Another chapter for you guys! Thanks for all the recent reviews, follow, and favorites. I love you all!
Marinette could barely sleep that night. When she'd returned, Adrien was back in his sleeping bag and sleeping soundly. That took off some extra stress of her worrying about him, but her heart still was aching more than she ever imagined it would.
It was around 5 in the morning. Everyone else was still dead asleep but she found that she couldn't go back to bed even if her life depended on it. Tikki suggested they take a walk, her face full of concern. Mari nodded gravely, and slowly got up.
They walked down the trail just enough so that there was no possibility of anyone at the campsite hearing them talk. Marinette felt herself falling apart again. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to stop the tears from coming. Tikki noticed right away and flew in front of her chosen's face.
"Now Marinette, you listen to me!" Tikki yelled, startling Marinette so greatly that she stopped crying.
The girl was speechless and waited for the angry kwami to continue.
"Does Chat Noir hate you, Marinette?" Tikki demanded.
Marinette looked at the floor and whispered, "no.."
The kwami continued, "Is he no longer your friend or partner?"
The bluenette shook her head no.
"Then tell me Marinette, why are you so sad? Why are you acting as if Chat Noir wants nothing to do with you?" Tikki put her little arms on her hips and despite her sugary voice, laced with such anger she was rather intimidating.
Marinette was embarrassed, but admitting it aloud she began to cry again, sniffling as she spoke, "because.. because he loves s-someone else!"
Tikki sighed, but softened visibly as she came closer to Marinette to wipe her tears, "Marinette, Chat Noir has been in love with Ladybug for years. But Ladybug never loved him the same way. Did that stop him from being the best partner you could ever have? Did that stop him from trying?"
Marinette's sad blue eyes looked up at her kwami as she listened closely, "no, he's always been my best friend," she admitted, unsure of where Tikki was going with this.
"Then just because he decided he is going to pursue someone else, should you stop being the best partner HE could ever have? Does this mean YOU should stop trying? And Marinette, did you ever stop to think about WHO this girl is that Chat Noir loves?" Tikki's voice was stern but gentle and loving.
Marinette shook her head, her lip pouting a little in jealousy as she thought of who could have stolen her partners heart.
Tikki giggled at Marinette's jealous face, "Did you ever consider that maybe the girl he loves is you?"
"Me?" Marinette choked, "but he said he didn't-"
"He said he didn't love Ladybug," Tikki interrupted, "but for all you know it could be that he loves Marinette."
The girls wet eyes widened. She wiped her face with her hoodie sleeves and smiled at the kwami.
"I don't know if that's true, and I'm afraid to get my hopes up, but," Marinette paused, "Thank you Tikki. You're right, Chat Noir will always be my partner no matter what and so I shouldn't be acting like the world has ended. I need to be strong for him, just like he always has been for me."
The kwami nodded and gave Marinette a light kiss on the cheek, "I love you, Marinette. Don't let this get you down!"
Mari patted Tikki's head, "I love you too Tikki, thank you."
. . .
"I know you're all sore from yesterday, but I promise when we get back to the campsite we can all have lots of rest! I'll even give you a whole day of free time!"
Ms. Bustier was trying to convince her students to just move. Half were complaining about how sore their legs were, some (a.k.a. Chloe) were saying this was child abuse, and a very small few (Adrien, Marinette, Kim, and Alix) felt perfectly fine and ready to take on another day of hiking. The students were off, taking various groups and chatting with each other while they walked.
"Girl how are your legs not killing you right now?" Alya demanded from her petite Chinese French friend, who seemed perfectly fine with walking another day's worth.
Marinette shrugged sheepishly, "In shape from the bakery deliveries and walking to school a lot?"
"I bet Marinette has a secret workout," Alix teased.
The bluenette nervously laughed, frantically waving her hands, "secret workout? Me! No of course not-ah I hate working out no thank you!"
Alya and Alix laughed at her antics, "Chill out girl like you'd ever work out!" Alya poked her in the belly.
She froze, and then brought her hand back to Marinette's stomach, "oh my GOD girl do you have freaking abs?"
