Part Eight
"You are not going alone!" Paige exclaimed and looked to Piper for support.
"One of us will go with you," Piper emphatically agreed. She wasn't ready to put all her trust in him no matter how sincere he seemed about helping.
"The Whitelighters can't," Cole informed them, "and you both have to finish preparing as well as stay to protect Phoebe. If word gets out that she's vulnerableI'm going alone and that's all there is to it."
"No," Phoebe quietly announced when she re-entered the room dressed in a casual, practical, outfit. "It's my life, my fate. I'm going with you, Cole."
"Your powers will be weakened down there," he reminded her. "And the Dracken will be unlike any other creature you've come across. I can't guarantee your safety."
"Nevertheless," she told him, "I'm going."
She seemed drained but Cole admired her determination and nodded. "Then we'll need to protect you with a shield"
"What kind of shield?" Piper asked when Cole's voice trailed off.
"Maybe one of the amulets we've used in the past," Paige suggested as she knelt by an old trunk.
"No," Cole stopped her, "that won't work." He explained to Phoebe, "It has to be demonic to fool the Dracken. If the Dracken catches the slightest sniff of witch' about you, you won't have a second to even worry about turning evil, it'll all be over."
"Where are we gonna get something demonic?" Paige complained. "We don't have time to get a demon to attack and hope he drops an accessory."
Phoebe glanced around the attic. "What about the sword from this morning's attack? It belonged to one of the Dark Starlings."
Cole shook his head, "We'll need that to get the Dracken to track for us. The sword wouldn't be enough anyway. You have to be wearing the object so that you'll be enveloped in its demonic aura."
Phoebe thought for a moment before it occurred to her that she possessed the right item. "I'll be right back."
"Listen to me, Cole Turner," Paige sharply rebuked as soon as her sister was out of the room, "Phoebe's been to hell and back because of you but she's finally reached a good point in her life. Don't you dare ruin it for her!"
"I have no intention of doing anything of the sort," Cole indignantly replied. "I never did."
"Maybe not," Piper conceded, "but the fact remains that she was devastated by what happened because of you and it took her a long time to pull her life back together and move on."
"That's right," Paige nodded, "and she's even found someone new. She's in love and ready to move in with Ja--"
"Maybe now isn't the time," Leo quietly suggested.
"Now's exactly the time," Chris spoke up from his seat on the sofa. "This's gonna be one of the most dangerous situations they've ever experienced and," he stood, "they can't afford to be distracted by old resentments. They need to air it all out now so they can stay focused on the job."
"This isn't a job," Piper snapped, "it's Phoebe's life and you have no idea what she's been through."
"This isn't some minor resentment," Paige also argued. "He's," she pointed to Cole, "done things. Ruined lives."
"You don't seem so ruined to me," Cole muttered. "Still the same selfi--"
"Forget about the landlord you burnt to a crisp?" Paige interrupted. "A human?"
Cole dismissed her with a wave of his hand, "He was scum and bent on ruining Phoebe's life and yours in turn and I didn't hear of a single person missing him."
"What about that poor girl?" Paige stared intently at him. "Was she scum too? No, she was simply an innocent soul caught in your obsessive web to get Phoebe back." She watched the expression change in his face and knew she had struck a nerve.
"There are many things I've done that shame me," Cole quietly said. He had known better but couldn't stop himself from killing that driver. He had been so desperate to remind Phoebe of their love, of what life could be like for them. She might've been innocent but he needed her. At least, that's how he justified it at the time. He glanced at Paige and was suddenly annoyed by her smug look. "Unbelievable the way you stand there with your self-righteous attitudes. You think you were the only victims of the Source and his actions? Wake up and face reality, my life was destroyed by the Source. Everything I ever hoped for, dreamed about, was destroyed by him, and I won't let you or anyone el--"
"Destroyed? You?" Paige sputtered. "You were the Source! You brought all this on by yourself!"
"You turned our lives upside-down from the moment you introduced yourself to us," Piper added with growing frustration. "And you didn't even have the decency to do the right thing and stay dead when it finally played out. No, you had to come back as some souped-up indestructible demon who lost his mind."
"And you think I deserved that?" he snarled.
"You were a demon," Paige insisted. "Phoebe should've left well enough alone and vanquished you in that cemetery."
