Chapter 15: Some Semblance of a Plan
A/N: This chapter was a doozy to write, but Finals are done and I'm beginning the next (and final semester) at college so lets hope I'll update more frequently.
"I have to figure out what to do with my dad?" Adrien whispered.
"Yes," Plagg answered back, a pause in his face as he saw Adrien's panic.
"All on my own?"
"Certainly not, you can always ask for opinions from the others, but you have the final say in what is to be done."
Adrien frowned, he knew it was right for him to have the final say, since it was his father, but he just wasn't sure what to do.
"What do you think Plagg?" He asked.
"…" Plagg frowned at the thought, "What you do is up to you, every possibility has a consequence and you must consider all of them."
Adrien frowned, that was the most unhelpful and vague thing Plagg could have said. Plagg looked to the side, knowing Adrien wasn't satisfied with the answer.
"The others will have stronger opinions on the matter," Plagg sighed, "You have to be careful about Tikki though, her strong sense of justice tends to cloud her judgement for what is best for… sensitive situations. Your friends are more likely to have your best interests in mind for you."
Adrien sighed and pushed himself harder into the pillow in thought, taking note of what Plagg said about Tikki and hoping his friends would have a better, or at least a more definite answer. He listened to the distant sound of silverware, china plates, and murmurs of words he couldn't quite make out. Were they cleaning up dinner? Did Nino's parents even know he was here? He wasn't sure, his head still foggy. However long he slept, it wasn't long enough.
A few minutes passed in general silence between Adrien and Plagg. The sound of conversation was changed out for table chairs scraping against the floor, the thumping of feet, and eventually the sprays of water. Finally, the door creaked open, Plagg flying out of sight, to reveal Alya, Nino, Marinette. Nino held a plate of food and Marinette had silverware and a glass of wine. They smiled seeing Adrien awake.
"We didn't want to wake you, but we thought you'd be hungry when you did wake up, so we brought you some dinner," Alya explained, partially closing the door behind Marinette.
Adrien sat up and stretched, his stomach growling at the thought of food.
"Thank you, I haven't eaten all day," Adrien said, thanking Nino as he handed over the plate of food.
"Typical models," Nino teased as he sat next to Adrien on the bed, Marinette handing him the other items and setting the wine down next to the bed.
"It's not my fault," Adrien shrugged with a look towards Nino, taking a bite of the plate of delicious in his hand and almost moaning at the taste, "Tell your parents I love them."
"They know, Adrien," Nino rolled his eyes, "You tell them that every time you come over for dinner."
"And I'll tell them that every time after," Adrien said between bites, Alya and Marinette sat down on the other sides of him and rolled their own eyes.
"I told my parents you're here," Nino said, changing the tone to a more serious one. Would Nino's parent's call Nathalie? Nino picked up on Adrien's worry, "I also told them that no one's supposed to know that you're here."
Adrien quipped an eyebrow, did they actually agree to keep him a secret?
"You know my parent's Adrien," Nino stressed, "They won't say anything."
Adrien sighed and nodded in agreement.
They all waited for him to finish his meal, Marinette looked like she wanted to say something to him but waited until Nino and Alya had taken the dishes back down to say anything.
"We need to figure out a plan of action, you can't just stay here and avoid your father all night without arising a panic, and…" She sighed, "I don't want you going back home right now, not after what we learned."
"I understand," Adrien nodded in agreement, "We need to figure out what to do, and… and how to handle my father. I don't know what to do, and I think its best if we talk between all six of us to figure something out."
"Six? Six of us?"
"Yes all six, Nino and Alya should know about Tikki and Plagg, if we bring all our heads together, we should be able to figure something out," Adrien explained.
"What?" Tikki hissed poking her head out from behind Marinette's shirt, she was wearing clothes, not pajamas anymore, she must have gotten them when she was out with Alya.
"I second that," Plagg piped up from behind Adrien.
"There's danger in them kno-" Tikki began, but Plagg cut her off.
"We know that," He snapped, "But all of us need to be able to talk to each other to form a coherent plan. Nino and Alya are trustworthy."
