“Wake up!” I open my eyes, confused as to who was talking to me, why did my glasses have splintered glass? They weren’t broken but I could see the crack in front of my eye which was mildly terrifying. My eyes adjusted to the light, everything was so bright and my ears wouldn’t stop ringing. My eyes settled on the spirit from before.

“Oh, it’s you.” I felt awkward, what do I say to a ghost that kidnapped me?

“Wow, rude, I literally just healed you, I figured my daughter would have been able to teach my granddaughter some manners.” I took a closer look at him. My mind was jumbled, wasn’t I supposed to go skating today? How did I end up in this basement that I feel like is under the library? Why do I recognize this spirit? Only one of my questions were answered by me.

“Oh my god, I was possessed by my grandfather?!” I freaked out. “Also, in another situation, I would have come off rude, however, You kind of kidnapped me so I believe I have every right to seem disappointed. And to think, I looked up to you! I thought you’d be the only one to understand me yet you had to possess me to get me down here instead of just talking to me.”

“I’m sorry, but I need to get you down here, I didn’t figure that the ladder would break, sorry about that.” I remember that.

“Mhm. Sure, I’m still not fully trusting you though.”

“I can do only a few spells while dead, and they're weak so you might feel a bit off for a while and you might have trouble remembering somethings but I’m sure it’s fine. Oh! And while you were out, I cleaned up everything.

“Ah, thanks. Anyway, what did you want me to find this place?” I did want to figure out what I forgot, but now’s not the time I guess.

“For many reasons, but the only one I can tell you is that you need to stop Scarletmoth, and you need these books. I can’t teach you, but you should come daily and study.” I remember the threat of Scarletmoth.

“And if I don’t?”

“The Scarletmoth wins and you lose everything.” I was cornered.

“Fine, but when I’ve defeated her, I’m not coming back, I’m already weird by seeing ghosts.”

“Understandable, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I stood, wincing a bit and my hand flew to my head. I soon made my way to the ladder, feeling wary. I left without a backwards glance.

I climbed out of the basement, my foot almost slipped at the broken spoke. I climbed out, popping back up in the closet. Whoever was there earlier was gone, and so was the sun. The lights were all out and I was alone. How long was I out for?

I closed the panel and left the room. Everyone had disappeared, the library was dead quiet. I stumbled as I made my way around, am I going to be trapped here the rest of the night? My head was throbbing and I felt like vomiting again. I hoped I wouldn't be here the whole night, with the ghost of my grandfather.

Could I break the doors open? Maybe they're the kind that only lock to the outside so I could leave but not reenter.

In my wobbly state, I trip and knock over a cup of pens trying to stable myself.

“Hello?” I heard a voice call at my racket.

“Hello? I need a little help.” I saw a faint glow approach where I am. I hoped it’s not my grandpa, I hoped a living person would still be here.

The person rounded the corner, glowing with a ghostly light.

“Marinette?” She looked at me curiously. “Adrien! She’s here!” Adriens here? At least he’s living but I thought he couldn’t see ghosts and who is this?

“He refused to leave without you.” The ghosts said reassuringly.

“I came with him?” I mudder, confused, maybe we made a detour to the library. Adrien made his way over, glowing a ghostly light as well. “Wait, what happened? Who are you and why are you, well, a ghost?!” I exclaimed, pointing between the two of them.

“Are you alright? You forgot I’m a ghost. And you really forgot Emily? My mom who you’ve been visiting for, I don’t know, a really long time.”

“N-no, I’m confused. Why can’t I remember?” I wince, my hand flying to my forehead. I felt a small dent of a scar right where my hand was. Right, I hit my head. I was so scared and confused tears threatened to spill.

The ghost, Emily kneeled down to my level, I was hugging my knees on the floor. “Okay, well, what do you remember?”

I opened my mouth, about to tell them about the basement but something washed over me, preventing me from saying anything about it. “Um, I remember that I was going to go figure skating today. I think.”

“That was a week ago though.” Adrien commented, worried.

“What else do you remember? Do you have any idea how you might have forgotten a week?” Emily seemed calm, my memory was starting to remember her.

