I stood by the blonde boy as he ate his breakfast. My head completely lost in the clouds. "Ellis?" a sweet voice says my name. "Ellis?"
I blink about three times as I give Adrien a befuddled look. "Yes, Adrien?"
"My friends wanted to hang out today. do you think you could convince my father to let me go?" He asks, his sad eyes looking into mine. He had the same expression has a lost kitten.
I took a deep breath at the expression the boy made. "I'll see what I can do."
He beams at me and stands up. "Thanks, Ellis!" he shouts as she scurries out of the room.
I slowly make my way up the stairs. Knocking on Gabriel's door lightly. "Come in."
I enter the room, looking at the scary man behind the desk. "Adrien wants to spent time with his friends today, can he go?"
The man looks at me, his slicked back hair glistening in the sunlight from the large window across from him. His hand ran along his slick hair. "I don't see why not."
"thank you, sir." I nod as I quickly leave. Skidding to Adrien's room. Pushing the door ajar. "He said it's okay. Please be back for dinner." I say through the crack.
He comes sprinting from his room, giving me a quick hug before skipping down the stairs. "Thank you, Ellis!" He yells giddily as he slips out the door. A smile grows on my face. I can see why Nathalie is so fond of him.
I stood at the top of the stairs for a brief moment before making my way back to Nathalie's room. My fingers lingered on the door before I carefully pushed it open. Nathalie's dark hair covered her shoulders as she looked up at me. I looked into her blue, shining eyes.
Her delicate fingers tucked her hair from her ear. I felt a sudden wave of heat as I looked at her. Butterflies swarmed my stomach as I stared at her eyes. I had been staring so long I hadn't noticed the pink spread across her nose. "Ellis?" She says gently.
I snap out of my trance quickly and break eye contact with her. "Are you feeling alright? You've been out of it all morning." Her voice is much more tender than usual.
"I'm fine, just a bit distracted." I chuckle off her question and enter the room fully. Slowly approaching the bed. My fingertips run along her forehead as usual. "You're a little warm this morning. You're not coming down with something are you?"
"I feel fine, it may be because I've been in bed all morning."
"That may be it, but I'll keep an eye on your temperature anyways." My fingers leave her forehead, I glance at her face as she looks up at me. She presses her lips together as she looks up at me.
"Thank you..." She whispers tenderly as her hand rests on my wrist as it gradually pulls away from her face.
"It's no problem, that's what I'm here for." I say, looking back at her face.
I pick up the tray from her bedside table, it has an empty bowl and mug sitting on top. "Would you like another drink?"
"If you wouldn't mind." she nods. I smile at Nathalie before rushing out with the tray.
My feet carried me down the the kitchen quickly. The kitchen staff turned to me. "Would I be able to get two teas again?" I ask, placing the tray beside the sink.
"Sure thing." One of them says as they flick the kettle on. I listen intently to the hum of the kettle and the tea spoons tapping against the mugs. I focus on the gentle lick of the kettle and the sloshing of the steaming water as It's tipped into the mugs.
I try to keep myself from thinking too much. By the time I've come back from my daydreams I'm stood outside of Nathalie's door, a tray of hot liquid in my hands. I force the door open with my back, taking a deep breath as I enter.
I turn around, catching the door with my foot to prevent the deafening slam. I look up and Nathalie is tying her hair in front of the mirror. The red streak pulled tightly into her bun. Her lips coated in a cherry coloured lipstick. "I have some tea, Nathalie." I announce as the trap taps the coffee table.
"Thank you." She says as she looks over at me. I glance up at her as I take a seat.
As our eyes meet I feel my heart beat a hundred times a minute. I quietly pick up my hot mug and take a sip, gasping as the drink burns my tongue. I plant the cup down quickly and take sharp breaths in, attempting to cool my tongue.
Nathalie sits across from me and she lets out a soft giggle. "I'm guessing it's hot." she says, followed by a cute laugh. She smiles at me as she takes a sip of her drink. "Oh, that is hot." She sounds almost surprised.
I let out a sigh as the burning turns to an irritating tingle. I look at Nathalie, her smile making my stomach turn upside down. Her fingers hugging the smooth, black mug tightly as I lift mine back up to my lips.
I threw my body onto my bed. My furniture had been slowly creeping into place. I buried my face into my pillow and wrapped my arms beneath it. My hair fell down my back and arms as my eyes scrunched shut tightly.
