The Wall Between Us

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Pour toi je patienterai tout une vie

Car oui je t'aime, à la folie

je t'aimerai, à l'infini.

Gabriel Agreste stood trial for his crimes, but was found innocent of most of his charges, except for the murder of Alba Thomas and of course, terrorizing Paris.

He got 20 years.

"He should have gotten more,"

"Poor Adrien,"

"Do you think Adrien knew?"

"He was a monster,"

"I hope we never hear of him again."

Those were some of the comments that tormented Adrien for the days following his father's imprisonment. The school became a dark place for him to be in, but his house was worse. It became even more haunting now that his father was gone and he knew his mother was sleeping somewhere around there and that he had no way to access her sleeping chamber.

He hadn't been visiting Marinette either, in fact, he hadn't spoken a word to her since they defeated Hawk Moth. He had been dealing with all of that alone. He had no one to comfort him, just Plagg, but for some odd reason, he wasn't much of a comfort.

He avoided his house as much as possible, so people would spot Chat Noir sleeping in the weirdest places, like a rooftop, a bathroom in a restaurant, a storage room, anywhere. Anywhere but his house.

As for Marinette, she didn't leave her house for days, in fact, she didn't even leave her bedroom. She remembered Adelynn Mason and how she couldn't do anything to save her when she fell off the Eiffel Tower, but now, the lifeless face she saw every time she closed her eyes was not Adelynn's, it was Alba's.

Alba had been her friend for so long, a frequent company from school to home, a great neighbor, and an attentive confidant. How was it that she threw all that away just because she confessed to erasing her memory once? Marinette couldn't remember why she was mad at her anymore, after all, she had proven more than once that she was being sincere.

"Marinette," Tikki said to Marinette a few days after Hawk Moth's defeat. "Marinette, you've been there for days now, you need to get up and take a shower," Her bedroom was dark and cozy, and she was curled up under her bedsheets where she was safe from everything and anyone, why was Tikki harassing her?

"Why, what's the point?" She mumbled, snuggling in her cocoon of bedsheets.

"The world hasn't ended Marinette, you need to get up and face what's coming,"

"Why? Hawk Moth is defeated, I've fulfilled my purpose in life, now I'm ready to die as well," Marinette sobbed,

"Marinette, don't cry, Alba wouldn't want it," Tikki flew next to Marinette and patted her shoulder tenderly,

"Actually," She sniffed, sitting on her bed for the first time in days, "I think I should return you to Master Fu, now that everything has been dealt with,"

"Marinette, I don't think..."

"And Chat should also return his miraculous, and he would go back to be..." Her eyes widened as she remembered, "Adrien! I haven't seen him in days, how is he? His dad... He's all by himself now, I need to find him," She blurted out, jumping from her bed and rushing to the lower level of her bedroom,