"My liege, The Enchantress has decided to accept your gracious offer, and do as you wish," the demon reiterated to the Source.
"Good. Go back to her and aid in any way she wishes against Belthazor; the traitor will pay for all he has done to me and the Underworld," growled the Source as he threw a fist into his open palm.
The demon bowed his head once more, shimmering out again. He reappeared in the Evil Enchantress's lair to see the woman working at her table vigorously. He raised a hand and called out, "The Source sends me to aid you."
She turned quickly, gave him a curt nod and returned to her bubbling caldron. Humming softly she threw in more of this and more of that into the large black pot, giving subtle Hmms and Hrrs of progression and setbacks towards the object of her indivisible attention.
The demon, Civil, sighed to himself as he clasped his hands behind his back. He cocked his head to the side and watched the enchanting woman sway back and forth slightly to the capturing music she hummed.
"Con te Partiro, Madame?" Civil asked, unsure if he should have.
Without turning she answered in her gentle voice, "But of course, dear Civil. Beautiful, is it not?"
Civil, watching her continue swaying, felt his eyes flutter when she turned her face towards him and gave him a heart-stopping smile.
"Beautiful it is, Miss," he whispered, his eyes never leaving hers.
She smiled knowingly before casting her eyes back towards her creation; finally with one last explosion she clasped her hands together and shouted, "It is done! Now, we must get close enough to this handsome creature, throw the potion, and voila! He will no longer exist, but become the four elements he is made of."
Civil cocked his head to the side once more. "The four elements?"
"Why yes, Civil, Air, Earth, Wind and Fire. He shall become what he is made of, then we will be sure they perish at our hands…destroying the man named Cole. He will no longer exist!"
Civil, who was half following, nodded nevertheless as she handed him a potion with a slender hand. He stared longingly at the milky white skin, shook his head roughly and shimmered out, seeking the one called Cole.
"I'm going to work, Cole, so no buying guns or running off to Darryl in hopes he'll hire you as a cop." Piper gave Cole a hard look.
Cole smiled sheepishly and said meekly, "No guns, no Darryl. Got it."
Piper nodded and left quickly, her heels clicking on the hard wood floor. Then there were no other sounds in the manor save for Cole's breathing and the echo of ticking of a clock, somewhere in the manor.
Cole stood and stretched, looking out one of the many windows for the hell of it. However, in that time Civil had shimmered in and threw the potion at a startled Cole.
"Jes-" suddenly he coughed as smoke enveloped him.
"Cole? Forgot my keys!" shouted Piper as she ran into the foyer. "Hey where's the smoke coming from?"
She walked into the living room slowly; hands ready to blow something up. The first thought was, "Oh Crap," the first words were, "Son of a bi…"
The last word was lost on her tongue when they emerged in front of her, stepping out from the rainbow colored smoke. There were four men in front of her. All four men were identical to each one another. All four men were identical to…Cole.
"Cole?" she called out, eyes wide at the sight before her.
The four identical men wore the same clothing, a simple t-shirt with a symbol on the right shoulder, with snug jeans and black boots. The color of the shirts and the symbols differed from the others, one man had on a red t-shirt with a plain triangle on his shoulder.
Another man had on a gray t-shirt with an upside down triangle, a straight line through the tip. The third Cole-Look-Exactly-Like wore a blue t-shirt with an upside down triangle for his symbol, no lines. The last man wore a white t-shirt with an upright triangle, a straight line through the tip.
Piper shook her head. "What the hell is going on?"
The four men looked at her then at each other, amused. Piper quickly froze them and rummaged through her purse for her cell phone; as soon as she found it she emitted a small cry of victory before dialing a number quickly.
"Phoebe? Its Piper…yes it's an emergency, yes its Cole…he's not hurt, no there's four of him. I know, I know Phoebe but you should come home and see for yourself honey…there are four Cole's in the manor! Get your butt home now!" Piper snapped the phone shut and glared at the four motionless Cole's.
Leo orbed in, Phoebe in hand. Piper sighed and pointed towards the men.
