#but i also want to see alina and the darkling end up together

[louhilainen]

Grishaverse-fandom, here I come

[kasagia]

❄️️Warm my heart pt. 2❄️️

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova/ The Darkling x fem! heartrender! reader Summary: December. Everyone in the Little and Grand Palaces is excited about the upcoming holidays. Only the Black General seems rather... depressed. Like every year when these holidays are coming closer. Maybe this year, since you've been promoted to his second-in-command, you can make the general's holidays a little more enjoyable? And you're not doing it because you're in love with him and you want to see him finally careless happy... not even a little bit. Written with sounds of: Chemtrails over the country club - Lana Del Rey Word Count: 3,5 k Taglist: @aoi-targaryen @budugu ~•♤♤♤•~ Aleksander Morozova's Masterlist ~•♤♤♤•~ ~•♤♤♤•~ Part 1 ~•♤♤♤•~ Part 3 ~•♤♤♤•~

Sneeze. You blow your nose into your handkerchief as quietly as you can and go back to writing. Another sneeze. You watch the tent flap out of the corner of your eye, ready for his return at any moment.

You caught a cold. Probably because you fell into a snowdrift with him and had… a moment there. You'd probably rather avoid all this. At least your heart wouldn't beat stupidly every time you were in his presence. And the stuffy nose and scratchy throat were just an irritating addition to your misery.

You sneeze loudly just as you hear his heavy-booted footsteps entering his tent. You mentally curse and close your eyes. You hear him brush the snow off his clothes before he stands still as he notices you. His burning gaze on your back almost makes you feel a little warmer.

"I'd like to say that I have right, but you look so poorly that even Ivan wouldn't have the heart to tell you that. Explain to me, in the name of the saints, what you are doing here instead of warming yourself by the fire wrapped in a blanket, preferably with a healer who will help you get out of this?" he asks, crossing his arms and wrinkling his nose at the pile of used tissues next to you.

"We ungrouped. Zoya took everyone with her except Fedyor, Mal, and Alina and went on looking for the stag." you grumble, pulling your coat tighter around you. "Besides, I haven't finished these papers."

"Why the hell did the tracker stay here instead of going with them?"

You shrug. "I guess he doesn't get along with Zoya. He said the stag got scared and found a hiding place to wait out the worst of the snow. He says we'll try again in a week, when it will stop snowing a little bit. I'm not surprised. If I were him, I'd also rather go back to the castle than chase the stag in the beginning of the raw winter."

"If you were him, we would have had a stag's bones in the Little Palace long ago, ready to be used when Alina mastered her powers. Besides, the boy distracts her. Not only does he delay our hunting, he also delays her training and doesn't let her use her full potential."

Jealousy settles unpleasantly inside you, digging a hole in your stomach. You should get used to it. Eventually, he and Alina will end up together one day and make a great couple. Sun and shadows. Light and darkness. Day and night. And other poetic shit like that. They were soulmates. One of a kind. No one could deny it.

"Maybe you're not as good a teacher as Baghra after all?" you say teasingly, trying to enjoy all the attention he was still showing you... at least until he realises that Alina is… extraordinary and is much more worthy of the position by his side. As his second-in-command, right hand, or… even someone much more, you could ever be to him.

"And you against me? My own deputy?" he snorts and walks over to the fire in the centre of the tent. You see the smirk stretch across his lips, and it instantly warms you, even before he even lights the fire.

"Baghra is specific, to say the least, but she is great at what she does. I don't know many people who would ever lose control of their powers after training with her."

"Believe me, I know such people…" he says thoughtfully. He stops lighting the fire and stares at the tinder in his hands. You feel the tension in his muscles and the quickening of his heartbeat as another of his memories comes flooding back to him.

Your heart clenches with grief and sympathy as you see his eyes darken under the heavy flashback. Without thinking, you walk up to him and take the tinder from his hand to light the fire yourself.

"When I was little, my brothers liked to camp in the forest and in the fields. We played soldiers who go to war and have to spend the night with only a sleeping bag and a tent. We had to find the rest ourselves. Our mother had a heart attack more than once when we returned late in the afternoon, dirty, freezing, and starving, but with such big smiles on her face that she didn't even shout at us. She left it to her father." you laughed as the first flames engulfed the logs in the fire.

"What happened to them?"

You're shaking. At first, you don't want to answer his question, but when you look up and see his gaze fixed on you, those dark eyes, so interested in you, you just... melt. Your heart is too weak to let this moment of his attention slip through your fingers.

"Fjerdans. They attacked my village and killed my parents. My siblings and I went to live with our grandparents, and a year later we were tested for Grishas. Only I was. They kicked me out of the house so quickly that I didn't even have time to pack. They did it themselves. My youngest brother took pity on me enough to put his stuffed animal in my bag. As a keepsake. We write to each other. I actually only keep in touch with him. But it's always better than being alone."

"You are not alone." he says it quickly, before he can even process your words, and places his hand on your shoulder, stroking it tenderly. "You... will never be alone, Y/N." he says with such confidence and tone of voice as if it was a promise he would never break.

He looked at you many times, but now. You feel something new in his gaze. A certain kind of tenderness, understanding, need for protection. And you bask in this feeling, as if in the glow of the warmest fire. The fire next to you isn't half as warm as his gaze on you and the touch you feel on your skin even under the layers of clothes you're wearing.

"I... I know." you whisper, hypnotized by the deep gaze of his dark eyes. "I have Fedyor, Genya, David, Alina. You. I found myself a new family. Maybe it's better to be nobody's daughter."

"No one will hurt you like your own family will." he sighs, nodding.

The crackle of burning wood is the only thing that can be heard in the silence that has fallen between you. His hand gradually moves from your shoulder to your neck, where he strokes your cold skin with his thumb, making you shiver.

"You're cold. We should warm you up. Where are your gloves and scarf?" he asks, shaking off the moment between you.

You feel him tense again and go to his bed to grab a black fur blanket and wrap it around you. You blush slightly, enveloped in his warmth and scent. You thank all the saints that he can't hear your heart beating fast… unless he felt your pulse when he caressed your neck with his thumb. Then you are fucked up.

"I left it in my tent. I was in a hurry to get here. I wanted to finish the paperwork as quickly as I could so as not to infect you." he laughs at your words and you frown, not knowing what's so funny.

"I don't get sick, milaya. Get some sleep. Maybe the tracker is skilled enough to track down an animal for dinner. I'll come back with some soup for you. Rest. General's order. I need my deputy to be fully healthy and ready to fulfil her duties. I believe the king will want to call a council as soon as we return."

He throws a pillow at you, which you catch, and he walks out of the tent, leaving you shocked and a little puzzled next to the fire. You immediately feel warmer, and the runny nose bothers you a little less as you allow yourself to lie down. Wrapped in its warmth and scent, you fall asleep ridiculously quickly. Your dreams are filled with him... warming you up in a completely different, more pleasant way.

You don't know how much time passes. You wake up feeling a little better. You look around the tent in a daze, remembering how you got here. The fire still burns, still warming you, but not like a warm blanket and coat. Their black, dark colour clearly indicates their owner.

The smell of something delicious fills your nostrils. Your mouth waters as you look at the huge bowl of warm soup.

"Why is it not a wonder for me that the only thing that can wake you up is food?" you hear his amused voice. You turn towards him. He is sitting at his desk; a candle is lit as he writes something. He lifts his head for a moment and gives you a quick glance. "Eat. You'll feel better."

You take the bowl, and after the first spoonful, you groan at the taste of the soup. "How come this is good? Our supply of spices is long gone; how did you season it?"

He can't help but laugh. He puts down his pen and leans back in his chair, looking at you, curled up in his blankets and coat by the fire. A strange feeling warms him from the inside, seeing you so... at home with him, and if it weren't for your wheezing and red nose, he would have no qualms about enjoying the sight. But he knew you were only here because you were sick, and his care was helpful. No one would willingly stay with him. No one has ever done this...

"I haven't lived in a palace all my life, Y/N. I know how to take care of myself in all circumstances."

"How bad will it be if I say this is better than what you feed us in the Little Palace?" you ask, wolfing down the soup. Somehow he can't help but giggle. The heat inside him continues to grow… maybe you were able to infect him after all?

"Do not get used to it. This special treatment ends when you stop making sounds with your nose with every breath you take. Besides, you snore, colonel." he says it with complete seriousness, but even he isn't strong enough to hide the mischievous smirk that appears on his lips as he watches the growing outrage and embarrassment on your face.

"I am not!" you say it indignantly and throw his pillow at him.

He catches it gracefully with a smirk and throws it next to you, far enough away that you can't reach for it without moving. You moan, but don't change your position. You're too blissfully warm to do that.

"Move up. You can't be in one position all the time. You'll get stiff."

"Won't you massage me, general?" you ask flirtatiously. Your behaviour surprises both you and him, but for some reason, your filter is off. You say what you think, and you don't hold anything back... you also feel very hot, which is both pleasant and a bit bothersome.

"Do not cross the border. I'm not your nurse."

"Shame." you say briefly and put the bowl aside. He watches you carefully, noticing that your movements are a little less coordinated.

He walks over to you. He places his hand on your forehead and frowns. "You're burning. We should take these layers off of you."

"As much as some women would like you to undress them, right now it's not something I want."

"Y/N." he speaks to you calmly and gently, like to a child. "You have a fever. You can't be too warm, or it will only make things worse. I'll bring you some water, and when I come back I want to see you out of this cocoon."

"And who are you, my father?" you huff, crossing your arms and tightening your grip on the blanket.

"No. I am much more. I am... your general. So do what I say."

You roll your eyes at him. Your defiant attitude would have done all kinds of... inappropriate things to him if it weren't for the fact that his main concern right now was your health. That's why he doesn't play and argue with you any longer. He takes you into his arms in one confident, sweeping movement. You squeal in shock, clinging to him, afraid he'll drop you. The blanket and coat fall off you, leaving you only in your red kefta.

"No! It's cold!" you struggle with him in his arms.

He allows you to fight him enough to stand on the ground on your own two feet, but you're still trapped in his grip. You probably would have struggled with him for a while longer (until you had completely exhausted your energy), but you both froze in place when you heard a soft grunt coming from the entrance to his tent.

"Um... general?" Fedyor looks at the two of you confused. "I have that medicines you asked about." you frown at the fact that he sent him to the village to get medicine for you. "Mal also went with the list to Ivan. They will be here with a healer the day after tomorrow at the latest."

"Good, Fedyor. Well done. Leave these medications and get out of here. You are letting the cold in." he says, clearing his throat. Fedyor smiles at his reaction, clearly hearing his rapid heartbeat.

"Yes, sir." He puts the medicines on the table. "I would wish you a speedy recovery, Y/N, but under these conditions, I don't think it's really necessary. Good night." he says this and runs away from there, no longer exposing himself to the general's angry look.

He doesn't stay mad for very long. His thoughts of punishing Fedyor for his insolence quickly disappear when he hears your coughing. He looks at you tenderly and leads you to his bed.

"Here." he whispers and hands you a glass with some strange brown liquid in it.

