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*Marinette's P.O.V*
The first thing when waking up, I noticed the silence. I jumped when my phone's alarm went off and quickly turned it off. Tikki was still sound asleep, and I desperately wanted to join her but knew that it would be impossible to sleep even if I just rolled around the whole night with barely a wink of rest. My mind was filled with many different things. I just want to hide under my covers for the whole day and forget the events of yesterday but urged myself out of the warmth of the bed.
I changed into my everyday clothes before heading downstairs to see the kitchen empty. I froze and looked away for a moment to gather myself then continued to make myself some breakfast. I had to keep repeatedly reminding myself that mama was okay and safe in the hospital. She is tough and will be alright, back in the bakery where she belongs then everything will be back to normal. It just has to be.
Not paying attention, my elbow hit the box of cereal, making a mess on the floor. For a moment, I just stared at it then sighed. I turned in my seat to stand up which caused my other elbow to hit my bowl and spill it all over the table. I cursed under my breath and slammed my fist on the table, recoiling from the stinging pain that shot up my arm. Taking a couple deep breathes to calm down, I stood up and went to grab a wash rag to clean the milk.
"Marinette, is everything okay?" my papa asked, poking his head through the door. I looked up from cleaning the table and saw the change from worry to understanding. Papa grabbed a broom from the bakery and began to sweep up the cereal.
"Papa, I can clean this up. You go deal with the customers," I said, urging him to go back downstairs. He gave his bright, warm smile that didn't have much of the same cheeriness it usually had.
"It's alright. The bakery doesn't open for a little while and there are no big orders from anyone so I should be able to get them done quickly," he said, finishing up by grabbing the box and throwing away the cereal that was on the floor. I finished cleaning up my mess on the table.
"Thank you, I'm sorry that I made a mess," I apologized, feeling guilty that I made dad stop his work to help me. I felt his large hand place itself on my shoulder and looked up to see a sympathetic smile.
"It was an accident. There is no need to apologize, since I wanted to help clean this up," He reassured. That brought a small smile to my face, and I hugged him burying my face into his chest. He returned the gesture. We stayed like that, until I pulled away and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Go get finished getting ready, or you'll be late getting to school," he said, shooing me away. I went back up to my room and grabbed my purse and school bag. Tikki flew over giving me skeptical look before asking, "What happened?"
"One of my many natural disasters," I explained, shrugging. My Kwami chuckled then shook her head back in forth, saying, "What are we going to do with you?"
I laughed a little before opening my purse and letting Tikki fly into it. Closing my purse, I made my way down to the bakery and grabbed a croissant before heading to school. For the first time, I was actually early and went upstairs to my class to wait until Alya arrived. I felt like I was forgetting something but once I sat down, a wave of tiredness brought me into dreamland from taking a toll from an almost sleepless night.
"Maybe, I can rest for a little bit until people start arriving," I told myself and rested my head on the table, not hearing what Tikki had said, before I was out like a light. I jolted awake and let out a surprised gasp, falling out of my chair when someone poked me in the side. Giggling could hear from above and my first thought was Chloe until seeing Alya with trying to hold back her laughter, offering me a hand. I took her hand as she helped me up.
"I didn't think you were that ticklish, girl," she said, still trying not to laugh. I rolled my eyes and smirked as we sat back down in our seats, I noticed the classroom was slowly filling up and with students.
"Okay, down to more important matters," my best friend continued, eyeing me carefully.
"Let me guess, you have an amazing scoop on the Ladyblog that you're about to rant on and on about," I teased, earning a slight punch on the shoulder.
"Not yet," she said, smirking with a hint of questioning in her eyes.
"Here we go," I thought.
"Where were you yesterday? You never came back after lunch and never responded to any of my texts," Alya asked, a sliver of worry showing. I was not prepared to answer that question. School was supposed to help me forget my mother's unexpected predicament, but life has its ways to remind you of things you just want to forget. The playful side of me quickly faded into one of sadness as my thoughts went down a darker road.
"I…I don't really want to talk about it right now," I told her, hugging myself.
"I see what's going on," Alya said, adjusting her glasses. I looked over at her nervous that she figured out the situation my family is in or that I'm Ladybug. My heartbeat quickened as a stared at her with anticipation.
"You are stressed out from school. I bet you even forgot to do your homework, because you probably fell asleep and didn't wake up until school ended. It also explains why you are also so tired. You had a hard time falling back asleep from your earlier nap," Alya theorized, placing her hand on my shoulder. Not wanting to worry Alya or let her spread the news around, I agreed with her.
"Haha, you caught me," I lied, making the best fake smile possible. Then realization hit, I forgot to do my homework but at least it worked once Alya handed me her homework to copy off of. Then, she began her rant about the latest scoop as I copied so thankful for my best friend who saves my grade.
"The weirdest thing happened last night," the blogger said, scrolling through her blog before shoving her phone to my face. There was a picture of Chat Noir on top of the Eiffel Tower searching for something. I didn't find this weird at all until reading the article's title, "Where's Ladybug?".
A pile of imaginary bricks fell on top of me. I completely forgot Chat and I had patrol last night! Once Alya returned her eyes to her phone's screen, continuing with her and Ladyblog fan's conspiracies, I hit my head against the desk a couple of times. That was my first time I've actually missed patrol in my whole Ladybug career.
