Alright, another chapter! I'm really excited not just for this chapter specifically but for all those to come. I have been doing a ton of art for this so be prepared to see more of that in the last couple chapters.
Also, there is going to be a very specific reference in here just because like last time, I enjoy making Felix have a sense of humor.
"Miraculous are magical jewels that give powers to superheroes, like Ladybug's earrings and Chat Noir's ring." Alya explains over the Lady blog. "But supervillain Shadow Moth also has two Miraculous brooches in his possession, and they will give him his powers. We can figure out from this that the Miraculous can either make a superhero or a supervillain. It's all riding on who wears it, which is why these jewels can't fall into just anybody's hands. That's all for today, guys! See you soon and stay connected!"
Felix, sitting in the car on his way to his uncle and cousin's house, turns off the tablet and smiles at his mother. "I hope we'll get to see some superheroes while we're here in Paris, mom."
"That would be pretty exciting, wouldn't it, darling?" His mother gushes, blowing him a kiss. Felix brings her hand to hers and then to his cheek as if to transfer it. Felix didn't care about many things in this life, but he sure did love his momma.
Since his last visit, Felix had been keeping tabs on his extended family, as well as the Akumatizations happening in Paris. Felix wasn't an idiot. He honestly didn't understand how no one else had figured it out. His Uncle Gabriel is ShadowMoth.
(I'll be honest with you guys, I don't understand how he would have figured it out. It's obvious for us from an outside perspective but for Felix, who hardly comes in contact with his uncle, and doesn't live in an area where Akumas take place, how he was able to just know that doesn't really make sense. Felix spots the broaches on Gabriel when they arrive so there is that but they make it seem like he already knew prior to his arrival. The only thing that they connect with is the rings, but those don't have anything to do with a miraculous soooo idk, but whatever. On with the story!)
He didn't quite have proof yet. It was all theoretical, but something in Felix knew it was him. If he was right, and he was almost certain he was, then this could make for a far more interesting visit than planned.
OoOoOoo
Adrien knocks on Nathalie's door with a tray of food in his hands. Over the past several weeks, Nathalie had found herself stuck in bed. Her illness, which neither her, nor his father would go into details about, took a majority of her energy. Unknowest to Adrien, Nathalie's weakened state due to the use of the damaged peacock miraculous did much more than damage her stamina, but instead corrupted her spinal cord. In time, the function she had over her legs would only worsen.
"Thank you, Adrien." She said, accepting the tray. Adrien offered her a weak smile before taking a seat on the bed with a glum look on his face.
"My father doesn't want me to invite my friends from school tonight."
"But there will be some teenagers here, like Chloe and Kagami." Nathalie reminded him.
"Yeah, but only 'cause their parents are members of his club."
"These club members are influential people in Paris. They are very important to your father, Adrien."
Adrien sighs. "And my friends are very important to me."
Nothing else could be discussed on the matter as Gabriel entered the room. "Adrien, can you leave us for a moment?"
Adrien didn't argue and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Gabriel sits beside Nathalie and takes off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I'm having a difficult time without your help, Nathalie. I realized now how many people it would take to fill your shoes."
"You're not thinking about cancelling the party, are you?"
"I can't," Gabriel admitted. "The members of the club wouldn't understand. Also, Felix will be here with Amelie."
"I've made a list of everything that has to get done tonight." Nathalie says, handing him a tablet. Gabriel puts his glasses back on and looks at the screen to see a detailed check list made out for him.
"You'll just need to follow the instructions. The most important things are in red." She instructs as Gabriel scrolls through the list of instructions on the tablet. "Check the staff's identities, make sure the robots are set to the proper program and don't forget to activate the cellphone scramblers, so the party stays private." She made it all sound so simple.
"Have you had lunch?" She then asks, holding out half her sandwich to him. Gabriel offers her a small smile and takes it from her hands.
"That I have not. Thank you."
OoOoOooOoO
"You know Lucy," Nathaniel started, locking eyes with the blonde girl. "You and Adrien have heavily influenced our most recent graphic novel." He said, gesturing to Marc who stood beside him. The pair had called out to their friends to showcase their latest work. It was still in the rough draft stages, but neither could hold their excitement from their friends.
Lucy, who sat on one of the tables of the art room amongst the majority of their class mates, raised a brow in curiosity. "Is that so?"
"It's just like a fairy tale." Marc told her. "Nate?"
Nathaniel lifts a medium sized sketch book revealing a series of drawings. "Usually, a mean old witch imprisons a princess in a castle guarded by a dragon." Marc explains. "And a knight in shining armor has to save her. Well, this is the same story, except you're the knight, Lucy, Adrien's the princess, the castle is his home, and the witch is his father, Gabriel Agreste."
Lucy and the others watch as Nathaniel flips through the sketch book with a very neatly crafted Gabriel Agreste in what closely resembled a Maleficent outfit with Adrien in a dress crying after being locked away, then to a picture of Lucy in shining armor on her way to the castle to free princess Adrien.
"I'd have thought his father was the king." Rose put in.
"Or the dragon." Suggested Alix.
"His bodyguard would be the dragon; he looks the part!" Zoe joked.
Mylene giggled. "He looks more like a gorilla."
The friends all share a laugh and Lucy holds her elbow in one hand while her other palm presses against her mouth, supporting her head. "Hmm..umkay...carry on." She says with a smile.
"The main obstacle in the fairy tale could be the dragon." Nathaniel says.
"Or the witch!" Adds Marc. "In Lucy and Adrien's story, it's Gabriel Agreste. But the witch Agreste has made a mistake! He's been letting his son out of the castle to go to school!"
"And that's where the good fairies come in!" Alya jokes, but she's right on the money.
"Us!"
"In the story, we'll come up with plans to so that you and Adrien can spend more time together! Until you two graduate and Princess Adrien can hope on the back of your moped and the two of you can ride off into the sunset together!"
"That's adorable." Lucy compliments. "But I don't think Adrien and I will be spending any extra time together. The only time I'm really allowed over is when we work on homework together. Besides that, between his work schedule and mine, eh." She explains with a shrug of her shoulders.
"But you're Adrien's girlfriend." Says Marc. "Even if he won't give Adrien more free time, you would think he would at least be more open to you visiting."
