-*Your POV*-
The next day at school, you decided against confronting Marinette about bailing on you last night. You had given her her last chance, and she didn't bother to take it. Simple.
You forced down your true feelings of disappointment deep down inside as you pushed open the doors. "Psst, Y/n!" Kindle hissed from inside your bag. Having gotten used to it by now, you acted natural and walked behind one of the corners, glancing around to make sure that no one was around before opening up your bag.
"What is it, K?" You asked, eyes wide with curiosity. It'd been a while since Kindle had talked to you at school.
Kindle's tail swished softly as she stared at you. "How did it go last night?"
"Marinette bailed."
"Then what took you so long?" Kindle asked, suspicion clear in her voice. You lowered your eyes to the floor, guiltily. You had said you would take it easy and then the first shot you get you go out and interrogate the demon who built a store inside your head. Wow. Nice one, Y/n. Nice one.
"I knew it," Kindle scoffed. "You talked to her. Again! After Master Fu specifically told you not to!"
"No," you snapped. "He told me to tell someone if she came back. Talking to her is different."
You noticed Adrien walking over, but he stopped when he saw Kindle.
"What nonsense did she fill into your head this time?" Kindle sighed. You could tell she was disappointed in you, but that only made your anger worse.
"It's not nonsense, Kindle!" You cried.
Kindle shook her head, her purple eyes ablaze. "Y/n, Nightmare is a liar. Whatever she told you is most likely nothing but a flimsy sheet to cover what's truly going on. It's like a mousetrap and your the mouse. You're not playing your cards right, Y/n! I don't want you getting hurt!"
You slowly lowered your eyes back to the floor. Maybe she was right. You hadn't been listening to her lately... Maybe you should start.
......................
-*Adrien's POV*-
Later that day, I beat Y/n to her locker.
"Hey, M'Star." I smirked, leaning in to kiss her when she walked up. I felt her smile into the kiss before she parted to open her locker. I leaned against the one next to hers and watched her as she put some of her books in.
"How did it go last night?" I asked out of curiosity. I had asked the night before if we could hang out tomorrow, but she said she had to meet Marinette.
Y/n's smile slowly dripped off her lips. "Umm... She bailed." I had expected her to get upset, but that was before I realized that her voice was shaking.
"Hey..." I soothed, reaching out for her. She burrowed her head into the nape of my neck as I wrapped my arms around her. She was shaking. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I won't push you." I whispered into her hair.
Y/n in response just nuzzled her head deeper into my neck, slowly calming down in the embrace. I loved her with all my heart, and it pained me to see her hurting like this. I wished she would just tell me what I could do to help, but she was certainly not the open book type.
"I...um..." Her voice was muffled, but I heard loud and clear. "I need you to come over to my house tonight." I pulled back to smile playfully at her.
"Don't you think it's a little early for that?" I asked, raising one eyebrow in playful suspicion.
It took her a second to register what I had said. I laughed as she gasped, a smile forming on her face as she gently slapped me. "No! You little!" We laughed for another second until she stopped to smile at me. "It is too early, but that's not what I wanted to ask."
"Anything." I replied.
"I need you to come over to my house tomorrow because I think I have some new clues to solve the whole Nightmare thing." I raised my eyebrows at her. "Nightmare showed up instead of Marinette last night."
I let out a small gasp. "Y/n..."
"I really don't think she's lying this time, Adri," she insisted. "I swear, there's something brewing underneath this whole fiasco. And I think that Nightmare may be the key to it."
I took a moment to register this. "But what happens if we find out she's lying? She took over you once, she can do it again." Y/n shook her head.
"I think she might be our only chance, Adri."
"I don't know..." This whole thing seemed very faulty.
"Just come over tomorrow night and I'll tell you everything she told me." Y/n said softly, glancing at the clock. She leaned forward and planted another kiss on my lips. It wasn't expected at first, but I quickly recovered and kissed her back.
She pulled back and bit her lip, looking into my eyes. Dog, she's so beautiful...
