"Looking good. Good job, sophomores," Mr. Damocles praised the Halloween party decorating committee as he looked around the gymnasium. Halloween was tomorrow night and everyone was getting excited. Our high school's party would be featured tonight, starting at eight. It was already five with the streetlights being turned on outside.
Mr. Damocles gave our committee leader, Marc Anciel, a firm pat on the back. "Well done, young man. The place is nice and scary! And I bet your haunted house will be just as frightening." "Uh, y-yeah. I-I um, hope so," Marc blushed, glancing away. It was only a small group of us there; each a volunteer on the committee. That was always the sophomore's job at our school. I was in charge of costume design, Ayla did the techo stuff, Nathaniel did decorations for the gym and halls, Rose took care of the food, Juleka handled the music, Ivan set everything up, Alix organized the activities, and finally Marc created the star attraction- the haunted house. It was out back in the football field which I frankly didn't want to visit because it was cold outside. Mr. Damocles seemed pleased though.
After giving us our final instructions, our not-so-beloved principal took off; guess he wasn't sticking around for the party tonight. Then Marc proceeded to give us our last orders. It was the same for everyone, finish up what you're doing and get out back to see the haunted house before it goes live. Alya, who had been standing beside me the whole time, went to check the sound system while I made sure every ghost and ghoul was dressed up right. There were a lot of figures, so it took some time. Pretty soon though Alya found me out in the hallway fixing a zombie's droopy shirt.
"There you are. Come on; Marc wants everyone out back now." "Annnnnnnd there! All done! Ok, let's go," after moving his shirt a little, I joined my friend in the centre of the hall. We began walking toward the back doors and outside onto the field, along with everybody else. Of course this was prime time to make small talk.
"So I've been roped into going trick-or-treating with my family- aka babysitting- tomorrow night again," Alya let out a long sigh. "Awe, that sucks," I felt her pain. Her gave me a pleading look. "You could come with us, you know. You'd get to dress up, and hey! Free candy." "As tempting as that is, I'll have plenty of candy at home. My parents have stuck me with doorbell duty this year," that was a lie actually. Halloween was a very special night for Cat Noir and me as it was the only night of the year we could go out in public together. It worked well since practically everyone wore a Ladybug and Cat Noir costume. Heh, everyone can pick him out from a crowd any other day of the year but put anyone else in a black kitty suit and he blended in well. Fine by us! That meant we could stay out as late as we want without anyone being the wiser. Yes, Halloween had become a very important night for us indeed.
Not that Alya or anyone else knew this. She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Again?! You're never available on Halloween night." "Uh, yeah. I guess my parents just like taking the night off. But at least I can gorge on sugar and watch scary movies," I inwardly cringed. She gazed downward slightly. "It's not total torture anyway, then." "Nope," not at all.
We'd reached outside by this point, joined by everyone else. Rose and Juleka came over to stand with us. We chatted amongst ourselves as Marc's readied to unveil his Halloween masterpiece. Marc himself was standing pretty close to Nathaniel Kurtzberg, who was busy scribbling something away on his drawing pad. Marc peered over at it and smiled. "That's a really cool sketch, Nathaniel," he said. Now, I admit that I wasn't really paying attention to their interaction but if I had been I would have noticed Marc's cheeks blushing a little. Nathaniel, for his part, seemed totally unphased by this, also failing to notice Marc's affectionate expression just now. He simply nodded his head robotically. "Thanks. This holiday's given me a lot of ideas."
Then, of course, his pencil's tip had to snap.
It was Nathaniel's turn to blush as his head shyly spun over in my direction. There were several people closer to him that he could have asked, but he made the extra effort to grab my attention. Again, like an idiot, I didn't register the significance of this gesture at this particular moment. Everyone else, however, did. Marc immediately frowned while Alya and the other girls looked worried.
"Um, M-Marinette?" "Yes, Nathaniel?" I'm stupid. "M-May I borrow your pencil?" "Of course," god, am I stupid. Everyone watched in silence as I handed my pink, heart-covered mechanical pencil over to the now really-blushing artist. "Thank you," he flashed me the most brilliant of smiles, clasping my pencil in his hand. "You're welcome," I smiled back completely oblivious of the tension- or the daggers Marc was now glaring my way. Alya gave my side a nudge with her elbow, causing me to blink to her in surprise. "What?" "You gave him your pencil," she hissed at me in a whisper. "So? He needed one," I quipped back, unsure what the problem was. But oh boy, was there a problem brewing.
While Nathaniel got back to drawing and the girls all stared at Marc nervously- well, all except for me- the dejected boy went to the tarp currently covering his masterpiece. He had quit rage-glaring at me by now and was trying his best to focus on the task at hand: revealing our school's haunted house.
"And now, Collège Françoise Dupont's haunted house!" With that, Marc threw back the tarp with help from Ivan. We all "ooooooohed" at first until we got a good look at the thing. You could hear the silence set back in one-by-one. All our grins disappeared except for Marc's, who was proudly showing off his creation. "So? What do you think?" "It's uh… Well, it's a house," Rose rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, unable to make eye contact. "And it's standing," Juleka added on. "The cobwebs are cool," Alix did her best to compliment it. The boys stayed quiet, not even trying to attempt to sing its praises in any way. I also stayed silent, getting the strange feeling that Marc didn't like me for some reason.
