Note: This chapter contains another OC. I needed a prefect for Marinette to have an argument with.
The Forget-Me-Not Chapter 8: The Story of a Gardener
There once was a gardener who treasured a particular flower.
To the lonesome gardener who had no family, it was as if that flower were a lover to be raised with the utmost care.
However, that flower wilted within no time, because all flowers wilt one day no matter how beautiful they are.
The gardener wept bitterly, and when the tears ran dry, the gardener came to a decision: "I shall create a flower that will bloom eternally."
In the days to come, the gardener sunk day and night into research, but all flowers have to wither and die.
Finally the gardener became exhausted, and his breathing ceased among the flowers.
Then, upon the gardener's remains, a single flower bloomed, but even that flower will wither and die in the end.
No matter how beautiful, all flowers that bloom must wilt.
Some time had passed since the scene between Alix and Chloe happened, and Marinette felt like she barely knew anything.
Where was Mylene? Why didn't anyone else remember her, but Marinette did? What happened to her? What was up with Nino? What was up with Felix and that box from room 15? How come Alix is a half-breed? How could Chloe smell her out as a half-breed? Why was Alix so mean to Nathanael even though he was also a half-breed?
Marinette had asked Chloe about this, and the self-proclaimed princess, unlike certain akumas, was completely blunt and honest when she said that she had no idea who or what Mylene was. The blonde girl also only provided a variety of insults when Marinette asked her about Alix and Felix.
The two in question absolutely refused to talk, Marinette suspected that the subject was too personal for them… Maybe Alix and Felix were just scared that they would be treated the same way as Nathanael if people ever found out their true nature.
All that Chloe would tell her was that she could smell the misery of all the akumatized half-breeds in the asylum, no matter how hard they tried to hide it. According to her, there were only 5% of all the akuma in the asylum were half-breeds, and, of those 5%, most of them were in their age range.
Chloe seemed to truly despise all of the half-breeds. Whether it was due to their smell or their nature, Marinette couldn't tell. Though, she suspected that Chloe's feelings towards Felix weren't just hate, and that there was something different there, but Marinette couldn't tell what it was.
Even then, Chloe was acting smug, as if she was waiting for the moment when the akumatized half-breeds would burst, as if they were a ticking time bomb of negative emotions and chaos. Which they were, but they were taking medicine for a reason, right? With the medicine, the half-breeds were just like the rest of them, or, at least, they should've been, but people always attacked things they feared.
Chloe most of all, though she seemed to be more knowledgeable about people than she let on. But, Marinette didn't understand Chloe at all, and didn't care to.
Her goal was to find out where Mylene was, and if Chloe didn't have the answers, then Marinette wouldn't worry about her.
Besides, Chloe was still the meanest person Marinette had ever met in her entire life. Chances were, Chloe was bluffing or just being mean-spirited, and that whatever she knew about the akumatized half-breeds wasn't important. After all, they deserved to be treated like the rest of them, and if Chloe didn't care to do that, then Marinette wasn't going to bother with her.
But now, she had to find another way to find out more on Mylene.
Nino was being elusive, he always seemed to be too busy taking care of the younger kids nowadays.
Felix was too busy with his prefect duties, especially since he also had his anemia hindering him.
Rose and Juleka were both intimidating and stubborn, there would be no bothering them.
Ivan was simply confused, Alya was also being stubborn, and no one else knew anything about Mylene.
That's what brought her to the mess hall. She had to check the boxes Felix had taken from room 15, because she now had no better options for finding out where Mylene was.
The problem?
As she'd expected, she'd been caught sneaking around, and now was in the middle of an argument with Vinh, the male prefect of the 17-year-olds. He had dark hair the same texture as Marinette's, but it was darker, shorter, and fell over his right eye. He was also taller, and had skin that was several shades darker than Marinette's.
Marinette clasped her hands together as she pleaded, "Please? I'm really good at baking, I could help you guys out with desserts in the kitchen!"
Vinh had his arms crossed and was stern as he said, "No, that's fine, we've got all the help we need in the kitchen."
Marinette bit her lip in thought before she asked, "Then can I help the ordering office out with shipments? That can't be too hard, right?"
