Chapter 2 : Lies
17 days earlier.
"Papa?"
"Adrien."
"Papa!." He breathed, clutching his father to him, how good it felt to feel his arms around him again, the knarly hands patting his back. His father pulled back, looking him over. "Papa I'm scared."
"Adrien."
"Why..why am I here? Am I dead? I don't remember anything, Dad. Where am I?"
"In between." His father said softly, "You're very close to being dead, son."
"Where's mama. I really want to see her." Gabriel stopped him, and he looked at him sharply, "What...I' haven't seen her for years. Father! Please! Wait!" He yelled as his father disappeared, the whiteness vanished and it was all pain as he felt his body jump...jolts of electricity running through his body as his heart was restarted again. He didn't much like that. All he wanted was to see his mother. Just embrace her one more time and tell her how much he loved her. He'd forgotten to that day, she'd said...love you son...and he'd said..yeah..sure, distracted by his piano playing. He just wanted to let her know that he loved her.
--
Nathalie's eyes examined Adrien's still and lifeless body that was hooked up to many machines and lying underneath bed sheets in his trolley bed, "When is he going to wake up?" She asked, her eyes leaving the blonde's body to look at the nurse, who was fixing the sheets.
Adrien's bodyguard was standing in the background, holding a disposable cup of coffee in his hand. He looked up at Nathalie with wide eyes, no longer crying, but babbling quietly.
The blonde woman looked up at them and flashed a sickening sweet smile, "I don't know. His doctors will be here in a few minutes, they'll inform you."
"Thank you," Gabriel replied before adding, in his head, "for nothing." Gabriel sat down in the chair beside Adrien's bedside as the nurse went on with her routine.
The morning sun was streaming through the windows giving a nice vibe to him and he slightly closed his eyes, tilting his head back as he soaked up the warmth.
The nurse, whose blonde curls were falling in her face, smiled politely, "Everything feels different in the sun," she commented as she checked the liquid in the IV that was hooked up to Adrien.
"Yes," Gabriel agreed, nodding his head. "Usually warmer," he quipped making a small snicker escape the nurse's lips.
Suddenly, the nurse stopped and, with furrowed eyebrows and her head tilted to a 90 degree angle, she asked, "Where have a seen him before?"
"He's Adrien Agreste, a well known model." Nathalie offered her a kind smile.
"Ah,"The nurse clicked her fingers and nodded her head, "Radient, carefree, dreamy, Adrien the fragrance. Now I remember. I had such a crush on him before." She laughed.
Gabriel leaned forward in his seat, pretending to be in shock. "Really?"
"Adrien receives about seventy-thousands love letters in a month. So you'll have to wait in line." Nathalie informed her.
"Oh, bollocks," the nurse laughed. "I didn't know he was that popular. Well welI, I guess it wasn't meant to be anyway."
Gabriel laughed at her remark. She was the first medical person he had actually connected with. All the rest were too medical like, too reassuring or too flirty. She was just genuine. The nurse, whose name he never thought of getting, left with a friendly goodbye and the doctors came in.
"I want to speak with you about his condition in the waiting room, if you could gather up there, then we'll be joining you shortly."
--
The family stood as one as the doctor entered the waiting room, holding their breaths, as their hearts were galloping in their individual chests. Gabriel tried to read the doctor's expression but it was unreadable.
"He's alive." The doctor sounded surprised himself. "We were able to repair the damage, but..he's in a coma. There's not gaurentee that he will wake up..or if he'll be able to regain normal function."
"You mean..he may be a vegetable." Gabriel's voice was quiet.
The doctor sighed, "Yes."
Gabriel nodded and turned, walking out without a word.
"Where..where is he going! Gabriel!" Nathalie called, "You can't just walk out on us! We're your only family. Adrien needs you! He doesn't even have his mother to support him. Gabriel come back here!" Her voice was too loud and she knew it.
"Nathalie.." one of the doctors said, "Please try to remain calm."
Adrien's bodyguard pulled her back and she fought him,
"He can't just leave us, Doctor. That's walking out! You can't do that..he can't..he can't." She collapsed against him, the sobs falling uncontrollably, fistfulls of shirt in her hands as the Adrien's bodyguard simply held her, his own eyes misty as one of the doctors faded into the background to give them space.
--
It felt like a death watch. They sat, each with a different expression of worry and fear.
Marinette with her hair a mess from the numerous times she'd run her hands through it, her head bowed, arms resting on her knees and sleeves rolled up. She wiped hurriedly at the dark smudges her tears had made out of the mascara.
Worry.
That's all she could do.
She was sure that Adrien had died back there. She thought her heart was going to stop when the mask faded off his face, and now she had his ring in her purse.
She perched in the chair, watching over him, her eyes travelling over the blue tubes, the clear lines, the monitors, the bandage around his head. She couldnt' do this anymore. Maybe this life wasn't for her. Her throat hurt from the crying earlier, her eyes dry from all the tears.
Nino was standing calmly at the window..he was always calm..was there anytime he ever was ruffled? His forehead leaning on his wrist as he leaned his arm against the window, looking out over the busy street below, his left hand on his hip, resting lightly. No one had spoke...He pounded lightly on the glass window. He left his hand there for a moment.
Marinette had filled Alya in on what had happened when she arrived, then gone silent with numerous repeats of "it's all my fault."
Alya sat, perched stiffly in her chair, staring straight ahead, her eyes wide, hands clasped between her knees. Fresh tears filling her eyes to the rim.
The doctors said there was a great possibilty of repairing the damage...and he would be extremely lucky to live.
