The next week, Marinette decided to start her new mission of getting used to Damian's house. It felt restrictive to not be able to go there comfortably when they spent so much time together lately. It also felt like she was giving Gabriel a win by letting him continue to affect her. She knew realistically that she had PTSD and that it would probably be affecting her for a long time.
She wanted to work through this trigger though. It was one of the ones that could be overcome - she was sure of it. Damian's home wasn't anything remotely like the Agreste mansion aside from the size. It was warm and inviting and filled with a very big family that loved each other despite the occasional argument.
She also wanted that - a big family to be a part of. She used to feel like she had that with her old classmates but that was obviously not a bridge that still existed. That bridge had burned for too long before she stopped trying to put it out.
Anyways, this led her to sitting in the gardens outside the manor, leaning against a bench with a sketchbook in her lap. She was having fun drawing some dresses for Stephanie based on the flowers in the gardens.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather sit on the bench?" Damian asked, laying across the whole thing as though there would magically be room for her on it. He was reading a book - something old and classic.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather read something from closer to our time?" she mocked, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. It's a discussion that they'd had multiple times. She preferred to read romance books and he preferred nothing that was written after the 16th century.
He just rolled his eyes and went back to his book. Mari was pretty sure he couldn't go an hour without rolling his eyes at something she said. It was silent for a while, her drawing and him reading; she loved that they could just sit together in the silence without needing to fill that void.
And then it was cut through by her phone ringing. She jumped, tossing her pencil in the air and watching Damian catch it before it hit him in the head. She took out her phone, frowning when she saw it was her Maman. She didn't usually call until around nine their time, and it was only around three now if she was doing her math right.
"Maman?" she answered, switching back to french.
"Marinette! Thank goodness you answered."
The frown on her face deepened. Her mother sounded like she'd been crying. "Maman, what's wrong? Why're you upset?"
"It's your father dear, something happened," there was a slight pause as she heard her take a deep breath. "He's been in an accident."
"Is he okay? What happened?" she asked, sitting up straight and feeling her pulse quicken.
"Is there any way you can get back here?" Sabine asked, not answering her daughter.
Mari knew that meant she didn't have the answers. She didn't know if papa was okay. Her breathes were coming in shorter now, her eyes focusing on a tree branch twenty feet away as she tried to figure out what was happening. Her papa couldn't have gotten hurt. He was too big and strong for that. Too good of a person. He had to be alright. This had to be a mistake.
She felt her phone being taken from her hand, and there was some talking in the background before she was being lifted up into someone's arms. Inhaling deeply, she smelt the signature cologne of her best friend.
Looking up, she felt the tears in her eyes tip out onto the sides of her face. "Damian?" she asked, not sure what was happening.
"I know," he said, giving her a squeeze. "We're getting you on the next plane over. I'll have one of the others watch over the kittens."
She nodded, more than happy to let him have the reins in this situation. She wasn't sure she'd even be able to get to the airport right now. She just kept remembering all the times her parents were hurt by akumas. It wasn't fair - now that she couldn't magically cure them something had to happen. It wasn't fair.
He brought her into the manor and set her down on a couch in the family room. "I'm going to be right back, alright?" he asked her, waiting until she nodded before walking quickly from the room.
She just stared at the coffee table in front of her, not even noticing that Jason was in the room until he kneeled down in front of her. She made eye contact, not even sure what to say to him.
"Something happen, little lady?" he asked, leaning forward and taking on of her hands in his.
She just nodded, trying to remember why she was crying. Her papa. Her papa was hurt. "Maman says that Papa was in an accident," she said, still speaking in French.
He nodded, moving to the couch next to her slowly so she could still see him. "Okay," he said, switching with her. "Damian's going to get father to let him use the jet. He's going to make sure you get there. Do you want some water?"
She shook her head quickly, her brows furrowing. "You guys have a jet?" It was all she could ask - her brain catching that detail above everything else he said.
Jason smiled and nodded, finding it hard not to laugh at that. "We have three, actually."
"Fucking rich people," she muttered, shaking her head and going back to staring at the coffee table.
Jason snickered at that, leaning on the couch next to her and keeping an eye on her. He understood her need for silence in the moment but was doing his best to make sure she didn't go into shock. He'd already decided that he was going to go with the two of them. Baby bird would need someone to watch over him and he'd probably be the best choice.
