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When Marinette gained consciousness, she didn’t recognize where she was. Tikki floated anxiously above her, and a familiar blonde haired woman stood above her.
“Don’t freak me out like that again, Mar. You could’ve gotten killed. I can’t believe you didn’t yoyo back to safety! You could’ve died with that impact, especially while you detransformed. You’re so lucky that I was there to save your ass.” The blonde woman suddenly softened and pulled Marinette into a hug. “You know I wouldn’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
“Chloe?” Marinette asked, confused. Chloe chuckled awkwardly.
“What is wrong with you?” Marinette looked around confused.
“Where am I?” Chloe furrowed her eyebrows.
“In the same alleyway you always go to when you detransform? Are you alright?” Marinette got up, her head pounding and body aching.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I just…” She looked down. “Oh my God.” Chloe hurried to her, concerned.
“What’s wrong?” Marinette’s eyes welled up with tears.
“The baby… I… the impact must have… or I… I don’t remember what happened… but the baby it’s…” Chloe was now very alert and very worried.
“Mar, what baby?” Marinette pushed Chloe away from her.
“How am I going to tell Adrien? He’s going to be crushed. It’s our first child.” Chloe turned the dark haired girl to face her.
“Marinette. What year is it?” Marinette pushed her away again.
“I don’t have time for this, Chloe.” She grabbed the smaller girl’s shoulder.
“Marinette. Tell me right now. What year is it?”
“It’s 2026.”
Pacing in the living room of her lavish and beautiful apartment, Chloe continued to wear a mark in the carpet as Marinette stared at her with confusion.
“Chloe, please calm down.”
“Calm down. Ha. Calm down. That’s funny because that’s what I’m always telling you but of course you wouldn’t remember that because you have
amnesia.
” Marinette got up and grabbed the blonde by her shoulders.
“Chloe, please. Just take a deep breath and just catch me up.” Chloe sighed and sat down on the couch.
“I really don’t know anything. What happened between you and Adrien, I... it was between you two. All I know is that one year ago you were drunk off your ass about to jump off the top of the Le Grand Paris and I had to be the one who saved you. I had no one after I had pushed everyone who ever mattered out, and you were husbandless, childless, and clearly not in a good headspace, so I thought it was my best chance to get out of the lonely hellhole I had created for myself. I was desperate for redemption, and you, well, you needed a friend. Alya never found out about any of this since you guys haven’t really talked since high school and her and Nino moved to America, so I think I was your last choice. I’m not the person I was and neither are you, and I think that’s why we click now.” Marinette let the truth sink in.
“Do you really not know what happened between me and Adrien?” Chloe chuckled dryly.
“You never told me. It’s been a year and it’s mostly been you coming back from your shifts at the store, upset and tired, downing whatever bottles of booze you picked up on your way back, and then you cry for hours in your room.” Marinette’s mouth was agape as she listened to the blonde girl speak.
“Why do you still keep me around?” Chloe shrugged.
“I have no one else. Plus, you do the dishes and I
hate
doing the dishes.” She wiped her eyes. “Oh, fuck. I still have makeup on. I’ll be right back.”
While Chloe went to the bathroom, Marinette looked through the blonde’s phone, searching for Adrien’s contact. Taking a photo of the address typed into his contact, she grabbed her jacket and went down to call a cab to the address.
Marinette knew she shouldn’t have snuck away from Chloe, but she had to see Adrien. She had to get answers. Standing at the door of his apartment, she hesitantly knocked. The tired, stubbled man wearing thick rimmed glasses was not the man she expected to see.
“Hi,” she said, weak.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” She went to touch his arm but he backed up.
“I had to see you.” He clenched his jaw.
“Are you drunk? Again?” She shook her head.
“No, I… I’m not drunk. I swear. I just… I needed to see you.”
“It’s been a year, Marinette. You can’t just decide when you can be part of our life. This isn’t your choice.” Her mouth went slightly agape as she tried to find the words.
“I just… I needed to see… our daughter.” He scoffed.
“Well she needed a mother who wasn’t a drunk. She needed a mother who would never hurt her. But you weren’t that mother.” Her eyes glazed over with tears.
“So what happened between us… it was my fault?”
“Well it’s definitely not my fault that you walked out on me and your child. It’s not my fault that you chose to go to booze and not me for consolidation when I
too
was mourning. It’s not my fault that I’m still modeling for my father even though I got my degree in physics. It’s not my fault that I had to put down my dreams to provide for our child. One that I will not let you be near again after what you did.” Marinette looked past him and saw a small girl waddle to hug Adrien’s leg. Her green eyes stared up at the much taller man. Adrien sighed and squatted down next to the little girl. He then moved his hands in ways Marinette didn’t fully understand. The little girl nodded and waddled away.
“Is she… she’s deaf?” Adrien looked at her with disbelief.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He let out a shaky breath. “Leave and don’t come back. You are not getting custody back and I do not want you anywhere
near
Emma. If I see you coming back here again, I will not hesitate to…” He paused taking a deep breath. “Just go.” And with that, he closed the door, leaving Marinette shocked and speechless.
