|| FELIX // MOTHER KNOWS BEST ||
content warning: electricity used in a terrible manner, flashing gif
---
“PENELOPE BELROSE!”
Felix openly flinches in midair, letting go of Penny’s hand. The two of them had been gallivanting about in midair testing out the boosters and tucking away any information about them in the meantime - well, it was mostly Penny doing the gallivanting. Felix had been more concerned with figuring out the logic and the mechanisms. His heavier body type made it harder for him to gain more speed if he was trying to ascend vertically, but as long as he aimed diagonally it was much easier to move around. Penny, who’d been made with lighter material, was quicker, but more prone to crashing.
Penny winces at the shout. “Uh oh... it’s Mommy... I guess that means we should probably go down, huh?”
“I knew it was a bad idea to even fly up here...” Felix mutters, though he’s unable to really hide the distinct fact that he was anxious. He doesn’t know why he’s so terrified, actually - Mother would never hurt him. Mother loved him and loved Penny, didn’t she?
What was he so afraid of?
The two of them direct their gazes to the ground, where Dolores Belrose was waiting with crossed arms and a foot tapping on the ground. Carefully Felix holds out a hand to Penny - which she takes - before guiding her back down to the ground, the flames lightly singing the grass as they land in front of Dolores.
Penny opens her mouth. “M-”
“Not another word until we get back inside.” Dolores glares at both Penny and Felix - the latter’s face growing frighteningly neutral again in an attempt to hide his anxiety - before gesturing for them to follow her back inside.
“But, M-”
“Not. Another. Word.”
Penny clams up.
---
““Oh, my baby girl- look at you! There’s dirt all over your clothes- oh, your hair! What have you done to yourself, my baby?!
The minute they’d gone down the elevator and they’d passed through the various protective gates, Dolores had pulled Penny to her main workroom and seated her on one of the many worktables, fussing over her appearance. The girl fidgets as her mother pulls at the leaves and sticks in her hair, as well as tucking stray strands of hair back in place. Felix had elected to simply lean against the wall, watching it all happen.
He hadn’t been allowed to speak yet. He didn’t dare speak up. That would be rude.
Penny sighs, trying to bat her away. ”I’m fine, Mommy-”
“And look what you’ve done-” Dolores barely pays her interruption any mind, pulling on Penny’s shirt and skirt and pointing out the dirt and grass stains. “- why, do you just not appreciate what Mommy does for you, Penny? You’ve ruined Mommy’s hard work! And for what? A quaint little joyride that could have resulted in you being in danger!”
Penny wilts. “I’m sorry-”
“You know you’re not supposed to be outside! If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice. You’re not allowed to go out there without my explicit permission!”
“I’m sorry, Mommy...” Penny’s eyes are downcast as she looks at her knees. Felix sees the glow of her eyes tint a sad blue. “... but it was such a lovely afternoon... it was going to get dark anyway and...”
Dolores throws up her hands. Felix and Penny flinch simultaneously. “You could have been spotted! They could have taken you away from me, and where would that leave me,” the woman lowers her hands and goes to cover Penny’s hands with her own, grasping them ever so gently. “Your poor, lonely Mommy?”
“I-I’m sorry, Mommy... I won’t do it again, I promise.”
Felix tucks it away as a promise for himself as well. We’re not going to do it again, Mother. We promise. Please. I’ll make sure Penny stays inside and safe, as I was made to do.
Dolores sighs softly, and her gaze softens as she tucks a lock of hair behind Penny’s ear. At her bewildered look, Dolores asks, “You know I love you, don’t you, Penelope?”
“Of course I do, Mommy.”
“I would do anything for you, sweetheart,” Dolores coos, pressing a kiss to Penny’s forehead. “My beautiful, perfect Penelope. My sweet angel. You are my entire world, darling. Do you understand that?”
“I do...”
“I don’t know what Mommy would do if you ever got hurt, or taken away,” she seems to stare pointedly at Felix at that, making the boy cringe internally but masking it with a polite and submissive bow of the head. “Or worse...”
Penny frowns; she didn’t miss the look her mother had given her appointed ‘bodyguard’. “I really am sorry, Mommy. I promise I am.”
“Oh, I know. I love you, Penelope.”
“And I love you, Mommy.”
Felix shuffles slightly, shoes scuffing the floor. He looked to visibly be very uncomfortable now, and looked like he was a few breaths away from fidgeting with his hair or hands. But he never did that in front of Dolores whenever he was able to stop himself. “... May I be excused?”
No response.
Penny coughs loudly. ”Mommy, Felix asked you a question.”
