•••

The three of them rushed forwards and pbent over the unconscious body.

"Marinette! Marinette! Answer me!" Alya wailed.

Adrien was shaking her awake too, while Nino rubbed her hands, hoping to provide some warmth, only to find them unnaturally cold.

"We..We gotta take her back." Alya managed to choke out from in between her sobs. The other two nodded and began picking her up, until Alya's knees gave out and she fell to the ground. She was shaking far too much.

"Nino, you go help Alya up. I'll carry Marinette."

The bespectacled boy nodded and rushed forward without a word, helping Alya up. Meanwhile, Adrien picked up his unconscious friend, bridal style and followed the duo to the Dupain-Cheng's.

'What is happening to you Marinette?'

—————————

Tom gently laid his daughter on the couch, after Sabine had arranged for cushions and blankets to help her get comfortable. The two of them had immediately rushed home to aid to their daughter with the teens. Alya emerged from the kitchen, with a tray of mugs filled with hot chocolate.

"He'll be over in 15.", she informed them while serving the drinks.

Sabine sat beside her daughter and glanced at her, with tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"What do you think happened?"

"We don't know." Nino answered sombrely.

"We just found her unconscious around the trees near the Carousel."

She nodded at the three before turning her gaze away again.

"It's the second time today."

"What!" Alya and Nino exclaimed, shell shocked at the information.

"Chat Noir found her earlier today. She claimed she passed out due to over exertion but I'm afraid it might be something else."

Everyone felt silent after that, occasionally sipping their hot drink. Finally, after 20 silent and achingly long minutes, the doorbell to the Dupain-Cheng household rung. The door opened to reveal Dr Jean-Paul, the Dupain-Cheng's family doctor.

His pale face had a tinge of pink from the cold and his greying black hair was sitting messily on his head.

"Tom, Sabine."

Without another word, he began examining Marinette. Meanwhile, Sabine ushered the kids down to the bakery to give the doctor some privacy, while Tom chose to stay behind.

"Now, What would you kids like to have?"

——————————

Marinette descended down the stairs and found herself amidst a crowd of chattering people, who held fancy wine glasses in their hands and sported some pretty expensive jewellery.

'Ughhhh why am I stuck here of all the places? This type of thing is clearly for Chloé.''

As soon as she entered the hall, the conversations all died down, to be replaced my murmurs. All eyes were fixated only on one thing, or person, and that just happened to be Marinette.

All of her previous anticipations turned to extreme nervousness and anxiety. And, apparently Bridgette felt the same too because Marinette felt it with increased intensity, so much so, that she was doubtful if she would ever manage to move.

From her peripheral vision, she sensed some movement and saw a woman making her way towards her through the crowd. Suddenly, she felt the nature of her emotions changing.

It was pure dislike.

The woman soon approached her, and Marinette took in her appearance. Her face was caked with heavy makeup in an attempt to look younger. She had dull grey eyes and a narrow face. Her greying black hair was set in heavy curls and she sported a stunning blue gown and heavy, glittering jewellery. She was plump and her menacing aura, despite being attempted to be covered by her fake charming exterior, reminded Marinette of Ursula, the sea witch.

The woman smiled a huge smile at her but it didn't reach her eyes. They were as dull and cold as ever.

"There you are dear!", she exclaimed loudly.

"Come along now, sweetheart!"

She gripped Marinette's hand, far too tight for comfort, with her long fingernails digging into her wrist.

Once they reached the centre of the ballroom, the woman spoke again, her voice so loud that it would put any microphone user to shame.

"Ladies and good Lords! Thank you for joining us, the LeBleue family in one of their greatest moments of happiness, today, this evening. I would now like to present my youngest daughter, Bridgette LeBleue and her handsome fiancé, the Count of Xavier- Dan Philiphe. Please make way for the lovely couple, who had promised to cherish each other's love for a lifetime!"

