Convergence
By Risa
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Author's Note: Sorry about the really long delay! I haven't given up on this story yet, I just didn't know where to take it for a while. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for all the feedback!
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Chapter Three
"How? Paige, what are you talking about?" Piper asked sharply.
"When I was about twelve, I came down with pneumonia. I had some really strange dreams during that period and they all felt so real. There was one where I found myself in a cave. There was a column of purple smoke with bits of glittering silver contained in what looked like glass. A man stood in front of me, banging the glass in frustration, cursing. His face was hooded, so I couldn't see him clearly…
"I walked up beside him and just looked curiously at what he was doing. He simply ignored my presence. Then, I looked at the glass again and saw that was a glowing blue circle on the glass with the imprint of a palm. I placed my hand on the imprint and turned. The barrier came down. Somehow, I just knew how to get it open.
"The purple smoke circled round the man and the same symbol we saw earlier appeared, as if etched in flame. Both smoke and symbol seemed to dissolve in the man. Then he just disappeared. But as he disappeared he smiled at me but the smile was so cold…" Paige's voice trailed off lost in memory.
Then she dragged her mind back to the present. "After that, when I recovered, I just figured that everything was just a dream. But now, seeing that sigil," Paige shook her head, "Don't you see? I was the one who gave him the power to do these things. I was the one who released that-that thing."
"Paige," Leo said soothingly, "you don't know for sure. Let's go back and do some research first before making any conclusions."
Paige nodded reluctantly as Leo orbed all of them back.
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"Here it is!" Phoebe shouted as the others crowded around her around the Book of Shadows. "The sigil belongs to a warlock named Aidan. Apparently he built up his powers first by absorbing the souls of people and later by absorbing the energy of the worlds he destroyed. Seems like he wanted enough power to establish control over all worlds."
"Great," Piper said dryly, "What happened to the good old days when just one world was enough?"
"Why settle for one when you can have all of them?" Phoebe said wryly. "Anyway, he came to our world somewhere in the 19th century. He was going to destroy it like all the others but our ancestor, Althea, stopped him. She was supposed to be one of the more powerful witches of our line. She stopped him but she wasn't able to kill him. All she managed to do was disembody him. To prevent him from using someone else's body to create havoc again, she trapped him in another world, in that cave Paige saw…" Phoebe paused, hesitating.
"What is it?" Cole asked.
"The column can only be opened by someone of the Halliwell line," Phoebe said softly.
Paige stumbled backwards, her mind reeling with shock and self-blame. She lost track of everything and everyone around her. One thought consumed her. All those people, all that destruction, I was the one who made it possible. They died because of me… She turned and ran out of the attic, barely aware of her own actions. All she wanted to do was to get away, to go to some place where she could think.
"Paige!" Piper shouted. "You guys stay here, I'll go talk to her," she said, as she ran after Paige.
"But how?" Phoebe said, almost to herself. "If it was in another world…"
"It happens sometimes," Cole said with a sigh. "When a person is really sick or in a coma, the link between the soul and the body can get so weak that it's possible for them to leave their bodies, even leave their own worlds. Usually a Keeper manages to find them and send them back." And I wish someone had got to Paige first, he thought, with a touch of regret. But there's no point thinking about what-ifs. There are some things that are just beyond any person's control.
"Well, at least we've managed to vanquish him," Leo said, "I'll have to go up there just to help make sure that everything's in order." He orbed away.
"So what are you going to do now?" Phoebe asked Cole quietly.
"I don't know," Cole said, the loss and loneliness evident in his voice. "I've got nowhere to go, nowhere to turn. Chasing after evil Cole gave my life purpose, direction. All I could think about was getting rid of him; I never allowed myself to think about all that I lost or what I was going to do once I got rid of him. Now that it's over…" It was difficult to express the deep sense of isolation and emptiness that filled him.
"You can stay here. Make a new life for yourself in this world." Phoebe said, placing her hand on his shoulder, trying to offer him some comfort. "Wyatt's still a baby. I think Piper will like the help of an experienced Keeper." She paused, before adding gently, "It's probably what she would have wanted."
Cole sighed. She was right. The Phoebe that he had loved would have wanted him to carry on with life and not let himself get consumed by grief. He nodded, a small smile appearing on his face, the first genuine smile in a long, long time.
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Piper found Paige sitting on the steps of the front porch, staring blankly at the road. She sat down beside her. "It's not your fault," she said softly, comfortingly.
"I know," Paige said, still staring at the road.
For a while they sat together, silent. Then Paige said, "I never fully understood why you and Phoebe sometimes viewed your powers as a burden that you'll rather not have. Now I know. This power… we can so easily hurt other people without meaning to. One wrong step… The kind of responsibility that goes with having powers – I'm just realizing how heavy it is."
