From: Forever Knight TV show stories [FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu] on behalf
of Megan Hull [mistryder@HOTMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 3:10 PM
To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU
Subject: The Rally (1/1)

        Standard disclaimers, we all know the routine.  This can be archived
at fkfanfic or fkfanfic2, whichever is accepting, wherever else you want,
just be kind enough to tell me.  Comments and stuff comes home to
mistryder@hotmail.com
        Authors sometimes talk about having FK characters 'talk' to them, but it's
never happened to me.  At least, not until last semester.  I was looking at
a newspaper article about a 'Take Back the Night' rally and thought to
myself 'I wonder what LaCroix would think of all this.'  Then, for the first
time, that voice we all know so well whispered in my ear, 'It didn't belong
to them in the first place.'

The Rally (1/1)

        Detective Nicholas B. Knight looked idly over the gathered crowd, most
sporting silk-screened tee-shirts and banners proclaiming "Take Back the
Night!"  As one of the 10 officers on crowd control, he would be there for
most of the rally.  Not particularly interesting work, but not bad, either.
Normally, he would have detested this sort of thing, but he was in an odd
mood this night.  Not happy, not sad, not anything.  Just kind of mellow and
very speculative.
        Nick had let his mind wander and didn't notice his master's presence until
LaCroix was right behind him.  He wasn't surprised to see him; they were
only two blocks from the Raven.
        "Singularly greedy creatures, aren't they, Nicholas?" LaCroix said with
amusement.
        Nick turned to him with a raised eyebrow.  "What do you find so funny,
LaCroix?" he asked mildly.
        LaCroix gestured with the glass of      wine he was holding.  "This," he
said, indicating the crowd.  He tsked.  "So much fervor, and yet they have
forgotten one very important thing."
        "Which is?"  Nick was genuinely curious, as well as relieved that LaCroix
wasn't picking on *him* for once.
        "Simple, Nicholas."  LaCroix looked at his son with the smile of one
sharing a great irony.  "The night was never theirs to begin with."  Nick
  ed his head to one side, a silent invitation for LaCroix to elaborate.
"It is ours, my son," he said with a solemn satisfaction.  "Our home, our
kingdom.  Our domain."  He paused to take a sip of      wine.  "From time
immemorable, mortals have feared the night; the darkness.  They have done
everything in their power to push it back, to make themselves... safe.
Protected from the denizens of the night.  Us."  He glanced at Nick,
wondering if he was going to argue with this.  Instead, Nick gazed once more
over the crowd with a speculative look on his face.
        "They've done a good job," he said quietly after a long moment.
        "Indeed they have."  LaCroix was no longer amused, but sober.  "Our world
grows smaller by the year.  And yet," a hint of a smile re-asserted itself,
"even in this 'enlightened age', what mortal dares wander abroad at night,
alone?"
        Nick nodded, the vaguest hint of mischief dancing across his eyes. "Only
the most foolish or desperate," he replied.  "But it is other mortals they
fear, not us."
        "They fear predators, Nicholas.  Mortal or otherwise.  It has always been
so."
        "And is man not a predator?"  Nick was starting to enjoy this discussion.
        "Only by daylight.  When the night falls, they return to their homes, to
the safety of the light.  Because they know that as the sun sets, they
become the prey."  They watched the rally in silence for a while.
        Finally, Nick spoke.  "They don't seem to like that idea," he said
noncommittally.
        LaCroix smiled wryly.  "Yes.  They are not satisfied with being the masters
of the day.  Now they believe they want to rule the night, as well.  The
absurd thing is, they do not.  They simply wish to turn it into day, and
therefore 'safe'.  As I said, greedy, are they not?"
        "I suppose so," Nick said with a smile of his own.  "But that is also human
nature."  He looked curiously at LaCroix.  "You don't seem very worried."
        "I'm not.  Along with being greedy, mortals are also easily pacified.  Soon
enough, they will see that they are unopposed and will return to their safe
lives, in their safe houses, secure in the knowledge that they have 'won'.
But the lights cannot stay on forever, and as they click off, one at a time,
the shadows begin to creep back.  And the night will reclaim her own."  He
finished his glass and looked pointedly at Nick.  "The night will *always*
reclaim her own."  And with that he was gone.
        Nick looked back over the crowd, musing over the conversation.  He noted
with interest that the area was brightly lit, and very few of the
demonstrators ventured anywhere near the edges.

End

"Eternal nights too short,
How quickly melt away,
With all the love we shared once,
Forever in a day."


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