Falling down

Chapter 3 - The Manor catastrophy

Piper was sitting in her room, crying quietly. She missed Leo... She missed everything about him. When she closed her eyes, she saw his face, his eyes, his hair. "Poor Phoebe" she thought "Leo is gone for a week, and I miss him so much. Phoebe had to go through this damn thing every single day for more than 15 years". She missed her husband so much. When one of her sons asked her about him, she felt horrible. If her sons have no father, it was all because of her. "I sent him away" she thought. She knew that she overreacted, but she also knew that she would do the same thing all over again. But, that wasn't the only worry she had. Her youngest son and the spirit of whole family was banished by his own brother, and she didn't know what to do or how to find him. "Oh, God, this is so hard..." Piper lay down in bed and fell asleep...

Meanwhile...

"Paige!" Phoebe yelled. "Paige, where are you, we have the demon problem!" a demon appeared behind her and threw a fire ball at her. But, then, Melinda showed up and threw another fire ball towards that one, so they collided and exploded.

"Oh, my God, that was close!" Phoebe yelled. She hugged her daughter. "Mel, go find Paige." She quickly said. "Go, quick! There are more of them around here."

"Aunt Paige is in America." Melinda said "She is with Brian (Brian is Paige's and Richard's son who went to America to college)".

"She is where?" Phoebe yelled. "Well, I need help here!"

"Well, I'll call Wyatt and you call aunt Piper. Wyatt will get aunt Paige."

"No, Piper mustn't know about this, she has enough troubles already." Phoebe shooked her head. "Now go and call Wyatt."

Melinda shimmered out.

5 minutes passed by and nothing happened. Phoebe wondered why the rest of the demons that she fought didn't come back. But then, she heard shimmers from the back. She turned around and faced so many demons, that she couldn't even count them.

"Oh, shit!" she screamed. She waved her hand and the fire came out of her hands (this is one of her new powers). The demons, somehow, didn't count on that, so some of them burned, and the others shimmered away. "Cole..." she whispered furiously and disappeared.

Cole was sitting in the dungeon with one big worry on his mind: once he became the new ruler of the underworld, he ordered that the Charmed Ones must not be touched. Most of the demons had no choice but to agree. But, there were also the ones that didn't. They swore to destroy Charmed Ones and created their own organization. He was worried if they could hurt them. He even thought about shimmering to the Manor, but he didn't, because of Phoebe. Phoebe was always the reason for everything he did.

"Cole!" the furious yell made him open his eyes and face the only woman he ever loved.

"What's up, Pheebs?" he tried to sound cold.

"A group of demons that you sent tried to kill me and my daughter a couple of times. Look, if this is some sort of revenge, save it, it's not working!" Phoebe yelled angrily.

"I didn't send anyone, but there are some demons who don't accept me as their leader, so..." Cole was cut up by Phoebe.

"Save it!" She yelled.

"I didn't send them!" Cole yelled back.
"Save it!" Phoebe yelled for the third time. She turned around to leave, but Cole pulled her back. As she turned around, he kissed her.

Phoebe tried to make him stop, but she couldn't. Everything, all the love she kept inside for so many years, finally got back to her. She kissed him back and she even hugged him.

Picking the worst moment to do it, Melinda shimmered in. She saw her mother kissing the Source or whoever he was, and that caught her by surprise. "Jesus..." she whispered.

"I think that I do deserve some sort of explanation for all this." Melinda said.

When she heard her daughter's voice, Phoebe stopped kissing Cole. He let her go and she looked at him with so much passion and so much anger in the same time. With nothing else to do, she slapped him as hard as she could and whispered "You son of a bitch."

"You can slap me as hard as you like, that kiss was worth it." Cole smiled.

"Listen to me very carefully, Cole Turner!" Phoebe yelled. "You can do with the underworld whatever you want, as long as your plans have nothing to do with Melinda! Just leave us alone, okay?"

"I believe that the threat includes kissing?" Cole smiled again, pretending that he's scared.

"It does!" Phoebe furiously yelled back.

"But you kissed me back." Cole looked in Phoebe's eyes.

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE MY BLOODY WEAKNESS!" Phoebe tried hard not to cry. She turned to Melinda, who was shocked by what she just heard. Phoebe hugged her and they shimmered out.

When they shimmered in, Phoebe sat on the couch. She was broken. "I can't love you! I mustn't love you! You're just a demon!" she thought as she cried.

Melinda sat next to her mother and hugged her. "I know that you love him, although you shouldn't." she said. "And I also know that he is my father." she smiled.

"How do you know?" Phoebe whispered.

"I heard you say Cole Turner." Melinda kept smiling "I always knew you loved him, but I had no idea how much...I wish I could love someone like that."

"You'll find somebody to love soon, don't worry." Phoebe said, trying to forget what happened with Cole a few minutes ago. "But, when that person comes, make sure he's not a demon before you fall in love, okay?"

"Okay." Melinda agreed. "How does that feel?" she asked.

"How does what feel?" Phoebe didn't understand.

"How does it feel when you love somebody with all your heart and than you realize he's a demon?"

"Bad, Mel. It feels bad. I found it out when your father morphed into Belthazor and put a knife under my throat. Then we shimmered… and shimmered… and shimmered. At once, I told him to stop. He did as I said. Well, I threw him at the ground over my shoulder and cried. I asked him many things like, why didn't he just kill me and why did he have to make me fall for him that much. He tried to tell me that he loves me, but I didn't listen to him. Than he got up, raised his arms and told me to vanquish him, if I can. In that moment, a bounty hunter hit him from behind and he fell on the ground. God, I thought he's dead. I was never so scared in my whole life. I got him to the mausoleum, where I tried to vanquish the bounty hunter, but he almost killed me instead. That's when Cole saved my life."

