Possession 2/?
Dec. 12th, 2008 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deeperwondermentTitle: Possession 2/?
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
not_from_stars
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Charmed AU
Character(s): Phoebe Halliwell, Belthazor/Cole Turner, The Source Of All Evil
Word Count: 1,758
Summary: "Not if we're going to keep them safe." She swallowed. "It's only a few years. I can hang on for a few years, right? Then you guys can storm in and rescue me."
Notes: This is an AU fic that I've been working on for awhile and I'm trying to finish. It's set in an AU world where the first time Belthazor/Cole meets Phoebe, she's a prisoner of the The Source of All Evil in the Underworld. He doesn't know why she's there and why she hasn't been rescued, and Phoebe's not telling him anything. Cole is determined to find out why she's there -- and what these new feelings and urges that he's feeling mean to him and who he is.
Once he was gone, and she didn't sense anyone else lurking outside of the chamber, Phoebe allowed her shoulders to slump. She moved back against a wall and slide down it. She pulled her knees to her chin and watched the opening to the chamber.
She was scared.
Dealing with the Source and his other demons was hard enough - was dangerous enough. But now? Now she had been given to the Source's number one witch killer. She knew of Belthazor by reputation and what she had seen in the Book of Shadows. She had expected one day that she would come face to face with the most dangerous one of the Source's men... but she had never expected it to be anything like this. These circumstances were not what she would have chosen.
She wanted to go home.
Even as she wished it, she knew it wasn't possible -- not right now. For the sake of everyone she loved, this was where she had to stay. She had survived here for over a year. A few more shouldn't really be that much of a problem. Time enough for Paige and Piper to get control over their new powers. Time enough for --
No.
She couldn't think about that right now. She couldn't afford to even let a whisper of that thought enter her mind. There were too many enemies down here and there were too few guardians up there. Her staying down here guaranteed a measure of safety for those that she loved above.
It didn't make the loneliness and the fear easier, though. It didn't make the cold and the pain go away.
It didn't stop the tears she allowed herself to shed when she knew that no one was around to see or hear them. Like hell she was going to give the Source or his henchmen any sign of weakness like that.
Weaknesses like tears.
Tears like the ones she was trying to fight back and bury in her knees. She tightened her arms around her knees as her shoulders shook from the sobs she kept trying to hold in. Her face was hidden by her hair and she was being very careful not to make a sound. The last thing she needed right now was to draw out any curious demons; demons who would love to use her pain to their own advantage and perhaps cause her more pain.
When she had first forged the agreement to come down here, she hadn't thought that it would be that bad. She knew that the Source didn't dare kill her or let too much happen to her. He knew what could happen to him and his power if she was killed. He knew what her family -- past and present -- would do to him if she ceased to be part of the world. She soon learned that the Source could do things to make her suffer that could be considered to be far worse than killing her.
Still she stayed. She endured. She dealt with the cruelty and the torture. She didn't have a choice.
Oh, her family would argue... they had tried to do so, in fact. Prue had been furious with her decision... but when it had come time for her to go, it had been Prue who backed her up against Piper and Paige. Leo... Leo hadn't liked the sacrifice she was making, but he understood why she was doing it. He had guessed from the things she was saying that she had seen something -- something having to do with his family. Before she was taken down to the Underworld, she had seen gratitude mixed with the sadness in his eyes. However, the last words with her sisters had torn at her.
"Damn it, Phoebe, think about what you're doing! You're turning yourself -- a Charmed One -- over to the bad guys!" Piper's voice had been shaking.
"I know what I'm doing, Piper," she had argued. "I don't have a choice. Paige needs time to get comfortable with her powers and --"
"Don't you dare use me as an excuse for sacrificing yourself!" Paige snapped angrily.
Tears had been flowing down Phoebe's face as she stood apart from her family, trying to get them to see why they had no choice but to let her go with the Source's minions. "I made a deal, Piper. It's a deal that I can't go back on."
"You made a deal with the Source of All Evil! Of course you can go back on it," Prue yelled at her.
"I can't!" Phoebe wailed. "You don't understand!" The anger and despair that she was picking up from her family was tearing her apart, but she knew that there was no choice but for her to do this.
