SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE

Unbuttoning his dress jacket, Klarion reaches inside his inner breast pocket to retrieve an odd-looking device. Appearing as a harmless old tuning fork, one would never assume it is indeed one of the most powerful items in all the known universe. The key to time itself. A relic of his people, he dares not think what would happen should it ever land in the wrong hands. Although he, himself, had plans to use it for a bit of fun and mischief. Hoping to borrow it for joyride or two. He'd never assumed THIS is how he would end up using it.

Chronomancy is not an exact science. It's wild and untamed. Unpredictable. Ask for an inch and it's sure to give you a mile. Or vise versa. Pin point accuracy need not apply. It doesn't matter how skilled the user, how strong the magic, time simply does not bend to that of lesser beings. And he is hardly one to consider himself that of God. Still, being trapped inside a witches barrier, it doesn't leave him much for options. There's little he can do. He must make good with what he has and right now that too is slim pickings.

Teekl drapes himself around the warlock's shoulders, keen on what his master has planned. Klarion scratches at the weary cat's ears, his other hand clutching their ticket to freedom tight. He sighs.

"Well... Here goes nothing, my friend."

A flash of light and time reverses, though where they'll end up, he hasn't a clue. All he really needs is ten minutes time. He hopes to all that's good and holy they don't get ten years. The one good thing about the witch's barrier is that it acts like an anchor, locking him in place. He needn't worry about ending up in ancient China or a whole other universe away. As time flows around him like a current, he worries not that the tide shall carry him out to sea.

Seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months, a year... They rush past him in a blur. His travel is instantaneous and yet it feels like eternity in a bottle. Everything that ever was surrounds him, whooshing past in vivid colors and sounds, bombarding him all at once. His senses feel as if they just might explode. He squeezes his eyes shut and grits his teeth tight. Pressing his palms into his ears, he tries to cancel out the noise. It's beyond deafening. A thousand conversations happening in a single moment. Layer upon layer upon layer of constant chatter. Cellphones and doorbells and television. Screaming and whispers and laughter and sorrow. All melded together into something indiscernible. And just when he thinks he can't possibly take any more, he opens his eyes to find he's arrived.

While the where is all but certain, the when, he's not quite sure. It takes Klarion a moment for his eyes to adjust properly.

He looks down at the floor to notice the symbols and sea salt are no longer present. The barrier has yet to be made. He breathes a little easier. So far, so good. Step one has gone off without a hitch. With no witch's barrier keeping him in place, he's free to move about the cabin. He's no longer confined to a cell. He at least has that much going for him. Now on to step two...

Remembering the exact spot from which he stood, Klarion takes a step back to examine the floor boards. A bit of red magic and a crowbar materializes into his hand from thin air. Getting on his hands and knees, he sets to work. Teekl hops to the side and watches as his master begins to pry loose the boards.

"Brother?" The tabby asks with worry. "What do you think Kitrina plans on doing?"

Lips set in a scowl, the warlock doesn't reply. The familiar mistakes his master's silence for lack of hearing and so decides to ask again. Upon the second time, Klarion slams the crowbar into the ground and growls. The little cat cowers.

"Something... terrible." Klarion replies with shaky breath. "Her mind thinks only vengeance, though what she has in store is nothing short of revenge. She aims to take a life tonight. Though should she succeed, she too shall become lost to the flames. The line she walks is jagged and narrow, to which I cannot follow. Should she cross it... There is no coming back from that. It will consume her."

A burst of anger and fear rushes through him. In a moment of rage, he throws the crowbar clear across the room. It connects with the wall and in a burst of red light, disperses back into the nothingness from which it came.

"AND WHY SHOULD I STOP HER?" Klarion shouts.

He throws his arms out, indicating all around them the empty apartment. They've traveled far enough back in time that Kitrina has yet to move in.

"I can do ANYTHING." He continues. "I could make it so that we never even meet. I could destroy this building. Make it so that she takes residence elsewhere. Make it so that she never ventures to that damned rooftop that fated night. Make it so that we never..."

Footsteps. The front door unlocks and creaks open. The warlock casts both Teekl and himself invisible to whoever it is that may enter. Like ghosts, they're completely undetectable to non-magic beings, both visibly and audibly. Just as he conceals themselves, in step Selina and Kitrina, followed by the landlord.

