AN: Today marks the one-year anniversary of when I started publishing the "Mind Games"-verse. According to AO3's metrics (which don't include author notes or review replies), I've published almost 640k words (332 chapters total if I counted right)… and I have a backlog of 2½ unpublished stories, plus a bunch more one-shots. This has been a lot of fun for me to write, and I hope it's been fun for you to read!
Side note: This series actually started as a NaNoWriMo exercise last year ("Milady" and "Mind Games" together total ~60k words), and I decided to do it again this year. I did manage to finish it (76k words total including edits), which would be impressive if my average publishing output per month for the last year wasn't 53k words!
To Butterfly: I kind of like interspersing the one-shots, too. It would be logical to split these six chapters in half (3 now and then 3 after "Guys' Day Out"). Does anyone else have a preference?
To atchleykera031: Thanks! Here's one piece of what's happening next…
To yellow 14: That's the thing with the portals – presumably the portal will maintain the atmosphere on either side (otherwise "Startrain" would have ended with the earth's atmosphere being sucked out into space!), but you're still traveling who knows how far in altitude.
Emilie set her book aside and stood up from her favorite armchair in her sitting room, furrowing her brows on feeling the tense emotions emanating from Adrien's room. She could feel both Adrien and Marinette there, standing on opposite sides of the room, frustration and anger coming from Marinette while Adrien's emotions fluctuated between worry and concern. Duusu was asleep on his shelf, and she left him where he was, stepping out of the room and walking past the unused master bedroom to stop just outside Adrien's open bedroom door.
"You really need to take the night off, Bugaboo," Adrien insisted. "You've been up late every night this week!"
"I couldn't exactly avoid it," retorted Marinette heatedly. "The Winter Line is supposed to be in two days from now – or did you forget?"
"I didn't forget," Adrien acknowledged calmly. "But as the head of the company, I can tell you to take a break before you run yourself into the ground trying to meet a deadline!"
"And if I take a break and hand in my designs late, then everything gets thrown off in the production process, the line doesn't come out on time, we lose our share in the market, we can't sell anything, we have to lay off all our workers, and we close!"
"And if you don't take a break, what will happen then?" Adrien demanded heatedly. "You'll burn yourself out, your grades will suffer, the Heroes won't have you when they really need you, and your clothing line will come out late anyways!" His voice took on a more soothing tone. "Please take a night off, Princess."
"I can't!"
"Oh, just let it go, kid," Plagg called. "Since when have you ever been able to change Pigtails' mind?"
"What's the problem?" Emilie finally asked, poking her head around the corner. As she had sensed, Adrien and Marinette stood on opposite sides of the room. Plagg hovered near Adrien's head, while Tikki, sitting near the door, gave Emilie an unhappy look.
"Adrien's trying to make me stay in tonight and skip out on my scheduled patrol," Marinette told her, folding her arms, glaring at Adrien, and pouting.
"Only because she's going to pass out on her feet and fall off a roof if she tries patrolling on, like, two hours of sleep in the last three days!"
"I can't just skip on Kagami!" Marinette turned to Emilie. "Can you back me up here, Emilie? Adrien's being overprotective again!"
"Actually," Emilie began, smiling in amusement, "as one of your Guardians, I would advise you to listen to you partner. And as your friend-slash-future-mother-in-law, I would even echo your partner-slash-fiancé's concern. I'd hate to see you run yourself into the dirt, sweetheart."
Marinette gave her a dirty look and placed her hands on her hips. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"
"I am!" Emilie assured her. "And sometimes that means saving you from yourself, sweetie."
"But I'm the team leader! I can't just not show up," objected Marinette, frowning.
"What if I go on patrol for you?" Emilie suggested. "That way you can get your rest – both of you–" she added with a pointed look in Adrien's direction "–and your friend isn't out alone if something happens."
"Oh, no, I couldn't ask–" began Marinette, eyes widening.
"I insist," Emilie interrupted. "I've been sitting in my room reading half the day anyways; I wouldn't mind a chance to stretch my legs. And it would be a chance to see more of how your team operates. Besides, I suppose it's past time for La Paonne to make her grand return!"
La Paonne arrived at the meeting spot in a small park along the Seine near Notre Dame only fifteen minutes later to find Ryoku already waiting for her with her sword out, working slowly through fencing poses. She leaned against a streetlight and watched as Ryoku suddenly lunged forward, pirouetted around an imaginary block, and drove the sword tip up into what would have been the opponent's stomach. She backed away a pace, drawing her sword back and holding it up, next to her head and parallel with her shoulder, before relaxing and turning to face La Paonne.
"Konbanwa," Ryoku greeted her with a slight bow.
"Good evening to you, too!" La Paonne strode over to her and dipped her head slightly, smiling.
"I take it Adrien prevailed on her to go to sleep early?" Ryoku asked, sheathing her sword.
"It actually took something of a joint effort forus to convince her, but yes," she confirmed, nodding.
"I am unsurprised. Marinette can be…"
"Assertive?" La Paonne supplied, her lips curving up into a smile.
"I was going to say 'stubborn,'" responded Ryoku, grinning. "I've tried to tell her not to take on so much, but she never listens."
"Maybe she'll listen if we both tell her!" La Paonne replied with a laugh.
Ryoku giggled. "Not likely." She smiled, though La Paonne could feel her muddled emotions. "I am glad she has you – that they both do."
La Paonne gave her a sad smile. "It's okay to be jealous," she told her.
