I do not own Ladybug or Chat Noir. But if I had to pick, I'd take the kitty. I've got some boxes in my basement that need to go bye-bye.
Ahem. If you thought things were weird before, welcome to left field! (I'm just kidding, my beta told me to say that. I personally think I've alluded to this enough that it shouldn't be too much of a long shot, but oh well. I planned this part from the start.)
Consequences
Chapter 3: …of Family Secrets
Getting to breakfast was a chore in-and-of itself. Marinette couldn't believe she was still so tired (well, she could, nightmares weren't exactly restful), and a sudden headache hit her out of nowhere. Fortunately, aspirin was readily available in a house used to her clumsy ways.
As was food. Marinette giggled a bit at Adrien's face. He was cute when he drooled.
Breakfast was quiet at first, even with three magical pixie-like creatures sitting on the table. If Marinette and Adrien were slow to get started, Nooroo appeared to still be half-asleep. He would open his mouth when one of the other kwamis offered him a piece of food, but he didn't respond to anything else.
And then there was the other problem; where her normally-jovial father (who had already told her that he liked Adrien!) was silently glaring at the blond boy he'd found in his daughter's bed. Adrien seemed to curl in on himself, taking smaller and smaller bites as Tom glowered at him from across the table. Finally, Marinette had had enough.
"Papa, stop it, we didn't do anything!" she cried, slamming her hands down on the table. Instantly, the two lights above them shattered. Marinette yelped. Adrien instinctively flung himself away from the table. But Tom and Sabine just blinked in the now-semi-darkness of the kitchen. Marinette blinked at the lights in horror.
Had she done that?
"Well, I'll guess I'll get us some more food," Sabine said easily, clearing the dishes that were now liberally-laced with debris.
"I've been meaning to replace those lights anyway," Tom chuckled, helping his wife clear the table. He winked at the two teenagers staring at them in shock. "And calm down, honey," he said, patting Marinette's arm, "you know I like Adrien. It was just a bit surprising to see you two together so soon. I was expecting normal dating, and courting, and asking permission to marry her first," he growled, staring down Adrien again.
"Papa!" Marinette cried.
"Tom!" Sabine laughed.
"Yes, sir," Adrien said, his voice soft. Tom raised an eyebrow, and when Adrien nodded at him firmly, he grinned at the boy in approval. Marinette covered her cheeks to make sure they hadn't actually caught on fire. It certainly felt like they had.
"Did I just get engaged?" she whimpered at Tikki.
"Betrothed," Tikki corrected, shaking with suppressed laughter. Marinette squeaked.
"You both have to graduate high school first," Sabine said firmly, patting her hand. "And maybe university too."
Yeah, sure, Mom, but first I'll die of shame, thanks.
HERE LIES MARINETTE
NOBODY QUITE KNOWS WHY HER HEART GAVE OUT LIKE THAT, BUT, HEY! AT LEAST SHE BEAT THE BAD GUY FIRST!
"You two are being surprisingly calm about all of this," Plagg suddenly said, cocking his head suspiciously at Tom and Sabine. Beside him, Tikki snickered and brushed a piece of glass away from Nooroo. The two parents smiled at each other, shrugged, and started making more food.
"Magic runs in both our families," Sabine explained. The cat kwami cocked his head at her for a moment.
"Wait a minute, you-you're a dragon!" Plagg realized, his eyes widening. Sabine nodded and looked over at her husband.
"And for centuries, my family was in possession of the Great Bear Miraculous!" Tom declared, posing with a pair of croissants. Marinette gaped at her parents, her mouth dropping open. Plagg whipped his head to glare at Tikki, who just shrugged.
"The bear?" Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow at Marinette's dad. "I've never heard of it."
"It got lost a long time ago," Tom admitted with a casual wave of his hand. "We think it immigrated to America. But the magic's still in my blood."
"Wait… a—a dragon?" Marinette said weakly, staring at her mother, who was resetting the table.
