Delicate, Chapter 18
The mood was somewhat subdued in Marinette's bedroom, but not fully somber.
"I'm fine, seriously," Adrien insisted, wearily. "I'm a little tired, that's all. Most of the shock of... whatever just happened... happened to my transformed form, and those are pretty durable. I don't want to get up and go for a jog, or anything, but..."
"I believe you, Adrien," Marinette told him, measuring his words against his physical appearance. "But... Wayzz, please make doubly sure of that."
The Kwami fluttered around Adrien, examining him in many ways, even darting inside his abdomen for a moment. When he emerged and gave Marinette a tiny thumbs-up, she continued.
"All right, that's a relief," she sighed. "Nooroo... all three of you, actually... what went wrong there? You warned us to expect the unexpected; well, that sure qualified."
"I was reading aloud from the Book, translating it on the fly... and then I couldn't stop reading from it," said Adrien. "Like something strong was pulling me into doing it."
"Something was," mused Wayzz. "The Guardians were not the sort to set up lethal booby-traps, necessarily... they were sworn to protect life, not end it... but that doesn't mean that they welcomed outside intrusions. Tikki, the glyphs that Adrien had been vocalizing just now. They sounded to me like..."
"...Teleportation magic?" ventured Tikki.
"Yes! I was just going to suggest that," Nooroo chimed in. "Forked teleportation. At least two nodes. Monodimensional, thank goodness."
Two humans stared back at him, blankly.
"What I mean by that is... have either of you ever seen the Great Pyramid of Giza?" asked Nooroo.
"Only in books," Marinette answered.
"You might've been about to see it in person - from its very top," Nooroo explained. "What was about to happen was that the book was going somewhere, probably back to Tibet, perhaps another designated safehouse... and everyone in this room would be going somewhere else. Not necessarily all to the same place, either."
"By 'monodimensional,' he means that you'd probably have both remained on Earth," Tikki added. "And not, let's say, an alternate reality where everyone there is a talking unicorn, or a plane of cottage cheese."
"We get the picture," gulped Adrien. "That's a bullet dodged."
"Yes! Thank you so much for helping us break out of that," declared Marinette. "So, that's a lesson learned. Was it that he was reading the magic aloud that triggered it?"
"...Maybe?" shrugged Wayzz. "But I wouldn't want to take that chance again lightly."
"So, what's our next step?" wondered Tikki.
"That's a good question," Marinette pondered. "Kwamis... anything that I've ever known about magic, you've taught me, obviously. Is there anything else that you could tell about what Adrien was reading?"
Wayzz shook his head, as did Tikki... but Nooroo appeared deep in thought. "It was a spell, but the syntax of it was... kind of unusual," he noted. "I thought that part of it was just general unfamiliarity with what he was reading, perhaps mispronunciation... but our 'Unraveler' actually did pretty well in that respect. More that the phrases themselves seemed choppy and abrupt... as if they were poorly constructed."
"...Which makes no sense," Wayzz argued. "The Guardians knew precisely what they were doing. Why would they embed a trap spell that was sloppy or incomplete?"
"...Unless it wasn't?"
All eyes turned to Tikki.
"What if... what was on the page could be interpreted in different ways?" she suggested. "Like how in English, 'The bear eats shoots and leaves' and 'The bear eats, shoots, and leaves' have very different meanings. What Adrien read aloud could've been correct as he read it... but not in the way that he read it."
"Or misordered, perhaps. 'Marinette kissed Adrien' and 'Adrien kissed Marinette' have the same words to them, but mean different things when read front-to-back or back-to-front," mused Wayzz. "I do not mean to suggest that what was being read loud were words, so to speak... only to put it in terms that the two of you would understand more easily."
"I think I get it," Adrien acknowledged. "So there's a lot more to this than simply translating A-to-B."
"Regrettably so, yes," Nooroo agreed. "And what you actually need from the book may not be a 'spell' at all, necessarily... it might just be information. But you need to avoid triggering something that you shouldn't before you find it, and figure out how to extract that information safely."
