Thirteen: Interregnum
Chat and Marinette use the disquieting disappearance of Lila to regroup – and to focus on a more pressing issue.
What was left of the mansion I used to call home looked even more desolate beneath the dark, moonless night. I didn't need my enhanced night vision to determine that Lila had been pretty thorough during her little temper tantrum earlier; save for a partial wall that might have once stood behind the kitchen, the rest had been reduced to a pile of still-smoking rubble. Myriad emotions jostled for attention, telegraphed perhaps by the way my tail was refusing to remain still. Despite all of the evil that had transpired beneath the roof of the Agreste mansion, it was still hard to take in the enormity of the destruction, or to contemplate what it meant to my future.
As I turned to go, I thought it was rather fortunate that the massive crypt beneath the mansion hadn't been exposed by the fire; not that there was much there other than dying vines, but it would have been yet one more uncomfortable disclosure for Adrien to have to deal with. Ladybug and I had plenty on our plate at the moment; I didn't need to add to our troubles. Shaking my wild mane, partly in disgust, partly in resignation, I slid my baton out and leapt into the night to face a particularly thorny one.
Soaring over the nighttime rooftops, I replayed snippets of my conversation with Ladybug after Lila disappeared; while we were certain she was just temporarily off the grid, neither of us had a sense of what might get her to make a reappearance. Master Fu had been somewhat helpful in telling us that the kwami we'd recovered was, indeed, part of a special set of four from a unique Miracle Box that he'd assumed had been lost in the fire at the monastery. While not quite as powerful as the Cat or Bug Miraculous, the four, when combined, could provide the holder with an awesome ability to control the major elements. The Guardian's explanation had gone a long way toward explaining both the initial trap Lila had spring on us as well as her ability to escape; it worried me that these four jewels had also been part of Gabriel's collection, though I wondered why he'd eschewed then in favor of the moth.
It was just one of many questions that we seemed to not have answers for.
Sighing, I realized my feline body was rather exhausted as I made my way back to the Bakery. Aside from briefly transforming to fake out Lila much earlier in the day, I'd been Chat far longer than normal and for once I felt as though even Plagg was at the end of his own impressive stamina. It was an odd sensation, a warning sign that there were limits, even for a superhero powered by a tiny god. Nearing the Bakery – and the requisite delightful aromas that my feline nose could detect from a few kilometers away – a sudden surge of relief mixed with anticipation welled up, coursing through my tired feline muscles to provide a tiny burst of adrenaline to cover the final distance.
I did a perfect four-point Chat landing atop my favored conical chimney, took a deep lungful of the delightful aroma baking bread always seemed to create, then quickly vaulted down to the rooftop patio proper. Marinette had thoughtfully left her fairy lights on, letting them be a beacon to guide me toward my temporary new home; her chaise was empty, though the skylight had been propped open in anticipation of my return. One leap and I was at the edge, and carefully lowered my wild mane upside-down to see if the coast was clear.
"Princess?" I asked, my feline eyes searching her room quickly.
Seeing she wasn't there made me frown slightly, but I nonetheless pulled myself around the edge of the skylight and plopped onto her bed in a nearly-silent rush of fabric, my tail snapping behind me. I paused for a moment, a sly smile on my face as I took in the small set of photos she had pinned just above her pillow; I knew they had originally been all of my alter-ego, but in a nod to keeping up appearances, she'd replaced them with action shots of Chat Noir and a few quieter moments when we'd managed to sneak off as a couple prior to her discovering my true identity.
I reached a claw tip toward one of my favorites of the batch, a selfie I had taken with my baton of the two of us – Marinette and Chat, that is – sitting atop the Eiffel Tower watching the sunset. Her smile was pure joy, one that melted me each time I saw her use it with me. So very much had changed for me as a result of that morning she'd found me drenched from falling ingloriously into the water catchment across the street from the Bakery. We still laughed about how I'd been a soggy, shivering feline mess, despite the benefits my costume bestowed on me; I often wondered if Plagg had adjusted something that day to try and prod me toward forging a closer relationship with Marinette. It certainly would have been right up his alley.
Rolling off the bed, I landed in a cat crouch on the floor and started to stand when my feline hearing picked up someone on the ladder below, though I was tired enough to be hard pressed to determine who it was, exactly; while Chat Noir continued to be a regular visitor to Marinette, it would not do for him to be found in his girlfriend's bedroom. Despite how accommodating Tom and Sabine had been to my superhero alter-ego, we'd come to an arrangement that I would announce myself via the front door like any good boyfriend and not surreptitiously appear on the rooftop. Clearly, my undeserved reputation as a catsanova had preceded me.
Unfortunately, that had worked extremely well before Adrien had moved in; now that I was crashing with them, Marinette and I had been dealing with the resulting problem that Chat was the boyfriend, not Adrien; complicating matters, of course, was the tricky way to make sure that one could appear and not draw attention that the other was absent. That was far easier for Adrien, of course, but on more than a few occasions, Tom had suggested Chat stay for dinner when Adrien was, theoretically, just down the hall in the guest room and would also be expected to show up at the table. So far, Chat had managed to wriggle out of most of those invites, but Marinette and I both knew it was just a matter of time before we'd get one I couldn't refuse.
