CHAPTER TWELVE:
SISTERS
The underground tunnel was small with a low-level ceiling and a mere trickle of a river running through it.
Bridgette's torch lit the narrow expanse as she led her small procession out of the city and into the heart of the mountain.
Alix kept up with her the entire way, but Marinette lingered behind with Plagg on her shoulder.
The young blunette was thankful she had tended to her wound before setting out on this "special tour". She had left her sewing kit at home, so she would have to wait until returning to Agreste to completely mend the cut. Tikki would be able to patch it up without a scratch to be seen.
Still, looking at her heavily-wrapped arm made Marinette think about Hawkmoth: his body disappearing into the dark ocean as his cries faded in the howling of the wind. Marinette shuddered at the memory.
"You okay?" Alix asked, glancing over her shoulder.
Marinette offered her a small smile. At least Alix was good company. Despite her youth, she seemed the wiser and more level-headed of the Forty Thieves. And she had provided Marinette with a soothing salve for her wound.
"I'm all right," Marinette finally answered. "It's just been a loooong day."
Bridgette giggled up front. "I couldn't agree more," she said. "I gain my sister back, and lose my enemy." She stepped carefully over a series of rocks along the water before emerging onto a stone pathway. Then, the Queen of Thieves turned back with a shiny grin. "You've done your big sister proud, Marinette."
The young blunette frowned as she stomped her way over the stream, not caring if her boots got wet. "Oh, it's no big deal," she said with a bite behind her sweet tone. "I was just trying to stay alive."
Bridgette blinked with surprise as her sister swept past her.
Alix ran up to Marinette instantly, her fists on her hips. "It's not like Bridgette had a choice," she stated. "If she hadn't suggested the Challenge, Mothy would have killed you instantly."
Bridgette dipped her head in a solemn nod. "You either fight for your life, or you die – so says the Code of the Forty Thieves."
Plagg inched over to stare at the long-haired queen. "Does this "Code" have any rules that don't end in death?" he asked.
Alix held up a finger, but then paused. After a couple seconds, she shrugged awkwardly. "It's a strict code."
Plagg gulped.
"I did the only thing I could to protect you," Bridgette told her sister as she took the lead once more. "You cannot fault me for that."
Marinette sighed through her nose, realizing that Bridgette was right. It had been an awful risk – and a stupid one – but it had come from a good place.
"Any other rules about this Code I should know about?" Marinette asked flatly.
The Queen continued walking as she answered, "I managed to add one important rule: never harm the innocent."
"Hey, I'm just as innocent as a kitten stuck in a tree," Plagg sighed, batting his eyelids over his glowing eyes.
Marinette shot a heavenly glance. "Oh, brother..." she grumbled.
The group continued the rest of the way in silence, but it wasn't long before they came to the end of the tunnel, which turned out to be a dead end.
A slab of painted stone greeted Marinette. She saw colourful warriors, ships, and beasts orbiting a pair of round indents in the centre.
Bridgette reached for something inside her sapphire cape and pulled it out. It looked like an ordinary, gold coin.
Then, the firelight danced off of it, and Marinette saw the familiar shape of a golden hand facing palm-out.
"Wait... That's looks just like..." she began, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the dagger at her hip.
Her sister nodded. "Believe it or not, Marinette, this is where our family's story began." She eyed her faithful lieutenant. "Alix, if you would."
The pink-haired girl jabbed a hand into her pocket and brought out a matching coin.
The two thieves strode up to the stone tapestry together. As one, they pressed their coins into their adjoining slots.
A deep rumble sounded.
Plagg immediately buried himself in Marinette's ponytails as the slab broke off from the top and slid into the ground like a book into its nook. When it slammed shut, a rush of cold, salty air blew out from the inner darkness.
Marinette rubbed her arms, careful not to disturb her wound too much. "What is this place?" she asked.
"Come see for yourself," Alix replied perkily.
Bridgette beckoned her sister forward, her face bearing no hint of trickery.
Though reluctant, Marinette entered the hidden chamber.
Only then did she realize that this was no chamber – it was a cove. Stalactites and stalagmites stuck out everywhere along the walls and ceiling, and Marinette could see the cloudy, night sky in an open mouth to the far left. Ocean water poured in below, only reachable via a stone staircase that led all the way down.
At the top of the stairs was a small pavilion aligned with cracked pillars and dead braziers. Bridgette walked over with her torch and lit a couple of them, revealing tables stacked with scrolls, maps, books, and extra weapons. It was like a library had been meshed together with an armory.
Plagg finally poked his head out and whistled at the sparkling cove. The sound echoed across the dark.
All the braziers were lit, and Bridgette moved to stand in the centre of the pavilion, the flames of her torch adding suspenseful shadows to her pale face.
