The Truth and What Remains: An Adrienette story

Chapter 14: A Therapy Session with Master Fu

Gonna be a semi short chapter but I still hope you guys enjoy the chapter because I made Master Fu into a therapist, which is fitting for him.

"Dr. Fu, thank you for squeezing me in."

"Oh no, it's really not a problem Marinette, I'll pour a pot of tea and we can continue where we left off last time we were here," Dr. Fu nodded as he stood and went into the back to fetch a pot of tea while Marinette sat uneasily on the mat in his Chinese garden inspired office. Soon, Marinette saw Dr. Fu come back from the corner of her eye with a steaming pot of tea as he sat down on the opposite side. He poured two perfect cups of tea in those antique ornate cups from imperial times, "so last time we left off, we talked about you meeting your old flame again, is that right?"

"Yes, I believe I told you that, his name is Adrien Agreste?" Marinette said as she took a sip from her tea.

"Yes, I know very well who he is, now tell me, has it been a problem for you ever since he's reappeared back into your life?" Dr. Fu asked as Marinette scoffed and rubbed her temples in frustration.

"More trouble that it's worth, I'm risking everything that 15 long years of hiding and protecting have done for my family. They're being protected... from him.... but I can't hold him off forever, he's eventually going to get to them, and it's game over," Marinette stared into the tea as Dr. Fu looked at her sadly.

"Was this the life you wanted for your children, and most importantly, yourself?" Dr. Fu asked as Marinette scoffed again and looked up at him in disbelief.

"No! Of course not, but what can I do? The life I had before? Just a relic of the past, I can't do anything to change my life because that would involve getting in Gabriel's way. It's not worth it.. trust me," Marinette replied. Dr. Fu then posed another question even though he knew full well what her answer would be.

"At this point, does Adrien know?"

"No... he can't know... because there are lives at stake if he knows. Louis, Hugo, and Emma will get themselves killed if I took my eyes off for one second if Gabriel knows that Adrien knows!" Marinette exclaimed in an almost crazed tone. Dr. Fu frowned as he thought to make a joke.

"Technically, you're in my office, taking your eyes off them for about 45 minutes now," Dr. Fu chided as Marinette raised her eyebrows at him and frowned.

"You really wanna go there?"

"Nope... anyway, it seems as if your treatment is reverting back on itself, you're getting worse again. Just when you made some progress too," Dr. Fu wrote down his findings in the records while Marinette kept staring into the tea, "Your coping mechanisms and acquiescence to this situation are no longer working. Marinette tell me, when was the last time you had the chance to use your coping mechanisms?"

Marinette sipped her tea as a thought immediately came to mind, "Oh, it was during this high school reunion, there was this woman, who kept stepping on my toes and there was just bad blood between us. However, she... triggered the memories, of everything that happened... everything I regretted. And I don't know why my coping mechanisms didn't work! It was like I didn't even try... I saw Gabriel in front of me and he's all I could see and hear, if it wasn't for Adrien, I probably would have never snapped out of it."

"I see, your trauma is extremely powerful Marinette, we both agreed that this process of healing you was going to take a long time, it's not something you can just leave in the rearview mirror," Dr. Fu said as Marinette groaned in frustration and rubbed her nose.

"I know! And that's because he's always going to be behind me! Watching me! Haunting me! Reminding me that I can't protect them forever! It's something that's on the mirror, but the windshield wipers can't reach it and it never will. Gabriel waits for no one-" Marinette said as they both heard a knock on the door and Dr. Fu quickly excused himself.