Chapter Twenty-Seven:

Nino sat alone in Adrien's room, wringing his hands together as he stared at the black TV screen. The Miraculous Game's footage had been lost and the news networks were desperately trying to get it back online. On top of that, the entire Agreste household was already a chaotic mess. Ever since Adrien had left, the mansion had been flipped on its head. President Agreste was harsher than usual, barking orders at servants and his assistant, Nathalie. Nino had retreated to Adrien's unoccupied room, not only to escape the craziness of the house, but to also ponder.

Where had Adrien gone?

From what he had heard, no one had found him. He wasn't in their district, the neighboring district, or even the one on the other side of that one. He had just disappeared.

Nino took a deep breath and pulled off his hat. It was a plain, white servants cap that he had been forced to wear ever since day one. He couldn't help but remember how Adrien had teased him about it. Smirking, Nino tossed the hat onto the coffee table and rested his back against the cushions.

It wasn't like he was worried about Adrien, he knew that he could handle himself, but the fact that he hadn't told him - his best friend - that he was going to run away stung a little. Nino had snuck food to him and risked his job so Adrien could eat, but in return, his friend had dropped him like a sack of unwanted potatoes.

He wasn't hurt by that, but he was concerned. Something was up. There was something Adrien wasn't telling him. The minute Nino had heard that his friend was missing, that was the first thing that had come to mind; something didn't quite add up.

Now that Gabriel Agreste was out of the house, Nino realized that now would be as good a time as any to start an investigation. Why should he hide away when he could figure out what happened to his best friend?

Getting to his feet, Nino scanned the room for anything suspicious. Nothing jumped out at him at first, but the more he looked, the more his eyebrows knit together. No, Adrien wouldn't hide things in plain sight. Servants, including himself, went through his room and cleaned it every day. If Adrien were to hide something, it would need to be in a place that the other people in the mansion didn't know about.

Nino strolled across the room, looking at the bookshelves as his mind came up with ideas. Maybe there was a secret hallway between a bookshelf and a wall? No, that couldn't be it. Too cliche. Could anything fit inside of the skating ramp? No, that wouldn't work either.

Deciding that there couldn't be anything in the main room, Nino decided to walk into the bathroom. He remembered something about the bathroom window being unlocked when he had searched the room the day after Adrien had left. Maybe there was something there, some clue that he had overlooked.

Nino closed the bathroom door behind him, then scratched his head as he thought. Where would Adrien hide something?

He smiled as an idea came to his mind. Walking over to the bathroom sink, he bent down and opened the cabinet door. As it swung open, Nino expected to find some sort of buried treasure, but all he saw was foundation, a charger, soup, and-

Wait. A charger? Under a sink?

Nino reached inside and pulled on the cord. It didn't give, seeming to be plugged into the wall. He yanked on it again, following where the cord led. Unsurprisingly, it seemed to have fallen out of one of the side drawers. Furrowing his eyebrows, Nino analyzed the end that he held. It seemed like something plugged into it, like some sort of hand-held device. It was black with a small insignia of a green paw print on one side. Fiddling with it, he figured that it didn't go to any tablet or phone that he had ever seen. It honestly didn't make any sense.

Setting the charger aside, he searched under the sink more thoroughly. He counted the drawers, two on each side. He couldn't see inside of them, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Frowning, Nino leaned back, looking at the countertop and each of the drawers. Two on one side and one on the other.

Wait. Where was the second drawer on the left side?

Nino put a hand on the spot where the other drawer should have been. This was where the cord had fallen out of. There had to be a way to open it.

After a couple minutes of Nino scouring the sink for any clues, he found a button on the underside of the cabinet. He smiled.

Clever Adrien.

Nino pushed it, and the hidden drawer popped out. With careful fingers, he pried it open. His eyes widened. Inside, there was a scrapbook, the rest of the strange charger he had found, and a mask. It wasn't just any mask, though. It was a black, leather one. It was ripped on one side, a needle and thread sticking out of it as if it were in the middle of being fixed.

What was Adrien doing with a black mask?

Reaching inside, Nino picked up the scrapbook. It was surprisingly light for as big as it looked. Nino bit his lip, wondering if he should snoop anymore. He had already crossed a line that Adrien probably wouldn't be happy about, but he was already going to be in trouble. Why not figure out a little bit more about his best friend?

He opened the scrapbook. Nino froze. On the first page, a picture of a beautiful woman was glued carefully to a pale blue piece of cardstock. It wasn't any woman, though. Nino recognized her from the photos around the house. It was Adrien's mom.

No one knew, not even the servants, where she had disappeared to. Nino hadn't been working for President Agreste when she disappeared, but he knew all about how she had vanished. It was said that she had been unhappy in her marriage and had run away, abandoning her only child in the process. Nino didn't believe that. Nor did he believe the theory that she had been cheating on President Agreste. Even though their marriage had been an arranged one, Nino didn't see Adrien's mom as someone who would turn her back on her first-born son.

Thinking back on it, Nino realized that they had been set up the same way Adrien was; through the Miraculous Games.

Hold on...

Closing the scrapbook, Nino set it back inside the drawer and picked up the mask. The needle pricked him, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. His mind was already going a thousand miles an hour.

Everything finally made so much sense.

