Duality
By Risa
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Author's Note: Thanks for all your wonderful comments! I'm glad you liked it.
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Chapter Four
"Fortuna. Fortuna, sweetheart," Darien said as he cradled her head in his arms and brushed her hair away from her face. Leo rushed over to her as well and held her hands. They were immediately surrounded by a warm golden glow of healing light.
"What was that all about?" Piper said angrily.
"Wait…" Paige said, "Isn't she the one who helped us with the Hollow?"
Phoebe nodded. Paige continued, "Then why did she just appear like that? Why did she try to kill Fortuna and not anyone else?"
They looked at Zimei to see if she had any answers. Zimei wasn't paying any attention. Her eyes flared with golden sparks which seem to enshroud her person as well. "Damn that bloody Seer. I'm going to find her, dig out her insides with a blunt knife, turn her inside out, hang her over a boiling fire…"
"Ok…" Phoebe said, staring at Zimei. "That was a little, urm, graphic. Do you think you could curb your violent tendencies for a while?"
Zimei looked at Phoebe sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I got a little carried away. It's about time I did something about that Seer…"
"Forget about vengeance or whatever for now and focus," Piper said, "You'll have time for your morbid fantasies later." She turned to Leo. "Is she all right? You don't usually take this long…"
Leo looked up at her, his face sombre. "I healed her physically but something's wrong. She's still unconscious."
"Darien?" Zimei said. He nodded at her and placed his hands on either side of Fortuna's head, closing his eyes.
"What's he doing?" Paige asked curiously.
"He's probing her mind," Zimei explained.
"But I thought you said that Fortuna is shielded from telepathy."
Zimei glanced at the couple. "They're soulmates. The bond between them transcends these barriers."
"Soulmates?"
"The one person that you're meant to be with – you ought to be familiar with that, considering you're surrounded by them," she indicated Piper and Phoebe. "Soulmates can get a general sense of what the other is thinking or feeling. In certain situations, you can even communicate telepathically. Basically, there's a bond between soulmates that can overcome quite a few limitations."
"Right," Paige said. "Let's go back to my other question, Oracle."
Zimei gave a mock glare at Paige. "Ask and ye shall receive, oh ignorant one."
"So why did the Seer just go after Fortuna and not the rest of us? For that matter, why go after us in the first place? She helped us the last time."
"That was because she didn't have a choice then," Piper reminded. "It was a little thing known as common interest. She's still evil."
Zimei nodded. "She went after Fortuna because she is the last surviving member of the Ji family. And the Seer hates us. She knows that she can't take on all of us, so she settled for one." Her face darkened. "And she's going to pay."
At that time, Darien's eyes opened, showing an expression of fear and worry. "There was a spell in that energy ball," he said quietly. "Fortuna's trapped in her memories. And definitely not the pleasant ones."
"Not the – " Zimei started. Darien nodded. She sighed and explained. "Once, as a form of torture, Fortuna's parents were killed in front of her. Electrocuted in fact."
Four pairs of incredulous eyes stared back at her. "That's what you get when you go against the Night World," she said bleakly.
"Come on," Piper said sympathetically. "I'll bring you to one of the rooms upstairs. You can let her rest there."
"Thanks," Darien said as he gently lifted Fortuna in his arms and followed Piper.
Cole had been silent for most of the conversation. When the Seer first appeared, he had wanted to destroy her. He hated her for causing the Source to be inside of him, for thwarting his hopes of a happy life with Phoebe, for causing him to be evil again. He wanted revenge and he had the ability to carry it out. It was only when he felt the evil grow within him that he clamped down that desire.
So I guess the charm really isn't permanent, he thought.
Along with this came a feeling of guilt. He should have been stronger against the Source, he should have told Phoebe much earlier, and perhaps something could have been done then… He pushed aside the guilt and focused on what was happening.
Phoebe glanced at Cole in worry. He hadn't said a word since the Seer had attacked and she was worried about him. She took his hand in hers, trying to offer whatever little comfort she could. He glanced at her and smiled, trying to reassure.
"So why does the Seer hate your family so much?"
