Chapter 6: Gone
Marinette was talking with Alya when she heard the doorbell ring.
Chloé thought that it was "ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" To be best friends with one of the maids, but honestly, who even cared what Chloé thought? Besides, it's not like Chloé had any friends.
Marinette left Alya and raced to the door, thinking it might be Ivan with another letter from her papa. It was Ivan, but he looked really sad.
"Marinette..." he said quietly.
"Ivan, what's wrong? Did something happen? Was someone hurt? Did-" she broke off, seeing the branch he was holding. She suddenly had a terrible thought, and her eyes widened fearfully as she said, "no. No, it can't be... he-he's not...?" She trailed off, unable to finish.
Ivan looked at her, then closed his eyes and nodded once. She stood there, shocked, tears starting to stream down her face. She was dimly aware of Ivan starting to speak again, and forced herself to listen.
"Your father fell ill on the way home, Ivan told her. "To the end, he spoke only of you, Marinette, and your mother."
She thought she heard a scoff, but she didn't care. He was gone. First her mama, and now her papa...
Ivan held out the branch. He told her, "here, he wanted me to bring this back for you."
As Marinette took the branch, she heard behind her, "but what about my parasol?!" She turned around, and both her and Sabrina glared at Chloé for this remark.
"That doesn't matter now! We're ruined!" Her stepmother told her daughters.
As the three of them walked away, Marinette turned back around. "I-I'm sorry," she told Ivan, trying to hold back her tears, "it-it must have been... very hard for you," she managed.
"Marinette..." Ivan said, but couldn't finish. Finally, he turned around to leave. "Goodbye..." he said, looking at her as he walked away. She could tell he knew that nothing he said could comfort her.
Marinette shut the door and turned around, but immediately slid to the ground with her back against it. She couldn't even try to hold in the tears anymore, so she cried and cried, sitting against the door, cradling the branch that had been her last gift from her dear papa, who now was like her mama, gone from this world... forever.
A/N: Again, I'm sorry I haven't updated, I got backed up on homework and my mom wouldn't let me even touch a device until I was caught up! Hopefully I'll be able to post more chapters soon. Comments:
Potato: I will never, ever even attempt to redeem Lila Rossi in any fanfiction I ever write. EVER. Just to make that very clear. Yes, I'm going to redeem Sabrina, I mean, she really isn't that bad most of the time, just following Chloe's lead.