AN: Hey guys! Thank you so much for all the reviews and follows. I know that this chapter is long overdue.
This chapter was originally going to be much longer but I decided to split it in half. Oh~ I do love me some cliffhangers.
Gracias por el comentario en español! Puedo leer Español y puedo leer un poco de Francés también!
Thank you for the reviews! If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.
Déchiré Cœur
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Marinette laid her head against her desk, her hot puffy cheek being cooled by the wood as she blankly stared out her window.
Her face was tense from all the tears that once stained her face.
Her hair was let loose in a tangled mess.
Her lips were pale, dried, and cracked.
Her hands were rough and her body couldn't stop shaking.
Bloodshot eyes and her once shimmering sapphire eyes now devoid of any flicker of happiness.
She can't remember the last time she stopped rubbing her stomach in slow, steady circular motions.
She can't remember the last she didn't cry herself to sleep.
She can't remember the last battle she and Chat Noir fought side by side as partners; the memories too painful for her to recall.
She can't remember the last time she's seen her Kitty's smile.
She can't remember the last time she desired anything.
Marinette felt dead inside.
Tikki watched over Marinette; every day she made sure that Marinette at least ate a small meal, made sure she got dressed properly, and kept her hygiene in check.
The little kwami watched with worry and caution as anything big or small could trigger Marinette at any second but she felt like all her tears were spent.
Marinette couldn't cry anymore no matter how much she wanted.
She wanted sleep.
She wanted food.
She wanted companionship.
She wanted her baby back.
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Tikki frowned as she watched Marinette in her position that she's been in for the past five hours. She knew this behavior was incredibly unhealthy and dangerous for her young partner as she slowly flew up to Marinette and made her presence known.
"M-M-Marinette," she hesitated at first, "Why don't we create something? A new design for Gabriel's 'Four Seasons Collection' competition? It'll be fun!" Tikki smiled and tried to encourage her.
Marinette groaned something that resembled a 'No' as she shook her head and continued rubbing her stomach.
Tikki sighed, she wanted to be compassionate and sympathetic but it had already been two weeks since the incident happened. Marinette's mourning and guilt made her highly vulnerable to Hawkmoth and a perfect candidate for being a very strong akuma with all the negative emotions currently coursing through her at the moment.
"Why don't we go visit Chat?" Tikki suggested.
The mention of her Kitty was too much for her to handle at that moment. Immediately Marinette hoarsely cried out, her tears stung her eyes as her body tried to quickly produce them. How could she face him? She had lied to him all this time. She never once told him about the baby and she had planned on doing so but now she couldn't.
How could she face the love of her life and tell him that she killed their child? She killed the physical proof of their love. That it was her fault for being an irresponsible child. She didn't deserve his light, his warmth, or any of his love and mercy.
She didn't deserve forgiveness.
She was a monster.
Marinette started to bawl, she didn't know where her new found tears were coming from but she was grateful for them.
Tikki was in a frenzy as the little kwami frantically flew around her with her little stubby hands flailing about and tried to calm Marinette down. She would take blame for this one as she tried to suggest other things that didn't involve children, Chat Noir, or anything with a romantic notion to it.
"Marinette, please don't cry. Please don't be sad anymore!" Tikki begged as she neared Marinette's face and wiped away as many droplets of hot saline tears as she possibly could.
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Two weeks had passed her by.
Two weeks since she's been around anyone else besides Tikki. Her parents didn't know what was wrong with her and didn't know how to help her out. They thought it was boy troubles like most teenage girls her age.
Sabine Dupain-Cheng held her cup of morning tea and sat right at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the attic door of her daughter's room. She had been doing this for the past two weeks. Marinette's face grew pale with hollowed cheeks and eyes that were sunken in and swollen. It killed her to see her daughter this way and even more so when she'd hear her heart wrenching cries at night that'd make her rush straight to Marinette's room to comfort her back into a peaceful sleep.
Sabine was tired of the depression that took her energetic and happy daughter away from her, her bright and bubbly little girl. Marinette's kicking and screaming and restless nights had Sabine crying herself for the longing and wishing to take away her precious daughter's pain and making it her own. There was nothing harder for a mother than seeing her own child broken and in pain. It may have not been physical but emotional pain was just as devastating to see her go through.
