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#but lso kind of not because i hate being payed attention to
notsogoodangel · 3 years
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Finally done: Children of Dead AU AKA an SBI Royal/Antarctic Empire AU which actually includes both Fundy and Kristin. More info under the cut
also ignore typos in the drawing, I did the text at like 2 am
The Antarctic Empire seemed to pop out of nowhere, and just as fast as it appear, it became among the most prosperous and wealthiest (and most dangerous) kingdoms in the world. The world was in shock figuring out how an adventurer, who first came into view from a pathetic death, became the ruler of such a prosperous empire. Although once meeting the royal family, one begins to understand. Emperor Philza, also known as the Angel of Death, a man later became known for his wisdom and bravery. He will always raising to the occasion, of course, if he believe in it, and destroy anything that stands in his path. The empress is Death herself, always kind to everyone who doesn’t run from her and her touch and to be feared if you ever go against her. They formed a family that almost seems too perfect for running the place the call home. The oldest son is almost perfect soldier, seemingly never loosing a battle and always knowing how to plan to their next expansion of their territory. The crown prince has a way with words that makes everyone listen, always trying to get the upper hand and his pride always seeking what’s the most optimal outcome during a meeting. The youngest of the emperor and empress children is a loud young man that is never afraid to speak his mind, fight for any occasion to protect the empire and his family, trying to improve any injustice that may ever plague the kingdom. The crown prince’s son is focused on making the empire structurally stable, always focusing on the infrastructure and improving the technology.
Secondary characters
Ranboo: 
He was taken in by Phil when he was 15, but he really seems to be adopted by Techno than by him.
Not an official prince, but under the protection of the royal family.
Still half enderman and half something else.
He is the same age as Tommy, and they get along well-enough.
Tubbo: 
He is not adopted by the royal family, but might as well be.
Even though he is a citizen of Manberg, he spends most of his time in the empire, specially hanging out with Tommy, Ranboo, and Purpled.
Son of Captain Sparklez, his uncle is Schlatt and Puffy, and Dream is his cousin.
Half goat and half sheep (that’s the couple horn).
Purpled:
An ex-child soldier, rescued and taken in by Ponk and Punz (his biological-older brother).
He was REALLY good at his job, and still continues the mercenary work, but he actually makes money out of it.
He is an alien hybrid, which is among the rarest hybrids, and has very little drawbacks.
He hangs out in the castle because he can and nobody can stop him.
Sam: 
A prince with so many brothers that is near impossible for him to become a king, so he moved to the empire and helps in the building of it with the help of Foolish.
A raccoon-creeper hybrid, and connected to Tommy very fast because of it.
He is in a relationship with Ponk, and lives with him, Purpled and Punz.
He can explode, and tries his best to control his angel... and he is scared of cats, which works out because Ponk is allergic to them.
Schlatt
Phil’s old adventure buddy (look, I love their Hexxit series, fight me)
President of Manberg, although not for long because he dies near the end of his first term. After that he haunts, Quackity, Tubbo and Phil, although mostly Quackity. 
He has the Revive Book, because his family is cursed and all males died young and he is looking for a way to stop it or extended the dying.
He is Sparklez’s and Puffy’s cousin, although he did help raise Tubbo since they travel a lot.
5up: 
Fundy’s childhood friend (and later boyfriend)
He is a nature spirit, specifically a radish. All nature spirits are connected to a plant, and this helps him to stay connect to this realm because again, he is a spirit. 
He tries to spend as much time in the empire with Fundy but the weather is hard on him, and staying in another realm can be hard.
Minor characters
Sally: A fish-hybrid that comes to the empire when the water is not frozen solid, and despite that, she is married to Wilbur and gave birth to Fundy, making her the princess of the empire.
Squid kid: A squid-hybrids that comes to the empire year-round and helps Techno keep his crops when he knows he is going away for a battle for an extended period of time. Techno only does this because he hates machines, and prefers manual labor. 
