Hello readers!
This story rated M for sensitive topics (and very mild blood) no sexual content involved. Can be considered as rated T.
Have a nice ride on my roller coaster of emotions.
Chapter One: It's an 'Agrestion'.
When Adrien wakes up from his seemingly unplanned nap, slightly cracking an eye open, he instantly feels like everything is spinning all around him. Not only that, but the light is also unusually brighter and he's seeing double in some way. Well, even more than double: it's actually like looking through a kaleidoscope; everything appears so full, scattered, and blurry. He hasn't drunk anything, therefore he's sure he's not prone to a staggering hangover.
Closing his eyes, he slowly brings his hands to his face and rubs his heavy eyelids. For something so inborn, how can opening his eyes suddenly become so difficult to do? He needs to open them right now because something about his current state doesn't sit right at all. Forcing himself to weakly blink, his eyes eventually fully snap open, the light blinding him for a fraction of second.
This time, he barely makes the outline of a hundred blurred silhouettes and a black spot, circling him and staring at him. He sucks his breath in, fear sneaking deep inside of his lungs, and he instantaneously tries to crawl his way backward despite his body feeling a bit limp.
As he hastily moves back, his swollen eyes finally seem to cooperate, allowing him to see clearly.
There are no silhouettes surrounding him. There's only him, his cat kwami, and a thousand reflections of his disheveled and puzzled appearance looking back at him. Only him, Plagg, and that creepy song playing at the back of his mind. Or is it playing for real? His brain is still somewhat foggy and he can't quite place the origin of the disturbing noise.
"You okay, Adrien?" Plagg inquires, moving closer to his holder's face and scrutinizing it with concern.
Adrien nods weakly, although his neck feels stiff and a bit sore. Straightening up, he brings a hand to the nape of his neck and winces. Indeed, he's just touched a sensitive spot and his features crease as he looks up at his surroundings with a grimace.
A copy of him in a mirror returns his deeply baffled stare, and as his gaze moves, Adrien Agreste is somehow giving it back a hundredfold.
Mirrors. All over the place. Everywhere. A lot of them. Hundreds.
It definitely looks like a mirror labyrinth. Just like in the funfair he liked to go to with his mother when he was a child and she was still alive.
"What am I doing here and what the heck is that?" Adrien finally comes back to his senses. He tries to stand up, only for him to wobble on his legs and miserably fail, falling butt first against the concrete.
"Ohoh. Go easy. You've been anesthetized," Plagg points out, clearing the mystery about that painful neck of his.
"Needle spiking? Did you see something?" Adrien strokes the stung area at the back of his head, massaging it in circles to soothe the prick.
"Sorry, kid. I was afraid to be seen. I stayed hidden and I didn't see anything, nor anyone," Plagg apologizes, before moving away and flying higher. "There are cameras here, but I'm safe with those." He passes in front of the device, sticking his tongue out.
"It's okay, Plagg. Thank you," Adrien whispers, keeping his voice low so as not to be heard if they happen to also have microphones around them.
He then tries to stand up again, glaring at the camera just above him as he lifts his numb weight. He puts a hand over a mirror, forcing his body back on his feet despite the feeling of dizziness. "My sports bag?" Adrien asks his kwami, already dreading the upcoming answer.
"Still in your locker."
"Which means no phone... great," Adrien mumbles under his breath.
He takes a step forward, cautiously testing the waters, his legs successfully passing the test this time. However, he still feels the telltale headache and fatigue of a growing migraine.
"Okay, Plagg. Let's get out of here." Adrien keeps speaking low, his voice barely above a whisper. "Can you phase through the mirrors and provide me the way out?" He lays his hands flat on the reflective surface, starting to slowly move sideways.
"Well… about that…"
He hears Plagg gulp as he moves closer, hovering just above his shoulder.
"I can't phase through. It's magical and prevents me from doing so."
Adrien instantly feels all the blood being drained off his face. He pales, the mirrors around him reflecting what looks like a poor ghost of himself.
His hands fist upon the glass, banging against it as he lets out a guttural groan, his head coming to rest against the hard, cold surface of the mirror. "There's an akuma," he mumbles through gritted teeth, his voice faltering and his breath hitching, before he takes a deep gulp of much needed oxygen to calm down his spiraling thoughts, not willing to let go.
The thought of Ladybug being out there and dealing alone with an akuma sent by the new Butterfly holder—Atlas. The thought of him being unable to help her. Unable to protect her. Unable to just get out of here in time to fight by her side.
He takes another deep breath, eventually banging his fists once more against the mirror before raising his head and pulling backward. Stretching his arms in front of him, he starts to slowly and carefully walk his way into the labyrinth, searching for—or better, determined to find—the way out.
He's not one to give up so easily when facing a hurdle—well, many of them actually.
Adrien doesn't know how long they've been there, but he's pretty sure it only was 30 minutes or so despite it actually feeling like hours. And that freaky song "Tiptoe through the tulips" playing in a loop isn't helping. It makes him feel like it was going on for ages as he tiptoes through the freaking mirror labyrinth.