Extremely lucky.
That didn't sound very positive to any of them. There was a high possibilty of brain damage, memory loss, function loss *if* he lived. There was no gaurentee he'd even make it through another surgery.
Marinette was strong, but inside she had fell to her knees in fear, her heart squeezing tightly, taking her breath away. Adrien was one of her partners, her teammate, her friend, her crush, someone who made her feel like no one ever had.
They sat in silence for a while. They didn't really need to speak; they had all witnessed something that was beyond words. The silence was only broken by the sound of footsteps coming from the hall. All of them tensed, but Marinette recognized that the footsteps were too light to be Nathalie's.
Chloé opened the door and scowled at them. Her expression softened when she spotted Adrien lying on the hospital bed. Chloé gasped. Her friend was hooked up to at least a dozen machines, most of which seemed to be monitoring his head. His arm was in cast, and his leg had a splint on it. She rushed over to his side.
"Adrikins," Chloé whispered and stroked his cheek with her papery hand. A tiny tear slipped from her eye and she hurriedly wiped it away. She collected herself before she turned to face Marinette. "What happened to him?" Chloé whispered, struggling against the tears that threatened to spill over her eyes. "Is Adrikins.., is he ok?"
"We don't know," Alya said quietly. "There hasn't been any change in his condition."
Chloé's brows furrowed in angry and her blue eyes narrowed, "They don't know anything!" she scolded. Nino gently patted her shoulder in attempt to tame her temper.
"This is so weird," Alya mused as she looked at Adrien with sad eyes. Everyone shot a glance in her direction, waiting for her to continue. "I mean, it's Adrien! He's never sick. He's always busy, either he's fencing, playing the piano, modeling, learning Chinese or buying enough Camembert to feed the whole of France. This is so strange."
There were mere murmurs of agreement before everyone's eyes went back on the model. That unnatural silence crept back in. Silences did occur between the group but they were always comfortable.
"He looks so still," Nino admitted breaking the unnatural silence.
"Was he in an accident or...," Chloé wondered.
Marinette's expression darkened. "It's complicated." She replied, barely audible. "I guess you could say that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"So he's one of the victims of the most recent Akuma attack?"
They all nodded.
"Oh God," Chloé cried out."He was always so careful! This is so unfair! His father always kept him indoors to protect him. I wonder what he was doing outside." She paused."Adrien can't…he can't die! We need him!" She began to sob. "I need him! He can't just go away like this!"
Marinette jumped out of her seat and hugged Chloé, new tears running down her own cheeks. "I know, Chloé, Believe me, I know."
She couldn't tell Chloé that he had transformed back to his civilian form when she found him. She couldn't tell her what she had seen. She had tried to use the snake miraculous so many times in order to try to turn back time that it had broken. Bunnix had refused to alter the timeline, because she wasn't sure about the outcome. She had feared that she would mess things further up. Then Ladybug had made Rena Rouge make an illusion of Chat Noir in front of the cameras, and made it appear that Adrien had just been a random victim at the wrong place at the wrong time.
They had all lied. And it had been so hard to keep the lie believable.
"Why!?" Chloé yelled. "Why was he hit by the Akuma? Adrien is always so careful!"
"There was a really strong Senti-monster that supported the Akuma. Several people were sent to hospital," Marinette whispered. "The people who saw it said Adrien probably wouldn't have been hit, except there was a little boy in front of the senti-monster. Adrien pushed him out of the way and fell." Chloé finally began to cry, which scared Marinette and Alya even more than they already had been. Chloé never cried. "He didn't get up in time."
"The doctors don't know if he's going to make it," said Alya, barely able to get the words out through her tears. "He's in a coma."
Why can't they DO something!?" Chloé stormed. "They're supposed to be doctors! My friend is lying right here, maybe dying, and no one's doing anything about it!"
"They're doing all they can. He has been through several treatments. They said he has severe brain damage." Nino made a noise like he was struggling not to cry. "He has about a 20 percent chance of survival."
"20 percent?" said Chloé, her face draining of color. "So they assume he's not going to survive at all?" Chloé gasped and sank down slowly in the chair next to Marinette's.
"I know, it sucks," said Nino softly. "They say that if he does live, he's probably gonna need physical therapy and all that stuff before he can leave."
"The doctor said most of the damage was contained to his head," Alya told her. "The rest of him is pretty much okay."
Chloé and Nino walked forward and looked down at Adrien. "Hey, Adrikins," whispered Chloé . "I don't know if you can hear me. The doctors say it's worth a try." She laughed softly. "Adrien, you have to come back soon and talk to us. Let us know you're okay. We're all worried sick about you. Marinette here is so upset she can't even talk. And you should see Alya, back in the waiting room. She can barely stop crying. And the rest of us aren't exactly dancing in joy, either." Chloé paused. "Wake up soon, Adrikins. We need you." She stepped back, and Nino moved shakily forward.
"Hi," he whispered. "Mate, I really don't know what to say…just…you can't leave us here," he said, fresh tears appearing in his eyes. "You just can't. We need you too much. You're like a brother to me.. Chloé, Alya and Marinette's friend. Everyone miss you at school too, Rose even asked us how you were doing. If you go, it'll never be the same." He carefully squeezed his hand. "Please." He started crying too hard to continue. Alya wrapped her arm around him and led him slowly from the room.
"I think we should let him rest for now," Alya whispered.
As they exited, they came very close to bumping into Lila who was on her way in. "Oh!" She offered them a stiff smile "I didn't expect to bump into you guys,"
--
