Love to Break Free

by Littlemixup

All her life, Marinette had been told she's a freak for having the power of creation. That she's all alone. But when she's moved from her cell to another, she finds she's not quite as lonely as she'd been told. Friendship, romance and trust blossom between her and her cellmate, Adrien, as they work together to try and break free. However, Gabriel Agreste has other ideas.

11. Sweet Dreams - part II

First off, I'd like to apologise that I didn't post yesterday like I said I would, but I thought it would be easier for all of you if I posted it this morning.

I want to thank DearestMrIcarus for helping me come up with some of the ideas for this chapter. It wouldn't have been the same without his input!

Also, Adrienette4live, LyraMaeArcher and Emily, thank you so much for your lovely comments. Emily, if you're reading this, thank you for your idea, I will most certainly be using it next chapter if that's ok ;)

Enjoy!

Like it had almost been planned, Adrien catches me once more as I fall, and his carefully covered arms support me as I gaze up at him.

Huh.

Maybe the girls in books don't have it too bad after all.

Adrien's face is centimetres from mine as he holds me, and I can see every deep fleck of green as they dance in his enchanting eyes. He flashes me a smile and laughs slightly.

"Ok, so maybe not," he says.

I smile faintly, too mesmerised to say anything else. I internally scowl at myself. What's wrong with me?

"Maybe not," I say.

The moment lingers in the air a while longer, both of us savouring the feeling of holding another human, someone who isn't scared to death. An equal.

But Adrien eventually sets me down on the mattress with great care. He tells me I should try and sleep, that I will probably have regained my energy by tomorrow. Happy to oblige, I shut my eyes, listening to his footsteps as he walks to the other side of the cell, and I hear him sit down.

Then the silence.

It's deafening, blinding, too powerful, ruling the cell with an iron fist. But I won't let it take control. I will rebel against the silence and speak. Because there's no way I can possibly go to sleep. Not after everything that has happened today. I want this silence to be a good silence. I want to close my mouth and talk to Adrien in a million silent ways. I want our hearts to entwine and be one, understanding each other in the deep quietness of our confinement.

Silently, I turn my head and steal a glance at Adrien. He's sitting with his head on his knees, running his hands through his hair before looking at his side and nursing it with his fingertips. As soon as they make contact with his wound, he gives a small yelp in pain and bites his lip. Realising he made a noise, he looks over at me, at which point I pretend to be sleeping.

When he turns away, I open my eyes once more and decide to speak to him.

"Adrien?"

"He looks up, but I'm still facing away from him.

"Yeah?"

Another five seconds of silence.

"Thank you," I say, smiling although he can't see my face.

I hear his voice from the other side of the room and I'm so relieved that he can't see me blushing.

"You were going to fall. I couldn't let that happen."

I can hear him coming closer.

"No, I mean for going instead of me today. I should've gone. I'm sorry," I mumble.

I'm genuinely sorry for having to let Adrien go through everything that he has without knowing what has happened, and I want more than anything to make it up to him.

There's no reply.

He answers in footsteps, gradually getting closer, louder, closer, but I don't dare to turn around.

And then he's lying down next to me, eyes locked on mine with an almost happy glimmer in them. It's such a contrast to his face, scratched and bruised. I try to smile at him, and he grins back at me. I survey him, noticing how he is lying on his non-bloodied side.

I still don't understand why he won't let me help him.

Other than the fact that he has the potential to kill me.

"Do you know why I went today?" he asks me, grinning as he knows that I have no idea.

"No, why?" I ask breathlessly, pulse quickening.

Adrien shifts uncomfortably on the bed, breaking eye contact and bringing his hand to the back of his neck. He does this a lot, I've noticed. He looks up at me, not moving his head.

"Marinette, I've been so alone for so long. Everyone knew what I was capable of, including me, and every time I came near someone, they'd look at me, and all I would see was pure fear. I wasn't ever able to talk to anyone," he explains, voice soft and gentle, tickling my ear he's so close. His voice is so calming.

"But then you arrived. And you weren't scared one little bit," he pauses, takes one deep breath, "Marinette when I'm with you... I don't feel like a monster anymore."

And just like that, my frozen heart melts.

It's made of ice and the sun has just peeped out from behind the clouds. I used to sit in my old cell, staring at the beams of light that would filter in and out, knowing I was never close enough to touch them. Regardless, I used to try and try and try, but one day I just gave up, asking myself, can you really feel the sunshine if it doesn't brighten your life?

Our cell is full of sunshine, it's seeping through the concrete and melting my heart my mind my soul. A tear slips down my cheek. Nobody, no one at all, has ever said anything so lovely to me in my whole life. I've waited so long to be around another person, and I couldn't be happier that it's Adrien. He's watching me with a soft expression, touched that what he says means so much to me. I give him a watery smile.

"You are the furthest thing from a monster in the whole world. Believe me. In fact, if I had to be stuck in a cell with someone for the rest of my life, I'd definitely pick you," I reply, tears brimming in my eyes.

