Somebody Up There
Author: Wicked R
Disclaimer: the universe belongs to the WB.
Rating: nothing disturbing.
Genre: G, probably.
Summary/Set: the sisters realise the falseness of Utopia another way.
Pairing: Piper/Leo, Cole/Phoebe, Kyle/Paige.
"One more thing," the leader of the Avatars stood in the middle of
the sunroom, "I believe you have some history with one of our main
energy sources of the collective. Without him, we would not have been
able to turn back time and save Leo," he waved a hand.
In the direction of his fingertips, a figure materialised in the
normal ascending way of the avatars, wearing their customary robe.
The man, freshly shaved and as neat as anyone could be, arrived with
his fingers clasped together in front of him, nodded towards the
older looking Avatar, then kept his head down without looking at the
other people in the room, "anything else?"
"No, thank you."
Cole nodded again, and dematerialised by own accord this time, taking
no notice of the rather nervous sisters.
"What is this supposed to mean?" asked the always suspicious
Paige, "don't tell me you turned back time to make sure he lives too?"
"No. Cole Turner joined us two years ago, right on his hundred and
sixteenth birthday," the Avatar explained, "it was like a rebirth for
him. He also had enough of the constant and pointless fight between
good and evil and believes that everybody should start with a clean
slate, just like he was allowed to do when he became one of us. I am
quite definite this will not change your mind about us and tomorrow
we can put down the foundations of Utopia, just like we planned. We
did not want to keep any secrets, and that was why we let you meet
our brother in thought."
"Are you sure of his intentions though?" Paige argued, defending her
sister's interests, "didn't he use you to convince us and Phoebe that
he is good after all?"
"In all our times recruiting together I got to know him and he is one
of our most valuable and adept asset. I think I can say for sure that
he believes in our common cause. Besides, when we first approached
him it became clear that he was disappointed with the way things
turned out for him and that was one of the reasons he accepted us at
that time. He hated his life and he has no intentions of going back
to the way it was then. It is also why he's so keen on the success
of his new family, us."
"Phoebe did all that to him, huh?" Piper also found all this a bit
far fetched. Then she looked at Leo, who raised his eyebrows at her
unsatisfied with her behaviour, now that she has agreed she will
stand by him, "right, okay, Cole is an Avatar, that doesn't make them
evil Paige. In fact, being able to turn him back to our side makes
them.I don't know what that makes them, but hey, who cares? Phoebe's
vision is the one that counts, right?" She turned towards the
journalist, who uncharacteristically didn't have anything to say
about the subject so far, but sat down on the white settee and looked
down on the ground, leaning forward and clasping her hands in a
similar way they had seen her ex husband do just a couple of minutes
back. And because her sister didn't seem to react hearing her name at
first, Piper repeated it a bit louder this time, "Phoebe?"
"What?" Phoebe's head shot up, followed by an agitated walk she made
to Paige, encircling her shoulders, "yes, I got that premonition
while Cole was already an Avatar. It doesn't change anything. He has
nothing to do with anything."
"Are you certain?" Paige asked with her chin a bit forward.
"Yes, yes," Phoebe assured her, "we'll keep working on the Zankou
situation," she turned towards the Avatar.
"I'm happy you're still with us," he nodded appreciatively towards
them, and disappeared.
"Leo, I hope they are not listening, they are worth than the Elders."
the middle sister started with the powerful being out of sight.
"What is it now, Phoebe?" Leo shook his head, not chuffed with how
much he had to work for his in laws to agree with him on this whole
Avatar business, "you just said your premonition stands."
"That, does. But remember, how I had a good feeling about Utopia all
along since even before I experienced the future? Well, that changed
now."
"Come on Phoebe, you always get a bad feeling when it has something
to do with Cole," Piper argued.
"I'll explain. It's not that I don't trust him."
"Why?" Paige interrupted, "you wanna tell you would go as far as
trusting him now just because he is an Avatar?" She growled.
