Let's Take It From The Top, Chapter 12: Intertwining Melodies
Tom and Sabine stood back a few paces, giving their daughter room to let out the emotions that she needed to.
"I can't believe he just DID that!" Marinette sniffled. "He knows that he can't get through this alone!"
Her parents looked at each other, with worried eyes. "Marinette, honey?" her mother asked. "We'll help you however we can, but-"
Marinette closed her eyes. "Tikki... SPOTS-"
"HOLD IT!" Tom yelled, stopping her from transforming and trying to chase Adrien down immediately. "Marinette, we have to talk about this before you go running off! We're not angry at you, or at Adrien! But we need to know what 'this' is before we can be of any real help."
"I know," replied Marinette, resignedly. "Sit down, please. And, Tikki, I don't want an argument about this; I think Adrien just used up his let's-keep-this-secret-for-now card."
The tiny red Kwami floated out next to Marinette, not looking particularly happy. "I have to agree, Marinette. I do like Adrien very much... but it's time."
With a sinking heart, Marinette began, "Okay. First off, Dad... of course you were right at the beginning; Adrien is Chat Noir, the feline superhero. He got his powers the same way I did, through a Miraculous and its Kwami. You had one extra houseguest that you didn't know about, Adrien's Kwami, and that's why cheese kept disappearing from our fridge while Adrien was here."
"Heh! Always nice to know when my instincts are good," smiled Tom. "And I do understand why you didn't just tell me that up front... But there's something else, even bigger than that going on here."
"There is. Okay... as Ladybug, I have a hidden power of Creation, called Lucky Charm. Chat Noir's is of Destruction..."
She gave them the full story on how Adrien obtained his Miraculous, the accident, and how his Cataclysm power was slowly becoming more erratic. Sabine and Tom's eyes went wide as Marinette described the implications of the wish, what Adrien had wanted to do with it... and what his father wanted to do with it now.
"The... 'shock' Adrien gave you was less than the one I got by accident, about two hours before. He didn't mean either one of them, I know it! But now he thinks he's too dangerous to be around us, so now he's run off from here AND he won't go home!" lamented Marinette. "I have no idea on Earth where he's going to go, and I don't think he does, either."
"So when you two came out of the back of the bakery earlier... you'd just been... oh!" replied Tom, with a curious expression that drew a questioning look from the others. "Marinette, you came out of that back room with Adrien with wobbly legs and a huge grin. I wasn't sure quite WHAT went on in there, but I didn't know that I wanted to!"
"DAD!" Marinette blushed as red as she'd ever glowed in her life. "I'm only FOURTEEN!"
Sabine glared at him, but couldn't suppress her own laughter. "Now that that's settled..."
"That's about the only thing that's settled, it sounds like," noted Tom. "And I have to say that while I do understand it better now... part of me is very disappointed in the both of you, Marinette. If this magic thing with Adrien really is dangerous, there is no excuse for not letting us know that it was under our roof! You and your mother weren't hurt badly today... but from what you're telling me, you could've been."
Marinette's face changed quickly from embarrassment to crashing sadness. "I know, Dad, and I'm so sorry," she said, just above a whisper. "It won't ever happen again."
"But the main thing is, let's learn from this and move forwards, okay? When you get him to come back, we'll figure out if he even wants to stay here again, and how we'll handle it whether he does or not," Tom continued.
That caught Marinette off-guard. "You'd... consider letting him stay with us, after this?"
"What else am I going to do, leave him out on the street somewhere?" snorted Tom. "That's crazy talk."
"We'll figure that out when we get that far, Marinette," soothed her mother. "This thing with Adrien's hand... how does it get fixed?"
She hesitated before answering, "I don't know, Mom. He doesn't know, either. I don't know if it can be."
Marinette turned and looked at Tikki, who looked nervous. "Is there anything that YOU can tell us about that?" she asked Tikki.
"I wish I could," Tikki evaded. "I don't know much about that combination of Miraculouses, and neither did Plagg. That's Adrien's Kwami's name," she explained to Marinette's parents, "the little cheese glutton."
"I've met him," Marinette smiled, weakly. "He grows on you. At least I think he does. But if PLAGG doesn't know... who would know more about Miraculouses than you or him?"
