Chapitre 28: Finding Out
Adrien's POV
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Slamming my bedroom door behind me, I slid down the wall and sat on the floor cowering my disgraceful face into my knees. I couldn't help but sob as my brain filled with emotions and thoughts I didn't want to have anymore.
Why did Marinette have to go behind my back to Ladybug?! Why couldn't she just forget what she heard and still loved me as Chat Noir?!
I clenched my fists and began pacing the room again. With each step, trying to clear my head of these thoughts against the two girls I've loved most in the world next to my mother.
Then again...Ladybug is who ultimately told the Miraculous holder about how I revealed myself to her! If we were partners why didn't she keep it between us? We could've been great together, we had just confirmed our feeling for each other too!
I stopped pacing as I just realized what slipped through my mind.
"But I'd given up on her by then..." the realization settled in my chest, weighing on my heart as it crumbled under the pressure.
No! I love Marinette, she's not at fault for all of this! I should've just told her as Adrien that I liked her back then none of this would've happened...
Picking up my phone I go to call Marinette but stop myself before being too rash.
But that kiss...
Turning towards my walls that were covered in posters of Ladybug I softened my grasp.
Milady looked so graceful in her red ball gown, making her sky blue eyes pop from behind her crimson mask. The way she spoke and touched my shoulder as we danced made my heart stop without me even realizing. I was so concerned with finding Marinette that I didn't realize I was slipping right back into Ladybug's fingers. Her curled hair on that evening made my ears flush red just thinking about each strand entangling me closer. Her glimmering red lips...oh how I wish I could just—!
Without hesitation I slammed my phone on the ground shattering the screen. Glass spewed in every direction across my carpeted floor. But I didn't care, it's my fault anyway, just like everything else! I paced my room, stepping on some shards making me flinch. I stopped and watched as blood started to deep through my socks. Then, as if she was calling out to me, I turned back to face her.
Staring at the wall, I fell on a photograph of my friends and I all at school. We were all smiles and silly faces but Marinette. No, she was looking away from the camera.
Tracing my finger with her eyesight, I found the source of her loving stare. There, in the picture, I stood next to Nino with my arm sling around his shoulder with a big grin across my face. Her blush was already for me before I even noticed her as more than a friend.
Turning away from my wall I went back to the window and looked out at the street below.
I'm sure she had her reason for talking to Ladybug about this. Marinette is an honest and trustworthy girl. I should blame her for something she couldn't have known would happen!
Feeling eyes on the back of my neck, I turned to the various posters and pictures of Ladybug.
But she...she knew! How could she do this to me?!
Striding across the room, I stretched my arms up and grasped the thick paper that displayed the girl I looked up to the most. Without a second thought, I tore them down in shards and threw them somewhere, anywhere that I wasn't!
Piece after piece, poster after poster, my wall was finally bare as I collapsed to my knees holding back my cries. Looking up and down the wall, the only thing that stood in place was the same picture of me, Chloe, Marinette, Alya, and Nino.
All smiles and silly face.
With one last hope, I carefully peeled that one picture I had as proof that I'm not alone from the wall and grasped it close to my heart. I didn't dare crumple it, in fear that it would get too distorted beyond repair. Pulling it out one last time, I gazed at the five of us in our prime and whispered, "I feel like I haven't seen you guys in years."
Then it clicked.
I really haven't seen them or even talking to them in weeks. I've been so focused on finding out what happened to my miraculous that I've completed deserted my friends. It's like I've unhinges myself from their lives. But...
I lifted my hand and gazed at where my ring used to sit idly on my finger.
"I miss Plagg."
The words slipped from my lips before I could stop myself. Standing up, I crept over to my bed then flopped down in despair.
I shouldn't have taken you for granted, you were always right there when I needed you most, but all I cared about was what Ladybug was doing. I've been acting like a fool all this time with and without you. It was me, this whole time. You've always been there to support me and all you've asked for in return was for me to keep my identity safe, but I just played it all off as a small mistake.
I flipped over to face the ceiling and put my hand up above me to block the fluorescent lighting from hitting my eyes. The silhouette of my hand loomed over me until it felt foreign for me to even look at.
It feels weird without it. I constantly feel myself pulling on my fourth finger looking for the silver ring and when I don't feel it, my heartbeat picks up. My breath catches in my throat as I try to remember the last time I was wearing it but...
I let my arm fall beside me as the thought lingered on my lips. "The memory is just none existent anymore. I've tried Plagg, I've really tried for weeks to remember if I've lost you but now I know!"