Vinh shook his head, "No, we don't need any extra help in the ordering office."
Marinette was getting desperate, "Oh, come on! Cut me some slack, Vinh, please? You've gotta have extra positions in the ordering office. Or, I could help you out in the infirmary! Is there any paperwork you need help sorting out? Or things you need help organizing?"
Vinh was strict as he said firmly, "No, we don't need any help. You need to find something else to do. This part of the mess hall is for prefects and patients who properly requested jobs only. Unless it's meal time or you're injured or need to order something, then you should not be in the mess hall."
Marinette sighed in defeat, knowing that there was no more arguing with Vinh, and said, "Alright, fine." She was not ready to leave, however, and so she asked, "But, can I just order a new pair of knitting needles?" Marinette paused and then quickly added, "No, wait, I need three pairs."
Vinh raised an eyebrow and asked in return, "And, why do you need knitting needles?"
Marinette let out a nervous chuckle as she recalled what had happened in the sewing room earlier, and how Eveline had been chasing Gerald around and trying to stab him with the knitting needles because of a lewd comment he made. Knowing Vinh would understand, Marinette shortened the whole exchange to, "Gerald tried to hit on Eveline again."
Vinh shook his head with an exasperated sigh, "Right, those two. What colors do you want?"
Marinette shrugged, "It doesn't really matter. Pink, blue, and, uh, yellow? I guess. One for each of us."
Vinh nodded and moved away to walk back to the ordering office as he said, "Alright, I'll place your order, and it should be here by dawn. And, remember, leave the mess hall now, and find something else to do."
Marinette sighed, and turned around, "Yeah, ok." She dejectedly trudged out of the mess hall, disappointed that she wasn't able to land a job. Though Marinette supposed she wasn't surprised, she'd still been hoping to get a job so she could have an excuse to search the mess hall for clues on Mylene.
…if she even existed.
Just as Marinette passed the last of the offices, she jumped in surprise as Felix rushed out of one of them, holding a handheld radio transceiver to his ear and talking into it rapidly. She blinked in surprise, watching as he walked down the hallway in the opposite direction, presumably to the back exit.
He was talking about finances and shipments, or something along those lines. Marinette didn't really understand that stuff.
She looked over at the office room that he came out of, and noticed that the door hadn't been closed completely.
Marinette hadn't been sure where Felix had put the boxes from room 15, but, what if they were in that office room that Felix just came out of?
Marinette warily looked down both ways of the hallway, and as discretely as possible, maneuvered into the office room with the grace of Winnie the Pooh. She shut the door behind her, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the office room was empty.
The office wasn't really big. The wall that the door was on was completely lined with boxes stacked on top of each other. The walls that formed the far right corner of the room was lined with filing cabinets, and the wall to the left was home to a bulletin board that had a bunch of reminders related to the finances of the asylum.
There was a small table in the center of the room with two folding chairs. On this table was a mountain of paperwork that made Marinette's head hurt just from looking at it all. There was an office desk and chair in the far left corner, home to stacks of paperwork and several rather outdated electronic appliances. They wouldn't be able to communicate with the outside world, but they were able to do things like computation and solitaire and Marinette supposed that that was all that the prefects needed.
Solitaire that is, she meant solitaire. If things went Marinette's way, she'd never have to hear the word "calculus" ever again.
Marinette walked to the center of the room and turned to face the wall of boxes, and gulped, paling at the sight. How was she supposed to tell which had the things from room 15? Moreover, how was she supposed to tell what the things from room 15 even were?
Felix was bound to be back sooner or later, Marinette had to be quick.
She noticed that some of the boxes to her left were collecting a lot of dust, and promptly ignored those. The box from room 15 hadn't been in the office for that long.
Marinette bit her lip as she looked over the boxes, not sure where to start. She was aware the Felix could come back at any time, and so she made a snap decision. She walked over towards the bulletin board, and chose a random box that had stood out to her as being fresh.
It was wedged in between several other boxes, and so Marinette was careful as she eased it away from the shelf and put it on the ground with a heave.
