Ch 14

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An hour passed and I let Chloe and Alya use the shower ahead of me, letting my body rest for a while longer, giving me time to regain more energy. Finally it was my turn. I bit my lip to hold back the scream of pain as water washed over my cut. It burned and water tickled it.

When I stepped out of the shower to change into the outfit Chloe lent me, I caught a glimpse of my arms. I stood up straight, assessing the veins in the mirror. They had crawled on my arms to wrists, neck and had even spread to my abdomen. I’m just going to have to live with this. As unsightly they are, I have no regrets regarding them. I got them helping my friends and if these veins mean more moments like the one we just shared, I would never wish I didn’t have them.

I’m very glad I didn’t accept Scarlet Moth’s offer, she can make all the threats she wants but I will protect my friends, I just need to bring back Adrien and then I’ll figure out how to defeat my aunt.

I slipped into the dress Chloe chose for me. It was a warm red with a skirt that ended at my knees. I wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence or what, but the dress was a long sleeved turtle neck.

I met them in her room where Alya had an orange long sleeved v-neck with black jeans and flat boots. Chloe wore a black shirt and a warmer version of her usual yellow camisole and a black skirt with black leggings with heeled boots.

She studied my outfit before passing me a still packaged tights with boots that matched both of them and pushed me back into the bathroom. I cracked a small smile, I never got to dress up with friends before, it was really fun. I was glad I was getting to experience this.

We exited into the hall and Chloe passed us all matching gloves, I wanted to ask how she had so many things that matched and fit us but I felt like that was the most normal thing so far. As I slid the gloves on, I realized that she was, and this could be a stretch, but she was doing it for me. She covered my arms, letting it be a secret that I tell instead of everyone seeing and finding out. And now the gloves to hide the ones slowly creeping onto my hands.

“Thanks Chloe.” I grinned, weaving my message in my words.

“No problem.” she replied, her eyes indicating that she got it. Nino opened the door and came out in jeans and a green shirt paired with a green winter coat, Adrien couldn’t change. He held his pajamas bunched up in his hands. Chloe took it and tossed it in her room on to the chair.

“Great, now to meet Alyas family.” Adrien cheered.

We made our way out of the hotel and had Alya led the way. It took her a moment because it had already been a year, but we soon were walking down the sidewalk studying the addresses.

“There it is!” Alya jumped in excitement and ran up to the door, preparing to knock but hesitating.

“It’ll be okay, I’m sure they can’t wait to see you.” Nino urged. She nodded, raising her fist and rapped on the door. She took a few steps back and we waited a few seconds before the door cracked open.

An older version of Alya stood in the doorway looking, afraid. She reached out and touched her shoulder, worried that Alya might not actually be there. Once she was reassured that it wasn’t a trick of her imagination she wrapped her arms around her shoulders and let out an inhuman sounding sob.

“Mom, Dad!” she called. “It’s Alya!” There was a rush of feet on hardwood behind her and two adults appeared and a set of twins came running down. They had the same stunned reaction before coming around to a group hug. Their eyes passed over us.

“Let go in, okay?” her mom calmly ushered her in before her watery eye’s finally settled on us. “You all as well.” she waved.

We entered and stood awkwardly in the entrance, the door closed behind us. The three of us bumping shoulders huddled together, I winced a bit when my arm was hit. Adrien was there with us but was awkwardly standing in the corner.

“Mom, these are my friends, Chloe, Nino, and Marinette. They helped me home.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened? Would you all like some hot chocolate?” Alya’s mom asked hurriedly.

“There's not much to tell really.” Alya answered. Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before we were all sat down with a steaming mug of cocoa listening to Alya weaving an elaborate story on her disappearance. She spun the resurrection portion so that we found her on the edge of town and I performed CPR on her. After that, the story was pretty much just a retelling of last night through to this morning. They listened, nodding along with the lie. She was a scary good story teller. There were some parts that were difficult for her to get through. While a majority of the story was false because she couldn’t exactly tell her parents she actually died, lots of it verged close to the truth and it was painful to recall lots of events.

Alya’s family wanted to take the day to catch up with her, we told her that we’ll see her tomorrow. We exchanged phone numbers with her parents. They wanted to help her into a sense of normalcy and wanted to give her space to recover. They wanted to be in contact with us for updates and if anything happens, we wanted to be aware so we could help.

I kicked a pebble as we made our way down the street. “Soo, do we go to school then?”

“We could, but I already excused us and I mean this in  the least offensive way, but Alya looked less like a corpse than you do now. You should sleep.” Chloe looked me up and down.

“I’ll be alright, if I start to feel tired, I’ll tell you guys and go back to the hotel.” Adrien weary nodded.

“Okay, just don’t push yourself, I don’t want to be brought back by someone half dead themself.” He joked, earning small snickers from us. Other than that, the air around us was fairly somber.

Everything just felt too real. I mean, it was real, but it wasn’t supposed to be. Ghosts aren't supposed to exist, people aren't supposed to be brought back from the dead, experiencing all of this.

We made our way through the city. After a while, I started to feel a bit drowsy, Nino noticed and brought it up suggesting that we should head back. I denied my sleepiness until I stumbled over my feet. My friends escorted me back to Chloe’s place so I could rest before performing my next spell.

I layed in bed, pretending to sleep but was terrified of what might come if I did sleep. What if Scarlet Moth came back and what if this time I couldn’t resist? These thoughts plagued my consciousness until I final dozed off.

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Hi, im sorry its been awhile, I had really bad anxiety the entire week and its still not completely gone but I didn't want to keep you guys wait for the next chapters too long. I worked really hard, studying to get these chapters right, especially this chapter where Alya is reunited with her family (Yay!) And studied what its like for the family's of kidnapped victims after the reunite. I just didn't want to get it wrong. I was never kidnapped so I did my best to research as best as I could so I didn't portray it wrong and it was the closest I could search to write this part and a few scenes in the future.

On a completely different topic, I want to let you guys know that MarvelousPeterParker is directing an amazing animated film called Spoon. Im one of the writers for the script and am also voice acting for it. The first episode isn't up yet and we so far don't have a premiere date yet, but while you wait, you can check out some of their other videos on their YouTube channel Art Catastrophe.

Spoon is about a group of mermaids trying to save the love life of their friend in summary. The whole crew is working very hard on this project so I hope that you like it.

I don't have much to add other than that so thank you for reading and have an amazing week!

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