Adrien had been tossing and turning in bed all night. An idea squirming in his consciousness like a worm on the end of a fishing line, making it impossible to fall asleep. Finally, he left his dorm and went for one of his midnight walks.
As he passed the bar he thought of how his heart jumped up into his throat when he saw Marinette holding the glass, how at ease he felt as they played cards, and thinking of how he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep at night, and how Marinette had asked him about his family.
Adrien lit the pine logs and the ambers began to glow, casting colorful strings of light through the bottles on the wall.
Marinette deserved a family of her own. He knew the blue-eyed girl had seen the other Guardians as much more than partners or even friends. He also knew Plagg looked at Marinette as a daughter of sorts. But she deserved to know the people she shared blood with.
Blood... That was it.
Adrien smothered the fire, only streams of smoke flying from the pine logs were left as an indication of his presence. He strode back to his dorm and made a mental note to mention it to Plagg in the morning. Finally, he could sleep fitfully knowing he could help the girl he cared so much for.
The next morning, the tall grizzled giant swung at Adrien's jaw but he quickly evaded. That had always been Plaggs' downfall. He relied on brute strength and his bulky frame made it difficult to move swiftly, Adrien had obviously noticed and was using it to his advantage. Smart kid, Plagg thought, but he can't dodge Tikki and me forever.
The two directors of GUARD were working together to see how the young blonde would react to multiple attackers. He was handling himself quite well so far. He evaded strike after strike and only attacked when his opponent was off-balance and vulnerable. He knew hitting the two while they were standing firm would do nothing but wear himself out. Better to save his strength for opportune attacks.
Eventually, they were all in need of a water break. They sent Adrien to go fetch some along with their lunch waiting in the cafeteria while they rolled up the combat mats and moved on to another training subject.
But before Tikki could start putting away the equipment Plagg started toying with her. Punching her lightly in the shoulder or pushing her gently.
"Come on sugar cube," He said. "When was the last time we had a one on one match?"
"Stop it Plagg."
"Why not? Scared you'll lose?"
"As I recall," She stated. "The last time you and I fought you walked away with a broken nose." Unconsciously, Plagg wrinkled his nose. It was slightly crooked thanks to the redhead, but it only managed to improve his looks somehow.
"Well, this time I'll be sure not to leave my nose vulnerable." With a chuckle, Tikki agreed.
She got three quick jabs in before Plagg picked her up like a ragdoll and dropped her onto the map, pinning her.
"That's not very sportsmanlike." She muttered through clenched teeth.
"Since when has that stopped me?" Tikki managed to get a leg loose and knead him in the side. It wasn't much but it was enough for her to escape his grip and stagger to her feet.
"I yield." She said,
"Giving up that easy? Where is the fun in that?"
"I'm losing a battle to win the war, Plagg. What do you say to a fencing duel?"
"I say no."
"Why not? Scared you'll lose?" She mimicked. He scowled.
"Fine." He reluctantly agreed.
They retrieved their gear and drew their blunt practice swords. Plagg was by no means graceful with a blade but Tikki wielded it with ease. The sound of clashing metal filled the room as the redhead took every available attack. If Plagg wasn't going to play fair, why should she?
The giant stumbled through parleys as Tikki's blade flew at him like a viper. At one point he left his ribs exposed and the blue-eyed woman went for the killing stroke.
But as she stepped forward, Plagg dropped his sword and scooped her up by the waist, and was spinning her around.
"Plagg stop." She commanded but her order was weak because she said it through a ward of giggles. Her weapon clattered on the floor next to its companion as she pried at his arms, trying to free herself from the green-eyed python. Finally, he loosened his grip.
When was the last time I heard my sugar cube laugh like that? Plagg thought.
She dropped to her feet and scowled at him. But the edges of her lips still lingered with a ghost of a smile.
"You're a jerk." She said, not being able to think of a better insult.
"I think you mean handsome." Plagg retorted.
Tikki tilted her head slightly, looking over his features. Square chin, sharp (and crocked) nose, piercing eyes. Maybe just a little handsome, she thought to herself.
Just then, the blonde returned with the water, food, and Nooroo.
"Hate to interrupt," The purple-eyed man said. "But I need to speak to you Tikki." Nooroo had got a lead about a potential Akuma supporter meet-up and apparently had new information to share.
"I'll be right there." The redhead replied. "Sorry, Adrien. I hate to walk out on your training sessions so much but- you know. There is work to do." The blonde shrugged.
"Plagg can beat me up plenty well on his own." They all chuckled slightly.
Once Tikki and Nooroo were gone, Adrien saw his chance to bring up his idea to the green-eyed giant.
