When Felix entered the bakery, its bell tinged cheerfully, but he couldn't suppress the flinch of pain as the sound reached his ears. It was Saturday afternoon, and it was as busy as it always was at that time. Bypassing the queue and walking behind the counter earned him a few raised eyebrows and even one angry mutter of 'queue-jumper', but it was a familiar routine at this point.

"Good afternoon, do you need help?" he asked Sabine, like he always did.

"Oh no, I'm fine, sweetie," she said while continuing to gather an order. "Just take whatever you like and go on upstairs. I'll be there in about an hour to cook dinner if you want to join us."

It pained him that he had to force a smile. "I'd love to."

Refusing the invitation while his alternative for all Tom and Sabine knew was a lonely dinner at home, would seem strange—they technically weren't wrong either. Even though the situation couldn't be helped, it left a speck of guilt inside him to have to go along with the charade. Besides, he'd be crazy to pass up one of Sabine's homemade meals.

Alternatively, he would've gone to Adrien and Marinette and eaten dinner there, but the portal Mélusine had promised hadn't been installed yet. And to go to her place on a Saturday would definitely draw the most suspicion when she usually didn't let anyone inside on that day. He just hoped that she didn't get the idea to visit Adrien and Marinette in his stead, as her half serpentine appearance would definitely give Marinette quite a shock.

Félix picked one chocolate éclair, a piece of coffee cake and a cheese Danish—the latter for Plagg—and sneakily tried to drop a twenty Euro note into the register. Sabine slapped his hand away with a stern look before continuing to gather the current order. With a sigh he put the money back into his pocket. It rarely worked anyway. The only reasons he hadn't stopped trying to pay for his pastries yet were basic decency and the instinctive dislike of accumulating debt in every possible form.

Mélusine's comment about not accepting payment from her children came to mind. Perhaps this was similar.

Félix couldn't help but feel off when he entered the living room, a safe haven for him. Being greeted by the hum of magic from the old wards that had never been taken down—witch glasses, faery triads, cords of catkin, dried apples, the rosemary bush and a purslane plant on the balcony, small hidden jars filled with salt and heather, as well as trinkets made of rowan berries—was especially odd in that scenario. Not only did all of these things tell of a time before Tikki, but they also told of a time where the girl they were supposed to protect was still residing within these walls. Marinette wasn't here, though, and wouldn't be for quite some time. He, however, was. It felt somewhat like he was intruding.

Still, the blessed silence and familiar scents helped calm his mind somewhat. It offered a rare break from his Court-related worries and even a small reprieve from Tír na nÓg's songs thanks to Tikki's wards. With the addition of the delicious food—he started with the chocolate éclair—it felt like he could just forget his worries for this very brief time.

A minute passed, maybe two, and the bliss slowly waned. The silence wasn't calming, but just echoed inside him like an empty chamber. Maybe the kwami on the table beside him was also part of the reason why he couldn't fully relax, since Plagg seemed determined to noisily inhale the cheese Danish like his life depended on it. The main culprit for the growing unease, though, was the distinct feeling of someone watching him.

"I'm sure you're aware that the coast is clear, right?" He addressed the empty room.

A few beats of silence passed before there was an almost inaudible sigh from the kitchen and Tikki emerged from her hiding place in a cupboard. She floated over to Félix and Plagg and sat down on the table with a mellow smile.

"Hello Félix."

He nodded in greeting and cut off a chunk of his coffee cake to silently offer it to her. She shook her head.

"You need it more than me."

Félix sighed and set his fork down.

"Is this really what it took for you to drop your hostility? Marinette literally getting kidnapped and us saving her?"

Tikki's smile disappeared in an instant.

"Oi, watch it, kitten!" Plagg threw in, but looked back and forth between the two of them, as if uncertain which side to take.

"No, Plagg, he's right," she admitted with a sigh. "I let past grudges get the better of me and let it out on you and Adrien. I'm sorry, Félix."

An apology from Danu herself? Félix almost didn't believe his ears.

"Apology accepted. At least I understood your scrutiny to a certain degree," he said before his view drifted upwards to the closed hatch. "Is she eavesdropping?"

Tikki shrugged. "Who knows with that girl? She should be doing her homework right now," she said with a sigh that sounded like an exasperated mother's.

A short silence stretched between them in which Félix ate the bite of cake he had previously offered Tikki.

"H-how…are there any news?" she eventually asked nervously.

Félix, about to cut himself another bite, set the fork down again.

"Yes," he said and looked at Plagg. The kwami had returned his full attention to the cheese Danish though. "I gave Marinette the letter. It's…that was on Wednesday and I haven't been back there since. Mélusine offered to put a portal into my house and I'm currently waiting for that to happen instead of going to her place. It lowers the risk that the Court will connect the dots between us and Mélusine and find their location that way."

Tikki nodded sadly. "How did she take it?"

"As well as you'd expect: with lots of crying. She was in shock, probably still is."

"Nah, she's a stubborn one," Plagg threw in. "I talked to her after she read the letter and cleared some things up. There was the initial panic and emotion, sure, but she eventually got to the point where she was strategic about her questioning. With a flashback in the middle because she triggered herself," Plagg's ears drooped at that. "But even after that she tried to get back to rationalising fairly quickly. Definitely one of the best bugs you ever had, Sugarcube."

Tikki nodded but didn't seem particularly happy about it. "I just wish I could have done more to protect her and prevent all this from happening."

"The fairies leaving her alone was never an option with her strong disposition and you know it," Plagg said.

That reminded Félix of something Plagg had said when they had visited Monsieur Chan.

"Those two are too powerful for their own good to begin with and then you added Miraculous magic to it!"

"What do you mean with 'strong disposition' exactly? Is that the Chime's Child thing?" Félix asked.

Tikki turned back towards him and nodded. "Yes, that comes on top of a hereditary sensibility for otherworldliness. You probably already noticed how perceptive Sabine is. Marinette is too, and then she also has her healing powers and is starting to develop second sight. The only reason she hasn't seen through your glamours yet is the charm bracelet and the faebane you gave her. It blocked her senses somewhat, you could say. She probably always had an odd feeling around Adrien and you, but brushed it off after a while because she got used to it."

