Amira Wayne

Chapter 20: Kidnapped/Missing

Adrien looked around his room, noticing that Wally hadn't come back yet despite having seen him earlier in the lobby...then again, that was roughly an hour ago.

The music had already been set and playing for a while, the food already gone. All that was left were the gingerbread cookies he had attempted to create earlier today. He had begged everyone to not touch them until everyone was here.

"Dudette isn't here yet?" Nino asked, handing Adrien another cup of chocolate.

After hearing that Wally went to search for Marinette, the group decided to wait on opening gifts until Marinette arrived. They remained untouched under the Christmas tree set up in his room. But that was at least half an hour ago and they haven't heard from either person since.

"Do you think Marinette-" Sabrina started, only to see Chloe shake her head.

"Something is wrong." Chloe looked at the street below, her eye barely catching a streak of red outside, zooming all over the place. It had been for some time now. "If that streak outside means anything."

Everyone scramble to the giant window, watching as a red streak continues to pass by them before it completely disappears.

A knock at the door caused everyone to flinch, watching as Natalie tried to walk in, only for Gabriel to step in.

"Father, what is-"

"So she really is missing." Gabriel quietly said, Adrien feeling a shiver run down his spine as his father looked at with frown on his face.

His father never frowned, only scowled.

"Missing?" Sabrina repeated, looking at Nino and Chloe. "Who is missing?"

"That would be Mlle Dupain-Cheng." Natalie filled in, noticing how everyone froze. "She never arrived and as of now, has been missing for an hour."

Adrien dropped the mug in his hand, the chocolate splattering all over the place. Gabriel left the room, listening as the teens ran around, their warbled voices shouting at each other as they tried to form a plan.

"Sir, are you-" Natalie asked as she shut the door. Before she could ask her boss anything, Gabriel started to cough, the coughing turning into wheezing. "Sir!"

Natalie tried to help, but Gabriel simply pushed her away, taking out a handkerchief to catch the bits of blood that seeped from his mouth.

"Now's not the time Natalie. Until I figure out that last piece of the spell, that's when I'll strike." Natalie followed him to his study, right behind him as he guided her to a secret chamber hidden within his study.

Ever since Banshee touched the link that connected her and Hawkmoth, Gabriel had been coughing up blood, the first few days being a nightmare for Natalie. He coughed up large portions of blood, staining his clothes and anything he used to clean it off himself.

"Thanks to that girl's translations she left behind in the book, I'll be able to get back to akumatizing very soon." Gabriel grinned, his blood smearing at the corner of his mouth. Natalie watched as they got lowered into his lair, watching as glowing white butterflies scattered away from them.

Some opted to land near some potted milkweeds while others opted to go further deeper into the lair.

She watched as he eagerly staggered toward the grimoire standing by the window, a table nearby with various notes laid about. "With this, very soon...very soon, I will be back," he motioned to the notes and then grasped the single jewel nested on his shirt. "I'll be back and with even more power. Power so great that Ladybird and her team will not be able to take me down and be forced to surrender their Miraculouses to me!"