Papillon

No Matter What It Takes by dragonart19

HONORABLE MENTION

No Matter What It takes

Marinette POV

My partner Adrien and I were in our squad car driving through the streets of Gotham to the address of a call we got. I looked over at him sitting in the passenger's seat and noticed that he was frowning.

"Penny for your thoughts Agreste?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He blinked and shook his head slightly, saying,

"Sorry--I was just thinking about that call. Do you really think that it's Solomon Grundy? I mean there's no way-- right?" I laughed a bit before replying.

"What, the little kitty scared?" I jeered, poking him in the arm. He scowled, brushing me off.

"No, it's just that I have better things to do on a Halloween night then go on a wild goose chase after some urban legend," He said, frowning.

"Well, we're about to find out, we're here." I replied, stopping the car and looking up at the haunted-looking mansion in front of us. We got out of the car and walked up to the wrought iron gate and pushed it. As it creaked open, I closed my eyes, thinking, Alright Marinette, no matter what happens, don't get scared. We walked up the long path to the front door and Adrien went to knock only to find that it was barely on its hinges. We exchanged a startled look and walked in making sure to have our hands on our guns. Once we had entered, we straightened from our slightly defensive positions as we surveyed the carnage that had been wreaked in the front hall. There were smashed paintings, the railing of the long winding staircase was completely destroyed and there was what looked like a small table lying smashed on the ground on top of two bodies. We ran over to the bodies they were two elderly women, possibly sisters. Adrien removed the table and I checked their pulses. My eyes widened to the size of saucers as I shakily said,

"Oh my god... th-they're dead." His eyes widened slightly and he stood up and looked down the hall, saying,

"Grundy or not, this case just went from a possible hoax to a murder. We need to take whoever did this down." I nodded, wiping away the tears that had started to well up in my eyes; he must have seen me do this, because he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and added, "Don't worry, everything will be alright, ok?" I nodded again, trying to ignore the butterflies that had suddenly found their way into my stomach. I chalked it to the fact that we had just walked into a murder scene. After a few minutes we walked down the hallway, guns in our hands. As we walked I felt an arm wrap around my waist. I stopped to glare at my partner who was partially covered by shadows and said,

"I know this is a scary situation but you don't have to try to 'comfort' me like that. Let's try and keep this professional, ok?" He just turned to look at me and in the darkness the only thing that I could make out were his striking green eyes.

"What are you—Marinette, that's not me..." he said, his eyes widening in fear.

"What do you mean 'that's not me'? It has to be. The only other person that it could be is--"

I was cut off by a low hollow growl from behind me and I felt someone's hot rancid breath on the back of my head. I closed my eyes and trying to keep the terror out of my voice said,

"Adrien, please tell me that the one with his arm around my waist isn't Solomon Grundy?" I opened my eyes to see him gulp and in a noticeably shaky voice ask,

"If I do will that make you feel better?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and mentally cursed as I squeaked,

"No, not really" before the arm around my waist suddenly yanked backwards--not removing itself from my waist--and dragged me back into the darkness of the hallway.

Adrien POV

I watched as my partner got pulled into the dark by Solomon Grundy, or whoever was really behind all this, and shouted,

"NO, MARINETTE!" I held my hand out hoping that she'd grab it but I was too late. I clench my hand into a fist and grit my teeth, turning to hit the wall.

"No..." I whisper as I feel tears leak out of the corner of my eye. "I'll get you back, no matter what it takes."

Third Omniscient POV

Marinette opened her eyes to be met with two beady yellow eyes. She screamed. The man before her, if he could be described that way, placed a hand over her mouth and she stopped screaming for fear that he'd do what he'd done to the two old women. He removed his hand and she looked around to see that they were in a library of some sort. She looked down at herself to see that she was tied to a chair but she didn't dare struggle. She returned her attention to him, scrutinizing his appearance: he had on a long trench coat with his midriff showing, eyes that were like yellow irises in pools of black, skin as white and thin as paper stretched across his gaunt face. He was boney but from all of the damage that he had caused it was obvious that he had inhuman strength. His hair was pure white and messy.

"W-what d-do you w-want?" she asked him in a shaky voice, but all she got in response was a grunt. Just then the door burst open and Adrien came running in pointing his gun at them and shouted,

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" He shot at Grundy, distracting him. He ran over to Marinette and cut the ropes that were keeping her on the chair. As soon as she had gotten out , she hugged him.

"Sorry I'm late, princess," he said into her hair.

"It's fine, but what happened to Grundy?" she replied, pulling out of the embrace and turning her head to look behind them at where the brute had been.

"He's gone and won't be bothering us again" he replied, and before she could react he pulled her into a kiss. At first she simply stood there shocked, but kissed back after a second. When they pulled apart and placed their foreheads together, Marinette whispered,

"I love you Kitty."

With a cheesy grin he replied,

"I love you too, Purr-incess."