Maelstrom . Upheaval . Tempest
EPILOGUE
He tucked his hands into the cargo pockets as he strolled down the street, happily enjoying his free day. There hadn't been much going on lately, and what with everyone having their own personal business to attend to, it had been a unanimous decision.
So here he was, wandering around downtown Rope City. Keol felt a smile start as he imagined what Raven and Changeling would say if they found out Mirror was out and about. Probably not very nice things. Oh well.
His right hand itched to touch the hilt of his sword out of habit, but he had 'vanished' it into Z-space so that, other than the bright copper hair and markings on his face that looked something like keyholes and locks, there wouldn't be any reason for anyone to stare at him.
It had been seven years since the day he had somehow managed to lock up Trigon. In that time, much had changed, but other than family, one thing had stayed the same. In a corner of his heart an emotion waited; it had been waiting for seven years, gradually growing and reminding him of a girl with steel gray eyes.
After the first few months, when everything that had happened in the flux of Time had seemed so distant, Keol had wondered if he had imagined Kalios. The day he admitted to himself that he had begun to doubt she had truly existed, a dream had come in the dead of sleep.
A girl knelt on a cold stone floor, hands pressed into fists that lay on her lap. Iron hair shaded greyer eyes, but there was no mistaking the determination in them- and the frustration.
"You promised. You said that Time would crumple if I didn't help him, and you promised that I wouldn't be punished."
"YOU ARE NOT BEING PUNISHED, KALIOS." The voice wasn't loud, exactly, but the sheer weight of power and authority made it seem as if it were booming.
"No? Then why am I not being allowed to see him again?" Was that a tear? "I… just want to be there."
Silence, for a long, long time.
"ARE YOU WILLING TO TRY, KALIOS? I WILL ONLY GIVE YOU ONE CHANCE- AND FOR IT, YOU MUST PASS THE TEST." Kalios' eyes grew huge as she stared at the ground. "CONSIDER IT WISELY. CHANGING THE PAST CANNOT BE DONE IF YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO PASS."
"I will take the test. And I WILL pass." There had been no moment's hesitation in that firm voice, as a stubborn cast settled over her features.
He had woken up that morning with a sense of dread- a feeling that Kalios was laying her life on the line, and that this 'Test' was much, much more than it seemed… If he was actually the 'him' Kalios talked about, she was putting everything into seeing him again.
And he had started to doubt her. With a resolved heart and mind, Keol fought on. The emotion waiting in his heart smiled, and grew just a little bit bigger.
So the dreams had come as the Titan grew older. They were random and sporadic, but always came just when he needed them most. However, the last one he had dreamed had been a year ago, give or take a few days, and it had left him with a desperate need for another- which hadn't come.
The young woman plunged into rows of steel with a fierce cry and a burning rage inside the ash eyes. As Keol had grown, she seemed to have too; now the relentless girl had bloomed into a stunning heroine whose silence and rare words showed an immoveable force that you followed because of the steel in them.
The steel tilted and flashed, and suddenly it became clear that they were blades. Knifes and swords slashed fiercely downward as she ran, shielding the worst hits with her arms as blood started to run from the cuts and wounds. Onwards, ever onwards, a grim, firm set in those eyes which flinched as yet more gashes appeared on her body.
"… you should just give up…" A tempting voice whispered as Kalios spun and dodged an ax blade. "… there's no way he'd still remember you… and that hurts… the pain hurts… just give up… not like he could love you… a ghost…"
Kalios kept her eyes forward as the wind rushed by, struggling onwards. The loss of blood was taking a toll on her, but she tightened her jaw and ran onwards, arms too deeply gashed to protect her anymore.
"… he loves someone else… there's no way… that he'd love a ghost… it hurts, doesn't it? just stop and rest… you don't have to do this… just rest… and the pain will go away…" A stumble as she bit through her lip, the world spinning around her as the end of the gauntlet seemed to grow farther and farther away.
Keol sucked in breath, aching as Kalios strove to avoid the more damaging hits and took countless blows, the voice continuing to whisper. He felt, for the first time, as though he could reach through whatever separated them and stretch out his hand, help her get up, and heal the hurts she suffered silently. But he couldn't, and as the dream edges started to blur, he saw her eyes widen as a final blade sliced across her chest, throwing her back.
She caught her balance and took a step forward- and then fell, hitting her knees as her head bowed, arms hanging uselessly at her side.
"… Stop. Please…" The heart wrenching whisper reached his ears and Keol cried out, agony torturing him as he realized he couldn't do anything… and Kalios wasn't getting up.