A quiet voice cut into the fight. "Then makes us understand, Phoebe. Make me understand why you are willingly turning yourself over to the people that have been trying to kill you guys for years -- the people who killed my partner." Darryl's eyes were piercing as he looked at her. "Make me understand, Phoebe. Because I really don't see a good reason for you to be perpetrating such a betrayal."
She looked at him and there was sorrow in her eyes. In the end she pulled Prue and Darryl aside, and in a halting voice she told them about her premonition and what she had seen -- why she had to do what she was doing.
"Oh Phoebe," Prue had whispered and then hugged her tightly.
Darryl had run his hand over her hair and shook his head. "There's no other way?"
She had shaken her head. "Not if we're going to keep them safe." She swallowed. "It's only a few years. I can hang on for a few years, right? Then you guys can storm in and rescue me."
Prue had taken Phoebe with her to the attic, forbidding everyone else from going with them. Once there, they had summoned the ghosts of Penny and Patty to tell them what Phoebe was going to do. To Prue's horror and anger, her mother and grandmother told them that the Elders knew what had happened... and that they agreed that for the good of everything, Phoebe had to be sacrificed to the Underworld.
"Those bastards!" Prue exploded.
"Even with Phoebe lost, there are still three Charmed Ones so they think..."
"Phoebe is my baby sister, not just a Charmed One," Prue had burst out. "The Power of Four is much stronger than the Power of Three and if they allow anything to happen to her..."
"There's nothing we can do," Phoebe had whispered in defeat.
"But we can," Penny had said quietly. "I have no desire to see one of my granddaughters dead." Her voice was threaded with steel. "Prue, you tell that evil bastard that if anything happens to Phoebe -- if she dies -- it will mean the end of him. Tell him that you and your remaining sisters will summon all of the deceased spirits of the Warren-Halliwell line and we will destroy him."
Patty looked at Phoebe. "I know it's not much, sweetheart, but it will keep him from killing you outright. He'll be too afraid of what we would do."
"And the Elders?" Phoebe questioned softly.
"Leave them to us," Patty said firmly.
Penny gave a sad smile. "We're so proud of you, my darling girl."
Phoebe managed to smile slightly at them. She didn't want them to be proud of her for this - she didn't want to have to be doing this. She had wanted someone else to come up with an answer so she didn't have to sacrifice herself to The Source...
When he came for her, Prue and Darryl were with her. Prue had made sure that The Source knew what would happen if Phoebe died in the Underworld.
"I could kill you both and take her anyway," he had laughed.
"Do you really want to test that?"
Phoebe was pulled from her musings by the feel of someone coming into the chamber. Before she could get to her feet and react, something slammed into her and the world went dark.
Phoebe regained consciousness slowly. Her head and chest hurt and she wasn't sure why. When she felt hands moving up her legs, her eyes flew open. She tried to sit up, and found that her wrists and ankles were chained to the altar. She lifted her head as much as she could and saw one demon kneeling at her feet, and another one standing at her side. When she caught sight of the athames they were holding, her mouth went dry.
The one standing next to the altar smiled when he saw she was awake. He moved up to her face, drawing the athame down her cheek. "Hello, little Oracle."
Phoebe's eyes widened at the knife pressed to her face and she couldn't do more than whimper.
He seemed to be enjoying this as his companion began moving his hands up her legs again. She felt a sudden burn of pain and realized that he had just sliced his blade into her leg. She tried to scream, but the one near her head covered her mouth violently with his hand, and shook his head.
"Not a sound out of you, witch," he hissed. "We heard that the Source gave you to Belthazor to be taught a lesson. Since he's not here, we're going to give him some help and make sure you learn your place. Now, we can't enjoy our work if you start screaming and bring the rest of the Underworld in here. There wouldn't be nothing left of you then and we wouldn't have Belthazor's gratitude."
When Phoebe felt the knife cut deeply into her other leg, she screamed into the hand that was over her mouth. The sound was muffled and tears started sliding from her eyes down into her hair. With the hand over her mouth and that blade moving along her face, she could feel herself start to panic. When the other demon moved his knife up to her thigh, Phoebe felt terror flooding through her. They were going to carve pieces of her up... not to mention anything else they might decide to do her.
Help me! Please somebody help me!