Quickly checking the door to make sure Felix didn't return, Marinette opened up the box to find nothing but a bunch of notebooks and binders. Marinette picked one up, and flipped it open to a random page. She was met with an entire page of chemical equations, and Marinette quickly deduced that she had the wrong box, and quickly put the notebook back inside the box and heaved it up onto the top of the box pile with great effort.
Chemistry, like calculus, was something that Marinette was not interested in getting involved with.
Marinette then chose another box from the same exact stack of boxes, and carefully dropped it on the floor, grunting from its weight. She opened it up, and almost groaned when she was met with nothing but world maps, star maps, country maps, ocean maps, road maps, and maps of every variety.
No one in the right mind would keep maps in their bedroom.
Marinette closed the box back up and placed it back on the stack. She then grabbed the box at the top of the stack right next to it, and it nearly crashed to the ground as Marinette attempted to get it down.
She wasn't very tall.
Already getting tired from moving the boxes around, and suspecting that Felix would be back soon, Marinette prayed that this box was the one as she opened it up. She breathed a sigh of relief, and nearly cheered when she found that the box contained things one would typically keep in a bedroom.
Marinette searched through the box, and spotted a strangely familiar pink strip of cloth. She held it up, and spotted a single pin on it. A smile stretched across her face. This had to be Mylene's headband! That meant that Mylene had existed after all!
Or, at least, someone with a pink headband like Mylene's had existed.
Marinette put the pink headband back inside the box, and pushed aside a table lamp to find that a notebook was buried at the bottom of the box. She pulled the notebook out of the box, and sat down on the ground.
If anything could have evidence of Mylene existing, it'd be a notebook, where one can write down or draw to their heart's content. Marinette had her own sketchbook, where she doodled clothes. It was relieving, and such creativity made Marinette feel free.
Whoever owned this notebook, would surely feel the same way, whether they were writing or drawing.
The notebook was plain and generic, but a rather poorly-drawn picture of a blue flower had been glued to the front, setting it apart from other generic notebooks.
Marinette opened up the notebook to the first page, and written at the top of it was: "Felix said that writing my feelings down would help me control my fear complex, so that's what this journal is for."
The handwriting was a blend of cursive and standard letters, but was still readable, much more legible than Nino's or Ivan's handwriting. With the way that they were written on the page, the words didn't sit neatly on the lines, just slightly crossing them. The words were written double-spaced.
Marinette looked over this first sentence, and couldn't help but get more curious at what it said. From what Marinette could remember, this sounded a lot like Mylene. But, if Felix had been the one to suggest this journal, then why wouldn't he answer her questions about Mylene? This journal had to be hers, right?
A smile spread across Marinette's face as she caught sight of some of the other things written on that particular page. Among sentences like "I like acting" and "I hate being scared" was also "My name is Mylene" and "Ivan's my boyfriend now."
This was confirmation that Mylene existed. There was no picture, and, while there were no cameras at the asylum, Marinette didn't need any picture to know that Mylene existed for sure. Mylene's personality, her proof of existence, was written all over that page in her handwriting, and in her short sentences.
Marinette flipped to the next page and was pleasantly surprised to see a rather crude stick figure comic strip with a script underneath. She flipped through the notebook, and found that most of the pages had things like this. Maybe it had to do with Mylene's love for acting?
Some pages didn't have comics or scripts on them, and instead had nothing but a few reminders or a quick addition of numbers on them. Clearly this notebook had multiple purposes.
Marinette skimmed the comics, not really paying attention to what was written. After flipping through about a third of the notebook, however, there were no more comics or scripts, only random reminders written sparingly across pages. The handwriting was sloppier, and Marinette had a hard time deciphering Mylene's handwriting.
After only a few pages like this, the notebook was seemingly completely blank again. Marinette flipped through the pages, but ran into page after page of blankness.
Marinette sighed, and was about to close the notebook in resignation. At least she had proof that Mylene existed.
Right when she was about to close the notebook, Marinette caught a glimpse of a page towards the back with words written on it, and abruptly opened it up again to try and find it. Rapidly flipping through the notebook, she stopped when she spotted what appeared to be an essay or a story written across several pages towards the back of the notebook.
