Happiness That Never Was
Still thinking about the fact that Sasha and Inga never really got a chance to live a peaceful, simple and happy life.
They were born into abusive households. Sasha was impoverished to the point when he couldn’t afford any food, starving for days, with Inga being the only one feeding and caring for him. Inga was constantly beaten up by her stepdad, and her mother did not stop him. The only one who stopped Inga from accepting so much abuse was Sasha, telling her ‘If your mother really loved you, then she wouldn’t let him hurt you’.
Inga: Wanna finish?
Sasha: But what about you?
Inga: Unlike you, I’m fed at home.
Sasha: Unlike you, I’m not beaten up at home.
Inga: Is this some kind of competition?
At one point things got so bad that Inga wanted to run away and Sasha had to stop her from doing it on her own because she’s underaged and had no place to escape. But he had a suggestion. He suggested they call Child Services, so they could send them to an orphanage. His plan was simple: they could live there until they reached 18 and then live how they wanted, without the abuse.
Sasha: Let’s call the Child Services so they could take us.
Inga: To an orphanage?
Sasha: Just for a few years. Till we come of age. We need to get as far away from them (their abusive households) as we can...
On top of that, Inga is dyslexic and was continually mocked for it by everyone, except Sasha. He wanted to help her. He wanted to find a book so interesting that it would keep her so engaged she would try to go through and be proud of it. He did find it. Too bad that this book had a trap that caused them to get poisoned with white ink (which is one of the most important plot points in recent chapters and Exlibrium as a whole, this part of their story has been kept a secret for years, we only learned about this, like, half a year ago).
Sasha: I thought if you like the book, then you would try to go through it to learn what happens next. That’s why I found a good one for you. I liked it, so I wanted to share it with you because that’s what friends do.
After they were caught by the Bookwizard Circle, they were subjected to one of the most horrifying experiences in their lives - the ink trial. Nor Inga neither Sasha got the white ink as their main source of power, but both of them were stopped by the Circle. Why? Well... First, because Sasha’s colour was not a part of the spectre (his ink is grey, which is a big no no, because it’s close to monochrome ink). Second, even though Inga got azure ink she still had a huge amount of white ink in her body, to the point that her hair (including brows and eyelashes) turned white entirely and one of her eyes started looking like this:
Third, Leska family wanted to experiment on them in the first place because of how they got poisoned. Leskas wanted to see what would happen if both of them got white ink power. To their disappointment, none of them did. But they still proceeded to torture and experiment on them for a year, to see what could happen and to learn why Sasha got grey colour and why Inga still had white ink in her body. All while condemning them for it and telling them that they don’t belong here and that their every mistake is a fatal one (which backfires badly in Sasha’s case because that’s exactly why he did what he did in the future, costing the Library many lives and reputation).
After some time at the library (and the constant pressure from the Circle) Sasha (who was on the verge of suicide with Inga being his sole reason to live, because he was still blaming himself for putting her in danger) goes against the rules and tries to free a character named Agata from being killed over and over again by her best friend. As I mentioned, nothing goes according to plan, people die, all the students turn against him and start blaming him for everything...
Except for Inga. She never blamed him and never turned her back on him. She understood him like no one else, accepting him with all his flaws. She defended him, when no one else did. And everyone hated her for it. Her mates still talked to her, but none of them were allowed to bring this issue up in her presence because they would immediately get into an argument with her. Sasha, however, started blaming himself even more, constantly apologizing for what he did. Also, he started to become even more self-critical and deemed himself unworthy of any love (especially from Inga, which he later confesses to her).
Sasha: You always supported me. Even when I didn’t deserve it.
Inga: Nonsense! You always deserved it!
This internalized self-hatred results in him being ready to throw his life away, because, in his opinion, there is no other way for him to redeem himself. What he doesn’t realize, however, is that a lot of things that he did after this incident already redeemed him in the eyes of others. Even in Rita’s, whose almost-boyfriend Vladya died because of Sasha. And yet, even after this, after he finally started to stabilize and heal his mental state (despite losing his mentor and dear friend Nightingale, btw), after swearing not to die, he still had this gnawing feeling that the only way he can truly redeem himself is to sacrifice his life, so Inga could live. She was having none of it, so he tricked her into being saved, and it’s so heartbreaking because she was the first one to swear not to die, she didn’t want Sasha to see another loved one perish. And now she’s the one who has to see her beloved die.
(Bonus: Lilya, who just had Kira back, also loses her in this process, wtf, why this series always punishes those, who dare to love somebody, like this)
It’s made even worse by the fact that Sasha is technically both dead and alive. So he kept his promise, but he also didn’t. Now we have to wait and see Inga’s (probably unhinged and very heart-wrenching) reaction to it.
I have a very, very small hope for a happy ending. Mostly because this series is known for it’s glass-choking content and everyone has to suffer there. But I still have this hope, I always do.
Inga and Sasha’s story is still unfinished, but, for now, it can only be described as “Happiness That Never Was”.
6 notes
·
View notes