Faded Fragments
part 6
Cole Turner awoke with a start, shivering slightly from the cold, as he placed a hesitant hand upon his stubbled visage, calmly removing a thin layer of water. The rain was streaming down in profound gasps, coming in thick, watery droplets, as he struggled to shift position amongst the damp gravel below him. He drew in a few short breaths, willing his blue eyes open to the world around him. Sleep lingered deep within the pools, followed by an alert sense of well being, as his other hand enclosed itself around a moundful of wet dirt, his unclenched fist revealing a mass of tiny pebbles that were soaked to the bone. A blinking sign of blue was etched in plain view directly in front of him, leading to a small establishment across a foreign street that read DINER in big, wide letters, a shabby motel taking up mindless space right next to it, it's outer shell caked with extreme wear. He brought himself to his knees, slowly lifting himself all the way up, scraping his hands absentmindedly against the sides of the pants he still wore from the night before.
Nothing was even vaguely familiar.
Drawng a complete blank, he was honestly content with just knowing he remembered his own name, let alone that he'd apparently arrived in one piece. The clouds overhead weren't exactly seeking any improvements at the moment, so it would probably be wise for him to find just a bit of shelter for the time being, and proceed to wait it all out. Couldn't be too hard. Because it wasn't real. It couldn't be real. If it had even the slightest indication, he'd already be back in his own bed, his wife cradled protectively in his arms.
It had to be a dream. There was no other logical explanation for it. He took a few steps forward, shielding the rain from his brow, while he contemplated where to start. Neither of the two locations looked even remotely appealing, and they'd clearly seen better days than the buildings he'd come across in his past- still very much a demon and taking innocent lives by the minute. He winced briefly at the thought he'd deemed to be forgotten, realizing it hadn't completely vanished as vividly as he'd believed.
Maybe if he willed Phoebe into the dream, they could both find a way out together. They could both devise some sort of scheme to successfully bring themselves back to the waking world.
A pair of birds chirped noiselessly nearby, as they landed lazily upon a faintly slanted telephone wire, effortlessly digesting the meal they'd proclaimed their own from the torn bout of weather above them in the morning sky.
A paper boy peddled his way to the curb, as he tossed a wrinkled, clammy newspaper into the driveway of the motel, readjusting the cap that lay upon his head with careful precision, as he shot a random glance's Cole's way. Decidedly taking a deep breath and professing a shy shrug, he continued on his way, tossing an energetic wave to an elderly man who had just opened a wide, yellow umbrella as he stepped out of the diner, clad in a reasonably expensive looking suit. Cole glanced helplessly at the drenched clothing that now clung rapidly to his well built frame, as his strong hands went across his chest in an attempt to preserve the warmth.
"Where the hell am I?" he whispered.
"Beats me if I know," a voice happened behind him, its owner rolling her eyes, as she stepped before him, her thin top and pj bottooms just as soaked as his own attire, as she ran a hand through her limp, dark hair, bestowing a tight frown upon her pretty face. "I just can't wait to get the hell out of here- find my way into some nice warm sheets and possibly an even warmer bath."
He nearly jumped from the shock of another presence besides his own, neatly backing himself up against a stack of rusted trash cans piled high with white and black bags alike, the lids loosely enclosed over the tops as they clattered with the impact, his hands reaching out to firmly steady himself. "Oh God. I was wrong. It's a nightmare."
"Hey, dude, the feeling's mutual, let me tell you," Paige Matthews drawled nonchalantly, as she slung her hands out against her hips, her slippers already coated with a fine dose of gravel, as she adjusted her weight from one foot to the other. "Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do is have you come in here and make my day worse than it probably already is. But hey, beggars cant be choosers, right? All in all, I guess we're stuck with each other."
"Any minute I'm going to wake up, and you're going to be away. Far away," he added, his brows arched in concentration. "Never saw you...you weren't really here."
"Oh, don't sweat it. Matter of fact, covering yourself in garbage isn't going to make it any better either."
He immediately backed away, clasping both hands in front of him. "You get away from me right now, and there won't be any trouble."
"And when will you get the fact that my goal in life is not to torture you?"
