Oh my god guys I'm so sorry! I didn't realize how much time had passed since I last updated. Please forgive me, summer has screwed up my internal calendar and since I graduated high school back in May, it probably won't be getting better any time soon because I'm working on moving with my Dad sometime before 2016 is over, and currently I have literally NOTHING keeping my mind on track. Like, for the past five days I've been thinking it was a Friday. It's bad. So I'm sorry if the quality of the content went down in this chapter, truth be told I've got a little bit of writer's block happening for the next few chapters.
Also, thanks for the input on what Adrien and Marinette fear, that'll be used in a later chapter. Also thank you so much for the positive feedback, it means a lot to me!
But that's enough from me. Enjoy this (extremely late) chapter!
The next few weeks went off without a hitch, I became closer friends with Adrien, Nino, Marinette and Alya, and very few akuma attacks came around, compared to the one-Akuma-per-day thing that had been going on for a few weeks before I had moved here. My medication was working, I had friends, and I was actually doing okay for the first time since the accident.
Adrien apologized once for what had happened with his father, but after I told him to stop apologizing and that it wasn't anyone's fault, that I wasn't hearing any of it, he never brought it up again.
Today, I felt, was going rather well, considering it was raining cats and dogs outside and poor Nathanael was out sick. He had been under the weather recently, but it still hurt to know that my desk buddy was feeling so sick he couldn't come to school. Needless to say, in all the classes we had together, I wrote notes for him, too.
The day was done and I was waiting with the others for everyone's rides. Nino and Alya were waiting for their parents, Adrien was waiting for Nathalie and his bodyguard, and Marinette and I were there to keep them company. Marinette was just around the corner and across the street, so she was walking home like I was.
"So Jasper, how has your mom's painting been going?" Alya asked, smiling. I grinned and began writing quickly, making sure my handwriting was still legible for the four.
"Really good, actually! She's started making a series with animal versions of the superheroes so I think once she gets a few of those done she'll be putting them in an exhibit at our place and then in some galleries around town that people can buy from."
"That's great! Do you have refreshments and stuff at exhibits? Because my family can make some, if you want." Marinette suggested, smiling after she read what I had written.
"I'll check with my mom to see if that's okay, but if you don't mind, that'd be amazing!"
"Maybe I can get my dad to go. If he likes your mom's work he might ask her to paint something for the house. At least, I hope he does." Adrien bit his lip and furrowed his eyebrows in thought, and I shrugged.
"If he does, he does. If not, well, that's his loss." I responded, showing him the writing. His expression became the model smile again, although this one was actually happy and full of emotion, making look even more beautiful then before. "Yeah, that's true."
We continued talking, unaware that a certain... annoyance was going to try something.
I could see Chloe and Sabrina coming over from my peripheral vision as we spoke, but I paid them no mind. The other four tried not to, but they all ended up being rather wary in their conversation and tense, like they were ready to come to my defense if needed.
See, Chloe still hasn't given up on the idea that I can talk and am just using it as I cry for attention, and her bullying has only gotten worse. While I had literally no care in the world for her or her antics and viewed them as a minor annoyance, my friends had thin strings of tolerance when it came to her. They had become extremely defensive and on guard with her after a failed attempt to get me to speak by stealing my things while I had "gone to the bathroom" (aka an Akuma attack was happening and I had to leave) and put them in a place I couldn't reach, and then cornered me while threatening me or something stupid like that. Truth be told I had already forgotten about it because I stopped letting bullies get to me back in elementary school when I was bullied for being an albino, so this was nothing, really.
Or, it was nothing, until I found myself staring at the ceiling, my head thumping slightly, my stuff strewn around me, and felt the unmistakeable feeling of cold, damp air hitting the heated skin of my neck. My eyes grew wide and my heart began to pound.
They did not yank off my scarf.
I began to sit up slowly, glancing at the others to see their shocked and pained expressions. Marinette had a hand covering her mouth and Adrien looked like he was borderline angry. Nino and Alya looked ready to explode if their shaking was anything to go by. The panic I was feeling only grew.
They did not yank off my scarf.
I felt my neck, flinching when I felt the rough, uneven scars there instead of the soft cotton of my scarf.
They yanked off my scarf!
I immediately slapped my hand over my throat, nearly looking like I was choking myself as I curled into a ball and squeezed my eyes shut, my body starting to shake lightly as anxiety started to flood through me. They all saw them, the scars caused by my accident, the physical proof I was unable to talk.
The first to snap out of their shock was Alya, who immediately glowered at Chloe and Sabrina, who was on the ground, holding my scarf in her hand after she had "tripped" and knocked me to the ground. "Chloe Bourgeois, you have gone too far!" She snapped, and I flinched and covered my ears with my hands, shaking my head slightly.
Arguing started up as even Nino and Marinette began to snap at the two girls, but I tried hard not to focus on that and on my breathing. On the gentle nudge that Neeks was giving me in certain places under my jacket as he tried to make sure I wasn't hurt anywhere and that he was there while he wasn't. That I was okay. I flinched when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and faintly heard my name being called, not loud and angered like the others were, so I slowly removed my hands from over my ears and tilted my head back to see Adrien offering me a reassuring smile as he held my scarf in his hand. He nearly seemed to be glowing in the dim light, and as I stared into the gentleness of those eyes, my anxiety seemed to flood away.
