Title: Paper Planes

Genre: Fairy Tale AU, romance, comedy

Summary: When a baker's daughter goes missing, Prince Adrien will do whatever it takes to find her. Even if whatever it takes means donning a mask and hiding his feelings inside. And thus, Fate begins to turn with a fly of a paper plane.

Pairings: Adrienette, Marichat

Hello! Nightshade268 here! This is a collaboration with lollipop1141. The story is mine, but I'm writing it with her. It'll be fun and I hope you guys'll like it!

Enjoy!

- เครื่องบินกระดาษจะพาคุณกลับบ้าน –

Once upon a time… Actually, no. This type of story happens more than once. This is a fairy tale.

More than once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there lived a prince named Adrien.

He was forced to stay in the castle, only going outside when the royal family paraded around the kingdom. It would've been fine if his father wasn't so busy with work and only talked with him through his assistant. And his mother…well, she was rarely mentioned.

But his life wasn't all that bleak.

Adrien had Nino, a knight's son, for company and his best friend. He wondered why the boy would hang out with him rather than enjoying the sunlight and freedom in the town, but he wasn't complaining. Nino was a great friend and one of the very few people who actually knew the other side of the 'perfect prince' façade that he kept up.

And Nathanaël, the Red Painter, who drew his portrait twice a week. Through him, he could glean information about the daily lives of people outside. But Nathanaël didn't talk much, which was a bummer.

He also owned a kleptomaniac black cat named Plagg who would rather eat the cheese than chase the mouse.

In other words, he was fine with life as it is.

For now, that is.

Our story starts when Adrien looked through Nathanaël's sketchbook and a certain portrait caught his interest.

=.=

"Nathanaël," Adrien called out. The young artist looked up from his painting. Adrien held up the drawing. "Who's this?"

It was a quick sketch of a cute girl with her dark blue hair tied up in pigtails, wearing a pink dress. What caught his eye, however, was the way her eyes crinkled as she smiled happily, handing a basket of bread to a broad man in a white apron.

Nathanaël turned red. "I-It's…uhh…her name is Marinette. Her family owns a bakery. But she's more into designing clothes."

A cat-like grin grew on his face as he flipped through the pages, spotting the same girl in several landscapes. He said slyly, "Looks like you've been sketching her a bit much. More than me, actually."

"I actually asked her out last week." Nathanaël said quietly.

Adrien's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Oh? And what did she say?"

"She turned me down." The artist said matter-of-factly and resumed to his work, as if the whole conversation never happened.

Adrien blinked and went back to the sketchbook, an air of awkwardness hanging around them. As he looked through the pictures of Marinette, a subconscious smile grew on his face.

Nathanaël was a great artist. He had caught her expressions in great detail. There was one of sly amusement as Marinette whispered with a girl whom Adrien realized was Nino's beau (to be). Another where she was laughing, her hands clutching her stomach. A majority was of her tripping over nothing, yet still smiling.

His favorite, however, was where she was sitting on a fountain, sewing a dress, a smile of delight on her face.

Adrien asked, "Nathanaël, is it alright if I keep this?"

Nathanaël looked up. A few seconds passed, and he slowly nodded his head. Adrien grinned. "Under one condition."

"What is it?"

"You'll let me paint 5 pictures of you."

Adrien thought about it. Five agonizing hours of standing or sitting still for one picture? But this was a picture of a cute girl; A girl whom he wanted to be friends with (although Nino would differ).

"Deal."

=.=

"This is insane." Nino said in exasperation.

Adrien looked over his shoulder to where Nino was leaning on the side of a table with his arms folded. "What is?"

"The pictures!" He gestured to all the sketches of Marinette Adrien had tacked up around his room. "It's like you're stalking her or something!"

Adrien's cheeks turned red. "No I'm not!"

Nino raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous statement. It had been a month since his highness had found out about the baker's daughter and since then, Adrien sought information about her. "Can't you just walk out there and introduce yourself?"

"Nino, are you crazy?!" Adrien exclaimed. "What would you do if one day, out of the blue, the prince walked up to you and said, 'hello, I know every single detail about you and I want to be friends?'?!"

