Chapter Text
Adrien wasn’t the type to be sneaking around in the dark. In fact, he often scolded others for doing the same, but these were different circumstances. With circumstances like these, he couldn’t afford to waste any time; even seconds were precious when it came to magic.
His lantern did little to scatter the shadows of the castle. The windows rattled with the wind, the air around him cold and stale. The floor stung his bare feet as he skulked silently through the abandoned halls.
“She’ll figure it out, you know.” A voice whispered at his shoulder.
“Shush, Plagg.” Adrien told it as he hurried down the West Hall. The air slowly grew thick with the smell of mold and rot, the smell of magic.
“She won’t fall for it, I’m sure of it. She’s too smart.” Adrien eased the doors to the East Passage open. The atmosphere was awake and alive, like it was watching him and every move he made.
“I know.” He said. “I’ve got a plan.” Plagg rolled his eyes.
“Sure you do.” The boy ran as quietly as he could down the corridor and stopped at a narrow wooden door with a copper plate, labeled ‘BREWING ROOM’. “It’s gonna be locked.” His kwami muttered.
Adrien tentatively turned the black handle. The door squeaked open. He smiled. “But it’s not.”
“Which is suspicious.” Plagg mumbled, but even he was twitching with anticipation. There was something about the way the world seemed when you were doing something wrong. It was almost like everything had eyes; and those eyes were fixed on you. The floorboards creaked as Adrien tiptoed across them. The windows on the far wall let the moon’s light cast swirling shadows throughout the cavernous classroom.
Adrien set his light down on one of the tables and stared up at the gloom of the tall ceiling. “Let’s get to work.” He said, mostly to himself.
And so the boy lugged one of the bronze cauldrons from shelves, found the largest burner and the largest knife, and started to chop a bar of chocolate.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“Of course I do.” Adrien replied. He threw the chocolate pieces into the cauldron, where they melted almost immediately, along with mint, water, lemon zest, and a dried buttercup. A strange bitter smell filled the air around them. After five minutes, he turned the burner off and poured in orange essence and honeysuckle nectar. His surroundings jolted and lurched when the first drop of nectar hit the cauldron.
The boy fumbled for his wand; a thin strip of carved birch. He tapped the sides of the cauldron, smoothed his sleeves and his coat, and cleared his throat.
Before he could even utter a word, it blew up. A puff of heart shaped smoke erupted from it, the BOOM echoing through the room and the halls of the castle.
“Run!” Plagg screeched. Adrien swiped his ingredients into his bag and flew from the room. He rushed down the East Passage and was already down the Underground Corridor when the first teachers were arriving outside the Brewing Room.
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“Where in the world were you last night?” Nino whispered to him in their Creative Summoning class. Adrien looked sheepishly down at his book.
“I was… being stupid.” He sighed.
“Were you the one who caused that explosion?” Nino asked. Adrien looked at him grimly and nodded. His friend’s mouth twitched.
“Don’t laugh.” Adrien hissed. Nino covered his mouth with his hand.
“I’m not laughing.” He said in a strangled voice.
“You two!” Their professor called. “Pay attention!” The boys’ heads turned back to their textbooks and the woman continued to drone on about the importance of neat handwriting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marinette, with her too large school shirt rolled up at the sleeves, and her too large hat on the table beside her, the tail piling down at the floor. She was looking at him with a concerned look on her face.
He smiled and she blushed, but she turned back to her notes with a much more relaxed expression.
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When the school hours were over, and Adrien was packing his books back into his bag, Nino waved him over to where he, Nathanaël, and Juleka were talking.
“We’re going to the forest today. People are saying that they’re seeing the first signs of snow and ice bugs, and we’re gonna go try and catch some.”
“Weather bugs are impossible to catch.” Adrien said dubiously.
“That’s what I said.” Nathanaël muttered.
“It’ll be fun.” Juleka insisted. “Trust me.”
“Alya, you’ll come, right?” Nino called to the girl in question as she passed with Marinette at her side.
“Where?” She asked and the two joined their circle.
“The woods.”
“Are you going?” Alya turned to Adrien, who after a moment, shrugged.
“Why not?” The girl shrugged as well.
“We’ll both come. Right, Marinette?” They turned to blue-haired girl. She looked around at the others and then nodded.
“Sure.”
“Let’s go then!” Nino said as he swung his bag over his shoulder.
“Can’t.” Juleka huffed. “I have another stupid class.”
