Strings of Fate - [Book 2] [Doflamingo x Reader]

♠ 5

Ten feet separated you, but the distance felt deeper than that.

You had to force yourself to stay still, every instinct screaming at you to close the distance—to reach out, to touch him. His sorrow was noticed, thick in the air like the storm outside. He wasn't angry. The tension that usually radiated from him in waves was absent, replaced by something quieter, heavier.

Sadness.

And it washed over you too.

You had left him for a day—to cool off, to clear your head—but you hadn't considered what that time apart would do to him. Now, standing here, you could feel it. The weight of it.

Your heart ached, but this wasn't just about emotions. You needed resolution. Something had to change.

The revolution, the toys, the suffering—it all clawed at the edges of your mind. But now wasn't the time to ignite another battle. Not yet. First, you had to confront the root of it all. The darkness Trebol had planted in him. The cruelty he'd been taught since childhood. The very thing that kept pulling you apart.

You parted your lips to speak, but before you could, Doflamingo's voice cut through the silence.

"I kept thinking about it," he began, his voice tight with something that wasn't anger, but something else—something raw, something far more difficult to put into words. "I thought maybe I should've gone after you. Snatched you up, pulled you back with my strings before you could get too far. But I didn't... I let you leave." His breath caught slightly, the sharp exhale betraying how much it had cost him. "And it felt wrong. But... knowing you left on your own? That impacted me more than I thought. Maybe you did need some time alone after what I said."

"Letting you leave... was never part of the plan," he continued, frustration lacing his tone, though it was softened by something else—regret, perhaps. "I wanted to fix it. I wanted to make sure you understood, that you knew I didn't mean what I said. But you left anyway. And here I am... trying to make sense of it all."

His head tilted slightly, his sunglasses still concealing his eyes, but the tension in his shoulders was unmistakable. Then, as if almost to himself, he added, "I've been living by these rules of power and control for so long. Thinking that nothing could matter more. But when you walked away... I felt it. The void."

His voice softened, almost imperceptibly, as he glanced at you, and for the first time, you could feel emotions from him—vulnerability. It was fleeting, almost hidden behind his usual cold demeanor.

"I know you're hurting, Doflamingo. I see that, and I... I feel it too," you begin, your voice soft but unwavering. "But I can't ignore what's really going on here. You're trapped in a world that's been built on power and control. I know you've been taught that, you've been living it for so long that it's hard to see anything else."

You pause, letting your words settle before continuing. "But it's not just about us, or even your empire. It's about what you've been made to believe. You didn't get here on your own, Doflamingo. I see the shadows of someone else in you, someone who taught you that everything—everyone—could be controlled."

Your voice tightens, but you hold his gaze. "Trebol has been pulling your strings, not just in the way you lead, but in the way you see the world. He taught you that fear was the only thing that mattered, that nothing could be above power. That control was the ultimate goal."

You swallow hard, not breaking eye contact. "You've been living in his mold, his twisted version of reality, for so long that you don't even realize the way it's suffocating you. And it's suffocating everything else around you."

You let the silence linger for a moment before you took another step forward. "I want to help you see it, Doflamingo. To help you remember who you really are just beyond Trebol and a celestial dragon. Because I know you can be more than just the puppet of someone else's vision of the world."