Alix grabbed Marinette's hoodie and shirt underneath and pulled them up roughly. Marinette squealed and tried to pull them back down before anyone else noticed her bare stomach or bra.
Alya and Alix both had their mouths hanging wide open. Marinette yelped loudly as Alya grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, "Marinette why do you wear a one piece? Why don't you own a bikini to show off your killer abs OMG how long have you had these muscles!?"
The girls were starting to cause a little bit of a commotion. Adrien, Nino, Kim, Sabrina, and Chloe walked over from opposite directions to see what Alya was fussing about and what was leaving Alix so speechless.
Alix dramatically grabbed Kim by the sporty tank top he was wearing and practically screamed as she pulled him down to her short level, "Marinette has a freaking 8 pack! Like top body builder abs!"
Alya tried to pull Marinette's clothing up again but the small, strong girl fought back, "I feel sexually harassed!" She hissed out at her best friend who wouldn't stop trying to get her stomach to show.
"Marinette just doesn't want to show us her flab," Chloe scoffed, rolling her eyes, "I bet underneath her clothes is lots of ugly, fat chub!"
Alya was about to defend her friend when Marinette spoke up first, hands on her hips angrily, "I'll have you know that it doesn't mater if I had a stupid 14 pack set of abs underneath my clothing or if my stomach was squishy and large because my body is beautiful regardless! All body types are beautiful Chloe, the only thing ugly here is your personality!"
Chloe's face turned pale and her mouth hung open unattractively while she squawked in anger. Sabrina gasped in shock while the others stared at Marinette in surprise from her little out burst. The bluenette bristled angrily, and stormed off by herself leaving the others behind.
"Damn," Nino snorted.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Chloe suddenly screamed, running up behind Marinette and grabbed the girl by one of her pigtails, pulling her back roughly.
Marinette fell on her butt, yelling out in pain as her hair tie from one of her pigtails was practically ripped out. Chloe towered over her, her face furious and red with rage. She leaned down, close to Marinette's flustered face.
"You listen to me, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she spat, "You're an ugly, stupid girl with no talent. The only reason you even have any friends is because they pity you. That's the only reason why Adrien talks to you, because he feels bad for you! So if I were you, I'd go get lost in those woods and never return so that you can stop being a burden to everyone here!"
With that, she pulled out Marinette's other hair tie.
On a normal day, Marinette probably wouldn't have been too affected by Chloe's hateful words. But with her emotions all over the place from the night before, it left her feeling a little more fragile. Her bottom lip quivered and she looked down in shame. Foot steps hurried closer to the two girls.
"Now baby Marinette is going to cry in front of Adrien," Chloe sneered, "how pathetic!"
"Shut up Chloe!" Marinette heard Adrien yell above her.
The blonde girl gasped, "but, Adrikins-"
"I said shut up, Chloe," he repeated. He bent down in front of Marinette, his eyes sad and full of concern.
She couldn't look at him, she was too embarrassed. The poor girl pushed her crush away from her, got up and darted into the woods.
"Marinette, wait!" Her friends called out behind her, but she ignored them and continued to run as fast as she could.
Tikki flew out, holding on to Marinette's face, "slow down, Marinette! Before you fall!"
The girl obeyed, walking over to a patch of moss and letting herself drop on to it. She leaned her body over her knees and groaned, "Why do I let Chloe get to me? I know what she said wasn't true."
Her kwami wiped the tears from her eyes for a second time that day, "Its okay Marinette. Chloe is just jealous that you have so many people who love and care for you."
Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching and so Tikki flew back into the open pocket on Marinette's hiking backpack to hide.
"Oh thank god I found you," Adrien said as he carefully sat down beside Marinette, leaving some space between them.
"I'm sorry I pushed you," Marinette whimpered into her knees.
He gently laughed and reached over to rub her back softly, "no it's okay! I'm really sorry about how Chloe treated you. I don't know what she said to you but whatever it was I know it's not true!"
"I know," the girl admitted, "I had a rough night last night and I think I'm just a little sensitive today."
Adrien looked at her intently, "Nightmares? do you want to talk about it?"
She shook her head, "it's alright, but thank you for coming for me, Adrien."
He brought a hand to the back of his head and smiled bashfully, "of course! We were all really worried about you. Are you ready to head back now?"
