Charmed: Hanging with Mr. Turner
Disclaimer: I don't own charmed, but the WB does.
Summary: AU After Season six- After Gideon's death, Leo has taken over his position as guardian of the school but has hired a headmistress to handle all school matters. When the headmistress hires a familiar new teacher, the Halliwells must investigate to see what this new teacher's plans are. Are they good? Or is there an ulterior motive here?
A/N: Just a quick story based around plots that I have written over the last few years, which are mostly about Cole and Phoebe. Review and tell me what you think!
Chapter 9: Thesis Paper
It was an hour or so after the Charmed Ones had confronted a gang of Thorn demons that found Piper reaching for the phone in an effort to contact Paige to see if she had found Leo. Earlier that day, Leo had been taken by the Elders for an unknown test that would decide his fate, an action that both angered and upset Piper beyond anything she had ever felt up until that point in her life. It was as if all of the good that she and her sisters had done under Leo's guidance meant nothing to the Elders in her opinion, like the last three years of her life, the death of Prue, was worthless in the end if she were to lose Leo. While she hoped Paige and Phoebe would be able to find and help him, the sense of dread in her heart betrayed her optimism at the prospect.
As she nestled the phone in between her shoulder and her ear, she gently rubbed her hand, which had been hit with a thorn that a female demon had spit at her during the fight. Her breath was slow and her eyes were dim, though she paid it no mind, instead focusing solely on finding Leo. After reaching Paige's voicemail, she placed the phone back down onto the table, before turning around and starting towards the stairs, her breath becoming more haggard all the while. Suddenly, the throbbing in her hand became almost unbearable as pain started to infiltrate every inch of her body.
"Oh, god," she whispered to herself, the pain that was in her chest starting to overwhelm her. "Somebody please help me." As she took her first step up the stairs, she collapsed onto the bottom step, before getting back to her feet and slowly continuing on her path. However, as she looked back, she noticed her body laying on the ground, still and unmoving. "Oh no," Piper sighed, her face contorting into a small frown. "Am I dead again?"
"No," A familiar voice said from across the room, making Piper jerk her attention its way. "Well...not yet anyway."
"I don't know which is worse," Piper said sarcastically as she stepped over her body and moved towards Cole Turner as he leaned against the doorway leading into the sitting room. "The fact that I'm dying or that apparently I'm going to be spending my last moments with you."
"You're not looking so hot," Cole grinned, seeing that Piper's body was pale and on the verge of death.
"Cut the crap, what are you doing here?" Piper questioned with an unamused expression on her face, her patience at an all-time low due to the predicament in which she now found herself. While she accepted the Cole wasn't evil and was thankful for his help against the Avatars, she still didn't necessarily want him around.
"You called for me," Cole's smile broadened, appreciating Piper's disbelief. "You asked for help. Here I am."
"Like hell, you're the answer to my prayers?" Piper sighed, just as Phoebe came rushing into the room and saw her unconscious body. Piper momentarily tried to get Phoebe's attention, but unlike a few other times she had been a spirit, Phoebe was unresponsive to her efforts.
"To be honest, you're in a coma," Cole said, biting his lip, looking between Piper's physical form and the spirit being that she had become. "We're caught in a cosmic void between life and death. And if we don't get you back into your body within time, you'll be stuck here forever."
"Back in time? Stuck here?" Piper asked, a little confused, not understanding what the ex-demon meant by that. "So you're staying I'm stuck with you?"
"You're in the Void between life and death," Cole informed her once more, giving her details about her situation that only he could. "Human spirits cannot stay here for very long or else they run the risk of losing their connection to the mortal world forever, and if that should happen, you can't move on. You'll be trapped here forever."
"Okay," Piper nodded, seeing the seriousness of the circumstance. She didn't believe what Cole had to say a lot of the time, but she had no reason to not follow his direction in this instance due to her knowledge of his position in the cosmos. "So get someone to heal me."
