Broken for You

Chapter 11: Patience

Adrien's PoV

Two whole weeks. That may not seem like much to most people, but to Adrien, it was agony. He had taken to personally punishing himself for what he did to Marinette, and while it helped to distract him, it wasn't helping anyone figure out Ladybugs identity.

On top of all his inner turmoil, he was also constantly having to fight akumas. Both Alya and Adrien were getting annoyed at the insane amount of akumas that had popped up. Of course, it was clear that Hawkmoth had noticed Ladybug's disappearance and was using this to his advantage. When Adrien found out that Alya had told Nino everything, he had been irritated but understanding. His help had been very appreciated over the past fourteen days. They were alternating who had Akuma duty, but still, everyone was so tired. It was time to pull in one more recruit even though they hated having to.

School had been very awkward without everyone's favorite class representative(minus Chloe), everyone was feeling the absence but no one said anything about it. Today, Chloe had even had the nerve to ask Alya how Marinette was doing, almost sounding as if she cared. But since they didn't have any other options, Alya told her and invited her to her house to study after school. Chloe was shocked but accepted the invite(Only after hearing that Adrien would be there too).

Adrien could see how hard this was on Alya, but she had Nino there for her, so he wasn't worried. She wasn't as dumb as him. She would never hate herself for something she hadn't done.

But that's just it. He had done something. It was his fault. No matter how many time Alya would tell him that he did everything he could, he still denied it. Everything would be great right now if Adrien had ensured Marinettes safety before going after the Akuma. Instead, he had been selfish and rude and left her there. At least that's how he remembered it. Others would say otherwise.

Alya's house was crowded with people that evening. Adrien was barely able to come because his father had sent Nathalie to check on him just as he was leaving through the window. There was no point in asking anymore, he knew what they would say. Nathalie didn't open the door, so Adrien had yelled at her and asked to be left alone for the evening. For whatever reason, she agreed and walked away.

For the first time in two weeks, no Akuma attacks occurred today. It was a relief, if only small. Nino called him over to Alya's room, and Adrien saw that Chloe was already spread out across the bed giving everyone disgusted looks.

"If you want to leave, then go. But if you want to help us save Ladybug then please stop looking at us like garbage and listen," stated Adrien. Everyone turned to stare at him. It was like they had never heard him speak like that before. Did he really sound that depressed? He needed to work on that, no one had time to worry about him with everything else going on.

"Of Course, Adrikins! But are you okay? You sound like a zombie!"

"Well, staying up all night fighting Akuma's isn't the best thing for my sleep schedule, y'know."

Chloe gasped. "What!! What the heck do you mean by that?!"

God, she was so dense. "You know exactly what I mean. I'm Chat Noir. Alya is Rena, and Nino is Carapace. Wasn't that obvious? Why else would we be so determined to help Ladybug?"

"Uh, well, um, I don't know!! What's wrong with Ladybug anyways?"

This was going to be a long night, thought Adrien, sighing. "She disappeared three weeks ago, don't you remember?"

"Oh, right. But nobody knows what happened, so how do we know she needs saving?"

That was a good question. And for once, Adrien didn't really have a good answer. Really the only thing he knew was that Ladybug would never shirk her duties and definitely wouldn't ignore his calls. It just wasn't like her. Plus there was the fact that the Kwami's said that something was up. Really, that was their only proof.