In truth, it was a very tacky, un-scary house which wasn't that well put together. You could tell by Marc's enthusiasm that he tried his best on the project, which only made it worse. The thing looked like it wouldn't even scare four-year-olds. It was painfully obvious that an armature designed it, which made me feel bad for its creator. It was only now that Marc was becoming aware how we truly felt about his masterpiece, as shown by his grin gradually fading.
"You…. don't like it?" "No! No, it's uh….. um….." Alya began but couldn't continue. "W-We…. We like it," poor Rose forced a smile. Her future wife followed suit. "Uh, yeah. It's uh…. unique," Juleka remarked. Marc blinked from us back to his house, then after a moment back over to us. "Is it really that bad?" "It's not bad, bro. It's just um…. Well, erm….." Alix fumbled with her words. That's when Marc's sharp eyes returned back to me, instantly hardening again. I guess I had been rather quiet this whole time and he'd like my two cents on the matter. It didn't occur to me that this might be punishment for earlier.
"What about you, Marinette? What do you think of my star attraction?" He almost growled his question at me. My back arched, my shoulders flinched in surprise. "Me?! Oh, well it's very um…. It looks uh….. Y-You clearly worked hard on it!" That's the best compliment I could think of. The colour drained from Marc's face as his gaze circled us disillusioned. "You hate it…." "Of course we don't," Alya rose up her hand toward him. "You don't think it's scary!" He was now shouting. "Well… This is the family-friendly version," I said, again like a moron. Marc looked like he was about to cry. Covering his eyes, he suddenly took off towards the garden shed. "Marc, wait!" We called out to no avail. Alya waited until he was gone before sighing and glancing back at me. "Next year, the whole committee will design the haunted house." "I couldn't agree with you more," I also sighed sadly.
Dejected, all of us- sans Marc- returned back into the gymnasium. The collective mood was low, to say the least. Nathaniel and Ivan went off on their own while the girls stuck together near a table at the back. Alya leaned up against the wall and I stood there holding my arm. Rose shook her cute head softly. "Poor Marc….." "It really is horrible," Alix noted. "You can say that again," Alya agreed. I peered at my friends and tried to smile. "Come on, you guys. He did his best. The least we can do is support him." "Oh, is that why you lent Nathaniel your pencil? Was that you "being supportive", Mari?" Alix crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at me. I blinked her way like I literally had no idea what she was talking about, which I didn't. "What? His pencil broke so I gave him mine. What's the big deal?" "You really don't see it, Marinette?" It was Rose who then surprised me with this question. "See what?" My head shot at her startled.
The moment I asked this the gym's lights started to flicker. Alya and I exchanged worried expressions. Uh oh; that can't be good. "M-Maybe the power's going out for a minute?" Rose suggested. "I don't think so," Alya countered. Ivan and Nathaniel ran over to us to see if everything was alright. "What's going on?" Ivan demanded. We all shrugged. "We don't know. The lights just started getting weird," Alix explained. The speakers began making eerie noises on their own too. We covered our ears and I looked over to our music lady. "Juleka?" "Don't ask me. I haven't hooked up my iPod yet," she replied.
It was about this point that all the lights and speakers suddenly shut off- only for a minute, mind you. When they came back on, it was unusual intensity. Nathaniel rushed over to me in concern- which yet again, my dumb brain didn't register. "Are you ok, Marinette?" "I'm fine. I'm just freaked out by what's happening." "What is happening? Who's causing all this?" Alya inquired, inspecting around the now brightly lit room with intent. A booming voice sounded off all the speakers seconds later.
"Welcome to the "High School of Horror", foolish mortals. I am Haunted, your ghost-of-a-host," the voice introduced itself. We all blinked to each other shocked and perplexed. "Haunted?" Ivan repeated quietly. "That sounds like…. That's Marc's voice!" Alix gasped. My eyes widened in sudden comprehension. Oh no…. "Marc's been akumatized!" I gasped a little too loudly. The voice through the speaker chuckled in response.
"You think my haunted house isn't scary? Well, lets see how scared you are when I turn the entire school into a haunted house!" "Dude, you can't keep us here!" A now pissed-off Ivan hollered, waving his fist in the air. "Yeah! We're supposed to have our school's Halloween party tonight!" Alix added on. "This is false imprisonment!" Alya shouted. The voice chuckled again. "Well you got that right. You are imprisoned here. You're going to stay locked inside the school until you're properly scared! Then we'll see who's haunted house design sucks!" "I'm scared right now. Can't you please unlock the doors?" Rose begged; Juleka wrapped her arms protectively around her. "Oh, this is just the beginning. You're going to suffer like I have suffered tonight." "We're sorry if we hurt your feelings, Marc. We didn't mean to," I tried my hand at appeasing him, but it was no good. You could almost hear him sneer through the speakers. "You're one to talk, Marinette. If I want to terrify anyone tonight, it's you." "Me?!" My eyes grew in alarm. What did I do?! Why would Marc have it in for me specifically? I don't get it! Sensing my distress, Alya approached me. She placed her hand reassuringly onto my shoulder. "Don't worry. Ladybug and Cat Noir will come and save us. I'm sure of it." I could only gawk back at her with a deeply horrified face. "Uh, yeah….. I-I'm sure they will."