She watched Tikki's face, seeing the Kwami not really wanting to answer that, and an idea came to her. "Wait a minute... this is something we've never really discussed, is it, Tikki? Ladybug's powers come from you, and you come from the Miraculous. But if Chat Noir didn't leave the Miraculous here, and we're all pretty sure that he didn't..."
"...Who put THAT in Marinette's room, and how? Who was it who decided that Marinette should have it?" Sabine finished the thought. "Tikki, can you tell us that?"
Three sets of eyes followed Tikki, as she fluttered back and forth. "Right now... I'm not sure if I can."
"Can, or should?" Marinette asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Should," smiled Tikki. Can't slip much by her! "You are an exceptionally clever host of mine, Marinette, and I don't doubt that given time, there's very little that I could hide from you. But for now, let me just say that throughout history, the person chosen to have a Miraculous does not know who their benefactor is, unless it is of truly dire importance. The fewer people who know that person's identity, the safer he or she is."
Master Fu's going to have to be VERY careful around this one, mused Tikki. Between his healing session with her today and his showing up at the bakery just as I was discovered, Marinette may put two and two together faster that he realizes.
"Fair enough," said Marinette, her eyes narrowing. "But... might that person know how to fix Adrien's powers?"
"Perhaps. I don't want to get your hopes up without knowing more about this," Tikki replied. "But that involves getting the two of them together, and Adrien running off complicates that quite a bit..."
"Claws in."
In a white flash, Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste once more. Plagg looked around and smirked, "Well, at least we know you don't have a fear of heights."
Adrien replied, "This isn't where I plan on staying for long... but I'm running out of places that I can go where I know I won't be found. The roof of Montparnasse Tower doesn't get a lot of visitors, for obvious reasons."
"It's no wonder! If you fell off the side and didn't transform, you might end up like a gooey pile of Camembert," quipped Plagg.
"I'll try not to," said Adrien. "I don't know what else to do right now. I can't go home, if my father intends on misusing this Miraculous... but I can't stay with the Dupain-Chengs, after I zapped two of them in one day! If I can't control my Cataclysm, something terrible will happen sooner or later, and I can't let it happen to them."
Plagg hesitated before replying, "Leaving like that might've hurt Marinette more than the Cataclysm did."
"You don't think I know that?" snapped Adrien, with pain in his voice. "But if I'm around her, I am literally putting her life in danger. She's smart enough to realize that."
"And...?"
"And stubborn and caring enough to chase me down," he smiled. "The wrong thing for the right reasons."
Plagg just stared at him. "AND...? I'd say that you've got a girlfriend now, wouldn't you? You can play 'Oh, woe is me, I am alone in the world' with me all you want, 'cause I know I'm just not gonna listen to you. But if you just disappear from her life, you're going to regret it like you wouldn't believe. You've got a phone; use it. You might be surprised how much help she can be, and you're going to want at least one friendly voice in your ear while you're sleeping on rooftops."
"Yeah... I know. That's actually really good advice, Plagg," Adrien conceded.
"Of course it's good advice! I didn't just fall off a turnip truck, y'know," Plagg chided him. "Over a few thousand years, you pick up a few things."
Nathalie looked up, wearily and hungrily, as Gabriel reentered her room. "Any luck?" she asked, in a weak voice.
"Perhaps," he frowned. "Not much. I have some cryptic references to a stopgap measure, but its ingredients are... bizarre. I wanted 'epsom salts and cold compresses' and I found 'eye of newt and tear of joy.' How are you holding up for now?"
"Not well," Nathalie replied. "I can tell that it's getting stronger. I'm trying to sleep, but it just keeps gnawing at me."
"I see... I will be back shortly; I am going to try a local Chinese shop and see if they can make heads or tails of these ingredients, or if they have anything else that might help energize you," reassured Gabriel. "I don't usually give a lot of credence to ancient remedies and new age woo... but I don't usually have an assistant with a magical illness, either."
"What about the Jacobson contract? You've been negotiating that for weeks," protested Nathalie. "I know you wanted to work on that tonight..."
"Despite appearances, this is not a two-person operation here. I will delegate someone to represent me there. Besides, who else could I send to fetch a remedy? Could you imagine our bodyguard attempting to explain what we need?" ventured Gabriel.
