Note: I have the rest of the story outlined. There'll be more or less about 12 more chapters.
The Forget-Me-Not Chapter 6: Illusionary, Bewitching Innocence
It was there that they lived in happiness, like a dream from which there is no waking.
They laughed without ever knowing sadness, like a dream from which there is no waking.
As modestly as nuns, they frolic, then become tired and sleep… dreaming within a dream.
It's a cycle, the Samsara, the Ouroboros.
Remain pure and ignorant of fear so that darkness can never take hold in your heart.
Remain pure even if it were a false light.
Marinette sat in her room on the fourth floor of the girls' dorm. Both the boys' and the girls' dorms had 5 floors. The first floor housed the younger kids and the head prefects. The floors above the first housed progressively older students.
Marinette had a large roll of cloth cut into a rectangle, which she'd taken from her sewing room in the recreation center, laid out on the floor of her room. She was writing on it with a fabric marker. Along the left edge of the fabric, she'd written the floor numbers of the girls' dorm. In each row after the floor numbers she'd listed the room numbers in each of the floors. She'd drawn a line separating the floor numbers from the room numbers.
The great majority of the room numbers were crossed out, but there were still many that weren't crossed out. Those had been circled. There were also quite a few that had been circled, but were then crossed out.
Marinette had been checking each and every room in the girls' dorm to see where Mylene could've lived.
She'd been at this for a while now, knocking on doors and checking to see if anyone was inside. Almost each time she did, the person who answered was mildly annoyed at being disturbed.
But Marinette was determined to find Mylene, or at least some clue about her.
She'd made sure to check in at different times each day, during as many different times as possible. If someone didn't answer, then they either weren't home…
…or it was an empty room that Mylene could've inhabited.
In between days where she'd check the girls' dorm, Marinette would go through the recreation center, trying to see if anyone there had seen Mylene, or checking for a clue about Mylene.
She always came up empty, and, by now, people were really starting to get annoyed with Marinette's persistence.
They just wanted to have fun, enjoy themselves in the boring asylum, but Marinette kept bursting their bubble with something that they didn't care about.
Marinette still hadn't asked Nino or checked the mess hall yet.
With the offices in the mess hall, and how weirdly angry Nino was being, they were the most likely to hold clues to where Mylene was.
But, truth be told, Marinette was intimidated by the prospect of looking through the mess hall.
Marinette, like most other patients, never went into the mess hall unless it was for meal time and medicine time, to order something, or because she got hurt.
The only people who ever went into the mess hall for reasons other than those were either prefects, or had asked the prefects for jobs to do because they were bored.
Marinette could, hypothetically, feign asking for a job to have an excuse to really look through the mess hall… But, Felix was always busy, Rose and Juleka were always either busy or too caught up in each other, and Nino had been trying his hardest to ignore everyone except for when he was taking care of the younger kids or arguing with the other prefects.
And, the other prefects were simply too intimidating for Marinette to approach, she didn't know them all that well.
Marinette sighed and looked over her table of room and floor numbers. There were 10 circled rooms on the sixth floor, four on the fifth floor, only one on the third floor, three on the second floor, and five on the first floor.
Marinette logically knew that it'd be stupid to check the sixth, second and first floors, because Mylene was in her age group, and those floors all housed people who were too old or too young.
But, she couldn't overlook anything. What if Mylene was hiding in one of the empty rooms on the other floors? Marinette had to check to make sure.
On her floor, the fourth floor, it was just rooms 15 and 25 that didn't have anyone answer the door no matter what time Marinette checked. Those two rooms were her first priority, since they were the rooms Mylene was most likely to be in.
Marinette decided that today, if the people behind those two doors didn't answer, she'd find a way to pick the lock and go in anyway.
She just needed to check.
Marinette looked around for a bobby pin, and managed to find a few. She tucked them into her pocket, grabbed her room key, and walked out into the hallway and towards room 15.
Oddly enough, it had been Alya who taught her how to pick locks.
It'd been because Alya had been huge about gossip, but not false gossip. True gossip, Alya had once been so stuck on finding out the truth that she'd get herself into dangerous situations. Marinette was always the one to caution her.
The irony was that now, it was the other way around.
