Ironchef13 : Yeah It's getting intense (And it's not finished !) Lila didn't make a move to grab the Akuma or the Amok, because as you said, she has done it before. So I wanted to get out of the usual Lila who throws herself on the akumas who pass. It was essential that Adrien be his father's target. This is a major advance in this story. It's even the turning point, as you'll see.
Have all a good reading,
In front of the confused and questioning looks of the two teenagers in front of her, Nathalie felt the irrepressible need to explain why she wanted to help the heroes of Paris and put an end to the reign of terror of Gabriel Agreste, Hawkmoth.
- Initially, the intentions of your… of Gabriel, were commendable, the disappearance of your mother left a gaping hole in his heart, and seeing your father so unhappy, left a gaping hole in mine. All he wanted was for your family to be happy and reunited again. I promised to help him, because all I wanted was your happiness, Gabriel's happiness, but also yours, Adrien.
Nathalie hesitated for a moment, then under the insistent and questioning gaze of the one she considered her own son, she continued her story with a knot in her throat. She revealed to Adrien the existence of a two-level basement under the Manor, which served as landmarks for them. She explained to him how Gabriel, as well as Emilie, had come into possession of two Miraculous, including that of the Peacock, broken and defective, carried by his mother. She told him how he had weakened Emilie and gradually diminished her health, until she fell into a deep coma. She also confessed that she had put her own health at risk by wearing the Peacock Brooch, but luckily they were able to repair it thanks to the translation stolen from the previous Guardian. She mentioned, with a knot in her stomach and tears in her eyes, the existence and presence of the glass coffin where Emilie lay in a deep magical sleep, under the Manor.
- Seeing your mother's face every day made him a little more motivated and determined to get his hands on your Miraculous. But the successive defeats gave birth to other motivations, the thirst for power, revenge, ... These new motivations quickly became an obsession, causing him to lose sight of his first objective and his good intentions and causing him to lose also any reason. Gabriel has been becoming more and more impulsive, uncontrollable and unpredictable in recent months. He is dangerous, for himself, but especially for you. Nathalie insisted heavily on the last three words.
Adrien somehow took the shock of the revelations of his father's secretary. He now held the hand of his girlfriend who had not hesitated to force the passage of her gloved hand to him, by passing it over the legs of Nathalie who was sitting between them.
The blond lost himself in the eyes of the one he loved. Her big bluebell eyes were full of compassion, love and gave him an extremely reassuring and comforting feeling. When he drowned in her gaze, he felt good, in his place, at home.
Home… The thought violently twisted his guts.
-Nathalie, I refuse to go back to the Manor. I will not feel safe there and above all ... I ... I especially do not want to meet him. My Lady and I have to make a plan now.
Ladybug tensed up and gave her partner a deeply sorry look.
-You have to go home, Minou. You'll arouse suspicion if you don't, she whispered to him, knowing how difficult it was for him.
He lowered his head and let out a breath of resignation, to which she replied immediately: -We will work out a plan, I promise you. I remind you that we had already planned to see each other this evening on this subject, and that, against all expectations, we have just made an unexpected and considerable advance in our mission. Tonight we are going to decide how we are going to go about attacking.
-This evening I'll cover you, Nathalie affirmed to Adrien: - even if you have done well so far to slip away from the Manor without being spotted.
-You will follow us tonight, Miss Sancoeur, retorted Ladybug. We will meet at midnight. At this late hour, you will have no trouble hiding your absence.
Nathalie nodded in approval.
-My lady, we need a secluded and quiet place to make a plan.
Ladybug felt herself blush: She was going to have to get used to this nickname coming out of Adrien's mouth.
-I have my little idea for that… she answered with a smile on her lips.
Marinette collapsed on her bed and buried her head in the cushion Tikki was sitting on. She let out a high-pitched cry, muffled by the cushion, as her kwami watched her intently, wondering which information revealed today would be the first her holder would wish to talk to her about. But for the moment Marinette did not seem ready to discuss, her head still buried in the pillow, she was still taking in the many amazing information she had received a little earlier.
I kissed Adrien Agreste. Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir: he is my boyfriend. Oh my god, I've been dating Adrien Agreste for 5 days! OH MY GOD, I REJECTED ADRIEN AGRESTE FOR ALMOST 2 YEARS!
Marinette stifled another scream into the pillow that was now serving as sound insulation, as the realization continued its stride and permeated her brain.
