Merman (Miraculous Ladybug AU)

Chapter 8

How could he? Why would he care so much? The only time his own father cared about what he was doing was when Adrien shouted at him, and only a little. For the first time in nearly fifteen years, Adrien had lost control of his emotions and now Marinette was going to die because of it.

He cursed himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why didn't he think everything through before he helped Marinette? Why did he think bringing her down to the only place in the world humans were banned instead of just swimming her to another continent, even an island?

Because this was his fault, Adrien had to rescue her. He locked the door to his bedroom, hoping to slow down anyone his father would send to check on him and waited a few moments to compose himself.

Adrien whirled around and tried to open the window, though somehow it had gotten stuck and Adrien couldn't open it. Either one of the guards had done something when they were searching his room, or he had slammed it so hard himself it refused to move. Cursing, Adrien balled his hand into a fist and smashed the window open. It shattered immediately, pieces of glass piercing his skin and the rest falling towards the sandy sea floor.

'I have to move quickly; a guard will have heard the noise. They'll be here soon.' With that thought, Adrien propelled himself out the window and into the yard behind it.

Instead of heading straight to the dungeons where Marinette would be, Adrien headed to the nearest manhole cover. His only real chance of breaking Marinette out of the dungeon would be if he had at least one Miraculous. Otherwise, he would have no chance against the guards that would be put around the 'dangerous' human in case she tried to escape.

The abandoned sewers used to be somewhere Adrien wished he could be all the time, away from the expectations and his father. Unfortunately, now they were less of an escape and more of a last chance to save Marinette. He would find the Guardian of the Miraculous from the tales, and he would get a Miraculous.

When Marinette was safe on land again, he would probably have to leave forever. One final betrayal would push Gabriel over the edge, and he would keep Adrien locked away like a princess in a tower. No one should have to live that life and it was finally time he got some freedom, away from the palace.

Even though he had never ventured this far into the sewers before, Adrien knew where he was going, as if something was pulling him along, leading him somewhere deep in the sewer system.

After nearly ten minutes of constant swimming the sewers changed from the slightly cleaner, lighter sewers to something that looked like an abandoned tunnel system. It was clear that this place wasn't somewhere people just happened to stumble, it was somewhere you had to be shown.

At the end of the last tunnel there was a door. It was falling apart and looked like someone had rushed to prop it back up in its place. Nevertheless, it was a door and it must lead somewhere.

The instant Adrien touched the door it let out an eerie squeak that echoed off every surface near him. Adrien spun around, making sure on one had heard the sound, if anyone was following him at all. Even though it was ridiculously unlikely, paranoia flooded Adrien. If his father found out about this, his life would be over.

Even though he thought no one was around, the door opened in front of Adrien and he saw an old man with a cane. He was hunched over, leaning heavily on the cane. "Ah, Adrien Agreste, I've been expecting you. Please, come in."

Adrien followed the old man inside. From the inside, it looked like the inside of this room would be dingy and run-down, but everything was clean, no algae anywhere.

The room opened to reveal an even larger room with a large mat attached to the centre of the floor and different drawers around the room. On one wall there was a large tapestry, and on the opposite of the room there was a gramophone sitting on a side table.