In the next moment, I decide to tell him something incredibly personal. Something I haven't thought about in a long time. Because back then, I didn't have any dreams left, none at all.

Now, the flame of hope inside me has begun to flicker slowly to life.

"I think," I begin, "one day, we'll get out of here, and we can live in Paris like everyone else. We'll live next to a park and a river where the sunlight catches on the water and the birds fly past and the tips of their wings stroke the surface of the water. We'll live next to the bridge where the lovers will stroll past and put padlocks onto its beams. God, I'd love to break free," I sigh wistfully, imagining my uncertain future. Adrien shakes his head at me and laughs. It's the first time I've seen him laugh in all the time I've known him.

"How do you do it?" he laughs, "how can you be so sure we'll not be stuck here until we die?"

I shrug and reply with a smile, before cupping my hands around my mouth, about to tell him a secret. He laughs at my gesture, knowing there's no one else to hear us.

"Sometimes, all that's necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. And whether they like it or not, we're the good ones. I'm going to find a way to get us out of here. I promise," I tell him. And it's true. No matter what, I'm going to do all I can to find a way out of this cell, for both of us.

"Wow," Adrien replies.

"Wow what?" I furrow my brow in confusion.

Adrien's face cracks into a grin, but I don't miss the slight expression of pain that flashes through it.

"Did you just make that up?" he asks me, amused.

I blush and try to pretend that I hadn't been thinking of it for the past few minutes.

"No," I lie.

Something tells me I'm not awfully convincing.

"Good, because it was awful," he exclaims, laughing at my shocked expression before winking playfully.

I shake my head as I laugh.

"You're jealous," I retort.

"Me? Jealous? I could've come up with something way cooler."

I fold my arms, raising my eyebrows.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, no need to look so surprised," he says, making us both laugh, "what about this: hope is eternal and can't die. All it needs is some action from us."

"That's basically what I just said but with different words."

"Ah, but way cooler words," he jokes, giving me a cocky grin.

We spend the rest of the day there on that mattress, talking away the hours. It has been one of the first times both of us have completely relaxed around each other, and it feels so good to just let go for once in our lives. To just pretend that for once, we aren't locked in a cell away from the rest of humanity. To put reality in a box and pack the lid on tight to stop everyone and everything that's hurt us from crawling out and making us face them again. To just press pause on time and sit in our own little vacuum of nothing, revelling in each other's company, and the new friendship between us.

As time passes, I'm beginning to realise how much I like Adrien. The biggest hint of all is my incompetent stuttering. Every time I do it, I curse myself repeatedly, but I can't help it. Every time I talk to him my heart does backflips and my tongue ties itself in knots and my mental voice starts to sing, drowning out any rational thoughts. Everything I could say is spelled out in letters on a scrabble board and someone flips the table, sending letters and syllables flying in all directions. And suddenly it's nearly impossible to talk to him without my heart fluttering.

He's the only person who's never judged me for being who I am, the only person who accepts me for me, realising that I'm a human too. It's refreshing.

Adrien, he's like a breath of fresh air. A single coloured flower in a black and white mural. A drop of water in a vast desert.

We talk until it goes dark, until the sun has broken free from its prison of clouds and vanished as the moon unleashes an army of stars to take over the sky. So completely unaware of time, we don't realise that it's gone midnight until I see a shaft of moonlight has made its way through the window and is casting its pearly glow on the floor.

"What about you?" I ask, still engrossed in our conversation.

When there's no reply, I study Adrien's face. His eyes have drifted closed and his breathing is rhythmic and heavy.

I do not smile fondly at his sleeping head.

I do not whisper goodnight and think about reaching out to gently touch his golden hair.

I do not realise how bad I am at lying to myself...

Maybe I do.

Sighing happily, I roll onto my back and stare at the charred ceiling, thinking of how incredible things are right now. It's the best feeling in the whole world, finally watching things fall into place for me, after having to sit alone and watch them crumble for so long. And it's all thanks to Adrien. A yawn escapes my lips and I am unsuspectingly engulfed by a tiredness that I seem to have been supressing. Deciding to go to sleep, I carefully roll over to face Adrien, but unfortunately, I wake him. His eyes open slowly and focus on me. He smiles wearily.

"Sorry," I blurt. Adrien smiles again in reply.

"Goodnight," I say drowsily, closing my eyes.

I'm drifting off to sleep when I hear Adrien's weight shift on the bed and the spring of the mattress creak. Opening my eyes, I see Adrien is lying on the floor, trying to make himself comfortable.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I sit up.

"We can't both sleep on there," Adrien says, sitting up too.

"Yes we can."

"Not if there's a chance that when we're both asleep I accidentally brush your skin and you die."

"That won't happen," I protest. But Adrien doesn't care.

"I don't want to take that chance," he replies firmly, settling onto the floor.

I must be more visibly upset than I thought, because Adrien flashes me a comforting smile.

