Disclaimers: They're mine, okay? I claim them, I own them, I
made them up and write everything they do. I'm also the king of France. Except
for the king and France parts. Either way, I'm not making money off of this, so
don't sue me.
Redemption
The
world was darkness, and the darkness reigned.
The
darkness roared and sang. It lent a feral gleam to the eye and a cruel twist to
the lips. The darkness called for blood, and pain, it gave joy in battle and
anger at weakness. The darkness led and ruled. It dominated the body and mind,
clouding judgement while honing reflexes to painful sharpness. The darkness
spun an ever-tightening web around the heart, destroying emotions and
annihilating all memory of them. The heart had been trapped by darkness so long
that it had almost forgotten that it had ever known anything else.
Once
the heart beat against the darkness, long ago when the light was only recently
gone. The heart had strained to be heard, to be unmuffled by the darkness. Once
it almost succeeded. Then the heart was suddenly broken, and it had no will
left to fight the darkness, and so the darkness came unhindered. The darkness
wrapped the broken pieces of the heart, and put it back together, and made it
dark. Yet there was one piece of the heart that would not be made dark, the
piece in the very center of the heart. Most of the time, the center of the
heart was quiet. It sat in its cell of darkness and waited. Sometimes, when it
was least expected, the center of the heart would cry out, and be heard. Those
were the best times. But sometimes, when the center of the heart cried out, it
would not be heard. Those were the worst times.
Then
the darkness broke. Barely perceptible at first; there was only a crack. It was
ignored, and the darkness ruled for some time after. Then it cracked
again. And light seeped in through the
cracks, and called to the center of the heart. And the broken heart, which was
held together by darkness, didn't have the strength to rule anymore. The heart
broke again, but the darkness had held it so long that it didn't know what
being broken felt like. The light grew, and more light creeped in. The heart
began to be strong enough to put itself back together without the darkness, and
emotions began to be remembered. The light outside was so strong, most of the
darkness crumbled and fell, and its once-mighty empire turned to dust like so
many ashes. The light inside and the light outside joined together and
rejoiced, and the heart ached for the time it had spent in darkness.
But
the darkness was far from vanquished. When the light outside would dim, for
even a moment, the darkness inside would grow. It would send tendrils to the
heart to try and shut out the light. Those were the worst times. But then the
light outside would come back, and the darkness had no hold on the heart. And
the heart was free, and there was light, and those were the best times.
Snowflakes
burning ice cold on bare skin. Coarse, dirty rags for clothing, barely enough
for modesty, if not for warmth. Rough, splintered wood rubbing against a
bruised and bloody body. Rude yells and chuckles, men bending over and
arranging limbs without thought of comfort, the smell of their sweat and hot
breath. The pounding of a hammer sending shocks through the cross, the raw
marks already forming on ankles and wrists. Blood and sharp pain just now
registering, now being connected with the sounds of hammering, the feel of
nails through hands and feet.
The
heart embraced the light, and the light embraced the heart, as the two souls on
crosses desperately wished to do. Whispers all but cut to shreds by the wind.
"I
love you, Gabrielle."
"I
love you, Xena."
Then
the light was no more, and darkness reigned again.
