CHAPTER 3: Destiny's Path
Destiny is a complex idea.
Some people think that free will governs everything, and that we are always in control.
I found out that this is not the case at all.
Throughout the week after my return, I had felt a malaise, albeit a small one. Something was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The answer eluded me, just beyond my reach...but not for long.
A week after I returned, I was sitting in a plaza across from my building enjoying lunch. As I finished, I suddenly heard a police siren blare. Looking up, I saw Piper and Phoebe running down the street. I immediately stood up and went across the street to see what had transpired.
Rounding the corner in front of the local bistro, I saw the police taking a man into custody...and Phoebe with Miles, having seemingly saved his life. She moved in to kiss him, and I couldn't watch. I turned around to see Piper staring at me. I must have passed her without noticing. She opened her mouth to speak, but I shook my head and walked away.
Despite Paige's reassurances, between board meetings and Guardian training, I was brooding, miserable without Phoebe. I had fought so long and so hard to get back to her, only to find disappointment.
As I made my way back to my office, I could feel the malaise subtly increase. I shook my head, but I could draw no conclusions about it. Suddenly, I felt a chill. I looked around, trying to identify the evil presence that had appeared in range, but I could make no headway. Sighing, I went back to my office.
Early in the evening, I felt the Powers summon me. Telling my secretary that I was not to be disturbed, I flamed out.
I materialized the Guardians' Council Chamber. Looking at the small circular table at the center of the room, I saw that my two brother Guardians, the Guardians of Death and Destiny respectively, had already arrived.
"Thank you for joining us on such short notice, Life," Death said. "Please, be seated."
After I did so, I asked, "What's the problem?"
"Apparently, someone has been interfering with Death's design," Destiny began. "This has created Time Ripples, which I'm sure you felt by now." I nodded, thinking of the malaise I'd felt. "Time Ripples occur when something happens outside of the Path of the Universe, the order in which time is supposed to flow."
"We need you to investigate, and find out who is doing this and how," Death said. "I'd prefer not to 'correct' things if I don't have to, so I leave it to your discretion to find an appropriate solution."
I nodded and said, "I will do my best."
"That is all we could ask of you, Life," Destiny said. "Remember: do not underestimate your powers as a Guardian. You exist outside of time...remember that."
I flamed back to my mansion, pondering over the best course of action. I decided to inform the Charmed Ones, as they could be a great asset in my search.
Besides, I hadn't actually talked to Phoebe for several days.
I immediately went to the Manor. When the door opened, a shocked Phoebe greeted me, "Michael! What...what are you doing here?"
"I've got something that I need you to look into," I said as she let me in the house.
"Oh, well, now's...not the best time," she said nervously as she led me into the dining room...where I saw Miles.
Paige almost choked upon seeing me. "Um, Michael...what a surprise! What brings you by?"
"Oh, I just wanted to see how everybody was doing," I said. "I'm sorry for interrupting dinner."
"Don't be silly," Piper said warmly. "Why don't you join us?"
"Are you sure?" I asked.
I could see Phoebe begin to protest, but Piper insisted, "Why not? We'd love to have you."
"Ok," I said, taking a seat next to Leo, who shook my hand as I sat down.
Dinner proceeded with less awkwardness than I'd expected. Miles was actually very interested in me, since he was a computer programmer and I owned a computer company. Phoebe, however, did not look so enthusiastic about having us in the same room.
Eventually, Miles told us about how Phoebe had saved her. "You should have seen Phoebe dive out of nowhere. She could easily have been killed."
"And I'd do it all again," Phoebe said with a smile.
"Yeah, that's Phoebe. Friend to all," Piper said with a giggle. "Would risk her life for a stray dog." Phoebe glared at Piper, and there was an awkward silence.
"So, Phoebe says you have a cabin in Tahoe?" Paige said to Miles.
"Near heavenly," said Miles, pride in his voice.
"He's going to take me there next weekend," Phoebe said happily. I discreetly rolled my eyes.
"Ohhh," Paige said.
"So you a big skier?" Leo inquired.
"He used to ski competitively," Phoebe explained. "You should see the pictures he has up on his wall."
At that moment, I felt a presence, and if it hadn't been for my extreme self-control, I'd have choked upon seeing Cole blur into the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Piper had seen him too. "I'm going to go check on some stuff in the kitchen," she said. "Michael, could you help me?"
"Sure thing, Piper," I said, getting up and following her.
"Is Phoebe ok?" Cole asked softly as we entered the kitchen.
"Oh, no you don't," Piper admonished. "She's having dinner with a guy. She's fine."
"Listen to me," Cole insisted. "I got a visit from a warlock today and he's after her guy."
