Finally, I'm updating! I'm so sorry it's taken so long, but my Kingdom Hearts muse has been poking me with a sharp stick, and my Digimon muse has had to go into hiding. Plus I somehow managed to lose the middle of this chapter, both the hard copy and the one on the computer, so I had to piece it together like a jigsaw puzzle. I actually have no idea how that happened…

ANYWAY, please accept this extra long chapter by way of apology.

A World Of Lies

-x-

Mimi strode purposefully up to the front door of the Ishida mansion. She'd never been gladder that Matt had given her an electronic key to his front gates. This was a discussion that could most definitely not be had via security intercom. Plus, she had the distinct impression that he'd still be much too angry to let her in. The thought made her quail slightly, but her determination did not waver.

This needed to be done.

She found him in the kitchen. A mug of tea in his hand, he was staring out the window and apparently lost in thought. He'd pulled on a pair of old jeans since she'd left, but had not brushed his hair or shaved. Mimi strongly suspected that he'd been standing in that very place for a long time.

"Matt?" she said tentatively, trying to pull him from his reverie.

He spun around, shock stamped across his face. Shock that was quickly masked with cool anger and a bitter tone.

"Mimi. I thought I made it clear that I needed some time to be alone. To think about things. And besides, Sora will be home soon and we both know how little you want her to know about us."

Mimi felt a white-hot surge of frustration at his tone. She was trying to help him - to change their lives - and he was being petulant. But it was soon replaced with a feeling of overwhelming unease. How was she meant to say this?

"That's… why I'm here. About Sora…"

"What about her?" he snapped, his tone betraying more than just a hint of impatience.

"She's… um…" Mimi hesitated. Breaking this news was impossible. How could anyone ever want to hear it? It rang through her with a sort of twisted irony that he had been through the exact same speech before, but the two key players had switched roles. "… Maybe you should sit down."

Something about her uncertainty struck a chord with him. Maintaining a look of scepticism, he fell silently into a chair at his kitchen table. Twisting her hands together for a minute, she slid in across from him. She looked at him, waiting expectantly, but couldn't let herself linger. She could get lost in his face for hours. Staring at her hands, in the end she just had to blurt it out.

"She's cheating on you!"

Matt threw his head back and laughed openly, before settling his gaze on Mimi's white face.

"Please, Mimi. She's what?"

"Cheating on you!" Mimi's pitch had raised an octave or so when she'd realised that he didn't believe her. She was on the edge of hysteria. This was hard enough without having to fight him over it. "She is! She's sleeping with Tai! I was just at his apartment. I… saw."

Matt was halfway through rolling his eyes in disbelief when he really saw what was before him. Mimi was chalk-white, almost trembling, her face drawn in concern. How could she fake that? And why would she lie? In all their time together she'd never been anything but brutally honest with him.

"She's… cheating on me?" he asked softly, so wanting to disbelieve. This was not something that got easier with practice.

Mimi didn't know what to do. She wanted to take him in her arms and hold him like a child until the pain went away, but knew instinctively that it wasn't the right thing to do. Instead she stayed silent, waiting. Waiting for him to speak. Waiting for him to move. Waiting for anything.

What broke the moment was really not what she had expected. The noise of the front door opening and shutting. Fast-paced footsteps that seemed to approach with a sort of jaunty buoyancy. It could only be Sora. Matt's eyes registered the sound, and he stood suddenly. His chair clattered backwards across the tile floor as he marched away from it. Mimi followed at a nervous distance, wavering at the archway between the kitchen and the living room.

"So. Did you have a good time at the benefit?" he asked. He was still dazed, the words bubbling out of his mouth seeming so far away. An eternity away.

Sora had a serene smile floating over her face. She was perfectly oblivious to the changed man before her.

"Yes, actually. It was quite lovely…"

Mimi couldn't stand it. The lies, the deception, the pain - it had to end. Abandoning the sidelines and bracing herself for inevitable conflict, she leapt into the fray. Sora started, the smile sliding from her face. She was naturally shocked to see Mimi in her house. Mimi was glad - she'd need the element of surprise to force a confession.

"Cut the crap, Sora. You weren't at any benefit. You were with Tai."

Sora blinked for just a moment too long before scoffing.

"I don't know where you get your information, but I'm quite sure that today I was at a benefit, playing tennis for charity…"

"Don't lie to me, Sora!" Mimi yelled, her fists balling together. She had to get a confession - she just had to. Otherwise this would never be over. "I've seen the two of you together! You can't hide it! You're cheating on Matt, and we both know it!"

Sora looked like she was about to deny, deny, deny. The look of panic on her face was so hastily smothered it might never have been there at all. Mimi was about to launch into a tirade, when Matt cut across, his voice quiet and almost sad.

"Please, Sora. Why?"

Somehow, at that second, Sora knew she was caught. She sighed, broken, and looked away. When she spoke, it was slowly, as if she was weighing up every word. As if she were trying to decide what parts of the truth she had to tell, and what she could still conceal.

