Things are heating up...

The Elf Spring Dance was in full swing, and despite his taller than average stature Adrien was picked to sing and entertain for the evening. He kept as low as he could while onstage, trying to allow the band to have their attention as well. He sung while Marinette stood sullenly next to the king. The latter had forbidden the former from joining in because she couldn't be trusted not to flirt with anyone who crossed her path. Adrien tried to appeal to her with his song, going so far as to make a heart with his hands and present it to her. To anyone else, it likely couldn't have been more obvious. But Marinette only gave him a smile before turning her attention to the guards that stood nearby and wiggling her fingers enticingly at them.

Adrien slumped but didn't allow it to seep into his performance. Nathalie meanwhile had been forced into the line dance, which she completed with as little enthusiasm as she could, which was to say none at all. The sprites, Tikki, Pollen, and Nooroo hovered near Marinette but kept a careful eye on the crown princess. Adrien looked out over the crowd, seeing if he could spot his cohort in the plot he was to carry out. He noticed three men who were closely associated with Sebastian hovering around as though looking to spot Nathalie, and then when they did they moved their mouths but not their gazes.

"Tonight boys," Sebastian said as he peeped out from behind them, "She'll know, and she will love me." he made eye contact with Adrien, who pulled the neck of the potion's bottle out of his back and winked. Sebastian gave him a thumbs up and winked back. He then decided to join the dancers, obviously attempting to get close to Nathalie.

Nathalie, for her part, was absolutely flabbergasted. This had been the exact reason why she hadn't wanted to come to the dance. This, right here. The exact reason. She should have known better than to think Sebastian would run and lick his wounds, even for a day. He brushed everything off like it didn't bother him, that ineffable facade had given him the appearance of being level-headed when he really wasn't. Well, no matter, her worst outcome had come true, now all she needed was to leave.

Unbeknownst to Adrien, the Imp had followed him back from the Dark Forest and was now sniffing around, trying to find the potion she was after. Given that she was so little, however, the best approach was to find higher ground. She spotted the low hanging roof of a building close to the grounds and scampered towards it. The climb wouldn't easy, but it wouldn't be too difficult, and one she found the Elf, she'd find her potion.

Nathalie rolled her eyes and groaned in disgust as she saw Sebastian mingle closer and closer to her. Then she remembered Marinette. Though Marinette would never be serious about chasing her sibling's ex-fiance, she would still flirt for the sake of flirting, and that was something Nathalie was counting on. She headed onto the stage as Adrien made a show of going off to the side -ostensibly to let the band shine, but actually so that he could open the bottle and let the magic do its work.

"Mari," Nathalie whispered to her, "Sebastian's here, so I'm leaving." she spread her wings and leapt into the air, brushing by and distracting their father enough that he let go of the younger girl.

Marinette, instantly following Nathalie's plan, squealed with delight, "Finally! I'm dancing!"

The Fairy King reached after her but she slipped away before he could really get ahold of her. He curled his fingers in frustration and coupled the gesture with a groan. Instantly Marinette went for Sebastian, intent on dancing and having a good time. Sebastian, instantly uncomfortable with this -ulterior motive or not it was always weird to date your ex's sister, especially if you were trying to get that ex back- was trying to get Adrien's attention so he could do something about it. Unfortunately, the stopper in the potion bottle was stuck and Adrien was preoccupied trying to get it out.

What happened as this played out could only be described as a disaster in the making. Nathalie was busy sulking on a rooftop. The Imp had discovered Adrien fiddling with the bottle. Adrien was still fiddling with the bottle. Marinette was dancing with Sebastian who was trying to keep her at arm's length without appearing rude. And Hawkmoth's Goblins had silently started to enclose the festival, hiding in the shadows and atop the rafters of the stage. The moment things really began to go wrong felt -as such moments would- like it it all happened in slow motion. The Imp waited just long enough for Adrien to get the stopper out before she pounced. Adrien got the stopper out in time to come face to face with Marinette, potion in hand and her expression looking so trusting and happy to see him. The Goblins took over for the musicians one by one, turning the music into a mixture of sour notes but no one was really aware of what was going on.

Nathalie, startled by the abrupt shift in musical tone looked to see Goblins from the Dark Forest invading the party. Drawing her sword she flew down trying to fight them off. And yet her skill and speed were useless when she announced herself with a battle cry. Two Goblins apprehended her, taking her weapon away. With teeth bared and gritted she struggled against them.

