Author's Note:
The song I used in this chapter is "Silver Moonlight" by Within Temptation. c: It originally inspired a similar but different scene, but I'm glad what this chapter ended up with anyway and that I could still use the song! 💙
There was a certain contentment that accompanied a sugar rush. Most people would find it odd to see the Félix Agreste indulge in something atrociously calorie-heavy like the lemon creme cake he was currently consuming, but it frankly wasn't that out of the ordinary. He was a fae after all and the fair folk lived for sweetness.
Of course, the exception proved the rule, as he was also quite fond of the bitterness of coffee or the herby tastes of tea. At his core though, was and still is a sweet tooth and indulging was a guilty pleasure of his.
"Careful there, if you eat more than one piece you will get sick," Marinette said from where she stood at the kitchen counter and washed the dishes. He raised his eyebrows at her and purposefully shoved a large spoonful of cake in his mouth.
"I warned you," she said with a shrug and then got back to rinsing a plate.
Adrien was at a photoshoot that Félix was not required to attend. Instead, he spent the time where he most liked to be: at the Dupain-Cheng bakery. It had become rather rare that he had found relative silence there, since Alya would usually be a very constant presence. And as long as the Ladyblogger was around, there was barely a silent minute.
But she was on yet another date with Nino, which led to the fortunate circumstance that only Marinette was home.
"So, is that a new dress?" Félix asked as he regarded the white dress with pink flowers on it that she wore.
"Yeah, it is!" Marinette said, obviously delighted that he had noticed. "When I went fabric shopping last week, I found this nice fabric and I just had to make something from it! I wanted to add lace to it originally, but I'll save that idea for something else."
Félix nodded and ate the last piece of his slice of cake. "If I wouldn't know better, I'd say you got all dolled up in the hopes that someone else would be your company today."
There was a loud clattering noise from the kitchen when Marinette dropped a plate into the sink.
"I don't k-know what y-you're talking about!" She spluttered and her face turned as red as a tomato.
"Marinette," he said at length and raised an eyebrow. "You know you're talking to me, right?"
She sighed. "I know, I know. I was just hoping…urgh, forget it!" She started to scrub the plate furiously.
He would have chuckled about her flustered state if he hadn't also picked up on the very real embarrassment that accompanied it—and it wasn't the good kind.
"I'm probably the least oblivious person you'll ever meet, but don't worry, Adrien doesn't know."
She paused rinsing the plate and looked at it for a moment as if it had personally offended her. Then she said: "I just don't think it's a good idea."
Félix rolled his eyes, since Adrien basically told him that exact same thing every single day. It had become seriously annoying at this point.
"Why?" he asked and took a sip of the Latte Macchiato he very much needed to get through this conversation with a straight face. Marinette looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.
"Because Adrien and I are friends! I can't just ask him out!" It took a few seconds for another blush to overtake her and for her to start fidgeting with the dish cloth.
"People say the best relationships are based on friendships, so I'd say you have a good chance."
"You're just saying that," she grumbled.
Félix turned his eyes heavenwards again. "Fine. Go ahead and don't listen to valuable advice from the person who has been stuck with Adrien since birth."
"You really think I have a chance?" She asked quietly.
I'd say more than just a chance.
"Why don't you find that out yourself? I'm not giving you any guarantees since my brother is so oblivious that it's painful to watch sometimes, but I think even he would recognize obvious flirting."
"F-f-flirting?" And once again, Marinette turned into a tomato.
"It's just a suggestion. I never said that you have to go through with it. Just think it over for a bit."
Félix really wasn't the right person to play Cupid. He should just leave that to Alya and Nino who knew more about love and relationships than he did. Though he couldn't deny that it would be pretty amusing to see Adrien's reaction if Marinette actually started flirting with him.
Suddenly Tom was calling up from downstairs and he could see more than hear Marinette's sigh of relief when her posture relaxed.
"Coming!" she called and quickly dried her hands. "I'll just be a few minutes."
"No rush. I'm perfectly fine on my own," he replied but Marinette was already rushing down the stairs. For a moment, the idea of finishing cleaning the dishes ran through his head, but with the luck he was having lately he didn't want to risk it. The last thing he wanted to explain to Marinette was a smashed plate that was possibly worth a fortune.
"Cat Sidhe," a quite sour high-pitched voice suddenly said, making Félix choke on his coffee.
