The Bracelet

Chapter 8

I wish this day would start over.

I wouldn't yell at him. I would tell him that I was hurt by what he had done, but that I still loved him. That I always would, no matter what. I would hug him, and then we'd go to the bakery and make endless sweets and watch movies until they were done baking and the sun disappeared from the sky.

That's what could've happened.

Now I'm sitting across the table from a man who doesn't remember our Harry Potter movie marathon. A man who doesn't remember our matching onesies or how hard he'd fought for love from his father. A man who I love with and without the mask. 

Now he knows me from neither, with and without  the mask.

"Ok." 

My head turns back to him and he's looking to the floor with his eyes blinking every few seconds. I could never imagine being told I had died, especially so nocholaunotly. Master Fu had his ways, and his motives. 

Silence hung in the air for a few painfully long moments. I felt the lump in my throat shift around, but not disappear. I detested its existence. Then, the silence was broken.

"Why did you bring me back?"

My heat shattered. The conversation we had that one rainy day in the bakery echoed through my ears. The way he'd held onto me like I was a life raft in the center of the ocean, the way it wasn't just the rain seeping through my clothes; it was his tears too. He had told me how he felt as if he had no worth, that he could do nothing right in the eyes of his father. That he was floundering like a fish out of water. That was homeschooled Adrien.

But he had found his identity in Chat, in the people he met at school. He knew people cared; he knew I cared.

Now I barely existed. A years worth of memory reduced to a few minutes.

I realized suddenly, he felt invisible once again. The path he'd come on has been torn up. He's hurt, but not from the accident. 

From his mind.

He wondered why he'd been brought back if he felt so unloved.

"Because I couldn't bear for you to be gone." 

I didn't even recognize my voice. It cracked and faltered, but the point was made. And he had heard me. I turned to look at him with tears at the corners of my eyes. Honestly, they hadn't left since I confronted him.

That felt like a year ago, but every time I still think, I still hope that I'll see the Adrien I know staring back at me. It's only been an hour.

An hour.

He stared at me with slightly wide eyes; wider than they'd been before. The silence had returned. I knew not what to say or what to do, how would one follow that up? I had just said we weren't together; and maybe we hadn't been.

But we weren't just friends. 

"Now what?"

He looked at me as he spoke, but I knew he was asking Fu. I tried to convey my emotions through my eyes, to let him feel the things I couldn't say. 

I don't think he understood. 

"Now, you start over. You'll tell people that you fell and hit your head, and because of this, you lost your memory. It'll be weird, but explainable. As for the people who witnessed the crash, we will say it was another akumatized victim, only but an illusion, and that everything is completely fine."

Adrien nodded yet again, I honestly wished he wouldn't. I somewhat wish that he would be mad, erupt in confusion and anger. At least I could be there for him. I guess I could now, but I'd look silly comforting someone who didn't exactly look like they needed comforting.

"Where's my phone?"

I feel the weight of his cell in my pocket, it escaped the crash with only a small crack near the bottom. 

"I have it." I say softly, fishing the chunk of technology from my jacket. 

I hand it to him but he doesn't make eye contact with me. Taking it into his hands, he turns on the screen and furrows his brows. "Don't know the password."

With that, I feel a presence to my left. Turning, I find a smiling Tikki. I could tell it was forced, but it was still appreciated. I noticed that Plagg and Wayz had come back with Tikki after being gone doing who knows what. 

"2428"

Adrien turns to the black floating creature, gives him an odd stare, then turns back to tap the 4 number combination into the phone. I see his face shine brighter and conclude he was able to open his phone and find his contacts. 

"Marinette can walk you home and help get you settled, we can always meet up some other time and discuss more." 

I nod at Fu and give him a weak smile. It's be nice to have some time with Adrien to talk.

"I'm actually going to call a friend to pick me up, hope that's okay Marinette?"

The smile is wiped off my face in an instance and I deadpan. A friend? Maybe Nino? But he wouldn't remember him...

"Yeah, of course. Whatever you need." I say softly.

Without acknowledging my response, he clicks something on his phone, rises from the chair, and smiles as I assume the call is answered.

"Hey Chlo!"

My stomach drops as I heard the words I had the first day of school, when we all met Adrien.

"Yeah yeah... somethings happened. It's been a while? Yeah..... I have an explanation.... Could you come pick me up? Of course I still have your locat- well maybe not. I'll add it back.... Absolutely? Uh...." he pauses and looks to Fu. "Where are we?"

Fu answers and Adrien and he repeats the address to who I could only assume is Chloe Bourgeois. 

"Perfect! Yeah... I'll see you in five!..... Love you too, Chlo." He ends the call with a click and slides the device into his pocket. 

I make eye contact with Plagg and he frowns. I try not to do the same, but I know I've failed when I feel the sides of my mouth pull down. 

This will take some getting use to.

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Here we go! How are we feeling? Hopefully good. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.... see you in the next one! Leave a vote or comment if you liked the chapter... I love hearing what everyone thinks!

- chatattack <3