Remember? [DISCONTINUED]

My Friends?

"Um... Are we interrupting something?" a familiar voice called out.
Impulsively, I tried to jump away from Adrien, but he held me in place with his embrace. Adrien chuckled, whispering, "Embarrassed, M'lady?"
He then pulled away, looking at me with that sad smirk. We both looked towards the door.
Even though the faces and voice seemed vaguely familiar, I still had no clue who the people in the doorway were.
There was four of them. The first, in front, had a red cap and dark complexion. He had a buzz cut and black rimmed glasses. When Alya saw him, she ran up to give him a hug. When she pulled away, she grasped his hand. His grin seemed to fade after looking into her eyes.
The other three didn't seem to notice. A guy with dark hair dyed teal at the ends seemed too preoccupied whispering to one of the girls, who also had dark hair, cut into a bob with bangs, but a much more fair skin tone. The last girl kept trying to meet my gaze with her blue eyes.
She smiled reassuringly, and I couldn't help but look away and fight tears. This blonde girl clearly knew me in a friendly sort of way. While Alya and the guy she was holding stood there in a sort of anticipating sadness and the other two exchanged thoughts and grimaces, the girl with blue eyes approached me and Adrien, who was holding my hand.
"Hey!" She said cheerfully. "I'm glad to see you two back to being lovey dovey again. That fight on Saturday had everyone worried. When I got Adrien's text, talking about 'bad news', I immediately thought you guys might have broken up... But of course not, because you two are literally made for each other. Yin and Yang. Ladybug and Cat-"
Adrien stopped her, "Zoe, is Chloe coming?"
The girl, Zoe, chuckled, "Of course not. You do realize she kinda hates Marinette, right? Plus, she hates watching you guys make out."
I flushed a deep shade of pink. I think Adrien might have done the same, but too quickly did he put his fingers to the bridge of his nose in frustration to really be certain.
"Of course. Ugh," Adrien mumbled, before straightening up with sorrow. "Look, Zoe, try to get Chloe here. She needs to here the news as much as any other member on the team. Past or Present. Which means..."
Zoe's smile faded, "Oh. Right. Bad news. But what does that have to do with the team? And what does 'past or present' mean?" After a couple of seconds, Zoe gasped. "You don't mean..."
"Felix. And as for the news... we should probably wait until everyone arrives."
"Okay."
Zoe walked away, over to Alya. Once she left, the room's tension seemed to rise. Adrien seemed to be frozen.
"Adrien?" I tried.
"Hm?" Adrien said, averting my gaze. He let go of my hand.
I swallowed. "Are you okay?"
Adrien looked at me, his sad smile back once more, tears welling in his eyes. "Yeah. I'm fine," he said, his voice quivering.
"Please don't lie to me. What's on your mind? Am I... Am I the reason you're crying?"
"No! M'lady, you could never make me upset. Not anymore. And I trust you completely. I would never lie to you. I truly am fine right now. But, later, when I have to face Felix, I know I won't be. I will need you to stop me from punching him in the face."
"What? Okay, who is this Felix guy and why on Earth do you seem so infuriated by him?"
"Felix is my cousin. And he betrayed us. Me, and especially you."
"What?"
"You trusted him with a miracul- a valuable item, and he turned it and your entire collection of valuable items over to my Fa- someone very evil. He disregarded his promise to do good. He pretended to be me, and he tricked you, and he betrayed you."
I stared at Adrien. His voice had cracked when he mentioned the evil guy and he had looked heartbroken. Something was wrong there. But Adrien was talking about his cousin. His family. I couldn't help but think that in some way, any family issues he had were because of, or amplified, by me.
I choked out, "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay. You were hurt. Don't apologize."
He grabbed my hand again, squeezing it tightly. Suddenly, he wrapped me into a big hug. The two of us stood there for a moment in complete silence. Then, Adrien whispered, "That was a long time ago, Mari. It's okay now. We got them back, we got them all back. I still don't trust my cousin, but I know he feels guilty. He didn't know. No one did."
