Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Gabriel?” She asked, rubbing her eyes after experiencing a vivid nightmare and the pounding headache of a lifetime.

How long had passed? Surely she was just taking a short nap since she was feeling under the weather. Her sickness had been worsening for the past months after all…

Yet she felt better. No more struggling to breathe, no more weakness in her arms and legs.

“Emilie.” Gabriel responded, holding her hand and taking a seat on the bed next to her and using his other hand to brush her hair behind her ear.

She was in her room. It was quiet. She wondered where Adrien was.

“How long have I been asleep? It feels like I’ve been out for months.” She readjusted herself to sit up in her bed, sliding out of the blanket that she felt was suffocating her.

Gabriel took the liberty to lie next to her and place his arm around her shoulder, gently, and rested his head atop hers. “Only a couple of hours. Dinner should be ready soon.”

He couldn’t shake away the feeling that she was slipping from his fingers all too quickly. Emilie was everything to him, but he reassured himself that it wasn’t worth worrying her with his overactive emotions.

It was the last time he remembered touching her that made him feel that way. He was holding her hand as she took her last breath.

But Gabriel was just so happy to see his love again! Healthy! Here! Speaking to him!

Looking down at his hand, he saw no ring, though, and there were no earrings on his earlobes.

His phone said the day was June 3rd, 2016, but he had come from April 24th, 2017.

His wish came true.

“You’re awfully touchy today.” Emilie nuzzled into him a little more, holding his arm and savoring every bit of it.

Gabriel started feeling his heart thrum a little faster, tears began welling from his eyes.

He did it.

“I know, darling. It’s just been a tough last few months, and I feel like I haven’t had time to catch my breath until now.”

“I understand that.” She poked his nose endearingly. “I think the treatment is working. I feel so much better now that I slept.”

“That’s great news!” He perked up, realizing that his wish really did fix all of his problems.

“Father, you’ll never guess what Chloe told me about today!” Adrien came bursting into his parents’ room, but began slowing down his pace when he saw the rather vulnerable moment his mother and father had been sharing. “Oh, sorry. I should have knocked.”

Adrien always hoped he’d one day have as great of a love as his parents. There was just never a person who made him feel that way. No one he’d met before made him swoon the way his father had for Emilie.

“It’s okay, Adrien. Come here!” She patted the side of the bed that was free, and Adrien gleamed as he hopped up, without hesitation, and sat next to his mother. “My two favorite boys in one place, I love it.” She commented this while playing with Adrien’s hair and giggling.

Gabriel was amused.

His son wasn’t Chat Noir until September 1st of 2016.

Adrien wasn’t yet corrupted by a ring and tremendous responsibility.

He was never given the powers of destruction.

He was still perfect. Untainted.

This must have meant that Marinette Dupain-Cheng didn’t have her earrings yet, either. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore.

Gabriel’s wish entailed three main details:

The first was that he wished to go back to a world where Emilie was never sick. That way, his son would have his mother and he would have his lover, preventing him from ever needing to become Hawk Moth.

The second was that he would not be suffering from the after-effects of being struck by Adrien’s cataclysm. He no longer had to worry about his body wasting away a little more every day, he and his wife could be perfectly healthy.

And the third was that Adrien Agreste would never be Chat Noir, just as Marinette Dupain-Cheng would never become Paris’ beloved Ladybug.

He wasn’t certain of how that last condition of his rather complex wish would pan out, but he also considered how there was no longer a need for villainy, so there would be no need for superheroes to be recruited.

He won. He truly won.

“What did Chloe tell you, son?” Gabriel asked, reorienting himself in his new reality.

“She said she and her friend Sabrina got to see Jagged Stone in school for a concert for career day!” Adrien said, excitedly. “It sounded really cool.”

“Very nice, Adrien.” Emilie grinned. “Mr. Stone is a very talented musician.”

Chloe’s stories of her experience in the school system was the catalyst for Adrien’s interest, but it was Emilie’s disappearance that made him want to sneak out for the first day of ninth year.

He had about three months before then.

The only responsibility he had now was to drink in every possible moment he could have with his perfect family. The perfect family he spent years cultivating. The perfect family that was now perfectly healthy. The perfect family he fought so hard to preserve.

He had to continue to protect it, though, and he was determined to do everything in his power to assure the maintenance of their familial perfection.

That would mean that he would have to eliminate any and all possibilities that Marinette would meet his son.

She was the driving force that tore their family apart on that fateful day. She meddled with his plans, she almost destroyed any chances of reconciliation between himself and Adrien.

So Gabriel was determined to make her life miserable. And he had to begin quickly, before Adrien would pursue his desires to attend school, just like Chloe.

Neither Marinette or her family should have any opportunity to show their faces to his son. He wanted none of it. It was too much of a risk to the fragile circumstances.

“Dinner is ready.” Nathalie knocked on the open door, a little pale but still standing.

She was wearing the same Tsurugi technology that crutched her when she was sick from using the broken peacock miraculous. She looked more sick than she was the day Gabriel won against Ladybug and Chat Noir.

It left Gabriel confused. He never included Nathalie in his wish, simply on the fact that she probably wouldn’t remember anyways. She seemed to be healing well from what Gabriel remembered, but perhaps this was just a little setback in her recovery.

She hadn’t even used the miraculous yet in 2016, which added more to his curiosity.

He decided not to think of it much longer. It would spoil the time he had with his family. His perfect, perfect family.

“I’ll meet you all there.” Gabriel said, taking out his cell phone.

“Okay, honey.” Emilie gave him a kiss, and Adrien simply smiled as he walked past them.

Once they were surely out of earshot, Gabriel dialed a familiar contact.

“Officer Roger, it’s Gabriel.” He said, hushed, waiting for a response. “Yes, I seem to have some concerns about the Dupain-Cheng bakery.”

“What would that be?”

“Every time my family eats their treats, we seem to get sick. It’s unfortunate, really, but my assistant seems to have fallen awfully ill as well.” Gabriel grinned. “I would like for the police department to see through an investigation, just to make sure they’re following all health codes and such.”

“No problem, Gabriel. I’ll let you know of any updates.”

“Splendid.” He hung up, then left to join his family in the kitchen.

Dinner felt sort of nostalgic to him. They were sitting by the counter, indulging in the meal the chef prepared them. He sort of remembered eating the same filet mignon the day Emilie fell asleep forever. He was alone back then, though.

That made this moment all the more sweeter. They laughed together again, they enjoyed their food together again, they watched television in their room together again.

And that was Gabriel’s wish come true.

Before he knew it, it was time to tuck Adrien in for bed. Quite frankly, Gabriel felt like he also needed the sleep himself.

“Ouch!” Adrien said, holding on to his wrist in pain as he readjusted himself under the sheets. He winced as his father decided to take a hold of it himself to investigate.

And there he found an all too familiar bruise, small yet dark purple, tainting the skin of his beloved son.

Chapter Text

He couldn’t tell Nathalie. He just couldn’t. If he did, she’d put together the fact that he didn’t include her in the wish.

It made sense to him now. All wishes come with a consequence. Nathalie’s health was sacrificed for Emilie’s, and Adrien’s was sacrificed for his own.

He remembered the stinging and tenderness all too well. His own son’s cataclysm that resulted in an unstoppable yet ever growing wound that began at the same point of his wrist.

And now Adrien was suffering because of his own mistake. The much darker part of Gabriel thought it was some sort of deserved punishment for Adrien. The boy used his power too hastily, and now he’s the one to suffer its wrath.

His only choice now was to do everything in his power to keep Adrien safe. He knows what kind of technology had failed in the past, maybe he could work with Tomoe Tsurugi this time around to heal his son.

Would that mean he needed to use the miraculous again? Fight his son again?

No. He knew better this time. His wish already assured that his son wouldn’t be Chat Noir again, and that Marinette wouldn’t be Ladybug. He wouldn’t have to fight his son if he decided to use the moth miraculous again.

If he succeeded once, he could surely succeed again, right? 

He couldn’t think all too far ahead, though. He had to pace himself until September 1st, and make sure Adrien would never follow the same steps he did that day that led him to become Chat Noir.

That meant preventing his son from sneaking out of the house for the first day of school.

Or maybe even starting out as Hawk Moth earlier than planned.

“Honey, Adrien asked me about sending him to school.” Emilie said to Gabriel, interrupting his pondering as she sat next to him on one of the barstools by the kitchen island. “I’m not sure what to tell him.”

Gabriel didn’t wait to bring her in for a side hug, and let her rest her head back on his shoulder. He didn’t realize how much he missed the touch and affection of his lover.

“I’ve been expecting a conversation about this. The stories he takes home about Chloe’s school seem to be planting that idea in his head.” He also thought about how quickly Adrien’s condition may have been progressing, and wasn’t quite sure how much time he had before the effects of cataclysm would become noticeable to Emilie.

“He’s just doing so well in his homeschool lessons and online classes.” Emilie tapped her chin. “I could understand why he would want a change though. He’s not wrong about having only a few friends.”

“He has Chloe and Felix. I think that’s more than enough in terms of friends.” Gabriel asserted, gazing at his phone and seeing a returned email from Tomoe Tsurugi.

Kagami was in a school, wasn't she? Maybe she'd do a better job at keeping Adrien at bay this time.

“I just don’t want him to go his whole childhood without making vital connections.” Emilie was a little more stern, sort of pleading. “Maybe we could enroll him somewhere close to home. Chloe goes to the private school down the street, that would be good for him!”

“No.” Gabriel replied immediately, but cleared his throat as he realized how curt his response was. “How about the Ermitage International School? I’ve heard many good things about it.”

If he could control his circumstances, maybe Adrien would never want to run. He just needed to give him what he wanted, and he would obey.

“I’ll look into it. We can see what sorts of programs they have so he could continue his lessons.” Emilie grinned, looking through her cell for more information. “We can enroll him in the fall. He’s going to be so happy!”

“He really will.” A snide grin formed on Gabriel’s face as the puzzle began piecing together.

His contentment only grew when he saw a breaking headline:

Local bakery under fire for potential rat poison in baked goods.

Marinette would surely not be showing her face in public any time soon. Not after publicity such as this. That was another thing Gabriel no longer needed to worry about.

Now that most of his bases were covered, he could once again reassure himself that Ladybug and Chat Noir as he knew it wouldn’t be returning. If all went well, he wouldn’t need to be Monarch or Hawk Moth ever again after making one more wish.

But if all else failed, he would have no choice. He’d have to make yet another wish and hope someone else would take the brunt of the illness. Someone unrelated to his supposedly perfect family. He’d make as many wishes as he needed to.

Couldn’t he just get what he wanted? Hadn’t he already worked hard enough to deserve some sort of solace?

He didn’t want to learn to live with it. He didn’t just want to make it work. He wanted his life back.

He remembered how to repair the peacock miraculous, and he could always be one step ahead this time around if he ever needed to go on another quest to get the miraculouses back again.

For now, though, he didn’t want to worry about it. That would be a last resort.

Everything was under control. It’ll all be fine.

But why not just start the process a little sooner?

“Maman, papa, I can never show my face there ever again!” Marinette cried, bursting through the front door of the living room. Tears were rampantly flooding down her face as she plopped down onto the couch and buried her head into her knees.

“Marinette, it’s nothing we can’t handle as a family.” Sabine comforted her the best she could, even amidst her own stress with the situation. “We will get our names cleared up in no time.”

“Not this time!” She wiped her face amid her sobs. “They were already making fun of me because of the Kim thing, and now this! I can’t do it anymore!”

“What Kim thing?” Tom asked, sternly, from where he was in the kitchen.

Marinette just sighed and laid her head on her mother’s lap. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“There isn’t much time left in the school year. After you get through it, maybe we can look into different schools you can go to.” Tom suggested, sitting on the other side of his daughter on the couch. “But a Dupain never backs down from a little battle, and neither does a Cheng.”

“It’s just something else every day.” While rubbing her eyes, Marinette oriented herself to face up to her mother from her position. “Chloe has been making my life worse and worse, and now no one wants to be friends with me anymore. It’s so frustrating because it’s not even my fault!”

“We’re so sorry, sweetie.” Sabine continued to stoke through her hair endearingly. “We can try looking into different school options, or maybe even online learning for next year. I think a fresh start might do you some good.”

“Then I’d have to take electives, and they don’t have any art ones or sewing. It’s just soccer and fencing and stuff.” Marinette buried her face in her hands. “This is a nightmare! I hate sports!”

Tom thought for a little while to make sure he would say the right thing to facilitate this situation. “We’ll see what we can do, and make up our minds once the school year wraps up. Would that be okay?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Marinette sat up and began gathering her things. “I’m going to my room, just call me when dinner’s ready.”

“Okay, honey.” Sabine blew her a kiss as she sulked on her way to her room.

Marinette just sat by her sewing machine, eyeing the piece she’d been working on and looking around at the other knick-knacks she had sprawled around her desk.

Uninspired was how she felt.

It was difficult being in her position. Everyone at her school comes from some remarkable wealth of sorts. For Chloe, her father was the mayor. Sabrina’s father was the city’s head deputy. Kim’s father was an olympic athlete.

Her family was by no means poor or very unfortunate, but she’d call their lifestyle a little humble compared to her peers. They constantly berated her for being the child of a baker anyways, and this incident with the bakery’s accusations only put salt in the wound.

Dirty baker girl, they called her.

She was scared to think about what would come next. 

Feeling dejected and emotionally exhausted, she climbed up into her lofted bed and dialed Socqueline. Maybe she’d understand.

It rang but there was no answer.

She realized she had no one else to call, no one to text, no one to confide in.

Her parents wouldn’t understand either.

Feeling as broken as ever, Marinette didn’t even notice a mysterious purple butterfly headed her way, through her window.

She heard someone within her mind offering her the power to set her enemies aflame. Offering her solace once she burned the city to the ground. Telling her that this was the only way for her to earn her place back in school and to get her life back.

It was almost too good to be true.

And the next thing she knew, she was on the ground underneath the Eiffel Tower, feeling a pounding headache and seeing two figures she didn’t recognize in front of her.

“You!” The girl said, pointing a baton at her as if it were a sword. She had a dark purple suit and… cat ears on? “Your powers are now gone, you can’t run away from us!”

Next to the girl was a much taller figure, wearing a red suit with a certain array of black spots, and boots that were black and silver.

“Are you guys super villains or something?” Marinette asked, fixing her hair and sitting up, a little more annoyed than confused. “You don’t have to point that thing at me. I’m just a normal girl.”

“Do you not remember what you just did to Paris like five seconds ago? There was fire everywhere!” The cat girl shouted, and a larger crowd formed around the three of them.

“What fire?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be too aggressive, Cheshire. Remember, she was under the butterfly’s influence.” The boy said, holding out a hand for Marinette to take and helping her up. “What’s your name?”

“Marinette?” She responded, still not putting together all the details of this ordeal.

“I’m Red Beatle, and this is my partner Cheshire. We rescued you from something called an akuma. The real supervillain took advantage of your emotions to make you do their bidding.”

“Wait, so there’s actually a supervillain? I’m so confused!” Marinette scratched her head, but froze in her place as the crowd that amassed was all staring right at her. “I’m a supervillain?”

“No! Not at all.” Red Beatle put a hand on her shoulder. “We don’t know who the real bad guy is, but we’re going to stop him.”

“You guys hear that!?” Cheshire yelped towards the crowd. “We don’t know who’s creating all these supervillains, but we will stop them and keep Paris safe!”

“That’s right!” Red Beatle added. “A mysterious entity has turned an innocent person into one of their pawns. We will free Paris from the clutches of the true villain!”

The crowd roared, and Marinette was frankly a little overwhelmed.

Supervillain .

Red Beatle’s earrings began to beep, and so did Cheshire’s ring.

“We need to go, this cat is out!” Cheshire said, winking as she used her baton to bound away.

“Get home safely, Marinette.” Red Beatle said as he used a yoyo go swing away.

Not a supervillain?

When Marinette returned home, her parents were waiting to give her the biggest hug she’d ever received. She didn’t feel so deserving of it, however, since she apparently threatened to burn Paris to the ground.

She looked at a video feed through her phone. She saw a version of herself with bright orange flames for hair and a gold suit and red cape.

With a wave of her arm, she sent out an array of fire that adorned the rooftops of every building she passed, and she flew around wreaking havoc.

That was until Red Beatle and Cheshire saved the day, at least. They somehow tired her down in the Eiffel tower and broke her phone, which seemed like the source of the flames. Sort of like a flame thrower, she assumed.

And then there were a bunch of ladybugs that swarmed the city and freed her from that fiery form. Then she was just Marinette again.

It was too much to handle. What would her classmates think after seeing her that way? Would they be afraid of her? Not even want to approach her?

And so she cried and cried and cried the rest of the day away. She didn’t know what else she could do. No one would just stop and listen to her when she’d explain herself. The comments on the feed just rolled in, no regards to the innocent face beneath the flames.

She had no idea who would do this to her. It was downright cruel! Did the world just have it out for her?

Did her parents really neglect their cleaning duties for a day too long? Was there really rat poison in the bakery too? They never had a rat problem though, so why would there be traps in the bakery? None of it made sense to her.

She hoped it would all go away someday. Maybe she could start anew with the online classes. Maybe a sport wouldn’t be so bad if it meant she could escape this endless torment.

Someday, she’d tell herself. Someday.

Gabriel was pleased. He kept a low enough profile not to be recognized, and left the two new heroes in enough mystery to keep them from tracing it all back to him.

"No, Master. Kwamis do not hold memories of their existence before a wish is made. They only feel an essence of a new world that has been created." Noroo informed him. "I know I've been here before, but I do not remember what transpired."

"Good. The Ladybug and Black Cat kwamis will not be able to guide their holders towards me." He adjusted the brooch underneath his scarf and left his observatory.

Waiting in his room for him, though, was a displeased Emilie.

"Why did you do it?" She asked, arms crossed, not sparing him her glance.

"For Adrien." He answered, simply.

"That's a lie."

"He's suffering from something far beyond what you can imagine, and it will only get worse." He warned, taking her hand in his. "You have to trust me. I won't hurt anyone."

"But you'll scare children into giving you their miraculouses? Turn an innocent little girl into your pawn?"

"I've been here before." Gabriel snapped, squeezing her hand. "I won, I made the wish, but now Adrien is being taken from us."

Emilie stared back at him, lost and confused. "You made the wish?"

"I did. To save you." He admitted, looking down. "But Adrien is now suffering. Your wounds have become his in exchange."

Guilt washed over her, she was at a loss for words.

"You made the wish." She repeated, still processing the information.

Gabriel decided to spare her the details of Adrien being the one he fought, or that he had been suffering from cataclysm.

If he solved this all quick enough, he would never need to explain himself.

"You want to make another wish?"

Gabriel nodded. "I don't know what else I can do to save him."

"Fine." Emilie felt a tear draw. "For Adrien. I'm giving you six months before we stop and accept our fate. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

Chapter Text

“So will I be able to attend my classes?” Adrien asked, walking behind his pediatrician and mother to the lobby of the practice.

“Yes, but no physical activity. You hurt yourself pretty badly, Adrien.” The doctor looked over to hand him a lollipop. “You can pick up your prescription and it should help with the pain, but enjoy your first day!”

Adrien gleamed. Sure, his arm was in a bit of pain and had to be on a sling until further notice, but he was able to finally start school! He could make friends! Maybe even exchange stories with Chloe about his classes and the people he met.

It was a shame he couldn’t continue his fencing lessons, though, and he was a little downtrodden that his arm had only gotten worse in the past three months.

It began as a little bruise he noticed while he was in bed. He must’ve hit it on something and never noticed it.

And then the bruise only grew. It was slow but sure, and even stung a little to the touch. But Adrien didn’t want to let it get him down. He was starting something new, this was only a minor setback.

The bruise took up the better part of his forearm, and no one really knew why it wouldn’t get better. His mother said it was a sprain.

At least it was his right arm! He could still write with the left.

Outside of the Ermitage International School, Emilie fixed Adrien’s collar and ran her hands through his hair a little bit to fix it.

“I love you, the Gorilla and I will pick you up as soon as you’re done.” She kissed his forehead and gestured towards the school.

“I love you too, mom.” He lunged in for a hug, and then happily began marching towards the entrance of the school.

He got to wear a uniform that made him almost feel like royalty. It was a white collared shirt with black slacks and a red plaid tie– rather simple, but still out of the ordinary for him.

It didn’t all go as expected, though.

Adrien didn’t realize how prestigious of a school this place would be, so it left him quite surprised to find out how intelligent every single person was.

There weren’t opportunities to meet others, really. He had his own isolated desk–unlike what Chloe said she had shared with Sabrina– and the teachers skipped all ice-breakers in favor of getting into coursework.

He also had to take some classes that were a little out of his comfort zone; along with French, Chinese, history, mathematics, and physics, he was also required to take an art class and music class. The only instrument he knew how to play was the piano, as well as all of its keyboard variants, but he was proficient enough to succeed in the first day of his classical ensemble period.

All of the students knew to stay after school for some sort of extra-curricular. It was given that he’d be a little left out since he was starting his eighth year without having been to any school at all, but it still stung a little once he realized how little he interacted with the other students.

He didn’t let it get him down, though. He could still try to branch out just a little in other ways.

While browsing the different parts of the school after the academic day had finished, he stumbled across an arts room, a dance studio, and then a fitness area of sorts.

It was a fencing class!

Knowing he wasn’t allowed to participate, Adrien still took the liberty to peek in through the glass windows on the doors, watching the students and their sparring battles.

He had to admit that he missed it, at least a little bit.

But it was alright! He figured he’d be at least a little more content if he was able to just watch and study their movements so he could be ready to go whenever he could start doing sports again!

Quietly, he opened the door and meticulously closed it behind him as silently as he could, and he crept off to a bench on the side of the room, hoping he wouldn’t cause much trouble. His mother and chauffeur wasn’t to pick him up from school for about another hour, so maybe he could just watch until he actually signed up for an extra curricular.

He assumed the students were assigned their after-school activities the year prior so they could hit the ground running.

Unlike what he’d seen before, the students were all left to their own devices. The coach was simply approaching each pair of sparrers and giving brief commentary before moving on.

He then clapped twice, gathering all the students– give or take, sixteen of them– to tell them something that Adrien couldn’t hear from his rather concealed seat, and then they all backed away to watch two students combat.

It seemed to be a “king of the hill” type of arrangement that Adrien found rather amusing. Winner goes on to battle the next student until one remains. After the fourth match, it was clear which student was going to take the crown.

They wrapped up each round in under a minute, and Adrien wanted nothing more but to introduce himself to this peer and talk about strategy.

At the end of practice, he saw her remove her headwear, revealing that she was a girl!?

While this was surprising, as fencing was a mainly boy-dominated sport, he still wanted to meet her nevertheless.

He waited for her outside the fitness room’s door, and followed her as soon as she walked out.

“Who are you?” She asked, turning around abruptly as he was catching up to her.

“My name is Adrien!” He held out his hand to shake, which she took up on hesitantly.

“Kagami.” She replied. “Why are you spying on fencing practice?”

He scratched his head. “Well, I used to fence and thought it would be fun to join the club but I sort of can’t really play right now.”

“You broke your arm?” She scanned him up and down with crossed arms.

“Something like that…” He saw her begin to walk away and stumbled a little while catching back up. “How long have you been fencing?”

“Seven years.”

“Have you ever studied with D’argencourt?”

“No.”

“You just do fencing within this school?”

“Unfortunately.” She frowned.

“Why the down face?” He observed her a little closer, to which she put a hand up to keep her distance.

“I’m clearly not challenged. I only ever lose when I am fencing with… I rarely lose.” She stopped herself from potentially oversharing. “Why are you so interested?” She didn’t look at him and continued her stride towards a red car.

“Because you’re the most impressive fencer I’ve ever seen!” She stopped at that and harshly turned her head. “And I would love to spar with you as soon as I get better.”

“Thank you, Adrien.” Kagami said, not giving into a smile that began to creep. “I need to go now, but I will see you tomorrow. We have French class together.” She went into the car and it drove off, leaving Adrien to mentally applaud himself.

He made a friend!

A friend who remembered him from French class!

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Marinette hadn’t realized how boring her days would be without the usual school routine, but she wasn’t ungrateful for it. 

Her first day of online classes left her satisfied. It was just a matter of finishing the assignments due for the first day and then attending in-person physical education twice a week.

She chose fencing.

It was a long discussion she and her parents had over the summer. The previous year had strained her to the point that she didn’t even want to attend the final dance, she didn’t eat lunch at school, and she distanced herself from whoever she might’ve had left.

It was better this way.

So her parents ran through the different sports that would fulfill her requirement, which included dodgeball, football, and a few other physically taxing things that she didn’t see herself doing. Fencing it was!

Just so she wouldn’t be behind most of her peers, Marinette’s parents invested in summer private lessons with D’argencourt to teach her the basics and get her back up to speed. The main hurdle in all of this was combatting her clumsiness, though.

She wasn’t by any means bad, either! She considered herself to be the quick learner, and she understood the rules and nuances of fencing fairly early as well. 

The only times she ever had to show her face at Francois Dupont nowadays was for the group fencing practices– where none of her former classmates had been enrolled in at all. It was the easiest way to escape the sudden slew of torment that washed over her at the end of the previous school year.

Marinette grew a sort of fondness with the superheroes that saved her that day. It seems as though the Red Beetle guy really wanted to make sure no one villainized the… akumatized– if that’s what they were called.

Cheshire Cat was definitely the more outgoing between the two, and would often hop on interviews with newscasters calling out for the Butterfly to show themselves.

Apparently, the main villain behind all the akumatizations was still unnamed, so they just called them “Butterfly” or something like that.

Other than the fact that this person had something called the “butterfly miraculous”, no one had information of where they come from, where they could be, or who they are.

Red Beetle and Cheshire didn’t appear too many times after her own akumatization, though. Over the past few months, Parisians would even see them hopping across rooftops or perching on the Eiffel Tower.

It made Marinette wonder what it would be like to have that kind of power. She’d definitely use it for good, just like the others. But that would be way too much responsibility on her anyways.

She was still content. She could be happy again on her own. None of her friends besides Soqueline bothered to stay in touch anyways.

It was better this way.

“How was school, son?” Gabriel asked in the kitchen, taking a seat by the counter with Adrien.

“It was good! I actually made a friend but it looks like all of the other kids are in clubs for the last hour.” He thought to himself a little bit. “I wish I could join the fencing club, but the cast kinda gets in the way.”

“We can work with the doctors and get that fixed up in no time!” He comforted, then looking towards the small television they had mounted nearby for entertainment.

“Tune in at six o’ clock tonight for an exclusive interview with Red Beetle and Cheshire Cat! We know it’ll be juicy! This was Nadja Chammack, don’t be bemused, it’s just the news.”

“The superheroes are so cool!” Adrien beamed, looking at them on the television. “I’ve always wondered how they got their powers and who the Butterfly is!”

This was when Emilie walked into the room and glared at Gabriel, who exchanged a similar glance with her.

“You’re going to watch the interview?” She asked, giving Adrien a hug and kiss from behind. “The heroes look like pretty cool kids around your age, too.”

“Yeah I’ll watch!” He stared at the television some more. “I wanna be friends with them, they’re awesome!”

He did watch it, sitting on his couch with a pillow in his pajamas and excited as ever.

Adrien wouldn’t call his enthusiasm about Paris’ esteemed heroes an obsession by any means, but he did always like to express his support and cheer them on when they’re against a villain. 

His closest encounter to them was when someone named “Style Queen” was akumatized. Rather, when Audrey Bourgeois herself was akumatized. She seemed to have targeted him a little bit, as some sort of ransom to get to his father for angering her at a fashion show.

The heroes had swooped in just in time, though.

Before he could turn into nothing more than a pile full of glitter, a ladybug themed guy swooped in with his yoyo and pulled him out of harm’s way.

“You should be safe here.” Red Beetle guided him into a vacant dressing room within the venue. “What’s your name, and why’s she so mad at you?”

“Oh, my name’s Adrien. I think she’s after my dad Gabriel Agreste so now she’s going after me but I dunno what my dad did to make her so mad!” He shrugged with a sheepish smile and held out a hand to shake.

The Beetle took his hand back and gave it an earnest shake. “Nice to meet you, Adrien. I’ll make sure to wrap this up and keep you safe.”

It was a quick moment that stayed with Adrien even after a month or two. He wasn’t able to get a word in with Cheshire, but still appreciated her enthusiasm nonetheless, and looked up to her bravery.

“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news. I’m Nadja Chammack, and this is Face to Face! I have Red Beetle and Cheshire Cat here with me, and we’re going to reveal all the sizzling hot information we have on them!” The anchor spoke from the television, earning Adrien’s undivided attention.

“Well to get started, I need to set the record straight. My name is Red B-e-a-t-l-e, like the band! I’m a big music lover.” Red Beatle began, clearing a misconception that most Parisians had.

“You heard him, Paris!” Nadja responded. “So we want the sizzling hot gossip. Are you two… more… than just partners?” She really milked that question, not waiting at all to egg them on.

Adrien never thought of the two heroes to be people romantically involved. They were rarely even seen together outside of missions.

“NOPE!” Cheshire laughed, and Red Beatle held a hand up to supress his own giggles. “Definitely not! We’re strictly best friends, nothing more!”

“She’s right about that.” Red Beatle added. “But what we can say is that we’re determined to rescure Paris nonetheless, and our friendship makes us stronger heroes!”

“Since your friendship is so strong, does this imply that you two know each other beneath the masks?” Nadja asked.

“We do.” Cheshire admitted, which elicited quite a surprised response from the anchor. “But we take great efforts to make sure no one else finds out. We don’t know who the Butterfly could be, so we won’t risk anything.”

Gabriel, who was also watching the broadcast on his own, was amused at this fact. He only needed to find one of them to take down both.

He’d already taken down the guardian.

It was rather simple considering he knew his identity from the last time around. However, a warning from Sass had given Master Fu grounds to transfer guardianship to the ladybug much earlier than intended: a fact Gabriel didn’t realize until he had raided Fu’s shop.

He found no trace of any miraculouses, nor their holders, but he at least stripped the new heroes of their guide.

There was more back and forth between Nadja and the heroes, as well as a short segment where callers got to ask the heroes questions.

Chloe Bourgeois even called to ask if Red Beatle was single, to which he replied a solid no .

The interview was over before Paris knew it, but many citizens were rather content with the new information gathered about their saviors.

It was only a matter of time before the Butterfly would be caught, and all would be well again.

Chapter Text

The first day of their second week of school was when Kagami Tsurugi grew fond of Adrien Agreste. 

That was when Adrien grew the courage to sit with her during their lunch period, handing her one of the tangerines in the lunch his mother packed for him. That’s how a conversation began.

“You come from wealth, correct?” She asked him after thanking him for the fruit.

“I guess you can say that.” He shyly laughed. “My father is Gabriel Agreste and my mother is Emilie Agreste.”

“The fashion designer and the actress?”

“Yeah.”

“I can see it.” She observed his face a little further. “You’re a splitting image of your mother. I’ve seen her on billboards.”

“Have you seen any of her movies?” He unpacked the rest of his lunch, which was just a lunch wrap and some carrots.

“No, my mother doesn’t allow me to watch television.” She sighed. “She says it rots the brain and only acts as a distraction.”

He frowned at her, messing around with his food a little longer and not knowing what to say other than “that’s rough.”

“It’s okay. I am used to it by now.” She handed him a slice of the orange, smiling.

Taking and eating it gladly, Adrien then continued. “So is your mom popular too?”

“Yeah, she’s Tomoe Tsurugi.”

“I should have known.” He fawned. “You’re being raised by the world’s best fencer! No wonder you’ve been destroying the competition during practices.”

“I’ve never really heard it put that way before.” She looked down to herself, letting a smile show. 

“Can I put your number in my phone, though? Just so we can stay in touch.” He loaded the number pad on his device and slid it next to her on the table.

She looked at it and slowly put in the digits, to the best of her memory. “I don’t know if my mother would be a huge fan of me having other phone numbers on my phone.”

“Why not?”

“She’s just really strict, she thinks friends are distractions.” She pressed enter, accidentally calling herself, and jumped when her phone vibrated.

“Now you have my number too.” Adrien gestured towards her ringing phone, which she shut off after a second. “Call me if you ever need anything, I’ll be here!”

“You’re very nice to me. Thank you.”

“I should be thanking you. You’re the first friend I’ve made here.” He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a big smile before continuing with his lunch.

That Friday, when Adrien’s mother got to school to pick Adrien up, she had two cups of vanilla ice cream in hand. After greeting the children, she offered some to Kagami when she noticed her with Adrien.

“Thank you, Mrs. Agreste.” She took it, hesitantly. “Are you sure?”

“I brought it for you!” Emilie urged. “Adrien’s been telling me about his friend, and I wanted to give you a little thanks by bringing a treat!”

And the following week, Adrien met Kagami in the library during their study hour to work on a particularly difficult physics assignment.

She never had difficulty with physics until this term. This specific teacher was giving her a hard time with grasping the contents and applying calculus, but provided no help whatsoever.

It seemed like Adrien had it down, somehow.

So he stayed to help her, really explaining every single little concept, and even sending her away at the end of their little tutoring session with a study sheet.

On her way out, though, she received an email, and she stopped in her place with a grunt.

“What is it?” He asked, pulling her chair back out so she could sit down again.

“I have to perform for my violin studio on Thursday, but my accompanist canceled on me.” She buried her head in her arms on the library table. “I hate depending on other people, and this is why.”

“Let me see the music.” Adrien offered, rubbing her shoulder to get her out of her slumps. 

She complied, still downtrodden, and pulled the sheets out of her bag to show him.

“I can totally accompany you if you need it. The piece isn’t that long!” He looked further, scanning through the staves on the pages. “It’s in a pretty easy key, too.”

“But your arm.” She looked down at the sling, poking at it.

“I can probably switch to a wrist brace or something, it’s starting to feel a little better actually!” Adrien began taking it off, nonchalantly, to check over the bruises a little closer. 

“No! Don’t take it off, what if–” She was stopped in her tracks as she finally saw what was underneath the fabric, and how his arm was tainted by splotches of blues and purples that were scattered down to his wrist. “Who did this to you?”

“No one did this to me!” He stopped her, waving a little with his injured hand to assure it was fine.

“Do your parents hurt you?” She interrogated further, holding his arm to observe it for herself.

“No!” He almost shouted, and then remembered they were in a library when he received a few hushes from surrounding students. “They would never hurt me.”

“They don’t? Not even when they’re really upset with you?”

“No.” He repeated. “They don’t really get mad at me, only at each other lately.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to accuse them of anything.” She released his arm. “I was just worried about you.”

“I’m okay, I promise.” He reassured her, putting the sling back on carefully. “Does your mom…”

She understood the nuance behind what he meant, and looked down. “It stopped after my mother and father separated two years ago.”

He just looked at her with softened eyes, guilt and pity behind his intentions. “Let me get a wrist brace for this, and we can run through the piece on Wednesday. I’ll practice it tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah!” He took pictures of the score to scan onto his tablet. “Anything for a friend.”

He didn’t realize how much frustration would come with practicing, however.

His doctor told him that in the transition to the wrist brace, it would naturally get his arm pretty sore quickly, and that motor functions wouldn’t be the same as before he was hurt. 

Adrien held his wrist and tried stretching his fingers out again, one at a time. Slowly.

It was almost agonizing to see his talents fade away. He was barely compensating with his left hand during concert band rehearsals, and he didn’t want to let Kagami down.

He stretched out his fingers again, giving them a little massage with his left hand before attempting his scale warm ups.

It was as if it forgot how to play the scale.

The song was in D major. That was elementary.

If it were so easy, why was it suddenly so hard?

He left out the C sharp. Start over. Play it again, just as his father would tell him every time he’d make a mistake.

“You know better, Adrien. Do it again.”

“Father, I’m tired! We’ve been at this for three hours. I already know how to play these scales.”

“Do it again .”

And he did it again. Accidentally played a G sharp this time. It was a foolish mistake.

Do it again.

He couldn’t control his fingers, not after focusing his entire being on playing with that one hand, not after feeling the warm droplets from his eye set his hand ablaze.

After not being able to take it any longer, he shut the piano closed and locked himself in his bathroom, sliding against the wall to sit and pull at his own hair.

“Why is this happening to me!?” He wept, aggressively shaking his wrist with his left hand.

His father would never understand the frustration, and his mother wouldn’t either. Not even Nathalie would get it, she never played an instrument.

Without thinking, he called a number on his phone. A new number.

It rang for a moment before dropping.

Kagami Tsurugi: I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk on the phone. Mother might not approve.

Adrien Agreste: If you can, it’s really important. You’re my only real friend. I need someone to talk to.

After a long and tense minute, he felt his phone vibrate with a call.

“What is it?” She asked, hushed.

“I’m just so frustrated.” He choked out, running fingers through his head as if it would calm him at all.

“Are you crying?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I cry too.” She waited a moment, not sure how to proceed. “What is making you cry?”

“It’s my hand.” He didn’t want to make her feel bad, or to let her down in terms of accompanying, so he chose his next words meticulously. “Have you ever tried doing the same thing a million times, but it would never turn out the way you needed it to?”