I finished copying just as the teacher walked in and everyone was seated. At least that's what I thought, until noticing a certain blonde was not sitting in the seat in front of me. As Miss Bustier did attendance, I shifted over the desk a little and called for Nino quietly.
The DJ turned around in his seat with a questioning "Yeah".
"Where's Adrien?" I asked, in a whispering tone.
"Something about a very important photoshoot that had to be taken in the early morning. I feel bad for him. He probably had to wake up earlier than usual," Nino explained, resting his head in the palm of his hand. Satisfied with the answer, I sat back in my seat and Miss Bustier started the lesson. I almost fell asleep a couple of times but was rudely awakened by a slight poke in the side, giving the offender a glare. The day went on slowly, until Adrien came during the middle of our chemistry class.
He handed a note to the teacher before yawning and taking his seat. I noticed how completely exhausted the model seemed as he greeted Nino and rested his head in the palm of his hand. Another jab in the side snapped me out of my thoughts and almost let out a squeak of surprise. My eyes swiveled over to a smirking Alya with yet another glare from me. She was having too much fun with that.
As soon as class ended, I was gathering my things when a certain someone poked my side once more. This time I jump a bit too much and ended up tripping backwards, waiting to make contact with the floor. Instead, I fell into waiting arms and slowly opened my eyes to meet with gorgeous green ones. My face began to heat up when seeing that it was my crush that just caught me, now setting me back on to my feet.
"Are you okay, Marinette?" Adrien asked, checking if I was alright. I was in a daze and didn't catch much of what he said before attempting to reply without looking like an idiot.
"Y-Yeah, I'm d-doing fell-I mean, swell! S-Sorry for falling for you-I M-MEAN, FALLING ON YOU!" I stuttered like crazy, looking like a huge fool. I could even hear Chloe and Sabrina snickering behind a confused Adrien. Alya grabbed my shoulders and made up an excuse then quickly guided me out the door. As soon as we were far enough, I groaned in embarrassment and hid my red face in my hands.
"That was a disaster! I can't believe how much of an idiot I sounded like! What am I going to do Alya? He will think I'm weird and date Chloe! Then we'll never go on a date, get married, and get a house. Poor Hugo, Emma, and Louis will never exist and another hamster will be homeless! And it's all because I sound like a glitch on a scratched movie disk!" I ranted, breathing heavily after finishing.
"Girl, chill. I don't think Adrien would ever think you were weird or have even the slightest thought about dating that dog whose bark is bigger than her bite," Alya reassured me. I sighed, knowing that she was right.
"You're right, Alya," I finally admitted, smiling at the blogger.
"And I will always hear you say those two magical words," She said, holding up her phone and rewinding a recording of what I said.
"This is so going to be my new ringtone every time you call or text."
"ALYA!" I complained, trying to grab her phone. We laughed as I tried to steal the phone to delete the recording. Alas, I had to leave before lunch ended so I can check up on papa and restock on cookies for Tikki, since I didn't yesterday. I waved my best friend farwell before heading to the bakery for lunch. To my surprise, the bakery was closed again.
I stood there for a moment before grabbing the hidden key, unlocking the door and walking inside. The whole bakery was dark like a ghost town as I made my way upstairs to the kitchen. I grabbed some cookies for Tikki and let her eat while I grabbed something from the fridge.
"Marinette," Tikki called, making me turn to see my Kwami holding a note.
"Why is your dad going to the hospital?" She asked, worried. My eyes widen as I hurriedly grabbed the note and read:
I'm going to the hospital. There are leftovers in the fridge that you can warm up.
Love, papa
"Marinette, what's going on?" she asked, begging for some answers. I looked away from her big, blue eyes that were full of concern for me. I sighed, giving in but didn't look at Tikki as I answered, "My mom is sick with a serious illness called…I don't remember nor do I want to know the situation it's put my family through."
"I am so sorry, Marinette," my Kwami apologized, feeling bad for asking such a touchy subject. I looked at her and shook my head.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You were only worried that I was keeping something important from you. I should have told you what was going on instead of keeping it to myself. I just wanted to be strong for everyone so they wouldn't worry about me," I explained.
"Is that why you didn't tell Alya," Tikki questioned.
"Come on, Tikki. You know how much Alya jumps to conclusions and loves being right," I teased, making us both laugh. My phone began to ring and answered, seeing papa's phone number.
"Hi, papa," I said, almost hesitating then waited for a reply.
"Hey Mari, are you home?" he asked.
"Yes, why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm going to be there in a bit. You wouldn't believe how long of a line I was just in to bring takeout home for supper and now there is a traffic jam but it's letting up" he said.
"Alright, see you soon!" I replied, happily. We said our goodbyes before hanging up and sighed in relief, not realizing that I was holding my breath. The Tikki nuzzled my hand a bit, providing comfort. I smiled then loaded my purse with cookies to go and looked at the time, seeing papa wasn't going to make it.
"You ready to head back to school?" I asked Tikki. I turned to the landline phone and noticed a red one on the small screen, meaning that there was a message for the Dupain-Cheng's and not the bakery. Curiosity got the better of me and pressed play.
"You have one new message," the answering machine spoke robotically then replaced with a different voice, "This is Saint-Louis Hospital. We regret to inform you that Sabine Dupain-Cheng has passed away. We did the best we could do. I'm so sorry for your loss."
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