Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Creep
Sabine panics, Émilie is tired, Marinette and Master Fu try something.
Sabine's eyes widened as the huge realization had finally settled upon her. "Oh my God…" She muttered.
"What is it, honey?" Tom asked concerned.
"Our daughter is Ladybug! She's been risking her life all these years!" She felt her husband tense beside her as if he had only come to that realization as well.
Now that they knew Adrien was alive, the silence of the room allowed them to think about what they had learnt in the last hours. Marinette had sent them a message telling them she was having dinner at Alya's, so they ate alone, watched their favourite Tv show, and went to bed, not even imagining the horrors their daughter was living trying to save the love of her life. Waking up to a call from the hospital informing them that Marinette and her friends had been admitted in the ER was by far the most terrifying experience that they had ever lived.
The relief Sabine felt the moment she laid eyes upon her seemingly fine daughter could never be described. Aside from a few scratches on her cheek, she seemed to be physically okay. But they could tell that whatever happened had left her shaken. Nino, Alya and strangely Chloé were also there, they didn't seem to be hurt, but it was clear that they had been crying, whatever happened had affected all of them.
"M-Mama! Papa…" Marinette cried the moment they ran into the observation room.
Both parents hugged the teen tightly, "What happened?" Tom asked apprehensively.
"It's Adrien! I should have done more! We should have saved him!" Their daughter explained in a rush. However, instead of clarifying their doubts, it only got them even more confused.
"Adrien? What about Adrien?" Sabine questioned, dreading the answer, her heart sinking already.
"He-He's hurt! They don't know if he's going to make it!" Nino sobbed.
Sabine ran to her daughter, holding her tightly to comfort her and at the same time, to reassure herself that Marinette was indeed safe. Everyone in the room joined the hug in silence, only the occasional sniffs could be heard.
After a few minutes of warm silence, Marinette was the first one to break it. "Maman?" She called in a small voice.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Could you and Papa go check on Adrien's mother? Her name is Émilie… She-She's alone in the waiting room right now… She must be so worried!" She asked, with her bright blue eyes, an expression Tom and Sabine could never say no to.
"What about you, sweetie? Are you okay? What happened to you?" Tom questioned.
"I'm fine. Please, I need to know if there is any news!" She pleaded.
"We know, darling… But we're your parents, we deserve to know what happened, don't you agree?" Tom insisted softly.
"We… uh… It was his father… He got mad, he was keeping Adrien prisoner in his own house. And he was so sick, I- I…" She closed her eyes and sighed, "Maman, papa, I… I need to tell you something… everything will make sense after I tell you the secret I've been keeping from you…" She paused, "I'm Ladybug…" More tears cascaded down her face, "I'm Ladybug and I failed everyone tonight! We just rushed in there, with no plan, and he won! And he got his wish! And Adrien is paying for it now!" Marinette was now sobbing, muttering incoherent words that sounded like apologies. Tom and Sabine could only hug her tighter.
"Our little girl is a superheroine!" Sabine was now certain that the erratic beating heart inside her chest and the difficulty she was having breathing were caused by all the anxiety she was feeling.
Tom squeezed her hands between his, "Sweetie, it's okay! She's okay, please, breathe with me!" He said, breathing in exaggerated motions for Sabine to follow. Eventually, the Chinese woman was able to calm herself down.
"Sabine, I can only imagine how hard it must be for you to learn that your daughter was risking her life every day for the sake of Paris" Alya started, "you must be terrified, however, Marinette is okay, Hawkmoth was arrested… I am so, so proud to call your daughter my best friend. She has saved me multiple times, she trusted me to help her, she trusted us all! She was never alone out there!" The brunette argued.
Sabine considered her words, "I know… but… this is terrifying… however, we won't stop her…" She smiled at the teens, "We know that you have an obligation to Paris, so we will help! Whenever you need a place to rest, you'll always be welcome in our house! Everything will be alright, you'll see!" At least, she hoped so.
"So you're saying that the meds are not working?" Émilie stared pleadingly at the doctor.
"Yes. We started giving him antibiotics the moment he was admitted, so they should have been working by now, however, we haven't registered any difference in his health, we can almost tell that he seems to be getting worse by the minute." The doctor informed soberly.
