Chapter 29: [I'll Be] Standing At the End of the Earth

The reverberating of near and distant cave-ins continued even as the small party consisting of Phoebe, Raven, Kane and Cole stayed put in one area while they went over strategies amongst themselves. The reverberations were growing more frequent, noting just from the increasing rate that things were growing more desperate.

Kane had wandered a bit while Phoebe had Raven's attention as they had a discussion amongst themselves. He was in his own world, just pondering his own thoughts.

"I know there's more to who you are than what you appear to be," Cole confronted him where he currently stood—which was just far enough away to be out of the range of other two's hearing. Kane was taken away from his own inner world to take notice of the serious figure standing there with arms crossed and a discontented expression.

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Kane asked in reply.

"I know who you are—and that's she's covering for you," Cole responded, his expression remaining unchanged. "I know that you're not just a whitelighter—like you've got them all believing you are. I recognized the signs long before anyone else did. I know that distinct connection—I've had that distinct connection. It's not one I can forget easily."

Kane looked at the former half-demon questioningly, finding his eerily startling statements hitting a bit too close to home. He wasn't sure how to answer back—how to even try covering his tracks when it was plainly obvious Cole could see right through any lies or cover ups he could produce.

Cole didn't smile, nor alter his serious expression any. He just kept staring at Kane like he was about to bring down a harsh sentence on him, convict him of something of the same nature—"I know your father was the Source."

Kane realized the statements Cole made not only hit too close to home—they were right on the mark. He'd never told anyone about his past outside of Artie and Raven, so it was a shock to know that Cole had even an inkling of knowledge of it. He ended up just staring at Cole in shock.

"How did…you even know that?" Kane said.

"I know a lot about you—just from the position I'm in," Cole replied. "Just like I know about your charge's past—I know your past." His expression changed from serious discontent to just pity. "I know you want to protect the girl by keeping it all a secret from everyone else, that somehow you can put that past behind you and you'll never have to worry about it—but in the end you won't be able to do either the way you think you can. The past is a part of who you are—like it or not—and you're going to have to face that fact eventually. You won't be able to run from it for much longer."

"What do you think I should do about it?" Kane demanded. "The only thing I know how to do to deal with this is cover it up and run from it. I wasn't ever allowed to do anything else. Nobody else was ever supposed to even know."

"Fight it—and for what it's worth—don't let it consume you," Cole told him. "If you really love the girl as much as you say you do—don't make the same mistake I made with Phoebe. If you don't want to end up losing a chance to be with her like I lost my chance with Phoebe, don't repeat the same errors I made. I let the evil of the Source take over me, and it darkened everything I touched that I cared about. Don't let it darken everything for you—whatever you do. That's the advice I can offer you."

"Should I stand up against the new incarnate myself to end it once and for all—to protect her from having to end up facing him herself? Am I the one who'll be standing up to the ultimate evil—with the inspiration I've gained from my charge and the Charmed Ones—to defeat him before he can bring in that eternal darkness that's mentioned in the prophecy?" Kane asked.

"I'm not sure if you're the one in your prophecy that going to fend off that eternal darkness or not," Cole admitted, shrugging. "I just know where to give advice—and that you should follow your heart."

Kane overheard Phoebe from a distance away mention something about Barbas. At that moment, Kane knew just what he needed to do.

"It's time I faced down my worst fear," Kane stated firmly. He looked directly Cole. "If Raven comes looking for me, can you tell her something for me?"

"What?" Cole asked.

"Tell her…tell her to remember that passage of the prophecy we figured out together the very first day we met, and think about it long and hard," Kane told him. "Also—tell her my absence has something to do with that passage. I think she should know what to do from there."

"I'll do that," Cole replied. "If you're going to go through with it—you should probably go, before she comes looking for you—and you're still here."

Kane didn't say anything, instead just nodding and orbing out. Cole stood there, somber and silent, just waiting for the moment when he'd be needed.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRR

"I wonder how the others are holding up in the Underworld," Robin wondered aloud to himself mostly.

