Chapter Text
Grishaverse moodboards: Darklina - Powerswap
Made for day 2 of darklinaweek2021 for the prompt Role Reversal / Light!Aleksander & Dark!Alina. ~350 words ficlet below.
Quote by Hilaire Belloc.
Mastering her powers took time, took focus. The process was so entwined with how she felt - how out of place she felt, holding her back. She doesn’t feel like that anymore; the time to settle into herself makes her more confident by the day. So when the swap happens, despite how unexpected it is, she accepts it – a change, powers the polar opposite perhaps but they’re still under her control. It’s so easy to be afraid of the dark, of the unknown that lurks within, but she finds she isn’t. Not when it is her who curls it around her fingers, threading it across her vision. The curtain falls, pitch black surrounds her. But it is her darkness and she knows what is and isn’t in it, that is the difference.
He’s had centuries of control; of wielding his powers like a master swordsman would. The cloak of darkness that comes with them is at times both literal and figurative, because this life so extended and so hated for his legacy means forever hiding who he is. He can’t afford to let anyone see too much and risk them seeing past what they assume are merely echoes of his ancestor. Few ever see the real him. For a long time that meant only Baghra, and now there was Alina…Every move he made was carefully calculated, drawing on his vast experience, designed to always keep him - and his cause - moving forward. Sometimes progress could only be made under the cover of night.
But now he stands metaphorically motionless, blinded by the light that is suddenly his and far too much to be contained. The sun inside him flares with his emotions, showing how much he cares to all. There is no hiding anymore – he is naked now and left raw from it. It is only Alina’s touch that brings him back to an equilibrium. Somehow she does not amplify her powers within him as he did for her, instead dampening them; providing a little peace in one way, if not in others.
Also rebloggable on tumblr here.