Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy: The Vampire Slayer or Charmed.
"Cole." Phoebe asked, shocked before she took a breath as her eyes narrowed. "I should've known."
"Why is it that every time your family is in some kind of trouble, you find a way to blame me?" Cole snorted.
"Phoebe. Easy." Piper cautioned as she held Phoebe by her shoulder. While she still had her issues with Cole, after how he had helped her when she was trapped in a cosmic void between life and death, she was willing to give him a benefit of the doubt.
"Hold on, what's going on?" Faith asked.
"You know him?" Xander asked.
"Long story." Piper said, turning to them before turning to Cole. "What are you doing here, Cole? Are we—"
"I thought that we'd moved past our trust issues after that time with thorn demons and Leo missing, Piper." Cole said and Phoebe's eyes went wide. She thought she had imagined seeing him, when Piper was poisoned and then Piper mentioned that 'an old friend' helped her find her way back.
"Hold on, you knew?" Phoebe asked, whirling at Piper. "And you never told anyone of us, especially me?"
"I didn't think we'd see him again." Piper said and Phoebe sighed before she turned to Cole.
"Did the Source send you to finish—"
"Do you honestly believe that after everything, I'd work with the Source ever again? I want to help you get rid of him once and for all." Cole said.
"Wait. He's a demon?" Faith asked warily, while Xander backed away.
"Former demon. Dead. Thanks to them." Cole clarified.
"Why should we trust you?" Xander snapped. "Come on, guys, he's a—"
"Before we jump to any conclusions, let's hear him out." Piper suggested as they began walking down the woods.
Back in Halliwell Manor, or at least the construct of the manor, Paige and Melinda were staring in shock at the woman in front of them, while Buffy, Willow, Tara and Dawn weren't recognizing her.
"I bet you never thought you'd see your eldest sister, much less under circumstances like these, Paige." The woman smiled.
"…Prue?" Paige asked, disbelieved, while Melinda's mouth was open, unable to say anything.
"Wait. Prue, as in your dead sister Prue?" Willow asked.
"In the flesh, in a manner of speaking." Prue said.
Paige just stared, disbelieving and processing. She had heard stories about how strong, kind and protective of her sisters Prue was and she had always dreamt of meeting her. Paige slowly approached Prue and cautiously stretched her arms before wrapping them around Prue to be sure she wasn't imagining it, when Prue pulled her in for a hug, while Paige began sniffing, tears coming out.
"I know. I know. Just let it out, Paige. Just let it out." Prue said softly, patting her by her back.
Buffy, Willow, Tara and Dawn stared at the emotional moment in front of them happening and even they couldn't keep their tears at bay after being just recently reunited with Tara before Paige pulled away, wiping her tears. She was glad to have found her family with Piper, Phoebe and Leo and so many times she had dreamt of meeting Prue.
"I… I never thought I'd see you, ever." Paige said. "After how many times we've tried to summon you…"
"That's because I chose not to come back." Prue said.
"What?" Paige asked, backing away in surprise before Prue took a breath.
"I don't want you to get me wrong, Paige, I wanted to come back. But if I had come at any time, I'd only hold you, especially Piper and Phoebe, back by them wanting to always rely on me." Prue said and Paige considered. True, without Prue, they had grown in a lot of ways and seeing her at any time would have most likely hindered that growth. "Besides, your power is similar to mine, if I had stayed, we both would've had connection to the Power of Three. You and I share the power of telekinesis and I couldn't stay. The prophecy of Melinda Warren predicted the Power of Three, not Power of Four. If my power intertwined with yours, it wouldn't make us stronger, but weaker. I thought it would be best if I kept my distance, but that doesn't meant I never watched over you. I needed you to move on from me, otherwise none of you would've grown in the way you had in the years after I died."
Paige considered and processed. Prue's explanation made sense, but that didn't make the pain over being abandoned any less hurtful.
"I was always there for all of you, just not in the ways you would've liked." Prue said, holding Paige by her cheek before she turned to Melinda. "And you're as strong as your mom and aunts are too, Melinda."
"Prue…" Melinda trailed off, not sure what to say.
"I know you have a lot of questions and I wish I'd been there for all of you more." Prue said.
"Can't you just help us figure out how to get out of here like the last time?" Piper asked as they walked down the forest with Cole.
