Chapter Text
The akuma came out of nowhere. As they usually did. Honestly, nowadays Adrien was more surprised by the days in which they could finish the whole school day without an interruption. With his luck, going out in a school trip had almost been pushing for it.
And yet, this akuma, really came out of nowhere. It was almost as if it'd materialized right there, in the middle of the street. Its body was thin and elegant, glinting silver in the sunlight. It's limbs were elegant and sharp at the edges, hands and feet replaced by long daggers. When it moved, it looked like it danced ballet. It had no eyes or face aside from an ever-grinning mouth filled with too many teeth. It was like something out of a nightmare.
The street's shocked silence was broken by a sharp scream, which was apparently the cue everyone needed to move. Everyone on the streets ran away to the nearest buildings and down the alleys, as far away as they could. Adrien heard their teacher urging them to do the same. He turned his back on the akuma, pushing Nino forward to make sure he got out of the way. Next to them, he could hear Marinette struggling with Alya, who was too busy transmitting live to move. The shorter girl had an arm wrapped around the other's waist and was dragging her way.
"Alya, not now," he heard her huff.
Nino ran out of Adrien's grasp and hurried towards his girlfriend, helping move her out of danger.
"What do you think you're doing?" Alya complained. "It was right there."
"Yeah, I noticed, that's why we're running away from it!" Nino replied, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.
The akuma threw it's first attack. Luckily, it wasn't directed at them. Adrien heard a sharp soowsh followed by a line of cars being impaled by a rain of blades. Adrien swallowed hard. Okay, that was terrifying.
"Go, go, go!" Nino cried, though there was no need. Alya wasn't putting much resistance anymore. She followed along as fast as the others. Which was exactly what Adrien needed. He slowed down enough to stay behind the group and once he was he took a sharp turn to the right to the nearest alley. He needed a good hiding place to transform.
"Adrien! Watch out!" a familiar voice screamed. His lady.
He heard the air swoosh behind him. He kept running.
Something sharp tackled him from the side.
He felt the air knocked out of his lungs as he hit the floor. He was aware of two things: a thin elbow awkwardly pressed against his side and familiar dark hair right under his chin. Ladybug. Thank god. He held on to her waist tightly as they rolled down the street until he was laying flat on his back. His lady was tucked on top of him, so tight he could feel her frantic heartbeat against his chest. Her rapid breathing against his neck.
Don't. Not right now, he scolded himself as the girl pushed herself up with her hands.
And then he saw her face.
"Ma- Marinette?" He mumbled, wide eyed, as he looked up at the girl pinning him down.
"Are- are you okay?" She asked, as her eyes frantically examined him.
He couldn't find his own voice. His brain was still trying to catch up to the fact that he'd been tackled —that he'd been saved— by Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who was still looking at him with a furrowed brow, breathing heavily.
"Adrien?" She asked again, her voice surprisingly in control.
Oh. Right. He closed his gapping mouth and quickly nodded.
Marinette sighed relieved. Then, her face finally turned that shade of pink that Adrien knew by heart. It was the only thing that actually seemed normal right now.
Immediately, she started the motion to get off of him, but as soon as she lifted her left arm, she winced. Pain twisted her features as she collapsed on top of him, tightly curled onto himself.
Adrien felt his blood run cold as he felt her fall by his side.
"Marinette?!" He sat up quickly to look at her. She didn't move. With her arms pressed against her stomach and her knees pulled all the way up to her chest, her eyes tightly closed as if she was shutting the rest of the world out. "Marinette, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" He asked, frantically hovering his hands over her body without daring to touch her. She didn't even react to his voice. "C'mon, talk to me," he asked quietly. No luck.
Another nearby swoosh. The cars next to them shook when they received the raining daggers. Adrien instinctively threw his body on top of Marinette's trying to shield her. Again, she didn't move.
Shit.
"We have to get out of here," he told her quickly, hands still hovering. "We have to move. Ma- Mari? I'm going to move you now, okay. Just- Just hold on," he rambled as he swooped her into his arms. He heard her groan, quietly, in the back of her throat, like she was trying to smother any sound.
