I woke up exhausted, unable to get any more sleep. I checked the clock. 4:56. Only 3 hours of sleep?! Great! Cause that was definitely what I needed, sleep deprivation on top of a mountain of stress. I decided to patrol a bit.
“Tikki, spots on.” I transformed and fought a yawn. I swung over to the eiffel tower where I saw a figure sitting on the top.
“Chat? What’s up?”
“Oh! Ladybug, what are you doing up so early?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Yeah, me too.” he sighed. “I can talk to you about anything, right?”
“Of course Chat, is something wrong?”
“Yes, or well no, ugg, I don’t know!” He threw up his arms in exasperation.
“Okay, well, can you tell me about it?”
“You know Marinette right?” I nodded, did I do something wrong? “Well, recently she got hurt on my night to patrol and if I had only gotten to her sooner, she wouldn’t be injured. And what’s worse is that the man who attacked her disappeared until recently when he appeared at her school during an Akuma and I couldn’t save her without endangering an entire school of students!”
“Well that was a lot, I can say that she is very lucky to have someone who has her back, she also is very strong and can handle herself. She doesn't need you to put the responsibility of her safety on your own shoulders. She seemed pretty strong during the Akuma.”
“And she is, but I’m a hero, I’m supposed to protect everyone, including her. You saw her after the Akuma! She looked terrified!-”
“Yes, but that's not necessarily your fault, were you the man who attacked her? No, you weren’t. Were you the one who caused the Akuma?” I looked at him.
“I don’t think so.”
“Okay, you didn’t cause an Akuma. Are you hawkmoth and create Akumas? No. Were you the Akuma? Nope, you weren’t. I don’t believe you’ve ever put her in danger before so it really isn’t your fault. Sometimes, things outside of your control happen and it’s hard to accept, but the best way to work through the pain is to accept that you really couldn’t prevent it and move on. Just be there for her when she needs you.”
“That sounds good.” he nodded.
We sat there for a few more hours, enjoying eachothers company as we watched the sun rise.
Chat stood and stretched. “Welp, time for school.” He noticed I was still sitting. “Are you coming?”
“I wish!” I giggle before my features become somber. “I’m staying home from school the rest of the week, I’ll just stay here.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone, especially in winter, it’s freezing.”
“I’m fine, really, besides, it’s supposed to snow in a bit and I want to be here to see it.”
Chat looked thoughtful. “Well I guess a couple more minutes wouldn’t hurt.” and sat back down.
“Hey Ladybug?”
“Hm?”
“I think, I think I like Marinette.” I nearly fell off the tower in surprise.
“Pardon?”
“I mean, you're an amazing friend Lb, but I understand that you're not interested in me and I’ve just started to really notice Marinette, just little things like how her laugh and smile are so bright and cute. They are small, but sweet and just lift your entire mood. It’s too early to call it a crush, but I think I really like her.” He pulled his legs to his chest, smiling, his eyes watching the city below.
I fight blush, I can’t like chat, I like Adrien! I covered my face.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I,I’m totally fine, you right it’s frigged here, I'm flushing from the cold, I should head home, okay, bye!” I threw my yoyo, when it caught onto something, I gave a little tug, letting my body fly freely through the air.
“Okay, good bye!” Chat called as I sailed further from him. It started to snow halfway home. I pause on the nearest building to enjoy the experience.
I stood there for a few minutes before I realized I needed to get home and study the notes.
I detransformed as I slipped inside through the trapdoor. Conveniently, my mom poked her head into my room right as I sat on the bed, fully out of the Ladybug outfit.
“I see you’re up dear, I just wanted to check on you, you don’t have anything really to do today until Alya brings your school work.” she weakly grinned. “I’m sorry about last night, but he also wants to make sure you’re safe and happy too.”
“It’s okay mama, I just, miss meeting my friends at school.” I slipped on a happy looking face, wilting bit by bit inside. She smiled and disappeared downstairs, satisfied with my mask of joy.
I recalled for a moment, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I felt sort of like the rose in the movie. Each moment I’m treated like a porcelain doll, every day bringing me closer to my death, each threat or warning from the man, made another petal fall from the rose. I waved my thoughts away, clearing my mind and climbed down to my desk.
I pulled out the notes, right at the top there were the words in bold:
Winter Formal.
I squealed a bit, excited. The Beauty and the Beast rose inside me started to glow, petals started growing back. Without reading the rest, it was only a short paragraph, I pulled out my coloured pencils and sketchbook.
I drew an elegant dress, it would flow around the ankles so when I walked, it wouldn’t drag and pick up mud, but it was long enough to keep me as warm as a dress can make me. The sleeves are long and slick with lace at the end matching the small lacy V-neck. I reached for a periwinkle blue. Before I could grab the colour, I stopped.
“Tikki? This is periwinkle, right?” I nawed on the inside of my cheek, nervous for an answer.
“No, but you’re close.” she pushed my hand further to the right, where my hand hovered over the colour. I picked it up and checked the label to be sure. Okay, yeah it’s the right colour. I felt the rose wilt so more, the happy glow fading.
“Thank you Tikki.” the excitement of the formal, slowly dying from all of my features. I realized how that might have sounded. “Sorry, I’m sincerely thankful for your help, I just really miss being able to do that myself.”
“That’s okay Marinette, I understand.” She hovered over and hugged my cheek.
“Thank’s.” I giggled. In the distance, I heard the bell letting out students for lunch, time just flew by I guess.
I got up and started towards the trap door to get myself some lunch when I heard a gentle knock coming from above me.
YOU ARE READING
Wolves
Fanfiction'I open my mouth to call for help, right then the wolf clamps its jaws down onto my arm. I pull it toward me, trying to break free. My pain and terror was released in a blood curdling scream that ripped through the air. I watched as the wolf slowly...
