No matter how far the distance, she lunged it. Night was her comfort, the stars were her allies, and the brushing wind was her first love. She put faith in these three in hopes for some form of an escape.

Flashlights flickered on and off from the ground below. This hadn't been her first time-and every other time she hoped it would be her last. But as long as she was bound to her oath and wore that attire, they would continue their pursuit.

Midnight hair pulled up high to match the cloak of night around her, eyes like black buttons, and a red mask with black dots pasted about it-she was their mortal enemy, and her allegiances' trump card.

Bullets sliced the air. She tumbled with a cry.

CHAPTER IV: "SHE"

"She's arrived."

Félix stopped, eyebrows narrowing, releasing the drawer handle.

When 'she' was brought up in any fathomable discussion, flakes of vomit seemed to beg for release from Félix's throat. He didn't like her, and he wouldn't hide it. After all, dealing with 'her' was not a pleasant experience, and the fact that 'she' had even arrived certainly would not make for a warm night.

He snatched his ebony gloves off from a rarely touched bed, snapping them on.

"Take me to her."

"Certainly," said Nathalie.

And so he'd proceed to his doom, walking white hallways with enough oxygen space to supply a trip to Mars. Whatever reason she needed to be here, he would turn the thing on her designer heels and out the front door. She was annoying, she was an ugly stain.

And she was pending Adrian's fiancee. Pending because it hadn't been fully established yet. Just the thought sent prickles up his arms, though he was free of outward reaction (other than the obvious knit in his brows). Félix wasn't a fan of this life, but he was a #1 of Adrian's, and wanted him to marry whoever he desired.

The echo of her voice bounced on the walls the minute he turned a corner, placing a hand on the staircase rail, chandeliers bursting his view into light.

There she was, having a conversation he could care less about with their butler. She was annoying, she was an ugly stain, she was Adrien's fiancee.

She was Chloe Bourgeois.

The progress of his footsteps was all it took for the unwanted (but not unwelcomed) visitor to crane her neck and meet his eyes. He felt his innards jump at the lock, frowning in disgust at that Cruella smirk.

She waved an elegant hand to him, "Fe-fe! Up and about? Then again, it is that time for your kind to awake."

He quirked a brow. "Your kind?"

"The vampires."

He gave her an eyeroll. That's all he'd give her.

"Why are you here, Bourgeois?"

She played a look of hurt on that painted face. "Fe-fe," a hand placed to her chest, "I thought we were finally on first name basis!"

"'Fe-fe' is not first name basis-stop calling me that."

Her eyes rolled-the only thing they had in common.

God, let it stay that way.

She crossed her arms with a sass-spread smile. The click of her heels began to circle where Félix stood in that grand entranceway.

"Geesh, even after all of this time you're still a wet blanket. Don't you have anything better to say to your future sister-in-law?"

Pending future sister-in-law.

"Answer my question first."

She stopped behind him, gazing at the vest on his back. "What, will you reconsider being nicer to me?"

"Easier goals, Bourgeois."

He wouldn't even turn to look her in the eye. That earned a sour look. Chloe began examining her recently polished nails. "If you must know, I'm meeting your precious daddy for dinner."

His eyes widened. Yes, Chloe was a close friend of the family, so it was only natural she and Gabriel had some sort of communication. But alone? Together?

And knowing Gabriel Agreste, private meetings over a table were never meant for 'catching up'.

Félix met her eyes. The very expression he imagined was washed over her face. Pursed lips smiling viciously and the stare of a lion. He hated how she lowered her lashes. He hated the slight upturn of the corner of her lip.

And he hated how she was currently messing with her nails.

This behavior always meant one thing.

"For what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Bingo. Why would the reincarnation of Cruella De Vil bother indulging his concerns? The answer-no reason at all.

Félix sighed under his breath, "I pity Adrien."

Chloe perked and stomped a foot. "What!?"

