Note: Sorry, I haven't updated in ages. I've been taking a break due to losing my job from COVID. I am focusing on one story at the moment and publishing novels. The story that I'm focusing on is over on AO3. I'm hardly on here anymore. But anyways... I was being asked to update this story and I had half of this written months ago, so I finally sat down to write the rest. Sorry it took so long. It'll get better! Promise! I hope you are all healthy, happy, and safe! :) Thank you for reading and commenting! :)
His heart pounded as he looked around him. His wrists were restrained to the metal chair that he sat on and a metal table sat between him and Nurse Mandeleive. He swallowed the ball that was in his throat and peered around himself frantically at the stark white room. It wasn't all that bright inside and it scared him even more.
The loud sound of his chart hitting the table made him jump and he swallowed hard. His eyes were like a frantic deer, and he suddenly realized that no one was going to save him from this. He made frantic sounds, as he pulled at the medical grade restraints.
"You're not getting out of this. I have so many questions for you." Nurse Mandeleive slowly opened his chart with a stoic expression. "I need to know why you think that you are getting better? None of this makes sense to me. You come in here a complete train wreck and now you decide to be good? And to get special privileges… Well. Aren't you the lucky one?"
Adrien punched the arms of the chair with the heels of his palms as he became desperate. "Just let- me- GO!"
"Not until we have our little chat." Mandeleive pulled out photos from when the police had found him. "How can one person go from this wreck to what is sitting in front of me, hm?"
"People do get better. You know that right?" Adrien glared at her and bit down on his bottom lip as he rattled his restraints.
"Not people like you." Mandeleive stared at him with her arms on the table.
"What makes me any different than the rest?" Adrien glared at her as she put the photo away.
"I don't think you're telling the truth. I think you're a liar." Mandeleive walked around the table to him and undid his restraints. "And I think we're going to find that out today."
"Are you shitting me?" Adrien watched her undo his restraints from the chair. Suddenly two men walked into the room and grabbed his biceps, leading him to the bed that was in the room. "Come on. What the fuck did I ever do to you?"
"Oh, you did plenty to me when you first arrived." Nurse Mandeleive watched the men shove him onto the bed. They strapped him down with belts to the bed and hooked his wrist restraints to the sides of the bed. "Now, we're going to have a bit of fun." She wheeled over a medical table with a very old wooden machine on it. "Do you know what this is?"
Adrien peered up at the wooden box as she opened it. Two wands with pads on the ends were connected to the box by two wires. "Oh fuck."
"Now, you answer how I like… and I think it's the truth? You're safe. I think you're a liar? Well, you'll have some fun." Mandeleive smiled and it terrified him. She didn't look good with a smile.
"Shit." Adrien licked his lips and swallowed hard as he tried to fight against the restraints.
The two men stood by the bed and held his arms down, as Nurse Mandeleive ran a strap across Adrien's forehead to keep his head from moving. "Now, open your mouth."
Adrien pressed his lips tightly together and she rolled her eyes, grabbing his chin and prying his mouth open to shove a rubber instrument into his mouth.
"I don't want you biting your tongue." She lightly smacked his cheek afterwards, and he growled in anger at her.
"Fu- ew!" He tried to speak past it, but he could barely talk and all it made him do was want to gag as it pressed down his tongue.
"Are you just pretending to get better so that you can leave with your girl?" Mandeleive swiped conductive gel on his temples.
Adrien shook his head and she turned on the machine to get ready for her verdict.
"Are you sure? Some part of me thinks that you are." Mandeleive held the wands close to his temples, ready to administer the ECT.
Adrien shook it head more. "No."
"I think you want to make it seem like you are innocent and a changed man now when you're not." Mandeleive smirked at him. "I found this machine hiding in the back of a storage room and I'm not sure if it still works. Why don't we find out together? Hm, pretty boy?"
Adrien shook his head and pulled at his restraints, as she pressed the wands against his temples for a couple minutes. His head flung back and he screamed out in agony as his whole body stiffened up and spasmed. She took the wands off and watched as the corners of his eyes crinkled and his knuckles turned white. His nails bit into his skin, dripping crimson drops onto the thin white sheets. His whole body convulsed as the seizure ran through him and he twitched with his heartbeat. Everything in him felt like it was on fire and he couldn't think straight. Tears escaped from the corners of his eyes and he blacked out before she did it one more time, watching him convulse again. She wanted answers no matter what it took. Wanted revenge for him ruining her happy expectations of being a nurse at a mental facility.
000
Marinette laid in her bed and it felt like hours. It was night and she still hadn't seen Adrien. He hadn't come back after snack and something about that worried her. She sighed and peered over at the empty bed beside her when the door was kicked open. She suddenly sat up to watch two attendants put a very tired Adrien into his bed. Her heart beat faster and she began to panic, taking in his rough state.
"What happened?" Marinette tried to ask the attendants, but they didn't answer her. She was beyond angry, but she knew that if she lost control then she wouldn't be able to help him.
The men left and Marinette ran over to Adrien's bed. She sat beside his bed and cradled his face in her hands. "Hey? What happened?"
"I- I don't remember." Adrien sighed as the room spun and he immediately touched her shoulder to signal for her to move.
"What- what is it?" Marinette ran her hand through his damp hair as he gagged. She moved out of the way to grab the small trash can in the room for him, setting it in front of him on the floor right as he emptied his stomach.
"Sorry." Adrien clung to the edge of his bed and sobbed. "I don't remember anything. I- can't think. So nauseous. My head hurts, jaw hurts, everything hurts."
"Adrien…" Marinette climbed onto his bed and laid behind him to run her fingers through his hair.
"The room is spinning and I- who are you? Where am I? What is this place?" Adrien became scared and shivered, causing Marinette to cover him with the sheet as he trembled.
