Venom: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Marinette-Chapter 27

Marinette let out a whimper. She couldn't remember ever being in this much pain. Her fevered brain worked overtime to produce nightmares that blurred between consciousness and dreams. She could feel Tikki's shivering body next to her own, but there was nothing she could do to help her kwami.

Groaning, she rolled over onto her back, staring weakly at the only source of light in the room. It was growing dim outside the window, and soon that light would be gone too. Black butterflies flickered across the light, making eerie patterns on the floor.

"Tikki?" Marinette whispered, her throat felt like fire as though she hadn't had anything to drink for days. "We have to get out of here. Are you up for transforming?"

Nodding weakly, Tikki replied, "We don't have a choice. If we stay here, we're definitely going to die."

"If I capture the akumas, we might be able to escape through the window," Marinette whispered, trying to count the swarm of black and purple wings. There were easily hundreds of them. "Can I capture more than one at a time?"

Tikki nodded. "Yes, but it will deplete your powers much faster. We can probably only do it once."

Marinette nodded, getting unsteadily to her feet. The room swam in front of her and she clutched the wall to steady herself. She didn't want to die, she had to do this. She had to be strong just a little longer.

"Marinette, if we escape, you won't be able to make the antidote," Tikki mumbled. "Your powers will be completely depleted."

Nodding, Marinette replied, "I know. But if we stay here, the antidote won't help us anyway. There are too many of them—they'd just pull whatever energy the antidote gave us away again."

Tikki nodded and for the first time, Marinette noticed the bags under her kwami's eyes. She wished she didn't have to ask this of Tikki, but they had no choices left.

"Tikki! Spots on!"

The transformation started out as usual, but then the aura of pink energy that usually surrounded Marinette as she transformed began skipping and fading, like a scratched DVD. Marinette gasped, closing her eyes against the pain the transformation caused. She could do this. She had to.

When the transformation was complete, Marinette reeled forward, praying that she wouldn't collapse completely. She had come this far—if they could just make it through the window, everything would be fine...or at least that was what she hoped.

Twirling her yo-yo in a wide circle around her, Marinette cried, "Time to de-evilize you nasty bugs!"

As though a vacuum pulled the butterflies into the glowing yo-yo, the akumas began spiraling toward the light. Marinette could feel herself weakening second by second, but if she held on just a little longer, they could make it through the window. Just a little longer...

A path just wide enough for her to slip through opened as she continued to spin the yo-yo, using it as a shield. Butterflies entered and the light around the yo-yo grew brighter and brighter until it hurt to look at it.

Not giving herself time to think, Marinette dove for the window, crashing through it at full speed. Glass shattered around her, cutting her face and arms through her suit. She hit the sloped roof with a thud, sliding sideways until she managed to gain a foothold on the gutter and stop herself.

"No more evil doing for you," she whispered, gasping for breath as she released a stream of white butterflies into the air. It was beautiful and eerie to see them silhouetted against the street lamps and then the moon.

Moaning in pain, she curled in on herself and watched the butterflies fade into the distance.

"Bye bye, little butterflies," she whispered, trying to stay conscious. But it was no use, she was exhausted. The last thing she remembered was feeling as though she was falling. This was all just a bad dream. She would wake up at home in a moment and it would all be a bad dream...

She braced herself for impact, but a pair of strong arms caught her just as the last dot on her earrings faded out and she slipped into the darkness again...