Marinette nodded, so Adrien stood up and offered her his hand. It reminded her of the other night she had on the dock with Chat Noir, and her heart ached a little. Adrien saw the sadness in her eyes, and when Marinette accepted his hand, he pulled her up but instead of simply letting go, he pulled her into a hug. At first Marinette was stiff and shocked, but soon she softened and hugged Adrien back. The gesture was more comforting than romantic but she treasured the moment greatly. After a long moment, Adrien pulled away, a light blush on his face.
"Sorry," he said in embarrassment, "I just thought maybe you'd need a hug."
Marinette giggled, her heart racing from the contact "Thank you, really. It's exactly what I needed."
The two teenagers walked off together, heading back to the main hiking trail.
. . .
After some time, Adrien and Marinette were still walking. And they still weren't on the trail. They began to feel uncomfortable, neither saying a word for some time.
Finally, Adrien spoke up, "Marinette, I think we went the wrong way."
Marinette's bottom lip stuck out in a pout. She grabbed the map from her backpack and tried to read it, but without knowing their current location she found it unhelpful.
"If only I could transform," she thought.
Instead she said, "Well, it looks like we're lost."
Adrien sighed, "What do you think we should do? Keep walking this direction until we find a landmark on the map, or try a different one?"
"We're this far already," Marinette looked around at the forest surrounding them, "may as well keep going."
The boy beside her agreed, so the longer they walked unsure of where they were going. Both seemed caught up in their own thoughts so they didn't speak much this time. Marinette would occasionally catch Adrien looking at her, but every time she'd look back at him he'd quickly look in the opposite direction.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled after probably the 7th time she'd caught him staring, "It's just.."
A deep blush covered his face all the way to the tips of his ears, "You look really pretty with your hair down. Not that you're not already pretty! But just the change is distracting! In a good way!"
He smacked himself in the head and Marinette could have sworn she almost heard a small noise snickering. Marinette felt her own face getting hot and she found herself babbling even worse than he had.
"Thank you! Your hair looks pretty too! I mean it's gorgeous! Or handsome? I mean all of you is handsome and oh my god Marinette stop talking!"
She pulled her pink hoodie over her head and pulled the strings tight so that her face was obscured. Adrien stopped and stared at her, his face unreadable. And then he leaned forward and laughed harder than she'd ever seen him laugh and she felt all of her insides melt at how beautiful and innocent the sound was.
. . .
They'd been walking for over an hour now, and while at first they'd felt anxious about being lost; at this point they were just enjoying each other's company. To kill time, they played games like Would You Rather and Two Truths and a Lie.
"Would you rather have one giant cat, or lots of little cats?" Adrien asked his walking companion.
Marinette rolled her eyes, "another cat question Adrien? Uh I guess one giant one, too many cats would be overwhelming."
"Would you say it'd be CATastrophic?" Adrien winked.
With a hard push, Marinette sent Adrien falling on his behind into a tree and she ran off giggling.
"Ill get you back for that!" He yelled chasing after her.
He caught up quickly, both of them running a little awkwardly with their large hiking backpacks still strapped to their backs. Adrien reached out for her shoulder and gently pulled her back while laughing.
"Wait a sec," Marinette raised a finger to silence him, "Do you hear that?"
They both froze, Adrien's hand still remained on Marinette's shoulder. Softly, off in the distance, both of them could hear running water. Adrien pulled out his map and excitedly pointed at it.
"Look Mari, there's a river on the map right here!" He exclaimed.
"We must be close by!" The bluenette bounced eagerly, "Let's go!"
To both of their surprise, Marinette grabbed Adrien's hand and they rushed to the sound of the water. As they saw trees clearing ahead of them, they could hear the river louder. The day had been progressively getting hotter and both of the teens were excited to dip their feet in the cool running water.
That is, until they saw the river.
Marinette felt Adrien's hand tighten on her own. She gasped in horror at the sight before them. The river was running still but slower than they expected it to. Instead of a clear blue color, the water was a sickly dark green color, almost black. There was an awful stench in the air of death and filth. Along the river bank lay many dead animals. They could see the animals were poisoned from the polluted waters, there tiny lifeless bodies covered in purple bruises, oddly like the ones Sabrina and Ms. Bustier had. Marinette pulled Adrien along with her, to get a closer look at the animals. She used her free arm to cover her nose as the closer they got to the river, the more unbearable the smell was.
