Chapter 3 – Save Me
"Princess." Chat whispered in her ear, his voice filled with despair.
"Chat." Marinette choked out, her voice cracked and broken, thick with tears. She grabbed for him, and she would have been scratching him if it wasn't for the protective layer of leather. "Please. Save me." The hole was tearing her apart. He had to stop it.
She was terrified. She was going to die.
"It's ok princess, I'm right here." There was no judgement in his voice. Only caring. Support. He spoke low and soft, a calming tone to it that had her chest slowly healing itself back over, her heart beating once more.
She was ok.
Chat was here.
She would be ok.
He would take care of her.
She wasn't sure how long they stayed there for. It could have been days for all she knew, and yet she was still content to stay wrapped up in his arms, protected and ok. She really just wanted to stay like this for the rest of her life. Nothing would go wrong if she just stayed with him like this.
Chat's POV
"Princess? What's happened?" Of course, Chat could kind of guess what had happened. He'd witnessed the scene in class just before Marinette was taken to see Mr Damocles, and he'd heard about the apparent slapping, even though he knew it to be false. Marinette would never hurt anyone. He'd heard the things that people were saying, and knew that they had messaged her about it, as well as the new change in her appearance.
His heart broke for his sweet princess, so destroyed by what had been happening these last few months. It was no surprise that eventually she'd just given in, and he didn't blame her for it. No, he was more surprised that she'd lasted this long and that she hadn't been akumatised. He was proud of her for that.
Marinette deserved so much better. She deserved everything – the world and so much more. He wished he could give it to her. It broke his heart even more that he couldn't.
"I didn't do it. I didn't do any of it." Was all that Marinette muttered, yet to answer his question. Well, that was as good as a straight answer, since it confirmed in his mind that that was the problem.
"What didn't you do, Princess?"
"All of it."
Marinette still clung to him like he was her life line – which, he realized, he probably was. She hadn't look up at him. She hadn't looked at him at all, yet even before he spoke, she still knew it was him. That was a weird, special kind of feeling. She knew it was him when all he'd done was hold her and take those scissors away.
He shook those thoughts away before he could get too caught up in them, not wanting to get off track in a moment as serious as this.
"Marinette? I think we should take care of those cuts." He said softly, worried that they would get infected or something. They didn't look deep enough to have caused too bad damage, but with all that blood he just couldn't be sure. But they were deep enough to scar. God, those were going to scar really badly for a long time – maybe they would never truly fade even if they did heal.
He couldn't imagine how badly she must be hurting to have resorted to it. She must've been in so much mental anguish and distress.
How could they all do that to her? How could they hurt her so badly. How could they believe Lila over her so easily, all those months ago?
They were questions that Chat had been asking himself a lot over the months, and he wasn't sure he would ever get answers to them. It had never made sense to him, even though he'd once believed her about some things, not related to Marinette. Even though he'd believed her about Ladybug and Lila being a superhero, he never would have dreamed of believing Lila about all the terrible things she said that Marinette had done. She'd known her long enough to know who she was and that none of it was true.
He started to shift her off of his lap so that he could stand up, but Marinette screamed and flung herself back around him.
"Chat! Please don't let me go." She hiccupped, finally looking up at him with pleading, terrified eyes, brimming over with tears.
"I need to stand up, but you can hold my hand the whole time, ok?"
She didn't speak, her answer being a weak nod in agreement.
She stood up on her own, never letting go of Chat's arm.
They both went down to the main part of the house, Chat quickly finding some wipes and bandages.
"This is going to sting, I'm so sorry." He hated this part.
Marinette's POV
Marinette let out an anguished scream as soon as the alcohol wipes came into contact with the open cuts. She tried to rip her arm away, but Chat kept a firm grip, keeping her there. She knew it had to be done, but it hurt so badly.
Chat cleaned her up as quickly and painlessly as he could, even if it wasn't exactly quick or painless.
As soon as her arm was wrapped up in a bandage, Marinette dragged Chat back up to her bedroom, forcing him up on her bed.
"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Marinette asked, feeling exhausted after crying for so long.
"Of course, Princess. I'll stay with you as long as you need me to, ok?"
"Ok. Thank you, Chat. For everything."
Marinette laid down, curled up and facing the wall. She took Chat's arm, which she had never let go, and draped it securely around her waist, before pulling the blanket up and over them both.