You've Got to Have Soul (P/C) Part 5 updated 1/24

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Title: You’ve Got to Have Soul
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I’m writing purely for entertainment. I don’t own anything. Please don’t sue.

Author’s note: This occurs after A Witch’s Tail. I’m rewriting Cole’s fate, the way it should’ve been.

“I do love you, and I always will, but it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t matter. It’s over between us.”<br>-Phoebe, A Witch’s Tail-

Part 1

Phoebe signs the divorce papers she had her lawyers draw up. She hopes after the events of last week that Cole will agree to sign them. Their unsuccessful love affair put her through the worst ups and downs of her life, and now she had to end it. Their love was unable to overcome the evil within him. No matter how painful that was, she accepted it. She felt like a part of her soul was going with him, but it was time to say good-bye. As a final gesture, she touches her fingers to her lips and then to Cole’s printed name underneath the unsigned space. Suddenly, she is drawn to an unfamiliar scene.

[Scene: A cave in the underworld. Cole is lying on a large rock. Raynor and Tarkin are standing beside him. Raynor has his hand held out above Cole's head, reading his thoughts.]

Raynor: Seems our brother's suspicions are well-founded.

Tarkin: Why? What do you see?

Raynor: Sickness, the kind that only comes from being under the world of light for too long. It's contaminated him.

Tarkin: That's impossible, Raynor, demon as great as Belthazor.

Raynor: It's not his demon half that's been infected, it's his human half. He's in love.

Tarkin: The witch.

Raynor: Not just any witch, one of the Charmed Ones. But she's not only loved him, she's turned him against us; sent him here to destroy us.

Tarkin: Well, then we must destroy him.

Raynor: You still have so much to learn, Tarkin. You don't just kill a demon like Belthazor.

Tarkin: But he betrayed us.

Raynor: And in so doing, he's acquired the knowledge of how to kill the Charmed Ones. Something no other demon's been able to accomplish. That, with his power makes a very precious commodity for us, one worthy of saving.

Tarkin: But how can...?

Raynor: How can we save him? Simple. We remove the only thing that's re-awakened his human half, his only foothold to good, the witch's love for him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Phoebe comes out of her visions of the past with a gasp. She had never known what had happened to Cole in the weeks he had disappeared after rejoining the Brotherhood of the Thorn in order to help her and her sisters thwart their demonic plans. And now, she was being shown this, why? It could only mean one thing; she had been going down the wrong path. She shouldn’t be pushing Cole away; she was the only one who could save him.

~~~

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Part 2 – 24 hours earlier


Two beings cloaked in a brilliant white light stand in a cloudy mist discussing the latest threat to the fight against evil.

“We are losing 2 of our strongest agents,” the taller one states solemnly.

“Not only that, if we cannot change what is happening, I foresee the loss of 2 more good souls to the darkness,” the other replies.

“What do you mean 2 souls?”<br>
“Only the Charmed Ones can reverse what has begun.”<br>
“We should contact their whitelighter then.”<br>
“Ironic that it is one of the Charmed that is causing the imbalance,” states the smaller one cryptically.

“Could you speak English? What do you mean? What should we do?”<br>
“Her heart has not fully warmed.”<br>
“You mean, from her mermaid days?”<br>
“And her soul is starting to darken,” the smaller one continues as if never interrupted.

“English?” the taller one pleads.

“The witch must not deny her love for the half-demon. Only by embracing her love for him can she save his soul and her own.”<br>
“Well, it is more complicated than that,” the taller one objects.

“No, it is not.”<br>
“How can you say that? The half-demon that has been so instrumental in bringing down much of the underworld and has the knowledge to help us continue this fight successfully – we will lose him to the darkside. He is the key to our success.”<br>
The smaller being disagrees quietly but firmly. “Love is all that matters. She is the key. She will discover the way through love.”<br>
“Let us contact the whitelighter. Leo, is it?”<br>
“No, he has been too distracted with his new charge, the baby.”<br>
“That is no excuse. The baby will be no help without her aunt’s guidance. Should we assign a new whitelighter?”<br>
“There is a better way. Let us unlock the witch’s powers.”<br>
“Do you think that is wise? Her tendency towards evil . . .”<br>
“Is fueled by love lost. It was a mistake to block her premonitions.”<br>
“If we unlock those powers now, she will likely have a rebound effect. The sudden return of her powers, stronger than before, without experiencing the natural evolution – can she handle it?”<br>
“She must. There is no other way.”<br>

~~~

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Part 3

[Nina Gordon’s remake of “The End of the World” plays in the background.]