"You must be Tikki," he said as he calmed down from his coughing fit and looked into the eyes of the ladybug kwami. Adrien had described her to him before, but in the entire nine months he had never met the goddess himself. It would have been an honour, but he had a hunch that her presence wasn't a good thing.
"I am," she said and her voice was as cold as Plagg's had been the one time Félix had accidentally turned his cheese into dirt. "Though you should not even know that much."
Félix managed a passive frown. "If anyone understands secrecy, then it's me. I'm not as reckless as my brother."
"I know. I've watched you a lot."
Well, that isn't unsettling or anything.
"Then what's your verdict?"
"My verdict is that I might not trust you, but you're caring for Marinette and keep her away from the fair folk. I respect that. Which brings me to why I'm here."
She floated closer and Félix swallowed, nervous what a goddess would want from him.
"Plagg and I can't see the future, but time can be relative, especially with the fair folk. When it comes to them, we get hunches from time to time of things that could happen in the foreseeable future. I got such a hunch this morning. They're not always correct, but since you're always working to keep the fair folk away from Akuma fights, I thought it would be useful to tell you."
"And Plagg couldn't tell me that because?" Félix prompted, really not liking the direction this conversation was going in.
"Because he often doesn't listen to those hunches."
Yes, Félix could imagine that. After all, the kwami had the annoying habit of telling him that he was being too paranoid. As if there was such a thing when it came to the fair folk!
"Anyway, it was interesting to make your acquaintance," Félix said. He wouldn't lie to her face and say that it had been nice or even a pleasure. False pleasantries should be spared for people who would believe them.
Tikki nodded. "Likewise."
And just like that ended what Félix believed to be one of the most unusual conversations of his life.
"Ugh," Adrien said with his face buried in a pillow while Félix didn't so much as raise his head from the book he was reading.
"The photoshoot took longer than usual," he commented dryly and flipped a page.
"Vnngmnt fhnd thht mn fmnlm whf thh tmnfm."
Félix prided himself in understanding Adrien in almost all situations, but even he couldn't make out what his brother was trying to convey.
"Try again without the pillow."
"Vincent said that my smile was too tense," Adrien repeated, this time clear as day.
Plagg snorted. "I wonder why," he said sarcastically and with that he, for once, expressed exactly what Félix felt.
"Stop stressing about the thing with Marinette every waking minute of the day. The more you worry about it, the crazier you're gonna drive yourself," Félix said, intentionally wording it in a way Adrien would understand. One never knew with his brother's obliviousness after all.
"But I have to be careful!" Adrien argued. "Mélusine said it too: Just one slip up and it's over!"
Well, he wasn't wrong.
"I'm not saying you should just jump into things without thinking them over. What I meant was that you should also focus on things besides your relationship status."
Adrien blushed and looked like he was about to let loose another string of annoying denials, but fate itself interrupted him. Félix picked up his vibrating phone and then let out a resigned sigh. An Akuma Alert. As if Tikki's hunch hadn't been bad enough already, there really needed to be an attack at eight o'clock in the evening!
"Well, fate seems to agree for once," Félix said as he shifted and trotted to the open window. "And in an unpleasant way, unfortunately."
"You can say that again," Adrien snorted. "Let's see what this is about. Plagg, Claws Out!"
They didn't have to go far, just one block over, when they heard the first scream. It wasn't the usual kind of scream a civilian would make upon spotting an Akuma. No, this kind of scream was eerie and unnatural, like straight out of a horror film and amplified in volume in a way that couldn't be anything but magic. Worse yet, they recognized the voice, as it started or continued—they weren't sure—singing.
"I'm hellhound in this life
Keep fighting this endless war
It's always been like this, I don't know why"
"That's Sabrina," Chat Noir said as if it hadn't been obvious enough already with the way Félix's fur stood on end.
"Enslavement of your mind
Your fear it ties me down"
"I thought fae couldn't be akumatised," Félix said as he tried his best to keep up—fae or not, being a regularly-sized cat while his brother was a superhero was an unfair disadvantage. There was a short silence in which Adrien most likely listened to something Plagg said.
"Going down, I won't bow, no!"
Another scream tore through the air once again, filling the space of where there would have been an "oh" or an "ah" in the song.
"They can't," Chat Noir eventually said. "Sabrina is a halfling though, so there's room for foreign magic. Not enough to be fully akumatised though."
