Notes: So I forgot FFnet existed. Enjoy all of the chapters I forgot to post. (I'm mostly on AO3, just so you know!).
Thanks everyone for the comments!
Ladybug's first words, upon hearing that Gabriel had seemingly vanished out of a locked office with sealed windows, had been "I'll check that lawyer office. Please make sure Adrien is okay!".
She had not given Chat Noir an opportunity to protest. Her feet had been in motion the second she had heard about Gabriel's disappearance (her partner had heard the drumming of her footsteps and the wind around her) and she had hung up right after announcing her plans. She needed her yoyo for fast travel.
When Chat Noir had joined her in Pat Messmer's empty office, twenty minutes later, her first words were "is Adrien okay?". Chat Noir eluded that question, pretending to look at the emptied 'secret lair'.
"I knew it," he murmured. "I knew there would be nothing to find. He moved everything days ago."
Ladybug sighed.
"Alright. I don't know what's going on but we need to find him," she said, walking to the empty aquariums and opening them as if there was something to be found inside. "Do you have any idea of what happened? Did he tell you anything?"
Chat Noir braced himself. He watched her close the aquariums and redirect her attention to the drawers of the closest cabinet.
He closed his eyes.
He breathed in.
"He found out his son was a superhero," he explained.
Ladybug opened a drawer, slammed it shut and opened another one. Then Adrien's words registered and she whirled to him.
"What?"
Her partner stared at his hands, twisting his fingers. Then he removed his ring. His transformation dissolved in a flash of yellow lightning. Plagg spiraled out of his Miraculous and dropped on his shoulder.
Ladybug stood frozen. Her lips moved - barely - but she did not say a word.
Adrien looked away.
"I'm sorry I lied to you," he said. "I-I just didn't want… all of the expectations… I just wanted to be just Chat a little longer. I-"
She threw herself at him and pulled him into a crushing hug.
His heart all but stopped.
"I-" he tried again.
"Oh, Chat, I'm so sorry . And I dragged you on that investigation and you had to listen to me say all of those terrible things about your dad and I kept messing things up for you and…"
This wasn't what he had expected at all. He had lied to her. He had tricked her into dating him, disregarding her decision to move on from 'Adrien', minimizing the severity of his lies. Day after day after day, he had kept up the pretence, in a way that ultimately meant he did not trust her.
She should have been angry. She was entitled to being angry. He didn't feel like he deserved her apologies.
Still, his apprehension dissolved into incredulity, then relief, then an overwhelming mix of remorse and love.
She straightened up, pulling back but keeping her arms around him.
"We're going to find him," she promised. "We're going to find him, we're going to help him and make sure he is safe. That everyone is safe."
It was his turn to grab her and hug her. He took a deep breath, squeezed hard and let go.
"Thank you," he murmured. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me. We're partners ," she reminded him, running her hands down his arms until she found his hands, then intertwining her fingers with his. "We're friends . More than friends. We'll always be here for each other."
Adrien moved back so he could look at her. He felt himself smile.
"We will, won't we?"
"We will," she assured him.
"I'm sorry I lied to you," he repeated once again, this time with less guilt.
She tensed and looked at the ceiling, taking a step back.
"ABOUT THAT."
He stared at her as she started fidgeting, arms flailing by her sides. Her fists opened and closed. She gestured. She was so jittery that, when she reached for her earrings to untransform, Adrien already knew who he was about to see. The scene was too familiar.
Pink sparkles washed over Ladybug and left Marinette in their wake.
"So I kind of 'brushed over' a few things," she blurted out, staring at the ceiling. "And I might have used information Ladybug knew as Marinette and vice-versa until it got very confusing and basically I'm-"
Adrien chuckled.
It explained quite a few things, like the timing of her first outburst against his father. Like the overwhelming urge to hold her he had started to feel when she had started acting more like herself around him.
"How did I not guess?" he said.
She had been there for him in and out of costume, with all her bravery and stubbornness, and he had not connected the dots. Not when Marinette had rained hell upon his father to defend him, when Gabriel was probably the scariest (non-akumatized) man she had ever met. Not when a flustered Ladybug had confessed to collecting interviews and posters of him.
He was denser than osmium.
"How did I not guess?" she muttered.
Then she breathed in, growing serious.
"We should g-"
"Cursed letter opener!" Plagg snapped.
The two teenagers turned to him, only to realize he had been talking to Tikki.
"Yes, you two are very cute, you'll still be very cute after we discuss the cursed knife" the black cat commented when he noticed the children had gone silent. Then he turned to his sister, who was staring at him with wide eyes.
"There's a letter opener," Plagg told her. "Steel. Can cut through walls and magical webs. I had never seen it before, so I assume it's new. Does that description ring a bell?"
Adrien did not know Tikki well. He had only met her a handful of times, though Ladybug had talked about her a lot. If the boy had been asked to describe the Kwami, he would have used words such as 'kind', 'patient' and maybe even 'motherly'. 'Cheerful' and 'serene' would have fit in too. He had never pictured the tiny goddess in a state of boiling rage because he had not thought she could get angry.
