Always Find You

Chapter 9 - "She's Not Here"

It's 7 o'clock sharp when Adrien gets up the next morning to sneak Marinette's Miraculous back to her.
"Hey Tikki," He greets, "How'd you sleep last night?"
"I would've been fine, except I forgot how much Plagg snores." She gives the other kwami a sideways look.
"Well, you're going back with Marinette today, so you're probably not going to have that problem again," The boy shrugs.
He puts on his go-to outfit and heads out the door.
"Hopefully she's still asleep and not freaking out about her missing earrings," Adrien says to the kwamis, "Plagg, claws out!"
His suit materializes around him. He grabs his staff and uses it to launch himself towards the bakery.
Chat lands on the balcony with a small thud and quietly opens the trap door.
"Marinette?" He whispers, not seeing her in bed from his birds-eye view. He shrugs in Tikki's direction and jumps down onto the mattress below.
"I sure hope she isn't freaking out abou-" Adrien stops mid-sentence as he suddenly notices the terrible state of the room.

"Marinette?" He says, a little louder this time, "Are you in here?" No answer.

"Maybe she tore the place apart looking around for me?" Tikki suggests hopefully.
Adrien wants to believe it, but his gut tells him that something is wrong; terribly wrong.
He jumps off the loft and looks in all the possible hiding spots the girl could be.
"Something's not right, Tikki." He says after giving up his search.

"Here, I'll search around the rest of the house, she's gotta be here somewhere," Tikki disappears through the floor for a good two minutes before coming back up and announcing, "Nothing. She's not here."

Adrien notices the bag Marinette had last night, still lying on the bed. He climbs back up the ladder and opens it to find her cellphone and a few other items,  "She wouldn't just leave her phone if she went somewhere, would she?"

Tikki and Adrien only look between each other, both knowing the answer. She watches as he paces back and forth while trying to think of something.

"I can't be positive, but Marinette may be in trouble. I need to tell her parents," He concludes.
Tikki, one step ahead says, "But you're not even supposed to be up here. You can't tell them without looking suspicious."

"You're right," He pauses to think some more, "I've got it. Follow me."
Adrien grabs Marinette's cellphone and then seeks out the stairs leading outside, making sure nobody sees him before he transforms back into his normal self. He then goes to the front door of the bakery and opens it, once again hearing the ring of the door's bell.
Mr. Dupain finishes ringing up a customer for a croissant before turning his attention to Adrien.

"Hi, is Marinette here?" The boy immediately asks, trying to keep his voice from quivering.

"Oh," Tom glances towards the stairs, "She should be up getting ready for school. What do you need?"

"Umm, she forgot something last night, and she needs to get it immediately."

"If it's that important, I can give it to her before she heads out. What is it?"

"Oh, uh," he scrambles for the phone in his pocket, "Here."

"I'll make sure she gets it. Thanks, son."

Adrien gives a small forced smile before dashing out the door. He needs someone to realize she's gone. What if she's in trouble and he can't do anything about it?
His head swirls with the possibilities, and he rubs his eyes to keep any tears from forming. He heads to school, hoping things will become clearer afterwards.

~ ~ ~

Author's Note:
Hey guys, sorry for the last few chapters being pretty short! Not to worry, the next one should be plenty long, maybe even longer than Ch. 6. 😉
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