Mayura, surrendered to us of her own free will and revealed to us the identity of Hawkmoth; Gabriel Agreste. My boyfriend's father is the supervillain I have been fighting against for many months. Chat Noir's father is the Butterfly holder. He wants to wake his wife from a magical coma. Adrien's mother is not dead.
I must stop Hawkmoth from saving the mother of the boy I love with all my heart.
This time the cry was accompanied by many muffled sobs which prompted Tikki to act on it. The little ladybug kwami moved slowly against the girl's cheek and in a soft voice she reassured her, asking her to calm down so as not to attract an Akuma to her. She gently invited her to speak to her, to empty her bag and not have to internalize it all, at the risk of collapsing because the burden is too heavy to carry. This is what Marinette did, for nearly an hour she began to discuss with her kwami the revelations that had fallen on her, on her, but also on Chat Noir, in the space of a few minutes.
Her conversation with Tikki was suddenly interrupted when Marinette jumped at the call of her heroic alter-ego's name: "Ladybug".
Marinette, panicked, looked around frantically. It was not possible that anyone had discovered her identity, moreover, she was alone with Tikki in her room. She looked up at her trapdoor in case Chat Noir had caught her in any way, an idea that seemed totally unlikely to her, but there was no one in sight.
"Ladybug"
The young heroine froze: As confused as she was: She was sure The voice was in her head.
"Ladybug, don't be afraid, it's Master Lama Zongshì, will you accept my presence?"
-Er ... y-yes, she stammered out loud under Tikki's questioning gaze. Marinette quickly informed her that it was the Grand Gardien who was using his power of telepathy to communicate with her.
"The four members of the Council of the Order reported to me that they activated the strengthening of their four virtues to help your partner in great distress, they felt a powerful and malicious force surrounding his aura. Is everything alright ? "
-Chat Noir is fine. But we narrowly avoided an event that could have been dramatic and lead to the victory of Hawkmoth.
She went on to tell him in detail what she had seen and why she had been able to act in record time. She did not omit any information, passing Adrien giving him her Miraculous to protect it, and at the same time revealing his identity, then moving on to the kiss she had given him in the hope of freeing him from the grip of Shadowmoth, then to Mayura having surrendered to them but without the Peacock's Miraculous, the identity of Hawkmoth and its relationship with Chat Noir as well as the latter's motivations to want to seize their Miraculous and thus ending by revealing the Magic coma in which was plunged his wife, the mother of Chat Noir.
"I see."
The Grand Gardien seemed to pause to assimilate and think carefully about the information she had just given him.
"You have a huge advantage over Hawkmoth, you have to use it quickly. Do you have a plan, Ladybug? "
-I ... I think I have a plan, but first I want to refer it to my partner tonight, we are a team and I will not decide anything without having been able to inform him and obtain his approval.
"It is honorable of you. This is exactly what is expected in integrity, trust and dedication between the two holders of the power of creation and destruction. I will contact you again when you are ready. You only have to repeat my name twice for me to hear you invoke me. Also know that you can communicate with me silently, you just have to concentrate and think of what you want to say to me. "
"Good Master, I will. "
"You learn quickly, young Guardian. Before I leave you, I wanted to tell you not to worry about your partner. He is a courageous and intelligent boy with an extraordinary mental strength, he will manage to take things in and take things into account. Just be a support and a refuge for him in these difficult times. Draw from each other the strength necessary to fight this battle in the pure love that you share. "
"I won't give up on him, I will never give up on him, it's him and me against the world. See you soon, Master. "
-Tikki, the four guards tried to help Adrien earlier. They called out to Master Zongshì and told him that something was wrong here. We must keep him informed of the progress of our mission.
The little red kwami nodded and her holder smiled determinedly at her.
-We will get there Tikki, soon it will all be behind us, and for that we will get to work immediately and to start we will pay a little visit to our old Queen Bee.
When Adrien entered the entrance of the Manor, he was surprised to see his Father standing at the top of the main staircase. The man wore a deadpan expression on his face, he stood tense, his torso bulging and his arms folded behind his back.
-Adrien. Nathalie told me about your mishap.
Just that, no I'm sorry, no "is everything okay"? Even without betraying his identity as a supervillain, he could inquire about my condition, the condition of his son. But no. He remains cold and detached. I am a pawn in the middle of his chessboard, and I am not even a useful and indispensable pawn.
- Go upstairs to rest. I allow you to go back to school tomorrow. Good night Adrien, he said, turning his back and heading for his room.
Adrien didn't even have time to say a word, he turned to Nathalie and she motioned to him to go to his room. The boy did so and the secretary followed him.
