Glass and Thorns [Miraculous]

fourteen // she's dying, idiot.

Adrien's POV

"M-Marinette?!" I stutter, scrambling backwards until my back hits a wall.

"I told you love, I'm not Marinette anymore. I'm Shadow Princess," She replies, smirking at us.

"You've never called me love," I comment.

She leans in close to my face. "There's a first time for everything isn't there?"

Suddenly the situation hits me. Hard. Marinette is Ladybug. How on earth could I possibly cure her from the akuma without Ladybug?! I need to stall. I need to know if I can get closer to her. I need to know if I can distract her!

"Marinette, please, if you can hear me..." I whisper as I place my hand on Marinette's cheek, "... please know that you're stronger than this."

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. When I can finally get a good look at her, I gasp. Her style is the complete opposite of the normal Marinette's style. She's wearing ripped fishnets with a black skirt and black combat boots. Her eyes are a piercing bright pink. She has a floating golden crown and a black heart under her eye which pairs with her oversized hoodie. For an akuma, she looks surprisingly... casual.

"Why do you look like that? That can't be easy to battle in," I notice, carefully choosing my words, knowing that if I say one wrong thing, I could be dead in an instant.

She smiles and looks down on me, her face filled with confidence and pure evil. She simply crosses her arms and places one finger on her lip and smirks.

"I'm not going to battle. I'm going to go undercover. After all, all he needs now is Chat Noir's ring."

I bite my lip and instinctively hide my right hand behind my back.

Suddenly a purple butterfly outline appears in front of her face and illuminates her features with a bright violet color. Hawkmoth is talking to her, I realize. After a second or two, the outline disappears, and Shadow Princess glares at me.

"Hawkie says he doesn't want me to harm you. I don't know why you're special, but either way, I would watch my back if I were you. Just because the old man doesn't want me to harm you doesn't mean I won't."

Hawkmoth doesn't want to harm me? I'm his fucking enemy. Why on earth would he want to protect me. Am I special to him? Does he know me in real life? Does he have better plans for me?

I shake my head and jump up quickly, realizing I don't have time to waste. I reach my hand out and aim to grab Marinette's earrings. I can bet you anything that's where the akuma is.

She swiftly dodges it and grabs my wrist, throws me over her shoulder, and slams my back to the ground. She then pins me to the ground by straddling my waist and holding my wrists to the floor.

"Don't play with me, Adrien. Do you know why my name is Shadow Princess?" She whispers into my ear.

I stay silent.

"Well, I have the power to travel through shadows, but that's not all," she giggles. "I can send whoever I want to the shadow realm, with no way out~"

"Is that what you did to your parents?!" I cry, horrified.

She cocks her head and sneers with a smile. "They were in the way."

"The Marinette I love wouldn't do this!"

"Too bad I don't love you," she giggles, then hops off me.

I jump up and try to reach for her earrings, but she twirls on her toes and gracefully dodges my grasp. She simply backflips and jumps backwards. I freeze in place, expecting her to hit the wall behind her, but instead she simply winks and dives into a shadow resting on the wallpaper like a portal. I stand alone in the house, shocked.