Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 52: Lunar Princess Ranni, Queen Marika

"I did not see it at first, of course. Thy role in the play. But all the same, I have had a long time to come to terms with my past... and thy part in it."

The beautiful blonde Goddess' jaw works, and she hesitantly shakes her head.

"I know not what-!"

But Ranni does not leave her room for her denials. Though he remains silent as ever, the Tarnished clearly knows what she speaks of already. His quiet is not shock, but simple watchful calm. However, the kindling maiden on the other hand, born of Marika's making and a fragment of Ranni, does not know this part. And there... there, Ranni sees an opportunity.

"There's nothing wrong with a well-laid scheme, Queen Marika. Thou should take pride in one's plans. Thy gambit succeeded, after all. The vassal beast lieth dead. The Greater Will's influence, shattered. The Lands Between are thine prize. And all it cost... was thine own golden son."

At hearing her crime laid bare before her, at being forced to face down what she'd played a part in, Marika... snaps. A hoarse, inhuman scream leaves the Numen woman's throat. She lunges forward, attempting to attack Ranni. But not with all the mighty golden power at her fingertips, not with the glory of a God, but with her bare hands.

Ranni doesn't have to lift a finger. Her Tarnished catches Marika by the wrists and holds her firmly, anchoring her in place and not letting her past. Hm. Perhaps now he would see that she was not meant to continue on. Perhaps now he could see that Queen Marika the Eternal's time had come at long last. Perhaps-

"It was not supposed to be HIM! Thy plan was obscured to me! I thought... I believed that thy target wouldst be Radagon!"

That gets Ranni's attention, the Lunar Princess' eye widening in shock.

"Mine father? Thou'rt a cruel sort, to hope for such a thing."

"There was to be no success! I wished for thy failure! I set defenses! But then..."

Ranni's eye widens even further, and she finds herself finishing the sentence unconsciously.

"... Then I went for Godwyn..."

The fight leaves Marika, at hearing her son's name on Ranni's lips. The Eternal Sovereign collapses to the ground, Ranni's Consort dropping down with her and holding her still so she could not hurt anyone... or even herself.

"My boy... O' Godwyn, I am so, so sorry..."

Gazing down at her only peer in the entirety of the Lands Between, Ranni isn't sure what she feels. Pity? Was this why her Consort had saved Marika? So Ranni could rub her face in what she'd done? Was she supposed to gain some sort of satisfaction from this moment? If it twas a gift, it twas in singularly poor taste. She wasn't sure how to feel, not about any of this. She-

"Princess Ranni... do you truly feel nothing?"

The kindling maiden appears out of nowhere at her side, having snuck up on her while her attention was focused solely on Marika. And then, to Ranni's utmost shock, Melina does the unthinkable. She reaches out and takes hold of one of Ranni's hands, gripping it tightly in her own. The two women turn to each other, their single open eyes meeting, and in that moment Ranni's breath is stolen from her lungs.

Melina would never be anything more than a fragment. Ranni would not brook any sort of true comparison between them. She refused to let the kindling maiden be called her other half, or for it to be said that they were equals in any way. But... there was no denying that Melina came from her. Created and brought into existence by Marika, certainly, but she was not made whole cloth from nothing. No, she was built on what Ranni had left behind, what she had discarded that night.