Chapter 9: Mirror Mirror

Leo switched off the big computer screen in the Elder's conference room after one of the never-ending meetings the Elders he had in employment took so seriously. As the President, he could have dissolved any discussions of the Elder parliament if we wanted to, but he usually let them feel important and rant. Being the leader of all whitelighters for three hundred years bored him to the extent he would've sometimes given up his whole existence and opt for that Heaven he once rejected, but there was no one of his competence or experience still alive, nobody who actually faced real demons and not just heard or read about them. Not that demons didn't exist, but in the last circa two hundred and fifty years since Cole was in charge down there, demons stayed in their own world, while humans played with populating planets that's underground was already long resided with demons who had shimmered there thousands of years ago. Still, instead of getting angry for their due heritage being taken away, Cole had instructed demons to conquer new planets instead, that were too far for humans for centuries to come. There was no conflict between the two worlds and no other whitelighter or living witch had practical knowledge of how to vanquish a demon. The sisters were long gone, so long ago Leo had wondered if that life that resembled a human's he once shared with them ever happened. There was no point to getting involved with other mortals ever again. Paige he hardly remembered, she died a hero young fighting...who knows what now, Piper followed her half sister about ten years later, Chris didn't have any descendants. Leo had followed the footsteps of Wyatt, his grandsons' and great grandsons', but after that he lost interest even in his family line. His great grandsons were not aware of his existence, they have all married humans and all residual powers were lost to descendants, in a midst of a humankind that had no idea about the demonic world, along with his great grandchildren. If he still had any living relative who counted, that should've been through Phoebe, but he never really had insight into the underworld. He knew, that Phoebe and Cole had five children, and Phoebe was the one from the charmed ones who lived the longest, protected by her love. Their two daughters married demons, making their children demonic enough to potentially live for several centuries long if destiny wanted it so too. Cole's favourite grandson was called Leonard and Leo was his godfather. The boy would probably still be alive, but Leo couldn't be sure. There have been two hundred years since the last time he saw him too. He couldn't even be sure of Cole being alive or if he still held on to the throne, but he doubted there would be peace if he hadn't. With the anniversary of the two hundred years peace treaty coming up, whitelighters discussed spying out the opposition the same way they had suggested when the hundred years anniversary was imminent. Then, he eventually managed to dismiss the idea, but he had doubts about what his decision should be this time. It was best if the two worlds didn't collide in any way and there was no reason to anger the demons by appearing uninvited in the midst of their dominance. It has worked out that way for so long. One the other hand, he wanted to retire from Earth and from Elder's Hall above. And for that to happen, he had to make sure he left everyone safe. Cole he trusted, if his dynasty still ruled, he would trust Phoebe's grandchildren too. But he could not be sure all was as he'd last seen it. Without changing his decision in public, he set out to prove himself right all alone. If somebody had the expertise of hiding in the caverns of the below, it was him. Nobody had to know about his little trip just yet. But he could've known better not to orb into the underworld and expect no consequences at all. He couldn't materialise completely, there was something wrong. The last of his particles to solidify moved to the side, as if being polarised by something, then he felt all of himself being sucked through several caves, holes and passages and stuck to some cold device at the end of his journey. The metallic feel surrounded him and at that moment he was allowed to put himself together and stand on his own feet, but not move away from the hold of the magnetlike instrument.

"Long time no see," a familiar voice greeted him. Cole threw his covers onto the bed, rubbing his eyes.

"Can you get this off me?" Leo hoped for his once friend to still be that. Two hundred years were a long time after all for any living being.

"Certainly," Cole walked over to the table and pressed some buttons that had the desired effect, "it's nothing to do with magic," he explained, "it's all technology," he shrugged, "these new senators have no trust in good old magic. The whole thing wasn't my idea of course," he hugged Leo the same enthusiastic way he once did in purgatory, "they want to know about every eventual possible threat. Clever, but it's not exactly my way."

"Senators?"

"Uhm, yeah. Parliamentary monarchy is what we have now. If I pushed for democracy, I had to accept that too. But I made sure spy central is at my quarters, just for any eventuality..."

"This device...you wanna say demons got suspicious of us up there?"