Tikki frowned and crossed her arms, mulling over the thought, "…The gravity of the situation is too-"
Plagg glared at her.
"…Fine," She huffed throwing her paws up in exasperation, "We'll tell them, we'll all talk together and figure this out. Fine, fine, whatever, it can't get much worse than this!"
Adrien hadn't heard Tikki talk this way, with such sarcasm in her voice, almost like a teenager. It was both amusing and concerning.
"It can and it has," Plagg replied simply, Adrien wondered what they had done in the past.
They looked as Marinette, waiting for her answer.
"I-I guess we can tell them," She finally answered, "It's dangerous, but Alya and Nino have done well to keep the secret so far, and I know we can trust them."
Marinette and Adrien decided to hide the kwami's and prepare their friends for what they would say. Alya and Nino picked up on the tone of the room the moment they walked in.
"We have something to tell you, close the door," Adrien began, Alya and Nino shared a wary look.
"There's more you need to tell us? You haven't already told up everything?" Alya asked, while Nino checked the hall and closed the door. They sat down in front of Marinette and Adrien, looking down at their clasped hands.
"No, it's dangerous for you to know everything about our abilities, but the fact of the matter is that we all need to put our heads together and figure out what to do, and that means giving you as much context as possible," Adrien explained.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone about this," Marinette emphasized.
Alya and Nino both nodded eagerly, "Of course, of course, we won't tell anyone. We don't want you to get hurt."
Marinette and Adrien glanced at each other before opening their hands and revealing Plagg and Tikki.
Nino's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the kwamis, his mouth gaped.
"Bug," Was all Alya croaked, pointing at Tikki.
"Not bugs, kwamis," Tikki corrected floating up with Plagg to be eye level with everyone, Nino backed up.
"What?" Was all he squeaked out, pointing to the kwamis.
"Our powers don't come from the Miraculous alone, these two give us our powers as well," Adrien explained, "They're kind of like our familiars."
"My name is Tikki, it's a pleasure to meet both of you," She said, floating up to Alya and holding out an arm in greeting.
Alya cautiously took it between her fingers and shook. Nino pulled his hands closer to himself when Tikki flew over to him in greeting.
"And I'm Plagg," He said with a shrug.
"Uhh, okay, and you are…" Alya dragged out waiting for the answer.
"Kwamis," Tikki repeated.
"Right, and that is?"
"A being of magical qualities," Plagg explained, though it didn't really explain what a kwami was, even Adrien and Marinette didn't quite know, but Plagg didn't look interested in explaining further.
"Listen," Adrien broke in, getting Alya and Nino's attention, "The reason we told you about them is so we could all talk together and make a plan."
"A plan?" Nino questioned.
"Yes, we… we know who Papillon is," Adrien said shakily, "And he has one of Marinette's earrings, we need to find him and stop him."
"And how do you propose we do that?" Marinette asked.
"…Find him and take his Miraculous away?" Adrien weakly suggested, he didn't really know.
"He has a Miraculous?" Alya asked, "Like yours?"
"Yeah," Adrien said, his eyes losing focus with the memory, "I saw his kwami, it was small and purple and had butterfly wings."
"You know who that kwami is? Don't you?" Marinette looked at Tikki and Plagg, "You can tell us about them?"
They nodded, but looked nervous.
"Noroo, the kwami for the papillon miraculous," Tikki began explaining, "She's… temperamental."
"She's corrupted," Plagg stated, everyone looked at him in question, but he didn't explain.
Tikki looked away, her nervousness increased, "Over many a year, we have wielders who were… morally questionable, when they use us for bad things over and over again, we become damaged and corrupted, losing our own moral sense."
Everyone's eyes widened at the information.
"Even if we do separate the two of them, Noroo is not likely to go quietly with us," Tikki said.
"Is there a way to… un-corrupt her?" Marinette looked at Tikki is concern.
"Yes, but that is not a job for any of you," Plagg explained, "We need to take her to The Healer."
"The who?" Adrien, Alya, and Nino all asked while Marinette gave a knowing nod.
