Hey guys and gals! So this chapter is basically when the song begins. I felt like I needed to create a prologue to set up the rest of the story. Sorry for how short the into chapter was. I have a feeling that this chapter will be longer.
Anyways, here we go!
Agrest Mansion
Plagg sat on the shelf staring at his holder. He sat there for a minute. One minute turned into two. Then five. Then ten.
Plagg stared at the boy until he couldn't take it anymore. He would never admit it, but this was what he did almost every night. Plagg would pretend to nap until he was sure his boy was sound asleep. Then when he finally drifted off, Plagg would spring up to the spot above his bed and sit all night. Adrien would never know, and Plagg would never tell. He was determined to protect his kitten. No one was allowed to mess with Adrien. If anyone tried, Plagg would be there, ready and armed. Not even his own father would hurt this boy. His father, who was Hawkmoth. That was the real threat anyways. That was the real reason Plagg committed so much energy to staying awake at night. Plagg was keeping an eye out for akumas. Unlike Tikki, Plagg had been lucky in the matter. Tikki's holder had nearly been akumatized three times. Plagg remembered each one because after an attempt to akumatize the new guardian, Tikki would sneak off and cry to Plagg.
It was unfair. Sure. But Plagg was greatful that nothing had happened to Adrien... yet.
Adrien's tears engraved in his mind, Plagg flew down from his perch. Plagg landed quietly on Adrien's cheek.
"Adrien?" Plagg whispered. "Adrien, wake up."
Adrien rolled to the side while swatting at Plagg. Plagg waited a minute before trying again only to be greeted with the same sleep driven response.
While waking the boy up moments after he had finished crying himself to sleep was never one of his ideal activities, Plagg needed the boy to talk about it. He couldn't sit around and wait until morning when the boy would try to brush it off again. Plagg resorted to more extreme methods, choosing to instead bite the boy's finger with his pointy fangs.
"!" Adrien shot up from his bed. "Owch!" Plagg quickly covered the Adrien's mouth with his tiny paws.
"Shhh!"
"Plagg? What is it? I gave you cheese before I went to bed-" Adrien scowled at the now floating kwami. His mind racing with reasons why Plagg would wake him up at- looking over to read the clock- 2 AM?! "Plagg! Is there an akuma?! Where is it?!"
Now it was Plagg's turn to scowl as he thought, not yet. He floated infront of the boy's face and let out a sigh to get his holder's attention.
"Look kid-" Plagg started, but he found himself stumbling for words. Adrien, who had never seen the kwami speechless before, finally calmed down enough to give his full attention. Having acted without thinking, Plagg almost wished Adrien continued his pointless rambling; however, this conversation was more important than his stupid nervousness. "We need to talk."
"About?" No sooner than the word left his mouth, did Adrien remember the events of the day. A shadow fell upon his face as he wiped the dried tears from his eyes. "Oh."
"Yeah." It was all Plagg could muster. There was so much that needed to be said, but neither of them knew the right words to say. "Do you need-" Plagg's voice wavered for a moment, but he was determined to have this talk. "Do you need someone?"
"Plagg?" Adrien looked up to make eye contact with the cat kwami. Plagg had never shown Adrien sympathy before, or at least not like this. Adrien felt fresh tears start to pool in his eyes at the act of affection.
"I'm not the best at these kinds of things, okay kid? This is usually Tikki's department, but I-" Plagg paused, getting lost in his words. "We-" Plagg couldn't do this on his own. He knew he had already opened the gate, but a new plan came to mind in the midst of his bumbling. "Do me a favor and transform."
Shocked to hear Plagg wanting anything to do with transforming, he stood from the bed. If Plagg is going to willingly transform him, it must be important. "Where are we going?"
"We are gonna visit a friend. I just hope our ... 'friend' ... won't bite my head off." Plagg offered a sad smile while thinking about Marinette's reaction to her late night house guest.
Adrien was confused but decided against asking any more questions.
Dupain-Cheng Bakery
Sabine and Tikki had met by accident. Or maybe not.
Tikki may, or may not, have chosen too sit in the empty cookie jar and wait for her holder's mother that evening. And Sabine may, or may not, have watched the kwami hide in said jar. After all, Sabine was well aware of the cookie eating blob in her home. Tikki waited until Tom had left the room to speak.
"Psst!" She called from the jar. Tikki who was unaware of Sabine's knowledge tried to patiently get the woman's attention.
"Shh!"
Tikki was marveled at the response, but she quietly obliged.
Sabine made a sweep through the bakery to turn off the lights and lock up. After returning her work apron to the knob behind her, Sabine grabbed the jar and climbed the stairs to the family's living space. Tikki remained quiet during all of this, waiting for the confrontation coming her way.