She could.
Her eyes went wider and wider as red sparkles flickered around her. She had gone very still. Her jaw was clenched. You could feel static electricity in the air.
"He had it all along," she said. "He had it all along? ALICE LOOKED FOR THAT WEAPON FOR WEEKS!"
"Er… I'm sorry," Marinette cut in. "What weapon are you talking about?"
Tikki tried to relax.
"It's… It's a magical blade, a dark artefact. Very dangerous. About ten years ago, one of Ladybug's enemies died and we couldn't find her weapon at all. We thought she had dropped it in the Seine, that it had drifted away… Gabriel helped us look for it. I-"
"What powers does it have , Tikki?" Plagg asked. "Who cares if it was in the river or not? We know who has it now."
"I'll explain," Adrien whispered to his partner.
Meanwhile, the red Kwami had squeezed her eyes shut.
"It can cut through anything and slice buildings in two but that's unimportant. Teleportation. Paper Cute was a teleporter."
"Could have guessed that," Plagg mumbled.
"Father vanished out of a locked room," Adrien announced. "I figure-"
His phone started ringing. He frantically pulled it out of his pocket and sighed when he saw that the caller was not Gabriel.
But it was Nathalie. He raised a hand and pointed at his phone then turned away to answer.
"Nathalie? Is something wrong?"
"Your bodyguard saw you run out of the mansion," she announced. His freshly fired bodyguard, who should not have been around. "What happened? Where did you go?"
"Father is gone!" he blurted out. His next words poured out faster than his tongue could move. "I had to join Ladybug, we're looking for him. There's a place he used to go to but-"
" Adrien . Breathe," Nathalie advised, her tone unconcerned.
"We have to find him quickly, he's going to-"
" Adrien! "
The boy swallowed his tongue.
"Better," Nathalie said. "Now. There is no point in panicking. Let's regroup at my apartment. Take your partner with you. We'll handle this."
"He can teleport !"
There was a pause. Adrien heard Nathalie take an irritated breath.
"Be that as it may, there was an Akuma attack today. He used the watch. He will be charging it for the next several hours. He has gone to ground, you would be wasting your energy running around with no leads. Come to my place and we will figure things out."
###
Tikki and Alice were much alike. They both strove to be good. They gave the world their best. They were kind, they were forgiving, they were benevolent and they worked hard to be so.
They both struggled with a darkness they could contain but never erase, Tikki because she had wanted to give her brother his spot in the light, Alice because she was only human and had been born with it. The goddess and her chosen both knew that there was no such thing as unadulterated goodness, that it could not be allowed to exist, not in a world in shades of grey. What goodness you had, you had to share. What darkness you faced, you had to absorb and dilute and endure. And then, no matter how tainted you were and how sullied you felt, you had to rise above it and shine brighter. You could always make more light, as long as you were not swallowed by the blackest of shadows.
You never gave up. You worked hard. You tried your best.
The brightest stars had to find the fire in themselves, not to burn out.
Of course, Alice was only human and humans cracked and broke. Darkness came from their core, not just from the outside.
They could collapse.
They could erupt.
"NO! DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME? NO! " the blonde had roared when Fu had suggested - once again - that Gabriel's memories of being Chat Noir could be erased. It was his second try. His first attempt, right after all of the heroes minus Gabriel had joined him in his hotel room, had been met with snappish refusals.
"Alice, you know the rules," Volpina had pointed out.
The old fox was not easily impressed. She believed herself old and Alice was a child in her eyes.
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Tikki's chosen had screamed, whirling towards Mona. "You will get the ring back. You will guard it. But I will handle my family. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
Volpina had not batted an eyelash. Queen Bee, however, had taken a step back. As for Fu, he had shied away.
A decade on the field had carved away everything of Alice that was not a soldier. Her civilian self was still bubbly and optimistic, but as soon as Ladybug's mask slipped on, gone were the sweetness and warmth. The cold edges surfaced. Every step and every breath were taken for and only for the mission.
She paid no mind to her broken nose and broken ribs and torn earlobes, nor to the star shaped cut on her belly, that kept splitting open and oozed dark blood through layers of gauze.
"Alice, just-" Anne-Laure had tried, raising an hesitant hand.
But Ladybug had merely turned to Fu.
" Ten years. I have fought, and I have bled, and I have paid time and time again, and now I GET TO DECIDE. Now I GET TO HANDLE THIS. You don't get a word to say! NONE OF YOU GET A WORD TO SAY. THIS IS MY FAMILY. And if you try to touch one hair of Gabriel's head, it will be over my dead body. IS THAT CLEAR?"
Mona had said something. One syllable, Tikki did not remember what. Alice had snarled at her to make her shut up, then she had stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
She had only started sobbing in the hotel's elevator.
###
They are made for each other, Adrien thought when he slipped into Nathalie's apartment through the window she had left open.
