Chapter Text
The day started out so well too.
It was the last school day of the year before winter break started. Marinette managed to get to school on time for the fifth day in the row, happily surprising her parents and Miss Bustier. She also got all of her homework done the night before and didn't doze off in any of her classes. And the best part of all, she survived a full minute with having a conversation with Adrien Agreste before she started to stutter again. A full minute! She could have died at that very moment and went to heaven for how happy she was.
Marinette sighed happily, thinking how exceptionally dreamy the boy looked today. His sun-kissed hair did the perfect swoop on his pretty little head as it framed his beautiful face just right. His voice sounded smooth and velvety as he hummed 'Hello' Marinette,' to her today, flashing his bright smile that could light all of Paris if given the chance. And his eyes. Oh, don't get her started on those eyes. Those enchanting emerald eyes that she could get lost in for days if he would let her. And how she wished he did. She especially liked it when he laughed or simply chuckled. His face would light up with such joy and--
"Earth to Marinette," Alya said, waving her hand in front of Marinette's eyes. "It's time to come down from Cloud Adrien before you trip down the stairs." Marinette blinked before quickly blushing as Alya laughed, linking her arm with her best friend's as they walked down the stairs together to their last class of the day.
Even though she was blushing fiercely, it couldn't wipe off the smile on her face. Adrien was positively charming today or maybe it was just that good of a day? The day went so well today that even Miss Bourgeois seem to be on her best behavior, not throwing a tantrum as she usually did.
"How DARE you?!" A high pitched screech echoed through the courtyard.
Well, she was on her best behavior.
With a heavy sigh, both Alya and Marinette turned around to see Chloe on the brink of a mighty tantrum, her face red and livid. One of the younger girls accidentally bumped into Chloe, spilling hot chocolate all over the blonde's jacket. The same designer jacket that Chloe spent all week gushing and bragging about, shoving it in everyone's face even though no one cared. That same designer jacket that was pure white and now has a brown stain as big as Chloe's ego. This wasn't good.
"How DARE someone as insignificant like you do this to ME? This jacket cost more than anything you or your family owns! It costs more than YOU!" Chloe screamed at the girl, causing the girl's blue eyes to widen in fear. At this rate, Chloe would make the poor girl cry over something so trivial. Mariette began to march over to the two girls, battling through the crowd of students speculating Chloe's outburst. "This jacket hasn't even came out to the market yet and you RUINED it! It's RUINED, are you happy with yourself?!"
"I-I'm s-sorry... It w-was an accident...." The younger girl stammered, her voice quiet and body shaking under Chloe's anger. The answer did not appease the mayor's daughter as her nostrils flared, causing the girl the cower behind her tiny hands.
"SORRY?! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS SORRY?"
"That's enough Chloe." Marinette interjected, putting herself inbetween the quivering girl and Chloe, who was shaking in anger that Marinette swore she saw steam coming the blonde's ears. The baker's daughter knew that her intejection would only anger Chloe further, but she's dealt with Chloe's tantrums nearly everyday. She rather bite the bullet and deal with Chloe's anger being directed towards her than the now crying younger student. "She said she was sorry and it was an accident, let it go."
"I don't CARE if she said she was sorry and if it was a stupid accident! She's going to pay for what she did! Low lives like both of you don't know what it means to having something THIS expensive to be ruined! I'm going to call Daddy and sue BOTH of you for everything that you OWE!" Before anything got out of hand, the bell rang for the last class to start and the teacher's came out to intervene with the argument.
"Off to class, all of you." Miss Bustier voice raised over the crowd of students who were now scattering to their classes before they were late. The poor girl that Chloe was yelling at ran to the bathroom sobbing. Marinette shot an icy glare at Chloe, who made a humph! noise before turning on her heel ( making sure she whipped her hair in Marinette's face ) and strutting to class, her nose held high and Sabrina in tow. Marinette blew out a frustrated huff as Alya came up behind her, patting her on the back for standing up to the bully. Marinette looked at the bathroom with a sadness for the girl, wondering if she should make sure she was okay. But Miss Bustier was shooing both her and Alya to class before she could try to head towards the bathroom. Sending one last worried look to the bathroom, Marinette followed Alya to their next class.