"Aleksander, I can't drink alcohol in this state." you grumble and snuggle into his quilt, trying to create a cocoon of warmth around you again.

But he won't let you. Which is met with great protest from you.

He grabs your arms and moves you so you're leaning against the headboard of his bed, sitting down, handing you a glass, and glaring at you as he sits across from you, watching you closely. He would make you shiver if the fever didn't already make you tremble.

"Drink it. That's herb. It will help." you look at the glass warily. "What's wrong again?"

"Herbs are bitter. I don't want to drink it." you say angrily and put the glass with that damned thing on the nightstand.

"Your general is ordering you to do it. Drink." he says firmly, pushing the glass to your mouth. You purse your lips, glaring at him defiantly, at which he sighs.

If you were anyone else, he would have abandoned you a long time ago. He would leave you alone to maybe die, and he wouldn't think twice about you.

But you were his Y/N.

It changed everything. And he was terrified about how far he would go for you. There were no things he wouldn't do on your behalf—for your happiness, for your safety—only for seeing that disarming smile that lit up his centuries-worn, dark soul.

"Y/N." he whispers softly, stroking your hair. At the same time, he checks your temperature with his hand.

He frowns and presses a kiss on your forehead, cupping your cheeks with both hands. The glass is long forgotten on the nightstand as he presses his lips against your skin.

He would moan at the feeling of your silky, soft skin if you didn't have a huge fever. He found himself wishing you were warm for a completely different reason than the fever.

"Milaya, you are very sick. Drink the medicine for me, okay?" he asks gently, stroking your cheeks with his thumbs as he looks at you carefully. You're still shaking. You're not sure from what, as you silently nod, still staring at his dark eyes.

He breathes a sigh of relief when you sip the medicine from the glass he holds for you without protest. He makes sure you drink it all before he gets out of bed. You instinctively grab his hand, and his heart sinks when he sees pure fear in your eyes.

"Don't go. Don't leave me alone." you whisper, your eyes staring at him so pleadingly that what else can he do but comply with your request?

He swallows and is surprised himself at how quickly he's at your side again, this time holding you in his arms, close to his chest. The idea of bringing you a cold cloth to cover your forehead flies from his mind the moment you snuggle into him for warmth. He feels like a stupid young boy again when he realises that, in another state, you wouldn't seek his closeness. He pushes away these thoughts, trying to make you as comfortable as possible as he runs his hand through your hair and brushes away the beads of sweat from your forehead.

"You're the best nurse or healer I've ever had." you whisper. Your head on his chest, eyes closed as you float with the rhythm of the breaths he takes. And seeing you in such a vulnerable state makes something break inside him.

"I haven't done this for a long time. Look after someone. I was the one who mainly took care of my sister. Our mother didn't want anything to do with her, and neither of us knew our father... so she only had me. People looked at us askance; the kids treated her like an outcast, so she was left to play with her older brother, a teenager who had no idea how to play with or take care of a six-year-old child, and a girl at that. But there was nothing I wouldn't do to make this little one happy. To give her what I didn't have… at least in a small way. Consequently, I can weave wreaths, braid braids, and other strange hairstyles; sew clothes for dolls; and make them. I played the prince on a white horse with her more times than I could count or be willing to admit."

"Black one suits you more." you comment, making him laugh quietly. "What happened to her?" you ask, opening your eyes and shifting your gaze to him.

He sighs heavily, pausing for a moment from stroking your hair as memories come back to him. And you can see in his eyes how much pain it brings him. You remember the words he said during one of your late-night conversations, when you were up late working on your reports.

The past is a wound that cannot be healed.

"She trusted the wrong people. Now she doesn't let anyone close... not even me."

"I turst you. With my life..." You wish you could hear his thoughts the moment he freezes at your words. "We all do." you add, still conscious enough not to completely pour out your heart to him. He pulls you closer to him, continuing to run his hand through your hair and press a cool cloth to your forehead.

"Thank you, Y/N." he whispers, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

A few months ago, he would have cursed himself for letting you get so deep under his skin... Now he can't help but want more. He hates to admit it, but his mother was right.

Men are greedy creatures.

But how could he not want you more? Not to want everything you can offer him when it was you who awakened in him human feelings that he had been hiding from the world for a very long time? When could he be JUST Aleksander with you?

He checks your body temperature again by pressing his hand gently against your forehead, cheek and neck. He hums satisfied, feeling you cooler and your temperature closer to normal.

"You are cozy." you mumble as he is checking on you and you rest your head on his shoulder, hugging him tighter. There is a strange sound buzzing in your ears.

"Cozy?" he asks, amused, knowing full well that in other people's eyes he was anything but comfortable or cozy. And there you were, cuddling up to him like he was your favourite stuffed toy, feeling safe enough to fall asleep in his arms.

"Yhm..." you murmur, burying your face in his neck to sigh in his scent. "You are the best pillow in the whole world."

You hear the pounding in your head more clearly as your nose presses against his pulse point in his neck. You find this very irritating. If you were a little more aware, you would have realised that it was his heartbeat that was making it difficult for you to fall asleep. What you also don't realise is that you are using your powers on him and calming him down, causing you both to fall asleep.

The tickle on your forehead from something very soft and warm is the last thing you feel before you fall asleep. And he only had time to remove his lips from your skin before you unconsciously forced him to fall asleep, cuddled up against you.

[depressedbagpipe]

A Heartrender's Fire: ch. IV

Tolya Yul-Bataar x Lantsov!ofc

Words: 5205 Warnings: vasily lantsov, misogyny (mentioned), someone gets a hit to the head a couple of times, anxiety? i guess, david, netflix's poor pacing choices (what even is neshyenyer), made up ravkan A/N: and off we go! why on earth are these chapters so long like wtf am i writing💀 anyways, i think i suck at writing slowburn? or romance in general

Series Masterlist Previous chapter

IV: Every Monstrous Thing

“Why must you always play the diplomat, Nikolai?” Vasily spoke with disgust in his voice. “Grisha dining beside true Ravkan soldiers is a bit much for all our stomachs.”

“Wow, Vasily, I almost forgot how annoying your voice is,” Irina rolled her eyes.

“Really? I could never forget how stupidly insufferable you still are, dear sister,” he counter-attacked.

“Shut it, you two,” their Queen mother commanded lowly, smiling again for her fellow court members. 

The lines on her face were a lot more prominent after Genya’s departure, and Irina almost frowned at the sight of her mother, looking old and frail. She had always known the constant alterations were only physical, but the Queen of Ravka had always made sure nobody would see her look anything other than perfect. 

“We are all Ravkan here,” Alina spoke after a few seconds of silence, also wanting to defend herself against the heir to the throne. 

The Sun Summoner sat next to Irina at the end of the table, the odd one out in the picture-perfect royal family. Nikolai and Irina had changed into proper garments as soon as they had arrived at the Spinning Wheel per their mother’s request, and seeing each other dressed in something other than their usual attire at sea was beyond baffling. It had been too long, and although both of them automatically knew how to behave as princes, Irina particularly felt she was playing a character. 

“Doesn’t need to be us versus them,” Nikolai added, looking for conciliation.

“General Kirigan should’ve thought of that before he tried to murder my father and stage a coup,” he looked at the King, whose poor wealth was becoming more apparent with every passing second. 

Nikolai and Irina shared a glance at their older brother’s words, never missing the double meaning Vasily always added when he spoke of his birthright. The King was leaning on his chair, barely touching his food, with his gaze lost somewhere in front of him. Irina almost felt bad for the man, yet he had barely shown any interest or affection in either of his lesser kids when they still lived in Os Alta. Deep down, he knew too. 

“That said, absent their Darkling, the Grisha are rather easy to manage.”

“By ‘manage,’ do you mean ‘execute,’ moi tsarevich?” Alina asked with a fierce smile. 

Irina repressed a smile, glad she had yet another person supporting her hatred for her older brother sitting next to her at the table. 

“That fate is reserved for traitors to the Crown, Miss Starkov.”

“If the Second Army requires a leader loyal to the Crown to assure their fealty, then I will lead them.”

Irina gripped her goblet, suddenly interested in the dark and luxurious wine that she had been unwillingly drinking for the past hour. She certainly preferred the cheapest options in beverages, because those belonged at sea with Sturmhond and Ainthe. 

Vasily laughed audibly, looking at their mother before turning again to face the Sun Summoner. “Why should I believe you have any loyalty to my family?”

Irina was already taking a big gulp of her drink when Nikolai stood up, his loud voice taking up the entire chapel they were having dinner at. 

“Today marks the start of a new era of cooperation between Lantsovs and the Grisha,” silence filled the room as they stared at the second son, wondering. “I’m delighted to announce my engagement to Alina Starkov, the Sun Summoner and new leader of the Second Army. Together, we will build a better future for Ravka,” he concluded.

Irina quickly surveyed the room. All Grisha cheered, edged on by the twins presiding the table to the left. The rest of the court and soldiers weren’t as buoyant. They shared worried looks, some of them shaking their heads in disbelief, others frowning deeply, staring at the King and Vasily for guidance they wouldn’t ever get. Irina tried to remain impassive, showing no emotion. Princesses didn’t get to care about politics, according to her mother. That was only reserved for the King. 

Nikolai sat down, yet his hand shook a little, drops spilling off his own goblet as he put it back down on the table.

“That was a bit much,” Alina commented, hiding behind her goblet. Her eyes were fixed on Mal, whose head had dropped in defeat. 

“Understatement is overrated.”

Vasily didn’t take long to leave, either. His chair made a profound squeaking noise against the marble as he pushed his chair away, his meal forgotten. 

“Thank Saints he’s gone,” Irina smiled, taking a big bite of her meal with a happy smirk, more animated than she had been since she had stepped foot into the dining room.

“Are you sure about this, Sobachka?” the Queen spoke to her son, her daughter forgotten. As usual. “I understand the political alignment, but is this what’s best for your long-term positioning?”

“This is what’s best for me and for Ravka, Madraya. Your other son is working hard to send this country into civil war. I aim to stand in his way,” Nikolai responded. 

His mother sighed. “It’s best I’d better plan some sort of official celebration.”

“Now’s not the time for parties.”

“Back straight, shoulders back, elbows down. Smile,” Irina whispered to Alina, trying to fix the Sun Summoner’s posture. “If you’re about to become a princess, you need to start behaving like one.”

“You know I don’t plan on that,” she frowned, yet she followed the princess’s orders. Her attempt was almost comical with how she had been sitting before Irina’s comment, but she had to give it to Alina. It wasn’t easy pretending to be graceful and poised when all you would rather do was run free in the wild.

“I know. But they don’t,” Irina discreetly motioned to the people before them, soldiers from their royal guard, court members, and Grisha alike, staring at her with newfound expressions. “As long as you play the part, they’ll follow you.” She took another glance at her mother. “You want to be in her favor, too, at least for now.”

Both girls looked at the blonde woman, who, at the same time, was already setting the details for whatever celebration she wanted to throw in honor of her youngest son’s engagement. 

“I’ll have my seamstress run you up something appropriate.”