"That's how you befriended me, you know?" Nino pointed out.

Adrien blinked and then shook his head. "That's not the point! The point is…"

"You want to talk to her but you can't." Nino said with a deadpan expression.

"Exactly."

"Then what's the big deal?" Nino walked up to him and wrapped his arm around the prince's neck. "Look, the royal family's going to have a parade this afternoon. You can sneak out while everyone is busy, find her, and then talk to her."

"For your information Nino," Adrien sighed, "it'll just be me today. So I can't exactly escape."

Nino's grin faded. "Oh."

"But hey," Nino jostled him, saying, "Maybe you'll spot her in the crowd!"

Adrien laughed. "Come on, Nino! Why would she want to see a silly parade?"

To see you, dork! Nino internally screamed in his head. But then there was a knock at the door, saying that the parade was about to start.

"I'll be right out." Adrien said politely. Removing Nino's arm from his shoulders, he straightened his vest and combed his hair. He turned to his best friend. "How do I look?"

"Like a prince." Nino said mockingly.

"Nino, I'm serious here!"

"What? This is the first time you've asked for my opinion on how you look." He paused and a sly smile grew on his face. "Oh. Ohhhh. I see. It's Marinette, isn't it?"

"No! I mean, yes – but not in that way – I just – forget it!" Adrien huffed in embarrassment and walked out of the room.

"Adrien." The prince paused and looked behind him. Nino gave him a thumb's up. "You look great."

Adrien smiled. "Thanks."

=.=

"So father isn't going to ride with us?" Adrien said. It was more of a statement than a question.

Nathalie, who sat opposite of him in the open carriage, nodded. "The king is busy with negotiations."

Adrien sighed and looked out of the window, waving and smiling politely at the people who were there to catch a glimpse of him. It was unfortunate that his father couldn't come, but he was still glad to be able to do the parade. It gave him a chance to be outside the confinement of his home and see for himself the lives of the kingdom's citizens.

And then he saw her.

Marinette was wearing the pink dress, a wide smile plastered on her face. Before, she would've just been one of a thousand faces. But now…there was something about her that made him single her out.

Their eyes met.

It was like slow motion. Everything fell away and it was just Prince Adrien and Marinette. Two people in different worlds, connected at this moment.

A jolt from the carriage snapped him out of his daze. Before the carriage could lead him away from her, he gave her a wink.

As he looked over a few seconds later, he couldn't help but grin at her awestruck face. Her cheeks were blazing red, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. She stood there, rooted on the spot.

He didn't – couldn't look away. He gave her a small wave with a smile. Marinette's mouth formed an 'oh' before she waved energetically at him. Their gazes didn't break away until they could no longer see each other.

That night, sleep did not come to Adrien.

She was much prettier in person. Not even Nathanaël, the most prestigious artist in the kingdom, could capture her. Deep inside, he felt like she was the embodiment of freedom. Not even a sketch could pin her down.

It was like fate.

But then again, if Fate could bring them together…

Fate could also tear them apart.

=.=

She was missing.

Marinette was missing.

Gone, vanished without a trace.

And no one knew why.

Adrien paced agitatedly around his room, his arms waving around as he said with an upset voice, "We have to find her! It's already been a week!"

"But how?" Nino asked, watching his friend with growing worry. "There're no leads."

"What if she's hurt? Hungry? Locked up in someplace dark? What if…" Adrien stopped and his voice dropped into a whisper, "What if she's…"

He threw his hands in the air. "No! I'm not going to say it! We have to find her! Put up a notice around the kingdom! Give a reward to whoever finds her!"

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down!" Nino calmed him down. "You've only met her once, and had no conversation whatsoever. How can you be so concerned over one girl?"

"She's not just some girl." Adrien said as he looked out the window. "She's more than that. And I have a feeling that that wasn't the first time we met. Don't you get the feeling that you know someone even if you two had never even met before?"

"No." Nino said.

Adrien sighed. It was hard to explain. "I just…she means more to me than I initially thought. We could've been friends."

