Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The quiet Parisian afternoon calm was amid yet another akuma causing havoc. Most of the civilians simply walked in the other direction slightly faster than normal once they caught sight of the akuma, some not even bothering to take a different route but simply trusting Parises two heroes to keep them safe.

The now almost weekly akuma attacks have gotten so common the people of Paris were not even fazed by them anymore. To the denizens, they were more of a hindrance in their day to day lives than anything. Something to complain about during lunch or gossip about in the break room.

Perhaps it was the fact that they happened so often they simply grew used to it. Or, more likely, they knew they were safe as long as Ladybug and Chat Noir were there to protect them and their city and make everything go back to normal once the fighting was done.

The two heroes in question were currently locked in battle with the akuma of the week. Ladybug jumped out of the way of yet another attack, the thick branches leaving a crack in the concrete where Ladybug had been a mere second ago before retreating and rearing back for another blow.

Ladybug huffed in frustration and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. It seemed as if no matter how they approached the villain or what kind of strategy they tried, she was ready to block and throw an attack of her own.

The fight was taking longer than usual and had now gone on for a good five hours; they were at a slight disadvantage due to the nature of the akumas powers and their location, which she seemed very reluctant to leave.

The akuma called herself Deadly Nightshade. She was an older woman, dressed in browns and reds with green skin and multicolored hair that seemed to be made up of many hanging wines braided together.

Though she might not have looked particularly threatening when they had first arrived on the scene compared to some of the other foes they had faced over the last two years, her powers over plant life soon proved to be more than enough to take them both on simultaneously. They could never seem to get close enough to attack her while also dodging the vines and tree branches that attacked them from every direction.

They were busy enough trying not to get hit, getting to the akuma victim and locating the akumatized object seemed near impossible.
They’d already tried taking out her sunhat, which now laid torn on the grass.

Ladybug motioned towards a nearby rooftop and swung towards it with her yo-yo, Chat Noir dodging a vine swipe to the legs and followed his Lady.

They raced across the rooftops before stopping on a balcony, Chat sending an unfortunate pot of purple flowers falling four stories down. A shout of surprise and subsequent angry yelling could be heard from the street below, but neither bothered to look. They kneeled down against the rail as they tried to catch their breath, for a moment glad the akuma refused to leave the safety of the park. Both heroes were feeling completely worn out, panting as they finally got a moments rest.

A combination of crime fighting that sometimes took up the better part of the day and school getting increasingly difficult had them both feeling about ready to lie down and take a month-long nap. Chat was running purely on adrenaline and coffee, but both were starting to get slower, and with an akuma like this one, being too slow only for a moment could mean one of them getting seriously hurt.

Or worse.

They needed a plan. Now.

“Any ideas, my Lady?” Chat panted as he sat down against the wall, his usual flirting and enthusiastic attitude all but gone and his bright blond hair looking even more disheveled than usual, the back sticking straight up and the rest leaning to the side like a yellow tidal wave.

Ladybug responded by peeking over the edge of the low wall towards the park. Deadly Nightshade apparently hadn’t bothered to follow them and was instead lounging on the fountain at the center of the park as she halfheartedly sent a tree or two to terrorize any passersby. Ladybug pondered their situation for a full minute, feeling increasingly frustrated as she did so.

Normally the akumas were constantly going after them, attacking one of them without much thought to their surroundings, which made it easy for one of them to sneak up behind them, break the akumatized object and get back to their civilian lives before anyone noticed they were gone.

But in the case of Deadly Nightshade, it seemed as if she had eyes on the back of her head. Any move either of them made to get closer ended with them either jumping away from an attack or flying backwards from a blow, and both of them were already sporting a good collection of bruises and cuts al over that only served to slow them down even more.

At the moment, Ladybug wanted nothing more than to just admit defeat for the day and head back home where she can curl up on her soft, soft bed and not worry about the city for once, just for a day.
Actually, she’d been wishing that a lot lately. Her life seemed to never slow down, never give her a break, never give her time to breathe as she went from one moment to the next in what seemed like a blur of images and sensations when she looked back.

As if she were on a carnival ride, going round and round but unable to get off until she was dizzy and tired, and yet it still spun around, and around, and around…

Technically, the akuma victim wasn’t going anywhere. And it wasn’t as if they were trying to keep a low profile. It would be easy to go home today and pick up where they left off the next day when they both got some much needed rest.

But Ladybug knew that was not an option.

Deadly Nightshade had already turned a good half dozen unfortunate passers-by into wooden statues with a spray held in her hands. Leaving her to cause havoc was simply not an option, they were the heroes of Paris and they could not rest until their city was safe again and all the petrified people were freed.

She took her yo-yo and called out “Lucky Charm!” She caught the spotted red and black weed killer in her hands and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. While it might be useful to subdue the villain, they still needed to get close enough to do so first. She looked back to the park, squinting as she formulated a plan, her brain feeling as if it was working slightly slower than usual.

She’d already used her Lucky Charm twice, and both times it had failed, which left her no choice but to run and duck inside the nearest alley while Chat distracted the akuma.

“Maybe,” she began, eyes scanning the edges of the park and the tall black fence that surrounded it “you could distract her with an attack from above while I go after her from below and behind? I think the akuma is probably in the belt, since it’s the only thing that doesn’t match the rest of her outfit.”

Chat nodded and stood up, offering her a hand “It’s worth a shot.”

Ladybug took the offered hand and let Chat pull her up. He tried to smile encouragingly, but it felt more strained and tired than anything, so he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Together they raced back towards the park, splitting up once they were within half a block of the akuma to make sure she didn’t see them and catch onto the plan.

Chat landed gracefully over the fence, eyes spotting a flash of red on the opposite side before it ducked behind a car. He grinned and opened his mouth to “This park’s a litt-“

“Oh, it seems the kitten has come to back for round two?” she hollered, loud enough for the civilians brave or stupid enough to be standing nearby to hear her as clearly as if she were speaking into a megaphone.

“Well, I can’t let you ruin my beautiful plants like those no good hooligans!” she bellowed, rising from the fountain to glower at Chat, using branches to boost herself up high above his head.

Chat resisted the urge to check if his Lady was in position, merely grinning at the villain in front of him and trusting his partner “I don’t think you need my help to ruin them, seems you’ve done that perfectly fine by yourself!” he laughed, already getting ready for a jump.