Ponk: A dreamon-hybrid (hides it) mercenary and doctor who keeps an eye in Punz and specially Purpled. Usually the middle man between any hits someone may request.
Punz: A alien-hybrid (recessive) mercenary and ex-child soldier. While he lives under Ponk and Sam’s roof, he doesn’t really listen to them as he is only there because he cares about Purpled... also he doesn’t listen to anyone unless you pay him.
Extra info: 
Tubbo, Dream, Puffy, Sparklez and Schlatt are all biologically connected. The “C” on Tubbo and Schlatt’s name stand for Captain, which is the family name. Don’t ask why is in the beginning of their names, they don’t know either. Their curse consist in that all males in the family will die young, usually tragically (Sparklez drowns in one of his travels and Schlatt dies alone from a heart attack). While the females will start to forget things if they are not consistent, for example, they will remember how to garden if they are a farmer, but they will forget they have a child if they live alone for an extended period of time.
Dream is the rules of the Greater SMP, although he hates the idea of being the face of the country since he hates people being up in his personal business, doesn’t like attention, he has personal beef with Techno and Tommy and that is not good for public relations when you hate two of the princes of one of the most powerful empires in the world; and his uncle runs a country that is not connected to his at all (aside from being to war in the past, but Schlatt wasn’t president then). So he still rules, but put Eret as a figure head as he has good personal relations with Wilbur and they actually like the attention.
There’s a small secret revolution against Wilbur going on the Antarctic Empire run by Blop and Oreli and many other of the people Wilbur used as experiment and torture during his “rebellious” phase. They mostly just want to torture and no-canonically kill him.
Hannah and George are also nature spirits. George is a mushroom spirit and Hannah is a rose one. George lives in Kinoko Kingdom with Karl (not a hybrid, but just a straight up an interdimensional being) and Sapnap, a fire-demon hybrid, and they are visited by Dream, who’s a sheep-dreamon hybrid, Quackity (a duck hybrid) and BBH (straight up demon and Sapnap’s dad). Hannah, on the other hand, lives on the Empire in a green rose, and works as a mercenary with Purpled. They sometimes work together, but most of the time they just train together.
Quackity is the vice-president during Schlatt presidency, and takes the mantle of presidency when he dies. He wants to run, but he after entering in a relationship with Karl and Sapnap he stops and moves to Kinoko. 
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peachcitt · 7 years
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an enlightening chap 29!!! @luvclick @megatraven @gigiree
its enlightening because for some reason there’s a lot of new info that’s dropped in this chapter and idk if its overwhelming but eh its there!! have fun with that
anyway i started this chapter last week but then i realized that i wouldn’t be finished in time so i decided to push back publishing it to this week where i procrastinated on continuing it until ysterday when i was dead tired from the for some reason crazy day i had and only ended up writing about a couple hundred more words. wake up this morning with stuff to do in the afternoon and i was like. im finishing this b. cue me writing around 3000 words within a couple of hours with no breaks. im amazing
Read from the beginning/where it’s originally posted here
Story description: They say curiosity killed the cat. But it cando a whole lot more than that. [In which Marinette falls into an unfamiliar place with strange inhabitants.]
Chapter description: Marinette meets one of Chat’s most precious friends, and Chat gets roasted more than once.
Rated: T (because there’s some violence that may not be suited for some audiences.. this chapter is really tame save for a panic attack that character has at the end)
Chat was silent for a while after they left Nathaneal’s, not even commenting when Marinette broke away from his side to touch a save point, though he did seem to stiffen a little. Marinette wasn’t uncomfortable with the silence. It wasn’t something heavy, and when she looked over at him, the little crease between his eyebrows told her he was only thinking hard about something.
Just as they were nearing a shop, Chat stopped them, his hand tightening his hand on hers. “I know that you intend to stick to your crazy plans of saving the Underground,” he started, looking her in the eyes. The tone and sound of his voice was careful, as if he had carefully chosen each word before speaking them. “Before I say anything else, I want you to tell me how you plan to do that.”
