Chapter 5

Several Minutes Later - A Nearby Shop

A bell rings as the door swings open.

"Welcome to the Library of Scrolls, how can I….oh Mr. Croix it's great to see you!" -Welkin the store owner exclaimed.

"It is good to see you too again Welkin. How are you and Alicia doing?" -Mr. Croix responded to his friend.

"Oh she is doing great! Her mobile bakery truck is really doing well. Plus it acts as a mobile advertisement for me. It is really nice and the extra business allows me to keep a good staff when I am away teaching at the university."

Welkin and Mr. Croix talked a little bit more before a little girl came running in the room. She was 9.

"Uncle Croix!" -she ran up to him as he leaned over to give her a hug.

"Wow Isara you are getting big! You must have grown a lot since I last saw you." -Mr. Croix smiled.

"Yep I am! Dad says that I am growing way too fast. Now when do I get to come out again so I can ride the horses! I am big enough now!"

"You are certainly getting big enough. Hmm I will have to think about it, but I bet it will happen soon, just make sure you are still being good and helping your mom and dad a lot." -Mr. Croix reassured Isara.

She grinned and ran off.

"She always gets so excited when you visit." Welkin explained.

"Well, she is a pretty special child. Hopefully when you and Alicia have time off again you all can come out and have dinner at the estate."

"We would love that! But while I love it when you stop by, I have a feeling I know the real reason you are here. You know the texts are not supposed to be viewed for a few more days until they are open to the public" -Welkin explained.

"I know, but I was hoping I could call in one of my favors to get a quick look at some of them. I only have a short time before I have to teach classes this afternoon and would really like a quick glance. Besides, I am sure you have already looked at some of them too." -Mr. Croix gave a sly look at Welkin.

"I figured you would not take no for an answer. Follow me, but know that there is someone else in there taking a look at some of the manuscripts. He made a generous donation to the university, so I didn't want to disappoint him."

Mr. Croix began to follow Welkin towards the back of the store. As he walked away, a woman appeared from behind one of the bookshelves out of sight looking at Mr. Croix. It was Nathalie Sancoeur, and she did not look happy.

The two men walked down a hallway to a back corner with an old door. Welkin unlocked the door and gestured to Mr. Croix to go on in.

"I am sorry for the security, but we have to play it safe. There is a button in there that you can press that will signal me to come get you. Take as much time as you need." -Welkin explained as Mr. Croix walked in and turned around.

The door shut in front of him. He took a deep breath, excited to see what he would discover. He attended displays like this many times before to read firsthand accounts of history. However publicly he did so to find history. In this case however, he wanted to see if he could find any information or depictions of the Miraculous and Kwamis. While this used to be more for curiosity, with Hawk Moth hiding in Paris, the desire to find this information had become a critical mission.

As he turned around to see what he would find, what he saw instead angered him to the core. There sitting at the table was the other man Welkin had mentioned. It was the last person he wanted to see, Gabriel Agreste.

Both men stared at each other down for a minute. Mr. Croix finally moved and walked over to the large table that was covered in varios old texts, many of them hundreds of years old, some over a thousand.

Gabriel was hunched over the table looking at one of the texts when Mr. Croix decided to break the silence in the room.

"This is not quite the place I would expect to find you looking for new fashion designs. I wasn't aware the medieval look was coming back into style."

"If you would take your eyes off of words for a minute you might find some inspiration in these old pages" -Gabriel quipped. "And why are you here, Croix? The public viewing for people like you is not for a few days."

Mr. Croix sat down at an old chair and pulled out a small pair of spectacles for his eyes. He began to look around at the manuscripts around him.

"Oh I thought before all the rich and famous tainted these texts with their presence I would get a look and see what I could learn." Mr. Croix fired back.

While both men looked through some of the material for history and design, what was not known to the other was they were both looking for the same information on Miraculous and Kwamis, though for different purposes.

15 minutes went by as the men continued to read and look, the silence only interrupted by the turning of pages and the occasional insult thrown at each other.

As Mr. Croix gave up on another manuscript, he glanced over at Gabriel who seemed just as frustrated. However, close to Gabriel was a particularly old Manuscript that felt as if it could fall apart if barely touched. He reached over and grabbed it. Gabriel didn't take notice and just huffed at Mr. Croix for reaching in his general direction.

The manuscript was small and delicate, and the first few pages were too old to make out, but about halfway through there was a marking that looked like a ladybug. Mr. Croix began to read what he could from the worn and faded text.

Final Testament of the Savior

Transcribed by Sister Evie

Year of {..}

I wish I could have done more. The famine was going to kill so many people. I could not bear to look at their faces and see what hope they had lost. My family…..friend Tikki….I knew what I had to do. People are calling me a savior because I saved the crops. I had to…..create…..I used the power from my earrings. She tried to stop me….but one life for many others. I will miss…..friends…..Tikki. I was a ladybug. I regret that I did what I did out of anger for the crops being destroyed. That anger…...cost me my life.

Mr. Croix finished reading the story and began to ponder everything in it. The name of the person, location, and year was all missing or ink had faded away. But what scared him was the idea the powers of the miraculous could be used by a hero in anger.

As he tried to find anything else in the manuscript Gabriel looked over and wondered why Mr. Croix was so fixated on that particular text.

Suddenly both men turned to hear the door unlocking and opening. There stood Nathalie.

"Sir, it is time we go. You need to get back for your afternoon appointment."

"Very well, Nathalie. I think I have seen all I needed to. These are nothing more than just dusty old books that need to be burned."

As Gabriel got up and began to walk out, he looked over at Mr. Croix, suddenly noticing the ladybug marking on the page he was looking at. He glared and knew he would have to come back for it, when there would not be anyone else around.

As the two of them walked off, Welkin came into the room.

"So did you find anything good? There is a ton of history in these! I was really impressed by some of the old drawings of bugs and their descriptions."

"I have found a few things, but I will be excited for the public viewing so I can talk these over with other scholars. I wish I could stay longer but I need to get back to school." Mr. Croix replied.

As he got to the front door, he thanked Welkin for the opportunity. The moment he got outside and the door shut behind him, a chill ran down his entire spine. Something wasn't right.