Deathly Nightshade screamed in anger, her green skin tinged a shade darker on her face and neck as she spun to face him fully and send a flurry of branches at him at top speed.

Chat dodged them, just managing to avoid getting caught by the branches as they swung down and crushed the pavement where he had stood. He landed on his feet and sprung at her, swinging his staff around as he flew through the air.

He tacked Deadly Nightshade to the ground as Ladybug burst from behind the sea of green on the other side and he rolled away while tearing the belt from the akuma.

Deadly Nightshade bellowed, words lost to her in her anger and made to attack him again, but was just as soon back on the ground as Ladybug sprayed her with the spotted weed killer. She screamed and covered her head, curling into herself as she was defeated.

Chat threw the belt towards Ladybug, who caught it with practiced ease and tore it in half. Out of it flew a little black butterfly, which Ladybug caught and purified.

Ladybug heaved a sigh of relief as the now pure white butterfly flew off into the sky. Their job done, she threw the lucky charm into the air, the magic just flying out of it when suddenly she was flying through the air, landing a few feet away and rolling to a stop as her head exploded with pain.

Chat felt his blood freeze as Ladybug went down. Deathly Nightshade grinned triumphantly as she let the heavy branch fall to the ground before the lucky charm took effect, releasing the victim and fixing everything to the way back it was before.

But Chat wasn’t paying attention to any of that.

As soon as the danger was past, he ran to Ladybugs side, skidding to a stop beside her where she was now sitting up on the ground.

“My Lady, are you alright?” he said, his tone betraying the fear he felt in the pit of his stomach as he gently touched her shoulder and examined her for injuries.

Ladybug waved a hand, her other hand holding the back of her head and her eyes closed tight as she slowly stood, shakily at first but managing to get her footing. She knew she should be feeling drained and probably aching, but all she felt at the moment was a numbness and a slight headache that was almost refreshing after the battle. Through the mist in her head she wondered briefly if this was what shock felt like.

“I’m fine Chaton.” She said, rubbing her face with her free hand. Her brain felt stuffed full of cotton.

Chat opened his mouth to argue, but a beep from his miraculous alerted him he had a short amount of time before his transformation wore off.

“Are you su-“

“Chat,” said Ladybug, exasperation in her voice “I’m fine. Go before you change back in front of everyone.”

Chat bit his lip and hesitated but did as he was told since there was no changing Ladybugs mind when she used that tone of voice, using his staff to swing over the fence and over the rooftops before he really did transform in front of everyone.

Ladybug sighed as she heard her partner leave, gingerly touching the back of her head. She gulped as she felt a small gash in the back of her head, but it didn’t seem so bad. Even with her eyes still closed she could hear the victims of the latest akuma starting to stir and quickly got up only to collide with a tree within three steps. She ducked behind it and released her transformation, sliding down the trunk with a groan and sitting on the ground.

The fight was finally over. She could stand to rest for a moment.

Today had been a close call. It seemed like every time they defeated one akuma, one even stronger appeared not a week later. Though she would never admit it to Chat, the final blow Deathly Nightshade had managed to throw before she was cleansed had hurt. It had been a small ache at first, but now that the shock and adrenaline from the fight had started to wear off, the back of her head started to throb painfully.

She gently touched the side of her head and winced. Even after two years of fighting the akumas, it seemed she still didn’t learn everything there was to know about her powers.

Her lucky charm hadn’t cleansed her wound like it should have. Why is that? Marinette tried to focus through the mist in her head but was drawn out of her thoughts by Tikki landing on her shoulder and gently touching the skin near the wound, making her wince.

“This needs to be taken care of quickly.” She said, sound uncharacteristically stern “That was reckless, Marinette. It’s just lucky you didn’t get more hurt.”

Marinette sighed and leaned back, opening her eyes at last. For a moment her face was blank before her expression changed to one of confusion.

“Tikki, is it nighttime already? Mom and dad are going to be so mad if I’m home late again.”

Tikki froze, her little face scrunched up in concern, flying up to Marinette’s face and inspecting it closely. She flew from the left to the right slightly, feeling panic slowly build when Marinette’s eyes seemed to stare right though her. The Kwami landed on her knee and stared at the teen for a moment before she spoke.

“Marinette, it’s still light outside.” She said and watched sadly as Marinette frowned harder and rubbed her eyes.

It was almost painful watching her charge come to the same conclusion she had. First the frown was replaced by confusion, then shock, followed by disbelief and finally settling on fear as her injured head caught up to her racing thoughts, her blue eyes staring ahead wide and unseeing.

Chapter Text

Marinette rubbed her eyes roughly, fine tremors going through her hands.

She blinked and waved her hands in front of her face, her expressions and actions becoming more and more frantic as her brain slowly wrapped around the new realization.

Tikki gave her a few moments to calm down, but when it becomes apparent her charge was only becoming more frantic with every passing second, she flew up to her face and hugged her cheek tightly.

“Marinette, I know this is bad but you have to calm down! We should get you home right away and have your parents take you to the hospital.” Tikki says, but it only seemed to make Marinette panic even more.

“Oh no, my parents!” Marinette yells, her voice getting higher with every word “Tikki, what am I going to tell them?”

Tikki hums for a moment and lets go of Marinette to fly in front of her, settling on the girls knee and patting it gently “Tell them you fell and hit your head because of the akuma. It won't even be a lie, in a way.”

The Kwami glanced around, making sure no other people were around to see them. “Can you stand?” she asked after a moment.

Marinette gulps and nods, her hands going behind her to help herself stand, the bark feeling rough and slightly warm from the spring sunshine. She takes a deep breath and pushes herself up, swaying slightly before finding her footing.

Tikki flew up and into her jacket, giving Marinette a reassuring pat on the hip. “I’ll be right here to guide you, ok? Just take it slow. The fence is in front of you, take a few steps forward.”

Marinette nods uncertainly and takes a few slow steps, her outstretched hands meeting the metal fence after four paces. Apparently walking around in complete darkness was harder than she thought; simply keeping her balance was a challenge onto itself, feeling as if she was walking on a hidden tightrope.

The now very painful throbbing in the back of her head did not help matters.

Keeping one hand on the metal fence on her right and her other arm out in front of her in case Tikki failed to warn her of any obstacles in her way, she made slow progress until Tikki announced they had made it to the park gate.

