Advisory
Title: Advisory
Author: not_from_stars
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Charmed/Twilight Crossover
Character(s): Cole Turner, Edward Cullen
Word Count: 2,220
Summary: Cole pulled his hand back from where he had smacked Edward in the back of the head. "Stop doing your bad imitation of a suffering poet and tell me what happened. Why did you walk away from her?"
Notes: Set shortly after Edward leaves Forks in New Moon
"You're making Phoebe sick, you know."
Edward looked up as his friend down onto the porch steps next to him. "What?"
"Migraine," Cole explained. "You keep giving her one. Your emotions are too strong for her to block out."
Edward's face twisted with remorse. "I'm sorry. I can leave."
"Don't be stupid."
"I didn't come here to cause any one pain, Cole. If I'm hurting her, I can go somewhere else."
"Tell you what, Edward, you inform Phoebe of that, and after your ears stop ringing, you can decide if it's worth dealing with her -- and Alice -- to leave."
Edward managed a small smile. ""You make a valid point."
"Of course I do," Cole smiled widely. "Besides, I'd like to have sex with my wife on a regular basis. If you try to leave right now, she'll know I said something to you -- which I wasn't supposed to do. That would land me in a lot of trouble with her and I'd really like to avoid that."
"Emmett would say that you're whipped."
"Emmett has no room to talk," Cole retorted. "He's the exact definition of whipped."
"That's very true."
They sat in easy silence for a few moments and then Cole spoke again.
"It's not going to get any easier, you know," he said quietly. "The pain."
"It's not my pain that matters, Cole."
"Bullshit," he said calmly, not looking at Edward. "Your family doesn't agree with that. Phoebe and I don't agree with that. I bet your Bella wouldn't agree with that, either."
"She's not mine any longer. I made sure of that."
"Dumb ass."
Edward looked at him. "What else could I do, Cole? My presence was a danger to her. I brought fear and bloodshed into her world and that was wrong. She's better off without me."
"My mistake. You're not a dumb ass."
"Thank you."
"You're a colossal dumb ass."
Edward stared at him, not understanding what he was talking about -- even if he could hear all of this thoughts. "Excuse me?"
"Bella knows what you are, correct?"
"Yes, she's known for awhile."
"And she made the choice on her own to be with you, correct?"
"Yes, but she didn't realize the danger that would be chasing her."
"And even after what happened in Arizona, she still loved you and wanted to be with you."
"What Bella wants and what's good for her are two entirely separate things."
"Dumb. Ass."
"Will you please quit calling me that?"
"Maybe when I think you don't deserve it, my friend." Cole shook his head. "Tell me again what you did and why -- now that Phoebe isn't here to feel everything and be in tears over what she's feeling. I hate seeing her cry -- I always have."
"I've always hated seeing Bella cry, too," Edward whispered. "I hate myself for every tear I've caused her to shed, every scratch that she's gotten since she's known me, every -- hey!"
Cole pulled his hand back from where he had smacked Edward in the back of the head. "Stop doing your bad imitation of a suffering poet and tell me what happened. Why did you walk away from her?"
Edward sighed. "I knew from the beginning that I had no right to her or her love. She was so fragile, so pure and selfless. There was no way I could ever be worthy of such a person. She was also human and I had no right -- hit me again and you're going to get hit back." He glared at Cole, having picked the thought from his mind.
"Then stop acting like an idiot. I don't need to know about all of her graces and wonderful attributes, Edward. Phoebe told me all about them the first time Alice called her to tell her about Bella -- and how you were no longer alone."
"We had a birthday party at our place for her, her eighteenth. She was opening a package and got a paper cut that started bleeding immediately -- she bleeds too easily -- and Jasper was overcome by the smell of human blood and tried to attack her."
Cole winced. "Poor Jasper."
"Yeah, but it got worse. In intercepting Jasper from being on Bella, I ended up throwing her through a glass table and she slit her arm open." Edward took a deep breath. "Seeing her there, bleeding amongst the remnants of pink cake and pink flowers made me realize that I couldn't keep doing this to her. I was always exposing her to danger and that wasn't something I could keep doing to her."