"Generations ago," the Queen of Thieves began, "our ancestors were explorers, sailing from one land to the next in search of a treasure." Her silvery-blue eyes sparkled. "The ultimate treasure."
Marinette's mouth parted. Just like Duusu said, she thought.
Bridgette fitted her torch into a hold on the wall. "Imagine – all the riches in the world and more, literally in the palm of your hand," she said with haunting excitement. "Compared to it, the Pharaoh's tomb is a pauper's grave. The King of Agreste's fortune is nothing but... lunch money." Bridgette held her thumb and forefinger a hair-width apart. "And I am this close to finding it."
Plagg's pupils shrank, and a spot of drool formed at the corner of his mouth. Licking his lips, he purred, "That's tantalizingly close."
Marinette narrowed her eyes at him. He's spent too much time with Trixx.
She redirected her attention to her sister. "All right, then. Where is it?" she asked skeptically.
Alix made a face like she was wincing. "Well, see... that's the thing. It's hidden in the one place no one can get to."
Bridgette nodded and went over to one of her tables, fishing through the scrolls. "Specifically, it's on an island that is never in the same place twice," she said, glancing at Marinette over her shoulder. "They call it... the Vanishing Isle."
Plagg's ears drooped. "Aw, man," he moaned. "I've heard of that place. It's an island that always moves around, appearing and disappearing whenever it wants. Kinda like my camembert cravings."
Marinette tried to ignore the raging confusion in her head. Bridgette ran away from home to chase down a treasure from way back when, and she still hasn't found it after all these years?
This time, the young blunette folded her arms and hardened her gaze at Bridgette. "What exactly is this "ultimate treasure"?"
The Queen of Thieves turned around with a long roll of fabric in her hands – a tapestry, by the looks of it. Her sly smile was so full and genuine, it reminded Marinette vaguely of Volpina.
"The big one, sis," Bridgette replied. "The golden ticket." She unfurled the roll.
Marinette stared down at the field of green and blue, upon which was a kingly man reaching up towards a glowing sun.
No, wait... not a sun. A hand.
Plagg gasped. "Camembert on a stick! Is that what I think it is?!"
Bridgette nodded, her grin deepening. "The Hand of Midas," she whispered as though speaking in prayer.
"As in King Midas," Alix added eagerly. "The man who turned everything he touched into pure gold."
Marinette's mouth fell with a scrutinizing cough. "You can't be serious!" she snapped, louder than she meant to. "That's just a myth!"
Bridgette's eyes suddenly grew stormy. "It's no myth, Marinette," she stated with icy calm. "Look at the dagger, and the symbol on the medallion."
Despite her frustration, Marinette decided to humour her sister. She ripped the dagger off her belt and held it out in the firelight.
Yep. The golden hand on the medallion was exactly like the hand on the tapestry.
"So what?" Marinette lowered the blade roughly. "It doesn't prove anything."
"Oh, boy..." Alix murmured.
Bridgette's demeanour softened, and now she had a pleading look in her eyes. "Our ancestors found it, Marinette," she breathed. "It was once right here."
With that, she snatched up her torch again and practically sprinted down the stone staircase leading to the water below. Bridgette stopped at the edge and inched the torch closer to the surface, allowing the light to shine through the murky blue.
"Look," the Queen of Thieves called. "There's your proof."
Raising an eyebrow, Marinette took a cautious step down the stairs. Then another.
After about twenty more, something within the water came into view.
Marinette gasped, the truth hitting her like the cold wind.
Plagg gaped happily with drooling fangs.
Resting peacefully at the bottom of the cove was a sunken ship. It wasn't broken or damaged like any ordinary shipwreck. It looked completely whole, with its sails and hull still intact.
But what really astounded Marinette was the light from Bridgette's torch dancing off every inch of the ship, making it glow with vibrant, golden light.
It wasn't a ship anymore. It was a statue!
"You see now?" Bridgette said. "From stern to stem – every piece of rigging, every peg and board – all of it is solid gold, touched by the Hand of Midas."
Plagg shot into the air with a delightful cheer. "Adopt me, Mommy!"
Alix snickered.
Marinette frowned with a shudder as she stared at the submerged vessel. "Sunk by the Hand of Midas is more like it," she murmured. If that's what such a power could do to a ship, she didn't want to see what it could do to a human being.
"No treasure comes without a cost," her older sister stated, "but for my family, it was worth searching for."
Marinette sighed. She figured this part of the conversation would start sooner or later. "Our parents thought you were dead, Bridgette. They never told me I had a sister, not until the oracle mentioned –"
Bridgette's eyes shot wide open. "The oracle?" she repeated, taking a desperate step closer to her sister. "The Miraculous... It works? What did the oracle tell you?"
