I found myself inspired by a fic that used Leah called 'Hope Never Dies' on AOOO, rather then discarded her, and made use of her heritage. as well as disappointed by the lack of fics that have her as a major character. i had tried multiple times to write something of my own about her, but the ideas didn't go well into the paper. until recently, that i learned about the final fight and epilogue of the expansion for D3-that finally gave me the inspiration i needed.
This is the result.
Bound, suppressed, a prisoner in her own mind forced to watch as foulness took command of her body, and her very soul was burning in the flames of hell, like iron in a forge. Drowning in all that evil. In all the evil.
But she somehow managed. She endured.
Pieces of herself that were torn-she recollected, as many as she could, never knowing if anything was missing, or she was searching for more in vein, if any piece not Her was picked up. Anchoring them in her thoughts, centering herself in her identity and memories, to not be swallowed whole, to maintain the self, even when it was later surrounded by many other selves, souls. Losing and finding herself. Reaching the melting point.
And then the container was shattered, and consumed.
Souls, so many, essence of mortal, and hell combined, empowering the angelic, mixed by the hand of Death. The alloy mixed and refined.
When that final container was shattered, she finally had her chance.
All the bonds were, for a single moment, nonexistent. And she was always vigilant, always waiting and struggling to free herself from her role as a pawn and slave to cruelty and fate.
She took all of Herself that she could, all the parts that she managed to collect and bind together in that infinitesimal moment, and made a break for freedom. With all of her remaining and collected power, with all of her will behind it. The metal recast.
Upon regaining consciousness, She was confused, it took some time for what memories she held on to resurface. And a stretch of time that later become defined as many days, until She finally made sense of it all.
Who? I! She! He! Devoured/absorbed-was sacrificed. Demons-so many names- so many misshapen figures-most are only read about/met in hell. Angels-worshipped/protectors/ enemy? Old Man- caretaker/care/affection/ loneliness/contempt/love/Uncle. Wishing for the old man.
I AM FREE OF HIM!
Into a new form.
As she finally regained her sense. The woman who was once Leah, daughter of Aidan, Hero of Tristram, and later The Dark Wonderer-discovered that while she still retained some of the form and a bit of the power, and yes, even a shard of the evil and malice, of her possession, she was finally, for the first time in a long time, and maybe since her birth, was free of the control of the Demon that practically spawned and later possessed her. What little of his essence remained in her, was separated from him, and remade as part of Her.
For while she was no longer human, her demonic aspect merged, rather than dominated her mundane one-fusing into a hybridization that was really neither, anymore. She now had demonic powers, supported by her new body, and the lore learned at the knees of Decard Cain sometimes supported by small bits of demonic memory and knowledge, too fleeting to know which of the Great Evils it originated from.
She knew that That Demon, Diablo, now maybe still the Prime Evil-for she knew not if any of the others managed to separate-was free and walked the world once more, or will do so soon, but she was utterly free from him and his influence.
She was free.
The steel reforged.