Venom: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Marinette-Chapter 31

As they crouched in the shadows outside the walls of the Agreste manor, Marinette watched Adrien carefully. She could feel the anger seething around him like a physical thing, but she wasn't sure there was anything she could do to make it better. Adrien had needed to know, she just hated that she had been the one who had to tell him. Reaching out, she touched his arm gently, causing him to visibly flinch.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, gazing up at Adrien pleadingly. "I'm so sorry about your father."

Adrien shook his head, not looking at her. "It's not your fault. It's mine."

"You had no way of knowing," Marinette protested, trying her best to defend Adrien from himself. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Adrien, please. You did what you had to—your father wouldn't have thought twice about killing you."

There was a tense silence between them that Marinette longed to break, but she knew if she spoke too soon, she risked upsetting Adrien again. Better to let him speak first.

The silence grew and billowed around them as the minutes inched by. The hairs on the back of Marinette's neck prickled with nervous anticipation. This had to work. It had to.

"This is my fault," Adrien mumbled, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the pavement. "If I hadn't paralyzed my father, we wouldn't be trying to defeat Alyssa."

Marinette shook her head, touching his arm again placatingly. "You don't know that. Your father wouldn't have stopped trying until he had our Miraculouses. Who knows what might have happened? You can't let the past overcome you, Adrien."

Adrien hesitated for a while, gazing into space. Marinette wondered what he was thinking, how he must be feeling. It hurt her to see him hurting.

After several long minutes, Adrien took a steadying breath and plunged in. "He was never the same after Mom died. At first, I thought he couldn't stand to be around me because I reminded him of her, but now I realize he let the grief consume him. He would have done anything to get her back, including resorting to an ancient power he didn't fully understand."

Nodding, Marinette reached down and gave Adrien's hand a squeeze. Adrien looked up at her at last, his eyes bright with tears. He looked so vulnerable, so fearful, she didn't know what to say.

"Am I like him?"

Marinette's heart pinched as she pulled Adrien toward her, brushing his cheek with a kiss. "No! You're not like him at all. Why would you say that?"

"Marinette," Adrien sighed. "Your powers create and heal. Mine only destroy."

Shaking her head, Marinette replied, "We balance each other. You've never used your powers to hurt someone. You've only ever used them to protect someone. Besides, without you, I'd never be able to destroy some of the objects holding the akumas."

Shrugging off her comment, Adrien released Plagg from inside his jacket.

"You remember what you have to do, right?"

"Duh," Plagg rolled his eyes. "You only told me a hundred times. I go in there, I steal the cheese..."

"Miraculous!" both Marinette and Adrien corrected him at the same time, causing a smile to form on the kwami's face.

"I'm just messing with you. Relax."

Adrien's lips quirked as though he was about to smile but then changed his mind and shook his head.