"And in Adrien's case his advantage as a wielder was his unusual humanness as a halfling, but you already know that," Plagg threw in.

"So, in other words, Bri and I are definitely less fit to wield your Miraculouses."

"That's one way to put it," Tikki said and glanced towards the hatch of Marinette's room. "Bri got hurt in the last attack, which isn't something that ever happened to her or Marinette before. She became less human in Faerie so she might be in the same boat as you, when also to a slightly lesser degree. Though she definitely has stubbornness to make up for it since even after getting hurt she just kept fighting." Tikki huffed before shaking her head and looked at Félix worriedly. "Also, I think fae outside of the Court are keeping a close eye on Ladybug. I definitely felt a Seelie's presence after the battle."

"Smelt it," Félix cursed and sat up straighter. "It's probably the solitary fae that heard of the kidnapping and are now looking for an in."

Tikki nodded. "I think so too. Please be careful, they could be keeping an eye on Chat Noir as well."

Fantastic! As if I don't have enough to look out for already.

The thing was that he couldn't even be mad at them either. The fair folk, as confusing as that name was to humans, didn't call themselves fair for nothing. To him, he could see the fairness in retaliation and in the strive for power, played in an ever-changing game of rulers and peasants. In a way, it was an order of the world and he, both as a Cat Sidhe and as Chat Noir, was part of it just like anyone else was. There was nothing evil or unfair about it. Not to a fae. But just as any way of the universe or game of life, calling it an inconvenience was putting it way too lightly. He was sure that humans had their own games like that as well.

Suddenly, Plagg darted back into Félix's pocket, taking the rest of the cheese Danish with him. The sound of footsteps from upstairs gave a reason as to why. It was shortly followed by the characteristic bang of the hatch opening and Bri strolling downstairs. Just how much had she heard? He could pinpoint the moment when she spotted him sitting in the kitchen as a big grin instantly stretched on her face.

"Now that's a surprise. You here for me?" she asked and didn't even stop before rummaging through the kitchen cupboards.

Félix had to suppress a growl at how at home she already acted in this house that wasn't hers.

"You know, I really have to applaud humanity for some of their developments in the last few centuries," Bri went on and held up a bag with sour gummy strings. "This, for example, is an amazing invention. It's just sour enough to overshadow the sweetness and yet it's delicious. I think I'm getting addicted to these things."

As if to prove her point, she ripped open the bag and stuffed one of the strings into her mouth.

"Mmm, apple! The last batch was strawberry."

She then abruptly sat down on the seat opposite him.

"Why so glum, Félix? Things not working out after all? Wanna rant?"

"I have nothing to tell you," Félix growled. She hadn't even been downstairs for a minute and her optimistic enthusiasm was already giving him a headache.

"I get it, I get it," she said and held up her hands like in surrender. "You're on your own and it's starting to become overwhelming. Been there, done that. There's nothing wrong with asking for a little help once in a while, you know?"

"There is no one who can help."

"My, so pessimistic! And it's not even really true, is it?" She stuffed another sour apple string into her mouth and then propped her head on her hands, her eyes never leaving his. "I can help. A small bit at least."

"How so?"

Her grin deepened. "I'm living Marinette's life and therefore have and use all the things Marinette needs or is used to. A little familiarity might help her adjust and it's not really difficult for me to replace a few bottles of shampoo or even half the wardrobe. Just tell me the climate she's in and I can pack a bag for you. I'll even throw in her sketchbook on top, how's that sound?"

It sounded perfect. Too perfect.

"And I suppose you want nothing in return?" He asked sarcastically.

Bri snorted. "How very fey of you," she said and, before he could stop her, reached her hand out to tousle his hair. "You seriously need to loosen up, not everyone is your enemy, you know? It'd be cute if it wasn't concerning. I commend your sound mindset in this situation, but I'm not part of the Folk. You're talking to a liar who can't be held responsible for her bargains. Even if I wanted something in return for it, you're as much a liar as I am, so bargaining between us two is useless. See it as a nicety from me as well as an apology to Marinette for kidnapping her and we call it a day?"

"Fine," Félix grumbled. "But I'll pack the bag. I don't trust you to not hide something nasty in there that could track us."

Bri actually looked offended for a moment "Rude!" She said before her expression morphed into a grin once more and she started chuckling. "Though, I suppose it would be quite something for you to pack her bag and then explain to her that you went through her underwear drawer."

Félix was actually taken aback by that. And judging by Bri's reaction—dissolving into hysterical laughter—he was probably blushing as well.

"How adorable! I must say that this is honestly the first time I've met a Sidhe that's quite so…what would you call it? Innocent? Prude?"

He tried to glare at her but it was a wasted effort, as she wasn't even looking at him anymore, her head flat on the counter's surface still caught in a fit of laughter.

"Don't worry, Félix, I will supervise her and make sure she doesn't sneak anything suspicious into the bag," Tikki said.

Bri immediately sobered up.

"You know, it hurts how little trust you have in me. Especially you, Tikki. I'm hurt, you hear?"

He had to give it to her, she had the fair folk's flair for dramatics down to a T.

"It's a sound suspicion, that's all," Félix said.

"I never said that you didn't have a point," Bri grinned impishly before jumping back up. "Or maybe you don't. You'll never know."

While happily humming a melody Félix didn't recognize, she disappeared back upstairs as quickly as she had come. Tikki stayed for a moment longer to sigh deeply.

"Faerie has changed her, but I'd lie if I'd say that she hasn't always been a whirlwind like this."

"You don't have to apologize for her, you know."

Tikki shook her head. "I love all of my chosen equally, but I never had two that existed in the same lifetime. I'm torn with my loyalty and it's conflicting."

"I know a thing or two about torn loyalty," Félix sighed as he stared at the ring on his finger.

The goddess sent a glance upstairs when there was the sound of something falling.

"I'll better go see what she's up to. And please send Marinette my well-wishes. She's strong and I'm sure she can get through this somehow, even when it will leave scars. I just wish I could come with you and heal her."