"Plagg?" He asked.
"Hmm?"
"If Marinette has a family they would have reported her missing years ago."
"Most likely." The grim figure replied.
"So can't we just do a DNA test against Marinette and the people who filed missing person reports for a young girl around the estimated time Akuma took her?"
"We came up with the same conclusion some time ago and it's doable."
"If it's doable then why don't you do it? We could give Marinette everything she's forgotten."
"How do you know she wants to remember?" Plagg looked him in the eye with a sorrowful expression. "Mari has had years to think about what her life was like before Akuma. She's not stupid, she knows we could have her entire history on file in seconds if she asked, but she doesn't."
"Why doesn't she?" Adrien couldn't fathom not remembering and passing up a chance at understanding his past.
"My guess is she's scared and I don't blame her. I would be too."
"Scared of what exactly?"
"The unknown. Mari has been to hell and back. How do we know that whatever happened to her pre-Akuma wasn't any worse than the refuge? How do we know she was taken by Akuma and not sold by human traffickers? How do we know that her memories won't just give her more nightmares?"
Adrien didn't want to believe her past was any worse than her time at Akuma. Fate wasn't that cruel. Her entire life had been blanketed in darkness, and Adrien knew how much she hated the dark. She deserved a sliver of light. She had earned it.
"But-" Adrien continued until he was cut off by Plagg.
"We can't rush her into this. It has to come at her own time and that time might never come."
"I guess you're right," Adrien said sheepishly, it wasn't a choice he could make for her.
"Aren't I always?" Adrien rolled his eyes, an expression he had caught from watching Marinette and Tikki suffer through Plagg's dry humor.
"I think we've done enough for today kid." The director said. "You should rest. I heard you walking around last night, I doubt you got much sleep."
"How did you know that was me?"
"The strides are longer so they came from someone tall. It was late, really late, so someone with a sleeping disorder. By the way, you should probably talk to Dussu about your insomnia. The footsteps were quiet. Even if someone was trying to be quiet, the tread of their boots was softer than usual, so they were wearing the standard boots trainees wear. And lastly, they passed by Marinette's dorm three times. Making it easy to single you out as the late-night wanderer."
Adrien had never witnessed his deducing skills to such a degree. Then again Plagg always seemed to hear or see things that others didn't notice.
"And I poked my head out the door and saw you." Plagg finished. Again, Adrien rolled his eyes.
"For a second there I was actually impressed." The blonde said, making his companion grin.
"Go get some rest." Plagg rose to leave but Adrien stopped him.
"Where is Marinette anyway?" He asked, ignoring Plagg's earlier statement.
"A supply run." The tall man answered nonchalantly, unaware of Adrien's inner turmoil.
"What?!"
"Whoa, kid. What's the problem?" Plagg asked.
"She's going on a supply run. Alone?"
"Yes. What's so wrong with that?"
"Everything Plagg!" The blonde yelled, running his fingers through his hair out of stress. Adrien didn't seem to notice Plagg's ginormous hands end up on his shoulders and his voice bringing him back to reality.
"Hey Adrien, calm down, breathe. It's alright." He said softly, trying to get his heart rate down.
"Alright?! Plagg, she's out there, alone! No one is there to help her if she gets hurt. What if Akuma-" He stopped his rant when the grim figure put his hand up, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Kid, she's smart. If anything were to happen, she'd know what to do." Seeing the absolute trust for the blunette in the man's eyes did nothing to calm his nerves.
"But what if-" Again, he was cut off.
"Adrien, listen," he took the blonde by the shoulders, "you are forgetting she has powers. Now you may have only seen them only in smaller forms, like stopping you from falling to your death, but she is a lot stronger than you think. Do you have any idea how she got the name Siren?" Adrien tilted his head slightly, his curiosity peaking.
"How?"
The grim man had to hold back a grin, he had known Adrien long enough to understand what grabs the boy's attention, and usually, that included Marinette more than anything else. Seeing how his curiosity was outweighing his fear for the blue-eyed girl, he reckoned why not kill two birds with one stone?
As he started his story, more dramatic than would normally be needed, he saw how Adrien unconsciously moved closer to him, and this time, Plagg couldn't hold back that smile.
A younger Plagg and Tikki cranked the metal wheel that locked the door in place until it finally turned open. The hinges whined their protest but the pair entered with weapons ready and prepared to fight.
Tikki had a trail of blood the color of her hair dripping from her nose and Plagg had more than a few bruises. The team of two had disobeyed orders in invading the facility and would most likely be court-martialed, but a sand storm had damaged the Akuma base allowing them an entrance and it was too good a chance to pass up. Their commander saw it as too risky to go in blind but the young friends knew the window of opportunity would not stay open. Fortunately for the four children trapped inside these walls, today would be the day they got their freedom.
