Fighting Evil

FE: 9. Reunion

Dedication to @cicihovis cause she voted. (This was long ago)

§ V A L E N T I N A §

My reflection stared back at me as I looked in the mirror the small bathroom had. I was only wearing my underwear, and I could see my entire upper body in the mirror.

I looked sick.

My skin was naturally a darker color but I looked more pale than I should have. Not to mention thin. Naturally I was pretty slim but never had I seen myself this skinny.

Even after two weeks of physical therapy, I only noticed physical change, no change in my appearance.

My cheek bones stuck out, as well as my ribcage. Yellow bruises and scars were littered on my body. I was recently able to take off the cast for my leg, but it was only because I had an operation, so now I was stuck with stitches. The skin on my chest still hadn't grown back and to make sure I wouldn't tear it off, I had to put a bandage sticker onto it.

I looked like śhit myself.

Every night I wasn't able to sleep, so I was stuck with dark circles under my eyes. My hair stayed frizzy and had no volume or shine. My eyebrows, which I had paid expensive sessions for, now looked horrible.

I hated my life. I hated it ever since my dad was killed. I hated those bastards who wanted me because I was an elementalist. I hated how alone I felt. I hated Louis' fake sympathy.

Using my fingers, I combed through my wet hair. The blonde dye at the tips was washing off. I remembered how my brother was the one suggesting, no, begging, that I should get an ombre hairstyle at least six years ago. I kept dyeing it for a few more years to remember him, and now that I looked at it, I was getting reminded of him.

He was probably dead now. There was no way I would know. One day, he was here, the next day, he left. He had been gone for too long, I was sure he was dead. Even after those sleepless nights where I kept trying to convince myself that he and my dad were alive, the next morning I would come back to reality and know, he wasn't coming back.

I quickly wiped the tears off my face as I decided that I was going to get dressed and leave the bathroom. Since my eyes were quite puffy I even used cold water to really try and get rid of the evidence.

I opened the door slightly before sliding out through the small opening. Then I closed the door behind me.

"You're finally done!" someone exclaimed. I quickly turned my head in the direction of the voice.

A girl, around my height, wearing a hoodie and denim shorts, leaned against a wall with her phone in her hand. She had blonde hair that went down to her shoulders. I looked over her face and I realized that I recognized her from school.

"Perrie?!" I asked in shock. "You're Perrie right?"

"Believe it or not, it's me!" Perrie replied with a big grin on her face. I couldn't help but smile a bit too. It was hard to believe that I was seeing her right in front of me. It was a bit awkward but we hugged and she embraced me tightly.

Back in the ninth year Perrie and I had been pretty good friends, but we had never really become that close since I really didn't want to let anyone in. When we went to the eleventh year, she went missing and I didn't bother to help finding her. Now I felt a bit bad.

"Where were you?!" I exclaimed after we broke apart. "I haven't seen you in three years How did you get here?!!"

"Well, I got caught up in some stuff, kind of like, kidnapped, but Louis' friends saved me. I'm supposed to be here for another few years so I don't end up in the same position again."

"You know Louis?"

"Eh, well, kind of. I don't really know him, but I've seen him, I've talked to him, but I know some of his friends better."

I nodded and then a long silence passed.

"So, how'd you figure out that I was here?" I asked.

"Louis told some woman to tell me to come and see you, and probably show you around," she told me. "It's quite big here, you might get lost, Louis suggested that I would show you different places and how things run here." There was more to this place? It wasn't just a hospital?

"Okay," I nodded.

"So, you might want to take notes because this place is huge."

Perrie led me through the maze of halls the hospital had and explained what things were here and there. Who knew this hospital would be so big? The two of us had some small talk; we were getting to know each other again. After it seemed like I had walked several kilometers, we reached a large set of glass doors that opened as soon as we approached them. We walked to the end of the bridge that held the two buildings together.

The bridge walls were entirely made of glass and I could clearly see my surroundings. There were no other buildings in the area. I never noticed that Louis owned such a big estate, and I also wondered where he got the money from. As we walked through the bridge I tried to take in as much as I could.

There were pathways under the bridge and they led to different areas of the area. There appeared to be well-tended gardens and I noticed a courtyard or two. I glanced behind me at the building I was in earlier and compared it to the building we were approaching. If anything, the building we were going to was huge. It was around ten stories and we were approaching one in the middle. It was wide in area too and spread itself over some small hills, making some parts have less floors since the entire buildings roof was the same height. The hospital building I was in earlier only had five stories and it wasn't as spread out like the building we reached.

The first thing Perrie went up to was an elevator. The doors opened as she approached and we both got in. The doors closed immediately after we went in.

"Floor nine," she stated loudly. Then, the lights flashed green.

"This place is full of security measures," Perrie announced.

I felt the elevator move under my feet and Perrie began talking.

"The entire top floor, floor ten, belongs entirely to Louis," she said. "If you ever need to talk to him, you have to go to his AI. He lives and works there."

I wanted to ask her about Louis' work, but she kept talking and it was too late to ask.

"We'll go to the ninth floor and I'll show you around, then we'll go down to the next floor below and show you that one, after I'm done with showing you the lowest floor, then I'll show you where your room is," Perrie rambled.

"Wow, is my room furnished and all..?" I asked.

"Yeah, apparently Louis' team stalked the shît out of you and tried to make a room to match your interests," Perrie explained.

Even if I was getting stalked so people would know what I liked, it was still pretty creepy. At least I got a room I liked...?

"It happens to everyone else who's here, we've get some nice rooms if you ask me," Perrie told me.

I wanted to ask her what she meant by "everyone else" and why Louis was being so nice, but the elevator doors opened and she already started explaining different things on the floor.

-

I don't know the British school system but I searched it up and tried to understand it. #goodwriter

AI - Artificial Intelligence (like Jarvis before Age of Ultron)

Ha ha you guys won't get to know the entire layout of the manor/building/towers/whatever you want to call it, but if you know me personally, I designed it after the huge af hospital  I work at sometimes. (It's really only the lab)