Back to life
Marinette lost consciousness while she was holding the peacock brooch and the butterfly pin as she brought the two kwami back. But the two kwami simply slept on the palms of her hands. All three were in similar condition, and with Emilie lifeless body laid down along the side wall of the small room, the level of alarm in everybody present was quite high.
Tikki floated over to Marinette and looked at the girl's face. Her blue eyes were full of concern, then she stared at Adrien.
"She is unconscious." Tikki scolded in her high pitch voice. Her eyes were expectant, she wanted the boy to fix this.
Adrien furrowed his brows. He understood and he wanted to fix this, he just didn't know how.
"Oh no, what do I do?" he whispered to Tikki. He would do literally anything. She scarified herself to find out what happened to his mother. That was just too much to bear. He was having none of that. If only he guessed her intentions, if he knew the consequences, even if this was a mere possibility, he would have said no, he would never accept for her to take such risk.
"Take the jewels and the kwami from her." Plagg instructed quietly from his position on Adrien's shoulder. So Adrien sat himself behind Marinette and let her head rest on his chest, then he sneaked both hands into hers and picked up both jewels and the kwami. He felt their wight against his palms and breathed slowly.
"Are you okay kid?" Plagg asked with concern in his voice. Adrien nodded back.
"I just feel tired from all of this." the boy breathed out and stared at the two kwami.
"Is she going to be okay?" Adrien asked Tikki who still hovered in front of Marinette's face.
"She was too tired for this too." Tikki chirped, but in far less jolly way she usually spoke. "But she should recover, soon, I think." the little red kwami continued to speak as she examined her chosen. "Don't worry Adrien, everything will be okay." The goddess spoke as she finally examined the boy's face. She sat on top of the girl's head and watched over Adrien.
Adrien focused on the girl he held more than on the two kwami. He wanted her back so much, he could wait to discover what happened to his mother, the only reason why he wanted the two kwami back was the sadness he saw in Plagg and Tikki when they realised the two kwami might be lost. Marinette was breathing peacefully as if she was sleeping and that made Adrien relax slightly. Pema looked at the both of them with worried eyes. Adrien looked at the young monk with raised eyebrows and she smiled back. Marinette shifted slightly in her sleep and Adrien smiled to her hair. She probably needed just a little time to rest.
"Okay, what do I do now?" Adrien whispered to both kwami and the monks. "She made them appear, how do I make them feel better?" He was ready to listen any piece of advice anyone present would offer him.
Tikki floated over to Marinette and snuggled into the girls neck. The kwami of creation was obviously focused on helping her own chosen. "She is just sleeping." The little kwami muttered quietly as if she was talking to herself and helping herself feel better. "She will wake up soon, after she gets some rest."
"Just wish them better or something, I don't know, I am a kwami. I am not supposed to know that stuff." Plagg could not hide his concern while he feigned annoyance. Because he was worried, about Adrien, about Pigtails, about how far these kids were willing to go to help others. It was just too much if anyone bothered to ask the old god of destruction for his opinion.
"You are doing just fine Adrien." Pema whispered softly. The young monk smiled gently, but her arms held them both upright with all her strength. Dorje was there and helping in any physical way he could. Then Pema settled both teens to lean into her young colleague and fetched two small stones that she put next to the two kwami. She considered two metal plates, similar to those that Master Fu used when he was healing Tikki, but Tenzin waved his head when she looked at him. Then she simply put her hands over Adriens's palms and hummed a gentle melody.
Somewhere in the background, Dolma huffed and exasperated sigh. Of course she knew how to transfer her own energy to the kwami, probably much more efficiently than the girl before her. But it was not as if the elderly guardian had so much energy to spare. And she knew how much energy was needed, and she knew she did not have that much. Marinette obviously did not have the energy either, she should have prepared for that event, for weeks, she should have rested and built up her strength in the process and only then she was supposed to try to bring a kwami back. A kwami, one kwami at a time, not both, not after she was fighting one of the mightiest villains for days. She was much more in favour to the endless waiting and leaving the healing part to the other kwami. It was not good if the guardian became exhausted, what was the use if she pushed herself so far that she was to become unconscious just like Marinette did. That kind of effort was dangerous, she considered it a bad choice.
