MiraculousTale

Blue Flowers

Chapter 8:

The trek through the snowy wood had been lonely, but not as terrible as Marinette had expected. She had been prepared to fight any monsters that came her way, but instead, she had been left alone. She merely crunched snow as she walked down the narrow trail that led away from Snowdin.

She felt bad for leaving Tikki behind, but she had no other choice. She could see her parents in her mind's eye. They used to smile all the time. She and her parents ran a bakery in the center of town, and her life had been pretty normal. She'd go to school, help out in the bakery, and spend time with her friends. It wasn't until the Akumas started raining down that things took a turn for the worst...

Luka had been one of the first - both to be one of her closest friends and to be akumatized. It wasn't like he was some stranger to her at the time. It was heart-wrenching... seeing him completely enveloped in the purple magic broke her in some weird way. It haunted her dreams. It reminded her of her failures and all the things she should have and could have done better.

She had also learned that she liked him through the whole ordeal. He was an amazing guy. Musically gifted, a gentle and grounding voice, and (let's be real here) he was taller than her. When word of a possible cure was somewhere in Mt. Eifell, she had to take her chances. Her whole town was being threatened after all! She couldn't stand around and do nothing. School had no purpose when she and her peers were fearing for their lives.

It was a true plague.

Marinette hadn't noticed, but she had wandered out of the snowy forests and neared the entrance of a dark cave. She looked back, debated whether or not she should return one last time, then made up her mind. She couldn't.

Facing the entrance again, she lifted her chin and forged ahead.

As soon as she walked inside, the sound of dripping water echoed around her. It was calming, and it thankfully wasn't as chilly. Along the path, there were patches of beautiful blue flowers. Their petals shimmered in what light there was, almost as if they were the things lighting the cavern.

"Howdy!"

Marinette's heart launched up into her throat as she spun around. Standing under the arch of the entrance was someone she hadn't seen in a while. His purple suit and gleaming eyes looked at her cruelly. His antennae twisted unnaturally while his wings fluttered.

"W-what... what do you want, Billy?" she said.

"What, you don't like to see me?"

Marinette shuffled backward. "I'll be honest with you, I don't like you."

Billy stuck out his bottom lip. "Aw, that's mean."

"What do you want?" Marinette repeated. She tried to look around her surroundings, searching for anything she could use as a weapon if she needed to. Nothing but rocks and the glowing blue flowers.

"You know, there's something different about you," Billy observed. He stepped further into the cave, his small feet kicking a pebble. The motion startled Marinette. "You have... a special aura. I'd hate to have someone--" he stepped on one of the freshly-blooming flowers-- "take that away from you."

Marinette clenched her teeth together. She was getting tired of people trying to scare her or stop her from continuing on her quest.

"Listen, Billy, if you only came here to threaten me, it's not working. You're not scaring me."

"Oh, it's not a threat," he said, then gave her a twisted grin. The star-like 'friendliness pellets' appeared around him, spinning in mesmerizing patterns. "It's a warning."