"It wouldn't matter," Cole sighed, shaking his head in the negative, knowing that would be for naught for the time being. "There is something weighing on you, Piper, something that prevents you from just going back into your body. You need to overcome that before your body dies in order to save yourself."
"There is nothing weighing on me, Cole," snapped Piper, much more quickly than Cole had expected. "The Elders lobotomized the love of my life, and I am angry, that's all."
"You sure about that? Or do you want me to pull out some magic to prove you wrong?" Cole questioned, touching the air around Piper, where a yellow shield suddenly appeared. "There is a wall around your heart, and it needs to break in order for us to save you."
Piper looked down at the yellowish shield, before shaking her head in confusion. "Can't you just take us to Paige and Phoebe and let them figure out a way to heal me?"
"I can't," Cole replied, knowing that it wasn't as simple as Piper wanted it to be. "I can't take you into the mortal world, it's against the rules."
"And you play by the rules now, do you?" Piper questioned with a cocked eyebrow, wondering when Cole Turner began to care about rules.
"Yes, when the rules are cosmic ones," Cole winked, hoping Piper got the message. "Piper, I'm here doing my job, I'm not here just to toy with you."
Piper understood what he had meant, that he was unable to bring her into the mortal world because it was a physical impossibility, rather than him just being unwilling-though, she got the distinct impression that he was breaking rules that she did not know about just by being there. "How much time do we have?"
Cole looked down at his watch and then over to Piper's unconscious body, trying to estimate how much time was left to solve the issue. "A half an hour at the most."
Piper nodded, and walked over to the window, where she stared out at the street. Her arms were crossed in front of her as emotion began to swell inside of her chest, her mind solely on Leo. "How could they do this?" She finally cried, giving into the feelings of despair that the Elders actions had brought upon her. "How could they take him away from me?"
"They didn't," Cole replied knowingly, believing that Leo would return to her in time. "Trust me, Piper, I've seen love and then I've seen love, and you and Leo have the latter version, which never fails and never falls. Leo will find his way back to you, just trust in your feelings for him."
"It's always something, I can never just be happy, because whenever I do, something else pops up," Piper said in a flustered tone, admitting her disappointment to how her life had always gone up until that point. "I was happy with Leo and then Prue died. I was just getting over Prue's death and returning to being happy with Leo and then you go and become the Source of All Evil. We vanquish you, help Phoebe get over it, and then I have Wyatt, so I'm happy with Leo again. Then, someone tries to kidnap Wyatt, who turns out to be a good friend to Leo, and Leo goes crazy with rage and now they've taken him away from me. It's always something, and I'm sick of it, no more."
"Piper," Cole started, thinking of a way to express his thoughts without triggering anything inside of her. He had grown skilled during his work as a ranger of telling people both what they wanted to hear and what they needed to hear, but since this was more personal than any other assignment he had previously, it was a lot harder to find the medium. "It always will be something, that's what life is all about. You're one of the strongest people I know, stronger than Prue ever was, stronger than Paige and Phoebe, stronger than Leo, stronger than I could ever dream to be, you're the glue that keeps your family together."
"Stronger than Prue ever was? That's laughable," Piper said, rolling her eyes a bit at the idea of being stronger than her older sister. Prue, in Piper's mind, had been the strongest woman that had ever lived, able to handle more weight on her shoulders than many could possibly bear.
"You don't think so? Then how come it took her twenty-seven years to tell her sisters that she loved them?" Cole questioned back, knowing full well that he was right in his assessment. "You are strong, and you will conquer this, and when life has stopped throwing things at you, you'll live the happy life that you want."
"Easy for you to say," Piper scoffed, disbelieving that she would ever be able to live a happy life. "Prue was able to face down demons right from the start because of her inner strength, meanwhile I ran like a scared little girl."