Alina only smiled at her, taking another gulp. 

Irina wanted to laugh, or cry, or both. When had life become so complicated? 

–·–

“Sometimes I wonder,” Irina took a breath. “What would have happened if I had come clean since the start? Would Ravka be any different? A Grisha princess… maybe we wouldn’t be here now.”

Irina looked around, making sure to speak in hushed voices. Nikolai walked beside her, occasionally smiling at the many refugees that littered the Spinning Wheel. Tolya trailed after them, always vigilant, no doubt listening to their conversation, yet Irina didn’t mind. Tolya could always have access to the deepest parts of her soul, and she’d gladly allow him in every time. Nikolai had ordered Tamar to guard Alina while she remained under the Crown’s protection, knowing even in his own house she wouldn’t always be safe. Tolya, instead, guarded the siblings, becoming a safe shadow in every corner. Even though Irina hated having a bodyguard, she was glad it was Tolya trailing after her. She wouldn’t have felt safer had it been someone else.

“You know pretty damn well what would’ve happened, Irina. You would’ve become yet another pawn on Kirigan’s plan.”

“Would I?”

“Just think. The leader of the Second Army, betrothed to the princess of Ravka. It would only take him five seconds to get rid of his competition and sit himself on the throne.”

The girl frowned, stopping dead in her trail. “Is there any scenario where I don’t become a bargaining chip?”

Nikolai grimaced but didn’t need to say further. They both knew what the future for a princess always held, no matter the circumstances. 

Her brother looked at her, almost pleading. “You would’ve left eventually, Irina. I know that. I know you. You were never meant to spend your days locked away in a palace.”

“Neither were you.” She jokingly punched his arm, eliciting a smirk from the prince.

“That’s why we have Vasily for,” Nikolai laughed. 

“Thankfully.”

Nikolai smiled at two Summoners who bowed as they walked by them, and Irina stared after them longingly. Many Etherealki still wore their blue keftas, even though most of them rejected General Kirigan’s old status quo. Irina could understand them, anyway, wanting to at least feel like they had a place to belong. Wearing their keftas was the only thing tying most of them to their past –a past that had yet to be tarnished by civil wars. 

“You know, blue doesn’t suit you,” Nikolai commented, quickly piecing the puzzle together after seeing what her sister had been staring at.

“Gold doesn’t either.”

Her golden apparel mirrored her brother’s. Both of them the vivid images of the golden Ravka. Even if there wasn’t anything left of it. 

“I’d much rather see you in red.”

Irina and Nikolai had hidden their jackets, erasing any trace of Ainthe and Sturmhond. Nobody but them, save for the Heartrender twins and now Alina and Mal knew of their identities. Irina knew the day of the reveal was coming closer at a fast rate, but she wanted to hold on longer to her fiery red garment, a gift Sturmhond had gotten her after she joined his crew. It was only fit that his second-in-command would wear clothes worthy of a ship captain –especially if said captain could summon fire with just a thought. 

Irina smiled a pained smirk. “You and me both.”

“When all of this is over, we’ll go back home. To the Volkvolny. To sea.”

The princess shook her head. “What about Alina?”

“What about her?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You like her.”

“And she likes Mal.”

“Besides,” she insisted. “We both know things are about to change forever. Doesn’t matter how much we want to go back, maybe we never will.”

They both frowned at the reality they had desperately tried not to think about. They both felt it deep in their souls –there was no turning back from this.

“Moi tsarevich!” 

Both siblings turned their heads at the sight of Mal running after them, his eyes wild and angry. Tolya stood straighter despite Mal having proven over and over only to be loyal to his Saint. 

“What’s wrong?” Nikolai asked, frowning. 

“You better come see this.”

–·–

“David.”

Alina’s murderous glance was enough to make Irina shiver. Hers wasn’t the look of a powerful Grisha; hers were the eyes of utter betrayal. She arrived shortly with Tamar and Nadia, the Squaller that had welcomed her at the Spinning Wheel. Nikolai’s petite commitée had gathered at the same war room they had improvised the day before, only this time, David Kostyk, trusted Fabrikator back at the Darkling’s Little Palace, was pathetically standing by the center of the room, with both hands separated to prevent him from using the Small Science. 

David awkwardly waved at the mention of his name, his eyes perking up slightly after seeing Alina.

“Oh, so you do know him,” Nikolai groaned, walking forward to stand next to Alina, which only angered Mal more. “He claims to have escaped from a very alive General Kirigan.”

If the situation wasn’t dire enough, Irina would have laughed. David was tall, yet Tolya, taller and bigger, seemed to loom over him completely. The princess was aware of the many separations the Grisha bore back at the Little Palace, yet she couldn’t understand how the Fabrikator before her could hold such power to attract the Darkling. Yet, she was one to talk. She had practically hidden herself away since she was born only to not give away her own strength. After Alina, the Stag, and the Sea Whip, Irina Lantsov was starting to believe anything could be possible.

“He gave himself up without a struggle. We found this on him,” Nikolai gave the crumpled diary to Alina. “He says it’s one of Morozova’s journals.” He turned back to David, speaking in a louder, boastful voice. “I, for one, am dying to know more, but he insisted he speak with you.”

“Alina,” David tried, yet Tolya’s firm hand on his chest prevented David from walking any further. The Heartrender didn’t even look at him, yet David recoiled, defeated, ready to fight his case.

Irina felt almost ashamed at how Tolya’s action had her warm up. He sat casually on the railing, almost bored, knowing he could take down the Fabrikator before the slimmer man even thought about it, should it be necessary. Irina was having a really hard time not to smile. She knew the Heartrender could be deadly, yet he barely chose violence if he could help it. But his appearance told otherwise, and that was enough for any enemy to think twice before attacking the half-Shu. 

“I know I wronged you,” David began. “Please believe I regret my role in that deeply. I know you have reason to distrust me, but I have no loyalty to General Kirigan.”

“He survived the Volcra?” Alina asked.

“I’m afraid so. He also knows that you survived and that you’re in East Ravka.”

Mal intervened. “Tell us where he is.”

“No, no, no,” David shook his head. “Mm-mm, that would be a very bad idea–”

“You can’t expect us to trust you unless you’re willing to share information,” Alina pressed on. 

Tolya readjusted on his seat, noticing the tension rise in the room. He discreetly looked at his sister, standing a little too close to Nadia. He saw Nikolai, standing in between Alina and Mal. And he stared at Irina, standing by herself, with squinted eyes and trembling hands. 

“Confronting him would be suicide.” David sighed again, looking at every single person before finally giving in. “Kirigan used merzost to create something in the Fold. Creatures that do his bidding, the size of two men.” It was comical the way David moved his hands, trying to get his point across. “Formed of pure shadow. They have no breath to take, no heart to stop, no blood to drain. Yet they live.”

Irina felt her own heartbeat pick up at the thought of such monsters. She had only very recently come to terms with the fact that a living Saint was standing and breathing next to her, and now these creatures were freely roaming her homeland. That was a lot for the young princess to take. 

“They live and they kill. They are nichevo’ya. Nothing. Bullets, blades, fire, all simply pass through. And they walk freely in sunlight.”

Everybody looked at David in silence, wrapping their heads around his words. Irina tried to share a look with her brother, as they usually did in every meeting back at the Volkvolny, but the blond prince was looking at Alina. The sudden lack of fraternal comfort only came with another wave of nervousness. The room suddenly seemed darker, colder, and heavier, and the many candles that surrounded the group weren’t enough for Irina’s mind. Despite the light that came from the skylight at the dome of the chapel, darkness seemed to creep around them at its mere mention.

David finished his deadly blow. “I fear that merzost may be the only way to kill them.”

“So how did you manage to get away?” Mal fired the question everybody was dying to know.

David’s face paled even more, looking Alina straight in the eye. “Genya.”

Even Nikolai and Irina perked up at the mention of their mother’s Tailor. Although Irina hadn’t seen much of her, due to their mother keeping her hidden away for her personal use, she could imagine the hatred she had harbored for her family for years. It made sense that she had worked alongside the Darkling to bring the Royal Family down, and even though Irina wasn’t a fan of them either, save for her older brother, she couldn’t help but feel the twinge of betrayal in her chest. 

This time, Nikolai looked at his sister, yet Irina had her gaze lost somewhere in the darkness in front of her, already spiraling into a thousand different thoughts. It didn’t take a genius to recognize the pure terror on the princess’ face.

“We tried to escape together, but… the nichevo’ya. She sacrificed herself to get me out. I don’t know if she survived.”

Tolya then spoke, with one hand discreetly placed before him. “A smart spy will always play the victim.”

Irina didn’t have time to wonder what her friend was doing, for she immediately felt her heart slow. She looked down, unconsciously allowing the contactless source to apply pressure on her chest, effectively breaking her pattern of thoughts as the blood in her system flowed slow and steady, instead of the erratic speed it had just previously harbored.

Breathe. She felt his words inside her skull, almost enough to lull her to sleep. Her eyes unfocused for a second before the girl turned her attention back to the Fabrikator, still feeling the pressure in her chest, only the anxiety had seemed to evaporate with one last breath. Although she hated it when either of the twins used their power on her like that, unprompted and abruptly, she was now grateful that Tolya had seen her despair before it could get worse.

“No, no,” David shook his head. 

“You make a valid point, Tolya,” Nikolai picked Tolya up. “As leader of the Second Army, this is your call,” he looked at Alina, who looked back at Nadia.

“You’ve known David the longest. What do you think?”

The Squaller had not stopped looking at David, but she still responded in a whisper. “Kirigan always kept him very close.”

“Take him to a holding cell,” Alina declared, looking at Tolya, whose hand was still aimed at his princess.

The giant nodded, slowly breaking the connection with Irina with a small nod in her direction, and quickly walked away with David, taking all of the tension with them.

–·–

Irina found Tolya a while later right by the small fountain inside the chapel. The dome stood directly above him, showering the room in light, which the Heartrender used to read his poetry. Some of the Grisha around him eyed him warily, almost afraid, and once again, Irina had to laugh. He wasn’t the deadliest person in the room.

She smirked, seeing as he hadn’t heard her coming yet. She tried blending in with the background as much as she could, sneaking up behind him and scaring him as she forcefully gripped his arms. The girl laughed at the little jump the giant did, congratulating herself on scaring the scariest man in the room. Good-natured Tolya didn’t have the heart to tell Irina that he could recognize her presence anywhere, even before she came into the opening.

“Thank you for earlier,” Irina said as she sat down next to him, fixing her attire after taking a big gulp of air to calm down. 

Tolya smiled at her. “Anytime. I thought you were going to faint any minute.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Irina thought about it for a second but decided against it. “I’d much rather forget all about it for now. What are you reading?” Although she knew Tolya would eventually ask again, she sighed in relief when she saw him pick his book up again, and open it up.

“Selected poems from Negu Kir-Tizur,” he leaned on the fountain, lowering his arms so Irina could see the poems better.

She frowned. “They’re in Shu.”

“You forget I am half-Shu,” he softly hit her with the book in her head, earning another giggle from her.

