"The demon's name is Javna," said Prue, the book in hand. It had taken a little longer to arrive back home, but in all that time Brittany had remain in slumber. "The last time he was vanquished it was using something called the Hand of Fatima, with the power of three witches."
"He was vanquished before?" said Piper. "But he's still alive. How does that work?"
"Vanquished doesn't neccesarily mean killed," said Prue. "It just means you've beat someone, utterly defeated."
"So that means all those names in the book could reform?" asked Phoebe, and from Prue's expression the answer was quite clear. "Wonderful," she muttered.
"Really wonderful," Piper muttering in return. "Because this means that any demon we fight might come back. After all, how do we know whether a demon has been killed or vanquished. We'll be doing this for the rest of our lives won't we?" she said, unadulterated horror in those words.
The image came back, more vivid and longer. Not just a boarded up room, but instead feeling compelled to run around, continually putting hers and her sister's lives in danger for strangers. Their fight hadn't been the best of successes, only the fact that Javna hadn't been expecting the three of them to be The Charmed ones. Even then the legend behind them had been the reason he'd run off and not anything they'd actually done, because they hadn't hurt him.
"We'll figure something out," said Prue, a certainty in her voice Piper was starting to find naïve. Why were the others so blasé about this? Weren't they thinking about the future that this life would bring?
If they eventually decided to have kids it would be with this danger, demons maybe coming after them because they were the Charmed Ones and it would be easier for demon-kind to move on if they weren't around. Piper couldn't help it but her breaths were coming out faster, her heart doing the same and edges of darkness closing in on the edge of her eyes.
She tried to push it back, listen to Prue's voice a long distance away but it didn't help.
When she woke up Piper found that she was in her bed and she had a moment to feel terrible when the memories of what had happened reached her. A long groan passed through her, Brittany was still older than she really was and there were people out there under the effect of the demon Javna, and here she was having a panic attack.
Slowly she got out of bed and took a healthy drink of the water that had been left at her bedside. She allowed a few minutes to get her breathing under control and a quick shower before she went downstairs. Her sisters were there and so was a stranger, it was maybe the last few hours' events that did this but on impulse she flicked her hands, her mind thinking stop.
"What? Piper?" said Phoebe. "What did you do that for. He wasn't hurting anyone."
"I think it's becoming reflex," said Piper walking further into the room. "Where's Brittany?"
"Asleep," said Prue. "We made a potion while you were… She's in something of a coma. We can't keep her sedated for a very long time or she'll get hungry and her body will start getting bedsores."
"And where does he fit into all of this?" Piper asked.
"He arrived when…you were out," said Phoebe. "Apparently he's our guardian angel."
"Guardian angel?" Piper said, not hiding her suspicion. "If he's our guardian angel then where was he when we were fighting Javna or Jeremy?"
"All good questions," said Prue, "and ones we were going to ask him after letting Javna escape. Do you mind unfreezing him?"
"Fine," muttered Piper. She was about to flick her hands when he said, "Wait, isn't he one of the guys that worked on fixing my wall?"
"How you could forget such a tall cool glass of water is beyond me," Phoebe muttered. Piper just shot her a look.
"Yeah, it's him," said Prue. "Leo Wyatt. Unfreeze, please, now?"
Piper gave a wave and the man moved, looking where she'd been before looking at where she was.
"You froze me," he said, quite surprised.
"Yes, because you're a stranger after we fought a demon," she said. Piper moved to take a seat across from the man, her distrust clearly visible on her expression. "So, Guardian Angel, I'm curious why you're so late."
"Um…" Leo started, shifting and sitting back. The others said nothing, but it was easy to see that the same questions rolling around in their heads. "It's…Um. It might be a bad start to our working relationship."
"That's a bad start to our relationship," said Prue. "I didn't say anything before because we had a crisis, but because the question is already in the air, I think we deserve an answer."
"Alright," said Leo with a sigh. "The Elders didn't want me to intervene because they thought it would be detrimental to your future as the Charmed Ones."
"So us being in danger means nothing so long as we're stronger at the end of it all?" asked Prue, her tone with a cold edge to it. "I haven't met them, but I'm already not liking these Elders."
"They have the greater good in mind though," said Leo. "Above all else they're a force for good."
"A great many evils have been committed by people with a mind for good," said Phoebe. "I can't list any, but I remember that being a theme in that one class."
"Glad to see that you retained something from college at least," Prue muttered.
"Not now," said Piper. "Right now he's the one we should be focusing on. Like how he's already been doing a very bad job at guarding us."
"Or for that matter that an invisible hand is dictating our lives," said Prue. "Albeit indirectly."
"As far as we know," said Phoebe. "Magic is real. The future can be seen. It's very possible that there are greater seers out there looking into our future and working events to meet their preferred outcome…which is a really scary thought now that I think about it."
"And not far off from his expression," said Prue.
When Piper looked, Leo did look uncomfortable. "The Angels of Destiny do exist," he said. "They make sure things go as they're destined to be."
"Which raises further questions," said Phoebe. "Like how the future flows. Is it static or ever changing? If it's ever changing then destiny can't work because it's an antithesis to free will and the fluid nature of time. Destiny as a concept also doesn't exist so well because how does my ability fit into all this? I'm actively changing the future, the flow of time and thus people's destinies."
"Could be that everything we do is a part of that plan," said Piper. "It seems more likely with the whole destiny brought into be a Charmed One."
"It helps if you don't overthink it," said Leo, lamely.
"It's easier not to overthink it, sure," said Prue. "But is it better in the long run? I don't want to live with the constant knowledge that I'm some cog in some great machine. I think we'll need to figure this out," Prue continued. "Please, give us a little time."
