A/N: Thank you for the reviews!
***********
Sara smiled as she watched Gwen examine Danny's new baby girl, Ying Le. Sara had volunteered to baby sit the little girl so that Danny and his wife could both attend the basketball game of thier their first daughter. Danny had dropped by with the baby around 4 and then Gabriel had brought Gwen over around 5.
Gabriel was sitting on the couch with Ying propped up on his legs facing him. The little girl was beautiful and quite happy with all the attention she was getting.
"Have you ever seen a baby?" Sara asked as Gwen watched Ying from a foot or so away.
"Once." Gwen didn't take her eyes off the little form, "But it was dead."
Gabriel and Sara exchanged a sad look.
"You can come closer." Gabriel said, forcing a smile out, "You won't hurt her by sitting next to me. Come on. She's really funny." he said as Ying decided that that moment was perfect for a small coo.
Gwen pushed her pale hair away from her face and moved down the couch slowly.
"Touch her hand." Gabriel said quietly, "She's so soft and warm. It's really staggering to think that we were all this small at one point in time. We were all this weak and unprotected.."
Gwen reached out slowly and ran one finger over the back of Ying's tiny hand.
"See? She won't bite." Gabriel laughed when Gwen smiled up at him. It was the first time she had looked away from Ying.
Green eyes large and innocent Gwen let Ying get a grip on her pointer finger, "She's amazing." she said quietly.
"Life does have it's moments." Sara grinned as she sat on the other side of Gabriel.
"Do you want to hold her?" Gabriel asked, "I'll show you how."
Gwen looked to Sara who nodded her encouragment.
"Just sit back." Gabriel instructed, "Hold that arm there, like this and cradle her against your stomack." he placed the tiny, dark haired baby in Gwen's arms, "There. It's not so hard."
"I don't want to brake her." Gwen said quietly as the baby looked up at her.
"Just be gentle and you'll be fine." Sara could feel her heart begin to break for the young woman.
Gwen had been created, not born and therefore she had never known the love that comes from having family. She had her sisters but they were the same, or so it seemed. Just two identical persons with different purposes and the third without a form entirely. Gwen had known life only once before.
Gabriel moved Gwen's hair away from her face gently, pulling it back into a lose ponytail. A few stray, pale hairs fell to frame her face just as the tears fell from her eyes.
"Thank you." she wispered as she gently shifted Ying, "You've taught me so much with just one tiny gesture."
"Gabriel, why don't you fix us some tea." Sara suggested quietly.
Forcing his eyes away from Gwen, Gabriel nodded his understanding to Sara and stood.
"Hey." Sara scooted over next to Gwen.
Gwen looked at Sara through her silvery hair and smiled sadly, "I see why Fiona loved it here. The future is so easily found, though it is not always seen correctly." she looked down at a smiling Ying, "It's all there." she said quietly, "The future is known by the innocent, Sara. They loose the knowledge when they begin to worry about things such as money and power."
"Can you see it?" Sara brushed hair way from Gwens eyes, "Did she show you what will become of Daeryc?"
Gwen nodded, "But don't ask me. I have not the strength to see it again."
Sara didn't ask, though she wanted to. Badly.
Gabriel returned with three mugs of tea and a warmed bottle of formula, "I thought it only fair." he said when Sara gave him a questioning look.
Gwen figured out quickly how to feed Ying and sat in silence, just watching the baby.
"I have to tell you something that has been long forgotten." Gwen glanced up at Sara, "I made the Glove in a time when little was known of the Darker beings."
"Like Daeryc's 'God'?" Gabriel asked.
Gwen nodded, "Though, he is no God. He's a demon born of chaos, of fire. Before Fi and I sent him into exile he use to plague man kind with death and disease, gaining power through the fear and hate he created. He was aware of our search for him. We couldn't let him find the Glove, for he had heard of my creation by the time of your birth." Gwen let Gabriel take Ying and she turned to Sara, "So Fiona became human to help you while I looked for Him through The Gates." Gwen sighed, "I never found him."
"And then you fell in love with Yrmic." Sara could see them both, Yrmic and Gwendollyn, back then, in a life with so little cares.
"I did." Gwen closed her eyes, "We thought we would be safe. We thought we could keep you and your's safe. Fiona took easliy to life within the stone walls of Caltic Keep, your home, but I had many lessons to learn and most by trial and error. Being human was hard on me, on my body and mind, but having the Glove near soothed my worries and pains."
"Why?" Sara asked, "It's made the lives of others horrible or it ruined their take on living."
"When the Glove was first made I set a plain green sea stone in it's center. The power it held was vast and uncontroled. To harness the Glove I placed a piece of myself in it, turning the stone red." Gwen dropped her eyes down to her hands, "I inadvertently increased my own knowledge and power as a Keeper, while also giving the Wielder unbelievable talents that mirrored a few of my own."
