Chapter Text
August 28, 2045
Adrien Agreste woke up at about two in the morning to an empty bed. There was a moment of disorientation, then panic, then realization. Sighing, he pushed aside the covers, got up, and made his way downstairs. He found his wife sitting on their couch in the dark, staring into space. “Hey, bugaboo,” he said softly, sitting down next to her. “What’re you doing?”
“Decorating,” Marinette whispered back.
Adrien took her hand and glanced around the room. “Looks like you finished.”
Marinette sighed and leaned against Adrien. “I did,” she admitted. “I finished about twenty minutes ago. I just,” she took a deep breath, “every time I tried to get up and go to bed, I start thinking about what happened the last time I did that after staying up late getting ready for the kids’ birthday.”
Adrien sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “I know the feeling.”
“I remember it so clearly,” she said. “Going upstairs, getting into bed, curling up next to you. You were asleep, but you still put your arm around me and held me tight. I felt so safe, Adrien. And then…”
“Shh.” Adrien kissed her temple. “We’ll go up together this time,” he said. “I’ll stay awake until you’re asleep, okay?”
Marinette nodded. “I think I can do that.”
“Good,” Adrien said. “Tomorrow’s a big day, you need your rest. Besides, I don’t want the kids waking up in the morning and finding our room empty this year.”
“Oh God, of course, I didn’t think of that,” Marinette murmured. “Let’s go.”
It took awhile for Marinette to fall asleep, and Adrien after her. Once they did, though, they slept well into the next morning. Marinette woke first, warm and wrapped in her husband’s arms. She lay there silently for a few minutes, before realizing the sunlight outside the window was far brighter than it should have been. Groaning, she looked at her clock, then jostled Adrien. “Hmm?” he murmured.
“Get up, I forgot to set the alarm last night,” Marinette said, kissing Adrien’s cheek. “Our parents will be here in an hour.”
They pulled themselves out of bed, dressed quickly, and went downstairs. Their kids were already in the kitchen, eating and watching the news coverage. “Morning, Mom,” Dani said, as her mother immediately hugged her, Emma and Louis.
“Happy birthday, kids,” Marinette said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t up in time to make breakfast, but I can still-oh, shut that off,” she said, scowling at the news. “Do we really need to start your birthday off with all that?”
“Our birthday’s always going to be on the anniversary of Occupation Day,” Emma said. “We might as well get used to it.”
“You can get used to it next year,” Marinette said. She reached for the remote, but Dani pulled it away.
“We’ll shut it off in a minute, promise,” Dani said quickly, “but we want to see Caroline first.”
“Oh,” Marinette said, surprised. She sat down at the kitchen table. “Is she speaking?”
Louis shook his head. “No, Stephen is, but she’s going to be standing next to him the whole time. They should be on any minute.”
Marinette nodded. “Did she text? How is she?”
“Yeah, she’s good,” Emma said. “She’s almost caught up on everything she missed in time for the new school year.”
Marinette sighed. “No matter how crazy everything gets, there’s always math homework, isn’t there?” she muttered.
“Don’t worry, she likes it,” Dani said. “Don’t ask me why, but when we were liberating London she got ahold of a few textbooks, and reading through them during downtime really put her at ease. It was nice. For me, anyway.”
“I put her at ease too, right?” Louis asked. “Joking around?”
“Flirting, you mean?” Dani leaned back in her chair as Louis’ cheeks went pink. “Yeah, she didn’t hate that.”
“I wasn’t flirting flirting, and anyway I stopped once we made contact with Stephen’s resistance cell.”
“Yeah,” Emma said, “because after that you were too busy flirting with Stephen.”
Louis’ blush deepened. “I like heroes,” he said defensively. “Mask or not, there’s this… it’s an energy thing, you wouldn’t get it.”
Emma and Dani exchanged an eyeroll, but before either could respond a giant cheer rang out from the audience on TV as Prince Stephen appeared and made his way to the podium, Caroline following close behind. The young heroine gave a shy smile to the cameras before assuming her spot a few feet behind Stephen, next to the rest of the royal family.
“She looks so nervous,” Emma said. “It’s… really weird, actually, after getting to know her.”