All of my thoughts rushing to Nathalie. I couldn't stop thinking about her. It's my job to worry, I'm just looking after her. I insisted as I continued to reminisce about her smile. She has opened up a lot more now, I really like seeing how she's feeling.
I lifted my eyes from the pillow, my chin pushing into it's warmth. I stared at my headboard, lost in thought. Maybe I should help Nathalie get out tomorrow. I'm sure there's something that won't be too stressful for her!
~❀Stopping By The Bakery❀~I sat in the Drivers seat of a slim black car. My hands brushing my neatly tied hair from my eyes. A braid ran from the top of my head down to the tips of my hair. It was difficult not to rip out the hair ties. The car door swings open and Adrien sits in the back, Nathalie is sat across from him.
"So I was thinking..." I start, Adrien looks at me, very surprised I'm driving. "There's a bakery not too far from here. Maybe we should go pick something up?" I smile as I turn to face the two in the back.
"But won't my father be upset if I'm late?" Adrien asks.
"Don't worry about that! I'll tell him you stayed behind to study!" I give Adrien a thumbs up and Nathalie looks at me, her eyes shining from the sun beaming through the car's windscreen. I spin myself around and once Adrien is buckled in I take us to a small bakery.
I rush out of my seat ton assist Nathalie out of the car. Her fingers wrap around mine as I support her weight. Adrien steps out of the car quickly. We head inside and Nathalie loosens her grip on my hand. "Get whatever you want Adrien! I have some extra money!" I smile at him as he looks around.
A petit woman is stood behind the counter, she has short dark hair. A man is stood baking in the back, he's quite tall and muscular.
As Nathalie glances around at the goods in the short, glass display cases a girl bursts through the door. Her hair is tied into two pigtails at the base of her head.
She looks at myself and Nathalie and then Adrien. "Ah! A- Adrien!" She yells before stumbling past to the man in the back.
"Oh, hey Mariette!" Adrien waves at her.
She goes stiff as a board and waves back, a huge grin on her face. The two 'talk' as I approach the counter. "Could I get a croissant and a dozen macarons?" I ask the short woman.
"Yes of course! Is that all?"
I look at Nathalie. "Want anything?"
Nathalie blinks at me for a moment. "I'll just take a croissant."
"Adrien, what are you getting?" I ask, looking at the blonde boy. He's absolutely beaming.
"Could I get some macarons?"
"Of course!" I turn back to the short woman and she tells me the cost. I pay her quickly and the tall man hands me a paper bag filled with delicious goodies. "Thank you!" I say as we leave.
The bag sits in the passenger seat as we make the journey home.
We pull up outside the large home. I slip out of the car and assist Nathalie again. Adrien takes the brown bag from the passenger seat as we head inside. The car making a clicking sound as it locks.
Gabriel marches down the stairs, quickly approaching me. "Why is Adrien late?" he barks. I didn't think he actually cared...
"He stayed behind to study so we got treats!" I announce proudly. "Want one?" I dip my hand in the bag, handing Gabriel a neatly wrapped croissant.
He snatches it from my fingers and glares at me. "I'll let you off this time." he growls under his breath as he unwraps the warm, flaky pastry.
Adrien hands me the bag, slipping out his box of macarons. I smile at him as he runs up the stairs. Nathalie looks at me, her fingers gently nudging her glasses up her nose.
I look at Nathalie, her blue eyes gazing into mine. Her fingers tighten around my hand as she smiles at me. Her lips coated in red lipstick. I look at the light reflecting in her glasses, Gabriel's stern face peeping from the corner of her glasses. I look at him. "Thank you for this. It's surprisingly good." He turns to leave.
Did he just.. Compliment something?
I Hold Nathalie's hand as we carefully make our way up the stairs. Her free hand gripping the railing, she always looks focused when she used the stairs. As we reached the top her hand left mine as she made her way down the hall. I watched her walk for a moment before following. She gently pushed open the wooden door to her bedroom. I followed suit.
I placed the bag onto the table, the heat leaving my hands. "You know.." A gentle voice comes from behind me. "What you did today was really sweet. Adrien was practically glowing." She says as I spin around, my braid resting over my shoulder. I looked at Nathalie as she stepped closer to me.
"Well it seemed like you both needed it.. I just wanted to cheer you up." I say, my fingers picking at the band that sits above the tips of my hair.
