Just a TwoShot I wrote, inspired by a picture my girlfriend drew.
It's a little older, I know xD
Have a kidnapped Alya~

"Don't die on me - Please.", Nino mumbled as he once again walked down the dark way through the forest, his flashlight barely illuminating the path before him. He knew he should've changed the batteries beforehand.

The calming weight of his phone in his back pocket, as well as the backpack filled with water and snacks made it a little more bearable. It held him in the reality and hindered him in getting lost in his thoughts.

Alya had been missing for eleven days now. Even if this reality hurt, he needed to keep his feet on the ground. He needed to keep a cool head and even if the police and their superheroes didn't have a lead and her family was helpless, he had to pull through.

This had been the path on which her phone had been found. Together with her ripped, bloody shirt. Of course, it had been a rouse, the kidnappers wanted them to think she had been killed by an animal or something. The police had tested the blood and it had been from a rat. They hadn't even bothered taking something else than roadkill.

It wasn't clear yet what Alya had to go through. Maybe she was being used, maybe just prisoned somewhere, maybe already dead. Maybe the kidnappers had sold her to someone else outside of Europe. Nino had lost count of all the possibilities that had plagued him over the past nights.

By now he was-… Well, not that he accepted it. Anyone hurting Alya would pay with their lives.

But there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing but walk this path again and again, either hoping the kidnappers would take him as well or-… Well, what? He sighed. Maybe hoping was all he could do.

The dim light of his flashlight ghosted over green and orange leaves, throwing weird shadows that were too big. The trees looked like towers in the dark and when he shone on them the bark gave them a weird texture. He continued on, the light gravel and sand crunching gently under his shoes. It wasn't really cold but summer was nearing its end. The nights got cooler and he had to wear a jacket by now.

When they had first noticed that Alya wasn't coming back she had already been gone for a few hours. She said she had wanted to get a few photos of ladybugs for her blog, the word document still opened on her computer. It had been in the evening, at dinner, when her parents had finally noticed. It wasn't a surprise for them that Alya was outside, she was an active girl and loved to be outside. But when she hadn't picked up her phone her mother had started worrying. After dinner they had gone venturing out on their own after calling a few classmates, including him, to ask if Alya had come to their place. It wasn't before long that the whole class had joined searching, including their parents.

In the end it had been Marinette who had found Alya's phone and shirt.

He frowned when he passed the spot where Alya's things had laid, Marinette's horrified scream still sending a shiver down his spine. His flashlight lingered just a second longer on the spot that was secured with police tape, then he continued. His free hand found its way into his other pocket and he leant back a bit, sighing.

Day eleven, then. Day eleven and still nothing. No clue, no witnesses. The last photo on her phone had been the sunset, a peaceful picture right before doom. The last call just around lunch, with Marinette. Apparently, they had talked about the article Alya had been about to write. Her last interaction with her mother, as she ventured out of the front door, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder.

Nino rolled his sore shoulders, trying to relax his muscles in back and shoulders. He hadn't really slept since it had happened. Or when he had it had been nightmares, leaving him shaking and sobbing in the middle of the night.

Day eleven.

He let the flashlight wander in disinterested circles, trying to at least find a bit entertainment in the way the shadows wandered to distract himself from his thoughts. By now he must've imagined every scenario possible, the more and the lesser comfortable ones alike. Maybe she had faked her death and begun a new life. Well, at sixteen that would be a pretty big step and she had never spoken about doing something like that but hey, a little better to imagine than her being forcefully pulled into the bushes by some people with bad intentions.

Nino shivered when he imagined the fear Alya must've been through.

No, no, follow the light with your eyes. Left and then right again and then make a long curve over the path and up a tree into its leaves. Distract yourself from your thoughts.

He sighed again, blinking slowly, feeling himself growing tired.

He wouldn't find anything. What had he hoped for anyway? Why was he even here? Hoping they'd find him as well? Bring him to her? Attack the exact same path again? Yeah right…

Nino was already tempted to turn around and walk back as he heard distinct rustling down the path. An animal? No, it sounded bigger than that. Wolf, bear? No… He would know if these animals lived so close to Paris. Maybe a dog?

He squinted his eyes and stepped further down the path, keeping his flashlight on the bushes on the side of the path.

The rustling got louder, as if that thing was running. He could hear panicked, fast breathing now as well, that certainly didn't sound like an animal. No, somehow his feeling told him that this was another human. Mari?

