Not Always the Villain • Darklina One-Shots

𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐌𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞

Hey, so I decided to make this a collection of all the Darklina one-shots I will create. Please feel free to leave comments for ideas you'd like me to write. I can't promise I will get to them right away, but I will try. ♥️

I KᑎEᗯ I SᕼOᑌᒪᗪ ᕼᗩᐯE diverted my thoughts, and chastised myself for even thinking about him. But my mind craved the image of him, his jet black hair, sharp cheekbones, hollow grey eyes. What had made them so hollow and unforgiving? I knew the answer; it was just difficult to imagine him being capable of grieving. Those eyes were cruel and callous to begin with, but he had just watched Baghra, his own mother, jump from the cliff to save me. I could still hear her chilling words right before. Know that I loved you and know that it wasn't enough. Had he lost anyone that close to him before? Did he let anyone get that close?

Perhaps he was always lonely. And after fifty years, two hundred, perhaps I would meet the same fate. My eyes would hold the same hollow look to them, my understanding of mercy diminished to a sliver of a memory.

Before I could stop it, I lifted from my body and was hurled into darkness. It wasn't normal darkness, though. I couldn't tell where I was, but I could sense the Darkling. He was somewhere in the unnatural blackness of whatever room we were in, I assumed in the Grand Palace. There were swirls of shadow devouring the space. I summoned, but the shadows refused to move, like an impenetrable barrier encasing the Darkling. He was grieving in his own way, blocking everything out the only way he knew how. Through power. With control.

I took a small step, then another one, blind to my surroundings. Everything was still. Then, I gasped when I felt a cold hand take hold of my wrist.

"Come to gloat in your victory of escaping?" his voice, sharp and unwavering, muttered close behind me.

"No."

He hummed.

"Then what do you want from me?" he asked. The shadows started to part enough for me to see his face. The Darkling's grip was still iron around my wrist.

What do you want from me? His words churned around in my head. Then I realized the truth behind them. No one had gotten close to him for the sole reason of being there for him. The people that surrounded him always wanted something. The grisha wanted his attention and praise. The King once wanted his service and obedience. The nobles wanted the fame he carried with him.

"I don't want anything from you," I finally responded.

The suffocating shadows finally cleared all the way. I could now see where we were. He was in his room. Memories rushed through my head of last time I had used the tether to see him. We were here. The Darkling told me his name in hushed confidence. I hadn't used it since.

The Darkling scrunched his eyebrows, his eyes narrowing as if he was challenging me to a game where I was unaware of the rules. It was always a game to him. He said, "Then why come, Alina? I try to get closer and you shove me away. When I stay away, you come to me."