I decided not to go to Jinx after the street fight with Vi, having a funny feeling in my stomach about it. And I didn't go with Sevika to Silco's office. Instead, I went to Singed's lab, deciding to find some answers.
I slipped through the door as the man knocked a knuckle against the glass case his creature was floating in. I seemingly crept into his room unnoticed, my eyes falling on the journal that was sitting on a nearby desk with my name scribbled across it in bold, messy letters. MOUSE. I slowly closed the door after me, Squeaks jumping off my shoulder and into the shadows. That seemed to catch Singed's attention.
"You won't find anything useful in there," his voice made me stop just inches away from the journal, my metal hand just out of reach of the book. My eyes flicked up to his, noticing he was giving me a look of boredom from over his shoulder. "You're seeing more illusions, aren't you?"
I pulled away, tucking my hands behind my back while dropping my head to the ground, "I am."
Singed sighed, stepping off the platform he was on before beginning to move towards me. I kept my eyes trained to the ground, afraid to look up as he got just inches in front of me.
"I've told you those aren't real," his voice was surprisingly soft and kind, giving me the confidence to look up. But I regretted it immediately. His eyes were cold and menacing, making me take a step back and away from him. "Must I remind you how you came to be?"
"If there's nothing useful in there, why can't I just look?" I suddenly asked, motioning my hands towards the book with a shrug.
"You want to know what's in there?" Singed counted back as he swiped the book of the desk before beginning to flip through the pages. He then turned it around, showing off a sketch he made of a little girl. "Here is a visual of how you came to be."
I flinched as he turned to the next page, showing how a metal arm was being attached to a stump of a shoulder.
"And this is how I fixed your arm," he continued on while shoving a finger into my metal arm, making me stumble a little as I clutched the spot he had touched. "Without me, you would be nothing. A shriveled up little girl that would be burned to a crisp in a fire!"
I shrank as he towered over me.
"Vander left you, just like your mother."
My eyes sparked up to his, a Twitch taking over and making me double over while grabbing my head.
"Bellatrix."
"Vander."
The two names began echoing through my head as I grimaced. Two faces began appearing in the back of my mind, one of a kind man with a beard and large arms that held me softly. And then the other was a woman with striking gold eyes and a sneer, her hand slapping me across the face and knocking me down to my knees with a cry.
"I love you. You know that."
"And I know how she treated you."
I let out a scream, throwing my head back just as Singed took a step away from me. Tears streamed down from my eyes, falling down and splashing against the hard ground. But instead of their usual clearness, they rained purple. I snapped my eyes open, locking eyes with Singed. He looked like he was panicking--like he made a mistake.
"Mouse--" Singed began saying while holding a hand out to me. I slapped it away as I climbed to my, throwing the door open to his lab and running out of there. Squeaks hurried after me, avoiding Singed's swiping hand as he tried to catch her and squeaking at the top of her lungs just as the door slammed after her.