Chapter Text
It’s all hazy.
He remembers the fear. There was fear and guilt and everything was burning inside him. His arms and legs hurt. Breathing – he couldn’t remember how to the way his throat almost closed shut from panic. Yet his body still moved. It always will if it means to be at her side.
There was glass standing in between them and he raised his hand to destroy it. He remembers breaking into the room and crying out her name. His arms collide and wrap around something, but the room became too bright to tell what it was.
And everything went numb.
He faintly could hear a slow beeping sound repeating through the haze.
Adrien opened his eyes slowly, groaning at the glare of fluorescent lights above him. The humming from the lights and the beeping from before brought the throbbing headache in the front of his head to attention, crackling and spreading pain throughout his body like lightning. He clutched his head as something screeched against the floor.
“Adrien?”
He only faintly recognized the deep voice; his hearing became muffled after the initial sounds. A shadow cast over his closed eyes, and he tried once again to open them, barely registering two blurry figures looking down at him from his right.
“Dear, get the doctor please.” a softer voice was filled with relief, and the taller shadow quickly left. Adrien rubbed his eyes furiously to get them to work but froze as a small hand touched his head hesitantly. Gently, it began to pet his hair, stopping for a moment only to move a couple strands of hair out of his face that were pressed against his eyes by his fists.
It was a warm gesture that Adrien hadn’t felt in a long time. His shoulders relaxed and his hands fell into his lap. He opened his eyes once more, blinking slowly.
“Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?” His voice cracked dryly.
The mother shushed him, continuing to pet his hair in comfort. She looked tired, but she was smiling at him. “I’m happy that you’re alright.”
He had so many questions but his throat, among with everything else, hurt so badly. No fight as Chat Noir had left him as sore as this. A pain in his lower back shot through his body as he tried to sit up and he bit back a swear. He looked up at her with the only question that stayed afloat in his head where many more piled in.
What happened?
Marinette’s father came back with a doctor – he was in a hospital. The doctor was checking his vitals and the IV he failed to notice in his arm and was asking questions that he nodded or shook his head to – he was hurt somehow. But as the doctor questioned on and asked if he remembered anything before waking up...he couldn’t.
Any attempt at thinking about it made pain crackle right underneath his forehead and it took a few moments of deep breathing to be able to think straight again.
The doctor took the pair of adults aside and talked in low voices before walking behind the maroon curtain that covered the other half of the room’s view from him. More whispered voices and a deep sigh drifted to his bed but he couldn’t tell what was going on otherwise. A second heart monitor behind the curtain beeped steadily but much slower than his own.
The room was uncomfortable and the walls were painted a shade of a bruise that was almost healed – Adrien cringed at the thought. He was never comfortable with hospitals. The first time he collapsed after his mother disappeared brought so much panic to his father’s face that he really believed his body’s response that he was going to die. The emergency room visit then was a muddle of yelling and over-stimulating noises and him fighting his own body for breath.
It took everything in his conscious mind right now to keep his breaths slow and deep. To tune out the sterile smell of the air and the sheets around him.
Footsteps. The doctor came back to his side of the curtain and let him know that his family will be contacted soon and that he could be released tomorrow morning, only being kept for observation overnight.
Marinette’s parents – Tom and Sabine, they insisted – helped him eat and directed the conversation themselves. After a while, Adrien found his voice again but was cautious about asking anything new that they didn't choose to tell him already.
They told him a few things; that he was asleep for about a day and that his father already came in to see him (something that surprised him more than it should have) and that he had to leave to take care of business at home. There were some reporters trying to sneak in, but Tom explained he kept them all away, posing like the winning stance from the video game he and Marinette played, and it brought a laugh and a small smile to his face.
Adrien was astounded at their kindness, but from what he knew about Marinette he wasn’t surprised. They apparently volunteered to watch over him when his father had to leave. Sabine asked him what his favorite flavors and pastries were so they could bring some by when he returned home. Tom ruffled his hair playfully and Sabine gave him a big hug before they bid their goodbyes as visitor hours ended. The curtain was pulled to close him off from the rest of the room but he did not hear them move save for a couple of steps. He turned to look out the window, noticing the moon now hung high in the navy night sky.
It was another few minutes before the lights turned off and the door closed and Adrien finally had the chance to regain his energy and think. He had so many questions to ask and he wasn't sure who would have the answers. He’d call Nino as soon as he got home, and if this was the result of an Akuma attack he knew Alya would have more info than she let go online on the Ladyblog. Marinette’s parents knew something but they seemed hesitant to tell him.
After another 5 minutes had past, he finally called the name he’s been waiting for the chance to say.
“Plagg…?”
Nothing.
His chest tightened and he glanced down to finally see his naked ring finger. A sob choked in his throat as he looked around desperately, seeing a flash of silver to his right on the bedside table. He shoved the ring on and held it up in the moonlight that filtered through the blinds, trying to calm himself.
He didn’t lose the miraculous. It was safe. It was here.
But his kwami did not appear.
He clawed his spare hand over his mouth, tilting the other in the light.
Where the center stone of the ring usually gleamed bright green when held up to the light at just the right angle, now only shined a pure white that any other silver would.
He was shaking. Something hurt, but his body felt so far away he wasn’t sure where it hurt. He could hear the raw gasps fighting the sobs spilling out of his mouth and his throat hurt, but it all didn’t feel like his own in the haze.
The door opened and people were rushing into the room. He could see them faintly in his peripheral but he couldn’t look away from the hand in front of him. It moved and he was looking up at the ceiling again, more weight bearing down on his chest.
Something removed the hand covering his mouth and something else was strapped on. Warm liquid ran down all over his face but his arms were held down so he couldn’t wipe it off. He tremored against them, and he now could recognize his own cries as sound faded in and out of focus.
He could hear his own heart rate beating out of control from the alarmed machine.
He was tired and everything was hazy. The last thing he could distantly sense was the second set of beeps sounding faster than before.