A Miraculously Tangled Tale (Tangled AU) #miraculousladybugawards2019

Chapter 23

     Adrien was going to shout again when he finally saw something being tossed out the window of the tower and land in front of him. He realized quickly that it wasn't Marinette's hair like he'd been expecting, rather it was the ends of a rope that hung from the hook above the windowsill. Nevertheless, he grabbed hold of it without hesitation and was instantly pulled up into the tower. 

Upon climbing through the window, he was startled to find Befana holding the other end of the rope, giving him the impression that she was the one who had assisted him. 

"Are you Marinette's mother?" he asked quickly. 

Befana squinted her eyes and inspected Adrien's appearance from head to toe. It was then Adrien realized that his shirt and trousers were badly torn almost to shreds, and his face was covered in grime. 

"So you're the famous Chat Noir, eh?" Befana asked him with a raised eyebrow. 

Adrien's heart leaped. "How did you know I'm Chat Noir?"

"Because I'm part of the Akuma gang too."

What is she talking about? Adrien asked himself. A member of the Akuma gang raising Marinette? Did that mean....

"Are you keeping Marinette hostage?" Adrien demanded. 

"No," answered Befana. "Marinette is in her room, burning with a severe fever. She is in desperate need of a doctor. But," she whispered. "the master...he won't let me leave."

Adrien felt as if his chest would explode, and he found himself having trouble breathing after hearing what Befana had just told him. 

"You don't need to blame yourself for the current state that she's in," Befana said, though that was exactly what he felt like doing. "The most important thing right now is figuring out how to escape from here and giving Marinette immediate medical care. She had refused both food and water for a dangerous amount of hours, and I fear she'll grow weaker with every breath."

"Wh-why didn't she want to eat or drink anything?"

Befana looked away, making it so that Adrien couldn't see the pain clouding her eyes. "It's...complicated."

Before he could process in his mind what she meant, she placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a urging squeeze. "You must go quickly to her. See if you can find another exit and escape with Marinette to the nearest village you can find...I'll make an excuse to tell my master when he discovers she's missing."

He didn't need to be told twice. 

   In a flash, he had bounded up the stairs leading up to the top floor and bursted into Marinette's room, beads of sweat on his forehead and his heart thumping violently against his chest. His eyes fell on Marinette, her limp and frail body silently lying on the mattress, her midnight-colored hair laying all around her, and her chest rising with each raspy breath she took. His heart broke seeing her in this state, and he immediately went to her bedside and gently stroked her face. 

"Wake up, bugaboo," he whispered, trying desperately to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. 

Marinette's eyelids fluttered, and a second later she gave a low moan of pain. 

"Come on, m'lady," he coaxed softly, his hand still on her cheek. "I'm not some cliche Prince Charming who has to kiss the princess awake from some stupid spell...you of all people should know that."

Marinette's eyes finally opened fully, and upon seeing Adrien sitting next to her a small feeble smile grew on her face. "You're such an idiot," she managed to say, though her voice was barely audible. 

Relief flooded through Adrien's veins. He helped pull Marinette up to a sitting position before almost instantly folding her protectively in his arms. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, and they both stayed in this position for awhile...enjoying the comfort--as well as the need of being reunited--their embrace provided. 

"You have no idea how much I missed you," Adrien breathed. 

"I missed you too, kitty," Marinette said hoarsely, wrapping her arms tighter around his neck. 

"Well, of course you did. It's impossible not to miss me," chuckled Adrien. 

  They held each other a moment more before Adrien pulled back so that he could look at Marinette directly. 

"We need to leave," he told her. "I'm gonna get you out of here and find you a doctor. We have to hurry before it's too late and we get caught."

"But how..." coughed Marinette, her body rattling as she inhaled. 

She's getting worse, Adrien thought with alarm. 

He rose from the bed and scooped Marinette in his arms and headed for the door. "No idea...but I'll find a way."

Marinette tried to ignore her throbbing headache and aching muscles as she held tightly to Adrien while he thundered down the flight of stairs. What they saw on the bottom floor immediately struck them with a jolt of pure shock. 

Their eyes widened when they found Befana lying on the floor, her lifeless body drowned in a pool of blood. And standing over her with a bloodied dagger was none other than Hawk-Boss himself. 

(Author's Note):

Happy Holidays my fabulous fantastic and miraculous readers! :-D<3<3 

Whaddya think of that cliffhanger tho *smirk*

Anyways, yeah.....

So I did kinda had a little *cough* delay with getting this particular chapter out, and I really appreciate you guy's patience and understanding. Like seriously, I couldn't ask for better readers :-)

I guess I'm gonna be sticking to releasing updates on Sundays instead of Fridays...but who knows, maybe I'll surprise you with like ten chapters in one day sometime XD

(yeah....not happening :-P)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. And if you did, you already know the drill ;-)

Quick Question: What was your favorite chapter so far?

See you guys in the next chap...till then stay Miraculous!!

P.S. Only 4 more chapters to go!!