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."
And, with that, he laughed evilly and took off into the sky. Wind rushed past Marinette, and the dust on the cave floor kicked up. She squinted her eyes and waved her hand in front of her face, but by the time the dust had settled, Billy was gone.
Frowning, Marinette folded her arms. A warning? Who was after her now? Billy had been the one person she had worried about finding her, but if he was warning her about something taking whatever her 'aura' was... needless to say, it worried her.
Eventually, Marinette shook her head and turned her back to the cave entrance. She couldn't overthink whatever that dumb butterfly told her. She had to get home, and nothing was going to stop her.
She headed down the small pathway that led deeper into the cave. The further she walked, the more she realized that the blue flowers she'd seen at the front entrance didn't just reflect light. They made it. They were bioluminescent, or whatever it was called. She wasn't sure if that term applied to only marine animals, but she remembered her teacher mentioning it in science class once.
As she walked past a bigger patch of the blue flowers, she heard faint whispering. She stopped, confused, and listened harder to what she could hear.
"-what she wanted. There was nothing I could do!"
A boy?
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that demon woman won't find anything here."
That sounded like a girl's voice.
"But still, even if-"
After that, the boy's voice seemed to fade away. Then, the little piece of dialogue started over again. Marinette bent down and examined the flower closer. She poked it with her finger, but it didn't react. It was just a flower.
"What are you?" she muttered to herself.
"What are you?" the plant repeated.
Marinette gasped. "W-what the-?!"
"W-what the-?!" the plant repeated again.
Marinette shook her head and got to her feet. She wasn't going to play telephone with a random plant. But, what it had seemed to remember had caught her attention. Had there been a boy and girl who'd come through here recently? Maybe she wasn't so alone in this cave after all.
Marinette continued on her journey through the cave. As she walked, the cavern soon got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until she seemed to be in a completely different world. The drippings of water she'd heard at the entrance finally made sense, since she now was looking at elegant waterfalls.
Beautiful curtains of water fell from above and landed in pools along the path. Every once and a while, there were bridges that closed the gap to either side of the river. Lily pads, more blue flowers, and other plants could be found by the rivers. She even saw a couple frogs in the cattails.
As she made her way across one such bridge, she could see a little trail of smoke in the distance. She tilted her head. So, she really wasn't alone in the cave. Maybe, if she could find where the smoke was coming from, she could find the other people.
SMASH!
Marinette yelped and jumped to her right. Next to her, a shimmering spear stuck out of the bridge's wood floor. Her heartbeat quickened, fear gripping her once more.
"Hello?" she called out.
SMASH!
Another spear impaled the floor next to her, only on her opposite side. She squeaked and began to back up. She had to get off this bridge.
"Who's there?" she shouted.
This time, she could hear the spear coming. She moved just in time. It splintered the bridge just beside her foot. She whirled around, just in time to see a gleaming reddish-yellow eye in the darkness above her.
"Come out of hiding, I can see you!" Marinette demanded, holding her ground.
After a moment, the figure moved out of the dark and into the light. A gleaming purple spear was the first thing Marinette saw. Next was the grey armor, reflecting the spear's purple glow. Third was the red-yellow eye that stared her down. And, lastly, the sneer that showed off the girl's sharp teeth.
Marinette's bravery melted into her shoes as the girl raised her spear above her head. In a monotone-like voice, all Marinette heard the girl say was one sentence: "Die, human."
Then, she ran.
---
Hi, everyone!
Thank you for being so patient with me as I try to put out updates. Life has been crazy recently, what with my job, my (not yet official) boyfriend, and my friends. Finding time to write has been difficult, but not impossible!
Well, I hope this update helps excite you guys for the next few chapters. I have so many awesome ideas up my sleeves for this fanfic, and I can't wait to put them down on paper!
Anyway, you probably don't care about what's happening in my life, so we'll just wrap up the chapter like we always do: with a favorite comment!
Favorite Comment:
By: RomanceAmist88
WHAT THE HECH OH HECK NO MARINETTE SINCE WHEN DID THAT CRUST BALL BECOME THAT "SOMEONE" YOU HAD TO RETURN TO ?!?
YOU SHOULD ONLY BE WALKING THROUGH BLIZZARDS AND SACRIFICING UR LIFE FOR ADRIEN...DO YOU HEAR ME?!? AAAAAADDDDRRRIIIIIEEEENNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Takes deep breath*
Okkkaaayyy...lemme calm down.
(Luka isn't the main love interest, guys. I promise. We just have to set up some plot. Marinette will find her Adrien soon).
And, as always, Stay Determined! (And have a miraculous day!)