Au Revoir
After their night rendes-vous in the storage room, the two young teenagers sneaked back to their beds, but neither of them could sleep. They could hear more or less soft snoring of the other persons who slept in the same compartment.
"Hey, can you sleep?" Adrien whispered. His mind was a whirlwind of emotions, he was high, he was ecstatic because he just kissed Marinette minutes ago, and then he returned ant the reality caught up to him, he was going back to Paris, but everything has changed.
"Nope." Marinette waved her head. "Not a chance." She had concerns of her own, the identity, the Lila interview, the anxiety what was she going to face the next day in Paris. Nadia wanted an interview. Alya wanted an interview.
"What is bothering you?" Adrien asked first.
"It is Alya, she offered me to do an interview with her where I would clear up all Lila's lies." Marinette frowned. "It is a peace offering of a kind."
"Are you sure you want to acknowledge the liar? Ms Leclerc and your parents already required the video to be removed and made a deal with Nadia about the interview." The boy sighed. "I know this is me taking the high road again. Do what you think is right, but please tell me, I want to be there and clear my name too, I do not want anyone to think I was ever her boyfriend."
"Hm, between being her boyfriend and collaborating with Hawk Moth, I think I got it better." Marinette teased.
"Yeah, don't forget I'm his son." Adrien frowned.
"That does not mean anything." The girl protested.
"I was just thinking, what is going to happen to me now?" The boy talked quietly. "I mean, you are going home, I … guess I never really had a place to call home."
"Oh Adrien." Marinette was sitting up and offered her hand. He took it.
"Your parents offered for me to stay, Nino did too … " Adrien whispered.
"I guess you can do whatever you want, if Mme Leclerc approves. You can stay with me for a few days, move in with Nino once you get the paperwork done. You will get a family to live with." She shrugged.
"It is just, my mum is there in the temple, dead." The boy shuddered. "Gabriel is a monster, behind bars, somewhere." The boy refused to call the man his father any more.
Marinette squeezed his hand, but the boy had such empty look in his eyes that she finally took a step over the gap and sat beside him.
"Why was he such a monster? I mean, he lost mum, he was sad, I get that, but I lost her too and ..." Adrien could not wrap his thoughts. "I actually thought he was getting closer with Nathalie and maybe … actually he was getting close with her. But he just wanted to bring mum back."
"He wanted to change reality, perhaps he did not care how much evil he did and how much he hurt everybody because he would alter reality in the end and it would be as if none of this had ever happened." Marinette shrugged. She was not sure of that.
"You mean he intended to wish all his evil doings away, but … when he takes the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous by force, that is also an evil doing, wouldn't that erase the way he got his miraculous?" The boy was confused.
"Probably, I don't know. But, think, once he got the power to change reality, he could wish for anything, and that includes that everyone thinks Hawk Moth is a good guy." Marinette whispered. Adrien felt shivers go down his spine. She looked at Tikki who was hiding in her purse together with Plagg, but both of them shrugged. "I guess we can't know what was going on in his head." She shrugged too.
Adrien understood the behaviour of their kwami, someone might be awake and hear their conversation. They were carefully not to actually reveal their identities. In fact, Tikki and Plagg wanted their wielders to come to their own conclusions without an intrusion from them.
"So he chose to be a monster because he thought it did not matter how he treated people anyway, his wish would have taken it all away?" The boy waved his head.
"Yes, maybe he would even erase the memories of the akuma attacks." Marinette whispered. "The akumatized people do not remember what they did. Maybe after his wish nobody would remember."
Adrien looked at Marinette and pulled her closer. The fear in his eyes was obvious. He would have forgotten about her. She sneaked her arms around and held him back, she could see he needed it.
"Um, perhaps I do not really want to know." Adrien shrugged. "I just want to move on and live my life." He just hoped that was possible, whatever normal life was, it was not as if he ever had that.
"That is probably the only healthy thing to do. Just think of what you can do now." She smiled gently. Marinette was worried about moments like these. Adrien was deep in thought, but his face was much brighter than moments ago.
"I can go back to school." Adrien smiled.
"You probably have to." Marinette nudged him with her shoulder.
"And nobody is going to threaten me to pull me out from the school if I do something … not to their liking." The boy mused.
"Um, it is nice to know what to blackmail you with." Marinette teased.
"You wouldn't." Adrien furrowed his brows.