I pondered that for a moment. My thoughts were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Adrien pulled away, but from the look on his face, he didn't want to. We both turned to see the girl with short, dark hair and brown eyes.
Adrien gulped,"Hi Kagami."
The girl, Kagami, narrowed her eyes at him. "Adrien." She then turned to me, eyes softening. "Come with me, Marinette."
I looked at Adrien for reassurance, but he was too preoccupied with observing his orange sneakers to give me any. Reluctantly, I walked with this girl who seemed to have a grudge against my supposed fiancé.
After we were out of earshot, Kagami spoke up. "What's wrong, Marinette?"
"Hm? Oh, uh..." I thought back to how Adrien had refused to tell that girl Zoe about my memory loss. "It's... Nothing."
Kagami's gaze felt like it was burning through me. "Marinette, don't lie to me. You are my dearest friend. Friends are honest with each other. That's why Adrien is no longer my friend, you know. He lied. Not like that prick named Lila, but still."
"What did he lie about?"
"Back when we were dating- you know I don't like him anymore and he never liked me, so it's fine- he never wanted to spend time with me. He told me he forgot things or had photoshoots all the time. That's how I found out he was in love with you. He lost that lucky charm you gave him. He was too nice to break up with me.
"I am happy for you both, but I have always been disappointed in Adrien. He let me pull the strings in our relationship, and he always followed his father's orders. I know you hate this theory, but I can't help but think he knew Gabriel was Shadowmoth and helped him. Because Adrien would do anything for love. That's why I'm glad he loves you, Marinette. You're a good influence on him, you know. He's starting to develop his own opinions and take charge in his own life. Because you don't let him rely on you for everything. You make him better."
I stared at her in shock, then glanced over to Adrien. He was talking to Alya and the boy in the red cap, who, by the way Alya was clinging to him, was probably Alya's boyfriend. The blonde boy and brunette girl seemed to be explaining the situation to the boyfriend, by the way his face fell and theirs were already in dismay.
"You are good at changing the subject, Marinette. Now, tell me, what's going on?" Kagami pried.
I sighed, "Maybe you should just wait until everyone arrives. Then Adrien and Alya will explain."
"I don't want to hear it from Adrien and Alya, Marinette. I want to hear it from you. What's wrong?"
Seeing her stubborn expression, I gave in. "The truth is... I don't know. I don't know how, but I somehow got amnesia. I can't remember anything, not even my own name. I don't know who you are, or who Alya is. I don't know this cousin of Adrien's who somehow betrayed me or the father of his that you speak of as Shadowmoth. I don't know who Zoe is or who those two guys over there are. I don't know Adrien and I don't know myself. I don't know why I have all these nicknames, most of which are bug related. I don't know, Kagami. I just... Don't know." My voice cracked as tears rimmed my eyes.
Kagami looked shocked then ultimately sad. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"I don't remember anything. Not before I woke up to a worried Alya. By then, though, my memory was already gone. That couldn't have been more than an hour ago."
Kagami nodded. "Are you confused?"
"Yeah. Alya and Adrien kept talking about an organization I apparently ran. Somehow, me quiting made everyone loose then jobs. Everyone except Adrien. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
"An organization? No. Did they say anything else?"
I nodded, "I think that's how I lost my memory. That's what it sounds like, at least. They keep slipping up though, saying mira-mir. Hm, what was it again? Miracleness? I don't know."
Her face paled. Kagami muttered, "Miraculous?"
"Yeah! But they keep saying it like a noun-"
"Marinette, what correlation would you have with the miraculous?"
"I don't know. They almost explained it like I was a protected of valuable items. Almost like a-"
"A guardian," Kagami interupted me again. "Marinette, no... You didn't..."
I stared at her, not knowing what to say. Luckily, I didn't have to. The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of more people. More people I didn't know.

