Six Months Later
Marinette sits down in her usual spot for Ms. Bustier's class; the seat in front of her empty. She stares at it with her typical wandering thoughts and daydreams, but everything always leads back to that one fateful week that still sends shivers down her spine. She tries to shut off her brain until the lesson starts.
Since she returned home, everybody has treated Marinette kind of like a baby bird, as if something they say or do could break her fragile bones. They're not completely far from the truth: even though her body was healed by the Miraculous Wish, it didn't heal her mind, and she still has vivid flashbacks and panic attacks at times. In a way, she appreciates Chloé for never treating her any differently. It's business as usual in her mind.
"Hey, girl," Alya takes the seat next to Marinette, "How's it going this morning?" She gestures towards her head.
"It's, um, alright. No nightmares during the night, which was good."
"I should think not." Alya gives her a smirk.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh don't act-"
"Okay class, please take your seats!" Ms. Bustier announces.
Marinette looks at the empty seat in front of her again and Alya puts her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Roll call! Agreste, Ad-"
"HERE!" Adrien comes busting through the door of the classroom, "Sorry I'm late, I was doing... stuff."
Alya leans over to Marinette and whispers, "Is 'Stuff' your nickname?" Which earns her a firm smack on the shoulder.
"That's okay, Adrien," Ms. Bustier says, "Just don't come barging in next time. Please take your seat."
He jogs over to his spot and gives Marinette a wink before turning around and sitting down.
She immediately pulls her phone from her purse and texts him under the table.
Marinette
You didn't have to stay that far behind. Was there an akuma on the way that I didn't know about?
She hears a small ping from Adrien's phone and he quietly takes it out of his bag.
Adrien
Not quite. Unless you count irreparable bedhead as a super villain.
Marinette giggles.
Marinette
Well, the view isn't too bad from back here. 😉
"Dupain-Cheng, Marinette?" Ms. Bustier calls.
"Here!"
Adrien
Thanks, I just did squats yesterday. 😏
Marinette
Shut up. You know what I meant.
She shuts off her phone for the time being and tries to focus on the lesson, but it's hard to while being reminded about all that happened the previous night.
~ ~ ~
Yesterday
"Pound it!" The two superheroes bump fists after another successful day.
It's been a few months since Adrien finally got back on his feet, as he wasn't lucky enough to have the same type of recovery as Marinette did. (That meant Marinette coming to physical therapy appointments every week for moral support.) The process was slow, but they got through it together, just like they did everything else.
After Adrien's father's death, Nooroo unfortunately only had a few days of normalcy before he and his Miraculous both went missing again and akumas started popping up in Paris like before. The assumption is that someone had stolen it right out from under Adrien's (broken) nose, leaving Ladybug to fight the akumas solo for awhile. Ladybug and Chat Noir still have yet to find out who the mystery person is.
"So," Chat Noir starts as they make their way back to Marinette's house, "I have a theory."
Ladybug only hums in reply.
"I think that Hawk Moth is actually Drury Walker."
"Drury Walker?" She pulls out her yo-yo and searches the name before sighing at the single result, "You mean the Batman villain? I have a feeling you might be wrong."
"His name is literally Killer Moth, what other proof do you want?" He laughs at himself.
"Well, for one, he has to be a real person, which he's not... so."
"You're no fun." He nudges her shoulder with his.
"I'm plenty of fun when we're not talking about a super villain who is much more creative than your dad ever was."
"To be more creative than a fashion designer you've gotta have some charisma." Chat points out.
Ladybug falls silent, deep in thought until Chat takes her hand in his, "You know, I love these little walks together, not having to worry about changing back and everything."
She looks at him from the side of her eye and sees he's looking at her like that again, "You know," Ladybug jokes, "It's ironic that you have a puppy dog look when you're called Chat Noir..."
"Only for you, My Lady," He winks, "Don't let that get out to the tabloids, though, my cat-like reputation would be mew-ind."
She lets his terrible pun pass, "Well, it's not like they'll notice it themselves, they haven't even figured out we're dating yet."
"Odd, since my flirting has only gotten better. Also," In one smooth motion, Chat spins Ladybug and pulls her by the hips till they're both chest to chest. He places his hand on her cheek, moving a strand of hair out of the way, and glances down at her lips, "I think," He says as he inches his face closer and Marinette blushes furiously underneath her mask, "We should get pot pie for dinner."
Ladybug pulls away and smacks him upside the head, "Don't do that to me!"
He rubs where she hit him, laughing at her reaction, "I've still got it."
Ladybug rolls her eyes, "Shall we?" She gestures in the general direction of her house and they both make their way up to the rooftops of Paris until they jump onto Marinette's balcony. She opens her trapdoor and lets Chat hop through it where he takes his transformation down as soon as he hits the covers. Ladybug follows, standing briefly on her bed before falling into his lap, "Tikki, spots off." Tikki flies to embrace Plagg and they quickly head over to a vacant pin cushion to talk.
Adrien is still amazed every time Marinette changes from Ladybug back to her normal self and vice versa. There's always a slight change in her demeanor that possibly explains why he couldn't figure out who she was for years. Marinette is sweet and - he found out after awhile - incredibly outgoing. Ladybug is spunky and confident beyond all other women he's ever met in his life, and if he was any less of a man, he'd probably be intimidated by his own girlfriend.
