I || liar's game

A professor from a university in Massachusetts once said that lying is part and parcel of life and in a sense, lies are lubricants to move people through the days. People lie for other's good, for getting away from unnecessary arguments, for avoiding to explain long, elaborate truths. For the longest time, deception is a surprisingly common, yet complex phenomenon. And behind it, is often a great deal of controversy, emotions and irreversible impacts.

It's almost hypocritical to claim to hate being lied to because we are most guilty at lying to ourselves — all the damn time. Shortcomings, fears, and insecurities are our greatest enemies towards acceptance of the truth. Sometimes, it just seemed more convenient to keep up with the illusion than to face the painful reality. But here's one thing that everyone failed to understand: the hurt is going to be devastating when truth decides to strike at you while you're most vulnerable and totally unprepared.

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LOCATION UNKNOWN
Day 0

━━━━━━━━━━

"Sebastian."

I blurted out his name as my eyes widened at the sight of a very familiar face in front of me. My hands tried to reach forward but the movement was quickly impeded by the cuffs that locked my wrists to the railings of the bed. Annoyed and afraid, I pulled forcefully and nothing happened except for the harsh, painful scrape of metal against my wrists. I breathed but with no air in my lungs and I almost cried but no tears pooled at the corner of my eyes.

"Isabel," Sebastian called again, his voice hauntingly familiar. "It's okay, baby, there's nothing to be scared of."

"This is a dream. This must be a dream," I repeated in mumbles and my entire body was seized by a horrifying fear. I was losing myself to the panic I felt deep within and my heart pounded deafeningly against my ears. Suffocated without air, my own breaths grew erratic with each passing second and I wasn't able to think properly when my vision started to blur. The heart rate monitor beside my bed was screaming with an ear-shattering screech and I was inhaling and exhaling too rapidly into the oxygen mask that I felt myself growing disorientated. I begged, "Please let me wake up—"

"Isabel!"

"Sebastian, step aside," a female voice sounded distant from all the rushed emotions that I was feeling. She held onto me with her latex-gloved hands, tilting my head to the side to expose my neck. My eyes still fixed themselves disbelievingly at the silhouette of Sebastian who stood by the bed I was lying in. That was all before I felt a cold, painful pierce into my neck and I fell straight into the dark, unending abyss again.

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The heaviness of my eyelids was preventing me from opening my eyes but I heard a voice from the side. This time, it was a guy's voice and he said, "You should stay outside, Sebastian."

"What was that just now?"

"Panic attack," the man responded simply. "Laurent has records of instability."

"What instability?"

"Complicated grief manifested through panic and aggressive tendencies."

Then, there was silence. Not just the physical silence that reduced into the annoying beeping of heart rate monitors and shuffling sounds of oxygen ventilators, but a hollow in my chest. A dark void that emerged from nothingness, threatening to swallow me in whole. I wished I could feel rage at this moment but I felt nothing — empty, to be exact. My limbs remained weak and unmovable when the voice continued to speak, "I suggest you leave her alone for now. We can't have her waking up and being all wrecked up again. Pelleas wants to talk to her."

I froze right when the name was mentioned. A realisation made its force entry into my mind as I became sorely aware that I was no longer trapped in a ridiculous dream. The coldness from the metal cuffs on my wrists remained and the smell of antiseptic was so strong to even ignore. More importantly, I didn't even have to open my eyes to confirm that the person standing on the left side of my bed was Sebastian. There was no way I would forget his voice and the characteristic way his tone would fall whenever he was down. 

I was sure I had regained enough consciousness but I couldn't open my eyes. For a moment, I was glad to be stuck in my current predicament because I wasn't ready to swallow the whole truth that was shoved in my face. A long moment later, I heard fading footsteps and when the door swung shut, I knew that Sebastian left, together with the medical officer who was speaking in his indifferent tone when he revealed my frailty.

There was no other way to describe the way I felt. As the tears burned at the back of my eyes, I felt myself being peeled right open with vulnerability haunting me as they held me captive in this foreign space and I was helpless in my position.

