Chapter 8
Every now and then
Soft as breath upon my skin
I feel you come back again
And it's like you haven't been
Gone a moment from my side
Like the tears were never cried
Like the hands of time
Are holding you and me
And with all my heart I'm sure
We're closer than we ever were
When Phoebe slowly started to wake up, she had no idea why she hears this old song in her mind, but then she suddenly remembered last night happenings, and memories thrilled her like a tornado.
She opened her eyes and blushed, noticing that Cole is watching her. She felt the fever filling her body, and memories continued to fly through her mind.
"Morning," Cole softly whispered.
"Morning," Phoebe answered, turning to face Cole. "I still can't believe it's really happening. I mean, it seems like a dream."
"I know," Cole gave her a soft smile and kissed her lightly. "It's so good to wake up near you. "You were fantastic last night."
"I was?" Phoebe giggled. "You was the one who drove me crazy. That was so… so… so intense…"
"I know what you're speaking about," he said and kissed her again, softly rubbing his lips against hers. "You know, I still can't believe that you're here, in my arms again."
"What are we gonna do now?" Phoebe sighed and seriously looked at him. "I mean, right now everything is perfect. I wish we could live in other dimension, just we and no one else. No demons, no responsibilities, no stupid symbols…"
"And nothing between us," Cole added. "Phoebe… You aren't going to give us up anymore, are you?"
Phoebe sighed. "I won't. I promise. I don't wanna hurt myself anymore, and I wanna stop living in lies. Cole, you've to know something."
"What?" he carefully listened.
"My life had been a lonely hell since we vanquished you last time," tears shimmered in Phoebe's eyes. "God, if I look back now, I can't understand how could I take that. Every day I got up just because I had to, put on my mask and started to act. I convinced everybody else that I'm fine and my life goes on, but I couldn't convince about it myself. I terribly missed you, Cole. I dreamed about you every night."
"I know," Cole quietly said.
Phoebe frowned. "You know?"
"Once I shimmered in your room while you were sleeping," he explained. "You were calling my name, and then I realized that you still haven't forgotten me."
She nodded. "I tried, I desperately tried to forget you. I dated other guys, hoping that I'd replace my love for you with love I'd feel for someone else. I lied myself that everything's over, that I have a new life. Nothing worked. I had lost the spirit of my life."
"Stop, baby, stop hurting yourself," Cole said, gently wiping away her tears. "Please, don't cry. I'm here and I'll never leave you. Phoebe, I want you to know, that I have never wanted to be evil. I always fought, but it was something stronger. When I returned and you turned me down, I lost the spirit of my life. You were… you still are everything to me, Phoebe, that's why I tried to get you back so desperately. Your rebuffs killed me and I became absolutely crazy. The wish to get you back was something stronger than my mind and everything else. You did right vanquishing me. I was mad, besides I was evil again. I know I hurt you, baby. Will you ever be able to forgive me?"
"I've already forgiven you everything," Phoebe sobbed. "It wasn't your fault that you were evil. The evil was the thing you inherited from your mother, and I'm glad that you won't have to fight your instincts anymore. I just… It was so painfully… Please, Cole, hold me and let me cry out all my pain."
Cole softly embraced her, and Phoebe put her head on his shoulder. She desperately cried, tears dripped down her cheeks, and Cole held her tightly, gently stroking her hair.
~ ~ ~
Phoebe was dressing up, when she noticed Cole watching her and gave him a naughty smile.
"Hey, haven't you had enough?"
He came closer and embraced her. "I'll never have enough of you, baby."
"Good morning!" they heard Mary's voice from outside. "Are you up? Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," Cole responded, and Mary came in, smiling sincerely.
"So, did you sleep well?" she asked.
"We couldn't sleep still better," Cole looked at Phoebe and she blushed.
"There's a river behind my house, if you wanna wash up," Mary said. "Meanwhile, I'll make breakfast."
"Thank you very much, Mary," Phoebe smiled thankfully. When Mary returned to the house, she looked at Cole. "So, let's go swimming?"
Cole caressed her cheek. "If that means I'll be able to tear off this little cute dress you're wearing, I'm in."
~ ~ ~
"I have news," Amistad declared, suddenly showing up in Halliwell attic.
"Do you know where are they?" Paige asked. "Is everything okay with Phoebe?"
"They both are fine," Amistad smiled. "Even better I dared to hope."
"Have you got powers to see them?" Piper sighed preferentially. She felt guilty that she has let her sister take such a risk, moreover together with Cole. "Did you see where are they?"
Amistad nodded. "In England."
"In England?" Piper and Paige exclaimed in unison.
"But they are fine, as I said, so don't worry," he smiled.
