Just Fine

Promise

(Sorry for the delay, it's like the world doesn't want me to finish this story lol. I'm alright, just a few big life things happened. All is well now though.)

Sleep is such a weird thing.

Your body just stops, and then all of a sudden it's up again.

Marinette couldn't remember waking up, she couldn't remember going to sleep, but in that blissful moment, right before her thoughts began to run again, she felt like her soul had taken a rest.

It was awake again.

There were things that needed to be figured out.

Why had she been having those...dreams? Is that what they were? What could they be classified as?

And how in the world did Hawkmoth know who she was?

She had to tell Chat, right?

But what if Hawkmoth didn't actually know? What if it was all in her head? What if she told Chat, and then Hawkmoth really did find out?

It wasn't like he had burst into her home while she was sleeping or anything, so maybe he didn't? She ran her hand along her ears to assure herself.

Her earrings were still intact.

Unless he had switched them? Used an akuma? Could there be one right now?

Marinette frantically scrambled from her bed, head spinning at her sudden movement. Her vision was splotchy as she stumbled from her ladder, holding herself up against her desk.

She pulled open the drawer Tikki was resided inside.

"Marinette?" The small creature rubbed her eyes, tiredly sitting herself upright.

The exasperated look on Marinette's face made Tikki jolt.

"Is everything okay?"

Marinette blinked, backing away from the desk and falling into her chair.

Tikki was still here, her earrings were still here. Everything was fine.

Tikki knew the dangers of Hawkmoth knowing who Ladybug was, but she figured Marinette was well aware of it.

Tikki was more concerned with the knowledge that, if she did try and talk to Marinette about it, she'd never get her back out of her head.

What could a kwami do? Tikki had learned so much about human emotions over her many years.

But she had never learned what it meant to keep someone stable. She always assumed humans could learn how to get through anything all on their own.

That was before.

"Yes..." Marinette finally said, taking Tikki from her momentary trip through memory lane.

Tikki had made that mistake once before. She wouldn't make it again.

She refused to believe in the sanctuary of the words "I'm fine."

She couldn't help her, she didn't understand anything Marinette was going through.

"I just...got a little confused." Marinette settled on.

Confused wasn't quite right, the steady pounding of her heart was not set on confusion, it was running on fear.

She felt like she'd been out of her mind for a few seconds, and was slowly stepping back into it.

Every interaction she'd had lately felt like she'd been someone else.

Like she was in a cage, and someone else was running her life. And she was watching her lookalike ruin everything.

Leaving the real her to deal with the damages.