The tower was quiet for once since the reinforcements arrived to help take it back from the incoming demonic forces. The invading party suddenly and unexpected had seceded without putting up much of a fight. Robin and his group had felt victorious, but for a few of them, it was short-lived.

Robin—of course—was one of those few.

"Are you worried about Star, man?" Cyborg asked him, going around trying to pick up the pieces of the recent carnage of the common room.

"Yeah—as well as about our other friends as well," Robin replied. "I have to wonder how they're standing up to a more supped up than usual Slade right now. It kind of makes me wish I could be there to help. Slade's always been my biggest foe—and mostly just mine—and yet I'm not there to be able to lend a helping hand."

"I get what ya mean man," Cyborg replied.

"If you want a role in the fight, I can get you there," Artie said while just orbing in.

"You can get us to the fight then—I take it?" Cyborg ceased his clean-up duties to acknowledge Artie's presence in order to question him.

"I'm a whitelighter—yeah, I can do that," Artie replied.

"You can take us to the fight—but that'll mean you won't join in, right?" Robin asked Artie. "Cause what I've gathered from the Halliwell sisters—and Raven herself—whitelighters are supposedly pacifists."

"I'm just a chicken," Artie said, grinning sheepishly. "I'm more of a lover than a fighter. It was love that made me a whitelighter in the first place—not outward fighting."

"How do people become whitelighters anyways?" Robin asked curiously.

"By devoting their lives to helping others without looking to gain something from it in return—besides the satisfaction of helping others, that is," Artie replied.

"What did you do that earned you the right?" Cyborg inquired.

"Keeping a secret that could've cost those I loved most their lives if I'd spilled it to the wrong people—even if it cost me my own life in the process," Artie stated vaguely. "Protecting the ones we love the most is what we're all out to accomplish, wouldn't you say?"

"And that's why you're worried about Star, right—Rob?" Cyborg asked his long time friend. "Ya don't like it when you two are separated by big margins like this since that scare with that demon of fear dude a while back—right?"

"Barbas made me realize how much I'd hate myself if I'd let anything happen to her back then—or now," Robin said. "And that's why I need to get down there to fight—so I can make sure that doesn't happen."

"Hey if you guys are heading downward—maybe you could use a little extra backup," Bumblebee spoke up unannounced, showing up suddenly in the doorway to the common room with her own team beside her. "With that threat all cooled down up here, it's time we took it to its source and got to work. We're all up to it—that is, if you'll have a need for us anyways."

"Y'all just might, and I know it would be impossible to try to argue with you about it otherwise, Bee," Cyborg said. "I know you're up to whatever's thrown your way, but is the rest of your team up to the challenge for real?"

"Speedy's got his arrows and bow, the twins have their speed, and Aqualad's—got whatever. I assure you—they're up to it." Bee winked. "And I've got my spark, right—Sparky?"

"Sparky?" Artie said quizzically.

"I told you not to call me—"

"I think I'll ask about this later," Artie said. "Right now—if you're all intending on going—we should get a move on. Time's not something I find myself wanting to waste."

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Prue again was her whole self, not just a wandering astral projection in the underworld. She was where she'd left herself previously—slightly bowed over the Book of Shadows up in the attic. She leafed through the tome a few pages quickly, and then rushed off to find out wherever Piper just happened to be camped out.

She made her way down two stories of staircases, finding her way through the foyer and into the living room on the first level.

"Piper!" She called as she moved quickly from one room to the next. "Piper—where are you?"

"Prue—I'm upstairs." She heard her sister's voice carrying from the stairwell she'd just descended a few moments before. Instead of taking the long way again, she orbed upstairs to where Piper was located.

"What have you been up to?" Prue asked as she fully materialized.

"Gathering spells, gathering potions, gathering materials—and gathering nerves," Piper told her eldest sister. "You?"

"Keeping an eye on the progress that's going on down below," Prue replied.

"How are things?" Leo asked.

"Paige has that group spread out—providing some form of distraction, and Phoebe's working out a plan with Kane, his charge—and Cole," Prue responded.