But maybe Félix was just audible enough for it to be heard. Chloe seethed in her spot as she watched him turn his head. Chloe met his eyes. They were looking down at her like an ant, as if doing more than taking advantage of the height difference. She hated how his eyes narrowed. She hated how he never removed his hands from his pockets.

And she hated how he always looked at her like a mouse in a trap.

"Yes, I'll let her know." Nathalie lowered the phone to her chest, approaching the two promptly. "Miss Bourgeois, Mr. Agreste has arrived. The limo waits outside for you."

They locked eyes with Nathalie, then with each other in pure silence. Félix stepped out of her way, lacking verve as usual.

"Ladies first."

She chuckled through her nose, walking past him. "You're not going, remember?"

He watched her stride out with a sour look. There wasn't a shroud of doubt in either of their minds.

They truly despised one another.

Biyu's eyes ogled her extravagant surroundings. Throughout her years of hoodlum operations, the Cheng had seen her fair share of riches and wasted money on stupidly lavish things, but a restaurant this top-notch was something only 'she' would definitely pick for a casual dinner.

Though the lump in her throat knew casual had greater meanings. Ones that disagreed with moral values.

She felt her wallet vanish into thin air simply standing at the waiting area. The walls were rimmed with golden mantles and designs, and the theme of red and whites blended well. Waiters in full uniform walked with their noses high and towelettes slung over their arms. Each piece of furniture looked to be a hefty price.

A simple place to eat should not have had so much space and so many floors.

"Do you have a reservation, ma'am?"

"Yes, my name is Biyu Cheng-"

"-Miss Cheng, right. We've been expecting you. May we take your coat?"

She looked behind her to see another man standing there, motioning towards the coat rack. She waved him off.

"No, I'm good."

"Certainly. Right this way."

They lead her through tables spaced out at least 10 feet between each other, the buzzing of snooty voices and million-dollar champagnes filled the atmosphere. If 'she' was here, then that meant only the best restaurant would suit her tastes.

"Here is your table, miss Cheng." The waiter pulled out a dark red leather chair. Biyu's eyes flickered up to a spine-tingling look.

There she gazed, eyes a dark green color that could cut the air, black eyeshadow dusting her lids. Her jet black hair had been combed and sprayed into submission in that same silver dragon hair piece. Her lips were painted with dark lipstick, and she wore a black figure-fitting dress. Her long fingers were laced together, chin leaning on them. She looked like she hadn't aged a day, nonetheless changed at all. Everything was the same.

Including the two men in black sitting on both sides of her. They were definitely armed, and knowing the old crow, she probably was too.

"[Do you need my cue? Hurry and sit.]"

Biyu did so, almost too much on reflex. The waiter pushed her in and bowed his head to them.

"I'll give you some time to order."

A laminated menu was placed down. Biyu turned, "Oh, I don't intend on staying too long-"

"Leave the menu." The older woman looked to the waiter and waved him off. He nodded.

"Yes ma'am."

Biyu watched as he left and met the woman's eyes with hesitance. Her name was Siwang-hua. "Flower of death" is what it translated into. It was an appropriate name, as she was shrouded in mature and elegant beauty, but at the same time carried the atmosphere of the Grim Reaper. Biyu liked to refer to her out of presence as "The Dragon Lady".

She had to have been in her mid fifties right now. The fact that she preserved herself to look 20 years younger always shocked Biyu. It made her very existence even more terrifying.

Biyu looked from the menu to Siwang. "[I don't have the money to-]"

"[You don't invite guests to dinner without the intention of paying.]"

"[-okay.]"

For a woman with almost no morals, her attentiveness to courtesy remained as strict as ever. Biyu opened the menu with haste. The prices already turned her to stone. She didn't want to owe the woman anything, sure, but that much for a glass of wine?

Siwang tapped a long nail on the table, turning to one of her subordinates. "[Pour her a glass.]"

Biyu looked up. She was so stressed out with the idea of being in this woman's presence she hadn't even noticed two bottles of wine standing right on the table. All of a sudden there was a glass sitting before her. The ruby liquid glistened from chandelier lights.