×××

I was starting to realize how awesome Adrien was. Once everyone had arrived, there was a total of seventeen young adults sitting in mine and Adrien's living room, and that wasn't even including the two of us.
Adrien had been kind and patient enough to tell me everyone's names. I already knew Alya, Zoe, and Kagami. Alya's boyfriend's name was Nino, and the other boy that had arrived with them was Luka. The next to arrive was Ivan, along with his much shorter girlfriend Mylene. Then it was Juleka, Luka's sister, and her girlfriend Rose, a bubbly ray of sunshine. Marc, a boy with black hair, showed up with Nathaniel, a true tomato head. Sabrina, a shy girl with glasses, showed up alone. Next came Chloe, who looked very similar to Zoe, which caused a couple moments of silence. She was also alone. Pink haired Alix showed up with the tall Kim and short Max.
The last to show up was Felix. The room went even more silent than it had for Chloe. Everyone's eyes were on him, glaring. I finally understood how I could have mistaken him as Adrien in the past. The two looked practically identical, which didn't really make sense as they were cousins. But Felix didn't look menacing. In fact he looked embarrassed and regretful. If he really was a master manipulator as he was made out to be, then I knew I shouldn't be kind to him. However, that look of guilt, especially as he looked at Adrien and me, who hadn't left my side since after my conversation with Kagami.
In a room of unmoving, unspoken hatred, I was the first to move forward. I held out my hand. "Felix."
He, along with everyone else, looked shocked at the gesture. Hesitantly, Felix took my hand and shook it. "Hello Marinette. Long time no see."
I gave him a soft smile. Just then, Adrien wrapped his arms around me from behind. His tone showed his glare. The whole room got colder as he said, "Yes Felix. It has been a long time. We know you have the broach. A little butterfly threw you under the bus." Adrien proceeded to hiss, "Give it back."
Felix sighed, "Very well, cousin. Uncle was always a snitch, I'll give you that. He still doesn't know about you and Marinette, huh? You don't still visit the terrorist, do you?" Felix tossed a peacock shaped brooch to Adrien.
Suddenly all eyes were on Adrien. Most wore looks of horror, waiting for Adrien's response. Adrien spoke in a hushed tone, though it was audible to everyone in the room, especially me, "This isn't the time to talk about my father, Felix."
"I saw you leaving that sorry prison this morning. Why do you visit him, Adrien? I thought you were the hero. What are you doing spending your mornings with that villain? He did you dirty, Adrien. He hurt Paris and traumatized so many of it's people," Felix chuckled. "It would be so easy for you to betray her, you know. And now you have the peacock miraculous as well as the butterfly. And it looks like you took the ladybug as well. You really are sneaky, Agreste."
Adrien lowered his head. The people surrounding us seemed to take this as a confession, as the screams of outrage began. Alya, Luka, Zoe, and Nino tried to hold them back, but there were too many people. I had to help, but I didn't know how. No one in this room was all that familiar to me, but I knew one thing. Whatever was going on, whatever everyone thought Adrien did, he was a good person. I cared for him, and he definitely cared for me.
"Stop!" I yelled, and everyone looked at me, appalled.
I clutched Adrien's hand, hiding him behind me. "Just stop! Look, I don't know what's going on either. I'm probably more lost than all of you. But something I seem to recognize better than you guys is that Adrien wouldn't do this. Whatever this is. No matter if his dad is a criminal... a terroist, he isn't. Alya and Nino know exactly what is going on. Kagami, I told you as much as I know. And Luka and Zoe know something more than most of you too. They trust us. Me and Adrien. And if you all are friends, you should at least give Adrien a chance to explain. And as for you Felix," I said, gritting my teeth as I turned to look at Adrien's manipulative clone. "You have no room to talk. You're related to Adrien, aren't you? Well, then you're related to his father too. And you seem much more like a villain than Adrien could ever be. You have this brooch that everyone is so scared of. You betrayed you own blood for what I'm guessing was your evil uncle. You stole from me! Don't turn this on Adrien. And if you're talking about my earrings, like I've heard so damn much today, well you're mistaken about Adrien taking them. I gave them up. At least, that's what I think happened."
Everyone stared at me. Adrien whispered, "Thank you, Bugaboo."
"You're welcome," I exclaimed loudly, too confused to care. "But seriously, what's with all the bug related nicknames?"

Hi! Sorry I don't update that often, but I hope this long chapter makes the long wait kind of worth it (who am I kidding?). I'll try to update my stories more this summer, but I can't promise that will be the case. Thank you for reading Remember?! I really appreciate it. I'm so glad I can write about my favorite TV show and share it with all of you.
Cya later!