"But we do," Paige gave Amistad an angry look. "Especially, since we found out some information in the Book of The Shadows. Wanna know what exactly we found out? That the symbol of Fire can be got only by the two Chosen who have special feelings to each other. Wanna know what feelings? They must love each other, damn! Did you know about it?"
"I did," Amistad nodded. "But neither Cole, nor Phoebe did know."
"So, fine," Paige hissed, trying to keep herself cool. "You knew it. You didn't tell us. You did lie us. Guess what, if you weren't a damned perfect angel, I'd kick your ass very, very strong."
"Enough, Paige," Piper silenced her sister and looked at Amistad. "All I'm interested in is - how are you gonna work this out? I mean, this mission will never be completed and they won't get the coal, because Phoebe doesn't love Cole anymore."
"Oh, really," Amistad smiled lightly. "Are you sure?"
Piper and Paige looked at each other and then turned their suspicious looks to Amistad.
"Do you know something we don't know?" Paige asked.
Amistad shrugged his shoulders. "It depends of what you know, girls. You've no reason to worry for the present, and you'll find out everything later," then he disappeared.
"Fine. Great," Paige sighed. "You'll find out everything later. Don't you know aren't there any kinds of law-suits against angels?"
~ ~ ~
"We'll miss our breakfast," Phoebe said, walking out of the water and taking a towel. Cole's look followed her. "And that would be bad, because I'm starving," she shivered, feeling the cold air just after the warm water.
Cole started to dress up. "Okay. You've deserved a good breakfast after the pleasure you gave me."
"Oh, I can say the same," she smiled and suddenly saw a small note in the grass. "Look, again! It wasn't here before!" she picked it up to read it loud:
"Trees are burning, the nature is dying,
You can help with at least trying."
"What's that? Do you understand?" Cole frowned.
"I don't think so," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders. "In truth, I'd be happy to forget about this mission at all, but at the moment all I want is breakfast and probably then I'll be able to understand something of this note."
"Want me to promise you something?" Cole gave her a mysterious smile. "How about a holiday somewhere far, far away from San Francisco and England after this mission?"
"Mmm," Phoebe smiled. "That's tempting."
~ ~ ~
"You two are very happy today," Mary deduced after eating the breakfast, talking, joking and laughing. "Yesterday you seemed a bit confused and, if I can say so, unhappy."
"I think it's because we got lost," Phoebe explained, giving a significant look to Cole. He understood what she means. "We had no idea where were we and what should we do."
Cole hawed. "Excuse me, Mary, could you tell us if somewhere there are fires of forest right now?"
Mary seemed surprised. "Yeah, actually there are. Many men from the closest places are trying to smother the flames right now. My husband is also there. He has been away for a couple of days already, so I guess it's a big fire. How did you know?"
"I didn't, I just asked," Cole replied. "If you're traveling around, better keep away from such a dangerous places. Is this fire far away from here?"
"About 200 kilometers to the West," Mary answered. "I really hope it won't come closer… So, don't you really want anything else?"
"No, no, thank you," Phoebe smiled. "We've to go forward."
"Oh, I'm so sorry you can't stay here longer," Mary sighed. "I feel so lonely, and now I'm left even without my husband… It's always very nice to meet and chat with such a nice people like you. Good luck and don't forget to visit me every time you're somewhere here!"
~ ~ ~
"Okay," Cole said, when they were away from the house and out of Mary's sight. "What are we gonna do now? Should I shimmer us to this burning forest?"
Phoebe shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I guess so. What else could we do?" and she put her hand in his.
Immediately they stood in a different place and after looking around Phoebe had to bite her tongue to silence a scream.
They really were in the burning forest, actually there were in the middle of it. High walls of fire wrapped them and there was no exit out.
"Cole!" Phoebe instinctively held his hand tighter. "Please, shimmer us away."
"No, wait," Cole looked at the walls of fire suspiciously. "There's a reason why we are right here."
Phoebe couldn't silence a scream that escaped her lips when Cole put his hand in the fire.
"That's okay, baby, I'm okay," Cole turned back to confused Phoebe. Her fears about him warmed his heart. "It's not a real fire, it's absolutely cold. We've to walk through," noticing how shocked Phoebe looks, he held her hand tightly and looked in her eyes. "Trust me?"
She nodded and Cole leaded her right in the fire. She closed her eyes but didn't felt expected bites of the fire. When she opened them, the wall of fire was behind them.
"How did you know?" Phoebe breathed.
"Remember what Amistad told us?" Cole asked. "He said that the coal looks hot, but is cold. I thought the same could be with the fire and I was right."