Klarion's heart skips a beat upon seeing her. You'd think she'd dressed regally, in silk and pearls, by the way his heart is reacting. She wears a short pair of denim cutoffs, frayed with pockets exposed, and a loose-fitting cotton tank top, barely hanging on to her slender white shoulders. Her hair is messy and pulled up, with a pair of sunglasses atop her head. The same pair she'd given him on that sunny day they'd ventured to the park. Still, despite her dress, she'll always look like a queen to him. She'll always be his goddess.

She steps further into the apartment, looking around. Klarion takes a step towards her as well, completely reactionary, as if drawn to her.

"It's perfect." Kitrina purrs happily, eyeing the empty living room.

Selina takes a little walk around, stalking the room with the grace and poise of a lioness.

"Are you sure?" She asks in return, her voice discerning. "I mean, there's much... nicer places uptown. Closer to the university. You know you can always stay with me. There's no need for you to move out so soon."

Kitrina giggles and rolls her eyes.

"Stop smothering me, MOM." She jokes. If she only knew. "No really, living with you and the Sirens was fun and all, but I gotta do this on my own. I'm a big girl now."

Heels click against the hardwood as Selina strides over towards Kitrina to wrap her arms around her. She squeezes her eyes shut to proudly hide her tears and pulls her in extra tight. A purr escapes the older woman's lips.

"As long as you promise me to not grow up so darn fast." She reluctantly releases her from their hug. "You're making me feel old."

Kitrina snickers and Selina goes off to inspect the rest of the apartment, leaving her seemingly alone in the empty living room. The landlord hangs in the doorway, checking his phone for messages and not paying the pair of women any mind. With a grin, Kitrina twirls, giddy to call this place her own. All it needs is Selina's stamp of approval and it's hers. All hers.

"I'm going to be happy here." She muses quietly to herself.

It's now or never, the warlock thinks. He can end this. Stop it before it even begins. Save her the pain. Protect her from himself. So many options. So many forks in a road less traveled. Decisions, decisions...

He could force her to leave this place. To never return. He could turn away, himself, and never look back. She'd move on from here and never be the wiser. She'd finish school. Graduate. Get a job. She'd often spoken of teaching. Fall in love with someone else. Perhaps not someone who deserves her, but someone who will treat her right. Make her happy. Keep her safe. Someone boring and mundane. They'd get married. Have children. Grow old... An easy life. One without the hardships being with someone like him would bring. But would it be worth it? Nothing easy ever is.

She walks about the living room and he ghosts her footsteps, just a hairbreadth behind. Stopping at the windowsill, he stops along with her and together they look out over Gotham. Her back to his chest, he places an arm to either side of her, resting his hands upon the sill so that he's not touching her though she's trapped in his embrace. Cloaked in invisibility, she hasn't a clue he's even there.

"What would you have me do?" He breathes into her ear.

Though he may be bonded to an older version of herself, this is still the same young woman that he loves. She just doesn't know it yet. She's yet to bond herself with him. She's just not quite ripened yet. Only through much pain and misery and death will she find herself ready. Still, he can't help but wonder if she can sense him now. If she can somehow feel him.

Ever so softly, his lips brush against the side of her cheek, just where it meets the temple of her forehead. The slightest of smiles graces her lips and she doesn't even know why. Standing by the window, she thinks it's just a draft. Still, an unexplainable feeling grips her heart. She can feel it in her soul, across time and space and all reasonable understanding. Klarion smiles along with her. He has his answer.

"I promise." He whispers even though she can't hear him. "You will be happy here."

Although he longs to stay, he takes a step back and towards his mark on the floor. Gripping the key tight, he and Teekl prepare to lunge through time once more. At least this time he needn't worry about when and where time will take him. Like a boomerang, you always return to the same place you started. Perhaps there's something to be said there. Time repeats itself.

The last thing he sees and hears before the bright light envelopes him is that of Selina returning to the living room. She asks about Kitrina's plans for the spare bedroom. She replies something about getting a roommate.

A flash of light and the whoosh of noise and they're back where they'd started. Trapped within the barrier. Back in his cage. Although this time with a way out. A trap within a trap he'd set before it's time. Just an inconspicuous creak in the floor boards. Surely she'd walked over this spot but a hundred times or more. Never thinking it was anything worth noting. Hopefully not at least worth going through the trouble of fixing. A weak spot in the foundation, in the fabric of time. Weak enough that should he slam his foot down hard enough...

