Chapter |Twenty
Warning, this chapter does contain some dark themes that can be triggering for some. Please proceed with caution.
"You know this isn't really who you are right?"
Marinette looked up at herself sitting across from her, tilting her head ever so slightly. The version of her that sat across the way was dressed in dark colors. The pink pants , blazer and white shirt were replaced with a dark turtle neck and black and white plad skirt. Her long hair was tied up in a high pony tail and her eyelashes were long with a a few coats of mascara to make them look even longer.
"You aren't me either."
She looked up amused, "No, but I am a part of you that you've kept buried deep down. The sadness you refused to feel for years. The sadness that eventually tired into a fire of anger you fought so hard to keep control of and now you've lost it. Yet this version of you, the one I see is one that was created. That isn't you, Anya."
She threw the name at her mockingly and for as long as she could remember Anya was her name. Yet now there was this hesitation she didn't have before, that maybe that was not her. A frown was on her lips now that the other Marinette seemed to take notice of as a smile grew on her own red painted lips.
"I'm the you that you fear someone finding out about, the one you never wanted to ruin your little miss perfect image. Yet now you don't really have the choice, you're going to have to accept everything you are and make the choice to get out of here Marinette."
"Get out of my head." Marinette seethed at her doppelgänger.
She smirked, "Can't accept the truth? Or is it messing with your head a little bit more? That maybe it was because of us and who we are that the people we care about die around us. Our parents, Tikki. Who next Marinette? Chloe? Adrien? Peter? Or do you not remember them either? What about Lucas, the one who caused all of this-"
"I said. Get. Out. Of . My. Head!"
She shook her head, "The chaos will consume you."
Marinette woke up screaming in her hotel bed, neck on fire as she grabbed at her neck. She felt something shock her, and then Lucas was right next to her. His dark head of hair was the first thing of him she noticed and then his presence she felt herself naturally calm down despite the pressure in the back of her head telling her something was wrong. What could be wrong, well Marinette wasn't really sure now.
"Anya, you were having a nightmare. Are you okay?" Lucas asks, the concern in his voice caused a small smile to form on Marinette's lips.
"I can't remember what it was about now." She tells him softly, sitting up in the hotel bed and sighing softly. "Did I really need to come with you for this meeting? What's the point of me even being here Lucas?"
He chuckled, hand cupping her cheek. "Because you have a way with people and charming them. You also have ways of somehow always getting what you want, it always worked with dad."
"Well yeah, I was his favorite child." Marinette teased, getting up from her bed and pushing back whatever headache was forming in her head by tossing back some pills that Lucas had ready for her. It was a normal reoccurrence that she just couldn't seem to shake, not with all the youtube videos of how to control dreams or just not have any.
"Yeah well I can't really argue with that." Lucas says, standing near the doorway and pointing towards the wall clock in the room. "Please be ready to go to the meeting in an hour."
Marinette raised an eyebrow, "What is this meeting even for? More sponsors for you humane project of making the world a better place with better people?"
Lucas sighed, "Something like that Anya, but I really just need you to be there to support me. Can you please just do that for me for once?"
Marinette's lips pressed thinly together as she stared Lucas down, then a sigh left her lips in suit. She forced herself to nod her head, "I will always support you no matter what in the end. We're all we have right?"
Wrong.
"We're all we have." Lucas agrees, "Be down stairs in an hour, the car will be here then to pick us up then."
Marinette's blue eyes watched as Lucas left her hotel room with a spare key in hand. Lifting her hands, she rubbed at her temples where the pressure was still pressing in her head and sighed in discomfort. This was a headache she just couldn't shake no matter the amount of pain killers she took.
She shook her head lightly, as if that were to ease any of the pressure- which it didn't, and went to shower. Within forty-five minutes Marinette was dressed in a professional blue dress and her hair was braided. Her heels clicked while she walked on the tile of the hotel room looking for her purse before she went to go. For a moment she stared at the black clutch with uncertinatly, the pressure in her head increased.
"Anya, are you ready?" Lucas's voice snapped her out of it as she blinked away from the clutch and opened the door.