"It's not easy for me to say at all, actually," Cole replied softly, changing his tone unintentionally, though it was effective in conveying what he felt at that moment. "No matter how many things I conquer, I will never live a happy life ever again. So no, Piper, it's not easy for me to say, because like you, I have things I have to conquer, but unlike you, I do not have a pot of gold at the end of my trials."
"You have no idea about love," Piper growled, starting to get angry by Cole's demeanor. How dare he act like he knew anything about her or her family? Who was he to try and intrude upon her life?
"Like it or not, but Phoebe and I were very much in love, and love is the reason I'm here right now," Cole scathed, disappointed in her opinion that he wasn't able to love. "I know you, Piper, I've been around since Prue; I was at your wedding."
"Just because we have history, does not mean you know me," Piper rebutted, firm in her stance that Cole Turner did not know her enough to be speaking on the issues.
"Do you think I was blind or stupid when I lived in this house? I was here for over a year, I paid attention, I listened, I saw you and Leo together every single day, nearly every single meal. Trust me, Piper, I know you," Cole shot back, knowing that they didn't have anymore time for petty squabbles. "Either you have faith in Leo and your love, or you don't, and the Piper I know has faith. Your destiny lies with Leo, and you need to learn to trust that."
Piper stayed silent, tears accumulating in her eyes as she finally broke down the wall that was around her heart. "I just want Leo back," she said between her tears, admitting that she needed Leo and truly believed that they would be happy one day in the future so long as they were together.
"I know," Cole replied soothingly, knowing that her admission was the first step to healing herself. "Now, we just need to send that out to Leo."
"What do you mean?" Piper inquired, feeling her soul weakening all the while deep inside of her being. It was as if she was holding onto a rope above a deep abyss, and every couple of minutes, her grip would loosen and she would fall a few feet until she reached the end of it.
"I could always sense when there was something wrong with Phoebe," Cole started, letting the witch know what he meant. "Whenever she was in trouble, I could feel it."
"Well clearly Leo can't sense something is wrong with me," Piper sighed, her disappointment at Leo not being around bubbling up.
"That's because he has no idea who you are," Cole returned, shaking his head in the negative, fully aware that Leo as a person was not whole at that moment. "What you need to do is move onto the next plane, let go of everything holding you down. Either that, or think about…think about all the happiness that he brings to you, and the jolt from you might jog his memory. Personally, I'd take the latter option."
With a nod, Piper thought about all the times that she and Leo had shared together, all of the happy moments, the tender kisses, the warm embraces, each of which brought great happiness to her heart. He was the love of her life, her soulmate, someone she wanted in her life each and everyday, and the thought of losing him broke her heart to no end. However, she pushed that all to the side, and instead, focused on the first kiss that they had shared as great love swelled in her soul. It was like a bubble bursting, as all of the negative feelings she had been experiencing disappeared, her mind, body, and soul being lost in the happiness that the memory of their first kiss brought to her.
Cole closed his eyes, seemingly sensing whether Leo received it or not. "Damn, it didn't work," Cole growled, opening his eyes and looking towards Piper. "Well, the good news is that the burden weighing you down is gone and you won't be trapped here forever," Cole whispered, hoping to come up with another solution before it was too late. "The bad news is that you're still not healed so your body is doing the dying now. I was hoping Leo would sense it and come back, which would get your sister back here as well."
Piper began to fade in and out of existence, the tether to her body disintegrating with each passing moment. "What do we do now?"
Cole bit his lip, trying to think of an answer. "Time to break the rules," he finally said, transforming into a cluster of grey orbs. "I'll save you, Piper," His voice carried when his body disappeared, leaving Piper alone for the time being.
"Where did he go?" Piper whispered, hoping everything would work out in the end, but slowly losing her ability to stay on Earth no matter how much she tried.
Cole suddenly appeared in front of two boys that were playing in a playpen inside Victor Bennett's apartment. "Sorry, Wyatt, your mother needs you." He said, then looking over to Victor, he added, "Piper is in trouble. We'll be back." Before Victor could move, Cole grabbed Wyatt's hand and disappeared in a flurry of grey orbs once again.
