Vanished (Lukadrien) • Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter 19 | behind his back

"Nathalie!"

She was half asleep when she heard her name called from the hallway, followed by her boss opening the door to her room.

"Yes sir?" She asked.

"Have you seen my ring?" Gabriel asked.

"The twin ring?"

"Yes"

She knew where it was, but for the first time ever she was keeping something from him. She didn't want him to have that ring at this point in time... not now. Maybe later.

"No, I'm sorry sir" she replied.

"Ugh! It better not have fallen down the drain or something. I need that ring... and I need the other one back from Felix..."

Nathalie was about to speak when she was cut off by her rather nasty cough persisting. Gabriel turned to face her with concern.

"It's still there?" He asked.

"I hate to break it to you but I think the damage the miraculous did is irreversible. I may be chronically ill forever if I don't recover soon. It's been months..." Nathalie admitted.

Gabriel sighed, he feared this. The miraculous that took his wife could have taken his assistant too if she didn't stop using it at just the right time.

"I shouldn't have let you use it, I'm sorry Nathalie. I didn't think it'd get this severe... I really should have known after last time..." he admitted.

"Don't fret it. I was the one who offered to use it in the first place, if anything it's my fault. But it's good I stopped using it when I did so I'm still alive today..."

"Alive but with potentially irreversible damage..."

"Sir don't worry, if I rest enough I can still do regular work. Even if it is irreversible it just means I won't be able to fight anymore, that doesn't stop me from normal assistant duties and strategy planning"

Even though Gabriel was a horrible man, abused his son and is actively hawkmoth, he did have some sense about this situation. He knew full well what happened to Emilie, he felt bad for letting Nathalie get close to it.

"If you insist... make sure you rest. I'll have to call a plumber to check the pipes for that ring. I hope it hasn't gotten down the drain and too the water mains" Gabriel said, turning to leave his assistant to rest.

"Thank you for the concern sir..." Nathalie said on his way out.

When the door closed, she sighed and reached under the mattress where she pulled out the missing ring. Yes, she was the one that had it. She feared what he'd do with it with all that was going on. Adrien missing, media storm around him, big plans for ladybug and cat noir... she couldn't let him have it while he was worked up for... his, sake.

Looking down at the ring, the pondered where a better place to hide it was. She didn't like that she was lying to Gabriel, but she felt that this time. She had to.

While the situation in the Agreste household was tense, the runaway son in question was having a rather relaxed time sitting on his bed with a lockable journal and coloured pens.

He was making a checklist.

"Ooo writing secrets in our diary are we?" Plagg teased.

"No secrets from you. It's lockable so no one finds out anything that's too personal. I'm writing a checklist of things I need to do to heal" Adrien replied.

"Heal?"

"Being homeless and having a bad father isn't fun you know. Before I make a return as cat noir, I want to get a start on working through my trauma. It'll make being a superhero more... free spirited"

On the page was a list of 10 tings with boxes for ticks next to them. The title of the page read 'goals for the next years'.

1. Go to therapy to work through trauma.
2. Stop my anxious scratching habit.
3. See a doctor about leg pain.
4. Continue schooling.
5. Thank Delilah and Lilith again.
6. If I need any medication, start taking it.
7. Put the past behind me.
8. Be cat noir again.
9. Fix relationship with ladybug.
10. One day, make amends with Luka.

Being the child he was, he put a few stickers on to decorate the page too. He'd heard dairies are a good way to get thoughts out and keep them all together, and right now that's what he needed. So he went out after work one day and bought one of those fluffy lockable journal kits you see in movies. Came with a pen and stickers and everything. Expect unlike the movies that usually featured pink diaries, he got a black one.

"That seems like a reasonable list, over the year surly you'll be able to get some of them ticked off" Plagg said.

"I'm already working on it. Lilith wanted me to talk to one of the therapists suggested by the police station about everything that happened so I can get over the whole being homeless thing. Luckily my appearance has changed enough by now people won't recognise me as Adrien, just to be safe I'll leave out a few details but other than that I want everything out in the open so I can get through all this. Now I'm away from my father I have the ability to get my life on track the way I want"

Plagg sat on Adriens hand leaning against the pen he held as he wrote the days entry on the page next to the list.

"Still having that leg pain?" He asked.

"Yep, I doubt that my father making me do fencing helped... they're so sore nowadays and I want to fix it before I be cat noir again. I'd be pretty useless if I tried to kick a villain and immediately hunched over in pain" Adrien replied.

"What even caused it? Do you remember?"

"Nope. I've always kinda just had it. But the older I've gotten it's gotten worse. I remember having to stop playing tag with Felix when I was little because I just started to hurt out of nowhere"

Plagg had always noticed that after a while of physical activity Adrien seemed to slow down and limp a little. Especially after a back to back fencing lesson then akuma fight. All the running around made him ache. His father always just called him weak and pushed him to do better, so Adrien learnt not to complain about it. But it still hurt.

His plans for the next years were doable, and he hoped he could get a start on them soon enough. Being out of a bad place really make you realise just how bad it really was. And he was determined to heal and make himself happy again. No more pain and no more sadness.

Adrien just wanted to go back to being happy again, and he was taking those matters into his hands. And who knows? Maybe he'd check some entries off the list sooner than he thought...