Niece of the Guardian

Night Terrors

   I walk into my house back in Michigan. I see my mom and I smile. "Hey mom-" I start to say before an explosion behind me knocks me over. I groan as I sit up. I see my mom unharmed and start to move before men in black masks enter the blown open doorway behind me. They step over me and grab my mom, dragging her outside. I get enough strength to stand and start to fight them. One kicks me in the stomach and another shoves me to the ground. I can hear my mom screaming but I can't understand what she's saying. the men beat her up as I cry on the ground, in pain and scared of what they're going to do. The leader pulls out a gun, cocks it, and points it at my mom. "No!" I scream. I watch in slow motion as he pulls the trigger and it goes straight into her head, killing her. "No, no." I say as I sob on the ground.

   I wake up to tears streaming down my cheeks and Adrien standing over me with a worried look. I instantly start to break down sobbing and cry into his shoulder as he holds me in a hug. "Shh, shh, everything's okay. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real. you're safe." He says as he rubs my back. I calm my self down enough to where all that's left is my tearstained cheeks, red eyes, and shaking hands.

   "Do you want to talk about it?" He says. I shake my head no and whisper in a raspy voice "You should go back to sleep, we have school tomorrow." He sighs and gives me one last hug before going back to his bed. I lay down and soon fall into a dreamless sleep.

-That Morning-

   I wake up to my phone's alarm and quietly get up to take a shower. I brush and blow dry my wet hair before doing a dutch braid around from the right side of my hair. I put on the midnight blue dress that looks like it is sprinkled with stars from the top of it that slowly fade out as it goes down the bodice and skirt. I put on the same color 1-inch heels and the diamond earring and necklace set he left with it.

   "You make me feel like a princess every time I see you, uncle Gabriel." I say quietly to myself. I head downstairs and into the kitchen to start on breakfast, tying an apron over the dress so it doesn't get ruined. I finish quickly as I have the recipe down by heart. I find their personal chef and help him organize a more reasonable meal plan for Adrien. I return to breakfast and finish everything. I take the food on trays out to the dining room and with the help of the chef organize everything. 

   I quietly head upstairs and open the bedroom door. "Adrien, sleepy head, breakfast is ready. Hurry up and get ready." I say while lightly shaking his shoulder. He groans and I giggle. "Come on Adrien, enough being a cat. I will drag you out of this bed and throw you into a cold shower fully clothed if you don't get up." At this, he jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom to get ready. 

   I chuckled as I walked out of the room. I had set his clothes on the counter this morning for him so he wouldn't forget. I went downstairs and found uncle Gabriel in his office and Natalie in hers. I sent them both to the dining room and went back upstairs to get Adrien for breakfast. "Come on Adrien, I have a surprise for you at breakfast." I say, pulling him by his arm to the dining room.

   I sat down at the table and gestured to the chair next to me. He finally sat down and I nodded to the chef. He lifted the tops of the trays of food. Each plate had pancakes to personal preference minus Adrien, bacon, and fruit salad. I was trying to contain my excitement as I watched both Gabriel and Natalie start on their food.

   I look over at Adrien and see he hasn't touched his food. "Adrien, just take a bite and try it, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't poison my own cousin who I just met on Monday." I say teasingly. He looks at me and says "You made this?" I nod before taking a bite of my pancakes. Adrien takes a bite and I can see the wonder on his face.

  "Excellent job Kennedy, they were just like she used to make them." Gabriel said. I smiled before finishing my breakfast. I grabbed my school stuff out of Adrien's room and put mini camembert cheesecakes I had made this morning into a sealed container. I put the container in Adrien's book bag for Plagg. Adrien came in and grabbed his stuff too before we both headed out the door and into the limo, which was pretty cool considering I had only been in one once before this.

   Once we were inside, Adrien turned to look at me. I avoided his gaze, knowing what he wants to talk about. "So what happened last night?" He asks, putting a hand on my shoulder. I finally look at him and say "My worst nightmare." He takes in a sharp breath and I fight the tears brimming in my eyes. He pulls me into a hug and I cry into his shoulder, just like I did that night. I shake as the silent sobs wrack my body.

   I slowly calm down and pull away from him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying on you." I say quietly, not trusting my voice. "No, you don't ever have to be sorry. You don't deserve to have those nightmares." Adrien said, looking at me with worry. "Ironic, I've had them all of my entire life. It's not just nightmares. People forget nightmares. They're night terrors. They affect you for weeks, plaguing your sleep and ruining your day. You wake up with brusies and cuts from who knows what and all you want to do is cry." I whisper, shaking at the memory of all the times I have had them.

  He looks at me with overwhelming worry and concern and I just want to hug him again. "I'm fine Adrien. I have coping mechanisms, okay? Worrying about me will only stress you out more and it won't help me. If you want to help me, just let me lean on you when I need to and you can lean on me when you need to." I say, giving him a hug to reassure him. He nods and I wipe away my remaining tears, grabbing my water and taking a drink.

   I feel the limo stop and Adrien looks at me. I nod and open the car door, stepping out into the sun. I take a deep breath and smile to myself. Adrien steps out beside me and I watch as a bunch of people look at me, confused as to why the new girl got to ride with the famous Adrien Agreste. (Warning, the next part is in Mandarin) "I swear Adrien, you have way too many fangirls." I whisper, waving to a few of my classmates I recognized.

   "You continue to amaze me miss Kennedy, I didn't know you knew Mandarin." He whispers back, plastering on a fake smile. "And you sir Agreste, why the fake smile? I would have hoped you would be genuinely happy to have your cousin here with you, no?" I say, faking disappointment. He rolls his eyes at me and lightly shoves my shoulder.

   I smile at him and he smiles back, the smile reaching his eyes. I can see Marinette is upset out of the corner of my eye and I wave to her. She waves back and smiles. "So Adrien, anything I need to know about my cousin I don't know yet?" I ask. "Not that I know of." He says, starting to lead us to Nino. Just as I was about to say something, I get shoved to the ground...