Marinette thought for a second, biting her lip. In her dream, the woman had said to just continue her path of forward, and considering she had said that their goals were now the same, she might as well mean that Marinette’s supposed to be doing that to save the Underground. Which is sort of what she wanted to do anyway. Go forward, find a way for everyone to be satisfied. She didn’t think Chat would accept such a vague answer, though, so she decided to call upon the advice Tikki had given her what seemed like so long ago.
“A friend I once knew told me the best way to solve conflicts was to talk it out.”
A smile twitched on Chat’s face before disappearing completely, and Marinette wondered if she had imagined it. “So you plan to walk into the palace, go straight to King Plagg, and give him a stern talking to?”
“I imagine it’ll be more of a two-way conversation than a talking to, but sure. That’s the plan.”
He let out a sigh that almost sounded like a laugh. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Bringing her scarred hand up to his lips, he gave her knuckles a light kiss before looking back up at her. “I’ll help you, Marinette, and I’ll protect you so that you can talk your way out of everything.”
“But you still think it’s crazy.”
“Oh, I know it’s crazy.”
She pushed his face away from her hand, giving his hair a light ruffle. “Thanks, Chat.”
His throat made a small noise that sounded like purring as her fingers ran through his hair, and Marinette pulled her hand away, giving Chat a surprised look. Chat’s eyes widened, and he cleared his throat, looking away from her.
“Anyway,” he said, his voice cracking a little. “This shop is run by an old friend. We should go in to pay him a little visit so I can introduce you, and also stock you up on some food.”
When they walked into the shop, Marinette was so surprised by the most human-looking akuma she had ever seen, that she stopped walking.
Behind the front counter stood an old man, totally normal in appearance except for a bright red and very tacky Hawaiian style tourist shirt and a large turtle shell on his back. As for the aura he gave off…
Marinette had never really felt an aura around akumas, and she had no idea if what she was feeling truly was an aura, but it felt so unbelievably powerful that it took her breath away. The power seemed to roll off the serenely smiling old man, and the combination of unfamiliar sights and feelings made her stop by the door, completely motionless.
“Hey, Fu,” Chat said, immediately walking up to the counter to lean on it. “How’s it going? This is my friend – what’s wrong?” he asked, finally noticing Marinette’s frozen figure still by the door.
Finally, she shook off her alarm enough to walk closer. Though she was still wary of the man that Chat had called ‘Fu.’ “Nothing,” she said, eyeing Fu to try and figure out why he felt so different from other akumas. There was of course the flow of energy practically suffocating Marinette, but she found that if she tried to not to think about it, it wouldn’t be so bad. But his appearance also seemed off. Normally, akumas resembled humans to an extent, but there was always something big that differentiated the two.
The only thing about Fu was his turtle shell.
Fu seemed to notice Marinette’s careful scrutiny, though he didn’t seem bothered by it. “Hello. You’re a new face, aren’t you?”
“I’m new here,” Marinette said, feeling the magical power of Fu roll off him in waves as she stepped closer to him.
“Well, I’m sure that by now you’ve already seen a lot of the Underground, but welcome to the Underground,” he said, smiling at her. “I trust Chat has not been too much of a nuisance?”
Chat scowled at him. “Why are you always like this with my friends?”
“No, he’s been a nuisance,” Marinette said, and Fu laughed. Chat looked at her in betrayal.
“I’m not sure I expected anything else, to be quite honest.” He paused, looking over Marinette with a gleam in his eye that she wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with. “But I definitely didn’t expect to see a human so far deep in the Underground in this sort of age. You deserve a hearty congratulations.”
Marinette blinked. So far, the other akumas she’d actually had a conversation with hadn’t seemed to notice that she was human. Fu knew right off the bat.
“Who are you?” she asked, unable to stop herself from taking a step back.