"I'll tell her," Félix promised.

Tikki gave a nod of thanks before flying back upstairs and leaving him to his lonesome brooding once more. There was the sound of an argument between the two, but he mostly tuned it out. Oh, how much he loathed this mess that they had all gotten themselves into.

Making a portal, as it turned out, was much easier than Félix had expected it to be. After she complained about the decorations in his house—especially the lack of colour—Mélusine had chosen one of the guest rooms on the rarely visited third floor and got to work that Sunday afternoon.

"I hope you appreciate the risk I'm taking by even coming here and doing this for you, kitten," she had said, while preparing her materials—a lot of gemstones.

"I do," Félix assured her, knowing that even this favour wasn't for free and therefore probably the only reason why she did it in the first place. He wouldn't expect further help after it.

Apart from the time it took to prepare the spell—which mainly included placing a lot of gemstones on the wall—it really didn't take long for the shape of a door to appear out of nowhere. A vaguely familiar brown one with a golden-tinted faceted glass window in the middle.

"There we go," Mélusine said with a grin. "Better late than never, but like I said, I can't really help the Saturdays and not looking suspicious right now is a priority. While I like helping you, I'm not willing to risk falling out of grace with the Court over it."

That was a fair point.

"Now then," she said and looked the portal up and down. "This works the same as the portals in my shop, just that it doesn't have any time-based limitations or traps. You can go through it however often you wish and take with you whoever and whatever you want. It'll also be open all the time, which means you won't suddenly be trapped on one side."

"That's very generous."

And dangerous. If it was open all the time then the fair folk could just walk right through if they really did manage to get into the mansion somehow. Then again, magic always had a catch and this at least was one he could do something about. Félix would need to put additional protections on the guest room door and windows, perhaps even make them invisible to anyone but him with Plagg's help.

Mélusine waved it off. "It's what we agreed on and I stay true to my bargains. I suggest we test it out and then I'll go home, preferably through the shortcut of my own portal. Sleep hasn't been kind to me lately."

As if to prove her point, Mélusine covered her mouth with a hand to yawn. Félix had to suppress a yawn of his own at that.

"That'd make two of us," he muttered instead and then grabbed the duffel bag from where he had set it down on the floor.

"Let's see how things are going. I sent Sabrina over there yesterday and I very much hope things are civil between everyone," Mélusine said and opened the door.

Almost immediately, a growl was heard from the other side. If Félix hadn't known any better, he would have thought that Mélusine had made a mistake and accidentally let the portal end in a beast's lair. The vaguely familiar hallway beyond told another story though, as well as another kind of familiarity that came from the growl itself.

"Oh, for Danu's sake, settle down! It's just us," Félix said as he walked through the portal after Mélusine.

On the other end, they were greeted by the still foreign smell of Mélusine's house. Unlike other houses, it didn't smell like the person living in it—mostly because no one did live here—but rather like decorative items and furniture that had both barely been used. All that artificiality was mixed with whatever smell nature had given the place long ago. Another nuance was added to it as well by an unusual circumstance given the building's history: house guests. One of whom, judging by his lashing tail and flattened ears, wasn't sure what to make of this situation.

"Please tell me you weren't trying to ambush us with a broken leg," Mélusine admonished Adrien with her hands on her hips. "I told you not to overexert yourself while your injury is healing!"

Slowly, his expression morphed from wariness to sheepishness and then into utter confusion.

"What are you two doing?! You scared the living daylights out of me with that surge of magic!"

"Mélusine made a portal from our house to this house and we entered through it," Félix explained and closed the door behind him. Only now did he notice which door it was. "You have a peculiar sense of humour," he said while Adrien grumbled something along the lines of "I can see that."

Mélusine giggled. "Well, what else are two front doors good for otherwise? This one is only separating an extension of the hallway anyways and is usually closed so that no one runs into it. It seemed appropriate to use it for this cause. Just be careful when opening it, as it can still function as a normal door. Touch it with magic and it's a portal, touch it without magic and it's a regular door."

"You planned that since building it into this house, didn't you?"

"I may or may not have," she shrugged with a mysterious grin and petted Adrien's head when she passed him. "Though I really hope to get home now and pray for less annoying customers tonight. I just collected rowan sprigs on Beltane, yet few want any. They want rowan berries, though my trees won't have any until August earliest." She sighed. "Have a good rest of the day, kittens."

Just like that, Mélusine had disappeared through the door that led down a winding staircase to the basement—if one could call it that with only a third of it actually being underground.

Once she was gone, Adrien pretty much pounced on Félix with a purr and, if he hadn't grabbed the stairs' banister, he would have fallen over from the headbutting alone. He indulged though, hugging his brother as well as he could and giving him scratches in all his favourite spots. Adrien jokingly tried to groom his hair, which Félix put a stop to by shoving his head away. A reflexive movement born from familiarity, as it was a teasing game they played often. Or…had played often. Separation really didn't treat them well, never had. And how could it when they were twins? Born together and grown up together, never meant to be apart, and in a lot of ways very dependent on each other. The realisation of how much he missed his brother was like a sucker punch in the gut once again. Félix couldn't help from rumbling out a content purr, adding to Adrien's own. Warm and familiar. It was almost ridiculous how much they had missed each other during these last few days. At least there was a portal now so he could visit whenever he wanted.

"So, I heard Sabrina is here now?" Félix said, by now sitting on the stairs with Adrien's head in his lap while the rest of him was sprawled at the foot of the stairs.

Adrien's ears perked excitedly and he nodded. "She's running errands right now," he said, voice heavy with a purr. "Probably in another house since she went through the portal downstairs, but she's here to help Marinette and me and to clean the house."

"Well, I'm glad you have at least some sort of company apart from each other." His demeanour changed when he thought about on what terms he left, on Wednesday. "How did Marinette take it?"

Adrien averted his gaze to the ground and wrapped his tail around himself. His drooping ears on top of it all said everything already.

"Not well then," Félix sighed.

"Actually, she's coping better than I expected…I think."

"You think?"