Alya wasn't so huge on finding out the truth anymore. Now, she was more indifferent, especially when it came to Mylene.
Alya was convinced that Mylene was nothing more than a fake of some kind and that Marinette would suffer if she tried to go digging deeper.
Thus, this time, she was the one cautioning Marinette from getting too carried away with finding the truth, and it was weird and uncharacteristic of her.
Marinette stopped in front of door 15, and moved her hand up to knock, when she heard someone approaching with a sigh. Marinette turned to see that Alya was now standing near her. She had her arms crossed and was looking at her disapprovingly, as if she were disappointed, with an underlying tone of being upset.
Alya uncrossed her arms as she said, "Girl, are you still going through all the rooms in the dorm? How far has that diagram of yours gone in your room? How many times have you knocked on all the damn doors? Girl, you're getting too obsessed. Trust me, with this kind of thing, I'd know."
Marinette then retorted in frustration, "But, I have to know for sure if she ever lived here, and the only way to find out is to check the rooms! And the prefects insist that there is no master key, so I have to check it the old fashioned way, and I have to know for sure."
"You're getting too obsessed over this, and it isn't going to end well," Alya reiterated, her voice entirely serious and grave. Alya clasped her hands together as she nearly pleaded, "Everyone else is able to live just fine without knowing. They're having fun, and why can't you do the same? Please, drop it."
Marinette sighed, and started to respond, "Alya-"
She was interrupted, however, when someone shouted, "HEY, Alya!"
Alya turned to see Alix approaching with a mischievous smile on her face, Kim and Max trailing her with similar expressions on their faces.
Alya raised an eyebrow and asked plainly, "What?"
Alix, leather gloves covering her hands as always, grabbed onto the sleeve of Alya's shirt with a smirk and tugged on it, saying, "I heard you're pretty good at fighting."
"Kind of? I'm not bad, but it's not like it's something I do all the time." Alya replied, looking over at the three stooges warily. She exchanged a look with Marinette, the pigtailed girl shrugging helplessly.
Alix grinned and said, "Perfect. Come on, they've got a martial arts thing down there today. It's in partners, and you're with me. We're gonna beat Kim to the dust, it's gonna be great." She started dragging Alya down the hallway by pulling on her sleeve, careful not to touch Alya's actual arm at all, not even through the sleeve.
Alya blinked in surprise, "Wait what? I never agreed to this. Hold up, Alix, could you stop?" When Alya finally wrenched her sleeve away from Alix, Max walked up behind her and started pushing Alya away from Marinette and towards the stairs. Kim leisurely followed behind them.
Alya turned around to Marinette and mouthed, "Help me." Marinette giggled at the scene, and simply waved at her friend, mouthing, "Sorry, have fun!" Alya playfully stuck her tongue out at Marinette before grudgingly turning around and walking voluntarily with the trio.
Marinette turned back to the door, glad that Alix's interruption inadvertently prevented another argument between Alya and Marinette, and that it also gave her the chance to check rooms 15 and 25 for clues about Mylene.
Marinette knocked on the door. When no one answered, she looked outside to see how bright it was, confirming that she'd checked at a time that she hadn't checked before.
This room truly must've been empty, and was thus a legitimate candidate for harboring a clue about Mylene.
Marinette knelt down and started trying to pick the lock to the room, when she was interrupted again. This time, it was a male voice asking incredulously, "What are you doing?
Marinette rapidly stood up and turned around, knowing that it looked really bad. After all, she was technically trying to break into someone else's room. She was surprised to see Nino there, holding a large paper bag filled with packages. He was most definitely delivering them to the people who'd ordered them.
An awkward smile crossed Marinette's face, and she stuttered trying to flounder for an excuse. She knew that, as a prefect, and as someone who was rather moody lately, that Nino would be furious with such an act and could possibly tell Rose and Juleka, which would not end well for Marinette.
She also knew that if she said it was to find Mylene, that he'd be even angrier.
"Uh… I was, uh. Just, uh, trying to check in on one of my friends! And-and they, uh, gave me permission! To break into their room if they, uh, couldn't answer! Yeah."
Nino blinked, not buying it at all, and deadpanned, "Do you think I'm stupid?"