They arrived right in front of Piper's unconscious body, Wyatt looking up at Cole with a scared look on his face. Cole bent down and took Wyatt's hands into his own, holding them over Piper's body. "Go on, Wyatt, heal your mommy, I know you can do it."
Piper looked at Cole and her oldest son, hoping that Wyatt would be able to heal her so she could raise him into the man he would one day become. However, as she watched, she noticed that no golden light emanated from Wyatt's hands, which meant that the boy was not helping like Cole had planned."Tell him to do what he did to Wuvey when Wuvey got hurt," Piper suggested, referencing the time when Wyatt tried to heal Wuvey after the bear had gotten his arm ripped off, not knowing whether Cole could hear her or not. She knew Phoebe had said that Cole had the power of mediumship, the ability to talk to spirits, but she did not know whether it applied in this case.
"You can do it, Wyatt," Cole said once more, hoping to encourage the boy, knowing that they didn't have much time. "Do what you did to Wuvey when he was hurt."
"He heard me?" Piper said, as her body began to transform into an orb of sparkling white lights and started its journey to the next world. "Cole! Leo!"
A golden light erupted from Wyatt's hands, running over Piper's wounds with its magical power. After a few moments, Piper's wounds were healed and Piper gasped awake, her soul having returned to her body. "Oh, Wyatt," Piper cooed happily, proud of what her son did. "Did you save mommy? Yes you did!" She chirped, engulfing him in a large hug, holding him closely to her chest.
As she pulled way from Wyatt, Piper looked up to where she thought Cole would be, but realized for the first time that he was already gone. "Thank you, Cole," She whispered, getting up from the couch as the phone rang. She walked over to the phone and took it off the ringer, saying, "Hello?"
"Piper," Victor Bennett's voice came from the other end, a worried tone being conveyed. "Wyatt has been kidnapped. Cole, Phoebe's ex-husband, teleported in, saying something about you being hurt, and he took him. He just took him, Piper!"
"Don't worry, dad," Piper assured her father, her gaze moving over to Wyatt as he found some toys to play with under the coffee table. "I'm looking at Wyatt right now, he's fine. I was in trouble and Cole knew that Wyatt was the only one that could help."
"Oh, thank goodness," Victor sighed, relieved that his grandson was safe. "I'll bring Chris home right away."
"Okay, see you soon, bye." Piper replied, before hanging up the phone. Paige, Phoebe, and Leo all orbed in, all with worried expressions on their faces. "Leo!" She cooed, rushing over to her husband and engulfing him in a hug just as she had done with Wyatt moment's before.
"Piper, you're alright!" Leo expressed, his happiness at seeing his wife clear on his face. "I heard you calling out to me, as if you were right next to me."
"How did you get better?" Phoebe said confusingly, having been worried about her sister just as Leo had been.
"I had a good coach," Piper smiled, not revealing that Cole had been there to save her. "An old friend. And Wyatt was the one to heal me."
Cole Turner walked into his classroom as the bell rang. The students all were talking amongst themselves, some giving Cole a smile, while the others had yet to notice his arrival. He placed his bag down onto the desk, and leaned against it, crossing his arms in front of him as he waited for the class to settle down. Upon seeing that he had everyone's attention, he gave them all a large smile and nodded his head in hello.
"Last week, we finished our Upper-Level demons lecture, so now we'll discuss dark faes, and demonic priests and priestesses before we move onto the next stage," Cole started, taking off his jacket, feeling a bit warm. "Faes are simply the name of a race of magical beings, predominately neutral, that live on Avalon that are otherwise known as alchemists, wizards and sorcerers. They have a few active powers, but generally, they're famous for their ability to cast spells. They can cast spells of such great power that they often dwarf the common witch. Alchemists have a natural active power of transmutation via their metaphysical tools, which distinguishes them just as a wizard is distinguished by being able to cast powerful illusions. The most powerful alchemists can resurrect the dead, but that takes time to develop and isn't that common. Wizards can cast spells, materialize by way of an energetic spiral, and can conjure incredible illusions; some can have other powers, but those are the general ones. Sorcerers, meanwhile, are simply the natural stock without any natural active power unless gathered from another source like a demon or a witch or he or she performs a ritual to gain such powers."