“Hm? Oh, yes, yes, Felix, go on and... do what you wish.” Dolores waves her hand dismissively in his direction. “I need to spend some time with Penny here and make sure she’s alright after you failed to make sure she was safe inside.”
Felix doesn’t even need to react for Penny to pipe up with “Mommy, it wasn’t his fault, I wanted to-”
“Hush now, Penny,” her mother soothes. With a hand she cups her daughter’s face and with the other she brushes back a lock of hair. “Mommy needs to make sure nothing’s wrong with you because she loves you. Okay? Felix is a big boy, he can take care of himself.”
“... Yes, Mommy...”
“As for you, Felix.” Felix is not composed enough to have not flinched slightly at how her voice had turned even colder, sharper. It meant only one thing. “You will receive the appropriate punishment later. Is that clear?”
“...” Felix doesn’t respond. The words are trapped in his mouth - words of apology, begging for forgiveness, for... what? Why would he need to beg mother for forgiveness, she wouldn’t...? Wouldn’t what?
Dolores’s gaze turns piercing. “Is. That. Clear?”
Both Felix and Penny flinch at that. He, however, bows his head and replies stiffly, “... Yes... mother,” before leaving the room, chest tight and breath coming out in labored gasps.
But he didn’t need to breath that much? Why was he breathing so much?
He goes to where he knows Dolores expects him to be, and decides that that was where he would wait - but not before pulling out the one thing in his pocket that he still does not understand why he has, while walking to his destination.
The mask is a perfectly identical copy to the one he has - shape wise, anyway. However, it was black, with red featherlike decoration instead of white with blue. Dolores had said it was his brother’s, and that he’d taken it as a little ‘trophy’, or ‘souvenir’.
But why would he do that? Why would he take something from a brother who hated him? Who wanted him dead? Why would he ever want something from someone who wanted nothing to do with him? Why couldn’t he remember taking this from him when he did?
Why? Why? Why?
Something in his brain nags at him like a long forgotten memory. An echoey voice of a young boy, calling his name. He’s heard this voice before, many a time. But he doesn’t know him.
Felix ignores the voice again, and pockets the mask. It didn’t matter. He’d told Mother about those voices, and she’d told him that it was a traumatic memory of someone who’d hurt him. Penny had memories like that, he’d been told - memories of a boy with eyes like emeralds who’d ripped her into pieces and made her forget about them.
“We’ll make her forget about that bad boy too, however. Don’t you worry about that, Felix. If I can make you forget your mistakes and learn from them, then I can make both of you forget the people who hurt you.”
Mother knows best. He trusted Mother to know what to do. And Mother loved him and Penny and only wanted the best for them. So of course he goes to the room, and closes the door behind him as is polite of him.
So he sits, and waits.
---
”Feel the burning deep inside your heart.”
ZZZAP.
”Do you feel it?”
ZZZAP.
”Answer me, Felix.”
ZZZZZZZZZZAP.
His answer is an agonized howl.
”Good boy.”
Silence.
”I’ve told you time and time again, haven’t I?”
Silence.
”Your main priorities are her retrieval and her protection, and then the elimination of your brother dearest.”
Silence.
”And you have ignored my orders. AGAIN.”
ZZZZZZAP.
Agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony agony-
”Oh, Felix… when will you learn? Must I really reset your memories time and time again to remind you of your prerogative?”
ZZZZZAP.
A howl of pain.
”Disappointing. Absolutely disappointing. I am disappointed in you, Felix.”
A break in the electrocution. A gasp of breath. A voice, rasping out, eyes like rubies peering through a curtain of hair. Knees to the ground, smoke seeping through seams. Synthetic skin fried.
“Mother… mother, I…”
”You’re what, Felix?”
ZZZAP.
His scream is heartwrenching. But perhaps it is a good thing that he is in here, and Penny is not. That Penny cannot hear. That is all he can ask for. That Penny don’t hear him scream.
Penny cannot hear him scream.
Penny is not allowed to see him scream.
It’d hurt him more if she saw him like this.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…!”
”You should have thought of that before you decided to fraternize with her, then.”
ZZZZZAP.
”No matter. You understand the measures we take, don’t you? We’ll forget this ever happened. YOU’LL forget this ever happened. But not without learning your lesson.”
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP.
----
The floor is cold against his cheek, his palms.
Felix hates the ground. He hates lying face down.
But he hates disappointing Mother more.
When Mother leaves, he pulls himself up with much agony, and drags himself to where he knows he is expected next - the laboratory where she’d brought him back to a world much cruel than the next saved his life. She’d fix what was wrong with him. She always did. When he and Penny made mistakes and broke themselves, she fixed them.
She always did. Mother knew best.
He lies down on the table, and closes his eyes.
And waits.
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