Delphigirl689: Sorry for the wait, muse escapes at the worst times! But after some insane amount of coaxing, the muse is back! And for the guest who asked to make a comic or something out of this, you have my permission to use my story. Thank you for asking me first. Rounding the corner and on with the show!

Marinette raced through the woods in her desperate search for her father.

"Papa!" she cried every few moments hoping that he would answer.

Soon she found him half buried in a snow bank.

Quickly dismounting Cookie, the girl ran to her father and brushed the snow off his body.

Her eyes stung with tears as she felt his cold skin, fearing the worst.

But Tikki zipped from the girl's hood and the kwami examined the baker's condition.

"C'est bien, Marinette! He's still alive!" Tikki chimed assuredly.

Marinette sighed in relief at the news and gathered her strength to escort her father to Cookie.

Once he was safely on the mare, Marinette gently rode back to the bakery.

But when she saw that her mother wasn't there, she went to Madame Bustier's shop, the next place of which she could think.

Little did she know that standing right outside was Xavier Romier, disguised as a snowman and waiting for their return.

Once he saw them, he broke out of his snowy display and dashed off to inform Felix.

Caline and Sabine worried for Tom's safety and feared the worst, but a loud knock at the door distracted them from such terrible thoughts.

The tailor quickly answered the door and was greeted to a welcome surprise: Marinette standing in the cold with her trusty mare at her side.

Both women were more than delighted to see her again.

"Oh, Marinette! You're home!"

"Thank heavens you're safe!" Sabine and Caline respectively cried with joy as they embraced the girl tightly.

Marinette did so as well, also glad to be home, then remembered the reason for her return, "I'm glad to be back, but I wish it was for only homesickness."

She showed the ladies Tom laying on Cookie in a serious state.

They quickly brought the baker down from the mare's back and into the guest bedroom.

Madame Bustier immediately took action and readied everything to nurse him back to health.

In the meantime, Marinette and Tikki relayed the story of their time in the enchanted castle.

"Oh my! It sounds so wonderful there!" Madame Bustier said.

Sabine added, "And Adrien must be very charming."

"Well, it wasn't like that in the beginning." Marinette admitted, "He was actually kind of a jerk the first day, but after he saved me, we talked and soon enough, he started acting like a decent person."

Sabine and Caline smiled slyly at the girl, making her somewhat uncomfortable.

"Why are you two looking at me like that?" Marinette asked.

Caline replied, "The way you talk about this Adrien sounds like you are in love with him."

Marinette's face turned bright red almost instantly.

"W-What gave you that idea?!"

"Ma fille, you wear your heart on your sleeve." Her mother pointed out, "It's hard for you to hide anything, especially from your own mother."

Marinette sighed, "It feels strange…like there's a rock sitting in my stomach. I just left but…I want to go back."

Sabine took her daughter's hand and beamed, "Then go back. You brought your father home and we can take care of him here."

"But…Madame Bustier, what about the shop?" Marinette inquired with worry.

"I can look after things myself," the seamstress reassured, "I've been running it fine even before you came along."

Marinette thought about returning to Adrien's castle for a few moments, then announced, "I will go back, but after Papa feels better."

For the first time since arriving at Madame Bustier's home, Tikki spoke up, "Wait Marinette! There's something you should know about Adrien."

"Adrien is under a curse?!"

"Oui. Plagg told me all about it." Tikki explained, "An evil warlock named Hawkmoth turned him into Chat Noir and the servants into those objects. If Adrien can't find someone who loves him despite his appearance by the year's end, he and the others will remain in their cursed forms for the rest of their lives!"

"How awful!" Sabine gasped.

"Such a despicable man!" Caline shuddered.

"And that's not even half of it." A strange new voice chimed.

The women and Tikki searched for the source of the voice and spotted a small, cat-like fairy creature, with whom Marinette and Tikki were very familiar.

"Plagg?!" cried Tikki and Marinette in unison and surprise.

"You're supposed to be with Adrien!" Tikki sqealed.

"What are you doing here?" Marinette asked.

"Granting Adrien's wish." Plagg replied, "Do you have any cheese around here?"

Sabine fetched some gruyere from the kitchen and gave it to the cat kwami.

Caline asked, "What do you mean by 'granting Adrien's wish'?"

"You see, that warlock who cursed Adrien is still out there, and it's possible he's been spying on us for his own amusement." Plagg explained, "If that's the case, he knows how close we got to breaking his spell. Hawkmoth is a dangerous man and he'd probably do anything to keep Adrien's curse from breaking. He made it very clear the night he showed up. He wants the throne that badly."

Curious, the tailor wondered, "And by 'anything' you mean…"

"Bring harm to, or heaven forbid, kill Marinette." Plagg elaborated.

The women, Marinette, and Tikki gasped in horror.

"Oui. That's why Adrien wished for me to keep you safe." Plagg said, finishing his cheese.

"Adrien used his wish…to protect me?" the young lady quavered.

"Don't sound so surprised!" the cat-like kwami replied, "He made that wish and let you go save your pere on the last night of the year! Tonight…was his last chance to get you to fall in love with him. He doesn't care about breaking the spell anymore. All he wants now…is for you to be happy…even if he has to stay in that beastly form until the day he dies."

Marinette never felt so torn in her life.

She wanted to return to Adrien, but she also wanted to make sure her father got well.

