ADRIEN

"Woah!"

"Careful!" I place my arm in front to block her from an incoming motorcycle as it drives by us in full speed, not even caring for the other pedestrians, street vendors, street children, and beggars on the street.

"Damn, it's like you got a sixth sense or something," she utters in shock as we both stop walking for a moment and stay by a place with ample shade that's given by a torn tarpaulin used as a roof.

The amount of people, and dilapidated buildings surrounding us could not even compare to the busiest of streets back in the capital where I've stayed my entire life.

The mixture of smog, dust, and different kinds of odor is enough of an indication that we're not in the capital anymore. Rather, we are in the area most poverty-stricken.

"Adrien-"

"Felix," I immediately correct Marinette as I warily look around the area to see if anybody heard her. "Remember, don't use that name here," I continue after I see to it that the coast is clear.

"Ah, shoot. Sorry," she apologizes. "Felix, I think we should find somewhere else to stay for the night."

"Hang in there. We'll eventually find one before night comes."

Marinette and I have been walking around the busy area carrying with us a bag just enough to carry what is essential (enough money, a first-aid kit, a cloth hood, canned food, and I slipped in a walkie-talkie and handgun that Marinette stole from their supply).

Before we left the base at dawn, Marinette gave hair dye to change my hair color to brown since there is more of a chance of the people here finding out who I am than her. Marinette did not change anything on her but her name.

While I chose 'Felix', she chose 'Sabine'. And with my curiosity getting ahead of myself I asked her why she chose that name. She answered in a whisper, "It's a familiar name to me."

Now Marinette and I have been walking around to find a place, even if it's just a simple inn to stay in for the next few days.

Marinette fixes the hood covering her hair as we continue to walk. I notice how her hair cascades down until a little below her shoulders.

"It's my first time to see you with your hair down like that," I comment as I nudge her.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" She snaps, clearly bothered with what I said.

"It could mean that I'm saying you're beautiful with your hair down."

She immediately tightens the hood on her head, then clears her throat. "Like as if you could see my hair under this."

"Suit yourself." I raise my shoulders in surrender and try to hide the smile threatening to show on my face as it's a joy to make her flustered again.

"Felix, you're making me wish I brought Nino instead."

"Hey!"

She lets out a laugh just enough for me to hear it. This time I allow myself to smile with her. "I'm messing with you," she tells me.

"Oh, really now?" I tease her.

"Yeah-Ow!" She exclaims as a street child bumps into her. The child just has a dirty over-sized shirt on him and is not wearing anything on his feet. He looks around nine or 10 years old. He tightly clasps in his hand a white plastic bag that he inhales from before spitting at our feet.

"Hey, that's not nic-"

"Get away from here before I take that from you!" I interrupt Marinette and point at the plastic bag the child is holding. I use the accent and way of speaking the locals in the area use. The child immediately runs away from us, maybe back to his friends who may be inhaling from their own plastic bags as well. My chest clenches in pain for them.

"What was the child holding?" Marinette asks.

"They call it solvent around here," I answer. We both start to notice the amount of people holding plastic bags similar to the one the child had with him. "Inhaling it loses your feeling of hunger, and once you've inhaled too much you become addicted to it."

"Oh, God," she whispers in woe.

"Sometimes with the few amount of money they have, they would rather spend it on solvent than real food. Let's continue walking to avoid looking suspicious."

"It's...it's horrible here," She whispers as she sees a mother holding her baby while begging for alms.

"Don't act like you've never seen such things before. All the more you'll stand out," I warn her in a quiet voice. I sense her look up at me but I continue to look straight as we walk along the street.

She looks straight ahead as well and says, "I promise that I'll find a way to fix this."

"Thank you," I face her with a small smile. And with new profound courage, I hold her hand and give it a light squeeze, "But don't forget that I'm here to help too. You're not alone in this."

------------

We eventually found an inn just as it turned dark outside. A lot of people outside the building were either drinking or already intoxicated. I sling the bag I've been carrying across my body.

A group of men cheered out loud and clinked their own bottles of beer before chugging them down. I move Marinette away from them and place myself between her and them as I noticed some of them were starting to stare at her. I glare back at them and they turn back to their drinks at hand out of fear.

"Check Room 11, will ya?!" We hear someone shouting from a table at the front as we enter the building that looked like it had better days decades ago. "I could hear them from here and if they break the bed I'll break their necks!" The man continues then places a cigarette in his mouth.

Marinette grabs my hand and holds onto it tightly. "Don't let go, please," she warily whispers.

"I won't," I whisper back as we both walk to the man who was too busy smoking his cigarette. Based from where he was sitting and how haughty he carries himself, it looks like he's in-charge of the place.

"Oi, how can I help you tonight?" The man asks me once we approach him.

