Chapter Three - Pants on Fire

Hey guys! I'm back with another update for you guys, and this time all of the preliminary matters are handled. No more introductions, huzzah! That means we can dive right into our wonderful first challenge. Let's see who the Gamemaker decides to target first.

Also, we are not going to be seeing anything from the Gamemaker's basement till all of the challenges are ended and the captured are returned (or their bodies if they aren't still alive). That means that while our characters have guessed who they are connected to, we won't know for sure till the end. I decided this would be more intense than switching back and forth between chapters to explain who died and who didn't.

This chapter could potentially be a trigger for self-harm? I'm not sure what people need to trigger that, as everyone is different, but I felt I had to say it just in case.

"You may tell the greatest lies and wear a brilliant disguise, but you can't escape the eyes of the one who sees right through you."

~ Tom Robbins

Lila's Point of View

It's been a day since we all met up in the park. We all exchanged phone numbers, setting up a group chat to talk in if necessary, not that we can give away too much there in case someone else sees it. However, we can contact people to meet up if we need to, and Marinette suggested that we meet up again in a week to have a sort of recap session on what all has gone on and to check in on everyone. There's still no word or sign of Chloe, and in any other circumstance, we'd just let that go. But now there's a life on the line, and so Marinette has volunteered to try and talk to her with Kim. I don't know if they've made any progress, but we can hope.

I always hated Chloe. She could go burn for all I care. But unless I've forgotten someone, there's not a single person that the Gamemaker has that I would want to see dead. I don't like all of them - heck, the only one I really even care about in the slightest is Nathaniel - but I certainly don't want anyone there to die because Chloe was being a stuck-up, stupid brat.

Sighing, I reach my door after coming home from work, only to pause at the sight of a package sitting in front of it. I could hope that it's a fluke and that the package is actually something I ordered finally getting delivered. That, however, would be idiotic. It doesn't take a genius to know what the package means. It means that, unless someone else has already been contacted, I am the first person to have to face off against the Gamemaker. I don't know why I'm first. I suppose it doesn't really matter. What matters is doing whatever task he has left for me. No one is going to die because of me.

Taking a deep breath, I bend down and pick up the box before shoving the key into the door and getting inside. It's probably best not to linger outside for too long if I want to open this box, and I certainly can't open it outside. I have no idea what will be inside, but I certainly don't want anyone asking me about it. The neighbors in this embarrassing apartment complex can be more than a bit nosy.

Shutting the door behind me and locking it with a satisfying click, I glance around my tiny, shabby apartment. I suppose there's a reason I make sure no one comes over. Why would I want them to see a place that I can barely pay the bills for? I don't want them to see how pathetic my life really is, and I certainly don't want to invoke anyone's pity upon me. It's better that they all think my life is perfect, that I'm living the dream. That's what I always tell them, anyways. So far, they've all believed it, and it's pretty second nature to have my cover stories.

The package isn't super heavy, but I set it down on my slightly unbalanced 'dining table,' if you can even call the circular, one-chaired table a dining table, quickly nonetheless. It's best to stop prolonging this and just get straight to it. With a deep breath, I force the box's lid open and see that it has two things inside. The first one to catch my eye is the tape recorder, which looks practically identical to the one Marinette had previously. I have no doubts in my mind that this must be my instructor, to give me the news of what I am to do. The other object is a knife, glinting almost tauntingly at me from within. Whatever this challenge is will not be pretty.

Taking a deep breath, I pull the tape recorder out and set it on my kitchen counter before pressing play. There's a crackle for a minute before it kicks to life, and the voice that plays this time is much different compared to the one we heard previously. It sounds like a teenage girl - my head throbs when something inside me suggests that it sounds like I did in high school - but is definitely the man from before. I suppose he told us he could do this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it messes with my mind any less. It's disturbing as heck to hear the voice of a young girl chuckle at the suggestion of me causing someone's demise.