“She was used to being famous as Pyra,” Adrien said. “Being famous as Caroline is still going to take some getting used to.”
“Stephen sure isn’t having any trouble,” Dani said, as the prince began his prepared speech, about resilience and hope, strength and healing. He spoke of his own experience, of defying Carew and escaping the Order before they could retaliate, of joining the London Resistance, of being inspired by the ordinary people who fought for their city, who won it back even after the Order retreated to London and tripled their defenses. Stephen’s voice was full of emotion, but clear and steady.
“You couldn’t do anything about that giant scar down his face Carew gave him?” Marinette asked Louis.
“I offered,” Louis said, “but by the time we made contact, it had become kind of a symbol. He wanted to keep it.” Louis glanced at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. “Speaking of healing. Dad, we should get your energy therapy out of the way now, before everyone shows up.”
Adrien looked up, surprised. “Oh,” he said. “Yeah, sure thing.”
Before the battle to take down the barrier, Louis had been no stranger to damaged energies. There had been Emma’s, scorched after she’d taken that direct hit from powerful Order magic specifically designed to target her magic. There was Uncle Jonathan’s, covered in thirty year old scars that told a story of festering anger, of abuses born of heartache, of a healing journey that had surely been long and difficult and perhaps not entirely completed. And of course there had been his mother’s, dim and gaunt after months of feeding the parasitic barrier that had trapped them all.
None of them, however, came close to preparing Louis for what his father’s energy looked like after his final Cataclysm.
For starters, it had been just as stripped as Louis’ mother’s energy had been, right after she escaped. Worse, actually, thanks to the extra week Adrien had spent on the island. The quick boost Louis had given his father when they were reunited had been meant to get him through the battle, nothing more. The true healing couldn’t begin until after they’d won. Even if Adrien hadn’t used Cataclysm at all, his recovery would have taken at least a day or two.
Adrien had used Cataclysm, though. Worse, he’d used it on a Lucky Charm. Like yin and yang, creation and destruction, the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses were meant to keep one another in balance. Using destruction directly on creation upset that balance, and it warped Adrien’s energy to do so. And then the Cataclysm had rebounded, attacking Adrien’s energy directly.
Louis had been trying to heal his father ever since.
By now, it had become rote for the both of them. The incense, the pendulums, the spells, Louis had been doing these healing sessions for so long he thought he could probably do them in his sleep. Adrien actually did do them in his sleep, frequently dozing off within the first five minutes while Louis worked. Louis told himself that was a good sign.
About half an hour in, Louis heard voices downstairs, people arriving for the party. He put it out of his mind, keeping his focus on his healing. There was only so far he could push things each day, however, and eventually Louis put a hand to his father’s shoulder and gently shook him awake. “Hey. We’re done for today.”
Adrien blinked, then slowly sat up. “How’d it go?”
“Good,” Louis said. He hesitated. “It would help to watch you… it won’t work, but if you tried to…”
Adrien nodded. This wasn’t the first time Louis had asked. He held his fist out. “Plagg, claws out!” In response, Plagg yawned, curled up on Adrien’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “You don’t have to rub it in,” Adrien muttered wryly. He looked back at his son. “Well?”
“It looked good,” Louis said. “There are parts of your aura activating that were definitely dormant a month ago. Wayzz?”
The green kwami nodded. “It’s promising,” he agreed.
“I think,” Louis said, “that it’s more a question of ‘when’ than ‘if’ at this point.”
Adrien’s face lit up. “Really? That’s great!”
“It might still be a long time,” Louis added quickly, “but you haven’t plateaued, and the metaphysical scarring is still minimal. Plus Esperanza got her abilities back last week, that’s a good sign.”
Adrien grinned. “Bad news for Spain, good news for us, huh?” Louis nodded. “What about your mother? Does this mean it’s safer for her to transform now?”
Louis shook his head. “No, until you can transform, Mom should keep her own transforming to a minimum. It might throw both of your Miraculouses further out of balance otherwise, and that’s not going to help you recover any faster.”
“Ah.” Downstairs, the doorbell rang, and Adrien’s familiar smile returned. “Sounds like people have arrived,” he said. “Shall we?”
