The next morning, there was a knock at the door.
A tall policeman with red hair stood in the doorway. "Please open the door."
Marinette quietly stepped back and grabbed the diary, flipping it open to the newest entry. 'Officer Roger shows up. Adrien is with him. Can I tell him about the bodies with Adrien there? Officer Roger has a diary, and wants to protect us. Good or bad?' She looked back out the peephole, then opened the door. "Yes sir?" she asked, hiding the diary and her yo-yo behind her back.
"Are you Marinette, the first?" he asked, offering a kind smile. "I'm fourth, Officer Roger Raincomprix. I'm here to keep you two kids safe, okay?"
"Just Marinette is fine," she smiled, trying to act charming.
He nodded. "Great! Adrien and I have been talking. It sucks that you two got roped into this game."
"Yeah,it does," she agreed, opening the door. "Would you like to come in?"
He shook his head. "Actually, I've been picking up leads, and I think we may have found another diary holder. The Sacred Eye cult has a seer girl whose prophecies have recently been very accurate. A Lila girl?"
"I see," she stepped out, shutting the door. "The name sounds familiar," she mentioned, glancing around. "You weren't followed, right?"
"We weren't," Adrien piped up, smiling. "Don't worry, Princess, I'll take care of any stalkers that come our way." He winked, grinning.
'You're one to talk,' she would have said, if she weren't slightly terrified of him at the moment. "I'll get changed, then we can follow this lead of yours. Behave yourself," she ordered, giving Adrien a pointed glare.
He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yes my Lady."
She sighed and started up to her bedroom. "I made croissants for breakfast. You're welcome to help yourself," she told them.
He beamed, hugging her. "Your the most wonderful girl to ever exist!"
"Yeah, I know," she muttered, pushing him off her and shutting the door. She started changing, setting the diary face up on her desk to read. 'We headed to see the psychic. She let us in. She has a diary! She seems very nice to me. Adrien is being very rude to her...' She frowned. It could be a ploy to get close... or could the psychic actually be on the no-kill side? She finished changing and walked out. "Okay, I'm ready!"
Adrien smiled, offering a hand. "Officer Roger says we can ride in the cruiser! Isn't that cool?"
"Great. We'll get there faster," she said, not taking his hand. "Keep your eyes sharp, but don't attack unless you have to."
He nodded. "If I have to?"
"And I have to confirm that it's necessary with you," she opened the door to the cruiser and climbed in the back.
He sat beside her. "If you insist, I suppose."
She nodded, sticking her yo-yo in her satchel, not meeting his eyes. "Let's go."
They drove to the culthouse in relative silence. Marinette gazed out the window, watching Paris pass by. She wished she could talk to Alya, but the diary has said she would either get a busy signal or told that the video was still being edited. She gasped slightly as Adrien took her hand in his, playing with her fingers, and kissing her palm. She didn't remove her gaze from the window, but she gave his hand a squeeze to calm him. He'd be a hassle if he was overly affectionate in the culthouse.
He quieted as they walked into the culthouse to see the girl behind the wooden bars. Lila Rossi. The All Seeing Eye Prophet. Marinette was the first one to speak, stepping forward and said with a friendly tone. "Hi, you must be Lila. My name's Marinette."
"I know," Lila smiled sweetly. "You're the beautiful, courageous girl who refuses to kill. The most incredible Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I have seen your soul, and you are pure."
"T-Thank you?" Marinette turned a bit red. She was used to being complemented by Adrien, but getting such high praise from a stranger was still odd. "I mean, it's really nothing."
Lila offered another smile, the type of motherly smile that a teenage girl shouldn't have been able to pull off. "As the eye of god, I hold no intentions of becoming one myself. However..." she pulled out a scroll. "My diary has predicted my death. And I would love to help you, if you would protect me tonight."
"Of course!" Marinette beamed, taking Lila's hand with a big smile. Finally, someone who didn't want to kill to be a god! "We'd be more than happy to, right guys?"
"Of course," Officer Roger smiled.
Adrien, on the other hand, frowned. "I'm a model. I've recited lines. And I recognize when they're being recited."
"Adrien!" Marinette chastised, whipping around to look at him. "Don't listen to him, Lila. He's... Been in this longer than I have."
