Chapter 2: The Longest Night

She tried to sleep, but sleep never came.

She was alone, and her mind finally took the opportunity to assess all of what had just happened.

What had happened?

Chat Noir was stabbed, Adrien was stabbed.

It was unfathomable to her, that someone as cool and refined as Adrien Agreste could double as someone as ludicrous and outgoing as Chat Noir. Though in some absurd part of her mind it made perfect sense. All those times she would need to get up and leave for an akuma and he was the only other person who would also need to go, and all those bruises that would always show up after a particularly rough akuma, Adrien was just as secretive as she was.

She recalled their first encounter with the so called hero Volpina, Adrien was never in any real danger then, that's why Chat was so confident in calling her bluff. Adrien was Chat Noir the whole time.

The whole time. For nearly two years Chat Noir sat, almost literally, under her nose. How ridiculous it was. How ridiculous she was. Her intense crush on Adrien Agreste had since died down from that first year of knowing him, as she matured and realized she had built little of an actual foundation for a relationship with him. Also for the fact that she considered that she did fancy Chat Noir, if only a little bit, they worked well together and she enjoyed the time she would have with him. But they were the same person, and they were both in the hospital, both possibly going to die because of her, because she didn't protect them, because she didn't protect him.

She rolled over at the thought rearing its ugly head again. It was her fault, all her fault that he got hurt. She was supposed to protect him, she was his partner and the one who always had his back. Except when it really counted. And now his blood had stained her as punishment for not protecting him.

Again, his blood; every time she tried to close her eyes she would see it. His blood staining every square inch of them, it covered her face and hands and would not go away no matter how hard she scrubbed. Every time she would close her eyes she could see his distraught face, turning to her and his eyes blaming her for everything. No, she couldn't keep her eyes shut long, she didn't want to see his face again. She would imagine his insides spilling out and onto her from the wound, and no matter how hard she tried she could not put him back together. He was just pieces, bits and pieces that would fall further and further apart whenever she would so much as touch them. She lied on her bed for a good hour, staring at the wall and shaking just trying to get the images out of her head.

Every piece of her felt terrible as she worried over and over again for him. She couldn't help but wonder and anguish over his possible current condition despite what the old man had said. However she made no move to check the news, no attempt to actually find out if her fears were true, that she was going to be alone as a superhero from then on.

Were they really that super if they could so easily be hurt? If their lives could so easily be stripped from them? If their blood could so easily be spilled through the thin membrane of their skin? She looked to Plagg.

He did not bleed. Were kwamis even able to bleed? He did not appear to have a physical wound, he simply lost consciousness despite his second skin that was Chat's costume being broken. Was the costume really a physical part of them, or simply an illusion that beheld no abilities of protection, their increased strength being all that really prevented them from dying under immediate impact? The old healer said that Plagg's magic supposedly protected Chat, but from what, not dying sooner? She did not know, she didn't know anything; all she knew was that they could not hold their own against a knife to vital organs.

They could die just as easily as any other human.

And they were just that, humans. Humans who had been chosen by some unforgiving other who had decided that they were somehow more worthy than anyone else to receive these gifts.

Or were somehow more expendable than everyone else.

She shook her head. No. No one was more expendable than anyone else, they were all important pieces to the unforgiving puzzle called life.

Which is why she had so easily sacrificed him. Why she had waited to run towards him after the knife went into him and not when the man had first changed expression, had first grabbed Chat's wrist and twisted him around, not when she had first caught sight of the knife. The scene was playing over and over in her head, slower and slower each time. How could she so easily sacrifice him?

She shook her head and rolled around again, she needed a distraction. Crawling out of bed with her useless blankets slipping off her, she grabbed her phone and sat on her ladder. The time showed 5 am when she turned on the device, its light blinding her in the dark temporarily. An exhausted sigh came from her as she put her head into her lap, she had been up all night, and with the sun just barely peeking into the sky there was no way she was going to attempt to sleep again.

She rubbed her eyes and brought her head back up to her phone, she headed to the Ladyblog, one place she had been avoiding all through the night. She didn't know why, there was no doubt that Alya had caught the whole fight and everything after on video, she didn't want to see it but she found herself scrolling past an article posted and to where ever the video was. She didn't get far as just under the article was a paragraph of text that caught Marinette's attention. It was Alya, talking about the recent event of course.