"I can securely assume that they have quite a lot of other priorities before thinking of conquering what's above ground, such as the magic Olympics right now and discussions over the maximum number of living offspring one is allowed to have. History classes at school teach them it's pointless and dangerous to go to Earth. There always are rebels of course, but my powers didn't diminish one bit since the last time we met and no one dares to really challenge me nowadays. But why you asking? What brings you here? Are there problems?"

"I'm not sure. My own so called radicals wanna take a look at the underworld to see it with their own eyes and make sure you are no threat. Some even doubt you exist. You know these youngsters, eager and curious..."

"I do remember that...long time ago it was. How many times did we bother coming back from the dead? I'm quite sure we wouldn't care these days...anyway, I don't think a delegate coming from your side would make too many waves if it's done properly and some of my demons can go up and visit the Elder's Circle. It's probably best giving them the satisfaction so they stop wondering."

"I agree. In that case...I'll give you some details in a few day's time once the Circle gets the chance to mull over it, as they do...eee...I could orb back freely now? Or there's another device to stop me?"

"Well," Cole frowned, "actually, there is...but it's under my control, so you can leave. If you want...but why not stay for a little while? We didn't have the chance to catch up," he clapped his hands and Leo's favourite beer appeared in the ex whitelighter's hand, "hope you still like it. There are so many things you could get bored of during such a long lifetime."

"Tell me about it...but not the beer, I still like the beer. I haven't drunk it for decades though..." Leo sat down on the sofa that also appeared behind him for his comfort, where Cole followed him to sit next to his old friend, "you certainly are prepared here for every eventuality. I mean the whitelightersafe devices. I don't wanna be the spoiler of any seize fire, but maybe I should advise my followers to come up with something similar. No matter how much longer we have, we can't live forever and keep this unlikely coalition up."

"Don't worry, Leo. You have good witches, right? They have always been your best card. Demons tend to underestimate them too."

"My witches are...I don't know Cole...nothing seems the same anymore."

"That was exactly the point, for why we went along with this double leadership, remember? So everybody forgets the losses on both sides."

"How do you do it?" Leo looked at his ally surprised by his energetic voice, "after so many years, where do you get the drive from to keep on living? Can you still recall life the way it was when we stayed at the Halliwell Manor?"

A smile flashed through Cole's face, "come with me," he touched Leo's hand and shimmered them somewhere. The room was quite dark where they landed, apart from a red light that lit one corner. Next to it, a child was sleeping seemingly perfectly comfortably hanging up mid air horizontally as if she was lying on the most cosy bed, holding her toy horse with a princess on it, "we tried to make her sleep like normal people do, but she levitates up in her sleep anyway, so we gave up," Cole explained, taking a cover and putting it on the form, "let's go. Phoebe sleeps light. I don't wanna wake her up," he transported both of them back to where they came from.

"My god, she looks exactly like our ten year old Phoebe once looked..."

"She is my great granddaughter," Cole said proudly with sparkling eyes.

"She's definitely seems like somebody worth living for..."

"She is also the first to the throne when I go. I need to assure her supremacy."

"First to the throne? Does that mean your grandson Leonard?..."

"Yes. There was an accident with the colonisation of Pluto."

"I see...I'm sorry."

"Let's talk about something else. I don't like thinking of the moment I got the news...what about you? You think there's no more happiness worth waiting for?"

"There's nothing in my life, believe me Cole. I have no immediate family and starting over seems so vain. I don't think I would want to get attached to anyone as I did to Piper. That only happens once in a lifetime."

"But you do have a family Leo, we are your family. Phoebe and me, if you wish to raise her with me."

"How could we do that? The Demon King and President of Whitelighters in close contact? It only worked out so far because nobody could accuse us of treason of any kind."

"I don't know, but I had this idea in my mind for a long while now. What if we went all wrong about it? What if retreating from each other's way is not the answer? What if we had a world where everybody is so interbred there's no difference between humans and demons anymore? We could all be alike Leo. This way we keep up today will always have to fear each other and in my dream we could have peace forever. If we start now, you know, another couple of hundred years down the line and it could all be done?"

tbc