Shall We Dance?- A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Chapter 23

Marinette's eyes fluttered open as she took a deep breath. Slowly, she flexed her toes and moved her legs, squeezed her hands, and then rolled her shoulders before opening her eyes completely. She was lying in a room she didn't recognize at first. A wave of nausea gripped her stomach. Breathing deep, the feeling passed without her having to find something to throw-up into. A face suddenly crossed in her vision and she had to blink rapidly to get them adjusted faster to the sudden intrusion.

Adrien was smiling down at her, his head framed with a halo of light by a singular light overhead. She smiled wearily at him.

"Did I... am I dead? I swear I'm seeing an angel."

"No but you gave us all a scare there princess," he sighed, "We almost thought you were going to go there." He reached an arm around her shoulders to help her sit up, offering a little cup of tea for her to sip. She took it and did so. She smiled at him again.

"Thanks kitty." She paused. "Who's 'we'?" He flinched and looked at her sheepishly.

"Uh... don't be mad but...."

"Marinette! You're finally awake!" Before she could respond or move, Adrien slipped the cup out of her hands and making her chest opened to be caught in a hug by Alya, who ran into her nearly at full force and tackled her back into the bamboo mat she was sitting on. Marinette was stunned. After a few moments of her sobbing into her shirt, she returned the hug. Looking up revealed the smiling face of Nino who waved a hand at her.

"Glad to see you're alright Mari," he commented. She nodded mutely. Alya held her back at arms' length, her eyes wide and teary, as she looked her over before nearly shouting, "Please don't ever do that again! Do you know how worried we've been? I've been covering for you and saying you're at my place but your parents aren't going to believe it much longer. We need to get you home." She nodded. It dawned on her slowly as she sat back up.

"Wait... Nino...Alya... why are you two here? Where is here anyway?" Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. Alya took a breath and Nino looked up at the ceiling.

"Uh... Alya and Nino," Adrien said slowly, "figured out who we are." Marinette blinked as the weight of the words suddenly hit her like a bolt of lightning. She gasped.

"WHAT?"

"I'm sorry Mari," Alya cried. She clapped her hands in front of her face like a prayer and squeezed her eyes shut; she all but bowed to her best friend. "Please don't be mad. I found out the night you had the date with Chat Noir. I thought I left a notebook in your room and I wasn't far from your place so I just turned around to get it when I saw Chat land on your balcony. I was surprised but I called Nino and asked him to follow him because I wanted to know what Chat had to do with you and Nino didn't want to at first but I got him to and he followed him and saw him transform back to Adrien and we put two and two together but didn't say anything and...." Marinette sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Alya, calm down please. I understand." She blinked. The brown haired girl eyed her friend.

"You... you do?" Mari smiled softly.

"Look, I won't lie and say I'm not concerned but...." She ran a hand back through her hair. "But, I guess I was going to have to tell you eventually. There's really no point in stressing about it now." She took a breath, "But I will admit, it's a little scary with you two knowing. If Hawkmoth finds out...."

"Dude, Hawkmoth will have to go through us too to get to you Mari or your family or anyone else," Nino declared proudly. She eyed him confused until a small, red blur, followed by a black one, green one, and orange one, entered the room. Tikki smacked hard into her face.