"Hello, Lila. Congratulations on being the first challenger up to base. Are you ready to play the game?" The voice pauses to giggle, and it takes all of my self-control not to smash the player.

I know that smashing it won't do anything. It won't actually hurt this sick, twisted person; I know that it won't. That it can't. That no matter how hard I try, I can never touch this man who has taken these people important to us to dangle them over our heads as blackmail. I don't know why he does it, but I do know that right now, I wish I could do something to get back at him for all he's going to put us through. Something that would actually accomplish it, beyond smashing a cassette player that I need to keep Nathaniel alive. The one he assigned me to has to be Nathaniel. He must know that I don't care about anyone else he has taken as much as that silly redhead who can't seem to get out of my head.

"You're lucky to be going first, Lila." He speaks again, voice unchanging from the girly one he has picked. "That means you get one of the simpler ones. You don't have to go anywhere. You don't even have to do anything hard. But before I tell you what your game rules are, why don't we take trip down memory lane? Far back to your high school years. Pleasant times, right? You were a new student coming from Italy and quite the liar, right? You lied about knowing famous people, even lied about knowing Ladybug and gave a review about it to the Ladyblog. You were quite popular, till you were exposed. And being exposed as a liar made you so upset that you got akumatized, right? Not that you can really correct me if I'm wrong, but I know I'm not."

My face burns at having the lies of my childhood get thrown back into my face. I was a new student. I wanted to be popular and liked, and I didn't think that would happen if I was just plain old Lila. I had to come in with a bang, and no one was supposed to be able to call me on my lies. Then I met Adrien Agreste, and suddenly I didn't just want to be liked by everyone as a group. I wanted him specifically to like me. But he had a crush on stupid Ladybug, and I had to come up with a way to win him over from her. It was a harmless lie. I wasn't hurting anyone by convincing him that I was Volpina, but stupid Ladybug had to come in and ruin it by calling me out in my lie. It was her fault I was akumatized, and even then she continued to call me out in my lies. The whole thing ruined my life that year in school. I went from the top of the food chain to the bottom. It was thanks to Marinette that I had any friends at all, and even then everyone besides her was suspicious of me. Adrien kept me at arms length and Alya always seemed harshly skeptical of everything I said. Only Marinette and Nino gave me a true chance, and even then Nino could still be hesitant, especially when his crush on Alya grew more and more apparent as he sought her approval.

Thankfully things improved. I managed to somewhat tame my habit of telling lies. I made some new friends, like Nathaniel. Nino grew more open with me, and when Alya wound up with a major crush on a new boy in the class, we even dated for a bit. We told everyone it was a mutual breakup, that things just weren't working. It was our secret that he dumped me to go back to Alya when she finally got her head out of the clouds to realize the boy was a jerk and that she really liked Nino still. She was jealous as heck during Nino's period of dating me, even if she never admitted it. Marinette was always there to support me, gushing to me all the time about her different situations. I think Alya disliked me even more for that, especially when it was added onto me dating Nino. Whenever she planned things for our friends to do, I somehow 'accidentally' didn't get invited. That was okay. I did the same right back at her, and poor, oblivious Marinette was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Neither of us wanted to bother her with our squabble. But issues with Alya were really the only problem I faced, not counting Chloe just being a generally bully, but that was just to be expected. Even Adrien opened up a bit with me, seeming willing to give me a second chance. Why can't this man be bringing up all of that good stuff, instead of my habitual lying from then?

