Medicina's too blue eyes blinked open. She smiled kindly, eyes twinkling with pressurised mirth. "Hello, sweetheart."
There was almost no trace of Sabine left. She hovered just off the ground, looking down at Marinette and Alya like an angel descended. On her head, she wore a white nurse's cap, a blue cross patterned neatly on the front. It sat above her hair, now white and shimmering gold, that fell down to her waist in thick, curly wisps, bobbing like cake mix, almost merging in places with her huge, ballgown dress. Like it was made of clouds, the dress puffed out from her torso down, completely obscuring her legs with goop-like blobs, bubbling like viscous steam, making it impossible to tell how long or deep it went. Golden streaks of thin ribbon cascaded all along each seam, making her shimmer, like she wasn't quite real. Around her shoulders was the bandage, now twice the width and length, posed as an elegant light blue scarf, twisted romantically around her arms, aloft like air. She looked the very visage of a sweet and helpful fairy godmother.
"Mama, you have to snap out of it." Marinette said slowly, her voice raising in volume, still tightly holding her bleeding arm. "This isn't— whatever Hawk Moth offered you, it's a lie. You have to stay yourself, don't give in to it!"
"Oh, my darling. My Marinette." Mari jumped as Medicina placed a thumb on her cheek, having licked it to wipe away some dirt, the action ladened with sickening fondness. "I have the power now to help people, keep you and your friends safe from danger! I'm going to heal you, sweetie, I'm going to heal everyone. Don't you fret."
"No, Mama, please listen—"
Medicina patted her daughter's head dismissively, floating upwards. "Watch mummy, sweetie, watch. See?" She pulled some light blue medical gloves from the med kit, now attached to her back as a box-shaped fanny pack, and threw out her hands once she'd pulled them on, sparkling dust falling from the tips. It swirled around in the air, twisting like magic, before landing on the ground. For a moment, nothing happened, but then, with an odd sound not unlike a jumped-on air mattress, the dust expanded, puffing up into a sort of goopy cloud pile.
"What's that for?" Alya asked, standing in front of the group protectively, "We can just walk around that. It's not even blocking the street."
Medicina laughed, a little too harshly, "Oh dear, my darling, your friends are too funny. This is a safety net! It'll keep my patients safe and warm and is going to heal all their wounds!" She smiled again, tilting her head, "Of course, once they're in there, they can't leave. Patients must have patience."
"This isn't okay, these people aren't even injured—" Marinette's voice fell on deaf ears.
Medicina lifted a finger like she was chastising a puppy. "Oh, and one more thing." She bobbed over to the cloud sludge, plunging her hands into it, drawing out a large glob as wide as her hands reached. "I'll need some nurses to help take care of you!"
Holding the big gloopy cloud to her chest, she separated it into smaller globs with the other hand. With each loaf-sized piece, she tossed it into the air so it hung aloft, waiting until she'd sectioned off ten large chunks total. She tapped a finger to her lips and pressed it to the end of one of the blobs, smiling too wide as it shimmered with golden sparkles.
Immediately, it pulsed grotesquely. Little wings erupted from the back, and a bulbous head popped out on top, tiny feet and arms next, sticking out of the blob like they'd been tacked on as an afterthought. It's oversized eyes, when they grew out from it's head, were both looking in different directions, and were as shining blue as Medicina's, though significantly less friendly. Lastly, a little wispy curl popped out on it's forehead, like a choir boy had jokingly stuck a blu-tack cowlick to his face. The nurse wriggled grossly, shaking like a wet dog, and Marinette couldn't help the distaste on her face. It looked like an ugly baby, if an ugly baby was made only of porridge, glue and translucent snot.
"Ah! My little cherub!" Medicina cooed, tapping it lightly on it's head. "Oh, nurse, go find me my patients! Go, go on now!"
The cherub's eyes turned red. It saluted it's master, or as near as it could do with it's stumpy arms, and needlessly flapped it's tiny wings as it barrelled into the crowd. Several people jumped out of it's way, but it was Nino, ever the unfortunate one, who caught it's attention. The cherub zipped around him, sniffing, before zeroing in on his scuffed knee.
"Uhh, h-hey there little dude." Nino stammered. "How about you take a step or two away from me, huh?"
The nurse ignored him. It held it's tiny, sticky little hands out and they shot out in length, wrapping around him like a tanged skipping rope. He cried out in shock as the baby's chubby body ballooned in size, it's pudgy, mash potato tummy folding over him, so as to trap him in it's chest. With some visible effort, it then waddled him over to the large goop pile Medicina had made earlier and threw him in it, rather unceremoniously. Nino sunk up his shoulders on contact, sucked in with a uncomfortable slurping sound, knocking his hat off and leaving him more than a little distressed, one arm waving helplessly. The cherub then floated back to the Akuma, it's eyes returning to baby blue and it's body, with a sound like a pulled-up plug, reverted back to its more baby-esque form. It gurgled mischievously, as close to giggling as it could get with a throat made of phlegm.