"It's ok. I promise. Goodnight Marinette," he finishes, closing his eyes a final time.

I do the same, using my hands as a pillow to rest my head on.

I've forgotten how comfy beds are. Before I know it, I'm lost in sleep, dreaming. It appears I've also forgotten how amazing dreams are too. It has been my first real dream in the longest time. Dreams illuminate the night, and give you hope for when you wake up in the morning. For in dreams, we emerge in our own paradise, where we can do anything we desire.

I'm standing in the middle of the world that's coming to life around me. Flurries of ladybirds flutter in clusters around me, leaving a trail of life and beauty in their wake. Trees sprout from the earth, luscious leaves growing from the bark; building and structures repaired to their grand selves. Everywhere I look swirls of glossy white light streak the sky.

But something else is happening.

Thunder and lightning send ear-bursting crackles across the clouds as they shroud the sun, choking the light from it and drinking every last inch of blue from the sky. Rain showers down from above, cascading onto the street. I squint, trying to see through the misery, and I can just make out the outline of a blond head a few metres away. I try to run towards him, but a bolt of purple lightning exits the thunderous clouds with a sickening crack and pierces the ground just in front of me and I'm blinded for a second. I try to reach him. No matter how hard I try, I can't move. I can't run. I can't move. When I think it's over, the clouds open up further and a swarm of black butterflies with luminous purple stripes pour from the sky in vast numbers. They infect the air around me, making it so hard to see as they surround me, envelope me, getting closer, closer all the time. I try to warn Adrien. Tell him to run, escape. But he doesn't move. I think I'm screaming with so much panic my lungs should have burst open. Another bolt of lightning strikes the earth, this time right in front of Adrien. I search for him. He's gone. He'll come back. He'll always come back.

The clouds roar, the sky exploding in a blast of black butterflies and I look up and gasp. There's a thief in my chest that has stolen my breath and I need it back. They've been into my brain, and I've been robbed of my thoughts so that I can't think.

Two eyes through the clouds.

Lila towers over me from her godly position in the sky, laughing, snickering, cackling, howling. At me. When her laughter ceases to reverberate through the clouds, she fixes me with her icy stare, mocking me as if I amuse her. She presses her finger to her lips, winking cruelly at me.

It's at this moment I look around frantically and realise that Adrien is still nowhere to be seen. But I'll give it a minute. He's not gone. He can't be gone.

I'm watching.

I'm waiting.

I'm aching.

Suffocating.

I'm breathing.

I'm worrying.

Terrified.

Can her hear me?

I'm screaming for him.

Louder. Louder.

I jolt upwards from my sleep, beads of sweat lacing my forehead. I close my eyes, so glad I'm not trapped in that awful world anymore. I'm panting heavily, mostly with relief that what I just experienced wasn't real. I look frantically around for Adrien, making sure he's there. Everything is different from my dream except one thing.

The screaming was real.

But I never screamed once.

Adrien is tossing and turning vigorously, onto one side then quickly onto his good one. Sweat is covering his brow too, and strands of his hair are plastered to his forehead. I shuffle to the end of the mattress to see if he's awake. But he's sound asleep. Silent tears are streaming down his face.

Every few seconds he screams.

Unsure of what to do, I play with my hair, knowing that whatever he's enduring in his mind cannot be pleasant at all. I pause as he freezes for a moment.

"NOOO!" he screams, catching me unaware. His scream is so pained, to real, so loud, I fall from where I'm balanced on the edge of the mattress and manage to land without touching him.

I have my hands propping me up either side of his torso and my legs are still on the mattress. My arms are shaking slightly as I support myself. I'm inches from his bloodied face, the cuts and bruises less evident in the dark. He flinches again in pain and my eyes drift down his chest to the large gash running along his side. Since he's lying on the floor full of rubble, I realise it will get dirt and dust in it, possibly getting infected. I'm suddenly more awake than ever, so I decide to help him whilst he doesn't know about it. He's been nothing but kind to me since I arrived, so I decide to help, even if it means me dying in the process.

I push myself back onto the mattress and walk quietly over to his other side, where I see the cut is red raw and looks extremely sore. I concentrate on my feelings for Adrien, and some of the fear from my dream that is still lingering inside of me. The familiar ethereal fingers of light embrace his skin, healing his wound with ease. Half expecting him to wake up, I wonder whether or not to go back to sleep and pretend I don't know what has happened. However, to my surprise, he stays sleeping. He seems to have calmed down, but nevertheless, I stay at his side, just until I'm sure he's okay.

I'm just about to leave when he starts to shiver, a little bit at first, and then he crosses his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm. I see his shirt discarded next to the mattress and reach over to get it. I lie it carefully over him.

And stop.

I freeze. Wait.

Did I imagine it?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it. Let me know your thoughts!

If any of you are interested in MLB Season 3 news, Oblivio premieres tonight at 4:30pm on Disney Channel, and I have seen some amazing spoilers, so make sure you watch it!