Duality
By Risa
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Author's Notes: I didn't have as much time to edit this as I would like since school has been really busy lately… so I hope it isn't too bad and that you'd enjoy it!
Once again, thanks to all those who have sent in their reviews, especially Barb. They've been really encouraging. : )
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Chapter Eight
"Do you think this is going to work?" Paige asked as she arranged the white crystals on the floor of the attic. She and Piper had woken up early to set up the attic for the spell-casting later.
"I certainly hope so," Piper said. "Phoebe and Cole have been through so much together, it's just too unfair if they can't be together."
Paige didn't comment. She just looked at Piper thoughtfully. "How are you dealing with all this?" Piper asked, pulling Paige out of her reverie.
"I'm…ok," Paige said, surprised and a little hesitant. "Why?"
"Just wondering. I know that you've been suspicious of Cole ever since you found out he was a demon. You haven't shown it much since then, but I know there's still some of it there," Piper explained.
"I admit that I'm still not really sure if we could trust Cole, especially after finding out that he's kept the fact that the Source had possessed him from us for so long – "
"Paige, you know that he didn't have a choice – " Piper interrupted.
"I know. Even though it was a little hard for me to believe at first. I didn't want to say anything – things were bad enough for Phoebe already. But then I thought about it and if Cole was really up to something and wanted to kill us, he could have done so earlier. He didn't need come up with a plan as elaborate as this. Plus after thinking about just how much Cole has done for us, the love he has for Phoebe, I changed my mind and knew that I had to see what I could do to help."
Piper grinned, "Thanks. I know it couldn't have been easy to set aside your own doubts and suspicions – Prue used to have the same problem with Cole," a ghost of pain drifted across her face briefly, but lighter than it had ever been.
"You guys are family. You've given me so much in the past few months, the least I could do is give some support to Phoebe when she needs it."
Just then, a sleepy Phoebe walked into the attic. "'Morning," she said as she yawned, "you guys are up early."
"Just setting up everything," Piper said, "did you stay up late to finish the spell?"
Phoebe nodded. She walked to the Book of Shadows and took out a piece of note-paper that had been slipped inside. "Here it is."
Paige took the paper from Phoebe and she Piper looked at it. "So what you're going to do is basically use most of the same ingredients for the potion that you used before and back it up with a helluva lot of power."
Phoebe nodded. "And you'll have to say the spell twice. Once over the potion so that it's got a magic kick in it, and the second time as the potion is taking effect, so that Cole can have enough power to break free from the Source."
"Sounds good," Piper said. "C'mon, let's go down and meet up with the rest."
They walked into the kitchen to see Leo, Fortuna and Cole having breakfast. Or rather, Leo and Fortuna were eating, Cole was just watching absently.
"Where's Darien?" Piper asked.
"He's somewhere outside," Fortuna gestured vaguely. "Feeding. On animal. Or something. Not human." Darien had insisted that they spend the night at the manor. Not just because he was still worried about Fortuna's health, but also so that they could be there should the Halliwells need help. At present, she was still half asleep. She had never been a morning person.
"Has anyone told you how great a conversationalist you are in the morning?" Darien said as he entered the kitchen. His face had a glow to it that made his vampiric nature all the more apparent.
"Several times," Fortuna grumbled.
"Not a morning person?" Paige said sympathetically. "I used to be like that."
"So are we ready?" Leo asked.
"We've got everything laid out, we just need to prepare the potion," Piper confirmed.
Cole was still staring absently at nothing in particular. He was lost in his own thoughts. Today might easily be the last day of his life and a part of him still had a little trouble accepting that. Today would determine just where his life was headed.
"Cole? Cole!" Phoebe said, waving her hand in front of Cole.
Cole blinked as his attention refocused on what was going on in front of him. "Yeah?"
"We'll be doing the spell in about an hour, are you ready?" Phoebe asked softly.
"As ready as I'd ever be," Cole said wryly. Phoebe took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "Since you're not eating," she said, "you might as well go upstairs with me and prepare that potion." In actual fact, Phoebe didn't want to spend more time away from Cole than she absolutely had to. These might be her last hour with Cole and she didn't want to waste any of it.
An hour later, the doorbell rang. Piper answered it to find a group of women standing at the doorstep. Their ages varied from those who were still in their teens and those who were in their early thirties. A woman in her twenties with long brown hair and violet eyes smiled at Piper and asked, "Is this the Halliwell residence? Darien said you needed help…"
Piper smiled at them gratefully, "Come in and thank you for coming," she said gratefully.
"Rhea!" Darien exclaimed, appearing from behind Piper. He had been sitting in the living room, reading. He was a vampire and so magic wasn't exactly his expertise. In cases such as this, the best help he could give was to stay put and not interfere. He had learnt that the hard way when he had tried to help Fortuna with a spell. He ended up adding the wrong ingredient and had the entire thing explode in his face.
"Hey Darien," Rhea grinned as they walked into the manor. Then she turned to Piper, "And this is?" she prompted.
"Sorry about that," Darien smiled sheepishly at Piper. "This is Piper Halliwell, one of the three sisters I was telling you about. The other two of them are somewhere else in the house."
"Rhea Harman," Rhea said warmly. "Default spokesperson of our extremely shy coven." There was a sound of protest from the other witches. One of them said, "That's because you just can't stop talking."
Rhea ignored that comment and asked, "So what exactly is it that you want us to do? Darien was a little sketchy on the details…"
Just then Phoebe, Paige and Fortuna had come down the stairs to see what all the commotion was about. Leo had orbed back up to make sure that the Elders didn't notice the sudden, abnormal flurry of activity in the Halliwell manor.
"Fortuna," Rhea greeted, smiling broadly. "It's been a while."