"Nino!" Alya shouted, running over to try to pull him out, to no avail. He looked at her hopelessly, unable to talk now he'd sunk past his chin, and made a half-hearted thumbs up.
"There we are!" Medicina said cheerily, as Marinette stared at Nino's sinking body with growing horror, "All ready for treatment! We'll have that knee fixed in no time! See my sugarplum, its all very safe."
"Let Nino go." Alya hissed angrily, hunched over with balled fist, her other hand holding so tightly onto Nino her knuckles had gone white, "Let him out of that disgusting cesspit and let Sabine go, you monster. Haven't you done enough?"
"Hmm. Seems someone needs some healing in the personality department." Medicina tittered, stroking her nurse's head. "I can help you with that, my lovely." She tapped her finger to her lips again creating another cherub, then another, then two more, until there was a little pre-school class of demon babies floating around her head.
Medicina pointed at Alya and they swarmed at her, each one grabbing a limb. Though she screamed and fought, they dragged her successfully over to the goop pile, dumping her in next to Nino, who looked at her with wide, scared eyes. She wiggled angrily, dropping her phone, and it landed on the pile with a wet slap. Gradually it sank into the goop, a large bubble popping as it was fully engulfed.
Medicina's eyebrows shot up, her demeanour changing from aloof to concerned within a second. She reached for the phone, before drawing her hand back, rubbing at her glove worriedly. "Oh dear, oh my, that might contaminate the— I have to— Oh no, but I can't reach—" She paused, Hawk Moth's signature mask appearing across her face for a moment. After a second, she smiled plainly. "Well, then, if you say so, Mr Hawk Moth. I'll try not to think about it." The mask disappeared.
"Mama." Marinette pleaded, trying to keep the damage under wraps, "Mama, look at me. Let them go. I'll go home, I'll never leave my room, whatever it was you wanted, just please get them out of there before they suffocate."
"Marinette, darling, you're so sweet to worry about them, but they're fine, my sugar pie! Simply healing." Medicina said cooly. "And sweetie, you do need to learn to listen, I told you! You're to stay here with me, there's too much danger! Better you stay and I protect you, hmm? Leave the big, scary problems for the adults to deal with, okay?"
"There isn't any danger!" Mari screamed as she lost her temper, tired of being patronised by the demon piloting her mother, "I'm fine! Just leave me alone, how many times do I have to say it? Just listen— All I wanted to do today was spend some time with my friends and feel normal, and you had to go and—"
Medicina cut her off by tutting loudly, moving a disapproving finger back and forth, "Oh, dear, dear, dear. If you're going to argue, I'll just have to prove to you how dangerous the outside world is!"
She threw her hands up again, her eyes turning red, the cherubs' eyes changing the second after. The dust from her fingers moved upwards instead of down, flying seemingly of its own accord, coating the sky in streams of glittering gold. As soon as the dust made contact with something, it glooped, engulfing whatever it touched like a rabid Pac-man, tearing down buildings and pavements, engorging in size with every stolen brick. Some of the dust landed on Rose, who screamed as it puffed and slipped down her like spilt ketchup, sealing her in place. Medicina clicked her fingers, and the goo around Rose hardened, making it so she couldn't move an inch.
Marinette whipped round at the sound of Rose's fearful cry, "No! Please—"
The dust swamped the streets, cascading into pedestrians, dragging them to the centre to be trapped and healed. People rapidly started panicking, running in all directions. The goop swelled with each new capture, and the cherubs quickly multiplied as the Akuma added kisses to the last five blobs, now ten strong. Some were caught in the trapping goop, accidentally stepping in artfully laid dust, others were claimed by the nurses, more were simply engulfed up by the sludge rain. Several, like Alya and Nino, once they'd been thrown to the cesspit, began to sink, until only their eyes and noses were visible above the goop, while others, apparently deemed more injured than most victims, were taken directly to Medicina, who then threw each one into her pulsing skirt for 'specialist treatment', nonplussed as they screamed in fear. As she passed by each goop pile, little chunks of each rose up to combine with her dress, only adding to the bulbous mass of terror she was wearing. Medicina began to laugh manically, enjoying something about the situation Marinette couldn't even begin to understand.
