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“It’s been a while, milady,” Adrien stroked the edge of the gravestone before him, his eyes tracing over the words engraved on its face:
Here lies Marinette Dupain-Cheng
(2001-2096)
Beloved wife, mother, and friend
Her kindness and heroism will live on in our hearts forever
It was just a few lines etched onto a non-descript, medium sized gravestone in a corner of an ordinary cemetery. It seemed so small and meagre, not nearly worthy of everything that she was in life. But although he would have gladly given her something grander, he knew that Marinette wouldn’t have wanted anything more. She’d have scolded him if he made her the centre of attention.
Adrien glanced up when he heard the faintest sounds of shoes on the footpath ahead.
“It looks like our guests have arrived, milady,” Adrien smiled as he spotted his cousin’s familiar face over the crest of the hill. Kagami’s far shorter head followed after it. Both of their expressions were equally grim.
Adrien’s smile faltered. Of course they’d already figured him out. Those two were his closest remaining friends, and wickedly smart, especially when they put their heads together. They already knew what he was planning.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice Felix, Kagami. You guys haven’t aged a day!” Adrien joked, though it did nothing to break up the tense atmosphere. When neither of them said anything, he finished it off regardless. “But then again, neither have I!”
It was true. All three of them still looked like young adults in their prime.
Marinette was self-conscious about it for a long time, fidgeting at the looks they’d get in public when she began to age and he remained the same. People would whisper and sneak glances, and often misunderstand their relationship. Adrien never cared. For as long as she lived, Marinette was always as beautiful to him as she was the day they met. Over time, she got used to it too, even joking along with him as he told her how lucky she was to have such a beautiful young boyfriend.
He looked a bit older and wearier now than he did when she was alive, but Adrien continued to chatter jovially, his tone completely mismatching the grave atmosphere suffocating them, “From the looks of your faces, you probably know why I asked to meet you, huh?”
“We were hoping we were wrong,” Felix responded, his voice so much softer than Adrien had ever heard it before.
Where Felix was subdued, Kagami marched forward and jabbed a finger into Adrien’s chest with an intent that was somewhere between pity, sadness, and anger, “Are you crazy, Adrien!? What about the rest of your family!?”
“Even my great-grandchildren are grown now,” Adrien answered fondly. “They’re taking good care of the Miracle Box as its Guardians. And that’s exactly what the problem is.”
Adrien gazed up and looked Felix in the eye resolutely, “I don’t want to become like him.”
He saw Felix’s eyes widened, as realization and disbelief dawned on him, “You don’t mean...Gabriel? You think you might do what he did?”
Adrien nodded. He had always been acutely aware of that dark part of himself. When it came to Marinette, there were no ends too far for him, be it sacrificing himself, or even cataclysming another person. He’d do it instinctively, without a thought. And recently, his thoughts would turn to the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses. It would be so easy. He knew exactly where they were, and the Guardians trusted him completely. And that was the problem.
“All I ever wanted was to live a full, happy life with her. I’ve done more than that by now,” Adrien closes his eyes in fond recollection. Each moment with Marinette, their first kiss, their wedding day, their first child, all played in his mind as if it happened just yesterday. “I can’t keep going on like this, living without her, for an eternity. If enough time passes, I'm scared that I'll do something I regret. Something that would disappoint her.”
He opened his eyes again. Felix and Kagami were still looking at him as if they were about to cry, their hands linked to each other in support. At that moment he was struck by a profound jealousy. Felix and Kagami could be together forever. Even as the whole world passed them by, they would always, always have each other. It was so utterly unfair that such a brilliant and lovable soul as Marinette couldn’t be one of them.
Just as quickly as the thought entered his head, he dismissed it. There was nothing glamorous about living as a sentibeing, watching all your friends and loved ones pass away, one after the other while you were frozen in time, your own body indestructible, yet your entire existence dependent on a single, fragile object. Marinette didn’t deserve such a fate. He also felt too guilty to stay envious of Felix.
After all, he was about to ask of him one of the most selfish requests he could ever make.
He knew that he was taking advantage of his cousin, because Felix would do it. Because Felix of all people knew the value of freedom and choice. And this was Adrien’s choice.
“I’m sorry Felix, I can’t destroy my Amok. They’re buried with her...they were our wedding rings,” Adrien could barely keep looking his cousin in the eye as he was breaking his heart. “Please do it instead, Felix—no, Argos.”
“Adrien, please!” Kagami released her death grip on Felix’s hand to grip his own with tears in her eyes. “You can’t make him do that! You do have more to live for! How can you just give up like this?”
“Kagami, I’ve already lived a normal human lifespan. I’ve already done everything I’ve ever wanted to do. I just want to rest. I just want mercy.”
“But-”
“Are you sure?” Felix finally spoke, interrupting his wife. “Have you really thought this through?”
“Yes,” Adrien answered, “from the very beginning. I’ve always wanted to live and die together with her. So please, can you send me over to my lady, Felix?”
Felix’s eyes began to brim with tears, but he nodded all the same.
“Aww, Felix, I haven’t seen you cry since your wedding.”
“Stop joking around at a time like this,” Felix chastised even as he undid the tie around his neck, revealing the peacock miraculous sitting underneath. “Duusu...spread my feathers...”
In an instant, the figure of Felix transformed, his grey tailored suit replaced with the signature outfit of the peacock holder. However, it lacked the vibrant hues and flourishes of his usual costume. Instead, it was a sombre black, and Argos’ skin and features remained undisguised, as if he couldn’t bring himself to adorn his usual flashiness in the current mood.
It was an outfit fit for a funeral.
“Last chance to back out,” Felix’s voice quivered, almost pleading, begging Adrien to change his mind, as he raised his fingers. “Do you really want to go?”
Adrien just smiled and nodded his head, "Thank you, Felix."
Felix’s tears spilled freely over his cheeks, and Kagami placed her hand on his shoulders, a matching expression on her face.
“Adrien Dupain-Cheng...I release you from your existence.”
And he snapped his fingers.