Marinette, or should we say, Bridgette, was approached by a young man, around the same age as the latter. Despite the unexplainable feeling of anger and strong detest for him, Marinette couldn't ignore that he was extremely attractive.

'No Marinette! Your heart only belongs to Adrien. Get ahold of yourself!'

Dan flashed her a dazzling smile, taking her hand in his own. As they both danced to the sweet melodies is the orchestra, Marinette figured out where the strong dislike came from. Throughout the dance, he droned on and on about himself and his various qualities. One could say that he was the real life Gaston, from the classic fairy tale.

It took a few moments to notice, but Marinette did eventually. Dan's moves were extremely uncoordinated. He was a bad dancer to say the least.

The difference in their rhythms showed effect when he bumped into a waiter serving drinks.

The beverages dropped onto the floor and the glass lay shattered around, and the atmosphere of the ballroom turned cold and forbidding.

"You bastard!"

Marinette flinched at Dan's rudeness. How dare he?

The poor waiter looked terrified. Dan took in this opportunity to insult him even more.

"What do you think you're doing? How dare you create such a mess? Don't you even know how to serve? You lowlifes are nothing but trouble. You'll pay for what you did you insolent, good for nothing-"

A loud noise of a slap echoed through the room. An infuriated Bridgette stood with her hand outstretched, breathing heavily.Anger and hatred bubbled inside Marinette for the jerk in from of her, and she was not one bit guilty of slapping that jerk, even if it was Bridgette's reaction.

Moments passed by but the shock and silence still lingered in the air.

"Just because you are a nobility, you don't become any better than him!" She yelled.

"Let me burst that happy little bubble of yours, Dan. You are a jerk, a self centred jerk. And I want nothing to do with you. All you care about is yourself so how can you promise me 'love that I'll cherish for a lifetime'? So, I call off this arranged engagement because I'm done. Done with you and this stupid party!"

Bridgette stormed off right after, throwing away the ring previously residing on her finger and leaving behind a stunned audience. Marinette felt the anger ebbing away, replacing with anxiety and nervousness. Bridgette was breathing heavily, trying to control her rouge emotions.

Suddenly, she was pulled into a dimly lit room and before she could even make out the situation, a stinging pain erupted on her left cheek.

"You little brat!" a harsh voice yelled.

It was the woman who was supposedly her mother.

"After all I do for you, you pay me back like this?"

Marinette could feel the disgust, malice and maddening anger in her voice.

"You're going to pay for that stunt you pulled down there, sweetheart."

——————————-

"Is she okay?"

The doctor had taken his leave some time ago, assuring that Marinette was fine and just needed some rest.

"Yes, Alya. It was just a case of over exhaustion. Dr Paul said to let her rest. He did take some of her blood samples for tests though." Mrs Dupain-Cheng answered.

"We can't thank you kids enough though. Now, you might want to get back home, it's getting really late out. Come visit her tomorrow, okay?"she added sweetly.

The teens nodded and took leave of the warm and homely bakery. Alya was still pretty shaken so Nino decided to take her back home. Meanwhile, Adrien walked alone in the cold night.

"Uhhh, Adrien?"

"What now, Plagg?"

"You might want to check your jacket's pocket."

Scowling slightly, Adrien fumbled with his jacket's pockets. What he found in one of them completely took his breath away and he stood still, frozen in shock.

"B-But how-?"

"No idea kid."

Inside, one of his pocket, taking a refuge was a kwami, a red, big like kwami with black spots. And it was sleeping, it's face relaxed and peaceful, yet with a hint of terror nonetheless.

——————

Hiya!
Sooooo I'm not dead..yet!
Super sorry for the late chapter. I promise to publish the next one soon!

This chapter sucked. Idk I had such a terrible writer's block on this one. But I think the story is finally getting somewhere.

In the next chapter the real journey will begin, when chaos will erupt in both the dimensions, with our dear Mari and Adrien. So stay tuned!

Soo, vote and comment?
And share if you like ;)

Love
Belle💕