"Ayla..." Oh god, Adrien thought mid-sentence, he really should have thought this through..." can I talk to you?"
Alya looked up from her phone with a slightly confused expression, and just graced him with a small, "sure."
"Hey Nino, I'll be back in a sec," Alya told Nino, as she got up from the lunch table and followed Adrien.
Adrien didn't know exactly where to go, but then opted to go outside for their talk, knowing that nearly no-one had decided to eat outside today since there were dark clouds reigning the territory of the sky. The two walked in an odd silence, not necessarily awkward, but there was a bit of tension in the air. When they both got outside, Adrien turned to Alya, hoping he was mentally prepared for this conversation.
"Alya... yesterday the teachers told us about Marinette, as you know. But for almost a whole week, you didn't know where your best friend was. You didn't care, did you? I didn't hear you question about her except on the first day of her absence, and yesterday, every classmate went to the hospital, only excluding you and Chloé. To be blunt, what the heck is going on?"
Alya seemed unamused with the conversation as soon as she seemed to realize what it was about. Listening Adrien's points, Alya's lips got tighter and tighter as they pursed together. Her tone was filled with annoyance.
"Adrien, is this really all this is about? This is the reason you drug me outside right before it's about to storm? I have better things to be doing right now."
"Better things?" Adrien sputtered, "What do you better things? Your best friend is laying in the hospital, alone, having gone through multiple surgeries, with her parents unreachable in a different country! What is wrong with you?"
Alya scoffed as she listened to how angry he sounded. Didn't he know that there were more important things to think about?
"Adrien I don't know if you noticed, but Ladybug has been missing for over a week. There's been no akuma attacks, luckily, but she hasn't been to any patrols, as I can only spot Chat briefly flying across the roofs of Paris. So yes, Marinette is in the hospital, but the person we rely on most, to keep us and all of Paris safe, is gone, without a trace. She's more important! I've been investigating where she could have gone, but I can't find anything. My blogs basically empty, and people are freaking out!"
"You're serious? Your blog? That's what you're worried about? After being Marinette's friend, all you care about is your blog and Ladybug, who you've only met briefly, for maybe two minutes for a quick interview? You're giving up your best friend, just like that?"
Adrien had noticed ladybugs absence, but he realized there were more important things to worry about, things like Marinette. Sure he loved...no... liked Ladybug... as a partner. He noticed his feelings changed in the past week, and he truly liked Marinette, the girl who was sweet, bold, caring, and most of all, attainable. Not some girl he put on a pedestal, but a girl who was like him, his equal.
While he was thinking this, Alya had only seemed to give herself a second to think before she responded.
"Adrien you don't get it. The blog is important to me, and sure Marinette is too I guess, but Ladybug is more important. Ladybug the brave hero, the strong, confident girl who protects Paris alongside Chat Noir. Marinette? She's the girl who is too naïve, clumsy, and insignificant compared to Ladybug. What do you expect Adrien?"
Adrien just stood there, in utter disbelievement and shock. Alya had become cruel and uncaring, Adrien didn't know when, but this girl, who had befriended Marinette before he could, was just throwing her friendship in the Seine.
Alya seemed to take Adrien's silence as a dismissal, and she turned to leave, which seemed to startle Adrien out of his stupor.
Adrien decided to call out to her retreating back, "I expected you to be a better friend... No. A better person."
The only response Adrien got from the retreating figure, was a tightening of her shoulders, but other than that, Adrien didn't receive a response. When Alya had retreated back into the school and could no longer be seen, Adrien looked up to the dark sky, just as a single raindrop dropped on his face.
"Ha... How cliché..."
...
The final bell rang, releasing Adrien from the school, and he quickly left, only saying goodbye to Nino before he rushed off. Adrien basically sprinted down the stairs, jumping the bottom few, and fast walked his way back outside, where it was raining. His limo would be there any minute, but he let himself stand in the rain, where he had once before. The only problem, this time he was alone, and there was no umbrella, no friendship kindling in Marinette's gaze, there was only the patter of cold rain dropping on his surroundings. Adrien let himself remember making one of his first friends, Marinette, out in the rain, and he wished he could go back and protect her. Maybe, he would even avoid the whole gum situation from the start, so they could become friends even sooner.
He heard the horn honk from his limo, and he lowered his neck down to where he was no longer facing the gray sky, and walked towards the limo with a small smile on his face. It was nice to remember that day, and personally, no matter how cliché rain could be, maybe it wasn't so bad.
"Adrien! Into the limo, come on, come on! You'll catch a cold!"