"Without any kind of instructions on how to interpret it," said Adrien, glumly. "This thing really needs an Appendix and a Table of Contents."
Marinette's face lit up with inspiration. "It might already have them, out of plain sight... if we knew how and where to look," she exclaimed.
"...But we don't?" parried Adrien.
"Not yet, we don't. But I have an idea."
Marinette turned to Nooroo. "You can give someone some of your power, giving them a temporary transformation, without your host transforming or using a butterfly, right?" she asked, brightly. "Like how Plagg can use Cataclysm independently, just by willing it."
"That is... yes, I can do that," Nooroo replied. "I would prefer to do it as a normal transformation with a host, but it is possible..."
"Humor me?" Marinette asked him. "I don't need much of your power, and I won't need it for long... but I want to test a theory that I just thought of."
"...Is this safe?" Adrien interjected. "Nooroo, she's not going to start looking at the book and get shuffled off to Saturn, will she?"
"I'll have three Kwamis here to watch over me, since Nooroo will still be independent. I'll stick to the early sections of the book with the heroes' biographies. And I'll have you here as my anchor," Marinette replied, taking his hand in hers. "I promise that I'll be careful."
He looked at Wayzz, who shrugged; Tikki gave him a knowing look, as if saying, Have YOU ever been able to talk her out of something that she really wants to do?
"Very well," Nooroo said. "You have a particular powerset in mind?"
"I do."
"Then... here we go, with a light dose."
Nooroo touched the top of Marinette's head, very lightly... and a white flash filled the room.
When vision returned to Adrien, Marinette's appearance had changed somewhat. Her clothes were simple by costumed-hero standards; unassuming and practical, as if a peasant girl from the Middle Ages had somehow taken Marinette's place. A silver mask covered her face, her blue eyes peering through it... but possessing a sparkle that even Adrien had never seen in them before.
She glanced Adrien's way, warmly, obviously meaning him no harm... but, regardless, he shivered. He felt as if her eyes could see straight through him; if she'd rattled off his earliest memory, his blood type and what he'd dreamed about last night in rapid succession, he wouldn't have been totally surprised.
"Whoa," he declared. "What do you call this one?"
"Adrien," Marinette laughed, "you look like you're scared of me!"
"Not scared," said Adrien. "More like wondering if there's anything that you can't see with those eyes."
"I was literally hitching a ride inside your brain an hour ago, and you didn't seem to complain then," she parried. "Anyway... I don't even have a name for this. I just pictured, I don't know, something like a little witch girl from old folk tales... someone from a village who appears pretty normal but has a touch of The Sight for the unusual, and helps people with it."
"It is a cute look," Adrien approved.
"It's only temporary, but thank you," smiled Marinette. "I think that it mostly came from a storybook Papa read me when I was little... I don't remember what it was called. Now... Kwamis, keep an eye on me for a moment. I'm going to look over the Book."
"We're watching," Tikki assured her. "Be careful."
Marinette paged through the first section of the book, examining the pictures of the heroes of yore. She studied the Chat Noir page and exclaimed "Ooooh!", suddenly.
"See anything you like?" Adrien grinned.
"I do indeed," Marinette grinned back. "Adrien, turn your phone on flashlight mode for me?"
"Those eyes don't have flashlight mode?" teased Adrien as he did so.
"No, they don't," she declared. "But they do have a few other tricks." Holding the book page up to the light, she pointed to the bottom of it. "Check that out!" she exclaimed, proudly.
"Well, I'll be," an astonished Wayzz replied. "It's a watermark of some sort!"
"They had watermarks in ancient China?" wondered Nooroo. "I thought those were more contemporary... and European of origin."
"I don't know if it's the same kind of watermarking that we use now, or something that the ancient Guardians came up with... but there it is. It looks like some kind of Chinese characters," Marinette pointed out. "Adrien, can you read them? I don't think that I can."
Adrien peered at them, as did the Kwamis. "I... can't," he admitted. "It's definitely not the modern Chinese script. I think that I've seen something like this once, but not enough to be able to try to translate it."