Nino raised an eyebrow. Yup. He was beyond saving at this point. It was only a matter of time before he would realize she was more than a friend; that he wanted to be more than friends. But for now…

"So how are you going to find her? You can't just sneak out of the palace! Your face is all over the kingdom!"

Adrien frowned, his tongue sticking out, as he wracked his brain. His eyes fell on Plagg, who was munching on camembert. A wide grin split his face. "Unless it's not Prince Adrien who sneaks out of the palace."

Nino immediately knew where this was going. "Adrien, no!"

"Adrien, yes!" Adrien called to one of the servants outside his room. "Could you get the Red Painter for me, please? Tell him I have a special request."

"As you wish, Your Highness."

"Thank you."

Nino just stared at him. "This is a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea!"

"But?" Adrien wriggled his eyebrows.

Nino grinned. "But let's do it!"

Who said it was Nino who was a bad influence on Adrien? Because, looks like it's Adrien who's the one influencing Nino.

=.=

"You want me," Nathanaël pointed at himself. Adrien and Nino nodded.

"To make a costume for you," He pointed at the prince. Adrien nodded.

"So you can sneak out and search for her." Lastly, he pointed at Marinette's portraits. Nino nodded.

Nathanaël scratched his head with the stub of his pencil. "This is insane."

"That's what I've been telling him." Nino said.

"You're a prince." Nathanaël tried to reason out, "Couldn't you just have a search out for her?"

"Nope." Nino punched Adrien playfully on the arm. "This guy wants to be all 'knight in shining armor'."

"And what's wrong with that?" Adrien mumbled. "Better a knight than a useless prince."

"Well, I can't sew. But I can draw it and have someone tailor it for you." Nathanaël said as his pencil flew on the papers of his sketchbook.

"Great!" Adrien went to his drawer and took out a bag of gold coins. He handed it to the artist. "Will this be enough?"

Nathanaël's eyes widened. "Enough?! It's more than enough! I can't accept it!"

"Just take it." Adrien took his wrist and plopped the bag of money on his hands. "That's my payment for the clothes and for everything else."

"Well, um, thank you." Nathanaël said in embarrassment.

Adrien grinned. "No problem."

=.=

Three nights later, he received his costume.

Opening the package, he held up black clothes complete with a dark camouflage cape with a cat-like shaped hood and a black mask that covered half his face. There was even a silver baton to go with it.

Looks like Nathanaël let his imagination run wild on this one.

Adrien put the clothes on and admired himself in the mirror. The clothes were made of leather, and when he put his hood up, he really looked like a humanoid cat.

"I look pretty clawsome." Adrien grinned. Plagg, who was observing him from his bed, mewled in irritation. Adrien looked at his cat and chuckled. "What? You understood that?"

Plagg flicked his tail in annoyance. Tail…He didn't have a tail! Adrien looked around his room, searching for anything that could be a tail. Without it, he'd be incomplete. He opened his closet and spotted a sword belt. Taking the sword out, he wrapped the belt around his hips and let the end hang from behind him.

"There!" Adrien flexed his muscles as he checked his 'tail' out. "Now I'm purrfect."

With a yowl, Plagg jumped down from his bed and started scratching the bedroom door, wanting out. Adrien laughed. "Aw come on, Plagg. My puns can't be that bad."

Plagg just looked at him in distaste. With a grin, Adrien picked up the mask. "Okay, I'll stop for now."

Taking the mask in his hands, he put it on his face. As he opened his eyes, he was taken aback at the person in front of him.

This was no longer Prince Adrien in a cat costume.

This was a whole new different person.

"Woah." Adrien breathed out as he touched his reflection, the mirror cold under his clawed gloves. He said to the reflection, "Who are you?"

Fortunately, the reflection didn't answer back. There was a tingling at the back of his mind and his gaze traveled to Plagg. The cat gave him a smug look. Adrien turned back to himself.

"Chat Noir."

The name was snug on his mouth. It was like it was waiting for him to finally say it. Adrien smiled as he brought the hood up, the shadows covering half his face, his eyes glowing behind the mask.

"Je suis Chat Noir."

