Amnesia [MARICHAT]

19

   He was trembling underneath the covers, shaken. He had never experienced such horror. Had never dreamed so harshly. He had been screaming - his voice was hoarse when he called for Plagg. 

   The kwami appeared right in front of him, whizzing out from underneath the bed. "Adrien, are you okay?" 

   "No," he answered. "How long was Natalie in here?"

   "A few hours. Your father came to see you for a few minutes, and when you wouldn't stop screaming, he left. He hasn't been back." 

   Of course. Natalie had cared - she had stayed with him. But his own father couldn't bother to wait with him? Stay by his side through the pain, even if he had no idea what he was going through? 

   Plagg spoke again. "But he looked really pale.  Maybe he just couldn't bear to see you like that?"

   Adrien shook his head. "Maybe." 

   The pain of watching her die... It was ten thousand times worse than her telling him she never wanted to see him again. She was alive when she said that - and she only told him that for their own good. She was right, he knew she was right. But they could have found a way, he could have shown her his identity. 

   Honestly, the moment Adrien had realized he wasn't in love with Ladybug and was actually in love with Marinette, he wasn't sure what to think. Yes, Ladybug had never loved him back, but he had always been so sure that someday she would. Giving up on her was hard, but he found himself thinking more and more of the girl that sat behind him in class.

   Oh, how he wished he could do it over. How he could have approached her as Adrien and never as Chat. He had wanted her to see the real him, yes, but was it worth never being together? Was it worth the trouble? 

   He could have acted as Chat as Adrien, but that would have been too obvious - and he didn't even think before he went back to see her as a superhero again and again. He was only considering how she would feel about him as the blonde boy with green eyes who had a sense of humor and made stupid puns and kissed her hand all the time.

   Marinette was so kind to him, and he soon discovered that spark of stubborness and bravery hidden within her. Once he truly got to know her, he just could not stay away. She was on his mind constantly.

   And when she had lost her memory, he went to see her as Chat. All over again.

   He was a fool. A desperate fool. 

   He understood why she had been angry. She had every right to be. She told him never to come back and he did the very first chance he could. 

   And God, did it hurt. His heart ached like there were a million bricks stacked on his chest, weighing down on him. He felt like a leaf, so fragile, carried by the wind wherever it wanted him to go. The wind was love and its destination was Marinette. 

   Plagg nuzzled his cheek, a display of affection the kwami seldom shared. 

   "What happened?" Plagg asked. "I had no idea what was wrong with you, and I couldn't go see you because there was always someone in here." 

   "I - I don't want to talk about it."

   He was beginning to see it. 

   Ladybug hadn't shown up once to a battle. 

   And at the same time, a girl with the same blue eyes had lost her memory. 

//

   Marinette screamed. 

   Her parents exploded from the doorway to the bakery, cupping her cheeks and grasping her arms. 

   "What's wrong, what's wrong" is what she heard. 

   What she could feel was nothing, nothing other than the bluntness of realization like it had slapped her across the face and called her and idiot.

   Oh, she had been an idiot. How could she not have realized? No akumas lately, that voice - 

   It must have been an akuma that had taken her memory that second time. That had stolen her life from her. And it must have been that woman - Adalene Dubois. She had been missing for six weeks. Could she be akumatized? 

   And she had come after Marinette - specifically Marinette - and she knew why. She knew the exact reason. She knew why the voice had been telling her to love Chat Noir. Why she had woken up every day knowing who he was and what he was to her but not understanding why she knew that and nothing else - 

   It must have been because Hawkmoth wanted to confirm her affection for the superhero and be able to use her as his weakness - again.

   Oh no. It was happening all over again. 

   And once she had admitted to herself that she loved him, the akuma returned her memories to her because she was of no use without them. 

   She couldn't be seen as Marinette. No one could find her as Marinette or Hawkmoth would be able to capture her again and the world would reset, preparing itself for a replay of what had happened before, except Chat Noir would be at a huge disadvantage because he didn't even know that there as an akuma at all - 

   He didn't know - 

   Marinette shoved herself through the force that was her parents, not even apologizing because that didn't matter right now, nothing mattered right now except finding this akuma and telling Chat Noir and becoming Ladybug so no one would be able to find Marinette and she couldn't be used as a hostage. 

   She shot like a bullet down the street, pushing her legs to run faster so she could escape her parents and transform. Tikki was in her purse like she always was and Marinette heard the kwami yelp as the bag bounced off her hip. 

   When she was sure she had lost her mother and father, she skidded to halt and darted into an alleyway, throwing open the latch to her bag and calling her transformation before Tikki could even say a word. 

   She was Ladybug in an instant, and a piece of urgency sheared off, filling her with some sense of relief that Marinette was safe. 

   She flew across rooftops and called Chat Noir on her yoyo. He didn't answer. It was odd. 

   Usually between four and five in the afternoon he was patrolling, but she couldn't worry about that right now. If she couldn't find him, she was going to have to get him to find her. 

   She swung towards the broadcasting studio.

   Screw it - I'm updating a day early again. I'm just so eager for you guys to see what's coming next. I feel like a reader of my own book. 

   How was this chapter? Was it good? Bad? Rushed?

   Where do you think this is going?

   And whatever you do, kids, do not, whatsoever, vote on this chapter. I'm warning you. There will be serious consequences - it will make me happy. And nobody wants that. 

SEE YOU NEXT ON 5/18/18 AT 5PM EST (seriously)