Chapter 6: The Aftermath
An hour later, Nino was still ranting about the match. "And that catch!" he shouted. "Incredible! I've never seen anything like it!"
"I don't think anyone has." Mr Lahiffe stated, shaking his head. "That shouldn't have been physically possible." Marinette nodded her head in agreement when Alya grabbed her arm.
"Did you see how pissed Harper looked?" Marinette asked her.
"Oh yeah. What a dick move though, trying to knock him out like that." Alya replied, shaking her head. "He could have died."
"Harper will probably get a suspension." Mr. Lahiffe said sagely, as they began to near their tent. "Ah yes," he said looking at the sky. "I was wondering when that would start." Above them, the French had managed to conjure fireworks that came out in the shapes of the french flag and the players. Marinette whistled, impressed as one began moving, showing an incredibly accurate replay of Adrien catching the snitch.
Marinette heard a noise behind her and she jumped. She turned around and identified the noise as a meow which had come from a small black cat.
"Hello kitty." She greeted. It meowed back before looking back up at the sky with an amused expression. Mari stared at it, confused. Can cats show emotions like that? She walked over to it and began scratching its ears, eliciting a purr. She laughed as she scratched under its chin. She smiled as the cat closed its green eyes and twitched its tail happily.
"Mari!" Alya shouted from the tent.
"Coming!" She called back. She glanced back at the cat, who had stood up as though he had understood what had been said. "Sorry kitty." she said, scratching his ears again. "Stay safe." She felt foolish saying that until it meowed and.. Did that cat just wink? Before she could ponder this more the cat turned tail and continued on its way. Marinette stared after it for a few moments before slowly turning back around and walking back to the tent.
"You ok?" Alya asked, noticing the confused expression on her friends face.
"Yeah fine just… Thought I saw something." Marinette tried to convince herself it was a trick of the light. It must have been. There's nothing else for it. Though I suppose we are in the magical world. Mari sighed and entered the tent only to be run into by Mr. Lahiffe.
Mr. Lahiffe looked harried. "Sorry girls gotta go. Apparently some of the French are a bit to eager in their celebration. Not sure when I'll be back. Have fun! Be safe!" and with that he exited the tent and disapparated. Mari sat down and Nino pulled out the wizards chess set again.
"Want me to kick your ass again there Nino?" Mari asked, raising her eyebrows.
Nino laughed. "You wish." he said putting the board on the table.
"Challenge accepted." Marinette grinned, setting up her pieces.
Forty five minutes and four Marinette victories later, Nino was fed up. Alya was admonishing him for still listening to his pieces advice (which was rule number one of things not to do in order to win at wizards chess) when Mr. Lahiffe burst into the tent, looking like a madman. He was drenched in sweat and he looked exhausted.
"Okay. So. I'm not going to be back tonight unless there's a dire emergency. If something is happening away from the tent and it's bad enough that you need to leave I will send a patronus message. If that happens you need to get back to the portkey." The teenagers stared at him, bewildered to say the least. Nino spoke first.
"Sure Dad… But why are you telling us this?"
Mr. Lahiffe glanced at his watch. "We found some Hawkmoth supporters. There's only a few, but they all have his mark, and they were all talking about some form of attack tonight and we are taking zero chances with this. It's probably just this small group but every auror is on red alert." Marinette frowned. She had a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Lahiffe wasn't telling them everything, but she had a feeling if she asked, he wouldn't be allowed to answer. "I'll see you in the morning." He said, before exiting the tent as quickly as he had entered it.
The trio looked at each other nervously and tried to resume a normal night, listening to the French celebration continue above them. Eventually though, they decided to call it a night and head to bed.
Despite all of the noise that surrounded them, Marinette fell asleep rather quickly after they went to bed. Unfortunately, she was woken up much earlier than she was expecting. Namely, she was woken by Alya screaming and shaking her violently. Marinette woke up slowly, and she focused groggily on her best friend.
