Watching Miraclebound

Bonjour, New York

"YAARGGGHHH!"

There was a blinding flash of white light and Nino's eyes snapped open. Adrenaline gushed through his veins like lightning and he shot up in his seat like a bullet, finding himself curled against the back of his chair, hat sitting crookedly on his head, Wayzz no longer hovering inside. Carefully, he brought a hand to his chest, struggling to tame his pounding heart. He gazed around, wide-eyed at the darkened plane, to see Chloe asleep in the isle before him and he felt Alya's head sagging against his shoulder. She seemed so peaceful and he forced his muscles to relax in an effort to avoid waking her. Glancing beyond her, however, he could see that Marinette and Adrien's seats were vacant.

"Wayzz?" he whispered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he straightened his cap and began scanning the lounge for any signs of his kwami. "Little dude, you here?" There was no response from the turtle and Nino frowned, gently sliding out away from Alya, slowly pulling himself to his feet and fixing his hat. "Wayzz?"

"Pssst!" came a small hiss from Marinette's bag and Nino turned as Tikki propped herself on the edge of her bag, big blue eyes staring intently at him. "Nino! Over here!" She waved and Nino hastily scrambled over, kneeling down next to her.

"Tikki!" he whispered, cupping his hands as the kwami darted up to sit before him. "What are you doing up? Where's Marinette?"

"She's fine, Nino!" Tikki said, blinking up at him tenderly. "But that's not why you're awake, is it? Are you okay?" Her voice was gentle, almost motherly, and Nino opened his mouth, ready to blurt out everything. The only thing that stopped him was the look of incessant fear in the kwami's eyes.

"I'm..." Nino hesitated. "I'm fine. Yeah. Really, I am. Just..."

"Yes?" Tikki urged, hovering straighter now, her antennae twitching worriedly. "Nino, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Nino said, hearing the lie catch in his throat as he struggled to push the nightmare from his head. "I'm all right. I just...h-have you seen Wayzz? He wasn't...hiding when I...woke up."

"I think he's in the kitchen," Tikki replied, looking slightly confused. "Probably trying to stop Plagg from eating everything in sight. Why?"

Because something weird is going on and I think Wayzz knows what. "Thanks, Tikki!" Nino exclaimed, turning and clambering back to his feet, even as the ladybug kwami hovered up to glide above his head. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine!" With that, he carefully tiptoed away to avoid waking the girls.

"But I don't think you are," he faintly heard her whisper after him.

He ignored her misgivings, shrugging them off as just another of her tendencies to overreact. Besides, he had other things to deal with right now, more than just some whacked-out dream that probably didn't mean anything anyway.

Because I am fine. All of this is just giving my imagination a chance to run unchecked without me.

Nino sighed, rounding the bend toward the back of the plane toward the kitchen, following the sounds of his friends' voices rising from the cargo hold absentmindedly. If he could find Wayzz, maybe the turtle could explain just what was going on and why that dream had felt so real. Much more than any dream should have.

"Marinette, I'm sorry."

"No, Adrien. It's my fault. I shouldn't have lied to you. I just...I was afraid, I--"