"[We'll start with that.]"

Biyu was already imagining what one sip could cost. Maybe it would turn her intestines to gold. Even so, she began to drink in tiny doses.

"[It's been six years since I last saw you.]"

Siwang's expression and tone were still very stone like. Biyu had never seen those lips ever smile unless Siwang intended to win at something.

Win meant killing another person.

"[You've matured quite beautifully. I see you took at least some advice on how to dress from me.]"

She paused reaching for her own glass.

"[Though your choice of material remains tacky.]"

Of course. Anything that wasn't over 400 was 'tacky'.

"[Hurry and tell me why I'm here. Beating around the bush isn't like you.]"

Siwang let out a short breath, sitting up. "[You're right.]"

"[Biyu, have you met with the Agreste's at all recently?]"

The younger Cheng almost choked on air. She felt her chest tighten, memories of recently meeting with the head honcho himself rolling in like waves.

Siwang huffed through her nose. "[Hmph. Knew it.]"

"[How did you know?]"

They gazed at each other for what felt like an eternal ten seconds. The answer clicked in Biyu's head. "[Have… have you been watching us?]"

"[Zihua is of no importance to me. I've only been watching you.]"

It was terrifying. Biyu usually noticed immediately if someone were to follow her. Yet Siwang always got away with unwarranted surveillance. Nobody ever figured out how or dared to question it.

She continued, "[One of my resources reported you entering a vip lounge where the Godfather himself sometimes resides.]"

"[You don't think I'm betraying the brotherhood, do you?]"

"[I don't know.]" The woman began tilting the glass, watching the wine shift and spin in the crystal mold. "[Which is why I felt it necessary to bring you a test.]"

Here it came. There was only one reason Siwang-hua needed to contact Biyu. It was never over money, it was never over life-at least theirs' collectively. Siwang wasn't just any ordinary woman. She had her finger on everyone she crossed.

"[... You want me to assassinate someone.]"

The woman smirked. That was it. The only time she ever smiled.

"[Such ways is necessary. It's the ultimate solution to earn trust, right?]" Siwang blinked over. "[Would you like my trust, Biyu? Or would you rather be painted as an Agreste convert?]"

No. That would only put Biyu in a shallow grave-and then Zihua would be the next masked pawn for this archdemon. She now realized the weight of the situation she had attended to. There was no room for saying "no".

Nobody refused the Godmother's requests and lived.

She slumped her shoulders, leaning back in that plush chair. "[... Who's the target?]"

Siwang paused, nodding her head. The guard sitting on her left reached into his tuxedo pocket, putting out a rectangle box wrapped in paper and an indigo bow.

"[Purple is your favorite color is it not? For both you and Zihua.]"

Biyu understood the threat in that statement. She took the box into her hands. This was how Siwang-hua did business. She'd hide necessary information on Biyu's targets in a present box. It was less suspicious that way.

And it was always tied with an indigo bow.

"[Open that when you get home.]"

There was a pause. It was like she took three strides forward, then fifteen back. She lowered her eyes. "[Of course.]"

"Apologies for the wait, ladies." The waiter stood sharp with a pen and notepad at ready. "What would you like to order?"

Biyu listened to Siwang fire off an order too complicated and tailored to mentally absorb. The waiter seemed to keep up just fine, though. He turned to Biyu, waiting for a response, "and you miss?"

"Oh, uh, I'll have the same thing."

He raised a brow, then scribbled it down. "We'll be right with you."

The two began sipping their wine, total silence between them. Biyu's mind was clouded with questions. She was eager to see who her target actually was, and why Siwang thought them worthy of death. There was always at least one reason, but that didn't necessarily mean they were good enough.

Death was a game to her, after all.

"[So, how are you getting to know your niece? Just fine, I assume?]"

Choking cured the silence.

"This really is a splendid place, Mr. Agreste. You have wonderful taste as usual."

