Azrail's Fate

Grover "The Satyr" Underwood (Marinette's POV)

It had been a month since Kelli died. I had done more and more research on the greek world, and I knew now that that meant that one of my parents was a god or goddess. I didn't know which one, and I didn't know who they were.

When Kelli vanished, the story was that she had been arrested for attempting to take my life. That also explained my injuries. Chat had done a fair amount of spreading the story of how I held my own against her (who apparently had a knife???) until the police and Chat Noir had saved my life.

I was fine with that. Something about something she said bothered me. The bit about how now that I know, other monsters will be coming after me. Maybe even more dangerous than her. Which felt dangerous. I didn't want anyone else to be dragged into my parent's drama. I limped into my school, my crutches helping to carry me over the threshold.

I had gained nearly hero status for having that sixth sense that Kelli was bad news. The second I walked through the door, my friends surrounded me and Alya took my backpack. I had also noticed that Adrien had become a lot closer to me in the past few days. Whatever Alya couldn't carry, he took. And he always tried to help me get up stairs and stuff.

Okay, a list of my injuries for you to know what all happened in that bathroom. 1) Broken Leg. 2) 2 Broken Ribs. 3) Concussion. And finally, 4) A Broken finger. Yeah, I didn't exactly make it out of my battle with Kelli unscathed. I had been in the hospital for 2 weeks, and now I had to rewrap my ribs every other day. I was only allowed to shower with my mom's help. Just in case I fell.

This was the first day I had been allowed to attend school again. I still had a cast on my leg, along with a pair of crutches to help me make it around school. My concussion was healing, so thankfully I was able to do my work and school. On another positive note, the broken finger was my left pinky, so I could still write, design, and do my school work.

I walked to the bathroom, and everyone followed behind me. You would think that after two weeks, they would get better about being there every second of every day, and they were. Kim said, "Marinette." I nodded, "Mhmm?" I leaned against the wall, and Alya said, "There's somebody new here."

They all nodded, and Rose said, "We wanted to make sure you liked them before we did anything. Or let him speak to us." I rubbed my head, and Adrien immediately said, "Is your head hurting?" I sighed, "No. I just don't get why you guys trust me so much. And I'm tired."

I wasn't going to tell them I was saving Paris until 3 am last night. No one knew that Ladybug was healing from a couple broken bones, and they didn't have to. That would almost immediately expose my secret identity. Chat had been a bit suspicious last night when the akuma had flung me into a wall and I screeched in pain.

That might also be part of the reason it was taking so long for me to heal from my injuries. The doctor told me to avoid physical activity, but if I did that it would end up with Paris in flames. Alya said, "He's here."

They all turned, and I saw a guy wearing a rasta cap step in. He looked way older than I would have expected a high schooler, and he was grinning. He looked around and raised an eyebrow at us all backed against the wall. I tilted my head, then winced as a headache flared.

They all widened their eyes, and Alya said, "Are you okay?" I nodded, and looked back up at him. He was hurrying over to us and he said, "Hey, are you okay?" I nodded, and I felt the most unexplainable thing. Not love. Don't even go there, weirdos. I felt safe. Like he was someone I could trust.

I held out my hand, "Yeah. I'm fine. Marinette." He shook my hand, beaming, "Grover. Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." I nodded, "Yeah, we don't get very much excitement around here." He nodded, releasing my hand and gesturing to my head, "Concussion?" I smiled and nodded, "Yeah."

My friends were looking back and forth between Grover and I, but for the most unexplainable reason I felt like I should stay close to him. I said, "So, where are you from?" He laughed, rubbing the back of his head, "New York, actually. Are you from here?" I nodded, and said, "Born and raised Parisian."

He nodded, and said, "This seems like a weirdly personal question, but do you know both your parents?" I widened my eyes. While researching, I had read about the satyrs and how they were messengers, sometimes guardians over demigods. Which meant....

I grabbed his arm and said, "I need to speak with you." My friends gasped at the intensity of my voice and Adrien said, "I'm not leaving you alone with a stranger again after Kelli." Grover widened his eyes, "You know, don't you?"

I crossed my arms, biting back a grin, "I'm smarter than I look." He nodded, and said, "Good to know. Good to know." I turned to my friends, and said, "You guys trust me, right?" They all nodded, and I said, "Then let me talk to him for a few minutes alone, okay?"

They all nodded and walked away, but Adrien grabbed my arm, "If he hurts you..." I held up a crutch, "I can handle myself, Adrien. Now go." He sighed, and walked away, leaving Grover and I leaning against the wall. He said, "So, you know." I shrugged, "I've guessed a lot."

He gestured to my injuries, "I'm guessing you've already met one of them." He said them like they were the most horrendous things to ever walk the planet. I shifted, "If you mean Kelli, then yeah. I've met one of them." He nodded, studying me. I couldn't help asking, "So are you a satyr?"

He grinned, raised an eyebrow, "Nice job. How'd you guess?" I bit my lip, "Well, I kinda have this sixth sense on who to trust, and you seem like a good person to put my trust in. And then you started asking about parents, and from my research the only people who would do that was a satyr or the Charon guy."

He crossed his arms, "Charon?" I shrugged, "Something like that." He shook his head, chuckling, "I would bet my horns you're a child of Athena. Only one of those kids could have figured all this out." I shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just really good at guessing. And Kelli wasn't exactly trying to hide anything from me."

He nodded, and looked behind him. He said, "Here's the thing, the more you know the more danger you're in. Do you have a weapon?" I tilted my head, "Weapon?" He nodded, and said, hurriedly, "How did you defeat Kelli?" I shifted, biting my lip.

I said, hesitantly, "It sounds crazy." He shrugged, "I'm half goat. I think I can handle crazy." I nodded and said, "It was almost like I could tell exactly what she was going to do. Every step she took, I knew where she was going. And then..."

I trailed off, unsure how to say this, "These.... skeletons came out of the ground and.... killed her." He widened his eyes and said, "You said skeletons?" I nodded, and said, "Grover, is that bad?" He paused, and looked a little nervous, "It means you're in a lot more danger than I originally thought."

He grabbed my hand, and said, "Listen, I have to bring you to camp. But, I can't bring you. But, I have a friend. He can come and get you." I widened my eyes, "Camp? What camp?" He looked behind him and said, "Your friends are getting concerned." I rolled my eyes, "They'll stay away for however long I wanted them to."

He sighed, "Okay. This camp is for kids like you. Kids who are special." I smirked, "Sounds like a special ed thing." He shrugged, "Kind of. At this camp, they train you how to protect yourself from the monsters. Because they're going to keep coming, and they're going to come more frequently. At camp, you get trained in how to protect yourself. And you get weapons."

I nodded, and said, "Why can't you take me to this camp?" He shrugged, "I could, but if I'm right, you're gonna need a friend like you. Not me. And I need to get back to camp to prepare for you." I shifted, "You don't need to give me special treatment. I can handle myself." He nodded, "I know. But I'm still going to treat you with every ounce of respect I can afford."

I sighed, and nodded. He continued, "This friend should be here in a couple days." He pulled a whistle out of his pocket, "Only use this in emergencies. Only when you have no other plan, and you're pretty sure there's no way out, okay? It will bring help." I nodded, slipping the whistle into my pocket. He smiled, shaking my hand, "It was wonderful to make your acquaintance, Marinette. I'll see in a few days."

I nodded, and pulled him into a hug, "Thanks. I'm glad to know I'm not going crazy."