Chapter Text
4. The Time He Saved Her
It’s not the first time Adrien saves her, and it won’t be the last.
Adrien shows up at camp that summer, excited to see Marinette after months apart.
Marinette had told him she’d be waiting for him at the top of Half-Blood Hill, but he can’t spot her anywhere.
He knows she can lose track of time and smiles, thinking of Marinette somewhere at camp, working away on some project or training with Tikki, completely engrossed in her work. So he goes to the dining hall, the training center, the rock wall, and can’t find her anywhere.
Finally, he stops by the Tyche Cabin, although Marinette almost never spends time there during the day. He goes into the cabin, not even bothering to knock– the Tyche’s other kids are more than used to Adrien barging in to wake Marinette up in the mornings or drag her out of the cabin when she’s working too hard.
Tikki is the only one in the cabin, sitting on the bottom bunk and scribbling on a sheet of paper.
“Hey Tikki?” Adrien asks, watching as her head snaps up and deep blue eyes widen, “Where’s Marinette?”
Some emotion he can’t pinpoint flashes in Tikki’s eyes.
Adrien’s muscles begin to tense, immediately knowing that something is terribly wrong, “Tikki,” he says, voice dangerously low, “Where is Marinette?”
He begins to panic when she shakes her head slowly.
“Please, Tikki, where’s Marinette?” he repeats, pacing across the entire length of the cabin. He turns to her, hands beginning to shake, “Where’s my girlfriend?”
Every horrible scenario of something happening to Marinette flashes through his head, and he can no longer control his emotions as bad luck begins seeping from his fists. Tikki combats this quickly, enveloping him with the calming aura and good luck of Tyche.
“Calm down,” she says softly, “She’s not dead,”
Adrien isn’t sure whether or not this was supposed to comfort him, but it most definitely doesn’t. “Then where is she? What’s wrong?”
“She went on a quest,” Tikki says, pulling Adrien so he is sitting down next to her, “And one of Lila’s monsters… they took her,”
His stomach drops to the floor, “Lila took Marinette?”
Tikki nods and every muscle in Adrien's body constricts and tightens. He wants Marinette to be there and tell him everything will be okay. He wants to see her and hold her and hug her and kiss her and tell her that he will always protect her– even she doesn’t really need him to save her.
But Marinette is gone and somewhere he can’t find, probably surrounded by monsters and being held hostage by Lila and Adrien would prefer a thousand swords driving into his torso to this.
There is only one thing Adrien can do in this moment, and that is run to the Oracle praying for a quest that will help him save Marinette.
So that’s exactly what he does.
Adrien is exhausted. He hasn’t slept in days, taking all the night watches if only to avoid the horrible dreams he’s been having about Marinette. Supposedly, they’ll find Marinette in Northern California, and so far they’re only just nearing the border of Nevada from Utah.
He can tell that the rest of his crew is worried about him, but he honestly can’t bring himself to try and comfort them. That was always Marinette’s job on these quests.
She was the morale booster; the one who told the jokes and made them all laugh when it felt like everything else had gone to Hades. Adrien would give anything for her to be by his side now, telling him that everything was going to be okay. Telling him that he would succeed because they always did– because the two of them together were an unstoppable team.
Instead, he stares down at the beaded charm Marinette had given him a month after they started dating, green and pink beads on a red string knotted around his wrist.
Something about it makes him feel just a little closer to Marinette. Like maybe, just maybe, some part of her is still with him, helping him through everything.
The cynic in him– which only really surfaces when he’s not around Marinette– wants to snort at that.
Sleep and exhaustion begin to overcome him, and despite Adrien’s best efforts, he can feel his eyelids begin to drop. His last thoughts before sleep are, as always, of Marinette.
When Adrien opens his eyes again, he knows he is in someone’s dream. Instead of the dry and sandy area he had fallen asleep in, now Adrien is back at the Plaza Hotel in the same place he kissed Marinette for the first time.
Someone is purposely manipulation his dream to bring him here, but Adrien doesn’t know who or why. He spins in a slow circle until his eyes finally land on the woman standing on the opposite side of the room.
His mouth goes dry and his heart nearly stops.
Standing there is Marinette, but older. The same raven-colored hair, just slightly longer than he knows it to be. She’s a few inches taller and around his height. He knows the bluebell eyes and the small smile pulling at her lips.
But he also knows that the woman standing there isn’t actually Marinette.
“Aphrodite,” he says slowly.
Her smile lights up the room, and she looks just like Marinette on their first date. “Hello, Adrien. I’ve been waiting to meet you a while, now,”
Adrien knows she’s not Marinette. He knows. And yet something about this– seeing Marinette’s smile and Marinette’s eyes and Marinette alive, years older than she is now– it makes him ridiculously, deliriously happy.
He opens his mouth, but can’t make his mouth form words.
“You do know why you’re here?” Aphrodite asks, tilting her head, “Right?”
His heart begins to ache. She’s not Marinette. She’s not Marinette. She’s not Marinette. Marinette is–
“Marinette is in trouble,” Adrien says, the words nearly choked out of him.