Nathalie pictured the hefty bodyguard attempting to mime a request for 'dancing ant honeydew' to elderly Chinese proprietors, and even she had to laugh. "Yeah, that's not going to work. Okay... thank you, then. If you think of anything, I'll be here."
Or I'll just run down to the local cafe for a... snack, she thought, grimly.
"So what should we do?" wondered Sabine. "Marinette, do you have any ideas?"
She nodded, and started typing. "First off... let's see if he's answering his phone. If he'll TELL me where he went, that'll save a lot of time."
[Marinette] Congratulations! You've had a girlfriend for less than a day and already made her want to cry. :(
Sabine took a peek at what Marinette was typing, and winced. "Don't be too hard on him, dear. He did what he did for what he thought were the right reasons, and I really don't think he wanted to leave you. He certainly wasn't breaking up with you like that!"
"I know," she sniffled. "But that doesn't make it much easier."
She waited for a few minutes - you'd BETTER answer that, Mister, she thought - and, soon, her phone buzzed.
[Adrien] I totally deserve that. You don't. I am so, so sorry for what happened.
[Marinette] For something that wasn't your fault, or for running away again without even a goodbye?
[Adrien] ...Both?
[Adrien] Marinette, if you had asked me to stay, face to face, I couldn't have refused you.
[Adrien] That's why I couldn't be there to let you ask. I cannot put you or your family in deadly danger.
[Marinette] Let's test that theory, then.
[Marinette] Your girlfriend is officially asking you... please come home to her and let's talk this out!
[Marinette] My mom and dad aren't angry at you; they're more concerned than anything else.
Adrien stared at his phone, his face burning. "Plagg, buddy?" he asked. "Please help me figure this out."
Plagg floated over, dutifully, and read the text message thread. "Looks to me like you have three choices," he said. "You can go home, and it's hard to say what your father will say or do, though you know how much he wants you there. Whether you want to bring ME there is another issue, after what Ladybug told you... but I have no idea what giving me to someone else while your powers are screwed up would do to you! Choice two is a cold night on a rooftop."
"Neither one sounds very promising," Adrien admitted.
"And choice three... is to go hang out with your pretty new girlfriend and keep your hands to yourself. At least one hand, anyway," Plagg grinned. "I know which one sounds better to me."
[Marinette] Please, Adrien?
"And if I touch her like that by accident, and I Cataclysm her again? This time, far worse?" asked Adrien, wavering.
"You've 'fed' twice today. Your tank is about as full as it's going to get, I'd bet," offered Plagg.
[Marinette] I'm making my eyes really big and biting my lip right now. Pleeeease?
Adrien looked at his phone, then back at Plagg. Plagg just shrugged.
"Come on... come onnnnn..." Marinette muttered, willing Adrien to respond...
[Adrien] I'm sorry. I do want to... you cannot believe how much I WANT TO...
[Adrien] I need more time to think this through.
"Nnnnggh!" grunted Marinette, in frustration. "He 'needs time to think.' No, he needs a roof over his head!"
"You think he's out in the open, on a night like this?" wondered Sabine. "It's already chilly out, and it's supposed to rain overnight!"
"He's done it before. The first night he came here, I found him on my balcony," Marinette replied. "That was the night that we didn't know how he got there."
She looked pointedly at her father, who sighed. "Somehow I know what's coming next. You will be careful?" he responded.
"Of course I will," answered Marinette. "I promise. Tikki... spots on!"
"It'll take me a while to get used to that,"" said Sabine, shielding her eyes from the transformation flash.
Ladybug grinned. "Trust me, I'll be back soon. The scariest thing out there tonight will be me."
Gabriel grumbled to himself as he approached the third shop of the night. This is a complete wild goose chase, I'm sure... but I'll feel terrible if I don't give it my all, for Nathalie's sake. And for Adrien's, if he would ever come HOME, blast it!
At least I haven't seen any headlines about "Mysterious stalker puts Parisian in coma" or "Catboy rampages through Montmartre," he thought. Perhaps that means that Adrien has found some way to keep his side of this malady under control... for now.
The manager at the first shop, a general Chinese grocery, had looked at Gabriel like he was half-crazy when he saw Gabriel's page scans and proposed shopping list. "You'd have to try an herbalist; even the ingredients that I can decipher aren't anything we'd carry here," he'd said. "Maybe if it was five hundred years ago."
