Chapter 8

In which the author knows nothing about science (since she failed it twice) and knows ways too much about tea now.

Going out as Ladybug had been a bad idea.

Well, kind of. It numbed her soul again giving a sweet release from the hurting it had gone through.

She had never craved that numbness so much before. If she had been thinking clearly, she would probably say it was extremely unhealthy to numb herself.

But Marinette was not in fact thinking clearly. She only wanted to stop hurting.

Why couldn't things just go back to the way they were when she felt incomplete inside? Everything made sense then and nothing hurt. She lost her soulmate and, despite the missing piece weighing her soul down, she accepted that.

Now everything was a mess. She was berating herself for hoping in the first place. Who cares if Adrien had looked at her with a sweet smile but sad eyes. Chat Noir did the exact same thing earlier. Maybe everyone did that. Maybe she did that when she talked to people!

….Did she do that?

Maybe she was more out of it than she thought.

The brief talk with Chat had thrown her. He was acting so odd and strange. He kept changing the subject and confusing her and making her heart hurt.

She didn't know what she would have felt if her soul hadn't been numbed.

With a groan she collapsed in her bed, releasing Tikki in the process. The tired kwami floated down to nuzzle Marinette's cheek.

"Mari? You know Alya's downstairs right now?"

Marinette groaned into her pillow again.

Tikki nudged her face once more and Marinette picked her head up. "I know it's hard," Tikki placed her arms on Marinette's nose, "But you can't give up hope! Fate has a way of making everything turn out okay."

"Fate?" Marinette scoffed, "What has Fate done for me lately?"

Tikki sighed sadly, but backed up as Marinette got to her feet. She watched as her Ladybug walked downstairs to talk with her friend.

"Oh Marinette…."

Alya sat on one of the couches in the living room. Sabine sat next to her with a solemn look.

"I'm just really, really worried about her." Alya stressed looking at the older woman. "She's been so down and hurt ever since that whole soul stone incident a couple days ago."

Sabine sighed, "I know. She told you about the park incident right?"

Alya nodded.

Sabine's eyes glistened and she took a sip of the tea in front of her. "I didn't even know till I was tucking her into bed. It's so….rare for people to have a heart-to-heart that fast."

"I never really paid attention to that part in the lectures." Alya admitted. "But it has something to do with the energy?"

Sabine gave a small laugh, "Sort of. Having a heart-to-heart means your souls are recognizing the other as the most compatible piece. This requires being physically close, as well as emotionally to some extent.

"When you start adding science to the mix, it's theorized that there's an unique electrical energy that runs through your body forming your 'soul'. Like a fingerprint, every person's soul is different. When two potential soulmates cross paths, that electrical imprint will jump out and touch the other, 'reading' their own imprint. Ever wonder why you get a small static shock whenever you greet someone new?"

Alya's eyes widened. "I always thought out dryer sheets sucked."

Sabine giggled, "No, that's the energy between two people reading each other. Well, some of the time it really IS just a simple static shock. If you're lucky, you will spend more time with that person and the energy has no need to reach out much anymore. It takes a lot of time before two souls can decide they're compatible. They're still….computing for lack of a better term. That's where the emotional closeness becomes a factor. Of course most of those studies are newer and have some considerable less research and facts so I can't say for certain to what extent emotions have when causing heart-to-hearts…."

She trailed off, looking thoughtful. Alya blinked and waited for her to continue. Around that time, Marinette came down the steps and sat next to Alya.

"She usually trails off in thought when it comes to theoretical soulology." Marinette said.

Alya turned to her friend and gestured to Sabine. "How does your mom know all this? I think I learned more about souls in ten minutes than I have in the last ten years of school."

"Mama has a degree in Soulology. Why, she never told me. But she knows a lot about souls and keeps up to date with the research in her spare time."

"Huh." Alya looked back at Sabine and then whipped her head back to Marinette. "Where were you? Do you have any idea how worried I was? I call twelve times and text you I don't even know how many more and all I get back is some dinky little text saying you won't be at school? Then I race all the way here to tell you about this amazing thing that happened at school today that I know was bound to cheer you up and you're not in your room like your parents thought?"

Alya took a sharp breath in as she ran out of air, and glared at Marinette.

Marinette couldn't meet her eyes. "I just needed some air."

That was a lousy excuse. Marinette knew as soon as it came out of her mouth. She could see that Alya knew it too.

Sabine blinked back into the conversation, "How are you feeling?"

Marinette shrugged, "Could be better."

She smiled and cupped her daughter's cheek, "I'll get you some Shen tea."

Sabine stood up with her teacup in hand, and walked into the kitchen.

Alya sighed and leaned against Marinette's shoulder. "I am so ready for this mess to be over with."

Marinette relaxed and leaned her head on Alya's. "Me too."

They sat in a comfortable silence. Sabine finished Marinette's tea and brought it to her. Then she handed a teacup to Alya.

"I usually only make red tea during winter, but it's great for releasing happy hormones. I figured this could be an exception. It will raise your body temperature though."

Alya accepted the tea with a gratuitous smile. Sabine kissed the top of Marinette's head and walked back to the bakery to help Tom.

"So what is the 'amazing thing' you wanted to tell me about?" Marinette asked.

Alya grinned and sat up straighter. "Oh yeah! Adrien totally told off Chloé for you today!"

Marinette nearly dropped her teacup. She hastily put it on the table so she didn't accident spill the hot liquid all over her lap. "W-w-what!"

"Yep!" Alya crowed, "Before Madame B got there, Adrien came storming in. Maddest I've ever seen him. Then he proceeded to rip Chloé a new one!"

"He yelled at her?" Marinette furrowed her brows, "That doesn't sound like him."

"He didn't YELL at her," Alya said, "It was more like a scolding/lecture. He sounded really disappointed in her mostly. I just still can't believe Chloé would cross that line. Doesn't she know how sensitive Adrien is to the whole lost soulmate issue?"

Marinette sighed as she picked her tea backup, "I admire Gabriel so much seeing how well he functions even after losing his soulmate. I know how hard it can be."

In case anyone was confused, those two girls that our heroes saw were just some random college students. It wasn't any of the classmates. I have my own headcanons for all of them...and then some.

Don't quote me on all that science stuff Sabine wisely said. I pulled that out from 7th grade science that I barely remember. Hope it wasn't too confusing.

I guess the main point of it was that soulmates are a mix of science and magic. If you have any questions about it you can message me on tumblr or pm me. I'lll try my best to answer.

Though I did look up the tea stuff. If I got anything wrong tell me so I can fix it. I did some research but it may not be all that thorough. But now I know a lot about tea.

Reviewers get some of Mama Sabine's relaxing, homemade tea.

UNTIL NEXT CHAPTER MY VIEWERS OF THE CORN!