No Matter What

Chapter Two [still on trial]

No Matter What

This story is still on trial for the time being. I meant write some more when April finishes cuz it's NaNoWriMo month y'all and that takes priority. I do have a few more chapters completed after this one and everything is planned but I don't want to proceed just yet. I promise they will get better after about chapter four (all these chapters were written three years ago so warning: bad)

Marinette POV

"Emma?" I called through the dark house as I dropped my keys on the bench. No reply. "Emma?" A look of panic crossed my face and as Adrien stepped beside me, his face mirrored mine.

"See, I told you something was wrong!" Adrien exclaimed, flailing his arms about. His face drained colour and he looked as though could cry. Then, for no reason, we heard the back door creak open. We slowly turned towards the sound.

"Emma?" I called again, crossing my fingers that we did not have to transform with weak kwamis. That never turns out well. I looked over to see Adrien doing the same. Soft padding of tip-toeing feet was heard, before the vibrant green eyes of our daughter came into view. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Adrien, being the over protective father he is, scooped her up into a hug. Emma took us by surprise. Instead of her usual embarrassed push away, she flung her arms around her father's neck and began sobbing into his shoulder. The hug sunk to the floor. I stood there for a second eyes wide. My daughter was crying. Why was my daughter crying!? Great. Now Adrien is crying too. I knelt down beside the two of them and looked Emma in the eyes.

"Emma? What's wrong, Minou? You know you can tell us anything," I asked. Only then did I get a good look at the state my daughter was in. Her eyes were bloodshot and tear soaked. Her hair was wet and unkempt. She was awfully tense. More importantly; she was sad. She pulled apart from the warm embrace to look at me.

"Are you still sick? Do we need to keep you home another day?" Adrien piped up after finally having ceased his tears.

"No... I – I want... to go – to go back... to school..." She defended. It killed me. It really did. She missed her friends. She missed her classes. But she was slurring and stuttering her speech, she came in crying and she looked like she was back from the dead. There was no way she could go to school like that.

"I'm sorry, Emma, but I can't send you to school like this," I placed a hand on her cheek and she leant into it.

"Please?" It broke my heart and I knew it was breaking Adrien's too.

"I'm sorry, but you're still sick. We'll take you to the doctor's tomorrow too," I leant forward to kiss her forehead, but she leant away. A look of angry determination tattooed across her face. Pain and confusion on mine.

"Goodnight," She stated in a monotone voice as she retreated to her room upstairs. A sniffle from behind me startled me out of my trance. I turned to see Adrien on the verge of tears again. I reached forward and cupped his face with my hand.

"Hey, Chaton, it'll be okay. She's fine," I wiped away his tears with my thumb.

"She's not fine..." He whimpered, letting more tears fall. So emotional! Jeez!

"I'm sure she'll be back to her usual bubbly self in the morning," I hope.

Charlotte POV

I kicked a loose stone on my way to school that morning. Or, I tried to. Instead I ended up tripping over the small stone and face planting the gravel. Only me. I picked myself up from the ground and looked at where I had landed. Tiny splashes of blood splattered on the gravel and my face stung a little. I stood up to study the rest of my body only to find, I had cuts on my hands, a grazed knee and a very sore ankle. I have only been awake for half an hour! I was not impressed with my clumsiness. I knew I had to get cleaned up before school or I would be interrogated. I supposed it was just my luck that the house I had murdered the gravel in front of was Emma's. My classmate and ultimate mega crush. Well, at least I knew her parents, so I could ask them for first aid.

Gathering up all my courage, I walked up to the front door, and gently knocked. Their house was sure one to look at. Not as big as her father's previous house (*cough* mansion *cough*) but was nowhere near as small as her previous place (bakery). With a small white picket fence, large yard, double story brick building, it looked like something from the old movies. It intimidated me when I first came over. My place was nowhere near as nice looking or homey or filled with a loving family – um, getting off track here. No one came to the door, so I knocked again. Suddenly, the door whipped open, almost whacking me on the head. The very tired and unkempt form of Emma's mother, Marinette, stood in front of me.

"Good morning, Miss Dupain-Cheng!" I greeted.

"Oh! Hi, Charlotte – oh good heavens! What have you done?!" She exclaimed after seeing my cuts and scrapes.

"Oh, just the usual 'face plant the ground'..." I said with a shrug.

"I know that feeling..." She looked off to the side as though she were remembering something.

"So... is everything okay? You look like you've been in a cat fight," I knew she was trying not to roll her eyes at the cat reference. She opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by a shrill scream.

"I am going to school!!" Came the enraged voice of Emma. Marinette cringed.

"Not cat fight. Emma fight," She sighed before ushering me inside. She grabbed a first aid kit before sitting me down on the couch. The house went quiet. Too quiet.

"Adrien? Adrien, chaton, are you okay with handling her?" After receiving no response, she panicked and ran upstairs. I followed suit. Once upstairs, neither Emma or her father were anywhere to be seen. That is before I spotted a pair of fingers on the windowsill.

"There!" I warned Marinette and we rushed over to look out. There, hanging around like it was second nature, was Emma's father, holding onto a window frame two stories high.

"Hey..." He flushed as Marinette pulled him in. "Oh, hey Charlotte."

Marinette looked at him expectantly.

"She got away and is on her way to school."

"Alright then," Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose. "Once I've fixed Charlotte up, I'll send her after Emma."

Wait, what? I didn't want to be dragged into...whatever this was! Too bad, Charlotte. Too bad.

After one ankle brace, seven band aids and a tub load of antiseptic cream, I was sent to chase after Emma.

Walking to school, I wasn't really looking for Emma. Instead, I was staring at the ground to ensure I didn't trip again. After seeing nothing but the pavement below, you can imagine my shock when pavement turned to raven locks. That was the first thing I noticed, her hair, before taking in the full scene before me. Emma Agreste was lying unconscious on the sidewalk before me.

"Emma?" I knelt down next to her, as I got my phone out to call her parents. She had a pulse, good. "Emma?!" I noticed she was now black and blue. Literally. Bruises covered most of her arms and legs. They can't be from just now, can they? It's too fast! She also had a small cut under her right eye, that was bleeding far more than it should have been. Suddenly, both her mother and father were next to me, in states of panic.

"Charlotte, call an ambulance."