"That's great, but…" Phoebe fell silent. "Where are we now?"
They were in some kind of a cave with walls of the rock. The cave was lightened by torches, and the tunnel went somewhere forward.
"There's no way back," Cole deduced, looking back at the wall of fire. "If we're here, we must to be here, so let's go forward."
They slowly went along the tunnel three or four minutes, and suddenly Phoebe noticed that it ends. In the end of the tunnel stood some kind of an altar, lightened in bright colors. They noticed a small, bright red box on the altar, and a small note on the ground.
Cole picked it up and loudly read it:
"The fire of your heart
And sparks between two
Say the word smart
And start to do."
"Start to do what?" Phoebe frowned. "Okay, it's an enigma, and it's the easiest I've ever seen."
"What?" Cole looked at her with confused look and suddenly understood. "Of course! Love!"
A ring of light circled the box, it opened and they saw a read coal inside, wrapped by red beams.
"We've found it!" Phoebe exclaimed. "We got the symbol! Let's take it!" she went forward, but Cole pulled her back.
"No, wait," he wagged to the wall behind the altar. They saw how words appear on the wall, like if an invisible person writes it. They were bloody red and bold.
"Link your hands and take the coal together. If your love is real, you will get it. If not, you will be punished. May it be, as destiny says."
"Wait, wait, wait," Phoebe looked confused, starting to understand what these words mean.
"No one told us that the coal can be taken only by lovers. You didn't know it too, did you?"
"No, I didn't," Cole said and looked as surprised. "I can't believe Amistad covered it from us. Although, I can understand him. You wouldn't ever agreed, if you knew it, would you?"
Phoebe smiled. "I thought angels must be very honest. So, let's take the coal?"
Cole looked in her eyes. "Are you sure about your love?"
She giggled. "Cole, I can't believe you're asking it. Anyway, it's the best way how to make you sure… how to make sure both of us."
Cole held left hand, and they both drew their other hands to take the coal. The red light shivered and disappeared, and they both were holding the symbol of Fire in their arms. Cole took his hand back, and Phoebe looked at the coal with an admiration.
"Now you are sure about my feelings?" she smiled at Cole.
"I already was," he responded. "But it's always nice to test it."
"Oh, I can't believe, we got the coal!" Phoebe happily exclaimed.
Suddenly they heard a cold voice behind. "Mind if we take it?"
Every now and then
Soft as breath upon my skin
I feel you come back again
And it's like you haven't been
Gone a moment from my side
Like the tears were never cried
Like the hands of time
Are holding you and me
And with all my heart I'm sure
We're closer than we ever were
When Phoebe slowly started to wake up, she had no idea why she hears this old song in her mind, but then she suddenly remembered last night happenings, and memories thrilled her like a tornado.
She opened her eyes and blushed, noticing that Cole is watching her. She felt the fever filling her body, and memories continued to fly through her mind.
"Morning," Cole softly whispered.
"Morning," Phoebe answered, turning to face Cole. "I still can't believe it's really happening. I mean, it seems like a dream."
"I know," Cole gave her a soft smile and kissed her lightly. "It's so good to wake up near you. "You were fantastic last night."
"I was?" Phoebe giggled. "You was the one who drove me crazy. That was so… so… so intense…"
"I know what you're speaking about," he said and kissed her again, softly rubbing his lips against hers. "You know, I still can't believe that you're here, in my arms again."
"What are we gonna do now?" Phoebe sighed and seriously looked at him. "I mean, right now everything is perfect. I wish we could live in other dimension, just we and no one else. No demons, no responsibilities, no stupid symbols…"
"And nothing between us," Cole added. "Phoebe… You aren't going to give us up anymore, are you?"
Phoebe sighed. "I won't. I promise. I don't wanna hurt myself anymore, and I wanna stop living in lies. Cole, you've to know something."
"What?" he carefully listened.
"My life had been a lonely hell since we vanquished you last time," tears shimmered in Phoebe's eyes. "God, if I look back now, I can't understand how could I take that. Every day I got up just because I had to, put on my mask and started to act. I convinced everybody else that I'm fine and my life goes on, but I couldn't convince about it myself. I terribly missed you, Cole. I dreamed about you every night."
"I know," Cole quietly said.
Phoebe frowned. "You know?"
"Once I shimmered in your room while you were sleeping," he explained. "You were calling my name, and then I realized that you still haven't forgotten me."
She nodded. "I tried, I desperately tried to forget you. I dated other guys, hoping that I'd replace my love for you with love I'd feel for someone else. I lied myself that everything's over, that I have a new life. Nothing worked. I had lost the spirit of my life."
