Flug pulled the lever to help Melanie sit up in the chair. The girl slumped to the side, her weight leaning on one of the armrests. She wanted nothing more than to be out of that thing, but her legs felt like jelly when she moved forward, and she started stumbling forward.
The doctor ran over and caught her. "Whoa! Melanie, don't-"
The girl pushed herself away from the scientist and landed on the ground, elbows first. Then, with only her hands, she managed to pull herself to the wall.
"Don't touch me!" Melanie growled. She paused for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Somehow the simple act of just moving was tiring her out. "You lied to me, and you lured me in here!"
"Melanie, I was under orders!" Flug replied defensively.
"Screw your orders!" Melanie retorted.
"Listen, just because we have a mutual understanding doesn't mean I can disobey Lord Black Hat," Flug pleaded. "You know this. I understand this isn't what you want, but do you honestly think you'll get anywhere by continuing to resist and scream against this openly?"
Melanie leaned her full weight against the wall and just shrugged. The doctor heard a sniffle. Then another, then a sob. For a moment, Flug saw little 505 sitting there instead of Melanie.
The doctor sighed and walked over to her, kneeling, but not touching her.
"Melanie, how about I get 505 to carry to your room?" Flug offered. "You can rest in there, and when you wake up, I'll have him bring some of your favorite snacks. I believe your parents texted me a list."
Melanie nodded slowly but didn't look up at the scientist. He didn't say anything else and got up.
The girl didn't move, but she knew Flug must have called 505 at some point somehow because the bear showed up and rushed over to her side.
505 looked at the chair and then at Flug, who just shook his head, and he wordlessly picked up Melanie and carried her out. The young reaper clung to 505's fur and hid her face away, not wanting to see the world, even if just for a little while.
505 carried Melanie out of the room while she hid her face. Flug silently walked next to them to make sure she was alright.
The group remained silent until they reached the elevator.
Then Melanie asked, "Dr. Flug, why did you lie to me?"
Flug stared forward and sighed, "I told you. I didn't have a choice."
"But you could have prepared me for all that!" Melanie cried. "You know what a monster Black Hat is. I could have mentally braced myself for it. I didn't see any of that coming!"
"I wouldn't advise doing that for anyone," Flug said sadly. "Doing that would only have angered Black Hat further, and I wouldn't have wanted him to harm you further."
Melanie looked up, smiled sadly, and leaned against 505. "So, you do care."
Flug's expression softened as he looked at her and said, "Of course, I do."
Melanie's smile fell. "You're one of the few people I think who still do."
"What do you mean?" asked Flug.
"After I got back from touring the school, I called my parents and we blew up at each other you might say," explained Melanie. "I demanded to know why they signed me over to Black Hat. My parents claimed Black Hat forced them to, but this was a great opportunity for me and I should be happy about it. I told them they could've said no, that they'd abandoned me, and that I didn't want any of this. My parents were upset, and we argued for about an hour. Eventually, I got sick of talking to them and hung up the first time. That was when my parents had a group video chat with our family and Mama Muerte. Melanie looked up, smiled sadly, and leaned against 505.
"So, you do care," Melanie said. "You're one of the few people I think who still do."
"What do you mean?" Flug asked.
"I called my family last night and we blew up at each other a bit you might say," Melanie explained. "I demanded to know why they signed me over to Black Hat. My parents claimed Black Hat forced them to. I told them they could've said no and that they've basically abandoned me. My parents were upset and we argued for about an hour with our family group video call. Iliana and my grandma said I was overreacting, and I needed to stop being so ungrateful. No surprise there. Lunet was angry and stood up for me. Dita cried and threatened to run away if they didn't get me back. She is now refusing to talk to my parents. It's a mess and it's all their fault. They gave up on me when they found out I was good and now they only support me because Black Hat has taken an interest in me. Now I don't have a family anymore except for Lunet and Dita and my Nunja sisters. I wonder if the others ever cared about me at all."
Flug paused thoughtfully before interjecting, "This might be hard to hear, but I can still believe that they do."
"What? What kind of parents would give custody of their daughter to their demonic granduncle?" asked Melanie.
"Is it that hard to believe he would just take it?" asked Flug.
"What do you mean?" asked Melanie.
