Hoping
"Tikki, would taking Amelie to the temple mean using a miraculous for personal reasons?" Marinette inquired once she got back to her room. Amelie insisted that her driver, former Adrien's bodyguard, to take them both to their respective homes just after dinner.
"She might tell us more about Emilie and what if we learn that Gabriel was wrong and that it wasn't the broken peacock miraculous that made her fall ill." The girl continued to elaborate her idea so it did not sound like she was making a favour to someone just to make them feel better.
"Do you really think that is true or you use that as an excuse to entertain some false hope?" Tikki inquired in high pitch voice, but with a note of age old wisdom and watched her chosen and now her guardian with her large blue eyes.
"It … it might be true." Marinette paced her room anxiously. "I mean, Adrien and me were able to read the book easily, Gabriel obviously did not if he needed the stolen tablet from master Fu to know how to fix the peacock miraculous."
Tikki did not say a word, she just watched. She actually wasn't able to tell herself if the girl was fooling herself or it was plausible truth. Because it was possible that Gabriel decided what to believe in and what actually happened to his wife was slightly different than that.
Marinette did not want to use the 'good deed' as an argument. Emilie created Felix for Amelie as a good deed and look what it brought.
"What is bothering you kid?" Plagg asked quietly. Adrien just arrived and excused himself to the toilet first. Nino expected him for a best bro evening full of gaming, films and other entertainment to kill time while they bonded over junk food.
"My aunt … she wanted to see mum, she still wants to see mum, and I'd like to take her, I'd like to ask Max, I mean, Peagasus to take her, and … " The boy rubbed his temples and his forehead, he just needed a moment to hear from Plagg how that was a bad idea and he could hang out with Nino.
"And you could go with her?" The tiny black cat half teased how concluded. "But you forget you can't really go further than the cave transformed." Plagg glared. "So you'd only be waiting so close but not close enough."
"Yeah, okay, I will think of something, besides, I should talk to Marinette about that and … and you never mentioned that was a selfish reason?" The boy inquired with one eyebrow tilted upwards, it was giving him hope that he was able to do that.
"What about some Camembert for my services?" Plagg inquired. "And why don't you message pigtails about it?"
"Marinette and me just sneaked away half that cheese platter away for you just to keep you quiet, I was certain someone would notice." Adrien protested, but he produced one more piece of cheese because if Plagg ate it, it would not sit in his shirt pocket and smell.
After that, he devoted his time to Nino, the boys enjoyed a not a school night evening of fun and games (and chased Chris back to his bed so many times they stopped counting).
Felix had a feeling his mother sent him away to Chloe to ask Adrien something and hide that from him, and now she paced their living room area back and forth with a nervousness in her step. That did not happen often and he always knew the reason, so he decided to sit and wait for her to spill.
Amelie sent a message through Ladyblog as soon as she returned to the room, of course it was stupid of her to expect an answer right away, but she needed to know. She was nervous because she wasn't sure what to expect to get back from the heroes at all.
The superheroes knew that Gabriel became Hawk Moth because he wanted to bring back his dead or comatose wife, so how would the heroes feel if she asked them to try to find a reason for that and possibly do the same, just not by using a wish?
But deep down she felt like she knew what the reason was. Her eyes flicked towards Felix, her son, the boy she raised, the boy she was still raising. She was not ready to give up on him, to trade the boy in exchange for the life of her sister.
Yeah, if she adopted Adrien she had a replacement for her son, but she was not able to do that with her sister around. So it was either her and two boys, or her and her sister and one boy, her sister's boy. But that other boy deserved his mother back, poor boy, and …
She wanted to slap herself. What was she thinking? To give up on Felix? Never, she raised him as her son, he was a person, with feelings and character, oh boy did he have a character. Her sister claimed she was able to influence his growth and development through her ring.
What if the superheroes thought her sister was doing something wrong with the miraculous just because she used it? What if they thought it was the right result that her sister was now in a coma? What if they would never help her and just destroy Felix in the process?
"Chloe will charge you for wearing out the carpet, mother." Felix warned.
"Adrien saw Emilie." She spoke softly. "She is … Gabriel did something to her, apparently and it drove him mad to do all those stupid things."
Felix hummed in agreement, he wasn't surprised, not that he considered the mind of his stuck up uncle something worth keeping.
