2002
"It's done." Phoebe held up the small piece of paper in astonishment. "It's done! I can't believe it was so easy!" She laughed.
Cole went over to kiss her. "Congratulations," he said, putting an arm around her. She looked up at him and opened her mouth to say something, but then she stopped suddenly. "I have to tell the others!" she exclaimed, letting go of him and hurrying for the door. "Piper! Leo!"
"Phoebe, wait up!" Cole picked Pyralis up off the floor and rushed downstairs after her, catching her up at the bottom.
"Hey guys, guess what!" Phoebe said to Piper and Leo, who were seated at the table.
"What makes you think I'm gonna outlive you anyway?" Leo was saying. Apparently they were still discussing Piper's last will and testament. She'd been working on it all last night.
"Leo, you're an angel, literally. Which means short of a Darklighter you win Most Likely To Survive."
"Oh!" said Phoebe enthusiastically, "Speaking of surviving, Source bulletin, This Just In!" She held up the piece of paper.
Piper and Leo didn't pay much attention.
"Honey, just sign the frickin' thing." Piper handed Leo a pen.
Cole whistled. Loudly.
"What?!" Piper finally turned around.
Cole grinned. "Phoebe has something to say, that actually might affect what you're doing right here." He gestured toward the papers on the table.
"Thank you honey," Phoebe said to him before turning to her sister, grinning from ear to ear. "We nailed the Source vanquishing spell," she told Piper proudly, handing her the piece of paper. "Our ancestors," she elaborated, "that's what we were missing. If we could draw the magic from the entire Halliwell line - "
"We might have enough power to vanquish the Source..." Piper finished, realizing.
"Yes" Phoebe said, hardly able to contain her excitement.
"This is good! This might work!" Piper looked at her husband.
"I'll go tell the Elders," he said, orbing out practically before he'd finished the sentence.
Piper looked up. "Hey! You did not sign this!" she complained to a now absent Leo.
"Oh honey, are you still on that last will and testament kick?" Phoebe looked at the documents. "I gotta tell you it's very very morbid."
"No," corrected Piper, "it's very very responsible! Prue did it, and thank God she did, cos if she didn't we'd still be dealing with lawyers."
Cole looked up.
"No offense," she added.
"Oh, none taken," he replied, "I've come to terms with my evil past."
Phoebe looked at her sister. "No, I know what you're saying, but I have a really good feeling about this. Okay? No one is gonna die anytime soon." Suddenly she hunched up.
"You all right?" asked Cole.
"Yeah, um," she straightened again, "I just have the hiccups." She hiccupped. "Ooh! See?" She grinned nervously. "Uh, Piper, can I talk to you for a minute? In the kitchen?" She hiccupped again.
"Sure," Piper said after a second. The two of them disappeared through the kitchen door, leaving Cole alone with his daughter.
"Ga!" said Pyralis, pointing at something in the living room.
"Ga?" asked Cole. "Honey, I don't think that's a word. How's about you try 'dad', huh?"
Pyralis grinned at him. "Ga!" she said again.
He leaned back. "I guess that was too much to hope for from a six-month-old. Come on then," he told her as he stood up, "Let's see if we can't find something more interesting to do." He carried her into the living room and sat her on the floor.
"Ga!" Pyralis tried to grab a nearby toy, but it was just out of her reach.
"Go on," Cole told her. "You can get it. Do some crawling now, come on."
Pyralis whined and reached for the toy again, but she couldn't get it. So she set fire to it instead.
"Ohh, not again..." Cole picked Pyralis up. "Phoebe?" he called as he got to his feet.
"What?" she said, coming out of the kitchen.
"Some water?" he asked, gesturing at the little fire on the floor.
Phoebe looked at it. "Sure," she said after a second.
"Thanks." Cole grinned at his fiancé, then held his daughter's face up to his own. "You," he told her, "are too impatient for your own good."
"Gee, I wonder where she gets that from," Phoebe called from the kitchen.
"Are you saying I'm impatient?"
"Noo, I would never say that."
"Liar," Cole said as she re-entered with a bucket of water and put out the fire.
Phoebe made a face at him before her expression turned serious. "Listen, Cole, I hate to say this... but I think we should consider binding her powers, at least for now."
"What? No!" Cole couldn't believe she was even suggesting it, especially at a time like this.
"But Cole, what if she sets fire to a person?"
"Then that's tough for them! Phoebe, the sooner she learns to control her powers the better, especially while the Source is after you!"