"Yeah I was just grabbing my purse. I'm ready now."Marinette offered a smile as she closed her hotel door before walking down the hall with Lucas.
Down stairs at the main entrance of the hotel was a tinted jeep waiting for the two of them, and with Lucas's help Marinette got in quickly. Not even a second after the door was closed behind Lucas were they taking off down the street towards a location Marinette knew nothing about. There was a small pressure in a her head intensifying again, and the more she thought about the more she ached.
"Anya." Lucas grabbed her hand, and instantly the ache ceased. He watched as her blue eyes refocused on him, watches as the calculating look melted away into one of trust. She trusted him as long as he kept her in line, and Lucas would never let anyone take her from him. He had a lot to gain with Marinette by his side, and at the same time he had a lot to lose of she were to remember.
"What is this meeting for, Lucas?" Marinette repeated the question from earlier, watching the hint of annoyance spark in Lucas's eyes. "You keep me in the dark-"
"Some things there are things I don't want to burden you with. You don't need to worry about-"
Marinette's eyebrows furrowed as she looked away out the window, "You think I can't tell that there's something off here? Is what you are doing illegal?"
Lucas knew he needed to be careful with what he said, because anything could trigger Marinette to remember. Realistically if she were to remember right now she would probably kill him. It was ironic, the girl that sat next to him was young and had been full of dreams. There was a sick satisfaction in him that he had knowing he took everything that made her happy, and he turned her into something she never wanted to be.
A weapon.
A weapon he used for his benefits. He gotten his way with her by his side to persuade those who opposed him. She was powerful, untapped and powerful. If she were to remember he knew that she would loss control, and would very well kill him. After all she had blood on her hands because of him already.
"It's just a business meeting." Lucas repeated the words he had done before in this exact conversation, already knowing the outcome it would have within the hour. "You are a part of this business so you should also be present, unless you would rather stay in the hotel room next time watching bbad American Netflix on your phone with the VPN you have. Here put this on just incase, you hide it under your hair better."
Marinette sighed, knowing he had a point and like Lucas has expected she said nothing as she put on the very small ear piece she believed to secretly record meetings. The rest of the car ride was in silence and within twenty minutes they were pulling up to a tall business building that had high security. Of course their care went through with ease, but Lucas could feel Marinette tense with anticipation as they entered a private parking garage. It was a trait his Anya used to do in the same situation when she was alive.
"Stay close to me." Lucas tells her as they exit the car, following a security man through the secure halls and into the elevator to only go up to the very top- which was the fifty-fifth floor.
Inside the room was very heavily armed men who surrounded another small group of men who waited at a table. It was something that seemed familiar to Marinette, yet it also seemed very new to her. The feeling was a bit confusing itself but she tried her best to shake it off as she refocused on Lucas gaining the attention of these men that radiated power.
She still wasn't sure what it was that Lucas wanted from this meeting, or what the expectations for the outcome was supposed to be. It was a bit unnerving how she was expected to blindly follow and trust him, but at the same time she couldn't recall ever doing anything else but following him. She listened and spoke when spoken too. Yet at the same time she would have thought he would at least trust her with some of the information of what the hell it was they were doing.
"Ah, Mr. Valentino." A man at the head of the table calls attention, and suddenly Marinette isn't sure she should even be there when the man over looks her presence.
"General Salvatore." Lucas offers one of the fakest smiles Marinette has ever seen in his face. "Thank you form agreeing to see me. I'll keep this meeting short and sweet, I know you lot are busy."
General Salvatore offered his own smile back, a predatory smile. "I heard you've been asking for some questionable things from different personal. What is it that I could possible offer you that peaked your interest?"
Lucas chuckled, not even bothering to take a seat. Part of him already knew this meeting would be quick, they always were and he always got what he wanted. This time would be no different, it was a practiced ease.
"You have passwords to certain blue prints. Weapons, correct?" Lucas asks, eyebrow raising when guns were suddenly pointed at him and the general looked at him as if Lucas had insulted him.
"Absolutely not!" General Salvatore roared, "The last thing I need is an American taking these codes and doing something stupid with them. It would only cause a war. I agreed to see you thinking you would pitch a business idea, not ask for something so absurd."