Leo stood and then he shifted again. It really should have been annoying how readable the man was but it was endearing. Piper shook away the thread of thought that was starting to bloom.
"I didn't expect this," he said. "The way you're acting. But I think it would be better in the long run if I mentioned that I can still hear you guys even if I'm not in the room."
"Stalker much?" Phoebe muttered and with the look Prue shot at the man, Piper was sure that if her sister had her ability then the man would have been bits and pieces scattered all over their floor.
"I think I'll go and let you figure all this out," said Leo before he shifted into beads of small blue lights, all of them moving upwards with a twinkling sound. They disappeared before they hit the ceiling.
"Things just got all the more complicated, didn't they?" said Phoebe.
Piper shook her head. She felt a little scared, but this needed to be said less she bottle it all up and have more panic attacks.
"Not really if you think about it," said Piper, "and I have been thinking about it." With that her sisters were paying more attention to her. She didn't entirely like it, not entirely used to it because she could just get by on her own in most occasions. But this needed to be said. After all people said communication helped even if it hurt.
"We're destined to be the Charmed Ones," said Piper. "To fight evil. Have you guys thought about what that means for the future? Because I did and it seemed bleak. That demon that we fought today, he was scared of us and he ran, if he's smart he'll tell people that we're real and even if he isn't entirely believed we'll have demons coming after us.
"Now stretch that out for the future. Us constantly being in danger, the people we're in relationships being used as bargaining chips or hostages, and, if we're lucky, or unlucky maybe, if we have kids they'll be in danger."
There was that sympathy again, but at least Piper could see the fear coming from Prue. The same could not be said for Phoebe who instead looked conflicted.
"But what can we do?" said Phoebe. "Not protect people?"
"It's wrong," said Piper, feeling uncomfortable. "But…maybe? I don't know. Why are we the ones foisted with this power? Why are we destined for this?"
"Because we're the Charmed Ones," said Phoebe.
"That shouldn't mean anything! That shouldn't mean that the illusion of freewill that we had is done away with!" Piper said. "I didn't choose this, we didn't choose this. We should at least be given that before being expected to put our lives on the line for others."
"I didn't know you felt like this," said Prue.
"I know," said Piper. "But… How could I say all this when you both were exciting by the powers. I didn't want to disappoint you."
"Oh, honey," said Prue, coming to a sit beside Piper and giving her a hug. "You should have told us about all this. If we've been putting pressure on you to risk your life, then…"
"No, it's not you," said Piper. She let out a sigh. "It's this. All of this. Our lives have been turned around because of these powers. I lost a job I'd just got because of this and now I learn that we're constantly being watched or that there's a thing that's called destiny and that people are working our line to fit what they want."
Piper took a large breath.
"This is all too much and I don't know what to do."
"I guess we've been too hopped up on how cool this is and haven't thought about how to deal with it," said Phoebe. "Which I get from me," she said with a small grin. "It's the rest of you that I'm worried about it."
Piper couldn't help, she smiled a little. It was moments like these that she really enjoyed having sisters.
"So let's start all of this from the beginning," said Prue. "Do we want to do this? Keep fighting these demons?"
"Do we have a choice?" asked Phoebe.
"I don't know," said Prue. "I don't know about the Elders or Whitelighters or Angels of Destiny. I don't know if we truly have choices, but here and now, we can make choices that seem good for us. Do we want to do this, beyond the destiny aspect? Phoebe?"
Phoebe shifted. "Yes? I want to. Because if I don't, then who will?"
"In all honesty why would we be so special?" asked Piper. "Our powers have just been awakened. In all the time we didn't have powers and the world continued to work. There were demons but they were still dealt with. Looking at it from that perspective, then we're not really needed."
"I guess that's a no from you then?" said Prue, her voice, surprisingly, without any judgement.
Piper sighed. "I don't know. Everything that Grams taught us makes me want to help. But thinking about it, really thinking about it. I can't see a future where this doesn't end with us being killed."
"Grams survived," said Phoebe.
"But Mom didn't," said Prue. "Could this be why, how she died? Leo!" Orbs flew down into the room and the man still looked uncomfortable. "How did our mother die?"
"She was killed by a water demon," said Leo.
All at once all the images that had been in her mind got more vivid, starker with more blood concerned. The entire fight ran through her mind again but this time she imagined all the things that could have gone wrong: Herself being caught by the scorching beams, a table slamming into her, Prue moved so fast that she died on impact with the all. So many things that could have gone wrong, all of them amount in their deaths.
"Thank you, Leo," said Prue.
The man nodded and then left.
"I really don't want to," said Piper. "At least not now. Not in my current capacity."
"I'm thinking that too," said Prue. "Even if we won't be actively fighting demons, if things work the way we think they do, then we'll have to deal with at least the demons who'll be attacking us. Which means we need training, both the magical and the mundane side."
"Seconded," said Phoebe. "But first, what are we going to about Brittany?"
"We don't know if vanquishing Javna will return her to her previous age," said Prue. "But in the long run it might mean more women disappearing."
"Or I can just check," said Phoebe. "I've been getting pretty good at pushing for visions. It might give us a schedule to work with."
"Do that," said Prue. "I'll check the phone book for any places that teach self-defence, as well as a place to train us in using firearms."
"Do you think they work on demons?" asked Piper.
"I don't know, but if they don't then we'll coat them with either spells or potions to make them work. Even with our powers it couldn't hurt, not to mention Phoebe's power's aren't as offensive as our own."
"Right," said Piper. "What will I be doing?"
"What do you want to do?" asked Prue and Piper found she didn't know what she wanted to do.
She was quiet as she thought, before she said, "I have questions."
"Then ask them," said Prue as she left.