Marion's Memoirs

13. Time

The stares from Kirsten earlier had nothing on the looks I was getting now.

It felt weird enough that I was sitting cross-legged on the ground in a miniskirt.  Having both Pierre and Kirsten flanking me like polyamorous bodyguards was also something I hadn't gotten the opportunity to get used to.  But doing all that whilst staring my neglective father straight in the face?  It felt like an out-of-body experience.

"So, um," Aran begins awkwardly, fidgeting with an ear piercing, "strategies to defeat the enemy..."

Ezekiel coughs.  It's just a cough, but it's so irritating.  I get the urge to punch something, but considering Pierre and Kirsten are the closest things, punching something probably isn't a very good idea.

"Well," Pierre begins tactfully, "we need to find Gawain's location before anything."

"Yeah, that's a point," Alec chimes in, "where is he?"

There's a general consensus of shrugging and "I dunno"s across the room, and Aran visibly droops.  "Ezekiel?  Do you know anything?"

"I've stayed in the same place for eight years," he mutters gruffly, and Aran withdraws, his question clearly answered.

"There are other people we need to find, as well," Pierre points out.  "Like Professor Lovejoy, Juniper and... ah."  If Aran had drooped before, Pierre had fallen to pieces now.  "Oh, God.  Why..."

"What is it?" I ask him.  The face he wears now is similar to that of someone who's just had an existential crisis.  Kirsten looks as confused as I am.

"We left Greg and Amity in the village!" he cries.  "Greg! And Amity! They only share healing and book-arranging between them!  We... well, I just completely abandoned them!  What if they get..."

Alec screams.  "Greg?! He's alive!"

Pierre screams back.  "What if he isn't?"

Both of them scream, but Alec screams louder.  "Pierre, you- you absolute twat! That was my boyfriend!"

"I'm so sorry!" All of a sudden, Pierre's started sort of scream-sobbing, and he's down on his knees.  I put my hand on his back in what I think is a gesture of comfort, but I have such little understanding of what's just occurred that I don't know if I'll actually be able to calm him down.  Kirsten looks away uncomfortably, muttering something about boys under her breath.

"Both of you, shut up," Ezekiel asserts gruffly.  "The Gregory boy already filled his purpose, so it's not worth agonising over."  This statement only makes Alec start crying as well, and even though I don't actually know him beyond his name, blue hair and apparent relationship with Greg, his despair makes me hate my father just that much more.

"Yeah, I suppose you feel great being top dog in a room full of teenagers," I find myself half-growling.  "Because everyone is just a tool for you, aren't they?"

"Be quiet, Marianne," he orders, face furrowing.  "It's time you learned some respect for your elders."

"Oh, really?" I fire back quicker than I can stop myself.  "Bad things happen when I disrespect my elders, don't they?  Like, I don't know... having my fucking memories erased!  Yeah, Cassiopia was a viable marriage candidate, wasn't she?  Seeing as you seem to like this idea of 'elders' so much, what better thing to do than to marry a woman who seemed to want to kill all children?  That's why you've gathered everyone here, is it?  Stealing your brother's kills?  Don't think I don't know what you're planning!"

Everyone is momentarily shocked.  I remain resolute where I sit, although I know what I just said was completely stupid.

"Marianne," Pierre murmurs to me, worriedly, "while I don't doubt the honesty of your dislike of your father, I think accusing him of engaging in ephebocide is slightly..."