Healing
Max waved at the heroes as they left him in his room. It was past his bedtime, but his mother was studying for her exams and nobody found it particularly odd for the boy to be awake at that hour even on a school night, it was Markov who made sure his little human got sufficient sleep.
Chat Noir stored the miraculous in the pocket of his suit. They were going back to Marinette's to pick up the miracle box and then they were going to his room to try and heal Nooroo and Duusu, at least that was the plan and Ladybug did not change her mind so far.
"I was thinking of staying at home a little bit to study the book on my own, I don't want to carry it around together with the box and the instruments, it just seems too much and all at once." Ladybug noted while she stored the glasses in the miracle box and detransformed.
Tikki nibbled on a cookie at the desk and Chat Noir detransformed in the background, he was not going to complain about postponing the return to the Agreste mansion nor his room. It carried a certain feeling for him, a melancholy and loneliness he did not feel ever since he left it.
Marinette was hunched over the desk and studied the tablet with the notes from master Fu. She had her own copy so she was familiar with the most of it, but there was more information there, mostly with question marks, as the old master was not sure how to interpret certain lines.
"I can't find anything in here." Marinette frowned as she studied the contents of the tablet with Tikki on her shoulder. She tapped her fingers on the sides of the tablet nervously ans she flipped through the pages rather quickly because she saw most of it already.
"Can't say I understand this all, or perhaps anything at all." Adrien shrugged as he peeked over her shoulder. He concentrated on the marks on the tablet with an ambition to use his knowledge of Chinese to decipher those words into plain and simple instructions for use.
"Why don't you try the book if you went through the trouble of retrieving it." Plagg teased more than suggested as he nudged the book that sat on the table.
"Hush, you are not supposed to read it anyway." Adrien replied.
"Then why is Tikki on Pigtails shoulder?" Plagg protested.
Marinette sighed, produced one more cookie from a jar and pointed Plagg towards a piece of cheese on a plate on her desk before she picked up the book. It was heavy, it had hard outer wraps and it smelled, well old and something else, not necessarily inviting.
"I don't even know why I'm doing this, there is no way I could understand any of this. I mean my Chinese is so bad … " The girl rambled, but then she opened the book and flipped a few pages there. Suddenly those marks carried meaning to her, not all but some did.
"I … I can read this! I understand this!" Adrien exclaimed and Marinette put her hand over his mouth, he was a bit too loud for this time of the night, although her parents were probably asleep and did not hear him.
"I see, so the cure … a cure … any cure … " Marinette was going over a page that described a butterfly hero and their kwami but there was nothing specific, nothing to hold on to, just a simple standard procedure reference.
"Okay, let's look for Nooroo." Adrien proposed and reached for the page to turn it. Marinette nodded and after a flip they reached the page with the peacock miraculous description. Again, there wasn't much to do there.
"It looks like playing some loud bangs is the only thing that can cure them." Marinette noticed. Her eyes studied the notes once more, she looked for a sign, anything that would mention illness or a cure, but there was nothing, literally noting more on that.
"Why can you … " Adrien pointe to the book and looked at Marinette. "How can you read this and not the instant noodles?" He looked at the book. "And why can I read and understand this so easily while I wasn't able to read anything on that screen."
"I only understood what master Fu interpreted." Marinette acknowledged. "The signs and the pictures did not tell me much except that it was somehow linked with different heroes. But this .. " She put her finger on the book. "This is the cure."
They both look at the two kwami but they got no answers there.
"Perhaps the book itself is protected by magic?" Adrien wondered. "So only the guardians can read it and truly understand what it means." He grinned. He really liked the idea, if he was right, that would be the first proof that he was indeed a guardian, just like Marinette.
"Master Fu had the book only for a short while and then we only made copies for him to read, no wonder he had so much trouble understanding the instructions for the magical enhancement potion." She smiled.
"Do you think my father understood any of this?" He inquired as he looked at the book.
"Maybe a little, maybe he understood it wrong." Marinette shrugged. Adrien was not ready to go further into that.
"Well then, I guess that means we are good to go. I can fetch the bag from the balcony after we transform." Adrien shrugged. "I left Camembert there on my first visit, I did not want your room to smell of that."