For the first hour, nothing happened. We tried to escape through all the doors but, true to Haunted's word, they were locked tight. All the lights were on, which you'd think would help the place seem less spooky but it really didn't. At some point we all retreated back to the gym unsure what to do next. I attempted multiple times to sneak off on my own to transform, but Alya was having none of it. She clasped onto my arm the whole time we were outside the gym. Not seeing an opportunity to transform myself, it looked like we'd have to wait for Cat Noir to arrive- whenever that might be. My bet is that if he's not watching the news- if this has even made the news, that is- then Plagg will report that he can't find me when he sends him to say hi to me. That'll grab his attention.
Still, there was no clue as to when this might happen. As far as we knew, we were trapped inside the school for God knows how long. Who knows what'll happen in the following hours to come. With this sense of looming foreboding hanging over all our heads, Ivan and Nathaniel went in search of food. They returned with arms full of Halloween candy and treats, to which we chewed down. We'd just finished the last of the candy when cabin fever really started to set in.
Alix groaned, tossing her head back; we were all presently sitting on the gym floor. "Ugh, this is torture." "Do you think Ladybug and Cat Noir will be here soon?" Rose asked no one in particular. "Sure they will! Once they realize that we need help," Alya confirmed with a confident grin. Ivan rolled his eyes. "We wouldn't need their help if Marc would've just made a decent haunted house." "Are you crazy?! Don't say that! He might hear you," Alya immediately scolded him. Ivan shot her a look. "So? What more can he do? He's already done his worst to us." "You don't know that," Nathaniel admitted. "Oh really? Look around you, Nathan! How much worse do you think it could get, hmmmmm?"
"Better not to ask those sorts of questions, just in case, don't you think?"
Our heads lifted to see Cat Noir up on the gym's rim balcony. With a grin as cocky as ever, he wasted no time leaping down to our level. I had to act as surprised as everyone else to see him, though it wasn't a surprise to me at all. We sent one another a secret smile before he addressed the rest of the crowd. "Is everyone alright?" "We're fine, Cat Noir," I responded for the group. "Yeah, 'cept we're trapped inside here," Alix said. "Is Ladybug here?" My boyfriend asked no one in particular; we had to be careful how much we interacted with each other in public, lest people grow suspicious. Alya shook her head. "We haven't seen her." Cat Noir checked his cat phone, only to get no signal from Ladybug- aka, me. "That's weird, I thought she would have been here by now. Guess it's up to me!"
"Dea-… Uh, Cat Noir. The guy who's been akumatized is a classmate of ours- Marc Anciel. He calls himself "Haunted"." "Haunted? Really? These villain names just keep getting worse and worse," my beloved's eyebrow raised. "Big talk from a guy who's name literally translates to "black cat"," Haunted's voice bellowed again from over the speaker. Cat Noir's instinct was to pull out his staff and get in a fighting stance. "Show yourself!" He commanded. "Oh, I'm not sure you'd want me to do that. What about all the others in the gymnasium there with you? We wouldn't want anything to happen to them, now would we?" The voice mocked. Cat Noir grit his teeth, probably because he knew he was right.
Haunted laughed manically before continuing. "Well, we're happy you could join this little Halloween party anyhow, Cat Noir. Now that you're in the school, there's no way you can escape either." "Seriously?!" My boyfriend's eyes widened in expressive alarm. The voice chuckled again. "This will be one haunted house you'll never forget," and then the speakers shut off. We all looked at each other worried. Cat Noir didn't hesitate to try and break out through the windows and doors, only to find that he was indeed trapped like the rest of us. "Guess it's up to Ladybug now," he sighed, coming over to stand beside me. This made my inners turn. They're all counting on Ladybug to show up and save everybody, but now that Cat Noir's here it'll be extra hard sneaking away to change.
This was going to be one hell of a night.
Like a bunch of idiots who just don't learn, the boys carried on striking the doors in an attempt to break free. With nothing else to do, why not? Meanwhile the girls sat by watching unimpressed. Ivan gave the front door one last hit before wiping his hand across his face. "We're never getting outta here…" "That's not true! Ladybug will be here any minute," Alya straightened up with hope. The rest of us, however…. Ivan's eyes glared her way at this. "Oh would you stop? We all know you're obsessed with Ladybug but she'd be here right now if she was coming, wouldn't she?" "Hey now! That was uncalled for," Rose frowned. "Well it's true, isn't it?" Ivan retorted. "She's saved your life how many times and you talk about her like that? Oh, and you, Cat Noir! You and Ladybug have saved our lives, I mean," Alya raised her hand in Cat Noir's direction, who shook his head gently in return to say "it's cool".
