some time in season 3 (obviously.) I don't really care when, for the most part - just as long as it's sometime after the sisters learn that Cole is a demon, but at the point when they are all beginning to trust (or in Prue's case - tolerate) him. He's dating Phoebe at this point, and he's trying to turn over a new leaf and suppress his demonic side. So whenever you want it to take place that makes logical sense to you, have it take place then. It's mostly vague and doesn't mention too many events that are specific to any episode besides the fact that Cole being a demon is an established fact.

This story is told in 3rd person point of view, focusing on either Prue or Cole, depending on the chapter. It's more Prue near the beginning and more Cole near the end, but they are both very central characters through the whole thing. I've always found their hostile relationship to be interesting and was a little disappointed that the show didn't feature more episodes / scenes focusing on just the two of them. I kind of love their banter and wanted to explore how they might fare if they were forced to be together and forced to depend on each other.

Little Tiny Warning: There is some violence and some tense situations in this story. It is nothing too extreme though, so don't be scared...

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1

Prue yawned as she stretched her arms out above her head and plopped down on the couch. It was a Saturday morning and she and Piper had both been relatively lazy today thus far. They'd probably both end up at P3 later tonight, but there was no point in going in at 9:00 in the morning. They had worked on taking inventory earlier in the week; all the supplies were stocked and the business aspects of the club were doing fine. Prue's work was going well too - she had nothing to catch up on. Everything, for once, felt like it was under their control. She actually had a moment to relax.

As Prue leaned back against the pillows on the couch, she glanced over at Piper who was chatting on her cell phone. Judging by Piper's side of the conversation, Prue guessed she was speaking with the youngest Halliwell sister, Phoebe.

"I wish you would have let me drive you," Piper sighed, "I told you it was going to rain. Do you want me to bring you something dry to change into? If you've got to study all day, you probably want to be dry at least."

Prue smiled. Phoebe hardly ever accepted her sisters' offers to drive her to school. She usually opted instead for public transportation or even walking. Probably because half the time she was up to something and didn't want her sisters to know she was skipping class in favor of doing something else they wouldn't agree with... like say, checking in on her demon-boyfriend, Cole. Prue nearly rolled her eyes just thinking about it.

"Well give me a call if you change your mind," she heard Piper say, "I'm not doing much of anything today. I'd be glad to bring you dry clothes," she paused for a second, "love you too. Bye."

Piper hung up the phone and grinned at Prue with a raised eyebrow, "do you think she's really even at the library?"

Prue shrugged, "I don't know... but even if she's not, what more harm could she possibly do?"

"I'm not worried or anything," Piper walked over to the couch and picked up Prue's feet as she sat down and placed them on her lap.

"Me neither," Prue agreed, "worse case scenario, she's having a secret affair with another demon... Not anything more to worry about than usual."

Piper forced a smile and then let it fall right back into a frown, "she really didn't know Cole was a demon at first, Prue... None of us did. And you know how hard it is to just break up with someone you're still in love with. I think he really does care about her, Prue. He just also happens to be a demon... I don't blame Phoebe for finding it hard to just let him go..."

"He tried to kill us, Piper... on multiple occasions," Prue reminded her, "I've broken up with men for much lesser crimes."

"I know," Piper sighed, "but he seems to not want to kill us anymore," she added with a somewhat silly smile.

Prue exhaled tiredly, "you're much more forgiving than I am."

Piper looked down at Prue's feet for a moment, twisting one of her older sister's shoelaces around her finger a few times. She looked back up at her sister, "hey, isn't it ironic that I predicted that it would rain when Phoebe's the one who gets premonitions of the future?" she laughed.

Prue recognized that Piper was changing the subject quite purposefully, but she didn't mind. She was done talking about Cole too. There wasn't much more left to say about the whole issue, "yeah," Prue let out a small chuckle, "maybe once all our powers grow to their full potential she'll get premonitions about every-day weather-related issues. How useful would that be? She could drop out of school and become a meteorologist."

Piper threw back her head and clapped Prue's feet as she let out a loud laugh, "I believe that would be considered personal gain."

"No kidding," Prue laughed as well as she began to stand, "you want any coffee?"

"No thanks," Piper replied as she flopped down onto the couch, taking Prue's former position.

Prue wrinkled her nose, "you stole my spot," she joked as she made her way toward the kitchen.

"It's only your spot until you get up," Piper teased. Prue had always said the same thing to Piper when they were children. Piper obviously remembered.