Meanwhile, Cole half a world a way from Phoebe, tries to come to terms with what she has told him. He sits on the edge of a large rock at the top of a cliff overlooking the waves crashing below. The sunset’s beauty only brings more pain. So much pain caused by human emotions. “It’s this dang human soul,” he thinks to himself. He needs to repress it.

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
If you don't love me anymore.

Love didn’t matter? Love wasn’t enough? So what? He was destined to be evil forever? If Phoebe didn’t believe in him, perhaps it wasn’t worth going on. He casts his mind back to the words that were haunting him over and over again.

“What about all the good that I’ve done? Aren’t I proving to you that I’m no longer evil?” Cole had pleaded with her.

“Don’t you understand? It doesn’t matter what side you’re working on. If you use your demonic powers, you are evil. Evil is inside of you and no amount of good deeds you do will change that.” Phoebe retorted.

He had told her she was wrong, but he didn’t know whether he believed himself anymore. He can’t get the hateful tone in her voice out of his head. He tries to drown it out with the words of music that expressed his thoughts. He leans back on the cold, hard rock and gazes longingly at the stars before falling asleep. Maybe in a parallel universe, he could be happy.

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love.

He smiles as he dreams of a happier time when he worked alongside the Charmed Ones, was accepted and loved. But he wakes to the harsh reality of his current lonely situation.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder.
Why everything is the same as it was.
And I can't understand,
No I can't understand Why life goes on the way it does.

He wants everything to stop. With a wave of his hand, he freezes time so that the waves stop crashing, the seagulls stop squawking, and the sun stops rising. But his powers cannot stop the tear from falling on his cheek; it cannot stop his human heart from breaking; it cannot repair the hole in his soul. With a guilty pang, he recalls Phoebe’s hurtful words, “If you use your demonic powers, you are evil.” So, he quickly restarts time.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when we said goodbye.

“What’s the use?” he thinks in exasperation. He feels there is good in him, much good he could do, but without her love to pull him through, he can feel the demon in him regaining strength. He must stop his demonic side from taking over again. He can only think of one way to do that.

It’s OK. He can’t go on living without her love anyway. He begins to devise a plan to force her to vanquish him. Only the Charmed Ones would have the power to do so. Smiling at the thought of freedom, he begins to compose the goodbye letter to the only one who can save him.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder.
Why everything is the same as it was.
Cuz I can't understand,
No I can't understand Why life goes on the way it does.
Tell me why does my heart go on beating?
And why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when we said goodbye.
Why?
It ended when we said goodbye.


~~~

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Part 4


Cole appears in the Halliwell attic. He senses that Paige and Piper are downstairs in the kitchen. Using his demonic-scan, he discovers that the Charmed Ones have indeed saved the bloody letter opener Phoebe had stabbed him with. “Excellent,” he thinks, “they should be able to make a vanquishing potion from that.” But just in case, he produces an Athame in his hand.

Meanwhile, in the Halliwell kitchen, Paige stands over a pot of swirling mist while consulting her potions notebook.

“What are you conjuring, a potion to make demons vomit?” Piper asks with her hand to her mouth, suppressing a retching noise.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Piper. I thought you might sleep in this morning so I . . .” Paige begins.

“Sleep in? I could smell that concoction from upstairs!”<br>
“Do you want me to write a spell to dull your sense of smell?” Paige rhymes with a wink.

“No,” Piper answers clearly annoyed, “I want you to stop.”<br>
“I’m sorry. It’s just that Phoebe and you are both preoccupied with other things, and I feel we should stay prepared, you know? One step ahead – who knows what evil will attack next. Besides, I have nothing else to do since I quit my job to concentrate on my wiccan duties.”<br>
Piper dismisses the apology with a wave of her hand. “Speaking of Phoebe, where is she this morning?”<br>
“Well, like I said, she’s preoccupied. She’s been so obsessed with that stupid job of hers. She left early this morning for the office.”<br>
“It’s not stupid,” Piper objects. “You don’t know the old Phoebe. She was lost and jobless. Now, she not only has a job, but she has a job giving others advice. It’s incredible.”<br>
“Yeah,” Paige answers sarcastically, “ask Phoebe anything but to help us to fight evil.”<br>
“That’s not fair. When has she shied away from fighting evil? Phoebe loves being a witch.” Piper counters.

“Are you kidding? What about the whole Cole factor?”<br>
“Cole is not an immediate threat,” Piper dismisses quickly. “He wants Phoebe back and is trying to prove his worth with good deeds. He would never harm us or an innocent.”<br>
The words are barely out of her mouth when Cole appears in the kitchen and throws a fireball at Paige. Paige stunned, manages to barely orb out of the way. Cole quickly throws the Athame at Piper who immediately freezes the knife in midair. Paige reappears next to Cole and calls, “Knife!” The knife transports to her outstretched hand, and she thrusts it into Cole’s chest.

Cole grabs the dagger with both hands and with a twisting motion, pulls it out with a grunt. Piper blows Cole up as the knife drops to the floor. Paige picks the knife up gingerly, holding it with her thumb and index finger alone. Dangling from the knife is a piece of Cole’s flesh.

Before either witch can say anything, black swirling particles start to reconstitute in front of their eyes, and soon, Cole is once again standing in their kitchen, clutching the gaping wound in his chest. Piper raises her hands to blow him up again, but Cole disappears in a blur. Only his sinister voice hangs in the air, “I’ll be back.”<br>
“You were saying?” Paige asks pointedly.

Piper shocked at the recent turn of events is speechless.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cole reappears in his penthouse with a smile. His chest wound self-heals. He walks over to the desk and takes a sealed letter out of the drawer. Then, clutching the letter and a photograph of him and Phoebe to his heart, he sits and waits.

