I actually wrote this one last year with the Marichat May 2021 prompt, Day #5: Nightmares in mind. Luckily, its the same (plural vs. singular but still)

Marichat May 2023

Day #5: Nightmare

With a startled gasp, Adrien sat right up in bed. His eyes darted around his room as he attempted to catch his breath.

He was in his room. In his bed. It was just a dream. Nothing he just saw and heard had been real. Just a nightmare.

Still. It felt very real. And it shook the blonde miraculous holder to his core.

Paris burning. Everybody he cared about was gone.

Everybody but one.

Marinette was still there. She was the only person he saw other than Shadowmoth.

He had her. She was hurt and he just kept hurting her. And he said he wasn't going to stop until he handed over his miraculous. In his moment of desperation to save her, he did it. He detransformed and gave him the ring.

But as soon as Shadowmoth put it on and combined his powers with the power of the black cat's…

He cataclysmed her.

He heard her scream just before she turned into black dust and started to blow away in the breeze.

Then he had woken up.

Adrien knew it was silly to be worried about Marinette. Just looking out his window, he could plainly see that Paris was not on fire like in his dream. She was probably at home, sleepy soundly in her nice warm bed.

…and not destroyed by the very power that he wields everyday as Chat Noir.

Adrien bit his lip. He felt the urge to see her. Hear her voice. That would be enough to calm his nerves and reassure him that she was fine.

He could call her. No. He didn't want to disturb her at this hour, and his excuse wasn't very good.

Plus, it's wasn't like Adrien could tell her that he had a dream like that because he's her dearest friend Chat Noir.

Then the idea hit him.

"Plagg," Adrien looked over to his kwami, sleeping on the second pillow on the other side of his bed. The tiny black cat didn't stir. "Plagg!" he whisper/shouted a bit louder.

The god of destruction finally opened his eyes and annoyingly looked to his owner.

"Nuhhhh. What?" he grumbled before yawning.

"I…I need to transform."

"Now? Is there an akuma?"

"Well…no."

"Then why?"

Adrien just looked down and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I just…I can't sleep and I need to go somewhere," he said. It was technically the truth, he just wasn't being very specific. Even if he had decided to not go, he doubted he could go back to sleep anytime soon. Plagg still didn't look convinced. And he knew telling him the specifics about his dream and Marinette, that wouldn't help either. So, Adrien resorted to the one thing that worked best with his little glutton kwami. Bribery. "I'll finally order that special cheese you've been asking for."

Plagg looked back at Adrien with his eyes wide open. "The la Trappe d'Echourgnac or the Tomme de Quercy?" he asked, no traces of grogginess in his voice at all anymore.

Adrien smiled smugly. "Both."

Plagg didn't hesitate. "Okay fine!" he replied, flying up from the pillow.

Adrien got up from his bed and said the transformation words.

In no time, Chat Noir was making his way across Parisian rooftops.

He just had to see her. Marinette was probably sound asleep in her bed at home. She has a skylight right above her bed. He can go to her house, get to her roof, look down through her skylight, and see her right there. Perfectly fine.

He knew it was silly—maybe a bit crazy even—to be worried about someone from a bad dream, but he couldn't help it. It'll calm him down just to see her and this way, if he was quiet, he wouldn't be disturbing her.

I did feel a tad creepy. Going to a girl's house just to watch her through her window while she slept. Uugh. But he wouldn't be there long. Just long enough to see that she was okay. Ten seconds, maybe less. Then it was back out into the peaceful night and then back to his own bed.

When Chat arrived at the bakery, all the lights were off. Her parents must be asleep too, which was good. He definitely didn't want either of them to see him and think he was some Peeping-Tom Cat, spying on their daughter. Especially Mr. Dupain. That man was almost as big as his bodyguard.

Chat landed on the roof of the building attached to the bakery to avoid landing too hard right above where she was sleeping. He didn't want to startle her with the sound. Then he climbed over the wall that separated her little roof balcony from the other building's roof, tiptoed along her railing and landed as delicately was possibly on the floor.

The skylight right in front of his feet, Chat crept forward, got down on his knees, and looked down. It was dark but that wasn't a problem for a superhero with night vision. Pasted the darkness, he could see a figure laying down on their right side with their head on a pillow and a blanket covering them up to their shoulders.

Chat smiled and sighed; in relief and joy. Marinette, right there, sleeping soundly, just like he thought.

But as he looked at her more, he noticed a change in her face.

Her closed eyes looked clenched extra tight.

Chat moved around the skylight to get a better angle to see her face.