Gabriel smiled down at Chloe. "My son's future wife deserves the best, and you have good memories here, do you not?"

Chloe still remembered the day her and Adrien's matrimony was proposed. They were just children, sitting at this very restaurant. Chloe was beside her father. Adrien was directly across from her, and so was Gabriel. Unlike the present, it happened during an early, sunny afternoon. Félix was nowhere to be found, thankfully. The possibility of their engagement was announced, and she was quite the ecstatic girl. However, Adrien only smiled as if it were rehearsed, or like he didn't really have an opinion to begin with. The look on his face from that past killed her mood a little, and she sipped her sparkling apple cider.

"That being said, what is the occasion?"

"I can't be generous?"

"No, you can!" That came out a bit too defensive. No matter how arrogant and holy she presented herself, Gabriel Agreste was terrifying. He smiled on the outside, but nobody was capable of interpreting that smile as something good.

Adrien was the only Agreste who didn't put her off somehow.

She cleared her throat, "It's just that usually you'd invite my father, and that's why I'd be here. Or you'd invite Adrien and I, but it's just me today. Not only that, but we're eating in the very place Adrien and I's engagement was brought up."

Gabriel chuckled, placing his wine glass down. "Sharp-very detailed as well." He then folded his fingers, dressed in pure white gloves. "Chloe, you know Adrien's mother, right?"

Of course she did. She used to sit in the woman's lap when they were young. Mrs. Agreste was the only woman she'd outwardly admit to being envious of when it came to beauty.

"Yes, she was a magnificent woman. I can't imagine how it is for you guys with her gone… To be honest, she was like a second mother to me."

A smile played on his lips as he reached into his pocket, "glad to hear it."

Chloe's eyebrows lifted when he suddenly pulled out a box. He opened it to show a silver ring, emeralds cut to shape a flower on the top. He simply left it resting for her to stare at.

"I-Isn't that-"

"This was the ring I gave to Adrien's mother when I proposed to her. And now…"

She gasped as he took her hand, sliding it onto Chloe's ring finger.

"... I want you to have it."

A blush formed on her cheeks, eyes glued to the jewelry. "M-Mr. Agreste-"

He cupped her hand into his own. "Chloe, with this I would like to make it official. Before it was simply an arrangement, and now it is the future. Marry my son and stay by his side."

She could practically feel her eyes tearing up. Her hand shook, and she pulled it away, staring deeply into the green stones. "A-are you sure it's okay for me to have this?"

"She would have wanted you to."

That was when she became antsy in her seat, smiling brightly. The girl somehow leapt out of her chair and managed to wrap her arms around him. "Thank you so much! I promise to take good care of it!"

"Haha."

His chuckled snapped her out of it. She immediately backed off and dusted his white suit. "I-I'm sorry! I just got overwhelmed!"

"It's alright."

Chloe cleared her throat, "I need to use the bathroom. I'll be back!"

"Take your time."

And then she scurried off. As soon as she vanished, Gabriel let out a sigh, his face relaxing.

He gazed his ice blues into the dark void beyond the window. A finger tapped on the table.

Chloe spent the next ten minutes on the lowermost floor, gazing at the ring in different angles of the hallway. Sure, Adrien didn't put it on himself, but it still made her happy. Him putting on the actual wedding band would be just fine.

Now that she thought about it, she did pick at this ring on Mrs. Agreste's finger some time ago, but she was so small it was barely memorable. Mrs. Agreste's face floated in the back of her mind, and then created images of her standing at the altar with her beau.

Only to be interrupted by Félix's face as best man. Her smile dropped and she began flailing her arms about. "You don't get to be in my happiness!"

Her stomping feet lead her down the hall. That was right. She'd marry Adrien, but she'd also have to deal with that cranky vampire as a brother-in-law. Chloe and Adrien would need their own place. Maybe when Félix sunk so low to homelessness again he could come crawling and begging for them to take him in.

She ravished that idea. Her, looking down on Félix for once. This made the future all but more exciting-

"How do you know about Marinette?"