The thought became an empathic scream as she felt the knife come down into her hip.
Author:
not_from_starsRating: PG-13
Fandom: Charmed AU
Character(s): Phoebe Halliwell, Belthazor/Cole Turner, The Source Of All Evil
Word Count: 1,758
Summary: "Not if we're going to keep them safe." She swallowed. "It's only a few years. I can hang on for a few years, right? Then you guys can storm in and rescue me."
Notes: This is an AU fic that I've been working on for awhile and I'm trying to finish. It's set in an AU world where the first time Belthazor/Cole meets Phoebe, she's a prisoner of the The Source of All Evil in the Underworld. He doesn't know why she's there and why she hasn't been rescued, and Phoebe's not telling him anything. Cole is determined to find out why she's there -- and what these new feelings and urges that he's feeling mean to him and who he is.
Once he was gone, and she didn't sense anyone else lurking outside of the chamber, Phoebe allowed her shoulders to slump. She moved back against a wall and slide down it. She pulled her knees to her chin and watched the opening to the chamber.
She was scared.
Dealing with the Source and his other demons was hard enough - was dangerous enough. But now? Now she had been given to the Source's number one witch killer. She knew of Belthazor by reputation and what she had seen in the Book of Shadows. She had expected one day that she would come face to face with the most dangerous one of the Source's men... but she had never expected it to be anything like this. These circumstances were not what she would have chosen.
She wanted to go home.
Even as she wished it, she knew it wasn't possible -- not right now. For the sake of everyone she loved, this was where she had to stay. She had survived here for over a year. A few more shouldn't really be that much of a problem. Time enough for Paige and Piper to get control over their new powers. Time enough for --
No.
She couldn't think about that right now. She couldn't afford to even let a whisper of that thought enter her mind. There were too many enemies down here and there were too few guardians up there. Her staying down here guaranteed a measure of safety for those that she loved above.
It didn't make the loneliness and the fear easier, though. It didn't make the cold and the pain go away.
It didn't stop the tears she allowed herself to shed when she knew that no one was around to see or hear them. Like hell she was going to give the Source or his henchmen any sign of weakness like that.
Weaknesses like tears.
Tears like the ones she was trying to fight back and bury in her knees. She tightened her arms around her knees as her shoulders shook from the sobs she kept trying to hold in. Her face was hidden by her hair and she was being very careful not to make a sound. The last thing she needed right now was to draw out any curious demons; demons who would love to use her pain to their own advantage and perhaps cause her more pain.
When she had first forged the agreement to come down here, she hadn't thought that it would be that bad. She knew that the Source didn't dare kill her or let too much happen to her. He knew what could happen to him and his power if she was killed. He knew what her family -- past and present -- would do to him if she ceased to be part of the world. She soon learned that the Source could do things to make her suffer that could be considered to be far worse than killing her.
Still she stayed. She endured. She dealt with the cruelty and the torture. She didn't have a choice.
Oh, her family would argue... they had tried to do so, in fact. Prue had been furious with her decision... but when it had come time for her to go, it had been Prue who backed her up against Piper and Paige. Leo... Leo hadn't liked the sacrifice she was making, but he understood why she was doing it. He had guessed from the things she was saying that she had seen something -- something having to do with his family. Before she was taken down to the Underworld, she had seen gratitude mixed with the sadness in his eyes. However, the last words with her sisters had torn at her.
"Damn it, Phoebe, think about what you're doing! You're turning yourself -- a Charmed One -- over to the bad guys!" Piper's voice had been shaking.
"I know what I'm doing, Piper," she had argued. "I don't have a choice. Paige needs time to get comfortable with her powers and --"
"Don't you dare use me as an excuse for sacrificing yourself!" Paige snapped angrily.
Tears had been flowing down Phoebe's face as she stood apart from her family, trying to get them to see why they had no choice but to let her go with the Source's minions. "I made a deal, Piper. It's a deal that I can't go back on."
"You made a deal with the Source of All Evil! Of course you can go back on it," Prue yelled at her.
"I can't!" Phoebe wailed. "You don't understand!" The anger and despair that she was picking up from her family was tearing her apart, but she knew that there was no choice but for her to do this.