“A friend,” Fu promised. “I didn’t mean to alarm you.”
“Well, you did, and I’m very alarmed.”
Chat stepped in between her and Fu, his hands held out to her like he was trying to calm a panicked animal. Marinette glared at him. “Bug, there’s nothing to be suspicious about. Fu’s one of my closest friends” – he casted a pointed look back at Fu – “though sometimes he’s too upfront with what he knows or figures out.”
“Excuse me for being suspicious,” Marinette said, still not convinced enough to stop being angry and sounding more than a little sarcastic and rude, “but most of the time when people know I’m human, they try to kill me.”
“Fu’s not like that,” Chat soothed. “He’s too old to fight anything.” Marinette heard Fu laugh a little. She still wasn’t convinced.
“If it makes you feel a little better,” Fu interjected, peeking out from behind Chat, “I’ve been here for a very long time. Before the king decided to implement the ‘hating humans’ plans, an idea I was and still am much opposed to.”
Marinette stepped out to see Fu better, still giving him a wary glare. “How’d you know I was human?”
“I’m a smart man,” Fu said with a shrug. “And I’ve heard some news that the palace has found and is trying to locate a human wearing spots.” He tapped an ear as he said this, and Marinette wondered if he was referring more to her earrings than her sweater. “It also makes sense that Chat would bring you here, since he always introduces new friends to me.”
“How’d you know I’d be his friend?”
“Chat likes to get into trouble, and making friends with a human is a great way to get in trouble.”
“You make me sound so bad,” Chat interrupted. Marinette noticed that he didn’t deny it.
“Okay,” Marinette said, finally relaxing, if only a small amount. “Sure. I trust you. A little.”
Fu observed her still tightly wrung posture, the way her fists clenched and unclenched, the way her feet shifted back and forth, as if ready at that very second to run. “Perhaps,” he said, watching as her eyes bored into him, “it would help to converse over a cup of tea.”
“It’s really great tea,” Chat offered, his eyes pleading with Marinette to relax, for goodness’ sake. “Calms you down.”
Marinette didn’t take long to decide what she wanted to do, but that didn’t mean that she liked it all that much. Fu lead the two of them to a back door of his small shop which opened up to a small cave-like dwelling that was neat and orderly, if somewhat cramped.
It seemed like the entire home was all in one room, and everything looked to be sort of squished together, but it seemed very lived in. Despite the fact that Marinette was still on edge from the power emanating from Fu, she still found somewhere inside her to observe the surroundings with a fond feeling nudging at her gut.
There was a small wooden dining table pushed right up to the edge of the kitchen counter tops, and Marinette heard the scream of an overheating tea kettle. The scent of the house was something warm and herb-like. There were gemstones embedded into the uneven walls.
Fu rushed to the tea kettle, maneuvering easily around the furniture, and gestured for Chat and Marinette to sit. Chat sat down first, looking a lot more at ease than Marinette, who remained standing and watched as Fu gathered three mismatched cups and began pouring the hot water into them.
“Can I ask why you’re upset, Marinette?” Chat asked, his voice low and sincere as he tugged on Marinette’s hand to try and get her to sit. She conceded after a moment, still keeping her hand on Chat’s.
“I’m not upset,” Marinette said, her voice slow as she tried to place what exactly it was she was feeling. “I just feel very overwhelmed? On edge? There’s something about your friend that makes little alarms go off in my head,” she said, tearing her eyes away from Fu as he took out a box full of tea bags and carefully chose three different ones to put in the cups.
Chat thought for a moment. “I’ve been around Fu for as long as I remember, so I can’t exactly understand what you’re feeling.” His teeth worried at his bottom lip as he thought for a moment. “But I do know that Fu isn’t the average… akuma.”
Marinette didn’t fail to notice the pause before Chat called Fu an akuma. She didn’t comment on it.
“He’s very old, and he’s very powerful,” he continued. “I don’t think akumas tend to mind so much since they can feel magic all the time, but for a human inexperienced with such potent sort of power, I suppose it could be overwhelming. But he’s not going to hurt you. That much is a promise.”