"Y/n!" We both quickly swiveled around to see Nino running over. "Y/n! It feels like it's been ages."
"It kind of has been." Y/n said, guilt clear. "I'm so sorry I haven't talked to you in such a long time. I've been... Busy."
My expression softened. The whole Nightmare and Hawk Moth thing was even affecting her social life. "It's fine, I'm just glad I ran into you. We have the next class together, wanna walk there with me?" Nino asked.
(A/N: No, Nino doesn't have a crush on you. Right now, he's dating Alya.)
Y/n nodded and smiled, squeezing my hand before walking off to her next class with Nino.
........................
-*Your POV*-
The entire walk to class, you and Nino caught up with each other, filling the other in about everything going on. You left out the whole Luna Moon thing, though.
You missed being able to do this. Lately you had been so locked up... You never even realized how much you missed being, well, a normal girl... Before everything happened. Before you met Adrien and Marinette... NOT THAT IT'S A BAD THING!
I mean, you met the love of your life! Sure, Marinette kind of stinked, but still.
Finally, you and Nino entered your next class; art, where you just happened to be going on a field trip. Again. "I thought we went to the art gallery a week ago." You whispered to Nino.
"I thought so too." Nino answered back, and you both laughed.
....................
Once the teacher had gotten into the zone, going into unnecessary detail about a painting of a butterfly, you and Nino started up another conversation about the Miraculous Trio. "If anything, Luna Moon's my favorite." Nino said, sounding very sure of himself.
"What about Alya?"
A shocked look crossed Nino's face. "What? No! Not like that!" You laughed, slapping him on the arm.
"I was kidding, Nino." You opened your mouth to say something else when a sudden tingly feeling started up coming from your chest. Looking down, you reached your hand up to feel along your collarbone until you touched the pendant. You winced as it ignited a white hot pain as you lifted it away from your skin to see a red blotch burning into the center of your chest. You gasped. The burn was getting more severe.
"What is it, Y/n?" Nino asked, and you turned to see him staring at you with a confused expression.
"You see this don't you?" You asked, pointing to the burn.
Nino glanced down and gave you an even more confused look. "What are you talking about? There's nothing there."
"There is to!" You cried, feeling your heart speed up. "There's a burn right here." You stabbed your chest again.
"Y/n, I'm going to ask you a really serious question okay?"
"Okay."
"What color is your urine?"
It took you a moment to realize what he said. "Nino!" You cried.
Nino shrugged. "I read somewhere that if you don't drink enough water you could suffer from hallucinations."
"I'm not having hallucinations." You insisted.
"I think you are," Nino said, pointing at your chest. "Because I don't see anything on your chest."
.......................
Ooh, PLOT TWIST! Or you could just not be drinking enough water.
Anyways, I'm still getting back into the whole thang here, so the updates are unpredictable. And if you're one who's reading some of my other stories along with this one, updates are unpredictable as well. I'm working on different projects right now so updates are... Well, unknown.
And another thing... THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT SO I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU LISTEN: I've come down with a disorder, I'm not exactly sure what it is but I do know that I have some version of it. Its one of the most common symptoms of, well, major... Depression.
It basically means that I can't feel sentiment.
Meaning EMOTION.
I'll try to explain. So... You get how your heart starts beating really fast when you're around your crush or that super psyched feeling you get? Well... I can't feel that anymore. It's just numb. Inside.
You may be thinking; so what what does this have to do with your book? Well, I'll tell you what it has to do with it.
If I can't feel any emotion, then that also means I can't feel things like inspiration or MOTIVATION.
So... Yeah... I lost my motivation. Oh, and for those of you out there who think I'm just looking for attention, I actually do have this disorder, and it's incredibly serious so I would suggest rechecking your sources before you post.
But this also means that my updates may not be regular. But this book will be finished. And there will most likely be a sequel. It's just... It's very hard to write when you don't feel any motivation.
Like, I have no reason to be writing right now. But I am. I'm doing this for you. And for myself.
Here's the Chapterly Quotes:
So me. One hundred percent.
Love you,
Danalpswolf 🦄