Five months.
For five whole months he had managed to keep his adventures a complete secret from his father. Adrien placated him with stories of a budding trading business and the success of their voyages by tweaking and omitting certain details based on his actual exploits as Chat Noir.
As far as his father knew, his ship hadn't encountered many pirates looking to rob him of his riches. He simply spun the tale that the few who dared had been swiftly dealt with by the experts hired to defend him.
In reality, he was captaining his crew and taking on contracts, attacking ships that were deemed unlawful to France by a higher authority. Under the 'prize law' they seized any trade goods and sometimes even the ship itself to sell off and make a huge profit.
Though there had been a few hiccups, Adrien managed to keep up the ruse, as no one would ever suspect that the rough-housing, wise-cracking, sword-wielding Captain was polite and quiet Adrien Agreste. Chat Noir had quickly become a scourge to the Spanish fleets, and a hero to France for taking on commissions as a privateer, keeping his identity secret behind his mask; a mask that he had inherited through sheer luck.
Being in the right place at the right time, Adrien mused to himself, leaning forward against the edge of the dinghy. He couldn't help but think that his luck may have run out, considering the severity of the wound he'd received in Captain Hardrock's attack on his ship. He tried not to disturb the bandages around his stomach as Kim ferried them toward the shore.
Max had led his crew to the perfect place, just as he had hoped. Rather than a busy port, he somehow found a nearby island lush with fruit, situated with hideaway coves, and completely void of any people. Adrien was looking forward to relaxing a few days while they healed up and repaired the ship.
"Say that again!?"
Adrien sighed as Alix's voice rose up behind him in the row boat. Their trip had been somewhat peaceful until Kim felt the need to inform Alix that her cooking the previous night was less-than-satisfactory.
"I'm just saying, if you're gonna cook, at least make sure it's… you know… edible?"
"Guys," Adrien groaned. "Do you really need to continue this argument now?"
"You asked me to cook!" Alix yelled, either ignoring him or not hearing him at all. "I did you a favor when I took your shift in the galley, so at least have the decency to suck it up!"
"I'm sure this is very good for my recovery," Adrien grumbled to himself, smartly deciding to stay out of it. An argument between Alix and Kim could easily turn into a fight that would eventually fizzle itself out.
What he didn't know, with his back to them, was that Kim had stood up in his agitation—not until the boat rocked unsteadily and threw the large man off his feet. Adrien released an almost animal-like yowl when Kim fell right on top of him.
Adrien was not a scrawny man, but with his injury and distraction from the pain, he simply gripped the side of the boat and sucked in a sharp breath while Kim scrambled to right himself. As such, Adrien barely registered the oar waving wildly at the edge of his vision before he felt a tug at his wrist.
The tension popped, and Adrien turned his eyes to the bay just in time to see his lucky charm disappear beneath the waves.
"No!" Adrien shot to the edge of the boat, completely ignoring the pain of his wound as his eyes darted across the water. It was so clear that he could practically see to the bottom a few feet away. Despite this, the charm was nowhere to be seen.
"Careful!" Kim called out. "You've still got your injury!"
"My lucky charm!" Adrien straightened up and pulled off his shirt. "It fell in!"
"Uh oh." Alix grabbed at his arm to try and haul him back. "Hold on! If it's in the water, then it might wash up on shore."
Adrien didn't want to sit back and wait for that kind of chance. Tearing out of her grip, he dove right into the waves. The shock of cold was nothing compared to the sting of his wound as the salty water soaked through the bandages, but that didn't stop him from paddling forward and trying to see if his lucky charm had already buried itself in the sand.
He only swam back around once his lungs started burning, breaking the surface with a gasp while a pair of strong hands reached out to help him back onto the dinghy.
"Sorry about that, Captain," Kim said while he and Alix stood over him with matching apologetic looks.
"It's okay." Adrien waved a hand as he leaned against the side of the boat. "You'll both just have kitchen duty for the next week."
"What!?" Alix shouted. "That's not fair! It was Kim's fault!"