"There might be a way." Cole said.
"Where are we, anyway?" Xander asked, looking around.
"It's not exactly a cosmic void between life and death, but you could say that you're trapped in a limbo." Cole said.
"Always with the vague answers and you wonder why we have trust issues with you." Phoebe snapped.
"Uh… as a former bad guy…" Faith spoke up. "Don't you think we should keep an open mind at least? I mean, I'm not gonna pretend I have any idea what's the history between you two, but if he wanted to hurt us, how exactly would he do that in this place?"
"You should listen to your Slayer friend." Cole said, looking at her appreciatively.
"You wouldn't be helping us without an ulterior motive, what do you get from it? How do we know this isn't a ploy for you to come back into our lives?" Phoebe asked and Cole sighed.
"Is it that hard to believe I don't want to see you get hurt and that I'm trying to help? As for my ulterior motive, the only one I have is that I don't want you to end up like me." Cole said honestly. "You can trust me or not, but I'm the only chance you have at getting out of here."
Phoebe thought about it for a moment before groaning as she sighed. She wanted to believe him, but… she didn't think he would play a part in her life ever again as she walked off. "I just need some space. Leave me alone. Please."
"Phoebe!" Piper called as they followed her.
They sat down as Buffy got to the point. "How did we even get here?"
"If you're asking me if I had something to do with it, no." Prue said as she took a breath. "I'm as much in the dark as you are on this one, but I sensed what was going on in the manor from here, honestly, I didn't even think it'd be possible for you to get here, but it wouldn't be the first time something alive came to this plane."
"This plane being…" Willow began.
"Afterlife, Heaven, whatever you want to call it." Prue said with a shrug. "I'm guessing you being saved from the Source was a divine intervention, from who, we may never know. But that doesn't mean you can't get out of here."
"How?" Tara asked.
"All you need is belief." Prue said.
Paige rubbed her face as her eyes began getting wet and the Scoobies realized that there some unresolved feelings between the sisters as they left them some privacy as they and Melinda walked off.
Phoebe sat down, staring on the ground as Piper knelt next to her.
"I know it's hard to see him again and while he's the last person I trust to help, I want to believe he's changed." Piper said.
Phoebe took a breath. "Me too. It's just that…" She sighed. "Why is it that sometimes when we are in a life-threatening danger, he just finds a way to worm his way in and be our only chance?"
"Glad I'm not the only one thinking that trusting a demon will backfire." Xander said before Faith shot him a look before turning to Piper and Phoebe.
"You two know him best, what do you think?" Faith asked.
"He wouldn't be helping us if he didn't get anything out of it." Phoebe said.
"Doesn't mean he can't help us at all and besides, he's trapped in void between life and death, he's not a threat to us anymore. I think at least we can hear him out." Piper pointed out.
Prue and Paige still sat in the dining room as they talked face to face.
"Piper and Phoebe are going to be pissed, when they find out you chose to stay away." Paige said as Prue chuckled.
"Of course they will be. But I trust they won't hold it against me for long." Prue said.
"You mean after how you had to be their mom after…" Paige sighed as she met Prue's eyes. "Piper and Phoebe told me countless of stories. How you sacrificed your childhood to help raise them and how you had always been more like a mother to them, especially after Mom had died, so you wouldn't let them go. You didn't want to. Or didn't even know how to."
Prue smiled. "And then I watched you with my sisters. My youngest sister I hadn't even known existed." She held Paige's hand. "I never got the chance to get to know you and when I found out about your existence…" Her face twisted in anger. "You have no idea how much pissed was I at Grams and Mom for keeping your existence a secret from me. From all of us. Then again, she wouldn't be the first Halliwell woman the Elders would screw over for falling in love with her Whitelighter, if she hadn't given you up."
"Oh, you have no idea." Paige said as they both laughed. "They're still giving Leo and Piper a headache, even when Leo is a mortal now."
"I can imagine." Prue said as there was a familiar feeling between them that neither one of them had expected to form so quickly. Paige thought Prue would envy her for trying to replace her or that she would face rejection that Prue would meet the sister she hadn't known existed, but… finally seeing Prue face to face just made her whole in the same way meeting her real parents and sisters did. "I'm sure you might've envied me a lot."
Paige blushed as she looked away briefly. "Yeah. I did. But looking back, it now seems petty and stupid and I'm sure you wouldn't hold it against me."
