48. Of Books & Foxes
Arianne had been staring at her screen that showed Ethan Carter's email for solid ten minutes without writing anything.
"Are you gonna write to him or not?" questioned Thiago as he placed his cup of coffee in the sink to wash it later.
"I want to" replied the girl "But...I don't know if I'm ready to...you know, be an 'official' celebrity"
"I think you are, Arianne!" Jazmin spoke up "You've been working very hard. You deserve it!"
"Yeah, what's stopping you?" questioned Ayu, as Arianne sighed and closed her laptop.
"Honestly, I don't know" she replied and put in inside her bag "C'mon, we're gonna be late for school" Thiago and the two kwamis exchanged glances, wondering what really was preventing the girl from writing to Ethan, before catching up with her.
At school, the two of them caught up to Alya and Marinette, and everyone was talking about some Lila girl.
"Who's Lila?" questioned Arianne, staring at Alya curiously.
"She just started school!" replied their friend, and she pointed out to Lila in the second floor while flirting with Adrien, who seemed a bit uncomfortable. Arianne opened her eyes wide when she saw that, and her fists clenched. Thiago noticed this, and decided to do something about it before it got worse.
"Hey, guys, we'll catch up with you later, yeah?" he spoke up, grabbing Arianne from the shoulder and dragging her away before she could do anything stupid, as the other two girls watched after them with confused glances.
Once they were out of sight, he let her go.
"I had to take you away from there" he explained upon seeing Arianne's confused glance "You looked ready to punch that girl"
"I would have if you hadn't dragged me here" replied Arianne "But thanks, I guess. You saved me from the embarrassment of making a scene in front of Alya and Mari"
"No problem" he replied, shrugging her comment off "But...this was due to happen sooner or later" Arianne gave him a confused glance upon hearing that.
"What do you mean?" she questioned calmly.
"Well....someday another girl other than Chloe or Marinette would show interest in Adrien. I don't mean to push you or anything, but don't you think maybe it's time to talk to Marinette? You might lose Adrien if you don't do anything about your feelings" Arianne stayed silent, analysing his words, which did make some sense, but she didn't know what to say to him "It's alright. It was just a suggestion. Wanna hit the library before the bell rings?"
"Sure" Arianne nodded and they both went off.
The library turned out to be a terrible idea, 'cause Adrien and Lila were there. Arianne hadn't noticed, though, and Thiago made it his goal to make sure that she didn't.
"Hey, remember that history test we got next week?" he asked, looking at the girl.
"Oui. The one on WWII" replied the girl, and Thiago nodded.
"Exactly. Do you think that maybe you could help me find a book about it? Ours is missing some things"
"Sure" Arianne nodded and started to walk off in the direction where Lila and Adrien were sitting.
"I'll go this way!" said Thiago, grabbing her from the shoulders and turning her to the other direction. Arianne looked at him with a frown, but didn't say anything, she just did as told.
Jazmin's gaze then stood on the book that Adrien took out of his bag, and her eyes opened wide.
"Thiago, I need to take a closer look at the book Adrien's holding!" exclaimed the kwami, and Thiago opened his eyes wide when he saw the tiger standing on the shelf closer to Adrien and Lila to take a closer look at the book.
"Jazmin, get back here! Someone could see you!" Thiago whispered so Lila wouldn't hear. Adrien was not a problem, because he knew about Jazmin, but Lila didn't.
He was kneeling down now, trying not be seen as he gestured for Jazmin to come back, but the kwami had other plans.
"Jazmin!" Thiago called once more, and Adrien did hear this time. He looked around, and spotted Thiago hiding behind the bookshelf. He shot him a confused glance, as to which Thiago replied by gesturing at the top of the shelf with his head. Adrien followed his gaze, and saw Jazmin sitting there, who mouthed 'the book'. Adrien nodded, understanding the message, before looking back at Lila.
"Thiag, I found—" started Arianne, approaching Thiago, who immediately grabbed her from the shoulders and ducked her so she wouldn't see Adrien and Lila "Hey, what's going on?" she finally asked what she meant to ask, leaving the book she found on WWII at her side "You're acting weird"
"Nothing's going on, it's just that Jazmin wanted to stare at a book" Arianne frowned upon hearing that.
"A book? What book?" she crawled closer to Thiago to see. Thiago tried to stop her, but it was too late, she had seen them "What is she doing?!" questioned the girl in a whisper, trying to get a hold of herself. Thiago didn't know if she was talking about Jazmin or Lila, but chose not to ask.
"Oh, Ladybug!" exclaimed Lila upon seeing the pages dedicated to Ladybug, and the she turned it to find Loup d'Argent "Loup d'Argent!" Adrien was just staring at her quietly as she went through the pages "You know, I actually happen to be very close friends with Ladybug and Argent Loup" Arianne growled in annoyance.
"As if!" exclaimed the girl angrily, and Thiago was surprised to see that she hadn't punched Lila yet.
"Really?" questioned Adrien with a tad of interest.
"We can chat about it if you want!" replied Lila excited. She had been looking for the perfect opportunity to ask him out, not aware that Adrien wasn't interested in her in that way "Not here, though. Why don't we meet at the park after school and I'll tell you everything"
A loud sound then was heard, startling everyone there. Thiago saw a familiar figure hiding underneath the table where Adrien and Lila were sitting at.
"Marinette?" he questioned, and Arianne then spotted the girl, too "What is she doing?" Adrien's phone then vibrated.
"I gotta go!" he announced "I've got a lesson in 58 seconds!" he closed his books, and purposefully let his bag fall to the floor. He pushed the book far away from him so Jazmin could grab it, and she did, with a lot of effort since the book was quite heavy for her.
"What's so important about this book anyway?" questioned Thiago to the kwamis later that day at their house.
