It Gets Better

By: Eurazba

Part 1 Chapter 1: Dangereux

A/N: Season 1 was released on Netflix might as well introduce a new Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic.

Warning for violence, blood mention, and trauma. Get ready for this torture-fest kids.

The akuma were getting more aggressive.

Not only for how they were as akuma, but also for their typical actions as people, Papillon had been targeting more and more criminals, psychopaths, and morally questionable people. People who would hurt them outside of being an akuma, people who hold years and years of rage within them. They were much harder to fight, Ladybug knew that, the public knew that, but luckily she and Chat had at least a couple of years of experience under their belt.

The akuma still managed to hurt Ladybug and Chat Noir; their kwamis could only protect them so much from being slammed into walls and being cut by flying projectiles. Nothing was ever too devastating though, as the mysterious light Ladybug used at the end of every fight healed much of the damage, but it did leave for many a sore night.

So with this adjustment to enemies that were more and more difficult to take on, one would think that she and Chat Noir would be more careful, wiser to their strategies, or at the very least the police would help them out more. Their trust in the abilities of Ladybug and Chat Noir were concerning to Ladybug, because it had become more and more evident to her that they needed the police's help, at least for locking up the increasingly dangerous criminals who were being chosen by the akumas.

That's just where they were, Sunday afternoon, fighting an akuma with the police and media chasing after them. Few were worried about getting hurt, having become reliant on the mysterious light to heal them. With fierce vigor, Ladybug and Chat Noir contained the akuma and purified it, her mysterious light fixing the damaged building near them. The man who had been turned into an akuma was curled into himself, shaking hard with eyes wide at what had just happened. He looked around to the police ring that had formed, keeping the public and media from getting to close to the heroes and unknown victim.

Chat had helped him up while Ladybug stood farther back and looked to the police and paramedics coming to check the man. She looked back at Chat and the man, he was scraggily, a thin man with eyes still wide on his unshaven face, Chat held his shaking hand with his own, another on his back to keep him stable. She watched as the man peeked up to Chat for a moment before his expression suddenly changed from that of shock to one of concentrated displeasure.

She watched with horror as the man, who looked frail and unfocused before, grabbed Chat by the wrist and almost expertly twisted around him, pinning Chat's hand behind his back to keep him still. She barely caught sight of the knife slide out of the man's sleeve, smooth and bright as the sun glinted off of it, before it went straight into Chat's abdomen from the side.

There was an unearthly gasp that came from Chat's lips as he immediately leaned back, limp in the man's arms. Everyone in and around the ring froze with shock over what they had just seen.

With horror Ladybug watched as Chat's miraculous let out a long shrill beep and a light began sliding across his body, his transformation was being released. The last of the light flew around and above his head, and a black kwami went flying out of his hand, his ring, his miraculous, and up above Chat's head before his dazed eyes, looking towards the sky.

In Chat Noir's place remained none other than Adrien Agreste.

Ladybug heard a scream, a deafening scream of his name from an unknown source as the man ripped the knife from Chat's now blood soaked shirt and let his body loose. She sprinted towards him, catching him before he completely collapsed to the ground and harshly kicking the man away from them with a spin. He went sliding across the ground and slammed into a nearby car with a severe thump, his bloodstained knife clattering out of his hand.

She looked down with shaky eyes to see Chat; it was Adrien, he was Chat Noir. And right now he was covered in his own blood, limp in her arms, his kwami curled into his chest just balancing there. His eyes were wide and his breathing disgustingly harsh, he could hardly move his head to look at her, but he did.

What just happened? His eyes asked her with the utmost horror.

She didn't know, she didn't know what had just happened, but, she knew one thing.

"A hospital! We need to get him to a hospital!" She cried out in a voice that sounded startlingly like the one who had screamed out his name before.

The police and people surrounding them were closer than before but remained still, all in shock over seeing what had conspired before them. She was barely able to catch sight of the man who had stabbed him- Adrien, Chat -surrounded by his own ring of police who were holding the man down and arresting him. There were people everywhere, so close together in worry and question that the ambulance would not be able to get out from the crowd in time; she was running out of time, matters would have to be taken into her own hands.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" She asked worriedly looking to the police right in front of her.

"Uh, j-just around the corner and then a block away," He stuttered out, looking intently at Chat's blood covered body in her arms.

"What's its name?" She hissed, holding onto Chat even tighter, she was going to have to carry him there herself. The police gave her the name and she looked back down to Chat, "Hang on."