"Screaming at the walls of fire
They're closing in on me"
"So, Hawkmoth is forcing her to wield more magic than she was ever meant to have," Félix hissed and that was putting it lightly. Poor Sabrina.
"I hunger for the vertigo, the silver moonlight
It's where I wanna be"
When the next scream tore through the air, Félix finally caught sight of her.
"Screaming at the walls of fire
But I'm still running free
In the silver moonlight I can breathe"
She was standing on a bridge that was empty of civilians and she was obviously in pain. Occasionally she was lashing at herself with a wave of murky water from the river. He couldn't tell if she intended to drive the Akuma out with it or rather calm herself down.
"She might be partly in control," Félix said and flattened his ears at the sheer volume of Sabrina's voice. It was like someone had handed her a microphone at a rock concert.
"Which also means that she has common sense," Chat Noir said darkly. "I'll have to keep Ladybug away from her or Sabrina might start pleading to Danu for help."
Félix shuddered at the mere thought.
At that moment, there was a whirring sound.
"Speak of the goddess," Chat said. "You keep the Court away."
And with that, he was gone.
Yeah, right. As if I'm just gonna play shepherd while Sabrina is in direct danger.
If anything was Court business, then this was it.
"These days are lonely now"
Félix didn't waste another second and jumped into the nearest empty alleyway to shift. Approaching Sabrina would definitely be easier when he wasn't just forty centimetres tall.
Before he even knew it, he was running. His senses told him not to but he just couldn't help it. He couldn't just stay on the sidelines when his oldest friend was in danger. Not this time!
"Breathin' in the coldest lies
I think that's only what you have in mind"
What the fair folk called 'charming' when it came to their voices, could also work the other way and repel people instead of attracting them. Sabrina had obviously used this to clear the area. No one should come close. No one else should be in danger. Félix didn't care.
"Holdin' on to the best of you
I hit the pavement"
True to the lyrics, she really fell down on her knees, though it seemed deliberate. Every step so far had looked like she was fighting against an invisible force. A force that urged her to move forward against her will. He knew what was on the forward path: The Grand Paris Hotel.
"Goin' down, I won't bow
Down!
Félix cringed at the volume.
Almost at the bridge.
It wasn't a significant distance, but the screams almost made him retreat. 'Stay away from me!' Sabrina seemed to say without using any words. He couldn't listen to that. He had to help!
Fog suddenly started to rise from the river, thickening at an unnatural speed and coating the surrounding streets, if not the entirety of Paris. It was too little too late. Sabrina should have tried this before people had noticed her. Tried it before the Court had gotten wind of it. Now all it did was stretch this fight out even longer.
The screaming led him on until he suddenly got slapped in the face and the fog cleared a little.
"Félix!" Sabrina's voice had an eerie, echoing quality to it and the pain in it was all too obvious.
"Run away," she said weakly and sobbed. "Help me. They want my coat. I want my coat. They're gonna take it from me. I'm gonna take it from them. Help me. Run away."
Félix honestly couldn't tell if it was Sabrina's panic speaking—after all, fae minds were contradictory—or if it was a sign that she was fighting the akumatisation. Either way, it was unsettling.
"What's the akumatised object?" He asked and Sabrina sobbed again before letting out another bloodcurdling scream.
"My coat. They have it," she sobbed.
"I know, Sabrina, but—" He paused.
Wait a second…
"You mean your coat is the akumatised object?!"
A sob. A nod. Clenched Fists. A scream.
He had to tell Adrien. This was bad. No, it was the worst-case scenario!
"Come on," he said and took one of her hands to lead her in the opposite direction. He had to get her as far away from the hotel as possible.
"No, I can't," she sobbed. "My legs won't—urgh!" Sabrina clenched her middle as if someone had stabbed her. "Let go of me. I can't help you," she whispered desperately and it took Félix a moment to realise she wasn't talking to him.
"Iron bells," he cursed and quickly picked Sabrina up bridal style. If she couldn't walk, then he would carry her. She kept wailing all the way and he prayed to Danu that he wouldn't go deaf after all this.
His first priority was to get Sabrina to safety, but he also had to somehow find his brother and tell him about the coat. Because, if it really was the akumatised object then they couldn't destroy it. That would kill Sabrina.
The selkie's form flickered like light reflections in water while he carried her. Parts of her became invisible or see-through and then reappeared again. He guessed that was a side-effect of the akumatisation not working. It was both beautiful and disturbing.