Ivan gave a loud huff, rolling his eyes. "I'm just saying. Maybe get some perspective there, Césaire." "Now, now, please don't fight," Juleka interrupted. "Yeah. It's not Alya's fault we're trapped inside here," I added, putting my hand on Alya's shoulder in show of support. Both Ivan and Alix glowered at me now. "You're right. It's not her fault; it's your fault, Marinette," Alix accused, crossed her arms defiantly. "Excuse me?!" My head spun to her and Cat Noir looked horrified.
Alix took a step toward me, not breaking her glare. "You should've told Marc that his haunted house looked great when he asked you." "I never said it looked bad!" I quickly defended myself, raising my hand up to my chest. "You didn't say you liked it. Would that have been so hard to say?" "I didn't hear you singing its praises either, Alix," it was Alya's turn to support me. I wanted to bury my eyes in my palms; this was mortifying, especially in front of Cat Noir. He had a front-row seat to all this high-school drama nonsense.
Ivan just had to butt in again, literally positioning himself between us all. "Oh, come on. That's not the real issue here." "And what is the real issue then, Ivan?" Alya asked with attitude. Ivan's finger shot accusingly out at me. "You shouldn't have lent Nathan your pencil," he proclaimed rather harshly. This caught me off guard; why does everyone keep talking about that stupid pencil? It isn't even my favourite pencil! "What's that got to do with anything?" I fired back, having enough of this rubbish. "You don't know? Really? Are you that stupid?" "Hey!" Cat Noir, Alya, and Nathaniel all retorted back at Ivan.
"All I did was let Nathaniel borrow my pencil!" "Did you ever think how that made Marc feel?" Alix proceeded to ask me. "What do you mean?" I gazed back at her puzzled. "Ugh, don't you get it? Marc has a thing for Nathan!" Ivan announced with more than a little dramatic. My eyes grew in shock. "He does?" Nathaniel looked equally as surprised but not deterred. "How was Marinette supposed to know that? In fact, how was I supposed to know that? Marc has never said anything to either of us about that. So get off Marinette's back, will you? She didn't do anything wrong; I'm the one who asked her for her pencil, remember?" I felt a little weird as Nathaniel then took a few steps in my direction. He was slowly inching closer and closer to me.
It was everyone else's turn to appear dumbfounded. Alya raised her pointed finger up slowly. "Wait. So you don't…. feel the same about Marc?" "That's no one's business. But if you must know, I already have a crush on somebody else. Marc has no right to get jealous of me." "You have a crush on somebody else?!" Rose gasped. "Who is it?" Alix inquired eagerly, but I was already putting the pieces together. So were Cat Noir, Ivan, and Alya; the latter's jaw dropping in pure disbelief. "You like Marinette?!" She gasped very, very loudly. The moment she uttered these words, my stomach dropped out onto the floor. It was very subtle, but I caught Cat Noir's fingers twitching. Oh boy, this is bad…..
It wasn't helped by the fact that Nathaniel literally put his arm around my shoulder at this moment. My eyes were the size of dinner plates; my arms and legs ice cold. "As a matter of fact, I do; I've had a crush on Marinette since junior year. I don't belong to anyone and neither does she, and if I wanna borrow a pencil from her I will!" "No touchy!" I practically flung myself away from Nathaniel, causing him to blink to me in horror. "Marinette?"
"Uh… Um… I-I'm flattered, Nathaniel; I really am! But this is not the time for this!" "Yeah. Did you ever think that declaring your love might have made haunted-boy here even more angry?" Ivan's thumb stuck out behind him toward one of the speakers. "He's just jealous." "Duh! Jealous of you two!" Alix's eyes rolled. I think this was Cat Noir's breaking point. He stepped forward with both hands raised up in the air. "Ok, ok; let's calm down. Look, all we need to do is figure out what Haunted wants. Once he has that we might have a chance at getting outta here." "He wants to scare us," Alya explained. "Well, congrats to him; I'm officially scared. He can let us out now," Juleta whispered, huddling her hands at her chest. "I don't think it's that easy, Jules," I glanced around in search of anything that might help us. No such luck.
"Ok, so he wants to scare us- fine. Maybe we should split up," Alix pondered out loud. "Mmmmm, probably not a good idea. I can't protect you all if we faction off like that," Cat Noir shook his beautiful head. "But Haunted wants us scared. It'll be a lot easier to scare us if we're separated," Nathaniel reasoned. "What's the worst that can happen really? I mean, we haven't seen anything supernatural yet," Ivan shrugged his shoulder. "Yeah, but maybe that's cause we've stayed together. The moment we split up, it'll be easier to pick us off one-by-one," I countered thoughtfully. Ivan then gave Nathaniel one of "those" looks. "Let me guess? You wanna be paired off with Mari, right?" "Shut up, Ivan!" Nathaniel shouted back in anger.
Alya threw her hands up into the air. "Well, if Marc's goal is to terrify us, he's doing a pretty bad job at it so far." "Yeah, I'm more pissed off than scared," Alix folded her arms in agreement. "This is why his haunted house out back sucked. It's not scary!" Ivan also tossed up his arms. Cat Noir and I looked at him anxiously; was it so wise he said THAT out loud?
