Left of Center
By Risa
Disclaimer: See Prologue
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Chapter Two
"Let's just see if there's anything else that we can try first," Phoebe said. Something that doesn't involve letting her kill Cole, she added silently. She couldn't lose him. Not now. Not after all that they had been through.
Just then, Leo said, glancing upwards, "I've got to go. They're calling. You guys would be okay, right?"
Piper nodded. "Don't worry," she said, as Leo orbed away. Then she turned to the others. "There should be an exorcism spell in the Book. But we need to find some way of preventing this ghost from possessing someone else and to get her to move on."
Suddenly, without warning, Basil appeared in front of them, flustered. "Cole, I tried to persuade the Committee but they seemed to have taken a double dose of stubbornness with their coffee this morning," he said the moment he arrived. "They still want you in the safe house."
"We really need to find some sort of an alarm system for you guys," Paige muttered under her breath. "All this sudden appearances can't be good for the heart."
"Sorry," Basil said sheepishly. "I was in a hurry. I wanted to get here before anything happened."
"Well, you're late," Phoebe said, "She already came by." She gestured at the two knives lying on the floor.
"Well, at least you're still alive," Basil said, sighing.
"Always looking on the bright side, aren't you?" Piper remarked.
"Anyway, it seems like the person behind this is the ghost of the dead witch," Cole said to Basil. "We think she might have possessed a girl."
"I'll pass this on to the Committee and see if they've found anything," Basil said, nodding. "But right now we have to get you to the safe house."
"What if she attacks again?" Cole argued, not willing to leave Phoebe.
"Cole, I think we can take care of ourselves," Phoebe said, smiling reassuringly. "It's more important that we get you to somewhere safe."
"And I did manage to get some people to watch over the place," Basil added.
Before any of the sisters could protest, Leo orbed back into the room. "The Elders called me to tell you not to interfere in this, not even to protect Cole. They don't want you to have any involvement with the neutrals. They say that they've had enough of the neutrals and they're going to take measures."
"Great. This is just fantastic," Basil said sarcastically. "I'm just sick of this sort of crap. You couldn't care less about what you do so long as it's in the name of the "greater good". But God forbid that someone else should try this sort of thing on you. Face it – all of you just want power like everybody else. Stop putting yourselves on the bloody pedestal." His eyes glowed with anger and he stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
For a moment, all of them stared in silence. In all the months that they had known Basil, they had never seen him lose his cool like this before. "What's wrong with him?" Phoebe said, stunned.
"Well, it was totally unfair of him to say that," Paige said, once she covered from her own shock and was about to follow Basil out of the door to argue.
"Hold on," Cole moved in front of Paige, stopping her. "I'll talk to him. Something's bothering him… He's not usually like this." He walked out of the door and found Basil sitting on the steps, staring at the road, pensive.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Cole asked, sitting down beside Basil. "I've never seen you snap like that."
"Nothing really," Basil said, "it's just…" he sighed. "It's just Kiara died on this day four years ago."
"I'm sorry," Cole said, not sure of what to say. Basil always seemed so cheerful, so happy-go-lucky that few realized that the happy exterior masked the deep, lingering sadness that he carried with him since his wife's death.
"What are you sorry for?" Basil said, managing a weak smile. "I was okay, really. I would probably have brooded about it once I got home but I could still function normally. Then, after hearing what Leo said, something just snapped. I lost it. They never considered that the actions of their people might be wrong. Everything was basically our fault. It just reminded me of what happened four years ago.
"I came home after work that evening and found Kiara lying on the ground with two witches standing above her, chanting. There was a knife on the ground and there was blood everywhere. I shouted at the witches to stop and rushed to Kiara's side. She was barely conscious. Her face was pale, so pale…" Basil trailed off, lost in memory.
"I wanted to kill them but Kiara didn't want me to leave her. The witches decided to leave us alone – they figured that they had done enough damage. Before they left, one of them turned to me and said, with such disgust, "How could you love a demon?" I never felt as much hate as I did right then. They didn't see the good in Kiara, the sweetness and the kindness. They only saw the half demon and they damned her for it."
For a moment, the two of them sat there in silence. This was the first time he had heard this. He knew about Basil and his wife, Kiara, but that was from what the others had told him. Basil never liked talking about his past. Now, Cole finally understood why Basil was so dedicated to the neutrals. "And you still manage to work with witches after everything?" Cole asked, curious.
"It took some time," Basil admitted, smiling wryly. "Then I realized that Kiara had shown me the danger of generalizing demons. I thought I should know better than to generalize about other people, even witches."
"What happened to the witches who killed Kiara?"
"Dead," Basil said flatly. "I made sure of it." Then he sighed. "It's not something that I'm proud of. Don't believe anyone who tells you that revenge is sweet." Then he pushed away all his sadness and regret and stood up. "Enough of this brooding," he said, with a small grin. "Let's go back in."
"Do you think he's right?" Paige asked pensively, as Cole left to talk to Basil. "That the ends don't always justify the means?"
