Chapter Twenty-One:

Marinette yawned, stumbling along through the underbrush. Her eyes kept closing and going blurry on her, which didn't help. The fatigue from the previous night was still taking a toll on her body. Before she could sleep, her and Nathanael still needed to find this tree that Chat had mentioned.

Her stomach rumbled at just the thought of it. Fox had eaten the last bit of their food, by her insisting, of course, but that didn't mean she wasn't hungry. To distract herself, she had let her mind wander. No matter how hard she tried, her mind kept going back to one thing: Chat.

She couldn't believe she had kissed him. Ladybug, the number one charm (she hoped), had kissed her protector charm. Was that a good thing? She was still working on that part. However, no matter how good she felt about it, guilt kept creeping into her heart.

Even without speaking - since they hadn't the entire morning - Marinette knew that Fox was upset. Trying to get some sleep after Chat had kissed her had been challenging, and pretty much impossible. So, for the rest of the time, she had laid next to Nathanael. Maybe it was because she didn't snuggle as close as she usually did, or maybe it was because she could hear his unbalanced breathing. Either way, Fox was upset, and Marinette had a pretty educated guess as to what it was.

He must have seen something. Whether it had been the kiss itself or just their hugging, she didn't know. Then again, questioning him might be the wrong course of action. Should she allude to it and avoid conflict that way, or just stay quiet?

Honestly, they had been staying quiet for far too long. It was time to break the ice somehow.

Clearing her throat, Marinette tried to get Nathanael's attention.

"So, do you know where we're going?"

He was quiet for a moment, before muttering bitterly, "No."

She lowered her head. "Oh, wonderful..."

The silence fell back into place. It was starting to annoy her. She had been pretty open about what was going on in the arena, well... most of it, anyways.

"Look, Nathan," she started, "I know that something is bothering you, and you can't hide it forever. What's wrong?"

He stopped in his tracks, almost having her run into him, and turned. His red hair was disheveled, not unlike her own, but the way it hung across his forehead and over his eyes made him appear wild. His sea-foam green eyes flashed angrily.

"What's wrong? You sure as heck know what's wrong!" He stepped forward, his timid side starting to fade away. Marinette finally saw the Charm that had taken out Felix all on his own. "I thought we were partners, I thought we had something going for us, and yet..." He scowled at her, "you kissed him."

Marinette's blood froze. He had seen what had happened. Biting her lip, she looked down.

"Nathanael, I'm so sorry... Things happened, we were both relieved, and-"

"I don't want to hear your stupid excuses. You kissed him, I saw it with my own two eyes. I saw the fight, I saw Lila betray us. I'm not an idiot, Ladybug. I know how to look after myself, and I'm starting to think that it's not with you."

Ladybug's mind began to race. No, they couldn't get separated! She needed Fox, he was the one holding her together in the arena. If he wasn't there, she might as well have gone insane or given up. He helped her keep going. Sure, she could probably defeat a couple more Charms, but not on her own. Chat was only here at night. Obviously, she wasn't scared of what could happen, she just...

Marinette bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Fox... I didn't mean to hurt you. Is there anything I can do?"

He sighed, turning away and running his fingers through his hair. "I don't know, Marinette. I don't know..."

She nodded. "I can understand that you're mad, you have every right to be. You and I are partners in this game, and I shouldn't have kept information from you, even if it was about one of our teammates. But we can't fight like this. We need to stick together if we're going to get out of here. Besides, it was your idea in the first place."

Nathanael was quiet for a few minutes, trying to root her words into his mind. Eventually, he let out a frustrated breath.

"Fine, you're right. We're in this together. Just..." he bit his lip, then shook his head as if deciding not to say what he had planned to. He gestured with his hand. "Come on, we need to find the tree Chat mentioned."

Marinette nodded, following behind him like an obedient dog. First rule of survival: the less fights, the better.

The pair continued to walk. The arena had been pretty quiet today, or so they could tell. Ladybug didn't see any animals scampering through the bushes or hear any crickets the night before. She couldn't tell if she should be concerned about that or not. This wasn't the real world, after all.

Thinking about this made her mind trail off, not to Chat like she was expecting, though. But to home. Home...

Closing her eyes, Marinette could almost see the pink cupboards and smell the fresh bread wafting up the stairs from the bakery. She had been waking up to the smell of dirt and leaves for the past few days that the smell of her home felt so comforting. The soft couches in the front room, the counter where she had spilled multiple cups of milk, the stairwell up to her room...

Oh, how she missed her room. She missed her sketchbook full of designs and sketches. She wanted to feel the cloth under her fingers, and, because she was so desperate, the prick of pins piercing her skin. She wanted that life back, the life of being late to school, coming home to the smell of bread, and the late nights of designing. Now that she was in the games, would she be able to have that again?

If she returned to school, the other students would flock to her, most likely bombarding her with questions of what the Capital was like. She would have the reputation of being in the games itself, and that would cause problems. She would no longer be normal.

Wait. What if Nathanael came back with her? What if they both lost?

Oh no...

Marinette slowed her walk, lifting a healing hand to run through her smoldered hair. She would have to keep up the relationship, if anything! She hadn't thought about it before, but now that she was thinking past the games... She could get married to him. If she didn't, everyone would think she was a player.

Was she a player? Could a girl be considered a player? Was loving Chat and pretending to love Nathanael considered playing? And what if Nathanael won? Would she have to keep up the relationship then, too?

Hold on, what if she won?