My taunter continues. "But you've grown out of that phase, I'm sure. You're always honest with your friends now, at least the few you have. You would never lie to them, right?" The voice turns smug. "At least, that's what you'd like to have them believe. Where to even begin with the intricate web you've tried to weave? I bet it's become almost second nature to give them a false perception of your life. Do you coach yourself through what your lie is every morning to make sure you don't contradict yourself that day, or do you remember it all? Perhaps a part of you even believes it's true?" My face burns again as he begins to pull the blanket off to reveal all of the things I have worked so hard to hide from everyone else. "Let's start with your job. Unless I'm mistaken you told everyone that you were working as an 'idea manager' at the magazine Precision, getting paid to help make design choices and spring other new ideas on them to help the magazine soar. You did call it an 'idea manager,' right? Yet when I checked out their employee records, it appears there's no reference for you anywhere. There's not even a reference to your so-called new position, which you had said was 'important, but not important enough to get called out anywhere' to anyone suspicious."

Yet apparently he's not ready to be done tearing me to pieces. "The fact is, you actually work at a small fast food place that you have to bus out to for at least an hour and a half to get to, and it was the only place that you could find to hire you. Apparently your original intent to go into acting just didn't hit off, did it?" Now there's the mocking. What is his point in all this? What does it have to do with his sick game? "And this workplace you have barely pays the rent for your apartment you live in, which is practically in shambles. However, it appears your friends don't know about this either. You claim to live in a fairly nice house, and you even had the guts to claim that you had a car! A car that you then claim you don't use because you prefer to walk or bus. I don't know who's life you're claiming to have, Lila, because it certainly isn't yours." The voice lowers a notch, sounding even more pleased with itself. "And Nathaniel, your apparent boyfriend? Apparently you guys have kept in contact since school, but not much. I don't think he even realizes that you live in an apartment a few doors down, and he certainly isn't aware that he's in a relationship with you. Is that how dating works nowadays?"

At this point my eyes water a bit from having all of my lies thrown back in my face. How did he find all of this out, when no one else even questions me on it? Some of those things shouldn't even be possible. I work at that fast food place under a fake name to hide my shame, the same name that I took this apartment under. I suppose I should have known that he knew where I lived, but how was he able to access records and find me out at every little turn? How does he know these things?

"In short, you're still quite the liar, Lila, and you try to hide it at every turn. Apparently old habits die hard. And that leads us to what your game is." The feminine voice in the recording laughs again, and again that overwhelming urge to smash the cassette player rushes over me. "It's time to see how far you're really willing to go to save a life. I'm sure you've seen the knife that accompanied this tape player in the box, right?" I glance over to confirm that the weapon is still inside. "It's rather nice, isn't it? It's not one of my favorites; I have some that are far superior. But it certainly gets the job done. You won't be the first one to meet it, and you definitely won't be the last. So once you're done with the challenge, put the knife and cassette player back in the box and leave it outside your door." I don't care about the backstories of his weapons. I just want to know what this stupid challenge is and get it over with! "As I said way back at the beginning, your challenge is simple. Pick up the knife in the box. It's going to be your artistic tool for today. With it, I want you to carve a simple statement into your arm. That statement is: I am a liar." He pauses as if to let it sink in, but my head is reeling as to what this will accomplish. "I want to see lots of blood when you do, which means going deep. I want this scar to stick around for a long time, so that even if others don't understand why it's there, you will. It'll be a statement to the world, a neon sign telling everyone exactly what you are, no matter how much you lie to say it's something else. If you haven't accomplished your task by midnight, your chosen dies."

Then it ends, and I'm left staring at the cassette player. I want so badly to smash it now, but I don't want anyone to get hurt because I broke it. This twisted Gamemaker probably will take any opportunity he can to hurt someone, and I refuse to give him the chance.

Taking a deep breath and trying not to shake, I look over at the box and grab the knife. This could be really dangerous. I could get hurt. I only have two hours to do this, so I have to get started soon, but it could not be safe. That's when I have a thought. What if I call someone to come and make sure I'm okay? To make sure I finish it, but also make sure I get to the hospital? He never said that wasn't allowed.

I set the knife down on the table and grab my phone from the counter, clicking Marinette's name that pops up right away. If I do this and get her to come, she'll know I lied about my life. She'll find out just how pathetic I am, but at this point there's more at stake than me. I can't let Nathaniel die because of me, no matter how much I hate the mere thought of doing this. This might make me sick, but thinking of Nathaniel dead because of me is even worse. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"Mari?" I ask over the phone hesitantly when she picks up. "You there?"