"Ok, well, thanks for the tip, we'll handle it," Piper said dismissively.
"Well, I'll stay here on stakeout," Cole offered.
"No, you can't," Piper said firmly. "Look, warlocks, we can handle...demonic ex-husbands, we cannot. You have to get out of here before she sees you."
"Wait, did she get a premonition today?" Cole asked. "Did she save some guy's life?"
Piper was about to answer when we saw Phoebe begin to clear the table. "Quick, she's coming, go!" Piper hissed. Cole blurred out just as Phoebe entered carrying a stack of dishes, an annoyed look on her face.
"Hey, look, I know you think Miles and I have nothing in common," Phoebe began, "but..."
"Later for that," Piper interrupted. "Look there is a warlock after Miles. I just found out; don't ask me how. You'd better get back in there. Here, take these." She picked up a tray of desserts.
Phoebe reached out to take them when she paled. "Uh, oh," she said.
"What?" I asked.
"Miles was killed while we were serving dessert," Phoebe said, turning to run back into the dining room. We followed to see a warlock blink in holding an athame. I was surprised to recognize the same evil presence I felt earlier in the day. "Look out!" Phoebe yelled. The warlock threw the athame, but Phoebe dove across the table and pushed Miles out of the way before it hit him. The athame slammed into a chest behind the seat. Phoebe knelt over a now unconscious Miles, checking on him.
"He won't freeze!" Piper yelled after an unsuccessful attempt.
"Blow him up!" Paige suggested. Piper attempted to do so, but the warlock simply waved his arm and deflected it back at her, knocking her backwards.
"Piper!" Leo yelled, rushing to her side.
"I've got him," I said. I formed a fireball and threw it, but the warlock waved his hand again and the chandelier fell, blocking it. The warlock then blinked out. "I need to find a way to get these guys to hold still," I muttered. At that moment, I felt the malaise increase again, and I shuddered at the thought of what that meant.
While Phoebe tended to Miles, the rest of us checked the Book of Shadows to see what we could find out about our mystery warlock. Unfortunately, there was no information on him in the Book. Piper decided to reveal Cole's appearance to Paige and Leo, and the fact that he knew the attack was coming. Piper decided that we should go ask Cole what he knew, while Leo orbed up to the Elders to find out if they knew why the warlock had targeted Miles.
After we filled Cole in on what happened, Paige added, "You could have told us he was a Jedi Master warlock."
"I didn't know," Cole admitted.
"Well, what do you know?" Piper asked impatiently.
"His name is Bacarra," Cole started. "He claims to be a future associate of mine."
"How's he know that?" Paige demanded.
"Because he was there," Cole explained.
"In the future...?" Piper questioned in shock.
"He came to tell me that Phoebe dies in six months from trying to save her boyfriend from the Angel of Death," Cole said.
"Oh, shit..." I moaned. "This couldn't possibly get any more complicated."
"What do you mean?" Piper asked me.
I sighed. "Cole's right; Miles is supposed to die."
"How do you know that?" Piper asked.
"Later," I said, discreetly indicating that I did not want to discuss it around Cole.
Paige asked why we couldn't do anything, and Piper explained that when Death puts someone on his list, that's it. Cole revealed why Bacarra had come back, and when Paige pressed him about his association with him, Cole avoided it. I smirked. Although Cole had found enough power to block me from directly probing his mind, I could still tell that he was hiding something.
Leo met up with us later on, and we decided to tell Phoebe what we knew. "So, the Elders won't confirm or deny that Death wants Miles, so I basically took that as a confirmation," Leo said.
"As do I," I commented.
"Can you explain now what you mean?" Paige demanded.
I sighed and told them about my meeting with the Guardians. "There are too many coincidences," I concluded.
"Still, I have to wonder, why would Phoebe get premonitions off a guy that she's not meant to save?" Piper said.
"Miles isn't just any guy," Leo said, flushing slightly. I could tell that he was embarrassed to say those things about Miles in front of me. "I mean, they have an intense connection...physically and emotionally." He flushed deeper.
"So what, you think that their love connection opened up some sort of psychic connection?" Paige suggested.
"Either that or her 'damn the world' attitude," Piper commented disdainfully.
"Ok, Leo, we can take it from here," Paige said quickly. After he orbed out, Paige said, "You know, Michael, you don't have to tell her if you don't want to."
"This situation is my responsibility as a Guardian to handle," I said firmly.
"Ok," Paige said as she knocked on the door.
Miles answered it a moment later. "Hey," he said.
"Hi," Paige started. "Sorry to interrupt, but is Phoebe here? It's kind of a family emergency."