"Still, that's something that we didn't know about!" beamed Marinette. "Maybe I can pick out which pages have these, and one of us can go back later as Unraveler and see what they say? There might be some serious secrets hidden like this!"
"Definitely!" Adrien agreed. "I'm game for that later."
A few pages further in, Marinette saw something else and stared intently at it. "There's something here... but it's not the same kind of mark, I think," she muttered; waving Adrien's lit-up phone behind the page confirmed that, as nothing new appeared.
"So, we're stuck?" Tikki asked.
"I didn't say that. Hmmm..."
Marinette spent the next couple of minutes studying the hidden mark from several angles, then came to a decision. "I'm going to try something... very, very lightly. Kwamis... don't freak out," she said, moving towards her dresser.
"Those are never comforting words to hear," Nooroo retorted, "because they always mean that there is some reason to."
When Marinette returned with a spray bottle, Tikki approached her with a worried expression on her face. "Marinette... may I remind you that this book is unique and thousands of years old?" Tikki stressed.
"I know, I know! I'm not going to soak it, or even spray it directly. I just want to try something on the tiniest little spot," Marinette comforted her. "I will be careful, I promise. This is just water."
She aimed the bottle at an extended forefinger, then sprayed it lightly, coating her fingertip with misty moisture. Tentatively, she reached out slowly towards the page... then jumped back, surprised.
"What happened?" Tikki gasped.
"Look!"
The group examined the spot... which was now showing a different pair of Chinese script characters, dark lines standing out against the faded page.
"I didn't even touch it," Marinette exclaimed. "I just got close to it and it's like... it sucked the moisture away. Like it was hungry for it!"
"Paper is naturally hydrophilic... absorbent, in other words... unless it's specially treated to be otherwise. But whatever they did there made the characters react differently from the area around them," remarked Wayzz. "How fascinating!"
Over the next minute or so, the wet spot on the page dried rapidly, returning to an unmarked and plain state.
"All right... that's enough for now. It's kind of exhausting doing this," said Marinette. She closed her eyes, concentrating, then returned to her normal self with a slight popping sound.
"Are you okay, Marinette?" worried Adrien, watching her catch her breath.
"Yeah, I am," she assured him. "The transformation was fine; it just takes an awful lot of focus to figure out what's hidden there, and how. Even with Nooroo's help, I'm a little surprised that it worked!"
"As am I," Nooroo agreed. "With just a fraction of the power that I can bestow, you discovered secrets that might not have been seen by anyone for a thousand years."
"I'm not," Tikki countered, looking at Marinette with a proud smile. "It's sort of like how you work out what to do with Lucky Charms! Like I've told you, that's not in the powers... that's in you, Marinette."
"And I have a hunch as to what happened to Adrien earlier. Could what he read have been part of a spell, with the missing glyphs being hidden like those characters that I just found?" asked Marinette, eagerly.
"It's possible," Wayzz conceded. "It's very possible. Or perhaps there might be hidden instructions on the page... 'Skip the next line for your own good,' or 'Alternate between right-to-left and left-to-right,' or 'Read only the glyphs that glow when touched by a fermented tea leaf under a full moon.' It could be straightforward or amazingly complicated," he warned her. "Remember what it was like figuring out the transformation potions with Master Fu?"
"Uh-huh," she agreed. "Secrets kept in a shell, tears of joy, that sort of thing. There's no guarantee that we can even obtain what we might need for some of these. And since I can't read them once I find them, anyway..."
"...and Adrien can likely read them as Unraveler, but it might be dangerous for him to do so unless he knows precisely what to do first," Nooroo added.
"...we'd need both of us to be powered up and to work together, but your transformations are meant to be one at a time," Marinette concluded. "Let me think about this."
Adrien scooted himself upwards a bit, going from lying down to sitting down, despite Marinette's glare at him as he did so. "Marinette, if you need a full dose... Nooroo, if you'd prefer to have a host for this... I can totally do that. I'm serious," he insisted. "I'm tired, but that side of it isn't that strenuous, is it? I've transformed with Nooroo a couple of times."
