Amnesia [MARICHAT]

19

   When Marinette went back to school after lunch break, she was still pondering over the akuma attacks.

   There had only been two after her accident - the one Chat Noir had to fight alone, and Chemicals. But none since then. 

   And that reminded her, she still had to purify the akuma Chat had trapped. He said he was keeping it in a jar. But now... It was probably dead. It was a butterfly, after all. 

   She didn't want to see Chat Noir, anyway. 

   But why - why the lack of akumas lately? There were usually about three a week, but there was a silence on Hawkmoth's part that Marinette was beginning to notice. And it was scaring her. Could he be planning something? Or was he finally sick of trying to get their miraculouses? The former seemed more likely.

   A poster on her bakery's window caught her attention. 

ADALENE DUBOIS

MISSING

   Oh. 

   Oh. 

   Oh no. 

   Tikki laughed. "Chat Noir is loyal, kind, respectable, and he would give his life for a civilian - which is a trait you don't find in people very often. He's an amazing person, and it's not a bad thing to love him. I think you should just see what happens, Marinette, and really decide for yourself if that's how you feel."

   "But isn't it dangerous to love him, with the mask and all? How could that ever work?"

   "We'll see," Tikki smiled. "Anything is possible."

   Well, that was certainly mysterious. "Why do you think this happened? There's no medical reason for it - and there's always a medical reason for this kind of stuff. Right?"

   "Yes," said her kwami. "It doesn't make any sense. Maybe it has to do with your miraculous?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "Well, you remembered certain things, and they were only about your miraculous. So maybe -" She gasped, suddenly, startling Marinette. "Maybe your miraculous resisted a -"

   An akuma. 

   Maybe her miraculous had resisted an akuma. 

   Marinette screamed. 

//

   Adrien Agreste bolted upright in his bed. 

   He blinked and swallowed - discovering his throat burned. He had been screaming. His vision was blurry, but began to clear as he looked around his room.

   Natalie - Natalie was sitting in a chair beside his bed, looking at him wearily. "Are you," she said softly, "are you awake?"

   "Yes," he answered, wondering where in the hell Plagg was if Natalie had been sitting here all this time. 

   "I see," she said, standing up abruptly. "I'll go, then."

   She hurried out the door so fast, Adrien wasn't sure if she had ever been there in the first place. He sat up, his head spinning circles around him. Groaning, he pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling the sweat that had pooled there.

   A glance at his clock told him it was almost four in the afternoon. 

   The nightmares - the terror - they had vanished. As if they had blown away on a breeze. All he could think about was Marinette, Marinette, Marinette and her death that had replayed over and over again in so many different ways he was sure he couldn't recall them all. He remembered the one he had seen a few weeks ago, when he could've sworn she had fallen off the roof right in front of him - and then appeared unharmed on the ground, taking a stroll. He had seen that again, too.