“If it’s with the piano, you don’t have to play for me.”

“I want to.” A beat. “But do you understand the frustration?”

“I feel it all the time when practicing anything. Archery, violin, fencing when I’m against someone actually challenging. It’s normal.”

“I know, I know…” He sniffled, starting to feel his heartbeat slow a little. “Sorry, I don’t know why I called.”

“You are here for me, and I am here for you too, Adrien. You can vent.”

“It’s just…” He looked down at the bruises. “I can’t do anything normally anymore. I don’t even know how I sprained this thing and why it won’t get better. I can’t play video games anymore, I can’t fence, I can’t play piano with my right hand, it’s just catching up to me now. As soon as I felt like a normal kid who could go to a real school, my injury had to mess it all up.”

“It’s difficult to feel adequate when your most cherished abilities are taken away, but you’re worth more than your wrist.” She comforted him, slowly. “You’re a shining star that lights every path you wish to walk down. Facing a challenge doesn’t make your light fade.”

“Really?”

“Really, Adrien.” There were noises from her end, sounding like a door shutting closed and echoing. “I need to go, but if you can’t do the accompanying, I understand. I can play it without a piano.”

“No, no, I’ll do it. You gave me the motivation I needed.” He smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

With the newfound confidence, he continued. He marched back to the piano and opened it, displaying the sheet music in front of himself and sightreading it.

It wasn’t about the warm ups and scales, he just needed to get through the piece.

And when he thought less, and felt more, it suddenly started coming to him.

Although significantly quieter compared to his left hand, the right was still able to get most of the notes out, save a couple octave intervals he couldn’t stretch his hand to reach.

After playing through it once, he decided to leave his practicing at that. It was progress, and that was all that mattered. He could sleep on it, let his hand rest, and approach it again the next day. He had until Thursday.

Their performance went better than he could have thought, considering his circumstances.

It was a low stakes function, and there weren’t very many people in the classroom, but Kagami was still proud of her playing nonetheless. Despite her and Adrien having very limited rehearsal time, he still had the majority of the piece learned, and he followed her through every dynamic and tempo change.

When they rehearsed it, during class transitions in a study room, Kagami was surprised as to how well Adrien internalized the piece. He was more in sync with her than her actual accompanist.

And on Adrien’s hand, he was just glad enough to have gotten the notes out, even if his left hand had to compensate for some of the right.

As they left the classroom, Adrien took a pink rose out of his bag and handed it to her. “You did great in there!”

“Thank you, Adrien.” She blushed. “I don’t think my teacher would have liked it very much if I had to perform it without a pianist, and I know how difficult it was for you.”

“I just needed to hear the right words from the right person.” The bell rang, and Adrien waved her goodbye, leaving her with the rose.

And the fifth day of their third week of school was when Kagami Tsurugi found herself falling for Adrien Agreste.

Chapter Text

Deep breaths. In and out.

This was the first time Marinette was stepping into school with the intention of meeting with people. It was a large step for her to take after her social hiatus, but some urging from Socqueline and her parents provided her with the courage to go.

Socqueline brought up how Rose and Mylene were part of an after-hours art club that had started that term, and that they were willing to let new people join during their Tuesday meetings. Conveniently, Marinette didn’t have fencing on Tuesdays, so she thought it would be a good reason to get out of the house.

Things were starting to look up for her!

Nervously, she knocked on the already open door of the art room to gain the attention from the few students that were scattered around, and a few familiar faces went running to hug Marinette.

She was taken aback by that behavior, considering how none of them could face her after she was akumatized…

“Hey guys.” She said, not knowing how to react with the attention.

“We missed you, Marinette! We never thought we’d see you again!” Rose hugged tighter.

Mylene backed away, holding Rose’s shoulder to urge her backwards too, and Marinette finally got a good look at the girls who were hugging her. Mylene spoke for the rest of them once they calmed down. “I know we sort of left you in the dust, but we hope we can make it up to you, we really did miss you.”

“It was super complicated.” Alix said, gesturing the rest to start moving towards the table with their artwork sprawled across it. “The four of us had a plan to take down Chloe after what she did to you with Kim and Sabrina.”

“I hate spiders.” Juleka mumbled, alluding to the ‘pool incident.’ “It’s time for Chloe to pay .”

“Yeah!” Rose agreed. “We all found out we were put in the same class with Chloe in the beginning of summer, but I guess she was onto us because she blackmailed us one by one and told us we weren’t allowed to talk to you anymore.”

“I know blackmail isn’t a good enough excuse to alienate you, but we know Chloe can’t get to us here, and it’s not worth losing you over.” Mylene took out her phone to show Marinette an exchange of messages in a chat. “We asked Socqueline to invite you to the art club so we could make it up to you.”

“Wow, guys, I didn’t know it went that deep.” Marinette looked at each of them, not realizing how ready she was to see them and forgive them already. “But I really appreciate the thought, I missed you all too.”

“She’s back, guys!” Alix cheered and skated around the room a little with her arms up. “She’s one of us again!”

“Alya.” Juleka pointed at another girl who walked into the room to their table.

“Oh, Marinette, you haven’t met Alya!” Rose said, giving Alya a greeting hug. “She and Juleka became friends on the first day of school and now she’s one of the girls!”

“Nice to meet you.” Marinette held out a hand to shake, beginning to feel more comfortable in her own skin.

“Yeah!” She shook back, a sense of familiarity shooting through the two of them. “Juleka and I are trying to start a school newspaper.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Marinette grinned. “Didn’t you two make the super hero blog for Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat?”

“Yeah…” Juleka replied with her own definition of enthusiasm. “They are super cool.”

“I’m trying to break into the journalism scene here, and Juleka is the best superhero action photographer in town, so we make a pretty good team.” Alya gave her a playful nudge. “What do you think of them? The heroes?”

Marinette shrugged. “I think they’re cool. They saved me when I tried burning down the city.” 

“I had no idea you were that girl!” Alya commented, a little too loudly for comfort, and earned a not-so-playful nudge from Juleka. “Ow! So, uh, do you still go to school here?”

“Not really, I’m trying out for the fencing team in a couple weeks though, and I thought the art club would be a good way to get reacquainted with some friends.” Marinette really thought about the possibility of being a student again…

But there was Chloe. And Kim, who she hadn’t talked to since the pool incident , and Sabrina was no help either since they were all in the same class again.

She could settle for going there just for fencing and art, though. It would help her get social again and maybe develop her talents while she was at it!

“I’m just in the online program. The classes are through the school but they’re asynchronous.” She completed her thought, taking a few of her things out and setting them on the table. “I might try to work on some of my projects here, I’m actually trying to be a fashion designer.”

“Are you more adjacent to Gabriel Agreste or Audrey Bourgeois?” Alya asked, looking over Marinette’s shoulder as she opened her design book.

“Definitely Gabriel.” Marinette pointed at a specific design she wanted her to observe, which was on the minimalistic side. “I’d say I’m somewhere in the middle, but nowhere near as radical as Audrey Bourgeois.”

“Nice.” Alya gave her a fist bump, making Marinette smile. “I’ll leave you to get your creative juices flowing, Jules and I are going to work on a few article submissions.”

“Wait!” Marinette held up a hand before she could go, and Alya reapproached. “It was really nice meeting you. These are from my parents’ bakery.” She took a box of macarons out of her back, and opened it on the table.

“Thanks, Marinette. It was great to meet you too!” She walked away enjoying a macaron, and Marinette was content.

It was the best of both worlds. She had friends again, new and old, and didn’t have to deal with Chloe. It was paradise!

“I felt a negative emotion from our son earlier.” Gabriel admitted, sitting up next to Emilie on their bed, who was reading a book and not paying him much mind.

“When? Was it the night you made a villain that made nightmares come to life?” She zapped. “Or was it the time you made a child create illusions of nuclear weapons to scare the kids into giving up the miraculouses?”

“Last night.”

“So the night you decided to akumatize the photographer. Got it.”

“Don’t do that.” Gabriel pleaded. “You know I’m doing all of this for the family.”

“How much are you willing to sacrifice? How far are you willing to go?” She shut the book closed. “It’s been three months, no progress has been made. There has to be a more ethical way to do this. We don’t have to use the miraculous for evil to get what we want.”

“This is how I did it last time, and this is how I will do it again. It won’t matter what harm I do, because I can reverse it.” Gabriel went to take one of her hands in his, but she swiped her whole arm away. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what? Tell you not to be evil?” She reasoned. “Our son is sick with an incurable disease. You’re sacrificing more than you saved.”

“I saved you! ” He made a fist and had to hold himself back from punching the wall by the bed. “So that’s enough of the self-sacrificial talk. You have no idea what I was willing to give up to save you , to bring you back, to heal you , so the very least you can do is show some gratitude.”

“You made our son sick!” She was disgusted, and got up from the bed, putting on her slippers. “You made him suffer from something that he doesn’t deserve. I used the peacock miraculous and felt like I was at death's grasp, being pulled lower and lower until I'd take my last breath of fresh air. Is that what you want for Adrien? I should be suffering the consequences right now but you decided that our son should deal with it instead. I was slipping away already. You were all ready to let me go. Why couldn't you just accept it?”

“I’m fixing this!”

“If you cared enough, you would have checked up on Adrien as soon as you felt his negativity.” She began leaving the room. “But you akumatized another helpless person instead.”

With that, she slammed the door behind herself and began walking to the other side of the house, to Adrien’s room, knocking on the door quietly, in case he was asleep.

“Come in!” He said from the other side, to which she entered and sat on his bed, while he was at his desk practicing his typing. “What brings you in here tonight?” He spun around to face her.

“I was just bored, and I couldn’t sleep either. I thought it wasn’t too late so I decided I’d see my favorite boy.” She patted next to herself so he’d sit with her, giving him a hug and kiss from the side once he did so. “How’s the wrist?”

“It’s not as bad as I thought. I’ve been practicing my typing and piano playing and video gaming and stuff after switching to the wrist brace.” He held up the braced arm. “It was really hard at first but I’m getting used to it again.”

“That’s really good, honey!” She messed with his hair before taking his bad hand in hers. “What made you want to play piano again?”

“Kagami, actually.” He got his tablet from the shelf by his bed and showed the music to his mother. “She needed someone to accompany her solo that she performed for her violin studio, so I volunteered to play piano for her.” 

“How’d it go?”

“It’s not until Friday, but it’s going well so far! It took a lot of trial and error and practicing, but I’m gonna try to keep playing some more even with the injury. Playing for Kagami helped me realize that it wasn’t as hard to do things as I thought.” 

She scrolled through, impressed with his progress. “I didn’t know you were struggling though, is everything okay?”

“Well…” He got up and paced in front of her. “I was really frustrated at first, but it’s really fine now! I’m making Kagami happy by playing and I feel like a good friend now.”

“Is Kagami…” She giggled, tilting her head for an answer.

“No, mom, she’s just a friend!” He laughed too. “How do you even know if you love someone?” He plopped back down next to her, holding a finger up to his chin to ponder.

“You’ll just know.” She tapped his nose. “When you find the right person, you’ll have this gut feeling that you can’t run away from.”

“Can you describe it?”

“Like… butterflies in your stomach!” She jokingly tickled him a little, and then poked at his chest. “And you’ll feel your heart beating faster around them.” She then ran a hand through his hair and down the side of his face. “And they’ll always be on your mind.”

He leaned his head on her shoulder and felt his laughter fade into a content smile, which eventually became a frown as he thought a little more. “Do you still feel that way about Father?”

“Woah!” She stopped him, getting a hold of both of his shoulders. “What made you think about that?”

“I overheard you two fight a few times.”

She tilted her head again and sat in silence. Conversation with Adrien was never something she struggled with as a mother, but this was definitely a first. She didn’t know what to say.

“Is everything okay?” He prodded, rocking side to side a little bit more to gain her attention.

“Yes, everything is okay.” She confided. “Couples fight sometimes when they’re trying to get on the same page, but we still love each other very much.”

“Good.” Adrien nodded.

After hearing about Kagami’s family situation, he became a little more vigilant of his own, a little afraid that his parents’ fate might have been similar to hers.

“So to answer your question, of course I still feel that way about him.” She rose up and kissed his forehead. “Get some sleep, sunshine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That’s good! I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, Adrien.”

She dimmed the lights and closed the door behind herself, startled to see Nathalie arrive at the door just as she was leaving.

“I just put him to bed, you don’t need to worry, Nath.” Emilie assured, looking towards the hallway to the master suite, not really wanting to go back.

“How is his wrist?” Nathalie asked. Noticing her hesitation, she turned to go back down the staircase and gestured for Emilie to follow her to the kitchen to talk.

“Better, he’s learning how to do normal tasks with it. Did you know he’s going to play piano for his friend’s violin performance?”

“That’s amazing! I didn’t think a sprain would get him so bad but it’s good that he’s healing.”

Emilie stopped in her tracks, and Nathalie turned around in confusion.

Nathalie, with her robotic crutches that she relied on.

Nathalie, who began having breathing troubles three months before.

Nathalie, who suddenly got sick after Emilie’s weakness had been magically lifted off her shoulders.

And that was when the puzzle began forming itself in Emilie’s mind.

“What has Gabriel told you?” Emilie asked with a whisper, taking Nathalie’s hand and guiding her to the barstools by the kitchen counter with a little more haste.

“Adrien sprained his wrist and doesn’t know how.” She was concerned by the sudden urgency. “Am I missing something?”

“What do you know about the wish?”

“I put it together that Gabriel is causing akumatizations again to make the wish.” Nathalie mentioned this under her breath, sort of ashamed and timid. “I don’t have any other information.”

“Gabriel isn’t telling either of us something, and I was afraid of realizing this…” Emilie admitted. “Does he think we’re stupid ? Or oblivious?”

“What is it?”

“Gabriel made the wish already.” She sputtered this, quickly, without considering the repercussions.

None of it was fair. Nathalie was someone she trusted dearly with her entire heart. Not telling her would be a betrayal of sorts. Nathalie is suffering from her own actions. It’s her fault.

Nathalie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Already?”

“Yes. He said that I had fallen ill to the peacock miraculous, and that he made a wish to reverse it, only Adrien is suffering from my wounds as an equal exchange.” Emilie said this, struggling to even believe herself as she began piecing together the puzzle.

“Only that Adrien’s condition isn’t that of one who used a damaged miraculous, but mine…” Nathalie’s hand made a fist on the counter, and she brought both of her hands together in disbelief. “He made a wish that gave your condition to me. ”

“Yes.” Emilie felt tears well in her eyes, putting a hand atop of Nathalie’s balled up one. “I can’t express how guilty I feel for you right now.”

“It isn’t your fault.” Nathalie said behind her clenched jaw. “It’s his. ”

“He won’t stop at anything.” Emilie’s tears ran free, falling more furiously once Nathalie turned her own hand to have an interlocked grasp of Emilie’s. “He doesn’t understand. He’ll never understand. It’s so wrong, but we’re helpless against him as long as he has the miraculouses.”

“We can’t come forward about his identity, either.” Nathalie added, beginning to feel her own hot tears well in betrayal. “No one would believe us, and we don’t know what he’s capable of doing if he finds out.”

“I don’t know what Adrien is suffering from, either.” Emilie added. “If Gabriel would have told me sooner, we could have stopped it from the source. We could have stopped it from ever getting worse, from ever getting to the point where he’d be frustrated over not being able to play the goddamn piano.”

“We will make a plan then.” Nathalie put her forehead against Emilie’s, sniffling a little. “You and me, we will stop him. We will save Adrien, and put everything back to normal. I promise.”

“Thank you, Nathalie.”

Chapter Text

Emilie needed to be sneaky.

She was terrible at being secretive, though, and that could be her downfall, so she had to be calculated.

That was where Nathalie came in. She always had a knack when it came to planning for a precise outcome. They just didn’t know where to begin, though.

“Gabriel.” She turned around, sitting next to him in their bed as they usually would be in the later hours.

If she had to pretend, so be it. It would be to save her son.

“Yes, Emilie?”

“I’m sorry for lashing out the other day. Now that I’ve thought a little more, I understand why I should trust you.” She said, taking one of his hands. “If you need anything, I’ll always be here.”

“I’m glad, my love.” He moved closer to her so he could put an arm around her side, allowing her to lean into him. “I hate fighting in front of Adrien. I appreciate that you’ve come to your senses.”

Disgusted was how she felt.

“You’re right.” She bit her tongue before saying anything harsh. “We should spend some time with him. It’ll reassure him that we’re still a unit.”

“Has he questioned otherwise?”

“No, not at all.” She lied through her teeth. And it was hard. Gabriel changed from one day to the next in her eyes, even though it might have been months or years that he spent without her in that alternate reality.

But in her mind, it was merely a moment. A little nap when she thought it was all going to end any day.

And it should have.

Except it was then Nathalie’s turn to accept that fate.

“Maybe we can have a family outing.” He concluded.

“Nathalie included?” She asked, trying to see if he was purposefully neglecting her since the wish was made. “She’s basically family, right?”

“No, not Nathalie.” He said, abruptly. “She… she may not be well enough to come with us.”

She knew he was the one lying this time.

Noticing her silence, he tapped her shoulder lightly. “Tired?”

“Yeah, yeah.” She shuffled herself under the sheets, keeping a keen eye on Gabriel as he turned around to put his glasses in the drawer of his nightstand.

Only she got a peek of the peacock miraculous’ cerulean hue poking out the drawer.

Nathalie and Emilie could make a plan out of this.

“Have you considered studying with D’Argencourt? He’s the one who trained me after all.” Adrien asked Kagami in the hallway after French class, escorting her to the orchestra rehearsal room.

“I still haven’t seen you fence, so how would I know if he’s actually good?” She replied, jokingly poking his wrist brace.

“You’re gonna have to trust me on that one.” He laughed a little. “But their team has tryouts tomorrow, and I don’t think it’s too late to sign up.”

“Maybe I will.” Kagami raised an eyebrow looking into the fencing room, watching the fencers that their prestigious school had to offer. “They’re pathetic here.”

“It’s actually at the school my friend Chloe goes to! Maybe we’ll run into her or her friends.” He pulled up an advertisement for the open tryouts on her phone to show her the location.

“Bourgeois? I’ve heard she’s unpleasant.”

“So have I.” Adrien had to hold back his laugh. “She’s not bad if you’re on her good side, though.”

“Fair enough, I’ll have to meet her for myself. Tomorrow?”

Adrien gleamed, glad that his friends could finally have an opportunity to interact. “Tomorrow!”

“Do you girls think I have a chance?” Marinette asked in the locker room, her friend group surrounding her as she was seated next to her helmet. “I only started fencing a couple months ago.”

“Fencing changed you, Marinette!” Alix pointed out. “I haven’t seen you fall over at all!”

“You could have worded that a little nicer.” Mylene said to Alix before redirecting her attention back to Marinette.

“She just meant to say that you’ve improved so much with your clumsiness!” Rose added, and Juleka mumbled a thing or two that no one really understood aside from the word “nice.”

“There’s no shame in trying, girl!” Alya sat next to her. “There are two open spots, I’m confident you’ll get at least one with how much you’ve been practicing.”

“Okay, okay.” She put her helmet on and rolled her shoulders a little bit to get focused. “I think I’ve got this. Thank you guys for the kind words!”

The girls all cheered her on as she left the locker room and made her way to the school’s courtyard, where a few students were already practicing and stretching. She took her own place and followed suit, never having tried fencing in a group setting.

She repeated some affirmations to herself, all which were in vain as soon as a masked fencer in a red uniform walked down the center of the gymnasium, head held high, a blonde boy with a cast following behind them.

Why was he familiar?

The gym was silent as they all watched them take their place, and then everyone promptly went back to their previous stretching and practicing routines.

The boy then engaged in conversation with D’Argencourt.

“Adrien!” He welcomed him, patting his shoulder enthusiastically. “Are you back to reclaim your spot on the team?”

“Unfortunately not, my arm is still out of commission. I’m sure you’ll be impressed with some of the contenders today, though.” Adrien gestured to the group around him and then stepped aside.

“Very well, then.” He nodded and then directed his attention to the group and walked to face them. “I am the fencing master Mr. D’Argencourt. We have only two spots open on the team this year, so in order to select the best possible candidate, I will observe the beginners performing a number of attacks on the experienced students. Take your positions!”

They all went onto the designated mats, and a student Marinette didn’t recognize took the place across from her.

“Greet your opponents!” D’Argencourt announced.

She took her saber and held it in front of her, then slashed it to her side, before taking position: legs bent, one behind the other, foot turned out, saber prepared.

“En garde!”

Marinette knew she wasn’t so experienced, but she felt as if she understood her own footing and took initiative, effectively getting the point for that match.

“Good game.” The other student said, offering a hand to shake before resuming their position.

D’Argencourt approached the two of them, looking content. “It looks like your lessons have proven successful, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Your chances of joining the team are promising. Continue.”

They continued for a few more rounds, posing a moderate amount of challenge for one another. After he felt like he’d seen enough, he moved onto the next group, which was a little more boisterous than their own.

The student with the red uniform absolutely swept the competition in that pair, taking a much more aggressive approach to gain their points. D’Argencourt seemed thoroughly impressed and focused on that pair for another three rounds before clearing his throat and moving on to the last three.

Marinette wasn’t quite sure how this process worked at all. She was fairly new to the fencing scene but felt as though her reflexes would help her with admission to the team.

Clapping twice, Mr. D’Argencourt gained the attention of all the students, the ones already admitted to the team lining up on either side of him.

“I would like to announce that the first new member of our fencing team will be participant one.”

Marinette was one? Wasn’t she? She was in the first group, but didn’t even keep track of numbers that were assigned.

As if it were for a confirmation, D’Argencourt gestured for her to join him and the other fencers on the team in a line.

Taking off her mask, she gave out her best saccharine smile and marched up to join them. She wasn’t a failure anymore. She was capable of more than hiding.

She was free.

So she allowed this victory to course through her. She allowed herself to enjoy happiness. She didn’t have to worry about thirsting for others’ validation anymore. This was enough.

“Four of you remain, and there is only one spot left.” He waited for a second before continuing, most likely in the spirit of anticipation. “I believe it goes without saying that this spot goes to the student in red, participant two.”

That was when said student took off her mask to reveal her freshly trimmed hair and freckled face.

“I am Kagami Tsurugi. It’s a pleasure.” She nodded with gratitude and stood beside him.

“Thank you all for coming. Practices will resume as usual on Thursday.” He clapped his hands twice more, and the students all dispersed.

“You did great! I knew you had a foot in!” Adrien met Kagami and gave her a high five.

Well, he tried to.

Not only had Kagami never received a high five before, but Adrien stood there a little petrified when he realized he put up the injured hand.

Good thing Kagami didn’t high five him back. That might’ve been painful.

During this awkward exchange, the duo was approached by Marinette, who didn’t think much of their bit. “Hi, I’m Marinette! I just wanted to introduce myself to you, Kagami.”

“Nice to meet you… too.” Kagami replied hesitantly, just staring and waiting for a conversation to ensue.

“It’s not every day you meet another girl that fences.” Marinette fiddled with her helmet, hoping to at least make one new friend out of this interaction.

Kagami didn’t have anything to say.

“Well, you did great out there too!” Adrien broke the silence. “My name is Adrien, Kagami and I are both from the Ermitage school.”

“Oh, that school is really fancy!” Marinette gawked, and then she started realizing who she was actually speaking with. “What about your fencing program?”

“It’s second rate. I simply wasn’t challenged enough.” Kagami responded, maintaining her straight face. 

“Yeah, the program there only started a year ago so it’s not as established as this one.” Adrien articulated, a little more thoughtfully.

“Wait a second.” She began to piece together the reasons why he was so recognizable. The billboards, the posters, the magazines… “This might be a reach but is your last name Agreste?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m a huge follower of fashion! Of your father’s fashion, I mean. He’s extremely talented and I’ve looked up to him for so long and I’ve been really into designing my whole life and…” She noticed Kagami looking a tad bit less than impressed while Adrien kept his cordial grin and eye contact. “Sorry for rambling, but I thought I recognized you from the magazines.”

“No worries, I get that a lot, but it’s still super cool how you’re into fashion!” He giggled back at her. “So are you new to fencing?” Adrien asked, the three of them working their way towards the locker room.

“Was it that obvious?” Her eyes widened a little bit, combing through every memory she could recall to find out if she missed any nuances during her sparring.

“No! Not at all!” He waved his hands in defense. “Quite the opposite, I was just surprised you weren’t already in the team.”

“Are you some kind of fencing enthusiast?” She asked, effortlessly, trying not to think too deeply into how she was having casual conversation with a celebrity. Maybe she could play it cool and just play along.

“I used to fence but an injury left me out of commission. I was on this team last year, actually!”

“I think I vaguely remember Mr. D'Argencourt calling me a cheap replacement for his best student. That must be you.” She laughed at the memory, taking it with a grain of salt.

He laughed too, recognizing the harsh talk the teacher always sported, especially when he was having a particularly rough day in the realm of politics.

Kagami didn’t falter.

“We need to go.” Kagami said, abruptly. “See you on Thursday, Marinette.”

“It was great meeting you. We should talk about fashion sometime!” Adrien held out his good hand to shake, and Marinette hesitated for a minute before taking it.

She had a serious moment of deja vu. Something about the way he tilted his head with his hand held out like that?

She would have brushed it off if she didn’t notice him also looking down at their hands with a bout of confusion, a little lost before pulling away slowly.

It was electric, almost. Like a bunch of thoughts and memories flashing through her head and then disappearing without a trace.

What the heck was that!?

“You too.” Marinette casually waved and the other two walked away, not without Adrien looking back and sparing one last glance and wave at her.

That had to have been one of the weirdest sensations she’d ever experienced in her life. And it seemed like his acquaintance or girlfriend or just friend or something didn’t seem to enjoy it all too much either.

She wouldn’t let it get her down, though. This is just the beginning of her own redemption! Kagami surely would warm up to her someday. They were the only two girls on the team by then.

Adrien also felt odd about the meeting.

“What was that about?” Kagami pried, not looking at him. 

“I don’t know.” He answered, honestly. “Are you okay? Your mood soured since we met Marinette. You don’t like her?”

“I don’t care about her.” She admitted, seeing her red car pull up to the curb. “I was just worried about you.”

“I’m all fine, don’t worry.” He smiled at her and opened the door to the back seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow, though?”

“Yeah, bye.”

Taken aback by her sudden attitude, Adrien sighed to himself as he walked towards his own limo.

But he kept thinking about that odd feeling he had when he met Marinette.

So odd he didn’t realize how he missed his footing while getting into his own car, slipping and twisting his ankle on the way down, landing on his side with a thud.

“Adrien!” His mother, who was in the back seat while that transpired, quickly hopped out the other door and went to his aide, rubbing his back and helping him up. “That was a nasty fall, are you alright?”

“I think so?” He groaned a little, holding his head and struggling to regain his footing and get up.

It was like the wind was knocked out of him, and he began seeing stars that he couldn’t avoid.

“Let’s get you home. I’ll have the medic check up on you.” She helped him get in the car and closed the door for him, noticing him slouch and lean against the door once she got in next to him. “It’s going to be okay, darling.” She sat next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and rubbing it a little to soothe him.

“I think a crutch or cane would be a wise recommendation here.” The doctor stated, writing his observations on his chart. “I’ll order x-rays for him and we can go from there, but all I can conclude right now is that he might have a sort of myopathy, but that won’t explain the bruising. Maybe we can test him for more underlying conditions later on.”

“Thank you, doctor. We’ll stay in touch.” Emilie said from next to Adrien’s bed as the doctor was escorted out. “How are you doing?” She held an ice pack against the side of Adrien’s thigh, trying to soothe his pain.

“It hurts a lot.” He frowned, trying to sit up but seething in pain before resorting back to his resting position. “I sort of noticed my knee and hip feeling sore and stiff but I thought I just slept weird… but now I need a cane?”

“Yes, honey.” She stroked his hair and held a hand up against his face. “At least we’re starting to figure out what hurt you so badly. We’re going to make sure you’re treated and you’ll feel better in no time.”

That’s when Nathalie walked back into the room, looking at Adrien sympathetically.

“Did I make you sick, Nath?” He asked, shakily with guilt. “Was my disease contagious? I’m so sorry if I did this to you.”

Nathalie’s breath hitched, and she made eye contact with Emilie, not knowing how she should proceed.

“No, Adrien.” She said gently. “This wasn’t your fault, and we’re sick with different things.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, but we’ll both get better soon.” She tried her best to smile, but it was difficult as she was well aware of their conditions.

They were incurable.

“I just wish I didn’t get so hurt so fast.” Adrien whined to his mother, tugging at his own hair in frustration. “I just want to be normal! Is that too much to ask?”

“I’m so sorry, sunshine.” Emilie responded. “We’re going to work on getting you better, I promise. You, me, and Nathalie. We’re a unit, and we’ll work together on getting you as close to normal as we can.”

Adrien noticed himself wheezing as his labored breathing got the best of him– the heaving being a product of him trying to hold back tears. It wasn’t like him to cry in front of his mother, especially when she constantly reminded him about how he was so strong and brave…

“What else happened today? With the fencing tryouts?” Emilie asked, trying to divert them to a lighter topic. “Did Kagami make it in?”

“Yeah, she did.” Thinking about the good parts of his day helped him control his mind and breathing a little better. “She and this other girl, Marinette, were admitted to the team.”

“Who’s Marinette?”

“She said she’s a fashion designer but she started fencing recently. From what I saw, she was very talented with the saber.”

“Impressive! Is this another new friend?”

“Hopefully.” He thought back at their hand shake, the sight of her keen focus on their moment of contact.

Was he the only one who felt so weird about it?

He was thinking about that handshake nonstop.

Check.

This wasn’t love, was it? Definitely not, he’d only just met her! And his mother mentioned three things that mean he’d like someone that way.

“What’s on your mind?” Emilie noticed him trailing off.

He tried to articulate exactly how he felt, but words couldn’t do it justice. “I dunno. She just seemed really familiar but I’ve never met her before today. I feel like I’d remember someone with a unique name like Marinette’s.”

Familiar? Emilie had to look into this, and Nathalie’s glance of suspicion only confirmed that this may have had something to do with the wish or with Gabriel.

She thought it was fair to assume there were no coincidences in this new world that Gabriel wished into fruition. She promised herself she’d look into it.

When she was finally alone in her bed, she looked up social media posts for the fencing team at Francois Dupont. Right on their most recent post was a picture of the new team and its additions: Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Kagami Tsurugi.

Dupain-Cheng… Like the bakery?

She searched it up.

Three months ago, it was under fire for a health safety code violation related to rat poisoning that was later deemed false and dismissed.

On June 3rd, 2016.

No coincidences.

Who did he akumatize around then?

The daughter, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Was she falling into a spiral of conspiracies, or was this actually plausible? Could it have been Gabriel who orchestrated her akumatization?

Why else would Adrien have found a complete stranger to be familiar? Maybe it really was just a coincidence. She had a slight resemblance to Kagami after all… similar hair color and bangs…

No coincidences.

Emilie knew of the tales of the wish. She’d read all the stories she could find that hinted at a wish coming true with miraculouses. Old legends and generational family tales that had been passed down. Many hinted at bits and pieces of the two separate worlds colliding and leading to things like deja vu and false familiarity. Maybe that was what this was.

She doubted herself, though. This was so much information, and she could also be so far off the mark. But Gabriel was calculated and precise.

No coincidences.

“Ready for bed, Emilie?” Gabriel asked, getting into his place on her right and adjusting himself under the comforter.

“Yes, Gabriel.”

“Are you hanging in there?” Kagami asked, practicing some of her swings in the Francois Dupont gymnasium before fencing class, Adrien standing beside her with the assistance of a cane.

As much as it was a hassle to lug around, it still tremendously helped with keeping painful weight off his right leg.

“Yeah! I’m all good.” He grinned, hopping a little in place to feign excitement. “I’m just glad I can watch you guys practice. I have nothing to do in the afternoons nowadays. You should go meet the others, though!”

She looked back at the boys, all engrossed in their own chain of conversations. “You’re right. Hang in there, though.” She looked down at the cane sympathetically before turning to approach the rest of the team, to which he made his way to a bench by the locker rooms.

“Adrien?” Someone asked as they left the locker room to his right, taking off their fencing mask.

It was Marinette.

“Hey, Marinette!” He waved, she stood next to him, double checking the time on her phone to assure she still had a few minutes to spare before practice. “Ready for your first practice on the team?”

“Yeah!” She squeaked a little, fiddling with her saber a little bit before resorting to holding it behind her back with both hands. “I’m nervous to get in there, but I know D’Argencourt is a good teacher and will get me up to speed.”

“You’ll do great. He doesn’t just let anyone into the team.”

“Hmmm.” She looked back, noticing Kagami in conversation with two of the other team members. “What’s with the cane?” She pointed down at it, blankly.

“Eh, I’d rather not discuss it.” He shrugged, adjusting himself to sit a little more comfortably. “I don’t even think I could give you an accurate answer.”

“I get that.” She held a hand up to her mouth and laughed a little, sitting next to him as she remembered she still had a good five minutes to spare. “I was a complete klutz until fencing taught me a little poise. The amount of mystery injuries I’ve surmounted over the years would shock you.”

“Mystery injury is a funny way to put it.”

“You’re telling me.” The two of them chuckled at the banter and sat for a few moments without saying anything.

“Have we met before?” He blurted to break the silence, almost wishing he could take it back and silently reprimanding himself for being so forward all of a sudden. “Sorry, that was blunt. I meant to just say I thought you were a little familiar.”

“My parents work at the bakery next to the school, maybe you saw me there one day.” She said this, amused, realizing that she could possibly find a new friend through him if not through Kagami.

She just needed to keep a good conversation flowing! That was how people made friends, of course. It didn’t have to be as hard as she thought.

“I think I’ve walked by it to go to the park with my mom once or twice.” He tapped his chin as he thought back, but never remembered seeing her before. “Maybe we just passed by each other or something. My friend Chloe also goes here so I’ve visited. Are you guys in the same class?”

“We used to be.” It was a little comforting that he also thought she was familiar and that their little moment the day before wasn’t just a fluke, but realizing he was a friend of Chloe’s was a little off putting. “I do the online program now.”

“That’s really cool! I would think it leaves you time to pursue your hobbies and talents, like your designing?”

“I didn’t realize you’d remember that.” She made eye contact with him at that moment, not knowing why conversation was so difficult on her end. “But yeah, it gives me more time to sew up some of the projects I’ve put off. I started assembling a portfolio recently and I was thinking about applying to a fashion school for lycee.”

“That’s really cool!” He gleamed, enticed in how she had such depth in her career path and plans. Maybe he could find a friend in her, too, since he’d see her a lot as long as he’d be going to fencing practices for Kagami. Maybe the three of them could be a cohesive friend group!

He didn’t know what drew himself towards her so quickly, though. He didn’t know whether or not to be concerned with it, until he realized his heart was beating a little quicker than usual.

Check.

He shrugged it off.

“I think I better be getting to practice, but I’ll see you around.” Marinette rose up and experimentally held out a hand to shake.

Adrien shook back.

There was no weird sensation this time, but they still just awkwardly held their hands there for a second before Marinette shyly waved goodbye and went to join the other students.

Both of them silently tore themselves apart for such awkwardness, not realizing that the other was experiencing the exact same thought.

He was sort of lost in a stagnant state of thought for the majority of their practice, noting a couple attacks he hadn’t done himself before and such, but not much else.

He realized then that he was only really going to these things to give himself something to do, all while supporting Kagami.

What was most interesting was the influx of red butterflies that began flying down upon them about halfway through.

Everything went by very quickly. Kagami snapping him out of his stupors and helping him run out, everyone fleeing the school, some students falling victim to the akumas that were raining down from him.

Of course, Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat were there to save the day, defeating the mass amount of villains congregated around the Eiffel tower, but that wasn’t what Adrien remembered the most fondly.

Instead, he would always think back to the sight of Marinette using her saber to thwart back the butterflies, protecting other students who were fearful. “Don’t be scared, they won’t get you if you don’t fear them!” She’d tell them this, helping them gain enough confidence to deter them.

As he was being buckled into his limo by the Gorilla and Kagami, he saw her guide people into the bakery for safety, away from the evil akumas.

He felt the butterflies at that thought.

Check.

Chapter Text

“It didn’t work.” Gabriel walked up to Emilie who was on the couch in their room, taking the peacock miraculous off and putting it in his drawer next to the bed.

“What else are we going to do?” Emilie asked him, looking past him at their television that was displaying the events that had occurred. 

“We will try something else. Maybe try this again when we’re more prepared.” He showed her the bee miraculous, holding it up to her after recovering it from his pocket. “At least we won something out of it.”

“Won?” She snapped into focus, looking at the comb he presented her in awe. 

“This win isn’t something you can find on the news.”

“How did you get it?”

“I suspected another miraculous to be in play, so I was sneaky. It made no sense how some of my villains would be immobilized in the midst of battle unless Lady… I mean Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat had assistance.” He sat with her, turning off the television with the remote. “I had an akuma that made a girl invisible, she followed the more elusive bee user into a sewer and took the miraculous as soon as she detransformed. She might have been sneaky, but she never saw it coming.”