As he had thought, her eye lids were clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Like she was in pain or trying to open her eyes but couldn't. Then he noticed her lips. They were trembling, but also closed tight.

Those were not good signs. Chat had been wrong. Maybe Marinette wasn't sleeping so soundly after all.

She must be having a nightmare too.

He couldn't just leave her like this. He promised himself that he wasn't going to disturb her but if she wasn't dreaming pleasantly, then she was already being disturbed. Ergo, the only right thing to do would be to wake her up.

Chat opened the hatch door and lowered his head further down. Without the glass blocking his senses, his sensitive ears could actually hear inside the room too. Faint whimpers and moans were coming from the girl as well.

"No," she whispered in her sleep. "Please don't go." Chat's ears stood tall, taking in what he was hearing Marinette say. Then his eyes also saw more.

Just under her eyes, there was some slight wetness.

She was crying in her sleep as well.

Chat's breath caught in his throat for a moment.

That was just too much. He couldn't stand seeing Marinette in such a state. Even if dreams couldn't physically hurt you, she was still suffering. And he would never let his princess suffer.

Chat quickly but carefully climbed down onto her bed without landing on top of her. If he was going to wake her up, he wasn't going to do it so brutally.

There he sat beside her on her left side, her back to him. Chat reached a hand out and gently grasped her upper arm.

"Marinette," he said quietly, giving her arm a little shake. When she didn't stir, he tried again, a bit louder. "Marinette."

Her whimper turned into a light gasp. He couldn't see her eyes but he knew they were open now. Her breathing sounded heavy as she raised her head and turned over onto her back. Then her head turned to the left.

She said nothing as she stared at Chat Noir, who was for some reason right there in her bed with her.

"Marinette? Are you okay?" he quickly asked her. He knew she must be confused as to why he was in her bed while she was sleeping. "I-I'm sorry. I just…I was passing by and just wanted to see you but then it looked like you were having a nightmare so I-"

Chat stopped trying to explain himself when he saw tears—bigger tears—pour from her eyes and run down her cheeks. The next thing he knew, her arms were around him and her face was in his chest. Instinctively, Chat wrapped his arms around her as he felt her body shake with sobs.

Her fists weren't even weakly pounding on his chest like she did when she wanted him to hold her and she was still mildly mad and/or annoyed with him. That told him that she wasn't bothered by his unexpected presence in her home. She was just thankful that he was there and wanted comfort.

"Shhh, Marinette, it's okay. Shhh. I'm right here," he whispered to her, holding her close, resting his chin on top of her head as she continued to cry.

That's how they stayed for several minutes until Marinette's cries calmed down.

Reluctantly, she pulled away from Chat and just sat beside him, wiping her eyes dry.

"I…it was just a dream," she said.

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't make them any less scary when we have them or right after we wake up," Chat said before spotting a box of tissues on the shelf above the head of her bed. He grabbed one and offered it to her. Marinette used it to finish wiping her eyes then to blow her nose. "You feel better now?"

"A bit."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Marinette hesitated for a second, looking down at her lap. "I don't know if I should."

"It might make you feel better."

"Maybe," she muttered before turning her head back to him. "But it'll make you scared too."

Chat lifted an eye brow. "What do you mean?"

Marinette took a deep breath. "It…it was about…you." Chat's eyes widened. "Shadowmoth got Ladybug's miraculous. Then he made you give up yours too. But right after you took it off, you just disappeared. I saw you running away from me. I was never gonna see you again because I wouldn't know who you were without your miraculous," she said, her throat tightening again. "Then I…as I was calling out for you…I heard you scream." Another tear rolled down her face. "I saw a silhouette of Shadowmoth and you in the distance…he…stabbed you through the heart!" she managed to choke out before another sob took over her speech.

Chat couldn't believe fate. He came here to make himself feel better after having a nightmare about Marinette. Only to pull her out of her own nightmare that was about him and then make her feel better.

As Marinette's light crying started up again, Chat pulled her to him for another hug. Marinette once again buried her face in Chat's leathery chest and hugged him back.

They were just dreams. They can't hurt them. Especially not while they were together.

That being so, Chat's steady heart beat lulled Marinette right back to sleep in no time. The warmth of his princess quickly did the same to Chat.

Both of their heads were filled with new dreams about each other for the rest of the night. None horrible or scary. Just of togetherness and love.

My next selected prompt is for tomorrow but I don't think I can post it yet. Very busy this weekend with family. But like I said, I'll write and post when I can (in order).

See u when I see u =^.^=