Marinette fell to her knees. It was happening again. "No, no, no please." She begged aloud, whispering like a prayer, "Please, no, don't, please. I can't save them all— I can't save, I can't. I can't save anyone like this, I can't— spare them, please, no—"
She didn't know who she was talking to, Medicina or Hawk Moth, some higher power, she didn't know if it even mattered. Regardless, she felt it was her fault, more than before. Somehow again, she was failing Paris. Weeks, weeks, she'd had to find Tikki, and what had she done? Cried, moped, wandered, complained. Hell on earth, some hero she was. She couldn't even stop her own mother becoming an Akuma, in fact she'd caused it. Her arm hurt, and Marinette sunk to the ground, hugging it to her chest, staring at the chaos like she could wish it all away. Maybe if she shut her eyes it wouldn't be real anymore.
Medicina cackled, throwing magic slop wildly. "Marinette, my little pear basket. This is why you need protecting! Look at all this danger!"
Marinette couldn't find her voice to talk back. Her fault. It was all her fault. She wanted to cover her ears so she didn't have to hear the screams, but she couldn't lift her arm. She was locked in place.
Medicina threw her fairy dust at the boutique's scaffolding, the cloud sludge it turned into spreading on contact, sending piping falling haphazardly, "Danger, here!" She lobbed more at the streets, preventing evacuation, "Danger, there!" She zoomed upwards, gleefully spinning, sending her gross gloop flying all over. One of the citizens trapped in the folds of her dress threw up from nausea. "Danger, everywhere!"
Blob after glob appeared, and still Marinette couldn't move, could only stare, watching it fall like heavy snow. Again, it was happening again. She had to calm down, had to do something, but what? Her heartbeat echoed in her ears like a death sentence. Reckless abandon, running into the fray without thinking, had been a slow terminal disease leading to this exact ridiculous moment; she couldn't try that path again, so what? What could she do now, how could she fight? She was alone. No Tikki, just Marinette, alone, with her self doubt and guilt-drenched cheeks.
Something, something, anything, anything. She had to do something. Act, she had to act, now. How— how did she act, how was she supposed to do anything like this? What was she supposed to do, where was she supposed to go, who was she going to save first, how to save them, how was she supposed to save them and why couldn't she move, she needed to, she needed to move—
"Marinette!" Cutting off her train-wreck thoughts, Chat Noir landed in front of her with a thump, wiping away her tears with a claw, eyes as soft as sunlight, "Are you okay? Are you injured? Mari, look at me, talk to me."
She couldn't look at him, couldn't make herself even if she'd wanted to. If she looked, he could see her, underneath the blue, hidden and afraid, and she couldn't bear that. She didn't want to be the one to take that last hope of infallible Ladybug away from him. She couldn't ever be that cruel.
"Mari? Mari, seriously." He sounded afraid.
She clenched her teeth, tasting blood. "Where'd you come from?" She mumbled, head hung low as if weighed with the world. "You have to get away. She could hurt you."
"She could hurt you too, Marinette. I'm getting you of here, before she sees us." Mari let him him scoop her up and tuck them both into an adjacent alleyway without much protest, hugging him tightly. Everything felt numb, her head, her body, her arm, but Chat was warm, Chat was safe. "Are you okay? Marinette."
It was a long minute before she let go. "Chat, I'm serious. She could hurt you. She's dangerous." She glanced over at the store, watching the pile holding Alya and Nino following behind Medicina like a imprinted duckling. She felt her heart compress at the fear in their eyes. "It's not safe."
"I'm a hero, Princess." He said with that annoying, endearing lopsided grin, layered with easy kindness, "It's an occupational hazard. I'm more worried about you, you know you were just sitting on the floor crying, right? I need to know you're okay first."
Marinette almost wanted to hit him, out of frustration more than anything. Silly cat, too good at his job, how had he even known to get here so fast? She shook her head, trying to clear it, her thoughts like foggy whispers. "No, no, listen, listen. You're alone. Ladybug… she's not coming. You need to get everyone out, save as many as you can, save Alya and Nino. I'll be fine, think about them."
Chat frowned, "You say that like you're not coming with me."
She grimaced. "I'm not."
"What? Yes you are, we need to get you somewhere safe before she realises you're gone." He grabbed her shoulders, "I can't just leave you here. She's targeting you, Mari."
"I know." Marinette rubbed her fists against her eyes, as if that would stall the floodgates. "I'll— I'll be the distraction. Save everyone else. I'll stay, keep her entertained. That can be enough."
