As I come to, the first thing I see is the dark sky above me. At first, I am confused but as I sit up and feel blinding pain all over my upper body as well a rush of dizziness, it all comes rushing back to me. The dizziness and pain forces me to lay back down on the roof as I try to look around. Sitting to my left, angled away from me looking out across the city, is Chat Noir. He looks worried, sitting about two feet from me, cross legged with his elbows on his knees and his clawed fingers steepled in front of his mouth. As I continue to look around, I notice a jar on the ground next to Chat's right leg with a black butterfly floating around in it. Shit, I never transformed, never purified the Akuma, never activated the Miraculous Cure.
"Chat…where's–wh–what…" My voice is still weak and I can't make my eyes focus on him enough to see the look clearly on his face.
"Princess! You're okay! I can take you to a hospital, I-I'm so so sorry," Chat was suddenly a blur of movement as he rushed toward me but stopped short, almost as if he had been frozen. He kept looking between my face and the rest of my body but remained frozen and silent. His normally tastefully messy hair is a wreck, he has four deep cuts across his right cheek and jaw line and one above his left eyebrow. He also has what looks like dried blood all over his face and what you can see of his neck and his gold bell also has a copper look to it. I struggled again to sit up but didn't have the energy so I held my hand out to him in a silent plea for help. He moved to sit me up and started to put a hand under my knees when I stopped him with a hand on his chest. He froze again and looked up to meet my eyes with what seemed like an apologetic look that was tinged with fear on his face. "Sorry Princess, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm only trying to help you. Can I please take you to the hospital? You need to be seen by a doctor."
"Chat…not gonna hurt me…mmm…okay…wanna go home…take me…home," I try to pull myself up with the arm I now have around his shoulder but I can't seem to find purchase as his suit seems slick with some kind of liquid. Pulling my hand back, I can see fresh blood coating my fingers. I suddenly lose the last ounce of strength in my body. I also can't seem to make my tongue create the words I want to say.
"No, Princess, you are not okay. You've lost a lot of blood. Please, I'm not trying to scare you, just let me take-"
"No! Not scared…" I'm starting to lose patience with my lack of ability to speak clearly and I can't understand his weird behavior. I know I'm pretty low in the blood department but still…he is not acting right.
"Princess, your nightmare was an evil version of…me. Are you-do you think I would ever hurt you? Because I surely would never lay a claw on you, Chat's Honor," He rushed the words out so fast, I almost didn't catch all of it. He looked so sad and broken and I wanted to comfort him but I was struggling to maintain the conversation as I couldn't keep my eyes open and my head was beginning to feel really heavy and my vision was blurring more and more…not to mention I could no longer move my arms. All I could see was the blood all over him and the cuts on his face that were also still seeping blood everywhere. It was a wonder he could even see clearly with the amount of blood on his face.
"Chat…not scared…I'm so-I'm so tired…" my voice would not obey my mind and my vision was getting more and more black around the edges. I can somewhat feel Chat gently lift me up and we start to move, then Chat starts whispering small assurances to me. I can only catch a few things here and there as I begin losing consciousness.
"Got you Princess…hold on…gonna let…happen…you'll be okay…find Ladybug…fix everything…" I could just barely make out the lights from what I thought was an ambulance and I could hear faint sirens before I fully blacked out.
As I start to wake up, the first thing I note is the smell of antiseptics. Then, I can start to hear voices speaking near me..
"No sir, I haven't contacted her parents, I brought her here first because of all the blood she was losing. I um, I-I found her this way after the Akuma attack," That was Chat's voice but who was he talking to? I try to open my eyes but they are not cooperating so I try my voice instead.
"Chat…Chat Noir? Are you-can you…please…" So my voice isn't working all that great either as it was hard to get my voice out and it only comes out barely above a whisper. Luckily for me, he hears me and tells whoever he was talking to that I am asking for him.
"Hey Princess, are you feeling better? Don't try to sit up yet, your wounds are pretty nasty and you really did lose a lot of blood."
"You too." I manage to mumble. I hear him chuckle slightly but he sounds like he is on the other side of the room. I take a chance that maybe my hand will listen better than my eyes or voice and try to beckon him over. At first, he doesn't move or speak for a long moment, then I hear him sigh deeply before I hear footsteps approaching my bed. I wiggle my fingers hoping he will get the message and feel much better when he understands and takes my hand in his, causing me to sigh almost dreamily.
"I am so so very sorry that this happened to you Marinette, I should've stayed with you when I heard Sandboy, I just wanted to try to capture the Akuma before he caused any damage. I wish I knew where Ladybug was so she could fix all this." His voice sounds too sad for me to take, so I try again to open my eyes and this time they respond. Even through my blurry vision, Chat looks terrible, his hair is still a disaster and he is still covered in blood, though I'm not sure anymore if it is his or mine and he looks tired and pale. His eyes meet mine and he smiles slightly. I return the smile and squeeze his hand gently and his eyes drop to the floor.
"Mmm…ssssnot yer fault Chat…please…stop" my voice is still not fully cooperating but I keep trying to reassure him that he did the right thing and that none of this was his fault. I wish he would look at me. That's when I remember the extent of my wounds and everything that happened on the rooftop. I reach my hand up and feel a bandage covering the wound on my neck and see another bandage on my wrist. Holding the other hand up, I see the same on the other wrist. Not sure how I'll be able to hide this…and I don't recall my wrists being hurt. As I begin to remember bits and pieces of the night, I remember seeing a blurry version of Chat Noir chasing after Chat Blanc then darkness. I vaguely remember waking up on the roof and seeing Noir again with an Akuma in a jar. I also remember him acting really strange around me, almost like he was afraid.
After a while, I finally feel like I can try to sit up and internally cheer when I do it all by myself without crying out due to the pain in my stomach and thigh. "Whatever the doctors are giving me, it's working. I feel a thousand times better." I say and I am relieved to hear that I can actually form full sentences again.
"Well like I said, you lost a lot of blood," Chat glances down to a dark tube protruding from my skin and it takes me a second to realize that the tube is actually clear and it's filled with blood being pumped into my body. "The doctor wanted to call your parents but I pretended that I didn't know who you were so you could be awake to make the call yourself. I also didn't want your parents to see you…that way," Chat's face suddenly turns even more pale and he turns away. I must've looked pretty bad for it to make Chat uncomfortable. When he turns back he is staring at the floor again.
"Chat, please look at me," I plead with him and he finally meets my eyes, although not for long as he shuts his eyes tight and shakes his head as if it is physically painful to look at me. "Chat, did you find Bl-did you catch up with my nightmare?," after a moment he opens his eyes but still won't look at me.
"Princess, you lost a lot of blood. I'm sure you need some rest to heal those wounds and you need to contact your parents" Suddenly, he lets go of my hand and starts walking toward the door. "I am glad you're okay, Marinette. I have some things to attend to so I will leave you be. Get home safely please and don't forget to call your mom." and then he is out the door before I can even get a word out. What the actual fuck just happened?