Marinette guided him back down onto the pillow. "You and I are going to take a nap first," she smiled. "I'm not doing this without being well-rested, and that goes double for you."
While the humans recharged their batteries, the Kwamis flew back into the Miracle Box for the moment.
"Do any of you happen to consider yourselves... how should I put this... linguists in human tongues?" asked Wayzz, once the crowd had regathered around them. "Specifically in ancient Chinese dialects?"
The response was mostly head-shaking and blank expressions. Nooroo looked towards Longg, hopefully.
"I might recognize some of it if I heard it aloud," Longg replied, "but it has been centuries! And the humans had so many different variations... You know how it works, Nooroo, surely? We gain enough of a rapport with our hosts to communicate, but not instant expertise in all things human."
"No, that's fair, that's fair," Nooroo allowed. "It was more wishful thinking than anything else."
"A separate question, then," Tikki ventured. "Have any of you ever read through the Guardians' Book of Lore?"
That resulted in silence.
"That was not meant as any kind of 'gotcha,' or accusing anyone of sneaking a peek. I am hoping that someone here was around when the Book was being written," she clarified. "Or has knowledge of how things were hidden within it."
"Hah!" laughed a gruff voice, as Plagg floated towards her. "You're looking to break one of the oldest rules, Tikki? Adrien's been a bad influence on you."
"As a matter of fact," Tikki glared back, "it should interest all of you to know that the Guardian has relaxed the rule about us never looking in the book, because she needs help deciphering parts of it. So if any of you have ever been curious about its contents, now's the time to ask to come out and see."
After brief conversation within the group, most of the Kwamis wandered off to what they had been doing previously. Plagg remained behind, looking curious.
"You've never looked in the book, right, Plagg?" Tikki asked him. "I mean, you were very close to it, and you knew where it was."
"I have not," Plagg insisted. "It only came out the one time, when I popped the safe open for Adrien. I wasn't about to cause any problems for him by having the safe fly open on its own. Wayzz, you had a copy of it with Master Fu, right?"
"I did," Wayzz agreed. "But Master Fu was very conscientious about the rules regarding it, and I obeyed him always."
"Of course you did," Plagg replied, rolling his eyes slightly in amusement. He returned to a serious tone quickly, though. "Do you really think there's something in there that you can use?"
"We have to hope so," Nooroo sighed. "There is certainly power within it; a spell nearly teleported us all to parts unknown when Adrien deciphered part of it."
Plagg stared back, startled. "Adrien cast a magic spell from the book?" he gasped.
"Only in part, and it backfired pretty badly. It took both of us to help Marinette help break him free of it, before-"
Plagg cut Tikki off, abruptly. "Backfired? Is he all right?" he worried, in a loud voice.
"Yes, he is... more surprised than hurt," Wayzz replied. "Marinette is cuddling him back to full strength as we speak. I am glad to see that you still share our concern."
Plagg stared downwards, searching for the right words. "He's not my favorite person in the world any more," he said, finally. "That doesn't mean that I'd wish any harm on him."
"I suspect that there may be useful lore there," Wayzz continued. "If we can find it, and translate it safely. We discovered a couple of secrets today, via Marinette's sharp eyes and Nooroo's power; we will try that again tonight, I think. I want to learn everything that I can about the Miraculous, and about Duusu... because her fate is likely the central piece of all of this."
"Well... good luck with that, then," said Plagg. "And if... uh..."
"If we think that you can help us, we'll let you know," Tikki replied. "C'mon, guys... let's check on them."
As the trio flew back towards the portal, Nooroo noted, "Tikki... you didn't tell him how we might need his help."
"I don't want her to. Not yet," Wayzz cautioned him. "That barrier that I told you that I sensed within Emilie's spirit, the one that Duusu had generated instinctively? We may well need Plagg's help to get through it."
"You can do that math, right, Nooroo?" asked Tikki, dryly.