*********
Gabriel paced the floor patting Ying's back as he listened. It had been somewhat easy to find information on the Witchblade but that was only because he had known what to look for. Never could he have hoped to learn so much about a thing so debated over. There were no answers to be found on many of questions that arose when it came to the history of the Blade but now he knew more than any historian on the subject. He sighed, knowing in truth that he would rather not know a thing if it ment that Gwen would be staying. One month wasn't long enough. Hell, it had barely been three weeks and now Gwen was talking as though she were about to walk out on them and never come back. In reality he knew that it was partaily the truth. Gwen would be leaving soon and there wasn't a thing any one could do about it.
That was a fact that had been hard to accept.
'So this supposed God is made of fire.... no, born of it.' he thought, 'Does that mean....?'
Gabriel kept relatively quiet when Danny came to pick up Ying. His mind was elsewhere and his heart was in his throat... if it could be found at all.
"Gwen?" he started quietly as the two woman sat on Sara's couch, "Daeryc's God is born of fire and chaos, correct?"
"Yes." Gwen's eyes enlarged, she knew where this was headed.
"Everything has an equal and oppisite in this world and I would guess in others as well." Gwen nodded at his words, "So that would mean that you and your sisters were born of water and order."
"Water was the first element. Well, actually, it was water and energy, or ether as it was once known." Gwen smiled as she stood, "You figured it out."
"What?" Sara asked.
"As it is with many things in life, only so much can be said. I wasn't even suppose to tell you of my forging of the red stone." Gwen hugged Gabriel tightly as she added, "Only water and order can control fire and chaos. That is why Sara is the one to wear the Glove. She was born from order and has served it well. The Glove is drawn to either good or ill because order can lead to either path."
"Why then, is the Blade a weapon of order?" Sara watched as Gwen turned from Gabriel and smiled.
"Because, Sara, the stone holds a piece of my soul. Without the Glove I no longer exist. Order will cease to exist. Control will have no sway over the Darker Races and they will once again plunge this world into pain and darkness."
*********
Daeryc sat, crouched on the roof top across from Sara's appartment and looked down on the three as they coddle a small baby, and he sat still as they talked, watching their mouths move, because no sound could be heard above the noise of the night below.
He didn't understand it.
How could something that he had been trained to fight and in the end kill be so gentle and childlike in it's own way?
Gwen. That was what the scholar had named her as.
Of all the enimies he had faced, never once had he thought them to have feelings or a soul in which they felt pain. It was impossible.... or was it?
A dull pain in the back of his skull warned him that his Master would soon have use for him. Maybe He had finally discovered a way to rid the land of the pale haired demon on His own and Daeryc wouldn't have to spill the blood of a living creature. Fighting smaller Demons who got in the way of his Master's plan was justified by the knowledge that they didn't really feel it. That they weren't even physicaly there. He was just killing their image, not them.
Had the pale haired demon, no, had Gwen told him the truth when she had said that she was capible of granting him a free life? Did he really care?
No.
Just the thought of being free once more was enough. Whether there had been truth to her words he didn't care. Just an end to the pain would have been welcome, even if it was short lived.
"She really is amazing." a voice said from behind Daeryc, causing him to draw his sword as he stood.
"Who are you and how did you get up here without my seeing?" Daeryc snarled.
"There are more ways than one to end up where you wish to be, more than one path that one could take." the owner of the voice was tall and dressed in all black. The only thing that Daeryc could make out in the dim light was the man's eyes.
"You speak of more things than just getting up on a roof." Daeryc said calmly.
"I do." the man smiled, a slight change in light caused by the street lights below lit the man's face fully, "Are you on the right path?"
"I have no choice when it comes to the path I walk."
"There is always a choice." The man in black stepped forward casually, "She is willing to see past your crimes. She will help you if you let her. All you have to do is ask."
Daeryc turned to look down at Gwen as she wrapped her arms around the scholar's neck. He let his guard drop along with his sword. He didn't care if the man behind him decided to kill him then and there. In fact he was rather hoping that he would.
"Like I was saying," the man started, "She is quite amazing. She has a heart where only bitter should be found.... In the end water will overcome flame."
Daeyc watched as the shcolar scooped Gwen up in his arms and spun her. There was a warm smile on her face and the Wielder also seemed to be laughing at somethign that Daeryc could not hear.
When he turned back to the roof the man had gone, leaving behind a short note.
'Ask for forgivness and she will grant it.'
***********
A/N: I love children, especialy babies and my friend just had her second little boy. So, of course I felt the need to add in the more tender side of life. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.