"I can make it two weeks," Adrien grumbled.
Alix threw her hands up with a groan while Kim smartly took the oars to row them toward shore. When the boat finally landed on solid ground, Adrien stumbled onto the sand, a sour look on his face.
"What happened to you?" Nino asked, standing to help him over to the small campfire they had going.
"Kim and Alix," Adrien muttered, ignoring the sting in his side as he started working to pull off his wet pants. "They got into an argument, and my lucky charm wound up in the bay."
Nino's expression widened in surprise before he nodded toward the pair behind him. The two were busy dragging the boat further up onto shore so that the waves couldn't take it. "You gonna have them search for it?"
"That's not a bad idea." Adrien turned to Alix and Kim and called out to them, "What do you say? Kitchen duty, or take a swim to find my charm?"
"Oh, boy!" Kim jumped up. "I'd rather swim instead!"
"Can I just have kitchen duty?" Alix grumbled with a flat expression. "I don't mind the water, but I can't exactly hang up my shirt and dry off like you guys."
"Aww, Alix," Kim said sweetly. "It's not like you've got anything for us to see."
Kim couldn't sprint down the beach fast enough as Alix darted after him, shouting profanities that Adrien had never even heard before.
"Why do we keep those two around?" Nino grumbled with a shake of his head, slumping back against the logs they had dragged over to use as benches.
"Because Kim is strong enough to move a cannon by himself and Alix can kill a man five different ways with a parasol," Adrien said with a mild grin.
Nino blinked before raising a curious brow. "How do you even know that?"
"Have you seen Alix with a knife?" Adrien laughed. "I'd be terrified to have her pointing a blunt object at me."
"They are extremely useful as a part of the ship's defenses," Max said from the other side of the fire pit. "Though there are multiple factors that affect any scenario, our chances of victory against Captain Hardrock the other day would have dropped to below five percent without Alix and Kim to aid us."
"See?" Adrien waved a hand at Nino.
"Eh, they have their uses, but it's not as if we'll need to fight again anytime soon." Nino picked up a half-buried bottle of rum from the sand. "We've got a lot of repairs to make, not to mention Hardrock will be out hunting for us. We may be heroes to the citizens of dear France, but as far as those Spaniards are concerned, we're cut-throat pirates with a bounty on our heads."
"As long as we remain hidden here, our chances of being detected are fairly low," Max explained as he unrolled the map he'd brought from the ship. "It would be best to stay for at least a few days, considering that, fully repaired, Captain Hardrock's ship could easily outrun us."
"It's a good thing you knew about this uncharted island." Alix's voice came from the direction of the water as she strode back, wringing out the bottom of her shirt. "How'd you find this place, anyway?"
"Ah." Max grimaced, and Adrien paused in his attempts to get comfortable against the log-bench. "I might have—er... stolen it."
"Max..." he started with a warning tone, something tugging at his memory. "Where did you get that map from?"
Whether it was a calculated move on Max's part to take the attention off of himself, or simply his own honesty, Max quickly answered, "From your fiancée."
Nino choked on his sip of rum and Alix turned to Adrien with a look of disgust. "Woah, wait! When did this happen?"
"She's not my fiancée," Adrien growled in annoyance, partly because Max was only guessing, but mostly because he was closer to the truth than he knew. "Not technically , anyway."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Nino rasped out after pounding on his own chest.
"It was obvious what your father was trying to do," Max supplied while he carefully rolled up the map. "The last time we visited, he wanted to get you and Mademoiselle Lila alone, possibly as a way to get to know one another. And you've mentioned that he keeps badgering you about taking a wife."
"So, why technically?" Nino asked, giving Adrien a pressing stare.
"Remember that stop we made in Cherbourg?" Adrien muttered through grit teeth.
"Yeaaah?" Nino raised a brow as he said the word slowly. "We actually played a good little merchant ship and picked up those trade goods for your daddy dearest."