"Where is Avalon, again?" A red-haired witch with the power to walk through walls asked, inquiring as to the location of the famed realm. Before entering magic school, she had heard about Avalon through the legend of King Arthur, but she never dreamed that it was a real place.
"It's a realm that runs perpendicular to Earth and the Underworld, and parallel to Perdition," Cole responded, turning his blue gaze over to her. "With Purgatory being in the middle of them all, both separating and connecting them as if it was the axis mundi. Though it is not the famed axis mundi, for that is another plane of existence altogether that runs through all planes."
She furrowed her brow, confusion clearly on her face. "Is it one of the eleven planes of existence that I've read about?"
"No, no, Avalon and the others are realms all within the physical plane, the other ten are different than those," Cole answered, willing to take the time to explain the situation for the younger witches. "Planes include the physical, astral, mental, ghostly, spiritual, the void between life and death, the netherworld between good and evil, the demonic wasteland, and the neutral one are the only planes I know. The other two are beyond me. They are shifting of vibrations located in the same physical space, basically, whereas realms are actual places that are tangible like islands in a river."
Seeing that her question was answered to her satisfaction, Cole continued on with his lecture. "Sorcerers are known for their willingness to do deals with demons, granting a variety of boons in exchange for a steep price. Like I said, they are generally neutral, but they can absolutely be the most evil people you will ever meet, especially demonic sorcerers. Demonic sorcerers are half-fae and half-demon, all the powers of a sorcerer but with the demonic essence to push them towards a very evil way of life. However, there are good sorcerers, though I don't know any personally."
"What kind of deals?" A blonde asked, wanting to hear what a sorcerer would offer someone in their deals. She assumed they would be like the Faustian deals of folklore, where someone sold their soul for a simple wish, but she wanted to be sure.
"A famous example of a deal that a sorcerer makes is the Phoenix Coven of witches," Cole informed the class, referencing a clan of witches that served as assassins. "The sorceress Flereous made a deal with a woman that was wrongfully convicted of being a witch during Salem. In exchange for granting her the powers of a witch, she would serve as her servant. When the flames erupted around the woman, she accepted the deal, being transformed into a witch and allowing her the ability to get her revenge."
"Sir, before you referenced good sorcerers, I was wondering, was Merlin good?" asked Tag, a male witch with the ability to teleport by way of smoking, referencing the famous wizard from Arthurian myth.
"I'm not really sure if Merlin was real, to be honest," shrugged Cole, not having that information. "And I'm not sure he was a sorcerer, but rather, a wizard. Either way, that goes to show you that his presence doesn't warrant memory so even if he wasn't good, he wasn't very powerful it appears. He was also known for his ability to see the future, which would most likely make him part oracle. Oracles are fae from Avalon, as well, but they do not have the ability to cast spells like the others, instead their powers are solely in the area of divination: they have clairvoyance, with some even having visions of the past, present and future. They can be good or evil, the evil ones serving as council to Upper-Level demons, but many have been known to go into the human world and be fortune tellers to earn a respectable living."
"So Merlin could have been a half-oracle wizard?" Tag murmured, before giving a large smile. "That's so cool."
"There was a strange case called the Seer, who was a mix of a dark fae and a demon," Cole lectured, a slight scowl on his face at the mention of the woman that ruined his life. "She was incredibly powerful. Dead now, but still, incredibly powerful. She had all the powers of a sorcerer, a demon, and an oracle attached to a malevolent and cunning spirit."