Chloe stopped, blinking and looking around the corner. She spotted two well dressed Asian women sitting at a table, overly curious.

Did I mishear?

"She is your sister's daughter. How could I not know?" said the older woman. "And keep your voice down."

Suddenly she said a string of words Chloe couldn't understand. The younger woman began to join in those weird string of words. It definitely wasn't French anymore. What was it-Chinese?

Chloe didn't know one word of Chinese. Was the woman sitting there Marinette's aunt?

Oh, they were firing off so quickly at each other it was hard to even tell. But the argument did start to sound heated. There looked to be an air of tension.

Wait-wasn't there a thing going on between Marinette and Félix some time ago as well?

She leaned on the wall, thinking for a moment. The glitter of her new ring brought her attention back to cloud nine, and she started heading back.

Marinette wasn't important. As long as she didn't get in the way of her love life, it was all okay. Marinette could have Félix. Maybe the two would stay away somewhere together.

She stopped in her tracks. Félix always did seem alone. Too alone, even. Almost like he was empty.

She stood there silently, pressing a thumb to her mouth in thought.

A devious smile curled on her lips.

"This could be fun."

Adrien found himself standing at Félix's door. He inhaled, rehearsing lines in his head. Félix never talked about what happened between him and Marinette. Sometimes he'd dodge the questions entirely-almost literally.

Yet his feet still found themselves at that door. Just one question. One simple question.

Adrien knocked.

"Bro, are you in there? Can we talk?"

Silence. Drawn out silence. The boy raised a brow. He'd knock one more time.

"Félix-"

Creak.

The door pushed open upon the second knock. Adrien's eyes lead to the newly formed crack and peeked into the room. Did he actually forget to close the door all of the way?

"Félix? Hello?"

Adrien entered an empty room. There was no way his brother was here. Adrien's reasoning?

The window was unlocked, something he always noticed first whenever Félix went missing. His brother was probably doing more dirty work. The thought put a bit of pressure on Adrien's chest, and he simply walked over to the bed.

His gloves are gone…

Which also meant he was definitely gone.

There was barely a wrinkle on the blankets or pillows. It was like Félix never slept or stayed home. That made things kind of lonely. Without thinking, Adrien plopped right down on the mattress in deep thought. He fiddled with his fingers.

Félix used to be involved with Marinette, I know that much… but now they don't even make eye contact, I'm sure.

Could it be-could it be because Marinette is a Cheng? But that can't be. She has a different surname and everything.

You can't generalize someone just because they're Asian, Adrien. Not all Chinese people are Chengs.

Yet his previous encounter with Marinette's supposed cousin bothered him. Also, the woman who was watching in the car as well. They knew him. They didn't just know of him. Maybe they were affiliated somehow and she wasn't involved?

He looked over at the nightstand, which looked to have been collecting dust over time. His hand hovered over the drawer. Félix always leaned on this when Adrien came in. What was so important he needed to hide?

His hand hovered for a moment. It started reaching over.

Bam.

"Adrien!"

The boy jerked. His father was home.

"C-coming!"

He dashed out of the room. Those thoughts still nagged his mind, but a call from his father was of the utmost importance. He dashed down the hall and to the stairs, only to be met with a surprise that silenced his original greeting.

Chloe was walking arm-in-arm with his dad. She had a bright expression on her face.

She waved, he jogged down the stairs to greet them.

"Chloe-this is a surprise. What are you two doing together-"

Something familiar twinkled on her hand. He knew that ring. He had an infatuation with that ring.

Adrien fell silent, eyes slightly widened.

"Glad you could join us, son."

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME I AM SO SORRY. The chapter is still half-baked even after all of this time and I apologize!

I've been very busy, but I remembered that people actually still like this fic, so I thought I'd continue it for you beautiful people. I hope you enjoy my fumbles and somehow still manage to take something from this to enjoy! ; - ;

Have a good one, babes!