A Lost Kitty

Ch. 17 What have I done?!

Fanart artist: Coucher de Soleil

Adrien detransformed in his room and sunk down against his wall. Tears were streaming down his face. He had just walked away from one of the best things that had happened in his life. 

"Kid, why did you walk away from Marinette?" Plagg asked. 

"I did it to protect her. If she dates a superhero I'll just be putting her in danger. She'd always be a target for akumas," Adrien said. 

"Marinette's a strong girl, I'm sure she could handle it," Plagg said. 

"I know that... but even so, it would never work. Marinette can never know who Cat Noir is. This isn't fair to her. She's better off without me," Adrien said. 

"Adrien you and I both know that reeks of stinky cheese, and not the good kind. Marinette loves you and you love her, why are you letting her go?" Plagg asked. 

"She deserves better," Adrien said. 

"So what are you going to do then? Go back to pining for Ladybug? You were happy.  Marinette was happy. Don't you both deserve that?" Plagg asked. 

"This conversation is over Plagg," He said, threw Plagg a piece of cheese and walked away. 

Plagg watched Adrien walk away. He didn't know what to do. Adrien was the best owner he ever had. He wanted to help him, but he didn't know what to do. 

Plagg sat down on the dresser. He'd never felt so powerless in his entire life. He looked at the cheese that Adrien had thrown him before setting it aside. 

For once, he didn't have an appetite. 

Tikki was sitting by the windowsill. Marinette had finally fallen asleep after hours of crying. Tikki looked over to her. Her cheeks still stained from her tears, her eyes still red and puffy. Marinette whimpered in her sleep. 

"no... please don't... leave," She muttered. Fresh tears began falling from her eyes. 

Tikki was quiet. She flew over to Marinette and kissed her forehead. 

"Stay strong Marinette. You'll get through this," Tikki said and then curled up and went to sleep. 

The next morning when Marinette went to school, she was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. Alya was quick to notice her down mood. 

"Woah, Marinette, what happened? Yesterday you were so happy. It was sunshine and rainbows. Today it looks like a thunderstorm hit," Alya asked. 

"I... it's nothing," Marinette mumbled. 

"Girl, you and I know this is not nothing,"   Alya said. 

Marinette didn't meet Alya's eyes. 

"Okay, you're not ready to talk yet, but when you're ready, I'll be here for you," Alya said. The two of them walked into class together. Marinette slouched at her chair and laid her head in her arms. She just wanted to wake up from this living nightmare. 

Meanwhile, Adrien wasn't doing much better. He couldn't sleep at all last night, he just kept replaying Marinette's face as he was walking away. The shock and hurt that showed through her eyes were haunting him. This was all his fault. When he walked into class and saw Marinette resting her head in her arms. 

She looked so tired and drained. She shouldn't be at school, she should be at home resting. 

"Hey dude, you keep staring off into space. You good?" Nino asked.

"Yeah... things have just been a bit crazy recently,"  Adrien said and went to sit down. 

Nino looked at him with concern but knew Adrien wouldn't say anything more. The two sat down. Adrien tried to pay attention to the lesson, but it was impossible with all that was going through his head. At the end of the day, Adrien watched Mariette leave the class. He ran up to her and called out to her.