When the Phoenix Falls (Adrien Agreste)

Chapter 6: Lady Wifi

"Have you seen Marinette anywhere, Colette?" Alya asked, making the girl jump as she had been lost in her thoughts. "No-one has been able to tell me where she is and I just can't understand where she could possibly have disappeared to."

Colette grinned at the brunette, "You did hear what you just said right? Marinette is always vanishing off to one place or another, trust me she'll show up soon enough."

"You're right," Alya sighed. "Can I leave her stuff with you? I need to get something from my locker."

"Sure thing," Colette agreed. "I'll make sure she gets it. She probably just got distracted by something - like a kitten stuck up a tree or a picture of Adrien on the side of a building - and lost track of time."

Alya gave a short laugh, though Colette could tell she still wasn't sure. "That does sound like Marinette. See you in class, Colette."

"See you!" Colette waved as the other girl walked away, of course she knew that Marinette had almost certainly gotten caught up in fighting another villain and that was why she had missed most of their literature class that morning. Colette knew that she couldn't always be around to help her sister with akumatisations, especially given that she also had school to deal with, but Marinette didn't have a choice. If Ladybug wasn't there to cleanse the Akuma, they would end up with another problem like Stoneheart, which would be a nightmare for them all. So Colette always did her best to help Marinette out of trouble with the teachers, making up illnesses and issues at home to excuse the girl from her regular disappearances.

When Colette arrived home, she used the trapdoor on Marinette's ceiling to leave the girl's schoolbag on her desk, writing a quick note to leave next to it.

I've copied out my notes for you and I'm happy to explain what you missed. Alya said she left your homework in your bag and I should be free this evening if you want to work on it together.

Your favourite sister,

Collie

Collie had been the nickname Marinette had given Colette when they were young and still learning to talk. Though they stopped using it so much as they grew older, Colette was still very fond of the nickname and made sure to always sign off cards, notes, and presents to her sister with the word. Jumping back up onto the balcony and making her way back to her own room, Colette pulled a notebook from her bag and set to work on her languages homework, they had been learning about indirect object pronouns that day in class and she was looking forward to memorising them for future use.

About an hour later, a knock on her door shook her out of her concentrated state. Rising from her desk and opening the door, she was unsurprised to see her sister standing there with a notebook in hand. Letting her in, Colette allowed Marinette to take her pick of seats before claiming the one next to her with a smile.

"The Internet's down," Marinette explained as she offered the book to her sister. "So I couldn't look it up."

"And that, my dear Marinette, is exactly why we have good old-fashioned dictionaries." Colette grinned, moving over to her bookcase and pulling her preferred reference dictionary off a shelf, placing the heavy tome on the table in front of her sister as she retrieved her own literature homework. "See if you can find it in there."

As Marinette began to flick through the pages of the book with an experience not common amongst people their age - the family being a fan of crossword puzzles, especially those of the cryptic type - Colette packed away her languages work and the dictionary she had been using for translation, picking up a pencil Marinette had bought for her with a large fluffy sheep on the end, and re-joined her sister. She loved doing homework with her sister because their areas of knowledge often differed greatly enough that one of them was always sure to have the answer, even if the other had not a clue what they were going on about.