"Many, many times removed, on my mother's side," Sabine said, nodding. She smiled at her daughter. "What, did you think all those fairy tales I told you about with 'the powerful dragon who fell in love with a princess,' growing up were just stories? Not all magic is Miraculous."
Marinette's eyes widened as those stories suddenly took on a whole new meaning. Her family. That was her family. Her mother's mother's—
"So, Uncle Wang…?"
"No, he doesn't have it," Sabine said, sounding a bit sad. "At least not dragon magic. Otherwise, he would've been much harder to akumatize while he was here. My father's side has some magic, but it's not nearly as powerful. Think about it. I'll bet Hawkmoth wasn't even able to give you a new name when he tried to akumatize you, was he?"
"No, he wasn't," Marinette blinked, looking wildly at Adrien, then back to her mother.
"Names have power, especially over dragons," Sabine said, nodding in satisfaction. "If you'd completely submitted to his power, he could've given you a new name, and you would've become a more-powerful akuma than any we've seen here yet. As it is, I'm sure he knew about your heritage and, shall we say, 'jumped the gun' at the first chance he could get."
"I think that's exactly what happened," Tikki agreed. "I remember being surprised that he would try to akumatize her over something so little."
"It wasn't exactly little," Marinette muttered, remembering the incident as well. "I really wanted to punch Chloe's face in."
"That's happened a lot over the years with Chloe," her mother laughed. "And you've yet to give in."
"So why hasn't he tried to akumatize you, Mom?" Marinette asked, her brow furrowed, "if you're a dragon too?"
Sabine shrugged. "I've never given him the chance. I've been told I have a very non-confrontational personality," she said with a wry grin, as she placed some fresh fruit on the table. "Also, meditation techniques. Some of which you should probably start learning yourself if you're truly coming into your power now. Tikki, how much am I allowed to teach her?" she asked the pink kwami. Tom set down a plate of baked goods next to the kwamis. Plagg and Tikki immediately dove on it, scooping up snacks before Tikki replied.
"As much as you want," Tikki chirped around her scone. "As her mother, you get prerogative. The Old Houses made the rule about not interfering with Miraculous users because sometimes their rival's teachings got to be a bit shady. And even then, it was never a hard-and-fast law. More like guidelines. And I think we can all agree that you don't have any ulterior motives here."
"Old Houses?" Adrien repeated, looking confused. Tikki nodded.
"I suppose there's no harm in you knowing," she said, thinking a bit. "It used to be that certain Miraculous gems would stay within a family for generations," the kwami explained, gesturing to Marinette's father. "Passed down from father to son, mother to daughter… that sort of thing. It was believed that doing so would make the bearers even more powerful as time went by. Which was true. Wielding a Miraculous increases the person's innate magic, which can then be passed down to the wielder's children. In fact, children of the Old Houses were often encouraged to marry someone who also had a connection to another Miraculous, to further strengthen the bloodlines."
"But then some of those families got too powerful, and let it go to their heads," Plagg added, scowling. "Wars were started over the jewels, and some people even tried to collect as many as they could, just to gain more power. Families tried to influence their own bearers so much that internal fights were common as well. Some people still had morals, and tried to set up some basic rules for dealing with Miraculous wielders, but…," Plagg's tail twitched and he shrugged. "It wasn't really enforceable."
"So, centuries ago, many of the Miraculouses were rounded up and put under the protection of the Guardians," Tikki finished, "an ancient order that was trained from childhood to respect and use the jewels for the good of all mankind."
Plagg rolled his eyes. "If you believe in such a thing," he added.
"And that's why we don't really go by the Old Houses anymore," Tikki said, rolling her eyes at the other kwami. "But they still exist. And some of them still have magic and remember the old ways."
"But we—ok, wait. You mean, I've had magic this whole time?" Marinette asked, incredulous. Her mother nodded.
