A few days later...

Rose sat in reflective solemnece,her azure eyes focused on the floor,trying to work up the nerve to attempt this action.Matt had told her more then once that it had worked and she'd seen it slightly herself.He had probably been getting close to a major break through...and Rose had been the one who had prevented him.

"No,"She said the word litigiously,eyes steely and narrow as she slowly rose them to meet the woman's closed ones."I have to.I fact,I think I'm destined to."

Before she could change her mind,Rose bolted forward and caught the woman's hand,securely gripping Amber's comely fingeres in an attempt to make sure she was holding on enough.Small tremors went through her and beads of sweat formed on her temples and forehead but she refused to give up and leave now.

It had to work,it just had to.There's was nothing for a few minutes,just the slightly unnatural coolness of the woman's hand inclosed with hers.But a sort of strong yet odd relaxing feeling came over Rose and what felt like a push of someone it seemed melded into her and she felt a surge run through her arm that ended at her hand;the experience left her too stunned to move and clueless to utter a word but halting,breath-taking amazement sweeped over her when Amber stirred.

"Where..."The young woman twisted around a bit under her light bedding but a light of realisation flowed over her petite features and her eyes widened with a burst of understanding,as she gradually rose to a sitting position."Matt,he's gone."

Uncertain of what to do,Rose immediately was at her side."No,he's not..."she attempted to get her to lay down again,trying to appear in control."Come on,you really have been out of it for a while.Maybe you should just,you know,rest a bit."

But Amber shook her head to that."That's all I've done for three years."she was completely deadpan about it and as if she'd never been harmed,moved out from under the sheets and stood."And trust me,you'd want to move around after that."

"B-but..."She aruged stammeringly as she passed her.

Rose was in the dark as to how Amber could know all of this but patiently held in her questions and concerns,as the woman strolled over to the window and put her hands on the glass,as though trying to see if she would phase through.With a small,sparkling laugh,she brought back both the windows and a coaxing breeze fluttered through,brushing back against their necks and bringing up locks of hair.

"No,please,"Rose suddenly became frantic and came up from behind her,taking her arm and turning her to face her."Please,will you lie down and stop this?You don't know if this is permenate,I don't."her eyes watered."Please just becareful."

Amber took in the young girl's pained expression with great sympathy and very quickly,reached out and embraced Rose to her.The thought to pull away crossed her mind but Rose didn't fight her,she just buried her face in her inframmary line.

"Listen,sweetheart,"Amber told her carefully yet firmly."We have to be strong and carry on.The Huntsman will never again even tolerate the mentioning of Matt's name even being in use.That's why,it's best we forget he ever existed."

Presently...

Rose held onto Jake's neck,the force of being pulled back as she clung on didn't render her nervous as she once was.Upon telling him the tale of her past,he had insisted that she needed to face it and had gone as far as to tell her she needed to visit a certain place.Against her better judgement,Rose had given up resisting it.

"Which one?"He asked up at her over his shoulder,his black eyes and voice still retaining some of their determination."There's so many,I can't spot the writing at this distance and the wind's pretty strong today so it's kinda blinding me a bit."

Suddenly,unexplaniable need welled up and Rose,clutching his neck a little tigther,made her way up to where he could see her out of the corner of his eye and pointed directly down at a grey stone.Giving a sturdy nod,he careened down but didn't have time to land before Rose leapt off of him as he was nearly on the ground and his distraction led to a face plant in a dry,rotted-out old tree nearby.

"Aw,man..."He groaned in a muffled voice from his head being lodged in bark.

Comically stuck inside,the tree leaned forward and with it's roots snapping,it fell over with a thud.Finally managing to work his way out of the hole he had created in it,Jake found Rose quietly observing,if not admiring a concrete tombstone but the words that were suppose to be engraved in them were faded and worn.On a closer look,it seemed as if someone had droven something into the lettering alot and thusly caused it to appear old and unable to read.Curiously,he turned to her.

"How'd you know this was Matt's if you have been here only once and with the-"

"I know Jake,"she intervened in a calmly distant voice."Somehow,I just do."

Without anymore said,the two looked back down upon it and just stared at it for a while.Jake couldn't tell what was going on in Rose's mind but he knew that she must be having a time with remembering everything she was practically forced to forget for the last three years.But finally,he heard her sigh with deep indifferenty.

"What's left to worry over?"She inquired,mostly to herself."It's over with.This is the present and that was the past."she sounded incomplete."Matt was the past."