Leaping upward, I pressed myself into the ceiling being one of the exposed beams in Marinette's room, trying not to think about the holes my claws were making in the wood; wrapping my tail around a leg, I held my breath as the trapdoor opened. I breathed a bit easier when Marinette's perfume wafted toward me, and smiled slightly when I heard her talking to no one in particular.
"…long time," she was saying as she closed the trapdoor. "I'm worried about him. I should probably transform and track him down."
"He has been through a lot," came the melodic reply that I knew was Tikki, Marinette's kwami. "But I think he's close."
Unhooking my claws, I dropped down to the floor with a nearly-silent rubbery thump. To my surprise, Marinette had her back to me and hadn't picked up my somewhat stealthy move; Tikki, however, was staring right at me. Smiling, I put a finger to my lips; the small kwami's eyes crinkled in delight and her head nodded fractionally. Taking a deep breath, I coiled up just as Marinette started to speak again.
"I think I will-oof!" she cried as I tackled her, wrapping my feline body around her protectively as we rolled together across the floor, coming to rest against her dresser with a rather loud thud. "Hey!" she cried out again good naturedly. "What was that?"
"Feline tendencies," I explained as I hugged her close. "You were an inviting target that I just couldn't resist."
"Really," she sighed as she reached up to brush away a lock of my hair. "Well, while I am glad you're back, this is not exactly how I thought I'd greet you."
"You're dating a cat," I smiled crookedly. "A black cat. Expect the unexpected."
"Clearly," she sighed. "Hopefully my parents didn't hear that," she added, glancing to the trapdoor.
"I am nothing if not discreet—"
Entangled as I was in Marinette, and, admittedly, as distracted as it made me, I missed the sounds of someone on the ladder once more; only when the trapdoor flew open did I start to comprehend the depth of the trouble I'd landed in. Turning at the sound, I saw Tom's rather bulky figure coming through the opening, followed closely by Sabine.
Expressions of concern on both of their faces shifted slightly; in Tom's case, it became something closer to shock, though Sabine wore one of amusement, as if we had confirmed something for her. In both cases, I could feel my face beginning to flame on the exposed portions below the mask, and hurriedly extracted myself from Marinette. A quick glance at my girlfriend confirmed that she, too, was blushing hard enough to light the room by herself; between the two of us, Paris had no need for illumination that evening.
Carefully moving another half-meter away from Marinette, I cleared my throat. "Uh—" I started.
Tom looked between the two of us. "Is everyone… okay?" he asked haltingly.
"We heard a crash downstairs," Sabine added, that ghost of a smile on her face still. "And… we didn't know Chat was here…"
"Yeah, about that," I said, automatically putting my hand to the back of my neck. "I… uh… didn't intend to stop by tonight, but I… uh… wanted to make sure Marinette was okay after… uh… what happened today…"
"Oh…" Tom said, his face displaying conflicting emotions of disbelief and, perhaps, concern.
"That was very kind of you, Chat," Sabine interjected, glancing at Tom.
"I know I usually ring the bell," I continued, tapping my own bell with a claw nervously. "But it was so late, I didn't want to wake you."
"Oh…" Tom repeated.
"Her lights were on, so I, uh, well, I guess I surprised her with my arrival," I said, sticking somewhat close to the truth.
"And I stumbled over my pillow," Marinette added quickly, pointing to one that happened to be in the middle of the room. "Chat sprung into motion and caught me before I hit the dresser."
"I'm terribly sorry," I said.
Tom and Sabine looked to the pillow and then back to the two blushing teens, then each other. Despite being a superhero dealing with a megalomaniac on the loose, in that moment, I felt like a teenager caught after curfew. Which, I supposed, I was.
Something passed between Marinette's parents, and then they turned back toward us. "We probably need to have a longer discussion about this relationship," Sabine said gently. "While we both know you're a gentleman—"
Tom choked and I felt my face flame hotter.
"—there are some ground rules that would apply to anyone seeing our daughter. Superhero or otherwise."
"Of course," I nodded, wishing I could actually Cataclysm my way out of the room.
"Come to Sunday Brunch," Sabine said after looking at her husband. "We'll talk through it then."
I blanched. "Sunday… Brunch?" I replied, looking to Tom. "This Sunday?"
"Yes."
It was hard to keep my feline eyes from flicking to Marinette. "I would be… honored, thank you."
"Wonderful," Tom managed to say, though I wasn't certain how to read his expression. "Now let me walk you out."
I glanced at the skylight and then Marinette. "Yes, certainly," I said, standing. "I'll see you Sunday, Princess?" I added, taking her hand in my paw.
"Until then, kitty," she smiled.
Feeling a bit like I was being hustled out of the house, a few moments later I found myself standing in the stairwell outside of their apartment. My tail twitched slightly as I continued down the steps and, for appearance's sake, sailed out into the night only to make a big loop back to the rear of the Bakery. Landing on the ledge of the guest room's window, I pulled myself inside the darkened room and dropped to the carpet.
It was only then that I had allowed myself to contemplate the invitation I had feared receiving had finally arrived – and that there was no way Chat could wriggle out of it this time. Sighing, I dropped my transformation and slid into bed, then stared at the ceiling wondering how I was going to pull this one off. For Tom had enthusiastically roped Adrien into helping prepare the meal that very Sunday – part of his campaign to make me a better cook.
I wondered if it was too much to ask for Lila to reappear before then…