Part three of my series! They can all stand alone, but make sure to check out "Not the Fairytale we planned" and "His mother's ring" too!
"You had one job, Plagg! One job!" Tikki darted around frantically while Plagg just hovered motionless, eyes wide and completely useless.
"They-They took away the cheese," he murmured to himself, looking dejectedly to where the hotel cart had stood not moments ago.
"Plagg! That is not the focus right now!"
"But-But I thought it'd be safe with the cheese. I wouldn't lose them if I kept them with the cheese…" His voice was so despondent that Tikki paused mid-air.
"Wait, so you know where they are?"
"They're with the cheese."
"Details, Plagg. I need details!"
Plagg just stared at the door. He'd been having a very nice meal before all these shenanigans started happening. Adrien had left to take care of some last minute wedding details, but he'd made sure to order room service that morning so Plagg had more than enough cheese to keep himself satisfied in the meantime. That was how he'd ended up with a heavenly cart laden with wheels of camembert, and that was where Adrien gave Plagg his one job for the day.
Adrien and Marinette had decided on a small ceremony, just in a chapel with their closest friends and family. They refused to not have Tikki and Plagg as part of the ceremony, but even among their nearest and dearest, not everyone knew the happy couple was also Paris' favorite superhero duo. Trying to find a compromise, Marinette had asked Tikki to be in charge of her headpiece, a flower crown that was a tradition on the maternal side of her family, and Adrien had asked for Plagg to hold the rings and give them to him at the right moment in the ceremony.
Unfortunately, it was a little difficult to be the guardian of the rings when said wedding bands were currently on the bottom of a food cart somewhere in the hotel.
He'd been honored when Adrien asked him to do this for him, not that he'd ever say that out loud. He'd made a joke and rolled his eyes at his boy, but when Adrien left the room, he'd gingerly held the rings and put them on the cart with the camembert. There was no way he would forget his cheese, so there was no way he would forget the rings.
Then the cleaning staff came in and Plagg of course went to hide. When the room was silent again he reemerged, and the cart was gone. So he'd called in reinforcements.
"They took the rings and they took my cheese," he gritted out through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowing.
"The rings are with the cheese?" Tikki finally started to catch on to his disjointed statements. Really, after centuries, she should be better at this.
Plagg rolled his eyes, anger at his stolen possessions clearing his head as he started to make a plan.
"We need more reinforcements," he looked at Tikki and thankfully her kwami-telepathy was working again. She nodded.
"On it."
Tikki zipped through the walls on her way to the bridal suit, grumbling about Plagg and probably being seen by a few humans on the way.
Whatever, she thought to herself, but her intrinsically careful nature did take hold again. She proceeded more carefully, consoling herself that they had bigger problems and no one would believe their eyes anyway.
When she made it into the room, she paused mid-air, her eyes widening and tears threatening to overflow.
There was Marinette.
Alya was fastening the top buttons that lined the lace inlay, covering her from the small of her back to her shoulder blades while Sabine looked on wiping tears from her eyes and trying not to ruin her makeup. Tikki looked at Marinette in the reflection of the mirror and smiled at her charge. She'd always been beautiful, but she couldn't remember a time when Marinette had looked more sure-more confident-in what she was about to do. There had been Chat Noirs and and Ladybugs with chemistry before, but they'd never gotten married. They'd never been as well-matched as these two.
"Tikki!" Marinette caught her eye in the mirror and turned when Alya finished her buttons. "What do you think?" She spun around, the short train spiraling. The dress really was a work of art, designed and handcrafted by Marinette herself. It was a trumpet silhouette of entirely lace, hugging Marinette's body loosely before cinching at the structured top. The neckline was a subtle sweetheart, but it left her shoulders completely bare, instead wrapping around her upper biceps and flowing down her arms like a second skin in sheer lace sleeves that came to a point at the center of her knuckles. A ribbon wrapped delicately around her middle fingers to secure the sleeves stayed in place. Her hair was gathered into a low bun to the side, and two ruby and onyx hair pins glowed like fire in the noon light.