"Did she get a choice in all of this at all?"
Edward shook his head. "She would never have agreed that I was too dangerous to be around her. She always accepted everything that happened or blamed herself. It wasn't right or fair. I had to protect her from even herself." He laughed mirthlessly. "As if vampires trying to kill her because her blood smells so damn good is her fault."
Cole raised an eyebrow. "I know someone who can be like that -- or she used to be."
Edward glanced at him in surprise. "Phoebe?"
"Oh yeah. When she was younger she used to take the blame for things that she had no control over -- like the whole thing both times with the Source of All Evil."
"I would have never pegged her for a martyr..."
"Not consciously, any way," Cole corrected. "Do I need to remind you of the circumstances under which your family met Phoebe?"
Edward shook his head. "No. I remember that night very well." It was the first time he had seen Rosalie express concern for anyone outside of the family.
"So, back to Bella and you being an ass."
"Cole ..."
"Talk."
The vampire sighed. "I told her that I didn't want her any longer... that I didn't love her and that she was getting in the way of my other distractions. The look on her face... it took every ounce of my strength not to gather her up and apologize and tell her I didn't mean any of it. But I was stronger than that and I was able to leave her behind and we all left Forks. I lied to save her." He looked down. "I wanted to give her a clean break so that she could move on with her life."
"While at the same time slowly killing yourself."
"My pain doesn't matter, Cole. As long as Bella is safe and alive, well, it makes everything else worth it."
Cole sighed and was silent for a long time. "It's not going to work you know," he finally said.
"What do you mean?"
"You won't be able to stay away from her forever."
"Of course I can. It's the whole point of all of this."
He shook his head. "You can't stay away from your soul mate, no matter how hard you try or what your intentions are."
"You speak as if you've had some experience with that."
"I do, actually," Cole said in a quiet tone. "Quite a lot in fact."
"Oh?"
He nodded. "I tried not to love Phoebe as much as I knew I did. See, I was a demonic assassin. I was the weapon that the Source of All Evil sent to kill Phoebe and her sisters. My plan was simple. I was going seduce Phoebe and drive a wedge between her and her sisters. With their bond of sisterhood severed, I could kill all three Charmed Ones and remove the threat to the Source."
Edward stared at him and then nodded. "I had to fight from killing Bella when I first met her because her blood smelled that good."
"I bet." Cole sighed, looking down at his hands. "I ended up succeeding in causing the wedge between them and separating the sisters. Phoebe came to my place in tears and so upset. I had the opportunity right then and there to kill her. She was a wreck and defenseless and I had the knife right behind my back." He shook his head. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to kill her and rob the world of her light. So, I told her that she needed to go back to her house and make peace with her sisters. When Phoebe found out later that I was the demon sent to kill her, she felt so betrayed -- and rightfully so. She thought I had been playing a cruel game with her heart -- and that was way too close to the truth for my comfort. I explained that it started out that way, but that I was only a half demon. She had awakened my human soul and I fell in love with her."
"You guys are good together. Your soul won her heart back."
Cole's laugh was harsh. "Not exactly. I killed the demon bounty hunter that was going to kill her for being a witch... and Phoebe and I decided that we couldn't be together. She pretended to vanquish me and let me go. She told her sisters that she had killed me and walked away." He shook his head. "I couldn't stay away from her, though. It was like there was an empty hole in my heart without her in my life. I decided that I would renounce who I was before and live like a human. I would never use my demon powers again and prove myself worthy of Phoebe's love." He looked at Edward. "I was willing to become a traitor and be hunted by the Underworld to be with her."
"She doesn't seem to have a problem with your demon powers now, so what changed?"
"I went to see her and it wasn't the best reception from her or her sisters. Her sisters hated me -- and with good reason. Not only had I tried for months to kill them, I had broken their baby sister's heart. I think they held that against me more than anything. I didn't blame them one bit for it. I had hurt her unbearably. I was trying to tell them that I was reformed and was never going to use my powers again, when Phoebe suddenly collapsed. Prue caught her as she went to the floor."
"What happened?"
