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Okay, a small note: First of all, thank you, Fran!! And Steve, too! {{{you guys}}}} Without the information the both of you sent me on Tatania, I would be up a creek. An ugly, smelly brackish one. Oh, and yes, the tense changes are on purpose. Hmm. I hope it doesn't all seem too mushy. Anyway, enjoy: this was my first real attempt at Swampy fanfic.(Well, the second. We won't talk about the first. <g>) Please send me feedback whether you love it or you hate it. Please! I live for criticism! Truly! Thanks! Email comments to JJARROWs@aol.com

DISCLAIMER: These characters belong to DC comics. Yeah yeah yeah. Damn corporate bigwigs and their distribution wars, ruining the business for the indy comics, whyiotta... Well, I like their Vertigo. Sometimes. Once in a while. Uhhh... Anyway, this belongs to them, and those TV people, whoever the hell they are. ;)

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CHANT c1997 JJ Arrow

She stares up at the ceiling. Her eyes have been open for quite some time. Contemplating. Factoring. Deciding. She shifts her body in bed, glancing fondly at the man beside her. She moves to get up out of bed; unconsciously, in his sleep, his arm wraps around her tighter. She smiles, extricating herself from his hold carefully and gently, so as not to wake him. She allows her gaze to stay on him for a minute more... strange, he looks so peaceful in his sleep. It was a perversity of his nature that she found charming, but she never mentioned it to him.
"For you, love," she whispers.
She turns around and heads toward the laboratory without looking back. The elevator whirs quietly. It is early yet, dawn barely breaking over the horizon line. Her thoughts, as always, drift back to the formula. The testing on plants, little animals, would not suffice. No. A human would be needed. They both knew that.
The lift doors open. She walks quickly toward her target, as if to outrace any second thoughts or doubts tumbling into her brain. The Project had been taking long enough as it was. This had to be done. For him. For the both of them.
She let the needle sink slowly into her skin.

The world spun and became hazy. She sank to one knee, as everything around her painted itself in abstract streaks of pale green and grey. Her memory spiraled, her thoughts oozing and meshing like blood. Faint breathy sounds blew through her ears and hollowed mind, like the sound of wind caves, or distant pipes. She was emptied and filled, sinking and cut free, floating.

Hands grip her shoulders tightly. She trembles -- no, she is being shaken.
Ah.
"Morning," she whispers, still woozy.
She feels his arms around her, hears his heart beat, taking in his warm closeness. "Have you lost your mind, woman? Did you rot your brain over night? Have you any idea what you could have *done* to yourself? My *God*..."
She caresses the side of his face, and ruffles his hair, her voice still hoarse. "I'm *fine*, silly." Holding him tightly, her head resting on his chest, she breathes in the sweet oxygen that tells the both of them that she's ALIVE. "I'm just *fine*."

Arcane's eyes went wide. He sat up straight in bed, the sheets tangled around him. Perspiration broke out in beads on his forehead. He swallowed painfully and laid back down in bed. The numbers on the digital clock read 0530.
He closed his eyes tightly and prayed for nightmares.

--end--