Into Another World (kotlc/mlb au)

Chapter 4

Sophie rushed to hold Adrien steady as his knees buckled.

"I can't do this," he said, already seeing his hands shaking. He could feel his anxiety beginning to skyrocket, like he'd just been taunted by Bethany. Only this was worse. "I... I can't do this."

"Hey, hey, hey," Sophie knelt down and placed her hands on his shoulders, forcing their eyes to meet. "Look at me. You have to breathe."

He tried to do just that. "It's not working!"

Sophie shook him lightly. "Adrien, you can't let fear control your life. Look, deep breath in. Please."

He nodded and sucked in as much air as he could.

"Deep breath out."

He blew out all the air from his lungs, feeling more and more empty inside.

Sophie slowly coached him as he fought to regain his breathing. Tears still cut through, but he finally felt in control of his breathing again. That was the good bit, at least.

"I can't leave this all behind," he whispered.

"You don't need to," Sophie said. "I can erase your memory, right now. Make myself never exist in your mind. You'll go back as a normal boy and Aelesia will just be a myth."

"But that's the problem, I can't think of Aelesia as a myth. Part of me knows this is where I belong. But... I'm scared. I don't know what to expect."

"None of us do."

Adrien looked up into Sophie's large brown eyes again, finally noticing the flecks of gold. It was actually quite pretty.

"We've never had an Aelesian on Earth for so long, especially in the age we're at right now," she continued. "This is new to all of us. But we're ready to face whatever happens."

She offered a hand as she stood up.

Adrien took one last breath for courage.

Then he took her hand and he took his first steps away from his old world. 

They stopped right back at one of the Pont Alexandre III lanterns.

"Why are we here again?" Adrien asked, feeling numb inside. He'd already gotten to witness Sophie sending out some kind of telepathic thing where everyone was in a trance, their memories of Adrien fading.

He wasn't sure if he should've been impressed or creeped out that she could do it.

"Well, Aelesia and Earth aren't as connected as they used to be, but that doesn't mean we're literally separate worlds," Sophie got closer to one of the ornate crystals.

"Is there a hidden compartment that leads to Aelesia?"

"Wait, what?"

"Like in the Narnia books. The kids went through a wardrobe and then boom, they were in Narnia."

She giggled yet again. "I'm sure this will amaze you more than this wardrobe to Narnia you speak of."

She took the single faceted crystal and pressed it against the crystal on her choker, before leading it to the crystal on the lantern. All three began to sparkle and Adrien watched in shock and awe as a swirl of bright lights and colors flooded the air. He could see faint markings of a forest.

"Is that Aelesia?" he asked, eyes glowing with wonder.

"Yes," Sophie said, still smiling. "That's Aelesia. All you have to do is step through."