The Missing Purrincess

Chapter 19: Someone Opens The Door

---Marinette's POV---

I finished putting up the stuff I had brought with me when I left. The place looked a lot more me, but it still felt weird. I didn't have any need to wake up early anymore, nor an alarm to wake me up. I had left all my posters and decorations in my room because that would have been way too much stuff and Mama and Papa would definitely have noticed.

I wondered how they were taking my disappearance. Mama and Papa were the best parents out there. They didn't deserve for their only daughter to disappear out of the blue like that. What would they be thinking.

Then again, I didn't deserve to live the lives of two people. How long was I supposed to last like that? I'm not some comic book hero. I need to be able to focus on one existence at a time. As much as I wanted to focus on Marinette, the world needed Ladybug more.

Who even cared about me now anyway? Tikki still cared. She never gave up on me, never wondered if it would be better to have a different Ladybug hero. She believed in me and my ability to make the right decision. 

I'm sure Mama and Papa miss me. Maybe a few of my classmates regret what happened. I think Rose must have.  A few celebrities? Jagged Stone or Nadia Chamak? Manon maybe? Would Adrien care? Alya or Nino?

No. If they cared they would have stuck up for me. They wouldn't have dug around in my room so soon after I left. They wouldn't have fought with "Ladybug" about how THEY were right about this whole thing. If that was how they handled missing me? I was better off without them.

What good was thinking about them now anyhow. It wasn't like I ever planned on seeing them again. Not as me. I would save them if they needed it, but that was it. Nope. Never gonna see them again. 

*Creeeeeeeeek*

---Nino's POV---

I didn't normally skip school, but man it was a downer that week. All the fighting was getting to me. I couldn't even stand to be in the same room as my girl Alya longer than class. Couldn't look any of the students who abandoned out pal Marinette in the eye.

I knew I had to come back Monday, probably with a good excuse for being absent, but for now, a good walk was what the doctor ordered. More accurately, a good search. If Marinette could just come back, everything would be better.

As Adrien had called her once, she was "Our Everyday Ladybug". Marinette was the glue that held our class together, even when we didn't appreciate her. Tiny little things that weren't given much thought were starting to slow to a crawl, showing just how much we needed them.

The laughter from a joke, the complements in the morning, the promises of help for whoever needed it, the sweet smell of whatever that girl held so closely in her school bag. The dudette brought our classroom from a school to a paradise. And we had taken that for granted. For what? Lila Rossi?

What good did she do anyway? What about that chick was so destructive to Marinette? What did she catch onto that we all missed? How did we not notice how different she was lately. 

Poor Marinette had been smiling less. Nobody cared. Not if Lila was around. The PerFEcT GiRL. Someone who could do no wrong. How much of what she ever did was just to upset Marinette? Hurt the girl? Did it stop at the phone messages, or was it so deep it even penetrated her nickname "Mari"? 

Marinette had actually said not to give her a nickname to a couple people before, including me and Kagami. Yet, Lila had insisted on putting her as Mari on everything. Was that a vain attempt to hurt her or just Lila being oblivious? 

I walked through an are that I don't think I have ever been to before. I wasn't really thinking anymore. The hope of finding Marinette had left my head faster than a beat on the DJ table. Instead, it was followed by why she left.

There is a lot of stuff going on in the heads of the class right now about what happened to Marinette. Whether she was kidnapped, ran away, got lost, or (jokingly) never existed in the first place.

I don't think she was kidnapped or anything. The state of her room was evidence enough for that. Besides, Marinette was freakishly strong for a 15 year old girl. She could probably fight off Nora if she needed to. 

The other two obvious ones were getting lost and not existing. While getting lost sounded like something she would do, she would have found SOMEONE by now. And I know that she existed. At least I'm pretty sure.

That left running away. As wrong as that sounded, it was also the answer that felt the most... right? It still felt wrong though. How far would Marinette have needed to fall before she...

Then I saw something. A girl with black hair, pulled into pigtails through a window. A girl of a familiar height, a familiar jacket, and a familiar pose. One that I could recognize anywhere. I also saw something red floating beside her. 

 The place looked almost abandoned from the outside, but from what I could see inside, somebody had spent some time cleaning up. 

I ran toward the building. If I had actually seen her, then that would mean that she was safe. Without a doubt, she was okay. I threw open the door,

And a pair of bluebell eyes zipped toward me in surprise.