I had sunk into my book as soon as I was home again.

‘When the second daughter married, and the youngest was again invited to the wedding, she said to the Lion, ‘This time I will not go alone, you must come too.’
But the Lion said it would be too dangerous, for if a gleam of light touched him he would be changed into a Dove and would have to fly about for seven years.
‘Ah,’ said she, ‘only go with me, and I will protect you and keep off every ray of light.’’

A sharp knock came at my door.

“Come in!” I called, trying to get back to the story as the door creaked open.

“Where did you go today?” Chat asked, sitting on the bed.

“Uh, for a walk, why?”

“No, I was thinking it would be nice to have breakfast together with the bread we made yesterday.” I set aside my book.

“I’m sorry.” I didn't meet his eyes and stayed quiet for a moment. “Hey, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Why won't you let Ladybug deakumatize you?” This time he looked away.

“Where is this coming from? Did she ask you to talk to me about this? When were you both talking?”

“No, I just, it doesn't make sense.”

“I can do much more good like this, I’m better like this.” I was silent for a moment, a request sat on my tongue, my mind debating the pros and cons of asking. “What are you thinking?”

“Can you do something for me please-”

“No I’m not giving up the Akuma!”

“Please! I beg of you, this isn’t you!”

“You don’t know me!” the room fell silent.

He took a long, ragged breath in and released it with sharply calm words “I’m not interested in having this argument. I won’t restrict you from going anywhere, but I’m going to be in the library all day and I think it’d be best if we both kept to ourselves for the time being.”

“Agreed.” My throat tightened, holding back tears. Chat left me alone to my thoughts.

I waited five beats before I crumbled into a ball with harsh, tearless sobs. “I just want my Chaton back, I want my Chat who loves puns and helping others back.” I murmured into my knees.

I can’t wait two more weeks. I thought I was starting to get him back for a short while yesterday but I can’t escape from reality that easily. Again, I’m alone, no T for the rest of the day, no Tikki for however long, no Chat, Kagami, parents, Alya, Nino, Rose, Julika, the rest of the class. Goodness, I even went to Lila for comfort this morning I was so lonely.

“Ugh!” My sadness and pain had contorted itself into anger and frustration. My temperature rose as I started attacking the bed. I felt a slight chill through it all, running up and down my spine but I was too focused on destroying the mattress. Part of me was tempted to shred it but I restrained myself, I just needed to let out all of my emotions.

My nails dug into my palms as I slid off the bed, the marble floor cold beneath my feet. I must admit, I feel better, not anymore alone than before, but it was nice to unbottle those feelings.

I aggressively paced my room, gnawing on my thumb, to think, just a month ago, I wanted time to slow down and now it’s not moving fast enough. A month ago, I was afraid of being a werewolf and now that’s the least of my problems. I couldn’t care less about being a werewolf but I think I was so obsessed with being one before that it made Chat obsess over it as an akuma. Not think, know.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice I had left to the hall and had already venchered a distinct distance from my room. Leaning up against a wall, I sighed, letting my face fall into my hands, this is all my fault. The argument and the akuma, if I had just not inflated the situation either times, If I had just opened up, we wouldn’t be in this situation. If I had just told Chat what was wrong, what was going on, if I hadn’t given the man, paul so much power over me, if I had just gotten over my fear, everyone would be fine.

As much as I’d love to stand here, marinating in my regrets and sorrows, that won’t help anything. I can’t really do much for now, but maybe I can try making that quiche. Maybe it’ll help me sort out my thoughts.

Somehow I found the kitchen again in this huge house. I opened the doors to find someone in there already at work as my nose was assaulted by the warm scent of chilli.

They glanced my way at the door before having to do a double take.

“Mi-miss!” they bowed awkwardly. “Is there something I could get you?”

“No no, sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.” I waved off his question. “I was hoping to use the kitchen myself.”

“Well there's plenty of space.” he motioned to the rest of the counters across the vast room. “What are you planning on making?”

I slipped an apron over my head and started tying it up. “Just a simple quiche.” I shrugged. “You wouldn’t happen to have a good recipe, would you?” they nodded to a cookbook tucked neatly in a small cupboard.

“Check that one, it should have one.”

I nodded. “Thanks.” I flipped it open, thumbing through the pages until I found the recipe.

Setting the book aside on the counter, I took to pulling out the ingredients and supplies.
“So…” the other chef grasped for small talk. “...Akumas…”

“Mhm?” I raised an eyebrow towards him.

“How did you get caught in the middle of one?” I paused in the middle of my task, taken aback by their question.

“It’s a, long story.” I resumed what I was doing, not interested in telling my story.

“Did you know Chat personally?”

Sighing, looked away. “Yeah,” My shoulders slumped. “I- he helped me a bit.”

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean too-.” he stopped, figuring better of it and the air felt heavy.

“No, it’s alright, I understand, everythings a bit weird right now and- you know?” I did my best to keep the conversation light but everything just seemed too real. I need Bunnix to come help fix everything, I need Tikki and T to help me figure everything out, I can’t do this alone.

“Who are they?” I glanced fearful at the chef.

“Pardon?” My eyes were wide as he said his next bit.

“You know, Bunnix, Tikki, and T?”

“Did I- I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize I was speaking- I thought-!”

“It’s okay!” they hurried to reassure me. “It was an accident, you don’t have to tell me anything. But if I may lend some insight, you don’t need to do anything alone. You may be isolated from everyone, but they’re still there. Don’t isolate from yourself if that seems to be all you have left.”

“How would I do that?” I met their eyes, mine would have been misting if I hadn’t cried myself dry just an hour ago.

“Well, you need to stay strong, don’t put yourself down because then you’ll really be lonely. Your friends are by your side no matter how far they may seem, but the second you find yourself turning on you is the moment you lose sight of them. I’m sure those people you mentioned still have your back, you just can’t see them right now, no one can see well when they’re in the dark.”

I started preparing the filling. “How do you give such good advice?”

He shrugged, adding a few more spices into the chilli. “I don’t, I just spew random words that seem to go together, together and let the listener decide what it means for themself just hoping it helps.”

“Well it really does, maybe I should try turning on a light.”

“That’s the spirit!” He pulled on a big grin cheering me up.

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Hi, sorry im posting so late, i had a lot of things to do for school and I wanted to work on them next chapter first. I hope you enjoyed the little excerpt of the tale 'The Lady and the Lion' its one of my favorite fairy tales and I think its really underrated. Thank you so much for reading and i hope you have an amazing week!