Note: I didn't feel like making you all wait longer for the next one. haha

Chapter 13:

Marinette woke up in a room with no windows. The only window was on small one in the door. She moved her arms to find that they were strapped down and that they stung. A part of her knew what she had done. How she had ended up there. But she didn't want to believe it. Didn't want to know that she had caused a scene in front of Adrien. That she had gone off the deep end that far.

"You do know that now that you've had that little episode… they're not going to let you go." Tikki laid beside her in the air and looked at her claws as she leaned on her elbow. She swirled onto her stomach and held her head in her clawed hands. "Actually? You know what? This could work out. Just you and me in this little room. For eternity!" Tikki burst out into a fit of maniacal laughter that made Marinette scared. "Don't tell me you no longer want me. Girl, all you have is me now."

"Stop it." Marinette whispered in the dark as she swallowed back tears. "Stop taunting me!" She pulled against the straps to no avail.

Screams echoed around the room from the other patients around her. She could tell that they had slowly spiraled into darkness and it was her fate as well. A fate that she had never dreamed of.

I'm gonna be stuck in this hole forever. Lost and no one will find me. A ghost. A phantom that no one can see or talk to. I'll never see Adrien again. I'll never see my family again. What have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What have I…

The words repeated in her mind until the door opened and the light of the hallway illuminated her empty room. Nurse Bustier found Marinette shaking her head back and forth mumbling with sweat on her forehead. She ran over and pressed the back of her hand against the girl's forehead, finding it warm.

She unstrapped her and unbandaged her arms to check her wounds, finding them to be infected. "Damnit." Nurse Bustier strapped her back down and ran to grab a medical cart.

She came back to the room and sat beside Marinette to clean her wounds. She began to rebandage them with careful precision. Nurse Bustier grabbed antibiotics from her cart and helped Marinette sit up.

"Marinette?" Ms. Bustier tried to coax her back to reality. "Sweetheart? Your wounds are infected and I need you to take these."

She mumbled something and took the pills from Ms. Bustier. She placed them in her mouth and took the cup of water with a shaking hand. She opened her mouth and moved her tongue around to show that she had swallowed it, like she knew she had to. It was subconscious at this point and just a part of her routine. It took little thought from her to do it.

"Thank you. Now, I brought you lunch." Ms. Bustier passed her a tray of food and Marinette shook her head. "You have to eat. Even a little bit."

Marinette took the tray and pushed her fruit around. She sniffed as her stomach turned and Nurse Bustier pushed her to eat.

"Those pills won't sit right without food." Ms. Bustier waited for her to bring a piece of bread to her mouth.

Marinette slowly chewed without an expression on her face. She felt nothing but two things. Regret and overwhelming sadness.

"Adrien isn't doing so well." Ms. Bustier brought him up to Marinette and watched as the girl's hand trembled.

Marinette had issues taking another bite of the bread when she heard Nurse Bustier's words.

"He's been restrained for some time." Ms. Bustier sighed as she watched Marinette clamp her mouth down around the piece of bread. "Today we're going to be trying to let him go to the common area for a bit."

Marinette's eyes began to burn with unshed tears. She finished eating and shoved the tray at Nurse Bustier. Marinette laid back down and put her arms at her sides without so much as a complaint.

Nurse Bustier sighed as she set the tray onto her cart. She began to wrap the straps across her body. "I don't know what you are fighting in your mind, but I want you to know that there is a very hurt man out there waiting for you to be set free."

Marinette stared at the ceiling and watched Tikki spiral in a circle and giggle in a mocking tone. Nurse Bustier shook her head and walked out of the room with her cart.

Adrien walked into the common room determined to end this. He had nothing to lose. His girlfriend was locked up somewhere else and he had no way of finding her. No way of knowing if she was okay. If she was even alive. He grabbed a chair and swung it around to sit in front of the group of girls playing poker. He sat in the chair, facing the back of it. He rested his arms along the top of the seat and glared at Lila through his blonde hair.

"So, who wants to fess up to what they have done?" Adrien stared at her with an anger that was anything but sane. He smirked at her and the circles beneath his eyes from his lack of sleep only made him look more out of it.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I have been nothing more than polite." Lila touched her chest with a smile as the group of patients agreed with her. "In fact…" Lila stood up from her seat and walked up to him.