He had never seen the inside of her home before, not really. He had peeked in once or twice, while spying on his father, but it had only ever been to confirm nobody was present. On top of that, Adrien had tried hard not to look . Plenty of room for trauma if two somebodies had in fact been present.
Her living room was all white space and designer furniture, and white and grey walls, and sharp angles. Pristine red cushions were carefully arranged on a brand new charcoal sofa that was perfectly parallel to the coffee table. The tile was spotless, the shelves dust-free.
Grey and white and grey and black, with the odd spot of crimson.
Nothing at all like the pastel cushions Adrien's mother had favored. His father most likely loved the place. Loved her, the boy thought. Before his secrets had ruined everything.
"Make yourself at home," Nathalie told them when Ladybug jumped inside. Her tone was matter-of-fact, her expression neutral. "'Chat Noir', are you at all able to receive personal phone calls while… in costume?"
The young hero shook his head. Marinette did not intervene but put a comforting hand on his shoulder. They had raced across town to get to Nathalie's and acrobatics at breakneck speed did not allow for deep conversation on one's feelings. They had more pressing problems to handle, anyway. They would talk later, with the masks off, after finding his father.
They had to be heroes first.
"Then I'm going to have to ask you to do away with the outfit," Nathalie told him. "If at all possible."
He nodded and released the transformation. Plagg landed on his shoulder as soon as he reappeared.
"So you are the Kwami," their hostess said.
To which the black cat replied "So you know about us."
"In a manner of speaking. I've heard little about you and Ladybug's Kwami, but Gabriel discussed Zharr in more detail, since I was supposed to believe he was looking for information on the last Firebird in Syracuse."
Plagg opened his mouth, closed it and faked boredom, though Adrien could see he was concealing irritation. He could not talk about Gabriel. He could not fight the seal. It caused a lull in the conversation, as Nathalie was expecting an answer.
Ladybug narrowed her eyes and looked from Plagg to Nathalie. She took a step forward.
"Miss Sancoeur. You wanted us to join you. Is there any way you can help us locate mister Agreste?"
Nathalie ever so slightly shifted. Her arms slid behind her back, where her hand closed around her wrist. She raised her chin by half an inch.
"I spent the last few hours attempting to do so," she declared. "His house is watched. I have given a few phone calls, though unfortunately my means are limited. You might not be aware of it yet but I no longer work for Gabriel. My login credentials on the company's servers have been suspended, which means I have lost access to services that could have been useful, namely the security feed of the company's offices and warehouses. That being said, word of my termination has not traveled far yet. I managed to call his bank and learned that none of his cards have been used in the last week. I've collected favors and greased some palms, so if he shows up at the places he most frequents, we will be contacted. That being said…"
Plagg, who had listened to all of that with flattened ears and a sulky expression, perked up.
"He won't be found," Nathalie said.
"What?" Ladybug exclaimed. "You got us here just to tell us that? We could be out there searching ."
Nathalie gave her a pointed look.
"And searching where exactly? Do you know where to start?" - When Marinette failed to answer, the woman raised her eyebrows. - "Are you going to knock on every door, break into every building and peek into every sewer? Paris is a large city."
Ladybug's shoulders sagged. She winced.
Plagg chuckled.
It was the most chilling sound Adrien had ever heard.
The Kwami quickly realized his mistake. His eyes went wide. He turned to his chosen and flew up, slightly panicked, trying to come up with something to say.
"We're not going to find him," the boy murmured, looking at the black cat.
Plagg's only answer was a show of drooping ears and lowered head.
Adrien looked at the floor.
"I see."
Nathalie pressed herself against his back, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. She leaned down to kiss his hair.
"Your father just managed to trick us - and not only us, but the thirty people he interacted with over the last few days - into thinking he was on an entirely different continent. If he does not want to be found, he won't be found ." - She planted another kiss in his hair. Her voice was warmer than he had ever heard it. - "That being said. Let me tell you what is going to happen. He will recharge that watch. He will sulk in some dark basement until Hawk Moth surfaces, then attempt to find him. That, by the way, will be when Gabriel will be out in the open. Now, you might want to remember he has been looking for a year with no results whatsoever. The odds of him miraculously stumbling upon Hawk Moth today are infinitesimal. So he will fail, he will go back to charging the watch, he will sulk some more and he will calm down."
Adrien raised his head to look at her, incredulous. She smiled. The teenager turned to Plagg, who gave a satisfied nod.
"You really think so?"
Nathalie nodded, solemn.
"I do."
The blond relaxed.
"Alright. Alright."
"I'm going to give him a call. Leave a message, tell him you're here and safe," she announced. "Then we will start discussing what each of us knows about your father's plans, in case he somehow let something useful slip."
"You knew about his plans," Ladybug intervened. "About the lawyer office, anyway."
"You know I did," Nathalie said. "I did ask for your help, didn't I?"
Marinette nodded. Adrien narrowed his eyes.
