The Power I Possess - A Miraculous Ladybug Adrienette Fanfiction [ON HOLD]

N I N E

149 hours, 54 minutes and 34 seconds until explosion.

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Marinette  walked to Starbucks. She tugged Nathaniel's black coat around her body basking in its satisfying warmth. His satisfying warmth.

How is it possible to have met a friend that you haven't seen in half a decade and find that he still cares about you?

She pondered on the answer, her heart beating in tempo with her determined strides. She turned the corner, soon crossing the distance between the street and Starbucks.

Forgiveness, Marinette answered her previous question as she pushed through the doors, grateful that the store had a wonderfully warm atmosphere. Her cheeks began to colour again reviving from the previous pale state. As they thawed, she gave her order to the cashier at the counter, the she sat down, removing her coat and waited for Nathaniel.

There was a pause. A pause in time. In her time. Everything around her froze. A child, whose mother was fumbling to get a napkin, was licking his spilt milk off of the table, the cheeky grin permanent on his face. A waitress, juggling orders on two trays, froze too. Everything did.

Marinette's brows knitted together, confusion and panic written largely on her face. What... the hell?!

There were two things wrong, the obvious; time had stopped and the strange; she still moved. Marinette fumbled, eventually getting up and rushing to the waitress juggling her orders. She hesitantly laid a finger on the girl's cheek, pushing hard. The waitress didn't move a bit. She still had a body weight, she wasn't inanimate. There were tired red rings around the waitress's hazel eyes, worry lines faintly sketched on her brow. Worse, the girl had a small round bump on her abdomen.

Marinette sympathised her.

She stepped back, her eye's still worried and confused. Was everything like this? She glanced out the window to see cars in mid-turn and pedestrians, their actions paused.

Marinette frowned. All of Paris was like this, except her. Worry lines now appeared on her face as her brow creased, more questions remained. Who did this? How could they have done this? When will everything return? - if it would.

Before she could do any more investigating, time continued and everyone went along there business. The mother had finally found a napkin, but her son had already licked up all the milk. The young,overworked and pregnant waitress looked up at Marinette beside her, conflicted, but then remembered her manners, "Excuse me, miss," she shuffled out of sight, almost dropping a plate on her tray.

The soft chimes of a bell rung through in the distance, slamming Marinette back onto Earth. She blinked and looked up. Nathaniel. His lean build was almost swallowed by the large black coat that swept over his shoulders. After scanning the room, his eyes landed on Marinette, lighting up instantly, flashing a brighter shade of turquoise.

Dazed, Marinette blinked a couple of times, finally registering the hold Nathaniel had on her arms. "You okay?" he asked, feeling as though Marinette was never okay. Another valid reason to answer his questions that day.

She nodded and smiled, pushing the previous happenings to the back of her mind temporarily. Assured, Nathaniel hung up both of their coats, and walked off to the front counter to relay his order to the cashier.

As she sat in a booth, she occupied herself with her thoughts. The wrong ones. The pregnant waitress and her busy self poured dreadfully slow into her mind. The images of a deadly silent and frozen Paris frightened her. How could any of this be possible? Not the waitress, but the lifeless scene of her city. Only one person was able to do that. Hawkmoth... but how was he doing this? They had killed him in battle, hadn't they?

The most silliest of explanations ran through her head - mind control, reanimation, faked deaths - all out of panic and worry. Her heart suddenly joined NASCAR and sped through laps. Although her resolutions were absurd, they were possible with the miraculous magic that still lingered in Paris' air after 'The Day That Shall Not Be Named', anything was possible.

A moment before Marinette made a movement to stand up and leave, Nathaniel returned with an easy smile and a tray of both of their orders. "Ready?" He asked, sitting down. Marinette too a sip of her double shot expresso, settling down again, and clearing her mind. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"We'll go back and forth," he suggested and she nodded in agreement, "Let's start with something easy." They took simultaneous deep breaths and Nathaniel began," What did you and Adrien do after high-school?" A small smile broke across Marinette' face. Definitely easy... "We moved in together, got jobs and continued dating. It was nice, even though we weren't getting any sleep with our deadlines." "Relatable." They chuckled together. I miss talking to him like this, so easy, relaxed and comfortable. Playing 20 questions with an old friend at Starbucks...

"Okay, your turn," Nathaniel nodded once in her direction. "Uh, how did you and Chloe get together?" A red tint the shade of his hair coated Nathaniel's cheeks and ears. "On eye stan," he whispered. Marinette's brow creased with curiosity. "A what?" There was a pause of deliberation and a battle between his expressions before he settled on a defeated one. "One night stand at a party."

Marinette's eyes largened to saucepans in shock and incredulity, but a coy smile teased her lips, betraying her expression. Nathaniel ducked, trying to hide his flaming red face with the bran muffin her had ordered. Figuring it would be rude to laugh out loud, Marinette bit down on her donut to silence her intention to guffaw into tearful laughter.

"Yeah," Nathaniel continued to answer in full," so-we uh, we had to date for her, um ... father's suspicions," he suddenly smiled softly, "but our bond grew, it became real." Marinette froze. She chewed and swallowed her donut chunk slowly. "I get it," she said, nodding," Mr Agreste never wanted Adrien to be with someone like me," she tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. After a moment of silence she whispered slowly and almost inaudibly, "Real." She smiled.

Nathaniel smiled warmly at her, offering his own understanding. Marinette's head shot up to change the subject, "Your turn!" Her smile brightened when he chuckled, pondering on a question. The smile - and expression - on his face fell and was replaced with a serious ridge on his forehead.

"What did you do after we broke up?" His tone was low and strained, painful.

Well, that escalated quickly, Marinette commented to herself.

There was a moment. A moment she remembered. A flashback. A rewind. She had the scene playing out in her head. The normality of the day, then a disagreement. A space. Some kisses of forgiveness. A misunderstanding. A rumour.

A fight.

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Hello!

This was originally was supposed to continue to Marinette's flashback to the fight but I thought that would be tiring and wouldn't give an element of suspense. So, 1112 words in this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! The flashback will continue in the next chapter. 

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~cakeanddonuts.