Adrien sighed. "She tried talking to me yesterday but it was at a very bad time. We might not be in Paris anymore, but negative thoughts are still dangerous, for me at least. They invite destruction. I don't know what suddenly prompted her, but she approached my room, not going in. She…she said that she doesn't want to stay away from me and that she wants to talk, but I could feel that she was scared. Does she just want to talk to me because I'm not doing well and she feels obligated to help, or does she really want to talk to me? I'm so confused, Fé."

"I'd say you're both scared and I don't blame you. It's a scary situation after all. If you want, I could ask her where she stands when it comes to a conversation with you."

"That'd be nice. And please tell her not to worry about me. I'll wait until she's ready to talk."

"She'll worry anyway."

Adrien sighed once more. "I know. Speaking of worry though, Fé: Are you okay?"

It was at this moment that Plagg seemingly decided to have napped enough in the duffel bag, as he phased out of it.

"He'd tell you that he's fine, so I'm gonna answer that for him: he hasn't slept in two days, gets his energy zapped from the ring on top of it, and also has to keep an eye on everyone and the Court."

Adrien abruptly raised his head from Félix's lap and narrowed his eyes. "Fé, you really have to take a nap and lay off on the coffee. Like, right now!"

Félix sighed again and tried very hard not to turn it into a yawn. "I'm fine," he said while pulling himself upright with the help of the banister, took the duffel bag and began to climb the stairs.

"Fé, I'm serious!" Adrien said, which prompted Félix to walk up the stairs faster.

It was a little unfair of him since he knew that Adrien would take longer to follow with his broken leg, but he just didn't have much energy left for a conversation of that sort. Not if he was about to have a conversation with Marinette that he desperately hoped wouldn't end in her screaming at him to leave the room. His imagination had been rather unkind to him in that regard during the last few days.

"I'll keep you here and force you to take a nap if that's what it takes!" Adrien shouted up the stairs after him, accompanied by the sound of light struggling to get up the staircase with the occasional hiss when he bumped his broken leg in the hurry.

Félix didn't plan to wait until his brother would catch up to him, however, and knocked on Marinette's bedroom door. No reply whatsoever from inside. He knocked again.

"Marinette? It's me, Félix, may I come in?"

Only a sleepy groan was his answer, but it sounded affirmative. The door made a quiet creaking noise as he opened it and then his eyes fell on a very much asleep Marinette in the bed as she cuddled Adrien's snow leopard plushie. Another new addition to the room was two bouquets of white flowers and bluebells on the left bedside table and on the dresser respectively. They smelled pretty, but then again, those were bluebells.

Félix closed the door behind him and had every intention to set down the duffel bag on the other side of the bed and to then leave, when Marinette suddenly cracked her eyes open a bit. He knew from experience that a recently awoken Marinette was a grumpy Marinette, so he was a little taken aback by the sleepy smile she threw him.

"Hey," she croaked and then sat up.

Instead of on the bed, he dropped the duffel bag onto the floor. When he sat down in the antique chair he felt a small sense of déjà vu and hoped that this conversation would end marginally better than the last one they had had.

"Hey. How are you doing?" he asked just like he usually would, in a desperate try to keep this conversation as normal as possible.

Marinette sighed and rubbed her eyes before reaching for a bottle of water on the nightstand. She gulped down about half of it and then looked at the clock in dismay. She probably had slept longer than originally intended and Félix couldn't help but envy her a little for it.

"I don't know," she eventually said without looking at him. "I thought I understood the gist of it, but…everything is turning out different than what I'm expecting."

A short silence settled on them after that and Félix waited. For what, he wasn't sure. For her to elaborate? For himself to find words that could answer her unspoken questions? Or, perhaps, just for the other shoe to drop? Marinette had just woken up, so it was only a matter of time before she'd come back to her senses and throw him out of the room. He chanced another glance at her and caught her staring him up and down like his appearance was something new to her.

"You look exhausted," she said eventually, worry sparking in her eyes.

It wasn't really what he had expected, but then again, this was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, daughter of Sabine Cheng. He should have entirely expected it. Just like with Adrien, he waved it off though.

"Don't worry about me, I–"

"Too late," Marinette interrupted him, crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him strictly, really not unlike her mother.

Félix then understood how she and Adrien had always made such an impeccable team as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Great minds think alike after all. He sighed. Neither of them would let it go.

"It's a necessary consequence of this whole…situation."

"Tikki called it a mess," she supplied in a half-joking manner. The humour of the statement didn't reach her eyes though.

His lips briefly twitched in the semblance of a grin. "Yeah, she was right in calling it that."

Another silence stretched between them and Félix absentmindedly began twisting the ring on his finger—he still wasn't used to it. That Marinette hadn't thrown him out of the room yet was probably only because she took her time looking for the most tactful words to tell him to get lost. After all, only a naïve idiot would think that she'd just accept everything she had learned and roll with it. One simply didn't accept wickedness and trickery that turned the world on its head and sideways, from one day to another. Not even from one week to another. This type of knowledge would need some time for adjusting and even though Félix didn't necessarily like it, he was willing to accept being kicked out.

Before that could happen, there was still one thing he needed to do though. He picked the duffel bag back up from the ground and handed it to Marinette.

"I brought you something."

Marinette eyed it curiously before taking it. She probably recognized it as one of hers because she didn't hesitate to open it and then gasped in delight at the sketch book on top. She hugged it close to her chest and grinned at him gleefully.

"Tikki helped pack it, so I hope it has the most important things in it."

Marinette immediately turned her focus back to him.

"You talked to Tikki?"

He nodded. "She sends her well-wishes and said to tell you that she believes you to be strong enough to get through this. But she's also heartbroken about what happened and wished she could just come with me and heal you, but…"

"She has to stay in Paris," Marinette finished with a sigh. "Don't worry, I get that. It's just…it's weird to not have her around."

"I know the feeling." It was also weird to not have her and Adrien around at home.

She then began to dig further through the duffel bag and pulled out various things.

"You even brought me homework," she snorted.