"I'm sorry I've been gone for a couple of hours everyone. I know you all want to talk about what's happened, and I'll get to your submissions eventually, but not today. I'm sorry everyone, it's just, Adrien was my friend, I saw him every day in class, we've hung out together and done projects together. And seeing him like that, it scared me, it scared me beyond all belief and I'm so worried about him. It's been a bit of a startling revelation that he and Ladybug are not only people that you might run into on the street or in a shop, but also people that we know and love. People that are our friends, our families, they are very real. I hope Adrien comes out of this and has a speedy recovery, and that Ladybug, wherever she is, is also okay and safe. I'm sorry for all the inactivity, but I'm going to go lie down now."

I'm not okay. Marinette thought, but still managed to feel a flutter of light that Alya wasn't just gossiping and speculating things about this like she imagined so many others were. She briefly looked down at the comments, there were hundreds, cropped short by the little box, full of people giving their sympathies to Adrien, Ladybug, and Alya.

She continued to scroll and faced herself with the video Alya had caught, right under her paragraph, with nothing in between as she had been gone. The little caption by Alya under the video read "Nothing is good about this video but I'm uploading it here so I can get rid of it from my phone. This is fair warning to all of you as it is very violent at the end." Another hundred comments underneath, Marinette didn't glance at them, afraid of what they might be. Instead her thumb hovered over the video, ready to press it, ready to watch the scene that had been playing in her mind over and over all night.

Fear and horror caught in her throat at the prospect of seeing it all happen again, seeing her failure and his injury all over again, she quickly swiped her thumb down the screen and the blog went flying back up to the top. She noticed the top of the most recent post, the article she passed, against her better judgement she scrolled down to read it.

"Late night the ER has reported that after nearly 4 hours of intensive care and emergency surgery, Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir has now reached a stable condition and is resting in the hospital room. He remains unconscious for now but has no problems from his injury otherwise…"

Marinette stopped reading, relief washed over her from the news, he was alive. He was alive and safe and protected. Marinette didn't think she had anything left in her but she began to cry, out of happiness of all things. He was okay, he was okay, thank the stars he was alive. She gripped her hair hard while crying, trying to ground herself. A good few minutes of this and she had calmed down, her tears stopped flowing and her body stopped shaking.

Now what? She thought to herself. Should she go and visit him? No, she couldn't do that, he still wasn't completely awake. And she didn't want to see him like that, covered in tubes, surrounded by machines all monitoring his health. She needed to wait, wait until she was able to bear seeing him in such a condition, until he was awake.

She sighed looking out the window again, the sky was just a bit lighter, and it was looking to be a bright, cloudless day. Couldn't the weather just give her this one grievance? No, but she figured she might as well start slowly getting ready for school, something to distract her mind.

She got up and meandered her way to the bathroom, relieving herself and getting ready for the day. She stared hard at her hands while she washed them, as if daring them to suddenly be covered in blood again, also to keep from looking up at the mirror before her. No doubt she looked like an exhausted mess, hair loose and askew, deep bags under her unwashed, puffy, and tear-ridden face. She grabbed a washcloth and dampened it before pressing it against her face, it felt nice and cooling against her hot cheeks. She took a breath in the moist cloth, barely taking in any air and suddenly feeling the compulsion to scream into it.

Yes, she wanted to scream. Scream loud and harsh until her voice went hoarse; to let every last piece of emotions and exhaustion out of her body until she collapsed. A few seconds passed and she stayed silent, not wanting her parents to come running for her in worry, they didn't deserve that.

Instead she pulled the washcloth away from her face and dared herself to look in the mirror. It was just as she thought, tired eyes, red cheeks, and puffiness from her crying that had only gone down a little bit. She wiped the rest of her face harshly and dried it with another, dry, washcloth, she looked a bit better, but her eyes betrayed all. She haphazardly brushed her teeth and hair, not even bothering with putting it up in ponytails before heading back to her room to get dressed. The sun was shining and she realized she had not changed out of her clothes from yesterday, how foolish of her, wanting to go straight to bed but not even changing into the proper clothing for it.

With and deep breath she changed and heard Tikki calling for her.

"Marinette? Marinette?" She asked from up on the bed, probably trying to discern Marinette from her unmade pile of blankets.

"Down here," She whispered back, and Tikki came floating down.

"You're up early."

"I couldn't sleep," Marinette answered plainly, going over to her book bag and checking that everything was there.

"Oh I'm so sorry Marinette, why didn't you wake me? I could have at least gave you company," Marinette shrugged in response, not really sure why she didn't. Tikki looked at what she was doing, "You're going to school? Are you sure Marinette? You should rest, your parents will understand if you don't want to go."

"No. No, no, I'm alright," Marinette shook her head still staring in the book bag, it had everything she needed, "I need a distraction today."