"The truth is," his father's assistant continued, "I know very little. Gabriel only ever discloses whatever pieces of information he believes you need to know. He managed to tell me his wife used to be Ladybug, yet failed to mention who her partner was. I had to figure that out on my own."
That sounded like Gabriel.
Plagg chuckled some more. Nathalie got her phone out of her pocket. She gestured towards the kitchen door.
"I'll give that call now, if you don't mind. Help yourself to the fridge."
###
"Thank God he looks like you," Anne-Laure had said the first time she had seen Adrien, in his tiny hospital crib filled with stuffed toys.
Tikki had slapped her own forehead. Alice had just rolled her eyes and leaned back against the cushions of her bed.
" Please ."
"What? It's true! You have to admit that Gabriel is… has… what's the word? Aquiline features. "
"It's too early to say who Adrien will look like, anyway. He's all red and squished. Also he looks a little like a monkey with sunburns. But maybe it's the painkillers and the hormones messing with me."
"Alice."
"Yes."
"It's a super cute baby."
"I never said he wasn't cute!"
"You just… Nevermind," Anne-Laure had muttered. She had opened her designer bag - a gigantic monstrosity, suitcase-sized, from Gabriel's most hated competitor - and pulled a yellow plushie out. "I bought him a Maya. The Bee. From the cartoon."
That had gotten a laugh out of her exhausted best friend.
"This is going to get you killed."
Anne-Laure had replied with a grin that had quickly faltered. You didn't discuss Gabriel and murder at the same time anymore. That old joke no longer had appeal. It poured salt on fresh wounds every time it slipped out (and it did often enough, seeing how used they had been to repeating those words).
Bee had crossed the room, slowly. Her pregnancy had been quite advanced by that point, though it did not show as much as it should have. Anne-Laure was made of nerves and couldn't have gained weight if she had tried to. That did not mean the pregnancy had not impeded her movements. The baby kept squirming.
She had sat down on the corner of Alice's bed while Tikki resumed gushing on Adrien.
"How's it going with Sourpuss?" the visitor had asked after a quick look at the door.
Anne-Laure had arrived with her husband and promptly sent him to fetch coffee. André had walked out with Gabriel, after announcing that the new father needed his dose of caffeine. Said new father had not wanted to follow, but mister Bourgeois did not take 'no' for an answer. He was a little dense and did not understand 'no' as an answer.
"It's going… okay," Alice had answered. "He's making efforts. We both are. He's working a lot, though, but that was to be expected."
Those news (if you could call the mention that Gabriel was working a lot 'news') had been met by silence, so Alice had raised both hands.
" But he hired a new assistant to replace Renaud. From what I hear, she is competent enough."
"Good," Bee had replied. "Good, I guess…"
"How is it going with André?"
Anne-Laure had huffed and laughed.
"He's going nuts with the baby shopping. I swear his kid is going to be the worst spoiled brat to have ever lived. So far she has an entire designer wardrobe which I told him she'd never get to wear because infants grow fast , but he doesn't care." - She had chuckled. - "It's getting ridiculous. We just came back from Italy with five suitcases full of onesies and teddies. He's going to top your stuffed toys guerrilla attack."
Alice had smiled at those words, though said smile had been a little tense.
"Why am I not surprised? Oh, and how was the trip? When did you get back?"
"This morning. And the trip was nice. I found a little house by the sea not that far from Mona's city, it's paid for, I'll show you pics. Anyway, it'll do alright for however long it'll take me to get back into shape, then I'll be off to Samoa with Waspp. Fu thinks one of the Marvelous Kwami might be there."
Tikki had emerged from Adrien's crib, mildly curious. She always liked to hear about the other miracle stones. The conversation had not continued in that direction, however.
"Now that the bullshit is out of the way," Anne-Laure had exclaimed. " How is Gabriel doing? "
Alice's eyes had glazed over.
"He has ups and downs," she had murmured. "Mostly downs."
"Got that part when you said he was working a lot. Also, the hotel is kind of right next to your place. I saw the new walls. I saw the cameras."
Tikki had flown up to Alice's nightstand, so the two humans would not forget her presence. It had been a private conversation. Eavesdropping had never been her plan.
Instead of asking her to go, her chosen had looked at her, looking for support.
The Kwami had sighed.
"He is… He feels defenseless without Plagg. The walls and the cameras help, to some extent."
Anne-Laure had nodded and turned to Alice.
"You're not leaving?"
"No. No," Tikki's chosen had replied. "We can and we will get through this."
"Then you have to let go of the earrings," her best friend had replied.
" No. "
"Alice, trust me here , you have to give him a clean break. Either you go, either you turn your back on magic, but you will never rebuild anything with Ladybug between you. He will resent you, he will be terrified for you, you have to let go."
She knew all about clean breaks. She had already planned her escape from marriage and motherhood. And family.
"I CAN'T!" Alice had snapped back.
The outburst had made Adrien wail. Tikki had hurried to him and nuzzled against his cheek.
