Chapter 18 - Finishing Line

Cautiously, I walked through the doors into the next part of the challenge. This room was different to any other so far - it was not filled with grinding cogs, potato sacks filled with bodies, sud puddles, acid moats or armour-clad Spackle - no, this room was completely plain. Four corners. Large white walls, ceiling and floor. High roof, double doors on opposite sides...and empty. Or so I thought.

The Mayor flung the other doors open and walked in slowly, clapping a sarcastic slow clap. "Oh, well done," he said to me. "Genius Viola strikes again. Completed yet another challenge set for you." He took a long slurp from a water bottle by his side. Every sip he took was like a stab to my heart. As he finished, he smacked his lips together. "Ahh, that's nice." He put it back away without offering me any - not that I would have accepted anyway. I don't trust that bastard.

"Go on then," I said.

"What?" he looked confused - not put on confused, but seriously like he didn't know what I was talking about.

"You know what I'm talking about," although I'm sure he didn't. "Where do I have to go next? You wouldn't let it be this easy."

He smirked. "Nope. This time I am being honest - not that I'm usually not. You've reached the end, dearie."

I raised my eyebrows. Still didn't trust him. "So you're going to kill me?"

"Nope."

"You've planned something - I can see it in your eyes."

He smirked. "Oh, little Viola. You've been through too much in your time already - do you really think I'd be mean enough to make you go through even more?"

"Yes, actually, I do," I retorted viciously. "I know you, David Prentiss, perhaps better than you think. I know that you want revenge on Todd and I know that you think that the best way to do that is to torture me. You hate Ben for coming back and you wish with all your heart that Todd was still the son-like boy you knew all those years ago." The Mayor looked shocked, his mouth slightly open as if he were to speak - but I was not yet done. "Well you know what? Todd is not your son and he never was. He was never Ben and Cillian's son either, but they raised him and you didn't. You taught Todd to be a fighter and a murderer. The time you spent with Todd was during a war, and you were simply a rock for him in those hard times - he changed you and you changed him, and you both know it. Now let me out before I release all my anger and harm you."

Nobody spoke for a minute. The longest minute of my life.

"Perhaps what you say is true," the Mayor said eventually. "I know for a fact that most of it is. If you believe this too, then why don't you want to kill or harm me?"

"I have no proper reason to quarrel with you."

"You just listed many reasons."

"They are not my reasons to quarrel with. They are Todd's."

The Mayor tilted his head ever so slightly to one side. "You and Todd have always been so close...I would have thought that after all of this, you would at least want to pay me back, y'know, get revenge."

I shook my head and laughed a little. "Don't you remember? When in the war? We fought for peace. Peace, Mayor Prentiss. Peace. And I still believe that with peace, better things come to people."

"I'll show you out then, shall I?" he asked.

"That would be great." I replied.

A/N: Heyz!

I'm really happy about how this fic is coming along, even if Viola has been in the torture chamber now for about 9 chapters...oops. She'll be out by the next chapter though :)

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