"You touch me and I'll make you sorry that you ever did." Adrien glared up at her as she stood in front of him.

"Will you now? I thought you liked how I touched you." Lila ran her hands along his shoulders and up to his jawline as she leaned towards him. "Don't you?" She sank her fingers into his hair and yanked his head back. "You like a girl that plays rough and hard to get. Or is a pathetic mute more your style?" Lila brought her lips close to his as she purred the words at him.

Adrien glared at her with an expression that shot bullets into her heart. "I've killed people for less. Get the fuck off me."

"Or what? Don't you like it? Don't you like a girl who knows what she is doing?" Lila ran her hands down his spine and Adrien grabbed her arms and gripped her wrists tightly as he stood up.

"You want to know how girls like you make me feel?" Adrien shoved her towards the bookshelf that held all of the games. The shelving unit shook as he threw her into it. "Do you?" His fingers tightened around her wrists and caused them to become red.

"HELP! SOMEONE!" Lila saw how his eyes went wild and how his chest rose and fell in short breaths. Could see the pure anger and malice in his expression. Something about it scared her.

"NO. ONE!" Adrien slammed her into the shelves with each word. "No one is going to save you." He spoke the words past his clenched teeth and felt her whole body tremble.

"Are… you… scared...?" He tilted his head to the side like a curious cat, ran his hand up her chest, and grasped onto her neck. He clenched his fingers around her frail neck. He threw her to the ground and straddled her hips as she looked up at him in horror. The air was knocked out of her and she gasped for breath as he began to punch her in the face, over and over and over again.

"HELP! SOMEBODY!" Alya called out as everyone watched in horror.

"YOU FUCKING KILLED My GIRLFRIEND!" Adrien burst out in anger as he punched her, causing her face to turn from right to left with each blow. Dark purple and crimson bruises quickly appeared along her cheekbones and around her eyes. Her bottom lip split open and blood spilled from it. Her nose cracked and more blood ran down the side of her face. He punched her across the cheek and she spit out blood along the tile.

"HE'S GOING TO KILL HER!" Rose called out to try and help Alya.

"That's it kid. Get locked in here forever. Do it." Plagg cheered him on as he covered Adrien's eyes in shadows, causing him to black out in a blind rage.

"I DIDN'T KILL HER! I DIDN'T DO IT! I'M INNOCENT!" Lila screamed out as she tried to fight him, but failed to do so. He was too strong and his hits were too hard. She lost her breath and gave up quick as she was knocked out.

"LIAR!" Adrien burst out as he grabbed her shirt and slammed her into the ground over and over again. His heart broke as he heard her skull slam against the floor and couldn't find a reason to care.

"STOP!" Nurse Bustier screamed out as she ran in to find complete chaos. Everyone was backed up against the far wall in various shades of shock and horror at the amount of blood on the floor. At how flushed Adrien had become with rage. At how silent Lila had gotten. Her body was left moving like a rag doll and it unsettled everyone.

Two attendants ran over to grab Adrien by his upper arms, prying him off of Lila. He screamed and fought against them with all of his anger. Kicking and punching; while he screamed in a primal way that didn't seem human. Like he was fighting for his life.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME! SHE KILLED HER! SHE KILLED MARINETTE! DON'T YOU SEE?" Adrien screamed and kicked as they dragged him to his room. "WHY DOES NO ONE HEAR ME? WHY AM I ALWAYS ALONE? I'M NOT TO BLAME! SHE IS! IT'S ALL HER FAULT! LET- ME- GO!"

The two men shoved him onto his bed and held him down as a nurse came in to knock him out with a sedative; while he screamed at the top of his lungs. Adrien kicked the end of the bed and eventually stilled. The nurse put him into restraints and they all left him.

000

Nurse Bustier smiled for the other guests after Lila was taken to an area to be treated. The amount of emotion on everyone's face made her heart break.

"I know that was not the best sight to see, but we need to look at the bright side. So, how about we all watch a movie together, hm?" Ms. Bustier tried to make it better for them, but she knew no amount of words would help them. That no amount of distraction was going to help with this situation.

