Secrets Revealed

Chapter 6: In Betweens

"Hello. Wake up." A southing voice called.

Marinette awoke to someone shaking her. Marinette's eyes shot open and she immediately lifted her head off of the ground. She saw a young blonde woman staring at her.

"Good. You're awake. You've been sleeping for a while."

"Where am I?" Marinette said, sitting up.

Marinette saw that she was sitting on the floor of a humungous library. She looked around and examined the room. There were very few windows and it looked like it was dark outside. The room was really nice and comfortable. But the woman was sitting next to her on the floor watching her.

"You're in The Betweens." She said, quietly.

"What?" Marinette exclaimed, confused. "Where is The Betweens and why am I here? How long have I been asleep?"

"The Betweens is in your mind. If your strong enough, which you are, your mind goes here to live a "better" life. And you've been sleeping for about a day."

"A better life? What does that mean? How did I get her? And who are you?"

"My name isn't important right now, but you must have had something evil inside of you. See, normal people's minds just get extremely angry, but if your strong enough, your mind comes here. This place is supposed to be a refuge. Each door in the main hallways leads to a perfect world, but what no one realizes is that there is no such thing as a perfect world. Once you enter a world, you can't ever escape." The woman said in a sad voice.

"You seem to know this place really well. How do you know all of this and why are you here?"

"My . . . partner was like you, but I came here after him and never escaped. I've stayed here in the library. The library has every book and I love to read. This building is mainly filled with hallways and doors that lead to perfect worlds, but there is also the library where we are, the top floor which has bedrooms, and the fountain. I can only access the bedrooms and the library though . . . but you on the hand . . . can leave." The woman said, looking down at the floor they were sitting on, playing with a ring on her finger.

"How long have you been here?" Marinette asked, concerned.

"About six months."

"Six months! That's awful." Marinette said as her eyes started to water.

"I don't get hungry, but I do age. You won't get hungry until you leave. But if you're here for more than a week then your body in the outside world will disappear and you'll start to age like me."

"I hope I'm not here for a week. I don't remember much of what happened before I came here though. I know that I was akumatized, but I can't really remember what happened next. I do know that Chat Noir was there." Marinette looked up at the woman. "Did anyone notice that you were gone when you first came here?"

"Only my partner and that's because he was with me at the time. My partner's mind was sent here, since something evil was inside of him, and I found a spell book to rescue him. I used a spell to enter this world through him. I entered, but I didn't know everything that I know now. We both weren't strong enough to leave on our own. But I had a miraculous that would make me strong enough to leave and I gave it to him so that he could go instead. I had stay and he was transported back. I've been here ever since." She faltered.

'She knows about miraculouses. But how? Who is this woman?

The woman's eyes watered as if she was about cry. Marinette could tell that her partner must have been someone special that she had lost.

'How much has she lost? She might have lost a lot more than her partner.' Marinette thought.

"If I get out of here, I'm gonna find a way to get you out too. By the way my name is Marinette." She said, standing up. "Now how do we get out of The Betweens?"

"Well." The woman said, standing up. "It's not exactly easy to escape. Thinking about it is, but as you walk past the rooms, they'll call you. They whisper to you, trying to get you to go inside. They'll try to convince you and get into your head. I had found another person here in Betweens before, but she couldn't resist. She walked in a door and was trapped there." The woman reached for a book on a shelf and opened it up. "This book has a map of all of the Betweens. We need to go to the fountain. The fountain has transporters around it and there is a barrier that you can get through with your miraculous. Let's get going." She sighed.

. . .

Marinette was suspicious and confused by this woman. She wouldn't tell her her name and she was acting completely normal about this. She's really nice and caring. Marinette thought if this woman, who's been here for half of a year, really wanted out of here that she would have tackled her and stole her miraculous.

They walked through the many hallways as Marinette awed at the place. It was magnificent. Almost like a museum and a hotel with beautiful paintings hanging all over the walls.

Marinette suddenly started to hear the whispers as they passed an old red door.

"Marinette . . . Marrinette . . ." The voices whispered. Marinette jerked her head around and looked at the door.

"Don't worry." The woman started. "Just ignore them. They'll get louder as we go."

The woman seemed very familiar with the building, but still used the book's map to find her way around. They had passed multiple doors. Everyone was different and they all whispered.

"Marinette. Come on, Marinette." The door spoke. "Famous fashion designer Marinette. Come on inside."

"I'm not a fashion designer yet." Marinette responded, stopping at the door.

"In here you are. You are the best designer in all of Paris."

The voices sounded soothing and sweet. They were peaceful and intriguing, which made them very hard to ignore. Marinette smiled, but quickly shook the thoughts from her head and kept moving forward.

"We're almost there." The mystery woman ahead said.

The voices got louder and louder. It was getting harder and harder for Marinette to ignore them.

"Marinette. Open the door." Another room whispered. "In here . . . you . . . and Adrien Agreste are together. You're even a fashion designer for Gabriel Agreste." The voices creeped.

The mystery woman turned around to see Marinette stopped at a door.

Marinette smiled and started to open the door a little bit. She peered inside, marveling the light and beauty.

"No! What are you doing!" The woman said running over to Marinette and slamming the door shut. "You can't go in. You'll never be able to leave. You have a chance of getting out of here. Don't blow it! If I had the option to leaving, like you, I wouldn't be standing here.

"Sorry." Marinette said, covering her ears the rest of the way down the hallway. She didn't want to hear the doors anymore and make a horrible mistake.

. . .

"We're here. Just walk through the barrier and step onto one of the transporters by the fountain." The woman said pointing ahead. "Once you walk through the barrier, you can't come back through. So don't drop anything. And make sure you're securely wearing your miraculous."

Marinette stepped through the barrier as the woman watched with an undefinable look on her face. Marinette turned around to face her from the other side of the barrier.

"I'll find a way. I will get you out of here. I won't give up." Marinette encouraged.

Marinette stepped onto a transporter by the fountain and waved goodbye to the mystery woman.

"I don't know if there is a way for you to get me out of here . . . but . . . will you deliver a message for me?"

"Yes. Anything. What is it?" Marinette asked, knowing she only had seconds.

"Tell Adrien Agreste . . . " She started quickly. "The family portrait, 09-26-01."

Marinette was now even more confused by this woman now.

"Wait how do you know Adrien?" Marinette shouted just as she was teleported away.