"Hey, got a sec? I'm looking for ruins. Specifically a door."
"A door, just like he said."
"Impossible! There's no way!"
"You need to close this door, right?"
"Gates open in lonely places where no human hearts remain. And from those Gates... disaster comes."
"Suzume! I like you. You... are in the way."
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Where are you going? No! No! No! No! Ugh! Souta! Wait!"
"It's not safe for you to tag along."
"Maybe you should be worrying more about yourself."
"People will die. A whole lot of them."
"Souta! Wait!"
"Alright then, I need you to lock the door! You were right, I can't do it!"
"As I feared. Souta failed, didn't he? That much at least should frighten you."
"A world without Souta terrifies me."
"I could never forget. I promise, I'll come save you."
"I return them to you!"
"I'll see you."
XXXXXX
"Wake up Suzume!" Whispered a somewhat familiar voice into Marinette's ear. "You'd better hurry! The Worm is gonna fall and the Earth will break. C'mon Sumie-chan! If you don't wake up people will die. A whole lot of them. The cycle will repeat and the Earth will break."
Bluebell eyes snapped open and came face to face with bright yellow ones. Marinette gasped sharply and looked up toward the sky. And yup! Sure enough, the Worm was coming. And it was coming fast!
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Not this again! Ugh! I thought we took care of all the Gates!" Marinette whined, scowling up at the sky and crossing her arms over her chest. "Why the fuck do I have to be the one who goes around fixing all the damn problems of the world? It's not fair! I never asked to be a part of this fucking magical bullshit crap!"
The gothic bluenette was abruptly thrown out of the whirlwind of cursing and shouting at the world by Daijin's panic-filled yowls and the feeling of his claws tugging urgently on the sleeve of her jacket. "Sumie-chan stop rambling! We gotta go before the Worm falls and cracks the Earth open!" His little voice is frantic and high-pitched as he shifts his gaze nervously from the sky and back to her again and again.
The pigtailed bluenette cursed under her breath and turned back to face the small white cat who was now sitting in her lap.
"But Daijin, I'm not a Closer. I only did it back then cause Souta-san got turned into a chair. But now I don't see him anywhere! What are we going to do Daijin?"
The little cat looks thoughtful for a moment before an idea hits him and his eyes light up like a Christmas tree.
"Ah-ha! I've got a great idea Sumie-chan!" Daijin exclaimed with a wide grin splitting across his tiny face as he looked up into the eyes of Suzume's reincarnation.
Marinette's eyes narrowed slightly and she gave the small feline a suspicious look. "Oh I see. And what kind of crazy supernatural game do you want me to play this time?" She crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly to the side with a anxious look passing over her face as she spoke.
Daijin paused for a moment, his eyes becoming slitted as he tried to gage what the young dark-haired teenager was thinking. But she just gave him a blank stare in response.
A few more seconds of silence passed by before the little white cat spoke up once again, flicking his tail and jumping up onto the girl's shoulders as he did so.
"You can close the door instead Suzume! You've done it before! So why not take up the mantle of a Closer once more and close the Gate to stop the Worm from escaping!"
Marinette's eyes lowered to the floor and the young 14-year-old sighed softly to herself. She shook her head from side to side, her pigtails whipping the sides of her face as she did so.
"I could do it again, but I... I-I don't know if I can." The French-Asian girl groaned loudly and puts her head in her hands. "But either way, I guess it's up to me to close the Gate since Souta-san isn't here."
Daijin's face brightened upon hearing those last few words and he gave the dark-haired girl a great big encouraging smile. "Now that's the spirit Suzume!" He cried out in glee. "Go close that Gate and make Souta-san proud!"
Marinette blushed and ducked her head. "T-thanks for believing in me,Daijin." She smiles and hugs the cat tightly to her chest. "So uh, can I keep you as my pet now? Or are you still a Keystone?"
The cat in question just laughs quietly in response and nuzzles his face into the girl's neck. "I passed the responsibility to someone else! So now I can play with you forever Sumie-chan!" His eyes twinkle with mischief and his tail is flicking softly from side to side in the slight breeze that blows past them.
Marinette smiles softly down at the cat in return and is just about to open her mouth to start saying something when someone else beats her to it. It was Juleka who had spoken up for the first time since arriving here.
"Uh Nettie? What exactly are we doing?" Came Juleka's sift voice from behind the shorter girl. Marinette gave a startled yelp and nearly fell backswords over her own two feet as she stood up and turned herself around to face the taller girl.
"We're going to go close some doors." Was the only answer Juleka received in response. "The Worm can't get out or disaster will come upon the world." She yelled over her shoulder as she ran toward the huge mass of red and black energy that hung lowly in the sky.
"But what are we running towards?" The purple-haired girl questioned her girlfriend as they kept on running. "I don't see anything but the clear blue sky. I don't see any sign of that "Worm' thing you and that cat were talking about anywhere, there's nothing but a few stray clouds in the sky. You're starting to scare me Nettie, are you sure you're okay? Cause you don't seem okay! I'm really starting to worry about your mental health and your state of mind! Did you hit your head during that earthquake?"
She was starting to get really worried. Why the hell was her girlfriend talking about seeing these weird 'Worm" things? How did that cat "Daijin" know her girlfriend? Who is Suzume? What the hell was really going on here? What on earth is a keystone? What's a Closer? And most importantly, why won't anyone tell her anything? To be completely honest, Juleka wasn't sure if she really wanted to find out the answers to all of those questions.
Marinette bit down on her bottom lip, trying desperately to keep her cool as she thought carefully over her next few words.
"Listen to me Jules! Only Closers and people who've stumbled into the Ever After can see the Worm! I would explain it better but we've gotta hurry!" Her pace seemed to grow more hurried and her bluebell eyes were more frantic as she tried to keep her gaze trained on the sky above them.
XXXXXX
"But I'm still so confused, what exactly is a 'Closer?'" Juleka had asked the white cat perched on her girlfriend's shoulder. "What do they do? And why does Nettie have to be the one to close the door?"
Marinette sighed heavily and fiddled nervously with the pendant hanging around her neck. How could she explain this to her girlfriend without sounding like a fucking lunatic who feels like crap after eating too much candy! Oh God, she's already loosing it! Why the hell does all this supernatural crap always happen to her? Ugh! Just her goddamn Ladybug luck!
The pigtailed bluenette sighed for like the twentieth time that day as she tried to come up with a somewhat believable story to tell Juleka.
Taking one last deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves, the dark-haired French-Asian 14-year-old gathered up her courage and began to speak.
"Here goes nothing." Marinette whispered quietly to herself before lifting her gaze from her shoes and up into concerned ruby eyes. "It's kind of a long story Jules and I don't think we have the time right now." Her girlfriend gave her a puzzled look, frowning slightly and raising a questioning eyebrow at the shorter girl.
"Nettie, what do you-" Juleka started to say but was cut off by her girlfriend's horrified gasp and Daijin's frantic yowling. "What the hell is going on?" She cried as a large gust of wind blew her backwards a few feet.
"Oh, no. We're too late!" Marinette screamed in horror, her face losing all color and her hands clenching into tight fists at her sides. "The Keystone couldn't keep the Worm at bay anymore. If I don't seal it back inside the gate the whole city is gonna be destroyed!"