Of all things he put his free hand not pinned against her body around his kwami and gave her a light nod, his eyes were half closed as she realized he was struggling to stay conscious.

She wrapped her one arm tighter around him while grabbing her yo-yo, it launched out from her hand and wrapped around a chimney from a nearby building. They were off with a bounce, swinging away from the crowd that watched in wonder as they went around the corner and rushed for the nearby hospital.

She burst through the door of the ER, almost shattering the glass of the automatic doors when they didn't open quite fast enough. She called for help and they were immediately surrounded by the doctors and nurses on call.

"He was stabbed," Ladybug informed them as they brought a gurney out and gently lifted him onto it. They asked her who he was, "Chat N- …A-Adrien, Adrien Agreste," She let out with a croak.

One nurse identified the wound right away and put a cloth over it adding pressure to keep him from bleeding out. Ladybug followed them for a moment before they informed her that she had to let go; of course, she'd have to let go if they wanted to do anything to help them. Chat was barely still conscience and used whatever of his last energy to push his kwami into her hands and slip his ring off for her, she took gentle hold of them and stopped in her place. She looked down at the small objects as he was wheeled away; hearing his silent command from the final gesture, protect them.

When he and the group of doctors and nurses were gone, it became silent. Startlingly so, as she stared at the unconscious black kwami in her hands and her ears began to ring. Everything had been so fast before, and now it felt like time had stopped. She caught scent of the blood washed across her body, his blood. Her eyes adjusted and she saw it, a darker red than her suit, and covering her so thick she almost couldn't see the spots, nausea waved through her as it finally occurred to her that she was covered in his blood almost as much as he had been covered in it.

Her mind was dragged out of her thoughts of fear and sickness when her earrings beeped, she needed to hide. Hide so that her identity couldn't be revealed like his, hide so that she wouldn't be in danger like he was now. She looked around for a bathroom, out the glass automatic doors she caught sight of the first reporters to catch up to them, a police officer following closely behind to keep them from intruding into the ER and crowding the door likely. A feeling of disgust welled up in her at the thought that they were just people to watched, to be told their secrets to all of the public and put in danger. She turned her head away and saw the bathroom.

Slowly shuffling over to it in the still empty ER entrance and waiting room, she found the door was luckily unlocked and slipped inside it without hearing the calls of "Mademoiselle, Ladybug, Ladybug, wait." The door closed behind her with a quiet click and she locked it with her one free hand.

She was alone, and with a sigh she placed her forehead against the cool metal door, she looked down to see the black kwami and now silver ring still gently cupped in her hand. Her costume was still covered in blood. Another wave of nausea came over her and she quickly put the kwami and ring on the ground as gently as she could before whipping around and heaving into the open toilet. Everything from her stomach was emptied and she felt a mix of better and worse as the bile burned within her throat.

Another couple of dry heaves and her earrings beeped a final time, her transformation ran out, Tikki swirled out of them and zipped right to the side of Chat Noir's unconscious kwami. Coo's and noises of worry came out of Tikki but before Marinette could ask her anything of it she heard a voice from the other side of the door finally.

"Miss Ladybug are you okay?" It asked, she had no idea who was on the other side of the door as she tiredly looked over her shoulder to it, "Do you need medical assistance as well?" They asked, it must have been a nurse.

"N-no, just…startled is all, and nauseous from seeing the, uh, the blood," Marinette mumbled to the nurse on the other side, unsure if they could actually hear her, it sounded quiet so the police must have done well at keeping everyone out.

"I understand. Miss Ladybug I am one of the assistant clerks from the front desk and we need conformation on who that boy was you brought in, we did not hear who in the commotion, so that we can contact any family he has," The clerk calmly informed her, too calm for how Marinette was feeling now but the woman was just doing her job.

"His name," She paused nervous to say it again, "His name is Adrien Agreste," She told the clerk, hoping they would go away with that answer and leave Marinette to wallow and realize what Chat Noir being Adrien Agreste truly meant.

"Do you have any contacts for him?" She had no such luck.

"No," Unfortunately she didn't, only his cell phone number, which couldn't be used to contact his father.

His father, who, unless he had been watching the news as well, knew nothing about his only son's critical condition, nothing about his being Chat Noir, nothing about his secret being revealed and how much danger he was in right now and in the future. When the man found out he would likely be devastated, and angry, angry at her for not protecting him. How could she let such a thing happen?

A concerned sound came from the clerk, "I-I'm sorry but we cannot contact Gabriel Agreste then, he's only used private doctors and we don't have a file for him or anyone of his family."

