new blood - A Miraculous Fanfiction

Chapter 1: "I killed her,"

He holds the rose engraved gun, wavering ever so slightly as his bruised finger applies pressure on the trigger. Beyond the abyss in his eyes, there is a glimmer of humanity screaming at him to stop. "Adrien, why are you doing this to me?" Marinette begs on her knees. Her arms are bound tight by thick layers of duct tape and her fragile face is shattered beyond recognition. Adrien struggles to respond, his deep voice cracking at every syllable attempted to be spoken. An indescribable feeling of guilt and shame flies through the air like sparks against grinding metal. With eyes unflinching, he finally pushes the trigger and the echo of his lover's dead body resonates in the abandoned warehouse.

"Clean this up." He mutters to his silent assistant who bows in response to the command. Adrien will get his revenge one day, or another. How would he describe the feelings rushing through his mind? How could he even fathom the words to perfectly depict his heartache of watching his world shatter by his own two hands? Adrien walks back to his ebony car, and furiously slams the door tightly. There is a feeling welling up in his eyes that nearly suffocates his heart whole. He doesn't know how to cry without Marinette, by his side.

Call it a month or four weeks, but for Adrien the sand passing through the hourglass feels like an eternity. Tossed between burning white anger and cold solace, days pass by without any notability. Half-drunken glasses of indescribable mixes of liquor are smashed onto the battered floor of his luxurious apartment. Filthy sheets and clothing are scattered in every direction, leaving a fetid odor in the air. A knock echoes and his head numbly turns towards the direction of the sound. "Come in,"

His assistant walks in holding a pair of underwear by a golden fountain pen. "Adrien, you seriously need to stop this. You're nasty. How long has it been since you cleaned in here?"

"Jesus, Nino. You aren't my mom. Why are you here?" Adrien remembers the familiar feeling of warmth from seeing his long time friend. Meeting in high school had to be a stroke of fate and the fantastical adventures the two of them shared carefully bonded the two. Despite all of the heartbreak, trauma, and guilt, they always had each other's back. Right now, however, isn't the moment to be "broing" out.

Nino holds out a folder, no thicker than three centimeters, and places it on a semi-clean glass table. "News. You should read this." Adriens's gaze doesn't leave the table, but the will to move open the folder doesn't form, stopped by the impenetrable wall of fear. Nino walks towards the door, but spins back to look at Adrien with his glacier eyes. "She would want you to be happy,"

Would she? How happy would she be if Adrien moved on? Tossed out the happy moments they shared like an outdated magazine. The coffee cups they shared together, and the soft nights of unattainable romantic comedies faded into the wind like dust. He couldn't let go of these memories, despite the deep gashing wound that grew in his palms since there would be nothing left. The door slams shut on this chapter of Adrien's life, and he is desperately trying to pry it back open again.

It takes him a few hours to work up the courage to open the file. Although the internal struggle within himself hasn't quite settled, a small voice whispers to him, "You need to get over it," and "This isn't normal,". Despite it all, a loud ghostly voice echoed in his mind, "I killed her," With shaking hands, his fingers pry open the file and his eyes cannot tear away from the gruesome truth written so clearly on paper. It was not his fault.

The open air reeks of freedom and tastes clean against his lungs as Adrien takes his seat at a cafe. In his hand, there is a cup of espresso and a caramel macchiato. He preferred the pungent bitter taste of a fresh espresso, but someone turned him towards the sweetness of a caramel macchiato. Without someone to share a drink with him, he buys both while waiting for Nino to show up. "Is anyone sitting here?" A voice that sounds exactly like a caramel macchiato asks, and the echoing of metal from a seat being taken perks Adrien's attention.

"No," He sounds curt and curdly like spoiled milk. The young girl dressed in a white lace blouse and a blush pink flowing skirt, takes a sip of his drink and looks up at him with innocent sapphire eyes. Her long blueberry hair flowed down her back like an ebony river. What a weirdo. "Why are you drinking my coffee?" Adrien asks, grabbing his cup back roughly. The drink spills staining his new navy pants in a way that makes it look like he wet himself.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" She rushes to grab some napkins and starts patting down the stain in hopes of removing it. "I'm so clumsy." Her slender fingers brush a lock of her hair behind her delicate ears, where Adrien notices a very familiar scar. "Are you okay...?" The mysterious girl pauses as she asks her question, noticing a very odd stare in the man's eyes.

"I'm sorry. You just... you look like someone I know." Adrien can't explain the blaring similarities between the girl and Marinette. They both have the same sapphire eyes that were filled with hope, but their auras felt different yet alike. They both were so clumsy and that scar... Adrien remembers exactly how Marinette received her scar, but there could be no way this new girl could have the same scar.

Sensing something deeper in the way he worded his sentence, she asked with hesitation "Was she someone special to you?"

"No... She was just a friend," Adrien sighs at the poor choice of words. 'Friends' could not have covered every single moment and emotion complied between them. There used to be an iron-like trust between them, and if he were to ever fall it would be right into Marinette's arms. Lost in his own thoughts, he gazed off into the distance, trying to grasp onto his over exaggerated memories.

"I'm Princess. What is your name?" With that question, Adrien snapped back into reality and gave a wry smile to introduce himself. Princess smiled and extended her slim hands in exchange for a handshake. "Nice to meet you! Hand me your pants so I could wash them for you,"

"If you wanted me to take my pants off, we should go somewhere private first," A small hint of playfulness flashed in his eyes as he winked. Princess blushed a bright red, nearly matching the color of her skirt. She stuttered, trying to deny or rephrase what she meant. 'How cute,' Adrien thought to himself. "It's okay, I know what you meant. It's fine. I can go ahead and wash it on my own." Princess raised her hand in an attempt to protest. "If you want to pay me back..." Adrien was not sure how to end his sentence, but something playful and witty seemed natural. In a heartbeat he instinctively knew what he was doing. He was pretending that Princess was Marinette and while it was wrong, it felt so good. "Just never meet up with me again."

Adrien walked away, leaving Princess back at the cafe confused if she had done something wrong. Why did he look so sad? Why did her heart hurt when that mysterious man left? "Princess! Let's go!" Princess turned around and smiled at her long time friend Lyla. Lyla held in her hand two cups of a fruit tea, beckoning Princess to come hurry up. Running towards her, Princess couldn't help but think about that mysterious man.

"Don't be bemused. It's just the news. My name is Manon Chamak and in recent news it has officially been 3 years since Ladybug and Cat Noir have disappeared along with Hawkmoth. After a long 5 year battle, both our beloved heroes and notorious villain left the lives of Parisians without a trace. With Paris finally at peace, will our heroes finally return?"

The television roared on in the background as Adrien waited in the hotel lobby. He texted Nino the change of location and winced at the thought of 'return'. Nobody wants a hero who couldn't even do their job right, much less have them come back to mess up the world even more. "Adrien! What up bro? Did you read the file?" Nino shouted as he strolled into the lobby and gave Adrien a fist bump.

"I did. Are you sure it is possible? We can bring her back?"

"You know my sources are always reliable. Has Alya, the best journalist in the entire world, ever let you down? Whatever she says, has to be true!"

"So... I just need to find the ladybug and black cat miraculous, will be back to normal?" Adrien asked cautiously. Nino nodded solemnly, knowing the heavy implication of his words. If they choose to go down this road, there would be no going back. For once in Adrien's life, he had a sliver of hope. A singular chance to make everything right- the way things were supposed to be. "In that case, claws out!"