Chapter Seven - That Little Spitfire

Oh my, it's been far too long! I'm sorry for the disappearance, I've been stressed, tired, depressed, and unmotivated. Also, I've lost the notebook I kept writing drafts for some updates in, so I've been struggling to find that so I don't have to rewrite certain updates. I won't waste your time running on and on with excuses; instead, let's read this long-awaited chapter. c:

"My drops of tears I'll turn to sparks of fire."

~ Shakespeare

Chloe's Point of View

It burned. It was all so hot and I couldn't see or breathe. My nose burned as I tried to inhale and the acrid smell made me want to vomit. Why couldn't I just vomit? I couldn't see and I was choking and it was so, so hot. I couldn't tell where anything was anymore and I could barely breathe and when I tried I couldn't even scream as I clawed forward, trying to remember how I had ended up in this situation. Where was I in the hotel? Where was my father? How did things go so wrong?

I didn't ask to be a part of this game. My eyes watered, although I wasn't sure if it was from the smoke stinging my eyes or despair, and at this point I didn't care. I just wanted to find my father. I just wanted to get out. I just wanted to breathe.

This all began earlier this day. How was that possible? It didn't make sense. How could everything go so wrong so quickly?

No, I had to think clearly. Slamming a hand over my mouth to try and filter out some of the smoke, I cough as I continue to stumble forward. I have to focus on something while moving forward. I just have to think of something else, like how I got here.

It was that letter. That stupid letter and that stupid package that came from the same person who sent the initial note. That note that told me to meet others in the park for some message, the note that I ignored. Pulling in another smoke-filled breath, I force myself to remember the letter. It's better than focusing on the fire that roars around me, that I'm afraid is licking at my feet and slowly burning me like it's burning everything else.

That dang letter, in its pristine, white envelope. It'd been sitting on top of the small cardboard box. I don't know why I opened it after that strange note, but then again, the note came over a week ago. It was out of sight and out of mind, only to be dredged up again because of that stupid letter. I'd taken the package, dropped it on my bed and frowned at it before focusing on the envelope.

I'd thrown it back down after reading it.

Dear Chloe,

You have been quite insistent on ignoring my game so far. I don't appreciate it, but it does make watching you much more interesting. If you do not follow what this letter says, someone will die. Are you willing to risk someone's life because you think this is a prank?

I suppose we'll have to see. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat. We all are. My lovely prisoners, well, they're terrified of who might fall next. Will you disappoint them?

Inside the box, you will find the tools you need to burn your father's hotel - your home - to the ground. You can choose to ignore them, and once it hits midnight I will know to kill my prisoner who's fate is tied to yours. However, if you choose to burn it down, they will be spared. It is ultimately your choice. What's worth more, your livelihood or someone else's?

There is one catch. If you choose to burn the hotel down, you cannot evacuate the building or warn anyone beforehand. Your father is an old man, is he not? Well, you will have to let him find his own way. You are not allowed to go back for him, or go to help him out. He must get out on his own.

Good luck, my dear Chloe. Let's hope you make the right decision.

The Gamemaker

I hadn't believed him. How could I? But something irked in the back of my mind. Sabrina and Adrien both had mysteriously stopped answering my texts and calls. They hadn't shown up to the few hang outs we'd organized either. Supposedly, Adrien was out on a business trip and Sabrina was on vacation, but they wouldn't have just dropped me like that. Not me, their best friend.

It was eleven o'clock when I finally stopped agonizing over the letter and chose to act. I'd opened the box and found the lighter, as well as a simple gloating note.

The best way to start a fire is laundry, my dear.

I hated this man. I wanted to throw his stupid notes and box outside and forget it ever happened. But there was some nagging voice in my head; call it intuition. Whatever it was, something told me I had to do this. The same feeling I'd gotten as a child the day my mother left, the one I'd never been able to forget no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't ignore it.

I grab some of my dresses out of the closet, cringing as I toss them on the ground. The fire alarm, it has to be disabled to pull this off. Thankfully, I had access to the controls; I had access to everything in the hotel. So I'd ran down, huffing and puffing as I arrived and hesitantly shut them down. Then I hurried back, grabbing the lighter with a shaking hand and setting the cloth ablaze.

I didn't light just one pile of clothes. I let four catch fire, one of them sitting haphazardly in front of the heater, before forcing myself to calmly make my escape. I couldn't trigger anyone to realize there was a desperate need to escape. If I did, I would fail the challenge.

As I made it out, people began to scream. I didn't know much about fire, but I could guess someone had found my challenge. I could only hope that it was spreading, and that it was big enough to not be put out so easily. I couldn't be sure, not until the people began to pour out of the building as smoke began to billow out of the window. There was screaming and madness in the streets as people stared at the sight, phones ringing as people received and made calls about the matter.

It felt surreal. I barely even noticed it as I stood there, waiting and unintentionally holding my breath. Where was my father? He would make it out. Surely he would. No one would leave the mayor inside to die, not when he was so old. No one could be that cruel, could they?

But as the minutes drew on, and fewer and fewer stragglers stumbled from the building, I got the sick feeling in my stomach again. I knew he told me not to go in. He'd made that abundantly clear, but I couldn't leave my father to die.

"Daddy!" I screamed, rushing towards the building before the arriving firefighters and policemen could stop me. "Daddy, where are you?"

I wasn't even sure what floor I was on anymore. I'd had to take the stairs; the elevator wasn't an option now, not this late in the game. I hadn't been able to call out anymore at a certain point, and I was so disoriented that I didn't think I could find my way out, with or without my father.

