Threatened Love (sequel to "Heartbroken Hero")

Chapter 6

Serpentina shrugged with a twisted smirk on her face. "I guess that means you'll have to be on my side then and follow my orders."

Gabriel clenched his fists, his upper lip twitching. Without another word, he turned around and continued walking, not looking back.

*

Marinette felt her heart pounding out of her chest. Fear slowly swallowed her whole as she frantically searched the bakery for her tiny friend.

"Tikki!" Marinette whisper-yelled. "Where are you?"

She tried to find some clue or trace of her friend, but other than the crumbs of cookie laying there, nothing alerted Marinette.

It did tell her that Tikki had finished eating, though, so at least she was recharged before disappearing. Still, her kwami was missing.

Perhaps she had gone to locate her Chosen? Then again, Tikki wouldn't have moved at all without leaving a note for Marinette.

Everything was just horrible.

"Please, where are you?" Marinette called out desperately. She was going to search the entire house if she had to.

Now, without Tikki, Marinette was powerless. And more importantly, her tiny friend was possibly in a lot of danger. What if Serpentina's servants found her? What if they brought Tikki to Hawkmoth? What if--

"Marinette? Is that you?"

The soft voice startled her, pausing her rambling thoughts. It came from behind the half open door that led upstairs to her apartment. A glimmer of hope filled Marinette's entire being as she realized the voice was real.

Her kwami was okay!

"Tikki? Oh, Tikki, I'm so glad you're okay!!" Marinette cheered, moving towards the door to open it fully so she could give the kwami a big (tiny) hug!

Pushing the door open, Marinette expected to see her beloved red friend floating in the air with a determined smile.

Instead, she was greeted with blonde. Lots of it.

"Chloe?" Marinette gasped, clutching her chest. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"I came looking for you!" Chloe said quickly, fiddling with her fingers. "I tried calling Sabrina and Adrien but they never answered... who is Tikki?"

"No one!" Marinette panicked, her face turning red.

"Anyway, I wanted to see if you were okay! This akuma is crazy!"

"Tell me about it," Marinette huffed. She then blinked, realizing that Chloe just admitted she was concerned with her well-being. "Did you just admit you cared about me?"

Chloe clicked her tongue, crossing her arms and pouting. "I suppose I did."

Marinette then snapped back into reality, remembering that Tikki was missing.

"Look, Chloe, I appreciate the concern, but we are gonna have to part ways," Marinette frowned, heart thumping wildly. She slowly started to back away.

"No!" Chloe yelled, grabbing Marinette's wrist. "I'm scared. This akuma is really freaky."

"I'm sorry. I'm very busy and I can't have anybody else with me," Marinette said, pulling away. "I doubt Serpentina would be after you anyway."

"I've seen what she can do. I don't want that to happen to me! And I've barely seen Ladybug and Chat Noir around to stop her!"

"They'll stop her. I promise!" Marinette nodded.