“I remember you!” I exclaimed, excited.

“Thanks good, anything else?”

“Yeah, um, the ladder broke and I fell onto concrete. I think. I just know that I was bleeding out for a long time, I passed out at some point.”

“What?!” Adrien panicked. “Where?!”

I opened my mouth again, trying to tell them about the basement but yet again my mouth snapped shut against my will.

“What’s wrong?” Adrien sat down with us.

“I’m fine, I just can’t tell you about the uh, the place thing.” I managed.

“Okay, well, you don’t have to, let’s just try and get your memory caught up.” she comforted me. “Adrien, could you help her home and catch her up on the way.”

“Okay mom.”

“I love you sweetie, see you later.” Right, they’re related, I thought, piecing together my memory. They embraced and Adrien helped me find the key in the back so I can get out and lock up.

We left the library and had to walk home through the snow. This gave us plenty of time for Adrien to get me up to speed on my own life which feels weird to put in words.

“That all happened when we went skating?!” I was stunned to say the least.

“Yeah and you keep putting yourself down about it, hopefully with this new look on the memory you won’t.”

“I remember bits and pieces, like I’ve just started to remember Chloe this morning”

“Don’t listen to her! I’m ashamed that I ever called her a friend!”

“You don’t have to be, you're just too friendly and look for the good in everyone, that isn’t a bad trait, it just means sometimes you miss the bad parts of someone that way. As long as you realise at some point those characteristics, and do something about it to help them or others, then it’s perfectly fine to have been friends with them and if you want, to keep that friendship.” I took a breath, I need to stop making speeches, I’m just glad someone is listening to me so I want to get everything I want to say out finally.

“I know, but you shouldn’t have had to suffer because I was blind to everything.”

“You said that!” His words struck a memory.

“Yes, I just did?”

“No earlier, you said the same thing earlier! Right? Well, mince the last bit.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, it was after we ran into Chloe and I think we had just parted with Iridessa and you were talking about how much Chloe’s changed and my reaction to her words!”

“Oh yeah, I did say that then, didn’t I. Your memories are coming back.”

“They are!” We arrived at my house, the moon was about set and I could just barely see a glow on the horizon from the sun.

“Well we were out late.” I commented.

“Mhm, let’s just get you inside, you should try and rest a bit.” Adrien suggested. I grabbed the key from under the mat and unlocked the door. I entered and went up to the living room.

“You should go to bed Marinette, get some sleep.” I glanced warely at the stairs, their still stairs but looked vaguely like a ladder.

“Um yeah, I’ll just rest on the couch if that’s alright with you.”

“Sleep wherever you want, I’ll hangout by the window, I want to watch the sunrise.”

“Alright.” I settled on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket hung on the back of a chair. I felt much safer with Adrien there. I closed my eyes, expecting to fall asleep but knowing my parent’s schedule, I knew I was to be woken up in an hour or so. I can at least get some rest for the time being.

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I’m so sorry it’s been a while, I’m trying to get everything done with school and writing ‘Wolves’ and everything else.

I’m also sorry for any confusion, Marinette didn’t die in the last chapter but she did lose her memory and I decided that it would be cute that she already helped Adrien when he didn’t remember anything and then just flipped it so that he helped her this time.

I also hoped to have Marinette blame herself less for the skating accident with this memory wipe of the last week and have Adrien explain what happened in a new light because I could tell that the self deprecation would have gotten boring to write and read fast.

In the chapter, I also hoped to convey that while Chole is a terrible person, it’s totally alright that Adrien was friends with her at some point. It’s unfair to blame yourself if you were friends with a toxic person who might not have been awful to you but to everyone else. Like I stated earlier, that friendship is okay as long as you figure out what they're doing and take action to help them better themselves and help the victims. You don’t have to end the friendship, you just need to understand that people change and that she might have been good at one point but changed over time.

Okay, that was a lot and I didn’t expect to have that long of an author's note at the end. On that note, thank you for reading and I hope you like this chapter and have an amazing rest of your day.