Marinette sighed and conceded, "OK, I've been checking the rooms in the girls' dorm to see if any of them had a clue to Mylene."
Despite trying to keep his facial expression blank, the way Nino spoke was grave, as if he were breaking the news to Marinette that someone she loved had died, "You worried? I'm telling you, she's not real."
Marinette crossed her arms sternly, not convinced at all as she retaliated with a, "Well, you and I both know that that's not true. She was here, I know it."
"Well, no one else except for you cares about whether or not she's real. So what if she is? So what if she isn't? It's not going to change anything in the end." Nino sounded harsh as he said his, and Marinette clenched her jaw.
Marinette couldn't stand not knowing what the situation with Mylene was all about, it was driving her crazy. She had to know.
Marinette was about to retaliate with how ignorance wasn't bliss and how people deserved to know the truth…
But.
Nino then continued from his last point in a manner that was no longer harsh, but instead solemn, "Don't start butting into things you don't understand. Sometimes, being ignorant is better than knowing the truth. Are we the only crazy ones? Mylene? You? Me? Ivan? You may have that feeling, but you gotta ignore it. This is all a dream, and it's better not to wake up."
Nino took a step closer to Marinette, and she was struck by how serious and morose the normally relaxed DJ sounded, "…It's better not to know."
Marinette took a step back from Nino, and was surprised when her back hit the door of room 15.
From down the hall, Nathanael, having come to the girls' dorm in search of the package Nino was supposed to deliver to him, watched the scene, shaking with a deeply rooted feeling of doom and jealousy.
Nino was going to ruin everything.
Marinette… she deserved better.
Nino had to stay away from Marinette. Sweet, kind, sincere, beautiful Marinette.
Marinette had been so kind to Nathanael, but here was Nino, not acting kind at all to Marinette. And yet, Marinette still seemed ready to argue with the prefect. Nathanael was jealous.
Marinette wanted to know about this Mylene person, Nathanael had no idea who that person was, but if finding out made Marinette happy, then so be it. Nathanael just wanted Marinette to be happy.
But, he had this gut feeling, that Nino wouldn't give Marinette the right answer.
Nino would give Marinette the truth.
The horrible, horrible truth.
Nathanael had no idea what the truth would be, but, whatever it was, he had this feeling that it would be horrible. Too horrible. It would doom them all, and Marinette wouldn't be happy.
She deserved to be happy, even if he didn't.
Nathanael's hands continued to shake with his usual anxiety. They shifted, and clasped, and unclasped as Nathanael approached the two and shakily pushed Nino away from Marinette.
Nino briefly stumbled from nothing but surprise. Nathanael wasn't very strong with how anxious he was. Nevertheless, Nino shot Nathanael a bewildered look, wondering where this was coming from.
Nino, as a prefect, had a responsibility and thus did not bully or abuse Nathanael like most others did. Nino was actually indifferent to Nathanael unless the redhead had a breakdown, and then he'd have the responsibility of escorting the half-breed to his room.
Other than that, the two never really interacted, at all.
As a result, this was out of left field.
Nathanael realized this as well, and caught Nino's bewildered look.
The slither of confidence and resolve he'd had before, left as quickly as it came, and Nathanael was suddenly shaking even more. He stuttered, inwardly bracing himself for some sort of consequence as he stuttered, "I, uh, N-Nino, could you, uh, p-please, uh…" Nathanael was physically unable to finish the sentence, in fear of the abuse that could follow.
Marinette was confused, worried for Nathanael, but mostly confused. Nino, however, understood, and he surrendered, saying casually, "No prob. Dude, but, hey, in my defense, Marinette was the one asking all the questions. I was the one telling her to stop."
Nathanael just continued to stand there, trembling, and Nino tentatively pulled a package out of the paper bag and placed it on the floor in front of Nathanael. Nathanael remained standing and trembling, and Nino knew just what Nathanael was feeling.
Nino honestly didn't mind, he wasn't wanting to be around Marinette anyway. All she would've talked about would've been about Mylene, and he wanted to avoid that at all costs.
But Nino wasn't sure how many times he could turn her away before he cracked.
In a way, he already had, with how he could barely talk to Felix and the others anymore without fighting with them. That was why he was taking on the responsibility of helping the younger kids so much lately.