Tikki nodded solemnly while Marinette went to check that everything in her purse was in order. She popped it open, wallet, keys, tissues, lip balm…

Chat Noir's ring.

It had completely slipped her mind. She picked it up and twiddled the silver object between her fingers. The same silver ring she had always noticed on Adrien but never asked about, the object that, partnered with Plagg, gave him the abilities of Chat Noir, the ability to destroy with your hands. It was a frightening ability, one that almost appropriately contrasted Ladybug's ability to create. Creation and destruction, but she had been the one to destroy him.

"You should keep the miraculous jewelry with you at all times," Tikki spoke up suddenly, looking between Marinette and the ring she so curiously observed.

Marinette knew the silent words that lay under Tikki's statement.

Put it on.

She didn't want to, she didn't want to have to wear this constant reminder of her failure on her hand, but something deep in her did. It wanted to feel the power of Chat Noir, it wanted to transform and feel what it was like to be him, to hold his power and face it against her own. She shook her head and quietly slipped the oversized ring onto her middle finger of her right hand, it shrunk down to fit her finger comfortably. Too comfortably, she began to fiddle with it and spin it around her finger in nervousness.

"What about Plagg?" She asked, the old man said to keep him in a safe warm area, and the constant shifting of her purse would hardly be the place for him to stay for most of the day.

"He can stay here for now. He still has at least a day before he wakes up and it will be good for him to stay in one place, especially somewhere comfy," Tikki answered calmly.

"Do you not want to be with him?" Marinette asked suddenly, not sure why she was doing so.

"Oh believe me, I do, I don't want to leave his side at all while he's in this condition. But I need to stay with you," Tikki said, downtrodden.

Marinette knew what that meant too. Tikki needed to be with her in case there was another akuma attack. Now would be a prime time for Papillon to strike, while she was alone and distraught over the safety of her friend, but he could strike in another way, she thought with horror. Papillon knew Chat's real identity now, everyone knew his real identity now, including her; he could easily sneak into Adrien's hospital and try to steal the miraculous from him while he was incapacitated. Adrien was smart though and had given his miraculous to her. Papillon would then have to try to threaten for information about where they were, but Adrien wouldn't know, he didn't know Ladybug's real identity, nobody did thankfully.

She fretted over Adrien's safety again until Tikki snapped her out of it. Marinette twisted Chat's ring around again and hoped that he was okay, and that there would be no akuma attacks.

It was almost 7 when she glanced at the clock again and shuffled down the stairs for something to eat. She wasn't hungry at all, but she needed to keep up her energy.

Her mother was in the kitchen, also making something for the day, she was shocked to see Marinette.

"You're awake and all dressed."

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well," Marinette mumbled, looking away from her mother at the partial lie, she didn't want her to worry too much.

Her mother cooed over her and pulled her into a hug, informing her that she didn't have to go to school if she didn't want to. Marinette gave a similar answer to what she told Tikki. Her mother nodded in understanding and sat her down so she could make Marinette something to eat.

A slow and full meal later, her mother insisted she needed to make up for missing dinner last night, and Marinette had everything of hers packed and ready to go. She left through the bakery, giving her father a kiss goodbye and heading out the front door.

The air outside was brisk and cool, slowly warming up to the bright sun rising in the cloudless sky. It felt nice, being outside in the fresh air and walking to school. Past a couple of blocks and around the corner, and there she saw it. The school had a small line of reporters next to the front opening, trying to ask student's questions as they entered the building. She felt vile rise through her chest at seeing them, and the police keeping them from getting too close to the students. Couldn't they just leave her alone? But no, this was Adrien's lycée, and that meant they had to know everything they could about his life, about the people who know and are worried sick about him.

"Marinette?" That was Alya's voice. She turned to her right to see Alya approaching, "Oh my stars, Marinette you look horrible!"

Marinette bowed her head and looked away at the statement, she knew that, and she knew Alya would want to know why, but Marinette wouldn't be able to give the whole truth.

"I wasn't able to sleep well," She murmured in answer.

"Oh honey," Alya cooed, pulling her into a tight hug.

Marinette held her tightly, hoping she wouldn't say anything else, ask her anything else, just be there with her. Stars she was so glad Alya was safe as well.

Alya let her go but still held her hand as she looked at the reporters lined up next to the school entrance, she frowned.

"They're here, of course," Marinette heard Alya mutter under her breath.

They walked up to the entrance of the school close together, giving a wide birth to the reporters asking them a barrage of questions.

"Did you know Adrien?" "Are you in his class?" "Did he show any signs that he was Chat Noir?"