"H-Hello?", he called, gulping. The rustling stopped just a few meters away from him and he stopped as well, shining in the direction of where he had last heard it. Maybe it was a dog and he had scared it, causing it to stop. Or a deer? Maybe a boar. He heard these things could be very aggressive. Should he run and climb? But this breathing… It hadn't been his. Yet it had still sounded human. Right?

He took another step, then the rustling sounded up again, coming towards him. The quick breaths were audible again as well and he squinted his eyes as the bushes of the thick undergrowth now finally parted. A human tried straightening up but they were breathing too hardly to do so. Also, something else was on their side but he couldn't see anything specific yet.

But then the human, smaller than him, looked up.

A very shocked and scared Alya stared at him with wide eyes, her face pale and beaten up, covered in scratches and apparently bruises. Her eyes were just a little too wide and her mouth was slightly opened to allow her panicked breaths to escape.

He didn't allow himself another thought as he dropped the flashlight and his backpack and sprinted towards her, jumping into the slightly lowered bushes around the path. The thorns ripped open his jeans but he didn't care because as soon as he crashed against her, throwing his arms around her shivering body, everything else wasn't important anymore. She felt a little cold but still warm enough to assure him it would be okay. She would be okay.

He hugged her tightly, still not believing that he had been able to find her, that she was here, in his arms, relatively unharmed and alive. Alive.

She didn't react at first but then, slowly, the sobs overtook her body and she allowed herself to lean into him, melting in his embrace. He pressed his cheek against her forehead and his breath hitched as well as he wrapped his arms tighter around her, desperately holding her close.

"I got you… It's okay, Alya, it's okay… I'm here for you, you're here, you're home now…", he mumbled, mindlessly, while one of his hands found its way in her hair to cup the back of her head, "It's okay, Alya… You're fine… You're okay…"

She coughed slightly, her voice sounding rough and raspy, and only then he remembered she must feel cold. And she was probably hungry and thirsty as well.

He gently, as carefully as he could, bend down to lock his arm around her lower back and thighs to lift her up, not to startle her. She held onto him with one arm around his neck, the other still wrapped around her stomach.

With a frown he noticed she had gotten a little lighter, but that'd be okay. It would be okay again.

He carried her back onto the path, climbing up the little slope until his feet were on even ground again. Only then he lowered her down again and softly led her to sit on the floor with him.

She only kneeled down but he figured that would do as well. With a swift motion he pulled his jacket off and laid it around her shoulders, pulling it so she would be able to warm up quickly again.

Only then he noticed the red stains on her shirt and especially around the area where her hand clenched into the fabric. His breath hitched again but he blinked his tears away, slightly shaking his head. If she had run through the forest it hopefully wouldn't be life threatening and as the first thing he wanted her to drink a bit of water. He figured she didn't have that much during the last days.

"It'll be okay, Alya, it'll be fine.", he murmured while pulling his backpack close, his knees hugging hers to stay as close as possible. She leant her head against his shoulder, her arm still staying around his neck to hold him close. He quickly placed the flashlight in his lap to have a little light, then he pulled out the bottle and already reached for the bandages he had packed in the hope of not having to use them.

"Here, drink something and I'll put that on your wound, okay? Then we'll call your parents and bring you home."

She sobbed dryly but took the opened bottle, her hand staying on her stomach.

"Alya… I-… I have to see the wound… Please…"

Only after a few moments of soothingly talking to her she revealed the cut, now also finally taking a sip from the bottle. He stayed close as he tightly wrapped the bandage around her waist, hoping to keep as much blood in as he could. She sometimes winced in pain but overall stayed silent. She was probably still in shock.

When he was done and pulled down the remains of her shirt again he just softly hugged her, sneaking a chocolate bar into her hands that he had felt her cleaning on his shirt. They were probably sticky so he didn't care. If it made her feel better he would let her do anything.

He pressed his nose into the crook of her neck and gently brushed over her back while pulling his phone out and calling her parents.

"You'll be home soon, Alya.", he mumbled, "You'll be okay. We'll get you home and you'll be patched up. You don't have to talk, all that matters is that you're here… You're here, you're home, Alya…"

She had calmed down a little, her shivering going down beneath the warmth of his jacket and his embrace.

It still dialed when he felt her breathing in again, hiding her face on his shoulder.

"… Th-Thank-… Y-You, Nino…", she whispered, her voice hoarse and shaky.

"It's okay, Alya… I got you, you're safe…", her father didn't pick up so he tried her mother's number, still holding on tightly, "I love you."