"And the ring?" The boy raised an eyebrow, he connected the tips of his fingers, it was something Gabriel often did. He had the same stiff and self controlled posture, the cold and sharp eyes that always studied always had to know what was under that surface.
"I did not ask." Amelie admitted. She was so focused on her sister and what happened to her that she forgot to ask about the other ring, besides, what were the chances that Adrien had that ring, she was rather certain it was either with Emilie or Gabriel.
Felix observed his mother. He knew what she felt right then, sometimes he felt like he was able to read her mind, he certainly knew she was seriously concerned about some life and death situation, but had to ask for details.
"So you think he did not take the ring off from aunt Emilie? I guess Adrien is not the type to do that and if you asked him, he would just ask more questions. Especially that girlfriend of his, as pathetic as I find her, she is rather curious." He stood and put his hands on his back.
Amelie saw more and more Gabriel in the manners of her son, she suspected that her brother in law had the other ring, that he had both of them, but it did not make sense, he should have kept the other ring on Emilie's hand. She fiddled with her own ring that hung on a chain around her neck.
"Why don't you go to bed, Felix? You have a tournament tomorrow." She smiled.
That evening Ladybug and Chat Noir knocked on a window on the floor just below the top one on Le Grand Paris.
"Good evening, we are Ladybug and Chat Noir." Chat spoke with a grin. "Can we come in?"
Amelie was awake and buried in the paperwork that she was reading.
"Of course come inside, please." She quickly removed some papers from a chaise and offered them some space to sit.
"Good evening, we saw that you wanted some information about your sister, Emilie." Ladybug noted as seriously and professionally as she treated mayor Bourgeois.
"Yes, um, you see, in the final battle, Hawk Moth, I mean, Gabriel Agreste, mentioned how he wanted your miraculous to bring his wife back. Is that true? Can that be done?" She inquired.
A sense of dread passed through both heroes. Chat visibly shuddered at the thought, suddenly the reality and the imminent danger plastered itself straight in front of them, because Amelie might want to do the same, to bring her sister back.
"It could." Ladybug stated firmly. "We actually don't know how, we never tried that." She looked at Chat. "But what we do know is that whatever you wish for, there is a price to pay, if you bring back a loved one, another loved one has to be lost to make balance."
"Oh" Amelie sighed and put a hand over her chest for a moment. "So it is a wish then, and one can wish for whatever they want but there is a price to be paid and in equal terms." So, for her, there was no difference between the wish and destroying Felix to bring her sister back.
"Exactly." Chat confirmed in a low and menacing tone as he observed Amelie through narrowed eyes. They both saw and felt her concern, they knew she knew and now they were certain what was bothering her. But she looked at them and saw their concern, then she smiled shakily.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to take your miraculous to bring my sister back, I doubt I'd know how, anyway. It was just for me to know, to learn, to try and understand what my brother in law did and … honestly how mad he got." The woman concluded.
There was a double sigh of relief from the chaise. The two superheroes did not hide they were worried, and although both of them appeared more relaxed after her admission, they were still alert and full of attention.
"Okay, so, do you know why Emilie, my sister became so catatonic? Comatose? In enchanted sleep?" Amelie faked she was strong and cheerful while she asked those questions and she clasped her hands together and opened them frequently in the rhythm of her speech.
"It is some kind of magic that keeps her in that state." Ladybug spoke firmly, she held Chat's hand firmly and signalled him with her eyes that this was her speech to give. "The monks in the temple think there is only her body in there."
"Only … her body … " Amelie repeated slowly and let the words settle deep in her mind and soul. So it was true, her sister was as good as dead. Both heroes appeared rather distressed about the whole thing too.
"Tell me, do you know what made her that way?" Amelie asked next.
"We can't tell for sure, there are many options and probably more that we do not know about yet." Ladybug replied calmly and professionally.
"Well, if you do find out, do you think your magic could repair that? Could it bring Emilie back?" The woman asked in a pleading voice.
"We can't tell for certain and we are definitely not making any promises, but miraculous ladybug magic had managed to restore whoever got destroyed by magic, so far, from all that we know." Ladybug sounded slightly less certain than in her previous answers by that time.
"Okay." Amelie was again lost in her thoughts.
"Now, we know she used the peacock miraculous … recreationally." Ladybug spoke carefully. Amelie quickly given the heroes her full attention. "Can you tell us more about that?"