"Is the Seer a title?" A student inquired, wondering if it was the Seer was similar to the President, where it was a title for a length of time, rather than the name of a specific person.
"It could be," Cole nodded, allowing the students to go off into their own dialogues for a brief moment as he paused to take a sip from his bottle of water, before turning his attention back to his lecture."There are many Seers in the Underworld, I know of at least three, but for over an eon, if you made mention of 'the' Seer, everyone would know who you meant: she was powerful, conniving, wise, and had some of the most accurate visions in the history of magic. She served as counsel to the highest of demons, including the Source, albeit she was secondary counsel to the Oracle to one of the more recent Sources."
"What powers did she have?" A few students asked, all wanting to know just what it was the woman could do.
"She could glisten from place to place, cast spells, have visions of the future, summon people and objects to her presence, and she was immune to certain powers," Cole answered, rattling off the many abilities that the Seer possessed. "She wasn't someone that should be trifled with, and the idea that demons actually wanted her presence around them just goes to show you how devious she was in her time."
"Thank goodness she's vanquished," A boy shivered, happy that he would not have to fight the Seer for his own.
"Yeah, like her, dark feys are very powerful," Cole finished, wanting to impart a few lasting messages when it came to the topic. "They are evil, hence the dark part of their name, they serve as spellcasters for the demon world, alchemists, wizards, each using their powers for infernal purposes. The most well-known and powerful of all feys was Tempus, the Devil's Sorcerer, who could control time itself. However, he was defeated by the Charmed Ones many moons ago, and destroyed himself in order to turn back time one last time in his weakened state."
A boy in the back named Quentin raised an eyebrow at something that Cole said, curious as to what something meant. "Devil's Sorcerer?"
"I'll explain when we get to devils next," Cole replied, happy that Quentin finally spoke up, having been relatively quiet the entire class up until that point. "Regardless, almost all demonic sorcerers are dark fey-they're human looking and have spellcasting abilities. It is not unheard of, however, for some demons to have the active power of spellcasting, which unlike you witches, is not inherent and is actually an active power, not unlike your various abilities, whether it be smoking or telekinesis or the like."
"So demons can't say spells?" A confused Sara, the witch with the power of telekinesis asked, wondering if that was what Cole was implying.
"They can perform rituals that can mimic spells, but most of them cannot, yes," Cole nodded in agreement, knowing that was one of the abilities that distinguished witches. "Although you don't need to know this, there is a demonic active power called vocalization-it's incredible rare, to the point that it may be extinct nowadays. But regardless, it's an ability that allows a demon to speak in a language similar to Latin and the words create the effect that he or she desires. It's much, much, much more powerful than spellcasting, as it allows a more direct effect, as in if you want a fireball, you'll get a fireball, whereas you can't do that easily with your everyday rhyming spellcasting."
A boy with brown curly hair reached into the air as a question crossed his mind. "What's the difference between wizards and sorcerers again?"
"Wizards have a specific active power of illusion casting, which sorcerers and alchemists do not," Cole answered simply, knowing the question was leading somewhere as it usually did. "And alchemists have the specific active power of transmutation via their metaphysical tools, which neither sorcerers, nor wizards have."
"So sorcerers are the weakest?" The boy inquired, wanting to see if his initial thoughts on the matter were correct.
"No," Cole shook his head in the negative, not wanting the students to think that. "Just different. Their spellcasting is a lot more potent than either wizards or alchemists, which make up for their lack of active powers at birth. Additionally, all three groups can scry and brew potions, not unlike you witches."
Moving on, Cole continued by saying, "Demonic priests and priestesses, and demonic judges, meanwhile, are simply demons that have given up the endless battle between good and evil in order to study ancient demonic rites and rituals. When you think of a demon hovering over an altar, chanting in some strange language, those are the demons that you conjure in your mind. They are powerful, sure, but not more so than a regular Upper-level demon. What they do have that differs them from their brethren is clout, which is gained by having knowledge of the ancient ways: they are the ones that make up the Cult of Darkness, which is the evil council that coronates the Source of All Evil. They can shield themselves from being seen and sensed, allowing them to go about their practices without anyone spying on them."