Lila laughed. "It's fine! His soul is a darker one... but not the worst I've seen!"
"How long do you need us to stay to protect you?" Marinette asked, starting to feel like her former... Marinette-y self, just being with a friend.
"The night should do!" Lila offered a hand through the bars. "Allow me to bless you?"
"Oh, sure," Marinette shrugged, reaching a hand out to her.
Lila grasped her hand, touching her free one to her temple. "Oh, holy spirit, flow into this girl, and bring her fortune most faire!"
She stood there awkwardly, casting a glance back at Adrien and Roger. "Um... Thank you, Lila."
Adrien rolled his eyes as Lila blessed Marinette. "So we're protecting this... person, now."
"Yes, we are" Marinette smiled, dragging him closer to her by the ear. "And you won't hurt her, got it? I'm in no danger currently."
He sighed. "Great. And when she turns out to be a psycho bent on killing you, I get to cut her up?"
"Worse case senario," she consented, pulling out her yo-yo. "But until that becomes evident, she's an ally."
He nodded. "Fine."
"In exchange for your protection," Lila called out. "My followers have captured the girl who attacked you two days ago."
"Really?" she asked, releasing Adrien's ear. This was where she was conflicted; she didn't want to kill the girl, but she hated her for hurting her schoolmates...
"We will release her to your group if I survive the night," Lila smiled.
"Deal," she said almost instantly. She turned to Roger. "You have a gun, so you're the first line of defense. Stick to the front door. Adrien, you can be the second line. Keep anyone from entering Lila's chamber."
Adrien bowed. "As you wish, Princess."
"I'll stay with Lila, if that's alright," she decided, flicking her yo-yo and turning to Lila. "I'm not as good with this as him with the sword, but I could stun them long enough to get you out of here."
Adrien beamed at the compliment as Lila stroked Marinette's face. "You are my angel. The perfect angel in line to be the next god. I will be happy to be your next prophet."
"I really don't want to be god," she said with a shake of her head. "But after all this is over, you can be my new friend."
"I'd like that," Lila fluttered her lashes slightly.
Marinette returned the smile, then looked around for a door into the chamber. "Where's the door?"
"To the side. I'm forbidden to touch it."
"It's okay, I'll come around." She gave Roger a polite nod, a small smile to Adrien, then opened the door and went inside the chamber.
Adrien took her hand just before entering. "Be careful, please."
"I will. Just do your job out here, and we'll be fine," she promised, shutting the door behind her.
He nodded. "I love you."
She leaned against the door and whispered, "I know" before walking over to Lila.
Lila smiled. "Your lover has one of the darkest souls I've come across," she murmured. "I'd leave him soon if I were you. He has death in his blood."
"You have no idea," Marinette sighed, leaning against the wall. "I just... need to figure a lot of things out."
"Might you tell me what is troubling you?" Lila cocked her head. "I am good at listening."
"Well... I think it's best to keep it private for now," Marinette said. "I haven't even told my best friend yet, but only because I'm afraid... I'm afraid Adrien might hurt her."
"I am good at keeping secrets as well," Lila laughed softly. "I do not fear Adrien. His very name means darkness, and with my sight what it is, I've long been accustomed to the dark."
There was a silence. "H-He's killed people, not just people with diaries, and he stalks me," Marinette slowly said, her head drooping. "I used to have a pretty bad crush on him, and at first, I thought him pining over me was a dream come true. But..."
"But the dream was taken too far?" Lila guessed. "He wasn't the boy you'd hoped for? The real Adrien Agreste was not the angel you loved, but the demon that fills your heart with fear, and no love?"
"Yeah, it's turned into a nightmare," she said, resting her hands on her eyes. "I just wish I could just forget all this, and go back to the way things were before"
Lila leaned in closer to Marinette. "Is he so terrible? Do you want him to disappear? I could make him vanish, if you like."
"I..." Marinette trailed off. "I don't want him to go away. I just want the old Adrien back; the one that was the sweetest, most genuine boy in school. The guy I used to love. But I don't think that could ever happen again."
Lila stroked Marinette's cheek gently, as if brushing away a tear. "Did that boy exist, you think?"
"I don't... know anymore," tears starting to well in her eyes.
