When they met on the training ground, all of the third years seemed to be there. Felix was waiting there when Marinette arrived. Chloe and Marinette shook hands. They separated and went to opposite sides of the arena. Chloe smirked and flipped her hair. Marinette took a defensive stance. Felix announced the start of the battle.

Chloe shot lightning. Marinette jumped out of the way, pulling her wire from her utility belt. Chloe flashed out. Marinette's eyes darted around the area. Where would she teleport to? Chloe appeared in front of Marinette. She delivered a swift kick to her stomach. Marinette tumbled back. Chloe's foot, wrapped in wire, followed Marinette.

Marinette whipped around and slammed Chloe into the ground. Before Chloe could get up, Marinette focused her energy into the wire. The wire lengthened. It encased Chloe like a snake, grabbing its prey. Chloe squirmed. Marinette balled her right hand into a fist. The wire tightened.

Electricity shot up the wire. Marinette fell back. She dropped her spool. She struggled to her feet. Her head was buzzing. Her left arm hurt. As she tried to focus, Chloe burst out of the wire. Chloe waved toward Marinette. Chunks of the arena flew at her. Marinette waved her arm. A shield appeared. It shattered as the rocks hit it. The force of the impact caused Marinette to tumble to the ground.

She landed on her injured arm. She winced. She tried to get up. Her body refused to move. She couldn't even catch her breath. Chloe appeared. She floated above Marinette. Chloe rose her hands in the air. The chunks of the arena all came together, weaved together with lightning. The giant rock was above Marinette. Her body was heavy. Chloe slammed her hand down.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The audience gasped. Somebody screamed. Marinette flenched. There was no impact. Marinette opened her eyes. The rock was a couple of inches above her. Chloe laughed.

"You should see your face! You're so pathetic."

"That's enough." Felix stepped into the arena.

Marinette didn't see or hear Felix cast a spell, but the rocked poof into dust. It was a relief to know Felix would have been able to stop the rock if Chloe had decided to impale her and the arena's safety spell had failed.

"Chloe wins." Felix gestured to Chloe. The applause was scattered.

Chloe flipped her hair and walked off. Sabrina trailed after her but didn't follow her out. The arena began to repair itself. Nino and Alya ran up to Marinette.

"Are you alright?" Nino grabbed her face and looked her in the eyes. Marinette gasped. It seemed like it'd been such a long time since she'd seen those golden eyes. She was quiet. "Marinette?"

"I hurt all over the place. I can't feel my legs or my left arm, but my right arm is in a lot of pain. My pride took a pretty big hit." Marinette smiled. "I'm ok."

Nino hugged her. Marinette laughed.

"I'm sorry," she choked on a cry which was attempting to escape her chest, "I'm so weak." Her laughing turned into sobbing. She buried her face into Nino's shirt.

"Are you kidding?" Alya dropped down beside them. "You were awesome!"

Marinette's class joined them in the arena.

"Awesome? I didn't even come close to winning."

"Yea, but you stood up to Chloe."

"She's right," Nino wiped Marinette's tears away, "you were amazing."

Kim scooped Marinette up and held her on his shoulders. He called everyone to cheer for Marinette. They cheered and complimented her. Marinette started crying again, but this time they were tears of joy. They continued to cheer as they headed to the medical bay.

Chloe was shaking. Marinette lost and still had the nerve to be carried off like a hero. The battle replayed in Chloe's head. She'd panicked when she hit the ground. She didn't even know what to do as the wire tightened around her. She'd come so close to- she couldn't even think about that. There was no way she'd lose to Marinette.

There was a thud. Chloe looked at the magic rod. Adrien dusted himself off before jumping onto the pole and climbing it. Chloe watched for a while as Adrien struggled for the bag. He got a little closer to it with each climb.

"Are you a moron?" Chloe approached Adrien after his most recent fall.

Adrien ignored her and started another climb. He got really close to the bag that time.

"Adrien, seriously, knock it off."

He stood up and looked at her. His eyes were cold. "Chloe, I'm pretty busy right now."

"Busy killing yourself?"

"You seemed amused by it when Marinette was climbing."

"Because I hate her."

Silence.

Adrien's face softened. "You can't mean that."

For the first time in her life, Chloe wanted to hit Adrien. It was an unpleasant feeling.

"Of course I mean it! She disgusts me."

"I like Marinette."

"I know you do."

"No, Chloe, I really like her."

Chloe stopped. She stopped talking. She stopped breathing.

"You like her?"

"Yea, so I'm going to get this bag for her if you don't mind."

He started climbing.

Marinette spent the whole day in the medical bay. She slept most of the day. When she was awake, she chatted with Tikki. As the day ended, the nurse gave Marinette a final check-up before releasing her.

Marinette wanted-needed a hot shower. She'd probably skip dinner and just head straight there. As she arrived at the living area, she spotted Adrien sitting on the steps. He was asleep. Marinette walked up to him. She crouched down and gave him a nudge. "You'll get sick if you sleep out here."

Adrien opened his eyes. He smiled at her. "I've been waiting for you."

Marinette blushed and laughed. "What for?"

Adrien held up her art bag. Marinette hugged him. She thanked him. Adrien pulled away. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Marinette froze.

"I'm sorry about the way Chloe treats you."

"Don't be."

He pulled her into a hug. Marinette hugged him. It felt like an eternity in his arms. When they released each other it felt short lived. As Marinette pulled away, their eyes locked. His face was red. Her heartbeat quickened.

She picked up her bag and jumped to her feet.

"We should go eat," Marinette took a few steps back.

"Yea," Adrien stood up.

They walked together and talked like old friends. It was nice.

So, this is the last chapter of The Book of Creation. That doesn't mean the story is over. The next book is The Book of Destruction and I'm sure you can guess who that centers. I can't make any promises about when that will begin posting because I'm still working on it. I will say that once I'm about to start posting it I will put a preview of it here as chapter 22, but until then this story is completed.

And since I'm here, I have a quick question. Would you all rather have a relatively short runtime for the story, but get two chapters a week OR would you guys like a longer runtime, but only get one chapter a week?

Let me know in the comments, so I can get an idea for the posting schedule for The Book of Destruction.

Thank you all for reading! I'm happy you've enjoyed the story.