"Cole, if the Source wants to kill her she's not going to be able to protect herself with or without her powers. She's too young, it's our responsibility to protect her."
"I still don't think it's a good idea. Please, Phoebe, give her a chance before you take them away from her."
Phoebe sighed. "Okay... but if she hurts anyone her powers are gone!"
"Okay," Cole agreed. "D'you wanna take her?"
"No, um, actually, could you take her out for a walk or something?"
Cole shrugged. "Sure. You're not coming?"
"Uh..."
"Phoebe?" Piper asked, coming out of the kitchen with the phone, "That thing you were talking about, a day thing or a night thing?"
"Night," Phoebe replied.
"What thing?" asked Cole.
Phoebe looked away from him. "It's nothing important."
Cole narrowed his eyes. "You want me to leave, don't you?"
"Yes."
"And you don't want to tell me why."
"If you could just give us a coupla hours," she pleaded, "And don't ask any questions. Please, please."
"You'll tell me later?"
"I promise."
"All right," he agreed. "I'll just go get her coat and we'll be gone in a minute."
"Thank you!" She kissed him. "I'll see you later."
"Okay." He watched her go back into the kitchen with Piper before heading upstairs to get Pyralis' things. He didn't know why, but something was making him feel uneasy. He shook it off as best he could. After all, it was probably nothing.
* * *
Cole walked along the street, whistling. The weather was surprisingly good, considering it was February. The sunshine had put him in a great mood, and seemed to have had the same effect on Pyralis, who was sitting in the backpack pointing at things and happily babbling away. He smiled to himself. He'd have to get Phoebe something as a thank you for suggesting this walk, even if it was just to get him out of the house. But what should he get her? Flowers? Chocolates? A new book?
"Ga!" Pyralis said excitedly, pointing at a shop across the road.
Cole looked over and broke into a smile. It was a jeweler's. His daughter had just given him the perfect idea.
"Yeah, it's very pretty isn't it?" he said to her as he walked over. She just laughed.
The door chimed as he opened it and stepped into the shop. A small man in spectacles and a suit came over almost immediately.
"Looking for anything specific?" he asked Cole.
"Yes, actually," Cole smiled, thinking of Phoebe. "An engagement ring."
"Right this way sir." The man walked a few paces to a glass cabinet filled with rings of all shapes and sizes.
Cole was astounded at the sheer number of them, wondering how on earth he was going to choose. "That's a lot of rings," he said.
"Yes sir, we're very proud of our selection."
"Hmm..." Cole looked over his shoulder. "What do you think?" he asked Pyralis. "What would your mom like, huh?"
She ignored him, preferring to look around the store with big eyes and open mouth.
He raised his eyebrows and turned back. And found himself staring right at the perfect ring.
"That one," he said, pointing at it. "I want that one."
"Good choice!" The man took out a key and opened the cabinet. He held up the ring and said something about the diamond and how good the price was, but Cole wasn't really listening. He had just noticed Pyralis' hand, right next to his ear and trying to reach one of the rings, and was remembering what had happened earlier. Phoebe would never forgive him if he let Pyralis set fire to a jewelry store. "Um," he said, interrupting the man, "I'm sorry, I'd like to get something for my daughter too. Any ideas?"
"But of course!" The little man said, still smiling and still looking insanely happy. "What about a nice gold chain to go round her wrist? With an engraved plaque?"
"Um, sure. Yeah, that would be great." Cole was painfully aware of the straining muscles in his daughter's arm. "Can you do it quickly, please? Only I don't think she's gonna be happy much longer seeing all these pretty things and not being able to touch them."
"Of course sir," said the man, going behind a counter and getting a pen and pencil. "If you'd just write down what you'd like engraved on the bracelet."
Cole took the pencil and tried to think of some meaningful message he'd like to give his daughter. He couldn't. "Pyralis, love dad" he wrote, and gave it to the man hurriedly. He was sure something was going to burst into flames any second now.
After what seemed like hours the man came back from the little back room he'd been in with a little gold chain. "Now," he said, "You can adjust this to fit, and when she grows to big for that you can bring it back here and we'll put some more links in the chain."
"Yeah, thanks," said Cole. "Can I pay now?"
"Of course."
Cole waited another few agonizing minutes.
"Would you like a bag for that?" the man said finally.
"Uh, no thanks. But do you think you could put the bracelet on my daughter's wrist?"
"No problem." He did so and Cole breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected that little problem...
"Thanks," he said over his shoulder, already heading for the door.