Tim would be too asleep to notice the things happening around him - he'd just hit a caffeine wall and crashed. Dick would be too busy hovering over Marinette to understand what they actually needed. He loved his brothers, but they were about as emotionally stunted as Bruce sometimes. Dick really just tried to smother you with affection whenever something bothered you instead of actually letting you process the things happening and Tim just closed off completely. He understood that these two would most likely need space to process but also need someone there to make sure they got food in them and got where they needed to go.
He wasn't great at everything - don't get him wrong - he just understood Marinette a bit more after talking with her about her PTSD. And he'd been observing Damian more closely since she arrived, he knew that the baby bird would be so busy worrying about her he'd forget the simple things.
Jason texted Alfred to grab his and Damian's go bags, along with their passports and to get the car ready so they could leave whenever he got back. It was only about ten minutes before he saw him coming back into the room. "I'm coming with," he told him, standing up and helping Mari off the couch.
She gravitated to Damian, dropping her forehead against his chest and letting him hold her again. She couldn't seem to get her thoughts straight but she knew that he would keep her safe and get her where she wanted to be. Even if he couldn't she would simply get the horse miraculous from her apartment and go there right now.
"Father said the jet will be ready in half an hour and on standby. Where going to your apartment to get your things and then heading there," he told her, rubbing circles on her back and waiting for a nod before leading her to the door.
"I already had Alfred ready the car and grab our bags and passports," Jason told him, holding the front door open for them.
Damian nodded, his eyes widening just a fraction as he realized that he'd forgotten that. He'd figured out everything for Mari though - told Tim she wouldn't be in the office, called the school to let them know the situation, and found them transport to Paris.
The car ride to her apartment felt like a blur. One moment she was in the car and the next she was walking into her room to find her passport. Plagg and Tikki zoomed out of her bag the moment she shut the door, clutching the sides of her face silently. They couldn't speak because of the boys in the other room, but they could hug her and let her know they were there.
She gave a weak smile to them, holding them against her cheeks gently and closing her eyes. She knew without fail that they'd always be with her no matter what.
They'd always be with her. After a minute there was a knock at the door and the two kwamis went back into her purse just as Damian opened the door.
"Did you find it?" he asked her, crossing over and looking around the room.
She nodded, opening up the safe under her bed and pulling it out. She grabbed the duffel under the bed as well and stuffed some clothes into it as quickly as she could. She had bathroom stuff at her parents house still so she didn't need to worry about that. "Ready." She felt anything but.
Mari somehow fell asleep on the plane, which was for the best because otherwise she would've spent the entire flight catastrophizing the situation. She realistically had no idea what was happening and she would be going in blind since her Maman couldn't contact her on the plane. Once they landed though, she was out of her seat and grabbing her duffel from the overhead compartment.
She got through customs as quickly as she could - which really was agonizingly slow. Damian was holding her hand the whole way through the airport until they got outside before pulling her to a stop. She turned, ready to yell at him for daring to stop her manic sprint to her mother.
"Do you know if your mother is at the hospital or the bakery?" he asked her, not even flinching at the glare she gave.
She started, and later would realize that she quite liked it when he spoke French, before shaking her head and pulling out her phone. She quickly called her mother, waiting impatiently as it rang.
"Marinette?" her mother answered.
"Are you home?" she asked, and once she got the affirmative she hailed them a taxi.
Jason had been silent throughout the interaction, taking Marinette's bag from her when she almost tripped over it. He didn't have a good feeling about her mother being at home though. He got the feeling she wouldn't leave the hospital unless she had to.
When they got to the bakery, Mari didn't even pause before sprinting around the side of the building and unlocking the door. She didn't wait for Damian or Jason when she sprinted up the steps to the apartment either, but they were right on her heels.
She saw her mother sitting on the couch, Grand-mere Gina and grand-pere Roland on either side of her, holding her hands and knew that something was deeply-irrevocably wrong. "Maman?" she asked, stopping herself from walking any further.
Her mother couldn't even look at her, her sobs growing louder and her shoulders hunching in as she turned to Gina.
Roland stood and walked over to her, taking her hand in his. "Your father was making a delivery to the hotel," he started, moving her to the bar stool in the kitchen.
"He was crossing the street when a drunk driver hit him. They rushed him to the hospital but-" he had to pause, taking a deep breath. "He didn't make it, little one."
Mari just stared at him, feeling her entire world crashing around her. She could faintly hear Damian calling her name but it was all simply too much. Her papa couldn't be gone because he was too big and too strong and too kind. He was too kind to leave her. He was too kind for anyone to ever make leave her. Before she knew it she was falling and he was catching her again.