When Chat Noir reluctantly relayed the prophecy of the oracle Ladybug listened carefully, and then leaned in to him.
"So the oracle saw it after all. I knew that I would be able to protect you," she sighed.
"I don't want you sacrificing yourself for me!" Chat Noir protested loudly. "At least we found out at least one piece of helpful information; that we need to find the dolphin miraculous. Now we know where to look too! The Dead Sea of Israel!"
"But she said that it would be futile to look for the dolphin until..." Ladybug started to point out.
"I'm not going to wait around for the mosquito kwami to spring his trap when we could do something to stop him!" Chat Noir interrupted, taking Ladybug's hand and leading her out the the temple of Apollo. As they left the marble steps the illusion that Merlin had created around them of the grand temple faded away like mist as the sun sunk below the horizon. All the gradure of the great hall had vanished and the obstinate rubble was all the remained once more.
Ladybug and Chat Noir met with the council and relayed the oracles message. There was a flurry of conversation after the prophecy was revealed, and everyone seemed to interpret the meaning of the oracles words slightly differently. As a result everyone seemed to have a different strategy for challenging Chaos. Rather than bringing them together the message seemed to divide the defenders and wild kwami even further. Some felt that they should wait, other urged action. Some thought that rallying the wild kwami and heroes to wage war on the mosquito's forces was necessary. Then there were a group that started thinking up ways to hide Ladybug and Chat Noir to ensure that their miraculous would remain safe. While the others in the assembly debated Ladybug would try to interject into the conversation, but Chat Noir stayed quiet.
Late into the night they still had not reached an agreement. While each region's representative deliberated on how they could combine their strength, the wild kwami eventually made the decision that they would be strategically placed around the world as sentinels watching for rumurs of the mosquito kwami. Ember would stay by Ladybug and Chat Noir's side to alert the defenders if there was any attempt made on the miraculous or the weilders. Merlin was adamant in convincing Lady Dragon and Lady Justice to seek out the dragons of the world, but Lady Justice seemed hesitant. The penguin kwami told the group that he would seek out an audience with the Sea to try to find and secure the banished octopus kwami. Exhausted, and with the heaviness of doom ahead Ladybug and Chat Noir finally channeled Kaalki, and they passed back to Paris with Ember.
"Mi'Lady, I need to borrow the horse miraculous," Chat Noir said, placing his paw on Ladybug's shoulder as soon as they stood overlooking the Paris skyline.
"Where are you...?" Ladybug asked taking the glasses from the bridge of her nose, and then she looked into Chat Noir's determined eyes, and held them back. "Even after the Oracle's warning you're still going to try to find the Dolphin kwami?!"
"Cat weilder you must be patient. The defenders of the miraculous..." Ember spoke up.
"You saw how divided the council still is!" Chat Noir breathed in frustration. "It we wait for them it will be too late and I could loose everything... I...could loose you!.." Chat Noir's voice broke in desperation looking at Ladybug.
"What if seeking it out makes matters worse?" Ladybug asked fiddling with Kaalki's miraculous in her hands.
"Worse?!" Chat Noir laughed bitterly. "How could things get worse?! If this is the only hint of a solution I am going to find it now!" Then he hugged Ladybug from behind and put his head heavily on her shoulder. "I've got to try."
"I will give them to you on one condition," Ladybug replied. "I'm coming with you!"
"There is courage in patience, waiting for the right timing," Ember implored them.
"And sometimes you need to take a risk to protect the one you love," Chat Noir took the glasses from Ladybug and channeled a portal to Israel. Ladybug and Chat Noir walked through, and just as the portal was closing Ember flew through after them.
The darkness of night compared to the lit up evening of Paris was difficult to discern at first for Ladybug. Chat Noir on the other hand scanned the shoreline of the Dead Sea with his night vision. His eyes glowed green as he registered the small communities dotted around the ancient site, and the sandy slopes that stretched out around them. The wispy clouds screened both starlight and moonlight, and made the whole area seem so very vast. The portal was still open behind them.
"Young Masters! If you pursue the dolphin kwami now before the right time not only will you not be able to find her, but you may give away her location to someone else!" Ember flew into their faces, making them blink at his brightness.
Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other with the first sign of hesitation.
"Please we must go back now before it is too late!" Ember's voice urged.
"You really don't want to find the dolphin kwami do you," Chat Noir folded his arms.
"Not yet," Ember's voice tightened. "Please, put off finding her as long as possible!"
"What would be so bad about finding her?" Ladybug asked curiously. "If she restores memory isn't that a good thing. It's not like it can hurt..."
"Not hurt?!" Ember snapped, loosing his calm. "There was a reason she was hidden away, and why some things had to be forgotten." Then he leaned in closer to them. "But worse...when memories are suppressed they build and fester. The dolphin kwami does not forget. What do you think will happen when hundreds of years worth of truth comes pouring out into the world!"
"Truth should've never been concealed in the first place!" Chat Noir clenched his fists at his sides. "If anything you're making me all the more certain that we have to free this kwami!"
"She is not a captive. She is in hiding. In hiding from him," Ember said lowly, so that they could barely hear him.
"Him? You mean Chaos?" Ladybug and Chat Noir asked together.
Ember nodded. "The mosquito kwami nearly destroyed the earth before. If he remembers what happened back then and how we were able to defeat him we will have no chance to beat him. If you unleash the dolphin kwami bringing her to light too quickly, he could snap her up, and then all of the sacrifice over the last few hundred years would be for nothing."