"Right, so he knew we would be there ahead of time." Adrien's gaze hardened as he stared at a place slightly above the flickering campfire. "He sent a message there to 'surprise' me with the news that he had discussed some things with Mlle. Rossi, and she's thrilled to accept the marriage arrangements. You know!" He threw his hands up. "The ones he told me absolutely nothing about before making the decision himself!"
"That bastard," Nino growled, slamming his bottle against the sand. "Got you in a spot where you couldn't reject it."
"Complicates things a bit." Alix folded her arms over her chest, then immediately dropped them from her wet shirt.
"Very much." Adrien sighed before giving her a sideways look. "Speaking of complications, did you find my charm?"
"Uh…" Alix pointed to the beach where Kim was striding up through the waves with his soggy shirt in hand. "Maybe ask Kim?"
"No luck." Kim shrugged as he stepped up next to Alix. "Sorry, Captain."
Adrien didn't say anything to that, instead, he fell sideways onto the sand with a loud groan.
"I know this may be the last thing you want to talk about," Nino began. "But I'm a bit curious to hear more about this fiancée of yours." He gave Adrien a sly look. "Do you think she's hot?"
Adrien immediately glowered at him. "Really?"
"Hey," Nino shrugged. "It'll help with the marriage if she's easy on the eyes."
"From what I saw, her skin tone and facial structure give her a considerable attractiveness," Max answered, while Markov provided a sharp wolf-whistle for his own appraisal. "And I believe she is of Italian descent."
"Exotic," Kim said while Alix just made a face.
"You guys are terrible," Adrien groaned. "I guess she is? I didn't look at her like that ."
"Blinded by your true lady-love?" Nino smirked before taking a swig from his bottle, which surprisingly had not shattered after getting slammed to the ground.
"I knew what my father was trying to do and I wasn't interested," Adrien said, closing his eyes and propping his hands beneath his head. "All I know is that her parents died in an accident, and she has no siblings or cousins to speak of."
Adrien paused, recalling a moment on their tour when Lila had shown him some of her own things that she had brought with her. She was very proud, to say the least, to show off her impressive collection of maps. According to her, they had all either been passed down through her family, or were ones she made herself. "And she's a surprisingly skilled cartographer."
"Perks," Kim hummed. "She's loaded."
"And how do you figure that?" Alix turned and glared at him.
Max answered before Kim could open his mouth, "If Gabriel Agreste condones her marrying his son, then it is highly likely that she inherited a substantial estate when her parents passed. And seeing as how she has no other relatives to share with or split between, it is only natural that their entire wealth has become hers."
"I don't need money!" Adrien fumed, popping up onto his elbows to glare at his friends. "I'd only met her once before my father dropped it on me that he wants me to marry her!"
"Alright!" Alix massaged her forehead as if she might have been consoling a headache. "But this girl? She isn't okay with this, right?"
Adrien hesitated. "She seems… happy with it?" He continued explaining at Alix's bewildered look, "There was a short letter from her included in the message, and it doesn't feel like the words of a girl that just became a grieving orphan. She might just be excited... Like getting a new family... In a way." He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a heavy sigh. "She's already been through enough, losing her parents like that. I don't know if I have the heart to tell her I'm in love with someone else."
"With all due respect, Cap," Alix started. "You shouldn't let her believe that for too long, because if she gets attached, then there will be no wrath like her's when you finally let her down."
"None too sure about that, Alix." Nino chuckled. "Not all girls are like you."
"Shut up!" Alix snapped.
Their conversation devolved into laughter and idle chatter as the day waned on, eventually turning to dusk when the sky darkened. The clouds above them burned black and orange like the low campfire that smoldered into charred coals.
Adrien remained by the dying fire as the rest of his crew slowly retreated to the ship, until he was the only one left. He reassured Nino that he didn't have to stay awake to return the dinghy for him.
Quiet music drifted down from the deck, so he knew that Nino hadn't listened to him about heading to sleep without him. As he shuffled slowly along the sand, he found his feet moving in tune to the music and chuckled to himself despite the turmoil of his thoughts.