"Well." Amelie began. "In the beginning it was like her toy, a way to express her creativity, she sometimes moved furniture around that ridiculously huge house of theirs just to make fun of Gabriel." Amelie giggled. Did Chat giggle too? Ladybug smiled.
Amelie continued to tell them everything she knew, well everything save one particular creation, one particular sentibeing that was created one night in the hospital, an event she hardly remembered because she was heavily medicated and in hospital bed, but she knew what it was.
Ladybug and Chat Noir let her speak for as long as she wanted and tried to remember if she mentioned anything that could be a remaining sentimonster or an object that stored an amok.
"You say she had more than one sentimonster at a time and she controlled them all?" Ladybug asked quietly.
"Yes, when she was … how do you say … transformed?" Amelie smiled. "She was able to create only one at a time, well one per transformation, I think, but she could control more than one at the same time."
"Okay." Chat spoke lost in his thoughts. When and where did Amelie and Emilie had those sessions when they drank wine and entertained themselves by making a sofa dance?
"Come to think of it." Amelie laughed. "We were only able to do it in the night, when the boys fell asleep. She … we hid that from the boys, they … they didn't know."
"Would you like to go and see Emilie, your sister, in the temple?" Ladybug asked next.
"Would you like to go there now?" Chat clarified. "It is almost midnight here, it should be dawn over there."
"What? Now?" Amelie asked as she jumped from the chair she was sitting in.
"Yes, we just need to fetch a fellow miraculous wielder to get you there." Chat grinned.
"Actually, yes I want to go, but I wanted to ask you … would you be willing to take someone else too?" She inquired.
"Who?" Ladybug asked warily, she was rather worried about taking Felix with them.
Chat was not in the mood to take Felix there either, not if he was sentimonster, which he was.
"Adrien, I'd like to take him to see his mother again." Amelie beamed.
"It … can be arranged." Ladybug nodded. Chat wanted to protest but one move of Ladybug's hand quieted him. "Can I pick you up in ten minutes?"
"Of course, I'll be ready." Amelie beamed.
Ladybug and Chat Noir did not go very far, just to a rooftop across the street.
"What are you doing? I can't go as Adrien and Chat Noir." Chat protested.
"Chat Noir isn't going." Ladybug smirked. "Here, take this miraculous to Max and ask him to wait for me on the rooftop of Francoise Dupont, Adrien will be waiting for us in his room and Adrien … will have a big task of taking Emilie to the temple, Peagasus and me will have to stay in the cave."
"Oh yes, okay, I understand." Chat finally grinned. "This actually simplifies your plan, doesn't it?"
"Of course." She grinned and flung away. She was going to have one quick ride around the city just to show her presence to the citizens.
Amelie was ready, in trousers, vest and sensible walking shoes, and a jacket, the woman probably did not pack anything more weather proof for Paris.
"Adrien is going to wait for us in his room." Ladybug spoke quietly, took Amelie and launched her yoyo. The woman was surprisingly calm passenger with all things considered.
Peagasus waited on the school rooftop and they continued together towards the Agreste mansion. They flew in through the window on Adrien's room and the boy stood there and waited as agreed.
Peagasus concentrated and created a portal.
They whole group walked through the portal and stepped into the small cave that both Ladybug and the blonde boy recognized rather well. They did not expect to return there so quickly.
"Adrien, you will take Amelie to the temple. Peagasus and me will stay here for him to recharge."
Adrien carefully stepped out from the cave, Amelie followed the boy and watched her every step. The boy sighed as he observed the scene, he turned around and saw Ladybug at the entrance to the small cave, she had to peek out, she had to see it too.
The sky was already light blue, but the sun was not up yet, it was still hiding shyly behind some hills and mountains in the east. Adrien looked at the narrow path before him, partially cut into the cliff, he passed the same path so many times so he stepped forward with confidence.
"Adrien?" Amelie called with a hint of panic in her voice. "Can Ladybug undo if we fall down from here?" The woman leaned onto the cliff behind her and just stared at the abyss below, her eyes wide, her breathing fast, shallow and erratic.
He outstretched his hand as if that would give her confidence to continue and follow him, but she was obviously terrified of heights.
"I'm not usually scared of heights, but the last time I did anything like this … without the security ropes, I mean, that was really long time ago, before you were born." She smiled nervously.