Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of the characters.
The future of the world rests on the shoulders of... Cole
One Last Chance
"Wait... what!" Phoebe shrieked. After all, it's not every day you hear your boyfriend's father, the man who raped you, is also the Source of All Evil.
"Did I stutter?" he asked, a little aggravated. Sure, he loved Phoebe, but sometimes she can over-exaggerate things to the point where he doesn't want it to be. "Look," he followed up. "I know this is a huge deal, but please, try not to make it one around me."v
"Uh, Cole, we kind of have to," Paige noted in a sarcastic tone. "I mean, if you didn?t notice... he's your father... and uh... he's the Source... and uh... he's your father?"
"Yeah, I got that part already," he scoffed.
"Ohhhh, now I get it!" Piper interjected, not taking the time to consider the emotions she was playing with. "Big B... Benjamin! Oh, okay..." All eyes were upon her, and suddenly she felt a little ...for lack of a better word... stupid. "Well, I'm sorry, but it can take time for me to put two and two together," she added. "Oh never mind." And she waved off her comment with a hand gesture.
Leo decided to chime in. "So now what we need to do is focus on your destiny."
"Right," Paige, this time, interjecting. "So, since we have the Charmed Destiny, we vanquish the Source, yes?"
"Actually, Paige, I was talking to Cole," Leo stated with that serious look on his face. You know, that serious look where his eyebrows furrow and he looks all smart like he actually has a clue as to what he's doing...
"What do you mean?" It was Cole's turn again. And he was absolutely clueless about what Leo was talking about. Paige had the same questioning look as Cole. They both had their eyebrows slightly raised in a quizzical way.
Leo let out a prolonged sigh. "Well, I guess I couldn't keep it from you for long." Now everyone had their eyebrows slightly raised; and now everyone's eyes rested upon the blonde man.
But there was a ring. "Uh... Cole, your pocket is ringing..." Paige trailed.
"Gee, really? You don't say..." Cole added. He took out a flip-phone, checked the number, and hit the green button which indicated that he wanted to accept the call.
"Since when do you have a cell phone?" the oldest sister asked.
"Since this is the twenty-first century," he said.
"Yeah, but weren't you like... dead? Like... only two days ago?" she questioned again.
"What is this? - 'Twenty Questions'? What's with the third degree?" There was a voice at the other end of the phone, and Cole then drew his attention to it.
x x x
"Hello?"
"CJ!"
"Kyle?"
"Yeah, it's me. Hey listen, where are you?"
"I'm at..." He glanced at the Charmed Ones, but he knew he could trust his brother. "1329 Prescott Street. On the corner of Pine and Prescott, to be exact."
"Alright, hey, could you come pick us up? We wanted to catch up a little more. Maybe help you out with sharpening the details of your life to the Charmed Ones."
"Uh, well... I'd say those ends definitely need some sharpening," he said, referring to the fact that Benjamin Turner was the Source of All Evil. But Kyle didn't know that'and neither did Avril, or her boyfriend, Billy... yet... "Yeah, Kyle, I'll be there in a sec."
x x x
Cole hung up the phone. He glanced at everyone and gave Phoebe a 'be back in a minute' look. And just before orbing out, he said: "Don't start explaining that 'destiny' thing until I get back."
And in a minute, Cole returned with three passengers.
"Okay, Leo. I explained where we are at the moment to the three on the way here, so go ahead and pick up where we left off," Cole commanded.
"Okay, well, I believe you were picking up a phone call," Leo said, dodging the real thing Cole was talking about.
"Leo!" Practically everyone had called his name in unison.
"Okay, okay." Leo inhaled, exhaled, and began his explanation. "We think that you, Cole, are a... prophecy." Leo paused.
"We?" the ex-demon-turned-whitelighter questioned.
"The Elders and I." Leo paused again. "There's an ancient prophecy dating back to Biblical times. It talks about a chosen one who will basically pave the way to victory in the final battle for one of the sides. It doesn't state whether the being is good or evil - or what side it'll fight on, for that matter. So considering Cole was born half human, half demon - half good, half evil - we assumed it'd be him. And making him a whitelighter would put him on our side."
"Well, what about my father? I mean, he was a witch and turned evil. Doesn't that apply to him somehow?" Cole didn't like too much attention. And this whole 'chosen one' thing was bound to draw some sort of publicity - not paparazzi like, just more attention than he was used to.
"No, your father doesn't match up. His soul is evil. That makes him evil. You - you had two souls - one good, one evil. How could that not be it?" Leo asked.
"Wait," Phoebe spoke up. "So what exactly is this 'prophecy'?"
"Well, it was mainly written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and pieces of it were lost because of aging," Leo informed.