“Wow.” Emilie reached for the comb, but he kept it away from her. Keeping her distaste at bay, she cleared her throat and decided to just keep him talking. “What do you plan on doing with it?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I couldn’t have gotten it without your help.” He kissed her cheek and smiled saccharinely. “I couldn’t have boosted my powers that way if there were no Catalyst. Maybe we can try that again soon.”

“Yes. Of course.” She said, focusing on the television again with guilt, even if it was off.

She shouldn’t have agreed to help him. It felt so wrong to be akumatized for his benefit. To become Catalyst and help him akumatize more people at once.

That damage was only undone because Gabriel couldn’t win. That only made her fear more for the day where he would finally reach his goal. He’d already done it once, and that alone reinstated the premonition she had that he would win again.

At what cost?

She had to keep Adrien safe, but also give him a fulfilling life, no matter how long it might be. She didn’t know what the timer looked like, and also didn’t want to frighten him either.

It didn’t help that she helped Gabriel put children like Adrien in danger.

So the very next morning, she approached him as he was eating breakfast.

“I’m going to give you something very important, but you have to promise you’ll be very careful.”

“I promise!”

Emilie looked into her purse and pulled out her wallet, which had a shining silver card in it. “Do you know what this is, Adrien?” She handed it to him, and he observed it a little closer, startled by the weight of it.

“A credit card?”

“Yes, a credit card.” She sat next to him by the kitchen counter. “You can keep this with you to buy things if you’re ever out without me or your father.”

“Does that mean I’m allowed to go places without you two?”

“Yes, but nowhere too far. I’ll trust you to make good choices.”

“Woah, thanks mom!” He gave her a hug from the side and grabbed his cane and backpack, stashing the card in his pocket once he was upright.

“Of course, darling.” She kissed his forehead and rubbed his shoulder a little bit, uneasy about his condition.

It pained him that no one knew what he was suffering from. She couldn’t get it out of Gabriel as hard as she tried, so she knew she had no way to help him heal, other than to grant him more liberties than he had before.

She didn’t want him to feel trapped under Gabriel.

Just like she was.

“Let’s get you to school.” She opened the door for him and he made his way through, and together they went through the foyer, passing by Gabriel.

“Goodbye, son! Have a good day.” He announced, perched at the top of the staircase and unmoving.

“Bye, father!”

Emilie resisted every urge to scoff at her husband and continued her way out with Adrien, disappointed at Gabriel’s unwillingness to spend time with his son. A simple car ride wouldn’t have been much trouble, so why was he always holding back? To be evil?

Adrien never thought much of it, though. He just continued his merry way to school, where he met Kagami in their first class.

“Should I find something to do after school?” He asked her, his mind trailing off.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why? You don’t want to be home anymore?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure… I just feel like there’s been a weird tension between my mom and dad.”

“I can understand that.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “But I’m sure they both want what’s best for you.”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt it for a second!” Adrien let his thoughts linger for a little longer as he searched for the right words. “I guess it’s just a little troubling that they’re constantly feeling sympathetic and guilty for me. Outside of home, I just feel like a normal guy with a cane.”

“Mhmm.” She hummed in agreement. “Inside the house, you feel like a damaged rose that can’t be touched?”

“Exactly.”

“How about you come to fencing practice with me again, Adrien?” She asked him, watching other students filter into the classroom.

“I can if that’s okay with you. Am I intruding or anything?”

“No. Not at all.” Kagami grinned. “I actually appreciate it when you come with me. It’s sweet.”

“Yeah, I think it’s nice to have a change of scenery.” Adrien felt content with that answer. It gave him a good enough excuse to just talk to Marinette a little more and point out her bravery during the akuma influx the day before…

“Thank you Kagami.”

“You don’t need to thank me for anything.”

Before he knew it, the bell rang and gave him something else to occupy his mind with until the afternoon. Maybe he could just get his thoughts in order before he’d embarrass himself any further.

The thoughts all came rushing back in as soon as he and Kagami entered Francois Dupont, and Marinette was already in the center of the courtyard stretching for practice.

He didn’t want to face this. Not now, at least. He needed more time to just think about what he’d say, or to figure out if his constant thoughts about her were just some sort of fluke.

Sure, he thought about Kagami a lot too during the first few weeks after they met, but he had to admit it was different. And a lot easier…

“Are you okay, Adrien? Is your leg hurting again?” Kagami tapped his shoulder lightly.

“I’m fine, but I’m actually a little hungry so I’m gonna grab a snack around here.” 

“Okay. I’ll see you later then.” She smirked at him and then put on her helmet, walking towards the rest of the students. 

He didn’t realize his limped steps were taking him across the street to the bakery right next to the school.

Tom and Sabine’s.

It pained him a little bit to realize how much help he needed with simple tasks, including opening the door to the bakery while his hands were either crippled or handling the cane, but there was luckily a man who was willing to open the door and let him through while welcoming him to the bakery.

“I haven’t seen you around here before, what’s your name?” He asked Adrien, guiding him towards the counter.

“My name is Adrien, I’m visiting the school next door. It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

“You can call me Tom.” He gave him an earnest smile and stepped behind the display. “See anything appetizing?”

“What do you recommend?”

“The chouquettes are a fan favorite, you can’t go wrong with them.”

“I’ll take a dozen then!” Adrien sifted through his bag for his wallet, where he pulled out the silver card. “Here you go!” He placed it on the counter by the register, where Tom completed the transaction and handed him the bag.

“Enjoy!” 

“Tom, I didn’t know we had a new customer here!” A motherly voice called from behind as Adrien was finding a seat. “I’m Sabine, are you a new student at Francois Dupont?”

“My name is Adrien, thanks for the warm welcome!” He gestured for her to sit at the small table, across from him, knowing he had quite some time to kill. “I’m just visiting the school for my friend who just joined the fencing team.”

“We have a daughter who also joined the fencing team!” Sabine cheered. “Her name is Marinette, have you met her?”

“Oh!” He remembered her mentioning her parents owned the bakery next door. “Yes, she seems like a really nice girl.”

“How about you? Do you fence yourself?” She said, scooting her seat over as Tom pulled up a chair for himself. The bakery wasn’t very busy, so they took the liberty to engage in conversation.

“I used to, but I had to take a break because of my injury.” He said this nonchalantly, taking a chouquette and popping it into his mouth as he melted a little bit when he realized how delicious it tasted.

“What do you think?” Tom asked.

“This is amazing!” Adrien responded this with his mouth half full, not hesitating to take another.

Happy with this reaction, Sabine and Tom exchanged a pleased glance at one another.

“I have a question for you.” Kagami took off her helmet to approach Marinette.

“What is it?” Marinette took off her own helmet, fixing her ponytail that was underneath. She was a little surprised Kagami was approaching her at all, especially given their past interactions since the tryouts. Most of her waves and grins would be returned with a glare or no reaction at all.

“I would think that you know this area well since you have taken fencing lessons here before.” She looked outside towards the street from the entrance of the school. “My friend said he was going nearby to eat. Where would he be?”

Not sure how to approach this very monotonous question, Marinette just led Kagami outside and pointed across the street. “I told Adrien about the bakery before our last practice, maybe he gave it a visit?”

“Good. Thanks.” Without a word, she made her way to the crosswalk , Marinette trailing a few feet behind her in the same direction.

Before crossing, she noticed Marinette waiting behind her, avoiding eye contact.

“Are you going this way too?”

“Yeah, I live above the bakery…” She still evaded Kagami’s gaze, looking towards the ground and not knowing what else to say.

“Oh.” Kagami turned back around and made her way through the entrance, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw Adrien seated with the owners. “Adrien, I didn’t know you would be here.” Kagami took his cane and positioned it next to him, getting ready to help him out of his seat.

“Yeah, Marinette told me her parents owned this bakery, and it didn’t disappoint.” He looked behind Kagami at her, shyly waving before taking hold of his cane and rising up.

“I’m glad you liked it.” She waved back as she walked past him, giving each of her parents a kiss before making her way behind the counter.

“You’re welcome to visit back whenever you’d like.” Sabine said, handing Adrien another bag of sweets she put together.

“Oh, let me just…” He tried using his free hand to sift through his bag for his wallet again before Tom gently put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“It’s on us.” He grinned, and Kagami took the bag from Adrien, curiously.

“Thank you both.” She nodded before opening the door for Adrien and walking him to their cars. “You know, too many sweets can’t be good for you.”

“At least it’s a good atmosphere to study. It gives me something to do while you’re fencing!”

“I guess...” 

He looked back at the bakery while his mother came out of the car to meet him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kagami.”

“Goodbye, Adrien.” She gave the bag to his mother and walked to her own car. 

“Is she okay?” Emilie looked over, confused. “She seems like she’s in a little bit of a mood.”

“I’m not sure. I’ll text her when I get home.” He gazed in the same direction before Emilie helped him into the car.

He did as he said he would, sitting on his couch with his phone in hand.

Adrien Agreste: Is everything okay? You seemed a little upset after fencing today.

Kagami Tsurugi: Yes, everything is fine. I was just worried about you. I didn’t know where you wandered off to.

Kagami Tsurugi: You cannot always trust the words of others that you don’t know. That bakery was under fire a few months ago for sanitary reasons.

Adrien Agreste: Marinette seemed trustworthy enough! The rumors were false too. I searched it up!

Kagami Tsurugi: We just met her. We can’t trust her so blindly.

Adrien Agreste: It wouldn’t hurt to get to know her a little more.

She didn’t respond for a few minutes, which led to Adrien jumping a little when he received a call from her.

“Are you drawn to Marinette?” She snapped before he had a chance to say hello.

“I’m just interested in making more friends. She seems nice and has fencing in common with us!” He was a little on the defensive side, not wanting to worry her too much.

“I suppose you’re right.” She lowered her voice a little more, looking for better words to use. “I apologize for the attitude. I don’t always trust others with my friendship easily. You’re the only friend I have and you’ve earned that from me.” Another pause. “You’re right, though. I shouldn’t be too critical.”

“I’m glad we’re friends, Kagami.” He said into the phone. “But I’m sorry if I worried you. I was just trying to branch out and find new things to do.”

“I understand. Sitting around watching people do a sport you once loved and are now barred from isn’t the best pastime. But maybe I should branch out too. Another friend who is as kind to me as you have been would be… nice.”

“I think so, too.”

“Thank you for calming my worries. The bakery seems like a nice place. Perhaps you can go there more often while I’m fencing if you don’t wish to go home right after school.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” He thought back to his prolonged conversation with Tom and Sabine. “You should try the chouquettes at some point though.”

“Maybe I will next time.” She giggled a little bit.

“Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Of course. I need to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye Kagami.”

He felt a little guilty once he realized the amount of responsibility over him that Kagami put on her shoulders. It didn’t help that his crippled state put him in a position where he’d need help opening doors or navigating down the hallways.

But that’s why he appreciated her.

He noticed her mood lightened a little more later that week, before the next fencing practice.

“I’ll be right next door doing homework, okay?” Adrien reassured her as they approached the school. “I’ll even ask them to have a snack ready by the time you’re done.”

“Okay.” She patted his shoulder and her glance calmed a bit with a smile. “Thank you.”

And so he did just as he said, working on his physics assignments while engaging in more small talk with Tom and Sabine. It was a great change of pace from the cold study rooms of their own school, and it was such a warm and welcoming environment!

And once the hour was up, Adrien watched intently as Marinette walked by with a wave, greeting her parents as she did the last time and going up the stairs.

It turned into a routine for him, and he certainly wouldn’t complain about it! Leave Kagami at school, order a few treats to be heated by the time the practice is over, do some work on his own, and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Saying hello to Marinette…

The next time he went, Tom and Sabine caught his gaze lingering at Marinette’ for a second too long before he went to join Kagami at the door.

The following Tuesday, Adrien knew that Kagami was to do a bracket battle with the rest of the students during their practice, so it would have been wrapped up fairly quickly. When he got to the bakery, though, there were already three students at the table next to his usual spot, all chatting on their own around a laptop.

He recognized it was for the blog dedicated to Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat! The Beatle Blog!

“Are you Adrien Agreste?” One of them asked, fixing her glasses and approaching his table.

“Yeah, I am!” He nodded.

“That’s cool! I didn’t know a celebrity would hang around our favorite study spot so casually.” 

“I’d say I’m more of a retired celebrity if anything.” He chuckled, looking down a little bit.

“Still impressive nonetheless. Oh! Where are my manners?” She held out a hand to shake. “I’m Alya, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you.” He shook back, then looked over at her friends.

“Right, those are my friends Luka and Juleka.”

“What are you guys working on?”

“We’re working on the Beatle Blog together. Have you heard of it?”

“Yeah, and that’s super cool! I’m actually following it.” He focused on the laptop, seeing a post in progress with a video attached. “Is that about the battle from last week with all the butterflies?”

“Mhm, and we’re actually posting it tomorrow. Want a sneak peek?” She took her laptop and placed it on his table, careful not to knock over any of his things. 

“Sure!”

Adrien noticed the time on the top corner of her laptop, a little puzzled that Kagami and Marinette hadn’t walked into the bakery yet. It was unlike D’Argencourt to run late…

“What do you think?” She took the laptop back once the video was over.

“That’s a lot of really good information, I’m sure your work is helping the heroes defeat the butterfly.” He said, withdrawn a little as he began getting his things together. “I need to go now, but it was nice meeting you.”

“You too.”

He didn’t know what gut feeling caused him to get up and leave, but he decided it would make sense to just get to the school to make sure everything was fine.

Nothing bad could possibly happen, right?

The school was painfully quiet, except for some chatter coming from the locker rooms. The other students probably already left, and Adrien even saw his and Kagami’s cars waiting outside.

What was going on?

He decided to follow the chatter towards the locker rooms, hoping he wasn’t intruding on anything.

Using his cane, he tapped the door a few times, and noticed that Marinette was the one to open the door.

“It’s Adrien!” She announced behind her, propping the door wide enough for him to get through. “Sorry for holding back Kagami, we were just caught up in conversation.”

“What was it about?” He walked towards Kagami, who was getting her things together from one of the seats.

“How the two of us blew the other guys on the team away.” Kagami smirked, standing up with her bags. “You would think Marinette was on the team for much longer than those boys were.”

Adrien just giggled as Kagami got her bag and rose up to meet him. “We must not hold back our rides much longer. It was nice talking to you, Marinette.”

“You too, Kagami. See you guys later!”

“Bye!” Adrien waved, being led out by Kagami out to the front of the school. “So the two of you are getting along?”

“I thought about what you said before, about branching out. Marinette was making an effort to talk after the past few practices, so I didn’t fight against it.” She looked back at Marinette, seeing her cross the street to the bakery. “She’s a nice girl.”

“I bet she is.” 

“Hi maman, papa!” Marinette walked into the bakery to her parents, grabbing a croissant before she realized Alya, Luka, and Juleka were all seated at one of the tables. “Oh, hey guys!”

“Marinette, just the girl I wanted to see!” Alya pulled a chair up to their table. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to be interviewed about the akuma influx last week.”

“Totally! I was actually at school when it happened, it was insane.” She sat and put her fencing bag on the ground under her seat.

“It’s a shame we missed it.” Alya looked at the other two.

“Oh, you’re Luka, right? Alya and Jules told me about you.” Marinette smiled at him.

“Yeah, that’s me.” He chuckled.

Juleka slid Alya a sheet of paper with a bunch of questions, to which she observed before propping her phone to a stand to record Marinette. “This shouldn’t be too long, are you ready?”

“Yep.”

“And just as the heroes used their powers to trap the butterfly man under the tower, he had a very large butterfly come in and get him out before the heroes could get to him.” Alya said into the camera that Juleka was filming her with. “Over here, we have a picture I took of the great battle!”

A picture was then displayed of the two heroes facing him, surrounded by a barrage of akumatized victims shaded in scarlet. “He named himself Monarch, which isn’t too far off from the butterfly.”

“Isn’t that cool?” Alya asked Marinette, turning off the video she was showing her from her laptop, just as she’d done with Adrien earlier. Luka and Juleka had since left, with their mother needing them home for dinner. Alya and Marinette stuck around, even past the bakery’s closing. “We have a lead about the supervillain! And your interview is going to be up tomorrow.”

“Woah.” Marinette thought about what he looked like a little more, feeling a sense of solace at the thought of the man who played a part in ruining her life finally revealing himself. “I really hope Red Beatle and Cheshire catch him, he’s done so much wrong. I’m glad I could at least help your cause a little bit.”

“I know. It’s really unsettling too.” Alya wanted to approach the topic delicately, knowing that their interview was over, but the journalist in her still wanted to know exactly what was going through her mind. “How do you feel about… all of it?”

“It scared me at first, a lot.” Marinette recalled the day she found herself under the Eiffel tower with no knowledge that she burned the city down. “I mean, I was the first big super villain of Paris, and it kind of ruined my life for a little bit to be completely honest. The kids at school were ruthless. Have you met Chloe?”

“I can’t stand her.”

“That makes two of us.” Marinette rolled her eyes with a sad smile. “It helped me realize I had the power to turn my life around, though. Starting online school, new hobbies, helped me get over my clumsiness… And it helped that Red Beatle cleared my name the first time he had the chance.”

“I’m glad you were able to find some good amidst all your bad fortune. And amidst Chloe Bourgeois. She’s a nightmare.” Alya sneered.

“Nightmare for sure. How about you, how do you feel about it all?” It was Marinette’s turn to pry, and Alya wasn’t really prepared with an answer.

After thinking for a moment or two, she grinned. “It helped me realize that I can trust people a little more. I realized I was too dead set on being independent, and it caused me to push away any help. Leaving my life in the hands of these two heroes was a good start to letting others take the reins.”

“Woah.” Marinette nodded. “That’s really good for you, Alya.”

Alya smirked. “You know, the first akuma was the day I moved to this part of France, too.”

“Sounds like a warm welcome.” Marinette didn’t realize how she spewed out a pun until Alya burst into laughter.

“Girl!” She cackled on until she had to catch her breath. “That was ice cold!”

The laugh was contagious, as Marinette eventually caught on and joined in, glad she’s able to make light of a rather dark, and fiery, situation.

“Listen, I think it’s better to laugh about it than to cry.” She pushed her bangs behind her face. “Wasn’t it your blog that caught the first battle on camera and preached about Paris turning a new page or something?”

“Yep. I had no idea that the girl on fire would end up being my buddy in the art club, but here we are!”

“And I didn’t know Paris’ most viral Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat blogger would be my buddy in the art club.”

“You’re telling me.” Alya said, scrolling through the comments on her blog post. “This has only been up for six days and this post is already at a million views!”

“That’s so impressive! It’s probably because they’re always better quality than the news outlets.” She fawned at its popularity. “How do you always manage to get such clear videos of the battles for the Beatle Blog anyways?”

“I don’t mind taking risks to get a good shot.” She replied, almost whispering. “Plus, Juleka totally helps, but she would rather not be in the spotlight.”

“Yeah, she’s always been a little shy. Art club is helping her break out of her shell, though. I didn’t know she composed music.”

“Yeah, her brother Luka got her into that.” 

Marinette grinned. “Are you into him?”

“God, no.” She waved it off. “There’s actually this other guy in my class… wait am I oversharing?”

Marinette circled the table to sit next to her, a little sneakily. “Tell me more! I always love to talk about boys.”

“Okay, okay… He’s in our class this year, and he sits behind me and Juleka.” She looked around the room, double checking that no one there would eavesdrop. “His name is Nino, and he’s sort of a mysterious lone wolf.”

“I wouldn’t think a lone wolf would be your type.”

“Hear me out on this one… He’s also a DJ!”

“No way!” Marinette feigned a dramatic gasp.

“Yeah!” She looked up a picture on her phone, but this one was a blurry one of Nino on a television set.

“You really have pictures of everyone .”

Alya raised an eyebrow. “I’m a firm believer that every story should have visuals. Why else do you think I’d be in journalism?”

“Touche.” Marinette took a closer look, not really able to make out his face. “Have you talked to him?”

“No, he hasn’t talked to anyone in the class. Chloe can’t even get to him.”

“Good. You shouldn’t trust a single guy who’s friends with Chloe.” Marinette crossed her arms. “I speak from experience.”

“Who was it?”

“Kim.”

“Ouch.” Alya recalled his clique with Chloe and Sabrina.

“Don’t worry about me, though. I’m totally over it now.” Marinette reopened her design book. “Thanks for getting me up to speed, though. I can’t help but feel like I’ve been missing out on what’s happening in school, but I know I’m happier with things this way.”

“If you ever decided to come back, the girls would welcome you with open arms.” Alya brought Marinette in for a quick side hug. “We have your back.”

“Thanks, Alya.”

“I think I need to head home, but thanks for the interview!” She put her laptop in her bag and began walking out. “See you around!”

Marinette was glad that conversation transpired. It made her think that transferring back into real school wouldn’t be all that bad if she wanted to start during the next quarter.

She had new friends, new hobbies, new goals.

Things would be okay.

There was a knock on the door before Marinette could lock up the shop, as her parents requested when they went upstairs.

“Adrien?” She opened the door and he cheekily smiled. “What brings you back here?”

“Hey!” He sputtered, his voice too high for comfort. “I, uh, left my bag in here, and I know it’s closed but I wanted to test my luck.”

“You’re lucky indeed.” She went back in to get his bag, bringing it back to the door as quickly as she could. “Here you are.” She helped him strap the satchel around his shoulder.

“Thanks.” He hesitated before he could walk back, and Marinette noticed.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He tried finding the right words. “I just wanted to say I thought it was really brave how you were fending off the akumas last week.”

“Oh! I didn’t realize anyone would remember that.” She looked down, a blush forming.

“It was really heroic. I wanted to thank you for it.”

“If you ever need someone to defend you with a fencing saber again, you know who to call.” She joked, waving her arms and charading a couple of swings. “Have a safe trip home, though.”

“I’ll see you around.”

Their gazes lingered for a minute before he turned and went to his car, and Marinette finally locked up the shop.

Why does she always feel so weird around him!?

She couldn’t help but admit there was this nagging disappointment that she didn’t see him watching the past couple of fencing lessons, but her heart warmed to see him check in for Kagami at the end of that day.

She’d only just met him, but it felt like she knew him for a decade already. Like he was sort of an old soul. Or maybe a childhood friend? Yet she had no recollection of who he was before they met at the fencing tryouts.

It was just weird.

It also didn’t help that Kagami seemed really smitten with him. They had just bonded today over a close match that ended in Kagami’s victory during the final bracket. It was the only round that lasted over two minutes.

So Marinette congratulated her after practice for her smooth victory, and that led to a longer conversation about how, although they were the newest recruits, they were still the top two players.

She wouldn’t want to sever a brand new friendship that was blossoming over a weird gut feeling she had about a guy she’d just met. That wasn’t like her.

It would be best if she just put the feelings away. The pulling on her heart strings, the thoughts of when they had that spark the day they met…

She knew how to put feelings away. Especially after what Kim did to her the previous year. It would be okay. For her sake, for his, for Kagami’s.

It would be for the best.

Chapter Text

“Kagami, this isn’t like you!”

“I am NOT Kagami anymore!”

Adrien was in a predicament.

On the field of the Parc des Princes, Marinette had been knocked down and was rubbing her own head in recovery on the ground.

There was a city-wide fencing tournament taking place that day, and over a hundred college-aged fencers around Paris were sorted into brackets, ultimately resulting in one winner.

Their fencing brackets within Francois Dupont were in direct preparation for this competition, with Kagami normally sweeping each and every match she competed with.

Marinette usually finished anywhere between second and fourth, surprised that she placed at all in their sparring.

In all fairness, she had taken on more private fencing lessons with Mr. D’Argencourt in preparation, fearing that she may disappoint the academy when under the pressure of a large-scale competition.

But somehow, the match for first place ended up being against Kagami and Marinette.

“It’ll be just like our sparring during practice. You’ll be great.” Marinette told her as they were getting attached to the cables of the fencing machines.

“May the best woman win.” Kagami shook her hand.

The rest of the crowd had since fled, except for Adrien. He was trying to reason with his closest friend, who was trapped behind a facade of silver armor and a massive sword that was fused to her hand.

He was the one cheering her on from the sidelines, not too far away, for every single match.

“I know you’re somewhere in there. Let’s just talk through it!” He pleaded, stepping closer.

“I am Riposte now.” She walked towards him, putting her sword down. “And you will not get in the way of me when I finally defeat Marinette!” Riposte abruptly turned to charge towards her newfound enemy, and Adrien didn’t know what else to do aside from throwing his cane at the villain.

This only angered her more. She slashed it before it could make contact with her, leaving it in two evenly cut pieces of wood on the field.

“Enough, Adrien. It’s not you I want to hurt.”

Marinette rolled over and sat up, scooting back away from Riposte, who had a devilish smile brandished on her face. “Kagami, please, I didn’t want to sour things between us. We can still call for a decisive match if neither of us agree with the referee! Please, don’t be rash.”

“This isn’t rash , Marinette.” She pointed her blade down to her. “This is justice.” She raised her arm, ready to strike, and Marinette held her hands in front of her face, bracing for impact.

It never came, though.

With a loud bang, the sword came in contact with Marinette’s saber, but Adrien was the one holding it, trying his best to maintain a solid form.

“What did I tell you, Adrien? You’re in my way!” Riposte scowled, getting ready to swing again.

Before any defeating could be done, Red Beatle’s yo-yo came to the rescue, tying down Riposte’s arms and pulling her back away from them.

“You two, find shelter! I’ll handle the akuma!” He told them, Cheshire Cat arriving at the scene behind him.

“If getting your miraculouses is the only way to stop you two from delaying this battle, then so be it!” Riposte sliced her way out of Red Beatle’s yo-yo, and that made Adrien’s urgency to leave rise.

Adrenaline was coursing through him as he struggled to turn towards Marinette and help her reorient herself.

When she was initially akumatized, Riposte had gone to strike her immediately, but she managed to lift up her saber to defend herself. That didn’t stop the sheer force of the swing to knock her over though, and that was what prompted Adrien’s attempts to speak to her.

Kagami was long gone.

“Adrien, you need to go!” Marinette tried shooing him away as she regained her footing, but he stood his ground, sheathing the saber in his belt loop and holding out a hand for her.

“You helped save the school, now I’ll help save you.”

Without arguing further, she nodded and took his hand, rising up and taking her saber from its place on his waist.

She guided his good arm around her shoulder, since his cane was much out of commission. “Hold on to me, we have to be quick before—“

“Before you STEAL MY BEST FRIEND FROM ME TOO?” Riposte announced, charging behind them. “Was stealing the win not enough!?”

“She never stole anything!” Adrien yelped, and the two of them went towards the stadium’s exit as quickly as they could.

Cheshire went between the duo and Riposte, using her staff as a sword. “I’ve always wanted to try fencing.”

“May the best fencer win, then.” She got into a fighting stance, and Cheshire mirrored, knowing she just needed to buy some time for Red Beatle to get the two civilians of interest out of the stadium. “En garde!”

“I’ve got you!” Red Beatle landed behind Marinette and Adrien, taking a hold of the latter from his other side. He helped Adrien sit down behind the counter of a concession stand, a good enough distance away from Riposte. “What got her so worked up?”

“It was during the fencing tournament.” Adrien took deep breaths, since the running on his bad leg knocked the air out of him.

“Yeah, Kagami and I kept drawing ties until I sort of won on a technicality.” Marinette looked down, a little ashamed. “I really don’t think I deserved it, though. I was ready to admit defeat.”

“She was upset when she had to take the loss, which is why she’s targeting Marinette.” Adrien finished, looking towards her. “Thank you two for helping me out. I didn’t think she’d break my cane.”

“No problem.” Red Beatle thought before calling his lucky charm. “I think I can make a plan with this information.” 

“Your super power gives you magical radiators?” Marinette observed the spotted charm, never having seen this power from up close.

“I guess it does.” He shrugged in response. “You two can sit tight here, Cheshire and I will take care of the rest!”

He ran back out, and Marinette sat down on the ground with Adrien, leaving both of them well concealed by the counter.

“Are you okay?” They both asked each other at the same time, then laughed at the coincidence.

“You first.” He said.

“I’m fine, I just have a headache but it’s nothing the ladybugs won’t fix.” She rubbed her head a little more where she’d hit it, then held out a thumbs up. “And you?”

“All good, just winded and a little sore.” He jumped when he heard Cheshire call her cataclysm from outside, but knew to just trust the heroes’ process. “I know she’s akumatized and all, but I feel bad that there was nothing I could do to help.”

“Yeah, but I trust Beatle and Cheshire.” She heard more unintelligible banter from outside, noticing the sounds getting closer and taking a hold of her saber. “Do you think Kagami would be okay after all of this? I really don’t want to sever the friendship we just started building.”

“She’ll know it’s not your fault.” He comforted her. “Kagami holds herself up to an impossibly high standard. The anger she has against you is just the akuma.”

Marinette sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

She still had no idea how this boy managed to save her from a lethal hit even though his arm was in a sling and he didn’t have his cane.

“Why’d you do it?” She asked him.

“Do what?”

“Hurt yourself more to save me.”

“Like I said, to pay back the favor for when you helped save the school.” He looked into her eyes. “I wanted to be as brave as you were.”

“I didn’t do much, really.” She evaded his eye contact.

“You did. You helped people stay strong and fended off the akumas when they came down and terrorized everyone.”

Marinette gulped, not knowing how to handle all the praise. “I just didn’t want people to suffer the same way I did back when I was akumatized.”

“You were akumatized?”

“I was akumatized first .” She shrugged. “I’m the girl who set Paris ablaze.”

He didn’t say anything. He just thought back at that day, only really remembering spending it with his mother at the park since she’d gotten better from her illness the day before.

Luckily, fire didn’t strike near them at all, but they rushed to the Eiffel Tower to watch Red Beatle and Cheshire’s first address to the city after saving her.

“You must see me as a monster now.” She said, voice frail and small.

Adrien scooted a little closer. “I see you as the girl who faced the most difficult trial and still managed to come out victorious.”

She finally returned his glance, and almost gave into his green eyes, tilting her head and softening her gaze on him. 

He was so foolish to risk himself that way! He was crippled and could have run away, but he still sacrificed his cane and saved her.

He was foolish, but he was still brave, and incredibly selfless.

The magical ladybugs came coursing through the stadium, and Adrien noticed his cane returned to his grasp, good as new.

“I should talk to Kagami.” Marinette helped Adrien up and the two of them made their way back into the stadium, noticing how the audience from earlier also filtered back in.

“Marinette,” Kagami began as they approached her. “I’m deeply sorry for letting my emotions get the best of me. The last thing I ever wanted to do was put the two of you in danger, but my harshness did just that.”

“Kagami, I–”

“You deserved the win, no matter how close it was.” She stopped her, solemnly. “Everyone has to accept defeat once in a while, right?”

Marinette waved her arms in front of herself. “We could do a decisive match!”

“We don’t need to. You earned first place.”

“You shouldn’t let this alter the way you perceive your fencing.” Marinette reasoned. “You’re the most talented fencer I know.”

“But I still lost.”

“Marinette!” Sabine came running up from behind, hugging her daughter and sparing Kagami a sympathetic glance. “I’m glad everyone’s okay, but we should get you home.”

Noticing the frown on Kagami’s face, Marinette tried thinking of ways she could cheer her up. “How about the two of you come over to my place. My parents wouldn’t mind taking care of you guys for dinner, right?”

“You two did prove today in the tournament that you’re the two best fencers in Paris, why not celebrate?” Sabine suggested, putting a hand on Marinette’s shoulder.

Kagami and Adrien exchanged a glance and eventually nodded in agreement.

“Thank you Marinette, I’d love that.” Kagami smiled.

“Why were you out so late, Adrien?” Gabriel asked as the Gorilla escorted him into the house. “I thought the tournament would have been over hours ago, despite the reported akuma attack.”

“Sorry, father, I was just having dinner at a friend’s house.” The door closed behind him, and he started walking up the stairs.

“I didn’t know the Tsurugis were welcoming guests into their home.” He guided Adrien to his room.

“It was actually another friend, but Kagami was there too.” Adrien answered, not really grasping what his father was getting at.

“Which friend was it then?”

“A new friend, her name is Marinette, she’s on the fencing team and won the tournament today!”

Gabriel gasped.

Despite all of his efforts to keep Marinette Dupain-Cheng as far from his son as possible, they still somehow managed to meet?

He did everything he could. Pay someone to leave rat poison in the bakery, akumatize her into an unforgivable monster, tarnish her image to the point that she wouldn’t dare show her face in public…

Yet she managed to meet his perfect son while fencing. That was a variable he didn’t even bother considering, as Marinette had no common hobbies with his son outside of school.

“Adrien, I am ordering you to never utter a word to Marinette Dupain-Cheng ever again. Do you understand?”

“What!? Why? She’s just–”

“I am your father, and I know what is best for you. She and her family are not worthy of your attention. You will obey me.” He squeezed his finger with his ring, and Adrien submitted, putting his head down.

“Yes, Father.”

“Goodnight, Adrien.”

“Goodnight.”

Gabriel closed his bedroom door behind him, and began walking to his own room, needing to come up with a new course of action to prevent history from repeating itself.

Around the corner was Nathalie, who was on her way to greet Adrien, but promptly took out her phone to text Emilie to meet her in the kitchen.

They needed to take action.

“What is it?” Emilie asked, hushed.

“Gabriel just gave Adrien an order to never speak to his friend Marinette again.” Nathalie said, nearly petrified. “Something must have happened in his past with her.”

“She’s the first person he akumatized.” Emilie confirmed, equally worrisome. “She may have been one of the miraculous holders he was up against. It’s no coincidence.”

“I didn’t even think of that.” Nathalie pondered in disbelief. “I was assuming she was a lover of Adrien’s that he didn’t approve of. He said he found her familiar.”

“Maybe it was both.” Emilie buried her face in her hands, feeling helpless. “I have to give him a counter order, and I’ll go on with our plan.”

“Emilie,” Nathalie put her hand on Emilie’s, “I’m counting on you to save us.”

“I’ll try my best, Nath.”

Emilie stopped at Adrien’s room on her way back to her own, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door and being invited in.

“Hey, sunshine, getting ready for bed?” She walked to his bed, noticing how he was just lying down under his sheets, back to the door. “What’s wrong?” She took a seat on the corner of his bed.

“Father told me I can’t talk to Marinette anymore. I was just trying to make new friends.” He sighed, not turning to face his mother. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“Oh, honey.” She scooted to sit up against the headboard, then reached over to stroke his hair. “You didn’t do anything wrong, your father was just trying to make sure you stay safe.”

“Marinette is fine, though. I don’t know why he wouldn’t want me talking to her, especially since they’ve never even met. Everyone knows the rat poison thing was false! Does he know something I don’t?”

“No, no he doesn’t.” She consoled him. “Don’t let your father keep you from talking to your friends. You have the freedom to speak to whoever you choose.” She held the ring.

“Thank you, mom.” He sat up next to her and leaned his head onto her shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Adrien.” She kissed his forehead and tucked him back in. “Get some good sleep, and don’t be scared to let me know if you’re ever feeling down.

“Goodnight.”

“Night, honey.”

The walk back to her shared room was one filled with trepidation.

She had to take the peacock back. It was the first part of hers and Nathalie’s plan.

Quiet. Slow steps.

Gabriel was already fast asleep, so she gently closed the door and tiptoed across to his bedside.

Quiet, careful…

She reached down to open the drawer, and reached for the miraculous.

Slow, steady…

She squealed when a hand grabbed her wrist tightly.

“I won’t let you go further, Emilie.” Gabriel croaked, looking into her eyes with a dark scowl, not letting go of her wrist as he stood up to face her. “Explain what you were doing.”

“I, I was—“ She felt like she was choking on her own air, not expecting to be caught when she was so cautious.

“Let me explain this to you one more time.” He squeezed tighter, walking into her until she was stopped by the wall against her back. “I am changing the world back into what it should be. I saved you, and I will save our son as long as you stop the schemes, stay out of my way, and leave the miraculouses to me. Do you understand?”

“Changing the world back to what it should be or what you think it should be?” She challenged him, instantly regretting it when he took her other wrist and pinned her against the wall.

“You said I had six months on June fourth. I won’t stop until December.”

“What if Adrien only gets worse? He may not even have until December, you need to spend time with him!”

“If you want Adrien to hurry up and get better, you might as well start over and make another son with the miraculous you’re trying to steal.” 

“How dare you!?” She fought against his grip, but he only held on tighter, and she groaned in pain. “Let me go.”

Emilie was hiding behind a facade of strength. She knew she couldn’t win this fight, but she had to play her cards right.

She should have been more careful. She shouldn’t have gotten caught.

“Please, Gabriel, you know Adrien is irreplaceable. Our family is irreplaceable. We’re doing all of this for him, aren’t we?”

“Fine, I'll take it back.” He shoved her hands back against the wall one more time, and then went back to his place in their bed. “Now get back into bed with me. I want to hold you.”