"No!" He shouted, lowering his voice when the Akuma turned her head in their direction, "Marinette, you can't stay here. I can't fix you if you get hurt, my Miraculous can't heal you and I don't know enough first aid—"
"Doesn't matter. I can help, I can help you if I'm the decoy." She looked at Chat's stricken expression, unable to meet his eyes, and pulled him in for a one-armed hug, carefully tucking the injured one behind her back so he couldn't see. "It's okay. It's okay, I'll be careful."
"Why're you comforting me?" Chat said, grasping at her jacket. "You're the one crying!"
"It's okay." She repeated, pretending as if she hadn't heard him. "Go. She's my mum, and it's my fault she was akumatised, so at the least, let me try. Go, you need to be the hero. Save the day."
Chat leaned back, taking in her red eyes, tear-stained cheeks and half-baked smile. "I can't—"
"Yes, you can." Mari pushed against him lightly, gripping his shoulder. "You're strong Chat Noir, and I'm… I'm not Ladybug, but I have to prove to myself that I'm not useless. I won't do anything stupid. I'll just distract her until you can find the Akuma, and hey." Mari said, in the tone of someone who couldn't help but bitterly joke about their impending doom. "You and me both know that if this all goes to shit, it's going to be you who saves everyone, not me. You have to focus on finding that missing Kwami. If we've got no Ladybug, then she's the only one who can purify the Akuma, and we need her here. You have to go, Chat. You have to go. Please, for me."
Chat chewed his lip, expression changed five times over, before settling on something stern. "No. Marinette, I'm not leaving you here, I won't. It's not a discussion." His grip on her tightened a little. "I don't think I can handle you getting hurt on my watch again, and I won't let you put yourself in danger. Please, Princess, let me keep you safe."
Mari fidgeted. "No, I—"
Chat cut her off with a sharp hum. "Nope. I'm not going. Not without you. You can't make me." He grasped at her wrist and squeezed.
Marinette sighed, exasperated by not surprised. He wasn't going to ease off, and really she couldn't blame him. She didn't exactly look the image of stable, and if the roles had been reversed she wouldn't feel right leave a civilian in the firing line either. "O-Okay… then we'll compromise. We'll work together, me on the ground, you in the sky, come at her from both sides."
Chat drew his eyebrows together. "I don't know if that's better, Mari."
She put a finger over his lips to keep him quiet. "It's the best you're getting. I'll keep an eye on the Akuma, try and work out a way to take her down, while you go search. I won't go far, I'll stay out of sight, keep a low profile, I promise. I'm not about to jump in front of this one."
He gently moved her hand away, holding it tight in his own. "I still don't want to leave you here by yourself." He scrunched up his bottom lip like he was trying not to cry. "You're my friend— I don't think— I can't—"
She cupped his cheek, his hand overlaying her's, "You can do this, I believe in you, Chaton. You're the best hero I've ever known. Even if you can't draw. Now go."
He huffed out a laugh. It tasted like drywall. "Stay alive. You promised." He stood, stepped back, clicked his baton and shot up, and Marinette watched him go, trying not to follow him. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down with the knowledge she could find Chat again after she had a solution, she wasn't alone, she had back-up. She was protected.
Marinette pulled herself up and pulled her jacket off, wincing in pain as it grazed her cut. Awkwardly wrapping it around her arm to act as a sling, she peered around the corner to look at the Akuma, still happily dispersing sludge-dust. She leaned back against the alley and took a long, deep breath.
She needed a plan.
—
"So, Tikki, would you prefer seed, acorn or whatever-berry-i-can-hopefully-find-in-the-pantry flavoured purée?" Biirdy asked as he meandered around the little kitchen carved out inside the oak. "I think we might have some strawberries in there, but I'm not sure how ripe they'll be, they were left behind from the last farmer's market, so no promises I'm afraid."
Tikki, sat at a doll-house table with Chitters opposite her, hummed in thought, "I'm not sure. Though I am tempted by seed and acorn, I don't usually step away from the sugar. I'm not sure how daring I'm feeling today."
Since bumping, quite literally, into Biirdy and Chitters the day before, Tikki had found herself invigorated by sharing stories of home, talking about old friends and laughing together under the stars, and it had been a nice reminder of all they were, and had been, fighting to keep safe since forever. Even if her revelation had put a dampener on her mood at first, she'd almost come to terms with it. It made too much sense, the more she thought on it, but knowing that Adrien, Plagg and Duusu were living in the same house as an abusive psychopath… well, somehow it didn't come as so much of a surprise as she'd first thought.
Though that thought of course didn't make her okay with it, it did give her time to reassess the situation, now that she knew Gabriel Agreste and Hawk Moth were one and the same. It also gave her time to process her anger, knowing how close Nooroo was, and how he'd suffered under the thumb of someone so cruel. Now she had a face too to pin to the person who had hurt her precious Marinette, had neglected such a sweet boy as Adrien, and while it made her blood boil, she couldn't afford to let that anger consume her.