"My coat," she whimpered before she started to sing something in Irish. It sounded like a lullaby. Poor Sabrina. She was just trying to calm herself down, but by the way some parts were sung louder than others while she tensed up, he could tell she was still in incredible pain. No wonder she had sung what had sounded like a metal song before. It had helped her to express her pain and simultaneously fight it. Now that he was doing the hard part with making her move from point A to point B, she had calmed down a little. Too bad it didn't seem to lessen the pain apparently.
"Hawkmoth will pay for this," he muttered darkly and Sabrina whimpered.
A hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Since he was holding Sabrina, he couldn't even punch the offender. Instead, he ducked away and tried to escape, but a metal pole was suddenly in his way.
Wait…
"What do you think you're doing?!" Chat Noir hissed and he didn't sound happy at all. Félix didn't care.
"Getting her away from the hotel," he hissed back.
"At least give me the akumatised object."
"I can't. It's her coat."
He could see how Chat Noir froze.
Sabrina chose that moment to let out another scream, probably the loudest one yet.
"He wants…I can't…go away," she sobbed and Félix turned her away from Chat Noir when she made a blind grab for his ring. A decision that had clearly not been her own one judging by the horrified look on her face.
"Where's Ladybug?" Félix asked.
"A few rooftops away from here. She can't use her yo-yo with this fog."
"Okay, I'll bring Sabrina home and you get the coat and return it to her afterwards."
Chat Noir gave a grim nod and then vaulted away.
"Félix," Sabrina whimpered. "He doesn't understand magic. It hurts so much."
He squeezed her a little in the hope that it was comforting and then took off again. Screw being angry about Hawkmoth terrorizing the city. Now it was personal! Félix looked forward to the day where to Court would deal with him accordingly.
That didn't mean Sabrina was out of the woods yet though.
The Court would blame her, no matter if she was truly at fault or not. They always found a way to blame someone they wanted punished.
"Everything will be alright," Félix said under his breath, not knowing if the empty reassurance was meant for himself or for Sabrina. He didn't believe the words for a second.
He ran. He ran for what felt like hours. He ran until he was halted by a very frantic Roger who was shouting Sabrina's name.
He took his whimpering daughter from Félix's arms.
"What's wrong with her?" He asked as the three of them hurried to the apartment building the Raincomprix family lived in.
"Hawkmoth tried to akumatise her but it's not working. He's a stubborn bastard who doesn't understand magic though, so he doesn't call back the Akuma," Félix explained while taking the set of keys Roger had pointed to, to open the door. They had six sets of stairs ahead of them.
"Why didn't you take the akumatised object and gave it to Ladybug?" He sounded on edge and accusatory.
"My coat," Sabrina whimpered again.
"Shh, baby, it's okay," her father tried to soothe her.
"It's her coat," Félix clarified.
Just four more sets of stairs.
"B-but that c-can't…she doesn't have it on her!"
"Apparently that doesn't matter in this case," Félix muttered. A selkie's coat was an extension of their being just like an arm or a leg. It wasn't surprising that a connection to Sabrina could be made, no matter how far the coat was away from her.
"Then how—"
"I told Chat Noir," Félix said and then fell quiet until he unlocked the apartment's door. "He's an Unseelie too so he can bargain with the Court," he continued once they were all inside.
That was exactly the part Félix was most worried about. Adrien wasn't the best bargainer given how much of a people-pleaser he was. Félix didn't dare jinx it by praying for a good outcome, but deep inside he still hoped for the best.
"But you should worry more about yourself right now," he said and held Sabrina back who was about to move towards the door as soon as her father put her down.
"What do you mean?" Roger asked. Even for a redhead he was worryingly pale at the moment.
"The Court will blame Sabrina and punish her for this exposure. Once Chat Noir will get back with her coat, you'll have to leave Paris. I'll help you pack."
"We can't just leave like that! Moving takes months of preparation and—" Roger started to argue.
"The Court won't give you that luxury," Félix interrupted him. Then a thought crossed his mind. Even if they would drive away immediately, the Court would track the car down in a heartbeat and make it crash or worse. The same, just worse, would go for a plane or any other kind of transportation. The only way they could not be tracked would be through portals. And coincidentally, he knew someone who not only had portals at the ready, but also empty and fully furnished houses on the other end.