Not moments after Ivan declared this, there was a noisy bang from out down the hallway. We all glanced to one another nervous and perplexed. "What was that?" Rose asked the group. "I don't wanna know," Alya cringed. Before anyone else had time to say more, the gym doors flung open. We all gasped in horror as the zombie figurines lining the hallway were now very much alive- or animated, anyway- moaning and slinking our way. Cat Noir put his hand on my back and pushed me toward the other gym's door. "Go, go!" He commanded to everyone. My nerves shot for a moment as I let my façade slip. "Wait! What about you?!" I cried, staring back at my now ready-to-fight boyfriend. He didn't even look back at me, protectively stationing himself between us and the zombie hoard. "Just go! I'll catch up!" Of course my feet wouldn't let me go, leaving him there to face the zombies alone, but Alya grabbed my arm. "Come on, Marinette!" I was ushered out of the gym alongside everyone else, minus Cat Noir. I felt sick just leaving him on his own in there like that.
Ok, if ever there was a time for me to transform into Ladybug, this was it; gotta escape. Alya halted in her tracks as I forcefully yanked my hand out of hers. She stopped to spin around my way. "Marin-….?" "I uh, I just remembered something I've gotta get….. in my locker!" "Can't it wait?! We're being chased by literal zombies right now!" "No! I mean, no; I'd better go get it now. It's uh… It's important," come on, Alya; play along. She stepped forward. "Fine. I'll come with you." "No, you should stay with the group! I-It'll be easier for me to avoid the zombies if I go alone; hide in lockers and all that." She didn't look convinced, lifting her eyebrow a little. "Are you sure? Cat Noir said we should stay together." "I know, but this IS very important. You've gotta trust me," I grabbed her forearms almost in a pleading fashion. She hesitated a moment longer before relenting. "Ok. But if you're not back in five minutes, I'm gonna come looking for you." "Got it!" Five minutes; that's not a lot of time but it's better than nothing!
Grabbing some candy for Tikki later, I shoved it into my pocket and ran into the nearest classroom. With a quick check to make sure it was empty, I transformed. Wasting no time, I then zoomed as fast as I could over to the gymnasium where Cat Noir was still fending off zombies. The relief in his face when he spotted me was palpable. "Bout time! What took you so long, bugaboo?" "Sorry, Cat Noir! I didn't mean to leave you hanging this long!" Pulling out my trusty yoyo, we proceeded to take down the zombie mass together. It didn't take too long, with me able to help my partner quickly. Once we were sure they were all down for the count, we began running through the other doors. "There's a bunch of high school students still inside!" He explained to me as we ran side-by-side. Halfway through the hallway, this unfamiliar growling sound echoed from one of the classrooms. We paused to look at it, then each other. "Uh oh. That doesn't sound good."
It was not good. Seconds later this massive werewolf came barrelling through the closed door. I immediately locked eyes with us and howled. "Oh, hell," I heard my boyfriend mutter under his breath. I got my yoyo at the ready. "Go check on the others! I'll take care of wolf boy here!" "Thanks, Ladybug. You know how much cats hate dogs," he smirked. "Go!" I shouted, spinning my yoyo in a constant circle now. The werewolf let out an intense growl, taking a step toward me. "Time to take the doggies out," heh, I quipped to myself.
The beast swiped at me, which I missed. Then he tried hitting me with his gigantic paws twice more, with me dodging each attempt. For a big creature, he sure was slow. Jumping beside him, I saw my chance. As fast as my fingers could move, I whacked him in the side with my yoyo. He hollowed in pain and sent me a death glare. But before he was able to crash his paw down onto my face, I hit my yoyo into his chest, sending him flying back into the room. Closing the door, I knew I had seconds to escape. Finding Cat Noir and the others on the other floor in the same wing wasn't difficult. Now I just had to move everyone to a safer, werewolf-free location. But when I arrived, I was faced with a brand new problem.
"What do you mean she left?!" Cat Noir was screaming at a flustered Alya. "S-She said she had to get something from her locker," Alya replied meekly. Hearing this, my heart skipped a beat. Oh no; that's right! Cat Noir didn't know that I- Marinette "I"- escaped a while ago. Frik! This is going to be a problem….. "And you just let her go?!" Cat Noir looked like he was about to blow a gasket. This is my cue to step in and play the "dumb" card.
"What's wrong?" I fained ignorance approaching the two. "One of the students is out in the school by herself! Her name's Marinette," Cat Noir sounded more panicked than you can imagine. I would have been swooning if this wasn't so serious. But I saw my chance! My hand lifted up to calm everyone down a little. "Don't worry; I'll go find her." "No, let me go. You stay here with the rest of them," Cat Noir instantly shot my offer down. I know why he did; he wants to make sure I'm alright with his own eyes. He's of the persuasion that no one can protect me like he can. To which he was right, of course.
But this brought on a whole new host of issues for me. It didn't help when Alya grabbed hold of my right arm, giving me a begging expression. "Please stay with us, Ladybug. You can defend us from the monsters." Alya…. I gazed down at her, trying desperately to think of a way out of the this. An idea then popped up into my head. Thanks, Mr. Werewolf….
