A devil may cry: 'Definition of Evil'
She could sense it. Mayu was coming.
Her world was quickly transformed into fireworks before her eyes. Her veins pumped stronger fluids than blood once again and her hands were no longer simply the means of fighting but tools of more utter destruction or salvation. Of course the slumbering beast could find her easily for there weren't too many people who looked the same through the eyes of the Ultimate Craft. She and Mayu were special that way, weren't they?
Robin needed to think and find somewhere to lure her to. If she didn't act quickly, Mayu would demolish her current whereabouts and kill many in the process. Robin reached out with her hand already within the painting. She wasn't quite sure what she was doing but her senses were eager to guide her.
She traveled from one place to the other and saw those familiar lights again. Metallic red that devoured all other colors in her: Mayu. What could her nemesis want in the end?
Then the figure, formed from bundles of lines and layers beyond them, turned and saw her. Pain struck her down before Robin could act and the veil fell over her eyes again. Her knees became numb and she crashed on the floor soon after realizing it. The physical pain wasn't intense like it'd been before but more like a warning.
Robin forced herself back up and looked at her surroundings again. She didn't quite know where she was, but the walls were solid rock and there were no lamps or lighting textures in the roof. Maybe some deserted location near where she and Amon had lived? Some sort of monastery maybe?
Something quaked within her, making her realize time and place again. She needed to leave now.
Both ends of the corridor looked alike so she reached for the Craft when she began walking. It led her down the corridor that went northward and seemed to continue forever. Her fears had plenty of time to whisper terrible truths in her ear while she walked. She wasn't particularly keen on fighting Mayu again and she wasn't even sure if she could win in such a fight. Also it hadn't been that long ago since she'd still suffered from her seizures. How could she know they weren't over yet or that her body wouldn't fail her at the wrong time?
'Since when had it not been dangerous?' A voice inside her asked.
It'd always been dangerous but Amon had shielded her and taken care of fighting. His resolve in protecting her from the use of her powers had been almost possessive. It hadn't frightened then though.
She stopped to catch her breath when a dull pain bothered her lungs. After making sure it passed for the time being she continued but quickened her paste. Maybe if she found a distant location for facing Mayu? Perhaps then she could fight with her mind at ease.
But it wasn't quite that either, was it? They shared something. Mayu was her origin, the Original witch with the Ultimate Craft. How could Robin claim she was on the right tracks and Mayu wasn't? Maybe she wasn't meant to kill Mayu but save her as well? Fix her like she had fixed Kane.
Sadness emerged. There'd been no need to kill Kane so why had Amon? Because Kane had spoken something that'd feared him: Because he'd tried to protect Robin? There was no time to reflect on that now. No time.
Robin looked at the long corridor behind her. Maybe she should've run by now, alarmed because of the approaching darkness? Somehow she knew she was meant to run. The forces she commenced also gave her intuition that she'd learned to trust and this intuition kept on telling her how important it was that she didn't rush.
Then the door was there. She stopped and felt very strange all of the sudden. Her hand was anxious to open the door to freedom and taste all its flavors now. She'd take Mayu away from everyone here.
But after the dark outside had opened before her she knew she wasn't as alone she'd hoped and she finally recognized the reason why she'd stalled unconsciously.
"Amon," she said as she embraced the darkness and watched his tall figure emerge from the many shadows in the small courtyard. There was a steel gate near them and it was open. Her eyes focused on Amon again. He looked bizarre to her eyes.
Amon had known she'd come out sooner or later. His most bizarre ally had been right when saying he'd find her here. He didn't need the tracker like any other STN agent would've. As he'd become to realize during his stay with her, his eyes were sensitive to her now and he could catch the radiance she spread from anywhere.
Amid his pride there was joy and relief as well. He'd followed a long road with signs of her injury. Blood and tears mixed with her labored walking had kept him going all night. Now she looked rejuvenated and there wasn't a single trace of injury on her. The Craft really had to be strong…
His calculating eyes spotted something in her though. She was different in a way. More mature perhaps but definitely more decisive. Even in her dirty and torn clothing she seemed somewhat dignified and radiant - A harsh diamond.
"We're leaving," Amon said walking up to her and taking her elbow in his hand. He didn't look different at all. Worry hadn't drained the life from his face nor had anger made him reckless in his search. He seemed a collected as ever.
"Let go." She yanked her arm back, stepping down the stairs and right past him. "I can't leave yet," she informed him, not specifying any of her words.
He watched her go, feeling a new kind worry emerge. Had she gone beyond the reach of his words? "You're not safe." Amon shook his head, stealing her arm inside his grip again to make her stop her walk.
"No, Amon." Her face was pale and her eyes showed him she'd cried. What'd happened? Amon's grip grew tighter.
"It's you who's not safe!" Her face twisted with worry and she looked around, shooting their perimeters with a scanning glance. Apparently she also knew the other fugitive was coming here.
Then their eyes clashed and everything froze. No more struggle, no more words. She felt as overwhelmed by him as always and this time she knew she couldn't fall for that again. The bond had to be cut – for good.
"I must release you from your duty. You can't protect me anymore." She tore her arm away from him, swallowing the impurity in her voice. He knew now what'd happened and it didn't make him happy.
"They will only use you." His voice grew demanding and his shadow taller. Authority had entered their play. Violence would soon ensue as well.
"Like Kane?!" She snapped, letting out the frustration and anger she'd never told to him about before. Her voice became steel and weakness vanished from her as if it'd completely dissolved away.
