[Prompt: #8 – greed. Set in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
swallow_thelies. Sylar is ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heroslayer and used with permission and love.]
There are certain facts that need to be made clear about Bela Talbot’s life.
One, she damned it. She is the one who made the choice to sell her soul, and she is the one who spent her life trying to fix things herself and alienating the people who could help her. That, in and of itself, makes her life hers, and leaves her free to do with it as she wishes. She’s free to value it or throw it away. It plays a large part in the way she does business, because it’s very hard to threaten someone who doesn’t fear to the point—more to the point, welcomes it so long as it’s not at the sharp claws and teeth of a hellhound.
Two, Sylar saved it. It’s rather ironic when she tries to think about it. The idea that a serial killer secured his own damnation by saving her from hers would probably be incredibly amusing to someone more sadistic than herself. Contrary to popular belief, Bela isn’t that sadistic.
Three, it’s hard to place a value on a life. Some people fear death enough that they will be devoted to their savior for the rest of their lives. Some consider saving the other person’s life to be an appropriate way of clearing their debt. Bela once paid two men twenty thousand dollars for her life and called it even. It all comes down to the value that that person places on their life, and how far they’re willing to go to keep it.
The problem with the devoted servant ideal is that eventually people get bored with the lack of quid pro quo. Bela Talbot is one of those people.
( *** )
949 words
swallow_thelies. Sylar is heroslayer and used with permission and love.]There are certain facts that need to be made clear about Bela Talbot’s life.
One, she damned it. She is the one who made the choice to sell her soul, and she is the one who spent her life trying to fix things herself and alienating the people who could help her. That, in and of itself, makes her life hers, and leaves her free to do with it as she wishes. She’s free to value it or throw it away. It plays a large part in the way she does business, because it’s very hard to threaten someone who doesn’t fear to the point—more to the point, welcomes it so long as it’s not at the sharp claws and teeth of a hellhound.
Two, Sylar saved it. It’s rather ironic when she tries to think about it. The idea that a serial killer secured his own damnation by saving her from hers would probably be incredibly amusing to someone more sadistic than herself. Contrary to popular belief, Bela isn’t that sadistic.
Three, it’s hard to place a value on a life. Some people fear death enough that they will be devoted to their savior for the rest of their lives. Some consider saving the other person’s life to be an appropriate way of clearing their debt. Bela once paid two men twenty thousand dollars for her life and called it even. It all comes down to the value that that person places on their life, and how far they’re willing to go to keep it.
The problem with the devoted servant ideal is that eventually people get bored with the lack of quid pro quo. Bela Talbot is one of those people.
( *** )
949 words