"Just for the record? This is by far the worst dream I have ever had in my life. And all I really want right now, more than anything, is to see it end."
"Yeah, and we're not in a dream," she breathed, reluctantly moving a step closer to him. "Trust me, I've already pinched myself half a dozen times."
"And the last time I checked? I don't sleepwalk."
"Yeah, but you do snore," she mused, quietly pursing her lips. "I figure a demon came after us in our sleep, didn't succeed by far, and dumped us off right here in a defeated attempt at losing."
"Yes, and I usually make an attempt to use my powers in my sleep at least once a week because it promotes personal hygiene and makes me more alert."
"Well, see, there you go. That should solve it then."
"Yeah, and that's why- good God, Paige, they would've already made short work of us by now, no questions asked. They wouldn't have stopped to stay around for a heart to heart."
"Oh, right. And I suppose you'd know that so well, because you're already considered well versed in the art."
"Not that you'd-"
"Look, we've still gotta get out of the rain. And we're not going to do it standing here arguing with one another."
"I didn't start it this time," he snapped.
"Yes, and that seems to be your response for everything I do, isn't it?"
"And maybe if we're lucky, we also got rid of that poor excuse for a former employee who just happens to be your boyfriend."
"You only feel like striking out at him because you've lost all your good comebacks."
"Have you tried getting back to the house?" he asked, impatiently.
She turned away, her expression reading a complete blank, as she followed him out into the open, her lids squinting, as she eyed up the diner with a renewed sense of interest, realizing she hadn't yet had the pleasure of sitting down to enjoy a good breakfast. "I did, and....it's not there."
He blinked, his blues entirely focused upon her now. "I'm sorry?"
"You heard me. I said it's not there."
"What do you mean, not there? It has to be there. It's always been there."
"Do you suddenly have a problem understanding the English language?" This time her eyes met his directly, as her voice nearly cracked, a sadness enveloping itself around her as she took a single step back. "As soon as I woke up, it was the first place I tried. The street is there, mind you, it's just that the place where our...your house is supposed to be.....someone put up a handy little corner store instead. I don't know how it got there, or even when it got there. It was just there."
"The manor?"
"To be honest, it hadn't crossed my mind," she added, shrugging. "I just assumed I was-"
"And when was the last time you saw Nick?"
"Last night. We had a little quality time together, had a small meal, watched some tv....are you cringing?"
He abruptly straightened out his face. "It's just...I...it's still strange to see you so generously devoting your life to loving someone who wasn't exactly clean in his glory days. That's all."
"Oh, grow up, Cole. Phoebe did the same thing, and you know it."
"Yeah, but I was never as gullible."
"Are you implying I buy into Nick because he's sweet talked me?"
"Something like that."
"Excuse me?"
"I think it'd be better for both of us if we just dropped this conversation completely, okay?"
"Oh, so now it's too much to actually have a reasonable discussion with me on my significant other?"
"Well, if we're being honest, I wouldn't exactly call him significant, per se...."
"See, this is exactly what I mean."
"Paige-"
"Not that I'm deliberatly trying to be nosy now, but I don't suppose you happen to have any loose cash on you? Credit cards? Checkbook? Really can't see myself singing and playing guitar to beg mercilessly on a search for my family in the streets. Aside from the part where it's just downright embarrassing, I can't sing or play a musical instrument of any kind."
He laughed softly then, the corners of his mouth almost drifting into a smile. "Some people really don't get the credit they deserve."
"And what's that supposed to-"
"Nothing a little magic can't take care of," he replied simply. With a quick deliberate wave of his hand, he dove into his back pocket, recovering a rather compact wallet, contents new and very much intact.
"Okay, and that is so personal gain, it isn't even funny."
"Not when it's a necessity required to survive. In truth, I'm merely improvising on that survival."
"Did I ever tell you just how strange you are?"
"Yeah, and you'll also be telling me how wonderful I am when you'll reluctantly be paying me back a hefty sum for getting you your necessities. You...don't exactly look too flattering without makeup, for starters."
Her mouth simply hung open, as water dripped absentmindedly from her chin. She closed it, opened it again, as she glared at him. "That has to be the lowest thing you have ever said to me in our history of knowing one another."
