"You're bluffing it's another illusion!" Chat yelled to Volpina.
"You wanna bet on that?" she sneered. Her hand slowly letting go of Adrien's wrist until he was released from her grasp.
Marinette couldn't hear but feel in her throat the shriek of her yelling "No!" reaching out to save him.
Marinette woke up with a start, her eyes shooting open realizing it was just a dream, Adrien was okay it was only a dream of the illusion Volpina made her see. Her eyelids become heavy again but every time they closed, even for a millisecond, all she could see was Adrien falling. Marinette looked at her alarm clock and had actually woken up about 10 minutes before her first of many alarms.
Sighing she sat up and rubbed her eyes trying to wipe the image away.
"Another bad dream?" Tikki asked softly flying over to sit on her pillow.
Marinette sighed and gave the kwami a small smile.
"Yeah, but don't worry Tikki, it's just a dream," she said with a sigh getting up. As she got ready she reminded herself that Adrien was safe and Volpina was just another akuma who was gone. Throughout her time as Ladybug, Marinette slowly got accustomed to dreams of past akumas and all the other parts of being Ladybug, both good and bad. The bad ones though, they were the things you see for days the second you close your eyes. The arrows of Dark Cupid piercing Alya and Chat but instead of altering emotions they were just arrows going through the hearts of her friends. Her mother and father floating away in bubbles, knowing they were lost. The many times Chat had taken a hit for her but never recovered. Each dream left Marinette exhausted, covered in cold sweat and the images left always in the back of her mind.
Once she finished putting her signature pigtails in place she took a last look in the mirror, the cover-up she had applied did a good enough job for the ever-increasing bags under her eyes. She grabbed her bag as Tikki flew in and headed down to breakfast.
"Good moooorning maman." Marinette yawned.
"Good morning Marinette, awake early again? What ever will you do with all this time to actually sit and eat your breakfast?" Her mother teased with a smile putting a muffin on a plate for her daughter.
"Yeah…. Well, I just thought I should try not to be as late so I don't get in trouble." Marinette said with a small smile to make light of the situation.
After she finished her breakfast she got her bag and headed out to school. When she got to her classroom it was mostly empty except for Nathaniel in the back working in his sketchbook, (the one with the hair and her boyfriend) and she had passed Kim and one other guy running or something).
Marinette placed her bag on the table with the softer side up and put her head down to rest her eyes. Her body felt so heavy from lack of sleep, she should have grabbed a coffee before she left. She wished that these dreams would stop so that she could just get a good night's sleep for once. Slowly the classroom's volume slowly increases and she heard someone sit down next to her.
"Hey girl, you okay?" Alya's smiled slightly but her eyes looked worried. Marinette picked up her head from her bag and moved her head around to get the stiffness out of her neck.
"Yeah, I'm fine I just didn't sleep to well last night." She responded turning to the blond head staring at her.
"A-Adrien! Hi, w-when did you get here?" her voice went up a tad, she hadn't heard any movement in front of her while she rested her eyes. He seemed a bit startled and rubbed the back of his head.
"I got here like 5 minutes ago but I didn't want to be too loud since you looked so tired." He said with a soft smile that made Marinette's heart pound. She felt her face begin to warm up then remembered why she was so tired.
"T-thanks, that was kind." She said quietly looking back at her bag.
"No problem, I hope you sleep better!" he said with another smile that helped her remember what was real and what wasn't. It was just a dream, he was fine and he's right there.
"Damn Marinette, you've really outdone yourself this time!" Nino said as he sat down next to Adrien.
"What are you talking about Nino?" What did she do this time? Not sleep?
"Your designs! Those bags under your eyes are quite impressive!" He joked trying to cheer up his friend.
"Thanks, I worked really hard on them, worked on them most last night." She responded. To her surprise Adrien started laughing, she had forgotten he was listening to her and felt her face blush again. She felt a nudge from Alya who was giving her an approving look that she made him laugh.
By that time the teacher had walked in and the class started quieting down.
She honestly didn't know how she made it through the day without falling asleep sitting up. She did, however, zone out often and was scolded by the teacher which made Chloe snicker. The day was mostly uneventful after that. Marinette was just ready to get home and take a nap.
Marinette and Chat Noir flew across the city looking out for anything out of the ordinary for their Tuesday patrol. It was as if she were on auto-pilot checking always and swinging from building to building, lost in thought of the haunting images that had plagued her dreams lately, Adrien falling, Chat Noir and her Miraculous' being taken, the city finding out it is her underneath the mask and being so ashamed, they just kept coming and coming. She finished her side and sat down waiting for Chat. She looked out on the city in exhaustion not a single thought in her head just a pure zoned out moment of exhaustion.
"Ladybug!" Marinette jerked suddenly at the loud call coming from next to her.
