When a liar gets you left behind

Chapter Twenty-Four : Honesty

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   Adrien, Chloe, and Marinette exited the portal as it slowly diminished into thin air, not bothering to watch it as they all recovered from their stomachs tossing and turning from using the portal in general.

They silently creeped from the hallway into Marinette's room before quickly locking the newly installed door, and stuffing some random cover in the tiny hole between the door and the floor.

It wasn't the best security ever, but they oftentimes didn't have to worry, as magic would normally take care of it all. But, considering that Jagged already knew about one fourth of the whole equation, they figured it was best to take some extra security measures. It was, by far, the probably the best they could do at the moment.

The three looked at each other before laughing loudly. The best they could was rather pitiful, They would definitely have to bring something that would make it a tad better next time.

Adrien cleared his throat, trying to be serious about this situation, all the laughter had faded from his face and his brows furrowed in what seemed to be concentration. He looked over at Chloe nervously, obviously slightly anxious about what he was about to say. Chloe gave him one of her rare, small, soft smiles.

"Tikki, Plagg, Polenn, why don't you go get you some food from the kitchen while we talk," Marinette said suggestively.

All the kwami's looked over at Marinette before nodding, then silently walked out the room

They sat in a short, comfortable silence before Adrien spoke up.

"Look, I know you're the Guardian and all," Adrien began.

Marinette wasn't sure what that was really supposed to mean, but she knew for sure that she didn't like how the sentence had started. "—but I can tell something isn't quite right with me and my Miraculous. It-I. . . I detransform quicker than I used to, I sometimes feel like I can't hold myself up when I'm transformed. And I-I don''t know if I'm a true Miraculous holder! You guys keep telling me all about your side-effects starting to show, but I haven't felt any."

Marinette was shocked into silence for a few moments.

"How long have you felt like this?"She asked in a calm voice, though it was firm and showed how serious this was.

"It didn't use to be this bad, but I guess It started around the time Lila came." Adrien said quietly.

Chloe was rubbing circles onto his back, being a comforting figure for him.

"I don't really know how to confirm this as the guardian, but I'll probably have to ask Tikki." Silently, Marinette added that to the mental list of things to ask Tikki. It seemed that the list was growing quite long recently. Marinette really needed to ask Tikki about some of these questions.

"I really wish you would have told me-Ladybug, when I was given the role of guardian. I don't want any of my teammates or friends to have to hold something that big on their shoulders, nobody deserves that. Nobody," Marinette lectured in a calm way.

Adrien gave them an apologetic smile, before slowly nodding. "Don't even know how I didn't manage to accidentally tell you, Mari, You're so easy to talk to."

All three of them shifted the conversation from that, instead talking about the Akumas, how they were recently more and more random. Usually,they could guess around what day one would be released, as it was like Hawkmoth had a schedule. But more recently, he hadn't stuck to it, putting Marinette more on edge then usual. She worried sometimes, quickly looking on at her phone when it lit up, worrying that it might be an Akuma alert.

Marinette's thoughts shifted to the Heroes of Gotham- She knew that they had many times told their citizens that they were vigilantes, but Marinette knew better than to think that. They were heroes. Marinette learned early in life that you could take a form a word in a more literal, or more obvious way, or, you could think a little deeper for a more outside the box meaning. For example, the most recognized meaning of a hero was a person with magical powers saving people. But if you thought a little harder you would realize that normal people could be heroes too. Marinette had heard a story of a man when she was younger, the man was homeless, something that he normally left out of any conversation. Luckily, when he grew older, he had had some luck with the lottery, making him exquisitely rich, or at the very least, well off. He went on to give dozens of donations to numerous places.He told everyone that if it wasn't for a random little girl handing him a ten dollar bill that day, then he wouldn't be in that store, and he wouldn't have gotten the lottery ticket that changed his life.

  That girl was a hero, whether she knew it or not. Something so simple ended so well for someone. This was how she knew that Robin and all of his other teammates were heroes. If  you meant to do good, if you meant for it to have a positive effect, then your actions made you a hero.

Marinette remembered the fact that they were looking into her, the thought made her stomach churn. She had supposed it was only a matter of time before she drawed attention to herself, be she didn't think it would be this quick. She had tried to be more careful. But her control on herself slipped slightly when she was with Damian. Something wasn't right with him, and she could never really relax with him. He constantly got underneath her skin. She couldn't let that happen again. She would have to learn to either calmly reply to his. . . Antics, or just ignore them entirely. She couldn't risk it.

"Guys, I may need your help for something."

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