Oh, one more thing. The part about water being one of the first elements, I have no idea if that's even remotely true so please don't hold me to it. ^_^
***********
Sara smiled as she watched Gwen examine Danny's new baby girl, Ying Le. Sara had volunteered to baby sit the little girl so that Danny and his wife could both attend the basketball game of thier their first daughter. Danny had dropped by with the baby around 4 and then Gabriel had brought Gwen over around 5.
Gabriel was sitting on the couch with Ying propped up on his legs facing him. The little girl was beautiful and quite happy with all the attention she was getting.
"Have you ever seen a baby?" Sara asked as Gwen watched Ying from a foot or so away.
"Once." Gwen didn't take her eyes off the little form, "But it was dead."
Gabriel and Sara exchanged a sad look.
"You can come closer." Gabriel said, forcing a smile out, "You won't hurt her by sitting next to me. Come on. She's really funny." he said as Ying decided that that moment was perfect for a small coo.
Gwen pushed her pale hair away from her face and moved down the couch slowly.
"Touch her hand." Gabriel said quietly, "She's so soft and warm. It's really staggering to think that we were all this small at one point in time. We were all this weak and unprotected.."
Gwen reached out slowly and ran one finger over the back of Ying's tiny hand.
"See? She won't bite." Gabriel laughed when Gwen smiled up at him. It was the first time she had looked away from Ying.
Green eyes large and innocent Gwen let Ying get a grip on her pointer finger, "She's amazing." she said quietly.
"Life does have it's moments." Sara grinned as she sat on the other side of Gabriel.
"Do you want to hold her?" Gabriel asked, "I'll show you how."
Gwen looked to Sara who nodded her encouragment.
"Just sit back." Gabriel instructed, "Hold that arm there, like this and cradle her against your stomack." he placed the tiny, dark haired baby in Gwen's arms, "There. It's not so hard."
"I don't want to brake her." Gwen said quietly as the baby looked up at her.
"Just be gentle and you'll be fine." Sara could feel her heart begin to break for the young woman.
Gwen had been created, not born and therefore she had never known the love that comes from having family. She had her sisters but they were the same, or so it seemed. Just two identical persons with different purposes and the third without a form entirely. Gwen had known life only once before.
Gabriel moved Gwen's hair away from her face gently, pulling it back into a lose ponytail. A few stray, pale hairs fell to frame her face just as the tears fell from her eyes.
"Thank you." she wispered as she gently shifted Ying, "You've taught me so much with just one tiny gesture."
"Gabriel, why don't you fix us some tea." Sara suggested quietly.
Forcing his eyes away from Gwen, Gabriel nodded his understanding to Sara and stood.
"Hey." Sara scooted over next to Gwen.
Gwen looked at Sara through her silvery hair and smiled sadly, "I see why Fiona loved it here. The future is so easily found, though it is not always seen correctly." she looked down at a smiling Ying, "It's all there." she said quietly, "The future is known by the innocent, Sara. They loose the knowledge when they begin to worry about things such as money and power."
"Can you see it?" Sara brushed hair way from Gwens eyes, "Did she show you what will become of Daeryc?"
Gwen nodded, "But don't ask me. I have not the strength to see it again."
Sara didn't ask, though she wanted to. Badly.
Gabriel returned with three mugs of tea and a warmed bottle of formula, "I thought it only fair." he said when Sara gave him a questioning look.
Gwen figured out quickly how to feed Ying and sat in silence, just watching the baby.
"I have to tell you something that has been long forgotten." Gwen glanced up at Sara, "I made the Glove in a time when little was known of the Darker beings."
"Like Daeryc's 'God'?" Gabriel asked.
Gwen nodded, "Though, he is no God. He's a demon born of chaos, of fire. Before Fi and I sent him into exile he use to plague man kind with death and disease, gaining power through the fear and hate he created. He was aware of our search for him. We couldn't let him find the Glove, for he had heard of my creation by the time of your birth." Gwen let Gabriel take Ying and she turned to Sara, "So Fiona became human to help you while I looked for Him through The Gates." Gwen sighed, "I never found him."
"And then you fell in love with Yrmic." Sara could see them both, Yrmic and Gwendollyn, back then, in a life with so little cares.
"I did." Gwen closed her eyes, "We thought we would be safe. We thought we could keep you and your's safe. Fiona took easliy to life within the stone walls of Caltic Keep, your home, but I had many lessons to learn and most by trial and error. Being human was hard on me, on my body and mind, but having the Glove near soothed my worries and pains."
"Why?" Sara asked, "It's made the lives of others horrible or it ruined their take on living."
"When the Glove was first made I set a plain green sea stone in it's center. The power it held was vast and uncontroled. To harness the Glove I placed a piece of myself in it, turning the stone red." Gwen dropped her eyes down to her hands, "I inadvertently increased my own knowledge and power as a Keeper, while also giving the Wielder unbelievable talents that mirrored a few of my own."