"Don't you dare," he ordered, "speak of anything you know nothing about. You don't know a damn thing about my, our, struggle. Phoebe and I loved each other and if you think that I ever wanted any of this to happen, you're crazier than I ever was." The sisters didn't say anything and he angrily spat, "That's it, isn't it? You think I wanted this, that it was all part of some master plan. I've got news for you, witches, falling in love with Phoebe was the single most positive thing that had ever happened in my life. And if you'd had just an ounce of understanding of what it was li--"
"An ounce?" Piper snapped. "I know exactly what it was like! I lived through every broken promise, every betrayal. Every time Phoebe pleaded with us to give you another chance. I can't believe I ever let you into my home. You brought an evil into our lives that haunts us to this day."
Unconsciously, Cole formed an energy ball in his hand, "I became the Source as a consequence of saving your lives and you still have the gall to stand there and tell me --"
"Enough!" Phoebe shouted from the doorway. She glared at her sisters and Cole, who let the energy ball dissipate, and continued, "I've got enough to worry about right now without watching the three of you go at it. I swear I won't be caught in the middle again. I've had enough of"
Cole shimmered to her side the instant Phoebe's knees began to buckle and caught her as she collapsed. He carefully lowered her to the floor and watched in concern as she brought a hand to her chest and took several quick shallow breaths. "Close your eyes," he encouraged, "and breathe in and out, nice and slow." He glanced to Leo who rushed over, "Can you do anything?"
Leo brought his hands over the deep pink star, closed his eyes, and used his power to ease Phoebe's breathing.
"Is it darker than it was before?" Piper asked Paige in a worried tone.
After a few moments, Leo told them, "It's all I can do." Phoebe stirred and he stepped back to allow Cole to help her up. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to go," Leo advised her. "You don't know what's in store down there and expending too much energy might cause the transformation to happen faster."
Phoebe shook her head, "I'm not gonna sit around and let this happen to me without a fight."
"What if something goes wrong?" Piper wondered. "You could get hurt or"
Phoebe gently acknowledged her sister's fear, "It's going to happen, Piper. One way or another." She looked up at Cole, "I'm ready."
"The shield" he reminded her even as he kept a steadying hand on her shoulder.
She reached into the pocket of her yoga pants and hesitantly showed him the ring. "It was part of a demonic ceremony wasn't it?"
Cole stared at the gold band and quietly revealed, "But not a necessary one."
"Then why?" she asked as she glanced from the ring to his face. As hard as it was to gaze at them, his eyes always told her the truth. When you wanted to see,' her conscience scolded.
He shrugged, "As a token of my love for you." He took the ring from her fingers, "Isn't that part of the standard tradition?"
After everything she'd been through, she'd tried to cling to whatever good moments she could find and she was grateful to know that at least a small part of her wedding had been pure. "Thank you," she whispered in a choked voice.
"It should still work, though," he sadly realized. "In spite of the intent behind my giving it to you, you're right, it was part of something dark and evil." The thought of it having been part of an evil act caused him to clench the ring in his fingers. A wave of shame for having allowed it to happen flowed through him in spite of the fact that he alone knew how hard he had struggled against the evil. He caught Phoebe's intense expression of sadness and realized that, perhaps, he wasn't as alone as he believed. Still, it wasn't the time to bring up the past, saving Phoebe was his priority. He stared at the ring, murmured a spell in ancient Latin, and returned it to her. "An extra precaution, just in case," he explained and tried to hide his disappointment when she placed it on the ring finger of her right hand.
Phoebe fingered the ring but she couldn't shake the overwhelming sense of sadness she felt. Cole's surely but how much of it was hers? It's been so long since I've seen it,' she thought with a shake of her head, and now it's on the wrong finger. But it wouldn't be right, wouldn't feel right, to put it where it' She glanced at Cole and fought every instinct to run from the room.
In spite of how he felt, he honestly assured her, "It's okay, all things considered, it wouldn't be appropriate."
"Phoebe," Paige called out, "you okay?"
Startled, Phoebe turned to her sister, "YeahWe'd better get going." She approached both sisters and opened her arms for them. She took comfort in their embrace and then hugged each sister individually. "I love you both so much," she declared, "and we'll get through this."
Piper immediately hugged her younger sister again. "I love you," she whispered fiercely in Phoebe's ear. "You'd better come back to me."
Phoebe pulled back and gently wiped away her sister's tears. "You bet," she promised. She stepped away, picked up the Dark Starling's sword, and stood next to Cole. "I'm ready."
He held out his hand to her and awkwardly told her, "You gotta hold it."
Piper watched her sister accept Cole's hand and give it a slight squeeze. Cole flashed her a smug look of his own and, as he shimmered out, hand-in-hand, with her sister, she muttered, "This already sucks."
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