'Run faster!' Marinette kept yelling at herself everytime she slowed down to catch her breath. 'Now's not the time to take a break. You need to keep going.' She'd keep trying to motivate herself to pick up pace. How long has she been running? If only she knew. To her, it's like she's been running forever. As she ran passed a few blocks, she could hear the footsteps behind her getting louder and louder. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't escape it. She was being chased. Not by an akumatized victim or anything. But something far worse than that. She ran passed the river, the school, the hospital, her home, pretty much half of Paris by now. Her eyes kept scanning her surroundings, desperately looking for someone nearby. Someone who could help her. Someone to save her. But alas, no one was around. The poor girl was abandoned.
She ran into a few blocks hoping to lose her predictors. Sadly, that didn't go so well either. She eventually ended up at a dead end. A large building stopping her from running any further. As she tried to go back, she gasped in fear as she found her hunters to already present. Who are they? They resembled to Chat Noir, Alya, Luka and Nino but something was different about them. All of them were severely wounded. Blood dripping out of their bodies and an unnatural posture was indicating a few broken bones.
"S-s- stay back!" She gulped while slowly walking away from them. She was afraid of the sight of them. Yet they still came closer and closer to her. She was eventually pinned to the wall against her back. Her arms trying to grip the wall as if her life depends upon it.
"Marinette how could you hurt us?" The zombie Nino was the first to speak up.
"I-i didn't d-do anything to y-you." She replied back.
"Of course you did. You abandoned us, remember? You attacked us. You're the reason we're dead." Luka's voice was calm yet it sent chills down Marinette's spine.
"Doesn't our friendship mean anything to you?" Alya asked as her face rotated at an angle. The sound of her neck crack entered Marinette's ears. She closed her eyes as if that would stop the horror in front of her. But they reopened as she remained frozen in fear when she felt someone grab her hand. It was (a zombie) Chat Noir. He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest. Her eyes widened in shock.
"How could you M'lady? You broke me." As soon as he said that, blood started to drip out of his chest. Marinette felt the liquid on her hand. She tried to pull her hand away, but his grip was surprisingly too strong.
"What's the matter? Afraid of your Prince?" His voice echoed. A bright green flash escaped from his ring. Marinette shut her eyes at it's intensity. When she heard "open your eyes Bugaboo" she reopened them only to be frozen in fear again. Standing in front of her was Adrien but he had a whole in his chest. Blood leaked out rapidly. His heart was in Marinette's hand before he collapsed to the floor.
"ADRIEN!" she cried. Looking at his still pumping heart in her hand made her sick to her stomach. She felt like throwing up. She covered her mouth with her free hand while still gazing on the heart. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't look away.
She started hearing voices. The other zombies cried "Murderer" in unison. They kept repeating the word like a broken record player.
All of Marinette's desperate attempts to make them stop talking were useless. She begged them to stop. But they didn't. Marinette found herself taking a few steps back. However, she stopped when her eyes spotted her own shadow laughing.
"What is this?" She cried.
"Isn't it obvious? It's you. You're the one who did this to them." Her shadow responded. As if it had a life of it's own, it quickly ran upto her and grabbed her by her arms. Her grips was strong. It made Marinette scream in pain. "Isn't this beautiful?" The shadow asked teasingly while gripping the young baker's arms tighter.
"What do you want from me?" Marinette finally asked. Her tone symbolized fear with a hint of anger.
"Your homework!" The shadow yelled.
"My what!?"
The girl shot straight up in confusion.
"Marinette Dupain Cheng! Where is your homework?" The teacher asked in annoyance.
The girl looked confused for a second. She looked around to see where she was and what just happened. She was in class. It was the third period and the teacher was collecting the homework. But the young baker didn't realize that as she hd fallen asleep.
"Well? Where is it?" The teacher asked again. A bit more furious this time.
When she was finally fully awake, she replied ,"oh yes, my dream. I mean- my homework. It's right here Miss." She looked into her bag and took out her notes. The teacher sighed for making her wait so long. But then left the girl alone and went to the next student to grab their homework.
