Fadrien 01
@cxndy-stxrs requested this,and I really liked the idea, so I decided to write up a draft for it. If I like it, I may end up continuing it. It's a nice premise. Sorry if formatting is weird, posting from mobile
Hawkmoth had won, Marinette realized, as the akuma victim pulled her earrings off. She quickly covered her face in an attempt to conceal her identity from Hawkmoth. Her earrings joined Chat’s ring, slipping past the sharp, animal-like teeth of the akuma’s pouch. She dove under her lucky charm, a polka dotted blanket that was already covering Chat Noir, and came face-to-face with her long-time crush. “Adrien?” She whispered, shocked.
“I should be more surprised,” Marinette could see his admiration of her in his eyes, and his smile, “but, well, you’re already so amazing.” Marinette’s cheeks heated, and she did her best to hide it by averting her gaze. “I’m glad it’s you. I don’t think I’d rather you be anyone else.” Marinette couldn’t help smiling, despite the dire circumstances.
"I'm glad it's you too, Adrien," Marinette answered. Ignoring the thoughts welling up telling her how Adrien returned her feelings, Marinette instead focused on a plan. "We need to stand up, and follow the Akuma to Hawkmoth."
"Of course, m'lady," the two of them stood up together, working in almost unnatural synchronization. They wrapped the blankets around them as hoods, keeping their face to the ground to follow the Akuma's trail. "How long do you think we have until the Akuma finishes it's business and heads for Hawkmoth?"
"I don't know," Marinette admitted, "They didn't really give away their motives," which, of course, was something very unusual by Aluma standards. Most were extremely willing to scream their motives at the top of their lungs. "Did you get anything?"
"He kind of looked like a D&D character," Adrien said, "Maybe his character died? Look for a character sheet?" Marinette nodded, it was as likely as anything else. "He's probably after his DM for killing the character," Adrien hypothesized, "but if it happened tonight, he has probably already done so."
Marinette didn't like thinking about that, instead commenting, "So he's heading for Hawkmoth?" She tried to ignore that they were rather quickly falling behind. The Akuma's lead continued to grow when Adrien tripped, bringing both of them down.
"My Lady!" Adrien's voice was slightly pained, and incredibly worried, "My Lady, something's wrong!" Marinette turned to look at him, and fear pierced her heart.
"Adrien!" She couldn't keep her voice down, "Your foot!" It was gone; Not cut off or anything, just gone. Like it had never been there. Slowly, the lack of existence crawled up his leg, pulling him apart piece by piece.
"Marinette," Adrien's voice was desperately begging for help. Marinette wrapped her arms around him, hoping she could somehow anchor him to her. "Marinette, please," she tried to ignore the strange distance to his terrified voice as he returned the embrace. "What's happening?"
"Hawkmoth," it was the only reasonable conclusions. He must have wished to get rid of them. She could feel her partner getting lighter in her arms as the spread of the non-existence grew quicker. "Please don't go," it was a useless request, she knew. She could feel him leaving.
"I promise I'll stay with you," he promised. Marinette's hands moved to cup Adrien's face, before pressing a kiss to his lips. True Love's Kiss always worked right? Her hands collapsed inward, the sides of her partners face slipping from her grasp. The last she saw of Adrien was his green eyes, reflecting a deep pain, before they too faded away.
A certain fuzziness overtook her. Was this how Adrien felt? More importantly, who was Adrien? Was he why she was crying? She couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember? She wrapped the polka-dotted blanket around her and headed home; she could figure out what happened there.
It was early when Marinette woke up; far earlier than usual, even for a school day. The sun was just barely beginning to peer into her room when she opened her eyes. She hadn't slept particularly well; she had been upset last night, after all, though she couldn't quite remember why. It was probably nothing. Marinette took the opportunity granted to her to snuggle into her warm, red and black polka-dotted blanket. "Marinette," her trap door swung open as her mother came into view, "You need to wake up or- Oh, you're already awake."
Marinette laughed a little at the slightly awkward situation, "Yes maman, I'm awake." Sabine continued up, into Marinette's room, before moving near her bed.
"You were crying last night," Sabine showed clear worry for her daughter, "Are you alright? Did you have a spat with Luka?"
"No, maman, Luka and I are doing just fine," a blush tinged her cheek as she answered, "I'm not really sure why I was upset last night." Her mother pursed her lips, but said nothing. Marinette wished she could give her an answer, but she simply didn't have one. She changed the subject, "Actually, I was wondering, could I invite Luka over after school?"
"Of course dear," Sabine smiled, "Just make sure that your door stays open."
"Maman!" Marinette's blush intensified. Sabine chuckled, then gave Marinette a hug before descending from her room once more. Marinette made her way to the bathroom, showered, and got prepared for her school day quickly, used to a rushed morning most days. She eventually made her way to school, sitting down next to Alya.
"You're early today," her best friend commented.
"I didn't sleep well," Marinette answered, "Something upset me last night, or something, but I can't remember what." Alya looked like she was about to say something, so Marinette added, "No it wasn't Luka, my mom already asked. But I am going to be inviting him over after school."
Alya grinned, "Oh? Are you going to work on a new project with him?" She teased.
"No!" Marinette blushed, "We're just gonna hang out."
"You know I have to wonder what's going to be han-" Alya was interrupted by Marinette.
"I don't ask you about you and Nino," she pointed out. It was Alya's turn to blush. "And besides, we've only kissed a couple times. Luka's really chill."
"What a gentleman," Alya teased. The two continued to banter until class started. Marinette's eyes drifted to the empty seat by Nino; usually Nathaniel sat beside him, but the artist was out sick today. For some reason she couldn't quite place, it was almost difficult to imagine Nathaniel sitting there. "Hey girl, you ok?" Alya whispered, "You're staring awfully hard at Nathaniel's seat."
"I'm fine," she answered quietly, breaking her eyes from the chair, "I just thought I saw something."
"If you say so," Alya answered, and the two of them turned back to their notes. While Marinette couldn't shake the feeling of something being off with Nathaniel's seat, she could ignore it. The rest of the day passed by mostly uneventfully, with Marinette texting Luka over lunch to ask him if he wanted to come over after school. He was glad to accept.
Marinette greeted Luka at the backdoor of her parents' bakery. She hugged him before leading him inside and up to her room, making sure to leave the trap door open. The two quickly settled into their comfort zone with each other; Marinette designing while Luka strummed his guitar and wrote down some ideas. She was happy.
So why was she feeling like something was wrong?