"Marinette, look!" Adrien's voice was muffled as his mouth was also covered and he pointed down the river, his face fearful.
Her stomach dropped as she looked at the beast that lay farther down the river. There lay a stag, but different than any other she'd seen in pictures. It was huge, probably twice the size of a usual male deer. His antlers were also incredible in size, they were at least 12 feet long each. The stag's stomach slowly moved up and down, but his face lay still and his eyes were closed. His body was tainted in the purple bruises like the other animals were, except his were larger like the one Ms. Bustier had on her neck or Sabrina's on her rib, and looked even more painful. His lovely brown fur was covered in the dark green gunk of the river. As they hesitantly approached the great animal, it lifted its head to stare at them.
"Come closer, children" a deep, tired voice said.
Marinette and Adrien both jumped, the sudden voice startling them. They looked at each other, and then back at the stag. It's mouth hadn't moved but somehow they still heard it talking. Together they skeptically came closer, so that they stood beside it.
"Listen closely," the voice spoke again. The stag definitely wasn't moving his mouth, but his eyes were watching them both so intently that they knew it was he who was speaking. Both nodded their heads to show they were listening.
"You poisoned us. Humans. This land once was untouched by man, it was holy and pure and until man came here we all were free," his voice turned cold, almost menacing, "And then man came, and continued to pour their unpalatable waste into our waters. They did it for years and then left us to die. Now we are suffering, my animals are corrupted, and we are seeking our revenge on man."
"But it wasn't us, we are innocent!" Marinette spoke out desperately.
The stag narrowed its weak eyes at the girl, "You are guilty. All man are. You do not help us, you use our land for your pleasure and do nothing to repay for the sins of your kind."
Adrien took a step forward, gently kneeling to be eye level with the stag's face, "What can we do?" He asked softly. His hand plugging his noise was down and away out of respect.
"Cleanse us. Heal our river and cure our sickly bodies before more of us die. I'm the guardian of these forests and yet I lay here moribund, unable to care for my children," the stag earnestly begged.
The blonde, kind boy reach a hand out to touch the stag's forehead, "I promise we will do something to help. I swear on my life."
Another sad sigh came from the stag's mouth. He leaned into Adrien's touch, seeming to enjoy the warmth that came from the boy. For a moment all was silent besides the noises of the river, Marinette waited patiently to see what would happen next.
"I believe you," the Stag said, looking up into Adrien's bright green eyes, "I sense you're unlucky child. But the girl behind you can balance you, work together and maybe you can save us all."
"Now go," the magnificent deer looked away, back to the river and to his dead brothers and sisters, "hurry and help us before more innocent die, and before I too become corrupt."
Adrien looked back at Marinette, his face so determined and hopeful that he almost looked like Chat Noir. Her breath froze in that moment he stared at her, she was so inspired by this selfless boy, and wanted nothing more than to help these animals. She didn't even realize he was walking back towards her until he took her free hand.
"Let's go Mari, and find a way to save these creatures."
Her worried expression softened and her blue eyes looked so warm, "Lets do it."
. . .
"We made it!" Marinette squealed, jumping for joy and stomping all over the trail childishly in glee.
Adrien lightly chuckled at her, "I wonder how ahead we are of the others."
After leaving the river, they'd used the map and a compass to find their way back to the trail. Of course, by cutting through the forest they ended up skipping a good majority of the trail and saved at least five hours of their hiking time. Meaning they were significantly ahead of their friends.
"Should we keep going or wait for them?" Marinette wondered aloud as she looked at the trail behind her.
Adrien opened his mouth to answer, but then his stomach made a loud growl. Marinette giggled while Adrien flushed a rosy pink color.
"Okay lunch first, then we decide," the bluenette laughed, taking off her heavy back pack and stretching.
