Here's the other half. Now, if you excuse me, I'm gonna crash. [(－－)]..zzZ

Chapter 4: Nocturne Escapade.

I trod up the stairs at a leisurely pace, with my only companion being the light of a little, ignited candle that accompanied the warmth of the blanket covering my sleepless form.

This is all that's left of the grandiose mansion...

Cracks roamed all over the property, a product of the sheer girth caused by the pelting leftovers from the planetoid of night, and the resulting havoc quaking the land. Reddish-brown stains sprinkled here and there because of the seawater slowly perforating the imperfect structure, biding its time until it became one with the tide.

The second floor appeared to be no different. Spread with ash and grime, rubble adorned the deserted hallways, and the roofless rooms let in the wintry breeze, showcasing the moon in all its fractured glory.

And here I was. Alone again.

Something creaked in the last room, and I remained calm as I sauntered toward it.

"Blanc? Are you here?" I gently opened the broken door to show nobody inside. No one, except a vast, hollow pit that was too deep for me to climb into, and the portrait of a dead woman.

I strode to the back of the wall, almost compelled to skim my palms against the fine painting.

Elegant, dazzling, and… off.

But to discover or to not discover? That's the question.

There was no time to admire, or to be unnerved by how intact it was compared to the shambled mess outside. My hands interlocked themselves onto a set of figures, and a series of clicks resonated around the atelier.

Here. The reddish spot clanked,

There. The yellowish almond whirled,

Over here. The dark triangle twisted,

One more. The blue rectangle spun,

And… The white iris sunk.

Shadows crept under the moon's glow, and I moved to the mechanism hidden in the penumbra. The secret revealed was a pathway leading directly to the forgotten underground.

"Here goes nothing…" I crossed my fingers, ignoring the stock-still image judging me from behind.

I took a step forward, letting the old tubular tunnel guide me down below.

What would the result be, I wonder?

ฅ-*୨୧*-ฅ

It cranked and shook, but I arrived unharmed with only a scare or two.

I coughed from the bits of dust floating in the air, bothering my ability to see and breathe normally. I raised the tip of my tattered blanket and proceeded to submerge myself into familiar habits.

Habits that didn't belong to my body, but the soul residing within it. Memories of perilous times during lockdown and nurtured by fear. Never knowing when or where in the world the disease would strike next and slay its upcoming victim.

I looked past the decaying and withering leaves, the planted shards of glass, the slanted steel bars, and the echoes of what once was.

For there, ahead of me, lay the end of my search.

I passed by the collapsing bridge one step at a time to let it adjust to the extra weight, lest I find myself slipping down the cold pits of a lifeless Earth.

My foot splattered on the leftover puddles deluging the principal antagonist's lair, where he dwelled most of the cartoon in, effortlessly plotting for a fruit that wouldn't bear.

The location where Gabriel Agreste started his day before he ensured his onslaught on the people of Paris, and where Hawkmoth ran away with his tail tucked between his legs after an encounter with Paris' dynamic duo, defeated with no jewels in sight.

"I'll fix everything. I promise." And the cause of my restlessness was following in the footsteps of his father, sharing the same ideology… and their sins.

His tail swished at my presence, but he made no sign to move from his current place, unbothered by the conditions of the wasted basement.

"What are you doing here?"

("Why are you here?" The figure spoke in alarm.)

I stopped where his back was facing me, and I began to fiddle with the multicolored wristband on my right arm.

(The girl toted a tiny bag with snacks, a few cookies, two juice boxes, and some euros packed for the trip.

"Ran with you!" She exclaimed with purpose, butchering her words due to reaching her intended destination by a hair's breadth.)

"I was looking for you." The makeshift mask covered my worry, and I reached out to the figure before me.

(The girl poured out every ounce of cuteness she squeezed from her tiny size, everything she could use to her advantage to the best of her capabilities to convince the figure to take her with him. "Please, please, please!"

She moved to grab his hand-)

"Go Back." But the dead tone his voice carried made me flinch.

("I promise to return." The figure forced the girl's hand away. Without looking back, he vanished among the sea of people.

"Go back home." )

And my hand retracted itself as if hot coals had burned it.

The white cat didn't acknowledge any of my actions. He preferred to sit in a daze, unchangeable and unmoving, as his paw rested upon the sole undamaged piece from the upheaval.

The color was stripped away from the sealed box, but I already knew what reposed inside. The revelation of the treasure it concealed astounded my uncultured mind in another world, in another life.

Lo-and-behold, the source and key of so many plot points of this universe, and the buried love of the Agrestes. Enveloping and binding the dysfunctional family into a cocoon that reminded them, fueled them, and ultimately destroyed them.

Destroyed us all.

The chipped, stained window displayed the ocean of stars twinkling above, shining on the water drops decorating the cat's pristine suit, and his shoulders quivering slightly at the knowledge his mother would never wake.

(She was about to yell for the figure, but a chuckle escaped from me before she/I could stop myself. "...Home?"

Under any circumstances, would the snowy weather feel as cold as it did on the day realization befell her/me.

"What home?" Water cascaded down her/my face as all she/I could do was run away laughing, dissociated at the absurdity of her/my life.

.

.

.

.

H e h a d l i e d.

He would never come back.)

"No."

An object clattered against the floor, resounding loudly for all to hear. But the only thing that reverberated for the last two people alive on this planet, was the hammering of a small conviction uttered by a pretentious impostor, and the shocked, widened eyes and disbelief coming off a misguided monster.

"Not without you." Embellished tear marks and determined gazes clashed.

The final embers of the candle's flame were snuffed out, welcoming the rest of the night inside the forlorn tomb. The shade obscured our ruffled emotions, but for me in particular, that wasn't the only heaviness burdening my trembling hands.

As the arms of finality embraced me, darkness susurrated and danced over the ominous glow tucked away in my pockets.

The answer I found… and I didn't know what to make of it.

ฅ-*୨୧*-ฅ

A/N

2 more chapters in this place (or 1 if I compact it well enough.) until built-up karma has to be released. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

"You reap what you sow." Too bad the SI is the one now inhabiting Lila's body.