The duo went in ready to fire off a slew of bullets, only to be met with four weeping children. Their eyes bulged with tears. The short blonde curled up under her bedsheets like a toddler frightened by thunder. The brunette girl buried her face in her knees and shielded her head with her arms. The only boy shook with terror as his lip quivered. Plagg dropped his weapon to the floor and Tikki followed suit.
As Plagg explained they were not going to hurt them and asked for names, Tikki slowly approached the blue-eyed girl who sat crossed-legged on her cot. Tears streamed down her face as an empty stare filled her eyes, her gaze locked on the darkness that waited outside the door.
"Hello." The redhead cooed. "I'm Tikki." The girl didn't answer. Her hair was thin, her body unnaturally skinny making her look like a child instead of a 16-year-old, and her cheeks looked as hollow as her eyes.
Tikki slowly dropped her backpack from her shoulders. Glancing overhead she saw the blonde had poked her head from the sheets as Plagg worked to gain their trust. She took out a plastic bag and tore open the seal. Inside were dried food pellets about the size of a bottle cap, they tasted of butterscotch and felt like chalk in your mouth but they provided enough nutrients to fuel you for a few hours. They were supposed to be saved for emergencies but four starving children had to grant an exception. She placed three in front of the girl, popping one into her mouth to show her it was edible and set a water bottle in front of her.
The girl stood stock still, hardly blinking, until her hand shot out like a viper, grabbing the pellets and bottle and clutching them to her chest as if someone was going to wrestle them away from her. Tikki watched out of the corner of her eye as Plagg did the same, the blonde graciously accepting the food while the other two still showed signs of mistrust.
The blue-eyed one chewed the three pellets at once, grinding them to a powder before using the after to help swallow. She closed her eyes, although the flavor was weak she relished the taste of butterscotch, no matter how dry it felt on her tongue. A tear fell from her closed eyes, dampening her cheeks more. Tikki reached out a hand to dry her face but just as their skin brushed the girl shrank away, shielding her head like you would in a school drill. The redhead gingerly grasped hold of the girl's arm and pulled it down, wiping her thumb under her eyes as something changed in the girl's gaze. The hollow look was gone, replaced with questioning, curiosity, but above all trust. No one had treated Marinette with much care besides the other refugee mates, she promised herself she would one day repay her.
"What's your name?" Tikki asked.
"Marinette." Her voice was a murmur. Tikki smiled softly at the young girl and Marinette relaxed her tense muscles. Seeing how she seemed a bit more trusting now, the red-head decided to push her luck.
"How old are you?" A frown appeared on the girl's face and she looked away. Tikki waited patiently, knowing it would be hard for her to open up.
"I don't know." Her voice came again, this time Tikki frowned, she didn't know? How could she not know her own age? Had she really been here so long that she could no longer tell what time of day it was?
But she didn't have much time to think about that, when the next thing she knew, Plagg was yelling at her to move as the Akuma agent standing right behind her, knife in hand, was ready to end her life.
Thankfully, though Plagg was larger than most, he was surprisingly fast, so before the man could move the blade an inch towards Tikki, he had him on the ground, the knife sliding across the room too far from his reach.
With Marinette out of her mind, Tikki quickly ran to the door and grabbed their weapons. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side today as she heard lots of footsteps coming for them. It seemed that Plagg had finally had the man unconscious, but they wouldn't be able to defeat every agent on their own.
Looking back at Marinette, she could see the fear was back in her eyes, she didn't even bother to hide it. This made Tikki enraged, she swore to herself that she wouldn't ever let these people hurt her again. The red-head whispered something into Plagg's ear, and seeing him nod once, Tikki ran over to Marinette.
She took the girl by the arm, gently, but firmly and got her to her feet. Marinette didn't try to fight against her. Tikki pointed to the South-East corner, and Marinette, along with the others ran to the spot as the fight began.
Needless to say, both Tikki and Plagg would be walking away with bruises but not as many as the Akuma guard sprawled on the floor. They took the children into the dark hallway after a brief protest. The kids seemed more willing to go with them after being promised safety.
The kids watched as these people fought against the soldiers that kept flooding into the room. Plagg and Tikki were dangerously outnumbered, they had no hope to defeat them and Marinette knew it.
Then the sounds of footsteps filled the air.
Lots of them.
The two agents heard the multiple feet coming for them and gave each other a worried glance, but when the soldiers came through the doors, that feeling immediately vanished.
