Sanctuary Secrets Sacrifice

"Let us sacrifice our today

so that our children can have a better tomorrow."

-A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

They were walking aimlessly. Katie looked up ahead to her mother whose eyes seemed to be looking for something as they walked.

"There's nothing here!" Katie called to Grace who glanced over to her daughter. "I've searched this city, and there's nothing here."

"What were you looking for?" Grace asked as she continued walking and Katie shook her head. "Did you look for Oliver? Did you hope you'd turn a corner and he'd be there?" Katie stopped walking, and Grace stopped and looked back to her. "Do you have any idea where you are right now?"

"Some place between heaven and hell I figure." Katie muttered and Grace stalked over to her. Katie took a slight step back seeing the dark look in her mother's eyes. It was a look she hadn't seen in ages and yet a look she'd never forget.

"You're not dead. You're very much alive, but you've been buried. You've been suppressed. The reason you haven't found anything is because everything you've searched for isn't here. You've been looking for the light. Oliver, your friends, your daughter. None of them are here because none of them can save you." Katie turned away from the woman. "Look at me when I'm talking to you young lady." the tone in her mother's voice snapped Katie's eyes back to hers. "The other thing that's here is the darkness, and it's swallowing everything it comes in contact with. That's what you need to look for."

"Why?"

"Because the only way you get out of here is if you finally face the darkness head on." Grace turned her eyes once again scanning the area. "No one can save you from this baby. This is your fight." Grace suddenly had a realization and she turned back to her daughter. "This is your fight. Your darkness. Only you know where it is." Katie looked at the woman in confusion. "Look I know going to that place is the last thing you want to do, but remember what I told you. Some roads have to be traveled to get to the destination we want. If you want to get to your husband, your kids, you have to go through the fire and the flood." Grace placed a hand to Katie's cheek. "You have to seek out the darkness if you want to beat it." Katie dropped her head.

" What if I lose?" she asked before lifting her eyes back to her mother. "I've lost countless times against this thing. It's stronger, it's smarter it's-"

" There's nothing more stronger and smarter than a mother going after her kids. That's who you're fighting for. Robyn, Arianna-" Grace smiled. "Oliver. They are the light that darkness can never take. The light that's so ingrained in you that you could take on an entire army." Grace looked up to her daughter who once again dropped her head. "When do we lose?" Katie lifted her eyes not expecting the demon's question to come from her mother. "When do we give up?" Grace reached down and took her daughter's hands. "They were never his words, they were mine. He twisted them, used them for his own volition, but their purpose still remained." Katie looked into her mother's eyes, and the questions played over and over in her head. "When do we lose, baby?"

" When we stop fighting." Katie replied. Her gaze lifted, and her eyes went wide. Grace turned and she too looked surprised to see the street of Star City turn into the familiar path that leads up to the demon's fortress in Nanda Parbat.

" It's here?" Grace asked, turning back to her daughter.

" This is where it started." Katie says her eyes looking on to the lantern trail that lead to the fortress. "This is where that darkness was formed."