An awkward chuckle left Lucy as she rubbed her face. "Yeah, well, he doesn't really know I'm Adrien's girlfriend yet so-"
"WHAT?!" The teens all shouted in unison.
"How could Adrien not have told him that yet?" Alya asks with her hands on her hips.
"Maybe he's worried about how his father might react." Suggested Marinette.
"Oh, he's afraid alright!" Chloe announces herself as she descends from an open tile in the roof of the classroom. "He's afraid because he knows Mr. Agreste would never approve of some middle class nobody being romantically involved with his son!" Sabrina follows her, falling flat on her face instead.
"Where on earth did you get that?" Lucy asks with raised brows. Ignoring the the insult that had been thrown at her.
"Amazon, obviously!" Chloe answered triumphantly. "And you forgot to add me in your silly little fairytale!"
"The terrifying ogre!"
"The big bad wolf!"
"The ugly toad!"
"Your worst nightmare!" Chloe corrects them with a snarky grin.
Chloe then shows her cellphone to them with a recording of the meeting playing.
"Once upon a time I might have rooted for you, but now since we are no longer friends, I have no choice but to ruin your happy ending! Tonight, I'll show this video to his father, who will realize that you're trying to take his son away from him. Then he'll lock Adrien up in his room forever and forbid him to come back to school, and poof! There goes your fairy tale! Adrien will never see you again! Good for him!"
"I thought you're happy that Adrien is coming to school?" Marinette asked confused and angry.
"He'll be better off alone at home than surrounded by a bunch of lame-o's at school! And then maybe he'll be lucky enough to go back to being my Prince Charming whom I've always adored!"
"Adrien was never your Prince Charming, Chloe!" Marinette sneered. Lucy laughed, making Chloe glare at her. "You are fresh off the funny farm today."
"We'll see how funny you find me the next time we see each other, Lucy! Sabrina, ninja smokescreen!" Sabrina throws a white powder before making their escape. Heading back up, Sabrina manages to do easily, where Chloe hits the ceiling before making it through the gap.
"She won't do anything. Not tonight, or ever. The witch— I mean, Gabriel Agreste, doesn't just let anyone walk into his house." Marinette says, trying to assure Lucy whose amused look seemed to falter after Chloe was no longer in sight.
"Normally, that's true," Zoe spoke. "But actually, there's a dinner party tonight, and all his friends are invited, with their children! Chloe will be there."
"And you won't be..." Marinette said turning to Lucy who shook her head no. Marinette zoomed over to Zoe and took her by the shoulders. "But so will her mother, who's your mother, so you'll be there too! You'll be able to stop her, right?"
Zoe looked at Marinette apologetically. "My darling half-sister Chloe managed to convince her mother not to bring me with them."
"She really is a piece of work..." Marinette groans.
"But seriously Lucy," Alya said. "Why hasn't Adrien told his dad about you?"
"Pretty much the same reason Chloe gave." Lucy explained. "Adrien's dad and my mom...they have had some altercations in the past. I don't think his dad would take him out of school but there is a possibility he wouldn't approve of the relationship and in turn try and force Adrien to terminate it. I warned Adrien that if his father found out about us from someone other than him things would be worse. Even on the off chance he would approve, hearing the information from a video where he is referred to as an evil witch my change his tune."
"We just have to pretend like we're in a fairy tale!" Marc suggests. "The knight simply has to go to the ball to stop the evil Chloe from showing the videos to the witch Agreste!"
"The knight can't get into the ball. The ball is off-limits, tonight." Zoe countered.
"You guys are really committed to this whole fairytale thing huh." Lucy said as Nathaniel quickly draws in his sketchbook.
"Unless the knight is wearing..."
"A disguise!" Nathaniel flips his sketchbook to show the image he drew of knight Lucy now disguised as a butler.
"I'm not doing that." Lucy deadpans.
"What?! Don't you want to stop Chloe?!" Marinette exclaimed.
"I do, and I will." Lucy said, sliding off the desk. "Just with a more direct approach."
"What are you gonna do?" Alix asked as Lucy made her way to the door.
"I'm gonna go to the Palace and tell Chloe to delete the video or I'm gonna punch her in the boob." Lucy answered as if it was the simplest explanation before leaving the eyesight of the others.
"Should one of us..." Rose started. "Stop her?"
"Don't worry about it." Zoe dismissed. "She won't make it past the front desk. I've learned that since their falling out, Chloe had given the staff a very strict No Lucy policy. They will tackle her to the ground before they let her get anywhere near the elevator."
"Well then someone definitely needs to intercept that video." Alya states.
"I'll do it!" Marinette claims with her hands on her hips and a determined look in her eyes. "For Lucy! For Adrien! For Ludrien!"
"Ludrien?" Alya asks. "The heck is that?"
Marinette's pose faulters. "I was trying to give them a ship name."
"Ladrien?"
"Shegreste?"
"Adrucy?"
"Agrepherd?" Several of them suggested aloud.
"All of those are terrible." Nathaniel spoke bluntly.
"Some people just don't have shippable names." Marc added with a shrug.
OoOoOoOoO
Adrien took a deep breath in before slowly exhaling, giving the door in front of him a light knock. As permission for him to enter was granted, he opened the door to his father's bedroom. Gabriel Agreste stood in front of a floor length mirror with two ties in his hand, one white, black, one gold. He seemed to be trying to decide between the two.
"What is it Adrien?" His father asked, his focus remaining on his refelction.
"Father...I just wanted to ask once more if there was anyway I could invite my friends this evening." Adrien asked hopefully.
"Adrien, we talked about this. This is a business party. I have very important guests arriving. I'm already dealing with enough stress with Nathalie out of commission at the moment, I don't need to add your friends to the mix."
"But father, they would be in my room with me, Felix and Kagami. They wouldn't cause you any trouble."
"The answer is no, Adrien."
Adrien gritted his teeth. "How about just one friend?" A deep sigh left his father.
"Adrien-"
"Please father. Lucy. You know Lucy."
"Lucy?" His father asked. "The Shepherd girl?"
"Yes...?" Adrien said, shrinking slightly at his father's tone.
"Why?" His father asked in an accusing tone. Adrien froze. His father's eyes burning into his own as if daring him to give some half-baked response. "See," Gabriel then spoke at Adrien's silence. "You know just as well as I do that you are making a big deal out of nothing. You will see your friends at school to-"
"BecauseLucyismygirlfriend." Adrien spat out with high speed, making his father pause.
