A/N- In response to my latest reviewer, who pointed out that Cole should have been killed by the potion: My theory is that in 'Look Who's Barking', an alchemist transmuted Cole's blood so that the potion to vanquish him would not work. This means that the potion shouldn't have dented him. Or, that Cole still had the power to reverse his spell, which means he was still full on Avatar as well and Belthazor, which means that alternate him died, but the real Cole didn't.
Everything is explained in Chapter 4.
Everyone else, thank you for reviewing!
-CT
"You son of a b-" Paige advanced on Cole with an extreme amount of anger; almost enough to
send him back to the Wasteland.
"Paige, don't." Darryl held her back, knowing that her attacking a patient will get both of them
thrown out of the hospital and they would never get any answers from Cole.
Cole opened his mouth to say something, but burst into a coughing fit. His throat sounded
alarmingly dry, and his coughing was getting hoarser by the second. It caused his heart rate to
jump and spark the nurse's alarm. A nurse and a doctor came in and started working to stabilise
Cole's system.
Paige stood by the door, trying to calm herself down. She deeply despised this man, with fair
reason, yet seeing like this caused her heart to go out to him. Paige silently scorned herself for
feeling sympathetic for Cole after all he had done, which lead her back to the beginning of her
thoughts.
It was just a vicious game of ping pong in her head.
After a few thought circles she realised that the doctors had left, and she was left in the room
with Darryl and Cole.
Cole shakily sipped from a glass of water and sat up,
"Paige? Darryl? What am I doing here?" his voice was raspy, "What happened?"
"You tell us!" Paige demanded, only slightly aware of Darryl's 'keep silent' look.
"What is the last thing you remember?" Darryl asked, trying to keep his voice level. Cole
winced, as if every word being said was a blow to his head,
"Phoebe, throwing the potion. Flames." He looked up, his faced filled with pain and guilt, "How
am I still alive?"
"I don't know," Paige snapped sarcastically, "Maybe you wanted to cheat death and try to kill
me and my sisters again!"
"Paige." Cole said, with tears in his eyes, "I'm so sorry. I wish that... I shouldn't have blamed
you. I never should have gone that far."
"Damn right!" Paige snapped again. Cole closed his eyes, possibly trying to block out the
memory of what he had done.
"Paige." Darryl interrupted, "You're going to have stay calm. The last thing we need is to get
thrown out for harassing a patient."
"Patient?" Paige's voice was dangerously low, "He's no patient. He's a demon."
"No, I'm not." Cole weakly protested, "I can't feel any power inside of me. I'm human. Or, at
the very least, powerless."
"This is too much to take." Paige muttered to herself. She took a deep breath and looked
upwards, "Leo!"
Leo orbed in within seconds. He immediately saw Cole and stared at him, speechless. Darryl
could tell that he was probably questioning whether he was seeing correctly.
"Hey. Long time, no see..." Cole joked weakly. Paige rolled her eyes. This wasn't getting her
anywhere. Finally, Leo spoke,
"What is he doing here?"
"I don't know!" Cole shouted, although his form of a shout was not really all that loud, "It isn't
like I planned this. I deserve to be dead after what I've done."
"Maybe we should move this conversation elsewhere?" Darryl suggested, "Before anyone
overhears."
"Sure." Paige said in monotone. Darryl's pager went off. He looked at it and turned to face his
friends,
"I've got to head back to the station." Paige nodded, and Darryl left. He had clearly wanted to
help and was disappointed that he wasn't able to. After a moment of silence, Cole spoke,
"Uh... I know I'm not the most level minded, but where can we go?"
"Not the Manor." Paige said.
"What about the sanctuary I set up for the other Elders?" Leo proposed.
"But-" Paige began, but Cole interrupted,
"Paige- if I'm evil, neither of you will be able to orb me. The only person who has something to
lose is me." Paige folded her arms,
"Fine."
