Prologue - Woebegone
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𝐰𝐨𝐞·𝐛𝐞·𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞
𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞
"𝐬𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞"
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Silalynn was five years old when she figured out her parents also lie.
"I'm not you and Dad's daughter am I?" She had suddenly asked one day
"What? Lynnie....what brought this up? You are our daughter!" The young girl stayed quiet as she stared at her mother. She held on tightly to a silver locket with a light blue gemstone embedded into the pendant. Eventually, her hands began to shake and tears pricked her eyes. The child's mother didn't hesitate to wrap her in her arms.
"You're our daughter and you're Adrien's sister....you always will be.....and we all love you so much Silalynn, never forget that...." She cried in her mother's arms until her voice went hoarse.
Silalynn was eight when her father told her about her real parents.
"So....you and....my birth mom were cousins.....like Adrien and Felix....."
"Yes.....your birth parent's names were Adriana and Sylvester...."
The girl and her father fell into silence, a common occurrence between the two of them. Their similarities make sense....they are related after all....Eventually, Silalynn found her voice again.
"You're my dad"
".....That I am...."
Adrien's thirteen, born in October. Silalynn's fourteen, born in April. Their father's also getting older, in his 40s- or is it 50s?..... Silalynn isn't sure anymore.....time feels like it's stopped....And then there's her mother....time completely has stopped for her....
The fourteen-year-old girl stared at the engraved letters in stone. 'Emilie Agreste 1970-2014' was neatly carved in stone, written in cursive. This isn't like all the movies her mother acted in....there isn't rain, there aren't many people mourning- there aren't many people here in the first place, and the world isn't black and white. The sun is glaring, mocking her for wearing all black as her sweat ruined her makeup instead of her tears, the few people here refuse to speak or comfort one another, and the world is not black and white.....perhaps things would be simpler if they were....
Silalynn mindlessly gazed at the tombstone, her grip on her black parasol unconsciously tightening. She swears the sun is sneering at her. Laughing as she does not get the choice to cry and mourn. It should not be a beautiful day......not when today is the worst....not when her 'mother' is not here to witness the light and clear skies. Everything is muffled as if Silalynn is stuck underwater as someone speaks and she barely registers the footsteps coming up to her.
"....Lynnie..."
".....Adrien...."
Silalynn and Adrien stood next to each other in silence, neither knowing what to say or do. Standing in front of their mother's tombstone....Silalynn bets neither of them thought this would happen, at least not for a couple of decades....
"....I thought you were still....." Silalynn paused, hesitant to continue. She didn't want it to sound like he was weak....but Sila thought he was still crying....
Thankfully her brother has always known her well. It doesn't matter if she doesn't finish speaking, nine times out of ten Adrien will know what she's going to say. "....I shouldn't keep crying...." the blonde-haired boy mumbled.
"There's nothing wrong with crying"
"But I can't-"
"She was your mother Adrien-"
"She was your mother too"
The two of them fell silent, neither of them expecting Adrien to raise his voice a little, him sheepishly apologizing after a few seconds.
"....Adrien..."
"Y-Yeah?...."
"....You don't get to disappear too...." Sila's voice wobbled.
"I won't, I promise"
.....It's ok....that was still her mother....There may be no blood between them, but that changes nothing.
That was her mother. She can cry...
It's not a crime to search for familiarity in times of hardship. However, in this case, Silalynn will admit that it's messed up....After her mother's funeral, she convinced her father to let her continue to attend the prestigious all-girl boarding school in London she had attended for many years, simply to live with her aunt Amelie and cousin Felix when she wasn't at her school dorm. It's cruel....but her aunt and mother are identical twins....and Silalynn just wants to see her mother's face and hear her voice once more....even if it is not her mother....
"Stop looking at my Mom like that"
Silalynn grumbled. Of course, Felix is trying to get on her nerves first thing in the morning. "I'm not looking at Auntie weirdly. I just....I just think Auntie's pretty!"
"Liar" Felix didn't hesitate to call her out, coaxing another frustrated sound out of her lips. "Ugh, you're so annoying!" Silalynn huffed as she packed her school bag and got ready to leave the room out of pure frustration.
"Don't use my mother to try and replace yours"
"Geez you only assume the worst of me don't you?! I'm not trying to replace my mom with Auntie!-"
"Then why do you always look at her like you wish Aunt Emilie was standing there instead?" Silalynn hated how she didn't have anything to say in retaliation. She couldn't even say that it wasn't true.....because deep down she knew Felix was right. "....Don't cruelly use my mother like this. She doesn't deserve it" Felix spat, leaving her alone to think about his words.
The silence has never been louder.
"I raised you better than this. I thought I had a daughter with decorum and grace, turns out I have a rambunctious animal who gets in fights with her classmates instead" Silalynn didn't know what she expected from her father. After their mother's death, he changed considerably. At this point.....he felt more like a stranger than her father. A fight had broken out in Silalynn's school, a fight that she started.....but the only reason was that she was taunted into it. She was insulted and mocked and called a 'Fake Agreste' because a few girls had figured out she was not directly related to the Agreste Family. So she lashed out, threw punches, bruised their faces, probably sprained, and maybe even broke some of their bones, anything and everything she could do once her anger and grief took over. She was the only daughter of the Agreste Family.....she is still an Agreste.....and her father made sure that no one else found out about her true origins and covered up the situation using bribe money.
Silalynn felt numb as Gabriel kept going....and going....and scolding her nonstop. "You will come back and study in Paris, where I can make sure you do not repeat your mistakes ever again."
"Understood Father...." He didn't even ask about her bruised cheek or other obvious bruises on her arms and neck....he didn't even try to show any care....
"Good. I will have Natalie get you a ticket. You will be coming back in a few days, start packing. You are lucky we were able to cover this situation up"
"Father" Silalynn interrupted, taking Gabriel's following silence as permission to keep going. ".....I am Silalynn Agreste. I. Am. Your. Daughter." Those words were more to convince herself than to fight against Gabriel. "I am the only daughter of the Agreste family.....and I am a part of this family no matter what....." her voice grew weaker and quieter as she continued repeating the same phrase with different wordings. Gabriel had stayed silent as she spiraled, silently begging him to just tell her that she was his daughter or to show an ounce of care.
The call was cut off.
Adrien would never say it out loud, but it felt like everything fell apart once his mother had died. His father grew more distant and he barely saw him anymore. And then there's his sister....he wants to be angry with her for leaving him alone and 'fleeing' to London after their mother's death.....but Adrien knows that he shouldn't. People process grief in different ways....and while he needed support from his father and sister.....maybe Silalynn needed some distance.....
He still talks to Silalynn obviously- even if she is attending a different school in a different country they still talk and video call each other. But the more and more they call each other, the more....haggard Silalynn looks. And then there's that call that Adrien happened to overhear about between Silalynn and their father.
His first thought was to immediately take Silalynn's side. She's a good person and doesn't try and hurt people intentionally....But according to that call, she started an, honestly brutal, fight with her classmates. Adrien knows his sister, but more importantly, he knows that he can't judge anything without having all the facts. Plus....his gut is telling him something's off....
A week after that call Silalynn comes home. And Adrien wasn't expecting his sister to come back with nearly all her hair dyed black- listen he's not judging but it was surprising!
Silalynn also doesn't talk.
And Adrien does not know what to say.
Silalynn will start attending the same school as him in a few days.
~Prologue: Fin.~
(Some art to help visualize what she looks like. This was drawn so long ago and I low key hate it, but I'm also too lazy to redraw it)
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