"I can't," Alice had repeated in a whisper. "Hawk Moth saw my face . I have to keep my powers, at least while I make sure we're safe! One of us has to be able to fight magic!"
It was unfortunately true. If Tikki had not feared that Hawk Moth would target his enemies as a civilian, she would have suggested retirement herself. Bella would be weakened for years. Ladybug was not strictly needed. Even without his powers, Hawk Moth was dangerous, however. Tikki had no doubt he had more magic at his disposal than his Miraculous. Bella would have seen to that.
Anne-Laure had leaned closer.
"If that's the issue, I can stay! " she had exclaimed. "Polynesia can wait. You just have to ask, I'll be right next door, I can handle the psychotic bastard. Just ask ."
"No. No, Bee, thanks but no . You've been trying to leave Paris for years, I'm not going to chain you down. It will only be for a few months anyway. Just long enough to make sure he doesn't know who I am. Then I'll retire."
Waspp's chosen had sighed.
"Alright. Your choice. Stupid choice, by the way, but your choice."
###
Nathalie Sancoeur was a liar.
Of course, Marinette already knew that. What she had not expected was for Adrien to believe her so easily. Which was probably for the best, because he was so distraught. He needed what comfort he could get.
Ladybug was ambivalent about the whole thing.
White lies were not that bad.
Lies that delayed preventing a murder were something else entirely. Mister Agreste was never going to 'calm down and come home'. Maybe - maybe - if his hunt for Hawk Moth stretched on, he would run out of energy and give it up for a time. He would take a few days to iron out the kinks in his plans, to consider new strategies. But he would not calm down.
It meant that Marinette had to find a way to leave and look for the man without alerting Adrien. This was not a situation Chat Noir should have to handle. Gabriel had hurt him enough. He didn't deserve to be dragged through more pain.
'My whole family is like that'. That was what Chat Noir had told Ladybug when they had discussed mister Agreste's plans, and how Chat was sure the man would not go through with them. 'My whole family is like that'. 'I know people like him'.
She could not, for the life of her, understand how she had not recognized him right there and then. She should have seen how worried he was. She should have seen how personal it was to him. She should have seen how angry her 'investigation' had made him, how defensive he had gotten whenever she insisted there was something suspicious about Gabriel.
Bar that, she should have realized when Adrien had told her that Chat Noir was in love with her. She still remembered that 'he loves you, you know', the absolute certainty in his voice. 'He does '.
She had been given a million occasions to see . Had she even wanted to? She had thought she knew her partner so well, just like she had once thought she knew 'everything there was to know about Adrien Agreste'. She had been happy enough to focus on the masks, without ever stopping to think. Even now, she found it hard to reconcile the two boys, even though she could see where they connected. Chat's softness, the shyness and uncertainty he hid behind humor and bravado. That kindness in him she had seen in Adrien from the very beginning, the same kindness that had pulled her to him to begin with. And Adrien . Adrien who had wanted to know her thoughts about Chat Noir. Adrien who could grin, who would talk to Nino with a confident, mischievous look he scarcely ever showed to the people who were not close to him. Adrien who had told her he knew all about masks.
Adrien who had not dared to tell her who he actually was, who had been too afraid of her reaction to do so. And she could understand that. She had felt that divide, to a lesser extent, the nagging belief that one side of her mask was more herself than the other. Except it was much worse for Adrien. He did not get to be himself as himself . He only got to do what he wanted when he put Chat Noir's mask on.
Of course he did not want to reveal himself. He had to be terrified she would expect him to act like the perfect model she had a crush on.
She felt so guilty.
They would discuss that. She would never let him believe she wanted anyone else but who he really was. But that would have to wait.
The mission came first.
"I should have put a tracker on him," Adrien murmured, dropping onto the sofa.
She joined him, sitting by his side and wrapping an arm around him.
"It wouldn't have worked and you know that. He would have found it in ten seconds tops. Probably taped it to someone else, too."
He sighed and nodded. She squeezed closer, tilting her head so it would rest on his shoulder. She had no idea what to say. Ladybug was perfectly able to reassure civilians and to promise to rescue their possessed or kidnapped relatives, but Gabriel was not under the influence of dark magic. He had not been abducted. The entire situation was his doing. What did you say? What did you promise?
Her whole body was trembling with an energy she could barely contain. In her mind, she was in motion, racing over Paris' roofs, looking for a trail. In her mind she was jumping and running and zipping through the air. But she could not move. She could not go. Miss Sancoeur was right: she did not know where to start searching.
"It will be alright," she said.
Adrien's only answer was to take her hand and to intertwine his fingers with her gloved ones.
They could hear miss Sancoeur's voice from the next room. She had called mister Agreste and was leaving him a message. "Your son is at my place. He is safe. I don't intend to leave him to spend the night unsupervised in an empty house, so please come collect him". As soon as the woman hung up, she made another call. She exchanged a few words with a 'Stéphanie'.
The doorbell rang.
"Can one of you open the door?" miss Sancoeur asked.
