It was a rainy dark Saturday afternoon. The rain poured down in heavy torrents and dark clouds roamed the grey sky. Dense mist hovered around the cemetery and made the mood even more comfortless. Nonetheless many people had come to Phoebe's funeral to pay her the last respect. A colourful array of umbrellas was spilled over the churchyard contrasting with the grim mood of the weather. It seemed the heavens itself were crying for One of the Charmed Ones.
The family stood around the open grave, surrounded by friends, Phoebe's colleagues, innocents the sisters had saved and companion witches from other covens. All wore black clothes and Matt, Leo and Darryl were holding the umbrellas for the sisters and Phila. Wyatt and Chris shared an umbrella of their own. Despite the dark day Piper and Paige wore sunglasses to hide their eyes. The service had been finished and now the priest was giving his last blessing on the casket. Then there would be the speeches of the family and friends.
Chris pushed Wyatt in the side and motioned towards the back of the crowd. A lone figure approached them slowly. He wore a black coat and had a single red rose in his hand. He had no umbrella to shield him from the rain and therefore was soaked wet. The rain was running in floods over his face. So they couldn't tell if there were tears on his face. Cole stopped at the back of the crowd and stayed there glowering towards the Halliwells. They didn't greet each other nor did anything to show any respect. Chris and Wyatt just watched him cautiously.
Cole had approached the crowd cautiously. He had to be on the watch. Since he had attacked them at the Manor some days ago, he had been working on a plan to get to them. He had missed his chance to get Piper because Phoebe had asked it from him, kind of a last wish. He hadn't been strong enough to disobey that then.
The funeral was a good chance, but there were too many people. Hell, even a reporter taking pictures was around. He couldn't do anything right now. He had to wait. Eventually the crowd would leave later on.
To not raise any suspicions he had glamoured his appearance to look the age he would be if he was human. Some grey streaks marked his temple and some artificial crinkles showed on his face. There was a good chance that in the crowd was someone who recognized him as Phoebe's ex-husband. He wasn't listening to anything the priest said. He wasn't interested in the long list of good doings the priest announced, it was rather boring.
He had come to the funeral to finally end this chapter of his life. He would bury his human self today together with Phoebe's body. This day was a turning point for him. Like meeting Phoebe had been. He would turn back to his evil self completely – the only thing pulling him away from it gone. He looked down at the blood red rose in his hand blinking several times. There was no need to get mushy now.
He looked around the cemetery waiting impatiently for the priest to finish his ritual. The mists swirled around the gravestones creating the impression of creatures creeping around. Suddenly a movement caught his eye. He concentrated on the spot in the distance. Had the mists fooled him or had he had a glimpse of a body moving back there. He felt a cord inside him vibrate. That in itself was wired. Since Phoebe had died, he hadn't felt anything. The human feelings had left him that day. He had never expected them to come back.
Since the service didn't seem to be over soon he decided to have a closer look at the mysterious phantom. Better anyway than standing dully in the rain listening to the rant of the priest and the sobbing voices in the crowd.
He strolled slowly over to the gravestone where the motion had been and looked around. The ghostly figure had moved towards the mausoleum – his mausoleum. He couldn't make out more then the outline of it, but it seemed to be human. That in itself was strange. Since he had been there collecting the note on the date of the funeral, no one had been there. Who should be there anyway? There were no other living relatives of the Turners and the Halliwells knew better than to stick around his place.
He opened the door to the mausoleum, which had been locked, with a wave of his hand .So the figure had to be something magical, since it seemed it had entered the mausoleum without opening the door.
Silently and very alert he descended the stairs. It was dim down there, like it was night, only a torch was lit. He stopped at the last step and searched the darkness with his demonic sight. He felt that something was in there. Some kind of creature. It was only a faint energy signature, but it was there nonetheless.
And he knew it. His heart stopped beating for a second as he recognized who it was. It was the same moment as he saw her standing in front of the tomb of his father.
"Phoebe?" he asked hoarsely not daring to move. How could she be here?
She turned round and kind of floated towards him not touching the dusty ground. He could see his father's tomb right through her. That was when realization hit him. She was a ghost!
