TATTOO YOUR SOUL

Dry your eyes and quietly bear this pain with pride

For heaven shall remember the silent and the brave

Time is never a gentle mistress. No. It always cruel and harsh, to all those who are her subjects. And all things are her subjects. She eventually punishes all things, both living and not with the wear and weathering of age, and the eventual decay of everything.

Entropy, is a bitch, but time is a bigger one.

And promise me they will never see, the fear within our eyes -my eyes are closed

We will give strength to those who still remain

Amon's dark, brooding mind became Kathain's anchor. It had been ages since she purposely delved into the distant mirror like this. She needed a connection, sometime to bring her back to the real world. Amon's energy and presence wove strands of reality, sewn and stitched into a realm of illusion, of time and disparity. It grounded the precognitive to a distinctive, sharp, and clear time and location. The last time Kathain tiptoed behind her mind, into this place where time stood still, yet moved all at once, she almost didn't make it back alive.

That was what happens when you forget who you are and forget when you belong.

So bury fear, for fate draws near

And hide the signs of pain

There were theories on how Kathain did what she did, many theories. The girl often entertained them, contemplating what they said and how her own gifts behaved. So far, no scientist quite seemed to get things exactly right. But, then again, how could one explain Kristo's shadow walking, Brett's fire manipulation, or Geoff's energy play?

There was no simple, cut and dry explanation.

With noble acts, the bravest souls

Endure the heart's remains

Years after learning of her Craft, and, still, Kathain herself could not explain it.

No, instead, she allowed time to flow around her, to wash over her body and mind as many waves. Each passing wave brought new fears, new pains, and new events. Time was a sea, bearing down and beating upon the girl as the tide came in. Kathain couldn't tell if she actually left the real world, or if this was just a mental projection in her mind, a representation of an abstract so complex, her mind

There was a difference between watching time progress and feeling it actually move.

Kathain, unlike most humans, felt time.

Discard regret, that in this debt

A better world is made

The girl watched as time swirled and swayed around her, a gentle breeze of a rushing wind. It was not exactly like watching waves. No, it was more like standing in the middle of the ocean, with your eyes closed, constantly battered by rising and falling crests of water, dangerous and menacing.

That children of a newer day might remember

And avoid our fate

A wave rose up, pouring over her.

Kathain flinched as a bomb exploded directly in her face. A car bomb, to be precise, left in an older model car, bursting out with a rain of scalding fire from an Oldsmobile parked in the middle of a bustling street center. Once the conflagration subsided and Kathain looked down, her skin seemed to bubble up and peel, slipping off her bones with a melted, disgusting ooze.

The vision fell away.

(I've waited all day in the pouring rain, but nobody came, no, nobody came)

It was like that all the time. Some passing glimpse of evil, and, then, void for a moment, a brief respite and calm in the wake of a terrible storm.

And in the fury of this darkest hour

We will be your light

You've asked me for my sacrifice

And I am Winter born

Amon.

She had to stop and concentrate, pour all her energy into the task at hand. Her and Amon. Kathain cleared her mind, drawing up a mental image of the man. At first, it was fuzzy, and lacked any detail. Then, the image cleared, coming into focus, revealing the infinite amount of nuances to the former hunter's features, right down to the unusual scruff at his cheek and jaw bones from a few days worth of five o'clock shadow.

Without denying, a faith is come

That I have never known

I hear the angels call my name

And I am Winter born

There.

Kathain grabbed hold of a few, far flung scraps of sight and memory, sorting out her own, shattered consciousness among that sea of time and existence. They cobbled together, amassing and mixing into one, homogenous form.

It was Amon, bloodied.

He was looking up to her, is eyes filled with a sorrow, but a knowing. Amon's face held a sad acceptance of what was happening to him, of the torture inflicted.

"Kathain…."

Hold your head up high-for there is no greater love

Think of the faces of the people you defend -you defend

The former hunted slumped, as if incapable of holding his own body upright. He looked- and felt- so utterly weak and broken. They had taken a strong, courageous soul, and battered it down, like so many waves crashing on the beach, tearing the sand away with each cycle. He seemed pale, with dark rings around his eyes.

"Let them kill me."

And promise me, they will never see the tears within our eyes -my eyes are closed

Although we are men, with mortal sins, angels never cry

Kathain wanted to look away, to return to the real world, but she could not. It was too late. The girl became trapped there, in her future form. She had to stand there and watch, struggling to reach out and touch the man, but bound against it. Kathain sobbed, calling out to him, but her tears swallowed up each and every cry. The words muddled together in one, incoherent stream.

And in the fury of this darkest hour

I will be your light

A lifetime for this destiny

For I am Winter born

Oh, how it hurt. Kathain's consciousness slid away and into Amon. She felt his pains. The broken, perhaps even shattered ribs. Every inhalation became exquisite agony, burning and searing. The girl felt like crying out, but Amon's mind refused to allow her. Her screams were silenced by his own will. The man would not submit; he would never, could never show weakness.

Especially not in front of Kathain.

And in this moment,.I will not run

It is my place to stand

We few shall carry hope

Within our bloodied hands- bloodied hands

No, Amon had to be strong. For her. For Kathain.

He knew what they would do, the things they would ask the girl to use her gifts for. She wasn't as powerful, physically, as Robin, but Kathain's gifts held their unique power and potential. Solomon would use that to their advantage. They were asking her to give in to them, holding Amon over her head. The man knew he could not let her sight fall into Solomon's hands.

And in our Dying, we're more alive-than we have ever been

I've lived for these few seconds

For I am Winter born

Amon gritted his teeth; Kathain's own jaw hurt from his clenching.

"Kathain… listen to me."

The girl before him, afraid, with blood dripping down her wrists and hands, was Kathain. She saw herself through Amon's eyes. She was afraid, white as a sheet, and shaking. The girl writhed and bucked wildly, but settled under his voice.

Tears streamed down her face, sparkling under the lights. "Amon…"

And in the fury of this darkest hour

We will be the light

You've asked me for my sacrifice

And I am Winter born

"Kathain, listen."

He coughed, a hacking, debilitating cough. And, to her sheer horror, it was liquid. Copper splashed at the back of his throat, and, thus, Kathain's. Fortunately, Amon spat the blood out with one, good cough. It splattered on the floor with a terrible, sopping noise. Somehow, he seemed surprised that he hadn't yet drowned in his own blood.

Kathain ached at Amon's own thought.

Without denying, a faith in man

That I have never known

I hear the angels call my name

And I am Winter born

His gray eyes looked up to her. "I want you to promise me something."

Kathain froze in the hands of their captors, staring with terrified, wide eyes. "Anything, Amon." The girl blinked. "Anything you want."

Within this moment now

I am for you, though better men have failed

I will give my life for love

For I am Winter born

"Don't you dare give in to them. Not ever."

And in my dying

I'm more alive, than I have ever been

I will make this sacrifice

For I am Winter born

There came a sharp crack of gunshots.

Kathain screamed, and fell away again. The moment was lost, and she drifted back among the ebb and flow of time.

Hope was lost with her.

xxxx

"Amon…"

The hunter would have looked to the girl in his arms, had they not been in the blackest of darks ever. "Kathain…"

Relief flooded over the man. She had been gone so long, lost to who knew where. Amon had been forced to sit, alone, cradling her limp body for he couldn't count how many hours. Kathain had been so still, so deathly still. Her breaths were so quiet at one point, the hunter feared her dead.

"What did you see?" He sounded afraid of what truths the oracle held.

"Your death."

xxxx

Um… no text here. Sorry.

Song creds- "Winterborn" – Cruxshadows.