Chapter 5

Walking up the side of my house, I stop beneath my bedroom window. Since becoming Honeybee, I realized that I would need to always keep my window just the tiniest smidge open, just enough to slide my fingers through and fully open it so I can get myself inside.

And that's exactly what I do, after lifting the screen, of course.

My comb makes one last warning noise before I'm engulfed in the yellow magic. My kwami weakly falls out of the comb and into my waiting hands.

"Good job back there," she says, giving a small smile. Her eyes are half-lidded with fatigue.

"Thanks." I sit on my bed and open my purse, grabbing a graham cracker and giving it to her. She nibbles on it from her spot next to me.

I tilt my head. She slept with me in my bed last night, but I'm still afraid that one night I'd roll over in my sleep and squash the poor thing. I'd have to make her a bed. Maybe a match box will do? I'd have to get a small pillow and blanket...I believe my old dollhouse is still in my closet...

"So," Abeille starts after swallowing some of the graham cracker. "It seems Fox has a lady friend." She smirks and I don't doubt if she had eyebrows they'd be raised.

I shrug my shoulders, trying to seem indifferent. "And?"

"I thought you liked him?"

"I don't like him," I mumble. "Sure he's attractive, that doesn't mean I like him. We just met!"

Abeille rolls her eyes. "Whatever you say."

...

"Hey, Honey! I'm home early today!"

I roll my eyes as Fox lands next to me on the steel beam of the Eiffel Tower. His chest is heaving slightly, no doubt from the exertion of getting up here. I'm quite thankful of my flying ability, makes things a lot easier.

"Hey, Fox."

"How was your day? You know, besides the robbery, of course?" He grins.

I let out a light laugh. "It was pretty good. I had a little trouble coming up with an excuse to leave, but as you know I was able to make it."

"Mine was the same as usual," he replies with a small smile. "I had no issues coming up with an excuse."

"Are you a natural liar?" I raise an eyebrow and smirk teasingly.

He places a hand to his chest, mouth dropping in mock hurt. "Honey, how could you suggest something like that?"

This time I laugh fully. "Well, you said you had no problems coming up with an excuse. Forgive me for my assumption that you're a good liar."

"You're forgiven, Honey." He winks at me and I look away before he could see my cheeks stained with pink.

However, it's a good thing I did, because now I see a bright orange speck in the distance.

"Fox," I begin quietly, suspicion laced in my voice.

"What is it?" He catches on to my serious tone.

"What is that?" I stretch out my arm and point to the orange speck. "You don't think it's a-"

"Fire!" He gasps. "We gotta go!"

Wordlessly I grab him from under the shoulders and fly away to the nearest building. I drop him off and he runs across the rooftops with me by his side.

This is all my fault, I think. If I didn't speak to Fox and just insist we patrol we could've gotten there sooner.

When we get there my eyes enlarge at the scene. Firefighter are trying to put out the billowing flames surrounding the apartment complex but to no avail. There's a life net set up to the right of the entrance, but only a couple people make the jump. I can hear screams coming from the inside.

"There's still people in there!" I grab my partner's arm. "We have to save them."

I take off and land inside the first window that doesn't have flames coming from outside of it. I place my arm over my mouth and cough at the smoke.

"Hello?!" I call out. "Anybody here?"

I walk around the small room, a living room. "Hello? Anyone?"

When I come inside a bedroom my heart drops. It's a nursery, and on the far side of the room is a crib.

Biting my lip I hurry over there and feel my blood run cold.

There's a baby inside, unmoving.

"No, no, please no," I whisper. This baby didn't get the chance to live, yet. "Please, no."

I lift her up (she's wearing pink clothing) and press my ear to her chest.

I sigh with relief. There's a hint of a heartbeat. Just barely there, but she's alive. I bury her face close to my body, to shield her from the smoke. Raising my leg, I smash the window open and glass shards fly to the street below.

The firefighters are gazing upwards in confusion. Without another moment I fly down and hand off the baby to one of them.

"She's inhaled a lot of smoke," I breathe, taking in the fresh air. "She's alive, but get her to a hospital quick."

