Chapter Text
Everyone processed trauma differently.
From talking with others like her, Marinette knew that some people would forget the incident itself, or only have a vague memory of it.
But for Marinette, her memory of that fateful day was perfectly clear.
It had been a Wednesday, just after lunch. A lovely, sunny, sunny day.
Marinette had been carrying bags of shopping that her parents had sent her to buy, only across the street from her home, when it happened.
…
Marinette still didn't understand why Chloe loved to torment her, the only thing the twelve-year-old understood was that she couldn't do anything about it. No teacher would stop Chloe's behaviour, no schoolmate would stand up to the bully, and Marinette could not hide when the blond was feeling vindictive.
So, Marinette could only groan when, while waiting for the traffic light that kept her from home to turn green, Chloe loudly announced herself, a silent Sabrina trailing behind the bully.
Being such a frequent target of Chloe's ire, Marinette couldn't remember what exactly Chloe had said to her that day, beyond it being Chloe's usual words to demean Marinette and make her feel small. It was all stuff Marinette had heard before, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
Then, like a saviour to Marinette, the traffic lights changed to show the green man, signalling that it should be safe for everyone to cross to the other side. Key word being 'should'.
So eager to get away from Chloe, Marinette rushed forward, eyes on the front door of her parent's bakery. Only, she ended up stumbling to the ground instead, almost dropping her bags, courtesy of Chloe's foot.
Marinette did remember scowling at Chloe's annoying high-pitched laugh as the blond and Sabrina passed her fallen figure, trying to grab the stuff that had fallen from the bags.
"One of these days, that girl's going to get what's coming to her." Marinette mumbled to herself, getting to her feet.
And then Marinette became aware of a car speeding down the road, a car going way too fast to just stop at the traffic lights, a car that would most likely just speed past the traffic light, a car that was heading directly for Chloe.
Marinette didn't know what caused her to move, just that she did. One moment she was standing just off the pavement, holding her shopping bags and watching the car speed towards Chloe, the next moment her shopping bags had fallen to the ground and she had launched herself forwards.
"Chloe! Look out!" Marinette screamed.
Marinette remembered the feeling of the material of Chloe's expensive and designer jacket under her hands when she shoved the blond out of the way, as well as Chloe indignant screech as she misunderstood why Marinette had pushed her.
Marinette also remembered being slammed into herself, slammed into so hard that she was sent into the air before impacting on the ground near where Chloe was picking herself off of the pavement.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Chloe began her angry tirade.
But then Chloe's face morphed from one of anger to that of shock.
"Oh god!" She gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth.
At first Marinette was confused as to why Chloe would be shocked over her of all people. But then Marinette's body finally registered the immense pain through the shock. She tried to scream out in pain but all she could manage was weak moans and cries.
Marinette eventually became aware of Chloe kneeling down next to her, which surprised Marinette because Chloe would never dare dirty her trousers by kneeling on the ground.
"It's-it's okay, M-Marinette." Chloe stuttered. "Everything will be okay."
Chloe trying to comfort someone, let alone that someone being her, had been so unusual for Marinette that she would have laughed, if not for the pain.
Chloe then turned to Sabrina, who looked as shocked and unsure what to do with the situation as Chloe did, stood frozen behind her friend.
"What do I do?" Chloe screamed at Sabrina.
"Oh, uh…" Sabrina tried to remember what her dad had taught her. "Try to keep her still and any point of bleeding elevated."
"Marinette, you need to be still." Chloe turned back Marinette, still screaming.
It was only after Chloe had mentioned it that Marinette realised she was struggling to move, subconsciously trying to relieve the pain somehow, which was only serving to cause her more pain instead.
At that point, things got fuzzy, the pain preventing Marinette from detailing events.
She remembered her parents arriving at some point, drawn out of their bakery by the commotion, only to find their daughter at the centre of it.
And she half remembered being in the ambulance, her mother there to stroke her head while an EMT tended to her.
Marinette's next clearest memory was waking up to a doctor explaining the extent of her injuries to her parents, and the operations that she'd have to go through to fix the damage.
Then, Marinette had been put to sleep again for the operation.
…
That day, Marinette's life changed in an irreversible way.
The doctors did all they could, but there was some damage that they could not fix.
Damage that would leave Marinette confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Still, Marinette guessed it could have been much worse. And she found that help could come from the most unlikely of places.