"She used to work for my family and the Balance," Zimei sighed. "She was orphaned, with the gift of prescience that she couldn't control. One of my ancestors found her and brought her up. He came to love her like a daughter. Then, for some strange reason, she suddenly became evil. For the power that evil promised her, I think. She killed a lot of my family then," she said darkly. "Our family used to be much bigger until she came along."
"Hm…" Cole said, looking thoughtful. "There's a story about the Seer that only a few of us know about. It is said that she used to be human once until she allowed herself to be bonded to a demon's spirit. The demon was one named Ka'ak, one of the highest dark priestesses who had been vanquished. Part of her spirit and power lingered however, and she offered the Seer access to all the dark power that used to be at Ka'ak's command if she would allow herself to be tied to her spirit. Ka'ak thought that that way, she'll eventually gain control over the Seer's body and live again, but the Seer somehow managed to make sure that Ka'ak remained subordinate to her."
"But she still became evil," Zimei said, "I guess this explains it. But I'm still going to kill her when I see her…" her face darkened.
Piper came down the stairs. "How is she?" Leo asked, going to her.
Piper sighed. "Well, Darien's with her, he said he was going to try something and asked me to see if I could find any spells to counter this in case it fails."
"What's he going to try?" Leo asked.
"He said something about entering her mind and trying to break the cycle…" Piper said vaguely.
"So all we can do is wait?" Paige said.
Piper nodded. "Paige, could you run out and get some supplies? Phoebe, you and me will look in the Book and see if we can find anything for Fortuna or Cole. Leo, could you watch over Darien and Fortuna just in case?"
"Call me if you need me," he said, as he kissed her gently on the lips before he went up the stairs.
"You go on first, there's something I need to do," Phoebe said, glancing at Cole. They needed to talk.
"I'll go do some of my own research as well," Zimei said, as she disappeared.
Paige grabbed her keys and left the house as Piper went up to the attic, leaving Cole and Phoebe in the living room.
"What's wrong?" she asked Cole when they were left alone. She saw the hesitation on his face and said, "You can tell me."
He sighed and said, "I'm sorry."
"Why?" she said, baffled.
"For all of this, for not being strong enough to resist the Source."
Phoebe shook her head and raised her hand to caress Cole's face. "It's not your fault. All this was beyond your control. Nobody blames you for anything. Except that you could have told us sooner…"
"I know I should have," he said.
"Hey, you were under the Source's influence," Phoebe said, "cut yourself some slack."
He smiled at her and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her hair. Phoebe leaned into him, enjoying the sense of peace and love, forgetting for a while all their troubles.
"You know," Phoebe said thoughtfully, "we should explore the soulmate thing Zimei was talking about."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, being able to read each other's minds might be very useful."
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"Well, we could start by exploring just how close we can get to each other," she said, her tone layered with meaning.
Cole laughed. "We could start right now," he said as he bent down to kiss her.
"Phoebe!" Piper shouted, "Are you done yet?"
"Damn," Phoebe swore as she pulled away. Her expression turned serious. "Don't worry, we'll be able to find a way," she said, trying to sound optimistic.
Cole managed to summon up a smile. "Whatever happens we'll still have all the good times that we had together."
Phoebe tried to hold back the tears in her eyes and grinned, "We'll continue exploring later," she said, before going up the stairs.
Darien held Fortuna's hand tightly in his against his cheek. He closed his eyes and entered her mind.
He could hardly get a sense of her. Her mind was dark, bleak and empty. Her consciousness had been submerged, lost in a maze of thorny memories. Darien knew that if he did not break through the maze, she could either go insane or die.
Fortuna, he called out into her mind, come back, please. You need to remember where you are. What you're seeing are just memories, they're all in the past. You have to wake up, love. I can't lose you. I still need you. Everybody here still needs you. Please Fortuna…
Darien hoped that this would help him draw her consciousness out of the trap the spell had bound her into. Even as he did this, he channelled whatever telepathic power he had into trying to tear away the thorns. He hoped that whatever he was doing would work. It had to. He wouldn't lose her again.
~* To be continued *~