"Have a nice day!"
Cole stepped outside and looked at his watch. It had been almost two hours since they'd left the house. He decided to head back. After a few steps he started to smile again. He was happy, Pyralis was happy, and very soon Phoebe would be happy.
He resumed whistling.
* * *
Cole was still whistling when he got back to the house. He got Pyralis out of the backpack and took her coat off before going to find Phoebe.
He found her in the kitchen, making a potion with Piper.
"Hi," he said, raising his eyebrows, "Am I back too soon?"
The sisters went "um" and "uh" and made faces. Something was up.
"We need his help," Piper told Phoebe. "No time to be evasive."
Something was definitely up.
"Help for what?" he asked.
Phoebe hesitated.
He tilted his head as he jiggled Pyralis up and down. "Look, it's obvious you're making a potion, so what is it you're not telling me?"
Piper and Phoebe looked at each other. Finally Phoebe came over to talk to him.
"Um," she said, wringing her hands. "I had a premonition. A demon attacked and you jumped in front of a fireball to save me." She looked at him nervously.
"What?" He took a step forward. "You can't keep these things from me."
Phoebe shook her head. "I was just trying to protect you."
"Well that's not a good enough reason." He couldn't believe she wouldn't tell him something like this.
"Uh, hate to interrupt, but maybe we should talk about the demon," Piper said.
"What did he look like?" Cole asked Phoebe, trying to put the other thoughts out of his mind for the moment.
"A creepy half-face... And his good side had tribal markings, kinda like..."
"Balthazar," he said.
Phoebe sighed, nodding her head. "A little bit. Do you know who he is, does he work for the Source?"
"He doesn't work for the Source Phoebe, he is the Source," Cole said angrily. She should've told him! "His face was disfigured in the battle that brought him to power, only upper-level demons have seen him." She'd put all their lives at risk through a misguided attempt to save his. At least she looked like she was starting to realize it.
"You should've told me," he said.
There was a silence.
Piper sighed. "So he's the one that released the Hollow."
"The Hollow, what do you mean released?" This was getting better by the second.
"It already attacked us," Phoebe said. "It took Piper's power."
Cole looked at her disbelievingly. "Well then you'd better find a way to beat the Source without your powers, otherwise-"
The potion exploded.
"Already on it," Piper said.
Cole hoped so.
* * *
"Five magic crystals oriented east to west. Magic circle check," Paige said as she stood up.
Piper poured her potion into a glass mug. "Ooh, purple good, purple equals exploding power, exploding power check."
"One fabulously written Source vanquishing spell," Phoebe held it up, "Check."
"Don't get cocky," Cole grinned.
"Not cocky, confident," said Phoebe, kissing Pyralis on the head before handing her to Cole so she could help Piper with the potion.
"We are talking about the Source of all evil, maybe measured optimism is best," her sister told her.
"The Source unleashed the Hollow," Leo said as he orbed in.
Piper turned to her husband. "Already on that train honey, it took my powers, anything else?"
"Good and evil need to join forces and read the inscription on the box where the Hollow is kept," he said, "That will put it back in it's crypt and return your powers."
"Okay," said Piper, "So at least we know how to banish it, this is good news."
"Good news if the Source brings the box and we can find an evil being willing to help," said Phoebe.
Paige turned to Cole. "Hey Cole, too bad you're not still evil."
Phoebe looked at him. He raised his eyebrows. "Well, one step at a time. First we vanquish the Source, and then we'll worry about putting Pandora back in it's box."
Paige's cellphone rang. She answered it and went out in the hall to talk.
Phoebe came to sit next to Cole and took Pyralis back as Piper and Leo filled little bottles of potion.
"Are you nervous?" Phoebe asked suddenly.
"Well yeah, of course I am. You?"
"I dunno. I feel sorta terrified, but really excited at the same time."
Cole took her hand. "I think that's only natural."
She smiled.
"Leo, could you ask Paige to get back in here?" Piper screwed the lid on the last bottle. "I need to check that everything's really done."
"Sure." Leo went into the hall.
"You ready?" Piper asked Cole and Phoebe.
"As ready is we'll ever be," Phoebe said. "Right honey?"
"Right," said Cole, squeezing her hand.
"Leo!" they suddenly heard Paige shout.
"Get an exploding potion!" Cole rushed out into the hallway. Leo was lying on the floor with an arrow in his chest, and a few feet away there stood a Darklighter who'd evidently just shot him. Or was he just a Darklighter?