They had seen too much and she had had too if she was being honest. She knew that he would break. That he would go after Lila, but for some reason she chose to trust him.

"Will Lila be okay?" Rose hugged onto Juleka as her knees trembled. "Will we be okay? What if he comes after us?"

Nurse Bustier walked up to Rose with a warm smile. "He has nothing against any of you. It was purely against Lila. No one else. He's hurting right now. That is all. It'll be okay."

"But why Lila?" Alya crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Why won't anyone tell us?"

Nurse Bustier sighed as she thought about what to say to the smart girl. "He blames her for Marinette's mishap."

"But she wasn't mean to Marinette." Mylene chimed in as she peered around the room.

"Well, she did say some awful things to me about her." Chloe looked at her nails with a hand on her hip. "But you didn't hear that from me. That Marinette girl needs help anyway." She rolled her eyes and snapped for Sabrina to follow her to the smoking porch.

"Does anyone know what she said to Adrien?" Nurse Bustier began to question everyone. "Anyone at all?"

"He walked in here like he owned the room and pulled up a chair. He began demanding answers from her." Ivan blurted out information and Mylene knocked him with her elbow. "What? Someone has to say it."

Kim sighed and gave in, spilling the rest. "She pushed herself on him and asked if mute was more his style. Girlwise. He lost his shit at that point. She kept touching him and he cracked."

"Thank you, Kim and Ivan." Nurse Bustier smiled at him and walked past them all to put a movie in. "I'll be back to grab each of you for individual therapy."

The group watched Ms. Bustier leave and waited until she was gone from their sight. Whispers immediately erupted from the room.

"I don't understand." Mylene was at a loss for what had just transpired. None of it made sense to her.

"To be fair if someone hurt you or made you try to off yourself? I'd fight too. But that would also explain why I'm in this hell hole to begin with." Ivan shrugged and took Mylene's hand. "I was at a loss when you were gone from me because you had tried to hang yourself. Don't do that anymore, please."

Mylene smiled up at him and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I wouldn't dream of it now that I saw your reaction. I never want to see that pain on your face again."

"I was lucky that Adrien shoved me towards you. That he made me act. I was lucky that Nurse Bustier ran in when she did. That they cut you down. I-" Tears filled Ivan's eyes as he remembered it vividly. "I don't know how Adrien felt. How it felt when no one came to stop it. No one heard him plea for help. No one. Could you imagine?"

Everyone began to feel bad for Adrien. The room was filled with silence until Chloe and Sabrina walked back inside.

"Why are you all upset? Adrikins is used to being alone." Chloe scoffed as she played with her blonde hair. "He's used to dealing with his own problems."

Alya looked at her like she was the worst person in the room. "Are you fucking serious, right now?"

"What? I've known him for a long time… he's fine." Chloe rolled her eyes and brushed it off like it was nothing.

"This is fucking ridiculous." Alya threw her hands up into the air and walked off to Adrien's room.

"Where are you going?" Juleka called out to Alya in shock.

"Going to go talk to Adrien!" Alya yelled as she opened the bedroom door to her friend's room. She was fed up with everything and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"We won't save you!" Kim called after her as the bedroom door shut behind her. "Your funeral." He scoffed under his breath and shook his head.

000

Alya stared at Adrien's sleeping figure on his bed and sat on the edge of Marinette's. It had been empty for a week or so, but no one seemed to have cared. Even her; which now was the most upsetting thing in her mind. She looked over at the sketchbooks and at all of the drawings of Adrien.

"She really loves you." Alya softly laughed as she grabbed one of the sketches from the wall. She looked at it and thought about Nino. "You know if I lost Nino? I'd be upset too. I can't even fathom how you feel. How you felt."

Alya set the drawing down beside her hips and watched him slightly stir on his bed and whine. She had never seen him with the expression that he had. Had never seen the man look so pained. It was upsetting to her and made her heart break, but nothing ripped her heart in two as much as when he uttered a word past his lips.

"Marinette…" Adrien whimpered her name as if he was in agony. He began to pull against the restraints and shift his head back and forth like he was fighting something. "Marinette?"

Alya bit her bottom lip and got up to sit beside him on his bed. "Hey."

