A/N: My hand is still recovering after I over did it with working too hard, so, I can't work on any of my longer fictions right now. A friend of mine from work helped me with this. I hope you all enjoy.
When Peace Falls
Collectively as one, they fell…and collectively as one, they stood back up, only to fall again, and again, and again…until their legs were weak, their hands were bloodied, and their souls were fractured into tiny bits.
Softly singing, the heartbeats of the larks that call on this moonlit night join as one. Sirens hummed a melody, to heal with wounds, the barbs of that which can no longer be ignored, forced into the fray of battle as they knew it…crying out for anyone…even the damned, to hear them.
Astounded, hand in hand, tarnished and torn, figments of the hopeful youths they used to be…shadows of the adults they know themselves to be…they were able to cleanse the hate and anger that cloaked them for far too long.
Together, stained in blood and oil, lingered the truth of the blazing sounds of fire as it roared…sound that can't be heard by anyone else, only them…and only in silence where no words can be found.
There they stood, quietly, hauntingly, at the world that vanished into the sky. The lives they no longer could afford echoing for that mere moment. That sky is no longer theirs, the portal has closed. That terrible word is out of sight, yet somehow, not out of mind. Quietly, so as not to disturb the vastness before them, they take the first step into the green grass underfoot.
Together, they take a breath, where dewy morning air hits their noses, and mixes with the warmth of sunlight.
And together, they realize, the fighting is over.
They're free, to do as they wish. To live as they see fit. Never again will they be oppressed by law and segregation. No more will they be feared as the people dis-empowered and forsaken.
And yet, in that moment, their name, that one single slur that so left them bound to their duty, had never felt more meaningful. It had never felt more real, or more right...the weight had become a calling, a new song for their future.
They were known norma….
And now, they were normal...equal to everyone else.
The women held fast, held tighter, and dared to look forward, amongst the world now before them. A strange land, yet they were no strangers...instead, a community waited for them...a mother to welcome her child. A princess to welcome a fellow ruler. Sisters in arms to welcome those who knew no solace.
Collectively, as one, with the winds at their backs, and the villagers at their sides, they walked away from the sandy seas that had once been their battleground.
Peace had fallen, but, what was to rise from the ashes had yet to be determined.