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Lila doesn’t expect a finger so warm to tap her shoulder, but it does anyway.
She’s standing in front of a tombstone. It’s covered in dirt and muck, something that the structures around it were rid of. Those ones actually had people who cared to clean them, she thinks to herself as she stands silently.
Until the finger taps her, yes. She doesn’t gasp or scream, but her breath does stop the moment she feels it touch her. She chooses to not turn around. The person behind her would have to reveal themselves. Why would she give them the opportunity of her attention?
The person behind her waits a moment before speaking up.
“Who are you visiting, Lila?”
Fuck. She grimaces.
Out of everyone she could meet at her father’s burial ground.
She feels her heartbeat quicken. Why? Anxiety, fear? She doesn’t know.
What she does know is that Marinette is behind her, and she’s now asked a question. She’s going to have to explain why she’s standing in front of a tombstone that has the name “Victor Rossi” chiseled into it.
“My father.” Lila mutters, loud enough to be heard, but she hopes and prays it’s not loud enough for Marinette to hear the quiver of her voice.
“Ah.”
Marinette walks to stand by her side. She is dressed less flashy than usual. Lila notices the lack of pink, which has been traded for a rather dull grey.
“Did we like him?”
We? Lila asks herself inside. She’s making this into a group thing?
“No, we didn’t.”
She considers stopping at that. They’ll stand there until they’re both uncomfortable enough to flee.
For some reason, she continues.
“He was a despicable man, and I’m happy he didn’t even get the honor to be buried in his home country.”
Marinette smirks. Lila’s passionate disdain for her deceased father is something she’s never shared with the girl before, but now that she has, it seems like she has to share the rest.
“I’m leaving France. I came here to say goodbye to him.”
“Whu-“ Marinette sputters, “You’re leaving France? What?! Why? When? How?”
Lila is dumbfounded on why Marinette isn’t jumping for joy at the mere thought of Lila being rid from her life for good. No more lies, no more attention stealing, no more tricking her friends, but instead all she sees from Marinette is concern and confusion.
Marinette stands in their silence as Lila refuses to answer why she’s leaving the country. She breaks it. “Then… If you’re leaving… Let me take you out somewhere. No school drama, no lying, let’s just spend time together.”
She is in no position to refuse.
They leave the cemetery in silence, but after some time and distance from there, small conversation sparks.
Clothes, fashion, and modeling. Lila lists her dreams for the future and how she wishes to be on the covers of all of the hottest fashion magazines and websites.
Marinette says she can design some clothes for Lila to model for her. They make up plans for the future over some coffee they stop for. Lila thinks about how the plans will never come to fruition.
Marinette eventually has to leave, and Lila stands outside the coffee shop watching her walk away.
This is the last time I’ll ever see her as myself, she thinks.
Lila Rossi, her true self, is leaving France on a plane to Rome. Home.
Cerise Bianca is freshly landing in Paris, excited for her new life.