Cole/Buffy - Neither Friend Nor Foe
Fandom: Charmed/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Title: Neither Friend Nor Foe
Author: iluvroadrunner6
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Cole Turner/Buffy Summers, mentions of Phoebe Halliwell and past Cole/Phoebe
tamingthemuse Prompt: #270 ~ Exhausted
Content Warning: N/A
Summary: Phoebe warns her about him before things even start.
Author’s Note: Written based off a prompt on the Anon Meme, “Buffy Summers/Cole Turner - You think I would have learned my lesson by now.” I’m not sure how this fits into canon, but it’s smushed in there somewhere.
Disclaimer: I don’t own. They belong to the WB. I’m just borrowing and will put everything back where I found it.
Phoebe warns her about him before things even start.
Buffy meets the Charmed Ones when Cole gets spit out of the Hellmouth. Only problem is, he’s not Cole at first. He’s Belthazor. Large, black, red and definitely demon-y, Buffy’s first instinct is to try and take him out, but she doesn’t. He hadn’t attacked anyone yet, hadn’t hurt anyone, and once he reverts back to his human form, she’s really glad she didn’t. Demons are demons, but most demons are willing to just live their lives and not hurt people for kicks. She doesn’t know anything about him as a demon, and won’t until she gets back to her house and back to Giles, but for right now, she decides to trust him.
It seems like an easy thing to do.
It’s not until she gets back to the house and asks Giles to help her look him up that she realizes the mistake she’s made. She kicks herself for it, for the kind of killer she’s released, that she’s been conned by again, but when she keeps reading and finds out that he’s supposed to be dead, that a great magical power was supposed to have killed him, several times over, she just gets confused. Not that she hasn’t seen things come back from the dead before-she’s come back from the dead before-but this just seems a little surreal. How many lives can a demon have? So she does the logical thing to do.
She calls that great magical power up on the phone, to have a little chat.
A little chat on the phone turns into a face to face when the three sisters orb in, looking grimmer than grim considering the circumstances. Buffy hears the whole saga unfold in front of her, everything that Phoebe, Paige and Piper went through with him, and she understands it. She’s ready to get out there and take care of business once and for all, again, but Phoebe stops her. She thinks that maybe, if Cole doesn’t have her to fixate on, if he can just start over, he still has the potential to be good. Buffy isn’t so sure and neither are her sisters, but Phoebe’s insistent, so Buffy lets her. She agrees to not slay him unless it’s absolutely necessary.
“Don’t fall in love with him,” Phoebe whispers before she leaves, too soft for the rest of the room to hear. “Whatever you do-don’t let him get that power over you.”
Buffy assures herself, not for the first time, that that won’t be a problem.
***
She wishes, not for the first time, that Spike hadn’t been right about her all those years ago.
Falling for Cole is so much easier than Phoebe makes it out to be. Even if she knows everything about him, everything that he’s done and everything that he’s attempted to be, there’s still a part of her that’s drawn to him in a way that she can’t explain. He’s intense in a way she can’t quantify, in a way that drags you in, blinds you to everything else, but this isn’t Buffy’s first time to the redemption rodeo. She can see the cracks and flaws, see the way that he quakes under the pressure of his desire to do good, to be good, to fight against what’s inherent in his nature, and be that person for her.
She needs that small bit of monster in her man. His intense focus on her, on what she wants him to be draws her in and appeals to that part of her she can never seem to shake. She wants to be the one to save him, just to prove that she can. She’s done it before, there’s no saying she can’t do it now.
But Cole isn’t Spike, and he certainly isn’t Angel.
Cole doesn’t see the lines. He only sees what he wants and what he feels the need to do, and this is only complicated by the fact that he’s living on a Hellmouth. He can feel the pull of the evil, the urge to just give in and feed off it, and in the end, it’s too much. Cole reverts, gives in to the pull, and by the time Buffy catches up with him, the damage is already done. She knows what she has to do, and unlike Phoebe, she has the resolve to make sure it sticks the first time around.
She’s so tired of all this. She’s tired of having to stop the people she loves, and she’s tired of them stabbing her in the back. But it doesn’t stop her from doing her job, and after one quick call to Phoebe, she has the potion she needs. It’s not until the fireball is starting to surround him, and he’s looking at her, asking her why.
“Because I should know better by now.”
As the flames come to an apex and Cole disappears into the vanquish, Buffy wishes it didn’t hurt as much as well.
