Home at Last

Felix closed the door to his room and let out a tired sigh. His fitful sleep in the airport had not prepared him for the less than pleasant reunion with his father. Thankfully, Gabrielle Agreste had been busy with work when Felix arrived at the house. It gave him enough time to have the chef prepare him some lunch. He dreaded the confrontation, but at least having some food in his stomach made the prospect more bearable.

Once his father finally had time to welcome his elder son home, the meeting went just as Felix had expected. His father was disappointed with him over his expulsion and letting himself get into such a ridiculous misunderstanding. There was no acknowledgement of Felix's excellent grades or how hard he had worked toward early graduation. There never had been. Despite the intentions Felix had made known in his letter about attending a school in Paris, his father had already started making arrangements for Felix to finish his schooling at home with the best tutors in Paris.

"Father, I have gone to an actual school for the last five years. I've grown accustomed to the schedule and structure of it. Wouldn't it make more sense for me to finish out the remaining days at a school here in Paris?" Felix reasoned. His whole purpose in returning to Paris in the first place was to meet a certain Ladybug. If he was cooped up in his house all day, every day, he doubted he would ever have the opportunity to cross paths with her.

His father seemed to consider for a moment. "I suppose it can't hurt. You can attend Adrien's school. Nathalie."

His assistant stepped forward from where she stood behind him, ever present, even during a reunion between father and son. "Yes, Mr Agreste."

"Contact Collège et Lycée Françoise Dupont and make the arrangements for Felix's transfer."

"Yes, sir." She pulled out her phone and stepped into the other room to make the call.

"I have two conditions," his father continued once Nathalie was out of sight. "You will go to and from school in the car with Adrien and his bodyguard, who will now also serve as your bodyguard. Also, I expect you to work for me as an intern when you are not pursuing your academic studies."

Felix frowned. He had no intentions of following his father into the fashion industry but knew better than to argue with the stubborn designer. He agreed to the conditions, albeit begrudgingly, and waited for his father to dismiss him before finally escaping to his room.

With another sigh, Felix looked around the room. To his right, two large bookshelves took up the majority of one wall. They were separated by an ornate wooden desk with intricate carvings winding up the legs and around the drawers and trim. A good sized computer monitor took up one corner of its surface, and a fancy keyboard sat in front of it. His bed sat against the opposite wall. A ladder next to the bed lead to a small loft where another desk stood. The desk's surface was covered with models of famous architectural structures from all over Europe. There was a door on the other side of the bed leading to his own private bathroom. The wall across from him was almost entirely made of windows, allowing the late afternoon light to flood the room. The few decorations around the room were practical and strategically placed, giving the room an elegant feel. Everything was exactly the same as when he'd left five years ago, even down to the white bedsheets and blue-gray comforter. Thankfully, the maid had kept the room clean over the years, and there wasn't a speck of dust in sight.

Felix made his way to the bed and opened the drawer of the nightstand. Nestled inside sat a solitary object: a small black box with Chinese symbols printed in red across the lid. It was still there. He picked up the box and flopped down onto mattress. "You can come out, now, Shade." A shadowy ball flew out from his vest pocket and lit upon the railing of the loft overhead.

"Classy place you've got here," the creature said as he surveyed their surroundings.

Felix held the box up in his right hand and looked from it to the intricate silver ring on his middle finger. A cat face stared back at him from atop the ring with two amethyst eyes. Felix shifted his gaze to the creature above him. It always unnerved him how unnatural a being Shade was. Very cat-like in appearance, Shade was about the size of a soda can. His head was disproportionately larger than his body, and two cat ears perched atop it. Two purple cat eyes shone like the amethysts in Felix's ring from his face, and wispy whiskers sprouted from his cheeks. Rather than any particular color, he seemed to be a void of all light, his body composed entirely of swirling and condensing shadows, not quite solid but with definite substance. Tendrils of shadows lazily trailed his every movement.

Shade's tail twitched behind him, and he floated back down to hover just above Felix. "What's that?" Without even waiting for an answer, he swiped it out of Felix's hands.

"Hey!"

Ignoring Felix's protest, Shade turned the box over in his tiny, shadowy paws, ripped the lid off, and peered inside. Finding it empty, he tossed the box and lid back at Felix with a pout.

"Be careful with that!" Felix caught the box and put it back together. "This is the only clue I have as to where this ring came from."

Shade's eyes widened. "Wait. That's the box you found the ring in?"

"That's right."

"It does look a bit familiar..." Shade flew closer and examined the box with renewed interest. "You said you just found it in here on your twelfth birthday?"

Felix nodded and pointed to his nightstand. "It was sitting right there. I'd thought it had come from my family, but they didn't know anything about it." He ran his fingers over the ring. "Like I told you, I put it on and haven't been able to take it off since." To emphasize his point, he gave the ring a solid tug to no effect.

Shade sniffed the box then the ring. His face turned thoughtful. Felix sat up on the bed and watched the little shadow creature hopefully. Shade shrugged. "I've got nothing."

"Useless thing," Felix grumbled. It had been like this since the first day Shade appeared.

It was almost half a year ago. Felix had been studying in the school library when a bright purple light flashed around him and a swirl of shadows shot from the ring. All of the other students had already left for the day, so no one heard his startled cry as the shadow fell to the floor with a quiet thud. Felix approached cautiously to find a dazed Shade with no memory of who or even what he was.

"Where's my cheese?" Shade asked, bringing Felix back to the present. "I know you have some. I can smell it." He stretched his paws out expectantly.

Felix huffed and rolled his blue-gray eyes in exasperation. "Here." He pulled a napkin from his pants pocket and tossed it at him. Shade snatched it out of the air, pulled a hunk of Parmesan out of the napkin, and began to nibble at it happily. "Just eat it quietly. I start school tomorrow."

"Too bad you haf to reeshtart the shemeshter," the shadowy cat said around a mouthful of cheesy goodness.

Felix flung his arm over his eyes and said sleepily, "That's just my luck."

A/N: Yes, Shade does look and act a lot like Plagg. Yes, there is a reason for it. No, I won't tell you what that reason is. *In my best River impersonation* Spoilers!

I'm also making a tiny change to Adrien's school name. I'll explain in the next chapter.

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I got caught up on the wording a lot. I know; it doesn't have to be perfect. But I'm a perfectionist, dagnabbit! Oh well. It's a necessary chapter, so I'll just have to deal with it.

Thanks for reading! Until next time.