~~~

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Part 5

Back at the Bay Mirror –

Before Phoebe can consult Leo about her premonition, she is thrust into another vision of the past; this one more recent.

Cole: Phoebe’s a what?

Paige: You wanna know what Phoebe is? She’s a mermaid. And do you want to know why?

Cole: Sorry, did you say mermaid?

Paige: Yeah, gills, fins, scales and all.

Cole: Well, you can fix that, right?

Paige: No Cole, we can’t fix it because she wants to be a mermaid, because you broke her heart.

Cole: I never meant to hurt her.

Paige: You didn’t mean to do lots of things but they happen. You are a one-man death squad. Bodies, blood, and pain follow you wherever you go.

Cole: Well, there may be some truth to that, but that’s in my past. I came back to make up -

Paige: make up for it? If you want to make up for it, go to Tibet, join a monastery, pray for absolution, but don’t put your guilt on us.

Cole: You don’t understand, I love –<br>
Paige: love Phoebe? What is it with you guys? Like it’s all about you and your feelings.

Cole: What about Phoebe’s feelings? She still loves me.

Paige: Wrong. She doesn’t love you. She thinks you are an evil freak with superpowers from hell and battery acid for blood. She doesn’t love you. She wishes you’d stayed dead.

Cole: She told you this?

Paige: Told me? She didn’t have to tell me; she’s a mermaid. Her body erupted in scales. She had to turn into a fish to get away from you. Do you get it now? Listen, the only way for you to help us get our sister back is for you to disappear forever.

Phoebe feels Cole’s true love for her and his overwhelming hurt from Paige’s words. She never knew that Cole had vowed to leave her alone in order to save her heart from freezing forever. She now understands Cole’s true feelings and motivations, and it touches her. “He deserves another chance,” she thinks. But she is still worried about the temptation to give into evil; she knows from firsthand experience how difficult it is to resist. Is her love really enough? The thoughts, emotions, and questions raised from her back-to-back visions swirl out of control in her mind until exhausted, she passes out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, back at the manor –<br>
“That’s it. We are going to vanquish Cole, once and for all.” Paige shouts with a stomp of her foot.

“But how? He seems as indestructible as ever.” Piper asks.

“I don’t know,” Paige admits. “But I’ve got plenty of sample to start working on a kick-ass vanquishing potion. Why don’t you work on a power of 3 spell? Maybe if we combine the 2 somehow, we’ll be able to do it.”<br>
“I don’t know,” Piper says hesitatingly.

“We have to try,” Paige insists.

“I agree, but don’t you think we’re forgetting something?”<br>
‘Yes, I know. We have to tell Phoebe,” Paige answers. “Look, there’s no point in worrying her overworked head about it until we have our weapons ready, right?”<br>
“I guess.”<br>
“I mean, if we can’t come up with a vanquish, there’s no point in asking her how she feels about it,” Paige reasons.

“Yes, but if Cole is serious, we may not have much time,” Piper points out.

“So, let’s get started!” Paige urges.

Piper reluctantly agrees, and the 2 part ways; each ready to start her formidable task. Find a way to vanquish the most powerful demon in the world hopefully without destroying the sister they love.

~~~