"Actually, that werewolf I just took down upstairs; the classroom I knocked him into doesn't have a lock on its door. It'd be best if we both looked for Marinette before he or any other ghoul finds her," I suggested. Cat Noir looked like he was going to be sick. You could see he was at war with himself over my proposition. True, I didn't like leaving the committee alone just as much as him, but I knew that he wouldn't stop looking from "Marinette" me until he found her. This was the only way….. After a tense minute of thinking, Cat Noir's hands balled into fists. His head lowered a little. "Ok. But come straight back as soon as you find her!" He told me. I nodded. "Agreed!" Then we both took off like a shot in opposite directions down the hall, leaving everyone else behind.
"Gotta change! Gotta change! Tikki, spots off!" I announced as soon as I was in a barren room again; this time a science lab. Tikki breathed tiredly as I gently grabbed her and put her in my bag. Opening a candy bar, I gave it to her. Then, without a second glance, I rushed outside of the room in a frantic search for my boyfriend. "Cat Noir! Cat Noir! Where are you?!" The sound of my feet running on the floor tiles echoed everywhere.
Spinning a corner near the gym we finally caught sight of each other. "Marinette!" Cat Noir gasped. Before I had time to blink, he ran catching me in his arms. He wrapped them both tightly around me. I don't think he's ever held me so close before….. "Why'd you go off on your own like that?" He asked, still nuzzling his face into my shoulder. "I had to make sure you were alright," I answered; it's not a total lie, I was desperate to help him. Breathing ever so tenderly, he pushed me away just enough so he could rest his forehead against mine. Both of us simultaneously shut our eyes. "I'm only alright if you're alright," he purred. "Cat Noir…." My hands reached up to press into each of his cheeks.
This embrace only lasted a minute or so. On cue we released one another and looked around fearfully. Moaning sounds were emanating everywhere around us. "We're running outta time. Let's get back to the group!" Taking my hand in his, Cat Noir began to run, leading me close behind him. Once again he stopped in his tracks as another door, this time the janitor's closet, flew open. This Frankenstein monsters crept out, moaning very vociferously, and looking very strong. Normally Cat Noir would make a pun or say something sarcastic at something like this, but since I was here in civilian form, he was completely serious. His only objective right then was to get me away from Mr. Freaky here.
He didn't play around when it came to my safety.
"Stand back, Marinette!" He hollered, pulling out his staff. "Cat Noir!" I cried in turn, lifting my fists up to my pounding chest. Frankenstein took a menacing step in our direction, groaning all the louder. Cat Noir growled through his own teeth, flashing him a glare. "Where's Ladybug when you need her?"
Frankenstein went in for a punch, which of course Cat Noir avoided. He wasn't the fastest monster but he was quicker than the werewolf earlier. Frankenstein went to strike him again, but my boyfriend leapt out of the way. "Is that the best you can do?!" His cocky grin returned. He spoke a bit too soon as this time Frankenstein tried a different technique. He back-handed Cat Noir on the chest, sending him flying through the air and into a classroom door. The force was so great that he actually pushed it open, with him landing on the floor inside the room. It was a horrific sight to behold. "Cat Noir!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs.
Bad move. The pale greenish monster's attention next turned to me. He sluggishly turned around to face me, stepping my way with a steady pace. I screamed, raising both my hands to cover my head as his oversized, stitched together hand reached out to grab hold of me somewhere. This was met with a brute bash on the back of the head with Cat Noir's staff. "Don't touch her!" He sounded enraged and protective now. Then our eyes met again; his determined and my terrified. "Marinette, run! Go find Ladybug!"
Frankenstein roared in anger and grabbed the tip of Cat Noir's staff. I didn't see what happened next as I made my way down the hall in a frantic pace. I debated transforming into Ladybug again but realized that it would lead to the same problem as before. No matter what, Cat Noir would come looking for "Marinette" me in the school. Not to mention Alya and my friends would wonder where I am. There was more to lose changing back right now than there was staying like this- at least for now.
Realizing this, I ran back in civilian form to find the others. Their faces all lit up when they saw me coming up the way. "Marinette!" Alya hugged me as soon as I got there. "Dude, we thought the werewolf got you," Alix breathed a sigh of relief. I was a little taken aback at Nathaniel then coming over to grab hold of my shoulders. He scanned me repeatedly for injury. "Marinette! Are you ok?" "I-I'm alright," was my slightly shaken reply. I mean, I was alright, but I didn't like the way he was holding me like that just now. Seeing my discomfort, Alya broke in, touching my arm to grab back my attention. "Have you seen Ladybug?" "She's not here?" I hate pretending I don't stuff but whatcha' gonna do? Alya blinked confused. "She's not with you? She must still be out looking for you then?" "What are we gonna do?" A frightened Rose asked us. Alya and I looked at one another, seemingly thinking the same thing. "Let's go back to the gym. Cat Noir and uh, Ladybug can find us there," I instructed.
As a huddled collective whole, the seven of us cautiously made our way back to the gymnasium. Alya and I peered inside to check if it was safe. All the zombies were gone; probably reanimated and sprinting throughout the building. We all went in, careful to shut the doors behind us. No one said anything for a minute, then I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. "Safe at last," I grinned at Alya.