"I'm sorry that you won't make it to the exams, but I thought it would be good to bring you at least this so that you don't fall behind."

"Thank you!" Marinette said with emphasis and a grateful sigh. "You have no idea how bored I've been this week just sitting around in bed. Bored enough for homework even."

She made a face at that revelation before something seemed to occur to her.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Sabrina said that I shouldn't say 'thank you' and that it's offensive but I still have to get used to it and even though she said it's more of a cultural thing I don't know if that also applies to you and–"

"No worries, I'm not offended," Félix hastily assured her. "Adrien and I have no problem with being thanked since you made us get used to it pretty quickly."

His small smile quickly died.

Giving her the letter and actually talking about the things he had never been able to tell her were two completely different things. It still felt wrong to just freely mention something that had to do with the fae side of his life in front of her, making alarm bells ring in his head as soon as he had spoken the words. He'd need to get over that.

"I'll be honest, you're taking that all better than I expected," he therefore said, begging that he had interpreted her lack of screaming or throwing him out correctly.

Marinette deflated a little and looked down into her lap. "I've been fighting Akumas for over a year now. It's not the same, but I think getting used to some level of weirdness is part of the job description." The smile that followed was more of a grimace. "And really, I'm barely holding it together here. I've been reading that letter so often that I can practically recite it by heart at this point. And Sabrina didn't exactly help matters."

Félix immediately tensed. "What did Sabrina do?"

She shook her head. "Nothing bad. She just…said a few things that caught me off guard."

She then gasped when she spotted something else in the bag. "Adrien's second phone?"

"No one except you, me, Adrien, Mélusine and Nino knows about its existence, so no one will think of tracking it. Don't contact Nino though since that could cause complications for Bri and might even get back to the Court and…well, just don't do it. You can contact me with it though and you'll have a phone, so that's at least something."

Marinette smiled sadly. "How is Nino doing by the way? And Alya?"

"They're doing well. Though Bri told them that you and Adrien are taking a relationship break, so Alya has been hounding her for information. It's as difficult as ever to keep her far enough away from the truth."

She cringed a little, probably vividly picturing the scene.

"So, Bri is the changeling who's replacing me. What's she like?"

Now it was Félix's turn to cringe.

"Insufferable. She picked up fencing for who knows what reason, but I have to admit that she's otherwise doing a decent job at pretending to be you. Well, except when she's talking to me and raving about all the new inventions she missed while being in Faerie for the last few hundred years. Tikki and I are sceptical of her real motives, but if the literal goddess of creation can't keep her in check, then no one can."

Marinette nodded slowly, as if considering that information carefully.

"She even managed to fool my parents?"

Félix nodded, but didn't dare look at her while he did so. Hearing how easy one could be replaced without anyone noticing was no doubt distressing to hear.

"I know it's for the best, so that things can keep going like normal, but…it's just…I don't know. I'd think they know me better to recognize a pretender right away."

"If it helps, I try my best to veer them in other directions whenever they get close to figuring Bri out. Her glamour helps too, though I doubt it'll hold up for more perceptive people like Sabine for long. She'll probably give herself away eventually and let's hope that when that time comes, you'll be all healed up again."

She sighed. "You're right. Besides, there's nothing I can do about it from here. How are my parents by the way?"

"They're fine too. The business is going well and I think another reason they haven't noticed the switch yet is because Bri is trying to be around them as little as possible. And because everyone expects you to act odd under the pretence of a relationship break."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"I think Sabine is onto me though. At least when it comes to worrying."

Marinette fixed him with a deadpan stare. "Félix, you look almost worse than Adrien did when he visited me last week to talk and that's saying something."

"So, like death warmed over then. I'd blame Plagg, but even he told me to get more sleep."

"He's right with that, you know. Where is he by the way?"

Félix threw the door a look. "Probably with Adrien. He might not say it, but he's missing him too."

"I miss him too," Marinette mumbled.

"You know you'd just have to call for him if you want to see him, right?"

She bit her lip. "I don't know. It didn't seem like he wanted to talk to me when I tried yesterday and I'm also scared, I guess? Nervous at the very least. It's still a lot to take in and I don't want to have a bad reaction when he's already down. That would devastate him."

"He's already expecting the worst after he accidentally triggered you."

"Wait, what?!"

Félix looked at her in honest surprise. "You…don't remember?"

"No, I don't. What happened?"

"It was when you first woke up. Adrien stayed with you in this room the first few days and wouldn't leave your side for anything, even convincing him to sleep was difficult. When you woke up and saw him, something in his appearance must have triggered you to remember that night. That's why he hasn't come near you since then."

"I…I had no idea," Marinette said quietly.

She then surprised him by suddenly hitting the mattress with a scowl on her face and starting to spout vulgarities he had never imagined she even knew. When she was done, she just frowned at the duvet.

"Why don't I remember that!? Hell, I barely remember anything from the first few days! Everything is a blur."

Félix didn't have an answer for that either. None except 'dissociation' at least, but he doubted that'd be helpful.

Another silence befell them in which Marinette nervously fiddled with the pages of her sketchbook.

"You were there when this happened, weren't you?" She eventually asked quietly, motioning at her legs.

"Yeah," Félix replied in an equally quiet tone and couldn't meet her eyes. "You had already lost consciousness when I got there though."

She nodded. "I don't really remember much of that either. Probably because of the physical shock, since everything that happened before my legs were broken is clearer. The rest is fuzzy."

Félix was quiet for a bit. "Take it as a small mercy as long as it lasts. For me, the flashbacks just kept repeating in endless loops and in frightening clarity for the first few weeks."

"I'm sorry Félix, I didn't mean to…" she trailed off.

He just shrugged. "You don't have to be sorry. My situation was completely different from yours, though I'd rate it as equally horrifying. Flashbacks are our brains' way of processing the trauma, and while it sucks, it's still necessary."

"Plagg said something similar. That I should just accept the pain and brave my way through it," Marinette said.

Félix shook his head. "That's not completely true. What I found worked best for me was to separate the triggers and work on each one individually to desensitize myself to them."

"That works?"