"I meant it has nothing to do with whether I trust him or not. It's
to do with the fact that no matter how much the Avatar claims he
knows Cole, I know him better. I don't know who that was, but my Cole
was a strong minded person, who would never humbly let himself be
ordered about by anybody. The way he behaved here today."
"Maybe he just doesn't want to see you," Leo explained his point of
view, "I'm not trying to say he didn't deserve it, but who wants to
see his ex wife after she tried to kill him, and that more than once?"
"No. He didn't even look at me. I mean I was in his field of vision
when he turned his head. It seemed as if he didn't recognise me. He
wouldn't ignore me, under no circumstances would he do that. Even if
it would be to let me know I was wrong and he was right all along."
"So what are you saying? That wasn't Cole?" Paige contemplated, "but
why would the Avatars put themselves in the wrong light in front of
us and show us a quasi Cole?"
"I'm not saying it wasn't him. All I'm saying is that he behaved
differently from how I would expect him to behave after all this
time. That raises some kinda doubt in my mind as to what they had
done with him."
"If we ought to believe he is an Avatar, like Leo," Piper put in her
topping's worth, "he must have changed. I mean he can not be evil. So
he wouldn't act the same. Besides, he felt hurt by you. I would
ignore you too if I was in his situation."
"No, no, no. I don't know why, but.I know this sounds weird, since I
didn't even know he was alive.still, now that he was here, I felt
him. I felt his soul. Behind the blank surface, he was uneasy. Afraid
even."
"Cole is not afraid of anything," Piper said, narrowing her
eyes, "unless.it's to do with Phoebe's safety."
"Exactly my point," Phoebe agreed.
"It couldn't be any further from me to disregard something that could
bring the Avatars down," Paige gesticulated, "but wasn't it you who
tried to convince us of the opposite for weeks? Would you change your
opinion about an important matter like the welfare of the world just
because of being so full of yourself you think it revolves around you
and excuse me for putting it that way?"
"No, but Cole's world certainly does," Piper shook her shoulders, "so
what do you suggest Phoebe?"
"Can you summon an Avatar, and that without the others knowing about
it, Leo?"
"I don't think you can," Leo put his hands on his hips, looking
dischuffed, "besides, they don't have anything to hide. If you really
want to hurt their feelings, go ahead and do it."
"I prefer them not to know about it," Paige raised her shoulders.
"Just in case," Phoebe added.
"Honey, how about you go find Cole?" Piper ordered her husband.
"Oh, no, Leo is an Avatar. I would rather see myself first hand."
Paige frowned, not sure how Piper takes her still present mistrust of
her brother in law.
"Leo is still Leo, like it or not," Piper reacted in the way she most
likely expected her to, and took the ex white lighter's arm, "can you
sense Cole, now that you know about him?"
Leo sighed heavily and disapprovingly, but orbed out nevertheless in
his special new way that resembled the Avatar's dematerialising.
Piper turned away from the sparkling orbs to see Phoebe sitting down
again, holding her head in her hands, "don't worry. You know, the
Avatar could be right, and Cole wouldn't be interested in our lives
anymore. Just because we're used to suppose the worse scenario."
"I'm not worried about that. I didn't want to say it in front of Leo,
I'm sorry Piper. I'm concerned about Cole. He was looking so balanced
and distant, yet empathically, I think I felt agony radiating out
from him. It felt like he was trapped somehow and can't get out.
Look, I don't really care what Leo is going to achieve by talking to
him, but we need our own plan to help him."
"Help him?" Paige echoed, "that is rather far from the desperate
search for a solution for how to vanquish him."
Phoebe looked up with her eyes slightly glazed, "I wish I had my
empathic abilities a couple of years back. I certainly shouldn't be
able to read anybody in just a couple of seconds, but with our
connection from before, I think he's still trying to protect me
somehow. Don't ask me why, I just felt that way. Now, what are the
chances we can make me invisible and hone in Leo to listen to his
conversation with Cole? And can we do that as quickly as possible
please?"
tbc
Chapter 2: Red Flagged
Leo contemplated the concept of complicated lives while orbing. There
was a good chance for his family to be healthy and happy and stay
that way, but the charmed ones, including his wife, never really
believed that could happen so easily as the powerful beings he
belonged to promised. Sometimes he wondered himself if he was half
intentionally simplifying life because it would be so wonderful not
to have to fight anymore, but the Avatars had not given him a good
reason so far for him to be able to really question them. So he
didn't exactly honour Piper's request the way she wanted him to.
