Ever After - Ella Enchanted AU

Ever After - Chapter 13

 Marinette's head dropped heavily onto the book before her, unable to read any more than she already had. The words had started to swim across the page and do figure eights in the air from how long she had been staring at the heavy pages. She let out a soft moan, the sound muffled by the pages covering her mouth. "I can't find anything in any of these books."

She sat up, leaning back with her hands pressed against her lower back. Once she heard the satisfying crack of her lower back, she turned to her now dozing companion, lightly taping on the front cover of Wayzz book. "Wayzz, show me Plagg."

Wayzz complied, the picture painting itself to reveal the same thing it had for the past hour, Plagg asleep in an upturned bed, blankets and clothing thrown haphazardly around the room. She watched his nose twitch in his sleep before he turned back to the wall, his back facing her. Marinette let out a disenchanted sigh while Wayzz said what they were both thinking, "No, still sleeping."

"Wayzz, I'm starting to lose hope," Marinette said quietly, resting her elbows on the pages as she combed through her bangs, pouring over the picture before her, trying to find any outstanding detail that could clue into where he was. "I don't know where else to..."

Thats when she caught sight of a crumpled up flier laying on the floor of Plagg's room. It looked as if it had been pulled from the wall and simply thrown to the ground along with the rest of the mess, but at least she could read what was on it clear enough. A little fairy was laid up in bed looking content above a list of rules that Plagg was obviously not going to follow considering his pulling it off the wall. Above the happy fairy was a name. "Dun Flyin' Retirement Community for Fairies?"

She quickly closed Wayzz, ignoring his scream of surprise, to start flipping through the census once again. She had seen that name before, but she couldn't be sure until she found a list of hostels in Lamia. From there, it was simply turning to the correct page to find a list of residents that had been enrolled at the community for an extended amount of time. Listed in the residents, just below the L's, was the name "Plagg" in curly writing.

"Plagg, Dun Flying Retirement Community for Faries, Lamia Heights. Wayzz! Wayzz, we've found him!" Marinette squealed as she stared down at the name with an exuberant smile, almost breathless with the discovery.

"Hello, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng," a low voice called from the end of the row of books she had been occupying for most of the afternoon. Marinette quickly covered Wayzz's mirror with some spare bits of parchment she had been doodling on to keep King Gabriel and his assistant from seeing him. The king stepped closer to her table, one hand resting on his staff while the other was clasped behind him in a business like manner. "Or do you prefer to be called Marinette?"

"Marinette is fine, Your Majesty," Marinette said with a curtsy, giving his assistant Natalie a small bow out of respect.

The king reached out and examined a few of the books that were stacked up on the table from previous occupants, his expression never changing. "I hope you have found everything to your satisfaction. I'm told Jalil is an excellent resource for all things knowledgeable."

"Yes sir, thank you. He had been a big help when it comes to helping me find what I need."

"That's good to hear," he said in a low voice, nodding his satisfaction before ever so gently knocking the two or three books that were perched on the edge of the table off and onto the floor. "Oh, dear. How clumsy of me. Pick it up, Marinette."

In a knee jerk reaction to the command, Marinette practically threw herself onto the floor to pick up the books before slamming them onto the table with enough ferocity to make Natalie flinch in surprise. King Gabriel seemed to consider this for a moment, allowing Marinette to collect herself as she was kneeling next to the table, shakily coming to her feet as she tried to come to terms with the shock of the command. It had been intentional, that was for sure. Most people did them on accident, but Marinette knew that King Gabriel was not a man of mishaps.