"The Healer, I told you about him Adrien, though you may not remember," Marinette began to explain, the way Adrien scrunched up his nose in question told her that he didn't, "He's an old man I met a couple of times when Tikki was sick and Plagg was hurt, he knows about the kwami and Miraculous, and I… I think he's the one who gave us the Miraculous."
Tikki and Plagg both nodded before Plagg spoke up, "He'll be able to handle her and take care of her."
"And how do we take her to him?" Adrien asked, "If she won't go quietly with us like you said, and she can phase through things like you two, then how can we actually catch her?"
"Shouldn't we ask this healer guy?" Nino suggested, "If he knows all about you and has the authority to take care of these bug-"
"Kwami."
"-Kwami things, then surely he would know what to do?"
Tikki nodded eagerly, "He's right, we should talk to the Healer, he'll give you what you need and help you however he can."
"You know where he is?" Alya looked to Marinette.
"Yes, we can try and see him. Not now, but tomorrow, after school," Marinette answered, her eyes unfocused as she thought over it.
Everyone was aware that nothing was going to be done tonight, each mulling over the fact that planning something out like this takes more than one night. Besides they had yet to get to the one topic Adrien really wanted to talk about.
"And my father, what do we do with him?" He whispered.
They all turned to him slowly, looking at him with curious eyes and making Adrien squirm.
"You should be the one to decide that," Marinette responded, Alya and Nino nodding beside her, but picking up on Adrien's nervousness.
"I-I know that, but, I don't know what to do," Adrien's hunched up his shoulders and bowed into himself, "I mean that's why I have you all here, I, I don't know what to do, and I thought you might all have a better idea-a better suggestion, something," Adrien sighed, his shoulders drooping as he looked to the side.
Everyone was quiet, thinking over what to do, Adrien played with the blanket between his hands, worried over what they might suggest.
"Well…" Alya began, breaking the silence, "What are our options? Let's put them all on the table, and figure out which one has the least amount of disadvantages."
She got up from the bed and grabbed a little notebook, flipping it open to a blank page and grabbing a pen with it.
"Option one… jail time," Marinette mumbled.
Alya wrote it down while Adrien slowly nodded, going to jail was the most obvious answer, but to be honest, part of him didn't want to just lose his father like that.
"Advantages and disadvantages?" Alya asked.
"Advantage, a criminal who has been terrorizing Paris for the past two years is put away, and receiving retribution for his actions," Adrien answered, his words slow and fighting against the lump in his throat, but no less true in their meaning. Alya scribbled it down.
"Disadvantage, he's your only living family as of current Adrien," Nino said giving Adrien a meaningful look.
It was true, neither of his parents had siblings and his grandparents had long since passed.
"I'm almost 18, my father has enough wealth to support me until I am of age and can inherit it," Adrien responded, not thinking it would really be a problem.
"Yes, but through the eyes of the law, you're still just a minor, and unless you have a legal guardian, there's a likelihood that you'll be …taken somewhere?" Nino slowed his words, uncertain about the full legalities of the situation.
"…If anything your parents could adopt me," Adrien said offhandedly in a joke.
"They certainly wouldn't object to that," Nino laughed.
There was a moment of light heartedness between everyone before they went back to the topic on hand.
"Well that might lead to the next possible option," Nino began tentatively, "Option two, do nothing."
There was immediate disagreement from Tikki and Plagg, and the way Marinette pursed her lips told Adrien that she felt similar. Alya, none-the-less, wrote down the suggestion.
"Advantage," Nino continued, despite the objections, "Adrien doesn't lose what's left of his family and it doesn't have to get out to the media that Adrien's father was Papillon."
Adrien's eyes widened at the thought, he hadn't considered the news, the public knowing about this. Something this big, it would hang over his head for the rest of his life, and in a way much worse than being Chat Noir would.
"Disadvantage, Gabriel doesn't receive the proper retributions for his crimes against the public," Marinette countered, Tikki immediately flew up next to her and sided with her.
"Okay, okay, maybe rephrase it," Adrien suggested.
