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rainbowfic2023-04-26 10:22 pm
shadowsong26) wrote in rainbowfic2023-04-26 10:22 pm
Halloween Orange #7
Name: shadowsong26
Story: A Partial Truth
'Verse: Lux
Colors: Halloween Orange #7. In mercy's shadow, nothing grows.
Supplies and Materials: photography, nubs, pastels (Year of the OTP event: April prompt, peace), novelty beads (procrastinate),
Word Count: 585
Rating: R
Characters: Lux
Warnings: Manipulation, lying (mostly by omission) to a romantic partner (they're split up at the moment but still), references to war/memory erasure/the fire.
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. A bridge between this and this.
Lux waited to go to Mariko for some time after she had seen the Witness away. Partly to make sure he was well and truly gone; partly to make sure her temper and other emotional responses were under control; partly to give herself time to think.
She had wanted…
She wasn’t sure what she had wanted, other than the trap her siblings had set, using her Mariko as bait, had been all too perfect. She had been unable to stay away any longer.
It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair, not to Mariko, who deserved whatever peace she could find in this universe. That was why Lux had stayed away for ten years. Not to spare herself from Mariko’s rage and pain (and, perhaps, hatred), but to spare Mariko from further involvement in her own ancient war.
And then the others, led by Gabriel’s smiling face and half-human son, had made that inevitable.
So now…
Now Lux had several choices to make.
Peace was no longer an option for her Mariko, she knew that. She could offer Mariko protection, to a point. Whether or not Mariko wanted her close, there were things she could do to safeguard this one small human who--
And she could offer Mariko the truth. All of it. Who and what she was, in reality and in human mythology.
That, Lux realized, she would have to do. Whatever the consequences. If Mariko was to be deprived of peace, if she was going to remain involved (and, given those other details she had gleaned from the Witness’s mind, she would), she should at least know the full scope of what she was dealing with.
…except…
There was that other fact. The Broken Branch bearing its fruit. Mariko’s role in the tragedy.
I don’t…want to lie to her any longer. Not even by omission. But that truth…what can it bring her but pain, at least for now?
Lux closed her eyes, pushing aside her own complex feelings about this last, most terrible secret; focusing instead on Mariko. If it would destroy her, if it would overwhelm her, if it would spare her.
How she would react when, inevitably, the truth did come out.
…I will temporize, she thought. I will answer if she asks, but I will keep the details as vague as possible. I will not tell her everything. Not until she’s…not until things are more stable. I will not throw all of this on her at once. I will tell her the truths she needs to hear now, and I will answer her questions, and the rest…I will find a way. Someday.
That day would come all too quickly, on an angelic scale. And Lux would face the consequences when it did.
Hopefully, by then, Mariko might love her again. Might forgive her for this trespass.
And if not, if this…if this lie destroyed whatever was left between them…
Lux took a breath, surprised at how shaky it was.
I have lived with loss before. I will bear this one. If it comes to that. Besides, if nothing else, Lux would have preserved some last shred of peace for her. Spared her this grief, for a little while longer. She could tell herself that, and perhaps it would be enough.
And then she buried it. The secret, her feelings about it, her feelings about the lie. She gathered herself up and went back to her Mariko, to confess what she had done with the Witness, and tell her what truths she could.
For now.
Story: A Partial Truth
'Verse: Lux
Colors: Halloween Orange #7. In mercy's shadow, nothing grows.
Supplies and Materials: photography, nubs, pastels (Year of the OTP event: April prompt, peace), novelty beads (procrastinate),
Word Count: 585
Rating: R
Characters: Lux
Warnings: Manipulation, lying (mostly by omission) to a romantic partner (they're split up at the moment but still), references to war/memory erasure/the fire.
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. A bridge between this and this.
Lux waited to go to Mariko for some time after she had seen the Witness away. Partly to make sure he was well and truly gone; partly to make sure her temper and other emotional responses were under control; partly to give herself time to think.
She had wanted…
She wasn’t sure what she had wanted, other than the trap her siblings had set, using her Mariko as bait, had been all too perfect. She had been unable to stay away any longer.
It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair, not to Mariko, who deserved whatever peace she could find in this universe. That was why Lux had stayed away for ten years. Not to spare herself from Mariko’s rage and pain (and, perhaps, hatred), but to spare Mariko from further involvement in her own ancient war.
And then the others, led by Gabriel’s smiling face and half-human son, had made that inevitable.
So now…
Now Lux had several choices to make.
Peace was no longer an option for her Mariko, she knew that. She could offer Mariko protection, to a point. Whether or not Mariko wanted her close, there were things she could do to safeguard this one small human who--
And she could offer Mariko the truth. All of it. Who and what she was, in reality and in human mythology.
That, Lux realized, she would have to do. Whatever the consequences. If Mariko was to be deprived of peace, if she was going to remain involved (and, given those other details she had gleaned from the Witness’s mind, she would), she should at least know the full scope of what she was dealing with.
…except…
There was that other fact. The Broken Branch bearing its fruit. Mariko’s role in the tragedy.
I don’t…want to lie to her any longer. Not even by omission. But that truth…what can it bring her but pain, at least for now?
Lux closed her eyes, pushing aside her own complex feelings about this last, most terrible secret; focusing instead on Mariko. If it would destroy her, if it would overwhelm her, if it would spare her.
How she would react when, inevitably, the truth did come out.
…I will temporize, she thought. I will answer if she asks, but I will keep the details as vague as possible. I will not tell her everything. Not until she’s…not until things are more stable. I will not throw all of this on her at once. I will tell her the truths she needs to hear now, and I will answer her questions, and the rest…I will find a way. Someday.
That day would come all too quickly, on an angelic scale. And Lux would face the consequences when it did.
Hopefully, by then, Mariko might love her again. Might forgive her for this trespass.
And if not, if this…if this lie destroyed whatever was left between them…
Lux took a breath, surprised at how shaky it was.
I have lived with loss before. I will bear this one. If it comes to that. Besides, if nothing else, Lux would have preserved some last shred of peace for her. Spared her this grief, for a little while longer. She could tell herself that, and perhaps it would be enough.
And then she buried it. The secret, her feelings about it, her feelings about the lie. She gathered herself up and went back to her Mariko, to confess what she had done with the Witness, and tell her what truths she could.
For now.
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