The Shadow Crow (A Shadow and Bone: Season 2 Fanfiction)

Chapter 7: Shadows of Stories Past

In Ravka... 

Aleksander entered the room, his mother in the corner of the room, simply sitting in a chair with a cage enclosed around her, staring out the window at the desolate land before them. 

'Stop lurking. Come in or leave me be,' she growled. He stepped further into the room. 

'Just making sure you're comfortable, Mother,' he replied. 

'You left me locked up with that deranged Tidemaker for weeks. Am I supposed to believe that you suddenly care for my creature comforts? What do you want?' He turned to face her. 

'There was a time when we were united in our beliefs. You, Adela and me. The world taught us to live in fear.' He grabbed a stool, coming over to the cage. 'But you taught me, taught my sister, that Grisha were superior.' He set the stool down with a slam on the hard floor. 'That they should fear us.' 

'Time... has changed my perspective.'

'And what happened to the woman who would burn villages just to keep her children safe?' Aleksander snarled. 

'I protected you and Adela the only way I knew how. I taught you two strength, cunning. But never compassion. I see my mistakes now, too late.'

'There are no mistakes, only lessons. I am rebuilding this country for the Grisha. We started this together. Now you're making me finish it alone. And Adela has left me.' Baghra chuckled darkly. 

'I hear the whispers. Grisha being persecuted again. Driven out of the very palace you built to keep them safe. Murdered indiscriminately by the King's soldiers. Hundreds of years have passed, and you have dragged us right back to where we started. And Adela left because you lied to her. Resurrected her with dark magic time and time again and refused to tell her why.' 

'I should have murdered the first king I met and took his crown,' Aleksander replied bitterly. 'A lesson. See? This time, I shan't stop at a palace. The entire country will be ours.' 

'A little empire. Perhaps. And the little Saint? And what about your sister?' 

'I will find them. And when I do -' 

'There was a moment when you might have earned their love, instead of claiming their power. Another lesson? Or maybe... just another mistake?' 

Aleksander walked into another room later that day, thinking he was alone. 

'Hello, brother.' Aleksander turned. I lounged against the wall, wearing my worn black kefta as shadows visibly danced around my fingers. 

'Adela. You returned.'

'I did. I've just been to see Mother. Real lovely little cage you've got her locked up in. Is that what you would have had planned for me, or would I be walking on eggshells like Genya and the rest of them?'

'Why are you here?' 

'I thought you'd be happy to see me. I'm rather impressed with what you've built here. You've managed to both do incredible damage to Ravka as we know it, with the ever-increasing expansion of the Fold, and you've made a small sanctuary for Grisha. But they're still terrified of you. They look to you, because they have nothing and no one. Just like you did to me.'

'I did nothing to you.' 

'You lied to me. Resurrected me time and time again with dark magic, the merzost, and then told me it was because you wanted me continually by your side. You didn't want to let me go.'

'That was the truth.' 

'You still lied. And then you sold me, for a petty price so you could have your pathetic Second Army. You sold me, and then you left me. Left me to play the perfect little princess, all because of your own greed and pride.' 

'And what of your Crows? You haven't found home yet, have you?' 

'No. I don't think I ever will. I've spent half of my life running - no more. I'm leaving again, after this.' 

'You could stay. There's always a home here.' 

'It feels like a ghost town here. There's fog everywhere, and Grisha patrolling the borders. It feels empty. It's not a home. It's a fancy prison for you and your nichevo'ya. You're sick, Aleksander, demented and warped into whatever evil thing that the merzost created the moment you said the incantation. Mother and I warned you not to do it, but you chose - and this is your choice.' 

'We were united once in our views,' Aleksander replied. 'We can be that again.' 

'I refuse to go back to that. I traded a lifetime of running for a gilded cage, and I won't do that again. Not after what you did to me.'

'I protected you. The First Army would have killed you - or worse.' 

'You forget, I am just as powerful as you. Everything that was taught to Alina, to you, I taught myself. I observed you, and I learned.' I walked to the door. 'This place isn't a home. And you're not the loving older brother I once knew. Goodbye, Aleksander. Be well.' I opened the door, Aleksander opening his mouth to say something, but I was gone. 

In another part of Ravka (at a place called the Spinning Wheel) ...

Alina leaned against a pillar in the upper balconies of the Spinning Wheel, the sanctuary to the Grisha, when a familiar face walked up to her. 

'You came back,' Zoya remarked. Alina pushed herself off of the pillar. 

'I said I would. Your family in Novokribirsk, did you find them?' 

'I wouldn't be here if I did,' she said, her face devoid of expression. 

'I'm sorry. I -' 

'Saints, Alina. Why are you apologizing for something you're not responsible for?' 

'Because I know how it feels to lose someone you love.' 

'We all know grief,' Zoya replied. 'But that guilt, he instilled it in you to make you weak. You're the Sun Summoner. You can't afford weakness.' Alina smiled slightly. 

'Is that why you were so cruel to me at the Little Palace? Trying to toughen me up?' Zoya sighed. 

'No. That was jealousy, but also, I underestimated you. I won't do that again.' 

'Is this... an apology?' Zoya gave a slight smile in return but said nothing. 

'Ravka's on the verge of collapse. More Grisha are killed by the day. You don't need hollow apologies, you need alliances. I'm here to offer you mine. Clearly, you need all the help you can get.' She smiled again and walked away from Alina.