Hardwood splinters and gives way. The floorboards crack and break beneath his weight. Not all too much damage, just enough and in the proper spot that the barrier around him has fallen apart. The spell is broken.

His plan was a bit crude, he must admit, but he couldn't risk using any spells or talismans of any sort. Should his past self have moved in and felt his future self's sorcery, who knows what sort of paradoxes he would have unleashed. The warlock sighs heavily. Much exhausting work done for such a simple trick. Over a year in the making just to break a couple floorboards. He feels drained but he cannot rest yet. She's still out there, and he hasn't any doubt she won't give up without a fight.


The little brass bell rings within Xanadu's shop, indicating she has a customer, though the signal isn't necessary. The girl's been expected. The Madame sits at her table, her Tarot cards laid out before her. Waiting.

"What brings you?" The older woman asks.

The leather-clad young woman snorts and rolls her eyes.

"You're the psychic, why don't you tell me."

Xanadu blankly nods and motions towards the small package on the counter.

"You'll be needing this." She replies, still staring at the cards.

Kitrina walks towards it and picks it up into her hand. The heft of it is strangely light, though she's not quite sure what she was expecting. Or even what it is that's inside. She carefully unwraps the thing and pulls it from its package. Holding it forth, she lifts a small silver cross affixed to a chain. A necklace. She eyes the gypsy skeptically. The woman neither nods nor replies. With a shrug, Kitrina places the charm around her neck, securing the clasp in place.

"And for my fee?" Xanadu asks from her spot at the table.

Kitrina digs her hand into her pocket and retrieves another charm of sorts, the dark crystal, and places it down on the counter.

"My old life in turn for another." She replies thoughtfully. "One nightmare for what dreams may come."

She takes a step back and motions towards the door.

"Even now, he comes for you." The Madame speaks, making Kitrina stop in place. "He's broken free of your trap and thinks to save you."

"I don't need saving."

"Of course, but then again this never was about survival. And yet survival is all you know. You've been hunted all your life. Afraid and to the shadows. No home to shelter. No family to turn to. No name to call your own."

"If you're trying to stop me-"

"On the contrary..." Xanadu sighs softly, finally glancing up from her cards and to the girl at her door. "It's not my job to stop you, but to remind you of your path. To set you on your way."

With her hand on the door, she pushes it open slightly and stares down at her feet. One foot in the past and one foot in the future, but where she stands is in the present. Or maybe she's got both feet in he grave and she doesn't even know it yet.

"Perhaps now you would care to hear your reading?" Xanadu asks, a playful tone seeping through that thick Louisiana accent of hers.

Kitrina doesn't answer, just continues staring vacantly at her feet, though Xanadu wasn't expecting a reply.

"How many lives have you lived, dear child? Even a cat has its limits. And yet, you're a survivor. You WILL survive this. To this I am certain." The gypsy begins, packing up the cards into their case and shutting close the box. "However, there comes a point when to survive, the hunted must become the hunter."

"Huntress." Kitrina says low as if to herself.

"Hm?"

The gypsy looks up from her work towards the girl. It's as if she's taking in the sight of a whole new animal. One filled with so much rage and aggression. One of hurt and needing redemption. Of deadly vengeance. The road ahead is so very long and winding. There's still so very much to learn.

The young woman clutches the cross around her neck tightly.

"Kitrina Falcone is gone. She was a facade, masking a great deal of pain. Masking her feelings. Masking her fears. The old facade has cracked. The stoic, the sharp tongue... all broken down to provide fuel for a new self. Kitrina thought she was intimidating. She couldn't scare anybody. It's time to invent someone who can. To confront the ultimate killers, I must construct the ultimate alias. To combat the murderers who would destroy me. I must become a greater, more fearsome destroyer."

Her path is set. She opens the door and steps out into the night.

"The hunted must become the Huntress."


Mystery solved!

Well, there you have it. Did anyone guess? Kitrina is actually Helena Wayne aka Huntress. Though she hasn't figured out the former part just yet! Did anyone guess? The clues were there! (Daughter of Bats and Cats, wants to take up crossbow, lives on the corner of Cavalieri and Staton (Huntress' creators), vendetta with the mob... I'm sure there's more... The silver cross was the final nail in the coffin!)

FYI: Both quotes "There comes a time when to survive..." and Kitrina's long monologue at the end are taken and tweaked slightly from the Huntress: Year One trade paperback.

The tuning fork thingy-magig is from the Batman/Superman: Sorcerer Kings story. A fun read!