Besides, being part of the collective and using the common energy and
powers didn't mean he knew who and where everybody from their circle
was. He couldn't just orb to an unknown location. If he wanted to
find Cole, he needed to ask him to come to him. He always liked the
landscape of Colorado, so he choose a secluded spot, perfect for a
conversation and called out the ex demon's name a few times. Nothing
happened, perhaps he didn't want to speak to him, which given their
history, would've been no surprise. Still, he was sure the girls
wouldn't let it drop, so he willed himself to go through the
invisible portal that led to the Avatars' headquarters.
"Anything new on Zankou?" The leader welcomed him.
"No, I'm sorry," Leo frowned apologetically, "I was wondering if I
could have a word with Cole.the charmed ones.you know how strong
willed they can be."
The leader nodded, and took the young Avatar by the shoulders, "you
see, the situation is rather precarious. You can see Cole Turner if
you want, sure, but we didn't disclose the complete truth about him
yet. We thought it would confuse the charmed ones ever further if
they had to find out that one our members is ideologically not
completely pure. We took Cole in with open arms and offered him all
the benefits of our existence, the same way we did with you. But we
shortly had to find out, that those enormous powers he possessed,
mentally incapacitated him. Perhaps it was his demonic origins all
along, but we have to make his decisions for him, and keep him from
harming himself, which we are more than happy to do," they
materialised in a smaller white room, with a table like bed at the
wall, but not much else.
Cole stood up from the bed the moment he saw them, took a couple of
steps towards them, but then stopped short, eying Leo questioningly.
The air in front of him resonated, like a shimmer, but when he
stepped back one it stopped.
"That's the shield we use to keep him here," the leader
explained, "he can't hear you from here. I don't recommend you enter
his cell, he is unpredictable even on his good days like this when he
was lucid enough for us to be able to get him to materialise down on
earth, and with the date of the big day so soon, we wouldn't like to
need to turn back time again because he went mental again. It will
all be different once we establish utopia. With not so much energy
needed for the maintenance of the new world order, we can put him to
sleep as well and let him wake up a new man, without a doze of
negativity in his brain."
"I don't think the sisters will have a problem understanding Cole
being crazy."
"In that case, can we count on them?"
"I'm sure." Leo said while orbing out with the other Avatar, so
Phoebe couldn't hear the rest. She watched as Cole dropped down on
his bed desperately, all the hope that glimmered in his eyes when he
saw Leo gone now. He leaned back to the wall with his back, staring
into the corner like somebody who has long given up.
Phoebe ended the illusion of invisibility Paige set up for her and
walked as close to the shield that kept Cole captive as close as she
thought was safe.
It took him more than a few seconds to realise that Phoebe was in the
room with him, and even more to believe it to some extent by
convincing himself nobody had any reason to trick him that way. And
after all that he still questioned his own eyes. He thought about her
that much and fantasised about her in the last couple of years he had
spent in captivity that he wasn't sure if it was his wishful thinking
that came to life, "Phoebe?" He asked tentatively and stood again to
lean towards her to study her.
She stepped forward decisively, her previous antagonism shoved away
so that she can smooth the turmoil of his mind that she empathically
experienced and was affected by. She miscalculated where she saw the
magical shield before and only realised where it was when the air
started vibrating around her. As she was in the middle of a step at
that time, the shield was behind her at the completion of the
movement.
"That magical field is aimed at my constitution," Cole explained when
he saw the look of confusion on her face, "everybody else can break
it. That is one of the reasons why it proved so successful at
containing me. Which opportunity you should take and leave before
they find out you were here."