Kim tried searching in the water again before going back on board, but the charm was nowhere to be seen in the waves or anywhere along the beach.
"I can't believe I lost it…" Adrien muttered as he climbed out on the rocky path that jutted into the cove, its surface almost invisible against the shadow of the calm waters.
He dropped to the rocks and settled there in the middle of the bay, the darkness of the ocean only disrupted by the brilliant flecks of stars painting the sky. If his charm hadn't washed up on shore, then it was likely long gone by now.
'It's my good-luck charm,' a soft voice rang through his head at the memory of when Marinette placed it in his palm with a wink. 'You should try it for yourself.'
I wonder if she still has the one I gave her… Adrien mused to himself, trying to avoid another thought that skirted the edge of his mind. Regardless of his efforts to escape it, it came unbidden, and he hated himself for it.
She couldn't still have it if she's gone.
He almost growled out loud in his frustration, but paused when he heard a soft splash from nearby. Peeking out through one of his eyelids, he saw a flash of movement in the water, something that shimmered beneath the glow of the moon.
Though he hadn't moved an inch, Adrien stilled himself, not wanting to scare whatever it was. He was always fascinated by any sea life—especially dolphins. He excitedly hoped it was a dolphin. He held a particular respect for them, and they were lively creatures, always happy to entertain.
No matter what kind of day he'd been having, it was always a good one when he could watch the dolphins dive and dance about the wake of the ship while they were traveling.
The water made no sound as something silently breached the surface, and his eyes widened in shock at what appeared to be a small figure floating in the waves.
I'm seeing things, he thought, because he knew that what he was looking at couldn't have been real. A trick of the light perhaps, or a mistaken shape in the water's reflection.
Otherwise, he had no explanation for the vision that swam before him, dark strands of hair pooling in gentle waves along her back, shining almost blue in the moonlight. Her pale skin appeared to glimmer from flecks of pearlescent scales scattered like freckles across her shoulders.
And then she spun around, and he knew that he was dreaming.
Her piercing eyes scanned the water as if she were searching for something below the waves. Before his brain could comprehend just what he was seeing, she dove beneath the surface, stirring up a gentle spray with a flick of her red tail fin.
A mermaid?
Had he actually seen a mermaid?
And not just some random, run-of-the-mill wive's tale come to life. This one looked to be the spitting image of his missing friend.
Which... made sense, if he remembered the stories. Didn't mermaids use illusions and trickery to lure sailors in before drowning them? Then again, this particular creature—if real—hadn't appeared remotely interested in him or even aware that he'd been there.
Adrien shook his head before rubbing his eyes. It had to have been some kind of side effect... He knew Kim shouldn't have used that much alcohol to disinfect his wound.
Drunk through skin contact... Was that a thing?
His attention focused on the waves again as she splashed back to the surface, scrubbing any doubt from his mind that what he saw might have been a hallucination. She still hadn't noticed him, his dark clothes most likely blending into the rocks that he huddled against. But thanks to his mask, he could still see her, those familiar bluebell eyes intently focused on a tiny object in her hand, her mouth pulled down in a small frown as she squinted at it.
Then, she lifted her arm out of the water, holding up the very charm bracelet that he had lost earlier in the day, turning it about in the faint moonlight to see it better.
That was when a glint of something on her wrist caught his eye, and it suddenly felt as if his breath had caught in his throat.
His charm. She was wearing his charm; the one that he had crafted for Marinette shortly after she generously gifted him the one that she had made. He valued the gesture so much, he'd wanted to give her something equally special in return.
"Marinette...?"
His voice was barely a whisper, but the girl froze, her head whipping around to finally focus on his dark form hunched by the rocks. Her eyes widened with fear as she stared at him.
He hadn't expected that kind of expression, but it stirred within him a longing to console her, to reassure her that he wasn't a stranger. Why was there no recognition in her eyes? It had to be her... right?
He shifted his foot, trying to make a subtle movement, but she immediately flinched, and before he could react, she dove beneath the waves.