One of them said, "This one's too feisty, go get the smaller one," he handed a sack to a third Goblin standing nearby. The other Goblin headed for Marinette.

"Mari no!" Nathalie exclaimed, flapping her wings in vain trying to reach her sibling and keep her out of harm's way. Foolishly believing there would be no need for it Marinette had left her flail belt at home. Now it would prove to be her undoing.

"Hi Adrien," Marinette greeted, completely ignorant of the chaos going on around her.

Adrien froze, unsure of what he should do. He didn't have to worry about it, the Imp tackled him before he could make a decision. And then Adrien was dealing with trying to get her off while Marinette watched in surprise. Sebastian quickly made himself scarce. This night was turning into a total disaster, and that was before Nathalie realized the contents of Adrien's glowing bottle.

"Love potion?" Nathalie couldn't believe it, "No! Marinette!"

The Elf continued to fight the Imp, holding the bottle out at arm's length. But the Imp swung him around, the contents sloshed out of the bottle, and right into Marinette's face. She cried out in surprise and covered her face as the dust hit her, the sounds of coughing could be heard as she staggered backwards, right into two Goblins with the burlap sack. They slipped it over her and swept her up, pulling tight on the drawstrings to secure her. The creatures looked so proud of themselves. More and more of them flooded the festival, jumping on lantern strings to terrify the crowd, subduing guards and even the king himself as he tried to go after them. Nathalie continued to struggle against the pair keeping her down, fury building as no one seemed to know what to do to fight back.

Marinette called for Adrien's help as the sack was placed on the stage, likely terribly frightened with everything going on. Adrien now felt awful, he'd done this to Marinette, the love of his life and he'd love-dusted her. And while he was in the middle of this instant pity-party the Imp took the opportunity to steal the potion and scamper away, leaping atop an unknowing Goblin and scuttling off from the rafters of the stage. Adrien knew that what he had done to Marinette was nothing compared to what he had just allowed to happen. The Imp lived to spread the potion around, and Adrien had no idea what the cure was.

"I'm sorry Rose," he muttered under his breath as he watched the Imp flee the scene. Another few Goblins forced his hands behind his back.

There was a moment of precipice, as they all knew something far worse was coming. The Goblins, as terrifying as they were, for the most part lacked the common sense and foresight to pull off the blocking of people that they were doing now. Someone had to have instructed them or else they would probably just be running rampant. But the only one with enough intelligence in the Dark Forest to pull off something like that was their king.

As though the thought summoned him his voice could be heard loud and clear and absolutely menacing, "Where's my potion!"

Fog had built, causing his silhouette to loom larger than life as he stood on the stage. There was no coming out, he just appeared there. And then out of the gloom he stepped. Unlike Fairies and Goblins King Hawkmoth was an entirely new beast. Quite literally, covered head to foot in a bristling, armor like coat with spikes at his shoulders. His face was slightly gaunt, only the skin there and on his palms not coated with that exo-skeleton armor of his. He carried a staff made from a twisted twig, a purple jewel somehow secured in the center. And his wings buzzed, flaring out like a cat raising its hackles. Each step was punctuated by the tap of the staff as it echoed against the stage floor, he strolled to the crowd, reveling in the looks of fear he garnered before settling down into an intimidating expression.

Nathalie's sword had been planted into the stage to get it away from her while the guards forced her to lie flat top its surface. It gave them more leverage and kept her from fighting back. Hawkmoth took it and tossed it into the air, uncaring of where it would land. Marinette was placed onto the stage. Adrien reached for her only for the sword to return to earth, point down, and nearly take Adrien's hand off. Goblins commanded the stage as Hawkmoth ranted and raved about how he'd been trespassed against, stolen from, abused as the monarch of the Dark Forest. Marinette was pushed around, Goblins on dragonflies hovered nearby, she was secured to two of them and they lifted her up into the air.

They were planning to take her away. Marinette, poor boy-crazy Marinette who hadn't done anything wrong. And who was Hawkmoth to think that kidnapping the princess of the neighboring kingdom was recompense for a perceived slight -the stealing of a love potion from a prisoner? Instantly the fury that had been bubbling as Nathalie was forced to subjugate before this man exploded through her veins. With a strength she didn't know she possessed Nathalie broke free long enough to stand on the stage. Another Goblin came in to aid his compatriots as her arms were alternately pulled out of their hold, grabbing her about the waist to slow her progress. Nathalie bared her teeth as she growled out an order to him.