Still struggling to hold back her sobs, Emilie knew nothing else but to comply. She stood there for a minute, taking short and labored breaths while looking down at her wrists.

Gabriel never showed her so much violence before. He never laid a hand on her like this.

She let the tears run rampant once she got into the bed, and he held her tight, as if nothing happened moments before.

It was eerie. She didn’t know what he was capable of. Her Gabriel wouldn’t have done anything like this before he traveled back in time. This wasn’t him anymore.

But he was wrong. She knew it. He was so , so wrong. And it was her job to stop him in any way she could. She was the only one who was capable.

“I love you, Emilie.”

She cried until she fell into a deep, dark sleep.

Chapter Text

“I will be in London for the next week, and I’ll be taking all three of the jewels with me to make sure you don’t pull any other stunts.” Gabriel said to Emilie, closing his suitcase with all of his things.

“I understand.” She replied, thinking through possible actions she could take without him or the miraculouses.

There wasn’t anything she could do, as far as she knew. She couldn’t conspire with the heroes or leave them a tip since she didn’t know their identities, she couldn’t take a miraculous from him…

But what she could do was make Adrien comfortable and happy. She didn’t know how much time he had left with her, and she was determined to make every moment count.

Adrien’s school was on a holiday, and he was still fast asleep. Maybe she could get him some treats for breakfast from the bakery he liked going to!

It would also give her a chance to find some needed insight as to who Marinette really was.

After Gabriel left, she asked the Gorilla to take her to that very bakery, and walked in.

“Welcome in! You’re today’s first customer.” Sabine greeted her from the register. “See anything you like?”

Emilie laughed and approached the counter. “Could I get two croissants and a dozen of chouquettes? They’re my son’s favorite.”

“Of course. Your son comes around here?”

“Yeah! I should introduce myself, I’m Adrien’s mother.”

“Adrien, he’s a good kid!” Sabine started putting together the order in a paper bag. “I’m Sabine.”

“It’s great to finally meet you, because I need to thank you for inviting him to dinner last week. He was glad to have spent time with Marinette and Kagami.”

“He’s always a pleasure to have around. He studies here after school almost every day!” Sabine put the bag on the counter, and Emilie took out a card to pay with.

“Here you go.” Emilie handed the card and put a hundred dollars worth of cash in the tip jar when Sabine was processing the transaction.

“You know, our kids are getting really fond of each other, you should have heard what Marinette had to say after dinner.”

“You don’t say.” Emilie smirked.

“Marinette was begging me to give this to him next time he came across the bakery, would you mind delivering it to him?” She slid over a note she had stashed behind the counter. “She was a little too nervous to give it to him herself.”

Emilie observed the pink scrap of paper, noticing a number scribbled on it. “It looks like our kids are smitten with one another.”

Sabine slid the bag towards Emilie, who took it with a smile. “Come around again when you have the chance! Maybe we could get a coffee sometime.”

“Will do.” Emilie took the bag and waved goodbye. “Thank you, Sabine!”

When she got home and into Adrien’s room, she sat down on his couch with him, handing him the bag of treats and the pink slip.

“What’s this?” He observed it closely.

“Marinette wanted to give that to you. You connect the dots.” She chuckled, amused.

“Oh, wow!” He jumped at the realization, his heart beginning to thump a little harder. “That’s just… wow!”

“You’re on your last week of the fall holiday, maybe you should ask her if she wants to hang out.” Emilie guided him, taking a chouquette from the bag.

“I can’t do that! What if she doesn’t like the plan I make? Or what if she is only friends with me because she wants to be closer with Kagami?”

“Don’t overthink it, sunshine!” She picked up his phone and handed it to him.

“What will father think?” He looked up at her again, hesitating to draft a message. “He didn’t want me talking to her.”

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks. He isn’t here, right?”

“Yeah. I just really don’t want to mess things up. Marinette’s really brave and nice and already such a kind friend to Kagami.”

“Do you like her?”

“Like, like-like her?”

Adrien tapped his chin and pondered it. “You said that if you like someone, then you think about them a lot, and your heart would beat fast, and there would be butterflies in your stomach… I feel all of that when I’m around Marinette.”

“There’s your answer then.” Emilie handed him a chouquette. “Follow your heart.”

“Hmm…” He looked back and forth between his phone and the paper.

Follow your heart.

Adrien Agreste: Hey Marinette, it’s Adrien!

Adrien Agreste: Are you free later today by any chance?

And then it was time to wait.

“ADRIEN WAS HERE!?” Marinette yelped from her room, dashing downstairs to the kitchen where her mother was setting the table for breakfast. 

“His mother came first thing this morning.” Sabine placed a bowl of cereal in front of her. “Did he send you a message?”

Instead of replying, Marinette simply squeaked and slid her phone over to her, showing the messages Adrien sent her.

“How do you feel about him?” Sabine asked, taking a seat.

“I dunno.” She played with her spoon and glanced over at the phone. “He’s really nice and all, but after what happened with Kim…”

“You don’t want to get hurt again, I get it.” Her mother handed back her phone. “Adrien isn’t friends with Chloe though, is he?”

“He mentioned knowing her, but it didn’t seem like he was on board with her bullying and stuff…”

“So what’s holding you back?”

“There’s Kagami.” Marinette thought before ultimately turning over her phone so she wouldn’t have to look at the messages. “And I just don’t think I’m ready to devote myself to someone else yet. It just brings out the worst parts of me. Another girl in the picture is just the cherry on top.”

“You don’t have to devote yourself, dear.” Sabine guided. “Agreeing to hang out today isn’t a commitment. You could just be hanging out as friends.”

“I guess you’re right.” She looked back down on her phone. “He won’t mind that I didn’t respond for three hours?”

“No, darling.” Sabine got up and gave her a kiss on her head before leaving the kitchen. “Don’t overthink, just follow your heart.”

Follow your heart.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: yes! im free all day !!

And then she had to wait. She took three hours to respond, after all, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Adrien also took a while. To be fair, though, he texted her at seven in the morning, and she didn’t wake up until ten so—

Adrien Agreste: Would you want to go to the movies at 2? A few new films are showing around that time, we can pick once we’re there.

Adrien Agreste: My mom will be there to supervise, too. We can meet you there.

“MAMAN!” Marinette yelped, knowing very well that her mother was long gone, probably taking up tasks downstairs in the bakery. She couldn’t help her anymore…

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: sure! soundsgreat , actually super!!! (:

Was this a date? Was Kagami going to be there too? Marinette’s mind was racing on what Adrien’s intentions could possibly be.

What movie were they even going to watch? She didn’t know what he would be into, or what his hobbies were besides fencing, or pretty much anything about him besides who his family is and how sweet he is!

She didn’t want to appear as though she were trying too hard, but also didn’t want it to seem like she didn’t care, which made picking out an outfit a rather strenuous task.

Maybe she could ask her friends about it?

Since the last time all of them were at an art club meeting together, Rose had made a group chat so all of the girls could keep in touch during the break. Marinette decided it would be in her best interest to video call them and update her on the situation. After all, she hadn’t brought up the strange interactions with Adrien Agreste to anyone.

“ADRIEN AGRESTE!?” Rose screeched from her line, accompanied by Juleka, who mumbled a little bit.

“Girl, I didn’t know your date was with a celebrity!” Alya responded.

“It’s not a date!” Marinette defended. “We’re hanging out as friends. That’s all.”

“I dunno, Marinette. Sounds like date material to me. What kind of guy asks a girl out to a movie as friends?” Alix shrugged with a smirk.

“ADRIEN AGRESTE!” Rose repeated herself enthusiastically.

Alix scoffed. “His MOM is going to be there!”

“To be fair, he has an injury. She’s probably just gonna be there for good measure.” Alya remarked.

“I think your outfit looks great, Marinette. Nice and comfortable for the movie but still cute.” Mylene added, keeping the conversation on the correct topic of discussion and referring to the pink long sleeve shirt Marinette paired with denim shorts.

“You NEED to let us know how it goes. He seemed pretty nice when Jule and I met him at the bakery.” Alya nodded. 

“You met him at the bakery?” Marinette raised an eyebrow, looking at her reflection in the phone to fix her bangs and make sure they were laying down correctly. “When was that?”

“A couple weeks ago. Very humble dude.” Juleka said, quickly yet intelligibly.

“Okay, okay, I should be heading out of here pretty soon. Wish me luck girls!” Marinette waved goodbye as everyone sent affirmations her way before hanging up.

This wasn’t a high stakes event! Just a guy inviting her to a movie to get to know her better! Nothing more! Right!?

When she got to the cinema, Adrien waved at her from the line, accompanied by his mother.

“You must be Marinette! It’s so great to finally meet you! Adrien has told me so much about you.” Emilie beamed, shaking Marinette’s hand and eliciting a giggle from her.

“Mom…” Adrien chuckled nervously. “Thanks for coming, Marinette! Is there a movie you wanted to see?”

“Hmm…” Marinette looked up at the various posters with the current movie showings, and she fixated on a specific one that was familiar.

Noticing this, Adrien followed her gaze and his face lit up once he saw what she was focused on. “You’re a fan of Ultimate Mecha Strike?”

“Yeah!” Marinette turned to him, a smile creeping on her face. “You are too?”

“Totally! Not to brag, but I’m ranked number 20 worldwide on Ultimate Mecha Strike III.” Adrien didn’t want to gloat too much, but noticed the smirk Marinette was displaying.

“Funny you mention it,” Marinette began, snickering. “You’re talking to number 19.”

“No way! I’ve been trying to beat your score for months! We need to play together sometime.” He looked up at his mother. “I guess I know what we’re watching.”

“Three tickets for the Ultimate Mecha Strike movie, please.” Emilie asked the ticketer, who handed them the tickets and let them inside the theater. “You two can go find seats, I’ll get some concessions. How does popcorn sound?”

“Good for me.” Marinette pulled out her wallet to hand her some cash to compensate for the ticket.

“Please, don’t worry about it.” Emilie refused. “Today’s bill is on his father’s card.”

Adrien cackled as they parted ways with his mother, and he was left alone with Marinette in the theater once they settled in their seats.

Marinette looked around, not really sure what to do other than ask questions. She still had her fair share of curiosities and thought it would have been a good opportunity to clear up any loose ends.

“So, uh, how’s Kagami? Was she going to join us?” Marinette asked, immediately regretting her wording and questioning everything she’d done in the past ten minutes.

“Kagami is doing great, but her mother usually doesn’t let her go to outings like this.” Adrien replied, not having taken much mind to the question. “Hopefully the three of us can hang out more another time.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I was at least able to make things up with her after she was akumatized.”

“For sure. She was raving about how homey your family dinner was, and I have to say I agree.” He thought back to how well Marinette’s parents treated them, and how cozy and positive their atmosphere was. It felt more like home than his own house. “And your mother is a brilliant cook.”

“Aw, I’m glad you liked it! I know my mom would be willing to have you guys over again any time.” She grinned. “How’s your leg?”

“It’s fine.” She noticed his gaze falling, but let him continue. “I have this condition that causes myopathy or something, but the doctors still aren’t really sure what it is. I don’t want it to make my life any less interesting, though, so I try not to let it get in my way too much.”

“I can respect that.” She nodded, realizing she may have struck a nerve. After all, his injury didn’t change who he was or how kind he was being to her.

“Here you kids go!” Emilie arrived with snacks and handed them over. “I’ll be sitting a couple rows behind you two.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Agreste.” Marinette said, appreciative of her hospitality.

“You can call me Emilie.” She patted her shoulder and took a seat behind them, letting the kids continue their conversations until the movie began.

She loved seeing Adrien so happy, and it made her think about what he must have felt while he was all alone in the alternate reality he lived through.

Emilie had no idea what her fate looked like if Gabriel never made his wish. She didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to Adrien in a world she was no longer a part of. If Gabriel was so dangerous and forceful even after he made his wish, what was he like the first time around? Before he won?

She couldn’t take this away from her son. She couldn’t let Gabriel make a wish that would end his happiness.

“That was awesome!” Adrien was ecstatic while walking out of the cinema, and Marinette mirrored it. “I’m so glad you picked that movie.”

“Who wouldn’t pick Ultimate Mecha Strike? It’s the most epic video game!” Marinette giggled.

“Are you doing anything else today?” Emilie asked her as they were walking to the car. “We’d love to have you over for dinner.”

She glanced at her phone for a second, and realized she had no text messages from her mother, so she nodded in agreement. “I’m free all evening.”

“I’ll ask the chef to cook for one extra then. You two can hang out while she cooks.” Emilie helped Adrien into the car, then sat in the front.

Marinette gaped in awe as she was let into the house, which was bigger than she could have ever imagined.

“Follow me.” Adrien said, guiding her up a staircase that led to what looked like his room.

Marinette was shocked to say the least. That room alone was bigger than her entire apartment.

“So how about that match of UMS III?” He asked her, settling down on his couch and patting the seat next to him.

“You’re on.” She sat next to him, and got a feel of the controller he handed her for their match.

Amidst Adrien’s struggle to keep himself afloat during the game, Marinette was relaxed on the couch, just letting her hands run on auto-pilot as she executed attack after attack.

Putting down the controller in exhaustion, Adrien then turned to Marinette and noticed how she didn’t even break a sweat. “I’m starting to understand why you’re ranked nineteenth.”

“It comes with practice, and a father who challenges me to 1v1’s every weekend.” Marinette chuckled. “I’m sure you’d give him a run for his money, though. You put up a good fight.”

“You think so? Even though you totally destroyed me?” Adrien raised an eyebrow.

“Totally.” She nodded.

They kept playing a few rounds against each other before Marinette noticed him massaging his right hand a little bit, catching a glimpse of his bruising.

She didn’t mention it, though, fearing she might elicit a similar bout of sadness from Adrien as she’d done earlier.

“How about this.” Marinette took his controller to change the settings for their next round. “Let’s do a doubles match instead.”

His face lit up when he realized what she meant, and the game loaded into an online team duel.

“Are you sure?”

“Maybe together, nineteen and twenty will have a shot at beating eighteen.”

It was a tough one. The team that two of them were up against seemed to be in a higher ranking than the two of them, causing even Marinette to begin struggling.

They were ready to give up, and it was down to a death match with each team’s mech only having one life left, but Adrien and Marinette’s mech was at a disadvantage.

“Use the sprint attack!” Adrien instructed, completely immersed in the game.

Marinette followed this instruction, and he was able to do a range attack at the same, effectively knocking the other team off the map and securing them a close win.

“We did it! We really did it!” Adrien practically jumped in his seat with a grin, and held out his good fist to Marinette.

She had already held out her fist, though, and they both looked all the more troubled when they simultaneously said “Pound it!”

“Oh,” Marinette looked at their joint fists bump, confused. “I don’t know where that came from, heh.” She slowly retracted her hand.

“Yeah, same. I’ve never done that before…” Adrien tried racking his brain for times, maybe early in his childhood where he’d give a fist bump to someone after a mission well done. He only drew blanks.

But it came so naturally. That was why it was so odd.

They both shrugged it off.

 “Thanks for the dinner, it was amazing!” Marinette said, being led down the stairs of the Agreste Mansion by Adrien. “And thanks for everything today, I had a really good time.”

“You’re welcome to come by for a meal whenever you’d like.” Adrien grinned. “And I feel like I should be the one thanking you.” 

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Why?” She asked, turning to face him.

“Being around you makes me feel like I’m not this fragile liability who needs help doing everything.” He looked into her eyes. “You make me feel like I’m really living . ”

“Oh!” Marinette looked down, feeling her face warm a bit. “As far as I’m concerned, the cane and sling don’t exist! Your gaming is still top tier.”

“Someday, I might just outscore number nineteen.”

“We’ll see about that.” They laughed. “But I’m here for you if you ever need to call or text or anything. You’re more than just a few injuries, and I’ll be there if you ever need a reminder.”

“Thanks, Marinette.” He put his good hand on her shoulder. “Friends?”

“Friends.” She put her hand on top of his, causing Adrien to blush a little. “We should do something like this again soon. I don’t start school again until next Monday.”

Before he could say anything else, Marinette’s phone pinged with a text message.

“It’s my mom.” She quickly typed to answer it. “I should probably be heading home.”

“I can walk you there if you want. It’s not too far from here.”

“I’d love that.” Marinette smiled and they began their tread. “You know, I’ve been considering starting real school again, probably sometime next semester.” 

“Why’d you leave?” Adrien inquired, finding a decent walking rhythm with his cane as they exited through the mansion gates.

“A bunch of reasons.” Marinette joined him, sighing as she recalled the trainwreck that was the previous year. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Marinette took in a deep breath. “There was this boy named Kim, and I really liked him, but word of that started spreading. My best friend Socqueline warned me not to try pursuing him, but I asked him out to the pool anyway.” She looked down, defeated. “This other girl got him to prank me and he gave me a box saying it was a gift, but it was really just a bunch of spiders. After that, I got akumatized and then she blackmailed all my friends to stop talking to me.”

“Oh, that’s really terrible.” Adrien frowned with sympathy.

“Things are much better, though!” She lightened up. “With fencing and more time for hobbies, I’ve been able to get my life back in order, and I even made a few new friends!”

“That’s good then!” Adrien mirrored her positivity. “Whose idea was it to prank you anyways? Is that what’s holding you back?”

Marinette gulped as the two of them stopped at a crosswalk.. She knew that he and Chloe were friends, after all he’d mentioned it before… “Chloe… Bourgeois?” She said with uncertainty, trying to lay it down nicely.

“Chloe!?” Adrien gasped. “I knew she was rude but I never knew she’d go so far!”

“Yeah…”

“That’s not okay.” He tightened a fist at the realization. “I should talk to her. I never knew her bullying led to someone as great as you having to hide away.”

“You really don’t need to.” She held his hand with both of hers. “She doesn’t scare me anymore.”

“But someone needs to be the one to tell her she can’t do that to anyone else.” Adrien opened his hand to hold one of hers back.

“How close are you two?”

“Childhood friends. We hung out a lot back then but lately she just tells me stories about going to a real school, or at least until I was done with homeschooling and started going to a real one.”

“We don’t need to talk about her, though.” Marinette shied away from the topic, and realized they were holding hands while resuming their stroll. “But how’s real school going for you, though?”

“I’d say it’s more fun than homeschool. I got to meet Kagami that way and the classes are really immersive.” Adrien didn’t want to leave the Chloe topic so quickly, but he realized Marinette’s experiences were still fresh. “I joined a band, too.”

“Like a garage band?” She raised an eyebrow, playfully.

“No, definitely not!” He chuckled. “Like a classical one. With trumpets and stuff.”

“I played the clarinet for like two days way back in the day.” Marinette recalled. “Never again.”

“I’ve never dared to touch a wind instrument, you’re brave.” Adrien squeezed her hand, making her heart flutter.

The walk was peaceful, and the two of them continued their simple back and forth banter as they took in the breezes and sunset of an evening in Paris.

Their hands never parted throughout their entire venture.

Once they arrived in front of Marinette’s apartment, Adrien couldn’t help but bring her in for a tight hug that she returned.

“Are you going to be okay to walk home?” Marinette asked once they parted.

“Yeah, my bodyguard kinda followed us in the limo.” He pointed at the silver sedan that pulled up by the bakery. “But let me know when you’re free this week! I’d love to see you again before break is over.”

“I’ll text you.” She waved at him as he started walking to his car, sparing a few glances at her on his way. “Goodnight, Adrien!”

“Goodnight, Marinette!”

Chapter Text

“How did it go, sunshine?” Emilie asked once Adrien arrived home.

“Amazing!” He fawned, feeling as though he were walking on a cloud. “She’s just amazing.”

“She really is, huh.” Emilie put her arm around his shoulder and started helping him to his room. “You walked her home?”

“Yeah, and we even held hands, it was really sweet.” After Adrien thought a little bit, he remembered Marinette’s remarks about her bullying. “But I need to talk to Chloe.”

“Bourgeois? Why?”

“She was really mean to Marinette, and she’s part of the reason she does online school now.” Adrien walked into his room.

Emilie raised an eyebrow while following him in, not really keeping up with the Bourgeois’ and their daughter. “Do you want me to set up a lunch between you two?”

“Hmm,” Adrien plopped down on his couch, looking at his phone. “I think I’ll talk to her on my own.”

“Standing up for what you think is right is very brave Adrien.” Emilie gave him a kiss on his head and ruffled his hair before leaving. “I love you.”

“Love you too, mom.”

Nathalie was waiting for her outside of his room with a grin. “So?”

“He’s so in love!” Emilie whispered, excitedly. “He walked her home and they held hands the entire way. They’re adorable!”

They began treading towards their own bedrooms across the second floor. “Why would Gabriel want to keep them apart?”

“I wish I knew, Nath.” She sighed. “I don’t know how long Adrien has left, but I’m not going to let his father keep him from experiencing love.”

“But you need to be careful, Emilie.” Nathalie took her hand. “If Gabriel knows that you gave him a counter order, he would go mad.”

“That’s not my Gabriel anymore.” Emilie shook her head. “I don’t recognize him.”

“I have a plan. For when he returns, we just need to keep him distracted long enough to take just one miraculous.”

“The butterfly?”

“No, the bee.”

Adrien hesitated before texting Chloe. He didn’t want to burn such a long standing bridge so quickly, but he knew she was wrong for all she had done to Marinette.

This was a conversation that needed to be had face to face.

He thought he should maybe visit the school while Chloe would be there to knock some sense into her instead.

He called Kagami instead, noticing how quickly she answered.

“What is it, Adrien? ” She asked, lightheartedly.

“I haven’t heard from you in a little while, so I wanted to know how your break is going!”

Kagami sighed. “It’s not much of a break. Mother has been keeping me busy, but she’s making sure my fencing is much better for the next competition.”

“I’ll be there cheering you on. When is it?”

“Two weeks from tomorrow.” She smiled to herself before remembering what Adrien told her he was going to do earlier that day. “How was your date with Marinette?”

While Adrien was awaiting Marinette’s response to his movie invitation, he let Kagami know of his day plans, as he normally did when something interesting was happening.

Kagami, however, felt defeated once he mentioned that he was hanging out with Marinette and his mother that day.

Without her.

“I wouldn’t really call it a date!” He sputtered quickly. “But it was nice! We went to the movies and then played video games at my place.”

Kagami didn’t respond, she only looked down, her mind flooded with unwanted jealousy. She was never savvy at video games; her mother never let her play or have any sort of entertainment like that. She’d encourage practicing her fencing and archery instead of simulating it on a screen.

She also realized that she wasn’t as easy going as Marinette was. There was always something holding her back from taking the next step in an unknown direction, yet Marinette was always trying new things.

“You know,” Adrien continued, “she was even asking about you! The three of us should totally hang out if your mom lets you.”

Her mind was put a little at ease. She knew Marinette was a sweet girl who meant no harm, and this was a reminder that she wasn’t the enemy.

Her own feelings were her worst enemy.

“I doubt Mother would allow me to go anywhere for the rest of the holiday.” She looked at the door, hoping Mother hadn’t gotten home yet. She wouldn’t like realizing Kagami was on the phone with anyone that wasn’t her. “But the two of you should have fun.”

“Maybe we could do something after a fencing practice!”

She always appreciated his optimism and kindness. That made her growing feelings for him even harder to ignore.

She was jealous of Marinette. Her effortless positivity, her unlimited freedom, her loving parents, her free will .

They were all things Kagami didn’t have.

“Maybe we can. That would be nice.”

She heard steps at the door.

Mother was home.

“Adrien, we can talk more later. I have to go.” She didn’t wait for his response before hiding her phone and running to her room to sit at her desk.

She was supposed to be studying.

She began scribbling notes in her notebook as her mother entered her room, taking a hold of her arm.

“Your heartbeat is quick. Why is that?” Tomoe asked.

“I was having trouble with this physics problem, but I solved it.”

“You are being dishonest.”

“No, mother.”

Her mother was silent as she listened for her breathing and tightened her grasp of her arm to feel her pulse. “You should meet me outside soon. You are too distracted by friendships and romance, we need to work on fencing.”

“There is no romance, mother.”

“I hear you speak to your friend Adrien. That is Gabriel Agreste’s son, is it not?”

Kagami gulped. She had been caught.

“Do not lie to me, Kagami.”

“Yes, mother.”

“I will not let you allow yourself to disgrace the Tsurugi legacy again because of a boy. Control yourself, or you will not speak to Adrien Agreste ever again. Do you understand?”

“I do, I understand.”

“Downstairs in five.” Tomoe released her arm and left the room, no more words spoken.

Kagami sat there, her thoughts racing, and her heart pumping faster than before.

She couldn’t be with Adrien, even if that's what she wanted. Mother wouldn’t allow it.

And she wasn’t Marinette.

Marinette and Adrien met up a few more times over the course of his father’s absence.

Of course, Marinette was blissfully unaware of what living under his father’s roof was like for Adrien. After all, she’d only met Emilie, who was so easygoing and supportive of everything Adrien wanted to do.

On Tuesday, the art club was still meeting even though school was out for the entire week, so Marinette and her friends agreed to meet up as well beforehand. Out of interest for Marinette’s new escapades with Adrien Agreste, they decided to invite him as well to see what all the buzz was about.

“Is he on his way!?” Rose asked Marinette, basically jumping up and down once she entered the art room.

“Hey girl.” Alya greeted her with a side hug, laughing at Rose’s excited antics. “You need to tell us all about your date!”

They took a seat at their usual table, joined by Alix and Mylene. “Where’s Juleka?” Marinette asked, taking out her sketchbook.

“She and her family are out on a trip right now. I think they’re getting back tomorrow.” Alya answered, adjusting her hair and untucking it from behind her ear.

“What’s the scoop?” Mylene asked, sitting next to Marinette. “Did you two kiss?”

“No!” Marinette laughed sheepishly. “We’re just friends. We saw the Mecha Strike movie and then played video games together at his place. It was really fun.”

Alix raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? You go on a date with one of the most famous teenagers in Paris and watch MECHA STRIKE!? ”

“It was a good movie!” Marinette crossed her arms. “And both of us had a really fun time. His chef even made us a fancy dinner.”

“So romantic!” Rose fawned.

Alya looked at Marinette, who seemed a little aloof as she was recalling that day. “How do you feel about him, for real?”

“Oh! Well…” She sputtered, thinking back on the text messages they’d been exchanging since then.

Adrien Agreste: Good morning!

He sent her that bright and early on the day after their hang out, wanting to spark a conversation but not really knowing exactly how to go about it.

Marinette, in her usual nature, didn’t wake up until several hours later, but was still excited to see that he was thinking about her!

Or maybe he was just the type of guy to befriend someone and send them messages the morning after as a totally-normal-usual routine! Right!?

He probably did that with Kagami too…

But she replied anyway. There was no reason not to, after all.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: hey whats up!

Hey what’s up!? What a foolish response on her end! Certainly, Adrien wouldn’t reply anything interesting to that, maybe he’d just completely ghost her and decide never to speak to–

Adrien Agreste: I was just doing some homework for school this morning. How have you been?

She really had to stop overthinking before she got texts back from him.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: oooh super cool, i just woke up lol

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: but ive been really good!! i had a really good time yesterday too haha

Adrien Agreste: I’m glad! If you want, we can plan something else to do this week. Are you free on Tuesday?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: hmmm i have this art club thingy with the girls at my old school but i think theyd love to meet u if u wanted to join!!!

Adrien Agreste: That would be great. I’m quite the artist myself.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: i didnt know u were an artist!

Adrien Agreste: Well… I’m not, but it’s for the best. If someone gave me a paintbrush, my artwork would be so incredible that every other artist would simply want to quit.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: SKDJSKSKSKSKHSB

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: cocky, arent we?

Adrien Agreste: Maybe. >:)

And that was how she got herself into this arrangement, with all of her friends awaiting his arrival to College Franois Dupont.

“I don’t know how to feel.” Marinette shared, honestly. “I don’t know him too well, and there’s also Kagami. I don’t know what their deal is.”

“I see.” Mylene replied, remembering Kagami from the fencing tournament. “I think it’s good that you take your time, just so you don’t repeat any unfortunate circumstances.”

Alix scoffed. “I bet Adrien isn’t as much of a bonehead as Kim. ‘Pool incident’ part two is not happening on my watch.”

“There’s no timer on your feelings, Marinette.” Alya comforted her. “Take it at your own pace! That’s what I’m doing with my DJ guy.”

“How’s that going?” Marinette asked.

“I got his number… but we haven’t said anything to each other about anything apart from this partner project for physics.”

“He’s here!” Rose announced, pointing right at Adrien as he entered the art room.

“Adrien Agreste in the flesh!” Alix skated up to him to poke his arm, confirming that this moment was indeed real. “Welcome to Francois Dupont!”

“Thanks!” He grinned and approached Marinette with a wave. “How’s it going?”

“We just got started over here.” Marinette replied, helping Adrien put his cane down and take a seat at her table. “But that’s Alix, Mylene, Rose, and you’ve met Alya.” She gestured to each of them, and they waved back.

“Nice to meet you all!” Adrien beamed, glad to meet many more new friends while getting a glimpse into Marinette’s life. He thought accompanying her in an art club meet would be a good way to break the ice and understand her interests. “So, Marinette, what do you normally do at these meets?”

“I work on my designs, here!” She opened her design book and let him flip through it, and he was thoroughly impressed!

He had to swallow his words, though, since he couldn’t tell his father about her. His first instinct would have been to present him with a staggering recommendation for Marinette prepared.

But Gabriel didn’t approve of her. And he didn’t know why.

Maybe he’d warm up to the idea of her. She was just too great for him to hide! He appreciated her all the more since she’d been so receptive of his texted jokes and sarcasm.

After a few more minutes of chatter and socializing with some of the classmates that had filtered into the art room, Adrien sat next to Marinette to see what she was working on.

He watched her doodle away, completely enamored in every pencil stroke and line she drew. He didn’t realize how infatuated he was with her and her artistry, leaning a little closer to her moment by moment until his head rested on her shoulder.

Once he realized this, he looked up at her, almost asking for permission and not wanting to overstep.

But Marinette simply nodded. Sure, she was pleasantly surprised by the sudden warmth, but she wasn’t protesting it. Marinette patted and played with his hair a little bit, led by nothing but her sudden instincts.

They were unfortunately disturbed by an all too familiar screech, coming from Chloe Bourgeois herself as she entered the art room and dramatically dropped her newest artistic endeavor.

It was a poster with a bunch of her best selfies taped on.

“Chloe, we already told you not to come to the art club if you’re just here to brag and berate us.” Alix skated to look at the fallen poster.

“Alix, be nice!” Rose squeaked, not wanting Chloe to get too angry.

Sabrina scrambled to pick up the poster as she followed Chloe, who began a strut towards Marinette and Adrien, who had since separated and scooted their seats an honorable distance apart from one another.

“Adrikins! What are you doing here!?” She hugged him tightly, eliciting a pained groan from him and his tender arm.

“Chloe, my arm.” He gently pried her off of him before gesturing to Marinette. “Marinette invited me here! I was just meeting her friends and—“

“Since when were you hurt!? You have a cane now? My poor Adrihoney!” She took the cane and fiddled with it, and Adrien rolled his eyes.

“A few months ago…”

“So what are you doing here with Dupain-Cheng?”

This interaction was beginning to reveal to Adrien how Chloe’s behavior had always been unpleasant. Him being around new people in school helped him realize how ridiculous it had always been!

“You know she doesn’t go here, right?” Chloe snapped before he answered, crossing her arms and glaring at her. “The baker girl had to run back home to mommy and daddy because she couldn’t take some constructive criticism..”

Adrien scowled, realizing this was his opportunity to knock some sense into her. His heart shattered once he saw Marinette carefully staring at her drawing, not bothering to peel her attention away from her sketchbook and give Chloe a second thought. “Chloe, that’s not—“

“You know, you could always transfer here and start in our class. There’s a seat open in the first row right in front of me.”

“If you’re going to bully innocent classmates into transferring out, I’ll stay at my own school.”

Chloe’s jaw dropped, as this was the first time Adrien had ever given her attitude.

It even got Marinette to tear her focus away from the sketchbook and stare at Adrien, astounded.

“Excuse me?” Chloe growled, gaining the attention of other students in the classroom. “So you’re hanging out with the dirty baker’s daughter and all of a sudden you can talk to me in such a way? She’s obviously changed you.”

“No, she hasn’t.” Adrien stood up, using his cane for balance. “I know all about what you did to her and your other classmates last year, and that’s not acceptable, Chloe.”

“You’re taking her word over mine?”

“Can’t you see that you’re proving her point right now?!” Adrien shouted, looking around the classroom at the students who were surprised someone could actually stand up to the queen bee. “You can’t be this way anymore. You need to learn how to be nice .”

“You’re making a big mistake by leaving my good graces, Adrikins. Sabrina!” Chloe yelped as a last resort, storming out of the room and not truly grasping how someone wasn’t taking her side.

With a huff, Adrien sat back down abruptly. Immediately, Marinette took a hold of his hand, mindful of its tenderness. “No one has ever stood up for me like that before.” She whispered, still in shock as she leaned to his ear.. “Thank you.”

On their way out of the school, the two of them were greeted by a downpour of rain accompanied by thunder, and Adrien knew it was no condition for Marinette to walk home.

His mother walked up to the school with a large black umbrella and handed it to him, it was one that she brought home from the set of a short film she shot several years prior.

“This storm is crazy, are you okay to get home, Marinette?” He asked, his mother witnessing the exchange.

Marinette looked out, thinking about how long it would probably take her to run it out, and how she could time her dash to get to the crosswalk when it was green…

“I think I can wait it out.” She said, politely. “You two can go, but it was nice to see you, Emilie.”

“Here.” Adrien held the open umbrella in her direction, a stroke of thunder rumbling from the dark skies.

She went to take the umbrella, their hands barely brushing against each other.

They felt a spark.

In that fraction of a second, Marinette could have sworn she lived an entire life, experienced the joys of love and serenity, persevered through hardships hand in hand with… him .

And Adrien felt the same, and as if the air had been sucked out of his lungs as he were completely subject to the beauty in her surprised smile.

And just like that, the sudden rush of emotion escaped, leaving them only with the vague sensation of heartache.

The umbrella subsequently closed on her, and the two of them couldn’t help but laugh.

Emilie helped Marinette get herself out of it amidst their giggles, and Adrien regained his composure after a minute.

“I’ll see you, Marinette.”

“Yeah, yeah!” She stammered. “I’ll, uh, I will text you!” She waved as he and his mother moved as fast as they could to the limo, leaving Marinette to walk home.

Two days after that, Marinette invited him over to the bakery to teach him how to bake croissants. Despite his severed hand, Adrien took a great grasp at kneading the dough, and even found that it soothed his constant soreness.

Up on her balcony enjoying their freshly baked croissants, Marinette and Adrien couldn’t help but watch Cheshire Cat bounding across the Parisian skyline as the sun began to trickle down in a painted sky.

They assumed it was a routine patrol, especially since Paris had been awfully quiet that week in terms of akumas.

“You’re quite the baker. Definitely better than me.” Marinette complimented between bites, sitting back in the folded chair she pulled up next to Adrien, who had been comfortably laid back on the reclining lawn chair.

Adrien chuckled. “Don’t give me too much credit. If you keep going on like that, it’ll get to my head.”

“Please. I bet you’re already crowning yourself the best baker in Paris.”

He pretended to look off and think, playing along. “Now that you mention it, yes, yes I am.”

“You’re gonna have to fight my dad for that position. I’d suggest a duel.”

“What kind of duel?”

“Jousting, perhaps.” She giggled.

“I’m sure Mr. Dupain would put up a pretty good fight. It would be a draw.”

“Maybe mecha strike instead. He’d definitely destroy you.” She handed him another croissant.

“You’re not wrong about that.” He laughed as he took a bite. “But fine, I’ll accept being the second best baker in Paris.”

“Oh, wait! Look over here!” Marinette jumped as she realized the time, quickly going to put one hand on his shoulder and using the other to point him towards the tower. “It should light up just about…” She looked down at her phone in anticipation, which was placed on the adjacent table, and saw the time change to 7:30pm.

Dusk.

“Now.” Marinette whispered, and Adrien snapped his focus from her face to where she was pointing: right at the unobscured view of the Eiffel Tower.

He almost gasped as the tower lit itself, twinkling a little bit as a light breeze swirled around them on the balcony.

Adrien leaned onto Marinette's shoulder as he did before in the art room, but she leaned back this time, stretching her arm all around his shoulder as they kept watching from the balcony railing.

“I love it.” Adrien said under his breath, knowing he could count the amount of times he watched the sunset and tower lighting on one hand, and every other time was with his mother.

He’d never found himself in any sort of romantic gesture such as the ones he shared with Marinette. That’s why he savored every second he spent with her that much more.

On Marinette’s end, she never knew she would give in to someone like this ever again, but it came so naturally with him. She thought maybe it was meant to be. He made her feel so safe, even in her most vulnerable places.

It was almost too good to be true.

Marinette realized he was actually truly kind and chivalrous; no one had ever treated her so well and stood up to Chloe on her behalf.

She almost caught herself giving in.

“I think that’s your limo.” She separated herself from him and pointed down, seeing his mother wave up at them from the car’s window.