"I'm gonna check on Marinette before heading to bed, sweetie." Sabine called to Tom who sat half asleep on the couch. He gave her a smile in response as he nodded off to sleep. Moving quickly of the stairs, Sabine stopped beneath the trap door to knock. "Marinette, sweet heart? I'm coming up." Marinette made no response, and Sabine took the sign as an okay to enter the girl's room.
"She fell asleep already." Tikki spoke as she rose from the jar. Tikki had come to suspect that the mother knew about Marinette's role as a superhero and herself from the calm reaction. Tikki smiled slightly as she recalled how different this was from her meeting Marinette. The sad smile did not reach her eyes, and Sabine was quick to notice.
"I see..." Sabine began. "How is she-" Sabine stopped, a bit embarrased to ask someone else about the well being of her own daughter. "How is she doing? With the Rossi girl?"
Tikki's face turned sour fast. Any memory of a smile vanished from the red kwami's mouth. Her eyes almost seemed to dim, if that was even possible. This change in expression was an obvious red flag for Sabine. Marinette may be her daughter, but she got the oblivious tendencies from her father.
"I take it not well then." The woman sighed. "My poor child." A single tear slipped from her glassy eyes. "She is so young, yet she bears the weight for so many."
"She does." It was all Tikki could say. Tikki had tried to console the girl who was both her holder and guardian, but the girl was suffering under the building pressure. The Lila situation was getting worse. Marinette knew it. Tikki knew it. Heck, even Sabine knew it. The little bully had gone from petty lies to physical assault in a matter of weeks. Some days were better than others, but today was awful. Lila cornered Marinette in the bathroom and kicked her with studded toe boots in the stomach. When Marinette didn't return to class, Alya had called her a drama queen. That was another problem. Alya, who had been exposed as Rena Rouge, was taking out her anger on Marinette. Alya was fully convinced that Lila told the truth like everyone else in the class. Everyone except Mari and Adrien. And surprisingly Chloe. Unfortunately, Kagami and Luka remain blissfully unaware since they are not in Mrs. Bustier's class, but they are not blind either. They can see the pain of their blue-haired friend. After the bathroom incident, Marinette went to the nurse who chose to send her home.
Tikki stared at the woman with tears in her own eyes. They were both crying now, and Tikki could only summarize her feelings with one word: guilt. With tears flowing like a river, she flew toward Sabine and hugged the woman's cheek. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Tikki cried, over and over again. She felt guilty for not coming to the woman sooner. She felt guilty for pushing so much responsibility onto the young girl. She felt awful for being so strict about the identities, thinking that being able to have these types of talks with Chat Noir would have helped. But most of all, Tikki wept because she could only do so much to help the teenage girl who had done absolutely nothing wrong. A girl who was practically so nice that she made the top of Santa's nice list every year. That same girl who donned the red and black suit. And Tikki couldn't help her.
"Tikki, this is not your fault."
Sabine cradled the blob in her shaking hands and held her close.
"She is right, you know. This isn't your fault."
Both Tikki and Sabine turned around so fast they could have broke something. Well, if the god of creation could brake anything. Do kwami even have bones? Marinette deemed these questions of lesser importance, but filed them away in her brain for later.
Tikki flew at full speed into the chest of the teenage girl with tears still flowing. Marinette almost fell over due the lingering pain of the bloodied wound on her amdomen, but she caught herself.
"MARI!" Tikki exclaimed through her tears. Marinette offered a sad smile similar to the one Tikki had earlier and wiped the tears from her kwami's face.
"I'm oka-" Marinette started but was cut off by her mother's panicked voice.
"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE! YOU ARE BLEEDING! YOU'RE NOT OKAY!" Sabine rushed forward and noticed the gauze wrapped around her daughter's stomach was dripping fresh blood onto the floor. Marinette recoiled back slightly at the tone her mother's voice but remained standing regardless of the bloody wound or her extremely pale skin. Sabine ran to the bathroom and grabbed the first-aid kit. She began to clean and re-wrap the injury with tears rolling off her face.
"Maman, I-" Marinette tried to speak but the alcohol burned against her skin. Tikki took the chance to fill the alarming silence.
"Mari- please! I'm scared!" hiccup, " I was so scared I was going to...," hiccup, "...lose you today when you came home-" Tikki exclaimed with visible panic and fear. "You passed out from blood loss! PLEASE! Just transfer to a new school! You can do that, right Sabine? I'm scared of what's to come if you stay. You don't need to suffer like this..."
Tikki's words were like a hurricane to the little resolve Marinette had left. She collapsed into tears on the floor with her mother and Tikki, both of which had began a new round of tears themselves, holding onto her.
The trio had been so caught up in their sobs that they never heard Chat Noir enter the room. They never saw his transformation fall or him begin to sob. They never felt Plagg attach to the brave young guardian.
Okay! That's it for today. I have to take a final exam for college and then I will start on the next chapter.
Peace out!