Marinette spent the rest of the day mindlessly wandering Paris. New shops were up. New faces manning the restaurants she was so familiar with. She couldn’t even face being near her parents patisserie and avoided the block like the plague. It was until she saw Chat Noir jumping across rooftops did she realize how late it had gotten. Transforming, she jumped up to the roof he perched himself on.
“Hey Chat,” she greeted. The blonde furrowed his brow, a look of disgust on his face.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” She stepped back.
“What’s wrong?” He scoffed.
“You have the goddamn nerve to come up here after what happened today?” Ladybug was at a loss for words.
“Chat, I don’t know what I did. I just… I’m so confused and I didn’t know who else to come to.” The leather-cladded man rolled his eyes.
“Because all you ever do is come to me when you need something.” Ladybug felt her eyes begin to tear up. What has she done? Did she really push away all of the people most important to her like this?
“Chat, I have amnesia.” He turned around to look at her.
“You what?” She sighed.
“After the akuma today, I detransformed midair and hit my head. All I know is I don’t remember anything before 2026.” He softened.
“So you don’t remember…” He trailed off. “Well I… I’ll be here for you. I’m sorry about earlier. We had uh… we had a fight during the akuma attack. That’s why I was upset.” Ladybug relaxed.
“Thanks for telling me and not leaving me in the dark. Today has been a crazy day. First I wake up and find out that my old high school bully is now my only friend, and then I go see my daughter I didn’t even know I had for the first time, and then my hu… my ex-husband goes all crazy at me about things I didn’t even know I did, and it was just insane. At least I still have you.” She hugged him, but he tensed up.
“I’m sorry did I… do we not do that anymore?” He let out a bitter chuckle.
“You could say that.” She flushed with embarrassment.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He looked to her with curiosity.
“You really don’t remember anything?” She shook her head.
“Nothing. It’s kind of scary, finding out the person I’ve become. I can’t even imagine being what everyone describes to me.” She started to tear up. “How could I let myself spiral so downhill? How could I lose everyone who matters to me? How can I hurt the only person I’ve ever loved?” Chat didn’t know what to do. With everything she had done to him, he couldn’t even stand to look at her. But this wasn’t that Marinette. She didn’t know what she did. She didn’t know the pain she caused him. She didn’t even know he was Chat Noir. So he did something he hadn’t done in two years, and held his ex wife in his arms and comforted her.
“Thank you, Chat,” she sniffled. “I’m sorry I dumped this all on you. I just didn’t know who to come to.”
“We’re a team, Ladybug. I’ll always be here.” She relaxed into the hug, but Adrien couldn’t help but feel guilty about his lies.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
So I actually didn't really plan out the rest of this story and I don't think I will ever finish it, but I wanted to share how I thought it would end and the scenes leading up to it.PLANNED (but unfinished) SCENE Marinette stumbled to Chloe’s room in the middle of the night after staring at the ceiling with tremors, profuse amounts of sweat, and a pounding headache. “Chloe!” She whispered. “What do you want?” Marinette, quite scared of what was going on, sat on her bed. “What’s wrong with me? I feel like I’m going to puke.” Chloe groaned. “It’s the withdrawals. You haven’t drank all day. Your body is craving it.” Marinette looked to her. “Well if Adrien will ever let me see my daughter again, I can’t just keep drinking.” Chloe sighed. “Well it’s not going to be easy. Especially your first seventy-two hours. It’s going to be hell. I know you’re not used to drinking all that much, but your body is. You’re not going to have the memories of your reliance on the alcohol, but your body is going to long for it. You’re going to have to really fight for this, Marinette.”-Marinette tries to fix her relationship with Adrien because in her mind they just were happily married, about to have their first child-Adrien can't wrap his head around how different Marinette is.-The reason Adrien won't let Marinette see Emma is because Marinette lost the second child weeks after giving birth to him. She mourns with booze and becomes a different person. She's an angry drunk and became abusive to Adrien and left broken bottles on the ground, and baby Emma stumbled upon them and got very injured. Adrien decided Marinette wasn't fit to be a mother anymore and took full custody of Emma. Because he was a single father, a physics teacher's pay wouldn't be enough so he went back to modeling for his father. He is extremely unhappy and Emma is his only source of happiness. -Because of the divorce, Ladybug/Chat Noir stuff is really tense. Tikki sobers Marinette up for akumas but that doesn't change the mutual disdain towards each other. -Adrien can't help but see the Marinette who hurt him when the amnesiac Marinette is really just a wide eyed, innocent, pure Marinette; the one he fell in love with.-There wasn't going to be a happy ending. It was mostly Marinette finding out about what happened between her and Adrien and trying to make it better, but even after quitting being an alcoholic and proving she was better, Adrien didn't trust her and he couldn't love her again.-Oh yeah one sided reveal which was a big thing for Marinette-Adrien was over the puppy love they had after they revealed themselves and he was a different man. He didn't want the old Marinette or new Marinette. So they don't end up together in the end.If you want to make your own divergences off this story or use this plot line, go ahead. Just let me know first. My Tumblr is diamond-ice-love and my email is [email protected] so message me there.