He nods and hurries off to call an ambulance, I assume.

I fly back inside the building to look for more victims. When I walk in another room all I see is black. Unfortunately it gets in my throat and I begin to cough furiously. I think back to first grade, when we were taught fire safety. Weren't we supposed to crawl on the ground to avoid smoke?

Immediately I drop to the ground and crawl around. "Any (cough) one here?"

I don't receive an answer, but I crawl around to make sure. After that I go in another room, and sure enough there is a child huddled in a corner.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," I try to comfort him. "I'm gonna get you out of here."

But when I'm within feet of him I hear a sick creaking noise. Looking up, my mouth drops when the ceiling begins to fall.

I dive for the child just as the ceiling crashes down, leaving a gaping hole that allowed me to see in the room above us. The boy, he couldn't be any older than seven, starts to cry more.

"Hey, it's okay. We're okay." I say, rubbing his back.

He presses his face into my shoulder and my suit absorbs the tears. I pick him up and smash the closest window and fly him down, reuniting him with his parents.

I cough and go to fly back inside, but I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"You've inhaled a lot of smoke and I don't think there's any more people inside. The building's coming down any minute."

"Are you sure?"

He nods. "Positive."

Wait a minute. My partner. He went inside too!

"Have you seen Red Fox?" I ask quickly.

"Fox? He went inside and saved some people, but I haven't seen-"

I don't allow him to finish his sentence. I take off and go back inside the burning building, with the flames licking my skin. Good thing the suit protects me from burns.

"Fox!" I scream. "Fox, where are you?!"

Nothing.

I punch the ceiling and fly to the next floor. I shield my arm from the smoke and cough loudly, but manage to call his name again.

Still no answer.

Next floor. Silence.

Finally I make my way to the top.

"Fox, please! Where are you?!"

"Help!"

It's not his voice, rather another man's. It sounded like it came from the room next door, so I punch the wall and go through. I should've been more careful when going around punching walls and ceilings, but in my haste to find my partner I couldn't care less.

I finally see him. A man, covered in soot, has my partner's head pressed against his chest.

"What happened?" I question.

"He passed out when he came to get me. Please, help!"

I hold my arms out for Fox and wrap his arm around my neck. "Let's get out of here."

We exit and find the stairwell while dodging flames. We couldn't go out the window, unless we wanted to jump through a fire wall.

I hear the same creaking noise and look up in terror.

"Move, now!"

I shift Fox so that I'm now carrying him bridal style as me and the man race down the stairwell. Behind us the ceiling falls, only motivating us to go faster.

I'm a coughing wreck by the time I make it outside. EMTs immediately surround us and haul off the man and my partner.

"That was amazing. Stupid and dangerous, but amazing," one EMT worker tells me. I thank him and take the offered bottle of water.

"Do you feel alright? You must've inhaled a lot of smoke."

I nod, swallowing the precious cool liquid. "I'm fine. Nothing rest won't fix. Will my partner be okay?"

"He's gonna need some oxygen and probably stay at the hospital overnight."

I nearly spit out the drink. "Spend the night?"

If he spends the night his Miraculous will eventually run out, thus exposing his identity. I highly doubt he wants it known this quickly.

"Excuse me," I say and maneuver past him to the ambulance. Fox is currently lying on a stretcher, still passed out but with an oxygen mask on.

"Um, hi." I give an awkward smile to the EMTs. "I'm going to need to get my partner, if you don't mind."

"He needs to go to the hospital, Honeybee. He inhaled too much smoke," one informs.

I scoff. "He'll be fine! Nothing a little rest won't fix. So, I'll just be taking him off your hands..."

Shouts of protest are merely background noise as I fly above Fox, scoop him up and fly him over a few blocks, then gently set him down on a building.

I cradle his head on my lap. His face is covered in black soot, so I gently wipe a gloved thumb over his cheeks. It only smears. His mouth is partially open but luckily it doesn't look like he's been burned.

I bite my lip. Should I have just left him with the workers? They were professionals, I had no idea how to help my partner. Then again his identity would be exposed, but we're talking about his life here!