For now, she was going to have some breakfast, enjoy the company of old friends, and then she was going to the bakery next door to find her charge. Thinking about crushing evil between her little red paws could wait until tomorrow.
Chitters laughed, knocking the table with his tail. "Oh, then you have to try the acorn purée. It's bitter as anything, right left field for ya." He laughed harder when Tikki scrunched up her face in distaste. "Try something new! Try something bad."
Biirdy laughed fondly. "Tikki, don't worry, I'll go look for some strawberries. Chitters here's your acorn blend; don't eat it yet. I'll sort Tikki's, grab my seed mix and then we'll all go eat on the veranda, hmm?" He said with a pointed look at Chitters, before moving across the room and descending a staircase down to the pantry.
"Ugh. 'Veranda'. It's just the top of the tree, it's not exactly an open plan patio now is it?" Chitters moaned good-naturedly into his smoothie, which he was already drinking in large gulps, "Can't he just say 'big branch' like the rest of us? He can be so pretentious."
"But you love him anyway?" Tikki said with a knowing tone.
"Don't you put words in my mouth. What if he hears you and thinks I'm nice?" Chitters said conspiratorially, leaning back against the little plastic chair. "I've spent centuries curating this cranky-but-charming personality, and you want to ruin it, just like that? Tikki, how could you? I thought you were my wing-woman."
"Pfft, well alright then, have it your way!" She said, inflection up and down like a sing-song. "You already caught his cooties."
"Oh, okay, now that's just crass, lass."
"I've got the strawberries!" Biirdy announced as he sauntered back into the kitchen, holding two large berries, one under each wing. Immediately, he started mashing one into a paste. "Do you think you'll be able to manage both?"
Tikki shrugged. She hadn't had time to stop him anyway. "I can try?"
"Great!" He smiled, handing the finished smoothie to her, garnished neatly with the stalk, as he gathered up his own bottle cap of puree. "To the veranda we go!"
He very much missed Chitters' expression of exasperation, even as Tikki began to laugh.
—
It didn't take long for them to finish with lunch. Having planned it as brunch, and thereby having missed breakfast, the three of them ate through their various mashed meals quickly and vigorously. Tikki sighed, satisfied and peaceful in the after-snack silence.
"So, Tikki, when are you planning to go back?" Biirdy said eventually, placing his now empty bottle cap on the branch. He folded his wings politely into his lap. "To your charge I mean."
Tikki wiped her mouth of strawberry juice, and hummed inquiringly. "Sometime later today, why?"
"Well… we were hoping to ask you a favour." Biirdy said cautiously, pulling at his feathers. "I'm not entirely sure how best to phrase it, if you'll just give me a moment to gather—"
"We wanna come with ya. To fight crime." Chitters interrupted, slamming his acorn cap against the bark and ignoring Biirdy's peeved look in his direction. "If you'll take us, that is."
"What?" Tikki said, more than a bit shocked, "Why?"
Biirdy sighed, blinking slowly, his expression turning sad. "We… don't want to be bystanders anymore. We've been here, years, witnessing all these horrible things— fights, attacks, villains of the super and regular variety— and we've done nothing. We let you and Plagg take on that burden when we could've been there to assist, and it was wrong of us, I apologise sincerely Tikki."
"That's not true! Don't apologise!" Tikki said earnestly, trying to shake off the surprise, "You managed to rescue the bag of artefacts!"
Biirdy frowned miserably. "But, I left the hero behind. I left an injured person behind in favour of stealing a bag, and Tikki, doesn't that just sound awful? I always think of it as this wondrous small victory, but its not. It was cowardice."
Chitters put a paw on his shoulder. "Hey, stop it, you did what you could." He looked at Tikki. "But, he's not all wrong. We want to do more, be better. Just sitting here waiting around for no reason ain't productive, and it ain't helping no one. You and Plagg are out there, saving the world, all day everyday, and we've seen you, you're amazing, you and your kids. If you'll let us, we want to help you do that saving. In any way we can."
Tikki sat dumbstruck. The last thing she'd expected was… that, and now she didn't know what to say. She was certainly flattered, but she wouldn't have said her job was enviable. How many times had she and Marinette, Adrien and Plagg nearly lost the fight? Countless, and the repercussions if they'd failed… she really didn't want to think about, or have to prepare for. It'd always felt like a burden— cleaning lady of aisle Earth. She wasn't sure if dragging more innocent lives into the battle was a responsible thing to do, even if they had offered. "I'm not sure… You know it's not all it looks, right? There's a lot that can go wrong, and it's hardly ever fun, and we'd have to find you charges, or, if you'd like, I'm sure Fu could find room for you in the Miracle Box instead—"
Chitters shook his head. "Nah, Tik-Tik, we wanna fight. We may not be as cool or powerful and you and the cat, but we can still kick some ass."