"She was dying," Cole said bleakly. "Somehow, her soul and the soul of a Native American from the past got linked together. Everything that happened to him in the past was happening to Phoebe in the present. He was shot and dying... and therefore, so was Phoebe."
Edward stared at him, picking up the thoughts in his friend's mind as he recalled that time in their lives. "Oh Cole, I'm sorry."
"Nothing her healer was doing was helping... and I realized I was her only chance. I could use my powers and go to that period in time to help the other man. I would lose Phoebe's love for using my demonic powers, but it was worth the cost because she would be alive." He sighed. "I saved her... and she wouldn't let me walk away. So, we managed to try and make it work between us. But there was always something working against us. She was human and could be hurt or killed so easily, it ate at me. She had the enemies of the Charmed Ones as well as my enemies to deal with. Fear over losing her consumed me beyond all reason... making it easy for me to be tricked into doing something that I thought was going to keep her safe and alive. Only that's not what happened and I was possessed by the essence of the Source." Cole looked at Edward. "And you know everything that happened after that."
Edward nodded, he did indeed. "But Phoebe has powers and you guys have managed to work everything about your lives into one. That wouldn't happen with me and Bella unless I made her like me, and that is something that I will not do. I will not take her soul away from her."
"It almost killed Phoebe and I every time we tried to stay away from each other, Edward. Oh, to the outside, we both looked like we were coping just fine, but we weren't. Without the other half of ourselves, we were dying inside. Everything hurt so much more and it was enough to drive me insane -- literally -- once."
"Bella is strong willed. Her anger will get her to move on and be thankful that I left her when I did."
Cole shook his head. "I think you're wrong about that, Edward. From what you've said -- how you've looked -- the bond the two of you have is just as powerful as what's between Phoebe and I."
"It was the best thing to do for her," Edward said stubbornly. "I love her enough to tear my heart apart and walk away from her. I will allow her to have a safe life like she had before she knew me and she'll grow up and forget all about the selfish vampire she once loved."
"Idiot," Cole muttered as the two of them watched the sun go down and waited for Phoebe to return home.
Author: not_from_stars
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Charmed/Twilight Crossover
Character(s): Cole Turner, Edward Cullen
Word Count: 2,220
Summary: Cole pulled his hand back from where he had smacked Edward in the back of the head. "Stop doing your bad imitation of a suffering poet and tell me what happened. Why did you walk away from her?"
Notes: Set shortly after Edward leaves Forks in New Moon
"You're making Phoebe sick, you know."
Edward looked up as his friend down onto the porch steps next to him. "What?"
"Migraine," Cole explained. "You keep giving her one. Your emotions are too strong for her to block out."
Edward's face twisted with remorse. "I'm sorry. I can leave."
"Don't be stupid."
"I didn't come here to cause any one pain, Cole. If I'm hurting her, I can go somewhere else."
"Tell you what, Edward, you inform Phoebe of that, and after your ears stop ringing, you can decide if it's worth dealing with her -- and Alice -- to leave."
Edward managed a small smile. ""You make a valid point."
"Of course I do," Cole smiled widely. "Besides, I'd like to have sex with my wife on a regular basis. If you try to leave right now, she'll know I said something to you -- which I wasn't supposed to do. That would land me in a lot of trouble with her and I'd really like to avoid that."
"Emmett would say that you're whipped."
"Emmett has no room to talk," Cole retorted. "He's the exact definition of whipped."
"That's very true."
They sat in easy silence for a few moments and then Cole spoke again.
"It's not going to get any easier, you know," he said quietly. "The pain."
"It's not my pain that matters, Cole."
"Bullshit," he said calmly, not looking at Edward. "Your family doesn't agree with that. Phoebe and I don't agree with that. I bet your Bella wouldn't agree with that, either."
"She's not mine any longer. I made sure of that."
"Dumb ass."
Edward looked at him. "What else could I do, Cole? My presence was a danger to her. I brought fear and bloodshed into her world and that was wrong. She's better off without me."
"My mistake. You're not a dumb ass."
"Thank you."
"You're a colossal dumb ass."