Nino spun around on his heel, and started walking away from Marinette and Nathanael with a, "Well, I've got packages to drop off, see you later."
Marinette watched the aspiring DJ walk away and stop in front of what Marinette recognized to be room 25. She watched in shock as Nino knocked on the door, and someone opened it and accepted the package that was given to them.
She'd have to cross 25 off of her list.
Marinette was pulled out of her thoughts when Nathanael tentatively tried to get her attention, "Um, Marinette?"
Marinette turned to see Nathanael looking down at his hands, still fidgeting. Her demeanor softened, and she wanted to be kind to him. Everyone else, even Nino to some extent, was condescending towards him. Marinette smiled sweetly and asked him, "Yeah, what is it?"
Nathanael nervously rubbed the back of his head and asked, "If it's not too much to ask, could you, uh, please, um…" He trailed off here, losing confidence, bringing his hands back together nervously.
Marinette reached over and took his shaking hands in her secure ones, and Nathanael's head snapped up and he looked over at her with a blush dusting his cheeks. Marinette shot him a reassuring smile and asked gently, "What was it?"
Nathanael squeezed Marinette's hands in his own almost desperately as he stuttered with a blush, "Could you, could you please, uh, just… not talk to Nino anymore? Please?"
Marinette blinked in surprise and took her hands away from Nathanael as she simply pointed out, too focused in her mission in validating Mylene's existence, "But he knows something about Mylene!"
Marinette's simple protest had Nathanael taking a step away from her in a panic, terrified that he'd angered her. He mistook her protest for something greater. Normally such words would've been an indication for an assault.
Nathanael had to remind himself that this was Marinette. His instincts screamed at him to run, but he found the strength within him to remain. Marinette was kind, she'd understand if he just explained.
Nathanael, in his nervousness, started rambling, trying in vain to explain his thoughts coherently, "I-uh, you're really so kind Marinette, to be worried about so many people, even about someone that nobody remembers, like Mylene, but, uh, if you could, uh, just, stay away from Nino, I mean, if it's not too much to ask, but, uh, I just… Nino is bad news, and uh…"
Marinette crossed her arms, stern with an eyebrow raised, put off by how he was telling her what to do, forgetting that it was Nathanael that she was speaking with despite his stuttering. Nathanael trailed off and wrung his hands in panic, on the verge of tears.
Why couldn't he explain himself? He was going to make her angry! He was going to make his sweet Marinette angry with him!
Nathanael fell to his knees and desperately grabbed onto Marinette's left arm, pleading with something different than just normal love, "I just want you to be happy, and-and Nino won't make you happy, at all." He shook with terror, bracing himself for rejection from the one person who hadn't yet done it.
Just as tears were about to fall, Marinette sighed and pulled Nathanael to his feet, placing her hands on his shoulders to steady him. She smiled wearily, going easy on him because no one else would, "You must be exhausted. I can walk you back to your room if you want. You look like you could use a nap."
Nathanael shook his head, "No, I'm-I'm fine, I just… Nino won't help you, not really, and I just want you to be happy! You deserve to be." He bit his lip, wanting to explain himself in clearer words but not being able to.
Marinette didn't know how to respond. From the way he was looking at her, it was so clear that he had a crush on her, but… Marinette wasn't looking for love. She was looking for answers, and Nathanael didn't have any. She didn't want to hurt him, but she had to let him down somehow…
Nathanael tentatively reached out with a shaking hand, and pleaded, "Please."
Before he could touch her shoulder, however, something stopped him in his tracks. A force held him back, and he couldn't move. It was as if he were encased in stone, unable to move.
Nathanael recognized it immediately, and he breathed, still for the first time in what felt like forever, "Initiative…"
When an akuma summons the negative energy that corrupted them in the first place, they could use it to lay claim to another akuma's mind. This initial attack would initially weaken the user. After that point, however, the user could control the target at will. This ability was called initiative.
Initiative pushed Nathanael back, and he fell on the ground. Nathanael stared at the carpeted floor, wide-eyed. Who had used initiative on him?
Marinette blinked in surprise, she recognized the initiative as well, but she knew for a fact that she didn't have initiative over Nathanael.