"You guys!" Our head twirled to find a frantic Cat Noir barging through the doors. He was panting heavily and looked roughened up. "Cat Noir!" We cried in relief. He ran over to our group with no time to spare. "Has Ladybug come back yet?" "Uh n-no, she must still be out somewhere in the school," I cringed at my boyfriend's instant and deep frown. He glanced back toward the gym doors. "She must not know that you're back yet," he said more to himself than us. I placed my hand on his forearm, which really caught his attention. "She'll be back soon enough. I have faith in her." "Me too," Alya added with a grin. "Yeah, but what about us?" Alix glanced around the group, unsure how to feel about Ladybug's absence.
Right as she said this, that familiar voice boomed again over the speakers. It was so loud that we all had to cover our ears. "Hmmmmm, no casualties yet, I see. Very well! Let's make this a little more fun. I'm going to strike at the heart of your greatest fear!" Haunted's voice rang out everywhere. "Snakes?" Ivan ventured to ask before Haunted shot it down. "I'll unlock the school, if you sacrifice one of your own to me." "You're outta your mind!" Cat Noir bellowed, grasping his staff again. "It's your decision. One of you must approach me or you'll all be stuck in there forever!" Cue a fit of diabolical laughter.
While Cat Noir gritted his teeth glaring at the speaker placed at the corner of the ceiling, the rest of us nervously peered to one another wordlessly- but only for a minute. Eventually Alix parted her lips. "So that's what he wants…. He wants us to feel the fear of losing one of us." "Oh, that is so not going to happen!" Alya immediately fired. "I don't know…. What if someone went willingly?" Ivan rubbed his finger under his chin in a thoughtful manner. "And who's going to do that?" Nathaniel retorted a tad viciously. "Maybe we should draw straws?" Juleka suggested quietly. "We can't do that unless everyone agrees," Alya countered. "What other choice do we have?" Alix threw in. "We're going to be stuck in here for all eternity," Rose's hands lifted to brace the sides of her face. Juleka wrapped her arms around her again. "No, we're not. Someone will save us." "Who? Cat Noir's in here with us and Ladybug's missing," Ivan said. "Looks like we'll have to think of something, unless someone wants to take the hit for the whole group," Alya's hand tossed up. The whole while I'd been quiet, off to the side thinking to myself. I skimmed around at each of them, then I looked at Cat Noir….
"I'll do it."
"Huh?" This profound, stunned silence fell over everyone as their eyes fell back onto me. It was like they didn't believe their ears. Sensing their disbelief my expression stiffened. "I'll go; I'll go surrender myself over to Haunted. I have a feeling I'm the one he wants anyway." The pure horror on Cat Noir's face was indescribable; almost was intense as the look on Alya's. "Marinette….." She started. I stopped her by raising my hand up and giving my head a little shake. It took every ounce of strength I possessed to force a smile. "I-It's ok; I-I don't mind. It's better than you all being trapped inside the school forever. Besides, Marc wouldn't have been akumatized if I… If I told him that I liked his haunted house. It's my fault; I should go."
There was a moment of quiet before Nathaniel shook his head. "This is crazy! You can't just sacrifice yourself like that!" "Why not? I'm going of my freewill…. So that you may be free." Cat Noir cut me off here by taking a step forward. "Marinette? It's Marinette, right?" "Yes," I smiled for real this time; I'm not the only one who has to pretend to be ignorant. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" His thumb jerked back toward the gym door. "Sure," following him, I couldn't bring myself to gaze back at my friends. That might have been the last time I ever saw them.
Cat Noir didn't say anything as he led me out of the gym and down the hall. Like the gentleman he was, he held a broom closet door open for me. I entered, spinning around just in time to see him slam the door in my face. I heard a chair being propped up against it on the other side. "Hey!" I let out a cry, twisting the doorknob with both hands. "Sorry, milady. You'll be safe in there- I promise. I'll come back after Ladybug and I defeat Haunted." "Cat Noir!" I pounded on the door but didn't tell him to let me out. "Love you too, sweetie!" Were his last words to me. I waited until I could no longer hear his footsteps outside.
"Yes!" I did a fist pump while Tikki flew out from my bag. "Why are you happy? We're trapped in a closet." "Ah, ah, ah! Marinette is trapped in a closet, as far as Cat Noir is concerned. But Ladybug is still able to fight." "Oooooooh!" It took her a second to catch on. "Ready to go?!" "Ready when you are!" "Ok, then! Tikki, spots on!" Kicking the door down was easy as pie once I was back in my Ladybug costume.
I ran back into the gym to find everyone right where I left them. Cat Noir was trying his best to keep everyone calm. "What's happening?!" Was my introductory inquiry. They all blinked to me, breathing a sigh of sheer relief. "Ladybug!" Lots of them gasped. "Where the hell have you been?" Cat Noir was less impressed. "Got tied up with some monsters in the East Wing. Did you find Marinette?" "Don't worry about her; she's safe," he replied with earnestness. I had to stifle a grin. He's so cute when he's protective.
