Disclaimer: Do not own His Dark Materials
Warnings for ruthless behavior, OOC behavior, murder, revenge, child death, child abuse, trauma and major character death
Sort of wrote this in a rush. Please excuse how rushed it is.
Well, if this ain't irony, I don't know what is!
Marisa Coulter and Lord Asriel supposed that in a way, they should have predicted this.
Asriel, after rallying his troops, he and Marisa had been ambushed by several mercenaries, hired by someone from their world.
The mercenaries then had proceeded to kill everyone on the field-the Magisterium and Asriel and Marisa's allies alike.
Those that had allied with Asriel were now all dead. The Magisterium, as far as Asriel and Marisa saw, were all dead. And the two of them and their daemons were captured.
But who had ordered this, if not the Magisterium themselves?
Here they were, both of them and their daemons, bound and gagged, seated on the floor of some dungeon.
Marisa and Asriel had their backs to the wall, ropes around their wrists and ankles. Their ankles and wrists were bound together, gags around their mouths.
Marisa's golden monkey was trussed up next to her in a similar fashion. Stelmaria, was bound in the same way, her tail lashing, her maw tied shut.
The people who had brought them here, people that neither of them recognized, were all dressed in metal armor, bulletproof armor, covering their bodies. There were various daemons with them, in the forms of military dogs, black bears, pumas and eagles.
With them had been a young man. And this young man, though aged, Marisa had recognized.
It was Will. The boy who had been with Lyra. Now a young man.
His black, thick hair was longer, and he now had a beard. And he was taller, as well.
And with him was a daemon. Somehow, he had acquired a daemon. That was in a cat form. Will called the daemon Kirjava.
Will stared at Maris and Asriel when they were bound and gagged and placed down up against the wall.
Marisa wished to strike him for the pity in his eyes.
Then again, that was the least of the reasons why she wanted to kill him. Solely for him going near her daughter, she wanted his head.
He and his daemon then both walked away.
Marisa and Asriel shared a look. They didn't understand what was happening.
An hour later, someone new entered the room. A dark-haired woman.
It took Marisa a few moments to realize who she was looking at. There was a scar that went from the top of the woman's right cheek to the bottom of the right side of the woman's jaw.
The woman had brown eyes, and very messy brown hair, and was clasped in light brown furs.
Trailing in behind her? Was a wolverine daemon.
The woman stood over Marisa and Asriel as she said, "It's been a long time, hasn't it, mother? Father?"
Marisa felt cold shock spread through her chest, though she recognized who this young woman was, even before the woman addressed her as "mother."
She didn't want to believe it, but she knew she had to.
This was her daughter, Lyra.
She heard the muffled gasp from Asriel as he understood who this was.
The monkey trilled next to Marisa and Stelmaria started struggling harder, trying to get to Pan.
It mattered not that Pan was in a wolverine form, a form that could likely tear Stelmaria to pieces. She wished to nuzzle into Pan.
But could not.
The young woman, who Marisa realized, was armed, with a sword tied to her right side and a pistol secured to her left side, tilted her head and asked, mocking them for being gagged, "What's the matter? Have nothing to say?"
She reached into her right pocket and began to kneel down, pulling a knife out of her pocket.
She pushed the blade of the knife against Asriel's face, and Marisa watched in horror and fascination as Lyra slowly cut the blade into Asriel's cheek, drawing blood.
Asriel tensed up, but didn't cry out.
"Hmm," Lyra mumbled, "So proud. That won't help you, you know? I will hurt you, the way I want to."
She stood up then, taking the blade of the knife from Asriel's face.
"This is going to end very badly for you," she informed them both, "The cutter of children," she said, staring at Marisa, "And the man who betrayed my friend and me, and killed my friend as if he were just a piece of meat to be sacrificed," she stared then at Asriel, as she backed out of the room with Pan, "I'll deal with you later."
She turned and left the room, Pan following after her.
When the door was closed, Marisa was left with the painful tearing at her heart.
Her daughter, her baby, that was Lyra?!
She felt not a shred of fear, but pain.
She had not seen Lyra in over four years, and now, here she was. And she was…cold, hard, unfeeling.
She had looked into her daughter's eyes, and had seen only condemnation. She had seen none of the daughter she had once known there.
What had happened to her daughter?