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It was time, Marinette thought, looking at Adrien. She couldn’t keep this secret from him anymore. He was going to figure it out anyway. Gabriel’s poison had never left him and couldn’t be disguised.
She was sitting in the living room of the Agreste mansion. Adrien was right next to her and Nathalie on the chair across from them. Nathalie and Marinette had come to the uneasy conclusion that Adrien needed to know the truth.
“What did you want to tell me, Marinette?” Adrien asked. He looked at her with innocent, sparkling green eyes. Marinette’s heart seized.
He doesn’t know.
“Adrien….there’s something you should know.”
“About what?”
Marinette’s heart started beating faster. Her hands were shaking.
“Your father.”
Adrien’s expression became guarded. “What?” He asked.
He looked at Nathalie, but her expression was guarded. She nodded at Marinette to keep going.
“Your father was….your father was…-“
Marinette gagged. She couldn’t speak. Breathe, she told herself.
“Marinette!” Adrien cried. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.” She said.
The sensation was gone. It was probably nerves.
“Your father was-“
And there it was again, that choking feeling, a rope around her neck. It was physically impossible to speak.
She collapsed off the couch, gasping.
“Marinette!” Nathalie rushed over.
“Are you ok?” Adrien asked, pulling her up. “Are you sick?”
“No.”
Speaking was normal again.
What was going on?
“Do you want me to?” Nathalie asked.
“Yes” Marinette said, looking down. Why couldn’t she ever speak when it was important?
“Adrien, he was-“Nathalie started, and then she started gasping, unable to breathe or speak.
What was wrong with them?
“Are you two ok?” Adrien demanded, looking from his guardian to his girlfriend. “What’s going on? What does any of this have to do with my father?”
And then it clicked.
Horribly.
“Nathalie, may I speak with you?” Marinette asked. Her voice was normal. Too normal. A voice that pretended everything was fine, when in reality, both their fates had been sealed.
“Yes.” Nathalie got up. “We’ll only be gone for a few minutes, Adrien.”
________________________________________________________________________
“What’s going on?” Nathalie asked. She sounded slightly panicked, which was more panicked than Marinette had ever seen her. “Why can’t we tell him?”
“The wish.” Marinette said. “The wish is doing this to us.”
“What?”
“You know that Gabriel Agreste wished for you to come back to life. But he also said that he didn’t want anyone to find out that he was Monarch. This is his universe, Nathalie. It was created in his image. We can speak freely with each other. We know the truth. But with anyone else….”
“The wish prevents us.” Nathalie said quietly. “What are we going to do?”
Marinette took a deep breath and looked at Nathalie.
“We’re going to have to take this secret to our graves.”