Adrien's smile widened a little as he heard Natalie's fretting. Listening to Natalie, he slid into his seat and closed the door, and let himself gaze out of the window on the ride home. Nothing eventful happened, just Adrien being informed that he had a photo shoot promoting a new line for an intern of his father's, but he was okay with it, because the girl had been very nice to him in previous shoots. Although, the shoot would mean he would miss visitation hours at the hospital... As much as Adrien wanted to see Marinette, he had to do this, heck, give himself a small break from the hectic life he seemed to now own.
When Adrien arrived at his house, he walked into his father's office to greet him and exchange some small talk about his day until his father informed him that he had to take an important call, but made sure to smile and promise Adrien that they would talk more over dinner. Adrien nodded and took that as his dismissal, so he turned and walked the long hallways until he reached his room and stepped inside.
Plagg immediately flew out of Adrien's pocket, and rushed towards the plate of cheese that was on Adrien's table.
"Mmmmmmhm oh my sweet, smelly cheese. So delicious!"
Despite Adrien hating the smell of the cheese, he laughed at Plagg's antics. Some things just don't change, and that made Adrien happy that something hadn't changed in the past week and a half. Before all of this, Adrien would have never guessed that everything would have changed this fast, except for when his mom disappeared, but at least Adrien had come to terms with that.
"Haha okay Plagg. I was wondering, do you want to go to the shoot? I know it's dangerous having you away, but hawkmoth has been inactive for a while and there are no high tensions in the area. It's your choice, whatever you feel is best."
Plagg quickly replied that they would be fine, and that he would remain with his cheese and behave. Adrien laughed once again, changed into dry clothes, and left to go model at the shoot, leaving Plagg alone at the house.
Plagg was finally alone, and could go talk to Tikki. First, he had to prepare, so he carefully floated his way to the kitchen, careful to avoid being seen by any personnel or security cameras, and grabbed a small tin of cookies that he could carry. While in the kitchen, he got some plastic wrap, and formed a hoop fo sorts with it, so he wouldn't get wet in the rain. When Plagg secured the hood and cookies, he carefully left the mansion, and flew himself to the hospital. The journey there was a difficult process, as he had to avoid people, cameras, and dropping the cookies, which he almost did do, but he eventually snuck his way into the hospital and into Marinette's room. Thankfully, none of Marinette's classmates were there, so the room was empty excluding Marinette herself, and Tikki.
"Tikki? You in here?"
He saw a red blur zoom out from behind Marinette's pillow, and braced himself for impact as Tikki flew towards him to give a hug.
"Plagg! What are you doing here alone? Where's Adrien? How did you get here?"
"Hey Tikki, we have time to talk about that in a minute, but I'm really tired, and I'm sure you're really hungry, so let's sit and talk."
Tikki nodded enthusiastically and floated to the nightstand with the roses, with Plagg following her. As soon as Plagg set the tin of cookies down, Tikki was inside grabbing a cookie and devouring it in one bite. Plagg just watched her, and waited for her to finish so they could talk. After about two minutes, all the cookies and crumbs had been eaten, making it time for the two kawami's to get serious and talk.
"So Tikki, I'm sure you know why I'm here."
"Yeah... We need to figure out the reason behind Hawkmoth's absence, and what we are going to do about it, right?"
Plagg nodded, "that's what I was thinking. Also, what if Hawkmoth does return, and Marinette is still unresponsive? We need a plan."
"That's a good point... I'm not sure what we would do if he comes back with an akuma all of a sudden..."
"Well, I do need to get an important matter out of the way, I've eliminated Adrien's dad from being Hawkmoth. I know you had your theory, but I've watched him for a whole day, only leaving him alone when he went to the bathroom, and he didn't once create an akuma or anything. And, on the day I was watching him, someone got akumatized that day. It can't be him."
Tikki let out a sigh of relief, "I'm glad we don't have to worry about that at the final battle then. It would have complicated matters with him being Adrien's father and Marinette's role model... but now we have no ideas who it is... or why he hasn't been attacking lately."
"A valid point, in which I have mulled over, but I can't think of anything. Well, I have thought of one thing, and I think it's time."
Tikki nodded solemnly, and at the both time they said,
"We need to see Master Fu."
...
AN: hey! Here's the latest update, and I want to thank you guys for following, favoriting, and reviewing! I hope I get more reviews, it helps tell me what I need to work on, or if people like the chapter, but I'll wait, and I'm definitely not going to beg. In this chapter I tried to put some light angst, with some plot, and some hope at the same time! I was just really in the writing mood, and this chapter will be an important part. In this chapter, I decided who I was going to make Hawkmoth, and I can't wait to follow the path I've chosen! I'm transferring schools the week after next, so I'm not sure when I am next updating, but i will try to make the wait short! Please review, and thanks for reading!