As he stops in his tracks and spins around, it looks like he's back to square one, in the very place where he had woken up. It feels like playing a long game of Monopoly and being unable to do six to get out of the flipping jail.
"It's impossible! I alternated turns to the right then to the left in order to avoid running in circles," Adrien grumbles. "Unless the mirrors move which is—" as he says that, he clearly sees and hears the mirror to his left moving and ending up behind him, pulling the rug straight from under his feet.
"This is insane! Let me get out of here!" he shouts, drumming on the glass with all his strength until his fists hurt so much he has to stop.
Breathing heavily, he closes his eyes, trying just for a moment to forget the confinement; it's not the right time to have a panic attack due to his claustrophobia. Absolutely not the…
"Hello?"
Adrien's eyes snap open as he hears a faint, distant voice behind the Insidious horror melody. It comes in handy, like an echo guiding one to get out of the woods in the middle of the night.
"Hello?" he echoes. It takes him a lot of self-control to hide the unsteady tremor in his voice.
A beat of deafening silence follows.
"Is anyone there?" He speaks louder, trying not to set his hopes too high as he waits for a reply. A sign, or just… something. Anything.
"Yes! I'm here."
There! It's a female voice, imbued with puzzlement and deep concern.
"Hello there. Keep talking, please. Maybe I can get to you one way or another," he suggests in a reassuring tone. Knowing he's not alone somehow gives him a burst of poise. "Are you alright?" he inquires, his usual caring attitude back in full force. He knows that if he focuses on helping someone else, he can keep the panic attack away. He's a man on a mission; he has to save the damsel in distress.
"My head hurts, my left shoulder is sore, and I feel a bit nauseous."
She sounds in a worse state than he is. His heart clenches at the thought that this woman has to go through, and is still going through, the same fright as him. He can't help but wonder, why them? Are they the only ones? Are there other people trapped here with the two of them? And then, since when does an akumatized victim anesthetize its victims in order to kidnap them? It actually makes no sense, but he hopes his insightful partner will get to the bottom of this. If someone can save them, it's Ladybug.
"I'm sorry to hear that. It might be the side effects of the anesthesia." He can't help the helpless empathy showing through his voice.
"Thus the painful shoulder; the needle left a lemon-sized bruise. What about you, uh… there?"
As he walks through the labyrinth, her voice starts to sound clearer and closer. Somehow, he feels some relief slowly seeping its way through his anxiety. It all comes from her voice; it sounds pretty, soothing, and helps him to grow more confident about the situation they find themselves trapped in.
"Still a little bit groggy with a stiff neck. I should be fine though," Adrien eventually states.
"You don't even sound scared. How can I know that I can trust you if you find me?" she asks. "For all I know, you could be my kidnapper."
His bubble of bravery instantly burst. Uh… maybe he's not so confident anymore.
"I could say the same. You don't sound scared either," Adrien ponders, and the woman laughs. A hearty, genuine laugh, surpassing by far the creepy melody and echoing like music to his ears as it points out that he's getting closer to her.
"Are you laughing because I suggested that a woman could kidnap a man?" he inquires—curiosity killed the cat.
"I am." He hears her snort as her laugh eventually quiets slowly. "I'm not a kidnapper, nor a 'man-napper'."
He laughs at the nicely executed pun, his smile widening along with his laughter; that woman must be something. "It's a good thing I'm not either. Maybe we can team up and save our sorry butts from here. I can hear you very well now; I think you're behind one of these mirrors currently surrounding me."
Now how to get behind said mirrors is a different kettle of fish because he doesn't see any escape route this way.
"Sometimes, the mirrors move. Maybe there's a way to operate them by ourselves."
"Good insight, Mademoiselle."
Adrien begins to slowly and lingeringly palm every square inch of glass around him, knowing she's doing the same on her side. But after several minutes, nothing happens.
"I think this is useless," Adrien mumbles in a defeated tone. His shoulders slouch and he collapses with his back against one of the hundred mirrors, letting his body heavily slip until he ends up sitting on the concrete. He feels trapped somewhere between wanting to disappear and wanting to hold on. Thus the story of his life. He cowers, bringing his knees to his chest and hiding his face between them, sighing deeply until a noise triggers his attention.
The noise is a bit muffled by the spooky melody, but it sounds close to chalk rubbing against a blackboard. He quickly looks up, and out of the corner of his eyes, just next to him, he sees a mirror moving sideways, revealing to him a familiar petite silhouette. Yet, it only lasts a fraction of a second before the first mirror ends up being replaced by another, once again hiding the woman who was just staring at him with wide eyes.
He wonders if the side effect of the anesthesia is tricking him with a hopeless mirage.
"Marinette…" Adrien whispers as he crawls his way to the mirror, his hands pressing flat against the glass. "Marinette, is that you?"
It's a bit different from what I usually write but I hope you'll like anyway.
Updated every Saturday night.
Reviews are very welcomed.
Miraculous kisses!