"What about Amber?"Jake asked her,unconvinced."Didn't you keep in touch?"

"She got out,"Rose replied with a shrug,surprisingly more willing to go on."She married that Thomas guy eventually and once you do that,you can resign from the clan on the terms that if your child has the mark,they join when the time comes and their old enough."she paused to think."Of course,we lost touch long ago."

"Long ago?"A familiar voice laughed disprovingly from behind."It's only been a few years.I've had to come to terms with what 'long ago' means for all this time."

Jake saw Rose's complexion go ghastly and protectively,he got part away before her as she turned around but the presence of a woman in her mid-twenties made he ease up,even when Rose pushed him over some.The woman had straight light brown hair that curled at her shoulders,was very tall but thin and had a small child around the age of a toddler clinging to her arm behind the woman's legs,his large pale green eyes moving from Rose's face and then to Jake's in a shy way.

"Amber."Rose spoke her name softly when she sensed Jake's questioning gaze.

"Uh..."He scratched at his head fuzzily."You mean,right here?Right this moment?"

"I realise it might be kind of a shock,"She told them with a hint of apology in her tone,picking the fair-haired boy up and walking up closer to them."But I come here about once every week or so and this is actually the first time I've brought along my son with me."her bright eyes turned to Rose."How've you been,dear?"

Slowly,a friendly smile creased her full lips."I've been fine."she appeared normal again and she looked down at the small boy,asking curiously."Who's your son?"

"Matthew,"Amber anwsered promptly,bouncing him a bit in her arms to get him to wake up more as a drowzy expression lingered on his round face."Or Mattie."

Rose felt a tightening her chest at the thought of him being named in memory of Matt but it didn't surprise her.Her past had manifested itself in the form of an old friend and a new life.Instead of turning away and leaving,which she momentarily had wanted to do,Rose reached down.But she paused and met Amber's gaze in an asking manner.Once she nodded her permission,Rose turned back down to the child and with both hands,she gently uncurled the child's pudgy little fingers.

She felt herself gasp.But it wasn't just in shock,it was in relief.For nothing looked more heart-melting at that moment then the two completely unmarked little hands that were before her.They were bare,soft-skinned flat surfaces that greatly and releasingly exposed freedom for the two-year-old's fate.He was free and in that moment,so was Rose.Just for brief moment,she could look upon another and feel that somehow this child was a sign that everything would be alright with time.

A little later...

Jake flew Rose home as the sun dipped neatly into the west sky,it's fading colors looking marvelous but they hardly noticed.He stopped at the very far end of her block and made sure they were well covered.It was the first time he had been to or close to her new home and it would be the last,they couldn't risk this anymore.

"Are you okay?"He asked her unsurely as she stood in front of him just where the shadows began in a dark alley as he lowered his claw down and smoothed some of her golden hair back behind her ear that fell into her face."With it all?"

Rose bit her bottom lip in thought and nodded,catching Jake by the wrist just as he was retreating."Thank you,Jake."she told him softly,moving her hand down until his large claw nearly engulfed it in a gentle squeeze."For more or less making me go through with this,I know it probably wasn't the most exciting thing ever."

"With you,babe,"She heard him laugh cockily."Anything's exciting."

They hugged one another tenderly,before he snuck away through the back of the alley to leave and she made her way down the block to her home,a sense of new purification mounting in her;dissolving away all the burdening of the past and now letting her see life the way it was meant to be.At least just for this particular day.

Rose walked up the steps of her stoop,feeling viberant and grateful,when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.It was a somehow familiar feel and holding her breath for a moment,she whirled around and dropped her eyes down at her feet where there lay her manilla envelope with a full bloomed pink magonla sticking out of it.

"Trust me,kiddo."Matt's faraway voice seemed to echo out of nowhere."It's a much better idea to wait to find out who your parents are.But really,it'll come about when the time is right.For now,"he gave a heartful chuckle."Just return it."

She swiped it up and noticed it was still open,it's flap moving up and down in the breeze.But taking note that the front of the flower was tapped down with the tap she had taken off,she peeled it off delicately and placed it back on the front to seal it for good,sticking the magonla's stem end into her pocket and giving a wide smile as she allowed only pleasant memories to fill her still clear,open mind while she twisted open the front door's knob and entered in as the sun setted fully then.

"Just this one other time,Mattie.I think I'll take your advice."she frowned at the sound of that name."Also,I'll tell Amber next time I see her to call her son Matt."

The End