They both transformed, Chat picked up a bag and they hopped over rooftops towards the Agreste mansion. They detransformed there and opened the bag. Marinette produced a box with cookies while Adrien demonstratively pinched his nose while he extracted a bag with Camembert.
"Okay, then, Tikki, dig in." Marinette opened a box with cookies, the tiny red goddess of creation pounced inside with a grin on her face. She was able to eat slowly when she wanted to, but that would have taken all night, this time she ate the treats quickly.
"Ugh, at least it smells less after you eat it Plagg." Adrien produced a few wheels of Camembert from the bag and opened it. The grin on Plagg's face said it all, the cheese got annihilated rather quickly.
"So, basically, once we get the kwami to materialize from the brooch and the pin we have to perform this." She pointed to several lines in the book. It did not looked like much, just a few signs that could have meant anything.
"These are just a few chants and happy thoughts and we bang those two plates." He smirked. He looked around, he was really looking forward to producing so much noise in his room and in this empty house, because that used to be forbidden while he lived there.
"Yes Adrien, and we just speak a few words and transform or call our powers." Marinette teased. The power different words had in the world of magic was amazing and terrifying at the same time, she really had to think what she would say.
"I'm finished." Tikki announced while she picked up the last crumbs from the bottom of the box. She was still chewing her last bite. Marinette was unable to explain where did all those cookies go because her kwami was the same size she was when she started on the cookies.
"You know, kid, I wouldn't mind a wheel or two of Camembert after we finish." Plagg teased his chosen, who was not surprised at all that the cheese was already eaten nor that it had no effect on Plagg's size, whatsoever.
"I have one more piece and this one is only after we finish so we can come back home." Adrien smirked, of course he had a stash of cheese for later, it was a habit, it was something that he always had, for such a long time.
"I have a few more cookies for that." Marinette added to Tikki who just swallowed her last bite. They both transformed in two flashes of light.
"Okay, one by one, I'm going to take the brooch." Ladybug spoke and opened the box. She took the brooch and sat down, instantly, she felt tired, as if her power was sucked out from her, she sat on the floor and held the brooch in her hand, if she went unconscious, she should drop the brooch.
Chat looked at her with worried eyes. HE understood now why master Fu had his own miraculous and his own kwami, Wayzz was probably good in giving a protection power from all the negativity that could have been found in sick kwami or something.
He entertained himself with the memories and the fact that he saw master Fu transformed only once and only in the end. Then finally Duusu popped out from the brooch, on the palm of Ladybug's hand, tired and motionless, he did not float but just laid flatly.
"You will have to do it while I hold him." Ladybug told Chat. Her voice sounded forcefully cheerful, she was tired, he was able to tell, it was taking a lot from her to bring this kwami out and now it was his job to heal the kwami, and help Ladybug by doing so.
Chat took the instrument and started. He hummed, he chanted as much as he knew how to pronounce those words and then he banged the two lids. It was loud. It was really loud. It echoed around his cavernous room, therefore it was probably louder than needed. He grinned.
"Try to bang it less hard, I'm certain it was not this loud when master Fu did it." Ladybug warned quietly, her voice still sounded tired and Chat felt slightly guilty for banging so loud, maybe he exhausted her further with that.
Chat Noir repeated the procedure. This time not so strongly as the first time. And then he repeated it again.
Duusu started to move after the third cycle.
Chat Noir repeated the procedure once more. He checked with Ladybug who only offered one firm nod. She concentrated on the kwami in her hand and hummed along.
Duusu opened his eyes and stood on the palm of Ladybug's hand.
"Duusu?" She asked.
"Yes Ladybug, you are my guardian now." The kwami bowed lightly and shakily.
"Oh, don't push yourself too hard." Ladybug smiled. "Chat, try one more time, please."
Chat repeated the chant and banged the lids lightly.
But Duusu did not seem much more awake than he used to be.
"Why don't you eat some food and tell us how you feel." Ladybug asked.
"I feel very well, but my powers are weak and I will need more cycles of healing to be recovered to my full strength." Duusu replied as he slowly chewed the food he was given.
They wanted to repeat the procedure with Nooroo but Ladybug's earrings beeped and she detransformed soon after she returned the brooch to the miracle box. The pink light faded and she caught exhausted and hungry Tikki.