“I can’t read Shu, you dumbass” she laughed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, moi tsarevicha, I forgot to speak the language of the Saints,” he mocked her, feeling desperate all of a sudden to hear her laugh once again.

That’s exactly what he got. “Hey, that’s not fair!” she giggled again. “You know I always ask you to teach me and then you never do!”

“It’d take years! I don’t think you’d ever understand the complicated themes of the Shu verse,” he continued his teasing, which Irina adored.

“And why is that?” she crossed her arms, trying not to smile.

“You don’t have the patience for that.”

Irina was about to fight him, but she knew he was right. “Well.”

It was Tolya’s turn to laugh. The melodic sound was carried through the dome with its marble columns, and for a second, Irina thought about how that memory would always haunt her in her mind. How, for a few moments, she wasn’t the princess of a dying nation, but a normal girl, talking to the boy she was desperately trying not to like.

“But… I can translate it for you?” Tolya offered, his fingers skimming through the paper, looking for the one poem he knew his companion would like.

“Please,” Irina smiled innocently, using the book as an excuse to not stare into his eyes.

But their moment didn’t last long, because Malyen Oretsev always seemed to have the most perfect importunate timing.

“I was skimming this again for leads on the Firebird, then I remembered a legend about a sword from Shu Han.” Mal had taken it upon himself to read over and over the Istorii Sankt’ya. He claimed it was only to find another way to help Alina, but Irina knew Mal was looking for a way out in it.

Tolya resumed on turning pages of his poetry book, not yet ready to burst the little bubble Irina and he had accidentally summoned for themselves.

“Neshyenyer. The Relentless Blade.”

“You know of it?”

He shrugged. “Of course I do. It’s a folktale. The Fabrikator Kho created an unkillable army made of cogs and bone–”

“Until the Fabrikator Neyar forged Neshyenyer,” Mal finished for him. He showed Tolya and Irina the paintings in the book, reading the words. “‘When Neyar fought, her blade flashed so brightly that people watching swore she had lightning in her hands.’ A blade so sharp it could cut shadow.”

Tolya chuckled. “It’s a bedtime story. My culture has the best myths.”

Irina slapped him across the head, much in the same way he had done earlier with her, only harder. He could take it.

“Ouch.”

“The Sea Whip was a myth,” said Mal with a smirk at their interaction. “So was the Stag. And they were real. She killed an unkillable army. This could be the weapon we need against Kirigan’s monsters. And this book… says it’s in a temple in Ahmrat Jen.”

“No, I doubt that. The one on display is widely rumored to be fake.”

But that didn’t let Mal down. “Okay, how do we find the real one?”

“Who has the money and means to acquire valuable weapons?”

Mal looked at Irina, but she quickly raised her hands in innocence.

“Wrong sibling.”

–·–

“The blade in Ahmrat Jen is indeed a replica,” Nikolai sighed. He hadn’t left the improvised war room at all, and the exhaustion was evident in his voice. “And the original was stolen long ago. I suspect it’s never left Shu Han. If it turned up in the wider black market, Sturmhond would’ve heard about it.”

“This could be the only weapon able to kill Kirigan’s shadow creatures. We need to find it.”

“It’s a valuable old sword, sure. That doesn’t mean the story behind it is true.”

“Any chance is better than no chance,” Mal argued.

Nikolai grinned. “That’s a very Sturmhond thing to say. Were he here, he would surely commend you.”

“It’s a little bit unsettling how you talk about him like he’s someone else.”

“Get used to it,” Irina commented.

“And he would suggest that our mutual friends in Ketterdam might be the perfect crew for the job.”

“You’re really gonna trust the Crows with this?” 

Irina trailed after him, right after they finished their meeting with Tolya and Mal. The giant had volunteered to find it, and rapidly Nikolai had issued a request for a Squaller to join him.

“Not just the Crows. I trust Tolya,” he said as he stepped into his room, turning around to face his sister as she closed the door behind her. “And I trust you.”

Irina froze. “Me?”

“You.”

“You’re sending me away for this?”

Nikolai could argue all he wanted about how he just wanted his best people to get the sword, but Irina knew better.

“Yeah. If anything the Durast said is true, I don’t want you anywhere near Ravka while the Darkling is still alive.”

“That’s not fair. You need every loyal person right here.”

“Irina.”

“Nikolai.”

“I do trust you and Tolya to get the sword. He’ll need an Inferni to cross the Fold, that’s where you come in. And even if this little mission didn’t succeed, I’d still feel better knowing you’re not within the Darkling’s range.”

She shook her head. “Do you think I feel any better knowing I’m leaving you here alone?”

“I’m not alone! I have the Sun Summoner!” He walked to his closet, pulled an army pack from it, and handed it to his sister. “Everything you need is already here. Including your coat.”

She stared at her brother for a few seconds before taking the bag from his hand. “You’re awfully prepared.”

“I always am.”

“Was this your plan since the beginning?”

He shrugged. “I have my own bag, too.”

She shook her head. “And what do I do? Am I supposed to be Irina or Ainthe?”

“Whatever feels right to you.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You’ll know when the moment comes.”

“Nikolai.”

“Irina, do whatever you want. I’m not letting you live in my shadow forever. This is your time to make your own decisions.”

“I want to stay.”

“Except that one,” he tried to smile but failed. He stood before his sister, staring at her as if trying to remember the sight of her. “Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen here, but it doesn’t look good. Should anything happen to me or Vasily, you’ll know what to do. But please, just do me this one favor and step away, at least until we can defeat those shadow creatures. Please.”

It wasn’t like Nikolai Lantsov to beg. Irina knew right then just how much she meant to her brother. He was willing to send her away on a permanent vacation just so she wouldn’t have to face the horrors that roamed freely in Ravka. 

You do what you have to do to protect the people you love. But how do I protect you?

But before Irina could ask, Nikolai was already shoving her out of his room.

“Get ready, you leave at three bells.”

The door was closed after her, leaving a confused and quite afraid young girl in an empty hall of the Spinning Wheel.

Almost automatically, Irina simply followed his instructions, changing into her old pirate’s clothes and keeping her mind as empty as possible. She didn’t have time to cry. It wasn’t the first time the girl left on a mission for a few days without her brother, but for some reason, she knew things would be much different once she came back.

Her red coat felt like a second skin on her, and for a split second, she grinned. The blood in her veins and the coat in her arms would always be something she shared with Nikolai. 

It didn’t take her long to walk back onto the main entrance, where her small party was waiting, together with Mal and Tamar..

“If anyone can find Neshyenyer, I suspect it’s them,” Mal agreed. “Thick as thieves, those Crows. Clever too. Managed to cross the Fold on some sort of fortified train.”

“Last time I was in Ketterdam, I didn’t get to stop at the Kooperom for an omelet,” Tolya commented out loud.

Tamar groaned. “Oh, so that’s why you volunteered. Without me, who’ll stop you from following your stomach off the edge of a cliff?”

“That’d be me.” Irina stepped into the light, joining their conversation. 

Tolya almost broke his neck at the sound of her voice, smiling a wide grin as he got his pistol ready. Tamar’s eyes twinkled at the prospect of her best friend and her brother on a mission together, and she would’ve made another smart remark at that had Zoya Nazyalensky not interrupted them.

“I thought we were leaving at three bells?”

Irina had yet to share a word with the Squaller, but her stiff posture and annoyed voice almost made her roll her eyes. She did recoil at the sight of the princess, but she still looked at Tolya with a questioning glance.

“Tolya’s trying to cram his entire poetry library into his pack,” Tamar smiled at his brother as he gave him his last book, which didn’t fit.

Zoya frowned, disgusted. “Poetry?”

Tolya began. “Long may the night whose dark–”

“No,” Zoya cut him off, making Tamar giggle and Tolya frown. “There’ll be none of that.”

Mal patted him on the back and whispered to the remaining party. “Bring back Neshyenyer for Alina, alright?”

“We will, don’t worry,” Irina said, taking the book from Tolya’s hand and shoving it into her backpack, not missing the appreciative grin the giant sent her way.

The three of them followed Zoya, who had already opened the door to the outside and was walking down the stairs.

“That was from Rabinov’s Cantos. A definitive work.”

Tamar trailed after them. “Yeah, now let’s go over the snacks you’ll bring back from Shu Han…”

“Guys? A word?” Nikolai suddenly called as they were about to exit.

The four of them stood at the entrance, looking at each other with fondness in their hearts.

“Take care of each other. I know I don’t have to worry about you two out there together, but be careful.” 

Tolya nodded, with a solemn expression. “I’ll protect her with my life.”

Irina scoffed. “Don’t be dramatic.”

“Good.” Nikolai shook Tolya’s hand decisively, before bringing him closer for a quick hug.

“Your brother’s an idiot.” Irina looked at Tamar, who had watched the interaction with a smirk.

“I know.” She smiled. “Be careful, okay?” Tamar tightly hugged her friend, rubbing her back. “And don’t let Tolya eat all of Shu-Han’s sweets. He’s got to bring some back for me.”

Once they parted, Irina looked again at Nikolai. Whatever emotion wanted to escape through her eyes was quickly repressed, if only for a few seconds until her brother couldn’t see her anymore.

“Say goodbye to Madraya for me?” she offered a weak smile. 

Nikolai nodded. “Try not to set anything on fire,” he joked, before crashing into her body and embracing his little sister tightly. “Stay safe.”

“You too,” she whispered as she closed her eyes, her heart cracking slightly at the finality of their words.

“Alright, c’mon, group hug,” Nikolai joked again, and Irina laughed loudly when she felt two pairs of arms embracing them, basking in their warmth for a few seconds before they parted once again. “Come back to us.”

“We will.”

Next chapter

[lilisouless]

I have some thoughts on the Grishaverse and the manic pixie dream girl trope, to avoid essays quick thoughts:

-Inej and book!Nina ,despite maybe sharing traits, are not an example by the simple fact that they are their own person. Sure one brings light to a tortured man’s life,the other teaches him to question his status quo, yet their sole role is far from what they do for their male love interest, they are defined by their personal goals and are fighting their own battles (I could write more but let’s not make it short).

-Leoni Hilli ,despite being typically paired with a grumpy man,is more like an aversion as well.The man in question doesn’t emotionally change too much after getting together with her nor is ever implied he needs to be ligth up. Same applies to show!Fedyor , despite being a sweet happy guy paired with a grumpy guy,the guy is not shown to be needing to be saved (emotionally) and it’s just a dynamic they have

-show!Alina is a subversion, the show version of the darkling clearly sees her like that on season one the subversion comes when she dares to defy being a satellite that exist only to bring him light (note: book!Alina also does the rebellion part,but she is not lively nor active enough to fit in a MPDG subversion,book!Alina is mostly snarky in their interactions)

-show!Wylan would have been a subversion having the spinoff being greenlit , so the show version sticks as borderline example. While he is his own person,he is mostly unexplored and most of his emotional and personal issues are shown in regards to his relationship with Jesper, accompanied with being a force that makes Jesper want to be better,more open and vulnerable, other words: he effortlessly charms him into deviating from his comfort zone.Show!Jesper ends the show not in love with Wylan, but with the idea of what he does to him. The spinoff would have turned it around by having Wylan being his own person and Jesper falling in love with him for real.

