mind over mask

sixty-seven

Marinette's POV

I'm really good at messing up. If you want evidence, I suggest that you just take an entire look at my life. 

Halfway into patrol, I left. I knew that I would only face more consequences, but I didn't care.

A single word sent me into a flurry, as a swirl of forgotten memories came down on me. Even the Kwamiis felt it, as none of them dared to stir from their sleeping spots to comfort me. It was better this way, I didn't want to yell at them. Or worse, give them the silent treatment.

I had screwed things up with Damian, with Batman, with the team, and with the entire world.

My hand hovered over my contacts in my phone, scrolling through the small list I had subjected it to. 

I couldn't call my parents, and tell them about the failure that I was. 

I was about to call Chloe, but it was late in New York City. She probably would've been asleep, and she was coming next weekend to Gotham anyways. I'd talk to her then, and not ruin things with her and her boyfriend, Tim. 

I couldn't stop thinking about Chat. My first teammate.

My crush had long faded away, but it only brought more concern. I knew he was living life normally in England, but Adrien was no longer Chat. He was just a super model, and the son of a supervillain now. He would never remember soaring through the air, that taste of freedom. He would never know Plagg again, he would never know what it felt like to fight for justice, and he would never remember turning to the dark side.

I called the one person I could truly rely on, the one that I had tricked in the field, the person that was the love of my life.

He picked up without a second to response.

Silence buzzed over the line, waiting for me to say something first.

"Damian." It was followed by a long pause, before I said, "I need you."

"Understood. Be there in 5." He said, and hung up.

It gave me comfort that Damian was willing to drop everything and be there for me, and that's when the guilt set in.

When was the last time I did that for somebody else?

In my short sightedness and obsession with the miraculous, I had forgotten about all my loved ones around me. What else had I forgotten?

Suddenly, breathing wasn't enough, and I succumbed to the fetal position.

"Marinette?" Tikki questioned, and I didn't give her a response. I looked at her when the tears started to leak out of my eyes. She reached to comfort me at the same time as Plagg, and that's when everything went black.

Damian's POV

I knocked softly at the window, and peaked into her apartment.

She was on her bed, curled up into a ball as a cat would. 

She looked so peaceful, too small to exist in this world.

I wanted to scream at her, to fill her quietness with some noise, some proof that we were both still alive and still good. I was mad at her, but I loved her more than my emotions could dictate. 

Now, I watched in horror as Tikki and Plagg tried to wake her up from her slumber, and she did not move.

They retracting in the air as I climbed in through the window. I took off my mask, and quickly regretted it when a bright blue light was emitted from her body.