The last class of the day wasn't as excited as expected due to Chloe's outburst. The air was tense and quiet because everyone, except for the culprit and her accomplise, felt bad for the girl ( who's name was Noelle that someone discovered in their class. ). The accused one had another jacket on by this time and thrown the other one in the trash, causing the class to roll their eyes at her for being so dramatic. Marinette shook her head, using the remainder of the class to draw a small ladybug and a cat in the corner of her notes. The final bell rang and almost everyone jumped out of their seats, bolting straight to the door to start their few weeks of freedom from school.
As Marinette closed her books and started putting them in her bag, a voice called out her name, causing her to squeak and look up with wide eyes. Adrien was waving bye to her with a smile on his face. "Bye Marinette, let's hang out during the break!" He said to her before leaving the classroom with Nino. She shot up and waved though the boy was long gone.
"B-bye A-a-drien! Y-yea! H-hang out! M-me and you!" She said though she was pretty sure that he didn't hear her and she was making a completely fool of herself as usual. She moaned and face planted back on the desk as Alya giggled and patted her for the second time today.
"Don't worry, no one but me heard that. You're off the hook, girl." Alya winked at Marintte, who let out a soft chuckle and a small smile. She was excited to hang out with Adrien during the break. Probably with Nino and Alya, but the things they could do during the holidays! Alya seemed to know what the girl was thinking about because she suggested a few ideas that could be good 'date' ideas for Marinette and Adrien. As they went to walk out of the classroom, a screamed erupted through the building. Both Alya and Marinette ran out of the classroom to overlook the courtyard chaos.
Marinette knew it as soon as Chloe yelled at poor Noelle. She goddamn knew it and she didn't do anything about it.
The courtyard was painted in white, the ground glistening as students slipped on the iced surface. A figure erupted in an amused, dark laughter, coming out from the shadows as she watched the dismay. The girl looked covered in snow, her hair, skin, clothing all in white, except her eyes that radiated a innocent blue. "Suffer in the wrath of the White Nightmare! No one shall escape!" The villianess laughed as she pointed to the main doors outside, snow coming out from her finger tips and piling at the door. The students tried to claw through the snow, but it was nearly rock solid. She did this to each of the doors, blocking all pathways before turning to the students and faculty.
"Alya--" Marinette started, turning towards her friend with full intention to push her back in the classroom for safety reasons, but Alya was gone before she realized it. In panic, she looked around and saw her best friend pulling out her phone as she ran to get the best shot of an akumatized victim for the Ladyblog. "Alya!" Marinette scrambled over to the blogger, trying to pull her back towards safety. But White Nightmare caught Alya before Marinette and pointed her finger, piling snow on top of Alya until she was completely covered in snow. Marinette screamed out her name again, skidding over to the snow pile that was Alya and tried to scrape through the snow as much as she could. "No, no, no! Alya!"
Something rustled in her backpack behind her. Marinette quickly took off her backpack and unzipped it, Tikki's head poking out. "Marinette, we need to focus! You're the only one who can fix this! Let's go before-- WATCH OUT!" Marinette snapped her head up and saw a pile of snow coming at her direction. Before she could react, something-- more like someone-- crashed into her and they rolled away from the snow that was meant for Marinette. She blinked as she looked up, seeing a pair of cat ears twitching in front of her.
"Watch out Princess, would hate for you to turn into a snow princess." Her savoir purred, Marinette just knowing he had that damn smirk on his face.
"Chat, this is no time for games--" Marinette squeaked when Chat wrapped his arm around her waist and used his baton to get them to the second floor. When their feet touched the ground, Chat gave Marinette a dramatic pout.
"Princess, you wound me. I am a purrfessional superhero after all." Chat winked at Marinette, receiving an eye roll from her. "Now, stay here where it's nice and safe. I've got it handled." He flashed her a big grin before jumping back down to deal with the akuma until Ladybug arrived. Marinette huffed out, mumbling something about dumb alley cats as she reached back to grab her backpack, only to grab air. It was then when she realized she didn't have her bag -- more importantly Tikki -- with her and she panicked. Where'd she go?! Marinette looked down and cursed when she saw the backpack a little feet away from the Alya sized snow pile. She needed it, now.