Lucas tisked, clearly not liking the answer or response he gotten back as he shook his head. He didn't even bother to answer as he tilted his head ever so slightly and glanced back to where Marinette was standing still near the door. It was then Marinette felt body still for a single moment, and like a light switch being flipped so was her demeanor. Lucas watched as her blue eyes narrowed on the man sitting at the end of the table, as if he were someone who personally offended her and he couldn't help the small smirk that tugged at his lips.
"I think you'll find that I'll get exactly what I came here for." Lucas vindictively says, waving his hand in the air absentmindedly.
"There are three flowers in a vase, the third flower is red."
The words ran through her head through the ear piece that Lucas had her put on. Without a second of hesitation, Marinette's eyes took on a golden hue and set her gaze onto the general across the table who was looking at Lucas as if he were crazy. Her eyes narrowed in the slightest way, a golden glow took to her hands. When she lifted her hands, some of the glass from the windows broke, allowing the breeze to come in from their high level.
"She'll throw you off the edge of that window with no hesitation if you don't hand me the codes to the weapon blue prints here in the building." Lucas tells the engineer, "All I need is the code and a form of authorization to get them."
"She's little-"
Marinette flickered one wrist to the side without a blink, causing the one of the security guards closet to the broken widow had no chance as he flew back and out the window to fall many stories.
"Like I said," Lucas refocused on the general, "The code or you loss your men, one by one."
Marinette's eyes snapped towards one of the security guards who moved their finger to the tigger, and with another flick of her wrists a golden energy wave left her hand and went around the room. Within seconds the security guards all shot each other and fell to the floor lifelessly. Her eyes then resettled on the men sitting at the table.
"So that's how you did it." General Salvatore muttered, equally scared as he was impressed, "You have your own weapon of mass destruction no one knows about."
Lucas grinned manically, "She's quite amazing, isn't she? The world functions on a higher level when controlled. She is untapped chaotic power. What she can do exactly is yet to be discovered, but I wonder.."He looks back at Marinette, "See if you can see into his head and get the code, kill him if you can. We can't leave any clues."
General Salvatore froze, feeling a pressure in his own head. His own eyes glowed golden for a moment, just enough for Lucas to see and smirk to himself. Then to his own surprise the other men around the table stood and picked up the guns of the fallen soldiers. Lucas watched as they pointed them at one another and took the shot. Then he watched as the general was flung out the window.
"The code is eagle wings triple zero thirty-seven forty-five west." Marinette tells him, turning around without an emotion and walked out of the room.
Alya didn't quite understand why she was even here, she didn't feel like she belonged her or was worthy enough to be here after all her poor decision making. Trixx tried to tell her there was a reason, that fate somehow had a plan but Alya wasn't sure she really believed in fate anymore. She was starting to understand Marinette's words as Ladybug, that every choice had a consequence of some type. Those consequences didn't necessarily mean something bad was going to happen as a result of an outcome, but it also didn't mean something good would happen either.
As much as she wanted to help, Alya remembered Marinette's eyes the day of her parent's funeral, and how they seemed to right through her. She only spoke eleven words to dismiss her and Alya knew she probably broke their friendship beyond repair, but she was ready to accept that fact and at least work on getting Marinette's trust back to at least work together.
It didn't take away all that she experienced and been through, or what she thought she deserved and didn't. The fact was she had been a horrible friend to Marinette and a horrible girlfriend to Nino. She had once wanted to be a reported, but how could she truly be a reporter when she couldn't fact check Lila and got swept up in her lies? She didn't blame Marinette for her indifference now, because Alya knew if the tables had been turned she would probably be there on the same boat as Marinette and Nino. She needed to be a better person, and that was why she didn't believe she deserved Trixx.
"You messed up Alya." Chloe's voice cut through her thoughts, and in the door way the blonde watched as Alya looked out the window before she looked at her. "Maybe more than us but up there with Adrien. She forgave him, but at the same time their situation was different. You were supposed to be her best friend."
"I messed that up." Alya reminded. "I don't deserve Trixx or to be here."