"Do you remember that Chinese man you met all those years ago in Spain?" questioned Jazmin, giving Thiago a curious glance, who frowned as he tried to remember.
"I think so..." he replied with a nod.
"His name is Master Fu, and this is his book. He's been searching for it for a very long time!" added Ayu, making Arianne frown.
"But why would Adrien have the book?" she questioned, and Thiago couldn't make sense of it, either.
"I don't know, but we have to return it to him! It's rightfully his!" replied Jazmin.
"Uh...guys?" called Ayu, staring at something through the window "We have a bigger problem" the three of them approached the window, and saw a freaking meteor falling down from the sky!
"What the hell?!" exclaimed Thiago.
"Volpina?" questioned Ladybug, as the masked quartet stared at Volpina standing on the roof of the city hall as the people cheered for her.
"Looks like we have a new partner" commented Chat Noir, while Loup d'Argent frowned.
"Don't you think this is a little bit weird?" she asked "Where did she come from?"
"And why didn't she show up before?" added Tigre Blanco, folding his arms "We've been fighting Hawkmoth for over a year, and now she suddenly decides to appear out of the blue?"
"Well, at least she got the job done" replied Chat Noir.
"I guess so" replied Loup "But...something's off"
"But if she hadn't been here—" started Chat Noir again, but Ladybug cut him off.
"I could've easily stopped that meteor myself" she stated, folding her arms proudly.
"Hey. Relax" stated Chat Noir upon seeing how defensive Ladybug was "I'm just saying she seems seriously awesome"
"Can't argue with that" replied Tigre Blanco. Being able to fly was super cool, not to mention having super strength "But I still don't like it"
"Hey, guys! Glad you dropped in!" Volpina was suddenly standing in front of them, holding a flute in her hands "I need a hand. C'mon!" she literally flew off, while the other four exchanged glances before following her.
They ended up hiding on a roof, and Hawkmoth was standing some roofs across from them.
"Hawkmoth?!" questioned Tigre Blanco "He never shows up!"
"That means that something big is going on" stated Ladybug, looking at her partners "Something really big!"
"We can take him down, but it's gonna take all five of us" stated Volpina, and proceeded to look at the boys "We better make the most of our individual talents"
"You can count on us" replied Chat Noir firmly, and Volpina got extremely close to them.
"Very nice to meet you by the way, Chat Noir and Tigre Blanco" she said flirtatiously "Cool outfits"
"Uh...thanks?" replied Tigre, not liking the way that girl was staring at him.
"You too, Volpina" replied Chat Noir politely, making the two girls look at them in disgust.
"First the meteor and now Hawkmoth, both in the same day?" questioned Ladybug "Don't you think that's a little bit unusual?" she added, looking at Loup d'Argent.
"Yeah, something's definitely off" agreed the wolf with a nod.
"Why would you say that?" questioned Volpina, and Ladybug rolled her eyes.
"I was talking to Loup d'Argent" she replied.
"I find you unusual today" stated Chat Noir, standing in front of them"Everything okay?"
"We are fine" replied the wolf girl rudely, before turning to look at Volpina "Say, Volpina. What's your miraculous again?"
"My necklace" replied Volpina, holding her necklace, which had the shape of the tail of a fox, before letting go of it.
"And what are your powers?" Ladybug spoke up again.
"The powers of flight and super strength" replied the girl once more, leaning challengingly close to Ladybug. The illusion of Hawkmoth then disappeared "He's getting away!" she announced, and the five of them went off. Hawkmoth was now standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower "Ladybug, go left. Chat Noir, Tigre Blanco, take right. Loup d'Argent, go up front, and I'll go from behind"
Ladybug then corrected her indications, and the heroes went off.
Loup was now supposed to go from behind, but on her way she got tackled by something, and almost fell if she hadn't held onto the rail of the Eiffel Tower just in time.
A maniac laugh was heard, and she narrowed her eyes angrily.
"What a surprise" she commented sarcastically, keeping her firm tone despite hanging from the Eiffel Tower just on top of the Seine river.
"Who could have thought that a wolf would be so easy to take down" commented Volpina, crouching in front of the girl, who was barely hanging from the rail "The question is, how long will you last?" she stepped on one of her fingers, making her groan in pain. As she kept smashing her fingers, Loup knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of that. She didn't have the necessary strength "Bye-bye, Loup d'Argent" she raised her feet to stomp on the remaining finger of the girl, but the wolf girl let go before she could.
Chat Noir froze on his spot when he saw the girl falling down from the Eiffel Tower and slice through the river water. He immediately stopped doing what he was supposed to do, and hurried to the river, before jumping inside to rescue his fallen friend.
Once he was deep down, a small figure floated towards him.
Ayu was gesturing desperately towards something on his right. Chat Noir followed his gestures, and saw her.
Arianne.
Her eyes were closed, as she slowly sunk to the bottom. That's when Chat Noir realised that Loup d'Argent was the girl he was in love with, Arianne. She had been right in front of him the whole time.
Chat Noir looked back at Ayu, and pointed out to him, before pointing out to the surface.
'Go back'
He then pointed at himself, and then at Arianne.
'I'll save her'
Ayu nodded, understanding the message, and went off.
Chat Noir dived in deeper towards Arianne and grabbed her from the waist, which was a lot of effort, not because she was heavy, but because he was running out of breath, but he needed to save Arianne. Nothing else mattered.
With one last effort, he finally reached the surface, and got out with a big gasp, to feel the fresh air filling up his lungs. Then, he dragged Arianne to the coast and knelt down in front of her.
"Arianne?" he questioned softly, removing a strand of hair from her face "Can you hear me? Please, say something. Come back to me"
She didn't.
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