Alya tapped my arm, making me glance her way. "Ladybug, Haunted said he won't let us go unless one of us sacrifices ourselves." "Guess he's going for a Hunger Games sorta fear," Juleka tacked on with a shrug. "That's not going to happen. Don't worry; Cat Noir and I will take care of all this. You all just stay right here, ok?" I commanded the group, who nodded in compliance. "Let's go," I then told Cat Noir, who nodded.
Haunted was floating outside high above the school. He looked down at us with distain as we exited. "Where's a committee member?" He demanded with intensity. "I've had just about enough of you," Cat Noir growled, readying his staff to attack. "Oh, I'm just getting started," Haunted hissed, arching his eyebrows. Feeling like Cat Noir wanted to wrap this up quick- probably because he thought I was still locked in a closet- I threw up my yoyo. "Lucky charm!" What fell down was a black and red spotted copy of the pencil I gave Nathaniel earlier that day. Puzzled at first, it rapidly became clearer to me as I twirled it in my right hand.
Cat Noir went to attack Haunted, with the two engaging in hand-to-hand combat for a brief minute. While they were busy with this, I managed to get myself up onto the tallest school tower so I was eye-level with Haunted. Clutching the pencil, I hoped this worked. I drew in a deep, stilling breath.
"Marc!" Haunted stopped sparring with Cat Noir long enough to peer in my direction. I held the pencil high above me so he could see it. "Marc! I know why you're upset! I get it now!" He sent me the most hate-fill scowl. "What do you know about it? How can you have any idea how I'm feeling? You have no clue what I'm going through right now!" "Yes, I do! I know exactly how you feel! You watched someone you love turn to somebody else for help; you wanted Nathaniel to ask you for your pencil! You wanted him to turn to you, isn't that right?"
By now, Haunted was completely ignoring Cat Noir, who himself stayed off to the side to let me talk. Haunted inched ever closer to me in the sky, though he didn't say anything currently. Sensing my opportunity, I continued in a softer, more compassionate, understand voice. "I know that must have hurt you. But Nathaniel had no idea that you liked him, just like how Marinette had no idea that Nathaniel liked her. You're allowed to feel hurt, and they're allowed to feel confused. That's love; sometimes it's messy, painful, and confusing. It's not always easy, and that's ok." "Ladybug," Cat Noir uttered stunned.
Haunted floated ever closer to me, still keeping silent. Though that was ok. When he was close enough to see, I smiled at him- tenderly so. "You've got to trust me on this. I know what it feels like. I've been in love before myself; I know exactly how it feels to look at someone…. and know that you're looking at the whole world right in front of you. But you need to tell Nathaniel how you feel, so that he may give you an answer. You never know; maybe you'll find that he feels the same way. That's been my experience," and how lucky am I that it has been. When Haunted was within arm's reach, I stretched out my hand, placing the pencil in his. His fingers wrapped around it protectively; his eyes had tears in their corners by now. His bottom lip trembled uncontrollably. I gave him another kind smile, lowering my eyes. "It will be alright, Marc. Your friends are here for you; they're all here. You're not alone with your feelings."
Wiping his eyes with the back of his free hand, he gave the pencil another squeeze. He next handled it back to me. Still refusing to speak, he simply nodded his head. That's when the little akuma broke away from him without us having to force it out. You can guess what happened next.
The moment I did my miraculous ladybug move, I knew I had mere minutes to spare. After Cat Noir and I "pounded it", I took off at an amazing speed. Sliding off of the roof, I transformed back while I was running down the hall. I hadn't even reached the janitor closet again before guess-who turned the corner. We immediately paused once we saw each other, our feet freezing mid-step. "Marinette?" "Cat Noir!" "How'd you get….?" "Uh, Ladybug let me out! Looks like she found me, after all." "Oh, good," sighing in relief, my boyfriend approached me. Our arms instinctively wrapped around the other as our smiles matched.
"I'm sorry I locked you up like that." "It's ok. You just wanted to keep me out of harm's way." "Heh, precisely, milady," sighing, he brought his face closer to mine. I nuzzled his nose with mine. "You better get out here before the others show up." "I'm so glad you're safe, Marinette…. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you," he cooed, ignoring what I'd just said. I nodded in agreement. "I know the feeling, my dearest. What would I do….. if my whole world standing in front of me ever vanished?" This made Cat Noir blink at me puzzled. "Funny. That's sounds familiar…." He muttered and I chuckled. Oh, Cat Noir.
I kissed his cheek, causing him to blush in turn. "See you tomorrow night, babe. It's date night, remember?" "How could I forget? It's "our" night- the one night of the year." "Until tomorrow night." "Catch you later, milady. Get home safe tonight," reluctantly pulling his arms away, he began to run down the hall. "You know I will," I waved until he was gone. Only then did Alya and the rest of the committee rush around the corner, but I was still busy staring off in the direction my boyfriend's just left. "Marinette, there you are! You missed everything, girl!" Alya ran up to my side. But my eyes simply lowered in the gentlest fashion. "No, I didn't miss anything. Not a single thing. Wait a minute… I feel like we're forgetting something…." Cue collective gasp.
"What's going to happen to our school's Halloween party tonight?!"
Happy Halloween!