"Excuse me?"
Adrien swallowed. There was no turning back now. "It's important to me because Lucy is my girlfriend." He restated. "We don't get a lot of time together outside of school as it is."
Gabriel stared at his son for what felt like an exceptional amount of time. Adrien felt like a pressure cooker under his father's intense gaze. Adrien wasn't sure what reaction he had been expecting from his father, but an unimpressed hum before turning back to his mirror wasn't it.
"As you wish." His father then said, making Adrien raise his brows in surprise.
"Wait, really?"
"Try not to sound so surprised, Adrien."
"Sorry-I mean-I just...I don't know, I guess I just expected you to have more of an opinion."
"Adrien you're a teenage boy, believe it or not, so was I once. Chasing girls is a phase no one is immune to. You've set your hormonal sights on miss Shepherd." His father gave a sort of unimpressed eyebrow raise in the mirror. "Can't say I'm surprised by your choice. If having her sit in your room with you in the company of your cousin, Chloe and Kagami is really that important to you then I'll entertain it."
Adrien stood there a moment, processing his father's words. Anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach as the gears in his head ran together while decoding his father's dismissive response to his love life.
"Father...I...Lucy isn't some phase my hormones have influenced me to pursue. I love her."
To that his father laughed. "I'm sure you think that." Adrien narrowed his eyes at his father.
"I don't think it, I know it."
Gabriel turned back around and looked at his son sternly.
"I'm not going to have this argument with you. I already gave you what you want, there is nothing more to discuss."
"Is it so wrong of me to want you to have a positive opinion about the girl I'm in love with?!"
"Adrien let's not pretend you care what my opinion is of Lucy Shepherd."
"Of course, I care!"
"Clearly not enough." His father shot back. "Adrien, I know you think you're in love and that you and Lucy will go on to live happily ever after but that is a fairy tale my son. Let me explain the reality. The reality is that you are both children who have no real direction yet. Tell me, what was it you saw yourself doing after graduation?" A light scoff escapes Gabriel at Adrien's silence. "Ah right. Still unsure." Gabriel placed the ties on his dresser and took a few strides closer to Adrien.
"Lucy, assuming she has some inkling on what she might want to do with her life will go off to university, maybe nearby, perhaps far far away. When you eventually put some real thought into your future the same will occur. Statistically long-distance relationships hardly ever work out but even without that in the mix there is the fact that who you are today and who you will be tomorrow or a month from now, or a year will differ, as will Lucy. Separation is almost always necessary for us to grow as individuals."
"Any growing Lucy or I must do we can do together. I don't know yet what I want to do for the rest of my life yet, but I do know who I want to do it with. If Lucy goes off to university somewhere far away, then maybe I will go too. I may not know who I am yet, but I do know wherever she is, I will find myself there."
Gabriel frowned as he looked down at his son. Adrien had a look on his face that Gabriel rarely saw. His eyes carried love but with an immense amount determination and a hint of rage. It was at this moment that Adrien seemed to fade away, and in his place the face of his dear wife stared back at him. Gabriel swallowed, fighting to keep his composure.
"Revolving your life entirely around one person is foolish, Adrien." Hypocrite. A voice seemed to whisper in the back of his brain. "Everything fades. In time you'll see that. Enjoy your fun with the Shepherd girl. While it lasts."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOO
Lucy sat on the curb of the hotel with her forearms resting on her bent knees while her foot tapped the pavement below her somewhat anxiously.
"Couldn't get in?" Lucy turned her head to find Zoey taking a seat beside her.
"I feel like if I put maximum effort into it, I could probably make it past em', but then there is a possible police call that might be made, or a job that would be lost for not being able to stop me, and honestly that's all a little dramatic for me I think." Lucy admitted with a sigh, resting her chin on her arms.
"Just a bit." Zoey replied with a smile. "Don't worry, after you left everyone came up with a plan."
"No need for that. I just got a call from Adrien a few minutes ago. Guess who gets to go to the party?"
"Really?! How did he convince his dad?"
"He told him about us." Lucy told her. "He actually told him."
"Wow! That's awesome! See, he had nothing to worry about."
Lucy shrugged. "I guess. When Adrien told me I asked how he took the news, and it took him a bit to respond. Like he was hesitating to tell me. I don't know. We shall see how it goes."
Zoey's eyes widened. "Oh...but Marinette..."
A scoff-like chuckle erupted from Lucy's throat at the sound of Marinette's name. "Oh boy." she muttered. "Any plan you conjured up with Marinette is bound to be, as your darling sister would say, utterly ridiculous."
Zoey laughed lightly beside her for a moment, but it died down as Zoey squinted off in the distance. "Where is she going?"
Lucy looked to Zoey to see the direction of her eyes, following them to the far left. There, Chloe stood waiting to cross the sidewalk. The strange thing was not that Chloe was leaving the hotel, but what she was wearing while she did so. Her eyes hit behind the sunglasses she usually wore on top of her head, while one of her mother's oversized sun hats replaced them.
"It's like the doesn't want to be noticed but doesn't realize how extremely noticeable a person in sunglasses and an oversized hat is." Zoey said, watching her sister curiously.
Lucy didn't say anything as she got up from the curb and began to head in Chloe's direction. Zoey got up as well, quickly catching up and taking ahold of Lucy's arm.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to see what secrets the golden snitch is hiding."
OoOoOOoOoO
Lucy was convinced Chloe was walking in circles on purpose when they passed the same four stores for a third time. Although she was certain Chloe didn't have any idea that she was actually being followed, it was obvious to Lucy that she really didn't want anyone to notice where she was going. Because of her desire to try and be discreet, what should have been a ten-minute walk turned into twenty-five. Lucy and Zoey stopped, hiding behind a nearby poster of Adrien, promoting his Fathers newest Cologne. A few yards away, Chloe sat on a park bench, her arms crossed while her legs did the same. Her floating ankle shook in the air almost impatiently. Like she was waiting for something.
"What is she doing?" Zoey whispered.
"I don't-" Lucy paused, finally looking around at their surroundings. She deflated slightly at the sight of the building across the street from Chloe.
Hungry Beans.