“Oh, right.” He scratched his beard with a nervous smile, still flustered by their close proximity.

And then he was sent home. Marinette sighed as she closed the bakery door, watching the car speed off through the window.

But Marinette woke up on Sunday morning with no good morning text from Adrien. She knew he never owed her one, but she had grown accustomed to his messages.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: good morning!! are we still good for today?

She knew better than to overthink. It was probably just a fluke anyways…

They were supposed to meet at his house at noon for a quick lunch before venturing to the museum, but she had no word from him at 11:45. Something was up.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: is everything ok? we can call a rain check if something came up

No response. That was so unlike him!

Was this it? Is it all just over just like that? He no longer wants anything to do with her so he just stopped texting from one day to another!? Just like that !?

She took a deep breath to reorient herself. She knew better. Marinette and Adrien only knew one another for a few weeks, but she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t cold-turkey her just like that. There was no way!

Maybe she’d text Kagami instead. That was his best friend after all, and she’d probably have much better answers. It could keep her from overthinking. She just hoped it wouldn’t be all too awkward, considering how they’d exchanged numbers all those weeks ago and never used them.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: hey!! this is marinette! did you by any chance hear from adrien today?

Kagami Tsurugi: Hi, Marinette. I tried calling him earlier and got no answer, and I am a little worried. I would go to his home and check on him but I’m afraid I can’t today.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: do you think it would be overstepping if i went to check on him?

There were a few minutes before the next response, and Marinette began pondering on whether or not she had been overstepping by contacting Kagami. She didn’t know much about her personal life other than how her mother was a very strict fencing trainer to her.

She also wasn’t completely sure of what her relationship with Adrien was like. Kagami was awfully protective over him after all. 

And after what felt like a year of waiting, Kagami called her.

“Hello?” Marinette answered.

“I thought that this would have been best said with my words rather than a text.” Kagami whispered, rushed. “I think Adrien would truly appreciate it if you checked on him. And you’re a really good person, Marinette.”

“Oh, thanks, Kagami.” She didn’t know how else to respond, but began gathering her things in her purse after receiving the validation. “I’ll be sure to send him your best wishes.”

“Can you make me a promise, though?”

“What is it?”

Kagami gulped. “I hesitated. The day I lost the match to you, I hesitated. I never want you to make the same mistakes I have. Don’t hesitate. Not with fencing, not with Adrien. Take as much initiative with him as you do with your fencing.”

“I promise.”

“Goodbye, Marinette.” Kagami hung up.

Marinette didn’t wait to jump out of her desk chair and sprint downstairs, running as quickly as she could to the Agreste mansion. She just had this gut feeling that something was wrong.

At the Agreste’s gate, she rang what looked like a doorbell by a speaker, and a camera pointed right at her.

“Hi, I’m here to see Adrien.”

“Come in.” The woman on the other side of the camera said from the speaker, and the gates opened for her to enter.

She noticed a bodyguard holding open the front doors, and she was meeting by who she assumed was Adrien’s father’s assistant. He always talked highly of her whenever she was briefly mentioned, but he neglected to mention how she, too, was ill and in need of a technological crutch.

“You must be Marinette, it’s such a pleasure to meet you.” Nathalie invited her in with a warm presence, and Marinette entered, still slightly taken aback by how massive his home was. “What brings you here?”

“I wanted to check and see if Adrien was alright. He hasn’t been answering Kagami and me all morning so I thought I’d just visit and see what was up.” She answered, carefully, while following Nathalie back to Adrien's room.

“He’d be very glad to know you visited. He had an accident last night.” Nathalie seemed downtrodden by that statement, but shook away the feeling. “He’s much better now, though, just getting rest.”

“Oh, I had no idea…” That was all Marinette could muster herself to say as she approached the bedroom, reaching for the door handle.

She walked in, Nathalie staying outside of the room, and she was greeted by Emilie, who was sitting in a chair pulled up next to Adrien’s bed.

As for Adrien, he was sitting up against the headboard, his back in a brace and his arm in a sling. There were packs of ice lined down his right leg, and the remnants of a shadowy purple bruise were peeking from his shirt’s neckline. Amidst all of that, though, his eyes lit up in a pleasant surprise as he saw her walk towards his bed.

She knew what their informal deal was. She said she would pretend like the injuries didn’t exist, and that his condition wouldn’t get in the way of how she treated him.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Marinette called to him, sitting at the foot of his bed.

“Marinette!” He was at a loss for words, glad she had gone there for him at all. “I’m so sorry I didn’t text you! I had this really nasty fall last night and then had to go to the emergency room and my phone never got charged but when I woke up I asked Mom to plug it in and-“

“It’s okay.” She patted his good leg from where she was, giving him an endearing grin. “I’m just glad you’re here in one piece.”

He exhaled, looking up at her with a little embarrassment for his rambling. “I’m really sorry though, I don’t think we can go to the museum.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can totally go another time!”

Emilie didn’t want to intrude any further on their exchange, so she rose from her seat and offered it to Marinette. “Thank you for being here, Marinette. That is so kind of you.” She patted her shoulder as she left, and Marinette took the seat gladly.

“Between you and me though,” Adrien said under his breath once his mother was out of earshot, “I think museums are kind of boring.”

Marinette had to hold in a laugh. “So do I! I only really go if a friend is there with me.”

“That makes two of us.”

She looked around the room, trying to see something accessible they could do together with him in bed.

Maybe if she could get the television over here…

“What are you thinking?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as she got to work.

Without a word, she began hauling the television and its mount all the way to the front of his bed, despite his protests.

After some tinkering with extension cords, she was able to get it set upright for Adrien to watch!

“You totally didn’t have to do that!” Adrien was astonished once she took her place back on her seat, a little exhausted after her gesture. “Here.” He used his good hand to scoot himself over to the side of his bed, maintaining his upright position, and patted the newly vacated space next to him.

“Thanks.” Marinette said, heart ablaze as she sat next to him, hesitant to sit any closer than a foot away from him.

She was alone with him. In his room. Very close to him.

Sure, it wasn’t the first time. They’d played video games on the couch together not too long ago.

But she had to admit a change in her feelings that day when he handed her the umbrella.

When the lightning and thunder struck.

Maybe it was worth throwing away all of her rules that she’d placed for herself after Kim had damaged her self respect. Adrien had done nothing but prove himself to be kind and thoughtful time and time again.

Take as much initiative with him as you do with your fencing.

Adrien used the remote to sift through the channels, stopping for a minute at one that was playing a recording of a symphony orchestra performance.

The piano part was what interested him the most. He never realized how much he liked playing until being introduced to the supportive atmosphere of his music classroom. That wasn’t something he got when his father was his only teacher.

He couldn’t play the piano anymore, though. That’s what made it strike a nerve. He looked down at his crippled hand, eyeing down the blackened bruises on his palm and forearm.

“I can’t play anymore.” He confided in her, wiggling his right hand a little more. “I thought I could have gotten better at some point, but now it’s sort of impossible. It’s like I got worse overnight.”

He took off the sling to let his right arm breathe, trying to stretch his fingers but wincing a little bit at the soreness.

Marinette couldn’t comfort him. She realized that his wounds and pain were beyond what any of her words could heal. All she could do was gently take his hand in hers, carefully interlocking her fingers with his.

“I’m sorry.” Adrien said, emotional and lost in thought.

“Why?”

“For making this moment about my depressing feelings.”

Marinette turned to look him in the eyes. “That’s not something to apologize for. I’m here to listen.”

That alone made Adrien’s face flush. “You know, even though I’m kind of helpless, I feel like I can conquer the world with one hand as long as you’re holding the other.”

“Then I won’t let go.” She responded, feeling a bright blush rush to her cheeks as well. After a moment of staring, she adjusted herself to sit flush against him, leaning her head on his shoulder 

They sat like that for a while longer, Adrien humming along to a familiar melody that the orchestra was playing. It was a rather romantic piece, slow and dynamic, and the pair found themselves swaying to it.

By the final cadence, Adrien looked down at Marinette affectionately.

She looked back up at him.

Don’t hesitate.

If Kagami told her something like that, then there was a good chance her feelings for Adrien were returned, weren’t they?

So she let go of all of her previous qualms. She released the demons that had been grasping at her ever so desperately every time she considered something with him.

She leaned up to him, eyelids fluttering closed.

He closed the distance, raising his hand to hold her face as they met lips.

Chapter Text

Adrien didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep.

He woke up feeling a weight on his shoulder, frankly not sure about how much time had passed. The sun was already setting, though, which was a decent indicator on how long he’d been there.

Marinette woke up when she felt him shift, rubbing her eyes and almost not recognizing the room since it was significantly darker.

“What time is it?” He yawned, rolling his shoulder a little bit.

Marinette picked up her phone to check, seeing that it was after seven at night, and he widened his eyes when she showed it to him.

While they were enticed with their kiss earlier, they were interrupted by Emilie knocking on Adrien’s door. She brought them a tray with sandwiches and stayed watching a movie for an hour or so while she helped him eat.

After she left, they kept the television rolling, trying not to think about the awkward lack of conversation.

The last thing they remembered was watching a movie after changing the channel, not having spoken at all about what had just transpired.

And then they drifted off.

Adrien didn’t know how to do romance at all. He never even felt this way about a girl until Marinette came along. Movies and media could never prepare him for what it was really like to have his first kiss.

So they sat there, avoiding eye contact, neither of them sure on how to proceed.

“I like you.” Adrien blurted, not really sure of the best way to articulate that he enjoyed their kiss and he wouldn’t mind trying it again.

This comment snapped Marinette into attention, and she hurriedly brushed her overgrown bangs out of her face once she focused on him.

“The kiss… It wasn’t just a fluke for me.” Adrien continued, trying to find the right words. “I haven’t done anything like this before, and I’ve never felt this way about someone before. But it’s all so… easy with you . I really do like you.”

Marinette smiled. “I like you too.” Tilting her head in endearment, she took his hand in hers and held it. 

“I know you’ve been through a lot though, and I don’t want to pressure you to move too fast either.” Adrien weakly squeezed her hand back. “So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ll be here. Whenever you’re ready. Because you’re truly someone worth waiting for.”

“My past is a little rocky, and I know there are still some things I’m trying to grow past, but I want this too.” She said, scooting back next to him. “You make me feel safe. It was really courageous how you stood up to Chloe for me, and spending time with you has gotten me out of my shell too. Like, you’re a superhero without a mask to me.”

“Would you say I’m more of a Red Beatle or Cheshire?” He asked slyly, raising an eyebrow.

“Definitely Cheshire. I know you’re a prankster behind the good-boy facade.”

He elbowed her, laughing. “Good call. I indeed have a jokester side. Runs in the family.”

“Mom’s side or dad’s side?” She leaned back against him, looking up at him from her place on his shoulder.

“Father’s side. You’d be surprised at the puns he’s made.”

Marinette feigned a gasp. “I would have never guessed Gabriel Agreste made puns!”

“You should totally meet him when he gets back from his trip!” He said, excitedly, before realizing the mistake he’d made.

He disobeyed his father.

Adrien was infinitely grateful that his mother had overwhelming support for his endeavors with Marinette. She’d always been the less strict parent, so he found himself growing closer to her over the years.

He was afraid he’d lose her after she had gotten so sick.

He wasn’t ready to say goodbye, though.

The thought of losing his mother terrified him. She was always the parent that would sneak him out of the house for ice cream, watch his piano competitions, or spend time with him watching television after he finished his homeschooling lessons.

That wasn’t to say he didn’t love his father, though. He knew his father loved him back, too, even though he could be controlling. Gabriel was just someone to show his appreciation with actions rather than words. Nodding meant he did something right. A grin would mean he did exceptionally.

But ever since his mother got better, he felt a sudden chill. As if it were one day to the next. One second, he was letting him go to a real school, and then next, he was telling him he couldn’t even speak to the girl he liked. It made no sense.

He even heard the yelling. It would often be in the later hours at night, when Adrien was assumed to be asleep. But he barely got away after witnessing the endings of a rather violent exchange between his parents.

Gabriel raised his voice. He held her by the wrists against the wall. His mother wept.

He ran to his room after seeing that, not knowing his father would do that to his mother after preaching about how much he’d loved her. There was something Adrien didn’t know about that made his father change, but it was so clear that Gabriel wasn’t content with their lives anymore.

And then he left for a week. He wasn’t sure when his father would come back, either, or how poorly he would react to his time spent with Marinette. He couldn’t dream of standing up to Father, either. That sort of behavior was simply unheard of.

“Oh no.” Marinette checked her phone, scrolling through a few missed messages from her mother. “My mom called me like 20 minutes ago, I think I can get away with saying we were eating dinner but I should probably head home.”

She started getting up to leave, but Adrien’s grasp on her hand persisted. Looking back, she saw him blush a bit.

“Before you go, can I kiss you again?” He asked, bluntly, not able to move from his position with the back brace on.

Without responding, Marinette leaned in and pressed her lips against his, then left kisses on his cheeks and forehead. “You don’t have to ask.”

“Bye, Marinette.”

“Bye, Adrien.”

On her way out of Adrien’s room, Nathalie met her at the door, guiding her down the stairs and to the entrance of the house.

And there was Gabriel Agreste himself.

Marinette was starstruck to say the very least. Her fashion idol was standing tall and proud alongside his wife in the foyer.

“You must be Marinette.” He held out his hand to shake with a smirk. “I’ve heard many good things about you.”

She returned a firm handshake. “Wow, Mr. Agreste! It’s uh, it’s great to meet you.” She tried her best to hold her composure.

“You as well.” He nodded, and then she was escorted outside.

Once the door closed, Gabriel dropped his pleasant facade. “So you gave our son a counter order?”

“Adrien is sick . I’m trying to make him happy.” Emilie answered, rolling her eyes. “Where have you been? When our son was in the hospital?”

“I’m here now. You didn’t think I was going to completely ignore his needs, did you?”

“You’re the one who suggested making a new son.” She said, turning away from him and starting to walk towards the stairs.

“That’s enough!” He commanded. “Give me the ring.”

“I’m giving it to him .” Emilie snapped. “He can make his own choices.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Gabriel, think about it.” She turned around and softened her face. “Adrien is hurting, but there are still people and places out there that make him happy. That’s what gets him out of bed in the morning.”

“Give me the ring.” He repeated, holding his hand out, disregarding everything she said.

“No.” She replied, sternly. “Are you crazy? You can’t restrict Adrien any longer, his happiness should be our priority for these next few months. Why are you so hellbent on making him miserable?”

“I am his father .” He held her shoulder before she could walk up. “I know who Marinette is and what she’s capable of. She is not someone I want around my son, and you should trust my judgment on this one. She’s dangerous and a liability. I’ve been here before, I would know.”

“She’s clearly not a liability anymore, in our world. You can’t keep holding a grudge for something she never even experienced. We don’t even know how long Adrien has until he…” She stopped her rant when she heard noises from above, looking up to see Adrien wheeling himself out of his room on the wheelchair she left him next to his bed.

“Hi Father.” Adrien spoke through the tension. “I thought I heard you back here…” After witnessing that vulgar exchange, he thought it was best if he just returned to his room without another word.

They were fighting again.

But this time, it was because of him.

“I’ll talk to him.” She said to Gabriel as she ran up to his room, seeing that he was struggling to get himself out of the wheelchair and back into bed. “Let me help you, honey.”

She guided him out of the wheelchair and into bed, taking the old and defrosted ice packs off the sheets with intention of bringing in new ones the following day.

“Have I been the reason you and Father are fighting?”

“No, sunshine. Of course not.” She ran through his hair with her fingers and rubbed his shoulder a little bit after noticing his discomfort. “We’re just worried about you.”

“It’s fine, I get it.” He sighed. “I just need to think.”

“Can I give you something?” Emilie looked down at her hand, taking her wedding band off.

“What is it?” He looked back up at her.

“You are free to make your own choices. I just want you to be happy, dear.” She put the ring in his hand, holding back tears.

She’d never seen him so helpless and downtrodden before. He was always her sunshine on a rainy day.

“Is there anything you need?” She asked him, noticing his silence after he put the ring on.

“I just need to be alone right now, I guess.” He turned himself over to lay with his back facing her, pulling his blanket over himself.

“I love you, Adrien.”

“Love you too, Mom.” He said, half heartedly, shutting his eyes and trying not to think about his fate.

His parents lost faith in his healing.

It was as though every time he was finally starting to feel happy, his disease got exponentially worse. He finally gets to go to a real school, his arm is sprained. He meets a girl he’s immediately smitten with, his leg is hurt.

He finally kisses Marinette and professes his admiration for her, and his parents lose hope for him.

He was never going to get better.

Adrien heard another knock on his door, and decided to ignore it, but his father invited himself in regardless and sat on the bed. 

Gabriel realized his son had begun to resent him. It didn’t take a miraculous or a girl to corrupt him. He’d turned against him all on his own.

This wasn’t according to his plan at all!

“Where have you been?” Adrien asked, coldly.

“London. It was for business.” Gabriel cleared his throat. “I came back as soon as I heard you were hurt. How are you feeling?”

“How do you think?”

Gabriel realized that this was his first actual conversation with his son since he ordered him not to speak to that pesky Ladybug. It was also their first conversation about his injuries.

It was the first time Gabriel felt guilty for his actions.

The cataclysm manifested itself differently in Adrien than it did when he was struck. Instead of being a concentrated blister that slowly spread, Adrien’s was a series of bruises scattered down his side. It took away his ability to walk, too, unlike it did for him.

But part of him thought he deserved it. It was a consequence for his actions. He shouldn’t have acted so hastily with his powers. He shouldn’t have sided with that girl back then, and he shouldn’t this time either.

Then he looked down at his son, finally registering what he had snapped at him a few moments before.

He was just a child. He was suffering.

“I’m sorry, Adrien. I wasn’t there for you before, but I will be now. Ignore what your mother said earlier, we’re working very hard with the doctors to find you a cure.”

“You saw Marinette, didn’t you?” Adrien asked, still not turning to look at him. “Are you going to forbid me from seeing her again? Is that what this is about?”

“I just want what’s best for you as your father and—“

“You can’t just keep me from the girl I love.”

“You don’t know what love is.” Gabriel scoffed. “You’re too young to understand why I do the things I do.”

“But it doesn’t look like I’m going to grow old and find out.” Adrien sank deeper into himself, and Gabriel’s heart dropped at the sight.

He wasn’t wrong.

“I’m sorry.” Gabriel repeated, swallowing his pride.

He had new people to defeat and focus on. Marinette Dupain-Cheng wasn’t his enemy anymore. Ladybug wasn’t either. He had to catch the beetle and the kitty cat now.

He was still determined to fix this, though. To cure his son and keep his family whole. Even amidst all of the backlash his wife was giving him.

“I want to make things right, Adrien.” He looked down at his brooch, considering telling him of all the efforts he was making. Maybe Adrien would have more faith in him if he realized everything he was doing to fix it.

The last time he was going to tell him was before he’d turned back time. He was in the garden on the one year anniversary of Emilie’s death.

Adrien wouldn’t react well. He couldn’t do it.

“Take this, son.” Gabriel took off his wedding band, the other half of his amok, and held it out towards him.

Turning over, Adrien was surprised to see it, and took it hesitantly. “What does this mean for you and mom?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your marriage.” Adrien put on the second ring, looking at it keenly.

Gabriel was taken aback by the jab, but once again swallowed his pride. “Our marriage is fine. We just want to find the best way to help you.”

“That’s what mom keeps saying.” Adrien sat against his headboard again, adjusting his back brace.

“I’m going to fix this, son. I promise.” Gabriel patted his shoulder before walking out.

He meant it, though. He didn’t realize that evading his son would make him resent him more.

He would fix this.

“Today is the big day, girls.” Chloe smirked as she walked down the hallway with her two closest friends.

“Tonight’s watch party is gonna be great, Chlo! I’m so excited for the exclusive interview.” Sabrina cheered, holding open the classroom door.

“I’m completely sure that Red Beatle will rave all about you today. After all, Cheshire personally told me that he swung by your hotel twice during their last patrol.” Lila replied while texting away on her phone before taking her seat next to Chloe.

Second row on the left.

Lila Rossi’s story is very similar in this new world as it was before. After all, she still told everyone whatever they wanted to hear, and finagled herself into becoming best friends with the mayor’s daughter.

She still did have a nemesis, though. Alya Cesaire.

When she transferred to Francois Dupont, her plan was to forge the perfect luxurious image of herself. That meant establishing a connection to Paris’ biggest upcoming celebrities.

Including Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat.

Chloe wasn’t very subtle about her fondness of Red Beatle. After all, she was very outspoken on her feelings for him, having made multiple public attempts to ask him out for dinner during akuma battles.

He would kindly turn her down every time.

She would even go as far as staging fake akuma attacks to attract him to the scene, usually leaving with a quick lecture about how it wasn’t okay to impersonate supervillains for a moment with the heroes.

So Lila couldn’t fake a close relationship with Chloe’s love interest by any means. She would get way too jealous. The way to get into the mayor’s office was to pretend to be close to Cheshire instead, acting as Chloe’s wing-woman.

Alya Cesaire wasn’t like the other easily-manipulated students of their college. She somehow caught on to her lies, and was working on speaking out against it with that timid girl, Juleka.

Lila was talented, though. For every truth Alya would throw at her, she would have an equally convincing lie to cover it up. It was what she did best.

Meanwhile, Alya had stopped by Nino’s desk in the front of the classroom. “Hey, Nino!”

“What’s up Alya?” He asked, taking off his headphones.

“So, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to the art club tomorrow after school! My friend Juleka is trying to start a band and we heard that you’ve been making techno music and I thought it would maybe be a good collab and…” She realized she was rambling when he raised an eyebrow.

Nino grinned and nodded. “I’ll be there. Thanks for the invite!”

Alya fiddled with her hair a little bit and then went to her seat with Juleka, on the front right side of the classroom.

“It seems like you two hit it off.” Juleka said to Alya, very hushed.

“Hey! No need to be sarcastic with me.” Alya whispered back, crossing her arms.

Juleka giggled to herself. “You ready for the Beatle and Cheshire interview tonight?”

“Ready as ever. Honestly, I’m more ready to see Chloe get a little humbled.” She looked over at her talking with Lila, Sabrina contributing a little bit from her seat behind the duo. “How about you?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna watch it with Rose.” Juleka smiled to herself. “If Lila could get humbled too, that would be ideal.”

“I can live with Lila and her antics. I just hope Chloe doesn’t get akumatized from the bad news. Beatle is ‘taken’ after all.” Alya sighed.

Madame Bustier then entered the classroom, gaining everyone’s attention and beginning the day’s French Literature lesson.

In the evening, once the interview was taking place, everyone was watching from the edge of their seats to see the new gossip on Paris’ heroes.

Most of the interview consisted of the two of them assuring that Paris would be safe in their hands, and that they were making strides in Monarch’s defeat. It had been a while since anyone was akumatized, so it gave them time to compose a new plan for when he made his return.

“Paris needs to stay on its feet.” Red Beatle told the camera. “Despite his recent absence, we need to stay alert and ready for Monarch's next attack.”

“Correct.” Cheshire added. “But while we remain vigilant, we mustn’t lose our hope. We need to keep our optimism and positivity afloat to assure that Monarch can’t prey on our negative emotions.”

“You heard them, Paris. We’re all playing a part in this battle, but we’re also very lucky to have these two protecting us from danger.” Nadja announced before looking down at her tablet for the next conversation topics. “We took a poll earlier with a few questions from Parisians, let’s get into it!”

“Throw ‘em at us.” Cheshire sat back, crossing her legs.

“This one's for Red Beatle: Are you in a secret relationship with Chloe Bourgeois? There are many accounts of the two of you spending a great deal of time with one another, and you have saved her personally many times.” Nadja read off from the tablet, then cued for a slew of pictures of him rescuing her to be displayed on the screen behind them.

Red Beatle’s eyes widened and Cheshire had to hold back a laugh, but he cleared his throat to answer once the little slide show was over. “Chloe Bourgeois and I have no relationship. These photos are of me committing to my duties as a superhero, even if they were taken out of context.” He chose his words wisely and meticulously, hoping not to cause Chloe any distress from the screen, but wanting to bring much needed clarity to their situation.

“You mentioned during our last interview that you weren’t single, does this have something to do with it?” Nadja pried, conscious of her ratings.

Red Beatle was at a loss for words, trying so hard to navigate this in a way that would end with no one feeling hurt.

“As a superhero, he isn’t romantically involved with any citizens of Paris.” Cheshire spoke for him, eliciting a sigh of relief from her partner. “And as a civilian, his personal life must remain a secret for the sake of not giving away our identities to Monarch. So we would like to refrain from any more invasive questioning.

“I see, I see.” Nadja swallowed her words. “We can move on to our next questions then. This one is for Cheshire…”

“Well this isn’t how I saw tonight going.” Cheshire commented as she cataclysmed Prime Queen’s wrist piece. “I kinda feel bad for giving her attitude. She was just the messenger of Chloe’s crazy questions after all.”

“I can’t blame you.” Red Beatle took the akuma with his yoyo and cleansed it. “You saved me back there, I really appreciate it.”

Nadja rubbed her eyes and looked around, realizing she was in an exhibit in the Lourve, a teenage girl being helped out of a sarcophagus by Red Beatle as Cheshire offered her a hand.

“It was never my intention to tarnish your image or ruin your show. I wanted to give you my most sincere apology.” Cheshire said to Nadja, helping her get on her feet. “Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

“No need.” Nadja smiled. “You were right, and I’m sorry for putting the two of you in an awkward position. I hope you two would be open to more of our monthly press conferences to assure Paris that they’re safe in the future, though.”

“We’d love that.” Cheshire shook her hand. “Let’s get you back to the studio!” She took out her baton, and then picked up Nadja to begin their travels.

Meanwhile, Red Beatle looked at them leaving, and sighed at Juleka Couffaine, who had been trapped in a sarcophagus and dangled over the Seine as collateral for the miraculouses.

“I’m so sorry.” She said, frustratingly brushing her hands through her hair. “If I hadn’t lost the Bee miraculous, this wouldn’t have happened. Monarch knows who I am now…”

“It’s not your fault, Jule.” Red Beatle patted her shoulder. “We just need to be extra cautious now. If Monarch is willing to use you as a means to get through to us, then we need to start getting more aggressive.”

“I just wish I never got trapped in the sewers that day. There were so many akumas and I didn’t know where else to hide and–”

“Hey, hey,” Beatle stopped her before she’d get too hard on herself. “Don’t put this on yourself, there’s no battle that Cheshire and I can’t win, and you were a really big help with the bee miraculous while you had it. We’ll just be extra careful.”

Juleka sniffled and nodded, suppressing any tears that were about to come out. “Okay. Okay.”

Red Beatle gave her a solemn smile and rubbed her shoulder. “Let’s get you home.”

“Kagami and I have another fencing competition this weekend. Are you gonna be there?” Marinette asked Adrien as she wheeled him into Francois Dupont for art club. “It’s the semifinals for the regional championships!”

“Count me in. I want a front row seat, actually.” Adrien replied. “I caught some kids from a school in Versailles badmouthing me last year, so seeing you and Kagami take them down will be some pretty sweet revenge.”

“Now I have to bring it to the competition. A vengeance win is much more interesting than a regular one.” Marinette joked. “How’s Kagami doing? I feel like I haven’t seen her in forever.”

“She’s good! She was practicing her fencing and archery for most of the break but now that we’re back in school, we’ve been focusing on exams a bunch.” Adrien recalled, noticing that Kagami was rather chipper for having so much on her plate.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Adrien.” Kagami said to him over lunch the day before, on their first day back from break. “And I’m glad to be back in school, too. I need a break from all of the rigorous training.”

“Has your mom been hard on you?” Adrien had a more serious tone.

“Yeah…” She trailed off a little in admittance. “But knowing that you’re well is enough to keep my mind off of it.”

“Thanks, Gami. But I’m here for you to listen if you ever need to let out some steam.” He offered, not knowing what else he could do amidst all of the restrictions her mother puts on her.

“Enough about me, though. How are things with Marinette?” She asked, knowing of how the two of them were sort of infatuated with one another.

She thought it would be harder to support the possibility of a relationship between them, though. But it just felt right to guide Marinette and Adrien together, despite her feelings.

It was what Adrien wanted. It was what made him happy.

That didn’t take away the occasional sting, though. She always wished it were her. She always wished she could have enough freedom to spend time with him. She always wished her mother would allow her to pursue him.

“She’s really awesome. She came over yesterday after she heard I got hurt. Well, I guess you’d know. She said it was your suggestion.” He chuckled.

“Marinette’s a sweet girl. The two of you work well together, I know it.” She encouraged him, kindly.

Marinette engaged the brakes on his wheelchair next to her usual table, but noticed that Juleka and a boy she vaguely recognized were sitting there as well with a laptop.

“Hey Juleka!” She said, taking a seat by Adrien.

“Hey Marinette, hey Adrien.” Juleka greeted. “This is Nino, he’s in our class.”

That was when Marinette put it together. This was definitely the guy Alya was talking about! Nino Lahiffe, he was in the other 8th grade class the year before!

“I remember you! You were in Mendeleiev’s class last year, right?” Marinette pointed out, gladly.

“Totally!” He fist bumped her before laying back in his seat. “Where have you been?”

“Online school. It helps me focus more on my designing so I can make a portfolio for Lycee applications.”

“That’s sick, dudette. So cool.” He then focused on Adrien. “What about you, dude? Where are you from?”

“I go to Ermitage International, but Marinette and the girls actually invited me here.” Adrien held out his fist for a bump, which Nino gladly accepted.

“Fancy school, you have my respect.” He chuckled. “Juleka is tryna start a band, so I’ve been showing her some of my tracks to see if we could make a song. I do some DJ work but also make some beats on the side.” Nino angled his laptop so all of them could listen to what he created.

Alya joined them at the table, smiling and waving with nerves. “Girls, a word?”

“Sure, I’ll be right back, Adrien.” Marinette gave him a quick side hug before getting up to sit with Alya and Juleka on the other side of the room.

“You and Adrien are totally together!” Alya concluded.

“What!?” Marinette was surprised at this accusation, not because it was untrue, but rather because it was extremely timely. “Where’s this coming from?”

“I don’t know what happened between last week and this week, but the chemistry is totally there!”

“This isn’t about me! I thought this girl-talk was gonna be about Nino!” Marinette eyed the boys. “You invited him to art club!?”

“She told him to come to talk to me .” Juleka mumbled. “I think he has the wrong idea. I mean, look at him.” 

And so the girls looked over at the boys.

Nino eyed Adrien, finding him familiar but disregarding it. “You know Alya?”

“Well, I’ve met her a couple times and her friend group invited me to the art club meets last week.” Adrien shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“So you guys are friends?” Nino interrogated, looking over his shoulder to make sure the girls were out of earshot.

“I don’t know her all too well, she’s closer friends to–”

“You seem like you have a lot of rizz, and I dunno how to talk to girls, so I think we would make a good team.” Nino leaned across the table to whisper, straight to the point.

“Rizz?”

“I just need the right play to ask her out. She asked me to come out today to collab with Jule, but I was honestly looking forward to spending time with her . ” Nino sighed. “I think she’s trying to get me with Juleka. And Juleka is cool and all but she’s not the girl I’m into!”

“You just need to tell Alya how you feel. Be honest!” Adrien suggested. “Find a second alone with her and tell her what you like about her.”

“Like what? Like how I think she’s totes brave? Or how she’s so strong and courageous as class rep?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Adrien agreed.

“You’re a smart dude, Adrien.” Nino nodded. “We’re gonna be good friends. I can feel it.”

Adrien realized that this was one of the first guy friends he’d ever made, besides his cousin Felix if that counted. It was sort of heart warming to have met all of these kind people, even though they were in a different school than his own. Everyone at Ermitage was rather cold and closed off, focused on their own tasks and objectives.

Marinette and Adrien made quick eye contact, smiling sweetly at one another as they continued their individual conversations.

“Your sappiness is really hard to miss. Did you two kiss?” Alya pried Marinette yet again, tapping her shoulder.

“Maybe.” Marinette said under her breath. “But again, this is about Nino! Not me and Adrien!”

“Girl!” Alya screeched. “You weren’t gonna tell me you and Adrien Agreste KISSED!?” She whisper-shouted the last part, hoping not to attract unwanted attention from other art students.

“That’s crazy.” Juleka smirked.

“Well, yeah, it kinda just happened.” Marinette sheepishly shrugged. “He was so sweet to me all of Sunday. We were supposed to hang out at a museum but he sorta got hurt so we took a nap at his place and… yeah.”

“Insane, I tell you. Insane.” Alya chuckled.

“But Nino!” Marinette steered back to the topic in question. “You need to clear things up with him. Maybe you should ask him to go to the zoo, just you guys get some alone time.”

“There is a new exhibit after all.” Alya pondered the consideration.

“And your dad gets free tickets.” Juleka added.

“Okay, okay. I’ll ask Nino out for real.” Alya aligned her thoughts. “But I’m really happy for you, Marinette.”

“Thanks, Alya.”

“Ugh!” Chloe entered the room, disgusted by all of the different students she saw. “Where is Lila? She was supposed to meet me here.”

Alya rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Chloe, if you’re only here to degrade us and complain about who’s attending art club again, you're not welcome.”

“Who do you think you are?” Chloe marched up to Alya. “Playing all high and mighty? Hanging out with the reject who refuses to show her face in school?” She jabbed this part at Marinette.

“Your words don’t scare us anymore. We’re standing our ground against you.” Alya said with a sense of command, and Marinette was in awe of her retaliation skills.

“If you come back at me with this attitude, I’ll make sure my Daddykins will fire your mommy from the hotel restaurant, and close down your father’s zoo too. He’s just a phone call away.” She pulled out her expensive cell, flaunting it in front of them. “Sabrina, back me up.”

“Chloe, isn’t this a little far?” Sabrina asked, very quietly, hoping not to stir the pot. “You can’t just ruin everyone’s lives when things don’t go your way.”

“You too!?” Chloe snapped at Sabrina. “Where is Lila !? She wouldn’t turn against me like this. I can’t keep dealing with everyone turning me down.”

“Let’s go.” Sabrina took Chloe’s hand, taking a pacifist approach. “We can call Lila outside. Let’s not cause any more trouble!”

“I’m done being shut out, again and again!” Chloe stormed out, throwing her phone on the ground.

“Chloe, wait!” Sabrina ran after her, and Alya sighed.

“I’m gonna call my mom and make sure nothing happens to her job. I need to explain this to her.” Alya took out her phone and ran out of the classroom, leaving Juleka and Marinette to return to their former table with Adrien and Nino.

“You were friends with that girl?” Nino asked Adrien, confused.

Adrien scratched his head. “Uh, yeah. Long story.”

Monarch found a familiar opportunity that arose.

Chloe Bourgeois.

She was feeling the rejection from a lover, from her classmates, and from her friends.

Whenever Gabriel was inspired to create an attack, he would have this certain smoldering grin arise as he went to his study.

Emilie and Nathalie knew of this. They studied him and knew him all too well. That was how they formed their plan.

Nathalie followed him to his underground lair, one that had once served as an observatory to the Agrestes.

By the time she’d gotten there, he was already transformed and had sent the akuma on its way to his target.

“Why are you doing this, Gabriel?” She asked him from behind, suppressing her coughs. “What will you wish for?”

“Isn’t it clear? I want to heal you and Adrien.” He snickered. “And it will work.”

“You seem rather happy to commit to villainy.” She said, expressionless.

“I am doing the work that will bring this family back together. I’ll be truly happy someday.” Monarch stepped towards her. “My creation… my masterpiece is in the making. This is just one part of the puzzle.”

“How did I get sick, Gabriel?” Nathalie questioned, stern. “I never used the peacock miraculous. How did I get sick?”

Monarch realized that Emilie and Nathalie may not have been conspiring with one another like he would have thought, unless this were a ruse.

He had no way of knowing what she truly heard from Emilie. He had to proceed with caution.

“Whatever it may be, it’ll be fixed once I make the wish.”

“Let me help you.” Nathalie reached out her hand. “Two minds are better than one. Please, let me help you.”

Monarch was even more suspicious. Although Emilie never outwardly offered him help, she seemed to detest it when she assisted him with the Catalyst event. That made him unsure of what Nathalie’s true intentions were. He assumed that she was either conspiring with Emilie or trying to get revenge for what he may have put her through.

“I don’t trust you.” He told her, gently pushing her extended hand back towards her. “This is something I’ll have to do myself. Now please leave.”

He turned back around.

Without another word, Nathalie stepped back into the lift that would take her out of his lair with a sigh.

Waiting for her by the top was Emilie, holding the peacock miraculous.

“How did you find the miraculous so fast?” Nathalie asked, amusingly watching Emilie fasten the peacock miraculous.

“Men are messy. He kept it in the safe, as if I wouldn’t have checked his desk for the note with the new code. Duusu, transform me.” Emilie was braced by a bright blue light as her elegant blue gown and cape formed around her. “I’ll be quick, Nath. If he comes up, keep him occupied.”

