'What is real and what is fake are most often laid on a foundation of opinion. We build our palaces of truth with bricks of biased perception and cement it with honeyed words.
And yet... so many never dare to dream of how the world could change. Tear those palaces to the ground, and rebuild as you see fit.'
-An unseen extract written by scholar and journalist Aksel Briggs.
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NINETY-SEVEN
Wall Maria, North Region, Islet, Briggs Manor
"Um, I'm..." Levi fumbled for words.
Adette furrowed her brow, retreating further. "How did you get in here? My husband does not appreciate guests."
"I mean you no harm, ma'am," he regained his composure. "I'm, well, my name is Levi. I'm Annalise's fiancé."
"That is impossible." She turned back to the window. "Annalise died as a child. Her gravestone rests just out there." Adette nodded towards the centre of the maze.
Levi grimaced. He didn't particularly want to be the one to tell Lorelai's mother than her dead daughter was... well, not so dead.
"You're just a figment of my imagination," she whispered to herself.
Levi shifted awkwardly, what to say to that?
This woman was totally unlike Lorelai in every way. They were both blonde and slender, but while Lorelai was sharp and angular, her mother was petite and gentle. Her bright blue eyes were kind and sad, so different from the piercing Briggs gaze that showed itself in Lorelai and Aksel.
While Lorelai's body was marred with the scars expected for someone who had lived her life, Adette was untarnished, polished even, like a precious jewel or a trophy.
A trophy that had been locked away from the rest of the world, it seemed. Adette gazed out the window longingly. Levi would bet she hadn't stepped foot outside that secret door for a long while.
And yet... even as she was locked away, there was no discontentment in her eyes. Instead, an odd sort of glaze as if she were bewitched by something. Or, someone.
"Why are you here, Levi?" Adette turned her eyes back to him. "Surely a spirit like you can find no amusement bothering an old woman?"
Spirit, Levi scoffed to himself. The poor woman had gone mad up here; she thought he was a ghost.
"I'm here to see Aksel. He and I have some problems to resolve," Levi said, walking to her side. He copied her in peering out the window to the maze.
"Oh, another impossible thing. No one has problems with my husband," Adette chuckled. "He's the kindest most tolerant man in the world. All love him."
Levi glanced at her sceptically. This woman really was ill in the head. That, or the nonsense Friedrich had spouted had had some truth to it. Impossible.
"Is that so?"
"Of course."
"You know, ma'am," Levi leant on the windowsill. "Your daughter is over in that maze trying to prevent your husband from committing mass-genocide. Not exactly 'kind and tolerant' behaviour."
"I'm sure it's for the best." Adette's smile stayed.
"Mass-genocide?"
"Yes."
He raised an eyebrow. "...Right."
They were silent for a few moments.
"What do you know about Annalise?" said Adette softly.
"Huh?"
"You must be the man my daughter would have married, were she alive." An old sadness returned to her eyes. "Tell me, spirit, is my little girl safe? Is she happy?"
Levi stilled. Poor woman, like so many others, she was but a victim of the Briggs line. "...She's well, ma'am. But tired. She's been fighting a long while."
"She's just like her father then."
"What?"
Adette smiled. "I always knew she'd be just like him."
<>
Lorelai wandered through the maze, the snow crunching beneath her boots. She'd lost sight of Briggs somewhere within the twists and turns of the hedges.
She still remembered this place. It was as eerie as ever.
Once, as a child, she'd tried running from the manor. It had been a dark night, but, nothing could scare her more than her father back then. She'd run into the maze, tried to lose him in the network of identical hedges and deadends.
She'd gotten lost, collapsed, weeping on the ground. It had only taken Briggs moments to find her; he lured her back to the manor with kind words and the promise of a hot meal.
Of course, the next morning, she'd lived to pay for her defiance.
Lorelai shoved her scarred hands in her pocket as she trudged. The manor stood tall in the distant mist. Her mind wandered back to Levi... she hoped he was alright.
Before long, she reached the centre of the maze. It was different than before. Now, in the clearing stood a grand statue. It depicted an angel, her stone wings massive and intricate.
Lorelai read the inscription below.
'In Memorium: Annalise Briggs, gone but never forgotten. 815-821.'
She scoffed. It was an odd thing to behold your own grave.
Death wasn't something Lorelai considered in small amounts. Often she wondered if things would be better were this grave legitimate. She might not have made such a mess of things, at least.
"I come here often, you know."
Lorelai turned around; her father had made it to the centre as well. Lethargically, he collapsed down on a rickety wooden bench, placing his cane down beside him.
"I mourned for you when you left, Annalise," Briggs murmured, looking down. "Your absence struck me harder than you will ever know."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. Always this game, round and round they went. Ever must they dance between a loving family and outright enemies.
"Well, boohoo, I don't give a shit. The only thing you mourned was your legacy, the loss of a Briggs-blooded pawn who you'd use to terrorise innocent people." She crossed her arms.
He smiled sadly. "Do you truly think so little of me, daughter?"
She sighed. "Father, I thought the world of you." He looked up at her. "As a child, you were everything I wanted to be. You were a superhero in my eyes. Though you scared me, I wanted so desperately to make you proud."
"What changed?"