There wasn't anything else of that length and density written in the notebook, and Marinette was immediately curious, what was written on those pages?
Marinette immediately recognized that the handwriting was messier, shakier than what was in the rest of the notebook. And from what was on the page, it seemed as though Mylene were panicked as she wrote this, maybe it had to do with why she wasn't around?
Written at the top of the page was, "I need to write this down before I forget." And then there was a scribble beside it, as if Mylene had crossed out a few letters, though Marinette could only make out a capital "L." After that, however, was "my mom told this story to me, it's real, it's important."
Marinette read on, and was met with a tragic story about an old gardener who led a lonely life, having been abandoned by his family for as long as he could remember. He thus treasured his flowers, and raised them with the utmost care, because they were his family now.
Only his flowers could keep him company.
But, within no time, the flowers wilted, yet the gardener lived on. It happened over and over again. Each time autumn would come along, his flowers would die. It's the endless cycle of life, what can live, bloom, and become beautiful, must die so that other beings can do the same. It is the natural order of things.
But this gardener mourned for his flowers each time they wilted, and wept bitter tears. His flowers kept leaving him like his family had, and he yearned for a flower that could bloom and live as long as he could.
When the tears finally ran dry, the gardener came to an ultimatum, he'd create a flower that could bloom for all eternity. He sunk into research, worked day and night, but he could never successfully create a flower that could live as long as he could, because everything that lives and blooms must die.
The gardener was in despair, all he had wanted was for his flowers to keep him company. Eventually, the gardener, too, withered and died, his breathing had ceased while surrounded by his wilted flowers. Then, among his remains, a single flower had bloomed, but even that flower would die in the end. All flowers that bloom must wilt no matter how beautiful they are.
After reading this story, Marinette wiped at the tears threatening to spill from her eyes and sighed. This was such a sad story. Having to live alone for that long? That was no way to live at all. What was the point of life if you were couldn't make the most of it with the people you love?
But, what was the point of this story? Why was it so important? Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she looked over the page again. Really, this gardener could've been anyone, it sounded like any other fairy tale, albeit more depressing.
Marinette turned the page again, and was met with blankness with the exception of one sentence, scratched into the page so hard that it left imprints on the page afterwards, "don't forget. I'm reminding you, don't forget."
Marinette's thoughts moved a mile a minute. "Don't forget?" that sounded a lot like Mylene, but, why was she so adamant on remembering this story about the gardener? Why was it so important? Did it have anything to do with why she disappeared? If so, how? Was it an allegory?
Marinette sighed and rubbed her forehead with her eyes closed. Thinking about this was giving her a headache. She didn't understand.
Just then, Marinette heard a noise coming from down the hallway. She recognized it immediately, it was Felix's voice, and he was complaining to Vinh about something, Marinette wasn't sure.
Either way, Marinette panicked. She'd be in huge trouble if Felix found her going through his stuff.
Marinette rapidly dropped the notebook on the ground and shut the box, and grunted as she tried to put it back on the stacks, where it was before. After making sure that the box wouldn't fall, Marinette breathed a sigh of relief.
Marinette immediately began panicking again when she saw that the notebook was still on the ground. Without thinking, she picked it up, closed it, and shoved it in the space between the box and the wall, pressing the box closer to the wall to make sure that it would stay.
Marinette booked it to the door to try and leave, but Felix had already reached the door, and all Marinette could do was try, and fail, to act natural. When Felix entered the room, the most awkward grin was stretched across Marinette's face as if she were the awkward cousin of the kuchisake-onna.
Felix let out a weary sigh, and rubbed his temples as he closed his eyes, resigned, his free hand holding onto the handheld radio transceiver. This was clearly not his day, and Marinette chuckled awkwardly. Was he going to yell at her? He seemed mad earlier, but he seemed to just be done with everything, so Marinette wasn't sure.
Felix opened his eyes and was jaded as he said with a sigh, "This room is prefects only. You shouldn't be here."
Marinette inched to the door with jerky movements as she replied with a nervous chuckle, wanting to get out of the situation without getting in trouble, "Ha ha, that's right! Yup, I shouldn't be in here, not at all! Um, I'll be going now, yup, see you later, bye!"
