~THE NEXT MORNING~
It would have been too much for the entire group to go to the Dupain-Cheng bakery, so it ended up being Felix, Lyra, Larisse and Neo who went. The others were waiting at the Bourgeois Hotel until they brought Marinette over.
I hope she got some sleep last night, Felix thought, or maybe I'm worrying too much.
Larisse led them inside to find Marinette slumped over the cash register, smoke coming out of the stone oven behind her.
I'M NOT WORRYING ENOUGH!
"Gah," Lyra ran around behind her and quickly pulled out what remained of a burnt loaf of bread, "anyone hungry?" She took it outside to cool down as Neo snapped his fingers beside Marinette's head. She bolted up again and looked around.
"Don't tell me," Larisse smirked, "rough night?"
Tikki popped out from behind her. "I tried to get her to sleep, but poor Marinette was up all night thinking about how she was going to talk to Adrien when we find him. I'm surprised she made it down here to the bakery for work today."
"It's only for another few minutes," Marinette rubbed sleep out of her eyes, "dad's coming down to take over. I told him this morning that I'm hanging out with friends today."
"Then we only have a few minutes," Neo told them as Lyra came back in, "to find out why this bakery was part of Isra's dream." They split up and started looking around at all the baked goods. "There has to be some sort of clue here."
"If I may ask," Felix glanced at him, "Isra is a Turkish name. Does that mean-"
"Uncle Macario adopted her last year after she ran away from her orphanage," he answered as they scoured the muffins, "and he adopted me when I was a child after I lost my parents to a cruise gone wrong."
"Why did she run? Because of the miraculous?"
"The owner of the orphanage just up and tossed them at her and told her to never come back. He must have known people were looking for them and wanted to get rid of them quickly, so he sent Isra out on her own."
To be on her own for so long, Felix looked over the bread, I don't know how she'd survive without the miraculous at her side. I should be giving her more credit.
He lifted one of the bread loaves away to find Plagg sleeping behind the shelves. "Good morning, Plagg."
"Hm?" The Kwami opened his eyes and turned around. "Oh, hey, Felix."
Felix put the bread back and kept looking. "…Plagg?!" He put the bread away and picked the Kwami up as the other joined him. "What on earth are you doing here?!"
Plagg seemed to finally get what was going on, and his eyes widened. "Felix! It was terrible, Felix," he looked around the bakery, "the mansion was under attack…oh," he noticed Marinette and Tikki, "long time no see, Tikki. And…whoa, you're partnered with Marinette?! Ooh, Adrien is going to love this."
Marinette blushed. "H-He is?"
"Sure, you're his fav girl from school, after all."
"F-F-F-F-F-F-Fav?!" Marinette fainted into Neo's arms as Tikki shook her head.
"Uh, wrong thing to say?"
"Sort of," the red Kwami rolled her eyes, "so what's this about an attack?"
"Look, all I know is that I was sneaking around the kitchen looking for Camembert when I heard Adrien yelling from his room. I went to see what was wrong, and the next thing I knew, I was flung outside onto the street. When I flew back in, he was gone!"
"No way," Mello peeked out, "who flung you?"
He gulped loudly before glancing at Tikki, fear in his eyes. "…Him."
Tikki flew down beside him and pet his head. "Who this 'him' you're talking about? No one else was in the house."
"No, no," Plagg's voice was barely a whisper now, "him, Tikki. He threw me out."
Now Tikki's eyes were wide with fear. "…N-Not…not him."
"Yes, him!"
"But he has been lost for thousands of years!"
"Guys," Larisse snapped them out of it, "enough with the pronoun game! Who are you talking about and why should we be afraid?"
Ding.
Felix checked his phone. "It's Victor. They're at the Catacombs now, waiting for us before they head down. We don't have time."
"Then don't tell us until we're all together again," she glanced at Neo, "carry her."
Neo lugged Marinette over his shoulder as they left the bakery, only to bump into Chloe rounding the sidewalk corner. "Oh," she sighed when she noticed Felix, "I knew something about this morning was off. Welcome back, Felix…uh," she glanced at Marinette before stifling a laugh, "what happened to her? A muffin recipe gone wrong?"
"…Sure," Neo said, "So we're giving her some…fresh air."
"I overheard you in daddy's hotel lobby. You're going on a trip to the Catacombs, all of you. Mighty suspicious if you ask me."
Felix smirked. "Good thing no one asked you."
"Will you excuse us for a moment?" She stepped over, grabbed his arm and dragged him to the entrance of the park, out of the group's hearing range. "Alright, Felix, spill it."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't like to admit it, but we've known each other for years. I can always tell when you're hiding something from me, and now is no different. So what's the reason for the sudden Catacomb visit?"
"We're just a group of friends visiting a Parisian site, is that so wrong?"
"Felix, you don't hang out with such large groups so nonchalantly." For the first time since they were children her expression softened. "Is this…about Adrien?"
"So you've heard."
"Of course I have," she smacked his shoulder, "that boy's going to be my husband! I've been worried sick since I heard the news. If you know anything about, Felix, tell me…please."
"What's in it for you?"
She actually looked hurt at his comment. "Can't I worry about my friends without having some ulterior motive?"
"…No, Chloe Bourgeois," he turned away and followed the others around the corner of the bakery, out of her sight, "you can't."
