Summary:

Chloe is home with minor injuries, one would think she'd feel relief.

But she doesn't.

And that's just the beginning of it.

Warning?

This fic will contain a bit of violence, issues with mental health (anxiety, PTSD, depression), also I may type up smut, not now, (this is a slowburn) but later on.

Genre:

Heavy Angst, Hurt / Comfort, Enemies, Friends to Lovers

Chapter: Despair

Chloe had returned home just a few hours ago, minor scratches, bruises and emotional scars were her only injuries. She felt a mix of emotions, all ranging from, sad, angry, and once again, sad. Just those three, in that order. She was quick to shut the door in her father's face as soon as she arrived to her room's door, she practically darted in. She just wanted to be alone. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

She didn't want to explain what happened.

Cause then they'd know.

She failed.

Chloe had slipped into her bed, trying to take refuge from her problems, she curled under the comforter, she was now a trembling ball under the sheets, her pillows were pushed off the bed as she shifted about, trying and trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in, but the mercy of sleep wasn't coming to claim her temporarily from her problems like it usually did. She was tired, but she just couldn't sleep. Everytime she shut her eyes, her mind began to flood with thoughts, and every moment her eyes were open, her mind had gone blank.

She screwed her eyes shut, tears starting to well up, glistening upon her lashes.

And her mind began to drift back.

Back to Marinette.

'I'm sorry'

Chloe hugged her knees to her chest, she felt a knot forming in her throat, she felt her chest tighten, she took her bottom lip between her teeth, her body was in fetal position.

'I'm so sorry'

She'd never felt so small, so alone, so…helpless. She tried to keep it together, she did everything she could, she knew that if she broke down, Marinette would have…

Blue eyes snapped open, her vision was met by darkness. Tears escaping her eyes and running down the left side of her face, she brought a hand to her chest, placing it just over her heart and clutched the area gently but also tightly. She doesn't know what she'd do with herself if the ravenette hadn't made it, she doesn't know if she would have been able to move on from that. She and Marinette weren't on good terms, they'd been at each other's throats since they met when they were just a couple of 10 year olds. But despite all the words of hate they spat at each other, Marinette had thrown herself straight into danger for her, for her of all people.

Marinette truly was a good person. Everyone always said she was, even towards people who didn't deserve kind gestures.

The sudden taste of Copper pulled Chloe from her thoughts, she released her bottom lip from between her teeth and gently passed her tongue over her bottom lip, she winces slightly, she had bitten her lip hard enough to draw blood. She sucked in a shaky breath, the side of her face was drenched in tears due to the fabric she rested the side of her face on being soaked with the salty liquid. She pressed her lips tightly together, she felt a sob coming on, she felt that knot in her throat growing bigger and bigger, she tried so hard to swallow the on coming sobs, she was fighting to keep herself together.

And just as more and more tears kept coming out of her eyes, her phone began to vibrate.

She wanted to ignore it.

She tried to.

Chloe released a heavy deep sigh and slowly released the knees she'd been huggin to her chest, she sat up, the comforter pooling around her waist, she turned her body to get out of the bed, slowly she stood up and walked to her desk. She reached out and grabbed her phone, and she felt her chest tighten at the picture of her childhood best friend gracing her screen. She screwed her eyes shut and slid her thumb over to the right to decline call. She didn't want to talk to Adrien of all people, that boy was most kindest being she knew, but she was afraid, afraid that maybe he'd blame her for what happened to Marinette.

And she didn't know if she could carry that burden.

She felt her knees starting to shake, she screwed her eyes shut, tears falling onto her dark screen, she was going to set the phone back down, but stopped when the phone began to vibrate again, blue eyes opened to meet another picture gracing her screen, it was Sabrina. Chloe hesitated, her hands shaking, her knees growing weaker and weaker. She frowned heavily, her eyebrows furrowed.

She screwed her eyes shut and slid her thumb to the left, she answered the call.

"CHLOE!?", came that familiar voice.

Chloe felt a small amount of relief flood her, she felt comfort in hearing Sabrina's voice. She bit her bottom lip for a moment and opened her eyes to look at the picture of her best friend, she felt her will to stay strong, dwindle, that knot in her throat finally pushed the sobs she'd been fighting to keep at bay, out.

And she began to cry and cry, sobbing, whimpering and just...crying

"CHLOE! CHLOE!?", Sabrina began to yell over the phone, her tone was frantic and filled with concern.

Chloe couldn't get any words together, she merely fell to her knees, her grip on her phone tightened.

"Chloe", Sabrina's voice grew softer. "Talk to me, please.", she pleaded softly.

Chloe took a good minute, trying to compose herself as much as she could, she brought a hand to her knee, her knuckles quickly grow white as she gripped her knee tightly, she brought the phone to her ear and spoke.

"It's…a-all my fault…", her voice broke as she began to whimper.

"Chloe, don't do that, don't blame yourself-"

"It is...my fault! She got hurt because I-"

And before Chloe could finish talking, another voice joined in.

"Chloe! You did what you could, it's not your fault!", came another voice, one she knew so well.

"A-Adrien?", Chloe whimpered.

"I'm coming over whether you want me to or not, Chlo...what happened today, isn't your fault, it happens, these things happen, you did your best", Adrien spoke gently, his voice and words always made Chloe have faith in the male gender, faith that maybe not all boys were icky, loud and stupid.

Chloe swallowed thickly, her breathing was uneven, her lips trembling, "But, my best wasn't...enough. Marinette...she didn't...deserve that, I-I…I don't know what I'd have done if…", Chloe screwed her eyes shut again, "...I'm not some superhero, I thought I could do it...but I can't, I can't…", and before Adrien could speak anymore, She hung up.

Despair.

That's the sinking feeling she had then, and still has now.

Feel free to leave some feed back!

Expect lots of angst!

The Ao3 version of this fic is at 8 chapters, will be posting the 9th chapter later today/early tomorrow.

Anyways, I hope that I manage to entertain some of you readers, thanks for reading!