"Oh, Cho." Lucy muttered, earning a tug on her sleeve from Zoey.
"What's going on?" Lucy looked at Zoey before gesturing to the building across the way. In the window Nikolas could be seen cleaning the inside of the store front window. "Who is that?" Zoey asked, never having seen the guy before.
"That's Nikolas." Lucy answered. "He and Chloe...they had a thing."
"A thing? Like they dated?"
"Yeah," Lucy said. "Something like that."
"But he works in a coffee shop." Zoey said, completely lost. "I mean, I don't think there is anything wrong with that," She then clarified. "But Chloe...I mean...well, you know how Chloe is."
"Trust me, I was thrown off by it too, but Nikolas is... Nikolas. If you ever meet him properly, you'll understand."
"Well...What happened?"
"Chloe did what she does best."
"Did she get him akumatized?"
"No, fortunately not."
"Well, if he didn't get akumatized how bad could it really be?" Zoey said, trying to lighten the topic.
Lucy pressed her back against the poster and looked down at Zoey with a frown. "Just because someone doesn't get akumatized doesn't make their pain less painful Zo. Some people are just better at managing their emotions."
The pair peeked again, watching Nikolas finishing his cleaning, only to pause, seeming to notice the familiar figure across the street. Chloe quickly turned her head, dipping it slightly as if to shield herself behind her oversized hat. Nikolas seemed to roll his eyes and shake his head, tossing the rag onto his shoulder and heading back deeper into the store, out of sight from the angle Lucy and Zoey stood.
"Ouch." Zoey said. "So, I take it, he broke up with her."
Lucy nodded. "Chloe worried about how others, but specifically her parents, would feel about her relationship with Nikolas. That fear of rejection your sister carries around with her is what made her try and keep Nikolas her dirty little secret. Nik didn't mind at first, but figured things wouldn't stay that way forever."
"I'm guessing Chloe had other plans?"
"Chloe took Nikolas's understanding of her fear as a sign that she would never have to tell her parents about him. When he tried to suggest otherwise it all fell apart."
"Oh, Chloe..." Zoey spoke sympathetically.
"Your mother doesn't seem to truly realize how tight of a grip she has on your sister. Chloe will forever throw away her own happiness if it shows even the slightest potential of damaging the relationship with your mother that she has been trying so hard to keep a hold of."
"I wish I could say I blamed her." Zoey said sadly, knowing good and well just how much she was willing to throw away in hopes that her mother would see her as anything more than an inconvenience.
Sure, she had stood up for herself a little when she first arrived, and she had hoped it would somehow free her a little too. In a way it did. When she was at school she could be herself. But at home, Zoey couldn't help but feel like she was constantly walking on eggshells around her mother and even in some cases her sister. Her stepfather did his best to keep the peace, but he had advised Zoey not to go out of her way to push things with her mother and sister. If she did, it probably wouldn't end well for either of them.
"This is just one of the reasons why Chloe wants to ruin things between Adrien and me. If she can't be happy, nobody can."
Zoey shook her head in frustration. "Chloe used to talk about how Adrien was her best friend. I get they had a falling out but how could she do that to someone she claims to care about?!"
The sound of a phone going off distracted the pair. It was Chloe's. She picked it up, responding inaudibly to either of the two other girls before getting up from the bench and quickly walking back towards the hotel.
"Because when Adrien and Chloe were little all they had was each other. That was what made their friendship. As long as he can go to school, Adrien doesn't need Chloe anymore. I think she hopes that if Adrien is forced to go back to homeschooling that he will somehow revert to being her friend simply because he won't have anyone else."
"That's terrible." Zoey says sadly.
"Misery loves company." Lucy told her. "Adrien's dad may know about us, but if he sees that video, who knows how he will react. Now that I am going to the party and can intercept her."
"And you'll have backup!" Zoey exclaimed determinedly.
Lucy looked at her phone to check the time. "I should get going. Fortunately, the children of the party goers don't attend the party aspect of it all, so I don't have any getting ready to do."
"And I need to meet up with the others so-"
"I don't even want to know." Lucy told her, holding up a hand to stop from hearing any more details of this "Fairytale plan".
OoOoOOoOoOoOoO
Standing beside his father, Adrien helped greet the guests entering their home. His father stood beside him with Nathalies tablet, scanning each person's fingerprint upon entry. To Adrien, it seemed like over kill, but of course when it came to privacy, his father skipped no steps. He smiled when he saw Lucy pull up on her moped. When he called her to invite her to the party, Lucy was clearly surprised. That was when he explained that he had informed his father of their relationship.
That seemed to surprise Lucy even more.
When she asked how he took it, Adrien contemplated telling her about his father's accepting, and yet somehow an equally condescending opinion of it all but chose against it. Better than he thought it would, had instead been his response. To be fair, it hadn't been a lie.
She smiled at him as she approached. "Adrien. Mr. Agreste."
"Good evening, Miss Shepherd." Gabriel greeted, holding out the tablet for her to place his finger on. When the screen lit up, Lucy pulled her finger away, moving deeper into the foyer so that other guests could enter.
Chloe's eyes widened when she noticed Lucy already inside. As her parents scanned their fingers, Chloe glared at Adrien and pointed in Lucy's direction. "What is she doing here?!"
Adrien's eyebrows shot up but before he could offer her any words, his father spoke for him.
"Miss Shepherd is Adrien's specially selected guest, Miss Bourgeois. Is that going to be a problem?"
Much like Gabriel had done for Adrien, Andre too, answered for his daughter, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her a few steps back from the younger Agreste.
"Of course, it isn't. Right sweetie?" Andre spoke. "I'm sure she was just surprised seeing that her mother is not an attendee."
"As I said, Miss Shepherd is Adrien's specially selected guest." Gabriel explained. "Her mother is a university professor and has no purpose here."
Andre nodded and attempted to move Chloe along, but the young girl tore away from her father, holding out her phone to Mr. Agreste.
"Mr. Agreste, I need you to show you a video, it's really important that you see this!"
Lucy glared at Chloe and went to take a step toward her when she was bumped by a clumsy waiter with a large box. Seeming to make a wrong step the waiter tossed the box. In attempts to dodge the flying box, Chloe lost her own footing and knocked into Mr. Agreste, making her phone and his tablet crash on the marble flooring. Adrien managed to catch the box, handing it back to the waiter who thanked him.