The second attempt was at a more obscure shop that the first clerk had recommended. Once again, the proprietor took one look at the scanned pages and mumbled something about "fairy tales." It took some fast talking for Gabriel not to get thrown out entirely, making up a story about his son's science project and extra credit and are you SURE you don't have anything like this?
"Only one guy I know that MIGHT have some of this stuff," the owner had grunted. "Try Fu Wang's. He's more of a therapist than a reseller, but he knows more about obscure herbs and plants than anyone else I've ever met."
So now, Gabriel stood at the front door of what looked to be a massage studio... Not THAT kind of studio, I certainly hope, he chuckled to himself.
He rang the bell... and the door was answered by a small Chinese man, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a curious expression. The two sized each other up, carefully.
"May I help you? No appointments scheduled tonight," Master Fu said.
"I'm hoping that you can," Gabriel replied. "I have some odd and obscure herbs I am trying to track down for a... project of mine. I was referred to you by Qiang Li, who said you were the most knowledgeable in Paris of such things. 'No one else in France would have even heard of half of them,' he told me."
Fu cocked his head, his curiosity piqued. "Come in, please. Tell me more of these herbs?"
Ladybug swung across Paris as quickly as she could, well aware of the difficulty of her task. Paris is huge, and I'm searching for a blonde needle in a haystack, she thought. If I was Chat Noir, where would I go?
What's his best asset? Besides those eyes, she smiled. His mobility. With his leaping and climbing abilities, he can reach places that no one else outside of me can go. So if he wants to avoid being found, and he's smart about it, he'll go somewhere that fat security guards won't see him. Somewhere... up high, perhaps. Like how when he wanted to meet Ladybug, he picked halfway up the Eiffel Tower to keep eavesdroppers away.
Well, that certainly narrows it down, Ladybug thought, looking at the Parisian skyline. There are only, what, thousands and thousands of rooftops to check?
I'll start with the Eiffel Tower as a starting point and circle outwards from there, she decided, for lack of a better idea. Or maybe I'll get lucky and catch him hip-checking a purse-snatcher again.
The hardest part, of course, will be not giving him a HUGE EARFUL the moment I find him of WHY AM I NOT PUNCHING YOU RIGHT NOW FOR RUNNING OUT ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND MAKING HER WORRY SO MUCH...
"Hey," Plagg lectured Adrien. "I just realized something about the rooftops of big office buildings. They're missing something. HEAT."
"I kind of figured that out on my own," grumbled Adrien, shivering a bit. "I didn't buy a blanket when I bought my changes of clothes, because I didn't think I'd have to do this again! And I don't want to transform more than I have to, to save your energy."
"Which I do appreciate, but your clothes bag only has so much insulation," griped Plagg. "So, since we're going with the 'hide' option for now... what's your plan, Adrien?"
"Well, it's something like this. Step 1, figure out what Step 1 is," mumbled Adrien.
Plagg grinned. "That's a heckuva plan, I have to admit. Covers all the bases."
"Oh, shut it."
Master Fu led Gabriel into his studio, warily. Something about Gabriel set off his radar in a big way, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. "Have a seat," he instructed his guest. "Explain, please, what it is that you need. You... don't seem the type for such things, if I may say so without seeming rude."
"I am more than a little out of my depth, I'll admit," replied Gabriel. "Ordinarily, I'd be at a pharmacy or a Western doctor's office... but this is a very strange situation that I'm in. Or, rather, that two members of my household are in. They are... well, for lack of a better word, de-energized in a way that food won't satisfy. My research turned up an ancient remedy that might help, but it has ingredients the likes of which I've never heard of."
"Like what, pray tell?" asked Master Fu.
"Dancing ant honeydew? A branch from a dragon king's garden?" Gabriel ventured. "The people I spoke with talked about fairy tales, and perhaps that's exactly what this remedy is. Even if I could track down whatever the components are, I have no illusions that I'm qualified to concoct it."
Gabriel looked at Master Fu's face, which was frozen in utter astonishment. No one in this century should have even heard of such things, Fu thought, let alone a rich Caucasian fashion designer!
"I have... some slight familiarity with such things. Would it be possible for me to see where you found this list of ingredients?" Fu asked, mentally weighing his options.