Silent sobs racked through his body and she watched him break, refusing to open his eyes or look at her. His messy hair hung in front of his eyes and she looked over his fists. They were caked in dried blood. Lila's blood.

"It's okay." Alya kept her voice calm and he slowly opened his eyes to look at her. His expression was still broken and he looked at her as if he wanted her to end it all. To end his suffering and let him join her. "You do know that Marinette is still here."

"She's not. She's dead." Adrien burst out in a cracked voice that only made her see his pain more.

"No, she's alive. She's in the far wing. You know that. We know that. She's okay." Alya tried to comfort him and he looked away from her. He tried to bend his knees, but it was no use. "Look at me."

Adrien's bottom lip quivered as he tried to ignore her. He didn't want to believe what she was saying. Plagg had told him over and over again that she was gone. "She's gone." His voice was barely audible and Alya sighed.

"She is not gone. I promise you. I don't know what Lila had to do with this, but I'm here to try and help you out." Alya hit his bed with her palm as frustration took her over. "I know you're broken. I know that you're in pain. Nino wouldn't want this for you. Marinette wouldn't want this for you. I certainly don't want this for you."

Adrien peered at her with swollen red eyes. "I want to see her. Hold her. Touch her. Know that she's here." His voice splintered into a million pieces.

"She is there and I'm sure she feels the same as you." Alya lifted her hand and hovered it in the air.

He flinched as she brought her hand closer to his face. She ignored how he clenched his eyes tightly shut. Alya softly touched his hair and ran her fingers through it. She watched as his expression relaxed with each stroke. Tears fell from the corners of his eyes as she continued to run her fingers along his scalp in a calming way.

A knock sounded on the door and Alya looked over her shoulder to see Nurse Bustier enter. "How is he?" She cringed as she took in the way he was shivering beneath Alya's fingertips.

"Hurting. Can't he see her? Can't he know that she's okay?" Alya begged Ms. Bustier with her warm brown eyes.

"I would love to do that, but…" Ms. Bustier sighed as she thought about Dr. Fu and what he had told her. "It's not my say."

"This isn't healthy. This isn't okay." Alya burst out as she stood up and gestured towards Adrien. "He's hurting and you are doing nothing about it!"

"This is not my facility. If it was… I would have dealt with this much differently." Ms. Bustier gave in and spoke with her heart. "I don't like them hurting any more than you do. You think I enjoy staring at everyone's pain?"

Alya stopped talking and watched Nurse Bustier begin to break down. Her cheery facade cracked as she lost her composure.

"I am so sorry." Alya understood that she truly cared for them. That she was different than the rest of the nurses and attendants that worked there.

"It doesn't matter. I'll remove his restraints and care for his hands. You should go. Nino is due to visit in a bit." Ms. Bustier smiled and watched Alya light up. "Go. I got this handled. I promise I won't hurt him."

Alya nodded and slightly hesitated; before, she turned to leave the room.

Nurse Bustier undid his ankles first and then his wrists. Adrien didn't get up like he usually would when she removed them. He didn't even move his wrists from above his head. He zoned out on the ceiling and swallowed hard.

She sighed and left to grab her medical cart, bringing it back inside. She took one of his hands and ran an alcohol wipe over the cuts. He didn't even wince and something about his blank expression made a chill run up her spine.

"You're gonna need stitches." Ms. Bustier sighed as she looked over his wounds. How his knuckles were split open in two places. She rummaged around her cart until she found the supplies that she needed. She carefully stitched up his wounds and bandaged them. "I am so so sorry. If I could? I would let you see her. I would. Promise, Adrien."

"Why can't I?" Adrien barely got the words past his lips as he kept his gaze on the ceiling. "How can I? When she isn't even here anymore. When she is gone." His words lacked any emotion and his heart broke further.

"She's not dead, Adrien." Nurse Bustier tried to make him see it. "You saw me check her pulse. You were there."

"She's gone." Adrien rolled his head towards the wall and stared at it, counting the shapes in the white stucco.

Nurse Bustier tending to his other hand with a sigh. "She isn't in the best shape, but she is very much alive. She stares at the ceiling and sometimes calls out for you when she sleeps. She eats a little. Her cuts got infected, but I put her on antibiotics after I cleaned them. She'll be okay."