"Shh… it's okay." Marinette wrapped herself around him as he got into a fetal position beside her.
"I- I don't know what happened. Why do I feel this way?" Adrien sobbed against her chest. "Why do I feel so much better beside you? I don't know you."
"What did she do to you?" Marinette sobbed as she clung to him, feeling like she needed to protect him from everything.
Adrien peered up at her with tears in his eyes. "Who are you?"
"You're Adrien. I'm Marinette. You're my boyfriend. And we're in a mental health facility." Marinette swallowed hard as she brought him closer to her chest again. "And I won't let whatever happened to you, happen again."
"Help me." Adrien whined against her and pulled away to roll over and be sick again.
Marinette rubbed her hand along his back and he trembled and sobbed in pain. She didn't know how to help him. She didn't know how to make this all stop.
"How long have I been here?" Adrien weakly asked Marinette as he held the edge of his bed.
"Um… I think a year or so. I really don't know." Marinette bit her bottom lip as she watched him roll over and groan.
He clenched his eyes tightly shut and hissed in pain as he wrapped his arms around himself. "Why are you here?"
"I- I'm your roommate. They moved us in here together because we were doing better together." Marinette ran her fingers through his hair. "We make each other better. And I am so sorry that I couldn't save you."
"What happened to me?" Adrien sobbed into her chest as he suddenly clung to her.
"I don't know. I wasn't with you." Marinette ran her fingers along his temples, feeling some sort of gel on her fingertips. She thought about it for a moment and tried to think of why he would have that on his skin. She grabbed his face and looked into his tired eyes. "You're exhausted."
"It hurts. Why do I hurt?" Adrien sobbed harder and Marinette pulled him closer, running her fingers down his back to massage his back.
"You're so tense." Marinette rubbed circles into his muscles, trying to loosen them.
"Help me, please." Adrien clutched to her shirt as he trembled. "Make the pain stop."
"I can't. I don't know how." Marinette began to sob as she cuddled him.
"I'm so confused and lost. I'm scared." Adrien cried hysterically and Marinette tried to shush him so that no one would come in and sedate him. He didn't need that right now. He needed pain medicine, anti-nausea pills, and rest.
"I know what you need, but I can't get it." Marinette sniffed and ran her thumb along his scalp as she clung to him. "I don't know how to get my hands on it." She tried to think of how she could get to the medicine.
Adrien trembled in her arms as Marinette held him and started to hum. His sobs became hiccups as he tried to focus on Marinette's hums. She ran her fingers along his spine and tried to workout the knots that had accumulated. A knock sounded on the door and Marinette grabbed the sheet to throw over a whimpering Adrien.
Alya pushed the door open and peeked in to see Marinette. "Hey. Mari?"
"Alya." Marinette clung to the figure beneath the sheet and Alya slipped in and shut the door behind herself. "What happened? Do you know?"
"I stole these for you." Alya walked over and sat down on Marinette's bed.
"Stole what?" Marinette peered over Adrien and watched Alya hold out two bottles of pills.
"They did that to a few patients not long ago. I've seen it before. If it is what I think it is." Alya walked closer and Marinette moved the sheet from Adrien's face and shoulders. "Adrien? Do you remember anything?"
Adrien shook his head and cuddled closer to Marinette, unsure of who was talking to him.
"I'm Alya, Nino's girlfriend. Do you remember Nino?" She crouched down beside the bed and kept her voice calm.
"Alya, he remembers next to nothing. He's confused, nauseous, hurting, and his muscles are so tense that it's hard for me to loosen them." Marinette felt like crying all over again, as Adrien rubbed his face into her chest. "And he needs something to stop it and I can't get my hands on it."
"Which is what I brought you." Alya passed her two bottles. "Painkillers and anti-nausea pills. They're supposed to use general anesthetic and then prescribe medication to help after ECT, but… Dr. Fu has never agreed with ECT. However, I've seen patients dragged off by Nurse Mendeleive before. They usually come back in that state. They are typical side effects, but usually they get something to ease them. Knowing her, she probably used the old machine I heard about from someone. And because she doesn't love Adrien..."
"No." Marinette shook her head and clutched to Adrien tighter. "She wouldn't do that."
"She would. She's a royal bitch and he wasn't nice to her when he first showed up from what I heard. So, she has some sick grudge with him." Alya sighed and pointed towards the pills. "Give him those. His memory will come back, but it might take a while."
Marinette watched her friend slip back out of their room and she opened the anti-nausea meds first. She put a pill into her hand and ran her thumb along Adrien's bottom lip. "Here, you have to take these. Just like the pills from Nathalie. Come on."
Adrien fought her and panicked for a moment, pushing Marinette away from himself.
"Open your eyes. Look at me. It's me." Marinette coaxed him to peer into her eyes.
Adrien slowly opened his eyes and peered at hers. "Mari-nette."
"Yes. I'm trying to help you feel better. Okay? I'm not going to hurt you." Marinette watched him part his lips for her and she placed the pill into his mouth, watching him close his mouth to swallow it. "Good. Now the next one."
Marinette opened the next bottle and placed the painkiller on his tongue. Adrien closed his mouth and swallowed it as his chest rose and fell in a panic. Marinette let go of his chin and wrapped her arms around him again.
"I don't want to leave this room." Adrien mumbled into her chest.
"I know you don't and I don't blame you. But ya know what? We're gonna get out of here soon. Okay? We're gonna be free soon." Marinette tried to stay positive as she held him close, feeling his breathing settle as he fell asleep in her arms. She took one of his hands into hers and looked at his palm, seeing the scabbed crescent shapes along his soft skin. More tears fell from her eyes as she brought his palm to her lips, placing kisses to each cut. "Poor thing. I'm so so sorry." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tighter.