MariChat: Soul Link (SoulMates AU)

Whims of Reality (#1YearOfMiraculous)

A thousand thoughts were running through Adrien's head when he got home that night. Many of them revolved around Marinette, much to his pleasure, but unfortunately, the vast majority focusing on what the hell had been the deal with Chloe.

He knew Chloe. He understood her personality. He knew the kind of person she was. He knew the sort of things she would do in certain situations.

That had not been one of them, at any given point.

Chloe was a spiteful person. Adrien had known her since he was a child, and had known that about her for years, probably close to a decade now that he thought about it. That fact hadn't changed throughout all these years knowing her. In a sane world, Chloe would have freaked the hell out about seeing him and Marinette, based on her previous reactions.

She had smiled and waved.

That wasn't normal.

Something wasn't right.

He was convinced that something wasn't right. Maybe it was an Akuma? That seemed to be a logical conclusion to draw. An Akuma that dramatically altered the personality of a person in question didn't seem out of the question. In a way, that's what they did anyway. But he found himself dismissing it. Chloe had already been Akumatized, into Antibug. The blond model knew very little about Akuma's themselves, but he had the theory that the same person could only be Akumatized into one villain. He used that logic because of Stoneheart and Ivan. It wasn't perfect logic, but it wasn't like he had any other information to work with.

So Chloe herself being Akumatized was removed from the table of possibilities. Adrien supposed that it was possible that Chloe had been affected by someone who was Akumatized, or something - Anything... But he wasn't sure. There were too many unanswered questions, too many ways this could go differently. So many varied ways that something wrong was happening, and Adrien just couldn't see them. He was convinced something dark was happening behind the scenes.

Hawkmoth hadn't sent any Akumas out for a rather long time. Was it possible this had something to do with it?...

No, that was unlikely. Affecting the behavior of people just... It didn't benefit Hawkmoth in any way. He could have argued that because Chloe was the mayor's daughter, Hawkmoth could use her as some sort of ransom, but that required him to come into the light. Hawkmoth worked from the shadows, never doing anything himself. He wouldn't risk being detected.

Adrien bit his lower lip. "What a way to end a date." He muttered to himself. He hoped Marinette had more ideas about this whole mess than he did.

Marinette could not recall, in the history of her friendship with Alya, a moment in which she seemed to be absolutely seething with pure rage. Chloe suspending her had been close, but ultimately, it didn't even compare to the state the blogger was in right now.

First thing in the morning, and Alya looked ready to tear someone to shreds with her bare hands. Marinette could have sworn that they even looked sharper than normal. She'd rarely seen the brown-skinned girl with a frown on her face, never-mind this predatory growl. Part of her was worried Alya might genuinely bite her.

The blunette girl was, quite frankly, disturbed. she had come to school this morning completely expecting Alya to be armed with a long list of questions and innuendos regarding the date she and Adrien had last night. That was Alya-like. She would have expected that. She had been expecting that. Coming in to find this rabid beast almost... She would have preferred the list of jokes and teases.

"I freaking hate him, Marinette!" Alya snorted again, for maybe the tenth time. "I can't stand him!"

"Alya, please, calm down. You're freaking me out here." Marinette said, trying to make her friend relax as best she could, failing miserably. "S-Seriously, what's up with you and Nino?"