"Girl, that's the third time this week you've ben asleep in class. Are you okay?" Alya asked clearly concerned.
"Do I look okay?" Marinette whispered but no one else could hear her.
"What?" Alya asked her friend to be a bit louder as she couldn't understand her.
"Yeah. I'm fine. I just- I've been having these weird nightmares lately." She responded with a fake smile while rubbing her eyes.
"You sure that's all? You look like a mess." She commented. She wasn't wrong either. Marinette's skin was pale. And she seemed very weak.
"Yeah, I just- *yawn* just haven't been getting proper sleep." She lied.
"Well you need to work on your schedule. I know, I'll come by your house after school and we can figure it out together." She offered.
"Nah, I'll think of something." She lied again. It's not that she doesn't want to fix her schedule. It's actually all she wants. But she doesn't want her friends and family to involve too much in it. She has stopped inviting people over to her house, and refuses to go to theirs. Alya was obviously worried for her, but she doesn't want to force anything on Marinette either.
After the class was over, all the girls decided to plan the trip the school was hosting next week. But Marinette refused to take any part in it.
"But why not?" Rose inquired.
"I um... My uncle is coming that day so I'm afraid I won't be able to make it." She lied again.
"In that case, how about we come to your house after school and convince your parents to let you come with us? I'm sure your uncle wouldn't mind." Alix suggested. And all the girls agreed. Marinette gulped. What did she just put herself into?
"N-n-no! You can't. He um... My parents don't know he's coming. It's...a... It's a suprise!" She lied again. And mentally face palmed herself for het stupidity.
"Oh c'mon. You haven't invited us to your house for a whole month now." Mylene tried to convince. "Atleast let us come anyway." Alya tried to convince.
"Maybe some other day. Right now I'm busy with a few things at home."
"That's alright. We'll help." Rose suggested.
"But I-"
"Forget it. I bet she hasn't been inviting you since her house is probably trash, just like her." Chloe cried from across the room while filing her nails. Alya was about to yell at her for being her mean self but Marinette stopped her and agreed with the blonde girl.
"You're not wrong about me being trash." She said in a sad tone. Even Chloe was taken aback at this comment. Usually, the young baker would defend herself or something but this time, it's like she agreed with her. Heck, she did.
"You sure you're ok?" Alya asked again. "You know you can tell me anything. I'm your best friend for crying out loud."
"Please. Just drop the topic already. I don't want to talk about it." She said in a low and soft voice.
(Time skip to end of school cause I'm lazy)
After school, Marinette was the first person to get up and leave. As if being there for even a second longer might kill her. Lila followed her. It's obvious that Marinette's vulnerable these days, hence she's an easy target for the liar to pick on.
As Marinette left the School building she quickly stopped when she heard someone call her name. She turned around to see Lila.
"What do you want?" She asked in a hurry. She knew she's planning something. But at this point, she couldn't care less. She has come to believe that Lila, Chloe and not even Hawkmoth are her greatest enemy. Her greatest enemy, is herself. The thought of getting akumatized haunts her. Images of the Paris's destruction flash in her mind. She couldn't escape from it.
"I just wanted to tell you that since you can't come to the trip now, I guess I'll be accompanying Adrien and your little friends. Hope you don't mind." She teased. Damn she knew how to get on her nerves. But surprisingly, Marinette didn't react the way she thought she would.
"That's great Lila." She faked a smile and began to walk again.
"Wait." Lila cried and ran upto her, blocking her way. "It means I'll be spending an entire day with Adrien."
"Ok. So?"
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"It does. But right now, I have other problems to deal with."
"But I-"
"I give up, ok? You win. Adrien's yours. Now just leave me alone. Please." She finally cried and ran away. Lila stood there, puzzled. She was frozen and lost in thought. 'Did she hit her head or something?' Lila thought to herself.
I wasn't planning on writing this story so soon but- oh well! I'm thankful to all of you who keep supporting me and encouraged me to write this story. It means a lot to me when I find people who like my work. So, thank you. And I hope you find this story just as fun as it's prequel. If so, would you mind leaving a review? psst! my favorite readers always leave them.
See ya later!