Cole had survived the end of the world as it had been known. He survived becoming the Source. He survived literally dying. In all that time, he had developed an extra sense for danger. 'Demon's intuition', perhaps. Or maybe concern for his new little family. Or even genuine powers - after all this skill hadn't developed until after Phoebe had died, and he wouldn't put it past her to have empowered him in some way to ensure the safety of her family, and maybe him too. But, whatever it was, that little sense was tingling.
He ran through his mental checklist quickly. Paige - his Paige - was in the future. Piper was with Wyatt, which meant that little Lord Evil was safe for the minute. Phoebe was getting something to put Ryake's arm into, Paige - the younger Paige - was at the Book. Matt was in the Underworld. Henry was doing whatever it was that he did when his relatives didn't let him get involved with the 'dangerous things', not that it helped. He might have slightly more sense than his cousins, but he was a Halliwell through and through when it came to danger. They all were. They all rushed towards it.
Thankfully, Mel and Chris, the worst offenders for that, were safely accounted for too. Mel wouldn't leave Chris' side after what had just happened, and hopefully, Chris would just stay down and rest for once in his life. Even if Cole would much prefer him to be awake and healthy and able to fight against his common sense. He could probably use the rest anyway. They all could.
Cole's thoughts circled back to Henry. He might have been healed, but magic could only do so much. Sleep and nutrition were almost as important as healing, and all three were in short supply in the future. If he had the chance to heal up to full strength while they were in the past, he should probably remind him to take it.
Cole turned around and made his way back into the attic. He ignored the dirty look that Paige - younger Paige - shot him, and did his best not to stare at Phoebe. They were both younger than he remembered. He had last seen Phoebe when she had been a mother of four kids, a widow. She had lost her husband, her sister, in a way her nephew, and so many friends. It had aged her, to see her now so young and practically carefree, was strange. And Paige, being the only surviving Charmed One meant that she had a high price on her head. Losing a daughter to Evil, and two sisters and a husband to death, as well as watching her family being hunted down day after day took its toll too.
But strangest of all was to remember how much she hated him. They were much more than allies in the future. They were almost friends. He cared for her like he never imagined that he could. She was like family to him, they all were. It was strange to think that if this all worked out, if Wyatt didn't turn Evil, and maybe Cole still came back to life, that might never happen. They would never be forced to work together as they had been, they would never have been forced to become allies, then teammates, then friends, then family. Paige and Phoebe and Piper might one day learn to accept him, in a kinder world, but they would never view him as family the way that PJ and Mel and Kat did. He would always be a former enemy. If he wanted any goodwill from them he would have to earn it all over again.
Out of everyone involved in this time travel journey, he had the least to lose. He had no dead spouse to leave behind, no injured brother, no dead parent to abandon to their fate. It was hard to see the sister like this, young and alive, but it wouldn't kill him - it certainly wasn't worse than actually dying. But he had much more to lose if this all worked out. It was a strange thought.
Witnessing so many others die had given him some perspective. There was no room for selfishness in the Resistance. Cole had fought side by side with plenty of people who warned him dead, who he wanted dead, people who he genuinely mourned, people whose deaths upset him, people who he had grown to care for, people who had become his friends. This was about far more than him and his feelings. This was about more than the Halliwell family. Chris and Mel, whatever they said otherwise, didn't want to kill their brother, but they were prepared to. They were prepared to suffer for the greater good. And Cole was too. The only thing was that he had never considered what exactly that meant.
It meant loneliness and grovelling. It meant walking the long, hard path to redemption again and again. It meant losing his pseudo-daughters and son, his adopted nieces and nephews, losing the opportunity to watch the Charmed Children grow into powerful and strong young adults up close rather than from the outside, never welcome within.
He had an awful lot to lose if this all worked out for the best, but, he reflected, glancing over at Phoebe making a face at the mess, he would suffer through it gladly. He was far from a good man, but, if nothing else, he was becoming a team player.
"Everything alright?" Henry asked, keeping his voice low.
Cole nodded. "Fine. But you should get some rest, you need to keep your strength up for… well," he shrugged with a smile.
Henry pretended to scowl, but he could hide the amusement in his eyes, although that soon faded. There wasn't much that Henry could do to help his family, even if it was the little things that did the most, but those were the type of jokes that Tamara had made. With how fast everything had been, it was easy to forget that it hadn't even been two days since she died. "I'll sleep once I know that Kat's calmed down."
Cole frowned. "PJ hasn't managed yet?" Even if she hadn't, it was surprising that Kat hadn't stormed back up to the attic. To vent at her brother or her mother, or even at Cole. Henry shook his head and Cole felt that tingling spread across his body, getting worse and more noticeable. "Have you seen her?"
"Kat? No," said Henry.
"PJ?" Cole asked.
Henry shook his head again. "Not since she went after her." His eyes were wide. "You're worried?"
Cole hesitated for a second. "She was very angry," he said, finally. "She wants revenge."
"She wouldn't," Henry insisted, but he didn't look too sure. He knew how emotional his sister could get. She stormed out to avoid lashing out. She had never physically hurt anyone who hadn't done the same to her first, but Tammy hadn't been dead then.