Once the door to his room was closed behind them, Adrien turned the latch to lock the door and then addressed the woman who was with him:
- He ends my punishment unexpectedly without even justifying himself and lets me go back to school , all for the sake of getting my hands on my girlfriend with your help as a spy I guess? Well he's on the wrong track because I don't know Ladybug's identity, he added before giving Nathalie time to answer his first question.
The secretary widened her eyes in amazement at this impromptu confession from the boy.
Faced with Nathalie's incredulous gaze, Adrien simply added: - She discovered my identity today, when I gave her my Miraculous back to protect it. Until today we were simply Ladybug and Chat Noir, two heroes in love and perfectly ignorant of their true identities.
Following these words, Adrien thought briefly about the fact that he had not been able to have a conversation about this with his girlfriend because Nathalie had intervened at that time. He reassured himself as he thought of what had happened since. Ladybug hadn't sounded disappointed. Maybe a little surprised? However, if it was the case, she had controlled her emotions well to be attentive to the revelations of the ex-Mayura.
Then she had shown perfect support for him, even though they hadn't exchanged words, he could read in her eyes all the tenderness and support she wanted to give him. He was therefore rather reassured about the impact that revealing his identity would have on their relationship.
- So we have one step ahead of Gabriel.
Adrien nodded and sank down on his bed, watching with a multitude of feelings and resentments, the woman in front of him.
Feeling the leaning and suspicious gaze he was laying on her, Nathalie let out a sigh.
-Adrien, I'm not asking you to forgive me, or even to try to do it. I'm not asking you to understand or try to understand either. However, I want you to know that I care about you. I couldn't bear for something to happen to you. I have already lost Emilie, but also Gabriel in his madness, I could not lose my Adrien too. Your Father is dangerous. For the past month, I find him regularly drunk in his office at night and alcohol makes him even more unreasonable, unmanageable and ruthless. So I had to act for your safety, and even if you hate me now, I would make that same decision a hundred times and I would choose to protect you first.
-I don't hate you, Nathalie. You have always looked after me since Mum left. Even following Father's orders, you still manage to ensure that I have a minimum of freedom, sometimes even turning a blind eye to certain things. You haven't always made the right choices and you know it, you could have continued in this direction, told yourself that it was too late, but you still decided to be a better person, and to make better choices. Today you made the right choice, replied Adrien, altruistic, understanding, true to himself.
Marinette shared dinner with her parents before returning to her room with haste, claiming that she had to revise a little more for a History exam. Immediately in her room, she transformed and Ladybug rushed over the rooftops of Paris where the storm expected for the evening had already begun to strike.
The rain was falling quickly and the roofs were particularly slippery, the young heroine had to slow down to avoid slipping. It would only take one slip causing her to lose her yo-yo and for a fall below, from this height, to be fatal. Better safe than sorry, right? or in this case: Better safe than dying seems to make more sense.
Her journey took a little longer than usual. It was around 8 pm when she knocked on one of the windows of the most luxurious Suite at the Palace "Le Grand Paris".
The young blonde occupying the premises moved towards the noise and was surprised to find there, behind her window, under a raging storm: a super heroine dressed in red and black, whose hair was soaked. The rubber bands that held her usual braids hadn't survived the wind and massive absorption of rain and her hair was literally sticking to her forehead in a messy and unpleasant way. Water was streaming from her hair and running all the way down her face without stopping.
The blue-eyed blonde stared at her for a moment, before opening the window to let her into the room.
-I'm sure they accept ladybugs in the dingy hotel on the corner of the next street, the blonde exclaimed rudely.
-Good evening to you too, Chloe, breathed Ladybug, hiding her exasperation.
-What are you doing here ? Chloe asked, her arms crossed over her chest.
-I came to talk to you, answered the Parisian heroine.
-Say instead that you were looking for shelter urgently so as not to end up more ridiculous than you already are with your soaked and messy hair.
-In that case, the entrance hall of the Hotel would have done the trick, don't you think?
Chloe Bourgeois silently observed Ladybug in a very competitive exchange of glances: Blue eyes fighting against blue eyes, The Sapphires opposing the Tanzanites, the Ocean meeting the Sky in full storm.
Finally the blonde broke the duel and turned to sit in one of the large red sofas in the suite.
-I'm all ear, she said, sitting down with her legs and arms crossed.
-Adrien is in danger, Gabriel Agreste, it's… Hawkmoth.
To be continued…
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