"Mari! Let's go!" Alya screeched yanking on her arm. Mari forced herself up and threw on her jeans as quickly as she could, before she was shoved out of the tent by Nino. The outside was complete chaos. People were tearing past them, screaming, some firing random spells over their shoulders. Mari turned to look at what was happening, but at first her tired eyes only showed her light. After she blinked her eyes clear, she realized it was fire, and that people were marching among the tents, shouting various spells and setting tents ablaze. Some appeared to have the outline of a purple butterfly on their face.
Marinette felt someone pull on her arm and found it to be Nino. Nino and Alya led the way through the mess, and they joined the panicked crowd of screaming people, all trying to get away from the people attacking.
"Nino!" Mari shouted. "Your dad!"
"He's an auror!" Nino yelled back. "He's fighting! Let's go!" Marinette chanced a glance back, and her face turned white as a person was tossed up into the air and then dropped unnaturally quickly. She turned back around and the last thing she saw was a bolt of red light heading straight for her face.
Marinette woke up suddenly and groaned. She ached all over. She tried to roll to her side and hissed in pain as her ribs screamed in agony. Yup. Those are broken.
"Are you okay?" A voice asked quietly.
"Oh yeah just fucking peachy." Marinette gasped. The voice chuckled. It was a male laugh. Nino. She decided rationally.
"Well at least we know you've got spirit. I hate to do this to you but we need to get you up." Marinette frowned as she realized she didn't recognize the voice at all. That was driven from her mind as he began to help her up. She gasped in pain and groaned. "Can you walk?" The person asked urgently. Marinette took a step and staggered but held her own weight.
"Well enough." She responded slowly. She tried to look up at her helper but couldn't find the strength and stopped halfway. The boy was hesitating though.
"Hell." she heard him mutter. "Come on. We need to go."
"Where are we going?" she asked blearily.
"We're taking you to safety. Then I have to get back. Worthless security measures. I could just apparate but no, we need to protect against threats. It's not like those wards did much against the terrorist attack." Mari just nodded and the boy sighed and draped her arm over his shoulders.
"Thank you." She murmured.
"No problem." the voice said. A few moments of silence passed.
"What's your name?" she questioned.
The voice hesitated and then sighed. "Adrien. Yours?"
"Marinette. Adrien like the Quidditch player?"
The boy laughed. "Very much like that." Marinette paused mid-step, her brain trying to work out what he meant by that. She forced her gaze up to look at the boys face and found herself face to face with Adrien Agreste. Marinette suddenly became very aware of the situation she was in and managed to trip over nothing almost taking Adrien with her. Adrien caught her smoothly, and gently lowered her to the ground.
"Are you ok?" he asked, a concerned frown on his face.
"Never better." Mari forced out.
He smiled kindly and gave her a once over. "You seem to be more alert now.. Do you know what happened to you?"
Mari racked her brain, trying to remember. "Uhm… Stunning spell I think. I was watching those people in hoods for a moment then I got hit directly to the face by a red bolt so yeah. Stunner."
Adrien nodded and frowned, noticing she was favoring her left side. "What happened to your chest?" He asked.
"Puberty." She replied before she could think better of it. What she said washed over her and she flushed. "Oh my god I'm so… Sorry?" Adrien was positively howling with laughter, and was doubled over trying to keep it in. After a few moments he calmed himself down a bit, still giggling every few seconds.
"Oh thank you for that." He grinned, eyes sparkling. "I haven't laughed like that in ages. But seriously. What happened?"
"I don't know." Marinette said, still very pink. "It probably happened while I was unconscious."
"Want me to take a look?" he asked kindly. Marinette immediately turned red and he backtracked quickly. "No I didn't… I meant… Sorry." He trailed off awkwardly.
"No it's ok. Please do actually. Not like that!" She added quickly. Adrien chuckled but Mari noticed a tinge of pink on his cheeks too. Hoping to get it over with she lifted her shirt up so he could see her ribcage. He whistled. "That bad huh?" She asked, hoping he would say no.