Fu carefully held all three cups in arms, performing an almost impressive balancing act as he carried them to the table. He distributed the cups to Marinette and Chat, handing Chat a plain black mug with what looked like cat whiskers on it and Marinette a delicate looking tea cup with a pink cherry blossom design reminiscent of Chinese-style artistry.
“As always,” Fu said, regarding Chat with a crooked smile as he took a sip from his own mottled green cup, “you’re not as good at whispering as you think you are.” Marinette stiffened. “Take a page from Marinette’s book,” he said, giving her a wink.
“Leave me alone, old man. It’s just because you can recognize my voice.”
“It’s also because your voice still cracks like you’re a pubescent teenager.”
“Does not!” Chat exclaimed, his voice cracking as he said those words.
Marinette found herself snorting a little as she toyed with the handle of the tea cup, her eyes flicking over to Chat’s horrified and offended expression. “Apparently it does.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side,” Chat pouted.
“I’ll be on whatever side I please.”
Fu’s eyes twinkled as he regarded Marinette once more, but there seemed to be an edge there as well. Marinette wondered what she had done to put it there. “As for what you two were so conspicuously whispering about, I must say that Chat is right on all accounts.”
“A rarity,” Marinette commented. Chat gaped at her.
“Indeed.” Chat sunk low in his seat, giving both Fu and Marinette looks. Neither of them paid attention to him. Fu continued without a hitch. “I am old. I am powerful, if I do say so myself. To people who have been around me for a long period of time or akumas with magic as an everyday experience, the extra magic energy inside me doesn’t bother anyone.”
“I fall under both of those categories,” Chat interjected. “You fall under neither.”
“But I’ve been around magic for a long period of time,” she said, taking a sip of the  tea and finding it to taste almost like chamomile, but with a hint of something sweeter. It seemed to calm her down a bit. “Granted, not as long as everyone else here, but still enough to be experienced with it, right?”
Chat brought his mug up to his mouth, taking a sip and making a face. He shot a glare at Fu before turning to Marinette. “Honestly, it isn’t so much about how long you’ve been around it. Humans who’ve been able to take on Fu’s stupid amount of power really have just been in the presence of magic for some of it to seep inside them. The magic’s a part of them, even if they don’t realize it.”
“But I have-” She stopped herself, tightening her grip on the tea cup in her hands and looking at Chat helplessly.
“I’m very much aware that you have SOUL inside you,” Fu said gently, reaching over the table to lay a light hand over hers. He and Chat shared a look that seemed to be filled with unspoken confirmations, and she glanced between them confusedly. “I was able to sense it the moment you walked in.”
Marinette looked down at Fu’s hand over hers, and she lowered the tea cup, not making moving her hand away from Fu’s grasp. “If you understand that much, then surely you must be as confused as me? I have a SOUL inside me, and that’s pure magic, right? It’s a part of me.”
Fu leaned back, taking his hand away from Marinette’s and stroking his beard thoughtfully. “To me, it’s seems as though it’s untapped power in you.” He paused, seeming to examine her a little more. “When Chat and I described the humans with magic in them, we were referring to magic that they use, no matter how small. Little magical actions caused from exposure to magic often don’t get noticed enough.”
“Magic is an emotional force,” Chat said, swirling the tea in his mug absently. “Humans who’ve had magic come into them without their knowledge can sometimes have their emotions lead their lives a little more than how they were previously. Sometimes they’ll perform little magics without realizing it. They’re not akumas, but one breakdown, and they will be.”
“And you’re saying… I’m not like that?”
Chat looked at her, the weight of his gaze taking her breath away for a split second. “Definitely not.”
“You’re aware of the fact that there’s magic inside you and how deeply connected to it you are,” Fu said, taking a sip from his own mug. “But it seems like you’ve never used this power in any way.” He paused, and Marinette got the feeling he knew more than he was saying. “You have it inside you, and that’s it.”
