Walking the high plains

Adrien and Marinette stepped out from the temple followed by the loud clang produced by the temple door as is slammed shut fiercely pushed by the wind force. The said wind swept the snow around their feet and evened out the traces left by the students before them. As the wind raised the snow from the ground and then filled the holes, the surface they walked on looked much smoother than it actually was.

The guide was there, at the edge of the cliff as she counted if she had all the students on the move. Ling and Ye were there, silent, they waited close to the steps that lead down the cliff. They felt there was something going on that they did not understand but they also knew better than to pry. The guide saw the last two leave the temple door and gave one firm nod and started to descend down the cliff carefully one step at the time and the students followed.

The howling of the wind was loud and the snowflakes that rose from the ground blinded them from time to time, so that the two teens felt as if they were alone on the top of the cliff. They adjusted their caps and pulled up the hoods on their jackets to protect themselves from the wind. Their shoulders squared and their hearts beaten hard as they bravely walked into the storm. Walking out in the bad weather was never easy and they knew they were expected to walk the whole day outside.

At one moment Adrien took Marinette's hand. But the wind was cold and their hands started to feel cold too, especially when the wind pushed the cold air up their sleeves and jackets. Adrien adjusted his blue scarf and smiled at the girl who was struggling with the hood of her jacket as it kept falling off her head, pushed by the wind. She finally managed to button up the two buttons in front of her hood to keep it on her head. But her fingers were frozen. Adrien fetched the mittens for both of them from the backpack and helped her put them on.

Finally they gave up holding hands as they both tucked their hands in their pockets to feel their kwami snuggled there, away from the cold. Plagg phased a few layers inside to a warmer layer of clothing and snored. Adrien laughed to himself. The cheese pieces in his cold outer jacket were intact. There was something that could deter the tiny glutton from a cheese stash. Marinette petted Tikki in her front pocket and nudged her towards a small bundle of fabric to keep her warm.

Ling and Ye let Adrien and Marinette walk at the end of the group, but they were soon joined by Dorje and Pema. The two monks were wrapped up in thick woollen fabric to keep warm but it was obvious it did not work as well as more modern gear.

"We will walk with you only until the village." Pema whispered through her trembling lips. The last week was exhausting for the two monks too. They were not used to daily fights with akuma and admired the two young teens. The boys life had turned upside down and they both discussed if it was a good decision to let them go back to their world so soon. But Adrien acted so confident, he was shaken by the whole experience but he never crumbled under the weight of their discoveries. Perhaps it was because he took one at a time and recovered quickly enough to be ready for the next shock.

So they talked quietly as they descended the cliff steps. The monks were not very talkative at first, they observed both teens carefully and looked for any sign of insecurity. There was none, they both kept their heads high, the only thing that bothered them was cold wind. Less observant person might interpret that as a sign of insecurity, but it was just cold, and both kids faced that as they faced any other obstacle so far.

Once they were way down the cliff, the wind felt slightly weaker and it was less cold than before. Adrien felt as if they were leaving friends behind. They chatted with the monks about the weather of all things, as if they were strangers who met for the first time, but the weather around them kept pushing itself as the main subject of the talk. The monks wanted to go further after the two young wielders, but decided that it was smarter not to spend too much time outside in that weather if not absolutely needed.

Marinette turned to Pema and discussed what will both of them do next. The young woman was overwhelmed by everything that happened during that week. She admitted that having the duty of the temple guardian was sometimes hard as she saw how other people lived around the world (or at least part of Asia) before she arrived, but she also felt protected and appreciated by everyone in the temple, and most of all she was regarded for her values not for her looks.

After a while they moved to lighter subjects and joined the conversation between Dorje and Adrien. They teased each other and in the end both monks promised to try and get at least one phone that they could use to communicate. Because Adrien kept 'horsing around' and making other horse puns as he suggested that he intended to teleport himself (and Marinette too) to the temple on the first occasion he found fit. Marinette was probably the only one who took him seriously, as she constantly reminded him that they should not use the kwami for selfish reasons.

"It is not selfish, it is called education." Adrien teased back. Marinette regularly rolled her eyes at his antics.

The cold air made them walk faster and they soon caught up with the rest of the group. The two monks started saying their goodbyes and all four of them had tears in their eyes (which was unpleasant because the cold air tended to freeze them but the fresh warm tears kept flowing out). Adrien wanted to mention using the services of Kaalki again but resisted as he was not sure how much could Marinette's cousins hear just a few meters in front of them.

Finally, they reached the small village made of tents and it was time for hugs and goodbyes. The guide assembled the group there, few students went to purchase more food for the walk.