"Yes." He said, grimacing. "Those are definitely broken. Unfortunately, bones aren't really my thing, but I can help with that pain and bruising if you want."
"Yes please!" Mari gasped as a lance of pain shot through her ribs. Adrien nodded and pulled out his wand and muttered something under his breath. Mari sighed as she felt the majority of the pain leave her ribs. "Thank you." She murmured.
"It's only a temporary solution. You'll want to get that healed for real when you get the chance. In the meantime…" He offered her a hand and she accepted it. "You should still be cautious." He gently pulled her up, and she gave him a grateful smile. Her heart jolted as he turned pink and looked away with a smile. They resumed walking, Marinette still holding Adrien's hand. One could argue that Mari no longer needed his support but she would never admit that in a million years. She turned to ask him what he was doing out here, but was interrupted by a loud cracking noise. Marinette felt Adrien tense. He glanced around, as did she.
"Can you make it to the forest?" He whispered. Marinette glanced at the forest in question, which was about fifty feet away.
"Probably, but why?" She asked nervously.
"Depending… They could be part of the terrorist group, or the ministry. Personally I want to avoid both but one is certainly worse than the other. Can you make it?" He asked more forcefully.
"Not without you!" Mari insisted.
Adrien swore as another crack was heard from the opposite direction. "Marinette we don't have time for this! Get to the forest! You don't even know me!"
"Oh so you're allowed to risk your life for a stranger but I'm not?" Mari fired back. Adrien had no answer for her. He sighed and drew his wand.
"Can I trust you to have my back?" He whispered as the two found themselves back to back. Mari drew her own wand and took a deep breath.
"Can I trust you to have mine?" She growled. Adrien let out a small laugh.
"Good." He paused. "Are you underaged?"
"Yeah why?"
"Nothing." He let it drop there, but Mari could have sworn she heard him whisper something under his breath. Crack! Crack Crack! Crack! "We appear to be outnumbered." He stated with a tone of one discussing the weather.
Marinette simply shook her head. "Wouldn't be the first time." She said dryly. Adrien gave her a curious look, but he quickly refocused. Despite her bravado, Marinette was nervous. She hadn't used her wand in nearly a month, and no matter how good she was during the school year, it had been long enough where she wasn't sure she'd be as good. It would have been so easy to listen to Adrien and make a break for the woods, but she wanted to stay. He would have fought to keep her safe, so she would do the same for him.
"Well well well." Came a cold and unnatural voice. "If it isn't the Quidditch champion and a mudblood." Marinette twitched and growled. She was surprised when Adrien clasped her hand. He squeezed it gently, and let go. Mari felt a twinge of disappointment at that, but fought it away. She could see three different figures across from her. One had the weird purple butterfly outline in front of their mask. She frowned. It wasn't part of the mask, and it seemed to be serving no purpose. As she stared, it disappeared into the mask and Marinette put it from her mind.
"I see three." She whispered back to Adrien.
"Ditto." He muttered. "I take it you support Hawkmoth then?" Adrien said loudly.
"Ooooh you're so smart." A different voice said sarcastically.
"I like to think so. But I've often been told otherwise." Adrien said pleasantly. "Stupefy!" he roared, and out of the corner of her eye, Mari saw a figure drop to the ground, unconscious.
"Stupefy!" She fired off a stunning spell of her own, and with that, the fight began began. As she'd feared, she found herself at a massive disadvantage, because she was one, fighting three men at once, and two, she was very rusty.
"Hell of a way to break off a month of no spells huh?" Adrien called to her, sending an orange spell after a hooded figure, who began clawing at his chest in pain.
Marinette fired off another stunner and grinned as a man went down. "It's one way to shake off rust." She agreed, pulling up a shield, and watching a spell reflect away.
"Nice technique." Adrien complimented, grinning. "It has me spell-bound.