"Certainly." Gabriel fiddled with his handheld tablet, calling up some of the scanned pages from the ancient book, and passed it across to Fu...
Her phone buzzing distracted Ladybug from her search; she perched atop a lamppost and checked it eagerly, mildly disappointed to see that it was from her mother.
[Mom] Any luck, dear?
[Marinette] Not yet. I've covered most of the west side and central Paris, trying north next.
[Marinette] I did get two guys wolf-whistling at me, though. I tried to not yo-yo them into the Seine.
[Mom] Tried as in "didn't," not as in "missed the water," right?
[Marinette] Yes, Mom. 0:-)
While I'm at it, I might as well try this... she thought, and sent another message Adrien's way.
[Marinette] Can you at least give me a hint where you went? I'll sleep better if I know you're safe and warm.
A few raindrops began to hit Ladybug, to her immense displeasure.
[Marinette] And that you have enough sense to get out of the rain, which I don't, since I'm out looking for you...
She swung on, heading for the next likely set of tall landmarks.
Nathalie lay in her bed, curled up in a ball, aching. The hunger was particularly maddening to her because she knew precisely how to ease it... but was horrified by the implications of doing so.
A knock at her door distracted her, briefly. Gabriel's bodyguard stood at the door with a dinner tray in his arms and a questioning look on his face.
"Thank you," she managed, "I do need to eat something. That was very sweet of you."
He reached down and sat the tray on her nightstand, and for just a moment, a terrible thought ran through her mind...
He's a big guy. I bet he could withstand it. I zapped him once before with this...
Nathalie reached out -
"NO!" Immediately, she forcefully yanked her hand back to her side, disgusted with her moment of weakness.
The bodyguard recoiled, fearfully... but stood his ground as he saw her apologetic eyes and gauged the level of profound need behind them. The wheels spun in his head for a moment, and he came to a decision. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth...
...and extended his arm towards her, reaching out, his bare hand about a foot away from her.
Nathalie's eyes went wide.
Adrien did his best to blot out the outside world: the growing evening chill, the dampness, the first few raindrops sprinkling down around him, the wind whistling by, cars down at street level honking their horns... Just let me sleep, he thought, futilely. It's not much to ask, is it?
His phone, however, had other ideas. He picked up, read the incoming messages, and his eyes bugged out.
[Adrien] WHY are you out there looking for me in the rain?
[Marinette] Why are you out there IN the rain?
"She raises a good point," Plagg piped up, only to be shushed again by Adrien.
[Adrien] Because I'm so scared, okay? I'm beyond scared.
[Adrien] I'm scared of what's wrong with me. I'm terrified that I'm going to hurt YOU.
[Adrien] Either literally, or that I'll do something terrible by accident that'll make you hate me.
[Adrien] I have never known anyone like you. You are irreplaceable.
[Adrien] And until - unless - what's wrong with me gets fixed, I need to keep my distance.
There was a pause, for about a minute, and then the rebuttal arrived.
[Marinette] And running and hiding from everyone is going to fix that, is it?
[Adrien] It'll keep me from repeating what happened today.
[Marinette] Shhh, you. My turn.
[Marinette] I'm not going to pretend that I can wave a magic wand and fix what's wrong with you.
[Marinette] And, yeah, that DID scare me when my mom and I got zapped today. A lot.
[Marinette] But you know why and how it happens. And I do, too. And, now, so do my parents.
[Marinette] And wasn't THAT a fun little conversation for me to have? But I had to do it.
[Marinette] And they are fine with you coming back for a while. Do you know why that is?
A pause indicated that she was going to let him get at least one word in edgewise.
[Adrien] Honestly? I don't.
[Marinette] Because you are a responsible person. Mistakes happen, and they did. You learn from them.
[Marinette] Because they know that you'll be super careful from now on.
[Marinette] Because they know that whether you're at my house or out on the street, this is happening!
[Marinette] And because YOU AND I CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER, you big goof!
[Marinette] So either go HOME home, or come back to me. But don't hide and wait for disasters to happen.
[Marinette] Let me help you prevent them, or at least manage them, and we'll figure this out TOGETHER.
[Marinette] Deal?
For a moment, Master Fu thought to himself, This is it. My ancient mind has finally snapped. I am hallucinating things.