“You go ahead, I gotta pack all this stuff up,” Louis said. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Can I help?”
Louis shook his head, not meeting his father’s gaze. “It’s all organized in a weird way, it’s faster if I just do it myself.”
“Okay.” Adrien patted his son’s shoulder as he stood to leave. “Thank you.”
“Just doing my job,” Louis said.
Louis took his time putting everything away. He’d never been particularly organized or tidy, but when it came to his Guardian supplies there was something oddly relaxing about placing each item where it belonged. It gave him enough time to switch gears as well, between Louis the Guardian and Louis the teenage superhero.
On his way back, Louis passed the upstairs bathroom, its door ajar, and was surprised to see Dani inside, calmly applying her makeup.
“You’re still getting ready?” Louis asked, stopping in the doorway. “Isn’t everyone here already?”
Dani looked at Louis in the bathroom mirror. “Just ask what you really want to ask,” she said, applying her eyeliner with an unnaturally steady hand as she spoke.
“Right. Um.” Louis hesitated. “How’s Dad… you know, how’s he feeling about, um, the whole, it’s taking longer than I said, and it’s been over half a year, and I still haven’t been able to-”
“Ugh,” Dani interrupted, returning her attention to her own face in the mirror. “That. He feels guilty, like every other stupid superhero in this family.”
Louis frowned. “Guilty? What the hell does he have to feel guilty about?”
“Not a damn thing. You don’t either, by the way, but you’re clearly beating yourself up for not being a miracle worker and getting him his powers back by now.”
“I’m not-”
“And Mom, don’t get me started on Mom, she feels responsible because it was her Lucky Charm that made Dad’s crazy maneuver possible in the first place. Which means Dad feels bad that Mom feels bad, and that she isn’t supposed to transform without him, and he feels guilty about eating up so much of your time and energy, too. You’re all ridiculous.” Dani finished her eye makeup and turned to face her brother.
“It’s my job to heal and protect all the Miraculous holders, including Dad,” Louis said defensively. “If I can’t fix Dad’s energy-”
“If Dad never transforms again,” Dani interrupted calmly, “it’s still a much smaller price than the one he was willing to pay to protect us, to take down the Order. It’s a much smaller price than a lot of other people paid to free Europe, too.”
Louis sighed. “I know,” he said. “Not that I don’t feel guilty about that, too.”
Dani’s expression softened, and she put a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Yeah, me too,” she said. “But it was worth it. We don’t have to punish ourselves to honor the sacrifices everyone made.” Dani stepped out of the bathroom and nodded towards the stairs. “Come on, I’m pretty sure the cake just arrived.”
Within the kitchen, Louis and Dani found their grandparents inspecting a cake of their own creation, a confectionery monstrosity that threatened to topple the kitchen table.
“Louis, Dani!” Sabine’s head poked out from behind a tier, while Tom smiled at them from over the top. “Happy birthday, kids!”
“Wow, that’s… a lot of cake,” Louis said, stunned. “You know we’re keeping it small today, right? Just family?”
“Well, yes,” Sabine said, returning her attention to the cake, “but you three need to eat more, now that you’re running all over the continent-Tom, be a dear and hand me that piping bag, thank you-liberating cities and keeping everyone safe. Why, I think our grocery bills nearly doubled the year your mother started all that, and she mostly stuck to Paris.”
“That was Tikki!” Marinette said defensively, as she pulled a stack of plates down from a cabinet.
“Well partly maybe, sweetheart,” Tom said, “but dinners were still-“
“Oh, shoot,” Sabine said, “I left the good cake server back at the bakery. Emma!” she shouted to the adjoining room. “Could you be a dear and pop over to the patisserie for-“
“Mom, no. For the last time, Emma is a superhero, not a pick-up service.” Marinette pulled open a drawer full of various utensils. “The cake server we have here is perfectly fine.” Sabine looked like she disagreed, but she graciously accepted the server all the same.
“You need something, Grandma?” Emma’s head poked up over the back of the couch on the other side of the first floor, where she was currently watching the news coverage with the rest of the family.
