Miraculous Beginnings

Chapter 3

    No copyright intended. Characters are used under the Fair Use Act. Gabriel Agreste, Mrs. Agreste, Adrien Agreste, Master Fu, and Duusu are owned by Zag and Netflix. The other characters are mine.

I awoke with surprise. Adrien was screaming again. Just recently Adrien had started to have night terrors. I pushed the covers off and sat up.

I glanced over to the empty side of the bed. It was unslept in. Gabriel must still be up. I slid my feet into slippers and walked to Adrien's room.

My kwami was already hovering over Adrien's bed. She had been so sweet the past few nights. My kwami was the only thing that seemed to be able to calm my three-year-old down.

Adrien reached up and gently took her in his arms. He cuddled her up to his chest. I hummed a lullaby and Adrien slipped back into sleep.

I heard Gabriel rattling around in his study. He was still searching for the miraculous. It was a miracle he hadn't connected my peacock brooch to the book yet. For all his genius he was completely oblivious.

Venetia was the clever one on our team. It wasn't a coincidence that her powers were illusion. But she was too clever for her own good.  She was sly and deceitful. After Riker left she broke us apart further, dividing us with her lies. Ultimately it led to her destruction.

Venetia was manipulative, but she didn't target all three of us. She went for weakest member of our team, Jiya.

Unbeknownst to us, Venetia told Jiya that Xander and I no longer wanted her on the team. She told Jiya that she was a drain. That we couldn't protect Paris and her at the same time.

Xander found Jiya's comb in the abandoned subway tunnel where we would meet. There was no note. Jiya just disappeared, never to be seen again.

He curled his fist around it. He turned and grabbed Venetia by the throat, slamming her against the wall.

"This is your fault fox!"

Venetia clawed at his hand, choking. She didn't deny it.

I lunged forward, grabbing Xander's arm. "Enough, put her down, Xander. This won't fix it."

Xander slung her to the ground. Venetia coughed and struggled to get up.

"Get out." He growled. "Get out and don't come back."

Venetia slinked out of the subway tunnel.

Xander hung his head. He still had the comb in one hand. I tucked my hand into his and plucked out the comb.

"I'll take it back to Master Fu." I said quietly.

Xander nodded.

In so little time our team went from five to four to two. Little did we know both Venetia and Riker would be back to cause more trouble. After Jiya left Xander was never the same. It became harder to fight crime with just the two of us.

I sighed. To me, the miraculous were more trouble than they were worth. I had repeatedly tried to give mine back to Master Fu. He refused.

"One miraculous is better than none." He told me.

So, I still had it. Part of me was glad. Duusu was a good companion to me and to Adrien.

I slipped back into bed, rolled over, and tried to go to sleep. Seeing Gabriel's empty spot irritated me.

Tomorrow, I thought, I'm going to make sure Gabriel never finds the miraculous.