Hey there, miraculous fans! Sorry for the long wait, I've been loaded with things and projects to complete. In otherwise, I've been pretty busy. But hey, new chapter! And it's a bit of a long one, too. Not exactly my longest, but still pretty long.
I don't own Miraculous, Cecilia and Deerja (PinkSakura271), or Melissa and Echo (UnicornSecrets). Sam (only mentioned in this part) is mine.
Bonne lecture! (Happy reading!)
It took a few minutes, but eventually Cecilia made it to the Agreste mansion. She found a place and secretly transformed into Deer Heart before counting the windows and finding the one Melissa had told her about earlier. Leaping agile as a deer, she made it up to the window's sill and peered in.
The door suddenly opened and she quickly pressed herself against the wall behind her to try to not be seen. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was just Melissa and no one else.
Deer Heart tapped on the window, a grin creeping up to her face. It was hard not to smile, considering the small, mischievous stunt they were about to pull. Melissa turned on the second tap, and a smile lit up her face as well. The redhead walked up to the window to let her partner-in-crime bestie in before closing it behind her.
"Hi," Deer Heart said in greeting.
"Hey," Melissa replied. "I don't think I'm going to transform. That way, only one of us has to hide from Mr. Agreste and Natalie."
Deer Heart nodded in agreement. "Good call. Anyway, do you know where he, Adrien, and Marinette are?" She spit it the last name almost like it was something distasteful. Melissa decided to ignore that small detail for the time being.
"I think they're in the parlor at the moment. Natalie should be in her office and the Gorilla is on break."
The current holder of the deer miraculous chuckled a bit at the nickname of Adrien's bodyguard, having been told about the name from Adrien over the phone. "Great, so we've basically got the whole place to ourselves while we search!"
"Any ideas on where we should start?" Melissa asked.
Deer Heart pulled out her flute, "I was thinking that some magic might help us find it faster." She brought the instrument up to her lips before pausing. "You don't think this'll be too loud, do you?"
Melissa thought for a moment before shaking her head, "Natalie's office and the parlor are on the other side of the mansion, and this place is huge. As long as you don't play it too close to where they are, I'm sure we'll be fine. I say play it. The faster we find the miraculous, the less of a chance we have of being caught."
"Okay," Deer Heart said, reassured. She brought the instrument up to her lips again and began playing softly. A beautiful melody filled the air, and as the music played, a translucent pink deer glowed to life in front of them in a flurry of music notes. As the melody ended and the doe's head finally materialized, it turned to the two girls before prancing straight through the bedroom door. The teens looked at each other as they shared a giggled and then quickly chased after their magic guide.
The deer leaped through the halls, elegant and silent. They ran up a flight of stairs and turned a corner only to hear the faint murmur of voices in the air.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I must take this call." They peered around the corner and found Gabriel Agreste, his body already halfway out of a door.
"Whoops, looks like we reached the parlor without noticing. Sorry," Melissa said sheepishly. Their guide bounded down the hall ahead of them ad turned another corner.
"We're losing it!" Deer Heart whispered.
"We'll find it. For now, hide!" Melissa replied, hastily.
Luckily, the hall they were in was a hall on one of the edges of the house and had large windows lining its left side. They quickly got behind two giant curtain and tried to keep their feet out of sight by leaning on the inner window ledge. Footsteps grew louder and eventually faded as they dared not move a muscle.
Once the sound of steps was gone, the girls released a breath they weren't aware they were holding.
"That was a close one," Deer Heart sighed.
Melissa chuckled, "You're tellin' me."
"Let's just find the miraculous and get this over with."
"Agreed. A thousand times agreed."
Peeking behind the curtains to make sure that the coast was for sure clear, they left their hiding place and ran as softly as they could to find the doe. They discovered it curled up on the floor just around the next corner. As they approached, she lifted her pretty head, flicked an ear, and then turned around to continue leading the way. In a few moments they reached a painting. Here, the doe tapped her nose gently on the artwork and dissolved into pink notes, just as she had been created.
"A painting?" Melissa wondered out loud. They were both wheezing a little, but it wasn't just from their little sprint. Most of it was from the exhilaration of their mission and the anxious feeling of perhaps being found out.
After a few seconds of recovery, Deer Heart tentatively walked up to the painting and gently place her hand upon it, just like the doe had. "I don't understand," she said, "Did my spell not work?"
Suddenly, Echo flew out of her hiding place inside a pocket on the inside of Melissa's leather jacket. "Sorry to interrupt ladies- well, I'm not, really," the little kwami giggled, "but it might help to check behind the painting."
