The Wolves in the Woods

A Touch of Madness

No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.

— Aristotle

***

Nino is forced to confront the severity of his betrayal through several chance encounters.

***

            It was tough to gauge what he was feeling after everything had gone down. From the rapid-fire succession of hard truths to the revelation of the real source of trouble. Compounded by the utter refusal of the most guilty parties to admit they were ever wrong. Instead, there was a continued reliance on their go-to tactic to avoid having to face the consequences of their ill-conceived and harebrained plans. None of which worked, surprise surprise. Save for one who deserved more than others — in his mind, at least — everyone was now reaping what they had sown.

As for him? He didn't understand what possessed him to go along with it. Only that it had cost him everything. Was it excessive? Most would say yes. Did he deserve it? Most would also say yes. He certainly felt like a zombie when he woke up this morning to start his day. And, just by looking in the mirror, most would mistake him for one if they saw him.

"Crud..."

Nino stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His eyes drooped, with prominent bags under them. The lines around his face and mouth made him look older. Tired. As though he were an old man in his twilight years rather than a teenager in the prime of his youth. There was a significant slouch to his usual posture. As though he were trying to hide from the world and its ever-prying eyes. Not that he wanted to be out and about right now. He could feel the entirety of the world casting judgment on him for his role in driving Marinette out of their school. To say he felt like crap was the understatement of the century, if not the millennium.

Right now, he wanted to bang his head against the wall and scream. But there was no energy to do even that now.

"Nino?" he heard a voice call. Then a knock on the bathroom door. "Nino, sweetheart, are you alright?" The boy shuffled, turning his head to look at his mother. Bless her heart, he wanted to say. Despite everything that had happened, she still showered him with love and affection. The polar opposite of what he felt he deserved. That ugly feeling made itself home in the pit of his stomach, gnawing away at every good feeling that came his way after the trial.

He had to wonder what he deserved more. Perpetual torment or unearned forgiveness. There was no easy answer. And there was nothing more he wanted than to get his day over with.

"... been better..." Nino mumbled, leaning against his mother. No one in the family was blind to his transition from a happy and peppy kid to a miserable and depressive mess. His parents and Chris got front-row seats as Nino's energy slipped further and further away. He didn't get as harsh a sentence as everyone else. More or less just some hours of community service that he was almost done with. But the guilt and horror of knowing what he was capable of clung to him like a leech.

"... what in the world was I thinking..." Nino asked. His mother said nothing, letting him air out his grief. "I-I thought it was so amazing. She was so convincing." His breath hitched in his throat. Lila's stories sure wowed him and everyone else. But, he now knew looking back, never once did she ever ask them to do anything to Marinette. Ever.

"How did I not see it..." Nino gasped, holding his head in his hands. "It never made sense! None of it did!" He choked, struggling for breath. "And yet, we all turned on her. Like rabid animals..." Tears once again pricked at his raw eyes. Stinging with the cruelty of one thousand wasps. He wanted to blame Lila for his misfortune. Tell her it was all her fault they were in this mess, to begin with. Yet as much as he wanted to go feral on the liar's ass, he blamed Adrien more.