"And with that, we move up to the second highest level, the level directly below the top, the devils, the anointed ones, and other beings of incredible power that make up the various groups that serve the Source, such as the Ordo Malorum, the Infernal Council, the Triad, and the aforementioned Cult of Darkness. They are species greater than demons, ferocious, nearly impossible to vanquish, they are the a step away from the Source's power," Cole started, before flicking his eyes up to the clock on the wall. "But I guess we'll save that for another day."
The students all gathered their things and made to leave, whispering among themselves all the while. Just as they were filing out of the room, an older witch with brown hair and light freckles came in carrying a small wicker basket. She allowed the students to pass, before heading towards the front of the room, where Cole was packing his things. Their eyes met for a moment, Cole giving her a wave of hello, surprised to see her there but not angry by her appearance.
"Hello Cole," Piper smiled, walking up to his desk with the basket in her hands. She placed it down next to his bag, and took a step back, looking up at him.
"Muffins," Cole grinned, taking a peak inside the basket and seeing a dozen large, assorted muffins for him. "Thanks."
"Thank you more like," Piper replied with a grin, truly thankful for all the help the ex-demon had given to her. She didn't know if she would have survived without him, a fact that she would never forget.
"You didn't have to do this, you know," Cole said, not wanting Piper to think he was seeking any sort of recompense for his actions. He knew how much good she had done in her life, how much she would continue to do, so to him, saving her was simply a matter of moral imperative, rather than something that needed a repayment.
"I know," Piper nodded, though she felt obligated to show her gratitude someway. "But this is what I do, I bake."
"I'm glad that you're okay, and Leo is back with you," Cole smiled, honestly happy that the small family was whole once more. He had done a lot to hurt them in his past, so to see that they were okay and happy brought great joy to him. "You weren't a charge for me as that was all personal."
"My question is," Piper started slowly, biting her lip, wanting to know something from Cole. "How did you know Wyatt could do that?"
"I had faith that his abilities were great enough to do so," Cole shrugged, fully aware that the potential that his son once had was transferred onto Wyatt, who had taken his unborn son's destiny. "He's amazing, and he has incredible powers. You should be proud of him."
"Oh, I am," Piper beamed in happiness, prouder of her son than she could possibly explain. "His instincts are stupendous, as well. He never once put up his shield when he was around you."
"Good thing," Cole smiled, understanding the compliment that Piper had given him.
Piper went silent for a second, her brow furrowed as a thought crossed her mind. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Cole nodded, not knowing what to expect from the question. While he and Piper were on relatively good terms, there was always a chance that old hostilities would bubble up so he braced himself for the worst but hoped for the best.
"Was I supposed to die?" Piper asked seriously, fully aware that her death may have been prevented by Cole's actions.
Cole shifted in his stance, clearly uncomfortable with the inquiry. "Let's just say that I helped you rewrite a wrong in your life."
"Thank you again, Cole." Piper said gratefully, understanding what he meant and not making him expound upon his answer any further. "I mean that from the bottom of my heart." She said honestly, fully forgiving the man for any of the past wrongs that he had done. To her, he was entirely redeemed, allowing him the chance to live his life as he wanted, which she fully hoped would be a good and fulfilling life.
"Anytime, Piper," Cole replied, before grabbing his muffins and waving goodbye, disappearing in a flurry of grey orbs all the while.
Piper looked down at the spot Cole was just moments prior, giving out a small sigh. "Goodbye, Cole."
A/N: Again, this will most likely be the last chapter, but there is a possibility that I will release another.
A/N 2: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year to all the readers out there. I hope you have, or have had in the case of many, a wonderful holiday season, regardless of what you celebrate. I wish you and yours a happy festive season.