She stopped walking. What would happen to Chat? What about Adrien? How did he feel about the situation? Would Nathanael be sent home? Would he be heartbroken? Did he actually like her? What if Adrien started to like her, too? Then, what about Chat? Could she handle three guys at once???

"Ladybug?" Fox called.

Marinette snapped out her trance. Nathanael stood a good twenty feet away from her, watching at her with concern. As she looked at him, she realized something: she didn't have to sort this all out now. She was being hunted down by Charms who could kill her if they wanted to. The problems would all work out eventually, or so she hoped.

"Are you okay?" Nathanael asked, tone laced with worry.

"S-sorry," she stuttered, shaking her head in order to bring herself back into reality. "I-I was just thinking."

"You sure? You don't need to rest? We've been traveling almost all morning."

She bit her lip, then shook her head. "No, I'm alright..."

Fox looked her up and down, then sighed and softened his expression. He cast his gaze down toward the ground and made his way back to her. Marinette flicked her gaze up at him, unsure what was going on. He stopped in front of her, then, with a tentative hand, laced his fingers with hers.

"Marinette, I'm sorry. I've been pushing you too hard."

Widening her eyes, she shook her head. "Oh, no no! You're okay. I was just thinking about..." She trailed off, her expression turning sad. "Nathanael, have you thought about what's going to happen after we get out of here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, a little bit..."

Marinette didn't respond, waiting for him to continue.

Fox sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Marinette, I don't know what's going to happen when this is all over, though I doubt things were going to go back to the way they were. We might go home to our parents, we might be separated from one another, or we have the possibility of dying." He paused, though it didn't comfort Ladybug one bit. He continued, "I don't want to lose you, Marinette. You've been the truest friend I have ever had and I honestly don't know what I would do without you by my side. However... if you, someone else, or I do win this, I want you to know that I will always support you, no matter what."

Marinette nodded with understanding, her eyes pricking with tears. She couldn't cry. She had to stay strong. "Thank you, Nathanael. That means a lot to me."

He opened his mouth to say something, but there was a loud boom of thunder. Both of the Charms looked up with surprise. They hadn't noticed before, but the sky had clouded over, the blue sky disappearing behind grey thunderclouds.

"We should probably find somewhere to take shelter from the storm," Fox offered.

"Yeah, I agree. I doubt we'll be able to find any materials to build a shelter out of, so let's see if we can find another cave."

He nodded. "Sounds like plan." Glancing down at her slowly-healing burns, his expression softened. "And don't push yourself too hard."

The two of them set off through the forest, searching for any caves or boulders. Sadly, they found none. The scoured the forest floor for anything they could use to build a shelter, but other than leaves the size of their palms or weed-like bushes, they found nothing. An hour passed, then two, before it started to pour. It had started out as a light sprinkle, which hadn't bothered the duo much, but it quickly turned into pounding sheets. The two Charms stumbled through the trees, getting doused from head-to-toe.

Marinette held her arm over her face so she could see through the pouring rain. She squinted, looking for anything they could use. After searching for hours, despair had started to take root, until something in the distance caught her eye. Curious, she quickly jumped over logs and past pushes to investigate.

As she got closer, the small hope inside of her started to grow. Her eyes widened and she broke into a grin. She turned and cupped her hands around her mouth as she called, "Fox, I found a cave!"

"Awesome! Let's get inside before the storm gets worse!"

The two of them sprinted for the entrance. With mud-caked shoes, they slid into the cave dripping wet. They looked at each other, then started to bust up. Despite everything that was going on, they both had to admit that they looked totally ridiculous. Marinette's bangs stuck to her forehead, her pigtails as limp as an overcooked noodle. Nathanael's clothes were soaked, hanging off of him like weights. As they both laughed, something snapped behind them. Marinette froze, her smile fading.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered.

Fox's smile had faded too, and he nodded.

Then, they heard the sound of metal being unsheathed.

"Move, and you're dead." 

---

Hey guys, I wanted to apologize for such a short chapter. It's been really crazy around here, what with Halloween, first term ending, and NaNoWriMo starting tomorrow. 

That reminds me. If any of you are interested in my writing style, please check out my Short Stories book on this account or my Soul Mate Trilogy on Skye-Kingston, the original stories account that I run. 

And, hey! Happy Halloween! 

I love this time of year. It makes everything worth it, just saying. 

Updates for this book may be few and far between this next month, due to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I'll be working SUPER hard on my trilogy's final book, which is super fun. I'm really excited to get to work on it. 

Don't worry, though. I have up to 3 more chapters planned out, I just need to write them. I'm so excited to get to the real meat of this story! I can tell you right now, CRAP IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN! Stay tuned!

Before I go, I want to thank you guys so so so much. In little over a week, Miraculous Games DOUBLED in its reads! It went from 1.7k to 3.4K! How crazy is that??? Thank you thank you thank you for all the support! I literally cannot express how much it means to me. Like, I'll be sitting in my math class doing boring homework (crap I forgot to do that), and the next thing I know, my phone buzzes and I have an amazing comment from one of you guys. It really REALLY brightens up my day, and I can't give you guys enough love. 

I do, however (being the little sneak that I am), want to call out my favorite comment: 

By MissMarinette213:

Please update! This is an amazing book and writer like you with that type of skill is what I want to be one day. Keep writing. No matter what, I'll be reading.

Don't forget to leave a vote and comment below! Who knows, maybe your comment will be featured next chapter. 

And, as always, have a miraculous (halloween) day!