Alone

Chapter 15

Twister watched as Marinette stood in front of Carapace's prison. She seemed confident despite the many injuries she was suffering from. He watched as Marinette felt her pockets for the keys. Marinette's confidence was unnerving Twister. He hadn't expected her to survive her first trial and here she was, ready to carry on to her next ordeal.

Twister glanced behind him at Solitude. The other supervillain seemed to have become more solid and less transparent but Twister knew that deep inside, Solitude was still Adrien. Twister had already accepted his fate as a supervillain while the Luka side of him had withered and died under the power of Hawk Moth's spell. But now, Twister and Solitude were supervillains running rogue.

Solitude stood to the side of the room they were in, behind Twister. He didn't want to be a part of Twister's twisted crimes but he did want to interfere with his plans. Solitude knew that Twister was very alert of his surroundings and was keeping a close eye on him. Yet, Solitude wanted to help Marinette. He wanted to do anything other than staying in solitude. But he knew that Twister now had complete control over Solitude's powers and the dimension he had created. There was no escape for Solitude unless he wanted to end up trapped in his own trap. Solitude was fully aware that Twister could easily outsmart him and that he would turn every situation against him.

Solitude's head snapped up when he saw movement on the hologram screen. Marinette had been sucked into the portal but something was different. Twister was smirking at the screen and Carapace's prison that should be pulsing with green light was now giving off a bright yellow light. Colours seemed to be shifting within the vortex as Solitude watched Marinette pass through the tear in space.

"You did not." Growled Solitude facing Twister, realization finally dawning on him.

"Yes, I did." Smirked Twister glancing at Solitude, a smug smile on his face.

"It's Queen Bee's turn." Smiled Twister brandishing his staff and planting it on the solid ground with a defiant thud.

Marinette had taken out the bronze key glowing in orange light. She had carefully inserted the key into the gap in the cage that behaved as the keyhole but she had observed the change of colour of the key. It had been just a split second before the key had dissolved but Marinette could have sworn that the key had glowed a bright yellow colour. Before Marinette could question the matter, the enclosure opened up and just like before, she had been absorbed into the whirlpool without being given the chance to brace herself.

Marinette could feel that her journey to the next dimension was rough. She was thrown around several times and lights of different colours seemed to flash within the portal. Her journey was bumpy as if she had deviated from her original path to a more violent trail.

Even though there was a powerful hold on Marinette, she stumbled inside the vortex and landed on solid. Her legs collapsed under her, suddenly not able to support her weight. Marinette breathed heavily, firmly planting her palms on the ground. The ground, despite being solid, felt almost powdery under Marinette's fingers. She scooped a fistful of the substance and watched the sand trickle onto the ground through her clenched hand.

She finally took the time to let her eyes get used to the dim light in the room she was in. The dully coloured walls, the fading tapestries on those walls, the cracks in the ceiling that seemed to be the only light source to the room, and the white-tiled floors dusted with sand that was now stained with Marinette's blood. She let all that sink in. She didn't dare get up from her place on the floor, nor did she dare to make an effort to smooth down her messy hair. She would have stopped breathing altogether if she could. This room appeared to be holding its breath, waiting till the right moment to exhale and to blow Marinette away into oblivion. This room made her anxious, the lack of colour in the room suffocated her and the feeling of being alone killed her.