"Okay, listen. Pack up the essentials, as much as you can, while I help Sabrina pack her things. Once she gets her coat back, I'll try to convince Chat Noir to keep an eye on you so you should be safe. Meanwhile, I'll go to Mélusine's and ask her for a huge favour."
Roger still looked pale, but he nodded in understanding.
"Alright," he said. "Let's hope you can actually convince her."
"Don't jinx it, I'm bad luck," Félix said automatically.
"The music box," Sabrina forced out quietly. Félix was holding her back with one hand on her arm while with his other one he was packing all the stuff Sabrina told him was important. Little trinkets she couldn't live without or photos of her mother. He just hoped that he would actually be able to convince Mélusine. She most likely had no desire to get into trouble with the Court after all.
"Shells. Careful," Sabrina said through gritted teeth as she held her middle again.
Hurry up, Adrien.
Félix carefully picked up the shells on her dresser and wrapped them up in one of her shirts so they wouldn't break.
It had already been about an hour since they had arrived at the apartment and one of Sabrina's suitcases was already full. They wouldn't have much time left until his brother returned, and then they'd be in even more of a hurry to leave Paris. Well, Sabrina and Roger would. Félix, if he was suspected to have played a role in it at all, would have to face the Court's disapproval. But then again, Chat Noir was involved, so maybe they'd drop any charges when a god disapproved of them.
"The bed covers," she sobbed and reached out to run her hand over the undoubtedly soft fabric.
"Those'll come last," Félix said, as he no doubt would need two hands for it. "What else?"
"How about a delivery?" A third voice suddenly asked from the window that had definitely been closed before. Félix sighed in relief when he saw a grinning Chat Noir crouching on the sill, holding something behind his back.
Sabrina stumbled towards him. "My coat! Do you…"
"Have it?" Chat Noir finished the sentence and hopped into the room. "Almost insane how easy it is to get what you want from the Court when you hold the position of a god."
He made an elaborate bow. "Dear selkie, I believe this is yours," he said and finally withdrew the coat he had hidden behind his back. It was even more beautiful than Félix remembered it to be. Pure white and shimmering in all colours of the rainbow, like oyster shells, though at the same time it seemed fluid like water.
Sabrina didn't reach for it and instead looked at Chat Noir warily. Most likely sensing her nervousness, he adapted a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, I know the customs," he said and dropped the coat on Sabrina's bed. She let out a sigh of relief. "I'm not opposed to marriage in general, but my heart belongs to my lady only."
"Y-yes, of course. I-I w-wasn't implying that you would betray Danu or something like that!" Sabrina stammered in a panic.
"How did you get the Akuma out?" Félix meanwhile asked. Chat Noir suddenly looked guilty.
"We didn't," he winced and looked to Sabrina. "I have a theory though: Since you're a halfling as long as the coat is not in your possession, you would become a full fae again if you'd take it back. The pure fair folk is impossible to akumatise, so it might force the butterfly out."
Sabrina's eyes darted from him to her coat and back again. She retracted her already outstretched hand a little fearfully as she looked at the thing, the one thing she had painfully longed for, for years now.
"I don't know if…" Sabrina began and then shook her head, apparently coming to a decision. She stepped forward and picked up her coat. It unfolded like it weighed nothing, falling like water and shimmering even more beautiful than before.
Her pupils went wide when her hand touched the coat and for a moment it looked like nothing would happen. But then, a soft white glow overtook it and it flowed in an invisible wind, or rather current, since it suddenly looked like the raging sea.
Félix felt a snap that had definitely been the magic, since all of them—Sabrina most of all—flinched. As a black butterfly emerged, he eyed it sceptically. He hadn't seen an Akuma butterfly up close since the Lady Wifi incident, but he was still certain that they weren't supposed to look like they had trouble staying in the air at all. Chat Noir's confused look secured him in that belief.
"Looks like you did quite a number on that one," he said with a grin.
"Let's hope that reflects back on Hawkmoth. He deserves it," Félix muttered.
"Anyways," Chat Noir declared and cupped his hands around his mouth. "My lady, you're up!"
Even with the warning, Félix couldn't help but jump when Ladybug suddenly swung into the room. Out of them all, she seemed to be the most confused about the weakly flapping butterfly that barely managed to keep itself aloft.
"What happened?" She asked. A question which no one really had an answer for.
