Ⲇⲉⲧⲉⲅⲛⲇ Ɲⲟⲥⲧⲓ⳽: Tʜᴇ Dʏɪɴɢ Lɪɢʜᴛ

Chapter 2: Winterfest

December 14th, 2025

Alina

Christmastime. Or at least the weeks leading up to it was something I was never able to experience in what I don't even consider to be a childhood. When we moved to Twi'lio, Layla promised me that she would make sure that I was going to be a kid first, and fighter second. I honestly didn't think I would ever be able to see the holidays, but here I am. If I'm being honest, being able to play in the snow and the excitement of Christmas welling up inside of me was a strange feeling, but I liked it... I liked it a lot. I was kinda wishing that I had a special girl to celebrate the holidays with me... One thing at a time, 'Lina...

About a week prior, I was invited to a wedding for the mayor's son. He told me that, because of the stress and heartache I've been through with trying to deal with the fact that everyone in the city now knows about Kilgrave being my father, Layla and I were pretty scared of the people turning against us, but instead they rallied beside us and vowed to protect us from any rebel Society members attempting to come after us. Which was why the Mayor invited me. He wanted me to be able to just be a kid and have fun for the holidays and not have to look over my shoulder for past demons, and I have to admit - the wedding was absolutely beautiful... the Mayor's son and his bride were walking down the aisle dressed in white for the holidays, and their vows not only made me weep with joy, but made me hopeful that one day I'll be able to walk down the aisle with my own bride in the future... I'm a hopeless romantic, I can't help it...

Being a citizen of Twi'lio, I've been able to put a new perspective on life and the way things work now. Layla and the rest of us have been so focused on locating the Society's members before the Order does, that I guess we never stopped to realize the fragility of life. My time in the Society was nightmarish, and something I would never impose on anyone to suffer through, but now that I've managed to break out that hell and actually have a life of my own, that control has become my own again, and it feels so good. I get a bathroom all to myself now. I know it sounds gross, but I wasn't allowed that in the Society, they had it conditioned in my head that a bathroom and bedroom hinted at individuality and freedom, and that wasn't something I was able to experience. When Nat and Layla got me out of that, we went back to our shack over in the Sentry. Well, I guess I can't really call it a shack, it wasn't even big enough to be considered a shack, it had four walls and a roof, yeah. But it also had a smell that could be phrased as rotten eggs cooked in the blazing sun for days because there was no air conditioning. Elise wasn't kidding when she called it a stinky shack, because that's exactly what it was. After Nat purchased our house in Twi'lio, it felt great not to gag from the stink of a shack for once, and to be able to use a proper bathroom with a shower. The weather is super cold nowadays due to a blizzard that blew through just recently, so I was able to go down to the shops in Yumeria and buy me a nice looking coat. I honestly splurged a lot with clothes that were far better than my old ones. The ones I was forced to wear in the Society that looked literally like everyone else's. I think the girl at the register thinks I'm cute, because everytime I go to her shop, she gives me a discount and a smile. I never really saw myself as attractive or cute, because I looked older for my age. I just recently turned 20 years old, and I was starting to show my age in the right places. But I never really thought about my sexuality, because again, the Society barred me from all of that. I got my control back, and I allowed myself to be able to explore that. I mean, I like both boys and girls, so maybe I'm bisexual, but my attraction to girls has been like, rampant lately... At first, it scared the hell out of me, simply because I didn't recognize the feeling or the sensation, but after a while, I got used to it and I liked it. I made a mental note to one day ask her for her number. I'm sure Layla would be ecstatic.