"Vengeance does terrible things to a person, Henry," Cole said. Phoebe and Paige had stopped when they were doing when Henry and Cole's conversation had grown more urgent, but neither was sure what was going on. Cole ignored them calling him when he raced out of the attic, Henry on his heels.
"PJ!" Cole called. She didn't answer. "Prudence Johnna, answer me!" Cole snapped, throwing open bedroom doors.
Mel stood up from her position at Chris' bedside when Cole threw open Piper's bedroom door. "Cole!" She said, startled and annoyed.
"Where's PJ? And Kat?" He demanded.
Mel shook her head, she grasped Chris' hand tight in her own and didn't look willing to leave his side, even to track down her wayward cousins. "What's wrong? Is everything okay? Where's Wyatt and Mom?" she asked, just keeping her voice low enough on the M-word that Cole didn't worry about Phoebe and Paige hearing, or Piper.
Cole grit his teeth together. Of course. Kat wouldn't hurt PJ - not seriously anyway - but she wanted to kill Wyatt. He just had to hope that she or Piper hadn't hurt the other one yet. Considering that she was already prepared to kill an innocent, she might not be too concerned about murdering her aunt, and by extension her cousins.
Henry might be the only non-magical member of his family, but he made up for it by being one of the quickest. Physically and mentally.
He beat Cole to Wyatt's room and had forced the door open before Kat could do anything to seal it. But that was where his speed ended because when he entered the room he froze.
Wyatt's shield was up, and aside from the tears streaming down his cheeks, he was fine. But Aunt Piper wasn't.
She wasn't hurt yet, but she was trapped behind a half toppled bookshelf which was surrounded by a fire ring. That had been one of the first things Tam learned to do with her powers, create fire.
Henry didn't know if Kat was just using one of her more dangerous abilities or if she was consciously reminding herself of their sister. All Henry knew was that he didn't want to think about Tam right now. Not how she was when she was younger, an apologetic, accidental arsonist, or when she was older and she sided with her older cousin over goodness and reason and the rest of her family. First Aunt Piper, then Uncle Coop, Aunt Phoebe, Dad, now Tam. No one else, he wasn't losing anyone else.
"Kat!" He shouted.
Kat paused and turned. Like Wyatt, she was crying, only these were tears of anger and frustration. Henry knew how she felt, but he had no sympathy right now.
"What the hell are you doing?! Are you crazy!?"
"He's evil, Henry!"
"He's a child," Henry snapped. He could hate Wyatt with all his heart, but this was a baby. He was practically a different person, with none of the rage and darkness that had always been a part of his older cousin, this Wyatt was just a sweet, innocent baby. He hadn't hurt anyone yet. And it was their job to make sure that he never did. But not like this.
"So were we! We were just kids when he took everything from us."
"Not everything," Henry argued. PJ was an orphan, Chris had watched Piper die, Matt's dad was tortured to death. But they had more than a lot of people, and they had the will to keep fighting. Or at least they used to. They had the chance to fix it, and it wasn't like this.
"Kat, what's your plan?" Cole asked, keeping away from Kat and inching towards the fire. Looking incredibly dazed and slightly bloody, PJ leaned against the door frame, too dazed to beam Piper or Wyatt out of the room.
Kat grit her teeth. "You know what my plan is, Cole. What our plan has always been. To rid the world of evil. No matter what. This is it, this is the evil."
"And what about Piper?" Henry asked. "You know she's not going to take that lying down. And Leo won't heal you if kill his son. And what about Chris and Mel, what do you think will happen to them? And what about the rest of them? If you want to do this, then you'll have to kill everyone in this room, and I know that you don't have that kind of evil inside of you. You're a good person, Kat. Don't let evil win, don't let Tam's sacrifice be for nothing. She died for good, doing this would destroy that."
Kat's shoulders dropped. Her hands lowered a fraction. She didn't move to stop him when Cole shimmered over to Piper and shimmered with her out from the barrier.
Piper struggled against leaving Wyatt but Cole managed to hold her back from attacking Kat straight out.
"I can't lose her, Henry," Kat whimpered.
Henry swallowed. "We already have. Of you go through with this… I've lost one sister to evil, I'm not losing another. If you do this, consider yourself disowned."
"Henry," Kat gasped.
"Henry," said PJ, equally shocked, even being half-supported by Phoebe.
"I mean it, Kat," he said. "I'm not going through it again."
'It' was, of course, the countless nights wondering where his sister was, the hours spent listening to his mom cry herself to sleep every night because her husband was dead and her firstborn was out in the world terrorising people and yet she still feared for her life like she did her other children, the months spent with no contact, no news, the only glimpses and communication coming second hand or through the gaps between the bars of whatever prison one or both of them were temporarily stuck in, the few moments where it felt like everything was normal before it became apparent that she was still an enemy and that they had better watch what they said because they didn't know how it could be used against them.
Kat had gone through that just the same as he had. It was her choice if she wanted to put herself through that again, but Henry wasn't following her lead this time.
She didn't answer, she just continued to stare at him for a long moment before a sob crawled out of her throat. "I'm sorry, PJ," she said, and then she orbed away.
Henry scraped a hand over the years drying on his face and turned back to his family. He didn't know what to say. Neither did anyone else.