Disclaimer: I do not own Sanctuary. Why is this even a question?

A/N: I am unable to access my previous account, thus I am reposting so I can update freely.

The Fool

The fool begins her descent much by chance. A roll of the dice- a gamble, a chance- a split second and then she was tumbling down the rabbit hole as such speed that all the incredible sights she saw whizzed by her eyes too quickly to be polite.

She was a fool. A terribly stubborn fool. A fool who tried to do her very best to protect- to study. A fool who strove to learn.

A fool with the best of intentions- but a fool nethertheless.

She had been too wrapped up in everything around her- too absorbed in her own blind determination to actually think about what she had been doing. Consequences, penalties, the very cost she would have to pay for her actions were something she had never considered. How the outcomes of her demands would forever change, shape her- how it would define who she would become, were something that had once seemed so irrelevant.

How ignorant she had once been.

She can remember the day, the descent into duty and honour and obligation and responsibility.

She stood, hidden behind a door- knowing she had no business to be there,eavesdropping of all things, but something deep inside her refused to let her walk away.
"You must understand, Gregory, the board has been patient with you, but their generosity has limits. " A familiar voice had cut through from inside the room, deep, exasperated. A scientist, or doctor- or one in the same. His cutting words sliced her up inside. A surge of anger rushed around her body, at his silent threat.
"As does their imagination! Can you not fathom the secrets we are on the verge of unlocking?" Her father's voice filled the air; anyone could hear the passion in his voice. The sound of a man committed to his work- who knows that what he is doing is so right..
"By accepting your hysterical and outlandish case studies as fact?" Another man spoke, mocking her father with anger in his voice. Her lip trembled, moving away from the door, she set her expression back into a calm mask.

The emotions she felt tumbled through her, predominantly ruled by confusion. Never had they seemed so angry at him, never. Their sharp, cutting words had struck her heart, causing such pain.

Soon, the 'doctors' and 'scientists' had left, leaving her father alone in his study, looking utterly defeated, like a great warrior who had for once lost a battle and just couldn't understand. Like the man who had been locked in darkness for all his life, only to free himself and wander into the sunlit world above, to return to the mocking sneers of his friends who couldn't believe what he saw no matter how hard he tried to convince them.
"I don't understand why are they always so angry at you." Her desperate pleas spilled out of her before she could control them- she had been so young, naive, innocent. Had she once been so blind to everything around her?
"They're not angry, sweetheart, they're afraid. " Her father's voice made her courage grow, curiosity and desperation filled her, along with a thousand other feelings she couldn't quite make out.
"What have you done to make them so afraid of you? Tell me. "Her pleas grew more desperate, a warm liquid swelled in her eyes. Tears. Still, her father's eyes, his warm, gentle eyes that held nothing but love, were filled with something else.
"I can't."

His words, final and unconditional seemed to run slowly throughout her body in an icy painful fashion, slowly infiltrating and eating away at her.

All parents protect their children, from things that could harm them while they slept. From the mad men in shadows that wield knives as other men wield words, from the frenzied creatures that snarl full of rage, from the demons that lurked around looking for any chance to tempt children away even from the things that nightmares are made of.

All parents protect their children, and she was a fool for seeing things that didn't exist. Her father, her warm, gentle caring father who brought meaning to 'the eyes are the windows to the soul', He had been protecting her. Against the duty and honour and responsibility she had heaped on herself. She had always been so full of pride, so sacrificing. So foolish.

Had he known about what would come of exposing the world she had been so blind to see. Surly he would have known, that she, with her deep rooted sense of right and wrong, wouldn't, couldn't accept that the suffering and conditions that human had forced upon Abnormals. That she would strive to protect and not falter in the face of any threat or temptation.

She was a fool. But she was also her father's daughter.
"You...are the most talented medical researcher I have ever known and yet you keep your most important work hidden from the world, from me. If you truly believe that I have potential, Father, please...help me achieve it."

Her descent into duty and honour and obligation came much by chance. An impulsive thought, a surge of emotions and a desperate plea. Her father, her dear father had never been able to deprive her from anything she so wished to have. A gentle, kind hearted soul, that erupted into a burning blaze of passion for his work, a blaze that put the great volcanoes of the world to shame.
"Once you enter this door, you are on a path that cannot be reversed."

The fool begins her descent much by chance. A roll of the dice- a gamble, a chance- a split second and then she finally walked into the light and saw the things she had once dismissed as tricks of the light- impossibilities.

Creatures, all so much more than human. So much better. So much potential. They were the true inheritors of the earth. They were the future, encompassing what could be, what must be and what should be.

But she was a fool- blind still to the possibilities she didn't want to be true. Bound by duty and honour and obligation and responsibility.

She was a fool.

'Ashley. Listen to me. Please. I don't want to do this. You don't want to do this.'

A terribly stubborn fool.

'Do you remember when you were small? You used to come into my room in the middle of the night. You'd crawl into my arms and you'd say, "Mummy, I'm afraid.'

A fool who tried to do her very best to protect- to study.

'Ashley, please...'

A fool who strove to learn.

'Mom?'

A fool with the best of intentions, a compassionate fool.

'You'll never be without me, and I know that you will always love me. No matter what.'

But a fool nethertheless.

'I'm so sorry...'

Read and Review