“It’s fine, dear!” Sabine called back.
“You sure?” Sabine made a shoo-ing gesture, and Emma turned back around. “Anyway,” she said to her uncle, “if quantic magic can pull off sustainable teleportation I don’t see why some fusion of runic or-”
“Look, I’m not trying to be discouraging,” Jonathan said, “but generations of magical researchers have tried and failed for centuries to engineer safe, convenient, cost-effective teleportation and they never quite-”
“But fusion techniques are still in their infancy, Weil’s Method is only a hundred years old and the Order’s merging of runic and vedic structures was unheard of a year ago.”
“Weil’s Method only works for fusing disciplines which both originate from this layer of our reality, and the quantic realm-”
“I don’t suppose,” Gabriel interrupted dryly, “that the two of you might consider either forestalling this conversation to a later date, or conducting it in a language the rest of us speak?”
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “What are you so grumpy about?” he asked. “Did they forget to mention you in another piece on the Paris Resistance?”
“Not at all,” Gabriel replied, “I’m merely surprised you have time to sit around watching news broadcasts and boring everyone to death within hearing range. I would have thought you’d have some community service needing to get done.”
“Nope,” Jonathan said, leaning back into the couch, “it’s a national holiday, I got the day off.”
“Lucky us.”
“You said you’d be nice today,” Ferd stage-whispered, before Jonathan could issue a retort.
“I’m nice every day,” Jonathan said, and Ferd laughed.
“...reporting to you live from the Luxembourg Palace, where preparations for tonight’s ceremony are already underway…”
“Ooh,” Dani said, leaning over the back of the couch to get a better look at the news report, “turn it up, we’re going to that. Maybe she’ll mention us.”
“Ceremony?” Ferd asked, as he handed Dani the remote.
“Yeah,” Emma said, “they’re giving Aunt Alya the Legion of Honour.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Ferd said. “Did you know one of the first recipients of that was a Miraculous holder?”
“Really?”
“...and Ortoli’s barricade was still holding at this time one year ago,” the reporter on screen was saying, as she walked through the hallways of the palace, “but it wasn’t long before Order forces…”
“Mm hmm,” Ferd said. “Holders were mostly chevaliers back then, at least in this part of the world, but…” Ferd trailed off as Jonathan and Dani both turned their heads in perfect unison to look across the room, where Adele was standing and watching the television. She had been leaning against the door frame, but now she stiffened, her arms crossed tight across her chest, a faraway look on her face.
“Gabe,” Jonathan said softly. He nodded towards Adele, and Gabriel gave him a look of gratitude before crossing the room to his wife.
“Adele?” Adele looked at Gabriel, startled, as he put a hand to her shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Fine,” she said, looking up at him. “Just got a bit lost for a second. I guess my memories of that place are a little fresher than I realized. Really, I’m fine.”
“How many times,” Marinette said, sticking her head out from the kitchen, “do I have to tell you people to shut that thing off? For the next three hours it is my children’s fifteenth birthday and absolutely nothing else, and anybody who goes against that doesn’t get any cake, got it?”
“Turn around. Slowly.” Adrien rotated in place as Marinette studied his suit intently, occasionally looking back and forth from it to a few old photographs.
“I’m sure it’s close enough,” Adrien said.
“‘Close enough’ isn’t good enough,” Marinette said, narrowing her eyes at the pawprint detail on her husband’s tie. “It has to be an exact replica of your usual Chat Noir formalwear, or people might suspect you’re not really transformed.”
“People already know you’re retired,” Dani said. Being the only one of her siblings with any eye for fashion, Marinette had asked her to give a second opinion on the recreation. “Would it be so bad if people knew Dad can’t transform?”
“Yes,” Marinette said. “It’s bad enough people know who you kids are. The next time someone thinks about giving you all any trouble, I want them to think they’ll be invoking the full wrath of Ladybug and Chat Noir if they do so.” She gave her husband one more look over, then turned to her daughter. “What do you think?”
“I can’t tell the difference,” Dani said. “If it’s not an exact replica, it’s pretty damn close.”
Marinette nodded slowly. “Good.”
