Chapter 10
"Alright we can tell him where we're going now." Alya said as the limo began to drive away.
"Yay!" Adrien said grinning. "So?"
"You can't get mad." Mari said. Adrien's grin faded.
"How expensive-"
"Pierre Gagnaire." Nino rushed out. "Now before you say-"
"No." Adrien said flatly. "I'm not letting you pay for that. No way I know how expensive that restaurant is. Amazing? Yes. Expensive? Oh my god."
"We aren't paying and neither are you." Alya said, a small smile beginning to creep onto her face. "Nino tell him."
"Well.." Nino said, suddenly looking guilty. "It's possible.. I mean completely hypothetical of course there's no proof at all but there might be a security leak in Gabriel Agreste's credit card account. And hypothetically one could potentially… Borrow- Borrow sounds better than steal. Actually I like liberate. One could liberate some money off of him to pay for his offspring's final dinner in Paris until he returns."
"You didn't." Adrien breathed.
"I did." Nino whispered, dreading his best friends reaction. Adrien stared at him for a few seconds before taking a deep breath.
"How much did you take?" He asked.
"Ten thousand. I didn't want to make a huge splash."
"You should've taken more." Adrien chuckled. "Ten thousand is pocket change for him. Think it over next time." Nino's face sagged in relief. "Dinner is on Dad. I'm down."
"Oh thank god we were terrified you would bail." Alya laughed. Mari grinned too, but she couldn't help but notice the brief look of dissatisfaction that crossed Adrien's face. He wasn't one usually to plot revenge, but here, he still looked unsatisfied. As though he would love for nothing more than to rip down the empire of Gabriel Agreste. Or I'm overthinking this. Mari thought, rolling her eyes at herself. Little did she know, she was spot on, and Adrien was silently wishing for the family picture in the living room to fall on his father and break his neck.
Twenty minutes of conversation, laughter, and general excitement later, they arrived. They piled out of the limo and headed towards the front. Alya was in her element, exuding confidence and quite frankly, acting like the entire world should be bowing down to her. Which was exactly what the man standing at the door ended up doing, practically leaping up from his spot and opening said door for them. Alya and Mari walked up to the host desk, where a young woman stood, and leaving Nino and Adrien behind for a moment.
"Welcome." She smiled. "My name is Angela, and I will be your waiter this evening. Do you have a reservation?"
"We do." Alya replied.
"Name?"
"Agreste." Alya said, a tone of amusement in her voice. Angela started and quickly scanned them, before her eyes landed on the blonde a few meters behind them. Marinette's gut twinged as she felt that Angela stared a bit longer than was strictly necessary.
"Of course." Angela said, recovering quickly. "Follow me please." The girls signalled to the boys who joined them. Angela led them to a table, laying out their menus for them. Adrien sat across from Marinette, and Alya sat across from Nino. Angela left and the four began conversation, all avoiding the elephant in the room. Adrien's last night.
This thought managed to persist throughout the night, and even Marinette was glad for the brief interludes when Angela came back to the table to take their orders, and not so subtly flirt with Adrien. Adrien, however, was too busy slipping down the slope of gloom to notice. It wasn't that he wasn't having fun, he was. It was the constant reminders that this was it. The last time he'd be with his three best friends. His family.
Yet despite all of this, the four had a wonderful time. They were desperate to hold onto any time they got together, and were incredibly successful at ignoring the gloom and doom hovering over them. They finally ordered their food, sipping on their drinks (non-alcoholic for Adrien) and the conversation finally turned to what they had been avoiding.
"So… When will you be back?" Alya asked softly. Silence fell on the table before Adrien finally answered.
"I don't know. There is no date set for a return. I have no idea if there will be a return. At least not one that is permitted."
"Are you thinking of going against him?" Nino asked, a twinge of hopefulness present in his eyes. Adrien sighed.
"If by thinking about it you mean wishing I had the balls to do it literally every second of every day then yes."
"Then why don't you?" Alya pressed.
"Why do you think?" Adrien asked dully.
"Dude come on we'll be fine-"
"I mean really Adrien we won't-
"Adrien please we'll be ok I-"
"No." Adrien growled. The three shut up. Adrien sighed and gripped his pant leg as his head throbbed, yet again reminding him of the concussion he'd been trying to ignore. He refocused on his friends after a few moments. "I refuse to put any of you in danger. Do you understand me?" It was eventually Nino who broke the silence.
"Fine. But I'm gonna come visit." He grumbled.
"Please do. I'll help pay." Adrien replied, smiling weakly. Which was right when the door to the restaurant flew open. The four stared and found an unfortunate sight. A woman in all black with glowing red eyes.