"Nah." She waved her hand.
"Should I continue fencing?" The boy asked.
"If it makes you happy." She shrugged. They still did not talk about Kagami.
"It does. Kagami wrote to me that she is sorry about Gabriel, she is returning from Japan in a few days." He said quietly. The memory of the girl made them both pause in thought.
"What about Chinese?" Marinette inquired.
"I like learning new things, but maybe I would just keep the practice and learn something else more intensively." The boy was thinking what to do as an alternative.
"You can practice with maman and with Ling and Ye over video chat." Marinette shrugged.
"Yeah, I already know Chinese well enough to read the instructions for instant noodles, I can definitely switch languages now." The boy teased.
"You can practice piano in the art room in school, it is not as grand as the one you have but ..." Marinette continued.
"Yeah, I could do that, and now I could practice any piece I want." Adrien smiled. "Even the keyboards for the Kitty Section. If they will have me."
"Of course they would." She smiled.
"Yeah, Luka wrote I can crash in his room if I have no better place to be." The boy laughed.
"I'm sure Anarka would take you." Marinette was thoughtful.
"I can't imagine larger difference between her parenting and the parenting I am used to." The boy laughed quietly.
"Which means no parenting at all." She teased.
Adrien furrowed his brows. Was she referring to Anarka or Gabriel?
"Come on, that was not parenting what you had, he communicated with you through his secretary, you were his employee." Marinette nudged him in the ribs. But somehow it was not funny once she said it.
"You are right, does that mean I got fired?" The boy held his face and it took a few seconds for Marinette to realize he was just joking.
"I don't know, that is a question for Mme Leclerc." Marinette whispered.
"I guess I will have to ask her about doing modelling." Adrien whispered. "That is if anyone would want me."
"Why wouldn't they? Besides you don't have to do that any more." The girl nudged him.
"Oh, but I have to now." The boy replied a bit more loudly than the rest of their conversation.
"Why?" Marinette inquired.
"My bodyguard, how will I pay him?" Adrien became very serious and concerned.
"He was an employee of Gabriel Agreste, not you?" The girl was not sure.
"I can't just throw him out on the street." The boy was genuinely concerned for his bodyguard.
"I am sure Mme Leclerc has a solution for that, besides they communicate, they must have agreed on something." She tried to remove his worries.
"My bodyguard … he does not speak much." The boy waved his head. He was not sure that anyone took care for the guy.
"He was speaking with my father. He might have issues to deal with too, you know." The girl smiled.
"Yeah I know. I was just too overwhelmed to think about anybody else." Adrien shrugged.
"You have the right to be." Marinette smiled.
"So now I can go to the cinema, to a park with you, Nino, anybody, have a walk by the Seine, got to Liberty to hang out, … " Adrien was counting on his fingers all the things he wanted to do once he got back to Paris.
"You might have to hide from your fans." Marinette teased because he mentioned going to the cinema.
"Oh I know just the person who would help me." The boy teased back.
"You expect me to go to a cinema with a pair of googles and a towel over my head." The girl acted as if she was insulted.
"And in your pyjama." Adrien poked his finger into her shoulder. "Your boyfriend might ask you to wear that onesie he bought you."
Marinette was thinking hard of a way to reply him, but she did not think of anything. Her eyes started closing. Soon, they fell asleep.
Adrien was awoken in the middle of the night when Tom got onto his feet. Tom simply pointed his index and middle fingers into his own eyes and then to Adrien and then back at his eyes. It was a way to tell the boy 'I am watching you'. (Tom is supposed to be half Italian so ...) But Tom had a mischievous smile while he was doing that, he was not good at hiding it, so Adrien nodded and smiled back. Marinette was sleeping in his bed, they were both in some odd half seated position. Tom waved his head and went wherever he intended (probably bathroom). Adrien closed his eyes and went back to sleep, but only after he cuddled Marinette closer.
The next morning was full of tears. Saying goodbye was difficult. But they knew it was not forever. Ling and Ye practically had booked flights for Paris for the next Heroes Day celebrations where they would be the honoured guests of Andre Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris. They were just sorry they had no time left for sightseeing. Hugs, promises to call and write and try to find a way to come back for a visit and Parisians were on their way to the airport while the locals had to take their separate trains.
At the check in gates Adrien noticed that his bodyguard had a large suitcase that the boy did not notice on their way there.