Tom Dupain would be damned if this was due to a boy. His big strong hands that were molded from years of moving heavy sacs of sugar and flour, kneading breads and scarred from tiny burn marks, quickly clenched around a rolling pin. Twisting the rolling pin in both hands, he could feel every thin wooden strand coming off from his brute force. These two weeks with his precious only child, the apple of his eye and most of all - HIS daughter silently suffering without telling him or Sabine what was causing her so much hurt and sadness - it killed him, it really did. He felt completely and utterly useless and unable to protect his daughter from the cruel world. If he could, he'd never let her out of the bakery ever again. He'd always keep his baby girl wrapped in a safety blanket that was his arms.
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Adrien was a nervous wreck.
During shoots, he'd unconsciously frown and look miserable that his long time photographer - Vincent had to keep calling cuts and give him breaks.
Adrien Agreste didn't mean to be a typical model that stops the world for his own dilemmas. He really didn't mean it but how could he not be restless when his love was gone? His one and only partner and girlfriend suddenly disappeared after that akuma attack at their school two weeks ago.
If that wasn't bad enough, his fellow classmate and friend Marinette had been absent from school for the exact same amount of time. It really worried him since that akuma created mass chaos and distress and Marinette wasn't the only student that still hadn't reported and showed up for school the very next day. Several others were hospitalized and Alya was a mess without her best friend around.
As Chat Noir he could offer a couple of words of hope and vow to do a search and rescue mission but as Adrien? What could he possibly do as a model but smile for the camera? He might've had a better chance if he were only the mayor's son. Chloe would be the least likely person to expect to help out the cause, only looking out for herself.
"You don't have any unusual…. marks on you. How's your little 'bug' been treating you?" Noémie asked as she came back from her break, setting her bag down on her make-up counter and leaning against it as she smirked at Adrien.
Adrien sighed, he didn't know how she was doing. The last he saw of his Lady was a swarm of tiny little ladybugs whisking her away into thin air. He could've swore he saw a hint of pink, white, and black in her civilian clothes but he was too far from her to tell and the smoke that, that akuma created didn't help either.
Faking a smile, he nodded at his make-up artist and replied with a simple, "Tame. Just been keeping it tame"
Noémie didn't buy his whole act, spending years by his side she could easily tell when he was being genuine or faking it but the teen was still young and buried his secrets deep within him.
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A whole month had gone by and still no sign of his Lady.
Chat Noir was clumsy, unorganized, and distracted in recent akuma attacks. He didn't have the power to cleanse them and had to keep tabs on the people that he'd partially saved. It was exhausting and taking a toll on his personal life as Adrien.
As Adrien Agreste he grew restless and weary. The make-up had to be caked on heavily in order to hide sunken looking green eyes. Sure his muscles grew but so did the scars.
His friendship with Nino grew distant in a short amount of time as Nino devoted all his time to comforting an emotionally distressed Alya.
There was still no sign of Marinette and her parents wouldn't allow anyone near their daughter. They wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong with her.
Many Parisians started to notice the lack of Ladybug appearances right next to Chat Noir on the news and there were more reoccurring attacks happening with at least two or three people being akumatized per week.
Adrien was only one person. Only one teen. Only one cat. Only one hero.
He couldn't do this alone. Not anymore.
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Done! To be continued.
In the English dub, they mention that Adrien's photographer's name is Vincent so I included that tidbit in there.
Don't really have much to say other than things will be getting much more interesting from here on out.
And again, please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions are on my stories are!
Also, my other story – Toujours will be put on hiatus. I'm postponing that story until we know what Mama Agreste's real name is. Perhaps we'll learn it in Season 2? I sure hope so! Or I might just end up deleting that story idea – not entirely sure what I'll end up doing just yet with that one.
Anyways, I seriously can't wait for S2 next year! Chapter 5 of this story will come much faster!
So ya know the drill! Tell me what ya think! ;D
Remember to R&R! Plz & Thankies! :]