I keeled over as if the pain in my gut was anything compared to the one in my heart.
I've spent so many nights awake trying to figure out how to fix all of this but now I know, there is no fixing it. I dug my own grave as Chat Noir.
Looking down at the picture I still kept close, I sighed dejectedly, "and as Adrien."
Master Fu was right, I don't deserve to have the Miraculous back. I'm weak, foolish and I hurt the people I care about the most! I'm done being obsessed, I don't want anything to do with this anymore!
Standing up, I strode across the class covered carpet and held up my cherished picture with most of all the people I care about and have deserted up until this point. Taking two tacks from the ground, I stuck the picture up on my blank white wall and took the deepest breath I have in a while.
It felt clean and clear, like when you've just stepped out of a smokey building into a wide-open summer's night.
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Rolling over, I see my laptop lighting up as messages roll through but are covered by an incoming facetime. I didn't bother looking at who was calling because either way, I wasn't about to pick up. I was about to roll back over when I heard steps floating passed my door. Looking at my alarm clock, the time read 12:37 pm.
No one is supposed to be up this late, Natalie made it abundantly clear to Felix and me the other night when we were talking...
I threw my covers off of me and grabbed the bat I had in the corner of my room and slowly opened the door. Looking around the corner, I saw nothing but the darkness from lack of windows. I turned the corner to see the marble staircase I grew up running up and down as a child. Without giving myself away, I snuck down each step like a feather gliding atop a calm pond, trying not to cause any ripples that would disturb the other creatures around me.
But I had to stop midway, for a figure showed itself creeping its way into my father's study. They were tall and lanky, but I couldn't make out what they looked like because the lights were still out. But their heavy footsteps made it abundantly clear that they weren't graceful enough to be a woman.
It can't be father, he usually closes the door behind him when he goes in there!
With panic rising inside my chest, I kept a steady and slow pace down the stairs so as not to make a sound. When I reached the main level, I could clearly see into the middle of the room. The man was just flipping through a weird book that I've seen my father take out of his safe before.
First of all, who the hell can read in the dark?! Second, why would he break into our house just to read a damn book?
My breath caught in my throat when I felt my shoulder grow heavier than usual. Slowly turning my gaze to look behind me, I came face to face with Felix towering over me with a serious look on his face. He whispered sharply, "what are you doing crouched down behind the door like this?" I covered his mouth not wanting to be heard making him tilt his head confused.
I opened my mouth to start quietly explaining that there was an intruder when we both heard a click. As light poured through the doorway, I scrambled away from Felix to get a good look at the intruder.
"That's...!" Felix covered my mouth hurriedly before I could call out to him.
He hushed in my ear then moved into the room and hid behind my father's desk. He motioned for me to follow and without hesitation, I did. The heavy steps continued throughout the room but parallel to where we were hidden.
Felix's eyes were trained on the man across from us, he didn't even flinch when I tapped his shoulder. "What are we still doing here?" I tapped him again, but he just shrugged me off again.
I followed his gaze as the heavy steps got further and further from us. Looking towards my mother's painting, he was standing in front of, I waited with bated breath just hoping we wouldn't get caught.
Then, he touched it. But not a light tap or a loving swipe. No, he pushed into the painting making three or four indents, I couldn't really tell. What I was more taken aback by was the fact that the floor had opened up and swallowed my father whole.
When he was completely gone, Felix stood up straight and adjusted his button-up pajamas while sighing, "Adrien."
I just sat on the ground not knowing what to do, "y-yes?" I couldn't help but stutter the words out.
My father just disappeared in front of me by making dents in a cherished painting of my mother? None of this makes sense, where did he even go?
I felt a hand wrap around my arm making me look up at Felix. He yanked me off the ground and sternly spoke, "it'd be better if we kept tonight's events to ourselves for now, don't you think?"
Felix is right. If father knew that we saw him I don't know how mad he'd be at me for disobeying his rules. But more importantly, if he wanted me to know about this secret, he would've told me, right?
I turned to Felix and nodded my head agreeing, "that'd be for the best. Goodnight, Felix." I walked ahead of him but didn't hear him follow, looking around the corner, I saw him at my mother's painting. "You coming?" He snapped out of his concentration and headed for the door.
"It's best we leave before he comes back up, goodnight." He left without another word.
I took one more glance around the room to see nothing out of the ordinary. I smiled at the picture of my mother as if I didn't witness anything out of the ordinary just now and headed back up for bed, I'd never been up this late before.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone