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“You poor thing,” Volpina—Lila purred, outlining of Marinette’s jaw with her sharp orange nails. “Do you need a break?” Her smile grew cruel. “You know how to get one.”
Chest still heaving, Marinette allowed Lila to tilt her head. Bluebell eyes found toxic green ones, decorated by the slitted pupils of foxes. She didn’t speak, refusing to allow Lila the pleasure of hearing her voice raw and rough from her screams.
Phantom pain danced over her agitated nerves. The sensation of Lila’s nails digging into her skin felt like a rusted nail piercing through her jaw.
A mere few days ago, the sensation of manacles digging into her wrists, as Lila chained Marinette to the wall with her toes inches from the ground, so that the manacles were holding up her entire weight, was the most unbearable part of this experience. It wasn’t the pain that had bothered her—Marinette was used to pain, she had been regularly thrown into buildings since she was twelve, and even without the camaraderie of Tikki’s presence this was nothing compared to that. It was the humiliation. Marinette felt sick knowing Lila was hanging her up on the wall like some perverted hunting trophy.
She had thought Lila could never hurt her in any way that truly mattered—what was a blow to her dignity and body when her silence meant Chat Noir and the kwamis were safe? But now—but now—Lila was wielding a power she did not deserve, but one she was terribly proficient in. The Fox miraculous’s illusions didn’t just create tricks of the light—it worked by tricking the body into sensing things that were not there, and Marinette was experiencing first-hand how dangerous this power could be in the wrong hands.
Kwamis, she missed Hawkmoth. As much as he had preyed on the vulnerability of children, at least he had never resorted to torture to get what he wanted.
“Well?” Lila asked, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Marinette’s silence. “Are you going to finally tell me where your precious Chat Noir and miraculous box are?”
In the end, it wasn’t a choice.
Marinette bared her teeth in a vicious grin, and spat in Lila face.
Lila’s smile twisted into a sneer. She wiped the foamy spit from her face, and brought the flute she was holding to her lips.
The sharp melody that came out of Lila’s flute pierced her eardrums, hammering its way into Marinette’s thudding skull. Lila hadn’t even brought the flute near her yet, but already Marinette could imagine her nerves being set alight.
She clenched her jaw tightly shut as Lila brought the orb of light at the tip of her flute to Marinette’s skin. She hadn’t succeeded yet, but one day she would manage not to allow Lila the satisfaction of her screams.
Marinette refused to allow Lila the pleasure of seeing her break. Chat Noir would come for her soon, she just had to hold out for a little longer.
She enveloped herself in the memory of Chat Noir and the kwamis—a shield, a safety blanket, a reminder of who she was enduring this for. As long as Chat Noir remained free, as long as the miraculous box remained out of Lila’s hands, it meant Volpina had not won. She might have Marinette strung up on the wall, and Tikki locked away in a vault somewhere, but as long as she couldn’t make the Ultimate Wish…Marinette would not break.
The white orb of light touched Marinette. Its magic spread across Marinette’s skin, diffusing into her body. A pause, and then—
Marinette screamed.
It’s just for a little longer.