Red And Black [AU] - ON HIATUS

Anonymous

Marinette's POV

I stared at the frost condensing and forming on the glass panes of my asylum window, making the city I grew up in - Paris - unrecognizable.

It's odd how people grow and change just like everything else; even the most innocent child can turn corrupt and shift to the dark side, a fact of life we can't just outrun. People - just like everything else in the universe - are two sides of the same coin, comprising of two completely different set of moral values and world views on each flip-side; one that sees the realm around as a vivid world of love and hope, and the other, understanding that it's a lifeless land of rotten dreams and walking shadows. And once they've opened up their eyes to the harsh reality, avarice and resentment then takes charge of the reigns and steers their life into a downwards spiral of shattered spirits and disappointing revelations. I too, much like the other pure children of the world, was once able to find eunoia in the most excruciatingly painful scenarios or the most mundane of insipid days and nights. But sooner or later, the demons of the world caught up to me and revealed to me the truth about all that I held dear; that it was all a mere lie.

As my glance fell from the empty open road to the oak tree nearby, a wave of memories long forgotten - that had been exiled to the deserted corners of my mind - came rushing back.

*Flashback*

I remembered playing under an oak tree like that as a child...with one of my best friends, Adrien. After all the time that has gone by, I had come to forget his last name; and though I tried to forget everything else about him, his memory would forever remain emblazoned in my mind.

"Marinette, Marinette!" He came running to her one day. His face was flushed as he panted, beads of perspiration dripping from his forehead; although after being his best friend for quite some time, she could tell that his pale appearance wasn't caused by his breathlessness.

"Adrien! Are you okay?!" She inquired worriedly, anxious that something morbid migh've happened to him on the journey to their usual hangout. Marinette eyed his disheveled look with rising concern, she couldn't stand to see him like this - a tinge of misery lacing his normally kindhearted complexion -; and whenever he fell into an abyss of never-ending sorrow, she would always be there with him to witness his heartbreaking condition.

"I-I..." He struggled to catch his breath, his vision blurring as his emerald orbs darted back and forth from the ground to the girl before him.

"Here," The little bluenette said, gesturing for him to sit down next to her.

"I-I can't..."

"Why not?"

"Because...you'll hate me..." He whispered, a tint of dread coating his words.

"What?" She furrowed. Instead of asking him what he said because she couldn't bring herself to believe the words that escaped his lips, she asked him because she truly didn't hear what he'd just said.

"You'll hate me," He said - much clearer this time - as he forced his eyes shut.

Marinette was confused. This was her best friend, the one person besides her parents that she'd trusted more than anyone in the whole world. What on Earth could he possibly have done to assume that she would hate him?

She gave him her usual 'what do you mean?' look - that comprised of her signature cocked eyebrow and childish furrow -, causing him to only shut his eyes tighter; covering up his shame and sorrow with his small hands.

"I'm moving away," He blurted as fast as he could, tears cascading down his cheeks. He put his head in his hands and braced himself; expecting a punch, a kick, or a scream of frustration from her. But instead, he felt two hands engulf him a warm embrace.