"I really appreciated it. And I'm sure Adrien did to." Our eyes meet, her blue gaze meeting mine. The band in my hair slipping over my fingers as I fidget with my hair.
"I'm glad." I smiled at her beautiful face. I could feel a lump in my throat as she took another step closer. She seemed hesitant.
Her body gradually moving closer to mine, before finally she locked me in a tight embrace. My hands carefully wrapped around her back as she held me close for a moment. Her unexpected hug was warm and inviting, I felt my face heat up rapidly.
She stepped back and plonked herself into her seat. Carefully rummaging through the paper bag on the table. I looked at her before doing the same. I open the pale pink box of macarons, a rainbow of colourful treats stares at me. I glance at Nathalie as she bites into her soft croissant.
Her lipstick smudging with each gentle bite. I picked up a blue macaron, It's filling was pink and the top was neatly powdered. I gently pushed it to my lips, the sweet flavour of the strawberry cream tapping my tongue. My teeth sunk into the soft macaron. A thin layer of the outside cranking with my bite.
Nathalie looks at me, my face lighting up as the sweet flavour fills my mouth. "You have some just there.." She gestures to her own face. I look at her, rubbing my own mouth. "You missed it." She said, chuckling as I attempt to rub the crumb from my face again. "Let me..." She says softly as she leans over to me, I lean closer to her. Her thumbs presses against my chin and flicks the crumb from my face. Her hand rests on my cheek as she looks into my eyes.
TW~❀I'll do anything for her❀~TWQuick TW for this chapter! There will be mentions of blood, death and references to Hanahaki disease. Please consider this warning before reading!
I woke up to the creaking of my door, followed by a gentle voice. "Ellis..? Are you feeling okay?"
I sat up, groggily rubbing my eyes. My hair was a tangled wreck. "I'm feeling better than last night..."
"You're all over the news." Nathalie comes and plonks herself on the bottom of my bed. I look at her.
"What time is it?" I ask, glancing around for my phone.
"It's still early, don't worry. I just wanted to ask about what happened." Nathalie takes her phone from her pocket, opening her browser and loading a video. She holds her phone out and I watch the news footage.
It's showing the clips from when I started choking. I look at the crimson mess displayed on the screen, seeing blood smeared across my chin. "What did you want to ask?" I look back up at Nathalie, my hands trembling.
"I just wanted to know why you were bleeding so much." She pauses the news footage and looks at me, her face more serious then I've seen her before.
"I don't know. I remember Chat Noir using cataclysm and I lost it. MY chest started hurting..." I pause, looking at my hand as it curls into a fist at my chest. "I started coughing and all these roses came up. My guess is the thorns scratched my throat... It all went away after ladybug fixed everything..." I look back up at Nathalie for a second.
Her eyes staring at my face, she seems like she's focused on something. Her lips pressed together as she got lost in thought. She pulled her hair down and it sat softly on her shoulders. Her fingers adjusting her glasses carefully. "That rose... The one that was in your hair... was it important to you?" She asks, gazing down at the paused video on her phone. A blurry shot of the begining of the fight froze on the screen as she carefully examined it.
"Yes.. You could say the rose was important to me." I pulled my legs from under the covers and swung them over the edge of the pale bedding.
Nathalie looks at me, expectantly. "I could turn people into flowers... The rose was..." I pause, looking at her face as she examined the photos from the news closely. "You."
She quickly looks at me, her hair flicking against her face with the motion. I looked at her deep blue eyes. She focuses on my teary face for a moment before looking back at her phone. "I'm sorry I got you involved with that.." I look a the screen, her fingers dragging across the glass as she scrolls through the Ladyblog.
"It's fine. You're not the same when you're akumatised." Her fingertips push her hair behind her ear, a gentle sigh escaping her lips.
A tense silence fills the air as I gaze at her face. Her fingers lingering behind her ear.
...
...
...
"You know... Gabriel wants to talk to you again... This time I know what it's about..." her voice is quiet as she gazes at the small text on her phone. "I told him it's not a good idea... But he insisted on talking to you." Nathalie looks at me, her eyes glistening as the sun beams between the two of us. The blue glow of the sky lighting her face.
The light danced in her eyes like fish swimming in a pond. Her hair caressed her cheek as her hand dropped to the bed. My eyes gazing into hers as she made a serious face. I felt a small pain in my chest as The blue sky flickered in her eyes, each cloud making the reflections tread like ripples in a clear ocean.
