Progenies

Chapter 8

Adrien/Cat Noir POV

The streets of London are beautiful, but not home.

I sadly amble through them, keeping my hood down, hoping no one will recognise me. At least the paparazzi isn't as bad as in France. I've had a few people ask for my autograph here and there, and many people stare and point at me when I show my face in public. I know they mean no harm, but I wish I was just a normal person, or at least treated like one.

I decided to go out for a walk, hoping it would distract me from everything that happened in the last week. I look up, hoping no one that knows me sees me. I'm about to look down again, when something small and bright on a building catches my eye, easy to miss.

Fire.

People begin to notice it, and they begin to point and scream. I realise it's coming from a huge, dark building, and I begin to smell smoke.

I sprint behind a building.

Plagg, claws out!

As soon as I am Cat Noir, I rush to the building. I find a door at the front, but it is locked.

Cataclysm!

And I walk in. A while ago, I learned how to use my special power, without having a limited time before I transform back. That was with Ladybug. Just thinking about her gives me a painful sting, a reminder of how useless I was and how we will probably never see each other again and she will find someone and move on-

I'm getting too lost. I snap out of my thoughts and bring myself back to reality. I use my staff to get on top of a shelf. The fire is at the far side of the building, in the right corner. I quickly rush over.

A few shelves look like they were strategically placed, as they form a sort of barrier from the wall. I hurry over, my job right now is to vacate everyone from the building, and the fire is spreading quickly. I vaguely register a scream.

I hurriedly rush over. Two girls are hidden behind the barrier of shelves. At this point almost the whole building is on fire; the roof won't hold up much longer.

I hop down to them. One, I don't recognise. The other is... Y/N.

Y/N notices me, and soon we are beside each other.

"I don't know what happened but this person in a weird costume got a thing and she's not moving and-"

"Explain to me after, we need to get out!"

I look over at the other girl, and I realise she is standing, but not moving. I notice something on her arm. A sting from the bee miraculous.

"Grab onto me, I'll take care of her!" I tell Y/N.

"Okay!" she shouts over all the noise. I pick up the girl, and Y/N raps her arms around my neck. I quickly analyse the building, looking desperately for a way out.

"Cat Noir! Look out!" I realise too late that a box is falling from a high shelf. Y/N pushes me, and the box hits her arm. She screams out in absolute pain, and it hurts me to hear her like this.

I grab her, and a chunk of roof falls down the other side, exposing about a quarter of the warehouse to the dark night sky. I use my staff to try get us there. I am suddenly feeling so light headed. I fall.

But I can't give up. I need to save them. I am coughing so much and it hurts. I am extending my staff, and we're so close. I know I am dangerously close to passing out, and I notice the girls already have.

I can almost touch it, just a few centimetres more - and the world begins to go black.

The next few moments are just smeared images. People on a platform, reaching out towards us, in bright clothes. Doctors looking down on me, surrounding me. A sense of movement. Words, but I can't make out what those words are. White ceilings. People with blue masks. Hushed voices. Then it ends.

A familiar voice speaks. "Adrien..." such a quiet whisper that it's barely audible.

Wake up, wake up!

"I'm so sorry..." I can imagine them crying while saying this. "This is all my fault... I just left them... I have to go, I'm so sorry"

And the voice stops.

Later, I vaguely register another conversation.

"No, girls, things aren't looking great for him. If he doesn't wake up in the next three days, we're gonna have to... unplug him"

Unplug him. Those words echo through my mind, and I so badly want to get up and tell them I'm okay, but for some reason I can't.

Some time later, my eyes open. I look around, and I see doctors surrounding me with grim faces, Y/N and her friend with tear streaked faces and puffy eyes.

I try to lean up, but I can't.

"He's awake! Stop! He's awake!" I hear Y/N say.

Murmurs break out between doctors and nurses. They crowd around me, and I look at all of them.

"Cat Noir? How do you feel?"

I'm still Cat Noir.

I try to say fine, but I'm pretty sure it just came out as a random noise.

"Everyone except me and Nurse Kyla leave the room!" I hear a woman's voice say.

"But-", it's Y/N's voice.

"I'm not hearing it. Go!"

Reluctantly, well I can only guess reluctantly, Y/N and her friend leave the room.

The woman who told them to leave and Nurse Kyla start doing things and checking things, and I begin to doze off, faintly registering the words 'brain damage', and 'confused state'.

The next time I wake up, only Y/N's friend is there, and this will sound rude, but for some reason I kind of wish Y/N was there too...

I feel a lot better this time. She looks at me with hopeful, dark eyes. Her hair is brown, and some of it is pulled back in a half-up half-down style. She is pretty.

"Hey" I croak.

"Cat Noir! Oh my gosh, what the hell happened!? Who was that!? No, just ignore those questions, I'm sorry. Anyway, Y/N's at work right now, and obviously since my job burned down the first day of working there I am unemployed once again. But that's totally not important. I'm just so glad we're all alive! Also my name is Lia"

I stare at her, probably looking confused.

She takes a deep breath. "Sorry, you can ask me questions if you want, or can, well you can but you know what I mean"

I almost want to laugh, she is unintentionally funny but also considerate. I definitely have questions, I'm just not sure if I would be able to get them out.

"What happened to Y/N?" the question just falls out of my mouth. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. She has this bandage thing around her arm where she got her third degree burn, and a few other minor burns but all three of us have those. Anyway, she is still able to work"

"How long was I out, and what happened to me?"

"The doctors gave us a long explanation with loads of doctor-ish words, but in short your oxygen levels were wayyy too low, and you fell into a coma. For two weeks"

Two weeks!? I let that sink in. Two weeks of my life that I will never get back. What if there was an attack!?

"No attacks, luckily, by the way" she adds, as if reading my mind. I want time alone now.

"I think I'm gonna get some rest" I say, trying to sound tired, which isn't hard.

She gives me a concerned look. "Okay, see ya! Also I will tell Y/N you're awake, she will be sooo happy!"

Once she leaves the room, I close my eyes. So I'm assuming Lia and Y/N were in the warehouse, as Lia had a job there, then they were attacked by one of the Miracle Box Thieves.  They must have somehow set the building on fire, and paralysed Lia using the bee miraculous power. Where they went and how they can wear all those miraculouses at the same time without going into a coma are both complete mysteries to me.

Eventually, with a million thoughts swirling in my head, I fall asleep.