Pain went into Macabre Hearse and asked Elaine about what was left of Diana, who was the golem that almost killed the both of them. Elaine allowed Pain to go into where Diana was being kept, but Kalan said that it would be available to him only if he promised to not talk about the list of Terriyah's cronies. Pain entered the portal, and Din was there, she was being kept in a pod covered in a clear glass-like substance. Her long and stringy blue hair sent Pain into a wave of painful emotions, how he had to leave her behind and how she didn't even really love him.
"I can't believe it's really you." Pain shook his head, tears pooled from under his eyes.
"You still haven't gotten over that fact? I thought you had already long forgotten about me, since you never visit." Din turned her head towards him, her black and hollow eye sockets stared through him.
"I could never." He tried to choke back a sob.
"I know it was shitty, I admit it, but doing what I did was why I was created, I had no other purpose." Din shook her head as well.
"I believe in free will, even for golems, you aren't a genie, you aren't forced to do anything." Pain shook his head even harder.
"You aren't going to ask me about the list, are you? I already told crow boy everything." Din frowned.
"I'm not, I had to promise not to." He summoned not his scythe, but his old sword.
"What are you doing?" She tried to get up, and smacked her head against the pod. She put a hand to her face.
"Do you recognize this?" He made a pained expression and held up his sword with one hand.
"Of course I do. It's your old sword." Her empty sockets widened.
"Tell me, what was your reason for following her orders?" He walked up to the pod.
"I had no choice, she read the book, Brian-"
"Don't… Don't call me that." He squeezed his eyes shut and tears rolled down his cheeks.
"She would have killed me, I wanted to live, was that so bad?" She returned a pained expression.
"Why couldn't you have told me? I would have helped you. You know that." He opened his eyes again and wiped his tears.
"Ha, nobody could love a golem, it was pointless to try." She laughed sadly.
"I did." He lowered his head.
"You had no idea though." She shook her head.
"That didn't matter, I still would have loved you, and yet you betrayed me, and him, for her, that evil archangel." His sword clanged and then scraped across the front of the pod.
"I had no choice, I've already told you!" She cried.
"What was your reason?" He questioned as his sword broke through the pod's barrier and planted itself firmly into Din's shoulder.
"I already told you my reason!" She grimaced and gripped her shoulder.
"I'm not asking for her reason, I'm asking for yours." He dug his sword deeper into the flesh of her shoulder, tears still rolling down his cheeks and wetting his face.
"Go ahead. Kill me. I deserve it," she said.
"I'm not going to kill you, the scar this would makes will always remind you of your betrayal." He pulled his sword out from her, and white blood oozed from the wound.
"Fine then, leave me." She boomed and gripped her wound.
"If Hex would have broken up with you, you could have gone to me instead. I know you were scared, but telling the truth and facing the consequences is much better than living a lie." He turned around and started to walk away, and his sword disappeared.
"You and him aren't the same person anymore, I'm thinking we would have ended up like you and Elaine." She shook her head again.
"I had to leave my old life behind when I came back, do you know how painful it was for me to have to forget about you? Why did you have to make me go through such a thing twice?" He turned his head towards her as he continued to walk away.
"It was unavoidable, it was either keep secret or die." She put her white blood covered hand up to the barrier.
"Why did you try to kill Elaine when she revealed who you really were then?" He turned his head back and did not look at her.
"I was angry, wouldn't you be angry too if you had your life ruined?" She took her hand back off the barrier and put it back onto her wound.
"How you acted only incriminated you." He opened a portal back to Macabre Hearse.
"Don't take what I did as not loving him, I did, I still do!" She shouted.
He went back through the portal, and went back to his room in Macabre Hearse. He felt that it would be the last time he would feel himself for a while, so he had to confront Din then. He sat in his room, the book in front of him. The door was locked, no one was going to stop him now. He was overwhelmed by fear and sadness that it had come down to that, having to give up a piece of his soul so his lover wouldn't die.
He placed his hand on the book, the bookmark he left firmly stuck inside. He had to carefully place it after counting the pages a few times without looking. His face was soaking wet with tears, he was scared of how much it was going to hurt after Elaine told him what happened when she read it.. His chest was tight with anxiety and stress. He sniffled, and took his hand off the book. He slid his hand in between the pages that were bookmarked, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.
"Stop," A female voice harshly whispered.
He opened his eyes. The hand on the book had long fingers with claws, and a white glove. It was Shai, he recognized her voice in that moment and turned to look at her.
"What? Why? You were the one who told me she couldn't become one of the Veil of Light members, why would you stop me from following the only other path I can take to ensure her safety?" A rush of tears rolled down his already wet cheeks.
"I do not usually do this, but I don't want you to lose a part of your soul. I will make her an honorary member, just please, do not do this." Shai shook her head.
"You would… Do that for me?" He breathed a sigh of relief, and said relief washed over him, it felt like the whole world was lifted off his shoulders, the tightness in his chest subsided and he felt like he could breathe again.
"I will ask Fira if she wants to first, I can make these kinds of executive decisions, and eventually she won't have to be an honorary member anymore." Shai nodded
"Thank you, thank you so much." He turned away, tears still falling from his cheeks, but he was crying because he was so relieved.
He took the book back to Elaine's room and had her lock it away, since it was so dangerous. Elaine was also relieved that Pain didn't go through with reading it, saying that she had a really hard time with how she felt afterwards for a long time. They both went to Fira and asked her if she wanted to go through with becoming an honorary member, and Pain aired his grievances about how nerve-wracking it was that she was mortal, because she was so precious to him, he couldn't bear the thought of her growing old or randomly dying one day. She hugged him and agreed to it.
He let Shai and Fira go to where the Veil of Light was, because he and Elaine were not allowed to enter. She came back later and ran into his arms, she told him it was all done, and he didn't need to worry about her dying anymore. Tears pooled under his eyes again, he was so happy she was safe. He embraced her, and let out a couple whimpers. She told him it was going to be okay, and they went about the rest of their day. Fira went with Pain back to Purgatory and hung out together. He still had to unlearn his intrusive thoughts of her mortality, but he was happy she was immortal.
Read the rest of The Light Maiden's Mark here: https://moonquill.com/book/46