Well. I was watching "Sex in the City", of all things, and at the end of one of the seasons, inspiration struck me like a rock flying through a window. With possibly the same results. At any rate, the quote at the beginning is from that episode. My very first Bellatrix fic, so be gentle.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters portrayed in this fic. Nor do I own the quote. Ah ha.
"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they're supposed to run wild until they find someone - just as wild - to run with."
When they were young, everything was simple and clear, like white unstained sheets pressed over a pristine bed.
Now the bed is tarnished, the sheets tangled and blood stained.
When Bellatrix Black was young, she would take off her shoes and run in the fields behind the castle, near the Forbidden Forest and it's velvety darkness. Lucius would smile indulgently at her, his blond hair still and perfect in the dappled sunlight that wound it's way through the trees. She would always come to a stop, right at the forest edge, peering inside with her large eyes. The darkness of the wood called to her even then, but she never heeded, never entered. Not until years later, when her Lord asked her to, when he was by her side.
But that was different.
Lucius used to tell her things, when it was just the two of them, watching the leaves move and shadows play on the grass.
"Death is inside that place" he would tell her, his gray eyes serious.
She would just laugh at him, and tell him that if death wanted her, it could come and claim her. She was wild and free and untamed. But she was never alone.
Years later, Bella was inside the forest again, and she knelt by a cold and silver headstone. Her hair obscured the words written there; words that meant nothing to her in their cold simplicity. Her life wasn't simple anymore, but she didn't regret it. The woman had very few regrets, save for the one that sat aching on her heart now. A heart that Bellatrix was not aware could still feel. She could shed no tears, but she could remember.
And in the dark, she remembered the day she and Lucius had spent near this forest, so many years ago. The day that he, in all his simplicity and quiet, had tried to warn her. Had tried to tell her, with his silvery eyes, what was to come.
"Death is inside that place" Lucius had told her.
"Let it come" she replied, not knowing at all what he meant.
Now...
"You knew, Lucius Malfoy. You knew your death was coming, and it changed your entire life" Bella breathed, the air around her tight and unclean. And then she remembered nothing, until she felt the light touch of her Lord on her shoulder, and she turned to look into his eyes. When the Dark Lord beckoned her with those eyes, she came to him. Everytime.
Because Bellatrix was still wild and free, and she had found someone to run with.