Edward stared at him, not understanding what he was talking about -- even if he could hear all of this thoughts. "Excuse me?"
"Bella knows what you are, correct?"
"Yes, she's known for awhile."
"And she made the choice on her own to be with you, correct?"
"Yes, but she didn't realize the danger that would be chasing her."
"And even after what happened in Arizona, she still loved you and wanted to be with you."
"What Bella wants and what's good for her are two entirely separate things."
"Dumb. Ass."
"Will you please quit calling me that?"
"Maybe when I think you don't deserve it, my friend." Cole shook his head. "Tell me again what you did and why -- now that Phoebe isn't here to feel everything and be in tears over what she's feeling. I hate seeing her cry -- I always have."
"I've always hated seeing Bella cry, too," Edward whispered. "I hate myself for every tear I've caused her to shed, every scratch that she's gotten since she's known me, every -- hey!"
Cole pulled his hand back from where he had smacked Edward in the back of the head. "Stop doing your bad imitation of a suffering poet and tell me what happened. Why did you walk away from her?"
Edward sighed. "I knew from the beginning that I had no right to her or her love. She was so fragile, so pure and selfless. There was no way I could ever be worthy of such a person. She was also human and I had no right -- hit me again and you're going to get hit back." He glared at Cole, having picked the thought from his mind.
"Then stop acting like an idiot. I don't need to know about all of her graces and wonderful attributes, Edward. Phoebe told me all about them the first time Alice called her to tell her about Bella -- and how you were no longer alone."
"We had a birthday party at our place for her, her eighteenth. She was opening a package and got a paper cut that started bleeding immediately -- she bleeds too easily -- and Jasper was overcome by the smell of human blood and tried to attack her."
Cole winced. "Poor Jasper."
"Yeah, but it got worse. In intercepting Jasper from being on Bella, I ended up throwing her through a glass table and she slit her arm open." Edward took a deep breath. "Seeing her there, bleeding amongst the remnants of pink cake and pink flowers made me realize that I couldn't keep doing this to her. I was always exposing her to danger and that wasn't something I could keep doing to her."
"Did she get a choice in all of this at all?"
Edward shook his head. "She would never have agreed that I was too dangerous to be around her. She always accepted everything that happened or blamed herself. It wasn't right or fair. I had to protect her from even herself." He laughed mirthlessly. "As if vampires trying to kill her because her blood smells so damn good is her fault."
Cole raised an eyebrow. "I know someone who can be like that -- or she used to be."
Edward glanced at him in surprise. "Phoebe?"
"Oh yeah. When she was younger she used to take the blame for things that she had no control over -- like the whole thing both times with the Source of All Evil."
"I would have never pegged her for a martyr..."
"Not consciously, any way," Cole corrected. "Do I need to remind you of the circumstances under which your family met Phoebe?"
Edward shook his head. "No. I remember that night very well." It was the first time he had seen Rosalie express concern for anyone outside of the family.
"So, back to Bella and you being an ass."
"Cole ..."
"Talk."
The vampire sighed. "I told her that I didn't want her any longer... that I didn't love her and that she was getting in the way of my other distractions. The look on her face... it took every ounce of my strength not to gather her up and apologize and tell her I didn't mean any of it. But I was stronger than that and I was able to leave her behind and we all left Forks. I lied to save her." He looked down. "I wanted to give her a clean break so that she could move on with her life."
"While at the same time slowly killing yourself."
"My pain doesn't matter, Cole. As long as Bella is safe and alive, well, it makes everything else worth it."
Cole sighed and was silent for a long time. "It's not going to work you know," he finally said.
"What do you mean?"
"You won't be able to stay away from her forever."
"Of course I can. It's the whole point of all of this."
He shook his head. "You can't stay away from your soul mate, no matter how hard you try or what your intentions are."
"You speak as if you've had some experience with that."
"I do, actually," Cole said in a quiet tone. "Quite a lot in fact."
"Oh?"
He nodded. "I tried not to love Phoebe as much as I knew I did. See, I was a demonic assassin. I was the weapon that the Source of All Evil sent to kill Phoebe and her sisters. My plan was simple. I was going seduce Phoebe and drive a wedge between her and her sisters. With their bond of sisterhood severed, I could kill all three Charmed Ones and remove the threat to the Source."
