Falling

Chapter 8

Marinette's POV :

I go though the portal to find utter chaos. The evening sky is hidden behind thick black smoke emanating from the ruins of what once was Paris. Lava has replaced the river Seine and it's level is slowly rising. Not that it overflowing would change anything. The buildings are in ruins, the few buildings still standing are on fire. Everything is covered in a thick layer of soot. The most worrying sight of all is the Eiffel Tower. It's bent from the heat emanating from the lava, who seems to find it's source somewhere in the monument.

I run into one of the buildings still standing and detranform. I'm going to need a power-up for this. I pull out a special macaroon and a sugar cubefrom my bag. I hand them to Tikki and Kaalki.

Marinette : This Akuma seems extra dangerous. I need you to be ready in case of an emergency and heat resistance will be vital.

They both finish their food rapidly and I transform. Once transformed into firebug, I exit the building and make my way over to me and Chat's meeting place in this sort of situation. We decided to do this after a particularly bad Akuma. Chat had had one too many close calls while waiting for me to find the Akuma and we both decided that it would be a good idea to choose a place to meet-up when the Akuma seems too hard to handle alone : the Louvre.

As I reach for my yo-yo, I suddenly find myself pushed to the ground. I look up and am met by a terrifying sight. Walking past me is a black figure engulfed in flames. They seem to have been burned to a crisp. No skin is left on their body who has now the consistency of coal. It's movements are stiff, each step forward appears to be bringing with it an immense amount of pain that appears in what's left of the person's face.

As soon as I get over my initial shock, I move away from the middle of the street and keep going backwards until my back meets a wall. I use said wall to get back on my feet before looking around. The being that pushed me to the ground isn't the only one, much to my horror. More figures are walking past me. I recognize children in amongst them. They don't even seem to be in control of their own bodies. The last feature that seems to be theirs is their eyes. All of the figures walking past me are looking at me, a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

I grab my yo-yo and decide to move. This sight is just too much for me. With tears in my eyes, I swing away, making my way to the Louvre.

I hope Chat's okay.

While on my way to the Louvre, I notice that all of the figures are making their way to the Eiffel Tower. Looking over there, I spot the Akuma. A giant female figure made of volcanic rock oozing lava through slits that from their joints. One of it's eyes is white, the other is the source of the lava I had seen leaving the Eiffel Tower earlier. In one of its fists, the Akuma is holding a glowing red and black scroll.

I quickly make my way to the Louvre and enter the building through one of the broken windows. I walk through the exhibits until I made it to our meet-up point. There, I saw Chat pacing back and forth. I could hear him telling me to hurry up.

LB : Chat?

He looked up at me with tears in his eyes.

CN : M'lady?

LB : What happened out there?!

CN : An Akuma. She appeared half an hour ago and quickly destroyed the city. I was out with friends when it happened. I barely escaped.

Tears were running down his cheeks as he explained what happened and the previous events.

The Akuma calls herself Vulcana. When she opens her scroll in the direction of someone, they get turned into one of the figures I saw earlier. She got akumatized after another researcher stole her work and published it under his name and, when she reported it to their superiors, she was brushed off. She wants to burn the man who stole her work alive. The Akuma is in the scroll according to Chat, who claims to have been there when she was there.