“Hmm.” Adrien held his wrist up and squinted at the sleeve. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to stray from the old design a little, make the cuffs wider. I don’t think I can fit Danielle in here as is.”
“Fit Danielle… what? What are you talking about?”
Adrien grinned. “I just think it’d be nice to have an ace up my sleeve, that’s all.”
“Oh my God, Dad,” Dani groaned, “what is wrong with you?”
“Oh come on, admit it, that’s my best one yet. It took me almost a week to come up with that.”
“You are such a dork,” Dani muttered, biting back a smile.
“I can’t believe I finally get to go to one of these events with Alya,” Marinette said eagerly, as their limo turned the corner onto the Lahiffe’s street.
“You’ve been to dozens of these galas, and Alya’s covered practically every single one,” Adrien pointed out.
“Yes, true, but now we get to go together. No more playing it cool and pretending I don’t know her for the sake of the mask. And getting to go to one that’s in her honor instead of ours, that’ll be a fun change, too, don’t you think?” The five of them lurched slightly as the car slowed and came to a stop in front of the Lahiffe house, and Dani looked up from her phone, narrowing her eyes for a moment at the building.
“We’ll wait in the car,” Dani said. “Mom can go in alone to get them.”
“She can?” Emma asked.
“Yes,” Dani said firmly. She returned her attention to her phone, not elaborating.
Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look of confusion. Shrugging, Marinette got out of the limo and made her way to her best friend’s front door. It was a path she’d walked countless times since Alya and Nino bought the place twelve years ago. She’d helped them move in originally, and again back in January, after they’d retaken Paris and it was safe for Alya and Nino to return home. Marinette had spent weeks helping to clean the place up in her spare time. It had been more or less returned to its former glory, but as she went to ring the doorbell Marinette’s eye was caught by some lingering damage to the wooden door frame.
Scars of the city, Marinette supposed. Even now, months later, she still saw them every day. Marinette knew it would be years before they faded.
Marinette rang the bell, and a few seconds later it flew open. “Aunt Marinette!” Remy exclaimed, beaming up at her.
“Hello Remy,” Marinette said warmly, hugging him. “How are you? Where are your parents?”
“Upstairs getting ready.”
“Really?” Marinette asked, her smile fading as she glanced toward the top of the stairs. “Still?”
“Yeah, they’ve been up there forever, but-no way, is that a limo?”
“It’s your mom’s big day, we have to make sure she arrives in style.” Marinette glanced up once again. “Why don’t you go check it out?” she suggested, keeping her voice bright. “Everyone else is waiting, I’ll go get your parents. I’m sure Louis would love to show you all the cool features on the inside.” Remy took off, needing no further encouragement, and Marinette carefully closed the front door before making her way upstairs.
She found Nino standing outside the closed bathroom door, fully dressed and ready to go. He nodded at Marinette as she approached, then knocked. “Alya? Marinette’s here, it’s time to go.”
“I can’t, I told you, why aren’t you listening to me?”
“You’ll be fine,” Nino said. “You’ll feel better once we-”
“I’m hot. Is it hot in here? I think I have a fever.”
“You do not have a fever,” Nino said patiently.
“I’m all sweaty and I can’t breathe. I’m sick. I can’t go.”
“For four months I watched you fearlessly lead a resistance movement against an army of all-powerful wizards, and this is what makes you nervous?” Nino shot Marinette an apologetic look.
“Go,” Marinette said to him softly, putting a hand on his arm. “Remy’s waiting in the car. I’ll talk to her.” Nino gave her a quick hug, then left. Once he was gone, Marinette knocked lightly on the bathroom door. “Alya? Can I come in?”
There was a moment of silence, and then Marinette heard the door unlock. She opened the door and stepped inside. Alya looked stunning in her formal gown, a gown Marinette had personally made for her weeks ago, but she was pale and shaking slightly, sitting on the edge of the bathtub. “Hi, Marinette,” she said miserably.
Marinette sat down next to her. “Hey,” she said. “Do you want to talk about what’s going on?”
“I can’t go.”
“Why not?”