Adrien stood with visible effort then hurried to the entrance. Ladybug slipped out of sight and waited, peeking at the door from behind a bookshelf.
The visitor was a woman with messy blond hair and dirty clothes, who grinned at Adrien when he greeted her. She also happened to look exactly like Chloé.
She flattened both hands on Adrien's head and tousled his hair mercilessly.
"Shit," she exclaimed, pulling two strands of hair up roughly where Chat Noir's ears would have been. "Shit." - She covered the teenager's eyes with one hand. - "Shit! How did I not see this?"
Adrien tried to comb his hair back into place, with little success.
"I'm glad you're here!" he said. "How did-"
"Nathalie called me. Told me your dad was being a huge moron, which isn't what I'd call surprising," the woman explained, closing the door. "So how are you holding up?"
"I. Uh. I just want to find him. I didn't think of putting a tracker on him or anything, so we're just…"
"Nah, you're not gonna find him," the blonde answered, patting his head. "Stealth was ninety percent of his fighting tactics. Let him brood, he'll come back crawling when he gets tired of it. Any food here? I'm starving." - She turned to Marinette. - "Oh hi there, Ladybug!"
The superhero moved away from the bookshelf.
"Hello," she said. "I assume you're Queen Bee, mister Agreste's old teammate?"
"Yep. Did the kitten tell you that you need more ribbons?"
"I, uh, I'm sorry, what?"
Queen Bee turned to Adrien, resigned.
"Kiddo! You had one job."
"I-uh-ah sorry," Adrien stuttered. "I didn't really get a chance to mention you before. I mean, not in detail."
The woman mussed the hair he had barely managed to smooth back into place.
"That's okay. So where's Nathalie?" she asked.
"Here," the secretary replied, walking into the room with a tablet in her hands.
She did not bother looking up.
Queen Bee let go of Adrien's hair and joined the other woman, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Alright!" she said, pushing her towards the kitchen. "I just managed Dijon-Paris in two hours. I'm gonna need coffee and food before we do the whole 'planning' thing. You have food, right?"
"I have coffee," Nathalie replied just before the kitchen door closed over the two of them.
Ladybug stared at the door for a few seconds. She turned to her partner.
"Was that…"
"Anne-Laure Lenoir," he replied. "She was my mother's best friend. Queen Bee. I called her so she would check on my father a few weeks ago. I told you, I think."
"You… did. Adrien, she looks just like Chloé."
"She… She would. She's her mother. They're not really in touch, though, so please don't tell anyone you saw her."
Marinette frowned but did not comment. Chloé's life was none of her business. She just hoped the apple had fallen far from the tree. She needed to be able to trust miss Lenoir.
"Do you know her well?"
"Not really. My father likes her. Well, likes to complain about her, which is pretty much the same thing. She's very frank. Told me exactly what had happened with Hawk Moth, you know, back then. Now, she thought she was talking to Chat Noir, not to Adrien Agreste, so she told me to be careful around him because he is a controlling liar. What do you think?"
Ladybug considered that.
"She sounds alright," she ended up replying.
Plagg yawned.
"Of course she is. She was Waspp's chosen. They're always direct. If you can call it that."
Marinette nearly jumped out of her bones. She had forgotten the Kwami's presence.
"What was she like as a hero?" Adrien asked.
"She dropped enemies from very, very high."
" And I did recon," miss Lenoir added from the kitchen's entrance. She was walking out with a plate filled with sandwiches. "Tons of recon. I mean, I was the only flyer. Sourpuss didn't have a fancy Goku-style growing staff to use as a magical vantage point either."
Miss Sancoeur was following her, carrying a platter of drinks. She went to put it down on the coffee table.
"Enough banter," she said. "I think it's about time we start exchanging information."
###
The conversation was, for the most part, useless. Sure, they all knew some of the pieces of the puzzle - the flimsiest tidbits of information mister Agreste had accepted to reveal or what they had figured out on their own - but assembling everything into a neat timeline had not given them a miraculous solution to their current problems.
Ladybug had a clearer idea of what little miss Sancoeur had done to stop her lover's plans.
Miss Sancoeur seemed to have a better understanding of said lover's past. She had not looked pleased by the revelation that Gabriel had tried to kill Hawk Moth once before. Apparently, the retired Chat Noir had never mentioned his past as a superhero, just his wife's. Marinette felt a little sorry for it. The woman cared entirely too much about a man who would never be truly honest with her.
That being said, Marinette worried about Adrien more. He had listened intently to the entire discussion. He had racked his brains to try to recall every detail of his every conversation with his father. Now that it was clear that nothing they knew would help them discover mister Agreste's whereabouts, he was just sitting with hunched shoulders, idly scratching Plagg's head. The Kwami, who didn't strike Ladybug as being the cuddly kind, let himself be petted.
"So," Nathalie said, putting her tablet down on the table so they could all look at it. She had drawn a timeline of the events they knew about. She gave the screen a swipe to show them a flowchart of her employer's possible actions. "I think we all agree on the fact that we have no way to find him yet. I suggest we settle down until Hawk Moth's next attack. Ladybug, you should go home. I'm sure you have parents waiting for you."