Sabine, noticing the conflict within Marinette, embraced her daughter and said, "I told you that I can look after your father. After all that's what I did before we had you."

"But-"

"No 'buts' Marinette. Go to your true love and free him from that spell!"

Before any more was said, Tom stirred from his sick bed muttering, "Ma Marinette…mon cherie ange…"

Immediately the girl ran to her father's side, with her mother and Madame Bustier following suit.

"It's okay, Papa! I'm here!" Marinette gently whispered as her father blinked his eyes open.

Tom gasped in relief at the sight of his beloved daughter, "I thought I would never see you again!"

"I'm here now, Papa. I'm home."

"How did you escape?" Tom asked.

Marinette replied, "I didn't escape, Papa. He…he let me go…"

"That horrible, beastly Chat Noir?!" the baker cried in shock.

"He's not horrible, Papa!" Marinette rebuffed, "He's…really wonderful and sweet and…he's been under a terrible curse that made him act like that."

"A curse?"

Suddenly, before any further explanations could be made, there was a knock at the door.

Caline and Sabine quickly answered it and standing before them was Mayor Bourgeois.

Sabine asked, "May I help you, Monsieur Bourgeois?"

The mayor said, in a strange tone of voice, "I've come to collect your husband, Madame Dupain-Cheng."

" 'Collect'? What do you mean?" Madame Bustier suspiciously questioned.

"Don't worry, Madame," he continued while stepping aside, revealing a cart with barred windows, "We'll see that he's well cared for at the asylum."

"Asylum?!" the two women shouted in disbelief.

Marinette overheard the conversation and gasped in horror.

Plagg called from the window, "Mamselle! You might want to look at this!"

She and Tikki hurried over to see what Plagg was worried about and what they saw was unbelievable.

Everyone in town had formed a mob with torches and pitchforks.

Furiously, the girl pushed past her mother and mentor and yelled, "My father is not crazy!"

"He was raving like a lunatic!" Monsieur Romier cried, riling up the townsfolk, "We all heard him, didn't we?!"

The villagers uncharacteristically shouted at the ladies in anger.

The noise brought Tom to the door, alarming Sabine, "Mon amor! You mustn't be out of bed!"

"But, cherie, I can't let them hur—"

"Monsieur Tom! Tell us again," Romier jested, "How big was that beast, Chat Noir?!"

The townspeople jeered, urging the ailing man to tell of his encounter.

"Well, he-he was…enormous!" Tom recalled, "He must have been eight-no more like ten feet tall!"

Everybody laughed at the tale, dumfounding the poor people and making them feel trapped.

"You can't get much crazier than that, non?!" Romier cackled.

Mayor Bourgeois commanded, "Take him away!"

Several men seized Tom while two others prevented Sabine and Madame Bustier from chasing after them.

Marinette managed to slip past the mob and grabbed the mayor's arm in protest.

"Arretez!" she cried, "I won't let you do this!"

Mayor Bourgeois jerked back his arm and walked away without a word.

Marinette was so confused.

All of her neighbors, who treated her family with kindness, were now ganging up against them.

Felix, spotting his chance, strolled up to the distraught girl and in false sympathy said, "Pauvre Marinette.* It's ashame about your pere."

Desperate for help, Marinette fretted, "You know he's not crazy, don't you Felix?"

Pretending to think things over, the devious hunter mused, "I suppose I could clear up this…little misunderstanding. If…"

"If what?" she wondered, suspicious of the man's intentions.

"If…you marry me, Marinette."

"What?!"

"Just one little word and this will all go away." Felix bargained.

Furious at the hunter's strategem, the girl snapped, "Jamais!*"

Annoyed, yet not deterred by the young lady's stubbornness, he taunted, "Have it your way, Mademoiselle."

Felix, confident that his plan would not fail, fought back a smile as Tom Dupain-Cheng was dragged towards the cart.

Marinette was at a loss and almost considered accepting the mendacious young man's proposal, if only to save her father.

Tikki and Plagg sensed the dark magic surrounding the people and quietly urged their human friend to step away.

The girl complied and once they were out of sight, the kwamis explained the situation.

"It's not their fault, Marinette!" Tikki whispered, "They are under an evil spell!"

"An evil spell?"

"I recognize the stench of Hawkmoth on these people." Plagg hissed, "This is precisely why Adrien wished for me to protect you."

"Is there any way to break the warlock's hold on them?" she inquired.

Plagg quickly thought it over and suggested, "Maybe you could scare them straight! Show them something horrible that'll knock the magic right out of them!"

"The mirror!" Tikki piped, "Use the mirror to show them Chat Noir! Make them see that your pere was telling the truth!"

Marinette took her kwami friends' advise and ran back inside for the gift Adrien gave her.

With the magic mirror in her hand, she bolted out of the house in front of the mob shouting, "Ma pere is not crazy and I can prove it! Show me Chat Noir!"

The mirror shone with magic light and projected the image of Chat Noir for all to see.

The poor creature was roaring in sorrow, but to the villagers, it was pure ferocity.

Their shock was enough to force Hawkmoth's magic out of them, much to the warlock's surprise.

Delphigirl689: I'm so sorry for the long wait everybody! It seems like every time I try to write a story, something throws a wrench in the works before I get to the end. I'll try to make the rest of the story hopefully before next New Year's comes around.

*1- "Poor Marinette."

*2- "Never!"