I can't breathe, can you help me

Chapter 8

The next day at school when Marinette arrived at school she was surprised to see that Adrien didn't look as cheerful as usual, but when Adrien saw her, he gave her a small smile and a small wave of his hand, Marinette blushed and returned the smile and wave with one of her own. When Ms. Bustier walked into the classroom Marinette was surprised to see someone following behind her and it wasn't just anyone it was.....Kagami Tsurugi.
"Everyone welcome Kagami Tsurugi, she's now a student here, Kagami there's a seat in the back you can take." Ms. Bustier said, when Adrien looked a little bit happier at the sight of Kagami passing by him, Marinette felt weird in her lungs and heart....like stems were growing there.....suddenly she realized that it really was stems that was growing in her lungs and heart.....the carnations were finally growing stems. Marinette felt her throat tightening and she began to cough and she couldn't stop.
"Marinette?"
Marinette heard Ms. Bustier but she wasn't able to answer, she could barely breath.
"Adrien, can you take her outside?"
Marinette saw Adrien nod and felt him, help pick her up and led her outside, once outside but still near the classroom Adrien helped her sit down, Marinette could feel Adrien rub her back probably trying to help her stop coughing but it didn't work.
"Come on Marinette, stop coughing." Adrien said, softly after Marinette was still coughing five minutes later, Marinette shook her head weakly trying to indicate that she wasn't able to stop coughing, after another five minutes Marinette's coughing stopped. Marinette looked around her and Adrien....there was carnation petals covering the ground around them and a pile of them was in here lap, it was like they were in a middle of a field of carnations and the wind blew off the petals.
"Marinette?"
Marinette looked at Adrien, and winced at how worried and terrified he looked, Marinette opened her mouth and lie saying that she was fine but Adrien started talking again.
"Marinette, don't lie and say you're fine, you're not.....you've been coughing up carnation petals for the last ten minutes."
Marinette's eyes widdened in surprise, that Adrien guessed correctly that she was going to lie or he just knew her that well, so she just sighed and nodded her head.
"I'm not alright, I felt stems growing in my heart and lungs then I felt my throat tightening up." Marinette said, she was too tired to stumble over her words, Adrien's eyes widdened in shock.
"You're saying in the couple of minutes that class started, you felt stems growing?" Adrien asked, Marinette nodded her head.
"What does this mean?" Adrien asked, Marinette shook her head but she felt a couple of tears fall down her face, then she started to cough again luckily it only lasted a minute.
"Do you think you'll be able to handle class?" Adrien asked, a couple minutes later.
"Y..yeah." Marinette answered, Adrien helped her stand up and they walked back to class, as they stepped into the classroom when Marinette caught sight of Kagami, who was sitting in the back, and the same look Adrien gave her earlier, Marinette felt the stems grow more and her throat was tightening again but she ignored it and sat down. None of her classmates asked if she was ok and Marinette was happy that they didn't, she didn't want to be asked it, luckily throughout class her coughing fits only lasted a few seconds, at most a minute, but when lunch came around and Marinette saw Kagami slightly but on purpose touch Adrien's hand, Marinette had another coughing fit like that morning, it got worse when Kagami stopped him from helping her.
"Nino, can you tell Ms. Bustier, I'm going to be taking Marinette home, after this coughing fit ends?" Alya asked, as their lunch break came to a close.
"Of course." Nino replied, Marinette heard Nino leave, after what felt like forever but was actually ten minutes Marinette stopped coughing.
"Come on Marinette, let's get you home." Alya said, and Marinette could only nod her head, when they arrived at Marinette's home Alya explained what had happened, then took Marinette upstairs.
"I'll call you later, get some sleep Marinette." Alya said, as she sat Marinette down on her bed.
"Alright, talk to later." Marinette replied, once Alya had left the room, Marinette opened the tiny pocket book at her side and and extremely worried kwami flew out of it.
"Marinette, I'm so worried, it's gotten worse and so quickly too." Tikki said, as she hugged Marinette's cheek.
"I know Tikki, but right now can I get some sleep?" Marinette asked, the kwami quickly nodded her head, Marinette smiled at her friend and laid down, in no time at all she was asleep.
   At the same time Adrien was staring at the door waiting for Alya to return, Nino had told him that she took Marinette home....Nino also asked why he didn't run over to Marinette, Adrien said that he had wanted to but for some reason Kagami wouldn't let him, Nino only shook his head and it was at that point class begun. Now fifteen minutes later Alya just returned to class but Adrien knew he wouldn't be able to how Marinette was doing until after the last class of the day, so he waited as patiently as he could and when the last class of the day ended both him and Nino turned to Alya.
"How was Marinette?" Adrien asked.
"Extremely tired, she could barely walk or talk." Alya answered.
"Did she tell you anything this morning Adrien?" Nino asked.
