Disclaimer: I don't own anything about charmed.
Authors note:
This is an AU story.
Cole never stopped being the source of all evil. The story branches off in episode "We are off to see the Wizard" but this Story begins 18 years in the future from that episode.
So all that happened between the sisters and Cole in Season 5 didn't happen. In my Opinion the avatar stuff in season 6 did happen but see it as you like it. Season 7+8 didn't happen at all – because I don't know them (except the one episode where Cole was involved ;-). Leo is still their whitelighter. The sisters are still the Power of Three
This is my first fanfiction ever – so hope you like it.
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MEMORIESPhoebe came in to her room in the manor. She was around 47 and wore her hair very short – like shaved - in her natural colour with some grey streaks. Her face was pale, with dark shadows under her eyes. She was very thin and looked exhausted.
She carefully closed the door behind her and sat down on the bed. She buried her face in her hands with a sigh. On her nightstand were several bottles with medicine. She grabbed her bag and took out some small pill boxes. She took some of the pills and a gulp off one of the bottles on the bedside table and then laid down on the bed to rest.
Like often in the last weeks her mind went back to the evening she had discovered Cole was the Source. That evening had changed her whole life. Not long before she had discovered she was pregnant, but hadn't yet told Cole about it. The Seer had disclosed to her, that Cole was the source, and she had been so desperate then and nearly believed what the Seer had told her about being together with an evil Cole was possible. The memory of how she had lost him still haunted her even after all these years. The Seer had sent Phoebe shimmering back to the penthouse where Cole had been waiting for her, convinced that the Seer had talked Phoebe into staying with the Source for the good of the child she was expecting.
FLASHBACK
Cole was standing in the dimly lit room at the balcony doors looking down over the city lights.
As Phoebe shimmered in she saw a scorch mark on the ground of the living room.
She didn't know what to do, confront him about being the Source or just play along until she could get to her sisters?
"What happened here Cole, why is there a scorch mark on the floor?" she demanded, keeping her distance from him, the glass table between them.
He turned to her, a grim expression on his face. That was when she recognized that he wasn't wearing his suit but a black robe.
"I think you already know - don't you Phoebe?" he asked with a slightly mocking tone in his voice.
He approached her slowly, reducing the space between them. She backed away until her back hit the wall, and he was standing right in front of her. Phoebe's whole body was trembling now. She wasn't sure if it came from anger or from desperation. They stared at each other, their faces only inches apart.
"I love you, how could you do this to me!" she finally spat at him and slapped him hard across the face.
She was mad at him, for cheating on her like that. He just took the blow, but grabbed her wrists before she could slap him again, then bent down and whispered in her face.
"I need you with me Phoebe, I love you, we can be together, nobody can stop us as long as we don't give up on each other", he tried to reassure her.
His face was just within reach, she could smell him, Cole's smell, but at the same time not his, there was a hint of brimstone she hadn't recognized before. Still she had the urge to kiss him. She looked into his eyes searching for "her" Cole but fearing to discover just evil there.
"Cole you are the Source of all Evil", she chocked almost on her own words, her eyes getting a wet gleam, "and I won't cross over to the evil side. It didn't work for us when you were Belthazor. How could you think it would work between us with you being the Source?" she questioned him incredulous.
"I planned by the time you found me out, our child would have enough power over you to pull you to my side", he confessed, still holding her hands, but now stroking them with his thumbs.
"Stop, how do you know I'm pregnant? Did the Seer tell you?" Phoebe asked taken aback that he already knew and pulling her hands away from his.
"So you are!" Cole exclaimed tugging her into a tight embrace, a happy smile crossing his face, reminding her of the Cole he had been, before he had started to act strange.
She wondered how long he had been the Source. All the implications of him being the Source slowly made their way to her consciousness even as she was fighting it forcefully. She dislodged herself from him and slumped into a chair. His face fell and he looked strained.
"I have to leave you", she stated looking down on the floor, trying to hide her tears that started to fall down now.
"I can't let you leave with my heir", he told her with a calm voice but now dangerous undertone.
"So what will you do to me Cole - lock me up somewhere? You know that won't work, my sisters will come for me and vanquish you in the process", she threatened staring hard at him through her tears.
She banked on that Cole wouldn't kill her despite being the Source, like he couldn't when he was Belthazor. She hoped that her sisters would come soon, or that Leo would feel her struggle and orb over to get her. To buy some time she asked with the calmest voice she could muster right now.
"So who was the poor creature you killed here? You didn't tell me before."
Cole strolled over to Phoebe and sat down on a chair next to her, somehow relieved she had dropped the matter of separation for the moment. He assumed he could persuade her to stay with him.