"Shouldn't you guys have some magical alarm system on prophetical material? I mean, shouldn't you guys know about prophecies? Elders can see into the future, right?" Phoebe quizzed.
"I'd rather answer your first question. The prophecy is known as the Rañuara Prophecy. It states that there will be one man with two sides - neither greater than the other. Half comes from his father, and half from his mother. Half pure, half sin, fighting a battle within. The side that wins within him is the side he will battle for. The side that he is on will win the final battle in the war. He'll descend from two lines - both strong for each side..." Leo trailed. "It goes on for awhile. But I mean, c'mon. Cole, you match it perfectly. Your mother, Elizabeth, descends from the strongest, most evil seductress demon to ever exist; and your father descends from the second strongest line of witches."
No one really knew what to say. They sat there in silence for what seemed like hours.
"I'm hungry," Kyle said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Is there anything to eat around here?"
Piper motioned for him to follow her, but first, he had received a firm glance from his older brother which read 'behave'.
There was another pause until Cole, once again, attempted for some clarity. "So I'm a prophecy?"
"That's what it looks like, yes," Leo replied.
"Well, crap..." Cole whined. "Phoebe!" His distinct whining brought forth attention from his girlfriend.
"What is it, Sweetie?" she asked with a tone of worry escaping out of her mouth along with the sound of her voice.
"I don't wanna be a prophecy!"
Three days later...
Early afternoon sunrays beamed through the window of Phoebe's room as she and Cole lay half hidden beneath the covers.
The last three days had been pretty hectic. From between finding out that Cole was some prophecy and trying to prove it, she and Cole had hardly had any time to thoroughly discuss where they stood. Not that she was complaining about the fact that instead of using the free time they had had last night for something other than talking.
Phoebe awoke to find herself and the man she loved not quite as dressed as she would've thought, and she found herself reminiscing of the previous afternoon... and night... and early morning.
After Phoebe finally settled with the fact that she was raped, she and her sisters preformed a magical pregnancy test so they wouldn't have to wait for a month to find out if there was something to worry about. And thankfully, there wasn't. And frankly, Cole was more relieved that Phoebe wasn't pregnant more than herself. I mean, how would it look if you were dating your brother's mother? Eww...
Paige and Piper, despite the fact that they had seen Cole's life now, were still slightly uneasy with Cole being back on their team. Sure, it was nice having a resident demonologist back with them for whenever the Book of Shadows failed them; but just because he had been tortured all his life doesn't change the fact that he tried to kill them, and it doesn't change the fact that he killed, period.
Piper and Paige both didn't want to show it, or else they'd thoroughly win 'Bitches of the Century'. It wasn't that they didn't like him; it was just that once you lose someone's trust, it's gonna take more than some look - back to earn it back. He had still attempted to kill them, so he'd have to do a lot to get complete faith in them again.
The important thing, though, was that they did have faith in him when it came to Phoebe. In fact, who didn't have faith in him when it came to Phoebe?
The Charmed Ones had gotten to be friends with Cole's family, especially Avril. It was nice having another girl who wasn't a witch, knew the secret, and was good at listening and giving advice.
It seemed like forever until Cole finally woke. His eyelids fluttered, and he awoke to find a beautiful brunette staring intently at him. "It's about time you woke up," she said in a tone slightly playful, but serious enough to indicate that it was indeed about time that he woke up.
A wide grin grew on his face, ear to ear. He placed a faint kiss upon her lips - and perhaps a little too faint. Because as soon as he'd let go, she pulled him back in for a deep, passionate kiss, slipping her tongue in his mouth, and visa versa.
She pulled away, and Cole had a slight look of disappointment on his face wondering why the kissing had to stop.
His lips curved into a cute, little pout, as his blue eyes sparkled with a look of begging in them... in fact, they seemed to say 'please, don't stop'. But she did. And she loved the response she got.
She pulled her hand off his cheek, slid it down to his stomach, and began to trace his nicely toned and cut upper body.
She moved in to give him another kiss when-
Knock.
'Nooooooooooo,' Cole seemed to whine to himself in his mind. His huge grin turned into a slight frown. 'Damn it, what did they want now?'
And a young woman's voice was heard through the door. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything," it mentioned.
'Unfortunately,' Cole thought to himself. 'Though you did last night; and I'll be sure to remember that when I'm buying your birthday present, Paige.' He knew that if he had voiced his quips, there would definitely be nothing for Paige to interrupt tonight.
Phoebe called to her in reply, "No, we were just waking up."
"Really?" her little sister asked. "I could've sworn I had heard noise up there an hour ago."
Cole thought to himself again, 'Yeah, well, we weren't asleep an hour ago...' And a small smile appeared on his lips.
