Chapter 4: Trade
Cole shimmered in somewhere nervously to find himself in Halliwell manor's attic. He didn't sigh in relief just yet, until he spotted Piper and Phoebe sitting on a step, hugging each other, "that's better anyway," he whispered.
"What?" Phoebe stood up.
"Just said hey," he lifted a hand, motioning a half hearted wave, not sure at all who and how will take his presence. He was awfully wrong before.
Piper stood up as well, gently patting him on the arm as she went out, "I'll be downstairs."
"So?" Phoebe asked, "did you find out anything about the demon?"
"The demon? Uhm, no. Sorry," he shrugged a bit, having no idea who Phoebe meant. Maybe it was best if he just left her alone for a while until he figured out which year he landed himself into. He turned towards the door.
"No, Cole, wait. We should talk."
"Alright," Cole murmured.
"It's just hard…let me ask you a question," Phoebe stood right next to him, "when you, you know, proposed… did you mean to? Or did it just come out in the heat of the moment?"
"Wow! It worked."
"What worked? Confusing me with your proposal? That worked?"
"Listen Phoebe, I understand I shocked you with it. I know it was crazy to ask, and I know it doesn't make any sense because of who we are but that shouldn't matter. If it did we never would have fallen in love in the first place. I love you, Phoebe, and I don't know that wherever we go from here, I want it to be with you. But I'll wait until you're ready. All it matters that we are together, married or not."
"Really? You're not upset?"
"It's not as if you're using voodoo dolls on me…"
Phoebe put her hands on her hips. That man was still taking so demon like sometimes she couldn't understand him, "is that a baby crying?"
"You go see about that Phoebe, I need to talk to Cole," Leo orbed in.
"I dunno what happened!" Leo walked up to him, "what did you do?"
"What did I do? Uhm, with my knowledge, nothing. What do you mean?"
"Elders up there changed their minds about you. Or at least, they've become very interested in your choices if you had one. I guess it's because the charmed ones are so important for the existence of the whole world and they would like some certainty as far as the people protecting them are concerned. They also said you undoubtedly choose good over Phoebe. I hope you'll fill me in when such thing occurred and how is it so positive they come up with this. Cole, they want to know right away if you wanna trade your evil based shimmering and fire balls to orbing and sparkle balls."
"Sparkle balls?"
"You know how itchy orbs are to touch for demons. I take care not to have any skin contact with you, in case it bothers you. Basically, these sparkle balls, released at demons, would drive them immediately insane with a burning itch. Depending on the intensity of the sparkles, they could be vanquished with it too. And with that, you would be as powerful as Belthazor, but he wouldn't exist in you. What do you say?"
"What do I say? I think Phoebe will be thrilled."
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Paige sliced a piece of flesh off Sikes' frozen arm. It dropped onto the floor and she picked it up, "got it."
Sikes unfroze and hit Paige, Phoebe went over to her to see if she was okay. Sikes threw an energy ball, but Leo and Cole orbed into the middle of the action, freshly
back from the Elders, pushing Piper and Emma out of the way. The energy ball hit the baby imitation on the table. Cole held out both hands, the space between them filling up with a sparkling globe, that he threw at the demon.
Sikes started scratching his chest crazily, where the ball hit him and continued with jumping from one leg to the other as the orbs spread all over him. Then, he exploded.
"That was good," Piper stood up, "but how did you do that?"
"You're not gonna like this Piper, but I can explain in detail how this situation is different from ours," Leo answered.
"Just tell us already!" Phoebe went over to Cole, looking at him curiously.
"It's a form of approval from the elders for Cole and Phoebe's relationship. They transformed his powers into blessed ones…" Leo peeped at Piper.
"I'm not saying you don't deserve it, but why didn't we?" Piper raised her hand and blown the vase with the flowers up, covering everybody is yellow petals.
"How about we scramble out of harm's way?" Cole whispered to Phoebe.
Phoebe put her hands around his waste and smiled up mischievously. They were in her room, "here? I thought you gonna orb me to Las Vegas immediately to get married."
"I can't. I don't have your answer yet."
"What do you think my answer will be now that many potential difficulties have been swiped out the way? It was so unfair on Piper though, from the Elders. But then again, they are like that, aren't they?"
"Believe me, they must had a good reason to act why they did."
"Not all that nice from me, but I ultimately don't care, as long as we are allowed to be together."
"Las Vegas then?"
"Las Vegas it is."
The End.