"He is collecting action figures. And they are all produced in China." Tom whispered to the boy once the man noticed the surprise on his face.
"So he bought them all? They are all there?" Adrien looked at the suitcase incredulously.
"Nah, he had to order a few, they will be delivered in a month." Tom smiled.
Passing the security check at the airport was a long wait and then they had to open up everything
and then close it again. Marinette helped with Adrien's suitcase again.
Finding the boarding gate was easy.
Keeping Plagg from exploring the gourmet section of the airport shops with food was beyond
hard.
Once they boarded the plane, all the flight attendants smiled widely and asked if they needed anything. There was a muttered request for Camembert from Adrien's shirt but none of the flight attendants ran away to fetch some cheese, so the kids hoped nobody heard.
Tom and Sabine easily took their seats in the same row with Adrien's bodyguard and Adrien and Marinette sat behind (in the seats that were actually booked for Sabine and Tom). Two large men could not sit next to each other so it was Sabine sandwiched between the two.
The flight attendant offered them to switch seats but they replied they were happy as they were.
"Everyone is so friendly." Tom grinned. Sabine had a knowing smile.
Adrien searched for Plagg in his shirt, in his school bag and in the cheese stash.
"I can't find Plagg." Adrien whisper shouted to Marinette.
She quickly checked her purse. Tikki was alone and just blinked her large blue eyes back at her chosen.
The girl checked the food package for the other kwami, but without success.
They worried, they panicked and then there was an important announcement from the speakers.
"We will separate from the boarding gate as soon as the food carts are replaced with the full ones. This should not affect our schedule. We apologize for any inconvenience." The announcement finished.
Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look. They knew exactly where Plagg was.
"I just hope he does not cataclysm anything on his way." Adrien mouthed to Marinette.
Soon a black blur with green eyes phased from the floor between Marinettes feet.
"Hi Plagg." The girl greeted sweetly while she glared at the black cat. Bug the tiny god of destruction and cheese gluttony did not care. He phased through and then just plopped down on the floor and started to snore.
He was so full he was already unconscious.
"You glutton." Adrien scolded as he gently picked up Plagg and showed him into his shirt pocket.
"We can't even be angry with him. He can't hear us." Marinette waved her head.
The plane soon detached from the building and rolled towards the runaway. Both teens looked through the window at each and every vehicle, airplane, hangar and the control tower. Everything looked the same as when they arrived and yet, everything was different.
"I feel as if a few years have passed since the last time we passed that control tower." Adrien was lost in his thoughts.
Tom and Adrien's bodyguard turned around while Sabine made them both turn forward, but that did not prevent the little woman to peek between the seats and catch a glimpse of the boy.
"Yeah. I know. Me too." Marinette added absent mindedly. The girl caught the eyes of her mother and quickly turned back to look through the window. She squeezed Adrien's hand to reassure him, she then moved and glanced towards the same place, but Sabine turned around.
"We are being watched." She warned Adrien as she whispered to his ear. The boy continued to lean over her and exclaim each item he found new and exciting.
The take off glued them to their seats.
It was the same excitement of seeing the airport and the buildings becoming smaller and farther. Then they could see a few interesting items on the flight, one of them was the Great Wall of China. They could hear other passengers exclaim excitedly while they were flying over. Adrien tried to take a photo with his phone, but the photo was not good.
The flight was long. The flight attendants started to distribute food soon after the plane levelled up. They enjoyed watching the clouds and followed the flight route on the screen. Adrien checked on Plagg who was still unconscious in his shirt pocket. Marinette put her purse opened in front of the window, so Tikki could watch too. Adrien was grateful that Marinette decided to put the miracle box in hand luggage that she put underneath the seat in front of her. That way he could watch it the whole time. He remembered how they travelled to China and he watched the same backpack and had no clue what was inside, how he wondered where was Ladybug. Now he knew. He wrapped his arms around Marinette's waist and soon they were both asleep.
They were woken up by a flight attendant who offered coffee and other drinks. They took some and stretched. They were going to land within half an hour. It was going to be a long day due to a six hour time difference.
"I can't believe this." Adrien sighed. "Everyone can be sad or angry and nobody will be akumatized for it."
"Yeah" Marinette replied absent mindedly. "I have a feeling we have a whole new set of trouble to face." She said quietly.