Phoebe stood with Cole, with her sisters and Leo behind them. She glared at the group of elders arrayed in front of her.
"Why did you bring us here?" Phoebe demanded.
"A situation has come to our attention and we need to deal with it" the elder said.
"Oh really, and what situation is that?" Phoebe asked.
"We need to deal with the resurrection of one Cole Turner" Said the elder in the lead.
"This is not your business, you have no right to interfere" Phoebe practically yelled.
"This court has already looked over the case Ms. Halliwell. And we reached a decision" the elder said continuing on like he hadn't heard her.
"What! How is that fair, this is supposed to be a trial, we have the right to defend ourselves!" Phoebe did yell this time.
"Why did you bother to call us all up here if you were not going to allow us to present our case?" Piper asked snappishly.
"I can prepare a full case for you…" Cole said only to be cute off.
"Not in this case Ms. Halliwell. We feel that Mr. Turner is too much of a danger too be allowed and this is non negotiable" the elder stated, ignoring Cole.
"Nothing is non negotiable." Phoebe snapped "And might I remind you, you do not own us nor do you control us, so don't act like you are in some position of power."
"But we are, we may not control you, but we do control the fate of Mr. Turner, and we can hand out our judgment with or without your consent, we may not control you but we do have the power to overrule you" the elder stated. "And we have already ruled that Mr. Turner is evil and responsible for too much evil to be allowed to continue on."
"That's not true! He's done a great deal of good too! And he is responsible for even more. He is responsible for the reconstitution of the charmed ones and therefore responsible for all the good that we have done since Paige joined us!" Phoebe yelled pleadingly.
That seemed to catch the elders attention "Why do you say that?" he asked.
"Because he saved Paige's life from Shax, kept her from being killed and never meeting us. And then he was responsible for us finding Paige and keeping her from becoming evil, at much risk to himself might I add. He also kept Piper and me alive while Paige was still learning witchcraft" Phoebe said passionately. "And he is not responsible for all the things he did as the source, he was possessed, and before that it was not his human half that did all the horrible things, you have no right to punish him for something his demonic half did without his knowledge of consent!"
"Yes, well that all may be true, but that doesn't make up for a century of evil deeds, they were done, and someone must be held responsible for them" the elder stated again.
"But someone was, Balthazor, and he was vanquished" Phoebe said pleadingly.
"But he is back now, now isn't he" the elder said.
"That only partly true, Cole now has Balthazar's power, but Balthazar the personality is not back. Cole just has control of those powers" Phoebe said.
"That just doesn't do it, it doesn't balance out. Even if that is true and Cole the human controls those powers, he is still too dangerous" The elder snapped.
"That's not fair, any power can be dangerous if in the wrong hands, but Cole is not evil now so he is not dangerous" Phoebe exclaimed.
"You have no proof that he is good, and your word just is not good enough" the elder snapped.
"Since when has the word of a charmed one not been good enough?" Prue snapped suddenly.
"That's not what I meant" the elder said backtracking upon seeing the fury in Prue's eyes.
"You are supposed to be the good guys, the ones who are all about trust and forgiveness and second chances, and you haven't given Cole any of those" Prue said.
"We only give second chances to those deserving of them, and he has not done good things to show that he deserves a second chance and therefore is not deserving" the elder stated.
"Yes he has, and he will do more good deeds if allowed to continue on. And, I promise you that more evil will come from you killing him than from allowing him to live. Because if you kill him, I will cross over and become evil myself" Phoebe stated coldly.
Piper and Paige both looked surprised, and confused as though they were unsure of what to do. Prue looked pleased. Finally Piper stated in an equally cold voice "As will I"
Paige looked shocked and uncomfortable, and finally looking as though it pained her to say it she added "Me too."
"Oh yeah, I'm totally in" Prue said.
"You are a white lighter, you cannot be evil" the elder said.
"Oh really, you really want to test that theory, because I'd love to prove you wrong" Prue said.
The elders looked horrified. Cole looked grateful and Phoebe looked worried and pissed off. Finally the elders said "We will have to go discuss this" and they all turned and went off through a door, shutting it firmly behind them.
"Now what?" Paige asked.
"Now we wait" Phoebe answered.