Nathalie waved her goodbye as she exited the office swiftly, and then it was time to execute the next part of their plan.

Emilie’s sentimonster was a number of wisps that she would summon to guide Red Beatle in her direction. Without attracting too much attention, she hid in a sewer and set the wisps in a trail from Beatle’s location to hers.

“What is that?” Cheshire pointed at the small blue flames that flickered at them.

“You’re supposed to be focused on ME!” Antibug yelped, using her “anti-charm”-- which was actually a massive sword– to swing at the heroes.

“Hold her back, Cheshire. I’ll take care of this.” Red Beatle went to follow the trail after dodging the aggressive attack, and the cat nodded at him, hoping it wouldn’t be too much trouble.

Beatle swung his yoyo in circles to hold up a shield of sorts as he climbed down the sewer ladder, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of danger.

If his assumptions were correct, this could be related to one of the lost miraculouses he was recovering.

He’d reached the last wisp, though, and surveyed his surroundings to see what they could have led to.

“You aren’t in danger.” He heard from a feminine voice, causing him to take a more alert stance.

“Who are you?” He called, trying to find the source of the speaking.

With her hands raised up, the blue-clad lady walked from around the corner into his field of vision. “Call me Le Paon.”

Without hesitation, he used his yoyo to trap her, wrapping it around her tightly. “Who are you, really? Are you working with Monarch?”

“No.”

“It was my understanding that Monarch was in possession of all three of the lost miraculouses.”

“You would be right. I stole this one from him, but we don’t have a lot of time.” She submitted, trying to calm his qualms. “I know who he is, I want your help to defeat him.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” He asked, pacing around her.

“Monarch is Gabriel Agreste. Do you trust me now? Detransform me.” She revealed herself to be none other than Emilie Agreste.

He let out a gasp and released his yoyo. “He was one of our suspects.”

“Until he akumatized himself to throw you off.” Emilie finished his thought. “I kept him distracted so I could take this miraculous and work with you.”

“How do I know that you’re not one of his accomplices?”

“Because Gabriel is insane. I assume you’re the guardian, right?” She fed Duusu with another cracker she’d saved in her jacket’s pocket.

“I am. Monarch attacked the old guardian very early on. I was warned that a wish was already made, so I assumed he may have had knowledge on how to defeat us.” Beatle recalled. “What did he wish for?”

“He said it was to heal me.” She responded with guilt. “But I know he was lying about something. Our son, Adrien, is sick with something beyond our understanding. I don’t know what consequences his wish would have but we need to stop him. He keeps each of the three miraculouses in separate secured places, and this was the only one I could find without him knowing. He can’t know I was out here.”

“Cataclysm.”

“What?” She asked.

Red Beatle sighed. “I can’t give you all of the details because our identities need to remain a secret, but Cheshire and I think your son is suffering from a cataclysm hit.”

Emilie’s first instinct was to ask him how he knew, and what she was supposed to do to fix it, but the somber look in his eyes was enough to make her swallow her words. “He was never struck by Cheshire before he began suffering.”

“His previous wish must have passed it on to Adrien.”

Emilie held her head with her hands for a minute before straightening out her thoughts. “We can’t let him make another wish. It would only end with more chaos. We can think about how to heal Adrien after Gabriel is defeated.”

“Do you know what his next plans are? Does he know our identities?” He asked, rushed.

“If he knew your identities, he would have captured you both by now.”

Red Beatle tapped his chin. “What do you need from me, then?”

“I don’t know. All I have to offer is this knowledge, but I’m not safe at home. Neither is Adrien or our assistant. We can’t do much because he’s made it impossible to get our hands on the bee miraculous.”

“Take this, then.” Red Beatle opened his yoyo and reached into its light, pulling out a nose ring and handing it to her. “I can’t thank you enough for your help, but this is the miraculous of Determination. If Mr. Agreste tries to harm you or your son in any way, this will make you invulnerable to akumas and venom strikes.”

“Thank you.” Taking it tenderly, she nodded. 

When she was about to take off the peacock brooch to hand to him, he stopped her. “We don’t need the peacock back yet. If Monarch knows it was taken, it might put your family in danger. Keep it.”

“You’re truly an incredible hero.” She smiled, and then called her transformation.

“Thank you, Paon.” He nodded before going back up the sewers to attack the akuma, and she went back to her home to put the peacock away.

“Did he suspect anything?” Emilie asked, shutting the safe with the peacock miraculous, as if it were untouched.

“Not at all. News shows that Cheshire was giving Antibug a good fight.” Nathalie was relieved to know they weren’t caught, but pleasantly surprised when she was shown the Ox miraculous. “He gave it to you?”

“Yes. He didn’t want to take the peacock miraculous, either. He’s a good kid.” Emilie gave her the nose ring. “I can’t risk Gabriel finding it.”

Nathalie put it in her pocket, but noticed Emilie’s downtrodden expression. “What is it?”

“Adrien’s condition is worse than I could have imagined.” She said, guiding them away from the office and towards the kitchen.  “It was a cataclysm strike. Gabriel must have been hit in his past and the wish passed it to Sunshine.”

Nathalie gasped in horror. “And he dared to put that on you? To say it was your condition?”

“He’s insane, Nathalie.” Emilie felt a tear fall down her face. “But the heroes will defeat him. I’m sure. The Red Beatle is a good kid, and Cheshire Cat is so strong. We can figure out what to do next once his miraculouses have been taken.”

Nathalie gave Emilie a hug, letting her weep on her shoulder.

“Do you think Nino and Alya will ever figure it out?” Adrien asked Marinette, sitting next to her in the park and sharing a quiche. “They seem really into one another, but it looks like they’re just missing the communication.”

“A couple kisses from me and you’re already playing the love coach.” Marinette playfully jabbed at him.

“Hey! Watch the attitude!” He laughed, taking a bite of the quiche. “But I think they’ll get it right sometime. He was talking so highly of her.”

“Alya is a pretty great girl after all.” Marinette pointed out, feeding Adrien the last piece of quiche.

“So are you.” He said after he finished, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I think I better start getting home, though. My parents are probably worried sick after realizing there was an akuma attack nearby.”

“I’ll take you to the curb then.” She threw away their trash and went back to their bench to sit with him.

“Before we go, can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

Adrien took a deep breath, thinking back at the past couple hours and what he’d been preparing for.

Amidst his conversation with Nino, he realized that he shouldn’t wait to get clarity with Marinette. Of course, he didn’t want to come off too strong or scare her away with his intense feelings and the baggage that could come with his sickness, though. 

“You’re just the person who’s been keeping me going. Keeping my mind off of my condition and making me happy.” He took her hand with his and held it on his lap. “But I know I come with a lot of baggage, and a lot of problems, and I’d completely understand if you said no because of them.”

“Adrien, I—“

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

Marinette stopped her thoughts and looked at him, eyes wide. “No baggage is too much for me. I want this as much as you do. I’d love to be your girlfriend.”

Adrien traced his hand up her arm and rubbed her shoulder. “You’re amazing.”

“You are too.” She gave him a kiss and ruffled his hair a bit. “Let’s get you to your chauffeur.”

Chapter Text

April 24th, 2017.

Before the wish.

Ladybug’s heart palpitated at the sight before her.

She was hidden from view, texting Chat Noir with haste and desperation after witnessing Monarch’s transformation fall.

It was Gabriel Agreste. Monarch was Gabriel Agreste. And he laid Nathalie Sancouer down in her deathbed.

The Alliance rings were all Gabriel’s doing. The miraculous powers must have been transferred through them. That was the only explanation.

She pressed send on her drafted message. Exhaling when she realized Gabriel left the room.

And Nathalie’s last words were pleading her to detransform.

In London, Adrien realized all bets were loose.

He couldn’t suppress his urge to check on Marinette, no matter how dangerous it could have been. The headaches from the nightmares were intense, but he persisted nevertheless.

Adrien transformed cataclysmed the wall of his holding room, immediately calling his Astro-Cat transformation and booking it to Paris.

But his heart dropped when he saw the message waiting for him on his cat-phone.

Gabriel Agreste, his father, was Monarch.

Finding this out was something Adrien was never prepared for. He never really had any theories for the identity of Monarch, so this information was nothing less than surreal.

Adrien was only seeing red.

Of course it had to be his father. That sick, sick man who was going to the greatest lengths to make him miserable.

But why?

By the time he reached Paris, he noticed a barrage of… people… somehow using the transportation miraculous.

He had to get to the mansion.

Chat didn’t get there without a fight, though. Some of these transformed individuals had hopped right in his way, not hesitating to venom or strike him from all sides.

In a last minute attempt to get out of this predicament, he vaulted off the rooftop he was on and managed to hop though the voyage portal another Alliance had created, which led him straight into the mansion.

“Free Kagami and Adrien!” They all chanted.

“Chat!” Ladybug grunted, trying to fight the hold of at least ten of them.

He used his baton to push some of them astray, then engaged in combat alongside Ladybug to push them away and run elsewhere.

While going across the main foyer, Ladybug grabbed a hold of Chat and pulled him closer. “We need to transform back,” she whispered, continuing her stride up a staircase.

“What about our identities!?” Chat pleaded, dodging more attacks.

“It’s the only way they’ll stop tracking us. I don’t know what else we can do.”

Chat gulped, his mind was everywhere but on this battle. He was too worried about where Marinette must be or how she was faring, since he knew she didn’t have one of those rings.

His father and Kagami’s mother must have schemed this. It was sickening. Was this why his father always wanted to give him one of those rings? So they could turn him into a pawn for this battle?

Why would his father go this far?

“It’ll be okay.” She reassured while also trying to convince herself, tying her yoyo to the chandelier and grabbing his waist. “Get ready.”

Together, they swung into the dining room and then into the kitchen, closing the door behind themselves.

And then they both promptly detransformed.

“Adrien!” She gasped, quickly covering her own mouth as her eyes widened. “But… your father!”

“Marinette, you’re okay!” He pulled her into a tight hug, almost forgetting about the hundreds of Alliance minons who were chasing after them a minute ago.

It was too much for him to bear.

“If I had known you were… you, I wouldn’t have told you so carelessly. Your father—“ she couldn’t finish the thought. “I’m so sorry, Adrien. I wish it didn’t have to be like this.”

With a sad smile, he shrugged it off. “Like you said, it’ll be okay. Right?” He took her hand and they hid in the pantry, feeding their Kwamis with what they could find. “And I’m so happy it’s you.”

“Me—“ Adrien covered her mouth with a stutter in his breath, hearing the creaking of the kitchen door opening.

“Where are you two?” Monarch crept into the kitchen, looking through the cabinets and pacing around the island.

Adrien was losing his composure, taking a tight grasp on Marinette’s hand as he tried ever so hard to keep his breathing quiet.

She turned to him, putting her hand on his cheek, and looked into his eyes while giving him a strong nod. Even if she was unsure what her next move would be.

“Found you.” Monarch burst through the pantry door, hesitating as soon as he saw the two heroes and their kwamis. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng? I should have known. But my own son?”

“Transform me!” They both announced, immediately pushing Monarch back and engaging in combat.

Monarch would consistently swing with the Bee’s venom, trying everything to subdue Ladybug and Chat Noir, but he was still invulnerable to all of their attacks.

But it all came crashing down when Chat cataclysmed the ground below them, revealing Monarch’s lair.

Ladybug was still on the ground, reorienting herself, as Chat picked Monarch’s baton up from the rubble and trudged towards him.

“Why?” Was all he could muster up asking as he swiped a few of the rings from his right hand, holding the cane up to his father’s throat and stepping on his wrist to keep him from trying anything. “Why are you doing this?”

“For our family, Adrien.” Monarch looked up towards the end of the walkway, where Emilie was laying.

Chat retracted the baton and walked down.

“Plagg, Wayzz, unify.”

His mother laid there, sound asleep.

He couldn’t process any of it. This had to be some twisted joke, right? Or maybe just a nightmare that he’d forget in the morning.

“Mother…” He placed a hand on the cold glass of her coffin.

“Chat!” Ladybug yelped as Monarch charged behind him, venom activated.

He turned in time, though, using the turtle ring to put a shellter on Monarch’s other hand. “You’re bringing her back, aren’t you.” Chat sounded more sinister than sympathetic. “That’s why you did all of this?”

Monarch let his guard down. “You were so happy when she was here. When we had a full family.”

“And I was happy when I was with Marinette, and Nathalie, and all my friends at school.” He looked back at his mother. “I miss mom every single day, but I can never help but feel like I lost both of my parents the day she left us.”

“My son, we can fix this. We can become whole again, if you let me.”

“It’s too late, Father.” Chat put a hand on Monarch’s shoulder. “This ends now.” He reached for the Butterfly brooch, but Monarch backed away and snatched his cane from Chat.

Ladybug reoriented herself by then, using her yoyo to pull Monarch away from her partner, also reaching for the brooch.

He was able to dodge, focusing back on his son and grabbing the hand with the alliance rings.

Ladybug was too late, as Monarch successfully took the turtle miraculous and used the charged venom on his son.

Monarch didn’t waste any time, and he took Chat’s miraculous, silencing Plagg and transforming.“Cataclysm!”

“You have to give something up to make a wish.” Ladybug swirled her yoyo and deployed it as a shield. “What are you willing to sacrifice?”

“Anything!” He snarled, threatening her with his newfound powers. “Adrien will thank me for this. He’ll understand why I did what I did. I’ll make everything right.”

“Father, stop it!” Adrien pleaded, crawling to his mother’s coffin.

“You should have spent your last few months with him.” She kept pacing closer. “He needed you. He missed who you were before his mother disappeared.”

“You don’t understand what he needs!” Monarch charged forward again, swinging his hand and missing.

She reached for the rings, but he called his shellter too quickly, covering that hand.

“You could be sacrificing your own son to be with your wife. Your family will be broken either way.” She pleaded.

He then called his clout power, grabbing Ladybug’s wrist and punching with all his might.

With the deadly combination of clout and cataclysm striking her, Ladybug was beaten down, struggling to regain her consciousness.

Success.

He stepped up to her near-lifeless body, then took the earrings. The last piece of the puzzle.

“Tikki, Plagg, reveal yourselves.”

June 3rd, 2016.

After the wish.

Wang Fu was surprised to figure out that he had been there before. Wayzz awakened him with alarm.

“Master, a wish has been made.” He told him, tapping his arm.

“What?” He rubbed his eyes, rising from his bed and yawning. “What do you mean?”

“Kwamis are unable to remember what happened before a wish, but we are aware of when the world is changed or recreated.” He informed his Master. “A wish has been made.”

Fu tapped his chin and began pacing towards the miracle box. He opened the box and took the earrings and ring out, placing them on his dresser and releasing the kwamis. “How was a wish made if the jewels are still here?”

“It must have turned back time. That would be the only reasonable explanation.” Wayzz noted as he saw Plagg and Tikki emerge.

“Was this my doing?” Fu asked them.

“Oh brother.” Plagg said, also yawning and stretching his tiny arms. “Some humans can be so greedy, right Tikki?”

“Plagg! This is serious! Someone really bad got a hold of our jewels.” Tikki flew towards Fu. “You understand we don’t have recollection of any details, but I do remember the wish being made with mal-intent. This wasn’t you, Master.”

“This is unprecedented. Do you believe the jewels could have been stolen by the same person who has the Butterfly or Peacock?” Fu asked the three kwamis. “Should we be worried about it happening again?”

“We need to stay cautious. What would your first instinct be if you saw one of those miraculouses used for evil?” Wayzz asked, worry lingering behind his eyes.

Fu looked back at Tikki and Plagg. “Enlist a new Ladybug and Black Cat to defeat them.”

“Can you give me something to eat?” Plagg raised an eyebrow at a terrified Alya Cesaire. “I’m starving.”

“Excuse me!?”

“Okay okay, I’m an all-powerful super god, you’re gonna be a superhero, now please feed me!” He flew in front of her face, pleading.

“Take this.” Alya had some cantaloupe out on her desk, so she took a piece and handed it to him. “Can you explain what’s going on in simpler terms now?”

“I’m Plagg, a kwami.” He said between bites. “You say ‘Plagg, transform me’ and you’ll turn into a superhero with the power of destruction. Say ‘cataclysm’ and you can destroy anything you touch.”

“Cataclysm?”

“No, you need to be transformed for that to work.”

“Okay, okay, okay.” Alya took a deep breath. “So why am I suddenly being summoned? Why me?”

“I dunno. You seem competent and have a bunch of superheroes on your wall.” He pointed to the Majestia posters around her room. “You need to defeat the fire girl.”

Alya looked out her window, watching the ‘fire girl’ in question wreak havoc around the city from afar. “Plagg, transform me.”

On the other side of Paris was a boy guiding civilians onto a houseboat on the Seine, hoping they would be safer in the water.

Once the coast seemed to be clear, he and his sister ran into their cabin in the back, shutting the door and sitting on their beds.

“Luka, what’s that?” Juleka pointed at a box that sat on his desk.

Not knowing what could possibly be in store for him, Luka opened the box and a bright pink light bathed him and his sister, and out came a little red creature.

Juleka let out the loudest scream Luka had ever heard come from her, and she backed away to the corner of the room. Luka just looked more carefully at the creature, completely confused.

“Hi, I’m Tikki!” She smiled at him. “I’m a kwami, and I grant the power of creation. You have been chosen to be one of Paris’ superheroes!”

Luka looked back at his sister, noticing how she was calming down a little bit. “He has to defeat the fire girl?”

“He isn’t defeating her, he’s saving her!” Tikki flew to Juleka. “But neither of you can tell anyone about me, or your new duty as a superhero.”

“Was she supposed to find out?” Luka asked Tikki, pointing back at Juleka.

“Not ideally, but her knowing now keeps you from having to maintain a big secret in your own room.”

“This is crazy.” Juleka mumbled.

“How do I defeat the fire girl?” Luka asked, putting on the earrings from the box.

“When you’re ready to transform, you’ll say ‘Tikki, transform me!’ Then, you’ll have a power called the ‘Lucky Charm.’ When you say those words, an item that would help you with your mission will appear!” Tikki sat on the desk in front of Luka. “Fire girl has an item on her, usually the one that acts as her weapon, that has an akuma in it.”

“What’s an akuma?” He asked.

“Someone else, with similar powers as yours, has a miraculous too. Instead of earrings of the Ladybug, it is the brooch of the Butterfly. Their power creates akumas that force their target to do their evil bidding.”

Juleka shrugged. “Butterflies don’t sound that evil.”

“They shouldn’t be evil, but whoever has the brooch is using it to make supervillains.” Tikki frowned. “You need to break the item with the akuma and cleanse it with your yoyo, thus saving the victim!”

“And I’m assuming we need to work quickly, before this girl burns all of Paris to the ground?” Luka got up from his seat, looking out the window.

“Yes. And after summoning your lucky charm, you’ll have five minutes before you transform back. You can throw your lucky charm in the air after saving the victim to restore Paris to how it was before the butterfly took control of her.”

“As if Paris were never burned?”

“Precisely.” Tikki flew up to Luka’s eye level. “You’ll also have a partner, the black cat. You two need to work together, and do not let the akuma capture your jewels.”

“Got it.”

“Are you ready to save Paris?”

Luka nodded. “I am. Tikki, transform me!” Once he was braced by Tikki’s powers, he gave a reassuring look to Juleka, opening his window. “Sit tight, you’re gonna be okay Jule.”

He jumped out the ship’s window and tied his yoyo to a lamp post nearby, swinging across the Seine and into the city.

“HEY! You don’t have to do this!” He saw a cat themed heroine bouncing around the rooftops, chasing the akuma dubbed ‘Ember.’

She halted her travels to look back at him, a little bothered. “Who the heck are you?”

“I’m, uh, Red.” Luka realized he’d never thought of a superhero name that didn’t include ‘Lady’ in it.

“Red? Red what?” She said, dodging a hit from Ember, taking out her baton to use as a bat. “Watermelon? Ladybug? Beetle?”

“I like the Beatles.” He ducked from a fire strike, and then watched Ember fly away from them, spraying fire down the next street.

“I wasn’t talking about English bands, but okay, Red Beatle. I’m Cheshire Cat. Do you wanna catch this girl or what?” She didn’t wait for his answer before bounding across Paris to catch this girl, taking an aggressive approach.

Red Beatle realized that there was work to be done.

Following her and trying to get a better handle of his yoyo traveling, he saw Ember approaching the Eiffel Tower. He knew that wouldn’t be good, she’d have too much leverage from up there.

“Cheshire Cat, don’t let her get up there!” He called out, trying his best to catch up but realizing that they were way too far ahead of him.

Think, Luka, think.

“Lucky charm!” A water gun? Simple enough.

Red Beatle swung down by a park with a fountain, filling up the water gun and then swinging to the Tower, where Cheshire was still in combat.

Cheshire continued thrashing her baton at Ember, who dodged each hit and would retaliate with a gust of flames.

“WHY WON’T ANYONE LISTEN TO ME!?” Ember screamed, raining fire on them. 

“I’ll listen!” Red Beatle fastened the spotted water gun on his belt and raised his arms from the bottom of the tower. “What’s on your mind?”

Ember furrowed her eyebrows, floating down to be face to face with him. “No one listens to me. They’re all so cruel, they won’t even let me defend myself.”

“You don’t have to burn them to get them to listen.” He said, holding out his hand. “We can change things. I’ll help you.”

Just as Ember was about to take his hand, Cheshire landed behind her with a thud, causing her to turn around and brandish her phone, ready to shoot more flames. “This was a trick!” She yelped.

“No!” Red Beatle shouted, using his yoyo to pull her back, but she still sprayed the ground all around them with flames, entrapping them in a circle of fire.

She was able to get loose, though, and Cheshire extended her baton to trip Ember. Beatle then used the water gun, spraying the water on Ember’s fire circle and flame-throwing phone, knocking it to the ground.

Dropping the gun, Beatle once again restrained ember with the yo-yo, and kicked the phone towards Cheshire. “Use your powers!”

“Cataclysm!” She didn’t hesitate, freeing the butterfly from the phone.

Red Beatle then cleansed the akuma and called his “Miraculous Beatle” chant, extinguishing all the fire around Paris.

“You!” Cheshire pointed her baton at the now-ordinary teenage girl. “Your powers are now gone, you can’t run away from us!”

Red Beatle put a hand on Cheshire’s shoulder to pull her back a bit, and she lowered the baton.

“Are you guys super villains or something?” The girl said, clearly confused. “You don’t have to point that thing at me. I’m just a normal girl.”

“Do you not remember what you just did to Paris like five seconds ago? There was fire everywhere!” A crowd started to gather as Cheshire reprimanded the girl.

The girl observed this, looking around in pain. “What fire?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be too aggressive, Cheshire. Remember, she was under the butterfly’s influence.” Red Beatle took a step forward, offering his hand to the girl and helping her up. “What’s your name?”

“Marinette?” She responded, placing a hand on her pounding head.

“I’m Red Beatle, and this is my partner Cheshire. We rescued you from something called an akuma. The real supervillain took advantage of your emotions to make you do their bidding.”

“Wait, so there’s actually a supervillain? I’m so confused!” Marinette scratched her head, but froze in her place as the crowd that amassed was all staring right at her. “I’m a supervillain?”

“No! Not at all.” Red Beatle put a hand on her shoulder. He assumed Cheshire wasn’t aware of the true circumstances. Maybe her kwami didn’t provide many details. “We don’t know who the real bad guy is, but we’re going to stop them.”

“You guys hear that!?” Cheshire announced towards the crowd. “We don’t know who’s creating all these supervillains, but we will stop them and keep Paris safe!”

“That’s right!” Red Beatle added. “A mysterious entity has turned an innocent person into one of their pawns. We will free Paris from the clutches of the true villain!”

The crowd roared in response.

Their jewels began ringing, alarming both the heroes.

“We need to go, this cat is out!” Cheshire said, winking as she used her baton to bound away.

“Get home safely, Marinette.” Red Beatle said as he used a yoyo to swing away, following his partner.

“The butterfly, hm?” Cheshire smirked, turning to face the Beatle in an alleyway. “Seems like I jumped the gun back there, but it’s nice to formally meet you.” She held out a hand to shake.

“You too. I think we balance each other out.” Red Beatle shook back. “You should probably get some more information from your kwami, though.”

“He’s a little temperamental, but I’ll get it out of him.” Cheshire laughed. “I’ll see you around, Beatle.”

“See you.”

“You know you just saved a celebrity super model, right?” Cheshire asked Beatle after he cleansed Style Queen’s akuma.

“Yeah, he said he was Gabriel Agreste’s son.” Red Beatle tethered his yo-yo to the top of a nearby building, swinging to the rooftop with Cheshire following near behind them. Letting out a sigh, he looked over at the Parisian skyline.

“What is it, Red?” Cheshire poked his shoulder when noticing his downtrodden expression.

“Look.” He opened his yoyo, pulling out the bee miraculous and eliciting a confused look from Cheshire. “The previous guardian of the miraculouses, Master Fu, made me the new guardian.”

“Oh my god.” She observed the comb a little closer, trying to understand the implications of guardianship. “There are more miraculouses?”

“Many more. But it all happened so fast.” He put the miraculous away and then placed his hand on her shoulder. “I can’t do this by myself.”

Not knowing what he was getting at, she took a seat, hanging her legs over the ledge of the rooftop, patting down next to her to invite him to sit. “We’re a team. I’m here to help if you need it.”

“There’s a book out there, it’s called the Grimoire. The Master assumed that the Butterfly still has a hold of it, but it has all the information on the miraculous powers, ways for us to advance our miraculouses, more information than we could dream of.” He looked down, resting his elbows on his legs. “And our only gateway to that was the guardian. He gave us our jewels and had access to all of them.”

“And then he passed that responsibility onto you?” She asked, glancing at his yoyo.

“Yep.” He popped the ‘p’ and then sat back up, pushing his hair out of his face. “When a guardian passes the miracle box to appoint a new guardian, they lose all memory of the miraculouses, the kwamis, everything.”

“Why’d he give it to you?” She asked, gently. “We’ve only had our miraculouses for a month now.”

“I’m sure your kwami explained it to you at some point, but combining our ring and earrings gives the wearer a wish.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what the butterfly wants. And apparently, they already succeeded.” He was trying his best to wrap his head around what Fu had told him earlier in the day, still trying to understand it himself. “Fu suspected that the butterfly turned back time with the wish, so this is his second time around. He already knew who the guardian was, so Fu passed it to me before the butterfly could take advantage.”

Cheshire blinked a few times, grasping this information that sounded so unbelievable. “I’m guessing that we didn’t have the jewels the last time around. Otherwise, he would have caught us already.”

“I guess that’s a good consideration. I wish we weren’t in this alone, though.” He shrugged, fiddling with his yoyo some more, as if it would make his new role feel more tangible. “Can I make a crazy suggestion?”

“Shoot it.”

“We should know each other's identities.” He blurted. “We’re a team after all, right? We need all hands on deck, and I think this will be the best way for us to both operate as equals.”

Cheshire raised an eyebrow. She was a firm rule-follower, but knew deep down that rules were meant to be broken.

She also appreciated how devoted Red Beatle was in assuring their equality. Ever since she began her duties as a super heroine, she had to get used to delegating responsibility.

Alya Cesaire was someone who adored heroes. She had to admit, it was her childhood dream to eventually report hands-on intel on the heroes of New York City in America. Those heroes, especially Majestia, were her idols.

It was very different to be the one doing the saving, though. She convinced herself that she was more than ready until she realized the publicity that came with heroism. Politics, too.

Her job was to be the voice of reason. To be the partner to the Beatle. To keep the greater good in mind despite all else.

It taught her selflessness, but it also taught her how to put her life in someone else’s hands. To let in Red Beatle and receive help from him. To trust someone else.

“Detransform me.” She said, pulling a piece of cheese out of her shirt pocket to give to Plagg. “Alya Cesaire, nice to meet you.”

Beatle grinned, glad she was on board with his suggestion. “Aren’t you the girl who runs the Beatle Blog?”

“Yup. Best way to stay under the radar.”

“Very smart, I must say. Detransform me.” He held out a hand to shake. “And I’m Luka Couffaine.”

“Blue hair is a good touch. I like it better than the red highlights your costume gives you.” Alya pointed out.

“I happen to like the red!” Luka interjected before noticing how Tikki was flying up to him. 

“You need to tell her about Juleka.” She whispered to him, and he realized he forgot that detail.

“What is it?” Alya noticed his face dropping.

“I have a twin sister.” He answered.

“Okay, and?”

“She knows.”

“Your secret identity!?” Alya raised her voice, but Tikki then turned to her.

“She was there when he received the earrings.” Tikki justified, sitting on her holder’s shoulder. “You can’t blame him.”

Alya took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. Can I meet her?”

Juleka took a sharp inhale when she saw a familiar face walk into the classroom on September 1st, 2016.

It was Alya.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Alya ran to the back the classroom to sit by Juleka. “I didn’t know you went here!” Alya whispered, grinning. “I thought you and Luka were 15!”

“Yeah, but I was held back a year.” Juleka replied, defensively.

Alya shrugged. “Can I be your seat buddy then? I dunno anyone else who goes here.”

Juleka looked up at a blonde-haired girl who walked in, a lazy smile creeping on her face. It was Rose. She was walking into the room with Mylene, and she gave her a small wave as she took her seat.

“Girl?” Alya prodded again, snapping Juleka to attention.

“Uh, sure, but–”

Alya didn’t wait to take Juleka’s arm and guide her to a seat right in the front row.

“So what is it with the blonde girl?” Alya pointed at Chloe Bourgeois, who was walking in and sassing a student on the other side of the classroom. “Does she run the place?”

“Chloe sucks.” Juleka replied. “Mayor’s daughter. She drove my friend out of school last year.”

“Settle down, class.” The teacher, Mdm. Bustier, gained everyone’s attention. “Let’s get started with attendance.”

“Not single?” Alya said on the phone to Luka, right after she returned home from their first interview with Nadja Chammack. “That’ll get Chloe off your back for sure.” 

“She faked an akuma attack yesterday!” Luka defended himself, earning an unimpressed laugh from Juleka, who was listening in. “That Lila girl in your class is trouble too. She’s been fueling Chloe with talks that she’s best friends with Cheshire, at least from what Juleka told me.”

“Terrible, absolutely terrible.” Alya rolled her eyes. “The whole school is brainwashed. The girl is a pathological liar and it drives me insane. No one believes me when I point out any of her inconsistencies!”

“It must be really frustrating.” Luka sympathized. “I hope this whole thing puts Chloe’s antics to a rest.”

“Me too, Luka. Me too.” She concluded. “Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow for patrol?”

“Yeah. See you.” Luka hung up, sighing as he sat back on his bed. “How about you, Jule? How are you holding up?”

Juleka scoffed. “They’re annoying.”

“Can’t disagree with that one.” He glanced over at her as she was editing some photos she took on Alya’s behalf for the Beatle Blog. “Juleka, can I ask you something?”

“You already did.”

Ignoring the sass, Luka went under his bed to where he kept the miracle box, opening the compartment with the bee miraculous.

“Are you sure, Luka?” Tikki warned him as he pulled out the comb.

“More sure than ever.” He walked up to his sister and presented it to her. “I want you to take the miraculous of the bee. It grants the power of subduction, and you’d be an amazing part of the super team.”

Juleka gulped. “Are you sure? What if I suck and accidentally freeze you or something?”

“You won’t.” He put it in her hand. “You’re already such a great part of the team behind the scenes. I think if you have this miraculous in secret, you’d be able to use venom on enemies without the butterfly knowing.”

Without another word, she took the miraculous and put it in her hair.

“So Monarch now has three miraculouses. It’s okay. Right?” Alya paced back and forth on the house boat, and Juleka was curled up underneath a blanket.

“We can manage.” Luka sighed, sitting next to his sister and patting her on the shoulder. “The bee saved us from countless close calls with Monarch, especially during yesterday’s red akuma battle.”

“Whatever.” Juleka sank deeper into herself, frankly disappointed in what she’d done.

She didn’t know an akuma could be invisible. How was she supposed to prepare for that!?

“Because of all of this, our mom decided to plan a trip to Scotland. She knows something’s up with Juleka and she knows we’re not feeling too safe in Paris. We can’t get out of it.” Luka said to Alya. “I need you to take the earrings when I’m gone.” 

“Absolutely not.”

“Who else would take them?” He pleaded, noticing how Tikki was gravitating towards Juleka to comfort her. “I’ll try really hard to get our mom to cancel, but she even booked the train tickets and everything.”

“When will it be?” Alya submitted, shooting a knowing look to Plagg. “And how long?”

“Four days, during fall holiday. And if anything happens, I’ll take the horse miraculous with me, but the Ladybug needs to stay in Paris.” He recounted, leaning forward and running a hand through his hair. “Trust me, I’ve tried every excuse in the book. My mom’s not taking any of it.”

“I’ll do it. How bad could it be?” Alya let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

Luckily, Monarch never attacked. Not for the entire fall holiday, at that!

But she did remember taking a routine patrol over Paris and seeing a familiar couple watching the Eiffel Tower from a balcony…

Dang. Marinette and Adrien were totally getting together! She had to approach this next Tuesday.

Then she came to a much darker realization.

She never had a good enough look at Adrien’s injuries until then, but his short sleeved shirt revealed a dark sleeve of bruises that tainted his arm.

The following week at Art club, she investigated this closer, instructing Plagg to sneak a peek at it when she was at their table, just to confirm a suspicion.

“You were right, Alya. Those are no normal bruises.” Plagg told her on the house boat, as she was seated on Luka’s bed with him. “Are you sure you never hit him with your cataclysm?”

“I didn’t, I swear! I’d never use my cataclysm on a living, breathing person.” She pulled at her hair with guilt, trying to think back at every single time she could have been close enough to him with her powers activated. “I didn’t do this, did I?” She begged for confirmation.

“No, of course not.” He comforted her, patting her shoulder. “I’m just struggling to come up with another explanation.”

“Should we tell him? Marinette told me one time that he doesn’t know what he’s sick with.” Alya thought. “Would it be right if we withheld this kind of information?”

“Don’t sweat it, Chesh.” Plagg flew in front of her. “It could have been something from the old world. Before Monarch or whoever made the wish.”

“You’re right.” She exhaled with a puff. “So what can we do to help?”

“Defeat Monarch.” Tikki confirmed. “Defeat him first, and then we can try to find a way to make things right.”

“So Gabriel Agreste is Monarch, he made a wish that somehow gave his son a Cataclysm strike, and now he’s trying to make another wish to cure him?” Cheshire summarized. “Their family needs a therapist.”

“You’re telling me.” Red Beatle sat next to her at their spot that overlooks the Eiffel Tower. “And I gave his wife a miraculous that grants invulnerability. In case he puts them in danger.”

“Good move.” Cheshire looked off. “What’s our next move then?”

“We catch him when he least expects it, and we protect his family in the process.” He sighed. “I don’t know how we’d go about it. I never really thought about what would happen when this time came.”

“Yeah.” She agreed. “It’s unreal, almost.”

“We need to make a plan. Our goal shouldn’t be to defeat whatever villain he sends our way, but to instead stop it at the source, when he doesn’t see it coming.”

“What about the wife?” Cheshire asked, solemnly. “What if he finds out that she told us? What if she works without us? There’s just a handful of variables, I don’t know if a single plan would be the best way to go.”

“I’m not sure of anything.” Beatle ran a hand through his hair. “What about his son? What if my miraculous doesn’t cure him? I feel like I know nothing even though we just found out the biggest secret of all.”

“We’re too young for this.” She concluded, patting his shoulder with her hand. “But we’ll handle it. Get him together, when he least expects it. Enlist Jule with the Fox, she can cover for us while we get him.”

“What would I do without you?” He hugged her, catching her by surprise.

She sank into the hug. “Not be able to cataclysm things.”

“We’ve got this.” He chuckled through her snarky response. “We do.”

“Mom!” Adrien screamed from his bed in a cold sweat, panting and pulling through his hair. “Mom!?” He called again, feeling a pounding in his ears.

He remembered a funeral. His father next to him in complete disarray. A sea of black umbrellas. A portrait of his own mother placed on an easel next to an ornate coffin.

His mother resting in the coffin, lifeless.

His own tears began when he tried hoisting himself up and out of his bed, but it was too much of a struggle. The back brace he had on was much too limiting, and he was heaving and wheezing, trying to just get out.

“MOM!” He repeated, giving up as a cramp strained his bad leg.

Adrien just laid there sobbing, unable to help himself, splayed on his stomach with his arm reaching for the wheelchair.

It was too far out of reach.

“Sunshine, I’m right here.” She was there, alive and breathing, sitting next to him and stroking through his sweat-stained hair, pushing it out of his face. “I’m right here.”

She helped flip him onto his back and reorient his head on a pillow, adjusting his sheets around him as well.

“My leg.” He hiccuped, trying to point down at it. “Cramp.”

“I’ll get you water.” Emilie kissed his head and got up to go, but he took her hand and stopped her.

“Please don’t leave me. Don’t ever…” His breath hitched, “Don’t leave, mom.”

“Okay.” She furrowed her eyebrows in guilt. “I’ll stay right here.”

