Masked Permanently

One Down

Gabriel sternly walked out, a small smirk on his face as he had grabbed the earrings.

She knew she could leave this job, then find a better position like hers easily, but she didn't want to abandon a child with that robotic excuse for a father. He really knew how to stir those unpleasant emotions out of her, and he sure did a great job of it, the woman thought.

It wasn't long until Nathalie noticed the dark butterfly flapping toward her.

'An akuma?! Oh no, I'm not dealing with that today! I know way too much about identities to get akumatized!' Nathalie thought as she kicked the door open and ran out into the hall.

She had to lead the akuma away from Adrien, as he was emotionally vulnerable at the moment about his partner. At the same time, she didn't want him to have to fight her.

How could she make the akuma go away?! Well, they were sent after strong negative emotions, so all she had to do was calm down.

Okay, so Gabriel threatened to fire her, but she had to forgive the jerk, she thought to herself. Maybe he's just concerned about his work getting done quickly and he's stressed. Maybe he wanted Adrien to develop independently, or he was just in a bad mood himself. It likely wasn't her fault he got mad at her.

She had to do more important things anyways. Maybe she could work on finding Kagami and taking back the miraculous to talk to Tikki about whether or not she was capable of being a holder, but first she had to get back to working on her paperwork.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to smile naturally as she thought about her memories as Lady Luck alongside her own Chat Noir. Maybe she could find a way to bring back the both of them.

Once she stopped running away, she snuck a glance behind her, realizing the akuma had gotten away.

This should've been a good thing, but there was Chloe who was sad, and Adrien who was completely heartbroken. Not to mention, he had never been akumatized, so he could easily be the next target.

Running back, she skidded through the clear hallways on her flats once she reached the mansion. She caught sight of the akuma growing closer to Adrien's room, and she bolted forward past the akuma. Kicking open the door, she grabbed Adrien's arm.

"We have to go, now!" She demanded to the boy.

"What?" He asked, and Plagg's eyes grew wide with terror.

"Go! Go, Adrien and Nathalie!!" The kwami shouted, yanking his charge's hair to turn him toward the sight.

"Oh my goodness!! Let's go!!" Adrien followed Nathalie after quickly snatching up his kwami.

She led him to the other exit, then pushed him ahead of her, allowing him to run more quickly. They were all panicking about the akuma, which made their negative emotions possible to get possessed by the butterfly. She knew this wasn't good, but she had to get Adrien out of the danger.

"Okay, listen to me!" She told him as they ran out of the mansion, "Don't panic about the butterfly! Whatever you do, just find something positive to focus on, and don't allow yourself to get scared or upset!"

"I-I want to," He panted as he ran, "but I c-cant stop thinking about her! I saw her die in front of me! She disappeared into nothing like she'd never even existed!"

As Nathalie saw the tears welling back up in his eyes, she quickly said, "We will get her back!! I promise you, we'll get both Marinette and Felix back! It won't be easy, but we can do it!"

At least that's how she convinced herself not to break into tears herself.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Adrien asked, frowning with glassy eyes.