Ladybug straightened up, frowning.
"My private life is irrelevant here," she stated, reaching for her partner's hand and squeezing it. "I'd rather stay with Adrien until-"
"It's fine, Ladybug," he cut in with a tired smile. "There's really nothing we can do. You should go home and rest. I mean, we should expect our daily Akuma in a few hours, right?"
She breathed in.
That was true. Hawk Moth had attacked every day for a while. He had no reason to stop. It was not like he could guess they had a crisis.
"Are you sure?" she insisted. "I can call my mom, tell her I'm staying at a friend's."
"I'm sure, don't worry. And I'm not alone, right? Plagg is here. Nathalie and miss Lenoir are here."
Marinette squinted at Plagg.
The Kwami squinted back.
Adrien chuckled.
"Come on. He's grumpy but he's not that bad."
Ladybug grumbled. She shook her head, took a deep breath, then stood and turned to their hostess.
"I'll drop by tomorrow morning. Adrien can call me if anything changes during the night."
"We will call you if the situation warrants it, Ladybug," miss Sancoeur drawled. "Have no fear. Thank you again for your help today."
"Don't mention it," Marinette replied.
She hugged Adrien one last time, said goodbye to the others and left.
###
Alice and Adrien had spent three weeks in Marseilles. They had spent their days at the beach, their evening strolling through the city's streets or watching TV in their hotel room. Whenever the boy had napped or slept, his mother had perused divorce papers.
Gabriel had called every other day. Tikki still believed he had tried to make a point by not calling every evening. He was prideful to the point of idiocy at times, and obtuse, oh so obtuse.
Whenever he had called, he had spent hours on the phone. He had read Adrien bedtime stories. The boy had told him all about his trips and the hermit crabs he had seen, and the sea shells he had collected, and the ships, and the plastic giraffes he had lost on the beach.
The first week, Gabriel's conversations with Alice - if they could be called that - had been terse and brief. By the second week, he had warmed up a little and allowed himself more time to ask about his son's days. By the third week, intimacy had creeped back into their talks, and love, and longing. The divorce papers had ended up shredded to bits in the hotel room's trash can.
Alice had gone home and walked into the mansion with Adrien riding her rolling suitcase. Her husband had been waiting for them.
"You know what?" she had told Tikki fifteen minutes later, as they watched Gabriel throw his son in the air and whirl him around to play 'plane'. "I think it's been long enough."
The Kwami had not understood what her chosen had been talking about. She had turned to the human, who had been smiling and gazing at her family with infinite tenderness.
"Long enough?"
Alice's smile had grown.
"Yes."
Tikki had frowned, perplexed. Her chosen had reached for one of her earrings.
"It's been four years. If he knew who I was, he would have attacked us, by now. We're safe. It's been long enough."
The red Kwami had perked up.
Usually, the partings were sad (and that one had been, of course). But, in Alice's specific circumstances, letting go was the right choice. She had given enough of herself to the mission. She had a life, she had a child, she had a husband who loved her but was falling to pieces. They needed to turn the page and build their world anew.
"That's a good decision," the Kwami had replied, before nuzzling against Alice's cheek. "I'll miss you."
###
"The sofa unfolds," Nathalie announced. "I think. If I remember correctly. Not that I ever tried. Let's figure it out?"
Adrien grinned and crouched next to the sofa.
"I guess you have to pull on the lower part? Here?"
He grabbed the bottom of the sofa. Nathalie winced. If she had been wrong, the boy was about to ruin a perfectly fine piece of furniture. Thankfully, her vague recollections of the day of her purchase were correct. The bottom of the sofa slid out, revealing cushions that had never seen the light of the day.
Adrien looked up.
She figured she had to look astounded, because he giggled as soon as he saw her face.
"What now?" she mumbled, scoffing.
"Nothing, nothing," the teenager replied, eyes still sparkling with mirth.
Nathalie made a point to look flustered. It was good to see him smile. She was worried sick. If playing the part of the comic relief could help him, she would gladly do so.
The Kwami on the boy's shoulder was doing the same. He had been making silly comments for the best part of the evening, bantering with Anne-Laure Lenoir until she had left then teasing Adrien and nagging him for food.
"Say, do you have cheese here?" the creature wondered with a pointed look at Nathalie.
She had heard him prompt Adrien for camembert a dozen times, but it was the first time the black cat asked her directly. She suspected it meant he was actually hungry.
"Unfortunately, miss Lenoir managed to smuggle the contents of my fridge away when she left. We'll have to order in. Adrien, would you mind calling a pizzeria to have something delivered? I'll fetch some bedsheets and pillows."
The teenager nodded.
"What should I order for you?"
"The same thing as you, I'm not picky," she replied, walking to her bedroom door.
She turned back and watched the boy get her tablet and stare intently at the screen. Plagg was clamoring he wanted cheese pizza. 'Without the bread'.
