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Thank you so much for reading and leaving wonderful reviews like always.
I'm still in the stressful process of studying... which isn't goign well. Hopefully I'll be able to focus enough to get what I need to done. Wish me luck!
Hope you enjoy!
Click, click, click.
I know that sound. I'm so pleased that it worked and I managed to get Lila on board.
Well, hopefully.
She approaches the door, eyebrows raised and her arms folded sceptically.
Uh-oh.
"Why the change of heart?" she asks, her voice not letting any emotions slip. I can't tell whether or not she believes me, or whether she's just amusing me by making me believe she's on board. Either way, I decide that it's best to seem emotionless too. So I hold her glare for a moment, before grinning at her, hoping that it looks mischievous, or at least believable. Judging by the taken aback look on her face, I guess that it must be somewhat believable. Out of her sight I put my gloves back on to show her that I'm willing to comply with her, and then I come to the door so that she can properly see me.
"I'm done sitting about. Marinette clearly hates me now, and you and I both know that it was all based on lies," I state in a matter-of-fact tone, "but now, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be true. I've thought about it, and I want to know what you're both going to do to her, and me. Care to accept my offer?"
Lila pauses, frowning as she meets my eyes and then looks me up and down. I can't show her my state of panic, but I swallow nervously.
Maintaining eye contact, I flash a fake smile at her.
She says nothing.
Does nothing.
"How do I know I'm not being messed with?"
I shrug innocently, widening my eyes.
"What have I got to lose?" I reply.
Once again, Lila pauses, breaking eye contact in thought. I can tell that she's trying to weigh everything up in her mind, and I really really hope that it's okay.
Eventually, she meets my eyes with an uncertain expression. Cocking her head to one side, she frowns. It's clear to her this doesn't make sense.
"That's what I'm concerned about. You have nothing in the first place," she answers thoughtfully, as if almost to herself.
I hide my grimace. Please don't let it be too late. I need to say something, anything, that will get her on board with this. I wrack my brains, trying desperately to think of any randomness that I can spout in the hopes of getting her on my side.
What would my father say?
My insides curl at the very thought of it. I steel myself and think about it. It shouldn't be too difficult, should it?
After all, like father like son, right?
I laugh bitterly at Lila, taking her completely by surprise. She jumps in shock, but almost straight away regains her composure. I fold my arms nonchalantly and scoff at her.
"You're forgetting I have a lot more knowledge about this than you do. They are my powers after all, and I've lived with Marinette and experienced the full effect of her abilities too," I say airily. Lila looks at me, her interest piqued.
"The way I see it, it would be stupid, no, naïve, to let this opportunity pass," I lean into the door and Lila's eyes widen in surprise, "and besides, you should know I'm telling the truth. If anyone knows a good lie, it's you."
I immediately regretting saying that last sentence. What if she does know a good lie, and mine isn't one? What if she can see straight through me? No, no, no, this was a bad idea, this is hopeless.
Lila's expression twists into a cruel grin.
Oh no, I bet she knows.
She hesitates for a moment before leaning forward and before I know it the door is creaking open, and I realise that I'm free.
Temporarily.
But it means she bought it!
"Fine. But I better not be wrong Agreste."
Now that she has opened the door, I'm positively ecstatic and jumping for joy on the inside. I'm just so delighted that the first phase of my plan has worked, and finally I can work on the next step. Knowing that that door is open and I'm supposedly on Lila's side, makes things so much easier. Now, I'm one step closer to getting Marinette back again. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realises that I've come to find her.
Or maybe I can.
The lid on my chest of emotions is struggling to stay in place. The emotions are trying to get out and cloud my judgement again. But no, I won't let them.
Even if Marinette isn't pleased to see me, I'll make things right again.
Sometimes it takes making a mistake to make things better, because from the darkest of places and from the ashes, when everything looks hopeless, that's when the truly good things surface. When the first flower pokes it's head of from the embers and starts to grow, when the sun finds its way out from its prison of clouds and spills its light back into the thirsty sky, that's when you know that those things have been waiting, silently, for their time to be challenged. And so, by facing the obstacles, they can prove that this whole time they were strong.
They just needed room to flourish.
And that's how I know that everything will be ok with Marinette. Because I'll climb from the ashes and bring the light back to her again. To prove how much I truly do like her, and that I'm truly sorry for everything.
That's a promise that I intend to keep.
I'm being escorted down the long dark corridor by Lila long before I'm ready to see it.
Although I've been let out of my cell quite a few times before, I have been less than focused on noting my surroundings. The only times I've ever been out are to have a shower and to be taken to what I assume in their chamber of torture, but every time I am brought out I'm being dragged along by guards, and so I'm too focused on the guns that are pointed at my chest rather than the colourless wallpaper and the tarnished doors every few inches.
So as we walk in silence down the chilling hallway, I decide to make a mental note of how many doors we pass and which direction we are going in. I absorb it all into my head and take mental snapshots of every door, every dark staircase and every cracked window, just so that if... no, when Marinette and I eventually break out, we already know the way to the exit and we don't have to take time to find it. In the hopes of sticking to the plan I take in everything, every last detail.
But, the further down the corridor we walk, the less I want to have to absorb everything around me and the more I want to just close my eyes and wake up, all of this just a terrible nightmare.
This place is utterly terrifying.
It's like I've only half seen it this whole time, only in brief glimmers. The only time I had the chance to steal a glimpse at any of it I was being whisked through the countless snaking halls and bundled down seemingly endless flights of spiral stairs. Now that I'm walking down here myself, I finally understand why everyone in this place is so miserable and hopeless. Even as I'm walking and looking around, I can sense that everything has been repainted and coated in this haunting shadow, like all of a sudden something has changed and sucked the happiness out of something that once had the potential to be beautiful and instead twisted it into what I'm seeing now.
A scream pierces the air and I actually feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My skin prickles with goosebumps and I can't help myself shiver. Lila looks at me with an amused smile, thinking that I'm pathetic for being so antsy. The sound of pure agony and terror in the scream, and I understand it, like it's a language that only the people here can speak. It greets me like an old friend. Over the time I've been here, I've grown to know every tortured soul who is trapped here with me, knowing who they are, but only be the sound of their screams.
That's something I never imagined that I'd be able to do.
In some way, these halls are exactly the way I remember. But in others, it seems like everything has changed. The walls are just as dilapidated as I remember, the wallpaper crumbling and peeling from the walls like the skin of a deceased figure.
Now I can see the marks on the wall from where I touched it earlier. The blackened corpse of the wall isn't as damaged as I imagined that it would be. I look down at my outstretched palms in wonder.
And slightly in fear.
My powers are getting weaker.
I can feel it.
Slowly but surely, they are. In fairness, I wasn't trying to do a lot of damage to the wall and maybe that's why it wasn't as strong. I don't know whether to be pleased or terrified. It might just be my imagination.
However, something is happening.
And I have no idea what.
I force myself to stay calm and think about it later. What I've done is still incredibly dangerous, and although it blends in perfectly with the aura of the corridor, it terrifies me to know that those kinds of effects came from my hands.
Lila leads me to the end of the corridor, and I have to fight the urge to jump for joy at what I'm looking at.
There it is.
The exit.
The way out, the door to freedom, the escape back to sanity.
It would be so easy for me to just escape now, to take my chance and just run,
To run and run as fast as I can, run like the wind, faster than I ever have before.
I could. I should.
Should I?