"Cole", she whispered quietly with a hollow voice.
"What are you doing here? I saw Death take you." Cole was glad to see her but he needed to know what had happened first, so he kept his distance. Ghosts only stayed in the living's realm if they had a reason for it.
"I don't know", Phoebe said helplessly, "He lost me somewhere, I lost him. It was so confusing. I didn't know what to do and then thought of the mausoleum. I thought that someone would come here eventually and find me."
"Why didn't you go to your sisters? To the Manor?" he asked suspiciously. The Halliwells always turned to family first. The only one coming to the mausoleum was him.
"They are burying me at the moment", Phoebe motioned upwards to the cemetery, "I didn't want to give them, especially Phila false hopes and cause them even more pain. I am gone. It can only be some mistake that Death left me behind. I'm expecting him to pick me up anytime." She looked around like expecting Death to appear any minute.
"When did you arrive here?" he wasn't convinced she told him the truth, so he was on guard. He knew that someone of the Halliwells had been here not long ago to deliver the note.
"Actually only some minutes ago", she answered evenly, "I had to get used to this disembodied existence first – not easy. I couldn't move, I didn't know where I was. But then I felt somehow drawn to this place. Maybe my own requiem called me – who knows." She shrugged her shoulders and looked at him hopefully. "Can you help me?"
"To do what?" intrigued he stepped down to the ground and took some steps towards her. He had sensed no other presence in the room so he felt save to go nearer.
"To find peace, to go on", she said a sorrowful expression on her face. "I tried to call Leo but it seems he can't hear me anymore."
Phoebe had particularly emphasized the word Leo. That had been the signal for her family. Suddenly Cole was surrounded by orbs.
"What the hell..!" He cursed when the whole Halliwell family appeared around him. They simultaneously crouched down to put something on the floor and then backed away from him.
Cole tried to slip back into a corner so that no one was at his back. But as he took a step aside, the crystal cage lit up. He didn't stop since the crystals weren't a challenge for him anymore. But the cage violently pushed him back in the middle of the Pentagram sending a searing pain through his body.
He steadied himself and stared surprised at the crystal cage the held him captive. They had somehow improved the cage since he had appeared at their attic the last time. His glance fell on Phila. So she had told them about their meeting. He had miscalculated her. He had thought that she wouldn't tell anybody about it.
Phila was standing next to Chris. They had a slip of paper in front of them and had started chanting. Phila was concentrated looking down on the paper, while Chris watched Cole closely with hard green eyes. He seemed to know the spell by heart.
Cole tried to flame out of the cage, but it sent him back to its centre and the pain brought him to his knees. He growled deeply. Enraged he threw a fireball in Chris' direction, but it rebounded on the cage and almost hit him. His eyes flashing and turning pitch black he jumped up again, looking daggers at the sisters.
Phoebe hovered between her sisters watching Cole's futile attempts with a transfixed face. Wyatt stood behind her talking into her ear. She nodded gravely and then stepped back and into Wyatt's body taking control. Wyatt/Phoebe, Piper and Paige took their hands and started chanting the Source vanquishing spell.
Cole finally realized what they were doing. Phoebe had come back only to vanquish him. That hurt him more than the pain of the flames erupting at his feet or the stabbing pain in his whole body, like something tried to rip him apart.
"So it was all just a great deceit to get me." He finally comprehended, "the whole time you lied to me."
The realisation left him absolutely aboulic, his posture changed to one of total defeat. His head hung low, his shoulders sagged, his hands trembled and his heart felt like it was blown into a million pieces. Every bit of energy left his body. Despite the progressing vanquish the physical pain almost died out compared to the excruciating agony he felt by Phoebe's betrayal.
He turned his back to them so that they wouldn't see the pain twisting his face. He closed his eyes to shut out the world, stumbled and fell to his knees again. He had to put a hand down to not fall flatly on his face. He had no will left to get up again. He just waited for the ordeal to end.
Finally the flames engulfed him totally and a huge explosion rocked the mausoleum. The blast wave sent them all flying to the ground and the walls of the mausoleum cracked open and deep rifts ran along them.
tbc