"Yeah," Fortuna said, "so glad you guys could come down. We really need your help." More introductions were made, after which Piper said, "Anyway, I was about to tell them about the spell. Is everything ready?"
"Just about," Phoebe said, "we've just left the spell to cast over the potion and we need you for that."
"Okay," Piper said before turning to Fortuna, "Could you explain the spell to them?"
"No problem," Fortuna assured her.
"You guys are insane you know," Rhea said after Fortuna finished explaining the details of the spell.
"I know," Fortuna said, "and if you choose to back out at the last minute, no one's going to blame you."
Rhea shook her head, "We said that we'll help and we'll see this through."
Fortuna sighed in relief. "I was hoping you would say that." Then she shouted to people upstairs. "Everything settled?"
"Yep," Phoebe's voice floated down the stairs, "you guys can come on up."
They entered the attic to find Cole seated on the floor, surrounded by the white crystals. "This circle's keyed to him," Piper said, "he can't get out. Just in case the spell doesn't work…"
Cole smiled at Piper grimly. "Let's get this show started, shall we?" he said tightly.
Phoebe gave Cole a smile of encouragement and love. He smiled gently at her. She was the one who kept him going. If not for her, he wasn't sure if he could do this.
"I'm going to remove the charm we placed on you," Fortuna said. "The other side might feel unbearably strong after having been held back for so long. But it's only temporary." Cole nodded and shut his eyes, a signal for the spell to begin.
The Nightworld coven began a soft, musical chant, their voices mixing in sweet harmony, rising and falling in a slow cadence. Fortuna sat between Cole and the coven, her feet crossed in a lotus position, her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration. Darien stood over her, watching in concern, prepared to support her should she need it. Phoebe took a deep breath and threw the portion into the circle. Simultaneously, Paige added another crystal into the ring, activating it. Then, she, Paige and Phoebe held hands and said the spell, channelling all the power in their being towards Cole. Fortuna took all the power around her and amplified it, giving it an extra boost.
Cole felt the wall between him and the Source dissipate into nothingness. Immediately he felt the Source struggle for control, just as Fortuna had predicted. Cole tried to push back the Source, summoning all his own personal energy to do so. Then, he felt a torrent of power come in from an external source. This he channelled to his struggle against the Source, trying to break the artificial bond that had been created between them and force the Source out of his body.
For what seemed like an eternity, neither Cole nor the Source seemed to gain the upper hand. Cole was beginning to grow weary. He had no idea how much longer he could keep it up. He was so tempted to just ease the struggle for just a moment…
A moment was all the Source needed. A moment so brief that Cole barely noticed it. All he did was to relax just a bit and the Source had been able to take advantage of that. Cole was now on the losing end.
Stay calm, don't panic, it's not over yet, Cole told himself, trying to keep his focus and concentration. He continued with his desperate fight, with a growing sense of futility.
Just when he thought all was lost, he felt another presence joining him. For a while, the pressure from the Source subsided a little. An unspoken, temporary truce had been declared. Both sides would be allowed a brief respite before continuing the battle, refreshed.
"Need help?" a voice asked in Cole's mind. A familiar voice.
Too familiar.
Belthazor.
"Didn't Phoebe vanquish you?" Cole asked in surprise.
The voice laughed. It was the same cruel laugh that Cole remembered. "I'm a part of you, Cole. However much you try to deny that fact. As long as you're still alive, I can't die. I'm merely… disembodied."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Cole asked in anger.
"Offering assistance," Belthazor said casually. "Face it. I need you to survive and vice versa. We can't escape from each other."
"Oh can't we? Seems to me that Phoebe got rid of you without much trouble."
"That's what got you into this mess in the first place," Belthazor said impatiently. "Getting rid of me was equivalent to getting rid of half of you. Getting rid of me left a vacuum within you, interrupted your body's equilibrium, made you extremely vulnerable to possession. That's why the Source could form such a strong bond so fast."
Cole blinked in shock. "So what do you want me to do?" he asked, confused.
"Embrace me, allow me back into your body," Belthazor said.
"No way." Cole said flatly. He did not go through so much with Phoebe just to allow Belthazor back into his life.
"Which would you prefer? The Source or me?" Belthazor asked. "Because you can't win against the Source without me. Me at least you can control. I'm a part of you Cole, whether you like it or not. You can't deny a part of yourself and claim it doesn't exist."
"Once again you razor-sharp logic doesn't fail to impress me," Cole said sarcastically. "Why should I agree with what you say? Having you in my body again is not much better than dying."
"But you'll never see Phoebe again."
"Better that than return to her as a half-demon again."
"All right," Belthazor relented. "Accept me as part of yourself and I wouldn't vie with you for the driver's seat. In return, you'll never be able to cast me out and you wouldn't completely ignore my presence."
Cole weighed his options. On the one hand, this deal was clearly to his advantage. He would still be a half-demon, but with a demon half that's kept closely in check. He could continue his live with Phoebe and he wouldn't be the defenceless human he was before. On the other hand, Phoebe might hate him from embracing his demonic half once again. Finally, after a long internal debate, Cole said, "Deal."
He could feel Belthazor's triumph as he joined his power to Cole's. The fighting resumed. This time, with Belthazor's help, he was able to help push back the Source. Cole gathered all the power around him and prepared for one last blow against the Source. He slammed most of the power down on the bond between him and the Source, smashing it. Then he used the remaining power and forced the Source out of his body.
He opened his eyes just in time to see the same cloaked form of the Source appear in front of him, translucent. He heard the spell spoken by Phoebe, Paige and Piper and heard the Source scream as he was vanquished.
Within minutes, it was over.
In the attic, everything fell into silence, except for the usual sounds of the street outside. All of them tried to process and understand all that had just happened. Cole sighed. He now had to find some way of telling Phoebe that Belthazor was back.
*~To Be Continued~*