"Families don't usually tell their children about the magic until they come of age," she said, as Marinette half-rose out of her seat. "It prevents the teenagers from… using their powers inappropriately. But sometimes we get someone who has a little too much power to explain away." She smiled at Marinette. Marinette pointed at herself, dumbfounded. Her mother laughed.
"We got lucky with you," Sabine said, hugging her daughter. "Your mind has always been so sharp. You try to figure out everything on your own. Even things that can't be explained. When your powers started coming in, and strange things started happening around you, you decided you were simply clumsy, and unlucky. Unfortunately, then your magic started to focus in that direction!" She laughed. "I thought about telling you about your powers, just so you could learn to focus them better, but like everything else, you rose up to the challenge."
"Rose up to the challenge?" Marinette repeated, looking confused.
"Always having a plan, and a backup plan, almost like you expect the first plan to fail? That comes from being used to being 'unlucky,'" Tom explained, smiling. "And being able to easily switch between plans after one fails? That kind of flexibility takes practice, sweetheart. I usually need a few moments to reflect on what went wrong with Plan A before I can move onto Plan B. You don't. And I've seen enough of Ladybug's tactics on the TV to know it's working for you."
Marinette blushed, looking away from her beaming parents. Her gaze landed on her partner, who was staring at the table in front of him and frowning.
"Adrien?" she called softly, "are you okay?"
"My father knew," he muttered. He looked up at her. "My father knew about the Old Houses. Remember, he said we'd be a good match?" Marinette nodded slowly. Hawkmoth had mentioned something like that. He'd even lamented losing her "potential" before trying to brain her with his cane. Adrien looked over at Tikki and Plagg almost desperately.
"My family. Were they…?"
"An Agreste is a type of butterfly," Tikki confirmed softly, patting Nooroo gently on the head. "They were one of the strongest houses. Your family has always been very proud of its heritage."
Adrien stared at the tiny, purple kwami for a moment, hung his head and drew in a long, shuddering breath. Then the blond glared at Plagg, his eyes slowly filling with tears.
"You said you didn't know," he said, his voice shaking a bit. "How could you not know? How could you not know who he was?"
"The Moth Brooch was one of the jewels given to the Guardians ages ago!" Plagg exclaimed. "It's been held by other people than just your family! And then it was lost! Supposedly forever! How was I supposed to know that your father still had enough of a connection to it to find the damn thing when the rest of us couldn't?"
"Stop. Stop it, both of you," Sabine said, calmly but firmly, when it looked like Adrien wanted to argue some more. She stepped in between the kwami and his master. "We will gain nothing by bickering right now. Adrien, dear, remember, Old Houses haven't had their respective Miraculous for many years. The jewels have all gotten shuffled around, especially since the Guardians choose based on merit and personality rather than bloodlines. Otherwise, your friend Juleka would've received the Cat Miraculous instead of you."
"Juleka?" Adrien and Marinette both exclaimed at the same time. They blinked at each other.
"She does kind of remind me of a cat," Adrien said, thinking.
"And remember, she had that photo jinx on her!" Marinette said, remembering. She looked at Plagg. "Was that because of you? Bad luck? Because her family had the Cat Miraculous?" The cat kwami nodded, looking impressed by her deduction.
"And paid for it dearly. I didn't like the last guy in her family who claimed the ring," Plagg said, shrugging. "So, I cursed him. It's not my fault he decided to let his descendants suffer rather than getting himself purified."
"Plagg!" Marinette exclaimed, looking appalled. The kwami shot her a dry stare.
"I've done worse, I assure you."
"You haven't done anything to me, have you?" Adrien asked, looking nervous.
"Hmm, not yet…," Plagg said, looking at his wielder appraisingly. Adrien blanched. The kwami snickered. "You're a pretty good kid. And you feed me well. I don't curse everyone. Just the jerks." Adrien breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, who would've gotten the Ladybug earrings if we were going by the Old Houses?" Marinette asked Tikki. "Rose?"
