Silvana pt2 End

Noir-fanfic. And life goes on for the darkness and the untouchable one.
(Silvana/Chloe)

Read Silvana pt2 End

Disclaimers in part 1. Spoiler warning for much of the show and the ending in particular.





SILVANA pt2 End
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson






The children that, free from any restrictions of the adult world, would happily greet Silvana and show her their sweet and guileless faces as she watched them play took to Chloe with enthusiasm. All it took was a smile from the girl as she helped return a lost toy and the young children seemed to decide that she was one of their own, eagerly coming running after the both of them when they were out walking in the fields to play with Chloe.

It shocked her the first time she heard herself laugh at the children’s antics with Chloe, a sound so foreign to her life before that point that Silvana could not remember when last she had laughed. Chloe’s response, her bright smile and sun-flushed face sent something to flutter in Silvana’s chest, and she wondered if this was normal, what an ordinary woman might feel. After that day she would find many occasions to laugh, indeed it seemed as if her young companion deliberately set out to garner that response from her. Silvana soon found herself helpless to prevent the small smile that took up almost permanent residence on her lips in Chloe’s presence.

It was peaceful and sweet, and Silvana would have been perfectly content to allow those days to continue forever. Awareness of change intruded at quite an unexpected moment however.

She had watched the children at play in the fields, even laughed as Chloe chased the little ones around, tossing and twirling whatever squealing child she’d pretend to catch up to, and merely enjoyed the moment and the sunlight. With the children cheering her on Chloe had suddenly grabbed Silvana by the waist and twirled her through the air. Even though Silvana, ever before as untouchable as her name suggested, had gotten used to the casual, and perhaps even increasing, touch between them by now, this latest move had her too stunned to react any further than simply gripping onto Chloe’s arms. Something the children did jostled them, and down they tumbled into the grass, Silvana at the bottom of what quickly became a pile of squirming and laughing little bodies.

Chloe was directly above Silvana, protectively braced as if to prevent any climbing or jumping child from accidently hurting her. For some reason there was a pain in Silvana’s chest, and she felt herself tremble slightly and hold her breath as stared unblinkingly at the face so very close to her own. It crossed her mind in a strangely detached way that although she always likened the beauty she found in Chloe to that of the light and dark of the moonlit night, the girl always smelled of sunshine, grass, and for some reason apples. It was a warm, soothing scent, completely void of the acrid tang that always tainted a gun-wielder.

There was a strange expression on Chloe’s face which Silvana could not understand. Distracted by this she did not notice that her hands inched up towards Chloe’s shoulders, or how the distance between their faces shrank away. Their lips brushed just barely at first, the contact far too light to be considered a kiss, and then returned for a soft and gentle caress far more worthy of the name.

Then, as abruptly as it had been initiated, Chloe’s warm, sweet weight was gone and Silvana was left blinking into that endlessly blue sky. She found her feet and her self-control, aided by the loud but guileless laughter of children, hiding well the confusion she felt at what had just transpired. Confusion soon made place for charmed amusement when she caught sight of the persistent blush dusting pale cheeks even as Chloe used the children’s games to avoid meeting Silvana’s eyes.

The girl was adorably shy with her affection and Silvana decided not to make her any more uncomfortable than she had to be. After all, she knew Chloe’s story, she knew of the boundless devotion the girl had carried for so long, and the bitter, to say nothing of brutal, rejection that had followed. She was after all the one who had picked up Chloe’s broken form and nursed her back to health. In bits and pieces the story had all been told.

Chloe, tall and lanky and only recently filling out into a more adult form, with a beauty too subtle to see at first glance and her manners too innocent and direct, had gone up against Mireille Bouquet, the aristocratic and fashion-model beautiful Odette Bouquet’s equally striking daughter whom was world-wise and undoubtedly more experienced in matters of attraction, as rivals in love. Not that Silvana suspected that appearances or experience had mattered in the end, Chloe had never truly been in the running to begin with, despite the sincerity of her boundless love.

Rejected and robbed of not only the love she had carried since childhood but of her destiny, identity and only family as well in one fell swoop, Chloe had persisted with a dignity and resilience that Silvana doubted she could have matched in similar circumstances. Chloe accepted and moved on, slowly rebuilding herself and her life over time.

That affection had grown between them with the passage of time was not surprising, although it had indeed come as a surprise to Silvana, for they were kindred in so many things. Still, Silvana had barely begun to get accustomed to that affection and now it seemed as if their bond was already deepening, changing into something she was entirely unfamiliar with and woefully unprepared for. It was a sad truth to face that young Chloe, although rejected and now shy, had more experience in matters of the heart than she.

Time passed after their tumble in sunlit grass, and Silvana did not speak of what had transpired between them in effort of overcoming the awkwardness that initially set in once they were alone. Chloe soon relaxed again, and after a few days their interactions were for most part back to what had become usual for them. For most part.

If their eyes lingered a little longer on the other in ill-disguised secret, or if Chloe would blush and act bashfully where she previously had not, neither of them mentioned it out loud. Silvana was less successful in quieting her own mind, and in the days that followed she would find that Chloe dominated her every thought. Distracted and troubled by the direction of her thoughts, Silvana opted to remain behind when Chloe went for a particularly long run one evening in lieu of the sparring they usually engaged in.

Cool or lukewarm baths were things Silvana was long accustomed to, only upon occasion allowing herself the luxury of hot water. It was born from practicality, but for that particular evening the cool water felt like a blessing, soothing an increasingly feverish reaction in mind and body alike. She lay back in the large tub and watched clouds chase one another across the darkening sky through the window, her own thoughts keeping pace with them.