"Look, I hate to interrupt your pathetic visions of wealth and prosper here, but we still have to find Phoebe. If we can get to her, Piper and Prue can't be far behind. Once we figure out what's going on, it should be- we should have...."
"Cole?"
But he wasn't listening. His features had crumpled into a faded bout of sadness, as he watched a woman take her little girl out of the car, tugging her free of the single car seat that resided comfortably towards the back. The child had a calm pout situated on her face, her bottom lip protruding ever so slightly, as her eyes remained tired to the morning air. Clothed in a thin jacket and a pair of crisp blue pants, she planted her feet stubbornly on the ground as she clung to the door handle with all her might, refusing to budge and enter the warmth of the diner. His blues drifted to the sky above in all its broken countenance, his entire body tensing.
"What is it? What's wrong? Do you know them?"
He merely shook his head, dragging a wet hand through his hair. "Ally," he whispered.
"I don't understand."
"The last time I saw her she said the most....meanful...touching....things to me. I never thought- my little girl is out there somewhere too, Paige. My little girl is out there, and I don't even know where to begin. I just...."
"We're not going to find any of them this way. As soon as we get inside, we'll make a couple of calls, and then-"
"Something's wrong," he continued. "Dammit, Paige, I can feel it. Something's not right."
"We'll get dressed, and then you'll shimmer us to the manor. We'll get Piper and we'll figure this thing out." She studied him a moment. "Cole, listen to me, you...you can't be of any help if you just sit there and-"
"And I was with them a few hours ago," he stammered. "How can everything just disappear? I was just with them, Paige."
"It's not possible," she murmured.
"No. It's not. Something's wrong."
"Yeah, and whatever it is, we're going to fix it. Trust me, alright?"
"Still want to try the motel?"
She tried her best to force a smile, as she hesitantly placed a single hand upon the small of his back, edging him forward. "I think it would be a good place to start," she suggested.
The desk clerk slowly lifted himself out of his chair as they entered, his short frame calmly tucking in a light pink dress shirt covered in various cream cheese stains, as he gently shoved his bagel aside, running a hand quietly through his thinning hair, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head, as he choked slightly on a piece he'd just consumed. "Can I, uh, help you folks?"
"A room would be good," Paige offered, scrunching up her nose without her knowledge, as she moved to stand beside Cole, her hands planted firmly upon the dusty countertop.
"We probably have a few vacancies," he mused, as he took to typing out a few pointless strokes upon the machine before him, nervously shooting her a shy grin.
"Think you have an admirer," he tossed out, his voice close to her ear.
She only frowned. "You're going to suffer for that later. In fact....maybe I'll even reconsider that spell on your family jewels if you're not careful."
"How about a location?" Cole interceded, professing a brief wince, as he dutifully ignored her, turning his full attention back to the clerk.
"But I thought we-"
"Paige, it would be useless to check in here when we're probably not more than a few miles from-"
"Where ya headed?" the clerk spoke up, quickly dabbing at his nose with a single tissue, as he lightly took a sip of the coffee seated undisturbed to his right.
"Well, I really don't think-" Paige began.
"San Francisco," Cole cut her off.
"Oh. Geez. Wow. Boy, are you outta your way or what," he exclaimed, a smile drifting onto his plain features, as he happily reached behind him for a small map. "You'd be right on the border of Washington, sir. If California's where you're headed, you've got quite a ways to go."
"Wait. What?" he countered. "Washington, as in...the state of Washington?"
The small man merely shrugged. "What other Washington is there, kid?"
"You're kidding, right?"
He frowned. "Wish I were. But if you look at this here map...." He shoved it before them, indicating the spot they'd arrived at, and trailed a fairly wide finger down to their intended stop. "See here....you'd be lucky if you reach it in a reasonable amount of time." He considered it a moment, his face softening. "Tell you what. I'll make it a little easier....I'll give both of you a room free of charge, you can get in out of the rain, and we'll see about taking the fastest route back to where ya gotta go. Okay?"
"You've gotta be joking," Cole insisted. "I've never even- what kind of business would I have here?"
The man just shot him a blank stare. "Beats me. You folks got any luggage?"
"We'll take a room," Paige managed.