"Let's purify the Akuma and get this over with," Chat Noir said instead and Félix watched how Ladybug's confusion was replaced by determination.
"Right," she said, though her purifying act lacked the dramatics it usually included. A simple swing of her yo-yo, rather than a calculated throw, was enough to trap the butterfly this time. Even its purified version seemed sickly as it wobbly flew window-wards.
"Miracul—"
"Wait!" Sabrina said, earning a thoroughly confused look from Ladybug who had frozen mid-movement of throwing her yo-yo into the air and calling the Cure. "This won't undo our packing, will it?"
"Packing?" Ladybug asked and looked around. "Why would you—"
"Nothing got destroyed during the attack, so there's no need to waste your strength, my lady," Chat Noir cut in with a shrug. Ladybug threw him a flat look.
"You mean apart from several windows, the door and, for some reason I still don't get, the paperweight made out of glass that you broke? Seriously Chat, just because you don't like the Bourgeois doesn't mean you have to forcefully destroy their property!"
Chat Noir waved it off. "Small non-magic stuff. I'll bet they have everything replaced before the night ends."
"But—"
"Now, come on, LB. I believe our job here is done," he said and pushed his partner back towards the window.
Somewhat unwillingly, Ladybug eventually climbed out and disappeared into the night. When Chat Noir went to follow her, Félix held him back by the shoulder.
"Wait a second, please. I want to talk to you about something. Could take a while," he said and purposefully worded it in a way that would be non-suspicious to Ladybug in case she wasn't all the way up to the roof yet and listening.
Chat Noir hesitated for only a second. "What's the problem?" he asked.
"You have to watch Sabrina for a bit while I go to Mélusine's and make a bargain."
"No way," his idiot of a brother said, no doubt without thinking. Sabrina shrunk back and bowed her head. Thankfully, Chat Noir noticed.
"I mean, I can easily watch over Sabrina for a short while, but you shouldn't make a bargain," he clarified.
"Why not?" Félix and Sabrina asked at the same time. The selkie blushed.
"Well," Chat Noir said and fixed Félix with a warning look. "Considering the situation, I'm guessing you're gonna bargain for something big, so the price will be accordingly significant. What valuables do you have that she could want? I doubt a song would suffice for this."
"We have no other option," Félix argued.
"Yes, you do," Chat Noir said and looked at Sabrina. "You're used to bargaining from all the years with Chloé, right? How about you make a bargain, since it's also your and your father's fate at stake here."
Félix glared at his brother. "She's been through enough and—"
"You're right. I should do it," Sabrina said quietly, effectively cutting him off. "No offense, Félix, but Chat Noir is right. You've tried protecting me for long enough and now that I've got my coat back, it's time that I take things into my own hands, starting with my fate."
Sabrina, Roger and Félix stood in front of the wooden back alley door to Mélusine's. It was the door that led to the hallway with many doors rather than the shop, including the one to her upstairs apartment among various portals.
"You really didn't have to come with us, Félix," Sabrina said, her two suitcases tightly in her hands and a backpack on her back.
Félix raised an eyebrow. "And not say goodbye? I might be socially awkward, but I'm not cold-hearted."
Suddenly the door swung open and a very serious-looking Mélusine ushered them inside.
"What are you doing, waiting around here in the open?! The Court is onto you, you nitwits!" She scolded and then closed the door quite forcefully.
Félix refrained from pointing out that there was no way for them to enter through a locked door.
"I-I wanted to make a bargain," Sabrina said timidly, which immediately brought forth Mélusine's motherly smile again.
"I know, dear. And I already have something in mind, come!" She said and walked down the corridor. Sabrina eagerly followed though Roger seemed more hesitant.
"Are you sure she's going to help us?" He asked Félix, who could just shrug.
"You never know with Mélusine, but she has helped Adrien and me before."
"This one should be perfect! It's close to the sea. There are a lot of seals there, so no one would find it an odd sight if you'd go for a swim there once in a while, dear," Mélusine fondly ruffled Sabrina's hair. "It's also the lands of a Seelie Court, so you'll fit right in."
"Wait, how do you know we're looking for a house?" Sabrina asked and Mélusine raised an eyebrow.
"You mean apart from the luggage you're carrying?"
Sabrina blushed again. "What do you have in mind for the bargain then?"
