AN: Hey, the next chapter is nearly finished, I ust have to write it into the computer and edit, so it should be up sometime this weekend.
Belthazor had a plan, to kill the Charmed Ones while one of them was missing.
I had a feeling that the plan was going to fail, since sooner or later, there would be a crisis that she had to come back for. Probably the Belthazor crisis.
After a lot of planning, and staking out, and generally preparing, we finally met them. Prue, the oldest sister, and Phoebe, the youngest sister.
I introduced myself: "Ladies, my name is Cole Turner, and I'm the Assistant District Attorney assigned to this case. So I was wondering if any of you saw what happened here."
Belthazor was very proud of himself for delivering that line without killing them, but then again, that was Belthazor's stock in trade, pretending to be human.
"I did," Phoebe had said, and raised her arm, like you used to do in school. She actually was in school at the time, so it wasn't that odd that she did that, I am rather handsome in human form, if I say so myself.
Chris was sitting in the living room in the Halliwell manor, playing some new game that said pip and argh, you killed me. He seemed to like it.
Wyatt was also sitting on the couch, but instead of playing a game, he watched TV. Re-runs of a show called My Name Is Earl. He sniggered a lot, so I assumed he liked it.
Then Piper walked into the living room, grabbing the remote and shutting of the TV.
"Mom!" Wyatt protested. Chris sniggered.
Having been watching them for so long, I am quite sure that I can predict what happens next (Piper yelling at them to go out and do something), but it was still interesting, so imagine my annoyance at suddenly disappearing, and finding myself in the Tribunal.
I had heard about the Tribunal from a lot of my old friends, though they were just rumors. Of course, some had been there for real, and gotten out of it alive. And I'm not saying that because I think that the Tribunal is a slaughterhouse, but because there usually is trials against demons doing things that are awful, even by demonic standard.
My impression of the Tribunal is that it is a feat of magic, and, look at that, I don't have an opponent.
In fact, the only one here other than me, is the floating faces.
"Hello," I said. "What, exactly, am I here for?" I asked, thinking it best to go straight to the point.
"You are here for the matter of who is going to take care of Benjamin, your son."
The words puzzle me. And it's not because I don't have a son, it's because the son that I should have had had life been perfect, is dead. Because of the Seer. Or, because of his own temper.
"I thought that he was dead," I said slowly.
"He is not, and he needs a guardian, who can teach him about magic."
"Isn't that a whitelighter's job? It might have escaped your notice, but I'm not one."
Cole, that was too cheeky, I berate myself.
"That is mostly true, however, Benjamin has a demonic heritage that I would like to see honored," one of the demonic members of the Tribunal said.
Then it escalated to a, quite frankly, childish fight between them, about Benjamin.
In the end, they decided that I would be his guardian, or mentor, and tell him about both worlds. Both the evil and the good.
I also managed to get something for the bother: a corporeal body, some of my own powers (mainly those that could save Benjamin's life), and a job.
I decide to warn the sisters, since that is at least what they deserve. Unless the Elders have somehow found out, which, given their general attitude, is highly unlikely. Why would they try to find something out from their high horse? Especially something that was going on in the Underworld, and so far had only affected demons. Because demons dying of causes unknown is good in their book.
I transport, it looks sparkly, to the Manor, specifically, the kitchen.
I guess that I should have expected the scene that I see: Piper cooking. I've never met a woman, or man, for that matter, with better cooking skills.
"Piper," I said, softly.
Piper jumps into the air, goes pale, and then turns around.
"Cole," she says softly. "Uhm, am I dead?"
"Well, I don't see a body," I said.
"No, neither do I."
"How are you?"
"I'm fine, but then, you must already know that. Cole, why the hell aren't you in limbo?" Piper asked, going straight to the point.
"I'm not, simple as that," I said, deciding to not go into the extremely long story that includes the Tribunal, and that takes too long to explain. Though, by Elder standards, the trial with the Tribunal didn't take too long, only a day, and the decision: half a day.
Wonderful, isn't it, how fast things are done?
"And how long haven't you been there then?"
"Some time. You know, Piper, there's a reason that I'm here."
"You're going to try and kill us again?" Piper said, disbelief clear in her voice.
"I'm not that predictable," I said lightly. "I'm here to warn you."
"Just me? What, is another demon going to try and kill Wyatt? That's not news, that's a daily occurrence."
Over the years, there has been so many attacks on Wyatt, that not even Piper, who is a very over-protective mother, didn't really care that much about it.
"No, that's not it," I said, and then I had intended to drop the bomb, unfortunately for me, Paige then walked into the kitchen, and yelled:"Cole!"
"Paige! I've missed you!" I exclaimed, sarcastic.