Before Felix could say anything else, Marinette had already fled. She had a million questions running through her head as she walked out of the mess hall, but at least she was sure that Mylene existed now. That was the important part.
Felix stood there in his office, drained after Marinette had awkwardly fled. He wordlessly looked over at the boxes stacked up against the wall, and his eye caught a detail that most others wouldn't have noticed.
He walked over to a stack on the far right end of the wall, and ran his hand down the stack of boxes that contained the maps and chemistry notes, the same boxes that Marinette had been messing with earlier.
Felix looked over at the box at the top of the stack next to it, the one that had Mylene's things in it. He walked over and, with no trouble at all due to his height, grabbed it and carefully inched it away from the wall just a little bit.
A thud resounded through the room as Mylene's notebook hit the ground, no longer having the box to hold it against the wall.
Felix sighed.
Ivan listlessly wandered around the asylum, not thinking much of anything. He'd been doing that a lot lately, as if he just didn't know what to do with himself anymore. What did he usually do to pass the time?
Yes, Ivan spent time with the others before meal time, but he always found himself staying late during meal times to give Alix some quiet company. Ivan always left before she and the other half-breeds had to take their extra medicine, but after leaving, he would just kind of wander around until one of the others ran into him.
"Ivan? This is the girls' dorm." Ivan snapped back to reality to see that he was now standing by the wall at the far end of the girls' dorm, and Alix was standing there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.
Ivan shook his head, feeling too detached from reality, and wanting to get in touch again. "Sorry, I don't know why I keep coming back here," he said before sighing and adding, "Do you know what I mean?"
Marinette's mission to find Mylene was still on his mind. Apparently, this Mylene person had been his girlfriend, but Ivan couldn't remember anyone like that at all.
Despite this, Ivan found the idea of having a girlfriend nice. He wanted someone to understand him like how a life partner would. The thought was almost nostalgic, or melancholic.
Ivan backtracked, startled. Wait… for it to feel melancholic or nostalgic, wouldn't he have had to have a girlfriend of some sort? Had he really had a girlfriend, but just forgot about her? How could that be? Had Mylene really existed after all?
Ivan was brought back to reality once more when Alix started snapping her fingers in Ivan's face and saying, "Hey, lover boy, life's happening out here, not in there."
Ivan sighed and replied, downcast, "Right, sorry." Ivan's eyebrows furrowed in thought as he, too, snapped his fingers as he asked, "Um, what did you say before that?"
Alix had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot as she explained, "I said, 'yeah, I know what you mean.' I've been hanging around this same weird back corner of the girls' dorms around the same time after meals, and it's weird."
Ivan blinked, "Me, too." Maybe, just maybe, this weird back corner of the girls' dorm had some sort of significance, and wasn't just a weird spot that he went back to by coincidence.
This back corner wasn't anything special. But, since it was so close to the fence, people didn't really hang around this back wall of the girls' dorm unless they were a couple looking for privacy, or something.
Then, Ivan heard it, a distinct voice murmuring "don't forget me." The voice sounded achingly familiar, but Ivan found that he couldn't place it to a face, no matter how hard he tried. This voice brought a longing feeling out from his heart.
Ivan looked around, wondering who could've said it, but found no one around besides Alix. He looked over at Alix and asked, "Did you say something?" Secretly terrified at the prospect of unearthing a mystery. But, the voice had left a hole in his heart, and Ivan wanted nothing more than to fill it back up again.
Alix gave Ivan a skeptical look as she deadpanned, "No. You need to sleep or something the meds must not be working for you."
Ivan shook his head, desperate to find the person behind that voice saying "don't forget me."
"I'm forgetting something important. I remember a voice, and, and I think it might be Mylene's but… I don't actually remember her," Ivan's voice cracked as he said this. He brought a hand up to his head, all this thinking giving him a headache, and added, "I need to think."
Alix scoffed and shook her head, "No, you need to sleep. You're gonna faint or something, and there is no one here named Mylene." Alix turned Ivan around and pushed him towards the boys' dorms, but Ivan couldn't stop thinking about that voice he remembered.
That sweet, shy voice of someone lost.