Tenzin, on the other hand, stroked his beard and looked approvingly at what the girl was doing. He admired her strength and determination. The old monk even smiled at the boy openly as the boy took the kwami and held the girl. He nodded, Fu had really earned his title as master if he chose those two kids so well. (But he knew whom to chose because he saw them as a boy). Besides, he understood why Marinette wanted to accelerate the healing of the two kwami, she wanted to know what happened with Emilie, and Duusu was currently the best clue they could have. He could not hide, he wanted to know too, because he was curious and because he wanted to know if he could fix this and if there was anything to fix.
Adrien felt more tired by each breath he took. Dorje moved and crouched behind the boy's back to support him. The large monk used his hands to support his back and later even got onto his knees and let the boy rest on his body.
Pema stayed there and watched, she hummed a short melody from time to time. Marinette was breathing steadily and the monk was sure the girl would wake up soon on her own. Adrien was sinking, but that was what she expected if he was doing the job right.
Soon the two kwami stirred in their sleep and Pema offered the food again. They first chewed the pieces they found in their mouths and only opened their eyes after they swallowed.
Nooroo took the first bite of the food with half opened eyes. He chewed slowly, taking a break every few moments, his eyes were half opened and he did not even try to sit upright. Plagg hovered over to the two kwami excitedly, but then he returned to his chosen and watched the boy as his eyes were drooping.
"Stay with us kid. Your job is done." Plagg encouraged Adrien to stay awake. But he was getting so tired, every part of his body felt so heavy. And he let his body sing down further. Marinette was pressing on his lungs from the front and it was hard to take deeper breaths. Pema used her hadns to hold the girl away from him, but he winced when he lost touch with her and whined instinctively, the boy was not in control of his own reactions any more. So Pema let them be close.
Duusu looked at the faces of the people surrounding her first and left the food untouched, but the expression on the kwami's face was blank, there was no recognition, there was nobody she associated as a master here. One person held her, another was sleeping, the third was feeding the kwami while the fourth was supporting them all. It was completely different to what the kwami was used to. One master, perhaps another wielder, and that was that.
Then Duusu finally settled to accept the situation and inquire later. She took more food and Nooroo started to study the faces of the people around him. Plagg hovered over to the two kwami and nodded his head in silent greeting before he returned back to snuggle into Adrien's hair. Tikki simply blinked happily at the two awoken kwami before she turned back to the neck of her chosen. "I knew you had it in you, Marinette." The little red goddess whispered.
Marinette stirred slightly and then opened her eyes. She first saw the two kwami who stared back at her. Then she felt Tikki patted her neck. It tickled her a little and she smiled. She noticed that the two kwami before her were held by someone else's hands, bigger than hers. She raised her eyes and saw Pema, but those were not her hands either. Then Plagg hovered in front of her face.
"Good morning Pigtails." Plagg greeted and the Sun decided to peek above the mountains at that very moment as if to support the words of the black cat like god of destruction. He knew how to make an entrance, one had to admit that. Marinette smiled tiredly.
"Feeling better, Marinette?" Tikki chirped as she floated next to Plagg.
"Just a little tired, that's all." the girl replied in a hoarse voice. "How long was I out of it?" She asked sleepily. But her brain was waking up slowly, she looked at Duusu and Nooroo, the hands that held the two kwami were not her own nor Pema's. Then she discovered that the pillow behind her was breathing and turned her head up. She found Adrien's face and he had a small smile. He looked at the two kwami and her.
"Everyone is awake now, but I feel really tired." The boy spoke. Marinette's eyes went wide as she examined her surroundings. Dolma's face wore a frown, it was really concern for the two kids, but Marinette felt she disproved what the girl did and that only proven to the old monk that the girl was not a good guardian.
"That is fine." Tenzin replied gently. "The kwami drained your energy to return to us."
Plagg snuggled closer to Adrien while Tikki went back to Marinette.
"Thank you Marinette." the little red goddess nuzzled her cheek and floated over to Adrien.
"Thank you kid." Plagg smiled widely to the boy before he floated over to Marinette.
"Thank you Adrien." Tikki nuzzled his cheek and Adrien smiled at the little kwami. She was so cute.
"You did good, Pigtails." Plagg grinned at the girl.
"You did well, indeed." Pema passed the message everyone in the room felt.
"Are they out new chosen?" Duusu asked while she sat tat the palm of Adrien's hand. She did not have the energy to hover yet.
"No." Plagg replied a bit harshly. "He is mine." The little black kwami pointed at Adrien.