"Do I know you?" Adrien asked, not having taken in his appearance before handing over the box.
"Not likely, I don't know anyone." The waiter answered in an odd Italian sounding accent.
Lucy who stood behind the waiter, narrowed her eyes at him, also not getting a clear view of his face before he rushed off into the kitchen.
"You have to watch this!" Chloe tried to insist after picking up her phone, but Gabriel dismissed her. Andre once again, took his daughter by her shoulder and pulled her away.
"Come along now dear, Gabriel is clearly busy."
Gabriel picked up his now cracked tablet, looking it over, making sure it still functioned.
Felix's eyes fixed themselves on his uncle's chest. The elder Agreste thought he was slick, but Felix saw the broaches under his scarf. His suspicions had been confirmed. Now, it was just confronting him about it.
When Amile greeted Gabriel, she thanked him for giving their family ring to Felix. Gabriel briefly thought about calling Felix out on the lie. Telling Amilie that the boy had in fact stolen the ring from him, but he knew Amilie. In her eyes, Felix could do no wrong. It was her irritably soft parenting that he assumed made Felix bold enough to pull such a scheme. If he addressed the situation as it was, Amilie would leave, taking Felix with her, and he would have no chance at getting the ring back. So instead, he played along, telling her that giving Felix the ring had been the sensible thing to do.
"That was very thoughtful of you father." Adrien commented. It would always surprise him when his father did in fact show open acts of kindness. He was sure that his mother's ring was very important to his father, giving it to Felix couldn't have been easy for him.
On the staircase Chloe crossed her arms and glared at Lucy, who returned her stare with an unimpressed look.
"Alright. How did you do it huh?" Chloe interrogated. "How did you manage to get invited to this party?"
"Weren't you listening?" Lucy asked. "I'm Adrien's specially selected guest." She answered with a smile. "He knows, Chloe. About us. Adrien told him."
"I don't believe you." Chloe shot. "Mr. Agreste would never allow Adrien to date you."
"Then ask him." Lucy suggested with a shrug. "Mr Agreste!" Lucy said in a mocking tone. "Since I'm such a snitch I thought I should tell you Adrien is dating that awful Lucy girl!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "See what happens."
Chloe's eyes pierces Lucy, trying to decipher any hint that she might be lying.
"It doesn't matter." Chloe said confidently. "Even if he is allowing it right now, he won't be when he watched my video of you and your little friends plotting."
Lucy's causal expression shifted, her eyes darkening as she appeared to grow taller at Chloe's threat. "Chloe, if you think for even a second I won't-"
"You won't what?" Chloe cut her off. "What are you going to do? Hit me? Go for it." She said with a twisted smile. "I mean really. If my video isn't enough to make Mr. Agreste see how utterly unfit you are for Adrien, then seeing you attack the mayor's daughter might do the trick."
Lucy's hands and jaw clenched at Chloe's words making the other girl smile bigger.
"You see? No matter what you do I win, and you lose. Because either way Adrien gets taken away from you."
"What was it I remember hearing you say a few times?" Lucy asked, snapping her fingers as if trying to remember. "Once a villain, always a villain?" Chloe pursed her lips and shifted her head to see Felix staring up at the two curiously.
"Well, if it isn't the fake Adrien!" Chloe mocked. "If I was anyone, other than Chloe Bourgeois, you might actually have me fooled!"
"You're wrong Chloe," Felix spoke, mimicking Adrien's voice. "I am Adrien."
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Adrikins!" Chloe apologized, making Lucy give her a dumbfound look.
"How can someone be so evil and so stupid?" she asked as Felix chuckled.
"You're still just as foolish as ever, Chloe Bourgeois."
Chloe pouted, before noticing Gabriel no longer greeting guests and rushed over to try and get him to watch her video. Felix looked at Lucy and grinned. He didn't expect to see her here, but he was more than pleased by the surprise. The last time they were together, half of it she thought he was Adrien, and the other half was spent threatening him, but admittedly, Lucy had left an impact on Felix.
There was something about the way she carried herself that made the boy want to bask in the glory of her presence. She didn't care about him. Probably wanted nothing to do with him, but for reasons Felix didn't fully understand himself, it only seemed to make him gravitate towards her more. As he thought about his real quest for this evening in relation to his uncle, Felix concurred that perhaps he just had a fixation on obtaining things that he had no right to.
"Let me just say, there is nowhere in the world I would rather be than with you right here, right now." Felix spoke with a smirk, stealing Lucy's attention from Chloe, who once again was shot down by Mr. Agreste as he instructed that everyone's phones would be stored away until the end of the dinner party for privacy.
"Hi Felix." Lucy greeted shortly.
"Can't you see I'm completely taken by you; I've never known a feeling like this." He went on, leaning against the stair railing. It was weird. Lucy couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
"What? Your momma doesn't toss you around enough, so now you want me to do it?"
"I'm just saying we don't need to meet up at my uncles every time I'm in town. You like sushi? I know a five-star sushi place just a few miles away."
"In your dreams." Lucy replied flatly.
"Oh, you are a stallion."
"You're an idiot."
"Have you ever stood across from someone, just trying to have a normal conversation, fighting every urge inside you not to just scream out, yeah!"
Lucys eye twitched at the sentence telling him to shut up only making Felix grin wider. He was breaking her.
"What? I've never let myself be so vulnerable with someone before it feels amazing."
The robot rolled over to them, and Felix tossed his phone inside, followed by Lucy.
"You're a lot dude." Lucy said, shaking her head at him.
"I'd be so good to you." Felix told her, looking her up and down. Lucy's eyes shifted to Adrien as he approached Felix from behind with an annoyed look on his face.
"Oh yeah?" She asked.
"I'd be good to you like crazy." Adrien frowned at his cousin, not liking anything he was saying to Lucy. Not the words, not the tone, not the context behind them.
"How good?" Lucy teased.
"Like you wake up in the morning, and I'm right there being good to you." Felix answered.
"That's actually unsettling."
"You can't wait on my darling cousin to make a move forever Lucy." This was Felix's response as Adrien moved around him and took his place beside his girlfriend, a hand wrapping around her waist. Felix raised a brow as he looked between the two.
