Title: Gatekeeper
Author: SilverAshes
Rating: G
Summary: He's always thought that, perhaps, destiny should be left well alone
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Don't claim to. Have no money. End of.
A/N: Written for the inaugural Looking Glass Fanfiction Challenge – 'Unsung Heroes'. Thanks to Syd for her tireless work getting this saga off the ground, to Juliet and the mods for your great work on the boards and to Susanna for your support and friendship.
He'd known a hundred faces to pass by in an indefinable stretch of time. A hundred young, impressionable men and women craving an answer. Eager to please, and perhaps become something more than they were already.
Tipping his head forward, he gives his permission and the tall black man and his slight companion enter the elevator. It's not like he could stop them, but these days it's more a mark of respect. In these uncertain times, it's trust that keeps the Resistance alive, and they trust that he will be here to keep the gate.
He wonders what the journey to the thirteenth floor will have in store for this latest addition to the Zion congregation. It's the first woman he's known to trace this path in a long while and wonders at the implications of that. Her quietness was unsettling and she seemed to slip into the lift, almost dissolving away from the air around her. Almost unnoticed.
But not quite.
He's always been able to feel the specials ones through his blindness. It wasn't so much a sensation, as an inclination that perhaps there was something different about them. And the quiet depth that radiated from the woman who had just stepped into the elevator spoke of an importance beyond her wildest imagination.
Maybe she'd find out her destiny today, maybe not – but he could never predict the Oracle. She moved in mysterious ways, and though her heart was always in the right place, he wondered at her methods when he sensed broken young things passing by him on their return journey.
Countless times, he's felt their enthusiasm and apprehension at discovering destiny, and their dread and heartbreak after it's actually been discovered. He's always thought that, perhaps, destiny should be left well alone. He remembers the old proverb that if it ain't broke don't fix it and thinks that perhaps the great philosopher that uttered those words forgot to add or you will break it.
He wonders if that intense young woman will return with her inner passion intact. He'd hate to see her faith broken, and something tells him that that is exactly what is happening thirteen floors above his head.
He tries to remain impartial to the Potentials, affecting calm and ancient wisdom without interfering in their paths. Yet, he's willing to make an exception in this case, feeling that he has a duty to impart some guidance to a lost soul.
When the black man emerges from the elevator, the old man nods once again, in acknowledgement of the monumental journey which has just been taken. He senses the woman step from the lift and fixes her with a blind stare. Speaking barely above a whisper, he utters words she will remember for the rest of her life.
Don't fear destiny. The worst it can do is kill you.
And then she's gone, nearly running from the room in her haste to be out of the building.
He sighs and leans back in his chair, considering what the future could bring for that woman. Considering the futures of the hundred men and women he's known to come and go through those doors.
Sometimes, he thinks, destiny should be left alone.