"Lucky you, mom. He really loves you… or loved you… he was loving you… Well, you know what I mean." Melinda laughed.

"Like that, you remind me at Prue." Phoebe laughed. "She never really 'got along' with grammar."

"I wish I got a chance to know her..." Melinda said sadly.

In that moment, Cole shimmered in the Manor. "Phoebe, I need your help." he sat next to her on the couch.

"Oh, yeah?" Phoebe started with sarcasm "I need your help, too. You have to do me a big favor: get out of here! I don't want to see you, Cole, don't you get it?"

"That's exactly what I need." Cole said. "Take your daughter to the Elders and stay up there with her. The demons are about to take over this place. I talked to Leo. Piper, Wyatt and he should be there by now. He went to get Paige and Richard. Go there! NOW, PHOEBE!" Cole yelled.

Phoebe looked at him, not knowing what to say.

"Oh, one more thing: there is a great possibility that you'll never see me again, so..." Cole kissed her. She closed her eyes, helpless.

"I'll leave you two alone." Melinda said and she shimmered up.

Phoebe escaped his grasp. She slapped him, for the second time in one day. "That's for the kiss" she said. Than she kissed him cheek. "And that's for goodbye." she said "You'll have to learn to respect me, Cole. I don't love you anymore, try to realize that."

"Ow... That hurts." Cole said brokenly. "Phoebe, what about tellin' me the truth instead of saying goodbye?"

"What truth?" Phoebe got nervous. She thought he'll ask her about Melinda.

"You love me, Phoebe." Cole came closer to her. "I know you do. If not, what was that 'bloody weakness' all about?"

"Look, Cole..." Phoebe looked at the floor. "You are the only man I ever loved. But loved is past tense. About the 'weakness' part... I didn't really mean it. Just... forget it, okay?"

"Okay, fine. Oh, and Phoebe: I love you." Cole said, looking at her with his eyes full or tears. She hugged him. "I love you, too, Cole. I always was and I always will." she thought, brokenly. She moved away from him and disappeared.

"That was heartbreaking." Wyatt said when Phoebe shimmered up.

"Whatever." Phoebe turned away from all her family, trying to hide tears.

"Mom, I have something that will defiantly make you smile." Melinda said. "Look over there." She pointed at Piper, Paige, Leo and Richard. They were all standing next to each other, but nobody said a word. Piper and Paige had a furious look on their faces, and Leo and Rich had confused look on theirs. Phoebe laughed. Then she went to the main room, where you could see what's happening 'down there'. She kneed next to the picture of the Manor. She saw group of demons fighting with the other group of demons. In the middle of one of them, she saw Cole. She screamed when she realized that he'll die if someone doesn't help him. She disappeared.

"Phoebe, what in the world are you doing here?" Cole yelled when he saw Phoebe.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The middle Charmed sister in flesh." one of the demons looked at Phoebe with an evil smile. "You wouldn't happen to be Belthazor's girlfriend, would you?"

"Fuck you." Phoebe said and kicked him. He yelled painfully.

"You'll pay for that one, bitch!" he said. He threw an energy ball at her, but Cole destroyed it.

"Phoebe, get away from here! NOW!" Cole yelled. Phoebe saw a demon throwing something that looked like sulfurous-acid ball at Cole. "I'm sorry." she quickly said and ran towards that ball. It hit her directly in the chest and she fell on the ground.

"PHOEBE!" Cole yelled painfully. He raised her up in his arms and yelled "LEOOO!" Leo orbed there and when he saw Phoebe, he yelled "What was she doing here, Cole?" destroying two fire balls which were heading towards them at once.

"There's no time to explain! Take her up to safe and heal her, Leo!" Cole yelled with eyes full of tears and voice full of fear.

"You're coming with me, buddy." Leo touched Phoebe with one hand and Cole with the other one and they orbed out.

15 minutes later...

"SHE DID WHAT?" Piper yelled when Cole told her and Paige what Phoebe did. "Is Phoebe crazy or something? Where is she, anyway?"

"Leo took her to the Elders." Melinda showed up. "He couldn't heal her. M... My mom may... die, aunt Piper!" Melinda cried. "What will I do without her?"

"W... What?" Cole looked at Melinda like he saw a ghost.

"You are a lucky guy, Mr. Turner." Melinda looked at Cole. "She sacrificed her life for you. Does that tell you something? Or you still think that she doesn't love you?"

"She can't die!" Piper screamed brokenly. "P...Pheebs can't die. Not now... not here... not like this. She deserves to live!" She cried, feeling so empty.

"Piper... Paige... Melinda... Cole..." Leo showed up in a room where they were. "Phoebe... She is..."

"TELL US THAT SHE'S OKAY, LEO!" Paige screamed "SHE MUST BE OKAY! SAY SOMETHING, LEO!"

"Look, Phoebe got hit by something that murders instantly. By the time I got there... It was too late. I'm so sorry, but Phoebe is dead."

"NOOOOOO!" Piper yelled "WHY, LEO? WHAT DID SHE DO TO DESERVE TO DIE? NOOOOOOOOO!"

Paige just fell on the floor with many tears rolling down her cheeks. She was speechless.

Melinda screamed. She kept screaming until she couldn't speak anymore, until her voice betrayed her.

And Cole... Cole had the face like someone ripped him a heart out, but that was nothing comparing to what he felt. The only reason of his existence just disappeared because of him...

So, what do you think about this chap.? Is Phoebe really dead? What happens to the power of three now? How will Piper and Paige accept the loss of their sister? Will Cole find out that Melinda is his daughter? Will they ever be happy after this? Or was it just meant to be that way? Find answers in next chap...