Day #1: Rain
R stands for Recognize
In a blink his senses returned, he felt the water pouring down all over his body as if it could melt him away. Maybe if those drops were of acid. His view was fuzzy, but he still knew, could sense the grip of his claws on someone else, and the little redness that was getting into them. He could smell it, that blood that was tempting him to get more.
His green eyes stretched out in excitement that he didn't even know he had. A little but scary, malicious smile appeared on his lips.
Then, with the voice begging him for forgiveness, the tears of fear, and a face he already knew. He recovered the last sense and started to become aware of his surroundings again. That red hair that he had seen too many times in class, too close, too dangerous. Chat remembered the anger that led him to capture the boy in an alley at the first chance the night let him.
He had to make sure that little piece of shit knew who's property had dared to step into. No. He simply had to erase the dangers.
"Chat!"
Oh, that's the voice that has been calling him, that has been screaming for Chat to stop. The only one that matters.
His lovely princess.
A stands for Allow
Maybe it had only been a couple of seconds, but that time before the girl in pigtails talked again all the past memories -and feelings- came back to his mind.
It was very fast, but every emotion still crawled into him like a second skin. He never saw himself as the overprotective one actually. But, she required it. The girl that first started seeing with the suit every certain time at Akuma attacks; the girl that eventually caught his interest and out of curiosity he wanted to spend more time with; the girl that knew everything about him but his real name.
Wow, he could not describe the amount of admiration he feels for Marinette. The amount of love.
And still, it wasn't enough to protect her that time.
I stands for Investigate Kindness
He didn't need to spend too much time with her before he realized she was too good for this world. She really was. His sweet sweet princess.
And the world was just so corrupt, so broken, so insufficient for her. He knew it from long ago, he should have known better, instead of letting her expose herself to all the trashy crap.
It was meant to be their special day, the first date, something you can't forget, right? A rainy night, pretty much like this one. It was expected for him to wait for her on her balcony, and Chat waited like a good patient kitten. He didn't bother in the first thirty minutes of her tardiness, it was so a Marinette-thing to be kinda late to everything. Then it became 1 hour, 2 hours, 3…
Everybody started looking for her, no response from her phone, nowhere found. Chat looked for her through all Paris; until he found her in a dark black alley. Isn't this one too similar…?
Clothes ripped apart, blood and bruises all over her body, she was lying unconscious between the garbage, left out as if she meant nothing when she meant the world.
What has happened to her? No words can describe it.
He crawled her in his arms, painfully close, as if Chat could absorb all the pain that has been caused to her, erase the traces from her body, from her mind. The hero -was he really?- felt her wake up. Her princess was trembling, with him; Marinette started crying, they both did.
Something clicked in Chat's mind during that moment. He wouldn't let again the most important woman in his life disappear, to be torn apart because of useless people.
So, everything changed. He had to protect her. He had to maintain all the dangers apart from her, he had to erase them, they didn't have a value to the world.
"He didn't do anything, Chat, leave him please." Marinette tried to talk sense into the boy, the blond wasn't able to look at her.
Chat didn't get it, he was doing this for her! Why has she compassion when maybe that may be the little piece of shit that…?
When everyone might be wanting to cause her pain, he couldn't take risks. Chat had to use both of his identities to keep her safe.
He needed to-
"You're my hero, please don't do this." They connected their gaze, stopping the train of thoughts of Chat, the raven-haired watched him with compassion in her eyes.
Compassion even when he was about to… Was he really about to kill someone?
N stands for Natural Awareness
A little of humanity or weakness or whatever you want to call it returned to his body. Marinette watched his eyes recover that little spark, his claws come back to himself, and his grip loosened up. The doubt installed in his mind.
She loved his kitty, Marinette couldn't let him, no matter if she still shakes at the thought of going out alone, or talking to strangers, or looking at her body, or by her simple existence.
Marinette felt like a misery, but her misery needed his company. Her now kinda crazy, violent company.
She knew, from the looks in his eyes to that only-stay-with-me attitude. They both broke together that night, she was aware of that.
"Let's go, kitty" She smiled fondly like she hadn't been able in many weeks. He immediately released the red-haired scared boy, who ran away in a second. The girl offered her hand to her kitty.
The touch-starved hero received gratefully the first contact the black-haired offered in months. They didn't say anything.
They just walked down the rain.
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RAIN