I Knew It Was You [COMPLETE]

18. Secrets

2 weeks later...

"No, I think red looks better," Alya said, eyes glued to her phone and completely deaf to Marinette's demands. She was renovating her website since citizens spotted two people who seemed to be swinging from building to building, one in red and the other in black. The news wasn't going around too well but whoever heard had immediately logged on to her blog and asked for updates.

"Alya, I'm telling you, the blue-AH!" Marinette whelped as someone grabbed her elbow. She got pulled into the janitor's closet and Alya continued walking, unaware that Marinette disappeared. She turned around to face Adrien, a mischievous smirk playing on his face as he let go of her arm. 
"You know you're gonna come over anyway, right?" she asked, crossing her arms. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved their secret meets like this. No one in class knew about them and she was determined to keep it that way since they now know their identities. No one suspected it either since they were already close, giving them more opportunities to be alone together.
"Yeah but then I'd have to wait too long to do this," he said, holding her face as he brought his face down to hers. Her hand traveled along his chest to his face as her other hand stayed on his shoulder. Their lips met and the world dissolved. 

He was gentle when it came to her- holding her, kissing her, looking at her. She finally understood why they were placed as a ying and yang- they really did complete each other. It's only been two weeks and everything felt like it was falling into place. 
They broke apart, and he pushed a strand of her hair back, teasing her ear lobe. She swore she felt a current go down her spine and looked up at him, the air still electric and lips still tingling. 
"God, I just want this all day," he said. 
She couldn't stop her heart from beating so hard. At this point she was confused as to why it hadn't exploded out of her chest whenever he said sweet things like this. Honestly, what did she do to deserve all this?

-x-x-x-

"Sorry Princess, not today. Father needs to go to the hospital urgently," he said over the phone.
Marinette sighed on the other end. "It's okay. You need to spend as much time with him as possible," she said firmly. 
"Thank you."
"For what?" 
"Just...everything."
He could practically hear her blushing and smiling. He could see the curve of her cheek turning red as her small lips turned into a smile. 
"I have to go now," he said.
"Bye Kitty." 
"Bye Bug."

He looked at the phone one last time, before bursting into a smile. He tapped the red button and the call ended, a small part of his chest fell when she was no longer there. He could simply transform and surprise her but Father really needed him today. He got up from his desk chair and Plagg zoomed into his shirt, cuddling up with a piece of Camembert.

 Another plus point about the reveal was Plagg got to spend time with his friends and was less lonely. As much as Tikki professed to dislike Plagg, Adrien could sense a softer side of her that actually liked the cheese craving creature. He smiled as he thought about the time he met all the kwamis and then went out to a café with Marinette...

"Adrien?" Nathalie asked, standing next to him. 
Adrien blinked and looked at her, wondering how long she was waiting for him.
"Is everything okay?" 
"Y-Yeah, s-sorry I was just thinking about um, uh school...stuff," Adrien said, trying not to sound awkward but that was the only thing he would've come across as at this point.
"Right, okay listen I need you to run down to my office and collect these files," she said handing him a list with a few names scribbled on it. He looked at it and immediately comprehended the names of the treatments and medications for Gabriel....great, more chemical poisoning, he thought. 

He made his way down the hall when a pen slipped out of his hand, rolling down till it finally stopped near his mother's portrait. He collected his pen and his eyes landed on the painting, a wave of guilt going over him.
It has been a while since he even came to this wing of the mansion- a year or more maybe. He was always in his room, the hospital, the medical wing or out with his friends, he didn't realize there was a layer of dust over the painting.
He dropped the files to Nathalie and returned to the portrait with a rag, slowly wiping the specks off. 

He studied his mother's face- serene and beautiful, which is what everyone said he had inherited from her. That and his father's charisma, which he highly doubted since his father was austere and extremely introverted. He stopped wiping when he saw a dent near the edge and looked at it: it was a deeper shape and resembled a button. Puzzled, he continued wiping and found more. 

His curiosity peaked and he tried something: he pressed them altogether in different patterns. When none of them responded he stared at the painting in confusion. What was I thinking? This just might be some mistake the artist made, he thought. He lifted his fingers off, brushing the painting lightly and suddenly he felt a jolt.

He looked down to see a circular gap opening and taking him down, like an elevator.
"What's going on?" Plagg asked.
"I don't know!" Adrien said, trying to gain balance as he felt himself teleport. Another opening came and he was brought up to a cavernous room, filled with...trees?

"Where are we?" Plagg asked, zooming off.
Adrien took a step out and looked at his surroundings: a semi-dark hall, big enough to fit a basketball court inside, filled with plants. He looked straight ahead and there was a giant glass case, under a spotlight.
He walked towards it, a long ramp leading right to it. He couldn't see what was stored inside it because of the blinding light. He finally got close enough to see-

He gasped.
He made sure his eyes were seeing this correctly.

"M-M-Mo..." he stammered. 

His head was spinning and his heart was going to jump out his chest. His eyes welled as he took one more step towards the case, placed his hand on it and took a good look at it again.
"Mother?" he said, looking at the lifeless figure inside.

A million thoughts swirled inside his head: what is this? Is this his mother? She looked too real to be fake, so why was she kept like this? What was the purpose of this? Does Nathalie know? Does Father...

"Uh Adrien," Plagg said from the corner. A kaleidoscopic glass took most of the wall but what caught his eyes were the floating white dots. 
He rubbed his eyes, the tears flowing freely and looked again. He thought he was going crazy but now he was sure he was definitely out of his mind. 

Because those weren't white dots. They were white butterflies.

De-evilized akumas.