"I guess I will be playing the music from now on." Marinette smirked and took the lids in her hands, tired and worn out but emboldened by their previous success she was ready to face the next challenge although she was not supported by the magical suit.
"You could try it on me first, Marinette." Tikki suggested as she slowly floated down to the bed. Chat watched her with concern, he never saw his own kwami that tired, unless he was asking for more cheese in a particularly dramatic way, but even then it was an act.
"Oh, Tikki, you poor little kwami, of course." Marinette cooed and got on her knees beside the bed, she stroked her kwami gently while Tikki watched the girl with tired blue eyes, her tentacles laid flatly on the cover.
Chat showed Marinette what to do once, then she repeated the procedure and concentrated on her kwami. After about fifteen minutes and several cycles, Tikki was much better. The tiny goddess of creation munched on a cookie and observed.
"I will take the pin." Chat decided and opened the miracle box, his eyes flicked towards Marinette, the girl looked tired too. The whole procedure exhausted her too, he had to take his share. He had to face that demon sooner or later. He was the guardian. He reached for the pin.
Marinette and Tikki observed quietly as the boy in the black superhero suit reached for the box and stopped to observe the pin before he took it in his hand, he cradled the miraculous that used to be wielded by his father who used it to terrorize the city.
"This is what my father wore when ..."
"This is what he used to create all those monsters that attacked us ..."
But the kwami did not appear. The pin and the crystal sat there as if they were just any piece of jewellery bought at a shop outside, nothing was happening, Marinette watched with tired eyes and breathed slowly. Tikki floated just above the girl's shoulder.
Nothing was happening and the suspense was starting to feel like too much. Marinette performed the chants and banged the instrument a few times times just in case, it may help, there was no damage if she did that, right? But Nooroo remained hidden in the pin.
"Perhaps I am too weak since I'm untransformed." Marinette looked at Tikki.
"No, Marinette, it is not that. Nooroo used to be used for negative things to explore negative emotions." Tikki countered. Chat remained still, sitting on the floor and stared at the pin intently, there was no telling what was going on inside his mind.
"What should I do then, feel more positive?" Marinette inquired.
"You can try." Tikki shrugged.
Marinette deflated a little as she bent over the pin and concentrated, she needed something positive, but all she felt was tired, it was already past bedtime and she had a busy day, she did not notice when Chat raised his eyes and saw her worried face.
"I know how to make you feel more positive." He smirked, let the pin stay on the palm of his hand while he raised the other hand to her shoulder.
Chat pulled her into a kiss. She was surprised at fist and it took a moment for her to realize what was going on, but both of them forgot about the Agreste mansion and the kwami and the pin and the lids and there were just the two of them for a moment.
He was feeling weak, he thought it was because of the kiss, but they separated, he leaned back and his head collapsed back onto the bed behind him, while a violet kwami finally appeared on the palm of his hand.
Marinette did a few more cycles of banging the lids and chanting and focused her happy thoughts and hope into Nooroo. Chat observed her effort with a sleepy face and half lidded eyes he looked ready to fall asleep even if there was noise.
Marinette put down the lids as she decided she tried enough and was feeding the kwami some sugar liquid when Chat's ring frantically beeped and he detransformed into Adrien. The boy looked groggy and disoriented.
"We got him, even for a little while." Marinette smiled. But she was worried about Adrien, she was worried a lot.
"Hello my dear guardians." Nooroo uttered weakly. "I thank you for your sacrifice and kindness. I am healed but I am still weak. It will be a long time before anyone is going to be able to wield me."
"Would it be easier for you if you stayed in the box?" Marinette inquired.
Nooroo was confused, it had been such a long time since anyone asked him how he preferred anything.
"You can take me out at any time if you need me, but you can keep me in the box if you do not want to be as exhausted as me." The kwami pointed towards the blonde boy who barely kept his eyes open and looked at the exchange.
"Of course." Marinette replied. Then she patted the kwami on the head, took the pin from Adrien and put it into the miracle box.
"Come on, I'm taking you home." Marinette smiled gently and got to her feet. She transformed into Ladybug and took the miracle box, the lids and Adrien back to her rooftop terrace. It wasn't long before both of them were asleep as exhausted as they were.