Warped Reality

Chapter Thirteen

Marinette

She caught her breath, staring up at the celing as self loathing swallowed her whole. What was happening to her? This wasn't her. Never in her right mind would she have ever used Adrien in such a way as she had now. It didn't matter that this Adrien was different than hers. She still used him. He seemed like such a good distraction at the time.

"Mari?" He whispered in the dark, his phone light had finally gone off moments ago.

"Yes?"

"Are you... okay?"

She couldn't remember the last time she had been okay. Even before coming here, she had been running on fumes. Barely sleeping, all the responsibilities and weight that came as Ladybug was beginning to slowly crush her.

"Yeah." She lied, because it no longer mattered.

None of it mattered to her. Not him, not Nathaniel and not even Alya. These people were not hers. And what she had just done with the wrong Adrien would haunt her everytime she looked into the real one's eyes.

"Uh... can we talk about what you said right before you kissed me? About me not being him... what did you mean?"

She couldn't tell him. He'd think she was insane as well. She opened her mouth to form a lie, but they never got past her lips. The door opened, light flooding into their little closet. They both sat up, grabbing their clothes to cover themselves. Nathaniel growled, slamming the door shut hard.

"Acuma on the horizon." She groaned, quickly standing as she started pulling her clothes on.

"No, Lila was just acumatized. We should be fine."

They got dressed in silence, and Marinette grabbed the door handle, trying to push it open. It wouldn't budge.

"Nathaniel? Let us out." She snapped, and Adrien got next to her, pushing on the door as she tried the handle.

It was blocked.

"Do you know if they've unacumtized her yet?" Marinette breathed, horrified at the thought.

Would Nathaniel really sic an acuma on them? Most likely. The boy was unhinged.

"I doubt it. Ladybug and... Chat Noir aren't really the rush type. You almost died the last time they were late."

She sighed, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the cool steel of the door. They had been much slower than Marinette was used to. But maybe that wasn't how she should look at it. She had no past memory of acuma attacks. What if the Ladybug here was being affected by people in the timeline changing.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, and she opened an eye as he stepped back into the closet, searching around with his light.

"I don't blame you for it. Just as I'm sure you don't blame me for Lila being acumatized."

"Yeah, that was one hundred percent my fault. She started going on and on about how we belonged together, that she needed me just as much as I needed her. I kinda snapped in front of everyone. I tried apogizing, but she didn't want to hear it."

Marinette rolled her eyes, looking around the closet. Maybe there was a vent they could crawl through.

"Is there anyone you could call to let us out?"

He glanced at her, before opening his contacts. He scrolled for a bit, before shaking his head.

"Maybe Kim?"

He dialed the number, and Marinette paced to the far wall, looking down at a vent in the corner. It would be big enough to crawl through. She wiped some sweat from her forehead, testing the screws on the vent. Luckily they were lose.