SIX OF CROWS X READER

PART 21E

You move out the door, falling into step with Nina as you do. The others seem to understand your choice because when you reach the room that Kaz was keeping the Tidemaker, they hold back, letting you sit next to her.

"Tell us what you know about (Y/N)" snarls Kaz.

"She's a monster." the Tidemaker says simply in reply.

"That's not true!" Says Nina, evidently taking his position as your chosen companion seriously.

"How would any of you know, how would she know? Go on, ask her about herself, about her past."

"Um, where were you born?" Starts Nina.

"In...um, I can't remember." You whisper, swallowing as you notice the Tidemakers smug expression.

"What country are you from?" Asks Wylan; a question that should have been easier.

"I don't know." You say, starting to get worried.

"Did you have any siblings?"

"Uuuum, I don't know."

"What were your parents jobs?"

"I have no idea."

"See!" Exclaims the Tidemaker.

"How does this prove anything?" Snaps Nina.

"She was born in Kirimsburg, she is from Ravka, she had a baby sister and her parents were farmers."

"First, woah, that's really creepy. Secondly, what's Kirimsburg?" Asks Jesper.

"It was one of the smaller towns destroyed when the Shadow Fold was created."

"So how did I live there?" You ask, incredibly freaked out.

"Because she is 427 years old."

Nobody says anything...

"How?" You whisper.

"It is a very long story but when you were 18, the Darkling created the Shadow Fold and your village was destroyed; it was roughly a mile away the south side of the Fold. The Darkling found you running through the darkness, almost dead from Volkra wounds, desperately trying to reach the sunlight. He admired your strength, thinking that he would need someone like you to be his human representative when he took over in Os Alta, so he carried you to safety. He healed you but in the process some of his power rubbed off on you. (Y/N), you are a Darkling."

"No," you protest. "No I'm not."

"You are. For a while the Darkling relished the idea of having a companion, the one person who could understand and match his power. Nobody can remember but for a while, there where two Darklings, they ruled the Grisha as equals. But after a century and a half, one of the Darklings disappeared from history and all record of her was erased. That was you. The Darkling told me your past when he discovered the Sun Summoner. He said that you had tried to find a way to destroy the Shadow Fold and he had realised that you posed more of a threat than he had realised. So, for over 200 years, you were kept, locked up, in a room crafted by Fabrikators. It was made of mirrors so there was no darkness for you to manipulate. When the Sun Summoner was discovered, the Darkling sent you to the Council of Tides. He sent an Alkemi, who had been trained in memory draughts. The concoction we gave you is very specific, it has to be administered a few times a month- which is why you have started to notice gaps in your memories, soon you will remember the facts that fill those gaps. The draught erased your past memories but allowed you to make new ones, although those were carefully monitored."

There was a long silence as everyone considers what you have been told.

"Is that it?" Says Kaz quietly.

"Yes, can I go now?" Pleads the Tidemaker.

"No way," says Kaz, dangerously. "(Y/N) can decide what to do with you in a bit. I'm sure she has plenty of scores to settle with her former captor."

You feel yourself nod, but your body is numb and you can feel something rising inside you, threatening to tear this person who has tortured you for so long apart. You can't move, centring all your focus on keeping it down. You know you need to get out- if you could just get up from the chair then you would be fine- but you can't, your frozen in place. Darkness... it's rising, threatening to burst out.. darkness, shadows.

Nina grabs your hand and before you have fully registered it, she has dragged you outside and you're gasping for breath and shaking. She pulls you into a hug, holding you together as your mind reels.

"Its not true." you whisper into her shoulder. "It can't be true."

"But it can and it is." she says back. "Now you are marked in the same way I am, (Y/N), marked so that the others know to fear us, know we will always be different and that they can never understand us, our power."

"What the hell am I going to do?" you ask, shaking.

"Right now?! We are getting waffles."

...

Five minutes later, you are seated next to Nina in the best booth at the waffle shop; its amazing how fast she can move when it comes to waffles! The waitress arrives to give you the second round of plates that Nina ordered, now the table is stacked with treats. there are chocolate waffles, fruit waffles and even waffles topped with biscuits and caramel. You pull over a plate with toffee and dark chocolate toppings and tuck in.

"(Y/N)," Nina says after a while of blissful eating. "Do you know what its like to lose someone you love?"

"I can't remember," you reply. "But I effectively have lost myself everyday for the best part of 400 years... so I might be able to understand."

"Yeah," she sighs. "Its hard, losing yourself, and then losing the only person who made it alright... sometimes it just feels like some sort of horrible joke, like it shouldn't be real."

"I can relate to that."

"I guess some things help take the pain away; keeping busy, doing things he'd want me to do and then there's this girl.."

Nina looks up at you, an intensity that you've never seen before burning in her bright green eyes.

She CANNOT be talking about me *faceplams* = PART 21E1

Go on... = PART 21E2