"Amon, there's no more purpose in our common life."
Of course, he thought bitterly. She wanted to leave him now that there were witches to save and fix. She wanted to be with her own kind - those worthless killers, who'd all, one by one, lose their minds! This abandoning was reckless and it hurt more than he could realize.
"STN won't let you escape." His strict voice didn't seem moved by her words. So it really didn't matter to him?
"No. They will no longer settle for watching either!" She shot back, taking a few steps towards the gate. He approached her equally, beginning their circling. A small smile decorated the corner of his mouth. She'd grown claws and used them quite eagerly it seemed.
"It's you who stands in my way." God it hurt to say that truth, she thought and witnessed the same hurt in him. Robin knew she could've used the Craft, done anything to put him gently asleep but it would've been only temporal. Amon would continue following her and then hunt her if she didn't cut the anchor loose.
"You need your shots," Amon said out of the blue as if she'd never denied him his right to look after her. He approached and she backed up, making him stop. Of course he'd always had patience so stopping was just a set back to him, she though bitterly.
He gave out his hand, his expression encouraging her to take it. "We'll flee the country." There gentleness in his voice pained her. The sweet lie he sold to her, wanting to delude her, was truly beautiful.
"I have contacts in Northern Europe," Amon continued but couldn't continue further when she raised her hand for a rejecting gesture. Her eyes had flared and their conviction was stronger than ever before. "You can't force me Amon. And I will not run and hide."
This is when he opened his jacket revealing an article she'd never thought she'd see again: An Orbo pendant.
He'd planned to take her by force if necessary all along.
"You have no choice. The witch you encountered will chase you down and destroy you." He spoke to her calmly, bewaring any words that might be too agitating.
Disbelief was all over her face as she looked at the pendant around his neck. Then the emotion shifted and she turned to stone. Reasoning with him would be futile but she didn't want to give in to the more destructive powers in her care.
"And I'm the only thing that stands between her and everything else – everyone else," she announced with a shivering voice, her eyes shifting from the pendant to Amon. He'd had time to tidy his hair into a neat ponytail. His clothes were clean and- Robin inhaled, trying to keep her anger from emerging.
"This is not the time to play a martyr," Amon announced with an equally steady voice and conviction. She wasn't meant to be sacrificed in some battle between witches and STN. Everyone just used her, ignoring what she should've had and could still have – a normal life and happiness.
He wouldn't yield in this battle, she realized.
"This is precisely the time." Robin's green eyes animated and all fear vanished. "You've chained me long enough!"
She dashed at him, throwing the little bodyweight she had against his chest. Her hands found pendant quickly and grabbed it, to tear it from his neck. He was quicker though and when she didn't notice, he tripped her with his leg, getting her off-balance .His strong hand locked her still against his chest.
"I will hurt you if it's necessary," Amon breathed against her ear, tickling her with his warm breath.
"Is this your devotion!?" She asked him, breaking free with a little help from a concentrated flare against the pendant. His grip loosened only a little, but enough for her to duck and slip through his hands.
She didn't get to running though when his hand took her braid, engulfing her in pain as he forced her still. Then he tried to contain her again. She kicked him; he blocked it and lost his hold on her braid.
They were once again face to face and ready to fight. "This is no common witch, Robin!" Amon warned her, only making the small girl raise her fists. She knew she couldn't beat him in a physical fight and if she tried to break the pendant with her Craft, she might hurt him more than she would've liked, so there really was nothing to do but stall until she thought of something else.
"And what am I?!" She yelled at him, her beautiful face distorted by anger he couldn't conceive. He knew she loved him, he'd known it for a long time. Why was she attacking him now? What had changed!?
"You're the person I swore to protect. You're the one, who promised to trust my judgment," he countered her, unwilling to attack her now. He'd already made her shed tears of pain.
"A person is without a name or a face! If that is all I am to you then I don't need your protection!"
Her answer struck a blade in him. His indifference towards her had been a way of making sure she could never start feeling for him, so why? Why had she fallen for him?
"You're a witch. A powerful and dangerous fugitive, whose powers must be kept at bay," he tried to explain, to make his duty as her protector take the blame for his means in taming her this time.
She swung her fist at him, making him dodge every sloppy punch. "I'm the Eve of witches!" Robin said and hit the pendant, getting him to grip her hand and restrain it. He forced her eyes on him and they glared at each other. The only thing that was missing from her eyes was love.
His hand grabbed her neck, pulling her face closer and then he kissed her. She froze completely, lost in the confusion of his kiss, the fever in it and eventually its pain, as his free hand punctured her skin with something sharp. Her body convulsed in her arms and she grimaced against his lips as the needle injected her with whatever poison he'd chosen to restrain her with.
"Liar!" She cried and pushed him back only to collapse on the ground herself. Amon kneeled quickly beside her limp body and watched the glow of her emerald eyes became fainter and fainter.
He'd cheated. He'd lied more cruelly than he thought he could. And yet, holding her and being sure he could save her was what weighted more. He lifted her face over his shoulder and looked at her for a moment there.
She was still physically weak so this time to trick had worked. She'd grow stronger though and next time he'd probably be defeated.
As he lifted her fully in his arms, her braid opened and the burning locks of her hair were freed over his arm. Just as it should be, he thought, watching her flames eat his armor. This was how it was meant to be.
Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark
i know.
don't hide it from me.
theres no use.
i'll strip away the paint - and wash away the lies
and
your different faces don't phase me
'A Perfect Circle'
A/N: Poems are Kitty's "Faces" in the premonition.