Miraculous Ladybug: Destiny [UNDER SERIOUS EDITING]

30 • Marinette (UNEDITED)

As soon as I stumbled out of my groggy state, I knew that I had to transform.
But Tikki was nowhere to be found.
Chat was holding the akuma with his claws. That much, I knew.
"Mari—"
"Marinette! Are you all right girl?"
It was Alya.
Chatnoir glanced at me wearily, but then shuffled to the side.
Alya rushed over and immediately hugged me.
I realised that people were now whispering.
I looked at Chatnoir and I could tell that he had almost forgotten about all the pairs of eyes still watching us.
Alya was now fussing over me, checking for bruises or any other kind of harm done, but I tuned her out, only hearing half of what she was saying, because chat was mouthing at me.
Behind the bakery, we need to talk. He mouthed.
I nodded dumbly, not really realising that the bakery he was mentioning was actually the exact same store that I lived at.

I curled up on the window seat, crossing my legs and leaning on them with my arms.
Adrien was on the other side of my room, sitting gingerly on the edge of my chair, hair slightly ruffled from the many times he had run his hand over it.
I had invited him over inside since I knew my parents were always out from between 11am to 1pm on Thursdays, when I'm usually in school, but since the akuma attacked...
Okay, it was my idea to skip school, but it was for a good cause.
Right?
Wait. Adrien is in my room.
My eyes widened as I shot a panicked check of those clips of Adrien strung about my entire room.
Check.
Still there.
Uugh...
I met his eyes from across the room.
I had a spark of hope.
Maybe he hasn't seen them yet?
"Nice pics." He shot a smirk at me.
Great.
I blushed like mad.
"Uh.... Thanks?"
"It's flattering to know how much my princess adores me."
Double great.
"So?..." I said, nervously tucking my hair behind my ears.
"Interesting pick of wallpaper."
"Huh?" I was generally confused.
He nodded at the computer behind him.
I blushed harder than ever.
"Uh..gah—er—wha—what wallpaper? I don't—"
He reached over and nudged the mouse.
The edit that I made for my desktop wallpaper flashed up—it was the one with a couple shots of Adrien, of course, clipped from pictures online, cropped then framed with a heart shaped line. Horizontally laid out with a bright pink background.
I gasped, the covered my face with my hands in shame at my obsession.
Peeking out from underneath my fingers, I glared at him.
"J-just... Drop the subject... Please?"
His grin was as wide as a Cheshire Cat.
"What happened to Alya?" He asked, an amused glint still in his eye.
"I practically had to lug her off me. She wouldn't stop fussing over me like an overly protective mum." Now that the embarrassment was avoided, I could feel my cheeks cooling back down.
He nodded, then reached over the table and grabbed a glass jam jar that he had put the akuma in for safety.
"What are we going to do about this?"
The sight of the black and purple streaked butterfly brings a sharp pain to my chest.
I wince. Tikki was still missing, and I was worried about unimportant matters when I should have been looking at the real problem in front of me.
Adrien takes in my reaction. He frowns.
"Are you okay?"
I lift my head up.
He stands up with the jar, then walks over to me, sitting down next to me.
"What do you think?" I mumble.
He takes a hand and strokes it across my cheek. Warm sparks erupt from his touch and send a strangely satisfying shiver down my spine.
"Cold?" He asks.
I shake my head numbly, not being able to think straight with his sudden closeness.
"Look, I know, Tikki is missing, but you have to put your worrying aside for the moment and make sure you're thinking straight. Because if you're not, then that will only get us further and further from finding her. It's what Tikki would want, I'm sure."
I stiffen and straighten up as he starts talking about my kwami.
He's right, I'm not thinking straight.
I look at him in the eye.
"It's time for a visit with Cassandra."

OMG, I'm sooooooo soorrrryyyy!!!!!!! Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry so sorry! 😣😣😣😣😔😔😔😔 I feel so bad for not updating in like... Okay, only a week and a half, but still! Super sorry for the late update, I wanted to try doing a triple update, get three chapters up, but my sucky time management didn't get me anywhere with that, so yeah.
HL🐞