"Tai had TJ at the tennis camp I taught at - the one just after the reunion. I swear we'd never even considered a relationship before then! I was faithful to you! But we were in such close contact every day! And I still had a certain affection for him… we started talking and something rekindled. It wasn't planned, I swear!"

She looked earnestly up at Matt, making sure he was taking in what she said before she continued.

"You and me… I'm sure you'll agree that we were never originally meant to go this far. Our relationship started when Tai and I were in a really rocky place. I thought we'd never get through it. I thought I loved him, but I could never be sure if he loved me. And besides, I've never been able to trust my feelings. So I turned to you, Matt, trying to make Tai jealous, trying to find out how he really felt about me. But we weren't careful. I fell pregnant, and then we had to marry. But I never stopped caring for Tai. And that… that was why I cheated on you. I'm so sorry. It shouldn't have come to that."

Matt had the look of a child trying to complete a difficult puzzle. Trying to make all the pieces fit, while blissful understanding danced just beyond his fingertips.

"So why didn't you just divorce me?"

Sora's eyes flickered nervously, refusing to stand still as she answered. "I couldn't bear to see my son the unwitting victim of his parent's mistakes. Our stupidity… our carelessness… it is not his fault."

Mimi saw Matt slowly turning that over in his mind. She knew it would ring true with him. Hell, it was his own rationale. His own words, just dressed up a little differently. So, before Matt could answer, she once again jumped into battle.

"You know, Sora, that sounds almost plausible. But I feel like we've skipped through history just a little too fast to catch all the details. For example, there was that time that you told Matt that I was cheating on him with Michael, and that Jamie was Michael's baby, when I told you before anyone else that I was carrying Matt's child! You knew! You knew and you can't deny it, and still you deliberately set out to sabotage our relationship! You knew how I felt about him, you nasty selfish bitch!"

The words had bubbled up and out like bile. Once they'd started, she couldn't stop them. And before Mimi even realised that she'd moved, her palm had struck Sora's cheek. The impact rang across the room, leaving her skin tingling and hot. She drew back to see Sora's face suddenly set in a shocked expression of horror and disbelief. First it went stark white, then drew colour until her whole face was as purple as the palm print Mimi had left. When Sora spoke, it was venomous - strung with fury and dripping with spite.

"I wanted to win for once! You were never there and Matt deserved better! He was going to be a rock star, and why should you get the honour of being on his arm when I was right there and you weren't? I liked the idea of being his famous girlfriend… and even wife! I admit it! All through our lives you came out on top. You were the pretty one, the talented one, the one every last fucking person loved. You didn't earn it! You didn't deserve it! I wanted what you had! I wanted the one that loved you the most!"

"And what about Tai?" asked Mimi coldly. "Where did he fit into this? Did you just think you were entitled to play with them both?"

"At the time, Tai was working as a lowly soccer coach. He wasn't earning enough to support himself. Yes, I love him. I'll always love him. But love isn't enough!"

Mimi had every intention of slapping Sora again, when she felt something behind her. She stepped backwards, uncertain for the first time, moving so that she could see Matt. Cold anger was radiating almost visibly from every pore.

"You used me," he stated.

Sora seemed to sense the inherent danger in his voice.

"No, no!" she back-pedalled frantically, finally regaining control of herself. But the damage was done.

"Was it your goal to ruin my life, or did you just not care if you did?" he continued, his voice quivering with tangible fury.

"No! Of course not! Matt, please! It wasn't planned like that! Please -"

He cut her off, and she winced. Mimi imagined she could feel every one of his words cut through her like a knife.

"How can I believe you? You used me for some sick game you had going. I was nothing more than a puppet in your goddamn insecure play. Not only did you taint your own love, you destroyed someone else's! How could you do something like this? I thought I knew you! How can I ever trust you again?"

Everything had set in, finally. All the facts. Every accusation proven. And yet, Mimi was not sure if she'd achieved what she wanted. She watched the two of them with an air of increased understanding. This wasn't over. It was a long, long way from being over. Even if Matt didn't love Sora, he was still hurt by what she'd done. They had been friends, and he couldn't just lock her out of his life the way Mimi had. They had a child together. This process was nowhere near as simple as it had first seemed.

There were knots to be untied that Mimi had been completely blind to. And, she finally fully realised, starting an official relationship with her was one of those knots. Custody battles loomed. Fighting over possessions, paying through the nose for lawyer after lawyer. They would only be harder if she was there too. Plus, Matt was a rock star. He was in the public eye all the time. This whole scene was bound to generate hugely negative publicity for his band. Mimi never wanted to be a burden on his life.

She'd been stupid to assume that everything could be smooth sailing from now on. Life never worked like that. Each of them had issues to work through. She herself had a whole life on the other side of the world that she had completely neglected for months. She had loose ends to tie up too. And maybe it was better to do it alone.

So, while Sora stood with her head bowed and Matt had his head in his hands, she slipped silently away.

-x-

Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular

There are 2,598,960 five card hands possible in a 52-card deck.