Half Way

A Mother, A Father and Daybreak

Marinette needed to get the most important part out first. "It's your mother, Adrien. She never disappeared."

Adrien scrunched up his face. "What are you talking about? She's been gone for over a year now. No one knows what happened to her."

The girl shook her head sadly. "She didn't disappear. She's still here. Your... your father hid her in a secret part of the house."

He just stared at her in disbelief as she continued speaking. "Plagg and Tikki found her last night. She's still alive but she's asleep, like she's in a coma..."

"That's not true," Adrien finally said, interrupting her. "Marinette, please tell me that's not true."

She paused for a second. "It's true," she whispered, looking down.

He looked over at Tikki, who nodded dismally.

Unable to stay seated, he stood up and took a couple of steps away, running his fingers through his hair. Marinette also stood and followed him. After a minute he turned around to her. They looked at each other before Adrien reached forward and hugged her, sobbing into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Adrien," she whispered.

He cried for a minute until he spoke. "She's still alive?"

Marinette nodded.

Another minute passed by as Adrien continued crying. "I can't believe this. I can't believe that my father would hide this from me. Letting me wonder what happened to her." He shook his head. "And he knew this whole time."

Tightening his grip on her, he pulled Marinette closer. "I thought she was dead," he said, sniffling. "I knew that she would never abandon us so I just assumed that something bad happened to her and she died. That would be the only reasonable explanation why she never came back."

Marinette listened to him. She couldn't imagine what he must have been feeling.

"And he's been hiding her away from me," he continued, now with some anger. "I don't care that she's in a coma. I could have seen her. I could have held her hand or given her a hug. I could have told her that I love her. And who knows, maybe she could have felt me or heard me. She could have known that I was there, thinking about her and missing her."

He tightened his grip again as his whole body shook slightly. A few more sobs came out before he finally let go and moved back to see Marinette. He put his hand to her face and rubbed his thumb across her cheek. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for telling me this Princess."

She nodded, leaning into his touch.

"Can we go see her?" he asked.

Marinette looked over at Tikki.

"I don't know how you'd get down there," the kwami said. "There seems to be some sort of elevator that leads to her from your father's study, but I have no idea how it works."

Adrien shook his head in frustration. "This is crazy," he muttered.

"I'm so sorry," Marinette repeated.

He gave her a weak smile. "I already told you, don't you ever be sorry. This isn't your fault. You're an angel for telling me."

She looked at him sadly. "There's more."

His face fell. "More?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, but we don't have to talk about it tonight. I know there's already a lot to process. So if you want some time, we can wait an extra day."

Adrien quickly made his decision. "No, I don't want to wait. I want to know right now. I mean, it can't be any worse than what you already told me, right?"