"Right, right," Nino put his hand over his chin and nodded in agreement while rephrasing his suggestion, "Do nothing as in not send him to jail, or have outside groups involved and handle him internally amongst ourselves?"
Alya scribbled it down. To Adrien it sounded good aside from some fine details, but Tikki still wasn't satisfied.
"And what exactly does "handling him internally" mean?" Tikki asked, Plagg seemed to flatten his ears and look away, as if he knew what she wasn't going to say next.
Nino opened his mouth and gestured his hands, but didn't say anything. It was a good question, a hard one to answer as Adrien didn't really know what to say, however judging by Plagg's looks, Adrien figured Tikki had an idea.
"That would lead into option three, erase his memories," Tikki deadpanned.
Adrien's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "What!?" he was not expecting that.
Plagg gave Tikki a very pointed look while she sighed, "It's never the most fun thing to do but it is mandatory that anyone who abuses the powers of the Miraculous, have it taken away and their memories of it erased."
"But, but that's over two years of memories!" Adrien cried, "He'll, he'll forget all that, and, he'll go back to how he was two years ago!"
Despite how his father had been over those two years, he certainly had made progress, especially in the last months. Taking away his memories from the past two years, that would, that would put him in the same state he was back then, when his mother's disappearance was still recent. Adrien's hands shook at the thought, that, that was worse than the possibility of losing him physically. But, Tikki said it was mandatory, which meant that no matter the option, this was something that was going to happen. If his father went to jail, his memories would be erased, and he would be in there without even knowing why. He suddenly felt the hand on his back and looked up, having been staring at his hands without even realizing it.
"There wasn't really an option for anything else was there?" Adrien asked Tikki and Plagg, trying and failing to hide the betrayal in his voice. Plagg looked away in shame, something Adrien had never really seen on him.
"…No," Tikki answered softly.
"…" Adrien open his mouth to snap at her, but nothing came out. He took a deep breath, everyone quiet and waiting for what he had to say, "…Is, is there any kind of compromise we can reach? Maybe not erase all two ye-"
Everyone jumped when the door knocked, Tikki and Plagg flying to Adrien and Marinette to hide. It was Nino's mother; Gabriel was here to talk to Nino. He jumped to his feet and told his mother that he'd be right down.
"You two, hide," Nino demanded, snapping his fingers at Adrien and Marinette and then pointing to his half open closet doors.
Alya got up and pulled Adrien and Marinette up as Nino walked out the door, leaving it slightly ajar behind him. Adrien was pushed into the closet first, he awkwardly stepped over the mess of Nino's closet and pushed himself into the farthest back corner, Marinette following quickly after. Alya shoved the hung clothes forward on their rack so they formed a curtain, and the mess on the ground was pushed up higher to hide the slightly exposed portion of their legs.
Marinette pushed against Adrien in the far back corner while they heard the Alya shuffle around and leave the closet to likely make herself look inconspicuous should Gabriel and Nino come upstairs. Adrien could barely breath, his hands practically vibrating at the thought of his father catching them. Marinette put her hands flat against his chest and made an effort to take a deep breath, Adrien tried to match her but his breath was too shaky.
"Calm down, it's okay," Marinette whispered, taking another deep breath, Adrien followed and did slightly better, "And try to breathe through your mouth, it'll be quieter."
Adrien opened his mouth, and tried to be as quiet as he could, but in the silence of the closet, every sound felt like a bulldozer coming through. He tried to focus on Marinette before him, it was too dark to see and her breathing was significantly quieter than his, but the warmth of her hands on his chest grounded him.
The bedroom door swung open and Nino's muffled voice came through, Adrien felt his entire body freeze.
"Monsieur Agreste is it really necessary to come up to my room? I said Adrien isn't here, I don't know where he is," Nino's insisted.
"Bonjour Monsieur Agreste, what-" Alya faltered, Adrien worried about what she saw, "…What are you doing here?"
The silence from his father was deafening, but Adrien somehow found it better then when he actually heard his voice.
"You," His father began, "You were the girl who filmed the akuma attack today."
"Uh. Yeah that's me," Alya answered back nervously.
"…What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked suspiciously.