"Even if they said no, Black Hat would have easily taken custody of you," explained Flug. "There's a good chance that they fought from you. Otherwise, they wouldn't try to make you see this wouldn't be entirely a bad thing."
Melanie shook her head in disbelief. "They just want me to stop complaining, so I can be another show puppet for their image. Nun-jas live by a code and stick by those rules and beliefs, and sometimes, we even die by them."
"So, you think they should have died for you?" Flug challenged.
"No!" Melanie retorted defensively. "I just... I don't see how they fought for me at all! They don't want the best for me! They want me to fall in line, even if they have to get the evilest man alive to force me in line."
"Melanie, Black Hat takes everything he wants or tricks someone into giving it to him if he doesn't outright force it out of people," Flug said bluntly.
That gave Melanie a reason to pause. "So, what would Black Hat have done if my parents said no to making me his apprentice?"
"It's hard to say," Flug replied. "The boss has a talent for finding new ways to tear into someone's fears and make them feel new pain."
Melanie pondered, "So, what are my parents' fears? Hmmm…They claim to love their kids more than anything. Maybe Black Hat would have taken Dita away."
"Or Lunet," Flug agreed. "And if they were lucky, they probably would've been sent here with you."
"But Lunet's 21," protested Melanie. "She's a grownup."
The elevator opened, allowing the group to exit.
"Black Hat wouldn't take custody," explained Flug. "He would take her as a prisoner or a worker like Lucy if he was generous."
"But why?" asked Melanie.
"You forget we are villains, Melanie," reminded Flug. "Black Hat doesn't care if these people are related to him by blood or bond. Kidnapping is not beneath him. He's probably having a blast with the discord he caused your family over this."
"And I thought I hated him before," Melanie snarled.
"If it's any consolation, those are just the hypotheticals of something that hasn't happened," Flug reassured.
"Yeah, but speaking of things that have happened, how is Lucy doing?" asked Melanie.
"Well, I didn't lie when I said she was down there," answered Flug. "I imagine she might not be taking her new job all that well, but no problems have been reported."
"H-her new job?" stammered Melanie. "What new job? What is she doing?"
"Well, she's supposed to be practicing interrogations," Flug answered.
"Lucy knows how to interrogate," explained Melanie. "We only do it to find the potential of other crimes being committed, or if the person in question is involved in a kidnapping, we see if we can make them tell us where their victims are."
"Interesting," Flug noted.
"So, who are you interrogating?" asked Melanie. "And you didn't tell me what you meant by she might not be taking her new job all that well."
"Really? I thought I did," Flug said as the group finally approached the door, the doctor put his hand on the knob, and he looked back at her. "Must have slipped my mind."
"Not funny," Melanie returned as 505 carried her in.
Opening the door for Melanie, Flug let her in. "Whatever."
"Can't you just tell me what you have Lucy doing? And what did you mean by she was not taking her new job well?" Melanie pleaded. "She's my friend."
"All I can say is that she is interrogating some low-level hero from our cells," Flug admitted. "The rest I can't say because it's not something I know. Black Hat gave his orders to her."
"I see," said Melanie. "When will we be allowed to see each other?"
"I can go check on her soon," Flug suggested. "Then I'll see when and get back to you once you wake up. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that would be great," Melanie said as 505 sat her down on her bed and started pulling off her shoes and socks so he could tuck her in.
"Then it's a deal, but you need to sleep off the rest of the sedative. Okay?" Flug pressed.
"Fine," Melanie relented. "But when will I wake up?"
"It should be no more than an hour," Flug assured her. "Just get some rest."
Melanie smiled as she got under the covers.
"You know, there's one silver lining in all this," she said. "You're not as bad as I thought you were. I mean, yeah, you're evil, but there is good in you. It makes me wonder why you're even here."
"Being a villain doesn't mean I have to be a monster," Flug sighed. "But I suppose it's nice that you like me."
"Yeah, you're cool when you're not being Black Hat's pawn," Melanie said. "When I leave the Black Hat Organization forever, I think I'll send you unmarked postcards."
Flug paused. "You still think you're going to leave?"
"Yeah, don't see why I shouldn't," Melanie replied.
Flug sighed again as he pulled over the rolling chair by Melanie's desk to sit next to the bed.