"I..." Oh, drat. Marinette quickly turned away. "She told me where to find you," she replied hastily before her tone deepened. "Mama and Papa were overjoyed when they found out you were alive. Can't understand why they would be, seeing as you broke their hearts." Marinette started up the steps without so much as a backward glance.
"You don't understand," Bridgette insisted from behind, her voice carrying a hard layer of bitterness. "You don't know what it's like to have nothing; to have your dreams squandered because of your social status! To stare up at the palace every night and know you deserve so much more!"
Marinette stopped in her tracks, her breath catching.
"To be called..." Bridgette paused, biting down hard on her next words. "Baker's brat."
"Ouch," Alix muttered.
Marinette's anger seeped off her skin like steam, and she let out a heavy breath. "Yes, I do know what it's like," she said.
She recalled the memory of the strange girl staring back at her in a mirror; the girl who had tried to bury her past and everything with it... including the people she called family. And all because she had tried to be someone she wasn't.
"You're so desperate to prove yourself worthy," Marinette added, "that you forget what really matters to you."
The sound of trickling water was all that could be heard in the cove, until Bridgette said, "But you still found your happy ending. You found your true love."
Marinette finally looked back at her sister, who didn't look like at all like the Queen of Thieves anymore – just a sullen woman cloaked by years of guilt and anger.
"I realized that love was all I ever needed," Marinette said, almost smiling. "Not even the ultimate treasure can replace that."
Despite the weak lighting from the pavilion, Marinette could tell the Queen of Thieves was saddened by her words.
Gentle footsteps drew closer, and Bridgette re-emerged in the light of the braziers.
"I'm sorry I left you, Marinette," she said, swallowing a hard lump in her throat. "I just wanted the best for you; for all of us. I couldn't come back home a failure, but... I didn't want to leave without leaving a part of me with you."
Marinette understood. "The dagger."
"Yes. But Fate, it seems, has a cruel sense of humour. You found your greatest love, and I found my greatest hate." Bridgette continued up the steps, her eyes downcast. "It wasn't long after I ran away until he found me – the King of Thieves."
"Hawkmoth," Marinette whispered with a shudder as she followed.
"He brought me to this mountain. Trained me. Tried to turn me into something worse than a thief." Bridgette spoke with trembling, dark softness, like a shadow from a nightmare. "He wanted me to be ruthless; to relish in the fear and pain of others. But I proved to be more stubborn than he suspected." A small grin appeared on Bridgette's face. "I swore to come back home the moment I was strong enough to escape. Unfortunately, the weeks turned into months..." Her voice softened. "... and the months turned into years."
Marinette stared after her sister, her heart turning as heavy as a stone in her chest.
So Bridgette had been a prisoner of the Forty Thieves, in a way. Duusu hadn't been wrong.
The two sisters entered the pavilion, and the Queen of Thieves rested her hands on a table before leaning heavily against it, as though her words were adding more weight onto her shoulders.
Alix and Plagg lingered near the pillars, both quite content with letting the blunettes have their first moment alone.
"I was eighteen when I finally got free and came back to Agreste," Bridgette said absent-mindedly, as though she was travelling back to that time and place in her mind. "Just before I reached the door to the bakery, I heard... laughter. Sweet, chiming laughter." She smiled sadly. "I peeked through the window... and there you were, playing with your dragon doll on the floor. Mother was smiling, and Father was baking cookies. Shortbreads. I remember the smell like it was yesterday."
Marinette's hands shook. She was there. She did come back. How old could I have been at that time? Eight? Marinette could almost recall that old, stuffed dragon, and those delectable shortbreads. And I had no idea...
Bridgette let out a choked laugh. "My little sister... so happy and innocent and oblivious," she said. "At that moment, I would have traded anything to be with you; to play and laugh and eat those cookies with you."
The Queen of Thieves dipped her head down, and her fingernails dug painfully into the wood. "But I had become a criminal; the prized pupil of the King of Thieves, a man who had zero tolerance for deserters and traitors. I couldn't risk staying in case Hawkmoth decided to come looking for me, lest any harm befall you."
Tears burned in Marinette's eyes, and she dabbed them away. Her long-lost sister had sacrificed her own happiness so that her family could live in peace; so that Marinette could get her "happy ending".
Adrien's love, Alya's friendship, and now Bridgette's selflessness – all those things had changed Marinette's life for the better. How many people have risked everything for my sake? she wondered with a painful sigh.
Maybe Adrien had been right about Bridgette. Maybe she and Marinette were more alike than the younger blunette thought. Sure, Bridgette had run away... but she had tried to come back. That had to count for something, didn't it?