Alya shook her head. “They’re giving me a medal. In front of all those resistance fighters, people who got hurt following me, people who lost loved ones that I couldn’t protect. How am I supposed to accept a medal in front of all of them?”
Marinette sighed. “I understand,” she said. “Believe me, I do. I’ve felt the same way so many times over the years. There were so many times I had to go to one of these things after I thought I’d failed. But eventually, I realized these honors, these ceremonies, they aren’t really for us. They’re for everybody else. People need to do this, Alya, they need to honor what you did. It’s a part of the healing.”
“It’s different for you,” Alya said. “You’re a superhero. I was just a regular person doing what I had to do, barely getting by.”
Marinette hesitated for a moment, then reached for her clutch and pulled out a sheet of paper. “The committee asked me to introduce you tonight,” she said. Alya looked up at her, startled. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but I think you need to read this now.”
Alya took the sheet from Marinette. “The day I met Alya,” she read aloud slowly, “she told me that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil was for good people to do nothing.” The corners of Alya’s mouth picked up slightly. “You remember that?”
Marinette nodded. “Keep reading.”
Alya’s eyes darted back and forth as she skimmed the page. “You… you were going to give up?”
“I did give up,” Marinette said. “But then you were in trouble, and I remembered what you’d said. Without you, Alya, there never would have been a Ladybug.” Marinette wrapped an arm around Alya’s shoulders and hugged her tightly. “There’s no difference between us,” she told Alya. “Behind the mask, I’ve always been a scared regular person doing what I had to do, just like you were. You are just as much of a hero as I am. You always have been.”
“Honey!”
“You’re late,” Honey laughed, as Dani ran across the ballroom floor and up to the hero the second she arrived, her siblings close behind.
“Fashionably, as always.” Dani looked her friend up and down, taking in the black and yellow ball gown. “I love all this tulle, the skirt looks amazing when you turn.” Her eyes drifted back upward. “Hair’s a bit old-fashioned for my taste, but to each her own.”
Grinning, Honey ran a hand over her smooth, domed updo. “Normally I wouldn’t go for it,” she admitted, “but for tonight I couldn’t resist the pun.”
“The pun? What-oh, God,” Dani groaned, “superheroes and their puns, Jesus, you’re as bad as our parents.”
“Technically,” Emma said, as Louis snorted, “we’re not late, we arrived with Aunt Alya and they’re not starting anything without her.”
“Oh, Alya’s here?” Honey asked, her back straightening.
“You cannot possibly still be starstruck around her,” Dani said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m a guest of honor at her medal award ceremony, I’m allowed to fangirl a little,” Honey said defensively. “Besides, I need to get it all out of my system before my big interview with her next week. Speaking of.” Honey turned to Louis. “I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“Me?” Louis blinked. “Why?”
“Well you’re, you know, the Miraculous boss or Guardian or whatever, and I wanted to-and I’m not asking permission or anything,” Honey added quickly, “but I thought I should give you a heads up that I was planning on mentioning my blindness.”
“Is that the best idea?” Emma asked, frowning. “The Ladybloggers are already starting to look at most of our close friends, including you. With a lead like that they might-”
“People are going to figure it out eventually anyway,” Honey said. “And I know there’s probably an argument for delaying that as much as possible and never ever sharing any personal information, I know I’m the only one with a secret identity left and that was the whole point of recruiting me in the first place. But you guys don’t know what it’s like to-okay. Last week, right? That bank robbery I stopped, remember?”
“Yeah, you were great,” Louis said. “What about it?”
“Well, not two hours after I single-handedly put those guys in a jail cell,” Honey said, “a complete and total stranger felt compelled to tell me how brave she thought I was for crossing the street by myself. I swear to God, I just about lost my fucking mind.” Dani burst out laughing. “Seriously, Louis, it would mean a lot to so many people I know, it would have meant a lot to me when I was a kid, and my mind’s made up.” Louis stared at her, saying nothing. “Okay?” she finally prompted.
“Do you want to dance?” Louis asked impulsively.
Honey raised an eyebrow. “Is that your weird way of saying you’re fine with it?”
“No-I mean, yes, I’m fine with it,” Louis said, his cheeks turning pink, “but no, just it’s my weird way of saying, ‘Do you want to dance?’”
