Mayura

It was the bird that attacked, lunging like an oozing mass of feathers. Marinette ducked the sharp beak that came for her head, her heart jumping and rattling around in her chest as she felt air whistle against the exposed skin on the back of her neck. Too close. Far, far too close.

Heart in her throat, she scrambled away, holding her staff up defensively. The bird let out a screech of shattering glass and scraping eardrums. Then it charged, its huge talons winking wickedly. She found herself on the defensive: dodging, parrying, using every ounce of agility she had just to avoid the snapping beak. The bird was large, but it was fast.

Mayura's laughter rang through the hall. "You're doing better than I thought, but you're no match for my sentimonster. Why don't you just give up now?"

Marinette darted to the left, narrowly missing being swatted by a huge wing. She blocked a second swipe, though her arms trembled and threatened to give out. Cat's warnings filtered through her mind: Don't get into battles of strength. You won't win.

Wrenching the staff back, she dropped to the floor and rolled under the wall of silver feathers, rising up fluidly on one knee to slam the staff hard into the sentimonster's belly.

Thwack!

The sentimonster collided with the wall, dazed and leaving a spreading web of crumbling stone. Cat hadn't been kidding about the extra strength imbued into the staff.

Marinette turned to Mayura, flicking a loose strand of hair out of her face. "You were saying?"

Mayura's eyes narrowed. She stepped forward, her expression hardening like the ice that stills lakes in winter. "You're going to regret challenging me."

Perhaps that was true. Marinette knew it was crazy what she was doing. Her heart hammered against her ribcage and she swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in her mouth. There was a very real chance that she would lose, but regardless she had to fight. She had to try.

She made the staff elongate and swung—a huge, sweeping strike. Mayura leaned back in a graceful curve, letting the staff glide right over her. Their eyes met, and a tiny smile curved Mayura's lips. Then she charged.

If the sentimonster had been fast, Mayura was faster. She moved like fluttering blue silk, ducking and weaving around the staff, getting closer and closer. Not good, not good. Cat had shown Marinette how easy it was to get the staff out of her hands once a god got close enough, weapon or not.

She used the staff to vault right over Mayura and landed in a crouch, quickly lashing out with a low strike to the feet. Mayura jumped. Still in midair, the goddess threw her fan like a throwing star, which spun and spun in a blur of black.

Clang!

The fan ricocheted away, but Mayura's fist was another matter. The blow hit Marinette full in the chest, sending her back several paces and gasping for breath.

Mayura paused, tilting her head. "How are you still standing?"

Marinette's fingers trembled as they moved over the red jerkin that she wore. Cat's armour had protected her. If she had not been wearing it, her bones and internal organs would have been crushed in an instant. It was a terrifying realisation, but it also gave her courage.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. She gripped the staff with both hands and glared at Mayura. "I won't let you keep me here!"

She charged, not in anger but in sheer determination. Mayura's eyes widened and she was forced to go on the defensive, dodging and darting away from the relentless onslaught like a feather on the wind. It was easy for her as well—at least at first. Then something changed in Marinette. Fresh energy hummed in her legs. Her body felt lighter. Swifter. Or maybe it was just sheer grit that pushed her to go beyond what was humanely possible.

"What's the matter?" she taunted, swinging at Mayura's neck with a vicious strike. "Not so bold now that you can't take me down with one hit?"

Mayura leapt back, wings sprouting free to help her get farther away. Marinette gritted her teeth and got ready to extend the staff, but then there was a scrabbling sound. Pain ripped down her back, pulsing deep into her nerves.

The sentimonster!

She cried out and stumbled away before the sharp talons could come for her again, thrusting her staff out like a barrier.

Clang!

The razor-sharp talons curled around the staff, trying to wrench it from her grasp. She clung on but was soon tossed aside like a rag doll, staff and all, and collided with a sickening crack against the wall. Black splotches danced before her eyes. Her back stung in hot, pulsing shocks. Perhaps she hadn't been shredded to ribbons as she might have been, but the armour could only do so much. Cat had warned her it was better to avoid being hit.

Too late for that, she thought, fighting back the dizzying waves that threatened to keep her down.

Mayura landed in front of her. "My, my, you don't look well." A chilling smile curved her lips. "And yet you were so full of bravado a moment ago."

Marinette struggled to raise herself up on her arms, which trembled like jelly. "Why?" she gritted out.

"Excuse me?"

"Why do this? Why fight me at all? I'm not an ally of the god of transmission. We could have worked together if you really wanted to stop him."

Mayura looked at her almost pityingly. "You just don't get it, do you? You're a remnant of creation. He needs you."

"That doesn't mean I'd help him."

"You already have been." Mayura shook her head. "I cannot risk letting you free. No matter what, I won't let him bring Emilie back." Poisonous bitterness crept into her tone. "I won't let him have a single scrap of happiness."

Marinette struggled to one knee. Still too dizzy to stand. The staff was not far, though. Maybe if she just kept Mayura talking …

"You really hate him, don't you?"

"So what?" Mayura said.

"So why? What did he do to you? Weren't you friends? I mean, you know all his plans, so he obviously trusted you once."

Mayura went quiet, and then she just looked tired. "Do you remember what I told you about feelings, mortal?" she said in a soft voice. "They're far more dangerous than weapons or magic. Even as the goddess of emotion, I never understood that until I met him."

Marinette frowned.

"You say he was my friend, and indeed that's how he came to me when he arrived at the tower. For the first time in centuries, I met someone who was not repulsed by my broken nature. Someone who sought me out." Her hands balled into fists. "Do you understand what I'm saying? He made me love him. I would have done anything for him then."

Marinette stretched her hand towards the staff, fingertips brushing metal. "What happened?"

Mayura laughed humourlessly. "I learnt that it was all a lie. He had never wanted to help me get justice for my sister or the half-life I was forced to live. He only wanted Emilie back. In the end, I was just a pawn."

Sister. A half-life. Justice.

Marinette's eyes widened, her fingers freezing on the staff. "You … you're …"

Mayura stared at her with those winter frost eyes. Eyes that had seen death and overcome it.

Heart pounding, Marinette closed her fingers around the staff and swung. Mayura cried out as she was knocked backwards, but Marinette didn't stick around to see If she got back up. She ran. She ran and ran, slamming the sentimonster aside, and then dived right through the window.

The ground rushed for her at an alarming rate. Her hair whipped out behind her, and she was sure she had left her stomach back up in the tower. Any moment she was going to go splat. It was a truth being tattooed to her ribs. Then she thrust the staff down like a spear. Her body jerked, her arms ached in protest, but her fall slowed and her feet soon touched the leafy strewn ground.

Marinette yanked the staff free. She shrunk it until it was small enough not to be a hindrance and dashed into the trees, pursued by the sound of flapping wings.

She could only pray the trees would give her enough cover.