"Yes! Quite!" Biirdy said, "Well, we might need some practice first to shake off the rust, but honestly Tikki, we do want to. We aren't taking this lightly, I assure you."
Tikki pulled at one of her antennae nervously. "I… I understand how you feel, but you have to know its not easy. While it can be wonderful, in its own way, I also won't lie, that's mainly down to how lucky I was to get the girl I did holding my gemstone. She's what magical about all this, not me, not the work. It's a risk, finding someone to care for you, and its hard if you don't get it right... Nooroo is a testament to that. While I chose to be out there, healing as many as I can reach, I can't ask you to do the same. It's never not heart-breaking."
"Well, hey, we know that. We've both fought before, remember? But if we can lessen that burden for you in any way, then— aw, shoot." Chitters said, having fidgeted and knocked his acorn cup off the tree, "Dropped me cap, give me a second, hold that thought." He jumped off the branch, holding his nose like he was dive bombing into a pool.
Biirdy started to pack away the bottle caps and strawberry stalks, holding out his wing to take them from Tikki. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Will you at least consider it, Tikki? I know it's a lot to ask, and we don't mean to impose on you."
Tikki bit her lip. "I'll have to think about it. My holder's never met other Kwami or Fu before, so if I'm taking you to him to find you some heroes… I'll need a minute, is that alright?"
Biirdy smiled at her, holding the cups in the crook of his wing. "Of course. Take all the time you need, you know where to find us."
Tikki smiled, looking up at the oak leaves. It really was peaceful here. If she were in their position, she wouldn't want to leave. The oak almost reminded her of home, even as the memory blurred with age. It'd had the same comforting aura, same dark bark, and it gave her the same feeling of being embraced, like a mother would a child. She missed it like nothing she could describe, and she closed her eyes to breathe. She sat back against the tree, running her paw along the grooves in its skin, letting herself drift for a second or so. Longing for something you couldn't have… that was something both humans and Kwami knew too well.
Her thoughts moved back to Marinette, and she squeezed her eyes tighter shut. She was so worried. Not just for Marinette now, but for what Marinette would have to face soon, in the near future. How was she supposed to tell Marinette about Hawk Moth without revealing Adrien? Too, how was she supposed to fetch Duusu? She could go tell Fu by herself, ask him to rescue Duusu, but that would only delay reuniting with Mari, and, knowing herself, she'd probably just get lost again, causing even more problems she didn't need. They'd been lucky so far, with no new Akuma's for almost a month, but there was an ever-present chance Gabriel would find someone, and she could now see he wasn't above creating victims of his own accord. So, with little choice, she faced Marinette knowing everything: about the thousands of Kwami worldwide, the Miracle Box, the role of Guardian… it all felt too quick. Marinette was an amazing hero, confident, strong, passionate, but she was also anxious and scatter-brained and Tikki didn't want to overload her with too much, too soon. All that responsibility on one scared girl? Torture, of unique invention, and Tikki wanted no part in over-encumbering a child with great purpose she'd never asked for.
Whether she was to become the new Guardian, saviour of Paris or the most fashionable clothing designer in the world, Marinette deserved to make her own choices without feeling pressured into them, so Tikki would have to think hard on her next move. Marinette's safety had to be her priority, no matter what.
A sudden new thought struck her. "Hey, Biirdy?" He hummed to acknowledge he'd heard her, having been about to take the dirty dishes to the kitchen. "Hasn't Chitters been gone longer than usu—"
A fearful shout interrupted her, and both Tikki and Biirdy sat up ramrod straight. Before either of them could question what happened, a shadow darkened the branch.
"Help!" Chitters cried. "This stupid snot baby won't let go of me!"
The cherub had his acorn cup embedded in its forehead, though it hadn't seemed to notice. It was more concerned with Chitters, clenched tightly in its hand. It studied him as it floated upwards, sniffing his head and turning him upside down. It stared at him with the fascination of a cat, pupils blown wide, and it laughed, like a drain plug pulled out of a shallow bath when he tried to get free. It shook him like a rattle before hugging him and swinging from side-to-side happily, enraptured by it's fuzzy little prisoner.
"Maybe its friendly?" Chitters said uncertainly. "I mean, it is a just a kid—" He didn't get to finish his sentence, as the nurse took that moment to push him clumsily inside its chest. Chitters shook his paws at the other two fearfully, best he could with everything but his arm and head glued in place. He swore loudly, clearly uncomfortable.