Marinette knew what this meant, she would have to be the one to inform him. She would have to go to his house, she could get there the fastest, and tell Gabriel Agreste the terrible news, face him on her own. She slowly pulled herself up from the toilet, looking over at Tikki, still next to Chat's kwami, who had already eaten the cookie she always had on hand in her purse; when had she done that? Marinette shook her head, glad by her companion's thinking ahead.

"I'll go and tell him," She finally said to the clerk.

They gave a quick "thanks" and probably headed back to their desk. Marinette flushed the toilet and moved to wash her hands. Looking down at her hands under the water she remembered that her costume was gone, a shaking fear racked through her, she looked further down at her clothes. By the miracle that was her miraculous, her normal clothes were free of any blood Chat left on her costume, relief flooded through her but also wonder. Where did it go? She thought while looking at Tikki. She turned back to her hands and finished washing them, bringing herself to look in the mirror.

Blood.

There was blood on her face, she realized with horror. She nearly screamed as her eyes bugged out of her head at the sight and she scrambled to grab a paper towel and dampen it. She needed to get the blood off of her face. She scrubbed hard with her shaking hands, watching herself intently so that she got every last drop off of her face. Her face of course, the one piece of her body that wasn't completely covered during her transformation. She checked her hair worriedly for any blood, but aside from a small piece of her bangs that stuck to her head there was none.

She grasped both sides of the sink tightly and bowed her head, staring shakily into the porcelain surface with harsh breaths. It was gone, all gone, for real this time. She stood there for a good half minute before Tikki of all things spoke up and pulled Marinette from her thoughts.

"Marinette," She whispered, and Marinette lifted her head and made eye contact with Tikki, avoiding the mirror lest she see that she was wrong and that she was still covered in his blood, "After we go tell his father, we need to get Plagg to the healer we went to before."

Plagg, that much have been Chat's kwami's name, she looked over to him next to Tikki, eyes still closed and curled into himself, he showed no signs of movement, which was concerning. Marinette nodded and scooped the two kwami's up as well as the ring.

"You can put the ring and Plagg in your purse for now, my magic will protect them and you can have two hands," Tikki suggested, keeping Marinette from thinking over the ring.

She did as Tikki said and quietly called to her to transform. The magic washed over her and she felt stronger, if only physically. Cautiously she looked down at her costume, it was clean, her suit the same red all around, her spots black; he blood was gone, as if it had never been there to begin with. Marinette knew otherwise.

She reached for the door and slowly unlocked it, fearful for anyone that might be on the other side. It opened and she saw room was mostly empty; she looked at the two clerks sitting behind the desk who had pulled their fearful looks away from the direction of the front door to look at her.

"I'm going to the Agreste residence now," She notified the clerks while turning to the front doors.

They were crowded with police, reporters, and the public all alike. How foolish of her to think that she could simply leave out the front door. She turned to the clerks with concern, one of them stood up.

"There's a side door the employees enter through, you can leave through there," The clerk said, gesturing for Ladybug to follow them.

Silently they came to the door way that opened to a small alleyway. Ladybug gave her thanks before swinging up to the roof tops to scout out the Agreste residence from where she was. A number of blocks away she saw the Eiffel Tower and began heading towards it, swinging from rooftop to rooftop. She caught site of the huge house and with one final leap landed on the stone wall that surrounded the residence.

Already there were some reporters nearing the gate, they started calling out for her when they saw her, asking questions about Adrien's wellbeing and if she knew his identity. She swore she heard someone ask why she didn't protect him, why she let him get injured, but she turned away from them. They couldn't have really said that could they? She shook her head and jumped the fence, realizing that her chance to talk to the camera in the front gate and leave was gone. Trespassing will have to do, especially when the homeowner's son was currently at the ER. She knocked hard on the front door of the mansion and tried to ignore the shouting of the reporters behind the gate.

There was silence, and she worried that no one heard her, but there was no doorbell for her to ring. A moment later and the lock clicked from the other side. A huge gorilla-like man opened the door, Adrien's chauffer, she recognized. He looked mildly alarmed at the small crowd of reporters by the gate and gave her a criticizing gaze that questioned why she was here with the reporters mussing up the peaceful home.

"Is Adrien's father home? Please I need to talk to him, his son is in the hospital," She rushed out.

The chauffer's look quickly changed to one of concern as he stood aside and let her in the house. She heard a clack of heels against marble and Ladybug saw Gabriel's assistant to her right, rising from her desk with her own look of concern.

"Is that true?" She asked moving towards Ladybug, apparently having heard what she said.