Nooroo thought for a moment; his eyes went huge when the realization struck him.
"He was inconsolable when he thought that his host had banished Duusu," mused Wayzz. "Right now, I do not know what breaking that barrier would do to what is left of Duusu, or where she would go once it is breached. Do you want to be the one to tell him that he might have to personally Cataclysm what's left of Duusu to free Emilie's soul?"
"No," Nooroo stated, flatly. "No, I don't think that I do."
Marinette lay by a sleeping Adrien, watching over him.
He really doesn't seem that badly shaken up, she considered. I can trust him not to put himself in danger... well, mostly... and we will have the Kwamis watching over us.
Looking down at his lightly napping form, Marinette smiled. He'd set himself on fire to protect me, if he had to, she thought to herself. He always would. But it's just as important for me to protect HIM.
Now, I still want to try the full version of what we just did... Adrien as Nooroo's host, powering me up all the way to search for secrets... because that will help us figure out our next step. But I can't translate them on my own. How am I going to get Nooroo to have TWO butterflies out at once?
I might need what's in the book to figure out how to manage that, and I need to manage that to know what else is in the book. That figures.
...Wait, she realized. Hawkmoth solved that problem multiple times, didn't he?
Leaning even closer to Adrien, she noted that he was just awake enough to respond happily to her cuddle.
"Mmmmm," he murmured.
"Are you awake?" asked Marinette.
"Mmm-hmmm," Adrien responded.
"Could I borrow your phone for just a minute?"
In his private office, Gabriel Agreste glared menacingly at a stack of planning documents on his desk. Paper products were one of the few things in his life that seemed mostly unaffected by a withering gaze or a sneering dismissal.
We are not far off of where we should be on these, he considered. Jacques did a good job on the preliminary negotiations; I must remember to compliment him on that. But I feel as if we could still make some headway towards an even more favorable timeline -
Abruptly, his phone buzzed, indicating an incoming text message from someone not on his Contacts list.
"Hmmm?" he grunted, surprised by that. It was hardly an unprecedented event, to be sure, but his staff had been trained long ago not to bother him on weekends unless it regarded something of exceptional importance.
Likely some fool spamming numbers at random, looking for suckers to send him money for his 'fantastic new product,' Gabriel thought as he called up the message. No matter how many laws get passed about such abuse, they will always find a way to...
The message that he read, however, was neither random nor selling anything.
Mr. Agreste, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Do you have a moment?
"Do you think that he'll respond?" Marinette asked.
"Oh, I'm sure of it," smiled Adrien. "I can't imagine that he wouldn't drop everything, after the way that you parachuted into his life yesterday."
About a minute later, she got her response:
[Gabriel Agreste] Good afternoon to you. May I inquire as to how you obtained this phone number?
[Marinette] Remember who I once was. I have eyes everywhere; no one in Paris can hide from me.
[Gabriel Agreste] I see.
[Marinette] Also, I asked Adrien for it.
Adrien chuckled, "I can hear him muttering 'Impudent little scamp!' from here."
[Gabriel Agreste] I should have expected that. Do tell him "hello" for me, would you?
[Marinette] I will. Also, tell your bodyguard that we enjoyed seeing him again today. I always liked him.
[Gabriel Agreste] Touché, I suppose. Going forward, I shall respect your privacy, as you shall respect mine. What is it that you want?
[Gabriel Agreste] Have you had any success in your translation efforts?
[Marinette] A tiny bit, yes. But it has led me to a question that only you have experience with.
[Marinette] When things turned scarlet, and you went from single to multiple... how did you manage that?
There was no response at first.
[Marinette] This is not some attempt at entrapment; I already know more than enough, if that was what I had in mind.
[Marinette] And I am choosing my words carefully to protect both of us.
[Gabriel Agreste] I do appreciate that.
[Gabriel Agreste] You cannot ask a certain mutual friend that question?
Marinette frowned at that. "I don't think that 'friend' is how Nooroo thinks of him," she remarked to Adrien.