"Stop, baby, stop hurting yourself," Cole said, gently wiping away her tears. "Please, don't cry. I'm here and I'll never leave you. Phoebe, I want you to know, that I have never wanted to be evil. I always fought, but it was something stronger. When I returned and you turned me down, I lost the spirit of my life. You were… you still are everything to me, Phoebe, that's why I tried to get you back so desperately. Your rebuffs killed me and I became absolutely crazy. The wish to get you back was something stronger than my mind and everything else. You did right vanquishing me. I was mad, besides I was evil again. I know I hurt you, baby. Will you ever be able to forgive me?"
"I've already forgiven you everything," Phoebe sobbed. "It wasn't your fault that you were evil. The evil was the thing you inherited from your mother, and I'm glad that you won't have to fight your instincts anymore. I just… It was so painfully… Please, Cole, hold me and let me cry out all my pain."
Cole softly embraced her, and Phoebe put her head on his shoulder. She desperately cried, tears dripped down her cheeks, and Cole held her tightly, gently stroking her hair.
~ ~ ~
Phoebe was dressing up, when she noticed Cole watching her and gave him a naughty smile.
"Hey, haven't you had enough?"
He came closer and embraced her. "I'll never have enough of you, baby."
"Good morning!" they heard Mary's voice from outside. "Are you up? Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," Cole responded, and Mary came in, smiling sincerely.
"So, did you sleep well?" she asked.
"We couldn't sleep still better," Cole looked at Phoebe and she blushed.
"There's a river behind my house, if you wanna wash up," Mary said. "Meanwhile, I'll make breakfast."
"Thank you very much, Mary," Phoebe smiled thankfully. When Mary returned to the house, she looked at Cole. "So, let's go swimming?"
Cole caressed her cheek. "If that means I'll be able to tear off this little cute dress you're wearing, I'm in."
~ ~ ~
"I have news," Amistad declared, suddenly showing up in Halliwell attic.
"Do you know where are they?" Paige asked. "Is everything okay with Phoebe?"
"They both are fine," Amistad smiled. "Even better I dared to hope."
"Have you got powers to see them?" Piper sighed preferentially. She felt guilty that she has let her sister take such a risk, moreover together with Cole. "Did you see where are they?"
Amistad nodded. "In England."
"In England?" Piper and Paige exclaimed in unison.
"But they are fine, as I said, so don't worry," he smiled.
"But we do," Paige gave Amistad an angry look. "Especially, since we found out some information in the Book of The Shadows. Wanna know what exactly we found out? That the symbol of Fire can be got only by the two Chosen who have special feelings to each other. Wanna know what feelings? They must love each other, damn! Did you know about it?"
"I did," Amistad nodded. "But neither Cole, nor Phoebe did know."
"So, fine," Paige hissed, trying to keep herself cool. "You knew it. You didn't tell us. You did lie us. Guess what, if you weren't a damned perfect angel, I'd kick your ass very, very strong."
"Enough, Paige," Piper silenced her sister and looked at Amistad. "All I'm interested in is - how are you gonna work this out? I mean, this mission will never be completed and they won't get the coal, because Phoebe doesn't love Cole anymore."
"Oh, really," Amistad smiled lightly. "Are you sure?"
Piper and Paige looked at each other and then turned their suspicious looks to Amistad.
"Do you know something we don't know?" Paige asked.
Amistad shrugged his shoulders. "It depends of what you know, girls. You've no reason to worry for the present, and you'll find out everything later," then he disappeared.
"Fine. Great," Paige sighed. "You'll find out everything later. Don't you know aren't there any kinds of law-suits against angels?"
~ ~ ~
"We'll miss our breakfast," Phoebe said, walking out of the water and taking a towel. Cole's look followed her. "And that would be bad, because I'm starving," she shivered, feeling the cold air just after the warm water.
Cole started to dress up. "Okay. You've deserved a good breakfast after the pleasure you gave me."
"Oh, I can say the same," she smiled and suddenly saw a small note in the grass. "Look, again! It wasn't here before!" she picked it up to read it loud:
"Trees are burning, the nature is dying,
You can help with at least trying."
"What's that? Do you understand?" Cole frowned.
"I don't think so," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders. "In truth, I'd be happy to forget about this mission at all, but at the moment all I want is breakfast and probably then I'll be able to understand something of this note."
"Want me to promise you something?" Cole gave her a mysterious smile. "How about a holiday somewhere far, far away from San Francisco and England after this mission?"
"Mmm," Phoebe smiled. "That's tempting."
~ ~ ~
"You two are very happy today," Mary deduced after eating the breakfast, talking, joking and laughing. "Yesterday you seemed a bit confused and, if I can say so, unhappy."