"Yes, he was stabbed in an akuma attack. Please, his father needs to know," Ladybug pleaded with her.

The woman looked at her with the utmost horror, "Stabbed?!" She practically screamed out, Ladybug nodded, the woman frowned, "Gabriel is in a business meeting on the other end of town, but I can call him… What hospital is Adrien at?"

Ladybug told her its name, not remembering the cross streets, the woman rushed behind her desk and likely typed in the name of the hospital to find its exact location. The chauffer who had left without Ladybug realizing it returned and tossed a coat over the woman's desk.

"Did you admit him to the ER?" She asked, again she nodded and the woman quickly punched in a number to her desk phone and impatiently waited for it to pick up.

It did, and Ladybug heard the quiet voice of who she guessed was the call clerk for the ER greeting her and informing her that she called the front desk of the hospital's ER room. The woman worriedly asked for information about Adrien, telling the desk who she was and confirming that he was really there, the clerk answered her questions and Gabriel's assistant notified them that she and Adrien's father would be heading there soon, she slammed the phone down and began punching in another number. The woman hit the call button and once again waited impatiently for the phone to pick up, it took much longer. Ladybug heard angry mumblings of "Come on, pick up" from the woman.

When Adrien's father finally picked up, Ladybug realized that she had no reason to still be here; Adrien's father was being told now that his son was in the hospital. She had no reason to join them as she had already been there, no reason to wait and worry merely a few rooms away of whether or not he was going to live; she felt her heart rate increase. Besides she needed to take Plagg to the old healer. Adrien's father yelled from the other end of the phone loud enough for the three of them to hear, she had no desire to be within the vicinity of his father when he inevitably found out the whole story as he would undoubtedly blame her.

She began to back away as the woman once again slammed down the phone when the conversation was done and shoved on her jacket in a most violent matter.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," She said.

The woman and Chauffer looked at her as they headed to another part of the house, likely a garage of some sort. There was a brief question of "You're not coming with?" that crossed their minds before it occurred to them that she may have other injured person's families to warn. They nodded and thanked her for notifying them of what had happened and she flew out the front door to her last destination.

She couldn't remember where the old man's place was but something told her to check her yo-yo. From a roof top at least two blocks from the Agreste's residence, away from all the reporters who had gathered there, she popped open her yo-yo. On the screen there was a little red dot on a map, where she was, and a little green dot a good distance away, it must have been the old man's location. She followed it, occasionally stopping to check that she was going the right direction as well as wasn't being followed, until she landed on his building with a resounding thud. Into a nearby windowless alley she released her transformation and followed Tikki's lead into the building. Up, up, up the stairs until she faced the door that Tikki reminded was the door to the healer.

Marinette remembered this, the door, the similar feeling of concern for the safety of her friend, was this the only way she would ever see the man? She was about to knock on the door but it opened suddenly, as if it knew she was there, revealing the old man standing before her.

"Come in, come in," He instructed, stepping to the side so she could do so.

The door closed behind them and he led her to the middle of the room where they both sat down, folding their legs underneath. She gave no excuses this time, far too aware now that this man at least knew of the existence of kwamis, and possibly their identities as superheroes. Tikki flew from her pocket and onto Marinette's shoulder as she popped open her purse and gently pulled out Plagg. The old man looked over him once he was placed on the plush mat before them.

"He was stabbed while transformed," She explained, her words but a whisper.

The old man hummed at the information, reaching his hands out to hover over the black kwami's form while he let out a low chant. Marinette sat still, watching and listening intently as he concentrated hard on his healing incantation. After several long, drawn out minutes of this the old man pulled away his hands and let out a sigh to relax his shoulders, Marinette stared and waited for Plagg to spring up good as new like Tikki did, she frowned when he didn't.

"He will need a couple of days to rest and sleep," the old man explained, sitting up straight and staring ahead, "Keep him somewhere safe and warm, and have some food nearby when he comes to."

"Is there anything in particular he eats," She asked, trying to keep her mind focused and hoping the man would have an answer.

"He's a particular fellow, always preferred smelly cheeses to anything else," The old man answered wistfully.

Marinette briefly recalled how Adrien's bag, and sometimes he, would always smell faintly of Camembert, she always questioned it before but it made sense now. That cheese was a bit expensive, which was concerning over how much the kwami would need to eat, Tikki could easily down a batch of cookies in two particularly busy days. She sighed remembering that they at least had one wheel in their fridge at the moment and hoped that it would be enough for the time being.

