Alone

Chapter 13

Skeletons...

A lot of skeletons.

Fractured bones, crumbling bones and headless skeletons lay scattered on the ground, bound to the walls by metal chains covered in rust. Marinette found her foot right in the middle of the rib cage of a skeleton. Her foot had crashed in through the decayed bones and had wound up inside it. Marinette pulled her boot out of the skeleton and leaned against the wall, heaving. She looked behind her where crushed bones had left a trail behind her. Every snap she had heard had been the sound of a bone or a skeleton cracking under the weight of her foot. Marinette could feel the wound in her torso open up as blood got soaked up into the jacket. She flinched every time she involuntarily took a deep breath.

Marinette leaned forward trying to stand without the support of the walls. She felt her hair pull on her scalp as if it were stuck to the wall. Marinette grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked it away from the wall. Her hair slowly peeled off the wall and Marinette decided to go in for a closer look. The old fashioned torches cast a red glow on the walls while Marinette limped back towards the wall. She could see that the surface looked less solid and more slippery. Marinette grabbed a torch out of its place on the wall and held it closer to the wall.

Her stomach dropped through the ground when she saw what she had been leaning against. The lit torch fell from her hands onto the ground and Marinette watched as it sputtered and went out. Marinette was still fixated on the walls as she watched the other torches illuminate the walls for her, painting her face in the red glow.

 The walls that had been covered in moss were now dripping crimson red blood. Marinette watched as the blood constantly bubbled and continued its way down through the floor. She backed away from the wall stumbling over the fallen torch and landing on the ground.

Marinette brought her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth. She just wished that the flames would just die and leave her in the darkness. Seeing all the skeletons lying on the floor beside her and seeing the blood pour down the wall was much more formidable than being plunged into the darkness. Even though she knew that she couldn't expect what was going to happen once in the darkness, Marinette still wanted to take the risk and get this over with. 

She got up trying her best to not seek support from the walls. Her wounds throbbed painfully as her body moved against its wishes to stay still. Marinette took in a deep breath and blew hard on the torch that she had first come across. But it lit itself once again refusing to let Marinette do what she desired. She tried again but soon, she lay panting on the ground, out of breath. The torch that she had dropped had lit up on its own and was facing Marinette as if taunting her futile efforts.

Marinette was once again hugging her knees, head buried and panting. With every breath she took, she could feel blood soak her T-shirt and seep into her jacket. She knew that this place was trying to bring her down from the inside. It knew exactly what she feared. What scared Marinette the most was how this place portrayed her fears. Every room was designed to be one of her fears and one room was worse than the other. Not even Marinette knew what she was scared of the most but being here, she knew what her weaknesses were. She still had no idea what this place was nor who manipulated this place but she did know one thing. If this was the work of one of Hawk Moth's Akumas, he was doing a great job of making her suffer. Marinette was still shaken up from the Chat Noir-Chat Blanc incident and was wondering how her fear of the skeletons of dead people in one place surpassed her fear of losing Chat Noir and her loved ones. Maybe this place was just giving her a sort of a breather before throwing something more sinister at her.

In the meantime, Solitude and Twister were standing behind their hologram showing Marinette crouched and crying into her arms. Twister laughed out loud throwing his head back and spreading his arms out wide. Solitude watched in disgust as Twister continued to laugh evilly almost mocking Solitude. Solitude lifted his hand to his face and saw that four of the five diamonds on his hand had been repaired. He knew that every time Marinette broke down, he would be healed. His skin looked less transparent.