She slipped into her room and closed the door.
Adrien was convinced that Gabriel's efforts would be fruitless, and that he would return home after a few hours, maybe days. He wanted to believe it. Adrien was a sweet child. He liked to see the best in everyone. Anne-Laure and Plagg had bothgone along with that and promoted that scenario. Nathalie had not even needed to brief them. Still, when Lenoir had left, her parting words had been 'That was prime quality bullshit. You're good'.
It's my job.
She got bedsheets from a drawer and blankets from another. She put all of that on the corner of her bed, sat down and allowed herself a moment to breathe. Then she dropped back against the mattress and stared at the ceiling.
###
Miss Colibri had been an easy opponent, or would have been if Ladybug and Chat Noir had not spent most of their fight against her scanning their surroundings for signs of Gabriel Agreste.
They had not found him. Neither had Anne-Laure Lenoir, though she had spent the battle searching for him. She had not been kept busy by a flying supervillain. On top of that, she could teleport, thanks to a magical candy cane that gave Marinette the creeps for no discernable reason.
"I'll keep looking," the blonde had promised Ladybug when they had regrouped after Miss Colibri's defeat. "I'll try my best. Just go back to school and feed Tikki and Plagg, okay?"
They had missed their window. They knew that. Marinette had nodded and gone to school as suggested. Adrien had gone back to Nathalie's.
Four hours later, when the bell finally rang, she transformed and joined her partner on the roof of miss Sancoeur's building. They patrolled for five hours straight. They found no signs of mister Agreste.
###
"I would not normally ask you this," Fu had told Alice, over a cup of coffee in a little bistro near Notre-Dame. "But I can't travel to Brazil right now. I have to stay with Volpina, at least for a little while. Mona. I mean Mona," he had corrected, voice ever so slightly strangled by grief. "I can't send Tikki alone either."
Alice had frowned but nodded. The request had not been outrageous: cross the Atlantic, spend a few days in South America, listen for rumors of butterflies and monsters while searching for a new holder for Ladybug's Miraculous. The Guardian had not asked her to return to a hero's life, just to pick a new one.
"How long?" she had asked.
"Tikki has good judgement. If it were Vixx, I'd ask you to supervise her choices. If it was Waspp, I'd ask you to be twice as careful. But you know Tikki. She will not delay and she will not select an unsuitable candidate. Two, maybe three weeks should be enough for her to find a new hero."
"Alright," Alice had replied, understanding how Fu needed to stay at his dying partner's side. "I'll do it."
###
Ladybug was halfway home when she saw the police car.
It was parked in front of a building she knew because she had visited it once or twice. It was Alix's place. She lived on the second floor, in a large apartment that was just short of luxurious. It was filled to the brim with egyptian artwork and antique statuettes, as was to be expected from the home of an historian.
As it was near midnight, all of the lights were off in the building, save for the glow of a television on the fourth floor. In Alix's apartment, however, every light was lit.
Frowning, Ladybug jumped down to the street, only to realize the police car was empty. The hallway of the building was lit too, but it didn't look like there was anything dangerous going on. No strange flying supervillain threatening the city, no screams, no noise at all. She figured there had been some kind of benign disturbance, maybe a theft, and she zipped up to the roofs again. She had to get back home and get some sleep. For a start, Adrien would meet her early in the morning for breakfast. On top of that, she had to be functional for the next Akuma attack.
She was about to leave when she spotted Alix.
Her classmate was sitting on the roof of her building, in the dark, with her legs dangling from the edge of the roof. It looked like she was texting someone. The screen of her phone was casting a faint glow over her frowning face.
Marinette joined her.
"Hello! Everything alright?" she asked. "I saw the police car."
Alix didn't answer immediately. First, she sighed. She put her phone away. Then she turned to Ladybug.
"Yeah. My dad never came home from work so my mom freaked out . She called his job, and they had her call some antiques collector he was supposed to visit, and he never got there either and… Anyway, my mother just went crazy and called the cops and everything. It'll blow over. He prolly just went to 'buy smokes', you know? Wouldn't surprise me."
Marinette stared at her, not knowing what to say.
"That's… Is there anything I can do? I could help the cops look, maybe," she suggested. "Something like that."
Alix snorted and shook her head.
"Nah, thanks. Nothing magical here. Though if you had a secret lair where I could sleep without everyone around shrieking and panicking, that would be nice."
"No secret lair, sorry."
"It was worth a try," the skater mumbled. "Guess I'll just wait for Jalil to calm mom down. She's bound to get tired. It's late."
To prove her point, she fished a silver watch out of her pocket. She pressed the latch to open it, revealing a bluish hologram of a woman holding a clock. Ladybug's heart skipped a beat. She had seen that watch before - it had caused Alix to get Akumatized - but she couldn't say the same of the hologram.
"Is… Is that a magical w-" she tried to ask.
She did not get to finish her sentence. Downstairs, a woman started wailing.
###