The Book of Guardians' Lore has been lost for over a hundred and fifty years... thought to be destroyed... and a Parisian fashion mogul just handed me digital scans of it on his iPad.
The old man closed his eyes, gathered his willpower, stilled his thoughts, took a very deep breath... and reopened his eyes. The images of Miraculous hosts and ancient runes obstinately persisted in front of him on the device.
Well! This is happening, then.
Another thought occurred to him, as he watched Gabriel's face. Am I in terrible danger right now? This man does not appear to be openly hostile, but he is one of perhaps ten people in the world who appears to know precisely what a Miraculous is. I am wearing one, myself, and am ten meters away from where fifteen more are hidden. Ladybug and Chat Noir are nowhere near to protect me. And the last time I tried to transform, Wayzz did his best, but I threw out my back for a week.
"Do you have the slightest idea of what this represents, what you have just placed before me?" Master Fu asked, cautiously, gauging Gabriel's reaction.
"I have some understanding, yes. Clearly, as you do as well. It seems that I may have come to the right place after all," he replied, evenly, with a hint of a smile.
Recent conversations flickered through Master Fu's head... and, suddenly, much made sense to him. "Would you show it to me? I would like to see it, please," he asked, simply.
Gabriel did not hesitate. He removed his long jacket, moved his tie aside and fiddled with his lapel for a moment, producing a purplish locket that Master Fu recognized instantly. "Nooroo... would you come out, please?" Gabriel asked.
The Kwami floated out of Gabriel's belongings, visibly unsure of how to react. Nooroo's eyes pleaded with Master Fu, How should I respond to this? Should I acknowledge that I know you?
Master Fu smiled and nodded at Nooroo, without an ounce of visible surprise. "There are those who would pay millions for knowledge of what you have just revealed to me, Mr. Agreste," he began. Gabriel betrayed no surprise or alarm of his own at being recognized.
"And far more for that locket and for little Nooroo here. Over centuries, people have killed each other for less than this. And yet, you bring this to me as casually as you might offer a cup of oolong tea." Master Fu's eyes locked onto Gabriel's, unbreakably. "Why would you do such a thing, Gabriel?"
"For the sake of my assistant... and of my son."
The old man allowed himself to smile, slightly. "In that case... let us begin."
Adrien sat and stared at his phone, silently, processing Marinette's logic and her heartfelt pleas.
"I'm never going to win an argument with her in my whole life, am I?" he asked Plagg, wryly.
"Why, were you supposed to?" snickered Plagg.
"Once in a while, it would be nice," said Adrien. He started typing:
[Adrien] You win. I just hope that you won't regret this in the end...
[Adrien] I'll head back in a few minutes, once Plagg feels up to transforming again.
[Marinette] Wait. Where are you at right now?
[Adrien] The top of Montparnasse Tower. Why?
[Marinette] Just wait there. Trust me. I have friends in high places.
"Now, what in the world does she mean by that?" muttered Adrien. "Is she going to send a giant eagle, or something? Am I dating Gandalf?"
Adrien gathered up what little he'd unpacked from his travel bag, and waited...
About five minutes later, very light footfalls behind him made him turn, though he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was at her identity; who else in Paris could have come and met him where he was standing at that moment?
"Somebody call for a taxi?" asked Ladybug, grinning from ear to ear.
Nathalie's hand dangled in mid-air... her temporary salvation inches away from her touch.
...But at what cost?
"I can't..." she gasped, causing the bodyguard's eyes to flicker open. "No! It might kill you!"
He remained still, not sure of what to do next. His "Huh?" grunt was unmistakable.
Nathalie wrestled with her conscience. Her hand, seemingly with a mind of its own, stretched forward again...
"I must admit to considerable curiosity," Gabriel said, as he watched Master Fu studying the scanned pages with intense concentration. "I have never met a fellow Miraculous host before."
"You think I am not full of questions, as well?" smiled Fu. "A Miraculous is rare beyond belief. Less than two dozen exist in the world! Yet here I stand with a man who possessed two of them." He watched as Wayzz and Nooroo fluttered around the room happily, overjoyed to see each other again. "I would be fascinated to learn of how the Cat, the Moth and the book were found."
Particularly since it is comparatively rare for one to change hands without... trouble. Let alone two, including the ridiculously powerful Cat, AND a priceless artifact like the Book of Lore! Are your own hands clean, Gabriel Agreste? the old man wondered.