"Why didn't you protect him?"

Marinette whipped her head around, did she hear that right? Fear rose in her throat that a reporter may have discovered her identity until Alya pushed her head back down and pulled them forward.

"Don't look at them Marinette, we don't need to talk to them, it's alright," Alya whispered to her as they made their way in the building and to class.

Marinette tried her best to ignore them, sure that her mind was playing tricks on her.

They approached their class and Marinette could hear the quiet murmur of the few students that were there, they went silent when she entered the room. Everyone was looking at Marinette and her haggard appearance. She turned away and followed Alya up to their seats together, slowly beginning to spin the ring around her finger again. There was another moment of silence following before everyone began to quietly talk amongst themselves. She tried her best to ignore them and instead focused on the students walking past their door to their own class and her other class mates entering the room.

Most everyone was in the class by the time Nino entered, again there was silence as Marinette saw that he looked just as exhausted as her. Marinette was shocked for a moment, she hadn't even thought about Nino, and how selfish of her that she didn't, Nino was Adrien's best friend. She felt terrible as she realized that it didn't even occur to her to go tell Nino, to see if he was okay, she left him in the dark. How selfish of her.

Alya got up and went over to hug him. He accepted the hug but looked straight at Marinette as he did, bothered by the fact that she was just as exhausted as he was. And why shouldn't he be. Marinette didn't have the same relationship with Adrien that Nino did, Marinette was just some classmate of his. They didn't hang out on their own together, not like Nino and Adrien did. Alya released him from the hug and gave a similar coo to her boyfriend that she did with Marinette earlier before giving him a kiss on the head. They went to their seats and sat waiting for class to start, Nino giving a grave look to the empty seat next to him, the seat that was always reserved for Adrien, the one area that Marinette had been avoiding looking at most.

The class' quiet talking died down once again when their teacher entered the room and class was about to start. Everyone was there except Chloé, but the silence was welcome, Marinette didn't want to hear anything she might have to say over Adrien's situation. Their teacher nervously cleared their throat.

"I know all of you have probably heard the news, and I know that many of you are very worried for Adrien," They glanced at Marinette and Nino specifically before looking back to the whole class, "But I just want to thank you all for being here, ready to learn."

An unenthusiastic wave of agreement went through the class in response, but their teacher did nothing to fight it. With a solemn nod they went into their lesson.

The day had been long and Marinette tried her best to focus on the lesson but her mind kept wandering to Adrien. The same worries repeated over and over in her head, it didn't help that Alya kept her phone on her desk and would offhandedly check it whenever it lit up with a news article update. She knew what it was for; everyone was waiting for him to wake up. Their teacher said nothing about it as they mirrored the student's worry.

Marinette ate lunch with Alya and Nino, Alya insisting upon being with both of them to know that they're okay. Marinette and Nino ate little, Alya being the one more to push both of them to have something in order to keep up their strength. Nino mostly smoked during lunch and kept glancing at Marinette, bothered by how she almost mirrored his silence and depression. He wanted to say something, she knew, but also knew that he wouldn't say anything in front of Alya or in public for the matter.

At the end of the day their teacher called Marinette, Nino, and Sabrina up to the front desk. Alya waited by the door for Marinette and Nino as the other students quietly filed out of the room, the three of them had agreed on spending the night together in order to keep company. Their teacher waited until most of the students had left before they spoke.

"I know that you two and Chloé," they looked to Sabrina, "Are especially worried about your friend Adrien. So for the time being I'm going to give the three of you a brief extension on your homework over the week so you can recuperate. Sabrina can you deliver this message and today's work to Chloé?"

Sabrina agreed and their teacher dismissed the three of them. Nino and Marinette left with Alya, all holding hands tightly together and rushing past the reporters who had calmed down since that morning but were still there. Nino was livid by their presence and Marinette almost expected him to yell at them if Alya wasn't pulling them along so quickly.

They decided to stay at Nino's place as his parents were worried about him being out all night and wanted him home. They stopped at Marinette's so she could run up and grab a sleeping bag, checking on Plagg while doing so, he was still asleep, curled up in the little bed. Marinette worried for a moment that he would wake up while she was gone but Tikki assured her that he won't and that he would be fine in the meantime. She told her parents that she and Alya were heading to Nino's for the night and they both waved her off with a kiss and a wish to stay safe.