"Fortunately, she doesn't have to." Adrien informed him, leading Lucy away only to have Felix looking after them with a glint of mischief.
Adrien led the way up the stairs when Gabriel called after Felix, asking to speak with him for a moment. The two made their way into Gabriel's office. When Gabriel shut the door, he wasted no time.
"Why did you steal my ring, Felix?"
"Mom really wanted me to have it since it belonged to her family." Felix explained while taking off the ring. "But you really wanted to keep it, so I planned on giving it back to you tonight." He held the ring between his thumb and pointer finger, handing it to his uncle.
Gabriel took the ring back hesitantly. He didn't expect this conversation to go so smoothly. "Hmm. Your mother will be sad if you do that."
"Don't worry, Uncle." Felix assured him, pulling out a second ring and placing it on his finger. "She won't know. I had a copy made."
"You're an intelligent young man, Felix." Gabriel complimented. Felix left the room, leaving Gabriel to look over the ring, only to narrow his eyes at it.
Felix went up the stairs and to the left while he waited for his uncle to leave his office, once he did, he too climbed the stairs, going right and into a bedroom. Felix followed and stood near the doorway to listen.
"I know each and every scratch on Emilie's ring! It's a fake ring!" Gabriel complains to Nathalie, throwing the ring. "He gave me a fake ring! How dare he?!"
Felix smirked. He knew his uncle was angry enough to want revenge and to do so he would become ShadowMoth. It was only a matter of time.
"Felix! You coming?" Felix turned to see his cousin calling out to him from his room. Without another word, Felix went over to Adrien, leaving Gabriel and Nathalie to plot.
OoOoOoOo
In Adrien's room, Kagami and Lucy sat together on the couch while Chloe paced back and forth. Felix took a seat on the other side of Lucy giving her sly look. Lucy rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Kagami.
"So, now what?" She asked.
"Now we wait for our parents to get bored." Kagami answered in a bland tone.
"Who's thirsty!?" The clumsy waiter from earlier asked, holding a tray of drinks.
Lucy glanced at the man briefly before doing a double take as Kagami took a drink from the try. The waiter moved in front of Lucy, bringing it down to her level. Lucy stared at the waiter, tilting her head. The waiter smiled nervously.
Marinette?
"Thanks sir." Lucy said dryly, taking a drink from the tray. The waiter then offered Felix a drink who declined. As the waiter went to stand nearby Chloe began to huff.
"I have to find my phone!" Chloe declared.
"You heard my father, Chloe." Adrien said. "Not during the party."
"Let it go, Chlo." Lucy spoke from her seat, glaring at girl.
"He'll thank me when he sees what I filmed!" Chloe said, ignoring Lucy and pushing past Adrien to leave the room.
"Chloe, no!" Adrien called out to deaf ears.
"Damn it, Chloe." Lucy cursed. Adrien looked at her with a defeated look.
"Don't worry! I'll take care of it! I've always been good with the young people!" The waiter shouted, quickly handing Adrien the tray of drinks and following Chloe.
"What could she possibly need to show him that's so important?" Adrien asked. Lucy sighed.
"She recorded a bunch of us in the art room earlier. Marc and Nathaniel were showing us some art, a lot of it was inspired by the two of us I guess." Lucy explained.
"What's so important about that?" Adrien asked still confused.
"When explaining the story, your dad might have been compared to an evil witch who locks you up and that I am the one meant to save and ride off into the sun set with you." Lucy said with a scrunched look. It was even cringier to say out loud.
Adrien paused, processing the words that Lucy spoke. "Wait...I'm the princess in the story?!"
"You will always be the princess, Adrien!" Lucy argued.
"Sounds like an accurate description to me." Felix said earning an annoyed look from his cousin.
"It does fit the narrative." Kagami agreed with a shrug. Adrien huffed.
"If I'm a princess that makes you a princess, Kagami!" He shouted, wagging a finger between the two of them. "We got the same thing going on!"
"My royal status has never been a question, Adrien." Kagami shot back casually.
"As entertaining as this all is, I need to speak with my mother." Felix declared, getting up from the sofa. Adrien ignored his cousin and turned to Lucy.
"We need to get that phone." But Lucy waved him off.
"Don't worry. Marinette's on it."
"Marinette?"
"The waiter." Kagami spoke. "That was obviously Marinette in a fake mustache and a uniform. Did you not know?"
"No." Adrien said dumbly. "How did I not know...?"
"Was probably my fault." Lucy said with a shrug. "I can be very distracting."
Adrien smiled lazily at her. "Yeah..."
"Wow." Kagami said flatly.
OoOoOOooo
Felix watched his uncle go into his office from the steps, and quickly made his way downstairs to follow. After the party he and his mother would leave, and then Felix would have to wait weeks, maybe even months, before another opportunity would arise for him to have the evidence he needed. Now was the only time he had. Listening to the door, Felix could hear no movement. Peeking inside, he was confused to find in uncle nowhere in sight.
Felix carefully creeped inside of the office. His uncle must have a secret door somewhere. Toward the back of the room, Felix spots a large portrait of his aunt and smiles. It was a beautiful picture, and due to his aunt and his mother being identical twins, he could almost mistake it for his mother instead.
His mother was a big part of why he was here to begin with. When Emilie disappeared, his mother swore there was more to it than his uncle was letting on. Knowing that Gabriel carried the butterfly and peacock miraculous only confirmed his mother's suspicions in Felix's mind.
"Looking for something Felix?" Felix paused and the sound of his uncles voice behind him.
"You." Felix spoke. "I'd like to get to know you better, uncle."
"It's true. You don't know me very well at all, otherwise you wouldn't have given me a fake ring. Where did you put the real ring? The one that belongs to my wife?" Gabriel asked.
Felix smirked. "In a safe place."
"Wherever it is, you're going to give it back to me." It was time to see how important this ring really was to his dear uncle.
"How do you plan to make me do that, by using your powers... ShadowMoth?"
"I am Gabriel Agreste," His uncle replied confidently. "and I do indeed have every power I need to find my wife's ring, including the power to destroy your life. I don't need to be ShadowMoth for that."
Felix frowned. His uncle wasn't admitting to anything, but he wasn't really denying it either, was he? "I knew you were no ordinary uncle."
