Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 19: Melina

A/N: Ohey Melina, whatcha doing visiting the Tarnished at that Site of Gra-oshit!

Aaaanyways, this is the actual end of Act 2. Onto Act 3 in Chapter 20, meaning finally time to go to Altus Plateau!

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She jumps him, the next time he sits down at a Site of Lost Grace. Unbeknownst to both her and a certain Deathbed Companion, they were having similar thoughts about Melina's Tarnished. Why? Why did he not initiate anything? Melina had followed her chosen Champion across the Lands Between, from Limgrave to Caelid, onto Liurnia, and then back again to Caelid.

The kindling maiden had watched as he went about his travels with a single-minded intensity. On the one hand, it looked at times like he was just wandering, and happened to run across these women that he then went out of his way to help and save. On the other hand, it sometimes seemed so purposeful that Melina couldn't begin to comprehend how he knew what he knew, why he always seemed to be right where he needed to be for everyone BUT her.

She had given of herself to him, had she not? In absence of the ability to turn runes into strength for him, she had believed that maybe her body was enough. But when he took her, he was just so damn GENTLE. She had seen him act differently with other women. The warrior woman, a descendant of Godfrey for instance, seemed to awaken something of an animal in Melina's Tarnished.

And he'd been quite the savage with both Queen Rennala of the Full Moon and the Lunar Princess Ranni as well! Taking the first in the middle of her Grand Library, and then engaging in an orgy with her bastard daughters besides. Meanwhile, Ranni got her turn atop the corpse of the Two Fingers she'd slain, with them surrounded by the corpse's blood.

Where was that savagery with Melina? Where was that surety, that confidence? And so... she jumps him. Even as she's turning corporeal, she's already leaping through the air with the grace of an assassin, her cloak flaring up and revealing her body as she lands on her Tarnished and takes him to his back. She holds no weapons in her hands, but instead grabs him by the front of his armor and yanks up hard, snarling at him.

"Why?! Why am I not enough for you?!"

The solemn way he looks up at her makes it seem like her words are untrue, and she should know it. But rather, it's the opposite for Melina. She knows why she's not enough for her champion. Why she will never be enough. She... she was never meant for anything more than her purpose. As a kindling maiden, it is her role, her DUTY, to burn.

Obviously, she hasn't told the Tarnished this. But she sometimes gets the feeling that he somehow knows already. That she's not supposed to survive this... any of this. Ah, she's being a fool, isn't she? Hesitantly, Melina lets go of the Tarnished's armor, shaking her head.

"S-Sorry. I don't know what-eep!"

Before she can finish her apology, however, he's suddenly on top of her, suddenly has her on HER back, and is pinning her down. The movement is so fast, so ferocious, that Melina is taken completely off guard. She's no slouch herself, she knows how to fight, how to grapple, how to tangle with enemies. But in that moment, as the Tarnished bares his teeth at her in a snarl for the first time, she freezes up, feeling like a prey animal facing down the apex predator.

A blush spreads across Melina's face. Her lower lip trembles in response. But she does not cry. No, rather... she moans. Squirming underneath him, not out of a desire to flee but something quite the opposite, Melina bites her lower lip and wiggles.

"D-Do it. Take me. Use me, Tarnished. And... make it HURT."

She needs it. She needs it to hurt. That was what was missing the last time. He'd taken her so softly, so sweetly, and so gently... but as good as it had been, she'd still felt like a part of her was unsatisfied. Like something was missing. This was what was missing. An element of... fear.