Eternal Flame
part 19
"Phoebe, could you just slow down?"
"You heard him. Cole's already in trouble. We can't afford to waste a minute wondering what to do next."
"But it might help if we actually had a plan," Prue Halliwell concluded.
"There are no more plans. That ended when Chloe betrayed us, remember?"
"Look, we won't know for sure if we can't trust her until we get there, alright? Whether she led him closer to Celia or not, we're there to save Cole, and not to pass unnecessary judgement."
"But you just said-"
"And it's better said than done. We have to know how Celia works, how she operates- every demon has a weakness."
"Even someone like her?" Paige spoke up. "Hard to believe, considering she's almost literally made of stone."
"Cole's was love," Prue continued. "He lost his ability to kill when he fell in love."
"Yeah, but he still kills demons," Paige objected. "That has to speak for something."
"And I'm the one who has to worry about him," Phoebe cut in.
"Hey, now that you mention it, what's Nick's deal?"
"Mention-" Prue started.
"What's his weakness?" she inquired. "I mean, here's a guy whose clearly not over himself, hence the widely used sarcasm, and yet he even accepts his little empathic gift as a dream come true. I just can't figure him out."
"Either that, or you still can't begin to contemplate the crush he has on you," Prue taunted, throwing a smile her way.
"So you're saying-"
"He's got it bad and even he can sense it," she mulled over.
"But he's continually abhorring all I stand for," Paige protested, rolling her eyes.
"Then why is he still on your mind?"
"Um...how about he lied to Cole, and almost killed him?"
"And who hasn't?" Phoebe interrupted. "The point is, is that Nick Merrick is just a tiny dot on our radar screen right now. Meaning, I could care less if we leave him here on our way out. He's nothing to us."
"And that's why you let him watch over the girls?" Paige returned.
"Are you purposely trying to start an argument with me?" her sister demanded.
"Do you want me to?"
"You like Nick, because I can't stand him. Just admit it."
"Yeah, well, at least Nick isn't afraid to take chances, unlike some people I know."
"What do you think I'm doing-"
"Trying to rescue a man you still doubt."
"Excuse me?"
"I could never tell him the honest truth, because I know he measures himself against your opinion of him. I know you love him, and I know you'd do whatever it takes. But you have to do more than believe in him- you have to show it."
"And you better quit while you're ahead."
"He's saved you from The Dark, Sterling- he's put his life on hold without a moment's question."
"And you don't even-"
"I'm just stating the facts."
"The facts that also led you to believe my loyalty wasn't true to you as a sister?"
"Would you please get a hold of yourselves?!" Prue demanded. "You're fighting about a worthless cause. One that shouldn't even matter if love is really there. You can't keep beating each other up over it!"
"No. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the only one taking the punches here," Phoebe whispered, as she halted in her tracks.
"Just because I'm the youngest and most...inexperienced, doesn't mean I'm not entitled to a say," Paige responded.
"That's exactly what it means, Paige. In this situation, you don't have a say."
"Oh. Well. Then I guess I'll just sit back and let you make the biggest mistake of your life. I mean, that's the way you want it, isn't it?"
"What mistake?" Phoebe hissed, her face contorted into a deep mass of rage, as she quickly turned on her.
"Nick was right, in the sense that this can't end peacefully. You have to make sure you're fully prepared for what you-"
"I've seen him much worse."
"No," she whispered. "You haven't. The Source may as well have all been a stupid figment of our imaginations compared to this."
"You don't know what you're-"
"Evil is evil. It never leaves and it always fights for a place in this world. But unless you know how to deal with the monster that's taken over your husband, you'll never even recognize the love you still feel for him and what that means to you."
"Hey, we're here," Prue announced, as she gently fingered the fresh dirt below, her nails immediately scraping it away as she spotted a stray latch cut up among a few mindless weeds. She shook her head. We were right on top of her lair the entire time. She's underground."
"But we've been through here before. There's nothing there but hieroglyphics," Phoebe offered, shrugging. "There's no madwoman, but of history's own doing."
"Exactly," her older sister replied simply, as she bent to release the opening to a breath of fresh air, her eyes squinting into the darkness below.
"A little lost here," Paige volunteered.
"History made Celia," Prue responded carefully. "History made her what she is. She looked for a love that wasn't there, and ultimately that love showed itself to her through the evil that took her over. She began to believe her own lies, worship her newly acquired strength. She was blind to what claimed her as its own."
"So even now, she's still blind to it," Phoebe murmured.
"She was immersed in the way of the Old World. Cole knew it, and he was willing to place himself in the middle of it headfirst."
