When Walls Crumble

Chapter 28: Parting Ways

Cat Noir sat with Marinette, alternatingly laughing with her over happy memories and letting her cry over a painful one. Once she was asleep, he carefully pulled her blanket over her and closed the door softly. He walked down the hall to the cabin he had been using and crashed on the bed.

"Claws in," he sighed. Plagg melted out of the ring and wasted no time with pleasantries. "You've been Cat Noir for too long. I need some cheese and I need it now.

Adrian chuckled. "Good to see you too, Plagg. You know where the cheese is."

Plagg phased into the bottom desk drawer and came out again with an unpleasantly aromatic slice of Camembert. "Good job with Marinette, by the way. That kind of emotion is hard to deal with and you nailed it."

"Thanks Plagg. Now eat that before it stinks up the room."

Plagg shrugged. "Your loss," he tossed it down his gullet. "Don't you have to call that Kagami girl?"

"She's probably asleep by now. It's one in the morning. Also, you know I don't like checking the phone."

Plagg shrugged. "Unless your dad hears some answer from you, he's going to call the police. Then you'll have to be transformed all the time and I won't get my cheese. It's been a month. I think you can tell him that you found out and he no longer has any tie to you whatsoever."

Adrian cringed. "That's harsh. Besides, he's my father. I still love him even if I am having a hard time coming to terms with this."

"Then why haven't you opened any of his messages?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"That he'll have some excuse that sounds so forced and fake that it drains every last bit of familial tie I have to him or a reason that makes me doubt that I was on the right side of this whole fight. I don't think I can handle that."

Plagg sighed. "I'll read it for you and tell you what you need to know if you want."

Adrian tossed the cell phone towards the kwami. Plagg hovered around it for a few minutes and then the typically loquacious kwami looked up silently.

"That bad?" Adrian asked.

Plagg shook his head. "The good news is that your father isn't a sadistic psychopath who takes joy in the suffering of others, unlike Lila. The bad news is...he does have a reason. And it's a good one. However, he doesn't know the consequences it might have. You were definitely right to stop him."

"What is it?"

"You sure you want to know? You've had a lot of hard stuff to deal with this past month."

"I want to know. Tell me, please."

Plagg shrugged. "He wanted to bring back your mother."

Adrian buried his face in his hands. "I guess I'm not that surprised. But...what do you mean, I was right to stop him?"

Plagg sighed. "The person to master the creation and destruction miraculous gets one reality-altering wish. But the universe will balance itself back out. A wish dealing with life and death? I don't even want to think about the consequence. And it isn't just random. By wishing for his wife back, he probably...the price to pay would have been another life. Probably one close by. Most likely, you. And I don't think your father could take that."

Adrian stared at the wall.

"Adrian? Are you ok?"

The young man stood up, picking up his phone. "I guess so. I just feel very deceived."