Chloe was young, so very young, and Silvana was not. It was surely both shameful and inappropriate to allow herself to harbour such thoughts and feelings for one so young, especially since life had more or less placed Chloe in Silvana’s care.

It was all well and good that Mireille Bouquet had taken a lover as young as Chloe, the daughter of Corsica was a fair bit younger than Silvana herself and besides which, the destiny of Noir had probably decided for them since birth, if not before. It did not quite apply to Silvana and Chloe.

Yes, Chloe was indeed young, but then again Silvana could not demean her by considering her a child either. The dark and blood-soaked life she had led was not that of a child, and what was more, the time spent in Sicily with Silvana meant that surely by now Chloe would be seen as an adult by whatever standard one would choose to measure. A young adult, certainly, but an adult nonetheless.

It was as she distractedly allowed herself to dwell on the many changes, inside and out, that Chloe had undergone during their time together, that it occurred to Silvana that she was giving serious consideration to taking Chloe as her lover.

The thought stilled all else, and for one long moment Silvana found herself staring up at the rise of an early moon. She could scarcely breathe.

Finally closing her eyes and shaking herself out of her absorbed stupor, Silvana sighed at her own folly. The water was beyond cold by now and so was she, having spent far too long in it even for her. She found her feet and rose slowly, feeling slightly unsteady, in the tub while casting her eyes about for the towel and robe she hoped she had managed to remember to bring even in her preoccupied state.

While she stood there with the water still running in rivulets down pale skin the door opened with a violent burst, startling her, and a worried Chloe came hurrying into the room with Silvana’s name on her lips.

Time froze for a moment, with Silvana naked and shocked that she had not heard the younger woman approach, much less call for her, and with Chloe locked in helpless staring, her narrow eyes gone alarmingly wide.

As finally she became aware of in just what manner Chloe was eyeing her naked body, a knowing smile made its way to Silvana’s lips quite unbidden. Chloe flinched at the reaction and, with an adorable blush on her face, closed her eyes to whip around and run from the room.

Instead she spun face first into the doorframe, the force of the impact bouncing her off to catch a glancing blow against the thick wooden door upon the back of her head, and finally deposit her in an ungainly and undignified heap on the stone floor just outside.

Silvana was out of the tub and at Chloe’s side, gently cradling the burgundy head to her still bare and wet chest, even before she realized what she had just witnessed. Chloe kept her eyes squeezed firmly shut in mortification as Silvana carefully probed the bleeding nose that had taken quite a bump in the spectacular turn of events. She, Silvana Greone, had just watched as one of death’s most powerful and graceful angels, the one that usually moved with the poise and surety of a large feline predator, had become as a fumbling adolescent boy... at the sight of her.

At the sight of Silvana.

Chloe had not behaved thus, never revealed even a trace of anything less than full mastery of her movements, in front of that dark-haired child. Not even when faced with the other girl’s nakedness had she stumbled, Silvana knew, her physical composure remaining perfect even though her emotional one had not been.

But for Silvana Chloe had bloodied her own nose and given herself a sizeable bump on the head, to say nothing of her loss of dignity. The smile that bloomed on Silvana’s lips at the realization was wider than any she had ever worn, and not at all mysterious.

Pleased, yes, perhaps even a little proud and smug, but overall just happy with Chloe, herself, and the world at large.

She did not stop smiling as she dotingly tended to the mortified and increasingly cranky young woman, making sure that nothing had permanently come to mar what she now considered to be the delicate beauty of Chloe’s face. The smile followed her to bed that night, still teasing the edges of her lips as she slept, and returned in force upon catching first glimpse of Chloe the next morning.

She had never really known much of happiness in her life, and certainly not like this. It was intoxicating.

It was during a mundane thing, simply the two of them preparing for a meal together, that true insight hit Silvana in full.

The decision had been made.

There was no point in debating the point further, or attempting to fight against it. All that was left was to embrace it fully, and perhaps, in their own special way, this too was destiny.

Their destiny.

And Silvana would dedicate her life to Chloe and Chloe’s happiness. It was something she would do gladly, and the one thing in this world she would do not for honour or duty, but for herself.

Chloe chose that moment to step up beside her, peering over Silvana’s shoulder to see what had caught the older woman’s attention so much that she had stopped chopping vegetables to simply stand there, staring. Silvana let the knife in her hand slip quietly down onto the chopping board.

As she turned towards Chloe Silvana was unaware of the almost fiercely tender and loving expression she wore, even as it stunned Chloe to immobility.

Then she had wrapped the slender young woman up in her arms and kissed her, giving in to her longing at long last.

She tasted the shock and hesitation along with the softness, and also, a small but amused part of Silvana added with glee, the little bits Chloe thought she had stolen in secret while they were preparing their food.

Finally Chloe responded, with fervour, and their kiss grew dizzying. Silvana embraced Chloe closer, more possessively, and the younger woman eagerly accommodated her. Neither knew how long they leaned against the cupboards, dinner preparations forgotten to wilt and desiccate behind them, before Silvana led her young lover to bed.

For the future there would of course be obstacles to face and hurdles to overcome, but some things would ever remain true; Silvana would love, honour and cherish Chloe for the rest of her days. Anything else would not have been in her nature. Chloe, finally free to love and be loved fully, would never have cause to think that anything else would ever be more important to Silvana... and so these two daughters of the moonlit night would live out their mostly peaceful, loving lives in the sunlight.

And Silvana would be untouchable no more.