=.=

The icy winds of the night rippled through his hair, mussing it up as his cape fluttered around his shoulders. Standing on top of the highest palace tower, he looked down at the silent kingdom.

Small pockets of light dotted around, some were late night workers and others were midnight inns. It was like his vision was enhanced. He wasn't even sure if magic was at work here. All he knew was that Chat Noir was powerful. Chat Noir belonged to the night. He was a shadow.

And now, Chat Noir had to find his light.

But…how?

"Okay, so Nino was kinda right." Chat muttered to himself. Gazing around, his eyes fell on the Wandering Woods. "When it comes to fairy tales, it all starts in the woods."

And with that, he leaped off the tower and bounded out into the night, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

In less than a second, he had left the castle walls and he didn't look back.

=.=

Chat landed on all four in front of the entrance of the Wandering Woods. His eyes flickered to the cracked sign hammered on a tree.

For those who venture beyond this point,

You shall be destined to wander.

But whosoever enters with a pure heart and a pure soul,

Shall find their heart's desire.

There were tales about the Wandering Woods. Some go inside and never come out. While others…well, people don't really talk about them. Only a few really received their heart's desire.

Nobody liked to talk about the Wandering Woods. Nobody wanted to go there.

But for Chat Noir, he knew what he wanted was in there.

And so with his head held high, he strode inside.

As he stepped past the sign, the entrance vanished, seemingly as though there was no trail leading into the woods at all.

=.=

Chat jumped as a screech of an owl sounded overhead. Grabbing his baton a little tighter, he walked deeper in the forest. The moonlight came in the forest floors like silver needles as the leaves of tall, twisted trees blocked out the view of the night sky.

Suddenly, something struck Chat Noir at the back of his head. He yowled in fright and turned around, slicing his baton in the air. "Don't touch me! I am extremely dangerous! I'm not afraid of you! Fear me! Fear me you –"

He stopped. There was no one there. He looked down at his feet. There, lying innocently on the ground was a paper plane. Picking it up, Chat Noir unfolded it. On the paper was a drawing of…him?!

Why was there a sketch of Prince Adrien in the middle of the woods?!

Suddenly, another paper plane landed a little way from his feet. Picking it up, he opened it and saw another picture of him. This was during the parade when he was waving at Marinette. From her point of view!

He looked up, searching for the source of the planes. There was no mistaking it. The baker's daughter was in these woods.

There!

A paper plane flew over in between the trees. Running, he headed towards the direction it came from. As he ran on, more paper planes were littered on the forest floor. He stopped in the middle of a clearing and his eyes grew wide.

A stone tower stood tall in the middle of the Wandering Woods.

Chat spotted an open window at the highest floor. A hand holding a paper plane stretched out and sent it flying.

"Marinette?" He called out, his voice drifting through the air.

There was a squeak from the other side of the window and a crash. Silence…then a timid voice answered, "W-who is it?"

"Your knight in shining armor." Chat said with a grin.

He saw her peer through the window, trying to find him. He stepped out into the light of the moon. Her eyes widened as Chat flexed his fingers and then jabbed his claws through the stone. Quickly, he climbed up the tower and landed easily on the windowsill.

Suddenly, small hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him inside. Chat Noir tumbled through the floor as the girl slammed the windows closed. Rubbing the back of his neck, he sat up and looked at her.

Green iridescence met blue like the heavens.

Chat Noir met Marinette.

"Hello, princess."

Heyoo, this is lollipop1141 right here! If you've been around the Detective Conan fandom, you should see my name come up a few times. ;) I'm a Heizuha shipper. I mostly write anime fanfiction (I'm on tumblr too if you're interested)

ANYWAY, my lovely friend Nightshade268, wanted me to co-write this ml fanfic with her. Her reasoning was 'I can't do funny stories to save my life' ppffft. Yeah right. I mostly do ml drabbles. And Le Cygne, which I posted in Tumblr, is NS268's.

I can't do a full fanfic at the mo (darn you NS! You know I'm busy!), so I decided to do several chapters of this fic with her. This chapter 1 is on me!

I hope you guy liked it! (A little review with a cherry on top? ;P)

See ya'll next time!

*crowd claps, leaves stage*