"That was this odd wizard. He tried to steel my powers. I didn't let him of course. But he was evil anyway so I did you and your sisters a favour", he said nonchalantly. Smiling he lent more towards her, but the smile never reached his eyes which were observing her carefully.
At this moment her sisters orbed in with Leo. Cole jumped to his feet, facing them. So did Phoebe, trying to get in between her sisters and the Source. She feared that he would attack them in an instant if they provoked him.
"Cole, Phoebe, good you are here!" Paige exclaimed as soon as she had fully materialized, oblivious to what was going on.
"That greedy wizard stole the Grimmoir."
But Piper and Leo had already sensed the tension in the room. They looked from Phoebe to Cole and back.
"What's wrong?" Piper asked, floating over to Phoebe, laying her arm around Phoebe's shoulder from behind.
As Piper saw Phoebe's tear stained face and felt her rigid shoulders under her fingers, she shot a glance at Cole who was standing facing them, waiting and watching.
"Guess you just spilled the beans Cole", Paige barked also joining her sisters.
"And why are you wearing such a weird robe?" Leo stepped in.
"He is the Source", Phoebe whispered almost not audible, grabbing the hands of Paige and Piper.
Leo immediately stepped closer to his charges to be in orbing range and Piper and Paige squeezed Phoebe's shivering hands in reassurance.
"Phoebe, I know we told you he is a Demon", Paige said, "but come on - the Source? Remember we vanquished the Source some time ago." Paige tried to calm down Phoebe, not at least herself.
"So is this true?" Piper addressed Cole directly, ready to blow him up if he tried anything. He just stared back at them keeping up the silence.
"The Seer told me and Cole didn't deny it", Phoebe whispered looking straight into Cole's eyes.
"I don't have time for this", Cole growled, "There is a coronation I have to attend. If you stay with me Phoebe, I won't hurt your sisters." His eyes flashed with fire and then went all black.
Piper drew in some air sharply and Paige gasped.
"We should get out of here, now", Leo urged Piper, but she just shook off his hand and proceeded, summoning up all her guts.
"We killed the Source once Cole, we can do it again and we will if you force us to. So just leave Phoebe alone and we won't come after you - if you agree to do the same".
Cole pondered his options. He knew that Piper was right. He himself had helped Phoebe create the spell that could vanquish the Source. And he wasn't even the full Source with the coronation still ahead.
Maybe it was better to call a truce at the moment and after he got into full power try to turn Phoebe back to him again. If he killed one or both of the sisters, Phoebe would be lost for him forever. Maybe if he just waited and let the child's powers grow, Phoebe would come to him all of her own.
"Truce granted", Cole said and stepped closer to the girls, trying to intimidate them, "but I want my heir", he demanded, staring intensely at Phoebe.
"When hell freezes over", Phoebe hissed and with that they orbed out of the penthouse.
"Damn it!" Cole cursed and released a black-orange fireball at the place the Charmed Ones had just been standing.
FLASHBACK END
MISSING YOUStill lying on her bed, Phoebe opened her eyes again. The hurt in her body had faded away a little bit. The pills had done their work.
Since that night in the penthouse she hadn't seen Cole again. She had written him a letter making clear that in no way she was becoming his Queen. In the same letter she threatened him to come near them, since her sisters and she would vanquish him on the spot. She had also informed him, that they had already bound the powers of her child inside the womb, and there wasn't an heir to the Source to be, unless he killed them all.
She had filed for divorce and sole custody of their child - he had never shown up at courthouse. She had been glad about that, she couldn't have taken it, seeing him acting as he was just Cole and not the Source. Still she had been crying a lot about her lost love in the months of her pregnancy. But her precious daughter helped her to go through with it and start her life again.
The sisters figured out afterwards, that it had to be the Hollow which put the Source's power into Cole.
So at least she had the comfort that he hadn't willingly taken on these powers. But in the end it didn't make that much difference. He was the Source, she was a Charmed One, nothing could change that, or that she still loved him and cherished the memory of him. Sometimes she wondered if he ever thought of her, or if he had lost all humanity after the coronation.
Surprisingly he held on to the truce. Since that day the Source had never come directly after them again. Of course in their job to protect the innocents they still regularly ran into demons and vanquished them.
Some months ago, Phoebe had been for a regular check-up with her doctor. Her blood values hadn't satisfied Dr. Sadler and he had run some more tests. That was when he discovered she had cancer. Terminal stage. Already metastasis all over her body. He had given her just some more months to live, maybe a year.
Her time was running out much too quickly now. Piper was preparing potions for Phoebe to preserve her strength, but she could feel herself fading away every day a little more.
Her sisters had been devastated as they got the news. So was Phoebe. She wasn't ready to die, she still felt young and her sisters needed her.
