awesome_lilly | (no subject)

(no subject)

As she steps through the door and into Duncan's bedroom, Lilly's looking around carefully. The room had appeared deserted when she looked through, but it didn't hurt to make sure. It's disturbingly unmessy, and a lot of Duncan's stuff is missing. Maybe he's gone on a trip. Maybe he's moved out. The thought makes her smile, a little, and then she takes another step in and the blood is trickling down her forehead again and the smile fades away.

She turns back to Alain.

"All clear."

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Mildly, "I'll not harm you, sai Kane."

Eyes glittering.

"I'd not do that to Duncan."

Otherwise, he'd be quite happy to put a bullet in her. They both know it.

"You've two choices. You can help me, and then I'll be on my way. You can try to forget all this, if you would. Wish you luck with it."

No he doesn't.

"Or you can stall and dally, and keep me here talking to you instead of delivering the message I came for."

It's all matter-of-fact. Not threats. Just facts.

It's the calm, businesslike tone to his voice that makes his words all the more terrifying to Celeste. This man would kill her without ever raising his voice. She nods, dumbly.

At this point, she'd do almost anything to get this over with.

"Very well," she says, and turns towards the door, her heels clickclickclicking away from Alain and Lilly.

Lilly freezes at the sound, her hands clenching into fists by her sides. She knows that sound, staccato footsteps echoing as they walk away from her, leave her to the dark and cold.

She glances involuntarily down the hall, towards the kitchen and the French doors that lead down to the pool sparkling in the warm California sunlight.

The sight makes her shiver.

A swift glance.

Alain knows some of the components of Lilly's nightmares, by now.

One hand slips from his pocket, and lifts towards her a little -- and then drops. He can't touch her in this world, and she can't touch him.

A fresh wave of fury, towards Celeste Kane and this house and her whole damned town. But mostly towards Celeste.

Softly, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Lilly just nods, not trusting herself to look at him, and follows her mother out the front door of her house.

It's a beautiful day in Neptune. The sun is shining bright and warm and there's a pleasant breeze blowing.

Lilly can't feel any of it.

Celeste is standing by her car, attempting to fit the key into the lock with shaking hands. She succeeds on her third try.

It will all be over soon, she keeps telling herself. She can contradict anything this man tells Duncan and Veronica after he's gone.

The important thing now is just to make sure he goes.

Alain follows, unruffled, and waits for her to unlock the doors.

Mildly, again, "I'll not harm you, sai."

He doesn't want her too terrified.

...Well. He does. But not if she's going to drive off the road because of it.

"You wouldn't get away with it if you tried," Celeste snaps defensively, unlocking the doors.

"This is Neptune. You can't do anything to a Kane and expect there to be no consequences," she adds as she slips into her seat and closes the car door with perhaps a bit more force than necessary.

Alain settles into the passenger seat. "You say true."

Celeste is not the Kane he's talking about, here.

Lilly doesn't bother with doors, stepping through the car to curl up in the back seat. It's all kinds of weird being in her mom's car again.

"Okay, tell her to drive us out along the cliff road towards the stadium. And that if she tries to go the wrong way, like towards the police station, that I'll know, I'll tell you, and you'll be mad."

She smiles a little.

"She should realize by now that making you mad isn't a good idea."

Obediently, he says, "Drive us out along the cliff road towards the stadium."

Beat.

"The more direct you go, the quicker I'll be gone. And Lilly will know if you turn wrong."

Celeste presses her lips together and just nods, turning the key and then peeling out of the driveway.

The sooner this is over, the better.

The drive is almost entirely silent, the waves crashing at the foot of the cliffs practically the only sound.

Lilly's watching closely out the windows for any signs of the bus coming along. Every so often, she steals a glance towards the ocean.

And then as they curve away from the cliffs she spots the turn off to a gas station and stiffens. It's the one from her dream.

"Alain, tell her to take that turn and pull up behind the gas station."

Her voice is fainter, now. Hard to hear, and her body is far more transparent.

It worries him a little, but it doesn't really surprise him. Ghosts always haunt the same house, they say in Mid-World. Lilly knows her limits.

"Turn here," he says to Celeste. The commanding tone is automatic. "Pull up behind the gas station."

Celeste does so in silence. She turns off the car and turns to Alain.

"Is this it, then?"

She's desperately hoping he says yes.

Alain glances at Lilly. Inquiring.

"For the moment, any road."

"She can go," Lilly says dismissively, moving through the door to stand outside the car.

"Veronica'd run the other direction if she saw her here."

She's looking around the gas station, now. It looks like it did in her dream, same signs, same graffiti... and the feeling that something's wrong is growing again. This is the place.

A nod, to Lilly, and he gets out of the car.

"This is it. Go on."

A small smile. Not a nice one.

"Long days and pleasant nights."

The car door shuts, and he turns away.

Celeste loses no time in restarting the car and driving away as fast as possible, her hands tightly clutching the steering wheel.

She never wants to see that man again.

Lilly doesn't even bother watching her drive off.

"I remember... the bus pulls in, and they all get off, and... Veronica can't get back on. I still don't know why, she just... she can't. Something will happen to her."

She's looking around, trying to think of a way to make this work.

"We just have to figure out a way to keep her behind without the teacher noticing."

"Will your teacher count that all are there? Or could she slip away unnoticed?"

"She could slip away, I think," Lilly says slowly. "But we'd need her to want to and I'm not sure how to do that."

She glances at him.

"I don't... I don't know if I can make her see me. It's harder, away... away from the house."

Alain frowns, thinking.

"If I beckoned to her, or some such, would she come, or stay well away?"

The roar of cars in the background gets louder; a motorcycle is approaching.

"You're a strange guy with a gun," Lilly says, "and she's a sheriff's daughter who might actually notice it. She'd stay well away from you-"

She breaks off as the motorcycle roars into the station and parks along the side. The rider takes off his helmet, and Lilly starts to smile.

"However, that guy? She'll talk to him."

His face lightens in answer.

"All right."

"What's for us to do, then?"