[Marinette] He is not with me at the moment... and I cannot just snap my fingers and summon him.
[Marinette] And even if I could... he is not a tool for me to simply use as needed.
[Gabriel Agreste] Rebuke received, young lady.
[Marinette] Not my intent, but if you feel that it's deserved...
[Marinette] Anyway, my question?
[Gabriel Agreste] A willing partner. Surely, you can deduce whom that was.
[Gabriel Agreste] Who was granted the power to increase my own power, temporarily.
[Gabriel Agreste] I must warn you that it proved to be quite strenuous on both of us, and somewhat scattershot.
[Gabriel Agreste] I did not have the fine control over its effects and targets that I did on other occasions.
[Marinette] I'm sure it that was strenuous. It gave us quite a workout, too.
[Gabriel Agreste] Heh. Well stated.
[Gabriel Agreste] Does that give you the answer you required?
[Marinette] I think it does. Thank you.
[Gabriel Agreste] Is my son there with you now?
Marinette turned to Adrien, who paused, then shook his head negatively. "Not... quite yet," he whispered. "Not like this."
[Marinette] He's sleeping. Our first attempt took a lot out of him.
[Marinette] He is as serious about... fixing things... as I am.
[Gabriel Agreste] I would expect no less. Tell him...
[Gabriel Agreste] Tell him that I am thinking of him, after he wakes up.
[Marinette] Will do.
Adrien considered the words that he saw on Marinette's phone.
"That is... something," he declared, finally. "Quite a bit more human than I expected from him."
"Yes, it is," she agreed.
"Here's a question," Adrien continued. "Couldn't you have just asked Nooroo how he'd done it?"
"I could've," conceded Marinette. "But I don't like to remind Nooroo of those years more than I have to. I know that he's sensitive about that... even though none of it was his fault."
"Very kind of you."
"Also," Marinette smiled, "I wanted to rattle your father's chains, just a little bit. He's sending people to keep an eye on us, is he? I can return the favor, any time I like. Not that I intend to... but he doesn't have to know that just yet."
That got a laugh out of Adrien. "Yeah... that would get his attention," he agreed. "If he did have any ulterior motives for our visitor today, that'll give him something to think about."
As the Kwamis reentered the room, Marinette said, "We can talk about that later. I really don't want to get caught up in playing old games with him, you know? But if he serves, I'll volley."
They turned their attention to the trio floating in front of them. "All clear?" asked Adrien.
"So far, so good, I suppose," Tikki replied. "Nothing new to report. We checked with the others, and none of them think they can be of much translation help."
"Then we're back to Plan B," Adrien declared. "Which I'm fine with... any time."
"You're sure?" asked Marinette.
"If you are," he smiled. "I got my nap, I know what you want to become... if you and Nooroo are ready, I am, too."
They looked to the Kwamis for confirmation. Nooroo nodded, approvingly.
"All right... if we're going to do this, let's do this right," Marinette declared.
She hurried around the room, gathering a few things before leading everyone back to the Book in her living room. "Adrien... once I'm transformed, take notes in this notebook," she told him. "Write down what pages have hidden things on them, and how we get them to appear, and a rough description of what they look like. Don't try to draw them, though... or am I being too paranoid?"
"Cautious, not paranoid," Wayzz replied. "Writing out one of those glyphs shouldn't trigger anything... but as we're finding, the Guardians were quite tricky."
"In that case, Adrien... hit me with your best shot," giggled Marinette, closing her eyes.
"You asked for it," Adrien winked. "Nooroo... spread my wings!"
When Marinette opened her eyes, she cooed in delight.
Adrien's transformed self was mostly dressed in black, his golden hair standing out strongly against the dark outfit. A black cape with dark grey lining billowed out behind him, giving the impression of thick and powerful wings. The domino mask was black with bright green eyes, reminiscent of Chat Noir's. He held a short, jeweled cane in his right hand, similar to his father's.
As Marinette watched him, he drew his cape in front of his face, like something out of an old vampire movie, then lowered it with a wink, showing her a devilish grin.
