Where Does the Red String Go? -Miraculous Ladybug AU Soulmates

Chapter 20- A Green Haze

Marinette's POV

I dream of green.

I'm sitting on a green meadow with green bunnies eating green flowers. The wind blows through the green trees and the faint smell of springtime wafts my nose. Even my skin has a tinted green hue, which should have been creepy but I was under heavy medication so I didn't mind.

I don't remember much about the night. Every time I try to remember it, a green breeze comes in and washes it away, wrapping the thought in a cocoon.

There was a stabbing pain in my arm, that much I remember. It was like poison, leeching into my skin and infecting my bones. Spreading through me like the flames of hell. It was scorching hot, hissing like steam. But whenever I cried out, I was met with silence. There was no noise coming out of me, yet I felt the vibrations in my throat. I felt the vocal cords move to create the sound. I felt my jaw open, the air against my teeth. I felt the desperation in my bones.

Yet nothing came out.

I don't know how long I sat there, silently screaming, begging for someone to hear my show of agony. Eventually, the green breeze came and wrapped around my screams, nesting it in a cocoon. Sending the pain away.

The pain in my arm also subsided to a gentle throb. The green breeze came then too, wrapping the pain and sending it away. The pain in my head. Away. The stinging in my eyes. Away. The loneliness that engulfed me. Away. The memory of a boy with green eyes. Away.

Everything was sent away. The joy, the sadness. The pain and the pleasure. Away.

So it was then, in the green meadow on the green grass, that I told myself a story.

Once upon a time in a land now forgotten, there lived a girl. The girl was no princess, no person of royalty. She was a commoner, overlooked in the streets of her magical kingdom. When the girl came of age, she was destined to marry the first boy she saw on the day of her sixteenth birthday.

Her friends turned sixteen and were married off to men of different classes and cultures. She alone remained, anxiously awaiting her sixteenth birthday.

When her sixteenth birthday came, she woke up in the morning and opened the door, closing her eyes as she stepped out on the streets of her kingdom. But the girl was clumsy, and she fell in the mud, ruining her dress.

It was then a voice called out. "Are you okay, Ma'am?" the girl opened her eyes, and she saw a pair of green eyes and an outstretched hand. Hastily closing her eyes, she chuckled. "Yes, I'm fine thank you," she said as she accepted the hand and hauled herself up. Opening her eyes, she made to thank the gentleman, but he was gone. She looked around, confused when her eyes laid on another man, this time with blue eyes.

Since this was the first man she saw, she boldly approached him and renounced herself to marry him. The blue-eyed man agreed, taking her to his house.

There she was made to cook and clean, providing the man with everything he could ask for. She loved him dearly, however, he did not return her feelings of love. He viewed her as a possession, an object, something there to help him. He did not see her as a human being.

A green breeze starts to pick up.

One night, the man attacked the girl in her sleep, as she had broken a rule that the man had commanded her to obey. The night was still young and an owl hooted in the darkness. Lightning struck the sky and illuminated the night, and by powerful magic, the people's human forms were stripped away.

Instead of a man attacking a girl, a snake was preying on a mouse. Instead of a wooden shack, there was a dense forest filled with tall grass. Instead of a knife, there were fangs.

The snake slithered toward the mouse, fangs open and bulbous yellow eyes preparing for a kill. The mouse squeaked in terror, unable to move due to its fear. Thunder shook the kingdom, as rain poured like waterfalls.

The snake strikes for the kill.

But a yowl cut through the night, as a black cat appeared out of the shadows.

The green wind begins to blow faster and faster.

The cat had piercing green eyes, green like those of the man the girl had met on her sixteenth birthday. The cat crouched protectively over the mouse, hissing furiously at the snake. The cat would not allow harm to come to the mouse.

The snake whipped its tail in fury, slithering towards the cat. The cat bares its teeth, ready to put up a fight if necessary.

The green wind starts to wrap around my story, preventing it from going any further. I furiously grind my teeth in frustration. No! I needed to know what happened next. The green wind increases in speed, wrapping around my anger and frustration. I grit my teeth and push on.

With a dangerous hiss, the snake leaps for the first attack, bearing its fangs as it prepares to sink its teeth into the cat's fur. The cat swiftly dodges as it raises its claws to swipe at the snake.

The green wind is blurring the edges of my vision, I can't see what happens next. I squint my eyes furiously and make out the shapes of the cat and the snake in my mind. I push on.

The snake dodges the cat's attack swiftly, slithering around the cat in circles. The cat pauses in confusion, then realizes the trap. The snake will choke the cat. The cat will die.

Behind the two animals, the mouse squeaks in fear.

The snake is swiftly building up speed, soon there will be no space for the cat to escape. The cat hisses in desperation, its claws unsheathed, and it swipes at the snake's scales.

I can't see the figures anymore, my mind is a tornado of green. The green wind picks up and swirls like a tempest, fully blocking out the story. I can't hear anything, not a sound or a whisper. What happened to the ending? Who won? The cat or the snake? What fate befell the mouse?

But soon the green breeze wraps around these thoughts too, and they fade away. My eyes flutter and close, exhausted for some reason. My vision dims as a deep slumber beckons. But I could still hear the story playing faintly in the background.

The cat cannot escape. With a final yowl, it scratches the snake, drawing blood so greatly that it seemed that the cat would have a chance.

I let the green wind rock me into oblivion. I didn't get to see the rest of the story. Soon my breathing turns even as I sink further into slumber. Slowly, the wind dies down and fades away. The meadow is quiet again, with green rabbits and green grass. However, two scenes remain of the story that I did not get to see:

The snake's eyes turn murderous, as it pounces. Its fangs sink deep into the cat's neck. The cat howls in great pain as it falls to the floor. Blood leaks out of its jaws as its limbs still. There, the cat takes its final breath.

The snake smiles wickedly at the cat's demise and turns towards the mouse.

It had another kill to make.