"Cole?" Leo exclaimed, shocked.

"Yup—Cole," Prue confirmed. "Trust me—I was just as shocked seeing him there as you sound." She turned her attention fully to Piper. "So—you ready to head down there and put up the good fight?"

"I don't think I'll ever really be ready, but—I'm as close as I'm ever going to get," Piper replied. "I can't leave my son in danger. I'd be a horrible mother if I just sat and did nothing." To Leo specifically, she said, "Watch over Chris for me, and try again to get in touch with Coop, because he might come in handy if you can't reach me and need me for an emergency. When you talk to him, tell him to keep Phoebe in mind—and let him know she's got a surprise for him when she returns." As an afterthought, she added, "I could've sworn you said he was coming over earlier. I wonder what happened with that—"

"I'll go check on Chris now, and get in contact with Coop again after that," Leo told her. "He might have just gotten sidetracked—or possibly occupied with something else that was pressing along the way. I'm sure he'll show eventually." He brought Piper close. "Be careful."

"I will," Piper assured him. She then pulled away from Leo and stood up, turning her attention back to Prue. "Help me get a few things hammered out, and then we can head."

"Sounds good," Prue replied, smiling.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

"I think that plan might just work," Raven said to Phoebe. "Let me just talk it over with Kane first to see what he thinks." Raven looked around; taking note for the first time Kane wasn't right beside her. Strange, he must've wandered off

"Kane?" Raven called out aloud. She started walking around, looking for him. "Kane, where are you—can you hear me?"

"He's not here." Cole took her off guard from behind. Raven abruptly turned to face him.

"Where'd he go?" Raven asked him. "Do you know where he went?"

"There was something he had to tend to," Cole told her. "He told me to tell you to remember a passage from the prophecy you two managed to piece together the very first day you both met, and think about it long and hard."

"Passage to the prophecy—" Raven tried to think back to that passage, see if she could remember it word for word.

Power of one other of another realm who acted as a gem for evil shall be of a strong enough force for stopping the arrival of eternal darkness—she recalled the passage.

"He also reminded me to inform you that his absence has something to do with that passage," Cole interjected.

I'll be the one to make the decision for the one who'll be burdened with bringing that eternal darkness—what Cole had decided to add just started to register in her mind. She stopped in mid-thought, eyes widening. "No." She turned to stare at Cole, fury burning brightly in her eyes. "Why did you—how could you just let him leave??" She had him suspended in midair yet again—like before. The environment around them came alive—as if in response to the anger she was all too openly expressing. Phoebe had to brace herself against the instability in the environment, knowing all too well the source of the physical manifestations around her when she noticed the tears streaming from the purely livid girl's eyes. "Do you even know what you just let him do???"

"He had to go," Cole stated, unusually calm. "It was something he needed to do."

"But—he could get hurt, or worse!" Raven cried.

"Raven—Raven, calm down, it'll be okay—he'll be okay," Phoebe tried reassuring her, approaching her in the meantime. "I'm sure he's going to be fine. We'll just go—find him."

"He thinks he needs to protect me," Raven murmured, calming down just enough to get control of her emotions once again. Tears still streamed down her face. "But I'm not the one who needs protection though—he does." She let Cole drop harshly to the hard earthen ground, while she herself sunk to her knees on the same rough surface. Phoebe stepped over towards her, kneeling beside her.

The situation was growing more and more perplexing for Phoebe. She looked from Cole—who'd just regained his footing and was dusting himself off, none the worse for wear, and unusually calm—to Raven whom she knelt by—who on the contrary to Cole was reacting like she'd been stricken hard by a sharp blow. She couldn't grasp why Cole seemed almost nonchalant—not even bothering to offer a comforting word in the least—

As a reassuring gesture, Phoebe extended her hand out and rested it on the distraught girl's shoulder—not expecting as a result to pick up a premonition in the process.

Startled by the sensation of a hand resting unexpectedly on her shoulder, Raven focused her attention on Phoebe next to her. The expression on Phoebe's face was of pure astonishment.