"A room for the missus and I," I say then wrap my arm around Marinette's waist.  I lean towards her and leave a kiss on her head. For the sake of hiding our identities, we both agreed to act like a married couple.

"Ey, can't wait for a proper honeymoon? Is this going to be a quick one?" The man asks as he goes through the available room keys.

"Depends on my wife though if she could last the night."

Marinette runs a hand on my chest. "Let's test that out later, Felix," she whispers out in a seductive tone for the man to hear. I did not know that Marinette could pull off something like that. What I did not also expect was when she nipped my earlobe.

I had to stop myself from turning red. I haven't had this much intimacy in a while. And since I'm acting like a married man now, I need to show that I'm used to her actions.

"Then let's go to our room now, Sabine. I don't wanna waste any more time." I move my arm to grab the set of keys from the man but he suddenly pulls his arm away that is holding the keys.

"Wait," the man utters. I could sense that he was starting to feel suspicious.

"I think we need the keys now-"

"What's your name?" He cuts me off and directly asks Marinette the question with underlying anger in his voice.

I pull Marinette closer to me as I feel her hold on to me tighter. "You should leave  the keys with us, sir."

"Not until I hear the name of your pretty lady..." he seethes. Through the corner of my eye I notice that our exchange has gained the attention of the people around. I...I have a feeling that things are not going to turn out good.

"My name is Sabine," Marinette speaks out loud. "Now give us the keys will ya-" The man immediately yanks her hood away which leaves her blue hair out for everyone to see.

"I knew it," the man sneers and brings out a gun. He cocks it then points it at Marinette.

I push Marinette away and run to the man to move his arms as he pulls the trigger. The bullet hits a flickering lightbulb on the ceiling and it bursts into a million glass shards. I grab the gun from his hand and use it jab it on his neck. I use the opportunity to jab my elbow on his chest as well. The man immediately falls and grasps his throat as he inhales sharply.

"We need to run," I tell Marinette and grab her hand. She looks at me in fear and then to the other people that have started to surround us. "Come on, run fast!"

"G-Get them!" The man struggles to shout out loud. "She's a proditor!"

A proditor? I haven't heard that word in years.

But why in the world would they brand Marinette as a proditor?!

Marinette holds on tightly to me as I pull her along to run faster.

I hear the shouts and cries of men from behind and I look back. My teeth grits in anger. Damn it!

"F-Felix, who are they?" Marinette shouts as we both run. I wrap an arm around her to bring her closer.

"I need you to run faster," I instruct her, breathless. "They're rebels. And they don't like our existence right now!"

Marinette swears under her breath and looks back to see for herself the situation at hand and the number of people trying to chase us. She then looks straight ahead and then pulls me to another direction. "Let's go this way!"

We turn towards an alleyway between two buildings. And as we do so, a bullet hits the wall opposite to us.

"Shit," I curse, "they have guns with them."

Despite the gunshots, Marinette continues to lead the way when she points at another narrower alley that looks darker than this one. "Let's run there."

We both go to the other alley and for just a while, the voices of the rebels have gone down. They must have went in another direction. But we shouldn't stop here, not yet. They could still find us here.

"What..." Marinette starts in a whisper as she leans on the wall, "What did he call me back there?"

"Not now, Marinette. I'll tell you later," I warn her as I look for somewhere else to go to. I look up and see that the buildings between us are not entirely covered with cement. The buildings are around four-storeys high and it looks like they were being built for parking space but was never finished. "We need to find a way to go up there."

"Maybe there could be a place here that was closed off during construction," I continue. I run my hands on the walls and try to push them to find any faulty and loose placing of cement blocks.

Marinette helps out and checks the other building. For a while we just push the walls in front of us hoping for a way in.

"Come on, come on," I mutter under my breath as I continue to push the walls. A loud sound from Marinette's area disrupts my search and I turn to her.

"I got it," she announces in a quiet voice. Marinette continues to push down the cement blocks to create a pathway for us to enter.

"You surprise me every time, Marinette. I swear," I couldn't stop myself from uttering those words. I run to her side to help with the blocks but a sudden feeling of pain erupts as I feel something pierce through my skin in my left thigh.

Around three protruding copper tubes placed with the cement have went in my thigh and my body doubles in with the pain. I could feel and see the blood gushing out through where the tubes are.

"Adrien!" Marinette gasps. She kneels and inspects the injury. Then looks up at me with teary-eyes. "We need to get you out from this."

"Then help me out," I groan and try to push myself off using the wall. Marinette stands and rolls the fabric of my shirt for me to bite into.