Ryoku flushed. "I…" She sighed. "I wish my mother were so supportive and… loving," she admitted, looking away.
La Paonne put a hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled her into a loose hug. "I may not know your mother, but speaking as a mother myself, I can tell you that there isn't a mother who doesn't – at least on some level – love her child. I think your mother does love you; she just might not be as good at showing it as you need."
"Thanks." Ryoku returned the hug briefly, sighing in relief, before she released La Paonne and turned toward the Seine. "Shall we, Paonne-Sama?"
"After you, Ryoku-Chan!" La Paonne jogged after her down to the riverfront, where Ryoku turned east and started to pick up speed, though still running at less than her maximum. "You know, you don't have to hold back quite so much on my account!" she called.
Ryoku flushed and accelerated, leaping from the street straight up to the roof of the nearest building alongside the river. La Paonne ran to keep up with her and jumped, grabbing onto the edge of the roof Ryoku had landed on and clambering up after her. She grunted at the exertion; Ryoku was already two buildings down. Despite her progress in physical therapy and her daily walks, maybe she wasn't quite as ready for an intense workout like this as she had thought she was! Before her accident she had only actually used her miraculous to go out like this a handful of times – almost all of them in the first year she'd had her miraculous, when it was still such a new and exciting experience. Reaching the edge of that roof she leapt across to the next one, rolled to her feet and put on a sudden burst of speed to catch up to Ryoku, who had turned to follow the Boulevard Diderot east where it left the river. She followed Ryoku up the boulevard for a few kilometers before Ryoku leapt off the roof they were on, spun around three times in midair, and landed beside the statue in the middle of the Place de la Nation.
La Paonne joined her in the park and sat down on the statue's base. "I apologize," she finally told Ryoku, frowning. "I guess I still can't quite keep up: the endurance isn't there yet."
Ryoku shrugged. "I'm sorry for pushing," she admitted. "I–"
"No… don't be sorry," La Paonne insisted. She chuckled. "I think that's what I need to get back to where I was before all of this – someone to really push, more than that therapist ever does. But a few minutes to rest wouldn't be amiss!"
Ryoku grinned. "Perhaps a little cross-training, then?" she suggested. "We could spar?"
"Sparring…" La Paonne looked up at her, intrigued. "I can't say I've ever really sparred before." She flicked out her fan and stood up. "But I welcome the challenge!"
Ryoku drew her sword and slid one foot back, placing both hands on the handle and holding the sword at an upward angle. La Paonne raised her fan in front of her face, obscuring all but one eye. Her mother had trained her in some tessenjutsu as part of her Guardian training growing up, but she'd allowed herself to fall out of practice; after all, her miraculous operated best from the shadows, sending senti-protectors when needed. To face off against, according to Adrien, one of the Heroes of Paris' best fencers would be an incredible test.
The two stood motionless for several minutes before Ryoku's sword flashed in the lamplight, cutting at La Paonne's shoulder from above. She raised her fan to parry the blow, and Ryoku shifted angles mid-strike. La Paonne sprang back, away from the strike, allowing the sword to pass harmlessly in front of her chest. She flicked her fan shut and planted it against the back of the sword, pushing it away and exposing Ryoku's back. La Paonne kicked, but Ryoku spun around the kick, and La Paonne's foot only struck air. Ryoku's sword changed direction, and La Paonne spread her fan to block a high strike, which Ryoku immediately followed with a low slash. La Paonne dropped her fan to lie along her leg and block. No sooner had her sword struck the fan than Ryoku sprang off the ground around her sword as a pivot point, aiming a high kick at La Paonne's head. La Paonne ducked the kick and brought up her fan to block Ryoku's follow-through sword strike aimed at her neck. Ryoku landed beside her and lashed out with her sword. La Paonne dropped to the ground and swept Ryoku's legs out from under her. Ryoku landed on her back, rolled backward through a somersault to her feet, and lunged, driving the tip of her sword at La Paonne's chest.
La Paonne held her fan spread in front of her and sidestepped as the sword blade pierced the fan – something only possible with a miraculous sword. She snapped the fan shut around the sword, grabbed both sides, and twisted the sword out of Ryoku's hand, momentum pulling it out of the fan and into the air, and caught it with one hand. She flicked her magically-repaired fan open and held it in front of her face, the sword held out in her other hand.
"Impressive!" Ryoku clapped, grinning excitedly.
La Paonne held the sword out to her, handle first, and Ryoku returned it to its carriage. "Adrien says you're the best fencer he's ever fought, so I know you were going easy on me," she told her, chuckling, "and I appreciate it!"
"Training is a delicate balance," Ryoku admitted. "If I push too hard someone can get hurt; not hard enough and you don't improve. With time and practice, everyone can become a better fighter, even those who don't see as much fighting, such as you or Sabrina."
"That's very true," agreed La Paonne, nodding. "Although I don't think it's quite as important for either of us to practice our fighting; our miraculous are best suited to supporting you, so we shouldn't really be in the fight normally."
Ryoku raised an eyebrow. "In that case, I would think it's all the more important for you and Impératrice Pourpre to know how to defend yourselves: if you should be forced to fight, that would probably mean that no one is coming to help."
La Paonne hummed. The odds of needing to fight were low, but practicing together would certainly help her strength and endurance to recover. Sensing the strain of eagerness the girl held in check, she smiled. "Perhaps we need to make this a regular occurrence, then."