Adrien ran.
He had no idea what had happened after he had laid eyes on his mother's body.
All he knew was that he ran.
He ran out of that room, ran through his father's office past a stunned Nathalie, called his transformation and got as far away as he could manage before his legs gave way from the shock. Crumbling down onto hard metal, he sobbed.
Multimouse was not far behind.
Pushing her own disbelief at what she had laid her eyes on, to follow the young man she loved to be there for him in his moment of need.
She knew they had not been followed.
Not even hesitating when she landed a few paces behind him. The heroine rushed forward to cradle his sobbing form in her arms.
He did not acknowledge her arrival. Chat did not turn into her embrace.
The black cladded hero just broke down, and his partner held him as best she could, until the sobs began to fade and his breathing steadied.
Not a word was said between the two, not even when they landed on her balcony.
Multimouse simply ushered him into her bed and wrapped him up without a word exchanged. It was her turn to save him.
Save him from this unimaginable situation that he had been unwittingly thrown into because of her actions. The ball had been set into motion, and all Marinette could do was be there when he needed her to be.
With Adrien having exhausted himself, he had managed to finally fall asleep. Glancing to the clock in her room, Marinette thought it would be appropriate to tell her parents as much as she could fathom of the situation herself. With the kind of people they were, the dark haired young woman knew her parents would be understanding.
Not wanting to leave him, but knowing that she would have to in order to speak with her parents, Marinette made sure to wrap her comforter around the blonde's passed out form. Making sure that he was tucked in tight, she placed a soft kiss to his smooth forehead and shuffled off her bed and started to make the descent down to the lower part of her room.
Neither of their Kwami had passed any comment once they had transformed back into their regular selves. Both disappearing to Kwami knows where as soon as they were released. Marinette sighed as she stared blankly at her trap door leading down to where her parents would be waiting for her to return home.
She gulped.
How was she meant to explain this to them, when she did not have the ability to wrap her own head around it? Marinette missed Tikki.
The little red being had been by her side through all of it, until she thought up this convoluted plan to rid herself of her duty to Paris.
"I am so selfish." Marinette muttered while wiping a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand, when the sound of a familiar voice spoke to her.
"You're not selfish Marinette." The teenager turned to see the little red Kwami approach her in mid air. "You were trying to solve a problem, and prevent the actions of others causing more harm than they already had. You are not responsible for the actions of others."
"I gave you up." Marinette replied through watery words.
Tikki smiled and nuzzled Marinette's cheek, "you had good reasons," the Goddess of Creation gazed upon Marinette with understanding. "Gabriel asked me to check on you both," TIkki looked toward where Adrien was sleeping above them, "he did not think coming himself would help Adrien at this time."
Marinette nodded sullenly, "I think he was right not to come himself," she agreed, "but I'm glad he sent you to check on him."
Tikki looked pleased before her demeanour became nervous. The small being fiddled with her Kwami hands and failed to meet Marinette's eyes, "I need to speak to you about something."
Her rightful owner's brow furrowed, "what about?"
"Not here," Tikki glanced around before gesturing upwards with her head slowly. "This is really sensitive information, I can't even describe the possible impact it will have on their family."
"Should I transform?"
"No," she gestured upwards again, "we should be ok up there for now."
"I don't believe this Tikki."
The small powerful being was conflicted. "I couldn't tell him Marinette." She explained with desperation, "I told him there might be another way to bring her back without the wish, but I could not tell him that it is not his wife in that casket."
"Do you think anyone knows."
"No," Tikki shook her head while Marinette sat thoughtfully on the lounger. "They all think it's her body, but when Gabriel allowed me to take a closer look, I could not deny the fact that it is not her." The red being looked downcast, "Nathalie doesn't even know. They think she is becoming ill like Mrs Agreste did..."
"Why is Nathalie becoming ill then?" Marinette asked Tikki.
Tikki looked back to Marinette and settled on the chair next to the dark haired teen. "She is becoming ill because she used a broken Miraculous, but the similarities in the illness are a mere coincidence." Tikki fiddled with her Kwami hands. "She can be healed when the Miraculous is repaired."
Marinette tapped her chin, "well at least that's something."
A few silent moments went by as the two pondered their own internal thoughts. Chewing on her bottom lip, Marinette turned to Tikki.
"How do you think this happened?"
"There's only one way to create what I saw down there Marinette," Tikki replied solemnly, "and there's only one Kwami with that ability."
"If no one knows, and they just think she's in a magical coma," Marinette continued, airing her thoughts out loud, "they might not expect a heartbeat-"
"And it would explain why she never woke up or showed signs of deterioration," Tikki nodded in agreement. "Marinette, what if she did this?"
"Who?"
Tikki hesitated and kept her voice low, "Mrs Agreste. What if she created the sentimonster so she could leave?"
Marinette's eyes opened fully. "But why would she? She was ill, she wouldn't just go, surely?"
"Marinette, we don't know what life was like for her, we don't know if she couldn't think of another way." Tikki answered, "for all we know, she may have planned on coming back, but something stopped her."
"But the broken Miraculous?"
"That's the part which I cannot work out," the tiny being informed Marinette, "until we know more, I don't think we should tell anyone about this either."
Marinette glanced back to the hatch leading down to her room, her thoughts travelling to the boy who's life had just been changed dramatically. "Why would she leave him though."
Two big eyes stared at her intently, "this is why we can not say anything until we are certain about the details." Marinette nodded thoughtfully while still looking at the hatch, "I'll see what information I can get from Gabriel, Nathalie and the other Kwami, but-"
Marinette's eyes shot to Tikki.
"-I honestly don't know how this is going to go."
Thoughts? Thank you for reading! Thank you for the reviews, follows and faves, they really keep me motivated =^.^=
*I am wanting to do a Christmas story, and I would like some help for a collection of one-shots, kind of like a '12 Days of Christmas One-Shot's'. What I would like help with is the prompts for each one. Over the next few updates, I will be asking readers to send me ideas for prompts, and will choose 12 to use. Im not on any other platform, so I don't know if there already is a list. This might be fun though! Please send them to me via private message before 30th November. so I can start them and get them ready to upload =)*
Take it easy!
Lady Rhi X