Miraculous: Tales of Shadowstar

Part 11: House of Nightmares

Marinette could hear her own heart pounding as it was so quiet. As if waiting to see what might happen next, yet in the darkness they couldn't even see each other. She felt Lucien's left hand move from her waist as she heard him speak.

"Candidus Lux." Marinette had to look away as a bright light illuminated their vicinity. Even Lucien had to squint against the brightness, but as he took a moment to take off his jacket and wrap around the ball of light. He narrowed the light into a beam as he held it in his hands.

"There we go," Lucien said. He peered over to Marinette who looked confused at the half wrapped ball that's producing so much light. They found themselves standing in a small dark room. From floor to ceiling was like a black marble with a purple tint to it. The walls looked like it was carved into a singular shape with columns melded into the walls for support. "Where... are we?" Marinette hesitantly asked. Marveling how they practically got transported into another room without either of them physically moving.

"Well, I don't think we're at my house anymore. We better get moving and find the others though. Something tells me that this place is going to prey on those who are alone." As if to make his point known, they heard a blood curdling scream echo throughout the halls.

"How did this happen? Was your father..." Marinette stopped herself from saying it, but Lucien nodded his head all the same. "It appears to be that way. I'm not sure what caused him to become akumatized though. I mean, he was acting a bit weird since last night, but so were my brother and mother." The bigger question remained if the other two were akumatized as well. Something told him that they weren't, but he didn't suspect his father to be akumatized either.

Marinette slipped her arm around his as they checked their surroundings with the light, only to find that there was only one path to follow. With a disappointed look on his face, Lucien sighed. "Let's go find the others." He suggested. Marinette tried to look for anywhere she could transform at, but this corridor didn't have any rooms to the side either. They walked together down the corridor for what felt like twenty minutes with no turns or signs of ending.

However, somewhere in the darkness, they heard a voice that sent chills down Marinette's spine. "Marinette~" They froze in place. It was difficult to tell where the voice came from as the voice reverberated throughout the corridor. But Marinette recognized that voice anywhere. She's heard in her dreams, and in her nightmares. Her nails dug into Lucien's arm as her grip tightened onto his long sleeve.

Lucien swept the beam of light side to side as they attempted to see who was calling out for Marinette. The beam illuminated a fair distance that allowed them to see up to a hundred feet easily, but neither could find the source of it. "Marinette~" The voice spoke from the void. It sounded closer now, until Marinette noticed that it came from above. Her widened eyes reluctantly peered up to the ceiling. Her hands tightened onto Lucien as he looked over to her. Noticing that she was looking up, Lucien turned the light to the ceiling.

Revealed in the light, crawling along the ceiling in rigged movements much like being a strung up puppet. Was Adrien with wide bloodshot eyes and his once groomed hair a total mess. His eyes locked onto the dark haired girl as an eerie grin formed on his face. "There you are Marinette~ I have a surprise for you~" Without warning, Adrien leapt from the ceiling with a blood curdling screech. Marinette felt like her body suddenly grew numb and her feet felt like they were made out of lead.