"Paige, one thing that Phoebe and I have learnt is that for better or worse, our powers are a part of us. It's a part of who we are. We can't run from it. You helped show us that when Phoebe and I wanted to give up our powers. All we can do is to try and do the best we can with what we've got."
"I don't know," Paige said, her face haunted. "Now I find myself wishing that I never was a witch…"
"We all do sometimes," Piper said, "But we're stuck with it. If something goes wrong all we can do is try and make amends, learn from it and move on. And you have tried to make amends by vanquishing Cole."
"I guess," Paige said, the gloom on her face lifting a little.
Silence fell once more. Piper knew that all she could do now was to be there for Paige when she needed someone and let time do its work.
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"Wait a minute. You've got public magic schools in your world? Even state-sponsored ones?" Phoebe said, incredulous.
"Yep," Cole replied. They were having lunch together at a restaurant. It had been a week since they had vanquished Evil Cole. Cole was still trying to settle in. There were certain differences between this world and the world that he had come from which he needed to get used to and he still felt a little guilty for staying at the manor. He felt like he was imposing on the Halliwells, even though they had assured him that he had made up for it by babysitting Wyatt and helping to manage things around the house. Hopefully he would soon be able to get a job and get a place of his own…
"Just how similar are the different worlds to each other?" Phoebe asked curiously.
"There are some which are very similar and some that are very different," Cole said. "For example, my world looks a little like yours but the way our society works is slightly different. Some worlds are pretty advanced, some are more backward. Some have patriarchal societies, others have matriarchal… it's pretty interesting."
"Yeah," Phoebe said, her mind dazed with all the possibilities. Her thoughts were interrupted when the soup arrived. She was about to add some pepper when she noticed that the shaker was missing. "Could you pass me the pepper from the table behind?" she asked Cole.
Their fingers brushed as Cole passed her the shaker. The contact caused them to stare at each other, transfixed. Phoebe couldn't explain the strange tugging sensation in her heart as her fingers touched his. As she looked into Cole's eyes she felt the all too familiar sensation of falling. She just couldn't understand it. She had only known him for a week… Maybe it was because he was an exact copy of the Cole that she loved. Maybe it was because he was everything that she loved about Cole but without the burden of their history…
No, she thought flatly. This can't be happening. I've already gotten over Cole. It's just habit – a bad habit. I'm just too used to feeling this way…
"I need to go to the bathroom," Phoebe said abruptly as she stood up.
Cole watched her as she left. He was still dazed. Looking at Phoebe, he thought he saw the woman he loved. But she wasn't the Phoebe that he knew – she was gone, irrevocably gone. They had many similarities, but they weren't the same person. But still…
He could see himself falling in love with her.
But he shouldn't. Cole knew that Phoebe had been hurt deeply by his doppelganger in this world and he didn't think she was ready. And he was worried that they will treat each other as a substitute for the loved ones that they had lost and that wasn't the sort of relationship that he wanted.
Cole sighed, once again acutely aware of all that he had lost.
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The tunnel was pitch-black and the darkness felt oppressive. Cole continued walking down the narrow tunnel but there seemed to be no end in sight. He didn't know where he was, or where he was going.
Then, in front of him, he saw a glimmer of light. He began to run towards it. As he got closer, he could see Phoebe lying down on the grass in a park, one hand over her eyes. "Phoebe!" he shouted, as he ran faster.
The light was suddenly snatched away and Cole was once again surrounded in darkness. "Phoebe!" he shouted once more, turning in circles desperately, trying to find the light again.
Two hands suddenly appeared in the darkness, smeared with blood. A man appeared, his expression pale and ghoulish. "You betrayed us," he said, his tone icy.
"I – What?" Cole said, confused.
Another woman appeared beside the man. She looked just as ghoulish as the man. "You betrayed us. You swore that you'll get rid of him," she said accusatorily.
"Who?"
"Him – the one who destroyed all of us, our lives, our worlds." It was as if Cole was suddenly surrounded by hundreds of voices, each one of them angry, each one of them accusatory. Cole finally realised what they were talking about. "But we vanquished him!" he said in his defence.
"No, you didn't," a voice said, a voice that was hauntingly familiar to Cole. "You promised, you promised that you'll stop the destruction. But you didn't. He's done it again…"
"Phoebe – " Cole said, trying to look for her among the crowd.
"You betrayed us," she said, as she suddenly appeared in front of him. Her eyes were just as cold as the others, filled with blame and anger.
"You betrayed us…"
"No! No…"
"You betrayed us…"
"No!" Cole shouted as he sat up in his bed. Cole took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. It was all a dream. But why would he have a dream like this if Evil Cole was already dead and gone?
Unless…
"Cole?" Phoebe said, standing by the door to Cole's room. "You okay?" She had been up late working and had rushed downstairs when she heard Cole's shouts.
"Yeah," Cole said distractedly.
Phoebe walked inside the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.
"Cole. We didn't vanquish him after all. He's still out there."
*~ To Be Continued ~*