Ladybugs.Tikki smiled looking at them now in her hair. They'd been a gift from the rest of the miraculous holders.
"Marinette," she squeaked, floating over to where the three women stood and trying to keep her happy tears from overflowing. "You look amazing."
"Here, dear," Sabine held out a tissue for Tikki, and she took it gratefully.
"You're just in time, Tikki. Alya," Marinette looked over her shoulder. "Can you get the crown?"
Alya nodded, and Tikki watched through a watery gaze as Alya placed the finishing touch on Marinette's bridal look. It had been tradition in Marinette's family to wear a floral headpiece that was created by the bride's sister or closest unmarried female relative. Sabine's maid of honor had made hers, and Tikki assumed Marinette would ask Alya, but she didn't.
"You're like the older, wiser sister I never had, Tikki. Would you make it for me?"
Tikki still got tears in her eyes remembering Marinette's pure and hopeful expression when she asked. She had nodded, not quite able to form words, and had spent the next month meticulously planning the crown before having Alya purchase the flowers and help her assemble it last night.
Tikki watched as Alya lowered the ring of red poppies, orange chrysanthemums and white daisies to Marinette's head. It made her blue eyes sparkle even brighter.
"Tikki, I love it!" Marinette exclaimed, meeting her eyes in the mirror.
"You look perfect," Tikki breathed in response.
She was still smiling over at Marinette when the grandfather clock in the corner rung and brought her back to reality. Marinette saw the change in her expression.
"Tikki?" She intoned in a deep question, guessing correctly that something was wrong.
"It's nothing," she responded hurriedly but Marinette just raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, it will be nothing. I'm handling it."
Marinette regarded her for a moment, but just nodded.
"Okay, I trust you. Try to keep Plagg out of too much trouble though?" She winked at her kwami, and Tikki snorted.
"Unlikely," she briefly kissed her girl's cheek before she turned to look at Alya. "Trixx?"
The fox kwami meandered out of the woman's curls, yawning as she floated lazily towards her.
"What?" she snapped, grumpy from being woken up from her nap.
"Plagg," Tikki simply answered, already floating towards the hallway, Trixx following closely behind.
"Shite, what has he done now?"
Plagg had roused Wayzz from his slumber easily enough, through the kwami had a funny way of 'helping'.
"Why didn't you just leave the box on the nightstand? Or better yet, if you were worried about losing it, why didn't you put it in the safe? Every hotel room has one, you know."
"Because I didn't," Plagg gritted out, responding to what seemed like the hundredth well, why didn't you just… that Wayzz had thrown his way. He'd known the kwami for centuries, that didn't make him any less annoying. At least it's not Duusu, Plagg comforted himself. One wrong word, and she'd be off blubbering in a corner. He never had the patience to deal with that mess of a kwami.
Thank god for Tikki. He'd never tell her- though she honestly already knew-but there was a very obvious reason they were each other's balance. Part of the reason he was always so blasé about the whole 'secret identity' thing was it meant they wouldn't be separated as long. Tikki was right (like she usually was), and it was technically safer to keep it all anonymous. That didn't mean he liked it. It was always a relief when the holders found out. And with these two...Plagg couldn't help but smile a little. He couldn't remember being fonder of any other pair in history. Sure, they'd had some famous miraculous holders; holder's whose names and deeds were still studied and awed over in the history books, but Adrien and Marinette... They were just...good. And right. They were just as much each other's balance as he and Tikki, and Plagg would be damned if he ruined their day.
He sped up, darting from potted plants and picture frames as he scoured the hall trying to spot the hotel cart with his cheese and the followed suit, thankfully silent. That's when he saw it. At the end of the hall was a row of carts being cleaned and unloaded by a young boy in a server's suit. Linens from the carts were piled in a heap as plates were scraped into the garbage shoot and then stacked to the from the front, Plagg spied the unmistakeable wheel of camembert cheese.
But the rings were gone.
Plagg's eyes darted from cart to cart, hoping he was mistaken, but his memory was flawless. He knew exactly where he had placed the rings, and they were not there.
Dejected, he fell onto the top of the mirror they were floating next to.