They sat quietly together, Marinette taking a moment to breathe, she had done everything she could at the moment and now there was nothing left but to wait. A sudden weariness overcame her, after everything that had happened she was tired, but her mind was still racing with worry.

"I know you are concerned for him," The old man spoke softly, breaking Marinette's thoughts, she looked up to him, he smiled sympathetically, "It was lucky that he was still transformed while it happened, his kwami's magic protected him from being lost right away," She knew what that meant, lost, dying, "But know that you are both strong, and you were chosen because you are strong. The actions you took today were smart, and I know you want to worry, to do more, but you've done all that you can today. You need your rest as well as he will when he comes to."

Marinette almost couldn't believe how sure the old man was that Chat was going come out of this alive, while he may have known what had happened already and what she had done, did he really know how much blood had come from Chat? How much blood she had been covered in?

"Marinette," He said in a soft voice, placing his hands of her shoulder and bringing her attention to him. Her view came back into focus and she stared into his dark, kind eyes, "You need to go home, you're parents are worried about you, and you need rest."

Her parents, of course, she had been out of the house for too long, and they most likely had seen on the news what had happened to Chat. They didn't really know where she was and were probably riddled with worry.

"Right," She breathed, trying to will herself to stand.

He let go of her shoulders and handed her the sleeping black kwami, she could see him breathing now, gentle and paced, relief washed through her at seeing some kind of positive development. Placing him gently in her purse she found the ability to finally stand, the old man doing so with her.

"Through the window," he said tilting his head to the window behind her.

She nodded back and for the first time ever transformed in front of another human being. This man was someone trusted by the kwamis, and likely already knew of her and Chat's identities, there was no harm in revealing to him what he already knew. He opened the balcony door for her, she gave a polite "good bye" and a "thank you" before once again leaping away.

She made her way home, slower this time and watching for any reporters, there were none. The day was still bright, too bright for how she felt, but she continued forward until she landed at the side door of her building. No one was in sight so she released her transformation for hopefully the last time that day and slowly pushed the door open. She headed over to the back entrance of their bakery, her father was by the ovens, watching the little television attentively as it displayed the news. Her mother was no doubt at the front counter, but still listening to the news broadcast since the volume was turned up much louder than it would typically be. Her father noticed her enter the door and jumped up.

"Marinette!" He cried pulling her into a tight embrace.

Marinette hugged him back tightly as her mother came rushing into the back of the bakery, she gave her own cry before joining the hug. Marinette felt good, she was grounded in their hug, and she was reminded that she was safe, even if Chat was not; she was here, she was here. Her parents released her.

"We were so worried about you!" "Where were you?" "Have you heard what happened?" They asked question after question.

"I-I'm fine," She said with a small smile, tears suddenly welling up in her eyes over their concern, stars she loved them. She was so happy to see them safe, even though there was no reason for them not to be, "I, I did hear what happened-well…N-no, not just hear. I… I saw what happened, I was there."

"What?!" Her parents both screamed, well over the volume of the television.

"I happened, um, to be watching the fight, and, I was in the crowd, and I saw it," she lied easily, "I'm sorry I didn't call you when it happened, I was just so… so shocked when I saw it. And when everyone left, I walked home. I'm sorry I took so long."

She looked at the little clock near one of the ovens, it was almost an hour since she was at the ER, had it really been that long?

"Oh, honey, we're so sorry," Her parents began to coo, still rubbing their hands over her shoulders as a way to comfort her.

"So… so am I," She mumbled looking away, she sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "I just want to go to bed."

"Of course honey, we understand," But they didn't, they hadn't seen it for real, they didn't know that she was the one to carry him to the ER, that she was the only other one covered in his blood, "We're just so glad to hear that at least you're safe."

Marinette gave them a light nod as they pulled her into another hug and peppered her face in kisses.

She headed up to her room, placed Plagg into the little fluffy bed she had built for Tikki, who curled up next to him in worry, and collapsed into her bed.

Everything was finally still, she was home, and she was alone, aside from the quiet resting kwamis and her thoughts.

A/N: Thanks to my love Tangledfire Blac for Beta reading this and fixing my phrasing so its legible and tolerable, go check her out on here and wherever else!

This fic is going to be fun because if you couldn't tell from this chapter, it's going to be a long one, longer than I've ever really attempted. Chapters will for the most part update every two weeks on Fridays. That will hopefully give me enough time to update on a regular schedule, I have up to 5 chapters written now but I'm tired, in college, and am a lazy individual overall, we'll see how it turns out.

Please review with your thoughts, thank you.