Venom: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Adrien-Chapter 20

Everything seemed to come back slowly from the pounding in his head to the fire in his lungs. He felt so weak—almost too weak to even open his eyes. What was going on? Why did he feel so awful?

Little by little, he was able to move his fingertips, then his toes, and finally his eyelids started to flutter. Adrien thought back on what happened to make him feel so horrible. Was he dead? Is this what death felt like? Because when he envisioned death, the first thing he imagined was his mother waiting for him on the other side, ready to embrace him. However, he didn't see his beautiful mother. All he felt was fire.

Flashes of the night's events flew through his mind at an overwhelming speed until he saw everything—the moths, the necklace, Ladybug's tears.

Adrien gasped and his eyes flew open. "Ladybug! I need to speak to Ladybug!"

A pair of delicate hands held onto his. "Adrien! Calm down. Everything's okay. You're okay."

He shook his head as his heart beat furiously against his ribcage. "No! I have to talk to her! I have to warn her!"

"Shhh..." the voice said, and now the delicate hands wove through his hair just like his mom used to do, instantly calming him. Adrien forced himself to take several deep breaths, and then everything came crashing down on him at once. Before he could stop them, tears escaped the corners of his eyes and sobs forced their way out of his throat. Everything was on fire. Everything.

"I've got you," the female voice said and comfortingly wrapped him in an embrace. "The nurse said you'd probably cry when you came out of it."

Nothing made sense. Adrien didn't understand...

"Marinette," Adrien said hoarsely as he weakly wiped his tears away and looked up. He had almost been expecting to see his mom, so he wasn't sure why he felt so surprised to see Marinette instead. But seeing her made him feel so sad. "I'm so sorry. I wanted our date to be perfect but everything went wrong. I feel awful that nothing went as planned." He put a hand to his throat and winced. "I feel like everything's on fire."

The sweet girl reached over to the table beside the hospital bed and helped him drink water from a straw, and the water immediately helped take away the pain in his throat. He couldn't believe it. The moths were so powerful! They were...venomous—nothing like the moths he remembered years ago.

"You don't have to feel bad," Marinette said as she ran her fingers through his hair once again. "I had fun while it lasted. Besides, I'm more worried about you. All the doctors expected you to die."

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows together at the thought. "What happened?"

She shrugged. "Ladybug and another man came into your room and made everyone else get out. Next thing we knew, you were on the mend... You scared me, Adrien."

It felt so comforting when Marinette laced her fingers with his, making his heart beat fast despite how weak he felt.

"I've been told I have a knack for getting in trouble," Adrien joked, but winced when laughing hurt his lungs.

"I don't doubt it, Adrien. Not at all."

He took a moment to glance around the room but what he saw surprised him. Cookies and presents and cards and balloons filled nearly every square inch of the room. It looked as if he had just walked into a kid's birthday party. "What...?"

"You've had a lot of visitors," Marinette explained as she squeezed his hand. "Everyone wants you to get better."

"Everyone?" he asked skeptically. "I didn't think that people cared about me all that much."