Crown Of Thorns

Wither Thou Goest, I Will Go

Rem hated testing. Hated studying. Hated the idea of having to be sitting in a chair in a room for hours, at a desk. Having to stare at a packet filled with fill in the answers, and multiple choice. Hated the idea of being in a room filled with so much silence for so long. The only sounds heard would be the scraping of a pencil tip across a paper, or the occasional yawn. Even a snore. 

Rem stared down at the large packet in front of her. Sitting on her desk. Not opened at all. Her gray-blue eyes lifted towards the clock by the door. Only to groan silently, she still had another hour of this crap. She slowly looked around the room, all the other teenagers were working intently on the test booklet. Their hands moving gracefully along the paper, as their pencils filled in the answers she didn't know. Each and every one of them had a Clairvoyant Rune burned permanently into the skin of their right hands. It usually was one of the first Runes any Shadowhunter of age received. Followed by the Angelic Power Rune, as well as Courage in Combat. Rem herself even had them, showing proudly. A cast of dark paint across her pale skin. 

There was no higher honor, she thought. Than to be able to show off your Runes and battle scars. Knowing you had received those while fighting. To her, every scar, every Rune, was like a trophy. 

Rem slowly looked back down at her blank test. And huffed quietly, sliding down in her desk chair. Her butt ached, she had been sitting in the same position for over an hour. She reached up and ran a finger over her collarbone. Something she often did when she needed some comfort. It was where her Parabatai  Rune was inked into her skin. She had received the badge of honor over 2 years ago. She remembered going through her ceremony standing across from her best friend in the entire world. Ashtyn Alderpine. Reciting the ancient words to one another, as they used their steles to burn the permanent Runes into their skin. Rem had given Ash her's on her shoulder blade, and Ash had given her's on her collarbone. Close to her right shoulder. Rem remembered welcoming the sting of the stele as the Rune was drawn on her skin. With Ash's long elegant fingers. They were artist hands, as she always liked to call them. Long, slender, lean. But also deadly, for Rem has had her fair share of witnesses to Ash on the battle field, her blonde hair pulled back in a tight pony tail. Her blue eyes hidden behind her glasses, as she used her favorite weapon to kill many demons. Their black blood splattering across her pale cheeks, as Ash used her bow to do what Shadowhunters were known for. Killing demons. 

"Wither thou goest, I will go,

Where thou diest, will I die,

And there will I be buried, 

The Angel do so to me, and more also,

If aught but death part thee and me,"

Rem smiled faintly, remembering the poem as clear as day. She'd never forget it. Speaking those words as she looked into Ashtyn's eyes. As Ash spoke them back to her. Their newly drawn Runes burning as they spoke. Bonding the two together, in a way that was much deeper than anything she had ever known. Their bond was bone deep, soul deep. Earth shattering deep. Every breath Ash took, Rem knew. Every emotion that passed through Ash's mind, Rem could feel. Every twinge of pain, Rem would flinch. Their breathing was bonded, their minds were bonded, their hearts bonded. They would lay their lives down for each other, without a second thought. It was just an instinct. The fought together, trained together, everything was stronger, better when they were together.

Rem wouldn't change it for anything in the world. 

"Okay, class, time is up. Please place your pencils down and bring your tests forward," Their professor, Mrs. Blackthorn announced. Her dark gray eyes looking out over the class. Rem watched the others slowly place their pencils down and stand up. Holding their tests in their hands, and walked to the front. Rem looked down at her blank test, and flinched.