It Takes Time

Chapter 12

This is the shortest chapter of this entire story ;-; I'm so sorry.

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Panic coursed through Adrienne's veins. "It can't be broken. No, how can it be broken? That's impossible!" She cried out, falling onto her knees. There was a loud cracking noise as her knees hit the cold stone ground. She could feel her heart stop. She didn't know what to do. What could she do? "This- This can't be my ring! No, no, no-! It can't be. It has to be a fake. Just a look-a-like." She looked to Plagg, handing him the ring. "Tell me it's not mine."

Plagg took the ring and examined it. "It seems like the real thing. Can you transform?" He asked, though he knew that the chances of her being able to were quite slim.

Adrienne took the ring back and slid it on her pale, thin finger. She tried to stand up, leaning on the cracked corridor walls for support. She could barely see Plagg, but she could feel that he was frowning. Once she finally stood up, she looked over at Plagg and nodded. "A-Alright, I've got this..." She whispered, her voice threatening to shake, though she kept firm. 

Her legs were shaking, even thought she was putting most of her weight on the wall. She hadn't gotten any real exercise in months, it was bound to be difficult, and without the adrenaline that was there before to help her complete simple tasks, the weight of her own body was getting much heavier.

She felt disappointed in herself, barely being able to bring herself to blurt out three simple words. She wanted to scream, but her voice was coarse and she couldn't form a single sentence. She started to cry, tears streaming down her pale face and hitting the ground. She held her head down in shame, her blonde locks framing her face, covering most of her view, not that she could see anything to begin with. She wanted to run out of this place. She wanted to run and scream and hide. She wanted to find someone. She needed someone. Anyone.

She sobbed out, scared. She was helpless. She was a little girl all over again. Sitting in the empty hallways of her home, crying out for her father, but he never answered. She felt useless. Empty. Fragile. She didn't know what else to do. She needed help, and she knew that. She couldn't be her own hero. She couldn't save herself. She needed someone, and she wasn't afraid to admit that. She was only afraid that she wouldn't have anyone to help her.

She could hear Plagg talking to her, but she didn't make any attempt to listen to him. It was too hard. She was struggling to keep herself conscious, trying to listen and comprehend what he's saying would be too straining. It may seem like an easy task to most, but to her, in her weak state, it was a far more difficult task. She was dizzy and disoriented.

She knew she needed to focus, but she just couldn't. She need to figure out how to get out. She needed to transform. She needed to do so many things in that very moment, but she couldn't complete one. She couldn't focus. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't get out. She couldn't do anything except sit there, hoping that by some miraculous chance, someone would come out of no where and save her.

But that was too much to hope for.

She let herself slide down the wall and onto the floor. "Plagg, what am I going to do?" She asked, her voice barely even audible to her own ears. She doubted for a moment that Plagg could actually hear her and only knew that he did when he answered.

"I don't know." He muttered, resting on Adrienne's shoulder and trying o comfort her the best that he could. He was worried for her. He couldn't imagine being in her shoes and going through this like she was.

As soon as Adrienne closed her eyes, a quick gust of strong wind blew though the corridor. She snapped her eyes open, startled. Everything was dark. All of the lights were out, She wished she was Chat, at least that way she would be able to see using her night vision.

She could hear talking in the distance. It was too far to make out what they were saying, but she could hear multiple voices. It was probably the group of people that she had seen earlier when she was trying to find her ring.

Her ring...

She shook her head slightly, her hair being pushed from her face by this action. Her instincts were telling her to get up and investigate, but her body was telling her to stay completely still and not do anything. Just wait for danger to come to her. Scary to most, but Adrienne seemed quite indifferent about it at the moment.

She didn't know why she didn't care, but at the same time she did. If she were to try and fight against anyone, it would all be pointless, so there was no point in wasting all her energy. There wasn't much to waste. She was ready to accept her fate.

In fact, as the footsteps got closer, she didn't even say a word when she was lifted from the ground into a pair of strong arms. She assumed that it was a male's arms judging by the size of them. She couldn't make out his appearance, not in this lighting. She simply allowed the darkness to consume her as she blinked slower and slower until her eyes closed fully once again. She thought she heard him speak, but it was too hard to tell. She was starting to lose consciousness and wasn't putting much effort into staying awake.

She took a deep breath, shaking her head. No, I have to stay awake. Marin is alive out there. I need to find him. She reached her hand up and rested it on her 'attacker's' face, trying to see if she could identify him by his features, not that it would be an easy task. Unable to tell from his face, she moved to his hair, it was slightly long, more shaggy and unkempt. She was caught off-guard when she heard him laugh. That was not the response she was expecting. She was expecting him to be a little frustrated by her touching his face the way she was, but instead, all she received was a laugh. But that was helpful, seeing as though she recognized the laugh. She didn't know from where, and she didn't know if it was friendly or not, but she did recognize it. It was a laugh she knew. And his laugh wasn't a sadistic one, as her kidnapper's was, but instead it was light, happy, and relieved? Was that what she was hearing in his laugh? Relief?

Adrienne yanked on his hair and muttered a coarse, "stop." She was flabbergasted to have him actually stop in his tracks as she had requested. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus in on his face, but there was nothing. It was absolute and utter darkness surrounding them, and she couldn't make out anything. She could feel him tense though as the chatter she had heard from the distance earlier started to get louder, indicating that they were getting closer.

"Shit." The unknown man mumbled as he started off down the corridor, taking a turn at some point. She didn't know how he could make his way through all of this without being able to see. Unless he had night vision, which she was quite sure he didn't have.

His main objective was another thing that Adrienne was definitely questioning internally. Where was he taking her and why was he so scared of those people over there? What were their intentions? Did he know what they were planning? Did he know them?

She didn't know this man, or so she thought. And she couldn't determine quite yet if she even wanted to fight back against him. She felt her strength start to come back to her. Definitely not enough to fight, but maybe, just maybe, enough to run away. If this man was a foe, not a friend, she didn't think she could survive any type of damage from this man. She started to struggle in his arms, hoping that she could get out of his arms and make a run for it. 

He started to laugh softly, though it was very quiet, seeing as though he was being cautious of the other people who had possibly heard them. "Adrienne, please stop struggling, I need to get you out of here, and that's hard to do when you're freaking out."

Adrienne blinked a few times, hoping to adjust to the darkness and see his face. His voice was recognizable, and that was all she knew. Just a voice. Just his voice. The voice that she heard every night. The one she heard in her dreams - the ones that turned to nightmares oh so quickly. It was torture to hear a voice so similar. It wasn't 100% spot on from her dreams, the one from her dreams was softer, kinder. His voice was too harsh and coarse, but other than that it was quite similar. 

"I need to know--" She started to speak, but she was cut off by the man's lips pressing against hers. Soft. Warm. She recognized it almost immediately. It had been so long since she felt this feeling. This feeling of warmth and comfort and... love. There was no doubt about it now. It was him. 

"Marin..."