"Not before I get you out as well."
"What for, miss-I don't care whether you live or die because I don't
feel anything towards you-?" He asked bitterly. It wasn't that he
didn't hope for something like this ever happening in some way, but
he needed a preferably positive answer quickly so he can tell her how
they could stop the Avatars. But if she didn't trust him with it,
there wasn't much point to it. In that case, it was more important to
get her away as soon as possible.
"That was.something I thought I felt at the time. Why are the Avatars
keeping you prisoner? What do they want on the long run? Why do you
think I'm in danger?"
"An Avatar keeps coming back to check on me on a random basis.look, I
gonna say this fast and I'm gonna say it once. It's the truth, but
it's up to you what you think. The Avatars wanna take over the world,
have everything in it under control without competition. And that
includes the power of three. If you pose as a threat, they will
eliminate you. They would've done it already, because a potential
threat in their eyes is as good as a threat. But I made a deal with
them. They will let you live if you play along with their plan in
return for me letting them use my powers willingly to sustain the
power of the collective. As you can see, I pretty much wouldn't have
a choice anyway, but I used to fight them and make it much harder for
them to take anything away from me. And now the hardest part for you
to take in. If you wanna stop them, you have to do it today. Tomorrow
it might be too late, cause it's very likely that they would
brainwash you as well the same way as they would do with the rest of
the world. Including me, apparently. Some demons will remain because
they possess a device that can keep them immune to the infection. I
don't know who else, but Zankou has it. Don't vanquish him without
getting the implants first."
"And he'll give them to us, just like that."
"He would if I'd be able to negotiate between you. But unfortunately.
tell him it's my advice. Tell him the key to the grail of his twin is
a square cross and you know where it is and what it does, cause I
told you where we hid it as kids."
"Zankou is your pal?"
"No, he was my pal when we were at school. But I'm hoping he is still
loyal to me for how I helped him to rescue his fiancé. She still died
at the end, but.In case that information about the key doesn't
convince him, tell him there is perfume needed for his vanquish. That
will get him."
"Perfume," Phoebe stated incredulously.
"His mother was related to werewolves, with an enhanced sense of sm.
guard," he whispered and shoved her behind his back.
She could still see the Avatar half materialising, but then she
sensed a shimmer. Even though Cole was not able to leave his cell
himself, he could use his powers to send her out of harm's way. Just
to find herself down in the underworld, right in front of the current
leader of it.
tbc
Chapter 3: Connotations
"He said that the best option is to go along with things as if we
agreed with everything the Avatars do and wait till everybody is
asleep," Phoebe explained to her sisters and gave out some star
shaped little implants to them that looked like ear rings.
"Just why is it we trust Zankou more than Leo?" Piper wasn't a happy
bunny.
"Because we don't know exactly how this collective of theirs works.
If Leo knows, they might know it too. It's not that we don't think he
has the best intentions."
"Leo would not harm us in any way, but that is not true for the
Avatars, Piper. The only thing I don't understand is," Paige tilted
her head, "why do we go along with everything Cole says all of a
sudden. If not anything else, he is also an Avatar after all."
"Because we're meant to," Phoebe sighed, "we're destined to use our
powers. And my empathic abilities tell me that we should."
"Excuse me, but don't you get mixed up with your heart's desire?"
"Since when is my heart's desire to use Cole as my guide?"
"Hm, question is, whether that guiding happens in the bedroom or
not," Paige said cheekily.
"Since the first time you met him," Piper answered as well, "and I'm
going to do something similar to Phoebe, whether you like it or not.
If she is allowed to take Cole's word as granted and you Paige have
your doubts because Kyle does and already has an implant, I can tell
my husband what we are planning. If the Avatars have nothing to hide,
they won't mind us using something that keeps us happy while going
along with their plan. Although I'm sure he will say the same, that
we are insane to believe any word from Zankou, or Cole for that
matter. He will say it's suicide. And I'm doing this because it's two
against one and you outvoted me."