"Crossbow!" Paige shouted.
"No, your powers!" Cole tried to warn her, but it was too late. The Hollow absorbed her power, leaving her defenseless.
"Leo?" Piper ran forward.
Phoebe appeared. "Paige watch out!" she said, throwing the exploding potion with one hand while still holding Pyralis with the other.
The Darklighter exploded, leaving the Hollow, which had been inside him, to float away, presumably back to the Source.
Cole looked down at Leo. His face contorted in pain as Piper put his head on her knees.
This did not look good.
* * *
Cole opened the closet and took the box with the ring out of his coat pocket. He didn't want to let Phoebe fight the Source without him having given it to her. Not that it would protect her in any way, but... Well, it would make him feel better.
Phoebe came in and started looking through her drawers hurriedly. "I'm just looking for my potion book, have you seen it anywhere?" she asked.
"I didn't think you could save Leo with a potion?"
"Yeah, but it's not just to save Leo, it's to save us all."
"Oh yeah? How?"
"I don't know, but I have to do something, I can't just sit around and -" She was looking in his direction properly for the first time since she'd entered the room. "What's that?"
"This?" He shook the box.
"Yeah."
He played with it with his fingers and looked down at it. "It's just a little something I've been waiting for the right moment to give you." He smiled as he took a step towards her and opened the box.
She smiled too when she saw it, then looked up at him.
"It's not your grams'," he said, "But hopefully it's not cursed."
Her expression turned serious. "I... I don't think now's the time."
"Actually I think now's the perfect time," he said softly.
He carefully took the ring out, put the box on the table and took her hand. Gently he slid the ring onto her finger. Then he squeezed her fingers and looked into her eyes.
"This way no matter what happens," he told her, "You'll always know that I love you."
"It's beautiful," she said, then sighed. "Now you have to go."
"No," he said, "I'm staying here with you and Pyralis."
"Do you want me to watch you die too?" Phoebe raised her voice.
"If that's what it takes to save you, yeah."
"No but I'm supposed to save you, that's why I got that premonition."
"Not necessarily. You know as well as I do you're not meant to stop every premonition," he said. "Some are just meant to prepare you for what's to come."
She looked at him, the fear evident in her eyes.
"Hey, come here," he said after a minute, pulling her into a hug.
"Oh Cole," she sighed, "I just hope you'll be all right. If only we still had all our powers!"
"Well there must be some way to get them back, mustn't there?"
"But how?"
"I don't know," he let go of her and sat on the bed. "You've lost your powers before, right? How did you get them back then?"
"Well with a... Spell..." She looked at him. "Cole, you are a genius!"
"Well, I wouldn't go that far..." he said bashfully.
"Come on!" Phoebe said, grabbing his hand, "We don't have much time!"
* * *
"Piper?" Phoebe called when they'd reached the bottom of the stairs.
Piper came out of the living room.
"We may have a plan to get your powers back," Cole told her as Paige came out of the sunroom to join them.
"Then maybe Paige could help heal Leo," Phoebe said.
"A spell?" asked Piper.
"Remember the one to call for a witch's powers?" Phoebe said. "Maybe, it might be strong enough to call the powers from the Hollow."
"Could that work?" Paige asked.
"It has to," Piper told her. She looked at Cole. "Uh, could you watch those two?"
"Sure," he replied. He watched the sisters go off to find the book, then went into the living room, where Leo and Pyralis were both asleep. He sat down next to Pyralis, and almost immediately felt a strange sensation, almost as if-
He appeared somewhere in the underworld.
...as if he were shimmering, he finished his thought. He looked around nervously. Who had brought him here? And why? And most importantly, how had they found out he was still alive?
"Don't be afraid," said a voice. A voice he knew, but couldn't quite place.
"Who are you?" he asked. "Where am I?"
A shadowed figure came into view.
"Back in your once and future life," it answered. "Balthazar."
"Balthazar..." Cole finally got a good look at the speaker. Dressed in red. Earrings with spirals on. Dark hair. Dark skin. Dark eyes.
"The Seer," he said.
"Even now I can see the void where your demon half used to exist," she said. "It craves to be complete again."
"How did you know I was still alive?" Cole asked warily.
"I had a vision," the Seer replied. "One where you and I do great things together."
"I don't work with evil anymore," said Cole.
"You might reconsider, if you hope to save your precious witch."
What did she know about Phoebe's fate, he couldn't help but ask himself.
"Only you and I can help her defeat the Source," the Seer continued.