"I'm hanging out with my boyfriend since we don't have school today," Alya responded, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for my son, Adrien, he didn't come back home after the akuma fight," Gabriel answered, "Why didn't you follow Ladybug and Adrien when they left with the akuma?"
Adrien grimaced at how his father still refused to call him Chat Noir.
"They, that meeting, it was a serious one, one that shouldn't be filmed for anyone to see," Alya warily explained.
"Well Adrien in missing now, and I don't know where he is, he could be hurt!" His father said, his voice louder but not quite reaching a shout.
Adrien clenched his fists at his father's words, knowing that his father very well knew that if Adrien was ever hurt in that encounter it would be his fault.
"Calm down!" Alya shot back with the same energy in her voice as Gabriel, "Listen, I'm sorry but I don't know where Adrien is!"
"And if he's not here than he'd likely be at Chloé's or someone's else home," Nino interjected.
"Who?" Was all Gabriel asked, his voice was so quiet Adrien almost didn't catch it.
"Ladybug's? Fuck, I don't know," Nino suggested.
Everyone was quiet, and Adrien was worried that his father might do something dangerous. There was a loud huff from his father and a shuffling of feet that left the room. They waited for what seemed like hours before Nino came back up and said that Gabriel was gone. Adrien and Marinette didn't move until Alya pulled away their wall of clothes and touched Marinette's shoulder. She jumped at the contact, pulling her hands off Adrien's chest, and he realized that Marinette had been just as tense as he was when his father arrived. Alya pulled Marinette and Adrien out of the closet, his legs felt like jelly and he slumped into Alya's arms while Nino caught Marinette.
"He'd likely be at Ladybug's home?!" Marinette hissed smacking Nino upside the head.
"Ow! What? It's not like he knows who you are," Nino grabbed his head and let Marinette stand on her own.
"We don't know that! We don't know that!" Marinette continued, smacking Nino's arm, "He pulled my earring out and I released my transformation, we don't know if he saw me before he ran, we don't know! We don't know!"
"Hey. Hey. Hey!" Alya shouted, letting go of Adrien (he barely stood on his own) and rushing over to stop Marinette from continuing to hit Nino, "Calm down!"
"Shit! I'm sorry Marinette, I didn't know what to say! I wasn't thinking okay! We just needed him to leave and he's gone," Nino snapped back, holding his arm while Alya pulled Marinette away.
"If he knew who you were, Marinette," Adrien began, his head finally clearing and recognizing the situation before him, everyone went quiet, listening to what he had to say, "He would have gone to your house first, and if he did that, then your parents would have called."
There was conflict in Marinette's eyes as she looked at him, she still wanted to be angry, she still wanted to worry, but he was right and she knew that. She sighed and let her body relax, Alya let go of her.
"You're right, I just-" Marinette ran her hand through her hair with a sharp breath "…Sorry, I'm sorry Nino, I didn't mean to blow up at you and hit you. You were, you were just trying to help."
"It's fine," Nino responded.
The four of them sat down on the bed once again while Tikki and Plagg slowly peeked their heads out, Adrien checked the door with them, they flew out when they saw it was closed.
"We should get back to our conversation from before," Tikki softly suggested.
There was a general consensus that they should, but the discussion was undeniably more awkward this time around, they avoided talking about what to do with Gabriel after they beat him and instead tried to plan how they would actually go about beating him.
An hour or so passed of them talking and trying to for a plan, but it was late in the night and it had been a long day, the plan was looking messier and messier.
"Maybe we should come back to this," Alya suggested, looking as her scribbles on the note pad, "Tomorrow when we talk to that healer guy you mentioned."
Everyone agreed. Marinette was about to get up when Nino's phone rang. He jumped up and pulled it from its charger on his desk to look at who was calling.
"It's Nathalie."
"Don't answer it!" Adrien insisted.
"If I don't answer it, I'm going to look suspicious," Nino said, he mumbled the next part, "And your father might come back looking for you.
Adrien quickly hissed out an "I'm not here!" as Nino answered the phone, rolling his eyes and turning on the speaker phone so everyone could hear the conversation.
