Red And Black [AU] - ON HIATUS

Fairy Tales

With hollowed eyes and a pit of growing lacuna constructed into the fabric of her existence, Marinette stared out the asylum window like she'd done for most of her miserable life.

Everyone had always wondered why she'd let her prosaic gaze protrude the small encasement of her metal prison and wander the external world that she had no access to. And yet, they could never truly understand why she did it; why no matter how seemingly unbothered or tormented she was, she always ended up trying to catch a glimpse of the world on the other side of the reinforced glass panes.

They'd thought that maybe it was because she yearned to be free, liberated from the chains of the asylum's unblinking surveillance to live a life like anyone else in the world. They'd contemplated that perhaps, it was because the realm beyond the window was the only thing in the stoic order of her insipid life that remained ever-changing; the only thing in her life that seemed to move forward when she herself was trapped in the drowning sands of the past. They figured that maybe it was even because it was the only place in her little chamber that could give her the liberty to avoid eye contact with anyone that she didn't have the care to interact with.

Of course, these had been the case for some of the incidents; but not all of them. In fact, it didn't even make up half of the times when Marinette had been caught staring through the window.

No, the main reason why this habit had carved itself onto her way of life was because this was the only window she had that didn't reflect the darkness in the daunting world around her; unlike the windows to her soul that had been cursed with the inability to find even the smallest bits of colour in the suffocating reality.

It served as her only eyes of the world that remained unbroken.

Some days - when she just wanted to be rid of the cumbers that the demons of her head had placed upon her -, the bluenette had wished to have these windows as her own eyes; just so that she could look at the realm that she was forever held captive in, and not be reminded of the fact that it had molded her into the embodiment of malice that she was now. 

Marinette ran her fingers along the steel bars of the window, not even flinching at the shock that the cold sent through her body; after all, she'd been through much worse. She had experienced traumatic happenings that had forever changed and ruptured the innocent soul - pristine from the darkest shades of sin - that she once was.

And surprisingly, the worst events of her life were the ones that she didn't know would play a key role in her transformation into the infamous criminal she had become.

*Flashback*

"The both of them lived happily ever after; the end," Marinette's mom smiled at her wistfully as she closed the book and set it by her bedside.

"Mama?" With eyelids that seemed to be getting heavier by the minute, little Marinette raised her head from her pillow; her arms tenaciously clutching her stuffed ladybug doll that she'd received for a special occasion. The occasion of her parents breaking the news of their divorce to her.

Sabine turned to her daughter with a soft motherly expression etched to her complexion "Yes, sweetie?"

"What's a happily ever after? I keep on hearing it in all the stories you read to me," She questioned, sitting upright. "But I don't know what it is,"

Sabine would be lying if she said that her heart didn't crack - at least a little bit - at the inquiry. She didn't know what was worse; having to explain the concept of a happy ending to her daughter or having to break the news to her that they don't exist. "Well...it's complicated, honey,"

"Are you sure? I'm good at understanding complicated stuff," Marinette posed a toothy grin as she uttered the sentence, a grin that made her mom chuckle.