“Me too,” Nathanaël added. “How about we meet at eight instead?”
“Alright, eight it is.” Nino announced, and the others scooped up their belongings and left. As Adrien passed the two inseparable friends in the hall, he told them,
“I’m glad you’ll be coming.” And he smiled warmly. Alya grinned and Marinette blushed, but smiled shyly back. “See you later.” He waved and then he hurried to his room, resolving to finish as much homework as he possibly could without killing his brain.
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It was seven o’clock when Adrien finally gave up on his math homework. Charm Making, Broom Crafting, Defying Physics; he could do those things. But not math.
The sky was dark outside his window, the moon peeking through gaps in the blue clouds. He could hear the rustling of dead leaves as they flew from their branches to the ground. The creaks of floorboards above and below him filled his room as other students returned to their rooms.
Plagg looked up from his cheese. “You still have time to try to do your potion. You never know when you’ll see her again.”
Adrien yawned and rested his head in his hand. “I thought you didn’t want me to.” The kwami shrugged and buried his head in his cheese once more. The boy moved around his dorm, pulling out his uniform coat and lacing his boots. Plagg jumped into his hood, and with his bag around his shoulders, he snuck down the West Hall and the Eastern Passage once again.
The rotten smell of magic was disgustingly strong in the classroom. He placed his bag on the now charred table and tapped his wand against his lip. “What went wrong last time?” He wondered aloud.
“Did you follow the instructions?”
“Down to the last detail.” Adrien paced the room. “Did I forget something?” Plagg shrugged.
“Do you need anything from her to bind the spell? A hair or something?” The boy gasped. He put his hand to his forehead.
“I forgot about that part.”
“No wonder it exploded.” Plagg snorted. The clock tower rang out its mournful tune and tolled the eighth hour. Adrien groaned but packed his things and packed up Plagg, and then ran down the hall for a third time in two days.
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Marinette, Nino and Alya were already there when he stumbled down the hill. They carried lanterns and wands, except Marinette, who thought to bring something to keep the weather bugs in, but not a light, and she looked rather sheepish about it.
“Juleka and Nathanaël aren’t here.” Alya noted.
“Should we wait?” Said Marinette.
“It’s already fifteen past.” Nino grumbled.
“They’re probably just running late. Let’s go ahead, they can’t be far behind.” Adrien reasoned, and after checking a map, they set off into the forest. The forest, with its bare trees, leaf covered ground, and bright green moss.
Adrien fell into step beside Marinette. She was tapping each side of her jar with her pinkie finger, sealing it with a simple spell. It glowed a soft, sage green before returning to a normal container.
“It was smart of you to bring that,” He said to her and she jumped slightly. “If you didn’t, we’d have to carry anything we found in our pockets.” He laughed and she giggled uncertainly. Adrien studied her for a moment before continuing to talk to her; about school, weather, winter vacation, anything he could think of. He was rather desperate to keep speaking to her. She didn’t say a lot; she was always a shy person, and what she did manage to say didn’t always make a lot of sense, but she had a sincere smile, so Adrien still liked to talk to her.
“When I tried to hand in our last poison assignment, I tripped and it fell straight into someone’s cup of Liquid Fire!” Marinette laughed and Adrien smiled. “Ms. Weatherstone was nice about it, but I still got a zero. So for this week’s, I’ll have to…” His voice trailed off. Ahead of them, Nino and Alya stopped walking.
“Listen.” Alya whispered. For a brief moment, the woods were silent. Not a single bird chirped, not a squirrel or chipmunk rustled in the leaves.
Marinette gasped.
“Look!” She exclaimed, pointing to the trees ahead of them. A small, white light flickered faintly as it moved slowly around the trunk that it was stuck on.
“Is that an actual ice bug?” Adrien said in disbelief.
“Catch it, quick!” Alya cried.
Adrien and Nino threw a spell at the same time. The air around them snapped, as it always did when magic was being used. The smell of smoke and must rose, and Marinette walked slowly into the dust of the spells.
“We got it!” She called. “We actually got it!” She emerged with an immobilized beetle in her jar. The insect was white and gray; it’s back covered in swirls. It was shiny and frosty, like it was made from ice. The glass of the jar around it was foggy.
The four friends cheered, but it didn’t last for long. The forest was still as quiet as death.
“Why is it-” Adrien started.
“Shh!” Marinette held up a hand. There was a distant creeeeeeeeeeak…
And then there was a deafening BOOM.
And then there was a shadow, walking towards them.