A/N:Wheee! Thank you all very much for your replies, I'm so happy people read it and actually like it . This chapter was so fun to write! I hope you'll like reading it as well… :)
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When Leo orbed into the Manor, he found himself standing in the middle of the living room. He saw Paige's irritated features, Prue's desperate ones and Cole's rage in his eyes. Leo frowned and turned around, noticing he was standing between the Charmed Ones and a still form of a yellow-skinned demon in tattered and slimy rags, which could be loosely referred to as clothes.
"Umm… what's going on?" he asked with a raised brow as he hurried out of Cole's plain sight of the demon, knowing the upcoming reply.
"Cole's being an ass again! That's what's going on!" huffed Paige exasperatedly, plopping down on one of the flowery armchairs.
"He lured another demon into the house to try and pry information about Bellatrix's whereabouts," explained Prue calmly.
Leo rolled his eyes in understanding, mouthing a perfect O and glances at Paige. She was the one who took Piper's betrayal the deepest, but she still couldn't quite comprehend the fact. And the fact that her big brother was on a revenge quest against her best friend wasn't really helping her to cope with it. Ex best friend, Leo reminded himself. Ex…
"Damn it, Paige!" Cole growled at his younger sister, throwing his hands into the air. "You act as if you don't want to find her and vanquish her sorry ass!" he paused for a moment, scanning her unnerved features, while she deliberately avoided his eyes. "Perhaps you don't…"
"Whoa, time out, Cole," coaxed Prue. "Are you suggesting Paige doesn't want to vanquish Piper?"
"Bellatrix…" corrected her Cole. "The demon's name is Bellatrix. There is no Piper…" he glared at Paige, finally catching her wandering gaze. "… Never was."
Paige's eyes widened in mixture of emotions that were just too overwhelming, as she pursed her lips and glared back at her brother. "And what is that suppose to mean?"
"Nothing. I'm just saying, she was your friend…"
Paige growled in rage as she stormed towards him. "This is it, isn't it? She was my friend, I brought her into the house, I believed her and trusted her, it was me who allowed her to come so close. It was MY fault, wasn't it, Cole? Come on! I know you're dying to say it! I know you're dying to lecture me about this for the past three months! So why won't you just do it, be done with it and leave me the hell alone!"
"Alright! You want to hear it?" Cole spat at, strange twinkle in his gray eyes. "It was you're fault! If you hadn't wanted someone outside of the family to speak to about all this madness, she would've never come so close and you would've never been turned evil and we wouldn't have been on each other's throats so much! So, YES, Paige! It is your fault!!!"
"Yeah? Then perhaps I shouldn't have been turned back good too? Perhaps I should've stayed evil and choked you with my bare hands, watching you gag until your eyeballs pop out? What do you say, big brother? That's what should've happened?"
"Okay, that's IT!" Prue shouted suddenly, flinging both siblings into opposite couches with her power. "I'm sick and tired of listening to you two fight constantly! This is going to end now, or I will cast 'Family Feud' spell again! Do you hear me?"
Leo remembered that spell. Had a very nasty side effect - turned the family into characters from 'Brady Bunch'. He shuddered from the memories of being forced to play Alice in that role playing game.
The two death-glared at her, refusing to look at each other as anger still simmered inside. "Alright…" Prue continued after making sure they won't burst again. "Now… I know this is very emotional time for all three of us. Cole, I know P3 have been experiencing some financial bumps, but…" she hurried on as he snorted and rolled his eyes. "… this is not the first and we've managed out of deeper things before. And Paige, honey, I know your midterms are approaching and everything is just bombarding you at the same time," she gave Paige a sympathetic glance, watching her sister shrug in fake indifference. "But, sweetie, you will ace those tests easily. And the soon we get this over with, I believe will be the better…"
" 'This over with'? Over what? Piper? Prue, she was my best friend! No, she was so much more. She was like another sister, but one who didn't know I used to eat my boogers in kindergarten or that I pinched Jimmy Petruccio's butt as a dare…"
"What? I'm gonna kill him!" exclaimed Cole, but was absolutely disregarded.
"She was there and I could talk to her the whole night, without fearing that she will judge me or my actions. She was the closest thing I had to a friend, since the whole Charmed Ones shenanigan started! I miss her so much, but then I feel horrible for missing her because I know that she's nothing but a sham… a demonic sham, nonetheless. A sham that nearly cost me you guys. I feel terrible and I'm sick and tired of feeling this way, because I really do miss her despite everything…" Paige inhaled a sharp breath, suddenly feeling lighter and much better. "And he wants to kill her!" she pointed accusingly at Cole.
"I'm going to find that red cow and skin her alive, whether you like it or not!"
Paige shrieked in frustration and Prue shook her head tiredly. "That's it, you guys asked for. Spirits high bring to us the light to end this family fued…"
With a battle cry perfected over the years of demon fighting, Paige levitated up and launched at her older sister, tacking her forcefully and gagging her. "No rhyming, Prue, or I will chew your ears off. I won't spend another fortnight as Jan…" she hissed menacingly, hearing Cole chuckle under his breath. "I will move if you promise to avoid the rhyming…".
Prue nodded slightly and Paige shifted her weight off her. "That was brutal…" murmured Prue, rubbing the back of her head, while climbing back to her feet.
"I'll tell you what's brutal. Waddling like a friggin' duck for two weeks… now, that's brutal!"
"And how's that different from your usual walk?" asked Cole sardonically.
"Why you…" Paige was about to launch herself at her brother, but Prue yanked her back.
"God, Paige!" exclaimed Cole, rising to his feet and walking to the still unmoving demon. "How can't you understand? She's a demon! Do you think she wallows in self-pity and reminiscing her lost friend? No! She's somewhere out there, figuring a way to KILL US!"