"You're giving me that look again." Marinette says with a sleepy smirk.
Adrien snaps out of his thoughts, "Sorry, I get lost in how cute you are sometimes." He notices her blinks getting longer, "You gonna go to sleep?"
"No." She answers, but she cuddles up into the crook of his neck anyway.
"Mhm, of course not." Adrien smiles down at her, twisting one of her loose hairs around his finger, "Because what kind of person goes to sleep at noon?"
"Hey! I'm a superhero, thank you; I think I earned it."
"In that case," He moves them both till they're laying down underneath the covers, "I've earned some superhero nap time too."
"Goodnight, mon chaton," Marinette says sleepily.
"It's still noon, but sure: goodnight, bugaboo." He kisses the tip of her nose and wraps her up in his arms until they both fall asleep.
~ ~ ~
Marinette slowly wakes up out of her sleep and looks at her phone, "Crap!" She says, sitting upright, "I'm going to be late for school again."
She rushes to get out of bed, but slips and falls off her loft, only to land in a large, clear box.
"What the heck?" She thinks out loud. The box is too tall and slippery for her to climb out of, and the top is sealed shut with a clear lid.
"Tikki?!" Marinette calls, hoping she can transform her way out of this situation.
Tikki appears inside the box, similar to a genie, "You've gotten yourself into a sticky situation, huh?"
"I didn't mean to. Just help me get out of here! Tikki, spots off!"
Wait, spots off? No, that's not what she meant to say. Tikki listens anyways, and the familiar pink magic surrounds her and the box.
When she opens her eyes, she's in the middle of the Place de la Concorde, still in the clear box, naked.
"Oh my gosh, Tikki! Help!" People start gathering around, looking at her. She only hears little mutters of people saying one word: "Ladybug."
Their eyes bore into her bare skin as she's unable to cover herself or even sit down. She tries calling out for someone to help, but all that comes out of her mouth is a jumbled mess of words.
Just when she thinks it can't get any worse, Marinette feels something cold splash against her toes. The box is quickly filling up with frigid water.
More gibberish falls out of her mouth as people continue to watch without helping. The water is already up to her waist and keeps going.
A hand presses against the other side of the box, the ring clinking as it hits the material. (Glass? Plastic? What does it matter to her? She's about to drown.) It's Adrien! He'll help her; he's never let her down before.
More jumbled words as the water gets up to her shoulders and she can feel herself start to float. Adrien only stares at her, frozen like a statue.
Marinette's limbs are heavy as lead, making it impossible to keep her head over the water as her feet lose contact with the ground. She sinks down to the bottom and pushes off in an effort to get a breath from the small sliver of air left at the top of the box, but something catches her feet and she's pulled back to the bottom.
It's the braided rope from that god-awful dungeon. Gabriel Agreste or rather, a cadaver that used to be Gabriel Agreste, is holding onto the other end, slowly pulling her down into a black chasm. She manages to kick off and get to the surface to get one last breath and scream, "ADRIEN!" Before she's pulled back down. She opens her eyes and sees Adrien's hand trying to grab for her, but she's too far down for him to reach now.
Marinette is running out of breath as the pressure crushes her. Is it possible that she's crying underwater?
She sucks in a lung full of water and...
~ ~ ~
Marinette wakes up gasping for breath, the wetness of tears obviously on her cheeks. She can't breathe, oh my gosh, she can't breathe and she can't move: A huge, black demon is sitting on her chest. It turns its head slowly, and reveals its face to her. (If you can even call it a face. It looks more like a deformity of different features stuck onto a tree stump of a neck.) Its "smile" is unmoving and unnerving.
It starts reaching for her right hip, that darned spot that doesn't actually hurt anymore, but that even she can't bare to touch when she's awake. It digs its long claws in, bringing back the familiarity of the wound's pain. She screams; the first thing to finally come from her mouth, until she feels a hand shaking her shoulder.
"Marinette!" The demon disappears, and she finally takes a gasping breath, "Wake up!"
Her eyes were open the entire time with tears flowing out of them. Adrien's face appears in her periphery.
"Can you hear me?" His worried voice asks.
She's still gasping and her vision is blurry from crying.
"Hey, hey," Adrien says soothingly, "Calm down. It was just a dream." He caresses her cheek with his hand until her breathing starts to slow down. He slowly sits her up and pulls her into his arms and she cries into his shoulder.
"I can't..." She can't finish any of her sentences, apparently.
"Shh, calm down first, and then we'll talk about it." Adrien rubs her back, not sure of what else to do.
"Just... promise not to let go of me?" Marinette says through her sobs.
"I promise."
~ ~ ~
Author's Note:
Gosh, I really liked writing this chapter cause it reminds me of my boyfriend and I. (In which I'm Adrien, the pun master, and he's Marinette who has to deal with it. 😜)
This fanfiction is almost done, not quite there yet, but I'm so excited to share the ending with you guys. Thanks for sticking around with me over the 8 months this book has taken to write. 😘