With Tikki’s help she managed to make it to the bakery across the street without major incident, having narrowly avoided a collision with oncoming traffic only because of Tikki's warning to jump forward.

Marinette thanked whatever god was watching her that she lived so close by. She didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to try and walk across the city in total darkness.

She pushed the door open, stumbling inside and catching herself on the door as the bell overhead gave a bright jingle. Marinette could hear footsteps coming towards her and before she knew it, she was being hugged. Judging by the size, she figured unless her papa had shrunken to a third of his original size, it had to be her mom.

Sabine held her daughter at arm’s length, her expression becoming worried when she noticed the dazed look and pallor on her daughters’ face. “What’s the matter sweetie? Did you have a fight with Alya?” she asked gently, giving her child a light squeeze on the shoulders.

“N-no, it isn’t that.” She murmured, trying to focus on her mother’s face. When that proved to be impossible she moved her gaze down her feet (or where she figured her feet would be).

“What then?” Sabine asked gently, waving away the customer who had paused at the door.

The customer flushed and walked out in a rush, leaving mother and daughter alone in the bakery as the silence slowly dragged on and began to weigh down on the rooms occupants. Marinette felt Tikki give her a nudge to the side, a signal for her to stop standing around and start speaking. Which was harder than it seemed.

She had a hard time getting her thoughts in order and she was feeling slightly numb, a slight headache just barely there at the back of her head. Somewhere in the back of her mind Marinette realized she must still be in shock.

“I-I was at the park when the akuma attacked,” she began slowly, focusing hard on her words so not a breath of her secret would be spilled in her daze “a-and when I got trapped by the akuma, a branch came out of nowhere and h-hit me on the head,” she continued, her voice cracking on the last word “And after that, everything went black.” she finished, her voice barely above a whisper as the reality of the situation finally sunk in.

She felt all the panic she’d forced down in the park come back to the surface and felt her knees give out as a gut-wrenching sob forced it’s was out of her throat.

Both her and Sabine got dragged down to the floor, Marinette sobbing and clinging to her mother, feeling more terrified than she could ever recall. The numbness was receding and leaving a pounding headache in its wake.

Over the panic and the sound of her own sobs, she could hear her father rushing out of the kitchens and her mother yelling for him to call an ambulance. A few more seconds and she felt herself hyperventilating, white spots appearing in her vision as she sagged in her mother’s arms.

~***~

The day started out like most days for Adrien. He was awoken by Plagg, who demanded breakfast before he starved to death, having only had one measly piece of cheese the previous night. Adrien, being used to this kind of behavior from his Kwami, got out of bed with a minimum amount of complaints and got ready while the grumpy black cat floated around his head.

Breakfast was same as always; short and lonely. At some point, Natalie came in to give him this week’s schedule, which he looked over quickly, letting out a groan as he noted his weekend was booked with nearly back to back photo shoots and fittings. He had been hoping to hang out with Nino this weekend, but unfortunately it will have to wait until next time.

The drive to school was uneventful, unless one could call Plagg eating an entire container of stinky cheese before they made it four block as eventful. He didn’t notice something was off until he took his seat next to Nino, who was being unusually silent. Come to think of it, the rest of the class were acting subdued as well.

Max and Kim were sitting next to each other in silence, something that was practically unheard of, Rose and Juleka were speaking in quiet whispers next to Nathaniel, who was slouched over his notebook so much it had to be painful, Chloe was being unnaturally subdued and Alya was staring blankly at the opposite wall, her phone clutched tightly in her hand.

He turned to Nino with a confused look on his face, but his best friend only shook his head and pointed at the empty seat next to Alya. Adrien frowned.

It was still a good five minutes before class and Marinette more often than not came in 10 minutes late, at the very least, sometimes missing an hour or two before she came bursting in through the door with an apology.

But everyone was acting so odd that Adrien felt an odd sense of foreboding as he leaned forward and tapped Alya on the shoulder.

The blogger blinked and turned to face him “What?” she snapped, then sighed and rubbed her temples as if she felt a headache coming on “Sorry, what is it?” she asked, sounding slightly less homicidal this time.

“Uh,” Adrien’s eyes flitted to Nino, but he was turned around in his seat and listening to Rose and Juleka’s discussion.

“Where’s Marinette?” he asked finally, turning back to Alya to find her looking grim, face a little paler than usual and her mouth drawn in a thin line. He got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach even before she opened her mouth to speak.

“She’s in the hospital. From what her parents told me she got mixed up in yesterday’s akuma attack and got hit in the head. Hard.” She gulped “She lost her sight, the doctors are still running tests to see the extent of the damage. No one’s sure why the magic didn’t fix it.” Her voice wavered and she had to take a deep breath, phone held to her chest like a safety blanket.

Adrien felt as if the world bottomed out beneath him, as if, if he hadn’t been sitting he would have fallen over.

This kind of stuff wasn’t supposed to happen.

Sure, people sometimes got hurt during an akuma attack, even though he gave his all to protect them, but Ladybug always set things right with her lucky charm and the injuries vanished with only a vague memory of pain left behind. This isn’t supposed to happen. Especially not to a classmate, someone as sweet and kind as Marinette.

He leaned back in his seat, now understanding why the entire class was acting the way it was. Sure, most if not all of them had been the victim of an akuma, if not the akuma itself at some point, but as far as anyone remembered no one had had any lasting damage from an attack before.

Come to think of it, Adrien couldn’t recall seeing Marinette at the park at all. Which meant he’d let himself get distracted. Which meant her getting hurt was his fault.

He was sure Plagg or, hell Ladybug, wouldn’t agree with his reasoning, but he felt an obligation to every civilian in Paris to protect them from harm, and if harm had come their way, soften the blow and set things right once the fighting was over.

And yet, Marinette was in the hospital. Because he got distracted, because he hadn't done his job fast enough, well enough. He slumped further down in his seat, until he was nearly laying down.

He felt as if an iron weight had been dropped into his stomach, cold and heavy with guilt.

Ms. Bustier walked into the classroom at that point, ending the quiet discussions and forcing Adrien to sit up straighter and pay attention to the lesson.

But even though he tried to focus on the lesson at hand, his mind kept drifting to Marinette, his head going through a million and one scenarios of what could have happened and how bad the damage to Marinette’s head really was. Did she blame Chat and Ladybug for not fixing her injury?