Marinette launched a counter-attack of three spells at her remaining two people. "Did you just pun in the middle of battle?" She demanded.
Suddenly Adrien was by her side and he was firing red and blue streaks into the enemy's midst. "Well I am done with my half." He said, grinning. Marinette and Adrien worked flawlessly together, taking on the remaining two figures. The pulled off a rather impressive counter attack together, Adrien redirecting a stunning spell back at them, and Marinette following it up with two spells right behind it, sending one of the figures sprawling.
"Well done princess!' Adrien exclaimed, firing off more spells at the last man.
Marinette frowned. "I am not a princess." She complained, firing off a few of her own. "I don't need saving."
Adrien grinned easily. "I never said you did. You're a princess who can save herself quite easily I imagine." He launched an interesting combination of spells, which all streaked after the man, who was suddenly parrying desperately. Adrien turned to her, still smiling. "Trust me. It was a compliment."
Marinette felt a warm feeling in her chest, and she decided to play ball. "A compliment to what?" She asked, grinning back.
Adrien's smile grew wider. He opened his mouth to answer, but the hooded figure had somehow dealt with the last attack. He had a vicious grin on his face, and pointed his wand at the pair. "Avada Kedavra!" he screeched. Marinette had never seen a mood shift so quickly. Adrien's smile vanished without a trace, and he quickly summoned a wall of dirt in front of them, protecting the two.
Without preamble, he shoved her out of the way, which made Marinette fall over. She made to stand up, but before she could, she watched Adrien start dueling like a madman. Bolts of light flew from his wand at such an astonishing pace that she could hardly follow them. Marinette had never seen anything like it before. He launched a mixture of attacks, most of which Mari had only heard about. The hooded man began laughing maniacally, and launched a massive fireball at him.
Marinette's eyes widened in horror as Adrien was engulfed by the flames, before she realized that the flames were disappearing, becoming engulfed by the water streaming out of Adrien's wand. Adrien then whirled his wand around his head, making the water around him freeze, and he hurled it at the man across from him. The man dove desperately out of the way, but howled in pain as it connected with his leg. Adrien made a flourishing motion with his wand that sent his opponent's wand flying into the air, which Adrien promptly caught. He walked calmly over to his enemy, and once he got within five feet, sent a red bolt directly to his face, knocking him out.
He turned back around slowly and walked over to Mari, snapping the wand he had taken from the wizard and tossing it over his shoulder. He crouched in front of her, and she stared up at him in awe.
"I feel like this question is getting old… But are you ok?" He asked. Marinette nodded and again accepted his hand to help her get up. As he pulled her up his robe slipped up his arm slightly, and Mari could have sworn she saw something on his forearm, where he had been looking earlier before the match.
"Marinette… Could I ask you a favor?" Adrien asked, jolting Mari out of her thought process.
"Maybe." She said skeptically.
Adrien laughed. "Just if anyone asks can you not mention me. I'd rather nobody know I was here if at all possible." He paused then held up his wand. "Lumos." he murmured and the tip of his wand lit up.
"I can do that." Marinette said instantly. Adrien smiled gratefully and the two began walking into the forest in a comfortable silence. But something was bothering Marinette. "Riddle me this Adrien. How does the MVP of the French national team fresh off of winning the World Cup wind up in a forest with a random girl after single-handedly defeating six evil wizards?"
Adrien laughed when she finished. "It does sound ridiculous when you put it like that." He said with a smile. Marinette laughed and then winced. Her ribs were starting to hurt again now that the adrenaline was fading away.
Adrien noticed this and moved closer in case she needed him to catch her. "I'd do the spell again but it's not good to use several times in a row."
"That's ok. Well?" She asked after a few more moments.
"Not to be distracted I see." Adrien said with a note of amusement in his voice. "I just wanted a moment to myself. Join the general population and wander. But this little side mission might get me in trouble."
