In the Face of Adversity

A/N: Inspired by Track and Field's cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill"

Every time they looked into each others' eyes, it was there: the unbearable pain, the incapacitating grief, the agonizing mistakes, all of it getting harder and harder not to buckle under the pressure of it all every day.

Some days, one or the other or both would wish (some would probably call it more like praying, how fervent and earnest and entirely out of their hands it was) that they would be the only one to shoulder it all. It was so easy to let the guilt start eating them alive, to see that and nothing else: none of the progress. Slow as it was, it was still there, and if they were lucky enough to be reminded, it was what kept them going most days.

Hope. There was so little of it, but that spark had always remained alive, in her resolve after her father died, in his dream to end the atrocities carried out against the Ishvalans, in her willingness to stand by him, no matter what, in his determination to protect those under him at whatever cost to himself, in her refusal to give up even on death's doorstep, in his obstinacy to let his blindness keep him from accomplishing his goals… they were few and far between, but the list did go on.

Yet, there were just as many times when that light was lost, and the world seemed to fall into chaos and despair around them, and only a reminder, whether subtle or raw, would give them the necessary push.

But at the end of it all, they'd made it. And if there weren't many words to describe all of the horrible things they'd gone through, it was impossible to describe the joy, even though the fight would never really be over—hate is made to endure.

Then again, so is love.

A/N: I heard this song during Warehouse 13's season 3 finale, and the scene it was in made me want to curl up and bawl.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've really sat down and written, with the start of school, but hopefully, even if it's just little things like this, I'll be able to keep it up.

Thanks for reading! If you have something to say, you know what to do!