Chapter Five: The Small Piece

Though it had been rather difficult to work together, Penny and Shawn continued their training together. And though Shawn tried his to best to bond with his daughter, it seemed as though Penny was resistant. Keera watched from afar and refused to interfere with the training though she taken notice that Penny was troubled and knew this would affect her ability to truly benefit from the training.

" You know, I am beginning to think that I don't need this training.." Penny finally relented much to the surprise of her father.

" What do you mean? This is completely necessary so that you can truly utilize your abilities" Shawn reasoned.

" Yes I know, that is what you say. But I believe that I should carve out my own path. I am not quite what you are and I'm also not what mom was either. I am something new and that means I have to navigate this in my own way" Penny explained.

" What you speak is true, however, if we can help further you along on your skills and abilities, then I would imagine that would make your journey easier. I will admit, I am not completely sure of all that you can do but what I do know, is that you are stronger than anything or anyone that has ever existed. And being stronger than anything and anyone, means you have the potential to do great things but also horrible things and I think we should simply see all that you can do so that when you find yourself in a rough situation, you can trust yourself and your abilities even more. This is less about making you stronger or skilled, and more about making you confident in yourself which is something that you lack" Shawn's words stung Penny's head but she maintained a calm demeanor.

" Confidence issues? I Wonder why that could be.." Penny scoffs. Shawn nods and Sighs. " I know your life has been hard, and I can't pretend that you don't have anger towards me.. and I don't wish to make excuses. There are things that you don't understand, things had to happen a certain way. But, instead of leaving you with that, if you wish to see what I mean..I can show you" and with that, Shawn blinks out of existence and reappears directly in front of Penny, only a few inches away.

" If you wish to see the truth of why I made the decision that I made, then I can show you.." Shawn raises up his hand, as Penny looks on, confused but curious. " Show me the truth then.." Penny nods in agreement for Shawn to show her what he had wanted to.

Shawn places his hand upon Penny's head and they both begin slowly sinking into the ground beneath them. A dark void had opened beneath them and they suddenly appear in a land that was familiar to Penny. It was Outworld, the home of the Night-Slashers and all of her fathers kind. However it felt as though the air was scorched, As though something had changed within the world and yet somehow Penny was not quite sure what it could be. Everything was different And yet the same for no apparent reason. And finally, her father broke the silence.

" I know that this place may seem familiar to you, but you are not quite where you believe yourself to be" Shawn waved his hand through the air, and in an instant, a giant black Pyramid appeared before them. " What is this? " Penny questioned as Shawn motioned with a slight head tilt for her to follow him into the Pyramid.

As they made their way through the darkened halls, Penny noticed that the air within the structure felt different than what it was outside. This air felt thicker, and yet more chilled. The energy within this place seemed to push rather than to pull Penny into it and so she found it rather difficult to walk though Shawn seemed to have no trouble whatsoever, taking gentle, collected strides.

Eventually, they make their way to a giant chamber, the room stretched several miles high to where Penny could not even see the ceiling and the walls were literally with what to seemed to be, black doors of some sort though they looked to be made from a shadowy substance rather than solid material.

" This, is a Prison. There are thousands of prisons just like this one, though this one is different" Shawn explained. " My people, the Night- Slashers, as we have been called, have one singular purpose. And that is to ensure that souls of great power, great dark power, are imprisoned so that they may not return" Shawn looked around the room, also reveling in the sheer amount of effort it takes to keep a place such as this, active.

" So you keep bad people here is what you are saying.." Penny asks to which Shawn nods.

" Not just bad people, people that have defied life and it's mortal constraints. People that have achieved a sense of immortality, and thus, those who threaten the the fates plan" Shawn continued to walk through the massive chamber as Penny followed.

" I will admit, Sometimes immortality can be achieved by complete accident rather than deliberation. But it is here, where those must go when stumbling upon that great gift"

" If it's such a great gift then why must they be imprisoned? So what if they possibly screw up fate's plan? What if their immortality is actually a good thing? " Penny questioned which made Shawn smile.

" I knew that you would ask this, And I do have that answer for you " Shawn turned to Penny who was looking upon the massive structure herself in complete awe.

" Whilst, we do imprison those that break the normality of mortality. We also watch, and we wait. We see over time if this would be a positive change or a negative change..and we act accordingly" Shawn explained, and this seemed to anger Penny. " So you pick and choose what you don't like and what you end up not liking you end up imprisoning here? " Penny knew that fate was important, especially considering the job she herself had. But she also didn't exactly approve of this method by her fathers people either.

" I know that it makes very little sense to you right now, and in truth, I hope that it never does. I hope that this, is never something you would ever have to see as the viable option because many lifetimes ago, I thought the same as you" Shawn sighed and stopped walking. " But that is not why I brought you here.." Shawn raised out his arm and pointed to one of the doors on the wall. " Within these cells specifically, are the reasons and the importance of your job.." Shawn goes silent, as Penny approached the one cell her father had pointed at.

Once arriving at the cell, she wipes her hand over the shadowy energy and realizes that it is cold to the touch. After taking a deep breath, Penny takes a step forward, pushing herself through the door and sees what appears to be, a man and Woman, sitting alone in the dark.

" Hello? " Penny calls out but recieves no reply. " My name is Penny and I would like to speak with you.." Penny calls out again but recieves no reply.

" Do you hear that? She wishes to speak with us? " A female voice calls out.

" I do, but do we have anything to say? " The male questions.

" No" replies the female voice.

" I want to know who you are" Penny demmands, growing slightly frustrated at their reluctance to have a civil conversation with her.

" Does it matter? It has been proven that our existence means nothing. It has been proven that we can be imprisoned for no wrong doing " The female voice answers.

" I understand your hesitation, though you must understand that I am not your captor" Penny explains which recieves a laugh from the imprisoned pair.

" Do not lie to us. We can smell it on you. The Night - Slashers existence is stained with betrayal and distain" The male voice calls back to Penny who crosses her arms in growing frustration.

" I am only a half blood, so I can understand that you would probably not trust me..but I am new here. And I do not know your names and simply wish to know them" Penny replies. " And I have been told that you were imprisoned because you achieved a sense of immortality" Penny tried to take a step forward so that she identify the pair even better but it seemed to be of no help, as the room was too dark for her to see much of anything except some feint outlines.

" It's not that we try to achieve immortality or that we even achieved it on our own accord. It is something that we were cursed with and had no say in.." The male voice answered. " It is easy to assume that we are a threat, because of the world's balance and all, but in the end, we did nothing wrong. We simply played the game and we payed for it. But we, we were small pieces to a greater end that still refuses to come.."

And that is when it finally struck Penny as to who these two could be. She couldn't believe it had taken her so long to actually figure it out. " Gabriel and Kara..? " she called out which was followed by a silence. A long, grueling, unsettling silence that completely consumed the room in an instant.

Eventually, Penny took another step forward and she could see a stronger outline of the people she had been talking too, both were chained to wall, still sitting on the ground. It almost looked as though their heads were faced down, towards their laps.

" Those were names that we went by..yes " The female voice answered.

" But now we are nameless, as names do not exactly hold relevance here" the male voice answered.

" How long..have you been here..." Penny asked, still trying to process that she was in a room with the two precursors to her own exisistance.

" We arrived here almost a thousand years ago"