-Kaz is his own person,but one of his traits is being is the inversion: he is the manic demon nightmare boy (i promise this is not me slandering Kaz,i have a point) he pushes the girl (and a boy in a platonic version) out of their comfort zone but not by showing the happiness of life,but the darkness and cruelty of it. He pushes people to save themselves and to survive even without his help.

If someone wants to explore more tropes,I’ll be open

Here is an example of a character that DOES fit the label (mutuals will probably know who is) putting it on the cut to not end up in a bitter note

-The only straight up example is show!Nina, this is a character whose goals go around about a man with little exploration of her outside of him. The little traits she has outside of him are more quirks that anything, every single part of her construction ends up being for the sake of her ship with him.While being a MPDG doesn’t automatically mean a character is bad, she is particularly insulting because she has actually MORE time the guy in question (guy that btw is completely useless for the plot,you can take him out,nothing matters) . This is a new level of bad even for the worst MPDG characters.

[stromuprisahat]

Hello! Firstly, I want to make it clear that I love your blog and your opinions. And secondly I would like to ask about your thoughts on what would happen if Ulla accepted and went with Sasha when he asked her to go with him? (It also makes me a little curious if they stayed together they would end up developing codependency and emotional or perhaps literal incest…)

I think this would be an interesting event that would greatly change the events of the shadow and bones trilogy.

Sorry for any mistakes in my writing, English is not my language!

Hi! Thanks, and don't worry- I might write (and occasionally dream) in English, but it's not my first language either. I'm still checking most of my posts with the help of Uncle Google and Seznam Dictionary. :)

Sashka and Ulla...

There are two variables we might need, but don't have. We don't know how old Aleksander is, when he dies, and we don't know how old he is, when he meets Ulla. It wouldn't be precise, but it could help us guess how worn out he might be.

If Ulla went with Aleksander, it would certainly help him cut off Baghra. When we meet him in Shadow and Bone, he's aware she isn't good for him, but he doesn't have an alternative. Not even belief Alina will eventually have only him, isn't enough to truly get rid of his mother. Maybe having another immortal, who got screwed over by Baghra AND acknowledges it, would be the correct impulse to dump the old hag.

I can't see a "healthy" option for immortal life or relationship. Certainly not the way rules are set. Others will still die. Their world will still be the horrible place it is. Then, there are the philosophical questions like "Can life still have a meaning, when your time isn't limited?".

Having a single person to lean on for centuries should surely lead to codependency. Let's hope Ulla and Sasha wouldn't at least have it as unequal as he does with his mother.

From what we're shown, Aleksander sees sex mostly as a tool, but then again- we've never even glimpsed his previous romantic relationships, so who knows... maybe he's god-tier demi sexmachine. That would be a no for physical incest (although all those deliciously naughty options... read Nådeløsheten by Madismen for Darklina/their immortal son tasteful short). I had to look up emotional incest for specific details, and:

(x)

After centuries of losses and difficulties no mortal can understand, I don't think boundaries between any two people, who have both been through it TOGETHER, could remain intact. Sasha and Ulla have the advantage of adulthood- their personalities are mostly formed- but after that?

Picture Alina arriving in Little Palace, but instead of the pressure of being the long-awaited Sun Summoner, there's only a mild concern how she managed to slip through testing. She's expected to clear the remains of the Fold, but one of the previous Sea Witches already made a path to the sea. Or more precisely- made the sea come to the capital itself, creating a swift way through the Fold (bonus points for sea monsters, snapping at volcra from depths Liopleurodon-style).

Second Army is traditionally lead by the Darkling and Sea Witch. No one knows if they're related, or married, they always seem incredibly close. If one dies, the other usually passes away or leaves to spend the rest of their life in seclusion. After that, another pair arrives from the safe place they were raised, to take over the work.

Alina's correctly assessed as unreliable (just like in the book), but even if he catches feelings, Aleksander isn't so desperately lonely. We can sprinkle some drama due to possible jealousy and above mentioned co-dependency, add possible parallel with Malina and contrast between their causes and solving. We could even use Baghra, waiting in hiding to screw over her errant children, especially her ungrateful son. Shenanigans ensue.

[tirkdi]

I don't know why but I've been imagining this a lot for some weird reason. If somehow darklina do end up together just SOMEHOW do you think at one point they'll get bored of each other? Will darkling's obsession with Alina eventually wear out? maybe Alina will want to try something else with someone else. How would darkling react to that? He's possessive as fuck but sometimes I wonder he would understand that unlike him, Alina never really got to be truly free and explore things for herself. I mean I don't think he'll let Alina go lol but do you think aat some point in centuries they might open their relationship?

This is such a hard question because when we're talking about immortals, I tend to believe that almost everything is possible, so this is where metas trying to answer the question (as opposed to fics) get tricky. Is it possible? Totally. Is it likely? Hard to say. I think the question we're getting at is – what are the conditions under which it might happen?

I'm taking the premise of this question to be that somehow, probably during R&R, they get together and rule Ravka (why not?). So we're dealing with not-quite-end-of-R&R Darkling & Alina. It will take them a while to work themselves into a relationship in the first place, and there are a lot of ways that could shake out. But assuming they get there, to a place that is respectful and reciprocal (if not gentle and loving), how long would that feel like 'enough' for Alina, and in what ways?

There are a few things going on here that I'll call out. One thing, to your point of he wouldn't let Alina go, is that we have an example of what an extremely long-lived relationship looks like for him already: Baghra. When the trilogy starts, he's like 800 years old and still living with his mom! Whenever we see them together they're fighting, but they don't leave each other, and right up until the second before she did it, he couldn't fathom that Baghra would jump off a mountain rather than just coming home with him. Similarly, I think it's unlikely that he'd stop needing Alina at any point. At the same time, Alina is different than him – but I do think it's reasonable/probably correct to envision an Alina who never needs him as much as he needs her, even a gazillion years later.

Another question then would be, at what point will Alina feel like she wants (and, importantly, deserves) happiness/something more? There's some character work that has to shake out there, because I'm having a hard time envisioning an Alina that ended up with Aleks at the end of R&R doing anything but being really hard on both of them for many, many years. How does she develop from there? Depending on the setup, I could see his and Alina's relationship getting to a point where they fight like he did with Baghra, but also similarly neither of them has any intention of ever leaving the other. Balance sounds nice in theory, but can be tricky to implement! Their relationship might end up less like a balance and more like a seesaw.

So then, there's the question of – is Alina looking for someone other than him to make her happy or to piss him off? The pissing him off seems pretty straightforward (and I think we have some fics like that that I've seen?). Assuming she isn't doing it to upset him, that she genuinely wants more than him, then I think there's the question of are we talking about sex or are we talking about a relationship with someone else? I do think you could come up with a setup where eventually he'd come to terms with sex, reassuring himself about how the Zoya lookalikes he sees leaving Alina's room in the morning are going to die in like a minute anyway, he doesn't even have to do anything.

I could also see a setup where you could make a power dynamic like that that he'd even enjoy, if he let himself. I think a lot about the Oscar Wilde quote: "Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power." If he allowed himself to acknowledge that he liked the ... humiliation? one area of his life where he was not in control? ... then I could also see him being into it, as long as he felt secure enough in the relationship between the two of them. And that right there is the whole reason we (or at least I) love this ship – their power dynamic is endlessly fascinating and there are so many different ways it could go

[thera-daydreams]

as someone who has read both your jjk and darkling fics, i’m gathering that the grishaverse sw is much more unstable than the jjk sw

like it seems that all the mcu events are really fresh in her mind and she seems to lose control more easily than her jjk counterpart

also is there a reason why in the jjk fic she uses a fake name (the yn/ln) and in the darkling fic she uses wanda? (although i think it really fits the universe like it sounds straight out of it)

omg you've read both? 🥺❤️

my heart is super full!

but yeah! although both the jjk!sw!reader and grishaverse!sw!reader traversed through time and space for a really long time to destroy all copies of the darkhold, after that, the paths they choose somewhat diverge? (but both of them swore off their magic for a while because whew, the darkhold did her dirty. grishaverse!sw!reader was more adamant on not using it again, though, compared to jjk!sw!reader who used it for small tricks and tasks and eventually just uses it again)

in the events of the fic, jjk!sw!reader has already been in the jjk universe for a few years now, setting up a cafe/bakery & she's met yuuji when he was still a young kid then later on adopted him after his grandpa died

jjk!sw!reader is also less afraid to rebuild her life again and form relationships with new people (our jjk characters)—she just wants to protect them and that's her peace and she's more or less happy with her new life (and my jjk fic is my personal comfort fic after wandavision and the way gege crushed my heart in the manga that's why it's got more happy-go-lucky vibes lol it WILL have a happy ending for everyone)

on the other hand, grishaverse!sw!reader chose the path to be a hermit in tsibeya and accept her "fate" to be alone forever. she just arrived to the grishaverse about a year ago only or so. she's MUCH more paranoid and scared to form relationships again. (but our baby wanda is GOOD i know it—and that's why she can't help but save the otkazat'sya kids, take them in, send them to the little palace, and be a gardener there to secretly watch over them. and as much as she didn't want to, she already loves those kiddos like her own)

still, she feels like it was the wrong choice when our pushy shadow daddy gets sus of her and keeps questioning her around (and wanda was never a good liar hahaha). little does she know he's been dreaming of her and what's happened to her; he just didn't know it was real and her that time. the universe (ahem, me, the author) is sending them signals to JUST BE TOGETHER AAAAAH.

grishaverse!sw!reader is scared to love again because losing everyone was always the price. then she saw the premonition of the terrible series of events that's happened (and will happen) in the grishaverse. so this gal is ALONE, PARANOID, TRAUMATIZED, and UNSTABLE, you are correct! and she has no one to confide in (yet). girl i'd go crazy too.

her choosing to be alone (even as the palace gardener, she's tucked away in her special little corner) also kind of exacerbates her instability? because she's gonna keep replaying her past + sins in her head over and over again with no one to keep her in check. sadly, she has no support system right now like jjk!sw!reader. :(

oh! and for the darkling fic, i think using "wanda maximoff" just sounded PERFECT for the grishaverse setting instead of y/n l/n, hehe. it kinda irks me though that it's... not that correct? if based on our slavic countries. (starkov for alina instead of starkova, morozova for aleks instead of morozov, etc.) but maybe it's the ravkan way of writing surnames so eh.

anyway, i super loved answering this ask! it made me so happy to see someone compare the two sw!readers in my fics. if you have more questions or comments, pleaaaase share them to me! 🥰💖

[blues-valentine]

S&B SEASON 2: THOUGHTS *a long ride*

I have conflicting emotions about that ending and overall how the whole season was handled for both SOC/S&B respectivelly.

First, I knew that I was going to be disappointed because they would mix S&S and R&R but this was a lot messier than I gave them the credit for. It left little room to develop Alina’s story line beyond the superficial. It felt to me like they were just trying to develop Nikolai for the KOS spin off and this seems unfair for Alina. She deserved her own time and it felt like they were just rushing to get her plot done.