Somewhere between quadratic equations and graphs he made a decision. He was going to visit Marinette as soon as possible. His plan did have a rather substantial flaw though.

Marinette and Adrien weren’t close. Honestly, they barely talked, aside from the ‘good mornings’ and ‘have a nice weekend’. Most of their time spent together was in the company of Nino and Alya, who always carried the conversations. Adrien wouldn’t have a very good reason to go visit her on his own.

He was just trying to think of a plausible excuse to go visit her that a nurse might believe when Nino nudged him in the shoulder. He hadn’t even noticed the class had ended, students already heading out the door with their bags slung on their shoulders.

“Hey dude, some of the class is gonna go visit Marinette at the hospital after class. Wanna come?” Nino asked as he packed up his notebooks.

Adrien felt like sighing in relief; that was one problem solved then. “Sure.”

~***~

Her head felt like it was going to split open. Marinette groaned and lifted one hand to cradle her sore head. The headache did lessen somewhat in the half a day she’d been in Hôpital Saint-Louis, with the help of some rather strong medication.

The ambulance arrived only minutes after she’d passed out and had taken her to the nearest hospital.

She’d stirred on the way and tried to sit up, which made her nearly throw up her lunch.She’d stayed down after that. As soon as she arrived she’d been rushed off to a whole list of tests, which unnerved her more than they should.

But being poked and prodded in every way in complete darkness tended to unnerve a person.

At least, since she got a room all to herself on the first floor, Tikki could come out of hiding and keep her company. She could feel the Kwami dozing off on her shoulder, curled up in the crook where her neck met shoulder.

She wasn’t sure what time it was, but judging by the fact she’d been given lunch some time back meant it should be around mid-afternoon. Or right after lunchtime. It was so hard to tell what time it was and not only because she couldn’t see the time. It seemed like time passed differently when you couldn’t see the world around you.

Before she had her parents by her side, but they’d left to go take care of the bakery in the morning on her insistence. No need for the family business to suffer because of her.

Then there was Tikki, constantly keeping her engaged in conversation and soothing her whenever she began to panic. But the Kwami had been exhausted from the fight yesterday and being up half the night keeping her company, so now Tikki was getting some much needed rest.

Which meant Marinette had nothing else to do but lay there and stare at nothing with only her thoughts for company.

Time wasn’t the only thing that proved difficult without her sight. Something as simple as eating a bowl of soup proved to be a challenge. After she’d managed to spill the soup on her lap twice and managing to miss the bowl altogether every other time she lowered the spoon for some more, the nurse finally took the utensils away from her and fed it to her herself. Which left Marinette feeling useless, a feeling she despised just as much as feeling helpless.

Just as she was wondering if trying to sleep was even worth it or if she’d even manage to fall asleep at all, she heard voices from what she assumed was the hallway. A lot of very loud voices, one louder than the rest ordering the rest to quiet down. She realized the voices had stopped outside her door and nudged Tikki to move just as the people filed into the room.

She heard footsteps and felt someone’s hand latching onto her own, voices speaking over each other, together making enough noise to make her headache twice as bad.

A voice she after a second realized was Alya spoke from her left, ordering everyone to shut up or get out; so that’s who grabbed her hand. In a much quieter and softer voice she addressed Marinette.

“Hey girl, how are you feeling? What did the doctors say? Any idea when you’re getting out of here? Does your head hurt?”

Marinette held up a hand to stop her friend before she could list off any more questions. The room became so silent she could hear voices from all the way down the hall.

“I’m feeling about as good as I can, the doctors are still running tests so I can’t say anything for sure. I’ll be here for at least another day or two; at the very least until they figure out what’s wrong with me. And I have a small headache, but it’s a lot better than before.” She squeezed Alya’s hand and smiled. “Thanks for coming all the way over to visit me.”

She felt Alya squeeze her hand in return and felt arms wrap around her a second later “Of course I came to visit, I can’t just leave my best friend in the hospital all by herself.”

She felt Alya pull away, though she still kept a hold on her hand, something Marinette was grateful for. It made knowing where she was a lot easier. “I’m not the only one who came to visit though.”

She heard her say “Rose and Juleka wanted to come too. So did Alix, Kim, Nino and,” she felt another squeeze on her hand “Adrien wanted to see you too.” She finished.She could practically hear Alya smiling, despite the situation.

Marinette herself felt her face heat up at the mention of her crush. She couldn’t be sure how bad she was blushing at the moment, but judging by the heat radiating from her face the guessed her face matched the spotted suit she so often wore.

She waved in everyone’s general direction, trying for a smile, but stretching her face that far hurt, so it ended up being more of a wince.

At that point everyone crowded around her bed, asking questions one at a time that she either answered or ignored in favor of another. Alya didn’t ask anything about the akuma attack yesterday, and for that Marinette felt very grateful.

Adrien was standing by the foot of the bed next to Kim, feeling slightly out of place. It was quite obvious that everyone was closer to Marinette personally than he was; after two questions off the top of his head, which she stuttered out in semi coherent sentences, he gave up on trying to get any more information while everyone else was there.

But he realized just how impossible it would be for him to get any alone time with Marinette. The visiting hours will soon be over and he was willing to bet that, even if he did somehow manage to get everyone else to leave, Alya would not be moved from her best friends side until the nurses dragged her away.

That fact did nothing to stop the guilt in the pit of his stomach. In fact, visiting seemed to have only made it worse.

Hearing about Marinette getting hurt was one thing; seeing her laying there, looking pale and exhausted with her the side of her head bandaged and bruised and hooked up to machines made the guilt feel like it was crushing the air out of him.

How could he let this happen? How had he not seen her yesterday, even if he was busy fighting an akuma, he should have seen her get hit, or lend her help after. But he’d been too busy feeling tired and sorry for himself to notice, and now she was hurt and it was all his fault.

After a few more minutes of feeling like a complete and utter failure, he made up some excuse about having to be home soon.

Marinette, sweet Marinette smiled in his direction and thanked him for coming, even though he’d barely spoken to her during the whole time he'd been there.

While he was walking down the corridor and away from the quiet chatter of Marinette’s hospital room, he got an idea. Maybe Adrien didn’t have a reason to visit her, but Chat Noir certainly did.

~***~

After Adrien left, things began to calm down and one by one her friends slowly went home.