“I don’t know,” Honey said, her grin slowly returning. “I’m not very good. I tried to learn once. My mom made me take lessons when I was younger, during one of her ‘My Kid Can Do Anything Anybody Else’s Kid Can Do’ phases. It took more than a few bruised toes before I eventually convinced her that plenty of sighted kids can’t dance, either.”
“Like Emma,” Dani said helpfully.
“Thanks, Dani,” Emma said dryly.
“Well, if you haven’t tried dancing since before you got your Miraculous,” Louis said, “you might be surprised at how much you’ve improved. Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“I could break your foot,” Honey said. “Probably pretty easily, since I’m transformed and all.”
“Whatever, I can heal it.”
Honey laughed, and Dani and Emma watched, amused, as the pair walked out onto the dance floor. After a few hesitant twirls Honey’s face lit up, surprised, and then the two were moving effortlessly through the crowd, smiling and talking as they went.
“Jealous?” Dani asked.
Emma rolled her eyes. “Why do you pretend to ask?”
Dani grinned. “Cheer up, maybe Louis will give Henri a Miraculous.”
Emma shook her head. “No, he won’t. I suggested it during the occupation, after Henri found out about us. Louis wasn’t happy about Henri knowing so much, and I figured maybe he could kill two birds with one stone, you know? But Louis says he’s not compatible.”
“Oh,” Dani said, her face falling. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” Emma said.
“Really? You wouldn’t want Henri to have one?”
“Nope,” Emma said immediately, and Dani could tell she meant it. “I like being able to take a break from all of it when we’re together. It’s nice. After the months of the occupation, and then helping liberate London, it’s nice to have someone to go to that isn’t touched by all that the way we are. You never feel that way?”
“Sometimes, I guess,” Dani said. “I can’t really stop using my abilities, though.”
Emma nodded. “I think I’m starting to get why Mom and Dad wanted to keep all this a secret from us until we were older.”
“Yeah?”
“I used to think things would go back to normal, once we defeated the Order,” Emma said, “but normal changed the second we put these things on and it wasn’t ever going to go back. And I love it, I really do, but sometimes I’m just tired, you know?”
Dani shrugged, looking around the room filled with former resistance fighters. “Everyone’s tired,” she said softly.
After her speech, from across the giant room, Marinette watched her children. They were surprisingly at ease in this new environment. It had taken years for Marinette to feel comfortable at charity events as Ladybug, but the three teens seemed almost unaware there was anything to feel uncomfortable about. Marinette couldn’t hear them, but she saw Emma say something, and Dani and Louis laughed in response. Louis added something else, and Dani hit his arm playfully, still grinning.
“You okay, bugaboo?” Adrien asked.
Marinette nodded. “They’re really okay, aren’t they? I didn’t know if they would recover so quickly, from everything that’s happened to them in the past year.”
“They’re strong,” Adrien said, picking up Marinette’s hand gently. “Like their mother.”
Marinette smiled and leaned her head on Adrien’s shoulder. “And brave and selfless, like their father.” The two watched their children for a little while in silence. “It still scares me,” Marinette whispered, “how lucky we had to be, for everything to turn out as well as it did. I know that’s my specialty, but still. We were lucky your parents weren’t travelling like mine were, lucky Emma thought to save those pictures of the Order spells before she had any idea she’d be dragged into everything, lucky you didn’t kill yourself, lucky we fell in love again without our memories-”
“That one wasn’t luck,” Adrien interrupted.
“No?” Marinette asked, smiling up at him.
Adrien shook his head and kissed Marinette’s temple. “In a thousand different places, in a thousand different lifetimes, I’d fall in love with you in every single one.”
“So you’re really not worried about losing the last secret identity Paris has left?” Emma asked her brother, as the three of them watched Honey congratulate Alya on the other side of the ballroom.
“The quantic identity protection will hold,” Louis said confidently. “Besides…” he trailed off.
“What?” Dani asked.
“It’s just a feeling,” Louis said, “but I think secret identities might be on their way out.”