She looked back at Nathalie, who had entered the room behind her and stood by the doorway during this exchange, and she nodded knowingly before leaving to get the water for Adrien.

“What happened, honey? Do you want to talk about it?” Emilie sat back down and kept caressing her hand through his hair.

Adrien shook his head. “A really bad dream. Father and I lost you and…” He looked up at her and broke down again, wiping his eyes from the tears that were welling. “It just felt so real.”

Emilie gasped to herself.

She was supposed to die, wasn’t she? That was what happened in Gabriel’s old world before time was reversed.

Miraculous magic was strange, though. She never truly understood the extent of it, and whether Adrien’s dream was a mere coincidence or some sort of residual memory from the past world.

“You haven’t lost me, love, I’m here with you.” She had to hold back her own tears and remain strong. It wouldn’t be fair to Adrien if she projected her guilt and frustration with Gabriel onto him, especially if he was re-experiencing the grief from her death.

Gabriel walked into the room with the glass of water that Nathalie had prepared, and sat on the other side of Adrien. “Here, son.” He tenderly helped Adrien sit up to drink, doing his best to calm him.

Gabriel, too, remembered nights like this. It was so eerily similar to the nights Adrien had back when his mother did actually disappear. The night terrors, the pleas for help.

And he never did anything.

He’d hear the screams of his son from the other wing of the house. It was so empty that it would echo even at the darkest hours of the night, and would wake him right up.

But he never went inside. Not back then. Not when he, too, was grieving.

Instead, he would stand outside the door, unknowing of how to proceed, nearly petrified at the thought of having to comfort his son.

Nathalie would tend to his needs instead.

He appreciated this new opportunity to mend things, as twisted as they were, but he knew his time was running out. He needed to get the miraculouses, quickly. He needed to heal his son before it was too late.

But why was he experiencing the nightmares and midnight screaming fits if his mother hadn’t died in this world?

Could he have possibly remembered what happened in his past? Was it manifesting itself in his dreams of all things? Was that why he was so infatuated with the Dupain-Cheng girl so quickly?

Was that why he was so quick to resent his own father?

Gabriel needed one last try. Just one more chance to get the miraculouses and fix things. Maybe he could just prevent him from remembering? Or make his wish with enough detail to prevent things like this from happening? Or wish all of his grievances upon Miss Dupain-Cheng instead?

“You getting tired, Adrien?” Emilie asked him, noticing his eyes were fluttering closed.

“Yeah, yeah.” He sniffled one last time and then adjusted himself back under the sheets. “Thanks mom.”

“I’ll be right here, okay? I’m not going anywhere.” She rubbed his hand and kissed his cheek.

“I love you.” He said this groggily, shutting his eyes.

Emilie exhaled the weight on her shoulders. “I love you too.”

A few minutes later, once Adrien was sound asleep and even snoring, Gabriel tapped Emilie’s shoulder and gestured for him to follow him outside of the room, and she hesitantly followed.

“This happened before.” He told her, solemnly, closing the door carefully. “The first time around.”

“And what did you do about it?” She snapped in a whisper, putting a hand on her own forehead. 

He didn’t answer, just looked towards the door. She didn’t give into his pity party, though, and rolled her eyes.

“I should have known.” She reached back for the door, and he stopped her, standing in the way. “What?”

“I have a plan. It will end everything. It came so close to working last time, and now I have more knowledge. It will work.” He pleaded, holding both her hands. “I know it will. You have to trust me.”

“I’ll trust you to do it on your own, then.” She squeezed his hands back. “Adrien needs someone to care for him, especially if he’s going through the grieving process all over again. Your villainy won’t help him heal.”

“But it will if you help me.”

“I’m not helping you anymore.” She looked down, defeated. “I can’t, Gabriel. Because if your plans fail again, we would have wasted the rest of the time we have with our son. And wishing his pain away will only inflict it upon someone else’s child. I can’t wish that on anybody.”

Gabriel abruptly released her hands, walking past her back to his quarters without another word.

If he had to do it himself, then fine. He’d do it himself.

Adrien luckily didn’t have another nightmare.

His mother was next to him, asleep on a chair next to his bed, and woke up when she heard him shuffling.

“Morning, sunshine.” She yawned, sitting up. “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, a lot better, Mom.” He leaned towards her for a hug, smiling. She was with him. Everything was okay. “Do you think I could see Marinette today?”

“Sure, we don’t have any plans and–”

“Could I go now?”

She would help keep his mind off his issues. She would help him stay happy!

“Of course, Adrien.” She rose up to fix his hair and winked. “Make sure you call her first, you don’t want to startle her first thing in the morning.”

“Thanks mom!” That news woke him right up!

So with this newfound freedom of his, he found himself in his wheelchair, leaving his room and getting the Gorilla to help him down the staircase.

She’s his girlfriend now. It’s official! He could visit her in his pajamas, right? She wouldn’t care, she liked him back!

Despite the Gorilla’s protests, Adrien found himself wheeling down two blocks towards Marinette’s home, stopping to take a breather after his adrenaline wore off.

He called her, realizing he’d forgotten before.

“Adrien, is everything okay?” She sounded groggy on the other end, it was still early after all. 

“Yeah, I couldn’t be better!” He said, quickly. “Could I go over to your place to hang out?”

“Uh, sure! When?” She yawned.

“Now?”

“Like, right now?”

“Yeah, if that’s okay with you!”

“Sounds good.” She laughed at his spontaneity, getting herself out of her sheets. “I’ll see you soon.”

Marinette’s home wasn’t too far, and he found himself outside of the bakery in another ten minutes, not as exhausted as he was after the first leg of his trip.

It was before eight, so the bakery wasn’t open yet, but Marinette was waiting for him at the apartment’s side entrance.

They got comfortable in her room, as she’d set up some pillows on the floor and against her chaise to watch some movies on her monitor, which she’d set on the ground.

Her parents surprisingly supported her relationship with Adrien, and didn’t mind him visiting with such short notice. In fact, they’d even prepared the kids some breakfast and helped him up all the stairs. 

Marinette was still exhausted, having woken up four hours earlier than she usually did, so she set a pillow on Adrien’s lap to lay on, snuggling under a blanket and blushing as Adrien played with her hair. 

“Is everything okay?” She turned to face up at him, poking his nose. “I was really worried something was wrong when you called so suddenly.”

“I couldn’t be any better, now that you’re here with me.”

Feeling herself blush some more, she ruffled his hair. “Really, though. Are you all good?”

He hesitated this time, realizing Marinette knew him well enough for his charm not to get him out of talking. He took her hand in his and fiddled a little bit before exhaling and snapping back into why he was there. “I started getting night terrors.”

Her eyes widened and she squeezed his hand. “Night terrors? Since when?”

“Like a month ago? And they’re always about the same thing, so I guess I started believing they were real.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s just… a while back, before we met, my mother was really sick, we didn’t think she’d make it.” His hand stopped playing with hers, and he blinked to hold back tears. “She miraculously got better one day, though. My mom is my best friend, she’s my rock, she’s the reason I still have hope despite my… disease. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, but now I’m getting all of these hyper realistic dreams of her passing and it’s too much.”

“Adrien.” Marinette sat back up, sitting face to face across from him and cupping his face with her palm. “I didn’t know any of that, I’m so sorry.”

He sank into her warmth. “She’s okay, though. She’s alive and well now, even if I might not be for much longer.”

“Don’t say that.” She took a hold of his shoulders, in denial.

They had their one rule. Don’t talk about his disabilities. Pretend like the bruises don’t exist.

“My parents have been fighting about it, it’s just getting harder to ignore the harsh reality of this thing.” He looked down at his bruised arms. “I’m sorry, I know that this is all really heavy, especially for only a week into this relationship.”

“Hey,” She nudged him. “I told you I wouldn’t mind the baggage. I’m here for you through it all, Chaton.”

“Chaton?” He smirked.

She furrowed her eyebrows, a little confused by her own words, but shaking it off. “You said you were more of a Cheshire Cat after all.”

“I’ll take it.” He leaned in to kiss her, and she gladly reciprocated. “You have that fencing tournament later today, right?”

“I do, but not ‘till the afternoon. I’ve been training all week, I need some time to relax.” She snuggled back on his lap, reaching for the computer mouse and starting up a movie.

“Sounds good to me.” He pulled the blanket back over her, caressing her arm back and forth until she dozed off.

He knew she really just needed the sleep, and that her sewing endeavors usually kept her up past midnight.

Was this truly love he felt? Looking down at her and her gorgeous raven hair that flowed right down to her shoulders just made him feel so complete. It was all he needed in this moment, and he was so content with being hers. His father’s comments from the previous week made him question whether or not it was normal to become infatuated with someone so fast.

An hour or so later, they were both startled by a rather loud thud on the roof, and a timely text from Kagami saying nothing but ‘Watch out for the bees.’

Marinette was shaken and immediately stood up, looking outside the window and seeing a barrage of… bees?… stinging citizens of Paris and causing them to become practically catatonic. 

“I think it’s an akuma, but it’s just a bunch of bees?” She questioned, hesitantly looking up towards her trapdoor as they heard more banging.

“Then what do you think that is?” He struggled to stand, and fell back down onto the chaise in fear.

“I— We should leave.” She swung Adrien’s arm around her shoulder and went to open the door out of her room, but the roof’s trapdoor began crumbling onto the bed.

Adrien pointed. “Marinette!”

They dropped to the corner where Marinette stored all of her fencing equipment, in through the trapdoor came Red Beatle and Cheshire, holding their weapons and fixing their gaze upon the troubled couple.

Something wasn’t right.

Cheshire’s ring beeped.

“Lucky charm.” Red Beatle said, almost mechanically, as a rope spawned in his fingertips. “Adrien, you need to come with us.”

“And Dupain-Cheng, our queen orders for you to be destroyed.” Cheshire added, pointing her baton at the girl.

“Your queen?” Marinette asked, exchanging a glance with Adrien.

In a swift motion, Adrien grabbed Marinette’s fencing saber from behind him and smoothly handed it to her. She then charged at Cheshire, engaging in a fencing-reminiscent form of combat.

Red Beatle approached Adrien rather kindly, extending a hand to him. “You’ll be safe with our queen. She will make sure you are far away from Dupain-Cheng.”

“I’m safe right here!” Adrien took an umbrella from the ground beside him to shove against Red Beatle’s chest, then opening it to push him away.

“Adrien!” Marinette pushed away Cheshire one more time to focus on him, making sure he wasn’t hurt by the Beatle.

The heroes’ jewelry beeped again.

Their eyes were stained yellow. They must’ve been stung by those bees. They were probably being… mind controlled?

“M’LADY, DUCK!” Adrien gasped, eliciting an immediate reaction from Marinette, who dropped down and swung an extended leg around, knocking down Cheshire Cat, who had swung a fist towards Marinette from behind just moments before.

“M’lady!?” She exclaimed, pinning down Cheshire with an intuitive maneuver, holding her hands behind her back and reaching for the beeping ring.

Adrien braced for impact from an aggressively-under-the-influence Beatle, which was interrupted by him suddenly turning to attack Marinette.

“Take the ring!” Adrien pleaded, and Marinette immediately complied, snatching it as quickly as she could.

Alya Cesaire had been revealed.

Red Beatle dropped the rope and picked up Marinette by her shoulders to get her away from his partner, but Adrien mustered up the strength to charge at him and swipe both earrings.

And Luka Couffaine was revealed.

Luka and Alya were once again completely still.

“It’s you!” Plagg approached Adrien, sitting on his lap. “You’re a little beaten up compared to the last time I talked to you, but that’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“How do you know me?” Adrien asked, putting the saber down and holding a finger out to poke the kwami.

Plagg groaned. “I’m an interdimensional god called a Kwami, I grant superpowers, I turn her into Cheshire Cat, I give this normal girl the power of destruction, blah blah blah.”

“BUG MOUSE!” Marinette ran to sit next to Adrien, taking a hold of his good arm and using him as a human shield from none other than Tikki. “What is that!?”

“I’m also a Kwami!” She sat on her lap. “And I have a feeling that you were once my holder, the hero of Creation.”

“What do you mean? I thought I was the villain here.” She looked down and sighed. “I set Paris on fire, Red Beatle had to save me.”

“Before Red Beatle, there was you!” Tikki perked up. “And now that Red Beatle is out of commission, I feel like you’re the right person to take these earrings.” She gestured to Red Beatle.

“So you’re telling me that those earrings will turn me into Red Beatle?” She rose up to get a closer look at the earrings.

Tikki sat on her shoulder. “They’ll turn you into the hero you’re meant to be.”

Plagg took the liberty of snatching the ring of destruction from Marinette and tossing it onto Adrien’s lap. “This is yours.”

“No, I don’t think this is right.” Marinette began pacing. “Why were the heroes here? On my roof? And why are they like this?” She lifted Luka’s arm, which immediately dropped right back down as soon as she released it. “I don’t even remember ever being a hero!”

“Monarch stole the miraculous with the power of subduction, he’s using it to amplify one of his victim’s powers.” Tikki explained, gathering the earrings from Luka. “This akumatized victim is using this power to paralyze citizens of Paris, and I believe fate brought the heroes here.”

Plagg yawned. “Heroes needed a breather, they stopped on a roof, the bees got ‘em and ordered they take care of you both.”

“So just to get this clear, you’re saying that Marinette and I were once the holders of these miraculouses?” Adrien put the ring on, noticing the familiarity it had on his hand. “We’re supposed to be the heroes?”

“Yes.” Tikki smiled. “Once combined, these jewels can be used to make a world-altering wish. We believe a wish was made that essentially erased a reality where you both were Paris’ heroes, and replaced it with the one you’re living in now.”

It all returned to Adrien. Every memory trickled in one by one as soon as he put on the ring, and his eyes opened in disbelief.

It was her all along! Marinette was his Ladybug, his other half!

She saved him so many times, both physically and emotionally— she helped free him from the clutches of his father, she gave him love that he’d never experienced before.

She fought for him until the last possible moment he had before being forced onto the plane that would take him out of Paris.

She fought beside him for nearly a year against the clutches of evil.

It was her all along. His love, his everything.

How hadn’t he remembered before!? How could he forget?

But as soon as he regarded that memory, he was welcomed with the realization that he’d been fighting his father, and he was most likely about to fight him again. It explained all of the circumstances of their real world. Monarch was struck by Adrien’s cataclysm, his wish then made Adrien suffer from it.

A fair and equal exchange.

“I don’t believe this!” Marinette never stopped pacing, but Adrien took her hand in passing to stop her. “What?”

“This is Paris, we deal with super villain invasions every other day. Nothing’s supposed to make sense, Bugaboo.” He pulled her down to sit next to him, brushing her hair away from her ears and taking the earrings from Tikki to put the first one on her. “But I think it provides a good enough explanation on why I fell in love with you so quickly.” He kissed her cheek.

“Bug…” She trailed off and traced her hand over her ears, beginning to take it all in.

She understood.

“The pound-its, the nicknames, the feeling I got the first time we met.” She took his hands. “It’s because of this?”

She remembered.

“I think so.” He squeezed back, then put the other earring on her. “Don’t you remember now? We’re Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

It all came flooding back to her at once; Monarch, the Miracle Box, the Order of the Guardians, Adrien, his Father.

All of it.

“Yeah, the miraculouses have weird effects on people. They make you remember stuff, big deal. Can we get back to fighting the bad guy now?” Plagg groaned.

“Monarch is still your father?” She ignored Plagg, leaning forward so they’d touch foreheads.

“Yeah, I’m assuming so.” He whispered, downtrodden. “We need to stop Chloe again, just like old times.”

“You’re right.” Marinette kissed him before rising to her feet, then helping Adrien balance on his own. “And I love you.”

“I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve heard that from you, m’lady.” He kissed her again. “I love you too.”

Their loving exchange was interrupted when Alya and Luka began walking out like drones, through the trapdoor of Marinette’s room and down the staircase.

“We need to stop Chloe before her army grows too large.” Marinette grinned. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He eyed Plagg. “Plagg, transform me!”

“Tikki, transform me!”

Chapter Text

“Come on in, children!” Sabine swung the door open after unlocking it, holding it open for the three hungry teens.

“What a lovely home you have, Marinette.” Kagami commented, feeling a little better than she had earlier as she was comforted by the homey environment.

“Oh, thanks!” Marinette smiled, putting her fencing things by the door and leading them to the dining table. “Take a seat, guys.”

Kagami helped Adrien take his place at the table before taking her own, and Marinette stopped by the kitchen area to give her father a hug before joining her friends at the table.

“Your mother told me about your win, I’m a very proud papa!” Tom grinned, taking a large dish out of the oven. “And you two must be Kagami and Adrien?”

“That’s us!” Adrien beamed, smelling the divine aromas that only an authentic French baker concoct in his kitchen. “It’s great to meet you, sir.”

“Likewise! Thank you two for being such great friends to my little girl. Especially after everything she’s been through.”

“Papa…” Marinette seethed through a saccharine smile.

“We are very grateful, though.” Sabine reinforced, giving Marinette a kiss on her head. “Do you both enjoy coq au vin?”

Adrien and Kagami nodded at one another. “For sure!” He answered for the two of them.

“Be warned, though, Papa likes to make it extra garlic-y.” Marinette whispered playfully.

Tom chuckled while plating the chicken. “What can I say? I love my aromatics.” He hummed to himself while placing a few little garnishes on top of each serving, and then started transporting them to the kids. “Bon appetit!”

“Thank you!” Kagami bowed her head, but Adrien was already deep into a bite and offered a thumbs-up behind a big close-mouthed gin.

Marinette la ter sheepishly waved them off as they left her home, too shy to make any moves or say anything to Adrien. After all, she wasn’t sure if she was feeling a crush or if it was just some weird infatuation she got because he was her fashion idol’s son.

As soon as the door closed behind them, she rushed to get a piece of paper to scribble her phone number on, begging her mother to give it to Adrien next time he visited the bakery.

And on the other side of that door stood Adrien and Kagami, waiting by the curb, both hesitating to say something.

“I’m sure you don’t want to have that conversation with your mother.” Adrien remarked, hushed. “Being akumatized isn’t as shameful as you think it may be. But if you want to kill some time somewhere else before having to go home, maybe we can do something.” He held out his hand with a sympathetic smile.

She hesitated.

It was everything she wanted. Adrien was right there, willing to prolong the time until she had to face imminent backlash from her mother. There was no reason she should have waited before taking his hand and running away with him.

Marinette had everything he wanted, though. And she was willing to put his needs before her own, seeing as to how ecstatic he was to spend time in her home.

She did hesitate. Too long, in fact. He retracted his hand when he received a text from his bodyguard.

“The Gorilla is gonna be here in a minute. What do you say?” Adrien offered once more.

“It’s fine. I’ll just head home.” Kagami picked up her own phone, notifying her car of where to retrieve her. “It’ll be okay.”

Adrien patted her shoulder before heading off, and she watched the car drive away without her in it.

Because she hesitated.

Kagami wasn’t going to hesitate again.

Maybe it was no longer in a romantic context, but she needed to assure Adrien’s safety if he wasn’t going to be able to defend himself.

She was at Francois Dupont training for the tournament that day.

The day the bees came to subdue all of Paris.

Once they dropped down to sting, she swatted them away with her saber, keeping her helmet on and realizing there wasn’t really anywhere safe to go within the school, since it was all out in the open. So she hopped into her idle car on the street, shutting the door behind herself as quickly as she could manage.

“Tatsu, take me to the Agreste mansion.”

“So uh, what do you like doing in your free time?” Nino asked Alya, seated next to her in an empty glass exhibit at the zoo.

Alya just laughed, maybe a little too loudly, at the unknown irony behind that question.

This was quite the predicament to be in. She was trying to sneak her phone out to shoot a text to Luka or Juleka to get her out of this enclosure, but there also ran the risk of Nino finding out her identity.

She had to go and save Paris from all these strange bees!

“Uh, well I like filming akuma attacks, because that is something I totally and definitely do!” She smiled as wide as she could, holding back shrieks of embarrassment.

Nino raised a brow in confusion. “So why aren’t you filming this one?”

“RIGHT!” She yelped, louder than she probably should have while she grabbed her phone and held it up to film the bees. And the lack of super heroes. Because one was stuck in an enclosure. With her crush. On her first date.

“Are you good, dudette?” He scooted a little closer to her, prompting a blush to form on her cheeks. “You seem a little nervous .” He smirked a little bit, trying to show more of his humorous side.

Nino didn’t mind holding up his “lone wolf” reputation in the classroom. No one would disturb him as he listened to his music, no one would get in the way of his individual social-battery-charging time. And he was content with that life!

At least, he was until Alya came around.

From the first day of class this year, he noticed she was a force to be reckoned with. She was never afraid to stand up to the bully, never hesitated to vocalize what was right, and never hesitated to face her fears. That was why he started falling for her!

He didn’t notice the feelings right away, though. They manifested themselves in a yearning to be invited to her plans, or to be in the group of kids who gravitate around her during lunch. He was so content with being alone until he realized everything she was capable of with company.

He also noticed that Adrien didn’t mind making jokes around Marinette. He probably seduced her with his own humorous font of ‘ rizz’ as he liked to say.

So why not be himself with Alya?

“Nervous? Me? Definitely not! It’s just a bunch of bees, right?” She tightened her hand up in a fist, mentally punishing herself for how awkward she was around this guy!

Was she about to have to give up her secret to Nino on their first date!?

“Whatever it is, you can tell me what’s going on.” He put a hand on her shoulder, mustering up a supportive smile that seemed a little out of character.

“I, uh, I have…” She looked down at her ring, and then thought about what Plagg would say.

Probably nothing of much use, if she was going to be completely honest.

She sighed the largest breath of relief she could muster when a white portal illuminated beside the two of them, recognizing it as the horse miraculous’ powers.

But she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be as familiar with this phenomenon when she noticed Nino pointing and backing away from the rather suspicious light.

Before she could react, Red Beatle hopped out, powered up with the sunglasses of the horse.

“I’ve never been happier to see you.” Alya said under her breath, not hesitating to rise up and walk towards the teleportation element.

“Hey!” Nino whined, overhearing her comment.

“I promise, everything will be explained later! Or eventually! I’ll call you!” She sheepishly waved goodbye while hopping in, and Beatle shrugged before following her and closing the portal behind them.

Nino waved back at nothing, confusedly. “See ya later, dudette.”

“We’re not gonna talk about any of that.” She mused from the houseboat living room she recognized herself to be in, sighing as she realized how awkward and embarrassing that entire date debacle was. “Plagg, transform me!”

“So I gathered.” Red Beatle chuckled as he released his own unification and fed Kaalki, promptly tucking the sunglasses back into his yoyo.

“What’s the situation here?” Cheshire walked towards Juleka, who was studying up on articles and livestreams she found on the internet of the developing attack.

Juleka turned her tablet to show them the current helicopter feeds of the city, which were broadcasting two parts of Paris; the Capitol and the Agreste Mansion.

There was a transformed Chloe Bourgeois, sending out her bees and an army of brainwashed Parisians gathering around the Agreste Mansion, attempting to get past their gates.

“Feeds say they’re after Adrien Agreste. To save him. The bees freeze people. Obviously.” Juleka muttered as she sank a little deeper into herself. “‘Cause I lost it.”

“It was an honest mistake, Jule.” Red patted her shoulder and then glanced outside the windows, noticing how the bees kept their distance from the water. “Ma’s not home, I think we can steer this ship in the right direction to get us closer without getting stung.”

“Wait.” Cheshire stopped him from walking towards the navigation center. “I think Adrien is at Marinette’s right now. She sent our chat a text earlier about him surprising her. What if we can save him before everyone else figures that out?”

“Good plan.” He affirmed, then looked down to his yoyo. “But there’s one more thing.” He reached in and pulled out one of the jewels, presenting it to Juleka.

“No.” She looked away.

Beatle sat next to her, sympathetically. “You can do it this time. There are no more surprises, we know who the villain is now. We need you to be ready in case the two of us go into danger.”

“No.”

“Your brother’s right, Jule. It’ll also help if you keep your eyes on Gabriel Agreste while we take care of Chloe. For all we know, Paris is going after his son as a diversion.” Cheshire doubled down, taking the miraculous from Red Beatle and putting it in Juleka’s hand.

“I’m gonna lose it.”

“You won’t.” Red said, stern.

Cheshire squeezed her shoulder. “You’re our Tigress, girl. No one can do it like you can.”

“You think so?” She put on the tiger miraculous, hesitantly.

“We know so.” Red Beatle gathered himself to head towards the wheel. “I’m going to turn this thing upstream, it should take us pretty close to Marinette’s.”

“Solid plan, Captain.” Cheshire followed.

Four knights, all instructed to follow the orders of Queen Wasp.

That was Monarch’s newest sentimonster. For now, they were dormant, and all lined up next to her, towering at least twenty feet tall in the most pristine gold armor. He held the pen that the amok was in tight before securing it behind his ear, like the artist in him would be tempted to do.

Monarch chuckled at the irony. It was so similar to last time, yet so different at the same time.

Miss Bourgeois still had an infatuation with the Ladybug, only this time it was romantic. It was easy to take advantage of, and allowed him to replay events as they had transpired in the previous world. This time, though, he had more control over the circumstances. Since there was no guardian in play, the Ladybug and Black Cat lacked the power ups that would have allowed them to take solace from Queen Wasp’s reign underwater. 

They managed to get far enough towards their goal before inevitably being struck by the bees. Then, he ordered Queen Wasp to command them to do his bidding.

Protect Adrien. Eliminate the Dupain-Cheng girl. 

“I won’t let you go any further.” Nathalie said, aiming her crossbow at Monarch, who snickered.

It was so similar, down to Nathalie’s last attempt to reason with him. Just like she had before he laid her down for the last time.

“You were here before. You did this before.” He said, not looking in her direction.

“Oh I know we’ve been here before, and I’m sure I did it with good reason.” She trembled, adjusting the direction of the bow.

He grinned. “Shoot me if you dare, then. I think we are both aware that you don’t truly intend on–”

She shot.

She didn’t actually do that last time.

Her arrow didn’t hit him, though. It was, in fact, pointed towards the miraculouses on his chest, effectively knocking that of the peacock to the ground.

They both exchanged equally surprised glances before racing to the grounded miraculous, but he pushed her out of the way and to the ground, rushing down to fasten it back while sending her a scowl.

Once secured, he picked her up from the ground by one of her wrists and lifted her with his arm outstretched.

“You’ve managed to surprise me.” He said to her, dropping her to back down and watching her glasses crack as they fell off her face. “But this betrayal was always bound to happen, and you’ve suffered the consequences of such both times.”

She coughed violently while placing a hand on her leg, unable to stand on her own while wincing in pain.

“It’s sad, almost.” He continued monologuing, using his foot to push her shoulder so she’d be laying on her back. “Both realities, you fall victim to your own actions. You fall victim to the magic of it all. And both realities, I sit here and witness it.”

She continued hacking, unable to see him clearly, and he looked down without a glimmer of remorse.

“You…” She said between heaves. “You are… a mon– a monster.” She growled on the ground, not able to even bend over through the pain of it all.

With a pitied sigh, he picked up Nathalie in his arms and began walking towards the lift. Just like he’d done last time.

He had to admit, though, she became so weak so much quicker during this iteration. At least it served in his favor, though. Her betrayal this time was as swift as the last time, and she was wasting away right when he needed her meddling to come to an end.

And he guessed she was at the point of her sickness where she would no longer be able to retaliate. She’d used the last of her energy on this pitiful attempt to steal a miraculous that she didn’t even understand how to use.

It was so pathetic. Truly sad to bear witness to.

“You won’t win. You’re not going to be able to tear apart the world and ruin our lives.” Nathalie strained as he laid her in her bed, and she then grabbed his face maniacly. “You can’t do this again. Not to me, not to your son.”

“Watch me.” He said, watching her release his face and shrink into the sheets.

And with that, he left the room.

Once the door audibly shut, Nathalie couldn’t help but laugh. It started quietly, like giggles she was trying to surpress, but eventually fell into full-on laughter that she was simply unable to hold back.

And with that, Emilie emerged from her hiding spot under the bed and sat next to her, almost confused but equally amused. Nathalie couldn’t stop cackling as she brandished the pen with the amok that she managed to swipe when she held Monarch’s face.

“You’re amazing.” Emilie hugged Nathalie tightly in relief, and then backed out to hold her shoulders. “I can’t believe he fell for it.”

“I’d like to think I sold it really well. I was on the ground coughing it up and everything.” Nathalie squeezed back. 

Emilie chuckled. “I always told you that you should take up a career in acting.”

“Says the award winning actress Emilie Graham herself.” Nathalie looked into her eyes as she breathed in, controlling her bout of laughter. “So what do we do now?”

“You have the Ox miraculous on you, right?”

“Yes.” She took the nose ring out of her pocket. “Take it.”

“Thank you.” Emilie reassured her. “Sit tight here for now, and let me know if Gabriel is doing anything. We need to catch him by surprise, so watch the broadcast and let me know when things seem lost. This will end today.”

“What about you then?”

“I’ll find the heroes and fill them in on what we’ve done.” Emilie put the nose ring on. “And then I’ll make things right.”

“What does that mean for us, then?” Nathalie said meticulously, taking her hand with grief washing over her.

Before Emilie could break, she took Nathalie in for another deep hug. “All I can say is that I wish I had more time to tell you how appreciative I am of you, but if all else fails, I know that gratefulness will live through Adrien.”

Nathalie sighed, refusing to think ahead of the implications of Emilie’s statement.

Even if it was all according to plan, the final product stung no matter what.

Now, it was time to work.

After securing closed Nathalie’s door, Emilie went into the main foyer and peeled out the window, noticing a barrage of possessed citizens trying to climb their way through the gate. She had to keep a low profile, and that required staying observant.

That was when she saw Tsurugi-san’s car approaching the house: a bright red that no one could miss.

By then, it looked like the bees were beginning to subside— Monarch’s army seemed to have grown enough in size, and there were at least a hundred citizens piling up at the front gate. She still had to stay alert, though, as the insects were still traveling in swarms, almost as if they were patrolling the city.

So she sat back and watched them break it down, even unlocking the front doors to the house before hiding beside the door, watching them run past her and into the home, all repeating some muttering of the phrase “rescue Adrien Agreste.” As creepy as it was, she had no time to dwell on it, and instead called her transformation and began running out.

The red car, it was still there!

The car stopped right beside her, and she didn’t hesitate to swing open the rear door and hop in next to a startled Kagami.

“Oh, um, Mrs. Agreste?” Kagami said, pleasantly surprised while bowing down. “Is everything alright? Was Adrien able to get away? You’re a super hero?”

“He is okay, and it’s a really long and complicated story.” Ox-Emilie caught her breath. “Adrien is at Marinette’s home. We should head over there and make sure no one’s caught him yet.”

“Tatsu, take us to Tom and Sabine’s patisserie.” Kagami commanded, taking out her phone.

Kagami Tsurugi: Watch out for the bees.

“Why do you think they’re after him?” She asked, putting her phone in her pocket and taking her fencing foil out of its sheath. “Do you think the heroes are going to help him?”

“I trust the heroes a bunch more than the average person.” A silver-armored Emilie looked out the window, pensively.

The trip to the bakery was rather quick, but not without an obstacle— one of the knights.

Kagami and Emilie witnessed the fall of the two heroes, as a twenty-foot tall knight statue grabbed Cheshire Cat’s baton as she was bounding across the skyline, alongside Red Beatle, who didn’t hesitate to use his yo-yo to pull Cheshire away. Not minding that her baton was compromised, she took a sign of relief as Beatle had safely landed them atop Marinette’s terrace.

While they were distracted was when the bees struck them.

Kagami watched as the night returned Cheshire’s baton to her, and she used it to begin breaking down the trapdoor to Marinette’s room.

Panicking, she reached for the door handle, but Emilie pulled her back. “The bees are still out there, being hasty might just do more harm than good.”

Holding herself back from panicking more, Kagami instructed Tatsu to move a little closer to the entrance of the apartment building, hoping she could run in herself as soon as the bee swarms were gone.

The knight had noticed them, though, and began bending down to pick up the car they’d taken refuge in.

“Hold on tight,” Emilie kept on a face of strength as she pulled Kagami in, determined to protect her. The knight pulled its arm back slowly, prepared to throw the car into the seine, and the two of them braced for impact.

But before they knew it, a baton shoved back the arm of the knight far enough that it began to topple over, and the car fell from its grasp and landed in a web of rope that had woven itself between the nearby buildings.

That was when two heroes that hadn’t been seen by the eyes of any parisian aside from Gabriel Agreste had appeared in the nick of time, swinging in and rescuing both Kagami and Emilie from the imminent danger they had found themselves in.

“The wings are pretty sweet, M’lady. They make for easy traveling, huh.” The black-clad hero nudged at his lady with a smirk before she lifted off to the suspended car. She had an intricate red suit with golden ornamentations around the black spots that spread themselves around her costume. Her long raven pigtails also had streamers of golden tinsel intertwined in them, and she had glimmering blue wings fluttering from her back as well.

Plagg once told Adrien that the miraculouses give you a suit that’s a reflection of your innermost wants and needs. He assumed that this was the reason her suit was so different in this new world, despite his being rather similar. His supersuit was almost an exact replica of his old one, but it sported mechanical steel beams that supported his back and legs.

“So is your tech. Are you feeling okay there?” She opened the door to the car, helping out Emilie and Kagami and fluttering them down to the ground. 

“Never been better.” He showed a look of concern when he saw Kagami with a transformed individual. “How did you get that miraculous?” He asked when he saw the blonde woman covered head to toe in silver armor that was undoubtedly that of a miraculous.

“I could be asking you the same thing.” She peered at him. “Red Beatle gave it to me.”

“Yeah. What happened to them?” Another heroine approached the scene with her arms crossed, and she was draped in a purple and gold suit with tiger stripes.

“They’re out of commission right now…” The new beatle answered, hesitantly. “We can be trusted, though.”

“Yeah!” The black cat added. “It’s really really complicated to discuss, but we’re actually quite experienced with these miraculouses!”

“What about Lu– the other heroes? In their civilian forms? Are they supposed to just sit around and wait while you two steal their jobs?” Tigress asked with a hand on her hip.

That’s when it clicked to the lady beatle. It had to have been Juleka! Her suit was so similar to how it was in the old world!

“Lucky charm.” She said, noting how a spotted guitar spawned in her hands. That only further confirmed her suspicions.

She used the guitar strap to place it across her back, careful that it didn’t get in the way of her wings. She then reached into her yoyo, quickly. “Take these.” She placed the necklace of the fox and the wristlet of the snake in her hands. “For your brother and your friend. Tell them they’re meant to be Viperion and Rena Rouge.”

Tigress gasped at her knowledge, noting how she tied the miraculouses and the guitar together, but nodded nevertheless, dashing towards the patisserie to find Alya and Luka.

“And this is for you.” She handed Kagami the dragon miraculous hastily, feeling all too familiar once again. “I trust you’ll use it well, Ryuuko.”

“We don’t have much time, we need to stop these knights and bees from the source.” Ox raised her shield once Kagami transformed. “Let’s go, you three.”

They arrived at the city hall, where Queen Wasp was perched alongside two of the four knights surrounded by half of the mind-controlled citizens she had struck.

Soon after, they were joined by Tigress, alongside Viperion and Rena, who were as puzzled as anyone else.

“Listen, I’m all about trusting the process, but if we aren’t Cheshire and Red Beatle anymore, does that mean you two are taking the title?” Rena asked, taking out her flute to brace for battle.

“I think I’d be an exquisite Cheshire Cat. Don’t you agree, M’lady?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Giggling, she nodded her head.

“Okay. Cheshire Guy and Lady Beatle, welcome to the team.” Viperion stood beside them, and all seven heroes took their stance as Queen Wasp approached them.

With a grunt, she put forth a hand and scowled at them. “Who even are you guys? I’m trying to get my revenge on the super hero who dumped me! Not you hooligans. Seize them!” She commanded the last two knights into battle and sent forth a swarm of bees, but Ryuuko intuitively called her ‘Water Dragon’ to make a protective dome around the seven heroes and the knights, knocking out Queen Wasp and keeping them safe from the subduction miraculous.

“Second Chance!” Viperion called, activating his miraculous before rushing out of the water bubble with Rena and Tigress to battle Queen Wasp face to face.

It took him more tries than he would have liked to make sure the three of them weren’t frozen right after exiting the safety of the bubble, but he finally got the hang of the miraculous’ powers on try seven.

“Mirage!” Rena called, making several clones of all seven of the heroes to trick the bees away from them. Tigress then charged forth, raising her fist and calling her “Clout!” as she jumped and struck the ground, making a hole big enough for Queen Wasp to fall victim to. All the while, Viperion was keeping Chloe’s minions at bay, away from the battle.

Within the bubble, Lady Beatle managed to tie down one of the knights while Cheshire used his baton to trip the other. Ox was able to protect Ryuuko in the process with her shield, and she was safe enough to drop the bubble once the bees were all driven away by the mirage-clones.

“This belongs to me. ” Tigress sneered nastily, reaching down into the hole to snatch the bee miraculous with a smirk.

