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AN: I'm so sorry about the long wait. I was getting overwhelmed with College and I just…forgot about this story? Anyway, I was going through the story and decided that I wanted to change it to Third-person? Mainly because I have a lot of little snippets that belong to this story, I just don't know where they fit into it quite yet, and they all somehow ended up in the third person? …..I'm really sorry and thank you to any who followed and commented. It really means a lot to me.
But, If you're new and as far as you're concerned, this story has always been in third-person; Welcome, I say to you! Don't forget to inform me if there are any typos! I don't get offended, so feel free to nicely correct me on anything that seems off to you, but remember, you're entitled to an opinion, but I'm not entitled to agree with you.
Prologue: The Tide is High, It's Sink or Swim
"The tide is high it's sink or swim, my only rival is within."
-Ruelle, "Rival"
"Run!"
A long stretch of road lies barren of life. Cold morning fog lay in an undisturbed curtain upon the ground.
Thereupon the horizon, a dark figure moves. Huddled and shaking, it keeps moving; backpack bobbing with every step.
Long dark hair spills out from beneath an equally dark hood. Dirty sneakers trod on worn gravel, fog weaving around and about with every stride forward. The scraping sound of tired feet echoes as they shuffle along.
The woman's face remains tucked into her chest, eyes unseeing of anything but the next step ahead.
She breathes out, the warm puff of white air the only sign of life apparent on this road. Forward is the only way to go now; looking back brings nothing but grief and heart-wrenching terror. Her family is gone. Shot down like the animals, the hunters thought they were.
She swallows harshly and continues walking; her legs burn in protest.
"Don't stop, you hear me, you don't stop 'til you make it over state lines."
She's been walking since Oregon, Oregon, where the last of her gas ran out. Oregon, where she left the stolen car about a mile outside Portland.
Her head lifts at the small source of warmth she feels, and with it, a surge of energy. The sun is rising.
She turns her gaze to the horizon.
The sphere of golden yellow shines between the trees, and she watches as the sky changes colors. Fading from a dark, desolate, night sky, shades of blue and starry white; to hues of morning light cresting on the tops of old pines and large Firs, perhaps a good omen for the days to come.
She reluctantly tears her gaze away from the new dawn sky. Another sunrise, another day living. She hasn't had a moment of rest since that night in the woods of Washington. Since that nightmare hidden in the ripples of reality.
Mom, Dad, Jane, and Allen. They're all gone.
It's in these moments of lonely peace that her memories can almost break her. It's in these moments that she loses sight of why she's running in the first place.
It's moments like this that make her wish for a family again.
Her family.
Her clan.
"Do you understand?" Her mother looks at her desperately, but She's too busy staring at the blood dripping from her mother's head, like little rivets of crimson glistening in the dark of the harvest moon.
"Ash!"
She snaps to attention as well as she could, but how can she when the woman who she always thought was invincible, is staring at her like it's the last time they're going to see each other; her mother's hand raises to cup her face, thumb wiping under one of her eyes, exact replicas of the one who birthed her: a glowing spirit blue.
"Ash, baby-girl, you need to listen to me," wrinkled, cold, hands move to her face so that it's cradled in her mother's palms. With the smell of rust heavy in the air, everything blurry at this moment. "You don't stop until you're out of Washington. Find the Nematon. You find that you find safety." Her mother sniffs quietly as she speaks, face blotchy with tears of pain and heartache. "I need you to be safe, promise me."
Ash is shaking her head before her mother even finishes speaking, and by the end of it, her body begins to quake vehemently with the force of her refusal. Her mother, her beautiful mother, nods her head determinedly and says forcefully, "Yes, Ash, yes. I need to hear you promise me."
The sound of footsteps against the forest floor is getting louder, the echoes of voices yelling, and barking orders are less distant. Twigs snapping and branches breaking, if she listens hard enough, she can still hear the roaring of Grandfather Tree screaming as he's burned down and the stench of burnt flesh stays engraved in her mind. Her breathing hitches.
"Promise me!" Her mother whispers harshly.
"I promise, Mom."
"I promise," her words fade in and out, and break as they whisper through the wind, lost to the cold air drifting around her.
With nowhere left to go but forward, she trudges on, her demons nipping at her heels.
"Welcome to Beacon Hills"
She's never broken a promise before.
"Kingdoms rise and kingdoms end, my only rival is within, this is where it all begins, my only rival is within."
-Ruelle, "Rival"