Edward stared at him and then nodded. "I had to fight from killing Bella when I first met her because her blood smelled that good."
"I bet." Cole sighed, looking down at his hands. "I ended up succeeding in causing the wedge between them and separating the sisters. Phoebe came to my place in tears and so upset. I had the opportunity right then and there to kill her. She was a wreck and defenseless and I had the knife right behind my back." He shook his head. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to kill her and rob the world of her light. So, I told her that she needed to go back to her house and make peace with her sisters. When Phoebe found out later that I was the demon sent to kill her, she felt so betrayed -- and rightfully so. She thought I had been playing a cruel game with her heart -- and that was way too close to the truth for my comfort. I explained that it started out that way, but that I was only a half demon. She had awakened my human soul and I fell in love with her."
"You guys are good together. Your soul won her heart back."
Cole's laugh was harsh. "Not exactly. I killed the demon bounty hunter that was going to kill her for being a witch... and Phoebe and I decided that we couldn't be together. She pretended to vanquish me and let me go. She told her sisters that she had killed me and walked away." He shook his head. "I couldn't stay away from her, though. It was like there was an empty hole in my heart without her in my life. I decided that I would renounce who I was before and live like a human. I would never use my demon powers again and prove myself worthy of Phoebe's love." He looked at Edward. "I was willing to become a traitor and be hunted by the Underworld to be with her."
"She doesn't seem to have a problem with your demon powers now, so what changed?"
"I went to see her and it wasn't the best reception from her or her sisters. Her sisters hated me -- and with good reason. Not only had I tried for months to kill them, I had broken their baby sister's heart. I think they held that against me more than anything. I didn't blame them one bit for it. I had hurt her unbearably. I was trying to tell them that I was reformed and was never going to use my powers again, when Phoebe suddenly collapsed. Prue caught her as she went to the floor."
"What happened?"
"She was dying," Cole said bleakly. "Somehow, her soul and the soul of a Native American from the past got linked together. Everything that happened to him in the past was happening to Phoebe in the present. He was shot and dying... and therefore, so was Phoebe."
Edward stared at him, picking up the thoughts in his friend's mind as he recalled that time in their lives. "Oh Cole, I'm sorry."
"Nothing her healer was doing was helping... and I realized I was her only chance. I could use my powers and go to that period in time to help the other man. I would lose Phoebe's love for using my demonic powers, but it was worth the cost because she would be alive." He sighed. "I saved her... and she wouldn't let me walk away. So, we managed to try and make it work between us. But there was always something working against us. She was human and could be hurt or killed so easily, it ate at me. She had the enemies of the Charmed Ones as well as my enemies to deal with. Fear over losing her consumed me beyond all reason... making it easy for me to be tricked into doing something that I thought was going to keep her safe and alive. Only that's not what happened and I was possessed by the essence of the Source." Cole looked at Edward. "And you know everything that happened after that."
Edward nodded, he did indeed. "But Phoebe has powers and you guys have managed to work everything about your lives into one. That wouldn't happen with me and Bella unless I made her like me, and that is something that I will not do. I will not take her soul away from her."
"It almost killed Phoebe and I every time we tried to stay away from each other, Edward. Oh, to the outside, we both looked like we were coping just fine, but we weren't. Without the other half of ourselves, we were dying inside. Everything hurt so much more and it was enough to drive me insane -- literally -- once."
"Bella is strong willed. Her anger will get her to move on and be thankful that I left her when I did."
Cole shook his head. "I think you're wrong about that, Edward. From what you've said -- how you've looked -- the bond the two of you have is just as powerful as what's between Phoebe and I."
"It was the best thing to do for her," Edward said stubbornly. "I love her enough to tear my heart apart and walk away from her. I will allow her to have a safe life like she had before she knew me and she'll grow up and forget all about the selfish vampire she once loved."
"Idiot," Cole muttered as the two of them watched the sun go down and waited for Phoebe to return home.