Watching Heirs Unnaparent

Drawing to the Bitter (الرسم على المر)

"And now everyone, this is chapter 21, Almost to the end and close to starting the next story and figuring out who the Miraclebound is and an amazing secret for the Lahiffe Family to find out" The Voice said trying to do an American accent but failing.

Ali tensed a little bit thinking about the plane crash he's gonna have as soon as he leaves this place.

Layla, Nino and Nicholas just looked at each other and Ali in complete confusion.

"Finally! Sorry but I properly want to know who the Miraclebound is" Adrien said a little too loudly for Nino as Ali had to physically restrain Nino from slapping Adrien.

"As long as it isn't me? I'm happy with it" Nino said after giving up his fight with Ali giving a huff of annoyance.

Distant thunder announced its presence as he scaled the last few rungs and heaved himself over the ledge and onto the rooftops of the dorms. The forewarning mist pattered against his hood and gloves but he paid it no mind as he gazed out past the haze toward the dimly lit field, now deserted of all life in the forgotten hour. The time was late, well past curfew, which meant it was the perfect opportunity for him to slip away and begin the hasty ritual of sorting through his jumbled and often very disoriented thoughts.

"How disorientated do your thoughts get?"

"You'd be surprised Mama" Nino said

It was times like these he looked for quiet places to be alone...well, as alone as someone with a miraculous and a constant animal companion could ever be. This was no oceanside rock carved just perfectly for resting but, for now, it would have to do. He hadn't realized how much he'd come to take the silence and the easy lapping waves for granted until now when all he could hear were the noisy streets and blinding city lights.

"I can just barely hear anything but my right ear is still ringing from Adrien shouting in my ear" Nino said rubbing his right ear

"How?" Adrien asked confused

"Cause I'm half deaf and when you scream it's in my only working ear making it ring cause it's really sensitive as well" Nino said pointing to his right ear making Ali wince.

"How did you lose half of your hearing?" Ali asked concerned as he reached for a hearing aid that came out of nowhere taking a double take as soon as he saw it.

"A lot of screaming matches with Adrien's father and a lot of loud fights with Akumatized people." Nino answered taking the hearing aid and needing Ali to help put it in his left ear making Nino look a little confused at all the sudden noise in both ears.

"Yes My Dude, This is called 'Hearing Normally'" Adrien said making Nino whack him in the back of the head.

Ali grabbed Nino's hand and brought Nino forward to whisper in his ear "We're talking after this"

"No We're not" Nino whispered to him shaking his head, frowning.

"Yes, we most definitely are" Ali whispered again letting Nino sit back not looking happy.

Are you sure we should be up here? came the whispery nervousness he had long anticipated from deep within him, so closely ingrown within that he had difficulty differentiating which were Lorr's concerns and which were his own. It is late and you have already had a very long day.

"Already?"

Nicholas tried not to wince as he recalled how their conference with Rikard had run long and he'd been forced to sprint nearly halfway across the campus, managed to get his directions mixed up twice, been unable to decipher which hall he was in (apparently Lorr's translation skills only went so far as the spoken vocabulary), and had ended up being ten minutes late to his first lecture. He had been fortunate enough not to receive a tardy, though his professor had been less than pleased to give him his first warning not to show up late a second time.