Alya outright refused to leave until the nurses finally threatened to ban her from visiting completely, at which point she begrudgingly got up and left with promises of visiting the next day as soon as school let out.

After that Tikki came out of hiding to keep her company again, Marinette feeling much better, albeit a lot more tired than before. Soon she found herself dozing off; Tikki nestled into the crook of her shoulder again.

All too soon Marinette found herself slowly waking up.

For a few moments she could felt confused, not quite sure why she woke, but then she heard urgent whispers from outside her door. She couldn’t catch everything, but she did make out the words ‘Louvre’ and ‘akuma’, which was more than enough to jolt her awake.

Sitting bolt upright and now feeling more than awake, she could hear Tikki squeak in surprise as she was thrown from her sleeping position on her shoulder to the other end of the bed.

“Sorry Tikki,” Marinette murmured, keeping quiet in case the nurses outside decided to investigate “But there’s an akuma attack at the Louvre. We have to go.”

She felt around for the edge of the blanket, throwing it off herself and listening for the voices of the pair of nurses, who were continuing on their rounds down the hall. She pushed herself off the bed slowly, feeling a little unbalanced as she took a step forward, only to feel Tikki put her paw against her forehead.

“Marinette, there is no way you can go anywhere on your own like this,” she chided “Much less fight an akuma.”

Marinette huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at the location where Tikki’s voice was coming from.

“I’ll be fine; no one will notice I’m gone if I make it back before sunrise, and I do have to go. I can’t let Chat fight an akuma by himself.”

“Marinette!” Tikki groaned.

Marinette could feel her giving her the ‘this is such a bad idea’ look. She’d seen it plenty of times to know it was warranted now.

“Besides,” she added “Chat can’t purify the akuma; I can. So, unless we want a repeat of the Stoneheart Incident, I have to be there.”

She heard Tikki’s sigh of defeat from her left; she hadn’t realized the Kwami had moved.

“Alright.” She heard her say “This is a very bad idea, but you have a point. But we’re going to be extra careful this time and leave as soon as the akuma is purified. I’m still feeling a little drained from the previous one.”

Marinette grinned at her Kwami reaching out and feeling her fly into her hand, nuzzling her cheek into her open palm. She could do this; she was Ladybug after all, and Ladybug couldn’t let Paris be in danger because of a little inconvenience.

“Tikki, spots on!”

Chapter Text

As usual, Tikki was right. Navigating to the window took a good minute and a fair number of muttered curses as Marinette bumped into various furniture before finally finding the window latch. She very slowly turned the handle and pushed the window outwards, feeling the cold night air rush into the room. She took a deep breath and felt for the edge of the window. And stopped.

This was starting to seem more and more like an impossible task. She had no way of navigating Paris if she couldn't see where she was going and jumping from rooftop to rooftop was completely out of the question unless she had a death wish. She climbed back into the room and crouched in front of the window, hands on the radiator below it as she felt her stomach bottom out.

She was Ladybug, she was supposed to protect Paris, she was supposed to be invincible and she couldn’t even show up to the fight. Chat was probably already there. Alone. With no way to finish the fight without her.

Gods, how was she so useless?

… No. She can’t let Chat be out there alone. If it took two of them to take down the akuma before, there is no way one of them can get it done by themselves. And she didn’t even want to think about Hawkmoth realizing she was out of the fight and using it against Chat.

Her hands tightened on the radiator. Think, Marinette, think!

Maybe she couldn’t fight, but she could still purify the akuma. She still needed to get to the fight though, without anyone in the hospital spotting her. Her hands tightened their grip on the radiator until it was nearly painful as she leaned her forehead against it. Wait. Marinette grinned.

She took out her yo-yo and wrapped it around the body of the radiator, tugging on the string to make sure it was secure. Then she slowly climbed onto the windows ledge again and lowered herself out of the window, yo-yo gripped tightly in her hands. Slowly, she lowered herself downwards until she felt her feet touch the ground. Then she released her transformation.

“Marinette?”

“Just a moment Tikki.” she murmured as she held her head. Without the suit the pain in her head crashed into her full force. She breathed slowly until the sparks of pain faded from her skull and she could think clearly again.

“Alright Tikki, I’m going to need your help getting to the akuma.” she said as she pushed herself from the wall.

“Are you sure you’re up for this Marinette?” asked the kwami as she floated down onto the girl’s shoulder “This is very risky, you might get even more hurt!”

“I know, but I can’t let Chat face an akuma alone Tikki, I just can’t.”

“...alright.”

She felt Tikki move to behind her neck, a comforting warm presence that eased the tightness in her chest slightly.

“OK, just follow the wall to your left, then turn right when you get to the edge…”

~***~

It took what felt like an age to get to the scene of the fight.

She thanked her lucky stars no one stopped her, though she was pretty positive she must have gotten a good number of strange looks.

Letting the transformation wash over her once again, she pulled out her yo-yo to dial Chat when she heard a soft thump on the right.

“There you are M’Lady, I was starting to get worried.”

Marinette let her shoulders loosen the tiniest bit. Chat was here. He was okay. They were going to be okay.

“Of course I am, as if I would let you go it alone,” she paused and looked away from him, towards the entrance to the alley “What did you find out?”

“Are those bandages on your head?” The question threw her for a loop until she remembered that, of course, her mask only covered part of her face and the thick bandages on the side of her head must stick out even in the darkness of the alleyway. She thought fast.

“They’re just for show, I was in the middle of rehearsing for a play. Now, what did you find out?”

She felt more than heard him move closer.

“Well, the victim was a man who got stood up by a date, didn’t take it too well. I think the akuma is in his hat. Weapon is an umbrella, so no distance attacks, thank god. Any ideas?”

Marinette hummed, letting the familiar role of Ladybug wash over her. She can do this, because she is Ladybug, and Ladybug can do anything.

“Alright, here’s the plan; I draw his attention, you go around and catch him off guard, snatch up his hat and throw it to me, I’ll handle the rest.”

There was a moment of silence when she could practically feel Chat’s gaze on the back of her head. She knew it wasn’t how they usually did things, but it was the only plan she could think of at the moment that didn’t end with her completely missing her target. She held her breath and waited.

“Alright Bugaboo, let’s do this.”

She spared a moment to feel insanely grateful for Chat, then nodded and moved forward until she was right up against the edge of the alley

“In 10,” she said, trusting Chat to understand and be right on time.