"Gah! Chat you don't have to yell I'm right here" She said a tad irritated. He sat down cautiously next to her.
"Are you okay?" He said turning to her with a serious look in his eyes she rarely saw.
"What makes you ask?" She turned her head back looking at the city.
"I came up to you and said your name 3 times and only when I shouted you heard me, you've been really zoned out the past couple patrols… But you never answered me, are you ok?" Chat said propping one leg up turning to full on face her. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes were far away.
"Do you…. Ever have dreams?" She said quietly. Chat gave her a surprised look and looked out towards the city, his ears drooping slightly responding a bit above a whisper.
"Yeah… I think I know the kind of dreams you're talking about…" Marinette looked over towards her partner, his eyes unseeing the city before him but the images he most likely saw in a dream.
"How often do you get them?" she whispered as she pulled her legs up towards her and wrapped her arms around them.
Chat sighed,
"It depends, for me it can be right after an akuma attack or just randomly. My…" he paused and closed his eyes.
"The worst dream I ever had was two days after Animan… it was the dinosaur, but it-" His voice was barely above a whisper
"it was so much… so much worse…" Marinette's eyes widened with the implications of what could have been an extremely gruesome moment. Her heart was pounding and throat hurt slightly from the emotions. She reached over to Chat and grabbed onto his hand, his eyes flying open but otherwise unmoving. Marinette took a deep breath,
"I'm right here kitty and I won't ever do anything like that again... Without telling you first" She said with a faint smile, he turned to face her with a sad smile. Marinette turned back towards the city, still holding Chat's hand.
"I've been having them more lately…. Since Volpina they've gotten worse…" Chat's hand tightened on hers.
"I've met the boy she held captive as both a superhero and a civilian…" Ladybug couldn't tell that Chat's heart stopped right when she said that, he had actually met Ladybug and they were both without the mask!? His brain going to every interaction he could possibly think of.
"I hear him beg me to help him…. Then I see her drop him. Some nights I'm spared and I wake up before he hits the ground…. Other nights…" She trailed off, somehow a single tear appeared and slipped out onto her.
Marinette slowly looked at Chat Noir who was looking at her with such an emotion that looked like a mix of surprise, pain, determination, confusion, and such sadness. Without words, the two moved closer together and embraced one another.
Chat wanted more than anything to just be able to say, 'I'm right here My Lady, I'm okay and I know you would catch me.'
The two stayed there for quite some time, eventually with Marinette's head resting on Chat's shoulder and his head atop hers, fingers linked back together after their embrace. They sat there for a while just being in each others presence is calming. Chat, however, was thinking at a million mile an hour trying to process both the seriousness of the conversation but also the fact they met before. They knew they had to get going though once a faint beeping noise brought them back. Marinette raised her heavy head from Chat's shoulder and sighed.
"I guess that's my cue to leave." She stood up slowly and helped Chat stand too.
"Thank you, Chat." She said looking up into his green eyes. With a soft smile, he raised his hand to cup her face and kissed her on her forehead. Chat thought to himself there will be another night to make a move and kiss her but tonight is for comfort.
"Anytime My Lady." After another beep, Marinette pulled away with a faint blush across her cheeks.
"Goodnight Mon Minou," She said before disappearing into the night back to her home. Chat stood there for a minute before heading back to his empty house for the night.
When Marinette got home she was exhausted, physically and emotionally. As Tikki flew out of her earings she went and hugged her Chosen's cheek.
"You okay, Marinette?" Tikki asked quietly.
"Yeah, Thanks, Tikki, I'm exhausted I feel a bit better."
Marinette sighed as she changed into her pajamas. It was a bit upsetting but also comforting at the same time to hear that Chat's dreams were affected by fighting akumas. As her head hit the pillow it hit her that they should figure out a way to contact each other so if one had a bad dream they could call or text the other. The idea itself isn't so complicated but how would they communicate? Texting they would have to share their phone numbers, emails might be too slow if they forgot to check their email. There is probably an app they could use exclusively to message each other on that also does phone calls. She would have to remember to tell Chat that next time they saw each other. With the comfort of the thoughts of her partner and the mental and physical exhaustion, Marinette easily fell into a dreamless sleep for the night.
AN: Thank you for reading! This is my second fanfiction but my first Miraculous Ladybug fanfic. This is something for fun I don't have a proofreader or anything other than Grammarly and google docs and I am completely fine with that. I am in college majoring in design actually which is one of the reasons I love this show and the fanfiction (shout out to that one fanfic where Marinette is on project runway fantastic story i think its called Chasing the C/h/at Walk) So I may not update at a regular pace but posting the story is my way to get myself to actually finish it. Either way I hope you enjoy the story! I have quite a bit written out already so there is more to come!
Thank you for reading!