Losing Identities

Chapter 28

Marinette's POV

"Marinette?" Adrien's voice is almost a whisper as he enters my room. His face is warm and slightly sunkissed, but his eyes show worry. A lot of worry.

"How'd it go out there?" I ask, although I already know the answer.

"I had fun. It was nice out for a time. Nino and I went to a movie, then played catch in the park." He swallows. "But you were right. It's really messed up out there. I saw it before it all changed. Nino told me he lost his home. He and so many others are struggling to survive out there, and there could be... there could be a war."

I gasp. "Poor Nino..." My stomach churns.

Adrien nods and pulls me close. "I can't believe I doubted you, Marinette. It was a dumb move, really... I was blind... I'm so sorry..."

Aw, kitty... "I forgive you..." I reply, choking a bit as my eyes well with tears.

He wipes them away with a gentle thumb, despite his own crying. "We're going to save them. Nino and your parents and everyone else out there need us. The kwamis, too."

Right. They all need us! The people are outside, but we're here, close to Hawk Moth. We're the only ones who can change this! "We have to do something fast, before things get worse."

"We will," Adrien replies.

I start to wipe away his tears when a somewhat panicked Mrs. Agreste calls him from downstairs. "Adrien!"

He glances out the bedroom door, then back at me.

"We should go," I whisper to him.

He nods and quickly wipes away his tears with the back of his hand. We start down the stairs, changing our appearance along the way. Smiles, contentment... Hopefully we're doing this right!

Thankfully, Mrs. Agreste's heart rate seems to slow when she turns to look at us. "How have you two been?"

"Wonderful!" I reply.

"Great!" Adrien says.

"How was your fun day with Nino, Adrien?" She seems to tremble just slightly as she asks. She's hiding something. We know what it is.

Adrien beams. "It was awesome!"

Her smile becomes a bit more genuine as she takes a small breath of relief. "What did you do?"

"We went and saw a movie. Then we went to the park and played catch. The weather was great, too. We had a lot of fun!"

"That's good."

"Tell Father I said thank you for all of it," Adrien adds.

Mrs. Agreste is fully relaxed now. "I will. I'm really glad you had a nice time."

He nods.
"And what did you do today, Marinette?"

Me? Oh, I thought about how Adrien and I are going to fix all of this. But of course I can't say that out loud. "I designed some new dresses," I reply, feigning joy.

"Cool! You'll have to show me sometime, okay?"

"Sure!"

Mrs. Agreste tucks a piece of hair behind her ears. "Well, I'm going to go talk to Gabriel for a bit. I'll see you two at dinner."

"See you!" Adrien and I respond in unison.

She turns and walks away, her heels clicking on the marble. Success! Now that that's over, we can make a plan.