Title: Neither Friend Nor Foe
Author: iluvroadrunner6
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Cole Turner/Buffy Summers, mentions of Phoebe Halliwell and past Cole/Phoebe
tamingthemuse Prompt: #270 ~ Exhausted
Content Warning: N/A
Summary: Phoebe warns her about him before things even start.
Author’s Note: Written based off a prompt on the Anon Meme, “Buffy Summers/Cole Turner - You think I would have learned my lesson by now.” I’m not sure how this fits into canon, but it’s smushed in there somewhere.
Disclaimer: I don’t own. They belong to the WB. I’m just borrowing and will put everything back where I found it.
Phoebe warns her about him before things even start.
Buffy meets the Charmed Ones when Cole gets spit out of the Hellmouth. Only problem is, he’s not Cole at first. He’s Belthazor. Large, black, red and definitely demon-y, Buffy’s first instinct is to try and take him out, but she doesn’t. He hadn’t attacked anyone yet, hadn’t hurt anyone, and once he reverts back to his human form, she’s really glad she didn’t. Demons are demons, but most demons are willing to just live their lives and not hurt people for kicks. She doesn’t know anything about him as a demon, and won’t until she gets back to her house and back to Giles, but for right now, she decides to trust him.
It seems like an easy thing to do.
It’s not until she gets back to the house and asks Giles to help her look him up that she realizes the mistake she’s made. She kicks herself for it, for the kind of killer she’s released, that she’s been conned by again, but when she keeps reading and finds out that he’s supposed to be dead, that a great magical power was supposed to have killed him, several times over, she just gets confused. Not that she hasn’t seen things come back from the dead before-she’s come back from the dead before-but this just seems a little surreal. How many lives can a demon have? So she does the logical thing to do.
She calls that great magical power up on the phone, to have a little chat.
A little chat on the phone turns into a face to face when the three sisters orb in, looking grimmer than grim considering the circumstances. Buffy hears the whole saga unfold in front of her, everything that Phoebe, Paige and Piper went through with him, and she understands it. She’s ready to get out there and take care of business once and for all, again, but Phoebe stops her. She thinks that maybe, if Cole doesn’t have her to fixate on, if he can just start over, he still has the potential to be good. Buffy isn’t so sure and neither are her sisters, but Phoebe’s insistent, so Buffy lets her. She agrees to not slay him unless it’s absolutely necessary.
“Don’t fall in love with him,” Phoebe whispers before she leaves, too soft for the rest of the room to hear. “Whatever you do-don’t let him get that power over you.”
Buffy assures herself, not for the first time, that that won’t be a problem.
***
She wishes, not for the first time, that Spike hadn’t been right about her all those years ago.
Falling for Cole is so much easier than Phoebe makes it out to be. Even if she knows everything about him, everything that he’s done and everything that he’s attempted to be, there’s still a part of her that’s drawn to him in a way that she can’t explain. He’s intense in a way she can’t quantify, in a way that drags you in, blinds you to everything else, but this isn’t Buffy’s first time to the redemption rodeo. She can see the cracks and flaws, see the way that he quakes under the pressure of his desire to do good, to be good, to fight against what’s inherent in his nature, and be that person for her.
She needs that small bit of monster in her man. His intense focus on her, on what she wants him to be draws her in and appeals to that part of her she can never seem to shake. She wants to be the one to save him, just to prove that she can. She’s done it before, there’s no saying she can’t do it now.
But Cole isn’t Spike, and he certainly isn’t Angel.
Cole doesn’t see the lines. He only sees what he wants and what he feels the need to do, and this is only complicated by the fact that he’s living on a Hellmouth. He can feel the pull of the evil, the urge to just give in and feed off it, and in the end, it’s too much. Cole reverts, gives in to the pull, and by the time Buffy catches up with him, the damage is already done. She knows what she has to do, and unlike Phoebe, she has the resolve to make sure it sticks the first time around.
She’s so tired of all this. She’s tired of having to stop the people she loves, and she’s tired of them stabbing her in the back. But it doesn’t stop her from doing her job, and after one quick call to Phoebe, she has the potion she needs. It’s not until the fireball is starting to surround him, and he’s looking at her, asking her why.
“Because I should know better by now.”
As the flames come to an apex and Cole disappears into the vanquish, Buffy wishes it didn’t hurt as much as well.