"Royally yes, you fucked up Alya but the circumstances are changing. You're here right now and that means something." Chloe pushed away from the doorway to walk deeper into the room. "She lost a lot and went through things she kept bottles up for years. She was slowly working on letting us, anyone, in before she was taken. From here on out, what you do from here on will most likely really reflect who you are."
"I was horrible Chloe, and it's ironic you're the one here talking to me." Alya says, a soft sigh leaving her lips.
"I did a lot worse on my own to her before Hawkmoth ever appeared and somehow she found it inside herself to let me in and close." Chloe took a seat next to Alya and looked over the city view. "When she first came to New York, I was jealous a little bit at how fast my mom took to her. Then over time realized it was because my mom realized how talented Marinette was and wanted her for personal gain. The more I listened to Marinette I realized she's been who everyone wanted her to be and not who she wanted to be."
"What are you trying to get at?"
Chloe looked her in the eyes, "Be who you want to be. Let the past be in the past because something new is happening and we need to all be a team. Whatever happened with you and Nino, and Marinette- that's in the past and it is imperative that it stays that way for our team to work. No more wallowing, you need to come out of this room and be part of the initiative."
"Everyone else is just falling into place here. Look at Adrien getting into quantum physics in the lab with Peter when Peter is here. Or how Kagami has taken to physical training with Natasha. Even Nino has taken to computers and coding." Alya shook her head. "Somehow Luka is still doing music but also thinking of going into nursing after speaking to Stephen. Chloe, everyone is somehow finding a path. I can't see-"
"Stop right there." Chloe grabbed Alya's hand firmly, "You are someone who matters, and you are on this team. Everyone is looking for their knacks besides being a superhero, but sitting in this room and overthinking is not going to help. So you are going to get up off your ass, take a shower and come down to the training room."
Alya couldn't get another word in since Chloe got up and walked out of the room without another word. She took a deep breath and looked back out her new window. The tears welled up against her, but Alya couldn't help the free flow as they rolled down her skin.
Trixx poked his little head out of the pillow he was napping in and looked over his holder. He was well aware that Alya made some less than favorable mistakes, but she was also young and human. She was bound to make mistakes, but at the same time she needed to learn how to fix them. Trixx also understood how hurt the Guardian was by his holder, but he knew Marinette had a kind heart and in time everything would work out. Alya would learn and grow from this, and never make this mistake again.
Peter Parker was going through it to say the very least, and it was enough to make Aunt May worry. The again she was always worried about him since she found out he was Spider-Man, but once he told her about Marinette's disappearance she became somewhat overbearing. She hovered over Peter as if he would break down at any given moment, but Peter wasn't crushed with any sense of sadness.
No, for the first time in his life Peter felt a raw fury in his chest. He felt mad that someone was able to take a person he felt so deeply for from right under his nose. He was a super hero, a person who was supposed to protect Marinette- and he failed. He failed her in every way that he could. He only knew a part of her, and Tony reminded him of that it was because Marinette was worried about telling him. He failed her in not going with her back to the apartment and not telling her he understood her.
He understood the pressures of being a hero and a teenager. He understood the weight that was put on her shoulder, despite her own responsibilities being heavier than his own. He understood the mental issues it could come with, and the depression it came with. He understood the joy in a victory and the failure in defeat. Peter understood it all and he still didn't tell her even when he knew deep down it might help her open up, especially after he parent's death.
Now instead he had the group of other teenagers from Paris who were part of her team, one that Marinette lead. He was something he admired her for, and it was also something he couldn't say he understood. He wasn't a leader of a group, yes he was a hero but Marinette was a leader and apparently she was this guardian. When he found out she was training under Stephen, a man who was apparently a wizard, Peter wasn't sure how much he really could say he understood. Yet he had a pretty good idea.
Peter had mixed feelings about the other young heroes, not sure where they stood with Marinette. He knew about Chloe Bourgeois, she was the girl and best friend who initially shoved Marinette to take the internship in New York and part of him wanted to thank her. Chloe was bossy, but she was also someone who had Marinette's best interest at hand. She also had a really big knack for business and politics.