"So Cole's not dead?" Paige countered.
"All she cares about is the possession," Prue reasoned. "If we can get her to see past it...if we can get her to remember who she really is, we might just stand a chance."
"But of course, it's always easier said than done," Phoebe retorted.
"Of course," Prue echoed, smiling.
"So who is she?" Paige asked, confused. "I mean, when you've been evil for that long, you seriously can't even recall what you were like before. Can you? I mean, it's more than a bit of a stretch."
"Either way, she's going down," Phoebe confirmed.
"No mercy?" she quipped.
"None. She's not going to be showing Cole any, when she's forcing that guy into his body now, is she?"
"Only joking," her sister added.
"And I told you-"
"Are you guys coming?" Prue called down, as her voice bounced off the stone walls of the cave below. "We don't have all day."
Phoebe easily let herself let herself fall into the square hole, as she calmly landed on her feet. She hurriedly picked off specks of dust from her shirt, as she fought to wipe it completely void of the annoying substance. "Not quite the place I'd call home," she mumbled to herself.
"It's so tiny," Paige agreed, as she fell in beside her, her nose scrunching itself up among the contents inside. "Looks like no one's been here since the dawn of time."
"You'd...probably be about right on that one," Prue conceded, smirking.
"So now all we have to do...."
"Is find out Cole's wherabouts."
"First I'm going to find Chloe and torture her to a very painful death," Phoebe told her, her mouth set in a tight line.
"Phoebe-"
"Prue, my anger is growing by the minute. I don't care anymore if she had anything to do with it- if she was responsible for his capture. It doesn't explain how she wasn't able to do a damn thing, if she already took that damn Triad down."
"Maybe Cole finished them off himself," Paige suggested. "I mean, his grudge against them was never small."
"Cole is gone," a voice greeted them, it's voice crisp and flawless. "Vanished, disappeared, split...and you're all about to join him."
Phoebe's eyes grew dim, as she reluctantly tilted her head in the direction the figure had spoken, the brown pools fighting tears. The man in front of her was exactly as she had left him. Same dirt-stained white t-shirt, same pair of worn jeans....same unshaven visage. Given different circumstances, he could have still been him. But he wasn't. Nothing about him rang true to her- it had all somehow been strangely polluted. She put a hand to her mouth, finally giving way to the cries that threatened to rip her apart. No. He couldn't. He'd promised her. Everything in her wanted to scream into the mere nothingness that filtered around her, hanging lazily about with little to no effort at all. Every inch of her being wanted to let it all out, her disappointment never choosing to shroud itself from his vision. This man was no longer innocent and his existence faded in her head, as she abandoned all possible hope. "What did she do to you?" she choked out, her tone cracking with each forced attempt that she could put forth.
"It's not what she did, Witch," he drawled, revealing a satisfied grin. "It's the immense power that has come over me. I can literally feel every being in the earth throbbing below...feel every ounce of strength the three of you still have left. To the world, I am its savior."
"No," Phoebe whispered. "To the world, you're pure destruction."
He laughed. "Am I? You think so? Because that's rather funny...where I come from. See, Witch...my very leadership once made the beings of your lower status beg and cry out for mercy. They quivered at my feet."
"I'm not going to beg," she added. "But I am going to vanquish your ass."
"Phoebe, wait-" Prue began.
But it was too late. She moved towards him, throwing her fist into his face. He dodged the move with great expertise, almost as if he'd know her actions from the moment he'd introduced them to his presence, anticipating them with little to no trouble at all. Reaching out with rapid movement, he roughly grabbed her from behind, bringing her close to him, as his hand went tightly around her waist, securing her neck with the other. "You really think I'm going to go down without so much as a struggle?"
Phoebe groaned tiredly, as she fought to free herself, his grip never letting up on her.
"Look, we can do this without-"
"Fighting or weapons?" he jeered. "Yes. Well, I shall believe that when I see it, I suppose. Until then, you're all coming with me. As it so happens, someone else is quite pleased that you've been brought to her attention."
"You're not onto her yet?" Paige countered, glaring at him with a strange curiosity.
"How about you willingly choose to follow my lead or I kill your lovely little sister right here on the spot?"
"But you're not exacty ready to kill her though...are you?" Prue put in, her gaze studying him with an indifferent expression.
"And this must be the fiesty one of the bunch," he sided. "Pretty little maids, all lined up in a row. It's all just so magical."
"Hardly," Prue snapped, her eyes narrowing.