She slowly counted down to 5, then walked out of the alley, taking out her yo-yo and swinging it around in front of her.

“Hey, I heard you were looking for me!”

She heard a yell of anger to her right and adjusted her stance a second before she felt a body plow into her. She stumbled back and caught her balance, just in time to receive a vicious blow to her ribs. Marinette gasped and threw herself back, feeling the weapon miss her by a hair. She threw her yo-yo outward, feeling it pull taught as it wrapped around something and pulled with all her might. She heard a thump and attempted to step back, but caught her foot on the edge of the sidewalk and fell to the ground hard, losing her grip on her yo-yo in the process.

She heard footsteps and the akuma was in front of her now, lifting by her throat off the ground. Marinette choked for breath and prepared herself for a blow, but heard a resounding thwack acompanied by a yell and was swiftly dropped back onto the ground.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around her before she could hit the ground and suddenly she was soaring through the air, gripping the figure tight as she recognized the familiar feel of the leather suit.

A moment later they came to a stop, Chat slowly lowering her onto solid ground before he let go.

“What,” he said, and Marinette didn’t think she’d ever heard him sound like that before “Was that?”

“I-” she began, trying and failing to come up with some sort of answer but Chat didn’t leave her time to gather her thoughts.

“First you come out and don’t even look at the akuma, then you don’t even move until he was right on top of you, and then you didn’t block even one single swing,” his voice softened a little “Are you feeling alright? You said those bandages were just for show.” and now he sounded hurt and it made her heart squeeze tightly in her chest.

Marinette hung her head and wrapped her arms around herself “I… I’m fine Chat.”

She heard him stomp his feet “Obviously not, or you wouldn’t have been so disoriented! You didn’t look around, or at the akuma. You’re not even looking at me right now!”

She flinched and looked to the side. She wanted to argue, insist she was fine, that they can’t waste time in taking down the akuma, but, what then? She still couldn’t fight, and this time she might get a lot worse than a couple of bruises.

She sighed and crouched down on the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees “I… I hurt my head, during the last fight. I don’t know what happened, the akuma must have gotten me right when the miraculous charm was taking effect, maybe that’s why but I’m not sure and,” she let out a shaky breath “I can’t see.”

She hated how watery her voice got at the last word and hugged her legs tighter to her chest. She heard Chat move closer and felt a warm arm drape itself over her tense shoulders.

“Oh Bugaboo, why didn’t you tell me.” She felt Chat squeeze her shoulders and relaxed into him, letting her aching head rest lightly on his shoulder. His other arm wrapped around her, making her breaths less shaky, making her feel more grounded.

“How bad is it?” she heard him mumble quietly into her hair.

“They’re not sure yet, but they said it’s very likely my vision will return, gradually.”

She heard him exhale and lean back slightly, his hand absently rubbing circles into the small of her back. The silence ticked on, her anxiety rising slowly with every second.

“Okay.” he said, and then more confidently “Okay. You stay here, I’ll take care of the akuma and bring back the butterfly. You can still purify it, right?”

She nodded.

“Alright, I’ll be right back.” He squeezed her gently one more time, then he was gone, the warmth being replaced by cold where his body had been touching hers. Her shoulders sagged and she sat on the ground, silently waiting for Chat to return and wincing every time she heard a crash or yell.

After what felt like eternity, she heard Chat land next to her. She took out her yo-yo and opened it, reaching out her other hand. She felt Chat take one of her hands in his and lay something small and soft on her palm. She carefully closed her hand, quickly moving the small creature into her yo-yo and letting the magic cleanse the butterfly inside.

“Bye bye, little butterfly.” she said, so quietly her words were lost to the wind and noise of the streets below.

They stayed there in silence for a few moments, before she felt Chat carefully take her hands in his and pull her to her feet. She gripped his hands tight for a moment as she regained her balance, then slowly let her hands fall to her sides.

“Let me help you get back.” he said.

“No, it’s alright. Just get me to ground level and I can find my way back.” she assured him.

“Are you sure?” he said, not sounding convinced at all.

“Yea, my kwami can help me get back. I’m not very far anyhow.” That was a blatant lie, she was a good many streets away,, but she couldn’t exactly let him drop her off at the hospital.

She heard him sigh and felt his arms wrap around her waist, her own arms going around his neck by instinct. There was a moment of feeling weightless and they were back on the ground. He released her and she took a few steps back, feeling her hands come into contact with rough wall. An alley. She heard him take a few steps, then stop.

“I really wish you wouldn’t lie to me My Lady.”

“I’m not lying!” the words burst out of her, anger fueled by guilt spurring her actions “Why can’t you just trust me?”

“Because you’re not telling the truth! You didn’t tell me you were hurt and got yourself even more hurt, and what’s worse, you lied to my face!”

“I-ju-just leave!” she screamed, pushing herself up against the wall, feeling trapped, though because of Chat or her own lies she couldn’t tell.

“But you can’t possibl-”

“I said go away!"

"Ladybug!"

"I said go! I can’t stand you, so fuck off already!” A beat, then her words caught up with her. She felt all the color drain from her face and a gasp escape her as she held out her hands.

“No, wait, Chat I-”

But he was gone, vaulting onto and over her head, already running away from the alley. From her. Guilt burned in her chest like an angry flame and she closed her eyes, feeling tears slowly starting to fall down her cheeks. Hanging her head,she released her transformation and started her long walk back to the hospital.

~***~

Chat was running, faster than he had in a very long time.

Rooftops and landmarks passed by him in a blur, from what he originally thought was speed but later realized were tears blurring his vision. It was only luck and muscle memory that got him back home and in his room without dropping into a random street 30 feet below.

He let his transformation fall and collapsed against the window, slowly sliding down it and staring off into space silently.

Plagg floated uncertainly in front of him, his expression equal parts confused and worried.

“Kid, you okay?”

Adrien shook his head and gulped down a large breath. They stared at each other for a few moments, the silence hanging heavy between them. Adrien covered his mouth with his hands and let out a sob. Then another and before he knew it, he was burying his face in his knees, too hurt and overwhelmed to try and keep it down in case anyone heard him.

Plagg flew down and shushed him, landing on top of his knees and trying to console him.

“It’s okay, I’m sure she didn’t mean it, she was probably just upset or something, you know how girls are.”