"Papillon Noir, at your service," he declared.
"We have got to work on your names," she laughed. "'Black Cat' and 'Black Butterfly?'"
"Says the girl who called her ladybug persona 'Ladybug,'" he parried. "And couldn't think of a name for her last transformation."
"Nyahh," replied Marinette, sticking her tongue out playfully.
Having settled that, Papillon Noir held his cane aloft. He traced a small pattern in the air, roughly in the shape of a butterfly, and a white butterfly sprang into existence before him.
"Now, to find someone nearby who is simply loaded with positive energy," he intoned. He closed his eyes and pretended to concentrate hard. "I... believe that I have found my target."
"Ham it up," Marinette grinned.
With a silent grin of his own, he twirled his cane and gestured towards her. The butterfly floated to her outstretched hand, very slowly, and the room filled with radiant light.
When everyone's vision was restored, Tikki and Wayzz stared at Marinette with wide eyes...
Her outfit was pure white, a form-fitting base layer surrounded by wisps of ethereal lace, chiffon and dreams. As with her turn as Lumière, there was a distinct magical feel to her new self; a mild disdain for gravity, making it appear that both she and her gown acknowledged the ground but did not feel particularly attached to it. A lacy headpiece adorned the top of Marinette's head, pulled back so that her face was fully visible. A silver mask similar to her last one crossed her face, with a similar effect over her eyes, but perhaps a slightly less intense blue there than in her last transformation.
She was clearly feeling Adrien's mind joined to her own, as he had earlier that day, and was still accommodating herself to that rush of sensation... but she looked very happy for the most part.
"Veilpiercer," Papillon Noir intoned, "yours will be the power to dispel any obstacle, clear all disguises and part all clouds, and see the full truth of the world around you. Nothing will... huh?"
He looked at her, who was looking at Tikki, whose jaw had fallen down in astonishment.
"Tikki... what's wrong?" asked Veilpiercer, appearing confused.
Tikki flew over and whispered in Veilpiercer's ear... and in a flash, her face turned nearly as scarlet as Tikki was naturally, turning back to Papillon Noir with obvious nervousness.
"I... I don't know quite what to say," she murmured, just above a whisper. "Give me a second?"
"M...Marinette?" Papillon Noir gasped. "What's going on? If you were going to be 'a little witch girl,' I wanted you to look the part. The most beautiful, radiant white witch there ever was... right?"
"You just transformed your lady-love into wearing a flowing white gown... with a veil that's pulled back," a still-startled Tikki managed. "While you're in a tuxedo. Even if it looks like it might be straight out of some anime series."
"I did not see this coming. Not quite yet," Wayzz marveled.
"Do you think that either of us is qualified?" Tikki asked him. "You know... sufficiently mystically ordained to preside over this? You might be closer to that."
"OH, my gosh," Papillon Noir exclaimed, putting it together. "You thought that I was asking her to... to... right here, right now?"
"Adrien?" asked Veilpiercer, in a suddenly-shy voice. "Which of us designed my outfit? You or me?"
"I'm... not entirely sure now," he replied, just as softly. "I mean... I'm drawing inspiration from your unconscious mind, right? And my own. This might be a little..."
"...fast?" she agreed. "Yeah. Very fast! I mean... you are wonderful... and we do seem to be kind of meant for each other..."
"We are... I know we are..." breathed Papillon Noir. "But if I was going to propose... someday... I would do it in the most romantic place I know, somewhere that's special to both of us. I know exactly where it would happen."
He fell silent, letting that sink in as Marinette felt her heart pounding hard. He's... imagined it! her mind gasped. Even just a little bit, he's at least given it some thought!
"Maybe... we should focus on what we're meant to be doing right now," Veilpiercer ventured, carefully. "You know... the Book."
"Y-yeah, we should," he replied, grateful for the graceful easing of the moment's tension. "Veilpiercer... do you accept my gift of power?"
"I do," she said, unhesitatingly. "I mean... I would. I am. I think I do! I did!"
