The Guild of the Forsaken

CHAPTER 39 - Isolation Is Not Safety

Chasing Pavements- Adele

November 1st 2024

GOTHAM CITY

She left without saying goodbye.

Marinette scarpered from Wayne Manor with a blur of pink trailing behind her creating a cape of colour. Maybe she would have stayed if she wasn't battling a scream that threatened to tear through her throat and shake the very earth she walked on.

Only once had she given into that urge, to release the myriad of painful and uncontrollable emotions that bubbled up inside her. It resulted in the death of thousands.

Hands fail and the tip of heavy boots catch on the stones as Marinette's loaded steps thunder down the rough path. She swallows painfully the feeling of sludge worming down her throat all too familiar. Tripping over tree roots Marinette knows not what direction she runs. All that matters is moving.

To keep going until she can wrap her hands around the comforting neck of a bottle, something strong that will numb it all. In the back of her mind she knows she should have found Damian, that she should have said she felt unwell and needed to leave. He would have understood, but Marinette would just be feeding him another pretty lie and she isn't sure that she can stomach another one at the moment.

At least alcohol was an overbearing and unfaltering beacon of brutal honesty that never failed to taunt Marinette with all of the hidden truths about herself.

In all honesty she feared that even one word to him would see everything come flowing out. Marinette couldn't face him, not when he didn't even see her. She wishes she was really Bridgette. That she was happy and whole, just another young person looking for their place in an ever changing world.

Someone who is motivated by finding happiness not oblivion, someone who would be worthy of Damian.

But she isn't, so she ran, and the irony of the situation will never be lost on her.

Back in the temporary safety of her flat Marinette stares at the blank wall with no plans to move for quite some time. She found her bottles and as Marinette drank one it became four, and soon she fell down and simply continued to drink more.

The door slams but doesn't stir Marinette from her slumped position. With broken thoughts running up a storm in her mind, everything is coated in a film of scratchy static.

"MARI? Are you in here?" Luka's voice reaches Marinette but it sounds vague and far off as though he was calling through a thick fog.

Hands find themselves on her shoulders and her body begins to shake but she makes no effort to remove them. Her only acknowledgement of the touch being a broken sob that slips past her crumbling defences.

Strong arms slip around her and bring her into a warm embrace, her grip on her bottle tightens automatically as another tries to pry it from her. "Mel its me Luka, I'm here with you, I'm not gonna hurt you, you are safe."

Biting her lip until she tastes the metallic sharpness of blood Marinette desperately tries to drown another sob. The nearly empty bottle falls to the ground with a soft clink reuniting with the others as her shaking hands can no longer retain their hold.

Luka wobbly murmurs nonsensical sounds in her ear while he brushes a hand through her hair, the comforting touch unravels her. If he had gotten angry or told her to quit crying and get up she would have. But the softness undoes her.

She breaks within his embrace her tears creating a dam that weaves down her cheeks until they fall onto Luka's arms. As she cries Marinette doesn't notice that not all of the tears are her own.