"When this crisis has passed, I will gladly invite you to my home, and you can see the book for yourself," Gabriel replied. "I can show you the research I have gathered and my notes from my trip to Tibet. And what of your own Miraculous? How did such a treasure fall into your hands?"
"A family heirloom! Handed down through my ancestors for centuries. Very difficult to keep secret! So imagine my surprise when I found you at my door just now." Master Fu kept his face enigmatic as he pored over the artwork. "Such an astounding book! I can only translate tiny amounts of it, but even those may move Eastern medicine ahead by generations!"
Family heirloom, eh? mused Gabriel. You're quite right that Miraculouses are incredibly rare. And just as my two are revealed, here you are with a third, and the most powerful of them all also appears in Paris, simultaneously? There is more to you than meets the eye, Wang Fu.
"Medicine is precisely why I am here," answered Gabriel, submerging his thoughts of potential intrigue beneath pure necessity. "Are you finding anything that can reverse this... magical hunger, I suppose it could be called?"
"Reverse... no. Not without seeing either of them up close and testing some reactions, at least," Fu muttered. "But I think I may be able to ease the symptom you're describing, somewhat... like aspirin for a headache, you see? Something to dull the ache, but it won't cure the underlying problem by itself."
"Would it help if I brought Nathalie here to see you?" Gabriel perked up at Fu's words. "She's quite weak at the moment, but with the promise of possible relief..."
"Do not stress her unnecessarily," cautioned Fu. "It will take me about an hour to formulate this. When it's ready, take it to her and have her test it out; if she reacts well to it, then she may be strong enough to come here. If she does not... we'll try something else."
"LADYBUG?" Adrien boggled. "What are you doing here?"
"A favor for a friend," answered Ladybug. "Marinette told me that someone special might need to hitch a ride back to her house. So... how did you get UP here, anyway?"
"It's... a long story," gulped Adrien.
Inside, Ladybug giggled. Marinette knows that Adrien is Chat Noir... but Ladybug shouldn't, yet!
"Normally, I'd have all night for stories... but it feels like it's about to start pouring any time now. Do you want to get going, before it does?" Ladybug asked him.
"Sure! Let me make sure I've got all my stuff..." Adrien checked his travel bag, making sure that Plagg was still tucked away inside it. "Can you believe this, Plagg?" he whispered.
Plagg just looked at him. "Yeah, somehow I can," he grinned. He has no idea! He's got a heart like a whale, but the perception of a traffic cone sometimes.
Adrien came back to Ladybug with his bag in hand and said, "All set! Now, just how are you... whoa!" He couldn't help but laugh when Ladybug scooped him up with one arm, putting his left arm over her shoulders and lifting him with her right arm around his waist. "Wow, you're strong!"
"Oh, I've been working out lately," she smiled. "Now, hold on tight!"
The pair started their journey back to Marinette's house via Yo-Yo Express.
"This should be it. I hope."
Master Fu presented Gabriel with a small bottle, filled with a strangely aromatic liquid. Gabriel looked at it with some wonder, watching the swirling elixir inside... it seemed to shift in color, all on its own, as if somewhere between green and purple and yellow was a real color that could exist.
"Start her on about two spoonfuls of this every two hours. If she's improving, continue. If not, call me and I will advise you," Fu instructed him. "And be careful with it! Two of the ingredients are exceptionally hard to find. I may not be able to get more for days... perhaps weeks. Perhaps more than that. And if your son should reappear, contact me immediately! He may well be the key to finding the real solution to this."
"You have my sincere gratitude, Mr. Wang. I pray that it does help." Gabriel pulled out his phone and dialed Nathalie's number... and got no answer.
"Hmmph! Perhaps she's napping, at last." Gabriel dialed his bodyguard, instead, and soon a somewhat simian visage filled his cell phone screen.
Fu eavesdropped on the call without really meaning to, and his face fell as Gabriel's did.
"Gone?" Gabriel glared. "What can you possibly mean, she's gone? She's left the house?"
Next time:
* Air Ladrien... the only way to travel.
* The Dreadnaught walks again.
* "If we're going to cause a scandal... we might as well go big."
* "Needs a little garlic..."
* "I'm so sorry..."