The blonde woman rested her hands on her head. This was all so much for her to handle right now. Ever since she was awakened from her endless slumber, the universe seemed to be targeting her specifically. Perhaps that was the cost of her forceful resurrection. Dead should stay dead, and the livings should just move on with their lives. Gabriel though, he was not used to be denied anything. If he wanted something, he would get it, even if that meant meddling with the most superior laws of the universe. Tired green eyes drifted from the still form of her son connected to the multiple tubes that were keeping him alive to the old doctor who was waiting for a reaction from her. "Isn't," she cleared the itch in her throat that was preventing her to speak, "Isn't there anything else we can do?"
The doctor scratched his head as if trying to get the right words off his mind. As if he was preparing himself to tell her the dreadful news, "I'm afraid there's nothing else we can do but wait. You must understand that his condition is incredibly delicate, if only we could treat the sepsis, his chance of survival would be greater. I honestly had never seen an infection this resistant, if it keeps developing at this rate, his organs will shut down, his kidneys are already failing, we might have to get him into surgery, which we are not certain that he will handle. He's getting worse at a fast rate."
The tears that were gathering around Émilie's eyes had finally started to cascade down her face. She grabbed her baby's cold hand, careful with the IV continuously pumping meds into his bloodstream, softly tracing the bruises around the wrist, "Please Ade, you have to fight this! I know you can do it, sweetie! I know you…you-" A sob interrupted her speech as Émilie could no longer hold back her despair.
"This is what's going to solve this chaos." Master Fu was holding a black box right in front of her, and if Marinette's hunch was correct, she already suspected what was inside.
Trembling fingers carefully picked the box from the old master's hands. Breathing ceased to be an automatic function for the bluenette, as she took in the details from the seemingly inconspicuous box. Blue eyes had stopped blinking in shock. Slowly, the teen opened the box, almost immediately blinded by the pink light emanating from it.
Before she could even say a word, a red blur sped towards her face, "Oh, thank God you're alright! I was afraid he had hurt you!"
"Tikki…" She whispered not being able to choose a reaction from the mess that was her head right now.
Tikki swayed in the air before collapsing in her hands, "TIKKI?!" The bluenette screamed in terror, before looking around the ICU, suddenly aware of her surroundings, "What happened to her?"
"She's exhausted, the wish takes a great toll on them," Master Fu sighed, "Fortunately, it's nothing that can't be fixed with some food." He started taking out a few chocolate chips from his satchel, "I believe these are her favourite?"
Marinette could only nod, confused by all these recent developments, "You said that she can fix this? Adrien?" She pointed at the glass window, revealing the sleeping boy and his crying mother at his side.
"It's still not certain, I've never seen this before, but from the information that I heard concerning Chat Noir's health, the infection he has… It will not go away with simple meds, you see, its cause is magical, so it only seems logical that the solution was to be magical as well. The Ladybug miraculous is capable of many things. As the Cat ring is the only capable of destroying the other miraculous, the earrings can restore them. I believe that if we fix the peacock brooch, the curse affecting Adrien will vanish. In other words, we might be able to cure Adrien."
Marinette gasped, there was hope, after all, he would be alright, they would be alright! "Of course, he will still have all his other injuries and some of the effects of the infection," Her smile faltered at the wise man words, "so we need to act now if we manage to stop the infection, he is most likely to survive."
Eventually, Marinette was able to stand. Eventually, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. She and Master Fu were able to sneak into a secluded room.
In the meantime, Tikki had regained her strength, although she still needed to rest before she was to be fully healed from the strain she was subjected to.
Yet, they didn't have time to rest. Perhaps when everything was fixed, she and Plagg could finally be together, side by side along with their chosen. But right now, … Right now, she needed to do one final favour for the ones she cared. If she failed, Marinette would be devastated. From what little information she had heard, Adrien would not survive, they didn't know how much time he had left. From what little she knew of him, either from Marinette's endless lovesick daydreams or from what little she talked to Plagg during these last few months, Tikki knew he was fighting, it was just that his body had given up already.
He might only have a few hours left… Her vision swayed.