"I called Leo, thought it would be faster," Phoebe stated quickly before her eyes went wide when she took in the sight before her.
"Leo, what is going on?" Piper demanded.
"I'll go check with the Elders," Leo answered submissively, orbing out quickly.
When Leo orbed back, they four men were still in the same position whereas Phoebe and Piper were lounging on the couch awaiting his arrival. Upon seeing his bright orbs, Phoebe and Piper leapt up quickly.
"Alright, sit down I'll explain," Leo said calmly, trying to fend of the questions as he too sat down across from the girls.
"Okay, the Elder's think this is a power play against Belthazor…not against you girls. Elder Beatrix believes that the Source recruited the help of the Evil Enchantress, and as we know, the Evil Enchantress can control the four elements."
"So, what can she do against Cole? That makes no sense," muttered Phoebe.
Leo sighed and continued, "Everyone is made up of the four elements: Air, Earth, Water and Fire. Some elements are more apparent in some people where they aren't in others, but they exist in everyone," Leo motioned towards the four men, "None of these men are Cole. The Cole we know no longer exists. Each of these men represents one of the elements that made him up. The Source may have had the Evil Enchantress create a potion to separate his elemental personalities, so that he could vanquish them all and kill the Cole we know."
Piper and Phoebe looked at Leo wide eyed and slacked jawed before looking back at the motionless men. Piper finally spoke, "So…should we name them as to not get confused…before we reverse the whole thing?"
Phoebe smacked Piper's arm. "We should just fix it up now, not worry about naming them!"
"Piper's right Phoebe, we should do that now to avoid confusion later." Leo stood and motioned to the man wearing the red t-shirt; he pointed to the symbol and murmured, "Fire. This man is Cole's fire element personality."
"So…Victor," Piper said, to Phoebe's look, "Not after dad, but Victor is a strong name…you know…Victor…"
Phoebe shrugged and nodded. "Fine, red equals fire equals Victor."
Leo moved towards the man wearing the gray t-shirt and pointed to his symbol. "Earth symbol. What's his name?"
Phoebe sighed and offered, "Jim? It's easy to say, simple. Jim equals Earth, Earth equals gray."
Piper rolled her eyes and shook her head. Leo pointed towards the man wearing the blue shirt and said, "This symbol is for water."
"My turn…how about…Christian? Wa-ter…Chris-tian…"
Phoebe chuckled and shrugged. "I don't care. The last one must be air then. How about John? I love the name John, and if he can't be Cole then he's John."
Leo nodded and returned to his seat. "We'll have to protect these men, because if even one gets vanquished and we somehow get Cole back together…he won't be the same Cole we knew."
Phoebe shuddered, the reality of it suddenly hitting her. She wrapped her arms around herself as she studied the men. "Victor, Jim, Christian and John…not Cole."
Five minutes later Phoebe and Leo stood behind the sofa while Piper unfroze the men. They looked about and frowned when the man now named Victor stepped forward.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded, flaming fists clenched at his sides.
Flaming?
"Whoa! Put those away Ghost Rider, geez!" Piper snapped while waving her hands about in the air as Victor looked at her menacingly.
Suddenly there was a cool breeze in the room and a quick spurt of water; Victor whirled around and glared at the two men who were smiling widely. He pointed at them and muttered, "Watch it Air and Water."
"Their names are John and Christian," Leo called out, earning glares from everyone but Christian, John and Jim.
"This is so confusing," Piper growled before she pointed at Victor. "You're name is Victor, yours is Christian, you are John and you're Jim…okay? Everyone happy? Good. Now please sit down so we can discuss something important."
Victor scowled but took a seat anyway, while Christian gave Piper a flirtatious nod, John gave her a sympathetic look, and Jim nodded calmly. They all took a seat on the available couches and looked at Piper and the others expectantly.
"This is so confusing." This time it was Phoebe who muttered the phrase.
TBC...
Yes: Jim Hanson (Premonition), Victor Von Doom (Fantastic Four), Christian Troy (Nip/Tuck), John Grant (Profiler).