Adrien raised his head the tiniest bits and looked at his kwami “Ladybug wouldn’t say something like that just because, Plagg! Besides, I don’t blame her, i-” he hiccuped “It was my fault she got hurt in the first place. I’m supposed to be watching her back, and now look. First Marinette and now Ladybug.”

Adrien laughed, a choked and broken sound that hurt Plagg much more than he’d ever admit

“God, I really am useless.”

“Kid, don’t say that!”

But Adrien wasn’t listening. He slowly stood up from the ground and shakily walked over to his bed, not bothering to do more than kick off his shoes before he climbed under the covers and curled into a tight ball, hiding his face in the pillow.

Plagg rarely felt useless. He was a god after all, even if only a small one. But right now, he was completely and utterly at a loss. What was he supposed to say when his charge was inconsolable? Without a word he flew over to Adrien and curled up by his forehead, offering the only kind of solace he could as his charge slowly drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Alright Marinette, now look up. Good.”

The doctor released her face and Marinette leaned back, head downcast. Yesterday kept replaying in her head over and over like a broken record and nothing Tikki or her parents did seemed to distract her for long. Everyone just assumed her mood was due to her lost sight. Which was fine, as it kept everyone from asking too many questions about her being so quiet the whole day. She still couldn’t believe she’d actually said that.

“I said go away!"

"Ladybug!"

"I said go! I can’t stand you, so fuck off already!”

She felt a large hand on her shoulder. The tightness in her chest eased slightly as she leaned into the comforting touch of her father.

“Well,” said the doctor “All things considered you seem to be healing pretty well. I’m told you felt sick this morning?”

Marinette cringed and nodded slowly.

A minute or two after she’d detransformed last night (or was it morning? She wasn’t entirely sure), she’d gotten hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness so strong it made her fall to her knees. It had taken her almost until morning to get back to the hospital after that, needing to sit down every so often to catch her breath and rest.

And even when she'd gotten back to the hospital room, the nausea came back so suddenly it was all she could do to call a nurse and collapse onto her bed. 

Apparently it took more than a day to recover from a concussion. And it will take even longer for her vision to heal… if at all.

“Yes.” was her curt response.

“Well, it’s to be expected. We’ve done all we can, so right now all you need to do is go home and rest up. Try not to strain yourself, alright? Just take it easy for a few weeks.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright then. We’ll just have your parents sign some paperwork and you can go ahead and go home. I’ll see you in about a week for a checkup.”

She felt her mother’s hands hands on her elbows and slowly stood up, ignoring how the world tilted for a moment. She was starting to suspect she might have banged or jostled her head when she fell yesterday, but she wasn’t going to say anything. After all, how was she supposed to explain it? She was supposed to be sleeping all through the night, so it would just make her parents want to keep an even closer eye on her. Which will be very bad when the next akuma inevitably attacks.

She managed a smile in her mother’s general direction, even though inside she felt like curling up and hoping the ground opened up and pulled her down to Hell.

“Let’s go home.”

~***~

“-en. Adrien!”

Adrien raised his eyes from his desk and looked at the professor.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to answer the question?”

…

“What was the question again?”

Ms. Bustier sighed and moved onto the next student. Adrien let his gaze drop back onto the desk, hands clutched tightly in his lap. Nino bumped his arm gently and gave him a quizzical look, but Adrien waved him off and moved his gaze to the window. Not like he deserved any comfort anyway.

He’d ignored Plagg all morning and only got out of bed at all today because his father wanted to have breakfast together. He couldn’t exactly say no, since that would raise questions he did not want to or could answer. So after spending all his remaining energy appearing chipper and happy during breakfast, he felt like dropping onto the nearest bench and falling asleep as soon as he’d gotten to school.

The bell ringing brought him out of his thoughts slowly, like rising up from underwater. He started putting things away and startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“You ok Adrien? You didn’t hit your head too, did you?”

He relaxed slightly and smiled at the reporter “Yea, I’m fine, just a little tired.” a beat “Wait, what do you mean ‘too’? Did someone else get hurt?” suddenly he didn't feel tired anymore.

Alya’s smile dropped slightly “No no, I just meant, Marinette’s been on my mind all day since she called me this morning. The doctors said her sight will probably return gradually, but apparently she’d been sick this morning.” she laughed a little, “She just managed to get her parents to stop hovering around all the time… well, probably. She wouldn't really be able to tell if they were in the room, right? Oh, I’m ranting, aren’t I? Sorry, I just, ” she ran a shaky hand through her hair and smiled slightly “Just a little scatterbrained, you know?”

Adrien nodded, though he didn’t manage to return the smile “It’s ok. You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

Nino and Alya exchanged a look but went ahead anyway. Adrien sighed and let his head drop onto the desk, feeling Plagg land on his hand.

“Ready to stop ignoring me?” he asked, trying for annoyed but sounding more worried than anything. Adrien made a noncommittal hum. Marinette lost her sight too? His thoughts turned back to his Lady, even though he’d been trying to think of anything but for the part hour. They’d both lost their sight, at the same fight? What were the odds?

...what were the odds?

Adrien finally raised his head and looked at his kwami.

“What are the odds that both Marinette and Ladybug lost their sight at nearly the same time?”

Plagg’s tail flicked back and forth sharply “Pretty low I’d say.”

Adrien had only seen Ladybug get hit, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t remember seeing Marinette at the fight, no matter how hard he tried. And he tried. He racked his brain, trying to think of a reasonable conclusion, but everything pointed in one specific direction.

Slowly, Adrien sat up straight and looked at the door of the classroom, silent. Then he shook his head and picked up his bag.

“Nah, there’s no way.”

~***~

Adrien stood outside the Dupain-Cheng Boulangerie Patisserie, his hands twisting the strap of his schoolbag around and around. He’d been standing there for the past 10 minutes, debating on whether or not this was a good idea. But if he backed out now, he’d spend an eternity wondering ‘what if’. And besides, it was his fault Marinette got hurt at all. And she was a friend...maybe.

He wasn't exactly sure where he stood with Marinette, truth be told. She always acted kind of tense and unlike how she did with all their other classmates, but since she was never really outright rude or mean spirited towards him he figured she was just shy.

Taking a deep breath and putting on his best model smile, he opened the bakery door and walked inside, deciding it was now or never (before someone decided to ask why he was staring a a door for the past several minutes).