She combed her fingers through her hair, feeling a little odd to have her hair down instead of its usual twin tails. Her heart fluttered happily remembering Adrien's compliments earlier. Shyly, she sneaked a glance his direction and saw him sneaking a piece of cheese into his sweater pocket. She blinked in confusion, it's a little weird that Adrien wants to save cheese for later, especially in his pocket where it'll just get warm. He lifted his head up and she quickly looked away so that he wouldn't catch her staring.
Out of her own lunch, she pulled out some cookies, a water bottle, a bag of dried strawberries, and an egg salad sandwich. When Adrien was digging into his own sandwiches (he packed two for himself), she snuck a cookie into her backpack for Tikki. While she was eating her own food, Marinette heard Adrien clear his throat.
"Hey Mari," he started.
She looked up at him while chewing, and so he continued, "I think it's best we don't tell anyone about what we saw at the river, at least not yet. Except there was one person I wanted to tell if that's okay with you.."
"Me too actually," Marinette nodded after she swallowed her bite, "I know Ladybug and Chat Noir do patrols at night, I've run into Chat Noir once before.."
She admitted with a blush, looking down, "I'll probably see Ladybug tonight and I was thinking of telling her. If that's okay with you?"
He smiled brightly, "no actually that'd be great! I was thinking of telling Chat Noir anyways so yeah that'll be perfect!"
Marinette agreed, "But yes I agree we shouldn't tell anyone else just yet. I can already imagine Alya running head first into the river just to get a good story on it and to talk to the stag."
Adrien laughed, "And she'd drag Nino along with her too and I can already imagine him complaining about the smell."
The two giggled, finishing their lunches while they continued to chat, and then continued on their hike.
. . .
It was twilight when they'd made it back to the campsite. Both of them were exhausted and agreed to take showers and then nap until their friends returned after them. Marinette was especially worn out, which she explained to Adrien was because she had a hard time sleeping the night before. He encouraged her to get some rest and thanked her for being his "hiking companion", then the two went their separate ways.
In the shower, Marinette finally had the chance to speak to Tikki.
"Is there anything we can do to clean the pollution in the river?" She asked her kwami while shampooing her greasy hair.
The kwami looked up at the ceiling in thought, "I'm not sure, this isn't just any polluted river. The animal's hate and sadness is so strong that they created some sort of magic or power which has taken over them, which has then taken over us in the way it possessed Ms. Bustier and Chloe's friend. It's very dangerous and concerning!"
"Do you think it would work to have Chat cataclysm the gunk, like he has on the bruises?" Marinette asked.
Tikki shook her head, "I don't think it's that simple. This river and the pollution from it feels much more powerful, and pained. I had all sorts of bad feelings when you two were there."
"Could my miraculous cleanse work?" She asked Tikki next.
The red kwami shook her head, "not on its own, but.. that reminds me of something Plagg and I had to do thousands of years ago.. I wonder.."
Marinette tilted her head to the side, "what? What are you talking about Tikki?"
The kwami seemed to be buzzing with excitement, "that may actually work!" She exclaimed, "I'll need to speak with Plagg as soon as possible!"
"Tikki!" Marinette said loudly to regain her kwami's attention, "Who is Plagg and what in the world are you talking about?"
For a moment Tikki looked lost and confused. But she giggled awkwardly and apologized to her chosen.
"Plagg is Chat Noir's kwami," Tikki said, "And I've just remembered something we had to do thousands of years ago. But it's difficult and hard to explain so I'll only explain it to you if Plagg agrees that we should do it."
Marinette was still confused but let out a little huff of frustration, "Alright then.. but how are we going to find Chat Noir's kwami?"
Tikki shook her head, "I know exactly where to find him, but I'll do that while you're resting."
The girl gave her kwami a suspicious glare, "Tikki, do you know who Chat Noir is?"
The kwami just smiled at Mari, "Of course I do! I'm a wise and powerful god after all." She gave Marinette a little wink just to annoy her more and then giggled at Marinette's pout of frustration.
The girl quickly finished up her shower, dressed into clean dry clothes, and then escaped to her and Alya's cabin to nap until her other classmates returned.
I'd love to hear any predictions that anyone has ;) Don't be afraid to leave any comments and I'll bring forth the next chapter soon. Thanks for reading!