"Why?" Mari asked, the pain starting to flare up more by the second. "You just won the world cup surely your coach can't be too mad." Adrien laughed, but Marinette couldn't help but feel there was a note of darkness to it.
"It's not him I'm worried about." He said cheerfully. Marinette was about to press him further but a voice cut her off.
"Mari!"
Adrien cocked his head. "A friend of yours?" He asked.
Marinette nodded. "My friend Alya."
"Then it's time for me to go." Adrien said with a wry smile. "I hope to see you again." Marinette's breath caught in her throat.
"Wait! Thank you… For saving me and… Well everything." She said shyly.
"It was my pleasure. Thank you for having my back." He said, and Marinette could hear the genuineness behind his words. He took her hand and kissed it. "Until next time my lady." He winked, and before Marinette could truly process what had happened, he strode off into the night.
"Marinette!" Alya shouted, bursting into the clearing. Marinette stared off where Adrien had vanished in complete disbelief. Did that actually just happen? She thought, her brain refusing to focus on Alya who had almost reached her. She shook her head violently, trying to get what she assumed was a stupid grin and blush off of her face.
"Hey Alyaaaaa DON'T HUG ME!" Mari screeched as Alya barreled towards her. Alya pulled up short and Mari pointed at her ribs. "Broken. Refrain please."
Alya pouted but nodded before remembering she was angry. "What happened to you?" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
Nino and Mr. Lahiffe appeared between the trees from the same direction Alya had arrived from. "Mari!" Nino said, clearly relieved. "We were worried-"
Alya waved at him to shut up. "Yes yes what happened?" Alya asked impatiently. Marinette swallowed, remembering her promise to Adrien.
"I got hit in the face with a stunning spell. I woke up not too long ago and tried to head for the portkey. I just got here a few moments before you did." She wasn't technically lying. She had been headed in the general direction of the portkey with Adrien, she had just left out a few key details. Mr. Lahiffe gave her a searching look before he nodded.
Alya didn't seem to thrilled with her story either but she quickly got over it. "Well at least you're okay." She said, looking relieved.
Marinette nodded, suddenly feeling exhausted. "For the most part." She grimaced as her ribs reminded her of their presence. "I think my ribs are broken."
"I can fix that at home." Mr. Lahiffe said. "Which we should probably get to." He turned and the teenagers followed him back to the portkey. They soon reached the cup which looked as nondescript as ever. "Here Marinette, let me be next to you so I can catch you if necessary." Mr. Lahiffe offered. Marinette nodded and moved to his right. Mr. Lahiffe glanced around. "Everybody ready?" Everyone nodded and placed a finger on the cup. "3...2...1…"
Mari felt the tug and they started to spin. As they began spinning, Marinette could have almost sworn she'd heard a cat's meow and perhaps seen a flash of green from behind Alya. The group landed a few moments later, Marinette and mr. Lahiffe the only ones standing.
"Come on." Mr. Lahiffe said directing her to the house. "Let's fix you up." Marinette couldn't help but take a quick look around as they walked, hoping to catch a glimpse of the green she had seen before they left. But it wasn't there. Of course it isn't. Mari thought. It was at the quidditch grounds, and you probably imagined it. With that, she put it out of her mind and allowed herself to be brought into the Lahiffe residence.
A/N: (Giggles) Adrien your Chat Noir is showing
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I certainly enjoyed writing it. :) I not so lowkey love the idea that Adrien would just be a demon with magic, nearly impossible to take down. After all he does fence at his father's command in the show. I'm sure Gabe would certainly make sure his son knows how to duel in this universe.
(Note as of 5/19/2018) Ooookay so I basically rewrote this chapter. It wasn't good. Like ewwwww. I'm so sorry you had to read that, I think it's much better now. I completely revamped their dialogue, and I also rewrote the fight scene as well. So yea! Yay! Better writing!
Lemme know what you think.
Until Next Time!
~Nebilas~