Title: Redefinition of Self.

Author: Magelight

Characters/Pairing: Bob

Rating: T/PG-13

Verse: TV!verse

Word Count: 316

Challenges/Prompts: varietypack100 (LJ) prompt #064 Fall

dresdenflashfic (LJ) challenge #15 Fall

Challenge Table: white on black

Warnings: none

Previous Parts: none

Disclaimer: the Dresden Files belong to Jim Butcher and Lionsgate, not me. pouts

A/N: The term 'sunless realms' is from the Sandman by Neil Gaiman; go read it!

Thanks to LJ's LeiaDiana for the beta.

Summary: Hrothbert of Bainbridge had never fallen from grace.


Hrothbert of Bainbridge had never fallen from grace.

There had been many who had gloated over his capture and punishment over the centuries. Council toadies, old 'masters'. Many had taunted him for his fall from grace. His power and body taken from him, reduced to the role of servant, object, tool, he'd agreed with them for the first few decades. And he'd raged. Quietly and never in the presence of another, but he'd done it.

It took years, but gradually the rage faded, to be replaced by despair and the knowledge that while his imprisonment was still a fall, it was a fall not from grace, but from power. His true fall from grace had come when he'd dared to reach into the sunless realms and bring his Winnie back. With the realisation came shame.

Many more years passed and he watched the owners of his skull and their dealings. He watched the Council and their dealings and he watched himself most of all. He did not like what he saw. He resisted. It is always difficult to realise that you are not the person you once thought you were. Redefinition of the self is often painful.

Hrothbert of Bainbridge had never been a good man. Since he'd been a boy the pursuit of knowledge had been more important than any arbitrary set of rules or the opinions of others. His Will was what mattered. He'd done many things in his lifetime, much of which was unknown to the Council. Necromancy had been but the last and most infamous of his many crimes.

His punishment had been a fall from power, yes, but reaching beyond the borders of life? That had not truly been a fall, as he'd since come to believe. It had simply been…pushing back the boundaries. Yes, redefinition hurt.

Hrothbert of Bainbridge had never fallen from grace.

You couldn't fall from the bottom.