"Where is the owner of this establishment?" She roared. Angela fled towards the back of the restaurant, clearly in search for them. Nobody dared move or speak. About five minutes later Angela returned with the owner. The owner took a deep breath and began walking through the various tables, attempting to remain calm. "You are the owner?" The akumatized woman addressed him as he approached.
"Yes." The man whispered, stopping a few feet short of her.
"So it is your fault." She murmured. Suddenly her hand shot out and she grabbed him by the neck. "You killed my son." She whispered. "And now you will pay." The owner screamed as her eyes blazed red. She dropped him and he gasped for air, scrambling away from her.
"What have you done?" he gasped, clutching his chest.
"I'm punishing you. Goodbye." The man gasped as his hand suddenly fell through his chest.
"Help me!" He shouted. "Someone!" Everyone watched in abject horror as he began to fall apart. He tried to run but his feet turned into sand under his weight. As horrible as it was, people were silently relieved when the sand finally overtook his math and they could no longer hear the screams. The woman in black suddenly pointed to Alya.
"You. You run the Ladyblog correct?"
"Yes." Alya said, looking very pale.
"Good. I would like you to livestream me. I have a message for Paris'... Heroes." Alya scrambled for phone and started the livestream.
"Hey guys it's me Alya… We've got an akuma, and she has an announcement." She turned the phone to the akumatized woman.
"Ladybug. Chat Noir. Listen to me very carefully. Hawkmoth no longer cares if you live or die. He says this game has gone on for long enough. I have free reign to do as I please to whomever I please. In fact, he says he would much prefer you dead as opposed to alive. Just some food for thought. You will meet me in half an hour underneath the Eiffel Tower. If you do not show up, I will make Paris look like a beach." She gestured to the pile of sand behind her. "I hope you understand. I have nothing against you. I simply want to enforce justice. But you have a habit of standing in the way of akumas. Thus I must get you out of the way first. Please meet me there, and we can end this quickly. Say goodbye to your families."
Mari felt a shiver go down the back of her neck. This akuma was serious. By far one of the most severe they'd seen. She cast a glance at Adrien who was tensed up, as though ready to strike if need be. In fairness, he probably was. The akuma turned on her heel and stormed off towards the kitchen.
"Get out." she snarled, before turning and blasting in. The following shouts of shock quickly turned into screams of terror and people immediately began fleeing the restaurant. The four quickly got swept into the panicked crowd, when three of them found themselves quickly separated from Nino.
"I've got to find him!" Alya shouted, before taking off. Mari missed Adrien's knowing smirk.
"Come on kitty let's go." Mari whispered. The two quickly ran to a nearby alley, and after confirming it was empty, transformed. They raced out of the alley and charged through the doors just as the akuma walked in.
"My goodness you got here fast." The akuma chuckled.
"No clever name?" Chat taunted. "No monologue?"
"I think the name is irrelevant. As for my monologue, I already said it to the Ladyblog. Of course, I neglected to mention what happens after I get your miraculous stones."
"Enlighten us." Came a third voice. Volpina jumped off of a nearby building and landed in front of them, a confident smirk on her face.
"Foxy!" Chat grinned.
"Foxy?" Volpina asked. Chat shrugged.
"I don't know. Volpina reminds me of Lila." Volpina shuddered.
"Still. I think Volpina is better than Foxy."
"Excuse me." The akuma said dangerously.
"Oh right!" Chat exclaimed, mock slapping his forehead. "Almost forgot! Do enlighten us."
"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart." the akuma growled, and launched herself at the three. Despite their numerical and advantage, the three heroes quickly found themselves on the defensive. Numbers were one thing, but it was a whole other ball game when all the akuma needed was to get one touch to you. And what Chat was quickly being forcefully reminded of as the fight went on was his concussion. Despite his taunting bravado before the fight, he had been acting tough, trying to ignore the constant pain. The longer the fight went on the worse his headache became, and as a result, the worse his fighting became.
I'm being sloppy. He thought as he waved wildly with his right hand, and narrowly avoided getting touched. As he retreated his foot slipped out from under him and he fell flat on his back. The akuma shouted in victory, leaping towards him, certain of her victory. Which was right when he felt LB's yoyo wrap around his ankle and yank him through the akuma, sending her toppling to the ground. Volpina pounced, holding what looked like oven mitts. She used her lucky charm. He realized dimly. He stayed down as he realized he would be of no use the rest of the fight.
He wasn't sure quite how long he was lying down, but what he did know was that they won. He saw the swarm of ladybugs shoot out from where he assumed they'd been fighting and dimly heard shouts. Soon after he heard a voice talking to him.
"Chaton? Chaton are you okay? What happened?"
"Why isn't he better? Miraculous Ladybug should have-"
"I don't know Fox." Ladybug said, hysteria creeping into her voice.