The hero didn't know what had happened after that; only that Armory had held him like a child as he cried painful tears; that she had kept him from tearing himself apart as the anger and grief at his inability to let Kalios know he still loved her drove him onward. And then… nothing. No dreams, no feelings, only the silent hope that somehow, someway, he'd be able to see her again.
"Go away." The seventeen year-old stopped, turning slowly towards the alley across the street. Only the underlying force told him who it was as keen eyes caught sight of several thugs gathered in the entrance. He felt a silent snarl slip through his clenched teeth as his feet took him to the entrance without needing a command, and felt the sword settle comfortable against his back as the sound of footsteps made the mob look away from their prey.
"Back. Off." In an instant they were gone and Keol growled, stifling it as his eyes turned hesitantly towards their quarry.
Steel grey eyes met his as bangs fell over the familiar face, the lithe body housing an unrelenting spirit as her lips curved the slightest bit.
:T:
Sel put an arm around Mirror, holding her close as he chuckled at her hopeless expression.
"Okay, now I just feel like a beached whale." The man's laugh cause her to twitch as grumpy lime eyes stared at him. "And don't forget, this is your fault!" He lifted an eyebrow as she stabbed him with a finger.
"But isn't it wonderful?" Mirror sighed, taking a moment to rest as she put a hand on her stomach.
"Nine months. Nine months I've carried you, ungrateful whelp, and you still haven't even said a word to me!" Sel placed his hand over hers, both feeling the heartbeat of their child.
"Have you considered the idea that they're not psychic?" Mirror shook her head and began walking again.
"No, even Raven and Armory have said they feel that particular mental signature… All I want to know is why she ("Or he," Sel put in) hasn't even tried to talk…" Sel nodded agreeably and then smiled, a teasing look in his amber eyes.
"Remember that villain, the Red Wine, who told you I'd gone off with her because she was willing to sleep with me not just next to me?" Instantly Emily's features twisted into a feral grin that others would have shuddered at.
"She got what she deserved. Bitch." Her husband laughed, putting a hand over her mouth.
"Now now, not with the baby listening." Her eyes flicked over to him and she was about to mutter some scathing reply until they heard a shout that sounded suspiciously like Keol. Confusion and concern filled their face for a second, until Mirror's little brother appeared out an alley, heading straight for them.
"What-" The teenager slid to a halt in front of them, and the older superheroes saw the girl whose hand he was holding. Keol took a breath and then grinned.
"Mirror, this is Kalios." At that name Emily lifted an eyebrow, looking at the girl with sharp interest.
Kalios stood with under that scrutiny admirably, one hand still holding Keol's. She looked to be roughly seventeen, but looks weren't everything. In those eyes that met hers, there was a world of knowledge and experience Emily couldn't even began to imagine, and she wondered what the girl had gone through to get here.
After a long moment, Mirror extended her hand and smiled.
"Welcome, Kalios." Keol let out his breath and grinned. Just as Sel stared to ask him a question, Mirror winced and wheezed.
"Mirror!" Her brother was instantly at her other side, helping her stand.
"God above, this baby wants out!" Another wave of pain washed visibly over the Titan and Kalios stepped forward, touching Mirror's face with two fingers. Lime green eyes met steel grey ones as Kalios opened her mouth.
"Relax." Mirror stiffened and then did just that: she nearly fell into Sel's arms as Keol looked up towards her.
"Kalios?" The grey eyes couldn't look at him, because they were still locked with Mirror's. Sweat had begun to roll down her face as she bit her tongue.
"Keol, we need to get her to a hospital. I- can't- do this much- longer…" And they were off, Sel lifted them up and off.
:T:
Rosemary Ann Hyth was born just as the first stars lit in the dusk sky outside. Those who saw her said that she must have been born with a sun in one hand and the moon in another as she grinned and giggled. Mirror recovered admirably from bearing a child who had played with stars in her womb (Rosemary's power being she could make the constellations solid and rea)l. The gathered Titans laughed and smiled along with the little child, and life went on.
And here ends our tale. So you've seen them grow, from Teen to adult, from innocent to stained, from broken to healed. I am done with my tale. Let these ghosts of memory rest where they will always be, in our minds and hearts, and tell us of their plight when time grows small. Life goes on, but the past will always be there to guide us, will it not?
A pair of steel gray eyes flash in the darkness, as the laughter of the Titans fades into memory. Where they will stay, forever more.
...the end...