Help has finally arrived. They were now on an equal playing field. Tikki and Plagg pulled themselves away from the fight. As their commander practically screamed at them for disobeying orders and running off alone he asked "Please explain to me what was so important you risk your lives and abandon your squad?!"
"Children sir," Plagg explained.
"What?"
Tikki and Plagg both stepped aside to show him the kids still hiding behind them. But there were only three.
"Where's Marinette?" The redhead questioned.
Then they heard the humming. Only a faint buzz until it started to echo off the walls.
"What is that?" Tikki asked.
"Marinette." The three children chimed.
Plagg nor Tikki questioned what the sound was, they merely sprinted off in its direction.
It was odd. The song seemed to lure them in, guiding them to its source. Nonetheless, they found her. They looked down over a balcony, gripping the steel railings while searching. And there she was, in the center of a storage unit, metal crates scattered around in heeps, none of which were touching the ground.
"What are you doing here?!" Marinette called. "Go!" But they didn't. They didn't realize what was about to happen. Marinette knew Akuma didn't care about the agents running around their facility, only their lost experiment. So, she would lure them out, distract them, and let the others get away. It's what Max would have done.
Tikki and Plagg stood confused and shocked while the trio flung themselves over the railing. Plagg gripped Luka's sleeve but he slipped through his fingers and Tikki gasped as they plummeted the 10 meters.
Despite the humming, they still expected to hear the distinct sound of bones cracking. But they didn't. Their descent slowed halfway through and they met the ground unscathed.
Impossible.
Tikki and Plagg stared at each other in a mix of disbelief and shock. In this line of work, you see a lot of things, but never, not even once, did Tikki see someone fall off a cliff from this height, and land without a scratch.
Gunshots were sounded out in the distance and the two field agents were snapped back into reality. They tightened their grip on their weapons and started the tread towards the noise.
Every 10 or 20 meters they would see an Akuma soldier lying motionless on the desert ground, but the rising and falling in their chests indicated they were breathing, Just...
Asleep?
They both looked at each other, the same question in their eyes, but despite their curiosity, Tikki and Plagg were focused on finding these kids. However, when they did find them, they did not expect to see them fighting almost 100 soldiers by themselves.
In a normal situation, they would have never stood there doing nothing. They were trained to fight, after all, but now, they just couldn't bring their feet to move. The scene played out in front of them in pure chaos.
Dozens of soldiers charging the children. Spark danced in Luka's hands that for a moment they thought he would catch fire. Alya would vanish in a blink of an eye only to reappear on the other side of the room. Chloe stood in a pool of yellow fog, unconscious men at her feet. And Marinette, in the center, the hum rattling her bones, as she focused on holding their attackers back.
Then Plagg understood. She was a siren, coaxing bewitched sailors to her with her song until their ships were reduced to splitters from the jagged rocks. Leaving her to scavenge the wreckage and reap the reward. Only she hadn't expected a reward when she snuck off. She expected to be caught, locked away in the dark, never to get her taste of freedom. And she was alright with that. Her friends would be safe, free, and happy. That was her reward.
But Plagg refused to let her suffer longer than she already had. They called in as much backup as they could spare. The kids were rushed away, but not before multiple people saw what they were capable of. They eventually escaped into the desert and were airlifted into safety.
The whole way there, all the kids could do was cling to the armrest of the chairs. Tikki had been in this line of work for a while, but she had never seen anyone so scared before. The blonde, who she recently learned was named Chloe, still had a few tears running down her face, but it was more out of shock than fear.
As they were finally reaching their destination, the plane hit some turbulence and Tikki could feel a small pair of hands wrap around her arm. Marinette had kept to herself the whole time only mumbling to herself every so often. Even though her petite hands couldn't hurt her, the girl was stronger than she looked.
It took her a minute to pry herself from the blue-eyed girl's grip, but when she did, Tikki put her arm around her and pulled the cover-up over her shoulders. The plane touched the ground and Marinette tensed up, but the feeling of the redhead's hand gently rubbing up and down her arm made her feel safe for the first time in forever.
Plagg and Tikki watched from a distance as the four children were wrapped in blankets being asked question after question before they dropped dead sleep into the spare bunks/
"What they can do," Tikki whispered as she watched them sleep. So small, so weak, so dangerous. "It's not natural. Akuma may have more like them." Plagg nodded slowly while his mind wandered. "What are we going to do with them? We can't turn them loose and act as nothing happened." The grim figure hardly heard a word out of the redhead's mouth. All he could mutter out was was,
"These kids are going to change the world."
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Word count- 3882 (not counting this)
Yes Plagg, yes they will.
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