Partners by Chance

Chapter 22 - Do you like irony?

Lila

The morning sun was dazzling Lila, so she closed her eyes. She hasn't sure that the illusion she casted would trick Ladybug and the other superheros so she did something that she never have done before: she prayed.

She felt a hand landing in her shoulder and then a soft and friendly voice could be heard.

"Are you ok, Lila?" the voice said.

She open her eyes to see Ladybug. She had a concerned look in her face.

"Oh... yes!" she quickly said "Thank you so much for saving me Ladybug!"

She smiled. The poor oblivious girl hadn't the slightest idea of what was happening before her very eyes. Lila got up and hugged her. The illusion was working so far.

"Do you want me to take you home?" asked Ladybug.

"No, thanks." she replied "I got my own means."

"Alright then. See you!" replied the heroine.

And, one by one, the superheroes started leaving.

As soon as she was alone, Lila dismissed the illusion and her fox themed costume returned.

"Fly to me, my akuma, your job is done." she said.

And slowly, Lila was involved in black smoke and the costume faded away. From her necklace, that was black as the night, a dark butterfly flew out. It waited in front of Lila, as it didn't have a Miraculous to return.

Lila extended her hand and the butterfly landed in it. As it happen, she covered it with her free hand and the Butterfly disappeared.

***

"So, you're saying he's holding a party tonight?" asked Félix from the other side of the line.

"Yes." Lila answered "So we must act now."

"It's too soon. What if you fail to defeat Gabriel?" questioned him.

"I won't." she promised.

Félix

8:43. It was 8:43 and Lila wasn't there yet. How hard is arriving at time? If they said at 8:30, she should be at 8:30.

Félix was sitting in a dark alley close to the Agreste Mansion. The building was lighten up but no sound could be heard. How lame should that party be.

Félix landed his head in the wall in a half-asleep state. His body was lying in a cold dark alley of Paris, but his mind was floating somewhere far far away, filling itself with sounds, images and emotions he wasn't feeling.

In that diffuse line between vigil and numbness, two figures could be distinguished inside Félix's head: Lila and Mia.

Of course in such a poor state of awareness, Félix didn't care why such images were dancing in his imagination. He could see both, but not in the way they really were. They looked... perfect, as if there was no possible correction to any of them. But wasn't also true.

Mia had brown eyes looking straight at him and her dark, almost black, long hair but without being straightened. It was covering her ears and part of her face, as if she was trying to hide herself of the world, afraid of what it would think of her, as if anyone could dare to say she wasn't beautiful. She had also a little scar under her right eye, a small white line that would be imperceptible to the most of the viewers, but that always had fascinated Félix as her most beautiful detail.

Lila, on the other hand, has her brown hair perfectly combed and straightened. Her mud green eyes weren't looking at him, but rather something behind him. Her eyes looked fuzzy, as she wasn't really there. She was distant, unobtainable, more like a concept than a real person. But he knew she was real. Or was she? Could she be fake? Could all the person she knew be fake? No, she couldn't be. She was real. She had to be real.