This is an offering,
In your favor...
He held my hand as we walked, as he so often did. He'd been a comforting presence for so long. Over half of my life. His gentle brown eyes always said more than his mouth did. He was a safe, consistent place.
We walked this way for a while. He seemed different this time. As if there was a purpose for this. The air between us contained something I hadn't felt before and couldn't identify.
A small silhouette appeared in the distance. As it grew larger, I realized we were walking towards it.
"What's going on?" I asked, turning my head to look at him. He squeezed my hand.
"It's okay", he said with a slight smile.
I trusted him, naturally, but there was also a building anxiety inside me. Like something was about to change.
As we drew closer, I slowly started to see the silhouette better. It was a robed figure, hooded, wearing a pauldron on one shoulder.
I still felt strange. Apprehensive.
When we finally reached the figure, there was a lot to take in. He was tall. I nearly had to lift my head to look at him. His robe was black, and his exposed skin was painted black, including his fingers. The pauldron was mostly white, but streaked with red, giving him a battle-worn appearance. Most of his face was covered with a white mask. A red symbol took up most of the space, aside from carved out lines for his eyes and a cutout around his mouth rimmed in red filigree.
We stood and looked at each other for a moment before i felt my hand be squeezed again.
"She's mine," he said to the masked man, "but she's yours now, too."
Panic rose into my chest.
"What?!" I yelped, turning to my longtime companion.
"It's okay," he said, letting go of my hand.
"What part of this is "okay" to you?!"
"Hey," he said quietly, "I promise; it's okay."
"I don't understand!" The fear made tears well up in my eyes, "You're getting rid of me?"
"Of course not", his voice was gentle and even, "I'm doing this for you."
"You're doing this", I gestured vaguely at the living shadow who had remained silent the entire time, "for me?" He nodded.
"You'd never do this on your own, so I'm doing it for you. It's what you need."
"It's what I need..." i repeated back, still wildly unsure.
"Look," he said, his voice finally faltering a little, "He can give you things that I haven't been able to for a while."
"But-" he shook his head to stop my protest.
"Come on. You know I'm right."
"I wish you weren't." It came out as a gulp.
"Do you really think I could hand you over to just anybody?"
"No", was my soft reply, shaking my head for emphasis.
"I know you love me." A smile filled his face. The smile that lit up my world. "I'll still be around. Whenever you want. It's not goodbye."
I exhaled a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. His expression shifted into seriousness. "But you need him."
I looked at this mysterious stranger, who still hadn't said a word to either of us. His presence had grown on me. He wasn't frightening. He was the kind of darkness that's comforting. The silence of snowfall on a winter night. The velvet of a bat wing. Rose petals like silk. Poetic. The sorts of things that I adore.
I shifted my gaze between them for a moment. It was the unknown that was the scary part. But the unknown wouldn't always be that. Everything familiar now was unfamiliar first.
"All right", I said before turning to the mysterious man, "I'm yours too."
"Take care of her", my longtime companion said, "She'd walk with you through hell if it comes to that."
My new companion gave a slow nod of acknowledgement before extending a hand towards me. There were scars on his arm that made crackles in the black paint.
Clearly, he had been through something.
Going through things is my specialty.
I took his hand and he gently pulled me to his side.
And the world changed.
The night belongs to you...
