such_heights: amy and rory looking at a pile of post (Sigur Rós)
Amy ([personal profile] such_heights) wrote2006-10-08 09:38 pm

His Dark Materials ficlet for [livejournal.com profile] expositionary

There really isn't a His Dark Materials fandom as such, is there? In terms of fanfic, anyway - the only community I could find on LJ was decidedly dead. This strikes me as a great tragedy, especially after I got such a kick out of writing this.

Lord Asriel/Mrs Coulter, 300 words, PG-13. For [livejournal.com profile] expositionary.



He watched the Tokay smash on the floor of the Retiring Room with a tinge of sorrow. Such a beautiful poison.

But that was something he was well accustomed to.

---

Hands on his shoulders. ‘Asriel,’ she whispered, soft sibilance like a Siren, hands sliding down his chest, and he sighed. There was a shakiness in her touch, a slightly murmuring quaver in her voice.

‘What is it?’ he asked, already half-seduced by this sorceress.

Silence, then she spoke. ‘I’m pregnant.’

The spell was snapped, and Asriel closed his eyes, wishing he’d never met this infernal woman.

---

The bloodlust faded from Asriel’s eyes as he wiped his sword clean of Coulter’s blood, an act punctuated by a baby’s cries. His daughter’s cries. There could have been no other way. What is done is done, as Asriel had explained many times to Marisa as she fretted about the future.

Even so, Asriel would not have wanted it like this.

---

Asriel listened to the alethiometrist’s explanation of Lyra’s destiny with such pride as he’d rarely felt for another human being, and in combination with such dread, too. All the parts slotted into place, and he realised what they all must to do help her. A fantastical prospect, a genuine salvation on earth.

His own daughter. Asriel wondered if he could claim to have anything at all to do with it.

---

She jumps into oblivion with him without a second thought, for Lyra. Asriel wonders that he ever let her go, ever failed to see that whatever her crimes, this is the woman he should have spent his whole life with.

But now Marisa’s hands are tangled in his, through the wings of this falling angel, and they float down together, careless as the first time they kissed, and Asriel can almost pretend that this is not the end of their lives.


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