*********
Gabriel paced the floor patting Ying's back as he listened. It had been somewhat easy to find information on the Witchblade but that was only because he had known what to look for. Never could he have hoped to learn so much about a thing so debated over. There were no answers to be found on many of questions that arose when it came to the history of the Blade but now he knew more than any historian on the subject. He sighed, knowing in truth that he would rather not know a thing if it ment that Gwen would be staying. One month wasn't long enough. Hell, it had barely been three weeks and now Gwen was talking as though she were about to walk out on them and never come back. In reality he knew that it was partaily the truth. Gwen would be leaving soon and there wasn't a thing any one could do about it.
That was a fact that had been hard to accept.
'So this supposed God is made of fire.... no, born of it.' he thought, 'Does that mean....?'
Gabriel kept relatively quiet when Danny came to pick up Ying. His mind was elsewhere and his heart was in his throat... if it could be found at all.
"Gwen?" he started quietly as the two woman sat on Sara's couch, "Daeryc's God is born of fire and chaos, correct?"
"Yes." Gwen's eyes enlarged, she knew where this was headed.
"Everything has an equal and oppisite in this world and I would guess in others as well." Gwen nodded at his words, "So that would mean that you and your sisters were born of water and order."
"Water was the first element. Well, actually, it was water and energy, or ether as it was once known." Gwen smiled as she stood, "You figured it out."
"What?" Sara asked.
"As it is with many things in life, only so much can be said. I wasn't even suppose to tell you of my forging of the red stone." Gwen hugged Gabriel tightly as she added, "Only water and order can control fire and chaos. That is why Sara is the one to wear the Glove. She was born from order and has served it well. The Glove is drawn to either good or ill because order can lead to either path."
"Why then, is the Blade a weapon of order?" Sara watched as Gwen turned from Gabriel and smiled.
"Because, Sara, the stone holds a piece of my soul. Without the Glove I no longer exist. Order will cease to exist. Control will have no sway over the Darker Races and they will once again plunge this world into pain and darkness."
*********
Daeryc sat, crouched on the roof top across from Sara's appartment and looked down on the three as they coddle a small baby, and he sat still as they talked, watching their mouths move, because no sound could be heard above the noise of the night below.
He didn't understand it.
How could something that he had been trained to fight and in the end kill be so gentle and childlike in it's own way?
Gwen. That was what the scholar had named her as.
Of all the enimies he had faced, never once had he thought them to have feelings or a soul in which they felt pain. It was impossible.... or was it?
A dull pain in the back of his skull warned him that his Master would soon have use for him. Maybe He had finally discovered a way to rid the land of the pale haired demon on His own and Daeryc wouldn't have to spill the blood of a living creature. Fighting smaller Demons who got in the way of his Master's plan was justified by the knowledge that they didn't really feel it. That they weren't even physicaly there. He was just killing their image, not them.
Had the pale haired demon, no, had Gwen told him the truth when she had said that she was capible of granting him a free life? Did he really care?
No.
Just the thought of being free once more was enough. Whether there had been truth to her words he didn't care. Just an end to the pain would have been welcome, even if it was short lived.
"She really is amazing." a voice said from behind Daeryc, causing him to draw his sword as he stood.
"Who are you and how did you get up here without my seeing?" Daeryc snarled.
"There are more ways than one to end up where you wish to be, more than one path that one could take." the owner of the voice was tall and dressed in all black. The only thing that Daeryc could make out in the dim light was the man's eyes.
"You speak of more things than just getting up on a roof." Daeryc said calmly.
"I do." the man smiled, a slight change in light caused by the street lights below lit the man's face fully, "Are you on the right path?"
"I have no choice when it comes to the path I walk."
"There is always a choice." The man in black stepped forward casually, "She is willing to see past your crimes. She will help you if you let her. All you have to do is ask."
Daeryc turned to look down at Gwen as she wrapped her arms around the scholar's neck. He let his guard drop along with his sword. He didn't care if the man behind him decided to kill him then and there. In fact he was rather hoping that he would.
"Like I was saying," the man started, "She is quite amazing. She has a heart where only bitter should be found.... In the end water will overcome flame."
Daeyc watched as the shcolar scooped Gwen up in his arms and spun her. There was a warm smile on her face and the Wielder also seemed to be laughing at somethign that Daeryc could not hear.
When he turned back to the roof the man had gone, leaving behind a short note.
'Ask for forgivness and she will grant it.'
***********
A/N: I love children, especialy babies and my friend just had her second little boy. So, of course I felt the need to add in the more tender side of life. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.
Oh, one more thing. The part about water being one of the first elements, I have no idea if that's even remotely true so please don't hold me to it. ^_^