Shattered Soul

Chapter 9: Marinette

 "Adrien! Adrien! Adrien!" Marinette rushed to Adrien's side as he collapsed in his mother's arms, "Look what you did!" She shouted at Gabriel as she checked his vitals, "No, come on, kitty," she whispered as her tears fell on Adrien's cheek, "Please, you can't leave me," then, with sudden resolve, "Wake up, Chat! You wouldn't let me give up, so you're not allowed to either! GET AWAY!" she screamed suddenly as Gabriel tried to move closer, "You've done enough damage! W-what's happening?"

Adrien's body began to glow and became almost transparent. A blue light rose from his chest, hovering over him for a moment before being snuffed out like a candle in the wind. Marinette and Emilie held him tight, but nothing they could do would stop the inevitable. Adrien's skin paled. His heart stopped beating. Marinette felt her heart set fire and rip in two. For a moment, she didn't move, praying that somehow, someway, Adrien would come back, but he never did.

"You did this!" She said, turning on Gabriel with a savage look of pure, unbridled hatred. She rushed at him, intending to bring him to the ground. But before she could reach him, Gabriel had knelt and presented the butterfly miraculous to her.

"I-I never meant for this to happen," he said, his eyes lowered to the floor.

Marinette took the miraculous and turned her back on him, "It doesn't matter if you meant for this to happen or not. The point is, it happened. You need to undo this."

"I can't. That's not how it works."

"Well then, you're going to look for another way to bring him back. Now, if you'll excuse me," Marinette said curtly, walking past him to pick up the cat and ladybug miraculous, "I have some miraculous to return to my box. That is, assuming your friends didn't get to it first."

Marinette found her way out and ran home. As soon as she got to her room, she put on her earrings and Chat's ring. It took a little while, but eventually, Tikki and Plagg appeared. Ragged and worn out as they were, they seemed happy to see her. Marinette gave them each a macaroon and explained what happened. When they finished eating, the kwamis looked a little better. Though they were still exhausted, and Marinette wondered if they would ever fully recover from using that much power.

"There's got to be something we can do," she concluded, looking hopefully at Tikki and Plagg.

"I'm sorry, Marinette," Tikki said, "I don't know if there is."

"I've never met a Chat Noir like Adrien," Plagg said, trying to hold back tears, "but trying to bring people back is what got us in this mess in the first place."

"Plagg, please," Marinette begged, "I swear I won't let it get out of hand."

"I'm sure Hawk Moth thought the same thing, Marinette," he replied cautiously, "I don't like it any more than you do, but when is this going to end? How many more people will fall before you realize you can't save everyone?"

"Plagg!" Tiki said indignantly.

"I'm sorry, sugar cube, but you know I'm right." Plagg countered, turning away. Marinette watched as he flew up to her bed.

"You said he started glowing?" Tikki asked Marinette.

"Yeah, some blue thing came out of him. It was like he was a ghost, and then he was gone."

Tikki and Marinette talked late into the night but didn't come up with anything. When Marinette went to bed, she did not expect to fall asleep. However, she was so exhausted that it was only a few minutes before she was out cold. But in her sleep, she didn't rest. Over and over, she saw Adrien's face fade away. Everything he had ever said to her playing in the background. Every cheesy pun she had shut down, every conversation they had had, and all the secrets they shared.

Marinette woke up even more exhausted than she was the night before. She tried everything to distract herself, but everything somehow managed to lead back to Adrien. Adrien. She couldn't even think of his name without crying. To make matters worse, Plagg had been avoiding her all morning. So it was mid-afternoon before he finally talked to her.

"This really means that much to you?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, I'm going to talk to Mr. Agreste soon to see if he's found anything."

"And I can't persuade you to stop?"

"No," she answered firmly.

"The orb of lost souls," he blurted out suddenly.

"What?"

"If he was glowing like that, that's your best bet to find him," Plagg said reluctantly, "But Marinette, before you do anything, please count the cost. Gabriel got his wife back but lost his son in the process. Don't make the same mistake he did."

"Thank you, Plagg," Marinette said as she jumped up from her desk, "The orb of lost souls. Maybe Mr. Agreste will know where to look for it."

A minute later, she was running down the street to the Agreste's home. When she got there, she found a distraught Gabriel and Emilie looking through an old book. She swung open the doors to Gabriel's study with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Mr. Agreste," she announced proudly, "I've got a lead."