Then there was Adrien Agreste, the guy who was Marinette's partner on the streets of Paris that she had a history with (somewhat he was still trying to figure that out). The blonde teenager had it rough though, and Peter took pity on the fact that his father turned out to be the villain in their story. Maybe that was why he spent time with Adrien in the lab going over quantum physics. Adrien seemed to get excited over learning and eating what he wanted.
"You know I'm happy she has you here." Adrien softly admits as he looks over the text book Peter had given him to read. "Before everything happened with her parents, there was a light in her eyes that I know was because of you. That light hadn't been there in a while, so thank you for giving her hope again."
"Was Paris that bad for her?" Peter finally asks after a moment of silence.
Adrien gave a sad smile, "I don't think Paris was big enough for her. She has ambition, talent, and is insanely smart. She needed to leave and explore the world. I just wished it had been in a different way."
The other four Peter was still trying to get a read off of. Alya was the friend who hurt Marinette by being oblivious. Nino was a childhood friend who was on the path of making redemptions, but even Peter knew Marinette had forgiven him. Kagami seemed indifferent, someone who knew right from wrong and got along a little too well with Natasha. Then there was Luka, who barely spoke to Peter. To be honest, Peter didn't think Luka cared much for him but according to Chloe it is because Luka is still coming to terms that Marinette loved him more, and seeing Peter in person brought up some feelings Luka thought had passed.
"You doing okay?" Adrien asks Peter, seeing how he once again got lost in his thoughts. It was something Adrien noticed Peter did a lot- he would think and in whatever he was thinking, well he lost track of time. It was something that reminded him of Marinette, and it made him really see that Peter and his lady were probably the definition of soul mates.
Adrien remembered seeing Peter for the first time at her parent's funeral. He took notice of the tender care in Peter's brown eyes as he watched Marinette and her surrounds like he was her protector. He watched how Peter spoke gently to her during the church service, and how focused he was when she was there. Now he seemed out of focus, lost even. Adrien remembered seeing that type of love once, he knew it was the truest love to exist and it had been his own mother and father to share that type of love.
"We'll find her." Adrien reassured.
Peter looked up at Adrien, his eyes unsure if Adrien were telling the truth or lying at this point. "Tony can't find a single trace of her on any security cameras across the world. There is not a trace of her cyber foot print anywhere on the internet. Hell even Stephen says she's somehow blocked him from feeling her on this plane, unless she's dead. I don't know if she is safe. I was supposed to keep her safe-"
"That wasn't your job." Adrien set his physics book down. "If anything it anything it was my job as her partner to ensure her safety. You didn't know, and you can't blame yourself for it. She hides things too good, trust me it is something most of us are still beating ourselves about about. But know that Marinette is okay, I know she is because she is Marinette. She is smart, and she can get herself out of any situation with her wits and Tikki first if we can't find her right away. She will come home, but don't you let her find out you were beating yourself up. She'll rip you a new one if she does."
Peter wanted to yell that Adrien couldn't be sure about this, but there was a fierce sureness in his green eyes that caused Peter to slowly nod his head.
"I messed up once letting her fall into her own mind, and nearly lost her because I said nothing. I was a horrible partner for a while," Adrien pointed at Peter, "Like hell will I let you fall into your own mind, so stop thinking it's your fault. We are going to find her. We are going to bring her back here to New York, we are going to bring her back home."
Peter nodded his head, it was all he could do. In that moment he couldn't help but think that Adrien wasn't too bad. Yet he could only hope that the retired model was right, and that somehow Tony and the older Avengers would be able to find Marinette soon. They had sidelined him, told him to be with the other teenagers while they used resources to try to locate Marinette. Peter just hoped it was soon, because statistically speaking the odds were not on their side now.
I'M ALIVE! Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing good! I am so sorry this update took so long. Part of it was because of school and part of it was also me struggling how to go about this chapter in particular. I am sorry it is not the best chapter!
Thank you again for all the support! I hope you liked, or at least enjoyed this chapter. Who would you want character interactions with? I promise more MLB character interactions are planned for the next chapter!
I hope you are all doing good as well! Stay safe! I promise an update soon as well! (it will be better than this chapter 😭😂)