"Ugh! Stay still you pesky feline!" White Nightmare roared as she tried to swat the black cat away with her snow but he dodged it easily, using the ice to slide out of the way. His main concern was the slippery surface that covered the courtyard, but it was working to his advantage more than hurting him. The only thing that was distracting him was the students that were fleeing around, trying to find somewhere to hide. They were getting in the way and Chat didn't want to accidentally turn any of them into snow people. So when Chloe Bourgeois ran over to him, crying for help, White Nightmare looked over at the girl and smiled wickedly, Chat Noir no longer the top priority on her list.
"Run Chloe!" Chat tried to yell at the mayor's daughter, but she didn't listen, slipping and sliding to him as White Nightmare pointed her finger to capture Chloe. Chat hurried over, using the ice to glide over to Chloe and pulling out his baton in the process. He grabbed the blonde before she fell and turned around, twirling his baton to stop the snow from hitting the intended victim. "Sorry, Frosty, I don't want to build a snowman with you." Chat retorted, making White Nightmare growl. "My name is White Nightmare, you stupid cat! Now get out of the way!" She roared, using both of her hands to create a snowball big enough to beat out his baton. Chat pushed Chloe to the side as White Nightmare threw the snowball at them. He used his baton to soften the blow, but it launched him backwards into one of the windows to the classrooms. Meowuch! He was going to feel that in the morning, surely.
I'm almost there Tikki! Mariette raced as fast as she could down to the main floor. Which was proving to be difficult due to many of the students pushing her to get to away and the staff members trying to pull her into the classrooms for safety. By the time she managed to get to the stairs and head to the main floor, Chat was thrown into one of the classrooms. "Chat!" She quickly said before setting her jaw and making a sprint towards her bag. It was just right there. But as Chloe screamed, Marinette's noble heart betrayed her as she looked over and saw that White Nightmare was taking her time encasing Chloe into an icy prison. Marinette should have ignored her cries and just grabbed the bag. Ladybug would be able to save her, not Marinette. But as the mayor's daughter was sobbing, wailing about how she was too young to die and how much pain she was in, Marinette didn't have the heart to not do anything in the moment. Diving for the nearby snow pile, Marinette grabbed a fist full of the snow, making it into a ball before throwing it a White Nightmare's head.
Marinette didn't count on a few things as she quickly realized she made a dire mistake. She didn't count on actually hitting White Nightmare's head and having the akuma's attention pointed strictly at her. She also didn't count on slipping half way as she tried to grab her bag, using up precious seconds as the White Nightmare build her own angry sized snowball. And as she reached, her fingers barely grasping the pink strap as White Nightmare threw the snowball, she didn't count on her feline partner to jump to her safety rather than Chloe's.
Marinette never felt the snowball's immediate impact but only warm arms wrapping protectively around her small body as she felt herself flying in this white prison. She couldn't see anything, just black, white, and a tad bit green, but she could hear everything. She heard a glass shatter and a thud soon after they were hit with the snowball before she roughly made contact with the floor.
"Oww..." Marinette whined before trying to look around, assessing the situation. Chat's arms were still around her even though they were out of immediate danger. "Chat! Let me go please, this isn't the time to be a flirt." She frowned when she didn't get a response and how she easily wiggled his arms off, his arm dangling at her waist limply. Pressing her hands against the snow above her, she forced the cold substance off as she sat up. Her eyes darted around before she saw her bag just right behind her and sighed in relief as Tikki flew out. Marinette contorted her face when Chat didn't make any movements to get out of the snow. "Chat?" Brushing the snow away, Marinette held in her breathe when she looked upon her kitty. If she hadn't known better, he looked like he was sleeping, his eyes tightly closed and mouth slightly open. She reached and placed a gentle hand on his cool cheek before shaking gently.
"Alley cat..." She shook his shoulder once.
"Chat Noir, wake up." Twice.
Three times. "Please, Chat."
Four.
"Chat!"