These Twisted Lives We Lead, Part 2, by Lea

Summary: When we last left off, Cole had given his father's soul to the Halliwells for safekeeping and had shimmered off after scaring Phoebe with talk of his death. Prue is out working, Piper is with Leo and has Cole's father's soul and Phoebe is trying to find Cole.

Disclaimer: None of the characters used belong to me, no profit is made from this story and no infringement is intended.

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Cole shimmered in to the mausoleum mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. He angrily ran a hand through his hair and spun around quickly. "Ahh!" he shouted in frustration to no one in particular. Why did he have to tell Phoebe that? Would nothing ever go his way? Cole stood there silently berating himself, lost in self-contemplation and consequently nearly missed sensing the shimmering of bounty hunters nearby. He noticed just in time, and quickly shimmered out, beginning the nauseating cycle of half-formed visions of different worlds and places and times.

Piper and Leo stood in the foyer of the house staring at the door Phoebe had just ran out of, both looking thoroughly confused.

"Umm, all right..." Leo said as he turned his attention back to Piper. "So, what was it you wanted me for?" he asked.

Piper looked at him again as she remembered why she called him. She showed him the glowing orb Cole had given them. "Does this mean anything to you?" she asked.

Leo's demeanor changed instantly, "Where the hell did you get one of those!!!" he practically shouted at her.

Piper looked at him in astonishment, she couldn't recall him ever being this worked up over something. "Cole gave it to us, he said it was his fathers soul, that it was a payment of sorts for what he did. He said you'd know what to do with it. Was he telling the truth? Is this really his fathers soul?"

Leo reached out his hands and Piper gave him the sphere. He held it with a hand on either side then slowly moved them apart. The globe remained suspended in the air between them; Leo closed his eyes and concentrated for a minute. He seemed to receive confirmation of whatever it was he was looking for because he then started moving his hands together again. Rather than stopping when they hit the orb, as Piper thought they would, his hands continued to close the gap between each other, never actually touching the glowing sphere. Instead, the sphere seemed to dissipate into the air until finally the entire thing was gone.

"What did you do, Leo?" asked Piper

"I sent him back where he belongs." responded Leo without emotion, his thoughts obviously far away, he turned around, pondering the new developments. "His father's soul..." he said wonderingly, shaking his head in apparent amazement.

"Umm, Leo, honey, whatcha thinking about?" asked Piper, not understand what the big fuss was about.

Leo turned back towards his wife and tried to explain. "I just... I never even thought that something like this could be involved."

Piper stared at him blankly, "What do you mean 'something like this'? Why is it such a huge deal?" she asked.

"Well, I mean, haven't you ever thought about why Cole... well, why he did what he did?" asked Leo.

"Well, no, I guess I haven't." said Piper, not really understanding, "Once a demon, always a demon, I suppose."

"Oh come on Piper! Now you sound like Prue! Think harder. You saw them together; you saw how much they loved each other! I mean, seriously, you and I ought to know better than anyone about the power of love. Especially forbidden love, right?" he asked smiling at her, when she nodded, he continued, "I've thought about it, and I just can't imagine Cole willingly jeopardizing that love. The whole 'once a demon, always a demon' theory never seemed to fit to me because, well, human emotions are very strong, and technically, he's as much of a human as he is a demon." Leo shrugged, "Demons don't feel emotions like humans do, for them it's more like instinct, so for Cole, his human emotions must have felt doubly as strong since, first of all, he had never experienced anything like them before and, secondly, there was nothing to counter it from his demon half. And, as I mentioned before, human emotions are very strong..."

Leo looked up at Piper; "It all makes sense to me now! Cole had been completely worn down so he couldn't think straight and his instincts took over, but he must have resisted at some level so they threw this incentive out at him, his father's soul! The soul of the one person he's ever loved, other than Phoebe, has been suffering all the torments of hell because of him and he could end it by merely doing that which over the course of a century or so had become instinct to him. So," Leo concluded sadly, "He gave in, and has been paying for it ever since." After a second Leo added, " You know, I've been 'good' all my life, and I can honestly tell you I don't know what I'd be willing to do if you were suffering because of me, let alone being in hell enduring horrors worse than anyone could ever imagine." Leo trailed off, and he and Piper stood there lost in their own thoughts.

Cole returned to the mausoleum in even worse shape than he left in, since the bounty hunters had gotten so close to him it took what seemed like forever to shimmer enough times to lose them. "I can't do this anymore," he said to himself with an edge of insanity to his voice. He remained silent for a little while, contemplating the ruins he called his life, then without fully thinking over what he was about to do, he rolled up his sleeves so his forearms were exposed. He held out his hand, "Anthame." he commanded, and at that the knife appeared in his palm. He was looking at it, apparently steeling his resolve when he heard footsteps entering the mausoleum.

"Cole!" shouted the voice which haunted his dreams, "Cole, where-" Phoebe stopped abruptly having reached the bottom of the stairs where she got her first look at Cole. For a long second she stared at his bare forearms and the knife in his hand, then she looked up into his eyes. At first he looked stunned, like a deer frozen, looking in the headlights of a car, then, suddenly, he dropped the anthame as though it burned his hand with all the fires of hell. It fell with a loud clang and skittered out of the way as Cole dropped to his knees. Phoebe ran to him and held him as he sobbed.

~End chapter 2~

Staind- It's Been Awhile

And it's been awhile, since I could hold my head up high
And it's been awhile, since I first saw you
And it's been awhile, since I could stand on my own two feet again
And it's been awhile, since I could call you
 

And it's been awhile, since I can say I love myself as well
And it's been awhile, since I've gone and f*cked things up just like I always do
And it's been awhile, but all that sh*t seems to disappear when I'm with you


And everything I can't remember
As f*cked up as it all may seem
The consequences that I've rendered
I've stretched myself beyond my means


And it's been awhile, since I could look at myself straight
And it's been awhile, since I said I'm sorry
And it's been awhile, since I've seen the way the candle lights your face
And it's been awhile, but I can still remember just the way you taste