"It does, though it is extremely unpleasant, and that's putting it lightly. You have to expose yourself to the trigger and go through your fear response while at the same time nothing bad happens. If you do it daily, the fear should dissipate gradually and after at most a week you won't have a reaction to the trigger anymore. At least that's what I found on the internet about the topic and it worked for me."

Marinette nodded. "That's tricky. If Adrien is the trigger, it'll be hard for him to see me going through that."

"Like I said, it's anything but pleasant. Just remember that it's not him as a whole but aspects that trigger you."

"Aspects? Like certain body parts?"

Félix nodded. "That, or even a noise or smell. Every sensory information can be a trigger, not just sight."

Marinette seemed to contemplate that for a bit.

"I…I think I'm willing to try it, but only if Adrien agrees."

Another silence followed, though this one felt like it was stretching out for an eternity.

"Not to be blunt, but…"

"You're always blunt," Marinette interrupted him with an eye roll.

"I'm sorry."

"For being blunt?"

Félix bit his lip and shook his head. "No, for everything else. Recovering from an injury and trauma is bad enough as it is, but now you also have world-shattering revelations to deal with on top of it. We wanted to tell you, but then all of this happened before we could."

She obviously tried to keep a neutral face while she looked at him, but he could still see the uncertainty and, though she tried to hide it, a faint trace of hurt in her eyes.

"I don't know how long it'll take until I can accept all this," she admitted. "Right now, I can't help but still feel a little betrayed but I also try to find a logical sense in all of it."

"You need time," Félix summarised, biting back a remark along the lines of 'good luck trying to find logic with the fae.'

Marinette sighed. "Yes, but I also feel stuck. There's only so much that rereading the letter and thinking about it can do. I can't progress like this."

"You need to talk to Adrien."

She whirled around to him and opened her mouth as if to protest, only to close it again and frown contemplatively.

"I don't want him to suffer more just because I haven't worked through things properly yet."

"For the record, Adrien is scared, too," he said. "And please don't take this as an attempt from me to guilt you into anything, but you're not the only one who is stuck in their recovery right now."

She looked at him with obvious worry in her eyes. "You mean, Adrien is…" she trailed off, seemingly not knowing how to put her thoughts into words, but he got the gist of it anyways.

"I don't know what you witnessed yesterday, but I can guess that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Until he hears it straight from you, he won't believe that you'll ever give him another chance. With everything that happened though, he won't approach you by himself, so you'll have to make the first step."

"I tried that already."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I recall, failing has never deterred you from trying again. Yesterday was bad timing, that's all. He even said so himself when I talked to him earlier."

Marinette stared at the blanket in thoughtful silence.

"You're right," she said, a sudden determination sparking in her eyes. "I'll try again when he feels up to it."

"That's good to hear, but please only if you feel up to it too." Félix sighed.

Small steps, but at least progress was being made.

"In the meantime, is there something I can help you with? I promise to not be offended even if you decide to throw me out," he continued.

"I'm not throwing you out!" Marinette squawked, looking appalled at the mere suggestion. "Why would you think that?!"

Félix's only reply was a raise of his eyebrows.

"Fine, okay! I get it, but it's not that bad anymore…I guess." She sighed. "Can I ask you a few things though?"

"Sure."

"Well, it's mostly small stuff because I want to hear your perspective on things. Getting all the puzzle pieces together, you know?"

He couldn't help a small grin. "No wonder you got the Ladybug Miraculous."

"And that's another thing! I know now how Adrien found out about it, but how did you know?"

"Well," Félix said and had to smother a grin when thinking about it. "It really wasn't hard to figure out after Adrien practically faceplanted into our room after that first fight and started yelling about how you threw him at a stone golem. Specifically you, Marinette, by name."

She groaned and let her head sink into her hands. "That stupid cat," she muttered and now Félix really couldn't hold back a snort anymore.

"You absolutely broke him. It was a hilarious sight to behold."

Marinette's demeanour broke into a small grin.

"You knew all this time then."

He nodded. "Yes. It often proved convenient too, especially when it came to helping out during Akuma attacks. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if you or the Court had found Tikki before I did during the Princess Fragrance attack."

"Wait, you found her?"

"And brought her to a healer, under vehement protests. She wasn't very fond of me back then."

"I didn't see you back there though, so where…" Suddenly her eyes grew wide with realisation. "You were the cat, weren't you?"

He nodded. "I tried to avoid you for the most part, but since we both were after Tikki, an eventual encounter was unpreventable."

"Ugh, I feel so stupid in hindsight! After all, what kind of cat can just jump from who knows what floor and be fine afterwards?!" Marinette groaned, her face buried in her hands.

"Don't. It was a very outlandish conclusion to draw after all."

She chuckled. "Yeah, outlandish for me maybe," she said and paused to look at him again. "So, you're a cat."

"A Cat Sidhe actually. We're a little bit of a rare oddity, even among the fae. Something you can blame Plagg for if you want, as he's responsible for our entire existence," Félix said and couldn't help his nervously lashing tail.

At least Marinette kept her curious gaze mild, which helped him feel a slight bit more at ease. While he knew that this question would have been asked sooner or later anyway, he still felt awkward with the thought of explicitly explaining to her in which ways he wasn't human.

"Well, guess I now have something else to thank Plagg for," she said with a kind smile.

Félix had to look away from her again. It was surreal to see her so in her element with her sheer goodness while she knew that he was still hiding behind a glamour and that he wasn't human below it. There was one question he had to ask in that context. The very question that had eaten at him for the past week.

"How much does it change? That I'm not human, I mean."

He would leave Adrien out of this for now. The two of them could have their own discussion about the topic.

"Tikki isn't human either and I didn't have trouble befriending her," Marinette said with a shrug. "I mean, like I said, I'm still processing all of this and it'll take some getting used to of course. And even though you lied about a lot of things, you did it to protect me and since I kinda did the same as Ladybug, I really can't fault you for that. I'd say we're good."

When he raised his head to look at her in disbelief, she looked at him with nothing but a kind smile once more. Unbelievable. Despite being in immense mental distress due to both trauma and heavy revelations, she still had it in her to give him, a misfortunate creature, the benefit of a doubt. Marinette Dupain-Cheng really was something.