"Release my sister you scaly-backed cockroach!"

It caught Hawkmoth's attention. He sneered at her, insulted but clearly amused by her slight. He thought her a novelty, because she thought herself tough.

"Well would you look at this?" he drew a clawed finger under her chin. Nathalie jerked her head away and glowered at him. Hawkmoth's countenance darkened as he got close to her and sinisterly snarled, "Return the love potion by moon-down, tough girl, or you'll never see your sister again."

Nathalie jerked as she growled back at him. "When I get my hands on you I'll have your head on a stick!" she punctuated the last word with a punch. Right in his face, but due to her position he'd have nothing more than a bruised cheek (and perhaps a bruised ego as well).

Unfortunately a bruised ego made him more volatile than ever. Angered by this insolence Hawkmoth raised his staff as he looked at Nathalie, ready to strike her, perhaps even prepared to kill her. Nathalie knew this would be coming, but was braced for anything if it meant getting her sister freed. But Adrien took responsibility and called his attention away.

"Wait!" Hawkmoth stopped and looked over at the abnormally tall and lanky Elf, "Take me instead! I took the love potion!" Adrien confessed as if no one else had figured it out yet.

Thoroughly distracted by this admission Hawkmoth turned to terrify the Elf, "Then give it back," Hawkmoth ordered. It was clear that this whole thing was because of that illegal potion. If he got the potion then Marinette would be returned, as simple as that. If only it was as simple as that.

"I don't have it," Adrien admitted. And had it been just a few moments before Hawkmoth made his appearance Adrien would have had the potion to return. But now, the Imp had it and was likely spreading love around Fields and Forest as they spoke.

With a sneer of disgust at this incompetence Hawkmoth raised his wings and flew into the air, raising his voice so that he could be heard, "You heard my terms!" he said, pointing his staff at the setting moon, "The potion, by moon-down, or else all of you will be next!"

Then, just to tease them he flew around the air as his Goblins scurried about, relishing in the terror they were spreading. Hawkmoth landed in front of Nathalie and sneered incredibly close to her, laughing at her and taunting her. Nathalie loosed another fist but he caught it in his own, smirking at her and laughing all the harder at her feeble attempt at a second blow. He threw her fist down where she was further restrained as noises of frustration escaped her and took to the air, landing on the dragonflies that carried Marinette beneath their wings. Creatures of the Dark Forest began to trash the instruments on stage and make a general mess. Other Goblins mounted other dragonflies and they all took off, Hawkmoth's laughter echoing across the night sky.

Nathalie managed to break free of the hold only to find her own sword aimed at her throat. Hands up in passivity the Goblins turned to shared a look of satisfaction. That was their undoing. With a swift kick Nathalie disarmed them and re-armed herself. But as she slashed at them they ran for some dragonflies that had been left unattended. They hopped aboard and flew away, but as Nathalie spread her wings and leapt into the air to go after them she felt a stern tug at her ankle and she was pulled back to the ground. Twisting in her holder's grip she saw it was her father.

"Dad?" she questioned, "What are you doing? Let me go!"

"I forbid you to fly into the Dark Forest like that!" her father argued as he continued to pull her back to the earth.

"Dad I let this happen," Nathalie argued, "I have to get her back."

"No, I have to get her back. I need you to stay here and stay safe!"

Nathalie wanted to argue. How could he say something like that at a time like this? Marinette needed her and Nathalie needed to take care of her sister as she had since they day they'd found her on the palace doorstep. She couldn't just let Hawkmoth get away with capturing a member of the royal family. And yet, she understood her father's concern because it was that same concern driving Nathalie to go after them. But she refused to stay here waiting like a wilting flower, too delicate to handle the outside world. Nathalie needed to go after Marinette. But she could appease her father, for now.

"No need to worry!" Sebastian said as he strode out of wherever he'd been hiding during all this, "I will rescue the princess."

"Oh really?" Nathalie raised a cynical brow at him, "And just where were you earlier?"

"I was out fighting a dozen Goblins," Sebastian shot back quickly.

