A/N: Inspired by Caprette's comic. Found here: caprette . tumblr post / 132698293288 / im-sure-she-made-it-out-in-time # notes

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. All rights belong to Thomas Astruc.

Akuma attacks tend to be sudden and without warning, Adrien discovered. The unpredictable attacks were something to be counted on, surprisingly enough, as they were sure to happen one way or another.

What he didn't expect was for there to be an especially violent attack on his school. It was sudden, like usual, and the akuma had possessed an angry chemistry student. Whether it was the work of Chloe was beyond him, but before he knew it, a loud explosion shook the building as students screamed and the akuma victim's cackles resonated throughout the halls. His teacher was frantic, trying to get her students out of the classroom safely as he tried to slip away to transform.

But his bad luck was working its wonders again, as another explosion went off in the classroom front of him. Before he could react, the explosion blasted him back as pieces of cement and debris flew through the air. His head made connection with something (probably debris as he later figured out), and the world faded to black.

/-/-/-/

"...could he be?!" The frustrated voice of his lady slowly roused him from his forceful slumber, his head throbbing as he struggles to move. With a groan, he raises his hand up to his head and feels a sticky liquid grace the palm of his hand, and he groans even louder.

"...Adrien?" A strong voice calls out to him, and Ladybug swings in in front of him, her eyes looking over his form with worry and noticing the blood that was slowly making a trail down his face. If he had been Chat, he would have grinned and made a comment about how his lady was worrying for her alleycat. But he wasn't Chat.

He was just Adrien. And Adrien didn't flirt with a superhero while in pain. His voice comes out hoarsely, words barely audible as she leans down to pick him up.

"W-wait…" He needs to get away, to transform. He can't hear anything over the crackle of the collapsing building or the roar of the countless fires. He's terrified to try listening for screams as Adrien, because Adrien can't do anything but worry. "What a.. about the o-others?" Ladybug doesn't spare a glance at him as she searches for a way out.

"Safe." Her response is brisk and sharp, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she dashes forward, avoiding the flames and cradling him carefully against her body.

Months spent as her partner had allowed him to recognize when his lady was genuinely stressed and worried because of an akuma attack, and the beads of sweat lining her forehead couldn't just be the result of the fires that surrounded them. A pillar collapses in front of them and she curses, quickly skidding to a stop and running to her right. She's aiming for the window, fires be damned as she charges forward with Adrien in her arms. He braces for impact before realizing that Ladybug had curled herself around him just enough to get the brunt of the impact. She lands on the ground and almost drops him on accident, barely regaining her footing as she stumbles forward.

The clear air makes it easier to hear the shouts and screams from the people that were safe outside the building. He breathes a sigh of relief when he can hear Nino shouting for Adrien and Alya shouting for Marinette-

Wait.

Marinette?

He listens more closely, and Alya's desperate cries become more and more clear.

"MARINETTE? MARINETTE, WHERE ARE YOU?! MARINETTE, PLEASE!" Her voice is cracking, her tears barely contained as she calls out hopelessly for her best friend.

And that's when he realizes that Marinette was still left inside.

Was she screaming when he was trying to block out the noise?

Had he ignored her cries for help?

He looks up at Ladybug, her face strangely stoic as she trudges forward with him still in her arms. He summons up his voice again, trying to get her attention.

"Ladybug," he starts, forcing his voice to remain stable and (somewhat) strong as he continues, "Marinette in still inside." She doesn't look at him, and instead avoids his gaze. Something inside him drops, and his breath quickens as he looks over her shoulder, the building ablaze and crumbling.

"There's no time to go back." Her words are final and without remorse, something so uncharacteristic of his lady that he almost breaks his gaze away from the building to look at her in shock. Was this the same girl he had been pining for? He tries again, because surely, Ladybug would never leave a civilian to die under the hands of an akuma attack.

"But Lady-" An explosion cuts him off, blasting the air around them as she quickly crouches down and shields him from the blast. Debris rains down as the building collapses in on itself, creating a destroyed visage of the school he once went to. Alya's scream pierces the air as she sobs and screams Marinette's name out louder, more desperately than before. Adrien feels his breath catch in his throat as he stares at the destroyed building, flames erupting from it more brilliantly than before.

Nobody could have survived that.

Marinette couldn't have survived from that.

Marinette.

Her name repeats over and over again in his mind as Ladybug stands up again, making her way towards the group of survivors (no not the group of survivors group of victims because Marinette can't be dead she can't be) as their cries grew gradually louder.

"...Marinette." He finally manages to speak again, his gaze dazed as he stares as the fires consuming the building.

"I'm sure she made it out in time." Ladybug keeps her gaze steady as her grasp remains unyielding on Adrien. He begins to shake and tremble at the thought of Marinette.

The sweet girl who sat behind him in class.

The upcoming fashion designer with so much talent.

The one who could barely speak without blushing and stuttering around him.

