Chapter Text
Marinette looked out over the rooftops of Paris, the Eiffeltower lit up in the distance. Nostalgia flooded over her as she remembered the midnight patrols, allies, villains and battles.
She felt weary from those memories, but happy at the outcome those moments had brought her to.
Hawkmoth was defeated, Gabriel Agreste, a man she had looked up to once turned out to be her greatest enemy. She sighed at the thought of him.
"Now why should you be sighing on this beautiful night, m'lady?"
She turned around to her one and only partner, Chat Noir. Adrien Agreste, the boy she had crushed a long time on and her feline partner for the last 5 years had turned out to be the same person. After their last battle all miraculous holders had decided that it was time to see who they all were behind the mask, there was no need to hide anymore.
When they detransformed and the two of them had looked at eachother all they had been able to do was laugh. How stupid the two of them had been to not notice that it was them behind the mask.
They laughed long and hard and after they had cried long too.
Marinette in particular had cried so much her classmates/superhero teammates were worried that she was gonna dehydrate. All those years of staying strong had taken its toll on her, mentally and physically.
But she would never regret them.
She snapped out of her thoughts and fully focused on the blonde boy standing in front of her, leaning on his silver baton. Crossing her arms and concern crossed her face.
"Good to see you Adrien. How are you holding up?"
The boys hand flew to the back of his neck, a nervous tick he didn't seem to get rid of.
"You know I've been doing fine, just taking it slow."
After they had revealed his father to be the great antagonist of Paris, Adrien didn't seem to be surprised but Marinette knew he was hurting even if his relationship with Gabriel wasn't healthy to begin with.
After a while, with enough therapy and personal talks, his self love began to grow. That was also around the time both he and Marinette decided to just be friends for now. Adrien needed to grow and explore himself, something he didn't get to do as a small kid. And Marinette....what did she need?
She had pondered what she should be doing after defeating Hawkmoth, even before they had.
Her purpose as Ladybug has been fulfilled, so what were her plans as Marinette?
Her dream to become a fashion designer had seem so small compared to her alter ego. Designing was still her passion, don't get her wrong, but now that seemed futile, unimportant to what she had been doing as Ladybug. She had talked things over with Master Fu and he understood how she felt. For him being a guardian of the miraculai was his life and once Hawkmoth was defeated he too needed to find purpose once again. He found it in teaching Marinette how to be the next guardian, but he saw that she wasn't ready for it and maybe he too needed to face his past first.
So they made a deal, Master Fu would go back to Tibet and rebuild the order of the guardians. Until then her training would be post-poned and he would contact her when he was ready. And when Marinette was ready she would go to Tibet and become a guardian, she had no doubt about it.
But until then she needed to expand her horizon and seek new things. So she applied for scholarships abroad. Eventually she got accepted for Gotham University on a Media and Design scholarship.
Marinette had changed over the years, her alter ego became a part of her, making her self confidence grow and her clumsiness and nervousness shirk a little. She knew that this was what she needed to do when she thought of it. Gotham was know worldwide for its comic book vilains and heroes, a part of her wanted to see for herself what all the fuss was about and another part wanted to know if she could fly freely there but this time without Tikki by her side without magic to give her more power or a partner to catch her when she fell.
"So why did you call us here?"
Marinette snapped out of her trance once again when hearing the snarky voice of Queen Bee, Cloe Bourgeois, gracing her ears.
She looked and saw each and every miraculous holder who had helped to defeat their common enemy.
She felt proud looking at them
"Yeah girl, what's the emergency?"
Rena Rouge, Alya Cesaire, looked at her best friend. The two of them had hit a ruff patch when Lila Rossi had shown up. The Italian girl had lied to may times to count, only Marinette had seen through them from the beginning, when the others had seen Lila was putting on a facade they had stuck with Marinette and had chosen her side when she was accused of something by Lila.
Alya was one of the last ones to come to her sensesz and after everything had passed with Hawkmoth and they knew their identities they had talked alot about what had happened. They promised to still be there for eachother when they needed it.
Marinette looked at all of them one by one, until finally setting her eyes on Adrien.
"I'm leaving Paris."
She could see a second of shock on his face and hear the sharp intakes of breath from the others.
"I'm leaving in two days. I'll be handing off my miraculous to Master Fu he will be going away as well."
She turned her attention towards the whole team, standing there as their proud leader.
"I know you all are attached to your kwamis, so am I but you should consider giving them back to the guardian for safe keeping. He won't be leaving for another three weeks, I know that maybe short to make a decision like this but please do consider."
