cross-posted to muserevival

[tinatin]

 - "I think you should only wear jewellery if it has a story behind it." - Robert Carlyle

When Nina first got the golden ring, tiny petals fluttered all around her as she looked into the eyes of her new husband.  The two of them were in a field filled with a colorful rainbow of flowers and surrounded by their closest friends and family.

She joined the Agency with him, and after the honeymoon, the two got to work.  Their days of working for the largest Mercenary group on that side of CR7 were filled with adventure and danger, and they both loved it.

A year later, tears fell on both of their rings as they were changed into perception filters.  Two gold rings.  She’d killed a prince to protect a friend and now her family was marked.  They held on to each other, vowing never to leave, never to surrender.

The ring now meant protection, and was still a symbol of the love she had for her family.  Her husband, Taylor.  Her son, Tariel.  She loved them both and would often look down at the gold band.  Her heart would swell with joy that she had such a perfect little family.

It became a memorial on the day that she stood in front of the scorched spot that was once her home.  The Hell War on Marbacchia 5 had done what the foreign Prince's family had not. She'd only been gone a few minutes, and now the two people that she loved the most were gone.  The ring was all she had left of that perfect marriage that began with flowers and happiness.  

The simple gold band was a shield, protecting her from what she’d done, but she couldn’t take it off.  Not when she met someone new, and not when she started another family.  She didn’t even have a chance to tell them what it meant when they were also ripped away from her.

Now it was armor.  No one could get close to her again if she wore it.  No one would be taken from her, and none would die because of something she’d done.  There was no reason for her to take it off.

That is, until the day she offered it to someone else.  Suddenly, it had less meaning.  Her family was buried on a distant world, she doubted anyone was after her anymore, and maybe, just maybe she was safe.  She could move on.

So the gold band came off of her finger.  Nothing blew up.  She lived.  And then it fell into the drain and after an hour of ripping apart the sink, she had it on her finger once more.

It was now a symbol.  A symbol reminding her of that perfect little family she had, all of the losses that she suffered.  And that she could move on.  That she had to move on, because the ring had survived so much-no, she and the ring had survived so much.  Their losses had been horrible, things that most people never even have to think about.  But she was a survivor.  The ring survived.

At that moment, Nina chose to continue wearing the ring.  It still had meaning, and always would.

Muse: Nina Tinatin
Canon: OC
Wordcount: 500+