The friend he held dearly in his heart.

His princess.

"Marinette." He repeats her name, his voice shaking as he realizes that she could be dead. "Marinette!" Maybe, maybe if he yells her name, she'll respond to him, and she'll be okay. "MARINETTE! MARINETTE! MARINETTE!" His screaming becomes desperate as he struggles in Ladybug's arms and she speaks to him quietly, and he can barely register her begging him to stop struggling, she's fine, don't worry, but he doesn't believe a word she says because why else would Alya be screaming and crying right now?

"LET ME GO!" He yells and screams and struggles, because he has to get away he has to transform and save her, his friend his princess, Marinette, he has to save Marinette. "MARINETTE! MARINETTE! SHE'S STILL IN THERE! LET ME GO!" His voice is cracking and straining, but he doesn't give up. Ladybug's hold on him is tight and firm, and she has no intention letting him go.

He realizes that he's not acting like Adrien. But at the same time, he doesn't think he's acting like Chat Noir either. He's acting desperate, purely out of human instinct as he fights against Ladybug, pushing against the pain and exhaustion because he has to protect Marinette but he can't. With a loud sigh, Ladybug gently drops him to the ground and he almost gets up to bolt away, only to have Nino grab him in a crushing hold.

"Adrien!" He yells into his ear and hugs him tightly and Adrien can almost hear the tears in his voice, the ones threatening to gush out if he wasn't so stubbornly Nino. "I thought I lost you, dude! One second you were right next to me, and the next you were gone. I was so freaking scared and worried!" Nino gushes out word after word, but Adrien can feel someone staring at him intensely. He looks up to meet Alya's gaze, tears still streaming as she stares at him with wide eyes.

"...You were calling her name." Nino stops speaking as the statement hangs in the air. Alya collapses to her knees, as the thought of her best friend lying charred among the flames burns graphically in her mind. Adrien immediately looks around for Ladybug, but she's gone somewhere, presumably after the akuma because there was no one else left to save.

There was no one else left to save.

His fists clench tightly as he whispers her name out again. "...Marinette."

/-/-/-/

When he was taken back home, thoughts of Marinette continued to echo through his mind as guilt and anger slowly ate their way into him. The moment he was back in his room, Plagg revealed himself from within Adrien's shirt. For once, he was quiet and solemn, not speaking a word until Adrien spoke first.

"I should have saved her." Plagg hovers closely to his chosen's head, the bandages hiding the damage done to him during the attack.

"It wasn't your fault-"

"I SHOULD HAVE SAVED HER!" He slams his fist down on his bed, making the bed gently jiggle beneath him. His breathing becomes shaky as he brings his hands up to his face. "I should have transformed into Chat Noir faster. Marinette would be ALIVE if I had done something!"

"You don't know if she's dead for sure-"

"Nobody found her, Plagg!" He looks up at the black kwami, eyes sharp with anger, guilt, pain, suffering, tears streaming from them as he glares. "They couldn't find her anywhere!" Plagg hovers by uselessly, unable to comfort Adrien as he grieves for his friend. He knows from experience that it's best for humans to vent out their emotions first before trying to comfort them. Many Chat Noirs before Adrien had lost loved ones before, and Adrien was no different. It comes with having bad luck.

Adrien curls within himself and hides his face, cursing and gripping his hair tightly. Plagg could only look on sadly, waiting for Adrien to speak again. The blonde heaved a great sigh before quietly whispering something. The black kwami hovered closer to the boy, listening intently to what he was trying to say.

"...why?" He repeated his question, letting Plagg listen in on his one-sided interrogation. "Why did she save me, and not Marinette? I shouldn't have needed any saving, and yet she picked me over her. And she didn't spare a second thought for Marinette." Plagg gulped nervously. "Hey," Adrien shifted his head slightly closer to Plagg, "why didn't you wake me up?"

"Well you see, I tried waking you up, but unlike me, you don't wake up to anything cheese related." He pauses, gauging Adrien's response before continuing. "But, you did wake up to the sound of Ladybug's voice." Adrien looks at him wordlessly, before laughing bitterly and making Plagg's stomach flop with unease.

"Of course." Adrien uncurled and looked at the ring on his finger. "My Lady." Plagg watched him, nervous as he saw the empty gaze Adrien held on the ring. "Although, maybe she isn't so much of a lady now, as Chat Noir is a hero to the city of Paris." He stood up and stretched his limbs out like a cat, but nothing he did reassured Plagg that everything was okay.

Adrien turned to smile his Adrien smile at Plagg.

"Neither of them managed to save Marinette, after all."

A/N: I have fifty other fanfics to finish writing and this one wasn't one of them ahaha. Oh god I've become ml trash. WELL. I suppose it was only time before I wrote a fanfic for this fandom. I hope you all love angst. Because I love angst.

I'm sure my older readers know what I mean.

On the bright side, no one died! Right?