"She said she felt stems growing in her heart and lungs, Marinette also said she felt her throat tightening up as well." Adrien answered.
"So it's getting worse?" Nino asked, Adrien nodded his head.
"I'm going to call her later and see how she's doing." Alya said, Nino and Adrien nodded their heads.
"I'll see you two later." Adrien said, when his phone rang and saw a message from Nathalie saying that he was scheduled to see his father today. As soon as Adrien entered his home, Nathalie led him to his father's office.
"Hello father." Adrien said, once the door to his father's office was closed.
"Hello Adrien......you look a little upset, did something happen?" Gabriel asked, Adrien didn't know whether to be surprised or not that his father sound like he was actually worried.
"Marinette.......she said that she felt stems growing in her lungs and heart.......she had to be taken home because she couldn't stop coughing......there was so much petals." Adrien whispered, but he knew his father could hear him.
"Is that all that is troubling you?" Gabriel asked.
"No." Adrien answered
"Then you may go." Gabriel said, Adrien didn't say anything, he just left the office and walked back to his room.
"Camebert." Plagg said, as soon as Adrien was in his room.
"Plagg, why did Marinette get so sick so fast?" Adrien asked, as Plagg ate a piece of camebert.
"Something must've triggered the disease to work faster." Plagg answered.
"If that's so how long does Marinette have to live?" Adrien asked.
"Well taking into account of what she said this morning and what happened later this afternoon, she'll die before the end of the month." Plagg answered, and he knew he was being extremely blunt to the point that he was being rude, but Plagg wasn't the one for suger-coating things and Adrien needed to hear it.
"That being said, you should visit her tonight.....you shouldn't have taken Ladybug's rejection out on Marinette." Plagg said, Adrien blushed.
"I wasn't trying to.....I was just so heartbroken." Adrien replied.
"And Marinette is quite literally going to die because her's is being crushed." Plagg said, he wasn't trying to hurt Adrien's feelings or make it seem like Marinette's life means little to him, in fact he actually liked Marinette and couldn't have choosen a better ladybug, but he needed to get Adrien to see that Ladybug is just a title and Marinette is the girl behind the title. But to get Adrien to understand that he needed Marinette's help, if she is like any of the other ladybug's before her then she's a romantic, just like Tikki, and hopefully that will help.
"Alright, Plagg claws out." Adrien said, then Chat Noir left his home to go to Marinette, when he got there Marinette was already standing on her balcony looking up at the sky.
"It sure is a purretty night out, purrincess." Chat said, as he landed next to Marinette.
"Hey kitty, yeah it is  pretty tonight." Marinette agreed.
"How are you purrincess?" Chat asked.
"Do you want me to tell you the truth?" Marinette asked.
"Yes." Chat answered.
"I'm not alright, I started to feel stems growing around my lungs and heart this morning and it's  gotten worse." Marinette said.
"Purrincess, why won't you tell whoever you're in love with that you're in love with them?" Chat asked.
"Kitty, I wasn't able to tell him when I wasn't sick, how am I going to tell him now?" Marinette asked.
"Then wear a mask, would that help?" Chat asked, it helped him confess to ladybug.
"No, it would make things worse." Marinette answered.
"How so?" Adrien asked.
"It would be a stranger confessing her love for him, he wouldn't know that it was me, just some girl he knew nothing about.....it might make the confessing bit easier......and if he accepted my feelings he would be searching for a stranger and not me, who would be in a corner with her heart being crushed." Marinette answered, then started to cough, when it ended she sighed.
"And what if Ladybug and I started dating?" Chat asked.
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Marinette asked.
"Yes." Chat answered.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir are just titles for the girl and boy underneath the mask, you don't know anything about each other except she's confident and beautiful and you are a flirty but with a heart of gold, cat pun loving boy. If you started dating you and her would start to get extremely curious about who the other really is, and if you wanted to date as your civilian selves, you two wouldn't know where to look or who to look for or if how you act now is how you act as your civilian selves." Marinette answered, Chat was shocked beyond belief, he never thought of that.
"I never thought of it like that before." Chat said, and Marinette smiled.
"You might be a hero or in my case knight in shining leather, but you're not perfect." Marinette replied, then she started coughing again and it lasted a couple of minutes.
"You should get going kitty, I need some sleep.....I wasn't able to get much earlier." Marinette whispered, after she finished coughing.
"Alright, goodnight purrincess." Chat said.
"Goodnight kitty." Marinette replied, Chat smiled then he left for home.
"Plagg, claws in." Chat said, as he entered his room.
"I really never thought of it like that." Adrien said, as he looked at his computer's wallpaper, which was still of pictures of Ladybug.
"Yet, Marinette is correct, you and Ladybug are strangers." Plagg replied, Adrien sighed and nodded his head then he deleted the pictures of Ladybug from his wallpaper and replaced them with a couple of pictures that him and Marinette were in together.