Darkness. Complete, utter, absolute darkness. It surrounded her, choking her, pulling the life from her, strangling her, bringing her knees to shake and her body to tremble and - Ah, but nothing in life is absolute, my dear. Nothing except death. Death is the only absolute. Darkness. Pulling her spirit from her body. Pulling her heart from her chest. Bringing her to pant, hardly able to breathe, hardly able to think... Unable to dream... Nothing is absolute but death...and taxes...and...and...and... Silence filled the air. Only one word escaped the silence. And...? -------------------- Three Real Absolutes Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler (duncan@avenew.com) -------------------- What is the fine for stealing a soul? She stood alone on the roof, her dark eyes staring blankly out into the darkness of midnight. A crisp, cool spring breeze ruffled her long, navy-but-purple dress, upset her endless black tresses. An average person would have shivered, would have gone back into the building to at least get a jacket, would have avoided being out in the nearly freezing weather... She did none of this. She stood alone, in the night, staring. What was the price she was going to pay? What was the debt she was going to owe? She had committed the ultimate crime...would she pay the ultimate price? Or would she be saved? Would someone have mercy on her black, heartless soul? Somehow... Somehow, she doubted the latter. ----- Darkness. Darkness enveloping her. Darkness reminding her of the duality of souls. Of the good and the evil, the right and the wrong, the victim and the savior... She screamed, her voice echoing, breaking through parts of her reality. She cried, her tears drowning out her screams. She rationalized, her reason drying up her tears. She recovered, her mind once again whole. And then, she screamed again. Absolute darkness... Absolute darkness sucking away her soul... ------ Power corrupts. All she needed to do was defeat the good and release the evil. That was her mission. That was her goal. That was what she was born to do. You were born for more, cried a voice, almost completely hidden in the back of her mind. You were born for good, for love, for peace, for justice! You were born for the sake of the work! You were born to save the world, to make the world a better place... To save those you love! You were born for nothing more, HE says, HIS voice covering up the other. You were born to release me, to free me from my binds, to allow me the power to rule the world! She listens to HIM. HE has never allowed her the false hope of goodness. Of faith. HE is the only friend she has ever had. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. ----- Taxes are things you pay to your government, right? Money that you give to the people who run your country so that you can always have the same standard of living. Taxes are things entered in a list, right? Items that are put in an order so that you can keep track of things, whether they are people or groceries, so you know where everything is. Taxes are demands, right? Something you have to work at because you are asked, or maybe even forced, something that you do either for yourself or another so maybe, just maybe, a life can go on or a business can run. Absolute one: Taxes. ----- HE told me to! she screamed to herself, covering her ears as she hears the voices of the others, cursing her, speaking ill of her. HE is the one I take my orders from! HE is doing all of this! I am a good person! I have a heart! I do not want to hurt you! I do not want to do this! Yes, you do, HE says, HIS voice echoing in her ears, causing her head to pound. You do want to destroy the world. And I will be the one to give you the power to destroy the world. HE is giving me power... HE is making me do this... You would not do it, HE says, if you did not want to. Maybe HE is right. ----- Death is the end of life, right? It is when all the vital signs stop and a person or animal or tree or flower is no longer able to grow. Death is the destruction of something, right? It is when you run your car into a tree and it can no longer be used, you accidentally drop a plate, or when a light bulb's filament breaks. Death is the one who brings the end of life, right? It is the destroyer of life, the Grim Reaper, the skeleton and scythe. Absolute two: Death ----- The beginning of the end is here, HE says. Papa... The time has come for us to rule the world, HE says. Papa... I... We can destroy them! We can destroy our enemies! We can rule the universe together! HE says. Papa... I am very... But I don't want to, I say. I am tired of the darkness. And of the cold. I am tired of my soulless body, my empty spirit. I want to be real again, I say. Papa... I am very sorry... And then HE screams, and the feeling of pain is finally, finally gone. ----- Power is authority, right? It is the ability to rule, whether it be men, pets, or angels, and the ability to have others bend to your will. Power is energy, right? It is what lights your house, lights your flashlight, lights your bright and shining soul, even if it is only for the length of a double-A battery. Power is producing an effect, right? It is taking one thing and then, eventually, having another thing come about because of it. Absolute three: Power. ----- Taxes. Taxes are things that we do to make life just a little bit better. It may be giving money so that a school can stay open or so books can be bought for a library. It could be organizing something in a list so you know where everything is or what you need to buy. Or it could be doing something for another person. Death. Death is the end of something. It could be the death of your favorite house plant. It could be your dog chewing up your favorite pair of slippers. Or it could be the Grim Reaper, coming to get you. Power. Power is authority, something you exert to control another. Power is energy, having spirit or spunk, or turning on a lamp and knowing that it will go on. Power is producing something. Taking the cause and creating the effect. Three Absolutes in the world. I, I am the Bringer of Death. The Three Absolutes. I am Tax. I do as it is demanded I do. I defend the world from the Unnamable Evils of the universe. I fight for love and justice, I protect a princess, I join hands with my fellow soldiers. I am Death. I end the lives of many. I ended HIM, and someday, I will end the world. I have also seen butterflies die and lamps get broken. I may not be the Grim Reaper, but it my duty is not a far cry from his. I am Power. I produce an effect. I saved the world and myself. I took a cause - a cause of true, undeniable evil - and brought about an effect. That effect was good. I am Sailor Saturn. Tax, Death, and Power. I am, I believe, Absolute. ---- End. ---- Notes: Wow. Head trip. I don't know where that came from. I'm still a little confused by it, too. "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" is a premise of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. If you have never read this book, I suggest it. It's actually quite good. Tax, Death, and Power definitions selected from the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. I picked only three definitions of each, though there were about ten choices for power. I suggest owning this dictionary, because this is the forth time I have actually used it for fanfiction. Thank you to everyone who reads this and to Mark, for the obvious reasons. Okay, I have to do chores and work on my book. Ja! Re-posted on ASMR3 from the original system.