Ghosts Of Adrien's Past

Chapter 15: remember me

Adrien couldn't remember what had happened. Not really. He'd had a vague sense of running as fast as he could down steep stairs and then something grabbing his ankle.
The next thing he new he was laying on cheap carpet floor in the middle of a cleared dining room. A table made of heavy timber directly on top of him. His vision spun and doubled as he tried to open his eyes. He could slightly make out someone strapped to a chair- Marinette, maybe?- leaned over to look at him. A worried look on her face. Someone else stepped into his vision. A tall women dressed in white with bright hair. He could feel a goofy smile spread on his face.
"Oh heyyy...it's you"

The woman bent down and put a hand on his cheek.
"Oh, Adrien. We're not finished yet"
He scoffed.
"Ugh, mother...leave me alone"
"Hmm, no. I don't think I will"
He would've rolled his eyes had his world not changed again. Instead of laying on a cold floor, he was in a warm bath, inside a homey bathroom. It was clean, modern, and had pastel colours here and there. He looked down at himself, but the water was coated in bubbles and reached his ribs. He had more muscle than before, and a tattoo on his right forearm. It read 'signed marinette' he tilted his head at the delicate letters. And the gold band ring on his finger was new, too.
"Hello?!"

He yelled, and was met with a familiar voice.
"Calm down, I'm coming back"
Marinette rounded the corner to the bathroom in a damp bathrobe, her hair long and wet. He was too busy trying to figure out what was going on to notice the tattoo on her left forearm. And the ring. She dropped the robe and got into the tub, settled herself between his legs and leaned back against him. Heat rushed to his cheeks. She grabbed his arms and wrapped them around herself, settled her head back against his shoulder.
"What's going on?"
He asked quietly, her hair had drifted through the water and was brushing against his skin. She hummed softly and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry. It took me longer than I thought to put her down, she was restless tonight"
"Who?"
She giggled.
"Our daughter, silly. But she's asleep now so, we can relax"

The breath knocked out of him.
"Our daughter...you lived..."
she shifted against him.
"Of course I lived, don't you remember? My heart stopped but...somehow, by some miracle, I lived"
She sounded like she was in a dream, remembering something precious.
"I remember the look on your face when you came in. You had our baby in your arms, and you just looked devastated. My heart was so slow I couldn't tell when the beeps came and went. You took my hand and made me look at you...and you just had this sweetest smile when you realised I was blinking"
He buried his face into her shoulder and breathed her in, tightening his arms around her.
"What is it, Adrien?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing I just- I wish I could save this moment"

The moment faded away and he was back in reality. The tables crushing weight was off of him, but they were somewhere else. Inside a dark dome with a broken window, butterflies fluttering in the air. Silencer was standing across the room, his head bent and his hands folded behind him. He was chained to the floor, as was Marinette. He sighed and leant his head back against the wall.
"When did you even get the time to chain us down? Who has time for that?"
"Careful, Adrien. I won't just take your voice, I'll cut out your tongue"
Adrien slightly lifted his lip at lukas- silencers, tone.
He didn't move, but he felt marinettes fingers brush his, and she put slight pressure on where his ring rested. He looked at her from the side.
There was something in her eyes that whispered,
Do it.
He winced and shut his eyes. Wishing he was back in that fantasy world. His mothers voice floated softly into his ear.
I gave you something to fight for. Now use it. You know it can't end here.

He opened his eyes slowly. A heavy and agonising ache began to build in his chest. Last time he'd transformed marinettes arm had nearly fallen off. He couldn't tell what would happen if he did it again. He turned his head to Marinette and put all of his will into saying 'no' with a hard look. A tear slipped down her soft cheek as she squeezed his hand and mouthed,
'I don't have another plan'
He leant forward and put his forehead on her shoulder. She subtly lifted his head and pointed her look all around the room. He realised she meant for him to use cataclysm. This time he put his foot down and shook his head. Squeezing her hand back he turned and glared at silencer. The villain was staring at them oddly.
Adrien took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and said the words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marinette wished she'd had voice then, if only she could help. Chat noir and silencer fought. Both of their movements were slightly slow, slacked. As if hungover. She ignored the icy numbness spreading through her right arm and watched the battle.

She knew that Adrien had more experience fighting, even if he hadn't done it properly in years. But they'd fought before, and knew each other's movements. She prayed that Adrien would somehow pull through. By some miracle.
The fast decay reached her shoulder and she would have screamed if she could. It traveled down her ribs like a spider walking across a web. Shooting out legs and dragging the mass of its body down her flesh. She coughed blood as it clawed it's way through her insides. Infecting and ripping apart her organs. Her right lung had collapsed, and she almost couldn't breath. In only a few seconds her right eye went blind, all sound fading out from her ear.
Come on, Adrien. Hurry.
She was partly amazed that she could still summon conscious thought. It mustn't have reached her brain yet. She fell on her side with a silent scream as it spread down her right leg. Adrien had to hurry. He had to fight.

Adrien swung and swung his staff. He was so angry. So furious. Luka new the risks. He new everything. And he still dragged her into this, still risked her life by making Adrien transform. Fury blurred his vision as he fought almost blindly, hearing chuckles and pants from luka. The sound of rattling chains filled his ears and he caught luka in a hold, he half the  turned to look at where the sound came from.
Marinette was on her side. Hardly breathing. Not moving at all. Anger flushed out of him like water and worry filled it's place. Suddenly the disease slowed down, halting its movements on her skin. Adrien threw luka to the ground and hurried to Marinette, gently lifting her into his lap. She seemed to not be looking anywhere. Her eyes were glazed over. Luka shot to his feet.
"You see what you've done?! You're nothing but a disease in her life! She cared about you too much to get rid of you fully, but luckily I'm here to cut you out"

He bared a pair of fangs and Adrien hissed right back. His cat ears pressing to his head and his tail slashing wildly.
A soft voice rang through the room.
"Enough, silencer"
Immediately the villain backed off. Like a lapdog he returned to his corner. Adrien then noticed there was another figure standing in the room. Thanks to his cat vision he could see clearly. A tall woman, dressed in dark purples, stood patiently with her head angled down.
"Bring out our ladybug"
She said softly, and silencer obeyed. Throwing a small figurine to the ground a life size ladybug then grew. Adrien bowed his own body over Marinette and slightly bared his teeth. This fight was long from over.