"Melanie, have you heard of the five stages of grief?" Flug asked gently.
"I think we may have discussed it in school once, why?" Melanie replied.
"Well, at least you know about it," Flug muttered to himself.
"What?" Melanie asked.
"You're in denial," Flug stated bluntly. "You should be able to recognize that."
Melanie's eyes flashed angrily as she sat up and snarled, "What is that supposed to mean?"
505 grunted sadly, knowing another fight was about to break out.
"I appreciate your sentiment, Melanie, but you should know escape is impossible," Flug explained.
"How do you know?!" Melanie fired back. "Lucy did it!"
"She came back. Didn't she?" reminded Flug.
"Yeah, Lucy returned to help Sadie and me," conceded Melanie. "But she disappeared. I can do that too. I want to do that too. I want to run away and never see anything of Black Hat or this dump ever again!"
"But she did come back," emphasized Flug.
Melanie suddenly understood what Flug was saying and sadly stared at the wall ahead of her. Even if she did get away, Black Hat would find a way to make her return.
"I'm sorry," Flug said sadly.
"No, you're not!" Melanie snapped. "If you were, you'd do something to help me instead of being a brain-dead little pawn to earn the approval of an entity who will never see you as anything but his disposable tool! You wouldn't even be nice to me if Black Hat didn't tell you too! Face it! You don't care about me outside of how you can use me either! You're like Iliana, my grandmother, Papi, and everyone else!"
"If I didn't, I would keep letting you mess up around him, so you can keep feeling his wrath!" Flug argued back.
Melanie froze and her tears stopped flowing. Her expression softened a little.
Flug sighed and leaned in, slowly putting a hand on her back.
"I'm sorry, Flug," Melanie said. "I just don't want to be here, and I don't want to be evil. I can't be evil, and I don't want to endure what Black Hat will do to me when I don't change. I don't even mind the idea of dying before it comes to that, to be honest. I just want to be free. I can't live a life where I just make people miserable. I'm not you or my family."
Flug's mind was heavily conflicted. Even though this wasn't the first time she'd said this, he found himself purposefully trying to put his words together. "I can at least say, that the people who you don't want to be like wouldn't want you to die."
"Who? Black Hat?" Melanie asked skeptically.
"I mean your family, not including Black Hat," Flug explained. "Can you imagine them wanting you dead?"
"No, if I went to heaven now, I'd be cut off from most of them for the rest of eternity," Melanie replied.
"There's a chance you'll see them again," Flug reassured. "Maybe I can ask Lord Black Hat if a sister can come over?"
"Yeah, that would be nice," Melanie said. "As long as it's not Iliana. She'd just make me feel worse since we don't get along. It'd be cool if we could leave the manor, too. This house sucks, but the town didn't look so bad."
"Really?" Flug asked surprisedly. "I thought you'd just feel the same way about it."
"Yeah, Black Hat rules the island, but the town still looks like a place I could hang out," Melanie said. "I don't know if I would talk to anyone, but I could get coffee and a book to read by myself."
"We can go later if you insist, as long as Lord Black Hat doesn't have a task for us," offered Flug.
"You mean, we could go into town?" asked Melanie excitedly as 505 grunted happily with corresponding excitement.
"If nothing interferes, sure," Flug conceded. "I have to walk Demencia anyways. But only after you rest."
"Fine," Melanie said, laying down back in her bed. "Could Lucy come with us?"
"I could see if Black Hat would allow it, but I seriously doubt that he'd go for you both going outside together which would make sense," Flug replied honestly. "He wouldn't want any escape attempts."
"Okay," Melanie said, sadly rolling on her side.
Flug sat up, pushed the chair back, gestured to 505, and headed for the door.
"I'll see you later, alright?" the scientist said. "Get some rest."
Instead of leaving, however, 505 took Flug's chair instead. Melanie grabbed his arm and cuddled it like a stuffed animal.
Flug just sighed and decided to let his son stay with Melanie, possibly until she fell asleep, it seemed.
"Let me know when we can head out," Melanie said wearily before she gestured to the book on her bedside table. "Meanwhile, I'll be here sleeping and trying to get through Black Hat's vanity project."
Flug nodded and shut off the lights. "Will do. Sleep tight."
With that, Flug exited the room and shut the door behind him.