All For Love

Chapter 18

It was early in the morning when Adrien woke up and went for a stretch outside of his tent. Visions of the fight with Roth kept plaguing his mind. His failure to protect Marinette weighed heavily on his heart. Plagg too had been restless most of the night, although he wouldn't say why, and it was making Adrien nervous. Kwami's were more perceptive than humans he had begun to realise.

He threw some more wood onto the dying campfire and sat down on a log. The morning fog was still clinging around the campsite and a cold chill blew down from the snow capped mountains. The sound of soft snoring could be heard coming from Nino's tent. At least someone was getting some sleep.

Absentmindedly stoking the fire with a long stick, Adrien hadn't noticed Félix was awake until he sat beside him.

"You should keep a watch on that left flank of yours cousin, you wouldn't want that to become your weak spot."

"I think it's too late for that." Adrien said half heartedly. "To be honest, there is some damage there from when my eyes were injured." He conceded. "I've noticed it before. I didn't tell Marinette because I didn't want her to worry, but I'm pretty sure that was why Roth got the better of me."

Félix placed a supportive hand on Adrien's shoulder. "I know you're replaying that fight over and over again in your head. Don't be so hard on yourself. You were up against it regardless, yet you stood your ground."

"I still lost her." Adrien lamented.

"You haven't lost her. We will get her back." Félix insisted. "You're not alone now. We are a team of Miraculous holders - well, except the girl with your friend Nino but she's a good cook so I'll give her a pass."

Félix was pleased that at least cracked a small smile from his cousin. The two sat talking quietly until a red blur suddenly crashed into Adrien and almost knocked him off the log he was sitting on.

"SugarCube!" Plagg exclaimed, flying out of Adrien's coat. "I thought I sensed you closed by. What are you doing here without your holder?"

Duusu also flew out from Felix's coat, helping Plagg to hold up the exhausted Kwami.

"Where's Marinette?" Adrien asked anxiously. "Why did you leave her?"

"She told me to come." Tikki puffed, dropping the earrings into Adrien's hand. By now the commotion had attracted the attention of the others in the camp along with their kwami's and everyone began to gather around and listen to what Tikki had to tell them. She explained as best as she could what her and Marinette had overheard about the trap waiting for them.

"It's not much to go on." Luka pointed out, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "We don't know where they are planning to ambush us or how many of 'them' there are."

"What about Marinette though?" Adrien asked Tikki. "Why didn't she just transform and escape?"

"She's gone to find where they are holding Master Fu." Tikki explained. "She figured her best chance of that was to go to the Capital and inside the Palace. She wants him to release the full power of the Miraculous. It might be the only way to stop Barbot once and for all."

"That's risky." Alix said, folding her arms. "We don't know what Miraculous Barbot might have access to in the Miracle Box, or what he plans to do with it."

"What if she's changing sides?" Volpina suddenly said. "She was technically engaged to Barbot, right? If the powers of the Miraculous are released..."

"I don't believe that." Luka said emphatically.

"There's a lot of power there." Volpina shrugged. "How do you know this wasn't all just some charade to get back to her betrothed?"

Chloé frowned at this strange line of discussion. Was Lila on their side or not? She firmly believed from her own conversation with Adrien last night this wasn't just some passing fling or that Marinette had been somehow just using him. She might not know Marinette personally yet, but she could she their love reflected in Adrien's eyes when he spoke of her. That was enough convincing for her.