"Are…are you serious?"

She nodded. "I've thought about it a lot these past few days. Sure, it's scary and new to me, but despite all the things you hid all this time, I still like to think that I know you. I hid a side of my life from you, you hid a side of your life from me, so we're even. I can deal with that at least."

Her smile then turned ironic. "Honestly, going through all of it is frying my brain a little. Whenever I'm not getting to a good conclusion, I automatically focus on the most stupid details right now. Like…the deer thing!"

"The…deer?"

"Yeah, Sabrina said something about chicken yesterday and that she'll try to buy three of them for Adrien next week. Then she went on about how he'd go hunting as soon as he could again and bring down a deer! My mind painted some very gory details of that. Seriously, of all the things that really shouldn't be what I'm focusing on!"

Félix stared at her for a second in complete disbelief while also deciding to have some very choice words with Sabrina the next time he'd see her.

"I don't know if it's any consolation, but if Adrien would bring down a deer, he probably wouldn't drag it into the house for you to see."

"H-he really would?! I thought that was an exaggeration!"

Félix cringed and averted his gaze. "Well, we are cats to some degree at least, so we do have an urge to hunt, but that usually doesn't go beyond things a normal house cat could bring down. But with Adrien's current size, it's possible that he'd try to go after bigger things."

A silence stretched between them with a somewhat horrified look on Marinette's face.

"Sorry, I guess that didn't help matters. Rest assured that he's usually more of a very cuddly and affectionate cat rather than a vicious hunter."

She nodded mutely, not really showing if his comment helped at all. Then she shook her head, as if to rid herself of an unpleasant thought.

"By the way, you were the fluffy cat with Adrien on that rooftop last week, right?" She asked, quickly changing the topic.

Why, in Danu's name, was the first impression everyone always got of his cat self that he was fluffy?! He wasn't a typical longhair by far and only slightly exceeded a regular shorthair in fur length. Then again, in comparison to Adrien he probably did appear fluffy—as much as he despised admitting it to himself.

"I'm not that fluffy," Félix still muttered while his, admittedly very fluffy, tail gave an irritated twitch and his ears pinned back. "Anyway, yes, that was me."

"Sorry, I didn't know it was a sore point," Marinette said and seemed genuinely distraught about possibly having offended him.

He waved it off. "Repeat that to Adrien later and he can tell you a couple of anecdotes about it. It's a running joke at my expense at this point."

She suddenly looked insecure again, probably because he had mentioned talking to Adrien and soon.

"Anything else apart from my apparent fluffiness that you want to discuss?"

"I actually wanted to ask what the rooftop thing was all about. I thought about it a lot but I couldn't figure out what went wrong there."

Félix sighed deeply. "A lot went wrong. First of all, Adrien and I were outside without Plagg, which stripped us of an extra layer of protection. Then, you started talking to Adrien, while he already was in a song-drunk state."

"Song-drunk?"

"Yeah, it was two days before Beltane and the temptations, most especially songs, get clearer and louder around that time. That's a topic for another day though. The main thing that went wrong that night was the spriggan close-by. You couldn't see her, but I could. As soon as I noticed what Adrien was doing I tried to get him away so that you'd stop talking. You basically gave your identity away to the Court when you said that Adrien used to visit you on your balcony."

Marinette's eyes grew wide in panic. "Does that mean all of this is my fault?"

Félix shook his head. "No, it's the Court's fault for choosing you as a target in the first place. Adrien tried to run damage control as best as he could after that, but time was running out faster than we predicted."

"Did they target me because I was Ladybug?"

"Partly, yes. Tikki is the goddess of creation who the fair folk know as Danu. On one hand, they worship her, on the other hand they're a greedy bunch who want her magic as their own. They probably thought that if they stole Ladybug, they could bargain with Danu for power in exchange for returning her chosen."

"So I was a bargaining chip in all of this?" Marinette didn't sound upset anymore, just calculating.

"Probably. I can only guess at their plans of course, but that is the most likely course of action for them. Most fae are impulsive and don't think much about consequences after all."

She nodded, still that same calculating expression on her face. It was interrupted when Félix couldn't suppress another yawn. He really was too tired.

Marinette's expression changed to something worried again. "Okay, only one last thing because you really need a nap and you'll take it afterwards."

He wouldn't promise that.

"Mélusine said something about how my injuries are healing faster than for other people. Do you know why?"

Félix sighed in relief. At least that was something easy to answer.

"I don't know much about it myself, but Tikki said you're a Chime's Child. People who are born after a Friday midnight and before dawn on a Saturday are blessed with natural healing powers and second sight. Add to that that you used the Ladybug Miraculous for over a year, so your healing powers are especially strong for a human."

"That sounds good. What's second sight though? Is it like the vision I had as Ladybug when I used a Lucky Charm?"

Félix tilted his head. "I don't know what you saw when using Lucky Charms, but second sight is the ability to see or otherwise perceive the fae or just the otherness. Being a Chime's Child is not the only way a human can have that ability and for some it runs in the family. For you, I think it does, so you have a strong disposition for it to begin with."

"Wait, why do you think it runs in my family?"

"Your mother is unnervingly perceptive, more so than a regular person should be."

"Alright, but I don't think I remember seeing any fae like Adrien described in the letter before…well…you know."

"That's because we tried to prevent that. Remember way back when Adrien gifted you that leaf and you heard someone laugh? Those were pixies and you shouldn't have been able to hear them."

Her eyes grew wide at the revelation. "Oh. So that's what it was." Then she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What?" He asked after she didn't say something for several seconds.

"I think I can see a little through it. It worked a tiny bit with Adrien last week, but it was like I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it was gone when I focused on it. Now it's more solid, like a shadow."

"Wait, you can actually see through glamours now?!"

This was bad. Once she was able to see through it fully, it would be hard to fool her again. Not that he necessarily wanted to fool her, but in her current condition, especially with Adrien's condition, seeing through glamours effortlessly wasn't safe for her mental wellbeing.

