A/N: Such a contradicting card. All sources report more positive interpretations, yet the characters and picture of the card Takahashi designed whispers of pain and darkness. Well, little can be done about such things, or so this card says…
Out of hiding does he come, refreshed and feeling made anew. His countenance is one of strength and youth, full of vigor and life. Which is certainly good, because he will need them. Change is coming, a pivoting point in his life, that will spell a change of fortune of good or ill. Staff in hand, the Fool heads into the sunlight, his hair now seems to shine and sparkle as he rises from dark to light, as if he was being pulled up from some dark point on a wheel. He heads out into the world expecting nothing. But what he expects and what was are as different as the moon and the sun.
/
The woman stands quietly and serenely by a water wheel. She stares intently at it observing the water drip and slide down the dark, soaked wood as it endlessly turns, turns bring that which is down to new heights and plummeting others to new depths. So much of her life has been ruled this way, by destiny or fate, things just happening ..."dumb luck" some people call it. And plenty of that has she had, and she smiles bitterly at the memories that rise, just like the water on the wheel. But as they come, she remembers it is not only her who has suffered so. She turns and looks at one of the men with her, his face as expressionless and stoic as ever.
Stoic. Really an apt word for him, not because he had no emotions, no never. He showed admirable patience and endurance in the face of adversity without complaining or getting upset. Even through all he had suffered, never being accepted by HIM (no, don't turn around, don't think about him, one you loved and should've loved you and them back but never did, no never…)she never heard him utter a sound or word of complaint. All the time they spent together as children, as a family (as much as "family" could be applied) he served faithfully. Caring for her and later for him, her flesh and blood, with such loyalty that was even comparable to the service her family had given for millennia to one no remembered. All the while HE hated and scored him, treating him like some lowly mule, only to be kept alive to work. But even in the dusty loneliness and pitch darkness they lived there was still light, hope, goodness in the form of the youngest of three. Before fate had taken an even more sinister twist, before what smidgen of good luck they had was thrown away to be lost in the endless shifting sands, the little boy had loved them. He was pure and innocent, making ringlets of the prettiest flowers that were brought in from the outside world, calling her sister and him brother. Oh the joy she could see in his eyes as he was accepted into the family, even if it was only by the littlest one.
She smiles a gentle smile and him, the dark scars on the side of his face a constant reminder of the time the wheel really started spinning, when things only went from bad to worse. And that's when she finally turns with the smallest amount of trepidations trickling into her breast, at the other two men.
One stands behind the other, HIS head covered in the dark cloth of her family's clan, HIS eyes hard like chips of ice, with no love or compassion in them. As much as she once had loved HIM, as much as the world expected a love to exist there, she knew HE was mad, obsessed with their mission to the point it had created the very demon that would bring about HIS own demise.
Karma, that's what it was called, she thinks bitterly. A philosophy that proposes every action we take affects everything else - what we sow, so shall we reap - for every action there is an equal reaction. How appropriate, because he had sown the seeds of darkness in the other man that stands before him, the one she can say she really loves, because he is her family. No matter where he went or what he had done, she still held hope that he could be saved.
That's when she looks at him, her baby brother, and although he looks so much like the other man, his eyes are softer, younger, his sandy hair less sharp and fierce (although it can be can't it? A wolf hiding in sheep's clothing, the darkness between the stars…) he smiles a real smile, an impish grin, and she knows its really her brother. Happy healthy and smiling, no sinister plans or burning scars from the hot blade of his words.*
Though fate had thrown them for a loop, although they were the poor figures who had fallen to the wayside while the wheel brought others to prosperity, it had brought change for them. A change that, brought them out of secrecy, darkness and musty tombs to a bright expansive world. A lesson had been learned about the world, that, as she turned back to face the wheel, she and her companions would be passing on.
/
He comes upon them then; four figures standing next to an ever turning water wheel, the world silent save for the splashing, and churning of the water as it meets the wheel. The figures are silent, almost ominous, with an air of mystery hanging like a funeral pall over them. He hesitates for a moment, but then reasons that nothing so far has harmed him, or even threatened to do so. It was perfectly safe.
Right?
Well he'll find out.
He approaches them, and finds the only one wearing white is a woman, the other three figures are men. The woman stands before him and smiles kindly. From the folds of her robes, she pulls out something that catches the sunlight and throws it about in a wild array of color. But as the precious metal comes into view, the Fool's eyes grow wide and he pales.
The woman notices his reaction to the ringlet in her hands, and says "Do not be afraid." "This item was a surprise was it not? A gift, but as is the nature of Fate, sometimes gifts aren't so happy. When what may appear as an unsavory event showing up unexpectedly in our lives we must try our best to recognize some potential good from the situation." Here she pauses as the youngest of the men seems to shuffle, a disbelieving grunt escaping his hidden lips. " We may not see any benefit in the tragedy - but down the line (when the Wheel turns again) circumstances from that tragedy may lead to amazing and positive influences."
The fool stares at her, and then glances at the men standing behind her. He can feel it, the pain, sorrow and sadness seemed to radiate off like heat from a burning fire. But underneath at all, he can sense a glowing spark, the tiniest bit of light, shining like a candle in the night.
As he looks down at the object in her hands, he understands. Just like them, he too has suffered on fallen by the wayside. But the wheel continuously turns and what was a horrible nightmare, now promises a brighter future for them all.
* The last part of this line comes from the song "Bye Bye Beautiful" by Nightwish.
A/N: Sorry for the delay, its been way too long. But at least something's come and at points I felt this was a very strange chapter. Definitely at points different than usual, but will just blame the music I was listening to. Link for the pic will be posted as usual. R&R and thanks for your patients. :D