"So what did he want to see me about?" Her eyes quickly gazed back at the small screen delicately balancing on her fingertips. The light dissipating from her eyes as she focused on her words.
"He just wants to give you more work is all." She says, the light of her phone dimming as she pushes herself from the bed. She took a few shaky steps before turning back to me. Her hair swinging around, falling from her shoulder to her back.
The sun shining in her eyes like a golf ball floating in a puddle. "Make sure to brush your hair this time." She smiles tenderly before leaving the room quickly. The door coming to a gentle close.
I cautiously sat in front of Gabriel. His mouth pressed into his fingers as he stared at me. "You did a good job getting Chat Noir's miraculous." He starts. My face goes blank as He continues. "Do you think you could do that again?"
I pause, flustered. "P- pardon?" I stare at Gabriel, his knuckles push into his thin lips.
His fists push against the desk as he stands up, his hands tucking behind his back. "Will you help me get the miraculous?"
"Why should I do that?" I ask, looking at Gabriel's aggravated face.
"You could use the akuma to protect the ones you love." He tries to reason in his harsh voice.
"I can protect Nathalie fine like this." I fold my arms, looking up at the man.
"If you do it I won't akumatise her." He says, almost defeated. His arms fold across his chest.
"I doubt you'd risk your assistant like that." I confidently say. His cold face saying all it had to.
"You'd be surprised. But you did almost get her killed. Wouldn't you want to guarantee her safety?" His eyes stare through mine. A shiver rushes down my spine as his grimace turns to a smirk.
"Of course I would, but my priority is helping her recover. I won't let myself hurt her again, I can't take that risk."
"I can use the akuma to give you the power to heal her, in return you can help me." his hands fold behind his back as he approaches me. A hand reaching to my chin.
"This all sounds nice, in theory. How can I guarantee you keeping your word?" I ask, his thumb pulling my face close to his. My fingers grip the arms of my seat firmly as our faces are inches apart.
"You just have to trust me."
"I'll get you one miraculous, and then you let me help Nathalie." I bargain. His thumb presses into my chin as his animalistic smirk grows larger.
"Deal." His hand releases my chin. We shake firmly before I make my way from the office. My heart thumping against my ribs as I make my way downstairs.
I release a gentle sigh as I slump in a deep red chair. My head hangs over the back of the chair. My eyes staring up at the ceiling, the rough texture slowly blurring as I continued to stare up. My hair draped over the back of the chair as I sighed heavily.
The bathroom door swung open with a creak and Nathalie looked at me. Her hair wrapped in a towel and her pyjamas hugging her body. I finally blinked and looked at the tall woman. "Did you speak with Gabriel?" she asks.
"I did but, it got me thinking." I say, looking at her as she approaches the other seat. A few wet hairs peaking from the towel. My eyes meet hers. A thought slowly crossing my mind, I put my hand to my chin as I think carefully. My eyebrows furrow as Nathalie takes a seat.
"What were you thinking about?" She asks, her hands wiggling the towel on her head as she dries her hair.
"I hope I'm wrong, but..." I pause, looking at her face. "Did you end up getting ill because of Gabriel?"
Her eyes widen and the towel slides down her face. As it slips from her head her damp hair falls to her shoulders. "In a way. I'm guessing he wants you to help him get the miraculous." She says, looking at the towel.
"What happened?" I ask, looking at her face, unable to read her feelings.
She let's out a sigh and looks at me. "I used a broken miraculous."
I look at her, still barely able to tell what she's feeling. Her red streak dripping on the white towel in her hands. My thumbs pushed against each other as I tried to think of the right words. My lips pressed together as I examined Nathalie's face. Her eyes were much clearer without her glasses.
My mind wondered to the way she acted towards Gabriel, the way she still worked so hard for him. I gazed into her blue eyes, the light sparkling like glitter.
"I won't pry too much, but can I ask you one thing..?" I look at her face as, a brief flash of worry spread across her eyes. She nods in response to my question.
"What do you see in, Gabriel?"
The silence soon becomes tension as we look at each other. She has a surprised look on her face, I don't think she was expecting that question.
"I'm not sure what you mean." She looks me in the eyes.
"You seem quite fond of him... I can't quite understand it." I look at her face, examining every detail.
"I've worked for him a long time. Seeing him put so much effort into what he does..." She pauses, a look of concentration spreading across her face. "I want to see him succeed."