Gabriel lifted his hand and placed his thumb and middle finger together. "And now you know that I only need to snap my fingers to make you disappear from here."
"You wouldn't dare!" Felix snarled with a glare. He wouldn't. He would never get away with it.
"Do you want to take that risk, Felix? Think of your mother." Gabriel taunted. Felix backs up to Emilie's portrait. He wouldn't show it, but the boy could feel himself grow slightly nervous. Even if his uncle didn't admit to being ShadowMoth, he did admit to being dangerous and was clearly not above threatening him in order to get his ring back. Then, an Akuma enters the room and enters Felix's ring.
"Felix, I am Shadow Moth." A voice echoed in his head. "You've put yourself in an unfortunate situation by trying to defy someone stronger than you. But I can give you the power to escape Gabriel Agreste. All I ask in return are Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."
"This is impossible!" Felix shouted. "I'm not mistaken. You are wearing a Miraculous. Those jewels are underneath your scarf, the brooches!"
Gabriel, or who Felix once thought was Gabriel moved his scarf to reveal he currently wore no such things as ShadowMoth laughed inside Felix's head.
"Brooches? What are you talking about?"
"You really think that Gabriel Agreste could be Shadow Moth? He doesn't have what it takes! And neither do you. Accept the power I'm offering you!"
"I'm not afraid of your threats, and I don't need your power!" Felix shouted, and it was true. He had learned in the short amount of time he had been alive that there was no kind of power anyone could provide for him other than himself. They couldn't give it. And they also couldn't take it.
He grew up with a man far worse than his uncle. A man whose fury would fill the house for days, weeks, at a time, making the air humid, and hard to breathe. His father stalked around with his lower jaw jutting out, giving him the look of a wounded, vengeful boxer, grinding his teeth so loud you could hear it across the room. With his tendency to send his rages directed at Felix's mother - which he heard in fright through the halls of their home - made Felix resolve, with icy determination, that only the most formal relationship would exist between his father and him, and for the next handful of years, up until the day he died, neither did anything to repair the rift.
Felix breaks through ShadowMoth's akumatization and an Akuma flies out of his ring. He takes a button from his shirt and slides beside the imposter Gabriel, and while sliding, Felix makes a small tear in the imposter Gabriel's pants near the shoe and runs out of the room, leaving what looked like his uncle calling after him.
OoOoOoOoO
"So, you really told him, huh." Kagami commented, still seated on Adrien's couch.
Adrien rubbed his neck nervously. "Yeah..."
Kagami let out a humph sound. "I'm surprised. Both that you father is allowing it, and that you even risked telling him in the first place."
"It had to happen sometime." Adrien admitted, placing the drinks he had been holding and placing them on the coffee table.
"Of course, it did," Kagami responded. "If you truly care about someone then keeping them a secret forever is never an option." Kagami's blunt tone made Adrien frown.
"Kagami-" Before he could empty his guilty consciousness, Kagami held her had up to stop him.
"That wasn't a stab at you Adrien. I need you to hear me when I say I hold no lingering romantic nor resentful feelings towards you. In fact, I now take our relationship as a powerful learning experience."
Lucy, who had remained seated beside Kagami giggled lightly at the raised brows on Adrien's face.
"A learning experience?" Adrien repeated slowly, earning a nod from the Japanese girl.
"You're a nice guy, Adrien." Kagami explained. "An actual nice one. Not one of those guys who claim their niceness only to see they have ulterior motives. When we first met, I found it refreshing. But now I see I could never be with someone like you long term."
"Because I'm nice?" Adrien asked, confused.
"You're a people pleaser Adrien." Kagami clarified. "You're like a different version of Marinette. Almost everything you do is to help regulate the emotions of those around you. But when someone asks what you want. How you feel. The response they get is filled with uncertainty."
Adrien bit the inside of his cheek. Lucy had told him almost the same thing not long ago. It was hard to hear then, but even harder when another person seemed to agree. Adrien wondered if he appeared this way to everyone, and if he did, how that curated to their opinion of him.
"I'm working on it." Was his response, and Kagami offered him a small smile.
"I can see that. My point is that I refuse to get romantically involved with anyone who isn't completely certain that I am everything they want. I am the answer, not an option."
"Facts." Lucy added, holding out her first for Kagami to bump. Without looking away from Adrien, she did so.
A crash from the hallway caused the three teens to get up from their seats and rush out of Adrien's room. Looking over the balcony they found Gabriel Agreste had been reakumatized back into the collector. However, instead of a book, he was now trapping people and things in a tablet, insisting they had over their secrets.
Kagami quickly pushed Adrien and Lucy back into Adrien's room and into his closet, instructing them to hide before grabbing her fencing sword and running off.
"What the hell does she think that's going to do?!" Lucy asked Adrien from inside the closet.
"Probably just buying time for Ladybug and Chat Noir. Speaking of which. Plagg! Claws out!" Adrien called out, transforming into Chat Noir.
"Stay here." He instructed. "If my father finds you and traps you in his tablet-"
"I'll reveal your secret." Lucy finished. Chat takes her face in his hands, kissing Lucy on the top of the head.
"I'll be back before you know it." With that he exited the closet and headed out to fight the Collector and save his father.
OoOoOOoOooo
Ten minutes. It took roughly ten minutes to defeat the Collector. Lucy jumped a little as Chat pulled open the closet door and stepped back inside, closing it and calling claws in.
"No time at all." Lucy commented with a smile.
"I told you. Now my father has a charm from Ladybug, so we shouldn't have to worry about him getting akumatized anymore. Also, Chloe's video got deleted so that issue has also been taken care of."
"Wonderful." Lucy praised, wrapping her arms around Adrien's neck. "Think we've got time to play seven minutes in heaven?"
"Only if we all get a turn." Felix answered, yanking open the closet with Kagami beside him with her arms crossed.
"An Akuma was a floor below and you two thought that was an opportune time to make out?" Kagami judged.
Felix slumped a casual arm over Kagami's shoulder, pulling her into him.
"Don't be too hard on them Kagami, it's young love."
Kagami seethed beside Felix. "Remove your hand from my body or I will remove it from yours." Although unbothered by the threat, Felix removed himself from Kagami and smirked,
"Feisty. I see my cousin has a type."
Adrien narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "Felix, isn't time for you to leave?"
