The next day, Frey returned to the set and after finishing his day, he went to see Mike's mother. Then he practiced using Imagination until bedtime and even continued on the Ark at night. He had been doing the same thing for over two years and would continue until he finished the movie and became good enough to beat Inferno and Noir.
…
But basically, when exactly would that be? He'd already spent over two years like this and his progress had slowed tremendously, and it wasn't like he could afford to wait much longer, with the threat of Noir looming ever closer. He had already seen around thirty fantastic phenomena, such as, for example, a sort of giant cyclops that walked on the roofs of buildings. For the moment, these phenomena didn't seem to really affect people and no one seemed to be able to notice them except him, but he was well aware that things were going to become more and more serious as time passed.
"Once I finish filming my scenes" he thought.
And so, the days continued in the same way, until the end of filming.
But not a single day went by without him feeling a strange emotion, which he could not identify but which was very unpleasant.
Two weeks later, filming had finally wrapped, but Frey still had that uneasy feeling. While going to visit Mike's mother, he was unpleasantly surprised to learn that she was not available because her condition had suddenly worsened. He asked the doctors why, but got no conclusive answer. Frey noticed in passing that some of them were giving him hateful looks. So he went home and decided to unwind for a while by looking at his phone. It was his mistake….
"What…why…no, that's not possible…" Frey blurted.
More than half of the articles were about him. Some were about Quantman 2 but most were talking about something completely different: the suspicions that weighed on him for the case of the disappearance of Mike and Chloe. Almost all of these articles included the fact that he was the last person to see Mike.
The content diverged but we always found this point. All over the networks, he saw people insulting him, calling him a murderer and a criminal, saying that the french justice system was really pathetic for letting him go free, and other things of the same type. The director of the film even announced that it was potentially going to be withdrawn.
The most surprising thing was that almost no one came to his defense. These fans who had acclaimed him so much for his performance had turned against him in less time than it took to say it. Among them, he even found some of his most fervent admirers.
Whydid things go this way? Why were all these people burdening him when he was guilty of nothing and was doing his best to help the world? An idea came to his mind: what if Madame Délieu, rather than being ill, had just refused to see him because she believed him guilty?
Just the thought made him sick. He finally got his hands on this emotion that bothered him so much: denial. All this time he had told himself that everything would be fine, that he could just continue his life, save his loved ones and have a END happy.
But in the end, what was actually happening? He had failed to protect a world, he had watched his two best friends get captured, or worse, helpless, and he had even failed to protect his beloved. Finally, he locked himself into his refusal of reality, telling himself that he just had to learn to use Imagination and that he could solve everything without problems, sweep everything under the rug and, in the process, become the great actor that he dreamed of being. But, in the end, even with this power, did he even have the slightest chance of stopping someone like Inferno, who destroyed entire worlds like it was nothing and even managed to damage a concept? Frey didn't even understand how such a thing was possible. And even if he managed it somehow, we would still have to deal with Noir, who was at least as dangerous, and who was also holding his friends hostage. Now even the fan support that had helped him maintain hope had disappeared, taking his disillusionment with it.
Ultimately, shouldn't he just give up and enjoy the time he had left before the Prime World plunged into chaos. Yes, he could prepare in secret for that day and, when it comes, it would be he and no one else who would guide the people, who would receive their gratitude.
But what am I thinking, Frey complained aloud.
He was just rambling to avoid facing reality, to avoid facing his failures. He lay down on his bed and fell asleep soundly. That night he didn't even go to the Ark.
The next day he woke up with no energy. It was often said that people felt better after a good night's sleep. Well, obviously that wasn't the case for him.
He got up, got dressed and ate breakfast without the slightest enthusiasm. He looked at his phone to see that he had dozens of missed calls and messages. Most were asking for explanations about the articles, and so he decided to ignore them. There was also a message from the director of the film, threatening to fire him if he did not provide an explanation within the next three days. But among all that, there was one message that particularly captured his attention: a message from Madame Délieu, Mike's mother.
'If it doesn't bother you too much, I'd like to talk to you tomorrow, Frey'
The message had been sent the day before, which meant she was asking him to come visit her today. Was she going to question him? Get angry with him? Ask him what happened and where Mike was? Maybe he should just stay home and keep thinking...
No, at this rate he was just going to give up. He put on a cap and sunglasses so people wouldn't recognize him, and left his house, heading towards the hospital.