"And I say it's suicide to let Leo know," Phoebe fretted, "but if
it's the only way you gonna do it, fine. Implants in, everybody,
now," she took her own ear rings out.
"We'll just have to rid utopia of the remaining demons without the
power of three," the leader of the Avatars said, as he materialised
in the dining room to circle the three sisters, along with a dozen of
his fellow Avatars the next morning, "telling Leo was a mistake. He's
in a cell next to Cole now, especially made for him. Not even the
demon can manage coming through the shield, the excruciating pain
would make him loose consciousness if he tried."
"Think again," they heard Zankou's voice now, who was holding up a
pretty grey and sick looking Cole together with Kyle, "we might not
be able to neutralise it, but my device I borrowed from the future,
developed by my dear friend, co-leader of the underworld, Wyatt
Halliwell," he said looking to Piper for effect, "doesn't just keep
you immune to certain powers of the avatars, but to all of them.well,
to a certain extent," he added, having to grab Cole harder to keep
him from falling over when Kyle let him go.
"I always taught my son's dexterity and feel for technology was quite
good for his age," Piper said half ironically, half proudly, but
mainly to waste time till Cole got strong enough to engage in a fight
with the rest of the avatars. But she didn't need to. Because not
only did he not find the strength to stand up, but collapsed to the
ground along with the rest of the Avatars in the room.
"I put my potion in your ventilating system," Kyle explained, "it
would've taken effect without us as well, but me and Cole just wanted
to make sure you're ok," he stepped towards Paige.
"What about Leo?" Piper asked.
"What about Cole?" Phoebe started stroking her ex's hair above his
forehead.
"We expect the other avatars to flee without their leader," Kyle
looked back to the other two sisters, "and if they do, Leo should be."
"Free," the white lighter finished the sentence himself, "and not
even an avatar anymore. They must have given up on this particular
plan completely. And if I'm not the same powerful being anymore, it's
likely that Cole isn't either. He should survive the attack, given
the intensity of his other powers," he joined Phoebe on the floor to
check his ex fellow avatar over, "he's still alive, unlike the
others. It must mean what I supposed earlier," he concluded, and made
an attempt to heal him.
"Our interests part now," Zankou said in his noble manner, nodding
towards them, "tell Belthazor I'm always his," he disappeared.
Leo shook his head, and stood back, but Cole stirred anyway, groaning
and swallowing. Phoebe took his hand and started stroking it, "Cole?
Cole! I'm here. What's wrong? What can we do?"
Cole slowly moved his head in her direction and fluttered his eyes
open for a few seconds with such difficulty, the effort required some
more moaning.
"Leo!" Phoebe looked up at him nervously, "he's so hot."
"The potion must be working its way through his system. Don't worry,
if it was going to kill him, it would've happened already."
"Are you sure?"
"From my previous experience with being poisoned with that several
times.yes.don't ask," he added, receiving odd looks, "time was turned
back, that's why you don't even know about it."
"He is pain. We have to do something," Phoebe pleaded.
"As much as that is a pleasant sight to some," Piper suggested, "I
say we look at the bottle that contained the potion and try to figure
out the composition from the drops at the bottom to see what is it in
it that doesn't agree with Cole. If for not any other reason, but to
find the ingredient that could be successful if we need to think of a
vanquish again. Kyle?"
tbc
Chapter 4: Greener On The Other Side
Piper stepped into Phoebe's room to give her a progress report as her
sister was busy with making sure Cole's temperature didn't go even
higher. Phoebe was shocked to find that Cole didn't seem to recognise
her, and he did in his relatively lucid moments was complaining of
cramps. She looked up hopefully at her sister.
Piper sat down next to her and put her arms around her
shoulders, "those ingredients are ancient. Fact is, we don't
recognise either of them. But Leo has a suggestion. We should call an
ambulance and they would treat him for an anaphylactic shock caused
by an unknown toxin, give him a blood transfusion."
"Wouldn't that put us in a bad light again with the police?"
"We could orb him somewhere, call from there and disappear before
they arrive."