"They are Ladybug and Chat Noir." Tikki chirped.
Both Nooroo and Duusu sank visibly, these two kids were fighting their former wielders. They used to be enemies, and now this girl and the boy brought them back after their former wielders drained all their energy.
"Thank you for bringing me back." Duusu spoke quietly as the kwami bowed her head slightly. It was obvious that move was already a lot for her.
"Thank you." Nooroo spoke more ceremoniously, but his gaze was low. He looked ashamed of the deeds committed by his previous wielder.
"You are welcome." Marinette patted the kwami's head.
"We are both glad you are back." Adrien smiled.
Both Nooroo and Duusu raised their heads slowly and looked at the two kids. Tend they both understood that these two kids did not blame the two kwami for what their wielders did.
"Are you okay?" Marinette asked with concern but also anxious to ask questions that bothered her, actually all the people in that room.
"They are barely awake." Dolma answered in the place of the two kwami.
"It is going to be a long time before they can be used to give someone powers, Marinette." Tenzin warned.
"They are in much worse condition than I was when I was ill." Tikki warned.
"We are okay." Duusu answered gratefully because she was brought back from that low energy level she might have never escaped.
"We want to ask you a few questions." Marinette tentatively approached the issue.
"Of course, at your service … master." Duusu looked at Marinette confused before he turned towards Adrien and bowed.
"It is about my mother, Emilie Agreste. We want to know if she was chosen to find you." Adrien asked with a polite smile.
"She was never chosen to wield the peacock miraculous." Duusu answered first. "I was not able to chose a wielder, the miraculous that hosts me was damaged."
"I have chosen her. She was supposed to wield the butterfly miraculous and find the master in the process." Nooroo explained quietly. "I wanted her to return us to him. The master was supposed to fix the broken miraculous and take care of us."
Everyone present nodded in response. Everything they heard so far made sense, it was logical thing to do. Of course what kwami wanted and what they got were two different things.
"There was also the book with instruction how to do that." Duusu added. "Not that we know what is written inside."
"They wanted us to interpret the inscriptions for them, but we did not." Nooroo cut in.
"We did not know how." Duusu lowered her gaze again ashamed that they even tried.
They were not judged, the people around knew they were forced by their masters.
Marinette smiled again.
"But she wielded the peacock miraculous." Adrien pushed further. "What did she do with it? Why is she like that?" The boy moved his hands so the two kwami could see his mother. Tenzin moved aside and motioned towards the motionless body. Adrien did not turn his head to see for himself. He concentrated on the two kwami.
"She created the sentimonster while the miraculous was broken, she can't be helped." Duusu added as he looked at the floor. "Her energy leaked."
"Then she used the miraculous she was not chosen for." Marinette concluded. "They both simply chose the one they preferred and used it for whatever they wanted."
"My mistress was nice." Duusu defended.
"That is abusing the miraculous." Marinette scolded. She knew that once you abuse your powers, there was some kind of punishment awaiting you.
Adrien remembered how he took the snake miraculous and failed as Aspik. He understood the logic back then. He was not meant to wield it.
"Remember Aspik?" the boy whispered to Marinette.
"Of course." Her eyes went wide.
"Why have you given it to me?" Adrien asked quietly.
"Because I had a crush on you and wanted you to have it." Marinette admitted as her face flushed.
"Not because you believed it was meant for me." the boy added.
Marinette nodded her head and looked down in shame.
"Look, we both made an error in judgement back then." Adrien tried to make her feel better.
"But it was you who got to your senses first." Marinette replied as she looked back into his eyes.
"Of course, but you forget how much more time I had to think about it." Adrien winked. Although that undefined time that he spent as Aspik definitely did not feel as a joke, he felt the need to turn it into one.
Marinette nodded as she understood and then squeezed her lips into a tight line.
"I wish you suffered less from my own stupidity." she finally spoke after a few breaths.
Then both teens fell silent. Maybe Emilie was 'suffering because of her own stupidity' or someone else's. Perhaps that was the way the things had to be.
"Have you defeated the sentimonster she created?" Duusu asked.
"No, not yet." Marinette answered as she felt Adrien stiffened when he heard the question.
"We should let the kwami get back in the miracle box for now." Tenzin cut in. "You two need your rest too." the old teacher looked at the two teens, and both of them could only agree.