She looked over her shoulder. Maybe Nino used it? But, there was no one there.
Marinette turned to look back in front of her, and was surprised to see Felix stumbling down the hallway in pain, clutching his head.
Felix groaned, "Aghh, my anemia…"
Nathanael heard, and numbly scrambled out of the way so that Felix wouldn't fall on him. Marinette rushed over to catch Felix before he hit the ground, and she asked, "Felix, are you alright? What're you doing here in the girls' dorm?"
Felix nodded with a wince whilst in Marinette's arms, "Yeah, it's just my anemia again." He straightened up, and, seeing the opportunity, smoothly placed a hand on the nape of Marinette's neck and brought her face closer to his, so that there was only a breath separating them as he murmured, "Probably because of your beauty."
Marinette, flustered, shoved Felix away with a, "Stop it, you flirt."
Felix, despite squeezing his eyes shut and holding his head from pain, chuckled. He flashed a winning smile at her, opening his eyes and smoothly replying, "Sorry, I just can't help but compliment someone as beautiful as you."
Marinette crossed her arms with a pout and a blush as she mumbled, "Aren't you supposed to be all business?"
With that, Felix shut his eyes one more time and fought off the anemia spell. When he opened his eyes again, he replied, "Well, everyone needs a break now and then, and, unfortunately, mine only occur when my anemia gets bad." He invaded Marinette's personal space again and murmured flirtatiously, "Maybe you could take care of me, as part of my 'business.'"
Marinette's eyes widened, and her face turned redder as she slapped Felix, and the blonde stumbled away with a wince, "Ow! You've got a pretty strong arm there."
Marinette's glare didn't have as much affect with the blush still present on her face as she said, "Just get back to work."
Felix chuckled and held up his hands in surrender as he said, "Yeah, ok, ok." He then sobered up and produced a key. He walked over and, to Marinette's shock, slid it into the key hole of the door to room 15.
The one empty room on her floor. The one room that could have a clue to Mylene.
Felix was careful to slip into the room and shut the door behind him without letting Marinette and Nathanael see what was inside.
Marinette didn't know how long she and Nathanael remained outside of room 15, not sure what to make of what just happened.
Nathanael was still on the ground. He was numb, his mind blank throughout the whole encounter with Felix.
Marinette stood there, shocked that Felix just went into room 15.
When Felix exited again, he carried two large boxes stacked on top of each other, his head blocked from view.
He was about to walk away without another word, back to business. Marinette, however, stopped him and asked, not able to get rid of the surprise in her voice, "What-what did you just do?"
Felix turned back around, and craned his neck to peer around the boxes as he said, a knowing look in his eye, and a mysterious smile on his face, "I was asked to empty out this room. Sheets, clothes, knick-knacks, really all that's left in there is the furniture. It's been packed up for a while now, so this really has been long overdue."
"Do you know who lived in there?" Marinette asked hesitantly, hopeful for an answer.
Her heart sank when Felix shrugged casually, moving his head back behind the boxes, before he said, "Beats me. You'll have to ask Juleka or Rose, they're the ones with the roster of girls in the dorm."
Before he walked away, Felix lightly kicked Nathanael's package that Nino had placed on the ground towards the dumbstruck redhead on the ground. Felix then said in an even tone, no room for argument in his voice, "C'mon, I'm dropping this off at the mess hall, we can go to the boys' dorm afterward, I'm long overdue for another nap."
Nathanael blinked out of his stupor, and cast a trembling glance back at Marinette. The pigtailed girl bit her lip and looked away. She didn't know what to do. Felix stood there firmly, facing away from them. He wasn't going to move until Nathanael stood up as well.
Nathanael was shivering, but not from the cold, as he reached over to grab his package. He shakily stood up, nearly falling multiple times, Marinette having to help him up. Nathanael clutched onto Marinette's arms, but, before he could cling onto her completely, Felix announced, "C'mon, Nathanael, let's go."
Marinette let go and took a step back, watching as Nathanael trailed behind Felix, shooting one last longing look at Marinette.
Marinette's heart broke for him upon seeing the horribly depressed look on his face.
Nathanael stumbled and turned away from Marinette, on the verge of tears.
Marinette wasn't so sure that Mylene existed now.