"Yes, but they know he is my ex. Who we declared missing again."
"Well, we're out of suggestions. But if this is so important for you.
by the way, why is it so important Phoebe?"
"You've heard. Zankou would do what Cole wants, and then so would the
whole underworld. We wouldn't have to bother with it day by."
"Khm," Piper interrupted, only interested in the real reason.
Phoebe sighed, "he'll always be the love of my life, no matter how I
try to deny it. I'm stronger than I was last time. With my empathic
abilities, he could never become the source while I sense nothing
about it. Maybe we have a chance. Look, Piper, I don't know about the
future or anything else, all I know is that right now, I want to help
him. But we can't take him to any hospital. Too risky for us, for
him, and they might not figure out what to do with him and his
reactions wouldn't be like a human's. He doesn't even appreciate who
I am right now, who knows what he's gonna do with his powers if he
gets a few half conscious seconds. No. Tell Leo to set up the iv.
He's gonna get my blood."
"Phoebe, that's hardly gonna be enough, even if you give all that is
advisable to give for any person. He needs a complete blood
transfusion."
"We can do it. How many are we? You, me, Leo, Paige, Kyle, that's
five," she counted her fingers, "and Darryl. He would come over here
if we asked."
"Darryl? For you, he might. I'm not so sure about Paige."
"What's wrong with putting a bit of white lighter blood into a demon?
Send her up, I'll talk to her."
"What's wrong with.? If you wanna send that demon into another kind
of anaphylactic shock, go ahead. Phoebe, I don't think they would be
compatible. And if we are at it, I'm not so sure about pouring witch
blood into a demon either."
"Kyle and Darryl then," Phoebe sighed, "and dad and.are you sure Leo
can't orb away some blood from a hospital? It's not like he's living
by the white lighter code nowadays."
"I'll see what I can do," Piper stood up, taking a glance at the
mostly naked form on the bed. Yeah, no wonder Phoebe was so keen.
"Does it hurt anywhere? Cole? It's Phoebe. Can I help you with
something?" Phoebe jumped to the bed from her dresser where she'd
been dozing when she heard the whimpering sound coming from her bed.
Cole had went into a peaceful sleep after the transfusion, and his
fever went down to a mere slightly raised temperature, but this was
the first time he had moved since.
"Phoebe?" He said even before he opened his eyes, then he scrunched
his forehead in confusion when he saw her. He stared at her for a
long moment, hardly aware of anything else than the pleasant
sensation the here and now gave him. He lifted his hand to touch her
face, taking it into his palm for a few seconds, the time it took him
to realise that the action exhausted him. His hand dropped and he
closed his eyes with a small grimace.
"We don't know what else to do to make you feel better," Phoebe said
nervously, worry spilling out from behind the words.
Understanding he needed to ease her anxiety, he forced his eyes open
and whispered, "I am feeling better," he gave her hand a little
squeeze, while he noted his powers awaken one by one and screaming at
him to take them under the usual control in his head, "what
happened?" He meant to be given an explanation for the look in
Phoebe's eyes, rather then anything else.
"Unfortunately we poisoned you along with the avatars."
"Would that be anything unusual?" Cole pulled himself higher on the
pillow as his powers surged through his body with energy now as well.
"Well, it wasn't really us this time. Kyle."
"I know, I know," Cole smiled, "I asked him myself to act immediately
for your safety."
"And that wouldn't be anything unusual either," Phoebe looked away,
knowing how many times he put his life on risk for her. Not to
mention the purest love that her empathic abilities sensed coming
from his direction. It was nothing but love. That clean, that
unconditional, there was nothing evil about it, or his being. The
sooner she admitted to him and got over with it, the better, "I have
some new powers."
"I know."
"You know what it means as well?"
"I was hoping.it would mean this." He sat up on his pillow even
higher, while Phoebe leaned towards him. He froze, not sure, he could
believe what was happening. But he didn't have to do anything.
Phoebe came to meet his lips all the way.
The End.