“Cataclysm.” Cheshire said, gently tapping the miraculous in Tigress’ hand to release the akuma.

And with that, the knights and Parisian citizens once again went idle.

“No, no, NO! I demand you hand me back my miraculous THIS INSTANT!” Chloe screeched, earning the attention of all the heroes.

“No more evil-doing for you, little butterfly.” Lady Beatle cleansed the akuma, and then looked back at the guitar she had strapped behind her. “I guess I never really needed this…”

“Keep it just in case. Something tells me this isn’t over.” The Ox added, surveying their surroundings as a crowd of skeptical citizens formed around them. “I’ll be back.” She dashed off to continue the next phase of her plan.

“You three should take Chloe back to safety and refresh your transformations.” Lady Beatle directed this at Rena, Tigress, and Viperion. “And you should give this to a person you trust. Someone Rena can  trust.” She reached in her yoyo for one last miraculous to hand to Viperion.

“You’re a second rate loser. Monarch is onto you. He’s going to take your miraculouses and give you the justice you deserve!” Chloe whined as Tigress took a hold of her bridal style.

Tigress, Rena, and Viperion collectively rolled their eyes as the former took a hold of Chloe to drop her off at the Palace, while the latter two had their own errands to run.

“You two are not who I expected.” Monarch applauded, walking into the scene. “I’ll have to admit, I’m impressed. I wished that you would never become Ladybug or Chat Noir, but I guess you managed to just transform into something… different. I didn’t expect that loophole.”

“Back away, Father.” Cheshire extended his baton defensively. “We remember everything.”

“I figured.” Monarch shrugged, coming closer. “Are you ready to give up the miraculouses, then? After experiencing the life you could live if you let me succeed? After remembering what it was like to live with your mother alive ?”

“Not in a million years.” Cheshire said, extending his baton and pushing back Monarch. “Because whether or not she is around still ends up in you victimizing the whole of Paris.”

Lady Beatle took a step closer. “You’ll have to take these earrings over my dead body.”

“So be it.” Monarch held out a finger and pointed at Lady Beatle. “I guess I’ll do this the hard way.” He swiftly unsheathed his cane and lunged at her, and she managed to get a hold of it with her yoyo as Ryuuko charged with her own sword, and Rena returned to create duplicate illusions of her to disorient him. 

They continued throwing shots at him, whether it be a hit with Cheshire’s baton or being re-tied down with Beatle’s yoyo. He was constantly on his toes with no one to defend him– which is exactly how they needed him.

He managed to slip his cane from Lady Beatle’s yoyo and swing his arms to get rid of the illusions, then taking a hold of Ryuuko’s real staff. “Got you.”

“Wind dragon!” She retaliated, immaterializing into the thin air just as a green shield came swinging and crashing into Monarch’s cheek.

“Man, this stuff is cool!” Carapace yelped as his shield came flying back to him, sort of like a boomerang. Viperion also joined, enabling his second chance in case of another emergency. 

Cheshire swung at his father, getting a hit on his other cheek and sending him on a spiral. Monarch quickly recovered, though, and grabbed the baton, swinging Cheshire from the other end and pinning him against a pillar, pulling it back and hitting him against it again, causing it to crack.

Monarch lost his grasp of the baton as Lady Beatle pulled him back to the rest of the heroes with her yoyo.

“Are you okay, Chaton?” She called over her shoulder.

“Just… peachy.” He slid down, back against the pillar.

The heroes all continued fighting, sending blow after blow from every angle they could manage, keeping Monarch utterly outnumbered.

He focused back on his task at hand: the earrings. 

He threw his cane out at Rena and ducked down to swipe his leg and trip Carapace, jumping past him and dashing towards Lady Beatle, who had her yoyo deployed as a shield. Monarch ran with his hands out to snatch the earrings.

Then Lady Beatle began to… fly?

She used her new wings to flutter up and dodge his attack, unexpectedly. Before he could process it, Ryuuko rematerialized to whack him with her weapon, effectively knocking him down, while Viperion ran in to try and reach for the Butterfly miraculous.

Monarch grabbed his wrists with one of his hands, reaching for the snake bracelet with the other before he had the chance to use it.

Tigress luckily returned, though, calling her clout power and using it against Monarch to knock him away from the rest of the heroes.

“The tiger’s powers don’t seem so fun when you’re the one being hit by them, right?” Lady Beatle jabbed as she dropped back down, walking towards him.

When Monarch realized he was out of options, he remembered that he still had active sentimonsters that could still do his bidding.

There were four of them, that would even out the playing field, right?

Carapace called his shellter and encompassed its shield around Monarch, and all the heroes seized their fighting.

“Got you , dude.” Carapace remarked, elbowing Rena Rouge, who had stood next to him.

“Nino!?” Rena immediately assumed, despite not having a recollection of the past world.

Monarch smoldered, looking behind him and pointing at Lady Beatle. “Guards, seize Ladybug.”

But his armored guards didn’t move, remaining idle in their position a few yards away. Monarch’s smirk sank as soon as he reached behind his ear and realized the pen wasn’t there.

The amok wasn’t there.

Then who on earth was controlling these senti-guards?

“Seize Gabriel.” A transformed and armored Nathalie commanded, emerging from the crowd of civilians that amassed around the city hall, accompanied by Emilie, who had given her the Ox miraculous. She held the pen and pointed it at him, commanding two of the guards to approach him.

Just as they were close enough, Carapace’s shellter released, and the guards took holds of each of his arms.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He attempted to thrash out of the guards’ holds, but it was no use.

His own weapons being used against him.

And then Viperion swiped the miraculous of the butterfly.

“Pound it!” Lady Beatle held out her fist, for old time’s sake, but her accomplished grin dropped when her celebratory gesture hadn’t been returned. She turned around to look for her partner, she quickly dropped her fist when she saw him on the ground, laying on his back and writhing with pain next to the same pillar he’d been pinned against earlier. “Chat!”

His transformation dropped itself as he coughed, still maintaining his playful smirk amidst his struggle. “I thought it was ‘Cheshire Guy’ now.”

She dashed over and dropped to her knees at his side, holding his face with both hands. “We can drop the formalities.” Once he coughed more, she shared a hopeless glance with Plagg, who was resting on his chest.

“I don’t feel that good, Marinette.” He looked up at her, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, kid.” Plagg frowned. “I couldn’t hold the transformation any longer, it’s really hard to keep it up with your wounds fighting against me.”

“You did everything you could, Plagg. Until the end.” Adrien used his finger to pet the kwami, but Lady Beatle shook her head.

“Don’t say that.” She pleaded, hushed, whilst brushing his now disheveled hair out of his bruise-stricken face. “This isn’t the end. I won’t let it be the end.”

She started hyperventilating, widened eyes searching for anything that could possibly help her lover.

The guitar, the lucky charm, it would surely help, right?

She hastily looked around, remembering she still had it on her back after defeating Queen Wasp. Almost manically, she reached for it and called for her Miraculous Ladybug cure, hoping it would give Adrien more time.

The magical ladybugs kissed every severed inch of Paris, removing all traces of the bees and reanimating every subdued citizen of the city, and healing every cracked and broken structure that had been struck by the senti-guards.

The bugs finally grazed over them, curing the pillar and restoring it to its unbridled glory, and she began to shed tears, gripping his shirt and praying to herself that he would just get better .

But none of them cured Adrien of his wounds. They were much deeper than a ladybug’s magic could heal.

“No, no, no !” She yelped, reclaiming her hold on either side of his face. “I– I don’t know! I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a plan.” 

“You don’t need one this time, it’s okay.” He turned his head to face her, and she put her forehead against his. “You did everything you could, just take care of my mom and Nathalie and Kagami, okay?”

“I’m going to find a cure. You’re gonna be okay.” She whispered to convince herself, starting to lose hope. “Everything will be okay.”

“We got our last big battle, we got to relive our love story, we defeated the bad guy.” Adrien chuckled, and Beatle kissed his forehead. “I can die a happy guy.”

“You’re not dying.”

“Adrien!” Emilie yelped as she and a detransformed Kagami approached, joining Lady Beatle next to him. 

“Mom–agh,” Adrien tried using every muscle within him to keep the smile on his face, but the aggressive cataclysm strike was starting to overtake him. The bruises were visible on his neck and face, having spread exponentially after taking hits during battle. “It hurts, Mom. It… it hurts too much. I ca– I can’t.”

It was simply too much for him.

“Adrien, my sunshine, you’re going to be okay.” She took his hand with both of hers and stayed strong, holding her yearning tears. “I’m right here. Marinette and Kagami and I are right here.”

“I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, Honey.”

Kagami was the next to break, her tears rampantly rolling down her face, as she laid her head on his chest and sobbed. “You can’t give up.” She demanded. “You won’t give up.”

“I won’t, ‘Gami.” He reassured her, coughing some more. “I’ll keep fighting.” 

“Good, good.” She continued sobbing, all of her feelings surfacing in that moment. “You can’t stop until I see you really fence, okay?”

Adrien was the first person who had shown any interest in her, the first person who thought about her at times of need, the first person who had called her a friend.

She wasn’t ready for him to leave her. Not yet.

A laugh crept its way to Adrien, and he let out an airy giggle.

“This is what I was determined to avoid.” Gabriel said. “This is why I was determined to get the miraculouses and make a wish that could fix everything.”

“You stay back !” Lady Beatle barked, not leaving Adrien’s side. Tigress, Viperion, Carapace, and Rena all took their places, surrounding Gabriel, determined to protect Adrien’s miraculous. “You did this to him!” Lady Beatle reasoned, gesturing down to him.

“He did this to himself , and I was going to fix it.” Gabriel corrected. “Even if my own wife and son don’t understand, they will be grateful once you surrender your miraculouses.”

“You just haven’t learned a thing, have you?” Ox-Nathalie met him, face to face, and armed with a bulky silver-armored suit and shield. “There is no scenario that will give you your entire family. There is no wish that would allow you, Emilie, and Adrien all exist together. Your actions have consequences, Gabriel, and you are destined to pay them.”

“Emilie, you must understand.” He looked past Nathalie, sharing a pained glance with his wife. 

He truly lost everything. They didn’t want him anymore. They didn’t love him anymore.

“Please, just please.” He pleaded, attempting to thrash himself. “Please give me the jewels, I’ll fix it all. I swear, I’ll fix it all. I’ll heal Adrien and Nathalie, I promise Emilie. I just need one more chance .”

Emilie finally spared him a glance from her kneeling position, and her gaze simply shattered Gabriel to a million pieces.

He was expecting her to be outraged with him. Or for her in total animosity over the fact that she was losing her own son right before her eyes. Gabriel assumed that those emotions would fuel her enough to comply with him. To truly understand.

But it was a look of pity. Her viridian eyes had been glazed with a sheen of disappointment as she made eye contact with him.

And after a second, it was gone. She didn’t look at him anymore. Her focus was all on Adrien. She didn’t spare him another thought.

It was over for him.

“Take him away, please.” Nathalie scoffed, waving her hand away at the guards and approaching Emilie’s side to comfort Adrien with her.

“Adrien,” Emilie looked down at his ring, voice quiet and ever so gentle. “Can you make me a promise?”

“What is it?” He replied, just as softly.

“I want you to promise you’ll leave me with the flowers, the ones I love so much. Do you know which ones I’m talking about?” She put her hand atop his.

“Why?” He coughed more, letting out a pained groan from a strained throat. “What do you mean?”

“I can make things right, and give you the future you’ve been robbed of.” She tenderly slid the miraculous off his finger, putting it back on her own.

Adrien couldn’t reach for the ring– he was simply too weak. “Mom, don’t.”

“Just trust me one more time, Adrien.” She put a finger over his lips, lightly shushing him. “And Marinette?”

Lady Beatle’s eyebrows raised at the realization that Emilie managed to guess her identity, but she assumed it wasn’t that far fetched considering everything that she and Adrien had been through in the new world. She looked at Kagami, as if it were for validation, and then exchanged nods with her.

“Detransform me.” She said, hesitantly taking off her earrings and handing them to Emilie, with a vague understanding of what she was planning to do.

“Take care of my boy, okay?” Emilie put the earrings on and kissed Adrien’s forehead. “I’m glad he’ll have people who will love him through the end.”

Marinette dejectedly took Kagami’s hand in hers, exchanging a pitied expression and then nodding at Emilie. “We will.”

“You’re going to be okay, my love.” Emilie whispered to her son.

Adrien remembered this feeling all too well, when his mother had passed the first time. Before June 3rd, 2016 had been rewritten. Except this time, he had this blanket of acceptance wrapped around him, knowing that having lived through the grieving process already would give him some armor against this departure. Almost as if this were supposed to happen to him.

The realization was unreal, and numbing even. His memories from both worlds were still in conflict with one another, and he was starting to confuse what experiences were real or not, even though they had all truly happened to him.

The only vivid memory was the funeral. The one that had seeped into his nightmares in the middle of the night before. That only made the grief more fresh, almost, as he’d woken up that morning completely convinced she’d been gone for over a year. But here she was, alive and well, saying goodbye a second time.

Yet none of that made the farewell any easier.

“I love you, mom. I… I love you so much, but you don’t have to do this for me.” He took her hands in his, desperately, voice cracking more. “You don’t have to.”

“I love you too, Adrien.” She took him in a big embrace and propped him up against the now repaired pillar, then standing and helping Nathalie up. “Adrien will be in good hands with you to watch him.”

She dropped her transformation and pulled Emilie in for a tight hug. “Thank you for everything, Em.” She blinked back her own tears, giving one more squeeze before pulling back and holding her hands. “I love you.”

Something Nathalie knew was that Emilie cherished every single goodbye, and she instilled that same value in her son. She never left him without saying she loved him, because it could have been the last goodbye at any time.

But the sickening irony is that this was definitely the last time, and they all knew it.

“I love you too, Nath.” Emilie took a deep breath to herself.

“Tikki, Plagg, reveal yourselves.”

Chapter Text

“My wish has three parts.”

Ladybug’s yoyo tied around a wounded Gabriel Agreste’s arms as he laid on the ground, Chat’s baton threateningly pointed at his neck.

She noticed something in her free hand, and upon looking at it, she saw it was the miraculous of the butterfly.

The three of them remembered this moment as if it were months ago– which, to be fair, it was– but Ladybug was well aware that this was much different than what truly occurred.

She retracted her yoyo, putting the butterfly safely back inside it, and confiscating the rest of the miraculous rings that Gabriel possessed.

“It’s over, father.” Chat spat, retracting his baton and replacing it on his waist. “You’ve lost.”

“First, I want the world to be reverted back to what it once was, before Gabriel Agreste meddled with the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses. Before he made the wish.”

Gabriel attempted to laugh, but it was short lived as he coughed up more ash, as a result of his condition. He was stripped away of all invulnerabilities he had claimed from his miraculouses, and his own cataclysm pains flooded him so very familiarly. “So what now?”

“You know very well that I would have never struck a living, breathing human with this power.” Chat looked down at his own miraculous.

“Of course I understand that.” Gabriel mused. Ladybug stayed attentive of their surroundings to assure no one else would witness this exchange. “I know I did this to myself. All is fair in love and war, though. And I’d like to think that our conflict was both of those things.”

“You don’t love me.”

“I do. In ways you are too young to understand.”

“You don’t love me.” Chat snarled, releasing his transformation and dropping next to his father, knowing well that he was too weak to make a move. “My greatest regret in life is striking someone with my powers. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I’d done that to someone, even if I didn’t know who was behind the mask, even if it was my greatest enemy. It isn’t a pain I wanted to inflict upon anyone, and it wasn’t something I willingly chose to do to you.”

“But?”

“But you did it to me!” Adrien pleaded, forming a fist and hitting the ground next to himself. “You made a wish knowing you’d be giving your pain to someone else! The constant aching, the never ending nausea, the itching and burning on your skin. You did this to your own son !” 

“Adrien, I don’t have much time left, and there’s something you don’t know about yourself.” Gabriel reached for his son’s hand, but Adrien swiped it away. 

“You don’t get to give a speech about self pity and sacrifice, you don’t get to redeem yourself after everything you’ve done to our family.” Adrien continued his anger-stricken rant. “You already got your second chance and you blew it !”

“Adrien.” Gabriel pleaded. “Your mother would have wanted you to know the truth.”

Ladybug reckoned she knew what he was jabbing at. The hazy memories of the story that played out before her the night Adrien was sent to London crept in. Wasn’t that yesterday? Or last year? It was too confusing for her to grasp, and the thoughts were slipping away as soon as she recollected them.

After searching further and further back within the confines of her mind, she remembered. Little by little. Felix and Kagami discovering her identity. The Graham de Vanily rings. The lore behind Adrien’s birth.

He really was a senti-being, wasn’t he.

She made eye contact with Adrien, giving him a solemn nod and gesturing towards his father.

“The miraculouses house capabilities that are very different from what you have been exposed to. What I have exposed you to.”

“So?” Adrien looked back down at him.

“The peacock miraculous doesn’t create monsters, I did that on my own. What the miraculous does create is its holder’s vision, as the holder intended.”

“What are you saying?”

“ You are the creation of your mother.”

“I’m her son .” Adrien scooted back with a gasp, and Ladybug helped him stand, taking his hand and backing him away from his father. “Am I not?”

“You’re real.” Gabriel coughed more, and realized how quickly his clock was ticking. “Your conception is not one that is typical of a mortal human, but every bone in your body is real.”

Ladybug detransformed and squeezed Adrien’s hand while he was in shock. “Where is the amok?” She asked.

“The Graham de Vanily heirloom rings.” Gabriel began struggling to breathe, but managed to take them off and hold them up to his son. “It was clear in our past world that Emilie wanted Adrien to be in possession of it. I hope you will see that happening, Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

She didn’t reply, and instead focused on Adrien, who was suppressing tears of his own. Marinette instead took the liberty of retrieving the rings, placing them on his free ring finger.

“Why are you telling me this now?” He asked. “Why now?”

“When your mother and I fought, in the other world…” He choked on his words and strained himself to finish. “She told me you deserved the rings. And that the two of us shouldn’t dictate your choices and I… I took advantage of the power I had over you. I kept you from Miss Dupain-Cheng–”

“Marinette.” Adrien corrected.

“I kept you from Marinette ,” Gabriel continued, “because it supported my own directives. I was wrong, and your mother knew it.” He doubled over on himself, hacking out more ashes in such a horrific show of weakness. “But this…This is the… the end.”

Adrien adjusted his father to lay on his back again, and looked at him almost sympathetically.

“I love you, son.”

“Goodbye, Father.”

The coughing stopped, the lair was eerily silent.

It was finally over.

“Second, I want the person who was originally struck by the Black Cat’s powers of destruction, and only them, to face the fate they were destined to.”

Adrien looked up at Marinette, blankly, and then let out a massive sigh that surmounted to the months of pain off his shoulders. He was no longer in physical pain, and he knew this was the last time he’d have to face his father.

He wiped away the tears that accompanied this sigh of relief and then rose up to scoop Marinette in the biggest embrace he could manage.

A little startled and taken aback, she took a moment to ease into the hug.

“I love you.” He whispered, letting out the sobs he refused to set free in the presence of his father. “But I don’t know what to do. I— I’m so confused and I don’t even know where to start and then there’s Mom .”

“It’s okay.” She felt the waterworks coming as well, with years of pent up feelings resurfacing and Adrien’s confusion meshing with her own. “It’s okay, right?” She sank into him a little further, stroking his hair and letting her weeps escape.

He let out a guttural scream that resonated throughout the lair, breaking into a bunch of uncontrollable sobs once he absolutely broke and his knees gave out. Marinette never let go, though, she just guided him back down to the ground, holding him tighter.

“They’re… gone!” He yelped. “They’re all gone.”

“Adrien!” Nathalie had followed the direction she heard the scream come from, climbing down into the basement down an edge of broken down concrete.

She didn’t have the Tsurugi brace on anymore, she was healed.

“And third, I want my own self in this new world to have suffered the pains of the peacock twofold, so Nathalie may prosper healthily.” 

“Go cure Paris, I’ll take care of him.” Nathalie put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder, sparing a glance at Gabriel, who laid with his eyes closed.

“Okay… Okay.” Marinette sniffled and backed away, looking at Tikki to call her transformation. With a gulp, she swung her yoyo up to slingshot herself out of the basement and back into the city, ready to handle the alliance minions.

“I miss her.” Adrien cried, and Nathalie embraced him. “ Why did she do that?”

“She did it because you were worth it.” Nathalie had to fight back her own tears, still not having accepted Emilie’s absence. It was all so fresh, and she was in denial that Emilie would sacrifice so much for her . “She loved you so much. She loved us .”

“Why would she love a monster?”

“Gabriel wasn’t a monster until she passed.” Nathalie gulped, stroking Adrien’s hair as Emilie would. “He was corrupted by his selfishness.”

“I meant me.”

Nathalie backed away and lifted Adrien’s chin, looking down at the rings on his fingers.

Gabriel told him.

“You’re the most beautiful being that the peacock miraculous has ever had a hand in creating. You are no monster.” She looked into his eyes. “And you deserved to be loved by every being on this earth. You earned that.”

Adrien didn’t have a response to that, and instead returned to his nonverbal sobs, breaking once again onto Nathalie’s shoulder.

Then the ladybugs came. Circling and rustling around the two of them, almost tickling them as the mansion began repairing itself around them.

Gabriel was whisked away in a bout of dust, the flowers around them once again bloomed after being damaged by the battle.

Paris could once again be at peace.

“It’s over?” Adrien asked, finally standing up on his own to see the repaired shrine around him. “She fixed it all?”

“Yes, I guess she did.” Nathalie looked down at where Gabriel once laid, picking up the alliance rings that were left behind. “We have each other, and you have Marinette, too. You don’t have to go through this loss on your own.”

Adrien barely grinned at that. “Thank you, Nathalie.”

Nathalie led him up the lift and back to the main floor of the house, walking through the office silently.

Standing in the foyer of the Agreste manor was Marinette, who was waiting for Adrien’s return. They shared a tight embrace in lieu of a fist pump, realizing that their struggles were now behind them, and that they overcame the impossible hurdle they’d been battling for the past year.

“You should go home and tell your parents you’re safe.” He used his hand to brush a loose strand of hair behind Marinette’s ear. “I’ll be okay here.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you alone, especially after everything.” She frowned and gave him a look of concern.

“He won’t be alone.” Nathalie said from behind, prompting both of their attentions. “You’ve done well, Marinette. You should get some rest.” Nathalie said to her with a warm grin, handing her the miraculous rings. “These belong to you.”

“Thank you, Nathalie.” Marinette nodded optimistically, waving as she left.

“Your mother’s wish traveled great lengths to make sure you weren’t going to be alone.” Nathalie stroked her hands through his hair and took in the hug, loving Adrien as if he were her own.

He backed away and looked up, confused. “So you remember everything?”

“As jarring as it is, I do. We’re okay though. We no longer have to worry about your father’s wrongdoings.”

“Yeah, we don’t.” He nodded. “But what do we do now?” He was more confused than anything, still wrapping his head around this fact, as well as harboring memories from months that never truly happened. “What can I do?”

“You get to live your long, happy, and healthy life.” She ruffled his hair a bit, as she knew his mother used to do, and cupped his face. “And you get to experience your love story with Marinette. All without the fate of the city on your shoulders, without your father to tell you otherwise, and without the burdens of the cataclysm’s pain.”

“What about the Monarch business?” Adrien asked, a little nervous for the wrath that was to come. “Or father’s company? Or Mom?”

“That is nothing a fourteen year old should have to deal with.” Nathalie shook her head. “You can leave it all to me. Just enjoy your summer holiday.”

“She said she wanted me to leave her with the flowers she loved.”

“Do you know where that is?”

Adrien thought for a second, and his face lit up once he understood that metaphor. “Yeah, I do.”

“Gabriel Agreste, huh.” Alya said, sitting on Marinette’s chaise as the latter tinkered with the miraculouses, the kwamis watching over them. “How did Adrien take it?”

Marinette felt like it was unusual for Alya to be hanging out in her room so casually. They weren’t nearly as close in the other world as they were here, and she’d almost forgotten that her identity was known by Alya.

“He’s fine. His assistant Nathalie was there for him to help handle the backlash. I think I need to have a press conference to assure their innocence amidst all of this.” She remembered that his identity as Chat Noir was not publicly known information, and decided that if Alya were to ever find out of it, that it should come from him. “I have no clue how the news already figured it out though.”

“I mean, the alliance rings were his creation, I think it was the best assumption that could be made.” Alya shrugged. “Are you okay? You just defeated the villain! We should be celebrating!”

“Today was a lot more than anyone could understand.” Marinette spun around in her chair to face her. “A lot more than even you and I could imagine.”

“What do you mean?”

Marinette took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair and squeezing her eyes shut.

It was real, but it wasn’t. It happened, but it also didn’t.

“Monarch won, at first. A few months ago.”

“I don’t follow.”

Marinette brushed through her mind to try and find the correct verbiage to explain this weird phenomenon. “Gabriel Agreste defeated me and Chat Noir. Beat us to a pulp, actually.” She solemnly scoffed at that part. “He took our jewels and made a wish. One that prevented me and Chat from becoming heroes, and one that brought his wife back from the dead.”

Alya was completely puzzled, at a loss for words. Marinette continued.

“His wish turned back time, all the way back to last summer, but changed a few things. In our current world, he was suffering from being cataclysmed by Chat Noir, but his wish transferred that to Adrien.” She thought for another moment, noticing how Alya was slowly gathering her words. “He also akumatized me first , preventing me from ever becoming Ladybug. So this other superhero duo named Red Beatle and Cheshire Cat had to defeat him instead, and Monarch was trying to get the miraculouses again to cure his son.”

“I see.” Alya was still lost, but at least understood a little more. “So how’d we end up here? Back in this timeline?”

“Adrien’s mother made a wish that restored this timeline, basically. She sacrificed herself for Adrien to be healed.” Marinette looked down and fiddled with the ring she was holding– the fox.

“So Gabriel Agreste made a wish that messed everything up, and then Emilie Agreste undid it?”

“Pretty much.”

“Oh wow. That family needed a therapist.” Alya felt as though this were some kind of dream sequence Marinette might’ve thought up for a second, but she studied her face and noticed the tiredness and confusion behind her eyes.

She also felt like Marinette was the slightest bit closed off. Not rambling like she normally would. Not giving her hugs and sitting by her like she normally would.

“Did we know each other? Did Adrien and you know each other?” Alya prodded, gently.

Marinette glanced at the pictures pasted on her wall and grinned. “Yes. To both of those. I guess fate has strange ways of keeping people together when they’re meant to be.”

“So what did you do if you weren’t Ladybug?”

“I fenced.” Marinette was fond of those memories, and looked off to recall them. “I got bullied out of school after getting akumatized and took up fencing and online school instead. The two of us met when my old friends invited me to visit the art club.”

“Figures.” Alya smirked, tapping her chin. “How about you, Tikki? How are you holding up?”

“Just fine now that I can get some rest!” She responded from her little bed on the desk. “Too many universes in too little time. It’s exhausting.”

“I get it.” She then looked back at Marinette, who looked equally distraught. “Do you want me to stop the questions? I’m sorry if I’m bugging you.”

“No! Not at all!” Marinette waved her arms. “It’s actually helping me separate what happened there with what happened here. Throw them at me!”

“Okay, let me think.” She decided to choose her next questions wisely. “Did you and Adrien get together again?”

“Yeah! We met when he visited Francois Dupont to watch fencing practice. Like he was friends with Kagami when she and I tried out.” She looked back at a specific picture of Adrien on her wall, her face lighting up. “I remembered shaking hands with him and feeling this odd sense of familiarity. Like we’d already lived a life together. I guess now it makes sense why.”

“I’ve been saying it since day one. You two are meant to be!” She cheered.

“Yeah, we are.” Marinette blushed a little, recalling all the moments she and Adrien shared. “He asked me out to the movies, and his mom was actually there too. It was so stupid and sweet and we even played video games after and it was just so natural. I was so confused as to why I was falling so quickly, especially after the Kim thing was so fresh.”

Marinette once again reordered the events in her mind. Kissing him while watching the orchestra was the old world. Kissing him in front of the plane was in the real world.

“What else do you got?” Marinette asked Alya, snapping back into focus.

“Did you ever figure out who the other heroes were? Like, what were their names… Red Bug and Cheshire? Oh, and did I still have the Lady Blog?”

Feeling a little more solidified in what was her actual reality, Marinette put down all of her supplies and sat next to Alya, laying her head on her shoulder. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

There was a knock on his bedroom door when Adrien was gathering his bags for the trip he and Marinette were planning on taking.

“Come on in, Love.” He said, not turning around to see that it wasn’t actually Marinette who came through the door.

“It’s Kagami.” She waved while walking in.

“And Felix.” He announced himself.

“Oh, Kagami!” Adrien exclaimed, running up to her to give her a quick and tender hug. “I wasn’t expecting you two here.”

“It’s nice to see you outside of our prison cell.” She patted his head and smiled, then looked beside her to see Felix grinning.

“We’re sorry about everything.” Felix patted his shoulder with a somber grin. “But both of us understand, and we’ll be here for you if you need a shoulder to lean on.”

“Thanks guys, I mean it.” Adrien already found himself overthinking.

Felix had control of the peacock miraculous… maybe he knows…

“My rings, Fel.” Adrien brandished them. “You know what they are, don’t you?”

“How’d you find out?” Kagami reapproached, taking a hold of his hand.

“My father told me before he… you know.”

“You aren’t alone in that either.” Kagami showed him her own ring, and then Felix waved the hand with his own. 

Adrien just frowned, he didn’t know how to handle the information.

At least he wasn’t alone, huh.

Felix sighed. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay. I miss her tons, but she sacrificed a great deal to give me a life worth living.” He looked off at the portrait of Emilie that was posted on his desktop.

He sort of wished he had the selfie he’d taken of himself with Marinette and his mother in front of the movie theater. Only that didn’t really happen.

“Oh, I was talking about your father.”

Kagami gulped. “I know it isn’t easy learning he was Monarch and all, and it certainly doesn’t help that your mother hasn’t been around, but… Adrien?” She noticed him trailing off.

“You okay, cousin?” Felix snapped a couple times at him, and he flinched back into attention.

Kagami didn’t remember. She didn’t meet his mother and witness her great sacrifice. She didn’t really understand what it was like to have his second chance of a whole and happy family torn away. It was more of a letdown than anything, and he didn’t know any logical explanation as to why she wouldn’t remember, especially when they were so close…

“Yeah, sorry. I appreciate both of you coming, truly. I’m just a little lost is all.” Adrien cleared his throat. “But that’s why Marinette and I are going. Our train leaves in about an hour, so I was about to step out and meet her at the station.”

“We’ll be waiting for you when you’re back. It’s important you have a support system in times of need like this, and we’re more than happy to be that shoulder to lean on.” Kagami rubbed his shoulder as they walked out.

“Thanks guys. I mean it.” Adrien sighed.

It was a quaint scene that laid before Adrien. His parents used to take him to this cliff in Germany, and they’d have a little picnic while watching the sunset. His mother would always tell him not to get too close to the edge, because she didn’t want him to get hurt while trying to get a better look at the floral gardens below.

He was feeling risky though, he guessed. Something about being in this spot without either of his parents gave him a sense of vulnerability that he wanted to explore. So he sat right there along the edge, legs swinging and the breezes daring to sway him.

Sometimes he’d still feel the remnants of the bruises on his arm, and get the odd sensations of soreness down his right leg as well. But simply looking down and facing the harsh unfamiliarity of his arms being untainted was enough to subdue his qualms.

“You know, last week we were thirteen years old, and now I’m about to turn fifteen.” Adrien remarked, blankly looking out into the broad expanses of flower fields that spread below them.

“I had a feeling that this superhero business would make us grow up too fast.” Marinette sat beside him, rubbing his shoulder.

They sat in a bout of silence, and then Adrien exhaled through his nose, turning to look back at her. “What were the odds that we got together again, despite all my father’s measures?”

Marinette couldn’t help but giggle a tiny bit, leaning her head on his shoulder and pulling him in for a side hug. “I guess that’s how we know it was meant to be. Even if it’s confusing.”

“I’m glad you got to meet her. My mother, I mean.” He leaned on her head, content.

“She was the ultimate wingman, wasn’t she?”

Adrien gulped, smiling instead of answering. “Would it be bad if I said I kind of don’t remember when we really got together? Here?” He admitted, looking down at the ground below.

“No, not at all. It took me a while to figure it out too. I can remind you, though.”

“Please.”

She interlocked her hand with his. “Do you remember us on my balcony that one day?”

He felt a blanket of familiarity at that. “When our kwamis gave our miraculouses to other heroes.”

“And the two of us looked over the railing at the city.”

“Together.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I remember watching the clouds with you in my pajamas.”

“I remember telling you I loved you on a random night.”

“I remember both our first kisses. The one by the plane and the one by the orchestra. Those, I won’t forget.” He looked at her. “So have we been dating for 3 months or 2 weeks?”

“I wish I knew.” Marinette chuckled, looking down at the rings on his hand. “Either way, I know I loved you every second since I laid my eyes on you.”

Adrien smiled for the first time that day. The first time that week, even. It was a small one, and he followed her gaze down at their joined hands.

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else for a few minutes. Just taking his own deep breaths and trying ever so hard to hold on to the slivers of happiness he could feel with her there.

And then he looked back out into the expansive field, with a level of acceptance that Marinette picked up on.

“Are you ready?”

He felt so lucky for Nathalie to have taken on all the proceedings regarding his mother and Gabriel’s deaths. It was only a matter of completing his mother’s last wish.

His father had already set up a trust to leave his company and assets in Adrien’s name once he reached legal age, and Nathalie assumed the role as the Chief Executive Officer and Creative Director of the Gabriel brand, effective until he would turn eighteen.

It was also announced to the world that Monarch had been defeated, and Gabriel Agreste was the face behind the mask.

Several measures, however, were taken to grant both Adrien and Nathalie immunity from the law, and Ladybug followed through with assuring the press that they were in no way affiliated with his heinous acts of treason.

The only thing left was to fulfill his mother’s last wish. Not the wish she’d declared to Gimmi, though. The other, more intimate wish she uttered to Adrien that day.

“Yeah.” He took a sharp inhale as he observed the urn he’d been holding.

Adrien wept as he spread the last of the ashes, and Marinette took a tight hold of his shoulders as he put the urn back down beside him and shed his tears.

It was what she wanted. To be left by the flowers she loved.

They sat in silence for a while as the breezes ramped up and the sun went down, painting the sky a hazy pink as it set. Adrien knew it was everything his mother would have wanted, and it warmed his heart to know that her wishes had been seen through.

“Marinette?” He asked, with a slight crack in his voice after not having talked for a while, almost to make sure she was still there.

“Yes, love?” She answered, squeezing his hand.

“Do you think anyone else remembers?”

She knew what he meant by this. “Just you, me, and Nathalie as far as I know.” She reassured him. “Only those who were subject to the wish should have a recollection of the erased world, I’m assuming. Alya doesn’t remember a thing and we won’t know Luka’s answer ‘till he’s settled back in Paris with his dad.”

“Kagami didn’t remember either, so I guess it’s our little secret.” He sniffled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer.

“We have a lot of our own little secrets, huh.” Marinette chuckled. “It comes with the job description of being Paris’ defenders, I guess.”

Adrien nodded with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “At least I don’t have to do it all alone.” He kissed her head from the side, pulling her even closer. “Thank you, for everything.”

“I’m here for you, through it all, you know. No baggage is too much for me.” She watched him as he looked down at his family rings, his grin fading to a glare of confusion.

“I still can’t wrap my head around all of this. None of it feels real anymore. It feels impossible to go back to the simple life I had before my father started this war.” He balled his hand into a fist. “Am I real?”

“Of course you are!” She put her hands atop his and looked him in the eyes. “You were created to be a human . You were born as you are, you’ll grow up as you’re meant to. Just like any other person. Don’t let this fact convince you otherwise.”

“I know, I know.” Adrien trailed off and released his fist, knowing well what Marinette had been assuring him of. “I’ll truly understand it all someday. I guess I just need more time.”

“Well, now we have all the time in the world, right?” She held his cheek and directed his face towards her own. “And we have each other.”

“You’re right.” He savored her warmth. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Adrien.”

They shared a tender kiss, and Adrien ran his hands through Marinette’s loose hair and they landed on her shoulders. He then parted his lips away from hers for a second just to take her in.

She was the one thing that stayed consistent between both disjunct worlds.

She kept him grounded amidst the uncertain breezes that flowed past them.

The sunset, the broad expanses of colorful flowers, the breezes whistling in harmony with the birds, the spot his mother loved most, and the love of his life. All in one beautiful portrait he wanted to paint in his mind and keep forever.

“What are you thinking?” Marinette questioned, smirking to hide her blush. “What’s going on behind those pretty eyes?”

“This moment. There’s only one way I can describe it.” He kissed her again, deepening it this time, and truly drinking in every second he had there with her.

“And how would that be?”

Adrien thought for a second before snaking his hand around her waist and returning his gaze to the setting sun.

“A wish come true.”