"What is that?" Biirdy shouted, distraught. "What's it doing with him? Tikki?"
Tikki shook her head, just as frightened. "I don't know! There must be an Akuma!"
As she spoke, the cherub gurgled happily, childishly pleased with its tiny squirrel prize. It's eyes turned baby blue as it bobbed merrily away from the tree, presumably back to its Akuma master, it's body squishing uncomfortably in weird happy bounce. Chitters cried out in pain— he was being crushed by the shifting mass.
Biirdy tensed immediately, flying after the nurse without hesitation. "Chitters!"
Chitters waved his one free paw to try and dissuade him, eyes blown wide in discomfort or fear. "No, birdbrain, don't you'll get stuck too—"
"Oh, will you shut up and let me—!" Biirdy started, before the nurse turned, eyes switching back to red with a gross suction sound. "Oh, blast."
The nurse held out a grubby, toddler hand and grasped Biirdy in a tight fist before he could get away, it's bubbling fingers wrapping around him three times over. It moved him closer to his face, tilting its head like it was examining a particularly hard maths puzzle or rotting roadkill, and, apparently satisfied that Biirdy also needed treatment, pushed him into its chest just above Chitters.
Tikki could feel herself starting to sweat. This wasn't good. She couldn't do anything to help them, with only panic at her disposal. She frantically looked around her for something to throw, but now they'd been dropped, all the cups and stalks were gone. She cursed, rushing to the edge of the branch to wrestle with a twig, hoping that she could poke the goop-baby in the eye, and maybe then it would let go of her friends.
The cherub gurgled again, the sound like cough-bubbles in phlegm, and re-settled how its goopy body was arranged, inadvertently squishing the Kwami in it's front as it began to fly away. Both shouted in pain, bodies ground together by the forced constriction, like meat becoming mince.
"No!" Tikki shot out of the tree, unable to stay still any longer. Desperately grasping for her friends, she was barely able to catch up with the Akuma's henchman. By some miracle, she caught Chitters' paw with her's and she tugged, using every ounce of her strength to try to pull him out of the puffy goop, though she wasn't making much headway, and frustration pooled in the corners of her eyes.
"Tikki, you need to run! It's not safe!" Chitters said as he struggled to wiggle free, "Your girl— she needs you and you need her! What about—ugh ow— what about being a hero? What bout Nooroo, Duusu? You can't let yourself get caught here, we're not worth it!"
She shook her head, already near hysterical, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I'm not losing anyone else! I won't allow it! Not after— not after— no! He'll shatter you if he finds you!"
Chitters looked stricken, caught between wanting her to save herself and wanting her to save them, "Tikki—"
She shook her head again, tugging harder. There was some give, not much, but it was enough to encourage her. She pulled more, digging her heels into the air, thrashing with all her might. "I'm not leaving you as prizes for Hawk Moth! He won't know— he doesn't get to know you exist." She said, baring her teeth, strain squishing her face. "N-Not if I can save you! Not if I'm here!"
"Tikki, just leave us!" Biirdy squawked from behind Chitters, "You're more important than we are, you must stay free! Let us—!"
Tikki stared her friend in the eye fiercely, cutting off whatever he was going to say with a glare. Chitters gulped. Her eyes shone with determination, even as tears poured down her cheeks, "Don't you dare finish that sentence! No human is ever taking advantage of me or my family again. Hawk Moth is never going to get anywhere near you if I can stop him. So, no! I will not leave you, you are important, and I will save you! If I'm a hero, then I save people I love, and that's what I am going to do!"
Chitters turned to Biirdy, trapped behind him. He beamed, buck teeth shining, "Well, we can't let her down after all that now can we? We gotta fight back! Oh... or have you really forgotten how to do that... in your old age?"
Biirdy was aghast. "Well— Of course I haven't— the notion that—"
"Then flap those wings and fly birdbrain!"
"Why you little—" Biirdy squawked, squirming furiously, "I'll— ooh, so help me— if you think that—" With a pop, Biirdy pulled a wing free. He shouted with surprise, paused, then took the opportunity to slap Chitters across the back of the head. "You're the old one!"
"Hey! That's no fair! I can't reach you from h— argh!" Chitters complained, just as Tikki suddenly pulled him free with a horrid pop sound, leaving him floating behind her, goopy blobs still stuck to his tail. "Woah, okay. I'm out."
The nurse was starting to get agitated. The Kwami fidgeting in its belly were preventing it from getting back to its master, making it very, very angry. It growled and swung its body back and forth, nearly sending Tikki and Chitters flying. Biirdy wobbled, his one free wing flapping wildly.