"Yeah, what's up?" She tries to sound lighthearted, but I can hear the tiredness in her voice. No doubt she's barely slept while worrying about what's happened to our old classmates.

I take a deep breath. There's no backing out now, so here goes nothing. "How fast can you get over here?"

There's a pause, and then she says, "I'm not sure, I don't know where your house is. I've never been there. Why?"

Right, I do need to explain that. "He sent me a package. I'm the first challenger, and I need to have someone here to make sure I finish and to make sure I get taken to safety if something goes horribly wrong."

"I'm coming." Her voice hitches ever so slightly. She's obviously panicked, and I feel bad for putting her in this position, but she's the only one I can contact who I trust to do this. She's strong. She can handle this, right? "I need your address. Where's your house?"

"I...I lied, Mari. I don't have a nice house or car. I live in a shabby apartment maybe five minutes from your house, a few down from Nathaniel. Do you know where he lives?" I wait to hear the betrayal in her voice.

Instead, I just get a determined, "Yes, I do. What apartment number are you?"

"608." Relief for the fact that she didn't freak out over my lie seeps through me. "I got till midnight to complete the challenge."

"I'm driving over as we speak. What do you have to do?" Marinette is obviously concerned, which is what makes her such a good friend. I'm still not sure she can handle this game though.

"Carve something into my arm." There's no sound on the other end. "Mari?"

"Oh gosh, Lila." Finally she breaks the silence. "I'm almost there. Hold on, okay? I'm parking my car and then heading up."

She's not kidding. In a few moments there's a knock on the door, and I open it to see Marinette standing there, looking visibly distraught. Before I can even speak to the bluenette, she throws her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"I know you can do it, okay?" She whispers, sounding muffled through my shoulder. "You're so strong. You can do it. I know you can. And no matter how much I hate to see it, I'll be here to help. I'll make sure you and your partner are safe."

"Thanks, Mari." I say firmly as we release each other. "But just in case-"

She shakes her head with a glare. "No, Lila. No just in case. You're not going to die from this. The point of these games isn't to kill us. He wouldn't allow any of us to die." Is she trying to convince me or herself? "You can do this."

Not willing to argue further and waste anymore precious time, I give a firm, "I know." It's a lie, but I've grown confident in telling them. Perhaps there's a part of me that hopes that by lying here, I'll be confident in the task at hand. I seat myself at my table with Marinette standing by me, looking unsure of what to do. "Can you make sure you have your phone handy, in case I need an ambulance?"

She nods, looking like she might be sick. "Ya, ya, I can." She looks like she'd like to ramble more, but she stays quiet instead, seeming quite helpless in this whole thing.

I pick the knife back up, trying to ignore how badly my hand shakes as I lay my arm out before me. He never said what side it has to be on, and I think the side with my palm facing up would be more dangerous. Taking deep breathes to try and steady myself, I position the knife and bite my lip to keep from crying out in pain as the tip digs in.

There's a hand on my shoulder steadying me, and while I don't look up from my work, I know that it's Mari trying her best to offer some sort of comfort and help in a challenge where she can only watch helplessly as I struggle. I've put her in a position that might haunt her almost as much as it haunts me, and as apologetic as I am for that, I know I need her to survive this. She's the only thing grounding me as I drag the knife through each letter.

At some point in the process, the pain becomes too much and I break. The tears that threatened to spill let loose, and I cry out in pain with each stroke. The knife gets shakier. My vision gets blurrier. The blood on my arm seems to almost leap out at me, begging me to stop now and end the constant stream of pain, to let it dull ever so slightly.

