Chat Out of the Bag?

Chapter 6

Adrien's life had fallen into a routine:

School
Work
Homework
Crime fighting
Sleep
Repeat

With Lucia back in the picture, he had slightly more free time if only to help watch over her. Dinners weren't boring anymore with her excitedly telling Adrien everything she learned that day. He had to be careful with transforming since she nearly caught him a few times. Luckily most of the akuma attacks during school hours were far from her school. The attacks not during school hours were usually when she was safe at home so he trained her to hide under her bed until he came to get her.

Adrien never really felt bad about keeping the fact he was Cat Noir secret from others. The fact that he had to hide from Lucia was different. She made pictures of Cat Noir and Marinette even made her plushies of all the superheroes in Paris. Lucia would always have her Cat Noir and Ladybug plushies with her now.

Adrien was thrilled when science class was cancelled for the day and he was asked by the girls of the class to help with Marinette's photoshoot. The group decided to do the photoshoot outside and they were able to convince his bodyguard to drive them near the Eiffel Tower.

Lucia was in the car since she was picked up from school on the way. She sat on his lap and was excited to see what the big kids were up to.

She sat on the ground near Rose working on homework while the others worked on the photoshoot. She looked up when the ground started shaking. A creepy giant robot was shooting laser beams from its mouth.

Rose quickly grabbed her and called out an apology to Juleka. They barely avoided getting hit by the beam. That creepy clown was Juleka? Hawkmoth had no style because Juleka was super pretty and Reflecta was super ugly.

Rose grabbed her so quickly that she left her dolls and homework behind. Lucia didn't care about her homework but her dolls could get ruined!

Hawkmoth had to ruin everyone's fun. She saw her brother and most of his friends getting hit by the ugly beam. How was she supposed to find her brother if everyone looked alike?

"I'll keep you safe, Lucia," said Rose as Reflecta called out to her.

Lucia didn't doubt that Rose would protect her but she wanted her big brother. This was the first time she was so close to an akuma attack and she was scared. Animaestro didn't count because he took the battle outside fairly quickly and she hid with the rest of her class.

Hopefully, Ladybug and Cat Noir would show up soon and turn Juleka back to normal.

From her hiding spot, she saw two heroes fighting the giant robot. Lucia looked on in awe. She didn't know that the heroes could swap powers. Maybe she could ask for doll versions of them for her collection.

Adrien wanted this battle to be over already. He had to find his sister. He knew Rose grabbed her when the attack began and he hoped Lucia stayed with her instead of trying to find him. Doing Ladybug's job was hard and he wasn't sure how his Lady was able to think up all of these plans. Luckily with the two of them working together, they defeated the akuma and the amok. They traded back their miraculous and went to find their friends and family.

He found Lucia holding Rose's hand and she looked on the verge of tears. When she spotted him she let go of Rose and ran to him. Adrien held his little sister trying to calm her down. She was crying but trying not to.

"Do you want to go home now?"

Lucia shook her head no. With that, they were able to convince their bodyguard to let them finish the photoshoot.

Lucia thought Juleka was so cool so she joined in a couple of the pictures. She had a lot of fun but all good things must come to an end.

"Natalie! Papa! We're home!" announced Lucia happily.

No one came to greet them which wasn't odd for their father to ignore them but Natalie was usually at the door to greet them.

"Father probably has Natalie running some errands," said Adrien when he saw his little sister's face.

Lucia went to her room to get ready for violin practice. She loved playing music but something didn't feel right. She went to search for Natalie. She first went to her office but it was empty. She listened at the door of her papa's office but didn't hear anybody. She finally went to Natalie's room and heard coughing.

Without a second thought, Lucia burst through the door to find Natalie looking worn out. "Natalie, are you okay?"

"Lucia, what did we discuss about going into someone's room unannounced," chided Natalie.

"I'm sorry. I was just scared because I couldn't find you. I don't want anybody else disappearing like maman," said Lucia.

Natalie told the little girl that she was fine and to get ready for her violin practice. Lucia wasn't convinced and asked Adrien if soup could be brought up for Natalie.

"She's pale and I know I heard her coughing when I left the room," explained Lucia.

Adrien agreed to her request. Natalie rarely looked after her health and it must be bad for a child to notice how bad she was.

They practiced some classical pieces together before they had to go down for dinner. If they were lucky their father would join them. After music practice, Adrien checked Lucia's homework while she chatted happily chatted with Plagg about the new heroes.

Plagg indulged her and help make conspiracy theories about why the heroes had swapped powers.

Natalie was missing during dinner which made Lucia sad but their father had actually made an appearance.

"Papa, there was another akuma attack! A girl was in a giant robot," exclaimed Lucia. Adrien had told her not to let their father know that they were close to the attack since they were supposed to be on the way home when it happened.

"The superheroes switched powers and defeated the akuma," she continued.

"So I heard. Since the attacks are happening more frequently, I have decided that you will be tutored at home for your extracurriculars. Which means after school you will be taken straight home."

"That's not fair. It's boring being here by myself," complained Lucia.

"You are still allowed to attend school against my better judgment," replied their father.

Lucia sulked for the rest of dinner and went to Adrien's room after.

Gabriel watched his children go upstairs. They would understand everything he did was to protect them when they got older. He would get the miraculous soon enough.