"Wait—! Marinette!" He jumped up, ignoring the stinging protest from his wound, his eyes searching the dark water for any signs of her. Damn she was fast! He hadn't even been able to stand and he could clearly see that she was already gone.
"Shit!" He pounded his fist against the rocks, gritting his teeth as he tried to collect his thoughts and calm down. Marinette... That was Marinette, wasn't it?
"Oy!"
Adrien lifted his gaze toward the ship, spotting Nino leaning over the railing with a lantern lifted in his hand. "You alright down there, Captain?"
"Nino!" Adrien jumped up and waved his arms over his head. "I need to come aboard!"
It didn't take long for Nino to bring out the dinghy and ferry him back onto the ship, and he wasted no time dashing about to gather up his small crew for an impromptu meeting on the deck. Kim made a show of letting out a loud yawn as he leaned against the railing while the others stood close by.
"So what's this about, Captain?" Alix asked with a bit of impatience in her tone. It wasn't too late, but considering all the repairs they'd had to work on, it had been a long day for everyone.
Adrien stood before them silently, his hand resting on his chin as he wondered if he should try to explain. Where did he begin with such a tale? Surely they wouldn't believe him on either account. 'Marinette is a mermaid,' certainly wasn't a good way to start.
Despite all his doubts, he decided to get straight to the point. "I saw Marinette."
Kim slipped off the railing in the middle of another yawn, while Alix simply stared back at him with a stunned look on her face. Max actually knocked his own glasses off, but Markov luckily struck out fast enough to catch them in his beak. Nino's jaw just seemed to drop open and flounder for a moment before he found his words.
"Did you say, 'Marinette?'" Nino's eyes quickly flicked around the deck, then back to Adrien. "Marinette, Marinette? As in, our Marinette?"
"Wait, wait, wait. Hold it!" Alix waved her hands in front of her. "You saw Marinette? Out here? On a deserted island in the middle of the ocean?"
"Where is she now?" Kim asked, his voice a bit calmer than the others. It looked as if he wasn't surprised by the news at all.
"Uh..." Adrien hesitated. "She... swam away."
His friends were quiet until Max leaned forward and adjusted his glasses back onto his face, wearing a skeptical look. "How much have you had to drink?"
"I haven't been drinking!" Adrien threw up his hands and started pacing across the deck in front of his gathered crew. "She was here! Out there! I saw her swim away because—" He stopped and let out a heavy sigh. "Look, I know this is going to sound crazy but she..." He turned to face them with the most serious look he could muster. "She was a mermaid."
"Alright!" Nino pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "I think we've had a pretty tiring few days, what with those rogues from the cay and narrowly escaping Hardrock herself." He swung his arms around and motioned toward the cabin door. "I think we all need a long night of proper rest, right?"
"Nino," Adrien growled. "I'm not sleep-deprived." He pointed to the mask he wore on his own face. "I know what I saw! And I know it sounds crazy—"
"Not that crazy, actually," Kim spoke up, and Adrien stopped, staring at him. "It makes sense that she swam away, since she's a mermaid and all."
"That's it. I'm done!" Nino stood up with his arms in the air. "I'm too tired for this kind of mess!"
"Are you saying you believe the captain's story, Kim?" Max asked.
"Of course!" Kim looked at them with a perplexed expression. "Hard to deny when I saw a pair of mermaids myself as I was looking for the captain's charm this afternoon."
Silence fell between them all as everyone seemed to process that. The sound of Nino's retreating footsteps had even stopped. Adrien eventually broke the stillness, his voice practically growling. "Kim... Why didn't you mention this before?"
"Well, duh!" He shrugged his shoulders with a shake of his head. "None of you would have believed me. But now that Adrien's seen them too, it means that what I saw was real!"
A sharp, 'pap!' sounded through the night as Alix slapped her forehead. "You're such a doofus!"
"It is highly unlikely that both Adrien and Kim would imagine seeing the same hallucination, even with Kim's excessive drinking factored in," Max mused softly.