A quiet voice cut into the fight. "Then makes us understand, Phoebe. Make me understand why you are willingly turning yourself over to the people that have been trying to kill you guys for years -- the people who killed my partner." Darryl's eyes were piercing as he looked at her. "Make me understand, Phoebe. Because I really don't see a good reason for you to be perpetrating such a betrayal."
She looked at him and there was sorrow in her eyes. In the end she pulled Prue and Darryl aside, and in a halting voice she told them about her premonition and what she had seen -- why she had to do what she was doing.
"Oh Phoebe," Prue had whispered and then hugged her tightly.
Darryl had run his hand over her hair and shook his head. "There's no other way?"
She had shaken her head. "Not if we're going to keep them safe." She swallowed. "It's only a few years. I can hang on for a few years, right? Then you guys can storm in and rescue me."
Prue had taken Phoebe with her to the attic, forbidding everyone else from going with them. Once there, they had summoned the ghosts of Penny and Patty to tell them what Phoebe was going to do. To Prue's horror and anger, her mother and grandmother told them that the Elders knew what had happened... and that they agreed that for the good of everything, Phoebe had to be sacrificed to the Underworld.
"Those bastards!" Prue exploded.
"Even with Phoebe lost, there are still three Charmed Ones so they think..."
"Phoebe is my baby sister, not just a Charmed One," Prue had burst out. "The Power of Four is much stronger than the Power of Three and if they allow anything to happen to her..."
"There's nothing we can do," Phoebe had whispered in defeat.
"But we can," Penny had said quietly. "I have no desire to see one of my granddaughters dead." Her voice was threaded with steel. "Prue, you tell that evil bastard that if anything happens to Phoebe -- if she dies -- it will mean the end of him. Tell him that you and your remaining sisters will summon all of the deceased spirits of the Warren-Halliwell line and we will destroy him."
Patty looked at Phoebe. "I know it's not much, sweetheart, but it will keep him from killing you outright. He'll be too afraid of what we would do."
"And the Elders?" Phoebe questioned softly.
"Leave them to us," Patty said firmly.
Penny gave a sad smile. "We're so proud of you, my darling girl."
Phoebe managed to smile slightly at them. She didn't want them to be proud of her for this - she didn't want to have to be doing this. She had wanted someone else to come up with an answer so she didn't have to sacrifice herself to The Source...
When he came for her, Prue and Darryl were with her. Prue had made sure that The Source knew what would happen if Phoebe died in the Underworld.
"I could kill you both and take her anyway," he had laughed.
"Do you really want to test that?"
Phoebe was pulled from her musings by the feel of someone coming into the chamber. Before she could get to her feet and react, something slammed into her and the world went dark.
Phoebe regained consciousness slowly. Her head and chest hurt and she wasn't sure why. When she felt hands moving up her legs, her eyes flew open. She tried to sit up, and found that her wrists and ankles were chained to the altar. She lifted her head as much as she could and saw one demon kneeling at her feet, and another one standing at her side. When she caught sight of the athames they were holding, her mouth went dry.
The one standing next to the altar smiled when he saw she was awake. He moved up to her face, drawing the athame down her cheek. "Hello, little Oracle."
Phoebe's eyes widened at the knife pressed to her face and she couldn't do more than whimper.
He seemed to be enjoying this as his companion began moving his hands up her legs again. She felt a sudden burn of pain and realized that he had just sliced his blade into her leg. She tried to scream, but the one near her head covered her mouth violently with his hand, and shook his head.
"Not a sound out of you, witch," he hissed. "We heard that the Source gave you to Belthazor to be taught a lesson. Since he's not here, we're going to give him some help and make sure you learn your place. Now, we can't enjoy our work if you start screaming and bring the rest of the Underworld in here. There wouldn't be nothing left of you then and we wouldn't have Belthazor's gratitude."
When Phoebe felt the knife cut deeply into her other leg, she screamed into the hand that was over her mouth. The sound was muffled and tears started sliding from her eyes down into her hair. With the hand over her mouth and that blade moving along her face, she could feel herself start to panic. When the other demon moved his knife up to her thigh, Phoebe felt terror flooding through her. They were going to carve pieces of her up... not to mention anything else they might decide to do her.
Help me! Please somebody help me!
The thought became an empathic scream as she felt the knife come down into her hip.