I get TGT is not the most interesting and that the other books have been superior but it’s the start of the grishaverse and it sustains a lot of important things they just skipped over. Alina and her crew (Mal, Genya, Zoya, David, etc) deserved the time to breathe and their own exploration. Alina’s need/greed for power, the political aspect and her religious influence was glossed over and not developed further. Season 2 should’ve ended with Alina’s failed attempt to fully take down Darkling and being taken by the Apparat and therefore forced to become a religious pawn because this was an interesting aspect to Alina but also Tolya and Tamar, who ultimately were just there to fill the space in Nikolai’s story line and didn't get to explore that side.

Another thing about this season is that everything happened in such an anticlimatic way. Mal's amplifier reveal, Genya's backstory about the royal family and just so much that was more impactful in the books. David was killed off too soon. He didn't even get to marry Genya. Zoya deserved so much more and i'll hate it if I don't ever see her get to rule Ravka. Tolya and Tamar weren't given the level of depth I was expecting with their devotion to Alina. It was just too messy for me. I do think the season managed to improve some stuff. I think she Shu Han aspect was an interesting thing to add.

Don't even get me started with SOC because I feel like they have included basically everything so when the spin off does end up happening (we need good numbers for season 2 first) so many plots are not even going to happen. They took so many CK moments but without the right context so that didn't make it feel as impactful as it should've been. The actors truly did everything with those scenes especially with the Kanej scenes but it would've been so much better to have the full implications of what it means for their development. I wasn't too happy with how Inej's plot was handled. Literally we had CK before we even got SOC. And can we speak about the ableism with Kaz and his cane? Please.

Now, with that ending. I get what they had to change it. If they were to go with the R&R ending then there won't be actual story line for Alina and Mal. I’m still trying to understand why they couldn’t just use 3 seasons for the 3 books and wait to do the spins off, but I get that business is a whole different thing. So, that ending, like the whole season, it was rushed. You couldn't even feel sad because everything was happening so fast. The fact that Tolya and Tamar weren't the ones trying to bring Mal back to life was a shame because the friendship between Mal and Tolya was everything in the books. Alina clearly took part of Darkling's merzost powers to bring Mal back to life and this will cause her power corruption. But, the whole poison thing was so weird? This is a way to link the SOC characters and the KOS plot together but it's just so weird. About Malina’s ending, they did this to extend their arc in the show (x). I don't dislike the idea of them parting for a while until they get back to each other I just hated the way it felt too strange for both of them. I would have taken Mal asking Alina for time to be on it's own but not that weird excuse about his powers. And then, Alina had a whole struggle on R&R because she did not want to be a queen, because she wanted to be married for love and not for alliance. That Alina felt like a fanfic, not the real one. I have my own thoughts on where her story line will go for Season 3 (if there's one) and it could be interesting if executed right but I'm not too sure about that.

The season was far from perfect. It was messy and rushed. From both sides they skipped vital moments and interactions that could've made so many of the scenes have more sense and feel impactful. But I still would want a Season 3 and for those spin offs to be green lighted because those actors are too talented to lose for this.

[huevokinder24]

Shadow and bone rant

Was shadow and bone S2 a good one? It was enjoyable. It was watchable. That's it.

For those of us who have read the books it was a huge mess.

Let's talk first about the grisha trilogy.

They joined book 2 and 3 (and crooked kingdom for some fucking reason, but I'll get to that later) and just rushed through the plot.

While I'm not the biggest fan of the trilogy and SOC is one of my favorite books ever, I still think the crows had no business being there. They just took too much screentime, something I usually wouldn't complain about but now I am. The sword subplot alone would have been okay. The rest? What the fuck was that??

Due to this, we didn't get to see the actual story of Sab. And don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting a word by word adaptation, but this felt.... The characters weren't themselves.

Nikolai felt incredibly plain. He was just a nice guy. But where was his wit? His charm? His "my mother was an oyster, I'm the pearl". Where was his personality?

Also, he never loved Alina, and Alina didn't love him. Why would they push this narrative?

Everyone loves the darkling because he is charismatic and a master manipulator. This season he was just a dying guy. He didn't feel threatening. He didn't feel like the villain at all.

Zoya was completely sidelined for Alina. My girl had like 3 scenes and she didn't do much. In the book we saw rare moments of vulnerability, saw her friendship with Alina and genya grow. But she was still the cold bitch everyone loves because that's what makes Zoya Zoya.

They offed David just like that, and again, replaced him with Alina in the triumvirate. And I'm so mad about this. The triumvirate was made up of the three leaders that the orders chose to lead them during the war (except for genya). There are one of each order so the darkling's favoritism wouldn't repeat, so all the orders would stand on equal ground. Again, they were leaders. Political leaders. Now we have 2 summoners and a colporalki. What about the materialki? They lost their place in Nikolai's circle.

Also, the little reunion of Alina, genya and Zoya at the end was more like "uwu besties hanging out" than, "we have the responsibility to lead the orders and rebuild the country"

Mal just left. JUST LIKE THAT. we have a season full of Malina kissing and vowing they'll spend their lives together after they destroy the fold and kill the darkling, and the dude just leaves. Not just leaves, BECOMES STURMHOND. Do the writers know what sturmhond means to Nikolai? He would NEVER let any other person, least of all Mal take over the role.

And the twins left with him. The twins would never leave Nikolai.

Also Tolya, canonically ace, giving inej heart eyes????

And Alina. Where was her internal struggle? She kept her powers and is ready to become queen? And marry Nikolai??? She never wanted the crown. She never loved Nikolai. She only wanted to disappear into the sunset with mal and open an orphanage to help children like her. She literally told Nikolai that Zoya would make a better queen, hinting at zoyalai.

The whole point of Alina's character was that she was just a girl. She was just a girl turned saint, something she didn't want, with an enormous power she never asked for. She was just a girl who wanted a normal life but had to play the hero at 17. By the end of ruin and rising, she is exhausted, weary, drained. She faked her own death so people would leave her alone, so she could retire to the middle of nowhere with Mal and live a quiet life.

Now they're making her Nikolai's betrothed, future queen of Ravka, and... Evil? After she fought so hard to not become a monster like the darkling??

And where's the religion??? A huge part of the grishaverse revolves around religion, especially in the grisha trilogy. The manipulation of information and public image, twisting the narrative so it fits your goals, the zeal of the masses based on that exact narrative that those in power created.... There was none of that. Only inej called Alina "Sankta Alina" but they never showed what becoming Sankta was like for Alina.

This was just... Ugh. It was not BAD, but I'm so disappointed, especially for the crows, so part 2?

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

If Leigh hadn't given Zoya Alina's storyline what role do you think she would've played in the next books? Right now she kinda fills in the gap that Alina left as the chosen one 2.0 but if it wasn't that what do you think would've been her story?

I mean that’s really hard to say because then what is the story going to be about? So much of KoS and RoW hinge on that rehashing. Removing it results in a completely different story— which is something I’d be fine with lol but it’s definitely not a case of like what would have happened instead.

Anyway, I personally love Zoya as more of a foil to the Darkling and filling that role of institutional power vs being placed as an Alina type who’s suddenly come into abilities she does not understand. With how much the original trilogy was about the threat of corruption inherent to power, the KoS duology did not engage with it… at all. I think partially because LB wanted to put the conflict to rest as something Alina like… fixed… to uphold the R&R ending. But it’s too neat, and just uninteresting? And Zoya and Nikolai were Team Morally Dubious from the literal beginning! Bizarre to have them refitted to Lawful Good with zero quandaries whatsoever. And it’s just more meaningful imo to see them working to uphold any sort of greater good, that the choices are taxing and dubious and sometimes very morally compromising.

I think Zoya and Nikolai are really interesting and can be super complimentary in how they operate on different sides of a gray morality spectrum. Zoya is ruthless and selfish, she has limits but she’s somewhat just out for herself and the people she cares about. Nikolai is greater good focused but he operates on a means to an end style of morality that’s literally presented as the starting point to where the Darkling ended up. That is bound to result in many ethical clashes! They have very different values!

Anyway I basically just wanted to see Zoya as the new scary power behind the throne. I wanted her as the new Darkling essentially in terms of being the shadowy figure who is doing the dirty work, and willing to get her hands way dirtier because her limits are different from Nikolai’s and she’s willing to go some fucked up places for her convictions. (The Alina to her Darkling lmao)

Like it’s not expanded on in KoS at all, but I see Zoya as something of a zealot tbh? She starts out as the Darkling’s devout follower, then somewhat grudgingly switches her allegiance to Alina. With both of them out of the way, I think Nikolai would fill that role for her. But not necessarily Nikolai the person, vs Nikolai the king and all of the hopes she’s placed on his rule making a difference. Which is to say, I think her devotion would mean she’s perfectly happy to go behind his back or hurt him in some way to protect him or help his rule. Like she is absolutely the person who would order fucked up assassinations that he might have qualms about without telling him because it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Arc-wise I also just wanted to see her struggle way more with the Darkling’s ghost and the values he instilled in her. Navigating the aftermath of that kind of disillusionment, and just trying to figure out what she believes in at all.

Anyway in the version of KoS that exists in my head, there is no new magic or world ending stuff. They’ve fully exited the fairy tale. It’s just politics and the miserable business of piecing a country back together after a civil war, and also recovering from the trauma of everything that happened. But while Nikolai’s come out of it determined to Fix Ravka and Deserve being king and to be nothing like his father, Zoya has come out the other side determined to be efficient. And I’d just love to see them hurt each other a lot on the path to understanding each other and trying to grapple with the above questions of morality, and where to draw the line re: selfishness or destroying oneself for a cause. And most importantly shfhff I do not want an answer!

They’re team Morally Dubious! They live on a precipice! There’s no easy answer beyond just trying to do their best at any given moment and make some ethical trade offs and just hope really hard that overall they’re going in the right direction.

[black-rose-writings]

A follow up to my recent "Alina Kirigan AU" post (I can't think of a better name that isn't a full sentence). The OG post was trying to stay as close to the show's plot and priorities (shitting on the Darkling) as possible. This one is a version of events I would actually enjoy (and may or may not write a fleshed out version of - I some scattered pieces of an AU kinda like this written, but they were written pre-season 2 and I don't really like my characterisation of Alina or Aleksander in them.)

The backstory from the OG post stays pretty much intact - Alina is the product of a short relationship between Aleksander and an ethnically Shu Ravkan woman during negotiations with the Shu. He was vaguely aware of her existence at one point, but lost track of her when her mother was killed in a raid and she wound up in Keramzin. Aleksander starts connecting the dots during the ride to Os Alta (realizing Alina is a ridiculously powerful amplifier during the tent scene) and eventually puts it together.

He ends up telling Alina about her past and their relationship, and tries to bond with her as best as he can. It's not entirely pure, he is absolutely trying to steer her to seeing things his way/helping her see and rid herself of her biases and prejudice, but it's a slow process. Finding out who she is and being able to remember pieces of her pre-Keramzin past now that she has something to hold onto helps her have her breakthrough with her powers earlier. Perhaps Aleksander takes to helping her train occassionally as an excuse to spend time with her.