Adrien turned to her with tears falling from his red eyes. "My blade made her get an infection?"

All your fault. All your fault. It's always your fault and has been for years. Such a disappointment. Plagg swirled around him and consumed his being.

"It's not your fault." Ms. Bustier set his other hand down at his side.

"Liar…" Plagg hissed as he showed his sharp teeth in a sickening grin, wrapping around Adrien's neck.

"It is my fault. I showed her where it was. I hid it. I put it there. It's all my fault." Adrien brought his bandaged hands to his emerald eyes and sobbed. "Everything is my fault."

"Adrien. It is not your fault. But I have to ask you now." Ms. Bustier gave him a serious expression as she gently touched his arm. "What else are you hiding in here?"

He groaned and turned away from her, hugging his pillow as he laid on his side. He faced the wall and didn't speak.

"Don't you dare tell her… Don't you dare show her… It's our secret. Our secret! No one else's!" Plagg hissed through his teeth as he wrapped around Adrien's throat tighter.

"Don't make me have them search the room. It'd be easier if you just told me." Ms. Bustier spoke in a calm manner.

"NO!" Plagg's voice came out like a snake spitting venom as he clutched his claws into Adrien's skin.

It's the way it is. I can't do this anymore. I can't live this way anymore. Adrien slowly got up and grabbed the books from his shelf. He handed her three of them and then leaned over the bed to pull ziplocks from behind it. Some partially full and others that were empty. He held the bags out without emotion and she took them and threw them into the trash on her cart. Nurse Bustier watched him get up and walk across the room with a lack of trying or caring. She watched as he reached above the door and pulled down a piece of metal that was jagged. He then went and felt along the wall for a seam where he opened a spot in the wall and pulled out a metal box; before, shoving the chunk of wall back in place.

Adrien walked over and dumped it all beside her. He laid back on his bed and turned to face the wall again. "That's it."

Nurse Bustier opened the books and found holes cut out in each one. One book held laxatives. Another held some type of diet pills. The third one had a broken spork piece. She took a look at the sharp piece of metal that had been up above the door and saw how rusted it was. She knew it wasn't safe and it made her heart hurt. She looked over the last item, which was the box.

"What's in the box, Adrien?" Nurse Bustier looked over at him and how he had his arms crossed over his chest with his back to her.

"Don't tell her…" Plagg hissed as he swirled around Nurse Bustier. "Grab it from her! DO IT, KID!"

Adrien swallowed hard and waited for her to open it. Something about it scared Nurse Bustier to no end. In all of her years of being a nurse, she had never seen someone hide something in a wall. She was instantly concerned about what it was. Why he had hid it so hard.

"What's in the box?" Ms. Bustier pressed him for an answer, but he didn't move or respond to her. "If I open this, will I-"

Adrien still didn't answer as he waited for his fate. Waited for what would happen to him. Waited to be in trouble.

"You're not going to tell me are you?" Ms. Bustier gave up and touched the closure on the box.

Adrien shivered as he gave up and realized that he would never leave.

Plagg swirled around him and shook his shoulders. "What are you doing, kid? Why would you do that? Don't do this! Don't let her open it!"

Stop it, Plagg. I'm done. Stop it! Leave me alone. I'm done. I give up. I can't fight anymore. I can't.

Nurse Bustier opened the box and brought a hand to her mouth as hoards of drawings littered the inside. Drawings of sharp white teeth within black masses. Spindly black creatures with claws and sharp fangs. Some with red blood tipped teeth and dripping claws. Others just wisps of black streaked along the white surface. Drawing after drawing of some vicious monster. A monster that lurked in his mind far too often and for far too long.

"Does this… thing… have a name?" Ms. Bustier held up a drawing of it ripping off Lila's head and eating it. "Adrien. Talk to me. You know I'll have to tell Dr. Fu about all of this."

Adrien gasped in a breath as he let his sobs consume him. "Plagg."

Songs I wrote to:

Hello by Evanescence

Medicine by Au/Ra

Dance in the Dark by Au/Ra

Assassin by Au/Ra

Panic Room (Acoustic) by Au/Ra