Chapter 19: She's Here

Disclaimer: I'll own Charmed the day that Alyssa Milano gets married, has a kid, and stays that way.

A/N: Okay guys, I'm going back to that Ivy League College summer thing. If you read Her Destiny you'll remember I discussed it in chapters 5 and 13. What does this have to do with the story, you ask? Well it means that I won't be able to update until I get back—meaning a total of three weeks. I might get to write ahead and update with the chapters that I've already uploaded, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to. So if that doesn't happen, no updates until August 6th at least. So I hope the story's worth waiting for. And so with no further adieu, on with the fic.

Phoebe opened her eyes slowly due to the splitting headache that she seemed to have acquired. She gave a look at her surroundings, seeing that she was being held captive in a cage in what appeared to be an underground cave. She blinked for a second, trying to remember how she may have ended up where she was.

She remembered waking up, then talking to Cole. He seemed odd. Then she talked to Prue---they went down to breakfast. She had eaten a little before something happened. Cole. He had been yelling----manically. He said something about it not being time yet. Then he grabbed her—shimmered her here. They were greeted by a woman. He called her mommy.

"Mommy?" She asked herself under her breathe as she furrowed her brow with confusion.

Then what happened? The woman threw an energy ball at her. She dodged it. She made to hit the woman back—she levitated to spin-kick her. Cole stopped her. The woman told Cole to prove himself to her---to make her proud. Then Cole; he….no he couldn't of. Cole had knocked her out.

Phoebe rose from the ground unhurriedly and looked around her cautiously to make sure there was no one near her. She crept to the edge of the cage and held the bars.

"Cole?" She whispered. "Cole?" Phoebe repeated, a bit louder this time. "Can you hear me? Cole?"

Cole shimmered in behind Phoebe without her noticing and came up behind her.

"Phoebe," he started. She jumped and gave a yelp of surprise as she turned to face him.

"Ssshh," Cole insisted as he silenced her and grabbed her shoulders, "She'll hear you. Do you want to get us killed?"

"Killed?" Phoebe solicited, "Who's 'she'? Where are we?" Phoebe said all too loudly.

Cole looked as if he were about to say something when he stopped to listen around him. Cole put a finger up to his mouth to silence Phoebe, but she was determined to get answers.

"Cole," Phoebe said; agitated, "Answer me!"

"You have to stay quiet!" Cole barked as he shook Phoebe violently. "There's not much time to explain. Look," He began, "It's my mother who brought us here. She used some type of mind control to get me to take you. She's been whispering to me all day, telling me to take you. She told me I wouldn't have to do it until later, but she changed her mind. She made me take you today."

"Your mother?" Phoebe questioned, "Mind control?" She continued, "How long has this been going on? And what does she want with me?"

"Just today," Cole said roughly, "She wants to lure your sisters. She thinks killing you will help bring both of us to power."

"Well that's original," Phoebe quipped as she rolled her eyes. "But Cole—there's just one thing," she continued, "Your mother's dead. She was vanquished along with your father when you were young," Phoebe remembered.

"That's what she wanted the world to think," Cole explained, agitated that he had to explain this to her. "My parents and another demon were being pursued by a group of powerful witches—my mother knew they wouldn't be able to get out of it so she killed my father and the other demon then glamoured into the other demon's appearance so that the witches would think that the other scorch mark belonged to her. Then she went into hiding. She knew that leaving risked me not receiving my powers, but she thought that someday she'd have the opportunity to turn me into the demon she says I should be."

"Cole how do you know all this?" Phoebe asked as she took the information in.

"Because she told me!" He yelled, now more than annoyed at Phoebe for asking so many questions.

"Oh no," He started, his voice quieting down a considerable amount, "Oh no," he repeated as his hands shot to the sides of his head and moved away from Phoebe.

"'Oh no' what Cole?" Phoebe said as she rushed over to him. "What's happening?"

"Oh no!" He started to scream again. "No!"

"Cole!" Phoebe yelled as well, "What's wrong? What's the matter?"

"She coming," he almost cried, "She's coming."

"Your mother's coming?" Phoebe asked; wary and scared, "Your mother's coming----here? Now?"

Cole fell to the ground and moved up against the end of the cage.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. Please don't hurt me. Please."

Cole was now beside himself with psychosis as he broke into full-fledged tears.

"I won't do it again. I promise, I won't do it again. Please," He whispered almost to himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Cole whispered. "Please. Please. Please."

"Do what Cole?" Phoebe asked as she tried to comfort him. "What doesn't she want you to do?" She then gave up on trying to get information from him and just tried to calm him down.

"Don't worry," she comforted, "She's not going to hurt you. I won't let her. I'll stop her for you. I promise she's not going to touch you."

"Is that so?" a voice said from behind the two.

Cole looked up for a second then buried his head in his knees at the sight of who it was.

"She's here," he cried, "She's here. She's here."

Phoebe's eyes widened as she rose from the cold stone ground.

"I'd like to see you try."

A/N: I know it was a bit of a filler chapter and there was a lot of questioning and repetition. Sorry about that. I just wanted to emphasize Cole's distraught manner and how his mother has made him retrogress into childlike state of neurosis.