Ghosts Of Adrien's Past

Chapter 12: Decisions, Decisions

Marinette stood from the bed and started for the door.
"Where are you going?"
She looked over her shoulder to him, her arms slack at her sides.
"I have a bride to take care of"

He stood up.
"What about- our arrangement?"
She turned towards him.
"What about it?"
He scratched the back of his head, a gesture that almost made him look like his teenage self again.
"Are you still going to go through with it?"
"I proposed it to you, you know, Adrien"
"Yeah but-"
"I'll talk to you later, right now I have about five minutes to get to alya"

With a small smile she turned and went to the door, but paused. She looked him dead in the eye and glared. It made him incredibly nervous.
"What are your plans for nino's party?"
He shifted from one foot to the other.
"I didn't finish them, but it should be...a night to remember"
She winced.
"Why am I nervous?"
He shrugged innocently.
"My impeccable charm?"
She groaned and flung her head back.
"Don't make me regret this, Adrien"
"Regret what?"
"Just in case you get yourself into trouble, I'm allowing you free usage of the miraculous. But only if you get into trouble, understand?"
He grinned and nodded like a child. She narrowed her eyes and shut the door behind her.

Adrien looked to the side with a sly grin in luka's direction, who was still napping.
"When the lady's away her kitty will play. Time for some payback"

Tikki popped her head out of marinettes hair.
"Do you think he'll get into trouble?"
Mari frowned.
"I'm almost certain I'll see him on the news tomorrow morning"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In fact, it wasn't just Adrien on the news early the next morning.
While Adrien showed Nino and his buddies what real fun was, Marinette showed alya the high life of Paris and everything it came with.

Luka woke up with a flinch, on adrien's hotel room couch, in front of the tv. One look around the room told him enough about what had happened.
All of the groomsmen lay scattered around the room, passed out and drawn on with black marker. Empty bottles, confetti, chess pieces, and all sorts of other things were everywhere. He looked down and noticed that Adrien had his head in luka's lap and was sleeping.
Black whiskers were drawn on his cheeks, and a thick line was sketched between his eyebrows to connect them.
He groaned and turned on the tv, too hungover to push Adrien off of him.
"Don't be bemused, it's just the news. Last night our very own famed cat noir was seen causing quite a party around the rooftops of Paris-"
Luka began tapping Adrien forehead to wake him up.
"Adrien. Adrien wake up you have to see this"
The blonde groaned and swatted away lukas hand sleepily. This time luka slapped his forehead with a force.
"Idiot! Wake up!"

He shot up and looked around, confused. When his eyes settled on the tv he sat properly and put a hand to his mouth. The reporter continued talking.
"While apparently leading a group a party people he swung half-naked from various light poles and the Eiffel Tower. He took strangers on joyrides using his metal staff and was one of the most intoxicated people the Paris police has ever seen. One woman recorded him trying to strip down completely and bath in a fountain because 'his responsibilities were too tight' what will ladybug say, folks? And where is he now?"
Adrien looked to luka.
"You don't think Marinette will notice, do you?"
Luka looked at him from the side and nodded his head slightly while he ran a finger across his throat.
"You're dead, man. I'll bring flowers to your funeral"
Adrien stared at him for a moment before he laughed as if it were a joke but he was still scared.

Marinette woke up in pain. With a shriek she rolled over and clutched her right arm.
Her entire arm was covered in a grey blue sickish slime that smelled of rot. Mucus, more like it. It was as if her arm was dead and rotting away.
"Alya! Tikki!"
She screamed, spit hanging in strings between her teeth. Unfortunately, alya was passed out cold from last nights events, but tikki came zooming in.
"Marinette! What happen-"
"Get the treatment! Now!"
Her kwami obeyed and zoomed away, and Marinette tried to move her arm. But it was as if she didn't even have it anymore, like trying to move a tail she didn't have. Tikki was taking too long.
Too long and her arm was getting worse.

Things slowed down, and her body was getting heavier. Something cold and icy began to spread through her arm and she screamed.
But firm hands held her down on the mattress as the feeling spread. Like her skin was made of ice and it was being split by a scolding knife. She threw her head back and screamed so loud her ears rang and her eyes watered.

Adrien walked with a hungover Nino to alya's room. They both looked like they'd been hit by a buss, wrapped in a plastic bag, and thrown to the bottom of a river. Just as Nino unlocked the door terrifying screaming sounded.
They shared a worried look before rushing inside. Adrien slammed the door behind him before running to the bedroom with Nino. Alya slammed herself into Nino immediately and buried her face in his chest. Adrien went to the bed.

Marinette lay on her back, arms spread and legs tangled in the sheets. Tikki sat worriedly on her chest as Mari heaved in breaths. Her right arm was a sickening colour, and it was spreading on the right half of her face, the white of her eye turning redder than her suit. He held out his hand, and the sickness seemed to close in on closest to where his hand hovered.
"Tikki, What happened to the treatment?"

He says, but she shakes her head.
"It's not enough. It's not working"
Slowly, he trailed his hand down her shoulder and her arm, to her wrist. The sickness colour followed him like a magnet, leaving only pale and normal skin behind. He went to ask Nino to bring him a knife or something, but he didn't need it. The nails on his hand were slightly pointed where he touched her sick skin. He lifted a finger, and it returned to normal. He set it back down and watched as his nail turn into a claw again.
Taking a deep breath and praying he didn't slip he made a small cut in the side of her wrist, and greyish liquid shot out and towards his face.
It evaporated in the air before it could touch him.

For more than a few horrible seconds, Marinette didn't move. But then her chest raised into the air and she sucked in a deep breath. Like she hadn't been breathing seconds ago.
Adrien stumbled backwards and fell, one hand bracing himself and one on his heart from shock. His own heart had stopped, it seemed.
Small bruises marked marinettes arms from where Alya had held her down, as Tikki had spread the treatment. But that no longer worked. Marinette no longer had a cure. She sat up with a groan and blinked sleepily.
"What happened to your face?"
She said, Adrien only stared back at her.