Always Find You

Chapter 30 - "No Turning Back"

  Marinette's screams make it sound as if she is dying all over again. Adrien winces and puts his hands firmly over his ears, "Make it stop! It's hurting her!"

Gabriel seems preoccupied himself, but answers, "She's healing from the inside. It's painful for a soul to reunite with a body, just as it is for it to leave in the first place."

Adrien can't stand the sound, but his father seems completely unaffected by it, almost used to it.
'Don't forget,' He thinks to himself, 'even though he's your father, he's still the man who did that to her in the first place.' He removes his hands from his ears and finds himself clenching his fists for what seems like forever before Marinette's screams finally dim to a whimper.

"Is... is she alive?" He cautiously asks Gabriel.

"See for yourself." The man snaps his fingers, and Marinette slowly floats down onto her feet in front of Adrien, her hair and dress still billowing as if they've forgotten the laws of gravity. She steps closer to him dizzily and holds onto his arm. (Whether for stability or to make sure he's real, Adrien isn't sure.)

He gently puts his hands on her cheeks and looks into her bluebell eyes, searching through their fogginess for any familiarity, "My Lady?"

She looks confused for a second as if the words were echoing towards her across a large cavern, but realization hits her and the light seems to return to her eyes, "Mon chaton."

As soon as the words leave her mouth, Adrien pulls her in for a hug as tight as he can, swearing to himself that he's not going to cry at the feeling of seeing her alive again. He quickly pulls away again, though, looking her up and down, "Are you okay? Are you still hurt?"

"Adrien, I'm fine," Marinette's eyes glisten as her tears start building up too, "I'm okay."

He hugs her tightly again. Both of them take in the smell and feel of the other, and refuse to let go in case one should disappear a second time.

"You're... you're still hurt, aren't you?" She asks, noting the Carapace suit on him.

Adrien feels a pang of guilt for wearing it in the first place instead of Marinette, "Oh, yeah. I guess it's easy to forget with everything."

"You need to get some help, you can't just-"

"I hate to interrupt," Gabriel's voice seems to have gone back to normal, "But we do have other issues at hand."

They both turn to look at him only to find him sitting slouched on the ground.

"Dad?" That felt weird coming off of Adrien's tongue.

"My wish was for you to be happy, son," He grasps his chest in pain, "If that means trading my life for hers so you'll forgive me-"

"Wait wait wait, what do you mean 'trade your life?'"

"You didn't know?" Marinette says, putting her hand on his shoulder, "The universe always needs to balance out; wishing for love makes someone hate, wishing to be beautiful makes someone ugly, and wishing someone back to life..."

"Means someone needs to die." The realization hits Adrien in the gut, "But that someone doesn't have to be you, does it, Father?" He asks, turning to him.

"I've made my decision already," Gabriel groans, "There's no turning back now."