[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]it's a better apology than before, she'll give him that.

she feels some truth in words dressed up to disarm her. he did, in fact, put his reputation on the line to take her under his wing, under silph co's wing. and when she had been nothing, he made her everything.

perhaps, in some way... who she is, who she will become all begins with him.

and how will fernando silph feel when a prodigy evolves into a monster?

there's cracks in the foundation, in the structure that holds them together. spiderwebs slowly shift into bigger fissures until it all crumbles down. he tries to hold it together with words, with an almost confession...

and, eventually, she'll burn it to the ground.

her eyes are laser focused on him, on the pretty picture he paints. it wants to cling, wants to stay in her mind. and she can't help the reaction in her facial structure. where muscles of the face soften into a gentle expression, red glosses over into steel.

"then prove it! prove you care, prove you like me, prove you trust me." she doesn't touch upon the almost.

words mean nothing. actions are everything. he operates on the same frequency and yet, he tries to settle the dust with words anyway. she won't just accept it.

she won't roll over anymore.

"despite being human, you're capable of more than you know." faintly, the ghost of a smile rises. it's hollow, a gengar smile where one shouldn't be. and despite herself, she leans in toward his ear. a whisper comes softly, barely there but commanding all the same.

"just as i am."

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]the path is already predetermined, mapped out through stars and red chains. he gave her the blueprint and she'll give him hell.

a warning won't stop the inevitable. she's shown signs of instability long before now, long before he paid her more attention than he should have.

and here, caged in by pristine walls, she is trying to be reasonable. no matter how small it may be, she's still giving him a chance. right the wrongs, undo what's been done... before it's too late.

fingers ensnare her hair, threading capture into her scalp. there he holds her, force keeping her reigned in.

somehow, she doesn't struggle.

"i need more." she needs everything. she needs power.

she smiles a little wider.

"what have you missed, fernando?"

softly, the whisper that follows isn't a threat. it's a probe.

"enlighten me."

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]"watch me."

she's come too far to simply turn back. she's lost too much to back down. and everything that she wants will be hers, whether it's by fate or force.

such is the path she's chosen. originally paved with good intentions... only for it all to be written over with paranoia, distrust, mental instability.

her skin crawls the longer he touches her, the longer his fingers are threaded into her scalp.

and she doesn't know cait personally, doesn't speak much to kim but they are powerful tools he uses to show purpose. things normal people should go to, he misses out on. what does that say of her, then? of her intentionally turning her back on everything she's known for the past two years?

it puts her in direct conflict with herself. logic clashes with emotion, reason fighting paranoia.

and she's left to sift through the rubble to find clues beneath dust.

despite it all, she can't help the soft gasp from the final sentence. his best friend dying. she thinks of alexander, of his body among the wreckage of the ultra beast war.

the memory demands her submission, her suffering. and a stray tear falls as her face twists back into hurt.

"i don't want to miss out."

her eyes narrow.

"i don't want to be unable to say goodbye."

she knows, deep down, selfishness is quickly undoing her but god... what she would have given to save him instead of the region. what she would have done to protect him.

it scares her.

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]no... he's wrong.

he has to be.

she lingers in place even after release, after his hands drop from her hair.

and she can't shake the feeling that he's not hearing her, not understanding what's happening, what's about to happen.

the ultra beast war had been the beginning, sea hoenn a catalyst, and rocket imprisonment the breaking point.

he's spent his life gathering as much power as he could to protect those he deems worthy. and now, it's her turn... but she's not focused on protection.

no, she's sinking hungry teeth into darker themes.

"i'm not quitting."

even if it's forced, she will not stop.

"that's not happening."

happiness ended with alexander, with a watery bone saw ripping down her back, with a broken wrist and a broken spirit in the dark corner of a cell.

fuck his exit.

she's a sharpened knife when she stares back at him, pristine and shining before striking, before drawing blood.

"this is not enough. i have not had enough."

and it will never be enough.

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she doesn't need the reminder he tries to present.

she has her own, carved into her body from childhood to now. some small, some jagged, some old, and most new.

this is the price they pay for success, for greatness, for hoenn...

except, she's not sure if his path is what she wants anymore.

"perhaps."

she'll craft her own path, whether he likes it or not.

"i'm not the same little girl anymore, fernando." she's worse.

the times of being a pawn are over, dead, gone.

and in the ashes, illeana reyes is finally forged.

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]fate has woven them together, time tying the knots to keep them tethered.

and she threatens to cut it all away. bit by bit, string by string.

her smile is pleasant, innocent in the face of her wrongdoings.

she was justified. she still is.

"it could've been worse."

and it will be.

FERNANDO SILPH