"I escaped this place," Lorelai gestured around. "I understand now that all of this, all this damn grandeur is just an elaborate set to disguise who you truly are. And I will act no longer."
She glared at him.
"Call off the attack," Lorelai challenged.
He stood up, meeting her gaze level-headedly. "Alright."
"W-what?"
"But you must return to me."
Her eyes widened in horror.
Briggs advanced. "Think of what we could achieve together! Daughter, you are the ally I always deserved, we could reform these cramped walls, together."
"You can't just take over a nation, Dad."
"Says who? You would have done it in Havas had you not been a coward! See, power, darling, it's all in the mind. Money. Politics. Might. They're only powerful because we believe they are. A pauper could be king tomorrow if enough people agreed. You rule the mind, you rule the world."
Lorelai wavered. It was the same barrage of relentless desire that haunted her sleep. She had no doubt her father could fell empires with his ambition alone.
They both could... if she dared to dream.
"You would give up your life long vendetta against Havas just to have me back?"
He waved her off. "I don't really care about ending Havas. No, that was just a little pretext I thought up. Something to take me from beggar to nobleman. So, why am I here?"
Briggs grinned maniacally, his eyes alight with purpose.
"I'll tell you why. It's all for a grand dream."
"You're nuts, Dad. People have died."
"A small sacrifice." He advanced, clutching her hands in his forcefully. Lorelai stepped back. But Briggs didn't relent. "Daughter, you and I walk in the footsteps of the Gods. It is our sacred right to rule. Join me."
She raised an eyebrow, retracting her hands sharply. "You're mad."
"You need me just as much as I need you. Don't you see? We are fated to be allies. I could teach you so much. I could be your father again."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I already have a father. And he's a better man than you ever will be. "
"You jest."
"What? You think I spent these past twenty-four years alone? I found my own family. I have no need for you."
Briggs hesitated, stepping back. He looked down solemnly. "So you want to do this the hard way."
"You can say whatever you like-"
"If you're not with me," he began, looming over her, "then you're against me."
"We don't have to fight. As you said, you don't care about the Havasians, so call off your army."
"You're right. I don't care about the Havasians. I care about our legacy; I care about you. Damn it, Annalise, I am prepared to do whatever it takes to make you someone special... even become the villain in your story."
Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. What was this? This obsession- why care so much about who she was, even when they were apart?
"I don't understand."
"You will." He walked to the exit. The sun was beginning to set over the maze. "Come, you'll be staying at the manor tonight." And he disappeared around the bend.
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Lorelai returned a while after him. She'd taken a moment to sort through her thoughts.
There was so much she didn't understand about her father— about her family. As a child, she hadn't understood anything, but had accepted it as the way the world worked.
She'd been broken from that delusion now. But Lorelai feared she knew little more than she did all those years ago. Twenty-four years of hiding had cost her the knowledge of who she really was and the truths that haunted these ancient grounds.
The door creaked as she stepped inside. The warm manor was a relief from the snowstorm outside.
"Lorelai!" Levi hurried over to her, sliding a little on the marble. He clutched her arms. "Where've you been? I've been worried sick-"
"I'm fine," she assured him. "How long was I gone?"
"It's been an hour since Briggs returned."
Lorelai blinked. She'd barely even noticed the time, no wonder Levi was worried. "I'm sorry," she cupped his cheek in her hand. "I'm fine, I just, I had a lot to think about."
Levi nodded, but his worry stayed.
Looking left and right across the room, she asked: "Where is he?"
"Briggs went up to see your mother."
"You found her?"
"Yes. However, she wasn't particularly helpful. She thinks I'm a ghost."
Lorelai chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like her."
"We should go before Briggs gets back." Levi moved to take her hand and walk out the door. "Erwin will have sent for a carriage by now."
She didn't budge. "We're staying here tonight."
"What?"
"I still have a lot to go over with my father."
"Lorelai," he began worriedly, "This place... I can see how it's wearing on you. I don't think we should stay here much longer."
"You're being paranoid," Lorelai led him up the stairs, as if totally at home. "I have a lot to tell you-"
They stopped, spying Briggs standing on the landing ahead. He smiled eerily. "I'm so glad you've decided to stay. Your old bedroom should be ready for you."
"Thank you."
"I'll call you for dinner when it's ready."
Lorelai just nodded to him, leading Levi down the hall. Eventually, they reached a room at the far left of the manor. There were flowers painted on the door.
"Are you sure we should stay?" he whispered.
"I need answers, Levi. And he's the only one who can give them to me." She fiddled with the doorknob for a second, and then tentatively walked into the room. Lorelai wasn't prepared for the memories that washed over her.
It was all just as she remembered it. Her room hadn't been touched since she had left.
It was the same four-poster bed with coloured bunting strung around it. The familiar dolls still sat in their little house against the wall, abandoned. The painted bunnies still hopped their merry little dance along the walls.
Once, this room had been her entire world. Many nights Lorelai had spent hidden under the covers, wishing she might disappear completely.
Levi approached her from behind, easing the tension from her shoulders gently. "Are you really alright?"
"Yes," she replied breathily, collecting herself. Lorelai turned around. "We need a plan."
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Hey all!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm trying to keep updates constant, bear with me haha.
That's all for now,
Happy Reading!
Completed: 04/02/21
Published: 04/02/21
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