It was Adrien's turn to imitate Tikki's coloration.
The next hour was far less dramatic than Lumière's and Unraveler's session... or at least less dangerous. The group identified and avoided most of the pages bearing the glyphs that Unraveler had encountered, which was both good and bad; Veilpiercer didn't get much of a chance to scrutinize them, but no one took a one-way trip to Madagascar or got turned into a newt, either.
"Wings down," Papillon Noir intoned, returning to Adrien's form just as Marinette did the same with hers.
"Wow," Marinette gasped, halfway between mild exhaustion and laughter. "What an experience!"
"I've never felt anything quite like that," Adrien agreed. "And some of those triggers for secrets that you found! I have no idea how you figured them out!"
The group checked Adrien's notes for a final tally. Veilpiercer had identified thirty-one pages with something hidden on them, of which seventeen were brought out and viewable (if not immediately understandable). Two of them were readable within their rudimentary knowledge of modern Chinese; one was a joke of sorts (a note reading "If you can read this, report to Master Zhong for punishment"), and the other appeared to be a recipe for some sort of fish stew.
"Well, we learned that the Guardians had a sense of humor, at least," Adrien remarked about the latter.
"And a crafty one, too! I was wondering why cloves were an ingredient, until clove oil turned out to be what would bring out the writing on Page 63!" Marinette laughed.
"It's a set of steps forward, but small ones," Tikki noted. "We know where many secrets are, but we still can't read most of them without translation powers. And a couple of them wouldn't come out until you were actively using your power on them, Marinette... so, for those, we'll need both of you at once to stand a chance. One to project revealing energy and one to read what appeared."
"We're not in a great rush, necessarily," Wayzz pointed out. "We could try again with Lumière and Unraveler another night, picking out the low-hanging secrets and seeing what clues that they can bring us. I have a feeling that the deepest secrets, the ones that might help Duusu and Emilie, might be among the hardest to obtain... but we might get lucky."
"I did get some small insight as to how dual transformations might work," said Marinette. She explained her conversation with Gabriel to the Kwamis... tactfully, for Nooroo's emotional sake.
"He did not lie to you," Nooroo confirmed. "He turned Nathalie into Catalyst, who then empowered him to be Scarlet Moth. But the process was rather draining for both of them, and explicitly tapped into the dark side of my power, among other complications. I would not encourage either of you to attempt that in that way."
Adrien's face lit up. "Nooroo... that's not the only time that you had multiple targets, right?" he asked. "Like the Sapotis... they turned out to be two twins, transformed together. Or Oblivio, which was Alya and Nino merged somehow."
"With the dark side, those things are more possible," replied Nooroo. "Or at least more easily possible. The increased intimacy of my normal powers would make multiples inherently more difficult to manage. Those transformed would have to be remarkably attuned to each other; I don't... think that..."
He trailed off, slowly.
"What is it, Nooroo?" asked Marinette.
"I... I may have a method in mind that could work. That would work. But I don't think that you're going to like it much."
"Tell us, please," Marinette asked him. "I would do just about anything to get us to where we can help Duusu and Adrien's mother."
"Ah, then, um..." Nooroo stammered. "Marinette, could we speak in private for a moment?"
"Oh, boy."
Tikki and Wayzz turned to Adrien as he watched Marinette and Nooroo step into her kitchen.
"Do you know something about what he's referring to?" asked Wayzz, looking puzzled. "And if you do, how do you know it?"
"I'm pretty sure that I have an idea," sighed Adrien. "This isn't exactly how I'd wanted them to talk about it, if I'm right."
Tikki's face lit up as she burst out giggling. "He wouldn't," she gasped.
"He would," said Adrien, flatly.
"Yeah. He would," Tikki agreed. Turning to Wayzz, she grinned, "Think about it. It'll come to you."
Wayzz did precisely that... until it dawned on him. With a somewhat glazed expression, he remarked, "...It really could work. He's not crazy."
"We'll see if she agrees with that," smiled Tikki.