What would happen to the Power of Three when she was gone? Would the Source still hold the truce? But as they had learned long years ago, you couldn't cheat Death. He always wins - like with Leslie, or Prue's innocent. So her sisters had been struggling to accept the truth and they had started to make plans, how they could defend themselves after she was gone.
At least Phila, her daughter, and Wyatt and Chris were nearly grown up and able to defend themselves. Phoebe had stuck to the Halliwell tradition of naming the girls with a P. She had been searching for a name for a long time until a Greek colleague at the office had suggested the perfect one. Phila. It meant "Love" in Greek. That's what her daughter was for her, the reminder of hers and Cole's Love and the only thing she had left of him.
Soon Phila would be the only thing left of her in this world too. Phila had inherited the power of telekinesis and Phoebe's talent for the martial arts. Before Phoebe became ill, they were practicing in the basement at least 3 times a week and always enjoyed this time of mother/daughter bonding.
Despite the fact that Phila was 1/2 year older than Wyatt the boys were both very protective of her. Phoebe was glad about that. Phila would have a family to turn to in her grieving for her mother. She just lacked a father. Leo had been there for Phila as a male role model and uncle, but it wasn't the same as a real father.
Phoebe told Phila as soon as she was old enough the story of her and Cole. It wasn't easy for the girl to accept the fact, that her father was the Source of all Evil. But Phoebe and her sisters had assured her, that they had bound all evil powers to prevent her from turning evil, or from demons being able to sense her.
Phila never asked to see her father nor had Cole ever tried to see her. Phoebe assumed that Phila was afraid of the confrontation with Cole. About what he would do to her, or what she would feel. So Phoebe never pushed her to summon Cole in the attic even when she had secretly hoped to see him again.
This wish gained momentum the moment she had learned that she was going to die. She wasn't yet prepared to leave this world without seeing him again. Because he was immortal, she would never in all eternity see him again and there was therefore no chance of a reunion in the afterlife. This idea which dispensed hope to other humans facing a similar fate like hers was futile for her.
"Mum, are you awake?" Phoebe heard her daughter's voice trough her bedroom door.
"Yes Phila, just come in", she answered propping up on her elbows.
Phila entered the room cautiously and strode over to Phoebe's bed and sat down on it. She was just about Phoebe's height, had her mother's hearty face form, Cole's blue-grey eyes and his dark hair which fell shiny and slightly curled down to her shoulders. She was not as curved as Phoebe had been. Phila had smaller breasts and with her trained slender figure she reminded Phoebe so much of her late aunt Prue in her teenage years.
"How are you feeling today?" Phila asked looking timorous at her mother's face. Phoebe tried to smile.
"I'm ok, I just took my painkillers. I will be fine for the next few hours."
She didn't want to scare her daughter more than necessary, but she felt time running through her fingers just like sand. She just had some more weeks then she would be gone for good. Phoebe never told the family the exact prediction of Dr. Sadler on how long her remaining lifetime would be.
But Phila wasn't fooled that easily. She could tell that her mother was shrinking. Her voice wasn't that strong any more, she sounded exhausted all the time, slept a lot but still looked like a ghost, and yet she still tried to be strong for her and her aunts.
Phila also witnessed Phoebe moaning her father's name in her drugged sleep in these last weeks. She had regularly been checking on her mother in the night. She had never known and still couldn't imagine what kind of relationship her parents - the demon and the which - had. But the way her mother whispered his name in the middle of the night, with such yearning and affection, such intensity and sadness had almost made her cry.
That was when Phila decided she was going to contact her father. Not for her own good, he hadn't cared for her till now, so she didn't need or want him to do that, besides he still was the Source. But she wanted to fulfil her mothers' wish, and she could tell it would be to see Cole once more.
She also knew the danger in it. What if she summoned him and he would just kill her? He didn't know her, so maybe the truce wouldn't refer to her. But she was going to take this chance.
"What are you thinking about?" Phoebe interrupted Phila's train of thoughts.
"Just about a boy at school who is really nice", she lied to her mother. She wasn't going to tell anybody of her plan.
What if Cole refused to see Phoebe? Her mother would be devastated and she would have given her false hopes.
"So you are in love?" Phoebe questioned her daughter smiling. At least her daughter had some distraction from her mother's misery.
"No, but he is cute - just met him in the lunch room today", Phila said, "I leave you now, so that you can rest mom. Are we having breakfast tomorrow together – you know it is Saturday?"
"Sure Darling", Phoebe answered, already beginning to feel weak and the pain coming back, "have a good night".
She kissed her daughter on the cheek and hugged her tightly. Phila clung to her mother like never letting go and suppressed the tears shining in her eyes.
"Night Mom", Phila got up and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Phoebe laid back on the bed thinking about how much she was going to miss her daughter.
To be continued…
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