"I'm Back."

"-who tried to kill me in my dreams."

"Is this the first time your eyes have beheld the volatility of mortality?"

Ylva's question was answered by silence, a silence that spoke volumes, though the answer had been obvious from the start. Marinette had never witnessed death, well in this case aftermath.

She had never considered herself faint-hearted. Having seen quite a lot of blood in the recent years of being Ladybug, having witnessed and sustained many gnarly injuries, this was somehow incomprehensible to her. It made sense though. She had never truly felt the weight of death. The idea that a person was never going to wake up again leaving only a decaying shell of who they once were. Both her father's parents were both still alive as well as her mother's father; though her maternal grandmother had passed away, that was long before she was even conceived, so she has never experienced the death of a loved one.

This was certainly a rude awakening considering Paris has been homicide free since she had taken on the role of being its designated heroine, Ladybug. There were a few losses here and there to things like drug overdosage and unfortunate fatal accidents, never has she encountered something so horrific.

The haunting image of the man's face still lingered in the front of her mind. The mangled features of his face oozed the sanguine liquid that pooled around his lifeless body. His eyes were red and wide, pupils sharp and lifeless. His clothing barely covered the damage to his body. A huge gash in his gut was the source of most of the blood as well as several jagged lacerations in his bare arms. His legs rested in an awkward position to the rest of him, one of them contorted and twisted grotesquely.

The memory all but sends her running to the toilet to throw up.

"Who could do such a thing?" She asked no one in particular.

'Wait.'  She stood abruptly staggering toward the fire exit heading down to her studio. She raced down the stairs. Opening the fire escape leads to the rest of the building. She got her bearing a two quick snaps of her head in the two opposite directions running down a hall. Tikki flew close behind, Ylva following at a comfortable pace.

She made it to her room door fumbling with her pin before unlocking the door. She walked towards her desk flipping open her laptop that rested on its surface.

She logged in opening up some tabs. Ylva flashed into the room, probably through the wall sauntering behind her to peer into the bright screen curious to see what the young woman practically sprinted down from the roof to see.

The clumsy clicks on the keyboard stopped. The designers blue eyes reflected the light from the monitor making them shine a bright blue. She pulled her swivel chair from behind carefully sitting down on it resting her head on her chin eyes still glued to the screen.

"Ylva, do you work for him?" The young woman asked her voice cold and cautious, eyes still attached to the screen.

"I work for nobody." The spirit spoke voice expressing her distaste for the idea that she served under any entity other than herself.

Marinette lowered her head in silence, a knowing sigh filling it.

"Why is he doing this?" She whispered, a thin layer of desperation laced her question.

"Varied reasons. Most valid." Ylva's response was short, sharp and ambiguous. Many follow up questions filled the designers mind, none voiced. She knew none of her questions would be answered.

A being such as Ylva made it clear through her actions that she was not obligated to give answers to her question without incentive. Assuming she actually cared for what his motives are.

Committing such a brutal murder truly does not allow room for sympathy on her end no matter the reason. Maybe her thoughts would be different of he had just spoken to her about it.

She pushed away from the desk with an exasperated sign before walking over towards her couch now doubled as a bed due to its sheer size.