Strangers Like Me (Keeper of the Lost Cities + Miraculous Ladybug Crossover)

Chapter 7

A/N: Summer is almost over, you guys! It's been so busy, but I've finally had a chance to relax. I typed this up during a six hour car ride in our vacation, so hope you like it! -Apurva

Sophie woke up to the sound of her friends hurriedly getting ready for school. She had spoken to Tikki a bit the night before, and the kwami readily assured her not to worry about timing as Marinette was always late, but Sophie's friends seemed to have disregarded that fact.

"What time is it?" Sophie drowsily asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

Biana gave her an exasperated look. "You're almost as bad as Marinette. We have to leave to school in fifteen minutes."

Sophie's eyes widened and she shot out of the bed, making a mad dash to the bathroom.

"I also asked Adrien to pick us up instead!" Biana called behind her. "After what Tikki said last night, I didn't want to trouble Marinette!"

"Okay!" Sophie whipped around to yell back at her friend, nearly bumping headfirst into Keefe, still in his pajamas.

"Woah there, Foster. In quite a rush, are we?"

"Keefe, look at the time," Sophie commanded, giggling as his smirk morphed into an expression of horror. "Yeah."

Managing to get ready in record time, Sophie was soon making her way downstairs to see Master Fu. Sure enough, the old man was fixing up an elaborate breakfast for them.

"I wasn't sure what you all are used to eating back home," Master Fu explained. "So, I just cooked some of the most popular breakfasts."

Sophie exchanged surprises glances with Fitz and Dex. "This is- thank you so much."

"It really is far too much," Fitz admitted with a grateful smile, piling a stack of pancakes on his plate. "When I was at some breakfast inns in America , they didn't even serve a fraction of this."

Master Fu smiled. "I'll make sure to cook less tomorrow then. I'm sure Marinette brought some food from her bakery as well."

"Um, actually... we asked Adrien to pick us up."

"Is that so?" Master Fu let out a kind laugh. "I can understand why. Marinette can panic quite a bit in the morning..."

*~*~*~*

"TIKKI!"

Marinette jumped out of her bed, tripping as she raced down the ladder. Her landing face-first in front of the clock on her computer screen, reading 8:30am, only seemed to worsen her panic.

"Oh no! Oh no I'm so late!" She hastily grabbed the first pair of pink capris and a flower print white shirt she could find. "And I have to pick up the elves!"

"Relax, Marinette," Tikki commanded. "They met up with Adrien yesterday, right? They just asked him to give them a ride to save you the time in the morning."

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I don't think I could handle being so late after all the chaos yesterday. I was barely able to finish the history assignment."

"Exactly," Tikki agreed. "So get ready and we can try to meet them before first period."

Marinette began tying up her hair and packing her backpack when a thought struck her. "Wait... does this mean we will be working with Adrien, Tikki?"

Tikki nodded.

"Oh my gods!" Marinette squealed. "This Neverseen mess just became ten times more enjoyable!"

"Marinette," Tikki warned. "Don't let your emotions cloud your judgement when it comes to this. It may have all turned out fine last time, but this time it's not just Paris that's at risk. It's a whole other world- the Elvin world."

"You're right, Tikki. I'll be careful."

*~*~*~*

"Hey guys!" Adrien waved from the back seat of his white limo. "Have you got everything?"

The five elves nodded, taking seats along the opposite bench in the limo. Sophie couldn't help gasping at the extravagance of the car.

"I thought I couldn't get more surprised after seeing your house," she began. "But I was clearly wrong."

Adrien laughed. "Keefe told me about the size and decor of your houses in the Elvin world, though. Mine shouldn't seem that impressive after that."

"Our world works a bit differently," Fitz explained. "Extravagance is common. In the human world though, it really isn't."

Adrien nodded. "What'd you guys tell Ladybug? Wasn't she going to pick you up?"

"Her mornings are a bit... chaotic." Dex explained. "I hope we didn't cause any trouble for you, though."

Adrien shook his head, but his smile quickly faded. "My father is rather strict," he explained, looking at Biana's worried glance. "He usually tends to stay out of my life... completely. But recently, I borrowed a book of his and lost it. It had to do with the miraculouses and he's tightened a lot of things up since then. It's nearly as big of a change as when my mother disappeared last year." Adrien's voice cracked at the last part, his head dropping as he refused to meet any of their gazes.

All the elves gave Adrien a sympathetic look, and Keefe slowly placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know how it is... having a distant, strict father and a disappearing mother. I recently found out my mother was working with the Neverseen and it was... awful. I always thought it would be my father."

Adrien looked up at Keefe. "I guess we both didn't exactly get the luckiest in the parent department, huh?"

"No," Keefe agreed. "But we got pretty lucky in the friends department, which I'll be forever grateful for."

Everyone smiled, even Adrien. As the limousine pulled up near the school, he pointed to a few students running up the steps.

"That's Chloe," he pointed out. "She's been a friend of mine since childhood, but she can act quite rich and spoiled sometimes. It's probably best for you to stay out of her way."

Sophie and Biana exchanged a look, both clearly thinking of Stina. "Alright."

Adrien pointed to a tall boy in a baseball cap, walking up the stairs next to a girl with curly brown hair. "That's Nino, my best friend. He's really nice and will definitely warm up to you guys immediately. I think you'll like him, Dex, he's really into technology. Next to him is Alya, his kind-of girlfriend. She's also really sweet, but she's really intuitive so be careful what you say around her."

"She runs the Ladyblog, right?" Sophie remembered.

"That's correct." Adrien smiled as he gestured to a blue-haired girl dashing down the street towards the school. "And that's Marinette. She's good friends with Alya and I think we're on friend terms... although I really can't tell. She never seems to talk to me much."

Sophie grinned. "Oh we've already met her. Ladybug sent her to show us around Paris after you both left."

"That's great!" Adrien opened the door and stepped out of the limo. "Then we can work with her as well, right?"

"Right." The elves slowly walked out of the limo and towards the school. "French school... here we come."