Cole looked at her. "I'm listening," he said reluctantly.
"If you take in the Hollow, you can absorb the Source's power when he attacks." The Seer picked up a wooden box and turned to face Cole. "Once powerless, they can vanquish him."
"What happens to me after?" Cole was still unsure. Very unsure.
"The witches and I will banish the Hollow back to it's crypt. You will return to normal."
"How do I know this isn't just one of the Source's tricks? Or one of yours for that matter."
"The Source has been corrupted by the Hollow, and is going to destroy us all," she informed him. "He can not be allowed to continue with this path of madness."
"If I do this," Cole asked, "What do you see then?"
"A future. For both sides."
Cole turned away from her. How was he supposed to make a decision like this? The Seer was awfully persuasive...
Something popped into his mind.
"Is this the great thing you saw us doing together?" he asked.
"Perhaps," came the reply.
No help there then.
"However you won't ever know unless the Source is stopped first."
He turned back to her.
"It's your only chance to save your love," she said.
It didn't look like he had much of a choice.
Cole walked towards her and stood in front of the box. She opened it and he steeled himself for what was to come.
Then suddenly it came, and it was horrible, like inhaling huge bits of dust and suffocating and then the dust coming in though you eyes and nose and ears and anywhere else it can find as it slowly fills you up-
And then suddenly he was full, and felt like he was made of dust, a bag of skin filled with so much dust it was hard to breathe. He could feel the Hollow, feel the sheer greed and desire for consumption that was now a part of him, too.
But he still knew what he had to do.
* * *
He appeared at the side of the attic, already running as he knew what was to come. He saw the Source, saw him throw the fireball, felt himself leap in front of it. He felt the heat of the fireballs he threw at the Source, heard himself tell Phoebe to hurry and get the spell, saw the Source burn up in a huge ball of fire. And yet at the same time, he was only partly aware of all this, and he longed for this thing to be out of his body and back in the box where it belonged.
Phoebe and the Seer read the inscription on the box. Cole felt the Hollow being sucked out of him, and had never felt more relieved in his life. It was as if he had been drowning and at the last moment someone had pulled him out of the water.
And yet, even as Phoebe hurried over to hug him before rushing off downstairs with Paige, he felt as though there was something still inside of him.
Something that shouldn't be there.
* * *
He helped Piper down the stairs and into the living room, where Paige had managed to heal Leo.
"All is as it should be again," said the Seer from behind him. She was smiling. "Time to return to my side. Too bad Balthazar's gone, he would have made a great new Source." She looked at Cole.
"Too bad," he said.
"I don't know who you are," Phoebe said to the Seer, "But whoever you are, we thank you."
"Oh, I didn't do this for your future," the Seer told her. "I did it for mine."
"I don't understand," said Paige, "If we got our powers back, where did the Source's go?"
The Seer smiled, or was it a grin? Cole wasn't sure. "Into the void," she replied.
And with that she disappeared.
* * *
"For Prue."
A little later Leo and the Halliwell sisters clinked their glasses as they sat in their living room, celebrating.
Cole came down a few minutes later after putting Pyralis back to bed, passing Piper and Leo on the stairs.
"Hi honey," said Phoebe. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?" He sat down on the couch next to her.
"Well it just took you a while to come down."
"It did?"
There was a silence.
"Y'know what," said Paige, sensing that they wanted to be alone, "All that facing death has made me kinda tired. I think I better get some sleep."
"Goodnight!" said Phoebe as Paige went upstairs. "You sure you're okay?" she asked Cole when she'd gone.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just a little... Tired, too."
"To tired to celebrate?" Phoebe smiled at him. "You are my soon-to-be husband." She laughed. "And you're also my hero."
"Oh, I'm nobody's hero," Cole told her as she pulled him in for a hug.
And within him, something evil stirred.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR (thank goodness for that!)
Author's note: Okay, so what did you think of that? Was it a stupid idea, should I have jumped forward farther in time and just said that the stuff happened more or less like in the episode? Ah, well, it's done now, can't change it. I am so tired! Oh, and please excuse any typos you might find? I have a spellchecker on here but I haven't got time to read through all this to pick out the things it would miss, and I might not have until Thursday. But you'd much rather have a new chapter today with maybe a few errors than have to wait for Thursday, right? Right?
Anyway, thanks for reading, please R&R and I promise I won't just transcribe an episode again! Especially since my story is going a different way from the show, it really is, I promise! Anyway... yeah.