"They would've made quite the pair, wouldn't they?! But, no," Tikki giggled. "Rose has fairy blood, not Miraculous ties."
"No way!" Adrien exclaimed, looking excited. "Fairies are real too?"
"Kid, you've lived with me for the past year," Plagg said, giving his wielder an incredulous stare. "How can you not believe in something as simple as fairies?"
"Most of the fairy tales you know are romanticized versions of things that actually happened," Tikki said, still smiling. "As for your original question, Marinette, if we were still going by Old Houses, the earrings probably would've gone to Alix."
"The Kubdels?" Marinette said, frowning. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh, the watch! I knew something about it felt familiar when I picked it up as Ladybug!"
Tikki nodded. "It was made by one of my favorite bearers. An inventor who could've changed the world into that steampunk fantasy so many people enjoy nowadays. He decided against it. I won't tell you his name, since he kept his identity secret until the end, but I'm sure with a little digging you could figure it out."
"Is everyone in our class somehow related to magic?" Adrien exclaimed.
"Well, yes, actually," Sabine answered calmly. "Remember how we told you that the Old Houses liked to have their children associate with other children of magic users? That continues to this day, even if many us have forgotten why we want to be associated with certain families."
"How else do you think Andre Bourgeois was convinced to let his daughter go to school rather than homeschool her like Adrien here?" Tom added, nodding in the blond boy's direction.
"Oh. My. God. Chloe has magic?" Marinette exclaimed. The look of horror on her face inspired several laughs around the room.
"Probably not enough for her to use, sweetie," Sabine assured her. "In fact, that'll be true for most of your classmates. Chloe simply has some good connections. Her best one, of course, is the line she shares with Adrien, from your mothers." she added. Adrien's eyes widened.
"Wait, WHAT?" he cried. "I'm related to Chloe?"
Sabine frowned at him. "I'd think that'd be obvious, dear. You two look so much alike." She blinked when he continued gaping open-mouthed at her. "You're cousins! Didn't your parents say anything?"
Adrien shook his head slowly, looking like his mind had been blown.
"OhmyGoddoessheknow?" he finally babbled.
"I'm guessing not," Tom laughed behind him.
"I think we let the cat out of the bag," Sabine said. "Oh dear."
Marinette giggled a bit, then couldn't hold it back anymore. She threw her head back and howled with laughter. "Oh, please… please don't tell her until I'm in the room, Adrien," she begged, still snickering. "I have to see the look on her face—!"
"Marinette!" Sabine scolded.
"What?" Marinette laughed, gasping. "Maman, you don't understand! The way she hangs on him—!" She collapsed on the table, still laughing. Adrien childishly stuck his tongue out at her.
Suddenly the phone rang. Tom answered it with a cheerful, "Hello!" After a moment, he grimaced and looked at Adrien.
"Ah, yes, ma'am. I take it he didn't tell you when he left," the baker said, raising an eyebrow. Adrien winced.
"Natalie," he muttered guiltily. He hadn't even remembered to bring his phone with him. Oops.
"No, no, I'll let you talk to him, we're just having some breakfast," Tom said. He gave Adrien a pointed look and held out the cordless phone. "You can take it downstairs for some privacy if you want to, son."
"Thank you," Adrien said, accepting the phone with a sigh. "Hi, Natalie…." He stepped out the door to the hallway, closing it behind himself so he could be scolded in private.
"Adrien, I thought I made myself clear," Natalie said, clearly exasperated with him.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just… couldn't stay there last night," Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck even though she couldn't see him. "Not with… everything that's happened."
His new guardian sighed. "Were you at least safe about it?"
"Safe? What—OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Adrien facepalmed as soon as he realized what she was talking about. "WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"Ah, good. Now, I need you to come home, Adrien," Natalie said, as unruffled as ever. "Paris isn't safe right now."
Adrien sighed. "Yeah, okay… I'll head home here in a few minutes. Can I at least finish breakfast?"