Mayor Bourgeois, eternally grateful for Marinette saving his daughter at the cost of herself, offered his help, and his money, to the Dupain-Chengs. Without the mayor's help, Marinette's parents would have been left to figure out how to adjust their home to account for their daughter's new state. But, as their mayor had stated when he came to personally thank Marinette, money was no object.
So, hallways were widened, equipment in the bathroom and bedroom were added, and the basics of ramps and chairlifts were installed, allowing Marinette to keep her current bedroom, much to her relief. And not only that, but a small lift was installed under Marinette's skylight, allowing her to still access her rooftop garden. Marinette's stilt bed was replaced with a regular bed, along with many other small changes to her room to allow for her wheelchair.
Marinette was extremely grateful to the mayor for aiding in her living, even though the media coverage did lead her to suspect that his charity wasn't completely out of gratitude.
Still, when Marinette returned from the hospital, everything at home was ready for her. Even if she was not ready herself.
But, no matter how many times Marinette ended up on the floor due to going to stand and forgetting about her new condition, she was determined not to let her disability control her life or stop her motivation. And she would keep that mindset.
"Mama, I'm going out!" Marinette called to her mother as she heaved herself into one of her wheelchairs.
She owned two, not counting the fold-up one used for around the house, but only made regular use of one. The electric wheelchair was usually left to gather dust.
"Make sure you're not late for afternoon classes sweetie!" Her mother called after her.
"I will!"
Marinette put her hands to the wheels of her chair and began pushing, her hand-crafted gloves giving her good grip on the wheels.
In the year since her accident and Marinette had gotten used to life without working legs, working on her upper body strength so she could lift herself in and out of her wheelchair and stair lift, and doing her best to prove that despite being disabled, she was not helpless.
Marinette pushed herself along, the beads that decorated the spokes of her wheels clacking up and down with each push.
Her arms took her a familiar path, rolling past buildings and trees until she reached a slightly less urban area, the buildings larger and more spaced out.
Marinette sighed heavily as she reached a tall hill that she was all too familiar with and had nicknamed the 'snag' since becoming bound to her wheelchair. And, unfortunately, unless she wanted to travel much longer route, it was the only way to her destination.
"Okay, I can do this." Marinette told herself, pushing forward.
In all honesty, if Marinette just used the electric wheelchair she had been gifted, the 'snag' wouldn't have caused her any issues, but Marinette viewed that wheelchair as a barrier to herself. Plus, though it was an unpleasant struggle, there was nothing like the feeling of conquering the 'snag' each time and reaching the top with nothing but her own strength.
"Yes." Marinette said in victory, rubbing her hands through the gloves.
Once again, she had conquered the damned hill.
After a small rest, Marinette continued her journey, coming to a closed off area with a large fence and heavy gate.
Marinette frowned sadly when she saw the gate closed and locked.
"Of course." She said.
Marinette continued pushing until she reached a part of the fence where the large building inside and its massive garden could be seen, vines crawling the walls and a pond glistening under the sun. Strangely, one section of the garden, near that pond, was in a better state than the rest of the garden.
Happy with her location, Marinette engaged her breaks and pulled out her sketchbook.
This place was always a wonderful location to sketch, providing her with inspiration for idea, even if she couldn't get any closer to the garden.
Marinette spent the next hour contently drawing things she spotted in the mansion's garden, stopping only to eat the lunch that she had packed. There was a bird hopping about on a branch, dragonflies skimming about over the pond, some flowers midway through blooming, a pure white butterfly.
Marinette paused in the middle of her drawing to look again, but she couldn't spot the butterfly she had seen.
"I guess it flew off." She muttered.
Marinette then looked at her watch and her eyes widened at the time, it was getting time for afternoon classes, and if she didn't leave now, she would be late.
"Lunch passed quickly." Marinette said to herself.
Marinette turned her wheelchair around and began her way to college.
A white butterfly watched her go.
Marinette arrived at the college in time and wheeled herself up the ramp, as she entered the building she looked over to where her classroom was, on the first floor up.
A few years ago, this would have been an issue.
With the way that College Francoise Dupont was built, they hadn't initially installed any lifts, as a person's class schedule could be made so that they never left the ground floor. And Headmaster Damocles had always been a passive man rather than active, so never sought to change it.