The facepalmed. "Of course!" They said in unison.
Deer Heart pressed her hand against the painting again, although slightly harder this time. Sure enough, the moment she lifted her hand away the masterpiece swung out on hidden hinges, revealing an iron door and a secret keypad. "Please enter the code," it read.
"Ah, I know how to solve this one," she smiled.
Once again, Deer Heart pulled out her flute and played another melody. This one sounded mysterious, the perfect song for opening a hidden vault. On the last note there was a miniscule click! and the vault door also silently swung open.
Inside the vault contained a small number of things. Some wooden rods lay on the bottom shelf alongside a notebook. There was a pamphlet to Tibet, a photograph of a pretty woman who must have been Adrien's mother due to their resemblance, a slip of paper, and a much older looking book on the top shelf. There was one last thing on the upper shelf, and it was a brooch.
The pretty little ornament gleamed green and blue in the lighting. It was shaped like a peacock, the center of it containing a blue gemstone and its crest of green feathers crested with silver-white pearls.
"That must be it!" Melissa breathed.
"Breaking into a hidden vault and taken a piece of jewelry. I feel almost like a jewel thief," Deer Heart chuckled as she took the brooch. "Alright, got it let's move."
They closed up the vault door and the painting before racing back to Melissa's room. Unfortunately, they didn't hear more footsteps coming their way until it was too late.
Melissa crashed into Mr. Agreste and the two of them fell on their backs. The sharp clattering of shattered pottery followed shortly after. Deer Heart quickly took this opportunity to hide in a conveniently nearby supply closet.
"Mr. Agreste!" Melissa exclaimed, quickly leaping back up to her feet, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" She helped the older man up.
"It's alright, Melissa. Just watch where you're going next time," he said with a sigh, "I better clean this up, though." The vase that had been sitting on the waist-high table behind him had made the crash noise. It now lay shattered to pieces on the tile, its water seeping around the petals of the daffodils that it had formerly been displaying. The fashioner designer dusted himself after he was risen to his feet and walked over to the supply closet. Perhaps it wasn't so conveniently placed after all.
Deer Heart held her breath once again as the footsteps of Mr. Agreste neared her hiding place. She looked around, but none of the supplies were big enough to possibly hide her. Maybe her best option would be to crouch in a corner and hope that the light wouldn't hit her-
"Oh, no, Mr. Agreste! I'll clean it up. It was my fault, and I'm your guest, so I should clean it up."
"That is unnecessary, Melissa. As you said, I am your host, I should clean it-"
"Yes, but I broke it, and I feel awfully guilty. I'll clean it and pay for it, too, later."
"Melissa Gray-"
"Didn't Adrien's girlfriend, Marinette right? Weren't you, her, and Adrien going to talk about Adrien modeling her new designs for your company? I'm sure your busy enough with that, so I'll clean this up, sir." Deer Heart stiffled a giggle as she heard Mr. Agreste's and Melissa's voice fading. No doubt, Melissa was pushing the man away from their previous location, as was evident by Mr. Agreste's protests and Melissa's continued rambling.
She waited a few more moments in the darkness of the closet. Minutes later, the door was opened and Melissa's familiar face peeked in.
"Coast is clear, again."
"Right," Deer Heart said, "Thanks for that cover."
Melissa smiled, a mischievous glint in her eye, "No problem. You head on back to my room, though. I'll clean this up. You remember 'da wae'?"
"Oh, no! Don't tell me Sam taught you about memes, too!" replied Deer Heart with a fond smile. Not just for her friend of course, but at the thought of the funny boy she had been walking with about an hour ago.
"You know it! But seriously, you can get back on your own, right?"
"I'm pretty sure I can. See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, of course!"
The girls hugged before Deer Heart swiftly departed. She'd have to hurry. She may have only used up two songs, but that still didn't leave her with much time left. Deerja was getting tired.
The deer miraculous holder made it back Melissa's room with no more close calls. She slipped out the window and made it to the alley where she first transformed.
"Dazzling Done," she said quietly. Her costume changed back to her civilian outfit as Deerja reappeared in front of her.
"Good work, Cecilia!" the kwami said affectionately, cuddling up to her cheek. She sounded optimistic, but Cecilia could hear how tired she was.
"Thanks," the teen said. She held up the new miraculous. "Now off to Uncle Fu. He'll be thrilled we got this back, and I'll bet he'll have something potatoe-y somewhere."
Deerja nodded before retreating to her usual hiding place. Cecilia bagged the miraculous and set off for Fu's abode.