"Bonjour Nathalie," Nino greeted.
"Nino? Good, I'm glad you answered," She said on the other end, "Listen, I'm looking for Adrien, he didn't return home after the akuma attack, and he doesn't have his phone on him so I don't know where he is. I don't know where Gabriel is either, he's been out all day without a word, and without his phone. Have you seen either of them?"
She sounded exasperated, like she was actually worried, and she probably was. Adrien knew her only to show emotion when she was truly at her wits end, and not knowing where he and his father were must have put her there.
"I'm sorry Nathalie, but I haven't seen him all day," Nino replied easily.
There was silence on her end.
"Listen," She sighed, "I know that Gabriel is angry at Adrien about going out as Chat, and I realize he might not want to come home right now, but I just need to know where he is."
She sounded genuine, and Adrien wanted to tell her, but-
"I won't let Gabriel know, I wouldn't even be able to tell him if could," She grumbled the second part, Adrien never hear her grumble, "Please, is he with you? Have you seen him?"
Adrien gave a look to Nino saying that he wanted to tell Nathalie, Nino immediately shook his head. Alya covered the bottom half of her phone with her hand.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" She whispered.
"No, Adri-"
"Nino, it's okay, she should at least know so she won't call the police trying to find me," Adrien insisted, "Besides, she doesn't even know where my father is, she wouldn't be able to tell him."
"You don't know that, and how do you that your father won't go home tonight and Nathalie won't tell him then?" Marinette asked, Nino nodded eagerly in agreement at her words.
"Nathalie's always been an advocate for me, I trust her."
Adrien looked at Alya, hoping she would take her hand off the phone. Her shoulder's slumped and she did, by the expression on Nino and Marinette's faces they still didn't agree, but they didn't try to fight him. Everything was quiet as Adrien hyped himself up for what he would say.
"I'm here," He finally responded, and heard Nathalie sigh.
"Are you okay? What happened?" She asked.
"Everything is fine. I knew my father would be angry at me so I ran off to Nino's place after the fight," Adrien explained, glancing over many of the more worrisome details, "Listen, Nathalie, you can't tell my dad I'm here. When he comes home, don't tell him anything. I don't… I don't want to go home right now. I'll be fine with Nino."
The lack of immediate response on her end made him shift nervously.
"I understand Adrien," She finally said, Adrien let out a sigh of relief, "Do you have any idea when you'll come home?"
"I don't," He said, but thought about it for a moment, "A week maybe, at the earliest, but… I don't know."
"I'll bring your books and some clothes over tomorrow morning," Nathalie stated, no room for argument.
"Right."
"Is there anything else you need from us?" Nino interjected.
"…Have, you seen Gabriel at all?" She asked.
"...We have, he was here earlier looking for Adrien, I made him leave," Nino replied.
"How long ago was that?"
"A little more than an hour," Nino said.
"Do you know where he went?"
"The Bourgeois hotel possibly, otherwise I'm not sure," Nino responded.
There was an irritated sigh from Nathalie for a brief moment.
"Well, thank you for the information, I should get going," Nathalie said.
"Wait, before you go…" Adrien broke in.
"Yes?"
"Do I… Do I have another legal guardian aside from my father?" Adrien cautiously asked.
She took a long pause before answering, likely worried over why Adrien would asked her such a thing, but the lack of an immediate "no" meant that he did actually have one, "Sometime after your mother passed," Nathalie began to explain, Adrien took a sharp breath at the mention of his mother, "I was given legal guardianship over you in the case on an emergency. Is something wrong?"
"No! No, I was just curious," Adrien quickly responded, "Bye Nathalie!"
Adrien hung up the phone himself, everyone was quiet and Adrien felt heavy, like he was being pulled down.
"…Well, we should be getting home," Marinette mumbled, Alya nodding and getting up with her.
"Stay safe you two," Adrien wished.
They each leaned over to give him a hug before doing the same with Nino, returning the wishes to stay safe before leaving.
A/N: Finally, this chapter was difficult to write as I just kept rearranging and rearranging things. But it's done and we're so close to being done with this fic. Ahhh!