"The man inside me desires his life back," he whispered. "But I simply cannot find it in me to give it to him. I guess that means I don't have a heart. Afterall, he's just dying for a way out, you know? Says his little wife needs him. The absurdity of it all, clearly escapes me!"
"What's absurb, is the fact that you don't even seem to have a valid plan," she stated calmly.
"Give me time," he snapped. "There is work to be done."
"Yeah, I mean...I could think of a few spells," Paige concluded, crossing her arms over her chest. "I always preferred the ones that burned demons to crisps. How about you?"
"Move," he hissed. "Now."
"And if we don't?"
"You heard me. I'll gut her quicker than you can blink an eye."
"Do as he says," Prue instructed.
"But we can take him," she argued. "I know we can, Prue. It might take awhile. But if we-"
"Paige, just do it, alright?"
"But why her?"
"What?" he stammered, clearly caught offguard.
"Why Phoebe? Why is she your primary target?" Paige continued. "You could have taken me or Prue while she went for the punch. And if you're as good as you say you are-"
"Quiet," Prue advised. "Rule number one. You don't even try to have conversations with killers."
"Does the Book of Shadows advise against it?" she quipped lazily.
"I advise against it," Prue told her, entirely serious. "You're only making this worse than it already is."
"My patience wears thin, Witch."
"He would have hurt us though. Maybe what Nick said was-"
"Dammit, Paige. He's got Phoebe unconscious...we're going to be next-"
"And there's no way to revive Phoebe at the moment, so I say we put forth everything we've got."
"Did you find me those sweet little sisters, Wosret? Oh my God, you're a gem!"
"Uh oh."
"I'll second your uh oh," Prue whispered. "Dammit."
"Plan," Paige hissed. "Quick."
"I don't have any!" she hissed back.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, girls. Can I just say that is a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Charmed Ones? Though...you're clearly a lot shorter than I imagined you'd be."
"Drumroll, please. The mothership has arrived," Paige mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"See, the ritual works like this," she started, holding up a small measurement with two fingernails, as she grinned at them joyfully. "Just a teensy weensy drop of your blood...and my precious and I will have all we need in becoming true gods in this world."
"When did that happen?" Prue countered. "That wasn't the-"
"No, but it's a sudden intervention, if you will."
"The Triad is dead," he murmured. "We're three short."
"Where's Chloe?" Paige demanded.
"Okay. I think I've had enough of them ordering you around. You own this dimension, my sweet, and it's time you start acting like it. We shall have no more of this." She quickly wiggled her fingers, as the two remaining witches crumpled into a helpless heap upon the floor, their bodies crumbling besides one another. Celia smiled, clasping her hands directly in front of her, as she gazed wistfully at Wosret. "Our time has clearly come upon us a lot sooner than I had expected with them. But...no matter. We shall have our day soon enough. The children will come looking for them, and soon our collection will be complete. We can have a life that was never destined to be, my love."
"I'm more interested in what becomes of them now," he told her.
"Well, yes. We'll find a nice place to dump the bodies, and then we can-"
"You don't believe they could be useful to us?"
"They're witches, Wosret, have you lost your mind- oh, wait. You've been asleep for more years than you can count on your fingers. Of course you're going to be a bit dusty. Blood, death, dispose," she recited plainly.
"I'm fine," he assured her, gritting his teeth. "This one put up quite the tantrum though. I think she'll prove to be the most stubborn, if I know her."
"Know her? Sweetheart, we don't care about the victims. They are mere slaves to our cause."
"I know that."
"So what was that-"
"I...I just meant I'm familiar with her kind. There were many slaves in her day that...tried to defy me and all I'd worked hard to achieve under my rule."
"You won't have that problem this time."
"I know."
"Are you alright? I mean, in all honesty, I half expected you to be halfway to hell and back by now."
"Tell me why you called me back," he asked her again, as he raised an eyebrow.
"To be by my side when this earth comes crashing down at our feet. To bask in the beauty of success and love where we never had it before."
"I....loved you?" he returned.
"You were supposed to," she whispered. "Only, we were never given enough time. It was of the essence, and you nearly destroyed me."
"And I would destroy you again," he whispered.
"I'm sorry?"
"Take them. We're about to have a little fun." He glared at her as she departed, a faint glimmer flickering in his eyes, as he slowly freed Phoebe from his hold, picking her up into his arms rather tenderly. He studied her face with great concentration, as the pain grew inside of him, tugging at the threads of his heart. He carefully pulled a few random pieces of hair away from her face, a soft tear rolling down his cheek. The cost was too much to bear, and it was far too late to turn back now.