Stumbling forward, I tried to take a breath, only to succeed in inhaling a large amount of smoke. "Daddy?" I wheeze, barely able to see anything but swearing I might have seen movement. Then again, it might have only been a flame, or even more likely, my imagination. "Daddy, where are you?"

I sink to my knees, choking on the air, when the thinnest whisper reaches my ears, so faint I'm not sure if I imagined it or not. "Chloe?"

I manage to croak out a response, stretching my hand out in an attempt to reach towards where I think he is. "Daddy! It's okay, I'm here."

But it's so hot, and my fingers burn and cry out from my effort. Eyes watering, I try to blink them away and see through the smoke, to get a look at my father and how I need to go about prying him out. But it's all too much. It's so hard to breathe, and I can't see him or feel him, and I don't know where he is. All the effort is too much, and I sink down in limp defeat, welcoming unconsciousness and hoping it will take me quickly.

Marinette's Point of View

"It's what?" I practically shout at Nino over the phone, not believing my ears. "How?"

"They don't know. The fire alarms hadn't gone off for some reason. They're trying to reduce the damage, but they aren't sure anything will be salvageable." Nino sounds tired, and while he's obviously distressed and concerned, the stress of the game has worn us all down. I myself am guilty of being rather numb to the event, though I still am horrified enough to react. "They found Chloe though. She's alive, somehow. She's burned, obviously. Apparently she'd ran back in to look for her dad, but collapsed along the way. She's lucky to not have gotten hurt even more."

Guilt wells up in my stomach as I wonder if I could've transformed, if Ladybug could've saved them, but that would've doomed my old friends. "What about her father?"

Nino hesitates before obviously just choosing the blunt route. "They haven't found him yet, but hopes aren't high. He's old, Mari. They think too old."

My voice catches in my throat. "Oh, poor Chloe." I had wanted to have a simple conversation with Nino about Ivan having his challenge and speculating on what it could've been, seeing as he still hadn't told me, but it had become so much more serious. "Do you think it might have been-"

"-her challenge?" I can almost see him shake his head. "I don't know, dudette. I just don't know. Not anymore."

I take a deep breath, fighting back tears as I come to terms with just how awful things are for us right now. "I gotta let you go, Nino. I...I gotta take a breather." I hang up before I can hear his answer, though I doubt he'd deny me it.

I walk over to my window, throwing it open and trying to ignore the imagined feeling of heat on my face from the fire. I can't see it from here, but I know that hotel all too well. Breathing in the fresh, cold nightair, I force myself to calm down. Panicking will do no good. And despite how Chloe has treated me, I have to reach out to her. I have to let her know that someone is here to support her, to help her. Especially if this was the Gamemaker's doing.

It's so hard, especially after how she treated me. How she treated our whole class. But that's just it. She's a classmate, and even if she was cruel to me, I have to put that behind me. I need to be mature and reach out. Although if she doesn't want my help...

No, no, I have to try even if she doesn't want me to at first.

Maybe I can ever offer to let her stay with me, if she doesn't have anywhere else to. She probably will have money to get her own place though, and I'm sure people will line up to let her stay with them. But the gesture should be appreciated, if she doesn't hate me enough to ignore my wish to support her right now.

But still, the thought of Chloe staying with me makes me shudder. I'll have to work on that.

I shut the window, turning to tell Tikki what I've resolved to do, but she's already flown in front of my face, panic written all over her tiny features. "Marinette, something has happened to Plagg!"

It's the first time I've ever seen the tiny kwami cry.

Another short chapter. Sorry, this was a really hard one to write a ton on, which is partly why I included the Marinette snippet. However, I also just wanted to end with that teaser. I would have just scrapped it and continued to stare at a blank screen, but I think this is the best I have for now. Maybe at some point I'll rewrite this down the road, after I've updated this story further and others, but for now I want to get you guys something. Was it still okay? Or did it suck? My apologies if it did, but I wanted to get you guys something. I've taken too long as it is. What did you guys think of the challenge? Were you expecting Chloe to actually do hers? How do you think her going in to find her dad will affect things? What about Tikki's statement to Marinette? Were you expecting it? How do you think Tikki knows? What do you think she knows? Who do you think will have the next challenge? Let me know in a review!

And before I forget, let me respond to your reviews!

ButterBlythe : I'm glad it's interesting! Sorry the update took so long. :c

Duckwhisker: Thank you! I'm sorry I took so long to get this update out. It's been far too long and that is completely my fault!

pinksakura271 : His challenge had to come around eventually. c; And I dunno, even though she most certainly isn't perfect, I don't think she believes everyone loves her. Plus, it was Ivan's choice to text her. You can't blame Marinette for being supportive when he reached out first. :p I agree, Lila and Rose's challenges have been my favorites so far. But we're getting back into the gritty next to, and we're not even at my favorite one yet. :3

Maximus: No, I hate you. ;-; Stop putting winky faces in your reviews. (I kid, I kid. This dork is my friend in real life, so for anyone concerned by my response for any reason, don't worry. I'm only teasing because he teases me about my stories).

Anyways, again, major apologies for not updating sooner and for this one being on the shorter side. I promise, the next ones will be longer again. We're moving back into the gruesome territory that Lila's challenge entered now that Chloe's challenge is out of the way. c: Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter despite its length and not quite as nice quality compared to others.

See you next time (which should be sooner than this last gap has been)!

~ Dagger