"I don't know," Leo said honestly. "Some people do believe that it doesn't matter what they do, so long as the job gets done. But I always believed that we need to draw the line somewhere – that you'll eventually reach a point where your actions just aren't justified, however noble your cause may be."
"But where's that line? When do you say "That's enough"?"
"That's just something you have to decide for yourself," Leo said. "You will have to decide which is more important. The thing is, sometimes you can start out with the best intentions but once you get a taste of power…"
"Power corrupts, huh," Phoebe said, smiling wryly.
Leo nodded. "There are things which Basil said that I don't agree with, but he's got a point."
"So were the witches really wrong in torturing the demons?" Piper said, thoughtfully. "These were demons after all and they probably did their fair share of torturing."
"But is that enough to justify their actions? On one hand you condemn these demons for using torture, yet you use the same methods in punishing them. Doesn't seem like you're upholding the principles that you claim to be upholding," Basil said, as he entered the room.
"Now I'm getting a headache," Paige said, shaking her head. "This is too much for one afternoon."
Basil smiled at them apologetically. "Sorry about the outburst earlier. It was unfair of me to make all those generalizations. As for all these moral issues, we could spend days arguing and still not reach any conclusion. Maybe we should leave it till this thing's over?"
Phoebe nodded, sighing in relief. "My mind was beginning to go round in circles," she confessed.
Suddenly their voices faded into the distance as Cole became acutely aware of the pounding in his head, of voices hissing in his mind, insistent, demanding. His vision began to blur and he clutched his head, trying to force the voices out.
"Cole?" Phoebe said in concern, placing her hand on his shoulder.
Cole pushed her hand away, violently. For a moment he lost all awareness of his surroundings and was only aware of the overwhelming urge to destroy whatever that was in his path. The voices grew louder, more insistent. Finally, unable to control himself, Cole threw an energy ball, not caring what it hit, so long as it hit something. Slowly, the voices faded away, satiated for the moment. He became aware of his surroundings once more and found himself lying on the ground, with the rest of them standing around him, wary and concerned.
Cole sat up slowly, with the help of Phoebe. Then he noticed the burnt and broken dining table. "Did I do that?" he asked, hoping against hope that it hadn't been him.
Phoebe nodded. "What happened?" she asked softly.
Cole looked down at his hand as if it was alien to him. "I think I'm losing control over my powers."
"What!" Phoebe said, shocked. "How?"
"I don't know," Cole said, shaking his head in confusion, "All I could hear were voices whispering at me to destroy and I felt like a passenger in my own body…" As he spoke, Basil took Cole's wrist and appeared to be listening for something. Then his face darkened.
"Damn," Basil said as he began to swear. "We were afraid that this might happen."
"What were you afraid of?" Phoebe demanded, a sense of foreboding creeping into her.
"The demon essences that Cole absorbed. We were worried that they contained more than just the powers of the demons. We thought that they could still have part of the demon's awareness in them which might try to take control of Cole's body."
"Why didn't you say something before?" Cole snapped.
"It was just a theory and you showed no sign of losing control at all so we didn't think much about it," he winced, "looks like we were wrong."
"You mean after three years of total peace and quiet these demon essences suddenly decide they want to be in the driver's seat?" Cole said, incredulous.
Basil nodded. "I don't know what happened to set it off and I don't know how much time you have before they try to take control again," he admitted. "We need to get you to the Committee right now."
Cole looked down at the look of worry on Phoebe's face and caressed her cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon." He was beginning to feel helpless, powerless. Their relationship had already been complicated by the death of the witch. Now this… He didn't know what he had done wrong to be put through all this. He left with Basil, his heart heavy.
As she watched Cole and Basil disappear, Phoebe felt tears well in her eyes. She should have guessed that something like this would happen. Each time she had said to herself, "This time it will work. This time everything would be all right" but something always happened to screw everything up. She was sick of it. Totally and utterly sick of it. Fate always seemed to be toying around with them, showing them paradise then taking it away just as it was within reach. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. Just as she felt like giving up, she remembered what Cole had said not so long ago…
"There are no certainties, Phoebe. I can't give you that. I can tell you that I don't intend to become evil again but that doesn't mean that something won't happen to change that.
"I'll like to tell you not to worry, that this time everything will be okay, but the thing is, I can't. I want to do good, stay good and I definitely don't want any harm to come to you or your sisters but what I want doesn't always matter."
I've just been concerned about how all this affects me, Phoebe realised, I haven't thought about how this affects Cole. All that I'm feeling is insignificant compared to what he's probably going through. After all that has happened he has never given up on me, on us. I can't give up now. He needs me. And our situation is not all that desperate yet.
"Phoebe?" Piper said gently, putting her hand on Phoebe's shoulder.
"I'll be fine," Phoebe said, smiling weakly. "Let's figure out what to do about that ghost. I don't care what the Elders say. I'm not letting her take Cole."
Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait! This chapter took so long mainly because of my exams but also because it gave me a lot of problems. I've edited it several times and even then I'm still not all that satisfied with it. If anyone seems out of character here (as compared to Season 5), it's because I'm currently seeking refuge in my own fanfic world and probably went overboard.
*~ To Be Continued ~*