"They're gone," he whispered, his eyes closing and his ears flattening against his head. This was his fault. Sure, the wedding would still go on, and Adrien and Marinette would probably just brush it off as an accident because they were good people, but this was Plagg's job. Adrien had trusted him with this. He and Tikki couldn't publically be a part of the wedding, but their charges had each given them parts to play, wanting them to still be involved. Tikki had executed hers flawlessly, arranging and creating the floral crown that Marinette's veil was attached to, and Adrien had trusted him with this. But, like everything, he still managed to screw it up. He should have been able to do this for Adrien.
"You actually care," Wayzz's voice floated over to him and he felt the kwami sit down next to him. Plagg opened his eyes, looked over and glared.
"Of course I care," he looked at Wayzz's shocked expression and was aggravated. He knew he didn't allow his fellow kwamis to see this side of him often-if ever-but after centuries together, Wayzz couldn't possibly think he was so heartless.
"Adrien- my kid-trusted me with this, and I messed it up. But of course, what else could be expected," he sighed and looked away.
"What does that mean?"
"I'm the god of destruction, Wayzz! They rest of you get happy or at least neutral abstractions, but when is destruction ever a good thing? Everything I touch goes wrong. The kid deserves more. Especially today."
Wayzz was silent, but Plagg could feel his eyes on him. He didn't often talk this way with anyone but Tikki, but he was angry at himself, and frankly irritated that Wayzz thought him so indifferent. He was sarcastic and rude and blunt. That didn't mean he didn't love his people. He even begrudgingly included Wayzz and Dusuu in that category.
"Volcanoes have to erupt to create islands," Wayzz said finally. "Forest fires destroy, but from the ashes comes new growth. Even the flooding of river banks can destroy, but the silt it leaves behind brings new life." Plagg looked over then and Wayzz just smiled. "Destruction is necessary for new beginnings. Without you, there wouldn't be us."
Plagg just stared at his old colleague, surprisingly touched.
"Thanks," Plagg responded, his voice higher than usual as he suddenly felt like Dusuu and tried not to get emotional.
"You don't destroy everything you touch," Wayzz continued, his eyes hardening in determination. "And we will find those rings."
They stared at each other for a moment, and Plagg felt grateful to his friend. He hated him at times, but he was family, and it was moments like these that reminded him why all the miraculous were a balance. Tikki may be his counterpart, but it was really all of them together when they were strongest.
Just when he was about to respond, Tikki showed up with Trixx in tow. He was honestly grateful. He'd hit his quota of emotional sharing for the day and desperately needed a distraction. Thankfully, Tikki picked up on his mood immediately. Her eyes softened from irritation to concern, but knowing her partner, she didn't question him in front of others, even though she clearly had sensed his distress.
"They're gone," he said before Tikki even got a chance to speak and tried to match his usually gruff voice. One look at Trixx and he knew he hadn't succeeded, but he couldn't worry about that now.
"Gone?" Tikki's eyes narrowed in confusion and Plagg just nodded in the direction of the cart.
"They were there on that cart, right next to my cheese. But they're not there anymore."
"They have to be somewhere close then," Wayzz tried helpfully, and Plagg knew he was trying to be nice. They'd had a moment. Great. But right now Plagg needed solutions, not consoling. He focused on Tikki, watching the gears turning in her head as she scanned the carts. Then her blue eyes lit up.
"There."
Plagg followed her gaze immediately and his eyes settled on the unmistakable edge of a square box partially hidden in the pile of linens, apparently haven fallen when the carts were stripped.
The ring box.
Plagg immediately darted forward to a closer potted plant, intending to make a mad dash for the box when the boy turned in his direction and he sunk back into the shelter of the leaves. He felt the others join him, but his eyes were frozen on the boy as he bent and grabbed the pile of linens in his arms, walking towards the laundry shoot.
Panicking, caught between his need to get that box and to stay hidden from the civilian, he looked over at Tikki who narrowed her eyes.
"Oh no you don't. Trixx?" She looked over at the fox kwami who just have her a calm but dangerous smile.
"Way ahead of you."