The goddess of love nods, “Yes, exactly. You must rescue her, but I’m sure you already know that. It’s all absolutely dreadful business, going on quests, isn’t it? But don’t worry, the best parts of your story are yet to come,”
“My– my story?” Adrien asks incredulously.
“Of course!” Aphrodite says, practically swooning, “Oh, it’s been ages since I’ve seen such a wonderfully tragic love story?”
A chill goes up Adrien’s spine. “Tragic?”
Aphrodite raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow, “Surely you know what the fates have in store for you? It’s been your destiny since birth, my dear boy. You are fated to die for Marinette.”
The dream begins to ripple, but Adrien still has so many more questions. He struggles to stay in the dream, but before he can ask anything, his eyes snap open.
He tells himself he does not believe he is fated for anything; much less fated to die for her. But still, some small part of him wonders how soon the fates will come to collect his destiny.
When Adrien finds Marinette, rage floods his body faster than it ever has before.
She looks exhausted, bags under her eyes, a split lip, bruised cheekbone, and blood staining her orange camp t-shirt. Her skin is painted with bruises across her arms and legs, pale to the point of unhealthiness. Tears stream down her cheeks, clearing away the dirt and blood that rests on her face. Marinette looks as though she might pass out, although her hands are held up above her head, arms straining under the weight of whatever she is holding up.
Beside her is Lila, ax slung over her shoulder and inspecting her nails without a care in the world. She barely spares a glance at Marinette, eyes only darting over when she makes a sound. Adrien has never been a particularly violent person (despite the nature of his life, nowadays) but he swears at this moment, all he wants is to tear Lila apart with his bare hands.
In fact, the only reason he doesn’t is because Nino and Alya each grab one of his arms, holding him back.
“Look who we have here,” Lila says nonchalantly, slinging her ax into the boulder behind her so hard the entire thing cleves in two. A nasty smirk twists across her face, “I hope you’re not here to get her back,” – she jerks her chin in Marinette’s direction– “You see, she’s doing a rather important job. It’s that right, Atlas?”
Alya’s face turns white, “No, no, no…”
“Yes,” a Titan covered in golden armor replies, walking around from behind them. “It was so lovely of her to take the weight for me, don’t you think?”
Adrien can’t stop his hands from shaking. Not from fear. From rage. The Titan standing in front of him is Atlas, meaning his girlfriend– his seventeen-year-old girlfriend– has been shouldering the weight of the sky for gods know how long.
His vision turns red. He charges.
But not at Lila.
He charges at Atlas, the one who should be holding up the sky now. Atlas is immortal– he can hold the sky for all of eternity.
Marinette is a mortal, stronger than most and part god, yes, but just a mortal. She will die.
Adrien can’t let that happen.
He won’t.
And if this is when he dies– if some other demigod has to shoulder the weight of the Great Prophecy– he can make peace with that. Someone else can take on that responsibility; his responsibility will first, foremost, and always be to Marinette.
(The gods might disagree, but Adrien honestly doesn’t give a damn)
Adrien recalls the last time he got into a fight like this– a fight with Lila on the bridge a year ago. He thought he’d never be more desperate to win a fight; thought that seeing Marinette injured and bleeding would be the worst thing in the world. Seeing her now, sword clashing harshly against Atlas’s, he knew he was wrong. His arms strain as Atlas pushes back and he hears Marinette let out a weak cry.
He shoots her a panicked look, seeing a fresh well of tears gathering in her eyes.
A few feet over, he can see Alya struggling against Lila while Nino fires volleys of arrows at Atlas.
Marinette is looking paler by the minute and Adrien knows that she won’t be able to hold the weight of the sky for much longer. He takes a running start at the Titan, sliding between his legs before jumping up and stabbing him in the small of his back.
Atlas’s ichor began flowing down his back as his eyes narrowed in rage before charging at Adrien.
He ducks and rolls over a few feet to the left, stabbing the Titan in the calf.
While Atlas is distracted with his pain, Adrien risks another glance over at Marinette.
She looks close to passing out, her entire body shaking with effort. She shakes her head subtly at him, but Adrien doesn’t care.
He summons all his strength, taking a running start before knocking Marinette out from under the weight of the sky, his entire body immediately screaming in pain. The pressure is overwhelming, and black dots begin to swim in his vision only moments after taking the weight.
But Marinette is safe. That’s what matters.
He braces himself, pouring all his strength into the job. Adrien doesn’t know how Marinette had managed to hold this weight for so long, but he knows he won’t be able to last that long.
Too overwhelmed to keep track of the battle, Adrien is surprised when Atlas comes tumbling towards him. Using the remaining strength he has, he rolls out of the way, every part of him relaxing in relief as the Titan yet again takes the weight of the sky.
Marinette, Nino, and Alya immediately surround him, Marinette collapsing against him, sobbing with relief.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a streak of gray in her hair.
“You have one too, now,” Nino says quietly.
Adrien doesn’t care. After all, what’s one streak of gray hair when Marinette’s finally back in his arms?
He kisses the top of her head before exhaustion overcomes him, cradling Marinette in his sleep.
They come home not as heroes, but as legends who held the sky.