Summary: If eyes are the windows to the soul, dreams are the windows to the subconscious; What if Hiro and Charlie's powers were a little stronger than everyone assumed?

Rated: T for violence and shtuff.

Spoilers: Through Fallout, AU after that.

Disclaimer: I own not-a-thing. Absolutely nothing. So much nothing that if someone were to sue me, they're luck would instantly plummet and the IRS would take everything and leave them with my nothing.

Destiny and Fate were strange beings, if they could even be called beings. Fate and Destiny were often cursed, the unchangeable mistresses of all that struck harshly at the innocent, and allowed evil men to prosper. But Destiny and Fate had never been challenged. They had been scorned without a doubt, but never had they been tangibly challenged, that is, until Hiro Nakamura.

Hiro Nakamura seemed to be one of the burgeoning people of an unimportant planet in an unimportant galaxy in an unimportant universe. Hiro Nakamura was far from unimportant however. For reasons that Destiny could not ascertain, Hiro Nakamura had a power that was inexorably linked with Destiny.

The two beings of unimaginable power delved into this matter, personally taking an interest. It seemed that the reason Hiro had attempted to twist Destiny Itself, was a reason in which Destiny and Fate were experts—Star crossed love. Two people fall in love. One or both of them die. What further perturbed the Two was the woman Hiro was trying to save. This woman seemed average, even for the breed of fleshlings that had gained some superiority over their genetic cousins. This woman was far from average, however. This woman, this "Charlie" was inexorably tied to Fate.

Now some may get confused and question the difference between Destiny and Fate. "Are they not the same thing?" the unenlightened would ask. No. They are far from the same. If you wanted to simplify it, Destiny was the Lead-In, it was someone's destiny to become a lawyer. Fate however, was the End Scene. It was that lawyer's fate be shot by a disgruntled ex-con.

In the case of these two evolved humans, it was different. You see, Hiro was destined to command time and space, but only in concurrence with Destiny. Charlie was fated to die as Fate foretold. Neither seemed to be doing what they were supposed to.

Loopholes. The Two were assured that Loopholes had enabled this..thing..to occur. Hiro could not directly go against Destiny, but changes he made indirectly, could change the course Destiny had set. So it was that when Hiro was transported back to the present, unable to save Charlie directly, he went on, assured that Destiny had thwarted him. Now if it had only stayed that way. Hiro returned to his friend Ando, and they met up with the prophet Isaac. It was then that Hiro got his idea. His idea to indirectly help Charlie, The Waitress. An idea that would later give Destiny a very big migraine. He had the prophet paint the likeness of Sylar from accounts garnered from Peter, the Dreamer and reversed time only minutes before he had previously vanished from Charlie's side. At a run, he whisked his way into the diner where Charlie worked, and threw down the folder that contained the painting and only two words. Sylar. Death. Moments later, only to vanish back to the present.

Of course Charlie received the letter, and of course, Charlie took it to heart. When the time came for Charlie to die, she thought back with her astoundingly clear memory, recognized the man in the corner with the picture in her apron pocket and fled into the back. When he soundlessly broke into the room, she smashed a can of strained peas over his head. It was at that moment that Fate stepped in and pulled Its trump card: The blood clot in Charlie's brain. It was there in the event that Hiro managed to succeed in his mission. Fate had underestimated this Sylar however, and he quickly disarmed Charlie and began to slice through her skull, even as her blood clot loosed itself upon Charlie's brain.

Now, an unusually wise human once said "If there is a soul, it would surely be in the brain."

And surely it was. Instantly upon death, the soul would flutter free from its tethers to the fleshy brain and flutter wherever souls were want to go. It was with the rare miscalculation of Fate, and the swift viciousness of a killer that much like Hiro, Charlie found her own loophole. The clot in Charlie's brain exploded and tethered Charlie's soul more tightly to her brain. Normally this would not matter as eventually the brain would decay, and the soul would be free. In this instance though, it mattered immensely. So it was that Sylar retrieved Charlie's brain complete with her tethered soul inside of it, and did what super powered murdering sociopaths do with brains. Sylar took from the Waitress' brain her power, but along with it, her soul.

And so it had come to be that Hiro thwarted Destiny by setting into action events that would give Charlie the ability to evade Fate Itself. You see, Charlie had died as Fate demanded; but that didn't mean that she couldn't still contact the living, that she couldn't say..manage to wind up inside of the head of a murderer, conscious and hidden away in his subconscious, just waiting for the moment when she would bring about her revenge, and avenge her own death.

Yes, now it is you understand the gravity of the situation. And now you understand why Destiny and Fate rather dislike the planet Earth.