What If? The Abyss

Marisa's Oxford

Her deep rose coloured heels clattered along the stone floor as her blood red silk dress hung perfectly from her body. Her hair was curled and pinned back from her face and she no longer looked haggard and weak. Marisa Coulter. The woman who was denied her dreams purely for the fact that she was a woman, the woman who was shamed for her sin, the woman who lost her loved ones a little too often. Now thriving. "Look at me now." She thought rather cockily. She had her Lyra, she was free to do whatever she wanted. Maybe it was all worth it. Sometimes Ozymandias would think that it was too good to be true but Marisa always glared at him for thinking such thoughts.

She pushed open the mahogany double doors that lead to the dining hall. She strutted along the rows of scholars, now men and women alike until she reached the high table. She perched on the chair and sheepishly looked to her right. There she saw Lyra, in a smart Teal jumpsuit smiling back at her. Marisa brushed a strand of Lyra's hair to the side and cupped her face. "Thank you for having us master." She stated politely nodding to the master, who was smiling fondly at the mother and daughter.

Taking a big gulp of Tokay, Marisa heard Lyra chuckle: "Do you need me to show you which knife and fork to use?" Marisa almost spat out her drink. She smiled lovingly at Lyra but also felt a pang of sadness, as she recalled their first meeting. 

Suddenly, someone caught Marisa's eye from across the room. It was the scientist who she had visited in Oxford. Mary Malone. She awkwardly nodded her head towards her whilst Mary returned the gesture with a smile. After dinner, there was dancing. It was a celebration that the Magisterium was eradicated, and secretly that Lyra was home at Jordan The Master thought to himself but no one else needed to know that. 

Will anxiously walked over to Lyra who had been dancing with Marisa. "Is it ok if I steal Lyra for a sec?" He asked Mrs Coulter. She was not particularly fond of the idea but she knew that dancing with Will would make Lyra happy even if she didn't want to admit it. So she let go of Lyra's hands with a squeeze and walked over to speak with some scholars.

Will took Lyra's hand and they began to attempt the waltz, which all the adults appeared to be doing so gracefully. It all went horribly wrong and they both broke down in a fit of laughter. "You're a bad dancer Parry." Lyra remarked. "You're one to talk Silvertongue!" Will said with a laugh. They attempted it again and although it wasn't perfect it was a bit more relaxed as the two weren't as nervous.

Marisa turned around to see her daughter dancing contentedly with the boy and she smiled as a single tear rolled down her cheek, which she wiped away momentarily, scolding herself for such things. The master too was watching this from across the room. "Looks like our Lyra has grown up." He said to his dæmon.

It was coming to the end of the night. Will and Mary had gone back to their world, and Lyra was dressed in pajamas ready for bed. But this was Lyra after all and she didn't want to go to bed. So when her mother was in the bath, she snuck downstairs and ran across to the library. For a while she flicked between a few books not really sure what to read. She was looking at the history section, she wanted to see if she could find a Belacqua family history book. Families like that often had one. But then, she came across a big red leather book. She pulled it out curiously and saw in big black letters printed on the front were the words:

The Delamares.

Lyra, intrigued sat down on one of the leather chairs opposite the shelf and began to flick through the book. There was a lot of words but the ink looked rather fresh so it must have been made/updated in the last 10 years. Lyra and Pan exchanged glances, they weren't sure why they had been so drawn to this book. Lyra skipped to the pictures, like she always did in these sorts of books. She was a visual learner and seeing pictures of people would give her a lot more details than reading 100 pages about some family plaque. The first few pictures were old but she came across some new ones. 

All of a sudden, Lyra's heart plummeted. She saw in a picture staring right back at her...her mother. 

"Lyra!" 

"'Uh oh she's come looking for us! Quick Lyra hide the book!" Pan (now a tabby cat) exclaimed.

Without a second thought, Lyra shoved the book down the back of the seat and grabbed the nearest book she could find. 

"There you are." Marisa said coming around the corner. "Are you alright dear you look..." she trailed off. 

"I'm fine mother I was just reading about.." she quickly glanced at the cover of the book "'Alchemy." She finished. Marisa stared at her for a while and then accepted the answer. 

"Well be up to bed in half an hour please Lyra." She stated. "Yes mother" Lyra answered.

The truth is, Marisa wanted Lyra to come up now. She didn't like being without her daughter ever, especially at night as she always had nightmares about losing her and being close to her was the only thing  that made it better. But Lyra couldn't know. After Asriel's death Marisa was too weak, too fragile and she feared Lyra would think her silly if she showed how she was feeling. She was happy a lot of the time but then there were the other times. 

Meanwhile, Lyra was flicking through the pages of the book violently looking for some sort of record. The she found it:

 Marisa E. Delamare.