I only had a moment to myself before an unnerving presence entered the room. Beyond the fears swimming in the peak of my consciousness, it was the feeling of a pair of eyes that bore into me from the corner of the room. It took almost a darned eternity for all the muscle weakness to wear off after being jabbed with sedatives. When I finally regained strength enough to speak, I decided to open my eyes. The blur silhouette of a tall figure towered above me and it laughed in an otherworldly voice, "You're finally awake."

I had to blink a few times in order to clear up the blurriness of my vision. The first thing I noticed was his startling ocean blue eyes as they pierced into mine. He was neatly clad in an expensive suit as he looked towards me lazily. I spat out a breath, "Pelleas."

"Smart girl," he smirked. "I see that you recognised me despite our brief meeting in Galvin La Chapelle the other time?"

"You knew," I almost gasped.

"Of course, darling. My subordinates are not dumb but apparently, your accomplice was harder to hunt down."

Fuck, he meant Jax.

Pelleas raised a brow towards me. He continued to speak, but this time, there was anger seething beneath his deep voice, "I can't have Elysium assassins prying into my business, darling. Also, you and I have established a personal grudge by now."

"Really?" I exhaled a humourless laugh. "You have an Elysium assassin who just left this room."

"He's no longer one, since many years ago," Pelleas responded simply with a faint, supercilious smile. "If he hadn't mentioned that you would be useful to me, I would've shattered you into specks and dust."

I felt the same ugly emotions surfacing when I was reminded of Sebastian. Right now, with whatever that Pelleas said, my whole mind was screaming: I don't trust him. Focusing my gaze back to Pelleas, I asked, "What's stopping you from wiping my existence clean?"

"Don't talk to me like that, darling," Pelleas said icily. "Instead of sending my wife to eternal imprisonment, you wiped her immortal existence with your blood and I'm intrigued by it."

"Wife?" I shifted uncomfortably at the way he stared at me. An immediate thought struck me and I quickly recognised Pelleas from those ocean blue orbs. In an almost inaudible voice, I muttered, "Oceanus."

"I'm starting to like you," Pelleas laughed when he caught my voice and smiled widely. Standing up from his seat, he stepped towards me and held me by my jaw. I tried to jerk my head to the side but my strength failed me and I could only stare as he inched in to face me up close. Amusement twinkled in his eyes as he mentioned, "I'm glad I hadn't murdered you, you're rather lovely."

"Let go of me," I spoke through gritted teeth.

Pelleas held onto my jaw and turned my head forcefully to face outside the ward. I knew who he wanted me to look at but I struggled against it before he leaned close to my ear and breathed, "You know, it's more fun to break the minds of the unwilling than those who believed blindly."

Then, I rolled my eyes over and saw the back of Sebastian leaning against the glass of the ward. Hurt pierced through my chest as I kept questioning myself on why was he still alive and what exactly happened on the mass mission five years ago — was everything a lie? 

The more I thought about it, the more furious I grew. Flashes of memories flooded back as I recalled all the grief that I went through. All those muffled screams and busted knuckles from smashing mirrors. All those wasted nights in underground fight ring with blood and bruises all over me just to release all the brimming aggression I felt within me. All those consuming guilt that clawed within my throat at any reminders of him. Till this moment, I realised how laughable my own grief seemed right now.

"I love that look in your eyes," Pelleas laughed. "Doubt and anger are indeed a very intriguing mix."

"Oceanus, keep your disgusting hands to yourself," I spat.

With a sinister smile that sent chills right deep into my bones, Pelleas smirked, "I look forward to having fun together, darling."

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glossary.
oceanus is the titan of the seas

a/n.
i know that its been a long while since the first book ended and this book is out. pelleas is the man who iva and jax caught while being on a mission at the restaurant, in which they slow danced in (chapter in book one: slow dance). feel free to ask anything, but if it's related to the upcoming plots, i won't be able to answer! i hope you're enjoying the read!