I'm not sure if this scenario would make Alina's self-confidence issues better or worse. The benefit of being a nobody orphan is that there is no family legacy to hold up, no family history to follow or refuse - Alina's imposter syndrome would be through the roof and she would definitelly not enjoy keeping her heritage a secret (I do think they would keep it a secret, for many reasons), because this girl has longed for a family for so long and now she can't share that excitement with anyone (she ends up slipping and telling it to Genya. Genya already suspected so.) On the other hand, she now has positive reinforcement in her training, she has a family, she is the future leader of the Second Army, she is definitelly Grisha.

One scene I do have very clearly in mind is the post-Winter Fete confrontation between Mal and Alina from the books, in this setting. Mal starts doing his slutshaming/Darkling's whore spiel and Alina, unable to stop herself yells at him that the Darkling is her father, that this is where she belongs, that she's Grisha and if he doesn't like it, that's his problem, not hers. Basically, I want her to have a cathartic breakthrough and actually let Mal go, and perhaps gain and keep a semblance of a backbone while she's at it.

Aleksander comes to her room, not for any bed-related reasons, but because he heard the two of them yelling at each other and her storming back to her room, and while he's comforting her, he starts to properly feel like a dad (giving him a starting point to start unraveling his own centuries of mommy issues).

Obviously, Baghra is not going to come in to try and drag Alina away while he's with her, so the reveal on her part doesn't happen then.

The story would obviously diverge massively from there, hopefully eventually leading to a badass father-daughter duo bringing world peace and also getting some therapy for their intense problems.

[swhatever]

‘’golden girl.’’

kinktober ‘22 day 20: lingerie

pairing: alina starkov x reader (jessie mei li is my wife (real)) 

summary: you are presented as a gift to the sun saint after she gains control over her power, an old friend from the orphanage. her surprise quickly turns to lust as she notices how you are dressed. 

warnings: afab!reader, i am madly in love with alina starkov, porn with a plot, kinda sex work?? i mean your sat there in lingerie with intention to fuck but alina and u never dated (although there were feelings) and alina doesnt know ur there, theyre idiots and theyre in love you know the drill people you know the drill!!!!, okay actual warnings now, cunninglingus, face sitting, fingering, fairly vanilla since its their first time together okay!!! idiots in love!!!, 

word count: 1203

a/n: i was gonna make the reader a Local Wench but alina wouldnt treat sex workers so poorly so it had to be an old friend OKAY IM SORRY 

i also know the darkling would NEVER let a possible enemy (also know as someone who wouldnt manipulate alina) into the little palace but please suspend your disbelief for the sake of it thanking you 

also i will eventually write the days i missed but i was too excited to write this AJSJJSJSSJSJ 

if u want a full length fic (possibly series) let me know cause i loved writing this!!!! or dont and ill write it anyways LMAOOOOOO 

You sat on the bed in one of the many bedrooms of the Little Palace, sighing softly. Your newly ordained Sun Saint was wandering about the ballroom meeting nobles from all across Ravka, and you were sitting here. Waiting. For nobody but her. 

It’s not like she knew you were here, of course. The Darkling learned quickly of how fondly Alina spoke of you and saw to it your arrival to the Little Palace was swift and all necessary measures were taken to make sure nobody in your town spoke of it. You crossed a leg over the other as you waited, picking at the lace adorning your body. You hadn’t seen your Alya in so long and you were very quickly becoming impatient. At this point you were going to walk into that ballroom, scantily clad as you were, and take your Alina away from everyone else yourself. Tuck her away into a corner of the world where no one could ever find her or hurt her and you had her all to yourself. 

Your little sunshine. That’s what you had called her for years. It was from how you first met her. Sat there in the golden rays of high noon, beams of light surrounding her in a soft halo. You melted then and there, knowing you would have gone to the ends of the Earth for your golden girl. And now she was everybody else's sunshine too. 

A single world snapped you out of your nostalgic haze. 

‘’Y/N?’’ Alina stopped at the door of her room, seeing you upon the bed. 

You brought a leg up to rest at the end. ‘’Hey sunshine girl,’’ you grinned, staring at her from the bed, ‘’long time no see.’’ 

‘’Well, I-’’ she stuttered as she looked at you, ‘’you’re here.’’ 

‘’Where else would I be, Alya?”’ 

She walked forward then, the door shutting behind her with a soft click. It took everything in her to not look at the clothes you were wearing. (Or lack thereof). The sun poured in through the window, shimmering off the gold thread of her kefta. Your golden girl, back to you at last. 

‘’Is something the matter, Lina?’’ you questioned then, as she made no effort to move from the door behind her. She gulped as you walked forwards, sauntering with all the intent of a predator about to catch their prey. 

‘’You’re wearing, well,’’ she gulped, looking at anything but you, ‘’well that, I suppose.’’ 

‘’Oh this old thing?’’ you chirped, not failing to hide the sultry tone in your voice, ‘’your little Darkling thought you deserved a reward for all your good work, and you allegedly never shut up about me to your tailor friend.’’ 

You grinned down at her as you took her chin between your thumb and finger, turning her head to look at you. 

‘’You can look if you want, golden girl, I know how you feel now.’’ 

‘’Genya told you?’’  

‘’She told me everything.’’ 

She looked down at you then, the golden lace and chiffon adorning your body. A golden prize for a golden girl, you thought with a smug grin. She placed a gentle hand upon your waist, curving upwards to the base of your breasts. You sucked in a breath as she traced the swell of your bosom, a small smile gracing her lips. 

‘’I never said you could touch the art, sunshine.’’ 

‘’You always let me when we were small.’’ 

‘’We’re not small anymore, are we?’’ you grinned, ‘’or at least I’m not.’’ 

She pouted then, before a cheshire cat smile graced her features. She walked you forwards until your knees hit the side of the bed. You could only think to peer up at her as she gently pushed you down, stunned by her sudden burst of confidence. 

‘’For what it's worth, my moon, I’m not that short, but I don’t doubt you’ll ignore that.’’ 

You were so overcome with lust from seeing her once more you could only think to peel off the layers shielding her from you, from her kefta down to her undergarments. She smiled as she laid bare on top of you, twirling lace between her thumb and forefinger. You brought her head down to meet yours then, meeting her in a passionate kiss. Her tongue pleaded for entrance and you accepted her proposal willingly, your tongues dancing around one another as your hands moved down to grasp her bare ass. She moaned into the kiss, fingers threading through your hair. 

You brought one hand around then, going down to circle her clit. Her eyes blew wide with lust, arching her back slightly. 

‘’Sweet girl,’’ Alina all but panted as you let a finger enter her hole, your foreheads knocking softly as she steadied herself. Another finger joined the other then, curling within her before retreating and reentering. She rolled her hips over your hand, back arching as she sat up, all but towering over you. Ironic. You doubled your efforts as she gasped when your thumb met her clit, grinding against your hand. With one swift motion you flipped her, your fingers repetitively curling within her before retreating her sopping hole and reentering. She moaned below you, hands scratching at your arms to ground herself from euphoria. She came with a loud cry below you, juices leaking steadily out of her. You did not cease your ministrations however, replacing your fingers with your tongue as you moved down to lick up her juices. She moaned loudly, back arching beneath you. You rolled her hips against your tongue to increase her pleasure, and all she could think to do was tug at your hair. 

Alina had lost count of how many times she had come before she all but peeled you off her, juices leaking down the front of your mouth and chin. You smiled up at her from between your thighs, your usual smirk donning your features. 

She pulled you up before making you straddle her. That strength is new, you pondered, probably Grisha training. You did not have time to think further before she was pulling you forward, your wet cunt grazing her lips. Before you could ask whether what was about to happen was okay with Alina, she pulled you down and her tongue darted around your cunt, licking a stripe from cunt to clit. You moaned loudly, fingers finding their way to Alina’s hair. 

‘’Sunshine girl,’’ you all but panted, ‘’fucking hell.’’ 

She doubled her efforts below you as you grinded against her, moaning wildly. She groaned into your cunt, the vibrations sending waves of pleasure through you. Making your golden girl reach her peak so many times had worked you up so much it did not take long for you to come. Alina seemed to want to return the favour however, and made you peak countless times before you finally lifted yourself off of her, the bed making a dull ‘thump’ as you lay yourself beside her. You caressed her cheek then, a soft smile gracing your wet lips. 

‘’I missed you,’’ Alina said then, bringing her forehead forward to touch yours. 

‘’I missed you too, golden girl.’’ Yeah, you thought then, ends of the Earth indeed.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I flesh out my stories backward, starting with the end and figuring out what needs to happen to get the characters to that end point. However, I'm having issues tying it all together at the beginning. Really basic things like how the main characters met. Do you have tips for figuring stuff like that out?

Struggling with Story's Beginning

If you know your story's ending, you should know their goal and their internal conflict, so one thing you can do is to reverse engineer those specifically. What steps did they need to take in order to accomplish the goal? What information did they need to learn? What items or resources did they need to gather? What obstacles did they need to overcome? And, in order to learn/gather/overcome the above: Where did they need to go? Who did they need to talk to? What tasks did they need to complete? Working backwards through these should give you some idea of where things start out.

Also: stories that are both plot-driven and character-driven (like a lot of stories these days) can be thought of having an A-Story and a B-Story. The A-Story is your character's "normal world" or who they are/what they're doing before the inciting incident. This is Katniss Everdeen taking care of her mom and sister, getting up early to go hunting with Gale. It's Peter Parker being an everyday high school student with a talent for tech. It's Alina Starkov being a junior cartographer's assistant in the First Army. The B-Story is the "conflict world" or what their world turns into when it's turned upside down by the inciting incident. For Katniss, it's the Hunger Games and the ensuing rebellion. For Peter Parker, it's becoming Spider-Man and becoming an Avenger. For Alina Starkov, it's becoming a Grisha and the Sun Summoner and opposing the Darkling. So, try looking at your story this way... you know the B-story already since you've worked backwards from the end, but what is the A-story for this character? What was their "normal world" before everything turned upside down? If you can see what their life was like just before everything changed, you can think about what they would have been doing, who was in their life, and more importantly... their internal conflict.

Internal conflict is an important part of the story that is fully or partly character-driven. Internal conflict is what happens inside your character rather than in their world. It’s the two opposing emotions, desires, fears, or beliefs your character struggles with. Like feeling that their life is in a rut, but being afraid of change. Or wanting to accept their rich significant other’s marriage proposal, but being morally opposed to wealth and the lifestyle that often comes with it. I talk more about in the "what you need to know" portion of my post Questions to Help with a Satisfying Ending. These questions work equally well in helping you figure out where your character needs to be at the beginning.