Chloe spoke up first, her icy blue eyes narrowing when she spoke.
"I'm sorry, but why didn't you think to mention this sooner? It's utterly ridiculous of you to expect us to just take this in no problem."
Marinette had expected this reaction from Chloe specifically. They had grown closer as time passed, the queen bee even apologized to her for all the bullying she had done.
"I know I'm sorry, it just seemed easier this way."
Marinette looked at the others. Nino and Kim looked at her with understanding, they had known each other since they were kids. Juleka was consoling Rose while giving an understanding nod Marinette's way. Mylene was doing the same with Ivan, the big log was hugging his girlfriend's shoulders shaking a bit.
Max, Sabrina and Nathaniel didn't seem that surprised and were probably pretty okay with returning back to a quieter life.
Alix to didn't see surprised but then again she could see multiple time lines so.....
Then she turned to Viperion and Ryuuko, Luka Couffaine and Kagami Tsurugi. They were talking to each other, discussing what they should be doing. Not long after the identity reveal they had started dating and were now a fullblown couple. She was happy for them.
Alya and Chloe still looked unsatisfied and were about to verbally attack her when a leather clad hand landed on her shoulder and she was dragged off to the other side of the roof by Adrien.
"When did you plan this?"
Did he seem irritated, Adrian Agreste the sweet cinnamonbun of a boy was irritated.....no mad.
Marinette was truthful when she answered.
"A few months ago."
This only seemed to aggravate him more.
"Merde, Mari we promised no more secrets. Why didn't you tell me?"
She began fidgeting with her hands tugging at her suit. She was gonna miss the black and red spandex.
"I did want to tell you but, you know confrontation isn't my best suit. So I didn't."
She looked into Adriens grass green eyes sincerely.
"I already talked it over with Tikki and Fu. After this I'll be dropping the earrings of at Fu's place and I'll be packing."
Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
He looked at her his irritation seemingly disappeared.
"Where are you going anyway?"
"Gotham City."
And it was back.
"Jesus Mari what are you thinking, that place is riddled with the worst people. Why would you leave Tikki behind when you're going there? Why even go there at all?"
"I just..........I-"
Marinette couldn't explain to him how she felt there were no words to describe how free she felt as Ladybug, as if that was what she had been made for.
But she didn't need to explain it to Adrian he knew when that look in her eye came. Her feelings mirrored his when he tought of the freedom of being Chat Noir.
He understood why she wanted to go and even if he didn't like his partner in crime going he understood more than anyone that she needed to go even more because of that.
So he offered he his fist and she bumped it happily.
"Bien joue, m'Lady."
"Bien joue, Chaton."
They hugged each other tightly before turning to the others of their group. By now they seemed to all have accepted her decision, some reluctantly.
Nonetheless they all went in for a group hug and stayed like that for sometime. After saying goodbye to everyone she and Chat Noir made their way over to Master Fu's place.
The old man was still awake at this hour and let the heroes of Paris in without a second thought.
They both greeted the old man and detransformed so their kwamis could recharge.
Marinette and Tikki were given some privacy to say their goodbyes.
"You are such a selfless person, Marinette. You are one of my best holders and I'm sure we are destined to meet and be one again. I know it."
The kwami spoke in a solemn voice, her big bug eyes filling with water.
Marinette was already crying, softly she spoke with trembling voice.
"I'll miss you so much."
That's all she really could say, that was a truth that was so painfully obvious it physically hurt.
So she repeated herself over and over again.
And when their tears had dried they went to sit with Fu, Adrian and Plagg. They all said goodbye to Tikki, except for Plagg who just said later and continued to nibble on his cheese.
Then one last hug and Marinette took a hold of one earring and took it out, then the other and Tikki was no more. She took a few deep breaths before putting them back in their velvet box and giving it to Master Fu for safekeeping. In return Fu gave her a large wooden box with intricate detailing in the top. He said the material it was made of should have no problem passing through airport security.
After that they said their goodbyes and Adrien transformed once again and dropped her off on the balcony of her room. One last hug and Chat Noir leapt into the night. And Marinette just stood there for a while, wondering this was the right thing to do. She looked at the wooden box Fu had given her, she opened it. Within the box there lay a weighted yo-yo on a steel flexible string, there was more stuff in there all made with great attention to detail.
She took out the yo-yo, the feel of it felt right in her hand.
And it felt right still as she held it inside the confines of her apartment in downtown Gotham.