Miraculous... Gone

Chapter 6

Adrien's POV

My eyes opened and I was greeted by the smell of cheese. The sun leaked in through my window and momentarily blinded me with its glare. I glanced at my clock. 6:30. I yawned and turned to tell Plagg something, but I saw that he was still peacefully sleeping holding a piece of half-eaten Camembert. That explained the smell. He looked like he needed some rest, so I decided to let him sleep for now.

I didn't have to leave for school for an hour and a half, but I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I decided to get a head start in the morning and get ready for school. With another loud yawn, I slowly climbed out of bed and made my way towards the closet. I grabbed my usual outfit and combed my hair quickly before settling down on the couch to watch some TV before school. The TV turned on and the news came up. I wasn't normally interested in the news, but ever since I became Chat Noir I was fascinated by seeing myself on the TV. I was on advertisements all the time as Adrien, but the heroic acts Chat Noir accomplished felt more important than anything I ever did as Adrien and being recognized as a superhero was way better than being recognized as a pretty face.

Suddenly a picture of Mari on the screen caught my eye.

A voice from the TV began to talk. "Don't be bemused, it's just the news! I'm Nadia and we have some exciting news for all of Paris today. The true identity of Ladybug has been revealed thanks to amazing footage by an unknown source. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, daughter of Paris' finest bakers, appears to be a normal high school student, but when an Akuma attacks, she is responsible for saving Paris as the one and only Ladybug. This new video footage also shows Hawkmoth in possession of something called a Miraculous which appears to give Marinette Dupain-Cheng her superpowers. What will Hawkmoth use this power for? Stay tuned to find out as more updates arrive."

The TV screen switched to footage of the incident.

"No, no, no..." I ran my fingers through my hair and paced around the room. "LB must be so mad at me. Oh my gosh, it's all my fault. She's gonna kill me. She is GOING TO KILL ME!"

Plagg must have heard me freaking out because a muffled voice came from my bed. "Shut up, kid. I'm trying to sleep." Plagg turned over and buried his face in a pillow.

"Plagg. I messed up. I messed up bad..." A knock on my door interrupted me.

"Adrien," Nathalie called from outside my room. "Your limo is ready to take you to school. Please come down at once."

"Coming Nathalie!" I called out as I grabbed Plagg and stuffed him in my bag.

~~~~~~~~~

The limo ride was stressful. I was hot and sweaty and couldn't think. How was I supposed to face Mari knowing what I had done to her? I know she doesn't know that I'm Chat Noir, but I know. I know it was my fault this happened. I allowed myself to get captured and that was the reason she gave up her Miraculous. If only I had been a better Chat Noir...

The car pulled up to the school and I reluctantly got out, butterflies in my stomach. I walked down the hall and into Miss Bustier's class. Everyone was talking about Mari and Ladybug. I took a deep breath. This was going to be a long day. Just as I sat down next to Nino, everyone fell silent. I looked at the door and saw Mari walking in. She looked... sad.

Her hair covered half of her face, a little like Juleka's did, and her eyes were trained on the ground. She didn't seem to notice the stares she was getting, or she didn't seem to care. Her footsteps were the only sounds in the room. Without a word, she sat next to Alya and put her head on the desk.

Alya elbowed her best friend. "Hey, what's up? Are you upset that everyone knows who you are?"

Suddenly, Mari's head shot up and she stared at Alya with wide eyes. "Every-everyone know who I am?" she stuttered.

"Umm, yeah. It's the biggest news story of the year, no the decade!" She gave a dramatic sweeping motion with her arm. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng: hero of Paris! It's the top headline everywhere."

"H-how did people find out?"

"They got real-life video footage of you de-transforming! It was from that battle yesterday. The one where you... you know, gave up the Miraculous," Alya caught herself, "for a good reason of course! You had to give it up to save Chat!"

I looked at Mari with concern. I hoped she wouldn't be mad at me, well Chat Noir, for exposing her identity.

She broke down in tears. "Now everyone knows that I was the one who failed everyone and put people in danger. Marinette Dupain-Cheng: failure of Paris!"

By now, a crowd of people had gathered around Mari's desk.

Rose was the first to speak up. "Marinette, we all believe in you. We know you had your reasons for giving up the Miraculous. You had to save Chat Noir."

Kim chimed in, "Yeah! If anything, this is all Chat Noir's fault for letting himself get captured."

The whole class nodded and agreed with Kim except for me. I agreed with him, but a part of me hoped that I was taking the blame for something that wasn't my fault. The opinions of my classmates just confirmed what I already thought to be true: I failed M'lady and endangered all of Paris in the process.

I couldn't take anymore. Everyone was so preoccupied with Mari, that I assumed nobody noticed as I slipped out of the classroom without a word and eventually left the school altogether.

A/n: I don't have much to say here except rant about my own life. I have school tomorrow!!! Ughhhh I think about spending 3 and a half more years at high school and I want to die!!!! (Not literally!) I had a really long Christmas break and it's ends tomorrow and I'm so sad bc I really liked not having homework or responsibilities other than household chores. It was nice having the entire day to do whatever I wanted! Now my freedom is over and I must go to a large building where they force teenagers such as myself to do hours of work so we can get ourselves into another school, college, and then we have to get through college so we can work until we get really old and retire. Yay. Life sounds great!

Okay. I just read everything I typed and realized how much of a negative person I am. Wow.

On a positive note... I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Since I have school next week, I probably won't update until the weekend when I can find time to write but maybe my teachers will go easy on me the first week back! 😊