* * *

Fox balled his fists and stepped forward, placing Chat and Marinette behind him. "What do you want?"

The Game Master smirked. He took a step forward as the heroes took a step back. "I'm here to set things right. Permanently."

"I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else," Chat spat, glaring and sneering at the man. He held Marinette close to his chest. "I'm never going to let you hurt her! I know you're only here to take her away from us!"

Nathanael snarled. "You're the one trying to kick us out of the games. I knew something fishy was going on."

The Game Master stuffed one of his hands into his dark suit. He looked past Fox and set his gaze on Chat's. His smile grew stern.

"Your father says it's time to come home and to stop playing this little game," he said simply.

Chat froze. His grip on Marinette tightened, and it got to a point where Chat had to remind himself that he needed to loosen it.

"No," Chat declared, "I'm not leaving without Ladybug."

The Game Master sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You're playing a foolish game, boy, and I would advise you let go of your silly dream. The games need to continue as normal and with no more interruptions."

"No," he repeated. "I am not leaving without Marinette. She is why I'm here and I'm not going to leave her just because some freak in a black suit and silver mask tells me to!"

The Game Master raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Fox, who appeared as though he would pounce on him at any moment, and Marinette. She was still out cold in Chat's arms, appearing to just barely be breathing.

"Have you told them who you really are?"

Chat swallowed, his Adam's apple bouncing. A droplet of nervous sweat traced down his forehead and his hands began to shake, but even through all of that, he didn't respond.

The Game Master lifted his chin. "Interesting. I'm surprised they even trust you."

"I don't," Fox snapped, "but that doesn't mean we aren't a team."

He chuckled, but it was dark, brooding almost. "You are all fools. Do you really want to know who he really is?"

Chat stood his ground, ready for whatever the Game Master had to throw at him. He was going to fight. He wasn't going to be a coward. He was going to save Marinette and Nathan, and no one was going to stop him.

"It doesn't matter who I am," Chat insisted. "What does matter, however, is that we're getting out of here. I am not going to let the person I love die, and you know full well that I'm not going to leave her."

The Game Master shook his head, looking down at the floor as if he were disappointed. "You're not getting past me, Adrien. I'm not going to let you leave with your friends."

Fox stopped what he was doing and spun on Chat. His eyes were wide with shock and he looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Y-you're... Are you Adrien Agreste? The kid that we're-"

"Yes," Chat, or Adrien, said, cutting him off. "I wanted a say in all of this. I wanted to choose my own soon-to-be wife," he turned to glare at the Game Master, "not some sort of jerk who sit in a dark room and huddles over a life-sized video game."

Defiantly holding Ladybug close, he took a step forward and shouted, "I'm in control of my own life! And I'm going to follow my dreams just like my mother told me!"

The Game Master's form tensed and he clenched his fists. "Your words aren't going to save you from my wrath," he muttered, his tone sharp. "You stepped out of line, broke your father's rules, and ran away. For that, I have no choice but to give you the punishment you deserve."

The Game Master waved his hand, and the next thing Chat knew, Fox went flying forward. His partner stumbled for a few feet but didn't fall. Chat watched in horror as a flash of purple enveloped Nathanael.

"Fox!" he shouted.

In reply, there was a deep laughter that echoed the room. The purple faded away to show Nathanael but wasn't the boy Adrien had come to know. His red hair hung in his eyes, which were no longer his own. The turquoise green eyes had changed to a deep purple and his pupils were now completely silver. He glared at Chat as if he were the enemy and not the Game Master. His clothes had changed as well. The outfit that had once been identical to Marinette's was now silver and purple. And the most shocking thing of all was that his fox miraculous pin was no longer orange. It was pure black.

The new Nathan stepped toward Chat, his fists raised.

Chat scooted backward, his eyes flashing with fear. What was he going to do? He couldn't take down Fox and fight a full-grown man. And what about Marinette? She was still bleeding, her blood seeping into his black gloves. How was he going to get her to help if he couldn't leave the arena? She would die if he didn't hurry!

"The choice is still up to you, Adrien," the Game Master said. "You can come home and be with your father like things should have been, or you can suffer at the hands of your own friends."

Adrien shut his eyes tightly. He couldn't let Marinette get hurt. They had come too far, she had sacrificed too much, for him to give up now.

His fear melted into an uncontrollable rage. He could feel his insides heating up and a scowl etched itself into his expression.

"I'm not leaving My Lady." 

---

I'm sorry if that chapter was too boring for you guys. I tried to throw some action into it at the end, though! There was just some really important info that needed to be included about Adrien's mom and I had to fit it in somehow before the story continued. 

Thank you so much for helping Miraculous Games hit 7K! That's INSANE, guys! I cannot thank you enough. Like... seriously, I'm having a hard time figuring out how this silly fanfic has gotten so many reads. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

On that note, let's go to my favorite comment! If you would like to be in the running, be sure to leave a comment at the end of the chapter and I'll announce my favorite on in the next chapter! 

Favorite Comment: 

By: Vshadmeow

I have the feeling somebody's gonna die and I don't mean the gamemaster.

If you liked the chapter, be sure to hit the like button up in the top-right on desktop and bottom-left on mobile. More coming soon!

And, as always, have a Miraculous day!