Chapter Nine: Dicentra

‘Mistress… Mistress…. Mistress Dizzy…. Wait up!’

I storm out of the courtroom, forging a path through the many people in the building. The sheer willpower it took not to rip every limb from Unova’s body was so overwhelming I was drowning. And though I got through court today, the humiliation still weighs me down.

‘Well, I guess you deserved it. Someone had to knock you off that high pedestal.’

‘Shut up, Cendra,’ I say, before realising I spoke out loud.

‘Oops,’ it says, clearly entertained by my mistake, ‘Better keep that mouth shut. Wouldn’t want people to think you’d gone crazy now, would we?’

I grumble, knowing I’m not in a position to say anything. With everything that’s happened today, I might need to call Marceau again. And where necessary, I try to avoid that. Especially if it ends up being two nights in a row.

The moment we make it to my office, I slam the door shut and round on Philus.

‘How dare you?’

He looks up at me, eyes filled with fear.

‘Mistress Dizzy,’ he says, shaking, ‘I can- I can explain…’

‘There is nothing to explain, Philus,’ I say, voice fuelled by anger, ‘You work for me, and you still sided with her. Where do your loyalties truly lie, hmm?’

‘I- I-’ he hesitates, as though faced with answering an impossible question, ‘I’m not sure.’

I scoff, unable to believe what I’m hearing.

‘Who would want to work for someone like you anyway?’ says Cendra, trying to throw me off, ‘I can’t imagine being stuck with a failure who tries to prove herself over and over but only ends up humiliated. How pathetic.’

I almost lash out at Cendra, but quickly realise that it wouldn’t help me in the current situation. Instead, I sigh, lowering my head to lock eyes with Philus.

‘If you don’t know whose side you’re on,’ I say, my voice slightly calmer than before, ‘then I suggest you get out of my sight. Now. And if you decide that you actually are better off without fuck-ass Unova, then you are welcome back here. But if not…’ I trail off, letting the anger consume me so he sees the red in my eyes, ‘make sure that I never see you again. Is that clear?’

‘Mistress Dizzy, please, I beg of you-’

‘I SAID, IS THAT-’

Knock. Knock. Knock.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ I say under my breath, then, ‘Come in.’

The door opens just a crack, and poking his head through the gap is-

‘Marceau?’

He steps in fully, revealing his tall, elegant figure, draped in a rich purple cloak that shimmers like the stars of the night sky.

‘Is now not a good time?’ he asks, eyes flicking between me and Philus.

‘You are free to leave, Philus,’ I say calmly, watching as he hobbles out of the room, ‘And think on what I’ve said.’

The door closes behind him, and I turn to Marceau.

‘What are you doing here?’ I ask, shocked at his sudden arrival, ‘Shouldn’t you be sucking up to Unova or something?’

He chuckles, and takes a step forward, ‘Yeah, about that…’

He lifts his eyes to meet mine, and I can sense a question on the tip of his tongue.

‘Are you alright?’

This question more than takes me aback, especially since he’s just shown up here unannounced. Why does he care?

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, are you alright?’ he looks at me with genuine concern, the slight raise of his eyebrows more than enough to increase my curiosity. ‘You know, with the whole, “Unova crashing your case” and all. I know it can’t have been easy.’

I don’t say anything, too stunned to reply. Why is he being like this?

‘What?’ sneers Cendra, catching on quickly, ‘You won’t even accept a little compassion now? Is your ego so big that even Marceau is below you?’

‘It’s not like that,’ I mutter, before suddenly remembering that Marceau is still here. Shit.

‘Did you say something?’ he asks, still getting closer.

‘Erm… no. I didn’t.’ I take a deep breath in, knowing that the next words I say could potentially make or break things. ‘Can you just… give me a second? Please?’

‘Uh, sure.’

‘He’s too good for you,’ says Cendra, taking the opportunity to torment me, ‘And I’m surprised he came all the way down here just to check on you. You know you don’t deserve him, right?’

But I don’t want him, I think to myself, He’s just there to provide stress relief when I need it.

‘That’s not the fucking point,’ it continues, ‘The point is you’re treating him like shit and he doesn’t need that. Stop being so selfish, why don’t you? Think of other people for once. Aralax wasn’t made for you, OK?’

Just- fuck off already, alright Cendra?

‘You’re so scared of him judging that you won’t even reply to me out loud,’ it says, a hint of joy in its voice, ‘You respond as if you’re thinking, but it’s really-’

‘What are you doing here, Marceau?’ I say, after minutes of silence.

‘You know why I’m here,’ he says carefully, ‘To check on you.’

‘I don’t want that bullshit, alright?’ I move closer to him now, slowly filling with anger, ‘I want the truth. What are you really doing here?’

‘I don’t-’

‘You want me, is that it? Come on Marceau, you’re not fooling anybody by saying you want to see how I’m doing. I don’t buy that for a second.’

‘It’s not-’

‘You didn’t have to lie about it,’ I continue, still advancing in his direction, ‘You just had to tell me and that would have been that.’

‘Would you-’

‘Well, come on then, let’s go. Shirt off, trousers off, all of it.’ I start unbuttoning my shirt, just wanting to get this over with, ‘God, I banged you literally last night and you couldn’t even wait-’

‘Why won’t you believe me?’ he interrupts suddenly, as I stand there half-dressed.

‘What?’

‘Why won’t you believe me?’ he repeats, and the sadness in his voice almost breaks my heart.

Almost.

‘Because we’re not like that to each other!’ I yell, the bubble of anger finally bursting, ‘Because I told you that we aren’t a thing and you still act like we fucking are! Why do you pretend to care? You don’t owe it to me, and I don’t need it, alright?’

‘It’s not like that,’ Marceau claims, clearly confused, ‘I said I wasn’t going to get attached, so why do you keep bringing it up? I know you don’t like me in that way, and I don’t like you like that either. But I’m checking up on you as a friend. Or is that not allowed?’

‘Bullshit,’ I spit, getting more and more irritated by the second, ‘Don’t you understand, Marceau? We aren’t friends. Not even close. I only call you when I don’t want to think about stuff. I thought you knew that. There’s no such thing as friends between us, OK?’

The sorrow in his eyes when he looks at me sends a bullet through my heart. But I ignore the feeling, and turn away.

‘I think it would be better if you just left.’

Silence.

I don’t hear him leave, but I know he’s gone when the only sound in the room is my hollow breathing and he doesn’t rush forwards to comfort me.

‘You’re crying?’ Cendra asks disdainfully, ‘You’re crying? When you just disregarded him as a person entirely?’

‘You don’t get how hard it was for me to do that to him, Cendra,’ I reply, finally being able to speak with everyone gone.

‘Oh please. You did that without a second thought, I watched you. Didn’t even flinch as you saw his heart break. You’re soulless, did you know that?’

‘I don’t need this right now, Cendra.’

‘Yeah, and Marceau didn’t need you to make assumptions like that but here we are,’ it retaliates, ‘Do you know what your problem is? It’s that you only see what you want to see in people. You didn’t possibly think that Marceau could care about you, so you assumed he came for another reason. Newsflash: It’s not all about you.’

‘SHUT UP!!!’ I scream, pushed past my breaking point, ‘SHUT UP!’

Cendra goes silent.

Not even a second passes before the door opens, catching me off guard.

And when I turn around, I’m greeted by none other than the fucking puppet.