Missing My Other Half

Vanilla Sky.

The wind whipped outside the Dupain-Cheng bakery and the sky held dark clouds that dripped with a solemn, steady rhythm.

Marinette was running late to school. Again. She had slept right through her alarm and the constant calls coming from her mother downstairs. An akuma fight had stretched into the long hours of night, draining the blue-eyed heroine of any energy she still possessed. But even with the weary and beaten feeling of her body, Marinette struggled to find the sleep her eyes so desperately needed and begged for. Often times she would find herself closing her eyes and failing to drift off peacefully. In fact when she finally did so that night, the raven haired girl found herself trapped in a restless state with a mind full of nightmares.

"Marinette? Marinette you need to wake up!" Said a tiny voice said, attempting to wake the exhausted figure before her.

"What is it Tikki?" she replied groggily. Wanting nothing more than to ignore the chirps in her ears and instead fall back into a dreamless sleep.

"Oh nothing. Just that school starts in less than five minutes!"

5 minutes! Marinette sat bolt upright in her bed, internally screaming at herself for threatening her career as a student, and hastily pulling her things together.

Tikki watched her chosen glide back and forth across her bedroom, whilst successfully ignoring the topic the Kwami knew they both needed to discuss.

Sucking in a sharp breath to brace herself, the little, pink creature spoke. "I-I noticed you tossing and turning all night." Tikki stated meekly, worry gracing her voice. "Are you having nightmares again?"

With that Marinette stopped what she was doing and stared at her Kwami, considering her answer. She didn't want to add more flames to the predicament than it already had, but knowing Tikki, the Kwami would be caused more unease if Marinette neglected to tell her the truth. In all certitude it had been days since Marinette had had her last truly agonizing nightmare. The duo had both believed the tensions were slowly alleviating themselves, but that proved not to be the case.

"...Yes." she replied hesitantly, knowing that word would make her Kwami even more concerned. "And it always ends the same." Marinette paused as her voice began to shake and tears began brimming in her eyes. "I'm too weak to save Chat and... he dies."

After the short sprint to the school, Marinette was able to successfully sneak into class without Ms. Bustier noticing. However, She received worried glances from most of her classmates. They could all see the dark circles faceting themselves under her eyes, and her bluebell orbs themselves seemed to be absent of the light everyone seemed to love and adore about the girl.

But, none was more worried about her than Tikki. Although Marinette could pretend the situation wasn't a big deal, her Kwami could not. She hated hearing the cries and screams of her chosen and blamed herself for not being able to do more for her.

Because every Kwami was able to sense one another's presence, Plagg and Tikki had known the identity of the each other's Miraculous holder since the beginning. But could not risk telling their chosen due to the dangers experienced in the past. It was forbidden.

Checking to make sure she could enter Adrien's bag undetected, Tikki silently flew the short distance with nothing less than determination on her mind. "Plagg!" She whisper screamed at the tiny, black cat. But he didn't budge. She rolled her eyes and began tapping him consistently, earning a small groan from his little, sleeping figure that was curled up in a ball at her feet. We need to talk about Marinette." She spoke with tenacity in her voice.

"Ughh I was dreaming of my sweet camembert. I would purrfer if you didn't bug me at the moment." He snickered playfully at his own joke, but failed to receive a giggle from his friend. "Hey what's wrong?" He asked, his eyes softening.

While they weren't supposed to discuss the personal lives of their holders, Tikki could no longer stand by and watch her chosen go through so much pain whilst having no idea how to find a solution. She couldn't do this alone. "Marinette's been having nightmares about Chat, and she's really starting to worry me. She hasn't been sleeping and she's always distracted. I don't know how to help her." Tikki stated with tears forming at the corners of her lilac eyes.

Upon seeing his best friend in agony, Plagg's heart cracked with each tear of hers that fell. "She will be okay." He said, attempting to convince her, but knowing it didn't give much help as Tikki still refused to look up from her tiny, pink hands.

"All the Ladybugs have experienced trauma regarding their Chats, but never this bad. These dreams make her weaker in battle. I've noticed her lacking focus on the akuma because she's busy watching Chat, trying to make sure he doesn't take a hit. What if Marinette becomes so fearful for his safety that she forgets to watch out for herself? What if something bad happ-"

Tikki was cut off by the tears pooling from her own eyes, falling like waterfalls. It hurt Plagg to see how much pain this was causing her. Not knowing what he could do he decided to just hold her. To pull her into his small arms as his way of telling her that she was not alone in this. To let her know that he would be there for her in whatever way she needed.  "Look I don't know what's going to happen, but I know that little girl is strong, and she can get through this. I mean she's got you looking out for her so that makes her the luckiest kid in the world."

Tikki wanted to believe him so bad that she was practically forcing herself to take Plagg's words as truth. And with that she gave a small, half hearted smile to her friend and left to return to her hiding place in Marinette's bag.