That, of course, changed with Marinette's accident.
Marinette did not take kindly to be stuck on the ground floor, so with some help from her parents, as well as another unlikely source in the form of a certain blond, lifts and walkways were installed to allow wheelchair users access to the upper floors.
So, Marinette felt the usual small sense of pride when she pushed herself into the lift that took her to the same floor as her classroom.
She then braced herself as she pushed herself inside the room.
"Mari!"
Marinette inwardly cringed at the happy voice as arms uncomfortably wrapped around her, probably giving her new bruising from how tight they held her.
"I was worried when you weren't home when I went to get you." The owner of the voice pouted.
"I just went for a little trip." Marinette placated. "I'm fine, Chloe."
Chloe continued to pout.
"But what if you'd fallen over, I wouldn't have been there to help you." She said.
"You know me better than that, Chloe, I don't fall over. And even if I somehow had, I'm sure I could have picked myself up."
Chloe gave a small 'harrumph', not convinced.
Marinette wheeled over to the desks and parked her wheelchair next to the wall, she then reached behind her to fetch her crutches. Unsteadily, and with great effort, Marinette used her crutches to rise to her feet.
Though Marinette would always need a wheelchair for the rest of her life, her spine and legs had healed enough that she could manage brief moments of standing as long as she had support, but it was a strain for her to do and there were days where she just wouldn't be able to manage it. It had taken Marinette endless determination and countless hours of physical therapy to be able to stand using crutches, and even then, she could only manage it for a minute or so, but she refused to give in or give up.
Marinette's desk was on the second row, up some steps. She should have been on the first row, or even stayed in her wheel chair and used that as a desk, like Chloe never stopped insisting, but Marinette remained stubborn in not wanting to let her disability limit her. Still, Marinette knew that she shouldn't overshoot herself, and so settled on the second row rather than farther up.
"Here." Chloe said, grabbing one of Marinette's arms and supporting her back.
Without needing to be called, Chloe's other 'best friend', because Chloe was allowed to have two best friends if she wanted, Sabrina came and supported Marinette's other side.
As much as Marinette wanted to insist she could manage it on her own and as much as it pained her to admit it, on most days, Marinette did need help to reach her desk. It was a relief when Marinette could finally drop into her seat.
"You should really stay in your wheelchair." Chloe repeated what she always told Marinette. "Why do you always insist on straining yourself?"
"To prove that I can do it." Marinette gave her usual answer.
Chloe gave Marinette an expectant look.
"With some assistance." Marinette admitted.
"Thank you." Chloe said.
Chloe and Sabrina took their seats next to each other as class began and Marinette sighed, already feeling that it was going to be a long day.
…
Marinette still found it extremely weird to have Chloe acting so buddy-buddy with her, even after two years, how Chloe acted towards her previously still imprinted firmly in her mind.
It started with Chloe visiting Marinette while she was still in hospital, Sabrina lugging in a rather lavish 'get well soon' gift that Chloe said was from her.
Of course, Marinette has assumed in to be a one-time scenario, a brief intermission on Chloe's cruelty due to Marinette saving her life, before she would fall right back into her bullying behaviour.
But, as it turned out, it wasn't just a one-time event.
Chloe continued to visit and continued to bring lavish gifts.
It got even weirder for Marinette when she was allowed to go around the hospital in the wheelchair she was provided while Chloe was visiting, and spent the entire time being pushed around by Chloe herself, a girl who loathed to do any labour.
And just when Marinette thought that her situation couldn't get any weirder, Chloe declared herself Marinette's 'best friend'.
Don't get Marinette wrong, she was glad, and even grateful, to no longer be the victim of Chloe's wrath.
But that left her to be victim to Chloe's 'kindness' instead.
Marinette often felt like Chloe treated her like a charity case, using the fact that she had a disabled friend who she constantly went out of her way to help to bolster her social status. In Chloe's mind, Marinette's confinement to a wheelchair now meant that she couldn't do certain things that she actually could.
For her part, Marinette never hesitated in correcting her new 'friend', and sometimes Chloe would learn and give Marinette her individuality. But Chloe would inevitably forget and default back to her usual behaviour; things sticking only occasionally.
Unsurprisingly, Chloe had been the one to buy Marinette her electric wheelchair.
But, somehow, against all odds, Chloe declaring herself as Marinette's 'best friend' wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen to her.