"Paige, what is it you need?" Phoebe asked.
"Oh, Piper said that you two need to come down. She said that Leo wanted to talk to all of us on the whole prophecy thing and the battle we're gonna fight soon, et cetera, et cetera. She told me to tell you guys now because she knows y'all both will want to shower."
'I don't feel like showering,' Cole thought to himself yet again. Was there ever a time when he wasn't thinking?
"Yeah, I need to take one..." Phoebe trailed aloud.
"On second thought," Cole voiced, as he began to ponder the possibilities. And his small smile grew ear to ear again.
Phoebe playfully slapped him on the chest and yelled through the door to Paige: "We'll be down in fifteen minutes."
"Thirty!" Cole hollered.
Phoebe only giggled.
'Eww...' Paige thought as she walked back downstairs.
x x x
And sure enough, after thirty minutes (thirty glorious minutes) the two appeared fully dressed downstairs. They sat at the kitchen table and ate the 'breakfast' that Piper had made for them ...even though it was now 2:00 in the afternoon.
"Gee, Cole, you look exhausted," Piper stated in an over-exaggerated tone.
Cole gave Phoebe a devious smile and said: "Exhausted, but pleased."
"Yuck!" Piper said. "Oh, and there's the visual." She stormed out of the kitchen with a look of disgust about her face. Paige stood, leaning against the counter, and only raised an eyebrow.
Cole and Phoebe both tried to stifle their laughs, but undoubtedly failed.
After Cole and Phoebe had finished eating, they went into the sunroom where Leo, Paige, and Piper were waiting.
Leo began as soon as the two had situated on the wood-woven couch that seemed more like an uncomfortable bench, despite the fact it had cushions tied to the seat that could hold a maximum of three if they wanted comfort.
"Okay, so here's the deal," Leo began, cutting to the chase. "There's a huge amount of demonic activity in the area - no doubt from the Source. We're worried that for the moment, he's not going to attack?"v
"Why would that make you worry?" Paige asked. "Isn't that a good thing?"
Leo sighed. "Yes and no. On the good side of it, it gives us time to prepare. On the bad side of it, it most likely means he's up to something."
"Great... devising an ultimate evil plan to kill us all..." Paige trailed.
"Well, Paige, thanks for looking on the bright side of things. I'll tell you this: If I'm ever depressed I'll be sure to come straight to you for a little cheering up," Cole told her sarcastically.
"Oh, and I suppose you'd know everything because," - Paige adopted a high, mocking, baby-type voice - "you're a prophecy."
"You are, too, smart one," Cole snapped.
"Yeah... I am! Good job!" Paige told.
"You better watch what you say to me," he threatened, though never intended to actually do anything - it was just to get her to shut up.
"Or what? - you'll kill me? ...Then again, that wouldn't be too much of a shock to me considering all of those witches you murdered."
"Ooo, that one was below the belt," Cole said coolly. He pretended to blow a whistle. "Penalty!"
"Okay, okay; ding, ding, ding! Back to your corners, children," came Piper's voice. "You" - she pointed to Cole - "over there" - she pointed to a wooden chair. "And you" - to Paige - "you... just... be quiet."
Paige childishly stuck her tongue out at Cole, and Cole returned with an expression of victory on his face. He'd gotten her agitated... really agitated... and that, as far as he was concerned, made him happy. They didn't have to like each other; they just had to fight alongside each other.
"Okay, now that Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes have their boxing gloves off, why don't we continue with what we started to discuss," Phoebe said, giving Cole a 'we'll-talk-about-this-later' look.
"Anyways," Leo continued. "This battle... it's the big one, we're talking about here. If we lose this battle - well, it means the end. So we can't afford losing it-"
"Kind of funny, huh?" Phoebe said lightly. "We've never lost a battle before, and now we have a fifty percent chance of losing this one."
"That's not true," said Leo. "Look... the prophecy says that whatever side that Cole's on will be the winning side."
"But he can be easily swayed," said Piper. She looked at Cole, and noticed that there was a trace of hurt. "Look... Cole... No offense, but... you're half evil. The prophecy says it. You could easily be swapped to the other side... Look, I don't like the idea of you evil anymore than Phoebe or everyone else it's just... shit happens, you know?"
"Yeah," he said, barely audible. Then his voice grew louder: "But shit has been happening to me my whole entire life, and I'll be damned if it'll start screwing up everyone else's."
And that's truly where things took off.
Over the next months, the Charmed Ones, Cole, and even Leo, trained hard. They doubled-up in studies. They learned more types of potions and had them in their house ready to be thrown upon any demon who dared to attack.
But none did.
For three, long, and what seemed like never-ending, months... they didn't see one sign of evil.
...which was a very bad sign...