"Quick!" Chitters shouted, "We have to get him out before it tries to leave!"
Both Kwami grabbed Biirdy's wings and pulled, earning a pained squawk. His trapped wing pulled free by Tikki, the two of them tugged together, swinging to-and-fro like they were sawing at a tree, eventually making enough of a gap in the sludge to tug him out with an audible pop sound, not unlike pressed-down silly putty.
"Get back to the tree! Now!" Biirdy roared the second he was free, pushing Tikki and Chitters back towards the foliage.
The three of them shot into the oak, hiding themselves deep amongst the thinner branches, moving leaves in front of their bodies. They watched the nurse look around, for both it's lost cargo and any further injured victims. It was clearly confused, as it waved its meaty little child hands around as if throwing a tantrum. Before it's eyes flicked back to blue and it floated away, presumably back to Medicina, it blew a raspberry at the tree, like it was the oak itself that had stolen its prey. In unison, all three Kwami breath a sigh of relief.
"Thank the stars for that!" Chitters laughed. "We can chill out for a bit now, right? Now it's gone? Ugh, there's so much baby-goop in my fur."
"No." Tikki muttered, whipping her tails back and forth like a stressed cat. "We can't. I have to get to my charge now, otherwise this Akuma will multiply and then none of us will be safe. No tree will hide you from a million of those things."
"Well, then, we better find her. Any idea where she'd be?" Biirdy said. "I believe it's a Monday."
Tikki shook her head. "Normally she'd be in school, but the building was destroyed by the last attack, so I won't find her there."
"Oh, that balloon guy? He seemed like a right piece of work. Bastard." Chitters added unhelpfully.
"Chitters, please, that's not useful." Biirdy murmured, resting his wing on Tikki's shoulder comfortingly, "Is there anywhere else you can think of?"
"Maybe her house?" Tikki said, unsure. "I don't know, she might be out, and I can't think properly, I'm worked up and stressed and—" Tikki stopped talking suddenly. She was staring at her paw, or rather, the lack thereof. "I'm fading." Her voice shook. "Biirdy, Chitters, I'm fading."
She looked at them with wide eyes. Neither knew what to say or do, their eyes locked on the missing paw. Chitters held his own out as if to touch the empty space, but seemingly thought better off it, running his paws through his fur atop his head instead.
Sure enough, her paw was missing, from fingertips down to her wrist, little dustings of energy sprinkling off her like icing sugar. Tikki couldn't articulate how she felt about it, she wasn't even sure what she was feeling about it, but staring at the absence of her hand, Tikki found everything suddenly very hard to process. She'd known it was coming, the timer inside her head still ticking off every second than she'd been separate from Marinette like a strange self-torture, but the experience, it was hitting her in a different type of way to just thinking about it. The actual sensation of becoming non-existent was about as pleasant as an eye wash made of sandpaper.
It was all very real, all suddenly in one moment, and it was giving her a headache. Mortality wasn't exactly something she thought about frequently, seeing as she'd lived so long already without a need to, and here she was, faced with the abyss, midday on an ordinary Monday.
"We have to get you to your miraculous immediately. There's no time, we'll get you to her house, carry you if we must. We won't let you... we won't let you fade—" Biirdy's voice cracked on the last word, unable to stop looking at the missing paw. "It'll all work out. No need to worry. Definitely no need to panic."
"Tikki, you need a hug? You've gone pale." Chitters offered, trying to lighten the mood. "You're almost pink!"
"I'm supposed to be red, not pink, I— I'm… I'm dying. I'm fading." Tikki whispered in a daze, voice hoarse and hollow. She met his gaze with a wobbly lip and sunken eyes. "Please. I need a hug while I can still get one, please."
"C'mere." With one arm he pulled her in, dragging Biirdy over with the other. "It's okay, Tikki, shh, it's okay. You're going to be just fine, alright? Don't you be frettin'."
Tikki shivered. 'Too late.' She thought, letting her fears run away with her.
Biirdy and Chitters made plans around her, ways to lift her if she started to become intangible, rumours of how to slow the process, so ready to do everything on her behalf. A part of her wanted to let them, just give up control, give up responsibility and let someone else be in charge, but a bigger part of her wanted only to fix things, and for that she had to be proactive in not only saving the day, but saving herself. She needed to stick around, not only because she wanted to, but because too many things and family were relying on her smile, on her to rescue them from evil.
Tikki squeezed her eyes shut, letting her mind go blank as she tried to gather herself back up. One last indulgent thought passed through her head before she started making survival plans.
'Plagg's going to be so upset.'