"Come on Chat we gotta move." Volpina hissed, grabbing him underneath his shoulder. Adrien felt his head loll to the side but couldn't really do anything to correct it. He felt another hand grab his other arm, and suddenly they were moving quickly, away from the restaurant. They gently set him down and Volpina sighed as she forced one of Chat's eyes open, before peering in. "His eyes are fine. It's probably a concussion. And not a mild one." She muttered.
"But he never got hit!" Ladybug said desperately.
"Then it must have happened before the fight. Look. I hate to do this, but I'm about to lose my transformation, and so are you. Does he know? He knows mine I can stay if you want to keep it secret."
"He knows." Ladybug whispered. "You can go." Volpina nodded and turned, looking back at Chat uncertainly before taking off.
"LB?" Chat croaked.
"Chaton!" Mari whispered, relief washing through her.
"What happened?" He queried, his voice slurring a bit.
"I was hoping you could tell me." Mari said, stroking his hair. "Did this really happen before the fight happened?" She felt Chat tense. What are you hiding mon minou? She thought desperately, staring into his eyes. Chat sighed.
"It's nothing. I'll be fine." Mari felt a surge of anger go through her.
"Chaton no. We both know you're not fine. Why won't you tell me the truth? Do you not trust me?" Chat tried to protest but Mari was on a roll. "And this isn't the first time this has happened! You've always hidden your injuries from me, trying to keep up your stupid little facade, and shutting me out! And I don't believe that you got this head injury from an accident so don't even bother trying to spout that bullshit. I love you damn it and I won't let you keep getting injured without at least trying to take care of you just like you've always done for me. So please Chat. Let me help." Chat stared at her for a few seconds, at a complete loss for words. Then he did the one thing that made sense to him in this situation. He kissed her. If somebody had been walking past the alley in that moment they would have seen a flash of pink, followed by a flash of green. Fortunately, nobody was anywhere nearby, and just as well, because Adrien and Marinette were completely oblivious to the outside world.
The kiss ended much faster than either would have liked, but both were now becoming acutely aware of their situation. Marinette acted first.
"Come on kitty." Mari murmured, helping him to his feet slowly. "Let's get you home." Seeing his despondent look, she quickly explained. "My home." she frowned as she saw his entire body relax. It wasn't his general hatred towards the house this time. What are you afraid of Adrien? She almost voiced the question out loud but held back. Now wasn't the time. They were in a bit of a fix. They had only reserved the limo for one way because they had planned to walk back. But now she had to deal with an Adrien who could barely walk straight.
However, before they had even taken a step outside of the alley, a limo pulled up and stopped. Marinette braced herself for another fight. (Years of fighting evil villains had made her paranoid.) But instead of a villain, out stepped Natalie.
"Natalie?" Adrien asked, shocked.
"Adrien!" she shouted, running over. "What happened?" She asked desperately. Mari opened her mouth, but Adrien beat her too it.
"Same as usual." Mari jolted in surprise as Natalie's face changed from one of worry to one of disgust.
"Say no more." She growled. "Come on. Let's go." The Gorilla climbed out of the limo and picked up Adrien with minimal effort.
"I can walk." Adrien protested. The Gorilla scoffed, and placed him in the back. Mari lingered off behind them awkwardly, unsure if she would be welcome to join them.
"You too Ms. Dupain-Cheng." Natalie said gesturing to the limo. Mari hesitated still. "Mr. Agreste left on a business trip tonight." Natalie wasn't sure if Marinette's feet touched the ground as she got in the limo. She allowed a small smile to creep onto her face, before entering the limousine, and signaled The Gorilla to start driving. On the other side of Paris, a certain villain was chuckling to himself. He now knew who Chat Noir was. But he would wait. He had plenty of time. Chat would be leaving soon anyways.
Of course, if he returns to Paris of his own volition... I will simply take matters into my own hands. Hawkmoth thought, a victorious grin on his face. Nooroo, exhausted from the effort of creating two akumas, was fighting the blackness that was threatening to overtake him. He remained conscious just long enough to hear Hawkmoth shoot a comment at him.
"Well done Nooroo. I must say I'm impressed. I appreciate your assistance. But get used to this. There will only be more to do from here on out." Nooroo let out a small whimper and drifted off, the sound of Hawkmoth's laughter ringing in his ears.
I'm baaaaaack wheeeee. Hooray! Yay! I'm so glad my writer's block is (mostly) gone! Yay! Anyways, I know this chapter was short comparatively, but I'm sure you'll find it in yourself to forgive me. Now just so you guys know, yes Adrien is leaving soon. Like really soon. Like probably next chapter if I had to guess.
Now while college has been going well, I'm also hella tired all the time. So again, no guarantees of when the frick frack I'll be able to post again. but either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all next time.
As always, please review, fav, follow, etc. Kisses!
Until Next Time!
~Nebilas~