Lila leaned in, and kissed each tear. "I'll make him disappear."
She wanted to snap out of it, to scream for Adrien, but she had fallen into some sort of trance, stuck kneeling next to Lila as she stood up. "Kill the boy with the green eyes!" the prophetess called out. Suddenly, every face in the temple turned on Adrien, raising weapons as Lila held Marinette to her chest. "Do not watch."
"A-Adrien..." Marinette tried to call to him, but was stuck in the seer's embrace.
Adrien almost had to laugh. "I told you!" he called, as he drew his swords. "Hey, Mari? This counts as a time when I get to save us, right?"
She couldn't respond, but mentally cursed herself for being so trusting to Lila, and also sent a couple swear words at Adrien as well.
He glanced at his diary. "Now that's just rude," he muttered. "But I'll take it as the go-ahead." He began fighting, faster than should have been possible, cutting down the cultists by the dozens.
Marinette felt strength returning to her, and she shoved Lila away from her, stumbling to her feet. The seer sighed, looking sad. "You're on the side of the darkness?"
"No, I'm on the side that is right," Marinette said,whipping her yo-yo around. "Lila, I won't take your life, but please call off your cultists."
Lila shook her head, long hair flowing. "No. You see, your holiness, I am the chosen one. And tonight, I will take out four of my most dangerous competitors at once," she smiled, pulling out a blade.
Marinette took a step back, shouting to Adrien, "Adrien! Where's Roger?!"
"No idea!" he sliced the heads off two more cultists. "Outside I think!"
"We have to bail, now!" she called, whipping the yo-yo in front of her as a protective shield as she felt for the doorknob.
He broke through the cultists, swinging the door open. "Run!"
She turned and ran, dragging Adiren behind her. "Roger!" she shouted as they exited the building. A cultist came at her with a knife, and she turned and hit him right between the eyes, knocking him out cold. Somewhere in the fray, her hand and Adrien's had separated, as Roger pulled her out the doors.
"Roger!" she shouted, struggling in the grown man's grasp. "We can't leave Adrien!"
"We did what?" he sounded horrified as the loudspeakers echoed.
"Get off me!" Adrien's voice was muffled through them.
"Oh your holiness," Lila's giggle was clearer. "You can escape if you like. But while you run off, that boy you hate so much will be taught to serve my followers before being killed. Time to see if you love him or not!"
"Mari, run!"
Marinette froze, her heart racing. She pushed Roger off him and ran into the building, pushing cultists out of her way. "Roger! Call the police station for backup!" she shouted over her shoulder.
Adrien was being held down, struggling against their hold as he was stripped down. "Stop! I'll kill you all! Leave us alone!"
"Adrien!" Marinette shouted, ducking a cultist and kicking him into another. She jumped into the air and threw her yo-yo at a pipe on the wall. It wrapped around the pipe and she ran across the room, the line knocking down the other cultists.
He jumped up on release. "You... saved me?"
"Be incredulous later, we're out of here," she said, grabbing his arm and leading the way.
"We need to kill her," he pointed out. "She's way too dangerous, and she's after us."
"I said I wouldn't, and I'm not!" she said, pulling him down as someone threw a knife. She whipped her yo-yo back at them and knocked them over. "Roger's calling backup."
He frowned. "You also said that if she goes all psycho I get to cut her up, remember? I think trying to kill us and get a ton of cultists to attempt to... assault me counts as that."
"Shut up for five seconds, Murder face," she growled running out of the building. She heard police sirens down the street.
He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I won't kill her," he ran with her. "I'll leave that to the newly-escaped terrorist."
"Roger! Hide us!" she called, pulling Adrien into the back of the patrol car. She grunted as he landed on top of her, and her eyes opened wide.
He blushed bright red as the car started. "By the way," Roger said. "That Lila girl was stabbed in the chest by the same girl who blew up your school. Small world, innit?"
She breathed a sigh out as she pushed Adrien off her. "At least it wasn't one of us. It really sucks that we couldn't have gotten though to her..."
He nodded, wrapping an arm around her, and smiling. On the drive home, he fell asleep in her lap, and by the time they got to her house, there was little to do but let Roger carry them both up to her room, where they slept until daybreak, exhausted from the night they'd had. Neither woke to see the diaries change...