Pawns In His Game • Marichat

Chapter Eight

"Don't bury me, don't lay me down. Don't say it's over, cause that would send me under." Under ~ Alex Hepburn

Helpful hint; don't prick yourself!

Crawling down the hole they were currently stuck in was a lot harder than it looked. Especially when Chat is carrying a ninety-something pound girl on his back while doing it. Not that Marinette was heavy or anything, but with the strain he was currently putting on his arms, it hurt like hell.

"How are ya doing down there, ya mangy cat?" It also didn't help that he kept hearing this annoying psycho's, or sociopath Chat wasn't quite sure which, voice. "Are ya hanging on?"

...And he was stealing some of his very good puns as well.

"I'm hanging on just fine, thanks for asking." Chat snickered at what he thought was a clever comeback as he gripped a pole a couple of inches below the one he was previously holding. He could practically feel Marinette rolling her eyes at him as she wound her legs tighter around his waist.

His biceps burned as he moved his other arm, slowly making his way down the seemingly bottomless pit. If he had to guess how long he's been climbing down, he'd estimate that he'd been doing this for around twenty minutes now, and only made it a few feet from where they started. The further the got into the hole, the darker it became. His night vision was beginning to go on the fritz, which concerned him more than he'd like to let on. Because if he can't see the poles, then he's just going on dumb luck, and that was something he did not have on his side. He was after all Chat Noir, and black cats are considered to be bad luck.

"Just fine?" Puzzlemaker echoed, "Oh no, that just won't do. This wouldn't be a successful test if you don't have at least some difficulty!" His tone practically oozed hysteria as his voice came to life through one of the assuming many hidden speakers. Along with the speakers must be cameras as well, seeing as he knew exactly what they were doing all the time.

"You just had to be snarky, didn't you?" Marinette muttered. Her eyes were slightly puffy and still stung from what she called her sobfest. To ease the stinging sensation, she closed them and rested her forehead at the base of Chat Noir's neck.

"Well when someone is stealing this cat's puns, I've got to defend myself." Chat fired back as he tried to increase his pace. He didn't know what the Puzzlemaker was going to do next and frankly, he didn't really want to find out. The last big surprise Puzzlemaker did ended with Marinette being electrocuted half to death and having her heart be torn into shreds.

Chat reached for one of the lower poles, barely wrapping his fingers around it before the metal was suddenly jerked inside of the wall. The sudden action cause Chat to quickly retract his gloved hand, knocking his body off balance and making him lose the grip he had on the other pole.

Wind whipped past them as the duo fell back. But instead of falling to the ground like Chat Noir thought they would, their sudden slip was jolted to an abrupt stop. Marinette's cry of pain rang in his ears.

To his right, a milky arm pressed against his cheek, delicate fingers firmly holding a pole and holding both of their weight up.

That feeling was not pleasant for Marinette. She had felt the pop in her shoulder as it dislocated itself in her attempt to keep them alive. A searing pain flared through the injury, almost blinding her as she continued with all her might to keep them upright.

"Staring at me in awe isn't helping." She gritted through clenched teeth, her chin digging sharply into the crook of Chat's neck as she tried to swallow her cries of pain. Her arm throbbed in time to the blood pulsing through her body.

Chat's hand quickly overlapped hers as he took back their weight just a in time for a new pole to shoot out of the wall in front of them. He barely had any time to react as the pole pushed closer and closer to his chest.

Hoping for the best, he let go of the poles to drop down to the lower ones, almost missing the sharp dagger-like pole. The jagged metal forced its way through his leather armor and skin, tearing his arm open before disappearing back into the wall.

"Gah!" Chat cried out as they landed on top of a wobbly pipe. Keeping their balance with his legs, he clutched his wound as an unbearable heat coursed through, blood flowing profusely out of the deep wound. Judging by the amount of blood and how deep the cut looked, Marinette figured that her beloved kitty would need stitches.

"What the hell kind of magic are you using, bastard?!" His suit wasn't supposed to get torn, it was supposed to be impossible. Plagg told him so himself. Something was seriously wrong with this situation.

The warm substance flowed through the cracks between his fingers, dripping down his bicep and sliding to his elbow before falling and splattering like paint onto the pipe they were on. A crackling laughter filled the room, the almost joyous sounds bouncing off the thick walls in the pit they were in.

"Does the type of magic I have really matter in this situation, Chat Noir? I'd just clean up my act if I were you. Unless, of course, you want yourself and our dear little Mari here to end up a blood splatter on the ground." Puzzlemaker cackled at his own joke. All around Marinette and Chat Noir the once still poles they used to crawl down the hole moved in different times, each jutting out before pulling the spikes back in before shoving it out again. Suddenly the one they were standing on decided it was time to join its friends as it retracted into the wall, leaving Marinette and Chat Noir without a ground, dropping them like rocks.

The poles speeding past them on their fall seemed to move in slow motion during the next action. Marinette's grip on Chat Noir loosened, her ankles unhooking as they slammed against a pointed pipe, effectively leaving a bruise for minutes to come. As her legs unwrapped around his torso, he reached out for her with his injured left arm, a hand encircling her wrist as his other searched for a new pole to grab.

That was when it went to hell.

He caught one of them just as it pushed its way out, and he succeeded in stopping their fall. But there was one thing that Chat didn't take into account. His numb arm was covered in slick dark blood, coating his hand as well, making it slippery to the touch. And when he stopped their fall, Marinette's slim wrist slipped through the blood, causing her to continue falling down.

"Marinette!"

"Chat!"

Y'all ready for Puzzlemaker's background in the next couple of chapters? Cause I sure as hell am!

Word Count: 1,201

Date, February 7th, 2017

Until next time, peace!