"So that you could also shout when it gets too painful," she tells me before wrapping her right arm around my bare stomach and placing her left arm on top of my left thigh. "Okay, we'll try to do this three times. Trust me, Adrien," She whispers while looking at me. I nod fast and squeeze my eyes shut. "I'll count every time we'll do it. Ready."

I position my hands on the wall in front of me and place my right leg behind to keep my balance. I hear Marinette let out a deep breath. "Okay, Adrien," she starts, "Inhale first."

I follow by taking in a huge breath of air. "When I say exhale," she continues in her calm voice, "that's when you exhale and also push yourself...one, two, three, exhale."

I shout into the fabric of my shirt as Marinette helps me push myself out. I feel the copper tubes go through my flesh and I hunch over in complete pain.

We hear the sound of a commotion from the left side. The rebels are closing in. I open my eyes to panickly look at Marinette.

"I need you to calm down," she continues in a quiet voice. I could tell that she's trying to stop her voice from wavering out of fear and for just a moment, I admire her for that. "Change of plans. This will be our last time to take you out, okay? I'm not going to leave you here, and I'm going to heal you once I bring you to a safe place, you got that?"

I peer into her eyes as I nod one last time. I close my eyes again and prepare for another round of excruciating pain.

Marinette, I trust you.

The voices of the people finding us get louder.

"Ready, inhale."

I follow her and wait for her to continue.

"One, two, three, exhale!" I feel her pull me away with all her strength as I shout into the fabric again and push myself. The movement of the copper tubes going out of my thigh is more painful now than the first. Hot tears come out of my eyes as the pain doubles. I could feel my blood leaving my body fast as I start to lose my strength. All this running and now my deep wounds have led me to feel so...exhausted.

"There," Marinette exclaims in a whisper as the copper tubes are fully out of me. I lean on Marinette and she holds me close, guiding me to the area she opened in the building. "You're strong, Adrien," she commends me while I limp inside the building and lean on the opposite side of the wall.

"Don't make me sit..." I whisper, "I might not be able to stand again."

"Okay, then lean here please. I'll be back."

"Hurry..." I tell her. The volume of the voices have doubled as well. They're near.

She goes out and after a few seconds comes back in to close the wall using the same bricks we managed to push before I got my wounds.

She runs to me and whispers, "They're here," before covering my mouth with her left hand and her right hand holding tightly on my thigh to stop the bleeding.

We stay silent as we hear them come to this area. Marinette and I keep eye contact as we could hear them talking from the other side of the wall. I could hear my heart beat fast along with Marinette's as we wait for the voices to disappear.

One voice instructs the others to check way out in the front while the rest goes back to retrace their steps. Eventually, from loud voices and footsteps...we hear nothing. Just our heavy breathing.

I remove Marinette's hand from my mouth. "I'm getting sleepy..."

"Shit," she curses under her breath and grabs the bag across my body and takes it away from me. She kneels as she goes through the contents of the bag. "Don't you dare sleep on me, Adrien," she warns me as she starts to tightly wrap the cloth hood around my thigh to stop the bleeding for now.

I let out raspy breaths as I feel that it's harder for me to keep my eyes open. My eyesight starts to get blurry and my head feels dizzy. "I can't promise you that..."

"Stay awake!" She shouts in a whisper as she starts to clean the wounds using the disinfectant we have in the first-aid kit.

"Then keep me talking...why did you go out?" By now I'm just sputtering out whatever is there at the tip of my tongue. I'm even struggling with keeping my balance.

"I had to wipe away all traces of your blood," she answers while continuing to clean my wound.

"You're smart..." I let out a soft chuckle and continue to ramble with no care of what I'm about to utter, "You're really smart, and calm, and beautiful, and brave, and really hot-"

"I-I think I've heard enough,"

"You know that I only love you, right?" I smile and look at her through my half-closed eyelids.

"Y-Yes, I know," she stammers.

"I love you, Mari..." I continue then I suddenly lose control of my eyelids as they close on their own.

"Stay awake!" Marinette tightens the cloth around my thigh and I awaken due to the sudden pain inflicted on my body.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!"

"Don't you dare sleep on me again-"

"Sabine?" An unknown voice calls out in the building. Marinette immediatwly stands out of fear and rushes to my side.

I gasp and feel a rush of adrenaline as a woman is now standing a few feet in front of us.

How did I not notice her here?

Immediately I place a protective arm in front of Marinette as I glare at the woman in front. "Who are you?" I seethe.

The woman does not mind me at all as she brings her hands to her mouth to choke on a sob. "It...It can't be..." she utters with tears coming out of her eyes. "Sabine Cheng? Is that really you?"

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Ugh, i miss writing action scenes and cliffhangers.

(And especially those two being 'lovey-dovey')

It spices up my life and hopefully yours too.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter (and can't wait for the next one nyahahaha)

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

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