MiraculousTale

Sewing and Secrets

Chapter 3:

Master Furiel was quite kind to Marinette, not like she didn't know that before, though. She was just surprised by how open he was with her. He cooked her dinner, baked butterscotch pie, and gave her one of the spare rooms in the house to sleep in. She would never have expected to be treated like family, but after everything he had done for her, she couldn't help but feel grateful.

Sitting on the edge of the bed in the spare room, Marinette pondered what she could do for the old man (goat?) in return. She leaned back on her hands and scanned the room for ideas. On the walls, hand drawn pictures of purple butterflies hung by thumbtacks, though they seemed to have been drawn by a child. She could draw, but not that good, so art was out of the question.

Marinette glanced at the box at the end of her bed. She had peaked in there earlier and found that it was full of toys. Though toys didn't seem to be like the right gift. He had years on him, and she doubted he played with toys. Besides, all the toys in the box had been covered in dust. He definitely hadn't been playing with them in his free time, that was for sure.

Her gaze glossed over a shelf of books, not only because she knew she couldn't write a book to save her life, but because she had seen the giant bookcases full of books in the main living room. She had a sneaking suspicion that, not only did Master Furiel like to read, but that he had read almost every book in the house. So books were out.

Then, Marinette eyed the closet. Furrowing her brow, an idea popped into her mind. Maybe, if it had the right fabric...

Getting up from the bed, she walked over to the closet and opened it up. Inside, black and green striped shirts hung next to red and striped shirts on a coat rack. Marinette glanced down at her red and black polka dotted shirt, debating whether she should change or not, but she shook the thought away. She pulled down one of the black and green shirts, rubbing the material between her hands.

This would do perfectly.

After testing one of the red shirts, she pulled one of those from its hanger as well and laid the two shirts on the ground. Then, after looting the room for supplies, she tossed a pair of scissors, a couple of safety pins, a bundle of thread, and a needle into the pile. Marinette took a step back to examine her supplies. She twisted her lips as she thought, folding her arms and tapping a finger against her arm.

The idea struck her.

She got down on her knees and got to work. She kept her ears on high alert so she would be ready to hide the gift if Master Furiel ever walked into the room. Sitting criss-cross on the ground, she cut the fabric the way she wanted and sewed the pieces together. Black, red, and green came together like family on Christmas.

As she worked, Marinette finally let herself relax. Having fallen down into a monster-infested world had proven to be a challenge, and she was afraid that if she had let her guard down, she would end up getting hurt. But now, with the house quiet and a needle and thread in her hand, she felt right at home. She could get used to living here.

Then again...

Her mind drifted to her family's bakery. The sensational smells, the colorful walls, and her parents. Oh, they must have been so worried about her. Who knows how they were at this exact moment. Marinette could imagine her mother asking her father where she was just before they started eating dinner. Her mind wandered into a thousand different places, each one creating a scenario where her parents found out that she had disappeared. Her mother crying, the police getting informed, her parents, friends, and peers forming a search party to find her...

Though it pained her, there wasn't anything she could do. She was stuck down here. She had even asked Master Furiel if there was a way out of the Underground. His face had fallen, like he was remembering a sour memory.