I want so badly to give up. It burns, especially when my tears mingle in the cuts. But then there's a hand steadying the knife, and I see that Marinette is holding on, doing whatever she can to help. Through the pain and tears she helps me finish the words, helping me to finish the task even though I'm growing lightheaded. She doesn't know what letters I'm carving, so she can't do much in guidance. But she does keep the letters a little straighter, and I try to focus more on her hand than the pain I'm causing myself as I carve. That one hand on my shoulder and the other on the knife are the only things that manage to keep me on this task, until finally through the burning pain we finish.

Marinette disappears for a moment as I toss the knife away like it burns, whimpering. Then she's back with several cloths, tying them along my arm to try and halt the bleeding the best she can. Does she know first aid? I'm not sure. I don't even know if what she's doing stops the stifling pain as I focus ahead, eyes burning with tears as I force myself to stay in the here and now instead of letting myself pass out. I don't even know if I would pass out, but who's to say how much blood I've lost at this point? It took so much longer than I expected, but it's not midnight. It's eleven o'clock, meaning it took us roughly an hour of pain to manage this. Is that enough blood to hurt me? Kill me? I can't tell.

"Package." I manage to choke out through my pain to Mari as she finishes tying the last cloth. "With the cassette player and knife. It has to go outside."

She nods in understanding, grabbing the cassette player and stuffing it in the box. She pauses for a minute in her search for the knife before seeing where I threw it and dropping it in the box. She doesn't bother to clean it. Why should we? It wasn't part of his demands, and he certainly doesn't deserve that sort of hospitality. He made me bleed. I hope he bleeds for it. Then she picks up the package, scurrying to the door and dropping it outside before ducking back in, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Let's get you to the hospital." She says, pulling me from my chair. In my daze I'm not very helpful, all energy focused on making sure I don't pass out and make it harder. But somehow we make it to her car, and she buckles me in the passenger seat before getting in the driver's side, taking off at a speed that no doubt is illegal. "I don't know what excuse we'll give them. They might say you need hospitalized for therapy, since we can't tell them the real reason and they will no doubt jump to conclusions. But the important thing is that they can help. Okay? Just listen to my voice." She continues to ramble on as we drive, and I listen, realizing that this is the best she can do to try and make sure I stay grounded.

But as long as it works, then I don't care what she does.

And there we have it! Sorry for a shorter chapter than the last few, but I felt that this was a solid point to end on. If any of this was slightly unrealistic, my apologies. I'm not totally sure what this would be like, as I have never been in a situation like this, but I tried my best based on the little research I could manage. There weren't very many results, which is understandable. And this, of course, sets the tone for the rest of the story. I'm not sure how good I am at writing the pain and blood and stuff. It's painful to write that stuff, so I'm sure I shy away from explaining it too much. Sorry for disappointing anyone by doing so. However, if the tone of this chapter bothered you at all, I suggest you stop reading. This is a darker story, as I said previously, and it really can only get darker from here. I don't want anyone to get upset or even triggered from events in their own life from this story, and I would rather you not read it then have something happen to you because you read it. If I think it's something that could be upsetting or triggering, I'll put a warning at the top of the chapter, and if you think I should have warned about something else, please feel free to let me know in a PM or in a review so that I can edit and add it in. I'd rather overly warn you guys than not warn you enough.

Anyways, what do you guys think of older Lila and her life? Were you expecting her to be first? How about her task? The mere thought of having to do something like that makes me sick. I was excited to delve into Marinette and Lila's relationship a bit though! Marinette will definitely also be a bit scarred from this event, but she also seems to almost be a rallying leader in all of this, so that's to be expected. Were you expecting Lila to make it through? What tasks do you think other people might face, now that the tone is set? Do you think there will be anyone who will fail their challenge? Let me know in a review. c:

Thank you for the support you've offered so far! This is my first time writing a story with this sort of tone, and so it's awesome to have so much support in doing so, whether it be through a review, favorite, or follow. So thank you! Hopefully you guys will continue to support me.

~ Dagger