"And , it would make sense as to why we haven't seen her after all this time," Adrien added, pacing up the deck again. "She's a mermaid." He paused at that, scratching his scalp before crossing his arms over his chest. "How is it possible for humans to become mermaids? What am I even asking..."
"I don't know anything about all that superstitious monster stuff, so I wouldn't know." Nino leaned back against the railing with a sigh.
"Marinette is not a monster." Adrien spun around to glare at him, and Nino lifted his hands in front of him.
"No, no she's not," Nino agreed before holding up a finger. "So the question is this: If you saw Marinette, then why did she swim away?"
"Well," Kim shrugged. "The only way to meet a mermaid is to catch one, because they don't trust humans."
"Of course." Nino's head fell into his open palm. "Makes perfect sense if it wasn't her, because why wouldn't she trust Adrien?"
"He's wearing a mask!" Kim rolled his eyes. "She obviously didn't recognize him."
"Why am I even having this conversation!?" Nino suddenly jumped up. "This is all crazy! Alix!" He stabbed his finger her way. "You agree with me, right?"
Alix tilted her head with an odd look, but then shrugged. "It's the best lead we've had so far."
"That's it! I'm going to bed!" Nino shouted, stomping off toward the cabins. "Wake me up when you've all slept off your drunk hallucinations, or cabin fever or... whatever this is."
Adrien turned back to the rest of his crew while Nino disappeared below deck. "You guys believe me?"
"'Believe' is a strong word." Alix gestured with her fingers to make air quotes. "But I mostly want to see if you and Kim are telling the truth or just spouting a load of bull."
Max's eyes gleamed curiously. "It is not outside the realm of scientific plausibility."
"I want to see a mermaid!" Markov screeched, earning a scratch on the head from Max.
"Okay." Adrien clapped his hands together. "Then we don't want to cause a commotion and scare her off like I did. We need a gentle approach."
"I could repurpose the harpoon guns for nets?" Max offered, rubbing his chin.
"What? No! You call that 'gentle!?'" Adrien immediately shouted. "No harpoon guns! Re-purposed or not! She's not a... a fish!"
"It could be a last resort," Alix tried, although with the frown she wore, it looked like she didn't really agree with that plan either. "If this is Marinette, she didn't want to stick around for some reason."
"She came into shore with a purpose..." Adrien leaned against the railing, recalling how she had found his charm. Had she recognized it?
Hold on. He suddenly perked up at a realization. Did she swim into the cove just to find it? So she saw when I lost the charm. That means she's been watching us since this afternoon?
"I think you're right, Kim." He turned to his friend with a grin. "She might not have recognized me with my mask or seen me well enough in the darkness, which is why we should try again in the morning." Adrien turned his head to look out over the dark water. "I have a feeling she'll come back."
They spent a few more hours discussing a plan while Max headed straight to his workshop to alter the small harpoon guns kept in one of the holds below. Adrien didn't like the idea of trying to capture her, but he also didn't want to take the risk of losing her again.
After coming up with patrol routes and ways to effectively sneak up on mermaids, they all eventually retired to their cabins, Adrien unable to get to sleep with the excited hum that buzzed through his thoughts. Saying that he looked forward to the next day was an understatement. So many months had passed, and now he'd finally caught a glimpse of her. He was also closer to finding out what happened to her, but more than anything, he simply yearned to see her again.
That day, eight months ago, Marinette was supposed to have left on a simple trip. He had been devastated when news eventually came back that she had fallen overboard in a storm and… been lost at sea.
It had hit him so painfully, when he thought he'd never see her again. He would never hear her soft voice, the chime of her laughter, or witness the way she always stuttered so nervously around him. He couldn't see that her kindness and gifts were anything more than just friendship. In his defense, any time he asked, she'd always denied that she felt there might be something more between them.
But it took losing her to understand the feelings behind every gesture and moment that he had spent with her, and despite not knowing what it was, he had only fully realized it when it was too late.
He hadn't understood how much he loved her until she was gone.