Felix let out a sigh. "Yes, it seems the Akuma situation has brought the festivities to an end, but mother would like a proper goodbye." Reluctantly, Adrien released Lucy, following Felix out of the room. Lucy and Kagami shared a look before shaking their heads. Men.
"Adrien! Darling!" Amelie cooed, holding her arms out to hug her nephew goodbye as she stood beside Gabriel at the door. "It was lovely to see you again, even if it was brief. We should really plan for you to come up and visit us in London some time."
"Of course." Adrien agreed. "It was great to see you too Aunt Amelie."
"Oh mother," Felix called out, earning the attention of Amelie, Adrien and Gabriel. Felix strolled over, taking Lucy and guiding her over to his family members and away from Kagami and her mother who were getting into their car. "There is someone I wish to introduce to you too. This is Lucy Shepheard."
Adrien and his father didn't share a lot of physical features, but in that moment, it was as if someone had copied and pasted the pair as their facial expressions seemed to mirror one another. Both Agreste men, though for what could be assumed as very different reasons, stared at Felix with narrow eyes and tight jaws.
"Well, aren't you just precious." Amelie complimented, twirling a piece of Lucy's hair around her finger. "A pleasure to meet you, Lucy. I'm Amelie, Felix's mother." She greeted, holding out her hand.
Lucy forced a smile and took the hand, shaking it lightly. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Fathom." It was Amelie's turn to force a smile.
"Graham de Vanily." She corrected. "Fathom was my late husband's last name. I kept my maiden name. Just call me Amelie." She then instructed.
"Right. Nice to meet you, Amelie."
"So, I assume your mother and or father are nearby? I'm sure I'd love to meet them."
Gabriel cleared his throat. "Miss Shepheard is here alone as Adrien's guest."
"Well, another time then." Amelie suggested pleasantly.
"Lucy is Adrien's girlfriend." Felix announced to his mother. Amelie blinked at Lucy and put on another small smile.
"Cute."
Though there was nothing to really take from the comment, Lucy couldn't help be feel like there was a sort of strain behind Amelie's words.
"Your driver has arrived Amelie." Gabriel announced, and Amelie pulled her gaze from the younger blonde in front of her.
"Ah, well. We should be off then. We have a long train ride ahead of us. Come along darling." She called out, holding out her hand to her son. Felix held out his arm for his mother to take, nodding at the others.
"Uncle. Cousin. Lucy." He spoke, seeming to purr slightly as he drawled out Lucy's name. "Till next time."
OoOOoOoOoOoOo
That night Lucy tossed and turned in her sleep. Visions flashed in her mind. Visions that she didn't understand. It had been a while since they had flooded her so rapidly, so strongly. A cold seat dampened her skin as her heart seemed to pound against her rib cage. Her breathing became rugged and uneven before her body jolted upward and her eyes shot open. She yelled. It was a short but loud yelp-like sound, similar to the kind someone might make when they realize they were falling off their bed.
As her breathing returned to normal and her heartbeat seemed to catch up, Lucy took the time to look around the room. She wasn't in her bed anymore. Instead, she found herself in one of the familiar leather seats across from her father's desk. Normally, this wouldn't alarm her, but there was something different about the experience. The seat she sat in was familiar as was her father's desk across from her, but around her...around her was, nothing.
It was like she was sitting in a pitch-black room where the only light was illuminating her father's desk. Normally there was sound. Nothing specific, but she could see and hear the other people that surrounded her father's office working and moving, the conversations muddled but still prominent in the background. Normally, it felt like she was sitting in a memory. A memory where the details were muddled. Most of it unimportant in comparison to the vivid detail of her father's office but still visible.
This was not that. She didn't know what this was.
"Hello?!" She called out, her voice seeming to echo in the nothing. "Dad?!"
"A change is coming."
Lucy thought she might have pulled something the way her head snapped to her left. Beside her, in second leather chair, her father sat looking ahead. Looking at nothing.
"What change?" She asked. Her voice barley above a whisper. Her father didn't look at her.
"I don't know." He answered. "I'm not supposed to know. Neither are you."
"Why not?"
"Because we are less tempted to change what we don't know."
"It's so dark." Lucy commented. "Does that mean the change is bad?"
"Not necessarily."
"Your being very cryptic again."
"Aren't I always?"
"I thought the purpose of the bunny miraculous was to keep an eye on the future and make sure nothing bad happens."
"It is." Her father answered simply, and Lucy could feel herself growing frustrated.
"How do we know if we aren't supposed to know?"
"If you looked to the future to see all the bad things that could or even will happen, you'll drive yourself mad trying to rectify it. The hardest pill to swallow when it comes to being a timekeeper is that you can't go looking for the problem, you have to wait for the problem to come to you."
"Why is that the hardest pill to swallow?"
"Because you want to solve everything for everybody. Make everyone happy. You like to fix things, but some things aren't yours to fix."
Like someone had suddenly flipped a switch, light surrounded Lucy making her squint in order to adjust. When her eyes finally could see again, the familiar surroundings of her father's office appeared.
"What changed?" She asked, looking around his office as if something in her surroundings would reveal the answer.
"Nothing yet, probably."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Lucy's father turned his head and offered her a smile.
"We'll just have to wait and see."
Welp. There is chapter 72. Took me a bit to get it out because I finally moved! Its been a process and I havent had time to write, but because I moved so far, I am taking a little time off of work. Or at least I am trying to. Because of that I should have a little more free time and should be able to get this book wrapped up soon. Not that I don't love writing it, but it has been a long journey.
Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, remember to vote and comment and heart and all that jazz, I love reading your comments as they are great motivation.
Speaking of comments though, in Wattpad, usually, when someone leaves a comment, if I click on it, I'm taken to the chapter and the area in which they are commenting is highlighted so I know what part of the story they are referring to too. Love that, however, I noticed recently that if someone's comment is a reply to someone else's, if I click on it takes me to the chapter and puts me somewhere near where I guess the original comment is but doesn't highlight it.
In fact, although the comment is defiantly there, and I know it is because if I go through the comments as a whole, I can scroll through and find them, but the little...idk what its called. The little box that is on the right side of the text that shows people a comment was left there. Yeah, its weird. Not all of them are gone. But some are. Is the comment too old or something? Idk, its just odd.
Till next time! Chow for now!