"Yeah, ok, sure," Miles said. He stepped back from the door, and a moment later, Phoebe walked out, closing the door behind her.
"What's the emergency?" she asked, slightly exasperated.
"Um," Piper started, "we have a strong reason to believe that it's, um, it might sort of be Miles' time to die."
"Yeah," Paige added.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really...and what makes you say that?" Piper and Paige quickly filled her in. "So, you want me to let this guy that I really care about die because Cole says so?" Phoebe concluded in disbelief.
"Phoebe, this has nothing to do with Cole," Piper explained. "You know as well as I do that you can't stop Death."
"This has everything to do with Cole," Phoebe spat.
"It's not just Cole saying it," Paige interjected. "Um...Leo suspects that, you know, it might also be Miles' time to die."
"Leo suspects? He suspects?" Phoebe said incredulously. "That's the best you've got?"
"Um, well, actually..." Piper stammered, glancing at me.
Phoebe turned to glare at me, but I forced myself to proceed. "I had a meeting today with the other two Guardians, the Guardians of Death and Destiny," I began. "From putting all the pieces together now, every time you've saved Miles because of your premonitions, your actions produced a Time Ripple, which has been felt by the Guardians as a sort of malaise. A Time Ripple only occurs when an event happens outside of Destiny's Path, the way that time is supposed to flow. Miles was supposed to die in that alley, Phoebe. As much as I hate to say it, the only way to correct it and put the universe back on track is for him to die."
Phoebe snickered. "So, now both of my exes obsessed with me are agreeing. Should I be surprised?"
Her words were spat so harshly that I actually took a step back. "Phoebe, this has nothing to do with Cole, and everything to do with..."
"Michael," Phoebe interrupted, "I don't know what to believe, except that I got a premonition about Miles. That means that I'm supposed to save him. The only evidence being offered to contradict that comes from a demon obsessed with getting me back, a Whitelighter who at best can only offer a maybe, and you, who...I don't even know what about you." I opened my mouth to speak, but Phoebe cut me off. "Find me real proof, not just...feelings," she spat.
A single tear made its way down my cheek. I replied sadly, "I'll go find Bacarra. Maybe by then, you'll believe me." I closed my eyes, locking onto the warlock's presence and flamed out.
Bacarra's energy trail led me through various realms. During my search, I mulled over my conversation with Phoebe. Her accusations hurt worse than any demon ever could. How could she think that I wasn't telling her the truth? I just couldn't understand how she could be so bitter toward me.
After about an hour, the energy trail came to a sudden an abrupt halt in another realm. I cursed as I realized that Bacarra had set me up, and had found a way to make believe what I'd felt was his actual life signature. But why...I suddenly found, to my utter horror, that I could not sense anything from Earth.
I immediately flamed back to the Manor. What I saw the moment I materialized almost destroyed me. I flamed in just in time to see two Bacarras, one of them throwing a fireball that incinerated Phoebe. "Nooooo!" I screamed.
"And then there were none," one Bacarra said. Before I could react he threw another fireball and incinerated Piper, just as Leo orbed in.
"Oh my God!" he exclaimed, seeing the three piles of ash.
"You bastards," I hissed. Suddenly, I had a flash of intuition as I realized another one of my powers. Quickly grabbing Leo, I flamed us out, ironically to the alley where Miles had been supposed to die.
"I can't believe it," Leo said tearfully. "All three of them..."
"Leo, I can fix this," I said. "I just figured out another one of my powers. I remembered something the Guardian of Destiny said about existing outside of time. If that's the case, that means that I can move through it."
"You're going to change the past?" Leo questioned.
I nodded. "I'm going to merge with my past self so I can make sure things go the way they're supposed to and not have to worry about memory gaps," I explained. Suddenly, one of the Bacarras blinked in. Before he could do anything, Leo had tackled him to the ground.
"Go!" Leo yelled.
I focused my power, and bright white light erupted around me. It felt intense, like being born again. I could feel every fiber of my being merging, changing to accommodate me. I felt my past self's alarm, then shock as he realized what was happening. Then acceptance, as I felt my vision and his overlap. Soon, I was him, with my past self tucked safely away, an observer. I found myself back in the plaza, only this time I knew what was coming.
I looked across the street, and sure enough, Piper and Phoebe were there, trying to figure out which way to go. Remembering which way the police car had been heading, I begged for forgiveness for what I was about to do, and gestured. A moment later, Piper and Phoebe took off in the opposite direction of the police car. By the time they realized their mistake, it was too late. The gun went off seconds before Phoebe rounded the corner.
