Argent, PG-13, Champagne Challenge #161

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LaughtersMelody
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Argent, PG-13, Champagne Challenge #161

Post by LaughtersMelody »

Title: Argent
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight, nor am I making any money from this, though I'm certainly having fun playing in this universe. No infringement intended.
Warnings: Some references to Coraline's life as a courtesan, and some discussion of torture, though I tried not to be too graphic.
Summary: Three encounters Coraline had with silver.

A/N: This is a very late answer to the Christmas Champagne Challenge #161: Silver. :blinksmile: It's another fic that I started when the challenge was first issued back in 2014, but it refused to cooperate. I had always wanted to finish it, though, and I was very excited to finally be able to complete it.

A heartfelt thank you to my beta, who betas for me in every fandom I write for, and who offered some great suggestions, as she always does.

And, as always, I also thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the source of all inspiration.

~*~*~*~*~

Argent

1724

Maman had been sick for two weeks.

Coraline hadn’t been allowed to see her for almost that long because the physician had confirmed that it was the pox, and Coraline and her brothers had immediately been banned from Maman’s room.

It wasn’t fair, Coraline thought. She was eight years old, old enough to help! She should have been sitting with her Maman and telling her stories, the way Maman always did when Coraline was sick. But instead, Coraline had been ordered to the nursery, like un bébé, where the servants tried to distract her with silly dolls and pretty hair ribbons.

She was tempted to stomp her feet and shout that she didn’t want those stupid toys, she wanted her maman. But she knew that would anger Father, and if Father was angry, she might be sent to bed early without any supper. Perhaps he would even send her away to stay with her grand-mère and grand-père, and she would never see Maman then. So, she’d done as she’d been told and stayed in the nursery, but every day, she listened to the servants gossip, hoping to hear that her maman would soon be well.

That was how she knew that Father had sent for the physician again, early in the morning. The physician had not stayed long, and afterwards, he had been seen talking to Father in the garden.

The priest had come in the afternoon.

Coraline had snuck away from the nursery and followed him down the hall to her maman’s room. The door had been left open a crack and Coraline peered inside, her gaze landing on her maman who lay still and pale on the bed. She watched as the priest reached for a small vial of oil, the silver cross around his neck gleaming as he bent over, murmuring in Latin and gently touching her maman’s forehead with his fingers.

Maman was gone two days later.

~*~*~*~*~

1732

The room was glowing with the earliest rays of the sun when the Duke beside her left the bed and began to dress. Coraline feigned sleep as she listened to the rustle of his clothing, the sheet still clutched around her torso even though she had slipped back into her chemise hours before.

At last, she heard the sound of the Duke’s footsteps carry across the room as he walked to the door of her chamber. The door swung open, and then there was a pause.

A moment later, something landed on the bed beside her, jingling as it fell.

The door clicked shut, but Coraline waited until she was certain that the Duke was gone before she sat up and looked over the bed, finding a blue silk purse now half-hidden among the blankets.

She frowned faintly and picked it up, tugging on the drawstrings to open it.

She blinked at the silver coins she found inside.

She poured a handful of the coins into her palm, watched them shine in the early morning light, and wondered how it was possible that she was worth so much and yet so little.

~*~*~*~*~

2008

Coraline stared at the shackles locked around her wrists.

They were silver.

Not pure silver, of course. Such a thing would have killed her long ago, and as far as her sire was concerned, that would have been a far more merciful death than she deserved. To that end, the shackles had been designed in such a way that they burned and weakened her, but they did not kill her.

Truthfully, she barely noticed the pain from the shackles now; that particular torment had been lost somewhere in the constant haze of agony assaulting her nerves. The hunger was perhaps the worst. It was an all-consuming fire more intense than any she’d ever known, and every blow she was dealt, every wound inflicted on her only made that blaze burn all the more as her body demanded blood so that it could try to heal the damage.

It had, in the beginning. For the first couple of weeks, her body had somehow found the reserves it needed to sustain her despite the raging hunger. But gradually, her body’s ability to heal had slowed until cuts, burns, and bruises had formed a macabre pattern on her skin, and she’d become distantly aware that she was losing weight. That was normally impossible for a vampire, but if they were denied blood long enough, a vampire’s body reacted like a starving human’s body did - it started consuming itself in a desperate bid for nourishment.

On rare occasions, she was allowed to have a small sip of blood, just enough to revive her for a moment or two. But that was a torture of its own, and whatever strength she gained from it was lost just as quickly.

Eventually, she knew, her body would stop healing altogether. She was near that point now.

She almost welcomed it. She welcomed the lethargy too, the bone-deep exhaustion that had begun to pull her under for increasing periods of time, giving her a respite from the pain.

She found herself dreaming. Of her mother, who had died so very, very long ago. Of Cynthia, whom she’d sent into hiding, and whose life was forfeit if Lance found her. Of Mick, who might have stayed by her side if only she’d been wiser. Kinder, perhaps. Less selfish.

She’d tried to give Mick what he’d wanted most…to return what she’d taken from him.

But it hadn’t been enough.

She’d saved him, at least. That was something. And once she was dead, her sire and her brothers would have no reason to seek him out.

It was all she could ask for now.

A part of her, a small part she tried to ignore, dared to hope that Mick might come for her once the cure had run its course, but it was better that he didn’t. Lance had nearly killed him back in L.A. He would surely kill him if he tried to interfere again, and then all of this would be for nothing.

Yes. Yes, it was better if he stayed away.

Coraline stared at the cuffs around her wrists a moment longer, blearily noticing the way that they seemed to shine even in the dim light of her family’s dungeons. But when blackness crept into the edges of her vision, she didn’t fight it, letting the current pull her under once more.

This time, when she dreamed, it was of what might have been…of long, carefree nights, restful days, and silver eyes set in a handsome face.

Fin

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: I wanted to offer a quick translation of the French words I used:

Argent - Silver

Un bébé - A baby

Grand-mère - Grandmother

Grand-père - Grandfather

Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think!

Take care and God bless!

-Laughter
Last edited by LaughtersMelody on Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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allegrita
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Re: Argent, PG-13, Champagne Challenge #161

Post by allegrita »

Laughter, this is a wonderful look at Coraline over the centuries. The little girl, who notices the gleam of the priest's cross as he offers last rites to her mother. The courtesan, who doesn't get to keep the silver she receives as payment for her body. And the wife and member of a great family, who suffers for the great betrayal she committed against that family for the sake of winning back her husband. It's so hard to see her suffering. But I do believe she went into that punishment with clear eyes. The biggest tragedy of the show, IMO, is that, at the end, they wrote Mick as a person who would go against his true nature and not try to rescue her. :Mickangel:
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nutmegger911
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Re: Argent, PG-13, Champagne Challenge #161

Post by nutmegger911 »

LM, it is so nice to see you are still writing. Thank you for this look into Coraline's life throughout the centuries. I'm so glad you posted it.
NM911
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