I am posting two things in one night. Clearly I need (among other things) a life. The title is from a Death Cab For Cutie song, but it's NOT a songfic and has absolutely nothing to do with said song, the title just struck me as fitting.
Remember, one-shots need love too!
I'll Follow You into the Dark
"Bella?"
Narcissa tapped on the heavy door of her sister's room, and then pushed it open anyway without waiting for a response.
It was midsummer, and unbearably hot. All the windows in her sister's room were thrown open in the hopes of allowing in the occasional breeze, and Bellatrix had kicked the sheets to the foot of the bed in her frustration with the unrelenting heat. Clad in only a soft, thin white shirt, she had apparently, like Narcissa, given up attempting to sleep and was reading instead. She closed her book as Narcissa padded barefoot across the room and perched cross-legged on the bed.
"Andy's mad at me," she announced.
"Andy…is mad at everyone. I don't know what's wrong with her," Bella said, leaning to push the window open even wider, and then laying back with a sigh of irritation, her hair pooling black against the white sheets, eyes half-closed.
People always said Narcissa was beautiful, but she thought Bella was beautiful. She had more than beauty, she had all the fire, and magnetic charm and coiled power that Narcissa wanted. People said Narcissa was elegant and refined, she had a cool, detached beauty, Mother said that was why Lucius noticed her, why he wanted to marry her. Bellatrix was none of those things, but Narcissa sometimes wanted the heat and the passion and the darkness her sister had.
Bella reached up to push damp, sweaty strands of hair off of her forehead, and that was when Narcissa saw it. The sinister design, a skull with the snake coiling around it, so real it almost seemed to move, that was burned into the flawless white skin of her sister's wrist. Narcissa seized her arm, staring at the mark, and then looked up and met Bella's eyes, burning with intensity.
"Narcissa...Cissy...you mustn't tell anyone."
She tried to pull her arm away, but Narcissa didn't release her, hypnotized by the stark contrast of the dark tattoo and her sister's pale skin.
"Narcissa, swear to me, you won't tell. Swear it!"
"I swear Bella, I'll never tell."
Bella relaxed slightly, stretched languidly, and Narcissa trailed her fingertips over the mark before releasing her.
"It's beautiful," she said after a moment. It was, in the same way Bella was beautiful, dark and frightening, and yet somehow fascinating and enticing.
Bella smiled faintly. "Yes, I know."
"I want one too, Bella."
Bella looked at her for a moment, storm cloud eyes intent, and then shook her head, gently, almost regretfully. "No Darling, don't ruin your pretty skin. That's not for you."
"I can fight, I know I can. I want to."
"I know you can too, Love, but that's not your role in this."
"What is it, then?"
"You will know, when the Dark Lord sees fit to tell you."
"I want to be like you. I want to serve him. I'll do anything."
"I know you will," Bella's fingers trailed gently down her smooth cheek. "You're a good girl Cissy. I know I can trust you. I know I'll be proud of you."
That was what Narcissa wanted. She wanted Bella to be proud of her. Once she had been the little girl who shied from playing Bella's games, she had been afraid, for Bella was a warrior, she played for blood. Now, she was ready.
She would follow Bella anywhere.