The ladybug kwami sighed. She was still weak, but she could handle it. If she failed, Marinette would be devastated. Worse than that, Plagg would be shattered. He tried not to get close to his kittens since they always died too soon, bad luck would always catch up to them. It finally caught up to his youngest chosen. And she knew how much Plagg cared for the boy…
"Tikki…" The kwami looked sadly at Marinette, "I'm so sorry for not waiting for you to recover…" Her own chosen cried. It was always a sight the red kwami wished she would no longer see. When her ladybugs had their hearts broken. When they looked at her in despair for some kind of fix the kwami was not sure she would be able to provide.
She smiled weakly at the teenager, "It's okay, Marinette… I will always support you… You know you can count on me for everything!" She comforted her.
Her exhaustion had finally caught up. Émilie was sitting in a chair right next to her son, still holding his cold hand. Her upper body was slumped in Adrien's bed, with her face resting against the crook of the comatose boy's neck.
Suddenly, a shrill beep resonated through the room, jerking her awake.
She looked at the heart monitor connected to Adrien, which was beeping loudly and unsteadily. Irregular spikes could be seen in the monitor, and the blonde woman pressed the blue button next to his bed in a panic.
A few seconds later a team of doctors and nurses rushed inside the small room, gathering around the teen in a frenzy. She was rushed outside the room by a young nurse, while the medical team inside kept shouting orders at each other.
"Tikki spots on!" The bluenette felt the usually calming pink light envelop her body. She looked at her gloved hands, a sense of relief washed through her, as she was finally back to her old superhero persona.
Green eyes were practically glued to the room in front of them. The nurses had shut the binders, but Émilie could still hear what was happening inside. The machines kept frantically beeping, and the doctors kept shouting. VF they said initially. She then heard the terrifying shocks from the defibrillator being administered. It was just like in the ambulance, she would never forget that horrible sound and the burnt smell that spread afterwards.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, dreadful words were pronounced from inside, her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor. The same nurse that had stayed with her was now trying to calm her down, but how could she when inside they were saying that her baby's heart had stopped, when the only sound she was now hearing was the continuous beep from the machines and the occasional shocks.
Ladybug opened the black box and a blue light emanated from it. A sleeping kwami fell to her hands. The blue peacock was trembling, it didn't react to anything or anyone in the room.
"What do I do now?" Her gaze drifted to the other person inside the small storage room.
"Now, just like you purify an Akuma, you purify the miraculous. Concentrate your mind, focus your will to what you're about to do. Tikki will help you."
She nodded in determination. The heroine slowly opened her yoyo. Shuddering, she gripped the damaged brooch, trapping it inside her weapon. She forcefully closed her eyes, thinking about all of what had happened since she became the saviour of Paris. Letting her mind be filled with the wonderful blonde boy, who had already filled her heart, and his broken family.
In a fresh wave of energy and resolution, she finally ordered, "I free you from evil!"
A white light blinded the two occupants in the room.
The shocks and the orders stopped abruptly. Only the continuous daunting beep was heard until also that was shut down. Émilie heard murmurs from inside, although she could not discern what they were saying.
Ultimately, two doctors opened the door. Their tired faces already revealing what had happened.
"N-No… no…." She gasped for air. "It can't be…" She shouted, no longer managing to stand.
"We're so sorry, Mrs Agreste… We tried everything… his health was very fragile…" They kept speaking, but Émilie could no longer hear them. Her baby was dead. Her baby was dead because she was alive. He went through years of suffering, of isolation, of neglect, all because of her selfishness. Gabriel had delivered the final blow, but it was her wish of trying to help more than humanly possible that has led them there.
She finally managed to get to her feet and bypassed the doctors who were still speaking to her. The blonde woman rushed inside the eerily quiet room. The clinicians followed right behind her.
Suddenly, the nurse that was right beside Adrien shouted, staring in shock to the bed. One of the doctors went to her side, gasping as he also noticed something. Émilie approached the bed, and her heart missed a beat as she stared at her still intubated son. Because staring back at her were two tired green eyes, remarkably similar to hers.
Hope you liked the chapter, the angst is almost over, at least the worst part is done. Next chapter will have a long-awaited reunion and will have Adrien's POV again!
Next Chapter: The bluenette sprinted through the hospital corridors. She had to get to the room. She needed to see it with her own eyes. She only hoped that fixing the brooch had worked on fixing Adrien. It had to!
Thank you so much for all the reviews, and kudos! I know I suck at keeping a schedule, but your feedback inspires me to write, so thank you!
See you next chapter!