“Which is a good thing,” Chat muttered.
“So you’re saying that if I had used more magic, I wouldn’t be so affected by you?” she asked, and both Chat and Fu nodded. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad,” she admitted after a moment. “I don’t even know how to use magic.”
“Good,” Chat said with a very sure nod of his head. “If you don’t know how to use it, that means that you’ve never let it get to you. It takes years to learn how to properly wield it without getting too emotional or having it affect you in a negative way. Even then, it’s still extremely difficult to put a wall between your own emotions and the force that manifests your emotions into power.”
“You seem as though you’re speaking from experience,” Marinette said, eyeing Chat for his reaction.
He only shrugged. “Fu’s old enough to share a millennium’s worth of stories, and every akuma has to go through therapy, remember? It’s to teach them how to use magic in a way that doesn’t get to them.”
Fu looked between Chat and Marinette before setting a moment’s worth of a disappointed gaze at Chat. He turned back to Marinette, and she wondered if she had just imagined it. “I’m sure you came into my shop looking for something in particular, and now that the serious conversation is out of the way, I’d be more than happy to help.”
“I wasn’t looking for anything in particular,” Marinette said with a shrug. “Just maybe some food? I’m running a bit low.”
“Hm,” Fu hummed, tapping a finger to his chin. “I normally sell old junk, so I’m not sure how much I can help you with that sort of thing.”
“You could make something,” Chat suggested. “I would recommend your crab apple.” He turned to Marinette. “It looks like a crab.”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Fu exclaimed, and he got up from the table to buzz excitedly around the kitchen, collecting ingredients Marinette would never have expected for just an apple.
Marinette turned to Chat. “Where do we go after this?” she asked, watching as Chat took a sip of his tea and once again made a face at it. “And what’s in that tea that’s making your face like that?”
Chat set down his mug, pushing it away from him. “Fu likes jokes. I made fun of his tea once and he never gave me actual tea ever again.” He glanced into the mug warily. “I think this is a blend of cat nip, dirt, and sprinkles.” He stuck out his tongue, rubbing it fiercely on his glove. “Maybe a bit of dog residue.”
She gave him a look. “There’s no way that’s true.”
“Do you want to taste it?” he asked, offering the mug to her. She caught a glimpse of small particles of something she couldn’t identify floating around in it.
Just as she was about to take the mug from Chat to prove a point, Fu spoke up from the kitchen. “Ah, Marinette, I think it would be best to drink only from your own mug. You wouldn’t want cat germs, now would you?”
Chat scowled in the general direction of Fu, still offering the mug to Marinette.
“Fu’s right,” Marinette said, grinning cheekily at him. “I think I’d rather not have cat germs.”
He once again set the mug down and pushed it away from him. “I’m always the butt of the joke here.”
“I just think you’re a butt in general.” Marinette heard Fu cackle, and she snorted a little at her own joke.
“What are you, a second grader?” Chat demanded, pouting more than a little.
“Maybe,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Anyway,” Chat said pointedly, trying to steer the conversation away from him. “After we leave here, I think the lantern area is next.” He thought for a moment. “There’s the ferry stop, but that guy is always way up in Hotland until someone hitches a ride back. Really there’s nothing interesting until we get through a couple more areas.”
“You’re supposed to be the overenthusiastic tour guide. Make it interesting.”
“Sweetheart, you expect too much from me.”
Fu walked back over to the dining table, holding a crab-shaped apple on a stick. The apple itself seemed to be covered in a lot of substances Marinette couldn’t recognize. “Oh,” Fu said, wrapping the apple in a sheet of plastic. “I didn’t know you two were involved that way,” he said, shooting a wink at an instantly red Marinette.
“Not yet, my friend,” Chat said, seemingly unaffected by the joke, rather relishing in it. “But in time.”