“Hello Mr. Dupain-Cheng!”

Marinette’s father looked up from the register and smiled at him despite the dark circles under his eyes “Ah, hello Adrien. What can I do for you?”

“Well,” Adrien glanced down, then forced himself to look back up at the imposing man “I was hoping I could see Marinette? I heard she got home from the hospital today.”

The smile on Mr. Dupain-Cheng’s face dropped slightly “Actually, we’d rather not have any visits at the moment. At least until she’s feeling better.” The man looked supremely uncomfortable, having already had to turn away several classmates, including a very livid Alya who'd yelled for a solid 5 minutes before she'd finally stormed off.

Quickly he added "It's just, Sabine thinks Marinette should have some time to rest without any disturbances. Just for a day or two, since she'd been sick this morning."

“O-oh.” Adrien did look at the floor then and nodded slowly “Ok, I understand.”

Not having anything else to say, he nodded again and walked briskly out of the bakery and to the park across the street. He stopped at the gates and stared at the fountain a few meters in front of him, and decided he’d rather not go to the park today. He turned and walked down the street, passing random shops and apartments on the way.

Plagg flew out of the bag and floated above his right shoulder “What are you gonna do now?”

Adrien put a hand on his bag, where a box of the best chocolate truffles he could find resided in a fancy pink box. He’d been hoping to surprise Marinette with them, maybe make her feel a little better, but his plan hadn’t seemed to work out very well. Apparently she wasn’t feeling well, which only made him want to visit her and make her feel better even more.

He slipped one hand into his pocket and played with the charm bracelet she’d given him a while back. He looked at Plagg, then at the bakery two streets back. Slowly, an idea formed and a smile spread over his face.

“Maybe Adrien can’t get in to visit her, but Chat Noir can.”

~***~

Marinette felt like her head was stuffed full of cotton. She’d taken the medicine the doctors had given her, which did help with the horrible headaches and nausea, but the downside was they also made her sleepy and slow to react.

Tikki was curled up on her stomach, snoring slightly. The kwami hadn’t left her side for a moment, which made Marinette complain but secretly feel better. The little god was a comforting, warm presence that eased the tightness in her chest ever so slightly.

That was another upside to the medicine. Since she couldn’t think straight, she couldn’t think about what a horrible person she was. That thought made her feel worse for a few moments, until the medicine washed it away as well. She wondered if this was what it felt like to be pleasantly drunk.

Navigating her room was a complete nightmare, even with Tikki’s help. She was really starting to regret leaving her sewing supplies all over her room instead of putting them away like her mama had told her to. It was only a matter of time before she accidentally grabbed a needle or scissors. So she opted to just stay in her bed. She heard a knock.

“Come in mama.” she called, rolling over onto her side.

“I’m afraid it’s just me, Princess.” Marinette gasped and shot upright, then groaned and clutched her head. That was a bad idea. She heard footsteps and there was a warm, leather clad hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down onto the bed.

“Easy there.” said Chat Noir, pulling her comforter to her shoulders. She could practically see the gentle smile that went with the soft tone in her head.

“What are you doing here?” she questioned, trying to pinpoint where his head was. The bed dipped slightly as he sat down beside her.

“I heard you got hurt during Deadly Nightshade’s attack, so I wanted to check up on you and see how you were doing. Uh, a-also to bring you these.” She felt him put some sort of box in her hands, making sure she had a good hold of it before his hands retreated.

Even with the medicine making her feel like she was underwater, she felt her heart swell and drop at the same time. Of course Chat would want to check up on her. Of course he’d bring her a gift. Even though he was probably still feeling bad about what she’d said yesterday and had no real obligation to visit her. Because that’s the kind of person he was. Kind and generous and always putting others in front of himself. He was the best person she’d ever met.

"Marinette, what’s wrong?”

She felt a hand brush her cheek and realized she’d started to cry. She sniffled and followed the hand to his torso, dropping the box in her lap and wrapping her arms around him tightly. After a moment a pair of familiar strong arms wrapped around her, rubbing circles into the small of her back just like yesterday. Which made her cry harder.

“Princess?” She took a deep, shaky breath and slowly leaned away from him, wiping at her yes and giving him a small smile.

“Sorry, sorry, just, the medicine, you know.” she waved her arms vaguely.

Trying to change she subject, she picked up the small box and held it up. “What’s this?”

She felt him shift slightly “They’re chocolate truffles. Chocolate always made me feel better when I was down so I figured, why not, everyone loves chocolate right?”

Her smile widened and she bumped her shoulder against his lightly “I love truffles.”

“Great,” she could hear the smile in his voice and her heart felt lighter for it “Oh, here, let me open it for you.”

She relinquished her hold on the box and heard the rustle of cardboard, then felt something prod the side of her mouth.

“Open up, Princess.”

She huffed “Really Chat?” but she opened her mouth nonetheless, and he popped in a truffle. She chewed and her eyes widened.

“These are amazing! Where did you get them? They must have cost a fortune!” and Marinette would know, being well versed in the art of pastries and sweets.

“Nothing's too expensive for my princess.” he said, then added “Open up!”

Marinette laughed, feeling her cheeks grow warm and did as asked. They kept that up until all the truffles were gone, then they found themsles lounging on her bed and chatting about little things, like movies and video games and both very carefully avoiding any subjects containing villains and injuries.

“Chat?” she murmured, her head leaning against his shoulder.

“Yes Princess?” he answered, just as quietly.

“What does the sky look like, right now?”

She wasn’t sure why she’d asked that. It was a silly question, really. But she was sure it was starting to get late by now and in her half asleep, medicine induced state it felt like the perfect time for silly questions.

“Let’s see.” he said. She felt him move very slightly, feeling how he was careful not to move the shoulder she was presently using as a pillow “It’s clear, not a cloud in the sky. And it’s just about to get dark, so it makes a kind of gradient from light blue and slowly getting darker.” a pause “Like your eyes.”

She felt her face heat up again and giggled, hiding her face in his shoulder “You flirt.” she murmured into his neck.

He hummed happily and put an arm around her shoulders “I only speak the truth, Princess.”

She smiled and leaned into him, her eyes slowly starting to close of their own accord “Hey Chatton, can you stay a little longer?” she whispered.

She felt him tense for a second before relaxing and squeezing her shoulders gently.

“Of course Princess.”