Part Four
In the underworld, Tyne is still wearing Lana's body and watching on as the twins kneel before him begging forgiveness. At that moment, the cave shakes and a bolt of lightening strikes him off the throne. Cole appears as the twins are quick to stand, turn and fire energy bolts. The demon hero is quick to deflect them and dive out of the way of more oncoming bolts. From the floor, he takes out two athames; his hands glow and the athames light on fire as Cole throws them directly at the twins killing them on impact.
Cole, watching the Twins burn suddenly looks up to see a ghostly version of the Seer as he gets to his feet. She is standing by Tyne's throne.
She grins at him and calls out.
Cole, not sure what to do next looks to the cave entrance as demons in hooded robes appear. A magical cage suddenly appears around him, he shakes his head punching at it.
The new Source beckons in demons in hooded robes who start to chant as do the Seer and Source. Cole cries out and sets on fire, eventually disintegrating to nothingness.
Phoebe is back where the original fight with the Twins took place in her attic and has her hand on the scorch marks left over from their energy bolts. She opens her eyes and breaths heavily. "That... was...." She can barely get out her words through the sheer freight of it all. "Cole, you...."
Cole rushed over to and they hug as she continues to breathe heavily and hold back tears. "What did you see?" He asks, patting her back with his right hand.
"It was so real Cole, they killed you." Phoebe finally gets out, calming down.
"Phoebe, that's impossible."
"Cole I'm telling you, that premonition was so powerful and real." She lets go of him and sits down, a look of despair look on her face, she didn't want to be with him anymore but she hadn't stopped caring for her former husband.
Cole looked over the book of shadows; he was unable to touch it because of his demonic powers. "Look we're not getting anywhere with the book, maybe you should ask Leo to consult the elders about it, I haven't got time for this anymore..." He turned away from his beloved, ready to disappear.
"Cole, wait!" Phoebe stood up and put a hand on his shoulder, "Where will you go?"
"If what you saw is true than maybe I've been going about this wrong." He told her, facing towards her again.
Phoebe said nothing, just glanced at him in hope of more of an explanation than he was letting on. He always did this and it frustrated her, never knowing what he was thinking.
"Tyne is just as powerful as me; our powers cancel each other out... A spell won't stop him, unless it's a power stripping one."
She shook her head, brushing her hair back with her hands she sighed. "Ohhh god Cole, you're not thinking straight. Once powers are stripped there's no coming back, Lana won't have her powers and she could end up being processed forever."
Cole had tried his best to hide his emotions from his former wife, just to give her hope that he'd protect her and stop this new threat like only he could. It was getting too hard, he wanted to tell her so badly he didn't know what to do but knew how that would make her feel. He smiled at her, an attempt to disguise the awkward silence circling them. "You're sister once taught me something very important about being good, something I've neglected to realise... Until now. When you were hurt, she was willing to risk your life to save others. Just like then, there's a greater good at state here, one that I can't just walk away from."
Phoebe stared at Cole in amazement, was he actually coming out with these words? Had he really changed? She could sense how he cared for others, when she looked in to his eyes she only saw good – no matter how many demonic powers he had inside him. "Who told you that? Piper?"
"Prue... Back when we were on another plane trying to save someone you were physically connected to."
Tears began to form in the Charmed One's eye, but not tears of sadness as she smiled warmly at Cole. "I could imagine her saying that, always the wise one."
"You asked how we finish this without harming Lana, well that's impossible. If it was anything else we could, but this threat has to be taken care of – by any means. I have to trade her life in order to save others... including yours and your sisters."
Phoebe nodded, she hated it more than anything when she lost innocents but Cole was right and at the expense of one they could save more. "Okay Cole, but how do you plan on killing Tyne? He's not just the Source; he's more powerful than that."
"He still has his pride. If I challenge him to a battle of supremacy, he'll accept."
"And you'll either die or become the next Source? No!" Phoebe told him, quickly shaking her head. "No way!"
"Either way you'll be able to vanquish the Source, what he is now is more powerful than the Source. But he'll still accept because it's his only chance of killing me."
"How can you be so calm about this Cole? You're talking about death, you know we can't let you live as the Source. So either way you're dead. Find another way... Please." She pleaded, tears starting to form in her eyes.
Cole smiled and held her close to him, "Phoebe... This is the only way, right now he's invincible. As much as I hate to say it, this is the only way we can win."
"By you dying?" She asked, pulling away from him she could no longer control the tears. "We'll find another way, me and my sister's will we always do!"
"You couldn't find a way to vanquish me, Tyne's no different. Hey, I've had over one hundred years – and my going means there's one less demon in the world." He appeared to Phoebe as cool as he'd ever been, years of experience beginning to pay off.
Phoebe was still crying, she had never fallen out of love with the man standing before her, only the demon that was making him evil. She took hold of his hand, and whispered in to his ear. "I love you."
Suddenly she freezes, motionless. Her tears stay still on her cheeks. Cole, unsure what is happening looks around the room. What was the Source doing now? And then he realised, as he shook his head and looked above. "WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS?!"
TO BE CONTINUED