Marinette slapped his shoulder, fuming in her thoughts that maybe he was right and hating herself for it. “Not even in the next decade.”
“Then the one after that,” he said with a shrug, giving her an absurdly hot smile. “I’ll be counting down the minutes until then, bugaboo.”
“I hate you.”
“Young love sure is nice,” Fu said with a smile.
They chatted a bit longer before Fu finally led them to the front to where the shop was. Looking around, Marinette realized he had been telling the truth with what he had said earlier. There really was just a bunch of junk for sale on the shelves and counters.
She slipped her yo-yo back in her pocket from putting Fu’s crab apple inside, turning back to Fu. “I’m sorry with the way I acted earlier,” she apologized.
“No need for that,” Fu replied easily, waving away her apology. “I understand I can be a bit overwhelming to new people.”
Chat smiled before turned to Fu, his expression serious. “Has anyone come by to ask questions?” he asked, and Fu nodded grimly.
“Alya stopped by just before you two came along.” Marinette stiffened. “You must understand, though,” he said, turning to Marinette and giving her a pleading look, “Alya isn’t as bad as she seems.”
Marinette sighed. “So I’ve heard.”
“Why, I remember when she first arrived here, all filled with this childish wonder,” Fu continued, a fond look passing over his features. “Alya loves the Underground and the people in it. She’d do anything to protect it.” He paused, giving Marinette an apologetic glance. “I know that if the both of you were to talk, she’d come to care for you just as she does with everyone else here.”
“If only she’d take the time to talk.”
“I never said it would be easy. Alya’s extremely hot headed. It’ll take her a bit to cool down to finally realize how good of a person you truly are.”
“She’s got to cool down to warm up to you,” Chat said, almost to himself, and Marinette glanced over at him as he snorted a little at his own ‘joke.’ “But Fu’s right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I know Alya, and she’s really a nice person at heart.”
“I trust you both,” she said after a moment. “This isn’t something I’ve never heard before.”
“In the meantime, though,” Fu said, putting a hand on Marinette’s shoulder, “I would want to steer clear of her.” Marinette nodded. “Stay safe, Marinette. I know you’ll be able to accomplish what you want to.”
Surprisingly, Fu hugged her, and Marinette found herself hugging him back. “Keep your heart in the right place,” he whispered into her ear, and Marinette pulled away somewhat confused.
“I will,” she replied, although she wasn’t sure what he meant by it.
Fu turned to Chat, and they murmured a few things that Marinette couldn’t quite catch to each other before coming together in a tight and meaningful hug. Fu seemed to whisper something in Chat’s ear, and whatever it was seemed to mean a lot more than what he said to Marinette because Chat squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in Fu’s shoulder.
The moment was something that Marinette felt like she was intruding on, and she turned away, somewhat uncomfortable.
After a moment, Fu and Chat pulled away from each other, and Chat came to stand by Marinette’s side. “See you soon, Fu,” Chat said, and Marinette saw there were tears glistening in his bright eyes.
“Be safe, you two,” Fu said, waving as they exited the shop.
Outside, Chat sniffed, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. Marinette stopped walking and made Chat stop, too, using one hand to push his hands away from his face and the other to cradle his cheek. “What’s wrong?” she asked, watching as Chat blinked fast and hard.
He took a deep breath and seemed to gather himself. He didn’t push Marinette away though, instead leaning into her hand. “Fu is… someone very precious to me. I always introduce him to people as my friend, but he really is more like a father to me.” He paused, and a said smile pulled at his lips. “He was there for me when I was going through a rough time, and he’s always known the right thing to say.”
Marinette traced her thumb over his cheekbone, smiling at him softly. “I’m glad I was able to meet someone who means so much to you.”
“Yeah,” Chat replied, his voice thick with emotion and meaning. He leaned down to bump his forehead with hers. “I’m glad, too.”
They stayed that way for a moment, and Marinette closed her eyes, taking in the feeling of Chat’s forehead against hers and her hand pressed against his cheek. She blinked her eyes open, and she saw that Chat had his eyes closed. He was almost unbearably close.