"A little," Marinette said with a smile and a shrug.

"For your own sanity, please don't do it. At least not until you're further in your recovery. It could be too much at once and take the last speck of normalcy away from you."

She leaned back with a sigh, eyes on the ceiling. "Normalcy left me when I found a pair of earrings in my room, you know."

"Still. Please don't do it yet."

Marinette sighed. "Fine, I won't. But when you say 'yet', then for how long?"

"I know you're curious, but I'd say you should wait at least until after you managed to talk to Adrien. Give him the option of a glamour so that his appearance won't immediately trigger you again."

He watched her slightly curl into herself. "Oh, right. I…didn't think of that."

Félix glanced at the door.

"I'm worried about him. Audrey somehow managed to break his foreleg with a piece of furniture when usually he can fall from the tenth floor of a building and walk away without a scratch. It's been a week and it's still broken."

"Will he be alright?" Marinette asked, now looking at the door as well.

"Plagg says he will be and that it's probably the magic slowing down the process. Destruction isn't known for its healing properties after all."

She nodded mutely and then continued quietly. "And mentally?"

"That depends," Félix said, not taking his eyes off the ring on his finger. "He lost almost everything important to him at once or knows it in danger. Learning how to cope with that will be hard for him in his broken state."

"Broken?"

The question was a whisper, almost inaudible, and not really a question at all. Unshed tears shimmered in Marinette's eyes coupled with a look that said more than a thousand words ever could: she already knew exactly what he meant. It had probably been the previous day when she had talked to Adrien, not that it took an especially empathetic person to pick up on that.

Félix nodded. "He doesn't dare to hope for betterment because he's afraid it would be taken away from him again."

"He didn't lose me," Marinette said, still quiet as if afraid someone could steal the words from her if she spoke them too loudly. "Or a home. It'll still be there once we get back and I'll still be there too."

He then stood up, sensing that this conversation was nearing its end.

"Then tell him that. Nothing of this is an instant-fix, but I hope you can still talk things through soon. After all, I know from three years of experience that you two work best as a team, Miraculous or not."

She threw him a weak smile.

"Thank you, Félix."

He nodded and went over to the door. When he was just about to push down the handle and open it, Marinette's voice, now a little stronger and less teary, stopped him.

"Actually, wait. Can you help me get downstairs first? It's almost time for dinner and I wanted to see if I can fix us something more creative than sandwiches this time."

"Sure…but how do you usually get down?"

"Mélusine or Sabrina carry me. As much as I'd like to tackle the stairs myself, the breaks are still too fresh for that."

"I'm gonna interrupt and run damage control right there," Plagg suddenly said, startling Félix. He hadn't even noticed that the kwami had phased into the room.

"Pardon?" He asked, to which Plagg rolled his eyes.

"You're not gonna carry anyone down any set of stairs when you can't even walk in a straight line, kitten. Sorry Bug, but you'll have to wait for this selkie girl to come back if you want to cook."

Marinette just smiled understandingly. "You're right Plagg, Félix needs a nap first. And I insist that you do it here in the house, since there are bound to be more beds than just this one. Tomorrow is even a holiday, so no school and no work."

"I can't. If there's an Akuma—"

"Then you aren't of any use if you're so tired that you'll fall off a rooftop."

Her voice had taken on her commanding Ladybug-tone and Félix could do little else than to just nod in defeat. Plagg, meanwhile, snickered.

"Well said, kid," he praised her. "And when you make dinner later, don't forget the cheese."

Félix fully expected to find his brother waiting for him once he closed the door behind him. What he hadn't expected was to be violently pulled aside into another room. There was the ripping sound of fabric and when he saw what had ripped it, he was immediately glad that Adrien had decided to bite into his jacket rather than his arm. A protest lay on his tongue, but it was immediately cut off by a threatening growl.

"Shift," Adrien said in a tone that allowed no arguments.

On other days, he might have had the strength for a retort, but after the conversation with Marinette, and with the effect of the coffee he had had earlier slowly fading, he had no energy left for a clever 'no.' The fact of the matter was that Marinette and Adrien had both been right and he was absolutely exhausted. And while he knew that his brother wouldn't actually do him harm, he also knew from first-hand experience that Adrien wasn't someone to piss off. So, against his better judgment, Félix did as he was told and shifted. Though he had just enough strength left to settle on a defiant stare.

"There. Happy?"

Adrien laid down between Félix and the door and pinned him to the ground with the paw of the not broken front leg. Not enough to hurt, but strong enough to get the point across that any attempts to flee would be futile.

"Only when you finally take a nap," Adrien said. "You've been working yourself to the bone these last few days, haven't you?"

Félix's response was a grumble so incoherent that even he wasn't sure what he was trying to say.

"Thought so," his brother sighed. "You'll stay here for tonight and get some sleep. No arguments!"

"Fine."

Adrien let out a content rumble and repositioned his paw so it didn't pin Félix down anymore. Instead, he shuffled slightly closer and wrapped his tail around the both of them.

"How the tables have turned," Félix commented with a chuckle. "Just last week I had to remind you to get some sleep."

Adrien snorted. "The tables have turned and twisted to something unrecognizable after everything that happened. And don't you pretend that you ever had a decent sleep schedule to begin with."

"I guess I didn't," Félix said and couldn't help but let out a quiet purr at being close to his brother again.

The familiar warmth coupled with Adrien's purr proved more comforting than anything else Félix could imagine and he could feel himself getting drowsy while basking in the luxury of safety. Familiar, warm, home. He felt Adrien start grooming his neck, and it was a testament to Félix's level of sleep-deprivation that he found it to be soothing when normally he would have objected to such undignified behaviour—they weren't kittens anymore. For now, though, he didn't need his stubborn mask, especially not in front of his brother. Instead, he could allow himself to drift further and further asleep while basking in the comforting sensation of being groomed. It might have been Adrien's now much bigger size, the fact that Félix was already halfway asleep, or even both, but it still made him remember his early childhood. While he was content thinking of his mother when she had groomed him, he, much like so often back then, fell asleep.