As soon as Prue entered the kitchen, she nearly gasped as she was greeted with the familiar and nauseating sight of a man in mid-shimmer coming into view in front of her. It was Cole, fortunately, rather than a demon who was openly and actively seeking to end the witches' lives. Of course Prue almost would have preferred the later... at least she could work to vanquish a demon neither of her sisters claimed to be in love with.

"What do you want?" Prue growled under her breath as she inadvertently took a step back. She was always on edge when it came to Cole. He claimed he didn't mean to kill them any longer, but she didn't trust him. He never gave her any reason to.

Cole looked frantic, "this is kind of urgent. Where are your sisters?" he glanced around the room quickly.

Prue narrowed her eyes, "what is it? Other demons after you again? Are they upset you didn't finish the job? You here to finish what you tried to start before?" she questioned, always quite skeptical.

"I don't have time to argue with you, Prue," Cole sighed, "Phoebe! Piper!" he called.

Piper came into the room quite quickly, "Phoebe's at the library..." she explained in a confused tone, "Cole... what's going on?"

Cole sighed, "I guess I'll explain this to you two and we'll take care of Phoebe after. We don't have time to waste," he started, "as you know I have what you might call... connections, which keep me informed of what's going on in the demonic world."

Prue glared at him, "and?" she was getting impatient.

Cole stared back at her as though just as frustrated with the eldest Halliwell as she was with him, "and..." he started, "a certain group is planning on casting a spell that will temporarily erase all magic off the earth. No witch or demon's powers will work for however long the spell lasts," he explained.

Piper frowned, "What? For how long? Why would they do that? That would just make them powerless too! What kind of a demon wants to lose their powers?"

"It would be only for a matter of hours or days," Cole went on, "so that you'd be vulnerable long enough for them to kill you."

"But so would they," Prue noticed, "if it's only for a short time, I don't see the problem."

"You don't get it," Cole still seemed unreasonably frantic, "you'll be mortal. They'll be mortal... Mortals kill each other all the time. They mean to make you defenseless so they can kill you the mortal way. We've got to get you someplace where they can't find you."

Prue shook her head, "If we're all mortal, we have just as much chance to kill them as they do to kill us. We'll be prepared."

"They're planning on casting this spell today... I mean, they were preparing to cast it the last I heard. It's just a matter of them waiting to get all their ducks in a row. We don't have time to prepare, because they've been preparing for a while now. They'll be armed, and there will be too many of them for you three to handle. We've got to go, now," he reached toward Prue's hand.

Prue pulled her hand away and stepped back, "go where? Why should we believe you?" she glanced at Piper as her younger sister's cell phone began chirping.

"It's Phoebe," Piper said as she opened the flip-phone and answered, "Phoebe? You alright?" Piper was clearly more receptive to Cole's story than Prue was.

Prue glared back at Cole, "We can take care of ourselves, Cole," she growled.

He shook his head and focused on Piper.

"Okay, okay..." Piper seemed nervous, "Cole came to warn us about the same thing," she spoke quickly into the phone, "he's gonna get us someplace where they won't find us. Just stay put. We... or he... or someone will be there to get you in a minute, alright?" she paused, "love you," with that, she hung up the phone and looked back at Prue, "Cole's right," she sighed, "Phoebe had a premonition of a bunch of demonic-looking sorts breaking into the house... in her vision, they ... they killed you, Prue... We can't stay here."

Prue rolled her eyes, "then we'll do what every other mortal does and call the police," she suggested.

"They may be mortal, Prue, but you don't understand... We're talking about a small army. This isn't just one demon. A huge group is planning this," he reached toward her hand again, "they could cast the spell at any moment. We need to get you three someplace they can't find you," he urged.

Prue drew back again, "I don't see how you think you're more capable of protecting us than we are of protecting ourselves," she growled. She looked then at Piper, basically ignoring Cole at this point, "we need to try to work on writing a spell that will make us immune to theirs," she began, "that way they'll come here, powerless, assuming we are too, only to be unpleasantly surprised when you freeze them and I throw them right back out the door."

"I don't know how to write spells, Prue," Piper seemed really worried, "and what if it doesn't work. If their spell erases all magic, wouldn't it erase the protection of our spell too?"

"I can write it..." Prue offered, "I've written spells before."

"Prue, don't let your pride get your sisters and you killed," Cole scowled down at her, "you know this won't work."

She was about to say something more when she felt Cole grab her hand again, "hey!" she interrupted her own train of thought, "let go of me!" She couldn't pull away this time. His grip was too tight.

"Be right back," Cole said then to Piper before shimmering out of sight.

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Please review. :) Let me know what you think so far...