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"Calm down, Marinette. Remember what we came here for," Plagg hissed from within her bag.
Marinette was trembling. Part of it was due to Alya's bizarre behavior. Why would she just sneak around in her room like that and jump out of the darn window? If she was hiding anything from her that required her to take some extremes, then she was going to side with her mother on this. She might actually change her caller ID from 'Bestie4Life' to 'Alya The Accused'.
The other reason for tremors was the fact that she was standing in the entranceway of the prison. What was she going to say when she saw Gabriel again? Was there ever a fight she had against the man without the underlying fear she felt at the surface rising? This normally would be part of the mission where Chat would place his hand on her shoulder whenever she shook.
"What if he attacks me, Plagg? What will I do then?"
"Even if he does have the butterfly miraculous, he can't use it on himself, you've seen that," he reassured. "Besides, even if he does try anything funny, the guards will be there."
"Can't you just allow me to transform?"
"Marinette," he said apologetically, "You know I can't do that. Not yet."
Marinette took a deep breath in and built up some courage to move her legs.
"I can do this," she whispered to herself as she steeled her shoulders and strode inside.
She made a beeline for the receptionist desk to meet the dull eyes of the corrections officer, who was lazily chewing his gum out loud.
"I'm here to see... someone," Marinette said nervously.
"Name," the officer groaned.
"Marinette. Dupain-Cheng."
"And you are here for... ?"
"Gabriel...Agreste."
The man paused mid chew and stared Marinette dead in the eyes.
"You're kidding, right?"
Marinette swallowed her spit, shook her head, and pursed her lips. Well, she had never visited anyone in prison before. Even Ladybug hasn't made an appearance to see the man.
"Let me guess," the man said, pulling Marinette out of her thoughts as he leaned in closer. "Wanna take one last good look at the bastard before you move on?"
Marinette's eyes fell to the ground. Provoking the man was definitely out of the question. She wanted to do things without being Ladybug, but she didn't really know how exposed Marinette would be.
