❛𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄❜ ━ 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺

━━ 04

MARINETTE LOOKED UP FROM THE paper she held in her hands, her eyes landing on the house she was now standing in front of it. This is it. I'm here. She stammered at first, but finally had her knuckles make contact with the door. At first, it was quite silent, but a few more times, the knocking became louder and louder. She didn't even need to wait for long before the door was pulled opened and a man poked his head out.

When the man finally stepped out of the house, Marinette was able to fully see how he looked like. He was quite the tall man with a large build. He had short brown hair, green eyes, sideburns and a mustache. Marinette wrapped her arms around her small body in a tiny self-hug as the paper she'd been holding slipped out of her hands. The man's eyes had instantly broadened when he saw who it was and Marinette knew exactly why as well.

"Surprised to see me?" She'd muttered, drawing in a sharp breath while trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Marinette," The man breathed out. At first, he wanted to smile upon seeing the girl standing there, yet he couldn't as he could see the significant look on her face. He took ahold of his doorknob and nudged the door opened. "Please, come in. Let's have a chat inside." And Marinette followed him in.

He walked inside the kitchen and came back shortly holding a tray of different pastries as snacks. "Would you like anything to drink?" He asked as he placed the tray down on the glass table inside of the large living room. "I'm sure you do. Hold on, I'll be right back." And he walked away once again, this time coming back with an empty glass cup along with a much bigger glass of orange juice. He poured some juice inside of the glass cup and gently pushed it towards Marinette. "So, why are you here? How did you find me?"

"I came here to see you."

The man chuckled softly at the reply. "Yes, I know that, Marinette. You wouldn't have come here if you didn't want to talk to me. I just want to know how you found me and specifically why you came to see me."

"Is that it? I'm the one who owes you answers? You're the one who left!" Marinette had now molded her hands into fists, trying to cool down by inhaling and exhaling. "I can't even look at you and call you my Papa!"

"I know. I'm so sorry, Marinette," And he meant his apology with all of his heart. "I don't know what to say. I just-" He drew in a breath then as he just stood there, trying to decide wisely on the words he would use. "Things got hard, and I didn't want to trouble your mother at all. I had to leave. I'm sorry I really can't explain, and I don't expect you to understand either. Life just became too hard."

Marinette wanted to stay mad, having a huge part of her life being taken away from her, but she just couldn't. Rather than feeling the anger, looking at her father's face made her feel culpable instead, as if some part of his leave was her fault. She inhaled, before nodding her head in understanding, not wanting to ask any more questions relating to him leaving. "I actually came for another reason, and I would like an explanation-"

"That's okay, Marinette. I already know," The man interrupted before she could finish her entire sentence. "I know we may be on a rough path right now, so you can call me Tom if you want. I saw you on the news, using your ability to save those lives, though looking at your face, it didn't look as if you'd anticipated it to happen at all, so I take it that this is the first time you're experiencing your ability."

Marinette nodded.

"I transferred my ability over to you," Tom smiled as he sat down on another couch, "because my ability was what was getting me sick. I had power-sickness, so it was either I transferred my power over to someone else and have a higher chance of surviving, or keeping it and having a very low chance of surviving. I had to transfer, and I decided the best person to give it to would be you. Sabine was pregnant with you when I made that decision, so as soon as you were born, I didn't waste time at all to hand it over. Being power-sick was the reason I left. I was afraid I wouldn't. . . make it."