Chapter Text
Marinette lay in her bed with 2 pillows stacked on her head. Her ear-splitting headache refused to lessen as she kept pressing harder with the pillows to somehow make it subside. Her mother had brought her tea in hopes of making her feel better but it was as if the lingering effect of those haunting words that had echoed through her mind would never leave. Tears brimmed at her eyes and a few managed to spill over into her soft pink pillow. Soon, her body was shaking with silent sobs, in hopes to be quiet enough so her parents wouldn’t hear her. She wanted him here. She ached for his body to be next to hers, with his soft heartbeat lulling her to sleep. She wanted his smell of sage and cedarwood gently wafting into her nose, and then lingering next to her, even after he left. But she didn’t know how to get through this without him, even though that might just be what she would have to do. Soon, she heard an all-to-familiar knock on her window. A small smile found its way onto her face as she slowly got up from her bed. She dried her face with a tissue and tried to clear up her voice before she moved to open the window. A stealthy black cat made its way in. Green met her eyes once again as he ended up right in front of her body, close enough that she could feel his breath on her neck.
“Are you okay, m’lady?” He whispered into her ear. She felt like jelly to his touch as she leaned into his chest, a serene feeling falling over her like she had just woken up from a bad dream.
“No, chatton.” She whispered back, brushing her lips against his cheek. He moved in closer, if that was even possible, and gently touched his lips to hers. He gently pressed his lips to hers again. A simple, ‘I’m here’, and then another ‘everything is going to be okay’. He moved his hands to her waist as they reveled in the sweet moment she had been so desperately craving. Amazingly enough, he knew, he always knew exactly what she needed. Then, even though everything in his body told him not to, slowly pulled away from her to look at the sky blue eyes in front of him, framed by thick black eyelashes and lightly flushed cheeks. The rims of her eyes were light red, and he quickly took note of the tissues scattered around her bed. He took her hand and pulled her towards the pink lounge chair in her room, and they both took a seat, his eyes not leaving hers for one second. “Please, Mari, tell me what’s going on,” Adrien said in a soft voice as he took a hold of her hand. Marinette looked at Adrien, fearing this moment. She silently held a finger up to her lips. Suddenly, she got an idea. She quickly got up and ran to pick up her notebook and a pen, as Adrien looked at her perplexed. He watched as she furiously started writing, with not one word coming out of her mouth. He moved to speak but she quickly gave him a “shut the hell up” glance. He got the message. After a couple of minutes, she then wordlessly handed him the notebook with neat handwriting hastily written on it.
Adrien, I don’t know who or what is listening. All I know is that someone has been watching me for the last couple of days. Every time I try to investigate, they stop me. Similar to what you saw at school. They told me I had made a grave mistake, and that I had to pay for what I did and face the consequences. I have no idea what they mean, the only connection I have is when I wanted to go out with you guys they were pretty adamant in stopping me. Also, they addressed me as Ladybug. They know who I am. I told you to come as Cat Noir because I don’t think they know your identity. I tried talking to Tikki but the same thing happened again. It’s like they speak to me inside my head, but it’s extremely loud and a painful ringing noise accompanies it, then a headache for hours. Whoever is doing this to me has a connection to the Kwamis too, because Tikki signaled to me that she could sense another Kwami. I don’t know the extent of what I can do as Ladybug or Marinette. Whomever this is is extremely powerful. But I don’t think this is Hawkmoth. His attacks have never been orchestrated like this, or ever lasted this long and been this complicated. I was hesitant to tell you because I don’t know the extent of their powers, if they can hear or see everything I do. Writing is my last option. One thing is obvious, I need your help. And I love you.
Adrien looked back up after reading what she wrote and saw desperate eyes staring back at him. He read everything over twice, three times. And he was angry, my was he angry. Angry that anyone had made her feel this way, had made her feel pain. Had made her feel desperate, had made her feel alone. Had made her feel scared. His eyebrows furrowed into an angry line as he looked at her wordlessly, but told her all she needed to know. He gave her a silent nod and pulled her into the tightest hug he could muster. The kind that was her favorite, and made her feel safer than anything ever had. The kind that told her he was going to make everything better. He was going to fix it. And that he loved her too. She pulled away finally after what had felt like an eternity, but the most pleasant one in all of existence. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, and then ripped the page out of her notebook and gave it to him. Suddenly, she felt a sharp stabbing in her head. No, no, not again. Adrien watched as she squeezed her eyes shut as the pain slowly started to accumulate. She knew what came next. As Adrien moved to hold her shoulders, a sense of deja vu washing over the both of them, she quickly picked the pen up again and hastily scribbled a few words, and shoved it into his hands.
Act normal
He nodded and searched his brain for anything to say that would stop the events he watched play out in front of him.
“Okay, M’lady, ready to go patrol?” He said loudly, but with a scared voice.
“Yes,” Marinette gasped out as her labored breathing strangled her speech. She slowly opened her eyes again as the stabbing began to fade away, with only a dull throb remaining. She let out a sigh of relief as Adrien also let out a breath he seemed to be holding. His heart was in two as he felt so utterly helpless. He looked at her with worry plastered on his face but a slight relief that it had worked. He watched as her tired voice called out for her Kwami. He then shifted his eyes to the floor as his head swam with thoughts, mostly unpleasant, as he heard the phrase he had heard so many times before.
“Tikki, spots on!”