Paige remained silent, averting her eyes stubbornly away from her brother.
"Cole, you have to be considering…" Prue hissed at him. "Piper was Paige's close friend, aside from being a demon…"
"That's right! A demon! An upper-lever demon, who tried to kill us for the past year. Who've turned Paige evil! Let us not forget that!" he coaxed his younger sister.
"How can I when you hammer it into my brain twenty four seven?" cried out Paige, throwing a pillow at him.
Cole caught the pillow with great ease and hurled it back at her, smacking her square in the face. "I'm just trying to protect you, god damn it!"
She scowled at him, flopping into a flowery armchair and murmuring something about 'Why couldn't mom have only girls'.
Prue rolled her eyes at her two younger siblings' bickering and sank into the chair beside Paige, while watching the frozen demon closely. "For how long will he stay that way?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.
Cole glanced back at the demon and smirked pompously. He has been enjoying his new power ever since the Elders bestowed it upon him, but he still hadn't had full control over it. "I don't know… I think he'll move soon," he answered, intensely thinking for a moment. Stirring out of it, he turns to his sisters with a commanding expression. "Okay, I'll unfreeze him and you two - get out of that couch! - start kicking his ass. Leo stand by in case we need healing." He eyed his sisters expectantly, urging them out of the comfy armchair and into a battle stance. "Ready?" he asked them irritated.
"Yeah-yeah, let's just get it over with…" grumbled Paige, tensing up and watching the demon closely.
Prue sighed and nodded in reply.
"Okay…" Cole took a deep breath, shrugging slightly as if to allow clearer path for the magic inside of him and raised both his hands. With a swiftest flick of his wrist Cole expected to unfreeze the demon and launch his straight forward attack; but as soon as he sensed the magic flow through the tips of his fingers, he felt the destructive blow of his first power burst out and explodes the demon into tiny bits of yellow puss. He remained in his place, quite embarrassed and aggravated from this lame display of power control, listening to Paige's agitated shrieks and Prue's attempts to wipe the slime off. "Well, this didn't work as I planned…" he mumbled sarcastically.
"I thought you figured out how to stop the two powers from interacting!" commented Prue accusingly. "You said you controlled it better. Does this looks better to you?" she growled in a shrewdly manner, indicating her ruined attire.
"It needs some touching up here or there…" admitted Cole, wiping the slime from his face.
"Here, there, EVERYWHERE!" yelled Paige. "How am I suppose to get him out of my hair? I thought you had control on at least one of your damn powers!"
"Look who's talking, Miss 'Get-Me-Down-Get-Me-Down'! Bumped into any chandeliers lately?" he asked mockingly, referring to Paige's poor control over her levitation.
Paige gasped in rage, clutching both hands into two tight fists due to the effect of his words. "You miserable little excuse for TNT! I have this power a lot less than you have your freezing mojo! And at least, I'm not alternately blowing up or freezing different inanimate slash evil objects! Get the stick out of your BUTT!"
Cole's face reddens in fury and his eyes widens, sending death glares into his little sisters. "I don't have a stick up my butt, as you so charmingly proclaimed. But I do have a pain in the neck, going by the name of PAIGE!" he roared at her, his anger flaring in dangerous lashes as his rage tapped into his powers and unleashed fierce blow to the ceiling above him. Bits of clay and white flakes descents down after the mild explosion, sticking to Cole's slime-covered clothes and skin. He blew a little flake of his nose sheepishly, listening to both of his sisters bursting into unstoppable giggles.
Still trapped inside this jovial laughter, Paige hurried to his side and hugged him tightly. "I wub you, brother!" she proclaimed in a baby-voice before disappearing out of the living room and up the stairs, no doubt to take a shower.
Cole sighed heavily, letting his head drop down as all his anger quickly vanished. He reminisced the early years when Paige was just a little girl, his little sister, and he was her sole protector. How he loved her and watched over her and how she allowed him to do it gladly. How she would sneak into his room whenever there was a thunderstorm, because she was so afraid of lightning. It was all of course before she went off to high school and developed a mouth on that sweet face. He felt a tug of his coat and glanced up to see Prue looking at him with her ice-blue eyes, smiling reassuringly and rubbing his shoulder.
"Promise me please that she will grow up," asked Cole with a soft plea in his voice as he embraced his older sister tightly.
"I promise," she replied. "And so will you…"
Leo smiled to himself, watching the siblings bicker and make up. He was their whitelighter for three years now and it never ceased to amaze him how strong and unbreakable was their bond. He shook his head a little and stalked out of the room, leaving the siblings alone. The moment he was out of their sight, he frowned to himself, thinking about Piper. He could not shake her out of his head and every moment of this worrying was making his head thump painfully. If only he could place his finger on whatever it was that bothered him about her, perhaps he would've been able to leave it alone.
But he couldn't - neither place his finger, nor leave it alone. It was a matter of time before Cole gets what he wants and finds where Piper was and then… Leo didn't let the thought trail off, afraid of its' possible destination. Something told him they haven't seen the last of her and that the Source won't waver upon yet another setback and strike again, soon. Leo just wanted to be rid out of this feeling that he was betraying the Charmed Ones in any way because of thinking about this. About her…
A/N:Just a couple of things:
1. Didn't expected Cole as a Charmed One, did ya? Just to make sure, the siblings are in this order - Prue, Cole, Paige
2. On the TV, Piper's first power was freezing; but because Cole is different from her - and powers are connected with emotions - I just thought it'll be more appropriate for him to blow things up first shug
3. The ages are a little bit messed up, I presume. Sorry for that… >.4. Oh and if you review I will be very very happy :) You don't have to fidget for words... if you read and liked, just leave me a smiley or a candy Caramel's my favorite two thumbs up