"A-Adrien?" I mouthed, a faint croak the only sound I could make before I coughed.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked softly, kneeling next to me and very loosely wrapping the scarf around my neck to give it more cover. I quickly adjusted it to how it was supposed to be, nodding to his question. He squeezed my shoulder gently and I leaned against him, jumping when Chloe screeched in rage, turning and staring at her like a frightened animal. She glared at me then huffed, stomping away with Sabrina at her heels like a dog.
When I finally managed to get home, I flopped onto bed and silently groaned into my pillow, Neeks flying out from his hiding place in my jacket and setting himself on my head.
"You certainly have your hands full," He remarked dryly, "Chloe seems like she'll stop at nothing to prove you are lying, and people keep triggering your memories..."
I nodded slowly, heaving a sigh into my pillow. Truthfully, I was just tired of that at this point. Why did I have to remember? Couldn't I just enjoy my life here in Paris as a superhero without having to deal with my past?
Neeks sighed and clicked his tongue. "Well, on the bright side, you've made some amazing friends." His tone was much happier this time, and I could just picture the smile on his face as I proceeded to nod once more. After that we were quiet for a bit, and I listened to mom hum away as she painted in her studio while deciding if I should start on my homework. Neeks flew off my head and onto my desk, going to the bowl of candy I had placed there and starting to dig through it.
Just as I was about to start my homework a loud crash and a few screams rang out through the streets outside, and I looked out my window. There was smoke coming from somewhere nearby and people were running away from the scene. I saw red and black blurs go by and realized it was an Akuma attack.
I looked to Neeks and he nodded, flying into my necklace and transforming me. The moment the transformation ended I heard my mom come running out of her studio, so I scrambled out the window as fast as I could.
"Jasper?! Jasper, sweetie, did you hear that crash?" The door to my room opened and mom came rushing , if the sound of her voice and footsteps were anything to go by. She gasped sharply and I could imagine her looking around. "Jasper?!" A few seconds later my bedroom door slammed open and mom ran into the house, screaming my name loudly. "Jasper? Where are you?! Text me where you are if you are in the house!" She ran back into my room and yelled my name one more time, sounding desperate. It really hurt to hear her like this but I couldn't just show up like this the moment she called my name or even came into my room.
I took that as my cue to swing into the room from the open window, landing in front of my mom and causing her to scream in surprise. Which, by the way, hurts when you have sensitive wolf ears.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, ma'am." I said with a small laugh as I rubbed my ears. Her eyes widened and she pointed at me, jaw dropping slightly. "Wolven?" She said said, disbelief clear in her voice.
I laughed nervously and waved, "Yep. That's me."
"What are you doing here?"
"I was just on my way to the attack when I heard you screaming out your son's name." I paused for a moment, realizing that Wolven technically has no idea who Mitzy Wells is, or Jasper. "Um, he is your son, right?" I corrected, a little sheepish. I don't want to make a bad impression on my mom, after all.
Mom laughed softly and nodded. "Yes, he is my son... Have you seen him?" The worry was rekindled in her eyes with that sentence, and inwardly I flinched. I didn't mean to worry her, after all.
"Ah... what does he look like, ma'am?" I rubbed the back of my neck, glancing outside towards the commotion that was still going on. It was slowly getting closer, and the thought that it could reach my house at any moment made my hair stand on end.
"He has shaggy and unkempt white hair, and red eyes. He's really pale, too. Usually wearing a light blue scarf around his neck and carrying a notebook?"
I nodded and hummed in thought. "Well then... yes, I believe I did see him! He went of to the Dupain-Cheng bakery to get some pastries for you guys to share! Told me that himself when I passed by a few moments ago. I told him to stay there until the Akuma was dealt with, so please don't worry. Your son is safe." Another crash and I heard Ladybug yell Chat Noir's name, making me tense.
"Well, I really need to go! Stay inside until this is dealt with- unless the crashes get too close. I'll yell if you need to leave." I said quickly, leaving through the window and bounding down the street to the battle.
"What'd I miss?" I said as I came to stop, Chat Noir rolling his shoulder and covered in dirt from head to toe, while Ladybug was trapped in a twisted street lamp.
The Akuma this time was girl dressed in a slate grey one piece with a black belt laying slanted on her waist with red, green, and yellow lights blinking along the suit, as well as something that looked like one of those virtual reality headsets over her eyes with a purple butterfly outline on it. He hair was in a long black ponytail with a compass clipped into her hair.
"This lady is crazy!" Chat huffed, swiping off some of the dirt. "She keeps spouting random directions to things and they're following them to the letter! She's tossed me to the ground like five times and it's starting to hurt!" He was pouting, much unlike his character, but it seemed he was actually starting to get fed up with this fight.
Ladybug grunted as she managed to free her arm, tossing her yoyo into the air. "Lucky Charm!" She shouted, catching the item.
"Boys, you'll need to fight her while I get try to get free and set the trap, on three. Ready?"
"One."
"Two!" I crouched low, ready to start running, a growl sneaking past my grin.
"Two and a half!" Ladybug groaned while I snorted, biting my lip to keep from laughing.
"Chat! Focus!"
"Sorry, I had to." Chat chuckled readied his baton, ready to run and fight as well.
"Three!"