"Aaarrrahhh!" Chat Noir yelled in frustration into the clouded night air.
Ladybug laid her hand on his forearm. "It's alright Kitty. Now that we know where to go we will come back here if we need to. We don't need to give Chaos any more of an advantage than he already has."
"I know you're right. It is just so hard to be so close," Chat Noir sighed looking out across the still water of the Dead Sea that they could barely make-out in the darkness. Without the light of the moon or stars they could not make out more than the sound of peaceful lapping water.
The three of them stepped back into the portal, and it closed with a snap. Chat Noir's shoulder's slumped, and he let out a sigh. Ladybug ran her fingers up to the nape of his neck, scratching it gently. "Let's go home," she whispered gently.
Chat Noir nodded mutely, and followed Ladybug. Before Kaalki closed the portal he couldn't help glancing wistfully back. "I'll come back for you soon," Chat Noir murmured to himself.
Once again they stood on the rooftops of Paris. Chat Noir kissed her and was about to leap away to go home, but Ladybug caught him by the tail, yanking him back on his heels. "Come on," Ladybug rose up, and took him by the hand.
He looked at her questioningly, and she then linked her arm with his.
"Can you blame me that I want to keep you close?" she nudged him with a smile. "I think we deserve a night to ourselves!"
Chat Noir kissed the top of her head, held her closer. "You always know exactly how to turn my world around," he sighed.
In a few leaps and bounds Chat Noir and Ladybug made their way back to the quiet balcony over the bakery. When they dropped down onto the balcony Marinette put her finger to her lips, and guided Chat Noir to the trap door, opening it carefully to avoid waking up her parents. Leaving Chat Noir to make himself at home in her room, she tip toed down to the kitchen to raid the refrigerator, and also dig into her emergency stash of cheese and cookies for the kwamis.
With "Spots off," and "Claws in," the kwamis dug greedily into the heaping piles of treats Marinette had brought up. Marinette brought a stool over to the chase lounge chair, and offered a pastry to Adrien. Instead of reaching for the food though, he snuggled into Marinette, and put his head on her lap.
"You must be worried if you wont even eat," Marinette looked down at her boyfriend with concern. "I thought these were your favorite."
"You're my favorite," Adrien countered, and put his arms around Marinette's waist.
With an amused smile Marinette shook her head, and started running her fingers through Adrien's blonde hair. How many times had she dreamed of something like this. A moment between them where it could just be the two of them. She felt him relax under her touch, and his shoulder's dropped. "It will all be okay," she murmured soothingly.
"How can you be so sure," Adrien eventually answered quietly, without moving from her side. He didn't want to budge in case she stopped running her delicate fingers rhymically through each strand of his hair.
"We've got too much to fight for," she answered without hesitation.
Adrien kissed the top of her knee, and sighed happily, setting the fears of the future aside to savor each moment with the girl he loved. Their enemies could dream up their own plans, but there was no way that he was going to let them take Marinette from him.
Gradually Marinette's hand slowed, until he felt her lean against him because she had drifted off to sleep. Carefully edging himself out from under her arms, he slid off the couch, and carefully picked her up in his arms.
"Plagg," Adrien hissed over to where the tiny glutton was laid right out in an empty wheel of Camembert over on Marinette's desk.
"Nuh uh," Plagg protested from his cheese induced coma.
"Plagg," Adrien insisted, motioning with his head to Marinette who was completely draped over his arm, and whose mouth lulled half open in sleep.
Tikki, who was curled up nearby with a half-eaten cookie, nudged Plagg with her tiny arm.
"Ugh," Plagg groaned, but dragged himself up. "If baker girl didn't have the best snacks I wouldn't be such a great sport," Plagg floated up to Adrien halfheartedly. "Go on then."
"Plagg, Claws out," Adrien said, and with his transformation easily used his staff to carry Marrinette up to her loft bed, and pull a blanket up to her shoulder. Chat Noir curled up next to her on the bed, and watched the cute wrinkle above her nose crease as she rubbed her face against her pillow happily. Chat Noir leaned his head against his hand and smiled at her. "Claws in," he whispered, and Plagg rolled his eyes before floating back down toward Tikki and his cheese wheel. Adrien reached over tentatively, and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. In a sudden movement the very soundly sleeping Marinette grabbed hold of Adrien's arm, snuggling into it, and effectively pinning it within her tight grasp. This sudden move surprised Adrien, but he wasn't willing to wake her to retrieve his arm from her grasp. He made a futile attempt to retract his arm, but one moan of protest from Marinette made him give up completely. With a smile and a shrug, he closed his eyes and stayed locked in her arms.
The peace of sleep made them feel safe next to each other. They let themselves be taken blissfully into the realm of dreams.
Many people insist dreams mean nothing. They say it is just the brain unraveling stimulus from tangled memories as we sleep. The rational prefrontal cortex afterall takes a back seat and the bizarre can thrive. Others seem to think it is the mind's way of destressing from the day. What better way to recharge after experiencing such a overwhelming flood of stimulus. But then...there are those...those who think that dreams contain messages...but the evidence for this is weak.
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Thank you reader for continuing this journey with our favorite duo! Make sure to follow or favorite because the next dream sequence is sure to drop some hints about what is to come!