Disclaimer: I don't owe anything
Warning: Contain some spoiler in regard to the BG1 NPC project.
When she met him for the first time, he was like a prince. Not only had he immediately promised to help her, he would always be ensuring her well being. To the girl that lost everything, how could she not fall in love with this knight that sought to save her?
That was only in the beginning though. It did not take long for everything to shatter again.
The horror in his eyes upon the discovery.
"So this is Bhaal's legacy." She had chuckled bitterly as she watched the ripped letter scatter. "All that who look at me would only see murder! All that I am is already murdered."
As she was driven from her home a second time, the man who loved her pushed her away.
Only a year has passed, but much has changed. Instead of the frightened young girl who would clung onto any help she had, she was experienced enough to just greet him calmly.
This time, it was her that helped him.
"…you seem different." he told her and he seemed a bit nervous.
"I grew up. The hard way." She said simply. "So you are a knight now."
"Yes, and I have heard much of you." he replied. "They say that you are the hero of Baldur's gate."
"I had help."
Each word seemed to hang in the air, as there was no guarantee that there would be more. Yet there was a time when they would have so much to say to one another.
Past incidents that they wanted the other to know, the future that they sought to create together. Once, not so long ago, he would hold her in his arms and that would be something that she seemed to relish in.
"…I suppose I should go." He finally said and she simply nodded at this.
"Dhalia…" he whispered out her name, a soft evocation. A key that opened the door of the past where they had wanted to be with one another.
"You will not change the past, Ajantis." She told him, her tone a matter of fact one instead of the tears that she had first wept out. "I understand why, I do."
"It isn't like that." He began, but she shook her head.
"Please just leave. If you cannot accept my past then just leave. Don't pretend that you actually love me more. That you love me enough to accept all this."
The sorrow and guilt that had appeared was equally real, but that would mean that his disgust and fear was real too. It would be too easy to slay evil, yet to accept it was impossible.
"Would you dare to go to the headquarter of your order and announce yourself as the lover of a daughter of murder?" Dhalia said bluntly. "Will you?"
"I am sorry."
"Don't apologise." She said firmly. "As I said, if you wish to leave then just leave. Don't give me any regrets. Don't pretend that you want to save me when you are not able to do what must be done."
If she had begged, then maybe things could be different. However, she realised, rather startlingly, that she no longer felt love or even affection. All there was left was a gratitude of the help that he had gave her in the past.
If letting him go was easy, then there probably wasn't that much love in the first place.
"So that was the man that you almost married." One of her new companion commented. Without understanding why, he seemed to have a fondness of talking to her, this cynical sorcerer who has been through so much more then her.
"Yes, a paladine. Not your favourite type of people." She said. "I gathered that some of the others have been talking?"
"I have a talent of overhearing things, my dear." He said lightly. "Interesting challenge that you gave him, although if it was me, that would be something I would do with great pleasure."
"You are a bit different." she pointed out before she laughed. "Well, my excuse would be that I was young and hopeless. Looking back, it is probably a good thing. I do not think that such a marriage could last."
"Do you honestly have no regret?"
"Yes and no." She began. "However, I rather just have it ended now instead of continuing to harbour some faint hope."
Author's Note: once again, this is the case of me tidying up some files, and suddenly realised that I wrote this a few years ago, and since I quite like it, I decided to upload it. As mentioned, the idea of the child of Bhaal (Dhalia) being engaged to Ajantis only to have the engagement broken due to him finding out that she is a Bhaalspawn is inspired by the BG1 NPC project. Just to defend Ajantis in the mod- once he and the PC reaches a certain level of romance, he actually would be able to accept this. But in this story, I am using the idea that the two of them actually did not know each other very well, but got engaged, and then realised that it wouldn't work out. This oneshot is meant to show the PC's growth: she first started as a very sheltered girl who wanted to be saved and so fell in love with the man that seemed to be able to do this, and the broken engagement combined with the other issues would make her understand herself a bit more.
The guy she talks to at the end, the 'cynical sorcerer' is actually Rhaella's Adrian. I actually am still trying to figure out a way to contact the writer and ask her permission for whether I can write about her character in a fan fiction. So if she does not want to, then I will take this story down. My idea is that Dhalia will eventually end up with Adrian, and this would be a very contrasting relationship, and it is a sign of growth, as it would no longer be this very idealized relationship. I didn't mention any names, as Adrian only came out very briefly at the very end and the conversation is meant to show his slight interest in her. The fact that he calls her 'my dear' is a bit of a hint, because that is what he does in the game, even before he and the PC end up together.
If you like this story, then please review and let me know, because I would love to write more fan fiction for Baldur's Gate.