"That you clean my places," Mélusine said simply and motioned to the other doors. "I'm very busy with the shop these days and while I love all of my homes, I really don't have enough time to keep them all in pristine condition. Some are hopelessly dusty and cleaning them is a never-ending task. This is really all I ask for."
"That…sounds reasonable. For how long?"
"For as long as you live in one of my houses. Call it 'rent' if you will," Mélusine said with a wink.
"How about money? My father will need to find a job again and we can't live off house-cleaning."
"Oh dearie, you still have a lot to learn. Take acorns, leaves and some glamour and the humans will think it's money. That shouldn't be hard, should it?"
"But that would be forgery," Roger threw in, probably automatically. For the first time since she let them in, Mélusine's eyes hardened.
"I cannot offer you money nor a job. Would you prefer to starve? A house is already a very generous offer. Don't push it."
"Alright," Sabrina said before her father could argue further. "I agree to the deal."
Mélusine's entire demeanour immediately shifted to one of joy. "Wonderful," she said and clapped her hands.
"I guess this is goodbye," Sabrina said sadly as she turned around to Félix. Meanwhile, Mélusine proceeded to open the door, which showed the entrance hall of a dark house.
"Yeah, I guess it is," Félix said and suddenly his heart seemed heavy. It wouldn't be the same without Sabrina.
"Can you tell Adrien that I forgive him? It really wasn't his fault that my coat got stolen and now that I have it back, we can all finally move on from it." She smiled. "I'll really miss you two."
"We'll miss you too," he said and Sabrina let go of the handles of her suitcases to hug him one last time.
"Take care, and don't get in trouble with the Court please."
A wry grin overtook his face. "I'll try my best."
She took her suitcases again and rolled them to the door, stopping in front of it.
"Thanks for all your help, Félix," Roger suddenly said and Félix was honestly a little taken aback by it.
"Anyone would have done that," he said.
"Not from the Court and definitely not without ulterior motives. You and Adrien are a lot more human than you realise."
And with that, Sabrina and him walked through the door and were gone. A silence that was way too quiet for the middle of Paris settled on the shop. It lasted for only two seconds, then Mélusine spoke up.
"Now, kitten, you will explain to me how you got wrapped up in all of this. Just let me brew some tea."
"This was way too close for comfort tonight! And totally irresponsible!" Plagg ranted just as Félix slipped back into the room. It was around three in the morning at this point.
"What should I have done instead? Nothing?!" Adrien hissed back and Félix didn't even need to guess to know what the conversation was about.
"Yeah, what did you do? Apart from breaking several things," Félix said as he perched on the back of the sofa. Adrien whirled around to him.
"Is Sabrina safe?!" He had left as Chat Noir shortly after suggesting that Sabrina should bargain. After all, it wouldn't be good if the Court would think he was taking sides.
"She's safe," Félix said. "And she said I should tell you that she forgives you."
"Okay, good. Now he doesn't need to worry about that anymore," Plagg said with all the sympathy of a rock. "Now tell your brother how idiotic it is to threaten the Court just to get a selkie coat back!"
"You did what?!" Félix said, his fur bristled in righteous appalment.
"Okay, when I got back the fog was still too thick, so I told Ladybug to wait on a roof while I dealt with it. Chloé still swore that she didn't know where the coat was so I demanded to talk to someone who did know, who happened to be Audrey. So, I had to bargain with the Court chief for Sabrina's coat, but they demanded to talk to Danu. I told her that if she wanted to talk to a god, then she had the god of destruction right before her and that I wouldn't hesitate to let the hotel crumble to dust to prove my point."
"Wait, wait, wait! You actually threatened Audrey Bourgeois?!"
"Now you see what I mean? The kitten has lost his mind!" Plagg said.
"You indeed have. What in the netherworld were you thinking?!"
"I was thinking that I had to get Sabrina's coat back and I couldn't get Ladybug involved!"
"Then what was that about broken windows, a broken door and a paperweight?"
Adrien waved it off. "The fog lifted eventually, so my lady followed me into the hotel. Luckily, I had just gotten Audrey to give me the coat. The paperweight was a distraction because Ladybug was starting to say something that would have sounded suspicious, the broken door was because Chloé had locked her room for some reason and the broken windows were out of spite."
Félix sighed deeply. "I need a vacation after this."
"You and me both, kitten," Plagg agreed. "Especially since Ladybug asked him if this weirdness was about Court stuff."