She, Alya, and Nino popped by Alya's home so that she could do the same before they all made their way to Nino's. His parents greeted the three of them warmly and worriedly, asking how all three of them were before they headed up to Nino's room. Marinette had been to Nino's place a couple of times for projects and to hang out, but she had rarely been up to his room, and never whilst he was most likely angry at her. She sat awkwardly on the ground with them as Nino dragged a few blankets off his bed and tossed them to Alya and Marinette while wrapping himself in one.

He leaned against his bed looking down at his feet and Alya shuffled over to him to wrap one of her arms around his shoulders while beckoning Marinette to come so that she could do the same for her. Marinette grabbed one of the blankets and draped it over her and Alya while leaning on her. It was silent between the three of them, just their quiet breathing and the soft shift of a blanket. Alya said nothing with them for a while, rubbing her thumb over Marinette and Nino's shoulders in comfort.

Marinette was so glad that Alya was there to be her rock; it was bad that she couldn't tell her everything but Marinette was just so relieved to have her there, to have Alya with her. She knew it was selfish, with Alya having to take care of both Marinette and Nino, but she was more than capable, and Marinette didn't want to make her leave.

After some time, Alya finally gave a sigh, deciding it was time to talk again.

"Did you get any sleep?" She asked Nino, turning towards him.

"Some," he mumbled, "Only a couple of hours."

Alya tsked at him before turning to Marinette and asking her the same thing.

"No." Marinette answered simply.

"What, Mari. None? No sleep at all?" Alya fretted.

Nino let out a huff and Marinette felt her hands begin to nervously twirl Chat's ring under her blanket.

"No, I couldn't," Marinette whispered, she didn't give any other explanation but she could feel Nino's want for one as he looked at her from the edge of his eyes.

"You two really are quite a handful. You should get some sleep now then," Alya scolded them.

"I'm not tired," Nino said, and Marinette nodded.

Alya let out an exasperated huff and shifted between them, "Come on, get up. I'm getting you two some tea," she got out from between them and went marching out of Nino's room.

They were alone.

Marinette awkwardly leaned against Nino's bed, still spinning Chat's ring around her finger. She could hear Nino's irritation next to her as he tapped his finger against the ground, with each tap he got more and more aggravated.

"Ni-"

"What makes you so special?" He suddenly snapped, throwing his arms into the air and spinning to glare at her, "You and Adrien aren't even close, you weren't friends like he and I were! What make you so damn special that you got noooo sleep last night, that's you're almost as much a mess as me?" He growled, dragging out his "o" in a very mocking tone.

Marinette shifted away from him, unsure of how to answer and afraid of how Nino was acting.

"I… I saw it," She uttered out. He pinched his eyebrows in question, waiting for her to explain, "I was there, I saw him, uh, I-I saw it happen with my own eyes."

She lowered her head but couldn't take her eyes off Nino. She watched as his eyes widened and his body leaned back in horrified realization at what she said. He looked blankly off to one end of the room in thought before pinching his eyebrows together again.

"Alya was there too, she caught it all on video, and she's not reacting nearly as bad as you are," He stated, shoulders squared and wanting an explanation.

Marinette felt herself panic, her breathing increased and she twirled Chat's ring faster as she realized that she couldn't possibly explain herself without giving away her secret. Stars, was this how she was going to be exposed, she couldn't possibly let it come to this. She needed to say something, anything!

"D-different people, re… different people react to th-things i-in different ways," She managed to croak out in her nervous breakdown.

She didn't look at Nino, instead electing to look at an empty space on his hardwood floor. She knew he must have been glaring at her.

"What?" He hissed, but she didn't, no, couldn't repeat herself.

By the saving grace that was Alya, she came into the room with a little tray, announcing to them that she had tea. She set down the tray and carefully handed the hot mugs of tea to Nino and Marinette; Marinette having to stop fiddling with Chat's ring in order to properly lift her barely shaking hands from underneath the blanket and take the tea. Nino seemed to drop the topic but something told her that it would most certainly come up again. She calmly took a deep breath of the warm tea in her hands while Alya sat back down between them and draped the blanket over her lap, Sleepytime tea, of course.

The rest of the night was spent in quiet chats about aimless things, eating dinner with Nino's family, and soft music playing while Alya worked on the homework that she didn't get extended time for. It was calming being with her friends, even if it was tense between her and Nino, but gradually, she felt herself relax over the night until she finally fell asleep.

A/N: I know I said I'd update every two weeks but I was just so excited for this fic that I had to post the next chapter today! Chapter 3 will post in two weeks from now. Ah yes, trauma and worry, what will little Mari do to explain herself?

Again thank you to Tangledfire Blac for Beta reading this!

Please review with what you thought of this chapter, thank you very much.