“Really?” Emma asked, skeptically. “They’re a pretty essential part of superheroes, aren’t they? Isn’t that why you’ve had Honey take the lead on the day-to-day hero stuff?”
“Yeah.” Louis hesitated. “I think superheroes might be on their way out, too. Not right away,” he added, as Dani and Emma looked at him with twin expressions of shock. “Maybe not in your lifetimes, even. But probably mine.”
“Why?” Emma asked. “I know a ton of us were exposed, but a lot of new heroes arose to replace them. Now there are more superheroes in Europe than ever. Doesn’t that make up for our civilian identities being revealed?”
“It could,” Louis said, “but I don’t think it will.”
“So what, the Order won after all?” Dani said angrily. “Everything they did, it’s actually going to rid the world of superheroes?”
Louis shook his head. “The Order won’t ever win,” he said. “They wanted to go backwards. I’m talking about going forwards.”
“Forwards to what?” Emma asked.
“I don’t know,” Louis said. “All I know is, when the last Guardian received my Miraculous, superheroes weren’t around yet. It was partly due to him that the age of superheroes begun. Before that, Miraculous holders were all kinds of things. Knights, shamans, socialites, warlocks, viziers, samurai, you name it. Superheroes arose because the world was changing, and the Miraculouses started manifesting their holders as superheroes in order to keep up. But the world’s changed even more since then. Even just from when Grandma and Grandfather were young heroes, it’s changed so much. Relying on secret identities doesn’t make sense in a world where everyone records everything, where it only takes one blurry photo for hundreds of people on the internet to come together and identify it in a matter of minutes. Superheroes are going to die out.”
Louis’ sisters considered this for a few moments. “Is there anything we can do to stop it?” Emma finally asked.
“That’s the wrong question,” Louis said. “It’s not a bad thing. Superheroes had their place in history, and they’ll still have their place for a while longer, but when the world changes it’s usually for the better.”
“How is it better for the world to lose heroes?” Dani asked.
“You’re not listening,” Louis said impatiently. “Superheroes aren’t the only kind of hero. That’s the whole point of tonight, isn’t it?” The three of them looked back at Alya. “Aunt Alya didn’t need a mask to do any of the things she did.”
“She didn’t need a Miraculous either,” Emma said. “We did, and we needed our secret identities or we never would have been able to keep them.”
Louis shrugged. “I’m not saying we don’t need them now. But you can already see things shifting, if you know what to look for. Miraculouses manifest in whatever form will inspire people the most. And people like Alya, or Prince Stephen, or countless other resistance fighters without superhero identities, they inspired people just as much as we did. In a few generations, masks won’t be the inspiration they once were. That’s okay. When that day comes, I’ll figure out what works instead, and the Miraculouses will be ready.”
Emma and Dani exchanged a look. “Okay,” Emma finally said, turning back to her brother. “So what are you thinking?”
Louis blinked. “I didn’t mean I’d figure it out now,” he said. “I have, like, decades.”
“No time like the present though, is there?” Emma said. “We might as well start brainstorming now.”
“We? No, it’s a Guardian thing, I don’t need you two to-ow!” Louis rubbed his arm where Dani had just punched it. “What the hell?”
“You can just cut that out right now,” Dani said, “all your mopey loner Guardian bullshit, we’re not in the mood.”
“Yeah,” Emma agreed, “you’re stuck with the two of us for the next seventy years or so, so you might as well get used to us helping you out with all your Guardian stuff. You can be a mopey loner after we die of old age.”
Louis looked at his sisters. “Okay,” he said, grinning. “You win, we’ll figure it out together. But not tonight, okay? For tonight let’s just celebrate along with the rest of Paris.”
“Sounds good,” Dani said. She stood and grabbed Emma’s hand. “Come on, let’s dance, I have a bet with Louis about whether Miraculous magic will finally meet its match in your supernaturally bad sense of rhythm.” Emma rolled her eyes, and grabbed Louis as Dani dragged them both to the dance floor.
The world had changed, and it wasn’t changing back. None of them knew what to expect from the next month, much less the next year, the next decade. But the three of them had been through hell and back together, and so they knew that whatever the future held, they’d face that together, too, and they’d be fine.