"Abeille, what do I do?" I mumble helplessly. I could feel my eyes already tearing up. "What do I do?"

"Take him to this location."

She rattles off an address. "Are they good with medical stuff?"

"Trust me."

I sigh and nod, trusting my kwami's decision. I pick Fox back up and fly to the address.

I furrow my eyebrows at the small house-type business I'm now looking at. It's a remedy business, but I doubt house remedies will work on Fox.

"Are you sure-"

"Just knock on the door and give him to the man that answers."

That was all she said on the matter. Well, it wouldn't hurt to actually listen. I shift my position and knock loudly five times. I hope this Fu guy (the name was on the sign) is awake at probably 1 am.

Silence. And then, a light filters through the blinds in the window. Footsteps. Then, the door opens.

My mouth drops slightly in recognition; this is the old man who I saved from getting run over two days ago! He's dressed in a pajama set, complete with hat, but it's still easy to tell it is indeed him that I saved.

"Ah, Honeybee. What a nice surprise, and at this hour?" He smiles, but it soon drops when he eyes the Fox superhero in my arms. "Is something wrong?"

"There was a fire," I explain. "He inhaled a lot of smoke and they would've taken him to the hospital but I took him away because I-uh," I faltered, not wanting to mention the secret identity issue. "I heard from a...friend that you can help him."

He rubbed a hand under his chin. "I believe I can. Please, come in and set him down."

I walk inside and gaze at the Chinese-themed room. I see a large mattress on the floor accompanied by a single, white plush pillow. I choose to lay my partner there.

"Will he be alright?" I ask worriedly. I can't help but place a hand on his forehead.

"No need to worry, Honeybee. He'll be just fine." Fu answers with a comforting smile.

My comb makes a dreaded warning beep. I hear another one, and see a portion of Fox's necklace fade back to silver.

"I-" What can I say? We're about to transform back, we need to leave?

"You can trust me, Honeybee." Fu reaches up to put a hand on my shoulder. "You need to head home. I'll take care of him."

"But-"

"No buts. His identity will be safe with me, if that's what you're worried about. I'm sure your kwami had you bring him here for a reason?"

I gasp, taking a step back just as another beep sounds from my comb. "How do you know-"

"Go home, this is a talk for another day. I don't doubt you have school tomorrow."

He practically pushes me out of the door. "Hurry and get home, I'd hate for you to walk home alone at night."

Without letting me have another word he shuts the door.

...

Marceau gasps in the darkness, shooting straight up into a sitting positon on the mattress. The room is pitch black, but it still feels unfamiliar to him.

"Jeez, don't scare me like that again." A voice chides from the darkness.

"Rennard?" He asks. His kwami flies in front of him, orange eyes bright. "What happened? Where am I? I-the fire! But-" He presses a hand to his slightly throbbing head. "I don't remember." How did he get here? He didn't even remember leaving the burning building.

"You passed out from smoke inhalation, and Honeybee saved you. She brought you here and my Master healed you."

"Master?" Marceau raises a black brow in the darkness. "And she saved me?" He groans. "I'm the worst superhero ever. I'm supposed to do the saving, not be saved!"

"You did do the saving, you saved a lot of lives tonight." Rennard doesn't miss a beat when replying. He couldn't have his Chosens feeling insecure about themselves.

"Tonight...wait, what time is it?"

"About four in the morning, I think." The fox-like kwami releases a yawn for effect.

"Four in the morning?!" Marceau shrieks. "Rennard, transform me!"

All too soon he's surrounded by the orange magic. The raven-haired teen blinks, and his night vision kicks in. It looks like he's in some type of Chinese-themed healing room. Why would Honeybee bring him here? Wouldn't a hospital have worked out better? No, then his identity would've been exposed, so he should thank her for that. But then this 'Master' who healed him must know-

Marceau squeezes his eyes shut and lets out a low groan of pain. Analyzing this situation wasn't doing his head any good.

He tries to stand, and after wobbling a few times manages to. Right now one instinct keeps screaming at him: get out of there. Back to where things make sense.

And right now, that happens to be his house.

A/N: As always thank you for the reviews! They mean a lot :)