Miraculous (Angel-Demon AU)

Chapter 10

MARINETTE

"Marinette?"

My head hurt, almost all my body was numb and it took me a few seconds to set my gaze on anything... but still the first thing I heard when I woke up, above all, was his voice.

"Adrien?"

He was looking so intently at me, sitting by mi side and... so close to me. My right hand felt warm, and I found it unbelievable that he could have been holding it at all. I felt my face blushing all over.

I needed a few seconds to reorder my memories. What exactly had happened between us? We had gone to the ball, I had declared myself and he had rejected me. Up to there, nothing new or unexpected, really. But then... The night patrol with Chat... Alya and Nino (what had happened with Nino in the end, actually?)... Chloé – Chloé was now a demon (she had always been)... and Chat knew, he knew because he's a demon... and he hated her for hurting me and maybe something more (simply for being a demon, maybe she used to force him into doing evil stuff?)... He'd tried to kill her, I'd stepped in between... and I was sure that I was not dead now because my heart was racing very much.

Because I had just remembered the last, tiny bit of information, the one I'd been VERY conscious of while fighting Chloé, the one I'd checked to be true seconds before passing out. Chat Noir was (had always been) Adrien Agreste, the human I was fond of.

Adrien Agreste had somehow saved my life. Adrien Agreste had been holding my hand while I was unconscious. Adrien Agreste was now scrutinizing me, probably wondering why I was scrutinizing him.

And Adrien Agreste was a demon.

That was pretty much it.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"I – I guess."

He raised his hand in order to check my fever, but my eyes opened so wide that he quickly put it down again. I felt stupidly tense. I had known that Adrien was Chat while we fought together that night because he had clearly recognized me... but pretending to act normal when none of us had our masks on or had nothing to do was a different story.

"Hum – you are in Master Fu's house, now. It's him that-"

"That healed me." I finished off "Yeah, I've been here before. He's healed Tikki too."

"Oh."

Adrien blushed, because I had just dismissed the single normal topic of conversation he had in mind, and now we only had The Topic as conversation. I was certainly not going to start off, so I simply waited.

After long seconds ticked by, the words suddenly rushed off his mouth, not even looking at me while saying them.

"Mari, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. No. Not sorry. That I- I've been a fool." He made a single pause "Well, you know I'm a demon." He looked up at me and smiled apologetically, and I softened down. "And... and that makes you have some compromises, you are expected to do certain things." He made yet another pause, afraid to continue. But he did. "My father had asked me to make you fall in love with me so that I could later break your heart."

My heart stopped. Of all things I had ever imagined Adrien telling me, this was the very last. He had purposely flattered me? During years? And only to... to make a fool of me? My whole body became tense, and I would have stomped away from him if I hadn't known that I wouldn't have made it to the door without tripping myself.

He saw my reaction and quickly restarted his speech.

"No, I – I meant to say that that's what I was expected to do. But you know that I wouldn't have done that. I would never trick you, Marinette."