I hope that helps! ♥

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[where-theres-smoak-2]

I have a question: if the books were written today, do you think the author would have a bigger inclination towards Alina and the Darkling actually ending up together? I don’t know if you’ve seen the original promo for those books, but it used to be called A Gathering Dark. The promo was in the woods, with shots of our iconic Darklina quotes and then it ended with an image of the Darkling with the line A Dark Heart and then of Alina with the line A Pure Soul and then it closed off with “A Love That Will Last Forever. Forever.” I mean if this was truly the original vision then people who ship darklina aren’t crazy after all. Maybe the show runners are poking that possibility a little bit? For characters to lean into their dark sides, become more morally grey. It is the trend after all with these books nowadays. The Darkling is like one of the OG, if not the OG, tall dark handsome powerful man in fantasy fiction no?

Honestly I don't know if the books being written today would have made a difference or not, there does seem to be this strange questioning over morality in fiction that I've never seen before and the morality police can be very loud and tv producers and authors etc do seem to be extra cautious with not having anything that could lead to bad press or controversy. But on the flipside there is still a love for the morally grey characters as well, like magneto, loki, damon, klaus, the mountain etc, and of course Aleks himself. So who knows if it being written today would have made an impact or not.

I do think you raise an interesting point about the original promotion of the book though. For those who don't know or haven't seen it the shadow and bone book was originally called 'The Gathering Dark' and this was the original cover:

That had that tagline, 'A dark heart. A pure soul. A love that will last forever.' There is also a youtube promo video from waterstones from 10 years ago promoting the book under its original name that as Anon mentioned had a series of darklina quotes such as 'I've been waiting for you for a long time.' 'You and I are going to change the world.' 'The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak.' Followed by that dark heart, pure soul, love that will last forever tagline. It's here if anyone wants to watch it for themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yocxvTZ1gp0. Considering it is only darklina quotes its obvious that they were using darklina as a romantic pairing to promote this book. I've seen a few antis making comments about how LB always planned to have M*lina as endgame and that can be seen because she starts the books with the whole the boy and the girl prologue and ends it with the boy and the girl epilogue. But they seem to fail to see how if this is the case, that the author always meant to have M*lina as the centre of the story and be this epic love and endgame, then it makes them using darklina in these promotions even worse, darklina fans were baited and used to sell the books, plain and simple. Honestly the more I see of the promotion of the books when they were first released the more I understand why darklina book fans were upset and angry at the ending, because they really were baited hard. It's crazy to me that antis can see these promotions and still not get why darklinas were upset and still say they were crazy for thinking darklina might end up together. I mean if somebody puts a load of romantic quotes from a ship together with a tag line love that will last forever any normal person is going to assume that its in reference to that ship and that ship's love is in fact going to last forever.

As for the showrunners maybe poking at the possibility of darklina, its possible, I do think they have put alot of effort into making Aleks more complex and human, plus they are adding the corruption arc for Alina so all of this could be to open up some doors to explore darklina a bit more.

[imruination]

For the Character ask game: Alina

Yay!! Thank you, I’d love to rave about Alina right about now.

One aspect I love about them: I love Alina’s compassion and understanding. She stuck by Mal her entire life. She understood Genya and befriended her even after being betrayed by her. She accepted Zoya as an ally after their rough start. She knew The Darkling was wrong and perhaps past redemption, but she still felt some compassion toward his suffering and I love her for that.

One aspect I wish people knew about them: She is so inherently flawed, and that’s a good thing! She is so caring and good at forgiving people but she does not always see their point of view before being fed it. She falls into the trap of temptation. She loves her powers which is not inherently bad, but causes her to make choices she might otherwise not. Alina is such a ball of sunshine at times, but the other side of that coin is sometimes being naive. And I love her for all of this!!! She learns and grows and the journey is so satisfying. Her ending, though bittersweet, is very much earned.

One headcanon I have about them: My headcanon is that she is such an attention whore that all of her loved ones refuse to let her near them while they are working asdfhjk. It’s not necessarily that she wants to be the center of attention, but more that she wants to feel loved and love them in return and sometimes her friends are like ???? I AM BUSY ma’am, please stop trying to hold my hand for two seconds.

One character I love seeing them interact with: trying hard not to make everything about my ship so, I actually love her dynamic with Nikolai so much! The golden retriever chaos is unmatched when they are together. I think they are so alike in many ways, and bring out so much softness in each other. I also think they should not be left alone without supervision so Zoya and Mal take turns on babysitting duty and pretend to be annoyed but they find it hilarious.

One character I wish they would interact with more: I love the girl gang and I would specifically like to see more of Alina and Zoya being besties! They are different in ways where they sometimes rub each other the wrong way but I love it for that reason. They’d help each other out of their shells in fun ways.

One headcanon that involves them and one other character: Okay finally to Malina, my headcanon is that when they sleep Alina is the big spoon. Every morning at the crack of dawn soldier man Mal is awake but Alina is groaning at him and not letting go of him when he tries to get up out of bed. Once she kept him there until mid morning when they hear the sounds of little kids causing chaos and she tries to be more of a morning person after that. Ironically the sun saint never becomes a morning person.

[aelsie]

Welcome to my Ted Talk. Topic of the Day: Darklina Season 2 👀😬😱

Spoilers! 🚨

I had very low standards for this season when it came to Darklina because I’ve read the entire Grishaverse and well….it was rough when it came to that ship. I was a little disappointed that they took out certain moments, lines and points from the books. They made up for it with some replacement scenes but most of all with that ENDING! Oof, the ending gave way more open doors than I expected!

I always knew that they wouldn’t end up together. My beloved Darklina ship was a Shakespearean tragedy from the beginning. And yet I was looking forward to watching one half of my ship kill the other half of my ship. What a very strange ship! And yet I rode it happily! The connection they had throughout the season was powerful, the strange trust Alina and the Darkling had, the magnetism, the undeniable pull between two people who really had no other equal but each other and in so many ways made the other their only refuge. It was as if they were fighting on stage but behind the curtains they were confiding in each other, no matter how angry they were, conversations between two kindred souls, or two people who KNEW that no one else could truly understand them but the other. A literal one of a kind connection.

Throughout the season, the way he talks about their powers and the darkness, he’s warning her, cautioning her about the dangers of it, and all the terrible things that come with it. He also flat out tells her that with him gone the nichevoya will hunt her, but she takes it as a threat instead of a warning. A very Darkling thing to do btw. In the end, he’s saying, be careful because you’ll end up like me and it’s not pretty, you’ll lose yourself and will lead an empty life. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you. When the nichevoya goes to attack her, he yells for it to leave her alone and boy, that just proves that he still has a kernel of humanity and that he does indeed hold affection (maybe love or as much as he can love) for Alina. And he doesn’t want her to end up in the place he has—filled with pain, rage, resentment, loneliness, heartbreak, loss of humanity and quite possibly no salvation.

One of the surprisingly emotional moments was when he talks about hope and there’s a flashback to their first kiss. He basically admits that when she came into his life, he started believing that he could have some salvation, he started having HOPE, hope in controlling the literal demons and darkness in him, in ultimately saving HIMSELF. The Darkling remains nameless in the books and he only reveals his name to Alina about 2/3 of the way in book 3 during a *cough* intimate scene. For the show Ben said in an interview that his incredibly vulnerable admittance of finding hope when Alina came into his life was their replacement scene for that scene. I think that just might be more impactful.

As The Darkling dies, he looks up at her and says “Blue skies. My little saint.” This is the one scene I wish they kept from the book. Alina was way more emotional about his death in the book, she cries and holds his hand as he’s dying. In the show, you can see a flicker of empathy and sadness on Alina’s face. It’s there but not enough in my opinion. Either way, it still tells us that now more than ever, after everything this season, she understands him and knows him even better. She has seen and been around that darkness well enough. Maybe a little too well, as we see in the end. She grants him his final wish which is to make sure there is nothing left of him (but not really, his hand is still out there, ooooh!) His funeral was strangely sad when technically he is the villain. He’s a fantastically complex villain.

Also, boy am I glad that she chose not to be with Mal and decided to stay in the palace with Nikolai because that means no losing her powers and no Malina (for now). Alina is tenfold better in the show than the books just for that and that crown looks GOOD on Alina. I do want my Zoyalai eventually. And we see flickers of that when Zoya looks at Nikolai, interested. I do think that they will be endgame at the end of the day. Which begs the question, what about Alina?

The show ends with Alina using the shadow cut and her looking shocked and then scarily pleased with herself. The darkness has creeped into her. Exactly what Aleksander warned her about and didn’t want to happen to her. He will come back (which does happen in the books, so don’t fail me Netflix 😭) and I wonder if he might play a role in getting rid of that darkness within her, an ultimate show of how he cares for her. Wouldn’t that be a crazy “redemption” arc? He does tell her in the show “let me be your monster” and “let me carry the hatred of the world” as if he’s saying I’ll carry the darkness and you the light and together we’ll balance out and create peace. At least, that’s what’s going on in his head. Either way, those were really heavy lines to say to Alina. In the books, we do see him make a sacrifice for Ravka, stopping the Fold growing again by willingly trapping himself into a tree—literally being a monster holding back the bad things in the world. Maybe he'll do some redemptive thing for Alina also. We never did see his body disintegrate in that last scene. Also, Zoya was shooing a bee off of her--bees being the sign of Sankta Elizaveta aka one of the Saints who resurrects The Darkling in KoS. Maybe Alina will suffer under the weight of the darkness and who knows maybe Alina will find some strange relief to see him again. The one other person who not only understands but KNOWS. At this point, I expect that they will become even more like equals and will meet halfway. Now that Alina has slowly, subtly but surely walked a similar path to darkness—use of manipulation, harsh words about taking everything away, becoming colder, leading the second army, working as right hand to a king, saving a loved one with merzost, and finally, gaining shadow powers.

It’s the best we could realistically ask for in this ship. Because yes, in many ways, they do have a romance—twisted, toxic, gruesome, and tragic as it is but it’s there in my opinion. It’s an undeniable connection, a temptation that can’t be taken away, and what happened between them is the definition of changing someone’s life completely. Even on Alina’s end when she talks about how he was the first to show her her true powers, her value, how she was meant for more. Of course Baghra says that those still remain true regardless of him but you know that as Alina is saying it a part of her still feels so betrayed and so hurt. Because she did feel something for him once and had HOPED for something more with him, even Baghra tells Aleksander that there was a time when he could have earned Alina’s love. At the end of the day, it’s a way more compelling pairing BECAUSE of its complications and tragedy.

I never imagined Alina to take a dark turn, that’s a ballsy but fantastic move for the writers but I am SO here for it. It was always a pipe dream for some Darklina shippers. But...well, here we are! It basically happened! She might not have joined the Darkling's dark side, but she's basically gotten her own dark side now. It makes her more interesting and complex and opens the door for more darklina. Maybe not endgame Darklina but just more of their angst and drama. I remain a darklina fan even if their romance is terrible and tragic but their pairing is so messy, complex, poetic and has so many layers. Let’s suffer with this ship together my friends 😈🥹

With that, can we have season 3 now PLEASE?

PS. The Darkling is such a simp, even when she's destroying the Fold, he looks around with amazement and says "extraordinary" as if he's so proud of her. He's like biiiish that's mah wife-y, she's about to destroy my creation AND me because she's a badass. You go wife-y!