Raising up to his feet, Adrien rushed into the alley he'd been aiming for all along. Idiot. What an idiot. Why had he done that?
He ran deep into the alley, where the daggers could hopefully not reach, and knelt down, carefully putting Marientte on the floor.
"I'm gonna sit you up, okay?" He asked gently.
She finally moved, only to nod, her eyes still tightly closed. Carefully, Adrien put a hand behind her back and helped her up until her shoulders were pressed against the wall.
That's when he saw the blood, covering her pink blouse.
"No," he hissed. "No, no, no, no, no."
Marinette finally opened her eyes to look at him, then down at her blood stained clothes.
"Crap." She sounded almost annoyed, like getting stabbed was a minor inconvenience, but her face looked pale and pained.
"Mari,why would you do that?!" He asked, nervously. His voice sounded a little more panicky than he'd intended it too. Of course he was panicking though. Marinette was here, bleeding in an alley while an akuma kept attacking. Others could be hurt. It could've been him if it wasn't for her. "What were you thinking?!"
"I wasn't," she huffed, and he was again shocked by the apparent calm in her voice.
Okay. Calm. Calm down, Adrien. If she could be calm, so could he. He had to be. She was probably terrified right now —heavens knew he was—, she didn't need him losing his mind. She didn't need him. She needed Chat. Chat would be very useful right now, would know what to say. He- He could do that.
"We need to stop the bleeding," he said taking of his white shirt and pressing it into a tight ball. "Press this tightly against the wound," he instructed.
"You- you're gonna ruin your shirt," she mumbled, not grabbing it.
Adrien gave her a bewildered look. She had to be kidding. Except she seemed honestly worried.
"I don't care," he said softly. "It's just a shirt. Just grab it. Please."
Marinette grabbed it reluctantly and brought it towards the wound. Her hands trembled before making contact. He saw her close her eyes right before, strangling another pained cry in the back of her throat. A couple tears rolled down her cheeks and Adrien felt like something inside him would break in a million pieces.
"That's good, Marinette. Put pressure on it," he said, carefully putting his hand on top of hers and helping her press tightly. A louder cry escaped her tight lips and he had to swallow the urge to let go of her. He couldn't. He knew she had to keep pressure on it, even if it hurt. "You're doing great," he said, and his voice finally sounded soothing. "Keep pressing. It's gonna be okay."
He had to get her out of here.
He started getting up when a small hand clutched his wrist tightly.
"Don't," Marinette pleaded, looking up at him desperately. Her eyes were tearful. She looked terrified. His knees almost gave up with sorrow.
"I'm not leaving you," he assured her quietly, crouching back down and putting a careful hand on her shoulder. "I'm just gonna get help."
"Don't," she begged again, tightening her hold of his wrist. "It's- you're gonna... get hurt..."
His eyebrows arched as his brain yet again tried to catch up with the new information it got. She was sitting there, bleeding and terrified, and she was worried about him.
"I'll be fine," he whispered, giving her his best Chat Noir smile. "I promise. I'm sure Ladybug must have the situation under control already."
That didn't seem to work. Marinette made another sound that half felt like a smothered sob.
"It's okay, Mari. Really. You just stay here, okay? I'll get Ladybug," he told her as he quickly rose to his feet.
Looking at her like this, so small and alone and scared in the middle of the dark alley, he almost couldn't bring himself to leave, even knowing it was for the best. Adrien Agreste was no good for her right now, not what she needed. So he forced himself to turn around and run back towards the street.
"Chat!" She called.
Adrien's blood ran cold as he came to a sharp stop. He turned over his shoulder, looking at her, feeling his head spin.
She wasn't looking at him, though. Her eyes were closed again and she suddenly looked very tired.
"What?" He asked, his voice barely a scared squeak.
"You have to call... call Chat," she mumbled.
Oh.
Yes, good.
Chat Noir. He could give her Chat Noir.