She pulled away. “We should keep moving,” she said, and Chat opened his eyes, regarding her with a look that made her breath catch in her throat.
“Right,” he said, his voice soft.
The next area was passed in a comfortable silence as Chat rubbed circles onto her hand with every step they took. The area was a beautiful one, shrouded mostly in darkness save for the soft glow of blue mushrooms and tall tree-looking structures that emitted the same glow that the mushrooms did.
The area itself seemed to be a maze, but Chat led her through it easily as if he had traversed it hundreds of times. Which, she thought, was an entirely real possibility.
As they reached the end of the area, they reached a sign saying something about Home and crystals. Marinette ignored it.
“Wait,” Chat said, pulling her to a stop. She looked back at him, and as she stared at his face, the light around her from the mushrooms and the jewels on the path started to fade. Chat looked around, seeming to wait for something, and the entire area fell into a darkness so deep, Marinette couldn’t even see her feet.
Her breath came quicker almost instantly, and she reached blindly for Chat, the hand still in his squeezing painfully. “Chat,” she whispered, her voice breaking, “Chat.”
“Marinette,” he whispered back, and something inside her calmed at the fact that he was still right beside her. “Breathe.”
She took in a shaking breath, still trying to find him with her other hand. He stepped closer to her, and she felt her free hand hit his arm. She gripped onto him like he was a lifeline, trying to look up and see his face, but finding she couldn’t. The gnawing fear inside her increased.
“It’s so dark,” she heaved, her grip on him tightening until it created an aching feeling in her knuckles. “So dark. Can’t see.”
A brilliant light blinded her for a moment, and she blinked fast, trying to regain her vision. She looked up at where the light was coming from, and her eyes met with Chat’s glowing green eyes.
The area around them was still shrouded in a darkness so thick it seemed as though it could be cut with a knife, but she could see Chat’s face, and she could see her own feet.
“I’m here, Marinette,” Chat whispered. “I’m here.”
#miraculous tale#miraculous tale fic#my computer is being reallyyyy slow right now nd it's pissing me the HECK off#like i type rlatively quick and this mf is not having the typing sync with the image of the letters onscreen?#im gonna scream this is ridiculous#anyway about the busy day i had yesterday that i mentioned before#i had community service in the morning at like 8 and i kinda wanted toshoot myself but thats okay#and then immediately after i had to go to my school for a five hour rehearsal that started at 10 and let me tell ya#that was probably not fun#like we were in sectionals for a big amount of time and i was with the low reeds and the guy leading us was a bassoon guy#and IM a bassoon guy#so this guy was paying a lot of attention to me and the other bassoon guy and dissing the other players it was kind of funny#but lso kind of not because i hate being payed attention to#aanyway after practice i was really lazy and tired because that was already a lot of my day taken up by being PRODUCTIVE#not fun#so i just lazed around until i went to a birthday party at 5 (the practice let out early at like 2:30 so i was home by 3)#in which i spent a good six hours 'socializing'#granted i had a couple people i knew there because obviously but still#six whole hours#and there was this other thing that was bothering me the wholeee time but i won't mention it because sometimes#people from school ACTUALLY click on the link i post on twitter and read this trash shit#like nah this is for my mutuals from here that follow me on twitter (like two people but that okay it still matters)#(also yoyoyoyo ive got a twitter and rt a bunch stuff and takl about my sad sad life yall should follow me im @ wkwrdnrtrtl)#(so like awkwardnarturtle but without the vowels#because i couldn't fit the whole thing when i was first making it lmao)#also if you're someone that knows me in real life and are for some reason reading this im sorry and only talk to me about this in real life#if you would like to expose a new terrifying version of me and write a ten page essay reviewin every thought you had while reading this.#feedback is great and i'd appreciate it#ANyway#how's everyone doin i hope you're well im okay
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