"They're going to kill me!" Ben yelled, from above. What the hell is he doing here?
"Don't kill them!" I called back. He had more sense than that, didn't he? I hope so.
"What, are you planning?"Paige asked, ignoring what was happening upstairs.
"Nothing," I said.
"Mom!" Chris now called from above, then he orbed downstairs, into the kitchen. "They are in a staring contest, at least Wyatt is, I think that the other guy is talking with himself, and can you come up now?" This was all said very fast, and I had trouble keeping up. "Oh, hello. I'm Chris."
"Cole, nice meeting you."
"Who's up there?" Paige asks, and I'm surprised that they don't spring into action. Old age must be to blame.
"Ben, a teenager. He's harmless," if he wants to, I ended the sentence.
"That's it, I'm going up," Paige said and orbed upstairs, Chris then offering his arm to his mother, and following suit. I transported myself upstairs, too.
There, Ben stood near the entrance, arms crossed, and reminded me a lot of my mother when she was very annoyed and was just about to kill/destroy the thing annoying her. For the first time since I met Ben, I was actually scared of him, and I hadn't been before. Who would, after all, be scared of an impulsive teenager?
Piper, Paige, Chris and Wyatt stood near the Book of Shadows, Wyatt glaring at Ben.
"Am I really in San Francisco?" Ben asked me.
"You don't know where you are?" Piper asked.
"It's not my fault, is it? Besides, I just wasn't really sure. Do you always know exactly where you are?"
"Right, I don't care about that. Anyway, Wyatt, this is Cole, he's tried to kill us a number of times, and the guy's name is Ben," Piper said.
"Why are you here?" Wyatt asked, glaring at both Ben and I.
"I'm here to warn you."
"Of what?" Paige asked.
"Well, most likely the thing with Him, right?" Ben said. I was quite surprised at the amount of tact he showed that he had. Or it could be the Source helping him. It was most likely the latter.
"Yes, that's it."
"What, the Source is back again?" Piper asked me, and, of course, Ben broke into a fit of giggles... then full blown laughter.
"What's the matter with him?" Wyatt asked.
"Not that much, actually," I said.
Currently, Ben was gasping for breath.
"So, I take it that it's not the Source that you are trying to warn us from?" Paige asked.
"But, why would he warn us from the Source? He's dead," Wyatt, oh so brightly, pointed out. This only led to Ben laughing even harder.
"Are you okay?" Chris asked Ben, as he had now gone to a rather worrying shade of purple.
"I'm sure that he'll be fine," I said. "Anyway, what I came here to warn you about is the Titans."
"We killed them Cole, didn't you know that?" Piper asked, and if thw roding appeared strange to Paige, she didn't comment on it.
"I do remember that, problem is, they're returning."
"What?" Paige asked.
"He said that the Titans are coming back, and, if you want to know more, you'll give me a glass of water," Ben said, and a glass of water flamed to his hand, and he just managed to catch it before it fell to the ground.
"You said he was harmless!" Piper accused.
"Don't be silly, nobody's completely harmless," Ben said, took a pill from his pocket and swallowed it with water. At Piper's and Paige's accusing stares, he said: "It was just Tylenol, since my head is trying to explode, which, for your information, really hurts."
"Probably Cole's fault," Paige said.
"Yeah," Ben said. I glared at him, and he just shrugged.
"Anyway, who's saying that the Titans are coming back?" Piper asked.
"I am. Oh, and do you know a blonde woman, quite confident?" Ben asked.
"Billie," Paige said. "What, do you know where she is?" The worry was very evident on Paige's face.
"Dead. Killed, by the Titans."
"No, you're lying."
"Well, I'm not. It was something about a time demon, but it wasn't him, it was a Titan," Ben said, then, seemingly deep in thought, added: "Cronus, it might be."
"Yeah, so what? Why weren't you the one who killed Billie, and then puts the blame on someone else?" Wyatt asked.
"I agree," Chris said.
"I am not lying, because I am not a liar. Besides, why would I kill anyone?"
"You know Cole," Paige said, as if that was a motive for murder. Which, in their book, it probably was.
"Well, that's not by choice."
"Cole, are you stalking him?" Paige asked.
"Why would I be stalking him?"
"Because he looks like you," Chris said.
"I do not look like him," Ben protested, though I have to say, Chris is right. He looks a lot like me. He looked even more like me before he dyed his hair.
"Paige, that theory was just silly, and, honey, you do look like Cole," Piper said.
"Yeah, sure," Ben said, sarcasm very apparent, then, to his and everybody elses' shock, going up in shadows.
AN: So, what did you think? The first version was actually better in some places, but in this the conversation is a lot better. Please review.