Arriving there, he was again treated to looks of contempt, but he was not refused the visit. A few moments later, he found himself in front of the door to room 218, like so many times before. But today, it was not a simple visit, it was a judgment at the end of which he would know whether Madame Délieu thought he was guilty or not.
He took a deep breath and opened the door:
"Hello, Madame Délieu" he said.
He expected everything but what was going to happen.
Madame Délieu suddenly got up from her bed to… hug him?
"My poor Frey, I can't believe this is happening to you" she said. "Are you doing well? You look like you haven't slept"
In fact, Frey had dark circles around his eyes, so big that they were visible even with his sunglasses, and was as pale as possible. Was she worried about him? She must have seen the articles though, and she was still worried about him?
Madame Délieu's legs suddenly gave out and she fell backwards, once again caught and put back on her bed by Frey.
"Madam, please don't get up so suddenly, it's dangerous in your currentstate" Frey said.
"I'm sorry, it's just... I wanted to console you about these articles. All these horrible people criticizing you for actions you didn't even commit, it's shameful" she said. "There is not even proof that you did anything to my son and your other friend, but they all act like you're guilty.
I tried to contact the press to tell them you were innocent, but they refused, telling me that I was biased and that because of my condition, I did not have all my reason"
She looked frustrated:
"So just because I am hospitalized, I lost my mind? These scavengers just don't want to lose their precious news, they're disgusting" she said.
There was a moment when no one said anything, and then Frey asked the question that had been burning on his lips:
Why do you believe me innocent when all the evidence is against me?
Mike's mother gave a slight sideways glance before answering:
"To be honest, at first I had doubts too" she admitted. "All this time you hid from me that Mike was with you when he disappeared. I thought you were hiding something, maybe even involved. I ended up creating stupid scenarios in my head, like you had hurt Mike and you were taking care of me out of guilt"
She wasn't completely wrong, Frey did indeed take care of her in part because he felt guilty for letting Mike get captured by Noir.
"But then I remembered that this Frey who is being accused of all these horrors is the same one who came to visit me almost every day for more than two years and kept me going all this time. This nice boy who always told me that my son was coming back, with his voice full of conviction. I know you didn't do anything and so do you. That's the important thing, so don't let these bastards get to you with their stupidity"
Frey felt his eyes grow watery. All this time he had kept his pain to himself, with no one to help him, and those few kind words made him realize how bad he had been feeling up until then.
"Frey! are are you ?" Madame Délieu asked, worried.
"Yes, I am fine. It's just... I think I needed to hear that" Frey replied.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then asked:
"Actually, I have another problem" he said. "For a while there's been something I really need to do. It becomes more and more urgent, but each time I can't help but procrastinate. I know it's not the right thing to say but it's something really, really complicated, and I won't get a second chance. What should I do? If I miss, it's really going to cause a lot of problems"
"Haha, you young people always manage to get yourself into trouble whole" Madame Délieu mocked. "If it's really that important, you might as well do it, right? By procrastinating, the situation will get worse anyway, and then you won't feel guilty for not trying, am I wrong?"
"Yes, I suppose you are right" Frey said. "Thanks for everything, I don't know what I would have done without your advice, I'll have to go now"
"This early?" Madame Délieu asked.
"Yes, there is something I have to do now, forgive me, Frey said as he opened the door.
It's nothing, if you have something to do, go for it. Just come back tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, I'll come back tomorrow"
Frey left the room, then the hospital, and went to find an unoccupied bench. He sat down, closed his eyes, concentrated, and when he opened them he was on the Ark.
"Ok, no more time to hesitate. This time, I will finish what I started"
Using Imagination, he created large fireworks in the sky, loud and flashy as possible, whose explosions wrote "Inferno" in letters of fire.
'Heh, I wonder if it was flashy enough... let's add a bit more' Frey thought
"COME HERE, YOU BOOTLEG SCARFACE!" he shouted as loudly as possible, using Imagination so that his voice resonated all the way to the Platonic Sea itself.
He didn't have to wait long because a minute later, a flaming horse came rushing out of the Platonic Sea, galloping through the air, ending its course by landing on the Ark. And obviously, it was set up by the person Frey was waiting for, the man, if you could call him that, who was the cause of his misfortunes:
"What's up? Waiting for another beating?" Inferno asked.