"Well, if I'm being honest, I envied you too." Prue said and Paige looked at her in surprise. Prue? Envy her? "Don't get me wrong, Paige, I don't want you to think that I despise you, the opposite couldn't be any further from the truth, but… I watched over you the whole time, but… you got to grow alongside Piper and Phoebe, share so many adventures with them, create so many memories with them, and got to be a direct major participant in this entire family's growth and triumphs while I could only be a silent unseen observer then. I wanted to be there for them, but I realized that my presence would only hold you all back. That doesn't mean that I never wanted to be there directly for any of you."
Paige considered for a moment before she took a breath and wiped her face, feeling her cheeks getting wet.
"For what it's worth, I'm proud of you. All of you. And I want you to know that I love you, Paige. As much as your sisters love you." Prue said and Paige smiled before they hugged each other.
"I love you, Prue." Paige said, glad to have finally said that to her directly before she pulled away.
"This is sweet."
They turned to see Buffy walk in.
"I can see why your sisters love you." Buffy said. "And I think under different circumstances, we might've been good friends in another life."
"I suppose." Prue nodded. "But as much as I'm happy to see you, you need to get out of here and stop the Source."
"You know how can we get out?" Tara asked as she, Dawn and Willow walked in.
Cole was staring at the moon above before he heard footsteps as he smiled. "Glad to see you've come around."
Phoebe groaned as he turned to her and she wanted to punch him for that satisfied smirk on his face. "I'm only listening to you because you may be our only hope to get back to our family. So, spill."
Cole sighed as he met her eyes. "Before I tell you, I need to let something out."
Phoebe rolled her eyes, about to walk away. "I knew this was a waste of—"
"No, Phoebe, please, wait." Cole said as he grabbed her hand and she stopped. "Just… hear me out."
Phoebe turned around and stared at him for a half a minute before folding her arms. "Alright. I'm listening."
"I had a lot of time to think about this. I imagined in my mind countless times saying this to your eyes…" Cole said before he took a breath. "I lost track of how many times I said I apologized to you and your family, when we were together. Most of the time, I even meant it. I used Belthazor as an excuse too many times… then I blamed Paige for destroying what had been between us, but… it was far too easy for me to slip into my old ways. Do my worst, whenever I had the chance to do my best. I'm not denying that I'd made my mistakes and it was my own choices that led me down this path. Whenever I wanted to show you that I was genuinely trying to change, most of the times, you'd think the worst of me. I don't blame you for thinking that way, but sometimes I wish you'd thought better of me."
Phoebe considered and looked back before sighing. While she had her reasons to mistrust Cole after he had become the Source and then she had become pregnant with their child, she realized now that she was taking it too far at times, even though her concerns were validated. "Our relationship wasn't perfect, but… I'd be lying if I said I didn't make my share of mistakes. I admit that there are times that I wish I'd behaved differently, when you came back from the Demonic Wasteland."
Cole nodded and smiled appreciatively as they looked at each other. "I know it may be too late for that, but I'm sorry, Phoebe. For everything." He said and Phoebe nodded.
"Me too." Phoebe said, willing to finally move past their history.
"I'll always love you, that's never going to change. But I realize now that I wasn't the right man for you." Cole said.
Phoebe wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded and felt like if a heavy burden had finally been lifted off her shoulders before she took a breath, focusing on more important things. "Alright, Cole. Do you have for us a way out of here?"
Fun fact is that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shannen Doherty have been close friends since the 90s, so a small reference to that with Buffy and Prue. And Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia in Buffyverse and the Seer Kyra in Charmed is also close friend with Holly Marie Combs, which is a bit ironic, considering how Piper treated Kyra *chuckles*
Not sure about the Paige/Prue and Phoebe/Cole scenes, I hope they were OK. Now, honestly, not a supporter of Phoebe/Cole, since Cole was frankly better as a villain and while the only reason he turned evil was because The Seer had tricked him into absorbing the Hollow and the Source's essence, it's true that the amount of demonic powers he had taken from the Demonic Wasteland were going to drive him mad and while the sisters' mistrust and concerns were valid, especially Phoebe was taking it too far with mistrusting Cole.
And the climax of the story is nearing, to quote Stephen Strange, we're in the endgame now.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this so far.