"That's fine," Natalie allowed. "But no superhero antics. I'll send the car."
"Right, right," Adrien agreed wearily. Then he froze. "Wait… what did you just say, Natalie?"
For the first time in his life, he heard his father's assistant curse.
"Natalie, do you know who I am?" he exclaimed with rising horror. "How long have you—"
"Adrien, I'm in charge of the mansion's state-of-the-art security system," Natalie snapped. "I get alerted every time you open a window late at night. The better question would be, how could I not know? Now, I gave you last night as a bye, but—"
"Did you know who my father was too?" Adrien exclaimed, interrupting her. The phone went silent for a moment. Adrien grit his teeth. "Natalie?"
"We can have this conversation when you get back home," she said calmly.
"Or we can have it now," Adrien growled, seething. "You knew, didn't you? This whole time. And you watched us play each other! Was it amusing? Did we entertain you, Natalie?"
"That is not what happened," Natalie said crisply, "and it certainly wasn't my intention. I have my reasons, Adrien. You must trust me—"
"No. No, I really don't," Adrien snarked. "Trust you? You've been lying to me for months! You could've ended this whole thing before it began!"
"I had my reasons!"
"And I'm just supposed to trust that you won't attack me as soon as I get home? Or try to steal the ring from me? Good God, were you working with him?"
"Adrien!"
"Were you?!" Adrien cried.
"I was his assistant, Adrien. I did whatever he required of me. And now I need to take care of you—"
"No. No way. You can cancel that car, Natalie. I'm not coming home."
His father's assistant sighed again. "I can have the Dupain-Chengs arrested for kidnapping if that's the way you want to play this," Natalie said calmly. Adrien clenched his fist and shook with rage.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
She would, Adrien knew. She'd do it in a heartbeat and not bat an eye. He clenched his fist.
"You can come home quietly or with a police escort," Natalie said.
"There are other ways to get away from you," he muttered, his voice shaking. He fingered his ring.
"Ah, yes. Do you know what happens when a superhero's identity is revealed to the public, Adrien?" Natalie asked. If her tone hadn't still been emotionless, he'd have said it was sickeningly sweet. "I've been told the crowds aren't pretty. Even if it's just screaming fangirls."
"Don't you dare," Adrien growled. "Natalie…." On the other end of the phone, his father's assistant grumbled a bit in exasperation.
"Fine," she said wearily. "You have my promise not to reveal you or your friend to the public, as a sign of trust, Adrien. I don't want us to become enemies; I simply want you safe. I will not steal your ring, and I will not do anything against the Dupain-Chengs. But I need you to come home. Please. At least until your father is back on his feet. Let me do my job. Paris isn't safe for you."
"If it isn't safe, then I have a job to do!"
"Adrien, I saw you last night!" Natalie exclaimed. "Neither you nor Miss Dupain-Cheng are in any shape to take on anything right now! Much less fight a new enemy that you know nothing about! I'm frankly surprised you made it to her house in one piece!"
Honestly, now that he thought about it, so was Adrien. He didn't remember most of the trip, just the single-minded goal he'd had at the time. In fact, just thinking about it now made him feel tired. He slumped against the wall.
"Fine," he finally said. "I'll come home. But I—," he gulped. "You'll keep your promise? You won't try to take the ring?"
"I swear it."
Adrien sighed in defeat. There wasn't really anything else he could do. He couldn't run forever. "Send the car. I've just got a few things to finish up here."
Marinette watched the door close behind Adrien as he went to take his phone call, and then she turned to face her parents.
"You're hiding something, aren't you?" she said, frowning. Sabine and Tom's eyes widened. "I can tell, Maman. You've been trying to distract me ever since we came downstairs." Her parents looked at each other for a moment, then sighed. Tom pulled out the TV remote and reluctantly switched it on.
"Don't be getting any ideas," he warned, as the news special came on. Marinette's eyes went wide.
AKUMAS COVER PARIS! MANY VICTIMS AKUMATIZED! LADYBUG AND CAT NOIR NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!