Bridgette inched off the table, her face paler than her complexion allowed, and her blue eyes dimmed with regret. "I kept searching for the Hand of Midas because I thought if I couldn't have my family back, I could at least have my ancestor's birthright to bring me solace. And then I thought, once I was free of Hawkmoth for good and the Hand was in my possession, I could return to my family as a hero." Bridgette squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head again. "But every attempt at finding the Hand led from one dead end to the next, and... well, I stopped hoping."
The air was still and cold again, regardless of the heat from the flames.
Then, Marinette said, "Our parents didn't want gold."
Bridgette looked up.
"They didn't even want a hero." Marinette walked right up to her sister. They almost matched in height as well as appearance. "They wanted their daughter. They still do." Marinette offered a hopeful smile. "And I want my sister back."
Bridgette's eyes softened, and she shook her head with disbelief. "How can you say that?" she asked. "You said it yourself – I broke our parents' hearts. What assurances do you have that they'll forgive me?"
"Does it matter if they do or not?" Marinette asked with a perky shrug. "Take it from me, sis." Her heart fluttered when she said that. My sister. "It's not about who you were or what you did back then, it's about what you do now." She paused for a moment, and then grinned. "Come to my wedding."
That made Bridgette's eyebrows lift up with surprise. "What?"
"Wed-ding," Plagg broke in, flying up beside Marinette's face. "You know – cake, flowers, rings, lovey-dovey stuff."
"And this time," Marinette added, "you have an invitation."
Bridgette was smiling now, but her eyes were still sad. She looked away shyly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Oh, Marinette... I..." She sighed. "I just don't know."
The young blunette placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Bridgette, I'm not going back to Agreste until morning. At least think about it?"
Without waiting for an answer, Marinette let go and proceeded towards the door leading back to the underground tunnel. "Come on, Plagg," she said, "we'll need to rest up for the journey home."
The black-cat kwami returned to his perch on her shoulder.
Marinette reached the threshold before daring to look back.
Bridgette was staring at her like she had when she first realized they were sisters. That didn't look like someone who had given up all hope.
With a final smile, Marinette exited the cove with her kwami companion.
Bridgette watched her sister vanish into the tunnel before running a hand through one of her long ponytails with disappointment.
She should have told Marinette about how she really felt, but she had been too touched by her sister's invitation to speak.
Doesn't she know that I envy her? the Queen of Thieves thought. Does she really believe I can be a part of her new life? Her wounds may heal in time, but mine still have the scars.
Bridgette groaned and rubbed her temple. Hawkmoth may be gone now, but his mark still remained on her soul. She was a warrior who lived for mischief and the thrill of a heist. She was the leader of the Forty Thieves; the queen of cunning, the lady of larceny. The only happily-ever-afters she could ever have were ones involving endless wealth and glory.
Such a life couldn't be thrown away so easily.
Bridgette heard Alix approaching from behind, and she spoke over her shoulder. "Marinette may never understand, but it just wouldn't work." The Queen stared down at the Midas tapestry with an ache of longing. "I don't belong in her world."
As much as I wish I did, she added in her thoughts.
Strangely, Alix appeared quite smug as she stepped around the table, propped her elbows up, and rested her face in her hands. "The Miraculous doesn't belong in her world either," she said with a glint of mischief in her ocean eyes. "I betcha it's still somewhere in that fancy palace, just waiting for a couple of enterprising treasure hunters to find it."
Bridgette's eyes narrowed at Alix, and then she she shook her head. "Tcht. The Miraculous," she groaned miserably. "It's probably just another dead end."
Alix made an incredulous face. "Hel-lo-oh? Earth to Queen Bridgette!" She knocked on the table for emphasis. "That's how Marinette found you, remember? It knows everything!"
The Queen of Thieves blinked... before one of her eyebrows quirked up and the corner of her mouth drew up with elation. "Everything?" she repeated.
Alix's face softened with kindness. "Bridgette," she said, "we are talking about the wedding of your only sister; a wedding to which you've been cordially invited." The little speedster tapped her fingers together like Max did whenever he had a good hand in a game. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Alix sang.
Bridgette couldn't help but giggle, and she turned back to the direction of the sunken, golden ship.
So many heists. So many wild, goose chases. So many failures.
But now... here it was: a solid lead.
For the first time in years, the Queen of Thieves could actually see the Hand of Midas, just waiting for her to reach out and take it.
Not to mention she'd be taking out two birds with one stone. She'd acquire the Miraculous right from under the king's nose, and then watch her little sister's wedding as though nothing had happened.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...
A grin stretched across Bridgette's face, and her eyes burned with dark intrigue. "How could I pass it up?"