"We'll what?"
"We'll take one," she repeated a bit louder, shooting Cole a glare. "Do you have a key?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sure. Hang on a minute." He was back about five minutes later, passing off a fairly rusted object, with a small plastic tag containing a number attached to it, the string fairly withered. "You'll be in twelve. Has all the requirements you asked for. How...how long do you plan on staying with us?"
"We're not-"
She reached out a quick hand, smacking Cole in the chest, as she took key into her hand, abruptly shoving him back outside, while the clerk merely glanced after them in a perplexed state, nonchalantly scratching his chin, as he took yet another bite out of his bagel, oblivious to the spill of cream cheese that once again dribbled down his shirt.
"What's the matter with you?" she hissed.
"What's the matter with me? Are you out of your mind?!"
"You have your powers, don't you?"
"Yes, but we-"
"Regardless of how we got here, we can still leave whenever-"
"Paige, we were safe and sound in our own beds nearly eight hours before. I refuse...no, I doubt, with everything I have left in my being...that we're supposed to be here."
"Oh, thank you, Sherlock Holmes. Gee, I feel so much better now. Wow."
"Spare me the sarcastic crap, alright? You-"
"And I suppose someone just flicked their magical little fingers and put us here, right?"
"I have no idea where my wife is, my daughters and my son have gone missing, your other two sisters have completely vanished from the radar screen, we're in Washington, and you want to stay in some cheap hotel and wait it out. Great. Perfect. Send me a damn postcard, because there is no way in hell I'm staying here."
"Motel," she said, her voice just above a whisper.
"What?"
"It's a motel," she finished. "And if you continue to go back and forth with me out here, you're going to catch a bad case of pneumonia, and nobody is going to get to see anybody for awhile."
"So help me, if The Elders are responsible for this, I'm going to-"
"You don't know that. Right now we don't know anything."
"I can't even sense them."
"And we can't panic. Not yet. There have to be some answers, and we're going to find them."
"The Underworld," he managed.
"Oh, you can't be serious. We are not starting from below and working our way up, it's-"
"Smart," he emphasized. "They might know something we never saw coming- something in the works. It's a good a chance as any to take. You know that as well as I do."
"And I guess this means we'll have to put our differences aside."
"You don't have to come with me. No one's forcing you. I can handle it just fine on my own. You'd just be dead weight along the way."
"I beg your pardon?" she mused thoughtfully, shooting him a skeptical eyebrow.
"And I guess evil still lacks a heart on Christmas," he whispered, his face almost cracking into a loose smile. "I mean, what did we expect, right?"
"You'll get that Christmas with your family....you will."
"Yeah, well somebody out there is sure dead set against it, and I'll be damned if I'm going to take it again."
"You're a pretty popular guy," she sided. "Everybody and their brother seems to be after you."
He followed her, as she placed the key firmly into the lock, and slowly turned it, opening a weather beaten door to a small, compact room with two beds, a television set, and an even tinier bathroom. "But there's always more to it than meets the eye, isn't there?"
"Definitely somebody new in town who wants to play....or so they'd like us to believe."
"Separate the masses, and move in for the kill."
"Huh?"
"It's common strategy," he said softly. "When I was sent by The Triad, one of the things I tried was breaking apart the Power of Three, because I knew they'd be more vulnerable that way. I was right."
"So what you're trying to say is someone is emulating you again."
"Or making it seem like it with a deeper matter at stake."
"Which is?"
"I don't know." He paused a moment, fingering the wallpaper with strong fingers, as he closed the door behind them. "But I'm going to find out. Count on it."
"Not bad free of charge, wouldn't you say?"
He nearly laughed, as he sat himself down on the bed, tugging off the worn pair of white socks, as he tugged the equally worn shirt off his head, once again gesturing with his fingers. A pair of jeans, and a long sleeve t-shirt appeared at the edge of the bedspread, calmly waiting to be thrown atop his lean frame. He considered them a moment, tossing the wet shirt roughly aside onto the floor. "And just so we're clear, I'd kindly appreciate it if you didn't find your way into my nightmares again in the near future. Because, quite frankly, you're enough to give any poor man a splitting headache."