"I think it's because we got lost," Phoebe explained, giving a significant look to Cole. He understood what she means. "We had no idea where were we and what should we do."
Cole hawed. "Excuse me, Mary, could you tell us if somewhere there are fires of forest right now?"
Mary seemed surprised. "Yeah, actually there are. Many men from the closest places are trying to smother the flames right now. My husband is also there. He has been away for a couple of days already, so I guess it's a big fire. How did you know?"
"I didn't, I just asked," Cole replied. "If you're traveling around, better keep away from such a dangerous places. Is this fire far away from here?"
"About 200 kilometers to the West," Mary answered. "I really hope it won't come closer… So, don't you really want anything else?"
"No, no, thank you," Phoebe smiled. "We've to go forward."
"Oh, I'm so sorry you can't stay here longer," Mary sighed. "I feel so lonely, and now I'm left even without my husband… It's always very nice to meet and chat with such a nice people like you. Good luck and don't forget to visit me every time you're somewhere here!"
~ ~ ~
"Okay," Cole said, when they were away from the house and out of Mary's sight. "What are we gonna do now? Should I shimmer us to this burning forest?"
Phoebe shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I guess so. What else could we do?" and she put her hand in his.
Immediately they stood in a different place and after looking around Phoebe had to bite her tongue to silence a scream.
They really were in the burning forest, actually there were in the middle of it. High walls of fire wrapped them and there was no exit out.
"Cole!" Phoebe instinctively held his hand tighter. "Please, shimmer us away."
"No, wait," Cole looked at the walls of fire suspiciously. "There's a reason why we are right here."
Phoebe couldn't silence a scream that escaped her lips when Cole put his hand in the fire.
"That's okay, baby, I'm okay," Cole turned back to confused Phoebe. Her fears about him warmed his heart. "It's not a real fire, it's absolutely cold. We've to walk through," noticing how shocked Phoebe looks, he held her hand tightly and looked in her eyes. "Trust me?"
She nodded and Cole leaded her right in the fire. She closed her eyes but didn't felt expected bites of the fire. When she opened them, the wall of fire was behind them.
"How did you know?" Phoebe breathed.
"Remember what Amistad told us?" Cole asked. "He said that the coal looks hot, but is cold. I thought the same could be with the fire and I was right."
"That's great, but…" Phoebe fell silent. "Where are we now?"
They were in some kind of a cave with walls of the rock. The cave was lightened by torches, and the tunnel went somewhere forward.
"There's no way back," Cole deduced, looking back at the wall of fire. "If we're here, we must to be here, so let's go forward."
They slowly went along the tunnel three or four minutes, and suddenly Phoebe noticed that it ends. In the end of the tunnel stood some kind of an altar, lightened in bright colors. They noticed a small, bright red box on the altar, and a small note on the ground.
Cole picked it up and loudly read it:
"The fire of your heart
And sparks between two
Say the word smart
And start to do."
"Start to do what?" Phoebe frowned. "Okay, it's an enigma, and it's the easiest I've ever seen."
"What?" Cole looked at her with confused look and suddenly understood. "Of course! Love!"
A ring of light circled the box, it opened and they saw a read coal inside, wrapped by red beams.
"We've found it!" Phoebe exclaimed. "We got the symbol! Let's take it!" she went forward, but Cole pulled her back.
"No, wait," he wagged to the wall behind the altar. They saw how words appear on the wall, like if an invisible person writes it. They were bloody red and bold.
"Link your hands and take the coal together. If your love is real, you will get it. If not, you will be punished. May it be, as destiny says."
"Wait, wait, wait," Phoebe looked confused, starting to understand what these words mean.
"No one told us that the coal can be taken only by lovers. You didn't know it too, did you?"
"No, I didn't," Cole said and looked as surprised. "I can't believe Amistad covered it from us. Although, I can understand him. You wouldn't ever agreed, if you knew it, would you?"
Phoebe smiled. "I thought angels must be very honest. So, let's take the coal?"
Cole looked in her eyes. "Are you sure about your love?"
She giggled. "Cole, I can't believe you're asking it. Anyway, it's the best way how to make you sure… how to make sure both of us."
Cole held left hand, and they both drew their other hands to take the coal. The red light shivered and disappeared, and they both were holding the symbol of Fire in their arms. Cole took his hand back, and Phoebe looked at the coal with an admiration.
"Now you are sure about my feelings?" she smiled at Cole.
"I already was," he responded. "But it's always nice to test it."
"Oh, I can't believe, we got the coal!" Phoebe happily exclaimed.
Suddenly they heard a cold voice behind. "Mind if we take it?"