"No!" she whispered in horror.
"Marinette, listen to me…" her mother started.
"Mama, I have to go!" Marinette cried, standing up on shaky legs.
"You are not going anywhere, young lady," her father said firmly.
"But, Papa! You don't understand! PARIS NEEDS ME!"
"The akumatizations aren't lasting long," Tom argued, gesturing to the TV. "Especially if the victim is just confused or had a spike of anger. The butterflies don't have a driving force behind them anymore."
"It's still causing damage!" Marinette protested, her eyes glued to the screen, where a woman was hit by a black butterfly, changed into a pink monster, floated for a bit, shot a beam of light into a nearby shop, and suddenly collapsed on the ground, the butterfly fluttering away as quickly as it came.
"How long has this been going on?" she cried.
"Ever since last night," Sabine said, resting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Marinette looked at her frantically, but her mother shook her head. "Honey, you stumbled down the stairs on your way to breakfast, and after your little outburst, both you and Adrien have been half-asleep while eating your food. You've gotten a little better with some breakfast in you, but you're still running on adrenaline right now, and you need to rest some more."
"I'm fine!" Marinette insisted. "I can sleep when all this is over!"
"It might not be that simple, Marinette," Tikki said, floating over to look at the television too. "We have no idea how many akumas survived the blast. Going out now might force them to regroup. They're scattered and confused without Hawkmoth. This might be a good opportunity for you and Cat Noir to gain your strength back."
"But—"
"Not to mention, you still have that residue akuma magic still inside you that we need to take care of. Preferably before it becomes a part of you," Tikki added. "Unless you want to continue to have those nightmares?"
"No, no, of course not!"
"Then we need to purify both of you, before you try to transform again," Tikki said firmly. Her expression softened when Marinette looked desperately at the TV again. "I know you want to save everyone, but you have to take care of yourself too, Marinette."
"I just—I can't help?" Marinette asked, looking like she wanted to cry as two fighting children were akumatized into an ice monster and a fire monster who started boxing in the middle of a playground. One of them hit the other, then both of them de-transformed and fell to the ground, where they started to cry.
Tikki sighed. "Marinette, I can't stop you," she said slowly. "That's the cost of the Miraculous magic: if you call on the transformation, I have no choice but to answer. But, if you still want advice," the kwami added, floating over and gently turning Marinette's face towards herself, away from the TV. "You'll be much more effective if you aren't fighting yourself as well as the enemy."
Slowly, reluctantly, Marinette nodded.
Adrien stepped back inside. He looked as sullen and helpless as Marinette felt.
"Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it fast," he said.
End Chapter 3.
A/N: *Dodges angry readers* I'm sorry! I know! It's mostly exposition here, and my beta is literally beating me over the head for the lack of action, but I needed to clarify a few things before we can go further! Don't worry, I promised you violence and I will deliver! Until then, I also promised you drama. Ta-da!
The extended weariness you see here is based on my own experiences with adrenaline and near-death experiences; the most recent being a car-crash. You can be fine at the scene, and the next couple of days, and then all of a sudden you have to sleep for 14 hours straight and your body hurts all over. No, I am not kidding. It's a real thing. I lessened the effects on the kiddos and gave it to them earlier because of their healing ability and latent magic. But I didn't want to get too much into it in the story, because let's face it, unless you're into medical stuff, this is probably boring. You can argue that, as superheroes, they're used to stuff like this, and I would likely agree. But a LOT of shtick went down, and I imagine even magic needs a moment to breathe every now and then.
Juleka and Alix's family backstory has been a headcanon of mine ever since they were akumatized in Season 1. The photo jinx and the mysterious, magical-looking watch weren't explained nearly enough for my satisfaction.
Again, I'm here if you need clarification on any points, but hopefully most of it should be cleared up in the chapters to come. Still, don't be afraid to ask. Or tell me what you think I'm doing wrong. :)