"Sebastian, yes!" her father exclaimed, buying into the farce without hesitation.

Nathalie groaned in disgust at how easily the man could lie to them, "No."

But the Fairy King paid no attention to this, he asked Sebastian what the knight thought he would need. Sebastian began listing off munitions and supplies and soldiers. He was going to raise an army to "rescue" Marinette. And Nathalie knew that he would enjoy the position too much, too much to get there before something happened. And since Sebastian was the golden boy of the Fairy Kingdom, even after his messy end with the crown princess, no one would dare to question his orders or pace. If Sebastian was her only hope, then Marinette was doomed.

"We can't trust him," Nathalie interjected. And she knew first-hand how badly this could be messed up. Not with Marinette on the line, Nathalie refused. But her father wouldn't listen to reason. Well, a man's opinion always carried more weight than a woman's in this society. It had been one of the things Nathalie had been determined to change when she became queen.

It was as she was searching for a way out of this that she saw Adrien. And then her anger at his involvement with all of this was too raw to be held back. Nathalie always tried to be forgiving of Adrien's flaws and screw-ups because she knew he had never been taught how to behave. The learning curve of what was acceptable to him was incredibly skewed because he'd been ignored or abused until Marinette had brought him home. But this, it was nigh unforgivable, even taking his feelings for Marinette into account.

"Adrien," she growled, but then she softened, "How could you?" she wanted to know what would possess him to do something as dangerous as make a love potion, what would make him use it on Marinette, "What were you thinking?"

"I-" she saw Adrien's eyes dart over to the King and Sebastian and instantly it clicked for her. It wouldn't be difficult to believe that Sebastian, who was currently taking charge of the situation like the archetypal hero, would be the one behind all of this. But Adrien left Sebastian out of it, "I don't know."

"What do we do?" Nathalie asked him as she wrapped her arms around herself. Noticing her distress the king left his hold on her shoulder, and fairly loosely at that. A way to let her know he was there for her without confining her. Nathalie stepped out and began to pace as her worry started to consume her, "Marinette she's- she's not strong enough to- she's not going to-"

"I'll rescue her," Adrien said as he stood.

"No," Nathalie instantly shut him down, "It's too dangerous, even for you."

"No," Adrien pleaded, "I can, I promise you."

"No," Nathalie repeated sternly. There was a moment of instant clarity for her, "I'm the only one who can."

"So what do I do?" Adrien asked her.

"Get the potion back and meet me at the castle before moon-down." Nathalie instructed, "Pollen, Nooroo!" the sprites appeared, "Stay with Adrien, help him get the potion back. Tikki, you're with me."

The purple and yellow sprites nodded and went to float around the Elf's head. Tikki looked at Nathalie, "Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going to get my sister back!" Nathalie spread her wings and took off with a flourish, startling her father into calling after her as she shrank into the night sky. Tikki sped up, a little red dot in the distance as they flew further and further away.

Back on the ground Sebastian chuckled at her antics. Let her play the tough girl, and he could gain more glory, and her affection, by rescuing them both.

"Don't you worry about it your majesty," he simpered to the worried King, "It won't be any less difficult rescuing two princesses than it would be one."

Instantly the King turned on Adrien with a shout of the Elf's name, "Adrien?"

Adrien shrank, "Sire?"

"If anything happens to either of my daughters, I'm holding you personally responsible!" and with that he stormed away.

Adrien looked to Sebastian for a bit of assistance, but all he got was Sebastian agreeing with the king that, "This is all your fault!"

Adrien glowered at the dirt, feeling betrayed. A hand curled into a shaking fist as Adrien glowered at the knight from under his bangs. Pollen and Nooroo gave him pats on the head to calm him.

"Don't worry about it," Pollen whispered in his ear.

"Yes," Nooroo concurred, "He's not worth it, don't give him the satisfaction."

"Right," Adrien rose to his feet, his full height and the murderous gleam in his eyes intimidating any of the other Elves who might have had something to say to him into silence.

"Where should we start looking?" Pollen asked.

"I think I have a pretty good idea," Adrien smirked as he used his agility and strength and with a running start, started parkouring into the darkness.

Ah yes, a love story for the ages. "Mommy, how did you meet daddy?" "He kidnapped my sister and then I punched him in the face"

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