I crossed the street but did not let them see me. I saw Piper at the corner of the building like before, and I saw Phoebe crying hysterically over Miles. I couldn't stand seeing her like that, not only because it reminded me of my own recent death, but because I had been responsible for her pain.
I spent the rest of the afternoon contemplating what had happened. I knew that the rules changed when I became a Guardian, but no one ever said that in order to keep the balance of the universe in line, I had to hurt the ones I loved.
Finally, later in the evening, I decided to go to the Manor and see how she was holding up. I flamed in as silently as possible, but one of the floorboards creaked as soon as I took a step. I could hear Phoebe crying, and Piper comforting her. A moment later, Paige walked into the hallway and froze upon seeing me.
"What are you doing here?" Paige hissed.
"I just...I heard what happened and..." I began.
Paige softened and continued, "I think I understand. But this may not be a good time, with Miles and all. Still," she added as an afterthought, "you may be able to help. Watch discreetly, and enter when I give you a signal."
"What kind of signal?" I asked.
"Just listen, you'll figure it out," Paige replied before walking back into the living room.
I waited in the hallway, each second feeling like an agonizing hour. I felt so horrible knowing that I had been a factor in causing Phoebe so much pain. Finally, when Phoebe mentioned how she felt she was destined to be alone, I felt a sense of invitation, and realized Paige was reaching out for me with her Whitelighter sensing ability. I walked in quickly, and the conversation stopped as Phoebe and the others looked at me.
"Hi..." I said softly.
"What are you doing here?" Phoebe demanded.
"I heard about what happened..." I began.
"Come to 'comfort me'," Phoebe snapped, "to take advantage of my vulnerable state and try and win me over?"
"No, that's not...I just wanted to help you," I stammered.
"Well, I don't need your help," Phoebe said coldly.
I sighed as a part of me wept, the part of me that felt responsible for her pain, and I turned to go. But the other part, the part that cared for Phoebe more than anything, stopped me, and I turned around. "No," I countered firmly, "I'm not leaving. You won't push me away that easily." At this point, I noticed Piper and Paige quietly leaving the room, giving us privacy.
Phoebe tried to keep a stern face, but her façade quickly crumbled, and then the dam broke. She began to cry uncontrollably, and, walking her over to sit on the couch, I gathered her into my arms and stroked her hair.
"Why does this keep happening?" she sobbed. "You, Cole, Miles...every time I get close to guys they end up dying."
I said nothing, but continued to rock her gently and whispered soothing words in her ear as she wept all the pain and despair she'd been keeping inside her for the months since my death, maybe for the years since I left her in New York.
Finally, her sobs quieted, and Phoebe looked into my eyes. "Thanks," she whispered.
I smiled, and replied, "Anytime."
Slowly, as we stared deeply into each others' eyes, we leaned into each other, and kissed. As the passion grew, I realized that in five years, nothing had felt as fulfilling as Phoebe's kiss. A few seconds later, however, my common sense kicked in, and I pulled back. "No," I said. "As much as I want this, you're hurting and vulnerable, and I can't...I won't take advantage of you like that. It wouldn't be fair to you."
Phoebe smiled sadly and said, "Michael, I may have been hurt in the past, but not by you, not once. I've finally realized you are the one person I've always loved. Cole, Miles, everyone else I've been subtly comparing to you. I never got over you leaving me, I don't know if I ever could." As my mind spun at her startling revelation, Phoebe continued, "Even Cole, I think I just got with him because he was so similar to you. Smart, loyal, cunning, funny, you and he have so much in common. But he's not you, and so I finally understand why it would never have worked out between us. Michael, I love you, now and forever."
I was speechless. I'd never realized how deep her feelings for me really were. Finding no words to express the emotions raging through me, I leaned down, and kissed her gently, once again quickly becoming passionate. Suddenly, Phoebe pulled back. "Michael, I do love you, but I need..."
I nodded in understanding. "You want to take it slower?" As Phoebe nodded, I smiled and continued, "That's fine. I've waited five years; I think I can wait a little longer." Phoebe giggled. "I'll see you...tomorrow." I helped Phoebe stand up, and gently kissed her again. I then turned and walked out the door.
As I walked out of the Manor, my heart as high in the air as a cloud with the knowledge that Phoebe loved me, I almost missed it. There, by the window, was a taint, a faint presence telling me that someone had been right by that window only a few minutes before. As I examined it, I identified it and a chill went through me. Cole had seen us kissing, had probably heard our private conversations. For so long, he'd held on and fought for Phoebe. What would he do now that he knew it was impossible?
With effort, I banished those dark thoughts to the back of my mind. Phoebe and I had just gotten back together. Everything else could wait...but not for long...
TO BE CONTINUED...