Miraculous Games

Chapter Thirty-One

(A/N: This was written at 2am in the morning. If it has a lot of mistakes, please know that I was half asleep when I wrote this. Edits will be made later on, most likely.)

Chapter Thirty-One:

Marinette winced and grit her teeth as the elevator came to a lurching stop. Adrien's grip on her tightened and she couldn't help but catch the worried look that was glanced her way. Juleka was on helping her on the other side, stepping out into the hallway. Behind them, Master Fu watched them with an air of... something. It was hard to place. It was either pride, disappointment, or a mix of both.

She couldn't believe any of this real. She was standing in Adrien's arms with her designer on her right and her Miraculous Games trainer strolling behind her. None of it made any sense. She was still trying to put the pieces together that Chat equaled Adrien.

Chat = Adrien.

First off, how had she been so oblivious? She had literally stared at photos of Adrien for hours at a time, and yet, she couldn't tell who he was because of a mask. That was plain depressing, right there.

But why hadn't Chat told her that he was Adrien, the boy she had been secretly in love with and the boy she had risked her life for? Was it because he wanted to make it a surprise? Or so he could hide in the arena? And, most importantly, did he actually like her, or was that just to please the public?

Her head couldn't keep up with all of the crazy thoughts. It started to pound painfully. Grimacing, Marinette closed her eyes and dipped her head. She would just have to accept it, Adrien had helped her survive the games. Ironically, she wasn't surprised. Just mildly taken aback that he would do that for her. They had only talked for a maximum of ten minutes before she had been thrown into the arena. How did he know that he wanted to protect her? Had he randomly chosen?

Her head pounded again. Reminding herself that she had to stop overthinking things, Marinette sighed and opened her eyes. They had walked down the hallway a ways and were about to enter the main training room. Her heart rate picked up speed.

Oh no. The other Charms. What would they say? What if they hated her? What if they started to attack her? She had already struggled with going down a ladder without hinting to Adrien that she was in severe pain. She knew that she couldn't fight off any hostile Charms without blacking out.

Adrien squeezed her shoulder and she turned to look up at him. He was smiling at her.

"It'll be okay," he assured. "I won't let any of them hurt you."

His words relaxed her. How did he know what she was thinking about? Had she made her concerns to obvious?

Juleka gave Adrien all of Marinette's weight and reached forward to take the door handle. Marinette held her breath. Juleka swung the door open and a rush of cold air blew over them.

"Ladybug!" someone shouted.

Marinette turned toward the voice only to see Rose jumping on her tiptoes in excitement. Everyone in the room turned. It was everyone Marinette had faced and more. Kim, Alix, Sabrina, and Max were sitting on the wrestling mat. It appeared as though Kim had been showing off his muscles before he had been rudely interrupted. Mylene and Ivan were close to them, their arms wrapped around each other like they had been enjoying some much-needed cuddle time. Lila and Felix were at the far end of the room, glaring at Marinette. It didn't help that they were both holding throwing knives in their hands. Aurora, the evil ice queen herself, appeared to have been in the middle of a conversation when they had walked in.

Marinette could feel every single eye zeroed in on her. She shuffled from foot to foot nervously before raising a hand.

"H-hi?"