The time has arrived to say the final goodbye to the two monks. Now they were joined by Marinette's cousins who spent much less time with them, but they still fought the same fight and that made them much closer. It was impossible to hide the tears, but nobody even tried. Ling was talking the whole time while the tears rolled down her face. But nothing she said made any sense. Ye was completely silent while Marinette and Adrien just repeated 'Thank you' with each breath they took.

Finally, the teens had to turn and walk away. Their feet felt heavy and the burden they carried was suddenly enlarged by the feeling of leaving two friends behind. As they continued to walk, it was hard to pick up the pace, but they had to to catch up with the group. When they turned, the two monks were still there, watching over them as the teens walked away.

They stumbled over their own feet in turns. Marinette almost fell to the ground, but Adrien caught her forearm and helped her steady herself. He even offered to take the sleeping bag and carry it, but the girl refused.

Ye kept blaming the ice and claimed his loss of balance was due to slippery surfaces he kept finding under the snow (but nobody else had similar issues).

Ling blamed the gusts of strong wind that pushed and made her loose her balance, the girl flailed her hands and managed to keep herself on her feet, but the next time she turned around, the same gust of wind made her flail her arms again to catch her balance.

Adrien did not even pretend there were any outside reasons for him to trip on his own feet, but the practice he had walking on the catwalk helped that he remained his balance and direction with the least effort. The tears in his eyes did not help him see where he was going, but he concentrated on following the group and pushing his feet one in front of another and he was moving forward.

Marinette kept lagging behind and then quickly running after the rest of the group, which of course resulted in her tripping and catching her balance at the last moment. At one moment, Adrien caught her arm by her elbow and kept holding her. He prevented her from turning around once more and forced her to walk in more steady rhythm.

They both felt the same emptiness because they were leaving the new found friends behind. When they stayed in the temple, they finally felt normal, because they found a whole group of other people who knew about their secret and who were eager to help, with their deeds and advice.

Adrien walked as if he had became a robot. Because his mind stopped controlling his body, save the hand that held onto Marinette. His eyes were trained on the people before him and his feet moved, but his mind was somewhere else. He held the girl beside him more to anchor himself than to keep her from falling. To say his life had turned upside down since the time he walked towards the temple would be and understatement. Everything had changed. Including the weather.

He counted each and every single revelation he had during his days and nights in the temple. But then, suddenly he realized one more thing. Not much had changed, he just learned a few things, a few important things, but as a consequence, he became aware that his cold and distant family had been, in fact, non-existent the whole time.

The only really new thing was that Hawk Moth was defeated, everything else existed before, he just did not know about it. And he made new friends. He was going back better off than he was when he arrived. Because could he really say he lost his father? Was that something that he was supposed to count as a loss? His mind and heart had tricked him before, because he imagined his father and Nathalie were getting closer. That idea did not abandon him even after he learned his father was Hawk Moth. Everything he had was an illusion, and the world looked much better without that layer in his life, more real and more scary, but better.

His father was Hawk Moth. Everybody knew. What was awaiting him once he returned to Paris? Being a celebrity was hard on him, but at least until now he was a celebrity for something positive. He was now known for he was a son of a criminal, a terrorist, a villain. He used to be rich and never had to care about how much something cost. Was there anything left of that for him? He glanced towards the girl by his side.

Marinette sensed he was worried. Although the cold wind kept them silent most of the way. She felt the urge to speak, to tell him everything was going to be okay. She smiled and shyly offered her hand once he released her forearm. He took it.

That reassured him. He had her. He had Ladybug, Marinette. A small smile adorned his face. Whatever was awaiting him, he was going to take it with her by his side.

At one point, they reached the rest of the group. They were setting up their small gas cookers to make some tea or noodles.

"We are progressing very slow today." The guide complained as she walked around groups of students making tea and dried noodles.

Ye already lighted up a small cooker and Ling filled the metal vessel with water from the stream nearby. She said she brought enough water to make tea and noodles for all four and they sat around the cooker.

"How are you doing?" Ye asked Adrien quietly.

"It is okay, less load on the way back." Adrien rolled his shoulders after he removed the backpack from his shoulders.

Marinette eyed him carefully as she offered him to sit on their rolled sleeping bag without using words. He smiled and sat down but then he pulled her to sit by his side and held her close. There was the same small smile on his face.

"Um, that was not what I was asking." The older boy sighed when he got the first answer and muttered to himself, after he observed the two youngsters he took a deep breath. "You know, um, you will not be able to have Marinette as your safety cushion the whole time."

Ling glared at Ye for a moment. "He has some time before we reach the civilisation, let him have it." She waved her head. They both looked at the boy with worried eyes, but he did not notice that, Marinette did. Adrien looked to the snow that was falling with a small smile on his face and pretended that there was only him and her and the students around in this beautiful landscape covered with snow.